Part of a series of articles titled Historic Orchards in Yosemite National Park.
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Galen Clark and Washburn Orchards
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Orchard History
Galen Clark came to California in 1853 and worked as a miner and surveyor. While surveying for a mining company in 1855, he passed through the Wawona grove of giant sequoias. Later that year, he visited the Wawona area and Yosemite Valley as a tourist. The area captured his imagination, and he returned the following year to Wawona to settle. In 1856, he filed a pre-emption claim to 160 acres including the natural meadow to the south of the South Fork of the Merced River at present day Wawona. While the Wawona area was long inhabited by the Southern Miwok people, Clark became the first non-Native year-round inhabitant of Wawona.
Clark was especially impressed by the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias. In 1856, his first year residing in a camp at Wawona, he constructed a horse trail to the grove five miles to the southeast of his claim. The following year, he erected a small 12 by 16 foot cabin adjacent to a spring in the west side of Wawona Meadow. Clark began offering visitors that were traveling the Mann Brothers Horse Trail to Yosemite Valley accommodations. The area became known as Clark’s Station. In 1864, he built a small cabin at Mariposa grove. In 1868, he expanded his operation in Wawona by building a 20 by 120 foot guesthouse and a toll bridge over the South Fork of the Merced River.
Galen Clark came to California in 1853 and worked as a miner and surveyor. While surveying for a mining company in 1855, he passed through the Wawona grove of giant sequoias. Later that year, he visited the Wawona area and Yosemite Valley as a tourist. The area captured his imagination, and he returned the following year to Wawona to settle. In 1856, he filed a pre-emption claim to 160 acres including the natural meadow to the south of the South Fork of the Merced River at present day Wawona. While the Wawona area was long inhabited by the Southern Miwok people, Clark became the first non-Native year-round inhabitant of Wawona.
Clark was especially impressed by the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias. In 1856, his first year residing in a camp at Wawona, he constructed a horse trail to the grove five miles to the southeast of his claim. The following year, he erected a small 12 by 16 foot cabin adjacent to a spring in the west side of Wawona Meadow. Clark began offering visitors that were traveling the Mann Brothers Horse Trail to Yosemite Valley accommodations. The area became known as Clark’s Station. In 1864, he built a small cabin at Mariposa grove. In 1868, he expanded his operation in Wawona by building a 20 by 120 foot guesthouse and a toll bridge over the South Fork of the Merced River.
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Clark improved the property around his station. He planted four giant sequoia trees in the area adjacent to his cabin in 1863. He also planted a small apple orchard between 1857 and 1875. Local Native Americans worked for him to grow potatoes, vegetables, and hay and dig irrigation ditches. To provide fresh provisions to visitors to his guesthouse, he raised chickens, hogs, beef cattle, and dairy cattle.
In 1869, to pay debts, Clark sold half interest in his properties to Edwin Thomas Moore, who became his business partner. In 1875, largely to cancel debts, they sold their property to Albert Henry Washburn. By that time Clark and Moore’s combined properties included 1,200 acres, the main guest house, four small structures used for lodging, the barn, a blacksmith shop, a sawmill, the ditch and water rights, the bridge, and Chowchilla Mountain Stage Road.
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An inventory of the orchards completed in 2016-2017 showed that 15 apple trees and one pear tree remain in Galen Clark Orchard. Genetic testing revealed that three of the trees match three known cultivars, while two trees match rare unknown cultivars, one tree matches an unknown tree in Curry Orchard, and one tree matches an unknown tree found in both Curry and Lamon Orchards. The same inventory counted a total of 13 apple trees in Washburn Orchard. Four trees matched four known cultivars, while four trees matched known cultivars from a database of cultivars commonly found in the southwestern U.S. One other tree is likely a lone remnant of a rare unknown cultivar. Both orchards contribute to the Wawona Hotel and Pavilion Historic District.
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Last updated: May 9, 2025