History
The name "Hetch Hetchy" comes from the Native American Sierra Miwok language and refers to a grass with edible seeds that grows in the valley. It was first used by Joseph Screech, who in 1850 became the first non-Native American to enter the valley. Screech noted that Paiutes had formerly inhabited Hetch Hetchy and still gathered seeds, roots and acorns in and around the valley. Acorns are available in the valley, but are rare elsewhere in the high country.
In 1867 Charles F. Hoffmann of the California Geological Survey conducted the first survey of the valley.
Read more about this topic: Hetch Hetchy Valley
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“Certainly there is not the fight recorded in Concord history, at least, if in the history of America, that will bear a moment’s comparison with this, whether for the numbers engaged in it, or for the patriotism and heroism displayed.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“... in America ... children are instructed in the virtues of the system they live under, as though history had achieved a happy ending in American civics.”
—Mary McCarthy (1912–1989)
“A country grows in history not only because of the heroism of its troops on the field of battle, it grows also when it turns to justice and to right for the conservation of its interests.”
—Aristide Briand (1862–1932)