A Western Magazine, Puhlished at

fro.u Knotf's Berry Plaee"

Ghost Town Village Buena Park!! {;alif.

Volume 2
Number 7 BUENA PARK, OCTOBER, 1942
 Page 2
The Ghost Town News
Western Magazine
Published bi-monthly at Knott', Berry Place, Buena
Park, California. Single copies 10 cent.. Annual
subscription (six i.sue.) 50 cent•• Two year. (12
i•• ue.) One DolIar. Postage paid anywhere in the
U.S. A. .
NICHOLS FIELD WILSON • • • •
Address all communications and make all remit­
tance. payable to Ghost Town News, Buena Park,
California.
Vol. 2 OCTOBER, 1942
Copytight 1942
AN EDITORIAL
By WALTER KNOTT
As all my friends know, I am a fanner
-a grower of berries--and not a writer.
Many letters come to me from all over
the country from folks who want to know
about the things we do down here on the
farm and I would like to help each one
who is earnestly and sihcerely attempting
to establish a successful business in our
country of free enterprise.
First I would like to say that Knott's
Berry Place is owned outright by Mrs.
Knott, myself and our four children, Rus­
sell, Virginia, Elizabeth (Toni). and Mar­
ian. No one else owns any part of it and
the business, nor any part of it, has ever
been offered for sale. It is not for sale.
Knott's Berry Place is our home, our busi­
ness, the place where our heart is and the
place where we pursue our hobbies and
enjoy the work we have grown up with,
Our business is growing. In July of this
year we broke all records for any single
month in the number of dinners served,
August was even bigger than July. Un­
fortunately we haven't the facilities for
serving as many as we could. and this
season all of us have had to work excep­
tionally hard in an endeavor to serve our
patrons. With the scarcity of labor our
employees, many of whom have served for
years. have found their work very heavy.
You may be sure that the fine work of
this body of loyal men and women is
greatly appreciated. Many of ,them are
almost members of the family and take as
. much pride in our success as we do.
"How did you go about building up a
business where you serve more than 5.000
dinners Sunday after Sunday?" is a ques­
tion asked the other day. To answer that
GHOST TOWN NEWS
question. as you can well understand. is
a pretty large order. So many factors
have entered into what success we have
had and I don't believe credit can be given
anyone factor. What is important is that
we feel that we have just gotten a good
start. We want to build this place into
an institution that will be a credit to all
of California and have plans ready right
Editor now for many developments that can be
started when the war is won. We need
more dining room space. more kitchen
space and 'more equipment and we want
to build a Buffalo Steak House in Ghost
No. 7 Town and a little theatre. All of these
"Ians must. of necessity. await the day of
Victory.
When I try to analyze the reason for
our continued growth I am always inclined
to give a lot of credit to our personal
interest in every detail of the business and
to our attention to the little things, I be­
lieve that almost every business has some
hidden profits in little overlooked things.
As an illustration I point to the picture
below of one of our daughters. Elizabeth
(Toni), and the artichoke business. We
have three acres in artichokes here on the
farm and the yield is satisfactory and the
profit too, but one day our daughter who
has an eye for beautiful flowers, suggested
that it was a shame to allow these lovely
blossoms to go to waste. "Let me place
them on sale for only a nickel apiece.
Dad," she said, "for many people will
appreciate an opportunity to get such
beautiful flowers for purposes of decora­
tion at such a low price."
We placed them on sale and soon they
were selling at the rate of $8 to $10 a
day. That was more than two years ago
and each season we display and sell these
blossoms. This season we sold more than
$350 worth of blossoms from this three­
acre patch of artichokes. More than a
hundred dollars per acre net profit-addi­
tional profits-from our artichokes. Many
others could do the same thing. In one ot
our nursery catalogs we ,advised chicken
ranchers to plant a few rows of rhubarb
which, in this section. is marketable all
through the year. Sell the rhubarb. we
told them, and feed the leaves which grow
profusely, to the chickens-a fine green
food for them. Yes, it's the little things
that count.
"Why did you build Ghost Town?" is a
question frequently asked. Ghost Town
really was started as a hobby and it proved
to be of great interest to our visitors and
helped to keep many entertained while
they waited for dinner. Now Ghost Town
has grown into quite a place and attracts
visitors from all over. There is no admis­
sion charge and all are welcome. I am of
the opinion that in days to come we can
make it a real monument to the courage
and valor of our early pioneers and hope
that it may become an inspiration for the
youth of our land. Actually Ghost Town
has just gotten started, although on some
days as many as ten thousand folks visit
it. Many additional buildings and attrac­
tions will 'be added just as soon as condi­
tions will permit.
"Why do you publish Ghost Town
News?" a good many have asked. While
the first number was gotten out more than
a year ago as a souvenir to tell folks
about our place and to give them a glimpse
of the old ghost towns of the west. the
idea of a western magazine caught on and
the encouragement received made it seem
feasible to get out a regular illustrated
magazine picturing for all the old west
and the new. With this issue, Ghost
Town News begins its second year of
regular publication. Six issues each year.
one every other month-and at only fifty
cents per year. Each issue contains 15 or
more feature articles and many illustra­
tions and down here on the farm we think
readers get big value for the dime they
pay for a copy. Early subscribers are
already renewing their subscription and
that indicates their satisfaction. Some folks
think it a nice souvenir to send back east
to friends and send a list of names to have
a subscription furnished with their com­
pliments, All subscriptions received during
the next 30 days will be given a copy of
the 36-page illustrated Souvenir Edition
and a copy of the four-color picture of
the oil painting "Courage." I am very
proud of this picture and would like to
see a copy on the walls of every kitchen
and workshop in the land for it seems to
me an appropriate thought in these trou­
blous times.
. I should like to again say that all, old
and young, are invited to visit Ghost Town
and there is no admission charge, To
those who are interested but can't come
down as often as they like perhaps Ghost
Town News, our magazine, will be of
interest and it will be a pleasure to add
your name to our family of subscribers.
Elizabeth (Toni) and an artichoke blossom.
BIOBsoms add $100.00 per year per
acre to vegetable growing.

The Wizard of the Pockets
From the beginning of the gold era of
California the supernatural in some form
has ever played a considerable role in the
quest for that cunningly-hid treasure. Even
Marshall, the Jason of the Golden Fleece,
as here exemplified, had a certain flair for
what was termed spiritualism; but whether
or not he sought direct application thereof
is a question hidden beneath his own
reticence.
In any event, during the weeks follow­
ing his historic find, the report grew that
the mill race episode in which. Marshall
figured was mere pretense-that it was in
reality a search for gold directed by the
"spirits." It booted nothing that the dis­
coverer was to deny such imputation, vio­
lently and decisively; a large element of
the newly-created miner clan still believed.
Moreover, they sought by spying, cajolery,
eVen threats, to extort his supposed secret
from him-to profit by some supernatural
power which he was presumed to possess.
Out of such C;(cumstances was to enierge
the taciturn, resentful James Wilson Mar­
shall to impose himself something of a pall
upon the new State for beyond a quarter
of a century.
But the belief that the supernatural de­
creed success or failure in mining ven­
tures was not confined to the pioneering
days. It manifested itself in lode and chan­
nel projects, and still does.
Several authentic accounts have come to
me of claims being located. shafts or tun­
nels driven. devious drifts run, with no
more of tangible basis than dreams or the
fancied word of "the spirits." In fact when,
in the course of reopening projects. a prac­
tical and understanding miner comes upon
old workings of particular irregularity and
weirdness he quickly senses the reason
therefor-the occult in some form has
toiled there.
I am convinced that. first and last. many
hundreds of thousands of dollars has been
expended in the development of gold and
silver mines with no more tangible promise
traveled.
of rewards than those afforded by dreams.
But in due course a change would come
visions. or other unrealities.
over the half-comatose Pike Bell. Then
But exists another side to the picture.
Call it intuition. hunches. sklll in reading
the rocks. or just plain luck. as you will­
the fact remains that finds have been made
and fortunes realized in the most unlikely
of places. and not through chance or acci­
dent. This phenomenon applies more par­
ticularly to the quests of the so-called
pocket-hunter. the persistent roamer of the
wilds who seems able to uncover nuggets
where his fellow seekers· can scarcely find
I. colors.
! tions. His field was portions of Placer,
r Perhaps the most notable exponent of the
art of pocket-hunting in the northern mines
was A. 0. Bell. What follows is a brief
account of the Missouri immigrant who
came to be known as the "Wizard of the
Pockets."
EXPLOITS OF PIKE BELL
Being from Missouri (no matter what
county) the nickname, "Pike." had been
fastened upon A. O. Bell long before his
party reached the Sierra. and thereafter
GHOST TOWN NEWS
By EDMUND KINYON
he was never called aught else. Now. his
exploits having attained half-legendary
sta tus. it is still Pike Bell.
Pike Bell was of that innumerable com­
pany who did their first mining at Old
Hangtown ( present Placerville), and the
time was mid-summer, '51. The job was
shoveling gold-bearing gravel into a rocker
perhaps long-tom. As it chanced. the occa­
sional savage heat of the foothills was that
day hitting a high mark. A half-shift. prob­
ably six or seven hours. was enough for
Pike. Roundly, he swore that he did not
want a fortune that bad. Then and there
he resigned. saying he would look around
a bit on his own account. From thence
on to the end of his life Bell was his own
boss.
"Pike" A, O. Bell with Massive Watch
Chain fashioned hom his
own gold nuggets.
With no knowledge of geology. miner­
alogy, formations or even the primeval
folk~lore of gold mining, Pike Bell set forth
as a pocket-hunter. and from that first day
was successful-so amazingly successful
that ere his death. some forty years later.
he was accredited with recovering in ex­
cess of a million dollars in virgin gold.
Strangely, the greater number of his takes
came from unpromising or abandoned loca­
Eldorado and Nevada counties, with the
town of Auburn centering his activities.
Scores tried to fathom Pike Bell's meth­
ods. He was watched. imitated, implored
to disclose how it could be that virtually
wherever he chose to drive his pick or
employ men to dig, there gold in commer­
cial quantities was found. But Pike merely
shook his head. "I don't know myself,"
he would say; "it jist kinda comes to me."
As the placers waned. Bell expanded
Page 3
his operations to include vein outcrops
with a liking for partly decomposed string­
ers. A piece of loose quartz (float. miners
call jt) was a challenge to him to find its
higher-up source. In a ravine, he would
estimate the point where washed gold
would naturally settle. Such methods are.
of course. used more or less by all experi­
enced prospectors.
But Pike Bell went further. He would
dig in the most unfavorable places, and
more often than otherwise with success.
One of his exploits out of many was to
pay a discouraged prospector twenty dol­
lars for a lode on Bald Mountain. a few
miles out of Auburn. after a merely casual
glance into the seven-foot hole which had
been dug. But before the seller was out
of sight, Pike was in that hole and digging.
Within a few weeks he had recovered
. $167,000 in gold.
By the end of the ·6O's. his fortune
secure. Pike Bell boarded one of the early
Central Pacific trains, eastbound. to pay a
visit to his old home in Missouri. Across
his breast he wore an immense watch
chain, fashioned by goldsmiths, from his
own nuggets. Beyond doubt. the natives
were duly impressed. A buxom Missouri
girl admired the chain and its wearer so
fervently that a romance developed. Pike
returned to Auburn with his bride and
atop that same Bald Mountain built a
spreading country home with. notably
broad porches.
Significance attaches to those wide
porches. One was always secluded from
the sun and from visitors. Pike caused to
be built for his exclusive use two ample
armchairs of the old saloon type. During
his occasional moods, it was his custom
to sit in one and place his feet in the
other. There he would repose for hours.
perhaps days. Family members, at his
orders. kept away. To his wife he would
explain, briefly. that he was reviewing in
his mind ground over which he had
all was action. His shouts for the hired
man. who knew his moods. could be heard
all over the premises.
"Hitch-up! Hitch-up!" he would com­
mand, imperiously. "We're goin' mining."
The retainer. expecting such call and hav­
ing all in readiness. would quickly put
team to a stout buckboard containing a.
few light mining tools.
Bell would take the reins and drive
straight to an obViously pre-cietermined lo­
cation; perhaps close by. more likely miles
distant. There he would indicate where
digging should start.
Soon, in the large majority of cases. qold
would be found.
Bell's vein and channel mining was of
the type known as "gophering." shallow
workings. When asked why he did not
follow his leads to greater depth his answer
invariably was­
"I want no shaft I can't jump out of."
Page 4
A T on of Gold - Gold; Always Gold: Yellow Gold!
(The Klondike Nugget. The Ii...t newspaper
which was published in Dawson in 1898 in­
spired Russell A. Bankson to author the book,
The Klondike Nugget, printed by Caxton
Printers ($2.50). A fast-moving, authentic,
dramatic story of the Klondike gold rush and
the exciting eareer of founder and editor
Eugene C. Allen. Here i. the lirst chapter
and you'll enjoy every page and the 21 ilIus­
trations.-Editor.
A TON OF GOLD
Four little words flashed over the tele­
graph wires electrified a world on July 17,
1897.
They inoculated the red blood of Amer~
ica with a mad, lustful gold fever-a fever
which is quenchless, driving its victims
forever on, into the face of death-to death
itself.
"A ton of goldl"
On July 13, 1897, the tugboat Sea Lion,
under the command of Captain C. W.
Sprague, slipped her moorings at Seattle,
Washington, and steamed quietly up the
Sound, into the Strait of Juan de Fuca,
where for two days she lay waiting off
Cape Flattery.
There were few to see her depart; even
fewe;' who knew what her mission might
be--<lr that she carried newspaper report­
ers from a Seattle daily, the Post-Intelli­
gencer.
Late in the afternoon of July 16, the
patience of those aboard the Sea. Lion was
rewarded with sight of the incoming coast
steamer, Portland, plowing through the
swells of the Strait on her regular run
from St. Michael's, Alaska. Hailing the
ocean vessel, the master of the tugboat
asked and was granted permission to board.
Shortly thereafter several of the news­
papermen left the Portland, returning to
the tug, which churned the water in a
race back to Port Townsend and the tele­
graph wires.
"A ton of gold!"
That was the keynote of stories splashed
over the first page of the Post-I ntelligencer
in a special edition the next morning; the
theme of the news centering about the frail
little steamer, Portland. corning into port
from St. Michael's, Alaska, with a ton of
gold aboard, and with a passenger list of
bearded, roughly-dressed prospectors who
carried their gold in buckskin sacks and
wooden boxes. They came from the north
-a land deSignated as the "Klondike,"
which lay within the shadow of the Arctic
Circle-from an interior region which two
days before had gripped the attention of
the world with the arrival of another gold­
laden ship, the Excels~or, of San Francisco.
The Portland was nosing down Puget
Sound toward Seattle with a ton of gold
aboard!
Clerks forgot to wait on customers; cus­
tomers forgot to make their purchases;
heads of firms forgot their business; house­
wives forgot their dusting. Industry
stopped. The population of Seattle moved
en masse to the waterfront where the
Portland was to tie up between eight and
nine o'clock in the morning.
Those people wanted to see that ton of
gold. They wanted to see the men who
were bringing it out of the frozen north­
the Klondike. They wanted to hear about
it, to dream about it, to catch the gold
fever, to rush up there into the unfriendly
land and scoop up the gold for themselves.
GHOST TOWN NEWS
Gold, gold, gold!
Far across the Sound a thin smudge of
black smoke wedged into the horizon.
"She's coming!" the cry went up.
Larger loomed the steamer. Its siren
sent forth a greeting to the restless, milling
throngs.
"Where's the gold! Let's see the gold!"
Down from Pioneer Place came a detail
of marching men armed with rifles.
"Make way for the Wells-Fargo
guards!" The cry rumbled the length of
the docks. "The Wells-Fargo guards are
coming to meet the Portland!"
An aisle opened; the guards took their
places at the dock's edge. The smoke
rolled black from grimy funnels, and an­
other throbbing bellow set all the air to
vibrating.
The famous old boat was jockeying for
a position at the dock. Faces showed along
the deck railing now.
"The gold miners from the Klondike!"
"A ton of gold!"
The mob nearly stampeded then. push­
ing closer and closer--<:Iamoring to see
the ton of gold.
Clanging bells! Rattling chains! Hoarse
shoutsl Wells~Fargo guards, with rifles
ready, formed on either side of the lowered
gangplank. Over the crowd, over the whole
Seattle waterfront, fell a breathless silence.
Bearded, roughly-dressed men started
marching single file down the gangplank,
between the rows of guards.
A powerfully built Klondiker, whose
broad shoulders sagged under the weight
of two buckskin sacks which he balanced
by hooking calloused thumbs into the draw­
strings, headed the line of prospectors.
Behind him carne another, and then an­
other and another-a long procession of
heavy-booted. horny-fisted, weather-beaten
sourdoughs out of the north-each laden
with sack or box of gold. The gangplank
trembled under their steady. stumbling
advance.
"A ton of gold!"
Some of the buckskin sacks were larger
than others; some carried two. three. even
four sacks. And a few strained under the
weight of wooden boxes filled with the
precious yellow metal.
The crowds surged nearer. the cheers
rang louder. The guards marched with
their rifles on their shoulders; the pros­
pectors from the Klondike slouched alonq
between them, straight to the Wells-Fargo
offices, where each in tum was to weigh
in his gold that soon would be on its way
to the mint at San Francisco.
But the throngs had seen the ton of gold
and the world had heard about it. It was
real!
EUGENE C. ALLEN
In his book, The Klondike Nugget,
author Bankson not only gives you a vivid
. authentic picture of the Klondike but also
the career of Eugene C. Allen, founder,
editor and publisher of Klondike's great
newspaper and if that chapter doesn't cause
you to want the whole story the follOWing
from Mr. Bankson's preface to the book
surely will.
Before me on my desk are spread two
small newspaper volumes bound in plain
,black leather.
Across from me sits a thin-faced, steel­
eyed, young-old man whose forehead is
creased with deep wrinkles but whose hair
is untouched with silver.
"Allen:' he introduces himself crisply.
"Eugene C. Allen."
"And these?"-indicating the volumes.
"The only existing flIes of a newspaper
which played an important part in the
Klondike gold stampede of '98,"
Turning back the cover of the first vol­
ume, I read: "The Klondike Nugget. Vol.
I, No. 1. June 16, 1898. Dawson, North­
west Territory. Price 50 cents,"
Headlines spring at me: "Latest News
From the War," "Whiskey Shortage in
Dawson." "Stampede on Hunker," "Scows
Wrecked in White Horse," "Tragedy of
the North."
My eyes leap from column to column.
I become engrossed. I am lost in a world
of tense, dramatic romance filled with the
mad lust of man for the yellow metal
known as gold. I tum yellowed pages
drawn .from a hand press in another cen­
tury than ours.
Gold! Always gold! Yellow gold! Gold!
Gold! Gold! Gold!
I delve into tragedy, comedy. bitter
hatred, joyous happiness, drinking in the
first-hand. raw story of a wild, raw stam­
pede-the last great gold stampede the
world has known.
It is the story of a harsh country that
moulded human souls, weeding out the
weaklings-driving them back or sapping
the life from them-Ieavinq only the strong
and courageous to carryon.
It is all there-the whole story-locked
within the sombre black covers of these
two thin volumes which lie before me-a
vital, accurate, clear record.
The striking of a match in the silence
of my study startles me. brings my mind
spinning back out of the past, to common­
place. present-day surroundings-back to
the young-old man who sits across from
me.
His piercing blue eyes are watching my
face above the Harne of the match held in
his fingers as he lights his pipe.
"I beg pardon!" I say contritely. "I had
forgotten you were here, Mr. Allen. And
how carne you into possession of these
invaluable records?"
"Mine by right of creation," my guest
smiles back at me. I founded, managed
and edited the 'Klondike Nugget',"
The Klondike Nugget! The Voice of
the Arctic! The farthest north newspaper!
The throbbing pulse of the world's greatest
goll;! stampede which surpassed in all ways
that great trek into California in '49!
And here in my study sits the genius
who, in the face of almost unsurmountable
obstacles, created this famed newspaper!
"Want advice," he says jerkily, "Is there
a story in these files? I mean a story that's
real 'and different from anything that ever
carne out of the Klondike?"
The glow in my face, the sparkle in my
eyes is his answer. '
So here is told. not the story of a stam­
pede, but the story of a great stampeder
who wrote a sparkling, brilliant chapter into
the history of the far northland-Eugene C.
Allen!

Adolph Sutro
A man with vision-they called
him a dreamer and jeered at
"Sutro's Tunnel." He WiOuldn't
take no tor an answer and per-'
sisted until by sheer torce, cour­
age and determination .he made
that dream come true.
The memory of a man whose life
exemplified the highest ideals of
American citizenship is the inspira­
tion for this story. The man­
Adolph Sutro, who emigrated from
his home in Aix~la~Chapelle, Ger­
many, when the country was wildly
excited over the discovery of gold.
Despite the fact that he possessed
little more than a thorough knowl­
edge of minerology when he ar~
rivet;! in San Francisco, November
21, 1851, at the age of 21. he was
destined to build - an independent
empire on the edge of our sun~
down sea.
Sutro's first nine years on the
Pacific Coast were spent as a trad~
er. With the discovery of the
great Comstock lode, in 1859, he
went to Virginia City and looked
over the prospect. The young
Adolph noting that the fabulous
Comstock lode was located on Mt.
Davidson, which sloped toward the
Carson River Valley, and also that
the ore was beinp recovered from
perpendicular shafts. realized that
the mines sooner or later would be
in difficulty-that operations would
reach a depth where water would
flood in and that the costs of min­
ing would exceed the value of the
ore recovered.
Then was born the idea that was
to build for him an imperial fortune-a
tunnel which would serve to drain off the
water. ventilate the shafts and would per­
mit operation of the ore veins from below
-a means of ingress and egress and effect~
ing a tremendous savinq in costs. Althoullh
Sutro's idea was roundly approved by en~
gineers he was doomed to disappointment
after disappointment before he was able to
get financial backing-a search that led
from San Francisco to New York and
finally to Europe. Undaunted, he finally
succeeded in getting the backing he re~
quired and in October of 1869. began work
on the bore-a tunnel 10 feet high. 12 feet
wide and five miles long was driven to a
depth of 1850 feet below the surface. It
took ten years to complete and cost
$6500.000.
The project was a complete success and
Sutro waxed rich. But Sutro was a builder.
not an exploiter. He sold his interest in
the mines to his associates and retired to
San Francisco, arriving at a time when
San Franciscans were dubious over the
future of their city. But Sutro expressed
his faith in San Francisco by purchasing
thousands of acres of land. including Sutro
Heights. and the Cliff House. He built
Sutro Baths. largest in the world. and
planted Sutro forest. He is reputed to have
GHOST TOWN NEWS
By CARL T. NUNAN
Sketch by Von Tnteben
Adolph Sutro
at one time owned one-twelfth of the area
of San Francisco city and county. Six
children blessed his marriage--two sons
and four daughters. At the height of his
career he was elected Mayor of San Fran­
cisco by a greater vote than the combined
total of his four opponents.-and against
the opposition of every daily newspaper.
political organizations and corporations. He
foullht and championed for the five-cent
streetcar fare to the beach with free trans­
fers-he was a thorough-going democrat.
When he died. August 8. 1898. his will
gave the famous Sutro Heillhfs gardens to
the city as a park. with the proviso that
his daughter. Dr. Emma Merritt. was to
live there in the old Sutro home until her
death. She passed away recently and the
Ilardens are now owned by the City of
San Francisco.
Strange as it may seem. Sutro Heights.
with its ancient gardens. where the one­
time Mayor of San Francisco lived, is as
charming and alluring a place. today. as
it was more than a half-century ago. when
ladies in black lace and tiny bonnets and
gentlemen in bowler hats and button shoes
drove far across the city's sand dunes to
spend the day within the quiet Italian-
Page 5
styled garden perched high above
the historic Cliff House. To trek
its graveled roadways. hemmed
with palm and pepper trees-to
enjoy its formal terraces-its cozy
arbors-its green lawns and rare
flowers. To wander. happily. along
the tiny footpaths of the 20~acre
estate and marvel at the white
statues. modeled from mythological
and historical characters, or to
stand on the concrete parapet over­
looking the broad Pacific. whereon
are mounted small cannon. which.
though never having fired a shot.
bristle with authority-there to rap­
ture at the view unfolded to thei~
gaze-the Cliff House directly be­
low-the shimmering sea stretching
far to the west-to the south. miles
of sandy beach and just beyond the
Cliff House the famed Seal Rocks
with their phocine population of
more than 400 stellar sea lions.
Adolph Sutro is gone-but his
memory lives on. for. during his
life in his adopted country. Amer­
ica. he brought but honor to the
state-by his deeds he wrote im,:
perishably his epitaph on the tablet
of time. Charity loved him for the
kindness of his heart-schools
claimed him as their patron-art.
as its supporter-and the people
whom he loved and served. as their
champion.
It might be interesting to note that the
private. public and business letters of this
great man are now in the possession of
the Bancroft Library over on the campus
of the University of California. The mate­
rial contained in them will no doubt prove
exceedingly valuable to the historian who
will one day weave a delightful biography
of Adolph Sutro who during his life con­
tributed richly to the historic romance of
California.
Many a pioneer got his start
with a grubstake and equip­
ment like this.
Page 6
The memorable Franciscan
Mission Play. a pageant of early
California history which became
something of a state institution
when it ran for twenty-one con­
secutive years in San Gabriel. is
still remembered with deep in­
terest by many people. For dur­
ing those years it had been wit­
nessed by a total attendance of
over 2.000.000 persons of all
faiths both in this country and
from abroad. The Mission Play
has had two or three brief re­
vivals since that time.
The Mission Play in 1933.
the last year the Play was regu­
larly staged. after so many years
of transcendant presentation.
had become an historic institu­
tion known throughout the civi­
lized world. and with only one
other dramatic production-the
Passion Play at Oberammergau
-to compete with its universal
renown. The people of every
nation and creed owe an im­
measurable debt of gratitude to
John Steven McGroarty, the
author, for his memorable writ-
The Historic Mission Play
ings of the divinely commis­
sioned Fray Junipero Serra and
his Franciscan co-workers, men
sent of God. to build the Missions and
Christianize the primitive peoples in what
was then a wilderness in California.
Today a statue of Fray Junipero Serra,
Franciscan Founder of the California Cath­
olic Missions, occupies an honored place
in the National Statuary Hall at Wash­
ington. The statue of Fray Junipero Serra
was wrouaht by the noted Ettore Cadorin
of Santa Barbara. It occupies a niche in
the Hall of Fame which had long been
waiting the arrival of the statue of the
illustrious Californian by adoption.
Produced for the first time on the eve­
ning of April 29. 1912. the Mission Play,
through the years of its notable staging.
has been declared by historians to be one
of the most authentic sources of material
for und~,standing of the founding of the
California Missions, and also for a work
that gave a sympathetic understanding of
the habits. customs and characteristics of
the people of that time.
Exactly 3169 performances of the Mis­
sion Play were given during those twenty­
one years. Perhaps no other drama of
either ancient or modern times has equaled
this record.
The MiSSion Play was in three acts. As
Mr. McGroarty has stated. the first act
depicted the heroic struggles and sacrifices
of the Spanish pioneers to gain a foothold
in California when they founded that
mighty chain of Franciscan Missions be­
tween San Diego and Sonoma. at intervals
of about thirty miles. or what was then a
day's travel. The second act described the
Missions in their glory. when California
was the happiest land in all the world.
when the Indians had risen to the stature
of white men under the spiritual guidance
of godlv men, and when peace and glad­
ness held the heart of California in a warm
embrace. The third act, Mr. McGroarty
said, told the sad but exquisitely beautiful
l>tory of the Missions in ruins. This· is not
true of all of them. The Mission of San
Gabriel, near which the Mission Play was
staged for so many years, along with sev­
eral other Missions still hold regular serv-
GHOST TOWN NEWS
Photo by Dick
San Gabriel Mission
By BERT MOREHOUSE
ices under the Fathers assigned to these
stations.
To recall to mind the years when the
Mission Play was a notable attraction for
tourists, will bring back to many readers
of this magazine the often repeated ad­
monition of that time that "You have not
seen California until you have seen the
Missions and the Mission Play." Many
persons will also recall that some of the
most eminent artists of the drama had taken
the leading roles in the Mission Play. One
was Mr. R. D. MacLean. who with im­
perishable success interpreted the role of
Fray Junipero Serra. before the Play closed
in 1933.
Other familiar figures who will be reccrg­
nized by those who saw the Mission Play
in the old days will include Juan and
Juanita. who appeared in every perform­
ance of the twenty-one-year run. and Ruth­
ellen Miller, prima donna. And as often
as the Mission Play was enacted under
the sympathetic supervision of Mr. Mc­
Groarty, it continued to maintain the high­
est standards of art in the personnel of its
performers.
Indeed, the Mission Play brought into
its dramatic action the human entities that
go to make up the glamorous story that it
told. Even the Indians in the Play were
real Indians-descendants of the aborigines
who were converted to ChristiEinity and
lifted to the white man's stature of civili~
zation through the devoted. self~sacrificing
and loving effortS of the Franciscan Mis­
sion Fathers. The singers, dancers and
musicians were "incomparable artists in
their own line. and whose work was an
inheritance of the ancestry that came from
Spain up through Mexico over a century
and a half ago to colonize California and
to make it in their day the happiest of all
countries."
Among the thousands who attended the
Mission Play were many world-famous
people who expressed their impressions of
the Play with spontaneous enthusiasm.
which might have seemed a bit over-done
were it not for their high standing. It has
been truthfully said that no
other play had been so con­
stantly and so universally
praised by people of every faith.
Perhaps no other play has had
so vast a record of "repeaters"
as the Mission Play. No other
play has been so well beloved
by those who have portrayed it
on the stage. And no one would
know it more sincerely than
John Steven McGroarty. He
saw some of them come to it
as children and grow up to
manhood and womanhood in its
service. It was one of the larg­
est and one of the most highly
perfected dramatic organizations
in existence.
The San Gabriel Mission.
with which the Mission Play
was closely associated for so
many years. was founded by
the Franciscans in the year 1771
A.D. Its historical ministry
Whittington serves as a noteworthy example
of what was achieved in the
other Missions along the coast.
Here at San Gabriel Mission
was enjoyed unusual prosperity.
and its friendly sheltedng build­
ings served as an abode for the
exhausted trail-breakers from the
east. The Mission owned more than 30,000
cattle, which roamed the neighborhood. and
2000 to 3000 cattle were prepared for food
at a time.
The Mission was also a place of indus­
try. The Indian women were taught all
the homemaking arts of that day. The
Mission employed over 100 Indian women
in spinning; also many Indian blacksmiths
worked on the implements used at San
Gabriel Mission. The streams were filled
with fish. and game was plentifuL
San Gabriel Mission. as the religious
~eadquarters. also served as the community
center. Indeed. it was renowned for its
hospitality to the overland travelers. It
was here that their first contact with civili~
zaion was had after the exhaustion experi­
enced in crossing the desert until almost
the nineteenth century. For in the old davs
San Gabriel was not only a Mission, but
an Indian village with the huts of the neo­
phytes lining the streets under the Mission
walls.
The founding of the California Missions
was a splendid piece of pioneer Catholic
service of immortal import. And in these
tragic times, if the Mission Play could be
revived and sta~ed again in all of its ro­
mantic and religious beauty under the
capable direction of its author, John Steven
McGroarty, it would prove to be of spirit­
ual benefit to the nation.
~'I_.t-I~I-ft-'_-*l-f_I-~f~ __ .t
I ­
i Let's help preserve I
- the Spirit of the Mission Fathers I
!
I
The Ghost Town News would like
to hear from its readers regarding a
I
I
f f
I
revival of the mission play. Write
: us your view and comment. These
II
letters will be reprinted in a future
edition aQd mailed to Mr. McGroarty.
L -_ _H_'_ _ _ ~_..J

Searchlight
Nearly forty years ago I visited Search­
light. Nevada-my first visit to a boominq
gold town-when Searchlight was some
seven years old and enjoying all the thrills
of a wild western mining camp where gold
ore was coming up from the bowels of the
earth and stamp mills were converting the
ore into bricks of the solid metal. It was
a tyoical western mining town where mil­
lions of dollars were being produced: where
mining claims brought fabulous prices and
men dreamed and struggled for wealth--a
town where saloons were open day and
night. roulette wheels and gambling of all
kinds thrived and women entertainers
helped. to increase the saloon keepers' take.
Most business. the buying and selling of
claims. the hirinq of men. the grub stakinq
of prospectors. the organization of corpora­
tions, the deals with promoters. the hiring
of lawyers and about every sort of a deal
was consummated at the bar or one of the
tables in a saloon.
Charlie Vanina owned the principal
saloon in Searchlight in 1905 and here we
climbed out of the team driven wagon.
tired. thirsty and hungry. one fine morning
after a 25-mile drive across the desert
from the nearest railway station. It was
about ten o' clock in the morning when we
entered Charlie's place of business and
while we found plenty of room at the bar.
two roulette wheels were busy. card games
were in progress, slot machines were bark­
ing. a phonograph was wheeZing and girls
in short dresses (not as short as those on
our streets today but to many a novelty)
smiled invitingly. Our first act was to
order a round of drinks for the spirit of
adventure was in our blood and most of
the previous night on the train from Los
Angeles was spent in swapping stories and
thrilling to the adventurous holiday we
were on.
lt was a merry group and 1, for one.
have never forgotten the exchange of wit
and jest-the real exhilarating let-down
and get-together meeting of as lively a
bunch of fellows as ever traveled together.
The trip was suggested by A. C. (Bert
Calkins) founder of The Calkins Company,
pioneer California assay outfit, who had
extensive interest in Searchlight; Harry J.
Newton, editor of the Denver Daily Min­
ing Record and brilliant journalist; O. B.
Steen. mining engineer. famed for his ac­
complishments in the mining world from
Alaska to Mexico. and Hubert T. Morrow.
a young lawyer already giving promise of
his present recognition as one of the great
lawyers of the Pacific Coast. With the
exception of Morrow. I was the youngest
member of the party and thoroughly en­
joyed the personal experiences and anec­
dotes of these men of the world. although
I am not sure that any single one con­
tributed more to our enjoyment than the
young lawyer who could not be accused of
ever lacking in wit and words.
Charlie Vanina was introduced by Bert
and ordered food while we consumed our
drink and began trying our luck at rou­
lette. Only Editor Newton hesitated about
. gambling but finally ventured a single dime
on the number 13 which was the winning
number and he continued playing until that
GHOST TOWN NEWS
The light is dimmed but the search gozs on.
By NICHOLS FIELD WILSON
dime had brought him more than a hundred
dollars-probably less than the rest of us
tossed away.
The meal finished. Charlie and Bert
guided us to the principal mines and we
were allowed to go down a 1500-foot shaft
in the famous Quartette where walls of the
most beautifull" colored rock--copper
formation with the high grade gold visible
-met our excited view-Picture Rock, and
I have never seen better specimens. The
Quartette produced millions but because of
water scarcity built its stamp mill seventeen
miles awav on the river. Water hauled in
to Searchlight by wagon sold at $5 per
barrel (whiskey barrels). Later the ·Quar­
tette developed water and built additional
stamp mills on the' property.
If water at $5 per barrel seems expensive
what do you think of a single quart bottle
of whiskey that brought a fortune? No.
the prospector that traded his claim for a
quart of whiskey didn't know he was
throwing away the fortune but the men
that traded for the claims and developed
the mine named the company after that
bottle and the "Cyrus Noble" became
known as one of the great mines of
Nevada.
I again startle the world with rich finds.
A. C. (Bert) Calkins. Top Man
of Searchlight
Searchlight was booming. Stamp mills
were turning out bricks of gold bullion.
Leasers were finding riches. Prospectors.
frequently grub-staked by Charlie Vanina.
discovered new finds. Gambling was li­
censed and here was a typical live throb­
bing, rip-roaring gold camp where men
fought for fortune and independence.
Searchlight was discovered in 1897 by
G. F. (Fred) Colton. who located the first
claim. picked up a piece of "Hoat"' and
remarked that "there was gold there alright
but it would probably take a searchliqht
to find it." He named the claim Search­
light and that became the name of the
town which once boasted of more than
900 registered voters, and cut a real figure
: ..' .:;:. -J'
Page 7
in the politics of Lincoln County. Later
Lincoln County was divided. the southern
part in which Searchlight is located now
being Clark County.
Today Searchlight is a ghost town and
only a few persons live there. Top man
is Bert Calkins. the man that gave me my
first glimpse of a wild western' gold camp
in the boom days. Failing health made it
necessary for Bert to retire from active
business in Los Angeles and San Fran­
cisco several years ago. He retired to­
you've guessed it-Searchlight! For years.
previously. Bert had made frequent trips
to this famed desert gold camp. He owned
many properties there, grubstaked many
prospectors and. truth to tell, Searchlight
was his hobby. Whether he actually made
money out of his mining adventures. I
(hn't know, but mutual friends tell me that
"Bert went back to Searchlight and found
more than gold. He found health and find­
ing it had too much sense to leave. Todav
he is a happy man busy every day-and.
I believe. still getting a thrill out of staking
an occasional prospector in the quest for
another find."
Searchlight is about 3600 feet above sea
level with a dry climate ideal for those
with weak lungs. It is a desert spot that
is made attractive by the riot of lovely
desert Howers in season while the surround­
ing hills are well-wooded with yucca,
greasewood and Joshua trees with many
rare varieties of cactus.
It's a ghost town now-but it is the
home of a grand person, A. C. (Bert)
Calkins. and he is not the only one that
loves it and has faith in the future finds
to be made in this district. For more than
a third of a century a couple of oldtimers
who believed in Searchlight have remained
there leasing one property after another
in their persistent search for the yellow
metal. One of these men is in his 82nd
year and the other is past 80. It is only
in the past five years that their persistent
efforts have met with success. From leased
qround worked by themselves egch has
cleaned up more than a hundred. and fifty
thousand dollars during these late years of
their life.
Dead? No. Searchlight is just slumber­
ing for many believe it will awaken to
Many of the old buildings still stand and
that saloon which saw such activity during
the regime of Charlie Vanina is one of the
landmarks.
You'll enjoy a visit to Searchlight and
you will find it of interest from a rom'lolltic
and early pioneer day slant. You'll enjoy
the fine desert climate and if you seek
gold maybe you might just possibly have
the right searchlight with which to discover
it. One thing is certain. you'll .find good
health. Surely no better recommendation
of a health resort than the living examples
of men past eighty who are stiJIable with
pick and shovel to dig out a fortune in
gold.
It's nearly forty years since my first
visit to Searchlight-and I am looking for­
ward with great pleasure to a return trip
-soon. very soon. I hope.
'- A,;f _,~:', •
Page 8 . GHOST TOWN NEWS

YOU TAKE the CORN,

WE'LL TAKE the COBB!

There is a custom in California of

naming big trees for big people. and
travelers may meet a lot of famous
people in a sort of Who's Hew.
In many cases the trees will outlast
the fame of the people. but in some in­
stances the people will be remembered
long after the tree has been hewn into
boardE'eet.
The ,other day a ,rugged redwood
tree. 14 feet through the waistline. and
260 feet tall. was named for Irvin S.
Cobb. author. actor. humorist. oratqr.
In North Dyerville Flats. near Bull
Creek Flats, they selected a tree ad­
joining the tree dedicated last year to
Cobb's 'famous lifelong friend, Samuel
G. Blythe. The Cobb tree is also near
the Founders Tree, highest tree in the
world-364 feet.
The Redwood Empire Association,
Rotary Club convention, and Bohemian
Club joined with the State Park Com­
mission in loading Irvin Cobb on the
tree. A year ago Cobb had spoken at
the dedication of the Blythe tree. and
Sam Blythe itched to return the favor
in person, but was prevented by illness.
Meanwhile from this distance we can
speculate as to the appropriateness of
naming a tree for Cobb, teller of tall
stories, near the tallest of all trees. The
tree is large at the base and has ample
girth. Possibly the tree is getting a little
thin at the top. and the tree is un­
doubtedly older than Cobb. The tree
probably goes back to the dawn of the
Christian era, but some of Cobb's stories
were in vogue when Egypt celebrated
,the laying of the cornerstone of the
Pyramid of Giza.
The Cobb tree is sturdy. full of sap,
ha; a heavy bark, and is pickled with
a natural preservative which keeps it
going on and on.

-Pacific Rural Press.


Beauty and Action in Weaverville
(Note: This descriptive and int~resting story
of Weaverville is from the book, A Golden
Hiflhway, by the well-known author, Mr. C.
B. Glasscock, published by the Babbs-Merrill
o,mpany, of Indianapolis. To all those inter­
ested in stories of the great gold rush we rec­
ommend the reading of this book. Mr. Glass­
cock is also author of The Big Bonanza, Gold
in Thl!11l Hills, and Lucky Baldwin. All these
books are highly prized by thooe interested in
California and the West.-Editor.)
Bavarian Stairways-Great Battle of the
Chinese-Gun-Play and Justice-Residents
of Old and T.oda.y-Back to the Mother
Lode.
The pilgrim to Weaverville might, with­
out knowing, pass Five Cent Gulch and
Ten Cent Gulch, which cross the main
street. but he could never fail to be
charmed by the quiet beauty of the old
town. its fine old trees, its riotous Howers
in cottage yards. its surrounding hills. its
architecture. He could never pass the
spiral stairways. They date back to the
'50s as definitely as do the iron shutters in
a score of ruined camps.
These spiral stairways and Lola Montez
were Bavaria's contribution of beauty to
the gold-rush. The Montez has long been
dust. but the stairways have survived. At
one time. I am told. there were seven of
these graceful Hights upon the.main street
of Weaverville. and two in the once-great
Columbia which we shall visit later. To­
day there are only two left in Weaver­
Ville. and none elsewhere.
Big Trees
And W~verville has other architectural
forms of interest to the wayfarer and the
student. Its Chinese Joss House dates back
only to 1861. but it carries us back to the
days when the Chinese were of importance
here. Two Chinese buildings on Main
Street are less spectacular. but older. hav­
ing been built to withstand such fires as
destroyed the first Joss House. As out­
standing examples of a form of architec­
ture dating back for centuries. they must
claim attention.
Weaverville. like all the original gold
camps, was built first of frame and canvas.
Fires quickly swept it away. Its Chinese
, residents. harking back to memories of an­
GHOST TOWN NEWS
By c. B. GLASSCOCK
You'll never thoroughly appreciate California until you
visit the: Redwoods. Eureka, We:ave:rvnIe and Redding.
cestral homes beside the Yangtse-Kiang.
erected frames of planks, between which
they poured and tamped wet clay and boul­
ders until walls arose impervious to fire.
These they painted with waterproofing.
Roofs of slabs were covered with earth.
The buildings have defied Hood and fire
for eighty years. and promise to stand for
another eighty.
They are still in use as stores. in which
polite Chinese merchants wait efficiently
upon resident and traveler alike. Chinese
have always played a part in Weaverville.
Eighty years ago they staged a battle here
below Five Cent Gulch. which is a high­
light in the history of the camp.
In Memorial Hall may be found some of
the tree-pronged spears and Gargantuan
scythe-like swords used upon that historic
occasion. Incidentally, in the same mu­
seum, to give a shuddering thrill to the
rising generation which is likely to put
wild Indian stories in the category of fairy
tales, is a scalp with lank black hair. It
was taken from the head of the Indian
who killed Joseph Drinkwater on the Van
Dusen River in 1868. There also. is one
of the first three fire engines brought around
the Horn in 1850, a mate to the one we
have already seen at North San Juan.
The Chinese battle implements are most
illuminatinq. They suggest that those Chi­
nese must have wanted to get as far away
from their adversaries as possible. Perhaps
they knew that the Roman short sword
shed more blood per soldier than any im­
plement of war ever invented. and they
wanted nothing like it.
John Carr, of Peoria. Illinois, who start­
ed the first blacksmith shop in Weaver­
ville in February. 1851. made most of the
Chinese weapons, and has left us an illum­
inating account of the battle in which they
were used. Other accounts have been left
Page 9
by eye-witnesses, including Isaac Cox.
whose Annals of Trinity County were
published in 1858. and Franklin A. Buck.
whose letters written at the scene were
published many years later. It was an epic
battle.
Precisely what caused it is still a mys­
tery. One account says it was a revival of
a political feud between rebel and imperial­
ist parties in China, one being known as
the Canton and the other as the Hongkong
party. Another attributes it to a quarrel
in a Chinese gambling house. A third says
it was due to a tong murder. No matter.
It was a great day in the history of Wea­
verville.
The injured tong challenged the other to
open combat. The challenge was promptly
accepted. and the day of battle set, some
weeks in advance. Immediately the two
armies began to organize, drill and arm
themselves. The Cantons. also known as
the Ah You party, promptly placed an or­
der with John Carr for one hundred iron
spears to be mounted on long poles, at one
dollar and a half each. An hour later the
chief of the Honqkongs or Young Wo tong
offered to order two hundred spears if Carr
would quit making them for the Cantons.
Carr agreed. In another hour the Cantons
were back with a bid of two dollars and
a half and an order for three hundred addi­
tional weapons if Carr would stop work on
the Hongkong arsenaL Again Carr agreed.
Business in all the blacksmith shops
boomed. The forqes glowed day and night.
Tin and sheet-iron shields, bombs and
swords were turned out with the enthus­
iasm of a munition factory in 1917. Squirt­
guns of nauseous content were manufac­
tured by the Chinese, two-thirds of a cen­
tury before Germany launched its poison­
ous gas attack upon the Western Front.
Tin hats were donned two-thirds of a cen­
tury before they were made standard
equipment in the World War.
Word sped through the mountains. Min­
ers at Shasta, French Gulch, Whiskeytown,
Sawyer's Bar, Yreka. Big Bar and ~score
Page 10
of minor camps. hiked over the long
trails to Weaverville to see the bat­
tle. The Chinese armies. with red
and black streamers flying. lined up
on opposite sides of Five Cent
Gulch. and shouted all the insults
known to the most ancient civiliza­
tion upon the earth.
Two thousand white men stood
back upon higher ground and cheered
them on. Gongs sounded. horns blared
Sheriff William M. Lowe intervened
to stop the massacre. But the min­
ers gave the sheriff what would now
be adequately described as the razz­
berry, and called for blood.
The Chinese wavered. The min­
ers egged them on with rocks and
yells. One young Swede named
John Malmberg empti~d his pis~ol
into the hesitant warriors. WhIte
men started a charge from the Hong­
kong side of the gulch. while others
bombarded the Young Woes from
the rear with stones. The battle was
on. Screams and gunshots filled the
air. The dust and smoke of battle
swept over Weaverville. and the
Cantons broke and fled in panic. The
war for which a month's preparation
had been made was over in two min­
utes.
With all the smoke and fury of
battle. the terrifying swords and
three-pronged spears. the popping
pistols and hissing squirt-guns. the
tin hats and shields and flaunting
banners. the -end was anti-climax.
Only seven men were killed and
twenty wounded. And among the
dead was one white man, the young
Swede Malmberg. who had fired into
the hesitant armies to promote the
battle. Weaverville went back to its
mining and its trade.
Weaverville was a camp of action.
It shed blood or tears with equal
freedom, or joked and danced with
equal gusto.
When Michael Grant murdered a
man named Holt in 1852. a lynch
court promptly convicted him. and
then revealed its freedom fmm mob
passion hy allowing him ten days to
produce new evidence. When he
failed. they hanged him. In contrast
when a man named Colton after a
night's debauch accused his partner
of stealing his poke containing elev­
en hundred dollars in gold. a mob
immediately trimmed up a tree to
lynch the accused man. Only the
arrival of a packer with Colton's
poke picked up on a trail. prevented
the murder.
When Mrs. Walton, mining with
her husband at Big Bar on the Trin­
ity in 1850. saw her husband robbed
of five hundred dollars and his pants
by Indians, she stepped out with a
Colt's revolver, killed four of the
savages, and ran the others off her
claim. Weaverville respected her.
but failed to patronize the cake shop
which she started later. and she dis­
appeared.
Weaverville's pioneer women were
not to be trifled with. One, Eliza
Hardenburg or Vanderburg, was as­
sociated with a man named Hough­
ton or Horton in the management of
a saloon and hotel called the Ameri­
can House. The place was closed by
Sheriff Dixon on an attachment for
GHOST TOWN NEWS
debt. Houghton thereupon made the
property over to the woman, and re­
opened. The sheriff holding this to
be fraud. went to dispossess the cou­
ple. Houghton told the woman to
"shoot his head off."
Eliza displayed frontier character­
istics but a lack of skill by firing
upon the sheriff and missing her
mark. Thereupon Houghton himself
fired, and struck the sheriff in the
groin. The posse decamped forth­
with, leaving the wounded sheriff
and the man and woman to fight it
out in the barmom. A dozen or more
shots were fired. When the noise
ceased, Houghton and the woman
lay dead, riddled with bullets, and
the wounded sheriff staggered up to
Main Street, Weavervi1le the court-house alone.
Nor were these the only violent
deaths in and around Weaverville.
Uncle Joe Sturdivant, John W. Car­
ter and Jerry Whitmore, who ran a
pack-train from Shasta to Trinity
River diggings. tracked three thieves
who had stolen forty-five mules from
Uncle Joe's corral. caught up with
them in the Sacramento Valley after
several days' pursuit, opened fire,
and killed all three. They then
stripped scalps and whiskers from
the dead men. brought the trophies
back to Weaverville and nailed
them to the gates of the corral as a
warning to others.
When "Old Man" Anderson.
Weaverville's local butcher, was
murdered -by Indians while driving
cattle from Stuart's Fork to Weaver­
ville, Sheriff Dixon organized a posse
of seventy men, trailed the Indians
to their rancheria near Hayfork, sur­
rounded the camp and killed one
Joss House at Weaverville hundred and fifty-three Indians. Only
three papooses escaped the slaughter.
That was in May. 1852.
Yes, Weaverville was tough. Isaac
Cox, who was there, has left other
stories of its toughness. couched in
language indicative of the psychol­
ogy of leading citizens of a hell­
roarin' gold camp.
"In 1854," Cox narrates, "one EI­
zaser kept the Miner's Hotel. A
Frenchman from Yreka came and
stayed in his house. quarreled with
him about the shelling out for a pie.
and got him to proceed against him
with a club; upon which he (the
Yreka man) got disgusted, went
down to Fred Walter's pig-sty, and
there was pleased to die of the blow.
Elzaser was taken up mobly, tried
courtly. and acquitted judicially; and
the story is now told."
In the meantime WeavervilIe was
prospering. Two express companies
in the spring of 1852 were receiving
thirty thousand dollars' worth of gold
each week. The Wells Fargo Com­
pany. having attained a monopoly
of the express business in 1856. re­
ported that gold shipments had in­
creased to fifty thousand dollars a
week. The town supported two the­
aters. Lotta Crabtree played there
in 1855.
Nor was entertainment limited to
gambling, gun-play and the crude
theatrical productions of the time.
Weaverville had other social pas­
times. When John Carr started his
first hlacksmith shop in Weaverville
in February of 1851. there were only

half a dozen tents and shacks in the
camp. Town lots were valueless.
Anyone squatted where he chose.
Shortly thereafter Carr traveled east
by way of the Isthmus to visit his
parents, and when he returned to
Weaverville six months later, the
camp had grown to a town of some
two thousand persons, twenty-foot
lots were selling at eight hundred
dollars, and sawmills were working
day and night to supply lumber for
new buildings.
Best of all, Carr "brought the
largest delegation of ladies that had
yet arrived at one time to become
permanent settlers." They were Mrs.
Levi Reynolds, Mrs. Thomas Carr
and Mrs. John Carr. The streets
were full of people, all men, anxious
to get a look at the new arrivals.
With such a start, Weaverville
society could! hardly fail to advance
in social charm. John Carr tells of
the first grand ball of Christmas Eve,
1852, for which tickets were sold at
ten dollars each. "More boiled shirts
were worn that night than ever be­
fore on one occasion at WeaverviIle.
One fellow would buy a 'rig'; he
would dance a while in it and then
lend it to some other fellow for a
while. who would use it for an hour
or so and then pass it around, and
in that way the 'store clothes' were
kept well occupied. Boots were used
in the same way."
Weaverville needed such relaxa­
tion. That winter of '52 was a bad
one. Snow packed five feet deep in
the streets, transportation over the trails
from Shasta was completely cut off for a
time. Flour went to sixty-two dollars for
a fifty-pound sack, and later could not be
obtained at any price. Potatoes sold for
fifty cents a pound. Fortunately for the
life of the community. Comstock and Mar­
tin. livery-stable keepers, had laid a large
stock of barley. This they sold at forty
cents a pound. The citizens ground it up
in their coffee mills, and some of them
lived for six weeks on barley mush, barley
bread and barley pancakes.
That was the winter in which John P.
Jones first revealed the characteristics
which were to raise a monument to his
honor in the Palisades Park of Santa Mon­
ica overshadowing the homes of Marion
Davies. Jesse Lasky, Norma Shearer, and
their associates of eighty-odd years later.
A Weaverville merchant named Fare­
well had hired John P. to take care of his
store while he went out before the snows
to buy new stock. When the snow reached
a depth of two or three feet, neillhbors
warned Jones that he had better shovel it
off the roof or the store would collapse.
Jones replied that he had been hired to
tend the store, not to shovel snow.
The snow continued to fall. On a Sun­
day morning the walls buckled and the
roof crashed in. Jones was known to have
been sleeping in the store. Fellow towns­
men rushed to dig him out before he smoth­
ered. Working in shifts, they shouted
words of encouragement. Not a sound
came from within the ruins. They redou­
bled their efforts. The man must be dead
or unconscious. Gasping with effort, the
rescuers dug away. The broken timbers
and the snow were cleared from the small
stock of mocenes.
When at last they came to the buried
GHOST TOWN NEWS
Cells in the Old Shasta Courthouse
Court House and Jail at Shasta
counter, and stripped it of its burden, John
P. Jones grinned comfortably up at them
from his blankets, beneath this substantial
shelter. The fear of the rescuers changed
to anger. As heartily as they had dug, they
now cursed the young clerk. "Why didn't
you yell back to us? We thought you were
dead,"
Jones grinned. 'Tm too smart for that.
Look at all the snow you have shoveled
off these goods. and the stuff you have
cleared up for me. If I had let you know
I was not hurt, you would not have dUll
me out. and then I would have had all the
work to do myself."
Even Weaverville couldn't do much
with a man like that. Continuing to use
his brains rather than his hands, Jones de­
veloped into one of the leading practical
mining engineers of the deep mines on the
Mother Lode in the next ten years, moved
to Virginia City shortly after the Com­
stock rush, took the management of the
fam0us Crown Point mine, became an out­
f.tandmg hero in the terrible tragedy of
the Crown Point and Yellow Jacket Mine
fires, made millions with Alvinza Hayward
in the Crown Point Bonanza. was elected
to the United States Senate, promoted var­
ious great projects for the development of
the West. and died, full of years and hon­
ors amid the greatest of all his promotions,
the seashore city of Santa Monica.
After that severe winter. Weaverville
settled to production. Diggings which pro­
duced ten dollars to the pan were discov­
ered at Canyon Creek, and-to the amaze­
ment of the miners-on top of the hilI
above the town. Ditch companies were
formed to bring in water to work the dry
diggings. A court-house and jail were
built. When the court-house was burned
two or three years later, it was followed
11
promptly by the building of another.
the structure which still stands at
the head of Main Street. where the
road turns to the right up Sydney
Gulch. That was built in 1858, and
now is one of the oldest court-houses
in use in the state.
In '54: Weaverville was becoming
a little snooty. Local society had
conferred upon itself a capital S. A
Mrs. Edwards from New Orleans
planned a ball which should denne
the lines of high Society once and
for all. Out of the thirty women
who constituted the entire female
population of the town, the self­
elected social dictator selected eigh­
teen whom she considered suffiCient­
ly superior to attend. An account of
the festivities written by Franklin A.
Buck, one of the beaus of the ball.
glows with delight over the oppor­
tunity to circulate among ladies
wearing silks and satins and white
kid gloves, amid an aura of perfume
suitable to the occasion.
'vVeaverville thrived and starved
by turns through its nrst few years.
Hydrau1ic mining had been started
on the Mother Lode with rich re­
turns, and mines of Trinity saw their
possibilities. Iron pipes and nozzles,
however, were difficult and expensive
to bring in, and there was a general
demand for wagon roads. Franchises
for toll roads were granted, and their
construction followed swiftly,
The first such highway was com­
pleted from Shasta to Weaverville in
1858, having been surveyed, graded
1 and opened in eight months. It cost less
than forty thousand dollars, less than one
thousand dollars a mile. The California
toll roads of the '50s were a monument to
the energy, skill and economic effiCiency of
their builders. In contrast. the road over
\,hich we speed from Shasta to Weaver­
ville today probably cost thirty times as
much. and required three times as long to
[mild. even with the modern adVantages of
steam shovels, power-scrapers and so
rorth. In justice. I must admit that it is a
better road.
But the toll roads brought improved hy­
draulic equipment. and put the Weaverville
district on the map as a permanent gold
producer. The La Grange Mine, one of
the largest hydraulic operations in the
world. is still working within ten minutes'
ride of Weaverville.
It is all a very commercial proposition,
not in keeping with the mood in which a
devout pilgrim should enjoy the old town.
I like better the informal meetings with the
townsfolk. At the little restaurant below
'he New York Hotel, where my traveling
companion and I are served with such
slewed chicken and light dumplings as even
her discriminating taste admits to be excel­
,ent, we overhear the little waitress telling
a bandy-legged, drawling-voiced cowboy of
all automobile ride to a dance at Hayfork
on the previous night-a nde which even
her youth admits to have been hair-raising,
She is not going to ride with that driver
again.
"No," the cowboy drawls, "I wouldn't.
The Lurd gets tired takin' care of folks
like that."
The young woman comes over to chat
pleasantly with us. We notice that she
has a very slight limp, and suggest that
she must be weary.
(Continued on page 12)
Page 12
"Oh, no." She smiles cheerfully. "I shot
when we bid the town farewell. I hate to
off the big toe of that foot by accident.
leave Weaverville,
I favor it a little, but it doesn't really bother
me. Can I get you some more chicken
But we must retum to Placerville. where
gravy, or anything?"
days ago we turned northward upon the
trail of the Argonauts. We must take up
"Thank you, no. But you might tell us
where Judge James W. Bartlett lives."
trail. It leads to El Dorado, Amador City.
"Right down the street there, on this
side, in a little cottage. Everybody knows
the Judge. Anybody will point out the
house. About three blocks."
So Memory and I stroll in the twilight
to where a group of children are at play
in a grass-grown yard. When we stop to
make inquiry they abandon their game.
"Does Judge Bartlett live here?"
"Right in that house." They point. "But
he ~in't home. We saw him go out. We'll
find 'him for you." They scatter sWiftly
into neighboring houses, and in a moment
a straight old man comes through the yard.
and invites us cordially into his home.
CALIFORNIANA
LUTHER BURBANK
Wilbur Hall in his book. "Partners of
Nature." tells of Luther Burbank's early
activity as a plant naturalist which made
him famous:
"He now bought a tract of four acres of
land on the country road. west of his first
location. and with the greatest care and
heavy expense began to prepare it for the
work of his lifetime. . . . His fame as a
nurseryman was local. his fame as an ex­
perimenter and plant-breeder spread very
slowly. In 1893 he published a catalogue.
simole in appearance and modest in form,
that set horticulturists. botanists and nur­
servmen by the ears and that, at first.
brought him scorching condemnation for
what the wiseacres said was his unthink­
able effrontery.
But presently it began to be known that
what, in that catalogue. Luther Burbank
had called "New Creations in Plant Life,"
were bona fide and that he could prove
every claim.
Slowly his name began to command re­
spect; presently scientists and botanists.
seedsmen and nurserymen, were beginning
to make a path to his door; they were
followed soon by reporters, journalists. pho­
tographers, the curious, the garden-lovers.
the general public. Before the beginning
of this new century. Luther Burbank had
become "good newspaper copy." in the
year that Santa Rosa and California joined
in celebrating elaborately his "Golden
Anniversary" of achievement, he was one
of the best-known men on the whole earth.
his plants and trees andflower$ were grow-
GHOST TOWN NEWS
without even waiting for our self-intro-­
duction. Judge Bartlett has the manner of
all that is best in Weaverville. He was
born nearby. seventy-five years ago, and
has served the cause of justice in his coun­
ty for half a century. He is the best living
. authority on its history. He warms to our
interest when our mission and identity are
explained.
Stories of the old days. substantiated by
the book-lined background of his living
room. come forth with an enthusiasm that
no younger man without inspiration of a
long life of activity centered here could
equal. It is an evening of delight. Judge
Bartlett Is the perfect voice of his fine old
town.
Such is the cordiality, the spirit, of Wea­
verville. It broods above the deserted
street as we stroll at midnight to our com­
fortable quarters in the old hotel. It lulls
us to sleep. It is with us in the morning
ing in practically every corner of the land
and myriads of them abroad with honors,
aegrees. acknowledgments. and the friend­
ship and admiration of men and women
everywhere. great and humble.
So his last years were filled almost with­
out a break. with contentment. peace and
.•. with the work he loved and at which
he was tireless.-South Pasadena R.eview.
THIS AND THAT
Do you know that California faces the
loss of some of its greatest historical assets?
Each year finds some of the buildings in
Qur old historic towns being torn down and
replaced with modern "fronts."
Can anything be more short-Sighted?
What is the charm in these old towns that
annually attract thousands of tourists. Cali­
fornians and out-of-staters alike? The at­
mosphere of the "old days" symbolized by
the old buildings! Owners of such build­
ings owe it to the State to maintain the
exteriors as they are. as attractions for
tourist dollars. Once gone. they can never
be replaced.
-
Speaking of the gold rush days-an old­
timer we met in Downieville gave us some
sidelights on how justice was dispensed.
Unhampered by formality. justice was
quick in those days. but of questionable
efficiency. One incident concerned a gent
who had stolen a pair of boots. He was
ordered to return the boots and treat the
crowd. The party that followed got a
little wild and in the excitement the thief
stole the boots a second time and left town.
there the southern branch of that historic
Sutter Creek. Jackson. San Andreas, An­
gels Camp, Sonora. Columbia. Coulterville.
Hornitos. Mariposa, and other seats of ac­
complishment. tragedy and comedy. too
numerous to name but never too numerous
to enjoy.
It is a day's ride back to Placerville.
Let's go.
"A Golden Highway," by C. B.
Glasscock. has recently been reprinted
by Blue Ribbon Books. Garden City.
L. I.. and a copy of the book may be
obtained from your book dealer.
This old timer can also remember the
fame of a bartender in Deadwood who'
never gave any change over the bar. no
matter how big the coin or gold nugget.
Our friend couldn't recall whether this bar­
tender died from natural causes or not.
•
Ever read newspapers with 1850 date­
lines? Journalism then had a special flour­
lsh-casual but eloquent. Our favorite dip­
ping gives a brief account of a Saturday
night in Poker Flat: "Six fights came off
in this place on the 9th inst.; and the
blood and hair lying round loose the fol~
lOWing morning gave the town quite a
business-like appearance."
•
Looking on the map the other day we
came across the name of a town, Red Dog.
Curious, we asked an authority on such
things. why that name? The town. he told
us. was named after an early citizen there.
a drunkard with long red hair and a spe­
cial weakness for sleeping in the sun. Our
historian. once we touched his vulnerable
spot. became quite talkative and said Whis­
ky Slide got its name from the fact that
on pay day. miners started celebrating by
sliding down a steep incline after purchas­
ing their "jackass brandy," The town of
Alph was once known as Hell-Out-For­
Noon City, and Omega was Delirium Tre­
mens.-G. B. in "Califomia/' magazine of
the Pacific.
•••
Did You Know That .. , Never in the
history of the State of California has there
been a motion placed on the books of the
State for removal of the capitol from San
Jose?

The Arrowhead
By CORINNE KING WRIGHT
The mountains of California disclose
many freaks of Nature. To one acquainted
with the legends by which the Indians ac­
count for the phenomena. his interest in
them is greatly increased.
One of the most interesting of these
legends relates the placing of the arrow­
head on the face of the San Bernardino
Mountains.
The feature is prominently located di­
rectly north of the thriving City of San
Bernardino which the Mission Fathers
named in memory of St. Bernard.
The imprint of the arrow-head is very
large. and may be plainly discerned at a
distance of thirty or forty miles-a state­
ment which may seem doubtful to one un­
familiar with the clear atmosphere of the
West.
Many persons have tried to account for
the arrow-head. It is not a marking seen
only from a certain position. distance or
light. but visible at all times, from any part
of the valley. It is even more clearly de­
lined to one standing at the base of the
mountain than to an observer miles away.
The theory that it is an indentation in
the mountainside is exploded when. on
coming within a few miles of the arrow­
head. the opposite seems true. On still
nearer approach. the supposition that it is
an upheaval is proven to be false. for no
difference in the surface can be detected.
Some account for it by the assertion that
the shrubbery which covers the arrow-head
is of a different hue from that immediately
surrounding it-a statement which is true;
yet when the snow falls and the strange
feature is completely covered with Nature's
ermine, the arrow-head is even more beau­
tiful and more clearly outlined than before.
The explanation of the Indians puts to
the blush all the cool reasoning of the
"pale face." The legend runs thus:
Many hundred years ago. long ere the
foot of the "pale face" had touched this
GHOST TOWN NEWS
(An Indian Legend)
Western world, there befell a great drought
in the land where for many,' many years
their forefathers had dwelt. A great famine
followed; there was no ~ame for the braves.
no arass for the ponies.
Many papooses had died of starvation;
warriors dropped by the wayside, too
weary to continue the march in search of
better hunting grounds.
The chief was sorely troubled for his
people.
At the close of one weary day. a halt
was made near a growth of cactus plants,
The braves refreshed themselves with the
juicy fruit. The squaws were busy till
nightfall rolling the tunas in the sand to
remove their little prickling spines, and
storing them away for future consumption.
Soon after the tepees were pitched the
Indians slept.
The chief alone was wakeful; for hours
he sat with his chin between his knees,
thoughtfully watching a singuJ.ar crimson
cloud in the west, It had faded not with
the day, but had grown brighter and bright­
er, and gradually assumed the shape of an
arrow-head.
At last the flickering Hames of the camp­
fire died away. and the chief was left alone
in great stillness and darkness, and naught
could be seen save the blood-red cloud in
the west.
On the breath of the west wind th~re
came the voice of the Great Spirit saying:
"Be not cast down, 0 Chief! I will lead
your people to a great and fertile valley.
Follow thou the Hight of yon arrow-head!"
The chieftain in great joy roused his
people that they might lose no time in
reaching the promised land. They traveled
for many days over a far-reaching desert,
keeping in the course of the heaven-sent
arrow.
Weary and footsore. but with buoyant
hearts, the redman finally reached th~
Canaan of their hopes. The tired eyes
"''''''''''''''-'.
',::~
t';
13
!~oke~. . upon a beautiful valley many
days In length and width. Much green­
ness covered the earth. and many waters
Howed westward to the sea.
Here the Great Spirit stayed the Hight
of ~he arrow-head. Descending. it settled
agaInst the mountain-side, where, trans­
formed. It still :e~ains. a perpetual symbol
of the Great SPlflt s goodness to his people.
LIGHT DOWN STRANGER
By ANITA PETTIBONE
A new novel published by Farrar and
Rinehart. Inc .• New York. $2.50. This is
the story of a boy. a girl and a horse with
the scene set in Oregon and Washington
Territories just after the Civil War. A
good story that is as eXciting as any west­
ern and with an authentic portrayal of
the early raw life of the northwest pio­
neers.
The story begins when 18-year-old Will
Rench left his home ranch in Oregon for
Washington Territory to become a Mer~
chant Prince. His mother gave him a Bi~
bl~ (·and a little talk on drink and women).
·1
HIS father had already given his son honor
cool judgment, good common sense and
courage. On the way. Will acquired Isaac
as he named the fine little Percheron quar~
ter horse which he broke. and, bareback,
I
I
rod~ on to Clagget. his destination.
Sixteen-~ear-old Lovina Scott, orphaned
and alone In the world arrived in Clagget
I
)
the same day after a long tramp follOWing
the burial with her own hands of both fa­
ther and mother whom the Indians had
klled.
Clagget. a town of eight hundred at that
time. was wild and wooly and the tale of
the goings on there with Anita Pettibone's
clear honest and humorous word pictures
creates a real and thrilling tale of the early
?ays. A boy and a girl who. as they grew
Into manhood and womanhood displayed
the stu.ff that conquerors are made of.
You 11 enjoy Light Down, Stranger, ev­
ery page. every chapter, and you'll know
that you have read a real western tale­
and maybe you'll feel. as I do. that there
must be in us of this generation some of
the same "stuff" which made our great
west the thing we are glad to fight to pre­
serve, and while not a part of this novel
we are indebted to Anita Pettibone for the
following.
OUR WILL TO WIN
Americans have been pretty proud of
being Americans for some time. I found
this in an old "Graham's Magazine" dated
1846: "The events which secured to this
'country a popular constitution as a pos­
session forever. made every American a
member of the most difficult. responsible
and dignified profession which the ability
of man can illustrate . . . the profession
of politics. By the fundamental law of our
government. we are all hereditary states­
men." Now. as one of these hereditary
statesmen, I say. "Having become aware
of himself as a member of this distingUished
company. the proud American hastens to
do all that he can to support and main­
tain his inheritance. It is our ancient boast
that money is no object. time and effort no
consideration. when the torch of liberty
needs more oil. If any faint heart fears to
save his money by buying a bond. let him
back up his purchase by buying another
and another, remembering that his secur­
ity is in direct ratio to the number of bonds
sold. Our will to win is no better than
our will to buy bonds."

Yes, I've had a good sale today, sir. I've
only one bunch left. Twenty bunches? Do
you want 'em now? T'night? I'd like to
take the contract. Yes, I grow 'em. Of
course I am-I'm gain' on eight. Well­
I'd have to go out to my-sort er ranch,
where I raise 'em, but I could get here in
time.
No, sir, I don't think I could get home
again, but I could stay the night in town,
You go out with me to get the vi'lets? I
couldn't 'spect that. Yes, I've a family-I
have my mother,
This is our car. sir. Pr'haps you'd ra~
ther sit inside. No? You'll see a pretty
country.
Oh, I've been in California a long time!
Wouldn't want to live anywhere else. I
used to live in the South, other side er the
States, you know. No, I can't 'member
much 'bout it 'cept how I used to crawl
up the hilI, back. of our home, smellin,
'long 'til I caught the whiff I was after.
(Sorter like a dog, wasn't it?) An' then
I'd scratch the dead leaves 'part, an' just
there, the dear little rosy 'butus would be
smilin' up at me. I'd put my face down
close an' smell an' smell, an' I'd pick one­
for Mother, you know-an' cover 'em up
'gain 'cause they don't feel good with the
sun lookin' in their eyes; an' then scamper
home. Yes. sir. we came here, an' father
he dieG, an' some thin' happened to Mother
an'-That's a pretty tree out there.
Wish you'd let me pay the fare. Mother
says I must always be businesslike, an'
you're takin' this trip for me--saves me
com in' in again. No? Well, I'll put in an~
other bunch-ten cents they are now, you
know.
How nice the' sun shines! Makes your
legs warm. don~t it? Pretty good patch on
that knee. don't you think? See--you can't
Page 14
California Violets
ByAUGUSTA B. FOWLER
(Note: This little monologue, published in "The California Homeseeker" forty years
ago. portrays what we like to believe is an example of the sort of folks who have_grown
up here in California and are entitled to recognition in our department "We--of
California. "
feel where it joins. Mother calls it her
Sunday patch; said she guessed the good
Lord wouldn't mind. You see, U's the only
time I'm home. Sunday is, an' so its the
only chance she has to mend my trousers.
An' that day she sits up 'most all day.
After I've pumped the water (vi'lets do
drink a lot), an' have done the chores,
then I put the board under Mother's shoul~
ders an'push it very slowly down 'til it
reaches her waist, an' then I have to be
very careful when I prop that board up
with the short board at her head, you
know, an' she says it don't hurt much, an'
there she is. sittin' up in bed, an' lookin'
so pleased.
See that glen down there? There's where
the Johnny~jump~ups live. In the mornin'
'fore the sun's up, you hurry an' get your
vi'let basket ready, an' then you go 'long
that path. Those cunnin' little Johnnies,
with their heads under their wings, don't
pay any 'tention to you, an' you pretend
you're not lookin' at them, an' you go on,
an' the sun's so 'fraid you'll get there first
that he hurries so fast that the poppIes on
top of the hill think they're late, an open
their eyes so sudden that off pops their
nightcaps of green, an' when you get to
the top, there they are laughin' at you
'cause you didn't catch 'em 'sleep. Then
you an' the sun look each other right in
the face, an' when you turn 'round every~
thin's smilin', an' you feel fine, an' you
hurry, 'cause you've got to get to town
with your vi'lets; but you go softly, even
though you are in such a hurry, an' you
just have to laugh right out, for those lazy
little Johnnies, with their brown eyes wide
open, wink at you an' nod their heads, to
let you know that they heard you go by,
for all they pretended to be asleep.
No, Mother's not alone. Rover's there,
you know Rover's a very val'able dog, an'
he's very equinomical. He lives on go~
phers, an' that keeps 'em out of the vi'let
bed, too.
Do you think I do? Mother used to teach
school, you see, an' she says she's nobody
to teach now, but me, an' when I bring
home er word she don't like, she looks
so sorry, you feel so bad you have to
throw it away. She says I drop g's and d's
an' that, but that I'll get over it as I
grow older, I'm pretty old now an' big,
When I pull down my jacket an' stand very
straight she says I'm like father, an' he
was a very big man. Isn't that a pretty
good wrist for a boy gain' on eight?
No, we don't have to tell the conductor.
,
They knows me, you see, I've done bus'~
ness on this road for two years, 'bout, an'
when I get think in' of things an' wonderin'
if Mother's been com'table all day an' if I
put ev'rythin' near 'nough to her hand, an'
if Rover's been careful an' hasn't barked
too much, an' if she'll like the crab I'm
takin' home for her, an' thinkin' how she'll
look so dainty like when she's eatin' it, I
just forget, an' the conductor shouts out
Bloomtown! There! you see, he didn't for­
get. an' here we are.
The bank's rather steep. sir, an' there's
a tangle of grass that might trip you, an'
it's a little wet here, If you'll step on
those stones, you'll never know it's wet.
It's good for the flowers, though. See the
flags, how they wade knee~deep in the
water, Look like soldiers. don't they? with
their white helmets and they so straight
an' tall, just called to 'tention? An' see the
General! Ain't he a buster? An' um! don't
they smell sweet?
If you don't mind I'll run on 'head.
Mother ain't used to vis'tors, an' she might
want me to get her best shawl out, Mother's
very pretty, an' a most int'restin' talker.
Here. Rover! Rover'lI bring you up to
the house.
Yes, that's my vi~let ranch, 'Taint very
big, but it takes care of Mother an' me.
Mother'lI be very glad to see you, sir,
Mother, this is the gentleman who's gain' to
buy twenty bunches of vi'lets, Excuse me,
sir, would you please sit here? You see,
Mother can't see you there, an' she don't
very often turn her head. Mother likes to
see you when she's talkin' to you, I'll go
an' get the vi'lets.
Just smell 'em, sir. An' they're nice, long
stems, an' I've put the extra bunch in.
A contract, sir? To grow vi'lets? I'd have
to hire help, I'm 'fraid. To supply the big
market? That would take a hun'red bunches
a day, an' I'd have to buy more plants, an'
-I'm 'fraid I couldn't do it. You see, It's
just like this: Mother an' me, we have all
we need, but plants cost a good deal an'
we're princ'pled 'gainst gain' in debt, I'm
very sorry, If I'd only grown a little big~
ger pr'haps I'd find a way-Why, pr'haps
I could get a partner. Would you let me
think it over for a day, sir?
You go in partnership with me? An' let
me do the work, an' mother keep the
'counts?
I-I-'scuse me--l got to-yes, Mother.
I'll come ba~~k.

Asbury Harpending, Boy Wonder
By MIRIAM ALLEN deFORD
In 1856 a boy of seventeen arrived alone
in San Francisco from Kentucky. He had
already run away from home to join Wil~
liam Walker, the filibuster, in Nicaragua,
had been arrested, and had escaped. His
wise father realized that Asbury was not
going to fit into the humdrum life of a
small Kentucky town; he gave him his
fare to California, five dollars in gold, and
a revolver. The boy displayed his genius
for money~making as soon as he reached
New Orleans; he spent his five dollars for
oranges and bananas, sold them at fancy
prices on board, and reached San Francis­
co with $400 in his pocket.
He did not linger long. He soon disap~
peared into Mexico, and four years later
reappeared, not yet of age, but possessed
of a quarter of a million dollars in bank
and a gold mine worth millions more! He
plunged at once into real estate operations
that "made San Francisco gasp." By 1863
he was a multi-millionaire. He lost all that
fortune (he won and lost several others
Later) when the United States government
confiscated everything he had.
Harpending was a Confederate before
there was a Confederacy. a Rebel from
the word go. First he organized a branch
of the Knights of the Golden Circle, a pro~
Sout)lern society of the time. and plotted
to take over the state, found the Republic
of the Pacific, and hand that over to the
seceding Southern states. This plan was
nipped in the bud by Albert Sidney John­
ston, who was then commander of the De~
partment of the Pacific of the United States
Army. A loose-tongued Knight gave the
affair away, and Johnston sent for Har­
pending, and informed him that if the con~
spiracy were not· dropped he would de­
fend the property of the United States
"with every resource at my command and
with the last drop of my blood." Sensibly,
Harpendlng decided to avoid bloodshed.
With the outbreak of the Civil War,
Johnston resigned and became one of the
most noted of Confederate generals.
But HarpendiI;ig was not through. He
began to work on a still more daring en­
terprise. Early in 1862 he slipped back to
Mexico, then somehow through the block~
ade to Richmond. He had himself commis­
sioned by Jefferson Davis as a Confeder­
ate Navy officer, though he had never
been at sea except as a passenger. (That
was so that. in case of apprehension, he
would be a prisoner of war and not a-pi­
rate.) Then he ran the blockade again and
returned to San Francisco. There he pro­
ceeded to charter a ship, outfit it ostensibly
for trade with Mexico, and with two asso­
ciates, to lay plans to sail south. lie in
wait for the next Pacific Mail steamer,
seize it, and send its cargo of gold to the
Confederacy.
Unfortunately, though he was a com~
missioned naval officer, he could not sail a
ship. He had to hire a naVigator and a
sailing master. The latter was Lorenzo
Libby, a Canadian.
On the night of March 14, 1863, Har~
pendinq, and his two associates, with twen­
ty recruits, went on board their ship. They
were to sail the next day. Instead, their
navigator, William Law, betrayed them.
The three young men were arrestt!d at
GHOST TOWN NEWS
Asbury Harpending
dawn, together with Libby, and taken to
Alcatraz. Libby promptly turned state's
evidence -against them. "If I had known
Libby's name was Lorenzo," said Harpen­
ding sourly, "I would never have engaged
him. I have three times in mv life been
cheated by men named Lorenzo."
Harpending was convicted of high trea­
son, his fortune confiscated. and he him~
self sentenced to ten years. He was sent to
serve his sentence in the San Francisco
County Jail-probably the only convicted
traitor ever housed there! As a matter of
fact, the government acted with great com­
mon sense in dealing with these young hot­
heads. The informers were sent safely to
China, the other two young men were re~
leased. and Harpending himself had his sen­
tence commuted after only four months.
Soon after. he heard a false rumor that
he was to be rearrested. He left Immedi­
ately and hid in the mountains of Tulare
County. There, with his usual Hair for
wealth. he discovered the immensely rich
Kernville gold field, piled up a new for­
tune of $800.000, and helped to found Kern
County. When the war ended, and he dis­
covered he was not "wanted," he returned
to San Francisco. He was still not quite
twenty~six.
His next enterprise was to persuade Wil­
liam C. Ralston. the financier. to back his
proposal to cut Montgomery Street. then
San Francisco's princiPal business street,
through south of Market Street. He built
the Grand Hotel, which until Ralston built
the Palace was the greatest luxury hotel of
the city. superseding the Lick House, and
he built the $400,000 Harpendin\1 Block,
which burned to the ground in 1871. He
was closely assOCiated with Ralston in his
multifarious enterprises. In 1871 he went
to London to expose the "Emma Mine
Scandal," and so far as he knew had left
California for good.
He was recalled by a cablegram from
Ralston which was so long it had cost
$11001 Two men, Philip Arnold and John
Slack, had come to Ralston's Bank of Cali­
fornia with some uncut diamonds, which
they claimed to have found "somewhere in
Page 15
the desert." In the same place, they said,
were untold millions' worth of diamonds.
rubies. sapphires. and emeralds. Ralston
and all the biggest financiers of San Fran~
CISCO combined with the Rothschilds in
London to exploit this miraculous find-ali
of them in perfectly good faith. At Ral~
ston's plea Harpending came back to San
Francisco to assist them. A further sample
of the gems was inspected in New York
b" the famous jeweler Tiffany. in the pres~
ence of Horace Greeley and Generals
Geor\1e B. McClellan and B. F. Butler,
and declared to be worth $150,000. The
governing board took over Arnold's and
Slack's claims for $660,000, and capitalized
the company at ten million dollars. The
celebrated engineer Henry Janin was taken
blindfolded to a field where "even the ant­
hills sparkled with diamond dust."
And then the United States sent geologist
C1<irence King to the claim, in Wyoming,
to make a definitive final report. King
found the claim was all salted. There were
diamonds in the crevices of rocks. in arti­
ficial anthills, even in the forks of trees,
but not one in bedrock. Also, as he pointed
out dryly, diamonds. rubies. emeralds. and
sapphires do not appear in the same beds.
The incipient frenzy of speculation col~
lapsed with a thud. Ralston repaid the
two million dollars already invested. Ar­
nold was traced to Kentucky and obli\1ed
to disgorge $150,000; he kept $300.000­
and opened a bank! Slack had disappeared.
no one ever found out where.
And Harpending. who had been per~
suaded against his will by Ralston. who
had always been skeptical of the entire
affair. was accused by the disappointed
speculators of having fraudulently engi­
neered the whole thing! The people whom
he was prosecuting in the "Emma Mine
Scandal" led the attack. He was crushed.
He sold out all his California holdings and
went back to his old home in Kentucky.
For the rest of his life he felt himself to
be under a cloud; in his old age he wrote a
sort of autobiography which he called "The
Great Diamond Hoax," in which pathetic­
ally he tried to vindicate and clear him~
self, long after everyone else had forgotten
the story.
The rest of Harpending's life was a
steady decline. He lost money in Wall
Street, in silver mines in Colombia and
Hold mines in Mexico. He salvaged a little
from the wreck and moved back to Cali­
fornia with his wife and three daughters.
He settled in Fruitvale. now a part of Oak~
land, and lived there until 1918. Then he
went to New York to be with one of his
married daughters, and in 1923, at eighty­
three, he died there. a neglected and for­
gotten old man who once had engaged the
attention of the United States Government
and who had been perhaps the most color~
ful of the adventurers In high finance who
made the name of San Francisco echo
around the world in the sixties and seven­
ties of the last century.
For other stories of Asbury Harpending
--of the time, for example, that he and
Ralston abstracted money from the United
States Subtreasury and left there in eX­
change five tons of gold bullion to avoid
3 run on the Bank of California-see my
book, "They Were San Franciscans"
(Caxton Printers. Ltd., $3.50). It contains
a picture of Harpending as he was when
he came to San Francisco at seventeen;
the accompanying illustration shows him at
his apogee of power and wealth. when he
had acquired whiskers if not discretion!
 -1816
Pomona, Los Angeles county, boasts a
unique reputation~that of averaging more
wheels, according to population, actually
in use by its citizens, than any other city
in the world.
The stranger, as he walks along the
main thoroughfare, is impelled by the
sight that greets his eyes, to enquire of
the nearest passer by, if the entire "League
of American Wheelmen" has assembled in
convention in that fair city, or if some en­
thusiast with more mony than his wife and
thusiast with more money than his wife
and family could spend, had not presented
every citizen with a bicycle.
Pomona is a town of six thousand
(1902) inhabitants, male, female and Chi­
nese, and it is estimated some four thou­
sand wheels are in use--certain it is that
in whatever direction you look, you gaze
upon dozens of wheels against building or
rack, on the curb or stacked with others
for lack of room to otherwise hang them
up. while the owner is about other busi­
ness. Equally true is it when the observer
strolls through the residence district. Here
the "Steeds of Norcisiui' recline in rack.
on the porches or may be seen protruding
a wheel from the rear of the house. Dash­
ing around every comer. or closely pass­
ing you as you cross the street, they dart
by, a silent procession of a century's con­
ception. In use by the letter carrier. and
messenger. and minister. and lawyer. the
school girl and boy. and the unhappy pos­
sessor of three hundred pounds of avoir­
dupois.
FIRST PEDALER ON A PEDESTAL
The oldest bicycle dates back to
1816 (illustration above). In that year
Baron von Drais (German). devised a
vehicle composed of two tandem
wheels of equal size connected by a
perch on which the rider partly sat,
propelling it by thrusting with his feet
upon the ground and ~uiding it by a
bar connected with the front whee!.
In 1891 a monument was erected in
memory of the "Father of the Bi­
cycle," the expense of which was
borne exclusively by cyclists.
Page 16
-1840
The wheels are of all makes, and one
dealer is authority for the statement, that
there is not a single make that is not rep­
resented. and the extensive establishments.
dealing exclUSively in wheels in Pomona.
vouch for the statement. And true it is
that one of the salesmen for a popular
The City
make is now enjoying a vacation in Hono­ By NICHOLS
lulu. at his employer's expense, for sub­
mitting the largest order from Pomona. This article was published forty years
ever received from anyone locality. and now, again, Pomona bids fair to
Last Saturday night. by actual count, and many other cities it isn't "Back to the
there were lined up along the curb on
Geo. K. Whitney of San Francisco OWDll
one side of Second street within one
block only-271 wheels-it being impos­ world and we are indebted to him for
sible for a pedestrian to step from the play at Tbe CIifI House, San Francisco,
sidewalk into the road. without climbing
over a wheel or two. The same condition
seemed to prevail in the other blocks. This
is but an ordinary. commonplace occur­
rence. During the quietest time of the day,
the writer counted 316 wheels in two
blocks, idle and in use.
During the Farmers' Club convention
last month in Pomona. wheels were lined
five deep along the entire front and side
of the convention hall-and the curb was
taking care of a like proportion.
There are several good reasons why
Pomona, of all other cities, should lead
in this respect, which it would do other
localities no harm to ponder over and
profit by.
Of course climate comes into the reckon­
ing, but all cities of Southern California
boast of sunny skies and beautiful moon­
light nights.
The country for some distance is more FIRST ROWI Willard Stover, Walter Knott
level than is the average California city, , Theo. Rice, Chas. Ratcliff, George Lorbeer, John
and consequently not so much exertion is . Weber, Pioche Cable, Robert Nesbit, Harold Bre
needed by those who are not very strong. hant, Tom Lavars.
However, the secret lies in the Good SECOND ROW: Eme Nettle, Caro Adams,
Roads. Pomona certainly can point with
Hazel Ercanbrack, Marie Crabbe, Katy Curry, X,
pride to the clean. well-kept asphalt pave­
ment and the macadamized roads always
in perfect condition. and free from ruts,
holes, and bumps. such as are only too
common in nearly every city. The roads
leading out from Pomona into the adja­
cent towns are all that could be desired.

f Wheels
California Homeseeker
as The City of Wheels. In Pomona
and Buggy" but "Back to the Bicycle."
oollection of old bicycles in the
.ratJions. The original bicycles are on dis-­
the famed Seal Rocks.
Booth. Eloisa McKim. Gertrude Pratton,
lN~mdneQumhy.Ethd Tolan~
THIRD ROW: Miss Casey, teacher; Laura S
Amy Yates, Blanche Arum, X, Sam Shidds,
Floyd West. Walter Booth. Walter Tryer. X.
Reynolds.
-1875­
Wheeling over such roads is
a pleasure, and the endorsement
of the Good Roads policy by
the thousands of Pomona's citi­
zens commends the same policy
to other cities. Among the rid.
ers of Pomona are noted some
speedy men. and the frequent
trials made each month have
placed them in competition with
the best riders of the country,
And we cannot close our ar­
ticle without a word about the
bicycle business of Pomona in
general. .. How's business 7"
"Good!" "Yes, we don't doubt
it." The repair man smiles
broadly, and gives you. the
"glad hand" with a merry twin­
kle in his eye, as a customer
passes in a punctured tire, And
the riding teacher, which all
first class establishments hire
for the benefit of purchasers,
has become such a valuable
member of the force that he is
demanded, from the first glimpse
-1888­
of the sun's ray. till the ice
cream parlor threatens to close The Seal Rocks as seen from the win­
its doors at the "sand-man's" dows of the Cliff House Gift Shop are
bidding - and many is the shown in the background.
strange. but interesting story he
J has to tell of his "mashes" and
his smashes and the "I adore. you" girl needed than the dozen or so of wheels
beside him, lined along the curb of the business place,
and Pomona readily assumes its title of
But the great number of wheels on the
streets is no detriment to the locality. The "The City of Wheels."
continual rapidly moving conveyances,
whether on pleasure or business bent, cre­ The Highwheeler or "Ordinary" gradu­
ate a stir that is at once pleasing, and adds ally was forced to give way to the Safety
to the city that busy effect which most at­ until in 1888 the safety model was univer­
tracts the visitor. and prospective home­ sally adopted. Practically no Highwheelers
seeker. and no better advertisement is were built after that date.
 ,..

Page 18 GHOST TOWN NEWS

Old..Fashioned, But Popular

Two School Teachers Discover Something So Old It Actually Was New, and They Put It Over.
By HOWARD KEGLEY
The impulse to start a vegetable garden hollyhocks and petunias to geraniums and and were suggesting sweet Marjarum,
on a vacant lot in Manhattan Place, Los daisies. Finally cacti and succulents crowd~ Rosemary, thyme, torragon, chives, Yerba
Angeles during the Ilrst World War led ed their way in. Buena. garlic. sage. etc.. to add zest to
two kindergarten teachers to give up the The building boom of 1928 ushered in sundry table delicacies.
three R's-readin', .ritin' and .rithmetic, the Mediterranean type of home, which And again the McAfee girls met the
and go in for the three C's-cuttings, cul~ was wholly out of key with old-fashioned trend as it came up the walk.
tivation and customers, with such enthus~ flowers. What did the McAfee girls do Their "scented pathways" led to a back~
iasm that they have achieved success in a but trump right in with the answer to a yard garden plot containing thousands of
line of business almost universally monopo~ popular trend. Over the gate they raised plants, a breath or a whisper from which
Iized by men. a sign bearing the slogan: "Potted Plants would make victuals more appetizing and
Most anywhere you go in the West you for Patios," and it caught on. The lath­ perhaps more easily digested. Thus their
hear people speak of the McAfee Girls. and house was filled with primroses, azaleas. old-fashioned garden finally came to afford
their old~fashioned garden on North San geraniums. pelargoniums and a wide vari~ both food and flowers.
Gabriel Blvd., at the outskirts of San Ga~ ety of other blooming plants in attractive For a long time the girls nursed the
briel, Calif. Few know that Grace and pottery containers. idea that they wanted to take a flyer in
Ruth set out to be instructors, only to dis~ garden pottery. but the field seemed over­
cover that by joining forces and working People began dolling up their balconies. crowded. Finally they figured out a way
longer hours they could be their own outside stairways and patios with these to edge in. They employed an expert pot­
bosses and earn more than enough to meet dazzling splashes of color, and the old­ ter and started turning out custom~built
their every requirement. "And," declares fashioned garden was saved. That their pottery. Many people have brass or glazed
Ruth, "we have had a lot of fun doing answer to a devastating swing away from jardiniers or huge Chinese bowls, which
just that!" their basic idea was successful is indicated are not suitable for plant containers. but a
They had rather a tough time breaking by the fact that an order for patio plants pottery container can be built to fit inside
away from the kindergarten, because mo~ to landscape a single residence exceeded them and not show from the outside.
torists driving along the highway would $400.
A unique specialty which has been de­
see the "McAfee Nursery" sign in front Then came another architectural trend­ veloped is a tall gallon pottery container.
of their modest cottage and, upon reach~ . a switch to farmhouse type. Cape Cod and A gallon can containing a plant in bloom
ing home, would pick up the phone and Pennsylvania. All three types fitted snugly can be shipped inside such a container and
ask how much they charged for taking into the original scheme, and back came used for decorative purposes. When the
care of children. old-fashioned gardens, so the girls took on plant stops blooming it may be withdrawn
At about the time these girls discovered another acre or two and planted fields of and a blooming plant in another gallon
that they liked to work with plants along Howers. container may easily be substituted.
came someone and slapped a house on Constantly on the lookout for trends, "If they like to tinker with, plants, and
their vegetable garden lot, so what did they because fashions in Howers as well as in have the fortitude it requires women can
do but go to San Gabriel and buy a potato everything else are subject to change. they conduct such a business as well as men
patch encompassing one and one~half acres. picked up a cookbook and discovered that can," says Grace McAfee. "but they
That was in 1923. the vogue for herbs to flavor' foods was shouldn't attempt it unless they are glut~
"When our brother looked at the frame~ returning. First alders to biscuit-riddled tons for work and are willing to put in
work of our lath~house," says Grace. "he bridegrooms were once more advocating the long hours. If one cares for this sort of
insisted it was large enough for an agri­ use of scented geraniums of the nutmeg, thing, though, they can get a lot of enjoy­
cultural experiment station, but it has been rose and peppermint type to flavor jelly. ment and satisfaction out of it'"
filled a good part of the time."
Being from Indiana themselves. the Mc­
Afee sisters reached the perfectly obvious
conclusion that the majority of people in
Southern California are from states other
than California-chiefly the east and mid~
dle~west-and. not being attuned to trop~
ical and subtropical plantings. naturally
turned to old~fashioned posies.
Not only that, the girls observed that
youngsters. in growing up. to establish
homes of their own, seemed to have a
preference for the old~fashioned Howers­
perennials such as columbines. delphiniums.
hollyhocks, day lilies, phlox, coral bells
and scabiosa. to mention only a few. They
are partial to forget~me~nots, too.
The girls had only gotten nicely started
at San Gabriel with their sign "Old Fash­
ioned Garden" over the gate and double
hollyhocks flanking the driveway when
friendly women from all parts of Southern
California came. bearing their treasures in
that spirit of comradeship which charac~
terizes true plant-lovers-the desire to
share with someone else a plant or Hower
which is especially appealing. .
In this way the McAfee sisters soon
came into possession of a very great num~
bel' of things' that were actually so old
they were new to a couple of generations
of gardeners. One woman brought a .start
from a plant known as Sweet Mary, which A highly informal picture of the McAfee girls at the entrance to their old-fashioned
actually was brought to California in cov~ garden. If you don't think they have found health and normal living there look at their
ered~wagon days. This old-fashioned gar­ faces. Over the entrance to their lath-house a quaint ai1dI hacdy white rose which came
den business ran the whole gamut from all the way from Ireland. Gtace McAfee at left, Ruth at right.

He Fought and Won Freedom From
Apron..Strings
With all the women going into war
work. and war services. it might well hap­
pen that we men may have to put up a
fight for our own world. after the Four
Freedoms have been won.
In that case. Bart Bonebrake ought to
be a full general.
For Bart Bonebrake is the Los Angeles
fellow who started a war of his own, be­
fore the big war got going. He fought for
freedom from apron-strings. and won a
decisive victory.
But that was one war in which all the
news could be told, and the truth is. that
the women pitched in and helped him win
-but it's quite a story.
Bonebrake is a manufacturer of adver­
tising display material.
He likes to putter in the kitchen.
Whenever he went into the kitchen. to
stir things up, his wife made him wear an
apron. and he hated it. He hated the
strings that tied around his chest. and
hated the ruffles and daintiness of his wife's
aprons.
Finally he revolted. and made an apron
for himself, an honest-to-goodness man's
apron. of plain stout cloth. with no
flounces, or ruffles. not even apron-strings.
For he invented an apron that had a
strip of c10ckspring in the upper hem.
which automatically closed around his mid­
dle. and held it tight. and was so new
that when friends saw it they wanted one
too. and before long. he was a man's
apron manufacturer. with customers among
the buyers for big stores all over the coun­
try.
When a man puts on an apron. gener­
ally it is for a party. like a barbecue. so
Bonebrake decorated his aprons with pic­
tures. and slogans. like "His Apron" and
''I'm the Chef," and that made them sell
all the better.
Then the women stepped in, as they
always do when a man gets something
that he thinks he can really call his own,
From one merchandising front. a buyer
'phoned him one day.
"SaY'"why don't you make an apron for
women?
"Don't know anything about women's
aprons." Bonebrake answered. doggedly. "I
make men's aprons. and want to keep them
that way,"
"Well. brother. let me tell you some­
thing. Do you know that three out of ev­
ery four of your aprons we sell are
bought by women?"
"I know that a lot of women buy them
for their men."
"The heck they do!" snorted this buyer.
"They buy them for themselves. Women
like that c10ckspring idea. They know a
good thing for the kitchen when they see
it. You get busy and bring out an apron
for the gals."
GHOST TOWN NEWS
By JAMES H. COLLINS
At first. Bonebrake treated that sugges­
tion much as Churchill would treat a peace
offer from Hitler. but in the end he sur­
rendered, and ever since then his line has
included c10ckspring Iife-of-the-party
aprons for the women-
Only. the clockspring is gone!
It disappeared before we got into the
war. when steel grew scarce. and for a
time Bonebrake thought his apron busi­
ness was over for the duration. He was
using a lot of clocks pring. and it disap­
peared on priorities, and that looked like
the end.
But he tried elastic tape to hold aprons
on without strings. and kent his pictures
and slogans, and his line not only sold as
Bart Bonebrake, Los Angeles small manu­
facturer who is doing a Iitde bit of all
right.
Page 19
well as ever, but even better, because with
tires going. and one thing and another,
people turned to home parties for enter­
tainment. and such aprons chimed right in
with the spirit of things.
Then the price of cloth went up. and it
was not always obtainable, and the sup­
plies of elastic tape dwindled and disap­
peared, and he was-back to apron­
strings!
Never mind-he decorated his party
aprons with snappier slogans, and more
hilarious pictures. and as fast as the war
tightened up materials, it also loosened the
party spirit, and made people find their
fun around home, in the backyard, and
want more aprons.
From Coast to Coast, in the best stores,
you will find Bart Bonebrake aprons,
sometimes in more than one department,
for they sell in the housewares, and with
the linen, and in men's shops, and even
with the sporting goods. They have be­
come a regular "line," supplied to the
stores through manufacturer's representa­
tives, and Bonebrake is one small busi­
ness man who hasn't been counted out by
war.
True. the war has diminished his origi­
nal business in advertising display mate­
rials, because with fewer things to sell,
man y retail. stores' are curtailing their' ad­
vertising. But the same processes, and
equipment, used in making display cards
and posters, is adapted to ornamenting
aprons.
Bart Bonebrake is so adaptable a fel­
low that if it hadn't happened to be aprons,
it would have been something else.
For he liquidated a fine paying business
in automobile accessories to go away to
the last war. Coming out of college in
1913, in Iowa, with a little capital given
by his father. he chose auto accessories
as a line. not because he knew anything
about them, but because in college he had
been f~~cinated by the study of s~lIing and
advertIsmg. In four years, agamst big,
shrewd competition, he multiplied Dad's
money by 18.
Then, after the war. he got into adver­
tising in Chicago, building up a thriving
small agency, which specialized in doing a
good job on accounts the big agencies
lacked time to develop.
And that eventually brought him to
California, where in the depression years
he looked for an agency job. and was told
to go out and find some clients to start
with. If he had to find clients to land a
job-why not find some clients for himself?
And that's just what he did. and in his
soecial fieldl as a display material manu­
facturer, he was soon selling cards and !
posters to the very agencies who had ,I
promised to hfre him-if!
Yes, Bart Bonebrake would be doing
something-and if We really do have to
fight that war for our world. we men. he
might very well be our MacArthur.
I
{" J

Page 20
Chain Litter
A story of high &nance, adventure and real agricultural education. including a course in porcine obstetrics.
Mr. Larson is Chairman of the Pub­
licity committee of the Kiwanis Club
of Raymond. Washington. This ar­
ticle was published in the January,
owner. For this reason the returns will
1940. issue of the Kiwanis Magazine
vary a little, but on the whole the returns
which says:
have been as predictable as the sum of
two and two.
"Every month we delay publication
Sixteen young sows this fall mean thirty­
of Herb Larson's pig story a lot of
two next year to place, sixty-four the next
statistics have to be changed. The de­
year. and so on, until the prospects would
scendants of Geraldine don't know
make even the most ardent pig enthusiast
anything about space limitations, an­
stop and ponder. The committee. however,
niversary issues. deadlines or press
time. Just as this article was being
corrected a bulletin came in announc­
ing "twelve more blessed events." By
the time this January issue gets to you
the statistics will be wrong but the
idea will be sounder than ever.
-The Editor.
Pigs may be just pigs to some folks. but
to a group of high school boys and girls
in Pacific County. Washington. a prolific
sow named Geraldine is a symbol of high
adventure. rich experience and the kind of
profits that can't be reduced to dollars and
cents. For Geraldine is the great-grand­
mother of the Raymond Kiwanis Club's
Perpetual Pig Project. an enterprise that Is
brinqingto the youth of this county the
thrills and privileges of individual initia­
tive. of high standards and diligence in
work. of life in the American way.
It all started early in 1937. John Eager.
Raymond postmaster and a member of the
. Kiwanis agricultural committee. was cast­
ing about for a worthwhile program of
service. He recalled the value he had de­
rived from an early experience in raising
pigs. Frank Jenne. a banker. and also a
committee member. computed the porcine
interest on one sow. compounded annually
and multiplied as only pigs can. to be an
unprecedented amount in service to the
youth of the county. Rawson Coie. county
agricultural agent. was called in as con­
sultant. The committee bought Geraldine.
and the Kiwanis Club was in the pig busi­
ness.
The plan was sim"lle. Geraldine was sold
to a high school boy. The contract called
for him to return to the committee five
pure-bred sow pigs from Geraldine's nrSli:
two litters. No cash was involved: the
five eight-week-old pigs were payment in
full for Geraldine,
From that start. what might be called a
chain-litter idea was carried forward. Ger­
aldine's five daughters were placed with
five young farmers. They each agreed to
return to the Kiwanis Club two pure-bred
sow pigs eight weeks old from the first lit­
ter farrowed by their sows. Their sows,
then. were paid for. and they were at lib­
erty to dispose of the rest of their pigs as
they saw fit. The Kiwanis committee was
interested only in assuring perpetuation of
GHOST TOWN NEWS
By H. C. LARSON
the project, so that more pigs could be
placed, to return still more pigs to the
committee. to allow opportunity for more
boys and girls to benefit from the project.
And the youthful swine raisers have
benefitted from the work. They have. in
. the first place. learned the fine art of rais­
ing pure-bred pigs. Each youth. before re­
ceiving a sow. must agree to maintain the
high standards of feeding and care neces­
sary for producing superior pigs. The
swine must be pure bred. Geraldine was a
registered Poland-China sow; the off-spring
must emulate the example set by their illus­
trious ancestor.
There are other benefits. Each partici­
pant is responsible for the success of the
project as a whole. Pride of accomplish­
ment, of the fine record made in the proj­
ect, has prompted each of the boys and
girls to do more than meet the minimum
requirements for participation. Each is
constantly seeking more improved methods.
originating ingenious devices to add effi­
ciency to .operation; each is building a solid
foundation for a life of constructive service
and personal profit and pleasure.
Raising pigs isn't just feeding them and
watching them grow. Project members
must keep account books. which are exam­
ined periodically. They must exhibit their
pigs at the county fair. Last year several
prizes went to project members. They must
take part in group demonstrations. and they . brought returns in material profits. An
are required to take part in at least five
trips. on judging practice in livestock. Thus
the project. built around pigs. has expand­
ed to give each boy and girl valuable ex­
perience in many phases of farm manage­
ment.
The primary objective of the Perpetual
Pig Project is service to youth. A second­
ary purpose is to develop the swine indus­
try in Pacific County. Here. too. the proj­
ect has proven its worth. Because the proj~
ect pigs are of pure bred, high grade stock,
farmers in the county are happy to buy
them. Interest in raising swine has been
stimulated. the hreed is being improved.
and there is a resultant development in
Pacific County's swine industry.
All this, of course. would not be pos­
sible without intelligent supervision. County
Agriculturist Coie has been on constant
duty, advising. helping to iron out prob­
lems. making sure that each individual proj­
ect returns a full measure of valuable
training to the boyar girl farmer. In the
three years since the project was inaugurat­
ed, in no instance has it been necessary to
cancel an agreement because of poor man­
aQement or failure to comply with provi­
sions of the agreement.
To date. thirteen young sows have been
recovered by the Kiwanis committee and
placed with eleven boys and two girls. One
infant died. Of the other twelve, four.
which were from Geraldine's first litter,
paid for themselves in the fall of 1939,
when their owners each returned two sows
to the committee. Those eight sows will
have litters this fall. with. presumably. six­
teen young ones being returned to the club
for placement. The committee has followed
a policy of taking their two sows from the
first litter only when the size of the litter
would permit it without handicapping the
has other plans. They know from the In.
quiries they have had that they would have
no trouble finding homes for the offspring.
but they do realize that the project might
grow to unmanageable proportions. So
they propose to place no more than twenty
piQs. Those twenty will return forty to
the committee. Twenty will be sold at
auction, and twenty will be placed with
boys and girls. Proceeds from the sale will
be placed in the club's fund for services to
underprivileged children. A yearly cash
income will be assured for the underprivi­
leged children's fund. and at the same time
twenty hays and girls will each be given a
chance to get a start in business. Thus,
while the project itself will he limited. its
field of service will be enlarged.
The Perpetual Pig Project has. of course,
estimated one hundred pigs have been
raised for the market. Every owner can
show an actual cash profit over and above
expenses for feed and other items. Then.
too. the club is ahead financially. Ger­
aldine cost thirty-five dollars. There has
been no other expense to the club. With
sixteen young sows in prospect this fall,
the club's cash return could be in the neigh­
borhood of two hundred dollars.
Geraldine has long since been reduced
to pork chops and hacon. But her descend­
ants, thoroughbreds that they are, carryon.
By the time her great-grandchildren are
ready to be led to the slaughter house.
many younq Americans in Pacific County,
thanks to Geraldine, will have been as­
sisted in constructing a stronger base on
which to build a useful. wholesome. Ameri­
can life.
SHADES OF GERALDINE
We wrote Mr. Larson for permission to
reprint this article and suggested that we
could also use a picture of Geraldine. Mr.
Larson is no longer in Raymond. Washing­
ton. but our letter finally got to him and
. some interesting correspondence has devel­
oped. From his letter we quote:
"Shades of Geraldine and all her well­
bred descendants! Your letter, travelling
from Raymond to Seattle, and back to Cali­
fornia again. to reach me in San Francisco
today. started me wondering just how that
venerable sow and the project she gave
birth to-literally-have fared during
these months of readjustment. revised think­
ing, and replaced emphasis. Geraldine. of
course, as a physical entity. has long since
 GHOST TOWN NEWS Page 21

ceased to elCist. but Geraldine as an idea.
a method of laying a strong foundation for
the society we want to maintain after this
war is over-that Geraldine. the motiva';
tion behind the perpetual pig project, will.
I hope, outlive the most murderous bomber
or the most durable tank we are producing
today. I am particularly pleased that vou
want to print the ideas in the article "Chain
Litter" now. It is certainly most impor~
ant that, in addition to giving all our effort
to winning this war, we also keep remind~
ing ourselves that there will be a peace to
follow, and that we will have need of such
constructive plans as that which Geraldine
mothered.
"What has happened to the project since
I left Raymond. which was in May. 1941.
I do not know. I do know that the plan
was to level off at a certain number of
porkers. to sell the excess at that time. and
to add the money to the club's scholarship
fund. So far as I am concerned. you have
~----------------------------~~--------------
my whole~hearted agreement to reprint the
article as you suggested. So far as the
picture of Geraldine is concerned. I am
afraid that a "reasonably accurate faCSim­
ile" will be about as close as you will be
able to come. I don't recall that there were
ever any pictures of the sow made.
"Other interesting projects of a similar
nature were in the developmental stage be~
fore I left Raymond. The club was con~
sidering buying a bull, with the object of
encouraging improvement in the breed of
cattle in the county . .The local banker had
arranged for and purchased. through financ­
ing furnished by the bank he manages. a
number of heifers-twelve. I think-which
were given to farm boys in the locality.
These boys were to pay nothing for the
heifers the first year. but. as they began
to produce--and that's where the Kiwanis
bull was to come in-they would. with the
proceeds they realized. pay for the stock.
They would also. when able. pay for the
bull's service. by a return of young stock.
which would then be placed with an agree­
ment similar to the pig project plan. A
long~time plan. but sound. I think. and car~
rying interesting possibilities. in aid both
material and spiritual to the boys, as well
as in improvement of the county's stock.
These projects have interested me particu­
larly in their attempt to provide a future
for a locality where lumbering has been
the main source of support for many years.
and where now the bare acres are beginning
to outnumber the forested acres of land.
"Again, accept my appreCiation for your
interest in the constructive idea a few com~
munity~minded men in Raymond originated.
There are other stories. just as good and
better, there and in other similar communi­
ties in Washington. California, and in ev~
ery other state in the union. I hope some
day I can tell some of those stories. They
represent a spirit in our country that we
can't afford to lose sight of."

Presenting Sniffy!
The Glamour Girl of Rabbit-Land
By JULIETTE LAINE
If the next time you're walking down the
street you should suddenly see a Huffy
white Angora rabbit, complete with pink
eyes and a jewelled red harness. sedately
10pinQ along at the end of a leash. with a
dignified human being at the rear end of
the leash. don't let it disturb you. You
have not been drinking too much coffee. nor
is there anything wrong with your eye­
sight. On the contrary, you have just had
the privilege of meeting "Sniffy" the little
Marco Polo of the bunny world.
Although bqrely six years of age, "Snif­
fy" has already traveled over 96,000 miles
in this country, Mexico, and Canada. Mo"t
of this has been by. automobile, though
there have been occasional jaunts by train
and airplane as well.
But being a globe-trotter is not "Sniffy's"
only distinction. What really got her into
Ripley's "Believe It or Not" and John Hix'
"Strange As It Seems." is her aforemen­
tioned habit of walking at the end of a
dog leash. This still stops traffic in· com­
munities that haven't seen much of "Snif­
fy," and in such case either one of two
things happens. The bewildered bystander
either hurries home and decides to take
the pledge without any further nonsense.
or. if made of sterner stuff, he courage­
ously steps up and asks questions.
When this happens he learns that "Snif­
fy's" owner is Mrs. Leo Watts, and that
Sniffy on her sixth birthday. The rabbit
dons in background are gifts from friends
aIId admirers.
Mrs. Watts is principal of the public school
in the little town of Calexico, California.
He also learns that "Sniffy" was presented·
to her, in lieu of the traditional apple, by
a little boy pupil, some six years ago, That
occasion was eVidently the beQinnlng of a
beautiful friendshio, for both the lady and
the bunny took to each other so sincerely
that they have been inseparable compan­
ions ever since.
"Sniffy" is not only unusually beautiful
but she has such perfect manners and in­
nate sense of the proprieties that Mrs.
Watts has made a household pet of her
and on their travels "Sniffy" is permitted
to occupy hotel rooms. ride in elevators,
and scamper through the corridors as free­
ly as any of the two-legged guests do. But
in order to give her the requisite amount of
outdoor exercise Mrs. Watts purchased the
dog leash and harness, and it was this
which quickly led to columns of pub­
licity, complete with photograuhs. in news­
papers and magazines.
Since nothing succeeds like publicity, it's
not surprising to learn that "Sniffy" has
appeared in news reels, has been guest of
honor on a national hook-up radio show,
and once stole all the spotlight from Mrs.
Roosevelt at the White House Easter egg­
rolling festivities. Definitely, "Sniffy" gets
around! .
But much as she enjoys traveling. she
can settle down to domesticity as placidly
as anyone, if need be. When this occurs
she does not live in a kennel or outdoor Kathryn Watts and "Sniffy"
hutch. Instead, she has the entire run of
the house, and in exchange for this con­ such instances "Sniffy" comes quietly into
fidence has appointed herself official watch­ the room and gently nudges the caller with
dog of the Watts' household. She takes her soft little nose, by way of greeting.
her watching very seriously, sitting for "Sniffy" weighs eleven pounds, and judg­
long hours on the front or back porch, and ing from her waistline, does not approve
when a stranaer approaches she scurries of dieting. Her favorite foods are alfalfa.
indoors and thumps her hind feet violently lettuce. carrots, iced bananas. and bird~
on the floor. Mr. Watts says the sound is seed. She learned about bird-seed from a
similar to that of Central African war­ pair of parakeets that Mr. and Mrs. Watts
drums, only louder and funnier. All rab~ have at their ranch in Imperial Valley. An
bits do this when alarmed, he explains, but acquired taste, but what's the good of be­
"Sniffy" does this only when she is anxi­ ing a celebrity if you can't eat the things
ous about strangers. When visitors are old you like? "Sniffy's" entire career has been
friends of the family she senses the differ­ unusual-judged by ordinary rabbits' stan­
ence and they are permitted to approach dards-but she's enjoying every minute of
without benefit of fanfare. Moreover, in it. thank you!

The Snake That Chased Me
"Pigs is pigs," and snakes is snakes, and
all snakes is vicious; also slimy! Even
those little green ones, banished (or Ban­
sheed) from Ireland, which, until caught
red-handed and punished, I used to cache
and carry in the pocket of my calico dress.
That variety, possibly as a penalty for the
wearing of the green, has now, I fear, be­
come extinct. At any rate, the villain that
pursued me was, as the saying goes, "a
gray horse of ,another color."
He was not a "Milk" or "Suction" snake,
that well-known bosom friend and milker
of contented cows; nor yet a "Hoop­
snake," a species which, although also ex­
tremely vicious; if and when cornered and
attacked, is not so universally feared, as
owing to some strange reptilian inferiority
complex, he shuns even the remote vicinity
of the human race, on the approach of any
member of which, taking either his head or
his tail in his mouth-thus assuming the
form of the object from which he derives
his name, he rolls swiftly away from there
and goes places. Possibly some member
of his tribal family, having overheard an
allusion to the primal curse concerning
"serpents' heads and man's heels," chose
the motto "Safety First" as slogan of the
clan. However that may be, all Hoop­
snakes avoid personal contact with man,
the super "Bruiser."
"No--no--no!" As our Mexican neigh­
bors say: The snake, that chased me was
none of these; but an immense, overstuffed
Diamond-back Rattler.
The day of our nrst meeting was about
as hot as they' make 'em on the old Mo­
jave. Contrary to the assertion of certain
wise men from the East (east of the Mis­
sissippi). Friend Snake was indulging in
a very torrid sun bath; absolutely straight
across our broad pathway he lay; to the
uninitiated observer, but a skeletonized
branch of buckhorn cactus; being protec­
tively somewhat similar in color and mark­
ings. "Ah!" I exclaimed, "a string of
beads!" and ignoring the frantic remon­
strances of my companion, who also had
recognized the identity of the "stick," I
ran qUickly forward. On my near ap­
proach, swift as a lightning Hash, the crea­
ture's enormous length was drawn into an
attitude of denant self-defense; not that
absurdly perfect "coil," so often misrepre­
sented in sketches; rather, a constantly
GHOST TOWN NEWS
By MRS. J. C. DAVIS
shifting and readjusting semblance of the
letter "S." A perfect leverage from which
to strike. .
For long moments I stood gazing, in
fascinated admiration at the graceful con­
volutions of the (to me) beautiful crea­
ture; presently his attention seemed at­
tracted to the deep shadow cast by my
long skirts; and without relaxing his vigi­
lance. "lowering his proud crest" but still
sounding his warning rattle, he began a
slow and orderly retreat toward that pre­
sumably protective shade, Slowly, for
some distance, I retired; slowly he followed;
until. despite mv angry remonstrances. my
brave "gentleman friend," having in the
meantime secured an armful of rocks, pro­
ceeded, from a safe distance, to bombard
the poor, helpless. writhing fellow-creature,
until the lovely diamond design in black
and gold was obliterated in blood and dust.
Still brave and still cautious, he proceeded
to remove the silenced and broken rattles;
an authentic exhibit, to be accompanied by
the harrowing recital of his rescue from
sudden death of the woman friend who fled
in panic, relentlessly pursued by a murder­
ous rattlesnake!
Reader dear, believer in snake stories.
however preposterous, have you ever ex­
amined an uninjured, discarded snake-skin?
If so. did you observe the transparent
"spectacles." a unit of the entire skin which,
until turned inside out, from mouth to tail,
once fitted its wearer like the paper on the
wal17 The discard, unhampered by poc­
kets, hooks-and-eyes, zippers or buttons.
always uncovered a new and glistening
coat of many colors and elaborate pattern;
a finer suit than all your nine tailors ever
made for you, Little Man!
The snake of my story. preparing for
the change. had taken his God-given "Place
in the Sun," for a warming-up and loosen~
ing of the outer covering; his sight was
partially obscured. (I t is frequently ,re­
marked that snakes are "blind" during cer~
tain periods.) His handicapped condition.
however, had not as yet deprived him of
the instinctive ability to give fair warning
to intruders upon the privacy of his dress­
ing room. that he still possessed the lethal
weapons provided by nature, and in case
of necessity should still be able to use
them!
Not like the human monster. Hitler. a
merciless aggressor, but as a brave defender
of his own life and liberty. But that's an­
other story the snake's story. (And who
,would believe him?) Certainly not the "in­
telligent" jury of the peers of our own
fiendish Murderer James (but recently exe­
cuted) .
Who for (6) long years, by Heck!
Had saved his worthless neck,
Not because he had not forfeited his life;
But because in court, you know,
At his trial-so long ago-­
They were shown the snake he forced
to bite his wife!
Mrs. J. C. Davis
The little snap shown above is from one
of our most interesting subscribers, a
young lady in her ninety-nrst year, now
living in San Bernardino. California. Your
editor is greatly indebted to this grand wo~
man for her many letters of encourage~
ment and of genuine interest. I think every
reader of this paper will enjoy reading a
recent letter by a cheerful, courageous. op­
timistic western woman.
"Dear Mr. Wilson:
Here's another 'share' of 'valuable' min­
ing stock-twenty-five shares, in fact­
which I have just discovered in prospect­
ing on my claim, which I staked during
the horse and buggy days! Am shipping
some still more valuable specimens to
other people, including Arthur Millier-the
enthusiastic admirer of Maynard Dixon. I
knew him. Dixon, when he was a mere
beginner and sent me sketches and wrote
me grateful letters in return for publicity!
I have known so many 'big shots' but of
all the crowd (now, so many having
crossed the Big Divide-il0ne west) few
are left. One of the most charming and
talented of these. still very much alive. is
Mrs. John Guerro, of Field. New Mexico,
whose name and address you will please
add to your list of 'subs' account of the
enclosed mining stock. And, by the way,
this girl (Katherine Field Guerro) now'
wife of a Navajo Indian, was born a han~
dicapped cripple from infantile paralysis!
Still uses crutches. is not only a fine artist.
but rides the range, ropes and brands and
keeps the hogan spotless, and cares for her
two interesting children. B'gosh! Mister
Wilson. it would take me a week to tell
you the things I know of this wonderful
New Mexican woman, raised on a desert
stock-ranch, and forty miles from any­
where. She illustrates books; does calen­
dars for L. A. Stockvards, etc., etc. It will
pay you to get her for your magazine­
even though you have to send a photogra­
pher, writer or what have you to Field,
New Mexico (named Field for her father
who was Puerticito).
Well, my dear, let me hear how much
wall paper you still need. Maybe we can
get Mlster Shicklegruber to paste it on
your wall-when he gets tired of running
the Gestapo!
How Darwin missed the 'missing link'
No living man can now determine;
But certainly he failed to think
Of Shlcklegruber's 'yellow vermin'!
 GHOST TOWN NEWS Page 23

A deluxe job of an approved "mail wagon"

The Birth of Rural Free Delivery
By ELEANOR KINDER WELCH
In this time of total war. it gives the
nation time to think back a little. While
some of us have lived through four wars.
and many of us have lived through World
War number one, still many more have not
known war before. To the farmer Is al­
lotted the task of growina food for all. in
this World War number two. Rural Free
Delivery service, taken for granted for
many years. is doing now. more than ever
before, a tremendous task. As streamlined
automobiles pause at our rural mail boxes,
bringing news, packages, and confirming
our hopes and fears. through the years, let
us go back more than half a century to the
story of the beginning of the rural free de­
livery.
Sixty two years ago the Grange Hall
southeast of Everton, Fayette County, In­
diana, became the cradle of the nation's
Rural Free Delivery.
Beginning in 1818 and up to 1845, the
United States mail was brought to Fayette
County. Indiana, on horseback or by stage­
coach. In 1845 the first mail packet boat
arrived in Connersville. county seat of Fay­
ette County. This boat was navigated on
the White Water Canal which threaded
its way through a most picturesque coun~
tryside, from Cincinnati, Ohio. Mail
brought by horseback or stagecoach had
arrived weekly. Now. with the advent of
the water way. mail came daily. In 1862
the first mail came into the county seat by
mail train. However. with all this added
--------------~--~------~~~~
is shown here. It is interesting to note
that the lettering is done by hand. The
upholstering also shows much detailed
handwork of the trimmer. Rubber tires
service. the farmer. with no telephone. ra­ were not standard equipment, but rather
dio or automobile. found that a journey to the old steel tire.
the nearest post office lost much valuable
time. Yet this was his only source of gain­
ing news of the market or. for that matter.
of receiving messages from relatives.
Near the post office of Everton resided
Milton Trusler. whose family had settled
into the White Water Valley before the
land had been surveyed.
In 1880, Mr. Trusler, an active member
of the Farmer's Grange in his locality; first
talked of the Rural Free Delivery service.
Officers of the state Grange, meeting with
him in the Everton Grange Hall, were
quick to respond to the idea.
They urged him to travel over the state,
.outlining his idea. It is said that his origi~
nal plan was practically the same as used
today in the service.
It was Postmaster General Wanamaker
who in 1891 first officially placed the mat­
ter of Rural Free Delivery before the Con­ It was June 30. 1880, sixty~two years
gress. The first bill was introduced in the ago, that this idea was conceived by Mr.
House of Representatives in 1892. but it Trusler. in Fayette County, Indiana. and
. met with defeat. After much delay, three even today with radio, telephone, automo­
routes were started in West Virginia tn bile. rapid trains, and powerful planes
1896. Nine months later there were 82 within sight and hearing of the Fayette
routes from 43 post offices in 29 states. County farmer. and farmers over all of the
Soon after the routes were opened up, a United States. it is the rural free delivery.
law went into effect that a special "mail that is of the greatest service. It really
wagon" must be used by each carrier. Of places a paper or parcel in his hand, and
course. these were horsedrawn. and were on schedule. Themail must and does go
manufactured by carriage manufacturers. through.

FUN IS FUN ''I'm the original iron-jawed. brass­

Do you like tall tales? Do you like to
read and get a laugh? Do you want rare
and oldtime Whoppin' Tall Tales? Then
you'll get a kick and many hours of real
entertainment out of Ring-Tailed Roarers,
a book of more than 300 pages edited by
V.L.O. Chittick and printed in grand style
by The Caxton Printers. ($350) The best
collection you will find. Here is a sample:
"Like Autolycus of The Winter's Tale
the ring-tailed roarer, that pioneer crea­
tion who enlivens the record of the Amer­
ican frontier, in both fact and fiction,
throughout the eighteen thirties and forties
was, when of authentic horse~alligator
stock, "a tall fellow of his hands." He
was an even taller fellow of his tongue.
When an impostor as to his breed he was
tall in respect of his tongue only. In other
words, the Westerner indubitably "touched
with the airthquake," in accord with his
"all-fired" claims to fistic and other prow­
ess, would rather fight. than eat. But the
loud-mouthed imitator of his ranting, or at
most besides, of his rampant pose, was a
chicken-hearted braggart, known to every­
body as just that and nothing else. would
mounted, copper-bellied. corpse-maker
from the wilds of Arkansas! Look at me!
I'm the man they call Sudden Death and
General Desolation! Sired by a hurricane,
dam'd by an earthquake, half-brother to
the cholera, nearly related to the smallpox
on the mother's side! Look at me! I take
nineteen alligators and a bar'l of whiskey
for breakfast when I'm in robust health,
and a bushel of rattlesnakes and a dead
body when I'm ailing! I split the ever­
lasting rocks with my glance, and I
quench the thunder when I speak! Whoop­
oop! Stand back and give me room ac­
cording to my strength! Blood's my nat­
ural drink. and the wails of the dying is
music to my ear! ..."
To which the second, after jumping into
the air and cracking his heels together also.
responded with:
"Whoo-oop! bow your neck and
spread, for the kingdom of sorrow's a­
coming! Hold me down to earth, for I feel
my powers a-working! Whoo-oop! Whoa­
oop! I'm a child of sin. don't let me get
a start! Smoked glass, here. for all! Don't
Hies is the pastime of my idle moments, the
destruction of nationalities the serious busi­
ness of my life! The boundless vastness of
the great American desert is my enclosed
property. and I bury my dead on my own
premises!"
Here is a grand collection of the best­
and it is, like so many of the books pub­
lished by The Caxton Printers a volume
you will treasure and want to keep. Fun is
Fun and you can always find in Ring­
Tailed Roarers a chapter to drive away the
blues.
CURTAIN CALL
White clouds send shadows raCing on
the plain
Where once the wagons rolled on
rumbling,
Wind~hurried from the canyon drifts
the rain,
Heat-lightning stabs the thunder's
grumbling;

rather talk fight than fight. attempt to look at me with the naked eye,
Sun~washed, the western passes set

gentlemen! When I'm playful I use the

Of the latter type of roarer a faithful meridians of longitude and parallels of their snare

presentation is to be found in the pair of
raftsmen overheard by Huck Finn, in Mark
Twain's Life on the Mississippi. Readers
of that classic of early days on the Great
River will recall that the first of these
sorry windbags, after jumping into the air
and cracking his heels together, which. with
neighing like a stallion or crowing like a
game~ock. was the roarer's way of indi­
cating that he was spoiling for trouble,
shouted. "Whoo-oop," and then continued.
latitude for a seine, and drag the Atlantic Where once the trails to westward
Ocean for whales! I scratch my head with blended.
lightning and purr myself to sleep with The whisp'ring sage still scents the
thunder! When I'm cold I bile the Gulf of desert air-
Mexico and bathe in it; when I'm thirsty
I reach up and suck a cloud dry like a The scene still stands-
sponge; when I range the earth hungry, But the play is ended.
famine follows in my tracks! ... I'm the
man with a petrified heart and biler-iron Marshall.
bowels! The massacre of isolated commun-

Yf.
''4:-:'''~._~'_'' ,,,-' -,~'~'.~"~.'~'~"
Page 24
A Girl, A Dog, and
an Idea!
Although we've all read a good deal
about the "Seeing Eye, Inc.," and its re­
markable work in training guide-dogs for
the blind, comparatively few of us know
that right here in California there is a
similar dog-training school, and that it is
doing an even bigger, finer work.
Without in any way disparaging the
work of the school at Morristown, New
Jersey. the little school out in Monrovia
may truthfully claim to be doing an even
greater work because of the fact that it is
a strictly philanthropic. non-profit organ­
ization which gives its beautifully trained
dogs to worthy, sightless persons wholly
without charge! It is, incidentally. the only
school of Its kind in the world which oper­
ates on this principle.
The story back of this remarkable proj­
ect is the story of a great vision seen
through the sightless eyes of a young girl.
The girl is attractive Hazel Hurst, for­
merly of Ogdensburg. N. Y .. but now so
much a part of the town of her adoption
that its citizens recently re-named one of
its principal streets in her honor.
. Born with normal eyesight and blinded
by accident when only three days old, Ha­
zel lived the otherwise normal life of any
other child during the first years of her
childhood. She played with other young­
sters, helped her mother with household
chores: and was encouraged to minimize
her tragic handicap as much as possible.
She attended the parochial school in Og­
densburg and proved -an outstanding pupil
from the very first day. The quality of
her intelligence may be gauged by the fact
that she completed her four year hi!jh
school course in 18 months. and graduated
as valedictorian. All of which is even
more astonishing when we learn that when
she was 10 years old she fell and hurt her
spine so badly that for the next seven years
she was confined to a wheel chair.
By the time she was able to walk again,
at 17, she had attracted the attention of
Rotary International. which group ar­
ranged for her to attend Columbia Univer­
sity. A short time later the Rotary Club
of her home town presented her with
"Babe." a fine young "Seeing Eye" dog­
and from that moment the whole course of
her life changed completely. With the fine
new freedom and confidence which com­
panionship with "Babe" brought to her. she
now discarded all previously made plans
for her future and determined to find a
way to bring this same freedom and con­
fidence to other sightless. groping folk.
A beautiful. difficult wish. Handicapped
GHOST TOWN NEWS
By BEATRICE TRESSELT
Hazel Hurst
by lack of funds. having no inHuential
friends, the outlook would have discouraged
the average person. But Hazel Hurst is
not an average person. Bravely. accom­
panied only by her faithful "Babe," she set
forth to raise the money her project would
require.
A long lecture tour of the United States,
then Canada and Europe. was how it be­
gan. Her lectures were all on the same
subject: the possibilities of the rehabilita­
tion of the blind. Apparently they were
given with such fervent faith, such poig­
nant courage. that everyone who could pos­
sibly help her Was moved to do so, for
today the Hazel Hurst Foundation. Inc.,
is completely equipped and paid for. Cost­
ing $28,000. there are five acres of land, a
group of one-storied buildings styled in
the manner of Early California ranch
houses, kennels housing the dogs, and an
experienced teacher who trains the dogs
and also the human students who apply for
them.
The average dog requires three months'
training, followed with another month's
work with the person to whom he is to
be given. Student and dog are graded as
a unit durino the traning period, and the
report card covers 15 suhjects, including
problems in human and canine psychology.
A score of 86% for both dog _and master
is required for oraduation.
"Many persons feel that such complete
devotion to his master may be a hardship
to the dog," explains Miss Hurst. "But this
is not the case. The German Shepherd dog
-which is the breed most suitable for this
work-is naturally devoted and' his protec­
tive instinct is inborn. Even in his un­
trained. 'natural' state he is always guard­
ing, whether it be his master's children, his
master's sheep. his master's house. or what
not. Such dogs are never so lonely or un­
happy as when they have nothing to guard
or care for."
"When first I tried to convince business
men that blind people could be given em­
ployment in their shops and factories they
were incredulous," Miss Hurst goes on.
"Upon experimentation they were amazed
to discover that such persons are some­
times better suited to certain types of work
than are normal persons. For example:
there are many kinds of work which re­
quire a keen sense of touch rather than
sight. Sorting the small springs and tiny
screws that go into typing maChines.
Wrapping kodak film upon metal spools,
which must be done in a dark room and
depends almost exclUSively upon the sense
of touch. Packing candy, toilet articles,
and numerous other things. Today the
Ford Motor Company and Remington.
Rand are this country's two largest em­
ployers of sightless persons. with other
firms daily follOWing suit.
"Please emphasize the fact that my
Foundation is not just a dog trqining
school. Weare equally interested in the
larger task of training the blind for these
above-mentioned tasks so that they may
have the inestimable satisfaction of earn­
ing their own living. No one should ever
nurse a feeling of futility or defeatism. and
to combat this we must give the sightless
not maudlin pity but understanding and
cooperation."
Supported wholly by voluntary contri­
butions. the school is incorporated under
the laws of the State of California and is
governed by an executive board of direc­
tors among whose names w;e find such dis­
tinguished persons as Archbishop John J.
Cantwell. Dr. Rufus von Kleinsmid. Right
Rev. Mons. Thomas J. O'Dwyer. Dr. Rob­
ert Millikan. Judge W. Turney Fox. Rabbi
Edgar F. Magnin. and many other noted
personalities.

Desert Spirit
By
JUNE LeMERT PAXTON
You hold me closely in your arms
Nor deign to let me free.
Or else perchance. some Hidden Power
The which I cannot see
Knows my longing for this place
And draws my soul to thee.
As the pollen is blown afar by the wind.
not missing a good feast.
Or the scent of the sage on a damp. rainy day;
October days are full of zest. and send me on a roaming quest; a quest for
So wafts my idle thoughts astray.
new and untri~d ways. to dream about on saner days.
And I reap the sowing. be it drab or gay.
. ...
NEIGHBORS
I've city neighbors. good and kind,
I love them and they love me;
But in the busy rush and grind
We have no time to social be.
I've desert neighbors, kind and good,
And we are friends-'tis understood.
And oft our work we simply shun
And travel miles to visit one.
I wonder if we shall not find.
When we have left this world behind.
That. very much to our dismay,
We might have chosen "the better way".
In the early days the Mormons, they tell,
were seeking a peaceful place to dwell. Said
a wierd shaped tree to the weary band, "This
is the way to the promised land." Now the
good old leader agreed it was, so they called
the trees the Joshuas.
Thus. it is said. the Joshua tree received its
name. No doubt those Mormons were inspired
by the example of that great prophet. Joshua.
who led the children of Israel to their promised
land. Joshua is also the name of my father, an
early pioneer of the middle-west. It was for
him that I named this desert retreat "The
Joshuas".
It is claimed that where one finds the Joshua
tree, he also finds health and peaceful sur­
roundings. "The yucca brings good luck." and
the Joshua tree is a yucca of the lily family.
Perhaps one finds health because these quaintly
grotesque trees grow only in a very arid sec­
tion of the country, and at an altitude which
is beneficial to the health of many people.
We Americans are still pioneering; still
seeking and working for peace. May the hand
of God ever guide us, until hatred and strife
shall cease!
GHOST TOWN NEWS Page 25
Drifts From The Desert
By JUNE LE MERT PAXTON
October is my favorite month! It is the month during which I like
to cast aside the routine work and pleasures that I enjoy during the
rest of the year. To me, October's cordial days invite adventure.
adventure and freedom that are a part of my nomadic nature.
I like to get away from the desert highways. back up into the
unfrequented places where man has not, as yet, spoiled the natural
beauty of the country. I like to meet and talk with people who are
- -....._ - considered eccentric, or even a "little queer". These people frequently
have philosophies of life that profit me much if I practice them.
Around about the desert, one stilI finds pictographs and artifacts left by some
early Indian tribe. Deep canyons that know nothing of the world's struggle for
peace have a fascinating charm. And up in our own Little San Bernardino moun­
tains, what is more conducive to day-dreaming than to lie in the shade of a pine
tree? Here big buzzards sail back and forth and back again to make sure they are
Eugenia Stone. author of BIG WHEELS ROLLING.
which Lois Johnson reviewed in our August issue. is a
grand-daughter and a daughter of California pioneers. More
than that. she is a descendant of many generations of pio­
neering folk from the time when America was a-building
by pioneer hands and brains and the New W orId' s settlers
were battling with the red men and pushing farther and
farther frpm the stormy Atlantic into the wilderness. West­
ward and still westward they came. from Carolina. from
Maryland. from Virginia, from Kentucky, until at last. one
winter day, the "happy Marays," far-Hung foam of this
tide. found themselves in the little city of Sacramento.
California. .
Eugenia Stone
The little Kathy of the tale was the author's mother. She
grew up. as small girls will. married and. the family trait
still strong. pioneered with her young pioneer husband into Nevada. then at the
peak of its Comstock silver production. Eugenia Stone. the youngest of her chil­
dren. in turn "pioneered" back into California. But now there are no more
westward frontiers to conquer, for the North is not the Golden West with its
glamor of setting suns; the broad Pacific swells between California and the
Islands. No covered wagon could go so far. swaying behind the broad backs of
its swimming oxen. Living in Pasadena, where the trail can wind no farther.
Eugenia Stone solaces her inherited pioneering instinct by writing the tales of
those days of the long ago when her mother shared as a child in the adven­
tures and hardships of the great trek.
His Own Grandfather
I married a widow with a grown daughter. My father fell in love with
my step-daughter and married her-thus becoming my son~in-Iaw. and
my step-daughter became my mother because she was my father's wife.
My wife gave birth to a son who was. of course. my father's brother­
in-law. and also my uncle. for he was the brother of my step-mother,
My father's wife became the mother of a son who was. of course,
my brother, and also my grandchild, for he was the son of my daughter.
Accordingly. my wife was my grandmother because she was my
mother's mother-l was my wife's husband and grandchild at the same
time ­ and as husband of a person's grandmother is his grandfather­
I AM MY OWN GRANDFATHER.
-Mark Twain.
 ,
26
Ruck~A~Chucky
By CHARLES A. MOORE
A true account of a rich CalifOl'wa gold discovery in the year 1940 as told
in an editorial by "The Knave" in the Oakland Tribune, August 23, 1942.
A modern gold story containing material
which may establish a legend for the old
fellows in the future is that of "Ruck-a­
Chucky, " It is a yarn of 1940. of honest
men who found qold and neglected formali­
ties. and of efforts in their behalf extending
through many officials and up to Congress
and victory, As you may find it in the
Proceedings of Congress, in the form of an
address bv Representative Englebright. on
June 18 of this year (and I thank Edmund
Kinyon for calling my attention to the
same) the yarn starts with Government
,authorization of some hydraulic control
dams on the Yuba River, Bear Lake and
American forks, On the middle fork of the
American was a place called Ruck-a­
Chucky. 10 miles from Auburn. Excava­
tions for the Ruck-a-Chucky structure were
under way in early 1940. when a hilge
landslide debauched from the hiqher levels
to 1111 the proposed reservoir. Apparently
the slide was not effectuated by the excava­
tion work. which was distant and still
slight. The site of the proposed dam was
covered by rock and earth, Work was
halted. However. the contractors were
hopeful of being able to proceed within a
few weeks. So the crew or workers lin­
gered in the vicinity. Came a torrential
rainstorm; follOWing which one of the idle
workmen, a miner. wandering around.
made the discovery that the scraper had
exposed a narrow vein of quartz material­
and that it showed colors of gold. Pan­
nings of the scraped fragments disclosed
that they were rich in gold. The finder
made no effort to conceal his discovery or
to claim it exclUSively for himself. Instead
he told his approximately 50 associates;
and speedily the idle workers were no
longer idle. They set to and over a period
of scarcely two days cleaned Up that poc­
ket discovery in true •4ger fashion.
POOLED INTERESTS
Divided into small groups. or working
singly, the opportunist workers, which in­
cluded such names as J. W. Prescott, EI­
mer Milsap. A. B. Addington, Clyde Stock­
"The naked hills lie wanton to the breeze,
ton, Joseph Robinson. Harold .Meyers,
Swan Swanson, R. L. Levelesque. Tom
Plumb and numerous others, worked day
and night until the gleaming heart of that
long-hidden lind had been exploited. The
largest group taken was by the Tom Plumb
party . . . $8024.08. The Prescott party
also did exceedingly well. Other groups
and individuals ranged down to smaller.
but substantial sums. In all $30,000.00 in
gold was recovered. But certain doubts
beset those reincarnated miners of '49.
Were they in reality entitled to that treas­
ure? The lind was on Government land,
but they had staked no claims, erected no
monuments. In doubt. they consolidated
the gold into one package and deposited
it with the Assay Office of Ward and
Ward in Auburn. Then the miners did
another unprecedented thing-they formed
a pool-the Ruck-a-Chucky Mine Partner­
GHOST TOWN NEWS
Gold
ship-in which each of the 50 men who
had participated was an equal owner. Whe­
ther he had recovered much gold or little,
he was to share in whatever recompense
came from their discovery and labors. In
time the aold reached the American Smelt­
inn and 'Rellnina Company, which asked
rulinqs of the General Land Office as to
whether the title of the producers was
valid,
UP TO CONGRESS
The le~lal machinerv started to (lrind.
The Land Office and attorney general
found objections as to the title and no one
could find any law on the miners' side un~
til Enalebriaht went back to the unwritten
law of qold belonaing to the finders. He
took a bill to Conqress and there cited the
traditions of 95 years and (lave the storv
in full. Any suit for trespass a(lainst the
miners. he ar\lued, or anY confiscation of
the gold they had dug wou ld set a prece­
dent and penalize the toil and fortitude of
everv incidental miner anel nrospector in
the West. In the end a Connress fornot
war worries for a while anti enacted the
desired bill. The PresideI1t ·'"ned it. Here
is the text: "Be it Enacted: That no "1em­
ber of the association known as the Ruck·
a-Chuckv Mine Partnership or any of their
agents and employees, or any other per­
sons, shall be held liable on account of the
extraction b.. them durinq the vear 1940
of gold-bearing ore from Lot 19, Sect·o., 19,
Township 13 north, Range 10 east. MDM,
California, or adjacent lands. The Rock-a­
Chucky Mine Partnershio and other per­
sons shall be deemed to have obtained full
title to such ore at the time of its extrac­
tion."
Another curious factor is that that most
unusual qold strike story was never told
in any detail, although it did rate numerous
casual references in the newspaoers. Ap­
parentlv it was not considered of more
than incidental importance. For one thinq.
the rather imposing value of the recovered
(lold was not stressed. Now it is beina
told for the first time and the key part of
Con\lressman Englebriaht in securinq the
benefits-apparently $600 each for the 50
men-revealed.
....
A wise old Quaker once said that men
were (luilty of three most astonishing fol­
lies. First is the climhin\1 of trees to shake
down the fruit. when if they would but
wait the fruit would fall of itself. Second
is the qoing to war to kill one another,
when if they would only wait they must
surely die naturally. Third is that they
should run after women, when, if they do
not do so the women will surely run after
them.
In 'church last Sunday the minister
stepped up to the baptismal font and asked
those ·having children to be baptised to
bring them to the chancel. A woman in
the fourth row gasped in dismay and whis­
pered to her husband: "I just knew I had
forgotten something! Run home quickly
and fetch the baby."
Time's A'Wastin'
A colored man in trouble asked permis­
sion to wire the governor, This is the way
the message ran: "Dear Boss: Dese white
folks is got me in jail IIxin' to hang me
next Friday mornin: an' here it is We'ns­
day already."
A man from the country recently asked
a bookseller where the dime novel has
gone to. The answer was that it has gone
to a dollar and a half.
The professor and his wife hesitated to
return to the same farm where they had
spent their vacation last summer. because
the odor from the pigpen had been most
unpleasant. In answer to their letter the
farmer wrote: "Come on out. There hain't
been no hogs on the place sence you was
here last summer."
Since the newspapers have lost so many
men to the service,· some of the news arti­
cles are fearfully and wonderfully written.
One of the new reporters recently con­
cluded a murder story as follows: "Fortun­
ately for the deceased, he had deposited all
his money in the bank only the day before.
He lost practically nothing but his life."
The nervous speaker arose and said: "I
haven't had a speech to prepare a moment.
but just as I got up from my thought a
seat struck me."
A customer at a roadside stand asked
for coffee and doughnuts. He protested
because his coffee was served without a
saucer. The waitress explained: "We
don't hand out saucers no more. A hill­
billy drifted in yesterday and drunk out o'
his saucer, an' that ain't good fer trade.
This here is a swell dump."
A kids' baseball team sponsored by a
local church had a big game coming up
and the pastor gave the team captain five
dollars with instructions to spend it for
anything which would help win the game.
The captain was no fool. so he gave it
to the umpire.
"The fields are nude. the groves un­
frocked.
"Bare are the shivering limbs of shameless
trees,
"What wonder is it that the corn is
shocked?"
In the early days in Oklahoma most any
man who had nerve enough could start a
bank. One retired banker who recently
came to California to pick cotton, in tell­
ing of his experiences, said: "I had noth­
ing to do, so I rented an empty store and
put up a sign "BANK." That afternoon
a man dropped in and deposited $200. Next
day another man came in and deposited
$300. By the third day my confidence in
the enterprise reached such a point that I
put in fifty dollars of my own money."

What's In A Name?
More people fail in the restaurant busi­
ness than almost any other. Why?
Some folks starting with very little capi­
tal build alongside the roadway or in some
obscure spot an establishment that brings
fame and fortune. How?
The first question is more easily answered
than the second and most any of us can
point to one reason why "The Greasy
Spoon," "The Polson Ivy" or XYZ Cafe
closed their doors.
Maybe the name hasn't very much to
do with the success of an eating place but
ifs a factor that deserves a lot of consider­
ation-and it's the many factors all har­
moniously working together that makes
success possible.
As a name for a restaurant, "The
Greasy Spoon" is certain to create some
talk-some word-of-mouth advertising. But
is it good advertiSing? To many people
the very name is repellant and the adver­
tiSing benefit, if any, is more than offset by
the prejudice that in many minds the name
itself occasions.
How much nicer sounding is, "The Sil­
ver Spoon." As a matter of fact there is a
chance for the use of that name by some
enterprising person who would use as a
card the name and address of the estab­
lishment with a tiny silver spoon in the
upper left corner, Yes, it is possible and
practical.
Imagine the vast amount of word-of­
mouth advertising your card would bring
you with a solid silver spoon in the cor­
ner-the' spoon is a "tiny," so small that
in China 200 are enclosed in a single cherry
pit which is sold as a souvenir. That card
of The Silver Spoon bearing an actual
solid silver spoon on its face would prove
an irresistible souvenir for your guests.
They wouldn't throw it away. Your pa­
trons would retain it, talk about it and
show it to their acquaintances. That's
word-of-mouth advertiSing and the idea
fits in with the name of a nice sounding
restaurant.
Of course this card could be used suc­
cessfully by a restaurant regardless of its
name and to any interested I'll be glad to
answer inquiries.
From time to time we will take these
out-of-the-ordinary eating place names and
tell you about them.
The Brown Derby Restaurants are so
well known in Southern California that
any comment on our part is superfluous.
When they recently opened the Los Feliz
unit, a beautiful booklet was gotten out­
one of the finest thinqs of its kind we
have seen in a long time, It tells the story
of one name and we quote the first two
pages:
"WHEN HOLLYWOOD WAS
VERY YOUNG •. ,
. . . The Brown Derby first began. Charles
Chaplin and Mary Pickford were hailed as
the king and queen of the silent 'flickers:
Tom Mix startled the sleepy natives along
Hollywood boulevard in his cream colored
roadster with the doeskin upholstery. A
person's station in life was determined by
GHOST TOWN NEWS
By NICHOLS FIELD WILSON
the amount of aold in their bathtub. Ty­
rone Power and Errol Flynn were school
boys. In Kansas City. Ginger Rogers was
learning to dance along with her multipli­
cation tables.
"Fifteen years ago, fllm executive Herb­
ert T. Somborn. on his way home from
work, dreamed of a tiny restaurant that
would serve the corned beef hash. the stew,
the pot roasts and pie of the calibre he re­
membered from his boyhood.
" 'Such a restaurant: declared Mr. Som­
born, 'would be a great success, even if it
was called something as peculiar as-well,
say the Brown Derby!'
"Mr. Somborn qegan his restaurant in
just that way. It was a tiny hat-shaped
bUilding on Wilshire Boulevard just out­
side the film colony. The food was sim­
ple-nothing fancy at all-but the ingredi­
ents were selected and cooked with all the
uncompromising care that the most con­
scientious mother would want for her own
family.
"He called this restaurant the Brown
Derby.
"With that simple, down-to-earth for­
mula, the Brown Derby became an over­
night sensation, The tiny building bulged
and flowed over from morning to night.
"Two years later, the many film people
in Hollywood wanted a restaurant of their
own in the neighborhood. A second Brown
Derby was opened on Vine Street in the
very heart of the film colony.
"A little later, a third Brown Derby res~
taurant made its appearance in Beverly
Hills. By that time. the 'Del'bies' had be­
come a family affair. One film star picked
out the wallpaper for the Beverly Hills
Brown Derby. Another loaned the chef a
chicken paprika recipe that had been a
family secret for generations. The Brown
Derby bought corn from the ranch of a
famous actor and arranged for mountain
trout from the preserve of another.
"One of the greatest restaurant stories
in history had started on its way. For the
Brown Derby had gained a shining reputa­
tion not only among notables of the screen
and theatre, world travelers, connoisseurs
and the like-but its fame had penetrated
to the people of little towns and villages
everywhere.
"And now the new member of the res­
taurant family-the Los Feliz Brown Der­
by-represents the ideas-and ideals---of
sixteen years' experience in restaurant op­
eration. It combines the most modern
methods in architecture and food presenta­
tion with the tradition of quality that has
existed since the opening day of the first
Brown Derby:'
Page 27
NATIONAL PUBLICITY
A very good restaurant in Los Angeles
is not so well known as the owner would
like. Recently the proprietor came to see
me and said: "Mr. Wilson, I understand
that you do the publicity work for Knott's
Berry Place and I have seen articles in
'Reader's Digest', 'Saturday Evening Post'
and scores of papers and magazines about
that place and that publicity must be the
reason for its amazing success. I have
spent lots of money advertiSing but it has­
n't paid and so now I want to go in for
publicity. If you can take on another ac­
count I'd like to be the client,"
"I want to go in for publicity!" Just
like that. As if it could be done that way.
Inquiry elicited the fact that the restaurant
was good, but there was nothing out of
the ordinary about the place. Certainly,
nothing to justify a story or article in a
magazine with millions of readers.
I acknowledged that Knott's had been
fortunate enough to secure much favorable
national publicity and said, "Yes, we have
been lucky enough to get some good pub­
licity for Knott-but there was something
upon which to base it." It wasn't my
services but the record of achievement that
brought about this publicity. You I can't
buy good publicity like you buy advertis­
ing space and you can't simply hire a pub­
licity man and "go in for publicity:' All
tales of super publicity men to the con­
trary notwithstanding. As an example of
good publicity the August, 1942, issue of
the splendid magazine Coronet had an ar­
ticle Oasis in Missouri, written by Wil­
liam O. Player, Jr., and I recommended its
reading by all in the business of serving
food. That was fine publicity for the own­
er of Mrs. McDonald's Tea Room and it is
an article of real interest to the readers of
the magazine. There was iii story to tell,
a good story, a human-interest story and
that it had. publicity value for Mrs. Mc­
Donald is secondary.
"To travel~wise Gourmets, Kansas City is
just a suburb of Gallatin, Missouri. For
Gallatin, Missouri, is the horne of Mrs.
McDonald's Tea Room, in the opinion of
experts the most famous eating place in
the Middle West and one of the 10 best
in the country," says Mr. Player and you
will want to read the entire article which
is concluded by Mr. Player's saying: "Be­
sides good cooks, Mrs. McDonald believes
in having a corps of young, attractive wait­
resses, dressed in pretty uniforms - but
preferably married and somewhat settled.
She has no trouble getting them, either: in
fact, she frequently receives letters from
young women studying home economics
who want to come spend a while with
her, just for the experience."
But the real secret, of course, is Mrs.
McDonald's cooking. She can't impart
such a secret in a mere interview-but
here are a few of her observation:
"Ever since I started my place, I've
had my mind made up to buy and serve
only the best of everything, and I've stayed
with that determination, though it hasn't
always been easy to do.
"For example, when a recipe calls for
cream, I use cream, not milk. In fact, I
\". ,

Page 28 GHOST TOWN NEWS

put cream in mayonnaise dressing, in fruit
salad. in scrambled eggs, and goodness
knows what else!
"Always have everything spotlessly
clean.
"Serve hot food hot, and cold food cold.
"Fix everything, even the simplest dish.
as attractively as you qjn.
"If you're running a shop, make up your
mind to work on Sundays and holidays;
that's when the money's made. It's always
better to start in a small way and work
up, than to start in a big way and fail.
Put your individuality into your shop, And
that goes for decorations, what you serve,
and the way you serve it. Don't try to do
things like other people. Do them your
way!"
And that's a good first lesson in how to
be successful and when you go out and
"acquire a record of achievement" national
publicity will come to you and add to your
success.
Boulevard, Beverly Hills. The Brown Derby
restaurants have long been' internationally
famous because of their popularity With
the celebrities of the motion picture world.
They are one of the star-marked places on
the itinerary of Southern California visitors.
However, the prestige of the Brown Derby
restaurants is primarily based on the qual­
ity of their food and service. The newest
Brown Derby restaurant-the Los Feliz­
also has a Car Cafe.
CAROLINA PINES, Los Angeles. California.
7315 Melrose Ave. The rich tantalizing fla­
vor of the South permeates the food placed
before you at this restaurant. The friendly
leisurely atmosphere is a welcome relief
from the hustle and bustle of modern living.
FARMER'S MARKET, Los Angeles. Callfor­
nla. North East corner of Fairfax and Third

WHERE TO EAT
Streets. In this huge market a great restau­
rant grew up surrounded by eighty odd
farm and food shops. Accidentally, one of
the world's largest restaurant businesses
Most readers of Ghost Town News have eaten the chicken dinner at KnoU's Berry grew here. It started by a woman buying
Place. In the old adobe building they have learned about "Other Good Places to Dine," a slice of ham baked on the grounds and
In this room are displayed the menus of hundreds of good places to eat and from time a hot roll. She sat down on a cherry crate
to ,time we make mention of some of these in the following columns. and ate lunch. Her example was followed
by others and the merchants who were sell­
Because of limited space. we cannot list every good place to eat in each Issue. That ing slices of baked ham began selllng
seems unnecessary anyway, for most people have a copy of ADVENTURES IN GOOD wedges of cake fresh from the oven and
EATING. by Duncan Hines. This is the Red Book that tells you where to eat. What the pies and serving on paper plates. Cherry
Blue :Book is to your social life the Red Book of Duncan Hines is to the inner man. We crates were replaced by a few tables and
a.re happy to display the menus of "Other Good Places to Dine," and we are always glad chairs. Little kitchens began opening for
to receive recommendations from the patrons of Knott's Beny Place and from the business serving chicken, meats of all kinds,
readers of Ghost Town News. trout and good things of every description.
In the following columns we will in every llIIIUe publicize as many Interesting good Now thousands of people travel to the
placell to eat as we have space for. This service is for the benefit of our readers and it Farmer's Market every day for lunch.
has proved of benefit to many of those listed who in turn have recommended Knott·s GOOD FELLOWS GROTTO. Los Ano-eles.
Berry Place and others listed herein to their patrons. In a lesser degree. it is the _ t California. 341 South Main St. A visit to
of mutual ADMmATION society which Duncan Hines has created among those fortunate interesting Main Street and a stop at Good
enough 10 be recommended by him. Fellows Grotto for a very delicious meal
will prove most fascinating. The oldest
ARIZONA ASSISTANCE LEAGUE TEA ROOM. Holly­ restaurant in So. California. Famous for
PAINTED DESERT INN. Holbrook. Arizona, wood. California. 5604 DeLongpre Ave. This fish food, steaks for 36 years.
2 miles North of Highway 66. While you Tea Room, located near movie studiOS, is a
may be able to 'see the Painted Desert else­ veritable paradise to the movie fan. The LA PALMA CAFETERIA. Los Angeles. Cali­
where, remember you'll get a closer view glamour of screen, society and radio per­ fornia. 615 S. Grand Ave. In a tropical
here--and good food! meates the atmosphere. Waitresses are vol­ patio filled with plants, gay colored um­
unteers from the ranks of debutantes and brellas and garden fUrniture, you will find
CAMELBACK INN. Phoenix, Arizona. On the service and cuisine under your host
Highways 60, 80 and 89. This inn, 11 miles professional women, and hostesses are the
wives of famous executives and famous ac­ Mr. Manspeaker all you could wish. Re­
N. E. of Phoenix, is a paradise for the win­ nowned for salads and pastrtes and huge
ter resort seeker. Here you can enjoy your tors. The food is good.
Bavarian creams. No liquor.
favorite sport and the beautiful surround­ COLONIAL INN. Hollywood. California.
ings. The home cooking is of excellent 1966 North Vermont Ave. Those who are MELODY LANE, Los Angeles. California.
quality. planning a visit to this little inn may an­ 5351 Wilshire Blvd. This restaurant Is oper­
SHEFFLER'S CAFE. Salome. Arizona. High­ ticipate good, appetizing food with that ated by the Pig'n Whistle Corporation. and
ways 60 and 70. A unique place to eat serv­ home-cooked flavor which is achieved only includes a cafe, cocktail room, and confec­
ing everything from the lowly hamburger by using the best and freshest ingredients. tionery. The reputation of this organization
to a double Porterhouse. Excellent modem IVAR HOUSE. Hollywood. California. 1737 has been built up through years of cour·
motel rooms will also be found here. Ivar Ave. Because of its hospitality and teous service and fine food. Their menus
chllrm, the Ivar House has become one of are comprehensive and their prices reason­
THE LODGE ON THE DESERT. TUCBon. able.
Arizona. 4 miles East on Alvernon Way. wood's most noted dining places. Slm­
This Lodge is a place delightfully different ood cooked With the greatest of care :1. W. ROBINSON'S TEA .ROOM. Los An­
from a guest ranch or a hotel. The atmos­ geles. California. 600 W. 7th st. This Tea
phere of a private home combined with MUSSO AND FRANKS GRILL. Hollywood, Room is located on the seventh floor of
luxury, chann, and restfulness make a stay Callfornia. 6667 Hollywood Blvd. Excellent Robinson's department store and is of the
here just what you would wish. cuisine and service at moderate prices. small, intimate variety. Salads are served
Dinner is a la carte. with sandwiches, and sandWich orders in­
SAN CARLOS CAFE. Tucson. Arizona. 158 clude little salads. There is a fashion show
N. Stone Ave. The largest restaurant in BUENA VISTA, Indio. California. Little tile every day from 12-2 p.m.
town, reasonable rates, and excellent food. roof bungalows with every comfort and
convenience and kitchenettes completely STEVENS NIKABOB. Loa Angeles. Califor­
CALIFORNIA outfitted with dishes and cooking utensils nia. 875 South Western Ave. Modem decor,
LAWRY'S, Beverly Hllis. California. 150 N. make a stay here very enjoyable. quiet atmosphere. an all-inClUSive menu
La Cienega Blvd. Roast beef and York­ HOTEL INDIO. IndiO. California. Highway and an accomplished chef make the Nikabob
shire pudding are the specialties of the a thoroughly charming and satisfactory
house. In cooking, the roasts are coated 99, "The friendly inn on the desert" is a place to dine.
With an inch layer of rock salt. Service most welcome stopping place for good food
from carts. and lodging for the night. 'LEVEN OAKS HOTEL, Monrovia, Califor­
SUK'S TAVERN. King Cl1y. California. nia. HighWay 66, 120 S. Myrtle Ave, A
RICHLORS. Beverly Hills. California. 156 N. Highway 101. An exceptionally fine eating comfortable, family hotel where good food,
La Cienega Blvd. This is a new restaurant place for so small a town. In very attrac­ well served, attractively furnished rooms
which specializes in Hamburger steaks of tive surroundings, Mr. Suk prepares and with excellent beds are offered guests. Rates
the very finest quality. Here guests dine in serves food that more than satisfies the reasonable.
an atmosphere that is smart and appealing hungry traveler.
with gracious service as a keynote. Prices STAGG'S OLD CORRAL. Moun1ain View,
reasonable. CHAMBERS LODGE. Lake Tahoe, Califor­ California. Bayshore Highway. 2 miles
BIG S'I1R LODGE. :Big Sur. California. High­ nia. Highway 89. Chambers Lodge occu­ north of Moffett Field. One of the most in­
way 1. Located in the beautiful Redwoods, pies one of the most beautiful sites on teresting stops between San Francisco and
you will find Big Sur Lodge a most delight­ Lake Tahoe. The modernly equipped cot­ Los Angeles. In addition to good food, here
ful spot for relaxation and enjoyment. Mr. tages, the velvety lawns and well-kept flow­ is where the Old West lives again. You see
Raymond Will see that you are served the .ers, and the quiet surroundings make this with what the great pioneers brought civi­
very best meals possible to find anywhere. lodge an ideal place to spend a summer lization to our great State. You see guns
They specialize in mountain trout dinners. vacation. In the dining room only the most used by Jesse James, "Wild Bill" Hickok,
carefully prepared meais are served. guns that licked the British, French, Indians
CARLSBAD HOTEL. Carlsbad. California. AMBASSADOR HOTEL, Los Angeles. Call­ and the Mexicans-everything that ever trod
Highway 101. "A luxurious seaside resort ho­ fomia. Certainly, no one need be told by upon us-over 2,000 guns that paved the
tel set in a floral wonderland." Inexpensive us to visit the Ambassador. Located in the trails West with lead.
rates, deluxe service, and good food. heart of the Wilshire District, this great
TAM 0' SHANTER INN. Glendale. Callfor­ hotel and its 22-acre park is a major South­ PLANTER'S DOCK. Oakland. California.
ma. 2980 Los Feliz Blvd. Their greatest 'ern California attraction, with hotel and Foot of Broadway, on pier. Not a fancy
feature is the hamburger-presented in so dining room accommodations seldom place, but it serves some mighty fine food,
many deluxe forms, that lowly food is lifted equalled and its Cocoanut Grove probably Unusual Chinese dishes are a specialty.
to a high place indeed. Prices are mod­ the best known night spot in all Western DINAH'S SHACK, Palo Alto. California.
erate. America. • Highway 101. 4269 El Camino Real. If you
VAN DE KAMP·S. Glendale and Pasadena., BROWN DERBY RESTAURANTS: 3377 Wil­ want to be sure of your dinner here, it is
California. The meals here are Simple, well shire Boulevard, Los Angeles; 1628 North a good idea to make reservations. Their
prepared, and appetizingly served, Prices Vine Street, Hollywood; 4500 Los Feliz specialties are southern fried chicken, corn­
are very reasonable. Boulevard, Los Angeles; 9537 Wilshire fed steaks, and baked Virginia ham.

HILLCREST DINING ROOM. Pasadena.
CaUfomla. 3570 East Foothill Blvd. This es­
tablishment was started in 1922 by Ray·
mond Summers, who then had only a route
delivering milk and home-made ice cream.
From that small start we find an institution
that is well worthy of the good name that
it now has.
VISTA DEL ARROYO HOTEL. Pasadena.
California, 125 S. Grand Ave. In this lovely
hotel one may dine in elegance On such
things as chicken. roast beef, and delight­
ful smorgasbord suppers on Sunday. Prices
may be a little high, but you'll get your
money's worth.
hotel, at the foot of Pike's Peak, you can
MISSION INN. Rlveulde. Califomia. High­
tions of special interest include Will Rogers
ways 60, 395 and 18. Mission Inn is the pride
of Southern California and. in fact. the en­
tire West. Important personages and cul­
tured travelers from all over the world have
been attracted to this hotel for many years
because of its charming setting in the gar­
den city of Riverside. and its true spirit of
hospitality. Its superior accommodations
and excellent food adds, in no small way.
to the popularity of this delightful inn.
HART'S. Sacramento. California. 919 K
Street. Hart's is the oldest restaurant in
Sacramento, in continuous operation for
nearly twenty-nine years. Huge corn fed
Kansas steer beef sliced per your request
right before your eyes.
MORGAN'S CAFETERIA, San Diego. Cali­
fornia. 1049 6th St. Those who enjoy a
cafeteria will find this one of the best. At­
tractive surroundings and good food. Not
cheap.
CATHAY HOUSE. San Francisco. Califomia.
718 California St. If you haven't already
had the pleasure of meeting Johnny Kan
in. his interesting restaurant, put the Cathay
House at the head of your list of stops in
San FranCisco. A large glass kitchen win­
dow is conveniently placed so that you can
watch your food being prepared.
FAIRMONT HOTEL. San Francisco. CaU·
fomla. The Fairmont Hotel on Nob Hill
in San Francisco is one of the world-famous
hotels that have given San Francisco its
reputation for grand hotels and fine living.
With its majestic setting and view of the
Golden Gate and Bay your visit here as a
guest enjoying fine accommodations. or as
a patron of the dining rooms will provide
a thrilling appreciation of present-day San
Francisco.
POST STREET CAFETERIA. San Francisco.
California. 62 Post St. This is not the usual
type of cafeteria. Many flowers and a quiet
atmosphere add to the enjoyment of a de­
licious meal.
DANIGER·S. Santa Ana. California. High­
way 101. Second Floor of Santora Bldg. A
very nice restaurant serving home-cooked
pastries, sweetbreads and chicken dinners.
A large menu with reasonable prices.
THE SAMARKAND HOTEL. Santa Barbara.
Califomia. Highway 101. This beautiful
hotel, also situated on the shores of the Pa­
cific, overlooks nothing in contributing to
the pleasure and comfort of the discriminat­
ing traveler.
SANTA MARIA INN. Santa Maria. CaUfor­
nia. Highway 101. This "Valley of the Gar­
dens" is a spot all nature lovers should
visit. The largest fiower gardens of the
world are to be found here. and an Inn that
will make your stay long to be remembered.
CHAT 'If CHEW CAFE, Sunland, California.
8203 Foothill Blvd. A small unpretentious
place specializing in steaks, chops. and tur­
key at reasonable prices. The surroundings
are pleasant and the food good. Open Tues­
day to Saturday from 8:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.
VALERIE JEAN DATE SHOP. Thermal,
Califomla. 12 miles below Indio. This
Oasis on the Desert, while not an eating
place, rates a visit. Home of dates with a
national mail order business. Originator of
the Date Milkshake that folks drive miles
to get. Interesting illustrated gift catalog
mailed upon request. .
THE NUT TREE, Vacaville. California.
Highway 40. Simple but delicious food
served in pleasant surroundings. One of
their special features is Boneless Chicken
Tamales.
ST. GEORGE HOTEL, Volcano, California.
Those who are interested in the ghost towns
of California will find the historical gold
center of the Mother Lode in Amador Coun­
ty, Volcano. extremely fascinating. This is
a tip to the visitor of old Volcano: when
here try a meal in the dining room of the
St. George Hotel. or better still. stay all
night at this old inn. erected in the '70's
and just recently reconditioned.
GHOST TOWN NEWS
CARSON INN, WillUs. Callfomia. Main St.
Situated on the Redwood Highway, this
place serves delicious home-cooked meals
and offers comfortable rooms for the night.
Their jams, jellies and pastries are prepared
here.
HOTEL WOODLAND, Woodland, California.
Highway 99W. The best hotel in this vi­
cinity. Here importance is placed on good
food.
COLORADO
BROADMOOR HOTEL. Colorado Springs,
Colorado. South of City. At this beautiful
ful little restaur\lnt that serves wonderful
enjoy any of your favorite sports. Attrac­
art in Europe under famous chefs and de­
Shrine of the Sun. and the. Garden of the
Gods. Cuisine of the Broadmoor is known
the world around.
GOLDEN LANTERN INN. Denver. Colorado.
1265 Broadway. This "Steak House of the
West" is something you won't find ·every
day. so when you're in its vicinity, stop and
give yourself a real treat.
KREYER'S RESTAURANT. Denver, Colo­
rado. 410 17th St. This city restaurant serves
a large variety of tasty dishes which in­
cludes the best of meats and vegetables.
Popular prices.
BALDPATE INN. Estes Park. Colorado.
Highway 7. Located high on the beauti­
fully timbered slope of the "Twin Sisters."
at an elevation of 9,000 feet above sea level,
on one of the most popular park highways
and at the very boundary of the Rocky
Mountain National Park itself, Baldpate Inn
looks out over one of the most remarkable
vistas to be seen all¥Where. A wonderful
place to spend a vacation I
THE CORNER CUPBOARD, Grand Lake,
Colorado. Highway 34. An old rustic hotel
of mining days remodeled for a dining
room. Guests eat by candlelight at night,
and enjoy such things as chicken. trout.
steaks, etc.
mAHO
RICE'S RANCH, Hammell. Idaho. Highway
30. Home made ice cream. churned butter­
milk. angel and devils food cake. and fried
chicken are some of the attractions that
have brought travelers for seventeen years
to the front door of this ranch. Better make
reservations.
MEXICO
HOTEL GENEVE.· Mexico City, Mexico. A
modern hotel In a Spanish setting that is
well·known for its quiet dignity and spa­
cious comfort to the tourists of Mexico City.
The surroundings are attractive and the
food quite good.
SANBORN'S. Mexico City, MexIco. 6 Ma­
dero St. This American owned establish­
ment, where people from the four corners
of the globe dine. will fascinate you. Be
sure to visit their various interesting shops
while you are here.
GRAN HOTEL ANCIRA. Monterrey. MexIco.
Plaza. Hidalgo. In old Monterrey. comfort­
able accommodations may be found at the
Gran Hotel Ancira. The food is good.
MONTANA
TROUT VALLEY LODGE. Cabin City, Mon­
tana. Highway 10. This Lodge offers modern
log cabins In pleasant surroundings. They
are furnished in gay colors with rustic fur­
niture. Fresh Rainbow Trout Steaks and
Chicken Dinners with Home Baked Bread
are featured in the dining room.
HOTEL RAINBOW, Great Falls. Montana.
Highways 89 and 91. Here you'll find a large
selection of good food at very reasonable
prices.
NEVADA
SAL SAGEV HOTEL, Las Vegas. Nevada.
Highways 93 and 66. A stay at this hotel
will prove most interesting, as from it you
can make short trips to such points of in­
terest as Boulder Dam, Death Valley and
many others. Serves very good meals.
FORTUNE CLUB. Reno. Nevada. Highways
40, 50, and 395, Corner Second and Center
Sts. If you want a very excellent lunch or
dinner we recommend the Fortune Club,
said to be the most beautiful casino in the
West.
OREGON
COLUMBIA GORGE HOTEL, Hood River.
Oregon. Highway 30. on Columbia River
highway. "A Hotel in a Garden," with
Mount Adams to the north and Mount Hood
to the south. You'll long remember this
spot as one of the most magnificent si{:lhts
you have ever been privileged to enjoy.
Skiing in the winter and fishing and golf in
Page 29
the summer are among the most popular
sports. but at any time of the year you can
always be sure the meals will be "tops."
THE DORCHESTER HOUSE, Ocean Lake,
Oregon. Highway 101. A thoroughly mod­
ern hotel where you realize the unexpected.
Overlooking the ocean. it is near the center
of a beautiful nine-mile beach. In the din­
ing room you will find that "quality has no
substitute."
HENRY THIELE·S. Portland. Oregon. 2305
W. Burnside. In the beautiful reSidential
district of Portland you will find a delight­
food. Mr. Thiele has studied the culinary
lights in preparing unusual and unique
dishes.
THE PANCAKE HOUSE, Portland, Oregon.
8600 S. W. Pacific Highway. You will be
served all the pancakes you can eat for
30c. Also sausages. etc.
TEXAS
THE BLACKSTONE HOTEL. Fort Worth,
Texas. As nice a hotel as you'll find any­
where.
YE OLD COLLEGE INN. Houston, Texas.
6545 Main. Constant, painstaking kitchen
supervISIon. and personal overseeing of
every item purchased for daily consump­
tion has made this inn a popular eating
place.
THE BAKER HOTEL. Mineral Wells. Texas.
Highway 80. Besides being a well-equipped
modern hotel. it is a year-round health re­
sort. where amid the quiet and peace of
a country village health and pleasure seek­
ers find enjoyment. A Chef trained in Switz­
erland provides a good variety of well­
cooked, excellent meals.
MILAM CAFETERIA. San Antonio. Texas.
Travis and Soledad St. This beautiful air­
conditioned dining room serves southern
cooking at prices that suit.
UTAH
PARRY LODGE, Kanab. Utah. Highway 89.
When you are looking for a good place to
spend a night or have a good meal, you'll
not be disappointed if you try the Parry
Lodge. It lies in the canyon country and is
only 90 minutes drive to Grand Canyon,
Bryce Canyon. or Zion Can
SUTTON·S. Provo, Utah. ways 50, 89
and 91. An excellent cafe w a large se-
lection of foods.
LYNN'S CAFE. Richfield. Utah. 10 N. Main.
They feature home-cooking, home-made
pies, biscuits. and pastry. Everything from
a sandwich to a full dinner. Air-condi­
tioned.
WASHINGTON
HOTEL MONTICELLO,Longview. Waahlng­
ton. 99 and 830. When you are
in this stop and enjoy the gracious
charm of eautiful hotel, which is sur­
rounded by a lovely park of stately trees
and colorful flowers.
PACIFIC BEACH HOTEL, Pacific Beach,
Washington. This beautiful hotel overlook­
Ing the ocean is located on the famed Olym­
pic Peninsula. Crab and trout fishing, surf
bathing and side trips to the Olympic
Mountains are some of the attractions that
draw many each year. Everyone who has
been here has nothing but praise for the
meals.
HOME OF THE GREEN APPLE PIE, Se­
aUle, Wash Mrs. Smith is now on
her way to b her second millionth pie.
The food is exc t and their hot apple
pie a la mode is something you'll remember
a long time.
THE QUINAULT, Quinault. Washington.
Highway 101. This hotel. situatE!Q. on beau­
tiful Lake Quinault, is a paradise hard to
equal. Their most interesting feature is an
Indian canoe trip, with an Indian guide, to
the waters of the PaCific Ocean. You can
also enjoy swimming. fishing. hiking, riding,
boating and golf. The guest rooms are
charming and clean and the dining room
serves very nice food.
DAVENPORT HOTEL. Spokane, Washing­
ton. An exceptional hotel nationally known
for its luxurious furnishings and excellent
cuisine.
WYOMING
PIONEER HOTEL. Cheyenne. Wyoming.
We recommend this hotel as a place where
you will find "comfort without extrava­
gance."
ANN NEWELL'S, Sheridan. Wyoming. High.
ways 87 and 14. Those taking this route to
Yellowstone will find Miss Newell's a wel­
come resting place. Simple, home-cooked
food is served.
/

Page 30 GHOST TOWN NEWS

Reader's and Writer's

Napoleon once told one of his field
marshals: "When a. man renders me a
service 1 have not asked for, he is
greater than 1. For 1 am in his debt and
he remains the greater until 1 can re­
pay it."
One of our subscribers sent in the above
quotation and wrote: "Every visitor to
Ghost Town Village is indebted to WaI­
ter Knott for furnishing the world with
this composite picture of early western
days but some of us can't get to Ghost
Town Village or at least not as often as
we'd like. I think that manv will agree
with me that in giving us Ghost Town
News Mr. Knott has done another thing
just as great. The authentic word-pic­
tures of the days of old. the :resurrected
photographs and the sketches that brlnq
back the recollection of the valorous days
of our early ancestors interest and enter­
tain us and provide inspiration for youth.
The stories of men and women of todav
and our great institutions are chosen with
splendid vision. What Ghost Town Vil­
lage does for those who visit it so Ghost
Town News does for thousands all over
the land. Your magazine occupies a place
all its own and I predict that your family
of subscribers will grow by leaps and
bounds."
And here are extracts from a dozen dif­
ferent letters-all bouquets you'll note and
the brickbats we hurl across the Atlantic
at Hitler.
HI think "our magazine is very interesting and
especially well done. I look forward to receiving
each issue.
-DEAN SHERMAN, Editor
Valerie Jean Date Shop
AhuJa Life.
Thermal. Calif.
Juliette Laine who in answer
to our query says:
I was born in Chicago. Ill.. longer ago
than I'll truthfully tell. In early 'teens went
to New York to study music. While there
did considerable singing in radio and as
:'This magazine interests me immediately-so soloist at the Strand and Capitol Theatres.
much SO that I want it regularly; so am enclosing
my subscription. I am delighted to find that it con­
tains considerable matter of real historical interest.
and that therefore it should do much to popularize
also held several good church positions.
Planned to go to Europe later. but uncer­
tain conditions there made such project
'.
the further study of our colorful past."
impossible. Had discovered that I could
-ROCKWELL D. HUNT
earn money by writing articles on musical
Dean of the Graduate School of topics for the Etude, Musical Courier, and
the University of Southern California.
other musical journals. during my student
years. When musical career folded I de­
HGHOST TOWN NEWS continues to be most inter­
esting. I read it regularly and enjoy it thoroughly cided to devote myself exclUSively to writ­
as I do all the valid literature pertaining to the ing. and have been earning my living with
Old West. Keep up the good work!"
-PHIL TOWNSEND HANNA, Editor it for the past fifteen vears. Have inter­
lYes/WilYs. viewed every musical celebrity from Ca­
ruso and Paderewski to--Dorothy La­
"I want to compliment you as you should be mour! While I am most at home in mu­
oompHmented each issue, for the very interesting,
worthwhile, and enlightening articles that appear in sic. I can occasionally write about other
the magazine. You are teaching us all incidents of things, and frequentlv do. Have done seri­
California history that we should know.
ous music criticism. Hollywood gossip col-
DEWITT V. HUTCHINGS
Managing Director The
Mission Inn, Riverside, Calif.
"I found the article by Johnny Kan on San
Francisco's Chinatown most interesting. Your maga­
zine is so wdl edited that I am SUre you must find
it great fun doing the job."
-MARGARET ETTINGER
Hollywood. Calif.
(II believe I read every word of the August issue
of GHOST TOWN NEWS and I enjoyed it tre­
mendously.f'
-CAMERON ROBERTSON
Pacific Coast Editor
Business IYuk.
"I read the last issue of GHOST TOWN NEWS and
think it is great. I like the idea of old stories of
the West and the people that helped to build it up.
It is an inspiration to us of today. H
-R. C. NICOLL. Proprietor

"August number of GHOST TOWN NEWS received
a,!d it. go~s without saying that I am much pleased
With Its Improved appearance. The paper is fast
approaching real magazine status. Paul has cer­
tainly made Lola Montez a real glamour girl at
last . • • the best picture of that noted character
I have seen anywhere."
-E. G. KlNYON. Manag;ng Editor
The Morning Union.
"While spending the recent week·end at the Mis­
sion Inn, Riverside, I came across one of your April
issues which I enjoyed reading. The titlo of your
publication fits in nicely with the brief stories of
the past and a storehouse of information can be
llieaned from our historic past; believe you have
It. Enclosed my check . . . "
-LEO S. BROWN
San Francisco, Calif.
"The August issue of the GHOST TOWN NEWS
arrived. Allow me to congratulate you on a splen­
did job-its educational, interesting, decidedly
worthwhile and cleverly made up."
-CARL T. NUNAN
San Francisco, Calif.
" • . . there is enough good stuff in every issue
to hold the readers interest. and your Magazine i.
hound to grow, for you put into it what everyday
Americans like to read."
-CHARLES ARTHUR MOORE, Editor
Moore's Monthly.
"You certainly have a capacity for digging up
interesting things for your "GUOST TOWN NEWS."
You have a paper in which I think any Californian
should be interested,"
-C. M. BIGSBY, Publisher
Radio Life and President
Compton Printing Company.
HI can 1 t tell you how much I am enjoying- your
GHOST TOWN NEWS. It's a clever idea and charm­
ingly worked out. I hope it "goes over" in a big
wav, and I shall' certainly call as much attention
to ~it as possible, whenever opportunity offers.
-JULIETTE LAINE.
If Ghost Town News interests you all
credit is due the many good writers who
contribute to its columns each issue. Among
regular contributors whose work has been
frequently commented upon are; Howard
Kegley, James H. Collins. June LeMert
Paxton, Edmund G. Kinyon. Charles A.
Moore. Carl T. Nunan. John L. Dexter
and Miriam Allen deFord. Other good
writerS contribute from time to time and
some new ones appear in this issue. and
we introduce
Juliette Laine
umns, film criticism and film star inter­
views. Am writing a novel. and planning
a romantic drama on the love-life of Rich­
ard Wagner. Have just ghosted a book
on singing. in collaboration with Dr. Lazar
Samoiloff. the famous singing-teacher,
which will come out-we hope--in Sep­
tember ("The Singer's Handbook"). Have
two dogs, an overstuffed Cocker spaniel
named "Betsey-Stop-That" and a poodle
named' "Baby"; also two turtles. "Victor
Mature" and "Betty Grable." Spend all
my money on books which I never have
time to read, and phonograph records
which I rarely have time to play. An odd
life, but a contented one. Secret ambition
is to write a novel that the movies will
buy for a fabulous price--after which I
shall never again write another line! (I
hate writing!)

HOOFS AND HORNS
During the last few years the sport of
Rodeo has taken the country by storm.
The spirit of the Old West has pervaded
all sections of the United States, and the
in terest in its typical sport has increased
in proportion.
Down in Tucson, Arizona, in the heart
of the "roping country", is published the
official and only magazine devoted to the
sport of Rodeo as a whole. Hoofs and
Horns-the name-is as wild as the broncs
and cow critters that feature in the arena.
Hoofs and Horns contains news of ro­
deos all over the country and many items
of interest about the cowboys and cowgirls
who contest and work in the shows. Be­
sides the rodeo news, there are always
stories that represent the West as It was
and is.
A simple, folksy little magazine that
makes every reader feel that he "belongs."
Odd as it may seem, this magazine that
deals with the most exciting and red­
blooded sport in America, is edited by a
woman. Mrs. Ethel A. Hopkins ("Ma
Hopkins" to the cowboys and readers)
who claims that she couldn't stick on a
horse if it moved out of a walk unless she
were securely tied on, nevertheless does a
right good job of putting out the news of
the rodeo game and its folks.
Subscription price is $1.00 per year. two
years for $1.50. in the United States; $1.25
per year, two years $2.00 in Canada.
Address Hoofs and Horns, Box 790.
"The Ilrst milk cow ever in Dawson ar­
Tucson. Arizona.
BACK ISSUES OF
GHOST TOWN NEWS
Number one is entirely ex­
hausted. A few copies of numbers
2. 3, 1, 5 and 6 remain and will
be sent postpaid upon receipt of ten
cents per copy.
GHOST TOWN NEWS
Buena Park. Calif.
---------~
Here's Something nice for you - ALucky Binder for your Magazine
An ornament for any library
desk or table.
I
GHOST TOWN NEWS Page 31
BOOMTOWN BUCCANEERS Miller, the man who brought her in. is
more favorably known as "Cow" Miller,
By William Colt MacDonald and as "Cow" Miller Jet him be known
from nowon.
From the time Peaceful Jenkins rode into
Spanish Wells with Applejack Peters after "All hail to you. Mrs. Bovine! May your
a bank robbery and found the secret of a shadow never grow less and may your
dead bandit in a mysterious deck of cards. society improve the people-internally. at
least. Welcome you are and it is trusted
he lived a dangerous and hunted life, sev­ that your welcome will bring a stampede
eral times being caught in a trap from of your kind. for it is considered you are
which he was able to escape only because a valuable addition to Dawson."
of his quick thinking and accurate marks­
manship.
GIFT SUBSCRIPTIONS
This exciting. lusty tale of boomtown
days gives the reader plenty of thrills. If Some folks send in a list of
you enjoy shootin' there's more than the friends they think would like to
average amount of it in BOOMTOWN receive Ghost Town News-West­
ern Magazine. Each yearly sub­
BUCCANEERS written by William Colt scription (six issues) costs only
MacDonald and published by Doubleday, Ilfty cen ts.
Doran and Company, Inc. This volume Five dollars pays for ten sub­
contains 271 pages and may be purchased scriptions and ten friends receive
at most bookstores for two dollars. this magazine for an entire year.
Thanks!
CONTENTED COW OWNER The benellts are many. More
The arrival of the Ilrst cow in Klondike people learn about our great west
was reported in the columns of Klondike's and its attractions. Some of the
newspaper, The Klondike Nugget. and the reCipients like the magazine and
item reprinted in the book by the same become regular readers. And many
name authored by Russell A. Bankson, pub­ folks receiving the magazine as a
lished by the Caxton Printers of Caldwell. gift immediately send gift subscrip­
Idaho. On July 2nd. 1898 The Nugget tions to some of their friends. It's
said:
just like a chain letter deal.
Most folks are like that. Do
something nice for them and they
rived on Wednesday. She was not very
well pleased with her surroundings and want to do something nice for you
did not give much milk; but that Ilrst milk­ or their friends.
ing brought just $30 in Klondike gold dust. Maybe you can think of a
She will be treated to the best that Daw­ couple of friends that would enjoy
son affords-flour and packing case hay­ reading this little magaZine - and
and is expected to do better as the days one dollar will send it to both for
grow shorter. One hundred dollars a milk­ one year.
ing is not too much to expect of her, as
she comes of good family and will not do GHOST TOWN -NEWS
anything to make her ancestors turn over
in their graves-or more properly speak­ Buena Park, California
........
ing. in the stomachs of their patrons. H. L.
~-----~-----~ ......--..-------­
A "lucky" Yucca Binder for your maga­
zine.
current issue of Ghost Town News for
$1.25-or with a two-year subscription, 12
An ornament for any library or desk or issues, for $2.00.
table. The cover is plain and without printing.
Size about 10 inches by 12. Front and It will also serve as a binder for Time.
back just plain flexible Yucca. Holds a Newsweek or magazines of that size.
dozen or more copies of Ghost Town News This makes a handsome gift. A true
-Western Magazine. product of California and the desert.
The Ilrst inside cover contains the 1-color Fill out the blank below and start your
picture "Courage" depicting the wagon subscription. If already a subscriber you
train crossing the desert in 1868. will have an additional two-year subscrip­
Mailed postpaid anywhere in the U.s.A. tion. 12 numbers, added to your subscrip­
with a copy of the Souvenir Edition and tion.
1----------------------------­
I GHOST TOWN NEWS, Buena Park. California
Please send me the "lucky" Yucca Binder. with the 1-color picture "Courage,"
II
I the Souvenir edition, and current issue of Ghost Town News and enter my sub-
I scription for two years (12 issues). Remittance of $2.00 enclosed herewith. I
I Name...........................................................................................................................................
II Street........................................................................................................................................... II
I I
L~:..I.=.:.::.:a.:::~~~:..~d.:~:.~:~~~~~::.:::~~~~-'
 BERRY FARM
RESTAURANT
ROADSIDEMA
GIFT SHOP RKET
GHOST TOWN