Peter Lebeck Chapter #1866

In California men may become Elks, Moose, or even Lions, but the most fun and colorful pretend animals of them all are the "Clampers" - - members of the Ancient and Honorable Order of E Clampus Vitus - - a fraternal disorganization dating back to the time of Adam. Revealed to the hearty souls that rushed to find California's gold in the "Days of '49," when only the worthy became Clampers. Samuel Clemmons was a Clamper, so was Thomas Hart Benton, Joshua Norton, John Wayne and even Ronald Reagan. But none of these men were allowed to join - - but all of them were "taken in."

Some say that E Clampus Vitus began as a spoof on the fraternal lodges and secret societies of the 19th Century. Others say that it made its way across the Pacific from China, as a special dispensation granted to the famous American emissary, Caleb Cushing by the Emperor of China himself.

Even to this day, the history of ECV is difficult to reconstruct. It is said that the early conclaves of E Clampus Vitus were so completely devoted to drinking and carousing that no Clamper was ever in any condition to keep the minutes, nor was anyone able to remember what happened when asked about it the next day. So verily, this was truly the most secret society known to man.

Two things were clear at the time. The Clamper constitution held that 'all members were officers' and that 'all officers were of equal indignity,' and the purpose of the Order was to care for the widows and the orphans, but most especially the widows!

Membership in E Clampus Vitus had declined severely by the late 1800's, but ECV experienced a revival in the 1930's, with the help of some noted California historians who saw it as something of benefit to the community as well as a very fun thing to do. Today the Order's continuing formation remains robust, with a current total of over 50 chapters and several outposts covering ten western states.

But in its present dispensation the question remains, "Is E Clampus Vitus an historical drinking society or a drinking historical society?" With over two thousand commemorative plaques and monuments in places throughout California and the west, there's a strong argument that ECV is a serious group of men.

Or not. Either way its members are quite happy to let the controversy continue. While all Clampers love a good party, they also want to be remembered for their "erections," which celebrate many interesting persons, places and events of historical and often hysterical interest. Clampers love to plaque sites that need reverent commemoration, but they've also been known to plaque places like saloons, bawdy houses, and other locations that have been "overlooked" by more serious historical societies. Pull to the side of the road to read a monument in California and as often as not you will discover that E Clampus Vitus helped to put it there.

Lots of folks don't know what to make of the Clampers. ECV members often dress up in garb reminiscent of the gold-rush - - usually a red shirt, blue jeans and a black vest - - frequently festooned with ludicrous decorations in keeping with their motto - - Credo Quia Absurdum! Suffice it to say that these men know what they are about, for they are manly men who are proud of their erections.

By tradition, becoming a member of E Clampus Vitus was by invitation only. From its earliest times, if one wanted to attain the "Elevation of Man," a candidate was expected to endure an elaborate, humorous and sometimes grueling initiation ceremony. How much remains of that we'll leave to your imagination, but if you are interested in becoming a Clamper, inquiries are welcome. Just don't expect anyone to spill the Order's secrets, for only the worthy can be "taken in."

The following is a brief history of E CLAMPUS VITUS by Carl Wheat, one of the three fathers of the ECV revival.
The article quoted here is from the Pacific Historical Review, Vol.XVIII (1949) pages 67-69,
where Carl discusses an institution in which his interests are strong and proprietary.

It was early in the [eighteen] "Fifties" that "The Ancient and Honorable Order of E Clampus Vitus" first appeared on the California Scene. The time was one of vast upheaval, human, as well as physical. And after a hard day in the dirt and muck of some Sierra Diggin's, where else but in the Clampers' "Hall of Comparative 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 on occasion hoarsely bray. Surely, the succinct Constitution of the Order displayed its Roisterous Spirit as could nothing else.

"ARTICLE ONE", read the unorthodox document: "ALL MEMBERS ARE OFFICERS"

"ARTICLE TWO", it eloquently continued: "ALL OFFICERS ARE OF EQUAL INDIGNITY"

That was all. But it was enough. When the Hewgag blew, the Brethren gathered from far and near. It was a signal that a sucker had appeared in camp -some "POOR BLIND CANDIDATE" ripe for a new experience. For the only ritual of this significant organization of the Gold Rush Days was that of initiation, and the only stated meeting was before or after the full moon when such a one should come upon the scene, ready for their immolation on the altar of merriment.

On those Gala Occasions when, in the vociferous spirit of the Mid-nineteenth Century Yankee, a Parade was to be staged: along the Mining Camp's lone street, it was usually the Clampers who stole the show, marching behind a stalwart soul: carrying a pole that bore a hoop skirt with the strange device: "THIS IS THE BANNER WE FIGHT UNDER". Nor was it only in connection with such celebrations that the Clampers shone. For were they not Brethren? Ready at merest hint of their mysterious Sign of Distress to come to one another's assistance and did not their well-known sign of recognition-The Sign of the Well Jackass - betoken a vitality that even the drab life of the Diggin's could not destroy?

"All for one and one for all" could, indeed, have been the motto of this lusty order. As a matter of fact, however, the Order's hortatory watchword was: "FOR THE BENEFIT OF WIDDOWS AND ORPHANS; BUT MORE ESPECIALLY OF WIDOWS!" and when a Brother, worn by toil and broken in the search for gold, could no longer carry on, the Brethren, one and all, would come to his assistance. It is said that Fifteen Dollars a month would keep a Miner in Bacon and Flour, Beans and Saleratus, and that in those better days E CAMPUS VITUS had but two rules to guide its members in their Eleemosynary Roles:

(1) A Man shall come in person to the Hall of Comparative Ovations for this helpful dole; and (2) Payments shall commence two years after death.

When, in the late Twenties of this softer Century, a Band of latter-day Enthusiasts sought once more to capture the Spirit of the Order's elder days, it was found that little in the way of written data could be found to describe and explain those small and intimate details of the past, that at such times bear so great a significance. It was late lamented EZRA DANE who suggested the answer. During those Early Days, said he, "no Clamper in attendance at a stated meeting was ever in any condition to take minutes of the ceremonies." And, he would add, "After the meeting had concluded no one could be found who could remember what had happened."

The Grand Lodge of the Order convened at Mokelumne Hill, but from the far north of Downieville and Sierra City to the Southernmost Chapters, E CLAMPUS VITUS flourished. Let no benighted individual place a period after that fateful "E" (As was done- ignominiously -in a recently celebrated catalogue of California) , and let no man of whatever Race, Color or Previous Condition succumb to the heretical placing of an "S" after the "P" of CLAMPUS.

The revival of the Order began at Yerba Buena early in the "Thirties," and by a happy circumstance there came to the group a voice from the past in the person of ADAM LEE MOORE, last Noble Grand Humbug of the Order in that earlier Dispensation. Before he passed from the scene a few years ago at the ripe old age of Ninety and Nine, he, THE CLAMPATRIARCH OF THE REVIVAL brought to these younger and later Clampers not only a Charter of Apostolic Succession, but also a youthful spirit that pervaded many a pilgrimage to the Diggin's with mirth and lusty human wisdom.

Soon another Chapter was erected in the Queen of the Cow Counties [i.e., Los Angeles], far to the South and others later were convened at Camptonville, Nevada City, Auburn, Hangtown, Columbia, Murphy's Camp, Skunk's Misery, and other memorable spots. The New Dispensation carries on, often incredulous of the tales it hears of the Clampers of old.

In The Enigmatical Book of Vitus the story of the resuscitation of the Order has been told and the Spirit of CREDO QUIA ABSURDUM has been outlined in THE CURIOUS BOOK OF CLAMPUS. Later, THE ESOTERIC BOOK OF E and YE PREPOSTEROUS BOOKE OF BRASSE carried the tale farther. The Literature of the Revival grows apace. Once each year the Brethren gather at Yerba Buena on a night nigh unto the 24th of January, when their lamented one-time Clampatriarch, JAMES W. MARSHALL turns over in his grave three times in their favor. Once, also in each year, Before or After the Full Moon, they devote themselves to a pilgrimage to some spot hallowed by the Picks and Pans revivifying osmosis the Spirit of the Elder Days. E CLAMPUS VITUS was a force of no little significance in those earlier decades. It represented release from toil, respite from sweat - a chance to laugh with and at ones fellows.

And so, when the Sonorous Echoes of the Hewgag resounded through the Sierra silences, few there were who did not drop their Picks and hasten themselves to the Great Hall, where amid Comparative Ovations and mighty mirth "POOR BLIND CANDIDATES" were brought out and instructed in the Mysteries of the Order . To the Query "WHAT SAY THE BREATHEREN? " the assembled Clampers would shout as one- "SATISFACTORY" and the Grand Noble Recorder would reply, with august dignity, "AND SO RECORDED." What is the significance of the Mystic Worlds, which designate the Order? What can "E" or CLAMPUS or even VITUS mean in this connection? That is a secret the answer to which reposes only in the Astral Memories of Clampers long since gone to their reward. It is, in fact, the Only True Secret still recorded and remembered by their Order, for no member now in good standing knows the answer.

In the interstices of his law practice, Carl I. Wheat found time to contribute extensively
on such topics as the maps of Jedediah Smith, the Maps of the Gold Rush, the Death Valley 49ers,
Theodore Judah and the Pacific Railway, and monumentally on the Maps of the Trans-Mississippian West.