Thomas Almond Ayres (1816-1858) was a California gold rush-era artist, most famous for drawing the first rendering of Yosemite Valley to be published and popularized. Ayres was born in Woodbridge, New Jersey in 1816. As a young adult, he moved to Wisconsin Territory and worked as a draftsman in what was to become St. Paul, Minnesota (then still part of Wisconsin Territory). In 1849, he went to California, embarking from New York on the steamship "Panama" on February 4. As the announcement of gold was only made by President Polk the previous December, this made Ayres among the first to head to the gold fields. He arrived in August, and immediately set out to the diggings. 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.