At The Movies ... in Owens Valley

The exciting westerns filmed in the Alabama Hills told of cattle drives, Indian battles and hold-ups, all of which really happened in and around Lone Pine in the 1800's. Art really has imitated life here.

There was even fight with the Paiutes out in the Alabama Hills once - shades of How The West Was Won - and the army from Camp Independence went out after bandits one time - just like in Yellow Sky!

And another time - just like in Rawhide - Tiburcio Vasquez and his bandits took over a stage station where he waited to rob the in-coming coach.

These things really happened so it seems appropriate - and it'll be fun - for us to look at the history of this land we're visiting. But let's do a little differently. Let's tell the story of the area by telling the stories behind its names.

It's easy to understand where names like "Movie Road" and "Gene Autry Rock" came from but what about "Lone Pine" itself and "Independence" and "Bishop?" And why do they call 'em the Alabama Hills" And why is Mount Whitney called Mount Whitney? For that matter, which one is Mt. Whitney? Let's settle that one first, even before we get to the history.

First of all, the tallest mountain in the contiguous United States is not the tallest mountain you see from Lone Pine. That's Lone Pine Peak. It's the closest so it looks the tallest but it's really "only" 12,111 feet tall. The one we want is 14,495 feet tall and it's farther back and off to the right there, the one with the two jagged peaks just to its left. Look for this and you've found Mt. Whitney.

Second - and this will really make 'em believe you were born here - the actual summit of Whitney's very sharp-looping peak is almost flat. Not only flat but large enough for a football field. Such are the tricks our eyes play from some 15 miles away.

Third, Mt. Whitney came within a signature of being called "Fishermen's Peak." Up until 1864, Northern California's Mount Shasta was considered the highest mountain in the west but then, a State Geological Survey party discovered that several peaks in the Sierra were higher. The tallest was named after the party's chief, Josiah D. Whitney.

Later on, thee was confusion as to which peak was really Mt. Whitney. When that was settled in 1873, three fishermen climbed the true Whitney and christened it - what else?- "Fishermen's Peak." Some of the locals said they liked that name better than "Mount Whitney" - they didn't like Josiah Whitney; they didn't think he had investigated their big earthquake thoroughly enough - so they had their legislator introduce a bill re-naming the peak. But the governor refused to sign it and Mount Whitney it is. The first paths to its summit, by the way, wee scratched out in the 1880's by astronomers, far cries from the graded walkway of today.

"And did you know," you can say as you get to the fourth fact that will astonish the flat-landers, "that this is the land of 20-mile shadows?" Don't be worried saying that; it's true. Mt. Whitney and friends cast shadows that are 20 miles long.

Some sundown when you're in tow (clouds permitting), look east toward the Inyo Mountains and you'll see that while their tops still have sun,m the entire valley is in evening shade. And the valley's 20 miles wide here. (And the name "Inyo?" It's the Paiute Indian word for "dwelling place of a great spirit.")

The Mount Whitney group of mountains, incidentally, is much more formidable than you might imagine. It isn't just a bunch of peaks with one taller than the rest.

This particular grouping is actually a massive granite wall ore than two miles high and 15 miles long, stretching from Mt. Langley north to Mt. Tyndall. And between Olancha and Big Pine, there are 11 other peaks besides Whitney which are taller than 14,000 feet!

OLLP