Laws Railroad Museum and Historical Site is located at the old 1883 railroad depot and eleven-acre yard a few miles north of Bishop, California, where a village sprang up surrounding the depot during the later 1880's and the little community was then referred to simply as "Station." In 1905 the small settlement's name was changed from Station to Laws, after R.J. Laws, who was a longtime railroad superintendent. The railroad ran through the town of Laws for seventy-seven years, until 1960.

This historic railway was constructed starting at Mound House, just east of Carson City. It was originally intended as a transport route with its northen terminus in the Comstock Lode area, served by the Virginia and Truckee railway, and extending all the way south to the Colorado River at Fort Mohave: however, the project eventually reached only as far as 72 miles south of Bishop to the town of Keeler, on the east side of Owens Lake. 

Southern Pacific purchased the railroad in 1900 and the line continued to operate until the last train rolled down the tracks in 1960.  

While the Depot and the Agent's House are original, the other buildings on Laws Museum's eleven acres have been either built on-site or moved here for preservation and to recreate the feel of the historic village An extensive collection of late-19th/early-20th-century artifacts from around the Owens Valley are housed on the museum grounds, which lie near the base of Silver Canyon in the White Mountains to the east.