HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF THE
UPPER MOJAVE DESERT
Vol. 18 No. 2 A UNITED WAY AGENCY February 2003
FEBRUARY PROGRAM - MANZANAR
For this month's meeting, the speaker will be John Slaughter,
the National Park Service's Facility Manager at Manzanar National
Historic Site. He will speak on the various histories associated
with Manzanar. He will cover the Prehistoric Native American population,
Orchard Farming Community, LADWP Purchase, WWII Japanese American
Internment, Inyo County Road Crew Maintenance Yard, and National
Park Service Restoration progress.
He will also talk about some of the present partnering efforts
with local groups to help in the preservation/restoration process
and opportunities to join in the challenge of preserving the various
resources associated with this historic site.
John is a Burroughs graduate and has been a Ridgecrest resident
since 1982. He and his wife Sharon (a first grade teacher at Gateway
school) have five children.
The February meeting will be at 7:30 PM on Tuesday, February 18
at the Maturango Museum. Everyone is welcome to attend. Bring
a friend. For more information, call Bruce Wertenberger at 375-2369
or leave a message at 375-8456. Andrew Sound
SOJOURNER AND TRAILBLAZER
For some persons, once you get that urge to visit places afar,
the traveling brings a personal satisfaction and delight in relating
details of the excursion. For instance, Joseph Reddeford Walker
who rode horseback many thousand of miles in the mid 1800's traveled
to just see what was beyond the horizon.
One significant difference between him telling about his travels
and how we relate our travels today is that he committed most
of the details to memory and perhaps a few written notes. (It
has been mentioned that he lost whatever travel notes he made
while crossing the Kern River). As evidenced in historical articles
and texts about him, his acknowledged memory of a terrain once
seen and its water sources made him a sought after leader for
expeditions both East and West.
It is interesting to note that Walker's fame at determining the
best route through an uncharted land has resulted in cartographers
naming quite a few landmarks in his honor. Places such as Walker
Pass, Walker Lake, Walker River, and even a mine he discovered
here in Kern County's Walker Basin. Ever heard of the Joe Walker
Mine located about 7 miles southeast of Havilah? It produced about
$600,000 of gold and silver in the late 1800's and some 900 ounces
in the 1950's.
Lou Pracchia
HAELSIG STORY (CONTINUED)
In the January newsletter it was mentioned that through a fortuitous
occurrence relating to the Brown historical article by Julie Stayton,
Richard Haelsig was mailing the society a compact disc (CD) containing
photos of the town of Brown. Gus Haelsig was Richard's grandfather's
brother and owner of the 1913 Haelsig store in Brown. In all,
Richard Haelsig sent 31 images including 28 photos and other printed
items about the Haelsig family. This is a most welcome acquisition
to our archives.
Lou Pracchia
MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL A REMINDER AND
AN APOLOGY
Our membership year is on a calendar year basis, therefore, as
of January 1, all annual memberships need to be renewed. Memberships
are $15 per year per FAMILY unit. If you have not already done
so, your check should be sent to Mr. Fred Weals, Treasurer, c/o
Historical Society, P. O. Box 2001, Ridgecrest, CA 93556.
Membership fees help pay for the newsletter costs, utilities for
our office building, production of our exhibits and various other
expenses. Thanks for renewing promptly. Please help fill our mailbox!
Let's keep our Treasurer busy!
(APOLOGY: In earlier newsletters, I inadvertently indicated the
membership fee was $15 per person. That should have read
per family unit. My apologies for the confusion this caused.
Ed.)
BUSINESS MEMBERS
We appreciate the support of our business members: the Swap
Sheet, Granite Construction Sand and Gravel, Farris
at the Heritage, and the Indian Wells Valley Insurance
Co. Please patronize these business members whenever possible.
We also encourage any of our members who are eligible to become
business members, to do so.
OUR WEBSITE
As many of you are aware, we have a website which is updated monthly
by our talented Webmistress, Janet Westbrook. Not only does it
have information about our Historical Society, but it has our
current and past newsletters for the previous several years, plus
much other information, such as a historical timeline for the
area. Janet has a counter on the website which accumulates the
number of hits or times people have accessed the site. In calendar
year 2002, we received 5,819 hits for an average of 112 hits per
week.
If you haven't done so recently, take a look at what we have on-line
for the world to see! The URL is on the back page of this newsletter.
NEW MEMBERS
Recent new members include Harold and Joanne Washmuth, Gwyn
Jensen, Anna K. McDuff and the Reverend Brad Karelius.
A hearty welcome to all of you!
HISTORICAL ARTICLE - BROWN
(The following article is from material written by HSUMD
member Julie Stayton in the 1960's as a class assignment. The
material,which appears as written, is based primarily on interviews
and reference material. The material which follows is a continuation
of the article which appeared in the January 2003 newsletter and
is the conclusion of the four part series. Ed.)
BROWN - 1920 to 1966 (Conclusion)
People came for their mail at all hours even when the Post
Office was closed. They would find Mrs. Powers, and she would
get their mail for them. Since she was spending a lot of extra
time at the Post Office, she decided that she might as well open
a store there. She began her store with five to ten dollars of
merchandise. People laughed saying, "You call this a store?"
Slowly the store grew till it covered half of the room. People
came from all around to buy slab bacon that Mrs. Powers received
in huge cartons.
Mr. Gordon Standard came to Indian Wells Valley as a small child
in 1914 and lived in Brown with his parents for two years in the
early 1920's. His father homesteaded earlier, but while in Brown,
he worked for Earl Standard. The Harley Standards rented and lived
in the nicest home in town. The home even had hardwood floors.
While there, Gordon went to his aunt's school.
In 1937, Mr. Standard again moved to Brown with his wife Marie.
They lived in a home north of the store building which was burned
by vandals after they moved away. Mrs. Marie Standard became Postmaster
May 2, 1940, and she also sold cold drinks and fuel. While living
and working there in 1943, the Standards had Kenneth Wortley tore
(sic) down the old store and the building beside it. Wortley and
Standard built the Post Office building of bricks, now the only
building in Brown. Mr. Standard also dug a well west of the new
building. The water from the well was good, and they used it in
their home.
Mr. Standard bought 160 acres of Brown from Mary McKinnan in 1944.
Mr. Standard also obtained a job with the Naval Ordnance Test
Station in 1944, and Mrs. Standard was relieved one year of the
Postmaster job by Mr. Cornelius J. Conley. Again, Mrs. Standard
took the job in 1945 which she kept till 1948 when the Standards
moved on the Navy Station. On May 15, 1948, the name of the Post
Office was changed to the Mount Owen Post Office, and on June
15, Mrs. Eve Sterling became Postmaster. The Sterlings lived in
the back of the Post Office and used one front side for postal
services. On December 31, 1950, the Post Office was closed, and
mail was sent to Mojave. In 1938, the train no longer stopped
in Brown. All the mail then came by Western Truck line.
From 1936 to 1940, Richard Lewis lived with Tiny and Earl Standard.
He went to school in Mount Owen School, and Mr. Lewis stayed with
the Standards till he joined the service in the 1940's,
A California guide book says that in 1939, Brown had a population
of 51. The Gordon Standards say there could not have been more
than 15. In 1947, there were twelve residents. The Mount Owen
School had fifteen pupils that year; however the store was vacant.
Brown's setting consisted of the unpainted store and Post Office,
the keeper's cottage, a tiny cluster of box car homes of families
of the section crew, and the modern little school.
One of the more attractive houses in Brown was a small homestead
owned by the Emdes. The Emdes had resided in the house periodically
to maintain the homestead claim. After they left, various people
lived there including the Harley Standards, and the Ladies Aid
of the valley used the building for meetings. Later, however,
railroad transients staying in the house used flooring and frame
wood as firewood and thereby destroyed the structure. Much of
Brown is owned today by Marshall Goulet and Graham Haswell of
Ridgecrest. They sold part of their land to Mr. Sam Merrill.
Today, Brown tells few stories of its past. As one walks past
debris where people have dug for relics of the past, one wonders
what lives were touched by this town. The remnants of the past
are so few that it is difficult to believe there was ever a town
there. Tracks, the Emde rock foundation, the brick building
damaged by vandals, two cement foundations, Tamarisk trees, desert
brush, little cellars, and an observation well are all that remains.
(This concludes the main article composed by Mrs. Julie Stayton
in the mid-1960's. Noting that the article was composed nearly
40 years ago, any references to how things currently appear, or
to land ownership would not necessarily apply today.
There is also supplementary material by Mrs. Stayton consisting
of biographical sketches of some of the Brown area residents which
may be published in the newsletter in the future.
Our thanks to Mrs. Stayton for permission to publish the foregoing
series of four articles on Brown, California. Ed.)