Photos

Round Valley between Mammoth City and Bishop, along California Highway 395, looks like it was stuck in the past back when the area hand plentiful water from snow melt, it was primarily ranching and farming, and before Mulholland.

In the 1920's thirsty Los Angeles hundreds of miles away needed more water to expand suburbia. The City's engineer Mulholland planned to dam streams up in the Owen's Valley mountains then divert the waters to LA via pipelines and canals. He lied to the farmers and ranchers and said if they signed over their water rights he would supply them with even more water than they currently had. Unfortunately most of the water was sent to LA and the entire Valley dried up including its largest lake - Owens.

This image of Round Valley has golden fall colors, cottonwood trees, surrounded by two impressive mountains, Basin (13,240 feet) and Mt. Tom (13,265 feet high). There are rural roads to explore with cottonwoods, aspens and willows and ancient wooden cabins.