Kelso Jail -- Mojave National Preserve, Kelso CA
N 35° 00.740 W 115° 39.156
11S E 622937 N 3875239
The old Kelso Jail, now on permanent display near the Kelso Depot
Waymark Code: WMQVP7
Location: California, United States
Date Posted: 04/01/2016
Views: 4
The steel-strap Kelso jail, which used to be encased in a corrugated tin shelter, at the Kelso Depot Visitor Center in the middle of the Mojave National Preserve.
An interprestive sign nearby reads as follows:
"KELSO JAIL
From the mid-1940s to 1985, this two–cell scrap-steel jail was used to confine drunks and other unruly individuals for a night or two. The jail's original location was west of the Kelso Depot on the far side of Kelbaker Road; the jail’s cement pad foundation can still be found there.
The jail was removed from Kelso in 1985, the same year that Union Pacific closed the Kelso Depot. It ended up in the backyard of Ron and K Mahoney and Barstow, California. Two decades later, K, Mahoney donated it to the National Park Service when the Kelso Depot reopened as a Visitor Center in 2005.
[photo]
Richard Klepper grew up in Kelso, and remembers when the jail first arrived around 1944:
“before that, the constable uses a reefer car for jail… In those days, Kelso was loaded with drunks from both the (Vulcan) mine and Union Pacific.”
A corrugated tin shack was built around the open jail to tech prisoners from the sun and rain. Prisoners rarely spent more than one night in jail.
During World War II, employees of nearby Vulcan Iron Ore Mine lived in rows of trailers on the north side of the tracks."
Address:
Kelso Depot
Mojave national Preserve
Kelso, CA
Open to the public: Yes
Hours:
9am-6pm daily
Fees?:
No fee, to my knowledge
Web link: Not listed
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Visit Instructions:
In order to add a new log to the waymark of this category, simply take another photo of the prison from a different angle than the other posts. Also add to the history of the jail when possible.