Official Site of True West Magazine, Since 1953
Trail Blazed through the Mormon Rocks, Cajon Pass
This is a great account!
THE TRAIL OF THE SWARTHOUTS
This article and the associated pictures were provided and are used with the permission of Terry Graham
Copyright 2004, Terry Graham
http://www.swarthoutfamily.org/History/CAhistory2.htm
Accompanied by Captain Jefferson Hunt's battalion, the Mormons trek for Salt Lake started. On the 11th of June, 1847, they left Council Bluffs; and after getting across the Elkhorn River, they started on their way Westward. Prior to their arrival at Council Bluffs, the United States Government had asked for 500 volunteers to fight in the war with Mexico, these volunteers, including Nathan and Hamilton Swarthout, were recruited in the Mormon Battalion
The civilian wagons trains traveled up the North side of the Platt River in a company of 666 wagons consisting of Daniel Spencer’s group of 100, Ira Eldredge’s 50, Jedediah M. Grant’s 50 and Erastus Bingham’s 10, together with other groups. The company was so large that it was organized with captains of tens, fifties and hundreds to guarantee the best of order. Yet it would be so unpleasant because it would be so late before the last wagon could start from camp in the morning and so late at night before it could get into camp. Two wagons traveled abreast, making two roads.
Ira Eldredge's fifty, part of the Daniel Spencer Company officially started their pioneer trek, leaving the Elkhorn River. The Eldredge fifty consisted of 76 wagons and 177 people. The captains of tens were Isaac Haight, Hector Haight, Samuel Ensign, Erastus Bingham, and George Boyes.
Included in the third ten led Farnum Kinyon were: John Adams, John Harris Henderson, Farnum Kinyon, George B. Kinyon, Hyrum Kinyon, Lucinda Kinyon, William H. Kinyon, Ann McMinds, Emily Ann McMinds, James McMinds, William McMinds, Elizabeth Meaks, Peggy J. Meaks, Pridy Meaks, Sarah Meaks, Louisa Norris, Betsy Persons, Carlos Shephard, Charity Shephard, Lydia Shephard, Samuel Shepherd, Charles Swarthout, George W. Swarthout, Horley Swarthout, and Tramand Swarthout.]
The company divided near Laramie, Wyoming. The Battalion, under Captain’s Hunt’s command, headed for California. Ira Eldredge's group was one of those that continued on to Salt Lake. In that group was George W. Swarthout
In 1849, Captain Jefferson Hunt, of the Mormon Battalion, led a group of settlers into San Bernardino. The Mormon Road stretched from Salt Lake across the Mojave Desert and down through Cajon Pass. The Mormon battalion amazingly enough, had survived the desert, only to find a place full of boxed canyons. The passage door was slammed shut in their face when they found themselves face to face with a narrow draw that was impossible to navigate their wagons through. The only way through the draw with the Battalion’s troops and remaining five wagons, was to hewn the hard rock walls with axes to increase the opening. Men hacked at the solid rock throughout the day. The back breaking work expanded the narrow gap, but it was still too narrow for wagons to pass through. Already pushed to the physical breaking point by the very difficult trek across the Mojave, the men tossed their axes aside and began to take the wagons apart. Piece by piece. In his diary, Sgt. G. Cooke stated that the Battalion named this place as Box Canyon, and not with affection. The location of the narrow gap was in the area now known as Cajon Pass. Interesting enough, "Cajon" means box in Spanish.
The Battalion’s wagon were later reassembled on the valley floor, and they made camp at the rock formations referred to today as the Mormon Rocks.
According to Wrightwood History, and the History of the San Gabriel, written by John Robinson, the Mormon Colony purchased the San Bernardino Rancho from the Lugos in 1851. Two of these Mormons, Nathan and Truman Swarthout, homesteaded in Lone Pine Canyon. Shortly, they expand their land holdings to include the valley that now bears their name. The Swarthouts abandoned their holdings when the Mormons returned to Salt Lake City in 1857.
But the Swarthout story did not stop there. Despite the obvious influence and contribution of this amazing family in the San Bernardino, Cajon Pass and Wrightwood area, there is some confusing in previously written local history. The December 20, 1988 special issue of San Bernardino Sun Telegram, "Cover Wagons Families", stated that the Swarthout Ranch holdings in Lone Pine Canyon were abandoned was due to Indian problems and bear menace.
TRUMAN SWARTHOUT
Truman Swarthout remains somewhat of a mystery. Even though local history recorded that he and brother Nathan homesteaded Lone Pine Canyon, there is no record of Truman being with the Mormon Battalion.. Assigned to Company A, under the command of Captain Jefferson Hunt, was a private Hamilton Swarthout. Assigned to Company D, under the command of Captain Nelson Higgins, was private Nathan Swarthout. It is entirely possible that Truman was a civilian that came with the Battalion to the area, however Mormon Battalion Rooster did not list him in that capacity. Four Swarthout ranches were reported to be in the San Bernardino, Cajon, and adjoining areas. They belonged to George W., Nathan, and Albert "Swarty", and Harley Swarthout
Truman Swarthout, along with others, lived in the Fort San Bernardino/ Mormon Stockade for almost a year.
THE MORMON STOCKADE
June 1851 San Bernardino
News of an Indian skirmish alerted the Mormon newcomers to the dangers of the area. In the center of their new mile-square town of San Bernardino, the leaders set aside eight acres and fenced in a parallelogram. 300 feet wide by 720 feet. Twelve foot high walls protected three of the sides. The fourth side was a series of log buildings jammed close together. All exterior walls were loop-holed and the gateways were indented to allow for crossfire.
Ranger Horace Bell, In his book Reminisces of a Ranger, described the structure as "a stockade about a quarter of a mile square with two great gates leading into it. Inside they placed their dwellings, shops and stores. Every night the gates were barred and a sentry kept vigilant watch from the walls against surprise." The Mormons stayed in the stockade for approximately nine months, the anticipated war with the Mojave Indians never occurred. It was in October of 1857, when Brigham Young called the "saints" to "Zion".
On December 27, 1958, when United States Colonel William Hoffman's "Mojave Expedition" camped near the original Cajon, they learned that approximately 1,000 had stayed in the area of San Bernardino. Those who stayed included Nathan and Truman Swarthout.
Ironically, historian Horace Bell described all those living in the Mormon Stockade, thus: "I was benefitted by my contact with these serious, rugged people. They set good examples for youth. There were no gamblers tolerated in San Bernardino, no rum sellers, no loud characters offering vice for sale. There were no drones there. Persistent industry, intensive husbandry were the impressive features of life there." Now, the Church those who choose to stay behind as "men, whose character is such that he could not be tolerated in Utah" (As reported by Major General, James H. Carleton)
Even though Truman Swarthout was listed of San Bernardino property assessment rolls in 1857, at Rancho San Bernardino, there was no other record of Truman in San Bernardino after that. It is speculated that Truman Swarthout returned to Utah with the rest of the Saints. In 1864, he lived in Provo, Utah.
Both Hamilton and Nathan Swarthout were mustered out with their company July 16, 1847 at Los Angeles, California.
A group of over a hundred Mormon Battalion veterans entered Salt Lake Valley in late September-early October 1847. These battalion men had been discharged in Los Angeles on July 16, 1847. No longer under military order, the men formed into hundreds, fifties, and tens, under the leadership of Levi Hancock. There were 223 men in this group, and all were identified. They traveled through California’s central valleys, past Sutter’s Fort, into the Sierra Nevada. When they were near Donner Summit, they met James Brown with a letter from church authorities telling the men about the destitute situation in the valley and recommending that they return to California and work a season. Several diaries of these men contain the notation that "about half went on and half went back" to work for Captain John Sutter at Sutter’s Fort. The Hancock Company went directly to Salt Lake Valley in 1847. Nathan And Hamilton Swarthout were in the group of "half" that continued on with Levi Hancock to the Sutter’s Mill area after meeting James Brown in the Sierra.
Records had revealed that Nathan Swarthout returned to the San Bernardino area by 1850, and Hamilton Swarthout lived in Monterey, California in 1850 and died in San Bernardino, California March 16, 1894.
MORMON BAR, THE SWARTHOUT’S NEXT STOP
Mormon Bar was founded in 1854, during the gold rush in Sutter’s Mill. Even though it’s not considered to be in the area of the mother lode, it remains known as the southern terminus of the Mother Lode. Still after 150 year, a large number of the original buildings still stand. The semi- ghost town is just south of Mariposa.
Mormon Bar was first mined in 1849 specifically by members of the disbanded Mormon Battalion;(thus the reason for it’s name) two miles south of Mariposa, Calif. on old stage route to Wawona and Yosemite. As of 2001, the place known as Mormon Bar was put on the market, most of the mining equipment and evidence of the quarry has been removed. This is the mining area in which the Swarthouts (Nathan and Hamilton) were for a short time, prior to returning to San Bernardino. Even though there is no record of claims, it was the Levis Hancock Company who worked the claim. It was this company that Nathan and Hamilton Swarthout had been assigned to when returning to Utah.
What destroyed the dreams of many Battalion members was a big mouth named Sam Brannan. Brannan was a Mormon elder who had brought a boatload Saints around the Horn to San Francisco in 1847 to scout for a modern, Mormon Eden amongst the Mexicans in California, traveled to Mormon's Bar (after receiving word of the mining going on in the area) to find his fellow churchmen eagerly mining gold from the American River. "Reminding" them he was the surrogate of the prophet Brigham Young in Salt Lake City, he "relieved" them of 30 percent of their gold as church tithes.
It’s fair to say that the gold Branner seized never saw a collection plate. He used it for his own enterprising ideas. With gold in hand, he set up stores at Coloma and Mormon's Bar to go with the one he rented at Sutter's Fort. Then he cornered the market in mining equipment, buying every pick, shovel, pot, and pan he could find in the territory in the process. Hungry for more business, he took a genuine bottle full of Mormon gold dust, rushed back to San Francisco and dashed through the streets of Portsmouth Square shouting: "Gold! Gold! Gold from the American River." The gold rush that the newspapers had failed to generate, Brannan kick started with a bang. It would be called the Gold Rush of 1848, and the Argonauts who responded to Brannan's siren call of El Dorado would be known as the "48ers."
History would later report that the gold finding in Mormon Bar was minimal at the most, and most of that went into Elder Brannan’s pocket. The Mormons were quickly replaced (approximately after one year) by other miners, including a large number of Chinese. The diggings were reported to have yielded about $2 million and were active through the 1870s, and again in the 1930s.
An historic marker is at the site, located 500’ southeast of the intersection of SH 49/Ben Hur Road, 1.8 miles south of Mariposa. The Mormon Bar was also called Mormon Island.
NATHAN SWARTHOUT
Nathan Swarthout’s contribution to the area of Cajon and San Bernardino was great. Nathan Swarthout, considered to be one of the oldest pioneers of San Bernardino County died of natural causes at his home on G Street, north of Base Line, on January 10, 1903. Swarthout was part of the Mormon Battalion that came to the Cajon Pass and San Bernardino area, he was a private in Company D, which was under the command of Captain Nelson Higgins. A member of the San Bernardino Society of Pioneers, he was very prominent in the early development of San Bernardino. The need for structures and fence post for the early ranchos of the areas caused Swarthout to take charge of work crews to cut cedar trees in the area of Saw Pit Canyon. During this large undertaking, he constructed the Bailey Canyon road in the Sierra Madre area that connected to the Bandini Road, which opened what once used to be a huge timber area. In doing so, the large amount of valuable timber assisted greatly in the building up of San Bernardino.
Nathan Swarthout was buried Monday, January 12, 1903, in the San Bernardino Cemetery by Rev. D. Mc. Gandler, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church. One of his pallbearers was William Holcomb, the miner who’s discovery of gold in the Holcomb Valley that started San Bernardino’s biggest gold rush.
GEORGE SWARTHOUT
In the summer of 1857, immediately following the Mountain Meadows Massacre, dozens of wagons of Mormon immigrants began returning to the San Bernardino area. They arriving September, 1, 1857. Even though there is no record of those immigrants assigned to the wagon train, it is heavy speculated that this was the time in which George W. Swarthout reached the area later known as Swarthout Valley. Swarthout ran scattered amount of cattle from the Swarthout Valley, now known as Wrightwood, over the ridge of Table Mountain and unto the Mojave desert floor to the outskirts of the Llano and Victorville. In 1857, Almon Clyde acquired the Swarthout Ranch on Lone Pine Canyon, where he ran a few cattle and grew fruit.
Almon Clyde made an agreement with George Swarthout that he could life the rest of his life on Clyde Ranch if he wanted. He was true to his word, and George Swarthout lived in the place that he obviously loved. Swarthout lived in a line shack that he built when he developed his ranch. The line shack was approximately ¼ mile to the east and down canyon from the main ranch house. The cabin is no longer there, but if one would look hard enough, they might find it’s old foundation. There he lived, until he passed from this life. According to Utah death records, George W. Swarthout died in May of 1865.
AL SWARTHOUT: THE SWARTHOUT CATTLE COMPANY - HEART BAR RANCH
Over in the upper Santa Ana River headwaters (Big Bear area), cattle and sheep of Dr. Benjamin Barton and Matthew Lewis had grazed since the 1860s. It was there in 1884 that Charles Martin and Willie Button created the Heart Bar Ranch and registered that brand. Twenty-three years later, thirty-five year old Albert "Swarty" Swarthout would acquire that ranch.
An association began with the notorious McHaney Gang, who were reputed to be outright rustlers — soon became the undoing of Martin and Button. Charlie Martin, also known as Glen Martin, was a convicted thief and cattle rustler. Through the relationship with the outlaw McHaney gang, he later was a defendant in a famous murder trial. He survived a vicious knife attack from an altercation in a local bar by shooting his attacker. The killing was deemed justified. He eventually tried to go straight and was appointed San Bernardino Chief of Police in 1917.
In 1907 Albert "Swarty" Swarthout and partner Charlie Martin, purchased Heart Bar Ranch, south of Big Bear for summer graze. By 1918, both had sold out, and in 1921 Swarthout again bought the Heart Bar. This time his partner was San Bernardino businessman Dale Gentry. Their cattle were driven to Heart Bar Ranch via Rattlesnake Canyon in the spring, and returning them to Old Woman Springs Ranch in the fall.
Prior to obtaining Heart Bar Ranch, AL Swarthout moved the Bar S from Lucerne Valley to the Old Woman springs area. Due to drought in the lower valleys, Swarthout was forced to run scattered amount of beeves in Big Bear's high country near Coxey Meadows. Winter graze was on the land around Old Woman Springs in Lucerne Valley. The partnership in the Heart bar Ranch was perfect with Swarthout raising the cattle and Dale Gentry handling the business end. However, in 1938, they decided to split up. They could not agree on one selling to the other a half interest in Heart Bar and the Old Woman Springs Ranch they had acquired. After nine years of court proceedings in 1947, Swarthout got Heart Bar and Gentry, Old Woman Springs.
Around 1947, the intrusion of resorts and residential developments were gradually bringing an end to the cattle business. The decline began when the creation of the lakes at Arrowhead, Green Valley and Big Bear had taken away choice grazing land. Later, improved roadways and mode of transportation brought increasing numbers of visitors into mountain country that had once been open range land. The inevitable finally arrived, cattle ranching and modern life-styles became absolutely incompatible and the final herd came down from the mountains.
The ranches that faded from time were Heart Bar Ranch, Hitchcock Ranch, Shay Ranch (bought out by the Talmadges, the main operation moved to Joshua Tree National Park), the IS ranch (also later owned by the Talmadges. It actually stayed in operation until 1954).
Prior to the slow death of Al Swarthout’s Heart Bar Ranch and the Swarthout Cattle Company, the ranch operations reached from the Lucerne Valley, to the west slope of the San Bernardino hills to The Oasis of Mara, which is located near the present day Joshua Tree National Park. The Oasis was first settled by the Serrano Indian who called it "Mara", meaning "the place of little springs and much grass"
In the early years, the desert was open range and cattlemen moved their animals seasonally from one area to another in search of adequate food and water. The cow puncher life was explained in a simple way by an old Swarthout Cattle Company hired hand named Jim Hester; "In those days, if you were a cowpuncher, you had a pair of chaps, a horse and a pack horse, a bedroll, salt, staples, a six-shooter, and a big chew of tobacco."
It is unknown when exactly Al Swarthout came to the area. Knowledge of the area, and the ability to use the beneficial attributes of the land for a thriving cattle ranch, was obviously passed to him by father Nathan Swarthout.
The only mention of Al Swarthout in the area was in the historical archives in San Bernardino, Victorville and Lucerne Valley. In 1896, Swarthout bought land from W.W. Brown in Lucerne Valley, where he quickly formed the Bar S and begin running cattle. Swarthout move to Old Woman Springs in 1897 when water and feed became scarce. Old Woman Springs, now known as Cottonwood Springs, became part of the Heart Bar Ranch after Al Swarthout acquired it. Al Swarthout, who was born February 11, 1872, and died at the age of 91 in 1963.
THE TRAIL OF THE SWARTHOUTS
This article and the associated pictures were provided and are used with the permission of Terry Graham
Copyright 2004, Terry Graham
http://www.swarthoutfamily.org/History/CAhistory2.htm
Accompanied by Captain Jefferson Hunt's battalion, the Mormons trek for Salt Lake started. On the 11th of June, 1847, they left Council Bluffs; and after getting across the Elkhorn River, they started on their way Westward. Prior to their arrival at Council Bluffs, the United States Government had asked for 500 volunteers to fight in the war with Mexico, these volunteers, including Nathan and Hamilton Swarthout, were recruited in the Mormon Battalion
The civilian wagons trains traveled up the North side of the Platt River in a company of 666 wagons consisting of Daniel Spencer’s group of 100, Ira Eldredge’s 50, Jedediah M. Grant’s 50 and Erastus Bingham’s 10, together with other groups. The company was so large that it was organized with captains of tens, fifties and hundreds to guarantee the best of order. Yet it would be so unpleasant because it would be so late before the last wagon could start from camp in the morning and so late at night before it could get into camp. Two wagons traveled abreast, making two roads.
Ira Eldredge's fifty, part of the Daniel Spencer Company officially started their pioneer trek, leaving the Elkhorn River. The Eldredge fifty consisted of 76 wagons and 177 people. The captains of tens were Isaac Haight, Hector Haight, Samuel Ensign, Erastus Bingham, and George Boyes.
Included in the third ten led Farnum Kinyon were: John Adams, John Harris Henderson, Farnum Kinyon, George B. Kinyon, Hyrum Kinyon, Lucinda Kinyon, William H. Kinyon, Ann McMinds, Emily Ann McMinds, James McMinds, William McMinds, Elizabeth Meaks, Peggy J. Meaks, Pridy Meaks, Sarah Meaks, Louisa Norris, Betsy Persons, Carlos Shephard, Charity Shephard, Lydia Shephard, Samuel Shepherd, Charles Swarthout, George W. Swarthout, Horley Swarthout, and Tramand Swarthout.]
The company divided near Laramie, Wyoming. The Battalion, under Captain’s Hunt’s command, headed for California. Ira Eldredge's group was one of those that continued on to Salt Lake. In that group was George W. Swarthout
In 1849, Captain Jefferson Hunt, of the Mormon Battalion, led a group of settlers into San Bernardino. The Mormon Road stretched from Salt Lake across the Mojave Desert and down through Cajon Pass. The Mormon battalion amazingly enough, had survived the desert, only to find a place full of boxed canyons. The passage door was slammed shut in their face when they found themselves face to face with a narrow draw that was impossible to navigate their wagons through. The only way through the draw with the Battalion’s troops and remaining five wagons, was to hewn the hard rock walls with axes to increase the opening. Men hacked at the solid rock throughout the day. The back breaking work expanded the narrow gap, but it was still too narrow for wagons to pass through. Already pushed to the physical breaking point by the very difficult trek across the Mojave, the men tossed their axes aside and began to take the wagons apart. Piece by piece. In his diary, Sgt. G. Cooke stated that the Battalion named this place as Box Canyon, and not with affection. The location of the narrow gap was in the area now known as Cajon Pass. Interesting enough, "Cajon" means box in Spanish.
The Battalion’s wagon were later reassembled on the valley floor, and they made camp at the rock formations referred to today as the Mormon Rocks.
According to Wrightwood History, and the History of the San Gabriel, written by John Robinson, the Mormon Colony purchased the San Bernardino Rancho from the Lugos in 1851. Two of these Mormons, Nathan and Truman Swarthout, homesteaded in Lone Pine Canyon. Shortly, they expand their land holdings to include the valley that now bears their name. The Swarthouts abandoned their holdings when the Mormons returned to Salt Lake City in 1857.
But the Swarthout story did not stop there. Despite the obvious influence and contribution of this amazing family in the San Bernardino, Cajon Pass and Wrightwood area, there is some confusing in previously written local history. The December 20, 1988 special issue of San Bernardino Sun Telegram, "Cover Wagons Families", stated that the Swarthout Ranch holdings in Lone Pine Canyon were abandoned was due to Indian problems and bear menace.
TRUMAN SWARTHOUT
Truman Swarthout remains somewhat of a mystery. Even though local history recorded that he and brother Nathan homesteaded Lone Pine Canyon, there is no record of Truman being with the Mormon Battalion.. Assigned to Company A, under the command of Captain Jefferson Hunt, was a private Hamilton Swarthout. Assigned to Company D, under the command of Captain Nelson Higgins, was private Nathan Swarthout. It is entirely possible that Truman was a civilian that came with the Battalion to the area, however Mormon Battalion Rooster did not list him in that capacity. Four Swarthout ranches were reported to be in the San Bernardino, Cajon, and adjoining areas. They belonged to George W., Nathan, and Albert "Swarty", and Harley Swarthout
Truman Swarthout, along with others, lived in the Fort San Bernardino/ Mormon Stockade for almost a year.
THE MORMON STOCKADE
June 1851 San Bernardino
News of an Indian skirmish alerted the Mormon newcomers to the dangers of the area. In the center of their new mile-square town of San Bernardino, the leaders set aside eight acres and fenced in a parallelogram. 300 feet wide by 720 feet. Twelve foot high walls protected three of the sides. The fourth side was a series of log buildings jammed close together. All exterior walls were loop-holed and the gateways were indented to allow for crossfire.
Ranger Horace Bell, In his book Reminisces of a Ranger, described the structure as "a stockade about a quarter of a mile square with two great gates leading into it. Inside they placed their dwellings, shops and stores. Every night the gates were barred and a sentry kept vigilant watch from the walls against surprise." The Mormons stayed in the stockade for approximately nine months, the anticipated war with the Mojave Indians never occurred. It was in October of 1857, when Brigham Young called the "saints" to "Zion".
On December 27, 1958, when United States Colonel William Hoffman's "Mojave Expedition" camped near the original Cajon, they learned that approximately 1,000 had stayed in the area of San Bernardino. Those who stayed included Nathan and Truman Swarthout.
Ironically, historian Horace Bell described all those living in the Mormon Stockade, thus: "I was benefitted by my contact with these serious, rugged people. They set good examples for youth. There were no gamblers tolerated in San Bernardino, no rum sellers, no loud characters offering vice for sale. There were no drones there. Persistent industry, intensive husbandry were the impressive features of life there." Now, the Church those who choose to stay behind as "men, whose character is such that he could not be tolerated in Utah" (As reported by Major General, James H. Carleton)
Even though Truman Swarthout was listed of San Bernardino property assessment rolls in 1857, at Rancho San Bernardino, there was no other record of Truman in San Bernardino after that. It is speculated that Truman Swarthout returned to Utah with the rest of the Saints. In 1864, he lived in Provo, Utah.
Both Hamilton and Nathan Swarthout were mustered out with their company July 16, 1847 at Los Angeles, California.
A group of over a hundred Mormon Battalion veterans entered Salt Lake Valley in late September-early October 1847. These battalion men had been discharged in Los Angeles on July 16, 1847. No longer under military order, the men formed into hundreds, fifties, and tens, under the leadership of Levi Hancock. There were 223 men in this group, and all were identified. They traveled through California’s central valleys, past Sutter’s Fort, into the Sierra Nevada. When they were near Donner Summit, they met James Brown with a letter from church authorities telling the men about the destitute situation in the valley and recommending that they return to California and work a season. Several diaries of these men contain the notation that "about half went on and half went back" to work for Captain John Sutter at Sutter’s Fort. The Hancock Company went directly to Salt Lake Valley in 1847. Nathan And Hamilton Swarthout were in the group of "half" that continued on with Levi Hancock to the Sutter’s Mill area after meeting James Brown in the Sierra.
Records had revealed that Nathan Swarthout returned to the San Bernardino area by 1850, and Hamilton Swarthout lived in Monterey, California in 1850 and died in San Bernardino, California March 16, 1894.
MORMON BAR, THE SWARTHOUT’S NEXT STOP
Mormon Bar was founded in 1854, during the gold rush in Sutter’s Mill. Even though it’s not considered to be in the area of the mother lode, it remains known as the southern terminus of the Mother Lode. Still after 150 year, a large number of the original buildings still stand. The semi- ghost town is just south of Mariposa.
Mormon Bar was first mined in 1849 specifically by members of the disbanded Mormon Battalion;(thus the reason for it’s name) two miles south of Mariposa, Calif. on old stage route to Wawona and Yosemite. As of 2001, the place known as Mormon Bar was put on the market, most of the mining equipment and evidence of the quarry has been removed. This is the mining area in which the Swarthouts (Nathan and Hamilton) were for a short time, prior to returning to San Bernardino. Even though there is no record of claims, it was the Levis Hancock Company who worked the claim. It was this company that Nathan and Hamilton Swarthout had been assigned to when returning to Utah.
What destroyed the dreams of many Battalion members was a big mouth named Sam Brannan. Brannan was a Mormon elder who had brought a boatload Saints around the Horn to San Francisco in 1847 to scout for a modern, Mormon Eden amongst the Mexicans in California, traveled to Mormon's Bar (after receiving word of the mining going on in the area) to find his fellow churchmen eagerly mining gold from the American River. "Reminding" them he was the surrogate of the prophet Brigham Young in Salt Lake City, he "relieved" them of 30 percent of their gold as church tithes.
It’s fair to say that the gold Branner seized never saw a collection plate. He used it for his own enterprising ideas. With gold in hand, he set up stores at Coloma and Mormon's Bar to go with the one he rented at Sutter's Fort. Then he cornered the market in mining equipment, buying every pick, shovel, pot, and pan he could find in the territory in the process. Hungry for more business, he took a genuine bottle full of Mormon gold dust, rushed back to San Francisco and dashed through the streets of Portsmouth Square shouting: "Gold! Gold! Gold from the American River." The gold rush that the newspapers had failed to generate, Brannan kick started with a bang. It would be called the Gold Rush of 1848, and the Argonauts who responded to Brannan's siren call of El Dorado would be known as the "48ers."
History would later report that the gold finding in Mormon Bar was minimal at the most, and most of that went into Elder Brannan’s pocket. The Mormons were quickly replaced (approximately after one year) by other miners, including a large number of Chinese. The diggings were reported to have yielded about $2 million and were active through the 1870s, and again in the 1930s.
An historic marker is at the site, located 500’ southeast of the intersection of SH 49/Ben Hur Road, 1.8 miles south of Mariposa. The Mormon Bar was also called Mormon Island.
NATHAN SWARTHOUT
Nathan Swarthout’s contribution to the area of Cajon and San Bernardino was great. Nathan Swarthout, considered to be one of the oldest pioneers of San Bernardino County died of natural causes at his home on G Street, north of Base Line, on January 10, 1903. Swarthout was part of the Mormon Battalion that came to the Cajon Pass and San Bernardino area, he was a private in Company D, which was under the command of Captain Nelson Higgins. A member of the San Bernardino Society of Pioneers, he was very prominent in the early development of San Bernardino. The need for structures and fence post for the early ranchos of the areas caused Swarthout to take charge of work crews to cut cedar trees in the area of Saw Pit Canyon. During this large undertaking, he constructed the Bailey Canyon road in the Sierra Madre area that connected to the Bandini Road, which opened what once used to be a huge timber area. In doing so, the large amount of valuable timber assisted greatly in the building up of San Bernardino.
Nathan Swarthout was buried Monday, January 12, 1903, in the San Bernardino Cemetery by Rev. D. Mc. Gandler, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church. One of his pallbearers was William Holcomb, the miner who’s discovery of gold in the Holcomb Valley that started San Bernardino’s biggest gold rush.
GEORGE SWARTHOUT
In the summer of 1857, immediately following the Mountain Meadows Massacre, dozens of wagons of Mormon immigrants began returning to the San Bernardino area. They arriving September, 1, 1857. Even though there is no record of those immigrants assigned to the wagon train, it is heavy speculated that this was the time in which George W. Swarthout reached the area later known as Swarthout Valley. Swarthout ran scattered amount of cattle from the Swarthout Valley, now known as Wrightwood, over the ridge of Table Mountain and unto the Mojave desert floor to the outskirts of the Llano and Victorville. In 1857, Almon Clyde acquired the Swarthout Ranch on Lone Pine Canyon, where he ran a few cattle and grew fruit.
Almon Clyde made an agreement with George Swarthout that he could life the rest of his life on Clyde Ranch if he wanted. He was true to his word, and George Swarthout lived in the place that he obviously loved. Swarthout lived in a line shack that he built when he developed his ranch. The line shack was approximately ¼ mile to the east and down canyon from the main ranch house. The cabin is no longer there, but if one would look hard enough, they might find it’s old foundation. There he lived, until he passed from this life. According to Utah death records, George W. Swarthout died in May of 1865.
AL SWARTHOUT: THE SWARTHOUT CATTLE COMPANY - HEART BAR RANCH
Over in the upper Santa Ana River headwaters (Big Bear area), cattle and sheep of Dr. Benjamin Barton and Matthew Lewis had grazed since the 1860s. It was there in 1884 that Charles Martin and Willie Button created the Heart Bar Ranch and registered that brand. Twenty-three years later, thirty-five year old Albert "Swarty" Swarthout would acquire that ranch.
An association began with the notorious McHaney Gang, who were reputed to be outright rustlers — soon became the undoing of Martin and Button. Charlie Martin, also known as Glen Martin, was a convicted thief and cattle rustler. Through the relationship with the outlaw McHaney gang, he later was a defendant in a famous murder trial. He survived a vicious knife attack from an altercation in a local bar by shooting his attacker. The killing was deemed justified. He eventually tried to go straight and was appointed San Bernardino Chief of Police in 1917.
In 1907 Albert "Swarty" Swarthout and partner Charlie Martin, purchased Heart Bar Ranch, south of Big Bear for summer graze. By 1918, both had sold out, and in 1921 Swarthout again bought the Heart Bar. This time his partner was San Bernardino businessman Dale Gentry. Their cattle were driven to Heart Bar Ranch via Rattlesnake Canyon in the spring, and returning them to Old Woman Springs Ranch in the fall.
Prior to obtaining Heart Bar Ranch, AL Swarthout moved the Bar S from Lucerne Valley to the Old Woman springs area. Due to drought in the lower valleys, Swarthout was forced to run scattered amount of beeves in Big Bear's high country near Coxey Meadows. Winter graze was on the land around Old Woman Springs in Lucerne Valley. The partnership in the Heart bar Ranch was perfect with Swarthout raising the cattle and Dale Gentry handling the business end. However, in 1938, they decided to split up. They could not agree on one selling to the other a half interest in Heart Bar and the Old Woman Springs Ranch they had acquired. After nine years of court proceedings in 1947, Swarthout got Heart Bar and Gentry, Old Woman Springs.
Around 1947, the intrusion of resorts and residential developments were gradually bringing an end to the cattle business. The decline began when the creation of the lakes at Arrowhead, Green Valley and Big Bear had taken away choice grazing land. Later, improved roadways and mode of transportation brought increasing numbers of visitors into mountain country that had once been open range land. The inevitable finally arrived, cattle ranching and modern life-styles became absolutely incompatible and the final herd came down from the mountains.
The ranches that faded from time were Heart Bar Ranch, Hitchcock Ranch, Shay Ranch (bought out by the Talmadges, the main operation moved to Joshua Tree National Park), the IS ranch (also later owned by the Talmadges. It actually stayed in operation until 1954).
Prior to the slow death of Al Swarthout’s Heart Bar Ranch and the Swarthout Cattle Company, the ranch operations reached from the Lucerne Valley, to the west slope of the San Bernardino hills to The Oasis of Mara, which is located near the present day Joshua Tree National Park. The Oasis was first settled by the Serrano Indian who called it "Mara", meaning "the place of little springs and much grass"
In the early years, the desert was open range and cattlemen moved their animals seasonally from one area to another in search of adequate food and water. The cow puncher life was explained in a simple way by an old Swarthout Cattle Company hired hand named Jim Hester; "In those days, if you were a cowpuncher, you had a pair of chaps, a horse and a pack horse, a bedroll, salt, staples, a six-shooter, and a big chew of tobacco."
It is unknown when exactly Al Swarthout came to the area. Knowledge of the area, and the ability to use the beneficial attributes of the land for a thriving cattle ranch, was obviously passed to him by father Nathan Swarthout.
The only mention of Al Swarthout in the area was in the historical archives in San Bernardino, Victorville and Lucerne Valley. In 1896, Swarthout bought land from W.W. Brown in Lucerne Valley, where he quickly formed the Bar S and begin running cattle. Swarthout move to Old Woman Springs in 1897 when water and feed became scarce. Old Woman Springs, now known as Cottonwood Springs, became part of the Heart Bar Ranch after Al Swarthout acquired it. Al Swarthout, who was born February 11, 1872, and died at the age of 91 in 1963.
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Comment by Ginny Morgan on December 2, 2009 at 9:34am -
Excellent post! The Mormons camped at the base of Lytle Creek also...I have often driven Cajon myself past Mormon rocks..I reas somewhere that there was a former mountain man and an indian from the north that used to come down and steal horses...Gad, can't remember stuff anymore..will see if I can find more info...Thanks for posting!
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Comment by Odessa Red on December 2, 2009 at 9:37am -
I think I read that somewhere, too!...ok, I'll let you dig on that one!! lol
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Comment by JOHNNY RAMIREZ on December 2, 2009 at 11:04am -
Living in the shadows of those mountains, once owning a pice of it way back when and visiting it with family and driving through it and around it, it was a pleasure to read of its history. Odessa Red, thanks for the research. My work is just firsthand work from people that I relate in my writings, like my Spirit of Intent - "Indian Humor" or my Stories that I heard as a child and write for the blog, which I will post this Friday or Sat. But yours has more dept because you researched it and then brought it to life for us readers on True West. Thanks my friend.
Johnny
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Comment by Odessa Red on December 2, 2009 at 11:22am
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Johnny, it's all learning whether it's word of mouth from people you know, or pouring through books!...you will remember that there was once a time where history was mainly passed on through generations using stories as the means of preserving events! You may be interested in my other blogs :) Thanks for taking the time to stop by and read!
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