HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF THE UPPER MOJAVE DESERT

Vol. 21 No. 3 March 2006 _______________________________________________________________________________________
MARCH MEETING ­ ROGER MITCHELL: W. D. CLAIR AND CLAIR CAMP.

The March meeting of the Society will feature Roger Mitchell speaking on W. D. Clair and Clair Camp. The meeting will take place on Tuesday, March 21 at 7:30 PM at the Maturango Museum.

W. D. Clair was a born in New York state in 1866. After following relatives who had found a good living out west, W. D. bought mining claims in Nevada and in the Bishop area. His strategy was to concentrate on existing mines that he thought still had potential rather than searching out rich new strikes. Following this strategy, he eventually bought the Ratcliff mine in Pleasant Canyon, on the west side of the Panamint Range. His plan was to rework the tailings that he believed still held significant amounts of gold that were missed by the milling methods previously used. This belief turned out to be justified, and W. D. and his family were able to make a reasonable living by reworking the old mine dumps. They refurbished the buildings at the Ratcliff mine, establishing gardens and orchards to achieve a degree of food self-sufficiency in a camp that eventually became known as Clair's Camp. W. D. and his family lived at Clair's Camp from 1927 until W. D.'s death in 1942, and in that period were able to reclaim an estimated $250,000 from the reworked tailings. Apparently that was enough to establish mining as a Clair family avocation; many of W. D.'s descendants, several still living in the Upper Mojave Desert area, still follow that profession.

This month's presenter, Roger Mitchell, was raised in Trona and educated as a geologist in the Los Angeles area. His interest in the desert country whetted by his early years in Trona, Roger published a series of guidebooks to "Jeep Trails" in Death Valley, Inyo-Mono, and the Eastern Sierra, which he has lately expanded and republished as guides to "SUV Trails." The subject of this month's talk was originally presented to the sixth Death Valley Conference on History and Prehistory.

To continue our education on local mining, a guided tour of the Ruth Mine has been arranged with George Baland, chief volunteer for the Friends of Ruth Mine. Ruth Mine contains a unique collection of artifacts and buildings, and is accessible to regular passenger cars. The tour will be on Saturday March 25, meet at 9:00 am at the Maturango Museum parking lot or 10:00 at Ruth Mine. Bring your lunch, and we've been promised cake and ice cream after. Please sign up so we can give an accurate count for dessert. Sign up at the March meeting, or call Jim Kenney at 371-2458 to sign up or for more information.

The HSUMD meets on the third Tuesday of the month. All are welcome to attend. For more information on this or future meetings, call Society President Bill Nevins at 375-4764. Andrew Sound

REPORT ON SEARLES VALLEY TRIP

On Feb. 25, twenty plus members and guests were treated to a special tour of the Searles Valley Historical Society's Old Guest House Museum and History House display. We were treated to several interesting stories by SVHS curator Lit Brush and Jim Fairchild. Lit was very creative on acquiring items for the historical society. After lunch Jim Kenney led a couple of vehicles to Great Falls Basin to see the waterfalls. We then trail-blazed our way to Homewood Canyon and the Ruth Mine. Rumors that we were lost are grossly exaggerated! We finished off the trip with a visit for ice cream at the Trails Drive In, a sweet finish to a wonderful day. Jim Kenney

RECENT CONTRIBUTORS, ETC.

Recent contributors to the Historical Society include Mary Ann Henry and Dan and Brenda Burnett. A new business member is Sierra Odyssey, LLC. Jim Nichols also made a donation to the USO fund.

HISTORY TALK IN TRONA

The Searles Valley Historical Society has invited us to attend a talk by Bill Coate, an award winning historical author, speaker and educator. Featuring an evening of unknown true stories of history past, it will be held at 7 p.m., Thursday, March 16, at the Gem and Mineral Society building, 13337 Main Street, Trona.

FAMILY AND ORAL HISTORY WORKSHOP

A family and oral history workshop is planned by the Ridgecrest Ridge Writers group for Saturday, April 1. It will be held from 9 to 1:15 (with a 30 minute break) at the Maturango Museum. Registration will begin at 8:00 a.m. The four presentations are designed for people who want to preserve their heritage, but need some help getting started.

Presentation topics are Organizing and Research (Donna McCrohan Rosenthal), Interviewing (Casey Wilson), Images (Liz Babcock) and Writing and Publishing (Camille Gavin). Advance registration fee is $10 for Maturango Museum members, Friends of the Ridgecrest Library members and California Writers Club members and $15 for nonmembers. At the door fees are $12 for members, $20 for nonmembers.

There is also a youth session (ages 11-17) planned for 10 to 1:15 to be held in the library Community Room. No fee. The fee for the adults includes all workshop handouts and a complimentary lunch at Leroy Jackson Park at 1:30. Contact the Maturango Museum, 375-6900 for more information and advance registration.

SAND CANYON EDUCATIONAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROGRAM (SEEP)

The program has started with a trip on February 14. Future trips will occur on March 14, 17, and 29. No trips are scheduled for April, but May trips will be on 4, 16 and 19.

HISTORICAL ARTICLE

(Following is an article prepared by our great local historian member, John Di Pol, drawn from his library of history books. Ed).

CONVICT LAKE AND CREEK - Their Name.

How did it come to pass that one of the grandest sights in the Eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains inherited this negative appellation? Read on.

Sunday evening, September 17, 1871 was a quiet night in the newly built Nevada State Penitentiary in Carson City, the state capital. Prison guard Volney Rollins, the only guard on duty, had escorted the prisoners from their cells to an adjoining room for the 6 PM meal. After the meal was finished, Rollins began to lead the prisoners back to their cells when the riot began.

Rollins was overpowered. Several prisoners climbed to the top of the cell block to break through the ceiling leading to the attic, crawled across to a different part of the prison, cut through the ceiling and dropped into a second floor, where they broke into a storeroom and gathered several weapons and ammunition.

The Prison Warden, Frank Denver, his wife and 6 year old daughter lived in an apartment on the ground floor of the prison. Hearing the commotion, he rushed out with derringer in hand and met the prisoners streaming down the stairs. An outburst of firings ensued. Denver was seriously wounded. His life was saved by the actions of Trustee Prisoner Bob Dedman who held back the convicts. His wife and daughter ran into the courtyard where a prisoner, Ed Goyette, pulled them to safety. In the meantime, off-duty guards had joined the fray, as did citizens from an adjoining hotel. However, the prisoners had broken into the armory and gathered several rifles, shotguns, pistols and much ammo. A fire-fight ensued. A number of prisoners, guards, and citizens were wounded, with one citizen being killed. The prisoners, 29 in all, fled, taking their wounded with them.

The governor was notified. He called out the state militia which, together with deputy sheriffs searched the city and outskirts, to no avail. By midnight, Sheriff Swift organized a large posse and tracked the prisoners to the Carson River. There the prisoners broke up. Eight went upstream, eight downstream and 13 went due south. Swift followed the main body of thirteen. By the next day, the thirteen had broken up again and a group of six had raided two settlements for horses and food. The sheriff's posse followed the group of six. What follows is their story.

These six convicts: C. Jones, J. Burke, T. Cockerill, J. Roberts (age 18), M. Black and L. Morton would eventually travel 200 miles into Mono and Inyo counties. By the fourth day Sheriff Swift's horses had given out and he was relieved by a posse from Aurora, a nearby mining town. This Aurora posse, who had been forewarned about the prison breakout, had also set out to find a missing pony express rider, Billy Poor, who was delivering mail between Aurora and Carson City. The six convicts had encountered Billy, murdered him and took his horse and clothing. The Aurora posse, after discovering Billy's body, intensified their chase and surmised that the convicts were headed into California. They telegraphed Deputy Sheriff Hightower at Benton, who organized a posse of local ranchers and citizens. Among the volunteers was Robert Morrison, a Wells Fargo agent. By this time, now Friday, September 22nd, the six convicts had reached Long Valley (the site of the present day Crowley Lake). The Benton posse had been tracking them since the convicts entered California. The convicts headed for Monte Diablo Canyon (now Convict Creek) and made camp, presumably to cross over the Sierras and escape. Friday evening the Benton posse caught up with the convicts, decided not to engage them then, but spend the night at Alney McGee's ranch, 3 miles south.

Saturday morning, Sept. 23, the convicts arose. Jones, Cockerill and Burke went up the canyon in search of food, Morton, Black and Roberts stayed in the lower canyon. The posse rode up lower Monte Diablo Creek. As they approached they saw a man running up in the Canyon. They spurred their horses to chase, but were met by a furious fusillade from the hidden Morton, Black and Roberts. Several of the posse horses were killed and posse members wounded. They retreated in some haste and departed. Morrison, who was left without horse, crawled up to surprise the ambushers, but was spotted by Black. Morrison tried to shoot, but his pistol misfired. Black shot him fatally. The three continued up the canyon to join theircompanions, but encountered Mono Jim, an Indianwho had become separated from the posse. Black killed him in cold blood and took his horse. Today, themajestic peak on the south side of the canyon is called Mount Morrison. The lake and the stream have since been known as "Convict".

Jones, Cockerill and Burke escaped to the east in the confusion. Jones separated and was never heard from again. Cockerill and Burke were captured in Fish Lake Valley east of the White Mountains and were returned to Carson City. Morton, Black and the wounded Roberts fled south and dropped down into Round Valley, north of Bishop. They attempted to cross the Sierras via Pine Canyon, but, of course, were unable to do so. The authorities in Benton had sent a message to Bishop that the three convicts were in their area. A posse was formed, the hunt was on and by September 27, Morton and Black were captured after a brief shoot-out in the Sand Hills 5 miles north of Bishop. Two days later, Friday, September 29, Roberts was captured in Pine Canyon.

Sunday, October 1, as the guard detail started to return the convicts to Carson City, an armed group of vigilantes took control of the prisoners. After a two hour trial, votes were taken for each prisoner. Morton and Black were sentenced to be hung at once; young Roberts received equal votes and was spared. The execution of the sentence immediately followed. Of the 29 convicts in the breakout, eighteen were captured, two hanged and nine others remained at large.

Ref: THE MURDERS AT CONVICT LAKE, G. Williams III, 1984
THE STORY OF INYO, W.A. Chalfant, 1922, 1933