Pilgrims in the Desert

 

Desert Dispatch Newspaper

Barstow, California

Tuesday, December 6, 2005

One of the nice occurences that happened when I started writing Backward Glance is meeting interesting and devoted people who are interested in history.  One of these people is Le Hayes.  He is fascinated with the history of the East Mojave and his adopted hometown of Baker, California.  Hayes has written a book about the trails and paths that lead through the area and the colorful people that formed the oasis of Baker, titled "Pilgrims in the Desert", the Early History of the East Mojave Desert and Baker California.

I got an advance copy of his book and gladly tore into it to read some of the stories that Hayes has told me and also to read of some of my favorite people in history.

What struck me about the book is the interesting fashion in which it is laid out.  One of the defining moments of the Baker area is the travels of Father Francisco Garces, who made five trips into the area starting in 1776.  Hayes' book proceeds chronologically from that point for a 200 year span of history with each chapter covering a period making the book a detailed timeline.  One of the interesting things that Hayes does is that he not only relates the history of the area he also relates certain events of American (and in some cases World) history that happened at the same time as the local history.  I found this technique made the story that much more relevant.

Hayes also doesn't tell the history by himself.  Diary entries, logs, and excerpts from other historians help tell the tale.  Luckily one of the other techniques Hayes has at his disposal is that relatives and in some cases the people that formed the history are still with us and interviews and contributions from them are liberally spaced throughout the book.  Some of the transcripts of interviews, like the one with "Dad" Fairbanks grandson Phil Lisle are especially interesting.

One other thing that I found intriquing is in the earlier sections of the book.  Hayes relates some earlier travelers' diary entries (like Kit Carson and John C. Fremont) and follows the description of the trails they followed.  Hayes spent a lot of time trying to find some of these trails.  He gives detailed accounts of where the trails might be.  At first these sections are a bit confusing, but in Appendix A he gives a detailed run down on how to navigate through the desert.  I had a slight chuckle in Chapter One, 1776-1840.  Hayes gives a lot of detailed descriptions of desert territory and how he may have found various trails.  In a section on Lt. Robert Williamson who found the terminus of the Mojave River, he tells how the party traveled between Soda Lake (at the Zzyzx exit on the 15 freeway) and Silver Lake (the big dry lake north of Baker).  Instead of giving a detailed description of where the ditch they found connecting the two lakes was located, Hayes describes where the modern traveler can find it in Baker, "between the Chevron and the Denny's Restaurant (now an IHOP).

Of course the book is full of pictures, many given to him by prominent families in the history.  One thing he does is describe in detail his physical investigations of the pictures.  One good example of this is in chapter 8, 1930-39 where there is discussion of one of the founders of Baker, Ralph Jacobus "Dad" Fairbanks and when he moved his gas station called the "Big Blue".

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