Times are changing at Salvation Mountain. 80 years old, Salvation Mountain creator and visionary Leonard Knight is in an elderly hospice care facility somewhere in El Cajon. After suffering suspected numerous mild strokes without medical care, a toll has been taken on his body. It is also reported that Leonard has dementia. Few details are given by those in the know as residents from Slab City and the Salton Sea area scramble to raise funds and organize caretakers for Leonard’s creation. The lead person in charge, NAME died recently of a heart attack. A Slab City resident passed by during my visit and wondered where two pledged volunteers were, ones who had signed up to watch over visitors and Salvation Mountain for that Saturday. North Shore resident Pat Southard sat as the lone sentinel watching over the Mountain as a few dozen visitors trickled by in the afternoon. Southard was at Salvation Mountain selling T-shirts emblazoned with the Salvation Mountain logo to raise funds for preserving the mountain in the future.
In the last few weeks, the donations box locked in front of the Mountain has been stolen, with the locked box simply cut off and taken away with an estimated value of $1200. Unknown vandals stole one of Leonard’s donated scooters and drove it into a nearby wash, discovered the morning I visited. A call to the Imperial County Sheriff’s office resulted in a referral to the California Highway Patrol.
No longer does Leonard greet visitors and tell them to “keep it simple.” His sun weathered face and smiling persona probably will never be back at Salvation Mountain. The cost, logistics, and medical impracticality of bringing Leonard back to the Mountain are the cause.
At this point donations can be made to the new, more secure lock box at Salvation Mountain near Niland, and soon you will be able to buy Salvation Mountain T-shirts online.