EXPLORE - Manzanar Diverted

EXPLORE

STORY MAP

& CURRICULUM

TIMELINE

NATIONAL MAP

LINKS

Explore stories and events that have shaped Payahuunadü / Owens Valley. How have the lives of the Nǖǖmǖ (Paiute) and Newe (Shoshone) intersected with outsiders who arrived in the 1800s and Japanese Americans who were incarcerated at Manzanar during the 1940s? Check out our “Story Map” to learn about relevant sites and view “bonus videos” from the making of the film. Uncover the rich entangled histories in our “Timeline” and about the overlaps between Japanese American incarceration and Native Americans in our “National Map of Confinement.” “Community Links” take you to important partner sites. Enjoy our intriguing journey through time and space inspired by Manzanar, Diverted: When Water Becomes Dust!

NATIONAL MAP

This project was created as a partnership between KCET and Ann Kaneko. Ann is the director/producer of Manzanar, Diverted: When Water Becomes Dust, a feature documentary about water and forced removals in Payahuunadü/Owens Valley. | U.S. Department of the Interior, Indian Affairs, 2018; Library of Congress, 2019; Densho Encyclopedia, 2020

LEGEND

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Curriculum Resources

Download PBS Delve Deeper READING LIST
organized by reader age

Download PBS DISCUSSION GUIDE:
Community, Engagement & Education:
Tools for Facilitation

Download SCREENING GUIDE

Visit PBS LESSON PLAN: Resistance &
Coalition Building for Environmental Justice

Big Pine Reservation

Big Pine Reserveration tribal
members appeared at the LADWP
Board of Commissioners meeting to
hold the agency accountable for a
broken pipe in 2017.
This map shows where the pipe ran.

Camp Independence

Camp Independence, now Ft. Independence Reservation,
is the site where the U.S. Army gathered
Nüümü and Newe whom they forced to Ft. Tejon.

Bishop Indian School, Bishop Reservation

Bishop Indian School, formerly
Independence School, was the local
school for Nüümü and Newe, ca 1900-30

Alabama Gates Spillway Occupation

In November 1924, local ranchers and
farmers, outraged by the diversion of
waters from Patsiata/Owens Lake,
dynamited the Alabama Gates.

Lacey Ranch

Mark Lacey, Owens Valley Committee member,
ranches near Manzanar.

Lone Pine Paiute Shoshone Reservation

Kathy Jefferson Bancroft's homeland.
Here she has a laugh with Nüümü kids.

Mono Lake Kutzadika’a Tribal lands

Lands of tribal members near Mono Lake.

LA Aqueduct Intake

This is where the Owens River flows into the LA Aqueduct and is marked
with its year of construction, 1911. It was "turned on" in 1913.

Proposed LADWP Solar Ranch

LADWP proposed a solar ranch across
from Manzanar, and this project was
put on hold indefinitely in 2015.

Manzanar National
Historic Site

< RETURN TO CALIFORNIA MAP

Curriculum Resources

Download PBS Delve Deeper READING LIST
organized by reader age

Download PBS DISCUSSION GUIDE:
Community, Engagement & Education:
Tools for Facilitation

Download SCREENING GUIDE

Visit PBS LESSON PLAN: Resistance &
Coalition Building for Environmental Justice

& CURRICULUM

STORY MAP

Download credits for short videos [PDF]

TIMELINE

Patsiata/Owens Lake is submitted to the California Office of Preservation National Register of Historic Places California State Historical Resources Commission.

2022

MANZANAR, DIVERTED premieres at Big Sky Documentary Film Festival.

2021

Big Pine tribal members and friends gather at LADWP headquarters to demand repair of broken pipe. (Photo by Mariah David and Jesse Archer)

2017

LADWP fixes Big Pine broken pipe after face off at Board of Commissioners Meeting.

2017

March 12: LADWP puts an indefinite hold on its plans to develop SOVSR, after pressure from local environmentalists, the Manzanar Committee and Tribes.

2015

Map of the proposed solar ranch across from Manzanar.

2013

November 22: LADWP announces its intentions to develop the Southern Owens Valley Solar Ranch (SOVSR) across the Valley from Manzanar.

2013

Impacts of damage to a Big Pine irrigation pipe on LADWP lands are noticed, and tribal members complain to LADWP.

2012

Timbisha Homeland Act.

2000

Dust storms near Patsiata.

2000

The LADWP is mandated to control PM-10 levels from the Lake and begins construction of the Owens Lake Dust Mitigation project.

2000

In 1998, the Great Basin Unified Air Pollution Control District Board adopted the State Implementation Plan (SIP) that began controlling the PM10 from Patsiata/Owens Lake.

1998

A memorandum of understanding (MOU), remedying the deficiencies of the 1990 Long Term Water agreement is signed, outlining mitigation measures for rewatering. Dust is not part of this MOU.

1998

March 3: Manzanar is designated a National Historic Site.

1992

Keith Bright and Tom Bradley signing the Long Term Water Agreement.

1991

Los Angeles and Inyo County sign the Long Term Water Agreement, limiting LADWP groundwater pumping.

1991

Congress passes Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA).

1990

August 10: The Civil Liberties Act is signed, acknowledging the injustice of WWII and granting reparations to incarcerated Japanese Americans.

1988

The Owens Valley Committee is established.

1983

Sue Embrey at the dedication of Manzanar as a State Historic Site. (Photo courtesy of Manzanar Committee)

1972

Manzanar is designated a State Historic Site.

1972

The Manzanar Committee is established to fight for recognition of the Japanese American incarceration experience.

1970

June: The Second Los Angeles Aqueduct is completed, dramatically increasing water flows from 1971-88, causing environmental degradation.

1970

Making offerings at the first Manzanar Pilgrimage. (Photo by Robert Nakamura, courtesy of Visual Communications)

1969

December: Sue Embrey, Warren Furutani and others make the first activist-led Pilgramage to Manzanar.

1969

September: LA begins construction of the Second Los Angeles Aqueduct as a response to a State Water Rights Board warning that the City could lose rights to unclaimed water.

1965

The McCarran-Walter Act allows Japanese immigrants to become naturalized U.S. citizens.

1952

November 21: Manzanar Concentration Camp closes.

1945

Sept. 2: Japan surrenders to the U.S., ending WWII.

1945

Merritt Park, designed by Kuichiro Nishi. (Photo by Ansel Adams)

1945

August: The "Ireito" obelisk is constructed, marking the cemetery at Manzanar.

1943

December 5-6: The Manzanar Riot occurs, precipitated by work and pay disputes, resulting in the military police killing two people.

1942

March 23: The first convoy of incarcerees arrives at the Manzanar Concentration Camp from Los Angeles.

1942

February 19: Franklin Delano Roosevelt signs Executive Order 9066, calling for the removal of those of Japanese ancestry from the West Coast.

1942

Roughly 44,000 Native Americans (of under 400,000) enlisted during WWII, which was between 5 and 10 percent of the Native American population.

1941-45

December 7: Japan bombs Pearl Harbor, declaring war against the U.S.

1941

The Mono Extension is completed, beginning diversions to Los Angeles.

1940

June 26: The Land Exchange concludes, but LADWP water rights are not traded because the City needs two-thirds consent of LA voters.

1939

April 20: Congress authorizes a Land Exchange between the LADWP and the Dept. of Interior to form reservations in Bishop, Big Pine and Lone Pine.

1937

Irrigation to the Orchard is shut off, and the last Manzanar residents leave. The town is officially abandoned.

1934

Map of "Tracts 2a, 2b and 2c," which were lands in Bishop, part of the 1937 Land Exchange.

1933

April 28: By Executive Order 5843, President Hoover revoked executive order 1529 which has granted lands to Nüümü and Newe.

1932

LA voters pass a third bond to develop the Mono Basin extension.

1930

Highway 395, which is adjacent to the Eastern Sierras, opens.

1930

By 1929, Los Angeles acquires all water rights and land at Manzanar.

1929

March 12: St. Francis Dam, part of LA Aqueduct infrastructure, fails, killing at least 431 people. This led the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California to build the Colorado River Aqueduct.

1928

The Federal Highway System is established, and Highway 395 is declared a U.S. numbered highway.

1926

The LA Aqueduct sucks Patsiata (Owens Lake), formerly California's third largest lake, dry.

1926

Alabama Gates Occupation

1924

November 16-20: Due to the lack of water, local farmers and ranchers occupy the Alabama Gates, dynamiting part of the system.

1924

Congress passes the Immigration Act of 1924, which ends Japanese immigration to the U.S.

1924

The California Supreme Court affirms that public schools should be integrated in Piper v. Big Pine School District of Inyo County, becoming a precedent for the U.S. Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka.

1924

Opening of the LA Aqueduct.

1913

November 6: The 233-mile Los Angeles Aqueduct is completed.

1913

By executive order 1529, the U.S. Government reserved over 67,120 acres for Nüümü and Newe in the area.

1912

April 5: The Southern Pacific Jawbone Branch, a broad gauged train from Los Angeles to near Lone Pine is completed and connects to the local Keeler Branch, a narrow gauged train, which runs to Bishop.

1910

George Chaffey, a Southern California developer, founds the town of Manzanar and the Owens Valley Improvement Company.

1910

1908

October: Los Angeles Aqueduct construction begins.

Bishop Indian School Children. There are 199 Native American children in Inyo County between ages 5-17.

1906

LA voters approve a bond to buy lands for aqueduct construction. In 1907, they approve a second bond for construction.

1905

Thomas Eaton, William Mulholland and Joseph Lippincott underhandedly acquire lands for LA water development, blocking a U.S. Bureau of Reclamations irrigation project.

1902-05

During these unrestricted immigration times, 127,000 Japanese enter the U.S.

1901-08

1897

The Camp Independence Indian School is established.

1892

Round Valley Indian School is established.

1890

Big Pine Indian School is established. Bishop and Big Pine Indian Schools are the first day schools established in the U.S.

1885

An Indian Day School is established in Bishop.

The narrow gauge Carson and Colorado Railroad which ran through the Valley south to Keeler is constructed.

1880

"Evening, Owens Lake, California" by Albert Bierstadt.

1871

Survey of Trail from Camp Independence to Camp Babbitt by Captain John G. Kelley, Nevada Infantry.

1865

More conflict continues after Nüümü and Newe return home from Ft. Tejon.

1864-65

1863

JULY 11: The U.S. Army forcibly marches Nüümü and Newe to Ft. Tejon, approximately 200 miles away, in 11 days.

1862

JULY 4: Camp Independence is established due to conflicts.

1862

FEBRUARY: The first "Owens Valley War" with outsiders begins and continues till May 1863.

1845

John C. Fremont names the valley, river and lake after Richard Owings (aka "Richard Owens"), a guide who never set foot in Payahuunadü.

MAY 1: Joseph R. Walker and his group are the first outsiders to come to Payahuunadü.

1834

Nüümü (Paiute) and Newe (Shoshone) have lived in Payahuunadü, "the land of flowing water," for thousands of years.

Pre-1820

Click on tiles below to learn more about that event.

1820-1870

1880-1920

1930-1970

1980-2020

Legend:

PAYAHUUNADÜ COMMUNITY RESOURCES

Scroll down to view activist resources below. Click on buttons to filter resources by community.

The Manzanar Relocation Center was in east-central California, in southern Owens Valley.

Confinement and Ethnicity: Manzanar

JAPANESE AMERICAN
We are a Native American tribe living within the transition zone of two vast ecoregions; the Sierra Nevada Mountains and the Great Basin.

Mono Lake Kuitzadikha Tribe

NATIVE AMERICAN
An app to help map Indigenous territories, treaties, and languages.

Native Land

NATIVE AMERICAN
A nonviolent, direct action project of Japanese American social justice advocates working to end detention sites and support front-line immigrant and refugee communities.

Tsuru for Solidarity

JAPANESE AMERICAN
TreePeople’s mission is to inspire, engage and support people to take personal responsibility for the urban environment.

TreePeople

ENVIRONMENTAL
A blog that illuminates Native history, art, and culture.

To Be Visible

NATIVE AMERICAN
Our mission is to build the capacity of Native Nations and Indigenous Peoples throughout California, the United States, and around the world to protect sacred lands, waters, and cultures.

Sacred Places Institute for Indigenous Peoples

NATIVE AMERICAN, ENVIRONMENTAL
Represents the Sierra Club in the Eastern Sierra; in Mono and Inyo Counties.

Sierra Club Range of Light Group

ENVIRONMENTAL
Big Pine Paiute Tribe is federally recognized and resides on the Big Pine Indian Reservation in Big Pine, CA.

Big Pine Paiute Tribe

NATIVE AMERICAN
Conglomerate Mesa deserves to be permanently protected for its conservation values. This is our public land!

Protect Conglomerate Mesa

ENVIRONMENTAL
Founded in 1996 by five relentless mothers who became distraught by the unpleasant sight of trash and toxic smells they endured while walking their young children to school.

Pacoima Beautiful

ENVIRONMENTAL
A diverse coalition of community leaders and organizations from across Los Angeles County united to create a strong water future for Los Angeles.

Our Water LA

ENVIRONMENTAL
Mission: To work together closely and cooperatively with Payahuunadü Tribes to advance self- sufficiency and sovereignty, protect and promote culture and traditions, and much more.

Owens Valley Indian Water Commission

NATIVE AMERICAN, ENVIRONMENTAL
A non-profit organization seeking just and sustainable management of Owens Valley land and water resources.

Owens Valley Committee

ENVIRONMENTAL
We care deeply about issues of justice and fairness within the Japanese American community and beyond.

Nikkei Progressives

JAPANESE AMERICAN
Nia Tero works in solidarity with Indigenous peoples who sustain thriving territories and cultures to strengthen guardianship of Earth and all beings.

Nia Tero

NATIVE AMERICAN, ENVIRONMENTAL
We amplify the power of our millions of members and supporters to defend everyone’s right to a healthy world.

Sierra Club

ENVIRONMENTAL
Since 1978 the MLC has worked to protect Mono Lake, restore its tributary streams and surrounding lands, and educate the next generation about wise water use.

Mono Lake Committee

ENVIRONMENTAL
The Manzanar Relocation Center, initially referred to as the “Owens Valley Reception Center”, was located at about 36 44' N latitude and 118 09'W longitude, and at about 3,900 feet elevation in east-central California’s Inyo County.

Geography of Japanese American Relocation Centers

JAPANESE AMERICAN
The Bishop Paiute Tribe is located at the foot of the Eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains in Bishop, CA.

Bishop Paiute Tribe

NATIVE AMERICAN
The Center for Biological Diversity was founded beneath the ancient ponderosa pines of New Mexico's Gila wilderness.

Center for Biological Diversity

ENVIRONMENTAL
Founded in 1996 to advance the health and sustainability of our region’s watersheds, rivers, streams and habitats - both in natural areas and urban neighborhoods.

Council For Watershed Health

ENVIRONMENTAL
Welcome to CREEC Region 10: RIMS Serving Inyo, Mono, Riverside and San Bernardino Counties.

CREEC Network

ENVIRONMENTAL
Documenting the testimonies of Japanese Americans who were unjustly incarcerated during World War II before their memories are extinguished.

Densho

JAPANESE AMERICAN
Since 1988, Earthworks has helped communities secure protections of their health, land, water, and air from extractive industries.

Earthworks

ENVIRONMENTAL
Our mission is to ensure the public lands of the Eastern Sierra exist in an intact, healthy natural state for people and wildlife through preservation, stewardship, exploration, and education.

Friends of the Inyo

ENVIRONMENTAL
Preserving the history and heritage of the Eastern Sierra.

Eastern California Museum

JAPANESE AMERICAN, ENVIRONMENTAL, NATIVE AMERICAN
A volunteer organization comprised of men and women committed to educating others about the World War II experience of Japanese Americans.

Friends of Manzanar

JAPANESE AMERICAN
We are a collective of Indigenous women reconnecting with our ancestral homelands.

Indigenous Women Hike

NATIVE AMERICAN
The mission of JANM is to promote understanding and appreciation of America’s ethnic and cultural diversity by sharing the Japanese American experience.

Japanese American National Museum

JAPANESE AMERICAN
The Lone Pine Paiute-Shoshone Reservation is located at an elevation of 3,697 feet above sea level in the southern portion of the Owens Valley between the Sierra Nevada Mountains and Inyo Mountain Ranges.

Lone Pine Paiute-Shoshone Tribe

NATIVE AMERICAN
The Manzanar Committee is dedicated to educating and raising public awareness about the incarceration and violation of civil rights of persons of Japanese ancestry during World War II, and to the continuing struggle of all peoples when Constitutional rights are in danger.

Manzanar Committee

JAPANESE AMERICAN
Manzanar War Relocation Center was one of ten camps where the US government incarcerated Japanese immigrants ineligible for citizenship and Japanese American citizens during World War II.

Manzanar National Historic Site

JAPANESE AMERICAN, NATIVE AMERICAN
Our intention is to contribute to a growing movement that asks each of us to restore our relations – with the waters, the peoples, the lands.

Walking Water

ENVIRONMENTAL

NATIONAL MAP

TIMELINE

PAYAHUUNADÜ COMMUNITY RESOURCES

Scroll down to view activist resources below. Click on buttons to filter resources by community.

manzanardiverted

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