Diaz Lake, elevation ,
is located in 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 ...
, just south of
Lone Pine, California
Lone Pine is a census-designated place (CDP) in Inyo County, California, United States. Lone Pine is located south-southeast of Independence, at an elevation of . The population was 2,035 at the 2010 census, up from 1,655 at the 2000 census. T ...
,
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
. It covers .
History
The lake was formed by 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 ...
on Tuesday, March 26 of that year when of the Owens Valley dropped approximately 20 feet (6 m) (see
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 ...
) and a new spring opened, causing water to fill the lowland.
The lake was named for the Diaz family who established a ranch here when brothers Rafael and Eleuterio Diaz emigrated from
Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
in the 1860s. They owned and operated a successful
cattle ranch
A ranch (from es, rancho/Mexican Spanish) is an area of land, including various structures, given primarily to ranching, the practice of raising grazing livestock such as cattle and sheep. It is a subtype of a farm. These terms are most often ...
until the land was sold to the city of
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' ...
.
Access
Year-round fishing is available,
and the "Diaz Lake Fish Derby" is held the first Saturday in March.
See also
*
List of lakes in California
There are more than 3,000 named lakes, reservoirs, and dry lakes in the U.S. state of California.
Largest lakes
In terms of area covered, the largest lake in California is the Salton Sea, a lake formed in 1905 which is now saline. It occupies ...
References
Lakes of the Mojave Desert
Lakes of Inyo County, California
Lakes of California
Lakes of Southern California
{{InyoCountyCA-geo-stub