until after the offenders had left the valley and were far away from 

 the place where the mischief was done. It is considered necessary 

 by the Commissioners that there should be a Guardian and sub- 

 Guardian, one or the other during the season of visitors at least 

 always in or about the Valley and Big Tree Grove, in order to bring 

 about entire safety and security that wanton damages will not be 

 inflicted. It is also necessary that the Guardian and sub-Guardian 

 should be endowed by the State with police or constabulary authority, 

 so that offenders may be arrested on the spot where the mischief is 

 done, as otherwise it will be entirely impossible for the Commis 

 sioners to answer for the safety of the property committed to their 

 charge. The localities are so distant from the county-seat or resi 

 dence of a magistrate, that it would be impossible for the Guardian, 

 unless this change is made, to obtain a warrant for the arrest of the 

 offenders and get back to the place where the offense was committed, 

 until long after the offenders had left the valley. 



Aside from wanton trespassers in the valley, there are other per 

 sons residing there to whose cases we will now direct attention. 

 And, in order to understand the position of the parties in question, 

 it will be necessary to go back and make a brief statement of the 

 history of the discovery and settlement of the valley, which we will 

 now proceed to do, relying on information furnished by persons who 

 have been acquainted with the region since it was first explored by 

 white men. 



The Yosemite Valley was first discovered and entered by white 

 men in March, 1852, and by a party commanded by Captain John 

 Boling ; this party was in pursuit of Indians, for the purpose of tak 

 ing them to the Reservation on the Fresno. During the same year 

 a party of miners came into the valley and were attacked by the In 

 dians, and two of the whites killed. They were buried near the 

 Bridal Veil Meadow. Some persons connected with Captain Bol- 

 ing's party communicated to the newspapers an account of the 

 wonders of the valley, and especially of the Yosemite Fall, which 

 was described as being " more than a thousand feet high." This 

 notice meeting the eye of J. M. Hutchings, at that time engaged in 

 collecting materials for 'the California Magazine, to illustrate the 

 scenery of this State, he collected a party and made the first regular 

 tourist's visit to the valley in the summer of 1855. This party was 

 followed the same year by another from Mariposa, consisting of six 

 teen or eighteen persons. The next year (1856) the regular travel 

 commenced, and the trail on the Mariposa side of the valley, from 



