Looking for Ronnie in Death Valley

Remember watching the old twenty mule team with Ronald Reagan when we were kids? Death Valley Days was a long running radio and TV show created in 1930 by Ruth Woodman. It ran from 1952 to 1975 as a syndicated television series sponsored by Pacific Coast Borax Company, who made 20 Mule Team Borax and Boraxo. The radio show ran from 1930 to 1945. Believe it or not, there were 558 episodes with the longest running actor, Stanley Andrews as "The Old Ranger" from 1952 to 1965. Then he was followed by the slightly more famous Dale Robertson, Robert Taylor, and Ronnie Reagan, our 40th President.

Enough about soap, what abut Death Valley itself. It looked like an awful place on television, with wind, dust, and tumbleweed. The National Park Service calls it a superlative desert of streaming sand dunes, snow-capped mountains, multicolored rock layers, water-fluted canyons and three million acres of stone wilderness. Home to the Timbisha Shoshone and to plants and animals unique to the harshest deserts. A place of legend and a place of trial. And as you may have guessed, they call it a place to visit in the winter, which we shall do on our way to Scottsdale.

Winter has cool days, chilly nights and rarely, rainstorms. With snow capping the high peaks and low angled winter light, this season is especially beautiful for exploring the valley. The period after Thanksgiving and before Christmas is the least crowded time of the entire year. Peak winter visitation periods include Christmas to New Year’s, Martin Luther King Day weekend in January, and Presidents’ Day weekend in February. Spring is the most popular due to the proliferation of spring wildflowers. And of course, summer is too hot for most people, like us and our dog, Buddy.

We will visit Manzanar. In 1942, the United States government ordered more than 110,000 men, women, and children of Japanese ancestry (my ancestors) to leave their homes and detained them in remote, military-style camps. Manzanar War Relocation Center was one of ten camps where Japanese American citizens and resident Japanese aliens were interned during World War II. American Indians began utilizing the valley almost 10,000 years ago. About 1,500 years ago the Owens Valley Paiute established settlements here. They hunted, fished, collected pine nuts, and practiced a form of irrigated agriculture.

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power began acquiring water rights in the valley in 1905 and completed the Los Angeles Aqueduct in 1913. Land buyouts continued in the 1920s, and by 1929 Los Angeles owned all of Manzanar’s land and water rights. Within five years, the town was abandoned. In the 1930s local residents pinned their economic hopes on tourism. With the onset of World War II tourism diminished. In 1942 the U.S. Army leased 6,200 acres at Manzanar from Los Angeles to establish a center to hold Japanese Americans during World War II. Though some valley residents opposed the construction of the internment camp, others helped build it and worked here. Among these were a few Owens Valley Paiute whose own families had been exiled earlier from these lands.

Scotty's Castle stands as a tribute to friendship. In the early 1900's, Walter Scott (Death Valley Scotty) convinced Albert Johnson to grubstake his gold mining expeditions. The gold never materialized, but Johnson fell in love with Death Valley and took a liking to the colorful Scotty. Johnson and his wife, Bessie, built this two-million dollar home with luxurious appointments. However, Scotty always claimed that it was his and he was building it from the profits from his gold mine.

At over five thousand feet, Dante's View, is almost directly across the valley from Telescope Peak. Dante's View gives you a complete view of the valley below, including Badwater. Sunrise is one of the best times to visit Dante's View, with the sun moving across the salt pan and lighting up the mountain across the valley. It is accessed from Highway 190, between Zabriski Point and Death Valley Junction.

One final note: it looks many times more innocuous from a plane that driving through the Valley of Death. Stay at Stovepipe Wells or the more upscale Furnace Creek a few miles away. Carry lots of water, sunglasses, sunscreen, and matain your car is perfect condition!!! I repeat, perfect condition. We saw too many cars on the side of the road, especially old campers and vans.

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