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)
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