The Venita – Life and Death of a Mono Lake Legend
by David A. Wright
Note: Story contains footnotes, listed at bottom of article.

Northbound, 395. North of Lee Vining, Mono Lake fills your windshield. You undoubtedly are having trouble keeping your eyes on the highway, for the scene all around is a grand one. The view encompasses a vista of Grand Old Mono herself, in all her radiant beauty. Her colors change with each passing hour, each passing season. Her palate of colors is immense and so is her size. Her shore line is teaming with vegetation, interesting old buildings and that ever present view.

Viewing the extent of the lake, you may wonder if anyone has ever given thought of launching a boat and navigating her generous proportion. You can just picture it yourself: the craft that you pilot skimming the waves, salty spray and wind in your hair, eyes drinking in the beauty and grandeur that surrounds the open hull.

Over the years of human habitation, man has indeed navigated Mono Lake. Native men paddled along the lake shore in their small dugouts in search of abundant wildlife. With the white men, it started with "Mark Twain's piece of pumice." (1.) Mono navigation then progressed through such vessels as shallow dugouts steered and powered by the likes of Twain (2.) and geologist Israel Russel (3.) ; the Rocket (4.); the Paoha (5.); speedboat racing (6.); to the modern boats of Jungle Labs shrimp catchers and those of a few private citizens.

Northbound, 395. Mono Inn is coming into view. Something for an instant catches your eye, off to the right. It is something so close, yet so far. What is it? There ... there it is again ... something flashing teasingly through the willows near the road. Maybe it is one of those horses grazing near the shore. There ... no ... it's not a horse, it appears to be a giant skeleton! If curiosity implores you to stop your car, get out and have a look see, you will indeed find a skeleton of sorts. Those curious enough to craw through barbed wire, willow thickets and mud can see this skeleton face to face. No, you will not find the bones of a once living creature, but wooden bone of what was once an animate creation. These remains are those of a boat, a fairly large one.

This boat had a name and a history here at Mono Lake. Her name was Venita (7.), christened with that name after the mother of her owner. Venita used to merrily skim the waters of Mono Lake, under the expert guidance of Wallis McPherson. Wally grew up on Mono Lake, literally. He lived much of his young life out there on Paoha Island. He grew to know the lake well, and her nautical wonders and hijinks. He had to, as boats were the only way to the mainland and civilization (8.).

Venita the boat was a fairly big gal: thirty-four feet long, and ten feet wide. Her skeleton was made of 1½" oak; to protect her from the alkaline waters of Mono, she was skinned with 3/4" spruce planking. Her stamina and speed was due to her Ford V-8 heart (9.). She was not very big as ocean going vessels go, but she was hefty compared to her inland counterparts that piddle around the Eastern Sierra Lakes then and now.

The Venita began her life at Mono as an empty hull. Wally dressed her out to his specifications. He set her course on the lake as a pleasure craft, to take folks on a cruise of the lake and to her islands. She could safely haul 36 persons. Those 36 fortunate people were able to view a different Mono Lake than those of us today; for then diversions of her feeder streams had only begun, and she was not yet the emaciated lake that we know today. But ferrying "safely" those 36 passengers is a relative term on Mono Lake, for Mono has many tricks up her sleeves weather wise. Those familiar with life on Mono Lake know that seemingly in an instant, she can unleash wind driven fury, agitating the sea, angry, foamy, deadly. Often Mono can be playful, and many have a time or two gotten a friendly splash or a dousing. But Venita has contended many times with Mono at her worst (10.). She has been called upon to search and rescue those who became victims and statistics of the wrath of an angry lake.

During her brief lifetime, the lake has tried to maim and kill her. Once it crippled her, later it killed her. Once a whirlwind came ashore and turned the Venita from a watercraft into an aircraft, sending her 150 feet from her moorings. This wrecked her cabin, forcing the Venita to go topless the rest of her days (11.). Finally, Venita's death came in 1950. Death by storm seemed her lot, as Mono's fury sent her again flying, wrecking her beyond repair (12.).

To this day, Venita can be seen by those with sharp eyes from the highway. For those willing to spend a few minutes crawling through the fence, willows and mud, a close up inspection of Venita will show her to be fast deteriorating. She pretty much looks like an oversized, overturned rowboat, having lost most of her spruce skin. Scattered junk and the remains of her now high and dry launching facilities make up the rest of her final resting place (13.). Sight along the launch track nearby: this track was once under water. Now water laps at the decimated shore, an expansive gap between that of Venita's lifetime and now. As for Wally McPherson, now living in Bridgeport, he tells me that he has a difficult time even looking at the emaciated lake as he drives by.

Inside the Schoolhouse Museum at Lee Vining, one will find the wheel that once felt the hands of Wallis McPherson as he guided her, and the prop that once thrashed the waters of Mono Lake to the 8-cylinder tune of one of Henry Ford's fine flatheads. Thoughts of raising what is left of Venita from her grave and placing her on display at the Schoolhouse Museum are being entertained (14.). So if you have wondered at the feasibility of navigating Mono's waters, remember that it all started with Mark Twain's floating pumice, and still continues to this day. The remains of Venita will give you a glimpse of the last of the great boats of Mono Lake.

FOOTNOTES TO ARTICLE:
1. Quote from Wallis McPherson, during interview with the author, February 11, 1991. For further details, see Twain's book Roughing It, pages 201 - 209.

2. ROUGHING IT, Pages 201 - 209.

3. Israel Russel was a prominent state geologist of the nineteenth century, extensively explored Mono Basin during the 1880's. See the Mono Lake Guidebook, 1st edition, page 93 (photo).

4. A steamer used on Mono Lake during the construction of the Bodie & Benton Railway. Her dimensions were 32 feet long, 8 feet wide. Her engine puffed out 12 horsepower. She was famous during the attempted assault on Chinese construction workers, when it was used to take them to the safety of Paoha Island. See the book Mining Camp Days, by Emil Billeb, pages 44 - 46. Most books on Bodie that deal with railroad construction have at least mention of this episode.

5. The Paoha was one of the McPherson family's first excursion boats. Purchased in 1919, brought by railroad to Benton Station (see McPherson photos). She was nearly 35 feet long, powered by a two cylinder Sterling Marine engine. It later caught fire and was replaced by the Venita.

6. MONO LAKE GUIDEBOOK, page 104 (photo).

7. A photo of her sans cabin appears in the book MAN FROM MONO, by Lily Mathieu, page 18.

8. Author's Interview with Wally McPherson, February 11, 1991. Also see The Album Magazine, January 1990, article entitled "Mono Inn: A Grand Old Lady," by Barbara Moore, pages 36 - 39. Also see The Album, July 1991, article entitled "Paoha: Island of Shattered Dreams," by Barbara Moore, pages 40 - 49.

9. Specifications of the Venita given to author during interview with Wallis McPherson, February 11, 1991.

10. The Album, July 1991.

11. McPherson interview, February 11, 1991.

12. The Album, January 1990.

13. Author explored the boat and its launch site February 1991.

14. Proposal was mentioned to author during a telephone conversation with Lily Mathieu on June 16, 1993. She mentioned that it was discussed with other Mono Basin Historical Society Members, friends and neighbors in Mono Basin, but so far it has been met with little interest.

Photos of the Venita and Her Predecessors

©1993, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 D.A. Wright
All Rights Reserved

Revised: 06/19/2007