The first people to inhabit Yosemite were the Ahwahneechee's, in fact the name Yosemite was derived from the the Ahwahneechee word "uzumati", meaning grizzly bear, though no more grizzly bears exist in the park.
The Ahwahneechees lived in peace until the time the Gold Rush struck California. This brought conflict between the white settlers and the Ahwahneechee. A man from the nearby mining town of Mariposa, named James Savage, led what was known as the Mariposa Battalion to attack the Ahwahneechee and they were dispersed or forced to relocate. James Savage and his men were the first whites to ever step foot in Yosemite.
On June 30, 1864, President Lincoln declared Yosemite as a protected resourse. It became the first national park. John Muir, a writer and a naturalist, was one of the first to fight to extend the parks borders and increase the protection of its resources.
On the north side of Yosemite was the Hetch Hetchy Valley. In many opinions this valley was regarded as being near in beauty as Yosemite Valley itself. Hetch Hetchy was complete with cascading waterfalls and lush meadows and wildlife, but in 1913, San Francisco won a bid for the water rights for the Tuolumne river that ran through Hetch Hetchy. The river was dammed and the valley flooded. John Muir fought for many years to prevent this. He died on Christmas the following year. There has been some consideration to undamming Hetch Hetchy but even if it was done it would take nature many centurys for nature to restore the Valley to it's former beauty.
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