After nearly fading into obscurity, Route 66 celebrates 90th birthday

Williams was a popular stop-over during the 60 years Route 66 passed through the town. The above photo shows the downtown area in the 1940s.

By Wendy Howell
Williams News

WILLIAMS, Ariz. — In several respects, the automobile was one of the most significant inventions of the twentieth century, but often overlooked and equally significant is the development of the roads those automobiles traveled upon.

Route 66 was not the first cross-country road nor is it the oldest road, but the highway has lodged itself into the imagination of travelers and became one of the best known and most identified roads in the world.
It was a highway created by the demands of a rapidly changing America. For some, it represents freedom of the road, to others a path to a better life. Route 66 celebrates its ninetieth birthday this month and despite being made obsolete obsolete by Interstate 40 in the 1980s, it remains a beloved icon and memory for many who traveled its path.

Creation

Route 66 was created in 1926 when the Bureau of Roads launched the nation’s first Federal highway system. It cobbled together and linked local, state and national roads. The U.S. Highway Association actively promoted the road and it quickly became popular as the shortest, most scenic route from Chicago to Los Angeles.

Many of the sections of Route 66 began as wagon roads and Native American trade routes from the Great Plains to coastal California. Several of these sections were natural routes across easy terrain and many were near water sources. Route 66 in northern Arizona utilized the Beale Road and the National Old Trails Highway in many sections.

Edward F. Beale, a retired Navy lieutenant, was chosen to chart a road across the southwest to open the area following the end of the Mexican-American War in 1848. Early railroad engineers also followed the Beale Road and towns and settlements soon grew up along the tracks and roads were created to link those towns’ main streets.

Despite the Beale Road, between 1863 and 1912, Arizona did not have much of a road system. As the automobile became popular in the early 1920s, road-building became important and a boom in road construction occurred throughout the state.

The Federal Aid Road Act, passed in 1916, gave money for The National Old Trails Highway across northern Arizona, which became part of the nation’s first system of Federal highways, eventually becoming part of U.S. Route 66 in 1926. Most of the 400 miles of the Old Trails Highway was not paved.

Early Years

The Federal Highway Act of 1921 mapped and provided signage to existing roads and during that time Highways Association President Cyrus Avery pushed for a road through Tulsa, Oklahoma that would originate in Chicago.

Most highways prior to Route 66 went east-west or north-south. Route 66 would be a diagonal route that linked several rural communities in the Midwest to Chicago. It became an important route for the trucking industry despite not being completely paved until the mid-1930s.

Depression

During the Great Depression (1929-1939), Route 66 became a popular route for thousands of hopeful Midwesterners trying to find their way to California to seek a better life.
Researchers estimate that 65 percent of America’s westbound traffic and 50 percent of eastbound traffic followed Route 66 during the 1930s. These seasoned travelers were largely dependent on camping for their overnight lodging.. The highway managed to keep several small towns alive during the Great Depression. It is estimated that 210,000 travelers came to California during the Depression years.

The plight of those stuck in the Great Depression was immortalized in John Steinbeck’s “The Grapes of Wrath” in 1939. Many connected the plight of the people with the road itself.

Steinbeck’s referral to Route 66 as the “Mother Road” stuck and helped symbolize the route as the road to opportunity.

Wartime

In 1926, only 800 miles of designed Route 66 were paved. In the late 1930s, many unemployed youth found jobs as laborers on road gangs, and as a result of this monumental effort, the entire route was reported as continuously paved in 1938.

The completion of the paving was significant to the nation’s war effort during World War II. The country needed improved highways for rapid mobilization. The War Department utilized the west as a military training ground due to its wide-open isolation and dry weather.

The federal government put together $70 billion in capital projects in California, which created thousands of jobs in many entirely new industries. The resulting mass migration moved 1 million people from the northeast to California, Oregon and Washington between 1940 and 1943. The population increased almost 40 percent in those states.

Postwar

The economy improved near the end of the war and Americans began to take more vacations by automobile. Route 66 held many scenic wonders nearby, with Arizona offering attractions such as the Grand Canyon and Petrified Forest.

Following the war, soldiers, sailors, and other military men who had experienced California, Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas during military training abandoned the harsh winters of the northeast for the sunny west. Route 66 facilitated their relocation.

One such former soldier was Robert William Troup, Jr., who traveled Route 66 following the war and penned the now famous tune “Get Your Kicks on Route 66,” which became a catch phrase for countless motorists who traveled the route between Chicago and the Pacific Coast.

Just as the New Deal provided employment on the road at the end of the Great Depression, numerous tourist courts, garages, gas stations and diners popped up and spurred economic growth after the road’s completion. The demands of this new tourism gave rise to competition among owners who used neon signs, gimmicks and over the top antics to draw travelers to their facilities.

Vacation

Travel increased following the war as rationing and travel restrictions were lifted. Automobile ownership grew dramatically over the next 10 years.

Tourist facilities evolved during this time with many travelers staying in motels. Motels evolved from auto camps. Auto camps developed as town residents roped off areas travelers could stay for the night. The owners would provide water, wood, toilets, showers and laundry facilities for the travelers.

Eventually, auto camps and cabin camps became motor courts where all the rooms were under a single roof. Motor courts offered additional amenities, such as adjoining restaurants, souvenir shops, and swimming pools.

Many other townspeople thrived with the development of service stations. Most buildings were unique but often associated with a gasoline company. Many expanded to include multiple pumps, service bays and tire repair.

During the 1960s, Route 66 was further immortalized with the television series, “Route 66,” starring Martin Milner and George Maharis. The show helped bring Americans back to the route looking for new adventure.

Demise

Postwar travel and the revival of the automobile industry took its toll on the condition of Route 66. In the mid-1950’s, support grew for a safer more reliable interstate system. It was further fueled by Dwight D. Eisenhower, who witnessed the strategic value of Germany’s Autobahn.

Congress responded to the president by passing the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956, which underwrote the cost of a national interstate system.

Due to this passage, nearly all segments of original Route 66 were bypassed in 1970 by a modern four-lane highway.

The crumbling and outdated remains of Route 66 completely fell out of the federal interstate system in October 1984, when the final section of the route was bypassed by Interstate 40 in Williams, Arizona.

Preservation

Route 66 was largely abandoned following the completion of the interstate system, although several stretches are still in use today. Several grassroots organizations spurred a resurgence of nostalgia for the old road and an effort is being made now to preserve what remains of the road and businesses of historic Route 66.

Dozens of cities along the old route have also found a niche by recreating what life was like on old Route 66.

Williams is one of those cities. Several retail stores, motels and restaurants cater to those seeking to rekindle their romance with the road.

Nearby Road Segments

Those seeking to experience Route 66 firsthand can find several sections of the road in the area. Pittman Valley to Parks has a portion of Route 66 that is well maintained and used regularly by local residents.

Several unmaintained road segments are located in the Ash Fork area. One section of Route 66 lies just north of I-40 and another lies southwest of Ash Fork. West of Ash Fork travelers can drive maintained Route 66 through Seligman, Peach Springs and end in Kingman.

Travelers can also drive Route 66 through the Williams Historic Business District and Urban Route 66 in downtown Williams, which were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1984 and 1989, respectively.

Plans underway to preserve historic High Desert stretch of Route 66

A car passes through Amboy on historic U.S. Route 66., Thursday, July 31, 2014. (John Valenzuela)

By Joe Nelson
The San Bernardino Sun

America’s love affair with Route 66 endures.

Songs have been written about it. A television show was named after it. It played a prominent role in John Steinbeck’s “The Grapes of Wrath” as the route taken by the Joad family from Oklahoma to California to escape the Dust Bowl.

And for nearly a quarter of a century, the city of San Bernardino paid tribute to it with its annual Route 66 Rendezvous, a weekend street faire for classic car enthusiasts.

And now, plans are underway to preserve and enhance a 150-mile stretch of the two-lane historic highway from Needles to Barstow, creating roadside kiosks and mobile apps, among other things, to attract visitors and keep its memory alive.

“I’m convinced the route will get busier and busier because of tourism and the baby boomers retiring,” said Albert Okura, owner of the historic roadside Roy’s Motel and Cafe in Amboy, one of the mainstay attractions along the dusty desert stretch of Historic Route 66.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and the California Historic Route 66 Association released their Route 66 Draft Corridor Management Plan.

A 30-day public comment period on the plan is now underway. A webcast is scheduled for Feb. 19. The webcast, as well as a digital copy of the plan, can be accessed at http://cmp.route66ca.org.

Hard copies are also available for review at the BLM California Desert District Office in Moreno Valley, the BLM’s Barstow and Needles field offices, the Barstow Chamber of Commerce, the Barstow Public Library, the Needles Chamber of Commerce, and the Needles Public Library.

A limited number of black-and-white hard copies of the plan may be requested via email at cahistoricrt66@aol.com, with “CMP Hard Copy Request” entered in the subject line of the email.

The long-term plan includes the most comprehensive strategy to date on the preservation and marketing of the highway stretch. Once the plan is complete, the BLM and California Historic Route 66 Association will push to get it designated as a National Scenic Byway by the U.S. Department of Transportation.

The targeted audience includes Route 66 enthusiasts, historians, multi-generational travelers and travel groups, photographers and railway enthusiasts.

“It represents a great chance to introduce people to the Mojave Desert,” said Jim Klein, the project’s lead planner.

He said several gateway centers with kiosks are planned for Barstow, Needles, Amboy, Essex, Goffs and Ludlow. An interactive mobile app would allow travelers to see then-and-now photos of the many stopovers and other geographic points of interest along the highway, he said.

“When you’re trying to draw people toward Barstow, you need to create something for them to see and do,” Klein said. “There are a lot of great old photographs of all these communities. Some of them are no longer there.”

Building new infrastructure along the highway stretch and refurbishing many, if not all, of the 128 timber trestle bridges dotting the historic route is also a top priority, Klein said. He said the stretch of Route 66 from Needles to Barstow has most of the antiquated wooden bridges, which were built in the 1920s during construction of the highway.

Written comments on the draft plan will be accepted through Feb. 28, and may be submitted by mail to Lardner/Klein Landscape Architects, 815 N. Royal St., Suite 200, attn: Route 66 CMP, Alexandria, VA 22314. Comments can also be sent via email to cart66cmp@lardnerklein.com.

Needles to Demolish Route 66’s Overland Motel

Abandoned Overland Motel in Needles along Route 66 in December 2013. (ZachNews)

By Ruth Musser-Lopez
San Bernardino Sentinel

Less than one month after meeting with a new government and grassroots Route 66 (RT66) coalition formed to manage and protect the historic RT66 corridor in the wake of its resurgence as a world class visitor attraction, the six-member Needles City Council voted to take action towards demolishing one of the route’s newer assets: the classic 1960s era Overland Motel at 710-712 West Broadway/Route 66 in Needles.

Dwarfing other motels during the 1960s and early 70s, the glitzy Overland represented increasing traffic along Route 66 and a respectable climax of the “mother road.” However, after Interstate 40 was built, traffic patterns in Needles changed with larger hotels being constructed at freeway exit ramps drawing over-nighters away from the downtown corridor. Some twenty years after the Overland was constructed it was already struggling. The restaurant closed in the early 1980s. Laughlin and its hotel-casinos just 35 minutes away also posed competition for Needles area lodging facilities and restaurants.

The 44-room, two-story motel with a lobby and large central parking area once sported a restaurant and swimming pool that could be seen while driving along the main street in downtown Needles. Currently it is being marketed as a Route 66 attraction 35 minutes from Laughlin, where potential “theme rooms would create another ‘destination’ for the reported 30 million Route 66 travelers last year.” It is advertised and listed for $89,000 by Caleene Williams, the broker and listing agent. The asked for amount likely does not include the cost of back taxes owed and probably does not reflect the cost of litigation which the city of Needles has brought against Keith Enterprises, the assumed current owner, in case number CIVNS 1100085.

The reality of the historic preservation issue that the motel represents is that cost to the owner currently outweighs benefit to the owner. Generally it can be said that the cost burden of preserving historic structures along Route 66 is now on the back of just the property owners instead of spread over the entirety of those potentially benefiting from the maintenance and continued establishment of the entire package of assets and resources along RT66’s corridor. The question remains: How many heritage structures can be demolished before Route 66 looses its character and charm?

Overland Motel during better days.

After a little over an hour of deliberation behind closed doors, the Needles City Council, meeting in executive session on December 10, 2013 at a regular council meeting voted on “Whether to purchase property through San Bernardino County tax sale and price and terms – Negotiating Parties: County of San Bernardino through tax sale.” The agenda item did not mention demolition of the motel.

On the open session agenda, action was scheduled to be taken to authorize the purchase of the property identified as Assessor’s Parcel No. 0186-106-26-0000 (Overland Motel) via Chapter 8 Tax Sale. No further background, fiscal impact, timeline or environmental review was provided in the background information packet and no mention was made of demolishing the motel.

However, according to local internet blogger, Zach Lopez in his “ZachNews Service,” city attorney John Pinkney reported unanimous votes in executive session on both authorizing the city manager and staff to initiate a Chapter 8 tax purchase of the property and authorizing legal council to obtain a court order permitting the property “receiver” to demolish the historic motel structure

According to the county website, the next San Bernardino County tax sale is tentatively scheduled for May 2014.

ZachNews Service expressed the sentiment, “After years of sitting abandoned, collecting dust and trash, and a hangout place for vandals [to] do drugs inside, the old and abandoned Overland Hotel may be next to becoming demolished…This was good news to those in the community who have been sick and tired of seeing nothing done onto this property and being an eyesore to those driving into Downtown Needles, California to follow the historic and world famous Route 66 highway…Overall, many hope that those abandoned homes and properties get cleaned up or knocked down so to keep the community safe and clean.” Eleven local Facebook readers gave that review a thumbs up. This, however, is not necessarily the sentiment of the wider Route 66 community who has yet to weigh in on the subject.

With “ghost” structures considered to represent imagery assets, the pitch to demolish crumbling service stops on Route 66 is contrary to the dialogue of stalwart Route 66 coalition members who are determined to develop a “Corridor Management Plan” (CMP) for the “Mother Road.” The CMP currently being developed has been made possible by a $103,000 grant for the project acquired from the Federal Highway Administration in 2012 at the behest of James Kemp, California state director of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). An 80/20 matching grant in services from the California Route 66 Association supplements that funding. This CMP would not just be used as a management tool but also as the first step toward designating Route 66 as a National Scenic Byway in need of preservation and federal funding to implement the management plan.

The coalition including representatives and stakeholders from the California Route 66 Association, and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), county of San Bernardino, the National Park Service’s Route 66 Corridor Preservation Program, chambers of commerce, Caltrans, various tour-ism bureaus, local businesses, museums, grassroots organizations and other Route 66 advocates were aboard the bus tour of Route 66 through Needles on December 4, 2013.

The evening before, on December 3, 2013, at Juicy’s Restaurant in Needles, the coalition had met with members of the Needles City Council - Jim Lopez and Linda Kidd, its mayor Edward T. Paget and his wife Jan, the city manager Rick Daniels, a representative of the Chamber of Commerce, Sue Godnick, and a representative of the Needles Downtown Business Alliance, Jan Jernigan, as well members of the Needles public at large, Robert and Lana Shaw, Linda Fitzpatrick and myself, who were informed of the possibility of funding that may soon be available to rescue declining historic properties along the historic site’s linear corridor should a National Scenic Byway designation be approved.

While passing through the Needles historic district of Route 66, the bus tour participants of the coalition viewed numerous structures also considered important to the Scenic Byways designation, including: the El Garces Harvey House and train depot, the Claypool building and the many historic motels, storefronts and residences along its course which are yet to be inventoried and described for the management plan.

Monitoring, putting deterioration in check, reversing the decay, restoring, retooling, resurrecting, rehabilitating abandoned and deteriorating historic properties and “ghost” structures along the corridor between Needles and Barstow was said to be an important goal of many of the Route 66 coalition participants. Demolishing was not.

During 2013, the city of Needles destroyed, approved the destruction of, or turned their eyes while two other important historic structures along the portion of RT66 through Needles were razed: the historic green castle that once housed the Needles Dairy creamery (see Glimpse 9-13-13) and “Mansker’s” two story railroad tie cabin (see Sentinel’s Glimpse 7-12-13). This demolition is billed as an effort to “clean up blight.” The homeless retreat to vacant, unprotected structures in Needles from time to time.

The consequence of the countrywide economic downturn is the need for affordable or publicly assisted temporary housing in Needles. The Overland Motel represents a structure that could potentially be retooled for government housing for the temporarily homeless or reinvented as a private assisted living facility as has been discussed for years. Some residents of Needles believe it wasteful and inhumane to destroy the stock of extant housing without a plan for replacement, particularly when there are so many people in need.

Edward Mejia, a groundskeeper at a church across the street from the motel, related his experience with the homeless in Needles. “There’s no place for the homeless here. They’re sleeping wherever they can in this cold of winter. Why is no one giving them direction as to where to go? They are being harassed at night by the police without direction as to what to do. We are supposed to be Christ like. It’s ridiculous.”

Huell's Howsers out of this world house

The Volcano House owned by Huell Howser has an excellent view of the surrounding desert from atop the 150-foot volcanic cone it is built on. (LEONARD ORTIZ, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER)

By CINDY MCNATT
ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

We often wonder who the man was with the insatiable curiosity about the world around him. Huell Howser could get as excited about a single persimmon tree as he could about a state park, botanical garden, out-of-the-way museum or the ordinary lives of California residents.

We watched the late Tennessee native go underground in storm drains, learn about bluebirds with Orange County's Dick Purvis and hug trees as far north as Humboldt in his long-running series, “California's Gold,” for public television.

Visiting one of his own homes is a road trip to remember. Up the Cajon Pass, out to the Mojave Desert, you make your turns east along dirt roads until you come to a house you're not likely to see anywhere except in the middle of nowhere.

The Volcano House outside of Barstow is built on a cinder cone, a volcanic bubble of sorts. It follows the form of the cone with a white domed roof, and from a distance it looks like a snow-capped peak from outer space.

More photos

“We like to joke with our friends that have never seen it before, that we're not sure when it landed,” said nearest neighbor Spike Lynch, who lives a mile away.

Following the space-time continuum, but backward, a step inside is to experience the swinging '60s, a decade many of us joke that if we remember it, we weren't there.

The circular home with 360 degrees of sliding glass panels is surprisingly spacious for a house in the round – two bedrooms, two baths, living and dining rooms and a conversation pit. George Jetson would have been proud.

All the rooms are divided by floating interior walls that share the same domed ceiling. The top of the dome is an observation deck.

The house was built in 1968 by Vard Wallace, a Newport Beach resident who invented a drafting machine widely used in the aircraft industry during World War II.

There are 1,800 square feet of living space, 60 acres of desert, a small caretaker house and a man-made lake that could use a little landscaping. The view in some directions is the distant horizon, and it is so quiet you could hear a pin drop but for the lone coyote howling at dusk.

“Serenity is what attracts people to desert,” said Lynch. “There's nothing like watching the stars come out here.”

The domed roof also shelters a 5-foot-wide moat that was intended as a swimming pool, but proved too dirty after the first few sandstorms.

Howser bought the house on the spot from its third owner, midcentury fan and British developer Richard Bailey, in 2003.

Caretaker Ray Laporte said Howser signed on the dotted line within minutes of seeing the place. An impulse buy, but he rarely used it.

“It's pretty difficult getting up and down the narrow road,” said Lynch. “In fact, when they were pouring the dome, they couldn't find a concrete contractor to go up. It was so steep the concrete would pour out of the back of the truck.”

The problem was solved by a man from Barstow who backed all the way up the 10-foot wide road to deliver the concrete. Lynch recalls that portion of the job took months to complete.

Howser had it on the market in 2009, but ended up giving the house to Chapman University over lunch at the Filling Station in Old Towne Orange with Chapman's president, Jim Doti.

Register reporter Sherri Cruz wrote that in April of that year, while they sat on the patio, Doti asked about the house and Howser said something like: “Oh yeah, I bought that 10 years ago. I hardly ever used it, but I fell in love with the place. Why? Do you want it?”

The university plans to use the house for desert studies, astronomy and geology pursuits.

When flares fire into the sky over the nearby Twentynine Palms Marine Air Ground Combat Center, the large white lights hang with the stars for minutes. Lynch likes to tell his guests that the aliens are coming back for it.

Historic Mohave County records rescued - but why did they need saving?

Decades of documents were abandoned at Kingman Airport

Mohave County records that the Mohave Museum of History and Arts took care of for decades are seen here stored in what used to be part of the old Mohave County Sheriff’s Office on Beale Street. (MOHAVE COUNTY/Courtesy)

Suzanne Adams-Ockrassa
Kingman Daily Miner

KINGMAN - Nearly 100 years of Mohave County records would have disappeared into the desert dust if it had not been for the Mohave Museum of History and Arts.

On Sept. 16, the museum was recognized by the Board of Supervisors for holding on to more than 400 books and several plastic tubs of county records dating back to the 1800s from the Mohave County Assessor's Office, Treasurer's Office, Courts, Board of Supervisors, School Superintendent and Recorder's Office.

The story of how the records came into the hands of the museum is nearly as interesting as the information contained in the books, according to Museum Board President Bill Porter.

It all started with a raiding party, he said.

"Some time in the early '80s, someone, I don't remember who, called the museum and told us that there were all these county record books just lying around in a dusty hanger out at the (Kingman) airport," Porter said. "So, we went out to look."

Porter said museum staff found piles of county record books piled everywhere in an unlocked hangar without any air conditioning or heating. Nothing was being done to preserve them.

"We were absolutely horrified," Porter said. "These are important to the county's history. They should have been lodged with the state years ago."

Arizona law states that all state, county and city records belong to the state and are supposed to be turned over to the Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records division on a regular basis.

Porter said the museum contacted the county, but no one at the county at that time seemed interested in taking the records in and no one seemed to know how the records ended up in the hangar in the first place.

"We made an arbitrary decision to take the books," Porter said. "We couldn't just leave them there."

Once the records were safely transported to the museum, staff cleaned them up as best they could, Porter said.

Pawing through some of the piles, the museum staff found records from nearly every county department: tax records, assessor records, court records, mining claim maps, cattle brand books, Board of Supervisors records. The books ranged in size from about the size of today's school notebooks to huge 3.5 foot by 2.5 foot, 40 pound portfolios.

According to County Records Manager Robert Ballard, the oldest record books date back to the 1860s and the newest ones to the 1960s.

"It's really an incredible find," he said.

Porter said the museum organized the records and stored them in the museum basement, which is as close as the museum could come to a climate-controlled area.

Porter said that tax and assessor records don't seem that interesting, but the information contained in the books was fascinating.

"They're really, really interesting books. They paint a pretty good picture of daily life," he said. "We found a 1936 or 1937 bill from the Assessor's office, written up in this very formal language, saying a man had paid his property taxes by giving 24 live chickens to the county hospital. 'But after considering the price for chickens on the current market' the man still owed $5.60 in taxes."

The books are also historic works of art, according to Museum Director Shannon Rossiter and County Recorder Carol Meier.

"The handwriting in them is just beautiful," Rossiter said.

Meier agreed and pointed to a cattle brand book from the 1800s.

Each page of the book contains the name of the rancher, a six-inch hand drawn copy of the rancher's brand, a drawing of the notches the ranchers would cut into their cattle's ears and the time and date the information was recorded, along with the signature of the county recorder.

Another interesting record found in the piles was a book from a mechanic's garage, Rossiter said.

"It had the names, addresses, phone numbers and the work done and how much it cost for each of his customers," he said.

Over the years, many people have asked to look at the records in order to track down the history of their family or make a claim for compensation from the federal government.

For example, a group from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints traveled from Salt Lake City to peruse the books in search of information about family members that may have lived in the area, he said.

Several county residents have used the records as proof that they lived in the county during the nuclear testing in Nevada in order to make compensation claims against the federal government, Rossiter said.

Others have asked to look at the mining maps, Porter said.

"You get these really interesting journeys into the past," he said.

As the years passed the museum started running into a couple of problems with storing records, Rossiter said

The museum couldn't make certified copies of the records for people, he said. Only the state archives can do that. And 400 books take up a lot of room.

Porter said the museum contacted the County Assessor's Office, since most of the records belonged to them, several times over the years, but was told the office just didn't have the space to store the records.

About a year ago, the museum contacted Arizona Archives Director Melanie Surgeon and asked her if the archives would take the records, he said.

"She was very excited about it, until she found out how many books and records there were," Porter said. "There was no way the archives could handle all that material at once."

So, the museum contacted the county again and they were put in contact with Meier at the County Recorder's Office.

Meier and Ballard were also excited to hear of the records find. Meier, who was elected to office in 2008, said she had no idea the museum had the records.

"We wanted to get them back. They are the county's history. We just can't thank the museum enough for what they did for us," Meier said.

Ballard started immediately contacting the other county offices about the records and researching storage space in the county's buildings.

The county finally settled on storing some of the records in an old branch of the Mohave County Sheriff's Office on Beale Street known as the Armory, he said. Each county office has its own storage area in the building and it was easier to transport all of the records to one location and then divvy them up.

Ballard said the county considered storing the records in the old county jail behind the Mohave Superior Court building on Spring Street in Kingman, but the building has a host of problems, including a leaking roof, that would cost too much to fix.

Ballard and Meier's ultimate wish would be to have all of the county's record books rebound and preserved in a climate controlled room, but with the cost of rebinding one book running about $2,000 and more than 1,200 books in the county's records, it's just not feasible, Meier said.

The people behind Pioneer’s Museum preserving the Imperial Valley’s history

Tractor at Desert Museum: A rare tractor sits in storage at the museum. It is one of a few left in the world and is in working condition. (Erick Miller, Staff Photographer)

By ALEXIS RANGEL, Staff Writer
Imperial Valley Press

IMPERIAL — Lynn Housouer had heard stories as a young girl about her great-great-grandfathers both fighting against each other in the American Civil War but she never really paid attention until she was old enough to do her own research.

As the Chief Executive Officer and Archivist at Imperial County’s Pioneer Museum, she said oftentimes when we are young we don’t always pay attention to the stories our elders share with us.

“So you just hear it,” Housouer said, “until you are old enough to do your own research because now that my grandmother is gone I can’t call and ask her (questions) like I should have asked her when she was telling me the stories.”

Which is unfortunate, but makes Housouer’s work in preserving the Imperial Valley’s history for future generations all the more important.

She speaks from personal experience, as she says that after her grandparents passed she began cleaning out her grandmother’s sewing room.

To her surprise she discovered a box high above a shelf.

Climbing to reach the box she found an old picture of her great grandfather during the Spanish-American War with his uniform below the photo.

Having worked on the archives for the past 20 years Housouer has handled hundreds if not thousands of artifacts with the help of the museum’s curator Leanne Rutherford.

Both Housouer and Rutherford agree that they have always had an interest in history and working at the museum feels like a treasure hunt.

With more than 6,000 artifacts at the museum everything you see on display is tied in to the history of the Imperial Valley.

Housouer’s role at the museum as the archivist is preservation, she says.

Preserving artifacts, cataloging them into the computer, and making sure they are in an acid-free file folder or bag is an instrumental part of an being an archivist.

“We do what we can to preserve them for our future generations,” she said.

The museum runs on the help of volunteers, willing to give their time in preserving the county’s history.

One of those volunteers, Rutherford helps Housouer research the thousands of artifacts that go into their database.

Rutherford sees her position as the curator a bit different than one might at other museums.
“I help raise funds to keep the museum doors open,” Rutherford said.

Along with fundraising, Rutherford said her strength is in helping Housouer research the artifacts they receive.

Rutherford said she can spend weeks researching an item.

“Because you get to a point and you can’t find the answer you were looking for,” she said, “and you need to know what is going on.”

As curator and archivist at the museum it can be tedious work but Rutherford and Housouer say it is a passion of theirs.

Volcano House

Volcano House (Katie Kland)

By Sherri Cruz
Orange County Register

Chapman University has repurposed numerous historic buildings, but a spaceship-style home perched 150 feet atop a volcanic cone?

"We've never quite encountered a house like this," said Kris Olsen, vice president of campus planning and operations for Chapman University.

"The architectural design feels like Austin Powers meets George Jetson," Olsen said.

See more Volcano House images

The home, known as the Volcano House, was a gift to Chapman from the late Huell Howser, who hosted and produced the "California's Gold" travel series on PBS.

Chapman's plans for the Volcano House include poetry gatherings for faculty and students, artist retreats, and astronomy and biology studies.

The house is set on 60 acres in the Mojave Desert, where silence and starry nights reign. It has a 360-degree glass perimeter – 24 glass doors that can be opened to the desert breeze when the weather is suitable.
Inside, a circular stairway leads to a stargazing deck on the roof.

Making the property even more spectacular is a spring-fed lake at the foot of the volcanic mountain.
Olsen has been directing the restoration of the property, which started in earnest last spring and recently concluded.

The home's bones were good, but the property had some deferred maintenance and needed some minor interior fixes.

"We drained the lake and put a new clay bottom in it," Olsen said.

Chapman refurbished the electrical, sewer, heating, ventilation and cooling systems.

Aday Architects in Glendora was tapped to spruce up the interior, while keeping the midcentury architecture intact.

Even the shag rug in the sunken living room was replaced with a new one.

"We found a carpet mill that produces shag and replaced it with similar shag," Olsen said.

"It's in good function for accommodating people now," Olsen said.

In the future, Chapman plans to add dormitories at the base of the volcanic mountain to accommodate large groups for overnight stays.

Howser's gifts to Chapman stemmed from a friendship that was struck between Howser and Chapman's President Jim Doti.

It began with a note Doti wrote to Howser.

After Doti watched a "California's Gold" segment on Old Towne Orange, he invited Howser to the campus. "When I saw it, I was disappointed that he didn't come visit the Chapman campus," Doti said.

Howser took Doti up on the invitation and visited the campus a few months later.

It was love at first sight. "He just fell in love with Chapman, the spirit of the place and the people," Doti said.

Doti was one of a handful of people who knew that Howser was terminally ill.

Howser kept his illness private.

What many people didn't know – not even Doti – was that Howser was the owner of the Volcano House. That mystery was revealed when Howser put the home on the market a few years back for $750,000.

People who knew Howser knew him as a longtime resident of the El Royale Apartments in Los Angeles.

Howser also owned a couple of other homes, but rarely used the Volcano House. He bought the Volcano House on a whim, Doti said.

"I think he bought more of a work of art than a home," Doti said. "He was really into aesthetic kinds of things," he said. "His homes were literally art museums."

Doti found out about Howser's uncommon dwelling during lunch with Howser at the Filling Station Cafe in Old Towne, a couple of blocks from campus.

By that time, Howser had already been working diligently with Armando Diaz in Chapman's media services to digitize and archive his TV segments.

"Huell was a stickler about quality, perfection, having it done right," Doti said.

While they sat on the Filling Station's patio, Doti asked about reports that Howser was the owner of the Volcano House.

According to Doti, Howser said something like: "Oh yeah, I bought that 10 years ago. I hardly ever used it, but I fell in love with the place. Why? Do you want it?"

Doti didn't know if he wanted it. He asked about it only because he was intrigued by the house itself.
But Howser was serious, Doti said.

Howser thought it would be wonderfully serendipitous if the house he bought on a whim could be used for educational purposes.

"He said it would be a culmination of something that was meant to be," Doti said.

With Howser's offer, Doti checked in with Chapman's chancellor, Daniele Struppa. Struppa sent a memo to all the deans at Chapman, asking if they could use the property.

"Without exception, all of the deans said 'Yes,'" Doti said.

Doti called Howser and told him the ideas. "He was pleased. It was his dream."

Howser took the home off the market. Then he took Doti and Olsen on a grand adventure to visit it.

They all met at Peggy Sue's 50's Diner (where there's a sandwich named after Howser) near Calico Ghost Town. From there, they drove 20 minutes along a gravel road. "All of a sudden you see – standing alone – this volcano-shaped mountain," Doti said.

"As you get closer, you see the structure on top of it. It looks literally like a flying saucer landed on the top," he said.

"It's surreal," Doti said. "It's truly surreal."

In addition to the Volcano House, Howser gave Chapman nearly 1,000 TV segments, his book library, the proceeds of the sales from his two other desert homes (now designated for scholarships) and his "found art" collection that adorned his homes.

Volunteer masons to practice on Fort Piute

Preservation of Fort Piute sponsored by
Mojave National Preserve and HistoriCorps

Fort Piute, Mojave National Preserve

Scope of Work: Volunteers will learn to stabilize the masonry walls using earthen mortars mined onsite. At this workshop volunteers will learn to:

• Find, evaluate, and mix earthen mortars
• Repoint historic stone walls

The project will be managed and supervised by two HistoriCorps instructors and will be designed to optimize learning opportunities. Camping, tools, safety equipment, and meals will be provided by HistoriCorps but transportation to and from the project is the responsibility of the participant. All crew members must be physically fit and be willing to work long days in variable weather.

Fort Piute historic diagram.

History: Garrisoned intermittently from 1859 to 1868, Fort Piute was one of many small forts and outposts linking California, Arizona, and Nevada by military presence. Fort Piute was also called Fort Beale after Lt. Edward Beale, who, in 1857-59, explored the area by camel looking for viable cross-country routes through the desert. Today, only the masonry walls of the fort remain, but compared to many of the small garrisons of this era, the site still retains the same “edge-of-the-frontier” feel as it did over 150 years ago. The site is near a perennial spring with commanding views of the area.

To learn more about this project please contact Amy Eller, HistoriCorps Volunteer Coordinator, aeller@historicorps.org