Editing Mariposa, California (section)

===Early Inhabitants and Spanish Naming===
Before Spanish arrival, the Southern Sierra [[Miwok]] lived in what is now Mariposa. In 1806, a Spanish priest traveling with early California explorer [[Gabriel Moraga]] named the area. When the expedition came upon a creek filled with thousands of yellow butterflies, they called it “Las Mariposas,” the Spanish word for butterflies.<ref name="MariposaOnHoldNarratives">{{cite web |title=On Hold Narratives |url=https://www.mariposacounty.org/1620/On-Hold-Narratives |website=Mariposa County |publisher=Mariposa County Government |access-date=12 January 2025}}</ref>

{{multiple image
 | align        = right
 | direction    = horizontal
 | header_align = center
 | header       =
 | image1       = JuanBautistaAlvarado (cropped).jpg
 | height1      = 120
 | alt1         = Portrait of Juan Bautista Alvarado, a middle-aged man with dark hair and a serious expression, dressed in 19th-century attire.
 | caption1     = [[Juan Bautista Alvarado]] (1809-1882), Governor of Alta California and owner of Rancho Las Mariposas under Mexican rule
 | image2       = John Charles Fremont, engraving.jpg
 | height2      = 120
 | alt2         = Engraving of John C. Frémont, showing a stern-faced man with thick hair and wearing a military uniform.
 | caption2     = [[John C. Frémont]] (1813-1890), explorer, military officer, and owner of Rancho Las Mariposas during the California Gold Rush
 }}