THE ANCIENT AND HONORABLE
ORDER OF E CLAMPUS VITUS

Is an historical organization founded in the United States, through a chance meeting between Caleb Cushing and Ephraim Bee when Cushing was returning from China in 1845 after spending two years there as US Envoy. He met Ephraim Bee of Doddridge County, Virginia at his wayside tavern home. Cushing reputedly brought back the signs and secrets of the Order from China and found a capable and willing acolyte in Bee who was a farmer, blacksmith, hotel proprietor and land dealer. Bee was a practical joker and politician and had the reputation of being the ugliest man in Doddridge County. He was enthused with Cushings proposal and set about to found the Order in Virginia.

The history of E Clampus Vitus goes back all the way to 4005 BC when Adam stole its original secrets out of the Garden of Eden under his fig leaf apron.

There is little documentation relative to the early days of E Clampus Vitus. We of the membership hold that the paucity of information rests in the fact that during a meeting no one was in a condition to record any thing and the next day no one could remember what had happened. None of the less ECV prospered and rapidly spread to the Mississippi, but none crossed it.

In 1849 Joseph Zumwalt determined to go to California. He had been born in Boone County, Kentucky in 1800. He sold his farm in Will County Illinois, loaded his wife, Mary, and eight of their eleven children into wagons pulled by oxen. They were accompanied by a married daughter Nancy Anne, and her husband Peter Bailey and their 3 year old daughter Mary Ann.

Actually, research here leaves us uncertain. Some Zumwalt looking for a guide to the route purchased one in a print shop in Missouri, but we cannot be certain whether it was Joseph(1) or Joel H. Zumwalt(2). While in the shop he also bought a couple copies of the E Clampus Vitus Ritual. While I believe it was Joseph, I have been unable to determine whether he was able to read or write.

The trip of the Joseph Zumwalt family was apparently uneventful. Their arrival at Sacramento in noted in the book "Argonauts of California" by C.W. Haskins, published in 1890.

Coming from Illinois April 13, 1849 Joseph Zumwalt family of nine children crossed plains. Also P. Bailey and family member of company from Illinois.

Joe set his wife, Mary to operate a boarding house on the SE corner of 9th and K Street, and with two of his older boys and Son in Law Peter Bailey, went back east of Placerville to prospect for gold. The spot was off the Iron Mountain road east of Sly Park.

In or near Placerville he attempted to start up ECV but was unsuccessful. Later on, in late 1851 or early 1852 he succeeded with a chapter in Mokelumne Hill. From that time the growth of the order was phenomenal. It spread throughout both the northern and southern mining districts.

By the mid 1850's the gold rush was over. The Panama Railroad was completed over the Isthmus and steamships were in regular service along the west coast. No longer were young men overwhelmingly the majority of migrants. Towns and cities were founded and settled and the economy placed greater emphasis on agriculture and commerce. These factors, the decline in the quantity of placer gold available and the coincidental conversion to underground mining tended to decrease the attractiveness of ECV. The men no longer had to take care of one another. Now, they went home to a wife and family.

But E Clampus Vitus never died out completely. The growth of other fraternal organizations offered alternatives to members.

In 1915, a chapter, operating as a service club, to provide for the betterment of the community and in part to dedicate a new Bridge crossing the Feather River to Yuba City filed Articles of Incorporation with the California Secretary of State. They fixed a term of existence at fifty years. They participated in the bridge dedication and the publicity resulted in several new chapters in nearby towns.

It was in the mid-1920's that Carl I. Wheat, a corporate attorney in San Francisco and an amateur historian, researching California history at the State Library in Sacramento began to notice meeting notices in the library's newspaper files. While on an outing to the Mother Lode in 1930 he suggested that E Clampus Vitus be revived. They were on the road between Columbia and Parrots Ferry. With the concurrence of these friends, including Leon Whitsell he set out to do just that. He assigned George Ezra Dane a young attorney in his employ, to document some of the research and aline it with the material Wheat had found.

Shortly thereafter a gentleman appeared in Wheat's office. He was Adam Lee Moore, who had read in a small town newspaper that Wheat and other historians were talking of reviving E Clampus Vitus. Adam, who lived in Downieville, was the last Humbug of Balaam Lodge #107304 in Sierra City and wanted to get in touch with Wheat while visiting his daughter in San Francisco. A few months later, in 1931, at a luncheon in the Clift Hotel, E Clampus Vitus was reborn. Adam Lee Moore was installed as Clampatriarch of Chapter No 1 of Yerba Buena and the revival was on.

The story, as I first heard it, had Wheat putting an ad in a San Francisco newspaper, and after several days he received a phone response from Mrs. Moore. She explained that Adam was nearly blind and that she had jumped over the ad not wanting to disturb him. Only after being convinced of Wheat's integrity would she consent to his talking with Moore.

So, the first meeting of E Clampus Vitus, revidivus was held in Yerba Buena in May 1932. With a renewed burst of activity chapters were revived or installed in a number of places. By 1964 one was founded in Virginia City, Nevada and by 1983 two more were operating in Sparks and Elko. Since then, a chapter has been organized in Utah and one in Arizona.

In 1949 Carl I. Wheat wrote a short article on the rebirth of E Clampus Vitus. It is entitled "The Clampers" and appears in the book "Rushing For Gold", edited by John W. Caughey.

At the meeting of the Grand Council in 1963 at Murphys the Proctors issued a startling disclosure. Sometime previously application had been made to the California Secretary of State to incorporate E Clampus Vitus. The response was that an organization of that name already existed. The remedy decided upon required contacting those signators of ECV in Marysville who were still living and obtain their consent to a transfer of the corporation to the new entity.

Grand Council continued to meet at Murphys over the Memorial Day weekend through 1993. Subsequent meetings have gathered in Mariposa.

Present day Clampers find their purpose in commemorating the sites and historic events of the west, as well as honoring the people who responsible for its growth. Most importantly we seek out those people who are lesser known who might otherwise be overlooked.

E Clampus Vitus is governed by a board of fifteen Proctors elected from the past Humbugs of the chapters, to guide and lead the organization. Chapters are permitted to modify their structure to meet the needs and desires of their membership. The Proctors continue to meet annually with the Grand Council for the transaction of business and an election of officers. All chapters are encouraged to set plaques based on historical facts and the Grand Council has published two plaque books which describe and illustrate the nearly seven hundred plaques which have been placed.

An independent at large affiliate of E Clampus Vitus was founded during the winter of 1974 by Marshall Fey and Carl Briggs. Their idea was to bring together a group of Humbugs and ex Humbugs together to retrace a portion of an historic trail each year. The goal was to reawaken an interest in the historical west and to promote the involvement of Clamper chapters in historical programs.

They planned and led the first trek with thirty two members in the summer of 1975. The Treks have been an annual event ever since. Now over 100 attend. This organization was incorporated in the State of Nevada in 1977 as the Transierra Alliance of Senior Humbugs and since 1979 has published a Trek guide covering each years outing.

The foregoing is far from a comprehensive description of E Clampus Vitus but will provide a benchmark for further inquiry. There is more to learn. So far it just hasen't been discovered.

(1) Kenneth D Zumwalt, a great grandson of Joseph, in his book "Joe Zumwalt, Forty Niner" says There was a Joe Zumwalt who is credited with organizing the Mokelumne Hill Chapter of E Clampus Vitus in Sept 1851 but that Joe had Missouri ties. (2) Eve S. Zumwalt in her book "The Romance of Mokelumne Hill" states Joel Henry Zumwalt (1831-1906) early pioneer of Mokelumne Hill, it is thought , joined the 4000 "Pikers" to hit the trail from Independence, Missouri, to arrive in California in 1849.