In the early 1850s, a mountain man Nathan Screech became the first non-Native American to enter the valley. Local legend attributes the modern name "Hetch Hetchy" to Screech's initial arrival in the valley, during which he observed the Native Americans "cooking a variety of grass covered with edible seeds", which they called "hatch hatchy" or "hatchhatchie". Screech reported that the valley was bitterly disputed between the "Pah Utah Indians" (Paiute) and "Big Creek Indians" (Miwok), and witnessed several fights in which the Paiute appeared to be the dominant tribe. About 1853, his brother Joseph Screech (credited in some accounts for the original discovery of the valley) blazed the first trail from Big Oak Flat, a mining camp near present-day Lake Don Pedro, for northeast to Hetch Hetchy Valley.