ITS VINCENT'S FAULT

[GRAHAM_RANCH]

After finishing shoveling up inches of mud, rock, silk and debris from the little bit of rain that we had almost two weeks ago, I can't help but be thankful for the long awaited rain fall. But I was also thankful that the few days of heavy showers wasn't as bad as it could have been. Or had been in the past. Over the years I've downed raingear and handled the heavy rains of 2004, 1985, 1975, 1969, put on fishing waiters and mucking boots in the November storm of 1965 and read eye witness accounts of the 1941 flood and the 1938 rains that destroyed much of southern California. The rains will never be a problem, but the subsequent mud flows and slides always will be. And I think that's all Vincent's Fault, not to mention a fractured and flaking gal named Pelona Schist.

Vincent Fault, or the Vincent Thrust Fault, was recognized independently by an excellent south land geologist and professor named Perry Ehlig. He recognized it's regional importance as a branch of the San Andreas Fault that runs a jagged course along the San Gabriel Mountains and smack dab through the middle of Wrightwood, Ca.. The Vincent thrust and its lower- and upper-plate rock masses can be seen in the eastern part of the San Gabriel Mountains; other places in the range, it's within rock and sediment materials lying near but not exposed to the earth's surface. It's well exposed in the lower part of Coldwater Canyon in the North Fork of Lytle Creek, and on the north side of Mount San Antonio; in these places, the fault forms a noticeable shaped plane between the rocks above it and below it. The upper plate contains abundant granite rocks from a lower plate composed of metagraywackes and metabasites called the Pelona Schist. It was the flood of 1941 that weakened these plates, and it will be heavy floods in the future that will bring parts of it down on this small mountain community.

The 1938 San Gabriel flood affected Lytle Creek, Cajon Pass, San Bernardino and all points in between to Los Angeles. Rain fell at 4.8 inches and hour and eighty-seven people was killed by the storm. Flood water destroyed much of the road systems and one hundred bridges were destroyed in San Bernardino alone! Hardly any change was observed on the heavy wooded Blue Ridge south of the village of Wrightwood, despite a water saturated landscape. Just a small slide in it's center and a few fallen timber was noticed. But, it was in 1941 when extremely wet weather brought down the landslide-prone Pelona Schist and a terrifying mud flow tore through the west portion of the town.

The winter of 1940-41 wasn't too heavy for Wrightwood, but it left about sixty feet of snow on top of Blue Ridge. Even though unusual cold was experienced throughout the winter and into the spring, it suddenly turned hot in early May and the heavy snow pack on Blue Ridge above town began to melt. The sun blazed as the snow melted too fast and caused too much water volume...the flood wash south of town and at the base of the mountain will not be able to handle what was coming next. Over the next 2 1/2 weeks, waves and waves of mud, boulders and other debris would cover 190 acres of the town of Wrightwood!

Eye witnesses described the mud flow as being the color and consistency of mortar. Town businessman and historian G.S. Corpe wrote: "At first no one realized what a potent deal that nature was about to hand us...". In no time at all, on Lone Pine Road near Sparrow, mud and rock was cruising its way down from Heath Canyon. The county had a road grader nearby and at first all things seemed to be controllable. "No one was worried and people thought it would be easy to control," mentioned Mr. Corpe. It was Thursday, May 8, 1941...no worries mate. Then the flow increased hour by hour...as did it's volume and it's terrifying force.

[GRAHAM_RANCH]

Pushed by waves of mud were thirty inch diameter trees and rocks as big as a house! Soon bigger boulders were being pushed by the flow and the roar and grinding of the mud stream, and snapping of trees being battered by mud and rock, could be heard throughout Wrightwood! Mr. Corpe would write about the closing of the first day, "The stream would quiet late at night when the snow and water froze; then after a hour or so of warm sunshine in the morning-here it would come again! This natural routine repeated itself from May 8th and into the last week of May. Everyone wondered what was going to happen next...or where the avalanche would go next. To make things worst, off- and- on again rain showers impacted the avalanche's flow. G.S. Corpe diary entry of May 23, 1941: "Flood letting up, more water than mud...a big rain with much lightning and thunder. Burned out telephones; electricity was off several hours; and the flood is on the move again."

As it was in those days, as well as in the upcoming flood of 1965, those town people that were physically able to help, did. "All possible business was suspended and all who could, worked..." wrote G.S. Corpe, "...trying to hold the flood on its first course and trying to keep it from breaking through in other directions." Town folks had also gathered in a valiant fight to save the house of Mr. and Mrs. Mark Thompson. The couple and their belongings were moved by the town's people to a safe house until the danger had passed. Their house, the old Ranger station, seemed destined to be destroy by the massive flood of mud and boulder. But diverted the flow and saved the home they all did. The destructive flow stopped two feet from the house!

Wrightwood was still a young town and houses had yet to dot the landscape like they do in present day. Only two houses were ruined, while others had a mighty narrow escape. One of the smashed house was on Sparrow, it was called the Ski-Hi Lodge. Perhaps that day it could have been nicknamed "Surf-Hi Lodge", considering how much waves of mud, rock and boulder smashed through it's walls. The other house was south of the Lodge and east of Lone Pine Road. It belonged to movie actor Frank Jenks. His house was totally covered, the only thing showing was his fire chimney.

By the end of May, most of the heavy snow pack on Blue Ridge was melted and slowly things in town were getting back to normal. A month would pass, as would the danger of the tremendous avalanche flow of mud and rock. By July 4th, Mr. and Mrs. Mark Thompson was back in their house at the old Ranger station. San Bernardino County put Wrightwood in a combination Flood Control District with other mountain communities within the county. A great deal of work was done to improve the flood wash below the mouth of Heath Canyon. It was considered a 98% surety that there with be no re-occurrence of such an event for the folks of Wrightwood.  Then came the storm of November 1965.   

On November 22nd and 23rd heavy rain had fallen, some estimated the amount around ten inches. The mountains behind town became saturated and the Pelona Schist failed again, but this time in a whole new place. Just east of Heath Canyon Landslide and adjacent to Wright Mountain...a place that over the years would be referred to as Wright Mountain Scarp. Once a stable steep portion of the mountain, which wasn't as wooded as Heath canyon, it now became a massive mass of sliding gray mud and boulders. The recognizable sound of a huge mudflow was heard once again. Wave after wave of mud and debris came down canyon with a force that made it tear through the prepared flood channel. Resident Glen McKelvey stated, "Boulders were bouncing down the mountain like rubber balls. The roar of the water was deafening!" Lone Pine Canyon Road literally became a sea of mud between Sparrow and Thrust Streets and the flow spread outward, cutting through other street as it continued it's downhill slide. Most of the town's streets became drains for the torrent of water, mud and rocks. Most of the culverts quickly became filled to overfilling with mud and debris as deep dry creek bed were packed solidly with the mud flow. Soon the massive mudflow had no place to go and spread out more, affecting businesses on the north side of Highway 2. By the third day it was over...the gray mud and rock had destroyed seven homes and partially or totally damaged 15 others! Once groomed yards now supported massive amounts of rock and mud. Sparrow Road suffered the most damage, of the seven houses on the block only two survived. And Black Bird Road was only a memory.

[GRAHAM_RANCH]

Once again, much of the community arrived to dig neighbors out and literally saved their homes as the waves and wave of mudflow roared by. Bitter cold was setting in, but that did not stop the helping hand of neighbors. Less than a week later a fine snow covered the area...kind of like a symbolic gesture of erasing the bad to prepare for a fresh start. A new road was cut, houses would soon be built in the stricken area, and more fine tuning of the flood control to the east of Sparrow would be done.

The tally of the damage in the 1965 incident would include more than the destroyed homes. While many of Wrightwood's streets were inundated with mud and rock, the Heath Creek and Sheep Creek areas suffered severe damage. Houses on Orchard Drive (south of Lone Pine) were flooded as well as some north of Lone Pine. The mudflow did not touch everything. The homes between Heath Creek Drive and Sheep Creek Wash were "high and dry", as were the homes southeast of Lone Pine and the homes up on Pinon Mesa. Folks still remember this flood and mudflow being the worst since 1938. Thankfully there were no death or injuries...and quickly the mopping up was being done and village life was getting back to normal.  

It one would stand north of Highway 2, at Lone Pine Canyon Road and Highway 2, they would see the scars of Wrightwood's major flooding when it affected Vincent Fault and Pelona Schist. The bare slide to the left (east) scarp was caused by the November 1965 flooding, it's referred to as the Wright Mountain scarp. To the right-or to the west- is the scarp caused by the May 1941 flooding. It is referred to as the "mudslide", but properly identified as the Heath Canyon Landslide. Both scarps were caused as the heavy rain and snow melt compromised the stability of Pelona Schist.
 
As time passes for this small mountain paradise more rain and snow will fall, with it will always come the mudslides. The most notable time was in 1969, when a steady thaw of a heavy snowpack over a forty day period reactivated the scarf of Wright Mountain (caused by the 1965 flood). A massive mudflow from the saturated mountain brought mud, rocks and debris through the steep channels that affected Lone Pine, Sheep Creek and the Highway 2 bridge.
 

[GRAHAM_RANCH]

On January 5, 1979, a U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service report entitled "The Mudflow -Landslide Hazard at Wrightwood" was submitted by Eugene Kojan, Ph.d. Project Engineering Geologist. It reviewed the condition of scarps left by the major flooding and the tumbling block hazard of Heath Canyon. Since 1941, hazards due to mudflow at Wrightwood has significantly and progressively increased because of the marked increase in slide activity in the area of upper Heath Canyon. The perimeter of the slide zone increased approximately 400 percent and virtually effects all of Heath Canyon and not just the upper parts! To top of the scary news, at the head of the main landslide source area, new failure cracks had developed within 150 feet south of the main crown scrap. That translates into "the whole slide is pretty much fractured and unstable". The rock material along the failure surface has "significant reduced residual strength" undercutting an immediate potential volume of approximately 1.5 million cubic yards!  Kojan reported, "If the large portions of this already failed mass were to be mobilized at once ('comes down', in layman terms), an additional 1.5 to 2 million cubic yards of active slide material could be derived by the mudflow from the western margin on Heath Creek. An additional mass in excess of 10 million cubic yards of potential mudflow material is precariously perched within the old landslide masses just to the east of the present heath Creek main source area."
 
The report gave just two recommendation to prevent the mudslides from causes disastrous results: Construct three large dams at the mouths of Sheep, Heath, and Acorn Canyons which would be large enough to contain any conceivable total volume of landslide-mudslide debris. Such a project in a highly seismically active area would be very costly, perhaps several times the value of the property in Wrightwood. The other alternative is to remove the people and structure that would be destroyed by mudflows. Hey, that idea seems feasible! Not! Try moving folks away from paradise. Like I said before, the blame for all this mess is Vincent's and a flaking gal named Pelona Schist.
 
To those that read this and think that living here is a no-win proposition, think again. People who were here in the 1938, 1941 and 1965 floods still live here. Save and happy like little pups smug in a rug. Over the years, the county flood district has continued to fine tune that flood canal behind town, and the drainage systems that goes around it and into the desert floor to the north. Federal agencies, county emergency details, such as the fire department, even the town council, have formed plans to handle such disasters of the mountain coming down.  Such information is available to you upon request, it is also presented to the community as a whole at different times during the year.  Will the flood and mudslides continue to come? Yup...it's a gravity thing. Praying for rain and snow is encouraged, just pray that it stays in safe amounts. Will we survive the next big one? That's not only up to our emergency services...but it is also up to the people of the community. The major storms of years past had brought out the best of people. Neighbors got out of their comfy couches and warm cabins and ventured into the soggy rain and numbing cold to help their neighbor. I firmly believed that's what helped the town to survive and build its true character. Surviving depends on you, neighbor...and me.
 
A piece of Wrightwood's History, Terry Graham, WW 
 
References:

Wrightwood Mountaineer, Dec. 2, 1965
1941 Heath Mud Slide Showed Village Cooperation, G.S. Corpe
Wrightwood Roots "Your Name is Mud", June 1, 2001
The Sam Bernardino Sun "Flood Buried Many Homes", Dec 2, 1965
U.S.DEPT of Agriculture Project 01601 Report, submitted by Eugene Kojan, PH.D. Project Engineering Geologist, Jan. 2, 1979

[ChrisLynnet]

Thank you once again for your wonderful posts! I always look forward to them.

[Stitches]

Reading your postings is like being transported by some time machine.     I love the history lessons and love the title of this one.   

[GRAHAM_RANCH]

I really appreciate the thoughts from you guys after you read the history entries. I like writing about our history, for there is always someting else to discover. I also encourage any input or corrections. That way the correct story is told. To complete history's picture, input is encouraged.

All the best and thanks,
Terry G

[GRAHAM_RANCH]

I recieved this response from Bev Tillison, daughter of the Baily's who used to own Whispering Pines Trailer park in 1965:

"I vividly remember the mud slide of 65.  I was in 9th grade and all the junior and senior high kids had to stay down on the desert for the night, because the roads were all closed.  The junior highers slept in the gym/auditorium at Imogene Garner Hook Junior High.  I got to work in the office answering phone calls from anxious parents.  We got to watch some Disney cartoons and George Air Force Base supplied us with cots and scratchy, moth-ball-smelling Army (or I guess it was Air Force) blankets.  The High Schoolers were farmed out to homes.  My boyfriend at the time got to stay the night at the home of a teacher that would later become my favority history teacher.  The next day when the roads were sort of opened, we were allowed to leave school early.  I remember that when we reached a part of the road below the dump, the bus driver, Larry Hulme, made everyone get off the bus and watch as he drove across the partly undercut road section.  Then we all walked over it and climbed back in the bus.  I remember that about half of the road was undercut and it was scary.  At our place, we lost some of our back property to the water and I had a couple of friends who lived near the wash who had some water damage."

[Wildman]

I would be very interested in learning more about the early Rangers who worked for the Angeles before it was Forest Service.  They had to be able to pack, shoot, cook 3 meals and live off the land.  I believe the cabin you mention was the home for one of the very first around the turn of the century.