Haiwee is an unincorporated community

Unincorporated area

In law, an unincorporated area is a region of land that is not a part of any municipality.To "incorporate" in this context means to form a municipal corporation, a city, town, or village with its own government. An unincorporated community is usually not subject to or taxed by a municipal government...

 in Inyo County

Inyo County, California

-National protected areas:* Death Valley National Park * Inyo National Forest * Manzanar National Historic Site-Major highways:* U.S. Route 6* U.S. Route 395* State Route 127* State Route 136* State Route 168* State Route 178...

, California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

. It is located on the Southern Pacific Railroad

Southern Pacific Railroad

The Southern Pacific Transportation Company , earlier Southern Pacific Railroad and Southern Pacific Company, and usually simply called the Southern Pacific or Espee, was an American railroad....

 24 miles (39 km) south-southwest of Keeler

Keeler, California

Keeler is a census-designated place in Inyo County, California, United States. Keeler is located on the east shore of Owens Lake south-southeast of New York Butte, at an elevation of 3602 feet...

, at an elevation of 4075 feet (1242 m).

The settlement here began in 1864, as a waystop at Haiwai Meadows on the road between Visalia

Visalia, California

Visalia is a Central California city situated in the heart of California’s agricultural San Joaquin Valley, approximately southeast of San Francisco and north of Los Angeles...

 and the Owens Valley

Owens Valley

Owens Valley is the arid valley of the Owens River in eastern California in the United States, to the east of the Sierra Nevada and west of the White Mountains and Inyo Mountains on the west edge of the Great Basin section...

. The stop was run by a man named McGuire and his wife and young son. McGuire's wife and son were killed in an Indian attack while he was away on January 1, 1865. Owens Valley settler militia

Militia

The term militia is commonly used today to refer to a military force composed of ordinary citizens to provide defense, emergency law enforcement, or paramilitary service, in times of emergency without being paid a regular salary or committed to a fixed term of service. It is a polyseme with...

 avenged their deaths with an attack on the Indian village where the killers had taken refuge, in the Owens Lake Massacre on January 6, 1865. This was the one of the last fights in the Owens Valley Indian War

Owens Valley Indian War

The Owens Valley War was fought between 1862 and 1863, by California Volunteers and local settlers against the Owens Valley Paiutes, and their Shoshone and Kawaiisu allies, in the Owens Valley of California and the southwestern Nevada border region. The removal of a large number of the Owens River...

.

The original settlement site and the Haiwai Meadows are under the water of the Haiwee Reservoir. The town moved to a site west of the reservoir. A post office operated at Haiwee from 1906 to 1913, moving in 1909.