The Ancient and Honorable Order of E Clampus Vitus is a male-only organization dedicated to the study and preservation of the history of California, in particular the history of the Mother Lode and gold mining regions of the state. There are also chapters in Nevada and other Western states. Members call themselves "Clampers". The organization's name is in Dog Latin, and has no known meaning; even the spelling is disputed, sometimes appearing as "Clampusus", "Clampsus", or "Clampsis". The motto of the Order is "Credo Quia Absurdium" (take nothing seriously unless it is absurd).

History

The history of the organization is steeped in mythology. It is said that the organization was created in 1845 in Morgantown, West Virginia, when tavern and stable owner Ephraim Bee was given a commission from the Emperor of China to "extend the work and influence of the Ancient and Honorable Order of E Clampus Vitus". Bee claimed to have received his commission from Caleb Cushing, the American minister to China.

Bee felt that an organization was needed which was less exclusive than the other organizations of the day, such as the Masons, Elks and OddFellows. In addition, nativism was rising in the United States, as evidenced by such political organizations as the Know-Nothing Party and its ilk. Bee opened membership in ECV to any "upstanding" man who had come of age. It is known that there were E Clampus Vitus chapters in Bedford, Pennsylvania; Metropolis, Illinois; Bowling Green, Missouri; and Dahlonega, Georgia.

The organization is said to have been taken to California by an ECV member named Joe Zumwalt, who first heard of it in Missouri. Zumwalt opened an ECV lodge in Mokelumne Hill in 1851, when Mokelumne Hill Lodge No. 1001 was established. There are arguments that previous lodges had been founded in Hangtown, Downieville and Sierra City , but none of those became permanent.

As more of the "established" organizations such as the Masons came to the mining country, they looked down upon the more rowdy nature of E Clampus Vitus. ECV, in making fun of the sashes and cermonial attire of the "upscale" fraternities, began dressing in red longjohns and pinning on badges made of cut out tin can lids. This practice, called "wearing your tin", continues to this day, although the badges are more professionally-made, and members usually dress in a red miner’s shirt, black hat and Levi’s jeans. ECV titles reflected the tongue-in-cheek nature of the organization. Officials were called "Noble Grand Humbug," "Roisterous Iscutis," "Grand Imperturbable Hangman," "Clamps Vitrix," and "Royal Gyascutis." All members are officers and all officers are of equal indignity.

Clamper meetings were held in the Hall of Comparative Ovations, generally the back room of a saloon. Some chapters even built their own Halls of Comparative Ovations. One still stands in Murphys. The Clamper flag was a hoop skirt, with the words " This is the flag we fight under." Meetings were held "at any time before or after a full moon." New members were called "Poor Blind Candidates". They were required to present a poke of gold dust , although the value of the poke was left to the discretion of the brotherhood, and was frequently waived entirely if the prospective member could not afford it.

Despite the humor and rowdiness of E Clampus Vitus, the members did take their brotherhood seriously. When a member became sick or injured, the group would collect food or money to help him out. They frequently trekked through the vastness of the Sierra Nevadas to reach lonely miners who otherwise would have had no Christmas celebration. The society was also careful to help out the widows and orphans of fallen members.

At the ECV's peak, around 1870, so many miners were members, that many mining cities shut down during ECV celebrations (some mining towns even had two chapters). At one point, Lord Sholto Douglas, a British peer, leading a troupe of actors in Marysville, was so downheartened by the lack of ticket sales that he had determined to leave town. When a local Clamper found out that the troupe was having trouble, Lord Sholto was immediately initiated into ECV, and the brothers bought enough tickets to fill the local theater (a 20th century chapter of the ECV was named for Lord Sholto.) Mark Twain was a member, and it was while attending an ECV meeting that he heard the story which he wrote as The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calavaras County .

Semi-famous members included Philip D. Armour, the meat packer; John Mohler Studebaker , the automobile manufacturer, and John Hume, a California state assemblyman. ECV also claims Ulysses S. Grant, J. Pierpont Morgan, Horace Greeley and Horatio Alger as members, but claims have also been made to Solomon, Julius and Augustus Caesar, Henry VIII, Sir Francis Drake, George Washington, Andrew Jackson and Adam (the first "Clampatriarch").

Reestablishment

As the mining industry faded towards the end of the 19th century, ECV started to fade as well. It was revitalized in 1931 by San Francisco historian Carl Wheat and his friends G. Ezra Dane and Leon O. Whitsell. They were contacted by one of the last surviving members of the original ECV, who passed on all that he could remember of the organization's rites and legends. The three founded a new chapter, Yerba Buena Number 1, or the "Capitulus Redivivus". Wheat described E Clampus Vitus as "the comic strip on the page of California history".

New chapters sprung up in Los Angeles and other major cities in California, but they were being numbered sequentially. Once Lodge number 10 was established in 1936, it was pointed out that it was illogical for such a rowdy organization to be so neat in its numbering scheme, and so some creativity was developed in the numbering. The "Pair-o-Dice" chapter in Paradise, for example, is Lodge No. 7-11. The Arroyo Grande chapter, halfway between Lodge Number 1 in San Francisco and Lodge Number 2 in Los Angeles, is Lodge Number 1.5. There were chapters in British Columbia and Hawaii, but they no longer exist.

In 1937, a plaque appeared in Northern California purporting to have been made by Sir Francis Drake during his voyage of discovery in which it was stated that he had claimed all of California for England, and that he had the authority of the claim by having been ceded the land by the local Miwok Indians. The man who was chief of the Miwoks in 1937, William Fuller, was a member of E Clampus Vitus. During an ECV meeting, he revoked the cession of land to England, and ceded it all to the United States government. The so-called Drake's Plate of Brass was accepted as authentic for forty years, yet was in actuality a hoax initiated by Dane that got out of control. It is now thought that the Fuller ceremony was part of an effort for the perpetrators to tip off the plate's finders as to its true origins.

The current ECV

There are currently forty ECV chapters in California, Nevada, Utah and Arizona, as well as an offshore chapter (the Floating Whang chapter), proposed chapters in Oregon and Colorado, and a cyberspace chapter (CyberWhang Chapter 68040/481.5).

The organization has raised historical plaques in many places throughout the West (often those sites such as bordellos and saloons overlooked by more traditional historical societies), with a traditional "doin's", or party, after is plaque dedication. The fraternity is not sure if it is a "historical drinking society" or a "drinking historical society".

Initiation

By tradition, a man can only become a Clamper by invitation. Initiation rites are sometimes spur-of-the-moment, such as forcing a blindfolded man to be lifted into the air by a block and tackle. Other times, the blindfolded initiate is seaten upon a wet sponge in a wheelbarrow, and taken upon the Rocky Road to Dublin (a ladder lying on the ground). Once he has been forced to answer several questions, the Scales of Darkness (the blindfold) are removed, the new member is handed the Staff of Relief, is toasted with drink, and is appointed Chairman of the Most Important Committee.

External links

• The ECV Gazette
• Cyber Whang Chapter
• E Clampus Vitus Mountain Charlie Chapter No.1850

Further reading

• Rather, Lois. Men Will Be Boys: The Story of E Clampus Vitus. Rather Press, Oakland, California, 1980. (CALIFORNIANA OVERSIZE 366 R18)