Hutchings Orchard

Hutchings, pictured second from left, near the site of his orchard close to the base of Yosemite Falls.

NPS Archives

James Mason Hutchings.

NPS

Orchard History

James Mason Hutchings was born in England and migrated to California during the Gold Rush. In 1855, Hutchings organized the first recreational trip to Yosemite Valley. With this trip he began a career promoting and developing the valley. Upon his return, Hutchings wrote an article for the Mariposa Gazette describing the valley that was printed in newspapers across the country. He also sold lithographs of Yosemite waterfalls, drawn by his travel companion Thomas Ayres. In 1856, Hutchings began publication of California Magazine. The first issue featured Yosemite Valley.

In 1857, Gustavus Adolphus Hite filed a pre-emption claim in the central Yosemite Valley and the following year constructed a two-story hotel. Hite’s hotel was the first building in the area that would become Upper Yosemite Village. In 1864, Hutchings purchased Hite’s unpatented claim including the hotel, as well as the claim of Peter Longhurst. The same year Hutchings, his wife Elvira, and mother-in-law Florantha Thompson Sproat moved to Yosemite Valley to run the Upper Hotel. Elvira and James’ daughter Florence was born in August of 1864, making her the first European American born in the valley. The household also became the first European American family to winter in the valley. The Hutchings had two more children (Gertrude and William) in the following years.

In 1865, the Hutchings family moved across the river to a sunnier location on the north side of the valley where Hutchings, with the help of Lamon, built a cabin. The family planted an orchard and garden adjacent to the cabin. Hutchings also constructed a sawmill, where John Muir eventually worked. In an 1867 appeal to the United States Congress for rights to a pre-emption claim, Hutchings described the land improvements he had made up to that time.

“Numerous farm buildings were erected, corrals and fences built, a substantial bridge was constructed across the Merced River, and subsequently another over Yosemite Creek; land was broken up, and old scrubby roots were dug up by wagon loads; an orchard of about two hundred choice fruit trees was planted, and which is now in nearly bearing condition; over half an acre of strawberry plants set out, besides raspberry, Lawton blackberry, gooseberry, currant and grape vines, all of which for the most part are very productive. Besides these a vegetable garden has been put in good order, and a sufficient supply of vegetables annually grown for all purposes needed. Cereals and cultivated grasses have also been grown. In addition to these he has dug ditches for irrigation and others for drainage.

Hutchings cabin.

NPS

Hutchings obtained his first trees for his orchard from the Harris nursery in Nipinnawasee (where James Lamon who planted Lamon and Curry Orchards in the valley also obtained trees). The sapling trees from the nursery were transported to the valley via mule. In his 1888 book In the Heart of the Sierras, Hutchings further described the orchard as follows:

“The spring succeeding the completion of the cabin, called for the cultivation and fencing of a garden-ground, and the planting of an orchard. Many of the trees for the latter were grown from seeds of choice apples that had been sent us, the plants from which were afterwards budded or grafted. In this way a thrifty orchard, of about one hundred and fifty trees, came into being, and now bears many tons, annually, of assorted fruit.”

Hutchings is referring to germinating seeds to grow seedling plants that would later be grafted or budded with scion wood from a cultivar. The seedling plants formed the rootstock for orchard trees.

With the creation of the Yosemite Grant, Hutchings began a multi-year battle for his pre-emption land claim. He lost the claim in 1872 based on a Supreme Court decision. In 1874, the State Legislature awarded Hutchings $24,000 for the loss of his claim. In 1880, perhaps as a retaliatory move to the federal government’s decision, the State appointed Hutchings Guardian of the Yosemite Grant. Hutchings and his family moved back to the valley and re-occupied their cabin. He retained the post for four years. In 1888, over 30 years after his first visit to the valley, Hutchings continued to publicize the valley with his book In the Heart of the Sierras.

An inventory of the orchard, completed in 2016-2017, showed that 26 apple trees and one pear tree remain in Hutchings Orchard. Genetic testing revealed that 16 of the trees match seven known cultivars, while one tree matches a rare unknown cultivar also found in Curry Orchard. The orchard is a contributing feature to the Yosemite Valley Historic District.

Apple Cultivars Found in Hutchings Orchard

Esopus Spitzenburg/Kaighn’s Spitzenburg, Greening/Rhode Island Greening, King, Northern Spy, Talman Sweet, Seed Savers Exchange Baldwin, Seed Savers Exchange Smith’s Cider.

See the complete list of apple cultivars growing in Yosemite National Park