Page 4 - Fort Irwin High Desert Warrior, September 2021

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September 2021
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Excerpts from “The National Training Center and Fort Irwin”

A History of NTC and Fort Irwin

By Kenneth Drylie Bitter Springs would become an ature at their Furnace Creek campsite where they spent the night. e fol- he was somewhat distressed by his
important stop for travelers through was 109 degrees. lowing day they drove what would new wealth.
Author of “ e National Training
Not trusting banks, he persuaded
Center and Fort Irwin” the Mojave Desert. Traveling with Wheeler, was later become Route 66, from Daggett, a local merchant to hold his funds at
Mountain Man Jedediah Smith photographer Timothy O’Sullivan. down the Cajon Pass into San Ber-
At rst glance, the Mojave Desert passed through the area while search- O’Sullivan started his career as a nardino. From San Bernardino, they the store in Daggett. As the amount
doesn’t look like much. Most travelers ing for the legendary river. Father photographer working with Mathew would head into Los Angeles, where of cash grew, the shopkeeper began
see it out the window as they blast Graces, in his earlier trips into Alta Brady prior to the Civil War. He they would receive a hero’s welcome to worry that bandits or the rail-road
through in their air-conditioned cou- California, believed the San Joaquin would gain a measure of fame from and celebration at the Italian Club in workers in nearby Barstow might get
pés, heading for Las Vegas, Laughlin River originated over the Serra Ne- his photographs of the Civil War. downtown Los Angeles. word of the large amounts of cash In
or other points East of the desert. To vada Mountains in the Great Basin. Wheeler produced many pho- The Thomas would eventually his store.
the casual observer, it’s a vast waste- is belief and a mistake by cartogra- tographs during the expedition, win the race, after the German Probst e shopkeeper’s wife convinced
land, desolate, uninviting. phers at the time, reinforced the belief but many were lost when the ex- automobile received a time penalty for Lemoigne that he should allow her to
e truth is the desert is full of by mountain men and trappers that pedition’s boats overturned in the shopping their car part way by rail. build him a large house at his Garlic
life, man has occupied this challeng- there was a river that owed from the Colorado River. Mining returned to the area in Springs site.
ing landscape for thousands of years. Great Salt Lake to San Francisco. In Wheeler would eventually create the early 1900, and in 1909 the He agreed and construction be-
Animal life is abundant, just not easy 1826 Smith used Bitter Springs as a the rst accurate topographical maps town of Goldstone sprang from gan on what would be known as the
to see. camp site on his way to Los Angeles. of the Fort Irwin Area. the desert floor. The mines in Lemoigne Castle. e building was
Rabbits, squirrels, birds and other He returned again in 1827, before The Wheeler was one of four Goldstone remained in operation described as being a large, two-story
small animals inhabit the desert oor, heading North to search for the river. extensive surveys being conducted until the mid 1930’s. square building with sported tur-
perfectly camou aged to protect them At the end of the Mexican War, simultaneously by the U.S. Army. e Some of the more colorful min- rets, a spire and dormer window. A
from roving predators. Bighorn sheep a small group of Soldiers who had U.S. Congress felt that the surveys ers that occupied the area of Fort covered porch surrounded the bright
occupy the steep edges of the volcanic once been part of the Mormon Bat- were duplicating e orts and com- Irwin were John Lemoigne and red structure on all four sides and
mountains rising above the sizzling talion, remained in California and bined them into one organization, Adrian Egbert. the building sported green trimmed
sand of the desert oor. Burros and were assigned to patrol the area from the U.S. Geological Survey. Egbert moved into the Cave windows with blue shutters.
wild horses, descended from those left San Diego to Los Angeles and sur- In 1881 borax was discovered in Spring area in 1925, creating a small Lemoigne found the building
behind in the days of the old west, still rounding areas. In 1848, 35 Mormon Death Valley by Rosie and Aaron fuel and supply shop in one of the and the heavy oak furnishings inside
roam free. Mountain lions, bobcats volunteers, headed home to Salt Lake Winters. Large borax smelting plants caves in the area. to be a bit more that what a simple
and coyotes watch the old or weak, City. They would camp at Bitter were established in the valley creating At the time, Cave Spring was the miner required. So he did what any
while bird of prey circle, each one Springs. Because of the alkali in the borax soap and for industrial uses. e main entrance into Death Valley and good miner would do, lled it with
looking for their next meal. water of the spring, member of the nished product had to be moved was a fairly well traveled but di cult, dynamite and blew the building and
When man rst wandered into party, Je erson Hunt, would note on by wagon to the rail head in either road. Egbert met a wealthy widow, its contents into dust.
the Mojave, the landscape was much his map, calling it Bitter Spring. e Mojave or Daggett. Ira Sweatman, who became Egberts e mining years were coming
di erent. Pleistocene lakes, now just name stuck. The borax was transported by business partner. Egbert built sev- to in the area, not that the mine had
dry lake beds, still lled at least season- James Marshall’s discovery of gold 20-mule-team wagons (actually made eral buildings at Cave Spring. Egbert dried up, but the U.S. Army was
ally, providing much needed water for at Sutter’s Mill began an in ux of trea- up or 18 mules and two horses) de- spent his time prospecting or running looking for an area where they could
native camps. sure seekers to California. Although signed to move nine metric tons of ore the service station and he began to train Soldier on large weapon systems.
For thousands of years, Native most went North to the gold elds in at a time. With teams hitched to the place food and water along the route ey found it in the middle of the
Americans flourished throughout the Serra Nevada Mountains, some wagon, the total length of the vehicle from Daggett to Death Valley. Mojave Desert.
California, even in the harsh environ- of the ‘49ers set up camp in the Fort was over 180 feet in length. Egbert would receive a visit from Camp Irwin – e Early Years
ment of the Mojave. Irwin area. On the Daggett run, the team famed author Ernie Pyle, who was On Aug. 8, 1940, President
e rst European to pass through Camel Expedition 1857 would leave Death Valley via Cave on his way to Death Valley to meet Franklin D. Roosevelt signed legisla-
the Mojave was Father Francisco One of the most ambitious under- Springs, travel around Bicycle Lake Death Valley Scotty. Pyle was working tion creating the Mojave Anti-Aircraft
Garces in 1776. takings of the 1870’s was the Wheeler and head towards town along what for the Scripps-Howard Newspapers, Range on 1,000 acres of desolate
After leading Capt. Juan Bautista Survey, o cially “the U.S. Geological is now the Mannix tank trail. traveling the country writing about terrain in the Mojave Desert, chosen
de Anza and his expedition from Rio Survey West of the 100th Meridian.” In 1908, a similar path was taken Americans, some famous, some just for the remote location that allowed
San Miguel, Mexico to the Colorado Lt. George Wheeler estimated that it by Antonio Scarfoglio when he regular people. the Army to train on the weapons that
River along the Gila River, Garces left would be a 15-year project. e goal passed through the area during the Pyle’s stories would be published would become the rst line of defense
the expedition in December 1775 and to map the entire Western United New York to Paris Automobile race. in a book, “Home Country,” after his during the coming war.
wandered North and West into the State to a scale of eight miles to one Scarfoglio, the driver of the Italian death in World War II. e story of e installation was a subsidiary of
Mojave Desert. De Anza would con- inch. Zust car, was the only one of the four his night in Cave Springs is included Camp Haan in Riverside, California,
tinue to Monterey and San Francisco. Wheeler believe that quality maps cars remaining in the race to take a in the book. next to what is now March Reserve
Garces would stop in the area would aid in the settlement of the Southern route out of Death Valley. John Lemoigne was something Air Field.
now known as Bitter Springs on his West by showing where roads, settle- After pausing at Stove Pipe well, the of a mystery, a tall, well-educated The trip up the Cajon Pass to
way through the Cajon Pass, nding ments, railroads, dams and agriculture lead car, the American omas Flyer, Frenchman, he became a well-liked MAAR was not a pleasant one. As the
a new path to Los Angeles. could exist. would head South, cut through the member of the desert mining com- vehicles crossed into the desert, the
Another early visitor to the Bitter One of Wheeler’s early expeditions Panamint Mountains and head passed munity. One story has it that Lem- heat would become almost unbear-
Springs area was Capt. John Fremont examined Death Valley, looking for Tehachapi on the way to San Fran- oigne had grub-staked a couple of able, but it would get worse by the
and Kit Carson. Fremont established a passage way across the dangerous cisco, the next major checkpoint. e fellow miners, who started to make time the Soldiers o -loaded in the
a camp in the area that would be used expanse and attempting to locate vital next cars would follow a similar path. a good bit of money. ey began High Mojave.
by travelers along the Old Spanish water sources in the area. Wheeler’s e Zust car chose to drive South, making payments to Lemoigne, “It had been hot riding in the
and Mormon trails. team reported the night time temper- over Cave Spring and into Daggett who, preferring a simple life style, truck, but when we jumped out into
See ARCHAEOLOGY, Page 5

For more information go to home.army.mil/irwin