Mariposa County was named, not for the Mariposa Lily which gives color to the hills in spring and early summer, but for the butterfly which is found here in countless numbers in certain seasons.

Mariposa was one of the original 17 counties. With an area of 30,000 square miles, it covered one fifth of the state. Stretching from the Coast Range to Nevada, and touching Los Angeles county on the south, it contained land now included within ten other counties. The town of Mariposa is the seat of government.

Yosemite Valley may have been visited by white men as early as 1833, but it was in 1851 that the valley can properly be said to have been discovered and made widely known. Major James D. Savage had mines in 1848 and enlisted native labor. He developed extensive trading relations with the natives but his first post, on the Merced River, was abandoned when the Yosemite Indians went on the warpath against the whites in 1850. In 1851, Major Savage entered the valley with a strong detachment of mounted volunteers to capture the Indians. In 1852, Lieutenant Moore finally drove the remaining Indians over the mountains, where they merged with the Mono Indians.

The tourist history of Yosemite Valley began in 1855 when J.M. Hutchings formed the first tourist expedition to enter it. Five days of "scenic banqueting" were spent in exploring the region and sketching its wonders.

Nearly all of the early visitors to Yosemite Valley were Californians, mostly campers. Only a few hundred came yearly until the completion of the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads. Today, thousands come annually from all parts of the world.

Yosemite Valley was made a state park on June 30, 1864. A national park surrounding the valley was established in 1890, and the present Yosemite National Park was constituted in 1906.

The town of Mariposa was founded on Fremont's Rancho Las Mariposas in 1851. The town has preserved some of the features typical of early mining camps ‹ buildings with substantial walls of brick and stone supplemented by iron doors. The building of greatest interest is the courthouse. Lumber from the neighboring forests was used in its construction and the timbers were fitted together with mortise and tenon and held in place by wooden pegs. Built in 1854, it is the oldest courthouse in California still in use. The clock in its tower has been running since 1866.

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