70 YEARS AGO TODAY...

... Monte Wolfe was enjoying his last summer on the Mokelumne. He had begun his preparations for a September visit to the Golden Gate International Exposition on Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay. He traveled to the Expo by "thumb" and appeared at the Oakland home of his adopted family, the Linfords. When he arrived in Oakland, he was in full Monte Wolfe costume; a vintage Army dress uniform with doughboy hat banded by a rattlesnake skin. Neighborhood kids playing ball in the street stopped in their tracks at the sight. When they crossed the Bay Bridge to attend the Expo, Monte wore his custom made fringed deerhide frontiersman jacket that he had commissioned for the 1939 4th of July parade in Markleeville. Many folks that attended the Expo wore costumes, as did Monte. He was in costume as himself.

After returning home to the Mokelumne River, he guided a few hunting groups including Jim Linford and his friend, attorney Bestor Robinson in November. Bear hunting was bad, but he sent Bestor home with a bear hide as a gift. On the way out, Linford drove Monte to Markleeville and then westward over Carson Pass. They dropped Monte at Plasse's near Silver Lake where he hiked down to his cabin through the Summit City canyon. That was the last time Jim Linford saw Monte.

Harry and Art Schimke had a similar story. They were visited by Monte in November at Alpine Lodge. When he departed through the deep snow, that was their goodbye.

Whatever happened to Monte, it probably happened on April 20, 1940. Strong evidence indicates this was Monte's last day. It also happened to be the day he had entered the world 54 years earlier.

Don

FORENSIC DESCRIPTION EVOLVES

There were a few times during Monte Wolfe's life when he was prodded, weighed, and measured by the law. Those measurements went into the public record and are part of Monte Wolfe's vapor trail that persists to this day. Through these descriptions we can begin to visualize his stature. His physical description evolved a little over the years due to the rigors of life and the evolution of forensic science.

On his 1909 induction into Folsom Prison at the age of 23, he was described thus:

DESCRIPTION: Complexion: Fair, Eyes: Lt. Brown, Hair: Lt. Brown, Height: 5'-5", Occupation: Miner, Nativity: North Dakota.

When he exited Folsom in 1911, his description had been refined with the following:

DESCRIPTION: Weight: 153, Hair: Dk. Blonde, Eyes: Lt Chestnut, Build: Muscular

Fifteen years had passed when Monte found himself on the receiving end of another law-imposed physical examination. He was arrested in 1927, and there was a strong attempt to identify him due to the changing directions of his case. The following information was added to the public record by the Tuolumne County Sheriff's Department:

DESCRIPTION: Prominent cheek bones / right third tow amputated, third joint, right 4th tow amputated, second joint, Horizontal scar, right side of chin,. Oblique cut, sc front left wrist, Irregular cut sc first joint back left thumb. Large oval cut inside right calf.

A FINAL NOTE: People often comment on how short Monte Wolfe was by citing differing heights that would be considered short by today's standards. Now it clear that his true height was 5'-5". My question was, how does 5'-5" compare to a sampling of 1909 inmates?

Working with the CA state archives I was able to obtain 10 pages from the 1909 Folsom Inmate Ledger. Monte Wolfe was one of 200 inmates listed there. One item the ledger recorded was the height of each prisoner. I took the heights of the 200 inmates and plugged them into a spreadsheet and then sorted and averaged the heights. The results showed a bell curve where 5'-5" was very average, 5'-1" was on the shorter end and 5'-10" was relatively tall.

That's all, "by gawree." ("Monte talk" remembered by his family)

Don