Robert Leatherman's camera provides a Costa's Hummingbirds scene seldom witnessed by the naked eye: the frozen action of a hummingbird. The photograph, first-prize winner in this month's contest, is two-and-a-half times life size. It was taken on a May afternoon in a desert wash east of the photogra- pher's San Bernardino, California, home. This mother Costa's is greenish above; the under-body is white. It is nearly impossible to distinguish between this bird and the female black-chinned hum- mingbird in the field.

PHOTO CONTEST: you are invited to enter desert-subject photographs (black and white, 5x7 or larger) in Desert's contest. One entry will be selected each month, and a $10 cash prire awarded to the photographer. All other entries will be returned— provided postage is enclosed. Time and place of photograph are immaterial—except that the photo must be of a Desert South- west subject. For non-winning pictures accepted for publication, $3 each will be paid. Address all entries to: Photo Contest, Desert Magazine, Palm Desert, California. Publisher's Notes • • • It is not easy to get lost when you have a map to follow. But last month two of our maps got lost—somewhere in Mexico—trying to find our cartographer, Norton Allen. Our editorial office prepared all the necessary data for Norton Allen to use in drawing a map for Harold Weight's field trip story and for Ken Wortley's lost mine piece. We mailed the information to Norton, who was vacationing in Mexico. Then we waited. ...magazine of the Outdoor Southwest Finally, deadline time, and no maps from the Mapman. At the next to last moment we traced Norton to Tepic, in western Mexico. He told us by long distance phone that Volume 22 MAY. 1959 Number 5 our lost treasure was still lost, as far as he was concerned. So artist Margo Gerke, former Desert staff member, did a hurry-up job for us, pinch-hitting for Norton Allen. COVER: Navctjo Trail, Bryce Canyon National Park, Allen, incidentally, will be back in the United States (and back in Desert) next month. Utah, by PARKER HAMILTON And his substitute, Miss Gerke, will be leaving Desert's sphere to enter the State of Matrimony. ENGINEERING: Ford's Desert Proving Grounds By EUGENE L. CONROTTO 4 It may be officially noted, now that the month of May is here, that this was a "mighty pore" spring for wildflowers on the desert. About the only blooms most of you will see CONSERVATION: Smokey Bear's Early Days are the lovely Mariposa lilies on our back cover, courtesy By STEVE LOWELL 7 of Josef Muench's camera. * * * GHOST TOWN: Cortez, Nevada—Population 1 Fire hazard season in cur brushlands and mountains is By NELL MURBARGER 9 here, so we think it especially timely to report on the famous fire-prevention bear, Smokey, and to recall his beginnings, NATURE: The Desert Bean Tree in the article, "Smokey Bear's Early Days," on page 7. * * * By EDMUND C. JAEGER 14 One of the top Nature photographers of the Southwest, Bob Leatherman, is this month's photo contest winner. PERSONALITY: First Lady of Santa Clara Leatherman has won top Desert honors several times during By MARY BRANHAM 17 the past decade. And if he can continue to turn in pictures as delightful as his family scene at the edge of a humming- EXPERIENCE: Memories of Broad Horizons bird's home (opposite page), then we can promise him further laurels in future years. By SUSAN WILSHIRE JORDAN 19 CHARLES E. SHELTON Publisher SCIENCE: Green Conquest—How Plants Eat Rocks By JERRY LAUDERMILK 20 The Desert Magazine, founded in 1937 by Randall Henderson, is published monthly by Desert Magazine, Inc., Palm Desert, California, HISTORY: Two Stage Stops on the Butterfield Re-entered as second class matter July 17, 1948, at the postoffice at Palm Desert, California, under the Act of March 3, 1879. Title regis- Overland Mail, by J. WILSON McKENNEY . 22 tered No. 358865 in U. S. Patent Office, and contents copyrighted 1959 by Desert Magazine, Inc. Permission to reproduce contents must be LOST MINE: Alec Ramy's Lost Bonanza secured from the editor in writing. By KEN WORTLEY 24 CHARLES E. SHELTON, Publisher EUGENE L. CONROTTO, Editor BONANZA: Old Shultz' Gold Mine RANDALL HENDERSON, Advisory Editor EVONNE RIDDELL, Circulation Manager By CLARE BOWMAN 26 Address all editorial and circulation correspondence to Desert Mag- azine, Palm Desert, California. FIELD TRIP: Carnelian and Roses at Ash Hill Address all advertising correspondence to Clyde A. Osburn, Director of Advertising, Suite 315, 7046 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles 28, Calif. By HAROLD O. WEIGHT 36 Unsolicited manuscripts and photographs submitted cannot be re- turned or acknowledged unless full return postage is enclosed. Desert Magazine assumes no responsibility for damage or loss of manuscripts BACK COVER: Mariposa Lily or photographs although due care will be exercised. Subscribers should :end notice of change of address by the first of the month preceding By JOSEF MUENCH ssue.

Photo-of-the-M:onth: 2 Desert Quiz: 6 SUBSCRIBE TO Desert Primer: 8 Calendar: 12 Southwest Recipes: 18 DtAViL Reader Response: 27 Southwest News Briefs: 28 ... or let us send it to a friend Hard Rock Shorty: 32 Writers Close-Ups: 33 (a magazine subscription is a thoughtful gift) Mining News: 34 Book Reviews: 35 • One Year-$4 • Two Years-$7 • Three Years-$ 10.50 (Canadian subscriptions 25c extra, foreign 50c extra per year) Gem-Mineral Field Reports: 40 SEND DESERT MAGAZINE TO: Amateur Gem Cutter: 41 Editorial: 42 Poem-of-the-Month: 43 (pfease print)

(mailing address) ABOUT THE COVER ...... Parker Hamilton of Flagstaff proves again that the warm beautiful colors of Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah make (city, state) that area one of the most rewarding on earth for the color pho- If this is a gift, sign gift card: tographer. A portion of the Navajo Trail at Bryce is shown in the cover photo. The park is open all year. Evenings there are cool—often chilly—the days are warm. Hamilton is a beginning Mail this information and your remittance to: Desert Magazine, free-lance photographer and it may be that more of his fine work Palm Desert, California. soon will be seen in this publication.

MAY, 1959 Severe dust conditions are created for this test by the By EUGENE L. CONROTTO pickup at far right which is towing a heavy drag.

HE DESERT ROAD we were driving over was rougher than most dirt trails, for its washboards and 7 chuckholes were purposely created to torture auto- Ford's Desert mobiles. Benn Keller drove the Lincoln over one stretch where the bumps affected only the right wheels. Next came a dip with punishing left-wheel bumps, and then we hit a jarring stretch of trenches in which all four wheels hit bottom at Proving Grounds the same time. Benn is manager of the Ford Motor Company's 4000- acre Arizona Proving Grounds near the tiny settlement of Ford Motor Co. is testing new and future auto- Yucca, 25 miles west of Kingman on Highway 66. Almost motive components at a secret proving grounds on 100 men are busy here around the clock doing road test the Arizona desert near Kingman. Cars are driven work on today and tomorrow's cars, tracks and automotive over punishing dirt tracks, enveloped in man-made components. At the invitation of the Ford Motor Company dust storms and subjected to other tests while en- I recently visited this modern installation on the broad gineers study the results. barren plain framed between the somber Hualpai and Black mountains. In addition to the 25 miles of secondary roads for durability testing on the Ford property which Benn was introducing me to, there is a five-mile three-lane high speed endurance track where cars and tires are evaluated over long grueling runs. After we completed the desert road course, we entered the paved track. In a matter of seconds the car's speedom- eter eased over to the 120 mph mark—maximum registered speed—and rested there. I glanced out the window. Joshua trees, ocotillo and creosote bushes lining the five-mile oval track slipped backward in a green blur. As we entered the sloped curve, Benn took both hands off of the steering wheel. "Notice how perfectly this track is engineered?" he asked in a casual tone. "It's banked steeply enough to handle speeds up to 140 mph without any side thrust. The car seeks its own level on the curves according to its speed —steering is unnecessary. Just like the side-show motor- cycles spinning around the inside walls of a barrel." To test and evaluate its products—and the products of competitors — Ford has five testing stations: the main engineering labs at Dearborn and Romeo, Michigan, em- ploying about 300 men each; seasonal stations at Colorado Springs, Colorado, and Jennerstown, Pennsylvania; and the Southwest station at Kingman. General Motors has a prov- ing grounds in the Phoenix area, and Chrysler reportedly is considering establishing a desertland test ground. Ford came to the desert in 1946. For nine years it operated in a small way out of a Phoenix garage, using the public highways for most of its tests. In 1953 the company acquired the Mohave County property, and in May, 1955, the Arizona Proving Grounds was in business. Heart of the operation is the gleaming white air-condi-

Benn Keller, Proving Grounds manager, at the wheel of a heavily-instrumented test vehicle.

DESERT MAGAZINE tioned office-shop-garage building which faces across a green lawn and swimming pool the employee's services building where cafeteria, lounge and visiting officials' apart- ments are located. There are very special reasons why this isolated plain was chosen. First there is climate. Summer temperatures here are close to the maximum encountered anywhere in the U.S.; in winter road testing is not interrupted by snow which hampered Eastern operations. Second consideration was seclusion. The Proving Grounds is completely enclosed by a high chain link fence. Unauthorized visitors cannot enter. Despite the fact Ford people had invited me to visit the installation weeks in advance, I had to go through about as much red tape to get into this plant as I did a year before getting out of a Navy base in Southern Nevada into which I had inadvertently wandered. The reason for all of this is simple: the need for secrecy. In January of this year the first of Ford Motor Company's 1960 prototype models began arriving at the Arizona Prov- ing Grounds, and many of the current models have '61 and even '62 components which are undergoing tests. All new model prototypes are driven out from the East —camouflaged with plywood, stripped of all chrome and insignias, and their drivers instructed not to answer any questions. These cars are hand-made at tremendous cost, Main building contains offices, shops and garage. but when their mission at Kingman is completed, they are saturated with gasoline, set aflame and then buried under carburetors, and ventilators which are being tested, follow the desert sand in an unmarked grave. There is no market close behind the drag. In the more severe tests, the drivers for experimental cars. must wear inhalators. There are no irate neighbors to Benn explained that it was more important to keep the complain over such testing. new model secrets away from Ford Motor dealers than Fourth factor for the plant's location is the 6500-foot from engineers of rival companies. The latter probably have a good idea of what Ford is doing from their own variation in elevation within a 40-mile radius of the Prov- work and research, the interchange of industry personnel, ing Grounds—invaluable conditions for performance test- gossip from common vendors, and highly educated guesses. ing cars and trucks. About 75 percent of all road testing But dealers who see and like next year's cars (the purpose takes place on the public highways between the Colorado of style changes is to bring about this very reaction) may River, at elevation 500 feet, and Hualapai Mountain Park hold back on their current year orders, and thus affect sales. near Kingman, where the road winds up to the 7000-foot Dust—its availability and not its lack—is another rea- level. son Ford settled near Kingman. There is a special dusty And the last reason is that the Desert Southwest is stretch on the secondary roads where a truck towing a drag becoming an increasingly important factor in the nation's can simulate sand storms far greater than the average desert economy. More and more people are driving more and traveler will ever encounter. Cars fitted with air filters, more miles in this vast area. Benn showed me a test car. The passenger's side of A Thunderbird simulates a long uphill drive by pull- the front seat was a maze of instruments and rubber hoses ing a special "towed truck" around high-speed track. leading to various components being tested under the hood The truck has special gears which make it possible to and in the rear-end. On the floorboards were iron weights transfer any given weight-drag to vehicle being tested.

:.:• :;. v ,:• ;.:; ••:-. •.;

MAY, 1959 and sand bags to bring this particular vehicle up to the exact test weight. Tenderfoot or desert rat, you'll want to tackle these 20 questions When a driver starts his workday, he is given a printed DESERT QUIZ for two good reasons: to find instruction sheet setting forth the test assignment. It may out how much you know about the great desertland; and to be that the engineers want to check a 1962 transmission find out what you don't know. Fourteen correct answers is under temperature and pressure conditions, so the car a passing grade; 16 is good; 18 or more is excellent. Answers equipped with one is accelerated up to a certain speed, are on page 34. 1. 1680 is a famous Southwestern historical date for it abruptly stopped, backed up to the starting point, again marks—The Pueblo uprising against the Spaniards accelerated, stopped, backed up, etc. This may go on for Founding of Calexico Gadsden Purchase three eight-hour shifts, six days a week. First overland mail to California Not all tests are conducted on moving vehicles. Parked 2. "Float" that prospectors follow to mineral ledges is— A river trail A sand trail Weathered-out behind the shop was a new station wagon. It had been in ore Earthquake faults the open for six months testing how the simulated wood 3. California's Morongo Pass divides the San Bernardino side panels can take sun, wind and cold. Mountains from the—Chocolate Mountains Santa If a test presents a potential violation to existing state Rosas Little San Bernardinos Whipples traffic laws, or might be a highway hazard, it is performed 4. Salome, Arizona, is remembered as the home of—Dick Wick Hall Geronimo Pauline Weaver on the proving grounds. Walkara Special equipment is employed for most of the testing. 5. One of the following dams is not on the Colorado River I watched a simulated 10,000-foot uphill drive by a —Imperial Elephant Butte Parker Thunderbird. The Ford people tortured the T-Bird by Boulder making it pull a "towed truck," with special gears that can 6. Bill Williams, who gave his name to an Arizona city, mountain and river, was a—Mining engineer Moun- transfer any given weight-drag to the test car. All tests tain man Indian Chief Missionary are calculated to abuse vehicles and equipment two and a 7. Today, the giant sloth is found only in — Northern half times more severely than they actually are subjected Nevada Southern Nevada Eastern New Mex- to under the most severe driving conditions by the average ico It is extinct car owner. 8. The "tree that jumps" is another name for the—Joshua tree Saguaro Paloverde Cholla cactus Competition and free enterprise are more than catch- 9. Arizona's famed Meteor Crater is on the plain between words at the Arizona Proving Grounds. —Phoenix and Wickenburg . Tucson and Yuma Personable and competent, Benn Keller has been with Winslow and Flagstaff Kingman and Flagstaff Ford two and a half years. Prior to that he was with the 10. In the famous fight at the O.K. Corral, Doc Holiday was on the side of the — Clantons Earps Packard Proving Grounds in Michigan for 17 years and Billy the Kid John Ringo was manager when the facility was abandoned. He took 11. Desert five-spot is a—Famed Death Valley mine over at Kingman last November. Wildflower Card game Monument Valley Benn received his mechanical engineering training at landmark the University of Michigan, and went right to work for 12. Function of the rattle on rattlesnakes is to—Warn mates of danger Warn adversaries Lure prey Packard after graduation in 1937. He and his wife, Ruth, Locomotion have two children, a four-year-old son and a seven-year-old 13. Early Spaniards knew the Gulf of California as the— daughter. The family, like 90 percent of the APG em- Devil's Waters Vermilion Sea Sea of Fish ployees, lives in Kingman. As far as Benn is concerned, Dark Ocean you couldn't put him any other place on earth more to his 14. Distinguishing characteristic of Pegleg Smith's lost gold nuggets were their — Black color Unique free liking. form High silver content Light weight "Kingman has everything to offer—every day dawns 15. Bingham Canyon in Utah is famous for its—Weaving bright and clear," he explained. "We're near Lake Mohave, industry Silver mines Copper pit Win- Boulder Dam and Las Vegas . . . Phoenix is only three and ter tourist resorts a half hours away . . ." 16. State flower of Arizona is the—Verbena Rose Saguaro Lily Three and a half hours—a ride made more comfortable, 17. Mono Rock in New Mexico is famous for its—Indian more carefree, more economical—partly because of the con- legends Odd shape Historical inscriptions scientious labor of Benn Keller and his crack crew.—END Orange-red coloration 18. Halite is more commonly known as — Sulphur Soda Potash Salt 19. Brigham Young led the Mormons to Utah in—1820 STARTING NEXT MONTH 1833 1847 1869 20. The phainopepla is a desert—Jackrabbit . Bird-. . Desett Driving Tips Te^ Cactus By BENN KELLER Manager of Ford's Desert Proving Grounds The Desert Southwest—with its excesses in heat and dust, its rutted byways and long stretches of straight highways—makes special demands on automobiles and their drivers. In the coming months, Benn Keller will discuss in these pages various aspects of desert driving and auto mainte- nance. Subjects that he will cover are "Sand and Dust," "Cooling System," "Vapor Lock," "Tire Wear," "Refrigerated Air Conditioners," and others.

DESERT MAGAZINE i • Smokey Bear's Early Days

Smokey already was on his way to By STEVE LOWELL becoming national fire prevention symbol when this photo was made —only weeks after Ray Bell, now YEARS AGO this May, a New Mexico State Forester, nursed little black cinder, partly cov- Forester Ray Bell is a man fire-scarred bear back to health. ered with singed fur, clung to who gets ideas and then fol- the limb of a burned tree, and cried. lows them through. Nine years it, because she was sure it was going The pitiful whimpers caught the at- ago he was fighting a forest tention of a crew returning from the to die, and she didn't want a dead fire in New Mexico when a bear on her hands. So, I took the fire line in the Sacramento Mountains singed bear cub was found. of south-central New Mexico. cub back to the fire camp. We found Ray figured it would make a a little pasteboard box no larger than The man in charge, Orville Luttrell fine fire prevention symbol — a shoe box, punched some holes in of the State Game Department, cau- and Smokey Bear was on his its top, and put in a little cloth and tioned the men against bothering the way to good works and fame. bear cub, a miserable little ball of our sick cub. We wrapped twine charred fuzz. He explained that its around the box to keep Smokey from mother might return, if the fire hadn't climbing out, and I flew him home to killed her. The next day a crew of soldiers Santa Fe and turned him over to a returning from the fire line brought in veterinarian. Smokey weighed four In camp, Luttrell told the story to pounds. Ray Bell, chief law enforcement offi- the cub. They fed it candy and canned cer of the Game Department at that milk, and then gave it to a rancher to "The vet kept the cub two days, time. That's when the idea was born take home. Bell was told of these then I took it home. Although Smokey for a live stand-in for the Smokey developments when he got into camp seemed to be recovering, he wouldn't Bear that had been used for two or that evening. eat. three years on fire prevention posters. "Early the following morning I bor- "I took him back to the vet a few "I told Orville if he ran onto the rowed a car and drove to the ranch," days later to have the bandages on bear again to bring it in," Bell recalls. Bell relates. "I asked the rancher's his feet changed, and more salve put "I told him it would probably die wife if I could take the cub and put on his rump. otherwise, and that I had something it in the care of a veterinarian. "The vet kept him another couple else in mind for the little fellow." "She said she wished I would take of days, but the only food the tiny

MAY, 1959 rascal would take was a little milk and I was willing to let them heal." he stands for. Smokey has appeared poured down his throat. Smokey still has a place in the Bells' on millions of posters urging fire pre- "When I took him home the second hearts. Last year Judy accepted a gold vention. The message on these posters time, my wife decided to try mixing statuette of Smokey from President takes on added significance when we baby cereal with milk and honey. We Eisenhower in behalf of the people of visualize a helpless orphaned bear cub rubbed some of that on Smokey's the village of Capitan who built a facing the terror of a rampaging fire. snout, and he started to eat. From memorial in honor of the cub and what END that day on, we had no trouble. "In time the burns healed, and Smokey took up with our little cocker spaniel pup, which was almost the same size as the bear. They had the run of the house. Judy, our little DESERT PRIMER daughter, who was four years old then, was in on their romps. HIEROGLYPHICS art work of the ancients Bell Gets Blamed "Smokey seemed to believe I had In a thousand places on the Des- of rain or blowing sand. However, something to do with his hurts, and ert Southwest, prehistoric Indians in some instances, as in Horseshoe never failed to bite me when he got have left their markings on the Canyon, Utah (Desert, Oct. '57), a chance. He never bit Judy, and rocks. This art work often is re- these painted figures are still well only once bit my wife—but that was ferred to as hieroglyphics, and in a preserved on exposed rock walls. my fault. I took hold of Smokey broad sense of the term that is what Evidently the prehistoric tribesmen when he was in her lap." it is. However, it is much more had found a tough resistant fluid to accurate to describe them as either mix with the pigment they had By this time many Forest Service petroglyphs or pictographs—and it ground from colored stone—a secret men throughout the country had which would interest the paint- learned about the cub, and they were makers of today. urging Washington headquarters to carry Bell's idea through as part of Petroglyphs are much more com- the fire prevention campaign. Cliff mon, and in some sites, as in Petri- Davis of the Forest Service liked the fied Forest National Monument, Arizona, and along Indian Creek plan, and he asked the New Mexico in Utah, there are great stone walls Game Department to send the cub literally covered with them. to the Washington Zoo to become the living Smokey Bear of the fire posters. The figures often can be identified — the sheep, the deer, and the "The airlines wouldn't take the snake are common. Also recog- bear," Bell recalls, "so Smokey was nized are symbols of the sun, rain, flown to Washington in a light plane." or a spring of water. But there re- He took off from Santa Fe on June main many unanswered questions. 27, 1950, and made several stops As Arthur Woodward, archeologist along the way—met at each one by and historian who perhaps has stud- considerable crowds, liberally seasoned ied these ancient writings more in- with children. It was raining when tensively than anyone in the field, Smokey arrived in Washington, but once remarked, "We do not know many people were on hand to greet is important that the distinction be whether they represent the wisdom him. made between these two types of of the medicine man or the dood- Bell, now chief forester for New figures. lings of the tribal idiot." Mexico, figures that since black bears Petroglyphs are incised in the Living Indians can throw but little usually are born in January, Smokey rock with a tool harder than the light on this subject. One of the was about three-and-a-half months old rock in which they have been chis- exceptions to this is at Willow when he was found. He weighed but eled. Hence, the ancient tribesmen Springs near Tuba City, Arizona. eight pounds when he made his trip used a stone tool—a sharp-pointed In ancient times the Hopis followed to the Washington Zoo. rock of obsidian or quartz or what- their "Salt Trail" to the Little Colo- Old Friends ever may have been available. rado River to obtain salt, and Wil- low Springs was one of their over- "I was sorry to see Smokey leave," Pictographs are painted on the night camping places. Members of Bell says, "and so were my wife and rocks, probably with a brush of each Hopi clan, as they came this Judy. We had become attached to yucca or agave fiber, although there way, incised their clan symbol on the little cub. My wife was the closest is evidence in many places that the rocks. For instance, the Corn to him because she gave him his food, fingers were used for this task. Clan chiseled a corn stalk—and the and she saw to it that his blanket was There are places in southern Utah many pilgrims who had come this in its proper place every night—in that show the print of the complete way is evidenced by a long row of the washing machine where he slept. hand, as if the artist had dipped his cornstalks. The weathering of the or her hand in a vessel of paint and glyphs indicates the lapse of time "Judy begged me not to let Smokey then pressed it against the stone. go, but I could see that the day was during the long period of these treks not far off when we'd have to move Generally pictographs are found to the salt mine. There are Hopis out of the house and let Smokey have in caves or on sheltered rock faces living today who participated in it all to himself. Besides, I had sev- not subjected to the erosive effect these long walks to obtain salt. eral scratches and bites on my hands,

8 DESERT MAGAZINE Ruins of the big quartz mill at Cortez. CORTEZ, NEVADA... population 1 By NELL MURBARGER drowsing and dreaming; a place where mining has been the Be-All and End-Ail for 96 years. EING THE LAST inhabitant of a ghost town has The history of Cortez began in the winter of 1862-63 always seemed to me a lonely sort of life, but Lloyd when 10 residents of Virginia City pooled their resources B High doesn't find it so. In his mid-60s, a veteran —$4000—and created an exploration fund. They placed of the first World War and formerly a rancher in Montana, this money in the hands of Andrew A. Veatch, a young he moved to Nevada in 1922, eventually turned to mining, man characterized by newspapers of that day as "the most and located at Cortez. He lives in a neat little cabin set expert prospector in the world." Taking with him "not down in the midst of nut pines and junipers, and bordered more than eight companions," Veatch was commissioned by old-fashioned yellow roses and crimson poppies. For to search for a rich and hitherto undiscovered mining dis- recreation he reads good books and magazines, and writes trict, it being agreed that each member of his field party poems which he sets to music. would own equal interest with each of the Virginia City backers in any ground located. Sometimes, in the long still evenings, he sits alone in his cabin and strums his guitar, and sings these songs he has written; or he may wind the motor of his old cabinet- style Victrola and spend an entire evening playing nostalgic The summer days are just as sunny—the winters recordings. Occasionally he has visitors — mostly pros- pectors seeking some overlooked bonanza; or history fans just as harsh. But, old Cortez at the such as myself. foot of Mt. Tenabo does more sleeping than it Not even the current interest in ghost towns has caused does shouting, for the mines are closed, a wide path to be beaten to Lloyd's door. The fact that the mills are crumbling into ruin, and only one Cortez is 40 miles from the nearest through highway rebuffs casual sightseers. Cortez isn't a highly-touted ghost man still calls Cortez his home. town. Jt's a quiet pleasant place, thoroughly adapted to

MAY, 1959 Together with the prescribed aides, the young pros- and 1000 feet higher in elevation—relatively little could pector left for the Reese River country in March, 1863. be accomplished at the new camp before the brief summer Failing to find anything to his liking, he led his group north had sped and winter fastened its fierce grip on the land. past the new camp of Austin, and pushed on into the Beginning in November and continuing well into the virtually unknown lands beyond. Exploring every ridge next spring, all supplies and equipment destined for Cortez and ravine, observing every formation, sampling every or its mines were brought in on pack mule trains loaded ledge and outcrop, the party moved carefully through the in Virginia City and routed by way of Austin—a hazardous country. In May, at a point 68 miles northeast of Austin, 250-mile journey. Veatch discovered veins rich in silver and apparently of With the coming of spring, affairs at Cortez began to great extent. move briskly and outside capital entered the picture. "A Laying out Cortez Mining District, the group elected few days since," reported the Reveille on June 6, 1864, a recorder and hastened to locate 200,000 feet of ground. "Mr. George Hearst and Dr. Hathaway, gentlemen who have a few hundred thousand at their command, left First Women Residents Austin for a visit to Cortez. . . . They are those who have By the end of July, 1863, the Cortez Company had made great fortunes in mining and know where to in- graded a road from the camp to their mountainside mine, vest. . . ." erected a blacksmith shop and laid foundations for the That Hearst liked the prospects at Cortez well enough necessary buildings. Numerous outsiders arrived to take to back them with hard cash is not surprising, since only up ground, and the isolated settlement welcomed its first good reports were flowing from this new camp. Eulogizing women residents: Mrs. D. C. Clinton, and Mrs. H. H. the district, the Reveille described ore from the St. Louis, Herrick and daughter, of Illinois. Garrison and Idaho ledges as "a marvel of richness, pieces "The women are a great curiosity to the Indians who of several pounds weight being almost pure black sulphurets. flock around in large numbers to see the white man's Specimens from the St. Louis lode . . . have assayed as mahala with her balloon rig of crinoline," observed the high as $11,000 per ton. . . ." Cortez correspondent in Austin's Reese River Reveille. The Mill Fails As soon as initial exploration proved the worth of the new district, the Virginia City backers subscribed another This same month the Cortez Company commenced $6000 to erect a mill, machinery for which was to be long-awaited operations at its new mill in Mill Canyon, a freighted over the Sierra Nevada from Sacramento by few miles to the north. Unfortunately the first run showed ox-team. But, due to the geographical and topographical that values locked in Cortez ore could not be recovered location of Cortez—at a latitude farther north than Denver without the aid of roasting furnaces. With the new mill proven inadequate, Cortez mine owners freighted their ore by mule to the mills at Austin. Primitive dugout cabin in Cortez' Chinese section.

10 DESERT MAGAZINE and 6000-ounce lots being shipped by Russell's Stage to Austin. With completion of the Pacific Railroad through Beowawe, 35 miles to the north, the wealth of the Cortez mines was routed in that direction. The Reveille still kept a fatherly eye on the camp, and on September 14, 1869, reported that Wenban & Co., on the next day following, would ship from their mill in Cortez "one ton of silver bullion." Other shipments, not of such magnitude, followed with comfortable regularity; and when it appeared that good fortune had taken a permanent perch on his shoulder, Simeon Wenban built a great house in Cortez Canyon. It was a mansion by mining camp standards. Not only did it have 22-foot ceilings and spring water piped to kitchen and bath; it boasted that ne plus ultra of Nevada mining camps—a green lawn! Chinese Labor About this time most of Cortez mine and mill employes were replaced by Chinese coolie labor. This development left Wenban's camp as popular as a leper colony with Oc- cidental workmen and the Nevada press which was solidly against employment of Oriental labor in the state's mines and mills. Although coolies could be hired for $40 a month and "board themselves," and Chinese foremen received $1.60

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Lashed by the fierce blizzards of winter, floundering through spring's bottomless mud, and smothered by sum- mer's choking heat and dust, the long pack trains of J. A. Alvarez began moving Cortez' silver treasure across 60 miles of wilderness trail. Shipped at the rate of 17 to 25 tons per trip, depending on trail conditions, most of the ore was delivered to the Keystone Mill in Emigrant Canyon, one-and-one-half miles north of Austin. A Way of Life The mule train was a way of life. The entire Cortez economy was geared to pack-saddles, both for freighting ore to outside mills and for bringing in supplies and equip- ment needed by the mines and the growing town. There- fore, it was a great event when George Russell, in June, 1867, instituted the first stageline service to Cortez. Stages serving the new line left Austin on Monday of each week, and Cortez on Saturday. Despite the Reveille's declaration that prospects at Cortez "were never so bright as at present," George Hearst ended his local connections. By selling his Cortez mining interest to Simeon Wenban, his partner, for $14,000, Hearst gave Wenban controlling interest in all the main properties on Mt. Tenabo. Thus, Wenban, a native of Kent, England, became the kingpin of Cortez. In July, 1867, the Wenban Mill went into operation, and the Reveille carried frequent notices of bullion in 5000 Lloyd High, last surviving resident of Cortez.

MAY, 1959 11 a day (about half the wages then being paid to Mexicans I found it more dilapidated; but it never looked too much in comparable jobs), this saving was not sufficient induce- different until last summer when I was grieved to see that ment to invite the entire state of Nevada's wrath. Wenban's the fine mill chimney had been torn down for the bricks action must have been dictated by more peremptory cir- it contained, and the huge company boarding house had cumstances, and there is a persistent story that it came as been razed for its lumber. Where the building had stood a result of temporary—but acute—financial embarrassment. were a few floor joists, an old poker table, a big office desk To raise desperately needed money, he is said to have ap- lacking most of its drawers — and rubble without end. pealed to a wealthy San Francisco Chinese who agreed Scattered over the ground were great numbers of square- to provide the sum required on condition that Wenban cut iron nails. employ Chinese labor. From the old boarding house site I followed a pair of Wenban's Fortune dusty wheel tracks that wound off through the nut pines Be that story true or false—and despite disparaging and junipers to the cabin of my friend, Lloyd High, the remarks of the press—Wenban continued to employ Chi- last surviving resident of the old camp. nese and to ship silver bullion in prodigious quantities, often Together, we visited the old kiln where lime rock was as much as $25,000 worth in a single lot. When Wenban burned for use in fluxing the silver ore. It was an interest- died on March 4, 1901, at the age of 76, he left an estate ing structure, built in beehive form out of rubble stone, valued at $567,000. Cortez went on, but never again as about 25 feet across in its greatest diameter and 15 feet in profitably. height. Down in the gully, about 40 feet below the kiln, Various lessees worked the ground until 1919 when Lloyd called my attention to three wooden barrels half- the Consolidated Cortez Silver Mines Company bought the filled with lime produced in the crude old oven—lime as property for a reported $100,000, sold 2,000,000 shares fine and white as talcum powder. of stock at a dollar a share, and erected a 100-ton concen- tration and cyanide mill. This mill functioned with moder- Grass Valley Salt ate success until the early 1930s; but the once-great mines Then he pointed to a pile of hard grayish material. could not weather the blow when Depression years sent "This is salt from the marsh near the Grass Valley Ranch. the price of silver plunging to 33c an ounce. Evaporation would leave it on the surface, and Indian The Simeon Wenban mansion had been torn down women swept it together in piles. Then it was packed up before I first saw Cortez. The big company office and here on muleback for use in fluxing the ore." boarding house, and one of the former saloons were still As we started back, groping through head-high sage- standing, as were the tall chimney of the big brick-and-stone brush, and side-stepping old cellar holes, we were never mill and the silent hulks of two wooden frame mills farther out of sight of the evidence of man's presence. Grown up the canyon. Several dwellings were in usable condition, over by the sage were the remains of hand riveted sheet- and about a dozen persons were living in the town. iron stoves, heavy plank chairs, rusted coal scuttles, bits Every time I visited Cortez in the years that followed, of purple glass, battered dinner buckets and powder cans

Enter the warm season. Community events on the lower desert regions taper off, the center of activity shifts to the high plateau and mountain regions . . . the turtles race at Joshua Tree, Calif., in May . . . Las Vegas, Nev., has its Helldorado . . . and as a fitting warm-weather touch, the folks at Provo, Utah, stage a boat regatta. And for you who plan summer vacations to the "cool" regions, remember: no portion of New Mexico is below 2800 feet altitude (lowest point in the state is the MAY Bed Bluff Reservoir). ARIZONA May 9-15—Barstow to Las Vegas May 15—San Ysidro Processions April 25-May 17 — 24th Annual (Nev.) horseback ride. For in- and blessing of fields in north- Junior Indian Art Exhibit, Mu- formation contact Ed Andrews, ern New Mexico rural villages. seum of Northern Arizona, Flag- c/o Barstow Chamber of Com- May 26—Fiesta of San Felipe de staff. merce. Neri, Albuquerque. April 28-May 1—Las Damas Trek, May 9-24 — Annual Wildflower May 30 — 23rd Annual White Wickenburg. Show, Julian. Sands National Monument Play- May 1—Annual Reunion and Pic- May 16-17 — Annual Fiesta, San day, Alamogordo. nic, Gila Valley Old Settlers' Jacinto. UTAH Union, Buckeye. May 17—Pageant, Spanish Fiesta May 2-5—Cinco de Mayo (Mexican and Wild West Show, Placerita May 6-9—State Junior Livestock Independence Day) Festivities Canyon Park near Newhall. Show, Spanish Fork. at Nogales, Gilbert and most May 23-24 — 18th Annual Stam- May 8-10—Uranium Symposium, other border communities. pede, Lone Pine. Moab. May 3 — Inboard Colorado River May 29-30—Spanish Fiesta, Mor- May 9—Re-enactment of Golden ongo Valley. Spike Ceremony, Promontory; Regatta, Parker. dedication of Railroad Museum, May 4-24—Independent Sculpture NEVADA Show, Art Center, Tucson. Corinne. May 9-17 — Valley Home Show, May 7—Community Music Festi- May 11-16 — American Legion State Fairgrounds, Phoenix. val, Sparks. Carnival, Vernal. May 26 — Arizona State College May 15-17—Helldorado Days and May 15-16 — 44th Annual Black Rodeo, Flagstaff. Rodeo, Las Vegas. and White Days, Richmond. May 29-31—Second Annual Five May 16 —4th Annual Horseshoe CALIFORNIA State Sports Car Jamboree and Tourney, Utah State Prison, May 2-3 — 14th Annual National Rally, Humboldt. Draper. Turtle Races, Joshua Tree. May 29-31—Nevada State Rodeo, May 16-17 — 196-mile Trial Run, May 8-10—• Grubstake Days and Winnemucca. Canyon Country River Mara- Parade, Yucca Valley. May 31—Homecoming Day, Cali- thon, Green River to Moab. May 9-10 — Sierra Club Desert ente. May 22-23—Sanpete Rambouillet Peaks Section climb of Mt. Days, stock judging and show, Keynot near Lone Pine. NEW MEXICO Ephraim. May 9-10, 30-31—Sierra Club rock May 1—Fiesta and Spring Corn May 30—Homecoming, Beaver. climb of Tahquitz Rock, near Dance, San Felipe Pueblo. May 30 •— Annual Boat Regatta Idyllwild. May 3—Corn Dance, Taos Pueblo. on Utah Lake, Provo.

12 DESERT MAGAZINE Mining company office and boarding house in Cortez —even the broken head of a tiny Dresden doll, its cheeks recently was torn down to salvage building materials. still glowing apple-blossom pink, its painted hair shining jet. With man almost as transitory as the desert wind, it seems strange that some of his lesser works should be so and charcoal burners. They worked 200 head of horses enduring. and pack mules. It's hard to imagine the amount of work that has been done here. This whole mountain is honey- From the millsite we climbed a steep rock grade to combed with tunnels, stopes and inclines—35 miles of No. 1 Tunnel. Near its portal stood a few wooden buildings them, altogether. The Polar tunnel alone cost $350,000." including the old machine shop, blacksmith shop and We took a side road to the cemetery. When I remarked boarding house. We continued afoot along the canyonside that it was unusually clean and well-kept for a ghost town to a small cluster of crude tumbled-down rock-faced dug- graveyard, my companion admitted that he and Louis outs. Here was where Wenban's Chinese miners had lived. Rossi had "sorta fixed it up" the previous spring. Searching the sorry hovels we found pieces of broken dishes and scraps of other materials of Asian origin. Tribute to Pioneers "This was only a small suburb," said Lloyd. "The main "We grubbed out the sagebrush and bunch grass, part of Chinatown is buried under 75,000 tons of mill straightened some of the markers and did some cementing. tailings . . ." Then, on Memorial Day, quite a few families came to The great mass of mill residue sprawls over the desert decorate the graves of their people, and the place looked like a lazy yellow cat asleep on a rug. Beyond the tailings real nice . . . but it ought to be fenced. If I could get the I could see the upper end of Grass Valley—long, wide and county or someone to buy the wire, I'd donate the juniper empty. Beyond the valley looms the canyon-laced breast posts—and I'd help put the fence in, too . . ." of the high Toiyabes. In all this vast portion of the world Lloyd and I had supper together that evening. After- open to our view I could not glimpse one plume of curling ward, he got out his old guitar and sang and played a few smoke, one moving vehicle. songs, and we talked a while longer; then I said I'd have to be leaving. Much Activity As I started down the dusty trail, I looked back to see "Wish I could have seen this camp in Wenban's day," my ghost town friend standing in the open doorway, the Lloyd was saying. "From what old-timers tell me it was yellow lamplight spilling over him and across the yard. a busy place. Besides big crews employed in mining and Except for the groping headlights of my car and the wink- milling, the folks here made all their own brick from a ing stars in the dark sky, that friendly glow from Lloyd's clay deposit about seven miles southwest of here. You cabin door was the only gleam of light I could see in saw where they made their lime. The marsh supplied salt, Cortez, and from the top of Mt. Tenabo to the highest and all the hills for miles around were full of woodcutters summits of the sleeping Toiyabes.—END

MAY, 1959 13 sale), thai handsome yellow-gray sickle - beaked yellow - eyed bird so much wed to the mesquite tangles. Here, too, we heard and saw the large cinnamon-brown Abert towhee (Pip- ilo aberti), equally given to frequent- ing and nesting in the mesquite coun- try. I explained to my young compan- ions that while the birds we saw were confined to southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, the mes- quite trees in which they oftentimes live are widely spread in semi-tropical and tropical areas from extreme south- ern Utah and Kansas to the West Indies, Chile and Argentina, the Phil- ippines and Hawaii. Our honey mesquite (Prosopes juli- jlora) is a very tough drouth-resistant tree. Water it always needs, and it does not hesitate to go far to get it— even 50 to 60 feet down when neces- sary. Under severe desert conditions such as those found at Death Valley, mesquite may be a low shrub, only three to eight, or at most 10 feet tall; but where water is more plentiful, it may be a very sizable tree attaining a height of 50 to 60 feet. Such giant mesquites, generally of quite upright form, are prominent in fields and along streams of the west coast of Mexico. THE When mesquite inhabits areas of light powdery clays or sands, it often collects great quantities of wind-blown soil in its crabbed branches. As the sand or clay builds higher and higher, the branches sprout upward ahead of DESERT it to enjoy the friendly sun, and in time isolated rounded hillocks are formed. Sometimes these knolls are of large size, 10 to 15 feet high and 15 to 25 feet across. They are pic- turesque and characteristic features of BEAN desert plains. One of the most remarkable things about the mesquite tree is the enor- mous development of its root system. The roots not only have an unusually TREE great spread and length, they get very large, often in inverse proportion to the tree parts above ground. This is especially true of mesquites develop- ing in dunes. It was once an old say- ing among desert folks that if you wanted a lot of good sizable wood from a mesquite, you had to mine for it underground. By EDMUND C. JAEGER, D.Sc. Behind the tree's often thorny ex- Curator of Plants terior is a kindly heart which has Riverside Municipal Museum proven a godsend in many an arid land by giving shade, shelter and food EARLY April and three for the two high school lads I had for birds and mammals. Its green of us hied ourselves away from with me, and they were all ears and leaves often are the chief source of town cares to the mesquite and eyes to hear, see and learn all about fodder for hungry cattle and horses, ironwood thickets of the big entering the new things around them. and its pendent clusters of long cylin- washes and bordering lowlands of the We heard the charming, sweet and drical beans have furnished additional lower Colorado River. spirited morning and evening songs of food. From ancient times mesquite It was the first visit to the desert the crissal thrasher (Toxostoma dor- has ranked with the prickly pear as 14 DESERT MAGAZINE the most dependable source of food bird aristocrat, the phainopepla, is another crop of blossoms are pro- for Indians and, more recently, the much dependent on the mesquite, for duced in early winter, giving a good poorer classes of Mexico. Even in on this plant grows the great clusters harvest of ripe beans in June or July. the drier years there are abundant of leafless mistletoe whose pink pearly The seed vessels, hanging like so blossoms and fruit, and thus the tree berries supply the bird with one of many four-to-eight-inch-long string is an unusual hedge against starvation its chief foods The phainopepla is beans in bunches of two to eight, when other foods are inadequate or largely responsible for the spread of often are so plentiful they are more fail altogether. the semi-parasitic mistletoe. The mis- conspicuous than the tree that bears The mesquite is important to num- tletoe seeds pass through the bird's them. At first they are green in color, erous insects. A great host of solitary digestive tract and are deposited on but turn at maturity to a lovely tan. wild bees as well as the social honey other trees in places favorable for The ripe beans are high in grape- bees take nectar from the flowers. germination and growth. sugar content (up to 25 percent); the Mesquite honey is of unusually fine Honey mesquite loses its leaves with protein likewise is considerable. The quality and flavor, and the amount the onset of frost. But when spring sugar is found mostly in the spongy produced is very large. During the pulp in which the hard seeds are em- night uncountable moths hover over bedded; the protein mostly in the seeds the sweet catkins of flowers, and, in themselves. I often have seen Cahuilla The mesquite, with its widely turn, come numerous bats to greedily Indian women grind the dry beans in feed upon the moths. spreading roots and branches, a deep half-buried mortar of mesquite During the two nights the lads and its nutritious foliage, its nectar- wood. After the husks and hard seeds I camped in our Colorado River mes- bearing flowers and nourishing were removed, there remained a flour quite thicket, we were kept awake by fruit, provides a whole series of which, boiled in water, made a thick the wood rats (Neotoma) which ran interesting and beneficial rela- paste. From this a cake was made hither and yon over the crooked and either dried in the sun or baked. branches, and with chittering of teeth tionships with others of the Sometimes the Indians soaked the gnawed off twigs to take to their natural world—including man. flour in water to make atole, a gruel- nests on the ground below. A Che- like sweet drink. If the infusion was mehuevi Indian boy we met said that allowed to ferment it resulted in an in summer he is always afraid to days come, the barren thorny twigs intoxicating drink of considerable al- wander among the mesquite bushes put forth new lacy leaves of liveliest coholic content. because big rattlesnakes are so often green, hardly less beautiful than the The Mohave Indians also crushed found there, doubtlessly attracted by pendent catkins of sweet - smelling the beans with a long stone pestle in the rodent food supply. flowers which soon follow. This is the a wooden mortar. The hard seeds, We found plenty of evidence that time when grazing animals most eager- when sorted out, were swallowed whole coyotes are fond of mesquite beans. ly feed upon mesquite. along with the moistened flour, leav- Frequently their droppings were large- The catkins of creamy yellow flow- ing the tough Indian stomach to digest ly made up of undigested dried husks ers appear from April to June, and them as best it could. Large jar- and hard seeds. the beans mature in September and shaped cakes were made from the Indirectly, that trim-feathered black October. Occasionally in warm areas flour. After baking, they were so hard

MAY, 1959 15

• they had to be cracked with a stone. the older trees forming heavy stands much grass and trees that grow the First mention of the mesquite was must be killed by chemical spray or screw" — the screw bean mesquite made by Cabeza de Vaca, the first by having drug over them big anchor (Prosopis pubescens). He doubtlessly white man to cross the American con- chains (300 to 500 feet long, with had seen this small tree a number of tinent (1527-1536). He came in con- links which weigh up to 30 pounds times before on his travels because, tact with friendly Indians in the south apiece) strung between two tractors while not as plentiful as its big brother, of Texas, at a place somewhat distant working parallel to one another. The the honey mesquite, the screw bean from the Gulf of Mexico. In his jour- chain is pulled once forward, once mesquite does grow in many places nal he wrote: backward over the area — literally from the Rio Grande to California "We went (with them) to their pulling the trees out by the roots. and southward into northern Mexico. homes and were very well received. The wood, when dry, is gathered in Its bean, peculiarly coiled into a They brought us their children to piles and burned. tight and handsome little cylinder touch and gave us much mezquite- In rough rocky country dense one to one and one-half inches long, meal. This mesquiquez is a fruit stands of mesquite often are eradi- suggested to the Spaniards the name, which, while on the tree, is tomillo ("little screw"). very bitter and like the carob In places of continually bean. It is eaten with earth moist soils, such as the bot- and then becomes sweet and tom lands along streams, the very palatable. The way they screw bean mesquite may prepare it is to dig a hole in grow an upright trunk three the ground of the depth it to 10 inches through and up suits them, and after the fruit to 25 feet high. There is a is put in that hole, with a strong tendency for the trunk piece of wood the thickness to be quite straight, and this of a leg and one and one-half has made it possible to use fathoms long, they pound it the wood for roof beams and to a meal, and to the earth uprights in the building of that mixes with it in the hole, shelters. they add several handfuls, and On the bottom lands of the pound again for a while. After Moiave River near old Camp that they empty it into a ves- Cady there were several old sel, like a small round basket, cabins the pioneers had con- and pour in enough water to structed from screw bean logs. cover it fully, so that there is These shelters were surprising- water on top. Then the man ly well preserved. who has done the pounding The brownish-barked nar- tastes it, and if it appears to row-crowned screw bean usu- him not sweet enough he calls ally grows in dense thickets. for more earth to add, and Due to a covering of felty this he does until it suits his hairs on the young branches taste. Then all squat around and the stout almost-white and each takes as much as he stipular spines, the upper can. Those who take part in parts of the trees have an ash- the banquet, which is for them gray appearance. a great occasion, get very big bellies from the earth and Like the beans of the honey water they swallow." mesquite, the peculiar screw beans hang in bunches. They About 70,000,000 acres in have a high sugar content, the Southwest are now occu- and the flour made from them pied by mesquite thickets— is boiled down to make a mo- almost double the area cov- lasses of sorts. When using ered only half a century ago. the beans for food, the Indi- This phenomenal spread, in ans ground the whole pod, spite of many years of drouth, Components of mesquite (left) and screw bean. weevil-infested seeds and all. is mostly due to wandering Cakes were made from the cattle which eagerly eat the mesquite cated by spraying poisons from the flour, and a beverage from the meal beans even when other food is avail- air. In Texas the controlling of mes- soaked in water. able. Up to 80 percent of the hard- quite is a big, expensive and continu- The leaves, consisting of from five coated seeds pass unharmed through ous project. to eight pairs of leaflets, are too small the animals' bodies, ready to germin- When Friar Francisco Garces came to be of much forage value, but cat- ate where they fall. The seeds remain to the flow of water in the lower Mo- tle, horses and donkeys readily pick viable a long time. Germination has jave River (Cave Canyon) in 1766, off the clusters of brown beans or eat been reported after 44 years! As mes- he found a place "where it has cotton- those that have fallen to the ground. quite spreads along the cattle trails it wood, much grass and lagunas." The wood is very satisfactory camp- crowds out the perennial grasses so Next day Garces journeyed to an fire fuel, and stripped of its bark to much valued as forage by the stock- Indian village of about 25 souls. Find- discourage boring beetle larvae, makes men. Once established, mesquite is ing the naked wretches had nothing good fence posts. hard to eradicate. to eat but roots of rushes, he gave The screw bean was first described Mesquite control in cattle country, of his meager stores and they, in turn, in botanical literature by Thomas especially in Texas, is a real problem. offered their roots of tules. Here, he Coulter, the Irish botanist for whom Young plants can be grubbed out, but wrote, "grows wild grape, there is the Coulter pine is named.—END

16 DESERT MAGAZINE , •>. i First Lady of Santa Clara

By MARY BRANHAM

HE FIRST time I saw Gregorita Chavarria she was grinding corn 7 on a stone metate, as the women in her family have done for a thousand years. The second time I saw her she was a guest at a D.A.R. convention where her husband, Gov- ernor Juan Chavarria of Santa Clara Pueblo, was a speaker. After having been five times first lady of her pueblo, Mrs. Chavarria is accustomed to a great variety of experiences, both modern and traditional. While she has worked enthusiastically with her husband to bring electricity, telephones and television to Santa Clara she also is working to help preserve the culture of her people, for like all pueblo vil- lagers, she is justly proud of her heritage. The Indians who live in Santa Clara, just west of busy Highway 285 in northern New Mexico, trace their an- cestral home to the cliff dwelling at Puye, 12 miles west of the present settlement. When Coronado rode into iliiSfe 7 - ... the Southwest in 1540, Puye was in its heyday. Recent excavations of the m.-. £ cliff houses and surface ruins give evi- Gregorita Chavarria of Santa Clara Pueblo is an expert potter. dence of a highly developed civiliza- tion. Twelfth Night, or as they call it, "The —the telephone summons her husband Day of the Three Kings," as their day to cope with community problems By the time the Spaniard, Don of inauguration, and since then their Juan de Onate, moved northward in more often at two in the morning than dances and inaugural ceremonies have at two in the afternoon. 1598, the Puye people had moved to taken place on January 6. A silver- their present site on the banks of the headed cane was given to each pueblo A first lady's schedule is almost as Rio Grande. Their village, K'hapoo governor as a symbol of his commis- crowded as a governor's. After Mrs. "where the water grows under," is sion and authority. Chavarria has given a kitchen shower one of the first pueblos to be men- in the morning for a Santa Clara girl tioned after the Spanish occupation. New Canes who is marrying a boy from a nearby A Franciscan missionary was assigned When Mexico won her independ- pueblo, she may find herself teaching to K'hapoo in September, 1598, and ence from Spain, new canes with silver her weekly catechism class at the Day in a quarter of a century a church had heads were presented to the villages. School in the afternoon, and appear- been built and the village name President Lincoln honored the peace- ing on television in the evening to changed to Santa Clara. loving Pueblo Indians with 19 ebony help promote the Puye Ceremonials. Inauguration Day canes with silver heads inscribed with Festivities The same year that the Mayflower each pueblo name and "1863 —• A. Lincoln, Pres. U.S.A." The first Ceremonial was held in touched an eastern shore, the King 1957—after 400 years the Santa Clara of Spain issued a Royal Decree re- Five times Juan Chavarria has ac- people returned to their ancestral quiring each pueblo to choose a gov- cepted the responsibility that goes with home to have dances and traditional ernor, lieutenant governor and other the canes, and five times Gregorita ceremonies. I was one of the hun- officials at the end of the calendar has been first lady. It is an honor that dreds of visitors who drove up the year, and to have an inauguration and she accepts graciously, though she oc- winding road to the beautiful mesa other ceremonies during the first week casionally complains that the govern- in the heart of the Jemez Mountains of the new year. The Indians accepted or's constituents have no sense of time to see the dances and look at displays MAY, 1959 17 DESERT MAGAZINE'S To Gregorita Chavarria, wife of a Santa Clara Pueblo leader, life is an interesting combination of the modern world of today, and yesterday's ancient, traditional ways. of the famous black Santa Clara pot- varria decided to "make a little feast." tery. Mrs. Chavarria, herself a prize- For this party she baked traditional winning pottery-maker, was busy all pueblo bread in an outdoor oven, and morning at a pottery booth. In the made the green chili for which she is afternoon she helped her daughters locally famous. Fifty pounds of flour Philomena and Melinda get into their and four pounds of lard were used dance costumes. This year the colorful for the bread. It is not at all unusual Puye event takes place on August 15- for the first lady to bake dozens of We welcome your contributions to this 16. loaves of bread in her outdoor oven column. For recipes accepted for publi- For his outstanding work in organ- every week. She showed me how the cation, we will pay $2. Please limit to izing the Ceremonials, the Espanola oven is preheated with hot coals and Mexican, barbecue or camp-out dishes. then tested with corn husks. If the Send recipes and return postage to Recipes, Valley Chamber of Commerce voted Desert Magazine, Palm Desert, California. Governor Chavarria the Man of the corn husks scorch, the oven is too Year in 1957. To entertain the Cham- hot and must be cooled with wet cloths. STUFFED MEXICAN STEAK ber officers and their wives, Mrs. Cha- Last year when Philomena was a 1 V-i. pounds flank steak senior at Haskell College in Kansas, Salt and pepper to taste A pueblo woman places bread her mother sent a loaf of bread each 3 tablespoons margarine, in an earthen outdoor oven. week by air express. Now Richard, butter or shortening who is studying in Chicago, Melinda, Chili stuffing (see below) in college in Indiana, and Pedro, Score meat on both sides. working in Albuquerque, must all Spread chili stuffing on steak have home-baked bread. Tony, in (to avoid messy appearance, Formosa with the Navy, is too far do not spread to sides). Roll away for economical bread delivery. up steak as you would a jelly The younger boys, enrolled at St. roll. Tie, then sprinkle with Catherine's in Santa Fe, must come salt and pepper. Melt shorten- home for mother's bread. ing in roasting pan. Brown The Chavarrias traditionally make steak. Add enough water to a feast at Thanksgiving, and last year keep it from sticking, and sim- I was invited. The turkey was superb, mer for 2 hours, replenishing and I ate far too much cranberry water when necessary (first 1V2 sauce, as I always do, but it was the hours with cover; last V2 hour green chili that I just couldn't resist. or until well browned, uncov- Later, while helping the first lady wash ered). the dishes, she gave me this recipe. When Mrs. Chavarria makes green CHILI STUFFING chili for the family, she uses one-and-a- 2 cups bread crumbs half pounds of ground beef. As the 2 tablespoons melted beef is browning,, she adds one chop- margarine or butter ped onion and enough water to cover 1 tablespoon chili powder the meat. To this she adds two small 2 chopped green peppers containers of frozen green chili. The 1 chopped onion secret of good chili, she assures me, V2. teaspoon salt is to let it simmer very slowly for at pepper to taste least an hour-and-a-half. This family- 1 cup tomatoes or tomato size recipe will serve six or eight per- sauce sons. Stir melted margarine or but- Santa Clara's first lady is especially •ter into bread crumbs; mix in well known for the handsome pottery other ingredients.—John Martin, lamps she designs and makes. Recent- Santa Fe. ly she and her husband were invited to become one of the attractions at Disneyland. Mrs. Chavarria was told that she would become world famous as a potter if she made the California move. But, the Chavarrias decided against it. "We'd rather stay at the pueblo with our people," Gregorita said with a twinkle in her bright eyes. "Be- sides," she added, "I don't care about being world-famous—I just want to make good pottery."—END 18 DESERT MAGAZINE An Army wife leaves the comforts of the East to join her husband in a dusty border town during the Villa Punitive Campaign—and gains new perspective of the world—and of herself.

Memories of Broad Horizons • • By SUSAN WILSHIRE JORDAN

THAT fateful night in March, 1916, when Jimmy had the use of army showers, and I adapted Pancho Villa made his infamous raid on Colum- myself to a large galvanized tub. A "Please Do Not bus, New Mexico, I had never heard of that mere Disturb" card went on the door when the tub was in dot on the map. use; otherwise, it was hidden under the bed. At that time my husband, Jimmy, was a Captain of To the east were the hastily built army headquarters Infantry. I was too new in the army to accept with shacks, but to the west the desert stretched to the distant fortitude the order that was to take him into Mexico mountains where the peaks of the Tres Hermanas (Three on the futile punitive expedition to capture. Villa. It Sisters) rose in high splendor. Those Sisters became was our first separation. real companions, sharing their moods and their colorful After five months, which I spent with my parents, change of costumes with me—rosy pink in the morning, Jimmy was returned to Columbus. He wrote that Co- drab gray by day, velvety blue, purple and crimson at lumbus was an ugly dusty whistle-stop on the desert; twilight. that wives were not encouraged to come—there being We army wives never lacked for entertainment. We no adequate quarters—but that he had found a room got together to watch the morning train steam into the over a feed and grain store—just in case . . . mustard colored station with the ever-welcome mail; we I took the first train. I knew nothing of the desert, watched the trucks weave away in long caravans carry- and less about roughing it; I was city bred. We had ing the provisions, mail, news, clothing and ammunition recently left the beautiful colonial quarters of Washing- for the troops of the punitive expedition. ton Barracks, where lawns reached to the Potomac, and There were a few little shops, one or two hash where the social life was gay, but formal—dances at the houses, a movie theatre that occasionally tempted us White House, full dress uniforms, clanking swords and with its flickering films. Later a hotel was built. impressive parades. But, the great and ever-changing attraction was the Jimmy met me in El Paso, and soon we were bump- desert itself-—it gave me the odd elation of being a new ing over dirt roads that twisted in and out among person, as if some inhibited streak in my nature had been shrubbery that drooped in the heat. The few shacks we released. At first I thought it was the joy of being with passed seemed forlorn and lonely; the air was grimy Jimmy that colored my contentment, but it was some- with dust. thing more than that. Sophistication, I realized, was a "It's a far cry from Washington," said Jimmy sym- veneer covering emotions that added flavor to every pathetically. unexpected happening. "Yes," I nodded, but as I looked across the vast Picnics in the Las Floritas Mountains were a delight. sweep of land that stretched to the distant hills I was In the sheltered canyons dwarf lupines and wild blue pleasurably aware of space. All my life I had been penstemons nestled among the rocks. The long walks boxed in by buildings, Jimmy and I took in the cool of the afternoons were "I feel as if I had escaped into a boundless world," exciting. In the desert, heady with the scent of sage, I said. cottontails scampered before us, lizards scurried for the Jimmy smiled. "Wait until you reach the room over protection of the brush, horned toads watched us through the feed and grain store," he said. half-opened eyes, and meadowlarks saluted with their . "Is it awful?" secret calls. "Pretty drab." The hardships of the soldiers in Mexico made us all It was a dreary room. Even under my new spell of the more appreciative of our every blessing—the tranquil enchantment, I found it musty and bare. lazy days, with time to read, time to write, time to under- The commanding officer and his wife brought warmth stand better the contrasts of Nature—a more willing to our first evening by asking us to dinner. They were acceptance of the bitter with the sweet. living in a house that had been a grocery store before When orders came for Jimmy to return to Mexico, the raid. Its flat front was pocked with bullet holes left I needed all the strength I had absorbed. But mingled by Villa's soldiers. But, the major's wife had brought now with my heartache was a new philosophy, a new to it a charm, a hospitality and the easy adjustment to understanding of the vast desert he was going into. I army life that made me return to our humble room glad, knew his dull moments would be colored by the sunsets, at least, for its shelter. the torpid days freshened by unexpected rains, the weary Luckily we did not have to stay there long. After evenings soothed by the cadence of crickets singing in the two weeks, Jimmy secured a large 16x16 army tent; a night, his hardships accepted willingly because of duties real luxury! Our new home stood well away from the fulfilled. camp on a sandy stretch of desert filled with low mes- It was I who was leaving the desert to return to quite. It had a wooden floor and wainscotting, with side narrowed horizons. But I knew, too, that I had found flaps that could be lowered against the rain. Crates were a sanctuary into which I could escape—not only into fashioned into dressers, rugs made in Mexico covered the desert, but into realms within myself. I knew also the floor, chintz and odds and ends were gathered from that my own lonely days would be gladdened by the here and there to give the tent a gala air. memories of a never-to-be-forgotten idyl.—END

MAY, 1959 19 pieces: heat, cold, oxidation, hydration and solution by both water and acid. Also, there are the strictly mechanical agents—the whetting away of boulders by wind-blown sand or the slow grinding of sliding fault walls which smear the hardest rock into powder. But, the most important force by far is the work of plants. Living or dead, plants are the chief soil makers. Old Landmarks That plants actually digest rocks is one of those stag- gering facts most folks take in their mental stride without investigating the fine points. Once in a long time your morning paper may devote a nostalgic column or two about some old landmark which is being sabotaged by the swell- ing roots of an old tree or the clinging fingers of a rampant vine. Such cases are like smoke pouring from a factory smokestack—nuisance phases of necessary work going on below. Any plant may be active in this work of weathering, "I don't know of a single natural thing but lichens—those extraordinary duplex partnerships of which, if you just become conscious of it, is fungus and alga living together like a single individual— not fascinating." actually "eat" rocks. The tremendously effective agent the plants bring into action for this work is the same stuff that puts snap into This was Jerry Laudermilk's creed. Author of effervescent drinks—carbonic acid—a solution of carbon over 30 feature stories for Desert Magazine be- dioxide in water. Just how this solvent is secreted by plants, tween 1940 and his death in 1956, Laudermilk's and how it works in this world-wide chemical reaction, are ability to humanize, dramatize and make popular subjects tied up with the natures of both plants and rocks and understandable scientific aspects of the nat- themselves. ural—and particularly the desert—world was the Consider the plant side of the problem first: The flora rare quality that set him apart from most other that get in the most telling strokes are the so-called higher scientists who attempt to write for the lay reader. plants (grass, shrubs and trees) that make their own food The previously unpublished Laudermilk feature materials directly from the raw stuff: water and carbon on these pages is a case in point. dioxide (from the exhaled breath of animals and other sources). Root Hairs To live, plants also must have certain mineral salts, and before these can be absorbed they must be dissolved out of the rocks. This is the work of specialized plant cells, the root hairs. These cells constantly secrete carbon di- Lichens busy helping to weather a granite boulder. oxide which dissolves in the soil-water and attacks the rock particles to free compounds of potash, lime, magne- sium and other mineral substances plants demand. The second way plants build up the acid content of the soil-water is by decay of their dead tissues. Decomposi- GREEN CONQUEST tion bacteria require previously elaborated compounds of once-living tissue as food-stuff. These are broken down into simpler substances by the action of the extremely potent enzymes secreted by the living bacteria. As a by- how plants eat tocks product of the decay reactions—which must take place in a liberal supply of oxygen—carbon dioxide is produced in abundance. So, however you look at the proposition, By JERRY LAUDERMILK plants, live ones or dead ones, are tremendously important sources of acid for rock erosion. j^JN ALL SIDES and underfoot, night and day, summer Now for the rock side of the reaction: Rocks are more \S and winter, Nature carries on one of the most im- or less massive associations of mineral crystals or particles. portant transformations that takes place on the face Sometimes they are extremely hard (granite, basalt) or of the earth. This is the never-finished job of rock disinte- very soft (shale, chalk). Minerals themselves are chemi- gration wherein the hardest stone is gradually broken down cal compounds. to gravel, sand and, finally, soil. Raw Materials For the most part, although tremendous forces are In the earth's crust, the two most abundant raw ma- active, these changes are subtle and the work goes on in terials are oxygen and silicon. Wedded chemically in silence. Dramatic changes in Nature's scene-shifting, such proportions of one atom of silicon to two of oxygen the as the roar of a landslide or the sullen rumble of boulders product is some form of the exceedingly common mineral, in a flash-flood, are rare. Any sound that does accompany quartz. the orderly work is apt to be on a small scale: the rattle of pebbles in a pint-sized avalanche trickling down a Vast amounts of pure quartz occur, but more is locked sandbank; the furtive tinkle as a chip, weathered from an up chemically as silica in the many silicate minerals. Of these the most common is feldspar, a compound of silicon, outcrop, drops to the ground. oxygen and an alkali such as soda or potash, or sometimes There are many forces that help break the rocks to an alkaline earth such as lime.

20 DESERT MAGAZINE Granite, an aggregate of intergrown quartz and feld- there is much food-waste of the animal population. This spar crystals, is the most abundant rock in the earth's material accumulates during the dry season, and by the crust. Dig deeply enough anywhere and you eventually time rain sets in it has been reduced to powder and blown will come to granite. Pure quartz from granite or any about until well mixed with the top soil. other source resists weathering completely, although asso- It is difficult to imagine the earth without the soil ciated minerals may be vigorously attacked. This some- mantle that supports the multitude of plant species that times produces remarkable effects. On some of the moun- cover it today. But for millions of years, long after life tain rockslides in Southern California, lichens have dis- in the seas had evolved to extremely complex types, the solved the feldspar crystals from rock surfaces, but the highest plants were the marine algae. The land was a quartz is untouched. Cobbles and boulders have acquired bleak waste of badlands where the only form of rock "suede" finish which glitters in the sunlight like frost. breakage was from volcanic action, the chemical weather- So, alone quartz is durable, but when it has combined ing of sulphides by hot water, and mechanical forces: with other elements to make a silicate mineral, it's a differ- floods, the shifting of fault blocks and the pounding of the ent story. Once its chemical partner deserts it, as when surf. the alkali of a feldspar departs to become an alkaline Toward the beginning of the Devonian period, possibly carbonate, the silica that remains behind can be dissolved 300,000,000 years ago, certain simply constructed plants, by more concentrated alkaline carbonate solutions, some- small things as plain in outward appearance as an onion times from the very feldspar that has turned traitor against shoot and less than eight inches high, crept warily out of the parent rock mass. the sea and began their adventures at the high tide mark, Action of Yucca as if they hardly dared lose sight of their ancestral home. These were the plants known as hornea and rhynia. They What takes place when a plant sets its root system showed characteristics that proved their alliance with the firmly in an outcrop? I am reminded of a particular yucca marine algae, but they also had true wood fiber. on the Mojave Desert which is flourishing on a pegmatite rock mass. Pegmatite is a form of granite typified by With the life and death of such simple plants, soil having a very coarse texture—always a disadvantage from formation began and within a short time, as geologic time a rock's standpoint since the interfaces where crystals meet goes, earth began to put on her familiar green complexion, act as seepways for water. announcing that whenever you see this color in leaf or stem, Mother Nature and her staff are making soil.—END A tremendous amount of weathering has taken place in this outcrop since I first made its acquaintance 25 years ago. The yucca was five years old on my last visit, and Lower slope of granitic exposure in last stages of during its short lifetime, rock disintegration has been accel- decomposition. Author places tip of pick in re- erated by chemical action and by the mechanical effect of sidual sand—remains of rock digested by plants. roots forcing their way into cracks and joints. Adjoining faces of cracked slabs show mats of fine rootlets embedded in waxlike clay from decomposition of the feldspar by root iasii acid (carbonic acid). Nearby, old roots have probed 22 feet deep, and can be dug out of joints filled with the same waxy clay. When granite weathers, not all the feldspar decomposes at once or in the same place. The finest soil in arid or semi-arid regions shows feldspar grains which are kaolin- ized on their surfaces but sound inside. This is an im- portant factor in agriculture. Some crops consume potash and other salts faster than their acids can dissolve it out of the soil particles, and the land becomes exhausted. If it is let to "run to weeds" for a few years, it will renew itself because while cultivated crops may not be able to make a go of it on poor soil, this doesn't apply to tough plants like pigweed, spurge, tumbleweed, purslane and others that even grow on hardpan or among stones. Their roots get to work at once, and after they go to seed and die they are still on the job turning out carbon dioxide. Lichens and bacteria are also tremendously important in this work of soil renewal, and after a time a new supply of potash is dissolved out of the unkaolinized part of the feldspar grains. The Work of Lichens A striking effect of plant life in the desert frequently results when lichens grow on rocks containing iron and manganese. Lichens are tough plants, and when dry weather sets in they survive by practically closing up shop and taking things easy until better times. With the coming of rain they set to work with enthusiasm and dissolve out much iron and manganese as carbonates. These are de- posited as oxides around the lichen colonies and eventu- ally spread to neighboring rocks of all types which become coated with a glossy black lacquer called desert varnish. Most folks would be surprised at the abundant organic material in the desert soil. Besides remains of dead plants,

MAY, 1959

ALEC RAMY'S LOST BONANZA

By KEN WORTLEY Map by Margo Gerke

HAVE A greater desire to find ing uproarious ballads he had learned Ramy's mine than to exploit as a Legionnaire. it," Alfred Giraud said. "It has The second stake went the way of been a fascinating challenge, and over the first, and unable to obtain another the years I have been gathering my promising lease, Ramy worked as a evidence. I'm ready now" day-wage miner. His restless spirit Alfred, an old sheepman who lives could not adapt to such routine life, on his ranch near Bishop, California, and, like others before him who had pointed to a 200-gallon mobile water tasted of fortunes taken from the earth, tank—water will have to be hauled he turned prospector and headed into nearly 40 miles for this lost mine the vast unexplored desert. search which centers in the Saline After many winters of resolute but Valley, an arid 25-mile-long trough futile search for "the big one," Ramy separated from Death Valley to the succumbed to the lure of the arid lands east by the Panamint Range. and became a typical "desert rat." He The story begins over a century roamed the Death Valley country for ago in the Maritime Alps of France years. In the course of these wander- where one of Alfred's countrymen, ings he became acquainted with and Alec Ramy, spent his boyhood herd- well-liked by many of the Indians ing sheep. When Ramy grew to man- living in the region. Often he camped hood, he joined the French Foreign with them. His boisterous songs were Legion and served on the Algerian welcome around the lonely campfires. frontier at Fort Sidi-bel-Abbes. Here In the fall of 1904, while on an he became tough and seasoned in the extended prospecting foray into the ways of the desert. broken land around the southern tip Immigrant of the Last Chance Range, Ramy When Ramy's enlistment was over, made a dry camp. The country looked he migrated to America, lured by the good, so he lingered longer than he newly-discovered bonanzas of Nevada. normally would have. Short of water, The ex-Legionnaire found a life to his he rationed it to his pack burros, and liking in booming Virginia City. Here one night the thirsty animals broke was the kind of excitement his viva- their hobbles. When it was light cious nature craved; but Ramy was enough to see, Ramy tracked, the ani- Sheepman Alfred Giraud of Bishop, ambitious, and he did not let pleasure mals to the edge of vast forbidding California, has gathered what he interfere with work. He labored hard Saline Valley. The burros were head- believes is conclusive evidence that at mining, and soon became an expert. ing directly across the salt-encrusted Alec Ramy's lost gold ledge exists. After a year in Nevada, he obtained flatlands to the base of the distant a lease on an off-shoot of the Corn- Inyo Mountains. stock Lode. Ramy took $30,000 out Heads for Water ,; Alec Ramy was not bitter. of his mine in a few weeks. Ramy knew he had little chance of He had found—and then Being a man of wealth was a new overtaking the animals. He appraised experience for Ramy. The money— his situation. His original plan had lost—a ledge of gold on a plus his gregarious and good-natured been to break camp that day and nightmarish prospecting trek personality — soon attracted a horde move on to a place several miles south of friends and hangers-on. They went into the Death Valley country. along the foothills where water gath- through the $30,00.0 faster than it had ered in the sand tanks of & canyon But, he escaped with his life. taken Ramy to dig it out of the ground. wash. Bothered by inflammatory rheu- That was worth more than all Ramy returned to the mines with matism in his feet, he reasoned that a vengeance. By blundering luck he it would be wisest not to try to make the precious metal in the made another strike, and again it across Saline Valley, but to go to world! He told his story to amassed a small fortune. This time the tanks. a trusted friend, Alfred he was a bit more conservative with He filled two canteens with water his money insofar as friends were con- from a supply reserved for the burros, Giraud. Now—more than 50 cerned—he squandered most of it on and put a few provisions in a knap- years later—Giraud plans to himself. Tales were told of Ramy, sack. The rest of the pack supplies how during many a night of hilarity had to be abandoned. search for the lost bonanza. he would dominate all entertainment When Ramy arrived at the tanks at the saloons for hours on end, sing- late that afternoon, his feet were in 24 DESERT MAGAZINE bad shape. He dug for water, but Ramy did not remember what hap- Mountains in an attempt to recover without luck. The tanks were dry, for pened next. Soon after the merciless his pack animals. no rain had fallen in the area for sun sank behind the Inyo Mountains The long walk across the alkali months. to the west, a small band of Death plain again proved near-fatal for Ramy. The old Legionnaire knew full well Valley Indians camped near the edge Alfred Giraud, then a young man that he faced a desperate situation. of the Saline Valley heard a strange charged with the task of herding a Every step now was torture, and to sound. At first they were frightened, flock of sheep in the mountains, found strike out across the glaring void of believing that it was the voice of an the prospector and brought him into Saline Valley would have been suicide. evil spirit come to haunt them. his camp. Another Chance The voice grew louder and then Low Esteem From the depths of his memory he began to fade. Evidently the spirit "In those days," Alfred told me, recalled having seen a small amount was moving away, and for this the "sheepmen did not hold prospectors of water seeping from beneath a large Indians were thankful. Two young in much esteem. These desert charac- boulder in a wash to the south. bucks, Grapevine Duck and Caldmore ters were almost always broke, usually Jack, were more curious than fright- dirty and ragged, and full of wild tales That same afternoon he continued ened. The sound they heard had a about gold. Of course sheepherders his southward trek, stopping to rest familiar ring. They recognized the often were dirty and ragged, too, but only when it became too dark to pro- voice of Alec Ramy who often had we always had plenty to eat, a good ceed with safety. With the first pre- sung at their winter camp near the bed to sleep on, and a fair wage wait- dawn haze, he staggered on. The great bend of the Amargosa. ing when our work was done." country was exceptionally rough, and Rescued Even after his countryman showed at one point he stumbled over a pro- him the rich gold samples from the truding quartz ledge. Years of pros- Grapevine Duck and Caldmore Jack quartz ledge, Giraud was not inter- pecting immediately told him that this ran to investigate. They found the ested in retracing Ramy's wandering formation was of potential significance. deranged Ramy wandering about, bel- steps back to the strike. "Gold from He quickly examined the ledge. It lowing his favorite ballad of the French the mint meant more to me than a contained particles of gold plainly Foreign Legion. few specks of yellow in a rock." visible to the naked eye. It was a The next thing Ramy remembered Besides, there were many other bonanza! clearly was lying on cool sand while things to talk about: the joy of drink- But, were the gods mocking him? an Indian girl applied wet bandages to ing water; warm food; home. The His need was for water—not gold. his burning feet. The old prospector young sheepherder and the elderly Stopping only long enough to break stayed with the tribesmen for nine prospector became fast friends. A off a few samples of the ore, he hur- days, and when his feet were suffici- few years later they again met in ried on as fast as his wounded feet ently healed, he struck out across the Owens Valley, and the bonds of friend- would carry him. Saline Valley toward the distant Inyo ship grew stronger. Just before he

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MAY, 195 9 25 died, Ramy gave Giraud a piece of rock taken from the quartz outcrop. He also tried to fill in as: many blank spaces in his story of discovery as possible. OLD SHULTZ' GOLD MINE Time passed. Fifty years later, after While passing through Quartzsite, the author Giraud had become a successful sheep rancher, he became interested in min- recalls the story of how an unlucky ing. Only then did he realize the prospector became a happy value of the piece of ore Ramy had given him. He dug it out of his musty mine owner belongings and had it assayed. The By CLARE BOWMAN sample was almost half gold—one of N A RECENT trip through some gold off of it, but it petered the richest pieces of ore ever discov- the Southwest, I found myself out. Then they started to sink an- ered in Inyo County! O looking eagerly forward to other hole. They went down about Search for Clues seeing Quartzsite, Arizona, all be- five feet but they never hit nothing Wherever Giraud went in the Inyo cause of a story an old desert rat so they give it up. Well, one day country he tried to find additional had told me years before. Gus and Bill come out of a saloon clues to Ramy's treasure. In the little "Yep," the old man had —there were 14 saloons there in town of Isabella, in neighboring Kern mourned, "Quartzsite was a big them days—and they see old Shultz County, he ran across an old Chilean town in them days. Now, man, standing on the boardwalk, looking named Crisante Santavinas who had woman and dog, they ain't 50 folks down and out. They give him some known Ramy. Santavinas was familiar there. Old Shultz is probably liv- money for grub and they figgered with Ramy's discovery—he too had ing there yet, if he ain't dead. He as how they'd have some fun with a piece of the ore. There was no was an old stiff. Be over 90 now." him and they said why didn't he doubt about it—the sample came from The storyteller seemed to be go work that old hole they'd started. the same ledge. looking far into the past as he gent- "Shultz went up there and started Santavinas told his story: after ly twisted his Airedale's pointed digging right off. Folks thought it Ramy's death, the Chilean spent sev- ears with gnarled fingers. "In the was a big joke. They figgered he'd eral weeks attempting to locate the early days when they first started become kind of loony from having strike from which the specimen had mining around Quartzsite, fellas so much tough luck, and they were been broken. He was not successful, used to take a shovel, a pan and a all laughing up their sleeves at the but did find placer gold in what he piece of canvas and go out after crazy old coot. believed to be the immediate vicinity gold. They'd spread out the can- of the ledge. vas and then, holding the pan up "Well sir, Shultz went down 18 The placer gold was rough in char- like this" — he demonstrated with feet and he hit it. It was sure pretty, acter, indicating that it had originated an imaginary gold pan — "they'd just like a speckled hen — gold close-by. He also found particles of shake out the gravel. Then, they'd specks all through that quartz." quartz identical to the sample given pick up the nuggets that was big I felt a tingle of excitement and him by Ramy. Santavinas said he enough to see easy. Gold was sell- exclaimed with delight, but the old had been telling of finding rich placer ing for $18 an ounce then, and a man ignored me, intent on his story. gold in the vicinity of the Ubehebe fella'd get about $10 worth 'fore "A couple of fellas from Los Ange- Peak for years, but that no one seemed he called it a day." les heard about Shultz' strike, and to believe him. He was convinced that I envisioned the nuggets, like they came out to see it. if he were not too old and crippled, golden wads of chewed gum, scat- " 'Want to sell?' one of them he could find Ramy's gold. tered throughout the gravel on the asks. Questions Indians canvas. " 'Might,' Shultz answers. " 'How much you want?' Encouraged by Santavinas' firm "But, after the biggest nuggets "'Hold on there,' Shultz says. conviction that the mine existed, Gi- was gone, folks started dry wash- 'You can see down there as far as raud made a trip into Death Valley. ing," the old man went on. "There I can. What's it worth to you?' He questioned every Indian he met. wasn't much bigger'n a pinhead " 'I'll give you $20,000.' Had they known of a prospector when Shultz got there. He come " 'Is that cash money?' named Ramy? Were they in that out from Germany when he was a '"Yep. Cash!' party that rescued the old Legionnaire? young fella. He was a chemist and tied in with some friends in New " 'Mister,' Shultz says, 'you just At the old Indian Ranch in Death bought yourself a mine.' " Valley he made an almost miraculous York for awhile, but he never did discovery. An old woman there not like New York, and headed west." I thought that was the end of the only remembered Ramy, she was the The old storyteller drew a long story, but the old man went on. one who had cut the shoes from the breath and sat in abstracted silence, "Shultz played it foxy with that old prospector's feet, and had taken and the Airedale, released from $20,000. He took off for Phoenix care of him during his nine-day stay the caressing fingers, moved to the and put the money in government at the camp near Saline Valley. Her shade of a bush and settled down bonds. When he came back, he had name was Stina Duck, wife of Grape- for a nap. "Shultz, he dug here beans—and a ham bone, too." vine Duck. and he dug there but never had no Quartzsite, today, may not be Elated at the success of his search luck. He got so low he didn't even the bustling town the old man knew, for information, Giraud returned to have enough for beans and, I guess, but neither has it become the ghost his Bishop ranch and began making there were plenty times he was town he feared. And, with the plans for a systematic search for hungry. lifeline of U.S. Highway 60-70 Ramy's lost bonanza. He is certain "Gus Peterson and Bill Freeman passing through it, there is little this is one Death Valley lost mine had a claim near there. They took danger that it will be.—END that is not a myth.—END The Wrong Road Crew . . . Desert: "Discovering Fable Valley" in the March Desert stated that the "Forest Service cut a primitive four-wheel-drive road into the area." Response This statement is erroneous. The lands in this area are administered by the Bureau of Land Management with a District Office in Monticello. This road was built in con- nection with range rehabilitation work on the Dark Canyon Plateau and Fable Valley. The road was begun in the summer of 1957 and completed in the fall of 1958 by our own improvement crews. This entire area was opened up by the joint effort of the Bureau of Land Management and the S&S Does your concept of God and Univer- Cattle Co. The S&S Cattle Co. is per- sal Principles really satisfy you? Do you mitted to run cattle in this area, and con- know the true purpose of YOUR life? Is your environment all you want it to be? tributed a considerable amount of money Do you have good health? Are you men- to the government to help in this rehabili- tally and emotionally secure? Are your Amboy Crater. It "erupted" tation work. affairs economically sound? Do you have for the Chicago sightseers. personal problems which seem insur- Perhaps you people are aware that this mountable? The Lemurian Philosophy teaches a Bureau is also charged with the protection balanced way of life, materially, mentally The Bagdad Eruption . . . of artifacts and ruins found on the Public and spiritually. Send for our 24 page Desert: Lands. The Antiquities Act of 1916 pro- brochure, Into the Sun, 25c postpaid. Many years ago, when the West was vides for the protection and guardianship young and the railroads accepted low fares of these archeological treasures. from sightseers anxious to visit California, Because of vandalism to these many ruins excursion trains were popular. These trains in San Juan County, we have hesitated to LEIllUfill fflLOUJSHIP made the Chicago to California run in four publicize our efforts in this area as far as RAMONA 13, CALIFORNIA days. The guides assigned to them were access is concerned. kept busy pointing out interesting sights KEITH E. NORRIS along the way. District Manager One landmark never overlooked was the Bureau of Land Management black crater of the extinct Amboy Crater Monticello, Utah between Amboy and Bagdad, California, in the heart of the Mojave Desert. (Keith Norris: We are just as concerned At this time, the Santa Fe regularly as you are regarding vandalism to ruins hauled water into Bagdad for the few resi- found in the remote backcountry. But, dents there and the locomotives. The tank our job is publicity •— and we take the car crew had a long wait every day, and positive stand that man, despite his rec- time hung heavy on their hands. One day ord, can and must be trusted. In Nell they decided to create their own excitement. Murbarger's "Fable Valley" story you For the next week they spent these spare will note references to the anti-vandalism hours gathering dry brush—all they could laws, and the plea that visitors look— find—and dragging it to the old crater. but not touch. The alternative to this Then they waited for the special train policy—the complete silence on the won- from the East with all the wide-eyed new- ders of the outdoors—would be, I'm sure comers. When they heard it rumbling down you will agree, quite untenable.—Ed) the track, they set fire to the huge bowl of The finest in touring comfort. Twin front brush. Flames and smoke billowed out of seats recline to any angle or convert to level the volcano. It looked for all the world like On Art, Cooking and Norton . . . single or double beds. Come in for Demon- the real thing! rtration by Q R REUTER There was much excitement among the Desert: 2801 W. Slauson, I,.A. 43 AX 4-0888 passengers from Chicago. The telegraph Our January issue was a bit late reaching wires were jammed with urgent messages us South of the Border via New Hampshire. to Los Angeles about the eruption. From Never the less the wait was well rewarded there the news filtered out to the world. by Marjorie Reed's back cover painting. Newspapers put out extras. A special ob- When you run out of desert painters, servation train was rushed to Bagdad. may I suggest a few on the coast who fre- The tank car crew had had its fun. I quent the desert from time to time: Howard JEEP TOURS smile myself every time I see a picture of Little, Stella Stremski, Amy Brown O'T'oole, an extinct volcano, knowing that at one J. Roland McNary, Alfred Mitchell and time such a crater provided excitement for Chester Berg. MONUMENT VALLEY five bored young men, one of whom was my husband. The Desert Kitchen Section sounds like ACCOMMODATIONS AVAILABLE CAROLYN SUGARS good workable reading to those of us who MOTELS & CAFES camp with all types of equipment and all Whittier, Calif. over the country. "Hints for Campers" TOURS, ARTS & CRAFTS MUSEUM would never go amiss. I would especially The Plight of Beasts . . . like to see stressed leaving one's camping BERNIE MAHER spot clean. We could take from one of Dr. Desert: Box 166 — Kayenta, Arizona While traveling through the Papago In- Jaeger's articles the motto, "Leave nothing dian Reservation in southern Arizona I saw but your footprints." 160 miles N.E. of Flagstaff two burros tied together with a heavy rope. Also, when are you going to do an article The poor animals were alongside the road on your "Map Maker," Norton Allen? We far from water. think he's a pretty nice guy. We're expect- I recalled what author Edmund C. Jaeger ing him back from Guadalajara any day to Out of the past—(Acetate) ARROWHEAD JEWELRY! had to say (Desert, Feb. '59) about the spend a little more time with us. Earrings: Large, med $2 pr. sad treatment some of these animals receive. VIOLET A. SWENOR Xecklace: 18" chain 1.S1.50 Isn't there any hope for relieving these tor- Lariat Tie: Lge. arrowh'd, El Rancho de Los Dos leatherette cord ....$1.50 tured creatures of their miserable plight? Tepic, Mexico Flint Arrowhead Making There seems to be nothing man will not Secret: Ancient meth'ds. stoop to do in order to satisfy his cruel Illustrated. Guaranteed..SI.00 (Western Writer Neil Murbarger has a Free catalog. Use postcard nature. standing assignment to do a feature story for C.O.D. orders BEN MUDGE on Norton Allen. See Publisher's Note's CHIEF BLACKHAWK Quartzsite, Arizona for more on Norton.—Ed.) Box 564-DM, Eennewick, Wash.

MAY, 1959 27 This y SOUTHWEST NEWS BRIEFS

State Buys Joshua Land . . . Land Swindlers at Work . . . Lancaster, Calif. — Los Angeles Phoenix—Arizona supervisor of the County sold 40.4 acres of desert land U.S. Bureau of Land Management in the Saddleback Butte area to the warned land-hungry visitors to steer State for the proposed Joshua Trees clear of the latest real estate swindle State Park project. The land will be scheme. E. I. Rowland said complaints used to round out the State's holdings are coming into the BLM office in in the area. Phoenix from people who have paid handsome fees for unpatented mining Navajos Cheer Jazz . . . claims on a land locator's representa- Window Rock, Ariz.—Pianist Er- tion that the land can be used for a roll Garner and his troop gave the week end cabin or home site. Row- first jazz concert ever presented on land reminded the public that it is the Navajo Reservation—and the 1000 illegal to stake or hold a mining claim tribesmen who attended loved it. Both for purposes other than mining. young and old greeted each selection with whoops, yells and foot-stomping. BEAR LAKE IN NORTHERN UTAH A tribal representative said the Indi- Volunteers to Improve Pass . . . ans attending came from all sections Yucca Valley, Calif. — Manpower of the vast reservation. and heavy equipment were pledged by residents of the Pioneer Pass region (Desert, Sept. '58) to improve that Solar House Buyer Sues . . . route connecting Yucca Valley on the Phoenix—James A. Decker charged Mojave Desert to the Big Bear Moun- in a suit filed in Mariposa County tain resort area. Money was raised Superior Court that the $49,500 ex- locally for the purchase of culverts for perimental house he purchased from road drainage, and fuel oil for the the Association for Applied Solar En- heavy equipment. ergy won't heat up. Decker is seeking to recover the $24,800 already paid for the house, the Phoenix Gazette Park for Glen Canyon . . . reported. The AASE was forced to Page, Ariz.—National Park Service dispose of the house last year when it officials plan to spend $3,500,000 on was discovered that its operation was roads and trails and $3,000,000 for in violation of county zoning regula- buildings and utilities for recreational tions. Decker said the intricate mech- facilities at the Glen Canyon Reser- anism which operates the sun louvers voir—but the work is not scheduled was minus a motor. to start for 10 years. Glen Canyon Dam, now under construction on the Colorado River, will form a reservoir Bicycles Replacing Burros . . . extending nearly 200 miles north from Mexico City — There's a bicycle the damsite at Page. boom South of the Border, and the burro is being replaced as the peon's favorite means of transportation. Bet- Three Dams Proposed . . . ter highways, improved incomes and Phoenix — A Chicago engineering installment purchase plans have con- firm has completed studies for the Ari- Mail the coupon today for a thrilling vaca- tributed to the bike boom. Prior to zona Power Authority that indicate tion hit with a full-color story of Utah from the government's 1953 tax exemption three proposed dams on the Colorado the weird and wonderful land of natural lure to domestic manufacturers, all of River are "technically and economic- bridges and arches... through its rugged Mexico's bicycles were imported. To- river country... to the high mountain wil- ally feasible." The APA will seek Fed- dernesses of lakes and forests... along the day there are many Mexican factories eral Power Commission authority this fascinating Mormon trails... in its colorful turning out bikes by the thousands. summer to begin construction of the cities and towns. Utah is a vacation land of first two of these dams—Bridge Can- constant contrast and thrilling action for Zion Improvement Slated . . . yon Dam northwest of Peach Springs you and your family. Visit Utah this year. Kanab, Utah—More than $800,000 (1963 completion date goal) and Pros- will be spent to improve roads and pect Canyon Dam northeast of Peach Utah Tourist & Publicity Council Springs. The third dam would be built Dept. 143, State Capitol facilities at Zion National Park in the Salt Lake City, Utah coming months. Major expenditures in Marble Canyon near the northeast include $300,000 to reconstruct Route corner of Grand Canyon National Name 1 to the Oak Creek Headquarters, and Park. The three dams would have an Address.. $500,000 for utilities and a visitor electrical output of 1,147,000 kilo- center for the Oak Creek Headquarters watts—about equal to Hoover Dam's City State area. capacity.

28 DESERT MAGAZINE :

Visitor Center Contract . . . Top Funds for Dinosaur . . . Death Valley, Calif.—The National Vernal, Utah — Dinosaur National Park Service awarded a $441,800 Monument has received more funds contract to an Oildale, Calif., contrac- during the first three years of the tor for construction of the visitor cen- National Park Service's Mission 66 ter in Death Valley National Monu- project than any other national park YOUR ment. The contract calls for erection or monument. The expenditures at of two buildings connected by a paved Dinosaur totaled $1,581,700 — about patio. One building will consist of a half of it for roads and trails and the CAMP museum, lobby and lecture hall; the other half for buildings and utilities. other will contain administrative offices More money is earmarked for the de- and shops. Portions of the patio will velopment of minor roads and trails, contain outdoor exhibits; The mu- and for the creation of fossil displays. seum portion of the visitor center will be devoted to the history, natural his- in tory, geology and archeology of Death Resort Told to Provide Water . . . Valley. Salton Sea, Calif.—The State Board of Health has ordered the Salton Sea Narrow Gauge RR Doomed . . . Beach Estate developers to install a Keeler, Calif. — Southern Pacific two-pipe water system. Deadline for Railroad is seeking Interstate Com- submitting adequate plans for the merce Commission permission to dis- water system is June 2, the Riverside continue its narrow gauge Keeler Daily Enterprise reported. The dual Branch railroad in Owens Valley — system is designed to replace 100-gal- the last narrow gauge common carrier lon tanks atop each of the resort's west of the Rockies. The 70.4-mile homes. This water is hauled in by freight line from Keeler to Laws is truck. The dual pipe system consists known as the "Slim Princess." Pas- KAMPPACK of one pipe for fresh water and an- CONCENTRATED FOODS senger service was discontinued on the other for utility water. line in 1932, and total traffic—mostly For hikers, fishermen, campers! minerals—averages only three standard boxcar loads per operating day. The New Arizona City . . . It's quick to cook... it's light to pack S.P. proposes to substitute truck serv- Glendale, Ariz. -—• The Arizona- ... if tastes terrific! For example... ice for the rail line. The Inyo County Rochester Land and Development KAMP-PACK Board of Supervisors opposes the pro- Company has proposed creation of a posed abandonment. new and completely "scientifically de- signed" city in northwestern Mariposa ... one of 7 delicious daily diets avail- School Contract Awarded . . . County, 23 miles northwest of Glen- able in 4-man and 8-man envelopes. Leupp, Ariz.—Awarding of a $3,- dale. The new city is to be named BREAKFAST 175,000 contract for construction of "Churchill," and 16,000 acres have Ginger Buttermilk Griddle Cakes new boarding school facilities for more been set aside for its development. It Maple Syrup than 600 additional Indian children adjoins a 3400-acre tract purchased Hot Chocolate in the elementary grades at Leupp on two years ago by the Sperry-Rand Corporation, and 900 acres now under LUNCH the Navaio Reservation was announced Spanish Rice with Creole Flavor option by Airesearch Corp. by the Department of Interior. Hot Biscuits Fruit Punch DINNER ^^ Cream of Chicken Soup Camper's Stew ,.. "SPECIALISTS IN SOUTHWESTERN PRESSWORK" Banana Pudding Chocolate Milk Shake Supplementarles: Miracle sponge and detergent, vege- table shortening, salt, hard candies — Printers of the Desert Magazine — and toilet tissues. Moisture-proof, light-weight packag- Books ing. No refrigeration required. Meats packed in our own U. S. Govt. in- Pamphlets spected plant! Select from 120 items! ochures MAIL COUPON TO NEAREST PLANT Bernard Food Industries, Inc., Dept. DM Resort Folders 217 N. Jefferson St., Chicago 6, Illinois 1208 E. San Antonio St., San Jose, Calif. Color Production 152 West 3rd St., N. Vancouver, B. C. Please send me complete information and price, list for KAMP-PACK foods. Write for free estimates Name

DESERT PRINTERS, INC. Address- PALM DESERT, CALIFORNIA City State

MAY, 1959 29 IMPORTED GEM materials: Buy from your resi- dent, dependable and well established dealer selected tumbling, cabochon, and choice facet- THE DESERT TRADING POST ing gemstones in the rough, our specialty being Australian fire opals. Also widest selec- Classified Ad rates are 15c per word, $3 tion of cut stones such as jade, rubies, emer- minimum per issue. Copy deadline for alds, sapphires, opals, also synthetics, etc. the June issue is May 1. Mail copy to: Price lists available. Wholesale and retail. Trading Post, Desert Magazine, Palm GENUINE TURQUOISE: Natural color, blue and Francis Hoover, 11526 Burbank Blvd., North bluish green, cut and polished cabochons—25 Desert, California. Hollywood, California. carats (5 to 10 stones according to size) $3.50 including tax, postpaid in U.S.A. Package 50 carats (10 to 20 cabochons) $6.15 including CHOICE WESTERN gem rocks: rough, 75c pound, tax, postpaid in U.S.A. Elliott Gem & Mineral verd antique, pink-black dolomific marble, Shop, 235 E. Seaside Blvd., Long Beach 2, Cal. howlite, mariposite, red palm root. Minimum • BOOKS-MAGAZINES order 5 pounds. Slabs, same rocks, 35c square "GEMS & Minerals Magazine," largest rock hobby OPAL, AMETHYST, etc. 10 ringsize stones, ground inch, except palm root, 50c. Minimum order 8 monthly. Field trips, "how" articles, pictures, and polished ready to set, $5. Opals, deep square inches. Prices cover postage, tax, Ben- ads. $3 year. Sample 25c. Box 687J, Mentone, red, blue, green, golden flashing in all colors susan, 8615 Columbus Ave., Sepulveda, Calif. California. of the rainbow, direct from the mine, 15 for $5. Kendall, Sanmiguel d'Allende, Guanaju- UTAH ROCKS. Petrified wood, dinosaur bone, CALIFORNIA-NEVADA —Gem Hunters Atlas. A ato, Mexico. beaver agate, snowflake obsidian, 50c pound. whole book of maps showing hundreds of Slabs, 25c square inch. Selenite, white onyx, rock collecting areas in these two highly CALIFORNIA DESERT rocks. Gem quality. Pol- 15c pound. Postage extra. Hubert's Rock mineralized states. An excellent all purpose ished. Large assortment. One dollar postpaid. Shop, Hurricane, Utah. atlas showing highways, mileages, towns, Pollard, 12719 Laurel Street, Lakeside, Calif. campsites, points of interest. Price $1, post- OPALS AND sapphires direct from Australia. paid. Also, Gem Hunters Atlas—Southwest. AUSTRALIAN TUMBLED gemstones. 8 different Covers Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Colorado. This month's best buy: black opals from polished baroques, identified, suitable for Lightning Ridge. 1 solid black opal cabochon, $1, postpaid. Scenic Guides, Box 288, Susan-: necklace or chain bracelet. Send $1 plus 10c ville. California. 1 piece rough black opal cutting material, 1 postage. Bensusan, 8615 Columbus Ave., piece rough black opal matrix. All fine gem Sepulveda, California. BOOKS: "PANNING Gold for Beginners," 50c. material for $15, free airmail. Send personal "Gold in Placer," $3. Frank J. Harnagy, 701V2 check, international money order, bank draft. E. Edgeware, Los Angeles 26, Calif. • GEMS, MINERALS-FOSSILS Free 16 page list of all Australian gemstones. Australian Gem Trading Co., 49 Elizabeth OUT-OF-print books at lowest prices! You name LAVA SPECIMEN from America's youngest vol- Street, Melbourne, Australia. it—we find it! Western Americana, desert and cano plus excellent uranium mineral sample. Send 50c stamps, coin or money-order. Post- Indian books a specialty. Send us your wants. WANTED: ROUGH rose-quartz for garden. Quote age paid. Digger Ben, Box 2291, Milan Sta- No obligation. International Bookfinders, Box by ton, or tell me where I can dig. Gordon tion, Grants, New Mexico. 3003-D, Beverly Hills, California. Scruggs, Knobnoster, Missouri. WANTED: BACK issues of Desert Magazine. We NEVADA ORES—high grade lead galena, cinnabar, will buy the following issues if they are sent dumortierite, many more. Color slides, old PRECIOUS VIRGIN'S Veil white jade, black gar- to us postpaid and in good condition: Nov. relics, ox shoes. Write for big new list today net, gem obsidian, desert rosettes, agatized '37, $7.50; April '38, $1; August '38, $1; to: E. W. Darrah, Box 606, Winnemucca, Nev. cedar, chrysoprase, mountain leather, five ad- Sept. '38, $2; Feb. '39 $1; April, '39, 50c; ditional rare specimens, $2. Old Prospector, March '52, 50c; March '54, 50c; Oct. '54, 50c 12 POUNDS of beautiful Colorado mineral speci- Canyon, California. and Jan. '55, 50c. Wrap securely and mail mens, $8 prepaid. Ask for list of others. to: Circulation Dept., Desert Magazine, Palm Jack the Rockhound, P.O. Box 245, Carbon- Desert, California. dale, Colorado. • GEMS, DEALERS

FOSSILS. 12 Different for $2. Other prices on "SELL ROCKS?" Yes! Sands, clays, soils, rocks, • CLUBS - ORGANIZATIONS request. Will buy, sell or trade. Museum of ores, fossils, many outdoor items sell for cash, trade for things wanted. Let Mother Nature ARE YOU interested in prospecting for minerals, Fossils, Clifford H. Earl, P. O. Box 188, Sedona, Arizona. finance outings, hobby, business. Details 4c or rockhunting? Write for literature to United stamp. "Suppliers' Bulletin" 25c. D. McCamp- Prospectors, 7011/2 E. Edgeware, Los Angelef, GEMMY FLUORITE octahedrons. 3 pairs $1. Each bell, Box 503, Calexico, California. 26, California. pair a different color. Gene Curtiss, 911 Pine St., Benton, Kentucky. CHOICE MINERAL specimens, rough and cut gem • COLOR SLIDES material, lapidary and jewelry equipment and COMPLETE STOCK of crystallized and massive supplies, mountings, fluorescent lamps, books. RHYOLITE, FOUR colorslides $1. Overall view, minerals. Please send for free list to: Con- Valley Art Shoppe, 21108 Devonshire Street, Bottle House, bank ruins, RR station. Long- tinental Minerals, P.O. Box 1206, Anaconda, Chatsworth, California. street, 5453 Virginia, Hollywood 29, Calif. Montana. DESERT ROCKS, woods, jewelry. Residence rear COLORSLIDES. Re-live your vacation trips. 3000 of shop. Rockhounds welcome. Mile west on GENUINE PLATINUM crystals. Exceedingly rare. travel Kodachromes, parks, U.S., foreign, na- U.S. 66. McShan's Gem Shop and Desert Choice micromounts. $5, $7 each. Also ture, etc. Free list (sample 30c). Send today. Museum. P.O. Box 22, Needles, California. Kelly D. Choda, Box 15, Palmer Lake, Colo. Chatham emeralds, single $2, $3. Groups $5, $7. Postpaid. Insured. 10 day refund. Frey, SHAMROCK ROCK Shop, 1115 La Cadena Drive, CALICO, CALIFORNIA, before restoration. Set 328 Glencourt, Pacifica, Calif. Riverside, California. Phone OVerland 6-3956. of four color slides $1. Also available Rhyo- Specimens, minerals, slabs, findings, etc. lite, Nevada. Longstreet, 5453 Virginia, Hoi-, • GEMS, ROUGH MATERIAL lywood 29, California. VISIT GOLD Pan Rock Shop. Beautiful sphere WE NOW have turquoise and rocks in Battle material, mineral specimens, choice crystals, • GEMS, CUT-POLISHED ;; 1 Mountain, Nevada, on U.S. Highway 40. Todd's cutting materials, jewelry, bolo ties, baroques, Rock Shop. spheres, bookends, paperweights, cabochons, VEIN RUN "thunder eggs" of picture agate, faceted stones, fluorescents, jewelry findings, some contain amethyst, 50c per pound, in 10 DINOSAUR BONE. Gem quality colorful agatized, lapidary equipment and supplies, Navajo rugs, pound lots. C. Earl Napier "For Rock," 1205 jasperized, opalized bone 50c pound. Also custom sawing—by the inch or shares. Saws, Wyoming St., Boulder City, Nev. Phone 410. beautiful red lace agate $1 pound. Postage up to 30-inch diameters. John and Etta James, extra. Gene Stephen, Route 2, Grand Junction, proprietors, 2020 North Carson Street on High- BOLA AND jewelry finding price list. Compare Colorado. way 395 north end of town. Carson City, Nev. our prices before you buy. Please include 10c to cover cost of mailing. Dealers send resale WE ARE mining every day. Mojave Desert agate, number for wholesale list. The Hobby Shop, jasper and palm wood shipped mixed 100 NOW OPEN—Jacumba Rock and Shell Shop, Dept. DM, P.O. Box 753, 619 North 10th pounds $10.50 F.O.B. Barstow. Morion Min- P.O. Box 34, Jacumba, California. "Where old Avenue (Hiway 30), Caldwell, Idaho. erals & Mining, 21423 Highway 66, R.F.D. 1, friends meet new ones." Barstow, California. TUMBLE POLISHED gemstones—best varieties- ROCKS—OPPOSITE West End Air Base, agate, satisfaction guaranteed. $2.35 Ib. plus post- TURQUOISE FOR sale. Turquoise in the rough woods, minerals, books, local information. No age. Capped: 25c each. Spring Creek Agate priced at from $5 to $50 a pound. Royal Blue mail orders, please. Ironwood Rock Shop, Shop, Lewistown, Montana. Mines Co., Tonopah, Nevada. Highway 60-70 west of Blythe, California.

30 DESERT MAGAZINE FIND FLUORESCENT minerals the easy way. New INDIAN GOODS • CAMPING EQUIPMENT detector operates in daylight without batteries. Fits in pocket and eliminates dark box. Price COLLECTION OF 105 relics: 10 spearheads, 10 FREE CATALOG—World's finest lightweight camp- $12.50. Free brochure. Essington Products drills, 10 birdpoints, 10 flint knives, 5 scrapers, ing and mountaineering equipment. Used on and Engineering, Box 4174, Coronado Station, 60 arrowheads; $50. (1 /5 of this collection: Mt. Everest, Himalayas, Andes, etc. It's ex- Santa Fe, New Mexico. $11). 6 different strands trade beads, $10. 3 pensive but absolutely unsurpassed! Gerry, Dept. 107, Ward, Colorado. different old Indian baskets, $10. Iroquoise MAILING SERVICE: Prompt forwarding. $3 per mask $25. Also other relics, beadwork, pipes, FREE CATALOG—4 comfortable ways to carry month. Remails: $.25. Desert Mails, P.O. Box tomahawks, warbonnets; foreign relics: weap- 545, Winterhaven, California. ons, carvings. Paul Summers, Canyon, Texas. kiddies along fishing, camping, hiking, shop- ping. Keep little ones close out of danger. OWN A squaw dress! Authentic originals, as FINE RESERVATION-MADE Navajo and Zuni jew- Drop a card now. Gerry Designs, Dept. Ill, colorful as the Indian lore that inspired them. elry. Old pawn. Hundreds of fine old bas- Ward, Colorado. By the leading designers of the Southwest. kets, moderately priced, in excellent condition. Buffalo Trading Post, P. O. Box 697, Highway Navajo rugs, Chimayo homespuns, artifacts. A • PLANTS, SEEDS 18, Apple Valley, Calif. collector's paradise! Open daily 10 to 5:30, WILDFLOWER SEEDS: New catalog offers over closed Mondays. Buffalo Trading Post, High- 600 different kinds of wildflower and wild way 18, Apple Valley, California. HIGHEST CASH paid for old gold, jewelry, gold tree seeds. Catalog 50c. Clyde Robin, Carmel teeth, diamonds, watches, silver, rings, an- FROM OLD Comanche hunting grounds: Indian Valley, California. tiques. Mail articles today. Information free. artifacts, buffalo skulls. Mounted horns, West- Chicago Gold Refining Co., 6 E. Monroe, Dept. GROWING CACTUS is fun! Generous portion of ern lamps. Prices on request. Thunderbird 475, Chicago 3. at least six varieties of native cactus seeds, Trading Post, Highway 80 at Brazos River, 25c. Desert Seed, Box 76, Morristown, Ariz. Millsap, Texas. OLD FASHIONED large mixed certified gourd AUTHENTIC INDIAN jewelry, Navajo rugs, Chi- seeds, 50c. Excellent for birdhouses, orna- mayo blankets, squaw boots, old Indian col- BIG SAVINGS NOW ments, Christmas decorations, conversation lection. Closed Tuesdays. Pow-Wow Indian pieces, etc. Certi-Seeds, Box 7, Jacumba, Cal. Trading Post, 19967 Ventura Blvd., East Wood- land Hills, Calif. Open Sundays. ROCiOUNDS • MAPS «-. UP TO 33% OFF THREE FINE prehistoric Indian war arrowheads SECTIONIZED COUNTY maps - San Bernardino $1. Flint scalping knife $1. Rare flint thunder- $1.50; Riverside $1; Imperial, small $1, large RUBY-SAPPHIRE bird $3. All for only $4. Catalog free. Arrow- $2; San Diego 50c; Inyo, western half $1.25, head, Glenwood, Arkansas. TOPAZ AND GARNET eastern half, $1.25; Kern $1.25; other Califor- POLISHED GEMS FLINT ARROWHEAD making secret! Ancient nia counties $1.25 each. Nevada counties $1 50 carats for $1.00" methods. Illustrated. $1. Guaranteed. Catalog each. Topographic maps of all mapped west- ASTOUNDING OFFER — Regular free. Chief Blackhawk, Kennewick 7, Wash- ern areas. Westwide Maps Co., 114 W. Third $5 value. At least 5 different ington. St., Los Angeles, California. BAROQUE POLISHED GEMS of syn. Ruby, Pink Sapphire, Blue FASCINATING INDIAN flint chipping! Easy, • MINING^ R Sapphire, Topaz and Garnet. Total profitable. Complete kit of tools, materials Y weight 50 carats. WESTERN MINING News, monthly, for miners, and instructions: $2. Instruction booklet only: (Add 10% Fed. Ex. Tax) 75c. Guaranteed satisfaction. Lobo, Box 144- prospectors, claim owners, $2 per year. Sam- Order as: S-11- C $1.00 MD, Carlsbad, New Mexico. ple copy 25c. Box 787, Sonora, Calif. JOINTS-PINS SELLING 100,000 Indian relics. 100 nice ancient ASSAYS. COMPLETE, accurate, guaranteed. High- arrowheads $25. Grooved stone tomahawk $3. est quality spectrographic. Only $5 per sam- AND CATCHES Perfect spearhead over 8 inches long $20. ple. Reed Engineering, 620-R So. Inglewood A real Bargain.' Indian skull $25. Ancient water bottle from Ave., Inglewood, California. 36 pieces in offer. grave $7. List free. Lear's, Glenwood, Ark. Nickel Silver parts ULTRAVIOLET LAMPS, equipment, accessories for •' for putting pins on mineralights, prospectors, hobbyists. Free brooches. Excellent low, low price. • REAL ESTATE literature. Radiant, Manufacturers, DM, Cam- Order as: S-10C $1.00 HIGH BEAUTIFUL 80 acres looking down on bria Heights 11, New York. Salton Sea. $300 per acre. Write Ronald L. DRY WASHERS custom made. Small size weighs Johnson, Thermal, California. only five pounds. Compact, sturdy, runs 25 STERLING SILVER 80 ACRES near Lockhart, level, $125 acre, 25% pounds in 5 minutes. For gold, cinnabar, etc. WIRE BARGAIN down. 20 acres Highway 395, level, north of Very reliable and positive results assured. Adelanto, $150 acre, 10% down. 2V2 acres Anyone can operate. With this you can out- west of Adelanto, level, $1495, 10% down. do the professionals, make your outing trips $2.30 worth of silver wire for $1. Offer 2V2 acres Lancaster on paved highway, shal- pay and have fun doing it. For full informa- contains nine 6" lengths of Rd. tion write: E. J. Hyde, Manhattan, Nevada. low water, level, $2495, 10% down. Dr. Bead, Twist, y2 Rd., Bezel, i/2 Rd. Dodge, 1804 Lincoln Blvd., Venice, Calif. Bead, Square, and Round Sterling • MISCELLANEOUS Silver wire. CINDER BLOCK retreat in beautiful, growing Order as: S-9-C $1.00 Lucerne Valley. Modern plumbing, Formica ARMY SURPLUS—4067 unused electron tubes. kitchen, electricity—plus—three adjoining 1V4 Cost gov. $26,882.87. Sell or trade on Salton SMOKY QUARTZ acre lots for investment. $8,500 total price. Sea, Hesperia, Apple Valley lots, raw desert OR Terms. Some models less. Information, Wil- anywhere, tape recorder, Jeep, Piano or ? SMOKY TOPAZ liam Russell, Box 451, Lucerne Valley or Vic- Jerry Wall, 1090 Vina, Long Beach 13, Calif. torville 7-7493. In Pasadena call SYcamore Also known as Scotch Cairngorm. 2-7101. FISHERMEN, HUNTERS, rock collectors! Pack into Brilliant, sparkling, faceted 13 x 18 the most majestic part of the High Sierras, mm. Oval Gem. You also get large TEN ACRES unimproved in the Mineral District the Minaret country, with Ralph Walton, ex- catalog of jewelry mountings for fifteen miles south of Barstow. Will furnish pert on rock formations of the Sierras. Wal- mounting these lovely gems. Order as: V94-15C each $1.00 Title Insurance all free and clear $750. Lloyd ton's Pack Station, Beasore Meadows, O'Neals, L. Roberson, 522 No. 70th, Seattle 3, Wash. California.

RUBBER STAMP—3 lines name and address—60 • WESTERN MERCHANDISE STERLING SILVER NECKCHAIN cents, rubber cushioned and indexed, best Our biggest seller! Rope style ANTIQUE FIREARMS. $12 and up. Indian relics. materials used. Mail Order to: Supler Stamp chain on card and in protective Bargain list 25c. Visit us. Open daily, includ- Service, 1108 So. Gunlock, Compton, Calif. cellophane cover. Price includes ing Sunday. Tontz Country Store, Elsinore, Cal. tax. . . . LADY GODIVA "The World's Finest Beaufifier." Order as: 27C-4C $1.00 GHOST TOWN items: Sun-colored glass, amethyst For women who wish to become beautiful, All items sold on Money Back Guarantee to royal purple; ghost railroads materials, for women who wish to remain beautiful. An PRICES INCIUDE TAXES AND POSTAGE tickets; limited odd items from camps of the outstanding desert cream. For information, ORDER BY MAIL Send Ch '60s. Write your interest—Box 64-D, Smith, write or call Lola Barnes, 963 N. Oakland, AND SAVE! 1633 E. WALNUT Nevada. Pasadena 6, Calif., or phone SYcamore 4-2378. FRtl 'Miu:<.i:irs PASADENA, CALIF.

MAY, 1959 31

• OFF-RESERVATION HEALTH an's needs as its first duty. Mext pri- M4 AID CUT BY GOVERNMENT ority goes to relocated and vocational Phoenix — Public Health Service training Indians, those living off the Working & Guest Rmh officials in Arizona announced a cut- reservation less than two years, sea- Enjoy a family vacation on a working back in medical services for off-reser- sonally employed transients from res- cattle ranch with fine accommodations and vation Indians that amounts to a bar ervations, and emergency cases, in that excellent food. Ride good horses over order. beautiful mountain trails. Swim in our against treating Indians who moved pool. Take Jeep trips to ancient Pueblo from their reservations more than two The men's wing of the tuberculosis ruins and active uranium mines. Take Col- years ago, the Phoenix Gazette re- sanitarium in Phoenix will be con- orado River boat trips. You will find the red rock canyon country of Southeastern ported. Dr. William S. Baum, chief verted into an enlarged hospital for Utah fascinating and awe-inspiring. of the Public Health Service in Phoe- medical and pediatric patients pres- nix, said the cut-back was occasioned ently cared for at the hospital on the Euerett £ Betty Schumaher by a greater acceptance of white men's Indian School campus. The conver- Box 963, Moab, Utah Alpine 3-6801 medicine among Indians which has sion is the first step in a plan to estab- entirely utilized the present PHS re- lish a medical and surgical center in sources. In 1955, he pointed out, the Phoenix. CANYONEERING PHS treated 7600 patients — 1958's Many Indians were critical of the A true vacation, colorful and relaxing. total was 10,700. First class, all expense expeditions on San service being rendered by the govern- Juan River, Glen Canyon, Grand Canyon, Dr. Baum said the Public Health ment since PHS took over from the Hell's Canyon, and Salmon River. Dams now under construction will soon form deep Service regards the reservation Indi- Bureau of Indian Affairs in 1955. lakes over many colorful canyons and unique places of interest. Travel in comfortable specially designed wooden boats, with trained boatmen-guides. Rockh.oun.ding, photography, fishing, shoot- ing rapids, exploring. San Juan and Glen Canyon trips include Rainbow Natural Bridge. For literature on Glen Canyon Trips: GLEN CANYON BOATING WHITE CANYON, UTAH Other Trips: Rock Shorty MEXICAN HAT EXPEDITIONS MEXICAN HAT, UTAH of Death Valley

KENT FROST JEEP TRIPS Into the Famous Utah Needles Area It was in the spring of the runnin' a good trickle clear up Junction of the Green and Colorado rivers; Indian and Salt creeks; Davis, Lavender, year and Hard Rock Shorty was to May—unheard of, but chal- Monument, Red, Dark and White canyons; sitting on the porch of the In- lengin'. I picks up a package of Dead Horse and Grand View points; Hoven- weep and Bridges national monuments. ferno store, picking dust out of watermillion seeds 'n plants 'em 3-day or longer trips for 2-6 person parties —$25 daily per person. Includes sleeping the cracks in the pine boards on in the sand 'longside the crick. bags, transportation, guide service, meals. the floor. A dude from Bakers- Write KENT FROST, Monticello, Utah. "With the warm weather—up field walked out the door with a in the 90s thet time o' year—'n bottle of lemon squash in his water all around, th' seeds hand. He stood at the top of the sprouted in two days. NEW SIXTH EDITION steps and gazed into the desert distance. "Two more days 'n the vines put out flowers, an', dawgone if ART O F "Even in the springtime this they wasn't a bunch o' nubbin country doesn't grow a darn GEM CUTTING watermillions, size o' yer thumb- thing, unless you call that creo- nail, on th' ends of 'em vines th' sote bush a plant," he said. next day." By DR. H. C. DAKE Hard Rock squinted at the stranger a moment, then drawled: Hard Rock Shorty scratched A standard textbook for the amateur the itchy part of the back of his and commercial gem cutter since 1938 "Get some rain here and things —now revised and brought up-to-date grow." head, and filtered another match to include the most modern techniques "But when does it ever rain?" through the Edgeworth in his used in the lapidary arts. asked the newcomer, "and what pipe. "Well, mister, you asked if anythin' ever growed in this New edition contains: 120 illustrations can you grow?" country. Shoulda seen them including many of latest gem cutting equip- Shorty scratched the stubble ment; section on tumbling; detailed de- watermillions! Ten days after I scription of sawing, grinding, polishing, of his beard, then opened up, planted 'em seeds, th' vines had cabochons, facet cutting, specimen finish- "Mister, once — back in '23 I ing, gem identification, sphere cutting, etc. melons big as corsets. The des- believe—we had lots o' winter ert sun 'n all that moisture in th' rain, maybe three, four inches, Paper cover; 128 pages ground made an amazin' influ- then we had a nice April storm ence. $2.00 thet brought another coupla inches. Just plain soggy 'round "Only trouble," said Hard Please add 10c for postage and handling here. Rock, "wuz thet I never could California residents add catch up with them 'millions. Th' 4 percent sales tax "With all thet moisture 'n th' warm weather movin' in, I fig- vines wuz growin' so fast they Order by mail from: gerd to try some farmin'. Didn't drug the 'millions all over th' want to do too much, but I've sand, wore out the rinds, and DESERT MAGAZINE always hankered for home-grown every time I'd bend over to cut BOOK SHOP watermillions. a plug, I'd miss my target by a PALM DESERT CALIFORNIA "Well, Eight Ball Crick was foot or so."

32 DESERT MAGAZINE "First Lady of Santa Clara" was written Hamp Williams discovered the Kelley Silver by Mary Branham of Santa Fe, who has Mine, and at Mojave when Bruce Minard authored "both fact and fiction on South- found the Golden Queen. western subjects—including the script for the recently released New Mexico State Tourist Bureau movie, 'Land of Enchant- ment'." Also, she is author of Good Morn- ing American Ladies, a book on European travel. :;: * :]: Clare Bowman of Palo Alto, California, heard the story of Shultz ("Old Shultz' Susan Wilshire Jordan (now a widow), Gold Mine") from a veteran prospector who author of "Memories of Broad Horizons," was camped at Pinyon Flats on the Palms- lives in Los Angeles on a hillside covered to-Pines Highway in Southern California. with succulents, which she finds a reward- ing hobby. "The frugality of his equipment amazed me. He was a chunky man, clear-eyed and Because of their love of the desert, with only the stubble of a beard, and he Colonel Jordan (after his retirement in was hungry for someone to talk to. My 1922) and Mrs. Jordan moved to the Ore- husband and I were good listeners," she gon desert in Hermiston where, for 17 writes. years, they watched 700 acres of barren wasteland grow into a productive farm, "I can still feel the warmth of the sun green with alfalfa and tinkling with cow- on my head and shoulders as the three of bells. us sat on a picnic table in the campground. ;[; :j: :Js Something glittery caught my eye and I got down to pick it up. Charles Kelly, for many years Desert Magazine's major contributor of feature " 'What you got there?' the old man articles with Utah settings, recently retired asked. as superintendent of Capitol Reef National " 'Only a pebble,' I answered. 'I was Monument, the Utah State Historical Soci- hoping it was a gold nugget.' ety reported. Kelly plans to continue his " 'That puts me in mind of old Shultz out study of prehistoric rock writings. He and in Quartzsite,' our new friend said—and off Mrs. Kelly reside at 124 "S" Street, Salt he was on his story." Lake City. * * * Steve Lowell ("Smokey Bear's Early After serving with the Marines in World Wilton Hoy Photo Days") has been a wire service newsman War I, Kenneth Wortley took up a home- in Albuquerque since the end of World stead in the Indian Wells Valley of Cali- War II. He came to know and love the fornia's Mojave Desert—an area close to A LATE IMITATION Southwest while stationed in Phoenix as a the setting of his lost mine story in this Come see and photograph beauti- flying instructor during the war. The month's Desert: "Alec Ramy's Lost Bo- ful, gentle and colorful GIVKN Lowells have two adopted boys "who also nanza." CANYON of the Hiver Colorado. like the sunny almost-year-long outdoor He knew and prospected with many of playtime of the Southwest." the oldtimers. He was at Randsburg when MAY AND JUNE. 1959 BIGHT week-end river trips on the following scheduling: MAY 6, 7, 8; 15, 16; 21, 22, 23; 29, 30. .TUNE 4, 5, 6; 12, 13; GOLD, SILVER, PRECIOUS METALS with t 18, 19, 20; 26, 27. 27 M.lol D.t.ctsr. Lightweight, dim-se Launchings at HITE, Utah None finer. Also GEIGBR COUNTERS for Compt . INFORMATION Landings at Crossing of the Fath- ers, on the very trail where on Nov. 7, 1776, Padres Dominguez Oltcn C.,,.,r,l - N-r.r /•/?,,/ and Escalante and party walked. On the 3-day boat runs you may METAL DETECTORS hike to RAINBOW BRIDGE, 51/2 miles. Batter/ test switch • Head phones with clear signal • Great sensitivity 2-day fare, $60. Deposit, $15 One nob control • Easiest of all to operate • Low cost operation 3-day fare, $85. Deposit, $20 MORE ACCURATE, it's the first METAL DETECTOR designed SPE- You may drive your car to HITE; You may fly your private plane; CIFICALLY for detecting placer gold, nuggets, and other small metal You may share on charter plane; objects. Depth range 7 feet—comes complete, ready to use. You may travel ALL overland. Fares are very reasonable. MODEL 27—instructions included $119.95 As of 25 March, 55% of our guests MODEL 711—with 21 ft. depth range $138.50 will fly to rendezvous at HITE. Identify the camera location of MINERALIGHT—Complete line for $14.95 up to $114.00 above photo and receive $5 credit. Send for Complete Information For the person who becomes our 1000th boating guest, the full VISIT OUR NEW MINERAL DEPARTMENT, stocked with many out- fare will be refunded at landing. standing specimens, including native wire silver from Honduras, S. A. Write for information on our 1025 mile Arctic River Expedition LAPIDARY EQUIPMENT & SUPPLIES—TOOLS—GEMS—JEWELRY of July and August, 1959, on the CHEMICAL KITS. MORTARS & PESTLES—PICKS—BOOKS—ETC. Magnificent Mackenzie in Canada, where we first boated in 1954. FOR THE WOOD WORKING HOBBYIST WE NOW STOCK A COMPLETE LINE OF ATLAS AND PORTER CABLE POWER TOOLS LARABEE and ALESON WESTERN RIVER TOURS (buy from an experienced wood worker) Richfield, Utah Correspondents: please allow up to two domfiton d\ock <^>noh. weeks delay in mail, wire or phone con- 1405 S. Long Beach Blvd. 3 blocks south of Olive tact during April—and up to one week de- lay during May & June, because operators NEwmark 2-9096 Open Friday Evenings Compton, California will be on the river guiding boat trips.

MAY, 1959 33 Reno . . . SEARCH FOR Shuichi Okada, Tokyo attorney rep- LOST TREASURES resenting the Port of Stockton in Japan, OF THE WEST . . . announced that interests in his coun- TREASURE HUNT try are studying a long range plan to buy Nevada iron ore at the rate of a THE MODERN million tons a year for the next five ., WAY years. Okada's estimate would repre- sent a 40 percent increase in the pur- chases made in Nevada by Japanese . . . WITH A industry at present. Five Nevada GOLDAK Gallup, New Mexico . . . counties (Churchill, Douglas, Hum- METAL boldt, Nye and Pershing) send iron LOCATOR The El Paso Natural Gas Com- ore to Japan via the Port of Stockton pany announced plans for the explora- in central California. In 1957 a total tion of coal resources on 34,500 acres of 904,455 tons of Nevada ore was of Navajo Indian Reservation land in shipped on specially constructed Jap- New Mexico. The project may lead anese vessels. to an expenditure of more than $1,- 000,000 and employment of as many — You have heard the many stories of buried Washington, D. C. . . . •^treasures, lost mines, and ghost towns through- as 200 Indians. The land area in- J>.'out the west: the lost Sublett mine near Carls- The Bureau of Mines has invited „£,'!', bad Caverns, the lost Dutchman mine. Super- volved lies immediately south of a v vUistition Mountain, and many more. Using the 25,000-acre area which has been un- the nation's petroleum and chemical \ -t» right kind of modern equipment, treasure hunt- industries to express their interest in li"* ing can be fun and exciting. der a coal mining lease held by the participating with the government in .Your next trip to the desert can be excitingly Utah Construction Company since the different if you take along a GOLDAK metal an underground nuclear explosive test , locator. Using the latest electronic principles, a fall of 1957. 'GOLDAK locator can detect metals up to 27 in oil-shale formations. The test blast, feet below the surface of the ground. expected to cost $2,500,000, would j5 models include,, transistorized instruments, underwater metal detectors, geiger and scintil- Bingham, Utah . . . be a part of the Plowshare Program '' lation counters. for the peaceful uses of nuclear de- % You may find ... Recently completed was the longest vices. Scientists are hopeful that such • Indian relics • Western lore • Valu- single-track mine tunnel in the nation a blast would free much of the petro- able coins • Gold ore • Buried treasure — an 18,000-foot-long bore in the leum from the shale. Utah Copper Division's (Kennecott) Write for free literature and information on new book of known treasures. Bingham Mine. The tunnel, 18 feet wide and 24 feet high, cost $11,000,- The GOLDAK Company DESERT QUIZ ANSWERS 000. It will provide rail access from Questions are on page 6 1544 W. Glenoaks. Bl»d. . Glendale, Calif. the assembly yards at the mouth of Bingham Canyon to the floor of the 1. Pueblo uprising. 2. Weathered-out ore. giant Bingham Open Pit. The cost of 3. Little San Bernardinos. removing ore and waste from the floor 4. Dick Wick Hall. of the pit will be reduced when the 5. Elephant Butte Dam is on the "OVERLOOKED FORTUNES" new tunnel is placed in operation. Rio Grande in New Mexico. IN THE RARER MINERALS The tunnel project was started in Oc- 6. Mountain man. Here are a few of the 300 or more rarer 7. The giant sloth is extinct. minerals and gemstones you may be over- tober, 1956. 8. Cholla—because its spiny sec- looking while mining, prospecting or gem tions cling to clothing of those hunting. Uranium, vanadium, columbium, who brush against it. tantalum, tungsten, nickel, cobalt, selenium, Goldfield, Nevada . . . 9. Winslow and Flagstaff. germanium, bismuth, platinum, iridium, 10. Earps. beryllium, golden beryl, emeralds, etc. Insurgent shareholders of the Gold- 11. Wildflower. Some minerals worth $1 to $2 a pound, 12. Warn adversaries. field Consolidated Mines Company 13. Vermilion Sea. others $25 to $100 an ounce) some beryl- announced plans to wage a proxy lium gems worth a fortune! If looking for 14. Black color. gems, get out of the agate class into the fight against the present management. 15. Copper pit. big money; an emerald the size of your The group charged that the company 16. Saguaro. thumb may be worth $500 to $5000 or bosses are not aggressive enough, and 17. Historical inscriptions. more! Now you can learn how to find, are missing opportunities for "exploi- 18. Salt. identify, and cash in on them. New simple 19. 1847. system. Send for free copy "Overlooked tation of various natural resources" 20. Bird. Fortunes"—it may lead to knowledge which and diversification. may make you rich! A postcard will do. DUKE'S RESEARCH LABORATORY Virgin, Utah . . . Box 666—Dept. B FIND BURIED TREASURE! TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES, NEW MEXICO Utah's first oil pool is back in pro- GOLD, silver, coins, jewelrv, strongboxes, duction. Intermittently worked since battle relics! M-SCOPE 1907, the Virgin field in Washington transistorized electronic Treasure-Metal Locators County has yielded less than 200,000 detect them all. Used barrels of oil down through the years. world-wide by successful SSS TREASURE SSS explorers. Exciting! Re- New transistor metal detector More than 100 shallow wells have warding! Super-sensitive, finds lost or hidden treasure, lightweight M-SCOPE coins, gold, silver, jewelry, relics. been drilled in this ground—only half offers greater depth pen- Profitable hobby. New underwat- etration, no ground in er metal detector detects sunken of them productive. While the latest terference, over 200 ships, outboard motors, etc., in operation at Virgin is small, it has treasure-hunting days of up to 300 feet of salt or fresh battery life. Indestruc- water. Operates from a boat. revived interest in prospecting for tible fiberglass cases. Guaranteed. From Scintillation counters. Many $59.50, Easy Terms. Write today for FREE other models. Free catalog. petroleum in the southwestern part of catalog. GARDINER ELECTRONICS DEPT. 9 the state, the Salt Lake Tribune re- FISHER RESEARCH LAB.. INC 2545 E. INDIAN SCHOOL, PHOENIX, ARIZ. ports. Dept. D-2. Palo Alto. Calif.

34 DESERT MAGAZINE Keep your BOOKS of the SOUTHWEST DESERT MAGAZINES Books reviewed on this page are selected as being worthy of your consid- in attractive loose-leaf eration. They can he purohaseil by mail from Desert Magazine Book Shop, Palm Desert, California. Please add four percent sales tax on orders to be sent to California. Write for complete catalog of Southwestern books. BINDERS

COURAGE AND FAITH NEW READERS' GUIDE TO Gold embossed on Spanish AT HOLE-IN-THE-ROCK THE CALIFORNIA DESERT Grain Imitation Leather In October, 1879, a wagon train of For the great fraternity of Ameri- Mormon settlers left Paragonah, Utah, cans who read books, and especially Space for 12 magazines to establish a new settlement on the for those who find the California des- Easily inserted San Juan River at the present site of ert a subject for fascinating study, there Bluff. They carried provisions for a has recently been published a descrip- A BEAUTIFUL AND PRACTICAL ADDITION six-weeks' trek across one of the most tive bibliography that will long be TO YOUR HOME BOOK-SHELF precipitous sectors of the great sand- recognized as the finest guidepost to stone and slick-rock area in the South- desert literature ever compiled. $2.50 west. The book, Desert Voices, is the Mailed Postpaid It was nearly six months later that work of E. I. Edwards, a business they reached their destination and the consultant who for many years has Send orders to: story of their achievement is one of dedicated much of his time to the DESERT MAGAZINE the most heroic episodes in American search for books, magazines, papers PALM DESERT, CALIFORNIA history. This is the expedition known and archives pertaining to every aspect as the Hole-in-the-Rock. of the California desert—its geogra- Mormon archives contain a vast phy, history, lore, plant and wildlife, collection of notes and diaries, written and its people. "DESERT GARDENING" by participants in the migration and By BETTY M. LINDSAY. 12 chapters by relatives and friends, but it has re- All the well known names of past and present appear in this book — Includes how to grow flowers, trees, mained for David E. Miller of the his- native plants, etc. Also, advice on land- tory department at the University of George Wharton James, J. Smeaton scaping a desert cabin. Chase, Mary Austin, Elliott Coues, Only $1.00 postage and tax paid Utah to bring together this miscellany P.O. Box 268 Joshua Tree, California of information, reconcile the discrep- Dix Van Dyke, William Lewis Manly, ancies, and give continuity to the story. Dr. Edmund Jaeger—and many hun- The author has devoted the hours out- dreds of writers whose works are not side of his classroom duties to the task so well known. Many of the magazine for several years, and has done a mas- articles which have appeared in Desert terful job of presenting this material and Westways magazines and other in the book Hole-in-the-Rock, which periodicals also are credited to their is just off the press. authors. The book takes its title from the This is no ordinary bibliography, most difficult single experience on the for the author has given with each of trek — the taking of the wagons and the 1500 titles a brief synopsis of the livestock from the high cliffs of the content of the book or manuscript. plateau near Escalante down to the Obviously such research as has gone Colorado River through a precipitous into the preparation of this book is cleft in the side wall of the canyon— a labor of love, for bibliographies never a place where weeks of chiseling hard become best sellers. rock without the aid of explosives The foreword was written and the was necessary. photographs reproduced in the volume There were many women and chil- taken by Harold O. Weight, former dren in the party and they carried on editorial associate on the staff of Des- through the hardships of the journey ert Magazine. The author gives much This big, handsome volume tells you with no less courage than the men. credit to both Harold and Lucile everything you want to know about the Weight for the help they gave him in exciting gem resources of our continent: In the light of history, it was an ill- accurate geological and mineralogical in- advised expedition — that is, it was the preparation of the copy for this formation plus detailed descriptions of book, and also to Burr Belden of San gem localities for field collectors. over the worst possible route. It was 700 pages about $15.00 a short-cut that had not been thor- Bernardino Sun. oughly explored in advance. FREE EXAMINATION COUPON E. I. Edwards is the author of four D. VAN NOSTRANI) COMPANY, INC. In addition to the story of the jour- previous desert books: The Valley 120 Alexander St. Dept. I)S Princeton, N.J. ney, the author has added many inter- Whose Name Is Death, a bibliography Send me for ten days' free examination GEMSTONES OF NORTH AMERICA esting sidelights in the footnotes and of Death Valley literature published (Sinkankas). Within 10 days I will remit in an extensive appendix that includes in 1940, Desert Yarns in 1949, Desert purchase price of $15.00 plus small de- livery cost or return book and owe pertinent material from diaries and Treasure and Into an Alkali Valley. nothing. other records. A complete roster of Desert Voices is published by West- Name the personnel is given. ern Lore Press of Los Angeles. Index Address ,,.... Published by University of Utah and Appendices, halftone illustrations. City ...Zone State Press. Maps. Bibliography. Index 215 pages. Edition limited to 500 Save! Remit with order and we pay de- and biographical notes. $5.50. copies. $12.50. livery cost. Same return guarantee.

MAY, 1959 35 GSMS ANP MINERALS Cornelian and Roses at Ash Hill By HAROLD WEIGHT Map by Margo Gerke

STAND IN awe of people who of Ludlow. It has been a landmark rather than sedimentaries, it was cut write authoritative books about since early times on the desert. It by violent storms in an arid land of the Southwest after spending only certainly looks like a lava-coated pile sparse vegetation, and in other ways a season or two here. Every time I of ash, and I had supposed that is seems to fit accepted geological defini- begin to fancy that I "know" even where it received its name. But it has tions. And where the washes shear some small corner of our desert, this been declared by a place name au- through ash formations, typical bad- fantastic land raps my knuckles with thority that the hill commemorates a land topography has developed. a new enigma or contradiction. It pioneer railroad surveyor, Ben Ash, Promising Locale happened again during the great who is said to have perished nearby. flowering season of 1958—on an ex- Whatever the origin, the butte does The Ash Hill country is bounded pedition into the paint-pot chaos of have a name, and that is more than on the north and partially on the east volcanics that lie south and east of I have been able to discover for the by Highway 66, on the south by a Ash Hill on the Mojave Desert of bright wilderness of hills, ridges, can- pipeline trail, and on the west by the California. yons and washes which it dominates. Ludlow - Stedman road. These bad- Ash Hill itself is a black-topped We call it the Ash Hill badlands for, lands can best be seen from Highway gray-splotched bulk seven miles east although it is eroded into volcanics 66 near Klondike, by motorists travel- ing west. And from the first time we saw it from the highway, it looked to us as if it should produce good mineral specimens. But appearances arc no guarantee of contents so far as rocks are con- cerned, especially in this portion of the Mojave. Volcanic formations of widely separated ages are found along the great trough which contains Am- boy and Pisgah craters and several lesser known cones. Much of the eruption—and the creation of those prominent black lava flows — took place only yesterday in geologic time, in the Quaternary. These "recent" rocks often prove disappointing to the amateur collectors. But here and there are exposures of much more ancient Tertiary vol- canic violence. In the rhyolites and andesites of these formations the rock- hound often finds choice examples of Nature's gemstone production. No Road In When we tried to drive from High- way 66 to the reddish volcanics in the Ash Hill badlands, we could find no direct approach. In fact, the front presented to the highway was distinctly unfriendly even to four-wheel drive. On our first attempt, just to the east of Ash Hill, we soon were crawling and spinning in a soft soil bajada. Other sorties from likely points proved no more successful. It was evident

Buren Briggs, who accompanied au- thor on one of his trips to the Ash Hill area, examines pieces of the chalcedony and chalcedony rose so abundant in this Mojave gem field.

n « n « Here's a -field trip to the on that first trip, we still didn't know When we reached the low fore-hills, the full extent of the badlands as rock- less than half a mile from the car, we Ash Hill Badlands on the collecting territory. We had found began to find clear chalcedony with Mojave where author Harold enormous quantities of silicates—but colorful carnelian spots. In places on no high grade. We had found tons the slopes of the main hills the mater- Weight discovered gem of chalcedony, but it was colorless or ial became more abundant, and in rocks—and re-discovered quartzy. We had found agate, but larger pieces, with bands of carnelian the fact that the desert most of it was coarse-grained or plain or sard. But it was on the far side of bands. The only prizes of the trip the adjoining hill to the southwest that offers other treasures . . . were some tiny but beautiful chalced- we hit the best field. Here little washes ony roses—float, coming down one had cut through what appears to be of the big washes from an unknown discontinuous ledges, and large chunks source. were scattered down them. It was a there would be a long hike from the sort of mixture of chalcedony and closest penetration we could achieve. But, with that much promise we felt that it was only a matter of more carnelian or sard in waves, thin streaks, In a final effort, we checked a convolutions and plumes. Although it stretch of weathered paving—9.2 miles hunting before we would find some- thing worthwhile. The second trip was raining in earnest by then so that east of Ludlow—that angles sharply it was difficult to evaluate the material, southward from the highway toward was a dud, but it ended with us being even more fascinated with the Ash it was obvious we had discovered the eastern tip of the badland hills. much good grade cutting rock. Where it cut 66, a white post had Hill badlands. Then on the third trip, been planted in the road center to just at dusk and miles from the car, I On later trips we found good ma- indicate abandonment. found good carnelian float. terial scattered on the slopes below, Success to the southwest, and smaller pieces The old road is difficult to get on. It leaves 66 where there is a long At home I located on a topographic curve and no shoulder on either side. quad the area where I had found the Rock Craft Quality It is necessary, if coming from the carnelian. The next weekend — trip means Best Quality. east, to make a sharp U-turn across number four-—despite a cold wind, 66. This maneuver can be extremely dark skies and splatters of rain, we dangerous in the high speed traffic were in the field early. The carnelian SAVE MONEY! on this highway, and great caution, location is within a mile of the old If you're interested in bell caps, neck both entering and leaving, is de- stretch of paving, so we parked the rchains, bolas, tips, cuff links, gemstones manded. car in a flat area 0.6 miles from U.S. and others, send 10c for your copy of 66 and hiked across a broad wash to "Guide to Better Rock Craft Projects." Old Highway You'll save 10 times 10c on your first the hills which lay almost due west. order. ACT NOW! Once safely on the old paving, it This is a procedure I would recom- Typical surprised us. Apparently a forgotten mend for those with standard trans- VALUE ROCK CRAFT stretch of National Old Trails, which portation. The washes through which KEY CHAINS in Post Box 424A preceded U.S. 66, the road continued we worked out a roundabout route yellow gold Temple City, Calif. for almost two miles along the edge plate, 1 y2 " to the foot of the gem hills can become round chain & of the badlands we wanted to prospect. sand-traps without four-wheel drive. 1" ring for 7 At 1.3 miles from the main highway, keys. ONLY 28c or 5 for $1.15 we turned on the faint trace of a min- ing road branching to the west. Our side-trail soon became deep ruts, and Only "Unbreakable" Picks plunged into one of the big washes. Immediately, because of the softness Your choice of Everlasting Vinyl-Nylon Cushion Grip or Durable Sole Leather of the wash bed, it became necessary Grip. All are forged head-handle of one-piece fine tool steel of unsurpassed temper. to use four-wheel drive. The washes here are more typical of the Colorado Desert than of the Moiave—open with flat gravel beds and firm enough so that we could fol- low them far back into the ridges. $585 Colorful Land We spent the rest of the day ex- 14 oz. $4.98 ploring the badlands, eating lunch in 22 oz. the shade of a sheer dark-red wall at $5.25 the foot of a dry waterfall. It was an exciting day. The Ash Hill country Vinyl-Nylon Cushion Grip Pick and Sportsman's Axe—Leather Grip is a paint pot of colors which would Two styles of picks in a heavier weight for men . . . The ever-popular pick with leather grip. Head can't not be suspected looking in from the lighter weight for ladies and children. Everlasting fly off ... handle is comfortable in all climates and cushion grip is kind to hands . . . conditions. Sportsman's Axe is a life saver off the highway-—ash white topping brilliant smooth and comfortable . . . molded beaten trail. Most effective for light carrying weight. orange, robin's egg splotched with ^.^K^W^ inseparably to handle. Can't loosen, Head and keen edge of special temper for long life. orange-red, ochre, purple, rose, lav- stretch or wear out during life of head. ender, cream, brown, black. Most of SEND FOR the colors become intensified on hazy In Comfort" BOOK or semi-cloudy days and late in the day. As a friend said, on a later trip: Contains 40 photos of actual camp Estwing "Goodness, the fires are hardly out making and practical tips on use of MFG. CO. here!" picks and axe. Read it... make camp- ing more fun. Pocket size — 64 pages. DEPT. D-5 As darkness forced us homeward Only 25c. Send coin, no stamps. ROCKFORD, ILLINOIS

MAY, 1959 37 between the little washes. The ledges claw in the wash. But, essentially it DIAMOND BLADES from which this rock is weathering appeared a truly barren land, with- run north of west by south of east. out the comparative lushness of more Hiking along this trend for a consid- favored desert areas. erable distance, I found a number of Certainly it could never know the additional ledge exposures. I also beauty of abundant desert wildflowers found that it varied in character from to gentle its harshness. Hadn't I been plain chalcedony or agate through there in the possible blooming months sard-camelian to, in a few specimens, of two successive years? And hadn't a colorful flower agate. it remained a naked wasteland, with On other trips we tackled the prob- scarcely a blossoming flower, and lem of the little chalcedony roses we hardly a touch of green? State J Tax in Calif. had discovered as float. Hiking for more than a mile up the big wash, Rains, Wildflowers N e w Auto- we found them scattered throughout matic drill Then — in the winter of 1957-58 with electron- the country, mainly on the dissected — the rains came as if spaced by a ic feed. Free catalog de- terraces north of the wash. Some, master irrigationist. And alternating scribes. fragile in appearance as delicate flow- with them the unobscured sun flooded 0 ers, were in place not far south of the desert earth with warmth. While Ash Hill. We could reach out and the calendar still said winter, count- pick them from vertical seams in the less plants burst through the surface SIMPLEST AM) BEST ^N wash wall where they were interlaced in the beginning of the greatest desert Tumblers—•i to choose from—free catalog. with thin veins of chalcedony. Once we flowering that I remember. And entered the area from the pipe line "burst" is exactly the word. Some road, on the south, and found quanti- plants — notably the dune evening ties of colorless banded agate, chal- primrose—cracked the earth in radi- cedony and roses of good grade. At ating patterns and pushed it upward j present there is a great deal of all in their swift growth. i these rocks available on the surface. O Later, it may be necessary to prospect And that spring when we made our Wheels, buffs, grits, first trip into those barren badlands belts and all lapi- and dig for good grade. dary supplies listed of the Ash Hill country, we discovered in free catalog. Becoming Familiar a different world. Everywhere we During the two years we had made turned flowers glowed and nodded, occasional trips into the Ash Hill bad- softening the angular lines of the vol- .4i lands, it became one of our favorite canic buttes and hills. Geraeas and desert retreats. And I felt that I knew rock daisies and — especially lovely ff the area pretty well. Geologically and against the black rocks—the lilac and carmine of the five-spot mallow. Free Catalos shows 17 Covintiton .£> geographically it was a wonderland— vertical t.v|)e grinders and polishers. those beautiful washes, with their Driving through the washes we ;••••.•.-•••:••;,•:,.: (> Covington Trim Saws gentle gradient, ideal for hiking; fas- found that blossoms had taken over. to choose from in latest cinating juxtapositions of rock forma- j: , ;• Vvfe Catalog. Raw natural roadways of rock and tions; spectacularly eroded and colored gravel were transformed into curving ashes, tuffs and volcanics. streams of flowers. In the places where Botanically, it wasn't worth much. shadows of rocks or canyon walls had Oh, there was creosote, galleta, burro- held the moisture longer, there were bush, bladder-pod and a little desert wall-to-wall carpets of blue-purple holly, with some smoke trees and cats- phacelia, golden-yellow geraea, apri- 0 Select any one of 7 Covington Sliib Saws from latest Free Cata- log.

Multi - Feature Lapi- dary Unix. Free Cat- alog shows 8 Cov- fyott've ington Horizontal A s models. 1/ Petrified Wood, Moss Agate, Chrysocolla Turquoise, Jade and Jasper Jewelry HAND MADE IN STERLING SILVER Bracelets, Rings, Necklaces, Earrings and Brooches ltUIIiD YOUR OWN LAP and save. Free SPECIALLY SELECTED STONES WITH Catalog shows 13 CHOICE COLORS AND PICTURES Build Your Own Items. Write for Folder With Prices USED BY THE U.S. GOVERNMENT Send for latest Catalog showing Covington, (he largest lapidary equipment line in ELLIOTT'S GEfll SHOP America. IT'S FREE. DEALERS WANTED 235 East Seaside Blvd. Long Beach 2, California Across from West End of Municipal Covington Lapidary Eng., Corp. Auditorium Grounds REDLANDS D, CALIFORNIA Hours 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Qaily Except Monday

QO in 1939, 1949 and 1958. But, 1952 .as < also was an unusually good year. OI'J" ''',' II More is needed than rainfall. There ~'/,Si - ft- must be the proper amounts at the s M •',l\* proper times, coupled with the right 1 warmth at the right time. Who can m say when such conditions again will '''..1., ll :*M\, _ /'"A ASH ill occur? 1 But, until then I will be content y^ * . K" ;,,"'-HILL with the more durable beauty of stone flowers and the flower-like gems that can be cut from the rocks of the Ash \ >« to Ludlow - \ 9.2mi. j / Hill badlands. For that country can •5viiv never look sterile to me again. I know nelion\ /«O.Omi. j that even in that empty land the harsh washes and naked hillslopes are only 5 ''' a mask, and a protection to keep beauty safe until time and moisture Klondike)°\ and temperature bring it forth. 1/ And in the meantime, when I ex- pound about the desert, I will remem- a 11 1y \ ber to keep my fingers crossed and \ IV sometimes say: All I know is that I 1 l\ do not know.—END Ludlow /c D "^* ^W —O-v ASH HILL \ . » / l L. :^ .•- 1.3 DEALERS ATTENTION ,L--| : ~< •* mi. BAROQUE JEWELRY '"'?'<$C «. -; PREFORMS i • ^ w |* It':--. P \SJ BAROQUES BY THE POUND WRITE FOR WHOLESALE PRICES \ ROY'S ROCK SHOP T, '• '"'"' P.O. BOX 133 TRINIDAD, CALIF. ; USMC Training Center-.. ~\ i \

< V '"-V-: ^"- to H%99 29 _¥y • > CAPTIVE 60-? V *,:;'.>. " '"V TURQUOISE EARRINGS Genuine Sleeping Beauty , 1 mile I Turquoise Nuggets X•*'. caged in gleaming silver- colored metal to form un- fa«f usually fascinating earrings. $ I (post. & fed. tax paid. cot mallow, lemon-yellow malocothrix, traces of the old trails we had followed I No C.O.D., please.) forget-me-nots, and tall bouquets of in the main washes, or the one we had LOST MOUNTAIN GEMS yellow suncup primroses. made up the side wash. Summer P.O. BOX 5012 - PHOENIX, ARIZONA We traced the tracks we had made storms had washed them away. the year before by the bands of richer The flowers were gone, too, of growth where the wheels had tilled course. In most cases, not even an the surface, helping the rainfall col- indication remained. And while young lect and seep through to waiting gen- green plants were showing, there were erations of deep-buried seeds. The only a few where the year before there flowers were so abundant that no mat- had been thousands. The natural ter what care was taken we could not roadways were open and barren. The drive up the narrower washes without badlands had been given back to roses crushing plants and blossoms. of chalcedony and flowers of moss and So we never reached the rock field agate. that day. But, besides the enjoyment When will they flower again? I of that wonderful flower display, I would not even try to guess. It is ap- learned again that anyone who formu- parent from such displays as that of ROCKHOUND PICK lates dogmatic generalizations about last spring that year after year a por- of one-piece hand-forged polished the desert—or any of its parts or any tion-—and the greater portion—of all steel—$4 each, postpaid. of its life—is likely to find himself the seeds that mature—is buried so confronted with irrefutable evidence deeply that only an unusual combina- Miners' Candleholder of his folly. tion of moisture and warmth can bring replica of old-time miners' candle- Early this year we returned to the germination. holders, single or in matched pairs Ash Hill badlands. The rocks were Rainfall comes in cycles. One long- —$1.50 each, postpaid still there, untouched since our last range record shows an 11 year cycle visit nearly a year before. And there of maximum precipitation coinciding RAY FLARTY were no fresh wheel tracks in the with high sunspot activity. There have Box 160, Nedeiland, Colorado washes. In fact, there no longer were been notable desert wildflower displays

MAY, 1959 39 Three Utah Gem Fields . . . Here are directions to three Utah collect- ing fields as reported by Will T. Scott of La Mesa, California: Field No. 1: Im- GEMS'">»MINERALS mediately after leaving the south gate of Cedar Breaks National Monument, begin looking on the west side of the road. Agate, REPORTS FROM THE FIELD some of it clear with red and black moss patterns, was found along the road for a These notes are intended as suggestions for your collecting trips. Always make local inquiry before following trails into uninhabited areas. Mail your recent information distance of three miles. Scott does not on. collecting areas (new fields, status changes, roads, etc.) that you want to share know how far to the west the field extends. with other hobbyists, to "Field Reports," Desert Magazine, Palm Desert, California. Field No. 2: Take the paved road from Panguitch to Panguitch Lake. The pave- ment ends just north of the lake, and about half a mile beyond there is a good forest Dig for Howlite ... Garnet-Epidote Quality Poor . . . camp with water and sanitary facilities. Di- rectly across the dirt road south of camp, San Fernando, Calif. —• Many tons of Victorville, Calif.—Garnet and epidote Scott reports excellent agate and jasper beautiful howlite have been taken from the from the Verde Antique-Sidewinder Hill locales. The jasper is of red, green and dumps of the old mine in Tick Canyon, but collecting fields east of Victorville were yellow flower design. The field was not much material remains. Joe Nichols, field found by a caravan of rockhounds from the Ontario, California, Bear Gulch Rock prospected to any great degree, but Scott trip chairman of the San Fernando Valley Club. Members report the material was said he found good rock over a wide area. Mineral and Gem Society recommends that of inferior quality. Green and yellow verde Field No. 3: Leave Jericho, Utah, and head hobbyists take pick and shovel to this col- antique marble specimens were collected at west. Keep right at fork about one mile lecting area. Here are directions to Tick the old quarries on the hillsides, but the west of town, a good bladed road which Canyon: drive north on U. S. Highway 6 more highly prized vivid lemon-colored leads to Simpson Spring and Goshute Moun- to approximately three miles beyond the marble was scarce. tain. About 10 miles from Jericho road Solemint Junction. Turn right at the new climbs to a low pass. There are rock out- plastics factory onto the Davenport Road, crops on both sides of the road—agate and and follow this paved route over the hill Road to Cady "Excellent" . . . jasper. Best deposits are found on right. This material is in huge veins outcropping about one mile to Tick Canyon and the old Crucero, Calif.—Mrs. Robert L. Pitzer of borax mine. Park on either side of the on top and sides of the hills. The jasper is Arcadia, Calif., writes that the road to the excellent. Agate is not as plentiful. Scott highway or drive the additional quarter-mile Cady Mountains in the heart of the Mojave up the canyon. The water in the canyon is says there is a thousand tons of cutting ma- Desert is in excellent condition: "We went terial exposed on the surface. It appeared not fit for drinking, and firewood is scarce. by jeep, but four-wheel-drive was not neces- The hills back of the old mine have yielded that the area had been filed on, but Scott many fine moss, plume and banded agates sary for conventional cars and even large saw no evidence of assessment work. and jaspers. Beautiful and very high grade travel trailers were parked in many of the bloodstone is found farther up the canyon more remote canyons. The main route north back of the mine, Nichols said. Bloodstone to Crucero recently was graded. The side is scarce in this area. canyon routes were rough, but well used. Enough Agate for All . . . North of Crucero there is heavy sand, and though some cars got through, we could St. Johns, Ariz.—William Garrett of Ka- see where they had trouble." nab, Utah, reports there is enough agate in the St. Johns vicinity to satisfy all rock- hounds. Here are the directions sent by Get UNITRON's FREE Rare Borate Crystal . . . Garrett to the most promising locale: travel Boron, Calif.—Members of the Pomona north on Highway 666 about five miles from Valley Mineral Club and the Arrowhead St. Johns. Both sides of the highway in this Mineralogical Society recently staged a suc- vicinity are productive. Garrett found moss, cessful field trip to the rich Boron area. iris, banded, amber, black and some blue An inderite crystal proved to be the most to clear specimens. The hills in this area highly prized specimen collected that week are grassy, and the best place to hunt for end. Inderite is a rare colorless to gray minerals is where the hills show weather- magnesium borate mineral, and Boron is ing. Remember to shut all gates behind you. This valuable 38-page book the only place on earth where inderite has is yours for the asking! been found in its crystal form. It has a With artificial satellites already launched and space glassy appearance and very pronounced travel almost a reality, astronomy has become today's cleavage. Also uncovered were lesserite fastest growing hobby. Eixploring the skies with a tele- crystals, and ulexite, colemanite and realgar scope is a relaxing diversion for father and son alike. specimens. Gem clubs may secure permis- UNITRON's handbook contains full-page illustrated sion to collect minerals in the Pacific Coast articles on astronomy, observing, telescopes and acces- sories. It is of interest to both beginners and advanced Borax Company's huge dump adjacent to ASSAYS amateurs. the Boron Open Pit Mine by writing to Chief Chemist Vince Morgan, c/o the Complete • Accurate Contents include— company. Guaranteed • Observing the sun, moon, planets and Highest quality spectrographic. wonders of the sky Only $5 per sample • Constellation map Fossils In Highway Cut . . . • Hints for observers Topeka, Kansas •— Local rockhounds are REED ENGINEERING • Glossary of telescope terms discovering that the highway excavations • How to choose a telescope immediately east of the Calhoun Bluff area 620-R SO. INGLEWOOD AVE. • Amateur clubs and research are productive fossil collecting areas. Well programs preserved marine fossils, as well as coal INGLEWOOD 1, CALIFORNIA forest fossils, were collected here. Some of the tiny mollusks found on the coal plants are replacements in marcasite, and while they are quite beautiful, they are extremely delicate, the hobbyists reported. MINERAL SPECIMENS- BOOKS-MICROSCOPES B COLLECTING SUPPLIES and Please rush to me, free sf charge, UNITRON's new Observer's 100 Pound Geode . . . Guide and Telescope Catalog 440 • Topok, Calif. — Long Beach hobbyists I spent a week end on the desert in the Topok NamStreete - area where, they report, excellent agate and City- —State I geodes were collected. One club member 46 S. SCOTTSDALE ROAD • SCOTTSDALE, ARIZONA*,,,, I. found a 100 pound geode. AMATEUR GEM CUTTER HIGHLAND PARK By Dr. H. C. DAKE, Editor of The Mineralogist THE LAPIDARY'S STANDARD OF VALUE BUY THE BEST No Synthetic Opal actly like a rule grating widely used in the field of science. FOR LESS Precious fire opal stands as the last of We are not certain as to the cause of Congo Dia Blades — Sizes the gems that cannot be produced in the color in fire opal, and until this enigma is Range from 4" to 24" in laboratory even in passable imitation or solved little progress is likely to be made Light, Standard, Heavy duplication. Many workers have tried for and Extra Heavy duty. centuries, but opal defies all of man's efforts. in laboratory production of precious fire Ruby, sapphire, emerald and many others opal. It is also possible that opal will con- have long since fallen to the laboratory tinue to resist all efforts at imitation, as it Highland has done for centuries. Theoretically, the Park worker. Diamond recently has been pro- problem is a simple one, but often "simple duced in the laboratory, and will likely problems" have proven to be the most Trim Saws appear in manufactured gem form in the Compact and not too distant future. stubborn to solve. Let us hope that our flaming and most rugged for long Over the years we have seen numerous magnificent of all gems will continue to lasting service. types of manufactured "opal," usually some HI Trim Saw type of glass. All are miserable failures resist laboratory duplication. It is com- which even the untrained layman can read- forting to know that we have at least one most colorful and valuable gem of which A Leader ily distinguish from the real thing. we may be certain that it is not man-made. The cause of the flashing flames of In Its Field fire on opal are generally thought to be due More Permits to minute fractures either open, or once From club bulletins in various parts of Highland Park Power-feed present and resealed. These minute incipi- the country we learn of various restrictions Slab Saws. Sizes range ent fractures are thought to act like a prism being placed on entry into collecting from 12" to 24". Metal or grating, breaking up white light into its grounds. In many cases these are due to or Lucite hood. component colors. This seems to be the careless and unthinking people who may most logical cause of the flaming colors. All damage machinery in a quarry, or meet with of the most careful chemical examinations an accident. In both cases the innocent and indicate that "common" opal, showing no accommodating property owner must foot Highland Park Combination Unit flashes of color, is identical to the far more the bill. Available in all sizes. Perfect Combination valuable fire opal. Unit for Lapidary work. Handles sawing, Some quarries and gravel pits in the grinding, sanding and polishing. Excep- Efforts have been directed at simulating Midwest and East are now charging a tionally quiet operation. these fractures in common opal. At present nominal 50c entrance fee. This is not for laboratory workers are subjecting common profit for the property owner. The charge opal to high vibrations by mechanical means is made to enable the property owner to and by electrical thermal currents. hire a man on Sundays to ride herd on the Other workers are starting with various public. This is done rather than close the silica gels. Opal generally is regarded as a place entirely. Fear of accidents has also low temperature deposition, while the sili- caused quarry owners and others to refuse cas are higher temperature deposits. We do entrance to parties with youngsters. For at times find quartz crystals showing natural pleasant pastime, youngsters have been E-10 Combination Unit minute fractures as in the rare iris quartz. known to pour sand into the innards of While this material does, to some extent, bearings and machinery. Arbors of all sizes — Tumblers, two break up white light, the optical effect is models. Wet and dry belt sanders— The celebrated dump at Franklin, New Lapidary units in two different sizes. entirely different than that seen in fire opal. Jersey, known to collectors of magnificent The better known iris agate comes closer fluorescents, is a city-owned property, where 32 MODELS TO CHOOSE FROM to fire opal than any other silica. The once anyone could enter and dig and gather The most complete line of lapidary machin- valuable specimens. Now it is necessary to ery offered by any manufacturer. See these cause of color in iris agate is due simply at your local Highland Park dealer or write to minute bands or lines in the agate—ex- apply to the local city chief of police for for free literature. a special permit to enter these collecting grounds. The reason? A Product of A young teenager elected to climb high Send For up on a dump and then roll down a huge rock. It killed a young boy below. HIGHLAND PARK TERRY'S NEW Similar incidents will continue to close COMPLETE CATALOGUE more and more properties throughout the MANUFACTURING CO. of country. We fear printed admonitions as 1009-1011 Mission Street Jewelry Mountings — Findings — Tools presented here are futile, but we continue South Pasadena, California Equipment — Supplies — Books, etc. to run them from time to time. Offering Top-Quality Merchandise at Better Labels Reasonable Prices Those who sell various gem and mineral Send 35c for your copy items should give attention to the proper Money refunded on first $5 order and correct labeling and identification of the SHOPPING for PRICE? material. A common and well known local TERRY'S LAPIDARY Immediate Delivery — Prepaid 3616 E. Gage Ave., Bell, California name for some material is likely to mean nothing to the customer at a distance; hence Bell Caps Gold/Rhod. PI.' 25c doz. $1.80 gross LUdlow 5-0217 Bell Caps Sterling Silver* 60c doz. $.1.50 H gr. when a common local name is used, the Sli.nli gross proper and correct mineral or gem term Bolo Slides N. PI. %" disc 50c doz. $2.80 14 gr. should be included. $4.70 gross Bolo Tips N. PI. IV*" 60c doz. $3.15 i,4 gr. We get complaints on this from time to $5.70 gross TUMBLED Assorted mIxture of fine time. Obviously the seller in these cases has Bolo Cords Rayon Assorted 70c doz. $3.70 }4 gr. GEMSTONE Baroques, consisting of no intent of fraud or deception; it is merely $6.65 gross AMETHYST • AGATE •Add 10% F.E.T. Calif. Res. add 4% sales tax JASPER • PETRIFIED WOOD • TIGER- a matter of carelessness. Correct, and ac- FREE CATAIiOG showing easy to use and EVE • APACHE TEARS. One pound curate labels often mean repeat orders, or inexpensive JEWELRY PARTS. contains approximately 100 to 140 stones— orders for additional materials. A shabby $4.00 pins postage. Discounts to dealers. or careless label is likely to convey the JEWELGEMS by JAY O'DAY CORONET GEM AXD JEWELRY CO. impression that the material is more or less P.O. Box 1000-D Thousand Palms, California 11139'/2 W. MAGNOLIA BLVD., NORTH HOLLYWOOD, CAL. worthless.

MAY, 1959 41 Qu5t Hetween If on and Me

V \V ?

By RANDALL HENDERSON

Y SINCERE appreciation to Chuck Shelton for falls, and even in dry seasons there are numerous springs the generous manner in which he announced my and waterholes where the rare bighorn sheep come to departure on March 1 from an active role at the drink. editorial desk of Desert Magazine. Chuck is right, I Thanks to the generosity of one of my neighbors, really have no thought of retiring to a padded arm chair. Philip Boyd, 1500 acres in the lower sector of Deep There are still too many mountains to climb. Not the Canyon have been given to the University of California peaks which require the physical stamina for long hours to be preserved in perpetuity as a wildlife research sanctu- on steep trails with a pack on my back. At 71 I am too ary. Members of the science faculty will come down old for that. But there are other more difficult peaks— here to study problems of ecology and evolution in an peaks of understanding in the broad field of human rela- undisturbed natural desert garden. tions, which still seem to be beyond the mental prowess And why is that important to you and me? Well, the of we humans who live on this earth. answer to that question is good for our humility. Those For instance, I still do not understand why, within plants and animals, or their predecessors, were on this my lifetime, the German people have twice attempted by earth long before man's ancestors climbed down out of war to prove they are a master race—under the leader- the trees of the ancient world, began developing some ship of two of the most brutal butchers in history. Nor brain cells with which to think, and acquired a language am I able to understand why, if communism is as good for the communication of ideas. Man is a comparatively medicine as the Russians say it is, they find it necessary late arrival on this planet. to defend and promote it with a total disregard for truth Those plants and animals—the poets call them flora and honor. Nor is it clear to me why, in this American and fauna, and the scientists refer to them as biota— land of plenty where one segment of the population is would be tending to their own affairs and thriving if drunk with wealth, another segment of 5,000,000 workers there were no humans on this earth—in fact they would and their families are facing the prospect of a meager do better if there were no two-legged anthropoids—that's subsistence on charity. you and me—plowing up the land, polluting the atmos- The answers to such questions as these are the peaks phere and cluttering up the landscape. yet to be scaled by the men and women who live on this They could get along very well without us—but we earth. And in the meantime I am grateful that two young would not long survive if it were not for them, or their men as honorable and as capable as Chuck Shelton and kind. Without that mysterious process known as photo- Gene Conrotto have relieved me of the tedious work of synthesis which takes place in the leaves and blades of meeting weekly payrolls and computing taxes and reject- plants, wherein the sun's enegry is converted to sugar ing unsuitable manuscripts. I never did enjoy that part and other products, there would be neither food for man of my job—the rejection of the work of honest aspiring nor oxygen for him to breathe. journalists who had not yet mastered the art of writing The scientists still have much to learn about the copy acceptable to a cranky editor. dependence of one form of life on another—and it is I'll miss the smell of printer's ink, after 48 years good to know that Deep Canyon has been selected as an around a printshop, but Cyria has provided a delightful outdoor laboratory, and also that this lovely watering substitute. The window of my little home workshop looks place for the bighorns is to be preserved in all its primeval out on a colorful garden of petunias, snapdragons and beauty. fragrant stocks which have had her loving care since * * * last winter. Just now two hummingbirds are out there It appears that some members of the plant world getting their morning meal, and I have no doubt they have a sort of built-in discipline which enable them to also are grateful to the gal who planted the flowers. In thrive without becoming a menace to each other. For the background of my picture window is the 8000-foot instance Encelia or incense bush exudes from its leaves ridge of the Santa Rosa Mountains where, up near the a chemical substance which poisons the earth beneath summit early in 1937, Wilson McKenney and I sat be- them so other plants cannot gain a foothold and thus side our campfire and resolved we would start a Desert threaten their existence. And Larrea or creosote bush Magazine. disseminates from its roots a substance which prevents * * * the germination of other seeds of the same species in close proximity to the plant which already has staked Between the flower garden and the top of the ridge out that claim for itself. Birth control! Surely it is a beyond is a great precipitous gash in the mountainside more humane method than is the unrestricted breeding known as Deep Canyon. In the spring when the snow in some parts of the world of more human beings than above is melting, water pours down over three high water- the resources of the land will support.

42 DESERT MAGAZINE Desert Dawn By DOROTHY EICHEN Los Angeles, California

Desert dawn is a peacock Desert night is a falcon, Strutting across the sky, Black wings folded and still, Tail fanned out in glory, ^Watchful eye half wakeful— Haughty head held high. Dormant the himter's will. A/1 *M*«4»4i I iln ^ brilliant flower of the desert, growing below 5000 feet, the Desert Mariposa Lily is one of the IVI III I pU5U LI lip loveliest in the Southwest. This flower blooms from March to May, more often singly than in colonies.