To: Our many Pioneer Friends From: J. Shelton Gordon and Viola F. Gordon Subject: Our appreciation for your help in getting this small work to becoming a reality.

   Dear Friends: The writer wishes to thank the people that have sent in their contributions to this small work. It is hoped that it will be of value to them as well as their families and also as a small contribution to the history of the area.

   Letters were sent out several times asking for stories, reminiscences and facts about the days before 1950. Many have answered, many have not. Those who answered are offered our heartfelt thanks. Those who did not answer are freely forgiven as the writer knows himself how hard it is to put aside the cares of today and put down on paper the personal history of yesterday. However, one does not feel that anyone that wanted to contribut was left out. Requests were also published in the Antelope Valley Press so this effort has had real good publicity and coverage, for well over a year.

   With the exception of three articles (which were told to the writer and written by him) the letters are in the first person. Thus the facts are real and authentic. Unless in some cases it was hard to decipher the handwriting, and a small mistake has been made. If this has happened we ask your forgiveness. If anyone has any correction, you always have access to the "Letters to the Editor" thus making your corrections of record.

   Also this work may inspire the contributors to write letters to the editor about other happenings that they had not thought of at the time. Then again persons that did not contribute to this work may like to send in letters to the paper and have them printed that will add to the work that is reflected in this small collection.

   For some unknown reason the writer seemed to be urged and almost compelled to get going and get this compilation of letters together. No one else to date had seemed to have done it, so it just seemed to be the right thing to do. If one had realized at the start how much time, effort and money was going to have to be spent to get this much done it probably would have seemed to be too large a task. But now it is done and this compilation of letters, reminiscences and stories is being turned over to Victoria Maris of Broker's Co-Op for reproduction and binding. Her help has been of great value in arranging the format and general layout. It is very much appreciated.

   In getting into this work and trying to finalize it the writer has realized that only the surface has been scratched, so to speak. There are so many more articles that could and should be written by "The Old Timers" while they are still with us. Perhaps this effort will inspire others to cover the subject more completely. It would seem that the most valuable lesson from the response from these "Old Timers" has been the realization that life can be enjoyed under what we would now call very simple and primitive circumstances. These people worked hard and they also played hard. They enjoyed life. Their memories that they have told us about inspire us. They had courage. They had perseverance and fortitude. They had a basic love of God and nature that stands out in their writings. Thus the young people that read these stories we hope will realize that it is not things that make one happy.

   We need new values -- values of the spirit, lasting values that satisfy today, tomorrow and forever. So, perhaps these "Old Timers" have done more than just write us a letter. Maybe, in these writings we find a tangible purpose in life that they had and that we need to emulate. Thus these "Incredible Tales" become epic in nature.

With "Love and Affection" to all,

Sincerely,

J. Shelton Gordon