Category Archives: Trona in the 1940s

The Tufa House Not! – Is it Tufa or Volcanic Rock?

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I recently ran across an article in the Ridgecrest News Review,  Community of Trona, the home of several museums by Laura Quezada. One of the things Laura mentions in her article was the Tufa House that was donated to the Searles Valley Historical Society by Robert Schuette.  This caught my interest because I had never heard of the Tufa House before but I have heard the name, Schuette, (pronounced “Shooty”) so I sent Bill Schuette, class of 1958, an email to ask him what he knew about the Tufa House.

Bill wrote back and told me that the house was once owned by his grandmother from 1943 to 1960 and that originally it was on homesteaded land on the other side of the Argus Range that was taken over by the Navy when they took over the airfield from the Army Air Force and expanded it into a ordinance testing area.

Henry F. W. Schuette moved the Schuette family from the Los Angeles area to Inyokern, near China Lake, sometime between 1916 and 1930. He worked on the Los Angeles aqueduct project. Henry F. W. and his wife, Johanna, were granted a homestead (by the US government) near of the railroad head known as Brown, on China Lake.  In the 1920 US Census Henry is listed as a famer with a stock ranch in Kern county. By 1930 the family had moved to Inyo to an area was described as Township 4 in the 1930 US census. In researching BLM land records I found that Henry homesteaded 160 acres of land in 1916. I will have to do more research because it is common for additional homestead land to be acquired by other family members.

Henry and Johanna had five children: George, Mildred, Henry, Emily and Frederick. Henry F. W. and his children worked the homestead together during the great depression years. He was employed by the Westend Chemical plant on Searle’s Lake, 25 miles from China Lake. Henry died from appendicitis in 1941. The family continued to improve the homestead until the US government took the property by eminent domain to build the Naval Ordinance Test Station on China Lake. This became a weapons test site for Cal Tech during and after WWII. The Rock House, built by the Schuette’s, was moved from the homestead (by the US government) to its current Argus location in Searle’s Valley.

What is made of? I’m eager to find out. Perhaps the SVHS can ask someone for the Searles Lake Gem and Mineral Society to examine it. Its appearance in the photo makes me think it is Tufa.

I have much more research to do so check back to learn what I find.

Elizabeth Richmond Colter — Class of 1946

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Elizabeth Richmond Colter “Liz” 92, formerly of Phoenix, Prescott and Eagar, Arizona, died Wed., November 2, 2022 in Dana Point, CA. Born February 17, 1930, in Philadelphia, PA. Liz was the daughter of John O’Donnel Richmond and Emily Acker Richmond. Both her siblings, Lee Richmond Barker and Lincoln Acker Richmond predeceased her. Survivors include five children: Emily Taranta, Nancy Greene, John Harrison (Barbara) Colter, Mary Lee (Marsden) Stewart and Ann (Kyle) Matthews; 18 grandchildren and 6 great grandchildren. She attended the University of Arizona where she was a member of the Gamma Phi Beta sorority and Mortar Board. She was Student Body Secretary in the 1949-1950 school year and met her husband James Harrison Colter “Jim” while in college. Funeral services will be held Saturday, December 3, 2022, at 12:30 p.m. at Burnham Mortuary, Eagar, AZ.

Posted online on December 01, 2022

Published in The Arizona Republic

Elizabeth and her husband Jim were married at the China Lake Navy Base in the base chapel by a Navy Chaplin, Lieutenant Commander W. I. Wolfe in 1950. Elizabeth came to China lake in 1944 when her father, John O Richmond became commander of the Navel Ordinance Test Station at China Lake. She began school in Trona because at time there wasn’t a high school in the Indian Wells Valley.

Bakersfield, California •
Mon, Nov 6, 1950

Pioneer Point 1947

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Before 1946 there wasn’t much in Pioneer Point. There were some houses up by the hills. They were probably built about 1920 when I think the area was called North Trona by some people. Take a look at the pictures taken by the Gauslin Family back then and tell me what you think.

In 1946 AP&CC built a few house out of brick in Pioneer Point and then in 1947 they partnered with a contractor to build about 20 or more prefab concrete houses. The house walls and roof were put together in Trona and then moved to Pioneer Point for the final assembly.

Pan Rooms

The area in the lower right hand corner of the picture show part of the area where the walls and roofs were made for the concrete prefab houses in Pioneer Point.

 

You can see more information and photos at Pioneer Point Prefab Houses.

Later on they built some cinder block houses for the school teachers on the south side of Pioneer Point.

Trona 1940 US Census

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This week I spent some time looking at the 1940 census for Trona. It was quite interesting and I think it would be worth my time to study it in more detail. Here are some interesting examples:

  • The population  in 1940 was 2014.
  • My father’s salary was $1800 a year as a laborer.
  • My father paid $12 a month for rent.
  • A chemical engineer made $3000 a year.
  • The barber, butcher, dentist, bartender, deputy sheriff and the priest all worked for AP&CC.
  • Not everyone in Trona came from Oklahoma, Arkansas or Missouri.
  • Harvey Eastman Sr. was born in Cuba.
  • There were 21 single women and 1394 males including married men and children.
  • There were 780 men living in bunkhouse or tents.
  • There were 32 women living bunkhouses.
  • There  were 1160 people that had lived in Trona since 1935.

In 1920 the population of trona was about 700 and in 1930 it was about 1000.

To look at the 1940 census for free I recommend using the LDS Family Search site. As far as I know it is the only free site that is indexed and searchable by name.

https://familysearch.org/

The Trona Branch Library

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The Trona Branch of the San Bernardino County Library was and still is an important part of the Trona Community.  In 1918 there was a note in the San Bernardino County records about the county library in Borosolvay being closed due to the Borosolvay plant being closed. It indicated that the books were to be sent to the Trona Branch of the county library.

The July 9, 1938 edition of The Trona Potash, a weekly paper, had a notice that read:

Library Hours
Austin Hall
From 2 to 5 P.M., from 6 to 9
P.M. weekdays. From 2 to 10 P.M.
Sundays and holidays.

I had a hard time remembering the library being in Austin Hall between the pool hall and the men’s restroom on the corner. After my brother Joel jogged my memory I do remember at least one time when mother parked the car in front of it long enough for Joel to run in and return a book.

I don’t know if I was ever inside.  I do remember very well the Library being moved to the Trona Club House about 1948/1950..It seems like it was there for a long time but Joel reminded me that was there for less than a year while the new library building was being built.

I’m guessing that this was at the time that all sorts of remodeling was going on in Austin Hall. The barber shop that was on the Main Street side was moved to Bunkhouse Number 8. I am sure my first haircut took place while it was still in Austin Hall. The space vacated by the barber shop was used to expand the post office and add more mailboxes. That way fewer people had to share mailboxes. We still shared ours with Uncle John. Even when the new post office was built he still had his mail sent to our mailbox.

The General Mercantile Office was moved into the space where the library was. The space it vacated in it’s old location was used to expand the grocery store. If you have a better memory of this than me me feel feel free to correct me.

The library moving to the clubhouse was a big deal for me.  The clubhouse was just across the street from us and the librarian told me that if I could sign my name I could get a library card and check out books.

I had my mother write my name on a piece of paper for me and I kept writing over and over trying to memorize all the letters and the order they were in until I thought I had it right. Then I would take it to my sister or my mother over and over again until the finally told me it right. At least it was right enough to pass the librarians inspection. My sister pointed out to me that both my first and last name had a “V’ in the middle and that both my first and last name began and ended with the same letter. It’s no wonder I wrote in mirror images until I was about ten.

I became the libraries most frequent customer. I was a big help to the librarian. Every day I would go over and sort the children’s books according to size and every day I would go back and they would be messed up again. Finally the librarian had to ask me to cut it out and tried to explain to me the basics of the Dewey Decimal System.