LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Owens Valley: Sierra Nevada
built 658 days ago
The Mountain Man, Joseph Reddeford Walker was one of the first known white men to traverse the Owens Valley in 1833. John C. Fremont named the lake for Richard L. Owings, generally known as Richard Owens, in 1845. The river and valley take their name from the lake (5,7). The Owens Valley was considered a great thoroughfare for travel to and from the Nevada mining districts of Esmeralda and Washoe, the Great Salt Lake in Utah, and Southern California. It was ... considered a significant military route for supplies and communications to and from California (3).
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Samuel Bishop and his family returned to Fort Tejón a few short years after settling in the Owens Valley, but the small settlement which carried his name continued to grow. In 1863 a stagecoach line was established along the cattle trail between Bishop Creek and Aurora called the "Aurora-Owens River Toll Road." This route, now known as Fish Slough Road, can be followed by automobile today where it is possible to still see stagecoach tracks and graffiti left on the side of rocks by 19th Century travelers. The United Stage Company, a branch of Wells Fargo Express, was operated by Phillip Keough, Superintendent. The main depot was located at Fish Slough, seven miles north of Bishop. Passengers from Bishop were picked up in town and driven out to the main depot where they were offered a meal for $1.50 and then embarked on their journey to points north including Benton Hot Springs, Adobe Valley and Aurora, where passengers could transfer to another stage line to travel on to Carson City, Nevada. The old Wells Fargo Express office in Benton Hot Springs still stands to this day.
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This is the fault scarp from the great 1872 Owens Valley earthquake. This earthquake was the largest to occur off the San Andreas Fault, in California, in historic times, and it was felt over much of California and present-day Nevada. Magnitude is estimated to be in the range 7.6 < M < 8.0, and fault rupture extends from just south of Bishop to Olancha. This earthquake was the result of normal faulting, which should come as no surprise in a rift valley. Even after 125 years of erosion, the scarp is still very visible, even if it is not as fresh as it once was.
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Views crossing the Owens Valley by plane, from a bit north of Bishop. There's no snow to outline the mountains but both the White Mountains (left) and Sierra Nevada (right) are capped by orographic clouds. The rightward jog in the Sierra front in the middle distance is the en echelon fault step and tectonic ramp west of Bishop.
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Preservation of the LADWP lands in perpetuity would protect an entire region of eastern California including the 100-mile-long Owens Valley, which lies between the Sierra Nevada and the Inyo and White mountains. The terrain varies from the sage-covered valley with volcanic tablelands to mountain meadows and forests, including over 20,000 acres of wetlands.
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