HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF THE

UPPER MOJAVE DESERT

VOL. 12. NO.10 December 16, 1997

IT'S ALMOST TIME..............

We can all soon partake of a pleasurable great evening at our Christmas Party Potluck Dinner, Dec.16, at the Museum. The fun begins at 6:30 P.M. with appetizers and punch. When the serving board is filled to "groaning," we'll eat! Hearty appetites applied with gusto will be the order of the evening. But, that's not all that awaits us.

Being historical sorts of people, we'll honor the eons-old tradition of storytelling, music, and gifting after the feast. Gladys Merrick, one of our community's treasures, will share "Winter Tales" with us. In response to Dan Peterson's direction and guitar we can harmoniously raise our voices and spirits in song. As a Sierra Sands music teacher, Dan has long brought fun and the joy of singing to many students. Rounding out the evening, table and door prizes will go to the lucky winners. Perhaps the best gift of all that each of us can take home will be the memory of a good time shared with friends in this Christmas season. Charlotte Goodson

POST OFFICE CACHET

Want an unusual gift for someone? Consider a collector's item such as the High Desert Post Office Commemorative Cachet.* The HSUMD prepared and issued this item to commemorate and coincide with our exhibit opening on July 12, 1997 at the Maturango Museum. * A cachet, in this case, is a mailing envelope which has on its face a special cancellation of the affixed postage stamp. Click Here to see it!!

This cachet has been cited by one stamp club official as follows:"....that is an A#1 job done especially with the historic information inside...I suggest it be ...a "COVER OF THE MONTH subject."

For this issue the envelope and cancellation has been designed to symbolically represent the historical sequence of mail delivery in the High Desert. An insert lists the operational dates of yesterday and today's post offices, along with a brief anecdote about a historic site called Coyote Holes.

A limited number of these cachets are available at the Maturango Museum for $1.50 each. Lou Pracchia

JOAN BROOKS TO SPEAK ON FATHER CROWLEY

Enjoy reading? Enjoy history? I want to tell all of our members about what I believe is among the finest collection of writings in print. It is a magnificent chronicle about living in the high and low desert east of the Sierra shadow during the 1930's. And these narratives are to be found in member Joan Brook's book, "Desert Padre."

This book is not just a story about a Catholic priest, it is a record (often humorous) of people, places and events within his many thousand of square-mile's parish.

Joan's style in weaving together the material she gathered blends exceptionally well with the style of the Padre's writings under his pseudonym of "Inyokel." Most of those writings appeared in the Catholic Register as a weekly column called "Sage and Tumbleweed."

As many of you know, one local association with Father (Monsignor) Crowley, is the monument on Highway 14 just south of Highway 178 leading to Walker's Pass. The cross on the east side of the highway marks the place where he died in an auto accident. What some may not know is that he was also the Chaplain to the area's Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and often visited their Inyokern camp.

Another association is the Ridgecrest Knights of Columbus Council 3199 which bears his name and uses "Sage and Tumbleweed" as the name for its newsletter.

When the Maturango Museum was located in the Quonset hut on the Base, there was a display featuring some of the Padre's memorabilia which had been placed in my care by his youngest brother, Father George Crowley, S.J. I hope that our Society's archives will become the repository for the remainder of the collection I have held over the years.

The talk by Joan Brooks will be at 7:30, Wednesday evening, December 10 Lou Pracchia

MATURANGO DAYS REVISITED

Overlooked in the previous newsletter was an expression of appreciation for the help of the following in setting up and taking down of our porch and cookie stand at Maturango Junction: Bruce Wertenberger, Chris Moore, Dick Moe, Fred Weals, Bill Ward, Bill Burns, Bill Hall, Lee Lakin, Ron Hise and Lou Pracchia. Also Carroll Evans, Jan Thompson, Hank Schuette and Lois Carr. Lois outdid herself this year in signing up new members!

HOSPITALITY HELP NEEDED

A few volunteers are needed to help set up and take down the refreshments table, which we set up after each of our general meetings. It's not hard work, but it takes some extra hands for a few minutes before and after each meeting. If you can help, please call Fred Weals or Charlotte Goodson.

Their phone numbers are on the back page of this newsletter.

JANUARY SPEAKER

Our January speaker will be Pat Farris, publisher of the News Review and longtime resident. Mark your calendar now for the date of January 20th for her talk to the Society which is sure to be interesting! More details will be provided in our January newsletter.

CONDOLENCES

We have learned of the recent passing of Ron and Billie Hises' oldest son, Kelly. Our condolences to Ron and Billie and also to Kelly's wife and family.

NEW DISPLAYS AT MUSEUM

If you haven't visited the Museum in the past several weeks, you're in for a pleasant surprise. The Museum vestibule cases now display part of the Jeannie Echeberry's beautiful and colorful nutcracker collection. An exhibit on Father Crowley was installed this past weekend in the North Gallery of the Museum, replacing the Cerro Gordo exhibit. This latter exhibit will complement the talk by Joan Brooks Wednesday, December 10, in the Museum.

FROM OUR PAST

The following article is taken from a book of interviews conducted and written by a group of sixth graders under the direction of Ms. Gaylin Cloonan, a teacher at Los Flores School in 1982. They wrote the book because they were interested in the history of Indian Wells Valley.

KAREN MANATT'S MEMORIES

by Linda Wilkins Katie Capps

(Continued from the November newsletter)

...She remembers Tiny Bower's Burgers where you could get a hamburger, french fries and a coke for fifty cents. Karen said, "She was an incredible person because she might see hundreds of people a day, but she could always remember how you liked your hamburger."

Other businesses Karen remembers include Victory Market, located where Golden Empire is now; an ice-packing house, one of the oldest buildings in Kern County; and the airport, located at the present Motel 6 site. Basically, though, the majority of jobs came from the Navy base.

Most of the people worked for the Navy base or some supportive service, like the electric company. If the Navy base were to fold up and go away, Karen feels that the town would do the same.

When the Navy base was first being built, there were no houses in Ridgecrest in which to live. Many of the workers stayed in Johannesburg and commuted over to do construction work. The houses were built quickly because they were in great demand. They could make a small house in two days by pouring concreate (sp) into a mold and releasing it. To cool a house without air-conditioning, many of the homes were built into the ground or into the side of a mountain. Karen likes the newer houses, but she was a little sad to see the old ones on the base knocked down.

Living in an isolated community, residents have always had to provide their own entertainment. For example, rummage sales, bazaars, dances, and charities were common. On any special occasion there would be a big celebration.

JAMES ROSETH REMEMBERS

by James P. Eichenberg Jeffrey D. Dufendach

Mr. James Roseth was born in Mabel, Minnesota. He and his wife, Marjorie, have two sons - Robert, a basketball coach at Burroughs High School and John, a minister in Wisconsin. Mr. Roseth, who is an electronic technician, got a job at China Lake which brought them to Ridgecrest in 1955.

Mr. Roseth commented that there have been many changes to our area since he first arrived. When the Roseths first came to Ridgecrest, the population was about 1,500. It is up to around 16,000 now. At that time, Murray was the high school with only 500 students attending. The school system has grown considerably since then, and a new high school, Burroughs, has been built. Ridgecrest Community Hospital was the only hospital for miles around when Mr. Roseth first came.

From listening to Mr. Roseth talk of Ridgecrest's past, we feel that it would be neat to live back in a time when the schools were small. It would be easier to get to know everyone and smaller classrooms would give us more chance to do our work.