Old Mammoth

Mammoth Lakes, now a famous mountain resort, lies in a broad opening in the Sierra Nevada's steep eastern front, about 180 miles due east of San Francisco, and 300 miles north of Los Angeles. Mammoth Lakes had its beginnings in a small village called simply "Mammoth," and later "Old Mammoth," located in the large meadow that borders Mammoth Creek.

Although both the time and the places that were Old Mammoth vanished long ago, both have lived on -- in memories, in stories told by the older to the younger, in faded pictures, and in yellowed scrapbooks. Now these memories and stories from dozens of people are gathered together in the pages of Old Mammoth for all to enjoy and cherish. At every turn of a page, words bring back the times, and photographs bring back the places that were Old Mammoth. Thanks to this lively and handsome book, Old Mammoth will continue to live on. And, although the village disappeared from there long ago, the meadow area will continue to be known as Old Mammoth.

For this book, Adele Reed has gathered an outstanding collection of old photographs. They date from the 1940s back to the 1890s. Most have come from Old Mammoth pioneer families -- from old albums, trunks, or boxes passed from one generation to the next. Although some are faded and some scratched, they are priceless records of times past.

The most unusual are the rare prints from four photographers who began their work in the eastern Sierra in the early years: Andrew A. Forbes (1902), Harry W. Mendenhall (ca 1910), Burton Frasher (1920s), and Stephen H. Willard (1923). The collection includes marvelous photographs of old cars, many identified by make and year. Some picture a Los Angeles to Mammoth three-day auto trip in 1914. Another fascinating group of photographs, from Dave McCoy's collection, depicts the beginning of Mammoth's ski industry, in the 1930s and 1940s, on McGee and Mammoth Mountains. The generous number of Stephen Willard's exquisite landscape photographs adds immensely to the book's beauty and value. His photographs of Mammoth's lakes and mountains have yet to be surpassed.

Adele Reed and her husband, Bill, lived in Mammoth from 1927 to 1948, then moved to Bishop, California. Over the years, she amassed an astonishing collection of photographs, souvenirs, letters, stories, memories, old bottles, and hundreds of other items of historic interest. Reed was the author of six other books on local history and collectibles, as well as many articles for the Bishop newsletter.