Over the past five years now I have traveled throughout the
State with a new perspective. Not like I used to… before I
would fly through little burgs and towns without taking a second
look. I have always traveled for work but never took the time to
“see” where I was going. I would hit a town do my work
and go back to the hotel and sit in my room clicking the clicker
until the wee hours of the morning.
Now, every new town I pass through is an awakening. I thrive on
the new treasures I see… monuments I have whizzed by a
hundred times in my life are now new nuggets of knowledge, vista
points I passed without a blink are postcard images burned in my
mind, and side streets of towns are secret treasures that only non
tourists find. Geocaching has made me stop and smell the roses.
Hopefully, this little puzzle will help enlighten you on the
County of Inyo and maybe make you “stop and smell the
roses” too.
N 37° 26.ABC
A = On March 26, 18(A)2, a very
large earthquake destroyed most of the town of Lone Pine in Inyo,
County. The quake hit at 2:35 in the morning and leveled almost all
the buildings in Lone Pine and nearby settlements. Of the estimated
250-300 inhabitants of Lone Pine, 27 are known to have perished and
52 of the 59 houses were destroyed. The true size of this
earthquake is not known, but historical evidence detailing the
damage it caused in settlements and landforms near the epicenter,
and the geographic extent to which noticeable movement was felt,
leads researchers to estimate a Richter magnitude of 7.6 to 8 or
greater (similar in size to the 1906 San Francisco
earthquake).
B = California Registered Historical
Marker No. 9(B)3 is Laws Station. The inscription says:
“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
between 1883 and about 1915. This railroad provided the only
dependable means of transportation in and out of Owens Valley.
Train service was stopped on April 30, 1960.”
C = Little Lake has a zip code in Inyo
County of 935(C)2
W 118° 34.DEF
D = In order to provide water needs
for the growing City of Los Angeles, water was diverted from the
Owens River into the Los Angeles Aqueduct in 191(D). The
Owens River Valley cultures and environments changed
substantially.
E = Inyo County Parks and Recreation
is located at Cottonwood Plaza, Suite 3G, (E)85 N. Main
Street, Bishop, CA 93514.
F = Inyo County was formed in
186(F) from the territory of the unorganized Coso County
created in April 4, 1864 from parts of Mono and Tulare Counties. It
acquired more territory from Mono County in 1870 and Kern County
and San Bernardino County in 1872.
Some other interesting tidbits about Inyo County:
Mount Whitney, the highest point in the United States outside
of Alaska
Badwater, in Death Valley, the lowest point in the
Americas
Methuselah, an ancient Bristlecone pine tree and one of the
oldest living trees on Earth
Owens Valley, the deepest valley on the American
continents
Two mountain ranges exceeding 14,000 feet (4,300 m) in
elevation: The Sierra Nevada and the White Mountains
Thirteen of California's fifteen peaks which exceed 14,000
feet (a Fourteener) in elevation; the isolated Mount Shasta in
northern California, and White Mountain Peak in neighboring Mono
County, are the only California 14ers not (at least partly) in Inyo
County
The largest escarpment in the United States, rising from the
floor of Death Valley to the top of Telescope Peak in the Panamint
Range
Inyo county derived its name from the Mono tribe of Native
Americans name for the mountains in its former homeland. The
meaning of the word Inyo is "dwelling place of the great spirit" in
the Mono language.
President Herbert Hoover proclaimed a national monument in
and around Death Valley on February 11, 1933, setting aside almost
two million acres (8,000 km2) of southeastern California and small
parts of south westernmost Nevada.
I could go on and on with Inyo… read some more
yourself.
You can check your answers for this puzzle on
Geochecker.com.
I would like to thank bunkibones
for being my sponsor for County Line – Inyo
As always, enjoy.