Tag: Mojave Desert History

Roads West

Mojave Road and Beale’s Wagon Road are historic routes in the southwestern United States, particularly in the Mojave Desert region. Here’s some information about each:

  1. Mojave Road:
    • The Mojave Road is a historic trail that traverses California’s Mojave Desert. It was a significant route used by Native Americans, Spanish missionaries, and later by American pioneers and traders.
    • The trail is approximately 138 miles long and extends from the Colorado River near present-day Needles, California, to the Mojave River near present-day Barstow, California.
    • It was primarily used for transportation and trade between the Colorado River and the coastal settlements in California. The trail passes through varied desert landscapes, including sandy stretches, rocky terrain, and mountainous areas.
  2. Beale’s Wagon Road:
    • Beale’s Wagon Road, named after Edward F. Beale, a military officer and explorer, was a trail developed in the 19th century for the U.S. Army to improve communication and transportation across the arid lands of the American Southwest.
    • Edward F. Beale surveyed and established the road in the late 1850s. The road ran from Fort Defiance in Arizona to the Colorado River, passing through present-day Arizona and California.
    • Beale’s Wagon Road was designed to be more reliable and accessible than other trails, facilitating military movement and communication between California and the western territories.

Mojave Road and Beale’s Wagon Road were important in the United States’ westward expansion. Today, these routes attract history enthusiasts, adventurers, and off-road enthusiasts who explore them to experience the challenges faced by those who traveled these paths in the past. Keep in mind that conditions and accessibility of these trails may vary, so it’s important to check for current information and any regulations before embarking on a journey along these historic routes.

“Seldom Seen Slim”

“Seldom Seen Slim” was a nickname for a man named Charles Ferge, who lived in the Panamint Valley of California. He was known for his reclusive lifestyle and infrequent appearances in town, leading to the nickname “Seldom Seen Slim.” He was a prospector and a colorful character in the region’s history. The nickname reflects his tendency to avoid social interactions and to be rarely seen by others.

He claimed he wasn’t lonely because he was half coyote and half burro!

AKA “Seldom Seen Slim”

“Me lonely? Hell no! I’m half coyote and half wild burro.”

Seldom Seen Slim said these words many times, and they are the epitaph on his grave at Ballarat Cemetery in Ballarat, California.

Seldom Seen Slim, named Charles Ferge by his parents, was born in Illinois in 1881, according to wellfare records. Slim always said, “I got no people, I was born in an orphanage.

Slim came to Ballarat sometime between 1913 and 1917, not long after the town was abandoned by the miners who had been seeking their fortunes in the silver mines of the Panamint Mountains. He became the last resident of Ballarat, now a ghost town. Slim had a reputation as a recluse with a cantankerous side. He didn’t believe in showers or baths because “bathing was a waste of water”. Although, he did make into town for his annual haircut and bath whether he felt he needed it or not!

Slim was a visitor to Trona when the time came to stock up on supplies of tobacco for his corn cob pipe and to replenish his bottle of hooch. His reputation was so widespread that Walter Knott had statues of “Seldom Seen Slim” made and placed in his Knotts Berry Farm and Ghost Town in Buena Park, CA.

Slim was found ailing in his rundown trailer in Ballarat’s ruins and was taken 70 miles to Trona, where he survived only five days. His funeral was in Boot Hill in 1968 and was broadcast on television around the country before cable, as he was the last of a breed of prospectors who spent their lives living on the Mojave Desert in and around Death Valley. He was the first to be buried in the Ballarat cemetery in half a decade. After Slim’s death in 1968, at the age of 80, the United State Department of the Interior approved the naming of a peak in the Panamint Mountains in honor of Charles Ferge. The peak is now named “Slim’s Peak”.

Ref = findagrave

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/12763141/charles-ferge