Historical Markers and War Memorials in Inyo County, California
Adjacent to Inyo County, California
▶ Fresno County(111) ▶ Kern County(308) ▶ Mono County(76) ▶ San Bernardino County(245) ▶ Tulare County(73) ▶ Clark County, Nevada(175) ▶ Esmeralda County, Nevada(20) ▶ Nye County, Nevada(56)
Touch name on list to highlight map location. Touch blue arrow, or on map, to go there.
With the discovery of gold and silver in Nevada at Goldfield and Tonopah, the need for electric power for mining operations was fulfilled in September, 1905, by construction of a hydro-electric plant on Bishop Creek, which supplied 1,300 . . . — — Map (db m629) HM
Ballarat was born in eighteen ninety seven
following the discovery of the Radcliff Mine
in Pleasant Canyon.
Its namesake was the famous gold city
in Victoria Australia.
It was never a very large town.
It served Panamint Valley and Death . . . — — Map (db m159356) HM
Marker 1:
The Big Pine Veterans Memorial was established by the Big Pine Civic Club in the year 2000 to honor all veterans of the Owens Valley. The 80-foot tall pole proudly displays the "Stars and Stripes" with the California State flag . . . — — Map (db m54427) HM
This Giant Sequoia is reported to have been planted to commemorate the opening of Westgaard Pass to automobile traffic. The tree was named in honor of President Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt. — — Map (db m54428) HM
Camp Independence soldiers needed a road to Waucoba-Deep Springs. In 1873 J. S. "Scott" Broder completed this road and collected tolls until 1900. In 1913 A. L. Westgaard led an American Automobile Assn. tour across here, seeking a new . . . — — Map (db m54425) HM
Zurich Station, formerly Alvord, was established in 1884 as a freight and passenger station on the Carson & Colorado Railway - known locally as "The Slim Princess."
Zurich was the main railroad station for Big Pine and points east. Its name was . . . — — Map (db m92763) HM
This historic mining artifact is known as a track mucking machine. It dates back to the 1960s and was used by Union Carbide Corporation at the nearby Pine Creek Tungsten mine 20 miles North West of Bishop. During World War II and for some years . . . — — Map (db m78131) HM
On April 6, 1862, a battle took place around this site between newly arrived citizens of the Owens River Valley and the Paiute and Shoshone Indians, original inhabitants of the land. The reason for this battle is lost in obscurity, but brave men on . . . — — Map (db m628) HM
The Shooting
For the first time in many months the peace and calm of the town were disturbed by a succession of pistols shots last Saturday night. The shots were fired by Officer Plumley in arresting one Phillip Staiger for disorderly conduct . . . — — Map (db m78316) HM
In 1883 the Carson & Colorado Railroad was built between Mound House (Near Carson City, Nevada) through Laws to Keeler, California. A distance of 300 miles. Laws Station was named in honor of Mr. R.J. Laws, Assistant Superintendent of the railroad . . . — — Map (db m10333) HM
Near this location, on Oct. 1, 1871, escaped convicts Moses Black and Leander Morton were lynched by vigilantes to avenge the killing of Robert Morrison, a well liked Wells Fargo agent from Benton. Morrison was a member of the sheriff's posse who . . . — — Map (db m72571) HM
The first white man’s settlement in northern Owens Valley was built here in 1861 and two years later prospectors named it Owensville. It thrived for some time but in 1864, as mining in the White Mts. petered out the miners moved on to better . . . — — Map (db m2953) HM
West of this spot, gold was discovered in the Pine Creek drainage by Civil War veterans. It was not until April, 1916, when tungsten was discovered by four men: O.E. Vaughn, A.E. & C.C. Beauregard, and James Sproul on their claims, Blizzard 1, 2, 3 . . . — — Map (db m2952) HM
Fifty years ago, the eastern edge of the Sierra Nevada was the site of intense atmospheric research to explore the cause and dynamics of the newly appreciated and powerful mountain wave phenomenon known locally as the Sierra Wave.
This . . . — — Map (db m156150) HM
In 1861, Samuel A. Bishop, his wife and party left Fort Tejon for the Owens Valley driving 650 head of stock. On August 22, Bishop reached a creek later named for him and southwest of this spot, established San Francis Ranch. There a peace treaty . . . — — Map (db m627) HM
The Slim Princess “Engine 9” was built in 1909 and first saw service on the 36 inch narrow gauge rails (standard gauge is 4 feet 8 ½ inches) of the Nevada, California and Oregon Railroad. It came to the Mina Branch of the Southern . . . — — Map (db m78315) HM
First Panel Left:
Logging at Mono Mills
Circa 1850-1910
This mural illustrates the Kinneys and Summers (Ernest’s grandmother was a Summers) hauling logs.
The rig with the big wheels called “Michigan Wheels” is dragging . . . — — Map (db m78320) HM
In August 1924 Matt Wilkenson opened the Kittie Lee Inn, which was named for his daughter. When William R. Whorff purchased it in 1925, the Kittie Lee became "the" place to stay for Hollywood's finest.
When Bishop Airport was a training center . . . — — Map (db m72572) HM
A hybrid offspring of a male donkey, commonly known as a jackass and a female horse. Characterized by long ears, a braying voice and short mane, this patient and sure footed animal has been used as a beast of burden throughout the world.
Its . . . — — Map (db m92729) HM
The Kittie Lee Inn was built in 1924 and was considered to be the height of luxury. During Hollywood’s heyday of filming movies in the High Sierra, almost all of the great stars stayed here at one time or another. Will Rogers, Randolph Scott, . . . — — Map (db m78314) HM
[Upper Main Marker:]
In June 1873 Colonel Sherman Stevens built a sawmill and flume on Cottonwood Creek high in the Sierra’s directly west of this spot. The flume connected with the Los Angeles Bullion Road. The lumber from the flume was . . . — — Map (db m52104) HM
In June 1873 Colonel Sherman Stevens built a sawmill and flume on Cottonwood Creek high in the Sierras directly west of this spot. The flume connected with the Los Angeles Bullion Road. The lumber from the flume was used for timbering in the mine . . . — — Map (db m33877) HM
Before you is vivid evidence of one of the geologic forces that shapes Death Valley. Unlike most geologic features, the age of Ubehebe Crater (u-bee hee-bee) is measured in thousands rather than millions of years; it is about 2,000 years old. . . . — — Map (db m150284) HM
This building was originally built by the Pacific Coast Borax Company in 1924. The original name of the facility was Corkill Hall, and was the social center for Death Valley Junction between 1924 to 1948.
Between the years 1948 to 1967, Corkill . . . — — Map (db m78582) HM
This historic crossroad has been used by Indians, Clampers, Death Valley 49ers, ranchers, farmers, settlers and tourists. The town was originally called Amargosa. In 1907, the name was changed to Death Valley Junction. At this junction, the Tonopah . . . — — Map (db m78583) HM
Among the first structures greeting visitors entering
the park from the west, these two stone buildings at
Emigrant were built to serve as a ranger station and
are a legacy of the Civilian Conservation Corps
(CCC). Created by President Franklin . . . — — Map (db m159295) HM
Good Life in Badwater
Water is rare and precious in Death Valley. Imagine the disappointment when a surveyor mapping this area could not get his
mule to drink from this pool. He wrote on his map that the
spring had "bad . . . — — Map (db m159465) HM
Near this spot the Bennett-Arcane contingent of the Death Valley '49ers, emigrants from the Middle West, seeking shortcut to California gold fields, were stranded for a month and almost perished from starvation. William Lewis Manley and John Rogers, . . . — — Map (db m159315) HM
A few structural remains and the nearby borax
windrows are the most visible reminders of
Eagle Borax Works, the first borax refinery in
Death Valley.
Businessman Isador Daunet founded the Eagle
operation on this site, producing borax by . . . — — Map (db m159313) HM
Good fortune inspired the name “King of the Desert,“ coined for the Keane Wonder Mine by the Rhyolite Herald in 1911. The mine was discovered by Jack Keane and Domingo Etcharren in 1904. Producing over a million dollars in gold from . . . — — Map (db m159260) HM
During the first two decades of this century the Keane Wonder Mine was the scene of major investment and development. The products of this labor were the riches - gold and silver.
About 1903, Jack Keane, prospector, discovered gold in this . . . — — Map (db m159264) HM
This was a mining boom town founded on wild and distorted advertising. 300
hopeful people swarmed here and a post office was established in August,
1926. In February 1927, the post office closed and the town died. — — Map (db m159527) HM
This waterhole, only one in the sand dune area of Death Valley, was at the junction of two Indian trails. During the bonanza days of Rhyolite and Skidoo it was the only known water source on the cross-valley road. When sand obscured the spot, a . . . — — Map (db m94591) HM
Indian rock carvings are found throughout
the Western Hemisphere. Indians living today
deny any knowledge of their meaning. Are they
family symbols, doodlings, or ceremonial
markings? Your guess is as good as any.
Ancient Archives . . . — — Map (db m159528) HM
Bury me beside Jim Dayton in the valley we loved. Above me write: "Here lies Shorty Harris, a single blanket jackass prospector." - Epitaph requested by Shorty (Frank) Harris, beloved gold hunter, 1856-1934.
Here Jas. Dayton, pioneer, perished, . . . — — Map (db m159314) HM
Traces of civilization remain for a long time on the face of Death Valley. Here, on both sides of the paved highway, you can see tracks of wagons that rolled between the mining boom towns of Rhyolite, Nevada and Skidoo, California. — — Map (db m159209) HM
Mining comes and goes with fluctuating demand for minerals, but the draw of the desert is eternal. By the 1920s borax mining activity had slowed and the Pacific Coast Borax Company began looking for other uses for its holdings in Death Valley. The . . . — — Map (db m159455) HM
Used in hauling borax from Death Valley to
Mojave, 165 miles - 10 days. The borax weighed
24 tons. The entire weight totaled 36½ tons. — — Map (db m159870) HM
These panels deal with how borax was mined and refined at the Harmony Borax Works in Death Valley.
Borax
Borates - salt minerals - were deposited in ancient lake beds that uplifted and eroded into the yellow Furnace Creek . . . — — Map (db m80567) HM
Through this natural gateway the Death Valley Forty-Niners, more than one hundred emigrants from the middle west, seeking a shortcut to gold fields of central California, entered Death Valley in
December, 1849. All suffered from thirst and . . . — — Map (db m137301) HM
Interbedded salt and water-bearing gravels are more than 1,000 feet thick beneath the Devils Golf Course. Great horizontal forces exerted by crystallizing salt, push these columns upward. Wind and rain carve them into fantastic shapes. — — Map (db m158905) HM
Furnace Creek is a spring fed stream flowing into Death Valley. Native Americans lived here centuries prior to its discovery by lost Forty Niners. In 1881, Aaron Winters found borax nearby, and sold his claims and water rights to William Tell . . . — — Map (db m159457) HM
Steam tractor and ore wagons introduced
at Old Borate to replace the twenty mule
teams and replaced in turn by the Borate
and Daggett Railroad. The tractor was later
used and abandoned on the Beatty-Keane
Wonder Mine Road in Death Valley. — — Map (db m159872) HM
On the marsh near this point borax was discovered in 1881 by Aaron Winters who later sold his holdings to W. T. Coleman of San Francisco. In 1882 Coleman built the Harmony Borax Works and commissioned his superintendent J. W. S. Perry to design . . . — — Map (db m158971) HM
He laid the foundation of the National Park Service, defining and establishing the policies under which its areas shall be developed and conserved unimpaired for future generations. There will never come an end to the good that he has done. — — Map (db m158620) HM
Though steeped in legend, the frenzied search
for gold and other materials in Death Valley
produced few fortunes. Borax, the "White
Gold of the Desert," ranks as the valley's
most profitable mineral.
Harmony Borax works, in front of you, . . . — — Map (db m32661) HM
This auditorium is one of three original buildings remaining here from Manzanar War Relocation Center. As you walk closer, listen for laughter, tears, music—the sounds of celebration and sadness that once echoed through this building’s . . . — — Map (db m122704) HM WM
At the request of settlers, Colonel George Evans led a military expedition to this site on July 4, 1862. Hence its name “Independence”. Indian hostilities ceased and the camp closed. War again broke out in 1865 and the camp was . . . — — Map (db m2954) HM
Thomas Edwards came to the Owens Valley in 1863, acquired land and founded the township of Independence. He built this house in 1865. It is the oldest house in Inyo County. — — Map (db m52101) HM
An oil burning steam locomotive, built by Baldwin in 1911, was purchased by the Southern Pacific R.R. in 1926 to haul passengers and freight along the 300 miles narrow gauge line, known locality as the “Slim Princess”. Jim Butler of . . . — — Map (db m52099) HM
Architect: William H. Weeks
Contractor: McCombs and Son
Board of Supervisors
George W. Naylor * Amos Hancock
Thomas Thomson, Jr. * W.V. Butler
Charles Partridge
Accepted: November 8, 1921
The Inyo County Courthouse is . . . — — Map (db m2956) HM
Built originally as a stagecoach depot in 1866, it evolved into a railroad station in 1883 to carry freight and passengers on the Carson & Colorado Railroad line, known locally as the "Slim Princess". It served the Independence community from 1883 . . . — — Map (db m72573) HM
Over the years, this monument has become an icon, inspiring a grass-roots movement to preserve Manzanar and remember the sacrifices of 120,313 Japanese Americans confined by their own government. — Map (db m70549) HM
In the early part of the World War II, 110,000 persons of Japanese ancestry were interned in relocation centers by Executive Order No. 9066, issued on February 19, 1942.
Manzanar, the first of ten such concentration camps, was bounded by . . . — — Map (db m122703) HM WM
“But if ever you come beyond the borders as far as the town that lies in a hill dimple at the foot of Kearsarge, never leave it until you have knocked on the door of the brown house under the willow-tree at the end of the village street, and . . . — — Map (db m2955) HM
One hundred thirty feet west of this site, Charles Putnam built the first cabin of permanent habitation in what is now Inyo County in August 1861. The building served as a home, trading post, hospital, and “fort” for early settlers, as . . . — — Map (db m2957) HM
Life at Manzanar was uncertain, but the prospect of dying behind barbed wire, far from home, may have been unthinkable. On May 16, 1943, Matsunosuke Murakami, 62, became the first of 150 men, women, and children to die in camp. He and 14 others, . . . — — Map (db m70534) WM
America went to work for the war effort in 1942, and Manzanar was no exception. More than 500 young Japanese Americans wove camouflage nets here for the U.S. Army. Since citizenship was a job requirement, most saw weaving nets as a chance to prove . . . — — Map (db m70551) HM
Cerro Gordo discovered by Mexicans in 1865 was at $17,000,000 Inyo's wealthiest mineral producer. Silver, lead, zinc, water and supplies all went by mule train, tram. The "Bessie Brady" boat across Owens Lake and Remi Nadeau mule teams to build the . . . — — Map (db m72747) HM
In 1862 this high quality deposit of dolomitic limestone was discovered. Its remorte location delayed development until 1883, when the Carson & Colorado Railroad was constructed. In 1885, Drew Haven Dunn filed a mining claim and the Inyo Marble . . . — — Map (db m72577) HM
From Mound House, Nevada, narrow gauge rails of the Carson & Colorado Railroad reached this site in 1883. Cerro Gordo and other mines faltered, the rail line fell on hard times, so plans to extend the line to Mojave were abandoned, leaving Keeler as . . . — — Map (db m72574) HM
Owens Lake was once over 300 feet deep and part of a large ancient freshwater lake. As the climate changed over centuries, the lake began to dry up leaving behind concentrated minerals and salts. By 1905, diversion of water by farmers in the Owens . . . — — Map (db m72575) HM
The Owens Lake Silver-Lead Furnace and Mill was built here by Col. Sherman Stevens in 1869 and used until March 1874. James Brady assumed its operation in 1870 for the Silver-Lead Company and built the town of Swansea. During the next few years the . . . — — Map (db m72576) HM
In 1938, this hill area, among many others in these Alabama Hills, served as a stand-in for the hill country of northern India when RKO made the classic adventure film, 'Gunga Din,' on location in Lone Pine. Hundreds of horsemen raced across the . . . — — Map (db m93442) HM
The Alabama Gates and gate house were constructed in 1913 when the Los Angeles Aqueduct was built to dewater the aqueduct when maintenance is necessary. On November 16, 1924, seventy or more local citizens seized the aqueduct at the Alabama Gates . . . — — Map (db m93252) HM
In the 1870’s bullion bars from Cerro Gordo mines were hauled across Owens Lake on the steamer “Bessie Brady” to Cartago Boat Landing. Remi Nadeau’s 14 mule teams hauled the bullion to Los Angeles, returning with freight. — — Map (db m81960) HM
The town was named after Dr. E. Darwin French who explored the area in 1860 giving his name to the falls, canyon, and wash. First recorded mine, the Promontorio, was discovered by Rafael Cuervo October 1876. Darwin was the center of activity of the . . . — — Map (db m72567) HM
On the date of March 26, 1872, an earthquake of major proportions shook Owens Valley and nearly destroyed the town of Lone Pine.
Twenty seven persons were killed.
In addition to single burials, 16 of the victims were interred in a common . . . — — Map (db m34157) HM
This Plaque Presented to The Beverly and Jim Rogers Lone Pine Film Museum to Honor Masons and Shriners.
Dedicated to all Masons and Shriners who appeared in movies filmed in the Alabama Hills, Lone Pine and surrounding areas. Presented by Kerak . . . — — Map (db m72578) HM
This cemetery was established in 1865 when Mrs, McGuire and her son were killed on Jan. 1, 1865, during the last battle of the 1860's Owens Valley Indian Wars. Those buried here were the Town's founders, including C. Begole and A. Johnson, who along . . . — — Map (db m93443) HM
The story of movie-making in Lone Pine must include local rancher Russell Spainhower, who for years was Hollywood’s main contact man here. “We need 50 horses and 10 wagons next week,” they’d say and Spainhower would arrange it, plus help . . . — — Map (db m146399) HM
Since 1920, hundreds of movies and TV episodes, including Gunga Din, How The West Was Won, Khyber Rifles, Bengal Lancers, and High Sierra, along with, The Lone Ranger and Bonanza, with such stars as Tom Mix, Hopalong Cassidy, Roy Rogers, Gary . . . — — Map (db m52103) HM
On March 26, 1872 at 2:30AM, one of the largest earthquakes ever recorded destroyed 52 out of the 59 buildings in Lone Pine.
Because of the scarcity of building materials the largely immigrant population of Lone Pine, (estimated 250-300), . . . — — Map (db m52102) HM
The Dow Hotel was built in 1923 to accommodate the growing numbers of movie companies coming regularly to Lone Pine even then. The motel units were added in 1957. Those who stayed here over the years while filming in the Alabama Hills include Tom . . . — — Map (db m146400) HM
The pageant weekend in 1937 was created by Father Crowley and locals to celebrate the opening of the much needed new paved road section connecting Owens Valley to Death Valley and points east.
Friday morning a special gourd of water was scooped . . . — — Map (db m77727) HM
You are standing in what once was downtown
Skidoo.
Unlike other Death Valley boomtowns, Skidoo
flourished for nearly ten years. At its height in
1907 it boasted 700 residents, a newspaper, bank,
school, and telephone service. The hundreds . . . — — Map (db m159370) HM
Powered by water piped from a spring high in
the Panamint Range, the Skidoo Mill extracted
gold from ore and was one of Death Valley's
most profitable operations. Skidoo had the only
water-powered milling plant in Death Valley.
The . . . — — Map (db m159375) HM
The Skidoo Pipeline can be seen either north or south of this location. The pipeline, which ran from Birch Spring in Jail Canyon to the millsite 23 miles away, was completed in 1907 at a cost of $250,000. — — Map (db m159328) HM
During the 1930s, Americans struggled with the financial and social turmoil of the Great Depression. The employment rate reached 25 percent, and many men were unable to support their families. Their frustration contributed to the election of . . . — — Map (db m159360) HM
Built in 1877, these kilns produced charcoal for the Modock Mine smelter about 20 miles to the west. Workers filled the stone kilns with piñon pine logs (relatively abundant in this area) and fired them. The burning, which reduced the wood to . . . — — Map (db m159369) HM
In 1914, gold ore from the Golden Treasure Mine, 5 miles to the east, was processed here for shipment to a smelter. Legend has it that the Ashford Brothers sold the mine for $50,000 to a Hungarian Count, who later sold it to B.W. McCausland for . . . — — Map (db m89558) HM
During the 1920s, miners carved
dwellings in this caliche clay
embankment. The name “Dublin
Gulch” may have come from an area
of the same name in Butte, MT,
where one resident, Joe Vollmer,
once lived. Some caves have . . . — — Map (db m162349) HM
How vivid is your imagination? Can you visualize the desert scene before you as it would have appeared approximately 20,000 years ago? Imagine, if you can, this valley filled with a lake, 90 miles long, 6 to 11 miles wide and up to 600 feet deep. . . . — — Map (db m160793) HM
Located at Metbury Spring on the Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad, Shoshone was founded in 1910 by Ralph Jacobus "DAD" Fairbanks. After the collapse of the mining camp of Greenwater (approximately 20 miles northwest of here), "DAD" Fairbanks came to . . . — — Map (db m78511) HM
Near this monument, Jayhawker group of Death Valley Forty-Niners, gold seekers from middle west, who entered Death Valley in 1849 seeking short route to mines of Central California, burned their wagons, dried the meat of some oxen and, with . . . — — Map (db m89481) HM
In 1926 H.W. Eichbaum obtained a franchise for a toll road from Darwin Falls to Stovepipe Wells, the first maintained road into the valley from the west. It changed the area from mining to tourism and brought about the creation of Death Valley . . . — — Map (db m149164) HM
The first resort on this site, originally named “Bungalette City," was opened on November 1, 1926. Owned and operated by Herman William (Bob) and Helene Eichbaum, this resort was the first attempt to provide full scale tourist services in . . . — — Map (db m103254) HM
In the 1890's a Chinese man named Ah Foo came to this canyon from the Borax Works in Death Valley. He developed a successful ranch, raising livestock, hay, fruits and vegetables to help feed the local silver miners and their draft animals. The . . . — — Map (db m72929) HM
Now a ghost town, Ballarat served nearby mining camps from 1897 to 1917. They produced nearly a million in gold. The jail & a few adobe ruins remain. Seldom Seen Slim, it's last resident, was buried in Boothill in 1968. It had a school but no . . . — — Map (db m159350) HM
3 1/2 miles east of this point lies Ballarat. Established in 1897 as a mining camp and supply center for the gold and silver mines located on the western slope of the Panamint Mountains. It was named after a well-known gold producing area in . . . — — Map (db m159351) HM
Rich sliver ore was discovered in December 1872 at the head of Surprise Canyon 12 miles northeast of here. The United States Senators for Nevada, John P. Jones and William Morris Stewart, invested in and promoted the camp which drew a peak . . . — — Map (db m159349) HM
In this area, several groups of midwestern emigrants, who had escaped from hazards and privations in Death Valley in 1849, sought to secure water from Searles Lake. When they discovered its salty nature, they turned northward and westward in . . . — — Map (db m93441) HM
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