The Story of Yosemite Gold Country

Welcome to the Mariposa Chronicle

Our culture runs deep; thousands of years with the original inhabitants, Miwok and Piute “First Nation” residents. In its early years, after the 1849 Gold Rush, the area was dominated by the economics and culture of “gold fever”. Wars were fought over mining rights, only some of the “wars” were fought in a court room. The lifestyle and character of this “mining culture” was tough and often violent. Slowly the “culture” of the “frontier” changed. Minors became “settlers”, and cattle ranches were established to “harvest” the vast grasslands of the lower foothills and logging became an important part of the region’s economy. Where History Lives Around the turn of the 19th Century, a new resource began to be exploited, Yosemite; the area’s natural setting became an important part of the local economic scene with the invention of the automobile. The story of Mariposa County is written large on the County’s landscape, by nature and by man. We hope you enjoy this journey exploration the possible futures of one of the most picturesque regions of the great state of California.