Yosemite History
Indian people probably began visiting the Valley's floor between 6,000 to 8,000 years ago. Some 3,500 years ago, it's thought that people began to settle in the Valley permanently, establishing a culture that eventually evolved into the Southern Sierra Miwok--a tribe who believed that their people were created in Yosemite. The story of the Yosemite Miwok, who called their spectacular valley home "Ahwahnhee" - "valley that looks like a gaping mouth" and themselves "Ahwahneechee”- "dwellers in Ahwahnee". Before the white man arrived, the Ahwahneechee led a harmonious and balanced life in the Valley and surrounding Sierra. In the cold winter months they migrated to the more tolerable, milder climes of the foothills; come late spring they returned to Yosemite and the High Sierra. There they gathered food: berries, greens, bulbs, seeds and acorns (the black oak acorn made up 60% of their diet), hunted deer, fished for trout and traded their bounty for the rabbit-skin blankets, obsidian and pine nuts of the Mono Lake Paiutes who lived on the Sierra's eastern side. The native people of Yosemite developed a complex culture rich in tradition, religion, songs, and political affiliations. Making use of the varied local ecosystems, they used plant and animal resources to the best of their abilities. The pattern of oaks and grassland noted by early visitors to Yosemite Valley is probably a direct result of the intentional burning of underbrush practiced by native people.
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Although the first sighting of Yosemite Valley by non-Indian people was probably by members of the Joseph Walker Party in 1833, the first actual known entry into the Valley was not until nearly 20 years later. After the discovery of gold in the Sierra Nevada foothills in 1849, thousands of miners came to the Sierra to seek their fortune. Their arrival resulted in conflict with local native people who fought to protect their homelands. Because of such interaction, the Mariposa Battalion was organized as a punitive expedition under the authority of the State of California to bring an end to the "Mariposa Indian War." The Battalion entered Yosemite Valley while searching for Indians on March 27, 1851.
Writers, artists, and photographers spread the fame of "the Incomparable Valley" throughout the world. A steadily increasing stream of visitors came on foot and horseback, and later by stage. Realizing he could make money from tourism, James Hutchings became one of Yosemite's first entrepreneurs. Hotels and residences were constructed, livestock grazed in meadows, orchards were planted, and as a result, Yosemite Valley's ecosystem suffered.
Inspired by the scenic beauty of Yosemite and spurred on by the specter of private exploitation of Yosemite's natural wonders, conservationists appealed to Senator John Conness of California. On June 30, 1864, President Abraham Lincoln signed a bill granting Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias to the State of California as an inalienable public trust. This was the first time in history that a federal government had set aside scenic lands simply to protect them and to allow for their enjoyment by all people. This idea was the spark that allowed for Yellowstone becoming the first official national park a few years later, in 1872.
Later, John Muir's struggle against the devastation of the subalpine meadows surrounding Yosemite Valley resulted in the creation of Yosemite National Park on October 1, 1890. Military units with headquarters in Wawona administered the park while the State of California continued to govern the area covered by the original 1864 grant. Dual control of Yosemite came to an end in 1906, when the State of California receded Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove to the federal government. Civilian park rangers took over from the military in 1914. Two years later, on August 25, 1916, through the persistent efforts of Steven Mather and Horace Albright, Congress authorized the creation of the National Park Service to administer all national parks "in such manner and by such means as to leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations."