MEDIA RELEASE

3/12/2025

–For Immediate Release—

Contact: Louis Medina, Outreach Director, Sierra Forever [email protected], Cell 323.788.7447

Lone Pine Earthquake Walk with Sierra Forever Will Leave Attendees Shaken

“Horrors!! Appalling times! EARTHQUAKES. Awful loss of life! … Earth Opens! HOUSES PROSTRATED. LONE PINE! ITS TERRIBLE CONDITION. MOST HEART-RENDING SCENES! Miraculous Escapes!”

The newspaper headline writing style certainly was different in 1872, but it totally captured the intensity of one of the most powerful seismic shocks in our state’s modern history.

What became known as the 1872 Owens Valley Earthquake, also referred to as the Lone Pine Earthquake, struck at 2:30 in the morning of March 26 that year. Its magnitude was estimated to be between 7.4 and 7.9, similar in strength to the1906 San Francisco Earthquake. Twenty-seven people died; 56 were injured. Most homes were destroyed. The scars it left on the land can still be seen.

On March 22, almost 153 years to the day, the public will be able to experience the Lone Pine Earthquake through a free, 90-minute guided walk courtesy of Sierra Forever and our Bureau of Land Management partners.

“This walk goes into the geologic impact from this earthquake and the visceral firsthand historical accounts of people who survived. It’s a fascinating and horrible day in Lone Pine’s history,” said Ashley Anderson, Sierra Forever’s Alabama Hills Interpretive Specialist.

Participants will get to walk with an interpretive guide to the Lone Pine Fault scarp just outside of town and look at the signs of a forever changed landscape where the earth both rose and shifted.

The meeting time is at 11 a.m. at the Whitney Portal Road Entrance Station. Attendees are encouraged to wear sturdy walking shoes, dress in layers, use sun protection and bring water and snacks for the one-mile walk. Children must be accompanied by an adult at all times.

For more information about the 1872 Lone Pine Earthquake Walk, please reach out to [email protected].

To learn more about this and other events offered by Sierra Forever, please visit sierraforever.org/events. All outdoor interpretive events are subject to cancellation without prior notice due to weather or other factors.

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Public Domain This clipping from the May 11, 1872, issue of Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, a weekly literary and news magazine published in New York from 1855 to 1922, depicts the devastation experienced by the town of Lone Pine (top and bottom right) and the Courthouse at Independence (bottom left) following the 1872 Owens Valley Earthquake.

: Courtesy of the County of Inyo, Eastern California Museum – The Eastern California Museum’s photo collection includes several photographs of the destruction suffered by the town of Lone Pine following the 1872 Owens Valley Earthquake, also known as the Lone Pine Earthquake.

Flyer Lone Pine Earthquake Walk