230 W. Ridgecrest Blvd. • P. O. Box 2001, Ridgecrest, CA 93556 • 760-375-8456

October 2013Vol. 28 No. 8.5

Upper Mojave DesertTo see our schedule of events, visit us at www.hsumd.org or on Facebook at hsumd

Ever Heard of Ophir City? Now’s Your Chance To Learn Its Fascinating History

You won’t want to miss our October meeting, which brings back to our valley Nicholas Clapp, a popular speaker wherever he goes and the author of Gold & Silver in the Mojave: Images of a Last Frontier, a local bestseller ever since he spoke about it at the Maturango Museum this

past January. At our October meeting, Nick will speak on his search for the lost city

of Ophir.  The meeting will be held at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 15, at the Historic USO Building, 230 W. Ridgecrest Blvd.

  Somewhere in the Mojave Desert, an Ophir City once rose and fell.  But where?  No one seemed to know. That mystery motivated Nick and his wife Bonnie to track the place down.  They were aided by the chance discovery of an 1863 El Paso Mountains map – and by high-tech space imagery.  (Working with NASA, Nick had previously discovered a lost city in southern Arabia.)   And indeed, they found the site – marked by a cluster of springs, footprints of buildings, and datable artifacts.

There was more to the story, an unexpected surprise.  Ophir City, it seems, was abandoned in the wake of  the gruesome murder of its leading citizen. By whom? No one was sure. Indians, it was first believed.   But then the blame shifted to outlaws in cahoots with a slippery stock promoter. The answer was to come in the story of a second related murder, off in Deadwood, South Dakota. 

The Ophir City site, incidentally, is 10 airline miles from down- town Ridgecrest.

Nick’s family tree has roots in the Mojave.  A great uncle was treasurer of Goldfield’s famed Florence Mine; another relative toured

Author-filmmaker Nicholas Clapp speaking at the Maturango Museum this past January.

Photo by Liz Babcock

See p. 7

See p. 3 for details about HSUMD’s participation in the 50th anniversary of Ridgecrest’s incorporation as a city! Please put these events (all at

the Historic USO Building) on your calendar now:

{ Nov. 1, 11 a.m Time Capsule celebration. { Nov. 2, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Slide show of historic photos. { Nov 2, 8 p.m., Big Band Xpress

and HSUMD hosting a ’40s Dance to close out the day’s events.

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October 2013Vol. 28 No. 8.5

Report on CollectionsA fter much thinking about last month’s progress, I find my report to be a bit

uneventful.  My volunteers are making great progress on sorting, completing inventories, scanning and filing — all of which is very exciting to the archi-vist and not very astounding to the reader.  

We have of our newspapers from the 1950s sorted, and inventory is in progress.  The more recent years are now moving along. The maps are well in order, and we have purchased a storage rack. The maps will be pro-

tected from any more wear caused by folding and unfolding and will be labeled for easy access.  Of course, entering all this into the computer awaits. 

The library continues to grow, and space is about gone — looks like an additional bookcase is next.

This month I actually managed to go through a few more files of infor-mation collected by Lou Pracchia, Billie Hise and Bruce Wertenburger, merging, filing and scanning.  A big thank you to families donating these collections to HSUMD and thank you to new board member Melody Hollinger for doing a bit extra and helping with these files. The truth is that this process is slow going because it’s easy to get distracted by the inter-esting reading. As I mentioned all this true collection organizing isn’t very flashy. I feel quite good about all this until someone asks if our collections are all digitized.  

Our focus this month will going through our existing exhibits to select

photos, etc., to celebrate the growth of our community and the 50-year an-niversary of Ridgecrest becoming of-ficially a city.  We plan to have display boards help to tell the story.

I nearly forgot — I did do some-thing out of the ordinary for a collec-tions director.  HSUMD was invited to the Kern County Board of Trade show and tell for nonprofits.  This was held on the grounds of the Kern County Museum under the trees with dinner and entertainment.  There was a great showing of nonprofits from East Kern — 10 of the 15 attendees.  

Mick Gleason was there along with other supervisors and Kern County officials.  Mick was particularly proud to have so many from his district in attendance.  Robyn, Mick’s wife, com-mented on how nice it was to be at an event where she knew so many of the people.  

Nice to network and have the com-pany of my husband for an afternoon and evening.

— Carol Porter

Genealogical Committee

Sorry the newsletter didn’t get out in time for the October meeting, which sounded great. I’m including the article as Tex wrote it because it has a lot of information about other upcoming meet-ings. — ed.

Hey, Genealogical Committee people! Welcome back after our sum-mer recess. We did have a September meeting, but attendance was not high. We’ll do better in October.

On the second Tuesday of Octo-ber — that’s Tuesday, Oct. 8 — we’ll start a meeting at 7 p.m. at the His-toric USO Building. The subject of our discussion will be “Locating Your Ancestor’s Birthplace” and there will be handouts available.

As a heads-up, November we’ll talk about what it takes to apply for membership in the Daughters or the Sons of the American Revolution. In January 2014 we’ll talk about “Cem-eteries” and related issues. In Febru-ary 2014 will be an open house that will address our genealogical research library and our research computer and what we have available.

But FIRST, come to our October meeting! See you soon.

— Tex Hoppus

Rita Petersen (at left) and Carol

Porter look over the beautiful Miss Ridgecrest-China Lake scrapbook

Rita created, then donated to

HSUMD. We encourage former Miss Ridgecrest-China Lakes to

come in and see it. Carol will make it available for view-ing any time she is at the building (Tuesdays and

Wednesdays, 11-3, or call HSUMD to

make other ar-rangements).

Photo by Donna McCrohan Rosenthal

October 2013Vol. 28 No. 8.5

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HSUMD Events at Ridgecrest 50th!

{ Nov. 1, 11 a.m., HSUMD will install a time capsule to be opened in 2063.  Mayor Dan Clark will join President Mike Leming for the burial ceremony.  Materials reflecting Ridgecrest as it is today will be preserved as a surprise for a future generation 50 years from now.

{ Nov. 2, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.   “Photographs of Change: Images From the Past 50 Years” will be shown at the Historic USO.  See a collection of old photos featuring familiar and unfamiliar locales of Ridgecrest’s history. Free.

{ Nov. 2, 8 p.m. Big Band Xpress and HSUMD will host a ’40’s Dance at the Historic USO to close out the day’s 50th Anniversary Celebration.  At 7 p.m., Ken Sanger will offer free dance lessons for those wanting to learn the moves of yesteryear.

 I think that’s it for the HSUMD participation. Other events of the day will be scheduled around Ridgecrest, so watch your newspapers for details.

— Alan Alpers

Mark Your Calendar!The month of November at the HSUMD will also have the traditional Black Friday Shopping at the Historic USO, featuring 15 artists and crafters to help kick off the holiday shopping season. Friday, Nov. 29, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Find that unique, one-of-a-kind gift, or just stop in for free coffee and visit.

— Alan Alpers

Specia l Event Next MonthWhile you’re planning your No-

vember activities, please plan to come to the Historic USO for a free infor-mal lunch and a very special program, hosted by all three of the historical organizations in town: HSUMD, the Maturango Museum, and the China Lake Museum Foundation.

On Nov. 9, 2013, just 70 years and one day after the establishment of the Naval Ordnance Test Station, Dr. Charles C. Lauritsen’s grandchildren — Margaret Press and Eric Lauritsen — will join us to reminisce about their famed grandfather — the man who not only picked the site for NOTS but also was in charge of the WWII Navy-Caltech rocket program.

In the audience and perhaps shar-ing some “Willy stories” will be Mary Fowler and Martha Schoenemann, the daughters of Dr. William A. Fowler, who was also on the very small team of NOTS founding fathers and who later won the Nobel Prize for his semi-nal work in nuclear physics.

A simple lunch buffet will start at 1 p.m., with the Lauritsens’ photo-il-lustrated talk to begin at around 2:30. All this will happen at the Historic USO on Saturday, Nov. 9!

‘Movies are better than ever’… at the Historic USO

Wow! What a team… our current Classic Film series to run through Febru-ary, features famous movie couples in some of Hollywood’s most popular classic motion pictures.  So far, we have seen dashing Errol Flynn and beautiful Olivia De Havilland, and super sleuths Nick and Nora, other-

wise known as William Powell and Myrna Loy (along with their cute canine , Asta).   Coming soon in this series will be the films of Abbott and Costello, Rock Hudson and Doris Day,  Spencer Tracy and Katha-rine Hepburn, John Wayne and Maureen  O’Hara, and even Roy Rogers and Dale Evans.  Can’t give out the titles, so stop by or call the USO for more info.    Films play every Flex week Wednesday at 7 pm (doors open at 6:30).  Come early

and enjoy a “Crumville” Jumbo Hot Dog bargain plate!

My “partner in crime,” aka my film col-laborator, Donna McCrohan Rosenthal and I are planning somewhat of a “sequel” to our successful “Leonard B. Stern/Hollywood 100 years Classic Silent Film Festival.   Hmmm?!… watch this space in future months for more details! 

It has been a wonderful experience working with the above-mentioned Donna.  We met at last spring’s Ridgecrest Desert Wildflower Festival.  She stopped by the HSUMD booth at Kerr McGee Center, and after a few mo-ments of chat, we both realized how much we had in common with our mutual love of film.  She immediately dragged me over to her Ridge Writers’ booth to discuss her idea for a silent film series — something fresh and different for our local movie lovers.  The result was a very popular series that showed the silent

See p. 7

During the 1950s enter-tainment options surfaced in Ridgecrest did surface to try to draw people off base. These greatly enhanced the quality of life in Ridgecrest: « In 1950, a quarter-

mile track was installed southwest of the Trian-gle, near the front gate of NOTS. The area already had grandstands as the site for the first three Stampedes. The new China Lake Speedway offered jalopy racing, as well as some crash derby shows.

« Next to the speed-way were miniature golf and The Izzy Dizzy arcade and roller rink.

« In 1951 came the announcement of a planned 500-car Drive Inn — at an undisclosed location. Interestingly, it needed the approval of both the U.S. Department of the Commerce and the National Production Authority. By 1954 the Crest Drive Inn on Inyokern Road was installing a “super colossal” screen and hosting 4th of July festivi-ties, complete with a beauty contest and fireworks. Entry was $2 per vehicle – no matter how many people you could squeeze into your vehicle.

« The Desert Recreation Center opened with a bowling alley in 1953.

« The Ridgecrest Swimming Pool opened in 1954. Summer attendance was more than 200 daily. While Ridgecrest had a swimming pool, the Chamber couldn’t figure out how to fund it. The good news was that once the school district kicked in money through some arm-twisting, entry fees could then pay for the staffing of life-guards. The head lifeguard in charge was one Ralph Bernard.

« The Desert Empire Fair of 1954 continued to grow and was declared “the best ever.”

« Lake Isabella was filled by 1953. By 1954 waterskiing, fishing and sailing were advertised, placing those activi-ties within a short drive of Indian Wells Valley residents.

« Too many taverns to list came to life: Pappalardo’s, the Porthole, the Bamboo Club, J&J’s, the China Lake Tavern, The Village, just to name a few. Most had live entertainment nightly, except J&J’s, which advertised its drinks as cheaper since it didn’t offer performances.

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October 2013Vol. 28 No. 8.5

See p. 5

By Alan Alpers « Ridgecrest — the 1950sIn this issue, we conclude Alan Alpers’ popular glimpses of our town in the 1950s. Alan wrote this series in homage to the

City of Ridgecrest, which this November will celebrate the 50th anniversary of its incorporation. Let’s hope he continues on into the 1960s and beyond!

Desert Empire Fair, late 1950s when it was located just to the west of where Home Depot is now. The community was raising funds for a permanent fairgrounds but had not yet opened them. The photo looks north with Norma Street running diagonally at left and China Lake Boulevard out of frame at right. Pat Burke collection

October 2013Vol. 28 No. 8.5

Ridgecrest — the 1950s From p. 4

5

« Drag racing, hosted by the Dust Devils Inc. began at Inyokern Airport in 1954.

« The TV boosters, then a new volunteer effort, added a new antenna to Laurel Mountain in 1954. Channels 7 and 11 were now available, to complement Channels 2 and 4 already offered. Trona reported better TV reception as well. George Sutherlen was heading the effort. The Dust Devils helped with fundraising.

« People say things never really change. One example of this was when Archie Warner, and later Rex Gill, spent much of their Chamber of Commerce governance getting volunteers to help clean up Ridgecrest, as there was a lot of trash blowing about, and there were a lot of unsightly old shacks or unkempt property, presumably left over from the Crumville days. Ridgecrest needed to “improve its appearance, if we are going to attract business investment and new residents.”

« Political correctness proved to be present back then as well, with Joe Fox, griping in his “Plain and Fancy” newspaper column that the Dept. of Agriculture was selling butter to the “Ruskies” at half the price Americans pay. Fox stated that if the American women found out, they would be likely to move to Russia. He had to apologize to both the local branch of the American Association of University Wom-en and the Business Professional Women for “misjudging their patriotism.”

« Finally, the paper (under editor Archie Peckham) editorialized that “Peckham zephyrs” plagued the Desert Em-pire Fair, once again, blowing things over and making things somewhat unpleasant. Seems the wind always blew at fair time.

Despite the growth, Ridgecrest couldn’t shake the small-town feel. In March 1954, the Times Herald reported that the new fire truck delivered by Kern County Fire Department to Ridgecrest, saw its “first workout when a fire did about $15 worth of damage to the trailer of Fred Langford.” Also around that time, “the Hideaway Desperados pulverized the Desert Liquid Gas outfit” in bowling. Both were certainly front-page news.

By 1957, the members of the Chamber of Commerce had to be going bonkers. Imagine the number of committees, the number of processes to be learned about city infrastructure, and the number of volunteer hours spent managing the growth, while each member was trying to manage his own business and raise a family.

In the 1950s, Ridgecrest morphed into the lead community in the area. It had become a destination point for both shopping and entertainment, now reversing the flow of consumers into Ridgecrest from neighboring Trona, Randsburg, Lone Pine and Kernville.

With this growth, the Chamber had finally decided to begin its final duty of governance. It had become time to ex-plore incorporating the township. And it would take six years to do it.

1954 ad for drag races at Inyokern Airport.

October 2013Vol. 28 No.8.5

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Glimpses of Last Month’s Activities

Our Business Members —please patronize them!

Allen County Public Library, Genealogy DepartmentAnna Marie Bergens, RealtorBest Western China Lake InnBevLen Haus – Bed & BreakfastCal-Sun PoolsCarriage InnComfort InnCordell ConstructionDeathValley.comEarth LandscapingEcono-LodgeExplore Historic California

The Flower ShoppeHeritage Inn High Sierra Auto & Truck RepairPhyllis M. Hix, AttorneyHockett’s Building SupplyIWV InsuranceJacobs Technology Inc. Naval Systems GroupJRP Historical Consulting, LLCDick Lewis Domestic Water SystemsThe Library PressJack & Dana Lyons, Realtors

Maturango MuseumNetzer-Russell Consulting, LLCNevins Tech. ConsultantsThe News Review (Farris)Pleistocene FoundationRed Rock BooksRidgecrest Moving & StorageS&M Coins & CollectiblesSierra Odyssey, LLCSierra Wave Tank SalesSouthern Sierra Medical ClinicGary P. Staab & Assoc., Inc.The Swap Sheet

Happy fans rock out to the joyous sounds of Unconditional Life (onstage from left Brent Boberg, Tyler Thoms, and Albert Bermudez. The band played to benefit our Veterans Memorial Building. Awesome!

Photo by Andrew Sound

Winners of the Weird Tales

treasure hunt show off their

prizes. Second from left is mys-tery adventurer Ted Faye, who showed us his

newest video pro-duction, “The Lost

River of Gold.”

Photo by Andrew Sound

October 2013Vol. 28 No. 8.5

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the desert’s boomtowns as proprietor of an itinerant minstrel show. Nick himself has an equally fascinating background. An award-winning author and documentary filmmaker, he has studied, filmed and written about the deserts of the world. 

His first professional break came when he produced and directed “The Great Mojave Des-ert,” a documentary for CBS and the National Geographic Society. 

He has also written books about Old World deserts, including The Road to Ubar: Finding the Atlantis of the Sands and Sheba: Through the Desert in Search of the Legendary Queen. 

Researching the second book led him to an interest in the Queen of Sheba Mine in the heart of the Mojave Desert, which led to a fascination with photographs of the Mojave desert, which resulted in Gold & Silver in the Mojave (available in our gift shop, and if you don’t have a copy, you’re going to want one). 

The Society meets on the third Tuesday of most months. Meetings are free and all are wel-come to attend. For more information on this or future meetings, call HSUMD at 760-375-8456. — Andrew Sound

Raymond Kelso, his copy of Nick Clapp’s book firmly in hand, speaks with the au-thor about his adventures.

Photo by Liz

Ophir City From p. 1

Here’s a tantalizing glimpse of Ophir City on that 1863 map of the El Pasos that got Nick Clapp started on his latest adventure.

film to be a much more sophisticated and involving art form than perceived. And, on a personal level, a lifelong friendship had been born.  Thank you, Donna, for all you do for HSUMD.

And speaking of movies, the World Premiere of Ted Faye’s “Weird Tales VI: The Lost River of Gold” was a smash hit at the lavish Carriage Inn dinner and at a day-long festival at the His-toric USO.  The event was months in the planning, and the sparkling results showed the effort put in by many devoted HSUMD volunteers. Bravo to all!

Yes, indeed, “Movies are better than ever” at our Historic USO.

— Nick Rogers

Movies From p. 3

In Our Gift ShopOver a dozen new book titles have been added this last

month, including some nostalgic books of Americana. Perfect for early holiday shoppers. Our best-sellers, John DiPol’s Tales of the Upper Mojave Desert and Cheryl McDonald’s Abandon-ment Issues – both make excellent gifts. — Alan Alpers

81/2 — Not a Fellini Movie but an Editorial MistakeAfter our September issue came out, I received a kind message from Kathy Burd of

the Genealogy Center in the Allen County Public Library pointing out that the June issue had been numbered 6 and that the September issue was 8, so where was Issue 7? After a couple of emails, we agreed that numbering this issue 8.5 would make the total number of issues come out at 10 and therefore make life a bit easier for the genealogi-cal librarians. Nice to know that our issues are being read and kept! — ed.

Historical Society of the Upper Mojave DesertP. O. Box 2001Ridgecrest, CA 93556

MEETING OF OCTBER 2013Tuesday, Oct. 15, 7 p.m., Historic USO Building

ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED

NONPROFIT ORG.U.S. POSTAGE PAID

PERMIT NO. 9RIDGECREST, CA

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.

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.

DIRECTORSMike Leming, President 760-371-7270, inspirationalcountry@ hotmail.comDoug Lueck, Vice President 760-375-8202, racvb@filmdeserts.comMelody Hollinger, Secretary mhollinger@epsilonsystems.comAndrew Sound, Treasurer & Publicist 760-608-7296, afsound@verizon.net

John Abbott, Building Mgr., Bldg. Rental 760-375-5709, jga2nja@yahoo.com Chuck Cordell, Building cordell.construction@yahoo.comTex Hoppus, Genealogical Committee 760-446-3370, tex.hoppus@verizon.netScott McEntee, Audiovisuals, Stage Mgr.

760-677-1026, smcentee28@gmail.com Bill Pitman, Membership, Hospitality 760-498-6495, wrpnrc@gmail.comCarol Porter, Accessions & Exhibits 760-446-3400, carporter@gmail.com

COMMITTEE LEADERSAlan Alpers, Gift Shop Manager aalpers@verizon.net Liz Babcock, Newsletter Editor 760-375-7900, lizbab2@gmail.comJohn Di Pol, Historian 760-375-2610, cjdp@ridgenet.netJim Kenney, Field Trips Coordinator 760-371-2458, rubiblu@verizon.net

Nick Rogers, Movie Nite Coordinator Wnr428@hotmail.com or call 760-375-8456 for info Nick Whisnant, Asst. Building Mgr.

760 382-0014, nwhisnant@hotmail. comMatthew Zubia, Fundraising 760-793-2107, zubia5@verizon.net