1992 Death Valley Conference

Each year there is a four-day academic conference In Death Valley held at the Visitor Center auditorium. Topics alternate between history and prehistory and this year Ski and I attended the Third DV History Conference on 30 January to 2 February. It was sponsored by the '49ers, the DV Natural History Association, the NPS, and The Fred Harvey Company. A bus trip on Saturday took participants to a recently discovered Indian campsite and to Death Valley Scotty's cabin (not his "Castle" but to where he really lived).
One of the papers was given by Leroy Johnson who was banquet speaker for the Desert Peak Section some years ago. He give his analysis which indicates that the well-known DV landmarks of Hitchins Spring and Emigrant Spring had their locations switched due to a mapping error. This might have occurred soon after the early 1860s when some of the 1849 "Jayhawker" Individuals returned to Death Valley to look for the Lost Gunsight silver.
Leroy and his wife Jean are no strangers to "leaping landmarks". They presented proof at the 1987 conference that Pinto Peak and the present-day Towne Peak have also switched locations. They found a map at the National Archives in Washington DC that was preliminary to the detailed 1877 survey by Lt. George M. Wheeler. The legend "Pinto or Calico Mounts" was where the present Cottonwood Mountains are and next to P7284 Towne Pk (USGS 1951). This legend was transcribed in error as "Mount Pinto" on Wheeler's widely referenced map and others later. Pinto Peak didn't appear in its current location southeast of Towne Pass until the 1908 USGS Ballarat topo. The Pinto Range is no longer labeled.
The location for Needle Peak prior to 1932 was where Manly Peak is now but its move was intentional. The US Geographic Board accepted a petition then to name a peak after the 49er William Lewis Manly. They bumped off Needle Peak because they wanted Manly Peak to be bigger.
The Timbisha Shoshone family group consists of 11 families living in and around Death Valley. Current knowledge of these Native Americans during the turn of the present century comes from oral interviews. Beth Sennett read a fascinating paper with photos taken during the Scott-Johnson "Castle" construction era. Individuals photographed then have been identified and their activities traced by the keen memories of presently living descendents. Some of these people such as the Sam and Watterson families are still prominent within Owens Valley. Beth's Interviews of the Timbisha people yield special insight into present-day society: digging underground for minerals is awesome and frightening to Native Americans so they weren't widely employed in the mines; and the Challenger space shuttle disaster brought enormous sadness to Native Americans as "the earth is sacred and people are not meant to leave it".
Research into the Tonopah & Tidewater system by Gordon Chappell led to a special study of the dual-gauge Death Valley Railroad. It was built for transporting borax out of Ryan and also for taking passengers to the evolving tourist destination of Death Valley. This well-Illustrated study would be of particular interest to Bob Greenawalt who shares with Gordon Chappell the experience of having recently walked the route.
A fascinating bit of recent history was presented by NPS official Mike Ward who worked for The Fred "slice the ham thin, boys" Harvey Company during the 1980s. This happy party period was known as the "Bongo Girls" era by the loyal employees of the company's straight but forgiving resident manager who Mike described as resembling a white Jesse Jackson. Both the happiness and sadness of this decade was touchingly described and accompanied with songs Mike composed and played on the guitar. The era ended abruptly in 1989 when the company was sold to a humorless Chicago-based conglomerate.
 
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