Inyo County is a county in the eastern central part of the U.S. state of California, located between the Sierra Nevada mountains and the state of Nevada. In the 2010 census, the population was 18,546. The county seat is Independence. Inyo County is on the east side of the Sierra Nevada and southeast of Yosemite National Park in Central California. It contains the Owens River Valley; it is flanked to the west by the Sierra Nevada and to the east by the White Mountains and the Inyo Mountains. With an area of 10,192 square miles (26,397 km2), Inyo County is the second-largest county by area in California, after San Bernardino County. Almost one-half of that area is within Death Valley National Park. However, with a population density of 1.8 people per square mile, it also has the second-lowest population density in California, after Alpine County.
Bishop is a city in California, United States. It is the largest populated place and only incorporated city in Inyo County. Bishop is located near the northern end of the Owens Valley, at an elevation of 4,150 feet (1,260 m). The city was named after Bishop Creek, flowing out of the Sierra Nevada; the creek was named after Samuel Addison Bishop, a settler in the Owens Valley. Bishop is a commercial and residential center, while many vacation destinations and tourist attractions in the Sierra Nevada are located nearby.
Independence is a census-designated place in Inyo County, California. Independence is located 41 miles (66 km) south-southeast of Bishop, at an elevation of 3930 feet. It is the county seat of Inyo County, California. The population of this census-designated place was 669 at the 2010 census, up from 574 at the 2000 census.
Olancha is a census designated place in Inyo County of the U.S. state of California. Olancha is located on U.S. Route 395 in California, 37 miles (60 km) south-southeast of Independence, at an elevation of 3658 feet. As of the 2010 census, the population was 192, up from 134 at the 2000 census.
Owens Valley 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, west of the White Mountains and Inyo Mountains, and north of the Mojave Desert. It sits on the west edge of the Great Basin. The mountain peaks on the West side reach above 14,000 feet (4,300 m) in elevation, while the floor of the Owens Valley is about 4,000 feet (1,200 m), making the valley the deepest in the United States. The Sierra Nevada casts the valley in a rain shadow, which makes Owens Valley "the Land of Little Rain." The bed of Owens Lake, now a predominantly dry endorheic alkali flat, sits on the southern end of the valley.
The 1872 Owens Valley earthquake – also known as the Lone Pine earthquake – struck on March 26 at in the Owens Valley, with the epicenter near the town of Lone Pine. Its magnitude has been estimated at 7.4 to 7.9, with a maximum Mercalli Intensity of X (Extreme). It was one of the largest earthquakes to hit California in recorded history and was similar in size to the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Twenty-seven people were killed and fifty-six were injured.
Fort Ter-Waw is a former US Army fort that was located six miles from the mouth of the Klamath River in the former Klamath River Reservation and in the present town of Klamath Glen, California.
Manzanar was a town in Inyo County, California, founded by water engineer and land developer George Chaffey.
Laws is an unincorporated community in Inyo County, California. Laws is located 4 miles (6.4 km) northeast of Bishop on U.S. Route 6, towards the Nevada state line.
U.S. Route 395 (US 395) is a United States Numbered Highway, stretching from Hesperia, California to the Canadian border in Laurier, Washington. The California portion of US 395 is a 557-mile (896 km) route which traverses from Interstate 15 (I-15) in Hesperia, north to the Oregon state line in Modoc County near Goose Lake. The route clips into Nevada, serving the cities Carson City and Reno, before returning to California.
Haiwee is an unincorporated community in Inyo County, California. It is located on the Southern Pacific Railroad 24 miles (39 km) south-southwest of Keeler, at an elevation of 4075 feet.
Valley Wells is a census-designated place in Inyo County, California. It lies at an elevation of 1,749 ft (533 m). Prior to 2010, for census purposes it was part of Homewood Canyon-Valley Wells CDP. The 2010 census reported that population was zero. The town is now registered as California Historical Landmark #443; in 1849, several groups of midwestern emigrants settled here to secure water from nearby Searles Lake.
Burnt Wagons is a former settlement in Inyo County, California, near Stovepipe Wells. It was located in Death Valley 7 miles (11 km) northwest of Death Valley Junction. The name recalls the emigrants of 1849 who abandoned and burnt their wagons at the site. The site is now registered as California Historical Landmark #441. The monument's plaque reads:
BURNED WAGONS POINT Near this monument, the Jayhawker group of Death Valley Forty-Niners, gold seekers from Middle West, who entered Death Valley in 1849 seeking short route to the mines of central California, burned their wagons, dried the meat of some oxen and, with surviving animals, struggled westward on foot.
STATE REGISTERED LANDMARK NO.441
Marker placed by California Centennials Commission.
Base furnished by Death Valley '49ers, Inc.
Dedicated December 3rd, 1949
Bend City is a former settlement in Inyo County, California. It was located on the Owens River near the modern-day town of Kearsarge. Founded in the 1863, Bend City was originally a mining camp. Bend City was the site of the first county bridge spanning the Owens River. The 1872 Lone Pine earthquake changed the course of the river away from the townsite, which had already declined. The site is now registered as California Historical Landmark #209.
Lavers' Crossing is a former settlement in Kern County, California. It was located 1 mile (1.6 km) west-northwest of Glennville. Located at the currect junction of White River road and Jack Ranch road.
Fort Independence, originally named Camp Independence, was a fort located in the Owens Valley, 3 miles (4.8 km) north of present-day Independence, Inyo County, eastern California. The U.S. Army post was active from 1862 to 1877.
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 border region. The removal of a large number of the Owens River Native Californians to Fort Tejon in 1863, was considered the end of the war. Minor hostilities continued occasionally until 1867.
Mayfield Canyon, a canyon northwest of the town of Bishop in Inyo County, California.
San Francis Ranch was the ranch of Owens Valley pioneer Samuel A. Bishop and his wife, located on a creek later named for him southwest of modern Bishop, California also named after him. Bishop founded the ranch here in August 1861, after he and his wife drove 500 cattle and 50 horses from Fort Tejon to this spot in the Owens Valley, intending to sell cattle to the miners in the boomtown of Aurora and other mining camps in the area.
Battle of Bishop Creek was one of the early engagements of the Owens Valley Indian War fought on April 6, 1862 along Bishop Creek, in what is now Inyo County, California.
