Book Store Death Valley Ghost Towns Volume 2 Into the Jaws of Hell – Sutak, TomJefferson Hunt (1804-1879) was born in Bracken County, Kentucky, son of John Hunt and Martha Jenkins. He arrived in Utah in 1847. He was married to Celia Mounts in 1823 and Martha Jane Nease in 1846.Geology of Death Valley: Landforms, Crustal Extension, Geologic ...

from: Little Water – Many IndiansDisaster at the Colorado — by Charles W. Baley, 2002 . . . After dinner, while making preparations to get underway, it wasdiscovered that six oxen were missing. Several men were sent back tolook for them. After tracking the missing animals for some distance, thesearchers came upon four carcasses. Two of ...

Adapted from :Captivity of the Oatman Girls – by R.B. Stratton – 1858Editor – Walter FellerCHAPTER V Mojave Indian war club and weapons “IN the spring of 1854, the project of some exciting hostile expedition against a distant tribe was agitated among the Mohaves. It was sometime before any but the ‘Council’ knew of the definite purpose of ...

The March 1915 issue of Motor magazine contained an article by A. L. Westgard on “Motor Routes to the California Expositions.” The following is an excerpt from that article: Owing to the recent improvement of the transcontinental routes, it is no longer necessary to load one’s car down with all sorts of paraphernalia to combat the many difficulties ...

The Wallflower Collection A collection of historic and vintage photographs by a variety of photographers reworked and colorized. Working with these old photos like this has given me reassurance that the things I see, they would have seen in much the same way.

The importance of our railroad The Southern Pacific had a monopoly on Southern California’s Transcontinental Railroads. Nothing came in or went out on any other rails than Southern Pacific rails. However, the Southern Pacific at Needles needed to connect with the bridge at the Colorado River to the Atlantic and Pacific. In order to do ...

By Burton Frasher Photos of Wrightwood, California — 1928 – 1937

MAPS AND SURVEY – 1913BY ARTHUR R. HINKS, M.A., F.R.S. CHAPTER IIIroute traversingThe Explorer’s Route Map The first care of a traveler who passes through an unknown, or partially explored country, is to make a record of where he has been, and of the main features of the country along the route by which he has ...

In 1849 a wagon train bound for California split up with many of the members opting for a supposed shortcut to the goldfields. The shortcut did not work out and these intrepid wanderers found themselves stranded, lock, stock, barrel, and four children on the floor of a place that would become known as ‘Death Valley.’ Bennett’s ...

Summit Valley Gallery I, Summit Valley II, Summit Valley IV Summit Valley Summit Valley Summit Valley Summit Valley Cut in road near the summit Cajon Summit Summit Valley Trail below Cajon Summit … on the Sabbath look to the Mountain Peaks …

Summit Valley I, Summit Valley III, Summit Valley IV Cajon Summit Cajon Pass, I-15 Old wagon road, Cajon Pass Cajon Summit Las Flores Ranch Summit Valley Hesperia Summit Valley Summit Valley Summit Valley Summit Valley Summit Valley Summit Valley, Mojave River

Summit Valley II, Summit Valley III, Summit Valley IV Summit Valley Antelope Valley Wash Antelope Valley Wash Cajon Summit Northbound west of Summit Cajon Summit Summit Valley Highway 138, Horsethief Canyon Highway 138 Victor Valley

Mojave Trail Monument at Las Flores Ranch This secluded valley once bore primitive traffic and knew the lithe tread of native feet. The ancient Indian trail from the Colorado River to the coast led up the Mojave River into the mountains and climbed Sawpit Canyon to the summit of the range. The Piute Indians, using this trail, ...

Click the map to view a larger image It seems that people have made use of the San Andreas Fault long before automobile or even wagon roads were developed along its seam. Shown is a 1901 U.S.G.S. map where I have traced the route leading from near Blue Cut in the Cajon Pass, just about straight ...

Bits from an interesting 1961 article about by-passing downtown Barstow and modernizing transportation infrastructure at the geographical descendant of ‘Forks-in-the-Road‘ of pioneering times. Speaks to the morphology of the transportation corridor from the classic Route 66 to the modern Interstate 15 Freeway. Also, see Sidewinder Road for maps between Victorville and Barstow. On July 5, ...

Primary regional road network — USGS 1901 Not all-inclusive, this 1901 map shows basic transportation routes between the Cajon Summit on the west and east from there through either the San Bernardino Mountains or Lucerne Valley to where the two roads meet in the Big Bear Valley. This map below was made in 1883 and shows an ...

Then there were the “Northers,” which the heavy winds that swept down the Cajon Pass from the Mohave desert were called. They were much more severe then and sometimes very cold, blowing for about three days at a time. Many people treated them as they would rainy weather, and by way of derision, they were ...

Traders in the caravans coming to California did not just trade with those at the missions, but with any group or community they came across. The little settlement of Agua Mansa enjoyed the benefit of being the first village of any size once the mule trains dropped in from the mountains after crossing the deserts. Agua ...

During this phase of the journey the wagon train was doing much of its traveling at night, owing to the great daytime heat of the desert and the long distances between water holes. At regular intervals during the night they would stop for a short rest. At one of these rest stops, eleven-year-old Ellen Baley, ...

by Walter Feller A small dam was erected to raise the water level up against a gate to a flume that could be opened letting water from Deep Creek flow into a stone-walled channel. This channel ran along a carefully continuous slope to a headwater, into a pipeline across the Mojave River, then on to an ...

from; A Quick History of Water Wells by Hanna Landis Until the early 19th century, water wells were still dug by hand. In 1808 in the United States, mechanical drilling was invented by the Ruffner Brothers. The Ruffner Brothers successfully first used mechanical drilling in Charleston, West Virginia to access water and salt at Great Buffalo Lick. This ...

“It is often said that America has no real deserts. This is true in the sense that there are no regions such as are found in Asia and Africa where one can travel a hundred miles at a stretch and scarcely see a sign of vegetation—nothing but barren gravel, graceful, wavy sand dunes, hard, wind-swept ...

Georgia Walters – circa 1917 Millie was undeniably beautiful. She was quite clever also. She developed a system wherein she could chop wood without lifting a finger. Living at the post office and only store for miles around, she became quite astute at knowing when the cowboys and other such young men would be coming ...

from; The Captivity of the Oatman Girls — Chap. II “Though the sun had hid its glittering, dazzling face from us behind a tall peak in the distance, yet its rays lingered upon the summits that stretched away between us and the moon, and daylight was full upon us. Our hasty meal had been served. My ...

Originally, possibly a footpath for trade and society. There is no written record of that. After explorers, and then trade caravans wore in mule trails and braided paths as travelers do, to find the path of least resistance. Following the Mojave River, and to get to the hills and valleys of southern California ...

by Bret Harte – Francis Brett Hart, known as Bret Harte (August 25, 1836 – May 5, 1902), was an American short story writer and poet, best remembered for his short fiction featuring miners, gamblers, and other romantic figures of the California Gold Rush. I stood with my shawl and carpetbag in hand, gazing doubtingly on ...

This is Lake Tuendae (to be beheld) at the Desert Studies Center, Zzyzx. In the center of the lake is an island with a fountain. The name of the island in Enrico Caruso Island. Enrico Caruso Island is named Enrico Caruso Island in honor of Enrico Caruso but not Enrico Caruso the famous singer but ...

John Brown senior was prolific in early San Bernardino County history. He was a man of many careers; sailor, soldier, frontiersman, store owner, road builder, and community leader. John Brown was also a Spiritualist and wrote a book about his experiences titled ‘Medium of the Rockies.’ John Brown had a Spirit Guide who would come to ...

About this Collection The Death Valley Automobile Trip photograph album containing 76 prints appears to be the record of a sightseeing trip made from Los Angeles to Death Valley in 1926. Neither the diarist nor the photographer is identified. The album displays no one emphasis: it consists of a broad range of photographs, from automobiles and ...