Ghost Towns of Route 66 (21 page)
Read Ghost Towns of Route 66 Online
Authors: Jim Hinckley
Remnants of Yucca's past line the north and south sides of Interstate 40 and are accessed from exit 25.
CALIFORNIA
In the café in Essex, tourists no longer seek respite from the blazing sun, nor do truckers warm their hands around a cup of joe.
The Santa Fe Railway depot in Goffs is a 2008 replica that houses the Mojave Desert Heritage & Cultural Association.
I
N THE
G
OLDEN
S
TATE,
the ghost towns of Route 66 appear as forlorn, weathered islands in a sea of harsh, forbidding desert landscapes. Only a thin line of pockmarked asphalt tethers them tenuously to the modern era and keeps them from vanishing unnoticed beneath the desert sands.
Most were never more than rustic, roughhewn places that offered only the most rudimentary of services, but to travelers on the old double six they were literally lifesaving oases. Others were once teeming, modern communities with bright and prosperous futures.
For all of the townsâwhether outposts built upon the needs of the motorist or mining and railroad centers that morphed into roadside boomtownsâRoute 66 was their lifeblood. They mirrored the highway then, and they mirror it today with dusty, sunbaked streets and empty cafés, garages, and motels.
GOFFS
B
YPASSED BY REALIGNMENT
in late 1931, Goffs was an early casualty of the societal evolution that led to the demise of Route 66. This bypass proved to be the final blow for the remote community whose foundation was as a transportation hub. In retrospect, Goffs was the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come for countless towns along Route 66.
The establishment of Goffs exemplifies the old adage that with real estate, three things are crucial: location, location, location. From Needles on the Colorado River or from the depths of the Mojave Desert valleys to the west, the site for Goffs was the top of the hill. For the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1883, this made it an ideal place for a siding, water, and fuel stop. As mining and ranching developed in the surrounding regions and the railroad expanded to meet these needs, Goffs' prominence and importance grew.
The discovery of major silver and gold deposits in Searchlight, Nevada, spawned the 1893 creation of a short line, the Nevada Southern Railway, which linked the mines there with the main line at Goffs. The California Eastern Railroad and eventually the Santa Fe Railroad operated this line until its discontinuance in 1923.
The railroad needed water, which meant that, at regular distances across the dry desert, sidings with wells were established. As a result, early automobile roads and highways closely followed the railroad's path across the harsh desert plains.
This placed Goffs in an enviable position during the teens. Not only was the town the site for an important rail switching yard, it was also a junction for the National Old Trails Highway and the Arrowhead Highway. The latter was the primary road connecting Los Angeles with Salt Lake City in Utah.
At the Schoolhouse Outdoor Museum Trail in Goffs, the setting may be staged, but the props are authentic.
Jim Hinckley
Reflecting the town's prominence as a transportation hub was the mission-style schoolhouse built of lumber and stucco in 1914. In addition to the eight-hundred-square-foot classroom that doubled as an auditorium for community dances and church services, the building featured a library and two covered porches.
The slide into oblivion began in the early 1920s, first with abandonment of the short line to Searchlight and then with consolidation of railroad service in Needles and Barstow. The commissioning of U.S. 66 that followed the path of the National Old Trails Highway across the desert was but a temporary ray of hope for the remote desert town; five years later, realignment to the south along the present path of Interstate 40 left the town high and dry.
Follow Interstate 40 west from Needles to exit 133, the junction with U.S. Highway 95, and turn north toward Las Vegas. Just south of the railroad crossing, turn right to go west on Goffs Road. This is the pre-1931 alignment of Route 66.
A plaque commemorates forgotten Goffs' role in World War II.
Jim Hinckley
By 1937, the population no longer warranted a school, and the town quickly slipped toward becoming a footnote in the long history of the Mojave Desert. Fittingly, the old schoolhouse, once the crown jewel of a progressive community, played a key role in the next chapter of the town's history.
During World War II, large swaths of the formidable desert became a stage for the largest war games training center in history as General George S. Patton prepared his troops for the invasion of North Africa. The temporary population of Goffs ebbed and flowed as the army garrisoned soldiers in the area, dismantled abandoned buildings to use for fuel in wood-burning stoves, and transformed the schoolhouse into a mess hall to feed thousands of troops.
After the war, the town again slipped into a deep slumber, and the old schoolhouse became a private residence, a purpose it served until 1954. After its abandonment, the schoolhouse became a habitat for pack rats and snakes seeking shelter from the blazing sun. Vandals and the harsh desert climate quickly transformed the once stately edifice into ruins that mirrored the town around it.
On most days, the wind through the greasewood, the creaking of the windmill, and an occasional barking dog are the only sounds heard in Goffs.
The schoolhouse's resurrection began in 1982 with the vision of Jim and Bertha Wold, employees of the OX Ranch north of Goffs. After purchasing the property, the Wolds stabilized the old schoolhouse, which was literally on the verge of collapse with most of the east wall gone and the roof sagging by several feet.
The next and most amazing chapter in the history of this forlorn, forgotten little town, surrounded by some of the most inhospitable landscape in America, came with the acquisition of the property by Dennis and Jo Ann Casebier. Their passionate stewardship, leadership, and hard labor have, with the assistance of countless volunteers, transformed the old schoolhouse and the ghost town of Goffs into one of the most astounding and, perhaps, most overlooked treasures on Route 66.
