Paiute-Shoshone Cultural Center

The Paiute-Shoshone Cultural Center on the Bishop Paiute Reservation documents the history and culture of the Owens Valley's indigenous people, who have lived in this valley for more than a thousand years. The museum holds basketry, tools, clothing, and photographs, along with exhibits on the traditional seasonal round of the Owens Valley Paiute — the movement between valley floor and mountain meadows that structured their year.

The center also has a gallery showing work by contemporary Native American artists from the region. It is a modest institution by big-city standards but informative and genuine, and visiting it puts the landscape of the Owens Valley in a longer context than the mining and irrigation history that usually dominates. Admission is charged; the center is closed on weekends.

things to do museum
A story
The Owens Valley Paiute had occupied this valley for at least 1,500 years before the arrival of Euro-American settlers in the 1860s, and they developed a sophisticated semi-agricultural system based on controlled flooding of wild plant fields that some archaeologists consider proto-agricultural. The construction of the Los Angeles aqueduct in the early 20th century, which diverted the Owens River and dried up Owens Lake, also transformed the Paiute's traditional resource base — the same project that devastated the valley for settlers devastated the indigenous communities first.