| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
What is this site all about?
1. The telling in words and pictures of one of the Eastern Sierra's most incredible mule packing outfits - Mt. Whitney Pack Trains which operated out of Lone Pine, CA from the 1940s through the early 1970s.
2. The history of Owens Valley towns, pioneering families, and individual people who made Owens Valley what it is today.
3. Stories of mining camps and surrounding areas affecting mining in the mountains surrounding Owens Valley.
4.
Stories and photos about the Sierra Nevada Mountains (The Range of Light that is like none other), the personalities who enjoyed them in the past and who are part of the lore we relish to hear about today. |
|
| |
|
Mt. Whitney
and the Eastern Sierra crest as seen from Thunder Mountain.
(Photograph
by Mike Porter - 1977)
|
| |
|
ATTENTION!
Mt. Whitney Pack Trains, Vintage Photo Request
CLICK HERE
|
 |
Attention
all of you High Sierra packers!
Sun Dog
Days is book
you DO NOT want to miss reading. Slim Randles has masterfully
captured the life of two Owens Valley packers, Buck and Smokey,
and their adventure, not only in the Coso Mountains but their
adventure in life. It is a heartwarming story which will challenge
your emotions as you reflect on those days when you were once
a packer yourself.
Slim has informed me that he is working on the screenplay to
his book and it will soon be made into a motion picture. When
it is, I hope that all of you former and current packers will
do the High Sierra packing business the honor of seeing the movie.
Sun Dog Days is available at www.amazon.com
|
 |
Attention
Cowboys and Packers!
Slim Randles
has authored another wonderful book that I'm certain all of you
cowboys and packers will not only enjoy reading yourself, but
enjoy reading to your children. In a time when people seem to
have sacrifice their morals on the altar of political correctness,
Slim has authored a book which will help parents instill a true
moral compass in their children, and perhaps, in the process,
reset their own. Wow! What a book Slim!
A Cowboy's Guide to Growing Up Right is available at www.amazon.com
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
All
photographs are from the archives of the Pigmy Packer unless
otherwise noted!
This site is graciously being hosted by the owner's of Shocking.Com
- Stop by and pay them a visit and express you thanks for their
generosity. Without their generosity, this site would not be
possible. |
Mt.
Whitney Pack Trains [pdf]
by Charles Morgan
 |
| |
|
 |
 |
|
 |
Owens Valley
History readers, it's time to put on your thinking cap, we all
need your help. Many vistors have left me with unsolved questions,
mysteries, etc. regarding people, places, and events that have
occurred in Owens Valley. Please take the time to look at this
new page on the website and see if you might have the answer
to some of the readers questions. If you have any information
at all please e-mail the individual with your comments. |
|
The Internet
Wayback Machine
 |
There was a time when there wasn't performance-enhancing drugs or gene therapy, only athletic ability. There was a time when one of our Native American sons represented the true spirit of America before the world. |
 |
|
|
| |
|
Owens Valley
History Directory
In search of
Owens Valley Ancestory? The following Inyo County website might
be your answer.
Courtesy of Pam in Bishop, CA |
 Inyo County
Gen Web |
Hey all of
you desert lovers!
All of the issues of Desert Magazine, starting with 1937, are
now online for you viewing pleasure.
Many thanks to Rocko for making this wonderful magazine available
to all of us desert rats once again.
|
| |
|
Golden Trout,
A Packer's Delight
 |
| |
|
|
| |
|
Many thanks
to the Backcountry Horsemen of California for their continuing
efforts over the decades to help preserve the Sierra Nevada and
keep it open to livestock. They strive to promote conservation
and the awareness of the benefit of livestock in the backcountry.
In addition I, in particular, am thankful that they strive to
keep everyone appraised of those, who through misguided legislation
or self interests, would try to ban livestock from the mountain
range packers not only opened to the public, but who also made
us aware of the importance of preserving that same country. It
is indeed ironic that it has been those on two feet with easy
road-end access to the Sierra, and not four, who have contaminated
nearly every stream and lake in the Sierra with giardia. |
|
| |
|
|
Many
heartfelt thanks to all of the packers, Owens Valley pioneers,
and friends who have so generously contributed to this site in
pictures and words so that others might share in the experiences
that God has so graciously granted to them! |
|
| |
|
 |
Is
the above back country vista familiar to you; and how about these
golden trout? You can almost taste them as they're frying in
the pan. Have you ever been to Golden Trout Camp? Wonderful times
and great people with many an interesting story to tell. Names
like Frank Chrysler, Ted Cook (see their 1940's Mt. Whitney Pack
Trains brochure), Ike Livermore, Bruce Morgan (once a driver
of the famed Borax 20 mule team and manager to the Tunnel Air
Camp), Tommy Jefferson, Charles Morgan, and a host of other packers,
private party guests, and Sierra Club cooks, commissary and club
members. Let's not forget those Trail Riders, hunters and forest
service trail crews which were packed in over those many years.
Many have been lead home gently by our Father but many are still
with us. Some, like Irene Kritz, are still in the saddle and
packing every season. All encompass an exciting group of people
which time and the trails will never forget. |
|
|
| |
|
|
How
many times have we all seen this trail sign? It has either meant
hours in the saddle pushing cache or more hours on foot finding
out where the packers left everything. Whatever the means of
one's getting to the next camp, you could always be assured of
a good cold stream bath and warm dinner at the end. Let's not
forget those evenings of back country stories, guitar pickin',
campfires and practical jokes. The Sierra Club girls were always
beautiful and just waiting to make the packers a lunch for the
trail and/or steal your heart away. What an exciting time it
was for all of us at Mt. Whitney Pack Trains from 1946 through
1972. |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
If you have
pictures of people/places which you would like posted on this
site please e-mail me for posting instructions. Please try to
include the following information with each picture or story
(if you can recall):
- The date
the picture was taken (month/year)
- The place
the picture was taken
- The names
of any people in the picture
- The type
of trip you were on (Sierra Club, Trail Riders, private party,
hunting, trail crew etc.)
- The trip
leader and cook's name
In addition
to pictures, if you have a particular trail story, humorous or
serious, which you would like to share with everyone please e-mail
it directly to me. If you e-mail the file, please send the file
in either Microsoft Word, if possible, or as a pure text file.
Remember
- there are a host of folks out there waiting to blessed by your
High Sierra or Owens Valley story. Don't disapoint them, or yourself,
by failing to share your experience.
Thank you, from everyone, for obeying that still small voice
within you and sharing your heart and experiences with everyone.
|
Owens Lake
in 1911 before it was drained dry by Los Angeles
|
|
| |
|
Navigation
Bar
|
Golden
Trout Camp in the High Sierra |
 |
|
Chrysler
and Cook's Mt. Whitney Pack Trains |
|
|
Panoramas
of the High Sierra |
|
|
| |
|
 This
page was last updated on 19 May 2013
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
By Paul Sebesta |
| |
|
 |
| |
|
|
| |
|
 |
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
This RingSurf THE
GHOST TOWN WEBRING Net Ring
owned by Mt. Whitney
Packers and Owens Valley History.
[ Previous
| Next
| Random
Site | List
Sites | Join]
|
| |
|
 |
| |
|
|