Galen Clark

Born in New Hampshire in 1814, he became one of the best-known early settlers associated with Yosemite. He is widely remembered for his role as an early guardian of the Yosemite Grant and for helping visitors understand the landscape at a time when the region was just becoming famous beyond California.

His writing grew out of direct experience in the Sierra Nevada. The best-known work linked to his name is Indians of the Yosemite Valley and Vicinity, and his long connection with Yosemite also made him an important witness to the park's early history, tourism, and conservation story.

He died in 1910, just a few days before his 96th birthday. Today he is remembered less as a literary stylist than as a firsthand chronicler of Yosemite's people, places, and earliest preservation era.