#MyCalifornia: The Mojave Megaphone
Why? Why is this 500-pound, 8-foot long hunk of welded steel firmly mounted atop a 100-foot tall pile of rocks in the heart of the Mojave?
"The Heart of the Mojave". See? I don't make this stuff up 😉
We drove out to the elusive GPS coordinates discovered by my hubby to see this emblem of desert chaos magic for ourselves.
Leaving Afton Canyon via the creosote flats and Crucero, CA: a ghost town.
Crucero, California is a ghost town in San Bernardino County, California. It was located at the junction of the Union Pacific Railroad (originally the Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad) and the Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad. Originally named Epsom, it was renamed in 1910 for the Spanish word for crossing.[2] A post office existed at Crucero from 1911 to 1917 and from 1922 to 1943.[3] Following the abandonment of the T&T, the settlement was also abandoned.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crucero,_California
We continued straight down that long, lonely road, toward an outcropping of dark patina boulders rising up from a white mineral floor.
The Mojave Megaphone is mounted on the lowest of the three peaks:
We gave it a climb. The trail started off fairly easy, but then became more and more of a scramble to get to the top. I handed over my phone for @mattlovell to claim the summit while I dealt with a fierce wave of vertigo.
He made it! The dog made it several times! And then I faced my fears, calmed my tits, and bagged that itty bitty peak of rocks myself. Pic to prove it above, whee!
So, yay for accomplishing this legendary desert goal, but we were still no closer to learning why the heck is this thing out there???
Today before posting, I found this blog which sums up everything I knew about the Mojave Megaphone from guidebooks and Explorers of the Mojave lore. http://armchairtravelogue.blogspot.com/2013/01/mysterious-mojave-megaphone.html?m=1. People have guessed it to be a prank, a piece of artwork, or even a drumcircler's dream come true.
Then wow, look at this!
http://www.in-the-desert.com/Mojave_Megaphone.html
These folks have a very plausible argument that "The Mojave Megaphone is a siren." They show how a handcranked air raid siren could be fitted up and employed to warn train conductors and/or the citizens of Crucero that a test of a chemical weapon was incoming!
No wonder Crucero is now a ghost town. Do The Hills Have Eyes?
Time to evacuate ourselves from the Heart of the Mojave once more, this time via Broadwell Dry Lake and the Cady Mountains.
Relax or meditate for a 6 minute drive over a desert playa.
My Mojave dream. #MyCalifornia.
Love,cat
@creationofcare
I'm going with art piece. The welding quality was amateur (not necessarily bad, but not professional level), and the gussets and 'fins' don't seem structurally necessary. They seem more decorative than anything. The mounts also seem more decorative than anything...
It's an art-spiracy!!!