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 Plains. The word Numic com ...
: ''Payahǖǖnadǖ'', meaning "place of flowing water") is an arid valley of the
Owens River
The Owens River is a river in eastern California in the United States, approximately long.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed March 17, 2011, It drains into and through the ...
in
eastern California
Eastern California is a region defined as either the strip to the east of the crest of the Sierra Nevada or as the easternmost counties of California.
Demographics
According to the 2010 census, the population of the eastern border counties of Ca ...
in the United States. It is located to the east 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 ...
, west of the
White Mountains and
Inyo Mountains
The Inyo Mountains are a short mountain range east of the Sierra Nevada in eastern California in the United States. The range separates the Owens Valley to the west from Saline Valley to the east, extending for approximately south-southeast fro ...
, and north of the
Mojave Desert
The Mojave Desert ( ; mov, Hayikwiir Mat'aar; es, Desierto de Mojave) is a desert in the rain shadow of the Sierra Nevada mountains in the Southwestern United States. It is named for the indigenous Mojave people. It is located primarily in ...
. It sits on the west edge of the
Great Basin
The Great Basin is the largest area of contiguous endorheic basin, endorheic watersheds, those with no outlets, in North America. It spans nearly all of Nevada, much of Utah, and portions of California, Idaho, Oregon, Wyoming, and Baja California ...
. The mountain peaks on the West side (including
Mount Whitney
Mount Whitney (Paiute: Tumanguya; ''Too-man-i-goo-yah'') is the highest mountain in the contiguous United States and the Sierra Nevada, with an elevation of . It is in East–Central California, on the boundary between California's Inyo and Tu ...
) reach above in elevation, while the floor of the Owens Valley is about , making the valley the deepest in the United States.
The Sierra Nevada casts the valley in a
rain shadow
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 water bodies (such as oceans and large lakes) is carrie ...
, which makes Owens Valley "the Land of Little Rain."
The bed of
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 ...
, now a predominantly dry
endorheic
An endorheic basin (; also spelled endoreic basin or endorreic basin) is a drainage basin that normally retains water and allows no outflow to other external bodies of water, such as rivers or oceans, but drainage converges instead into lakes ...
alkali flat
A dry lake bed, also known as a playa, is a basin or depression that formerly contained a standing surface water body, which disappears when evaporation processes exceeds recharge. If the floor of a dry lake is covered by deposits of alkaline c ...
, sits on the southern end of the valley.
The valley provides water to 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 ...
, the source of one-third of the water for
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' ...
, and was the area at the center of one of the fiercest and longest-running episodes of the
California Water Wars. These episodes inspired aspects of the 1974 film ''
Chinatown
A Chinatown () is an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Africa and Austra ...
''. The current arid nature of the valley is mostly due to LADWP diverting the water of the region.
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 ...
was completely emptied by 1926, only 13 years after LA began diverting water.
Towns in the Owens Valley include
Bishop
A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution.
In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...
,
Lone Pine,
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 ...
and
Big Pine; about 25,000 people live in the valley. The major road in the Owens Valley is
U.S. Route 395
U.S. Route 395 (US 395) is a U.S. Route in the western United States. The southern terminus of the route is in the Mojave Desert at Interstate 15 near Hesperia. The northern terminus is at the Canada–US border near Laurier, where the road be ...
.
Geology
About three million years ago, the
Sierra Nevada Fault
The Sierra Nevada Fault is an active seismic fault along the eastern edge of the Sierra Nevada mountain block in California. It forms the eastern escarpment of the Sierra Nevada, extending roughly from just north of the Garlock Fault to the Casc ...
and the
White Mountains Fault
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...
systems became active with repeated episodes of slip
earthquake
An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from ...
s gradually producing the impressive relief of the eastern Sierra Nevada and White Mountain
escarpment
An escarpment is a steep slope or long cliff that forms as a result of faulting or erosion and separates two relatively level areas having different elevations.
The terms ''scarp'' and ''scarp face'' are often used interchangeably with ''escar ...
s that bound the northern Owens Valley-
Mono Basin
The Mono Basin is an endorheic drainage basin located east of Yosemite National Park in California and Nevada. It is bordered to the west by the Sierra Nevada, to the east by the Cowtrack Mountains, to the north by the Bodie Hills, and to the sou ...
region.
Owens Valley is a
graben
In geology, a graben () is a depressed block of the crust of a planet or moon, bordered by parallel normal faults.
Etymology
''Graben'' is a loan word from German, meaning 'ditch' or 'trench'. The word was first used in the geologic contex ...
—a down-dropped block of land between two vertical faults—the westernmost in the
Basin and Range Province
The Basin and Range Province is a vast physiographic region covering much of the inland Western United States and northwestern Mexico. It is defined by unique basin and range topography, characterized by abrupt changes in elevation, alternating ...
. It is also part of a trough which extends from Oregon to Death Valley called the
Walker Lane
The Walker Lane is a geologic trough roughly aligned with the California/Nevada border southward to where Death Valley intersects the Garlock Fault, a major left lateral, or sinistral, strike-slip fault. The north-northwest end of the Walker La ...
.
The western flank of much of the valley has large
moraine
A moraine is any accumulation of unconsolidated debris (regolith and rock), sometimes referred to as glacial till, that occurs in both currently and formerly glaciated regions, and that has been previously carried along by a glacier or ice shee ...
s coming off the Sierra Nevada. These unsorted piles of rock, boulders, and dust were pushed to where they are by
glacier
A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its Ablation#Glaciology, ablation over many years, often Century, centuries. It acquires dis ...
s during the last
ice age
An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages and gree ...
. An excellent example of a moraine is on
State Route 168 as it climbs into
Buttermilk Country
The Buttermilks, or Buttermilk Country, is a well known bouldering destination near Bishop, California. It comprises the western edge of the Owens Valley, in the eastern foothills of the Sierra Nevada (U.S.), Sierra Nevada.
Buttermilk Country is r ...
.
[
This graben was formed by a long series of earthquakes, such as the ]1872 Lone Pine earthquake
The 1872 Owens Valley earthquake – also known as the Lone Pine earthquake – struck on March 26 at in the Owens Valley (California, along the east side of the Sierra Nevada), with the epicenter near the town of Lone Pine. Its magnitude has ...
, that have moved the graben down and helped move the Sierra Nevada up. The graben is much larger than the depth of the valley suggests; gravity
In physics, gravity () is a fundamental interaction which causes mutual attraction between all things with mass or energy. Gravity is, by far, the weakest of the four fundamental interactions, approximately 1038 times weaker than the stro ...
studies suggest that of sedimentary rock
Sedimentary rocks are types of rock that are formed by the accumulation or deposition of mineral or organic particles at Earth's surface, followed by cementation. Sedimentation is the collective name for processes that cause these particles ...
mostly fills the graben and that a very steep escarpment
An escarpment is a steep slope or long cliff that forms as a result of faulting or erosion and separates two relatively level areas having different elevations.
The terms ''scarp'' and ''scarp face'' are often used interchangeably with ''escar ...
is buried under the western length of the valley. The topmost part of this escarpment is exposed at 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 ...
.
The Owens Valley has many mini-volcanoes, such as Crater Mountain in the Big Pine volcanic field
Big Pine volcanic field is a volcanic field in Inyo County, California. The volcanic field covers a surface area of within the Owens Valley east of the Sierra Nevada and consists of lava flows, one rhyolitic coulee and about 40 volcanic vents inc ...
. Smaller versions of the Devils Postpile, can be found, for example, by Little Lake.
Ecology
The valley contains plants adapted to alkali flat
A dry lake bed, also known as a playa, is a basin or depression that formerly contained a standing surface water body, which disappears when evaporation processes exceeds recharge. If the floor of a dry lake is covered by deposits of alkaline c ...
habitat. One of these, the Owens Valley checkerbloom (''Sidalcea covillei''), is endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...
to Owens Valley.
History
The valley was inhabited in late prehistoric times by the Timbisha
The Timbisha ("rock paint", Timbisha language: Nümü Tümpisattsi) are a Native American tribe federally recognized as the Death Valley Timbisha Shoshone Band of California. They are known as the Timbisha Shoshone Tribe and are located in sout ...
(also called Panamint or Koso) in the extreme south end around 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 ...
and by the Mono tribe
The Mono ( ) are a Native American people who traditionally live in the central Sierra Nevada, the Eastern Sierra (generally south of Bridgeport), the Mono Basin, and adjacent areas of the Great Basin. The Eastern mono is often grouped under th ...
(also called Owens Valley Paiute
Paiute (; also Piute) refers to three non-contiguous groups of indigenous peoples of the Great Basin. Although their languages are related within the Numic group of Uto-Aztecan languages, these three groups do not form a single set. The term "Pai ...
) in the central and northern portions of the valley. The Timbisha speak the Timbisha language
Timbisha (''Tümpisa'') or Panamint (also called Koso) is the language of the Native American people who have inhabited the region in and around Death Valley, California, and the southern Owens Valley since late prehistoric times. There are a fe ...
, classified in the Numic branch of Uto-Aztecan
Uto-Aztecan, Uto-Aztekan or (rarely in English) Uto-Nahuatl is a family of indigenous languages of the Americas, consisting of over thirty languages. Uto-Aztecan languages are found almost entirely in the Western United States and Mexico. The na ...
language family
A language family is a group of languages related through descent from a common ''ancestral language'' or ''parental language'', called the proto-language of that family. The term "family" reflects the tree model of language origination in hist ...
. The closest related languages are Shoshoni
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 ...
and Comanche
The Comanche or Nʉmʉnʉʉ ( com, Nʉmʉnʉʉ, "the people") are a Native American tribe from the Southern Plains of the present-day United States. Comanche people today belong to the federally recognized Comanche Nation, headquartered in La ...
. The Eastern Mono speak a dialect of the 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 ...
language, which is also Numic but is more closely related to Northern Paiute
Northern may refer to the following:
Geography
* North, a point in direction
* Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe
* Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States
* Northern Province, Sri Lanka
* Northern Range, a r ...
. The Timbisha presently live in Death Valley
Death Valley is a desert valley in Eastern California, in the northern Mojave Desert, bordering the Great Basin Desert. During summer, it is the Highest temperature recorded on Earth, hottest place on Earth.
Death Valley's Badwater Basin is the ...
at Furnace Creek although most families also have summer homes in the Lone Pine colony. The Eastern Mono live in several colonies from Lone Pine to Bishop
A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution.
In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...
. Trade between Native Americans of the Owens Valley and coastal tribes such as the Chumash Chumash may refer to:
*Chumash (Judaism), a Hebrew word for the Pentateuch, used in Judaism
*Chumash people, a Native American people of southern California
*Chumashan languages, indigenous languages of California
See also
* Chumash traditional ...
has been indicated by the archaeological record.
On May 1, 1834, Joseph R. Walker
Joseph R. Walker (December 13, 1798 – October 27, 1876) was a mountain man and experienced Reconnaissance, scout. He established the segment of the California Trail, the primary route for the emigrants to the gold fields during the Californ ...
entered Owens Valley at the mouth of Walker Pass
Walker Pass (el. ) is a mountain pass by Lake Isabella in the southern Sierra Nevada. It is located in northeastern Kern County, approximately 53 mi (85 km) ENE of Bakersfield and 10 mi (16 km) WNW of Ridgecrest. The pass prov ...
. Walker and his group of 52 men traveled up the valley on their way back to the Humboldt Sink
The Humboldt Sink is an intermittent dry lake bed, approximately 11 mi (18 km) long, and 4 mi (6 km) across, in northwestern Nevada in the United States. The body of water in the sink is known as Humboldt Lake. The sink and it ...
, and back up the Humboldt River
The Humboldt River is an extensive river drainage system located in north-central Nevada. It extends in a general east-to-west direction from its headwaters in the Jarbidge, Independence, and Ruby Mountains in Elko County, to its terminus in the ...
to the Rocky Mountains.
In 1845, John C. Fremont
John is a common English name and surname:
* John (given name)
* John (surname)
John may also refer to:
New Testament
Works
* Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John
* First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John
* Second E ...
named the Owens valley, river, and lake for Richard Owens, one of his guides. Camp Independence
Fort Independence, originally named Camp Independence, was a fort located in the Owens Valley, north of present-day Independence, Inyo County, eastern California. The U.S. Army post was active from 1862 to 1877.
History
Camp Independence
Camp ...
was established on Oak Creek nearby modern Independence, California
Independence is a census-designated place in Inyo County, California. Independence is located south-southeast of Bishop, at an elevation of 3930 feet (1198 m). It is the county seat of Inyo County, California. The population of this census-de ...
, on July 4, 1862, during the Owens Valley Indian War
The Owens Valley War was fought between 1862 and 1863, by California Volunteers and local settlers against the Owens Valley Paiutes, and their Shoshone and Kawaiisu allies, in the Owens Valley of California and the southwestern Nevada borde ...
.
From 1942 to 1945, 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 first Japanese American Internment
Japanese may refer to:
* Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia
* Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan
* Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture
** Japanese diaspor ...
camp operated in the valley at Manzanar
Manzanar is the site of one of ten American concentration camps, where more than 120,000 Japanese Americans were incarcerated during World War II from March 1942 to November 1945. Although it had over 10,000 inmates at its peak, it was one o ...
near Independence, California
Independence is a census-designated place in Inyo County, California. Independence is located south-southeast of Bishop, at an elevation of 3930 feet (1198 m). It is the county seat of Inyo County, California. The population of this census-de ...
.
Water diversion to Los Angeles
In the early 20th century, the valley became the scene of a struggle between local residents and the city of Los Angeles over water rights. 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 ...
, superintendent of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power
The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) is the largest municipal utility in the United States with 8,100 megawatts of electric generating capacity (2021-2022) and delivering an average of 435 million gallons of water per day to more ...
(LADWP), planned 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 ...
, completed in 1913, which diverted water from the Owens River. The water rights were acquired deceitfully, often splitting water cooperatives and pitting neighbors against one another. In 1924, local farmers were fed up with the purchases and erupted in violence, sabotaging parts of the water system.[
Eventually, Los Angeles acquired a large portion of the water rights to over of land in the valley, almost completely diverting the water inflows away from Owens Lake. Gary Libecap of the University of California, Santa Barbara, observed that the price Los Angeles was willing to pay to other water sources per volume of water was far higher than what the farmers received.] Farmers who resisted the pressure from Los Angeles until 1930 received the highest price for their land; most farmers sold their land from 1905 to 1925, and received less than Los Angeles was willing to pay. However, the sale of their land brought the farmers substantially more income than if they had kept the land for farming and ranching. None of the sales were made under threat of eminent domain
Eminent domain (United States, Philippines), land acquisition (India, Malaysia, Singapore), compulsory purchase/acquisition (Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, United Kingdom), resumption (Hong Kong, Uganda), resumption/compulsory acquisition (Austr ...
. As a result of these acquisitions, the lake subsequently dried up completely, leaving the present alkali flat which plagues the southern valley with alkali dust storms.
In 1970, LADWP completed a second aqueduct from Owens Valley. More surface water was diverted, and groundwater was pumped to feed the aqueduct. Owens Valley springs and seeps dried and disappeared, and groundwater-dependent vegetation began to die.[
Years of litigation followed. In 1997, Inyo County, Los Angeles, the Owens Valley Committee, the Sierra Club, and other concerned parties signed a Memorandum of Understanding that specified terms by which the lower Owens River would be rewatered by June 2003. LADWP missed this deadline and was sued again. Under another settlement, this time including the ]State of California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
, Los Angeles promised to rewater the lower Owens River by September 2005. In July 2004, Los Angeles mayor James Hahn
James Kenneth Hahn (born July 3, 1950) is an American lawyer and politician. A Democrat, Hahn was elected the 40th mayor of Los Angeles in 2001. He served until 2005, at which time he was defeated in his bid for re-election. Prior to his term a ...
proposed barring all future development on its Owens Valley holdings by proposing a conservation easement
In the United States, a conservation easement (also called conservation covenant, conservation restriction or conservation servitude) is a power invested in a qualified private land conservation organization (often called a "land trust") or gove ...
for all LADWP land. They did not meet this extended deadline. In 2008, Los Angeles fulfilled its promise and rewatered the lower Owens River.
Pursuant to a 2014 agreement between the city and Great Basin Unified Air Pollution Control District (the Owens Valley air quality regulators), LADWP began using a new, organic method of suppressing airborne dust from the dry bed of Owens Lake, ending a bitter decades-long dispute over the water and dust. The Great Basin Unified Air Pollution Control District issued an order and subsequently fined the Los Angeles utility $21 million for ignoring an order to control dust on a 5-acre patch of dry lake bed. The LADWP responded with a lawsuit in 2022, accusing the air district of exceeding its authority and ordering dust control measures without first conducting an environmental analysis of its impacts, as required by the California Environmental Quality Act.
Radio observatory
The Owens Valley Radio Observatory
Owens Valley Radio Observatory (OVRO) is a radio astronomy observatory located near Big Pine, California (US) in Owens Valley. It lies east of the Sierra Nevada, approximately north of Los Angeles and southeast of Bishop. It was established in 19 ...
located near Westgard Pass
Westgard Pass is a mountain pass on State Route 168 in Inyo County, California in the U.S. state of California. The pass lies at an elevation of and is located in between the White Mountains and Inyo Mountains ranges in the Basin and Range Pr ...
is one of ten dishes making up the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA).
See also
*Owens River
The Owens River is a river in eastern California in the United States, approximately long.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed March 17, 2011, It drains into and through the ...
*Bibliography of the Sierra Nevada
The following is a bibliography of the Sierra Nevada of California, United States, including books on recreation, natural history, and human history.
Recreation
General travel
*''Yosemite & The Southern Sierra Nevada: A Complete Guide, Includin ...
— ''for further reading''.
Notes
References
*''Cadillac Desert
''Cadillac Desert'' (1986), is a history by American Marc Reisner about land development and water policy in the western United States. Subtitled ''The American West and Its Disappearing Water'', it explores the history of the federal agencies, ...
'', Marc Reisner, revised edition, Penguin USA, (1993),
*''Geology Underfoot in Death Valley and Owens Valley'', Sharp, Glazner (Mountain Press Publishing Company, Missoula; 1997)
''Spirit in the Desert: Pilgrimages to Sacred Sites in the Owens Valley''
Brad Karelius, BookSurge Publishing, (2009). , 0-520-07245-6
*''Western Times and Water Wars'', John Walton, University of California Press, (1992).
*''The Water Seekers'', Remi Nadeau, Crest Publishers, (4th edition: 1997),
Further reading
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
External links
Groundwater Quality in the Owens Valley, California
United States Geological Survey
The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, ...
Lower Owens River Project - restoration of the lower owens river
Inyo County Water Department
Eval. of the Hydrologic System and Selected Water-Management Alternatives in the Owens Valley, California
Roadside Geology and Mining History of the Owens Valley and Mono Basin
Deepest Valley: Owens Valley resource
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