Fr. John J. Crowley
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Fr. John J. Crowley (December 8, 1891 - March 17, 1940), often referred to as the Desert Padre, was an early 20th century Catholic priest in California's large but sparsely populated
Eastern Sierra The Eastern Sierra is a region in California comprising the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada, which includes all of Mono and Inyo Counties and portions of other adjoining counties. The main thoroughfare is U.S. Route 395, which passes throug ...
. He served there from 1919 to 1940, with an interlude, mainly in Fresno, from about 1924 to 1934. He is remembered for his prodigious efforts to help improve the economic well-being of all Eastern Sierra residents (not just the Catholics, of whom there were about 600) whose lives had been adversely affected by the diversion of water from the
Owens Valley Owens Valley (Mono language (California), Mono: ''Payahǖǖnadǖ'', meaning "place of flowing water") is an arid valley of the Owens River in eastern California in the United States. It is located to the east of the Sierra Nevada (U.S.), Sierra ...
to the rapidly growing but water-deficient Los Angeles area (''see:''
California water wars The California water wars were a series of political conflicts between the city of Los Angeles and farmers and ranchers in the Owens Valley of Eastern California over water rights. As Los Angeles expanded during the late 19th century, it beg ...
)


Life

Crowley was a native of 12 New Street,
Killarney Killarney ( ; , meaning 'church of sloes') is a town in County Kerry, southwestern Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The town is on the northeastern shore of Lough Leane, part of Killarney National Park, and is home to St Mary's Cathedral, Killar ...
, Co. Kerry, Ireland who came to
Worcester, Massachusetts Worcester ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Massachusetts, second-most populous city in the U.S. state of Massachusetts and the list of United States cities by population, 113th most populous city in the United States. Named after Worcester ...
, with his family when he was 11 years old. He was the eldest of 4 brothers and 4 sisters. His father died only a few years after immigration, leaving the family in difficult economic conditions. John took a family leadership role and "learned responsibility that served him well in his later career". He studied at the
College of the Holy Cross The College of the Holy Cross is a private Jesuit liberal arts college in Worcester, Massachusetts, United States. It was founded by educators Benedict Joseph Fenwick and Thomas F. Mulledy in 1843 under the auspices of the Society of Jesus. ...
in Worcester, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1915. His faculty prefect described him as "one of the best young men Holy Cross has reared in recent years". He was ordained a priest of the Catholic Church in 1918, and shortly thereafter, now Father Crowley, he left to take up a position in Southern California, where priests were especially needed. He served for about a year in the Los Angeles area, then volunteered (and was subsequently appointed) to be the lone priest for the Eastern Sierra. In 1924 he was chosen, because of his much admired administrative abilities, to be
Chancellor Chancellor () is a title of various official positions in the governments of many countries. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the (lattice work screens) of a basilica (court hall), which separa ...
to the newly created Roman Catholic Diocese of Monterey-Fresno. In 1925 he was anointed
Monsignor Monsignor (; ) is a form of address or title for certain members of the clergy in the Catholic Church. Monsignor is the apocopic form of the Italian ''monsignore'', meaning "my lord". "Monsignor" can be abbreviated as Mons.... or Msgr. In some ...
by Pope Pius XI. In 1940 he died in an automobile accident on the highway now known as
California State Route 14 State Route 14 (SR 14) is a north–south state highway in the U.S. state of California that connects Los Angeles to the northern Mojave Desert. The southern portion of the highway is signed as the Antelope Valley Freeway. Its southern te ...
, when he hit a wandering cow and was deflected head on into an oncoming truck. His efforts in the Eastern Sierra centered largely on enhancing tourism to the area, which includes the lowest geographical point, in
Death Valley Death Valley is a desert valley in Eastern California, in the northern Mojave Desert, bordering the Great Basin Desert. It is thought to be the Highest temperature recorded on Earth, hottest place on Earth during summer. Death Valley's Badwat ...
, and the highest point (at that time, among the 48 states),
Mount Whitney Mount Whitney (Paiute: ''Too-man-i-goo-yah'' or ''Too-man-go-yah'') is a mountain in the Sierra Nevada mountain range of California, and the highest point in the contiguous United States, with an elevation of . It lies in East–Central Califor ...
. Nature lovers, campers, hikers, and sport fisher persons were addressed and stars in the many movies filmed in the area were engaged. His achievements were the subject of an essay by
Irving Stone Irving Stone (born Tennenbaum; July 14, 1903 – August 26, 1989) was an American writer, chiefly known for his biographical novels of noted artists, politicians, and intellectuals. Among the best known are '' Lust for Life'' (1934), about the ...
in 1944, which was a featured article in ''
The Saturday Evening Post ''The Saturday Evening Post'' is an American magazine published six times a year. It was published weekly from 1897 until 1963, and then every other week until 1969. From the 1920s to the 1960s, it was one of the most widely circulated and influ ...
''.


Eponymy


Crowley Lake

Crowley Lake Crowley Lake is a reservoir on the upper Owens River in southern Mono County, California, in the United States. Crowley Lake is south of Mammoth Lakes. The lake was created in 1941 by the building of the Long Valley Dam by the Los Angeles Depa ...
, which formed behind a dam built by the
Los Angeles Department of Water and Power The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) is the largest municipal Public utility, utility in the United States with 8,100 megawatts of electric generating capacity (2021–2022) and delivering an average of 435 million gallons of wat ...
to help regulate the flow of water to Los Angeles, was named in honor of Fr. Crowley.


Father Crowley Vista Point

Now within
Death Valley National Park Death Valley National Park is a national park of the United States that straddles the California–Nevada border, east of the Sierra Nevada. The park boundaries include Death Valley, the northern section of Panamint Valley, the southern sect ...
, the Vista Point overlooks Rainbow Canyon and the dramatic western approach to the
Panamint Range The Panamint Range is a short rugged fault-block mountain range in the northern Mojave Desert, within Death Valley National Park in Inyo County, eastern California. A small part of the southern end of the range is in San Bernardino County. Dr. D ...
and
Telescope Peak Telescope Peak (Timbisha: Chiombe) is the highest point within Death Valley National Park, in the U.S. state of California. It is also the highest point of the Panamint Range, and lies in Inyo County. From atop this desert mountain one can see ...
, on the other side of which lies
Death Valley Death Valley is a desert valley in Eastern California, in the northern Mojave Desert, bordering the Great Basin Desert. It is thought to be the Highest temperature recorded on Earth, hottest place on Earth during summer. Death Valley's Badwat ...
.


Father Crowley's lupine

This rare ''
lupinus ''Lupinus'', commonly known as lupin, lupine, or regionally bluebonnet, is a genus of plants in the legume family Fabaceae. The genus includes over 199 species, with centre of diversity, centres of diversity in North America, North and South A ...
'' species, officially classified as ''
Lupinus padre-crowleyi ''Lupinus padre-crowleyi'' is a rare species of lupine known by the common names Father Crowley's lupine and DeDecker's lupine. It is endemic to California, where it is known only from the eastern slopes of the Sierra Nevada and the high plateau ...
'' in 1945 and commonly called Father Crowley's lupine, occurs in a few high elevation areas on the eastern slopes of the
Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada ( ) is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primari ...
.


References


External links

* http://www.owensvalleyhistory.com/father_crowley/page59.html * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXnBBxt-JWM&ab_channel=TalesAlongElCaminoSierra
DeDecker's Lupine, ''Lupinus padre-crowleyi'' C. P. Smith (Fabaceae) , Who's in a Name
* https://www.catholic.org/featured/headline.php?ID=1576 {{DEFAULTSORT:Crowley, John J. 1891 births 1940 deaths Road incident deaths in California 20th-century American Roman Catholic priests College of the Holy Cross alumni People from Killarney