First Permanent White Habitation in Owens Valley

First Permanent White Habitation in Owens Valley is a California Historical Landmark in Inyo County.

Approximately 4 miles northeast of Bishop · location approximate

Directions to the area ↗Start a road trip Historical trails

In August of 1861 A. Van Fleet with three other men drove their cattle in and prepared to stay. A cabin of sod and stone was built at the northern end of the valley at the big bend of Owens River.

1971 register text, presented as a historical document. It uses the period's terms for Native people; the state's landmark listings still carry most of this wording, and the California Office of Historic Preservation maintains the program's current texts.

Many of these plaques have since been recast or their texts revised. The California Historical Landmarks program and its current texts are maintained by the California Office of Historic Preservation. California Office of Historic Preservation ↗

TodayHistorical map

Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.

David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

Historical maps covering this location

1859 · Map of the Public Surveys in California, 1859 (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1864 · Map of public surveys in California and Nevada, 1864 (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1873 · Topographical Map of Central California Together With a Part of Nevada, Sheet IV. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1873 · Composite: Topographical Map of Central California Together With a Part of Nevada, Sheets… (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)

Topographical Map of Central California Together With a Part of Nevada, Sheet IV, 1873, covering the location of First Permanent White Habitation in Owens Valley, with a pin at the marker's coordinates — Topographical Map of Central California Together With a Part of Nevada, Sheet IV, 1873, covering this location. David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries. The pin is ours and the location is approximate.

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For example, one family's tree showed the Articles of Confederation marker in Pennsylvania standing under a mile from where William Gabby lived in the 1760s.

What that marker records spans 1777 to 1789, overlapping William Gabby's years there.

From one family's 77-marker roster

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Marker data: State of California, Department of Parks and Recreation, California Historical Landmarks (1971)

First Permanent White Habitation in Owens Valley

Historical maps covering this location

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