Death Valley Tourist Center • Northern Mojave Visitor Center

Maturango Museum • 100 E. Las Flores Ave. • Ridgecrest, CA 93555

Phone: 760.375.6900 • Fax: 760.375.0479 • e-mail: matmus@maturango.org • Web: www.maturango.org

Volume 49, No. 1 — Proudly serving the community for 50 years • 1962 - 2012 — January 2013

Message from Executive Director By: Harris Brokke

Happy New Year! I hope that you and your family have a safe and prosperous New Year in 2013. The New Year promises to be an exciting one for the Maturango Museum as the first phase of the building construction is completed and the new Museum store is opened for business to better serve you. Also during 2013 the Museum will be issuing its strategic plan for the next 20 years. I’ll have more information on this next month.

During the next two months there will be two fundraising events for the Maturango Museum. (1.) There will be an auction by sealed bids of the organ pictured below. Please follow the instructions in this article if you wish to place a bid. (2.) The SpringHill Suites is hosting a Valentine’s Sweetheart Party on February 14th with all proceeds donated to the Maturango Museum. This fundraiser will raise $2,300 for the museum. Information regarding this party is shown in the flyer on page 2.

Organ to be Auctioned by Sealed Bids on January 21st

Welcome to our Two New Staff Members I am pleased to welcome two new staff members to the Museum staff. Rachel Nielson joined the staff as our new Petroglyph Tour Coordinator replacing Fran Van Valkenburgh in that role. Fran will continue to be the Membership Coordinator. Maria Johnson joined the staff as our new Natural History Coordinator replacing Camille Anderson. Camille recently joined the staff at Searles Valley Minerals as Executive Assistant to their Vice President of Operations. Please welcome Rachel and Maria. We are pleased to have them on board.

Special Thank You to the Altrusa Club of Ridgecrest

I want to extend a special thank you to the Altrusa Club of Ridgecrest for their generous offer to share their booth at Santa’s Art Shop with the Maturango Museum on December 3rd and 4th. As it turned out for staffing reasons the Museum was not able to participate at Santa’s Art Shop. As a result the Altrusa Club was kind enough to hand out sales ads for the Maturango Museum sale that took place on that same weekend at the Museum.

The organ pictured on the left is being sold to the

highest bidder by sealed bid. Bids must be for a

minimum of $250 and need to be received at the

museum by no later than January 20, 2013. The

sealed bids will be opened on January 21st and the

winning bidder will be notified at that time.

This is a Technics organ, sx-GA-1 and is in mint

condition. The donor estimates the value to be

approximately $750.

Photo by Harris Brokke

In the Sylvia Winslow Art Gallery Mada Leach, an artist from Laguna Niguel, presents her art “Magic Visions, Ancient Hands” in the Sylvia Winslow Art Gallery from January 11 through March 12, 2013 Join us for a reception on Friday, January 11, 2013 at 7:00 p.m. The reception is FREE and open to the public and there is a 10% discount on art purchased during the reception. According to Mada, “This collection of mixed media artworks is a two-year study of field trips to the Arizona area primarily, with guides to ancient Hopi canyons and living ruins. I gather information through digital photos, come back to my studio, and create works based on these field trips.”

The medium is acrylic on canvas and mixed-media on paper.

High Desert Music Teachers Association Concerts on January 25 & 26, 2013 - Classics Rule!!

By: Fran Rogers

The High Desert Music Teachers Association (HDMTA) will present their annual concert in the Sylvia Winslow Exhibit Gallery as part of the Maturango Museum’s concert series. By popular demand, there will be two performances - on Friday, January 25 and Saturday, January 26, 2013. Both concerts will begin at 7:30 p.m. Seats each night are limited to 60, so avoid disappointment, and get your tickets now in the Museum store. The prices are $10 per adult and $5 per child 12 and younger. The concert, entitled Classics Rule!!, will contain music by J.S. Bach, RM Endresen, Franz Schubert, Felix Mendelssohn, Ludwig van Beethoven, Gustav Mahler, Ernest Toch, Camille Saint-Saëns, Heinrich Biber, John Dowland, Fernando Sor, Chopin and Georges Enesco. The performing musicians are Catherine Douglas (piano), Amber Farris-Petersen (mezzo-soprano), Gary Fry (clarinet), Linda Hartzell (guitar), David Hodgson (baritone), Erica MacArthur (violin), Melanie McDonald (piano), Lee Nolan (piano and bass), Sheri Sansom (piano and soprano), Estela Schaeffer (guitar), Ruthann Sutton (‘cello), and Debra Veit (flute).

HDMTA is an organization of private music teachers in the Indian Wells Valley that each year sponsors concerts and recitals, both solo and ensemble, throughout the year for their students. This annual concert at the museum is for the teachers to perform for the community.

Donations and New Members

Donations CDR Steven M. Little Harvey and Audrey Nelson Felice Plain Edward and Colleen Simmons

Holiday Appeal Michael and Phyllis Hischier Phil and Arlyne Lopez Eleanor I. Winnemore

Family Fun Day Mary Lundstrom – Coldwell Banker Best Realty

History Fund Kathleen Armstrong

Building Fund Duane Fojt Lloyd and Beatrice Smith Robert Westbrook Dick and Gerry Wisdom

New Members Sheila Davis Stacy Jackson C. J. Klissus Helen MacKenzie Katherine D. Niemel Tim and Nancy Taylor

Museum Store Inventory Reduction & Clearance Sale

Beginning Friday, January 18th

, all items in the store will be 35% off

(excluding books, blankets and walking sticks). All remaining holiday items will be 60% off!

Shop early for the best selection! This sale will continue through Monday, January 21st.

Lecture and Book Signing on Thursday, January 24th by Nick Clapp

On Thursday, January 24th the Museum will feature a lecture and book signing by Nick Clapp, author of a book recently released entitled Gold & Silver in the Mojave. Doors open at 7 p.m. and the lecture starts at 7:30 p.m.

Over the years he has worked for David L. Wolper, the Walt Disney Company, Columbia Pictures, and all three networks and PBS – always finding the knack for winding up in deserts, from Tierra del Fuego to the High Arctic of Ellesmere Island, which though a deep freeze, meets a desert’s climatological criteria. He roamed the Sahara and the Rub’ al-Khali, Arabia’s “Empty Quarter.” It was while there filming endangered oryx for the World Wildlife Fund, that he heard of Ubar, a lost city of the sands, which led to an expedition that discovered the ancient site, until then believed to be mythical. Writing a book about this discovery prompted a shift from filmmaking to archaeology.

He spent later years excavating at Petra in Jordan, months in Israel, Syria, Ethiopia and Yemen researching his second book on the myth and reality of the biblical Queen of Sheba. It was this same queen that led him to the Death Valley area to find out more about the Queen of Sheba Mine. That led to his last book, a look into one of the characters of the Last Frontier and his mysterious death, Who Killed Chester Pray?

Months of scouring libraries while he searched for information about Chester Pray led to the discovery of how many rare photographs actually existed about the Last Frontier of America. With the detailed eye of a cinematographer, Clapp has noted the most exacting details in each of the photographs selected for this book and a last look at life on this Last Frontier.

About The Book

In the 1890s, historian Frederick Jackson Turner lamented that the frontier was gone and with it the Old West, but overlooked was some 50,000 square miles of a frontier line outlining the Mojave Desert – the Last Frontier. In this arid land, unsettled and sketchily mapped – written off as godforsaken and worse – there would now be a headlong 25-year rush for riches…and for the Old West – a grand, tumultuous, rowdy Last Act. Overnight towns named Randsburg, Tonopah, Goldfield, Rhyolite, Greenwater, Skidoo, Ballarat and Bagdad popped up in this arid desert as gold and silver was discovered. The rush was on as miners worked their various digs: the Yellow Aster, the Lost Gunsight, Mizpah, Belmont, Mohawk, Florence, the Lost Breyfogle, Bullfrog, Bagdad, and the Glory Hole. Just as quickly ghost towns replaced booming towns as mines played out. All of this is captured in rare photographs of the day assembled with interpretive text by cinematographer and author Nicholas Clapp. The Last Frontier may really be gone, but it lives on through these photographs.

Documentary filmmaker and author Nicholas Clapp has studied and filmed the deserts of the world. With a master’s degree in cinema from the University of Southern California, his first professional break came when he produced and directed The Great Mojave Desert, a one-hour special for CBS and the National Geographic Society.

Two more American desert documentaries followed, The Haunted West and The Animals. Nobody Loved.

This newsletter is published monthly by Maturango Museum of the IWV

100 E. Las Flores Ave., Ridgecrest, CA 93555 The Museum is open every day (except

major holidays) from 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Businesses and Organizations Supporters • Contributors • Sponsors

Please support the businesses and organizations that support

the Maturango Museum

Staff Harris Brokke, Executive Director Mary Lattig, Store Manager/Buyer Sandy Rogers, Archaeology Curator Elizabeth Babcock, History Curator Maria Johnson, Natural History Curator Julie Stephens, Bookkeeper Fran Van Valkenburgh, Membership Rachel Nielson, Petroglyph Tours Andrea Pelch, Art Gallery Coordinator Joann Barbee, Ass’t Bookkeeper Nora Nuckles, Education Coordinator Steve Benson, Museum Assistant Sue Gilbert, Museum Assistant Nora Nuckles, Museum Assistant Duane Rice, Museum Assistant Andrea Pelch, Newsletter Editor

Committee Chairpersons Thom Boggs, Building Fran Rogers, Concerts Terry Ratcliff, Docent League Sherry Brubaker, Finance Kathy La Shure & Dan Burnett, Garden Sandy Rogers, Lectures Liz Babcock, Publications Bob Westbrook, Strategic Planning Janet Westbrook, Webmistress

Board of Trustees Steven F. Boster, President Joleigh S. Rafalski, Vice President Ronald L. Atkins, Secretary Sherry L. Brubaker, Treasurer Deborah J. Benson Michael A. Brown Nancy E. Crawford Leslie T. Layfield Robert E. Westbrook

AltaOne Federal Credit Union

American Association of University Women

America’s Best Value Inn & Suites

Ashley Furniture HomeStore Beansters Espresso Best Western China Lake

Inn BevLen Haus Bed &

Breakfast Boulder Creek RV Resort Carriage Inn Center Professional

Pharmacy Coldwell Banker Best Realty Comfort Inn Daily Independent Desert Area Teachers

Association Desert Artist League Earth Industries, Inc. EconoLodge of Ridgecrest Epsilon Systems Solutions,

Inc. Friends of Jawbone Furnace Creek Inn & Ranch

Resorts Hampton Inn & Suites Heritage Inn & Suites High Desert Haven High Sierra Auto/Truck

Repair Historical Society of the

Upper Mojave Desert Inland Adventurer Jacobs Naval System

Group, Inc. KPartners Hospitality Group Kristy’s Restaurant KZIQ/KWDJ - Sunset Media Law Offices of Phyllis M. Hix Liberty Self Storage Lugo’s Grill McDonald’s

Mercury Transfer & Warehouse/ Allied Van Lines

New Directions Technologies, Inc.

News Review Oasis Garden Club Owens Peak Group, Sierra Club PackWrap Business Center The Pizza Factory Ridgecrest Area Convention and

Visitors Bureau Ridgecrest Automotive Ridgecrest Moving &

Storage/Atlas Van Lines Ridgecrest Regional Hospital St. Ann Catholic School Sand Canyon Environmental

Education Program Searles Valley Minerals ServiceMaster of the IWV Sierra Odyssey Custom Tours Sierra Sands Unified School District SOI Motorhome Club Southern Sierra Medical Clinic SpringHill Suites by Marriott State Farm Insurance – Gary

Charlon The Swap Sheet Tax Time Services - Barbara

Agerton TJ Frisbee Bicycles, Inc. Tokyo House TOSS Union Bank WACOM

Calendar of Events

January

Tues Jan 1 – New Year’s Day – museum closed.

Tues Jan 8 – Docents meeting – 8:45 a.m.

Fri Jan 11 – Reception for Mada Leach exhibit – 7:00 p.m.

Sat Jan 12 – FREE day at the museum

Mon Jan 21 – Board of Trustees meeting – 7:00 p.m.

Thurs Jan 24 – Lecture & book signing by Nick Clapp – 7:30 p.m.

Fri Jan 25 – Pizza Factory fundraiser

Fri/Sat Jan 25 & 26 – Concert by HDMTA “Classics Rule!” – 7:30 p.m.

February

Tues Feb 5 – Docents meeting – 8:45 a.m.

Sat Feb 9 – FREE day at the museum

Mon Feb 18– Board of Trustees meeting – 7:00 p.m.

Sat Feb 23 – Concert by the Ridgecrest Brass Ensemble – 7:30 p.m.

Petroglyph Tours and Other Museum Events Petroglyph tour information and a slide show on the Petroglyph tours are available on our website at

www.maturango.org. The spring 2013 schedule for Petroglyph tours will be placed on our website on February 18.

China Lake Astronomical Society: 7 pm on 1st Monday of every month

China Lake Photographic Society: 7 pm on 1st Thursday. No meetings are held in July or August.

Owens Peak Group of the Sierra Club: 7:30 pm on 4th Monday of every month

Kerncrest Audubon Society: 7 pm on 3rd Thursday bi-monthly [January, March, May, September, November] Not

July

California Native Plant Society, Creosote Ring Subchapter of Bristlecone Chapter: 7 pm on 1st Wednesday – Not

July/Aug

Docent League presentations – brochure of topics is available.

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