I loved to ski, and my favorite mountain is Mammoth, California.
When a friend owned a condo, I also skied the perfectly groomed slopes at Deer
Valley. Deer Valley is skiing as life style, while Mammoth Mountain is skiing
as sport. As I get older, my preference seems to be sliding toward lifestyle.
When I was talking about our winter ski plans with my
brother-in-law, we got to talking about Lee Vining, a tiny village of about 200
hardy residents just north of Mammoth. The town is named after a miner who
founded the encampment in 1852. By 1857, Vining was the town’s leading citizen,
owning the sole sawmill that provided crucial timber for shafts and buildings.
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| Perhaps Mr. Wayne had not heard this story. |
The town wasn’t named after Vining because of his pioneering
spirit or philanthropic Last Will and Testament; it was named after him because he shot
himself to death in nearby Aurora, Nevada. The story I heard was that he was
drunk in a saloon and somehow the pistol tucked in his waistband went off.
Everybody jumped because no one knew where the shot had come from or where it
went. Vining just stood there a minute and then stumbled outside. There, he
fell into the street and bled-out from a fatal wound to his most private
parts.
Granted, this is a wretched story with a sad ending, but the
silver lining is that in 1953, the town honored their fallen champion by naming
the town after him. Actually, Lee Vining Creek and Lee Vining Canyon have
served as the eastern gateway to Yosemite National Park for nearly a century.
I’d love to be remembered down through the ages with my name
plastered on a town, mountain or post office, but Vining’s price seems steep. Maybe
I’ll just try to win the lottery so a grateful UCLA will name a building after
me.