Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Back through timein o 00 0') ...... (Above left) A stream alongside the trail ~t t he seven-mile mark in Surprise Canyon . (Top rightl Melt ing adobe walls ~ark the paSS8ge of tim e since Ballarat"s hey days, (A bove rightl The Radc liffe Mine is an impr essiv e sight. but you need written permission to go beyond the gate, By Donald E. L. Betsworth Photos by Donald W . Betsworth T he Panam ints, Forming the west wall of Death Valley they were an awesome barrier to any 10 traveler. They still are today . Looking somewhat like a lu n a r la ndsca pe , they are a scooter rider's delight. To describe a ride in them is a little diffi cult. Mix together your favori te enduro , with rocks and dust, a little solitude , some p icture postcard scenery and you'll be pretty close , Use a ghost town as a base, ride to another, ride up and down several hair raising canyons, then go up and over the mountains and look down or ride into the vast expanse of Dea th Valley. Let you r mind slip back into time and visualize your old scoot as a rickety freight wagon, pulled by a passle of smelly and cantankerous mules . Ascend and descend some examples of native ingenuity and masterful engineering of the old time road builders. Travel some roads that have existed (regardless of what the BLM says) for 130 years and only see a handful of vehicles a month . I have been here four times and have never seen a not her motorcycle except th e on es in my g ro up . Almost every mile of road , trail or by-way you 'll use ca n be steep, up or down , rocky , sandy or slick as a layer of grease over glare ice, Of course, this changes with th e whims of Mother Nature and th e cou nt y road department . Some of the roads had just been worked over by th e cou nt y boys but 25 % were still a near disaster. In 1978 a high clearance Baj a Bug couldn't get within a mil e of the entrance of Goler W ash , but this year - well , I'll cover it la ter , The entire area is a historic wonder, To really do the Panamints justice you would need several weeks. This trip will just cover a few of the highlights. We'll see Ballarat , Panamint City, Surprise Canyon , Pleasant Canyon and Go ler Wash . I'll relate a little history of the area and add a tidbit or two of its colorful inhabitants. Most are long gone. but a few new ones are around. I met "Seldom Seen Slim, ", Ba lla ra t's most famous dweller. in 1967 just a few months before he died . I treasure that meet ing, as we had a nice chat and I took a photo of Slim and my then you ng son . The photo is to me, priceless . La st year my RTouP ran into "Hole In T he Head Fred ," "Dirty George" and th e Jones family. Ballarat was named after an Australian gold camp and came into being around 1897 as an 80-acre townsite . Mining had been conducted in the area since 1850 and a few towns had been founded , then abandoned. Most have disappeared, save for a few foundations . New found ledges of silver caused a boom and miners again flocked to the region. Living in the rocky and na rrow canyons was a chore and a bit risky , thus the reason for Ballarat. At its peak 500 called this hot and dusty place home. O nce it contained a two story hotel, a W ellsFargo office, and of course a dozen saloons. In 1899 it even boasted of its one room school house. Here in this rough and tumble town . family life was tough. The school lasted on ly one year. Ballarat's decline started in 1905 with the closing of the Radcliff Mine (sometimes spelled Ra tcliff). . As 1917 rolled arou nd the last saloon closed its doors and the colorful owner . Chris Wicht, retired to his home in Surprise Canyon. Uncle Sam shut down the post office and Balla ra t began to fade into the dust. "Seld om Seen Slim," a real desert rat, hit here about this time and la ter for many years was the town's on ly resident . Slim, born Cha rles Fe rge, went to the big gol d mi ne in the sky a t the age of 87 and is buried in Ballara t, on th e edge of town. Read the epitaph on his tombstone, It tells Slim's who le life in one b rief sentence. All tha t is left now is one old concrete block building (the no me of the J ones family) , several adobe and wood hovels slowly melting into the sand, one fairly new one hole outhouse a nd o( co urse the cemetery. Ma and Pa J on es have taken Slim 's place a nd a re now Ba lla ra t's sole inhab ita nt s. The town is set on the edge of a n usually dry lake, After heavy rains it somet imes holds a foot or so of the stuff. At one time eons ago, the entire valley was u nd er 900 feet of wa ter , Ba lla ra t was declared a State H istorical Site in Decem ber of 1949 . T o find the site, first find Trona on the Trona -Wi ldrose Road. T hen continue nort h for 20,7 miles. Watch carefully for the turnoff, it's easy to miss : The sign is occasionally missing and to find it in the dark can be a ' problem. Turn right and proceed 3.6 miles across the dry.lake to the town. If you can't get across go north a bout nine miles to the In d ian Ra nch Ro a d , and ta ke it down to Ba lla ra t. This piece of road can be very rough. If you deci de to stay in the town it will cost a

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