From then to Now
Excerpt from Where the Road Ends, Havasu Palms...Recipes & Remembrances
For the first three years at Havasu Palms, my parents spent behind the
scene time attempting to negotiate with the BLM for a long-term lease,
in order to secure developing funding. While they waited for the
elusive long term lease, and continued to pour thousands of dollars into
a master plan, there were day to day tasks that needed to be done, and
since there was very little extra cash, those tasks fell to family and
often to friends
Every service at Havasu
Palms was supplied by the resort. The water system, sewer system,
trash disposal, and road maintenance fell on Havasu Palms management.
It seemed in those early years (and sometimes even now) that water pipes
needed to be repaired on a daily basis, sewer lines needed continual
unclogging, and the trash was picked up by barrel.
My
sister, Lynn, and I took control of the store. We scooped water
dogs, counted minnows and night crawlers, cut 25 pound blocks of ice,
and in the summer, took dips in the lake between customers. The
first season we painted the store a dull tan and adorned its front with
brightly colored hippie
flowers. Lynn remove the disgusting fish
heads from the tool shack and began hauling debris from the store via a
small red wagon. She had just graduated midterm from high school
and plan to attend college in the fall
Walt and
my cousin, Rod Wilkerson, began clearing away the trail of junk along
the roadside. When Dad wasn’t repairing antiquated tractors and
trucks he was clearing away brush for campsites and repairing boat
docks. Caroline not only shared in the office work, she cooked for
the crew and worked alongside Dad clearing campsites and doing whatever
needed to be done.
In those
days we had camping, and registration took place in the store. If
it was a holiday weekend, campers would often register from dusk till
dawn. There was something exciting about sitting on the store's
stone porch at 2 a.m. watching the people and making friends during the
hectic Easter holidays of the late 60s and early 70s..
It was a bit
terrifying for my mother, who was shy, to be placed behind the store
counter and forced to deal with customers. Yet, she had the help
of family and old friends like Margaret and George Wilkerson, Elmer and
Aggie County, Gene and Margaret Mushinskie, and new Havasu friends like
Oma and Aubrey Head, Joy and Leon Weatherhead, Charlie and Ordelia
Lloyd, and Pearl O’Malley.
The long term
lease never materialized, major funding was never a possibility, and so
the original master-planned was abandoned and Walt moved forward,
drawing his own plans, digging his own ditches and building his dream
with his own two hands. Crucial to the developments that were made
was the assistance Walt received from one Havasu Palms owner, Walt's
partner and cousin in law, Luanne Paul King, who helped obtain private
development financing from her family.
By 1973
Havasu Palms added a hundred mobile home sites. Two years later
another 27 sites were developed. The new store was completed by
Easter of 1978. I recall hanging wallpaper just hours before the
beginning of the holiday week.
In 1981
Walt completed Road’s End Restaurant. Not only did he designed and
build the building, he bartended and cooked. Together, with
Caroline, Walt designed the menu and developed the business into one of
the most popular restaurants in the Havasu area.
Walt
died of congestive heart failure on December 10, 1992. Even now,
as I write this in 1995, I often hear Walt stories at the bar.
Although the stories are a bit exaggerated, they tell of a generous man
who could tackle any task; he was an inventor, problem solver, builder,
master chef and bartender, and had one hell of a sense of humor.
When
the leasehold was turned over to the tribe in 1974 Havasu Palms was
promised a long-term lease if they didn't contest the land transfer.
Yet a new lease wasn't secured until 1984 and that was for a 10 year
lease with a five-year option. Since being placed on the
reservation, Havasu Palms and its tenets no longer have all of their
constitutional rights and must abide by the dictates of the Chemehuevi
Tribe without the benefit of any representation.
As I write this the lease term is about to come to an end, there is a
little less than four years remaining. My husband, Don and I, now
manage Havasu Palms. The Corporation continues to negotiate with
the tribe for a new lease, yet the outcome is uncertain.
Without with or without a lease our family has no regrets. It has
been one hell of a ride, one hell of an adventure. We've met
wonderful people forge lasting relationships and the stories we could
tell!
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.