Bishop is the only incorporated city in Inyo County, California, United States. It is located near the northern end of the Owens Valley in the Mojave Desert, at an elevation of .
History
The Bishop Creek post office operated from 1870 to 1889 and from 1935 to 1938. The first Bishop post office opened in 1889. This remote area of California had never been explored by the Spanish although it appeared as Mexican territory on early maps.
Explorer John C. Fremont was an early US Army visitor to the region. Officially sanctioned by the federal government, his 1845 mapping party to the Eastern Sierra included the scout Kit Carson, for whom the capital of NevadaCarson City was named. Also in the party were Ed Kern for whom Kern County, California was named and Richard Owens, for whom Owens Lake and Owens Valley were named.
The city of Bishop was established due to the need for beef in a mining camp eighty miles to the north, Aurora, Nevada, which was believed to be on the California side of the border at that time and was the county seat of Mono County. In 1861 cattlemen drove herds of cattle three hundred miles from the San Joaquin Valley of California through the southern Sierra at Walker Pass, up the Owens Valley, and then through Adobe Meadows to Aurora.
To avoid the long journey from the other side of the mountains, a few cattlemen decided to settle in the valley. Driving about 600 head of cattle and 50 horses, Samuel Addison Bishop, his wife, and several hired hands arrived in the Owens Valley on August 22, 1861 from Fort Tejon in the Tehachapi Mountains. Along with Henry Vansickle, Charles Putnam, Allen Van Fleet, and the McGee brothers, Bishop was one of the first white settlers in the valley.
Sheepmen soon followed the cattlemen and initially struggled due to a lack of forage for their stock in the area. Remnants of the early settlers' stone corrals and fences still exist north of Bishop along Highway 395 in Round Valley, California. Samuel Bishop set up a market to sell beef to the miners and business owners in Aurora. One of the residents of Aurora at that time was a young Samuel Clemens, who later gained fame as author Mark Twain. By 1862, a frontier settlement known as Bishop Creek was established two miles east of the San Francis Ranch. The only remnant of Samuel Bishop's ranch is a monument placed near the original site at the corner of Highway 168 West and Red Hill Road, two miles west of downtown Bishop.
thumb|The historic cemetery on West Line St. was established in 1868.
In 1866, the County of Inyo was established from part of Tulare County. The Eastern High Sierra/Owens Valley region was the westernmost populated frontier of the U.S. at that time. In 1871, Daniel Bruhn was one of 41 wranglers herding nearly 3,000 wild Spanish mustangs from Stockton, California to Texas. Their travels brought them over the High Sierra and into the Owens Valley, where they lost over 500 head of horses. Some descendants of those mustangs still roam on the California/Nevada border just north of Bishop.
Water conflicts of the Owens Valley
As Los Angeles expanded during the late 19th century, it began outgrowing its water supply. Fred Eaton, mayor of Los Angeles, promoted a plan to take water from Owens Valley, where Bishop lies, to Los Angeles via an aqueduct. Between 1905 and 1907, most of the land in the Owens Valley was purchased from farmers and ranchers at bargain prices by Eaton, ostensibly for a his own use. The real goal was to send Owens Valley water south to Los Angeles. In 1907, Eaton traveled to Washington to meet with advisers of Theodore Roosevelt to convince them that the water of the Owens River would do more good flowing through faucets in Los Angeles than it would if used on Owens Valley fields and orchards. Despite a political fight with Congressman Sylvester Smith, who represented the area around Bishop, Roosevelt decided in favor of the aqueduct.
The aqueduct was built from 1907 to 1913 under the supervision of William Mullholland. The aqueduct is long, used no pumping stations; only gravity siphons. For a number of years, Owens Valley residents expressed much animosity toward the city of Los Angeles; for example, in Dry Ditches, a book of poems published in 1934 by the Parcher family of Bishop. The Owens Valley–city of Los Angeles conflict was the inspiration of the 1974 film Chinatown, starring Jack Nicholson.
Indian cultural heritage
alt=Paiute Indian hut, reconstructed in 1940|thumb|Example of Paiute Hut, re-constructed for a float in a parade in Bishop, 1940
Indians live in and near Bishop on four reservations. The southernmost is the Lone Pine Indian Reservation; northward is Fort Independence Reservation and Big Pine Indian Reservation. The largest and northernmost is the Bishop Indian Reservation.
Geography
Bishop lies west of the Owens River at the northern end of the Owens Valley. The city is located on U.S. Route 395, the main north–south artery through the Owens Valley, connecting the Inland Empire to Reno, Nevada. US 395 also connects Bishop to Los Angeles via State Route 14 through Palmdale. Bishop is the western terminus of U.S. Route 6. The Paiute-Shoshone Indians of the Bishop Community of the Bishop Colony control land just west of the town. The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (DWP) controls much of the upstream and surrounding area.
Bishop is immediately to the east of the Sierra Nevada, and west of the White Mountains. Numerous peaks are within a short distance of Bishop, including Mount Humphreys () to the west, White Mountain Peak () to the northeast, and pyramidal Mount Tom () northwest of town. Basin Mountain () is viewed to the west from Bishop as it rises above the Buttermilks. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , over 97% of it land. Bishop is known as the "Mule Capital of the World" and a week-long festival called Bishop Mule Days has been held since 1969 during the week of Memorial Day, celebrating the contributions of pack mules to the area. The festival attracts many tourists, primarily from the Southern California area.
Bishop is well known in the rock climbing community. Near the city are numerous climbing spots that attract visitors from around the world. There are over 2,000 bouldering locations in Bishop. The two main types of rock are volcanic tuff (at the Happy and Sad boulders) and quartz monzonite at the Buttermilks).
thumb|An aerial view of Bishop, looking west. Line Street, Bishop's main East-West Street, is in center left, running from the bottom of the photo into the distance
Notable locations
- Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest
- Bishop Area Chamber of Commerce
- Bishop Visitors Bureau
- Eastern Sierra Regional Airport
- Inyo National Forest Supervisor's Office
- Keoughs Hot Springs
- Laws Rail Museum
- Paiute Indian Reservation
- Paiute-Shoshone Cultural Center Museum
Climate
Bishop, as well as the rest of the Owens Valley, has an arid climate (Köppen BWk) with an annual average of 4.84" of precipitation, and is part of USDA Plant Hardiness Zone 7b. The wettest year was 1969 with 17.09" of precipitation and the driest 2013 with 1.33 inches. which included the snowiest month, January 1969, at 23.2 inches.
There is an average of 3 nights lows below ten degrees, 139 nights where the low reaches the freezing mark, 104 days with 90+ degree highs, and 29 days with 100+ degree highs. Due to the aridity and hot high-altitude sun, there are only 34 days with maxima below 50 degrees, and only one per year with a maximum below freezing, and the annual diurnal temperature variation is 36.9 degrees, reaching 42 degrees in summer. The record high temperature of 111 degrees occurred on July 10, 2021; the record low of -8° was recorded on December 22, 1990, and December 27, 1988. Diurnals are wide enough that temperatures both during summer and winter afternoons resemble Southern Spain's interior, whereas nights in both seasons are similar to those found on the Baltic Sea in far northern Europe.
Cold daytime highs and warm nights are rare, but have happened on occasion. The coldest daytime maximum measured was 19° in 1962. Ice days are infrequent with the warmer climate of recent decades. Between 1991 and 2020 the coldest maximum temperature of the year averaged 35° with the coldest days barely remaining below freezing. extremes 1943–present
|single line = Y
|Jan avg record high F = 67.3
|Feb avg record high F = 70.7
|Mar avg record high F = 77.3
|Apr avg record high F = 85.7
|May avg record high F = 94.3
|Jun avg record high F =101.8
|Jul avg record high F =105.4
|Aug avg record high F =103.3
|Sep avg record high F = 97.5
|Oct avg record high F = 87.3
|Nov avg record high F = 76.0
|Dec avg record high F = 66.8
|year avg record high F=106.1
|Jan avg record low F = 11.0
|Feb avg record low F = 14.5
|Mar avg record low F = 18.9
|Apr avg record low F = 24.1
|May avg record low F = 32.4
|Jun avg record low F = 39.2
|Jul avg record low F = 46.7
|Aug avg record low F = 44.4
|Sep avg record low F = 36.8
|Oct avg record low F = 25.4
|Nov avg record low F = 15.4
|Dec avg record low F = 9.7
|year avg record low F = 6.6
|Jan record high F = 77
|Feb record high F = 81
|Mar record high F = 87
|Apr record high F = 94
|May record high F = 104
|Jun record high F = 112
|Jul record high F = 118
|Aug record high F = 114
|Sep record high F = 106
|Oct record high F = 97
|Nov record high F = 84
|Dec record high F = 78
|Jan high F = 56.3
|Feb high F = 59.3
|Mar high F = 67.1
|Apr high F = 73.7
|May high F = 82.8
|Jun high F = 93.5
|Jul high F = 99.7
|Aug high F = 98.0
|Sep high F = 90.0
|Oct high F = 77.6
|Nov high F = 64.2
|Dec high F = 54.5
|year high F =
|Jan low F = 23.5
|Feb low F = 26.4
|Mar low F = 31.3
|Apr low F = 36.7
|May low F = 44.2
|Jun low F = 51.4
|Jul low F = 56.7
|Aug low F = 54.0
|Sep low F = 47.2
|Oct low F = 37.4
|Nov low F = 27.0
|Dec low F = 22.1
|year low F =
|Jan record low F = −7
|Feb record low F = −2
|Mar record low F = 9
|Apr record low F = 15
|May record low F = 25
|Jun record low F = 25
|Jul record low F = 34
|Aug record low F = 34
|Sep record low F = 25
|Oct record low F = 13
|Nov record low F = 5
|Dec record low F = −8
|precipitation colour = green
|Jan precipitation inch = 1.14
|Feb precipitation inch = 0.89
|Mar precipitation inch = 0.55
|Apr precipitation inch = 0.22
|May precipitation inch = 0.23
|Jun precipitation inch = 0.13
|Jul precipitation inch = 0.18
|Aug precipitation inch = 0.07
|Sep precipitation inch = 0.11
|Oct precipitation inch = 0.35
|Nov precipitation inch = 0.31
|Dec precipitation inch = 0.66
|year precipitation inch=
| Jul snow inch = 0
| Aug snow inch = 0
| Sep snow inch = 0
| Oct snow inch = 0
| Nov snow inch = 0.4
| Dec snow inch = 1.3
| Jan snow inch = 4.1
| Feb snow inch = 0.9
| Mar snow inch = 0.1
| Apr snow inch = 0
| May snow inch = 0
| Jun snow inch = 0
| year snow inch =6.8
| unit precipitation days = 0.01 in
| Jan precipitation days = 3.9
| Feb precipitation days = 4.0
| Mar precipitation days = 2.9
| Apr precipitation days = 1.9
| May precipitation days = 1.7
| Jun precipitation days = 1.5
| Jul precipitation days = 1.7
| Aug precipitation days = 1.5
| Sep precipitation days = 1.7
| Oct precipitation days = 1.5
| Nov precipitation days = 2.3
| Dec precipitation days = 3.0
|year precipitation days =27.6
| unit snow days = 0.1 in
| Jul snow days = 0
| Aug snow days = 0
| Sep snow days = 0
| Oct snow days = 0
| Nov snow days = 0.4
| Dec snow days = 0.8
| Jan snow days = 1.3
| Feb snow days = 0.9
| Mar snow days = 0.2
| Apr snow days = 0
| May snow days = 0
| Jun snow days = 0
| year snow days= 3.6
|source 1 = NOAA, WRCC
Demographics
The demographic information here applies to residents living within the city limits of Bishop; 3,879 people are in downtown Bishop.
The "greater Bishop area," which includes unincorporated nearby neighborhoods such as West Bishop, Meadow Creek-Dixon Lane, Wilkerson Ranch, Rocking K, Mustang Mesa, Round Valley and the Bishop Paiute Tribe add an additional 11,000 residents to the greater Bishop area. The population density was .
There were 1,748 households, out of which 28.5% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 31.5% were married-couple households, 8.9% were cohabiting couple households, 28.9% had a male householder with no spouse or partner present, and 30.7% had a female householder with no spouse or partner present. About 39.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 17.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.11. There were 904 families (51.7% of all households).
Politics and government
In the state legislature Bishop is in . It is also in the 4th State Senate district. Federally, Bishop is in .
Bishop maintains its own police force, but also has a substation of the Inyo County Sheriff's Department on the outskirts of the city. The California Highway Patrol also has an office in town.
Transportation
Highways
U.S. Route 395 is the four-lane divided highway serving Bishop between southern California and Reno while U.S. Route 6 provides access to Tonopah and other communities in Nevada. The junction of U.S. Routes 395 and 6 is one of only two junctions of two U.S. Routes in California, the other being the junction of U.S. Routes
101 and 199 in Crescent City, California. Section Two of State Route 168 overlaps with U.S. Route 395 here until the road reaches Big Pine.
Airports
The Eastern Sierra Regional Airport provides general aviation services in addition to seasonal scheduled passenger airline service nonstop to Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Denver operated by SkyWest Airlines flying as United Express with regional jet aircraft on behalf of United Airlines.
Public Transportation Services
thumb|Eastern Sierra Transit bus shelter in Bishop
Eastern Sierra Transit offers bus service as far north as Reno, Nevada, and as far south as Lancaster, California.
Education
It is in the Bishop Unified School District for grades PK-12<!--UNI 1409-->.
Previously the area was in the Bishop Union Elementary School District and the Bishop Union High School District for high school.
In popular culture
A number of westerns and other films were shot in Bishop: