Thomas Ayres (artist)

Thomas Almond Ayres (c. 1816-1858) was a California gold rush-era artist, most famous for drawing the first rendering of Yosemite Valley to be published and popularized.

Like many fortune seekers, he was unlucky; however, he spent his time constructively, sketching many gold rush and other California scenes, eventually earning a reputation as a landscape artist.

[2] Hutchings report of the trip was published in Volume 1 Number 1,[2] and Ayres himself wrote a separate account in the Daily Alta California.

[4] In addition to publishing in the magazine, Ayres converted his sketches into a popular panorama displayed at McNulty's Hall in Sacramento.

On April 26, 1858, as he was headed back to San Francisco, the passenger ship he was in sunk in a storm off Point Dume.