long as it benefited the public and didn't adhere to private interests. After the passage of the Right of Way Act Mayor Phelan transferred his water rights to the Hetch Hetchy Valley to the city and county of San Francisco. Both the city and county of San Francisco immediately applied for a permit to develop their water project in the Hetch Hetchy Valley. The Secretary of the Interior Ethan Hitchcock opposed the Right of Way act because he believed that Yosemite National Park should be left untouched and pristine, so he quickly denied their permit. In 1906 San Francisco suffered from a catastrophic earthquake. About 500 city blocks were destroyed by the quake and subsequent fire, which spotlighted the city's need for more water. In the aftermath of the earthquake in 1906, the water purveyors and the city of San Francisco seized the opportunity to continue to push for a permit to use the Hetch Hetchy Valley for their water needs. In 1908 Secretary of the Interior, James R. Garfield reversed the order given by the previous Secretary of the Interior Ethan Allen Hitchcock, which denied San Francisco a permit to buy the land it sought to acquire in Yosemite National Park, in a rehearing for the city's permit. Garfield had an opposing stance on conservation and believed that Hetch Hetchy Valley was not unique and a lake in its place would be more appealing, plus the money generated from the hydroelectric power could eventually pay for the initial cost of constructing the dam. Garfield's authorization of building water infrastructure in the Hetch Hetchy Valley was not set in stone because future Secretaries of the Interior could reverse his decision, and solidifying San Francisco's right to build water infrastructure in Yosemite would have to go through United States Congress. In late 1908 the citizens of San Francisco approved the allocation of $600,000 in bonds to be used to purchase land and water rights in the Hetch Hetchy Valley to build a dam for a reservoir and aqueduct lines. They also approved a $45,000,000 bond in 1910 to be issued for the construction of all the water infrastructure. Both Secretaries of the Interior under the Taft administration, Richard A. Ballinger and Walter Fisher opposed construction of water infrastructure in the Hetch Hetchy Valley. They instead suggested that the city of San Francisco build reservoirs at Lake Eleanor and Cherry Valley, which