APRIL ON THE DESERT

Most all agree: April is the best April 3-5—Arizona Horse Lovers Club April 4 — Desert Wonderland Flower month to camp out in the great desert- Annual Horse Show. Phoenix. Show, Needles. land. The days are warm, the nights April 3-5 — Dons Club Travelcade to April 4-5—Sierra Club rock climb in refreshing. While this season's wild- Canyon de Chelly, from Phoenix. Hidden Valley, Joshua Tree National flowers will be scant, there are always April 5—Desert Water Show, Phoenix. Monument. some blossoms to welcome you to the April 6-26—Festival Art Show, Tucson. April 4-5—Sierra Club Desert Peaks outdoors. April 9-11—Central Arizona Regional Section climb of the Granite Moun- April is a great travel month. You Science Fair, Tempe. tains near Kelso, won't want to miss the 32nd presenta- April 11-12—University of Arizona col- April 5—Women's Riding Club Stam- tion of the Ramona Pageant at Hemet, legiate rodeo, Tucson. pede and Rodeo, Blythe. California . . . the big doings at Mesa April 12—Desert Sun Ranchers Rodeo, April 11-]2—Wildflower Show, Carni- (First Annual National Sports Jambo- Wickenburg. val, Bazaar, Hi Vista (30 miles north- ree) and Tucson (Festival) . . . the April 12—Palomino Horse Show, Phoe- east of Lancaster). Truth or Consequences Fiesta, com- nix. April 11-12—Lilac Show, Palmdale. bined this year with a Jeep Derby . . . April 13-18 — Desert Caballeros Ride, April 11-12—Sierra Club outing to the Wickenburg. ARIZONA April 18-19—Rodeo, Tombstone. Kelbaker volcanic area. April 25-May 17—25th Annual Junior April 11-15—24th Annual Women's In- April 1—Annual Flower Show, Sunny- Indian Art Show, Museum of North- vitational Golf Championship, O'Don- slope, Phoenix. ern Arizona, Flagstaff. nell, Palm Springs. April 2-11 — 3rd Annual Shakespeare April 26—Arizona State Spring Rodeo, April 18-19—Wildflower Show, Moron- Festival, Phoenix. Flagstaff. go Valley. April 2-12 — First Annual National April 26—Art and Rose Festival, Tomb- April 18-19, 25-26, May 2-3—32nd pre- Sports Jamboree; Miniature Parade stone. sentation of the Ramona Pageant, on 2; Rawhide Round Up on 2, 3, 4; April 28-M^ay 1 — Las Damas Trek, Hemet. Music and Arts Festival, 5-12. Mesa. Wickenburg. April 23-26—Cotton Carnival, Calexico- April 2-12—Tucson Festival. San Xavier Mexicali. Fiesta on 3; Square Dance Fandango CALIFORNIA April 23-May 3—National Orange Show, on 10; Children's Parade on 11; Fiesta April 1-5—23rd Annual Desert Circus, San Bernardino. de la Placita on 11-12. Palm Springs. April 25-26—Desert Wildflower Show, China Lake. April 25-26—Sierra Club outing to Deep Canyon near Palm Desert. NEVADA April 11-12—Lions Club Rodeo, Battle Mountain. 1959 April 12-19—World Congress of Flight, SCENIC FAST WATER Las Vegas. April 18-19—Sierra Club Desert Peaks FLOAT TRIPS ON THE Section climb of Potosi Peak near SAN JUAN RIVER, GRAND Las Vegas. April 23-26—Industrial Days, Hender- CANYON, RIVER OF NO son. RETURN, HELL'S CANYON April 23-26—Tournament of Champions (Golf), Las Vegas. Mexican Hat Expeditions NEW MEXICO March 29-April 1—Spring Corn Dances at San Felipe, Cochiti and Santo Do- Mexican Hat, Utah mingo pueblos. April 11—State Science Fair, Socorro. GLEN CANYON FLOAT AND POWER TRIPS April 11-12—13th Annual Rabbit Show, Roswell. MAY THROUGH SEPTEMBER April 24-26—Fiesta and Jeep Derby, Explore and photograph this wonderful canyon, Truth or Consequences. soon to be covered by rising lake water. Mexican Hat's UTAH April 13-17—Intercollegiate Rodeo and Western Week, Ephraim. GLEN CANVON BOATING, Inc. April 16-18 — Spring Festival Days, WHITE CANYON, UTAH Price.

DESERT MAGAZINE Publisher's Notes I don't know whether the State Department in Washington, D.C., is interested in this note, but our read- ers may be: during the past month four of our five subscriptions going to Russia were renewed. All were delinquent by more than a month, indicating that the Russians are not yet using their Sputniks to try to reach our Circulation Department. The subscriptions go to various bibli- otekas in Moscow, Leningrad, and Stalingrad. * * * Volume 22 APRIL, 1959 Number 4 Closer to home and more significant than the Soviet subscription renewals is the retirement of Randall Hender- COVER Nctvajos and the Castle, Monument Valley son from active participation in the operation of this magazine. Randall By JOSEF MUENCH has been—for two decades since its CALENDAR April events on the desert 2 founding — the heart and fiber of Desert. I can only hope that Randall's REFLECTION Meditation, by CLARA EMILIE MILLER ... 4 change of station will be a pleasant NATURE The Palm . . . Prince of Desert Plants one for him, but it leaves your new publisher in a position of heavy re- By EDMUND C. JAEGER 5 sponsibility. The shoes that Randall ADVENTURE Stuck in the Sand, by RANDALL HENDERSON . 8 Henderson steps out of are large, FICTION Size 16, at least! Hard Rock Shorty 10 * * * WATER Squaw Spring, by WALTER FORD .... 11 Eugene Conrotto, who will take LOST MINE Lost Silver in the Trigos over as Editor of Desert, grew up in By HAROLD O. WEIGHT 12 central California and graduated from POETRY Stanford University, but today he is Desert Carpet and other poems 15 a dedicated desert man. After a news- PUBLIC LANDS papering stint in Palmdale, California, More Recreation on the Public Domain on the edge of the Mojave Desert, By HARRY C. JAMES 16 EXPERIENCE Gene moved to the Desert Magazine, A King Snake and Two Rattlers where he has spent the last four years as Associate Editor. GHOST TOWN By ROY M. YOUNGMAN 18 * * * PHOTOGRAPHY Fort Oio Caliente, by JAMES W. ABARR . . 19 Elsewhere in these pages we an- The Indian, the Camera, and You nounce a new program for our Po- etry Department. Hereafter we shall HISTORY By HENRY P. CHAPMAN 22 limit ourselves to one poem a month. Old Town, Albuquerque We will pay a small honorarium for the selected verse and we will give it LETTERS By JOSEF and JOYCE MUENCH .... 25 a place of respect. In this way we Comment from Desert's readers 26 hope to make the "Poem of the DESERT PRIMER Month" a selection worthy of every NEWS NOTES Carbon-14—dating prehistoric events .... 27 reader's attention. TRUE OR FALSE From the Southwest 28 1 hope that all serious poets who are inspired by the desert will submit WILDFLOWERS A test of your desert knowledge 29 their works to us, but please enclose COOKING Flowering predictions for April 32 stamped return envelopes. Only one each month, of the many poems sent CLOSE-UPS Southwest Recipes 33 us, will stay with us. MINING About those who write for Desert 33 CHARLES E. SHELTON HOBBY Current news of desert mines 34 Publisher Touring Mexico for Minerals LAPIDARY By MARY S. SHAUB 35 BOOKS Amateur Gem. Cutter, by DR. H. C. DAKE . . 40 COMMENT Reviews of Southwestern literature 41 Just Between You and Me ADIOS By RANDALL HENDERSON 42 PHOTOGRAPHY Randall Henderson Turns a Page 43 Grab 'Em! back cover The Desert Magazine, founded in 1937 by Randall Henderson, is published monthly by Desert Magazine, Inc., Palm Desert, California. Re-entered as second class matter July 17, 1948, at the postoffice at Palm Desert, California, under the Act of March 3, 1879. Title registered No. 358865 in TJ. S. Patent Office, and contents copyrighted 1959 by Desert Magazine, Inc. Permission to reproduce contents must be secured from the editor in writing. CHARLES E. SHELTON, Publisher EUGENE L. CONROTTO, Editor RANDALL HENDERSON, Advisory Editor EVONNE RIDDELL, Circulation Manager Address all editorial and circulation correspondence to Desert Magazine, Palm Desert, Calif. ABOUT THE COVER . . . Address all advertising correspondence to Clyde A. Osburn, Director of Advertising, . . . The Castle in Monument Valley, Suite 315, 7046 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles 28, California Arizona. Navajo Indians, with their love Unsolicited manuscripts and photographs submitted cannot be returned or acknowledged unless full return postage is enclosed. Desert Magazine assumes no responsibility for of color, become a part of the vivid land- damage or loss of manuscripts or photographs although due care will be exercised. Sub- scape of their reservation. In background, scribers should send notice of change of address by the first of the month preceding issue. several red sandstone buttes make up a SUBSCRIPTION KATES famous group with crenelated towers. Josef One Year. $4.00 Two Years $7.00 Muench (see Close-Ups) made this photo- Canadian Subscriptions 25c Extra. Foreign 50c Extra Subscriptions to Army Personnel Outside U. S. A. Must Be Mailed in Conformity With graph. P. O. D. Order No. 19687 APRIL, 1959 Meditation B$ CLARA EMILIE MILLER REST and peace of mind, I took a vacation seasons. Its rotation on its axis that gives us daylight and trip last year. October found me at Desert Hot darkness. The way it is divided into land and sea. Its Springs on California's Colorado Desert. For com- climate, always at endurable levels. The layer of air be- pany I only had my hostess, an understanding friend. tween earth and sun that protects us from the too intense From choice, I slept on a cot out of doors. I liked to heat of that fiery body. The vegetable organisms that pro- watch the sky above me before I dropped off to sleep the duce oxygen and other ingredients necessary for man's heavens "so thick with jewels set." I felt as if I could existence. reach up and almost touch the stars in that clear air. Could it be that other planets were as meticulously In the stillness, I seemed to feel God's presence all planned for the needs and the good of man? Was man, as about me. I understood why the Master had sought com- we know him, especially created for life on our earth? munion with Him in meditation and prayer in another How was life brought into the world? That is a question desert far away. no scientist has ever been able to answer. "When we speak In this stark land, free from the burdens of city life, I of life itself," said the eminent scientist, D'Arcy W. Thomp- had time to wonder. How many of God's secrets in that son, "we know that we speak of a great mystery. We seem dark mysterious abyss among the stars were revealed to to have stepped unbidden upon holy ground." the National Geophysical Researchers during the past As for me, I believe life came into being on earth months? Will the scientists find life on other planets? Did "through a special creative act on the part of a divine God, the mighty source of all creation, with His infinity being"—God. of designs, fashion another planet exactly like ours and With all the discoveries science is making about the people it with human beings? universe, my faith grows stronger. These investigations Among those billions of stars there could be other during the International Geophysical Year are bringing 61 worlds and other beings. But, how far from my cot has nations together to benefit mankind in a material way. science risen? We have no conception of what life beyond There are hopeful signs that man's spiritual needs of peace our planet is like. on earth can be achieved. I found myself agreeing with certain scientists who be- I had found what I sought in the desert—rest and peace, lieve that our world is unique. Everything about our earth but more important than all: renewed faith in the Master is exceptional. The way it is tilted on its axis to cause the Planner, Creator of Heaven and Earth.—END

Clara Emilie Miller was born in Houston, together until death claimed her husband. Five Texas, in 1877. Her father was a music and years later her eldest son passed away. language instructor; her mother died when she Mrs. Miller moved to Pasadena where she was four. Mrs. Miller graduated from the first attended an evening adult class in creative writing Houston high school in 1897 and was appointed at the city college. Since then she has sold articles a teacher shortly thereafter. to several magazines. In 1957 she returned to Texas to make her home. Marriage in 1903 meant a new life in Pitts- burgh, Pa., where three sons were born to her. "I thought my writing career was ended when After the death of their youngest son and the I had a stroke followed by a broken hip last marriage of the two others, the Millers moved to summer," she wrote after receiving word that California where they spent four happy years Desert planned to publish her meditation story. But, God has been good to me."

DESERT MAGAZINE The Palm

l ... Prince of ; ">.•..•. x •&*•; Desert Plants . -if:

By EDMUND C. JAEGER, D.Sc. Curator of Plants Riverside Municipal Museum

ONE WINTER afternoon I made camp in a lonely desert canyon in which there grew a wild grove of palms—five dozen sturdy veterans with giant tan-brown skirts of turned-down leaves hanging to the ground. The grove was beautiful and primitive. Fire vandals and lightning oil summer storms had never struck these crowns of leaves. Between the giant palm pillars were open spaces deeply covered with fallen leaves and flower stems which crackled underfoot. In one of these openings I placed my provision bag and canteen, and spread my blankets. A tiny current of alkaline water slowly trickled along the rocky stream bed below me. Besides a few bluebirds and an occasional tion in Mexico and the United States, it already had become slight movement of palm leaves, the water made the only well established in European gardens. According to Samuel sounds I heard. B. Parish, early botanist of San Bernardino, the first seeds I was tired because of the day's long walk, and after probably were collected near Palm Springs and sent to a bite of apple and a bit of cheese, I turned in for the night. Europe by George W. Dunn. "Was ever a place more appealing, more filled with In 1750—250 years after the discovery of the New peace and calm?" I asked myself. World—the famous Swedish botanist, Linnaeus, published About two that morning I was rudely awakened from his notable Species Plantarum (a listing of all known plants) a sound sleep by a great rustling and clattering of palm which contained but eight palms. Today 1200 species are leaves, a noise that steadily grew in intensity until it was on our botanical lists. a harsh roar punctuated by the eerie sound of swishing, First white men to see the native western fan palms rattling dry leaves as the violent north wind raced through undoubtedly were the 16th century Spanish explorers. As the canyon. far as I have been able to learn, few of them made mention Sleep was impossible, there was never a time of quiet of palms in their journals, perhaps because their principal until daybreak. This was my only experience in such a interest was not in natural history, but in riches, adventure, place when the wind gods were so earnestly at work. To military conquest and the spread of their religious faith. this day I never see a group of desert palms that I do not relive in memory those sublime moments. How much The discovery of the fan palm was made by Lieutenant more impressive are these trees when growing in natural William H. Emory's party of the United States-Mexican thick-set groups than singly or set in rows along city streets. Boundary Survey in 1846 on the final days of their long The palms whose entrancing wind music I so much and arduous journey from the Missouri River to San Diego. enjoyed are known as California fan palm (Washingtonia They were moving up the sandy wash of Carrizo Creek filifera), a name established in 1879 by Hermann Wend- when they saw the leafy crowns and pillars of palms pro- land, the great German horticulturalist. Except for the jected against the cliffs of the gorge. cocoanut and date, palms of the genus Washingtonia are In the years since, this palm has been found in numer- among the most widely planted of the many hundreds of ous canyons and gulches of the Colorado Desert mountains kinds known. They are natives of California, far western and foothills from Snow Creek in the San Jacinto Moun- Arizona and northwest Mexico. It is interesting to note tains to the Sierra Juarez and San Pedro Martir of that before the noble fan palm was introduced into cultiva- northern Baja California. Many of these stands in the Baja ON DESERT TRAILS WITH A NATURALIST

APRIL, 1959 V ranges are known only to the more adventurous desert Scott's oriole utilizes palm fibers in nest building, but hangs wanderers. the nest among the stiff bayonet-like leaves of nearby A few small groups of California fan palms occur on yuccas. the Mojave Desert in Joshua Tree National Monument and One might conclude that many small animals use the the Turtle Mountains near the Colorado River. The Turtle shaggy shelter of dried palm leaves for a home, but only a Mountain grove is a small but impressive one because of its few do. Several times I have found white-footed mouse setting at the base of a gigantic red-black volcanic plug. In nests tucked under the leaves, and in a few instances I have 1952 I gathered seeds from these farthest northeast native seen where pack rats were making their homes there. The Washingtonias, and now have fine young specimens grow- little brown-shouldered and the scaly lizards hunt insects ing in my garden at Riverside. I planted these palms of on the surface of the dead leaf shroud, and may seek noble ancestry in a close-set group, as in Nature. I cherish shelter there. them as much as I do any of the many desert plants I have grown from seed gathered by my own hand in remote and The time of flowering of fan palms is late May and historically interesting places. And how satisfying it was June. The flowers are unisexual, that is, both male and to start these plants from seeds! female parts are in each small white blossom. After a palm has reached maturity, perhaps after 25 years, flowers The only enemies of this splendid palm are a virus are produced annually. The long bunches of flowers are (perhaps introduced from abroad), a large bostrychoid borne in panicles up to 10 feet long, the stalks of which beetle whose larvae bore large galleries in the trunks of old spring from the ornamental crown of large green leaves. At this time there is a small beetle which emerges from pupation to feed on the pollen of the flowers. It is doubtful Palm trees provide an if the insect does any harm; in fact, it may aid in the work exotic touch to the of cross-fertilization. desertland scene. By midsummer large quantities of the small black ellip- Majestic and mysterious, soid berries hang in conspicuous and graceful clusters, then they have been an drop to the ground in the autumn. I think it is the ever- unfailing source of beauty resourceful wide-wandering coyote that is mainly responsi- ble for distribution in the wilds of the native palm. They and inspiration from eat the fruits, and the seeds pass through their digestive earliest Biblical days to tracks. I sometimes see coyote droppings filled with palm the present. WJiat weary seeds, often several miles from the palm groves where the desert wanderer has not animals fed. felt true gladness at the In 1883 Dr. Edward Palmer, ardent collector of both sight of a towering palm birds and plants, made a trip into southcentral San Diego in the distance? County. In his day the International Border was ill-defined, and he inadvertently crossed into Mexico, traveling south from Campo to the edge of what in those days was called or weak trees (Desert, May '56), and man, who sets fire "Big Canyon in the Cantillas Mountains." The Mexicans named the place of giant rock walls Acantilados Prominen- to the shags of highly inflammable dry leaves which envel- tes, and the cattle trail which led into the gorge, Vereda de ope the stems. The miners and cattlemen of Mexico seem Tajo ("pastoral trail into the gorge"). The present name particularly given to palm burning. I don't know of one for the canyon is Tajo, pronounced tah-ho ("steep cut" canyon where palms grow below the border in which the or "ravine"). trees have not been set aflame. The great wonder to me is that so many of these palms have continued to flourish. Gaping with awe and wonderment into the gorge before him, Dr. Palmer beheld great numbers of palms along the The Indians who visited these palm groves before the narrow rocky canyon floor. In the canyon's impressive Mexican occupation of their lands were given to the same practice, but with better reason. It was their belief that depths he discovered two kinds of fan palms, green-leafed burning the thatch of dry leaves promoted more abundant Washingtonias, and an unknown blue-leafed species later fruiting. To them the small sweet black berries were a described as one of the Blue or Hesper Palms (Erythaea valuable source of food. They not only ate the thin pulp, armata — "armata" for the armature of heavy hooked but ground the cinnamon-brown seeds into a meal, rich spines all along the leaf-stems). in oil, protein and starch. Blue palms first were found on Guadalupe Island off The old palm logs so often seen lying in numbers in the Mexican west coast. They were appropriately given the sand washes leading out of palm canyons, especially the generic name Erythea by Sereno Watson of the Gray in Baja California, are the remains of burned trees which Herbarium of Harvard University. Erythea was one of the died as a result of this firing. When the blackened trunks "Daughters of the Evening or West" in Greek mythology, fall, flood waters carry them far out on the desert plains. and as one of the Hesperides dwelt on an island at the It may take a full century for the elements to reduce them western edge of the world. to dust, so resistant is the wood. The blue palm found by Dr. Palmer is a slow-growing Among the desert palm's friends are a number of birds. species and, in contrast to the Washingtonias, bears flowers Bluebirds and Cedar waxwings are very fond of the pulp and fruit when very small. It may reach a height of 30 or of the fruit. They visit the palm groves on their autumnal 40 feet. When in flower it is a handsome plant, for its migratory flight. Bullock's orioles and Arizona hooded orioles attach their bag-shaped palm leaf fiber nests to the many gracefully drooping panicles of tiny purplish or cream- underside of the tree's much-dissected leaves, generally colored flowers often are 10 to 12 feet long, widely arching placing the nests fairly well back toward the base. Since from tree top to ground. The fruit, the size of small round a new nest is built each year and the old ones are very plums, is said to be edible. The layer of meat is thin and resistant to weathering, one may find up to five or six nests the seed very large in proportion to the size of the fruit. on a single palm. The brilliantly plumed sweet-singing This blue palm is very ornamental and has found favor in DESERT MAGAZINE many gardens. It is especially suitable for desert plantings seems strange, for we think of pines as mountain dwellers along parkways. and palms as inhabitants of low desert situations. In the wild the blue palm generally grows singly or in There is no way to determine the age of palms, since small groups among Washingtonias which far outnumber their wood shows no annual rings. Instead, there are tough fibers scattered through spongy material in the stout trunk. it. Blue palms withstand dryness unusually well, their roots The noted tree student, George W. Sudworth, tells of two often clinging to rocks at the edge of canyon walls where specimens of Washingtonia filifera var. robusta, the desert there is the barest water supply. fan palm, which were planted by Jesuit Fathers on San From arid Baja California and Sonora comes another Pedro Street in Los Angeles more than 200 years ago. palm which has been widely planted, especially in California These trees are still nourishing and have reached heights and Arizona. It is the slender fan palm, so named because of 90 to 100 feet, with trunk diameters of three and a half of its slim tall trunk. The Washingtonia gracilis (gracilis feet. This trunk thickness of the variety robusta is charac- means slender) is a very fast growing tree, but because its teristic of older trees. The size diminishes only gradually shag of dry persistent leaves it rather untidy looking and at the top near the crown of leaves. has a tendency to fall during windstorms, it is not an ideal Outstanding for majestic beauty is the natural park of street tree. This palm often is erroneously referred to as desert fan palms in Andreas Canyon near Palm Springs. Washingtonia robusta. There, under wise and jealous protection of the Cahuilla Indians, the trees are allowed to grow unmolested and with In the desert plains and foothills of Sonora and at the their neat and handsome petticoats of leaves reaching to the tip of the Baja California peninsula grows another slender- ground. It is a sight worth traveling far to see. The Desert trunked fan palm, Washingtonia sonorae. It differs from Protective Council has had several of its most important the slender fan palm in its leaf characters. In Sonora it meetings in this magnificent setting where it is easy to may associate with pines in gulches and on damp slopes understand why palms have been called the Princes of the near springs of the lower mountains. This mingling always Vegetable World.—END Palm Canyon near Palm Springs, California. ..••••••••• Stuck in the Sand ... and what to do about it • • •

son to jail for getting stuck in the For those occasional desert drivers who do not have a four- sand. If it was a penal offense I would wheel drive vehicle, but who like to travel the unpaved byways, be serving life as a habitual criminal. here is some good advice from two veterans of the sandy roads. I not only have been mired in the sand so many times my friends have accused me of doing it on purpose, By RANDALL HENDERSON but at various times I have been bogged down in quicksand, in swampy ciena- ONE April afternoon I automobile. The top of the car was gas, in snow, mountain streams, in was rolling down the seven- just about level with the great mounds ground squirrel colonies, and dry lakes mile dry arroyo which leads of sand piled up on each side. that were dry only on the surface. from scenic Guadalupe Canyon to the Evidently the man had tried to fol- Once, as a reporter, I went down into smooth floor of the ancient playa, La- low my tracks up the wash soon after the delta of the Colorado River and guna Salada, in Baja California just I had passed that way in the early nearly lost my car in an earthquake south of the international border in morning. He had become stuck. He crevice which I was trying to straddle Imperial Valley. had no shovel, no axe, no tool or gad- —on a perfectly hard road. As I pro- There was no road down the wash. get of any kind that might help extri- ceeded, the crack got too wide for my It was one of those winding arroyos cate the heavy car from its sandy berth. running gear. And up in Monument where the art of driving is to keep to His hands were blistered and bleeding Valley Harry Goulding and I once the main course of the channel and from pulling the harsh brush. His hung up our car in a drift of tumble- avoid the smoke trees. They grow clothes were dripping with perspira- weeds. thickly in Guadalupe Canyon and a tion and his water supply was nearly gone—but he was game. He had been Some of the experiences were un- driver must think fast, for it is folly to pleasant at the time—but I do not slow down when driving in heavy sand. excavating for seven hours—with a tin drinking cup. regret them now. Out of them I ac- This was in the pre-jeep days and quired a technique, and a philosophy. An Easy Job my car was an old Model A Ford with Philosophy for getting stuck in the seven and one-half-inch tires. I had It was a simple chore for my outfit, sand? Laugh if you wish, but let me driven up the canyon early in the with a shovel, a tow rope and a pair tell the rest of my story. morning, and after a day of exploring of old Model T running boards — It not only is no disgrace to have among the native palm trees and a visit which I still carry for traction in the to dig your car out, but if you'll be to the hot spring, was on my way back sand—to pull in on the downhill side cheerful about it, it may even be good to the port of entry at Mexicali. and yank him out of his dilemma. for your health, like a game of golf or I have met many tenderfoot drivers Stranded an invigorating hike. It is an adven- during my 48 years on the desert, but ture—not a catastrophe. Rounding a sharp turn I came upon that experience made a more lasting a scene that would have been funny impression on my mind than the others In a Rut * had it not been for the tragic expres- —because I wouldn't have believed It is characteristic of humans to want sion on the face of the man whose that one man could move that much life to go along smoothly—with nothing head projected above the rim of a sand in a day with a tin cup. I had to disrupt our normal way of doing huge pit in the middle of the arroyo too much admiration for his grit to and thinking. We are seeking con- ahead. criticize his folly. stantly to create a rut for ourselves— The pit had a second occupant—an Fortunately, no one can send a per- a nice comfortable sort of a rut that 8 DESERT MAGAZINE will pay maximum reward for a mini- of guilt. That will be good for my mum of effort. soul—and it will put the others in a To the extent that we succeed in better frame of mind for the shoveling For Those achieving this goal we bring about our and pushing which I may call upon own decay. I am not quoting my own them to do. Who Drive wisdom, but am passing along the con- They are innocent parties to this clusions of Dr. Alexis Carroll, as told dilemma—and if they want to make a the in his book, Man the Unknown. few sarcastic remarks about the bozo And so, getting stuck in the sand at the wheel, that is their privilege. Sandy Roads may be somewhat disconcerting to And it is part of the price of my Vine* Roth, an experienced desert one's peace of mind—but it may react stupidity to accept all comment and driver of Yuma, has compiled the follow- ing suggestions for motorists who plan as an excellent tonic for your mental suggestions as becomes a graceful to travel the unpaved roads of the desert and physical health, if you will accept loser. country. the situation gracefully. Now I am But the car is still mired down in PRIOR TO THE TRIP not suggesting that you rush out to the sand while all this psychological Tell someone where you are going, the nearest dune and deliberately bury by-play is going on. your route, and when you will return. the wheels in the sand. But if you Fill your gas tank with high octane gaso- drive these desert byroads long enough, Engineering Survey line. Load up with the following: water, So I climb out and inspect the com- 1 gallon per person per day plus five sooner or later you will arrive in that gallons for radiator; map and compass; kind of situation. And if you are partment where the shovel and axe note paper and pencil; matches; gloves; one of those cautious drivers who ap- and other tools are kept. Then I make extra food and blankets; axe; shovel; jack a couple of tours of inspection around (bumper jack preferred); tow chain or proach the soft places with careful rope; and tire pump and gauge. deliberation you are much more likely the car, observing the landscape to determine the available supplies of DRIVING IN SAND to get into trouble than if you hit them Keep your tires deflated to 15 pounds with a steady hand and a bold heart. greasewood, rocks and other proper- or less. Keep front wheels straight. Keep For I am quite sure that old adage "he ties which may be needed. Having your momentum. Speed will often get who hesitates is lost" was inspired by completed my engineering survey of you through stretches of soft sand. Use the experience of a hesitant driver on the situation, I walk over and sit down low or second gear in the sandy areas. on a rock or a sandbank, whatever is DIGGING OUT OF SAND a sandy road. The moral of all this is Deflate tires to eight-12 pounds or until the important rule — keep your mo- available. This is important, because they bulge at the sides. Remove sand mentum when driving in sand. undue haste, ill-temper or that panicky from in front of tires. Direct front wheels feeling of fear are about the poorest straight ahead. Place brush in the more Scout Ahead tools in the world for getting a mired sandy areas of the road. Place some weight over the rear wheels or have But don't be foolish. If in doubt, automobile out of trouble. someone stand on the rear bumper. Rock park your car on a hard spot and Of course if the shovel is missing, the car forward and back until the car is moving about two-three feet at a time, scout ahead on foot to see what the then I really am in the doghouse. And and drive off, applying power slowly road is like—and if you decide you deserve to be. Among desert folks, enough to keep the rear wheels from can make it, then tackle it with con- getting stuck in the sand is a pardon- spinning. fidence. And don't put yourself in able offense. But getting stuck without PRECAUTIONS the position of having to stop in the a shovel—well, that is about the low- Do not stop on up-grades or in de- pressions where sand is soft. Do not middle of a sand patch to shift gears. est form of stupidity. drive on salt flats. They often consist of I've learned these lessons the hard Necessary Equipment a thin, hard surface layer over soft mud. way. For instance: that time many Do not drive over woody plants, especi- years ago when the sand was deeper Now I don't want all this patter to ally creosote, whose dry wood can punc- be misleading. I merely am telling ture a tire. Watch out for high centers than I thought, and I failed to shift or rocks which your car cannot clear. Do gears soon enough. Being quite ig- you how I would go about solving my not fail to keep a record of turnoffs and norant of the ways of sand driving I problem if I were one of those super- mileages. tried to get out by pushing harder on men who are never perturbed by any- COURTESY the accelerator. That merely dug me thing—which I am not. I have been Refill holes left after you have dug in deeper. caught without a shovel—but not for you car out of sand. Drive slowly past many years, for I never go anywhere parked cars, no one likes a cloud of dust. So here I am, out on a lonely desert now without those Model-T running Stay on the roads or trails where possible, trail with two passengers in my car, preventing unsightly tracks, broken brush boards in the back of my car. They and cacti. Assist anyone who has broken down to the hubs in sand, and the are just as necessary a part of my down—you may need help sometime also. nearest tow car 12 miles away. What equipment as the steering wheel, and am I going to do about it? Well, my first problem is one of morale. It is too late to correct my error. But I can still prove to my com- panions that while I may be a very dumb driver I am a cheerful sort of a dumbbell. So I switch off the ignition, swallow my embarrassment and turn to the companion in the seat beside me —and grin. I pulled a boner, and the quickest way to make peace with my- self and my party is a full confession

Sand is not the only driving hazard in the desert. Photo, right, shows author, left, and his traveling com- panion stopped by "dry" lake mud.

APRIL, 1959 they are good substitutes for two soft sand with skid-chains or any of kick them out of place as soon as the shovels. their substitutes. motor is started. Eight or 10-foot And now, having completed my In my present predicament I have strips of wide heavy belting are better. meditation, I go to work. First I let decided to make one try to pull out Strips of heavy-mesh wire or chain-link some air out of the tires. It is easier without resorting to the jack, so we fencing serve very well. During the to pump them up again later than to shovel away the sand in front of the years when he was living on his ranch do a lot of unnecessary shoveling. wheels, both rear and front, and gather near the old Vallecito stage station, With one of those motor pumps which what brush we can for traction, and Everett Campbell always kept two 10- plug into a sparkplug socket on the start up the motor. I try to ease out gallon milk cans of water where he engine, pumping up a tire is no longer —heavy on the gas, and easy on the could load them in his pickup and go a serious chore. clutch. If the wheels merely start spin- out and help a stranded motorist. Wet sand gives much better wheel traction How to Proceed ning again, then it is time to resort to the jack. The bumper type of jack than dry sand. But it is not often one My engineering survey has told me simplifies this problem. After you've meets a good Samaritan like Everett whether I should try to go ahead, or had the experience of trying to find Campbell. back out of my predicament. Also local materials for a floor under the whether to jack up the car and put Of course the four-wheel drive cars jack a time or two you will do what available today make much of this brush under the wheels, or try to make I learned—carry a little block of 2x8 it without the jack. sand technique unnecessary. But even wood for that emergency. a jeep can get stuck, as I learned on Once — before I knew better — I Rocks, Brush the Sahara Desert during the last war. tried tying rope on the wheels, like We were driving cross-country to a skid chains. I was up in Barrett Can- Heft the rear end well up in the air, and rocks, if they are available, waterhole the Arabs had told me about. yon in the Fish Creek Mountains of The sand was so heavy and the grade Southern California looking for a coral are the best base to put under the wheels. And before starting build a so steep we finally had to abandon the reef I had read about. When the car jeep and finish the journey on camels. mired down I cut my tow rope in two brush runway, the longer the better. Later we salvaged the jeep with a 4- and carefully wrapped the rear wheels I've been stuck in the sand a thou- with it. When I started the motor wheel drive weapons carrier. sand times — without exaggeration — Safety First those roped wheels immediately started and each time it is a somewhat differ- excavating a new short-cut route to ent problem. I have mentioned the One doesn't have to be a master- Hong Kong. That night, on the 14- running boards—but they are hard to mechanic to drive the desert trails. mile hike out to Plaster City to get a find nowadays. Some motorists carry Today there are few places even in tow car, I had plenty of time to think strips of canvas. But they are not too the most remote parts of the desert about the folly of trying to get out of satisfactory. Generally the wheels will where one is not within walking dis- tance of help. But on long trips it is well to travel in two-car parties, and of course it goes without saying that it is important to have plenty of water, food and bedrolls. Thus fortified, the motorist has nothing to fear during the months from October to April. Rock Sbotty Summer travel on the byroads is an- other matter. Inexperienced or poorly equipped motorists should keep to the of Death Valley main traveled routes in the warm sea- son. "Ain't been no chicken-raisers in' his chickens. 'You don't have As I have suggested, they cannot in Death Valley fer nigh onto 20 to give 'em that fancy bran from put you in jail for getting stuck in the years," Hard Rock Shorty was the feed store,' the dude ex- sand. And if you have to spend a few telling the feed and fertilizer plained. 'Just feed 'em sawdust. hours digging out, or waiting for help, salesman who had stopped at the The chickens won't know the dif- the rest of the world probably will Inferno store. ference.' struggle along just as well in your ab- "Pisgah Bill tried raisin' 'em "Bill thought it over a couple sence. After all, it is just such experi- once, but they wuz too many of days. 'Don't make sense,' he ences that make life interesting. The coyotes around here, an' what says. But he wuz hard up fer exercise will be good for you, and if the coyotes didn't git the wind money and he had a couple o' you take advantage of the opportunity blew away. sacks a sawdust he had brought to prove to other members of the party over from the sawmill at Inyo that you can take it and laugh, you'll "But even before that last big be the gainer by the experience. windstorm come along an' the to sprinkle on the floor o' the chickens all went with it, Bill wuz shack to keep the dust down. But I cannot recommend a tin cup plumb discouraged. Had to haul 'I'll feed 'em half an' half,' he as an excavating tool. It'll be more all the chicken feed in from Bar- finally decided. fun if you have a shovel in the car. stow, an' by the time them chick- "Fer awhile the chickens And BHi ens wuz big enough to eat they seemed to git along all right, an' wuz worth their weight in gold. then one oP hen started settin'. if "What really got Bill's goat She hatched out a family all all wuz when some smart dude came right, but seven of 'em had along an' told Pisgah how he wooden legs an' the other four else could save some money on feed- wuz woodpeckers." fails

10 DESERT MAGAZINE SQUAW SPRING • on the trail to Utah's Needles By WALTER FORD Musselman arrived in Big-Foot's territory in 1916, but in spite of his long trapping experience it was not until 1920 ALL of the prominent old-time watering places that he was able to bring an end to the wily beast's activities. were on established routes of travel. Some were For this job he needed a special trap. Big-Foot measured located far off the beaten path, yet their isolation eight feet from nose to tip of tail. made them no less important to those who had to depend When the Scorup Cattle Company moved into the area, on them as unfailing sources of water. One such waterhole Squaw Spring acquired renewed importance because of its is Squaw Spring, 12 miles east of the confluence of the unfailing water supply and close proximity to the outfit's Green and Colorado rivers in Southeastern Utah. main headquarters on Indian Creek. More recently, Squaw Spring has become an overnight camping place for packtrip The name Squaw Spring was derived through the desert groups bound for the rugged land known as the Needles, Indians' custom of leaving their women at a watering place where the forces of erosion have created a bewildering while they were on hunting or marauding expeditions. Scat- forest of stone spires and minarets of every conceivable hue. tered remnants of pottery and arrowpoints on the mesa above the springs, and the numerous fire-blackened caves I camped at Squaw Spring with a group from the 4- and petroglyphs in the adjacent cliffs indicate that a sizable M Ranch of Moab. We were enroute to the Needles sec- Indian population once inhabited this area. After the In- tion, having traveled from Moab to the Scorup headquarters dians disappeared from the scene, the spring became a on Indian Creek by truck, and from there to Squaw Spring favorite camping place for trappers and hunters who earned on horseback. The long dusty ride under the blazing their livelihood from the pelts of mountain lions, coyotes August sun quickly emptied our canteens, so it was with and wolves which abounded in the region. undisguised relief that we sighted the little stream of clear cold water bubbling from the rocks at the bottom of a One of these men was Roy Musselman, an experienced ravine. I noticed a number of jeep tracks around the trapper who was brought in from Oregon to rid the country camping place near the spring and learned from our guide of the notorious outlaw wolf, Big-Foot, whose depredations that the Scorup foremen now use jeeps instead of horses cost the cattlemen of the San Juan country many thousands to travel between the various ranch outposts. Such is of dollars. progress. The story of Big-Foot and his capture has become one The Squaw Spring trip is one that should not be under- of the classics of San Juan campfire lore. For eight years taken without a guide. While cars can proceed as far as the wolf matched wits with cowboys and professional hunt- the Scorup Ranch, jeep travel beyond the ranch can be a ers, killing the fattest beef of a herd almost nightly. His hazardous undertaking for one not familiar with this range included that vast section which lies between the San country.—END Juan and Colorado rivers in Utah and the Dolores River in Western Colorado. A group enroute to the Needles sec- tion refill canteens at Squaw Spring.

&

APRIL, 1959 11 Lost Silver in the Trigos

By HAROLD O. WEIGHT Map by Norton Allen John Nummel was a great walker—he had to be in the MINE should be enough for rugged wilderness of the Lower Colorado River in which any man to lose in a lifetime. he lived. It was while walking out from the Red Cloud John Nummel lost two. Old Mine (seen above in center background through doorway John spent half a century foot-pros- pecting the rugged and beautiful desert and windows of abandoned shack) that John struck silver. mountains bordering the Colorado River in southwestern Arizona — he had time and space enough to find— Point and Nummel's Landing—was 75 game provided most of his food. He and lose—any number of ledges in a miles from Yuma "at the end of the had a wind-charger to operate his land that has produced fabulous gold and silver bonanzas. world's worst road." radio. Only tobacco, clothing and mis- John's only mechanical transporta- cellaneous supplies required cash, and Nummel's first tantalizing glimpse tion over that rough trail was by an- this John earned by acting as care- of "the big one" came around 1900, cient worm-drive Model T truck. Since taker of the shut-down Red Cloud when he discovered a ledge of yellow the vehicle almost always broke down, Mine. quartz and gold near a foot-trail be- John's infrequent expeditions to Yuma Nummel's life in Arizona is en- tween the Red Cloud and La Fortuna were adventures which could take a twined with the old Red Cloud. He mines (Desert, March '56). His sec- full week either way. On lucky days, was there when the big strike was ond big strike came 30 years later, the truck would develop its trouble made in 1880. A good miner, though when he found and mislaid rich silver somewhere opposite old Picacho, about too restless to stay long on any iob, croppings somewhere between that 10 miles down the Colorado. Then he intermittently worked at the Red same Red Cloud and the Colorado John could hike to the river and yell Cloud during its years of operation, River. across, and Dick Young, Ed Rochester, and became caretaker and watchman At that time (late '20s or early Earl Kerr or Clyde Stewart would sail when it fell upon unprofitable days. '30s) Old John was living in a cabin across and help him get going again. His own lost bonanzas were found on on the river a few miles northwest of John's cabin was a most satisfactory occasions when he was hiking out from Norton's Landing. Ed Rochester says home, from an old prospector's point the famous old silver camp. John's place—known both as Conger of view. A little garden, chickens and The Red Cloud operated a good

12 DESERT MAGAZINE part of the '80s, and its career ended of the rich silver assay. Finally, since sit there at the ferry, catching nothing with the demonetization of silver, there was no other way, he commenced and just starving for fish until I'd though brief revivals have been at- to re-prospect all the land he had cov- catch a bunch and cook them and fill tempted since. There seems to be no ered between the Red Cloud and the him up. Then he'd hike back to the detailed records of its production. The cabin. Every wash, every trail, every Red Cloud." Red, Cloud, the nearby Black Rock route he remembered taking, ever)' one Remembering his many wanderings, and a few minor claims in the district he might have taken. He did not find John Nummel became even more con- are credited with nearly $600,000 in the ledge. fused as to where he had made that lead-silver output between 1880 and Wide Travels unrecognized strike. He had explored 1889. Old-timers say the large part Unfortunately, the country between country so empty and broken that no came from the Red Cloud, and true unmarked route through it could ever production was much higher. With the mine and his cabin was not the only area Nummel prowled during the be retraced exactly. no real development done in years, He never saw his silver ledge again.' the Red Cloud today is perhaps best period when he had sampled the ledge. known to rockhounds, who treasure He had been almost everywhere John Nummel found other things; the beautiful wulfenite crystals which through the Trigos. He had hiked besides gold and silver in his rovings, are found there. down to Castle Dome Landing, and perhaps the most remarkable being his to the river opposite Picacho. He had "petrified turtles." ; He Didn't Worry trudged the wild miles of mountain and mesa between the Red Cloud and John's Turtles John NummePs river cabin was 10 Cibola Valley, far up the river, where "He said they were big—just like miles from the Red Cloud by one of he had a 40-acre homestead. desert turtles," Clyde Stewart recalls. the worst sections of that "worst" road, Ed Rochester, who ran Taylor's "They were thick through, and had or six miles air-line. But neither the legs—but John couldn't see any heads. distance nor the apparent necessity of Ferry at Cibola from 1931 to 1933, recalls many visits from Nummel dur- They were solid rock, but he didn't being two places at the same time find them in rock—they were lying bothered John. ing that period. "He'd always spend a few days fishing. He loved fish, but loose alongside the wash." "In the summer there wasn't much was the world's worst fisherman. He'd What were they? Stewart has his for John to do at the Red Cloud," Ed Rochester explains "so he com- muted between the mine and his cabin r" 5 '.„.- •.,..= __*. = t ,,,;c ''•••" on the river. He almost always walked. DRAPER RAN John was a great walked. He walked all over that country. Each time he TO CIBOLA went down to his cabin, he took a VALLEY i different route, and always prospected along the way." From this habit came the mystery of John NummePs lost silver. On one such walk home from the Red Cloud he struck a ledge that promised values. He knocked chunks off and carried them to the cabin. There he dumped the ore with other pieces that had been packed home from time to time which he planned to investigate—eventually. And there it lav until Walter Riley, a long-time friend, came upon it. It Looks Good Riley was a prominent figure in Yuma and a well-known mining man. He thought the rock looked good, and with Old John's blessing, took it to Yuma for assay. The report more than proved him right. The ore was very high grade silver. When next Riley saw Nummel, he demanded: "Where did you get that rock? If there's enough of it, you've got a bonanza!" IMPERIAL Looking at a piece of the ore, John COUNTY Nummel said he remembered the day, the place and the ledge from which he 4-S RANCH had gotten the samples. But, he was wrong. The ledge they investigated contained worthless rock. Old John desperately tried to remem- ber the route and the place. Several possibilities came to mind. Each one he walked out. None led to the ledge

APRIL, 1959 13 physically. The country he traversed with such apparent nonchalance and impunity is a deadly desert at certain times under certain conditions. The Red Cloud had another caretaker, Walter Nelson, whom I met on a visit in 1955. Less than a month later he was found dead beside his car which had stalled in deep sand five miles down Red Cloud Wash. It was at the mouth of this same wash, trying to reach the river at Nor- ton's Landing, that I became satisfied a four-wheel-drive station wagon can become as thoroughly stuck in sand as a conventional vehicle. Stuck! Dunes had partially closed the mouth of the wash, but a faint trail indicated that a road had once climbed their slope to the firm mesa. I made it half-way up — much too far, it turned out. The car rested on its trans- mission, and by digging out and plac- ing brush under all four wheels, I only could back a few inches at a time. Then the process had to be repeated. I had the exasperating feeling that four wheels turning under power threw out twice as much sand and brush as two John Nummel at his cabin. would have done. idea: "John said he found them in It was mid-May, and the bright sun, granite hills, but there must be andes- ite or rhyolite somewhere in that can- Arizona while I operated the mill there the reflective sand and the humid air yon, and these large geodes in the had a mine between the Red Cloud quickened my fatigue. Rests became shape of turtles washed out from it. Old and Mohave Tanks, going toward Eh- more frequent. Each time I squatted, John talked about it so much he started renberg. Native silver. That could panting, in the flimsy shade of the car, believing he had some petrified turtles." have been John's ledge. my respect grew for Old John Num- mel, who had wrestled an old broken- Ed Rochester believes John found Plenty of Silver down truck through this country for them in red sandstone. Ed has heard, "And the Indians used to bring pure years, who had built road in the sum- from sources he believes reliable, that silver in to Castle Dome Landing. mer heat, who had packed supplies one was sent to a scientific institution Used it for arrowpoints. While I was for miles, regardless of season. He where it was identified as a fossil turtle. at the King an old Yaqui, a gambusino may not have grown rich here, but Where did John find them? It seems called Placer Mike, told us: 'If you John Nummel mastered the land. a legend of a Lost Turtle Mine is in fellows want silver I will tell you a the making. John did not mislay his place in this country where you can As I went back to digging out stone turtles — his friends agree he load up all you want.' wheels, I gained deep appreciation of knew exactly where they were—but, "Placer Mike was interested only his fondness for one particular means he was secretive about them. Once in gold, and I was not interested in of locomotion. Old John knew his on a trip with Ed Rochester, John silver either. It was not worth anything. country! I resolved that next time— promised he would show him "the He said he found it at the foot of a whether it led to a silver ledge or not mountains with the turtles." But he sharp peak. Big vein, black on the —I'd walk, too.—END was very old then, and the side excur- outside—but it was almost pure silver sion was never made. when he broke it." Three Big Mines So run the legends in John Nummel's Whatever the truth of the turtles, land. there seems no doubt Nummel did Old John lived at his cabin and strike rich silver ore. In the Silver hunted his ledge through the 1930s. District, where three big silver mines After he got his pension he moved to —the Clip, the Red Cloud and the Laguna Dam and built a shack where Black Rock — were developed, such old prospector friends had congregated. a find would be entirely logical. More From there he went to the Pioneers' important—the old-timers who knew Home at Prescott. He died in 1948. Nummel accept his story, though they Anyone hankering to hunt John differ as to where his ledge most likely Nummel's silver today should contem- is located. plate the long and fruitless search he Jose Alvarado had this to add: "A made. They also had best face the Dutchman who worked at the King of fact that few of us are John Nummels

14 DESERT MAGAZINE By KATHARINE BUOY KEENEY Portland, Oregon Across the cacti covered waste Of arid sombre gray A spirit speeds and leaves a glow Where Spring's light footsteps stray. Among the spiny cacti plants A miracle is born; As myriad of blossoms burst Midst prickly cactus thorn. Rewoven on Spring's magic loom A desert carpet lies abloom.

WONDER By ANNE VANDER KAM Monrovia, California I planted brown seeds in the earth, And covered them with soil. Some miracle would give them birth, A spirit there would toil. Unseen by any human eye, Through wondrous alchemy. Soon, green shoots peeping through the mold, The sunny sky would see. And now the buds are bursting wide, To fill the eye with bliss. They are indeed, a lovely sight, But the strangest thing, is this— The seeds I planted tenderly, Were dry, and brown, and dull. The flowers that bloom on each frail stem, OIL ON INDIAN RESERVATION DESERT SILENCE Of rainbow hues are full. By SAGEBRUSH STEVE By ELLEN REBECCA FENN Los Angeles, California A man may vainly search and roam Washington, Iowa Through all his earthly days, At Council meeting of Hopi Tribe, Over the greening sagebrush And though he sees earth's wonders fine, Question came up, they must decide Under the low mesquite This truth, will still amaze! Beyond the cactus shadow: To grant Oil Company drilling lease, Breathes a still retreat. Or, as they were, to dwell in peace? I SAW THE VULTURES FLYING Murmuring to restless tumbleweed Young buck Hopis, they full of hope, Whispering to seeded pod By HELENA A. SMITH Pulsing in every creature: Garden Grove, California Till old chiefs tell young braves "No Soap" The Omnipotence of God. Six pairs of wings were gliding in the sky; "If white man drill our land for oil Their owners seemed to know where crea- Good sheep pasture they gonna spoil, SPRINGTIME ON THE DESERT tures lie. We want no white man come around, By FRANCES PARKER GRAAF Six pairs of wings spread dark against the Hopi now ain't got much ground." Alhambra, California blue; In sight of towering mountains capped with O guide my steps to dying creatures too, But young braves say "We want the dough, snow, This chance to get good job, you know." I stood today where desert lilies grow. That I, in mercy, bind up their many ills, And the ocotillo held her blossoms high, Before six pairs of wings their pleading stills. Old chiefs say "You buy hot rod, Like flaming torches reaching toward the Soon get killed, be under sod." sky. Where fields of poppies and verbena spread A YEAR THAT WAS But young bucks decide go to City, Their sweet, wild beauty far, while overhead Which old chiefs think is great pity A cloudless sky and air so pure and clear, By PAUL WILHELM I reached out for God's hand—He seemed Thousand Palms, California Young braves go earn white man's pay so near! A year that was . . . but where Leave old chiefs dream life away. Or when or how I cannot say. And thus there starts another day. NO SUBSTITUTE I only know an April dawn, Two grace notes of a feathered song, By HELENA RIDGWAY STONE Lost in the haze of summer noon, POETRY CONTEST South Pasadena, California Carolled again in autumn dusk . . . You are invited to enter your desert-subject The desert is too far away, poetry in Desert Magazine's monthly contest, So I have brought it near to me: A year that was ... a wild bird's song to be inaugurated in the May issue. Only With twisted thorny catsclaw branch When each mesquite lifts catkins white the winning entry will be published each And a midget Joshua tree, And lilies bloom—some silent night month—all others will be returned immedi- It looks quite real. Gleaming sand The wilting wind shrieks through the Pass, ately after judging takes place (provided Carpets the space I've set aside But ere we climb the windswept hill stamped self-addressed envelope is included). For cactus, rocks, colored glass, Gold autumn steals back, and dawn Poems must be of a desert subject, not more (Where lizards and horned toads now Is lovely still. The bird is back. than 24 lines in length, and previously un- abide). published. Winning entries will receive $5. Still, something is missing in this pretense, The early spring is hardly done, Mail to: Poetry Contest, Desert Magazine, No matter how I scheme or try: Already autumn gold has come. Palm Desert, California. I cannot feign a desert night. In what sad hour was summer lost? Nor topaz stars in a desert sky.

APRIL, 1959 15 qualified private agencies in the acqui- sition of public lands for public use. The Pepai^^rvf.of .Interior. ha$ adoptee He called my attention to "Title 43— Public Lands" which provides that not '••:v:a\newpolicyifKait may only states, but counties, cities and other political subdivisions as well as private non-profit organizations may receive patent to not more than 640 acres in any one calendar year. VAIN Two Reservations There are two qualifications in the distribution of these lands. The fed- eral government reserves the mineral rights, and the applicants must pay for the land. However, the lands are avail- able at a substantial discount off the appraised value, and since Uncle Sam has not yet become a party to the cur- rent inflation in land prices, the cost is but a fraction of the sums being asked by private owners and real estate subdividers. Lands already reserved in national parks, national forests and wildlife refuges are not available. Keil's interest gave me the feeling that all of us who love the desert should begin making plans to acquire through the political subdivisions — counties, incorporated cities, school districts and By HARRY C. JAMES the various types of improvement dis- tricts—of which we are a part, tracts S THE RESULT of a policy spelled out in a policy statement pre- of the public domain for recreational approved recently by Secre- pared by Edward Woozley, director and cultural purposes before it is too tary Fred Seaton of the Depart- of the Bureau of Land Management, late. ment of Interior, the way has been approved by Secretary Seaton, and opened for every community to acquire immediately made known to all federal People are moving into the desert from the public domain a plot of district land offices. from both east and west in increasing ground—not to exceed 640 acres in numbers, and as towns and cities grow My first acquaintance with this pro- larger, the need for areas beyond the any one year—for park, recreational gram of public land distribution, and or other public use. city limits for outdoor recreation is of the desire of land office officials becoming more critical. This new policy is of special inter- that local communities make use of it, est to the people of the desert for the recently came when the Desert Pro- Set Land Aside reason that in all the Southwestern tective Council asked me to go to the It would be good indeed if every states there are large areas of unap- district office of the Bureau of Land desert community and every desert propriated public land which, while Management in Los Angeles to gain school system could secure public not suitable for agriculture or other information as to the status of certain lands in their common areas to be set commercial purposes, are readily adap- public lands in California which might aside as desert parks or sanctuaries table for park, playground, picnic, out- be acquired for recreational purposes. wherein the natural landscape and its door amphitheater and wildlife sanctu- I made an appointment with Nolen wildlife could be preserved. With co- ary use. F. Keil, acting assistant to the State ordinated effort by municipal govern- The opportunity, and the invitation Supervisor of Public Lands in Califor- ments, local school districts, and non- to local political subdivisions and non- nia. Keil is a cooperative fellow, and profit groups concerned with the out- proftt organization to acquire public he assured me his office and the entire doors, such community sanctuaries lands for recreational purposes was Bureau is eager to assist the public and could be fairly extensive, and they

ABOUT THE AUTHOR . . . Harry C. lames is Executive Director of the Desert Protective Council, of which he was one of the founders. Ten years ago he retired from administrative work as head of the Trailfinders School for Boys at Altadena, California, and now conducts summer camps for boys at his Lolomi Lodge in San Jacinto Mountains. He is nationally known for his leadership in conservation work.

16 DESERT MAGAZINE could prove of invaluable worth to the charge their clients from $2 to $10 sad stories in the mail. All we can programs in conservation and outdoor per acre. As most of the applications tell them is that their contract is with education now so generally a part of are for 320 acres, the business of a the individual and not the government, the public school curriculum. locator can be a remunerative one. and all we can do is return any mon- If local junior and senior high school Only about five percent of the ap- eys that have been paid on the purchase and junior colleges would assume the plications are approved, for most of price." responsibility for the care and protec- the lands are totally unsuited for agri- Questionable promotional proced- tion of these community wild areas the culture. Of the applications that have ures, and the fact that many areas result would be constructive activity been allowed to date about 60 percent truly suited to development still remain in the biological and geological sciences have reverted to desert. Thus, the per- undeveloped add up to abuses that and, even more, practical training in have multiplied since the Small Tracts good citizenship. Act was passed in 1938. Development in such areas, should Many of the conditions and situa- be limited, of course, to an absolute Title 43 tions that have developed in Riverside minimum consistent with proper sani- Public Lands—Interior and San Bernardino counties could be properly met if these counties could tation. If water could be developed Chapter 1 — Bureau of Land afford adequate police protection for for the use of wildlife, blinds for the Management, Department of In- observation of desert animals could be the areas involved as well as more terior Circular 1880. adequate inspection to see that codes built in keeping with the desert scene. Part 254—Sale, grant or lease The widespread public interest in the pertaining to construction and sanita- of public lands for recreational tion are enforced. blind at the Arizona-Sonora Museum and public purposes. near Tucson indicates how eager peo- The Bureau of Land Management ple are to see and to photograph ani- Part 254.2—Who May Apply. also stands ready to accede to requests mals in their natural surroundings. The following are qualified to that lands be set aside in small tract make applications under the subdivisions for school and park pur- Map Files act: States; Federal and State poses. This has been done in the tract Keil and I discussed at some length instrumentalities and political in Johnson Valley in San Bernardino areas which we of the Desert Protec- subdivisions, including coun- County. tive Council are interested in setting ties and municipalities, and aside as state or county parks. Then non-profit associations and non- Land Reverts Back he introduced me to Harry Miwa who profit corporations. I also learned that public lands now took me down to the map rooms. Part 254.4—Purpose for which under control of the armed services Miwa seemed to know every section lands may be acquired. Quali- revert to the Bureau of Land Manage- on every map in the extensive files. fied applicants are permitted by ment if and when the armed services Soon we were poring over the proper the act to acquire available relinquish them, unless, of course, the maps to learn the present status of lands for use for any public lands were previously controlled by water holes, palm oases, interesting purpose for which they are some other department of the govern- prehistoric sites, and other details in authorized by their creating ment. Lands that have been contam- which our organization is interested. I authority to hold lands. Non- inated remain closed when the cost of continued to be impressed by the sin- profit associations and non- de-contaminating them proves greater cere desire of Bureau personnel to be profit corporations are per- than the appraised value of the land. helpful and cooperative in any project mitted, in addition, to acquire It would seem that such lands could which will bring about intelligent and lands for use for any recrea- be de-contaminated if their recrea- constructive use of public desert lands. tional purpose consistent with tional potential warrants it and if Con- their creating authority. gress were willing to appropriate Then we discussed some of the prob- money for the purpose. lems that have arisen in the past few Part 254.5 (c) — No applicant can receive, under the act, pat- years in connection with jackrabbit Considering the areas which have ent to more than 640 acres in homesteading. Temporarily, the Bu- been contaminated by the armed serv- any one calendar year. reau is holding up all subdivision of ices and which are now posted as areas under the Small Tracts Act in closed to public entry, I cannot help both Riverside and San Bernardino wondering whether the time is not counties. This is being done so that sons who secured these lands have not now ripe for Congress to undertake the officials of these two counties can only lost tidy sums to locators, but an investigation to ascertain if such prepare plans for sanitation, flood-con- they also have lost considerable a de-contamination program should be trol, policing and roads in areas now amounts of money in improvements. undertaken in the public interest. under subdivision. The pressure to These land locators are not licensed open up additional and very extensive These and many other reflections or controlled by the government. are the result of my visit to the Los desert areas is constantly mounting. Doubtless many of them are persons Furthermore, at the Los Angeles office Angeles office of the Bureau of Land of integrity who perform useful serv- Management. Thanks to the gracious- from 250 to 300 applications a month ices for their clients, but Woozley him- are being received for "agricultural" ness and patience of Keil and Miwa, I self is the source of the remark that came away with the feeling that in the lands—under the Desert Lands Act of "land locators and filing services have 1877! ever continuing struggle between those engaged in land promotional schemes Americans who wduld seize and ex- About 5000 applications for such that, while staying within the letter of ploit every acre and resource in our lands are now on file in the Los Ange- the law, border on unethical and land for their own gain, and those who les office, involving about 1,500,000 fraudulent practices." would retain at least a portion of the acres in San Bernardino County. As H. R. Hochmuth, Lands Officer of public domain for the recreation and few applicants could properly locate the Bureau in Washington, was in cultural pursuits of all the people, the their lands they usually call in the California recently and at that time Bureau of Land Management is on the services of locators. These locators he commented: "We see some awfully side of the latter.—END

APRIL, 1959 17 around the rattler. In seconds it had formed a tight knot-like cylinder about A King Snake... the size and form of a quart measure —the rattler's head buried securely in the upper center of this knotted mass, and the tails of both reptiles ...and Two Rattlers protruded from the bottom. Only then did the King Snake By ROY M. YOUNGMAN reptile house in a zoo is familiar with slacken its pace. Slowly now, it moved the strong peculiar odor characteristic the upper part of its body to free its T WAS an ideal day for snakes of these creatures. The King Snake jaws from the rattler, and then took to be out. Clouds were gathering has an acute sense of smell which a new hold with its teeth. This was across the western sky, and the makes it an especially skillful tracker repeated several times, but before each threat of a thunderstorm was carried of the snakes and small animals upon bite the King Snake carefully exam- by the warm May air. My camp in which it feeds. It has cultivated these ined its new target. traits for ages, for the King Snake is a wild jungle east of Midway Well on This tense action had gone on for the California bank of the Colorado a ravenous cannibal. It is one of the rattlesnake's chief natural enemies. a half hour in the sun, when the King River was the last of several I had Snake uncoiled, grasped the small made during a two-week archeological The sleek King Snake showed no fear of me as I stood holding the axe snake in the middle, and pulled it into research stint in this section of the the shade of my car. I got down on desert. handle over which the dead rattle- snake was draped. I dropped the rat- my stomach to continue the observa- During this time I had not seen one tion. snake—and then, in the space of 15 tler in front of it, and the banded minutes, I saw three. What was even snake looked up at me much as a The King Snake threw two coils more remarkable is that one of this tame puppy might have done, seem- around the rattlesnake, and bit into trio ate the other two! ingly to say: "Do you really mean I its head. It must have struck a fang can have this choice young rattler?" or some bad-tasting substance, for its I had been standing by my car In order not to disturb the King reaction was not unlike a human's who talking to a visitor. When he drove has bitten into a rotten apple. Next, off, I took one step toward my tent and the King Snake demonstrated a bit of heard the warning rattle of a snake. reasoning power. Instead of taking a Near my feet was a thick two-foot- new hold of the rattler's head, it long Western Diamondback rattler. grasped the prey in the middle, doubled I backed off, and so did the danger- it up, and easily swallowed it. ous reptile. As it headed under the canvas floor of my tent, I grabbed a The size of the King Snake had club in the nearby thickets and killed hardly increased at all, despite the the rattler. Then I carried it to a ample meal. It immediately began clearing close by, and left it for the looking for a place to retire where it carrion eaters. could digest its meal in peace. It The rattlesnake is many started off in the direction of the clear- After that experience, I decided to things to many creatures, but to ing where I had deposited the larger investigate the camp area to make sure the King Snake, rattlers—espe- rattlesnake. I walked ahead, and when other poisonous snakes were not about. cially the young ones — are the King Snake came nearer, I threw I was particularly wary of the area food. Here is educator Roy M. the rattler in front of it. But, the King around the luxuriant salt cedar bushes Youngman's firsthand account Snake was wary of me by now, and growing near my tent, for I remem- of a King Snake devouring two all of its attention was directed my bered a friend's warning that rattlers rattlesnakes in one afternoon. way. A second toss of the rattler liked the deep shade provided by these caught its eye. plants. Under the first bush I pushed aside This glutton apparently could not Snake, and being anxious to observe resist further satisfaction of its appe- with my long-handled axe was a second its reaction to this situation, I slowly Diamondback. It was 18 inches long tite. The Diamondback, lying on its and quietly walked over to my car side, was obviously dead, so the King and much slimmer-bodied than the and sat on the fender. one that had crawled under my tent. Snake cut the procedure short. It The King Snake immediately began seized the rattler by the neck, backed I finished it off with a blow from the an instinctive circling process around blunt end of the axe. up until its prey was drawn into a the rattler. He maintained, I thought, straight line, and then began swallow- As I turned to carry the dead rep- what would have been a safe distance ing it head first. tile to the clearing, I was amazed to had the rattler been alive. After mov- see a third reptile sliding across the ing around the Diamondback several The King Snake's jaws worked the ground directly toward me. The new- times, the King Snake turned away. rattler down into its body inch by inch. comer was a harmless (to man) three- But, this was a guise. Just as I was The swallowing process proceded more foot-long black-and-white-banded King beginning to think it had lost interest and more slowly, and after two hours Snake {Lampropeltis getulus califor- in the dead rattler—the same impres- three inches of the Diamondback's tail niae). Its glossy black bands had just sion it would have wanted to create and rattles stuck out of the King a tinge of blue as they went under the in a live rattler to throw it off guard Snake's gaping mouth. body. —the King Snake made a lightning- Returning to the clearing at sun- This was an extraordinary new de- fast stab at its prey. In a flash, it threw down, I found that the King Snake velopment, and the only explanation itself over backward and clamped its had disappeared after regurgitating the I can offer is that the hungry King jaws across the rattler's neck. larger snake. A meal of two rattle- Snake had caught the scent of the With quick fluid muscular rhythm, snakes, the King Snake found, was rattlers. Anyone who has visited a coils of its striped body were thrown one too many.—END DESERT MAGAZINE The Apache policemen hid in the adobe buildings, and when Geronimo entered the parade ground he fell into their trap . . .

By JAMES W. ABARR

NEARLY has forgot- ten out-of-the-way Fort Ojo Caliente, a small frontier Army post and Indian agency in the moun- tains of southwest New Mexico. My FORT OJO CALIENTE wife, Carol, and I recently visited this place where, in the spring of 1877, the wily Geronimo was outwitted by a bold, young and resourceful Indian Agent, John Glum. Here at Ojo Cali- m,/ •. •• ente, for the first and only time in his m career, the Chiricahua raider was cap- in tured and clamped in chains. and dotted with clumps of pine and Ojo Caliente was built in 1859 as cedar. We passed ranch houses and an advance picket outpost for Fort Virtual obscurity has been Ojo grazing herds. This is cattle country. Craig, 50 miles to the east in the Rio Caliente's fate, and today the old fort Eighteen miles beyond the small Grande Valley. In the late 1860s, the lies forgotten in its remote mountain settlement of Winston we stopped the fort became the agency headquarters valley setting. Few people visit its car and searched the terrain. Our cal- for the Warm Springs Apache Reser- decaying walls, relics of a turbulent culations told us that Ojo Caliente's vation. Federal cavalry, "E" Troop, and romantic era. ruins lay somewhere nearby. 4th Regiment, and elements of the 15th As we drove west on State Road 52 Crumbling Ruins Infantry Regiment were garrisoned into legendary Apache country, we here from late 1877 to 1882. No rec- only had a vague idea of the fort's I trained my field glasses along the ords exist after that year. The garri- location, for it is not shown on stand- dry rocky bed of the Alamosa River son usually numbered 60 officers and ard highway maps. The back-country which follows the foothills of the San men, but at one period of heavy In- road climbs rapidly out of the Rio Mateos. Blending into the tan-colored dian fighting in 1881, over 200 men Grande River Valley into semi-desert mountain backdrop were the crumbling were stationed here. adobe ruins of the fort. We followed country. North of us towered the San Dangerous Mission Mateo Mountains, and due west rose a dim side trail to a point along the the rugged escarpment of the Black river bed which is within easy walking Geronimo's career almost ended on Range. distance of the old garrison, and in this parade ground a decade before he 10 minutes we were standing on the made his final peace with the hated Apache Land grass-grown parade ground, its outline white eyes. John Clum, probably the Sun-splashed sage gave way to roll- traced by faint hummocks. Sagging best friend the Apache Nation ever ing hills. The green of pinyon and walls of barracks and other buildings had, was sent to New Mexico Territory scrub pine contrasted sharply with framed the area on two sides. from his post at San Carlos to return the red earth. It was easy to under- In the parade ground stands the Geronimo to the Arizona reservation. stand why the Apache had fought with splintered stump of a flag pole. What The Apache renegade was camped at all his cunning to keep this land. stories could it tell if it could speak? the hot springs, three miles above Fort A small canyon carries the road What of the men who once marched Ojo Caliente. across the southern tip of the San in its shadow? What of the soldiers After a forced march from Arizona Mateos into a broad grassy valley who came to this frontier outpost to with 100 hand-picked Apache police, striped with swift mountain creeks, serve the cause of empire? Clum baited his trap. He rode into

APRIL, 1959 19 Ojo Caliente in broad daylight with ing places and encircled the parade crumbling fort ruins we found numer- 20 men at his side, aware that Geron- ground. The renegade band was sur- ous pieces of black on white pottery imo's scouts were watching from the rounded. characteristic of the Classic Pueblo III hills. Clum wanted the renegades to Geronimo, knowing he would be period. This would make the old In- think he only had a small force with the first to die in any battle that might dian dwelling about 1000 years old. him. After making camp, Clum sent have arisen from this situation, quick- One mile east of the fort is a rug- a demand to Geronimo that he come ly surrendered. Within minutes, Clum ged box canyon with jagged red and to the fort and surrender. had the Apache chief and five of his black walls of volcanic origin. We Setting the Trap sub-chiefs in chains. hiked up the river bed toward the Several weeks later in Arizona, canyon and came across a section of Geronimo knew no Federal cavalry river bank sprinkled with empty cart- was garrisoned at the fort. His scouts Geronimo escaped from his cell. Dur- ing the next nine years he left a bloody ridge cases—old Colt .45 casings made told him of Clum's small force. The of copper. They had a type of primer Apache raider had over 100 warriors trail across the Southwest. It wasn't until 1886 that starvation and sickness that hasn't been used for many years, —Clum's demand to surrender must and we speculated that this could have have amused him. forced him to surrender to General Nelson Miles at Skeleton Canyon, been the fort target range. What Geronimo didn't know was Arizona. The ranch home of Mrs. Eugene that Clum's remaining 80 Apache po- Tombstone Career Ramsey is situated a mile south of the lice had ridden into the fort under fort. Mrs. Ramsey has lived in this cover of darkness and were posted Clum went on to become the first area since 1914, the year her parents inside the buildings. Clum and his mayor of Tombstone, Arizona, came here from Oklahoma by covered original 20 lined up on the parade founded the famed frontier newspaper, wagon. She told us about Ojo Cali- ground and waited. The Tombstone Epitaph, and was a ente's later years. Shortly after dawn, Geronimo came staunch backer of the redoubtable to silence this little man who made big Marshal Wyatt Earp. Dance Hall demands. The Chiricahuas fanned out We moved along the line of crum- While the fort deteriorated rapidly behind their leader and boldly walked bling roofless buildings. The fort had after it was abandoned in 1882, several to within a few yards of Clum. The been built after the fashion of an rooms were repaired and used by fam- painted warriors halted and waited adobe pueblo. Walls were thick and ilies for living quarters in the early for their chief's signal to wipe out the windows deep set. Straw and earthen 1900s. By the 1920s these people had little band before them. bricks used in the walls are flecked left, and Ojo Caliente became the val- ley's social center. Ranchers would Clum again called for Geronimo's with bits of pottery. Apparently the building material had come from the gather from a wide area for weekly surrender. Twenty rifles were leveled square dances at the fort. at the chief's heart. At Clum's signal refuse heap of an ancient Indian the 80 reserves swept from their hid- pueblo just west of the fort. In the "We had some wonderful dances," Mrs. Ramsey recalled. "Folks came from miles around. Some of the finest fiddlers of that day were always on hand to play for us." During depression days of the early 1930s, residents of the valley stripped lumber from the fort buildings' roofs to repair their homes and ranch build- ings. "People didn't have money to buy materials in those bleak times," Mrs. Ramsey said. "The old fort was a good source of free lumber." Although Ojo Caliente has been lost to the outside world, people of this quiet mountain valley have a deep at- tachment for the fort. Mrs. Ramsey and her neighbors hope someday it will be restored and preserved as a state or Federal monument. Chloride's Ghost Two miles off the main-traveled road at Winston is the abandoned mining town of Chloride. The old town's ghostly main street lies in a deep cedar-lined canyon. The weath- ered buildings and deserted houses— some built in Victorian style—once teemed with settlers and miners. Heavy weeds and brush have pushed through slats of sagging picket fences, and wind-driven dust drifts across old side- walks. When Harry Pyle, a freight wagon Carol Abarr is framed by an old Fort Ojo Caliente doorway.

DESERT MAGAZINE driver, discovered an outcrop of silver ore here in 1879, it didn't take long for wealth-seeking miners to turn this y^ / .#^or\/A::ASocorro wilderness canyon into a roaring boom town. For three decades Chloride flourished as new silver strikes in the district added to the wealth flowing through the little town. Vktorio and his marauding Apaches made the set- tlement a favorite target. Chloride survived bandits, gunfighters and In- dians, but perished around the turn of the century when the silver veins played out. Gold and silver boom days in the valley are mere memories now. Ranch- ing and lumbering are the main indus- tries today, although a few small scale mining operations continue. A small alum mine is being worked near the fort, and gold has been taken from the foothills, but not in quantity. Much of the box canyon east of the fort has been staked for uranium claims, but 'j^Jjk; 'fj^4y£S30S^ii no mining has been undertaken. Indian Gold Ojo Caliente has its share of legends —stories hard to prove or disprove. One tale concerns Geronimo when he was a prisoner at the fort. The Apache leader reportedly offered to fill a room with gold within 24 hours in exchange for his freedom. This would indicate the Indians knew of a rich mine some- where close by. Years later, an old man came to the valley. He claimed he had been reared by Geronimo, had known of the C Consequences Apache mine, and now had returned to find it. The old man said the en- trance was under a white rock that looked like a white cow standing in the brush of a hillside. He searched for several years, but never found the lost Apache treasure. Another missing fortune is that of six mule-loads of gold buried near the A Genetsl's Otdets; An Apache's Swendet fort by Mexican vaqueros. In the early Two remarkable documents, one written their stock; that now our hands are untied, 1800s, so the story goes, the Mexicans by an Army general, the other by an Apache and you have been sent to punish them were packing the gold from Sonora to chief, throw penetrating light on that period for their treachery and their crimes; that in frontier history when the long struggle you have no power to make peace; that Santa Fe when they were attacked by between Redmen and Whites was resolved you are there to kill them wherever you Apaches. After a running battle, the conclusively in favor of the latter. can find them; that if they beg for peace, Mexicans eluded their pursuers and In 1862 the Texas Confederates' foray into their chiefs and twenty of their principal buried the treasure in a canyon. They New Mexico had paved the way for wide- men must come to Santa Fe to have a talk turned the mules loose and fled on scale Indian depredations. When the Union's there. California Column marched into the state After a few bloody encounters, the fright- foot. and found the Confederates had left the ened Indians begged for peace. One of their field. General James Henry Carleton mounted chiefs, Cadete, made this speech of surrender: Treasure Map a campaign against the Indians. Soldiers You are stronger than we. We have Only one of the vaqueros reached under his command had these orders: fought you so long as we had rifles and powder; but your>*weapons are better than Socorro. Before he died of wounds, All Indian men of that tribe (Mescalero he gave a map of the treasure site to a Apache) are to be killed whenever and ours. Give us weapons^^jid turn us loosie, wherever you can find them. The women and we will fight yd'u'again; but we are man named Flores who searched many and children will not be harmed, but you worn out; we have no more heart; we years for the cached gold without suc- will take them prisoners, and feed them at have no provisions, no means to live; your cess. Fort Stanton until you receive other instruc- troopis are everywhere; our springs and tions about them. ]f the Indians send in waterholes are either occupied or over- In the 1920s, cowboys found six a flag and desire to treat for peace, say looked by your young men. You have old Mexican pack saddles in a cave to the bearer that when the people of driven us from our last and best strong- near the fort. Mrs. Ramsey believes New Mexico were attacked by the Texans, hold, and we have no more heart. Do the Mescaleros broke their treaty of peace, with us as may seem good to you, but do a fortune still lies buried in that cave, and murdered innocent people, and ran off not forget we are men and braves. a place she has visited several times. —END

APRIL, 1959 21 The Indian, the Camera, and You

By HENRY P. CHAPMAN From the wizened patriarch to the shy little girl, Indians make wonderful subjects for the INCE THAT day in 1540 when photographer. Here are some suggestions that Captain-general Francisco Vas- may result in better Indian pictures for you—and S quez de Coronado first saw a better understanding of your camera subjects. Zuni near Ojo Caliente in New Mex- ico, Indians of the Southwest have fas- cinated visitors to their domain. Today's explorers of the Southwest have an advantage over the Spanish conquistadores —- they have cameras with which to make permanent records of these encounters. The urge to click a shutter as soon as an Indian appears is irresistible. However, more than an urge and a camera are required to photograph a self-respecting Indian. You should be equipped with two additional items not found in your photographer's gadget-bag—considera- tion and courtesy. Without them you may not get any pictures at all, while with them you and your camera will be welcome in any pueblo or reserva- tion. Look at it this way: You would be incensed if a stranger strolled into your home, clicked a camera at your family, and then departed without a word. Yet, many people do exactly that at Indian homes, and think noth- ing of it. Taking pictures of Indians without their consent is a violation of privacy. The Pueblo Indian, always affable and imbued with a heritage of personal re- straint from centuries of communal liv- ing, will not complain. Neither will he like it. Seldom is there objection to photo- graphing the outside of hogans, adobe buildings, ruins, kivas, carretas, homos and churches. With individuals, it is a different matter. Some will refuse to pose for religious or other personal reasons. They will not explain, and they expect you to respect their wishes. Cameras are permitted at most pueblo dances which are open to the public. Notable exceptions are the Hopi Snake Dances and the Santo Domingo Dance of the Green Corn. The Zunis forbid photography of their Rain Dance and Shalako Ceremonies. There are two general types of dances performed by Southwestern Pueblo Indians. Purpose of one is analogous to that of modern social dancing: enjoyment. Dances of the other category are associated with re- Santo Clara chanters and drummers. 22 DESERT MAGAZINE Sw

Laguna Indian Eagle Dancers. ligious rites, and non-Indians are and wait for the marching signal, you barred from many of them. To white can get them to pose. All it takes is events expect to be photographed, visitors who are granted admission, their permission, often available for there are less personal restrictions. the rituals may appear strange and the asking. By exercising a little cour- quite meaningless to the uninitiated. A few of the better-known pageants tesy, a request of mine has yet to be However, the ceremony being enacted include: the Mescalero Ceremonial at rejected at a public ceremonial. may be as ancient and sacred as the the Apache Reservation in New Mex- services held in cathedrals and syna- ico, and the Indian Pow-Wow at Flag- Avoid taking all your pictures with gogues, and should be given the same staff, Arizona—both held in July; New respect. Mexico's Puye Cliff Ceremonial on the Santa Clara Indian Reservation This old man is a Hopi Indian. At Indian dances where photogra- where "animal dances" are featured, phy is allowed, you may be asked for and the Inter-Tribal Ceremonial at a small fee. Actually, it is a donation. Gallup—both regularly scheduled in Generally the gift is applied to a August. worthy cause within the pueblo, such as repairs and church maintenance. A parade is one of the features of the Gallup and Flagstaff events. By Camera fees collected over the past studying the parade routes, you can five years at the San Ildefonso Pueblo gain the advantage of stationing your- in New Mexico are helping make pos- self in a favorable camera position sible a remarkable project — recon- with the sun at your back. Remember struction of the famed and magnificent to use a shutter speed fast enough to Church of San Ildefonso, destroyed 54 stop the antics of the horses, marchers years ago. It is considered an out- and dancers. Select the faster film, so standing example of pueblo architec- you can set your shutter at 200th of ture. a second. Various ceremonials, rodeos and Here is a tip for those who want community celebrations offer excellent more than just the snapshot type of opportunities for pictures of the Indi- Indian picture. Go to lie parade as- ans outside pueblos and reservations. sembly ground an hour before the pa- Since Indians participating in these rade starts. As the Indians congregate

APRIL, 1959 23 worthy piece of equipment for dramatic iiiSI close-ups. For example, a 135 mm. lens can produce a closely-framed head-and-shoulders portrait from a distance of six feet. It also eliminates distortion, and softens busy back- grounds. Variety is the spice of photograph- "I ing Indian life. Get pictures of tribes- men in pairs and groups. Film them SSSKf in action as they execute the intricate J Hoop Dance or the graceful Eagle Dance. Record their various moods and attitudes. Be on the look-out for human interest photos—the sleeping papoose in the cradleboard; the little Indian boy crying because his straw- a berry sno-cone went oops; the bashful teen-age girl; the concerned mother; s;|;||; the proud elder; the aloof cacique. Use of Filter When photographing Indians with Verichrome or panchromatic film, you can improve the texture and tone of IS your photos by using a medium yellow filter. This also will darken the sky HI enough to record cloud formations in the background. Check with your photo dealer for details if you have never filmed through filters. No doubt you will want enlarge- ments from your best Indian negatives. The slower the film, the more grain- free your blow-ups will be. I use M Panatomic-X. It is an extra fine grain film with an ASA (American Stand- Laguna Tribal Shield Dancer. ards Association) exposure index of Jerry Mirabel of Taos Pueblo. only 25. This gives me 8x10 and the subject staring into your camera 11x14 enlargements of good sharpness to include what you failed to photo- lens. My way of avoiding the posed and tonal graduation. If your camera graph. look may work for you. After I've has a slow lens use medium speed I make it a practice to get the name received an Indian's permission to pho- films such as Verichrome (ASA 80) and address of the Indians I photo- tograph him, I go off to the side and and All Weather Pan (ASA 64). Both graph. Then, after I return home, I wait. When another cameraman starts send them 8xl0-inch blow-ups of taking pictures of him head-on, I snap give highly satisfactory negatives. themselves. Their letters show that "unposed" profile pictures. When photographing Indians, you they appreciate the photos as much as An Indian garbed in a spectacular can save yourself a darkroom full of I appreciate the opportunity to take costume, such as a masked Apache disappointment by including more in the pictures. Dancer or a Zuni Olla Maiden, is your view-finder than you actually Last year I received an unusual photogenic from moccasins to head- need. That is insurance against not "thank you" from an Arizona Yaqui dress. But do not stop there. Move getting enough on the film. The sur- Indian for a picture I had taken of him in for a frame-filling portrait—not too plus area of a negative can be cropped during their Easter Ceremony. It was close, or you will get distortion. away when prints are being made— a large photo he had taken at the same A long-focus (telephoto) lens is a but a negative can never be stretched time—of me!—END

THE LAZY FELLOW AND THE THREE PIMA FABLES THE ASS AND THE WILD BOAR. INDUSTRIOUS ONE An impudent ass followed a wild boar, approached him and brayed. The A man had two sons. One liked to THE LAZY FELLOW sleep late in the morning, the other wild boar was at first enraged, but was very industrious and always rose A lazy fellow, when asked why he turning his head and seeing whence early. The latter went out one day stayed so long in bed, said I am busy this noise came he continued quietly in hearing counsels every morning. on his way. very early and found a purse filled Industry advises me to get up, sloth with money. He ran to his brother "Silence and contempt are the only commands me to lie still; both give me revenge that we ought to take of fools." and said, "Look, Louis, what I have 20 reasons either way. It is my duty gained by rising early." (These fables are taken from the to hear what they have to say; and Pima-English dictionary at the Bureau "Faith," answered he, "He that lost when both have concluded, it is already of American Ethnology, Smithsonian this purse rose earlier than you." noon. Institution.)

24 DESERT MAGAZINE. COUNTY DEFIES PARK HISTORIC PANORAMAS SERVICE; BUILDS ROAD By JOSEF and JOYCE MUENCH Indio, Calif.—Ignoring the National Park Service's stand against a direct road from Coachella Valley through Joshua Tree National Monument, Riv- Old Town, Albuquerque erside County has widened and im- proved a two-lane jeep trail up Berdoo Tucked away in the rapidly growing Tourists find unusual items includ- Canyon in the Little San Bernardino city of Albuquerque, preserving its ing custom-made Southwestern clothes Mountains to the Monument boundary. quaint atmosphere which nothing has in the little shops, Spanish food in There the new road connects with an been able to change completely, is Old the restaurants, and the handicrafts of old desert trail not maintained by the Town, the original Spanish settlement. native artisans who once supplied all Park Service. Around the square are shops and the essential needs of their' adobe Commercial interests in Coachella restaurants, with the old Church of households with utensils 'made with Valley and the Twentynine Palms area San Felipe de Neri at one side. A their own hands. long have advocated a direct route be- bandstand graces the center of the tween the two areas. The Park Service, shady grass plot where descendants of fearing that such a road would destroy the early Spanish founders (1706) put the wilderness aspect of much of the on their gayest of petticoated dresses Monument, has steadfastly refused to to dance, and lively songs are offered go along with the county's road plans. by caballeros in Spanish garb. The Desert Journal, published in Joshua Tree, reports that the "Monu- San Felipe Mission in Albuquerque's ment personnel is rather unhappy Old Town. This lovely old mission, about this new road, as the Park Serv- carefully preserved, belongs to the ice is concerned with its 'wilderness Spanish-Indian days of New Mexico. program' for posterity."

NEVADA SENDS TECHNICIAN TO INDIA FOR GAME BIRDS Carson City, Nev.—Glen Christen- sen, the Nevada Fish and Game De- partment upland game technician who recently won national recognition among professionals in the wildlife field for his successful planting of chukar partridges in the state, has been sent to India on a three-year pro- gram aimed at securing new exotic bird species for Nevada. In the few years that the chukar has been in Nevada, it has become the state's number one upland game bird. Experts say it is flourishing under the often difficult conditions imposed by the Silver State habitat. Almost every state in the Union has tried through the years, some since the late 1800s, to obtain foreign sport- ing birds to add to their existing game populations or to replace native birds which have become extinct. The ob- taining of these birds has been a hit or miss proposition, with people from this country having to depend on over- seas exporters on sight-unseen deals. This is the major obstacle Nevada hopes to overcome by sending Chris- tensen to India. Extensive research already has been done by Nevada and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on what species are the most promising for the state. Among these are sand grouse, black and gray francolins and seesee part- ridge.

APRIL, 1959 25 No Bayeta From Uniforms . . . Desert: . . . Bayeta never came from soldier uni- forms. Jesse W. Nusbaum, retired head of the National Park Service and probably the greatest authority on Indian Lore of the YOUR Southwest is quoted as saying: "The soldiers Response at Fort Sumner are supposed to have kept the Navajo weavers supplied with skeins of CflMP yarn from government commissaries, during the Indians' confinement at Bosque Redondo. Re. Guadalupe Solas . . . The soldiers wanted both large and small M 1 Desert: blankets. The commissaries were supplied with United States made yarn and there is I would like to correct an error in the no reason to think that it was not made WVLI CHEF! "Navajo Slave Blanket" article. in various colors and could easily have been The blanket in question was purchased mistaken for bayeta." from Senora Manuelita Otero. In your arti- cle you state that Senora Otero was the Of course bayeta was wool cloth, Ger- daughter of Guadalupe Salas, a Navajo slave mantown yarn is cotton. If the rug is defin- girl captured by men from Punta de Agua. itely made of wool, it is easier to believe My investigations show that Guadalupe that it was made from the wool of sheep Salas was the slave of a man by the name raised in New Mexico than the materials of Bunal Salas. She was never married, and mentioned above. I could not learn of any children born to SAMUEL E. PAYSON this girl. Several of the old-timers still re- El Centra, Calif. member the Navajo slave girl. Senora Otero was my aunt. Her father's (Regarding the bayeta in the blankets, name was Pablo Torres and her mother the author of our story, Joseph H. Tou- was Seferina Chavez y Salas. It made me louse, Jr., writes: "Mr. Payson is abso- very unhappy to see you publish statements lutely right . . . bayeta came in bolts which are so far from the truth. rather than from uniforms. However, FELIPE TORRES the identity of the salmon colored yarn KAMP-PACK Mountainair, New Mexico as bayeta was based upon extensive laboratory examinations by experts. CONCENTRATED FOODS The blankets were woven 15 years after For hikers, fishermen, campers! Navajo Blanket Lore . . . the Navajos were at Bosque Redondo, Desert: and the weaving took place in a small /f's quick fo cook... it's light to pack I wish to call your attention to some er- Spanish-American village—not on the rors and omissions in the "Navajo Slave Navajo Reservation. Therefore, weav- ...it tastes terrific! For example ... Blanket" article in the February '59 issue ing materials were not from the com- KAMP-PACK of your magazine. missaries of the Army nor from Indian The statement that ". . . The mottled red traders. The red which was generally of the blanket as well as the salmon was favored by the Navajo could have been made of unraveled bayeta from soldier uni- of other colors in markets among the forms . . ." is a grave misstatement. Actu- Spanish-Americans. The yarn used for ... one of 7 delicious daily diets avail- ally this is a bit of legendary lore which has the red and salmon in the Slave Blanket able in 4-man and 8-man envelopes. been going the rounds of the Southwest for was not homespun, but was commerci- ally twisted wool yarn."—Ed.) BREAKFAST a long time. I refer you to Amsden's Nav- aho Weaving, page 140 et. seq., for light on Ginger Buttermilk Griddle Cakes this matter. Maple Syrup The photograph of the blanket on page Mad at Hunters . . . Hot Chocolate 22 is in the files of the Laboratory of An- Desert: LUNCH thropology at Santa Fe, but bears no credit Vincent Elliott's letter in the February Spanish Rice with Creole Flavor line. The photograph on page 23 (also not issue supporting hunters made my blood credited) is one from the Wittick Collection boil. We have a place near the Colorado Hot Biscuits Fruit Punch in the Laboratory of Anthropology. River bounded on the north by a levee. DINNER GERTRUDE HILL This property is less than a mile from down- Cream of Chicken Soup Chief Librarian town Yuma, and we have it well posted with "No hunting" signs. Camper's Stew Museum of New Mexico Santa Fe Invariably a group of hunters drive down Banana Pudding Chocolate Milk Shake Supplementarles: Miracle sponge and detergent, vege- FREE CATALOG OF CAMPING table shortening, salt, hard candies and toilet tissues. HIKING, BACK-PACKING Moisture-proof, light-weight packag- EQUIPMENT ing. No refrigeration required. Meats Imported—Domestic packed in our own U. S. Govt. in- spected plant! Select from 120 items! SAVE on Superb Down Sleeping Bags All types MAIL COUPON TO NEAREST PLANT World's Finest Dehydrated Foods—Packs, etc. Bernard Food Industries, Inc., Dept. 217 N. Jefferson St., Chicago 6, Illinois Lightweight Tents 1208 E. San Antonio St., San Jose, Calif. Many Models 152 West 3rd Street N., Vancouver, B. C. Please send me complete information and WRITE TODAY! price list for KAMP-PACK foods. Name HIGHLAND IMPORTS "Polar- Address- 2865-B IVY STREET Model RIVERSIDE. CALIFORNIA City _State_

26 DESERT MAGAZINE the levee, stop long enough to shoot birds, started to come closer and closer to our taking a camera with him, instead of a gun. and then drive on. They don't even get out mountain home. It dawned on me that He might learn to like it. of their cars to "hunt." Many a time I they were showing their trust in us—and MRS. L. W. STROHMEYER have heard bullets whiz by my cabin, and we were getting far more enjoyment watch- San Gabriel, Calif. often we are showered with shot. ing their antics than we ever did killing After dove hunting season starts, you see them. Memories of Rhyolite . . . all types of birds lying dead on the ground After many years of close contact with Desert: where the hunters dropped them. City hunt- wildlife on our ranch, I don't regard these Nell Murbarger's story on Rhyolite (Feb- ers are the most destructive. They also are birds as being destructive. In fact they ruary) was endearing. I arrived in that litterbugs and despoilers. benefit ranchers by eating weed seeds. The southern Nevada mining town in April, MR. and MRS. H. E. LINDER damage to crops by birds and deer is highly 1906. My father, Richard T. Half acre, was Yuma over-rated. Most of the howls are raised superintendent of the Gibraltar Mine, one by city hunters who do more damage than of the two largest in the district. Love of Living Things . . . all the wildlife. Water, brought into Rhyolite from the Desert: O. F. KNIGHT Amargosa River at Beatty, sold for five Vincent Elliott's letter on dove hunting Strathmore, Calif. cents a gallon. When water was piped to brought to mind my early years as a cow- the town from Indian Springs, the price hand when I did a little shooting of birds. Trade Gun for Camera . . . dropped to two cents a gallon. Cooking As time went on there came to me a greater Desert: stove fuel was $5 for 10 gallons. Coal cost love of things in Nature. If Vincent Elliott needs a "means of get- $40 a ton, as did a cord of wood. The auto After I stopped hunting, quail and doves ting out into the country" he should try stage fare from Goldfield to Rhyolite—an 80 mile trip—was $50. Death Valley Scotty came often to our city, riding a big white mule. Scotty always wore khaki pants, red plaid shirt, high top miners' boots and a large light-colored Stet- son. He tossed silver dollars to the news- DESERT PRIMER boys—and to the smallest ones, those who could not successfully scramble for the coins with the bigger boys, he threw five dollar CARBON-14 dating prehistoric events gold pieces. In the fall of 1907 the miners began leav- Preliterate inhabitants of the formed indirectly by the action of ing Rhyolite. My folks gave away their Southwest were not concerned with cosmic rays on the earth's atmos- furniture and walked away from the house they owned on Golden Street. The Gibral- time as we know it. The seasons phere. The ratio of radioactive tar Mine had closed. I often heard my came and went, and if rain fell at Carbon-14 to normal Carbon-12 in father say that the Gibraltar was still a the opportune times and the food- the living object closely approxi- promising mine. Someone would have a mates the ratio in the atmosphere. good chance of finding more pockets of bearing plants followed, all was rich gold ore there, especially below the well. Days, months and years were When the object dies, the radio- working of the lowest level. The gold not recorded, nor were major events active C-14 atoms spontaneously pockets that were found were too small for in tribal history such as migrations, disintegrate and no new ones are a large company to mine at a profit. victories over enemies, defeats, and introduced. Thus, the ratio of C-14 MARGARET D. TRACEY periods of struggle in adapting to to C-12 begins to decrease over the Delta, Colorado new situations. Today, such occur- years in measurable quantities. The Morrow Boys . • . rences are of much interest and Scientists have found that C-14 Desert: practical value to us. has a half-life of 5568 years plus I enjoyed the story of the "Lost Morrow Turquoise Mine" in the October '58 Desert To determine these unrecorded or minus 30 years—which means Magazine. I stopped by to see the Morrow dates, scientists must employ a va- that one-half of a given quantity of boys recently, and they still are holding riety of techniques. Most widely- C-14 will have disintegrated during their own. known is the tree-ring method— a period of 5568 years. I first went to their home town of Oro Grande, California, 50 years ago this spring. applicable only to trees that have By counting the number of dis- I became acquainted with Harry and Penny definite growing seasons and deposit integrations of C-14 per minute of Morrow on that visit. that growth in annual rings. But, a given material — for instance a The following summer (1910) I spent the tree-ring technique has a serious on a desert claim. I don't know how many piece of charcoal from a campfire— rattlesnakes I killed that summer but I do shortcoming: it only can go back and comparing this value to the know I killed 13 right in camp. There were in time 2000 years — a relatively number of disintegrations of C-14 no cars in those days, and sidewinder tracks short period, historically speaking. were evident every morning along the dirt per minute produced by carbon roads. I think the auto is one of the reasons One of the most promising geo- from a present-day specimen, sci- rattlesnake populations are no longer large. chronologic (science of dating ter- entists are able to tell when that In 1927 I bought a ranch in this same dis- restrial events) advances is the de- ancient fire was made. trict and only killed two rattlesnakes on velopment of the Carbon-14 Age the place during the 18 years I resided there. It was in this way that the ap- ERNIE JORDAN Determination method. This tech- proximate date — 8000 B.C. — a Paradise, California nique is limited to those materials mammoth elephantine creature was that once were alive and which con- slaughtered and eaten by South- Predators Protected . . . tain carbon—but, the dating range western men near Naco, Arizona, Desert: has been pushed back to 40,000 The San Bernardino County Board of was determined. Scientists dated Supervisors recently ruled that only preda- B.C. the charcoal of a fire, found near tory animals known to be damaging to live- Carbon-14 is radioactive and the fossil remains of the elephant, stock are to be done away with. All other over which the ancient hunters had predators will be allowed to go unharmed so they can continue their good work of cooked portions of their kill. controlling the rodent population. My personal interest in this is that I en- joy seeing wild animals in the desert. The coyotes and bobcats which come to my water hole are very welcome visitors. There still are a few people who kill just for sport. Maybe this information will deter some of them. JAMES CASSELL Yucca Valley, Calif.

APRIL, 1959 27 SSS TREASURE $$$ New transistor metal detector finds lost or hidden treasure, coins, gold, silver, jewelry, relics. Profitable hobby. New underwat- er metal detector detects sunken ships, outboard motors, etc., in np to 300 feet of salt or fresh SOUTHWEST HEWS BEIEPS water. Operates from a boat. Scintillation counters. Many oilier models. Free catalog. GARDINER ELECTRONICS DEPT. 9 2545 E. INDIAN SCHOOL, PHOENIX, ARIZ. More Desert Parks . . . Navy to Return 1900 Acres . . . Palm Desert, Calif.—A petition to Hawthorne, Nev. — The Navy has the Riverside County Board of Super- taken steps to return to the public do- visors asking that 10 sites in the desert main 1900 acres of land in and around sector of the county be acquired for Hawthorne. Officials of that city re- park, recreation and wildlife preserva- quested the land release. They told tion has been prepared by the Desert the Navy the land was urgently needed Protective Council of which Dr. Hor- for city expansion. ace Parker is president and Harry C. James executive-director. The sites Death Valley Road Approved . . . Camper's Choice—KAR KAMP Death Valley, Calif.— The north- Sets up in 5 Minutes proposed by the Council include Falls You'll be all set to enjoy the outdoors year Creek in the San Jacinto Mountains; end loop highway that will connect 'round in a KAR KAMP. It's always ready for that spur-of-the-moment week-end vaca- Cat Palm Canyon, Hidden Palms, Dos the Scotty's Castle area in Death Val- tion or hunting or fishing trip. ley with Big Pine came a step nearer Unrolls from aluminum carrier on top of Palmas and Bear Creek Oasis in the car and assembles into a completely enclosed Santa Rosa Mountains; Pushawalla to reality when the Inyo County Board room 7V4xlO%' in just 5 minutes. Rolls back into carrier in even less time. Entire inter- Palm Canyon in the Indio Hills, Corn of Supervisors voted to extend the ior is useable. No center poles. All corners, county road from the sulphur mines doors and windows are equipped with rust- Springs and Chuckawalla Spring in the proof zippers. The 8 oz. D.F. canvas utilized area on the east side of Eureka Valley is water-repellent and mildew proof. Full Chuckawalla Mountains, Dos Palmas size canvas floor covering included. KAR on the Bradshaw Stage route and to the Sands Springs area at the north KAMP, when erected, gives you direct access end of the DV Monument. The new to your car and can be quickly detached Wiley's Well. "While it is not practi- allowing car to be driven away. cable to develop all these park areas construction will be six miles in length. Complete 7'/2XlO'/4' room, including car- The Supervisors pointed out that one rier, only $199.95 freight prepaid. Smaller at once," the petition states, "the land sizes also available. Order now! For further should be acquired by the county with- of the world's largest dunes is located information write: in Eureka Valley, and that site could If AD IS AMD LJCr 8925 EAST GARVEY AVENUE out delay so they will be available as become a haven for desert photogra- K.AK KAMr Mrb, SOUTH SAN GABR|EL| CAUF, population pressure increases." A few choice territories available for agents. phers. Boating Center Planned . . . Little Valley, Utah—The Utah Park For business and Recreation Commission an- or pleasure, nounced preliminary plans for the de- for anything IN THE WEST velopment of a state park and recrea- under the sun tion area on the shores of the Great Bonanza flies you GO BY AIR Salt Lake in the vicinity of the com- to the fun! munity of Little Valley. The town is GO BONANZA construction headquarters for Southern Now serving Pacific Railroad's causeway project 22 resort cities in across the Lake. Little Valley will be California, Arizona, abandoned in mid-July when the fill Nevada and Utah project is completed, the Box Elder Journal said. A park official reported RENO that the harbor and three-mile long channel dredged at Little Lake by the S.P. offers excellent boating op- portunities. The causeway project is expected to cost $49,000,00. It will replace the historic wooden trestle crossing. Famed Mud Pots Reappear . . .

APPLE VAUEY Niland, Calif. — The Salton Sea's mud pots, covered two years ago by LOS ANGELES INTL. rising water, have reappeared. The miniature geysers are located about two miles south of their original loca-

SAN DIEGO tion. Riverside County officials said an access road will be built to the mud pots, and plank walks placed COMING SOON around them for visitor convenience. F-27 Silver Darts . . . America's newest The land crust in the mud pot vicinity turbo-prop airplanes is thin and presents a potentially seri- ous danger to visitors. The under- ground water and steam which bubbles to the surface here reaches the boiling FLY BONANZA AIR LINES point. 28 DESERT MAGAZINE Coyote Decline Noted . . . Damsite Town Rises . . . Vernal, Utah — Bounty hunters in Dutch John, Utah — Nearly com- SEARCH FOR Uintah County are bringing in 12 times pleted is the construction community LOST TREASURES more bobcats than they are coyotes, it of Dutch John—and now engineers OF THE WEST . . . are focusing their attention on work was reported. Thirteen years ago, TREASURE HUNT when the bounty committee of the on the Flaming Gorge Dam itself. local woolgrowers association was or- Scheduled for completion this month THE MODERN ganized, the ratio was almost 20 coy- is the 1100-foot diversion tunnel which WAY otes to one bobcat. will carry the waters of the Green River around the damsite. Tones Re-election Protested . . . Window Rock, Ariz. — Paul Jones State Leases Goblin Valley . . . was the only candidate nominated for Goblin Valley, Utah—Federal au- the chairmanship of the Navajo Tribal thorities approved a lease granting the Council in four provincial conventions Utah Park and Recreation Commis- —but hundreds of Navajos have signed sion 640 acres in Goblin Valley. The petitions protesting his apparent re- Valley is 20 miles north of Hanksville election. The Indian Bureau said the and is regarded as one of the most petitions charge irregularities in his spectacular examples of the forces of nomination which "prevented a fair erosion in the Southwest. The state is ..You have heard the many stories of buried and impartial election." Jones is com- seeking a total acquisition of 15,360 -; treasures, lost mines, and ghost towns through- out the west: the lost Sublett mine near Carls- pleting his second four-year term. acres in the Goblin area. ^^'"ibad Caverns, the lost Dutchman mine. Super* .u^stition Mountain, and many more. Using the A'right kind of modern equipment, treasure hunt •• ing can be fun and exciting. .'Your next trip to the desert can be excitingly Here is another lesson for Des- "different if you take along a GOLDAK metal ert Magazine's class in desert- ^locator. Using the latest electronic principles, a TRUE OR FALSE: GOLDAK locator can detect metals up to 27 ology. The questions include feet below the surface of the ground. history, geography, mineralogy, botany, Indians and the general lore of 5 models include, transistorized instruments, underwater metal detectors, geiger and scintil- the desert country. All the answers have appeared in past issues of Desert lation counters. Magazine. A score of 12 to 14 is fair, 15 to 17 is good, 18 is excellent. You may find ... If you get over 18 right you may go to the head of the class. The answers • Indian relics • Western lore • Valu- are on page 33. able coins • Gold ore • Buried treasure

1—Desert tortoises are hatched from eggs. True False Write for free literature and information on new 2—If you wanted to visit the Dinosaur National Monument you would book of known treasures. go to the state of Nevada. True False The GOLDAK Company 3—Ironwood is too hard to burn. True False 1544 W. Glenoaks, Blvd. . Glendale, Calif. 4—Camelback Mountain may be seen from Phoenix. True False 5—Desert holly sheds its leaves when winter comes. True False .... . 6—-The book, The Winning of Barbara Worth, telling the story of the Keep your reclamation of Imperial Valley, California, was written by Zane Grey. True False DESERT MAGAZINES 7—Indian tribesmen in the Rio Grande Valley of New Mexico were in attractive loose-leaf growing corn before Coronado came to that area. True— _. False 8—The padres known in history as the "Black Robes" were Jesuits. True False 9—Cactus wrens often build their nests in Beavertail cactus. True BINDERS False Gold embossed on Spanish 10—Joshua Tree National Monument is located in southern Arizona. Grain Imitation Leather True False 11—The roots of certain species of yuccas are used by the Indians for Space for 12 magazines soap. True False Easily inserted 12—Stage coaches on Butterfield's Overland Mail Line crossed the Colo- A BEAUTIFUL AND PRACTICAL ADDITION rado River at Ehrenberg. True False TO YOUR HOME BOOK-SHELF 13—Nogales, Arizona, is located in territory purchased by the United $2.50 States in the Gadsden Purchase. True False 14—Pumice stone is of volcanic origin. True False Mailed Postpaid 15—Telescope Peak overlooking Death Valley is in the Panamint Range. Send orders to: True False DESERT MAGAZINE 16—Window Rock, Arizona, is the tribal headquarters for the Apache PALM DESERT, CALIFORNIA Indians. True False 17—Wickenburg, Arizona, is located on the bank of the Hassayampa River. True False Out of the past—(Acetate) 18—A good automobile road provides easy access to Rainbow Bridge ARROWHEAD JEWELRY! ISurrtugs: Large, med S2 pr. National Monument in southern Utah. True False .Necklace: 18" chain SI.50 19—The Lost Dutchman mine in the Superstition Mountains of Arizona l.ariat Tie: Lge. arrowh'd. leatherette cord SI.50 has been relocated. True False Flint Arrowhead Making Secret: Ancient meth'ds. 20—The Padre who accompanied Juan Bautista de Anza on his historic Illustrated. Guaranteed..SI.00 trek from Tubac to Monterey with California's first colony of white Free catalog. Use postcard for C.O.D. orders settlers was Father Font. True False CHIEF BT,ACKHA\VK Box 5B1-DM, Kennewick, Wash.

APRIL, 1959 29 WE NOW have turquoise and rocks in Battle Mountain, Nevada, on U.S. Highway 40. Todd's Rock Shop.

THE DESERT TRADING POST CAVE CREEK jasper $1.50 pound or 4 pounds Classified Ad rates are 15c per word, $3 for $5 postpaid. Sadler, 719 E. Moreland, minimum per issue. Copy deadline for Phoenix, Arizona. the May issue is April 1. Mail copy to: Trading Post, Desert Magazine, Palm GENUINE TURQUOISE: Natural color, blue and DINOSAUR BONE. Gem quality colorful agatized, Desert, California. bluish green, cut and polished cabochons—25 jasperized, opalized bone 50c pound. Also carats (5 to 10 stones according to size) $3.50 beautiful red lace agate $1 pound. Postage including tax, postpaid in U.S.A. Package 50 extra. Gene Stephen, Route 2, Grand Junction, carats (10 to 20 cabochons) $6.15 including Colorado. tax, postpaid in U.S.A. Elliott Gem & Mineral • BOOKS-MAGAZINES Shop, 235 E. Seaside Blvd., Long Beach 2, Cal. WE ARE mining every day. Mojave Desert agate, jasper and palm wood shipped mixed 100 "GEMS & Minerals Magazine," largest rock hobby OPAL, AMETHYST, etc. 10 ringsize stones, ground pounds $10.50 F.O.B. Barstow. Morton Min- monthly. Field trips, "how" articles, pictures, and polished ready to set, $5. Opals, deep erals & Mining, 21423 Highway 66, R.F.D. 1, ads. $3 year. Sample 25c. Box 687J, Mentone, red, blue, green, golden flashing in all colors Barstow, California. California. of the rainbow, direct from the mine, 15 for $5. Kendall, Sanmiguel d'Allende, Guanaju- TURQUOISE FOR sale. Turquoise in the rough CALIFORNIA-NEVADA —Gem Hunters Atlas. A ato, Mexico. priced at from $5 to $50 a pound. Royal Blue whole book of maps showing hundreds of Mines Co., Tonopah, Nevada. rock collecting areas in these two highly CALIFORNIA DESERT rocks. Gem quality. Pol- mineralized states. An excellent all purpose ished. Large assortment. One dollar postpaid. CHOICE WESTERN gem rocks: rough, 75c pound, atlas showing highways, mileages, towns, Pollard, 12719 Laurel Street, Lakeside, Calif. verd antique, pink-black dolomitic marble, campsites, points of interest. Price $1, post- howlite, mariposite, red palm root. Minimum paid. Also, Gem Huniers Atlas—Southwest. AUSTRALIAN TUMBLED gemstones. 8 different order 5 pounds. Slabs, same rocks, 35c square Covers Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Colorado. polished baroques, identified, suitable for inch, except palm root, 50c. Minimum order 8 $1, postpaid. Scenic Guides, Box 288, Susan- necklace or chain bracelet. Send $1 plus 10c square inches. Prices cover postage, tax. Ben- ville, California. postage. Bensusan, 8615 Columbus Ave., susan, 8615 Columbus Ave., Sepulveda, Calif. Sepulveda, California. BOOKS: "PANNING Gold for Beginners," 50c. SPECIAL 30 sq. in. top quality cab material- "Gold in Placer," $3. Frank J. Harnagy, 701 Vi WORLD GEM collection. Blue agate, lace agate, includes plume, jaspers, woods, etc. $3. Write E. Edgeware, Los Angeles 26, Calif. obsidian, rhodonite, malachite, Montana agate, for price list other materials. The Tailgater, tigereye, chrysocolla, petrified wood, Apache Box 548, Palm Springs, Calif. OUT-OF-print books at lowest prices! You name tear drop, rose quartz, jade, aventurine, mar- it—we find it! Western Americana, desert and casite, amethyst and jasper. These are highly TURQUOISE - EXCEPTIONALLY clean American Indian books a specialty. Send us your wants. polished nugget shaped pieces approximately water worn nuggets in pure undyed natural No obligation. International Bookfinders, Box % in. long. Valuable as a collector's item or colors and higrade solids. $5 brings your 3003-D, Beverly Hills, California. ready for setting. 16 pieces mounted on choice postpaid 150 grams "good" or 125-g. museum piece card $4 postpaid. Money back BACK ISSUES Desert Magazine. January, May, "better" or 100-g. "best." Desertgems, Maca- guarantee. Reserve yours early. It's a hand- tawa, Michigan. November, '42; February, '44; August, No- made item. World Gems, 522 Dillon Place, vember, '45; February, April, May, August, San Bernardino, Calif. '46; February, '47; April, July, September, '48; UTAH ROCKS. Petrified wood, dinosaur bone, January, April, '49; all: $20 postpaid. Merle beaver agate, snowflake obsidian, 50c pound. Vogt, Box 42, Von Ormy, Texas. • GEMS, MINERALS-FOSSILS Slabs, 25c square inch. Selenite, white onyx, 15c pound. Postage extra. Hubert's Rock NEVADA ORES—high grade lead galena, cinnabar, Shop, Hurricane, Utah. "BIRDS OF the Southwestern Desert." Now avail- dumortierite, many more. Color slides, old able . . . the detailed story of 5 years of des- relics, ox shoes. Write for big new list today BRECCIATED JASPER, red-blue agate, $1.50 ert bird watching. A fascinating report of their to: E. W. Darrah, Box 606, Winnemucca, Nev. strange ways and about the desert plant and pound, 5 pounds $5 postpaid. "Pyle," 105 South Granite, Prescott, Arizona. animal life they depend upon for existence. A 12 POUNDS of beautiful Colorado mineral speci- wealth of desert lore. Only $1.95. Double- mens, $8 prepaid. Ask for list of others. shoe Publishers, Rte. 2, Box 413D, Scottsdale, Jack the Rockhound, P.O. Box 245, Carbon- Arizona. 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, ARE YOU interested in prospecting for minerals, Fossils, Clifford H. Earl, P. O. Box 188, trade for things wanted. Let Mother Nature or rockhunting? Write for literature to United Sedona, Arizona. finance outings, hobby, business. Details 4c Prospectors, 701V2 E. Edgeware, Los Angeles, stamp. "Suppliers' Bulletin" 25c. D. McCamp- 26, California. GEMMY FLUORITE octahedrons. 3 pairs $1. Each bell, Box 503, Calexico, 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 RHYOLITE, FOUR colorslides $1. Overall view, COMPLETE STOCK of crystallized and massive supplies, mountings, fluorescent lamps, books. Bottle House, bank ruins, RR station. Long- minerals. Please send for free list to: Con- Valley Art Shoppe, 21108 Devonshire Street, street, 5453 Virginia, Hollywood 29, Calif. tinental Minerals, P.O. Box 1206, Anaconda, Chatsworth, California. Montana. COLOR SLIDES. Re-live your vacation trips. 3000 NOW OPEN — Jacumba Rock and Shell Shop, travel Kodachromes, parks, U.S., foreign, na- • GEMS, ROUGH MATERIAL P.O. Box 34, Jacumba, California. Owners: ture, etc. Free list (sample 30c). Send today. Les and Ruth Starbuck. Kelly D. Choda, Box 15, Palmer Lake, Colo. OPALS AND sapphires direct from Australia. This month's best buy: 1 ounce fine Anda- DESERT ROCKS, woods, jewelry. Residence rear • GEMS, CUT-POLISHED mooka opal, 1 ounce fine Coober Pedy opal, of shop. Rockhounds welcome. Mile west on 1 ounce fiery opal chips. All three ounces U.S. 66. McShan's Gem Shop and Desert VEIN RUN "thunder eggs" of picture agate, gem opal $18, free airmailed. Send personal Museum. P.O. Box 22, Needles, California. some contain amethyst, 50c per pound, in 10 check, international money order, bank draft. pound lots. C. Earl Napier "For Rock," 1205 Free 16 page list of all Australian gemstones. SHAMROCK ROCK Shop, 1115 La Cadena Drive, Wyoming St., Boulder City, Nev. Phone 410. Australian Gem Trading Co., 49 Elizabeth Riverside, California. Phone OVerland 6-3956. Street, Melbourne, Australia. Specimens, minerals, slabs, findings, etc. BOLA AND jewelry finding price list. Compare our prices before you buy. Please include 10c IMPORTED GEM materials: Buy from your resi- VISIT GOLD Pan Rock Shop. Beautiful sphere to cover cost of mailing. Dealers send resale dent, dependable and well established dealer material, mineral specimens, choice crystals, number for wholesale list. The Hobby Shop, selected tumbling, cabochon, and choice facet- cutting materials, jewelry, bolo ties, baroques, Dept. DM, P.O. Box 753, 619 North 10th ing gemstones in the rough, our specialty spheres, bookends, paperweights, cabochons, Avenue (Hiway 30), Caldwell, Idaho. being Australian fire opals. Also widest selec- faceted stones, fluorescents, jewelry findings, tion of cut stones such as jade, rubies, emer- lapidary equipment and supplies, Navajo rugs, TUMBLE POLISHED gemstones—best varieties- alds, sapphires, opals, also synthetics, etc. custom sawing—by the inch or shares. Saws, satisfaction guaranteed. $2.35 Ib. plus post- Price lists available. Wholesale and retail. up to 30-inch diameters. John and Etta James, age. Capped: 25c each. Spring Creek Agate Francis Hoover, 11526 Burbank Blvd., North proprietors, 2020 North Carson Street on High- Shop, Lewistown, Montana. Hollywood, California. way 395 north end of town. Carson City, Nev. 30 DESERT MAGAZINE ROCKS-OPPOSITE West End Air Base, agate, ASSAYS. COMPLETE, accurate, guaranteed. High- woods, minerals, books, local information. No est quality spectrographic. Only $5 per sam- • MISCELLANEOUS mail orders please. Ironwood Rock Shop, ple. Reed Engineering, 620-R So. Inglewocd MAKE BEAUTIFUL expensive-looking belts from Highway 60-70 west of Blythe, California. Ave., Inglewood, California. window screen. Complete instructions and sample only $1. Royer, 322 North Parish, ULTRAVIOLET LAMPS, equipment, accessories for Burbank, California. e INDIAN GOODS mineralogists, prospectors, hobbyists. Free COLLECTION OF 105 relics: 10 spearheads, 10 literature. Radiant, Manufacturers, DM, Cam- MICROSCOPES, NEW and used, $6 to $72. Tele- drills, 10 birdpoints, 10 flint knives, 5 scrapers, bria Heights 11, New York. scopes, prospector supplies. Write for details. 60 arrowheads; $50. (1 /5 of this collection: Peninsula Scientific, 2421 El Camino, Palo Alto, $11). 6 different strands trade beads, $10. 3 Calif. different old Indian baskets, $10. Iroquoise • REAL ESTATE TRAILER—1957 Sun Valley teardrop. Sleeps two, mask $25. Also other relics, beadwork, pipes, water tank, sink, refrigerator, butane stove. tomahawks, warbonnets; foreign relics: weap- IN PICTURESQUE Randsburg. 3 room desert 10-foot overall, approximately 750 pounds, ons, carvings. Paul Summers, Canyon, Texas. home, nicely furnished. Outside facilities, electricity and water in. Superb view. On two better than new condition. $350. Carswell, FINE RESERVATION-MADE Navajo and Zuni jew- lots. Full price $1100. O'Brien's, 1116 Wilcox Torrance, Calif. DA 3-2646. Ave., Hollywood 38, Calif. HO 5-5424. elry. Old pawn. Hundreds of fine old bas- NEW ROCKHOUND hammer holder! Compact all kets, moderately priced, in excellent condition. metal. Wear it on your belt. $1 postpaid. Navajo rugs, Chimayo homespuns, artifacts. A 5 ACRES desert land. Wonderful view of the Dealers write for wholesale prices. P. W. collector's paradise! Open daily 10 to 5:30, desert—Lucerne Valley Highlands, Lucerne Val- Mfg. Co., Box 577, Canadian, Texas. closed Mondays. Buffalo Trading Post, High- ley, California. $3000—Terms. Owner: Kath- way 18, Apple Valley, California. leen Wise, 40 Navajo Road, Flagstaff, Arizona. LADY GODIVA "The World's Finest Beautifier." For women who wish to become beautiful, FROM OLD Comanche hunting grounds: Indian HIGH BEAUTIFUL 80 acres looking down on for women who wish to remain beautiful. An artifacts, buffalo skulls. Mounted horns, West- Salton Sea. $300 per acre. Write Ronald L. outstanding desert cream. For information, ern lamps. Prices on request. Thunderbird Johnson, Thermal, California. write or call Lola Barnes, 963 N. Oakland, Trading Post, Highway 80 at Brazos River, Pasadena 6, Calif., or phone SYcamore 4-2378. Millsap, Texas. DESERT INVESTMENT. 20 acres, fertile, level land on road. Crescent Valley, Nevada. With FIND FLUORESCENT minerals the easy way. New AUTHENTIC INDIAN jewelry, Navajo rugs, Chi- membership hunting lodge, dude ranch. $1495 detector operates in daylight without batteries. mayo blankets, squaw boots, old Indian col- full price. $50 down, $20 month. Owner, Fits in pocket and eliminates dark box. Price lection. Closed Tuesdays. Pow-Wow Indian Henion, 2086 E. Colorado, Pasadena, Calif. $12.50. Free brochure. Essington Products Trading Post, 19967 Ventura Blvd., East Wood- and Engineering, Box 4174, Coronado Station, land Hills, Calif. Open Sundays. BEAUTIFUL NEW 2 bedroom mountain home, Santa Fe, New Mexico. with guest house and workshop. Huge MAILING SERVICE: Prompt forwarding. $3 per THREE FINE prehistoric Indian war arrowheads double fireplace, beamed ceiling. Located on month. Remails: $.25. Desert Mails, P.O. Box $1. Flint scalping knife $1. Rare flint thunder- 6% acres between Lake Henshaw and Borrego 545, Winterhaven, California. bird $3. All for only $4. Catalog free. Arrow- Desert. Plenty water, mild climate, elevation head, Glenwood, Arkansas. 3800 feet. Furnished, $19,500. Owner: J. WANTED—ONE or more pair desert fox puppies. Vanderstaay, Ranchita, Calif. State price in first letter. Chauncey Groom, FLINT ARROWHEAD making secret! Ancient Forsyth, Montana. methods. Illustrated. $1. Guaranteed. Catalog FOR SALE: Frontage for roadside business on free. Chief Blackhawk, Kennewick 7, Wash- heavily traveled U.S. 380, 33 miles east Ros- ington. well, New Mexico. $2 per front foot, 700 feet deep. H. B. Cozzens, Box 873, Grants, FASCINATING INDIAN flint chipping! Easy, New Mexico. LOOKING FOR THE profitable. Complete kit of tools, materials and instructions: $2. Instruction booklet only: VACATION, WEEKEND, retirement homes in 75c. Guaranteed satisfaction. Lobo, Box 144- Lucerne Valley owned by Pasadena profes- Perfect MD, Carlsbad, New Mexico. sional and business people. Water, electricity. BIRTHDAY GIFT? A few re-sales below market value. $3900 to SELLING 100,000 Indian relics. 100 nice ancient $12,500. Wm. Russell, Room 423, 595 E. LET US SEND A BIT OF SOUTHWEST arrowheads $25. Grooved stone tomahawk $3. Colorado, Pasadena. SYcamore 2-7101; Vlc- SUNSHINE AND THE GRANDEUR OF Perfect spearhead over 8 inches long $20. torville 7-7493. Indian skull $25. Ancient water bottle from THE OPEN SPACES TO THE HONOREE. grave $7. List free. Lear's, Glenwood, Ark. 80 ACRES near Lockhart, level, $125 acre, 25% down. 20 acres Highway 395, level, north of A YEAR OF Adelanto, $150 acre, 10% down. 2Vi acres • MAPS west of Adelanto, level, $1495, 10% down. SECTIONIZED COUNTY maps - San Bernardino 2'/2 acres Lancaster on paved highway, shal- Desert Magaz $1.50; Riverside $1; Imperial, small $1, large low water, level, $2495, 10% down. Dr. $4 $2; San Diego 50c; Inyo, western half $1.25, Dodge, 1804 Lincoln Blvd., Venice, Calif. eastern half, $1.25; Kern $1.25; other Califor- AN ATTRACTIVE BIRTHDAY GREETING IN FAMOUS mining town of Alamos, Sonora, nia counties $1.25 each. Nevada counties $1 CARD BEARING YOUR NAME WILL BE Mexico, old adobe house restored to sound each. Topographic maps of all mapped west- MAILED WITH THE FIRST ISSUE. condition—high adobe wall encloses large lot ern areas. Westwide Maps Co., 114 W. Third —some plumbing and electricity. Rich mineral St., Los Angeles, California. belt here. Gulf fishing 60 miles distant. Amer- DESERT MAGAZINE ican colony. $10,000. Leo V. Walsh, 6023 Palm Desert, Calif. Arlington Ave., Los Angeles. • MINING Sirs: Please send the next 12 issues of PAN GOLD: $1 for 75 panning areas in 25 Cali- DESERT to: fornia counties. Geological formations, eleva- WESTERN MERCHANDISE Name tions, pertinent notes. Panning pans $2.75, $2.25. Leather nugget and dust poke $1. ANTIQUE FIREARMS. $12 and up. Indian relics. Address Fred Mark, Box 801, Ojai, California. Bargain list 25c. Visit us. Open daily, includ- ing Sunday. Tontz Country Store, Elsinore, Cal. WESTERN MINING News, monthly, for miners, prospectors, claim owners, $2 per year. Sam- "YOUR SECRET gold mine." We buy or trade Sign the gift card: ple copy 25c. Box 787, Sonora, Calif. for relics, curios, artifacts, bottles, guns, his- torical items, etc. Rock and mineral specimens WILL SELL or lease or trade highly mineralized singles or collections. Send $1 for pamphlet patented section 13, township 5 north, range My name and address: describing and listing alphabetically these 15 east, SBB&M, Calif, about 10 miles south articles. Putnam, 20 Hull Avenue, Jerome, Essex in the Old Woman Mts. Mining District. Arizona—America's Biggest Ghost Town. Carries: beryl, rare earths, molybdenite, gold, silver, platinum. Lease $1 a year per acre GHOST TOWN items: Sun-colored glass, amethyst plus 5% royalty apply on purchase price $15,- to royal purple; ghost railroads materials, 000. Will trade land or properties equal val- tickets; limited odd items from camps of the D $4 enclosed ues. Reports on minerals are available. Write '60s. Write your interest—Box 64-D, Smith, • Bill Bill Yim, Amboy, California. Nevada.

APRIL, 1959 31 FOREST SERVICE CREATES WHEELER SCENIC AREA Few Mldflowets Expected In April Elko, Nev. — The National Forest One of the most discouraging wild- the late spring months. The rains of Service has taken the lead in develop- flower prospects in many years faces winter and early spring were not suf- ing the outdoor recreation potential of ficient to give the wind-scattered seeds Wheeler Peak in eastern Nevada. A from last year's spectacular mass 28,000 acre section of the Snake blooming a chance to germinate. Range was designated as the Wheeler There only are a few bright glim- Peak Scenic Area by the Forest Serv- mers of hope. Bruce Black, naturalist ice, and plans were told for a two-way at Joshua Tree National Monument road up Lehman Creek to Stella Lake, in Southwestern California, predicts camping and picnicking facilities near that canyons in the western half of the the lake, and a trail to Matthes Glacier. Monument will show considerable A spokesman for the Great Basin bloom. Joshua trees and Mojave yuc- National Park Association which has ca should be in bloom in April. been spearheading a campaign to es- From Death Valley National Mon- tablish Nevada's first national park in ument, Superintendent Fred W. Bin- the Wheeler Peak-Lehman Caves area, newies reports good prospects for said his organization welcomed the wildflower displays at altitudes around additional recognition given the area 2000 feet. Five-spot, phacelia, prim- by the Forest Service. The new recre- rose, gravel-ghost, beavertail cactus, ation status of the area may help speed and California poppy should be in establishment of the national park, he bloom during April, he writes. said. Earl Jackson, naturalist at the South- west Archeological Center, Globe, Ari- zona, sends this forecast for April wildflowers: numerous desert mari- M4 golds; many little annual lupines; and at least two species of mallows. Wotkin$ & Guest Rmch Summing up the 1959 wildflower Enjoy a family vacation on a working Wilton Hoy Photo season, Park Naturalist George Olin cattle ranch with fine accommodations and excellent food. Ride good horses over of the Saguaro National Monument beautiful mountain trails. Swim in our writes: ". . . if we had flowers in pro- pool. Take Jeep trips to ancient Pueblo A RARE MITATM fusion every spring, much of the thrill ruins and active uranium mines. Take Col- orado River boat trips. You will find the Come see and photograph beauti- of the 'blooming desert' would vanish." red rock canyon country of Southeastern Utah fascinating and awe-inspiring. ful, gentle and colorful GLEN PARK OFFICIALS BAR CANYON of the River Colorado. TRICK MOUNTAIN CLIMBING Euerett 6 Betty Schumaher Box 963, Moab, Utah Alpine 3-6801 MAY AND JUNE. 1959 Washington, D. C. — Park officials throughout the nation were directed to EIGHT week-end river trips . . . prohibit trick or stunt mountain climb- Friday & Saturday runs of every other week, and Thursday, Fri- ing. The order came from Conrad day, Saturday on alternate weeks. Wirth, director of the National Park Launchings at HITE, Utah . . . Service. It will be in effect until the INDIAN MAP Landings at Crossing of the Fath- release of a new policy regarding ers, on the very trail where on mountain climbing now in the process Nov. 7, 1776, Padres Dominguez T- of being framed. Beautifully illustrated in color, 17" and Escalante and party walked. x 22", of the Indians of the South- On the 3-day boat runs you may The action was prompted by last west. Authentic data on the lan- guage, culture group and customs hike to RAINBOW BRIDGE, 5% year's conquest of El Capitan in Yo- of these tribes. Locations of im-$1.50 miles. semite, and other daring climbs. The portant reservations are shown. Postpaid Ideal for teachers, librarians, Boy First 2-day fare, $60. Deposit, $15 Yosemite fete was accomplished by the Scouts and map collectors. A per- Class feet gift for children. Shipped in Mail 3-day fare, $85. Deposit, $20 use of pegs or spikes, driven or cardboard tube ready for framing. Write for details on overland screwed into the face of cliffs, and transportation, and/or share on COLIN HOUSSE • Box 514 • WESTWOOD 80, H.I. charter flights. Very fair rates. ropes. These spikes deface and dam- Identify the camera location of age property, Wirth said, and Park above photo and receive $5 credit Service employees are exposed to dan- on any boating fare. ger when they attempt to remove them. For the person who becomes Wirth also was critical of the pub- our 1000th boating guest, the full fare will be refunded at landing. licity which accompanied the Yosemite JEEP TOURS Note our current ads in "Desert episode. He said the climbers hoped Magazine" of: Dec. Jan. Feb. Mar. to profit commercially from their dan- Write for information on our gerous venture. MONUMENT VALLEY 1000 mile Arctic River Expedition ACCOMMODATIONS AVAILABLE of July and August 1959. KENT FROST JEEP TRIPS MOTELS 8. CAFES Into the Famous Utah Needles Area Junction of the Green and Colorado rivers; TOURS, ARTS & CRAFTS MUSEUM Indian and Salt creeks; Davis, Lavender, LARABEE and ALESON Monument, Red, Dark and White canyons; Dead Horse and Grand View points; Hoven- BERNIE MAHER WESTERN RIVER TOURS weep and Bridges national monuments. 3-dav or longer trips for 2-6 person parties Box 166 — Kayenfa, Arizona Richfield, Utah —S25 daily per person. Includes sleeping bass, transportation, guide service, meals. 160 miles N.E. of Flagstaff Write KENT FROST, Monticello, TJtah.

32 DESERT MAGAZINE DESERT MAGAZINE'S Grave Robbers Warned . . . Sacaton, Ariz. — The Gila River Reservation may become off-limits to all visitors if burial sites there continue to be disturbed by people apparently seeking pottery buried with the dead.

Photographer Josef Muench of Santa Barbara, Calif., whose work appears on For Hummingbirds Only this month's front cover, recently won No other bird or bee can reach the Richfield Oil Corporation's year- the honey water in this feeder. long contest for the best Western wildflower photo. His winning entry, worth $750, was It cannot drip a picture of a spread of poppies in Arizona. —•— Nothing; to rust We welcome your contributions to this column. For recipes accepted for publi- "Touring Mexico for Minerals" was writ- Easy to clean cation, we will pay $2. Please limit to ten by a woman who knows her rocks, for Mexican, barbecue or camp-out dishes. Mary S. Shaub is a graduate in geology More enjoy- from Smith College, and has published many ment than you Send recipes and return postage to Recipes, ever thought Desert Magazine, Palm Desert, Cailfornia. articles in leading mineralogy journals. But, possible. mineralogy is not the only field of natural BARBECUED GROUND BEEF history with which the Shaubs are interested. A very heart- At their home in Northampton, Massachu- warming gift. 1 lb. ground beef shoulder setts, they operate the Shaub Ornithological 1 cup chopped onion Research Station where they have banded Full 8000 birds. The Shaubs also publish the Instructions 1 cup chopped green pepper Evening Grosbeak Survey News, and in their Included 1 tablespoon shortening "spare time" are active members of local camera, Nature and mineral clubs. (Sorry, no C.O.D.'s. Please add 18c postage 1 teaspoon salt *

NEW SIXTH EDITION TRUE OR FALSE ANSWERS ART OF Questions are on page 29 1—True. Jeep GEM CUTTING 2—False. Dinosaur National Monu- By DR. H. C. DAKE ment is in Utah. Take Care of Your A standard textbook lor the amateur 3—False. Dead ironwood makes Transportation Problems and commercial gem cutter since 1938 wonderful campfire fuel. 4—True. —now revised and brought up-to-date WRITE OR COME IN to include the most modern techniques 5—False. Desert holly is an ever- used in the lapidary arts. green. FOR YOUR PRICE LIST 6—False. Harold Bell Wright wrote New edition contains: 120 illustrations We are in the position of being able including many of latest gem cutting equip- this book. 7—True. 8—True. to take care o{ your special problems. ment; section on tumbling; detailed de- 9—False. Beavertail grows too close scription of sawing, grinding, polishing, to the ground for good nesting. cabochons, facet cutting, specimen finish- 10—False. Joshua Tree National We Are ing, gem identification, sphere cutting, etc. Monument is in California. The Oldest WILLYS Paper cover; 128 pages 11—True. 12—False. Butterfield's stages crossed Dealer on the West Coast $2.00 the Colorado at Yuma. Please add 10c for postage and handling 13—True. 14—True. 15—True. California residents add 16—False. Window Rock is the tribal 4 percent sales tax headquarters of the Navajos. 17—True. Order by mail from: 18—False. There is no auto road to DESERT MAGAZINE Rainbow Bridge. 19—False. The Lost Dutchman mine 4539 W. Rosecrans. Hawthorne, Calif. BOOK SHOP has never been found. Phone OSborne 5-1158 PALM DESEKT CALIFORNIA 20—True.

APRIL, 1959 33 Grand Junction, Colorado . . . Window Rock, Arizona . . . With 23 uranium processing plants Navajo Tribal coffers continued to operating in the U.S., only three have swell as more gas and oil money was contracts lasting until 1966, the Atomic paid into them for land leases. Latest Energy Commission reported. These bonus bids ran as high as $5500 per plants are Kerrmac Nuclear Fuels and acre. Only 13 months previously, the Phillips Petroleum, both of Grants, tribe rejected bids of only $257 an New Mexico, and Texas-Zinc Minerals acre for this same land. The latest of Mexican Hat, Utah. Another three offering consisted of 72,370 acres, and plants have contracts lasting until 1963 total of the high bids received was Garfield, Utah . . . with the other 17 having contracts ter- $3,603,900. A $10,000,000 renovation and minating in 1962, except the Monti- modification of the Garfield smelter is cello Mill which is government owned. Las Vegas, Nevada . . . proposed by the Kennecott Copper The AEC announced that it would like Corporation. Kennecott purchased the Indications are that the $150,000,- to stretch out purchase and payments 000 Utah-Nevada transmission project smelter earlier this year from American of uranium beyond the period con- Smelting and Refining Co. Sale price of El Paso Natural Gas, Colorado In- tracted for with long-term suppliers. terstate Gas and Pacific Northwest was $20,000,000. Major changes are The AEC is under contract for the planned for the method of feeding Pipeline will get underway in late 1960. next three years to purchase uranium The principals hope to start Federal concentrates into reverberatory fur- at the rate of about $740,000,000 an- naces. Power Commission hearings soon. The nually. pipelines will connect to an existing line in southern Wyoming, and from FIND BURIED TREASURE ! Washington. D.C. . . . there travel southwest to Provo and GOLD, silver, coins, Cedar City, Utah, Las Vegas, Nevada, jewelry, strongboxes, The Bureau of Mines disclosed that battle relics! M-SCOPE and across the southeastern California transistorized electronic it has found a way to cast molybdenum, Treasure-Metal Locators desert to Los Angeles. detect them all. Used a metal which has a melting point of world-wide by successful 4748 degrees Fahrenheit. This tech- explorers. Exciting! Re- warding! Super-sensitive, nological break-through is expected to Kingman, Arizona . . . lightweight M-SCOPE offers greater depth pen have some effect on the nation's mis- The Arizona Mohave Mining Com- etration. no ground in pany reportedly struck a rich vein of terference. over 200 sile program, as well as on the molyb- treasure-hunting days ol denum industry. Only pure molybde- ore near the surface at the Mexican battery life. Indestruc- tible fiberglass cases. Guaranteed. From num was used in the Bureau of Mines Mine in the Cerbats northwest of King- $59.50, Easy Terms. Write today for FREE experiment, the Reese River Reveille man, the Mohave County Miner re- catalog. vealed. A company official said assay FISHER RESEARCH LAB.. INC reported. Dcpl l)-2. Palo Alto Calif reports indicate that the strike—if it is of volume—could be one of the richest ever made in the county. The assay showed values of $10,730 per ton of

GOLD, SILVER, PRECIOUS METALS with the Famous Model £T ,, • I . AMilIftltl ore. 27 Metal Detector. Lightweight, ultra-sensitive, low /^/ I \^\f 111 If I W11 cost. None finer. Also GEIGER COUNTERS for iirniiimii ' %S,I f and the VIOLITE for tungsten. INFORMATION FREE ^ f\^ZJfj I Reno . . . I BUY ^Detection- limSSSlaa^^lt^ I Q ft flit The Atomic Energy Commission fe ; N has agreed to loan the University of Often Copied — Neper Excelled TMr °"»- V ] f\VVl\ Nevada 5500 pounds of natural ur- METAL DETECTORS anium for use in nuclear experiments. Last spring the AEC granted the school Battery test switch • Head phones with clear signal • Great sensitivity $40,000 to purchase a sub-critical as- One nob control • Easiest of all to operate • Low cost operation sembly. MORE ACCURATE, it's the first METAL DETECTOR designed SPE- CIFICALLY for detecting placer gold, nuggets, and other small metal objects. Depth range 7 feet—comes complete, ready to use. "OVERLOOKED FORTUNES" MODEL 27—instructions included $119.95 IN THE RARER MINERALS MODEL 711—with 21 ft. depth range $138.50 Here are a few of the 300 or more rarei minerals and gemstones you may be over- looking while mining, prospecting or gem MINERALIGHT—Complete line for $14.95 up to $114.00 hunting. Uranium, vanadium, columbium, Send for Complete Information tantalum, tungsten, nickel, cobalt, selenium, germanium, bismuth, platinum, iridium, VISIT OUR NEW MINERAL DEPARTMENT, stocked with many out- beryllium, golden beryl, emeralds, etc, standing specimens, including native wire silver from Honduras, S. A. Some minerals worth $1 to $2 a pound others $25 to $100 an ounce; some beryl- LAPIDARY EQUIPMENT & SUPPLIES—TOOLS—GEMS—JEWELRY lium gems worth a fortune! If looking for CHEMICAL KITS, MORTARS & PESTLES—PICKS—BOOKS—ETC. gems, get out of the agate class into the big money; an emerald the size of your FOR THE WOOD WORKING HOBBYIST WE NOW STOCK A thumb may be worth $500 to $5000 or COMPLETE LINE OF ATLAS AND PORTER CABLE POWER TOOLS more! Now you can learn how to find, identify, and cash in on them. New simple {buy from an experienced wood worker) system. Send for free copy "Overlooked Fortunes"—it may lead to knowledge which Comfiton cf\oak <~>noh. may make you rich! A postcard will do. 1405 S. Long Beach Blvd. 3 blocks south of Olive DUKE'S RESEARCH LABORATORY NEwmark 2-9096 Open Friday Evenings Compton, California Box 666—Dept. B TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES, NEW MEXICO

34 DESERT MAGAZINE Qems Touring Mexico for Minerals

By MARY S. SHAUB collectors climbed 400 feet down pre- Map by Norton Alien carious ladders into the unbearably hot mine which contains great caves of selenite crystals. Today, one must Y HUSBAND is a retired pro- terfly twinned calcites, but here again be accompanied by a mine official. We fessor of mineralogy from the time of year was a deterrent to walked about 300 feet into an adit, Smith College and I am a making a visit to this locality, and we descended in a cage to the third level, graduate in geology from Smith—so had to be satisfied with purchases from then walked about 500 feet along a naturally, our recent trip into Old Alberto G. Chavez who maintains a drift. Steel doors protect two of the Mexico turned into a rockhounds' store across the street from the mineral famous selenite deposits, one known holiday. The great nation south of the museum. Rio Grande has many highly mineral- as the "Cave of Swords," the other a ized areas, and it is possible for the The great caves at Naica are the crystal-lined fissure vein. We visited tourist to visit countless mines, quar- next point of mineralogical interest as this amazing vein where great crystals ries and outcrops where good mineral one travels south in the State of Chi- of translucent selenite, some up to four specimens can be obtained. huahua. At Concho we took a good feet in length, project from the walls. Crossing the border at El Paso, we gravel road to the right which led to The cave floor is littered with broken found Mexico Route 45 leading south the mine owned and operated by the crystals, some curved, some containing through the State of Chihuahua excel- Fresnillo Company. In the old days, bubbles, some in attractive groups— lent, and the structures evident in the mountains rising from the desert were of great interest. After passing through the dunes south of Samalayuca we came to the little town of Villa Ahu- mada, 85 miles below El Paso. Un- fortunately, we started our trip in the beginning of the rainy season in mid- July when travel by ordinary car on the dirt road east to the famous Los Lamentos wulfenite locality is highly inadvisable. However, it was possible to purchase a few specimens from a mineral collector at the local fruiteria. The capital city of Chihuahua con- tains superb Spanish colonial archi- tecture and an excellent mineral mu- seum. About 10 miles south of the city, at Avalos, the great smelter of the American Smelting and Refining Company is located. Here we called on Arthur Collins, the manager. He assigned an English-speaking official to escort us through this great estab- lishment. We also visited the company mine at Santo Domingo in the Santa Eulalia District. The company geolo- gist drove us up to the old canyon where gold was first discovered in this region, and we were given samples of ore from the active shafts. The prize specimen here is the beautiful "black calcite," actually scalenohedrons of calcite covered with hematite which in turn is partly covered by another layer of calcite deposited in rhombohedrons. In the mountains west of the capital city at Creel are found the milky but-

Workmen hand-drilling rock at the Santa Maria Iris Opal Mine.

APRIL, 1959 mining town between the San Lor- enzo and Santa Maria ranges 2.4 miles El Paso- ' off the main road. A number of active Juarez base-metal mines are worked here. The •'•'•.'•'• ,;,'•; "SriHialayuca ore is brought by donkey to the scales in the main plaza where groups of these animals are weighed with their loads of ore, and again after unloading their burdens in the patio. These animals, with their leather-aproned drivers, are W <-lNuevo:\ Laredo " ^Chihuahua 1 picturesque reminders of the method t- i \f Laredo of transporting materials inaugurated in Mexico three centuries ago. With permission from the Asarco office near /San Francisco the plaza we obtained ore samples and ,, = ^ del O colorful specimens of green oxidized ? Santa BarbaraTVaiamantes material. " -6Moriterreyv Continuing on Route 31 we reached the northern outskirts of Durango

Mexico offers a rare combination of enticements for the mineralogist, amateur or professional: some of '"' \ Zaca'tecas^O the world's most highly mineral- \ Sa n Lu is Potos ized areas, most beautiful scenery MEX/CO and most friendly people. A field ; e uco trip south of the border can be i ' <1M ' i A°i'' *'-.- a once - in - a - lifetime adventure. Guadalajara Chapala where the great Cerro del Mercado ("Hill of Iron") stands. This huge hematite deposit rises several hundred feet above the surrounding plain. Per- mission may be secured at the mine office to walk up to the open pit work- PAC/F/C ings where the miners will indicate ,„,; j

36 DESERT MAGAZINE here Route 15 took us northwest on

a short side trip into the Sierra Madre MINERAL SPECIMENS- BOOKS-MICROSCOPES Occidental. The road passes close to COLLECTING SUPPLIES and a number of extinct volcanoes. Thirty- nine miles from Guadalajara we began to see obsidian outcrops along the road cuts. Continuing 5 miles farther, we noted chunks of black obsidian in the fields along the road near a power line. Many of these rocks contained holes from which other minerals had weathered. We obtained excellent spec- BIG SAVINGS NOW imens of obsidian containing cavities filled with gray christobalite. The main road crosses the great Ceboruco Volcano lava flow of 1873 at a point about 100 miles from Guad- WE alajara. Despite the fact that this flow occurred nearly a hundred years ago, DARE there is surprisingly little vegetation on YOU TO COMPARE it today, and the contortions and structure of the lava produced during This "25 X Ruper" Magnifier with the period of eruption are evident any magnifier you now use! Full lA ' diameter corrected lens! Nickel everywhere. plated metal folding frame. Equi- Returning to Guadalajara, we spent valent to other $6 magnifiers. a day in the city visiting the great Order as: T13O-25C $1.00 Full cash refund if not more than market of San Juan de Dios which pleased. abounds in luscious fruits. We also went to the famous glass factory, Fab- SMOKY QUARTZ rica de Vidrio Avalos, where we were OR able to watch the various glass-making operations. SMOKY TOPAZ Also known as Scotch Cairngorm. From Guadalajara we drove south Brilliant, sparkling, faceted 13 x 18 on Route 15 which skirts beautiful mm. Oval Gem. You also get large Lake Chapala, the largest lake in Mex- catalog of jewelry mountings for mounting these lovely gems. ico—53 miles long and 17 miles wide. Order as: V94-15C each $1.00 The author on lava flow depos- An overnight stop was made at pic- ited in 1873 by Ceboruco Volcano. turesque Patzcuaro. This town and lake of the same name represent a bit STERLING SILVER NECKCHAIN of unspoiled Old Mexico where one Our biggest seller! Rope style 1500s, and is one of the great mining can profitably use many rolls of film chain on card and in protective centers of the Americas. Wealth from on the fascinating Tarascan Indians in cellophane cover. Price includes the mines contributed to the construc- tax. . . . their daily pursuits around and on the u tion of many fine homes and superb Order as: 27C-4C $1.00 lake. Spanish-colonial churches with richly Ml Hems sold on Money Back Guarani carved exteriors and lavish interiors. Continuing to Morelia we drove ADD POSTAGE — (Calil. R< north on Michoacan Route 45 and I ORDER BY MAIL Send Check Thirteen miles from the city is the old I AND SAVE! 1633 E. WALNUT mining town of San Pedro, and a visit Guanajuato Route 25 to Guanajuato, PASADENA, CALIF. here is an interesting experience. The Asarco Company once operated the mines, but when they became unprofit- able the company removed all equip- ment and turned the property over to a cooperative run by 200 miners. These men work under the most haz- ardous conditions, climbing 800 feet as Petrified Wood. Moss Agate, Chrysocolla down ladders, and bringing up ore on Turquoise, Jade and Jasper Jewelry their backs. This ore is transferred to HAND MADE IN STERLING SILVER burros and then to trucks for shipment Bracelets, Rings, Necklaces, Earrings to the Asarco smelter in San Luis Po- and Brooches tosi. When we arrived in ramshackled SPECIALLY SELECTED STONES WITH San Pedro, many of whose buildings CHOICE COLORS AND PICTURES are in ruins, the whole town turned out to greet us. After inquiries in our Write for Folder With Prices best Spanish, the miners offered speci- mens of ore containing copper, lead, ELLIOTT'S GEm SHOP zinc, gold and silver for sale. 235 East Seaside Blvd. Long Beach 2, California Across from West End of Municipal Leaving San Luis Potosi, we fol- Auditorium Grounds lowed Route 80 to Guadalajara, the Hours 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Daily Except Monday second largest city in Mexico. From

APRIL, 1959 37 HIGHLAND PARK THE LAPIDARY'S STANDARD OF VALUE BUY THE BEST FOB LESS Congo Dia Blades — Sizes Range from 4" to 24" in Light, Standard, Heavy and Extra Heavy duty.

Highland Park Trim Saws Compact and The Oaxaca-Natividad bus. rugged for long an old and beautiful town with mining lasting service. activity still going on in the surround- E-4 Trim Saw ing hills. Small boys offered to guide terial, some pieces showing small flecks us to the points of interest. of precious opal. Large pieces of good material are rare, and so the Onti- «* A Leader One of the most picturesque spots l In Its Field here is the old Valenciana Mine. The veros family cuts cabochons of matrix material. Some dealers make mosaics Highland Park Power-feed huge shaft and mine workings were Slab Saws. Sizes range protected from bandits by a formid- of the very small pieces of precious from 12" to 24". Metal able wall braced by magnificent flying opal. or Lucite hood. buttresses. The mine proved so rich East of Queretaro and north of that the owner built a superb church Mexico City is a famous mining town, J-2 & .T-3 Slab Saw close by, one of the most ornate in Pachuca, reached via Mexico Routes Highland Park Combination Unit Mexico. Near the church is a small 45 and 85. From Pachuca we took Available in all sizes. Perfect Combination mineral shop where we purchased Mexico Route 130 to Colonia which Unit for Lapidary work. Handles sawing, is on Mexico 85 (the Pan-American grinding, sanding and polishing. Excep- amethyst and calcite crystals. These tionally quiet operation. minerals and others can be obtained Highway) leading directly to Mexico at a small store at 40 Alfonso Street City. in the city. Not True Onyx Outside of town there are numerous The drive south to Oaxaca is a re- active small mines which are open to warding one. Although the distance visitors. One should not leave this from Mexico City is 340 miles, it is not picturesque old city with its iron bal- too strenuous for the highway is very E-10 Combination Unit conies, narrow streets and unique foun- good. We made a stopover at Puebla Arbors of all sizes — Tumblers, two tains, without visiting the fine mineral to visit the onyx shops and see the models. Wet and dry belt sanders— museum in the University building. workers shaping various objects. This Lapidary units in two different sizes. Here Sr. Eduardo Villasenor Sohle, material is not true onyx; it is traver- 32 MODELS TO CHOOSE FROM professor of mineralogy, showed us tine, a banded calcite. In these shops The most complete line of lapidary machin- the minerals and explained their occur- are many fine art objects which can ery offered by any manufacturer. See these at your local Highland Park dealer or write rences. Excellent specimens of guana- be purchased at very reasonable prices. for free literature. juatite and aguilarite are displayed in At Atlixco near Puebla, there are ex- A Product of the museum. cellent views of Popocatepetl, but the Opal best photographs of the volcano are HIGHLAND PARK The great opal center of Queretaro obtained at San Martin, west of Puebla. is best reached by retracing your steps MANUFACTURING CO. south to Salamanca, and then driving North of Oaxaca we visited a feld- east on Mexico Route 45. Immedi- spar mine where fine specimens of the 1009-1011 Mission Street usual pegmatite minerals were ob- South Pasadena, California ately upon reaching Queretaro, we noticed several opal shops around the tained. Near the village of Magdalena main plaza. One of the best places to there is a large onyx quarry exhibiting buy specimens is the Ontiveros Opal interesting structures in the walls. The Shop on the 15th de Mayo Street. dumps are extensive. Another onyx SHOPPING for PRICE? Here you can purchase opal-in-mat- quarry is located 122 miles south of Immediate Delivery — Prepaid rix or cut opal, and Sr. Ontiveros will Oaxaca or 34 miles north of Tehu- Bell Caps Gold/Rhod. Fl.» 25c doz. $1.80 gross arrange for you to visit the Santa Maria antepec. Of course Oaxaca is worth Bell Caps Sterling Silver* 60c doz. $3.50 % gr. $6.00 gross Iris Opal Mine owned and operated a visit if only to see the great Indian Bolo Slides N. PI. %" disc 50c doz. $2.60 »,4 gr. by his father, Joaquin Ontiveros. S4.70 gross ruins of Mitla and Monte Alban, or Bolo Tips N. PI. l'A" 60c doz. S3.15 1/2 gr. Six miners working in pairs were $5.70 gross to spend half a day in the picturesque Bolo Cords Rayon Assorted 70c doz. $3.70 }£ gr. hand-drilling the opal-bearing rhyolite market. $6.85 gross at the mine. The dumps are extensive, •Add 10% F.E.T. Calif. Res. add 4% sales tax Taxco is one of the most famous FREE CATALOG showing easy to use and and we found matrix specimens of red- dish-brown fire opal (uniformly col- tourist towns in Mexico, yet it owes its inexpensive JEWELRY PARTS. lasting fame and beauty to its mines. JEWELGEMS by JAY O'DAY ored material that does not have a play This town probably is the oldest in P.O. Box 1000-D Thousand Palms, California of colors). Under a prickly pear cac- tus there was quite a pile of this ma- North America. It was an Indian vil-

38 DESERT MAGAZINE lage called Tlachco when rich silver SANTA CLARA HOBBYISTS deposits were discovered here by Cor- April Shows WIN SEMINAR HONORS tez. The town was not developed until April 4-5—Escondido, Calif. Palomar Club, Obie and Barbara Goss of Sunnyvale, 1716 after the French miner, Jose de Central School Auditorium. Calif., were named editors of the year at the recent Desert Magazine gem and min- la Borda, opened up several workings, April 4-5—Colton, Calif. Slover Society, Municipal park. eral bulletin editors' seminar. The affair some of which still are producing to- April 10-19—Los Angeles. Hobby Show, was attended by 115 persons representing day. In the market, the Plazuela de Shrine Exposition Hall. 33 clubs. Bernal and at Hernandez' shop at No. The Gosses edit the Santa Clara Valley April 11-12—Santa Monica, Calif. Gemo- Gem and Mineral Society's Breccia. The 13, Plazuela San Juan, it is possible logical Society, Joslyn Hall, Wilshire and award to them was made jointly by Desert to purchase fine calcite specimens and Lincoln blvds. and the National Bulletin Editors' Associa- other minerals at reasonable prices. April 11-12—Salinas, Calif. Monterey Bay tion. Several jewelry shops have mineral Society, A.F.D.E.S. Hall. April 11-12 — Eugene, Oregon. Mineral Agate Field Closed . . . specimens for sale, but the prices are Club, Lane County Fairgrounds. higher in these establishments. Palo Verde, Calif.—A Desert Magazine April 18-19—Costa Mesa, Calif. Orange reader reports that most of the gem area of The wealth from the mines was re- Coast Society, Orange County Fair- the Palo Verde Mountain Pass is closed to grounds. sponsible for the construction of a fine collecting by virtue of mining activity there. April 18-19 — San Jose, Calif. Lapidary The collecting area was featured in the No- church, Santa Prisca, built by de la Society, San Jose State College. vember '56 Desert. "Do Not Enter, Dyna- Borda in gratitude for his good fortune. April 18-19 — Vantage, Washington. All miting" signs are posted at the gem field Completed in 1758, this building has Rockhound Pow-Wow, Brown Ranch. entrance road. two beautifully decorated towers, a April 24-26—Wichita, Kansas. Rocky Moun- profusely carved facade and a well- tain Federation Convention-Show, South preserved tiled dome. Because of the Armory. April 25-26—Tacoma, Washington. Agate DIAMOND BLADES unique character of Taxco, the Mexi- Club. can government has made it a national April 25-26—Nampa, Idaho. Owyhee So- monument to assure preservation of its Heavy-Duty Stand. Super ciety. Sup.-Chgd. Chgd. Chgd. present picturesque state. This won- April 25-26—Azusa, Calif. Canyon City $12,85 $11.25 Society, Armory Building. 17.90 16.40 14.85 derful little town, with its cobblestone 19.75 streets, tiled roofs, balconies, foun- 22.00 19.90 18.50 31.00 28.30 25.75 tains and flowers in profusion, is well MOST UNCOMMON GARNETS 42.60 36.50 33.20 worth an extended visit by those inter- 49.20 43.45 39.50 ARE ANDRADITE SPECIES 69.75 59.65 54.25 ested in photography or the various 78.10 65.70 59.75 Andradite is in all probability the rarest 92.20 82.90 75.50 native arts and crafts. of all garnets. Color ranges from pale tints 179.10 to black, but not reds. Its specific gravity 267.60 We returned to the United States State arbor size—Send postage—Tax in Calif. on the Pan-American Highway through is 3.8, hardness 6Vi. the beautiful Sierras with their rugged The better known andradite varieties are: Collophonite, brownish yellow to dark red- scenery. With the aid of the AAA book, dish brown; Topazolite, topaz yellow to Mexico by Motor, we found excellent green; Melanite, black crystals, found in accommodations every night of our San Benito County, California; Demantoid (diamond-like), beautiful emerald green stay in Mexico, as well as accurate in- with a high light dispersion (.057-—diamond formation regarding roads and points has a. dispersion of .044). Free Catalog shows 17 Covington 4fc~ vertical type grinders and polishers. of interest. Gasoline was plentiful and Andradite commonly coats seams and r,*"".!,™"'* 6 Covington Trim Saws car repairs made without difficulty. forms small lustrous crystals—except the t: ~~ '•?? to choose from in latest Everywhere we went, we found the demantoid variety which is found embedded f: ' Free Catalog. Mexicans to be most engaging people in asbestos, and is rounded. —friendly, courteous, helpful and do- Andradite is one of three species of the calcium garnet types. The others are Uvar- ing their best to give the American ovite (calcium chromium silicate of deep traveler a superb vacation at a very emerald green color); and Grossularite reasonable cost.—END (calcium aluminum silicate of pale tints). The garnet series mix with each other to some extent, and within each species the Sphene Discovered . . . varieties grade into each other without: sharp Select any one of 7 Tijuana, Baja Calif.—Rare and valuable lines of demarcation so that the amateur Covington Slab Saws gem sphene reportedly was discovered on collector can only approximately identify from latest Free Cata- a ranch "somewhere south of Tijuana" by the variety by considering color, specific log. Fred Harvey, a 74-year-old Leucadia, Cali- gravity and association in which found. fornia, rockhound. The greenish amber Garnet is one of the most common of minerals.—Oregon Rockhound Multi - Feature Lapi- gem is a crystallized titanium dioxide. dary Unit. Free Cat- alog shows 8 Cov- ington Horizontal models. v///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////, THE ORANGE COAST MINERAL AND LAPIDARY SOCIETY v. Invites you to attend its outstanding gem show— VI BUILD YOUR OWN LAP and save. Free NATURE'S JEWEL BOX Catalog shows 13 SATURDAY, APRIL 18 SUNDAY, APRIL 19 Build Your Own Items. H§ 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. AGRICULTURAL BUILDING USED BY THE U.S. GOVERNMENT Send for latest Catalog showing Covington, ORANGE COUNTY FAIRGROUNDS, COSTA MESA, CALIF. the largest lapidary equipment line in America. IT'S FREE. FREE: admission, parking and camping (trailer or tent) • Prizes Galore, Snack Bar • Special Exhibits, Working Displays • DEALERS WANTED CLUBS WISHING TO EXHIBIT SHOULD CONTACT NEIL ROYCE Covington Lapidary Eng., Corp. 8901 TRASK AVE., GARDEN GROVE, CALIFORNIA REDLANDS D. CALIFORNIA

APRIL, 1959 39 TUMBLED mixture of fine GEMSTONE AssorteBaroquesd , consisting of AMETHYST • AGATE JASPER • PETRIFIED WOOD • TIGER- EYE • APACHE TEARS. One pound AMATEUR GEM CUTTER contains approximately 100 to 140 stones— $4.00 plus postage. Discounts to dealers. By Dr. H. C. DAKE, Editor of The Mineralogist CORONET GEM AND JEWELRY CO.

11139

Desert Star Glory Gem Cutting Art REAL SEAHORSE EARRINGS There are many hobbies related to the A fine and original gift! Hand Mineral collecting is said to be "the old- painted in black, white, silver, investigation of Nature's phenomena. One est hobby known to man;" the same can be dark blue, green, red and brown. of these is astronomy, and the amateur gem applied to the working of semi-precious Choice of screw type or pierced cutter would do well to consider becoming gem minerals. For thousands of years be- Only $2.50 per pair. Check or M.O. Tax and postage paid. an amateur star gazer as an avocational fore the dawn of civilization, primitive man Other unusual gifts, jewelry. side-line. became skilled through necessity, in the Order from THE SEA SHELL More and more are we gazing toward fashioning of hard minerals into tools and 3771 MISSION BLVD., SAN DIEGO 8, CAL. the stars, as civilization enters the greatest weapons. Obsidian, agate, opal, jasper, Dealer Inquiries Welcome adventure ever undertaken—the exploration quartz, and similar materials found as arti- of space. Star gazing and satellite watching facts, carry the story of the struggle for are attracting many thousands. More and existence waged by man of the dim past. PUN with ROCKS and MINERALS Ideal gift for rockhounds, hobbyists, Boy more watching will be done as larger pieces While this background of skill passed Scouts, Girl Scouts, and beginners. Get of equipment are sent aloft for scientific through many generations, it is only nat- Pelro-Polish kit for grinding and polishing study. ural that in a moment of relaxation from rocks and gem stones by hand. With Petro- the struggle with tooth and claw, early man Polish you'll have "fun with rocks and Observing or "seeing" conditions are. bet- minerals." Complete kit postpaid $2.00 (4% ter in the desert regions than anywhere in turned to the fashioning of an ornament tax in California). the world. Here, away from the dust, from an attractive specimen of a gem min- HANSEN HANDICRAFTS eral. When this first took place is not re- 919 S. Monterey Ave., Monrovia, California smoke, fog and lights of the city, we see the stars stand out in their greatest glory. corded in history. Remains found in the caves of France give proof that quartz The amateur star gazer can make many crystal was worked at least 12,000 years interesting observations using only the lower ago; later the tombs of Egypt indicate that DEALERS ATTENTION powered telescopes. More of these instru- turquoise was utilized as an ornament at BAROQUE JEWELRY ments currently are being sold than ever least 6000 years ago. But in all likelihood PREFORMS before. Unitron Company, 204-D Milk the beginning of the art of gem stone cut- BAROQUES BY THE POUND Street, Boston 9, Mass., one of the leading ting can be given a much earlier antiquity. WRITE FOR WHOLESALE PRICES ROY'S ROCK SHOP telescope makers, issues an excellent de- For centuries crude equipment was used P.O. BOX 133 TRINIDAD, CALIF. scriptive catalog, available free, on direct in the art, with the secrets of the craft application. handed down from father to son. The works One may wonder how the ancients, using of the medieval and other early workers of only the human eye, were able to make and gem cutting are remarkable for their skill record some remarkably keen and accurate of execution, considering the lack of modern CAPTIVE observations, in addition to mapping the abrasives and machinery. TURQUOISE heavens. The answer is not that their eye- The introduction of modern abrasives and EARRINGS sight was better than modern man's; their grinding wheels some 40 years ago marked observations were in most cases made from the beginning of the modernization of the Genuine Sleeping Beauty the desert regions. lapidary industry. The modern grinding Turquoise Nuggeits Many types of telescopes are now avail- wheel, the products of the electric furnace, able. These range in price to fit any purse together with modern machinery, have done caged in gleaming silver- or purpose. A high powered instrument is more to render gem stone cutting more colored metal to form un- not necessary for many fascinating observa- simple than any other factor. Picture the usually fascinating earrings. tions. In the near future we will be able medieval artisan laboriously reducing a hard (post. & fed. tax paid. to watch a ship with crew, circling around sapphire, holding the gem in the left hand, No C.O.D., please.) us as an artificial moon. turning the crank with the right hand to The observation of objects of this kind, operate a lead lap wheel charged with only a few thousand miles distant, can be emery. LOST MOUNTAIN GEMS made with an ordinary six power binocu- P.O. BOX 5012 - PHOENIX, ARIZONA Simplified technique available to all, mod- lar, but these have the disadvantage of hav- ern abrasives and machinery, have aided in ing a most limited field of view. They are inducing thousands of individuals to adopt powerful enough, but not intended for sky gem stone cutting as a pleasant, fascinating work. The special observing instruments and valuable hobby. The intriguing myster- have the advantage of revealing a much ies, romance, and fascination of gem stones wider field of view. seem to lure even the most casual observer. Many times I have gazed skyward as I Can it be possible the urge to fashion and lay in my sleeping bag, and wondered, "are work a rough fragment of a gem mineral we alone in the universe?" All recent sci- into a thing of beauty and utility has been entific evidence points to the fact that we passed on to civilized man as a heritage are not alone, even in our own galaxy. This from his ancestors? supposition is based upon sound scientific facts, but we still lack proof. The biochem- Just One Crop ists tell us that life can originate spontane- ously from the large "life" molecules. Many supply houses are learning that a large stock of rocks purchased at a low What proof do we require? If the first price a few years past cannot be replaced ROCKHOUND PICK argonauts of space bring back any form of at the former price. In every instance it is life from Venus or Mars, this event will learned that "rock prices always go up." of one-piece hand-forged polished rank with the most exciting discoveries ever steel—$4 each, postpaid. This pertains to items like fine mineral made by man. specimens, good quality rough gems, finished Meteors also are coming under wide sci- stones, and all the better quality geological Miners' Candleholder entific study. Amateur observers are needed materials. Cull materials always are of replica of old-time miners' candle- to aid science with systematic reports. No- little value. where can we make these observations better There are good reasons for this. In the holders, single or in matched pairs than in the great desert regions of the South- first place the demand for these items is —$1.50 each, postpaid west. No instruments are needed to observe greater than ever before in history, and and record these spectacular flaming balls along with the rapid growth and develop- RAY FLARTY of fire. ment of the hobby, prices can only go for- The day is close at hand when a telescope ward. Moreover, many of the highly pro- Box 160, Nederland, Colorado will be just as popular as the camera is ductive localities are being exhausted or today. depleted at a rapid rate. 40 DESERT MAGAZINE this latest and very easy to read book on Smith is Hal G. Evarts, who now has written seven Western novels. BOOKS of the SOUTHWEST Cast as an innocent-faced youth amongst the brawling frontier roughi- lected as betas worthy of your consid- il f Dt Mne Bok Shp ans who set forth into unknown lands Fi under the Rocky Mountain Fur Com- be s pany's banner, Jed Smith quickly emerged as their leader. Beneath his STORY OF THE LAND OF scape photographs, part of them in soft-spoken exterior was the tenacity and strength which made him a leader THE BLUE-GREEN WATER color, taken during the years he has been going into the Canyon. Chapters of tough men, and then an American Supai Village, deep in one of the on birds of the area, and plants and legend. remote canyon tributaries of the Colo- flowers, were written by Dr. Harold C. By day Jed matched wits with the rado River in northern Arizona, is one Bryant, and Weldon Heald. rugged land and wily Indians; by night of the few settlements in the United Especially interesting are the chap- he read aloud from his Bible to keep States where saddle horses remain the ters on the economy, the religion, and the spirits of his comrades up. Smith only means of transportation—unless the tribal and social customs of the was only 32 years of age when Co- you prefer to walk. The nearest auto- little band of Indians who inhabit this manches killed him as he sought water mobile road ends at Hilltop on the remote and lovely canyon. rim of the canyon above and eight for his men. "That was like him," miles away by trail. Published by the author. 121 pp., said a companion in final respect. paper cover. Bibliography. $2.00. This is the home of the Havasupai Published by G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York; Illustrated by Bernard Indians—a primitive but friendly tribal GEM FIELD ATLAS FOR group of original Americans who want Krigstein; 192 pages; $3. no highways into their village because CALIFORNIA AND NEVADA good roads would rob them of one Western travel writer H. Cyril of their main sources of income, the Johnson has compiled over two dozen supplying of saddle and pack animals detailed maps showing rock hunting for white visitors. areas of the Golden and Silver states — California-Nevada Gem Hunters d' ufi The story of Havasu Canyon and Atlas. Johnson tells the type of ma- its tribesmen has never been more terial collected at each of these gem completely told in one volume than in fields, and his maps also show back Joseph Wampler's Havasu Canyon, country roads, campgrounds and points Gem of the Grand Canyon, just re- of interest. cently off the press. Even those who have not succumbed Joe Wampler, archeologist-lecturer- llaja to the rockhound bug will find prac- guide, has been arranging guided trips tical enjoyment in owning this gem into the Canyon for many years, and field atlas. Mineralized areas are inter- during the travel season maintains a esting to visit and explore, and John- delightful camp near where the blue- son has pinpointed hundreds of them Here are nine complete back copies green waters of Havasu Creek tumble of Desert Magazine which contain in the two states. over the travertine tapestry of one of illustrated features on Baja: Published by Scenic Guides, Susan- the three great waterfalls below the July '50—La Mora Canyon in Baja Indian village. ville, Calif.; paper cover; 35 pages; $1. California July '51—We Camped with the Pai-Pais But the book Wampler has written IEDEDIAH SMITH LED is not in any apparent sense a com- August '55—Three Days in Devil's THE WAY WESTWARD Canyon mercial for his guide service. Rather Jedediah Smith, Trail Blazer of the October '55—Gray Ghosts of Viscaino it is a well written story of the history, Desert the contemporary life of the Indians, West, is the story of a man whose courage, endurance and curiosity about November '56—Elephant Trees of the geology and wildlife of one of the Viscaino most photogenic retreats in western what lay on the other side of the mountain places him at the head of December '56—The Cardon, Largest America. It is illustrated with a fine Cactus in the World collection of human interest and land- that long column of men who are Western heroes. He was the first trap- June '57—Vacation in Baja California per to travel overland to California; October '57—Marine Treasures at the first to cross the Sierra Nevadas; Punta Penasco "DESERT GARDENING" April '59—Dirt Road Holiday By BETTY M. LINDSAY. 12 chapters the first to cross Nevada and Utah: the Includes how to grow flowers, trees, first to travel up the coast of Califor- All nine native plants, etc. Also, advice on land- nia and Oreeon; the first to make use magazines mailed postpaid scaping a desert cabin. of South Pass as a gatewav through Only $1.00 postage and tax paid P.O. Box 268 Joshua Tree, California the Rockies. As such, his explorations $3. are sismificant. When Jed Smith entered the West it was a Dark Continent. When he Book Manuscripts left it, all the major Western rivers, by cooperative publisher who offers authors valleys, mountains and deserts were early publication, higher royalty, national MAGAZIN E distribution, and beautifully designed books. known to his fellow trappers. He fore- All subjects welcomed. Write, or send your PALM DESERT, CALIFORNIA MS directly. saw the collapse of the weak Mexican GREENWICH BOOK PrBLISHKRS. INC. Government, and an America stretch- Atten. Mr. Siocum, 489 Fifth Ave., N.Y., N.Y. ing from ocean to ocean. Author of

APRIL, 1959 41 Quit j&etween Ifou and

V

X.- Vi.

By RANDALL HENDERSON

Y GOOD FRIEND Newton B. Drury, Chief of values involved in the changes that are crowding in on the California Division of Beaches and Parks, us—not from the standpoint of personal gain, but on a has reached the age of retirement and will be bigger set of scales that measure things in terms of the leaving his position April 30 this year. greatest benefit to mankind. I am sure that many Californians will share my regret at the departure of Newton from the office he has filled so capably. We folks of the California desert have Many of us have been protesting for years against special reasons for gratitude to him. Under his adminis- the excessive withdrawals of our public lands in the tration the Salton Sea State Park has been established Southwest by the Army, Navy and Air Force. We have and the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park greatly improved. felt that by coordinating their activities, as would be neces- On his agenda also are other desert parks in San Bernar- sary in time of war, millions of acres now lying idle much dino and Riverside counties which have been delayed only of the time, could be turned back for the beneficial use by lack of funds and a federal law which limits state of all Americans. acquisition of public lands for park purposes to 640 acres Perhaps our crusade is beginning to bring results. A in any one year. few months ago the Navy announced plans for the closing Drury's most important contribution, however, has of its Marine Auxiliary field on the Mojave desert and been his stout defense against commercial encroachment the moving of the personnel and operations to Yuma on the areas already set aside for park and recreation where they will team up on the big Air Force base that purposes and his consistent loyalty to the interests of occupies much of southwestern Arizona. conservation everywhere and always. And now the Navy has issued orders to transfer the While expressing my high regard for Newton Drury El Centra Naval Auxiliary Air station also to Yuma. and the work he has done, I also want to add my apprecia- While only a few thousand acres are involved in each of tion for the fine staff of associates he has brought together these transfers, they definitely represent progress in a in the California park service. A clean-cut bunch of direction that will meet with the approval of desert people fellows they are—courteous, competent and cooperative. generally. They are the guardians of one of our most precious assets: Of course it is inevitable that there will be protests the state lands which have been set aside for the recrea- against such removals. Local merchants will feel that the tional use of all Americans regardless of creed, color or loss of naval payrolls will affect them adversely—and no occupation. doubt that will be true to a minor extent, although seldom * * # do these losses justify the panic exhibited by some of those My old friend Gus Lederer was a jackass prospector affected when the change is made known. In the long who lived for many years in a little cabin at Corn Springs run the local community will benefit by the restoration in the Chuckawalla Mountains. His only companions of its adjacent lands to a use more productive than as were his burros, and every morning they came to the back explosion targets. door of the cabin to get their daily ration of flapjacks. And in the broader field of national welfare, we must Most of the old. prospectors of Gus' generation have not lose sight of the fact that provincial self-interest is gone over the hill. Perhaps fate was kind to them, for I fuel for the flames of inflation. am afraid they would be an unhappy lot in today's world of science. First the jeep came along to displace the faithful burro. Maybe we white folks could learn something from Then the black lamp, the geiger counter and the diamond the Navajo Indians. Several weeks before their tribal drill became the tools of the prospecting fraternity and election was held in March they adopted a code of ethics the gold pan became a museum piece. applicable to all candidates in the race for the 74-member And now it appears that science has developed a new tribal council. technique in the quest for mineral wealth. On my desk Tribal Executive Secretary Maurice McCabe said the is the latest bulletin issued by the California Division of election code is designed to prevent oil, gas and mining Mines. The title is Plants as a Guide to Mineralogy. And interests which seek leases on reservation lands from mak- so the prospector of today may have to add the study of ing campaign contributions. The penalty imposed on a botany to his book of knowledge—and the assayer be- candidate for accepting campaign funds from any person come a botanical analyst. or corporation seeking concessions on Navajo lands is a And that is as it should be. It would be unbearable, fine of $300 or 30 days in jail, and forfeiture of office if living in a world that never changed. And what a chal- elected. lenge it is for you and me—thoughtfully to weigh the Perhaps we could learn something from the Navajo! 42 DESERT MAGAZINE Randall Henderson Turns A Page ...

On March 1, after more than 20 years as editor of the Desert Magazine, Randall Henderson terminated an active, day-to-day participation in the operation of this magazine. It was but another step in the career of a man who has always believed that life, well lived, is not a retirement into old age but rather a series of challenging changes. At the age of 48—in 1937—Randall left a quarter of a century of newspapering experience behind him and trans- ferred his interests and energies to a new field, the Desert Magazine. With a few close associates he founded the magazine, starting off with 600 subscribers to back his dream. That was 22 years ago. Today Desert Magazine is recognized as the major journalistic voice for the fast- growing great Southwest, and has 500 readers for every one that Randall started with. The deep integrity that Randall Henderson put into his first Desert Magazine has carried through to this day. He will continue to write his editorial commentary "Just Between You and Me" each month, and will retain a financial investment in Desert Magazine. He will also serve as editorial advisor to the present staff. His residence is only two blocks from the magazine's Palm Desert office, RANDALL HENDERSON so he will be available for counsel and guidance. Stepping into Randall's editor's post will be Gene Con- rotto, who has been on Desert Magazine's staff since 1955 and who has "learned" Desert Magazine under the guidance the desert, and he will continue to look to the remote can- of Randall Henderson. yons and seldom trod trails for his recreation. But his home work will take place in the study of his Palm Desert As I see it, Randall is not retiring, but is accepting a residence with his books and his typewriter. new challenge in a new field. He doesn't plan to ever leave Like most journalists he wants to write a book—in- spired perhaps by the desert, but devoted to an amplifica- tion of some of the ideas in the broad fields of education, economics and human relations which he has touched briefly in his editorial page from time to time. To him, life is a glorious adventure which becomes more interesting with the passing years. "There is so much to learn," he says, "and I have been looking forward to the opportunity to spend more time with the great men who have left us such a rich heritage of knowledge in their books." He will continue to be active in the good work of the Desert Protective Council, which he helped establish five years ago. And he is presently donating hours each week with the County of Riverside, in Southern California, in planning desert and wilderness parks for the enjoyment of future generations. This page is not meant to be a eulogy to Randall Henderson—it's the last thing he would want—but is a report to Desert Magazine's thousands of readers who are interested in Randall Henderson, founder of the magazine.

CHARLES E. SHELTON, publisher

APRIL, 1959 43 Photo of the Month Contest^Winner •.• Bulldogging is one of the most exciting events in a rodeo — the object being for the cow- boy to wrestle the steer to the ground in a race against time. Not only does bulldogging de- mand courage, skill and timing; the cowboy needs a well-trained horse which will follow the fleeing steer. Action above took place at the Tucson Rodeo, and the prize-winning photograph was submitted by Bob Riddell, Jr., of the Tucson Sunshine Climate Club.

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 prize 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 ell entries to: Photo Contest, Desert Magazine, Palm Desert, California.