page_title: E Clampus Vitus
section_title: The current ECV
hierarchical_section_title: E Clampus Vitus / The current ECV
caption_attribution_description: English: Photograph of a commemorative plaque at 455 Jackson Street in San Francisco, California, on a building which survived the 1906 earthquake and fire.
context_page_description: The Ancient and Honorable Order of E Clampus Vitus is a fraternal organization dedicated to the preservation of the heritage of the American West, especially the history of the Mother Lode and gold mining regions of the area. There are chapters in California, Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, Utah, Washington, Idaho, Oregon, Montana and Outposts in 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 "Clampus," "Clampsus," or "Clampsis." The motto of the Order, Credo Quia Absurdum, is generally interpreted as meaning "I believe it because it is absurd;" the proper Latin quotation Credo quia absurdum est, is from the Christian apologist Tertullian, who rejected rationalism and accepted a Gospel which addressed itself to the "non-rational levels of perception."
context_section_description: In 1991 there were 50,000 Clampers in 62 lodges.
  There are currently 46 ECV chapters in California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Nevada, Utah, Arizona/New Mexico, Montana and Colorado, as well as an offshore chapter (the Floating Whang chapter), an online chapter (the Cyber Whang chapter), and two more proposed chapters.
  Al Packer Chapter 100 in Colorado was chartered in 2000—the year 6005 on ECV's idiosyncratic calendar. This chapter has split into two Colorado chapters, Al Packer Chapter #100 East of the Continental Divide and Robert Leroy Parker Chapter #1889 West of the Continental Divide.
  Doc Maynard Chapter #54-40 in Washington State was chartered in 2006, the year 6011 in Clamper years, signifying the first Chapter in the Pacific Northwest.
  Snake River Chapter #1811 (Idaho) and Umpqua Joe Chapter #1859 (Oregon) are the most recently chartered Chapters in States that did not previously have an official Chapter, in May 2010, the year 6015 in Clamper years.
  The organization has raised historical plaques in many places throughout the West (often at sites such as bordellos and saloons overlooked by more traditional historical societies), with a traditional "doin's," or party, after each plaque dedication. These are now common in historical areas around California and the West—when in the Gold Country, a Clamper-placed plaque is never far away. In 1999, a plaque was placed on the Star of India, the oldest iron-hulled merchant ship afloat, by the State Department of Parks and Recreation in cooperation with the Ancient and Honorable Order of E Clampus Vitus John P. Squibob Chapter 1853. In 2006, Platrix Chapter #2 erected a plaque commemorating the 50th Anniversary of "Godzilla, King of the Monsters" at the former studio site where Raymond Burr's insert scenes were filmed by director Terry Morse in 1956. The plaque is at the entrance of the Frank del Olmo Elementary School, the current occupant of the site. The current Modesto regional leader is a man named Jacob K. Couch, who has once again led the group to surprising new results. A national icon, Golden Gate Bridge, was dedicated in June 2010 by the Mother Lodge Yerba Buena #1 Capitulus Redivivus.
  On February 19, 2009, the Nevada Assembly agreed to make the 19 "Clamper Day" the motion has not yet been passed by the state senate.
caption: A plaque placed by E Clampus Vitus in San Francisco, California.
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