Independence, California

Highway 395, 15.8 miles north of Lone Pine and 26.2 miles south of Big Pine

Photo Gallery

Services and Accommodations

Restaurants and Eateries:

Public Internet Use Facilities:

Museums and Point of Interest: Eastern California Museum, 155 N. Grant Street, Independence, CA 93526; Open 10 am to 4 pm – closed Tuesdays and major holidays.

Events and Festivities: April 26: Opening Day for the General Trout Season; June: Father’s Day Trout Derby (Chamber); November 15: General Trout Season Closes

Summer Recreation: Biking, Birding, Camping, Fishing, Golfing, Hang Gliding, Hiking, Horseback Riding, Mountaineering, Photography, Rock Climbing

Winter Recreation:

Sporting Goods Stores: High Sierra Outfitters (760) 876-9994

Fly Shops:

Nearby Fishing: Home: Independence: Fishing  (Independence Creek, Owens River) Fishing Tips

Nearby Camping: Home: Independence: Camping  (Goodale Creek Campround, Grays Meadow Campgrounds, Oak Creek Campground)

Independence Chamber of Commerce: Located at: 139 North Edwards (Hwy. 395) across from the courthouse.
The office is open Monday, Tuesday, Friday and Saturday from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm.(760) 878-0084

Community Parks:  Dehy Community Park

Tours and Side-Trips:

Weather  

RV Related:

Recreational Contacts: Cottonwood Pack Station (760) 878-2015; Sequoia King Pack Trains (760) 387-2797

Government Contacts:

            Inyo National Forest: books, maps and wilderness passes and permits: Mt. Whitney Ranger Station (760) 873-2500; White Mountain Ranger Station (760) 873-2500; Mammoth Ranger Station (760) 924-5500 http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/inyo/about/

            Department of Fish and Game: (www.dfg.ca.gov/fishing) Season dates, licenses, restrictions, fish stocking.

Independence Expansion Notes in Alphabetical Order

Independence: The county seat for Inyo County, Independence was established in 1866 and named Putnam after Charles Putnam a founder and pioneer of the area. With the establishment of Fort Independence during the Indian up-risings, the town was later named Independence.  The present county courthouse was built in 1921. The original courthouse was demolished in the famous 1872 earthquake.  It was replaced, but it too was destroyed by fire in 1886.  The impressive stone courthouse built in 1921 now is home to the Inyo Country Free Library.  A number of historical homes can be seen in Independence.  If you are traveling and need a rest or a picnic, visit Dehy Community Park, which offers restrooms and picnic tables at the northern end of town.  The park is home to Engine 18 from the Carson and Colorado Railroad.  Engine 18, the Little Engine That Could, hauled oar from Keeler north to Benton where it chugged up and over Montgomery Pass to service the communities of Mina and Mound House.

Onion Valley: Just as Lone Pine has its paved entrance into the high country of the Sierra Mountains, so too does Independence with its beautiful Onion Valley, gateway to the John Muir Wilderness.  During the Civil War miners sympathetic to the southern cause tended to shift to the Lone Pine area, while Union supporters worked the area around Independence.  The rivalry was both serious and intense at times.  The Alabama Hills were named for the Southern war ship, the Alabama.  When the U.S. war ship Kearsarge sank the Alabama, Independence miners named their mining district Kearsarge, along with naming Kearsarge Peak.  The Onion Valley Road, named for the wild onions found in the high mountain meadows, climbs high above the valley floor to offer outstanding camping, picnicking, and both day hike opportunities, as well as a trailhead to Robinson Lake and Kearsarge Pass.  The Kearsarge Pass is the historic pass used by the natives to trade with natives on the western slopes of the Sierras.  Mountain men, prospectors and geological survey teams also used this pass.   At an elevation of 9,200 and an elevation climb of 5,000 feet, the trailhead sits in a glacial bowl at the headwaters of Independence Creek.  The drive offers splendid views of Owens Valley and the Inyo Mountains, as well as Mt. Williamson, the second highest mountain in California at 14,375 feet.  From Highway 395 in Independence, turn west on Market Street (Onion Valley Road) and drive thirteen miles to the trailhead.

Manzanar Historical Monument

Because of war hysteria and racist fears, Japanese American citizens, along with Japanese aliens and visitors, were rounded up and forced into relocation camps during World War II.  One of the most preserved of the ten internee camps is Manzanar, which is located just off Highway 395 five miles south of Independence and ten miles north of Lone Pine. "After the attack on Pearl Harbor, West Coast military commander John L. DeWitt filed a report accusing Japanese-Americans of engaging in espionage and disloyal conduct. Less than three months later, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order No. 9066 (February 19, 1942) empowering the Secretary of War to round up U.S. citizens of Japanese ancestry and Japanese resident aliens from the West Coast. Approximately 118,000 citizens were routed under military guard to assembly centers and then ten internment camps with no more than what they could carry in two suitcases.

Manzanar War Relocation Center began as an "assembly center" under U.S. Army control. The 500-acre camp was quickly filled with former residents of Bainbridge Island, WA and Terminal Island, CA, followed by persons of Japanese ancestry expelled from Southern California (more than 70% from the Los Angeles area). Acres of farmland were part of this camp, existing beyond the fence. The War Relocation Authority took control of Manzanar on June 1, 1942 and operated the camp until it closed in November 1945. A total of 11,400 people were processed through this relocation center. The population reached 10,200 in September 1942; by 1944 it was 6,000....

Many of the internees volunteered or were drafted into the U.S. military. The 100thBN/442nd Regimental Combat Team of Japanese Americans became one of the most decorated of the war in Europe. Others volunteered to serve in the Military Intelligence Service. Internees at Manzanar were allowed to leave for jobs in other parts of the country, provided they had a sponsor. Older people and children comprised the main populace by the time the camp closed in November 1945.

Many notable people were sent to Manzanar. Among their ranks was the family of Sadao Munemori, a 19-year-old boy who was posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his heroics in Italy during World War II. Ralph Lazo was another Manzanar teenager. He was of Mexican and Irish decent. When his best friends were removed from their homes and taken to Manzanar, Ralph went too because he felt they were all the same. His was the only documented case of a non-Asian who was not part of an Asian family who voluntarily entered the camps. One hundred ten orphans (some as young as six months) were sent to the Children’s Village at Manzanar, the only camp to have such an orphanage. Toyo Miyatake, a professional photographer, snuck a camera lens into Manzanar, built a camera and became the official photographer of the camp. Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston wrote about her childhood experiences in the book, Farewell to Manzanar. Their memories recorded on film and in prose are vivid portraits of life in the camp." (http://www.nps.gov/archive/manz/Manzhis.htm)

Visitors may visit Manzanar taking a three mile long self-guided tour.  Manzanar National Monument has no entrance fee.  They provide a tour map.  At the present time there is no visitor center or museum.  Many exhibits and artifacts may be seen in the nearby Eastern California Museum in Independence.

Mt. Whitney Fish Hatchery

 Threatened with budget cuts, targeted for closure, and imperiled by the Inyo Complex Fire in July of 2007, the Mount Whitney Fish Hatchery stands tall and proud in the shadows of the high Sierra.  With a land donation and a gift of $1500, the citizen of Independence persuaded the California Fish and Game Commission to build a fish hatchery on Oak Creek in 1915.  One of the commissioners declared that the Mt. Whitney Fish Hatchery goal was “to design a building that would match the mountains, would last forever, and be a showplace for all time.”  Over 60,000 visitors a year will attest to the goal being met.  The hatchery is the sole provider of Golden trout for the wilderness lakes in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

To provide a correction or offer a suggestion, email David Archer.

Companion Web Sites:

Glacier to Yellowstone (A complete guide to camping and fishing in Montana from Glacier to Yellowstone)

Fishing Tips 101 (Offering a "Mastering the Basics" series for freshwater fishing)

Bass and Trout Fishing Digest (Dave's hodge-podge of fishing adventures in Northern California and Oregon)