Big Creek was first settled in 1911. Big Creek’s post office was first established June 7, 1912. Big Creek was called Big Creek Flats in the 1870’s, Manzanita Park in 1902, and for some period until 1926 was called Cascada.
Distant view of the Stoneman House hotel and other buildings, with man riding donkey on road to hotel; built 1887, destroyed by fire 1896; caption handwritten on photograph: "C.R. Savage, Salt Lake. The Stoneman House, Yosemite Valley, Cal."