Marshal South's Legacy Comes to Oceanside Library

Rider South, son of desert writer Marshal South, appear at the Oceanside Public Library at 5:30 p.m. on Oct. 23 to discuss his father’s work and some of his family’s past.

Marshal South and his family lived in primitive fashion on the Anza-Borrego’s Ghost Mountain as part of an experiment in primitive living, library officials said.

Rider South hopes to bring his father’s legacy to a new generation through the event and with the publication of a book titled “Marshal South Rides Again: His Anza-Borrego Novels.”

“Sixty-five years ago, Rider South came down from Anza-Borrego’s Ghost Mountain as a young teenager; he had spent a majority of his life as part of his parents’ experiment in primitive living,” library organizers wrote. “This experiment had a large following of readers as it was chronicled as a monthly series by his father in the pages of Desert Magazine.”

The series ran from 1939 to 1948.

“Visitors to Anza-Borrego Desert State Park still climb the mile-long trail to what had once been the South homestead, wondering how a family could possibly survive,” officials wrote.

The South family lived there for almost 17 years. They built their home by hand, hauling water and necessities to the mountaintop, and raising a family, officials said. Today, only the ruins of Yaquitepec remain.

Diana Lindsay, who wrote the foreword to Marshal South and the Ghost Mountain Chronicles: An Experiment in Primitive Living will present a brief introduction that provides some background, officials said. Marshal South’s western novels, packaged in a single volume will be available for purchase, as well as copies of Marshal South and the Ghost Mountain Chronicles.

This program is sponsored by the Friends of the Oceanside Public Library and will be held in the Civic Center Library Foundation Room at 330 North Coast Highway.