HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF THE UPPER MOJAVE DESERT
VOL. 12 NO. 7
September 16, 1997
NEXT PROGRAM
Our September Historical Society speaker will be Mr. Steve Smith, Staff Chief, Recreation and Wilderness, Bureau of Land Management. He will speak on the "Adopt-a-Cabin" program of the BLM, as well as talking about old trails and mining sites in the local region. The meeting will be held at the Maturango Museum at 7:30 p.m., Tuesday evening, September 16, in the Sylvia Winslow gallery.
Mr. Smith, who has been with the BLM for 26 years mostly in the high desert area, will talk about the eight cabins in the program. He has spent a lot of time exploring trails in the region and will also talk about them. He hopes that our members will be able to fill out some of the history of the mines in the local area.
Refreshments will be served at the conclusion of the slide-illustrated presentation. Bring a friend!
Welcome back! Our hiatus from history is past and we have an opportunity to again immerse ourselves in the rich lore of this area and share it with others. To this end our President, Lou Pracchia, has written his and the board's feelings about another year ahead. Ed.
FROM OUR PRESIDENT:
Now that July and August have passed, and the Post Office exhibit has achieved a platinum star for excellence, your Board of Directors can once again concentrate on providing monthly programs and finding ways to accomplish our role in preserving the cultural history of the Upper Mojave Desert. At your Board of Directors meeting on August 20, we considered and responded to various requests for society participation in community events. All of these fun events can also provide income to support various HSUMD projects such as displays, acquisitions and other expenses. Each event will require the assistance of member volunteers. If you can help, please call Lou Pracchia or Charlotte Goodson. Their phone numbers are listed on the Home Page.
UPCOMING EVENTS
1. Inyokern Chamber of Commerce Block Party. Saturday, September 13. (Man table providing society literature and selling our books).
2. Maturango Junction. October 18 & 19. Cookies and Conversation booth. (Set up & take down porch. Provide cookies. Sell cookies and beverage).
3. Ridgecrest Balloon Festival. Nov. 7, 8 & 9. (Set up a sunshade. Sell festival postal cachets and society books. Maybe sell cookies & beverages.)
4. Indian Wells Valley Days, Feb. 21 & 22 at Inyokern. (Set up and take down porch. Sell society books. Conduct stage & wagon stop field trip).
There are so many interesting avenues that one can travel in the course of making history a part of your life. Learning more about a selected topic usually begins with finding something in print on the subject. Perhaps one may then progress to a visit where the event occurred or where there is greater information to be found. Another possible extension of one's interest is the gathering of printed matter and items pertaining to the chosen subject. Doing this, one has achieved the title of "Collector.' Is that the ultimate? Of course not. While having what may be an unique collection gives personal satisfaction, there remains that higher reward in sharing one's achievement with others.
All this has been amply demonstrated by exhibits at our Maturango Museum and others throughout the world. Without the dedication of "Collectors," whether they are an individual or an institution, traces of history would be difficult to realize.
To all of you "Collectors" who have made our society's exhibits possible. A special thanks to Carroll Evans and Directors Katy Bell and Fred Weals for their help in making our commemorative cachet a successful venture. THANK YOU!
POST OFFICE DISPLAY VISITOR STATISTICS
Visitors from many different places saw the Historical Society's Post Office exhibit this past July and August. A review of the addresses of those people who did sign in at the Museum indicates that the visitors came from 49 different California towns and cities, 26 states (mostly the eastern, southern and Midwest states plus the District of Columbia) and 13 countries ranging from ten in Europe, plus Canada, Peru and Japan. How's that for coverage?
DONATION TO SOCIETY ARCHIVES
Memories from almost 50 years ago are contained in the LIFE magazine of February 10, 1948, donated to the Historical Society by member John Di Pol. Rocket Town, the nickname of the Naval Ordnance Test Station (NOTS, Inyokern) comes to life with pictures of people and their work sites, housing when rent was $5.00 a month, rockets flying down the track at BAKER 4 and a closeup picture of the LARK guided missile launching ramp. Teenagers had their recreation refuge called "The Stall" and the first non-denominational church was built from a quonset hut that served the community for many years. The magazine is available in the Historical Society library and may be viewed or checked out at any time
HISTORICAL SOCIETY TO SELL "BALLOON MAIL" AT BALLOON FESTIVAL
Ridgecrest's first balloon festival is coming up on Nov. 7-9, and the HSUMD will participate in a most appropriate manner. On the main balloon racing day, Nov. 8 (and thereafter), we'll be selling "balloon mail" cachets -- specially designed and canceled envelopes that will include the "Ridgecrest Balloon Festival Station, Inyokern, California, November 8, 1997" cancellation.
These collectors' items will actually be flown in a balloon on the day of the cancellation!
Rather than rest on his laurels after coordinating the highly successful High Desert Post Offices cachet (copies of which are still available in the Maturango Museum Gift Shop, by the way), Lou Pracchia is once again coordinating the details. He is working with Olivia Francis of PackWrap* on the envelope design, and Inyokern Postmaster Diane Thomas is also involved in the Postal Service end of things.
You may be wondering why the cancellation for what is called the Ridgecrest Balloon Festival would occur out of the Inyokern Post Office. The reason for that seeming anomaly is that the balloon launch site is adjacent to Inyokern, a location the festival's president, Patricia Farris, has pointed out will bring everyone in the IWV together in a big valley-wide celebration.
Lou is still working out the details with the Balloon Festival folks, but it appears that the Balloon Festival will pay for creation of the special envelope (and an enclosure that Lou is creating), then the Historical Society will be selling the cachets out of the festival's souvenir booths at either two or three sites on Nov. 8. We will then split the proceeds with the Balloon Festival.
Since at least 10,000 people are expected in town for the big event, those proceeds could be significant. Whether they are or not, your board agreed at our most recent meeting that we are happy to be able to take an active part in making Indian Wells Valley history in this way. And we will need a lot of help! More details will follow in the next issue of this newsletter.
NEW BOOK
A recently produced book by Joan Brooks, a member of our Society, is now available. DESERT PADRE - The Life and Writings of Father John J. Crowley relates Father Crowley's dedication and determination to improve the quality of life for residents in the IWV from early 1900s through the years of the Great Depression. His great devotion and faith in his God are in evidence throughout this book. The book may be purchased from the Mesquite Press., P.O. Box 1304, Desert Hot Springs, CA 92240 for $19.94 plus $3.00 S & H. California residents should add $1.55 sales tax per book ordered. Three or four weeks should be allowed for delivery to the purchaser.
CERTIFICATE OF APPRECIATION
The Historical Society has received a Certificate of Appreciation from the Eastern Kern County Resource Conservation District and the Bureau of Land Management for its work in helping make history come alive for the local 5th grade students when they made their trek to sand Canyon as part of the Sand Canyon Environmental Education Program. Society members Charlotte Goodson, Lois Carr, Hank Schuette, Eunice Caffee and Lou Pracchia participated in this activity.
In the meantime work is proceeding on a special video tape on Sand Canyon being produced by Mark Pahuta. Interviews have already been taped of Lois Carr, Hank Schuette, Litha Mattis, and others who have lived or have knowledge of Sand Canyon in earlier days.
COOKIES AND CONVERSATION BOOTH
As noted elsewhere in this issue, the Historical Society will have a booth at Maturango Junction. The telephone committee soon will be contacting all our good cookie bakers to enlist their aid in preparing home made cookies for the Society to sell at the Junction as part of our fund raising efforts.
INYOKERN BLOCK PARTY
We are all invited to participate in the "Block Party" fund raiser to repair the Inyokern Town Hall on Saturday, September 13. Breakfast will be served at the Inyokern Methodist Church from 8 to 10 a.m. The block party itself will be held in front of the town hall at 1439 Broadway. There will be horseshoes, children's games, entertainment and an arts and crafts faire throughout the day. Food will be available throughout the day and there will be a deep-pit barbecue at the Methodist Church from 4 to 7 p.m. In addition there will be a chili cook-off contest with judging at 2 p.m. and a salsa contest.