The Owens Valley had received scant attention from European Americans before the early 1860s , as it was little more than a crossroads of the routes through the area . When gold and silver were discovered in the Sierra Nevada and the Inyo Mountains , the resulting sudden influx of miners , farmers , cattlemen and their hungry herds brought conflict with the Owens Valley Paiute , whose crops were being destroyed . The Owens Valley Indian War of 1861 – 1863 ensued ; at the end , the Owens Valley Paiute , along with other native peoples in the region , were forced at gunpoint by the United States Army to walk almost to Fort Tejon , in one of the many forced relocations or " Trails of Tears " inflicted upon Native Americans in the United States
Trails of Tears
Trail of Tears
Manzanar