The Good Die Young

Johnny L. Powers, Constable of Onyx, died a young man, upholding the law.  He was 27 years, 9 months and 6 days old.

It all started over a pitch fork, a handle broken and haystacks set on fire by an Indian ranch hand, Wampei Jiggens, on the Smith Ranch on the South Fork of the Kern River.  Issuing the warrant, Johnny Powers headed out to make an arrest.  Johnny was a member of the wronged, yet powerful, Smith family.

Johnny Powers, accompanied by Sam Gann, Constable of Kernville, and a deputized trapper, Oliver McCoy rode out to Sage Canyon where on Friday, July 3, 1891, they were met by Chief Kiwowa and his sons, who turned on them with gunfire. Powers and McCoy lay dead, along with three Indians. Constable Gann was able to escape to Cayote Holes, formed a posse and chased after the remaining outlaw band.  Their pursuit took place for two weeks, but rough terrain through the Mojave desert made it difficult to track them down.  Ultimately, Wampei Jiggens showed up in Lone Pine wearing Johnny Powers' hat with his badge pinned in it.  Jiggens was arrested, tried in Bakersfield and served a life sentence.  Johnny's handsome body was hacked up after his life passed out of him.

Johnny rests in his grave with a brass plaque anonymously donated.  His original stone was stolen. A reward was posted for its return, no questions asked.   Ninety-nine years after he was laid to rest, his stone appeared in the back of someone's shed in Twin Oaks, a small town in the mountains once occupied by Piute Indians.  For a couple of decades before its disappearance, the headstone remained undisturbed in the cemetery.  The robbers had smashed the stone into two pieces and the lower part of it was used as a step to the shed.  Breaking his grave marker was yet another assault to the young Powers.  One can only imagine the motives or intent to single him out, but there are no questions asked, at least not out loud.  This original headstone now sits in the Walker Pass museum.  Johnny L. Powers was a grandson to the first white woman in the territory.  He lays peacefully with other members of the Powers family.  Silk flowers are placed by the local churches and historical preservationists of the area.  Johnny's name is engraved, along with other fallen officers of the law, in the Kern County Sherrif's Office Memorial.


All rights reserved.  Photographs are copyrighted by Renee Akana.  Reproduction or use is by written permission only. Inquiry:  www.28moons.com

Tall Grasses & Trees

Joseph Roberts was born the day after Christmas, a blessed occasion for his parents -- the miracle of life, a gift with impeccable timing, merrily received in the festive season.  He proudly took his treasured place within the family, back East.  Something intriguing pulled him West where he remains alone, passing at age 82, more than one hundred years ago. 

One can presume a full life, a wife named Ellen (no last name, born in Mexico) and a few children, but no traceable history of them. He is the only known resident of his family plot. One can suspect some degree of success, given the monument and plot markings on a section of old oaks, rock and dried grasses.

As the old saying goes, when a tree falls in the forest, does anyone hear it?  ... I hope so.

All rights reserved.  Photographs are copyrighted by Renee Akana.  Reproduction or use by written permission only.  Inquiry:  www.28moons.com

Following In The Tracks Of The Elephant




An ordinary man could squat upon a parcel and scrape out a living.  The climate was hot. The wind could blow you down, not to mention the quakes.  Rain didn't come as often as it should and when it came, it could wash you out. Below a hopeful man might, indeed, be a fortune, but it would take another fortune to remove or unlock these treasures.  Striking through to what was harbored below might not have been realized by everyone, not in their lifetime, but in the era, there was always optimism. 

All rights reserved.  Photographs are copyrighted by Renee Akana. Reproduction or use is by written permission only.  Further inquiry:  www.28moons.com

In the Heat of the Day

Joshua Tree:  

A mysterious event took place in the Southwest in the Spring of 2013. The "whole shot" (all of the group) of Joshua trees started blooming at the same time.  No one had seen anything like this in recent memory.  Some tried to figure out what the trees were saying to each other. The rocks kept their secrets.  What they say or do, well that  was "atween" (between) them.

If you find yourself above snakes (alive and well), pack up the air tights (canned goods) and head out to the desert.  Pick your weather timing well.  The heat of the day can feel like irons pressing up against your skin.  Bring water, drink plenty of it.  

All rights reserved.  Photographs are copyrighted and cannot be reproduced without written consent or contract given by Renee Akana.  Please contact me at 28moons@gmail.com if you would like to purchase or license my images.  Information regarding fine art prints is found at www.28moons.com   

What Is The Elephant?

 

 How I came to know the Elephant

I've lived in California for most of my life, having felt an itch in the East that blew me westerly.  The longer that I have lived in Los Angeles, the more I've yearned to get out of the city to photograph and discover something about the land.  

I have come to realize that the history of California hasn't changed very much.  We all know about the Gold Rush of 1849, the largest migration of Americans across America, Manifest Destiny realized.  The guidebooks of the day spelled out a journey which turned out to be more than anyone could imagine and while it was wrought with hardship, many kept their wits or maintained an overwhelming sense of adventure.  When they arrived, the West was an elixer of chaos, opportunity and risk. Money moved around fast and furious for some, but not for many. People gambled everything they had or could borrow to get here, perhaps with the intent to stay for a short time, grab the wealth and take home a tony life.  In absolute gridlock, they came across the plains, around the horn or through the jungles of Panama.  Often they dumped their load as they travelled across the mountains or desert and walked in with what they could carry on their backs.  Crews of ships abandoned their vessels in the harbor to go on land in search of the dream.  

Some would realize riches and build new lives -- some going home, some staying here. People from all over the world flooded in.  It was not much different from today. There was a global economy and hyper-inflation.  Rent in San Francisco could be $1000 a month for living quarters -- back then.  Some would spend their fortunes wildly and if one ended up broke, the fun was in getting rich.  The money could come out of the ground in a matter of weeks and if you lost it, you merely dug another hole.

Yet, it was not so easy. For others, there was a disappointment in the disillusionment that the dream to make $10,000 could end up yielding only $500.  Families back home had to be provided for in the absence of the bread winner and everything was mortgaged or sold so that the adventurer could pay for his travel, work and living costs. Some sent for the families if they could. It has been written that a lonely man could abduct another man's wife and her children, dump the children and then lose the woman or sell the woman to other lonely men, long before her husband could find her.  Women could divorce their husbands if they didn't make enough money. Some men wrote home to their waiting wives to tell them they were having a good time and they'd see them when they got around to it! Ladies from France were the finest money could buy and they were here for the taking, or for purchase. For many who arrived here (men, women or families), returning home in the East could be improbable and perhaps never realized. A fancy family plot, high on the hill could be a pile of rocks in the desert or a piece of concrete etched with a stick in a poorer plot.  Like it or not, for many adventurers, this was home.

"Seeing the Elephant," was a term which made its way through the Civil War, but was associated with the movement west.  

People are still drawn here for the same reason:  opportunity. This is the legacy which California carries.  Things don't change.  People complain about how expensive it is to be here, how crowded it is, grid lock, looser attitudes, nuts & flakes or whatever.  It has always been like this. California was the new place where men and women could share freedom to express themselves.  It has always been as magical as the elephant the emigrants from the east sought.

The saying, "seeing the elephant," ultimately lost favor in its time because it came to be  associated with something negative - failure. Yet, those who still dare to follow the elephant would find the pachyderm living among them.  

All rights reserved.  Photographs are copyrighted and cannot be reproduced without written consent or contract given by Renee Akana.  Please contact me at 28moons@gmail.com if you would like to purchase or license my images.  Information regarding fine art prints is found at www.28moons.com