The Airstrip
Excerpt from
Where the Road Ends, Havasu Palms...Recipes &
Remembrances
Havasu Palms' 2300 foot airstrip was built around 1945 by Bob Orchard
and his son-in-law, Glenn Sanderson. Located on a portion of land,
adjacent to Havasu Palms' original leasehold on the alleged Chemehuevi
Indian Reservation, tribal members were unhappy with the airstrip which
they believed trespassed on their property.
Having no desire to allow its tenants or customers to continue
trespassing, Havasu Palms eventually began leasing a portion of the
reservation from the tribe, which included the airstrip. The
airstrip never provided income for Havasu Palms, yet it proved to be a
valuable transportation alternative for tenants, who disliked the
primitive access road. Although this road originally traveled over
the airstrip, Walt Johnson realigned it in the early 1970s.
A land at your own risk airstrip, most local pilots understand that all
landings must begin from the lake and head to the mountains. While
all take offs must be made from the mountains and head over the lake.
In over 30 years the strip has been the site of three airplane
accidents.
The first occurred in the early 1970s, when a pilot decided to take off
in the wrong direction, towards the mountains. The plane installed
and landed on its tail. Both pilot and passenger were cut from the
plane and transported to a hospital. The outcome was never
revealed Havasu Palms. A second crash occurred with no injuries.
The third crash took place during autumn of 1995. Both pilot and
passenger were seriously injured, but survived.
In the early 1970s, as Havasu Palms struggle to secure a long-term lease
from the BLM, Walt was forced to fall back on his previous occupation.
Winchell donut House contracted him to build three donut houses.
To enable Walt to commute to the job sites, and returned to Havasu Palms
for the weekends, he learned to fly.
For about a year the weekly task and responsibilities of Havasu Palms
fell exclusively on Caroline, as Walt commuted via airplane to and from
the job sites. There were no full-time tenants during this time,
and Caroline often found herself completely alone in Havasu Palms.
Their daughter, Bobbi, was still attending high school, and would
often stay over in Lake Havasu city with friends.
One of Walt's instructors was Joe Sheble from Blythe California who
eventually became a good friend. Later in the 1990s a common sight
in Havasu Palms Marina gas dock was the refueling of one of the seaplanes
owned by Joe Sheble Jr.
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: Havasu Palms’ lease with the Chemehuevi Tribe expired in 1999. The Tribe, which refused to negotiate with Havasu Palms for a new lease, seized much of Havasu Palms’ personal property in 1999 – a direct violation of terms set forth in the lease between the two parties. Havasu Palms Inc. went to Federal Arbitration with the Tribe, and although the judgment was in favor of Havasu Palms, the federal government later set aside the judgment, stating it was not in the best interest of the Tribe.