Lee Vining and Lundy Canyon Conway Ranch "The land which comprises the Conway Ranch on the Mono Basin was purchased by the Conway family in 1903 from a relative of Anna Currie, the former owner of Goat Ranch located just east of there. The Conways were known horse experts who in 1907, began a freight and stage operation between Lundy and Bodie sometime after the Hector Stage Station had seized operations. They opened their home to travelers providing meals and a place to rest and dust themselves off. Shortly after their oldest son had become of age, he was parceled a piece of the family's land where he constructed a separate spread and proceeded in the family horse business. In the later 1900's most of the nearby mining towns were either in decline or abandoned."


Source and for more information and pictures, go to: Highdesertdrifter.com

]]> -119.1604290008346 38.07020000057057 0 2478.265695530443 0 -5.146423724529302e-010 relativeToGround relativeToSeaFloor #style_poi -119.1604290008346,38.07020000057057,0 Lee Vining

Lee Vining, CA, is an unincorporated town in Mono County, California, USA. It is located on the southwest shore of Mono Lake. As of the 2000 census, the town had a total population of 488 and its elevation is 6781 feet (2067m). At the previous census the town population was 398, and at the census before that it was 315. The economy of Lee Vining relies largely on tourism, since it is the closest town to the east entrance of Yosemite National Park, and is near other tourist destinations such as Mono Lake, the ghost town of Bodie, popular trout fishing destinations, and June Mountain and Mammoth Mountain ski areas and the June Lake recreational area. Tourism is mostly confined to the summer months, because State Route 120 through Yosemite is closed otherwise because of heavy snows, although year-round tourism has been increasing in recent years. Lee Vining has a year-round Information Center for visitors. The town was named after Leroy Vining, who founded the town in 1852 as a mining camp.


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]]> #style_poi -119.116257,37.952862,0 Bloody Canyon From Dr.Joseph Conte's, professor at UC-Berkeley, Account of Bloody Canyon (Ramblings Through the High Sierra)


AUGUST 13, 1870
The trail down Bloody Cañon is rough and precipitous beyond conception. It is the terror of all drovers and packers across the mountains. It descends four thousand feet in two or three miles, and is a mere mass of loose fragments of sharp slate. Our horses’ legs were all cut and bleeding before we got down. I really felt pity for my horse, with his tender feet. We all dismounted and led them down with the greatest care....

The scenery of Bloody Cañon is really magnificent, and in a scientific point of view this is the most interesting locality I have yet seen. Conceive a narrow, winding gorge, with black, slaty precipices of every conceivable form, fifteen hundred to two thousand feet high on either side. As the gorge descends precipitously, and winds from side to side, we often look from above down into the most glorious amphitheater of cliffs, and from time to time beyond, upon the glistening surface of Lake Mono, and the boundless plains, studded with volcanic cones. About one-third way down, in the center of the grandest of these amphitheaters, see! a deep, splendidly clear, emerald-green lake, three or four times the size of Mirror Lake.

]]> #style_landform -119.177971,37.868076,0 Old Mammoth City From Visit Mammoth:
"Mining was the key that unlocked the treasure chest of the Eastern Sierra. Vast deserts on three sides and an immense mountain barrier on the other kept white men away from the native Paiute, Shoshone, and Washoe settlements until relatively late in California's History. But the discovery of the Comstock Lode silver ore in 1858, east of Lake Tahoe, changed that overnight. Prospectors from the gold fields on the west side flooded east across the Sierra to the Comstock. Rich gold and silver discoveries at Aurora and Bodie fueled the rumors and dreams of many and kept them searching. Four prospectors hunting for the Lost Cement Mine organized the Lakes Mining District on Mineral Hill near Lake Mary in 1877. The following year, General George Dodge of Civil War and Union Pacific fame bought the group of claims and organized the Mammoth Mining Co...."

Read the rest at Visitmammoth.com

]]> #style_poi -118.995583,37.621643,0 Dog Town Dog Town (also, Dogtown and Dogtown Diggings) is a ghost town in Mono County, California. It is located on Dog Creek about 6 miles (10 km) south-southeast of Bridgeport, at an elevation of 7057 feet (2151 m). Today, Dog Town is a defunct gold rush era town in Mono County, California. It is located on Dog Creek, near the junction of Clearwater and Virginia Creeks. The town was established in approximately 1857 by Carl Norst as a placer mining camp. By 1859, a group of Mormons had arrived as miners at the site and a mining camp arose. The name "Dogtown" was often applied by miners to camps where living conditions were miserable. Dogtown survived briefly before being abandoned.
Dogtown was the first gold mining camp in the Eastern Sierra Nevada. Although its deposits were minimal, Dogtown did attract attention to the area as a whole, including the subsequent discoveries of much richer gold deposits in nearby areas such as Bodie, Aurora and Masonic.

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]]> #style_poi -119.194618,38.171124,0 Bodie Bodie, California is a ghost town east of the Sierra Nevada mountain range in Mono County, California, United States, about 75 miles (120 km) southeast of Lake Tahoe. As Bodie Historic District, the U.S. Department of the Interior recognizes it as a National Historic Landmark. The ghost town has been administered by California State Parks since becoming a state historic park in 1962, and receives about 200,000 visitors yearly.


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]]> #style_poi -119.014595,38.209488,0 Lundy Lundy (formerly, Mill Creek) is a small town in Mono County, California. It is situated at an elevation of 7858 feet (2395 m).


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