We do not know the history very well. Fires have ravaged the country there for years and left many of the hills in recent secondary brush growth from the last fires. Up on top of the property where you drive in, pastures and older oaks are established. The old homestead cabin and root cellar are pre 1900, but the property has lots of 1849+ gold rush stream mounds and mines which we do not know much about at all. We purchased the ranch in 2001 from a Swiss rancher, Otto Gilser who had the property from the 1950s. There are acorn grinding pits in the big rocks below the frog pond from the first nation people who first lived there. Bob and Zane McDow, who lease the grazing rights and live on the property are the real deal, incredibly colorful locals, great story tellers with a ton of hilarious and hair raising tales to tell. Bob is a cowboy who still can do it all, raises cattle, horses, goats, ropes, brands and rides, hunter and fisherman, bulldozer sculptor, chain saw master, master house, cabin, barn, fence, gate, water systems builder, and a hard drinker, dancer and partier... he knows Yosemite and the back country like no other. Bob still runs cattle on 6-9 ranches at once and moves them with the feed. Bob and Zane are treasures and if you get to have a conversation with them you are lucky!