Groveland

Groveland has always been an important stop on the highway to Yosemite but really grew in the early 1900s with the development of the Tuolumne River Hetch-Hetchy water project for the city of San Francisco. Groveland is adjacent to the Stanislaus National Forest and is known for the historic Iron Door Saloon.

The community of Big Oak Flat was founded by James D. Savage who began mining the area about 1851. In some works, Savage is credited as discovering the Yosemite Valley about 1848. He is also identified as one of the first persons of European ancestry to enter the valley, (March 27, 1851). Others of European ancestry may have seen the valley as early as 1833.

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