HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF THE UPPER MOJAVE DESERT
Vol. 20 No. 2 February 2005
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FEBRUARY MEETING. TWO PARTS: 7:00, BLM SITE PRESERVATION PROGRAM
, 7:30, "SOMEWHERE ON THE EDGE OF NOWHERE"
At 7:00, at the Maturango Museum, a representative of BLM will briefly discuss their program to develop the historical background of selected cabin and sites as to their origin (when, who, what purpose) and their present status. Volunteers to help will be solicited.
At 7:30, our usual starting time, Liz Babcock will review the last 100 years of Indian Wells Valley history in a previously planned presentation to the Historical Society.
The IWV has had a more eventful century than you might first imagine, beginning with those who arrived to help build the Los Angeles Aqueduct, some of whom stayed around to become miners and homesteaders and farmers. And of course, eventually the Navy arrived. A year or so ago, the Maturango Museum won a grant to tell this story. Since then, a team led by History Curator Liz Babcock has been working to produce a video called "Somewhere on the Edge of Nowhere Stories of the Indian Wells Valley 1905-2005." The video will feature a variety of local people telling the story of the IWV as they saw it happen. Liz will describe the video and its production in her presentation to the Historical Society.
The project was made possible in part by a grant from the California Council for the Humanities as part of the statewide California Stories Initiative. The grant application process itself helped determine the direction that the video would take from a focus on "Early Timers," the project evolved to include a greater diversity of subjects in terms of age, ethnicity, background, and length of time in the valley. The overall theme of each of the interviews is what they appreciate about the valley, what they're not so fond of, and what local milestones they especially remember. Interviews with each subject were filmed by Mark Pahuta, with their stories tied together by a script written by Cliff Lawson and narrated by Deanna Ripley-Lotee. The terms of the grant required two humanities experts, who were local historian Tom Chapman and experienced writer, editor, and lecturer Donna McCrohan Rosenthal. Shannon Bliss and Becky and Dennis Sorge were all-round critical resources for the video team.
February speaker Liz Babcock will be well known to other HSUMD members as a former HSUMD board member and director of exhibits. A local resident since 1960, her involvement in local history began when she volunteered to write the local history chapter of the seventh edition of the Indian Wells Valley Handbook, leading to her getting to know Ardis Walker and many other local pioneers.
The video will have its debut at City Hall on April 5, as part of California Stories Month, but be sure to attend this month's meeting to get an early taste of this epic of our valley's history!
More information on the California Stories Initiative and the California Council for the Humanities, an independent nonprofit organization and an affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities, is available at www.californiastories.org.
The Historical Society meets on the third Tuesday of every
month. For more information about this month's or future meetings,
call President Bruce Wertenberger at 375-2369 or leave a message
at 375-8456.
Andrew Sound
FUTURE MEETINGS SCHEDULE
15 March: Tom Chapman Hidden Camps of
Inyo County
19 April: To be confirmed
17 May: Robert A. Pearce Owens Valley
Controversy
CONTRIBUTORS/BENEFACTORS
January benefactors are W.R. and Judy Ditzler, and Dan and Mary Kus. New contributors are Jim and Carolyn Shepherd. All donations are appreciated. They may be made any time during the year. We are an IRS 501(c)(3) corporation so contributions are tax deductible to the extent of the law.
INCOME/EXPENSE FOR 2004
Income: Membership dues $2655, contributors, benefactors, patrons $850, other donations and grants $776.
Expenses: Newsletter printing and postage $1218, building rent $1000, liability insurance $350, water, gas, electricity $592, telephone $606, transcribing local history $400, room rental, Maturango Museum $275, memberships in other organizations $241, Internet service $195, historical publications $249, office equipment and supplies $210, other $149.
There was also income from the annual dinner, from tours and
from publications and videos, however this income was more than
offset by costs for the same. (We did experience some gain in
inventory value of publications and videos) Considering all income
and all expenses, expenses exceeded income by approximately $1140
in 2004 and our reserves were reduced by this amount. Although
we are planning to reduce costs by elimination of the telephone
the projected expenses for 2005 will again outweigh the projected
income.
Fred Weals
MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL TIME
Our membership year is the calendar year. If you haven't yet
renewed you membership for 2005, it is $15 for a family and $25
business members. To renew your membership just send a check
in the appropriate amount to Fred Weals, HSUMD Treasurer, P.
O. Box 2001, Ridgecrest, CA 93556 .
BUSINESS MEMBERS
Please patronize our local business members: Jack & Dana
Lyons, the Swap Sheet, Ridgecrest Moving & Storage, Heritage
Inn, Farris' Diner & Italian Gardens, Indian Wells
Valley Insurance Co., The News Review, and BevLen Haus Bed
and Breakfast.
FRANK ERDMAN AND RICHARD ERDMAN.
It is with regret that we note the very recent passing of both
Frank Erdman and his son, Richard Erdman, both HSUMD members.
More will appear in next month's newsletter. Our condolences
to their families.
HISTORICAL ARTICLE
(Following is an article prepared by our great local historian member, John Di Pol, drawn from his own library of history books. Part One appeared in the January 2005 issue of the newsletter. Ed)
CALIFORNIA STATE BOUNDARIES - When, Where, How
(Part Two)
Part One of this article ended with the establishment of the Territory, and later statehood, of Nevada in the early 1860s. These events triggered increased activity in surveying and marking California's eastern boundary.
In 1861, the commissioner of the U.S. General Land Office conducted a survey that reaffirmed the locations of the northern and southern terminals of the oblique line running from Lake Tahoe to the Colorado River. This survey also conducted a preliminary reconnaissance along the oblique line as far as the Death Valley area.
The location of the north segment of the boundary along the 120th longitude to the NE corner was strongly contested by Nevada. In 1863 a joint CA/NV commission (Houghton & Ives) surveyed the entire 200 mile northern segment to establish the NE corner, plus southeast from the angle point (in the center of Lake Tahoe) along the oblique line to the Bodie Aurora area. There was another dispute between California and Nevada the location of the then large mining town of Aurora. Mono County, established in 1861, elected officials in 1862 with Aurora as its county seat. A second election was held in Sept. 1863, but this time two sets of ballots were used - one for Mono and the other for Esmeralda County! Just after the election the Houghton & Ives survey of 1863 was completed and Aurora was definitely proven to be in Nevada. The county seat of Mono was moved to Bridgeport.
In 1867 the U.S., General Land office contracted with Daniel Major, a U.S. surveyor, to mark the California-Oregon border. Major began by setting the NE corner (on the intersection of the 42nd latitude with the 120th longitude) in a position 2 1/2 miles west from the position set by Houghton & Ives. During the next few years as public land surveys were made, it became increasingly apparent to U.S. officials that there was a disparity between Major's corner and the "true" location of the 120th longitude. Accordingly, in 1872 the U.S. General Land Office contracted with Col. Allexey W. Von Schmidt, an astronomer and surveyor, to run and monument the entire line of the eastern boundary between California and Nevada. Von Schmidt started his work in the northern (vertical) segment of the boundary on the 120th longitude by making his initial astronomical observations from a station on the Central Pacific RR line just above Lake Tahoe. By 1872, the railroad network had expanded into the west with regional and transcontinental lines. Along with the railroads came telegraph lines and the first transatlantic cable from Greenwich had also been laid This enabled Von Schmidt to obtain much more accurate time signals which are critical to the determination of longitude. When Von Schmidt ran his line up to the Oregon border (the 42nd latitude), he found that the NE corner established by Major was in error by 3 1/2 miles. He destroyed Major's NE corner, established his own and monumented his own line back down to Lake Tahoe. The terminus is marked by a handsome iron monument at Stateline Point on the north shore. This "Von Schmidt Line" was long recognized by both states as the "true" state line between California and Nevada and in the 1970s it was formally validated as such by the decision of the Special Master of the U.S. Supreme Court.
In the following season, 1873, Von Schmidt organized and carried out the survey, and marking by monuments, of the 400 mile long oblique line running from the center of Lake Tahoe to its terminus on the Colorado River at a point approximately 10 miles upstream from Needles, CA. A truly remarkable undertaking. He was the first to cover the whole line, a line which runs through extremely varied topography of high mountain ranges, valleys and deserts. Remember, this was 130 years ago. Transportation was by foot, mule and horse. Access was difficult over much of the route, as it is to this day, as our readers who have traveled through this region will attest. And Von Schmidt accomplished it in one season.
The final survey of the oblique line was done in 1893-99 by the U.S. Coast and Geological Survey by following the Von Schmidt line and making necessary minor corrections. Both California and Nevada have accepted the USC & GS survey and have passed statutes which adopt it as the boundary.
Refs. CHAINING THE LAND, Francois D. Uzes, 1977; THE ALBUM
(Article: "The Elusive Border" by T. M. Little, Ph.D.),
Chalfant Press, 1992