Alabama Gates 2024 is a weekend of free community events in Lone Pine, California, November 15 – 17, 2024, commemorating the centennial of the Alabama Gates Occupation. This significant historical event occurred when the people of Owens Valley non-violently seized the Los Angeles Aqueduct’s control gates just north of Lone Pine on November 16, 1924, diverting the entire flow of the aqueduct into the historic Owens River channel in protest of the City of Los Angeles’ aggressive land acquisition and water harvesting activities within the valley that began with the construction and completion of the Los Angeles Aqueduct in 1913. The 1924 Alabama Gates occupation evolved into a multi-day community picnic as 700 Owens Valley residents gathered in solidarity with the occupiers over four days.
Our event marks this legendary act of civil disobedience, which reverberated worldwide, illuminating these two regions’ complicated and intertwined water history. But it also reflects how white settlers had previously confiscated and occupied Payahüünadü, the ancestral lands of the Paiute and Shoshone People in what is now called Owens Valley, along with the repercussions of this settler colonialism on contemporary Tribal residents who continue to live here.
Our November 2024 event includes a free-to-the-public roundtable discussion series at Statham Hall, Lone Pine’s Inyo County-administered community center. Our three two-hour panels scheduled over two days feature renowned Owens Valley historian John Walton, author of Western Times and Water Wars (UC Press, 1993) with Dr. Sophia Borgias, a human-environment geographer whose research focuses on Owens Valley Indigenous water rights, moderated by Jon Klusmire, journalist and former director of the Eastern California Museum; a panel with Payahüünadü Tribal representatives moderated by Dr. Sophia Borgias; and an environmentally-focused roundtable discussion with leaders from four non-profit Owens Valley conservation groups. Other free weekend events include an opening reception, a no-host community picnic at Lone Pine’s Spainhower Park featuring local food truck concessionaires, film screenings at Lone Pine’s Museum of Western Film History, and an interpretive walking tour with a local naturalist at Patsiata (Owens Lake).
This event is produced by There It Is—Take It! in partnership with Sierra Forever (formerly ESIA). Our event partners include Friends of the Eastern California Museum (FECM), Friends of the Inyo, Metabolic Studio, Museum of Western Film History, Owens Valley Committee (OVC), Owens Valley Indian Water Commission (OVIWC), and Sierra Club Range of Light Group. Our program was made possible with support from California Humanities, a partner of the NEH. For press inquiries, contact Kim Stringfellow at mail@kimstringfellow.com.
Read Ian James article, “A century after Owens Valley aqueduct protest, event marks tense time in L.A. water history” published by the Los Angeles Times on November 15, 2024.
~PROGRAM~
Friday, November 15, 2024
4 to 6 pm Opening reception at the Eastern California Museum hosted by FECM and Sierra Forever. Location: Eastern California Museum, 155 N. Grant St., Independence, CA 93526. Free to the public.
RSVP requested. Click to register.
Saturday, November 16, 2024
10 to 11:30 am Roundtable discussion with Payahüünadü Tribal representatives including Kathy Bancroft, Tribal Historic Preservation Officer, Lone Pine Paiute-Shoshone Tribe; Kyndall Noah, Communications Specialist, OVIWC; and Noah Williams, Water Program Coordinator for the Big Pine Paiute Tribe. Dr. Sophia Borgias, Assistant Professor at Boise State University will act as panel moderator. Location: Statham Hall, 138 Jackson St., Lone Pine, CA 93545. Free to the public.
RSVP requested. Click to register.
Noon to 2:30 pm No-host community picnic featuring local food truck concessionaire, The Rolling Chef, and live music by Hay Blackbird, a local Bluegrass trio with Ray Finch, Howie Schwartz and Anna Montgomery. Location: Spainhower Park, HWY 395, Lone Pine, CA 93545. Free to the public. Bring a camp chair! Seating is limited.
RSVP requested. Click to register.
3:30 to 5:00 pm Keynote panel discussion with Professor Emeritus John Walton, author of Western Times and Water Wars (UC Press, 1993) and Dr. Sophia Borgias moderated by Jon Klusmire. Location: Statham Hall, 138 Jackson St., Lone Pine, CA 93545. Free to the public.
RSVP requested. Click to register.
7 to 9 pm Evening film program at the Museum of Western Film History. Screenings will include Frontier Horizon (Republic Pictures, 1935) and several documentary film shorts, including the award-winning PAYA: The Water Story of the Paiute (2016). Location: Museum of Western Film History, 1701 South Main, Lone Pine, CA 93545. Free to the public.
Registration is required to attend. Click to register.
Sunday, November 17, 2024
10 to 11:30 am Roundtable discussion with Owens Valley environmental leaders including Mary Roper and Nancy Masters, Board Members, Owens Valley Commission; Lynn Boulton, Chair, Sierra Club Range of Light Group; Wendy Schneider, Executive Director, Friends of the Inyo; and Michael Prather, Audubon wildlife advocate for Patsiata (Owens Lake). Location: Statham Hall, 138 Jackson St., Lone Pine, CA 93545. Free to the public.
RSVP requested. Click to register.
1 to 3 pm Michael Prather, former Inyo County Water Commission Chair and past president of other regional environmental organizations, will lead an interpretive walking tour of Patsiata’s revitalized bird habitat resulting from LADWP’s massive dust mitigation project at the lake. Meet-up location: Diaz Lake County Park parking lot on Hwy 395, three miles south of Lone Pine. Free to the public.
Registration is required to attend. Click to register.
Looking for weekend lodging? The Dow Villa Motel/Hotel in Lone Pine has provided a special event attendee rate. Use: Alabama Gates 2024 when booking a room.
Order Alabama Gates 2024 t-shirts by clicking this link.
Our program is dedicated to the memory of William Kahrl, author of Water and Power (UC Press, 1982) and those no longer with us who fought to protect and conserve the Owens Valley’s magnificent watershed for future generations.
Fault Line Radio, a broadcasting project of Metabolic Studio broadcast our three panel discussions live from Statham Hall in Lone Pine on 89.9 FM.
Alabama Gates at Moffat Ranch, Los Angeles Aqueduct, Lone Pine, CA
“If I am not on the job—you can find me at the aqueduct.”
