Death Valley Scotty: The fastest con in the West

Due to its verdant meadows, nearby river, surrounding pine and oak trees and abundant game, Wawona was called Pallahchun (meaning a good place to stop) by early tribes - the first people to inhabit the area - because it was a logical midway site between the foothills and Yosemite Valley. In 1855, Galen Clark, a miner whose health had suffered in the Gold Camps, passed through the Wawona Valley area with a party of tourists bound for Yosemite. Entranced by the beauty of the place, Clark returned in 1856 and built a crude 12-by-16 foot log cabin near a spring on the west end of the meadow. The main trail into Yosemite Valley ran near his place, making it inevitable that travelers would stop along the way. On their return trip, said Clark, they would be out of provisions and, as I always had a good supply of fresh venison and trout, they would call on me for meals. That was the beginning of Clarks Station, later called Big Tree Station and the predecessor of the Wawona Hotel, though the present-day hotel is located on the far side of the meadow where Clark moved his inn before 1860.