Another glass of Mexican wine

Snow-packed streets in Victorville lead to the Stewart Hotel in this undated photo. It was here where silent film actor William S. Hart convalesced in the winter of 1920 while members of his crew purloined Mexican wine from a stopped Santa Fe freight train. (Courtesy of Mohahve Historical Society and Victor Valley College)

By Matthew Cabe
Victorville Daily Press

In a late-blooming but wildly fruitful film career, William S. Hart established himself as an actor who portrayed cowboys with authenticity and integrity, both unwavering.

A Broadway actor with Shakespearean chops who first performed on stage in 1888, Hart was 49 when he starred in his first silent Western, “His Hour of Manhood,” in 1914.

Hart’s Westerns were informed by his childhood. Though born in Newburgh, New York — a still-small town on the Hudson River, 125 miles south of where the horses run track in Saratoga Springs — Hart’s formative years were spent in the rural Midwest with ranchers, Civil War vets, outlaws, gold prospectors and saloon proprietors.

And so he saw the Old West differently from what had been depicted on screen in the early dawn of motion pictures.

According to a bio on the Hart Museum website, his films are distinguished by “gritty realism,” and Hart is credited for creating the “good bad guy” role — immoral characters who find the path of “clean, honest living.”

The persona melded with the man; Hart is remembered as a philanthropic gentleman, a proponent of clean living. But a tale from Prohibition-era Victorville hidden within the pages of his memoir, “My Life East and West,” humorously challenges that notion.

In the winter of 1920, the 56-year-old Hart spent a day in an icy Sacramento River filming scenes for “White Oak,” released the following year by Paramount Pictures. The nearly frozen river proved costly.

“I should have gone to bed; instead of that we went to Victorville for our desert scenes,” Hart wrote. “The river scenes were only the start of the story, but they came mighty near finishing it, for at Victorville my sister Mary made me smoke that little glass cigarette and it registered one hundred and three.”

Poor Hart was laid up in the Stewart Hotel on D Street for three days with pneumonia. He received care from Harris Garcelon — the region’s only doctor — who introduced the actor to the Victor Valley years before, according to historian Dr. Edward Leo Lyman.

Meanwhile, Hart’s “company could not work” without their star, so they bummed around the city, loitering in Forrest Park.

This idleness led to an unexpected discovery of what Hart described as “ninety-seven million gallons of the finest Mexican wine” stowed in one of the rail cars of a stopped Santa Fe freight train.

“Where was it going, I don’t know,” Hart wrote. “I only know it never arrived there, and that through the medium of several short pieces of garden hose, enough wine was siphoned out of that oil car to irrigate the Mojave Desert.”

Alcohol was illegal and all, but illegalizing anything rarely gives pause to those in want. Hart’s boys scrambled for buckets, milk pans, garbage pails and washtubs, brimmed their receptacles and went on a two-day bender, transforming city streets into a “public dance-hall.”

“The more timid citizens telephoned to San Bernardino, forty miles away, for help,” Hart wrote. “The sheriff and twenty deputies, all armed to the teeth, arrived on a special train. They did not need guns. They needed many husky men and many stretchers.

“The merrymaking had ended. Every foot of available space outside or inside at Victorville was occupied by a sleeping cowboy. The courthouse was full — the jail was full. Nothing was sacred to those Bacchanalian inebriates.”

Hart wasn’t guiltless, though. He too partook and did so in front of Walter A. Shay, who served as San Bernardino County’s sheriff from 1918 to 1931.

“The sheriff was a real sheriff; no one had been harmed, no damage had been done,” Hart wrote. “He returned with his deputies to San Bernardino.”

I’ve been told of contraband liquor in Victorville. Of sweat-browed men pushing barreled booze through underground tunnels as unwitting citizens walked the streets above.

On Richard Thompson’s Mojave History website, I’ve read about Guy Wadsworth, a notorious Oro Grande bootlegger, who peddled “turtle juice” and “would rather make one dollar illegally than two legally.”

I’ve seen the Mohahve Historical Society’s photograph of deputies confiscating crates of rotgut.

But the revelry of Hart’s crew forced the issue into broad daylight, proving powers that be don’t always believe in whatever asinine law they’re sworn to uphold.

Dr. Lyman called the moment “the most hilarious and unbelievable ... episode of the town’s history.”

I call it one hell of a good time.

Tuesday with Fran Elgin, former Victor Valley College librarian and archivist

Cover of Fran Elgin's book on the history of Rancho Yucca Loma, a desert getaway for celebrities in the 1930s through the 1950s.

By Matthew Cabe
Victorville Daily Press

Meet Fran Elgin.

She’s a longtime Mohahve Historical Society member, an author and a retired Victor Valley College librarian, where she worked for more than 24 years.

But nowadays Fran spends her time in the past.

I received a letter from her on Monday in which she addressed me as “Mr. Cabe” — completely unnecessary — before detailing a little about herself, including the volunteer work she does keeping up the vast collection in VVC’s Local History Room.

So on Tuesday — her volunteer day — I took a trip over to my community-college alma mater to hear Fran’s take on the archiving of our history.

“The historical society, in the early ’80s, they had been keeping things in garages, including photographs and so on,” she said. “I started going to their meetings, and they asked me to be on the board. After a while they asked if they could bring this stuff to the college library. And the president and vice president at the time said that would be OK.”

This was in the old library, mind you, where the Math Success Center is today.

“And they brought these rickety old file cabinets,” she said. “Nothing was organized ... The historical society doesn’t have a home. We meet at the museum. In the ’70s, the museum and the historical society were like this, but then something happened. I don’t know exactly what ... So, anyway, over the years we’ve built this up.”

It’s an astounding collection.

In addition to hundreds of books, the Local History Room houses videos, audio-cassette recordings that document the oral histories of prominent High Desert figures, all of the original “Desert Magazine” issues that were published from 1937 to 1985, not all but a thick binder full of Stuart Kellogg’s “A Dry Heat” columns, and nearly 2,400 historical photographs that are catalogued in a database.

What sort of photographs makes it into the collection?

“Almost anything that has to do with the history (of the Victor Valley and the Mojave Desert),” Fran said. “Some of them aren’t very good. Some of them are very poor quality. But anything with historical value, and sometimes you’d be surprised what people are looking for.”

I asked Fran if she’d seen the black-and-white photograph Ansel Adams took of a massive Joshua Tree near Victorville in 1947. She hadn’t, but we both agreed it would make a fine inclusion before moving on.

“We have all the Apple Valley News (back issues),” she said, pointing to stacks upon stacks of bound newspapers situated atop two or three filing cabinets. “After Eva Conrad died, her son brought all these over because I had interviewed her a few years before. They’re getting pretty fragile.”

Eva Conrad was the editor of the Apple Valley News from 1950 to 1983. She also owned and operated the paper with her husband, Lloyd, a former Los Angeles Times reporter. Described as “fiery and outspoken” in her Daily Press obituary, Mrs. Conrad wrote a weekly column called “Speak No Eva,” excerpts of which were often reprinted in Reader’s Digest and the Atlantic Monthly.

Before we moved on, I took a minute to appreciate the motto that Eva and Lloyd Conrad ran across the Apple Valley News’ masthead: “A Very Independent Newspaper.”

Much of what has been amassed and incorporated into the Local History Room’s collection over the years — only a fraction of which I’ve discussed here — is well-documented and neatly catalogued, though Fran thinks it could be better.

“Well, how many volunteers do you get normally?” I asked.

“Me,” she said. “I’ve had a couple over the years, but they didn’t work out for this reason or that. Like the last person, she was great, but she got a detached retina and hasn’t been able to drive. But there have been a few.”

It baffled me to learn that Fran had taken it upon herself to — almost single-handedly — piece together the history of this desert and its inhabitants.

Fran doesn’t seem to mind though. Being as sweet as she is, I can’t imagine she holds a grudge against people for being too busy living their lives to offer a little help.

I only wish they knew that when those lives end, Fran just might be the one to come along and gather up what remains.

Mohahve Historical Society celebrates 50 years

Victorville Daily Press

The Mohahve Historical Society celebrated its 50th anniversary on Sept. 25, with a barbecue at the Victor Valley Museum hosted by past president Jim Mustra.

After a meal, catered by Cujo’s Big Smoke BBQ, attendees enjoyed a presentation on the historic mining town of Ryan in Death Valley by the live-in caretakers, Mr. Scott and Dr. Jessica Smith. The cutting of the 50th anniversary cake bearing the MHS seal concluded the memorable event. Mohahve Historical Society would like to thank all who attended, and especially appreciated the support of three other historical societies: Searles Valley Historical Society of Trona, Wrightwood Historical Society, and Mojave River Valley Museum of Barstow.

The organization, which started as a class at Victor Valley College in 1964, meets regularly on the fourth Thursday of the month to enjoy a presentation on some facet of High Desert history, followed by refreshments and socializing. There is also the opportunity to purchase books, including the recently published “Rancho Yucca Loma” by local historian Fran Elgin.

New book, upcoming panel discussion highlight Mojave Desert

Beverly Dudley, 80, of Victorville, can still point out trees standing today that were part of the parks original design after her efforts in 1956 helped build Center Street Park in Victorville.

By LYNNEA LOMBARDO
Victorville Daily Press

VICTORVILLE • In a long plaid skirt and turtleneck sweater, Beverly Dudley dug a shovel into a dry field at the corner of Center and Verde streets.

It was 1956, and Dudley was heading up the effort to build Center Street Park — Victorville's first real park, complete with lit ball fields, brick barbecues and public restrooms.

Dudley, who just celebrated her 80th birthday, contributed a small memoir and several photographs from this time to the latest edition in a series of books written about local history, thoughtfully titled "Mohahve VI."

"When people see 'Mohahve' written that way, they think it's a mistake, like we misspelled it or something," Richard Thompson, past president of the Mohahve Historical Society, said with a chuckle.

The 'Mohahve' series is compiled and edited by members of the Mohahve Historical Society. Some of the local authors will be at their monthly meeting Thursday to promote the book and answer questions about their contributions. The public is encouraged to participate in the panel discussion, which will feature the authors and editors, some dressed in 1950s-style clothes, and music and refreshments.

The book is a collection of 19 essays, some of which are scholarly, professional and annotated, while others are stories of events told by "old-timers." Most of the stories are personal accounts supported with court documents and military or government records. Thompson contributed an essay about Max Strobel, the original founder of what is now Hesperia and parts of Victorville.

"It's important to know about your local history," Thompson said. "If you're living in any area, you should know a little something about it."

Thompson, who moved up to the High Desert from San Bernardino in 1990, is a retired public works engineer and a history buff. He was stunned when he moved up here and realized that very little local history had been recorded, and at once began his research in the fields of geography and history, recording what he learned along the way.

Fran Elgin, vice president of the society, is a major contributor and organizer for "Mohahve VI" and its predecessors, starting with the original "Mohahve I" which, in itself, has its own interesting record. According to Elgin and other members, the original "Mohahve" series idea started at Victor Valley College in the early 1960s with a group of students who had a penchant for local history. In 1963 the students formed the Mohahve Historical Society, which has published books, held meetings and kept history alive for almost 50 years now.

The original "Mohahve" book included stories from people who had lived in the High Desert around the turn of the century. Since its origin, students, society members and local citizens have all donated their time and material to keep the series going.

"Research for these books was like prospecting for facts, panning for gold," Thompson said. "The little nuggets of information you find along the way make my research so interesting."

"These books, this book … they are a true labor of love for us," said Elgin, who moved to the High Desert in the 1960s from St. Louis. Elgin is a retired librarian from Victor Valley College, where she worked for 25 years. She now volunteers Tuesday mornings in the library's Local History Room.

The society also published in 2010 Leo Lyman's "History of Victor Valley," which, according to Elgin, would have been more difficult to compile if it had not been for all the time, donations and hard work provided by so many people who care about the community and its rich history.

"Nobody was paid for their contributions," Elgin said. "We just love our town and we want everyone to come out and support their community. There are a lot of really nice people who have a lot to share."