Olancha (

Timbisha The Timbisha ("rock paint", Timbisha language: Nümü Tümpisattsi) are a Native Americans in the United States, Native American tribe federally recognized tribes, federally recognized as the Death Valley Timbisha Shoshone Band of California. The ...

: ''Pakwa' si'') is a

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

Inyo County, California Inyo County () is a County (United States), county in the Eastern California, eastern central part of the U.S. state of California, located between the Sierra Nevada and the state of Nevada. In the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the po ...

, United States. Olancha is located on

U.S. Route 395 in California U.S. Route 395 (US 395) is a United States Numbered Highway System, United States Numbered Highway, stretching from Hesperia, California to the Canada–United States border, Canadian border in Laurier, Washington. The California portion o ...

, south-southeast of

Independence Independence is a condition of a 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 status of ...

. As of the 2010 census, the population was 192, up from 134 at the 2000 census. Located in the

Owens Valley Owens Valley (Mono language (California), Mono: ''Payahǖǖnadǖ'', meaning "place of flowing water") is an arid valley of the Owens River in eastern California in the United States. It is located to the east of the Sierra Nevada (U.S.), Sierra ...

next to the now mostly dry

Owens Lake Owens Lake is a 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. Unlike most dry lakes in the Basin and Range Province that have been dry for thousands of years, ...

, the arid settlement is home to a major bottled water plant for Crystal Geyser Natural Alpine Spring Water.

Geography

Olancha is an unincorporated community located in the

on the eastern slope 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 primari ...

mountain range at the elevation of , in

Inyo County Inyo County () is a county in the eastern central part of the U.S. state of California, located between the Sierra Nevada and the state of Nevada. In the 2020 census, the population was 19,016. The county seat is Independence. Inyo County is ...

, California. It is on US Highway 395 near the junction of State Route 190, approximately due north of Los Angeles.

- a dry saline lakebed - lies to the northeast of Olancha. Olancha Creek flows from the slopes of nearby Olancha Peak (12,123 ft), passing near the town of Olancha, and finally towards Owens Lake. To the east of town lie some sand dunes, as well as a hot spring known as "Dirty Socks". According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the CDP has a total area of , over 99% of it land.

Climate

According to the

Köppen Climate Classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

system, Olancha has a

cold semi-arid climate Cold is the presence of low temperature, especially in the atmosphere. In common usage, cold is often a subjective perception. A lower bound to temperature is absolute zero, defined as 0.00K on the Kelvin scale, an absolute thermodynamic ...

, abbreviated "BSk" on climate maps due to it being in the

rainshadow A rain shadow is an area of significantly reduced rainfall behind a mountainous region, on the side facing away from prevailing winds, known as its leeward side. Evaporated moisture from bodies of water (such as oceans and large lakes) is car ...

of the

History

Olancha was established by Minnard Farley, who came to the area in 1860 and discovered silver

ore Ore is natural rock or sediment that contains one or more valuable minerals, typically including metals, concentrated above background levels, and that is economically viable to mine and process. The grade of ore refers to the concentration ...

in the nearby

Coso Range The Coso Range of eastern California is located immediately south of Owens Lake, east of the Sierra Nevada, and west of the Argus Range. The southern part of the range lies in the restricted Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake and the northern pa ...

. The name "Olancha" is believed to be derived from the nearby Yaudanche tribe. For processing the ore, he built a

stamp mill A stamp mill (or stamp battery or stamping mill) is a type of Mill (grinding), mill machine that crushes material by pounding rather than Mill (grinding), grinding, either for further processing or for extraction of metallic ores. Breaking materia ...

just south of Olancha Creek. The remains of a stone wall from this mill still exists and has been designated as a California Historical Site (marker #796). The first post office at Olancha opened in 1870. On August 11, 1969, Manson Family members Charles "Tex" Watson and Dianne "Snake" Lake settled down in Olancha two days after Watson had stabbed Sharon Tate to death. Here, Watson bought a newspaper revealing that it still was a mystery who committed the Manson murders and confessed to Lake: "I killed her, Charlie (Manson) ordered me to do so, it was fun". This fact was witnessed by Lake during the Watson trial in 1971. Lake was shortly put into custody in Independence after complaints from Olancha inhabitants for swimming nude. After a few weeks the two of them left Olancha for the final Manson hideout in Death Valley.

California Historical Landmark

Farley's Olancha Mill Site is a

California Historical Landmark A California Historical Landmark (CHL) is a building, structure, site, or place in the U.S. state of California that has been determined to have statewide historical landmark significance. Criteria Historical significance is determined by meetin ...

number 796, assigned on September 16, 1964, on

in Olancha, California. The California Historical Landmark reads: :''NO. 796 FARLEY'S OLANCHA MILL SITE - In 1860, while working for the Silver Mountain Mining Company in the Coso Mountains, M. H. Farley conceived the idea of building a processing mill on a creek that flowed into Owens Lake. He explored and named Olancha Pass that year, and by December 1862 had completed the first mill and furnace in the Owens River Valley, on Olancha Creek about one mile west of this marker.''

Demographics

Olancha first appeared as a

census designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

in the 2000 U.S. Census.

2020

The 2020 United States census reported that Olancha had a population of 131. The population density was . The racial makeup of Olancha was 90 (68.7%)

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 3 (2.3%)

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 7 (5.3%) Native American, 0 (0.0%) Asian, 0 (0.0%)

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 18 (13.7%) from other races, and 13 (9.9%) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 35 persons (26.7%). The whole population lived in households. There were 64 households, out of which 14 (21.9%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 18 (28.1%) were married-couple households, 3 (4.7%) were

cohabiting Cohabitation is an arrangement where people who are not legally married live together as a couple. They are often involved in a romantic or sexually intimate relationship on a long-term or permanent basis. Such arrangements have become incr ...

couple households, 11 (17.2%) had a female householder with no partner present, and 32 (50.0%) had a male householder with no partner present. 31 households (48.4%) were one person, and 19 (29.7%) were one person aged 65 or older. The average household size was 2.05. There were 26

families Family (from ) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictability, structure, and safety as ...

(40.6% of all households). The age distribution was 14 people (10.7%) under the age of 18, 6 people (4.6%) aged 18 to 24, 18 people (13.7%) aged 25 to 44, 47 people (35.9%) aged 45 to 64, and 46 people (35.1%) who were 65years of age or older. The median age was 57.8years. There were 68 males and 63 females. There were 81 housing units at an average density of , of which 64 (79.0%) were occupied. Of these, 50 (78.1%) were owner-occupied, and 14 (21.9%) were occupied by renters.

2010

The 2010 United States Census reported that Olancha had a population of 192. The population density was 24.4 people per square mile (9.4/km). The racial makeup of Olancha was 133 (69.3%)

, 0 (0.0%)

, 4 (2.1%) Native American, 8 (4.2%) Asian, 0 (0.0%)

, 38 (19.8%) from other races, and 9 (4.7%) from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race were 47 persons (24.5%). The Census reported that 192 people (100% of the population) lived in households, 0 (0%) lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 0 (0%) were institutionalized. There were 78 households, out of which 23 (29.5%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 44 (56.4%) were opposite-sex married couples living together, 1 (1.3%) had a female householder with no husband present, 5 (6.4%) had a male householder with no wife present. There were 7 (9.0%) unmarried opposite-sex partnerships, and 0 (0%) same-sex married couples or partnerships. 22 households (28.2%) were made up of individuals, and 6 (7.7%) had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.46. There were 50

(64.1% of all households); the average family size was 3.10. The population was spread out, with 44 people (22.9%) under the age of 18, 9 people (4.7%) aged 18 to 24, 37 people (19.3%) aged 25 to 44, 69 people (35.9%) aged 45 to 64, and 33 people (17.2%) who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 47.2 years. For every 100 females, there were 115.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 120.9 males. There were 97 housing units at an average density of 12.3 per square mile (4.8/km), of which 78 were occupied, of which 44 (56.4%) were owner-occupied, and 34 (43.6%) were occupied by renters. The homeowner vacancy rate was 2.2%; the rental vacancy rate was 2.9%. 108 people (56.3% of the population) lived in owner-occupied housing units and 84 people (43.8%) lived in rental housing units.

2000

As of the census of 2000, the median income for a household in the CDP was $30,000, and the median income for a family was $46,250. Males had a median income of $31,250 versus $26,250 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $18,124. There were 4.5% of families and 9.4% of the population living below the poverty line, including 17.2% of under eighteens and none of those over 64.

Politics

In the

state legislature A state legislature is a Legislature, legislative branch or body of a State (country subdivision), political subdivision in a Federalism, federal system. Two federations literally use the term "state legislature": * The legislative branches of ...

, Olancha is in , and . Federally, Olancha is in .