Ahwahneechee and the Mariposa Wars The first humans of Yosemite called themselves the
Ahwahneechee, meaning "dwellers" in Ahwahnee. The Ahwahneechee People were the only tribe that lived within the park boundaries, but other tribes lived in surrounding areas. Together they formed a larger Indigenous population in California, called the
Southern Sierra Miwok. They are related to the Northern
Paiute and
Mono tribes. Other tribes like the Central
Sierra Miwoks and the
Yokuts, who both lived in the
San Joaquin Valley and central California, visited Yosemite to trade and intermarry. This resulted in a blending of culture that helped preserve their presence in Yosemite after early American settlements and urban development threatened their survival. About 70 years before the Gold Rush, the indigenous population was estimated to be 300,000, quickly dropping to 150,000, and just ten years later, only about 50,000 remained. It started in December 1850 when California funded a state militia to drive Native people from contested territory to suppress Native American resistance to the European American influx. Yosemite tribes often stole from settlers and miners, sometimes killing them, in retribution for the extermination/domestication of their people, and loss of their lands and resources. Accounts from this battalion were the first well-documented reports of European Americans entering Yosemite Valley. Attached to Savage's unit was Doctor
Lafayette Bunnell, who later wrote about his awestruck impressions of the valley in
The Discovery of the Yosemite. Bunnell is credited with naming Yosemite Valley, based on his interviews with Chief Tenaya. Bunnell wrote that Chief Tenaya was the founder of the Ahwahnee colony. Bunnell falsely believed that the word "Yosemite" meant "full-grown grizzly bear".
Indigenous peoples' continuing presence (1885–1955), a
Mono Lake Paiute and
Southern Sierra Miwok Native American artist from the Yosemite region|163x163px After the
Mariposa War, Native Americans continued to live in the Yosemite area in reduced numbers. The remaining Yosemite
Ahwahneechee tribe members there were forced to relocate to a village constructed in 1851 by the state government. The last full-blooded Ahwahneechee died in 1931. Her name was Totuya, or Maria Lebrado. She was the granddaughter of Chief
Tenaya and one of many forced out of her ancestral homelands. In 1953, the National Park Service banned all non-employee Natives from residing in the Park and evicted the non-employees who had residence. In 1969, with only a few families left in the Park, the National Park Service evicted the remaining Native people living within the Park (all Park employees and their families) to a government housing area for park employees and destroyed the village as part of a fire-fighting exercise. The National Park Service has created policies to protect sacred sites and allow Native People to return to their homelands and use National Park resources.
Early tourists In 1855, entrepreneur
James Mason Hutchings, artist
Thomas Ayres, and two others were the first tourists to visit. Hutchings and Ayres were responsible for much of Yosemite's earliest publicity, writing articles and
special issues about the valley. Ayres' style was detailed with exaggerated angularity. His works and written accounts were distributed nationally, and an exhibition of his drawings was held in New York City. Hutchings' publicity efforts between 1855 and 1860 increased tourism to Yosemite. Natives supported the growing tourism industry by working as laborers or maids. Later, they performed dances for tourists, acted as guides, and sold handcrafted goods, notably woven baskets.
Galen Clark discovered the
Mariposa Grove of
giant sequoia in Wawona in 1857. He had simple lodgings and roads built. In 1879, the
Wawona Hotel was built to serve tourists visiting Mariposa Grove. As tourism increased, so did the number of trails and hotels to build on it. The
Wawona Tree, also known as the
Tunnel Tree, was a
giant sequoia that grew in the
Mariposa Grove. It was tall, and was in circumference. When a carriage-wide tunnel was cut through the tree in 1881, it became even more popular as a tourist photo attraction. Carriages and automobiles traversed the road that passed through the tree. The tree was permanently weakened by the tunnel, and it fell in 1969 under a heavy load of snow. It was estimated to have been 2,100 years old. Yosemite's first concession was established in 1884 when John Degnan and his wife established a bakery and store. In 1916, the National Park Service granted a 20-year concession to the Desmond Park Service Company. It bought out or built hotels, stores, camps, a dairy, a garage, and other park facilities. The
Hotel Del Portal was completed in 1908 by a subsidiary of the
Yosemite Valley Railroad. It was located at
El Portal, California just outside of Yosemite. The Curry Company started in 1899, led by David and Jennie Curry, to provide concessions. They founded Camp Curry, now
Curry Village. Park service administrators felt that limiting the number of concessionaires in the park would be more financially sound. The Curry Company and its rival, the Yosemite National Park Company, were forced to merge in 1925 to form the
Yosemite Park & Curry Company (YP&CC). The company built the
Ahwahnee Hotel in 1926–27.
Yosemite Grant Concerned by the impact of commercial interests, citizens, including
Galen Clark and Senator
John Conness, advocated protection for the area. The
38th United States Congress passed legislation that was signed by
President Abraham Lincoln on June 30, 1864, creating the Yosemite Grant. This is the first time land was set aside specifically for preservation and public use by the U.S. government, and set a precedent for the 1872 creation of
Yellowstone national park, the nation's first. According to Rolf Diamant and Ethan Carr, "the Yosemite Grant was a direct consequence of the
war ... an embodiment of the ongoing process of remaking government ... an intentional assertion of a steadfast belief in the eventual
Union victory." Yosemite Valley and the
Mariposa Grove were ceded to
California as a
state park, and a board of commissioners was established two years later. Galen Clark was appointed by the commission as Grant's first guardian, but neither Clark nor the commissioners had the authority to evict
homesteaders (which included Hutchings). Clark and the commissioners were ousted in a dispute that reached the Supreme Court in 1880. The two Supreme Court decisions affecting management of the Yosemite Grant are considered precedents in land management law. Hutchings became the new park guardian.
John Muir was a Scottish-born American naturalist and explorer. Muir's leadership ensured that many National Parks were left untouched, including Yosemite. Muir wrote articles popularizing the area and increasing scientific interest in it. Muir was one of the first to theorize that the major landforms in Yosemite Valley were created by alpine glaciers, bucking established scientists such as
Josiah Whitney. Muir wrote scientific papers on the area's biology. Landscape architect
Frederick Law Olmsted emphasized the importance of conservation of Yosemite Valley.
Increased protection efforts Overgrazing of meadows (especially by sheep), logging of giant sequoia, and other damage led Muir to become an advocate for further protection. Muir convinced prominent guests of the importance of putting the area under federal protection. One such guest was
Robert Underwood Johnson, editor of
Century Magazine. Muir and Johnson lobbied Congress for the Act that created Yosemite National Park on October 1, 1890. The State of California, however, retained control of Yosemite Valley and Mariposa Grove. Muir's writings raised awareness about the damage caused by sheep grazing, and he actively campaigned to virtually eliminate grazing from Yosemite's high country. The newly created national park came under the jurisdiction of the United States Army's Troop I of the
4th Cavalry on May 19, 1891, which set up camp in Wawona with Captain
Abram Epperson Wood as acting superintendent.
National Park Service The
National Park Service (NPS) was formed in 1916, and Yosemite was transferred to that agency's jurisdiction. Tuolumne Meadows Lodge,
Tioga Pass Road, and campgrounds at Tenaya and Merced lakes were also completed in 1916. Automobiles started to enter the park in ever-increasing numbers following the opening of all-weather highways to the park. The Yosemite Museum was founded in 1926 through the efforts of
Ansel Franklin Hall. In the 1920s, the museum featured Native Americans practicing traditional crafts, and many Southern Sierra Miwok continued to live in Yosemite Valley until they were evicted from the park in the 1960s. Although the NPS helped create a museum that included Native American culture, its early actions and organizational values were dismissive of Yosemite Natives and the Ahwahneechee. In 1913, the
O'Shaughnessy Dam was approved via passage of the
Raker Act. In 1918,
Clare Marie Hodges was hired as the first female Park Ranger in Yosemite. Following Hodges in 1921,
Enid Michael was hired as a seasonal Park Ranger By 1968,
traffic congestion and parking in Yosemite Valley during the summer months had become a concern. NPS reduced artificial inducements to visit the park, such as the
Firefall, in which red-hot embers were pushed off a cliff near Glacier Point at night. In 1984, preservationists persuaded Congress to designate , or about 89 percent of the park, as the Yosemite Wilderness. As a
wilderness area, it would be preserved in its natural state with humans being only temporary visitors. In 2025, laid-off National Park Service workers displayed a giant
upside down American flag as a "distress signal" at El Capitan to protest layoffs recently made by the
Trump administration. ==Geography==