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MEET THE SPANGLER BROTHERSSeventeen miles south of Trona, on the Trona railroad, there's a whistleStop named Spangler.... nothing much there but a siding and a lonely water tanksurrounded by sagebrush and sand. To the east lies the sidewinder mountains;and a couple of miles to the west, the mountains that are honeycombed by thediggings of many a miner, are known as the Spangler Mining District. It isthere at the Spangler Mine that the sun is setting on the mining career of theSpangler Brothers — Daniel Rea Spangler, born September 28, 1864; and StonewallJackson (Tony) Spangler born September 28, 1866.The brothers originally farmed on what was then known as the great DelanoPlain over in the San Joaquin Valley. In the year 1896, crops were poor, sothey decided to give up farming and try their hand at prospecting; they outfit-ted a four-mule team wagon, which included a 160-gallon water tank. On thefirst day of August, they headed out for the Panamint Mountains where a miningboom was then in progress, in the Ballarat District.The route they traveled was over the Greenhorn Mountains down throughKernville and then on through Walker Pass. Six days after leaving Delano,theywere camped at the present site of Spangler. It was there they found theirfirst gold, and where they ran out of water, but, as though by an act of God, acloudburst came and they managed to fill their tank with muddy water. As theiroriginal destination was Ballarat and the Panamints, they started on, travelingaround Searles Lake on the east side and came to what was known as the Tanks,situated near where Kings Ranch is now located.John Searles owned the "Tanks" and water flowed from springs up in theArgus Mountains. The water was used principally for his cattle and his boraxmining on Searles Lake.It was there that Rea and Tony Spangler first met John Searles and hisson. Searles had them dump their muddy water and fill their tank with hismountain spring water. They traveled on to Ballarat and the Panamints wherethey prospected for a few days, but not finding any ore as good as they haddiscovered at Spangler. They returned to their claims and the district whichbears their name; and there they mined off and on for over forty-five years.Tony and Rea's father, Daniel Spangler, came to California fromPennsylvania by way of the Isthmus of Panama in 1850. He first settled in theFeather River Country and worked as a gold miner. After the boom was over, hemoved to Tulare County and married and settled down. It was there where Tonyand Rea were born, five miles north of the town of Hanford. The two sons saythat their father made a trip back to the east coast once, sailing around theHorn. He fought In the Mexican War and in later years built the railroad fromGoshen Junction to Visalia. He died in 1886.Both brothers have had many a thrilling adventure and a brush with deathis nothing unusual for them. At one time, Rea drove an eighteen-mule teamhauling freight from Johannesburg to Ballarat; a wagon and two trailer wagonswere used and twenty tons of freight could be hauled.The old Searles borax plant was being dismantled at this time and Rea, onhis return trip from Ballarat would haul a load of machinery to Johannesburg.Rea says the machinery was shipped from there to a borax works in Death Valley,One time when Rea was going down the north side of the Slate Rangecrossing alone and with a heavy load of freight, the rear wagon broke loose andwas partly over the grade and off the road. Unhitching his team he drove themback and hooked on the trailer wagon; rolling it back up the road he maneuveredit as
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I am Margaret Pipkin Brush, the daughter of George C. Pipkin. I am the owner of Murchison Publications and this company is the owner of all of the writings of George C. Pipkin. This web posting is NOT AUTHORIZED and is in violation of the ownership rights of Murchison Publications. This posting must be removed IMMEDIATELY to avoid legal action.
I am an heir of George Pipkin! He is my great grandpa and I know my grandma Margaret "Lit" Brush has been working very hard to get the original Desert Sands published, which is why this post concerns me, especially if this site is making money off of posts like this.