First Permanent White Habitation in Owens Valley

The title on this marker is itself the historical document. A. Van Fleet and three other men drove cattle to the big bend of the Owens River in August 1861 and built a cabin of sod and stone, and the state recorded it as the valley's first permanent habitation. People had lived here permanently for thousands of years — the Nüümü, whose irrigation ditches watered the ground those cattle were turned out on. What the marker really dates is the arrival of the herds, and the war that followed them.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Bishop — 3.4 mi
  The Eastern Sierras working capital, and the home of the Nüümü who were traded out of their own valley.
• Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest — 9.6 mi
  Trees older than the pyramids, growing on white dolomite at ten thousand feet.

More markers nearby

• Laws Narrow Gauge Railroad Station and Yard — 0.4 mi
• San Francis Ranch — 6.1 mi
• Bishop Creek Battleground — 8.1 mi
• Mayfield Canyon Battleground — 16 mi