Images of America.

First peoples: earliest inhabitants of Joshua Tree National Park -- Early explorations: the desert is slowly revealed -- Settling in: at home on the range -- Hard rock in a hard land: the mining era -- New people, new ways: an evolving desert ethic -- Growing pains: a new national monument -- Wilderness park in an urban landscape: the environmental era

Human use of Joshua Tree National Park may extend as far back in time as 10,000 years. From the early Pinto Culture to modern tribes, native peoples have lived and hunted here for centuries. Indian trails helped guide Spanish, Mexican, and American explorers who gradually revealed the desert's secrets, leading to an influx of cattlemen, miners, and homesteaders between 1860 and 1930