8,000-10,000 BC : 

Prehistoric occupation phase 1

Hunting of game animals & exploitation of lacustrine (lake- or water-related) resources.

6,000 BC : 

Prehistoric occupation phase 2

Food procurement switches from animal to plant resources.

3,000 BC : 

Prehistoric occupations phase 3

A variety of plant and animal foods are utilized. hunting game, collecting plant roots and seeds, and fishing became important. Movement of aboriginal groups into different environmental niches becomes more commonplace. population increases are evident during this period.

300 AD

The acorn becomes the most important dietary commodity. Miwok structures in mountain areas consisted of conical bark houses, an assembly house (either in the form of a circular brush enclosure or semi-subterranean covered lodge) and sweat houses.

1830’s

Major epidemics such as smallpox resulted in many Miwok deaths.

1848 : Gold Rush

High country of Madera County was not notably rich in mineral wealth. Early settlement became known as Grub Gulch mining district. There are reports that Grub Gulch was a “lively camp” populated primarily by Chinese as early as 1851, but 30 years later it was claimed to be a booming town boasting at least two hotels, two general stores, eight saloons, and a school with as many as 40 students. The school ran until 1935 when it closed with only six students. There were three main gold mines in the Grub Gulch area: Gambetta ($15M), Josephine, and Enterprise. You can get to what used to be Grub Gulch out Road 600.

1851

Major battle in the Mariposa Indian War.

1855

Wassama Roundhouse built in Ahwahnee. 4 more would follow it, the most recent being constructed in 1985.

1856

Fresno Flats (later Oakhurst) is formed.

1864

Work begins on the Miami Creek dam. (Crooks)

1870’s

Grub Gulch and Yosemite valley were connected by the Yosemite Stage and Turnpike Company’s turnpike road. This eventually became Highway 41. Ahwahnee grew out of the intersections of Yosemite Valley, Madera, Mariposa and Oakhurst/Grub Gulch mining district. Grub Gulch, which no longer exists, was located on the road between Ahwahnee and Raymond.

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William H. Crooks established the Four Tears ranch. He bought the land of settlers who could not make an adequate living on their Sierra farms. To assure an adequate water supply, Crooks built a network of irrigation ditches to distribute water from Miami Creek (then called the North Fork of the Fresno River). By 1879 he had built a dam with ditches and flumes to carry the water to two fields enclosed with fences.

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Crooks built a house beside a wagon road which lead to the Ahwahnee Hotel. Crooks hired Chinese laborers to build the irrigation system along with Native American workers. Many of the local ranch workers lived at the Indian community now known as Ahwahnee.

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A settler named Tom Noreen owned a small farm adjacent to the Four Tears ranch. Although the Four Tears irrigation ditch ran through Norden’s land, he did not own the water rights to the ditch. Still he diverted water into a small orchard planted above the three room cabin he and his mother shared. Norden’s farm did not prosper and when Norden’s mother committed suicide, the Four Tears ranch owners purchased his farm so that they could control the water more effectively. The remains of the Norden farm exist on the Four Tears ranch and consist of a small cluster of dead apple trees. (Sierra Meadows Environmental Impact Report, 1980)

1880

William Crooks starts a sawmill (Miami Mill) with Judge James Grant. Named after Judge Grant’s birthplace, Miami, Ohio. Miami Mountain was named at this time, as well.

1881

Henry Washburn builds a hotel in Wawona, the primary way station en route to Yosemite Valley. Previous lodging facilities in the park were built by Galen Clark who sold (along with his partner) to Washburn.

1882

William Sell, Jr is born in Merced in December. (Madera Tribune, 28 September 1965)

1890

William Sell, Sr. becomes keeper of the Ahwahnee Weather Station. The Sell family lives next door to William Crooks.

1892 :

Ahwahnee Tavern Stage Stop

The 320 acres of land was originally owned by William Crooks, who later sold it to a man named Grant. Later it was sold again to William Sell.

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Albert Henry Washington (1836-1902), owner of the stage company that operated between Raymond & Wawona, bought the property around 1892. In August 1892, Washburn sold the property to William Sell, Sr. (1854-1932). Sell soon built the 2 story Ahwahnee Tavern to serve as a stage and luncheon stop on the Raymond to Wawona road. Sell had earlier been the first person to send a telegraph signal out of Yosemite Valley (not only that, he built the line). Washburn built stables and other buildings and operated the Ahwahnee Tavern in partnership with Sell.

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Mrs Sell, a native of Hornitos, gave the area its name. Turning to the native people there, she learned that their word for the type of valley in which the ranch was situated was “ahwahnee.”

1893

William Sell, Sr. named postmaster of the Ahwahnee post office (located in the Ahwahnee Tavern, owned by Sell).

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Town name is changed from Gertrude to Ahwahnee, which means “deep, grassy valley.”

Gertrude School is moved to its current location on William Crooks’ Ranch (the one on Rd 600 near River Creek Golf Course).

1898

“As the July 4 holiday rapidly approaches, it is interesting to look back 62 years to an Independence Day celebration that will long be remember in the mountain area. On July 3, 4, 5, 1898, some 30,000 people converged at Oak Park (now the Fortier Ranch) near Ahwahnee for three days of horse-racing, gambling, and high merry-making. A quarter-mile circular track was laid out, and a restaurant, saloon, judges stands and dance platform were erected, the latter gaily decorated with bunting and Japanese lanterns. Race horses were brought in from Modesto, Merced, Mariposa, Fresno, O’Neals. Around-the-clock games of chance included Klondike dice and chuck-a-luck, operated by a colored man named Bill Dunn, who will be well-remembered by oldtimers. According to John Westfall, who furnishes the information and the photograph, “there were many black eyes and skinned noses, and one cutting scrape where one man was rushed, by horse and buggy, to the hospital for repairs.”

The celebration was promoted and managed by Jim Westfall and Ed Leonard, the latter owning the ranch at that time.Reading from left in the photo are Gus Hughes, who was trainer and jockey for Jim Westfall. He holds “Nick” a horse owned by Jim Ward of Mariposa. The man to the rear is unidentified, but the man in the middle, Jim Westfall, holds his horse “Sally.” To the right Marty Leonard and father Ed Leonard hold some of their non-racing ranch horses. Pictured is the home stretch of the race track. Judges stands were built at the right, and the dance pavilion, saloon and restaurant at the left. Miami Mountain looms in the rear beyond the group, with Pilot Peak at the right.” (Sierra Star, Page Six, June 23, 1960)

1903

President Theodore Roosevelt arrived in Raymond at 8 AM. There were 1,500 people there to greet him. He talked on a platform that had been made for him on P.T. Bowen’s store. Then he came to Ahwahnee, having lunch at the Ahwahnee Tavern on his way to meet John Muir and visit Yosemite Valley.

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Through the years, other famous visitors at the Ahwahnee Tavern included Susan B Anthony, Andrew Carnegie, John D Rockefeller, Crown Prince Albert of Belgium, the Maharajah of Baroda, California Governor Padre, Galen Clark, and Rube Goldberg.

1904

“Then in 1904 Will (Sell Jr.) played professional baseball for a season with Chicago of National League. He used an assumed name, because his parents did not approve of such frivolous activities.”

(Madera Tribune, 28 September 1965)

1906

William Sell moved to El Portal to build the El Portal Hotel. In his absence, Edwin T Huffman leased and ran the tavern. The completion of the 1907 railroad from Merced to El Portal ultimately eliminated the stage route from Raymond and the need for the Ahwahnee Tavern.

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Horse-drawn stages were gradually replaced by automobile stages and in 1913 Huffman moved his operations to the Miami Lodge, which he had built in a location better suited for automobile traffic.

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The Sells start building their camp in Yosemite. It will have 100 tents on platforms. Each tent will have 2 double beds, a dresser and a wash stand. They are calling it “Camp Ahwahnee.” The camp was located near the foot of what is now Four Mile Trail.

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