HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF THE UPPER MOJAVE DESERT

Vol. 15 No. 2
February 15, 2000

FEBRUARY MEETING: LEARN ABOUT THE BONANZA TRAIL

What is the Bonanza Trail and how will it help us keep some valuable parts of our history that would otherwise have been destroyed? Come to our meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 15, and find out.

Our speaker for the evening will be Linn Gum, Branch Chief for Minerals in BLM's Ridgecrest office. Linn is a man who takes seriously that adage about making lemonade out of whatever lemons life hands him. A couple of years back, he came up with the Randsburg Solution - the innovative program that helped the people of Randsburg buy the land on which their historic houses and stores stood.

And now he and others at the Ridgecrest office are working to establish the Bonanza Trail, a series of picturesque cabins with colorful histories that will be maintained by volunteers and available to the public for visiting and camping. That's a positive approach to a Congressional mandate to clean up the desert.

In addition to describing and showing slides of the various sites, Linn hopes to get something from us. BLM interpretive signs will be placed at the sites - and Linn is now gathering information to put on the signs. You can help by sharing your knowledge of the cabins in the El Pasos and the colorful characters who inhabited them.

Born in Wichita, Kansas, Linn had a peripatetic childhood as his dad, a Napoleonic historian, moved to various universities around the country. Eventually the family settled in Nebraska. Linn earned his first bachelor's degree in history from the University of Nebraska. He decided to support his young family by enlisting in the Army. Linn spent the Vietnam years as
a military journalist in Germany - a wonderful assignment, he says. After his Army tour finished, he returned to college, earning his second bachelor's degree, this one in geology and environmental studies from the University of Colorado.

His education also encompasses training in math and computer science from the University of North Dakota. And Linn has used his varied educational background in his career, which has included environmental and minerals management for the U.S. Geological Survey as well as for BLM.

Beginning with the USGS in Northeast Wyoming, he was appointed BLM's district geologist in Dickinson, North Dakota, in 1983. Then in 1987, he became BLM's project leader for mining law administration in Anchorage, Alaska.

Linn moved to Ridgecrest in June 1990 to accept his current job as a supervisory geologist. His wife Karen Marie is a fourth-grade teacher at Faller School. The Gums' two adult children both live in Austin and work for Dell Computer.

As usual, our meeting will begin at 7:30 p.m. and refreshments will be served afterwards.
Liz Babcock

WILDROSE PHOTO COLLECTION DISPLAY

See Ballarat and Skidoo in their heydays! View portraits of Death Valley Scotty, Seldom Seen Slim, Pete Aguereberry, and other colorful desert characters! Learn something about Wildrose Station and other historic spots in Panamint and Death Valleys! See HSUMD's very own original Ansel Adams print!

The Historical Society's new exhibit in the vestibule of the Maturango Museum displays a photographic treasure trove we purchased from Kay Sample, with her husband, Lloyd, last proprietor of Wildrose Station before the Park Service closed the station in 1971. With expert help from Margaret "Lit" Brush and Lou Pracchia, we're working to display the photos in a way
that will be a feast for the mind as well as the eyes.
Liz Babcock

SOCIETYS' NEW MAIL ADDRESS

Our Society has changed its mail address effective with the last Board
meeting February 2, 2000. Following is our new mail address:

Historical Society of the Upper Mojave Desert (or HSUMD)
P.O. Box 2001,
Ridgecrest, CA 93556-2001

Members' dues should now be sent either to the above new address and no longer included with dues to the Museum for those of you with membership in both organizations. Or to Fred Weals, Society Treasurer, 551 E. Dana Rd.,
Ridgecrest, CA 93555.

Any correspondence to be addressed to the Society should be sent to the new P.O. Box effective immediately.

DUES ARE DUE AND CHANGING

A reminder that dues for the year 2000 are now due and payable to our treasurer, Fred Weals, 551 E. Dana, Ridgecrest, CA 93555 or you may use our new Post Office Box! To date, 73 members have renewed. We hope to hear soon from the rest of you!

Your Board of Directors voted at its last meeting to increase the annual dues for a family (to consist of one or more individuals in an immediate family) to $15.00 per year. This change will be effective on April 1, 2000 (no joke intended). The membership year remains January l to December 31.

ELECTION TIME

As a reminder, election of Board members is upcoming. The terms of Charlotte Paulsen, Bill Burns, Liz Babcock and Lou Pracchia end this year. Fred Weals, Bruce Wertenberger, Chet Creider, George Silberberg,and Susan Hueber will serve until the year 2001. The nominating committee comprises Kathy Armstrong, John DiPol and Harold Platzek, which shall be
activated in March. This brief notice gives the membership time to consider serving! Please let one of the Nominating Committee know if you want to serve. Being a Board member is a good way of learning how the Society works and of helping to bring about the goals of the Society.

LIFE MEMBERS

The Board voted to award Douglas and Sandy Johnson life memberships in recognition of their recent large donation to the Society towards a computer system. Their gift has made possible the start of archiving much of the Society's memorabilia that was awaiting processing and that will be acquired in the future.

PRESIDENT'S COMMENTS

Your Board of Directors devotes many hours of its time to achieve your Society's goals. Here is a look at things we discussed or accomplished this last Board meeting. (Some of these items are treated more fully elsewhere in this newsletter. Ed.) Arrived at a budget; preparing to change displays at the museum; having the Zig Zag Post Office book reprinted; revising the Bylaws; ordering the computer for use in digitizing our collections; reviewing software to use in cataloging our collection;*
obtaining International Standard Book Numbers (ISBN) and bar coding; changing our mailing address to a Post Office Box (now done); considering our own telephone; obtaining guest speakers and associated details for the general meetings; preparing and mailing this newsletter; and many other miscellaneous business items. This past meeting required 4 hours to cover the above agenda items.

*The software being considered is Past Perfect which is a product approved by the American Society for State and Local History (AASLH) and is being used by many societies and museums here in California and throughout the country. The basic program is expensive but it will efficiently accomplish most of our digitizing goals.

It is really great that we have such a nice place to conduct our board meetings and have access to our files. Many thanks again to Jody and Shirley Allred for providing the facility.
Lou Pracchia

HELP STUDENTS' EDUCATION AND HAVE FUN AT THE SAME TIME

If you haven't ever been a participant in the Sand Canyon Environmental Education Program History Walk, you've missed a rare treat. Now's your chance, as the title says, to help with our youngsters' education and have great fun while you're doing it.

Every spring, the elementary schools team up with the Bureau of Land Management, HSUMD, the Maturango Museum, the IWV Water District, the Audubon Society, and several other organizations to offer every fifth grader in this valley the opportunity to explore all aspects of Sand Canyon, from its wildlife, to its water resources, to its history. And that's where we come in. Our members -- including some who lived in Sand Canyon as youngsters -- volunteer to help the youngsters learn about the canyon's fascinating history.

This year, we're also being given the opportunity to experience the entire SEEP tour ourselves. On Wednesday, Feb. 23, Chris Mattingly, the SEEP coordinator, will lead potential volunteers through all eight stations. What she and other SEEP workers hope is that you'll then become so enthusiastic about the program that you'll help out for a trip or several.

The SEEP trips - all on Fridays - begin on Feb. 25 with the Las Flores fifth graders. Other trips and the fifth-grade classes taking them are March 17, Gateway; March 24, Richmond; April 14, St. Ann's; May 5, Inyokern and Ridgecrest Christian; May 12, Faller; and May 18, Pierce.

If you'd like to volunteer and/or learn more about the program, call Charlotte Goodson at 375-6449.
Liz Babcock

HELP NEEDED

The Society could use some volunteer help now and then in several areas: one is the dubbing of 8 mm videotapes into the VHS format and the other is help in entering data from our collections cards into computer files. To volunteer give one of our board members a call.

NEW MEMBERS

The Society welcomes the following new members: Allen County Public Library, Fort Wayne, Indiana; Oswald Kendy; and Fred Kletka.

We look forward to working with these new members as events permit.