The Barstow-Daggett Airport is a friendly laid-back airport with two long and well-maintained runways. Yet, in spite of this, there are only a few member comments about the Barstow-Daggett Airport on the AOPA's Airport Directory Web site. Why? It's probably because most pilots stop at Barstow-Daggett only to refuel. Another reason is that the airport is located 10 miles east of the town of Barstow. Pilots who have stopped at Barstow-Daggett always talk about the sound of the wind as it whips down Runway 26.
The wind does whistle across the Barstow-Daggett Airport but that shouldn't stop pilots from stopping in for a look around. There's more in the Barstow-Daggett area than just good prices on 100LL.
Prevailing winds
It's easy to see why the wind gets all worked up at the Barstow-Daggett Airport.
Prevailing winds scurry eastward across the Antelope Valley — home to Edwards Air Force Base — before being funneled down to squeeze through the small valley formed eons ago by the Mojave River. The towns of Barstow and Daggett and the Barstow-Daggett Airport are adjacent to that river-bed; hence, the winds do have a tendency to move with uncommon vigor through the area.
According to wind data published by the National Climatic Data Center, the highest average wind speeds in the Barstow-Daggett area peak out at 14 mph (12 knots) in the months of April, May, and June. Peak-gust data for the towns are missing, but data for Edwards Air Force Base — 35 miles west of Barstow — show that peak gusts of 60 mph (52 knots) are recorded every month of the year. So wind is a fact of life in the Barstow-Daggett area.
Ron Hamm took over operation of the airport FBO in 1981. He's still there. Ron Jr. and his brother Al make up the rest of the friendly airport staff. The cost of fuel is reasonable, and there is always a wide selection of snacks and cold drinks in the FBO office. The telephone number for Barstow-Daggett's automated surface observation system is 760/254-3630.
Hangars are available if desired, but existing structures effectively block the prevailing winds from the transit airplane tiedowns.
The airport is six miles east of Daggett and 10 miles east of Barstow. Visitors who want to visit the town of Calico, or other local attractions, should contact Enterprise Rent-A-Car at 760/256-0761. It is the only car rental agency that will pick up at the airport.
Ghost town
"This is the town of Calico,
A town that used to be,
Up among the bright colored hills,
Above an old dead sea,
Where the wind blows the sand in mounds,
And the canyons return the echoing sounds." — Lucy Bell Lane
Lucy Bell Lane lived in Calico for 67 years. She married John Lane in 1892 when she was 18, and they opened a grocery store in Calico, a boom-and-bust silver-mining town that's located 10 miles northeast of Barstow.
Between 1881 and 1907, $86 million in silver and $45 million in borate minerals (borax) were mined from Calico-area mines with names such as Silver King, Waterloo, Garfield, Oriental, Bismarck, and Maggie. Soon after the profitable silver mining ended in 1896, the town's population — and John and Lucy Lane — moved on.
In 1916 the Lanes returned to Calico to live out the rest of their lives. Today the Lane House and Museum, where the Lane family lived, is open for tours.
Save for the noise of the wind, and the quiet sounds generated by the daily living chores of Lucy Bell Lane and just a few others, the town was silent until Walter Knott bought it in 1951.
Knott, the founder of the world-famous Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park, California, restored the town before donating it to San Bernardino County in 1966. In 2001 the county opened the 480-acre regional park to the public. Campsites as well as six camping cabins and a large bunkhouse are available for extended visits. Arrangements can be made by calling 800/862-2542. Visitors can go underground and walk the shaft — called a drift or adit — of the Maggie Mine, take a self-guided walking tour, or sit in the shade and wait for the hourly re-enactment of a gunfight in front of the town jail. The town of Calico is a California registered historic landmark.
Barstow — a Route 66 stop
Barstow and Daggett are located on one of the oldest trails in the western United States. The Mojave Trail, a route that Native Americans used to travel west to the Pacific Ocean from their homeland along the Colorado River, passes nearby. This route was also traveled by Spanish Franciscan priest and explorer Francisco Garces in 1776, and later by mountain man Jedediah Smith, who was the first American to enter California through the then-forbidden Mojave Desert in 1826. Forty-niners and settlers also drove west on this route, which became known as the National Old Trails Road. The road later became Route 66, gaining fame with a song by Bobby Troup, Get Your Kicks on Route 66, which was made popular by Nat King Cole in 1946.
There's a Route 66 museum as well as the Western America Railroad Museum in a historic railroad building adjacent to downtown Barstow.
The magnificent Casa del Desierto — also known as the Harvey House — was designed by Francis W. Wilson and incorporated Spanish Moorish influences. Built in 1911 and operated by master host Fred Harvey, this striking structure was one of the links in the chain of sumptuous hotel and dining establishments spaced along the railroad tracks from coast to coast.
The Desert Discovery Center and the Mojave River Valley Museum are also in Barstow. The Desert Discovery Center is the home of the Old Woman Meteorite — the second-largest meteorite ever found in the United States. It was found in the Old Woman Mountains of San Bernardino County. This 6,000-pound rock is composed mostly of iron and was discovered in 1975.
The Mojave Valley Museum showcases scientific, historic, and cultural heritage information of the Mojave River Valley Native Americans.
The best time to visit is during the winter months when air temperatures cool off and the winds calm somewhat. This crossroads has been at the center of human activity for hundreds of years. Land and soak up a California desert history lesson.
E-mail the author at [email protected].
Links to additional information about the Barstow-Daggett area may be found on AOPA Online.
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