Laws (formerly Station and Bishop Depot) is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

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 California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. Laws is located northeast of

Bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

U.S. Route 6 U.S. Route 6 (US 6) or U.S. Highway 6 (US 6), also called the Grand Army of the Republic Highway, honoring the American Civil War veterans association, is a main route of the United States Numbered Highway System. While it ...

, towards the

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

state line.

Geography

The town is bordered by the White Mountains to the east and the

Sierra Nevada Mountains 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 ...

, the "Eastern Sierras," to the west. It is located near 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 upper

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 ...

History

The settlement of Station was formed in 1883 as a depot on the

Carson and Colorado Railroad The Carson and Colorado Railway was a U.S. narrow gauge railroad that ran from Mound House, Nevada, to Keeler, California, below the Cerro Gordo Mines. It was incorporated on May 10, 1880, as the Carson and Colorado ''Railroad'', and constr ...

. The name was changed to Laws in honor of R.J. Laws, a railroad official. A post office operated at Laws from 1887 to 1963. The town of Laws was a

railroad station A train station, railroad station, or railway station is a railway facility where trains stop to load or unload passengers, freight, or both. It generally consists of at least one platform, one track, and a station building providing such ...

along a

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

portion of the

Southern Pacific Railroad The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials) was an American Railroad classes#Class I, Class I Rail transport, railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was oper ...

. Today the town of Laws exists as a museum of Owens Valley and Eastern

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 ...

history. It is registered as

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 ...

#953.

Laws Railroad Museum and Historic Site

In 2015, the travel website

Atlas Obscura ''Atlas Obscura'' is an United States, American-based travel and exploration company. It was founded in 2009 by author Joshua Foer and documentary filmmaker/author Dylan Thuras. It catalogs unusual and obscure travel destinations via professiona ...

designated this museum as one of 160 "international gems."

Railroads displays

The Laws Railroad Museum and Historic Site includes static displays of a train consisting of an oil-fired

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, Fuel oil, oil or, rarely, Wood fuel, wood) to heat ...

Southern Pacific 9 Southern Pacific #9 is a oil-fired narrow gauge steam locomotive, built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in November 1909. It was originally built for the Nevada–California–Oregon Railway and was sold to Southern Pacific in the late 1920s ...

, and several

freight car Goods wagons or freight wagons (North America: freight cars), also known as goods carriages, goods trucks, freight carriages or freight trucks, are unpowered railway vehicles that are used for the transportation of cargo. A variety of wagon types ...

s from the

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

lines. There are also operating locomotives (none of which are steam-powered) that run on the narrow gauge tracks in the museum's grounds. The museum's display explains that the railroad was relied on by many

Eastern Sierra The Eastern Sierra is a region in California comprising the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada, which includes all of Mono and Inyo Counties and portions of other adjoining counties. The main thoroughfare is U.S. Route 395, which passes throug ...

communities before modern roads were built during the 1950s and 1960s. A station agent's home is located south of the railroad station. Docents portray the station agent on most days, helping visitors understand the period culture. The Museum includes several historic buildings moved to the site from downtown Bishop. There is a church and school house. A vehicle on display was a 1949

ambulance An ambulance is a medically-equipped vehicle used to transport patients to treatment facilities, such as hospitals. Typically, out-of-hospital medical care is provided to the patient during the transport. Ambulances are used to respond to ...

, which was later painted black, stripped of emergency lighting, and used as a

hearse A hearse () is a large vehicle, originally a horse carriage but later with the introduction of motor vehicles, a car, used to carry the body of a deceased person in a coffin to a funeral, wake, or graveside service. They range from deliberately ...

. Medical implements from a historic local doctor's office are on display. There is also a wooden

Western Electric Western Electric Co., Inc. was an American electrical engineering and manufacturing company that operated from 1869 to 1996. A subsidiary of the AT&T Corporation for most of its lifespan, Western Electric was the primary manufacturer, supplier, ...

type 11

telephone booth A telephone booth, telephone kiosk, telephone call box, telephone box or public call box is a tiny structure furnished with a payphone and designed for a telephone user's convenience; typically the user steps into the booth and closes the boot ...

Owens Valley history displays

history, including construction and impact of 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 ...

project, or "Owens Valley Aqueduct," is described in Museum displays. Today, land on all sides of the museum is property of the

Los Angeles Department of Water and Power The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) is the largest municipal Public utility, utility in the United States with 8,100 megawatts of electric generating capacity (2021–2022) and delivering an average of 435 million gallons of wat ...

, of the

City of Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Southern California. With an estimated 3,878,704 residents within the city ...

. Photographs and docents show and explain that the Valley included large tracts of agricultural land; from the

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 languages do not form a single subgroup and th ...

Native American era, through pioneer days, to the Aqueduct ' water wars era' that began diversions of water in the early 20th century to Los Angeles. A tour docent, sharing a vintage black-and-white photograph, explained '' "This is a picture of my mom's apple

orchard An orchard is an intentional plantation of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit tree, fruit- or nut (fruit), nut-producing trees that are generally grown for commercial production. Orchards are also so ...

." ''

Mining displays

The museum also houses an extensive collection of old and reconstructed

mining Mining is the Resource extraction, extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agriculture, agricultural processes, or feasib ...

equipment. Recently, museum volunteers recreated a primitive human- or animal-powered ore-crusher called an

arrastra An arrastra (or arastra) is a primitive Mill (grinding), mill for grinding and pulverizing (typically) gold or silver ore. Its simplest form is two or more flat-bottomed drag stones placed in a circular pit paved with flat stones, and connected ...

A new arrastra was built out of native materials, in this case an elm tree and hardware such as chains found in the museum's bone yard. An arrastra is a basic mine milling machine used to pulverize rock. A sweep arm – the elm log – is rotated and drags heavy stones over pieces of ore-rich rock to be pulverized. After many rotations, the rock breaks apart and the ore is exposed. It's heavy labor that was done by a beast of burden before mechanization.

Government

In the

California State Legislature The California State Legislature is the bicameral state legislature of the U.S. state of California, consisting of the California State Assembly (lower house with 80 members) and the California State Senate (upper house with 40 members). ...

, Laws is in , and . In the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

, Laws is in .

References

Sources

*Map: "Laws, California 7.5-minute Quadrangle," U.S. Geological Survey, 1994. *Map: "Guide to Eastern Sierra, #2463" Automobile Club of Southern California, 1996. *Map: "Inyo National Forest," U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, U.S. Forest Service, Geometronics Service Center, 1989. * U.S. Geological Survey, National Geographic Names Database.

External links

Laws Railroad Museum and Historic Site official website
{{authority control Museums in Inyo County, California Open-air museums in California Railroad museums in California Owens Valley Unincorporated communities in Inyo County, California Populated places in the Mojave Desert California Historical Landmarks History of the Sierra Nevada (United States) Unincorporated communities in California