Manzanar (Spanish for "apple orchard") was a town in Inyo County, California, founded by water engineer and land developer George Chaffey. It was situated on the former

narrow-gauge railway A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard-gauge railway, standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with Minimum r ...

line of the

Southern Pacific Railroad The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials- SP) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the ...

north of Lone Pine, at an elevation of . A post office operated at Manzanar from 1911 to 1914. Manzanar was a shipping point for the surrounding apple orchards before the diversion of water through the

Los Angeles Aqueduct The Los Angeles Aqueduct system, comprising the Los Angeles Aqueduct (Owens Valley aqueduct) and the Second Los Angeles Aqueduct, is a water conveyance system, built and operated by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. The Owens Valley ...

from the

Owens Valley Owens Valley (Numic Numic is a branch of the Uto-Aztecan language family. It includes seven languages spoken by Native American peoples traditionally living in the Great Basin, Colorado River basin, Snake River basin, and southern Great Pl ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the area was the location of the Manzanar War Relocation Center, where people of Japanese ancestry were held.

Owens Valley Paiute

Manzanar was first inhabited by Native Americans nearly 10,000 years ago. Approximately 1,500 years ago, the area was settled by the

Paiute, who ranged across the Owens Valley from Long Valley on the north to

Owens Lake Owens Lake is a mostly dry lake in the Owens Valley on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada in Inyo County, California. It is about south of Lone Pine, California. Unlike most dry lakes in the Basin and Range Province that have been dry for th ...

on the south, and from the crest of the

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada () is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primarily ...

on the west to the Inyo Mountains on the east. Other Native American nations in the region included the

Miwok The Miwok (also spelled Miwuk, Mi-Wuk, or Me-Wuk) are members of four linguistically related Native American groups indigenous to what is now Northern California, who traditionally spoke one of the Miwok languages in the Utian family. The word ' ...

, Western

Mono Mono may refer to: Common meanings * Infectious mononucleosis, "the kissing disease" * Monaural, monophonic sound reproduction, often shortened to mono * Mono-, a numerical prefix representing anything single Music Performers * Mono (Japanese b ...

, and Tubatulabal to the west, the

Shoshone The Shoshone or Shoshoni ( or ) are a Native American tribe with four large cultural/linguistic divisions: * Eastern Shoshone: Wyoming * Northern Shoshone: southern Idaho * Western Shoshone: Nevada, northern Utah * Goshute: western Utah, easter ...

to the south and east, and the Mono Lake Paiute to the north. The Owens Valley Paiute hunted and fished, collected pine nuts, and raised crops utilizing irrigation in the Manzanar area. They also traded brown-ware pottery for salt from the Saline Valley, and traded other wares and goods across the

during the summer and fall. The Owens Valley received scant attention from European Americans until the early 1860s, as it was little more than a crossroads on the routes through the area. When gold and silver were discovered in the Sierra Nevada and the Inyo Mountains, the resulting sudden influx of miners, farmers, cattlemen and their hungry herds brought conflict with the Owens Valley Paiute, whose crops were being destroyed. Approximately one-third of the Native Americans in the Owens Valley were relocated to Fort Tejon. "The Army didn't take them on a direct route, either, said Owens Valley Paiute elder Irene Button. "They were forced to walk all the way around the eastern shore of Owens Lake" (covers an area of approximately ). After 1863, many returned to their permanent villages, established along creeks flowing down from the Sierra Nevada mountains. In the Manzanar area, the Owens Valley Paiute had established villages along Bairs, Georges, Shepherds, and Symmes creeks.

Ranchers

When

European American European Americans (also referred to as Euro-Americans) are Americans of European ancestry. This term includes people who are descended from the first European settlers in the United States as well as people who are descended from more recent Eu ...

settlers first arrived in the Owens Valley in the mid-19th century, they found a number of large Paiute villages in the Manzanar area. John Shepherd, one of the first of the new settlers, homesteaded of land north of Georges Creek in 1864. With the help of Owens Valley Paiute field workers and laborers, he expanded his ranch to . As the area was developed, its farmers by 1922 produced "probably 90 per cent

Winesaps Winesap is an old apple cultivar of unknown origin, dating at least to American colonial times. Its apples are sweet with a tangy finish. They are used for eating, cooking, and are especially prized for making cider.J.P. Hertel, "Apple Culture: A Promising Industry in Owens Valley," ''Los Angeles Times,'' July 30, 1922, image 177
/ref> In 1925 it was known as "one of the best apple and peach districts in California.""City to Lease Owens Tracts," ''Los Angeles Times,'' January 4, 1925, image 7
/ref>

Township

In 1905, George Chaffey, an agricultural developer from

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most po ...

, purchased Shepherd's ranch and subdivided it, along with other adjacent ranches. He founded the town of Manzanar in 1910, "on the main trunk line of the

Southern Pacific The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials- SP) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the ...

." By August 1911, the town had a population of "almost 200 people.""The Thousand Wonders of Productive Owens Valley; Manzanar" ''Los Angeles Times,'' August 13, 1911, image 88, column 5
/ref> The articles of incorporation for a Manzanar Water Company were filed on September 15, 1910, with capital stock of $250,000. The incorporators, directors, and subscribers were G.A. Hanson, Isaac Baxter and C.E. Searls. In January 1911, the Inyo County

Board of Supervisors A board of supervisors is a governmental body that oversees the operation of county government in the U.S. states of Arizona, California, Iowa, Mississippi, Virginia, and Wisconsin, as well as 16 counties in New York. There are equivalent agenc ...

approved an application by Chaffey's Owens Valley Improvement Company for a telephone line linking

Independence Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the statu ...

, Lone River, Owengo, Francis,

Citrus ''Citrus'' is a genus of flowering plant, flowering trees and shrubs in the rue family, Rutaceae. Plants in the genus produce citrus fruits, including important crops such as Orange (fruit), oranges, Lemon, lemons, grapefruits, pomelos, and lim ...

and Manzanar. The company built an irrigation system over an area of a thousand acres and planted about twenty thousand fruit trees. Ira L. Hatfield was the town's first postmaster, appointed in May 1911. The first post office was at Thebes, a town 1.5 miles away. ManzanarCommunityHall

In summer 1911, a "one and a half story building, 40x50" was erected at the corner of Francis and Independence avenues. The lower floor included a hall to be used "for public gatherings,

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * Chris ...

, Sunday-school and

dancing Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoire ...

." Four rooms were to be used for a company office, a barber shop and "other small lines of business." The upper floor was planned for "a good-sized hall to be used for lodge purposes.""New Building's Varied Uses," ''Los Angeles Times,'' July 8, 1911, image 15
/ref> By 1920, the town had more than twenty-five homes, a two-room school, a town hall, and a general store. Also at that time, nearly of apple, pear, and peach trees were under cultivation; along with crops of grapes, prunes, potatoes, corn and alfalfa; and large vegetable and flower gardens. "Manzanar was a very happy place and a pleasant place to live during those years, with its peach, pear, and apple orchards, alfalfa fields, tree-lined country lanes, meadows and corn fields," said Martha Mills, who lived at Manzanar from 1916 to 1920.

Quenching Los Angeles' thirst

In 1913, the City of Los Angeles completed construction of its

. It did not take long for Los Angeles water officials to realize that Owens River water was insufficient to supply the rapidly growing metropolis. In 1920, they began to purchase more of the water rights on the Owens Valley floor. As the decade went on, the City of Los Angeles bought out one Owens Valley farmer after another, and extended its reach northward into Mono County, including Long Valley. By 1933, the city owned 85 percent of all town property and 95 percent of all ranch and farm land in the Owens Valley, including Manzanar. Although some residents sold their land for prices that made them financially independent and relocated, a significant number chose to stay. In dry years, Los Angeles pumped ground water and drained all surface water, diverting all of it into its aqueduct and leaving Owens Valley ranchers without water. Without water for irrigation, the holdout ranchers left their ranches and their communities; that included the town of Manzanar, which was abandoned by 1929. By the beginning of August 1924, however, "the purchase of the Manzanar district for $780,000 was consummated by Los Angeles." Alabamahills

The Manzanar tract of 68 parcels was obtained by the city for an "aggregate price" of $788,120 ($159 an acre). It was described as lying "between the north end of the

Alabama Hills The Alabama Hills are a range of hills and rock formations near the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada in the Owens Valley, west of Lone Pine in Inyo County, California. Though geographically separate from the Sierra Nevada, they are part of ...

and the town of

." It was fed by the "Shepard '' ic', George, Bairs, Symmes and Pinyon creeks." City engineer

William Mulholland William Mulholland (September 11, 1855 – July 22, 1935) was an Irish Americans, Irish American self-taught civil engineer who was responsible for building the infrastructure to provide a water supply that allowed Los Angeles to grow into the la ...

said the land would be valuable to the city "chiefly as a subterranean reservoir of water.""City Buys Owens Tract," ''Los Angeles Times,'' August 6, 1924, image 17
/ref> By 1925, as a result of farmers and others moving away from Manzanar as Los Angeles purchased their properties, the "two-teacher school" was expected to have only seven pupils. The Manzanar and Independence, California, school districts were merged, but the combined district was suspended, or it lapsed, in 1934. The ranches remained, and Los Angeles offered the land and the buildings on them for lease. Many farmers who had sold out leased their farms back. Water from a new well was made available to some."In Owens Valley, Where Los Angeles, as Biggest Land Owner, Finds Itself Head Over Heels in the Farm Business," ''Los Angeles Times,'' June 13, 1926, images 156 and 157] Victor M. Christopher, who had been working for the Owens Valley Improvement Company, was hired by the city to "look after the maintenance and leasing of the whole tract.""Los Angeles Makes Hay," ''Farm and Orchard Magazine,'' June 13, 1926, image 159
/ref> Manzanar remained uninhabited until the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

leased from the City of Los Angeles for the Manzanar War Relocation Center.

References

External links

The website of the Manzanar National Historic Site

Additional reading

John L. Von Blon, "Los Angeles Finds Farming a Hard Game," ''Los Angeles Times,'' November 20, 1927, image 145

"Los Angeles Is Both Farmer and Farmland Here," ''Los Angeles Times, November 20, 1927, image 150
{{Authority control Former settlements in Inyo County, California Owens Valley Mojave Desert Populated places in the Mojave Desert