DOCSLIB.ORG

The Bodie Times Spring 2014

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Bodie Times Spring 2014 THE BODIE TIMES PROTECTING BODIE’S FUTURE BY PRESERVING ITS PAST THE NEWS OF BODIE, MONO LAKE & GROVER HOT SPRINGS www.BodieFoundation.org VOLUME VI SPRING 2014 NUMBER 1 Bodieite Remembered Evelyn Helen Mary Scarlett By Rachel Godfrey mother, Evelyn Helen Mary Scarlett, was born in Bodie, yCalifornia on December M24, 1905 and named for the day on which she was born, Christmas ‘Eve’. An Indian “squaw” delivered her at home because the local doctor was too drunk to be of any help. Bodie’s population at that time was around 800. A contemporary report in the Chronicle-Union, a Bridgeport newspaper, states that Bodie “has good schools, and the purest water that springs naturally from the earth. It has 2 churches, a Catholic and Methodist Episcopal. Bodie people have the virtues of the west and few of its vices. Th ey have no city government, yet the best order is maintained.” Evelyn told how she and her brother York, who was born in 1907, used to ski to school. How did this English woman come to be born in Bodie, you may wonder. Three-year-old Evelyn and family in front of the Standard offi ces where her dad worked in Her father, John Edwin Scarlett, known 1908. as Jack, was born in Toronto, Canada and immigrated to California around the turn So Long Sweetwater! of the century. He held a couple of jobs in the automotive trade and then worked John Buie, better known as “Sweetwater” for a short while for a gas company in San John, has worked both as a park aide and in Francisco. Th ere he met his future wife, the Bodie Museum. John has decided not to Annie Byner, who was a governess. Annie return to Bodie . was born in Cranbrook, Kent, England and No doubt, if you visited Bodie in the Please see EVELYN, page 10 last six years, you would remember meeting John. In fact, many visitors believed that John walked right out of the mines and into Bodie! Park Fees Reduced He portrayed W. S. Bodey almost every FOB Day and certainly entertained the crowd with Entrance fees to Bodie State his (very) tall tales, charm and wit! Historic Park have been reduced! We want to thank Sweetwater for his Adults are now $5 (was $7) and kids dedication and service to Bodie State Park and (17 and under) are now $3 (was $5). Bodie Foundation. He promises to come back “Sweetwater” John Buie kicks up his We hope to see you at the park for visits and we will hold him to it! heels during Friends of Bodie Day multiple times in 2014! We will miss you Sweetwater John! 2010. THE BODIE TIMES SPRING 2014 PAGE 2 The Rocket of Mono Lake Bodie Foundation By Dave James was a need for dozens of cords mills and a lumberyard south of News Briefs During the late 1870’s of wood daily in Bodie to supply Mono Lake. A small steamship and into the early 1880’s, Bodie the heavy demand. was purchased by them and Bodie Foundation announces was booming. Th ere was a high Everyone, businesses freighted in pieces to the shores the 2015 Calendar Contest demand for wood products; and individuals alike, also had of Mono Lake. It was named winners! lumber for building, shoring to stockpile vast amounts of the Rocket. Once assembled, Th ank you all who for the mining operations and a fi rewood in the fall to see them it measured 36 feet long by 10 submitted entries – we had huge demand for fi rewood. through a Bodie winter, as it was feet wide. A barge (scow) was almost 400 photos to view. Firewood was the primary sometimes impossible to bring built and towed by the Rocket Remember, even if your entry source for heating homes and wood into town during harsher to carry wood products across was not chosen, we may use businesses. Th e mining industry winter conditions. Mono Lake to then be freighted some on our website, in future was also heavily dependent on During the early years, into Bodie. Barging wood across newsletters or other Bodie a cheap source of fuel to power lumber and fi rewood were the lake saved several hours of Foundation materials. If we do their steam boilers used on freighted to Bodie from various transportation time, making it so, photo credit will be given. hoisting works, stamp (quartz) sawmills and wood ranches fi nancially viable. Th e 16 winners are: mills and huge water pumps throughout the region, such as Porter ran into fi nancial • Tanya Bunch that removed water from lower G. L. Porter and Company. Th ey diffi culties in 1880. Th e business • Cat Connor sections of mineshafts. Th ere operated a sawmill, two shingle of supplying the precious • Gigi Dean • Jordan Fenwick • Franka Gabler • Jerome Gibson • Josh Grant • David Hayes Jr. • Rice Jackson • Dave James • Ellen Klinkel • David Safanda • Doug Santo • Jeff Sullivan • Ryan Watamura • Michelle Wilson Each will receive a free calendar for their winning shot. Although this is not the Rocket nor Mono Lake, this photo nonetheless gives you an idea of what the Th ere were so many quality Rocket towing a barge (use your imagination here – the barge is stacked with railroad ties – wink wink) photos submitted, we decided may have looked like. to create a list of Honorable Mentions (kudos but no prizes HE ODIE IMES commodity of wood and lumber T B T was a cutthroat business and involved). Th ey are: THE NEWS OF BODIE, MONO LAKE the smaller suppliers were often • Cat Connor AND GROVER HOT SPRINGS forced out of business when • Jeff Dean • Jerome Gibson THE BODIE TIMES is Brad Sturdivant President bigger enterprises entered the the offi cial publication of picture and drove down the price • Alena Hagedon Business Danielle Williams • Dave James the Bodie Foundation, Manager of wood products (fi rewood in P. O. Box 278, Bridgeport particular). Such was the case • Th omas Kelsey Dave James Editor CA 93517 with Porter. • Ellen Klinkel Bodie • Jill Odice (760) 647-6564 He sold off the steamer to Terri Geissinger Historian & James Cain, who was one of the • Doug Santo Guide Comments, stories principals for the newly formed • Jeff Sullivan and photographs Explore Historic Production & Bodie Railroad and Lumber • Florene Trainor are welcome. Please California Design Company. Th e new company • Michelle Wilson email to: DaveJ@ Gigi Dean, Terri Geissinger, had acquired about 12,000 See their work BodieFoundation.org. Josh Grant, Dave James, Contributing on our website at www. Ellen Klinkel, Mark Pupich, acres of timberland near Mono COPYRIGHT 2014 Chris Spiller, Roger Vargo, Photographers Craters and built a large sawmill. BodieFoundation.org ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Dani Williams Please see ROCKET, page 11 Please see FOUNDATION page 5 THE BODIE TIMES SPRING 2014 PAGE 3 President’s Report Year in Review BODIE By Brad Sturdevent, including a generous $50,000 Friends of Grover Hot Springs. Bodie Foundation President grant from the Conrad N. We have approximately 60 FUN FACT Hilton Foundation. We are well members to help support our By all accounts, 2013 on our way to our goal of raising eff orts for this park. A website Which mine en- was a successful year for the $150,000 for the Railroad Offi ce is also being designed for Grover hanced Bodie’s foundation with over $100,000 Hot Springs. Bodie Foundation. Th ere were national fame in in a restricted fund for this Dr. Robin DeRosa of Park leadership changes at 1879 when min- Bodie, but a very harmonious project. Plymouth State University in relationship continues between In the past year, we have New Hampshire spent last ers discovered the the Foundation and State Parks. raised over $20,000 for the July in Bodie, researching Fortuna Lode (a We have been able to fund Bodie Cemetery Project. We and interviewing for a new very rich quartz most all project and activity were able to bring back the booklet she wrote called “Th e vein containing “Dogs of Bodie” last September. Women of Bodie”, which she is requests at all three parks – considerable gold Numerous unmarked gravesites donating to the Foundation for Bodie, Mono Lake and Grover and silver)? Hot Springs - and have made were discovered in what we sale. We thank Dr. DeRosa for believe was the historic Chinese her generosity. Th e booklet is considerable strides in raising (A) Bunker Hill Mine funds for a few of our larger Cemetery, and we are pretty available in the museum and on endeavors, which I will discuss sure the “real” burial site of W.S. our website. (B) Standard in a minute. Bodey has been identifi ed by the You will notice a bit of a Consolidated Mine Th e Foundation wasforensic dogs. diff erence on your next visit to (C) Noonday Mine We launched a website Bodie. Th e park is now ADA pleased to see the return of funds (D) Bodie Mine for the Stamp Mill tours. Th is supporting Mono Lake Tufa (Americans with Disabilities important income stream goes State Natural Reserve. You can Act) compliant. Updates include (E) Red Cloud Mine into our general fund. We also visit it at www.visitMonoLake. completely new bathrooms in the saw an increase in the number of com. parking lot, a sidewalk that goes Please see page 11 for photography workshops, which We started a chapter of from the parking lot to Green the answer. was one of our goals going into the Bodie Foundation called the Please see REVIEW, page 7 2013.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • California Pika Consortium Mono Basin- Bodie Hills Field Trip Sunday, July 31, 2011 – Monday, August 1, 2011
    California Pika Consortium Mono Basin- Bodie Hills Field Trip Sunday, July 31, 2011 – Monday, August 1, 2011 Amended with comments and observations in red font after the Field Trip: 13 August 2011 (cim) Field Trip Objectives: Provide a forum for California Pika Consortium (CPC) participants to observe and discuss topics of current interest at key and relevant field sites. In particular, to observe and contrast pika habitat abundance, quality, and connectivity in the Sierra Nevada and Bodie Hills; to visit low-elevation and high-elevation sites typical of the central-eastern Sierra Nevada; to observe and compare anthropogenic habitat (ore dumps) and native talus sites in the Bodie Hills; to discuss the relevance of these observations to climate relationships, talus thermal regimes, dispersal and connectivity (source/sink), population dynamics, and population processes in California and elsewhere in American pika’s range. Agenda Sunday, July 31 (see accompanying Road Log and Maps for specifics) 8:00 am Convene at USFS Mono Basin Scenic Area Visitor Center, consolidate vehicles (don’t forget lunch, snacks, water) 8:15 am Depart Visitor Center for Stops 1-7 Stop 1: Lundy Cyn (short walk) Stop 2: Virginia Lks Cyn Trailhead (short walk) Stop 3: Conway Highlands Overview instead we made a brief stop to “Benjamin Buttes” Stop 4: Bodie Pass – LUNCH (bring your own) Stop 5: Syndicate Mine, Bodie (short walk) Stop 6: Chemung Mine weather did not allow us to visit this site Stop 7: Serrita Mine, New York Hill, Masonic District (short walk) weather did not allow us to visit this site Note: If time gets short, we might forego one or more of the final stops ~ 7pm? Dinner (no host) at Tioga Gas Mart, Tioga Toomey’s Café, 0.25 miles west on SR 120 of junction with US 395.
    [Show full text]
  • Mono and Southeastern Great Basin
    3 •. .,• .{ • ,l<. • --• - • • •• 4:"."".. • 116 •,. California’s Botanical Landscapes - 3 chapter five Mono and Southeastern Great Basin The eastern fringe of California slices The crest of the Sierra Nevada defines Above: The crest of the Sierra off a thin strand at the edge of a vast the western hydrologic edge of the Great Nevada defines the western edge of interior biome, the Great Basin. Often Basin, within which waters drain into the Great Basin in central eastern California. The Mono Basin, characterized as an immense and homo­ interior basins. The entirety of the Sierra with its crown jewel Mono Lake, geneous sagebrush (Artemisia sp.) sea, Nevada was built by similar geologic exemplifies the character of the this region in fact encompasses great forces that created the Great Basin. The California part of this province, topographic, geologic, climatic, and vege­ narrative for vegetation in this chapter with expansive cold-adapted tative diversity, haunting in expansiveness starts with the lower montane (~2,500 m sagebrush steppe intermixed with hardy forbs and grasses. of landscape, surprising in richness of at the latitude of Mono Lake) and basin Robert Wick hidden canyons and wetlands. Long lines bottom environments of the eastern Opposite: A winter evening of basin and range draw the eye outward Sierra Nevada, and goes on to embrace along Hot Creek, with rubber to where land meets sky; wave after wave the entire elevation gradients from basin rabbitbrush and sagebrush of mountain ranges pounding the sage to summits of the mountain ranges east­ spread over rolling hills of the surf. If only a slice, California is fortunate ward to the California-Nevada state Long Valley Caldera.
    [Show full text]
  • Section 2 - Mono Basin Planning Area
    SECTION 2 - MONO BASIN PLANNING AREA DESCRIPTION OF THE PLANNING AREA PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS CLIMATIC CONDITIONS DIVERSION OF TRIBUTARY STREAMS (1941-PRESENT) Mono Basin PM-10 SIP 11 May 1995 12 Section 2 - Mono Basin Planning Area _____________________________________________________________________________ 2.1 Description of the Planning Area Mono Basin Planning Area is located in eastern California in the center of Mono County about 300 miles north of Los Angeles and 190 miles east of San Francisco (Figure 2-1). Immediately to the west is Yosemite National Park. The Planning Area has been defined by the EPA as the Mono County, California portion of hydrologic unit number 18090101 on the State of California Hydrologic Unit Map 1978. The area is approximately 35 miles long and 45 miles wide. Mono Basin is walled in by the eastern escarpment of the Sierra Nevada to the west and by Great Basin ranges to the north, south, and east. The Sierra Nevada delineate the western boundary of the area from approximately Excelsior Mountain down to San Joaquin Mountain. The southern boundary extends just beneath the Mono Craters to Cowtrack Mountain, then the eastern edge runs northeast to the Anchorite Hills near the Nevada Stateline. At the Anchorite Hills, the northern boundary heads west crossing the Alkali Valley and the Bodie Hills to Conway Summit and on to the ridge line of the Sierra Nevada. The Planning Area is rural in character with pockets of ranching activity and contains small, unincorporated communities, such as Lee Vining, Mono City, and June Lake. The permanent population of the Planning Area is approximately 2,600 people.2 Most of the land is public land under the jurisdiction of U.S.
    [Show full text]
  • Historical Society Quarterly, 40:1 (Spring 1997), 28, 33, Fig
    HistoricalNevada Society Quarterly John B. Reid Hillary Velázquez Juliet S. Pierson Editor-in-Chief & Frank Ozaki Manuscript Editor Production & Design Joyce M. Cox Proofreader Volume 56 Spring/Summer 2013 Numbers 1-2 Contents 3 Editor’s Note 7 Geologic Sources of Obsidian Artifacts from Spirit Cave, Nevada RICHARD E. HUGHES 14 Salmon’s Presence in Nevada’s Past ALISSA PRAGGASTIS AND JACK E. WILLIAMS 33 Mabel Wright and the Prayer that Saved Cui-ui Pah (Pyramid Lake) MICHAEL HITTMAN Front Cover: Katie Frazier, a Pauite, prepares cui-ui fish at Pyramid Lake, ca. 1930. Photographer unknown. (Nevada Historical Society) 76 Wovoka and the 1890 Ghost Dance Religion Q & A with Gunard Solberg MICHAEL HITTMAN 93 Cumulative Index – Volume 55 3 Editor’s Note My beautiful Lake— Used to be full, Just plumb full! Long time ago Lots of fishes… Mabel Wright’s protest prayer-song begins with these words. Sung in May 1964 on the south beach of Pyramid Lake, and accompanied only by a drum, Wright’s song called upon the traditional Paiute power of the spoken word to evoke the lake’s past and to protest threats to its survival. She chose a perfect location. From there, she could view the shoreline and hills where Wizards Beach Man lived more than 9,000 years ago and where fishing tools—a hook, a line made from sagebrush, and a sinker—were found and dated to 9,600 years ago. She could see the place where Sarah Winnemucca—Nevada’s greatest advocate for Native American rights—was born and lived her early years.
    [Show full text]
  • Drainage Reversals in Mono Basin During the Late Pliocene and Pleistocene
    Drainage reversals in Mono Basin during the late Pliocene and Pleistocene Marith C. Reheis* U.S. Geological Survey, M.S. 980, Federal Center, Denver, Colorado 80225, USA Scott Stine Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, California State University, 25800 Carlos Bee Boulevard, Hayward, California 94542, USA Andrei M. Sarna-Wojcicki U.S. Geological Survey, M.S. 975, 345 Middle®eld Road, Menlo Park, California 94025, USA ABSTRACT Basin between the hydrologically distinct vive out of water for even short periods) can Lahontan and Owens±Death Valley sys- expand their range across otherwise insur- Mono Basin, on the eastern ¯ank of the tems, as long postulated by biologists, and mountable drainage divides. Biologists, point- central Sierra Nevada, is the highest of the also con®rms a probable link during the ing to several such species that today occur in large hydrographically closed basins in the Pleistocene for species adapted to travel up- the hydrologically distinct Lahontan and Basin and Range province. We use geo- stream in fast-¯owing water. Owens±Death Valley systems (e.g., Hubbs morphic features, shoreline deposits, and and Miller, 1948; Minckley et al., 1986; basalt-®lled paleochannels to reconstruct Keywords: biogeography, drainage chang- Hershler and Sada, 2002), have long specu- an early to middle Pleistocene record of es, ®sh, Great Basin, Mono Basin. lated that Mono Basin may have linked these shorelines and changing spillways of Lake two systems at some time in the past (e.g., Russell in Mono Basin. During this period INTRODUCTION Hubbs and Miller, 1948; Taylor, 1985). This of time, Lake Russell repeatedly attained study con®rms that linkage and places the altitudes between 2205 and 2280 mÐlevels The Mono Basin abuts the eastern ¯ank of transfer from north to south at sometime after far above the present surface of Mono Lake the central Sierra Nevada (Fig.
    [Show full text]
  • Structural Failures of Single Wall Construction in a Western Mining Town: Bodie, California
    University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Theses (Historic Preservation) Graduate Program in Historic Preservation 1998 Structural Failures of Single Wall Construction in a Western Mining Town: Bodie, California Andrea Sue Morrison University of Pennsylvania Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/hp_theses Part of the Historic Preservation and Conservation Commons Morrison, Andrea Sue, "Structural Failures of Single Wall Construction in a Western Mining Town: Bodie, California" (1998). Theses (Historic Preservation). 454. https://repository.upenn.edu/hp_theses/454 Copyright note: Penn School of Design permits distribution and display of this student work by University of Pennsylvania Libraries. Suggested Citation: Morrison, Andrea Sue (1998). Structural Failures of Single Wall Construction in a Western Mining Town: Bodie, California. (Masters Thesis). University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA. This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/hp_theses/454 For more information, please contact [email protected]. Structural Failures of Single Wall Construction in a Western Mining Town: Bodie, California Disciplines Historic Preservation and Conservation Comments Copyright note: Penn School of Design permits distribution and display of this student work by University of Pennsylvania Libraries. Suggested Citation: Morrison, Andrea Sue (1998). Structural Failures of Single Wall Construction in a Western Mining Town: Bodie, California. (Masters Thesis). University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA. This thesis or dissertation is available at ScholarlyCommons: https://repository.upenn.edu/hp_theses/454 UNiYERsmry PENNSYLV^NIA. UBRARIE5 STRUCTURAL FAILURES OF SINGLE WALL CONSTRUCTION IN A WESTERN MINING TOWN: BODIE, CALIFORNIA Andrea Sue Morrison A THESIS Historic Preservation Presented to the Faculties of the University of Pennsylvania in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE 1999 Supervisor Reader Samuel Y.
    [Show full text]
  • Miocene Magmatism in the Bodie Hills Volcanic Field, California and Nevada
    Origin and Evolution of the Sierra Nevada and Walker Lane themed issue Miocene magmatism in the Bodie Hills volcanic fi eld, California and Nevada: A long-lived eruptive center in the southern segment of the ancestral Cascades arc David A. John1,*, Edward A. du Bray2, Richard J. Blakely1, Robert J. Fleck1, Peter G. Vikre3, Stephen E. Box4, and Barry C. Moring1 1U.S. Geological Survey, 345 Middlefi eld Road, Menlo Park, California 94025, USA 2U.S. Geological Survey, MS 973, Federal Center, Denver, Colorado 80225, USA 3U.S. Geological Survey, University of Nevada, Reno, Nevada 89557, USA 4U.S. Geological Survey, 904 West Riverside Avenue, Spokane, Washington 99201, USA ABSTRACT felsic compositions through time. Following north of Lake Tahoe in northeastern Cali- a 2 Ma hiatus in volcanism, postsubduction fornia, the scarcity of mafi c rocks, relatively The Middle to Late Miocene Bodie Hills rocks of the ca. 3.6–0.1 Ma, bimodal, high-K K-rich calc-alkaline compositions, and abun- volcanic field is a >700 km2, long-lived Aurora volcanic fi eld erupted unconform- dance of composite dome fi elds in the Bodie (~9 Ma) but episodic eruptive center in the ably onto rocks of the Miocene Bodie Hills Hills may refl ect thicker crust beneath the southern segment of the ancestral Cascades volcanic fi eld. southern ancestral arc segment. Thicker arc north of Mono Lake (California, U.S.). It At the latitude of the Bodie Hills, sub- crust may have inhibited direct ascent and consists of ~20 major eruptive units, including duction of the Farallon plate is inferred to eruption of mafi c, mantle-derived magma, 4 trachyandesite stratovolcanoes emplaced have ended ca.
    [Show full text]
  • Pliocene Sinistral Slip Across the Adobe Hills, Eastern California-Western Nevada
    1 In press, Geosphere Pliocene sinistral slip across the Adobe Hills, eastern California-western Nevada: Kinematics of fault slip transfer across the Mina Deflection Sarah Nagorsen-Rinke1, Jeffrey Lee Department of Geological Sciences Central Washington University, Ellensburg, WA 98926, USA Andrew Calvert U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA ABSTRACT The Adobe Hills region, California-Nevada, is a faulted volcanic field located within the western Mina deflection, a right-stepping zone of faults that connects the northern Eastern California shear zone (ECSZ) to the south with the Walker Lane belt (WLB) to the north. New detailed geologic mapping, structural studies, and 40Ar/39Ar geochronology in the Adobe Hills allow us to calculate fault slip rates and test predictions for the kinematics of fault slip transfer into the Mina deflection. The Adobe Hills are dominated by Pliocene tuffaceous sandstone, basaltic lavas that yield 40Ar/39Ar ages between 3.13 ± 0.02 to 3.43 ± 0.01 Ma, and basaltic cinder cones. These Pliocene units unconformably overlie middle Miocene latite ignimbrite that yields an 40Ar/39Ar age of 11.17 ± 0.04 Ma, and Quaternary tuffaceous sands, alluvium, and lacustrine deposits cap the sequence. NNW-striking normal faults, WNW-striking dextral faults, and NE-striking sinistral faults cut all units; the NE-striking sinistral faults are the youngest and most well developed fault set. We calculate ~0.1 mm/yr of ~EW-horizontal extension and NW- dextral shear since the Pliocene. The prominent NE-striking sinistral faults offset basalt ridgelines, normal fault/hanging wall intersections, a channelized basalt flow, a basalt flow edge, and a basalt flow contact a net minimum of 921 ± 184 to 1318 ± 264 m across the Adobe Hills.
    [Show full text]
  • The Ever-Changing World of the Paiute
    Eastern Sierra History Journal Volume 1 Article 3 2020 The Ever-Changing World of the Paiute Joseph Lent Bridgeport Indian Reservation, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.claremont.edu/eshj Part of the Geography Commons, History Commons, and the Indigenous Studies Commons Recommended Citation Lent, Joseph (2020) "The Ever-Changing World of the Paiute," Eastern Sierra History Journal: Vol. 1, Article 3. Available at: https://scholarship.claremont.edu/eshj/vol1/iss1/3 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Scholarship @ Claremont. It has been accepted for inclusion in Eastern Sierra History Journal by an authorized editor of Scholarship @ Claremont. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Lent: The Ever-Changing World of the Paiute The Ever-Changing World of the Paiute Joseph Lent1 In the early days of creation the earth was covered with water… This is the beginning of the oldest known origin history which was orally passed down among the Paiute and Paiute-related people. It mysteriously seems to be in line with the biblical genesis of creation, but lies on a very different plane of cultural understanding and belief. The Paiutes did not possess any known form of writing to document such histories, and thus the way we relate our origins are through the passing down of “oral history.” Many times this history has been referred to by non-Native people as, “stories, tales, myths,” and “legends.” These types of words denote fiction and a falsification of real events; which is why we, as Native People, attempt to no longer use such terms when relating our history.
    [Show full text]
  • Geologic History of the Mono Basin
    GEOLOGIC HISTORY OF THE MONO BASIN Elizabeth Nixon G188/G190 June 12, 2012 ABSTRACT The Mono Basin, an elongated tectonic depression on the western edge of the Basin and Range Province, is a well-preserved region rich in geologic processes and history. For the purposes of this paper, the account of the Mono Basin begins at the stretching and thinning of the basin 5mya and continues through today. Since the subduction of the Farallon sea floor plate 20mya, thinning and expansion of the basin and range, as well as potent earthquake activity, has led to extensive faulting along the eastern front of the Sierra Nevada. The millions of years postdating the initial process of expansion exhibit evidence of systematic glaciation, catastrophic volcanism (especially in the Long Valley region, where approx. 150 cubic miles of ash was expelled from the earth), and intensive tectonic change. The faulting process on the eastern Sierran front lasted until around 40kya, when the role played by the fault escarpment was replaced by the intrusion of northwest- striking dikes along the surface of the basin. These dikes have fed the more recent volcanism of the area, and hold the highest potential for further volcanic activity in the near future. INTRODUCTION The Mono Basin, an elongated expanse situated in eastern California, marks the westernmost basin of the geologic landscape commonly known as the Basin and Range Province. For the purposes of this paper, the basin will be described as the area bounded by the Bodie Hills to the north, Cowtrack Mountain to the east, the Long Valley Caldera to the south, and the Sierra Nevada Mountains to west (See Appendix A for map).
    [Show full text]
  • Archaeology and Prehistory of California's Great Central Valley
    A Great Marshland: The Environment Then and Now Climate change is not a new phenomenon. The place we call California has seen periods of cooling and warming, wet weather and dry, which have shaped the land and the lives of the people who came here. Some of the oldest artifacts in the state have been found on the shores of Tulare Lake in the southern San Joaquin Valley. These artifacts—called fluted spear points—have been dated to the end of the last ice age 13,500-11,500 years ago, shortly after glaciers had receded from much of North America. Little is known about the first inhabitants of California’s Great Central Valley, those who used these early tools. We believe they were nomadic people, following the animals they hunted and the ripening plants they gathered. The name Tulare is from the Spanish word for tule—a marsh plant that once grew in broad bands along the lake shores and rivers of the Central Valley. Tules were a very important Fluted Spear Point renewable resource for early inhabitants of the Valley. From Tulare Lake From 8,000 – 4,500 years ago, warmer and dryer weather continued to melt the remaining glaciers and ice sheets covering parts of North America, Europe, and Asia, and the water from the melting ice caused sea levels worldwide to rise dramatically. The rising Pacific Ocean flooded the low land that is now under San Francisco and San Pablo bays and created the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. The marshy delta area was rich in food resources such as fish, ducks, turtles, and mammals—including large herds of tule elk.
    [Show full text]
  • Wildflower Hot Spots of the Eastern Sierra Welcome to the Eastern Sierra…
    Wildflower Hot Spots of the Eastern Sierra Welcome to the Eastern Sierra… THE EASTERN SIERRA truly is a land of superlatives: Elevations you will visit using this guide range from the oldest living trees on the planet (bristlecone pines); 3,300 feet (1,005 meters) at Fossil Falls to 10,200 feet the highest peak in the contiguous United States (Mt. (3,100 meters) at the Mosquito Flat trailhead in Rock Whitney); the youngest mountain range in North Creek. Many of the peaks around you soar to more than America (Mono Craters); one of the oldest lakes in 13,000 feet, and a side trip into Death Valley will plunge North America (Mono Lake). All of these and more are you down to below sea level at Badwater. within an easy day’s drive of each other. The spectacular landscapes of this area draw a worldwide audience, and with good reason. The elevation range combined with the diverse geologic environment results in a wide variety of vegetation communities. Three major biotic provinces—the Mojave Geology field classes often visit the area for the Desert, Great Basin, and Sierra Nevada—all converge in relatively easy access to a wide variety of geologic this area. Dozens of plant communities and thousands formations and rock types. Volcanic craters, basalt flows, of plant species occur here, many of them unique to layers of ash and pumice, carbonate formations, and the Eastern Sierra. This guide is an introduction to the granite peaks, walls, and spires all can be seen here. botanical gems to be encountered here.
    [Show full text]