LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Owens Valley: Los Angeles
built 655 days ago
The primary incorporated cities in the Owens Valley are Big Pine, Lone Pine Independence, Bishop and Mammoth Lakes. The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power provides electricity to the cities proper; ... SCE serves all areas outside of city boundaries, including areas located within tribal reservation property where some development is occurring.
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At the dawn of 20th century, Owens Valley was a prime piece of California nature. Located between Mount Whitney and Death Valley, the land was lush with lots of runoff from the snow-covered Sierra Nevada mountains. But then, Los Angeles got its hands on the water and everything changed.
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Although the U.S. Census Bureau declared the Frontier officially closed in 1890, the Owens Valley remained a frontier type region for many decades after that date. Roads into the area were poor and stagecoaches were still the preferred mode of travel into the area from Los Angeles until around 1910 or so. One new preacher arrived in Bishop by horseback in 1920. Horse drawn wagons were still being used by some ranchers as late as the 1930s and '40s.
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The Owens Valley, located in central California, spans roughly from Olancha to Bridgeport. The largest towns are Independence, Big Pine, Lone Pine, Bishop, Mammoth and Bridgeport. This is a beautiful, semi-arid region surrounded by the Sierra Nevada Mountains on the west and the White and Inyo Mountains on the east. The Owens River runs through the center of the Owens Valley and is the primary source of water for Los Angeles.
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Owens Valley residents blame Los Angeles for turning their isolated corner of California into the state’s dust bowl. Nearly a century ago, in one of the most controversial chapters in state history, L.A. acquired water rights in the Valley, and then built an aqueduct to send the water flowing to the thirsty and growing city 230 miles to the south. The diversion of water decades ago dried out the Owens Lake, creating today’s spawning grounds of dust storms.
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Part of the notion of theft that persists in popular discussions of Owens Valley arises from the farmers’ inability to capture more of the value of their water holdings as they negotiated in an agricultural land market. They wanted prices that more closely reflected water values in Los Angeles, not in Owens Valley agriculture. But their “cartel” was not strong enough. Farmers were able to negotiate higher land prices than their counterparts in other counties were getting, but they couldn’t obtain prices that fully reflected the higher value of water in Los Angeles.
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