The Owens Valley is roughly 100 miles long and varies from 6 to 20 miles wide.
It is a rift valley, lying between two large seismic faults. It is of
historic importance in that during the early 1900's the City of Los Angeles
began diverting water from the Owens Valley via the Owens Valley Aqueduct.
There has been a great deal of strife over this action ever since. The
movie, Chinatown, starring Jack Nicholson, is based in part on some aspects
of the diversion of water by Los Angeles.