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Description
Tape 1 Side A pp. 1-24 Leroy Cline's father Pleasant Cline helped install the water system for the town of Manzanar when the family lived at George's Creek. Water came from George's, Bair, and Shepherd Creeks into an irrigation system of ditches and pipes. He describes the school at George's Creek and other families who lived there. His parents had livestock and a small garden. Lloyd Hughes was a relative who left Manzanar; Leroy did haying and ranch work for him and other ranchers in Nevada. As a boy, Leroy picked fruit in the orchards at Manzanar and at Red Mountain Ranch. Apples and pears were prJcked and shipped out by train. He recalls Owen C ooper, other local boys, and some Indians who also picked. They also had a small business hauling ice from George's Creek to Owenyo. He describes the packing house and operation at Manzanar; one year he was boss of the conveyor crew. Mainly local women worked packing fruit. Culls were given out free to valley residents; some were given to a sanitarium in Lone Pine, but were made into brandy during Prohibition. Peaches were also grown at Manzanar; Leroy describes the growing area and subdivision of the orchards. The City of Los Angeles took over the orchards and contracted with Consolidated Produce for the packing operation. George's Creek was mainly for cattle raising. He recalls the Hunter family there. Tape 1 Side B pp. 24-47 Leroy worked for stockman Mark Lacey at George's Creek as a bouncer during branding. There were several bee keepers in the area also. Bill Goodwin had a wood yard in Lone Pine, and Leroy worked for him, cutting and hauling wood from the abandoned Manzanar orchards. Most people from Manzanar left the valley; their homes were torn down or moved away. He describes location of barracks from the Relocation Center which were moved to Lone Pine. Other homes were built from Manzanar lumber. Leroy describes being given World War I guns by two men from Lone Pine. He recalls the Lenbeck family at Manzanar and their relations to Indians and others in the valley. Henry Lenbeck worked for cattleman John Lubken; both had strong personalities. The Strohmeyers were another Manzanar family; their ranch was on the east side of the highway. Leroy describes the original route of the highway between Aberdeen and Lone Pine and recalls ranches in the hills west of Lone Pine and north of Independence. East of the aqueduct at Manzanar was the small settlement of Reward and the mine; he describes that and recalls its history and ownership as well as those of other mining ventures in the area. People sold fruit and had cider presses at Manzanar. Leroy owns an old cider press. Other people at Manzanar were the Bandhauers, who ran the store; Rotharmels; Wilders; and Vic Taylor 's family at George's Creek. Dances were held all over the valley; he recalls those at the Indian schoolhouse at the Fort. Tape 2 Side A pp. 47-69 Leroy's mother's family goes back several generations to settlement in the Napa Valley. His grandmother had a ranch at Arkansas Flat. George Spencer was an old prospector who lived near Bishop; Leroy recounts stories of visiting and going out with him, and he tells anecdotes about another prospector in the Lone Pine area who left him copper claims at Santa Rita Flat. He describes efforts by himself and others to extract copper. Senator Charlie Brown was an assayer and was also in on mining ventures. Other copper claims were in the Mazourka Canyon area. He recalls other prospectors and gives descriptions of the locations where they worked on the east side of the valley and in the lnyos. Leroy also had clay claims east of Olancha and describes the processing when he worked at the Centennial Mine. Muroc Clay had a mill at Olancha. He worked for Western Gillette trucking; its parent company Kentley Tanzola had several mining interests in the valley and elsewhere. He hauled mining equipment and processing material into and out of Darwin. He also worked sorting ore at the Al Ross gold mine in Olancha, at Talc City, and he sacked at a pumice mine near Haiwee. He discusses working his clay claim and then leasing it. Kentley had the Phonolite, a silver mine near Olancha where Leroy worked. Tape 2 Side B pp. 69-90 He recalls how the Kentley family got into mining; the same family started Duntley Dump Trucks and became close friends with the Cline family. Leroy drove a logging truck for Inyo Lumber in the Mammoth area and describes the logging operation. A sugarpine tree, a lone survivor from an ancient growing period, was cut down; Bill Moffat, the lumber owner, was fined by the government. Leroy was later contacted by the Forest Service when they tried to locate the stump and compile the history of the incident. Moffat had logged in several Mammoth areas since the 1930's; he operated a box shook factory near Mono Mills and had a logging camp at Sawmill Flat. Leroy describes the camp and the procedure for hauling and piling the logs, and relates anecdotes about his work there. The logging operations were eventually closed down when the area was designated wilderness. He recalls mostly local people and some Indians who worked at the camp. He describes the kinds of trucks used and their shifting and braking mechanisms, and recalls what it was like to drive over the old Sherwin Grade. Electric chain saws were powered by generators. There were several taverns in the Mammoth area for lumbermen and workers on the Mono Tunnels. Ttipe 3 Side A pp. 91-111 Leroy learned to fly at Bishop with Bob Symons. He recalls gliders in the Owens Valley and one pilot who caught a Sierra wave, went too high, and was killed. Art Matlick was a scaler with Inyo Lumber, measuring board feet cut for the company and the Forest Service. He describes deer hunting and techniques for bringing deer out of the backcountry. He was friends with the McCoy family and worked with Dave McCoy when he worked for the City of Los Angeles. He recalls the Zischanks who operated Long Valley Resort and a ski tow. Leroy hauled ice to Mammoth and later hauled all though winter equipment when the town began to expand around 1955. He recounts delivering a load of pipe in the winter and being stranded in a blizzard. He recalls Big Bert, a Bishop madam who helped out poor people in the community before she was shut down. The Gorge Cafe near Tom's Place was the scene of wild parties and fights during the gorge project. He began work with the City of Los Angeles and describes relining the aqueduct near Olancha. There were black workers brought from Los Angeles for this job also. Tape 3 Side B pp. 111-114 The black workers would collect thousands of carp from the aqueduct intakes and sell them in Los Angeles. Later he was sent to do cleanup on the Mono Tunnels project cleaning of ditches near Bishop. Several people bought barracks from West Portal. He was then sent to Independence to work, and then to Lone Pine.
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