Page 10 - The Gluckman Occasional Number Eleven

regularly on his ayurvedic treatments and taught samriddh yoga. He
was murdered by the husband of one of his female devotees on New
Year’s Eve, 1937. A collection of more than USD one million (in
today’s value) provided the funds for a magnificent mausoleum on
the grounds of Sylvan Vista cemetery in Broken Springs. That
structure was destroyed in the 1953 San Dragonia earthquake, but the
vault now containing the swami’s earthly remains may still be seen,
indicated by a bronze plaque in the Holy Martyrs section, plot 127-C.

Georges’ Gorge As you carefully negotiate the hairpin turns
ascending Highway 505 to the crest of Mount Garibaldi, about
seventeen-and-a-half miles beyond the city line of Chicken Roost,
keep an eye out for a viewing spot on the side of the road on the
edge of the steep precipice. There can be found the remnants of a
small grandstand and two steel stanchions a few yards from that two-
thousand-foot drop. They match a pair on the other side of the gorge
150 feet away. There in 1947 a narrow rope bridge was built for a
decisive match between two professional wrestlers. They were both
called Mad King George; the loser would relinquish the ring name.
They began at opposite ends of the bridge. The winner would be the
first to reach the other side. After two minutes of energetic tussling in
the middle, the two heavyweights snapped one of the supporting
ropes and fell to their deaths. The incident was not reported in the
press at the request of the promoters, but locals soon gave the venue
an unofficial—but otherwise inexplicable—name.

Watson Aquifer A casualty of California’s water wars was an unusual
natural aquifer located entirely beneath private property. Donough
Watson, an asparagus farmer with five hundred acres under
cultivation, determined that his latest allotment from the Colorific
River was insufficient to irrigate his crops through the drought year
of 1943. This led him to Aidan Comfort, a well-reputed dowser in the
local community of Cucamongus. Comfort’s rod detected a large
pocket of pure water untouched since the Plasticine Era. Watson
disconnected from the public pipes and began pumping from the
aquifer. His envious neighbors slant-drilled in to the aquifer beneath
his land. That began an armed conflict ended only when one of
Watson’s antagonists poisoned his well—and destroyed his farm. The
derelict drilling equipment can.be seen 23.7 miles south of
Neverwood on the former access road to Moot Point. Bring your
own bottled water.