Tex's Attic

 "All the next day, from our lookout posts in the hills, we watched the National Park rangers driving back and forth like ants over the desert roads, looking for us. After it got dark, Charlie and I drove all night by the light of the moon, surveying his desert kingdom. He was very quiet, wound up like a spring. When we got back to Myers Ranch early the next morning, he handed me a double-barreled shotgun that had been stolen from one of the girl's parents before we left Los Angeles.

"'Go up into the attic there,' he said to me, pointing to a place where the attic extended out over the porch of the ranch house with gaping holes between the boards. 'Go up there with this and wait. When those two rangers come -- kill them.' He drove off and I climbed into the hot, dusty attic to wait." *

-- Charles "Tex" Watson, Will You Die For Me?

"You know that little hideaway in Barker's place? Well, I used to sleep up in there, and all the mice used to have to crawl over me to get out to go to the water, right? And I'd have these buckskin pants on, and they would start chewing on my pants.

"So, one night, when it was Tex's turn -- because what we'd do is like keep a point up there, and anybody would come, we'd listen to what they was saying. So, it was Tex's turn to see if the cops was gonna come up, you dig, so he was gonna be stashed there, you know, to see what the cops was gonna say. And we'd always leave a coffee pot there, and we'd leave a couple pounds of coffee and all that kind of stuff....

"So [Tex] was over that night, and them rats came out and started chewing on them pants. He freaked out and he couldn't deal with it. He run home to his mother, man. He left the pants there, man, and the rats ate a fucking hole in the pants and shit. Fucking rats ate my pants up. That's cold, huh?"

-- Charles Manson, from a tape-recorded telephone conversation

* This is one of the instances in his book where Watson confuses the Barker and Myers Ranchs. The old Myers ranch house, which burned down in June of 1999, never had an attic space such as he describes. The photo is of the attic space at Barker Ranch (also since burned down). -- GS

Bill Nelson Taunts Sandra Good In The Barker Ranch Log Book

Hello my friends!

Sandra Good will screw up once too often and qualify for California's 3 Strikes Law. Then it will be good-bye "Blue" stay alone George.

Myers Ranch is burned out -- Where were you George & Sandra Good?

Spahn Ranch burned the last day of Barbara Hoyt's trial testimony, now Myers!

Bill Nelson

Author

www.mansonmurders.com

P. O. Box 1585

Costa Mesa, CA 92628

OK Blue -- Guts enough to keep this statement in this book?

6-30-99 Bill Nelson

A History of Barker Ranch

In 2005 the National Park Service completed a Cultural Landscapes Inventory on the Thomason/Barker Ranch (known better generally as just Barker Ranch) as part of a continuing effort of cataloging the cultural resources of the Death Valley area. The resulting 77-page report included chapters on the chronology and physical history of the ranch, geographic information, an analysis and evaluation of the ranch's integrity, and ended with a determination that the ranch should be preserved and maintained and that it was eligible for listing on the National Register.

Portions of the report of interest to readers of this blog have been reprinted below. 

The front page of the report

National Park Service Cultural Landscapes Inventory 2005

Thomason/Barker Ranch

Death Valley National Park

"The 1930s witnessed an unprecedented migration of people desiring to escape urban life in order to experience a simpler and less restrictive existence in the remote desert. Others moved to the desert at this time in order to escape the consequences of the Depression by trying to eke out a living on the land rather than face urban soup lines. Since the 1930s the California deserts have provided a sanctuary for those seeking to escape from mainstream society. People have often been attracted to the secluded and wild environment that the desert provided because it created a feeling of isolation and freedom among those who were avoiding the law, those who wished to live away from other people, or for those who simply did not want to conform to conventional society. The desert attracted people who held to the belief that it was one of the last American Frontiers -- offering the maximum amount of freedom from social order and legal constraints. People of this mindset have settled in or drifted in and out of the Goler Wash vicinity over the past 70 years.

"It was during this initial era of escape to the desert that the Thomason/Barker Ranch was first settled. In 1937, Bluch and Helen Thomason, a retired couple from Los Angeles, moved to Goler Wash after filing a claim with Inyo County for a five acre mill site. This was the land on which they subsequently built their retirement retreat. As required under the General Mining Act of 1872, the development and use of residences on Government Law Office (GLO) managed lands depended on the owners' ability to show proof of their active use of the land for mining activities. The Thomasons' primary reason for moving to Goler Wash was to retire in the desert, and they used the provisions of the Mining Act of 1872 as a means to this end. For the same reason, the Barkers, who acquired mining rights to the ranch in 1956, moved to the area because of their attraction to the desert and their desire to retire in a secluded environment. They also used their mining claims as a means to legally occupy the government-owned land. This was substantiated by the testimony of Emmett Harder, a local resident and prospector who knew the Barkers during the period they lived in Goler Wash. 

"The Thomasons and the Barkers were not the only families who used mining claims as the basis for developing recreational ranches in this area. Four other families maintained retreats in the Goler Wash area, and a similar number developed retreats in nearby Butte Valley in the 1930s and 1940s. Like the Thomason/Barker Ranch, these residences were located on GLO-administered lands and were also legally occupied due to the owners' association with small-scale mining.

"In 1968, the Barkers ceased living on their ranch, and by 1971 they had completely abandoned the site. Many of the other family retreats in the area had been abandoned by this time as well. The exception was the Myers Ranch, which had been successfully patented under the General Mining Act of 1872 a decade earlier. Today, the Myers property has been completely reconstructed following a devastating fire, and its physical structures retain no historic integrity. It is, however, the only residential complex in the area that remains a family-controlled retreat.

"The Thomason/Barker Ranch reverted to BLM [Bureau of Land Management] management in 1971. Since that time, tourists and outdoor enthusiasts have used the area as an overnight destination. Despite decades of benign neglect, most of the buildings and structures remain intact but are in poor condition. As such, the Thomason/Barker Ranch serves as the only remaining example of a primitive recreational ranch and retirement retreat in Death Valley National Park."

Above: the site plan of the Barker Ranch

Below: a chronological history of the ranch

Besides covering the entire history of the ranch the report also has a lengthy summary of the activities of Charles Manson and his associates during their time in the area:

Charles Manson Family (1968-1969)

"The fall of 1968, the peaceful history of Thomason/Barker Ranch was forever changed when Charles Manson obtained permission from Arlene Barker to indefinitely occupy the ranch with his "Family." During this era, many of those labeled by the media as hippies and others associated with the counter culture were seeking solace and escape from the pressures of modern society. For these individuals, the secluded environs of Death Valley, like other remote areas, represented an alluring sanctuary far removed from the repressive trappings of the urban "establishment." In the eyes of many long-time Death Valley residents accustomed to the idiosyncrasies of prospectors and desert rats, the Manson Family appeared on the surface no more unconventional than other newcomers who frequented the desert byways and canyons.

"Favorable descriptions of Goler Wash were provided to Manson by 17-year-old Cathy Gillies, a recently inducted Family member and grandchild of Barbara Myers. Agreeing that the location would likely meet their needs, the Manson Family began a phased move to Goler Wash. The first of many forays to Goler Wash consisted of seventeen adults and two babies, journeying from Los Angeles in a reconditioned school bus. They hiked the arduous last five miles from the mouth of the canyon to the Myers Ranch, their original destination. Their school bus would later be driven to the Thomason/Barker Ranch by way of the eastern route over Mengel Pass, an equally challenging and (for the bus at any rate) debilitating accomplishment. Manson eventually selected Thomason/ Barker Ranch rather than the Myers Ranch as the Family's base of operations. He went so far as to seek Arlene Barker's permission to stay at the ranch, deluding her that he was the composer/arranger for the Beach Boys musical group and only intended to stay there a short while with a few others. He later offered to buy the improvements from her, but his inability to demonstrate his financial wherewithal quickly brought an end to the negotiations.

"Charles "Tex" Watson, a member of the Manson Family currently serving a life-term in prison for the Tate-LaBianca murders, described his initial perception of Goler Wash and the Barker and Myers Ranches when the family first arrived in 1968:

"The wash, even by day…. was unbelievably rugged. It could take a good half a day to work your way up on foot, and even the toughest jeep would have a hard time against the boulders and narrow turns. The ranches themselves were about a quarter of a mile apart. Myers Ranch was in very bad condition, rundown and vandalized, but Thomason/Barker Ranch had a solid little stone ranch house and a swimming pool, even sheets on the beds. Later the the place would be described as derelict and dilapidated, but we had less exacting standards." (*)

"The secluded desert setting was conductive to Manson's ultimate objectives of inculcating his followers with his bizarre messianic prophecies of "Helter Skelter," the notion that an imminent race war between blacks and whites would consume the nation. According to his beliefs, he and the Family, as the chosen elite, would weather the violence in a subterranean world in the desert. They would consequently emerge and take control of the black population whom he considered inferior but who would be the initial victors of the race war.

"It was while they were living at Thomason/Barker Ranch that members of the Manson Family made a foray back to Los Angeles and murdered pregnant actress Sharon Tate and four of her house guests. Then, in the same night, they entered another home and killed Leno and Rosemary LaBianca. The Tate-LaBianca murders would cause mass fear and paranoia among Los Angeles residents who could not begin to predict when the next murder might occur or who the next victims would be. 

"In September 1969, about one month after the still unsolved Tate-LaBianca murders, members of the Manson Family were apprehended by a team of California Highway Patrol, Inyo County, and NPS law enforcement personnel at Thomason/Barker Ranch on suspicion of theft and arson, ending their year-long occupation of the ranch. It wasn't until the Manson Family was incarcerated that the magnitude and horror of their violent acts were fully revealed. 

"During the Manson Family occupation of the ranch, the entry roundabout area was expanded to the west to create more parking space for the bus and the dozens of other vehicles that the group had acquired. Because they were only at the ranch for a short period of time, the physical character of the site did not differ greatly from when the Barkers inhabited it. There are accounts that the Manson Family used the swimming pool as a giant makeshift washing machine and that they vandalized and left extensive debris throughout the site when they were incarcerated, but other than the expanded parking area, no permanent change to the character of the site occurred."

(* Watson is clearly confusing the two ranches here.  GS)

*      *      *

The main buildings of the Barker Ranch were destroyed by a fire accidentally ignited by a careless visitor in May of 2009. Not only did the ranch itself go up in smoke, but so did the tens of thousands of dollars that the National Park Service had spent restoring the ranch to a condition suitable to its historical significance. Today, all that remains of the structures are the bunkhouse, the chicken coop, and the stone walls of the main house and its outbuildings. 

Above: the ruins of the Barker Ranch house, April 25, 2015

Below: a National Park Service sign at Barker Ranch

Manson Tour 2015: Goler Wash

We were joined for the trip by a legend, Emmett C. Harder. He's the mining prospector that befriended the Family surrounding the times they frequented Barker Ranch. He is still quite energetic and full of spirit. When we took this pic we were at Newman Cabin in Goler Wash. As this particular story went, he - with the use of a shotgun -  and a mining partner had captured a desert thief who had been burglarizing Goler Wash mining camps. The capture took place here at Newman.

Newman Cabin

Emmett Harder is about 82 years old now but as sharp as a tack.  He drove the entire way up Goler Wash with ease, talking the whole time about various people who had mined or been an accessory to the process.  It seemed as if there wasn't anything he didn't know about the goings on in the area.

As we left the store at Ballarat the first bit of local color he told us about was Post Office Springs.  Post Office Springs was a tree in a wide spot in the road where people would leave messages for each other, having no other way to communicate.  Even today there is no way to contact one another within the area because there is no cell service, no landlines, no electricity. It is just the same way it was 45 years ago and the decades before.

On the way to the road up to Goler Wash we learned a little about the mining process, which we won't get into except to say there is an active mining operation going on now which was to our benefit because the roads had been graded for the truck traffic to the site where the leeching process was taking place. The road to the wash was in great shape with no washboard effect.

We finally began the assent to Barker. The wash "road" had recently been fixed up, none of the waterfalls which usually pose the biggest challenge to the trip up the wash were a problem. We never had to get out of the vehicles to move boulders.  Emmett's running commentary was priceless. We learned about the different rocks, the flora and the fauna of the area. All was interspersed by stories about the locals, aside from stories about The Family. What rugged people!

The road was narrow at times and there were many side roads, if we hadn't had a guide we could see where one could easily get lost. It's amazing that many of the Family members walked up and down the wash barefoot. And that it is so remote it's hard to imagine why they decided to hunker down there with very little in the way of resources for survival.

Very shortly after we first arrived at Barker Ranch, we heard the loud braying of a wild burro. He was standing on the opposite butte from the front of the ranch. There are two springs between Barker and Myers where they like to go for a drink. When he saw that there were about 14 humans there he attempted to intimidate the group. He stayed up there for hours.

Speaking of wild creatures, this Gopher Snake passed by near the front steps at the ranch. 

They are not dangerous to people.

Some shots of Barker Ranch

The main house

The infamous cabinet space in the bathroom where Manson 

spent his last moments as a free man in 1969.

John Aes-Nihil at the entrance to the ranch

 What's left of a mattress next to Sadie's Bunker

This is what's left of the dug-out bunker where Sadie was hiding when the raid began. 

It is of course filled in from earth that has run downhill over the decades from rain and wind.

Just slightly downhill from the bunker (maybe 8-10 feet) is the tin 

roofing that Sadie used to cover the bunker.

Here is myself and St. Circumstance on the butte opposite the ranch near the bunker. 

The burro was just uphill from us standing his ground.

From the spot by the bunker you can see Myers Ranch

George Stimson and Emmett Harder in front of the cabin beside the main house.

Above the main house, looking down at the pool

---------------------------------------

Meyers Ranch

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Back down in Ballarat. From left to right are Deb, Emmett, Matt, Patty, George, 

Stoner, St. Circumstance (with Rocky Navak behind him) and John Aes-Nihil.

By the way, be sure to pronounce Ballarat correctly or George won't let you graduate.

Eviliz Tour 2012 - Day 3

DAY 3

TRONA

First stop on the way to Ballarat was the former home of TJ Walleman in Trona.

(photo taken at Marc's request. lol.)

BALLARAT

Next stop, Ballarat.

This is the Ballarat General Store

This is Rocky the caretaker and Grump

We gave Liz some private time with Bobby's Power Wagon

Patty, Matt & Liz in front of the Power Wagon

Close by is a cemetery for old miners.

Seen here is Seldom Seen Slim.

Shortly after after our arrival we were met by Sgt. Paul Dostie

Sgt. Dostie and Buster

At the Ballarat cemetery Sgt Dostie demonstrated for us how Buster finds graves. 

Buster chose the two spots that had the highest composition of "Volatile Organic Compounds" (VOC's) which are produced by human bone decomposition. 

ON TO GOLER WASH

The mouth of Goler Wash

The only really difficult spot to pass is a spot called "the waterfall". It was mostly dry on this morning but it's no easy task to get even a four wheel drive over it. We had three!

We helped get some dune buggies over the waterfall by moving around some rocks, etc. They then in turn helped us get the first of our three vehicles across. Funny story: Later on in the day these folks in the buggies arrived at Barker's and listened to the stories with great interest. Long story made short, we have some enthusiastic new readers!

The Newman Cabin. Located about half way up Goler. 

It was frequently used by the Family.

BARKER RANCH

A few shots of our inspection of the main house:

THE SUSPECTED GRAVE SITES

Sgt Dostie, Buster and others have identified five possible VOC "alert sites" around Barker Ranch. They are referred to as: Buster 1, Buster 3, Buster 4 and Ness 1.

Four of them are believed to be grave sites, the other (Buster 2) is believed to be a "scent pool" since it is located just downhill from Buster 3.

Sgt Dostie with Mr. Patty at VOC site "Buster 1"

Sgt Dostie with Mr. Patty at VOC site "Buster 3"

Sgt Dostie with Mr. Patty at VOC site "Ness 1"

Sgt Dostie explains VOC site "Buster 4". It is located close to the front porch of the ranch. This one is particularly strong. It is speculated that it contains two young men killed with swords by two male family members. This may be why Robert Hendrickson said he could smell death while at the front door!

A bit of explanation is in order. Excavations on Barker's Ranch have come up "empty" by the authorities. The problem is this:

Desert flash floods are caused by rainfall having nowhere to go after being deposited. Most people think of the desert as being sandy and very absorbent; which it largely is. However, when water is deposited in desert elevation, it wants to take the path of least resistance to a low point and often that path is not soil percolation. The surface water accumulates in low volume streams that act as tributaries to larger creeks which act as tributaries to washes which funnel all of the water. This water evacuates from the higher elevation at a great volume and velocity and picks up sand, rocks, boulders, vehicles, houses, busses, helter skelter trucks, trees, brush, old wash deposits in its path; as much as the water volume can sustain. This water is ejected out of the wash and the deposits fall out of the water as the water velocity slows; depositing the heavier objects, first. Washes can be large enough to build homes in or small enough to walk across in a few footsteps. As the water continues its journey, the deposits left behind create alluvial fans. These fans shift and move with each incident of water evacuation and the subsequent debris left behind.

The point is, that the 3- 3 1/2 feet that was excavated only reached down to where the topsoil was in 1969! Charlie learned early on in prison that cops will only dig 6 feet. He has admitted in recorded telephone conversations that the Family buried these people at least 8 feet to avoid detection by police digs. With the alluvial deposits described above, law enforcement would have needed to dig 11 feet to find these remains. They stopped at less than 4 feet!

The "Helter Skelter Truck" located in a gully behind Barker Ranch.

It is also a Dodge Power Wagon.

The group with the Helter Skelter Truck

Curiously, somebody moved the Helter Skelter Truck. It used to be in a mostly buried state here, where you see the tire.  Someone (fairly recently) dragged it down to where you see it farther down the hill.

MYERS RANCH

Myers ranch is is nicely maintained. The pool looks usable and irrigation hoses feed young trees and shrubs around the house that will eventually become great shade.

The main house

The Myers Ranch pool

The Myers Ranch pool and a side building