HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF THE UPPER MOJAVE DESERT
Vol. 19 No. 3 March 2004
DEATH VALLEY '49ERS STORY
Dave Heffner will speak to the Historical Society of the Upper Mojave Desert about the Death Valley '49ers. The meeting will start at 7:30 PM on Tuesday, March 16 at the Maturango Museum. Everybody is welcome to attend the Society's meetings, which are held on the third Tuesday of the month.
In November 1948, a group of delegates from Kern, Inyo, San Bernardino, and Los Angeles came together in Ridgecrest to plan what part their communities would play in the upcoming California Statehood Centennial celebrations. The group decided to hold a pageant in Death Valley to remember the sojourn of the Manly and Jayhawker parties there. The pageant was held in December 1949, and was a tremendous success. An estimated 60,000 to 100,000 participants showed up, and heard no less a talent than actor Jimmy Stewart provide the narration of the pageant. The Hollywood Bowl Orchestra provided the music, the overture being an original composition by Ferde Grofe, inspired by a sunrise visit to Zabriskie Point.
Inspired themselves by the success of the pageant, the group of organizers, by now incorporated as the Death Valley 49ers, Inc., decided to sponsor an annual encampment in the Valley. These encampments, continuing today, have included campfire programs, tours of the natural beauty of the region, western art shows, and the ever popular burro flapjack contest. Among their other activities, the 49ers spearheaded the effort to build the Museum and Visitors Center at Furnace Creek.
At our March meeting, Dave Heffner will fill us in on the history and current activities of this worthy organization. For more information about this month's or future meetings, call HSUMD President Bruce Wertenberger at 375-2369 or leave a message at 375-8456.
Again, the meeting will start at 7:30 PM on Tuesday, March 16 at the Maturango Museum. Bring a friend. Andrew Sound
Also in March, your Society is organizing a tour and picnic lunch at the Borax Visitor Center at 11:00 AM on Saturday, March 20.
We are in for a treat with a film and docent-guided tour of this million-dollar museum, spectacularly overlooking "California's largest mine and one of the richest borate ore deposits on the planet." Allowing a full hour for the tour, we plan to provide lunch (sandwiches, chips, fruit, cookies, and cold drinks) around 12:15 PM out front at the picnic tables. Afterwards, if you have the time, the nearby 20 Mule Team Museum and the Vernon P. Saxon Aerospace Museums on 20 Mule Team Road in Boron are well worth a visit. Both are open 10 AM to 4 PM.
Travel time to the museum is about one and a half hours from Ridgecrest. It's approximately 65 miles -- south on Highway 395 to 4-Corners/Kramer Junction, right on Highway 58 west for about 6 miles and exit right on well-marked Borax Road to the mine entrance.
The museum is free, but there is a $2.00 charge per car gate-entry fee, so carpooling is encouraged. Preregistration is necessary, so we can get a head count for the Museum and the Society-provided lunch. The lunch is free for Society members, but we ask a $4.00 donation from others.
To register, request a ride, or consider a passenger, call
Marcia Nevins at 375-3356 or Kathy Armstrong at 375-2643.
Andrew Sound
BUSINESS MEMBERS
Please patronize our business members: BevLen Haus Bed and Breakfast (new listing), Jack & Dana Lyons, the Swap Sheet, Ridgecrest Moving & Storage, Granite Construction Sand & Gravel, Farris' Diner & Italian Gardens, and Indian Wells Valley Insurance Co.
IT'S HERE MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL TIME!
If your name on your address label is highlighted in blue, according to our records your renewal has not yet been received. It would help us greatly if those of you who haven't renewed do so right away. Help us keep our treasurer busy and happy! Our membership year is the same as the calendar year. Membership fees help pay for newsletter printing and postage costs, rent and utility costs for our office building, production costs of our exhibits and various other activities. Membership costs are $15 per family and there are categories for contributions to our 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, if you so desire, e.g., contributor ($50), benefactor ($100) and patron ($200 and up). If your name on the address label is blue, please send in a renewal check to keep our treasury in the pink!
MORE MEETING INFORMATION:
MANZANAR TRIP. In April, the Society is organizing a visit to Manzanar to coincide with the Grand Opening of the new Visitors Center and the annual Manzanar Pilgrimage. Mark your calendars for Saturday, April 24. As a follow-on, we are considering a May bus tour to the Japanese-American Museum in Little Tokyo, Los Angeles. We will try to get an idea of interest in this trip at the March meeting. Watch for more details in next month's newsletter.
APRIL MEETING. The April meeting of the HSUMD will feature Bob Tanner, the proprietor of Red's Meadow Pack Station near Mammoth, recounting tales of the old days in the Eastern High Sierra.
ANNUAL DINNER. The Annual Dinner will be on May 18 at Victoria's at the Heritage. The speaker will be James Barnes, an archaeologist with the BLM, speaking on the Archaeology of an 1880's silver mine in the Panamint Valley.
LAST MONTH'S MYSTERY PHOTO
Thanks to John Di Pol and Pat Burke, we have information about the ballet class photo published last month. John says, "Per my neighbor Pat Burke, the three girls standing, from left to right, are Peggy Rorie, Beverly or Barbara Williams (i.e. not sure of the first name), and Virginia Williams. The last two were sisters. The girl doing the backbend was not identified.
THIS MONTH'S MYSTERY PHOTO
As mentioned in our February newsletter, we have a number of old previously published photos of public activities from the 1940s and 1950s which were donated to us by Larry Fox. Above is the second of these photos. Do you know who these five young apple eaters are, and what was the story behind the photo published on March 22, 1948? If you do, please drop us a note to P. O. Box 2001, Ridgecrest, or call and leave a message at 760.375-8456, or send us an e-mail to the e-mail address on the back page. Many thanks for your help!
SUPPORTERS OF THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
This is the first year in which we have solicited support of the Historical Society (a 501(c)3 organization) and created a series of support levels. Our members have responded nicely. It is with pleasure we announce the new contributors supporting of our organization:
New Contributors: Liz Babcock, Robert Carr and Jamie Shaw, and Ken Kelley,
It is never too late to make a contribution contributions are welcome at any time. If you have not already renewed your membership this year, just fill out the membership renewal form which appeared in the three recent HSUMD newsletters, and include your contribution along with your membership fee, or for membership alone, send in your check for $15 to Fred Weals, Treasurer, HSUMD, P. O. Box 2001, Ridgecrest, CA 93556. Thank you.
COSO MINING DISTRICT AND ITS VILLAGE
( Below is another article from our great local historian member, John Di Pol, drawn from his extensive library of local history books. Ed.)
The story of the Lost Gunsight Mine had its origins with a group, traveling through the Death Valley country in 1849, discovered a "mountain of silver." Upon reaching the coastal settlements one of the party had a gunsight of pure silver made for his rifle. Efforts made to relocate the "mountain of silver" were to no avail, hence the "Lost Gunsight." In 1859, with the discovery of the Comstock Lode, interest in the Lost Gunsight was renewed.
By 1860, Californians were flocking to the Comstock. Erasmus Darwin French, a physician and miner in northern California, had made a desultory but unsuccessful search for the Lost Gunsight several years earlier. But now, fired up again, he organized a party of several men in March, 1860, proceeded south to Visalia (avoiding the rush to the Comstock), reprovisioned, continued south and east over Walker Pass, then north into the Coso Mountains. There they found silver ore-bearing ledges. The Lost Gunsight? Hmm, who knows; but there was silver and there were mountains. Ore samples were taken and sent up to San Francisco. The results were promising. In the meantime the group had filed many claims in the area and established the Coso Mining District in May, 1860. Their explorations also discovered a canyon and water falls which they named after their leader: Darwin Canyon and Darwin Falls.
With the attendant publicity by the newspapers of San Francisco
and Visalia, miners by the hundreds filed into Coso. Additional
nearby mining districts were formed: the Argus District and the
Slate District. The area was booming, with both real silver,
but with hyped-up stock promotions as well. Activities in the
Cosos continued for several years, but by the mid-1860s the deposits
were diminishing. The American miners were moving out, being
replaced by Mexicans from Sonora. By 1867, the area was referred
to as "the Spanish Mines." A passage in the book THE
STORY OF INYO reads as follows:
"A record book of Coso District, now in the county museum,
contains the minutes of a reorganization meeting held March 23,
1868. It is written in Spanish and signed by eighteen Mexican
names, no other nationality represented."
Apparently Mexicans continued to work there on a small scale for several years. There are indications that other miners may have returned there in more recent decades.
The center of the Coso District lies within the boundary of what is now the China Lake naval reservation, up in the northwest quarter. During the heyday of the district a small settlement was built there consisting of a number of habitations, some of stone, others of wood. A quartz mill was brought in and old arrastras existed. In the early days it was called "Old Coso." In more recent times, it is more commonly referred to as "Coso Village." The USGS topographical map "COSO PEAK QUADRANGLE, 15 minute series" shows the area quite clearly and labels the settlement as "Coso."
A number of years ago, this writer was on an inspection trip in the Coles Flat area of the China Lake North Ranges. It was in late December. We stopped briefly in Coso Village. A winter storm had set in. Wind was blowing with sleet and freezing temperatures. The wooden structures were gone. Several stone houses in various stages of decay remained. All had chimneys at this 6,000 feet above sea level. But as I stood in the driving sleet I thought: "What good is a fireplace when 90% of the heat goes up the chimney and the stone walls leak? What drove these people to stay month after month under these conditions? Was the gold and silver worth it?" Must have been!
References: THE STORY OF INYO, W.A. Chalfant, 1933; SILVER SEEKERS, Remi Nadeau, 1999; SILVER STAMPEDE, Neill Wilson, 1937. John Di Pol
Future Events for your planning purposes:
March 16: March Meeting, Dave Heffner on Death Valley 49ers
March 20: Boron Trip, sign up by 17 March
April 20: April Meeting, Bob Tanner
April 24: Manzanar trip
May 18: Annual Dinner, James Barnes
May ??: Japanese-American Museum, tentative.