History and Natural History
The area was once home to the Kawaiisu Indians. Some petroglyphs and pictographs are found in the El Paso mountains and represent the ritual sites from the Coso People ancestors. The Coso People were early Native American inhabitants of this locale. They created extensive carvings in rock within the El Paso and neighboring mountains of Red Rock Canyon. and conducted considerable trade with other tribes as distant as the Chumash on the Pacific coast.
The colorful rock formations in the park served as landmarks during the early 1870s for 20-mule team freight wagons that stopped for water. The park protects significant paleontology sites and the remains of 1890s-era mining operations.
Between these two photographs, 66 years have elapsed. In the 1933 picture Red Rock Canyon was on U.S. Route 6, a well-traveled route from Bishop to Los Angeles along the east side of the Sierra Nevada. The scenery at this point in the road eventually led to the creation of Red Rock Canyon State Park in 1968. A dirt road crosses the center of the view.
In the 1999 photo, a total of 17 species are now present in the foreground. No Yuccas or other plants have persisted over the 66 years between the dates of the photographs. In most of the repeat photography, few Yuccas appear to live longer than about 40 years. Many more plants appear in the 1999 view, partially in response to decreased disturbance as well as increased precipitation in the latter part of the 20th century. For example, the road that previously crossed the foreground is difficult to detect. The foreground of this view is geomorphically active, and small rills and gullies cross parts of the foreground. Young geomorphic surfaces, such as that portrayed in this 1999 view, support young plant assemblages that recover relatively quickly following cessation of disturbance.
Read more about this topic: Red Rock Canyon State Park (California)
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