197607 Desert Magazine 1976 July

8/14/2019 197607 Desert Magazine 1976 July

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M AG AZ INE OF THE SOUTHWEST

JULY, 1976 75c

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Gomevisitus..

A GREAT SELECTIONOF BOOKS ON THEWEST

S U M M E R H O U R SM o n d a y F r i d a y : 10-3Closed Weekends

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Publisher-EditorRGE BRACA, Art Director

FRANCES STRONG, Field Trip EditorBARNES, Utah Associate Editor

Lapidary EditorBOYNTON, Naturalist

Circulation Manager

DuoxLMAGAZINE

Volume 39, Number 7 JULY 1976

CONTENTS

100 Years ASoAMERICA 'S B IRTHDAYAn Aer ia l Trea tLAKE POWELLOows&u! or Dollars I"ROBBER DOCKS"

2 jkTHE COVER:Desert smoketree, byCarlG. Bray, Indian Wells,California.

F E A T U R E S

AMERICA'S BIRTHDAY 100 YEARS AGO 10 Betty Shannon

GOLD HILL, NEVADA 14 Howard Neal

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PADRE CARCES 16 Mary Frances Strong

"RUBBER DUCKS" 20 Ken Marquiss

CARL C. BRAY 24 Western Art

BANNERTAILS 28 K. L. Boynton

LAKE POWELL BY AIR 32 F. A. Barnes

WHIT E'S CITY 36 Fred S.Cook

UNIFORMS, ACCOUTREMENTS AND WEAPONSOF THE U.S. CAVALRY 38 William Zito

D E P A R T M E N T S

A PEEK IN THE PUBLISHER'S POKE 4 Will iam KnyvettBOOKS FOR DESERT READERS 8 Book Reviews

RAMBLING ON ROCKS 42 Glenn and Martha Vargas

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 47 Readers'Comments

CALENDAR OF WESTERN EVENTS 47 Calendar of Western Events

E D I T O R I A L AND CIR CU LAT ION OF FICE S: 74-425 Highway 111 , Palm Desert , Cal i fornia 92260. Telephone Area Code 714346-8144 . NAT IONALA D V E R T I S I N G O F F I C E S : JEPublishers' Representative, 8732 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, California 90069. Telephone Area Code 213 659-3810. Listedin Standard Rate and Data. SUBSCRIPTION RATES: United States, Canada and Mexico; 1year, $6.00; 2 years, $11.00; 3 years, $16.00. Other foreignsubscribers add $1.00 U.S.currency foreach year. See Subscription Order Form inthis issue. Allow five weeks for change ofaddress and send both newan d oldaddresses with zipcodes. DESERT Magazine is published monthly. Second class postage paid at Palm Desert, California andat additionalmailing offices under ActofMarch 3,1879. Contents copyrighted 1976 byDESERT Magazine and permission toreproduce anyor all contents must besecured in writing. Unsolicited manuscripts andphotographs will not be returned unless accompanied by a self-addressed andstamped envelope.Desert /July 1976


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GHOSTS OF THE GLORY TRAIL by Ne l l Mur -barger A p ioneer of the ghost town explorers andwr i te rs . M iss Murba rge rs fo l l owers w i l l be g ladt o k n o w t h i s p o o k i s o n c e a g a m in p r i n t. F i rs t p u b -l ished m 1956. it is now in i ts seventh ed i t ion Thefast-m oving ch ronic le is a resul t of personal in ter-v iews of o ld-t imers who are no longer here to te l lthei r ta les Hard cover , i l lus tr ated . 291 pages.$7.00

30 ,000 MILE S IN ME XICO by Ne l l Murb a rge r .Joyous adventu res of a t r ip by p ick-up cam permade by two women from Ti juana to Guatemala.Folksy and enterta in ing, as wel l as instruct ive toothers who migh t make the t r ip . Hardcov er 109pages. $6 00

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!T W AS 200 years ago that this coun-try was founded and it is f i t t in g to in-clude three articles in this issue

:oncerning our historic past.The Mojave Desert is a vast area, but

in our modern world distances shrivelwith air and auto travel. In 1776, FatherFrancisco Carces, accompanied by only afew Indians, made his way across thisformidable desert. To commemorate theBicentennial year, Mary Frances Strongretraces those footsteps of 200 years ago.

We all know the West was wi ld , so au-thoress Betty Shannon did a l i t t le re-search on how certain towns celebratedthe country's birthday 100 years ago.She came up with a yarn tha t reveals ju sthow wild it got, and I hope that any cele-brat ion of the Bicentennial wil l be a lottamer!

One hundred years ago also marks thefamed Batt le of Lit t le Big horn, whereGeneral George Custer died in combat.W ill iam Zito has contributed a photo lay-out, dedicated to all those brave men,depict ing the uniforms and weapons ofthat era.

One of the desert's most unique plantsis the Smoke tree, and artist C arl G. Brayhas been painting them for years. Hecreated this month's cover especially forDesert Magazine and estimates that hehas done over 6000 of these delicatetrees. This work and other selectedpieces are on display in our gallery.

Also in this issue: Na turalis t K. L.Boynton describes the ways and wiles ofthe Bannertail kangaroo rat, Ken Mar-quiss recounts a possible site for buriedco ins in a f ea t u re t i t l e d , "R ub be rDucks;" F. A. Barnes is up in the airover Lake Powell; Howard Neal takes usto Gold H i l l , Nevada and Fred Cook tra-vels to New Mexico and gives an accountof Wh ite 's Ci ty .

Preserve Your IssuesFor Travel Guides andReference in aBINDEREach library-style brown vinylbinder holds 12 issues of DesertMagazine. An ideal gift for friendswho constantly cefer to Desert asa source of information on all ofthe West. ^ M ~ i\Postpaid O n l y - I V *BE SURE TO STATE WHAT YEAR YOU WANT

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MAGAZINEPlm Desen California 92260

HAppyWXNCIERER

By Slim BarnardThe tours by the Happy Wandereis con-tain excellent maps, mileage, historyof the areas, costs of gasoline consump-t ion, lodging meals, what to wear andthe best time of the year to make thetrips. A family can plan their trip anddetermine the exact amount of time andmoney required.Volume Number One covers 52 toursthroughout C alifornia's deserts, moun-tains, lakes and seashores. In VolumeNumber Two, Slim and Henrietta exploreArizon a, Nevada and Old Mexico,, wi ththe areas ran ging from modern resortsto ghost towns.When orde ring BE SURE to state Volum eOne or Volume Two. Both books are largeformat, heavy paperback with 150 pages.

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A S p e c i a lG u i d e b o o kO f f e r i n g !Great reading about theWest fromthe pens of such authors asRuss Leadabrand, Choral Pepper,Marjorie Camphouse and theSociety ofAmerican Travel Writers.Informative little books that will m akeyour future trips more enjoyable.W ell i l lustrated, paperback.Supplies are l imited.

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Exploring the UnspoiledWest Vol.1Wyoming , Montana ,Brit ish Columbia,Alaska, Utah, Cal i f . ,Colorado, Idaho,Nevada

Exploring the UnspoiledWest Vol. 2New Mexico, Arizona,Mexico, Oregon,Washington, Alaska,Hawaii, California

Exploring HistoricCalifornia

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Send orders toBox 1318,Palm Desert, California 92260Please add 25c for postage & handling

GHOST TOWN ALBUM by Lambert Florin.Over 200 photos. Fascinating pictorial accountsof the gold mining towns of the Old Westandthe men who worked them. Large format, 184pages, profusely illustrated, hardcover, original-ly published at $12.50, new edition $4.95.HOPI KACHINA DOLLS[With a Key to TheirIdentification], by Harold S. Colton. Kachinadolls are neither toys nor idols, but aids to teach-ing religion and tradit ion. This is a definit ivework on the subject, describing the meaning, themaking and the principal features of 266 varie-ties of Kachina dolls. Line drawings of eachvariety, plus color and b/w photos make it acomplete guide to learn more of the richness ofAmerican Indian culture, paperback, 150 pages,$3.45.BIRDS OF THE SOUTHWESTERN DESERTSby Gusse Thomas Smith. Thirty-one of the mostcommonly sighted birds of the Southwest are de-scribed and illustrated in 4-color artist drawings.Heavy paperback, 68 pages, $3.95.BACK ROADS OF CALIFORNIA by Earl Thol-lander and the Editors of Sunset Books. Earlystagecoach routes, missions, remote canyons,old prospector cabins, mines, cemeteries, etc.,are visited as the author travels and sketches theCalifornia Backroads. Through maps and notes,the traveler is invited to get off the freeways andsee the rural and country lanes throughout thestate. Hardcover, large format, unusually beau-tiful illustrations, 207 pages, $10.95.

NEW BAJA HANDBOOK for the Off-PavementMotorist in Lower California by James T. Crow.Discover the real Baja that lies beyond the edgeof the paved road, the unspoiled, out-of-the-wayplaces unknown to the credit-card tourist. Theauthor, drawing from his extensive travels inthese parts, tells where to go, what to takealong, the common sense of getting ready. Illus-trated, paperback, 95 pages, $3.95.SAN BERNARDINO MOUNTAIN TRAILS byJohn W. Robinson. Easy one-day and more rug -ged hiking trips into the historic mountains. The100 hiking tra ils are described in-detail and illus-trated so you will not get lost. Heavy paperback,257 pages, $5.95.

JESSE JAMES WAS ONE OF HIS NAMES byDel Schrader [with Jesse James III]. Accordingto the author, Jesse James did not die as record-ed in history, but lived to a ripe old age. Thisbook details the lively escapades Jesse was sup-posed to be involved in following his attendanceat "his own funeral." Interesting and excit ingreading based on information supplied by JesseJames III, executor of his grandfather's wi l l .Hardcover, illustrated with old photos, 296pages, index, $8.95.GEM MINER ALS OF IDAHO by John Beckwith.Contains information on physical and opticalcharacteristics of minerals: the history, lore andfashioning of many gems. Also eleven rewardingfield trips to every sort of collecting area. Slickpaperback, maps and photos, 123 pages, $3.95.LOST MINES OF ARIZONA by Harold Weight.Covers the Lost Jabonero, lost mines of theTrigos, Buried Gold of Bicuner and others ofsouthwestern Arizona. Paperback, $2.00.REPTILES AND AMPHIBIANS OF THEAMERICAN SOUTHWEST by M. M. Heymann.Features 68 species, all in beautiful four-colorphotographs. Descriptions are stated in simple,non-technical terms. Extensive text tells of theirorigins and life-styles today. Extremely usefulbook for all who enjoy watching and learningabout wildlife. Paperback, 77 pages, $4.95.

6

ENCOUNTER WITH AN ANGRY GOD by Caro-beth Laird. A fascinating true story of theauthor's marriages to anthropologist John Pea-body Harrington, the "angry god," and to theremarkable Chemehuevi Indian, George Laird.The appeal of this amazing mem oir is so broad ithas drawn rave reviews throughout the countryand is being hailed as a classic. Hardcover, 230pages, $8.95.GUIDE FOR INSULATOR COLLECTORS byJohn C. Tibbitts. This is the third and final bookon insulators by veteran b ottle collector John Tib-bitts. This third book has a revised price list andindex to insulators described in the previous twovolumes. H owever, each volume describes insul-ators not shown in the other books, so for a com-plete roundup of all insulators, all three volumesare needed. Books are paperback, averaging 120pages, illus., $3.00 EACH. Please state WHICHVOLUME when ordering.HANS KLEIBER, Artist of the Bighorn Moun-tains by Emmie Mygatt and Roberta Cheney. Aman who loved nature above all, this legacy ofHans Kleiber's superb etchings and paintings isadmirably presented by the authors as a glimpseinto the experiences which served as back-ground and inspiration for his art. Horizontal8V2X11 forma t, 74 etch ings, 22 paintings , aqua-tints, photographs, cloth bound, boxed, $17.95.

GOLD RUSHES AND MINING CAMPS OF THEEARLY AMERICAN WEST by Vardis Fisherand Opal Laurel Holmes. Few are betterprepared than Vardis Fisher to write of the goldrushes and mining camps of the West. He bringstogether all the men and women, all the fascinat-ing ingredients, all the violent contrasts whichgo to make up one of the most enth ralling chap-ters in American history. 300 illustrations fromphotographs. Large format, hardcover, boxed,466 pages, $17.95.DESERT GEM TRAILS by Mary Frances StrongThe "b ib le " for both amateur and veteran rock-hounds and backcountry explorers, DESERTMagazine's Field Trip Editor has brought up-to-date her popular field guide. Areas have beendeleted which are now closed to the public, andmaps updated. Heavy paperback, 80 pages,$2.00.GHOST TOWNS OF THE WEST by LambertFlorin. This popular hard-back series is nowavailable in paperback volumes. Rearrangedstate by state, lavishly illustrated , handy to takealong while tra veling . Please state which volumewhen ordering: Arizona-$2.95; C alifornia-$3.95;Colorado/Utah-$2.95; Nevada-$2.95; Oregon-$2.95WHERE TO FIND GOLD IN THE MOTHERLODE by James K lein. As in his Where to FindGold in the Desert and Where to Find Gold inSouthern California, author Klein guides you tothe areas in which people are doing the bestnow. He includes history, tips on equipmentneeded, how to pan, how to stake claims, etc.Paperback, 121 pages, illustrated with photosand maps, $4.95 each.FORKED TONGUES AND BROKEN TREATIESEdited by Donald E. Worcester. This book givesus a better understanding of the unequal strug-gle of native against immigrant while our nationwas being explored and settled. Profusely illus-trated with excellent photos, a "m u st " refer-ence for historians, students, librarians. Hard-cover, 494 pages, $9.95.

HISTORICAL ATLAS OF NEW M EX ICO byWarren A. Beck and Ynez D. Haase. Geographi-cal data, sites of preshistoric civilization s, eventsof history, first towns, stagecoach lines, historictrails, etc., are included in this comprehensiveatlas. Excellent maps, index. Hardcover, highlyrecommended, $5.95.HISTORICAL ATLAS OF CALIFORNIA byWarren A. Beck and Ynez D. Hasse. Extensivedocumentation and pertinent detail make thisatlas a valuable aid to the student, scholar andeveryone interested in the Golden State. 101 ex-cellent maps present information on the majorfaults, early Spanish explorations, Mexican landgrants, routes to gold fields, the Butterfield andPony Express routes, CCC camps, World War IIInstallations, etc. Hardcover, extensive index,highly recommended, $9.95.THE CREATIVE OJO BOOK by Diane ThomasInstructions for making the colorful yarn talis-mans originally made by Pueblo and MexicanIndians. Included are directions for wall-hungojos, necklaces, mobiles and gift-wrap tie-ons.Well illustrated with 4-color photographs, 52pages, paperback, $2.95.THE CARE OF DESERT REPTILES by Karl HSwitak. This small, but informative bookletcontains 4-color photos of all species includedand were photographed in their native habitatInteresting information regarding DistributionSize; Food, and Care. $1.50.

Desert/July 1976


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An informative study of coin hunting,

f ield. 181

t D utchman, the author turns up

A

Highly recommended for both the new-and old-timers. Paperback, 64 pages,

This fascinating volume explains all the

$5.50. A^j % CaliforniaCauntpf

NEVADA GHOST TOWNS AND MININGCAMPS by Stanley W. Paher. Covering all ofNevada's 17 counties, Paher has documented575 mining camps, many of which have beenerased from the earth. The book contains thegreatest and most complete collection of historicphotographs of Nevada ever published. This,coupled with his excellent writing and map,creates a book of lasting value. Large format,700 photographs, hardcover, 492 pages, $15.00BAJA CALIFORNIA GUIDEBOOK by WaltWheelock and Howard E. Gulick, formerly Ger-hard and Gulick's Lower California Guidebook.This totally revised fifth edition is up-to-the-min-ute for the Transpeninsular paved highway, withnew detailed mileages and descriptive text. Cor-rections and additions are shown for the manyside roads, ORV routes, trails and little-knownbyways to the desert, mountain, beach and bayrecesses. Folding route maps are in color andnewly revised for current accuracy. Indispensa-ble reference guide, hardcover, $10.50.BOOK OF CACTUS by Harry C. Lawson.Written for the amateur, this book tells how toplant, care for and identify cactus found in theWest. The 36 pages contain 409 small photo-graphs and descriptions of the plants. Paper-back, $2.00.

Includes 7 excellent maps,a. Hardcover, 467 pages, $19.50.

A sequel to his The King'sthe author presents

Beautifully illustrated with color reproduc-

A revised and up-dated practicalthe 8x11 heavy paperback new edition is

1976

California residentsplease add6% state sales taxPlease add 25c for postage & handling

MINES OF THE MOJAVE by Ron and PeggyMiller covers the numerous mining districts run-ning across the upper Mojave Desert from Tropi-co, west of the town of Mojave, to MountainPass, a little west of the Nevada border. Paper-back, 67 pages, $2.50.DESERT, The American Southwest by RuthKirk. Combining her knowledge of the physicalcharacteristics of the land, and man's relation tothe desert from the prehistoric past to the prob-able future, w ith her photographer's eye and herenthusiasm for a strange and b eaut i fu lcountry, the result of Ruth Kirk's work is an ex-traordinarily perceptive account of the livingdesert. Highly recommended. Hardcover, beau-tifully illustrated, 334 pages, $10.00.ROADSIDE GEOLOGY of U.S. Interstate 80 Be-tween Salt Lake City and San Francisco. Writ tenfor the layman, text paragraphs are keyed tocolorful maps so that specific features can bestudies and ident i f ied. Scenic attract ions,famous mining areas and rockhounding areasare included as well as a reference page for fur-ther reading, a geologic time scale in color andan extensive glossary of terms. Large format,slick paperback, $3.00.TOP BOTTLES U.S.A. by Art and Jewel Umber-ger. The discovery of a rare old bo ttle opens up anew understanding of life at an earlier period. Acollection of old medicine bottles takes one backto a slower, less complicated life-style. A timewhen a concoction of aromatic bitters could curealmost anything. The authors have an expertisein their field that cannot be challenged. Illustrat-ed, paperback, $4.50.

CALIFORNIA-NEVADA GHOST TOWN ATLASand SOUTHWESTERN GHOST TOWN ATLASby Robert Neil Johnson. These atlases are excel-lent do-it-yourself guides to lead you back toscenes and places of the early West. Some pho-tos and many detailed maps with legends andbright, detailed descriptions of what you willsee; also mileage and highway designations.Heavy paperback, each contains 48 pages, eachAtlas priced at $2.00.MY CANYONLANDS by Kent Frost. A vivid ac-count of the early exploration of Utah's Canyon-lands by the author who spent his entire life ex-ploring America's new national park and whopresently runs a guide service through thescenic country. Hardcover, artist illustrations,160 pages, $5.00.

GOLD DIGGERS ATLAS by Robert Neil John-son. Maps covering the areas from Californiaeast to Texas and north to British Columbiashow where gold has been found. Gives likelysites of "bu ried treasure ta les" such as the LostBreyfogle Ledge, Lost Adams Cave, Lost ArchMine, Lost mule Shoe Gold, Lost Black RockSilver and many more. Paperback, $3.00.CALIFORNIA YEARBOOK, Bicentennial Edi-tion. Contains 25 separate chapters covering allaspects of the state. Comprehensive index ofnames, places, topics and events. 400 pages ofaccurate, up-to-date information and statistics.Large format, paperback, $4.95.

BAJA CALIFORNIA GUIDE by Cliff Cross in -cludes highway information on the new trans-peninsula highway, accommodations, etc. Allupdated material, 60 maps, 450 photos, largeformat, $4.95.TREASURE HUNTER'S MANUAL #7 by Karlvon Mueller. Treasure, or treasure trove, mayconsist of anything having a cash or convertiblevalue; money in all forms, bullion, jewelry,guns, gems, heirlooms, genuine antiques, rareletters and documents, rare books and much,much more. This complete manual covers everyfacet of treasure hunting. Paperback, 293 pages,i l lustrated, $6.50.UTAH GEM TRAILS by Bessie W. Simpson.Newly revised edition for the casual rockhoundor collector interested in collecting petrifiedwood, fossils, agate and crystals. The book doesnot give permission to collect in areas writtenabout, but simply describes and maps the areas.Paperback, illustrated, maps, $3.50.WILDLIFE OF THE SOUTHW EST DESERTS byJim Cornett. W ritten for the layman and seriousstudents alike, this is an excellent book on all ofthe common animals of the Southwest deserts. Amust for desert explorers, it presents a brief lifehistory of everything from ants to burros. Paper-back, 80 pages, illustrated, $2.99.


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C O O K B O O K ! ;For the outdoor enthusiast,and those who like to flavortheir life with the unusual

\ROUGHING IT EASY by Dian Thomas, putshe fun back into camping with easy andeconomical ways to prepare foods, equip acampsite and organize a camping trip. Pa-perback, 203 pages, $5.95.AMER ICAN INDIAN FOOD AND LORE byarolyn Neitharnmer. Original Indian plantsused for foods, medicinal purposes, etc., de-scribed, plus unusual recipes. Large format,191 pages, profusely illustrate d, $4.95.DUTCH OVEN COOK BOOK by Don Holm.slew and exciting culinary adventures inDutch Oven cooking. Heavy paperback, 106pages, $3.95.CACTUS COOK BOOK compiled by Joyce L.Tate. An excellent selection of recipes thatemphasize their edible or potable qualities.Also includes chapter on Food Preservation.Paperback, 127 pages, $2.00.

SOURDOUGH COOKBOOK by Don andMyrtle Holm. How to make a sourdoughstarter and many dozens of sourdough re-cipes. Paperback, 136 pages, illus., $3.95.CROCKERY COOKERY by Mable Hoffman.262 tested slow-cooker recipes. ContainsConsumer's Guide to various pots, tempera-ture charts and details on how the recipeswork w ith each pot. 176 pages illus., $4.95.ARIZONA COOK BOOK by Al and MildredFischer. Unusual recipes for Indian cooking,Mexican dishes, Western specialties. Uniquecollection. Paperback, 142 pages, $3.00.

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All books reviewed are available through theDesert Magazine Book Shop. Please add 25c perorder for handling and California residents mustinclude 6% state sales tax.

F RO M T HIS M O U N T A I N -CERROGORDOBy Robert C . Likesan dGlenn R . Day

The mining outpost of Cerro Gordoproduced silver in such quantities that

the bull ion bars piled up along the shoreof Owens Lake await ing shipment. Thefreight ing of this si lver to Los Angeles,plus supplying the miners on the returnt r ip , changed Los Angeles from a sleepyvil lage into a thrivin g c ity that has neverstopped growing.

The authors tell about the height ofthe boom, then the decline of "Fa t Hi l l . "Beaudry, Belshaw, Remi Nadeau, earth-quake of 1872, the "Bessie Brady,"Stevens' M il l in Cottonwood Canyon, theki lns, the "Mol ly Stevens," Keeler andthe tramwa y . . . the entire h istory of th isarea is told in detail.

Bob Likes moved from the East toCalifornia in 1961. I t was intr iguing tohim that in the East the towns, once es-tab l ished, continued to grow, while herein the West, you can roam entire townsthat have been deserted. This designerin manufacturing automation becamepresident of the Ghost Town Club.During this t ime of researching, f indingdata and taking pictures, he began towrite articles for Desert Magazine.

Planning an art icle on Cerro G ordo, heand Glenn Day found there was very lit-t le information available. They teamedup to wr i te From This MountainCerroGordo. Bob Likes, the technical illustra-tor, designer and oil painter, along withGlenn R. Day, the manufacturing engin-eer and top-notch researcher, have dugout much information that makes for in-terest ing reading.

Paperback, illustrated, $3.95.

P.O. Box 1318Palm Desert, California 92260

New revised editions of MEX ICO Guideand BAJA CALIFORNIA Guide by CliffCross. All-new, enlarged and updated.MEX ICO Guide contains 210 maps, 675photos; BAJA Guide includes newTranspeninsuia Highway and gas avail-able in Mexico; 60 maps, 450 photos.$4.95 each.NOWINSTOCK

MagazineBox 1318, Palm Desert, CA 92260Ca lif. Res. add 6% sales taxPlease include 25c for postage


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desert efforts have delineated the DeathValley area.Hardcover in large format, this book

includes 22 Adams prints in its 200pages. A f irst edit ion, this volume is$12.50.

P CA NY ON , A DESERTFORSCIENCE

by Irwin P. Tingd

Research into the whys and where-of desert l i fe, plant andanimal , has

for centuries and st i l lnot have all theanswers as to

to ar id , hotenviron-A fewanswers, but many more toThis newbook, published by thePhil ip

of the Univers i ty of Cal i fornia,not offer newanswers but concerns

a descript ion of onepart icularin one specif ic desert, the Colo-

of Southeastern California . Lavishlyby the incomparable Ansel

it details thework accomplishedtheCenter since it wasestablished inTwelve chapters describe past, pre-

and perhaps future research activ-in specific fields of studies. A gen-

the reader with the canyon'sthe eastern es-

of the Santa Rosa Mountainsto the Coachella Valley.

The editors are the Director and Edi-for the14,000-acre re-

respectively. They also areco-au-professors andgraduate

in several f ields ofand Indian studies.

Deep Canyon, aDesert Wilderness foris a f i rs t in several categories. It

the init ial general publicat ion of theh Cen ter in aseries. It is the f i rs t

to describe both for the informedand thegeneral scient ist the en-

of p l a n t s ,and animals in a special area of

It is also the f i rs tto feature the low-desert pho-of Adams. All of his previous

LOST MINES AND TREASURESOF THE SOUTHWEST

by Jimmie Busher 200 stories 200 mapsCalif Ariz Nev Utah Colo N.Mex Tex OklaFantastic New Book Wonderful GiftOnly $5 postpaid Satisfaction GuaranteedPrompt Delivery Send orders to:Treasure Book GuidesBox 368 Mesilla Park, New Mexico 88047

UPHILL BOTH WAYSHiking Colorado's H igh CountryRobert L. Brown

Hiking teaches self reliance, affords pleasure, freedom, and re-wards unlike those offered by any other activity today. This bookoffers a choice selection of hikes. They are grouped by area and allare in Colorado's Rocky Mountains. There are trails of graduateddifficulty, including walks for the beginner, and for all who want tosee more of Colorado's beautiful high mountain country.

Need suggestions about what to carry, how to build your pack,safety suggestions? This book has these features, and more.232 pages , 6 x 9 p a p e r b o u n d , p h o t o g r a p h s and m a p s $4 .95

The CAXTON PRINTERS, Ltd.Box 700Caldwell, Idaho 83605POPULAR ARCHAEOLOGY

This photo is the Crystal Skull from pre-historic Mexico and is only one of the featuresin this magazine about world-wide archeology.Popular Archaeology, edited by professionalarcheologists, presents the "Mystery and Excite-ment of the Search and Excavation" in easy-to-read and well illustrated issues about the historyof our civilization; such as, pueblo ruins of theSouthwest, Spanish forts, finding of the Monitor,opportunities for amateur field work and currentevents in American archeology.Subscription is $9.75 per year and a secondone-year subscription for yourself or a friend is$7.50P. O. Box 4190A, Arlington, Virginia 22204 MAYA CRYSTAL SKULL

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Desert/ July 1976


10/48

A m e r i c a ' s

Forest City July 4, 1876. All the residents turned out for a Centennial p ortrait atthe beginning of their day-long celebration. As was the custom in many miningcamps, evergreens d ecorated the main street. Note the speakers' platform and thebanner "Our Country." The pole in the center of the street was a permane nt fixtureof the tiny Sierra mining camp. It holds aloft "apartments" for purple martins.

by BETTY SHANNO N

HE FOUR TH of July was alwaysfl cause for celebration in the mining^ camps of the Wes t. But 100 years agothis mon th July 4, 1876marked aspecial birthday, our nat ion's Centen-nial.

The "Wallis"andsome of the BaldMountain miners about187 6. This is the littlecoal-burning locomotivethat w as used to pullthe train of ore carsloaded with Centennialrevelers into the BaldMountain Mine inForest City. Th elocomotive was namedfor Hyram Wallis,superintendent ofthe mine.10 D e s er t/ J u l 1 97 6


11/48

ust how d id our western forefatherst h i s once -on l y , neve r -aga in

Was it a tradit io nal day f i l led withstretched into the next as cos-

reassu ringly, in a number of camps" H a i l , Co lum b ia . "

There are several parallels betweenm a n y A m e r i c a n s w o r r i e d

the P resident 's fr iends and as-

e , a n d t h i s a t t i t u d e ,

In California, nowhere was the con-

read-including an original piece t it led,

M i l l ,

"Consequently, all were sober andInyo Indepen-

"That 's the way they always do itThe young people remained for a

Some 60 miles to the south, at Lonethe Centennial observance was of

The program had been well adver-en , women and chi ldren , someas far away as Be nton , a distance of

Bald Mountainminers and the

train of ore carsthat figuredprominently in

Forest City'sCentennial

celebration. Nodoubt these weresome of the same

miners whoparticipated in thecamp's Centennial

picnic deepunderground in

the Bald Moun tainmine.nearly 100 miles, gathered in Lone Pineto observe and part icipate in the fest ivi-t ies and foolishness. The crowd, est imat-ed at 1000 happy celebrants, was by anyreckoning quite a gathering for thesparsely populated valley.

Company D of the 12th U.S. Infantry,stationed at Camp Independence, nodoubt lent an air of decorum to the earlyact ivit ies. The company had arrived inLone Pine on the 3rd, setting up camp inthe plaza.

The Centennial observance began of-ficially at sunrise when a seven-mansquad f r om t he com pany f i r ed a13-volley salute. This was followed by afull dress guard at 7 a.m. The parade,which got under way at 10, was led bythe mil itary, a mounted police unit , anda band. Next came the M exican Society,followed by the Chileno Society, eachdisplaying their nat ional colors, LonePine priding itself on its cosmopolitanpopu lat ion. Any and all other cit izens, in

carriages or on horseback, were urged tojoin the procession's fourth and lastdivis ion.

Following the parade, a lengthy ora-t ion, delineating in great detail thecounty's history, was delivered from aspeaker's stand in the plaza. Me anw hile,16 miles up the road in Independence, agroup of local residents call ing them-selves the Ancient Order of RowdyRoosters were assembling at BlaneyHouse, the county seat 's leading hotel.

After parading and part ial ly deliveringtheir pieces, in a sort of impromptu dressrehearsal for the few who had remainedbehind in Independence, the group setoff for the main show in Lone Pine. Halfway there they were met by the LonePine Roosters.

In the vanguard, as the combinedf o r ces en t e red t ow n , w as a dev i l ,costume d in a fiery red suit com pletewith horns and ta i l , who sailed into LonePine whir l ing a raucous sounding ratt le

11


12/48

Local residents line Placerville's Main Street to watch the first of the town's twoCentenn ial parades. In the foreground, the Placerville M ilitia Com pany in full dressuniform. Note also the evergreens in front of building on the right side of the street.

above his head, the signal for all to turnout for the afternoon's frivolit ies. Theprocession was so well received that theRowdy Roosters paraded through thestreets several times.

The Roosters represented a host ofcostumed characters U ncle Sam, Fa-ther Time, "Bones" with h is b lack face,two grotesque lit t le bankers with a print-ing press distributing phony bil lsbutthe star of the show was a most out-rageously masculine Goddess of Libertydriving "her" own one-horse shay. ByLiberty's side was a formidable 16-pounder cannon, which according to theInyo Independent, "was ready to defendher life, liberty, and character, if she hada n y . "

From the speakers' stand the Roosterscontinued their assualt on custom andt rad i t ion . To uproarious laughter and ap-plause, key Roosters delivered suchpieces as "Joaquin's Pome" (sic), an ir-reverent spoof in verse on local and na-t ional history, and their masterpiece ofparody, "The Declamation of Impu-dence . "

The Declamation declared, amongother things, "That all men are equalwhen not blind drunk; that they are en-dowed with numerous inalienable rights,among these are the right to drink all the

whiskey that they can pay for, bum, orget on tick; to live without work if theycan; and liberty to sell tarantula juice tothe Piutes on the sly."

Further on, the Declamation delvedinto the realm of politics. Regarding theCentral Pacific Railroad it offered the fol-lowing resolution: "The Central Pacif icis a burdensome tax on the people and agigantic fraud to which we can never feelfully reconciled until the county allowsus a fair share of the swindle and buildsus a branch road through the OwensRiver Val ley."

And on the subject of the state capitoldistantly located in Sacramento, theaudience approved with a rousing cheerthe resolution declaring, "The StateCap i to l is in jud ic io us ly loca ted andshould be relocated in Saline Valley."

While the Roosters were a localizedphenomenon, at least in name, the or-ganization did not have a monopoly onpoking fun at Am erican ideals and inst i-tut ions. The names were different, buttheir performances took the same light-hearted approach. In Placerville, in theheart of the Mother Lode country, theywere the Knights of Huggerm ugger. InDutch Flat, they called themselves theCalithumpians. And as with the RowdyRoosters, the K nights and the Calithum -

pians were not allowed to take over thstreets until all others had had their opportunity to pay a f it t ing and dignif ietribute to the Centennial.

Placervil le 's celebration began with mid-morning procession of marchinunitsthe mil i tary, vo lunteer f i remenand the lodges; Odd Fellows, Red MenGrangers, '49ersfollowed by severhours of patriotic music and solemn orations in the plaza. Then at three in the aternoon, led by the Sublime Mugginthe costumed, fun-loving Knights oHuggerm ugger put on what was descried in the local paper, the MountaDemocrat, as "one of the most gogeous, fantastic and impressive displayever held in California." Their paraddepicted characters from many nationwagons carried historical scenes, thShip of State, and even the Man in thMoon was presented "for the f irt i m e . " An oration, delivered by theGrand Spouter, delighted the crowd.

In Dutch Flat, the citizens went all oto celebrate the Centennial with a noisround-the-clock marathon of activitieDutch Flat businessmen tried to outdeach other in Centennial decorations. Aa result of their enthusias m, M ain Strewas a connected garland of wreaths, pitures, f lags, f lowers, bunting and evegreens.

The Fourth began with a big bang, 100-gun National salute at sunrise, anfinally ended almost 24 hours latwhen, footsore and weary, the last those who had attended the Grand Bstumbled home to their doorsteps. Sanwiched in between were a parade, fetur ing 38 of Dutch Flat's love liest younladies one rep resenting each state aone depicting the Goddess of L ib e rtall on a chariot drawn by 12 horses,program of patriotic songs, poems, ortions and the inevitable reading of tDeclaration of Independence, anothfirearms salute, bellr inging, games anamusements, f ireworks and even a baloon ascension!

The Calithumpians, described by tDutch Flat Forum as, "a kind of humback, goggle-eyed, bugle-nosed orgazation seen only on the Fourth," put their appearance between the greaspig contest and sack races, and the fiworks. Their procession combined tsublime and the ridiculous, with a frticket to the ball awarded to the membwith the best costume.

12 D e s e rt /J u l 1 9


13/48

Notwithstanding the magnitude of theForum reported that the

For this the saloon keepers werethe cred it , for they and all

the serious part of the cere-

Sobriety was not the rule, but the ex-in Forest City, a t iny h amlet in

n's po pulat ion piled into a train of ore

mine, and a most uniqueHowever, the t rain was pul led by a

haul.o stand up and "pu sh on the c aps ,"

rhead. The strate-

expe rt caller. T here w refood,

When the picnic drew to a close, thethem into the ore cars. Three

run to the exit . The engine gave a toot,oal smoke poured out, and the train of

revelers rumbled out safely into the fad-ing l ight of a summer evening.

For most the Centennial was recordedas a safe and sane Fourth, with no con-f lagrat ions, that bane of all f ront iercamps, and few major incidents report-e d . However, one place where tragedydid str ike was in Carson City, Nevada.The re, while the sunset salute was beingf i r ed , a cannon discharged p rema turely,kil l ing one man and severely injuringthree others. The accident was attr ibut-ed to either carelessness or inexper-ience. In San Francisco, gangs of younghoodlums celebrated the Centennial bythrowing homemade bombs into st reetcars.Desert/July 1976

In remote Alpine County, the Centen-nial was seen as an ideal opportunity tohold a grand reunion of county residents.A l t h o u g h t h e i m p r o m p t u f i r i n g o fCentennial salutes began on Monday,the 3rd, and lasted unti l Wednesdayevening, the only planned event was aGrand Ball which was held in the OddFellows Hall in Monitor on the eveningof the Fourth. A midnight supper wasserved at Dunlap's Hotel, after whichdancing resumed and continued unti ldayl ight .

The Alpine Chronicle repor ted, "TheCentennial holidays passed more jub i l -antly than the lack of interest on the partof the people seemed to predict. Al-though we had no processions under abroil ing sun, no long-winded orat ionsfrom the l ips of fourth-rate orators, nomachine poetry dubbed poems, no mur-dering of the De clarat ion, our people en-joyed the Centennial F ourth fully as wellas they would have done had we beenthe vict ims of the above mentionedabominat ions . "

The l it t le mining camp of North SanJuan also dispensed with the speechesand songs. There the Centennial cele-brat ion began when an unidentif ied cit i -zen f ired a pistol at f ive in the morning,followed by the r inging of the lone ho-tel 's bell and raising of the f lag on theliberty pole to the resounding cheers off ive early r isers. Then, according to thelocal news sheet, the North San JuanTimes, "The balance of the day wasspent by the multitudes of people, 20 ina l l , in trying to keep cool by drinkingBoca beer of which there was a goodsupply. Taking it al l in all the CentennialFourth wil l long be noted as a terr iblyhot day, if nothing more."

And so it was. Whether to those whohad experienced it, it was just anotherhot summer day or a never-to-be-forgot-ten event, the Centennial passed intohistory. And with a thought toward theBicente nnial, a century hence, the e ditorof the Dutch Flat Forum wrote, "The daythat was looked forward to w ith pleasureby every American citizen has come ancgone, and the springt ime of our nat ion'ssecond century is here. If the growth ancprosperity of the past may be taken as acriterion for the future, the inhabitantsat the opening of another national centennial year wil l behold the greatestwealthiest, and most populous of any othe civi l ized countries on the glo be ." C

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14/48

& H H S T RU H B U U U by HOWARD NEALC o l d H i l l N e v a d a

LOCATION: Gold Hill is located on NevadaState Highway 80, approximately one mile south ofVirginia City and 10 miles east of Carson City.

BRIEF HISTORY: It was nearly noon on awarm day in May of the year 1849. A wagon train,under the leadership of a Mormon named John Orr,had paused near the shadow of the mountain to belater called Mount Davidson.While waiting for the mid-day heat to pass,a member of Orr's group, named William Prouse,idly panned for gold in a nearby canyon. Prouse waselated when he found flakes of the shiny metaj in thebottom of his pan. Orr was less impressed. His desti-nation was California. Still, he did name the spotGold Canyon.Even in the sparsely populated lands ofwhat was then known as western Utah the word ofgold spread quickly. As many as 20 prospectorscould be found in Gold Canyon in the summer of1 8 4 9 . The threat of coming winter was too much,though, so by the end of September the small popu-lation of Gold Canyon had disappeared.Winter was not the only problem. Theplacer gold of Gold Canyon was mixed with an an-noying blue substance. It would be called Comstock

Silver! The silver of the Comstock Lode would createthe second largest city west of the Rockies on theside of Mount Davidson, would finance the pros-perity of San Francisco, would underwrite the devel-opment of more than one railroad, and it would,within a span of months after its discovery, create anew state called Nevada.During the 1850s, though, it was gold thatshined in the eyes of the prospectors in Gold Canyon.To be sure, some, such as the brothers Allen andHosea Grosh, knew that there was silver there, withthe gold. Yet that blue stuff really slowed the goldrecovery so that mining success in the area could, atbest, be described as modest.In 1859 success that had been modest be-came a bonanza. In January of that year H enry Com-stock and James Fenemore located several placerclaims in upper Gold Canyon that turned out to bethe surface indications of the fabulous lode below.A n d , a few miles away, others were extracting asmuch as $1,000 per day from their gold rockers. Thereal rush didn't start, though, until an assay showedthat the worthless blue-gray ore that the miners werethrow ing away was worth as much as $3,000 a ton insilver as well as nearly $1,000 a ton in gold.

W ith in weeks it seemed as if half the peoplein California were crossing the Sierras. At the head

The Gold Hill Hotel was builtin 1859. It was the first hotel on theComstock and, according to a nearbymarker, was "The first edifice knownto Nevada to be worthy ofthe name of Ho tel . "


15/48

Part of the originalold Hill Brewery is now used

as a private residence.The quiet of Gold Hill

is in sharp contrast withthe honky-tonk atmosphere

in nearby Virginia City.Photographs by Howard Neal.

of Gold Canyon, Gold Hill was born. At first therewere only crude shacks and tents. When the Cali-fornians started arriving in numbers, though, boththe population and prosperity of Gold Hill mush-roomed. By the end of 1859 Gold Hill was rivaling itsbetter known sister on the slope of Mount Davidson,Vi ginia City.By 1873 Gold H ill was as modern as any c ityin the West. It could no longer keep up with thefame, growth, and wealth of Virginia City, but it didhave a population of 8,000, a public school system, athriving business community, and one of Nevada'smost influential newspapers, The Gold Hill DailyNews. The success of the Comstock mines, andwith it the prosperity of Gold Hil l , started its down-Desert /Juiv 1976

ward trek in 1878. The path was slow but it was sure.So, today, the "other city" on Mount Davidson mustanswer roll as another one of the, many ghosts of thegreat American desert.

GOLD HILL TOD AY: These days, too manytravelers take other roads to Virginia City. Theproper way to go is through Gold Canyon. Many oldbuildings and ruins line the winding road up thecanyon. Both headframes and mills tower from thehillsides. The hotel, reputedly the oldest in Nevada,is still operating. Although the population is smallGold Hil l is not quite a true ghost. Still it does reflecta quiet splendor of the past that contrasts sharplywith the carnival atmosphere of Virginia City, justacross the hil l .


16/48

f t i t heTootstepsTadre . . .

Garcesby MAR Y FRANCES STRONG

A L K I N C T O t he ri m , w e w ere un -WM prep ared for the splendo r of Ind ian| | Gorge. Exposed sediments stretch-

ed out before us. Bathed by the l ig ht of amorning sun, they resembled a giganticbolt of folded beige velvet, shimmeringand radiat ing, as if being gently touched

by an unseen hand. Only the soft rust leof wind across the deep chasm broke thest i l lness. Once again, the Great MojaveDesert had shown us another of her hid -den treasures.

Our journey to the Piute Mountainswas part of a personal Bicentennial cele-brat ion. Here, 200 years ago, March 4,1776, the f irst white man venturedacross California's unknown desert re-gion. On foot and accompanied only byIndian guides, Padre Francisco Garcescrossed the Colorado River, several

Primitive rockwork outlinesthe stockade,corral andshelters and isall that remainof Fort Piute.The post wasfirst calledFort Beale,in honor ofEdwardBeale, whosecamelcaravanswatered hereduring theirbrief periodof service.16

miles north of what is now Needles, Cali-fornia, then followed the Indian Trail tothe San Gabriel Mission in SouthernCalifornia. We had come to follow in hisfootsteps along a short section of trailthrough the Piute Moun tains. Un t i l then,we had been unaware of the colorful geo-logical formation at their western base.

Altho ugh we had been with in a mile ofIndian Gorge several times, it is unde-tectable unti l almost reaching its edge.W ith the r im at land level and mountainsrising on the eastern side of the Gorge,there is a feeling of continuityas if landand mountain meet. But meet, they donot!

Instead, through eons of t ime , rus hinggravel-laden water has scoured awaytremendous amounts of detr itus and lefta three-mile chasm along the westernbase of the mountains. Encounteringmore resistant rock and beating againstthem like waves on a rocky shore, thecutting action of uncountable storms haseventually carved a slot through thePiutes. It was across such desert basinsand through the washes and passes thatthe Indian Trail became established.

Dating well back into prehistoric t ime,the trail was a main route from the Colo-rado River to the coastal region nowknown as the Los Angeles Basin. Tradewith Coastal Indians was very importantto Arizona tr ibe s, as well as those tr ibesliving on the desert and in the mo untains

Padre Garces had learned of the In-


17/48

fc*.m

the rim. In use since prehistoric time,ail is still visible thoug h long aban-

over grown with desert brush.e sedimen tary formations in

ndian G orge are best viewed in morning

photos by Jerry Strongdian Trail and his explorations were anattempt to f ind a feasible land route fromMission San Xavier del Bac, SouthernArizona to San Gabriel Miss ion in South-ern California. Knowing the trail ut i l izeddependable springs, he hoped it wouldbecome the needed artery. Later explor-ers, on foot and horse back (1826-1848),followed the route he opened but almostanother 75 years would pass beforewagons lumbered along the ruggedt ra i ls .

Postponing the exploration of IndianGorge for a day, we changed our plansand elected to hike the trail from theeastside of the mountains. We would begoing up through the pass and intoIndian Gorge instead of hiking "downt r a i l . " We quickly headed over themountains and drove to the ruins of OldFort Piute.

Situated in a narrow canyon, this lo-

cale always activates our imagination.Piute Spring surfaces a mile upstreamand flows easterly for nearly two miles.C o t t o n wo o d s an d w i l l o w s p ro l i f e ra tealong the banks and provide a welcome" o a s i s " in a treeless land. It is easy toenvision Indian runners resting herebefore continuing their long journey tothe coast.

Trade runners were not the only In-dians to utilize Piute Spring. There isevidence of regular use by prehistorichunting part ies and, possibly, familygroups that "stayed awhi le ." Many ar t i -facts have been found and the petro-glyphs they left behind appear to be veryold. Remember, it is illegal to collect anyIndian art ifact.

Fort Piute was a "Johnny comelately" in the history of this region. Fol-lowing the California Gold Rush of 1849,when thousands of people trekked to the

aIpromised land of gold and glory, emi-grants began to move west to settle anddevelop the frontier. Those headed forCalifornia primarily uti l ized routes whichbrought them to San Francisco or SanDiego. The small Pueblo de Los Angeleswas unhapppy with this situation and feltthey were deserving of a fair share of thesett lers.

When Fort Mojave, Arizona was es-tablished in 1859 (14 miles north of whatis now Needles, California), a roadroughly following the Indian Trail waslaid out. It was initially used by the mil i -tary to haul their supplies from Los An-geles. Because of this it was called theGovernment Road. It was also a shorter,more direct route to the City of theAnge ls and a few em igrants began to usethe road in spite of the many hardshipsto be encountered. Eventually, therewere numerous skirmishes with hostile


18/48

The settlement of Lanfair is gone except for rubble and a cement reservoir. Sturdyhomesteaders attempted to tame the land but the desert aridity defeated them.Indians who, at f irst, only demandedgoods from the travelers. When kil l ingsand burnings increased, the emigrantsbecame reluctant to use the route unlesssome protect ion was provided.

Businessmen in Pueblo de Los An-geles brought pressure to bear on theMilitary based in the city. At the samet ime , increased Indian attacks on theU.S. Mail wagons and riders made pa-trols mandatory. In response, a numberof mil itary out-posts were established at40-mile intervals along the GovernmentRoad. From w est to east they were CampCady, Hancock Redoubt ( la ter For tSoda), Camp Marl Springs, Camp RockSprings and Fort Beale (later Fort Piute).

All except Camp Cady, which later de-veloped into a "more typical" armypost, were p rim it ive installations locatedat a good source of wate r w ith a stockadeand corral. Living quarters were con-structed in a manner and style depen-dent on material available and the ambi-t ion of the men. Adobe huts, rockhouses, log cabins and caves all servedwel l .

Aft er nearly a decade of use, the postswere closed one by one. Indian hosti l i t ieshad been que lled by the valiant efforts ofmen who had served, in what Ell iotCoues desc ribed after a vis it in 1865, " aGodforsaken Botany Bay of a placethemeanest I ever saw for a military sta-18

t i o n . " A new Government Road (Nation-al Old Trails Road), a few miles south,replaced the old one which had followedthe Indian Tra i l .

During the years 1860 to 1920, manyhomesteaders came to the Mojave Des-er t . "Set t l ing in" dur ing wet years, theywere unprepared for the normal dryyears of a desert region. Euphoniousnames such as Golden, Surprise, Super-ior and Paradise Valleys were given tothe basins. While ranches and farmsalong the Mojave River prospered, fewin the basin areas were successful. Thiswas due in large p art to the lack of wa ter.

Paradise Valley (now called LanfairValley), the region west of the PiuteM oun t a ins i nc lud ing I nd ian Gorge ,showed more promise than some of theothers. Catt le ranching had f lourishedfor many years when the f irst sett ler, Ed-win Lanfair, came in 1910. Lanfair clear-ed his land by hand and planted hardwheat and barley. I t produced a bumpercrop. Word of his success spread andsoon many other homesteaders began totake up land.

A large group of settlers arrived in thesprin g of 1912 and took up a qu arter-sec-tion each. This was not a happy event fo rthe cattlemen , who prom ptly advised thesettlers they owned all the water andwould not sell one drop. Most of the newarrivals elected to stay and haul their

water from Government Holes, 10 miteswest. Lanfair developed two good wells,tapped water from a spring in the north-ern end of the valley and became thelocal water comp any. Fo rtunately for thenew settlers, Paradise Valley entered awet cycle. Winter brought a blanket ofsnow with enough moisture for a winterwheat crop. Spring rains helped many ofthe later crops.

A store opened in the valley and soonbecame the community center. In June,1913, a school distr ict was organized.The Nevada Southern Railroad built astation at Lanfair and finally, a postoff ice was established. Since the name"Paradise" was already in use, Lanfairwas the alternate choice.

By 1917, the settlement of Lanfairboasted over 130 registered voters.Water was st i l l a problem, even thoughthe railroad regularly hauled in watercars. A charge of 25 cents per barrel wasmade. However, the wet cycle was overand the desert was beginning to take itsto l l .

Rai lroad business was also in adrought, as important mines shippingtheir ores via the line began to closedown. In 1921, a strike a nd severe wash-out caused Santa Fe to consider aban-donment. Another severe washout, in1923, wrote the f inal chaptergone wasthe litt le Nevada Southern Line.

Lanfair 's main artery had been thera i l road. With its demise, decline of thesett lement followed. Today, only crumb-ling foundations, cement steps to no-where, an old reservoir and a moderntelephone booth mark the site. However,Lanfair remains an important marker forthe Old Indian Trai l , Government Roadand the turnoff to Indian Gorge.

Over the years, J erry a nd I have cover-ed many miles along the Indian Tra il andOld Government Road either by foot,trail bikes or four-wheel-drive. Our hikeup the wash from Fort Piute Ruins intoIndian Gorge would leave only a smallsect ion of both we hadn't traveled. Weplanned to remedy this before the B icen-tennial Year was over.

We leisurely headed up the canyon,each deep in our own thoughts. Icouldn't help but feel that with all ourmodern equipment we have sacrif icedint imacy while gaining greater mobil i ty.Wa lking gets one down to the basics andgives opportunity to really observe theworld around you. I have never been anavid hiker or even a devotee of the sport

Dasar l / . lu lu 107c


19/48

I v onpohSearchlight 1

Nev.

Lonfoir(Sue)

San Bernardino County

I7mile PointX

Fort " Af ton Cyn

Fort ,'

Mojave RivrSink -

For tir l Spr.CampRock Spr.

Approx. Route Old Government RoadIndian Trail

Lane's Xng (Victorv il le)(Neediest

but I doenjoy "s t ro l l ing over " what Ipossessively think of as my beloveddesert.

From thespr ing , itseemed only a fewminutes before the wash widened andwe stood atthebottom of Indian Gorge.It wasbreath tak ing. Theperspectivewa s a radical change from ourearlierview. Exposed sediments towered overus and theextent of the gorge seemedenormous. On thesouth, asteep, faintt ra i l led up tothe rimwhere we had in-i t ia l ly parked.C l imbing up het ra i l , Ihadafeel ingofdeep comfort and reward. This hadbeenDesert/ July 1976

a pi lgr image forme. Ihadwalked in thefootsteps of the f irst white explorer tocross theGreat Mojave DesertFatherGarces. Hisexplorat ions hadcome to myattent ion t ime andt ime again whiledoing research for art icles. I haddevel-oped adeep admirat ion for his faith andcourage. Whenever we had t raveledalong the Indian Tra i l , I couldn't helpbut remember his incredible journeythrough anunknown andhosti le land.

This is theyear ofourgreat Bicenten-n i a l C e l e b r a t i o n . A t im e w hen allthoughts turn toourcountry's birth andthe dedicated people whogave oft hem-

selves tomake itall possible. While weare lauding theheroes of1776, let us notforget the men whoexplored thewesternfrontier. They opened theunknown landan d itsresources so ourcountry couldgrow into thepowerful United Statesoftoday.

Among these lesser known heroes isPadre Francisco Tomas Garces, Francis-can Monk and Explorer . I hope I amspeaking for allofDesert's readers and" d e s e r t a f i c i o n a d o s " w h e n I say,"Thank you,Padre Garces, for openingthe gates to at ruly promised landtheGreat Mojave Desert of Cal i fo rn ia . "

19


20/48

A TALE OF M INING , MURDERAND A MISER

'RubberDucks"by KEN MARQUISS

H E READER'S indu lgence is askedo for the above title choice; I needed some kind of corral to hold a bunch ofdif ferent broncs an d it represents achauvinist victory over insubordination!

(My ever-lovin' co-pilot, who correctsmy spelling and types my stuff, insiststhat this account should be called,"Those Dir ty Old Men." But , af ter al lour years together, she still has a sus-picious, irreverent and f l ippant att itudetoward the w hole fascinating business of

western mining history and legit imateprospecting; let alone the fr inge maniasof lost mine chasing and/or buried loot" b u g g i n g . " So, consequently, he r t i t leshould be disregarded!)

Besides, any self-respecting, deadline-haunted Editor would shoot downonsighta sil ly t i t le that reads, "Pollu-t ion's Price, an 'Energy Crunch, ' Per-missiveness, Crime, Humor, PsychicPhenomen a and Bu r ied Loot Theywere all part of the Cay 90's too!"

So, I like my t i t le; and the "RubberDuck" twist came to me one eveningwhile visiting a couple of cronies in theshould-have-been-den turned-lapidary-workshop of one of the m. These two areboth nice 'kids' (at least ten years young-er than I), but they have a pitiful case ofrock-knocker's fever. Their tongues areall calloused from licking rocks "to seehow it wil l polish" when there's no otherwater handy. (A sure sign of themalady.)

Our long fr iendship gives the privi legeof 'r ibbing rough, ' and I was giving themsome fatherly static on the error of theirways, and the probable monetary worth-lessness of the overflowing benches andboxes of colored rock cobbles, chips andslabs that littered the place. I added thatit was my considered opinion that theyboth would walk away from a real crack-erjack bonanza, unless the ledge had"auroral luminosi ty" s labbing potent ia l ;and part icularly if the gold-spangled orefai led to "cut pret ty . "

Exasperated, one of them retorted,"Get off our backs, you old sun-stunted,cactus AM Baba! A rock would have tohave a neo $ sign on it before you wouldpick it up. So leave ou r hobby toys alone,and go play with your own prospecting' rubber ducks ' ! "

Later, stroll ing home through thewarm dark, it struck me how apt was the

Downtown Eureka,Nevada, looking north,as it appeared in theearly boom days.Note how the surroundingcountryside hadalready been strippedbare of all wood to makecharcoal for the smelters.Some of the smeltersmoke had arsenic!Photos on this andopposite page from thecollection of the lateSenator Casey Fisher,Ely, Nevada.


21/48

Typical freight outfitcoming into Eurekaduring the boom days.

e "skinner" generallyrode the 'near-wheeler'

perched in the wagonlike in the movies];

But it was the swamperswho did most of the

workharnessing up,checking the hogging

chain and whiffletrees,braking the wagons

on the down grades,work' [cookingand wood] in the road

camps, etc.

Take old Zeb Heggland's gore-stained

Back in the days when I was chasingMagazine, May 1965), a mutual

referred me to M r. Fine

years and knew ju st abo ut every-said, "H e has a

I found Stan, and his gracious wife,

He is one of those rare persons who

machine you c ould almost feel

quarter hour I didn't care.Besides his memories of the end of the

old boom days and decline of Eureka, hehad quite a remarkable personal collec-tion of relics of the past he had picked upover the years. One of his items part icu l-arly intr igued me. I t was a block of oldt ime sulphur matches, st i l l part ial ly en-closed in its faded garish w rapper. As hehanded it to me he said, "T ha t is the realvil lain of most of the terr ible f ires theyhad in the Old-West towns and ca mp s."This surprised me, as I had alwaysthought the f ires were mostly caused bytilted kerosene lamps and shoddy stovepipes and ceil ings.

He broke one match off its wood rootand struck it on a board. I t sputtered andfizzed and smoked; and it seemed min-utes before it burst into a bright sharpf lame. He said there were two reasonsfor the menace of the old sulphurmatches: one that people often wouldn'twait for the match to "catch," f igure i thad gone out and then toss it into thecoal scutt le or wood boxwith direconsequences. The second reason wasthat most old-t imers failed to keep theirmatches in rat-proof boxes "to o muchtrouble" and rats were crazy about thesulphur head of the matches (somethingtheir bodies undoubtedly craved), since"th ey go for sulphur m atches l ike rangestock go to a block of l ick in' s al t !" The

night rov ing rats would take the matchesto their nest in the walls of the b uildingsto gnaw on and whoosh!

The community of Eureka, Nevada isfar from a ghost town, as there is st i l lranching and some mining in the area;and it is one of the most interestingblendings of the old and the new I haveseen. To top i t o f f , the "Howdy!" cord-iality of the inhabitants to strangers (atleast the ones I met) has an almost f ron-t ier f lavor. I f you are bumming aroundNevada, and have some t ime , don 't missEureka.

The town was b uilt up along both sidesof a rather na rrow n orth-south va lley,since there was water there for the sm el-ters, and for the tow n, which became thefocus of the r ich s ilver-lead ore m ining inthe area.

Stan said that in the boom's heightthere were eight smelters going in thevalley, spreading their smoke over thearea. The f ires were fed at f irst withcharcoal made from the pinyon forestswhich covered the surrounding moun-tains and hil ls. I t didn't take long beforethe furnances had gobbled up most ofthe nearby wood, creating an "energyc runch " that threatened to shut downthe major industry. Before the railroadwas f inished and brought in coal fromUtah, huge double wagon freight outf itsusing eight and ten span teams of mules,

rt/ July 1976 21


22/48

were hauling in the fuel from newcharcoal sources as far away as 50 m iles!

Incidentally, i f you l ike to hunt forrelics, these remote camp sites near thelarger ovens are a fertile place to search.

The charcoal energy crunch was notthe only pollut ion price the early peopleof Eureka paid to keep their economy go-i n g . Like most desert areas, even on so-called windless days, the sun's heatmoves the air up the canyon by day, andthe night cold moves it down. So thesmoke from the stacks really saturatedthe area. Unfortun ately, there was also a

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small amount of the antimony/arsenicelements in the r ich silver-lead ore, andthese volatile metals poured off in thesmoke from the stacks. There was a lot ofearly talk about the number of citizenswho became " lu ng er s" and had to leavetown ; but the crisis came when thecounty clerk discovered, in going overvital stat ist ics, that for almost 14 monthsno t on e single live baby had been born inthe houses that lined the valley beneaththe pall of lethal smoke!

One of the solut ions that was develop-ed to try to dissipate the smoke was con-struct ion of "slaunch stacks." Thesewere large brick corridors or f lues builtup the slopes of a nearby mo un tain , to anelbow base, on which was erected a tallsmoke stack. The tops of these secon-dary stacks were high enough for theprevail ing northwest winds to carry thesmoke away from to wn , and l ife returnedmore or less to normal. The foundationscars of one of the "sla unc h s tacks" canstill be seen on the east side of tow n. T heslump in the price of silver after the turnof the century, and the "pinch ing do wn "of the ore bodies happened about thesame t ime; and the Eureka boom wasover.

The smelters and smoke stacks werelater dismantled for building materials,and shipped to other parts of the state,but the huge old slag piles are still there.One story is told of a local sharpie whocontracted to dismantle and clean thedir ty bricks of some of the slaunch stacksat a price that convinced his friends hewas due for the " funny farm." The f i rs tthing he did was to scrape and whiskbroom down all the soot which he care-fully shoveled into sturdy sacks andshipped to the Salt Lake smelter. The re-covered minute silver particles in thesoot brought him a smelter check for

Gene and Mary Foushee'sR E C A P T U R E L O D G E T O U R ST h e r e are s t i l l p l a c e s l i k e t h i s . . . p e a c e f u l , q u i e t ,r e m o t e . A n d j u s t a 15 m i n u t e s t r o l l , or a f i v e m i n u t ed r i v e , or a s t o n e ' s t h r o w f r o m R e c a p t u r e L o d g e . Be-s i d e s s c e n e r y a n d t r a n q u i l i t y l i k e t h i s , we h a v e g e o l o -g i s t - g u i d e d t o u r s t o M o n u m e n t V a l l e y , C a n y o n l a n d s ,P o n c h o H o u s e . . . and l o v e l y s p o t s y o u ' v e n e v e rh e a r d of .Nightly slide shows. Heated Pool. Play-grounds. Automatic laundry. San JuanRiver trips.

BLUFF, Utah 84512 Phone 801-6 72-2 281

more than $fc,000-and he hired some-one else to do the hard work

Like all boom towns, life in earlyEureka was lusty, and the humor oftenr iba ld. Also, like all places where theelected off icials begin to feel that "re-habitat ing" the wicked is their personalprime passion in life, permissivenessseeped into the courts; and crime be-came an ugly factor of life there. Theheavy traffic road in the narrow canyonthat leads from Eureka to the minecamps above became a favorite night lyhaunt of thugs and " ow l-ho ots , " so-cal l-ed from the resemblance to owls in theempty flour sacks with big eye holes cutout for masks, with the corners tied up sothe mask wou ld f it snugly over the head.

The local law and court did n't seem tobe able to do anything about it , andwhen the people f inally got fed up, theundercover vigilante committee took ahand. They staked out and caught acouple of would-be owl-hoots red-hand-e d , complete with masks and guns; andthe commit tee "rehabi l i tated" the sus-pects the quick waywith a 10-foot bullwh ip !

Next, the vigilantes had one of thelocal blacksmiths rivet together a heavyplate iron casket, complete with hingedtop and lock hasp, which they freightedto a strategic spot in the canyon. Thenthey erected a sign behind the casketwhich in essence said, "The very nexone of you dear boys we catch can trythis on for size!" So the local crime ratecam e t o a shud de r ing s low -d ow nwithout benefit of sociology professors orother high priced anthropologists.

When Stan was showing me the site ofthe casket he said, "And I know for afact, it took 20 men to lift that heavy boxon and off the wa go n! " So the casket remained in place, a grim warning tothugs , unt i l the high price of scrap metaduring the f irst Wo rld W ar cause it to becut up.

The next morning, since I was due inEly the following day, I gently broughup the subject of the bu ried money dowsing story I had heard about. Stan gaveme a funn y look and asked, "D o you bel ieve in dowsing?"

Wh en I adm itted that dowsing devicego l imp and do no t work, for me, at leasthe said, "Let 's go for a r ide . "

W e went dow n the valley for about oneand a half miles north of Eureka, andthen turned off west to a sort of widebench; there he showed me a couple o

22 *-/ I..I..


23/48

Retired formersheriff Stanley Fine

points out theplaces where, in

boyhood days, heand his buddyunearthed the

bodies of the slainSwedish couple,

while hunting theold miser's cache

with a "hot"dowsing fork. Th e

woman was found tohis right, the man

to his left.*v e'

Stan said Zeb had shown up in Eureka

long. He was suspected of grandso he was bounced out for "in-

ut he couldn 't make it , even as a

So, Zeb started scouting around forwhich he subsequently bought

d an idea! In those days, ev erybodyinterested in metal; and fresh pro-

high. So it wa sn't

soon as he began to pros per, he start-

He hired Chinese or Indians or thehe town broke; anybody

d hire for a pittance-and-fresh-ve-

t/Jul 1976

ed a real Gung-ho-Scrooge reputation inthe Eureka area.

Stanley said that one late fa l l , beforethe spring that Zeb died (and about thetime Stan was 16), there was a "realclose-down blizzard" that stopped alltraffic in and out of Eureka for somedays.

Two people marooned by the stormwere a youthful Swedish couple who hadworked around Eureka for several years.

They were well liked because they wereindustrious, sober and thrif ty. They hadbeen saving every penny they couldscrape up in order to realize their dreamof returning to Sweden, and buying anice, cozy farm of their own no m oremining camps gamble or romance fortheml They were all ready to leave whenthe storm hit, and as they had given uptheir lodgings they had no place to go.

Cont inued on Page 41

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26/48

and R ussell Swan. He wasencouraged along the way by hisclose friend and associate, JonGnagy, long time art teacher ofNBC television fame .In 1956, Carl settled in IndianWells, California and constructedhis own home and art gallery.Especially popular with his

clientele are desert scenes withsmoke trees as the focal po int. Forthe past seven years, Carl and hiswife, Luella, have divided the irtime between Indian W ells and asecond home and art gallerylocated in Taos, New Me xico.Active in many art associations,he has won over 100 awards in

Oil,I2"x16""Taos Pueblo"various exh ibitions, and hasbecome a regular invitationalexhibitor at the Death Valley '49erEncampment Art Show heldannually in November.W ith the low desert warm th inthe win ter, and the cool clime ofTaos in the summ er, this artisttruly has the best of two worlds!

V I

Oil,24 " x"In theCoolShade"


27/48

Oil, 24"x36" "Up the Beaumont Hill'

Oil, 24"x36" "The Shepherdesses"

: .


28/48

B a n n e r t a i l sby K. L. BOYNTON1976F ALL the members of the heteromy-id tr ibe (that oddb all group of rodents

I composed of pocket mice and kanga-roo rats) Dipodomys spectabilis and hiscousin D.s. baileyei, are the largest,measuring some 14-15 inches respective-ly in overall length. Besides their noblesize, these kangaroo rats also rejoice in along brush of white hair located backyonder near the t ip of their ve ry long andslender tails. This hairy adornment, be-sides adding considerable dash to theirappearance, is the very conspicuous rea-son for their clan nickname of banner-tails.

Unlike many another member of thepocket mice, kangaroo rat assembly,these bannertails are great believers in agood big house to l ive in, No plain oldhole in the ground for them. Architectsby nature, each constructs his own pri-

28

vate palazzo, digging long and lust i ly,and taking months at the job. Viewedfrom the exterior, the result ing mansionis a big moun d maybe 10 feet in diameterand a good one and one-half feet high.Several three by four inch holes for door-ways give the edif ice a slight ly Swisscheese appearance. The interior, how-ever, is a magnif icent structure built inthree or four levels, the basement beingthree feet underground. Each level con-tains many chambers and rooms all in-terconnected with passageways. A sec-tion devoted to storehouse facilit ies maycontain a bushel of seeds stashed forwinter fare or to t ide the resident overlong dry periods. Needless to say, aspread like this takes a lot of original dig-ging and constant upkeep. The ownerkeeps the premises clean and neat, f l ing-ing out any moldy food and debris.

Not being a convivial soul, the banner-tail doesn't care for l ive-in company.Qu ite the opposite as was shown in bothVoorhies and Taylor's classic study ofArizona bannertails and Holdenried's in-vest igat ions of the New Mexico contin-gent. One rat to a mound is the story.Yet, interest ingly enough, the mounds ofa populat ion of bannertails dwell ing in avicinity tend to be concentrated. Holden-ried's study, for instance, involved some181 mounds, some old not being used,some being refurbished, some occupied,all located within a port ion of the area.

Now it must be reported that whenthese kangaroo rats are kept in labora-tories, they are exceedingly rude to eachother and wil l immediately set aboutf ight ing to the death if housed together.We l l aware of th is , the team of C D .Schroder and K.N. Geluso viewed withraised eyebrows this tendency to clumptheir mounds in the wi l d . Why d idn ' tthese congenitally aggressive kangaroorats get into more fracases thereby?Fight ing in nature is an economicwaste a waste of t ime and energy. In adesert it can be a fatal matter whereevery bit of energy must be conserved tosecure food and survive under suchstressful condit ions.

So Schroder and Celuso set about see-ing just how these mounds actually lay inrelat ion to each other. They went at itwith surveying equipment, locating eacho n e , plott ing it on a ground map, andfeeding the information into a computer.


29/48

photos of the Banne rtail taken nearThe one at left

the median stripe on theand the bottom, shot at 1/1000 of a

ves evidence of the little fel-01 n.

to ad mit

f o r t h e mse lve s , a p p a re n t l y

would get the bum's rush from the

inrecent snowfalls showed tracks

o many form ing a trail to

the nearest weed and seed patches andacross wide stretches of ground.

Long a child of the desert, the banner-tail gets the water he needs from thisdiet of dry seeds, and water formed bybody metabolism. Water loss is cut bythe production of extremely concentrat-ed urine and dry feces. But there is stillthat unavoidable loss by evaporationfrom the lungs. How much naturally de-pends on how humid the air is. If theair's water content is high, less is lost. Indry air, the loss is heavy. In fact, it canbe greater than the body can supply bymetabolism, thus result ing in upsetwater balance and trouble.

How does the bannertail solve thisproblem?

Since the bannertail wisely spends theday in his burrow with his doors pluggedup t ight, anatomists Knut and BodilSchmidt-Nielsen wondered if the air inthis closed-up burrow system might bemore humid, and thus play an importantand perhaps vital role in the animal'swater economy. They picked the driestpart of the Arizona year and set abouttest ing. Livetrappin g each burrow's resi-dent, they t ied a microclimate recorderto its tail with a piece of string. A longsoft wire was also attached to the record-er to its tail with a piece of string. A longsoft wire was also attached to the record-er with its other end fastened outside theburrow. The animal, once let loose,popped back into its home taking the re-corder with it, and maybe 12-14 feet ofwire , if it took the long route to its nestchamber. Once there, it usually prompt-

ly chewed the string off, and thus the re-corder was left in the burrow until theSchmidt Nielsens pulled on the wire andhauled it out some 12 hours later.

Naturally, how moist and how hot theground itself is makes a big difference inthe humidity inside the burrow, and itcame as a big s urprise to the biologists tofind that the soil in Arizona was hum id ata moderate depth in spite of the blister-ing surface temperature and low air hu-midity above ground. The three-foot-deep basement level of the burrow sys-tem, for instance, was right where thesoil moisture was considerable. The nestchamber itself enjoyed a relative humid-ity of about 30 percent.

Holed up daytimes in his burrow sys-tem with the doorways plugged sh ut, thekangaroo rat is exhibiting some firstclass survival behavior. Breathing itshumid air he is losing by test some 24percent less water than if he werebreathing the dry air topside. This sav-ing can be vitally important. Losing lessthan he is manufacturing metabolically,he actually ends up w ith a water gain. Nowonder these bannertails f lourish undersuch rugged condit ions.

Interested in learning what went on ina kangaroo rat community, Holdenreidtrapped and marked 172 animals andrecaptured some of them as many as 40t imes. In fact, it got so that he recogniz-ed the trappees at sight, and they recog-nized him and what with this thing andthat and their combined efforts, the ratsand the biologist came up with some in-teresting facts.


30/48

I t seems that the New Mexico banner-tails think it's spr ing in the coldestmon th in those parts. December sees theopening of the court ing season, agoodthree mo nths before there are any visiblesigns ofspring's actual advent. Nor does

the whoop-la come to an endamongt hese en t hu s ias t i c r ep roduce rs un t i lAugust when the last of the young areweaned. All of theadult females cap-tured during the season had at ease onelitter each, several two or more with

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30

periods between l it ters averaging onlyabout f iye toseven weeks.

Gestation is about 27 days. The infant(usually about three to abatch) check inweighing about seven grams apiecePink arid semitranslucent, they are quitha i r less except for s t ubby s i l ve rwhiskers. Their eyes are closed and soare their ears, with the t ips folded downand they have noteeth. A week latethey have a soft coat of fur and th eir earare beginning tostraighten upan d gon the ob. Their incisor teeth appeaaround the 11th day, their eyes open a14 days. By the f if th week the youngsterare act ive above ground and from now othe growth isfast. At four months theare full-sized adults.

Gett ing on with this business ofgrowin g up isexceedingly important in thharsh desert that istheir home, forthyoungsters must set about storingyear's supply offood in aburrow systemof their own from a crop ofseeds produced by one ra in . The same ra in , as biologist V. Bailey observed, that startetheir parents off on the wooing seasonthe f irst place. All the way along the l inthe production and survival ofthe younare inf luenced by w hat isgoing on inthway of plant gro wth . So is he survivalothe adult colony, too.

Br ing ing in the groceries is abig paof the kangaroo rat 's l i fe, and it isdonat night. Seeds must be collectestuffed hastily into face pockets, anlugged offhome tothe storehouse. Trafter tr ip must be made. Act ivity iscof ined tosmall local areas. The bannetails st ick around home in arange of50feet or less, or use the well-traveletrails toseed sources, always watchffor enemies.

Zoologists R.B. Lockard and DOwings suspected that old desert handlike these had evolved asystem ofdeaing with the problem of food gett ingthe face ofenemy odds, and f igured ththe specif ic t ime of activity had somthing to do with it.Night isnot just nigafter all, but a t ime of d if ferent dark codit ions. How do the bannertails make thmost of them?

The zoologists installed some fancy rcording devices in their study areThese t imers released sixmillet seeper hour into a slight depression int readle for 12 hours start ing at evenitw i l igh t . An animal taking theseestepped on the readle, itsweight d

Dpsort/ lulv 1Q


31/48

t imeapprox-

Strikingly apparent was the fact thatene made a big dif ference.

r, coyote, bobcat, great horned owl

Twil ight, for example, is a hard to seethe almost uni formly i l luminat-

Objects stand out m ore dis-

behavioral ad aptat ion that are-and hence harder to catch by vision-

Faced wit h the need to eat for the day

take n, the rats seemingly avoid-

he year's end . Only

couple of months aw ay.t /Jul 1976

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197607 Desert Magazine 1976 July

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Transcript of 197607 Desert Magazine 1976 July