Part 4. Cowboys and Earthquakes
I must have been 9 years of age when I remember feeling my first earth quake. Pop and I
were headed home in the '37 Packard. Someplace between Daggett and Newberry the car
started to swerve and Pop started to cuss. We pulled over onto the shoulder and checked
the tires, then Pop had me move the steering wheel back and forth while he looked under
the front of the car. He got back in and we started off again down the road. It was then
that he pointed towards the Newberry mountains and said, "Look there, all that dust
in the mountains, I'll bet it was caused by an earthquake shaking rocks lose." When
we arrived at the Cliff House (Newberry General Store), everyone was milling around out in
front. Indeed it had been an earth quake, a bad one. It was agreed by all that we should
get home and also check on our neighbors. Pop and I checked on everyone living on Silver
Valley road East of the school. The most damage noted was to the many adobe structures.
The adobe school house was in bad shape. Pappy Melon's adobe shed was down to the ground.
Dutch Dorrance lost some adobe buildings and there were big cracks in his house. Our
personal damage was minimal. I remember Pop leaving me at home with stern instructions not
to go inside until he returned from the Cliff House. It was dark when he returned with
news that there had been lots of damage all over Newberry, but no injuries. It seems Dru
Tankersly had fared the worst. His entire house had collapsed, the roof was said to be
flat on the ground. It was a miracle that no one was inside at the time. Also Drus's water
well was pumping mud. Pop said that the neighbors were going to take turns hauling water
him, Lona and their horses.
It was many days later when it was our turn to haul water to the Tankersly place. We
pulled into the Tankersley's yard with two water filled 55 gallon oil cans in our trailer.
The yard was chaos, there were big white vans with red crosses on them and newsreel
cameras set on tripods. People dressed in white were climbing all over the collapsed home
while others took still and moving pictures. We found Drew and Lona standing under another
tree near their tent watching with mouths agape. No one paid any attention to us as we
emptied one can of water in the horses trough. We were setting the other water can on a
saw buck near the tent when the people in white and the camera men got into their vans and
started off.
Dru stopped the last car by stepping in front of it. He talked to the driver for some
time. Then that last car took off and Dru came back through the settling dust.
The conversation from that point on went something like this:
Pop - "What the hell was that all about?"
Dru - "Didn't know myself until just now. They just all drove up in one big
caravan and people in white started climbing all over the house while others took their
picture."
Pop - "Did you ask them what was going on?"
Dru - "Started to, but one of them camera fellas told me ta get back. Something
about blocking his shot. That was when you folks come a driven up with the water."
Pop - " What did that guy you talked with in the car have to say?"
Dru - " Oh he was from some newspaper. He said they were making a newsreel about
all of the aid and assistance rendered to us desert dwellers after the quake. He asked me
if I was the owner of that old shack that had fallen in. When I told him I was, he took
out a notebook and asked where I was when it hit. That's when I told him he had better get
down the road after his friends fast before he got himself lost out here in this wild an
woolly desert country.
Pop - " Well, where were you when it hit?"
Dru - " Lona was feeding the horses when the house fell in."
Pop - " Where were you?"
Dru - " Busy"
Pop - " Busy doing what?"
Dru - " To tell you the truth I was in the outhouse. It tipped over door side down
with me in it. I had to kick the seat out and crawl through the bottom and slipped and
fell. I was waist deep. Lona had to hitch up a horse and pull me out. Thank god for the
water in the horses trough. I thought I would never get it all off of me. That's why I was
not about to give that newsman a statement and so help me Bill if this story gets out
around Newberry I'll come a gunnen for you."
Dru's story was safe with us.
UNTIL NOW
Copyright 1995, William E. Smith, All Rights Reserved
Newberry Springs Chamber of Commerce
P.O. Box 116
Newberry Springs, CA 92365
Phone: (760) 257-1072
