Upper Mojave Desert 230 W. Ridgecrest Blvd. P. O. Box 2001, Ridgecrest, CA 93556 760-375-8456 To see our schedule of events, visit us at www.hsumd.org or on Facebook at hsumd Come to Our Annual Meeting The May 20 event features an excellent speaker, a delicious tri-tip dinner, a chance to learn about HSUMD activities you ll want to be there! This year s annual dinner and meeting will be held on Tuesday, May 20, and will feature a presentation by Margaret Lit Brush, president and curator of the Searles Valley Historical Society. The meeting will include a tri-tip dinner cooked by Boardmember Chuck Cordell and his Habitat for Humanity crew. Doors will open at 5:30 p.m. for socializing, with dinner starting at 6 p.m. and the business meeting and speaker to follow. As usual, the location will be the Historic USO Building,t 230 W. Ridgecrest Blvd. There will be a $10 charge for the dinner. Please purchase your tickets by May 16 at the Historic USO Gift Shop so we can get a head count for the dinner. Lit s talk will be about the inception and accomplishments of the Searles Valley Historical Society as it grew from eight members at its founding to about 150 today. Much of the story will be about the quest to find a place to keep all the society s stuff. Lit was well-placed to help with as the various companies that mined Searles Lake decided some of their buildings were no longer needed (see her biography, page 4). The presentation will be a recap of the well-received talk she gave at the Trona Centennial History Symposium in March. In addition to the dinner and speaker, a brief business meeting will include annual reports from the president and treasurer, followed by the election of new members of the Board of Directors (see the candidates statements elsewhere in this issue). HSUMD meets on the third Tuesday of most months. Meetings are free and all are welcome to attend. For more information on this or future meetings, call 760-375-8456. Andrew Sound Lit Brush, the grand marshall for Trona s Centennial Parade, jubilantly holds aloft a key to the city. The centennial celebration, organized by Lit and Russ Kaldenberg and many helpers, was a glorious success. And now Lit will be HSUMD s Annual Dinner speaker. Photo by Laura Austin, News Review
President s Message Biz Mtng s Focused on YOU Our army of volunteers, including our board, has been so very busy this spring. I d like to remind you of all their hard work and accomplishments and tell you of other upcoming activities, because I know you d be as excited and appreciative as I am. But I ll focus on a sincere invitation to all of you to attend our annual dinner and election, called the Annual Business Meeting in our bylaws. The meeting will include a full dinner, an election of new volunteer boardmembers, a presentation by Lit Brush (the president and curator of the Searles Valley Historical Society), and some recognition of the work done by our volunteers. Tex Hoppus Most importantly, though, you should understand it s an evening that is specifically focused on YOU, our Society s membership. This is your special meeting in our year s wide spectrum of meetings and events. So please come and enjoy, sit with your fellow Society members and talk and laugh. And be proud of all that our Society has done and will do! Tex Hoppus P.S. A special note of profound appreciation from our Society to the VFW s Ship 4084 and its Ship s Captain, Bob Kinstle, Jr., for the donation of its historic sign. The local VFW building dates from the same era as does our Historic USO Building (~1945), and the sign that we received dates from its early days of serving our community. To our VFW brethren: Thanks! We ll hang the sign in a place of honor. Genealogical Committee The Genealogical Committee will not have a meeting of its own this month of May. Instead, I encourage all of us to join everybody else in the HSUMD membership dinner and soirée on Tuesday, May 20. And just a reminder: Be very careful if you go for a run and take your computer with you. You could jog your memory! Tex Hoppus Fundraiser Nixed After further research on participation in the Abundant Harvest fundraiser, the HSUMD board determined that the profit we stood to make would not have been commensurate with the volunteer hours required to maintain this fundraiser. Matthew Zubia HSUMD s June issue will feature Grace, Andrew Sound s moving eulogy for Alan Alpers. Thanks, Andrew, for permission to print, and I m sorry I ran out of room this month. ed. New Project Honors the Memory of Alan Alpers One of the many things that Alan Alpers was working on for the Historical Society was an effort to bring back some classic works on local and regional history that had fallen out of print. While he was searching for new books to sell in the Gift Shop, Alan often came across works that could be purchased only from used booksellers. He collected a list of such titles, and had been working with Donna Rosenthal, using her experience in publishing to see if the Society could obtain the rights to these books and start reprinting them. With Alan s untimely passing, we thought that an appropriate way to memorialize him would be to establish an Alan Alpers Memorial Publishing Project to keep these titles in print. The charter of the project would be to obtain permission and copyrights as appropriate to reprint selected classic books about Upper Mojave Desert history that have gone out of print or are in danger of going out of print. Alan Alpers The reprinted books will be marked as part of the Memorial Project and will keep Alan s memory alive while at the same time helping preserve and disseminate local history, the core mission of the society. The project will require seed money to start, but should become self-sustaining as the books go into print. Donations to help establish this project can be sent to HSUMD at PO Box 2001, Ridgecrest, CA 93556, marked for the AAMPP. Andrew Sound 2
Roy Book Binder To Appear Here May 29 Roy Book Binder onstage at the Historic USO, Aug. 23, 2012. Attendees raved about this appearance! Photo by Andrew Sound The Historical Society of the Upper Mojave Desert is proud to, once again, host Blues Legend Roy Book Binder at a special fund-raising concert on Thursday, May 29, at the Historic USO starting at 8 p.m., with doors opening at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are at our Gift Shop for $20 each or $35 per couple. Roy started pickin the blues while serving in th enavy aboard USS Independence and he s been rambling around the world ever since, performing his ragtime country blues licks, singing his songs, and telling his story. His early album, Travelin Man, was the first solo blues album awarded a five-star review by Downbeat Magazine. He has appeared on the Grand Old Opry with Bonnie Raitt and on Ralph Emory s hit Nashville Now TV show more than 25 times. After recording a dozen successful albums, he settled in Florida, where he concentrated on writing his old time songs, two of which have been recently recorded by Rock n Roll Hall of Fame inductee Jorma Kaukonen. Last Summer, his release of all-original songs, reached No. 3 on Airplay Direct s Americana charts. May Is Home Improvement Month at Historic USO...On the screen that is. HSUMD invites you to watch four of Hollywood s greatest stars escape the rat race of the Big City and head to greener pastures in two hilarious film comedies. On Wednesday, May 7, join the irrepressible Cary Grant and the lovely Myrna Loy as they try to plan their dream house in Connecticut. (Oops, did I just give the title away?) Melvyn Douglas, as the family s best friend and attorney, tries his best to keep them falling into the various pitfalls of house building. But they flounder anyway and tickle our funny bones along the way. On Wednesday, May 21, Doris Day and David Niven move their family of four precocious boys and a timid sheepdog from similarly cramped New York quarters to a genuine fixer-upper in the burbs. This rollicking comedy, adapted from a Jean Kerr novel, also stars Janis Paige, Spring Byington, and Jack Weston, and features the lovely vocal talents of Miss Day. As a bonus in June, we continue the merriment as James Stewart and Maureen O Hara pack up their family in the station wagon and head out to a somewhat dilapidated house on the beach in a 1962 comedy that also features heartthrob Fabian as one of the daughter s suitors. Wednesday, June 4, is the date for that family- fun film. All features screen at 7 p.m., with our doors opening at 6:30 to give you ample time to nosh on one of our famous Crumville jumbo hot dogs from the Snack Bar, which also offers hand-crafted sodas, fresh popcorn, candies, coffee, and luscious ice cream. Although there is no formal charge for admission, we always appreciate a $2 donation to help us keep the place running. But Wait, There s More! Starting on June 11 and continuing through Aug. 27...if it s Wednesday night, it s Classic Movie Night at the Historic USO. That s right, a movie every Wednesday evening. Silent film classics will alternate with Walt Disney family favorites. Twelve classic films to delight every member of your family. This spectacular event is being sponsored by 10 local businesses to be announced and promises to be one of the most attended HSUMD entertainments this year. So mark your calendars and plan to join us for a Summer of Movie Magic. Nick Rogers 3
Our Speaker, Margaret Lit Brush Margaret Lit Brush, the driving force for many years behind efforts to collect and preserve the history of Searles Valley, has lived in the Trona area for most of her life. She began absorbing the rich history of the desert at a very young age. Her father, George Pipkin, retold the stories of the desert s colorful denizens in several books and many newspaper columns, and her mother, Annie Laura Pipkin, was the founder of the Searles Valley Gem & Mineral Society. Both Pipkins taught their daughter valuable life lessons in persistence and proactivity, lessons she has applied in her dealings with Searles Valley Minerals and its predecessor chemical companies. She went to work at the chemical company in 1945, retiring in 1993 as manager of the Searles Domestic Water Co. as well as the supervisor of Searles Valley Residences, Inc., the organization that was responsible for managing the company s properties around Searles Valley. In the meantime, the Searles Valley Historical Society had started to collect local artifacts. Brush, who joined the society in 1987, used her connections with the chemical company to convince officials there that the company could shine as a good neighbor by supporting the SVHS efforts to preserve and display the history that is so inextricably connected to the mining of Searles Lake. She began by rescuing historic documents and photographs that the chemical company had decided not to keep. Those valuable remnants of Searles Valley history became the nucleus of the society s historical collections, which today are a valuable repository, largely through her efforts. Lit also brought in much larger donations. When Kerr-McGee Chemical Company management decided in 1988 that a historic 1918-era house cost too much to maintain and should therefore be demolished, Lit convinced the company to donate the house which today lives on as the Trona History House. After Lit became SVHS president in 1991, she and her board persuaded the company (then North American Chemical) to donate its professional building to the society instead of demolishing it. Built in 1917 as a guest house for visiting dignitaries during construction of the original Trona plant, the building today houses the Old Guest House Museum, home to fascinating local artifacts, many of them also donated by Lit or collected through her efforts. Not content with those impressive donations, Lit went on in 1997 to convince the Trona Railway Co., a wholly owned subsidiary of North 4 Lit speaks in March 2012 at the dedication of a new street name in Trona Pipkin Place, named in honor of her father, George Pipkin. Photo by Liz American Chemical Co., to donate a historic caboose, which today stands adjacent to the History House. Then in 2007 she and her board convinced San Bernardino County to donate the Argus Fire Station for use as a Searles Valley Fire Museum. In January 2009 the society dedicated the fire station to the people of Trona. Because of these efforts the state of California gave SVHS a Governor s Historic Preservation Award in November 2007. She also received a prestigious award from the Conference of California Historical Societies for contributions to California history that add luster and significance and help to nurture and preserve our priceless heritage. Lit s name was perhaps the mostmentioned (well, maybe after John Searles himself), since just about every speaker thanked her for reference help and photos. Liz Babcock
5 Candidates for Election to HSUMD Board Chuck Cordell I have been a Ridgecrest resident since 1955. I have been on the board of the Historical Society for about six years and the committee chair of the Veterans Memorial Building. I would like to complete the Veterans Memorial Building while on the board if you so choose. Doug Lueck In 1963 at the age of 18, while camping and hiking in the desert, I was one of several people who discovered Avalwatz Silver Mine, a small mining town in Death Valley. Finding this ghost town started my interest in cultural history. I moved to Ridgecrest in 1990. Since then I was instrumental in saving Doc, the last salveagable B-29 on base; have served on the Desert Empire Fair Board for 10 years including two as president; have been a volunteer for the BLM s Wild Horse and Burro program; and am Executive Director of the Ridgecrest Area Convention and Visitors Bureau. I came onto the HSUMD board six years ago, serving two years a vice president and two years as president. Carol Porter I began working with our archives/exhibits and on our board in 2009. With the help of some great volunteers, I have been doing a lot of indexing, sorting, digitizing and responding to requests for information. I am also the lead for the Ridgecrest Desert Wildflower Festival. Mixing with the guest and lending a hand at HSUMD events is another area I enjoy. I would like to continue as the director of collections I don t feel this task is anywhere near complete. Andrew Sound I was born in Ridgecrest and have lived here ever since, give or take my college years. I work on the base. Local history has interested me more and more as I see the changes in town in the time I ve lived here I still think of the building that now houses the Crossroads Church as the new drugstore so I joined the Historical Society several years ago. I was first elected to the board 12 years ago, and I have served as publicity director, vice president, secretary and now treasurer for several years, but I gain the most satisfaction from my part in restoring the Historic USO Building. Matthew Zubia I joined the board in 2012 and assumed the duties of fundraising chairman; however, my support of HSUMD began on January 28, 2011, when I formed the incredibly successful acoustic-music Open Mic Night, infusing the organization with a shot of musica,l harmony never seen before. Over the past two years, I have graduated to fundraising/events chairman. My goal is to promote the HSUMD mission and work to find that one signature event that will represent the diversity of our organization. Additionally, nominations will be accepted from the floor provided that the person being nominated is present and agrees to run. Serving the second year of their two-year terms, having been elected last year, are John Abbott, Melody Hollinger, Tex Hoppus, Scott McEntee, and Nick Rogers. Donna McCrohan Rosenthal Chuck Bolt in Concert! The Historical Society of the Upper Mojave Desert is proud to present the incredible Chuck Bolt In Concert! on Saturday, May 24, at 7 p.m. in Joe Fox Auditorium at the Historic USO. This special HSUMD fundraiser will showcase an evening of ballads, blues, and rock n roll, featuring the guitar mastery of Bolt and his special guest stars, The Antique Zephyrs, The Whatevers, and more! Tickets are a real bargain at $5 each. Come early (doors open at 6 p.m.) to enjoy some tasty pulled pork and tri-tip barbecue with all the fixings for an additional $7. Experience the sounds of great musicians and help support the many programs of your Historical Society. Nick Rogers
Report on Collections 6 Wildflower Show Report It has been a very busy time at the Historic USO building this month. The Ridgecrest Desert Wildflower Festival was well attended. Once again Jim Nichols outdid himself in his selection of speakers. A few of our regulars were there with new material, popular new speaker Kathy Le Shure was added to the program, and Frances Nichols, our watercolor demonstrator gave a great real-time demonstration and lecture with video camera showing on our big screen. Matt Zubia s barbeque beef sandwiches and chili were a big hit with our lunchtime guests thank you, Matt and family. With Michelle Andreoli, Tom and Pat Stager, and Claudia Sound, the lobby service and gift shop were in good hands. Our busy sales kept all three on their toes. The family movie with dinner available was up in attendance this year thank you, Nick Rogers and movie staff. I am pleased to say that the photo contest did have a good number of entrants, I was a bit worried this year, but the flowers came through for us. Our winners were Kathy Watson with her quail on a bed of flowers, my own Craig Porter in second place with a field of gold reaching toward the mountains, and Greg Connor in third place with a very showy butterfly on a yellow flower. Thanks to Liz Babcock for helping with the display and the photo of our first-place winner (see above) and a big thank you to the participants. Thanks too to my fellow board members for all the help setting up for this event, for being there for the fourth year in a row, and for cleanup. A special shout- out to Scott Mc Entee. Jim Nichols says the sound system and projection were the best so far. All the hookups, plugs, and work you have been doing certainly paid off. Carol Porter We have received many additions to our collections, not only in volume but also in rarity. Who even knew there was a T-shirt advertising the Joint in Randsburg? Well, we have one now. Gary Babcock has moved to High Desert Haven, which brought about a big reduction in the books in his library. Many of the books he gave us were in new condition, and all are books we will add to our library. Thank you, Gary! Mr. Turbitt, a friend of Richard Burris, has been troubled by what to do with a large collection of aerial photos and photos from the Korean War that he had stored since Richard s death. He donated the entire collection to HSUMD! Richard was an official military photographer and a professional photographer. There are at least 25 albums full of identified photos and a huge box of unsorted, labeled photos. This collection stirs the emotions! Don Siler dropped off a few identified photos from Iva Jean Driggers and noticed our well-aged Dust Devils plaque in a showcase. Don, who was very active in the Dust Devils back in the day, returned an hour or so later to donate his brand new Dust Devils plaque in all its glory. Chris Farrell had found someone to re-manufacture the plaques and Don purchased one, so we have a great example of before and after. Donna Rosenthal shared a book from her late husband Dave s library, Manual of Surveying Instructions, 1947, by the BLM. This will fit right in with the many books from Fred Weals. Last but certainly not least, we are now the proud caretakers and owners of a wonderful, large collection of exhibit items gathered and prepared for display by Barbara Padgett, Earl and Edna Powers, and several others. You may remember seeing some of this display at the Burroughs 50-year reunion and at a special event a year or so later. The 14 boxes of display boards on their own are a treasure but this donation included 18 boxes of research materials as well. There are no words to express the thrill it is to have this collection. Thank you, Earl and Edna, for making this happen. Carol Porter
Shown at the program I presented last month are four members of the Orozco family (from right) Johnnie Orozco, his sister Mary Orozco Zeiss, and Mary s daughter and her husband. Both Mary and Johnnie grew up in Garden City. Mary, the third among Sofia and José Orozco s 13 children, said Johnnie (the eighth child) was the first baby she got to take care of. Mary (what a charming lady!) loaned me a treasure trove of photos of the family at Garden City, which I will start to scan this week. She has also agreed to an oral history interview. Good example of how history gets built! Liz Babcock Our Member Categories HSUMD has three membership categories all very important to us. Our regular memberships are $25 per individual or family. Our business memberships are $35 each. We also have a special category: life member, which is something the board bestows only on members who have supported HSUMD in sustained and special ways. Life Members Kathy Armstrong John and Delores Di Pol Cliff and Susanne Fountain E. Norman George Lyle Gregory Ron Hise Douglas A. Johnson Bill Nevins Gerry Pracchia James E. Simmons New Members Tim and Jane Fisher Florence Moran Lucette Poulin Bob Kirchmeier Kenneth Dunlap Desert Empire Fair Donald W. Harris Corri and Jim Gutzman Owen and Rachel Finch Virginia and Bob Piroli Mike Walker and Gloria Chieze Business Members please patronize them! Allen County Public Library, Genealogy Department Anna Marie Bergens, Realtor Best Western China Lake Inn Cal-Sun Pools Clarion Inn Comfort Inn Cordell Construction DeathValley.com Desert Empire Fair Earth Landscaping Econo-Lodge Explore Historic California The Flower Shoppe Heritage Inn Phyllis M. Hix, Attorney Hockett s Building Supply IWV Insurance JRP Historical Consulting, LLC Dick Lewis Domestic Water Systems The Library Press Jack & Dana Lyons, Realtors Maturango Museum 7 Netzer-Russell Consulting, LLC Nevins Tech. Consultants The News Review (Farris) Pleistocene Foundation Red Rock Books Ridgecrest Moving & Storage S&M Coins & Collectibles Sierra Wave Tank Sales Southern Sierra Medical Clinic Gary P. Staab & Assoc., Inc. The Swap Sheet Warren s Automotive
Tex Hoppus, President & Genealogical Committee 760-446-3370, tex.hoppus@verizon.net Doug Lueck, Vice President 760-375-8202, racvb@filmdeserts.com Melody Hollinger, Recording Secretary mhollinger@epsilonsystems.com Andrew Sound, Secretary/Treasurer & Programs 760-608-7296, afsound@verizon.net John Abbott, Building Mgr., Bldg. Rental 760-375-5709, jga2nja@yahoo.com Chuck Cordell, Building cordell.construction@yahoo.com Scott McEntee, Audiovisuals, Stage Mgr. 760-677-1026, smcentee28@gmail.com Carol Porter, Accessions & Exhibits 760-446-3400, carporter@gmail.com DIRECTORS Nick Rogers, Movie Nite, Publicity Wnr428@hotmail.com or call 760-375-8456 for info Matthew Zubia, Fundraising 760-793-2107, zubia5@verizon.net COMMITTEE LEADERS Liz Babcock, Newsletter Editor 760-375-7900, lizbab2@gmail.com John Di Pol, Historian 760-375-2610, cjdp@ridgenet.net Jim Kenney, Field Trips Coordinator 760-371-2458, j.kenney@verizon.net Craig Porter, SEEP Coordinator 760-446-3400, cporter148@mchsi.com Donna McCrohan Rosenthal, PR Coordinator 760-3375-4308, mccrohan@iwvisp.com Important Reminders Annual dues are $25 (family) and $35 (business). Please remember the Historical Society in your wills, trusts and other gift giving. We are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Here s an easy way to see this newsletter in color! Just send an e-mail to our newsletter editor, Liz Babcock, lizbab2@gmail. com, and ask her to put you on the list to get a PDF copy e-mailed to you each month. We don t plan to stop sending paper copies, since we know most of you prefer that, but we thought you might also like to see the color version online. Historical Society of the Upper Mojave Desert P. O. Box 2001 Ridgecrest, CA 93556 ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED NONPROFIT ORG. U.S. POSTAGE PAID PERMIT NO. 9 RIDGECREST, CA ANNUAL MEETING, MAY 2014 Tuesday, May 20, socializing, 5:3 p.m., dinner at 6, Historic USO Building