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Carl I. Wheat (1892-1966) http://tinyurl.com/CWheat

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Clampers

From "The Clampers," 1949.

Reader: Kevin Hearle

Fraternal societies abound in California, but none are so grounded in the lore of the state as the Ancient Order of E Clampus Vitus, founded in the 1850s in the "dirt and muck" of the Sierra diggings.

In a brief essay, Carl I. Wheat gives a succinct overview of the society whose members are known as "Clampers."

Logo and coats of arms for the ancient and honorable order of E Clampus Vitus, graphic design by Jim "IRJR" Reynolds, 2008. Larger.

. . . where else but in the Clampers' "Hall of Comparataive Ovations" could a man rediscover those values that seemed otherwise so lacking in the hard life of the California canyons?

E Clampus Vitus spread like wildfire through the mountains. Few, indeed, were the camps where the order's great horn—the "Hewgag"—did not on occasion hoarsely bray. Surely, the succinct Constitution of the Order displayed its roisterous spirit as could nothing else.

"Article One," read that unorthodox document: "All members are Officers."

"Article Two," it eloquently continued: "All Officers are of equal indignity."

That was all. But it was enough.

Lawyer and historian Carl I. Wheat, along with G. Ezra Dane, is credited with helping to revive the Ancient Order of E Clampus Vitus in 1931.