Long-time Morongo Basin residents may remember seeing the desert tortoise Moses ambling around the Hi-Desert Nature Museum in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Managing editor Tami Roleff has more information about Moses in this historical highlight…
“Because of his age, he was actually here to kind of see the beginnings of Yucca Valley. He might have been around when Chuck Warren was digging his well.”
Vanessa Cantu, the Hi-Desert Nature Museum registrar, said the museum’s founder, Evelyn Conklin, brought in Moses to be part of the live animal exhibit. Moses wandered freely around the museum and posed for photos with visitors. There’s some debate over whether people were forbidden to touch him or whether they could ride on his back.
Moses was estimated to be between 80 and 100 years old when he died in 1973. The museum sent him off to be freeze-dried, which is how tortoises are preserved for display. But then the museum couldn’t afford the $95 to redeem him, and a fundraising campaign started to raise the money.
We do have some record that people were donating $2 at a time, $5 was the big ticket.”
Stephanie Ritter, the museum’s program supervisor, said long-time residents remember Moses.
“Kids that grew up here ask if he’s still around. He comes up several times a year when people come and ask about him.”
Moses is still on display at the museum. Check him out when the museum re-opens.
