Roger Naylor's Arizona: Chloride

Check out the extraordinary murals of artist Roy Purcell, splashed across a jumble of boulders just outside Chloride. (Photo: Roger Naylor/Special for the Republic)

Roger Naylor
Special for The Republic

You never know what's going to happen when you travel. On a recent afternoon with the faint scent of lilac on the breeze, I was gunned down in the streets of Chloride.

Minutes later, I was scrambling from boulder to boulder in a rocky canyon, jockeying for the best view of vibrant murals splashed across big granite outcroppings. Painted by Roy Purcell in 1966 and then repainted by Purcell and family members 40 years later, the 2,000 square feet of eye-popping color and thought-provoking images held me spellbound.

Before leaving town, I cruised the streets admiring the quirky collection of metal sculptures, painted bowling balls, bottle trees, stacked mining tools, stuffed-animal dioramas and other strange displays. Although no one knows exactly how it started, Chloride is a thriving hub of yard art.

If you aren't familiar with Chloride, don't beat yourself up. It's under the radar of many travelers. Founded in the early 1860s, it is one of the oldest continuously inhabited mining towns in Arizona. The cluster of weathered buildings huddles along a dead-end road at the base of the Cerbat Mountains.

The first time I rolled into Chloride, I had no idea what to expect. It felt like I was in the middle of nowhere. I stopped in at Yesterday's, a restaurant and saloon, and asked what kind of beer they had. The bartender cocked an eyebrow and said, "You want me to name all 175?"

Annual events in Chloride include a Jimmy Hoffa Birthday Bash, soap-box derby races for adults and a townwide yard sale. But most of the time, it's ridiculously quiet. Chloride makes Mayberry look like the Las Vegas Strip. When I want to escape whatever hustle and bustle momentarily rules my life without going on a long backcountry hike, I head for Chloride.

It wasn't always like this. After silver chloride was discovered in 1862, mines sprang up throughout the region. The Butterfield Stage and the Santa Fe Railroad came through town. The population topped 2,500 during the boom years. About a tenth of that number resides there today.

The "former mining town" label applies to dozens of rural Arizona burgs. They evolve new identities or disappear. Yet, Chloride still seems to be weighing its options. Historical buildings remain, a smattering of shops comprises a small commercial district and a gunfight generally breaks out at high noon every Saturday.

The Immortal Gunfighters of Chloride, a re-enactor group, built Cyanide Springs in 1997, a ramshackle replica of an Old West town smack in the middle of Chloride. Using only hand tools, either because they strove for authenticity or because they were drinking, depending on who tells the story, they peeled aged lumber from nearby mines and slapped together the rustic town within a town.

Although one side of the street of Cyanide Springs is false-front structures, the other side consists of historical gems that include the Silver Belle Playhouse, a former vaudeville theater, and an old miner's house now preserved as the Jim Fritz Museum. Both buildings are more than 100 years old.

It was while watching Chloride's last remaining re-enactor group, Longcoats and Lace Gunfighters, that I got pulled into the action. They recruited a couple of folks from the crowd for their final skit. My part consisted of taking a fall in the dust during the shootout. It was a role I had perfected in my childhood of playing cowboy. As guns roared, I clutched my chest, did a pirouette, staggered into a modified triangle pose before collapsing, pushing to my knees and crawling a few inches on my elbows, then collapsing for a final time to what I'm sure were sobs and mournful wails.

After the smoke cleared, I lingered awhile in case anyone wanted my autograph. No doubt intimidated by my artistic intensity, the crowd kept a respectful distance. So I jumped in my truck and headed for the murals.

In 1966, Purcell worked as a miner in Chloride. When not scratching for ore, he painted a set of murals called "The Journey ... Images From an Inward Search for Self" on towering slabs of granite. The murals launched Purcell's celebrated artistic career.

I've spent a good deal of time over the years trying to decipher all that I see painted across the rocks — the writhing serpent, the ancient symbols, a rising goddess, the town dwarfed by a giant taloned foot. Like all good art, the murals slap you around a little.

Even Purcell wasn't sure what he created. He wrote, "Finally in September 1966, I stood paint-splattered, ragged and tired on the rocks across the canyon to view the finished work. I understood only remotely what had erupted so violently out of myself. I felt more like an aged Samson with a sun-bleached jawbone in my hands than an artist with a paintbrush."

Chloride isn't for everyone. Windshield tourists will be bored by this speck of a community hanging on in the high desert. The town has two restaurants, one modest adobe motel, a general store and a few shops with chancy hours. Your best bet to catch everything open is to show up on a weekend. But the key is to get out and walk around. Talk to the characters who call Chloride home. You'll get lots of great stories. Nobody lives here because of the convenience.

Visitors are welcome in Chloride, but they're not fawned over. It's up to us as travelers to fit into the languid rhythms of an authentic small town. I, for one, like that very much.

Chloride

Chloride is 227 miles northwest of central Phoenix. Take Interstate 17 north about 23 miles to Arizona 74 and go west for 36 miles to U.S. 60. Go 11 miles northwest to Wickenburg, then take U.S. 93 about 110 miles north to Interstate 40. Go west about 25 miles into Kingman, then take U.S. 93 northwest about 18 miles to County Road 125. Go east for 4 miles to Chloride.

What to see

Roy Purcell murals: Drive east on Tennessee Avenue. The pavement ends at the edge of town, then it's 1.3 miles on a dirt road that's rough but passable for most cars. Painted arrows and signs guide you. Ancient petroglyphs are on the opposite side of the canyon from the murals. For more information on Roy Purcell's art, go to www.purcellgalleries.com.

Railroad depot: The old railroad depot and former jail are still standing but there are no signs to either. Get a map and directions at Mineshaft Market, perhaps the smallest tourist-information center in the state. 4940 Tennessee Ave. 928-565-4888.

Shootouts: Longcoats and Lace Gunfighters conduct mock gunfights at noon most Saturdays. Check in at Ye Ol Shoppe, an ice-cream and souvenir shop attached to Cyanide Springs. 4942 Elkhart St. 928-565-5032.

Movie: A 30-minute movie about Chloride is shown in the Silver Bell Playhouse upon request. There is no charge, and Ye Ol Shoppe provides free popcorn.

Where to eat

Yesterday's: Enjoy fine dining in a casual atmosphere, with a menu that features everything from juicy burgers to osso buco. There's an impressive beer selection. Live music on weekends draws folks from surrounding towns. Historian Mark Hall-Patton will give a free lecture on the history of the region from 3 to 5 p.m. Saturday, June 21. 9827 Second St. 928-565-4251, www.chlorideaz.com.

Digger Dave's: This eclectic place has a small dining room on one side and a bar on the other. Walls are plastered with memorabilia that will make you smile. Food is made from scratch and the place is known for its 10-hour barbecue and chile verde. The bar's patio is filled with old mining equipment and weird yard art. 4962 Tennessee Ave. 928-565-3283.

Where to Shop

Shady Lady Attic Antiques: 4881 Payroll St. 928-565-2886.

Van Meter's Silversmithing: 4727 Tennessee Ave. 928-565-4180.

Claim Your Treasure: 4980 Tennessee Ave. 928-565-4684.

Where to stay

Shep's Miners Inn: This lodging offers 15 modest but comfortable rooms in an adobe building that dates to the early 1870s. $50. 928-565-4251.

Roger Naylor's Arizona

Every month in Explore Arizona, Roger Naylor shares his favorite finds from traipsing around the state.

Arizona Historical Society soon could be history

Photo taken by C.S. Fly after Geronimo's surrender to General Crook in March 1886. Left to right: Yanozha (Geronimo's brother-in-law), Chappo (Geronimo's son), Fun (Geronimo's 2nd cousin) and Geronimo, the Chiricahua Apache Tribe's legendary medicine man. (Photo: Arizona Historical Society)

Laurie Roberts
The Republic | azcentral.com

The Arizona Legislature is about to take aim at the state's history – or at least public access to that history.

A routine proposal to extend the life of the Arizona Historical Society for another 10 years has been slashed to two years, a move that the state historian says could be "a death knell" to the agency that operates seven museums around the state.

Marshall Trimble says he's puzzled by why the Legislature would want to stick it to the Historical Society, which collects, preserves and showcases the history of Arizona and the west.

"Our history is one of the most unique and colorful in the entire 50 states," he said. "Our story is so important to the state. We are a place that lives by our legends and our history."

Sen. Gail Griffin, the senator pushing a two-year rather than 10-year extension, says she wants to make sure that the agency corrects longstanding problems identified in a state audit last fall before giving it a longer life.

"I'm on their side," Griffin, R-Hereford, told me. "The issues that were brought up were serious concerns. I just want to make sure those concerns are taken care of."

The audit noted that the Historical Society needs to do a better job fund raising and managing its collection, problems that were also identified in state audits in 1995 and 1998.

Problems that I'm quite sure will be so much easier, now that the agency faces the possibility of extinction in two years.

The Arizona Historical Society was established in 1864 by the First Territorial Legislature. Arizona's leaders, in those days, understood that they were making history and that it was important to preserve a record of that history.

Among its 1.2 million artifacts are Geronimo's rifle and Wyatt Earp's shotgun and jewelry made in a Japanese-American internment camp in Arizona. There, you can learn about the people, places and events that shaped this state.

For now anyway.

The Historical Society – already by hobbled by budget cuts -- is due to sunset on July 1. After reviewing the agency's sunset audit, a House-Senate committee last fall recommended that it be reauthorized for another 10 years.

The 10-year extension breezed through the House. But Griffin amended the bill in the Senate, to terminate the agency in 2016.

It's now up to the House whether to go along with Griffin's plan.

Trimble, who has volunteered his services as state historian for nearly two decades, called Griffin's proposal "mean-spirited and really severe."

"The historical society doesn't deserve this kind of treatment," he said. "In recent years the Legislature has cut the budget in half and reduced the staff at AHS from 75 to 25 while at the same time insisting on unrealistic accountability on the part of the staff."

He says the historical society is already feeling the effects of Griffin's move. The family of the late Paul Harvey, a radio icon who lived part of each year in Phoenix, was set to donate his papers to the Arizona Historical Society, Trimble says. As a result of the Griffin's move to cut its lifespan to two years, he says the family has put that donation on hold.

He says fund raising also is being affected as donors wonder whether the agency will be around after 2016.

Trimble is hoping the Legislature comes to its senses. But then, he looks at what's happened to the state's parks, which have never recovered from a legislative gutting a few years ago.

"I see a pattern here among some of the people who have power down there," he said. "They think these things are not important. It really saddens me. I broke in as a young historian with John Hays and Joe Lane and Carl Kunasek and Stan Turley. … They really cared about Arizona and I don't feel there are enough of them down there that feel that way anymore."

Sadly, he's right. A lot of our leaders today are ideologues, interested in a good fight with the feds over state's rights.

But the state? Not so much.

Author brings history in Mojave Desert to life

This 1918 photo shows an old Tonopah & Tidewater railcar that was used as a schoolhouse at Tecopa, north of Baker. (Collection of Mark Landis)

By Mark Landis
San Bernardino Sun

The history of the Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad, a nearly forgotten desert mining railroad that carried untold tons of mineral riches from California and Nevada, has been brought to life in a new book by local author Phil Serpico.

A resident of Palmdale, Serpico has been writing books on Southern California’s railroad history since 1988. Serpico’s latest work titled “Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad — The Nevada Shortline” is the author’s 7th book on railroading history.

The book focuses on Francis M. “Borax” Smith and the “no frills” desert railroad he built to carry borax and other minerals from the mines in California and western Nevada, to the mainline railroads and ports in Southern California.

The Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad, better known as the “T & T” spanned 166 miles of the most inhospitable desert territory imaginable, from Ludlow, Calif., north to Gold Center, Nevada.

F.M. Smith (also called Frank) was born on a small farm near Richmond, Wis. in 1846. In the spring of 1867, Smith struck off to find his fortune in the west. His travels took him to the mining districts of western Nevada, where he located a large deposit of high-grade borax in a dry lake bed known as Teel’s Marsh.

Borax didn’t have the glamour of gold, but Smith realized the value of the find, and he began processing the crusty material and shipping it to San Francisco. Frank partnered with his brother Julius, and established the firm of “Smith Brothers” in 1873 to mine and sell borax products.

Smith’s operations expanded dramatically, and in 1886, he incorporated the Pacific Borax Salt & Soda Co. Smith and his competitor William T. Coleman drove the growth of the borax business in the west into one of the region’s must successful mining industries.

Smith eventually purchased Coleman’s bankrupted operations, and in 1890, he formed the Pacific Coast Borax Co.

The borax mines were generally profitable, but they all shared a major problem; remote locations and high transportation costs. The mines were located in desolate places like western Nevada, Death Valley, and the Calico Mountains.

Far removed from any established transportation, the borax freighters were forced to use mule teams to pull huge ore wagons to the railroads in Daggett, Barstow, or Mojave in Kern County. This excruciatingly slow method of transportation evolved into the famous “20 Mule Team” wagon trains. Each of the massive custom-built wagons could carry an impressive 20,000 pounds of ore, but this was still only about one-tenth of a railroad freight car’s capacity.

Smith knew he could increase his profits if he could construct a railroad network to transport the materials from his mines. The railroad would also allow him to tap into the growing freight business of the mining districts in Tonopah and Beatty, Nev.

Construction on Smith’s railroad began in 1905 at Ludlow, a small railroad town on the Santa Fe line, 50 miles east of Barstow. The T & T’s route passed through some of the hottest and driest regions of the Mojave Desert. In October of 1907, the line reached Gold Center, Nev., a small mining town south of Beatty.

Smith gave his railroad the ambitious name of “Tonopah and Tidewater” with the unrealized intention of reaching the port of Los Angeles. When asked about the ambitious name, Smith was quoted as saying; “Broad enough, is it not? It will put some of those railroad people guessing at any rate.”

At Gold Center, the line connected with the existing rails of the Bullfrog and Goldfield Railroad. From here, the T & T was able to reach the mining boom towns of Beatty, Rhyolite, Goldfield, and Tonopah. Smith also built a narrow-gauge railroad from Death Valley Junction on the T & T, to the mining camp of Ryan, located in the southern end of Death Valley.

In addition to hauling borax and minerals from the mines, the T & T became the lifeblood of dozens of small desert communities and mines along the route. By 1910, the western Nevada mining districts had all but played out, and it was only Smith’s borax freight that kept the struggling T & T alive until 1940.

Huge borax deposits were discovered in 1925 near the present-day town of Boron, and the site was located only a short distance from the existing Santa Fe Railroad mainline. This discovery along with other large deposits in the south, made the northern borax mines less profitable, and the T & T withered accordingly.

As the rails were pulled up, the small towns along the way either crumbled away, or struggled to stay alive. The town of Ludlow stayed alive as a stop on Route 66, and still serves travelers on I-40 today.

F.M Smith’s borax empire provided him with a lavish lifestyle, and he became one of the pre-eminent industrialists of his time. His Pacific Coast Borax Co. evolved into the U.S. Borax Co., which was later acquired by the Rio Tinto Group.

Serpico’s 296-page hardbound book details the birth of Smith’s great borax empire, and the collection of rugged individuals who built and operated the supporting railroads. Hundreds of photos, maps, and historic documents illustrate the struggles of working and surviving in harsh desert environments.

For more information on the “Tonopah and Tidewater — Nevada’s Shortline” and Phil Serpico’s other books, go to: www.omnirr.com.

Celebrating photographer A. A. Forbes

Jon Klusmire
Inyo Register

While digging into the history of the Saline Valley Salt Mine and Tram, brothers Tim and Brian Waag uncovered what they consider a forgotten gem: pioneer photographer A.A. Forbes.

The brothers have been researching and photographing the remains of the famous Death Valley salt tram for almost a decade, and during their investigations in local museums and libraries, they kept running across excellent photos of the Owens Valley with the inscription, “A.A. Forbes,” said Tim Waag. “Our motto is, if we find something interesting, we buy the book,” he noted, but in the case of A.A. Forbes, “there was no book, so we’ll make the book.”

In this case, the “book” is a detailed blog about Forbes, who operated a photo studio in Bishop between 1902 and 1916.

Local history buffs are well aware of Forbes’ work, since his photos comprise one of the major photographic records of the time. However, Forbes came to Bishop near the end of his career. Starting in the late 1880s, Forbes photographed a significant swath of the history of the western United States, from Oklahoma and Arizona to California.

It is that extensive body of work the Waags highlight at http://bit.ly/1mg7iMF.

Hesperia agencies to consider Victor Valley Museum support

Rene Ray De La Cruz
Victor Valley Daily Press

HESPERIA • The City Council on Tuesday will discuss its support of the financially struggling Victor Valley Museum in Apple Valley.

The council may give direction to staff for the joint-agency support of the museum, which would include the city, the Hesperia Unified School District and the Hesperia Recreation and Park District.

If approved by all agencies, funding could be allocated in a manner proportionate to each agency’s operating budget, with $10,000 coming from the city and HUSD, and $5,000 from the park district.

The city’s annual portion would be added to the budgets from 2014 through 2017, if approved by the council.

This item is also being presented by staff to both boards for consideration, a city staff report said.

The city received a request from 1st District Supervisor Robert Lovingood for an annual contribution of $25,000 for the next three fiscal years.

Allocations would support the museum as an education resource in the High Desert and allow the city to work with curators on a historical Hesperia display.

In 2013, the struggling museum continued to stay open with a portion of $200,000 in bridge funding from the county.

The county’s $4.4 billion budget for 2013-14 revealed limited one-time sources to fund certain costs as part of a multi-year plan to address a five-year structural deficit.

A few of those one-time fund issues include covering shortfalls in the county museum system Fire Department and underfunded programs and projects in Land Use Services and Public Works.

The 2013-14 county budget also revealed that the county will work with other government agencies to explore opportunities to “transfer the ownership/operation of the Victor Valley Museum to another entity.”

The museum opened as an independent nonprofit in 1992. It closed for a one-year renovation project after the county acquired it in February 2010 after declining revenue threatened its closure.

US cites security more to censor, deny records

By TED BRIDIS and JACK GILLUM
The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration more often than ever censored government files or outright denied access to them last year under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act, according to a new analysis of federal data by The Associated Press.

The administration cited more legal exceptions it said justified withholding materials and refused a record number of times to turn over files quickly that might be especially newsworthy. Most agencies also took longer to answer records requests, the analysis found.

The government's own figures from 99 federal agencies covering six years show that half way through its second term, the administration has made few meaningful improvements in the way it releases records despite its promises from Day 1 to become the most transparent administration in history.

In category after category — except for reducing numbers of old requests and a slight increase in how often it waived copying fees — the government's efforts to be more open about its activities last year were their worst since President Barack Obama took office.

In a year of intense public interest over the National Security Agency's surveillance programs, the government cited national security to withhold information a record 8,496 times — a 57 percent increase over a year earlier and more than double Obama's first year, when it cited that reason 3,658 times. The Defense Department, including the NSA, and the CIA accounted for nearly all those. The Agriculture Department's Farm Service Agency cited national security six times, the Environmental Protection Agency did twice and the National Park Service once.

And five years after Obama directed agencies to less frequently invoke a "deliberative process" exception to withhold materials describing decision-making behind the scenes, the government did it anyway, a record 81,752 times.

"I'm concerned the growing trend toward relying upon FOIA exemptions to withhold large swaths of government information is hindering the public's right to know," said Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. "It becomes too much of a temptation. If you screw up in government, just mark it top secret."

Citizens, journalists, businesses and others last year made a record 704,394 requests for information, an 8 percent increase over the previous year. The government responded to 678,391 requests, an increase of 2 percent over the previous year. The AP analysis showed that the government more than ever censored materials it turned over or fully denied access to them, in 244,675 cases or 36 percent of all requests. On 196,034 other occasions, the government said it couldn't find records, a person refused to pay for copies or the government determined the request to be unreasonable or improper.

Sometimes, the government censored only a few words or an employee's phone number, but other times it completely marked out nearly every paragraph on pages.

The White House said the government's figures demonstrate "that agencies are responding to the president's call for greater transparency." White House spokesman Eric Schultz noted that the government responded to more requests than previously and said it released more information. "Over the past five years, federal agencies have worked aggressively to improve their responsiveness to FOIA requests, applying a presumption of openness and making it a priority to respond quickly," Schultz said.

Sunday was the start of Sunshine Week, when news organizations promote open government and freedom of information.

The chief of the Justice Department's Office of Information Policy, which oversees the open records law, told the Senate last week that some of the 99 agencies in the past five years have released documents in full or in part in more than 90 percent of cases. She noted the record number of requests for government records, which exceeded 700,000 for the first time last year, and said decisions are harder than ever.

"The requests are more complex than they were before," director Melanie Pustay told the Senate Judiciary Committee.

The government's responsiveness under the FOIA is widely viewed as a barometer of its transparency. Under the law, citizens and foreigners can compel the government to turn over copies of federal records for zero or little cost. Anyone who seeks information through the law is generally supposed to get it unless disclosure would hurt national security, violate personal privacy or expose business secrets or confidential decision-making in certain areas. It cited such exceptions a record 546,574 times last year.

"The public is frustrated and unhappy with the pace of responses and the amount of information provided," Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said at the same congressional hearing. "There's a common reaction for anybody who has any experience with it that it doesn't function well."

John Cook, the incoming new editor at the Intercept, the online magazine founded by investor Pierre Omidyar, said his experience under the open records law was "abysmal" but not especially worse last year than previously. "It's a bureaucracy," Cook said. "As often as it's about trying to keep data from falling into the hands of reporters, it's the contractor looking for ways to reduce the caseload. It's just bureaucrats trying to get home earlier and have less to do."

The AP could not determine whether the administration was abusing the national security exception or whether the public asked for more documents about sensitive subjects. The NSA said its 138 percent surge in records requests were from people asking whether it had collected their phone or email records, which it generally refuses to confirm or deny. To do otherwise, the NSA said, would pose an "an unacceptable risk" because terrorists could check to see whether the U.S. had detected their activities. It censored records or fully denied access to them in 4,246 out of 4,328 requests, or 98 percent of the time.

Journalists and others who need information quickly to report breaking news fared worse than ever last year. Blocking news organizations from urgently obtaining records about a government scandal or crisis — such as the NSA's phone-records collection, Boston bombings, trouble with its health care website, the deadly shootings at the Washington Navy Yard or the attack on the diplomatic mission in Benghazi — can delay uncovering significant developments until after decisions are made and the public's interest has waned.

The government said the average time it took to answer a records request ranged from less than one day to nearly two years. AP's analysis showed that most agencies took longer to answer requests than the previous year, although the White House said the government responded more quickly and did not immediately explain how it determined that. The Pentagon reported at least two requests still pending after 10 years and the CIA was still working on at least four requests from more than eight years ago.

The AP's request to the Health and Human Services Department for contracts with public-relations companies to promote Obama's health care law has been pending for more than one year. Requests for files about the Affordable Care Act and the IRS's treatment of tax-exempt political groups have languished in government offices for months. Similarly, the AP has waited for more than 10 months for emails between the IRS and outside Democratic super PACs about tea party groups.

After Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., was selected as the Republican vice presidential candidate, the AP asked scores of federal agencies for copies of letters he wrote to them. At least seven turned over the records after the election in November 2012. Some didn't even acknowledge AP's request for Ryan's letters until months after Obama was sworn in for a second term.

Last year, the government denied 6,689 out of 7,818 requests for so-called expedited processing, which moves an urgent request for newsworthy records to the front of the line for a speedy answer, or about 86 percent. It denied only 53 percent of such requests in 2008.

The EPA denied 458 out of 468 expediting requests. The State Department, where expedited processing can save 100 days of waiting time for example, denied 332 of 344 such requests. The Homeland Security Department denied 1,384 or 94 percent of expediting requests. The Justice Department, which denied AP's request for video its investigators obtained days after the Navy Yard shooting, denied 900 out of 1,017 such requests.

The U.S. spent a record $420 million answering requests plus just over $27 million in legal disputes, and charged people $4.3 million to search and copy documents. The government waived fees about 58 percent of the time that people asked, a 1 percent improvement over the previous year.

Sometimes, the government said it searched and couldn't find what citizens wanted.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence, whose top official has testified to Congress repeatedly about NSA surveillance programs disclosed by contractor Edward Snowden, told the AP it couldn't find any records or emails in its offices asking other federal agencies to be on the lookout for journalists to whom Snowden provided classified materials. British intelligence authorities had detained one reporter's partner for nine hours at Heathrow airport and questioned him under terrorism laws. DNI James Clapper has at least twice publicly described the reporters as "accomplices" to Snowden, who is charged under the U.S. Espionage Act and faces up to 30 years in prison.

Likewise, Cook, departing as the editor at Gawker, was exasperated when the State Department told him it couldn't find any emails between journalists and Philippe Reines, Hillary Clinton's personal spokesman when Clinton was secretary of state. BuzzFeed published a lengthy and profane email exchange about the 2012 attack on the diplomatic mission in Benghazi between Reines and its correspondent, Michael Hastings.

"They said there were no records," Cook said of the State Department.

Diaries describe 19th-century life for Arizona women

Elizabeth (Lily) Benton Frémont, the daughter of
John and Jessie Frémont, kept a diary while
living in Prescott. (Courtesy: Sharlot Hall Museum)

By MARY MELCHER
Special to the Daily Courier

Women's diaries, journals and letters provide a fascinating glimpse into the lives of Arizona's pioneer women, their families and communities. From reading diaries like these, we learn of Arizona women's experiences, as well as territorial and state history. These writings also help us understand the history of our own region.

Margaret Hunt Mc-Cormick, the young bride of Territorial Secretary Richard McCormick, kept a journal describing her trip from New York to Arizona in 1865. After moving into the Governor's Mansion - now part of the Sharlot Hall Museum campus - she wrote letters to her brother describing the mansion's layout. Unfortunately, her writings were cut short when she died in 1867 after the birth of her stillborn baby.

Elizabeth (Lily) Benton Frémont, the daughter of John Charles and Jessie Benton Frémont, also kept a diary while living here. She described social gatherings in Prescott and at Fort Whipple, as well as political events. She illuminated territorial life, describing the sheriff's funeral in this passage: "Tuesday 7th (January 7, 1879): Woke to a howling snowstorm which had already covered everything some inches deep, but cleared off cold and bright about 2 p.m. Mother slept till near noon and had a comfortable day. Father devoted himself to letters except for the brief interval of attending the funeral services at Mr. Bower's house.

Frank went on with the procession to the Masonic burial grounds; it was quite a long & imposing procession being led by the Masons on foot & closed by men on horseback, many varieties of vehicles including the Post ambulances filling in between. There is no hearse, so one of the larger express wagons was draped with black and used; the flags were half-masted & the bells of the school house and court house tolled alternately. Mr. Bowers had been for four years sheriff of the county, doing his duty fearlessly in the days when to have his horse shot under him whilst pursuing desperadoes was not uncommon. Both the Supreme Court and the Legislature attended the services at the house." ("The Arizona Diary of Lily Frémont, 1878-1881," edited by Mary Lee Spence.)

Diaries provide an unfiltered view of an individual's experiences. Sharlot Mabridth Hall, Arizona's poetic first woman territorial historian, was also a diarist and writer. She kept a journal of her 1911 journey through the remote Arizona strip, north of the Grand Canyon and south of Utah's state boundary. During the 1890s, several unsuccessful bills had been introduced into Congress calling for Utah's annexation of this area. Hall's goals for her trip were to see this isolated region, completing her tour of the territory and then to apprise others about it. She hoped for and believed that informed Arizonans would block Utah's annexation of the strip.

Hall traveled by wagon for 75 days with an experienced guide. Through her diary she highlighted the area's history, its people and resources, as well as its beauty. This passage describes land near the Grand Canyon's North Rim: "I walked all the morning, far ahead of the wagon, alone with the mountains; when I grew tired, I lay down in the grass and rested, and thought that it would be lovely to be buried in such a serene and yet majestic spot, the flowers dancing above and the quakenasp leaves tinkling like little silver bells." ("Sharlot Hall on the Arizona Strip," edited by C. Gregory Crampton.)

Although Hall had traveled throughout Arizona Territory, this diary is the only published record of her journeys. It drew attention to the strip, and in 1914, scientists employed by the state surveyed the region's agricultural value.

To mark Women's History Month, University of Arizona professor Dr. Judy Nolte Temple will discuss these diaries, plus the writings of Mim Walsh, a plucky Irish immigrant who wrote a 50-year-long journal revealing her experiences on the frontier as an Irish immigrant - and a great deal more - during a lecture at the Sharlot Hall Museum Archives on March 22 at 2 p.m. This free lecture is sponsored by the Arizona Humanities Council.

MDA acquires Charlie Michael Collection

Charlie Michael, who lives in Las Vegas, contacted member Roger Mitchell in early February regarding interest in his collection of mining journals dating back to the 1880s. Roger recommended he contact us here at the MDHCA while giving him some background on our collections. It turns out Charlie knows Dennis Casebier as well as members Gail and Donna Andress. We invited him to come take a tour and decide if this was the place for his collection.

Charlie arrived at Goffs on Saturday, February 15, accompanied by his son, Aaron. We gave Charlie a full tour of the property, and discussed the collection and how we can preserve and protect it. We then proceeded to unload seven boxes into the library of the Schoolhouse. Donna Andress was here and began checking the contents. There are copies of The Mining Journal dating from 1890 to 1951 as well as American-Canadian Geological Society journals. There are also two containers of desert artifacts.

After several emails, Charlie and Aaron returned to Goffs with an additional eleven boxes of books covering California, Native Americans, the American Southwest, and mining. There is also an extensive collection of American Heritage magazines from the mid-1950s through the late-1970s. We will begin processing these boxes to develop finding aids and provide Charlie with a record of his donation for tax purposes.

Thank you to Charlie and Aaron for these generous donations!

Blacksmithing at Mojave River Valley Museum

An old blacksmith's shop is the newest exhibit at the Mojave River Valley Museum.

By Trevor Summons
The San Bernardino Sun

I was leaving the city of Barstow the other day, when I thought that I would just stop in at the Mojave River Valley Museum. It had been two years since I went there and it’s always an interesting place to visit.

I was glad that I did as the president of the organization, Robert Hilburn, was on hand to show me their latest acquisition. It was a blacksmith shop that originated in the 19th century and was now in full operation again.

Initially, I was surprised because I expected to see a large fire in a corner, but the shop here has a wheelbarrow-type container that was the main fire source.

“We use a mixture of coal and coke,” Hilburn explained.

He himself is an experienced metal worker and knows about the blacksmithing art.

“Coal burns hot, but then there is charcoal that burns even hotter,” he explained. “For the best heat you have to have coke.”

Coke is a refined form of coal that has had the impurities removed. When a current of air is passed through the burning embers, the heat intensifies enough that metal can be worked and reformed.

Hilburn puts on regular demonstrations in this compact workshop, but for my interest, he showed me some tricks with cold metal.

Rolling a rod of metal on an anvil, he showed me how a blacksmith would hit the rod where the light shines beneath it.

“That’s where the term ‘beating the daylights (out of you)’ came from,” he said.

The Mojave River Valley Museum is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year.

Before the collection exhibits were gathered, most of the items were stored in people’s garages. An offer from the San Bernardino Museum allowed the use of a building, the writing of a catalog and storage of a wide range of artifacts.

If you would like to see a demonstration of the blacksmith’s work then it’s necessary to make an appointment. They will be happy to oblige.

Taking a trip up the National Old Trails Road

A map of the area from the early 1900s.

By Nick Cataldo
San Bernardino County Sun

For centuries the Cajon Pass has served as an important gateway into Southern California, from its earliest days as an Indian trail right up to the present-day 15 Freeway. In the interim, a plethora of trails evolved over the years to accommodate the ever-changing needs of travelers — mule caravans, freight wagons, settlers — and finally the dawn of the automobile. This year marks the 100th anniversary of one of those arteries, known as the National Old Trails Road.

Shortly after the beginning of the 20th century, the horse drawn wagon was slowly being replaced by the horseless carriage as the primary method of road travel. And before long, the Automobile Club of Southern California, which was founded in 1900, campaigned for state and federal aid to connect a series of old wagon roads into a cross-country automobile highway.

Judge J. M. Lowe of Kansas City, Mo., promoted this novel idea at the National Good Roads Convention in Oklahoma City in 1910 and the first National Old Trails Road convention was held in Kansas City in April 1912.

When the first of automobile thoroughfare (albeit dirt all the way) ran through the Cajon Pass and across the Mojave Desert in 1913, it was actually known as the Santa Fe-Grand Canyon-Needles Highway.

National Old Trails Road inthe early 1900s.

However, when the Auto Club started setting road markers from California going east, the National Old Trails Road — touted as “the ocean to ocean thoroughfare” covering more than 3,000 miles between New York City and Los Angeles — became the highway’s new name.

On Oct. 20, 1914, a special election held in San Bernardino County voted to surface the road at 16 feet wide with crushed limestone aggregate and asphaltic binding.

Much like its better-known successor — Route 66 — the National Old Trails Road extended from Los Angeles through the San Bernardino Valley and meandered through the Cajon Pass before continuing into the Mojave Desert heading east.

Initially, traffic over the National Old Trails Road was minimal. According to the Auto Club, 419 motor vehicles traveled the road in 1914. However, traffic increased over the next few years — 1,367 in 1915, 1,774 in 1916, 2,607 in 1917, and, despite wartime restrictions, 4,240 cars passed over it in 1918.

To meet the growing demand for services along the highway, a number of stores, gasoline stations and tourist camps sprang up almost overnight. The most pressing need for climbing the Cajon grade from San Bernardino was water for overheated engines. Automobiles in those days did not have the super cooling systems of today’s vehicles, and many were the motor cars that were obliged to pull to the side of the road with steam rising from their boiling radiators.

The driver proceeding up the National Old Trails Road from San Bernardino came first to the small railroad siding of Verdemont, eight miles from town (but now part of San Bernardino), where water for radiators was available. Two and a half miles further was the small community of Devore, where gasoline, water and groceries could be obtained.

Beyond Devore, Cajon Canyon narrowed considerably as mountains closed in on both sides.

In four miles the driver passed Keenbrook, another railroad siding where water was available. Just beyond, the highway and the Santa Fe tracks close on the left twisted through the narrow defile of Blue Cut to Cozy Dell, shaded by great oaks, with its grocery store and gas station.

A mile and a half farther was Cajon Station, where fuel and supplies were available. Another half mile brought the driver and his passengers to Camp Cajon, a public campground with 50 cement tables, stoves and restrooms built by William Bristol, a wealthy citrus rancher from East Highlands. The AAA rated Camp Cajon, dedicated on July 4, 1919, as one of the best in the west.

A mile and a half beyond was Meeker’s Store, café and garage, founded by Marion Meeker in 1919. Two miles further on, the National Old Trails Road crossed the Santa Fe tracks and passed Alray Station, the last water stop before the final climb to the 4,200 foot Cajon Summit. If the driver didn’t tank up before this stretch, his engine would be boiling well before he reached the top.

Finally, if the driver made it to the summit, 25 miles or so from San Bernardino a welcome “oasis” greeted him known as the original Summit Inn. Established in the early 1920s, it was here that the weary traveler was accommodated with a café, store, gasoline station and garage. Serving as the main stopping point on the highway before dipping down into the Mojave Desert, the Summit Inn was a popular rest stop. Needless to say, the Summit Inn garage did one heck of a business fixing overheated engines.

Wow, those were the days. With thoroughfare improvements and the christening of Route 66 in 1926, the National Old Trails Road has evolved into a forgotten piece of our history.

If you would like to find out more about the National Old Trails Road, as well as other fascinating Cajon Pass history, on March 22, I will be teaching “Exploring the Cajon Pass,” a one-day course that is offered through the Cal State San Bernardino Office of Extended Education.

The class is a field trip involving a vehicle caravan, some walking and visits to many historical sites.

The course, which has a fee of $83 for no credit and $140 for one unit of credit, will run from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

There will be an optional no-host breakfast at 7 a.m. at the Summit Inn, 5960 Mariposa Road, Pinion Hills, before the start of the trek.

For information or to register, call the Office of Extended Education at 909-537-5975.

Bill would reopen Arizona mining museum

The Arizona Mining and Mineral Museum never was transformed into the Arizona Centennial Museum. (Republic File Photo)

By Harmony Huskinson
Cronkite News Service
azcentral.com

For three years, most of the rocks, gems and artifacts once displayed by the Arizona Mining and Mineral Museum have remained unseen.

Meanwhile, efforts to create a centennial-themed museum in its former space near the state Capitol have stalled for lack of funding.

Saying the old museum should never have been closed in the first place, a state lawmaker has introduced legislation to bring it back.

“I think it was an experiment gone bad by a couple individuals who thought about changing the museum into something else, and now it lies dormant with nothing going on,” said Sen. Eddie Ableser, D-Tempe, author of Senate Bill 1023.

Ableser has introduced a bill to reopen the museum every year since it shut its doors in April 2011.

In 2010, Gov. Jan Brewer presented plans for an Arizona Centennial Museum, which would occupy the Mining and Mineral Museum’s space and showcase Arizona’s Five C’s: cattle, copper, cotton, citrus and climate.

It was with this intention that the Legislature transferred responsibility for the museum and the state’s mineral collection from the Department of Mines and Minerals to the Arizona Historical Society.

Brewer assigned the Arizona Centennial Commission to raise moneyfor the new museum by approaching businesses, with fundraising goals set between $9 million and $15 million.

But the commission never raised enough money to move beyond the planning phase. After Arizona’s centennial came and went, the proposed museum’s name changed to the Arizona Experience Museum.

Brewer’s press office didn’t respond to calls and e-mails seeking comment on the bill. Karen Churchard, director of the Arizona Centennial Commission, was out of the office, according to the Arizona Office of Tourism, and was not available to comment.

Ableser’s bill, which had yet to be scheduled for a committee hearing, would transfer responsibility for the museum from the Arizona Historical Society to the Arizona Geological Survey, which absorbed the Department of Mines and Mineral Resources’ duties in 2011.

Ray Grant, a retired geology professor at Mesa Community College and co-author of “Mineralogy of Arizona,” said closing the museum prevented people from learning about a profession vital to Arizona’s fabric as a state.

“To me it’s one of the greatest geologic states ever. Millions of people come to the Grand Canyon. What’s it about? It’s all geology, isn’t it?” he said.

Former Rep. Russ Jones, R-Yuma, who authored the 2010 legislation transferring responsibility for the museum and its collection, said low revenue and high rent made the Mining and Mineral Museum unsustainable.

“The museum portion was very, very popular. Unfortunately, the revenues from the activity as a museum were just a fraction of the cost of maintaining and paying the rents on that facility,” he said.

The rent for the building is still paid for by the state. According to a report by the Joint Legislative Budget Committee, the fiscal 2014 budget provides $428,000 to the Arizona Historical Society, $360,800 of it for rent on the unused museum space and $67,500 for a curator to care for the state’s mineral specimens.

Saying it’s unfortunate that the commission couldn’t raise enough funds for a centennial museum, Jones said Ableser’s legislation would only cause more problems. The Arizona Geological Survey would require a huge sum of money and an increase in staffing to restore the museum, he added.

“There’s so much we need to do that remains undone as we crawl out of the recession, I find it hard to justify millions of dollars for a mining museum when need to fund things for Child Protective Services, the list goes on and on,” Jones said.

Ableser’s bill doesn’t include any appropriation for bringing the museum back.

The collection from the former museum currently consists of more than 21,500 specimens and objects, according to the Arizona Historical Society’s website.

Even if Ableser’s legislation doesn’t succeed, people can see several of the state’s minerals on display at the University of Arizona Mineral Museum, including a 225-pound azurite boulder from Bisbee.

Other minerals will be part of a new Gallery of Natural History opening soon at the Arizona Historical Society’s Museum at Papago Park, said Mark Candee, assistant curator and collection manager at the UA museum.

But Ableser still thinks the Mining and Mineral Museum should once again serve as home to the state’s collection.

“Many of the volunteers that sacrificed their hours and time and resources have all the supplies still with them, ready to go, and we can reinstitute the mineral and mining museum today,” he said.

Related Info on Arizona Mining and Mineral Museum

1884: A collection of minerals is first displayed at the Arizona State Fair.
1917: The Legislature provides $30,000 to construct a permanent home for the collection at the Arizona State Fairgrounds. Private funds help complete the work.
1919: The building opens with that year’s Arizona State Fair.
1953: The collection, still at the fairgrounds, opens full-time as a museum.
1973: The museum becomes part of the Arizona Department of Mineral Resources.
1991: The museum moves with the Department of Mines and Mineral Resources to West Washington Street near the Arizona state Capitol.
2011: The museum is closed to make way for a centennial museum that has yet to open.

Harvey House welcomes visitors

Casa Del Desierto, also known as the Barstow Harvey House.

By Trevor Summons
Inland Valley Daily Bulletin

BARSTOW, CALIFORNIA -- If you cross the iron trestle bridge slowly on First Avenue in Barstow, and count carefully, you will see the tracks of 14 railway lines.

I might have missed a couple, of course, but that’s the number I came up with.

A lot of rail traffic goes through here, but only two passenger trains stop each day, and that’s the Amtrak Southwest Chief on its way to and from Chicago. But there are no passenger services for them these days.

Back in 1959, just before it closed, the Harvey House was on hand to cater to passengers’ needs and even to allow them to spend the night. It was quite an operation.

The idea of a Harvey House chain was started by Fred Harvey back the early 1870s with a handshake and a partner who soon absconded with the proceeds to fight in the Civil War.

Fred Harvey must have been a determined young man. He had left his native England in 1853 at the age of 17 to look for work and opportunities in America. Beginning with a job as a pot scrubber and bus boy in New York, he eventually moved to New Orleans and found work with a railroad.

As he worked his way up the corporate ladder, he traveled a lot on the job. He found the food available was unappetizing and often served in dirty places.

In 1874, he opened his first two rail side cafes in Kansas and Colorado. By the time he died in 1901, he was known as “the civilizer of the West” with his chain of Harvey Houses. Fred Harvey is credited with beginning the first restaurant chain in America and at his death, he had built it up to 47 sites. At its peak, there were 84 Harvey Houses. His business was carried on by his sons and grandsons until the mid-1960s. Today there are only three under the ownership of private, local and state governments.

The Harvey House in Barstow opened in 1911, having taken two years to build. It eventually closed in 1971.

Today the building has a new function. The Barstow Chamber of Commerce is its principle tenant, and other r firms have offices there.

Regular tours are given to members of the public with an interest in its history; upstairs is the original Station Master’s Suite with much of the original furniture. Winston Churchill stopped here in 1929 to use the bath tub.

The downstairs has the two main dining rooms which are available for private use. Back in the busy times, there were dozens of Harvey Girls dashing about in black dresses with white aprons and caps. The uniform was made famous in the 1946 movie with Judy Garland as one of The Harvey Girls.

The Barstow building also houses the Western Railroad Museum and the Route 66 Mother Road Museum, so there is plenty to explore if you cross all those tracks to get there.

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.”

Old Plank Road is nearly 100 years old

Plank Road was built in the early 20th century to help cars get across the Imperial Sand Dunes. (KRISTA DALY PHOTO)

By ALEXIS RANGEL
Imperial Valley Press

BUTTERCUP DUNES — Fifteen hundred feet is all that is left of what was once seven miles of decaying wooden planks known as the Plank Road.

In anticipation of the 100-year anniversary in 2015, tourists from all over the world travel to see the stretch of wooden planks that is part of the nation’s automotive history, said U.S. Bureau of Land Management Park Ranger Carey Goldstein.

As cities in the Imperial Valley began to develop, motorists needed an efficient way to get their Model T’s through the sandy desert, he said.

“As motorists had a lot of difficulty getting between Holtville and Yuma,” Goldstein said during a presentation in front of the Plank Road.

Before the construction of the Plank Road, Goldstein said motorists had to travel south into Mexico or take the northern route through Brawley.

However, Edwin Boyd, county supervisor for the Holtville area at the time, proposed the construction of a road made of wooden planks across the sand dunes.

Ed Fletcher, a pioneer road builder from San Diego, funded the construction of the road so long as Boyd provided the labor, Goldstein said.

“A lot of the workers were from Calexico and El Centro,” he said.

The first Plank Road was built in 1915 as a way for early automobiles to traverse the seamless ocean of sand.

“It was difficult to construct,” Goldstein said. “One of the things they had to do was spray oil on the sand to prevent it from drifting. It kept it nice and compact.”

The single-lane road was built with nothing more than wooden boards, which ran parallel and were a car-width apart.

It was built this way for easy mobility. Drivers could move the planks and dust off the little sand dunes that would cover the road, Goldstein said.

When the road first opened, horse- or mule-drawn wagons along with automobiles could be seen making their way along the wooden road.

The first road didn’t last very long.

With increased traffic, the sun, wind and rain taking its toll on the road, it quickly began to deteriorate.

Second Plank Road

A year later in 1916, it was Fletcher who suggested the newer and better constructed Plank Road, according to the BLM’s website.

Construction of the second road was completed in 1917.

This time 12-foot planks were laid side by side, somewhat the same as the first road. However, it differed in the sense that turnouts were built every mile to make passing easier for the one-lane road, according to a James B. Bates article in “The Journal of San Diego History.”

Binding cross-ties with strips of iron were used on the new plank road.

The road was used for about 10 years, said Goldstein.

The road depicted by the press

“The road got some positive and negative press,” Goldstein said.

The El Centro Progress told motorists to avoid Plank Road.

“Cars are injured in the drive, engines are racked and shattered and in many cases the machines have to be pulled many miles by teams,” according to the El Centro Progress.

“But it was kind of a false claim,” said Goldstein, “nobody was dying.”

Goldstein went on to say that one day later after the article ran, a maintenance supervisor claimed he saw 36 cars come through the road along with two teams of animals.

A segment of the road today

Lynn Housouer, chief executive officer of Pioneers’ Museum, said a historical marker was placed in October 1971 by the state Department of Parks and Recreation in conjunction with the Imperial Valley Pioneers Association.

Housouer said a part of the road is at Pioneers’ Museum.

By 1930 pretty much all of Plank Road was gone, said Goldstein.

A few museums took a piece of the road and the remaining 1,500 feet are barricades in hope of preserving part of our automobile history, he said.

“People used pieces of the road for firewood,” he said. “The rest of it is still buried.”

Goldstein mentioned that although most of the road is covered in sand, people have reported seeing pieces of the old road pop up from time to time.

“It is a part of our history that is yet to be uncovered,” Goldstein said.

Tiny town’s history slipping away

The Stone Hotel in Daggett was damaged in the Landers and Hector Mine earthquakes and remains closed. (SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY MUSEUM/CONTRIBUTED IMAGE)

By Mark Muckenfuss
Press-Enterprise

History can sometimes be a tenuous thing.

In the tiny desert town of Daggett, it seems to be hanging on the edge.

The town’s historical museum is closed. The Stone Hotel, first built in the 1880s and now owned by the San Bernardino County Museum, is closed. And the Alf’s Blacksmith Shop, which for years was on the cusp of becoming a museum, never did open.

Lawrence Alf, the last of three generations of Alfs in the town, died in August, and the blacksmith shop is now in probate, said Beryl Bell, 87, a member of Daggett’s historical society. The society also is closed.

“We’re in hiatus right now,” Bell said.

That hiatus is mainly due to the closing of the organization’s museum, which is mainly due to a robbery in 2004 on Christmas Day. Bell says the thieves took American Indian artifacts, a doll collection and some model trains.

An Associated Press story at the time said farm tools, toys and local rocks samples also were taken.
“They were professionals,” Bell said. “(Sheriff’s deputies) dusted for fingerprints and didn't find one.”

She said she believes most of the material was taken to be sold internationally.

“Anything Native American was probably out of the country within 24 hours,” she said. “They can get any price they want for Native American things in Germany or Japan.”

None of the stolen items has ever been recovered.

Bell works in the offices of the Daggett Community Service District. The locked-up museum is next door, in the same building, what’s left of its collections sitting almost within reach. People looking for the museum sometimes confuse the two and come into the district office. Bell said she tells them she can take care of their water bill, but not their curiosity about local history.

Before Alf’s death in August, he was president of the district. Bell says his family’s blacksmith shop is still full of memorabilia. Despite being named a Point of Historical Interest in 1974, the shop never officially opened to the public. Alf’s mother, Gertrude, would sometimes take private parties through her house and the shop.

“The Alfs had a lot to do with the history of Daggett,” Bell said.

Some accounts have the family blacksmith shop opening in the 1880s. The official historical designation puts the date at 1890.

What is known is that Seymour Alf, who founded the shop, oversaw not only its smith works, but the building of some of the 20-mule-team wagons that hauled borax from local mines. He also butchered and sold beef to the miners in Calico to the north.

Seymour’s son, Walter, saw the value in the old equipment, which fell out of use in the 1920s when automobiles made the shop obsolete. Gertrude told reporters that her husband kept everything.

A news story from 1980 says the shop contained a set of 8-foot-long bellows, the original forge, an anvil, numerous homemade tools, canteens used by the borax teamsters, two hand-powered coffee mils from 1882 and 1885 and the bell from the original Calico School. Horse-drawn wagons and a water cart were parked outside. Bell is certain it’s all still there.

Nearby is the Stone Hotel, where Death Valley Scotty and Wyatt Earp once stayed. It was damaged in the Landers and Hector Mine earthquakes, and the county has never had the funds to repair it. Visitors can only look in the windows.

Bell worries. She said it’s hard to find people interested in preservation among the town’s younger residents, and Daggett’s days as a thriving commercial center serving miners are long over.

“We've got more history than we've got present,” she said.

New Kicks On Historic Route 66

The Road Runner Retreat Restaurant between Amboy and Essex is an example of a landmark “ghost-station” on Route 66.

By Ruth Musser-Lopez
San Bernardino County Sentinel

Ten boarded the 55-seat chartered bus at Rancho Cucamonga, three at San Bernardino, and sixteen at Barstow, all to cross the county on its backbone, the historic American icon, Route 66 (RT66). That evening, last Tuesday, was the opening kick off discussion in a packed meeting room at Juicy’s Café in Needles to learn about and consider what amounts to a planned “new kick” on Route 66. In attendance that night in Needles were additional San Bernardino County residents joined by city of Needles officials and chamber of commerce members.

On Wednesday morning, another eight boarded the bus in Needles along with several trailing cars filled with participants. The entire entourage of 50 then headed back across the Mojave desert to the west, together to view the longest, unaltered segment of intact Route 66 in the country-- “Portions of this road where the vistas have not changed at all since its realignment in 1931” noted Roger Hathaway, professional cultural resource manager/historian, Route 66 expert, now working for the San Bernardino County Department of Public Works and serving as guide on the tour. The pristine, intact section between Ludlow and Mountain Springs Road, all 70 miles of it, was visited along with other accessible portions of the 153-mile long route between Needles and Barstow.

Attending the three day tour was anyone and everyone showing a desire for the care and preservation of the plus 85-year old road, particularly those “interested, crazy people--crazy about RT66, that is” Hathaway explained.
On Wednesday evening at a “meet and greet” in Barstow, the entire group met at the Quality Inn’s Los Domingos Restaurant with City of Barstow officials and Chamber members as well as California Desert District Bureau of Land Management District Manager Teri Rahal to further ruminate on the planned “new kick” on Route 66.

So what’s the kick? The California Route 66 Association, and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) have teamed up and merged their energy and resources to develop a much needed “Corridor Management Plan” (CMP) for what is likely the most famous American highway, Route 66. Partnering with this effort are other stakeholders such as the county of San Bernardino, the National Park Service Route 66 Corridor Preservation Program, chambers of commerce, CalTrans, various tourism bureaus, local businesses, museums, grassroots organizations and other Route 66 advocates.

Why a plan?

This is a comprehensive document that identifies the specific byway route, outlines the special intrinsic qualities along the corridor and develops a guide on how to market the byway. Officially established on November 11, 1926, US Route 66 began in Chicago, Illinois and terminated in Santa Monica, California, a distance of 2,448 miles. It was one of the original highways in the US highway system and was likely the most used. When Interstate 40 was completed in the early 70s, Route 66 was bypassed and in California, the transportation department (CalTrans) returned the route right-of-way to the BLM.

Now, though there has been deterioration, the original Route 66 continues to be a paved highway that through much of San Bernardino County remains intact as two lanes divided by a painted line with a few paved pull out rest areas installed in 1957. Through an agreement with the BLM, the county has attempted to keep the 85 plus year old road open to the extent possible, but without adequate funding the road along with its 127 timber trestle bridges has slowly fallen into decline.

What is more, over the years, what is left of the abandoned 1930s, 1940s and 1950s restaurants, gas stations, motor camps and lodges that sprang up when the highway was more active have become historic roadside attractions drawing international attention. The international visitors are usually high-income tourists who spend more and stay longer than the typical passerby, according to Rutgers University’s Route 66 Economic Impact Study. Drawing the crowd, Route 66 is a ghost road of the past that can truly be driven through mid-twentieth century ruins amidst a backdrop of vast high desert vistas that haven’t changed for thousands of years.

This new influx of tourism is a catalyst to ensure that the road is maintained as a viable attraction and doesn’t deteriorate further. Making the plan possible is $103,000 grant for the project acquired at the behest of James Kemp, California state director of the BLM received from the Federal Highway Administration in 2012 and supplemented by an 80/20 matching grant in services from the California Route 66 Association. Credit for preparing the grant application documents goes to Danella George of the BLM and Lynne Miller, treasurer of the Route 66 Association. Miller lead the charge during the 3 day tour along with other association members, including president Glen Duncan along with BLM representative Doran Sanchez and the BLM’s contracted project manager, Jim Klein of Virginia based Lardner/Klein Landscape Architects, which has been selected to prepare the CMP.

All attending the tour became the participants in the first phase of a seven-part program to develop and implement the management plan. The first phase entails scoping and brainstorming as to what would eventually become a plan to maintain and protect the road for this and future generations. The goal of the tour: “Experience the trail itself, determine how to communicate it, how to enhance it and how to make it a draw while still being an enjoyable, safe, and attractive experience” Klein instructed.

But there’s a kicker in all of this. If it were just the road that is to be preserved and protected as a historic linear site, that would be a simple, howbeit, costly matter, as estimated by the San Bernardino County Public Works Department to the tune of about a hundred million dollars’ worth of road, guard rail, bridge repairs and maintenance.

But as it turns out, there seems to be a consensus of opinion that extends beyond our county and even beyond this country into far reaches crossing international borders. That consensus is that the stretch of the highway in San Bernardino County, particularly that between the Colorado River and Barstow has such a mystique about it with its 1930s-1940s vernacular structures spiced up with nostalgic whoop-dee-doos and post war “atomic” style neon signs--sparsely spaced road side attractions set against the vast background of the wide desert expanse that to not include the entire viewshed of that which is visible to the eye from the road would be incomprehensible.

The intent is to go beyond the physical “in-kind” repair, replacement and maintenance of the road. The overarching question posed to participants is “what constitutes the road?”

Klein expounded, “It’s the whole desert experience and what you see along it.” Looking over the desert expanse from the tall perspective of the tour bus, the question begged to be asked, should this now pristine corridor be filled up with solar energy production fields, housing developments or similar or would doing so make driving along Route 66 a different experience? Would it have the same feel, the same character, and the same charm if massive industrial, agricultural, commercial or residential development will be situated here in the future.

Klein’s job is to document, assess and describe the special scenic, historic, recreational, cultural, archaeological and natural qualities associated with the desert segment of Route 66 and to get them recognized as such through legislation and official designation. To do this, Klein’s firm has let subcontracts to a cultural resource management firm Thomason & Associates based out of Nashville, Tennessee and a landscape architect, Dean Apostol, Portland, Oregon whose role on the team is how the landscape or viewshed might change in light of recent energy development proposals and how to manage potential developments to keep the impacts low.

This documentation would not just be used as a management tool but also for documenting the linear corridor site and the various individual sites along it for the National Register of Historic Places and as supporting evidence of a hopefully near future designation as a National Scenic Byway in need of preservation and federal funding to implement the management plan. “Visitors come from around the world as well as the US and California--yet little information exists” Klein observed, “except for a few wayside stops and some Route 66 markers. The project will lay out the steps needed to implement a comprehensive interpretive and marketing strategy that will provide accurate travel information, correct historical, cultural and natural history information, and better access to recreational experiences associated with the corridor, including safety and community pride.” The participants were to consider as the corridor everything that could be seen from the road—potentially the entire landscape beyond. A National Scenic Byway designation “refers not only to the road itself but also to the corridor through which it passes.”

Each equipped with a map of the route, participants were asked to provide their “expert advice and opinions” the map to help identify “important places and landscapes that contribute to a high quality travel experience and to identify any potential issues and concerns.” The types of notations to be made were for “features” any landmarks or places that are felt to be worthy of including as part of a travel itinerary along Route 66 for example, the “must sees,” places as well as destinations that require a side-trip but are worthy of the extra time spent and “views” towards recognizable, distinct and memorable landscapes. Participants were to draw arrows in the direction of the view and to identify “roadway issues or opportunities,” places along the road that present an issue that needs to be addressed in the plan such as an old bridge in need of preservation or place along the road that should be considered for interpretation.

A further category for identification was “landscape issue or opportunity” such as a proposed change in land use or a place that offers opportunities for more in-depth exploration to learn about natural or cultural resources or values or provide recreational opportunity. Examples provided were historic bridges in need of repair, mountain bicycle opportunity areas, and views toward a unique geologic or cultural feature like Amboy Crater or General Patton’s World War II maneuver areas.

Participants were asked to rate the “setting or “context” of the stops along the tour using the following scale 1) not very scenic, 2) barely scenic, 3) somewhat scenic, 4) very scenic and 5) extremely scenic where “scenic” was not defined. The stops included: El Garces Harvey house in downtown Needles and the Casa del Desierto Harvey House in Barstow. Other points of interest included Klinefelter townsite, Goffs Schoolhouse, Amboy, Essex, Danby courthouse, Cadiz, Chambless, Dola Bridge Ludlow ghost town, the original Bagdad Café that once housed the only jukebox between Needles and Daggett, the ruins of the Siberia Service Station, the Cliff House Resort and cliffside swimming pool, and the site of the historic Daggett inspection station made famous in the book Grapes of Wrath.

Of particular interest to the group was some 30 miles of contemporary rock art along the 1930 protective sheet flow berms along the north side of the road in the section between Essex and Amboy, backdropped by the beautiful Castle Dome in the Clipper Mountain Range. This rock art is basically people’s names written with hand sized stones aligned as letters. Sometimes the names were colorfully painted.

How can you get involved and find more information about the National Scenic Byway plan for Route 66? Send an email to dasanchez@blm.gov with a copy to cahistoricrt66@aol.com with “CMP Project” in the subject line. Go to www.byways.org to check out “Route 66” to learn more about the potential benefits that National Scenic Byway designation may have upon both the economy and environment in San Bernardino County.