Spanning three counties in Eastern California, Yosemite National Park covers 747,956 acres. President Abraham Lincoln signed the Yosemite Grant in 1864 to set aside the land for preservation and use by the public — the first time this had been done. Yosemite came under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service when that agency was formed in 1916. Last year, 4,150,217 people visited the park.