History of the Railroads in the Lone Pine Area

In 1883 the Carson and Colorado Railroad was built from Belleville, Nevada, across the White Mountains to Benton and down into the Owens Valley where the rail line ended in Keeler. The engine was nicknamed "The Slim Princess". The arrival of the rail line and stagecoach in Keller was a great event. Passengers came in on the evening train twice a week to take the stage on the following day to Mojave. Passengers spent the layover at the Lake View Hotel, later the name changed to the Hotel Keeler.

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To the north the short line connected with the Virginia & Truckee Line at Mound House, Nevada. A portion of Keeler's railroad history is still visible in the old railroad station, stationmaster's house, and remnants of passenger coaches that are now converted into residences.

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North of Lone Pine is the Lone Pine Station Road, which goes east to the abandoned Southern Pacific depot (now a private residence). With the building of the LA aqueduct, large quantities of freight were needed in the Owens Valley, and the railroad was extended from Mojave to Lone Pine for this purpose.

Mt. Whitney History

"The culminating peak of the Sierra" was discovered in 1864, by a California Geological Survey team, and named "Mt. Whitney" after the teams leader, Josiah Whitney.

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A member of the survey team, Clarence King, attempted to climb Whitney twice during their trip but was not successful. He returned in 1871 and successfully summited -- or so he and everyone else believed for some time. In reality he had accidentally climbed what today is known as Mt. Langley. When his error was discovered two ears later, he returned to California to try again. He did summit Whitney on September 19, but made the fourth ascent.

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The first ascent was made by three local fishermen, Charley Begole, Johnny Lucas, and Al Johnson. These three friends reached the summit at noon on August 18, 1873.

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Residents of the Owens Valley wanted to name the mountain "Fisherman's Peak" to pay homage to the first summiters. When this name was challenged they proposed the name "Dome of Inyo". Over the next two years, the local newspaper published many articles arguing this issue. Finally a bill which would make "Fisherman's Peak" the official name was introduce d in the State Legislature. A strange twist of fate bought the bill before the Senate on April Fools Day, 1881, where they frivolously amended it to read "Fowler's Peak." The Governor ended the silliness by vetoing the bill, and so today the original name stands: Mount Whitney.

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John Muir made his first ascent of Whitney on October 21, 1873. Muir was the first person to climb Whitney from the east via what is today known as the Mountaineers Route. He had attempted to summit via the southwest, as those before him, but had retreated to Independence after a cold night out, returning to summit by this new route.

History of Mining Around Lone Pine

During the 1870's Lone Pine was an active supply town, furnishing goods and services to the surrounding mining communities of Kearsarge, Cerro Gordo, Keeler, Swansea, and Darwin.

Cerro Gordo

The large mine at Cerro Gordo, 9,000 feet high in the Inyo Mountains, was one of the greatest silver mines in California. Silver, lead and zinc were carried in ore buckets on a strong cable to the town of Keeler. From Keeler, the ore was transported 4 miles northwest to Swansea's smelter oven. To fulfill the need for building materials and fuel a sawmill was built near Horseshoe Meadows to provide wood for the smelters and the mines, by Colonel Sherman Stevens.

Cottonwood Charcoal Kilns

Lumber was transported by flume to the valley, burned in adobe kilns to make charcoal, which was then shipped across the 30 foot deep Owens Lake by steamships to the smelters at Swansea. Located about 12 miles south of Lone Pine just east of Hwy. 395 are the deteriorating ruins of two adobe charcoal kilns.

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After the metal was extracted from its matrix, silver ingots were loaded aboard steamships and transported to Cartago, on the west side of Owens Lake. From there the silver was carried across land by mule train to the then small city of Los Angeles.

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Dolomite (a marble) was taken from tunnel in the Inyo Mountains. You can see one of these tunnels at the north end of the Owens Dry Lake, north of Hwy. 136. Dolomite is still mined in the area, as are talc, pumice, and clay.

Manzanar

Located 7 miles north of Line Pine on Highway 395, the Manzanar National Historic Site contains evidence of several historical eras. The Paiute and Shoshone people occupied the Manzanar area for centuries. American Indian archeological sites are important parts of the Manzanar story.

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In the late nineteenth century, a cattle ranching homestead flourished here. In the early 1900's the town of Manzanar grew to be a thriving pear and apple orchard community. By 1913, the city of Los Angeles completed its aqueduct and owned 95% of the Owens Valley. The town of Manzanar was then abandoned and the land remained vacant, until March 1942.

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Two months after Pearl Harbor was bombed, President Roosevelt signed an Executive Order calling for all those of Japanese ancestry to be placed into relocation camps. Manzanar was one of those relocation centers, built initially as a temporary center it became the first permanent relocation center in the United States.

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The entire Manzanar detention facility encompassed 6,000 acres. The camp itself consised of 36 blocks of wooden barracks confined within a one-square mile area. In addition to the detention camp the facility consisted of adjacent agricultural use areas, a reservoir, an airport, a cemetery and sewage treatment plant. Of this area a rectangle of approximately 550 acres, containing the living area for the internees and various administrative facilities, was enclosed by barbed wire fences and secured by guard towers.

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The 10,000 internees sought to establish some semblance of normal life and beautified the barracks with gardens and ponds, and tendered the orchards remnants which still remain today. Manzanar was the only camp to have an orphanage, which housed 110 children.

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When the camp was closed in late 1945, the wooden barracks and administration buildings were sold at auction and removed from the site. Among the visible remains is the camp auditorium, a large wood-frame building. In addition, the stonework shells of the pagoda-like police post and sentry house and portions of other building in the administrative complex remain,as do concrete foundations and portions of the water and sewer systems throughout the camp.

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An annual pilgrimage, sponsored by The Manzanar Committee, is held on the last Saturday of April near the cemetery monument. Former internees, their descendants, friends and general public join for a day of remembrance, education and re-dedication of the cemetery in religious (Christian and Buddhist) Ceremonies.

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As part of the Save America's Treasures millennium grant , the historic perimeter barbed wire fence that enclosed the living area of the camp will be rebuilt. Plans are underway to adaptively restore the Auditorium, reconstruct one of eight guard towers, at least one barrack and internee-built garden and ponds.

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Significant collections of photos, drawings, painting, and artifacts associated with Manzanar have been gathered over the years. Many of these can be seen in the Manzanar National Historic Site Interpretive Center or in the Eastern California Museum, located five miles north of the camp in the town of Independence.

Ghost Towns of the Lone Pine Area

Cerro Gordo

Perched at 8500' in the Inyo Mountains above the Owens Lake, Cerro Gordo is the most well preserved ghost towns in California. The town blossomed to a population of 4800 hearty souls after the discovery of silver in 1868. Cerro Gordo was a wild town, with countless bars and businesses politely known as "Dance Halls". As legend has it, some civic-minded citizens attempted to divert the miners from their usual recreation by involving them in the Cerro Gordo Social Union, a debating society. For a few weeks the experiment succeeded, but when the novelty wore off, the dance halls and saloons were back in business. The mine ultimately produced 4.5 million ounces from a hole 1150' deep with 7 levels of tunnels, totaling 37 miles. Wagon trains delivered sliver to Los Angeles, effectively supporting and feeding what was then a struggling coastal pueblo of fewer than 4,000 residents. After the civil war a third of the business through the Port of Los Angeles was from Cerro Gordo and the Belshaw Smelter was the highest output smelter in the U.S.

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The townsite, closed to collectors for nearly two decades, is also the perfect locale for rock and mineral collectors. The site features several hundred thousand tons of dump materials from the main mine workings. Cerro Gordo is world renown for: Anglesite, anhydrite, argentite, atacamite, aurichalcite, azurite, barite, bindheimite, bouronite, calcite, caledonite, cermrgyrite, cerussite, ceruantite, chrysocolla, dufrenoysite, fluorite, galena, geothite, greenockite, hemimorphite, hollosite, hydrozincite, jamesonite, leadhillite, limonite, linerite, liroconite, malachite, mimerite, plumbgumite, pyrite, quartz, silver, smithsonite, sphalerite, stibnite, stromeyerite, tetrahedrite, tetrajymite, wilemite and wulfenite.

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The famous old Cerro Gordo Ghost Townsite is now available by Reservation! You and your group can now enjoy the 1868 Townsite; including the 1871 American Hotel, the fully restored 1904 Bunkhouse (accommodates up to 14), the Belshaw House (accommodates up to 5). You and your group will enjoy colorful history and artifacts in Beaudry's General Store (now a museum complete with viewing deck.), an assay office, the 1877 Hoist Works, and numerous other remaining structures. For further information, rates and a customized itinerary, please call: (760) 876-1860 or 1-888-Ghost-88. Or write: Cerro Gordo Tours, P.O. Box 221 Keeler, CA 93530

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Keeler

Keeler, a town with a population of 300 in the early 1870's, was home to miners most of whom lived in tents, caves, rock wall wind breakers and a few in cabins. In 1883 the Carson and Colorado Railroad was built from Belleville, Nevada, across the White Mountains to Benton and down into the Owens Valley where the rail line ended in the town of Keeler. With the coming of the railroad, large marble quarries were opened near Keeler, producing a material which tests proved to be stronger in crushing resistance than any other known. Ultimately the material was used for finishing the Mils Building in San Francisco and the floor at the Los Angeles Airport.

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The arrival of the rail line and stagecoach in Keeler was a great event. Passengers came in on the evening train twice a week to take the stage o the following day to Mojave. Passengers spent the layover at the Lake View hotel, later the name changed to the Hotel Keeler. The hotel burned down on March 19, 1928.

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Swansea

There is not much left of the once booming town of Swansea which boasted a population of 2.200 inhabitants and two smelters. The tumbled-down rock building in Swansea was once a stagecoach stop. The ruins of the smelters which reduced the ore from the Cerro Gordo mine can be seen on the north shore of the now dry Owens Lake, near Swansea. Also remaining are the remnants of a 1200' wharf built from low-grade slag from the smelters.

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Darwin

Darwin was founded in 1874 and in 1877 the population was 45,000 about the same as Los Angeles in that same year. There were 20 saloons on the main street and all disputes were handled by the "Constable", Mr. Colt. An interesting piece of history has to do with an infamous California outlaw known as Three-fingered Jack, who was killed in Darwin. The town was burned out by fire on three separate occasions. Only one of the original buildings still stands today.

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Tramway

West of Swansea are the ruins of the ghost town of Tramway, once a terminal of the Southern Pacific Railroad. On the mountain ridge above, you can see the skeleton of a tram completed in 1912. This cable and bucket tram once carried 25-30 tons of salt per day, up 7,000 feet from Saline Valley to the crest of the Inyo's, then down 5,000 feet to Tramway.

Visit: http://www.lonepinechamber.org/

The Film Industry in the Lone Pine Area

In 1920, Lone Pine was changed forever when a silent movie, The Roundup, was filmed in the Alabama Hills. Since then, over 400 movies, 100 TV episodes, and countless commercials have been shot in location in the area, immortalizing the striking rock formations and taking advantage of the picutre-perfect weather. .

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Through Gunga Din, Maverick, and Gladiator to the recent blockbuster Iron Man, movie stars, sets and cameras, and equipment have rolled in and out of Lone Pine. A partial list of stars who have visited Lone Pine includes: Hopalong Cassidy, Roy Rogers, Humphrey Bogart, Susan Hayward, Spencer Tracy, Natalie Wood, Clint Eastwood, Kirk Douglas, John Wayne, Steve McQueen, Shelly Winters, Luci and Desi Arnaz, Willie Nelson, James Gardner, Mel Gibson, Russel Crowe, Jeff Bridges, Robert Downey Jr and many others. .

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Elephants, camels, yaks, buffalo, horses, jeeps, tanks and Hummers have all thundered across the rugged backdrops of rock and sky.
The Movie Room, located at 126 S. Main Street in the Lone Pine Chamber of Commerce courtyard is dedicated to preserving the magical time of cowboys and indians. Every October, the annual Lone Pine Film Festival celebrates film making in the Lone Pine area.

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Be sure to stop by the Movie Stars Autographed Wall inside the Indian Trading Post and scout out your favorite stars autograph among the ones collected there. Take a drive through the Alabama Hills and view the locations where some of your favorite movies were shot.

Visit: http://www.lonepinechamber.org/

The Great Earthquake of 1872

On March 16, 1872 at 2:30 A.M. the small community of Lone Pine, California was violently awakened by an earthquake. The magnitude of the quake was about the same as the "Big One" in San Francisco in 1906. It literally leveled the town of Lone Pine. Of the 80 buildings, built of mud and adobe, only 20 structures were left standing. Diaz Lake was formed by this quake.

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Twenty-six people lost their lives that day in the disaster. A mass grave, located just north of Lone Pine, on the upthrust block of the main fault that caused the quake commemorates the site.

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The landscape bears the scars of the 1872 earthquake. From Lone Pine to Big Pine remnants of the disaster are still in evidence. In the alley way behind La Florista, the local flower shop and nursery stands "The Old Adobe Wall" the only known remaining example of pre-earthquake architecture in Lone Pine. The wall is 21 inches thick, 148 inches long and 80 inches high. The bottom layer of the wall is three foot thick and built of heavy stone, the rest of the structure is adobe brick and rubble with brick mortar.

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The wall is what is left of a general merchandising store and living quarters that was owned by Charles and Madeleine Meysan who came to Lone Pine in 1869 from a French Camp near Columbia. It is believed that the building was near 100 feet long, with the store in front and living area in the back. The Meysans had 10 children and prospered in Lone Pine. All was well until that early morning of March 16, when the adobe building the family was living in literally shook to pieces. The quake claimed the life of their daughter Alice. Shortly afterward, Meysan constructed a new building made of wood.

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La Florista now occupies this building. The wall remained in the possession of various members of the Meysan family until September 30, 1921 when Eugenie Dunn sold it to O.W. Dolph. On December 22, 1931 the City of Los Angeles purchased the property.

The wall remained undisturbed for another forty years until one day a woman by the name of Elodie Drew, a granddaughter of Charles Meysan, received a phone call, the person on the other end wanted to bulldoze the wall. Elodie said " I guess I sounded pretty mad, because they went and put up a fence around the wall".

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On August 6, 1971 the protection for the wall erected by the City of Los Angeles, Department of Water and Power was finished. Recently a dedication was held by the E. Clampus Vitus. For more information on the Charles Meysan family there are two splendid articles by Elodie Drew in the "Saga of Inyo Country".

Visit: http://www.lonepinechamber.org/