Tehachapi Museum showcases a variety of historical
relics
 |
| The Tehachapi Museum spotlights more than 100
years of local history. |
The Tehachapi
Museum (operated by the Tehachapi Heritage League) offers a great deal of variety in its
exhibits. In it are relics dating from the white man's presence in the area, which began a
little more than 100 years ago; handicrafts and tools used by the indigenous Indians;
evidence of prehistoric animals and dinosaurs and natural history of the area as it is
now.
The reason for this wide range of displays is probably due
to the area's multifaceted history.
From a hunter-gatherer culture of thousands of years ago
developed the Tehachapi Indians known as the Kawaiisu, only a handful of whom still reside
in the area. The museum contains several artifacts and handicrafts from this culture, the
members of whom spent their summers in the mountains and their winters in the deserts
before the white man came.
The first permanent white settlers to the area were
John and Amanda Brite, who came to the Tehachapis in 1854, settling in what's now known as
Brite Valley. They built a sawmill, and made their living in the lumber trade. But in the
years following their arrival, people came with the idea of doing everything from raising
cattle, mining for gold and farming. When rich limestone deposits were discovered, kilns
were built to burn the lime.
The communities of Williamsburg and Greenwich were founded
not far from present-day Tehachapi. But it wasn't until the railroad came through that the
town we know now – named
from the Indian word tah-eechay-pah meaning oaks and springs – grew up around the Southern Pacific's Summit Station (near the Old
Town area of today). Eventually, residents moved to the town's current location, which was
incorporated in 1909.
From these multifarious occupations and locations come
many of the relics housed in the Tehachapi Museum.
There is a plentiful array of practical objects dating
from around the turn of the century and later, such as a horse-drawn plow; horse and oxen
shoes; and domestic items such as dressmaker's pins, medicine bottles, and ornate door
hinges and knobs.
Other relics date from the early 1870s period, when the
Southern Pacific Railroad constructed the Tehachapi Loop. Items used by the Chinese
laborers (who numbered 3,000 at the beginning of the project but who died in scores from
the incredibly harsh working conditions) such as opium tins and a tattered shoe are
available for view.
Visitors to the Tehachapi Museum can also get a look at
the huge femur bone of a prehistoric mammoth and camel tracks dating back 25 million
years, a doctor's 1910 surrey carriage, a Galion Road Grader dating from the early 1900s,
and scores of historical photographs documenting events such as the 1952 Tehachapi
earthquake and the 1932 flood of nearby Keene.
The Museum is open Friday, Saturday and Sunday from noon-4 p.m. Admission is free, but
donations are requested. (Museum hours may be reduced in
winter. Call for November through April hours.) Visit the web site at http://tehachapi.cc/museum/.
The museum is located at 310 South Green St., Tehachapi.
For further information, call (661) 822-8152. |
