The Eastern California Museum is Inyo County’s regional history and heritage museum, located at 155 N. Grant Street in Independence, about 40 miles south of Bishop. Founded in 1928 and operated by Inyo County since 1968, the museum collects and preserves artifacts, photographs, documents, and objects related to the cultural and natural history of the region from Death Valley to Mono Lake. Permanent exhibits cover Owens Valley Paiute and Panamint Shoshone communities, the Los Angeles Aqueduct and Owens Valley water history, the Manzanar incarceration site, pioneer and ranching life, the naturalist Norman Clyde, and regional geology. The museum holds one of the largest collections of Owens Valley Paiute basketry in California and houses approximately 27,000 historic photographs, the majority dating from the late 1800s through the 1950s. The historic Slim Princess steam locomotive is on the grounds. Admission is free; a $5 donation is appreciated. Open Tuesday through Sunday, 10am–5pm.