According to a historical review by Neil C. Morrison, Newberry Springs was the first logical choice of Sante Fe Railroad for a major crossroad. But locals heard about it and bid the price of land up too high. So the railroad moved on to the town that now bears the name of William Barstow Strong, the 10^th president of the Sante Fe railroad company.

In the early 'eighties, Lowery Silver (sometimes called Larry Silva), one of the first dscoverers of silver in the Calico Mountains, organized the Silver Valley Land and Water Company. He was made president of the company. The Calico silver mines were still runnng and borate had been discovered. Times looked pretty good for everyone. After several years of honest efforts to colonize the outlying land near Daggett, the company failed.

A few years later the Southern California Development Company took over the holdings. This company did make an honest effort to develop the land, but they were a little less than honest in their dealings with the prospects who became interested in their flamboyant advertising.

A great canal had been built along the river. It was so constructed that water backed up until it flowed on the surface of the river. Prospective investors were brought from Los Angeles by train. Before they were taken to the river, the canal gate was raised and a large stream of water flowed into it. It was easy to sell to prospects after such a sight.

A townsite was laid out and several homes were built along with a schoolhouse, a post office, and a real estate building. The town was named Minneola for Minnie Deterle, wife of the company secretary. Attention was always called to the black mountain spur, off by Newberry Springs, where there was a deposit of iron ore. The land purchasers were told that the ore would be brought to the town where a plant would be built to make Minneola the "Pittsburg of the West." The buyers moved onto their acreages and tried bravely to raise crops. They were not used to the soil, nor the climate they had taked over with the land, and they did not understand the irrigation system. In five years the project was abandoned. Because of the business reputation of its officers was not of the best, the company could not raise money to carry on, and it went bankrupt. With the failure went the people. For a long time water flowed in the canal, but beds of tules grew in it and trees lined the banks. It lay idle for several years.

About 1902 Theodore Strong Van Dyke and his son, Dixon, a young man of twenty-one, came to the desert for the father's health. The elder Van Dyke was a man of many talents. He had studied irrigation in other areas of the United States, although he had never really farmed. But he became interested in helping in the reclaiming of the desert adjacent to Daggett. During the period when the Southern California Land Company was operating he had looked on in rage at what was being done. He was the one who had suggested that the first development company sell the land for irrigation rights. Now, he was able to convince three of the original company members to go in with him in trying to redeem the land.

The first thing done was to clean out the old canal. The Van Dykes did this by pulling the roots out by hand as they waded through the slush and mud. Year after year the crops they planted would not mature. They were obstinate and would not listen to the advice of the older settlers that it was not worthwhile to spend so much energy on desert land. The vines trailed over the sand, but did not come to furition. The father's favorite Hubbard squash was a dismal failure. The corn and beans -- everything they planted, failed. The winds, blistering and sweeping, were the real cause of the crop failures. Plants were stripped of every leaf. This kept up, but in time the Van Dykes won, in spite of dry years, blighting wind, and the rabbits. Rains came and small floods brought added water.

Excerpted from Chapter 20, Silver Valley, in The Mojave River and its Valley by Erma Peirson, The Aurthur H. Clark Company Glendale, California, 1970.

Holy Resurrection Monastery

A story about the Monastery in the Press-Enterprise

Saint Antony Coptic Orthodox Monastery

On a calm religious day I can hear the church bells ringing.