In 1856, settler Galen Clark discovered the Mariposa Grove of giant sequoia at Wawona, an indigenous encampment in what is now the southwestern part of the park.[26] Clark completed a bridge over the South Fork of the Merced River in 1857 at Wawona for traffic headed toward Yosemite Valley and provided a way station for travelers on the road the Mann brothers built to the valley.[31]