Maturango Museum expansion gaining momentum

Harris Brokke shows off the progress on construction at Maturango Museum. The first phase on the expansion project is gaining steam and should be on schedule to finish this year.

By Jack Barnwell
Ridgecrestca.com

Construction efforts are picking up steam for the first phase of the Maturango Museum's expansion, according to Harris Brokke, its executive director and chief executive officer.

“It's starting to go quite steady after the first of January,” Brokke said. “There's been progress almost every day and we're pleased with that.”

While the walls still need to be thrown up on the inside, the concrete has been poured, some of the sidewalks and landing pads established and the museum's vision very quickly coalescing into a very tangible form.

"The first thing that is going to open is the new store, which is 1500 square feet, three times the size of the current store," Brokke said. "The store manager's new office, the restrooms, break room and equipment room, all that will open when we open what is called phase one."

Brokke estimated that portion would open up in April.

"The next few things that will occur is digging the septic system and trenching for the water line for the fire suppression system," he said.

"Because of the size of the new gallery, we need fire protection," he said. The second phase, containing a large gallery, which will be the new art gallery — three times the size of the current art gallery.

Brokke said that part of the construction will include a room for the gallery docents to host some programs and store materials, in addition to an exhibit preparation area.

"We anticipate the second phase to be completed in the last quarter of this year," he said, adding that the museum is tentatively planning the third phase completion in the early part of 2014.

The road from planning to construction has come quite since the idea first came up more than six years ago. The expansion, according to a Ridgecrest planning commission staff report, will add 5,605 square feet to the current museum facility's 3,500 square feet.

"Once we finish phase one and phase two, we're going to reconfigure the current space," he said. "Where the store and break area currently is will become additional storage area."

Brokke said the museum could use with more storage area.

The rest of what the current store will also transformed into an exhibit preparation room.

The current art and concert area where the Maturango Museum hosts its art exhibits and concerts will be transformed into a regular exhibit area, Brokke said, becoming the south gallery.

"We'll not only have a larger art gallery (in the new expansion), but the new art gallery will also include the concerts and the lectures," he said. "We'll be able to accommodate more people."

The north gallery, which hosts the Coso geothermal and Navy exhibits, along with natural history like the stuffed mountain lion, will remain the same.

The museum, which celebrated its 50th anniversary last year, has sat on its current location since 1975. It operates largely on the donations from its members, store proceeds, fundraisers and admissions and the dedication of its volunteer docents.

"The expansion has been made possible by donations from our members," he said. Harris said the community support for the expansion has been "outstanding."

"We have enough money to complete phase one and almost enough to complete phase two," he said. "The museum will need some additional donations to complete phase two."

The general contractor for the first phase is Bakersfield-based Valley Steel, with some local subcontracting to Ridgecrest-area people.

Maturango Museum also plans to expand its garden along China Lake Boulevard to cover the entire length of the building, Brokke said. A committee plans to discuss plants, walkways and will include metal shaman sculptures created by Bakersfield metal artist Milt Burford.

Part of the reason for the garden is part of a Ridgecrest ordinance requiring some sort of plant coverage for buildings facing the city's main streets and boulevards. Brokke said the expansion wasn't the only thing under development for the Museum.

"In addition to the construction, we are also in the process of developing a 20 year strategic plan for the entire property," Brokke said. He said more information would be released as the plan undergoes development.

Maturango Museum currently sits on a portion of land leased from Kern County. "We are excited about the new museum and frankly I think the public is too," he said.

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

Exhibit opens at Kelso Depot Visitor Center

Photography, poetry on display through April 6

"He Walked Away from His Former Life" (Gabriel Thorburn)

Staff Reports
Desert Dispatch

BAKER • Mojave National Preserve in Southern California invites desert travelers to experience the photography of Gabriel Thorburn and the poetry of Russell Thorburn, now on exhibition in the Desert Light Gallery at the Kelso Depot Visitor Center.

The exhibit, Many Names Have Never Been Spoken Here, will be showing now through April 6, 2013.

The Kelso Depot Visitor Center is on Kelbaker Road, 34 miles south of Interstate 15 at the town of Baker. It is open every day from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; telephone (760) 252-6108.

As Mojave National Preserve Artists-in Residence, Russell Thorburn and his son, Gabriel Thorburn, spent two weeks exploring the Mojave. During their residency, they discovered the desert as a place of solitude and self-reflection.

As a poet concerned with lost paths, Russell Thorburn explored desert trails, seeking the significance of travelers who came before, and the forgotten lives of former desert residents. Gabriel Thorburn's photography illustrates the places that inspired the poetry.

Prints from the exhibition will be available for purchase at the Park Store at Kelso Depot Visitor Center for the duration of the exhibit. Russell Thorburn is the author of four books of poetry and lives in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Gabriel Thorburn is a filmmaker and fine art photographer in Los Angeles.

At 1.6 million acres, Mojave National Preserve is the third largest unit of the National Park System in the contiguous United States. While you won't be able to experience it all in a single visit, taking the time to plan ahead will ensure a safe and rewarding adventure.

The renovated Kelso Depot is now the primary Visitor Center for Mojave National Preserve. Former dormitory rooms contain exhibits describing the cultural and natural history of the surrounding desert.

The baggage room, ticket office, and two dormitory rooms have been historically furnished to illustrate life in the depot in the first half of the twentieth century. A 12-minute orientation film is shown in the theater.

Basement gallery space features rotating fine art collections by local artists, focusing on the cultural history and natural splendors of Mojave national Preserve.

For more information about the current exhibit, Kelso Depot of Mojave National Preserve, visit www.nps.gov/moja/.

Visit the famed Old Woman Meteorite

Old Woman Meteorite at the Desert Discovery Center in Barstow.

Trevor Summons, Correspondent
San Bernardino Sun

When he was about 3, my eldest son, Michael, had the unfortunate experience of having a ceiling falling down on him. It was in his grandmother's house and no one was ever able to explain how it happened. For about 18 months he would always check the condition overhead when he entered a room in her house and asked if it was "all mended now?"

I had totally forgotten this episode, that occurred about 45 years ago, until I walked into the Desert Discovery Center in Barstow. This is the home of the Old Woman Meteorite, and there it was - on the floor just inside the entranceway.

Now, if that had fallen on your head, you'd not have been in any condition to inquire later about anything. It weighs more than 6,000 pounds and is 38 inches high by 30 inches wide.

It's a dark brown color and there is a part of it polished as some was removed for scientific analysis and also for permanent display at The Smithsonian.

No one seems to know exactly when this impressive object decided to fall from the skies, but the formation is likely to be some 4 billion years old - when the solar system was forming.

It was discovered in 1975 by three prospectors seeking their fortune in the Old Woman Mountains, and they tried unsuccessfully to make a claim on it. A series of arcane laws did not allow such a claim to be made on meteorites and so they lost out. The contents of the rock are mostly iron with some nickel and other small amounts of exotic materials.

The rock began its newly discovered life being shown at various Bureau of Land Management locations in Southern California before it spent a few years at The Smithsonian. However, in 1980, it was returned - well, about 85 percent of it - to its present home.

This interesting museum is home to a number of other artifacts, too. Director Jane Brockhurst showed me one exhibit called Crazy Cactus, the result of an art project that involved recycled materials.

There also is an outside pond that is home to some rather rare fish called Mojave Tuiechubs. These were thought to be extinct until they were found at Zzyzx, near Baker. They are believed to have come from a line of Ice Age creatures.

Visitors can see a number of other fascinating items including a solar stove - I doubt that it can handle frozen food in a couple of minutes, though!

Children's paintings and drawings give the entire place a feeling of youth and there is no entry charge, which adds to the attraction.

Join the Pioneers and party like it's 1888

Downtown San Bernardino's E Street around 1900.

Mark Landis, Correspondent
San Bernardino Sun

If you look up "pioneer" in the San Bernardino Valley history books, you'll find their pictures there ... the founding members of the San Bernardino Society of California Pioneers. These trail-toughened individuals all came to settle Southern California by wagon train, horseback, or on foot.

It was 125 years ago this month that they founded what today has become the San Bernardino Historical and Pioneer Society.

To commemorate the landmark anniversary, the society is putting on a gala celebration that would make those hardy old souls proud. Rain or shine, the event will take place from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Jan. 19 at the San Bernardino Depot, 1170 W. Third St., San Bernardino.

The event will feature numerous pioneer displays and live demonstrations spread throughout the beautifully restored 1918 Santa Fe Railway Depot. The depot now houses the San Bernardino History and Railroad Museum, which is packed with excellent historic displays.

Among many other highlights during the day, there will be three live bands performing including the Redlands Pickers, The Camp Carleton Coronet Band, and the Bascom Pioneer Band.

Live demonstration displays will include blacksmithing, gold panning, quilting, rope-making, doll-making and pioneer games. There also will be an authentic stagecoach offering rides in the depot parking lot.

A food booth will feature Harvey House recipe pancakes, and other baked goods from pioneer recipes. Hot dogs and drinks also will be available. T-shirts, souvenirs and memorabilia will be on sale, and local authors will be on hand to sign copies of their books.

Western re-enactors will be strolling through the crowds, and guests are welcome to dress in pioneer-period clothing.

The San Bernardino Society of California Pioneers was formed on Jan. 21, 1888, in the old county courthouse. The list of charter members reads like a who's who of local pioneers.

Some of the more notable names were John Brown Sr., famed grizzly hunter and mountain man; Judge Nicholas P. Earp, patriarch of the famous Earp clan; William Holcomb, who started the great Holcomb Valley gold rush of 1860, and Robert Waterman, who went on to become a wealthy miner and governor of California.

The society started out as a rather exclusive men's club. To be a member, you had to be a male U.S. citizen who was a resident of California prior to the 31st day of December, 1850, or a resident of San Bernardino County when it was organized on April 26, 1853. Descendants of anyone who fit these requirements could also be a member. An honorary membership could be obtained by a unanimous vote of the society.

The membership rules eventually were amended to allow women members. However, other charter rules greatly limited membership eligibility, which eventually led to a dwindling roll call.

The pioneers were literally old pros at celebrating, and they found frequent reasons to do so. Most of their celebrations were centered around patriotic anniversaries like the Fourth of July and the presidents' birthdays. The group rarely missed an opportunity for a good ol' flag-raising party.

Their meetings were opened with a group song called "The Golden Land." They would sing other patriotic songs including "God Bless The Pioneers," written by a member of the society. As the years passed, discussing the faltering health or passing of other members became a regular agenda item.

At the Oct. 14, 1893 meeting Nicholas P. Earp, 80, was wed to a Mrs. Alexander, 53. Both were society members. According to the newspaper announcement, "After handshaking and all sorts and styles of congratulatory remarks and speeches, William Stephan sang an original song composed for the occasion."

After decades of community service and preserving the history of the area, the San Bernardino Society of California Pioneers found itself with a seriously declining membership. In 1982, they merged with the San Bernardino Historical Society which had been formed in 1977 as part of the city's participation in the 1976 U.S. bicentennial celebration.

The result of the merger was today's San Bernardino Historical and Pioneer Society. This society continues the good work of the earlier groups, working diligently to preserve the history of the area.

The society operates a historic reference library and museum at 796 N. D St., San Bernardino (on the southwest corner of 8th and D streets). Meetings featuring local history presentations are held on the first Thursday of every month at 7 p.m.

For more information go to: sbhistoricalsociety.com.

During the Saturday event, five presentations on local history subjects will be presented:

10:15 a.m. Steve Shaw: "The San Bernardino Historical and Pioneer Society."

10:45 a.m. Richard Thompson: "Literature of the Local Pioneers."

11:15 a.m. Nick Cataldo: "The Earps in San Bernardino."

1 p.m. Stuart Forsyth: "The California Southern Railroad."

2 p.m. Mark Landis: "The History of Arrowhead Springs."

California TV Personality Huell Howser Dead at Age 67

The Tennessee native with an interview style described as "magnificently unslick" moved to Los Angeles in 1981

Huell Howser

By Jonathan Lloyd
KNBC-TV

California television personality Huell Howser, known for his affable interview style as he toured some of the state's landmark locations, died Sunday night at age 67, according to KCET.

Howser, the host of TV's "California's Gold", retired from the show at the end of November after nearly two decades on public television stations. Howser died Sunday night from "natural causes," according to KCET.

Ryan Morris, Howser's producer and long-time friend, confirmed he died Sunday night at home after a "long illness."

Howser moved to Los Angeles in 1981. The Tennessee native worked at a television station in Nashville before serving in the Marine Corps.

He worked at WCBS in New York before moving to LA. "California's Gold" became the best known of Howser's magazine-style TV shows about his travels in the state, but he also hosted "Visiting with Huell Howser," "Road Trip with Huell Howser" and other programs.

Howser, who lived in Twenty-Nine Palms and Los Angeles, was known for his friendly style during his behind-the-scene interviews at restaurants, historic sites, schools and other community institutions.

His style was described as "magnificently unslick" by LA Times columnist Howard Rosenberg.

Map: Huell Howser's California

"We operate on the premise that TV isn’t brain surgery. People’s stories are what it’s all about," Howser said in a post on CalGold.com, the website of Huell Howser Productions. "If you have a good story, it doesn’t have to be overproduced. I want our stories to reveal the wonders of the human spirit and the richness of life in California, including its history, people, culture and natural wonders."

Howser's programs were broadcast on KCET in Southern California. A statement on the station's website described Howser as a host who "elevated the simple joys and undiscovered nuggets of living in our great state. He made the magnificence and power of nature seem accessible by bringing it into our living rooms. Most importantly, he reminded us to find the magic and wonderment in our lives every day."

In September 2011, Howser announced that he planned to donate his "California's Gold" episodes to Chapman University in Orange. The donation includes show episodes, papers and memorabilia related to the show.

The items are part of the Huell Howser Archive. Howser selected Chapman University because the school's president, James Doti, sent him a note to apologize after failing to connect with Howser during his visit to Orange.

"That really impressed me -- in this hectic world, to get a personal letter signed by the university president," Howser said of the letter. "That’s the kind of personal contact that resonates with me. It got me thinking about the legacy of my work and how I wanted it to become available to a wider audience."

Inyo County museum looks back on 2012

Inyo Register

During a year-end review of 2012 county operations, Eastern California Museum Director Jon Klusmire spotlighted accomplishments in the face of a tight budget. His report was delivered during the last Inyo County Board of Supervisors meeting of 2012. The following is a brief summation of Director Klusmire's comments:

• The Eastern California Museum installed the successful exhibit, “Personal Responsibility: The Camp Photography of Toyo Miyatake,” which was featured in stories in the Los Angeles Times, Rafu Shimpo and other publications.
• A grant from the Metabolic Studio, a direct charitable activity of the Annenberg Foundation, allowed the museum to digitize and document about 9,000 photos from its collection of 29,000 images.
• A grant from the U.S. Forest Service allowed the museum to digitize about 1,300 photos and duplicate about 15 linear feet of documents that make up the Inyo National Forest Supervisor’s historic archives.
• Both of these projects made a wider selection of the museum’s photos and documents more accessible to the public.
• The non-profit Friends of the Eastern California Museum once again supplied critical financial support to the museum, in addition to hosting numerous events and activities.

Visit Old California at museum

Mojave River Valley Museum in Barstow, California.

Trevor Summons, Correspondent
San Bernardino Sun

With so much concrete around us, it's sometimes hard to imagine that life was not always this way. Take away the roar of the freeway running close by and you can begin to piece together life as it used to be at the Mojave River Valley Museum.

It's perched up above the cut that now provides access to Interstate 15, with people heading out to Sin City several hours away to the east.

Back in 1776, Father Francisco Garces came along this way as the first European to forge tracks across the almost empty land. But he was not the first human.

Long before Europeans arrived, the Native Americans used the route as a trading link, leaving behind evidence of their lives in the form of baskets and jewelry, pots and other artifacts.

Explorer Jedediah Smith came through in 1826 and soon afterward the road became a busier, and more dangerous thoroughfare. It's hard to imagine today but you took your life in your hands if you traveled this way.

The museum is quite small but crammed with a huge variety of artifacts.

Wandering around the glass-fronted cabinets, I was taken with a couple of old uniforms. They belonged to Herbert J. Simmons. He served as a soldier in World War I, and then once again as a seaman out in the Pacific in World War II. It must have been tough for those people who were of an age where they were liable for service in both those mighty conflicts.

Next to this display I came upon a little bit of history from my own past. A collection of old cameras took me back to my first real job after I left school.

It was with a company that was the English equivalent of Kodak. They made all types of photographic materials and X-ray films. They also made cameras and I was trained to take photos and develop them.

How strange that an entire industry could collapse with the invention of digital photography. No more need for developer, fixer, film or the other chemicals that made everything happen. I well remember using sepia to add that little touch of color before that too was to disappear forever.

The cameras on display here are of all types and have the bellows to allow expansion and enlargement of the image. Some of them must have been the prized possessions of enthusiastic amateurs engaged in the capture of the perfect picture.

As you wander around you will find many examples of the local geology. The variety of local rocks and minerals is surprising and will perhaps encourage you to look further at the desert all around you. It may look empty but in fact there's a lot going on.

There are plenty of reminders of the earlier people who lived and fought in the area. I liked the account of some of the local tribes who could travel 100 miles in a day. They were called runners, not surprisingly.

Outside the building is a fine example of a caboose, which served as a drovers' wagon during the cattle driving days. The bunks inside don't look very comfortable, but after a long hard day in the saddle, any flat surface no doubt was welcome.

There is a gift shop and an archive of old newspapers, describing life way back when. You will find plenty to interest you on a visit, and the docents have a full understanding of the subjects.

Mojave River Valley Museum
Where: 270 E. Virginia Way, Barstow
Hours: Open 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. every day except Christmas
Contact: 760-256-5452, mojaverivervalleymuseum.org

Madonna of the Trail Statue Is Restored

Employees with Keystone Waterproofing of Greensburg, Pa., have been busy performing detailed restoration work on the Madonna of the Trail statue, located near the entrance to Wheeling Park. A mason heats granite dust, which is applied to patchwork on the memorial. (Photo by Scott McCloskey)

By SCOTT McCLOSKEY Staff Writer
The Intelligencer / Wheeling News-Register

A Wheeling statue that stands as a "memorial to the pioneer mothers of the covered wagon days" is being restored for the first time since it was erected in 1928.

The Madonna of the Trail statue, located along National Road near the entrance to Wheeling Park, is undergoing a large-scale restoration, as time has taken a toll on the historic memorial.

Employees with Keystone Waterproofing of Greensburg, Pa., have been busy performing detailed work on the statue, including: pressure washing, filling cracks and missing areas on the statue, applying clear water repellent and securing the surrounding retaining wall. Workers said they hope to have the project complete soon, weather permitting. The project was awarded through a bidding process to Allegheny Restoration and Building Corp. of Morgantown and subcontractor Keystone Waterproofing.

The restoration project, which is estimated to cost nearly $35,000, is being sponsored by the Wheeling Chapter of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution and the Wheeling National Heritage Area Corp.

It is funded in part by the West Virginia Division of Highways' National Scenic Byway program, including a $1,000 gift from the Elizabeth Stifel Kline Fund and the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution.

"The Wheeling chapter of the National Daughters of the American Revolution is honored to receive the largest Historic Preservation Grant available from the President General's Special Projects Grant Program to restore the Wheeling Madonna of the Trail," said Debi Smith, Wheeling chapter and state historic preservation chairwoman for NSDAR. She said the group was able to secure $10,000 toward the project from the grant program.

"The weather and time have truly taken its toll on Wheeling's Madonna of the Trail, and we are so fortunate to have local professionals who can complete the restoration work. ... We are also fortunate to have such a strong preservation organization as the Wheeling National Heritage Area Corp. to support and help find funding to complete various preservation projects," said Smith.

She said she loves the fact that the reddish-grey granite dust workers are using to blend with the patchwork on the statue came from the same rock quarry in Missouri that the original materials for the statue came from. She said the Wheeling Park Commission plans to take care of the landscaping at the site.

Jeremy Morris, executive director of the WNHAC, said, "The Madonna is a Wheeling icon, and we are pleased to lead this great restoration project with the Wheeling Chapter Daughters of the American Revolution. ... It is a great example of Wheeling organizations partnering together."

He said a rededication for the statue is planned for next spring.

The Wheeling statue is one of 12 that were erected in 12 states between 1928 and '29 along what was then called National Old Trails Road, more commonly known today as National Road or U.S. 40. The Wheeling monument was dedicated on July 7, 1928. The statues were created by sculptor August Leimbach and were meant to honor the strength and fortitude of the pioneer women who braved the uncertainties of the great journey west and helped settle the American frontier.

Over $1 Million of Grants Mark the Upcoming 100 Year Anniversary of the Los Angeles Aqueduct

November 5, 1913-- The scene of the formal opening for the Los Angeles aqueduct.  General Adna Chafee, president of the Water Board turned the wheel that allowed the first Owens River water to flow into the aqueduct.

LOS ANGELES -- To mark the upcoming centenary of the Los Angeles Aqueduct (11.5.2013), the Metabolic Studio is awarding grants to the following organizations to realize projects that will bring consciousness to the impact and importance of this monumental piece of hydraulic engineering.

The Metabolic Studio convened Chora Council 2012: a unique team of civic, tribal, educational, environmental, museum and nonprofit leaders from along the Aqueduct's 223-mile length to nominate the organizations and institutions that are receiving funding.

Lauren Bon and the Metabolic Studio are pleased to announce 16 Chora Council grants, representing over $1 million of funding. Providing significant support for action, research, education and community-building in the context of "one hundred years of L.A. water," the Chora docket reflects on the past century in the context of glacial time, while simultaneously acting for the coming 100 years.

Some of the recipients of Chora Council 2012 funding are:

Arid Lands Institute at Woodbury University - The Arid Lands Institute at Woodbury University brings people and ideas together across multiple disciplines to shape answers and envision a future in which landscapes and communities are resilient in the face of regional aridity--environmentally, culturally and economically. http://aridlands.woodbury.edu/

Arizona State University Desert Initiative for ARID: A Journal of Desert Art, Design and Ecology - ARID is a creative and scholarly journal for contemporary works addressing desert culture, environment, and landscape. Marking the L.A. Aqueduct centenary, ARID will commission works that consider local, regional and international issues related to the social, environmental, cultural, political, engineering and economic impacts of conveying water across vast distances. http://aridjournal.com/

Autry National Center of the American West - An intercultural center and museum dedicated to exploring and sharing the stories, experiences and perceptions of the diverse peoples of the American West, the Autry National Center will digitize archival holdings related to the Los Angeles Aqueduct. http://theautry.org/

Bishop Paiute Tribe's First Bloom An initiative of the Bishop Paiute Tribe - First Bloom is an environmental education program that connects 4th and 5th grade children to the outdoors and Native American culture. Tribal elders and historians will lead activities that teach the values and history of water, while emphasizing the Owens Valley's native peoples' strength through struggles imposed by land trades and water exports. www.bishoptribeemo.com/Water/FirstBloomPage.html

California State University, Northridge, Special Collections and Archives - The Oviatt Library at California State University, Northridge will digitize archival holdings related to the Los Angeles Aqueduct, including the recently acquired Catherine Mulholland Collection. http://library.csun.edu/collections/sca

Claremont University Consortium's Honnold/Mudd Library - The Special Collections department of the Honnold/Mudd Library at Claremont University will digitize archival holdings related to the Los Angeles Aqueduct, including Fred Eaton's photograph album and typescript documenting his trip to Owens River Valley in November 1905. http://libraries.claremont.edu/

Henry E. Huntington Library & Art Gallery - In partnership with the University of California's Institute on California and the West, the Huntington Library will sponsor three events designed to bring historical perspective to water and aqueduct themes to draw attention to, and comment upon, issues of contemporary interest and concern regarding Los Angeles, water, the aqueduct, the Owens River/Valley and water use more generally. http://dornsife.usc.edu/icw

Lone Pine Paiute-Shoshone Reservation (LPPSR) - The Lone Pine Paiute - "Water Ute" - fought for their lands and water when settlers claimed both in the 1850s. By 1937, when the Reservation was formed, the diversion of local water to L.A. had already, in turn, destroyed the settlers' agricultural economy. Today the approximately 350 LPPSR residents depend on LADWP for water access. This Chora Council award will support charitable and educational activities on the Reservation that work to preserve and protect the Reservation's cultural heritage. http://lppsr.org/

Silver Lake Reservoirs Conservancy (SLRC) - Dedicated to preserving and enhancing the benefits of Silver Lake's open waters and open space, SLRC will erect information kiosks that engage the history, ecology, infrastructure and future of the reservoirs to tell "The Story of Water in L.A." www.silverlakereservoirs.org/

The Eastern California Museum - Dedicated to the cultural and natural history of Inyo County and the Eastern Sierra, the Eastern California Museum will produce a yearlong series of events and programs to commemorate the completion of the L.A. Aqueduct. The series will support the Museum's exhibition of photographs exploring construction of the Aqueduct, a steel thread that has woven through life in the Owens Valley for over a century. www.inyocounty.us/ecmsite/

University of California Press Foundation's Boom: A Journal of California - A cross-disciplinary quarterly from the University of California Press, Boom embraces scholarly and less usual formats, including artworks and first-person accounts, to explore California. Boom will commission critical interpretive surveys of the L.A. Aqueduct and its historical, cultural and ecological legacies from prominent scholars, independent writers and critics. www.boomcalifornia.com/

University of California, Riverside, Water Resources Collections and Archives - The Water Resources Collections and Archives collects contemporary and historic materials on all aspects of water resources. It will digitize archival holdings related to the Los Angeles Aqueduct, including the Lippincott Collection, which contains more than 800 photographs documenting the construction of the Aqueduct. http://library.ucr.edu/wrca/

William H. Hannon Library, Loyola Marymount University (LMU) - The Department of Archives and Special Collections of the William H. Hannon Library at LMU will digitize archival holdings related to the Los Angeles Aqueduct, including editions of the Big Pine Citizen 1922-1928, and the J.D. Black papers, which provide a view of the L.A. Aqueduct from the perspective of Owens Valley residents. www.lmu.edu/Page4020.aspx

Big Bear Historical Society members take artifact for museum

An example of an arrastre used during the Gold Rush to crush ore to remove gold. Three members of the Big Bear Valley Historical Society pleaded guilty in December 2012 to stealing a historical artifact -- a similar arrastre -- from the San Bernardino National Forest. (U.S. FOREST SERVICE)

By Brian Rokos, Staff Writer
Press-Enterprise

Three members of the Big Bear Valley Historical Society who were convicted of stealing a historical artifact from the San Bernardino National Forest were simply trying to preserve Big Bear-area history and didn’t mean to commit a crime, one of the members said.

One big problem — they took the artifact without permission.

David North, 66, Jean Karwelis, 50, and Donald Schaub, 77, all of Big Bear Lake, pleaded guilty Dec. 4 to removing a prehistoric, historic or archaeological resource, structure, site, artifact or property from National Forest Service lands, according to the U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Attorney’s Office.

The item was an arrastre, which was used during the Gold Rush period around 1860 to grind ore that contained gold. An arrastre consists of a circular, stone-lined pit and a drag stone that was pulled in a circle by a horse or mule.

Scores of arrastres survived the period, but most have been destroyed or vandalized, according to a news release on the case issued Friday, Dec. 14.

This arrastre was part of an exhibit on the Gold Fever Trail at the Metzger Mine in Holcomb Valley, north of the Big Bear valley.

Schaub said in a phone interview Friday that the arrastre had been vandalized and that he, North and Karwelis wanted to take it back to the Big Bear Valley Historical Museum, which the historical society runs, to repair it.

“I had no idea that this was a historical arrastre. I thought it was just a bunch of messed-up rocks,” Schaub said. “I’m not a thief. I wanted to help the museum.”

But Schaub also said that there were no plans to return the arrastre to its original site.

“We were going to leave it at the museum for the future people to see,” he said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jerry C. Yang said in a phone interview that the historical society members did not have permission to take the arrastre.

“This is a big deal,” Yang said. “These are things we need to protect and people need to respect.”

The three defendants each were fined $1,000. Also, they must replace the arrastre in its original location under the guidance of a Forest Service archaeologist. The charge was a misdemeanor.

“This sends a clear message that it is not OK to loot archaeological sites,” Bill Sapp, a Forest Service archaeologist, wrote in the news release.

Forest Service spokesman John Miller said in a phone interview that theft of artifacts from national forests is a problem, but that prosecutions are rare because the thefts are seldom witnessed. The artifacts “wind up in someone’s backyard,” he said.

Historical treasures missing from National Archives

Crooks are stealing pieces of American history -- like conman Barry Landau who committed the largest archival theft in the U.S.

FDR's reading copy of his 1937 inaugural address

Bob Simon
60 Minutes

Precious historical artifacts like the Wright Brothers airplane patent, the bombing maps for the nuclear attack on Japan, the original eyewitness radio report of the Hindenburg disaster and photos taken by the astronauts on the moon are just some of the items stolen from our National Archives. So much of our past has been pocketed by thieves that the National Archives has formed a recovery team to get them back. Bob Simon reports on this alarming trend -- and the conman now serving seven years in prison for the largest theft of historic artifacts in U.S. history -- in a 60 Minutes report broadcast Sunday, Oct. 28 at 7 p.m. ET/PT.

Some of the items are back where they belong, like the Hindenburg recording and the space photos. Recovering the stolen artifacts is the job of people like Mitch Yockelson of the National Archives Archival Recovery Team. "We're missing the Wright Brothers patent. That would thrill me to no end to recover the patent for the Flying Machine of 1903," Yockelson tells Simon. Nobody knows when it was stolen. "We discovered it was missing in 2003."

The armed recovery team, which chases stolen artifacts along with the FBI, was formed by the National Archives' Inspector General Paul Brachfeld. With a rise in thefts in libraries, historical societies and in the 44 separate archives throughout the country, it was time. "Every institution now that has collections is threatened. We all know that there is a major threat and it's getting larger," says Brachfeld.

That threat was made obvious when authorities last year arrested Barry Landau, a conman who created a fake career as a "presidential historian" so he could get access to the archives from which he stole thousands of items. He especially liked signed documents and stole letters and other materials with the signatures of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Voltaire, Mark Twain, and Charles Dickens. He had large pockets sewn into his clothing to conceal his loot. He managed to get invited to White House functions several times over the decades, where routine photos with important people helped to legitimize him to un-knowing archivists. "From everybody I talked to, he was a master thief," says Brachfeld. "Because he did it over a duration of time. He shopped. He got what he shopped for."

When Brachfeld's team and the FBI searched Landau's New York apartment after his arrest, they recovered 10,000 items, at least 300 of great historical value, including a 533-year-old document penned by a member of Italy's storied Medici family and the original reading copy of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's 1937 inaugural address, with his hand-written notes in the margins. There is no telling what they are exactly worth, because some of these items would never become available on the open market and are irreplaceable. Says Brachfeld, "I think the value was astronomical...it's basically how much the market would bear...to some collector, one document could be worth millions."

Saved from Dumpster: Amazing map collection makes librarians tingle

A Mount Washington home slated for demolition yields a trove of maps, including one from 1592.The acquisition gives the city library one of the country's top five library map archives.

Maps
Realtor Matthew Greenberg looks through boxes in the former Mount Washington home of John Feathers. Greenberg is a Realtor representing the Walter Keller estate, two elderly siblings who are the beneficiary of the estate and property. (Gary Friedman, Los Angeles Times)

By Bob Pool
Los Angeles Times

The discovery that real estate agent Matthew Greenberg made when he stepped inside a Mount Washington cottage will put the Los Angeles Public Library on the map.

Stashed everywhere in the 948-square-foot tear-down were maps. Tens of thousands of maps. Fold-out street maps were stuffed in file cabinets, crammed into cardboard boxes, lined up on closet shelves and jammed into old dairy crates. Wall-size roll-up maps once familiar to schoolchildren were stacked in corners. Old globes were lined in rows atop bookshelves also filled with maps and atlases.

A giant plastic topographical map of the United States covered a bathroom wall and bookcases displaying Thomas Bros. map books and other street guides lined a small den.

The occupant of the 90-year-old cottage had died in February. Greenberg's job was to empty the home so it could be demolished and its 18,000-square-foot lot, near the top of Canyon Vista Drive, divided into two parcels. His clients had told him to rent a Dumpster and throw away whatever he found inside.

But Greenberg couldn't bring himself to do that, especially after he read a recent Los Angeles Times article about the Central Library's map collection. Instead, he invited its map librarian, Glen Creason, to Mount Washington to look at the trove.

Video: See interview with LA Central Libraries map archivist, Glen Creason.

Creason called the find unbelievable. "I think there are at least a million maps here," he said. "This dwarfs our collection — and we've been collecting for 100 years."

Creason returned to the home Thursday with 10 library employees and volunteers to box up the maps. The acquisition will give the city library one of the country's top five library map archives, behind the Library of Congress and public libraries in New York, Philadelphia and Boston, he said.

As the workers went through the tiny house, they tried to piece together the wanderlust life of John Feathers, the man who amassed the collection, apparently, beginning in childhood.

But they had little evidence to go on, and it remained a mystery exactly how and why he obtained so many maps.

Born in Massachusetts, and raised in a military family that is believed to have spent time in the Midwest, Feathers became a hospital dietitian who seems to have traveled widely. He was the companion of the home's late owner, Walter Keller, who arranged for him to continue living there after his own death two decades ago.

Feathers died in February at age 56, leaving no known survivors. Keller's brother and sister, Marvin Keller and Esther Baum, retained Greenberg to sell the property, which is located next to the Self-Realization Fellowship meditation center.

According to Greenberg, it was the "nagging voice of my mother in the back of my mind" that prompted him to hesitate before tossing out the maps. He has a soft spot in his heart for archives and collections; his mother, Marilyn Greenberg, is a retired university professor who specialized in library science.

It took hours for the workers to pack up the maps Thursday. Everywhere they turned, they found more. As the morning wore on, neighbors came over to watch. "John was a quiet, shy guy. But looking at all of this, I'd say the job at the hospital was clearly not his passion," said Michelle Litchfield, who has lived two houses away for 17 years.

Volunteer Peter Hauge was startled when he moved an old stereo. "Look at this!" he shouted. "He gutted the insides of the stereo of its electronic components and used the box to store more street maps. The front of the stereo still has the knobs."

After that, Hauge said he made a point to inspect the home's washer and dryer and its refrigerator and oven for more stored maps, but found none.

Feathers' trove contained both run-of-the-mill gas station and Chamber of Commerce street maps as well as historic gems, Creason said.

"He has every type of map imaginable. There's a 1956 pictorial map of Lubbock, Texas. He's got a 1942 Jack Renie Street Guide of Los Angeles," Creason said. "He has four of the first Thomas Bros. guides from 1946. Those are very hard to find. The one copy we have is falling apart because it's been so heavily used. We had to photocopy it."

Gingerly fingering an atlas-sized 1918 map with a faded blue cover, Creason opened it up to show the National Map Co.'s "Official Paved Road" guide to the United States. The tattered pages illustrated the location of paved roads with red and blue ink.

Creason was also enthralled by the discovery of several "Mapfox" Los Angeles street guides published in 1944. Creason said in his 32-year library career he had never seen one. Also tucked into Feathers' collection was a pocket-size "Geographia Authentic Atlas and Guide to London and Other Suburbs," showing streets, parks, lakes and rivers that Creason dated as pre-World War I.

The house where Feathers kept his collection sits on a lot that has its own history. The site was once used by the Los Angeles and Mount Washington Railway, which was operated from 1909 to 1919 by Robert Marsh, himself a turn-of-the-century Los Angeles mapmaker and developer of the Mount Washington Hotel, now used by the Self-Realization Fellowship. A section of steel cable used to move the railway's trolley cars up and down the steep hillside remains embedded in concrete in a corner of the lot, which is priced at $450,000.

Creason expects that cataloging and organizing the maps will take as long as a year. "We may have to apply for a grant to sort through the fold-out maps and ask for help from the Library of Congress. The collection will take up about 600 feet of shelving," he said.

Veteran antiquarian map dealer Barry Ruderman of La Jolla would not put a price on the find. He inspected the collection Wednesday and discovered that the oldest piece was a 1592 map of Europe. Ruderman described Feathers as "more of a hoarder than a collector." Along with his maps, Feathers also collected tiny bars of hotel soap, restaurant matchbook covers and National Geographic magazines dating from 1915 to this year.

"This person grabbed every map he could," Ruderman said, glancing at a map of Hopkins County, Ky., in the cottage's kitchen.

"I think he wasn't looking so much for maps as they were finding him."

New MDHCA Logos Unveiled

The 33rd Annual Mojave Road Rendezvous was the occasion for the unveiling of two new updated logos for the Mojave Desert Heritage and Cultural Association. MDHCA President Steve Mongrain led the execution of this effort and thus ensured that they would be available to the membership in the form of decals in time for the Rendezvous.

Here is the text of Steve's presentation to the gathered audience:

Earlier this year, Dennis recommended that the Board of Directors develop a logo with a motto for the Mojave Desert Heritage and Cultural Association, what marketing types would call a “brand,” a picture that depicts who we are and what we are about. Here’s what we came up with.

The one above will be used for more formal needs; letterhead, envelopes, formal letters, items where we wish to express the historical aspects of the Goffs Cultural Center.

The second one here on the left will be used for more informal items; caps, decals, shirts. The creative folks tell me the maroon color has a close resemblance to red/brown associated with the color of the Earth, the beige with the sand of the desert itself.

The Joshua Tree symbolizes the Mojave Desert, what causes us all to be here. It symbolizes the Mojave Road, the East Mojave Heritage Trail, and the numerous historical sites throughout the East Mojave, our “boots on the ground” work.

The rendering of the Schoolhouse symbolizes our major goal, the preservation of the history and culture of the Mojave Desert and surrounding area. It speaks to the Mojave Desert Archives and the 19 collections housed here, the more than 120,000 historical photographs, the 6,000+ volumes, 5,000 maps, more than 700 oral and transcribed interviews, and numerous manuscripts, periodicals, pamphlets, digital databases, etc. And it speaks to the Dennis G. Casebier Library on the north side of the campus that houses much of this data. It further represents the Goffs Cultural Center campus, and all the wonderful historic antiquities on the grounds here.

The Latin phrase, Non Nobis Solum, was requested specifically by Dennis. Some years ago, a group of us were meeting at the Casebier residence across the way here. We were discussing then, as we continue to discuss today, PRESENCE here at the Goffs Cultural Center. You may have read in either the Goffsgram or Mojave Road Report that we are often in need of people to be here, generally at least four or more people all the time as this place is far too important to leave unattended at any time.

Anyway, someone at the meeting mentioned to Dennis that most people don’t have the passion he does regarding the MDHCA, and therefore not to expect lots of volunteers. I will always recall Dennis’ answer. He said that he didn't expect lots of volunteers because he had learned over the years that committed people show up “one person at a time.”

Dennis remarked that “many people have no passion for anything, and therefore why not be part of a movement far greater than just yourself? Why not pitch in and help an organization that records the history of Americans in the Mojave Desert for the benefit of generations to come? Do a little, or do a lot, but jump in. Give back and participate.”

Those were important words, and hence our motto, Non Nobis Solum, which translated means, “NOT FOR OURSELVES ALONE.”

A special note of thanks goes to fellow Board member John Fickewirth and his associate, Jim Earley, for their design assistance.

The girls of Manzanar

One was photographed by Ansel Adams. The other wrote a best-selling memoir. Their stories still resonate.

Entrance to Manzanar Relocation Center in California as photographed by Ansel Adams in 1943. (ANSEL ADAMS, LIBRARY OF CONGRESS)

By THERESA WALKER
ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

The girls were 7 when Executive Order 9066 uprooted their lives in Los Angeles.

That April, in 1942, both ended up more than 200 miles away from their homes at the same desolate area in the arid Owens Valley, ordered by the U.S. government to live behind barbed wire fences and under the watchful eyes of armed guards in gun towers.

They were two children among 10,000 people, all of Japanese descent and two-thirds of them, like the girls, American citizens by birth.

They never crossed paths – at least not that they know of – at Manzanar War Relocation Center, where families lived in rows of Army barracks divided into blocks and "apartments" measuring 20-by-25 feet.
But, in different ways, each girl came to represent the place where their families were confined for more than two years.

The girl from Block 12, Joyce Nakamura Okazaki, became the face of Manzanar in 1944.

Joyce Okazaki and her sister in 1943 at Manzanar.

She's the schoolgirl with the near-perfect curls in the book "Born Free and Equal: The Story of Loyal Japanese Americans" by famed photographer Ansel Adams, who hoped to suggest, as he says in the introduction, that "the broad concepts of American citizenship, and of liberal, democratic life the world over, must be protected in the prosecution of the war, and sustained in the building of the peace to come."

The girl from Block 16, Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston, gave a voice to Manzanar with the 1973 publication of one of the most widely read memoirs written by an American author, "Farewell to Manzanar."
Her story has sold more than 1 million copies, and has landed on banned book lists, too.

Both Okazaki and Houston now spend much of their time educating young and old alike about Manzanar.
Their Manzanar discussions are part of a series of OC Public Library programs centering on the theme "Searching for Democracy" that start this weekend and continue into October.

A PERSONAL STORY

"Farewell to Manzanar" was not intended for any particular age group, but in 2001, Publishers Weekly listed the collaboration between Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston and her belated novelist husband, James D. Houston, as one of the bestselling children's books of all time.

It became part of school curriculum around the country and standard reading in grade schools to universities all over the world. A TV movie aired in 1976.

"Farewell to Manzanar" broke decades of national silence on what happened to some 120,000 Japanese Americans – men, women and children – detained under presidential order between 1942 and 1945 at 10 camps around the country.

"I was writing it for my family, for myself," Wakatsuki Houston says of her memoir. "We never imagined it would be a book that would live on this long."

She believes the power of "Farewell to Manzanar" lies in the story it tells about a family, and what relocation did to them. Rather than bring the Wakatsukis closer together, life at Manzanar broke the family's bonds.

"It's an honest story," says Wakatsuki Houston, who has traveled the world from her home in Santa Cruz to speak about Manzanar. Her stop in Orange County includes scheduled visits with youth at Orangewood Children's Home and teens from the Brea and La Habra Branch libraries.

She never tires of the subject. She sees the opportunity to engage in discussions with young people about issues such as Manzanar as the true meaning of democracy.

"I hope it enlarges (students') view of community, of California, of country, of ethnic and racial diversity – and see it as a plus.

"It's why America is the great country it is," she adds. "Of course we have failings. But we can still revert to our ideals."

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

In the photo that Ansel Adems took on a sunny fall day in 1943, Joyce Okazaki is smiling.

Back then, she was Joyce Yuki Nakamura. She looks sweet and innocent, with her head and her smile tilted just so.

She does not look like an enemy.

But she admits to being a cranky 8-year-old with one of the world's greatest photographers.
They were outside and she asked if he could shoot the photo in the shade. No. Could she at least face a different way? No.

She didn't like the blue-and-white striped dress she wore either. Her sister, Louise, 4, got the dress with ruffles and flowers. It was a mismatch for both.

"She was the tomboy type," Okazaki says. "I was the girly-girl."

Her father, who graduated from Berkeley with a degree in architecture, had been allowed to travel to Idaho where he picked potatoes to earn extra money. He had bought and mailed the dresses to his girls.

Her mother, Yaeko Nakamura, is included in the book. A USC grad, Yaeko Nakamura's ethnicity prevented her from being hired as a teacher before the war, but she taught physical education to youth at Manzanar.

Okazaki's image appears on the cover of the 2001 reprint of "Born Free and Equal" and has been seen in a number of exhibits, including at the Japanese American National Museum in downtown Los Angeles, not far from where her grandfather ran a successful dry goods store before relocation, and at the Eastern California Museum in Independence, not far from Manzanar.

Okazaki, who lives in Seal Beach, retired in 2008 after working more than 20 years in libraries and media centers in the Los Alamitos School District.

She volunteers with the Manzanar Committee, the organization behind the successful effort to have Manzanar designated a national historic site. Okazaki answers often-asked questions about how to define the camps.

"My question is always, why was I, a child, put into a concentration camp?" Okazaki says. "I was a citizen. That's against the Constitution."

That's not a discussion she could have had at 7, when relocation meant leaving behind her favorite doll, Buttercup.

But 70 years later, she can't stop talking about what else was left behind.

Arizona Historical Society to preserve Yuma's ‘hidden treasures'

BY MARA KNAUB
YumaSun.com

Archivists have uncovered “hidden treasures” in Yuma, and they are eager to preserve and share them with the rest of the world.

These hidden treasures are photographic collections, manuscripts and historical documents that tell Yuma's story. They are currently crammed in the back rooms of the Adobe Annex Museum Shop, next to the Arizona Historical Society Sanguinetti House Museum, 240 S. Madison Ave. Due to lack of space, some items are kept in off-site storage.

Currently, if someone wants access to an old document or photograph, museum curator Carol Brooks will dig through boxes or file cabinets to find the requested record. It's no problem for her; she knows where every piece can be found.

However, the historical records are not easily accessible outside of Yuma and they're not in the Arizona Historical Society system, like other collections around the state.

AHS wants to change that, making Yuma's history as easily accessible to a local resident as to a researcher in, say, Germany. The organization's Libraries and Archives Division announced plans to catalogue, preserve and make digitally available written, photographic and other material concerning Yuma's history.

Ann Woosley, AHS executive director, met with members of the Yuma County Historical Society and other local history buffs to share the plans.

“We've been discussing for a long time what can we possibly do to preserve these historical records,” Woosley said.

Although AHS has never worried about losing historical records, the organization has been concerned about the confined space and access.

“They're so hard to get to because of the limited space, but we've never had the ability to do anything other than keep the collection secure,” she said.

Lack of funding has been the main obstacle to processing the historical records, but grants have recently become available that will make this project possible.

“Funding sources are looking for underserviced areas and Yuma is considered an underserviced area,” said Linda Whitaker, director of the AHS Library and Archives Division and a certified archivist.

Funding sources are especially excited about the historic photographs found in Yuma.

“Your stuff is so unique and you have every weird format imaginable, including the earliest type of photos taken,” such as a collection containing 20 photos from 1839, Whitaker said.

The plan is to temporarily move the historical records to the AHS Museum at Papago Park in Tempe.

“First thing, we need to get them out of the confined space they're in. They cannot work in the Adobe Annex. There's absolutely no room to work,” Woosley said.

The records will be moved “as soon as feasible,” which could be the last week of September, Whitaker noted.

The process will take about 18 to 24 months. Whitaker and her staff, which includes a certified photograph conservationist, will work on the “easy stuff” first, then the “sticky” stuff like photo albums.

“Yuma has hundreds of albums. They're hard to digitize, harder than loose photos. (The photo archivist) won't tear them apart, she'll keep them intact,” Whitaker explained.

Once staff processes a collection, they will return it immediately to Yuma. However, they won't return it to the Adobe Annex. AHS hopes to house the archives and records at the Yuma County Main Library.

“It's so state-of-the-art. It's a such a wonderful library facility,” Woosley said.

Housing the historical documents will allow access to a wider audience. “But that doesn't mean just anybody can pull a historical photograph,” Woosley noted.

Some collections will be open while others will be secured. The library staff will be trained to assist people in their search and AHS will provide someone with historical knowledge, perhaps a curator, during limited hours.

Although housed at the library, AHS will maintain ownership of the collections. If AHS builds or acquires a suitable facility, the archives and records will “come home.”

The project will cost an estimated $150,000, covered through combined grants. The State Library, State Archives and Arizona Memory Project support the project.

“Funders love finding hidden treasures,” Whitaker said. “What we have here is sexy. What makes Yuma sexy? It's underserviced. In the archives world, it's unique, unprocessed, never catalogued. It is relatively unmessed with.”

The “good news” is that the historical collections are mostly “intact,” thanks to Yuma's favorable climate.

The grant hasn't been written as Whitaker is still gathering information, but funding sources are expecting it. “I've tilled the soil,” Whitaker said.

She invited Yumans to add to the pot to conserve as many collections as possible. “I'm not above begging, and so should you,” she said.

Some locals expressed concern that collections might disappear once they leave Yuma, as happened in the case of the Yuma Territorial Prison when the state took it over.

“We want to make sure we get our history back,” Betsy Gottsponer said.

Whitaker assured them that she is “passionate” about returning historical records to their communities.

“You are talking to the returning queen here in Arizona,” Whitaker said. “I am passionate about local history and returning them to local communities.”

Items taken for processing will be inventoried before they leave Yuma so locals know what to expect when they return. She agreed to outline the process and include assurances that all property will be returned in a written document.

In addition, Whitaker explained that researchers and historians will have access to records while they are in Tempe.

County Supervisor Lenore Stuart expressed excitement about the project. “We've waited a long time to get anything done. We've been the stepchild in the state for so long.”

Jim Valenzuela said he was happy the records would be preserved for future generations.

Whitaker invited Yumans to follow the conservation process through staff blogs and videostreaming on the AHS website: www.arizonahistoricalsociety.org. She will also be happy to give tours, she said.

Dottie Mann: Loving life

Dottie and Bill Mann at home in Barstow.

Desert Dispatch

Dottie Mann, the sole owner of Brubaker-Mann, a producer of colored rock for landscapes and roofs, was born in St. Louis, Mo. in 1933.

When she was a young girl, her parents moved the family to Illinois where Dottie attended high school. When she was a junior in high school the family moved to Santa Paula. After high school, she went to Pomona College where she met Bill Mann, her future husband.

Q: Why did you move to Barstow?
A: In 1953 during my Sophomore year at Pomona College, I met a graduate from Pomona College named Bill Mann. He had already established a business along with his cousin, Ron Brubaker, in 1950 called Brubaker-Mann Inc. We dated four weeks and then were married in the church on the College campus. I knew he was going to be a success and he also wanted children which was very important to me. So I moved to Barstow with him and our first home was a duplex that he built on Highway 58 just west of Brownie's Liquor.
•
Q: What is your passion?
A: Living in the Desert became my first passion. Later I started buying antiques and before long, our home was filled with these items. So, Bill said that I had to either quit buying or start selling antiques. Well, as we all know, any red blooded American female does not want to quit buying so I started selling antiques at shows throughout the west including Arizona, Utah and Neveda. In fact my first show was at the Dunes Hotel in Las Vegas. I continued working these show for about 15 years until I had a serious car accident.
•
Q: Describe a special memory you have of Barstow.
A: My husband, Bill, and I have very much enjoyed being involved in the Mojave River Valley Museum. We love all the times of going to the Annual Museum barbecues.
Bill was president for one year and we led the Museum excursions for about 25 years. We met many wonderful and long time friends during these trips. We were fierce protectors of the desert.
•
Q: Tell us one thing that most people don’t know about you.
A: What you see is what you get!!
•
Q: What are the top three issues facing the Barstow, and what’s your take on them?
A: The number one issue to me is the anti-business attitude that our city government has seemed to adopt. When I see a new business trying to start up, they are thrown with many regulations and requirements. Our town needs to grow and improve and this attitude prevents that.

A close second problem is the homeless and welfare recipients that roam our streets freely to steal, deface, damage and litter wherever and whenever they want. This single problem will eventually kill Barstow. They need to be out of Main street motels and away from business and private residences. We as taxpayers have the right to live in a safe and secure and clean society.

My third concern is the vacant buildings throughout the town. Of course this goes back to the anti-business attitude. The city needs to contact these owners and assist them, not necessarily with money, to upgrade or raze these properties. Barstow looks like it is dying.
•
Q: What person, living or from history, would you most like to have dinner with and why? What would you ask them?
A: Even though I am an ardent Republican, I would love to have dinner with Harry S. Truman and his wife, Bess. His attitude was depicted in the famous quote, "Give Um Hell." He was a gutsy leader and because of this, he ended WWII.
•
Q: Where do you get your values from?
A: All my values came from my Mother. She was hard working, religious and very honest. She worked for everything she earned and did not look for handouts. Now a days, too many look for handouts instead of working for them. This is not the American way. Shame on them.
•
Q: What’s your favorite movie and why?
A: I do not watch movies but my favorite TV interests with the stock market and national news so those two channels are CNBC and FOX News. Because of this, I feel I stay well informed on most issues.
•
Q: Tell us about your favorite thing about Barstow.
A: I love most things about Barstow. My children went through the local schools here and all lead successful lives. I have many friends here and thus many memories.
•
Q: What is the ultimate issue facing the United States, and what’s your take on it?
A: The ultimate issue is the fact that our current Government wants to take us towards a socialistic country like those in Europe. That means government intervention into our daily lives, more people on entitlements, higher taxes and a bankrupt government. That is a slow death and we will follow Greece if it is not stopped. Lazy Americans need to suck it up and start earning their own way.
•
Q: What is the best thing about your job?
A: As the sole owner of Brubaker-Mann, my job is to keep track of everything and ensure that the business continues to be successful. We have been in business for over 62 years. One of my main concerns is the welfare of my employees, some of whom have worked for me for over 30 years.
•
Q: What is your secret to living a happy, satisfying life?
A: You can always tell that when a person has a happy and satisfying life, he or she is a very positive person. Have you ever seen a person walking around with a frown on his face? That person is not a successful person. I have always been positive, even in hard times. I believe that is why I have a very happy and satisfying life.
•
Q: What’s your favorite guilty pleasure?
A: I don't believe I have any guilty pleasures. I don't smoke or drink to excess. I don't over eat or indulge is excessive sweets. I love my life.
•
Q: Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
A: Hopefully above ground. I will be turning 79 this November and am still in very good health.

A Treasure Trove of Old Maps at Your Fingertips

A map of Chicago, Illinois, imprinted in 1913 from the United States Geographical Survey’s historical topographic map collection. Image courtesy of the USGS.

by Susan Spano
Smithsonian Magazine

Map lovers, rejoice! The United States Geological Survey, headquartered in Reston, Virginia, is about to complete a massive project to digitize its cache of approximately 200,000 historic topographic maps, previously available only in print or in some cases out-of-print, meaning that people searching for a special old topo had to go to the archive in Virginia to take a look.

Who cares? Geographers, geologists, hydrologists, demographers, engineers and urban planners, to be sure. Also people interested in local history and genealogy, says the USGS. And, if you ask me, travelers who want not only detailed maps for pursuits like walking and biking, but information about what a place looked like in the past. For instance, the course of rivers before impoundment by dams, villages that have grown into cities, vast empty spaces in the West now crossed by superhighways, mountain ranges reconfigured by volcanic eruption.

Some of the oldest maps in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection show the Chicago Loop in 1929; Tooele Valley, Utah, in 1885; New Bedford, Massachusetts, in 1888; Colorado’s Mosquito Mountains in 1886. When taken as a whole, the collection can be considered a National Map, a cartographic library of “last resort,” says archive manager Greg Allord, containing hard-to-find maps when all other sources fail. Allord says that scanning is now complete, though processing may take until September and some maps found in other libraries will eventually be added.

Meanwhile, it doesn’t take much computer-savvy to search the collection by state, scale or original map name. I just tried it, successfully downloading and printing a 1886 topo map of the Escalante River watershed in southern Utah. What will I do with it? I don’t quite know, but it’s free because the collection is in the public domain and making it broadly accessible is part of the program’s mandate.

A few definitions may be useful for laypeople who want to try it out: A topographical map shows physical features and elevations, usually with contour lines. Topo mapping done by the USGS generally divides the country into quadrants, or quads, bounded by two lines of longitude and two lines of latitude; the most popular are 1:24,000 in scale (one inch on the map representing 2,000 feet on the earth surface), available in sheets that show 64 square-mile areas.

Since the advent of digitized maps, new words have been added to the cartographic lexicon like georeferencing (a method of adapting old map information to contemporary computer-based geography, a study now known as Geographic Information System or GIS) and metadata (background map information, sometimes part of the legend), not to mention technical computer terms like Bagit, TIFF, GeoPDF—but let’s not even try to go there.

There was, of course, no such thing as georeferencing when the USGS was created by Congress in 1879, chiefly to locate and describe potential mineral resources in great swatches of the country that hadn’t been closely studied. By then the government had funded several surveys, marking what Clarence King, the first director of the USGS, saw as a turning point, “when science ceased to be dragged in the dust of rapid exploration and took a commanding position in the professional work of the country.”

John Wesley Powell, the great Colorado River explorer and second director of the USGS (1881-94), believed it was impossible to convey geological information without a topographic component, though he came under fire from Congress for the added expense it entailed. As a result, topographical surveying has long been intimately connected to geology in the U.S. (unlike Britain, which has separate divisions for topographical and geological mapping) and the USGS is part of the Department of the Interior. The oldest maps in the USGS collection come from Powell’s time.

It’s fitting to note that the Smithsonian Institution was a supporter of Powell’s surveying expeditions; indeed, he went on from the USGS to serve as director of the Bureau of American Ethnology, later folded into the Smithsonian Office of Anthropology. And even now the connection remains strong with the USGS and the Smithsonian cooperating on the Global Volcanism Program, which publishes a Weekly Volcanic Activity Report detailing geothermic events that may someday require new topos.

Portion of El Garces restoration to move forward

El Garces Hotel in 2009 (Wikimedia Commons)

By JENNIFER DENEVAN
Needles Desert Star

NEEDLES — The transportation element of the El Garces restoration project will be getting underway as soon as possible based on Needles City Council’s decision March 13 to move forward with using federal grant money the city has for that portion of the project.

Allan Affeldt, of El Garces LLC, gave an update to the council at the March 13 meeting. He gave a brief background of the project and how the project hasn’t progressed in the last two years. He said the company and the city had been trying for a joint development agreement to allow for a transfer of the title of the building to El Garces LLC. That has been in the works for nearly two years.

Affeldt said there’s finally been a response to the letter regarding the JDA. The FTA stated they couldn’t see why the city couldn’t move forward with the project for the transportation part, such as parking and a visitors center, but indicated they weren’t likely to approve the JDA.

He said what that means is it’s highly unlikely any private investor will help with the project. It doesn’t matter how much time or money the private investor spends, they will have no security in that investment, which means no bank will back the project, he continued.

There was a conference call about a week prior to the city council meeting to see what should happen next, Affeldt said. There is still about $5 million in grant funding available, which is substantial; the catch is the city can’t spend it on anything such as restaurant or hotel. The city can spend that money on basic infrastructure and the shell of the building, he continued.

An additional challenge is Congressman Jerry Lewis is retiring at the end of the year, Affeldt said. All the funding for the project is federal and Lewis has been a big supporter. It is possible the city could lose that support once he retires, he continued.

“My advice to you as an elected official is to spend the money before you lose it,” he said. There is no expiration date on that funding, but given the economy, there is a good chance the grant money will disappear, he added.

The recommendation is to spend the money and get as far as the city can and somewhere along the line perhaps a third party will want to participate, Affeldt said. About 80 percent of the architectural engineering has been done for the building and there’s already been a process for a construction manager. It is believed the city could go to bid with all those documents within a couple of months, he added.

It’s estimated that the entire building could be completed within a year’s time since the scope of work has been reduced, Affeldt said. There isn’t any reason the city couldn’t have all the money spent within a year’s time, he continued.

Dan Lutzick, of El Garces LLC, said it is important for the city to be sure to place the proper electrical and utilities so they can expand in the future. If done correctly, they won’t have to reconfigure anything in order to expand at a later time, he added.

Tony Frazier, council member, said he wanted to thank Affeldt and Lutzick for all their time on the project. “I think that for at least a long time, Allan’s dream, Dan’s dream, was our dream,” Frazier said. They helped us along as far as they could, he added.