NEW FREE 56 PAGE 1953 MIDYEAR PRICE LIST This catalog is the same as our 1952 Fall Catalog. It is Bails, Locket Loops, Chain by the foot, Bezel Wire, etc. 8V6"xll" in size and it is profusely illustrated. Your Field Trip Books and Books of all kinds on Minerals, shopping will be made easy — order by mail or visit Gems, Jewelry Making, Prospecting, Uranium, etc. our shop to select your gifts. This catalog lists Gem Fluorescent Lamps, Fluorescent Minerals, Geiger Count- Cutting Equipment, Grinding Wheels, Diamond Blades, ers, Uranium Samples, Magnifiers, Scales, Templates, etc. Sanding Cloth, and Polishing Powders, Jewelry Making Services Offered to You Are: Expert Gem Stone Cutting, Tools, Sterling Silver Sheet and Wire, Blank Ring Custom Jewelry Making and Kepair. Mountings, Jewelry Findings such as Earwires, Dealers please ask for wholesale discount sheets POLY ARBORS AT NEW LOW PRICES illustration at right shows 1—POLY D12 Arbor $19.95 1—Dresser Rest 2.25 2—Cast Splash Shields 15.00 1—Jig Block DIAMOND 1—100 Grit Wheel 8"xlV4" 7.25 DRESSER 10.90 1—220 Grit Wheel 8"xiya" 8.25 2—Galvanized Splash Pans. 5.50 TOTAL VALUE $69.10 SPECIAL COMBINATION PRICE $62.00 YOU WILL BE WEARING RAINBOWS When you wear jewelry set with TITANIA. Gems of synthetic TITANIA have five times more ability than the diamond to break light into its component colors producing a magnificent rainbow effect. These magnificent gems can be set in mount- ings you may now have from which you have lost the ihan the Diamond] original stone. Visit Our Shop and See Ladies' and Men's Rings Set with Titania. A Larcje Stock of Titania Earwires Is Also Available.

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DESERT MAGAZINE DESERT CALENDAR April—Exhibit of paintings by Orpha Klinker of historical landmarks in California. Southwest Museum, Highland Park, Los Angeles, Calif. April 1-4—Final Easter ceremonies of Yaqui Indians, Pascua Village, near Tucson, Arizona. April 3—Passion play of Penitente Brotherhood, Rancho de Taos and St. Francis Mission, Taos, New Mexico. April 4 — All-day auto caravan to Pioneertown and Indian Cove Volume 16 APRIL. 1953 Number 4 in Joshua Tree National Monu- ment. From Desert Museum, Palm Springs, California. COVER Yucca, by ESTHER HENDERSON, Tucson, Arizona April 5—Easter sunrise services on horseback. Wickenburg, Arizona. CALENDAR April events on the desert 3 April 5 — Easter sunrise services, PHOTOGRAPHY Pictures of the Month 4 Grand Canyon, Arizona. FIELD TRIP There's Still Color in the Old Placer Fields April 5—Easter sunrise services at Desert Christ Monument, Yucca By E. C. THOROMAN 5 Valley, California. POETRY The Des€;rt Blooms Again, and other poems . . 9 April 5 — Easter Sunrise Services, Yermo, California. EXPLORATION The Ancients Were Here April 5 — Rodeo, Rancho de Los By RANDALL HENDERSON 10 Caballeros, Wickenburg, Arizona. PRIZES April contest for photographers 14 April 6-10—Desert Caballeros Annual WILDFLOWERS Ride, Wickenburg, Arizona. Forecast for April 16 April 8-19—Tucson Festival, Tucson, EXPERIENCE Arizona. Life on the Desert April 10-11—All-Indian Show, Ari- LETTERS By ERNEST K. ALLEN 17 zona State College, Flagstaff. April 11-12 — Bandollero Tour to NATURE Comment from Desert's readers 21 Rocky Point, Sonora, Mexico, from Yuma, Arizona. Sand Food of the Papagos April 11-12—Annual De Anza Jeep DESERT QUIZ By FRANKLIN A. THACKERY 22 Cavalcade, Hemet to Calexico, California. LOST MINE A true-false test of your desert knowledge . . 24 April 12 — Annual Chuck Wagon breakfast, to welcome De Anza Lost Treasure of Sonoyta jeep riders from Hemet. Calexico, FICTION By JOHN D. MITCHELL 25 California. NEWS April 12—Dons Club Trek to Boyce Hard Ro=k Shorty of Death Valley 26 Thompson Aboretum, Superior, WATER Arizona. From Phoenix. From Here and There on the Desert .... 27 CLOSE-UPS April 18-19—Annual Grubstake Days, Predictions of Colorado River Run-off .... 32 Yucca Valley, California. CONTEST April 18-19—Sierra Club, Southern About those who write for Desert 33 California Chapter, exploratory HOBBY hike up west fork of Palm Canyon, Prize Announcement for Writers 33 near Palm Springs, California. LAPIDARY April 25 — All-day auto caravan Gems and Minerals 34 through Joshua Tree National MINING Monument. From Desert Museum, Amateur Gem Cutter, by LELANDE QUICK . . 40 Palm Springs, California. Stops at COMMENT Wonderland of Rocks, Salton View, Current news of desert mines 41 Jumbled Rocks and Twentynine BOOKS Palms Oasis. Just Between You and Me, by the Editor ... 42 April 25-26 — Natural Science Sec- The Desert MagazinReviewe is publishes ofd Southwestermonthly by thne Deserliteraturt Presse , Inc., Palm Desert43, California. Re-entered as second class matter July 17, 1948, at the post office at Palm Desert, tion, Southern California Chapter California, under the Act of March 3, 1879. Title registered No. 358865 in U. S. Patent Office, Sierra Club trip to Joshua Tree and contents copyrighted 1953 by the Desert Press, Inc. Permission to reproduce contents National Monument, California. must be secured from the editor in writing. Overnight camp at Jumbled Rocks, RANDALL HENDERSON, Editor MARGARET GERKE, Associate Editor hike to Stubby Springs. BESS STACY, Business Manager MARTIN MORAN, Circulation Manager April 25-26 — Desert Peaks Section, Southern California Chapter Sierra Club climb of Telescope Peak, Death Valley, California. SUBSCRIPTION RATES April 26 — Annual Spring Festival One Year $3.50 Two Years $6.00 and wildflower show, Hi Vista, near Lancaster, California. Canadian Subscriptions 25c Extra, Foreign 50c Extra Subscriptions to Army Personnel Outside U. S. A. Must Be Mailed in Conformity With F. O. D. Order No. 19687 Address Correspondence to Desert Magazine, Palm Desert, California APRIL, 1953 r PICTURES of the MONTH..

in Mother reaches for a tender leaf while Junior pauses for some diges- tive thought. Hetty Cooper of Flag- staff caught these two burros graz- ing near Coolidge Dam, Arizona, and took a prize-winning picture, awarded first place in Desert's Feb- ruary photo contest. Miss Cooper used a Rolleiflex camera, super XX film, K2 filter, 1/100 second at f. 8.

Snip, in Blue Valley Barbara Bixby of Santa Maria, California, photographed this ship rock off Highway 95 near Hanksville in Southern Utah. The picture, taken with a Ciro-flex camera, plus X film, 4 m 1/50 second at f. 22, won second prize in February's contest. The author pans gold in Black Canyon Creek, from an old bench placer located about a mile above Black Canyon's junction with Bumblebee Creek. There's Still Color in the Old Placer Fields

The old-timers—the first-comers—got most of the Southwest gold. of color in nearly every pan. Later 1 But there still are some values left in the old placer fields, at least camped along the creek for three enough color to show in the bottom of the pan for spare-time prospectors weeks. The gravel is not large, bed- like E. C. Thoromcm. Here is an unusual story—Thoroman's log of rock is fairly close to the surface and twenty old placer diggings in Arizona. With Norton Allen's map. it no serious mining problems were in- will guide Desert Magazine readers along desert trails to another volved. I did not find much gold— fascinating hobby. only a few tiny flakes in a pan, but I By E. C. THOROMAN was a confirmed spare-time prospector Photographs by the author by the end of the three weeks. Map by Norton Allen Jim Thomas, who worked a claim on Rich Gulch, near the ghost town T WAS an old prospector — a have never been high, it has been a of Stanton, about 12 miles east of chance acquaintance of four years fascinating hobby, reworking the gravel Congress Junction, between 1933 and ago—who first interested me in in some of the creeks where i:he old- 1938, laughed at the fine gold I was panning gold as a hobby. Since meet- timers once took out an ounce of gold panning at Big Bug. Talking in terms ing him, I have worked many of the to the running foot of stream. of nuggets weighing an ounce or more, old placer fields in Arizona and have My first digging was on Big Bug he induced me to go to Rich Gulch. known—along with sore muscles, blis- Creek, about 15 miles northwest of This gravel lies on the north side of tered hands and a backache—the thrill Mayer, Arizona. With some college the famous Rich Hill where early day of discovery which comes with a gleam students I worked along the stream prospectors occasionally found nug- of color in the bottom of a pan. bank scooping out potholes and cracks gets lying on top of the ground. Although the values I've panned in the bedrock—and getting a trace Here the digging was deep, and due

APRIL, 1953 to heavy boulders, rather difficult. Bed- Hassayampa. This canyon in the river heavy rains, but drywashing can be rock, where the best values generally is a favorite camping spot for nearby done most of the year. There is still are found, was from a foot to ten feet dude ranchers. About half a mile some fine gold to be obtained along down. Some of the boulders were so farther east are the Old Spanish Dig- the bedrock ledges. big we had to use dynamite, and in gings which also produce colors. Gold A few years ago, an old-timer who some instances shot them twice before is in the washes and in surface dirt had driven a freight wagon during the we could lift the fragments out of the on the banks of the streams. '90s told me that the Mexicans had streambed. There is very little fine A very fine flake gold can be ob- worked a small wash near Goat Ranch, gold in either Rich Gulch or Antelope tained from almost any wash on the an old landmark between Mayer and Creek. Nuggets are from a few grains east side of the highway for about five Dewey. I followed his directions and to over an ounce in weight. We finally miles south of Wickenburg. The over- drywashed the lower end with very gave up because of the mass of over- burden is from six inches to a foot. It poor results. However, in working up burden, but there is still gold of high carries a heavy black sand which the stream I began to get larger gold, quality under all those boulders. quickly loads the screen of a dry- and finally was obtaining from $1.50 About four miles from Rock Springs washer. From one to two dollars to $3.00 a trip in fairly coarse gold. is the old stage station of Gillette. Here, worth of gold can be taken in a day The overburden is largely sand, not practically on top of the ground, is a in this area. over a foot deep in most places. The fine flake gold which is hard to handle. Just north of Carl Pleasant Dam gold is considerably worn; I found It pans nicely, but since it lies in adobe, lies Morgan's Wash. Considerable one small nugget shaped like a mitten it clogs riffle boards and is too fine to flake gold has been brought out of and another like a star. be caught in a dry washer. For years this area, and I was anxious to try Despite all prospectors' reports on people have tried unsuccessfully to my luck there. With my jeep I was the Superstition Mountain and Gold- work it in quantity. Each pan yields able to get up the wash about four field area—reputed locale of the fa- a few colors from almost anywhere miles to where the bedrock is close to mous Lost Dutchman Mine—I can around the old camp. It is fairly ac- the surface. I had a small pump and only say that in several trips I have cessible and is a lovely picnic spot riffle box and with this rudimentary drywashed a number of the washes made picturesque by the remaining equipment moved considerable dirt in the area on the north side of Super- old adobe buildings. from the bedrock ledges—but with stition Mountain with very meager re- Just above the old Ore Grande disappointing results. I managed to sults. I obtained extremely fine gold pump house on the Hassayampa River, separate some fine flakes, but nothing and only a few specks in each pan of about 15 miles northeast of Wicken- to compare with the stories I had concentrates. The same has been true burg, is another old placer which yields heard about the region. Indications of the Stewart Mountain Dam area. fine and occasionally shot gold. The were that high water had changed some My experiences in the Yuma area gravel can be readily drywashed and of the previous placer bars. also have not justified reports. Marvin concentrates panned in the nearby Morgan's Wash runs only after Smith, game ranger in the district,

I Hossoyampo II Gillette 2 Lynx Creek 12 Morgan's Wash 3 Nugget Patch 13 Vulture 4 Goat Ranch 14 La Paz 5 Big Bug 15 Laguna 6 Blind Indian Creek 16 McPhoul 7 Rich Gulch 17 Fortuna 8 Spanish Diggings 18 Superstition.Goldfield 9 Black Canyon 19 Fort Huachuco 10 French Cr. 8 Humbug 20 Gleeson o

DESERT MAGAZINE states that each winter 40 or 50 old timers drywash the Fortuna, Laguna and McPhaul placers. Fortuna is prob- ably the first placer field to be located in Arizona. 1 worked for several days, surrounded by the diggings and pot- holes of former workers, but my re- sults were very poor, with none of the coarse gold and small nuggets which are said to be obtained in those fields. While I have been over some of the ground in the La Paz district and have seen the extensive diggings and the large area in which gold can still be re- covered by drywashing, I was unable to spend sufficient time there to give an adequate report. South of Tombstone, and just be- yond the town of Gleeson is the old Gleeson placer, which lies conveniently near the road. While on a trip to Tur- quoise Ridge, my son and I stopped at the old placer. Our efforts were rewarded with a few colors, and I was sorry that time did not permit further work. The field was worked exten- sively until the water supply failed, and Lee Thompson relates that consider- able gold was obtained. Around the town of Bumblebee, be- low the junction of Bumblebee and Black Canyon Creeks, are several old bench placers, which still produce colors when panned. These are not very profitable, but the scenic setting is lovely. Unfortunately I cannot verify the accounts of diggings which pro- duced several dollars for a few hours' work. Beyond the dam of the old Senator Mine, about 15 miles south of Prescott, is one of the most picturesque spots in which a prospector can work. Amid pines and aspen, the headwaters of the Hassayampa River gurgle through rocky canyons. The gold which I have taken out here is not large, but it is

Above — Old rocker which has rested for half a century on the banks of Goat Ranch Gulch, near Humboldt. This stream, worked by Mexicans in 1890 and again during the depression, still yields gold, al- though water does not run every year and values must be obtained by dry washing. Center—This shovel is last remain- ing piece of equipment of a large placer operation on Eugene Gulch, near its junction with Big Bug Creek. When operating, this placer produced about a dollar's worth of gold per yard of gravel. From 40 to 50 yards a day were worked. Below—The author's son examines rock specimens at the old stage sta- tion at Gillette. This building also housed the offices of the Tip Top Mine about 1918.

APRIL, 1953 rough and unweathered, often appear- riffles. But, being a bench placer, the tained more gold from bench placer ing in peculiar formations. Most of spot otherwise is easily worked. and side washes than from Lynx Creek what I have panned has been dug Along with many others, I have itself. With the help of Jack Redmond, from cracks in the bedrock. visited the famous Vulture Mine. Here one of the two remaining prospectors History reveals that the old Walnut the caretaker will gladly help you with in that area, I located bench placers Grove-Wagoner district along Blind the technique of drywashing and pan- as high as a hundred feet above Lynx Indian Creek was heavily worked in ning. The gold is generally quite fine, Creek and more than half a mile from its day. Old residents still insist good and work is restricted to the super- the creekbed. In the section of the values can be obtained there, and a vision of the caretaker. About two creek which has been dredged, bed- little gold does come out every year. miles from the mine proper is the old rock ledges still produce flake gold But you couldn't prove it by me; I had Vulture or Henry Wickenburg placer. when the prospector breaks up the no luck at all. Very little remains in the stream, but weathering formations and either dry- the adjacent bench land still produces washes or pans his concentrates. Along French Creek, near Cham- some color. The large gold is still in the bench pie's Ranch, 26 miles northeast of Ever since coming to Arizona, 1 placer above the streambed. Here the Morristown, I have obtained fines had heard stories about gold and gold is coarse and rough, and occa- along the margin of the stream where platinum in the Huachuca area. While sional nuggets of small size are found. bedrock is near the surface. Large the reservation was still under super- Seven Mile Gulch, Indian Creek and flake gold can be obtained by traveling vision of the State Game and Fish Indian Hill, Whiskey Gulch and many along the course of the stream, and I Commission, I obtained permission to unnamed little washes have all pro- have seen some very nice specimens prospect there. A local resident had duced gold for me. Since these are all taken there. Harder to reach because told me that gold had been found away from the stream, the dirt must of rough roads is Humbug Creek, behind the old rifle range. I located be drywashed. about six miles beyond Champie's. the streams behind the target ranges Here coarse gold can be obtained on During the past three-quarters of a used during World War I, and sunk century, practically every possible the bedrock. I would warn prospec- my digging to bedrock. I obtained tors that the road is one-way, rough, stream and wash in the Southwest has several pounds of bullets of military been explored, and the gold which had steep and best suited to cars with high calibre, considerable black sand and centers. been weathering out for ages has been a few specks of gold. No platinum claimed by panning, sluicing, dredging I hesitate to discuss Nugget Patch, was in evidence. I have also heard and drywashing. The evidences of old which is a part of the famous Lynx rumors of platinum in the Humbug- sluicing ditches can be traced for miles. Creek placer, about a mile south of Cow Creek area. While on the reser- During the depression early placer the Black Canyon highway and nine vation I sampled several streams with areas were again worked over, provid- miles east of Prescott. The location much the same result—very little gold, ing a living for an untold number of is true to its name—nuggets are there. but always traces. Since the military hardrock miners who were forced out They are not plentiful, and consider- have again occupied the post, it is no of work by mine shutdowns. Most of longer open to prospecting. able dry washing is done in the area. the gold which is being recovered to- A person can work for several days Next I turned my attention to the day lies at the edges of the stream, without seeing a trace of gold. But Lynx Creek area. My first sampling along the slopes of sidewashes or in when a nugget is found, it usually is in Knapp's Gulch resulted in a few heretofore concealed ledges of bed- worth several dollars. I saw a nugget coarse grains dug from the streambed rock, and it is so fine and scarce that slightly over a pennyweight picked up and worked through a cradle. Work- it was considered unprofitable to w«rk there last summer. The black sand is a ing down the stream and checking the by the early prospectors. nuisance, since it quickly loads the side washes, I discovered that I ob- The caretaker of the Monte Carlo Mine recently showed me some gold taken from dry washes west of Con- gress Junction which was so fine that it is hard to believe it could be held Gold panning is an art and requires considerable practice. in a drywasher. Such gold was quickly passed over by the men who were The pan, nine to 16 inches in diameter and two to three inches deep, digging a hundred dollars worth of with the sides sloping at an angle of 45 degrees, is filled about half full of values daily in the richer areas. the gravel to be tested. The pan is held in both hands. Stooping down Practically all of the streambeds in by a stream, the prospector fills it with water, and the light material is Arizona are under claims, and in some washed out; heavier gravel and large pebbles are left behind. While the cases the washes run through deeded pan is under water, the larger washed pebbles are discarded by hand. land, but there is so little activity on The pan is then shaken, in a way difficult to the part of the owners that most of describe, until all of the valueless material has them are willing to permit occasional been washed out and only gold and black sand prospectors like myself to dig on their remain. The discarding of waste should be done claims. Most of them will not only carefully and slowly toward the end of the proc- give permission, but will tell you where ess. Finally the gold remains in the bottom of the best spots are. Often they will the pan for examination and calculation spend the day teaching you how to pan, recounting their experiences and The method of dipping the pan in water, the in general enjoying your pleasure in peculiar circular, concentric or oscillating motion finding values. Despite the scarcity of of the washing process, depressing the edge to gold, there will always be those like discharge the waste and the final collection of myself who enjoy the thrill of finding gold require skill. a little color in the bottom of a gold pan.

DESERT MAGAZINE And the desert shall rejoice, and blos- som as the rose.—Isaiah 35:1 By ELLA LOUISE HEATLEY Long Beach, California "The desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose"; Spring's miracle, rain-wrought, is flung across the land; With iridescent loveliness, alive as opal's fire. She spreads mosaic coverlets to hide the barren sand, In promised exultation, the desert blooms and glows. • • • TRANQUILITY By ELNA SUNDQUIST BARKER Los Angeles, California What good is there in wasted land Where crops can't grow? Earth should produce, should be fulfilled And rivers flow. True it is there must be fruit And fertile space, But true it is my spirit asks A desert place. The naked branch and shriveled leaf Can speak to me: What is alive within you means Tranquility.

I INQUIRE OF LITTLE RABBIT By MARY ALDEN CAMPBELL Long Beach, California Come, little rabbit, from burrow and brush, Out to the dunes, in the clear moming hush! Quick, to your foraging; busily nibble— Dry are the weeds and poor the gray stubble. Verbenas and primroses on the floor of Borrego Valley, California. Photo Enough, little rabbit? by Harry W. Roche, San Diego. Crouch for a sudden leap, danger approach- SPRINGTIME ON THE DESERT DESERT EASTER ing! By ANNA M. KLAGGE By KAREN NIEMANN Man with a jealous eye marks your en- Phoenix, Arizona Glendale, California croaching; Springtime on the desert— Cool is the wind Drive back your young ones, helter and Beauty everywhere, Blowing the night skelter Mesquite and ironwood, Out of the east. Scurrying, terror-swift, into your shelter! Flowers in their hair. Gentle the light All safe, little rabbit? Across the sand. Carpets of verbena, Hide in a labyrinth, secret, recessed, Lupines garbed in blue, Quiet the hour Matted and soft with the fur from your Saucy golden poppies Staring wide-eyed too. Easter is born. breast. Pale is the sky Wait while the desert sun rides overhead, Like old curtains torn Gold-sprayed palo verde On Joshua trees. Nuzzle and cuddle the babes in your bed. Marching on parade, Content, little rabbit? Oriole and thrasher Old curtains torn Timid, you come—hop, hop, from the ark. Lend their lilting aid. And blown away— Trusting, through centuries, night and the Cacti with corsages, In the wonder of dawn dark! Ocotillo too, We kneel and pray. Preyed upon, slaughtered: yet, increased, Flaunt their flaming colons • • • you thrive! 'Neath the baby blue. THE STRIKE Why? For what ultimate do you survive? By COLLEEN MURRAY No voice, little rabbit? Palm Springs, California When I was young I searched for gold upon the desert floor, OCOTILLO IN BLOOM Through scorching sand and endless sun I By FAYE M. GOULD By TANYA SOUTH quested only ore, La Mesa, California We cannot lose what is our own. I did not see the desert bloom so bright Ocotillo—Coachman's Whip— It waits for us and us alone. against the sky, Scarlet flame on candle tip It waits. And in due time appears. Nor did I catch the hues of mountains There against blue desert sky. Despite our laughter or our tears. wasted to my eye, Searing not the butterfly Stern to demand reprisals paid, And then one day, with back grown tired, Or give as we have earned of aid. with aged fingers lame, That comes to rest on thy bright flame I raised my earth-bound eyes and in God's Enchanted wonderment thy aim. beauty struck my claim. APRIL, 1 953 These are part of the petroglvphs found at a series of tinajas in a tributary canyon. An ancient Indian trail leads to this site. The Ancients Were Here A bighorn sheep hunter brought back word that he had seen Grande was virtually unknown, even Indian cliff dwellings in a remote canyon in Baja California, nearly to the residents of Calexico, the closest 100 miles below the California border. And this was the clue that led port of entry, less than a hundred a jeep expedition into the region last November. Members of the party miles to the north. found evidence of prehistoric Indian occupancy—but a different type I was publishing Calexico's daily of cliif dwellings than is common in Arizona and New Mexico. Chronicle at the time John Cudahy's By RANDALL HENDERSON book appeared, and I asked many ac- Map by Norton Allen quaintances among both the American and the Mexican residents of the N 1928 John Cudahy wrote a heights, like eagles in their eyries Calexico-Mexicali border community book about his experiences as a so far removed from the crawling what they knew about cliff dwellings hunter in the desert region of ants miles below? in the great canyon known as Arroyo northern Baja California. The book, Indian cliff dwellings in Lower Cali- Grande. My friend Malcolm Huey Mananaland, long out of print, con- fornia! told me that he and Oscar Petersen tains the following reference to the My friends among the archeologists had once gone up the Arroyo in a Arroyo Grande—a great dry water- told me it was very improbable. There light truck hunting deer. But they course which slashes through the was no record that the prehistoric were looking for wild game, not for mountains near the headwaters of the tribesmen in either of the Califomias cliff dwellings—and they saw neither. Gulf of California: had ever built cliff houses—at least My interest in these reported cliff At one turn we saw, high up, the not the type of cliff dwellings found in houses was further stimulated when I storied dwellings of an ancient race Mesa Verde and a hundred other can- read in Arthur W. North's Camp and of cliff dwellers, fantastically cleft yons in the remote regions of Arizona, Camino in Lower California, now also in the chrome-colored rock —• tier New Mexico, Utah and Colorado. out of print, the following: after tier of them, perhaps a hun- But none of these students of pre- "For untold generations the Arroyo dred in all. What strange people historic Indian life had ever been in Grande was an Indian Highway to had lived in those inaccessible Arroyo Grande. In fact, Arroyo the desert and the Colorado River,

10 DESERT MAGAZINE and from its mouth, traversing the lava formation of the eastern portion of the desert, scar-like trails are still visible, although cacti, which require, the Indians say, two centuries for maturing, long ago overgrew these OSFORMA JWcp forgotten caminos and stretched their dead bodies athwart them. Until late in the last century the Arroyo Grande was a hiding place for outlaws, the tinajas being unknown to the Mexican authorities." Arroyo Grande was also reported to have been the scene of one of the last battles fought by the William Walker filibustering expedition in Baja California in 1853. According to one report, 200 members of the filibuster- ing army were surrounded in the sand- floored canyon and wiped out by a Mexican army. For many years I had wanted to visit this almost inaccessible canyon where aborigines, outlaws and Ameri- can filibusterers had passed, and pos- sibly left records that would confirm their presence there. I had met John Cudahy during his visits to the Cudahy ranch near Cal- exico, and I was certain his reference to the Indian cliff dwellings in Arroyo Grande was not a deliberate false- hood. I was curious to know why he had made such a report, and never had the opportunity after his book appeared, to ask him in person. Finally, in November 1952, a trip to Arroyo Grande was arranged. Aries Adams and I were to take our jeeps, and Bill Sherrill, chief of the Immigra- tion Service border patrol at Calexico, Malcolm Huey, now a resident of Alpine, California, and Aries' son Tony were to be our companions. Before sun-up on November 22 we crossed through the international gate at Mexicali. With more than 60,000 Mexicans now residing in the Mexican municipality this has become one of the most important gateways between the United States and Mexico. We rolled along the newly paved highway that connects Mexicali with the fishing village of San Felipe, 140 miles away on the Gulf of California. At 28 miles from Mexicali we stopped at La Puerta to fill our gas tanks. Since hundreds of Americans now motor along this road every week, U.S. dollars are no less negotiable than Mexican pesos—and the cost of gaso- line is about the same as on the Cali- fornia side of the border. Fifteen miles beyond La Puerta is El Mayor where many American range of mountains parallels the road across the flood basin where water sportsmen go in their trailers and g on thhe west. once backed in from the delta and spend their vacation days fishing in Below El Mayor the road is con- filled the inland sea known as Laguna the Hardy River, which really is an structed for several miles along the Salada. Here we left the paved road estuary of the gulf. The Cocopah top of a causeway which extends and followed an unimproved trail

APRIL, 1953 11 ., . .. n.

It was on slopes like these that members of the party found hundreds of nature- eroded cavities where ancient tribesmen once lived.

across the new dry floor of the Laguna. and coming finally to a telephone pole Where this military phone line Our destination was now visible. line which crosses the arroyo at right crosses the Arroyo Grande another Arroyo Grande is many miles wide angles. This telephone, now aban- great dry watercourse comes in from at its entrance—a broad valley tribu- doned, was built by the U. S. armed the west as a tributary. This is the tary to the Laguna Salada basin, it forces during World War II, to con- Arroyo Jaque'el. extends in a southerly direction be- nect San Felipe with Ensenada on the Continuing upstream along the Ar- tween the Sierra Pinta on the east and Pacific coast. It was feared that Jap- royo Grande dry channel the moun- the Sierra Tinaja on the west. anese submarines might establish con- tains soon began to close in and our We continued along an unimproved tact with secret agents by way of the broad arroyo became a high-walled and winding desert trail through iron- Gulf of California, and this communi- gorge. This is the beginning of Arroyo wood, palo verde and smoke trees for cation line was deemed necessary for Grande proper. Beyond this point we 24 miles, bearing always to the south the national security. continued for another 22.7 miles be-

DESERT MAGAZINE fore the gorge became too narrow and the boulders too big to be surmounted by a jeep. Most of the time we were following an unblazed trail along the fairly smooth and sandy floor of a dry watercourse. During a brief noonday stop for lunch 15 miles up the canyon we saw two bighorn sheep on the top of a ridge above us. There was evidence of deer, and it has been reported there are antelope in this wild region. Our expedition carried no guns. In another three miles we came to a barbed wire fence across the canyon, evidently placed there by cattlemen. We opened a gate and continued on our way and in the late afternoon came unexpectedly to a camp where Henry Jolliff, who runs cattle in upper Arroyo Grande, and a Mexican vaquero were cooking supper. There was surprise on both sides—at finding other human beings in this remote Baja California canyon. The cattlemen, who had ridden in on horses from the west, told us we were virtually at the end of our jeep trail—that the boulders in the channel would not permit us to go more than another quarter of a mile. When we reached these rocks we made camp, and at our invitation the cattlemen came over after supper for a chat. Although now a Mexican citizen, Jolliff is the son of one of the British colonists who settled in Ensenada in 1891-92 and built substantial homes there. These Britishers had obtained a farming and mining concession from the Mexican government, but the Yankee depression of 1893 and a series of drouth years made their ven- ture unprofitable. Henry Jolliff's father was one of a score of Englishmen who remained in the New World. The father is now dead, but Henry is carrying on exten- sive cattle operations on both the des- ert and the coastal sides of the moun- tain range which is the backbone of the upper peninsula. His three sisters are American citizens residing in Cali- fornia. He told us that while the Pai Pai Indians run some cattle in that general area, there had been no wild Indians in Arroyo Grande within his memory. There is much evidence of prehistoric Indian occupancy, however, and he told us that four miles farther up the

These petroglyphs were found high up on a rock wall in upper Arroyo Grande. In the lower picture Bill Sherrill is chalking some glyphs which were too faint for good pho- tographs.

APRIL, 1953 13 canyon a huge rock covered with resolved to find those "cliff houses" if Verde or Betatakin or Canyon de petroglyphs juts out into the channel they really existed. Chelly. of the arroyo. And we did find them—but not the Further confirmation of the pres- Early next morning we headed up- kind of cliff dwellings that were built ence here of ancient desert tribesmen stream to find these glyphs. By lifting by prehistoric tribesmen along the Rio at some period in the prehistoric past aside some large boulders we were Grande and the tributaries of the Colo- was found at the base of the cliff near able to take one of the jeeps another rado River. Six miles downstream where our cars were parked. Here two miles up the arroyo, and then two from our overnight camp we came to were dim outlines of both the incised more miles of hiking brought us to a narrow defile in a red-walled sector glyphs and the painted pictographs of the cliff with the Indian markings— of the gorge—and discovered that the prehistoric people. I am sure that a the same type of glyphs as are found steep slope of the canyon wall above more intensive exploration of this site all over the desert Southwest. No one was pitted with scores of cavities— would yield many artifacts of the In- has ever been able to give them a pos- natural cavities built by erosion of dians who once occupied these eyries itive translation. wind, water, sand, heat and cold. They in the canyon walls. The sky was overcast and light rain ranged in size from tiny caves barely Prompted by a tip given us by fell at intervals. As every rockhound large enough to shelter a coyote to Henry Jolliff we parked our jeeps three knows, a rock is more colorful when caverns big enough to house an Indian miles farther down the canyon where it is wet, and the showers that fell in family. there is a little cairn on a butte that Arroyo Grande that morning brought Climbing by finger and toe holds extends out into the arroyo, and to my mind the word-picture of this to these caves we found in some of hiked up a dry tributary which comes gorge which John Cudahy had writ- them clam shells, evidently brought in in from the west. A quarter of a ten: from the gulf where clams are plentiful mile from the main streambed we "At nearly every turn the canyon along the beach, and broken pottery. came to a series of tinajas, some of sides presented an enchanting kaleido- At some prehistoric period Indian them with water, and the granite wall scopic picture, as if seen with the tribesmen had occupied these caverns. near the largest of them was adorned changing colors of a magic lantern. John Cudahy told the truth when with a score of the finest petroglyphs Gentle tones of saffron and ochre dif- he said he saw the "dwellings of an seen on the entire expedition. fused the rocks, where outcropping ancient race of cliff dwellers" even This is another site where a more ridges were chaste as marble. Then though he was not talking about the detailed search might yield much ad- at a sharp bend the scene would be type of of cliff dwellings visualized by ditional information about the Indians tinted with lavender and rich lilac, Americans who have been to Mesa who once occupied this region. On traced with the delicate olive green of the palo verde. Abruptly, this would change to deep Indian red pigments, flashing green with creosote and cactus, shaded with amber and chrome, and all blended with the skill of a master April Photo Prize Announcement artist." For those photographers who like to follow the little used desert Lower Sonoran zone vegetation trails in quest of new pictures, and who carry their bedroll and grub grows luxuriantly in Arroyo Grande, box with them, April is the ideal month on the desert. The days are including all the common species seen seldom too warm for oomfort, and the nights are delightful. And so, on the southern California desert— this April why not take the camera and a supply of film, and the catsclaw, bisnaga, cholla and staghorn camping outfit, and go out and get a prize-winning picture for Desert cactus, palo verde, mesquite, ironwood, Magazine's Picture-of-the-Month contest? Any desert subject is accept- able, but of course the less commonplace objects have a better chance ocotillo, desert willow, and on the to win. Study the composition, the lighting and the background care- levels above 1500 feet, agave. One fully—and if you get something extra good send it to Desert Magazine species of cactus never seen on the so 125,000 others can see your photographic masterpiece. Alta California side of the line is con- spicuous here—the senita or old man Entries for the April contest must be in the Desert Magazine office. cactus. Strangely, although Arroyo Palm Desert, California, by April 20, and the winning prints will appear Grande is in the habitat of the Ele- in the June issue. Pictures which arrive too late for one contest are phant tree, we saw none of these red- held over for the next month. First prize is $10; second prize $5.00. sapped denizens of Baja California For non-winning pictures accepted for publication $3.00 each will be until we left the Arroyo and were re- paid. turning to the San Felipe road the next HERE ARE THE RULES 1—Prints for monthly contests must be black and white, 5x7 or larger, printed day. on glossy paper. Driving up the canyon we had seen 2—Each photograph submitted should be fully labeled as to subject, time and place. Also technical data: camera, shutter speed, hour of day, etc. no evidence of Indian cliff houses, and 3—PRINTS WILL BE RETURNED WHEN RETURN POSTAGE IS ENCLOSED. Jolliff told us that none existed in this 4—All entries must be in the Desert Magazine office by the 20th of the contest region. But I was certain that John month. 5—Contests are open to both amateur and professional photographers. Desert Cudahy's reference to Indian dwellings Magazine requires first publication rights only of prize winning pictures. was not mere idle talk—that some- 6—Time and place of photograph are immaterial, except that it must be from the where along this canyon were forma- desert Southwest. tions which had reminded him of pre- 7—Judges will be selected from Desert's editorial staff, and awards will be made immediately after the close of the contest each month. historic habitations. Address All Entries to Photo Editor Having returned from our hike to the petroglyphs by mid-morning we PALM DESERT, CALIFORNIA headed our jeeps down the arroyo,

14 DESERT MAGAZINE Arroyo Grande is a colorful canyon, where it is possible to travel 23 miles along the sandy floor of a dry watercourse through precipitous mountains. the slope above the tinajas I found a the meager supply had been fouled by Home-bound, we retraced our route well preserved old Indian trail, and the wildlife of the area. Probably down the arroyo to the telephone line, guided by some white onyx float that there are many other natural tanks and then turned right along the little could be seen on the hillside I discov- where the bighorn sheep and quail used road built by the U. S. Army ered an outcropping seam of beauti- which range this desert can obtain signal corps, or by the contractors who fully banded gray, white and tan onyx, water, but they have never been erected this line, and followed the of the type once described by John charted, and probably never will be, poles 20 miles east to the paved San Hilton in Desert Magazine as "petri- for there is nothing in this region to Felipe road. It is a sandy route, and fied bacon." attract those who explore and map I would prefer the longer trail into Probably this old Indian trail once the desert region for financial profit. Arroyo Grande—the trail we had fol- was trod by the moccasined feet of lowed the previous day. tribesmen going from the mountains Many Desert Magazine readers in —the Sierra Juarez on the west where Motor Log to Arroyo Grande the past have taken the new road to pinyon nuts are plentiful in season, to San Felipe, and many more of them the Gulf 40 miles to the east where 00.0 Calexico-Mexicali port of en- try will do so in the future. It is a fine the Indians had ways of trapping the 28.3 La Pucrta (gas and food) highway, to excellent fishing waters. seafood which is so plentiful in the 43.0 El Mayor (Hardy River fish- Seventy-three miles from Mexicali Gulf of California. ing) they will see this pole line crossing the Arroyo Grande is accessible today 58.0 Turn right off paved road to road. But unless they are well equipped only to horsemen, or to motor vehicles Laguna Salada for travel in the sand, I would warn with four-wheel drive, or with the ex- 63.0 Junction. Take old San Felipe road to south. them not to take the side road back tra traction given by over-size tires. 87.2 Ensenada-San Felipe pole line. through the Sierra Pinta. The water supply is very limited. We 91.7 Turn right off pole line road found good springs in the upper can- up Arroyo Grande (no trail) Arroyo Grande is a delightful side yon near our overnight camp, but 97.0 Walls close in forming canyon trip for those properly equipped. I 105.3 Small cairn on bluff on right would like to go back there sometime, there is no running water along the marks side canyon where tina- 22-mile floor of the canyon below jas and glyphs are found not for the loot of the pot-hunter, but except at those rare intervals when 108.5 Red-wall formation with ero- just to learn more about those ancient storm water comes down the arroyo. sion cavities (cliff dwellings) tribesmen who selected such an im- 1 10.6 Fence penetrable region for their habitat. The water we found at the tinajas 114.6 End of motor trip. Impassable where the glyphs were seen had not beyond. They must have been a hardy race of been refreshed by rains recently, and men and women.

APRIL, 1 953 15 N ABNORMAL lack of rain in January and Feb- "Farther east on Highway 66, near the Pisgah Crater ruary considerably darkened the wildflower out- area, is a veritable garden of flowers. The desert sun- look for California's Coachella Valley and other flowsrs are especially profuse, their blossoms stretching Southwest desert areas. out in a sea of gold. Smaller plants—Mojave poppy, mari- gold, sand verbena, anisocoma and sun cups—are spotted A good display of geraea and verbena and millions here and there. With more rain we should have flowers of the tiny white flowers of the potato primrose had ap- through March and April and, at higher elevations, peared along the Palm Desert-Indio highway early in through May." February, and dune, wash and canyon wall held promise of a brilliant March display. But the lack of moisture, Death Valley National Monument—Late winds have cold nights, drying winds and a stinging sand storm have dried the alluvial fans and dust blew almost constantly discouraged many budding plantlings, and prospects for over Death Valley regions in late February. But E. E. March and April flowering are not as good as earlier Ogston, acting superintendent, still hopes for a fair dis- forecasts indicated. play. "I do not notice increased growth in the annuals which were growing so profusely last month," he wrote The hardy encelia, however, withstood weather ad- late in February. "However, even though they are stunted, versities to burst into golden color in late February, still the plants are starting to bud, and a few of the desert holding back many of its buds for March opening. Here gold are blooming." He expects a fairly good showing and there in desert canyons, the careful observer might by mid-March. find blossoming apricot mallow or a specimen or two of its cousin, the desert five-spot, a cupped lavender flower, Saguaro National Monument—After a completely dry its white interior spotted with scarlet. Chuperosa or hum- month, prospects for the Tucson area were bleak until a mingbird flower, lupine and several early-blooming barrel storm February 2 deposited three inches of snow, con- cacti also were in evidence the first of March. siderably alleviating the moisture problem. Superintendent Discouraging as the wildflower picture seemed in Coa- Samuel A. King was optimistic once again: "We should chella Valley, it was brighter there than in many other have a good display of annuals during the latter part of sections of the Southwest, notably along highway 80 in March and early April," he writes. "The beanpods and Southern California and Arizona. "There are practically jewel flowers came up and blossomed earlier, but the no flowers between here and Coachella Valley," Desert plants were stunted and the flowers small and unattractive. Magazine Editor Randall Henderson, enroute to Texas' The brittle bush and false mesquite have well advanced Big Bend Country, reported from Tucson March 1. "There buds and should be in blossom shortly. Prickly pear and are more flowers in Coachella alone than we saw along cholla—cane, staghorn and teddy bear varieties—will the entire route after leaving there. The same is true in probably provide a colorful April display, and our hedge- southern Arizona south of Tucson—just no flowers, nor hogs have never failed to bloom in March." any prospect of many this season." Casa Grande National Monument — The wildflower Generally sharing Coachella Valley's disappointment season in the Coolidge, Arizona, area had been a week or over the lack of winter rain, Desert Magazine's wildflower two ahead of schedule—until two weeks of extremely cold correspondents report from various Southwest areas as February weather evened things up. A. T. Bicknell, follows: Superintendent of Casa Grande National Monument, ex- Lake Mead Recreation Area — "Unless we receive pected scorpion weed, gold fields, bladderpod, catsclaw, some showers soon, the outlook for a good April flower evening primrose, fiddleneck, crownbeard, lupine, desert show is not favorable," Russell K. Grater, park naturalist, marigold and mistletoe to blossom by late March or early reported from Boulder City March 1. The Dead Moun- April, as well as several varieties of cactus, including tains near Davis Dam, having had a good February rain, hedgehog, staghorn cholla and prickly pear. hold the most promise, and annuals are expected to be in full bloom by April. Perennials, including various Antelope Valley—"Our wildflowers need rain desper- species of cactus and the Joshua tree, give every indica- ately," Jane S. Pinheiro wrote from Lancaster, California, tion of presenting a good show of blooms this season. March 1. "A snow flurry in late February and one brief shower did little more than keep the struggling plants Mojave Desert—Mojave Desert flowers were already from drying up, and very little new growth is visible. A beginning to bloom in February, according to Mary Beal, few poppies are in bloom, as well as some birds-eye gilia, desert botanist of Daggett, California. "By mid-March and dwarf lupine—but the blossoms are not large and do the desert should display much color," Miss Beal predicts, not indicate as good a massed display as we earlier had "but unless there is more rain soon this season will not anticipated for April. One good rain could change the approach the magnificence of last spring's flamboyant picture considerably." display. Along the Boulder Dam power line road, north from Highway 66, many small-flowered varieties of eve- Agua Caliente — Doris Noble, a Jackrabbit Home- ning primrose were blooming late in February, as well steader in the Agua Caliente area, reported seeing an as the large white basket evening primrose and the similar usually good display of verbena and primrose along the yellow one. Also in evidence were many mentzelias, spec- highway between Plaster City and Seeley in February. tacle pod, coreopsis, sand verbena, owl's clover, blue But. in this area also, lack of rain has caused many gilia, desert dandelion and its cousin, anisocoma. plants to wilt, and April prospects are not good.

16 DESERT MAGAZINE The old fellow had driven 20 mule teams between Death Valley and Mojave in the 1880s, and he liked to LIFE OS TEE DESERT talk about his experiences. Ernest K. Allen liked to listen, and in this story—in the old-timer's own words —he passes on to Desert Magazine readers these tales As told to ERNEST K. ALLEN of early borax mining days in Death Valley. ..Another winning story in Desert's contest series.

WAS ABOUT 25 years old, a desert, so the desert didn't scare me Mojave, where they did their hirin', cow-puncher on a cattle ranch in none, and I'd had considerable experi- and struck the wagon boss for a job. Inyo County, when I first began ence with mules. A couple of years He was a hard-boiled kind of fellow, hearing about Death Valley borax back I had driven a freight wagon but he was an awful good man, and freighting. 1 heard they were paying with a four-mule team for over a year, I liked him a lot after I got to know extra good wages for men who could but I hadn't ever driven with a jerk- him. J. S. Perry, his name was. He drive a string of 20 mules with a jerk- line. Anyway, I figured I'd like a had an important job, too. He had line. chance to earn the high wages the charge of all the drivers and wagons I was practically brought up on the borax people were payin', so I went to and livestock, and was boss of every-

Twenty mule team. Picture probably taken on the Pacific Coast Borax Company's route jrom the deposits at Calico to Daggett. Earlier, in Death Valley, only lead mules were equipped with bridles. Photo jrom C. C. Pierce collection, courtesy Title Insurance and Trust Company.

/ •

APRIL, 1 953 17 Harmony Borax works, Death Valley, and 20-mule team freighting outfit—photo taken about 1885. Courtesy of Pacific Coast Borax Company. thing connected with the haulin'. He The driver guided the team by the get the picture of how this Death Val- told me they didn't need any drivers jerk-line, a half inch rope that ran ley borax business was started and at that time, and besides they didn't through rings on the mules.' collars to how the freightin' was operated. Along send out a driver with one of those the bridles on the leaders. We told about 1882 a fellow by the name of 20-mule teams till he was thoroughly the leaders which way to go by the W. T. Coleman of San Francisco broken in. Every outfit had a driver number of jerks we gave on the jerk- bought the borax claims in Death Val- and a helper, or swamper. A man had line, and by talkin' to 'em. Those ley from the fellows that owned 'em, to go out as swamper for quite a long mules sure were smart, and they had they not havin' capital enough to get spell, till he learned all he needed to to be well trained. If we had a short their stuff to the market at a price know. Then if it looked like he could turn to make, the mules on the inside they could sell at and make a profit. do the job he might get on as a driver of the curve, except the wheelers and Coleman already had some borax when a vacancy came up. leaders, had to step over the draw- claims of his own in Death Valley, Perry said they didn't need any chain so they would all be pulling from and the first thing he did was to build swampers either just then, but if I the same side of the chain, and the the old Harmony Borax Works out wanted to work aiound the barns for ones out in front had to swing away there. There was a small borax plant a while he might be able to put me on out on the outside so as not to crowd in the Valley before, called the Eagle as swamper in a few weeks. So for the curve too close and cramp the Borax Works, but that folded up about the next two or three weeks I fed and wagons. the time the Harmony plant was built. tended mules and helped around the It was 165 miles from Mojave to Transportation was the sticker, and blacksmith shop which they had for the old Harmony Borax Works in it took money, but Coleman had plenty shoein' mules and makin' repairs on Death Valley, where we loaded, and of capital to get things started on a the wagons. One day the boss said if it took us 20 days to make a round payin' basis, and things were goin' I was still of a mind to go swampin' trip. From one end of the road to the along all right until a few years later he could send me out next day with other there wasn't anybody livin', nor Coleman went broke, account of being Jerry, because Jerry's swamper was a house or building of any kind except mixed up in too many other kinds of leavin'. So I went out on the road the stations the company put up along business and havin' too many irons with Jerry, and I was swamper with the road. The Mojave desert was a in the fire, as you might say. him for four months. lonesome place in those days. The F. M. Smith bought up the whole After a few weeks Jerry started let- railroad had only just been completed lay-out. Borax Smith was what they ting me drive the team myself part of a few years before from Bakersfield called him, and all the old-timers knew the time, so I could get the hang of through to Los Angeles by way of him by that name. Smith had made drivin' with a jerk-line. None of the Tehachapi Pass and Mojave. There considerable money mining borax at mules had bridles on 'em except the weren't any roads anywhere, and most a place called Teel's Marsh in Nevada, two leaders, who had bridles or hack- people didn't know anything about the and he was really the pioneer in the amores without bits. There were no desert except the stories they heard borax business in this country. After reins to guide any of the mules, only about men getting stranded out there Borax Smith bought out the Coleman the jerk-line. The two wheelers were without water and dyin' of thirst. All interests, he incorporated the whole on each side of the tongue of the front this was before automobiles were in- outfit, including his Nevada borax wagon, then the rest of the mules were vented, and folks didn't get around properties, under the name of the Pa- like they do now. all free except where they were hitched cific Coast Borax Co. Smith put a lot to the draw-chain by a double-tree or But I'd better tell you somethin' of money into improvements and really spreader. about the general lay-out, so you can got things goin'. He was head of the

18 DESERT MAGAZINE company for years, built it up into a big business and made a fortune out of it. When Coleman started in the busi- ness he got a good man to run the Harmony Borax Works in Death Val- ley, and he hired this fellow Perry to figure out the haulin' and run that part of it. Perry had had a lot of experi- ence teamin' and freighting and he did a good job. A lot of new road had to be made, because there wasn't hardly any road to speak of before, and the road had to be put where the worst grades would be avoided. Also it had to connect up with the only three springs or water holes there were be- tween Death Valley and Mojave. So they fixed the road to come up out of the Valley by way of Wingate Pass (Windy Gap we called it), then around by the south end of the Panamint Mountains. There was a spring, or rather a water hole, at Mesquite Well not far from the lower end of Death Valley. Then it was 53 miles to Lone Willow Spring, then 26 miles to Granite Spring, then 56 miles across the flat desert to Mojave. None of these three water holes except Granite Spring could be depended on to have water all the year 'round. The borax company cleaned out the three springs and fixed 'em up, and where they weren't handy to the road they put tanks alongside the road and piped the water down to 'em. Then they built a station at each of the springs, and others in between, where they figured the teams were most likely to get at the end of a day's run, and where the driver and swamper could sleep on bunks in the cabin if they got there at nightfall, and also where the mules could be turned out in a corral. Mostly these places that they called stations were put there so we would have a place to cache feed for the Francis M. Smith, better known as Borax Smith, who pioneered the borax mules. There wasn't anybody on duty industry in Death Vallev. there. The teams going to Death Val- ley left hay and grain at each of the grading to do with Fresno scrapers. borax. Maybe you've seen some of stations and then used it up again on There weren't any bulldozers in those the way back, but we always carried those old borax wagons. After they days. quit using 'em there were two of 'em extra feed with us on the wagons to standing by the old Tonopah and Tide- use if we had to camp out in the desert, While they were getting the road water Railroad depot at Death Valley and also for noon feeding. fixed up, Mr. Perry designed the wagons and had 'em built right there Junction for a long time, and there It only took them a few months to at Mojave by some wagon-makers and used to be one alongside the railroad fix up the road. There wasn't much wheelwrights that he hired and brought track at Daggett. road-building to do out in the open there. And they sure were built good. There were ten of the big wagons desert where all they had to do was to They had to be, for the work they were built altogether. That made five out- drive a wagon over it once and they to do. They were big too. They fits on the road all the time, because had a road, keepin' to the hard ground claimed they were the biggest wagons each 20-mule team hauled two wagons as much as possible and cuttin' out a ever used up to that time. The hind hitched together tandem, with a small few creosote bushes here and there. wheels were seven feet high, and the trailer-wagon hitched on behind carry- But at Wingate Pass, and where the front wheels five feet, and they had ing a 500-gallon tank of water. Twenty road came through desert hills here steel tires eight inches" wider Each mules to an outfit made a hundred and there, there was considerable wagon was built to carry ten tons of mules in use besides replacements.

APRIL, 1953 19 The Company had about 125 mules Everything was all right if the have enough borax there to take care altogether, and they bought only the brakes held, which they did practically of their business. best mules they could get. Yes sir, always, but once in a while a brake- Around 1890 they opened up a de- two of those loaded borax wagons block would give way or a rod pull posit in the Calico Mountains and and a trailer, with 20 mules strung out out and then there was trouble. The started haulin' with 20-mule teams ahead two by two, was quite an outfit. only thing to do then was to get the from there to Daggett on the Santa Fe You can see why there had to be mules goin' on a trot, or a gallop if Railroad, but they kept on haulin' a swamper. Herdin' 20 mules across the wagons got rollin' too fast, and from Death Valley for a while after the desert and feedin' and waterin' try to keep the mules from gettin' run that. Later they switched operations them, along with the other jobs there down by the wagons until you got to to the Lila C. borax mine over in the were to do, was too much work for a place where you could swing 'em off Funeral Mountains near Death Valley one man. Besides that, if there was a the road and up the side of the hill or Junction. That was after they built break-down or accident of any kind into a sandy place where you could the Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad it wouldn't have been safe for one man get the wagons stopped. about 1905, which hauled borax from to be alone out there in the desert If a wheel struck a rock, or the the Lila C. and also connected the where he couldn't get any help. It team come to a short curve where Nevada mining camps with the main would probably be two or three days they couldn't be swung around in time, line railroads to the south during the before the next borax team would chances were there'd be one or both boom days. For a while they used come along goin' either way, and there of the wagons tipped over and the 20-mule teams haulin' from the Lila C. wasn't any other travel on that road driver or swamper or some of the to Death Valley Junction on the Tono- in those days for maybe weeks at a mules would get hurt, and hurt bad. pah and Tidewater but they soon built time. That never happened to me, but it did a narrow-gauge spur track from the happen several times to other drivers. railroad to the mine, and when that After I'd been swamper with Henry was done the 20-mule teams had about four months, the boss told me Lots of times a driver and swamper hauled their last load. one day that he was goin' to let me would have to camp out at night along take Henry's place as driver. Henry the road. A team with a full load When the Lila C. mine was about wanted to lay off for three or four could only travel about 16 to 18 miles worked out the company operated months and go prospectin', which he a day; empty wagons goin' back could other borax deposits in the Funeral had been talkin' about for a long time. make maybe 20 miles if they had no Mountains for quite a spell, connect- The boss said he would give me a good trouble. It didn't always work out to ing 'em with the Tonopah and Tide- swamper, which he did. So then I was get to one of the stations at the end of water with narrow-gauge tracks run- a full-fledged driver, and I stayed with a day's run. In that case we'd drive ning off to the mines. But that's all the job nearly four years. off the road at some likely place, un- done away with now, and the old hitch the mules and feed an' water 'em, Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad was Herdin' a 20-mule borax team and hobble 'em for the night. Then across the desert month after month torn up a while back and the rails we'd make a campfire with some dry used somewhere else. The reason they was kind of a tough job, as I look back creosote roots, fix our bacon and beans on it, what with the heat during a good quit workin' out there was because and coffee, spread out our bedrolls the company finally located a borax part of the year, the desert winds we and sleep on the ground. used to get sometimes and the thunder deposit big enough to last a lifetime storms along in the late summer. or two, out in the Mojave Desert near Conditions weren't so bad, except Kramer, about 30 miles east of Mo- There were dusty places along the road in the real hot weather an' when we where the dust didn't help none either. jave. They mine their borax there got caught in a summer thunder shower now from deep underground, and a Twenty mules can kick up a lot of or cloudburst. To my notion, from dust, and if the wind was blowin' just branch line from the railroad runs October to June there ain't no better right to blow it back in our faces, it direct to the mine. was danged unpleasant. But if the place to be than out on the desert, in the good pure air and sunshine. So the borax works at Death Valley wind was blowin' crossways of the and the ones in the Calicos and out road, it blew the dust away and we But along about May it would start didn't mind it much. in the Funeral Mountains were all to get hot. It wasn't bad at the Mo- finally shut down, but long before they The worst part of the trip was the jave end of the run, but out towards quit workin' in the Funeral Mountains grades. We had a long tough grade Death Valley it would get so hot by the 20-mule teams were already a coming up through Wingate Pass. The the first of July they'd have to close thing of the past. I suppose folks road was bad there too, following down everythin' and lay everybody off would have forgotten all about 'em by along a sandy wash. But goin' down for about three months. And it used now or never have known they existed, grade with a full load was worse than to get awful hot for a month or so if it hadn't been that the company goin' up. The worst down grade was before the summer lay-off and for realized they were sort of picturesque just after we left Granite Spring going quite a spell after we went back to and had a lot of advertising value, as toward Mojave. With the swamper on work again. my daughter says. Articles about 'em the rear wagon and the driver on the I stayed with borax freightin' for had been printed in the Sunday papers front one, both putting all their weight four years—till lay-off time one sum- and magazines, with pictures of 'em, on the brake levers, the wagons would mer. Then I quit and went to ranchin' and people knew about 'em that way. go creakin' and groanin' down the over in Arizona. It wasn't very long So the company still puts out their grade. On account of the way they after that till they quit haulin' borax main product under the name of 20- were hitched up, the mules couldn't from Death Valley. The company's Mule Team Borax, with a picture of hold the load back none, like a single business was growin' fast, and they one of the old 20-mule teams on every team could do on an ordinary wagon, hadn't been workin' the Death Valley package. If it wasn't for that, I guess so we had to depend entirely on the deposits more than half a dozen years people nowadays wouldn't know noth- brakes. before they realized they soon wouldn't in' about 'em.

DESERT MAGAZINE would it take the statue of a frontiers- Personally, I like to see those smears man, that appears on our nearby rim- on art gallery walls. Living as I do in rock wall each morning from the first an extremely scenic area, beauty be- of December till the middle of January, comes commonplace. Busy with my to be eroded to a mere nub? What of daily chores, I look at the grandeur the problem of erosion in general? about me without seeing it unless there Here with our shallow soil, our sand- is some unusual condition of weather Leave the Desert Alone . . . stone cliffs, a half century of. heavy or light and shadow present at the Grand Junction, Colorado rainfall would leave our desert un- moment. Desert: recognizable in every way. After only an hour of looking over Here in the arid southwest, where What would greater humidity do to our basic problem is and always has the daubs Hilton refers to and of try- the clear, desert air; the hot, bright ing to figure out just what possessed been water, water, and more water, days of far distances; the cool, star- the rain-making experiments have been the dauber to create such unintelligible studded nights, with the moon-light smears and call them art, I am ready watched with great interest. Wild were glancing from some facet of the can- the hopes and fantastic the dreams. to appreciate more fully the natural yon wall, the rimrock black-etched beauty of my home surroundings. Just imagine not having to spend against a velvet sky? These too would I don't agree with Hilton that these all winter worrying about snow-pack be only nostalgic memories. "artists" should be brought to the des- in the mountains for summer irriga- So let's just leave it alone and take tion water; just imagine no ditches to ert. The cities are for such crackpots. our chances as we've always taken Let's leave them there. clean; no toting a shovel all summer; them. Let's just leave the desert, the no reinfestation of weeds from up the desert—arid, barren—and beautiful. E. S. KIRKLAND canal. Rain! Not only enough, but AMBER B. GROOM • « • when we wanted it. Ah, heaven was • • • Navajos in Portland . . . at our doorstep. Who's to Blame? . . . Portland, Oregon Well, it didn't work out that way. Bonner Springs. Kansas Desert: And I, and I think numerous others, Desert: This summer, about a hundred Nav- are relieved. We like the desert as it In the October 1952, Desert, page ajos came to Portland to work on the is. True, it isn't the easiest place in 33, Dr. Fred T. Foard, Chief of the railroad. One could see them on the the world to make a living, but if we Health Branch of the Bureau of Indian streets and highways after working preferred an easier existence to the Affairs, blames the American people hours, going home to their quarters. joys of living here, we could always for the "inexcusable health conditions" Here they lived much as they did at move elsewhere. among the Indians. home and dressed about the same. People soon grew used to them and Supposing we could control the How can Dr. Foard blame the American people for something they learned many of their ways. We rainfall. Just think of all the neigh- learned they were good people. borly dissension it would cause. While know nothing about? On a recent sur- we wanted nice weather to cure our vey I fiind 99 percent of the people But an unfortunate incident oc- hay, our neighbor might want rain to contacted think that the government curred which came near spoiling the bring up his new grass planting. When is taking good care of the Indian. growing friendship between the two we had it rain for our corn, he would I would like to ask the doctor if it races. The Indians were accused of want it dry for his grain. He would was the American people who closed taking things from stores in the Park- want rain for his spring plowing when a much needed hospital at Kayenta, rose district of Portland without pay- we wanted it dry for lambing. And so Arizona? ing for them. Several of the Navajos on and on. It would wind up with May I suggest to Dr. Foard, that if were taken and searched. None of everybody not speaking to anybody, he and his assistants would get off the the stolen articles was found. and someone getting sued continually. beaten path, they might find that their Apologies were in order, and all We accept God's climate and make the own department is much more to the Indians were given a party by the best of it, but if man mixes in we have blame than the American people! local businessmen. In return, the someone to blame—and heaven help BLANCHE MILLER tribespeople entertained their white him. • • • hosts with a sing and a program of Keep 'em Fenced . . . tribal dances. Everyone enjoyed it. Besides problems in human rela- Red Mountain, California tions, there would be other unwanted In Portland we learned that the In- Desert: dian people are mighty good citizens, changes. How long would the tower- I was interested in John Hilton's ing monoliths of our desert, that have even when faced with humiliation and comments on modernistic art in the misunderstanding. It seems these peo- stood for countless ages in the dry, December issue of Desert. It seems desert climate, withstand the ravages ple understand the white man better Mr. Hilton just doesn't understand than the white man understands them. of rainfall? Would the lush vegetation the modern trend. of abundant moisture take the place Old school artists painted things as JIMMIE JAMES of cactus, prickly pear, pinyon, the they saw them, and it is easy to see • • • short-lived vivid desert flowers in our what they had in mind as they worked Another Burro Customer . . . hearts? Not in mine. How long would at their easels. Take Gainsborough's San Bernardino, California the centuries old cliff dwelling exist Blue Boy or Millet's The Gleaners, for Desert: in a wet climate? And what of the instance, or any of Hilton's own paint- I am sure my brother-in-law, Charles present day Indians—the Hopi, the ings. You see at a glance what they B. Myers, c/o Monroe Candy and Zuni, the Navajo? Not only their age- are all about. old traditions, but their adobe pueblos Tobacco Company, Bloomington, In- and hogans would go down the drain, The modernists act differently. What diana, would like to have one of those literally. you think you see when you look at a burros you are trying to save. modern non-objective painting isn't In Indiana, you can't buy a pony Who wants to see the painted desert what it is at all. The artist leaves it to for less than $125. a sea of vari-colored mud? How long you to figure it out. D. GAST

APRIL, 1953 Above are two views of the heads of Ammobroma sonorae (sand food) as it appears in its native habitat—the dunes of Southern California, Arizona and Sonora, Mexico. In the picture on the right, the sand has been dug away to show the size and nature of the stalk which is eaten. Sand Food of the Papagos

By FRANKLIN A. THACKERY tinuing the quotation from Col. Gray's Photographs by Dewey Moore Motorists passing over the letter: Algodones sand dunes along "We encamped for the night in the Highway 80 between El Centro, 1854 Colonel Asa B. Gray was sandhills, and the chief, instead of California, and Yuma, Arizona, commissioned by the federal gov- supping with us, as usual, made a fire, ernment to survey a possible rail- may in the spring of the year see toadstool-like heads pro- and roasted his roots or plants on the road route to the Pacific coast by way hot coals (which took about 20 min- of the dry arid Southwest. truding from the sand along the road. This is Ammobroma—the utes), and commenced eating them. When he had progressed westward None of the party seemed inclined to as far as a Papago Indian village near sand food of the Papago Indians, and a delicious food it is accord- taste, but, out of courtesy, I moved Sonoyta, Sonora, Mexico, he decided over to the chief's fire, and he handed to obtain a Papago Indian guide to ing to the testimony of those who have sampled it. me one. At first I ate but little, and pilot him to Adair Bay on the Gulf of slowly, but in a few minutes, so luci- California. For this purpose he ob- ous was it that I forgot my own mess, tained the services of the chief of this to Dr. John Torrey, noted botanist, and ate heartily of it; next morning Papago village. dated at New York, October 20, 1854, each of the party followed suit and These Indians were known as the Col. Gray reported as follows concern- afterwards there was scarcely enough Sand Papago, because for unknown ing Ammobroma: gathered to satisfy us. The taste, centuries, they had frequented the ex- "Immediately upon entering these though peculiar, was not unlike the tensive chain of drifting sand dunes sand hills, our course being across them sweet potato, but more delicate." which extend from Imperial County, in a westerly direction, I observed the Indian dismount from his horse and In 1890, Dr. Edward Palmer col- California, in a southeasterly direction, lected Ammobroma near Lerdo, So- across the southwestern corner of commence digging with his hands. At first I could not perceive his object, nora, Mexico, not far from the Arizona Yuma County, Arizona, and into boundary. He wrote as follows about northwestern Sonora, Mexico. but shortly discovered that he had pulled out of the sand a vegetable-look- it: The Sand Papago went frequently ing substance, which was shaped some- "The plant grows in deep sand, the to these dunes to harvest large quan- what like a mushroom. He showed deeper the sand the larger and juicier tities of a parasitic plant which they great eagerness to obtain more, and the plants. The Cocopa Indians gather called bia-tatk meaning sand (or sand made a sign that it was good to eat." them for food, which they relish under hill) root. It is known botanically as The only part of this plant which all circumstances. They eat it raw, Ammobroma sonorae. The word Am- appears above the surface is the pin- boiled and roasted. The plant is full mobroma is derived from two Greek cushion-like head which is nearly the of moisture, and whites and Indians words, ammo (sand) and bromos same color as the sand around it. It alike resort to it in traveling, as a valu- (food). This chain of dunes is the has a long fleshy stem or stock extend- able substitute for water. It has a only place in the world where it is ing down into the sand to its contact pleasant taste, much resembling the found. on the root of the host plant. The sweet potato. . . . The Cocopa Indians As Col. Gray proceeded westward length of its stock varies from two to call it Oyutch." with his surveying party they came to five feet. It is this fleshy stock that the Carl Lumholtz visited this same this chain of sand dunes. In his letter Indians prize so highly for food. Con- general locality in March. 1910, and

22 DESERT MAGAZINE had the following to say about Ammo- broma: "I sampled one of them and found it to be succulent and excellent food. It is more tender than a radish, as well as more juicy, and the whole root can be eaten. It has a sweetish and agree- able flavor all its own. The Indians usually toast these plants on the coals, when they resemble sweet potatoes in taste, but I prefer to eat them raw. They are an especially delicious relish to a thirsty man, and they also quickly appease hunger; in fact, of all the many 'kinds of edible roots that I have tried in their uncooked state, used among natives in different parts of the earth, I know of none which can compare with this one in refreshing and palat- able qualities."' Both Col. Gray and Carl Lumholtz apparently found considerable quan- tities of this plant in Sonora following very dry seasons. Lumholtz states that the Ammobroma of the Pinacate region was available to the Indians as food the whole year. In speaking of the Sand Papagos he says: "They found good edible plant food in the dunes, especially Ammobroma sonorae, the wonderful camotes which the Indians knew how to gather all the year round." It has been my experience, as to the Ammobroma of the California dunes, that only an occasional plant may be found following a dry winter and also that both the head, above the surface, and the stem, below the sur- face, dry up soon after all moisture is gone. There may be some natural reason to account for Ammobroma being available in Sonora at all times but I think that is not true as to the California dunes. Dr. Palmer found Ammobroma parasitic on Franseria dumosa and Dalea {or Parosela) emoryi. I have found it parasitic on Coldenia plicata, Coldenia palmeri, Eriogonum deserti- colum and Pluchea sericea or common arrowweed. One of the remarkable things about this rare parasite was our discovery in May, 1928, that it often outweighed the host plant and that, when mois- ture is available, the Ammobroma roots appear to dry up as soon as the moisture is gone. It was apparent that the parasite then continued its cycle of reproduction by using up the stored moisture and plant food in its fleshy Above two pictures show a plant found away from its usual habitat in the stem which its own roots had been dunes. The plant was growing near an irrigation ditch in Imperial Valley instrumental in collecting while mois- ture was available. It also seemed ap- with arrowweed as its host, and an abundant water supply. When the parent that the Ammobroma had not, roots were excavated, the heads were found to be so tender it was necessary as to the many cases noted by me. to tie each one with a string to keep it from breaking off. The arrowweed over-taxed the host plant. host weighed l'A pounds, and the 106 Ammobroma stalks 46 pounds.

APRIL, 1953 23 the Ammobroma had plenty of mois- Indians it might indicate that some ture, therefore, the location was not sort of a sprinkling system could be typical of its natural habitat In this devised for use in the sand dunes thus un-natural location we found as many finding a way to produce revenue from as 106 of the fleshy Ammobroma stems this large area now worthless. from a single attachment or the root The plant knowledge of our Indians of a small arrowweed. The host plant, may have been crude and primitive but including its root system, weighed 1V4 it is well for us to keep in mind that pounds while the Ammobroma para- their discovery and first use gave us site weighed 46 pounds. The behavior and the civilized world of today its of this group of Ammobroma, away corn, potatoes, beans, sweet potatoes, from its natural habitat, suggests sev- peanuts, squash, chocolate, pepper, eral interesting possibilities worthy of tomatoes, avocados, pineapples, co- being tested by some enterprising sci- caine, quinine, tobacco and rubber. entist. Perhaps we may be able some day to If Ammobroma has anything like add Ammobroma to this highly im- the food value claimed for it by the portant list.

There are three ways to get ac- quainted with the Great Ameri- TRUE OR FALSE can Desert. One is to travel— and that requires a lot of time and gasoline. A second way is to read books about the desert. The third way is to take the True or False test in Desert Magazine every month. For this monthly quiz covers a wide range of subjects—geography, history, natural sciences, literature, Indians and the general lore of the desert country. Twelve to 14 is a good score, 15 to 17 is excellent, 18 or over is super. Answers are on page 32. 1—Tarantulas, those great hairy spiders sometimes seen walking across the road ahead of your car, are deadly poisonous. True „ False 2—The Mormon colonization of Utah was started before the California Gold rush of 1849. True . False 3—The Desert Tortoise is hatched from an egg. True . False - 4—A Kiva is an underground ceremonial chamber of some of the Pueblo Indian tribes. True . False 5—There are islands in the Great Salt Lake. True False 6—Wickenburg, Arizona, is located on the bank of the Gila River. True ___. . False 7—The mines in Bingham Canyon, Utah, are noted chiefly for their gold production. True ... . False 8—The state flower of Arizona is the sunflower. True . False 9—The present townsite of Phoenix, Arizona, lies within the territory acquired from Mexico by the Gadsden Purchase. True Ammobroma belongs in the family False .... Lennoaceae. There are but two gen- 10—One of the four states which meet at the common corner known as era of this family represented in the "Four Corners" is New Mexico. True . False United States, Pholisma and Am- 11—Tombstone, Arizona, is publicized as "the town too tough to die." mobroma. The above photograph True . False is Pholisma arenium. It is also a 12—The Sangre de Cristo mountains are located mostly in New Mexico. parasite. True False 13—Adolph F. Bandelier's book The Delight Makers, is a story about Walter T. Swingle, noted plant sci- the Navajo herdsmen of Arizona. True . False.... . entist, had told me where I might find 14—San Jacinto peak, at the south portal of San Gorgonio pass in Ammobroma in the sand dunes near Southern California, is higher than San Gorgonio peak, the north the highway between Holtville, Cali- portal. True False fornia, and Yuma, Arizona. M. French 15—The capital of Nevada is Reno. True False. Gilman and myself, about 1928, found 16—The Mormon battalion on its westward trek to California in 1847 it there and took many samples for crossed the Colorado River at Yuma, Arizona. True False . testing and for plant specimens. We 17—Mining is lawful within the Death Valley National Monument. found that when roasted on hot coals True __.. False it has a flavor similar to a sweet po- 18—The place in Utah where the golden spike was driven in 1869 to tato. mark the completion of the first transcontinental railroad is named Several years subsequent to this Promontory. True . False Dewey Moore and myself found Am- 19—The Cahuilla Indians of the Southern California desert were catching mobroma parasitic on the root of the fish in Salton Sea in 1846 when General Kearny crossed the desert common arrowweed, Pluchea sericea, with his Army of the West. True __. False ...... at a place where a large irrigation 20—Wildflower most commonly seen in blossom on the desert sand dunes canal skirted into the sand dunes north- is verbena. True False east of Calipatria, California. Here

24 DESERT MAGAZINE The Jesuit fathers directed the Indian neophytes who worked the rich gold mines in the hills behind the mission. Lost Treasure of Sonoyta . . .

Near the Arizona-Sonora border at Sonoyta are the crumbled ruins to have carried on rather extensive of the long-abandoned Jesuit mission of San Marcelo, founded by mining operations considering the dif- Father Kino in 1699 and destroyed in the bloody Papago revolt of 1751. ficulties under which they had to work. Few people know the legend of the mission's buried treasure houses In their zeal to lay up riches—material and rich gold mines; and many of the old-timers who have heard the as well as spiritual—the Spanish priests tale are afraid to search too long in this "Country of the Devil." John often laid a heavy hand on their In- Mitchell passes on to Desert Magazine readers a story of wealth and dian neophytes. rebellion he heard from a dying Papago medicine man 35 years ago. Sonoyta was one of the most pros- By JOHN D. MITCHELL perous of the Jesuit missions, and its Illustration by Charles Keetsie Shirley, Navajo artist Padre Superior prospered from his mining, agricultural and stock raising HERE IS a tradition among the mountain, while others insist that it operations. Old and large of girth, he Papago Indians living around lay on the plains east of Table Moun- spent most of his time reading his 7 the ancient mines of Ajo and tain. And, despite indisputable proof breviary or dozing in the shade of the in the vast Santa Rosa country to the in the form of old smelting furnaces, vines that grew easily in the rich soil east, that, long before the great Indian slag dumps, arrastres and tailing piles, of the little valley, watered by a crystal uprising of 1751, their ancestors were caved shafts and tunnels in the hills, stream from a nearby spring. neophytes at San Marcelo Mission at still others claim that the padres never All the work of the mission was Sonoyta, Arizona. They worked the operated any mines at all. done by the Indians. The women Jesuit mission's rich gold mines, lo- It is doubtful whether Father Euse- tended the garden, fruit trees and vines cated both north and south of what bio Francisco Kino, the Jesuit "Apostle and ground corn and wheat to make today is the border between Arizona to the Pimas," was ever directly in- tortillas. They grumbled that it took all and the Mexican state of Sonora. terested in mining. However, those their time to feed the hungry men who Some believe that the rich mine who came after him and assisted in worked in the nearby fields and in the reputed to lie to the north of the mis- building and operating the brother- mines. sion was located to the east of Gun- hood's long chain of missions in what So, while the padre prospered and sight Well in a long black sugarloaf is now Arizona and Sonora, are known hoarded gold and silver, the Indians

APRIL, 1953 25 '" Ol LA BEND|<-» U.S. HWY. 80 lost mission treasure, the old medicine and a young deer hunter, to direct the man suddenly sat upright on his sheep- fortune seeker to the lost treasures of skin pallet and with a stick drew a Sonoyta. sketch of Table Mountain in the sand beside his bed. With outstretched arm, palm down, to indicate its nearness to the mountain, the old medicine man MardKock Shorty said: "Alii en un arroyo esta la mina del Padre. Buscala es muy rico." — "Right over there in the arroyo is the of Padre mine. Look for it. It is very rich." Death People and events move slowly on SONOYTA the northern fringe of the land of Valley SanMaweloMkSion mariana, and it has taken the writer 34 years to get around to recording this story from the notes set down at Hard Rock Shorty settled far- the bedside of the dying Papago. In ther back on his chair on the fact, the tale was almost forgotten un- lean-to porch at the Inferno store, til two years ago, when a strange course and retilted his hat so the sun- of events recalled it to memory. beam through the hole in the secretly planned a revolution that brim missed his nose. would free them from the white man's A young deer hunter from the Val- ley of the Sun was out one day on the A half dozen tourists were religion and the padres' oppression. loitering in the shade waiting In 1751. this dissatisfaction, felt desert cast of Table Mountain. Re- turning home, he decided, instead of while the mechanic repaired a throughout Pimeria, culminated in the hole in the radiator of their car. second revolt of the Pima and Papago retracing his steps back the way he had come, to cut across the desert to the They had discovered that Shorty tribes. Led by Luis of Saric, Sonora. liked to tell about his experiences the revolt broke out on November 21, road running west from Casa Grande to Gila Bend, thence on to Ajo. in Death Valley, and kept prod- 1751. Three martyrs—Fathers Fran- ding him for more yarns. cisco Xavier Saeta, Enrique Ruen and Crossing a wide sandy wash in Tomas Rollo—tried to pacify the In- which grew a jungle of mesquite, the "Guess I'd better tell you dians and were slain. Every Spaniard hunter suddenly came upon the caved about Pisgah Bill's goat," Hard who did not flee for his life was killed. workings of an old mine. The large Rock was saying. "Happened More than a hundred are said to have dumps indicated that a great deal of back in '17 when Bill wuz off on been slain. Smelting furnaces were work had been done there On one one of his prospectin' trips up destroyed, and all the mines along side of the arroyo was an assortment in the Funeral Mountains. what is now the U. S.-Mexican border of weathered bronze mining machinery. "When he got back he discov- were filled in. Mesquite trees had grown up through ered one of his mules was gone, and the wagon too. So Bill sad- At Sonoyta, the old padre and two some of the large cog wheels and other openings and had forced some of the dled up his ridin' hoss and headed priests, who happened to be visiting back to town to git the sheriff. the mission at the time, were killed pieces from their original bases. The machinery was made in small sections OP Law an' Order come out, and thrown into an underground treas- and' jest as he wuz lookin' things ure vault, and the beautiful mission held together with bronze or copper pins. Evidently it had been constructed over, one o' them Hankins kids was razed. Bac and Guevavi also were which lived at Inferno with their plundered and abandoned. in sections, to be packed to the mine and assembled there. Fancy designs pa and ma in them days came The Indians returned to their pueb- and letters on some of the machinery ridin' past in a toy wagon pulled los in 1754, signifying their willing- indicated that it had been manufac- by a long-eared goat. ness to live peaceably once again. tured in Spain. The very fact that the " 'Where'd yu git that goat Backed by Spanish troops, the priests machinery had been shipped all the and wagon?' yelled Pisgah. returned the following year to the way from Spain around the Horn to Santa Cruz valley and northern Sonora, " ' Why they're yourn!' says the West Coast, then packed to the the kid, an' jest then the old goat but only for a short time. The 1767 mine over difficult trails, would indi- edict of King Carlos III expelled all stuck its head back an' hee-hawed cate that the mine was a rich one. jest like a derned mule. members of the Society of Jesus from Perhaps the old medicine man was Spain and all its possessions. "Yu know, that kid'd watered right. that mule with a bucket o' that The mission at Sonoyta was never alum water Pisgah kept in the rebuilt, and for 166 years no word The sound of the mission bells at Sonoyta has long since passed away. barn fer settin' wagon tires. An' was spoken of the location of its mines the only reason he hadn't shrunk or of the gold and silver stored in its No more do they ring out, chiming in tune to call the Indian neophytes to up both o' them mules wuz that hidden treasure vaults. The old Pa- he couldn't ketch the other one. pagos suard their secrets well. early morning prayer. Road maps do not urge the tourist to its ruins, and "Pisgah was mad on account In 1917, when old "Dr. Juan," a he didn't know how to stretch 128-year-old Papago medicine man, there are no ancient charts or secret map scrolls—so essential in fiction— that mule out again, but after lay on his death bed at Quitobaquita. that he never kept none o' that the writer and his good Papago friend, to lead the treasure hunter to its rich mines and underground treasure rooms alum water around the place. Luis Ortega, who was brought up on Said he wuz afraid the kid might the old Cipriano Ortega ranch on or to the lost bonanza near Table Mountain. put it in the tank that the hired which the ruins of the Sonoyta Mission man wuz using fer a shower stand, happened to be in the vicinity. There is only a legend — and the bath." During a conversation regarding the word of a dying Papago medicine man

DESERT MAGAZINE Apaches Invite Campers . . . FORT APACHE—Indians of the Fort Apache reservation have made great strides in developing recreational facilities to attract visitors to their res- ervation. Through its White Mountain ARIZONA Territorial Debt Erased . . . Recreation Enterprise—the reservation TOMBSTONE—In 1892-93, Tomb- name for its park development agency May Lift Scorpion Mail Taboo . . . stone city fathers had trouble making —the Fort Apache tribe since last May TEMPE — Congress and the post ends meet; so they borrowed $12,000 has cleaned up 62 camps, posted 450 office department may make it easier from the state. In January, 1953, 60 signs, cleaned bottles and cans out of for Dr. Herbert L. Stahnke to get the years later, part of the debt still re- Blue Lake, provided 11 garbage pits 10,000 scorpions he needs for his anti- mained. Representative Fred Dove of at campsites, constructed and placed venom serum making operations at Tombstone suggested this territorial 115 picnic tables and 15 toilets. The Arizona State College. The serum is debt be erased from the record books Indians also have planted 300 huckle- obtained by "milking" live scorpions and, by passing Dove's bill to that ef- berry plants and, if they thrive, will of the two lethal species found in the fect, the state legislature agreed, ap- set out 50,000 more, as well as rasp- state. It takes great numbers of scor- propriating $7,146.21 to cancel the berries and other plants. Funds de- pions to produce the serum, and spe- debt. Actually, Dove pointed out, the rived from the sale of fishing permits cimens must reach the laboratories in amount represented accrued interest are financing the work.—Arizona Re- good condition. Mail is the best trans- from a bonded indebtedness dating public. portation method, but postal regula- back to the early '80s.—Tombstone tions prohibit sending poisonous crea- Epitaph. tures like rattlesnakes, scorpions and black widow spiders. A special law o • • has been introduced in Congress by To Improve Canyon Campsites . . . Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona GRAND CANYON—Development TURMOIL which would lift the taboo on scor- of the North Rim camp ground is chief pions.—Arizona Republic. improvement planned at Grand Can- IN NEW MEXICO yon National Park in 1954, announced • • • Superintendent H. C. Bryant. A $14,- 1846-1868 000 program of providing reads, sep- Untutored Soldier . . . By William A. Keleher WINDOW ROCK — Navajo tribal arate campsites, fireplaces and other officials are seeking the release from needed facilities at the camp ground is " 'Turmoil in New Mexico' is a vivid military service of an unschooled Nav- provided for in the 1954 budget. Other and colorful slice of history. It items for which funds are asked in- belongs in the library of every lover ajo youth they say went through five of Southwestern history." months army training without under- clude construction of a new airport, —Chicago Daily News standing a word of English. Ralph glassing in of Yavapai Observation Descheny, 20, of Rock Point, Arizona, Station and various road improvement LIMITED EDITION who has never attended school and projects.—A rizona Republic. doesn't understand English, said he • • • 524 pages, with illustrations by two famous Taos artists, Ernest L. just "did like the others" when com- GRAND CANYON—Former Sen- Blumenschein and Oscar E. Bern- mands were given. Descheny appealed ator Ralph Henry Cameron of Arizona inghaus. to Sam Ahkeah, head of the Navajo died in Washington January 29 at the Council, to aid in his release when his age of 89. He was buried on the $6.00, Postpaid parents became ill and he was needed North Rim of the Grand Canyon, into to operate their farm. Ahkeah said he which, many years ago, he built the RYDAL PRESS hesitated to write concerning the case now famous Bright Angel Trail. Cam- "because I do not want anyone to think eron was credited with obtaining state- Santa Pe 1, New Mexico that the Navajos are slackers." He hood for Arizona in 1912. pointed out that 4000 members of the tribe served in World War II. — Ari- zona Republic. The Living Story of Men Who Plunged, Gambled and • • • Priest Urges Indian Wardship . . . Dreamed, to Build the West's Most Amazing Camp SAFFORD—The Indians are better off under federal guidance than under GHOST CITY OF GOLDEN DREAMS RHYOLITE By Harold and Luclle Weight state control, believes Father Bonaven- Authentic first hand stories of Shorty Harris' Great Bullfrog ture Oblasser, pioneer Franciscan mis- Strike anil of the Nevada Metropolis that rose on the brink of sionary among Southwest Indian tribes. the world's most dreaded desert. "The real hope of Arizona's Indians « If You're Going to Death Valley lies in development of their own land • If You've Been to Death Valley and resources," he told a Safford audi- » If You Thrill to the West's Exciting Past ence recently. Father Bonaventure YOU'LL WANT THE RHYOLITE STORY urged development of schools, hospi- 32 Pages Plus ("overs, 18 Photos, 2 Maps tals and economic pursuits on the ONLY 50c COPY reservation and pointed out the strides (Special Limited Edition for Your Western Library Printed on being made in these directions by the Bfc, ... ia>4il^| 70-11). India tint, with heavy Lnsterkote Goldenrod Cover, SI.Oil.) California Residents Add 3% State Sules Tax San Carlos Apaches, on whose reserva- DEATH VALLEY'S tion he works. — Graham County GHOST CITY »/GOLDEN DRUMS ORDER FROM THE CALICO PRESS Guardian. TWENTYNINE PALMS CALIFORNIA

APRIL, 1 953 2.7 OCOTILLO DESERT RESORT: 26 mi. west of El Centro on Highway 80. Cafe, Store, Service Station, Trailer Court, Motel, Lapidary, and water distributing THE DESERT TRflDMG POST plant are started. Residence lots 100' x Classified Advertising in This Section Costs 8c a Word, $1.00 Minimum Per Issue 100' with water $275. Business lots from $400 up. Send for circular. ALPINE: 30 mi. East of San Diego on Highway 80. Healthiest climate in U.S.A. according INDIAN GOODS BOOKS FOUND—Any title! Free world- to government report. 185 acres of sub- wide book search service. Any book, THE WELL KNOWN Indian Stone Age division or dude ranch view land. Abun- new or old. Western Americana a spe- dant water source, $85,000. 5 acres of Museum complete collection for Vi its cialty. Lowest price. Send wants today! value. Thousands of pieces of prehistoric view land with elaborate improvements, International Bookfinders. Box 3003-D, setting for a rest home $28,000. Home- stone, bone, shell and pottery. 8 large Beverly Hills, California. glass show cases, 1 large oak cabinet with sites with water and elaborate view, 34 drawers. Collection suitable for trad- $1000 per acre. John C. Chalupnik, STORY OF the desert in word and picture. Alpine, California. ing post or private museum. H. F. Strandt. History, legends, etc. $1 postpaid. Palm 1025 E. Broadway. Anaheim, California, Springs Pictorial, 465 No. Palm Canyon phone 4759. Drive. Palm Springs, California. MISCELLANEOUS WE SEARCH unceasingly for old and rare GEMS AND MINERALS, collecting, gem- Indian Artifacts, but seldom accumulate cutting. Illustrated magazine tells how, SILENT SMITH CORONA Portable Type- a large assortment. Collectors seem as where to collect and buy, many dealer writer, standard size Pica or Elite (small eager to possess them as their original advertisements. Completely covers the size) $100.37 including tax, delivered owners. To those who like real Indian hobby. The rockhound's own magazine anywhere in the U.S.A.. Hastings Type- things, a hearty welcome. You too may for only $2.00 year (12 full issues) or writer Co., Hastings, Nebraska. find here something you have long de- write for brochure and bookl st. Mineral sired. We are continually increasing our Notes and News, Box 716B, Palmdale, GHOST TOWN ITEMS: Sun-colored glass, stock with the finest in Navajo rugs, In- California. amethyst to royal purple; ghost railroads dian baskets, and hand-made jewelry. material, tickets; limited odd items from Daniels Trading Post, 401 W. Foothill FIRST BOOK OF STONES, tells you how camps of the '60s. Write your interest— Blvd., Fontana, California. to be a stone collector, the names of Box 64-D, Smith. Nevada. rocks and where they came from, $1.75. INDIAN ANTIQUES of all types. Weapons, Hastings Typewriter Co.. Hasting Neb. SHEAFFER WHITE DOT Desk Pen with buckskin garments, war bonnets, mocca- new brown onyx base, only $15.79 in- sins, old Navajo pawn, baskets, kachinas. cluding tax, prepaid anywhere in the Pat Read, Indian Trader, Lawrence, Kans. BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES U.S.A., Hastings Typewriter Co., Hast- ings, Nebraska. IMPORT-EXPORT! Opportunity profitable, 6 PERFECT ANCIENT Flint Arrowheads world - wide, mail - order business from $2.00. Grooved Stone War Club $2.00. home, without capital, or travel abroad. QUIET DELUX ROYAL Portable Type- Perfect Peace Pipe S5.00. 2 Flint Knives Established World Trader ships instruc- writer, standard size Pica or Elite (small $1.00. Ancient Clay Water Bottle $8.00. tions for no-risk examination. Experience size) $103.58 including tax, delivered All offers $15.00. List Free. Lear's, unnecessary. Free details. Mellinger, 544, anywhere in the U.S.A., Hastings Type- Glenwood, Arkansas. Los Angeles 24, California. writer Co., Hastings, Nebraska. OLD ARMY OFFICER'S COLLECTION: DESERT GEM SHOP at Salome, Arizona. PAN GOLD this summer on my rich claim Peace pipe of Red Cloud, red pipestone, Rapidly growing business. Excellent lo- located in California's scenic Feather golden sumac stem $20.00. Beaded buck- cation on Highway 60-70. Five acres of River country. Lovely gold-bearing creek. skin tobacco bag $7.00. Child's rawhide land. Good water, wonderful winter Very reasonable fee. Write box 604, parfleche, $7.00. Elkhide tepee, poles 24 climate. Selling on account of health. Stockton, California. inches long, diameter of tepee 14 inches P. O. Box 276, Salome, Arizona. $10.00. Ute beaded belt purse, sky-blue, SILVERY DESERT HOLLY PLANTS: $3.00. Old Apache basket, mended, One dollar each postpaid. Greasewood $10.00. Postage and insurance $3.00. REAL ESTATE Greenhouses, Lenwood, Barstow, Calif. Price for all postpaid $60.00. Address Mrs. E. V. A. Murphey, Box 333, Covelo, HOT MINERAL WATER. Imagine your NATURAL SCIENCE color slides covering California. own swimming pool heated by Nature. 5 mineralogy, geology, insects, wild life, acres with hot mineral water well only flowers, trees, clouds, conchology. Men- $8,000. R. H. McDonald, Cor. Palm & tion interests for lists. World's largest BOOKS — MAGAZINES Dillon. Desert Hot Springs, California. mineral slide catalog, a useful, check list, Phone 143. 1,000 titles by groups, 25c refunded on "KNIGHT'S FERRY — Gateway to the first purchase. Popular lectures with Mother Lode" by Claude E. Napier. His- IF YOU LIKE the Desert You'll love New- script rented. Information free. Scott torical facts—some never before printed berry. Great opportunities for all year Lewis, 2500 Beachwood, Hollywood 28, —and tall ones—by author. A "must for income. Build modern housekeeping California. scholars-students of California gold days rentals. Write Chamber of Commerce, and collectors. 250 copies first edition. Newberry, California. Many photos and illustrations of historic- LADY GODIVA "The World's Finest ally famous "Knight's Ferry" district. Beautifier." For women who wish to Autographed, postpaid, $2.75. Napier FOUR ROOM HOME on Lake Mead. become beautiful, for women who wish Box 984, Oakdale, California. All electric. Furnished. Fishing, hunt- to remain beautiful. An outstanding des- ing, boating. If interested write V. J. ert cream. For information, write or call York, Box 111, Overton, Nevada. Lola Barnes, 963 N. Oakland, Pasadena CHAMBERS' MINERALOGICAL Diction- 6, Calif., or phone SYcamore 4-2378. ary, with forty plates of colored illustra- JACK RABBIT RANCHES—Rockhounds tions, $4.75, Hastings Typewriter Co., haven, San Diego, Imperial, Los Angeles SEND FOR list of dried floral materials Hastings, Nebraska. and San Bernardino counties, no waiting for arrangements, home decorating. Mel three years to get your deed, no improve- Capper, Box 70, Palm Springs, California. PANNING GOLD — Another hobby for ments required. State location desired. Rockhounds and Desert Roamers. A Owner, Chas. Malott, 5O23A Meridian PAN GOLD: 75 spots in 25 California new booklet, "What the Beginner Needs Street, Los Angeles 42, California. counties for placer gold, township and to Know," 36 pages of instructions; also range, elevation, geological formation, catalogue of mining books and prospec- TIMBER: will purchase, for cash, stands near town. Pertinent remarks. $1.00. tors' supplies, maps of where to go and of timber, with or without the land, Box 42037, Los Angeles, California. blue prints of hand machines you can located anywhere, Washington, Oregon, build. Mailed postpaid 25c, coin or Idaho. Send full particulars. General DESERT TEA. One pound one dollar stamps. Old Prospector, Box 729, Desk Minerals Co., 925 Securities Building, postpaid. Greasewood Greenhouses. Len- 5, Lodi, California. Seattle 1, Washington. wood, Barstow, California.

28 DESERT MAGAZINE CALIFORNIA Hunt for Giant Condor Birds . . . Manly's Death Valley Route . . . MOJAVE — The giant California EXPLORATION! DEATH VALLEY — Beneath the Condor, largest of North American pasted back flap of a rain-soaked book birds, with a wing spread of from 10 SAFE ADVENTURE! on Death Valley written by William to 11 feet, is the object of a controver- Lewis Manly, a penciled map has been sial bird hunt now underway in Cali- SCENIC BEADTY! found which may add considerably to fornia. Mrs. Belle Benchley of San the knowledge of early Death Valley Diego Zoo is attempting to trap a male pioneer routes. Manly was the famous and female condor for breeding pur- scout who led the Bennett-Arcane poses in the gigantic condor house of party out of Salt Lake City seeking a the zoo. She has been given permis- short-cut route to the gold fields of sion of the State Fish and Game Com- California. The map, drawn on wrap- mission, but several groups, notably ping paper by Manly himself, was dis- the Audubon Society, the Sierra Club covered by Ardis M. Walker, immedi- and certain members of ths Cooper ate past president of the Death Valley Club, leading ornithological organiza- 49ers, in a book given him by a neigh- tion, bitterly oppose the project. 4£^4 bor, who found it in his barn. It shows The actual capture is being at- MEXICAN HA/ EXPEDfTKW the exact route followed by the Ben- tempted by Lewis Wayne Walker, bird nett-Arcane party from Salt Lake City photographer and magazine writer, through the valley and finally to San who hides in a carrion-baited pit in Fernando Mission, California.—Inyo condor country, hoping to seize a bird SAN JUAN and COLORADO Register. as it comes to feed. Infinite caution is • • • required, as condors are extremely RIVER EXPEDITIONS Cancel Desert Cavalcade . . . wary, and a trap cannot be used for CALEXICO—Lack of interest and fear of injuring the bird. Seven-day voyage through the scenic a deficit of $1000 from the 1952 cele- Opponents of the zoo project con- canyon wonderland oi Utah and Arizona. bration were given as reasons for the tend that the condors will have a better Boats leaving Mexican Hat, Utah, May 4, suspension of the 1953 International chance of survival if they are left alone May 14, May 25 (9-day trip), June 8, June Desert Cavalcade. Originally sched- in the wilds. Supporters of Mrs. Bench- 18. Trips end at Lee's Ferry. Two post- uled as a four-day event for April 9-12, ley declare that a scientific: attempt, season runs between Hite, Utah and Lee's the Cavalcade has been held every under proper conditions of captivity, Ferry, Arizona. year since 1940, excepting the war to perpetuate the birds is worth while. years. According to Les Dowe, presi- Most estimates place the number of Rates—7-day trips: 1 person S200; party dent of the Cavalcade Association, condors alive in California at around oi 2 or 3, $175 each; party oi 4 or more. there is a possibility that the event will 60, with approximately 10 nesting $160 each. 9-day trip, $200 each. be resumed at a future date. pairs. " . . . A flight on the magic carpet of • • • adventure into a canyon wilderness of indescribable beauty and grandeur." Choose Colorado River Sites . . . wrote Randall Henderson in the Desert The Desert Trading Post BLYTHE — Two sites along the Magazine. Colorado River—a 2700-acre tract at Imperial Dam and a 22,000-acre tract For detailed iniormation write to— FIND YOUR OWN beautiful Gold nug- I. Frank Wright. Blanding, Utah, or gets! It's fun! Beginners' illustrated in- at 4-S ranch above Picacho — have struction book $1.00. Gold pan, $2.00. been selected by the California Divi- Where to go? Gold placer maps. South- sion of Beaches and Parks for develop- Mexican Hat Expeditions ern California, Nevada, Arizona, $1.00 each state. All three maps $2.00. Desert ment as state parks. Facilities will (Successors to Nevills Expeditions, world- Jim, Box 604, Stockton, California. include a filter water supply, rest famous River exploration trips) rooms, picnic tables, boat piers, camp- PLACER OR LODE location notices, 60c P. O.. BLUFF. UTAH Doz. Blank township plats, single town- sites and parking space. ship, or 4 townships, on H'/V'xll", $1.00 pad. Westwide Maps Co., 114'/2 W. Third St., Los Angeles, California. UP III I ]mm_ Perfect for Lfl . j| ^J^ Jfet ROCKHOUNDS WILL SELL one Ilustravox Senior by Mag- navox Corporation. Plays large record DUAL PURPOSE PROSPECTORS and projects still film for Rockhound HIKERS, MOTORISTS meetings or traveling lecturer. Used only WILDFLOWER VISITORS a few times for sales work. Perfect con- In short, the "Air-Way" is dition, fifty dollars. C. A. White. 1838 the answer to your needs, at Camden Ave., Los Angeles 25, Calif. last, for a practical, sensible auto compass. RAISE ORCHIDS—at home—big profits —fascinating. Year 'round any climate. LOWEST PRICED auto compass yet—beautiful to see. No greenhouse. Instructions, including 3 DUAL PURPOSE—reiduces to pocket size (2x2) with removal of one orchid plants, send for no-risk examina- screw. tion. Free details. Flowerland, 601-B, S. Vermont, Los Angeles 5, California. ACCURATE, DEPENDABLE—fully compensating type instrument —a product of famous Sherrill Corp.—GUARANTEED! URANIUM ORE—Guaranteed radio-active. SIMPLICITY—light-weight, tough plastic—mounts instantly any- Two sizes, 50c or 25c, postpaid. A-Ore, Box 1266, Prescott, Arizona. where with rubber suction cup. SPECIFY RED OR At Sportsmen's Stores, m r « T iin UIAV AAQD MAGIC EIGHT BALL, fortune telling Auto Supply Dealers, H C 0 I ftllf-nfll V U fl r. BLACK COLOR game, answers questions, fun and clever Service Stations, DEPT. 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APRIL, 1953 29 For Camp Ground Improvement . . . San Luis Loses Bridge . . . Bighorn Sheep Hunt . . . BISHOP — The neglected camp CALEXICO — Once again it has CARSON CITY—Nevada hunters grounds of Inyo National Forest may become very difficult for the people will be given another chance at the be improved, if a bill now before Con- of San Luis, Sonora, Mexico, to jour- Bighorns this year, with a 26-day sea- gress is passed. The proposed Baker ney to Mexicali in Baja California, just son planned in Lincoln and Clark bill would provide ten percent of For- across the border from Calexico. Re- counties April 5 to 30. Sixty-five tags est Service receipts for sanitation, wild- cently the Colorado River demolished will be issued on a drawing basis for life habitat and development purposes half of the bridge that joined the two Nevada residents only. Hunters who of the national forests. California for- Mexican states after it had been in drew tags last year will not be eligible ests receive $60,000 for recreational operation only three months. The ex- for this year's hunt.—Territorial Enter- use under the present allocation; the tremely bad quality of construction has prise. Baker bill might raise this figure to been blamed for the bridge failure. • • • $1,000,000. Forest camp grounds in To solve the bottleneck at the river Sheep Quarantine . . . the Inyo-Mono area at present are so crossing, San Luis requested authori- ELY — Sheep being shipped from short of funds that voluntary donations zation from the Sonora governor to Nevada to California must be inspected have been necessary to keep them open buy another ferry boat to join the old for scabies before crossing the border, to the public.—Inyo Register. one in transporting cars and trucks the Department of Agriculture an- from shore to shore. — Yiima Daily nounced after the disease broke out in Sun. California. Sheep can only he shipped "EVERYTHING FOR THE HIKER' • • • after special permits have been issued NEVADA by the Division of Animal Industry. SLEEPING BAGS California Department of Agriculture, Storage Offsets Low Runo:!f . . . AIR MATTRESSES Sacramento. Permits arc issued by BOULDER CITY — Although the state or federal inspectors to certify SMALL TENTS Colorado River runoff this spring freedom from scabies. — Goldfield might fall 60 percent under last year's and many other items News. record, there is enough holdover stor- • • • age in Lake Mead to assure adequate VAN DEGRIFT'S HIKE HUT Tourists Flock to Lake Mead . . . water for all irrigation and domestic BOULDER CITY—Sixteen million 717 West Seventh Street uses and power obligations during the tourists, an average of slightly more LOS ANGELES 14. CALIFORNIA coming year, announced E. G. Nielsen, than one million per year, have visited director of the Bureau of Reclamation's the Lake Mead Recreation Area since Region No. 3. The melted snow and the National Park Service first took ice from the Rockies that will flow over in 1937. Largest tourist travel DESERT GRAPEFRUIT down the river into Lake Mead April during any one month was in August, 30-lb. bag delivered in California through July is expected to be only 1952, when a total of 307,298 visitors express prepaid for $3.00. 5,600,000 acre-feet, compared with were counted at the various checking last year's record high of over 14,000,- stations. Excepting the war years, G. W. CUTSHAW. Grower 000 acre-feet and a 30-year average Brawley, California travel to Lake Mead has shown a con- of 8,900,000 acre-feet. stant and steady increase of 252.58 percent.—Las Vegas Review-Journal. • • • THE "FAMILY HOTEL" IN DOWNTOWN Bill Urges Dam Construction . . . CARSON CITY — In a resolution introduced before the Nevada State Legislature, Assemblyman J. M. Hig- LOS HI1CELE1 gins urged Congress to appropriate funds immediately for the Bridge Can- yon dam and power development on the upper Colorado River. The meas- ure claimed the financing of the multi- million-dollar project was being held up by the Arizona-California water dispute. The Southwestern states are Give the whole family the glorious treat of luxury living at this travelers' Paradise! 400 brightly decorated, modern in urgent need of additional water and rooms . . every comfort and convenience . . . ample park, power facilities and further delay of ing . delicious food moderately priced. Special courtesies to families. the project will have dire consequences, Higgins said. — Las Vegas Review- Journal.

MAPS San Bernardino County, $1.00; River- side County, $1.00; San Diego County, 50c; Imperial County, 50c; other counties $1.00 each; (add 10c for postage). We carry all topographic quadrangle maps in California and other western states and Alaska. If it's maps, write or see Westwide Maps Co., 114Vfc W- 3rd st-< IjOS Angeles 13, California.

30 DESERT MAGAZINE Stockmen Reassured . . . Illegal Water in Hobbs . . . HUMBOLDT—"In spite of the dry HOBBS—The city of Hobbs is pub- warm winter, there is little cause for lishing legal notices that it intends to 1953 alarm concerning moisture and vege- drill water wells that were dug as tation conditions," Nevada stockmen much as 23 years ago. The notices, GRAND VACATIONS were told at a meeting of the Santa when published three times, will Into Lands of Great Beauty Rosa Livestock Growers Association straighten out a legal entanglement Journey by Boat—Wyoming, Colorado. which for a while made every drink Utah. Arizona, Nevada in Paradise Valley. A. R. Torgerson, Rendezvous: Richfield, Utah supervisor of Humboldt National For- of city water illegal. Hobbs' water 162 miles of Colorado River est, reported snow and water measure- dillemma dates back to 1930 when the NO RAPIDS ments indicate average range condi- city's first water wells were dug— HITE, Utah to LEES FERRY, Arizona tions.—Humboldt Star. before the state slapped regulations on Schedule—GLEN CANYON drilling. Seven wells, drilled by a pri- Apr. 27 to May 3 May 11 to May 17 NEW MEXICO vate company, were sold to the city May 25 to May 31 80 Percent Normal Agua . . . but never legally registered. In fact, Jun. 8 to Jun. 14 SANTA FE — A probable water out of 11 wells in Hobbs, only 3 were Fare: $125.00 Deposit: $25.00 flow of about 80 percent of normal is legal, and since they shared a common — •— forecast for the Rio Grande River, ac- reservoir, all the water was unlawful. Rendezvous: For fast water run: CLIFF cording to federal-state cooperative Arizona recently cracked down on its DWELLERS LODGE, Arizona. Through snow and rain reports. Soil moisture water basin regulations, and Hobbs MONUMENT VALLEY by cars, a 230 mile conditions are reported good in the hurriedly published its belated drilling overland trip. Taos area but dry at valley elevations notices to get back within the law. SAN JUAN AND COLORADO along the river. As of February 1, • • • RIVERS BLUFF, Utah to LEES FERRY, Arizona snow accumulation was slightly less Find Dinosaur Remains . . . 225 miles by water in rowboats than normal.—New Mexican. TUCUMCARI — Calcified frag- Schedule: June 22 to 30 • • • ments of a dinosaur, believed to be at Fare: $175.00 Deposit: $40.00 Navajos Ask Good Grazing . . . least 38,000,000 years old, were dis- See RAINBOW BRIDGE 5 above trips COUNSELORS—A second petition covered by two junior high school sci- is being prepared for submission to ence teachers 14 miles west of here. Announcing: Interior Secretary Douglas McKay Leon Cooper and Clifford Mills have asking more equitable grazing regula- GRAND CANYON TRAVERSE removed a leg bone four and a half LEES FERRY, Ariz., to BOULDER CITY, Nev. tions for non-reservation Navajo stock- feet long and 16 inches wide, weighing July 15 to August 5 men. Nearly 300 Navajo stockmen more than 200 pounds. They believe Fare: $750.00 Deposit: $250.00 and their famiiles decided to draw up it to be from a species of dinosaur the new petition after failing to learn that grew to a length of from 67 to 90 Announcing: the whereabouts of an original plea feet and weighed up to 35 tons. — bearing 1400 thumbmarks. The In- GREEN-COLORADO RUN dians seek an increase in the number New Mexican. GREEN RIVER, Wyo. to LEES FERRY, Ariz. • • • Aug. 24 to Sept. 30 of sheep which a family may keep be- Fare: $950.00 Deposit: $300.00 fore having to pay grazing fees to the Solons Inspect Museum Site . . . TAOS—Members of the New Mex- Total of 711 river miles government.—New Mexican. Choice of THREE sections on above: ico State Legislature recently inspected • • • Green River, Wyo., to Green River, Utah Thorne House in Taos to secure in- Aug. 24 to Sept. 10 Mexico Okays Bracero Plan . . . formation in connection with a state Fare: $525.00 Deposit: $175.00 SANTA FE — Foreign Minister bill providing for purchase of the Green River, Utah to Hite, Utah Luis Padilla Nervo of Mexico an- property for museum purposes. The Sep. 11 to Sep. 17 nounced his country has agreed to Fare: $275.00 Deposit: $75.00 house is adjacent to Kit Carson Mem- Hite, Utah to Lees Ferry, Ariz. continue sending migrant agricultural orial Park and presumably would be Sep. 18 to Sep. 30 workers to harvest crops during 1953. used to house memorabilia of early Fare $250.00 Deposit: $60.00 He did not reveal how many Mexican New Mexican history.—El Crepesculo. — • — farm hands will be shipped across the border this year, but Southwest news- GENTLE GLEN CANYON papers estimated 250,000 braceros EXPEDITION will be made available for American Looking for a PUBLISHER? Oct. 6 to Oct. 26 Do you have a book-length manuscript you Visit 10 Huge Natural Bridges harvests. Both Mexico and the U. S. would like to have published? Learn about Fare: $300.00 Deposit: $75.00 our unusual plan whereby your book can be have agreed to redouble vigilance to published, promoted and distributed on a — • — prevent "wetbacks" from crossing the professional basis. We consider all types of work—fiction, biography, poetry, scholarly 1953 is our 15th year of guiding frontier illegally in search of farm jobs. and religious books, etc. New auiJiors wel- ^ —New Mexican. come. For more information, write for valu- • • • able booklet D. It's free. Announcing: 1954 and 1955 VANTAGE PRESS, INC. DeLuxe River Expeditions Folsom Era Beast Found . . . 6356 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood 28, Calif. ALBUQUERQUE — Indications of Main Office: New York 1, N. Y. YUKON AND MACKENZIE how prehistoric humans carved a cave- RIVERS man's rib roast from a slain mammoth Alaska, Yukon and Northwest Territories have been found on a ranch near To the Lands of the Midnight Sun anc the Arctic Ocean. Estancia, New Mexico. Officials at 1000 TRAVEL SCENES July and August the University of New Mexico say a COLOR SLIDES Fly to and from River Expeditions skeleton turned up by a plow proved FOR YOUR to be that of a huge beast slain by Fol- VACATION RECORD som hunters about 10,000 years ago. FREE LIST LARABEE AND ALESON It bore indications that a 300-pound fSAMPLES 30c WRITE TODAY Western River Tours rib roast had been hacked out by some KELLY D. CHODA flint instrument.—New Mexican. P.O. BOX 588 STANFORD, CALIF. RICHFIELD, UTAH

APRIL, 1953 31 UTAH Plan Highway Into Utah . . . signed to keep disease bearing insects Public Health for Indians . . . CEDAR CITY—The long-talked-of and produce out of the two states; but, SALT LAKE CITY—In an effort highway across the Arizona strip into he insisted, present methods are inef- to bring the benefits of public health Utah was given a boost recently by fective since they are confined to high- practices to Utah Indians, the state the Arizona State Legislature. Robert way ports of entry and not extended board of health is negotiating a con- Morrow introduced a memorial urging to air terminals and railroad facilities. tract with the U. S. Indian Service the National Parks Service, Bureau of Inspection "irritates tourists and ham- which would authorize the board to Indian Affairs, Bureau of Land Man- pers Western travel," the Utah gover- work on the reservation. One of the agement and Bureau of Public Roads nor contends. main effects of the contract, said Dr. to cooperate with Arizona and Utah • • • in building the highway. The proposed Range Conditions Improve . . . George A. Spendlove, state health SALT LAKE CITY — Measurable commissioner, would be to permit the arterial would connect Fedonia, Ari- zona, and Hurricane, Utah, crossing improvement in Utah's winter ranges department to inoculate Indian chil- was noted during January and Febru- parts of the Kaibab Indian Reserva- dren as well as white children under ary by the U. S. Bureau of Agricul- school inoculation programs. Also, tion and Pipe Springs National Monu- tural Economists, and the condition of help could be given in setting up sani- ment.—Salt Lake Tribune. • • • cattle and sheep was reported to be tation programs, laboratory services good. During February, ranges were would be available for the Indians, and Urges Open Border . . . SALT LAKE CITY—Utah Gov- 83 percent of normal, up ten points disease control would be facilitated.— over range conditions a year ago. Pre- Salt Lake Tribune. ernor J. Bracken Lee has endorsed a proposed Utah legislative resolution cipitation ranged from spotted to above calling on Arizona and California to normal, and temperatures were warm TRUE OR FALSE ANSWERS end border inspection of tourist cars. enough to permit growth of feed. — Questions are on page 24 Lee noted that the inspections are de- Salt Lake Tribune. 1—False. Tarantulas are compara- tively harmless. 2—True. Mormons began their trek westward in 1847. TiJaten, Sufrfrtf Outto&&, rfOteady (^ta&mef, 3—True. 4—True. 5—True. 6—False. Wickenburg is on the Hassayampa River. 7—False. Bingham Canyon is a copper producer mainly. 8—False. State flower of Arizona Seasonal water supply totals for the area, Uncompahgre River and Coil- is Saguaro. Colorado River Basin still are far be- bran Creek. Elsewhere prospects are 9—False. Northern boundary of the low normal, according to precipitation somewhat brighter, with median fore- Gadsden Purchase was the Gila River. and snow run-off reports compiled by casts calling for run-offs ranging from 10—True. 11.—True. 12—True. the U. S. Weather Bureau February 1. 72 to 88 percent of the 10-year aver- 13—False. Bandelier's book is about January weather in most areas reduced age. the Pueblo Indians. rather than increased this season's po- Green River Basin — Run-offs of 14—False. San Gorgonio is the tential water supply. Precipitation higher. from 73 to 88 percent of normal are 15—False. Carson City is Nevada's during the month was extremely light, forecast for Utah tributaries of the capital. averaging as low as 20 percent of Green and White River basins. 16—True. 17—True. 18—True. normal, and temperatures also were 19—False. Salton Sea was not formed San Juan River Basin—The water abnormal, in many instances setting outlook for the San Juan basin has until 1905-6-7. all-time high records. Drying winds 29—True. changed little since January 1. Stream- did much to deplete soil moisture, particularly at elevations below 8000 flows still are expected to range from feet. 60 to 75 percent of the 10-year aver- age. Streamflow forecasts for the various Little Colorado River Basin—Fore- watersheds are as follows: casts fell to from 21 to 30 percent Colorado River above Cisco—The below January 1 readings. Current outlook remains unfavorable for most outlook is for flows of 75 percent of of the area. Water-year flows of only normal for the tributaries near Win- 51 to 66 percent of the 1941-50 aver- slow, and for only 38 percent of aver- age may be expected for the Gunnison age near Woodruff. and Dolores River basins, the Granby Gila River Basin—The water sup- ply outlook for the Gila River basin WHAT EVERY MAN WANTS: above the San Carlos Reservoir is This clever Map, Blue-print Reader VACATION measures all distances on any flat in very poor, with median forecasts call- surface . . . has dozens of uses . . . WAYNE WONDERLAND ing for November-June flows of only Tax and Postpaid $2.75 with 21 to 30 percent of the 10-year aver- MARSHUTZ OPTICAL CO. JACKSON'S SCENIC TOURS age. For this portion of the basin to 418 W. 6th Est. 1887 Los Angeles Sightseeing, picture taking, reck hunting, realize near-average flows, precipita- camping and deer hunting in October. Regular weekly tours over Thousand Lake tion from February through June would Mt. to Cathedral Valley, Painted Desert, have to equal or exceed the maximum We can supply . . . Pinto Hills, Dirty Devil R., Land of the Goblins, and San Rafael Swell or Capitol of record. Run-off of only 54 percent WESTERN FAUNA AND FLORA Reef. Spl. Tours—Standing Rock ttasin, Colo. of average is expected for the Verde Send for list of out of print titles River or anywhere in explored or unex- River Basin. Prospects for Tonto plored scenic Southern Utah. JAMES C. HOWGATE. Bookseller For information or reservation;) writ* to: Creek and Salt River basins are slightly 128 So. Church St. J. WORTHEN JACKSON better, and flows are expected to be Schenectady 1, New York Fremont, Utah approximately 70 percent of normal.

32 DESERT MAGAZINE to psychiatric social work at the United of Southwest Indian tribes. He was in States Disciplinary Barracks at Fort charge of the U. S. Experimental Date Leavenworth, Kansas, after the war. Garden near Indio, California, from Now with the psychology depart- 1922 to 1940 and, prior to that, was ment at Phoenix College, Thoroman connected with the field service of the is in charge of the college's testing and Bureau of Indian Affairs. "One way placement service. He also operates or another," he writes, "I have had This month's Life on the Desert about 60 years' contact with the story was told to Ernest K. Allen a personnel testing service as a private business, offering vocational advise- American Indians and have made close nearly 25 years ago by an old man study of the plant foods and products named Huff, whom he had met in the ment and personnel selection for busi- ness and industry. discovered and first used by the In- agricultural implement department of dians." the old E. M. Cope Commercial Com- Thoroman's wife and three chil- pany in Redlands, now the Imperial dren like to accompany him on his His partner in the Sand Food story Hardware Company. hunting, prospecting and rockhound- in this issue, Photographer Dewey ing trips. Moore, has been a research worker of The old man had mentioned to Al- the Bureau of Plant Industry, U. S. len that he had once been driver on • • • Department of Agriculture, for many one of the old 20-mule borax teams Franklin A. Thackery, author of years. He now is stationed at the in Death Valley. Interested, Allen "Sand Food of the Papagos," is well Rubidoux Federal Station in Riverside, asked him to lunch and heard the old- qualified to write of the ethnobotany California. timer's story. They had several other talks later and, prodded by the younger man's questions, Huff told many of his early-day experiences. The old-timer was past 70 then, and, although he soon lost track of him, Allen doubts PRIZE ANNOUNCEMENT whether he is alive today. Allen was born in Oakland, Cali- fornia, in 1880, the son of pioneer California settlers. In the early '80s, So popular has been Desert Magazine's Life-on-the-Desert series F. M. "Borax" Smith built a large of stories which have been in nearly every issue during the last year, the home in Oakland, and Allen remem- editorial staff has announced another story contest in 1953. bers walks with his father to the Smith You do not have to be a professional writer to enter this contest. estate, to see the herd of llamas Borax The only requirement is that the story submitted to Desert Magazine be had imported from the Andes Moun- a true experience, either of your own, or one with which you are personally tains in South America, where he had familiar. extensive mining interests. For the best story of from 1200 to 1500 words submitted by May 1, "When I was a small boy," Allen an award of $25.00 will be made. Each other contestant whose manu- recalls, "the family made a trip by script is accepted for publication will receive a $15.00 award. Entries train from Oakland to Los Angeles. will be judged on the basis of story content and writing style. When the train stopped at Mojave for The story must relate a true experience, preferably of the writer—no lunch, my father called our attention yarns or tall tales or heresay will qualify. The experience, may involve to the desert and explained to us that danger while lost on the desert, an adventure while living or traveling on Mojave was the destination of Mr. the desert or in Indian country, while homesteading, rockhunting or pros- Smith's 20-mule teams, hauling borax pecting. It may be the meeting of an unusual character, revealing a phase from a far-away place called Death of human nature or a distinct way of life. It may recall "good old days" Valley. He told us what he knew in the mining camps or frontier towns. Perhaps it will contain a lesson on about Death Valley, which was little desert wildlife or plants or desert living. enough but sufficient to make a lasting impression on my mind." The contest is open to amateur and professional writers alike, but those who plan to submit manuscripts should carefully observe the follow- Allen and his wife now make their ing rules: home in Pasadena, California. They also have a place at Twentynine Palms All manuscripts must be typewritten, on one side of the page only. and, since he has retired from active Entries should be addressed to Editor, Desert Magazine, Palm Desert, business, spend more and more time California, and must reach this office by May 1, 1953, to qualify for the on the desert. awards. • • • If good sharp 5x7 or larger pictures are available, an extra $3.00 will be paid for each photograph accepted. Pictures are not essential, however. E. C. Thoroman, author of "There's Writers must be prepared to supply confirmation as to the authenticity Still Color in the Old Placer Fields" of their stories. Only true experiences are wanted. did his first prospecting at the old Cus- ter Mine, near Sunbeam Dam, Idaho, All stories must be essentially of the desert, and the scene is limited in 1933. But it wasn't until he moved to Arizona, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico and the desert area of California. to Arizona in 1947 that he seriously True names of those involved must be given, although with the took up gold panning as a hobby. knowledge of the judges, fictitious names may be substituted in special Thoroman was born in Garnett, cases where there is reflection on personal character. Kansas, and holds A.B. and M.A. If the story has appeared previously in print, this fact and the time degrees from the University of Kan- and name of the medium in which it appeared should be given. sas. He worked as a field director for All readers of Desert Magazine are invited to submit manuscripts. the American National Red Cross Unaccepted manuscripts will be returned if accompanied by return postage. from 1942 to 1946, then transferred

APRIL, 1 953 33 • item. DIAMOND BLADES

heavy-Buty Super Standai S«K[-ChEd Charged Cbanet 5 9.03 $ 7.98 11.50 10.44 15.23 14.02 22.26 18.5:1 29.40 25.67 32.7(5 20.0h "MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS" SOCIETY PLANS SHOW 65.60 43.20 36.12 77.95 51.97 39.8-1 THEME FOR '53 CONVENTION AT ORANGE COUNTY FAIR 93.24 65.73 51.40 Plans for the 1953 "Meet Me in St. Again this year, the Orange Coast Min- 149.62 125.73 State 226.06 Arbor Louis" convention of the Midwest Federa- eral and Lapidary Society will hold its an- 188.05 Size sales tax in California. tion of Mineralogical and Geological So- nual show in conjunction with the Orange cieties occupied federation officers at a County Fair. Dates are August 11 through Allow for Postage and Insurance recent board meeting. The convention will 16, and exhibits will be arranged in two Covington Ball Bearing Grinder be held June 26-28 at St. Louis University large buildings on the fairgrounds near High School, 4970 Oakland Avenue, St. Costa Mesa. California. Gem show chair- and shields are Louis, Missouri. man is Carl C. Cowles; inquiries regarding furnished in 4 Ken Gibbons, convention chairman, has display space should be directed to him, sizes and price planned a well-rounded schedule of activi- 310 North Main Street, Post Office Box ranges to suit ties for visitors. Included are a banquet, 202, Santa Ana, California. Cowles was y o u r require- outstanding speakers and a two-day post- one of the judges of gem and mineral ex- ments. Water and convention field trip to interesting places in hibits at the Riverside County Fair in Indio grit proof. the St. Louis area. Gibbons also suggests this year. that visitors new to St. Louis take a boat COVINGTON 8" TRIM SAW trip on the Mississippi River, see old-fash- PLAZA PARK* BR*AWLEY and motor are com- ioned melodrama on the Show-boat on the TO BE SCENE OF SHOW pact and do not waterfront, visit the outdoor Municipal splash. Save blades Opera and the St. Louis Zoo. Tickets for Brawley Gem and Mineral Society's third and clothing with annual rock show will be held in that Cali- this saw. these events may be reserved by writing Miss Teddy Kratz, 2742 Meramac Street, fornia city's Plaza Park May 1 to 3. Be- or Mrs. Jean Strope, 3529 Lafayette Ave- sides exhibits and trading tables, the show BUILD YOUR OWN LAP nue, both in St. Louis. These committee will feature a field trip to the petrified wood, and SAVE with a COY- members also will answer housing inquiries. wonderstone and geothite crystal areas near INGTON 12" or 16" Lap Co-chairmen of the committee for com- Mexicali, in Mexico across the border from Kit. We furnish every- mercial exhibits are W. H. Vesper, Jr., 109 Calexico. California. thing you need. Send Gray Avenue, Webster Groves 19, Missouri, • • • for free catalog. and William Neukum, 1012 Kuhs Place, St. MINERAL SHOW PLANNED Louis. Lyndall Grosch is handling requests AT HEMET FARMERS FAIR COVINGTON for non-commercial exhibit space. Hemet-San Jacinto Rockhound Club, Multi-Feature Southern California, will hold its sixth an- ll>" Lap Unit SOUTHWEST 'MINERALOGISTS' Does nual gem and mineral show August 26-30 everything SHOW IN L.A. APRIL 25, 26 at the Hemet Fairgrounds. The show is for you. Louis D. Sears, display chairman, an- being held in conjunction with the Hemet nounces he has some fine exhibits lined up Farmers Fair. COVINGTON j for the Southwest Mineralogists' 16th An- • • • 12" 14" t nual Show April 25 and 26 in Los Angeles, Three color movies: "Birth of an Oil or Hi" W California. The show again will be held at Power Feed Field," "Ten Thousand Feet Deep," and Diamond the South Ebell Club, 7101 South Menlo "Man Made Canyons" were borrowed from Saws Avenue, Los Angeles. the University of California by Northern California Mineral Society for a club pro- SAVE SEVENTH ANNUAL SHOW gram in San Francisco. BLADES FOR ORANGE BELT GROUP • • • At a January meeting in San Bernardino, Last Chance Canyon was their destina- Send for New Catalog, IT'S FUNK California, directors of Orange Belt Min- tion when Delvers Gem and Mineral Society eralogical Society set the dates for the so- members left Downey, California, on the COVINGTON LAPIDARY SUPPLY ciety's seventh annual show. They chose first field trip of 1953. Good specimens of Redlands, California October 24 and 25. Jess Wait was named petrified wood, palm and jasper were found, show chairman. as well as a few geodes and some petrified roots. SAN MATEO'*S FOURTH EXHIBIT SET MAY 9, 10 BLACK LIGHT KITS Fourth annual exhibit of the Gem and 110 VOLT LONG WAVE Mineral Society of San Mateo County, California, will be held May 9 and 10 at FOR ULTRA-VIOLET FLUORESCENCE the San Mateo County Fair and Festival } Building, 2501 Pacific Boulevard, San NOW . . . you can build your own black light equip- Mateo. ment at a new low cost with these easy-to-assemble • • • components. Geologists, mineral prospectors and hob- Dick Carpenter arranged a return trip to byists can easily make laboratory black lights for Guadalupe Mines for the Gem and Mineral mineral identification. Signs, posters, pictures, fabrics, house numbers~7T. anything Society of San Mateo County, California. painted with fluorescent paint glows with eye-appealing fluorescence under black light. The group had visited the site in July and Kit contains: Ultra-Violet tube, brackets, ballast, starter, wire, plug and wiring diagram. found good myrickite specimens. • • • 4 Watt Kit-(5'/4" tube) _ _ $3.00 Charles Cowan showed his pictures of 8 Watt Kit—(12" tube) $4.00 plume agate and petrified wood to fellow members of Everett Rock and Gem Club, Enclose full amount with order Equipment shipped postpaid Everett, Washington. Displays for the eve- ning featured these minerals. • • • C & H SALES COMPANY Grant Ostergard of Glendale spoke on "Gem Hunting in Mexico" at a meeting of 2176 EAST COLORADO STREET PASADENA. CALIFORNIA Delvers Gem and Mineral Society, Downey, California. DESERT MAGAZINE Find Strategic Minerals, Hidden Wealth with Ultra-Violet MINERALIGHT! MINERALIGHT instantly locates, identifies vital minerals, saves hours of fruitless search. Invaluable for prospectors, miners, engineers and hobby:s'.s, MINERALIGHT helps you find tungsten, ur- Strike anium, mercury, zirconium and many other minerals now being sought for use in vital preparedness work. ULTRA-VIOLET FLUORESCENCE STUDY IS AN INTERESTING AND PLEASANT HOBBY! Even through you may not be interested professionally, you'll still find a great deal of fun and happiness when you make ultra-violet study and mineral sample collection your hobby. it Rich! Ultra-Violet MINERALIGHT opens up new, strangi; worlds—gorgeous colors and reactions you never knew existed. Make this exciting hobby YOUR hobby! LEARN TO RECOGNIZE VALUABLE MINERALS /FIELD CASE When you use Ultra-Violet's MINERALIGHT, you want to No. 404 MODEL be ab'e to recognize the pat- Contains special bat- terns and colors that samples tery circuit for MIN- M-12 Completely fluoresce. Mineral sots, pack- ERALIGHT SL-2537 aged in varied assortments of or SL-3660. Case self-contained, battery operated, the various minerals you will MINERALIGHT SL-2537 holds lamp, bai- encounter, arc valuable aids. teries, built-in day- weighs only 3U lbs. All purpose lamp, operates on S.'S4.50 plus battery (80c) Ultra - Violet MINERALIGHT 110V AC, weighs only 1 lb. $39.50 light viewer. $19.50 rays show them in all their (Plus Bats. $4.50) Complete: SL-2537, exciting colors—permit you to 404 CASE, BATS. $63.50. DISPLAY & EXHIBIT UNIT recognize what you find in MODEL XX-15 LONG WAVE the field. Mineral sets arc available at only $2.50 per set A high quality 110V AC lamp giving MODEL excellent intensity and coverage for of 10 specimens, carefully pack- • IAINFI ~"~^^^~' mineral sample exhibits and displays. aged in foam plastic. TH IVIUUCL Price $25.75. Other multiple - tube Some materials fluoresce to Has bulb SL-3660-LONG WAVE models short wave lengths and sonic* rated at 110V AC unit. (Can be used as a available, to long wave lengths. Others 1000-2000 portable unit for field work in con- will react to both wave lengths hours of use with 90-day guar- junction with Carrying Case Nos. but With different color re- antee. Includes a transformer 303, 404, or 505.) Weight 1 lb. ,$29.50 sponses. Although practically with switch for continuous high all commercially Important efficiency. Price 517.50. Model II minerals (the ones that have is similar, same bulb, except has Some materials fluoresce to short wave lengths and some :o long wave lengths. real monetary value) are acti- resistance cord instead of trans- Others will react to both wave lengths but with different color responses. vated by short wave, many former. Approximately V-> the in- Although practically all commercially important minerals (the ones that have collectors specialize in the more tensity of the TH. $12.50 real monetary value) are activated by short wave, man;' collectors specialize unusual long wave minerals. in the more unusual long wave minerals. See MINERALIGHT in Action! Your Dealer Has It!

Here is a partial list of the more than 500 Ultra-Violet MINERALIGHT dealers ready to serve you—coast to coast. ALASKA The Bradleys San Diego LC'JISEAHA NCn MEXICO Nixon Blue Print Co. Mineral Equip. Sales & 4639 Crenshaw Blvd. Gem Arts, 4286 Marlborough Riley's New Mexico Minerals Vv ilson Tower. Research Engineers Syndicate. Ltd. Plummer's Minerals 423 Crockett St., Shreveport 11003 Central N.E., Corpus Christ! Box 1442, Fairbanks 5011 Hollywood Blvd. 4720 Point Loma Ave. Albuquerque Greene Brothers, Inc. MASSACHUSETTS 1812 Griffin, Dallas ARIZONA A. V. Herr Laboratory Superior Gems & Minerals Schortmann's Minerals Deming Agate Shop 4665 Park Blvd. Don A. Carpenter Co. Grltzner's Minerals 5176 Hollywood Blvd. 6 McKinley Ave.. 1012 E. Maple St., Deming P.O. Box 1741, El Paso 135 N. Sirrine St.. Mesa Jasper Junction Lapidary Warren's Minerals Easthampton Adobe Grafters Bell Reproduction Company 2154 Bacon St. Rt. 2, Box 341. Santa Fe Kane Lapidary & Supply 1112 Neola St. Quahbin Book H-mse 907 Throckmorton. J. J. Jewelcraft San Francisco 2813 N. 16th St., Phoenix Ware NEW YORK Fort Worth Pratt-Gilbert Hardware Co. 2732 Colorado Blvd. Leo Kaufmann New York Laboratory Sup. 709 Harrison St. MICHIGAN Industrial Scientific, Inc. 701 S. 7lhSt., Phoenix Mine & Mill Machinery Co. Int'l. Stamp Bureau Co. Inc. 1014 Taylor St.. Fort Worth Sam'l Hill Hardware Co. 310 E. 3rd St. San Gabriel 125 W. Adams Ave., Detroit 78 Varick St.. New York City Ridgway's 142 S. Montezuma St.. Shannon Luminous Rainbow Gem Company New York Scientific Sup. Co. 615 Caroline St., Houston Presentt 546 W. Mission Dr. MINNESOTA 28 W. 30th St.. Materials Co. Panther City Office Sup. Co. Randolph Oak Creek Canyon Soquel Nokomis Lapidary & New York City 315 N. Colorado, Midland Mineral Shop. Sedona 7356 Sta. Monica Blvd. Thompson's Mineral Studio Watch Shop The Radiac Co. Inc. Farquhar's Rocks & 3840 26th Ave. So., 489 5th Ave., New York City Mission Curio Mart Stratex Instrument Co. P.O. Box 124 Minerals 4400 Mission Road, Tucson 1861 Hillhurst Ave. South Pasadena Minneapolis Standard Scientific Sup. Corp. 34 W. 4th St.. 134 Hollenbeck. San Antonio Hazel E. Wright Napa Dunham Economy MISSOURI East Texas Photocopy Co. 30 Coehise Row. Warren Brandt's Rock & Gem Shop Concentrator Co. Asterley Ozark Shop New York City 308 N. Broadway St., Tyler ARKANSAS 1034-A Sonoma Hiway 853 Mission St. U.S. Hwy 61-67, De Soto OHIO UTAH House of Hobbies, Rt. 4 Needles COLORADO Craven's Diamond Shop Co. Akron Lapidary Co. Hot Springs Nat'l. Park The Gem Exchange 1095 Chalkcr St., Akron Dr. H. T. Plumb McShan's Gem Shop 2008 Bryant Bide.. 2400 Sunnyside Ave., CALIFORNIA Highway 66 Gem Village. Bayfield Kansas City Cincinnati Museum of Berkeley Salt Lake City North Hollywood City Curio Shop Cy Miller Nat. His. Minerals Unlimited P.O. Box 433, Cripple Creek Central Pkwy at Walnut, WASHINGTON 1724 University Ave. Modern Science Laboratories 110 E. 13th St.. Kansas City 8049 St. Clair Ave. Denver Equipment Co. Cincinnati Kulmer's Agate Shop Big Pine 1400 17th St.. Denver MONTANA 5212 Rainier Ave.. Seattle Bedell's Mercantile Orange Cove OREGON Wm. M. Clinsan, Riley's Reproduction Yellowstone Agate Shop The Rock Market Prospector's Equipment Co. 118 N. Main St. 1540 Glenarm Place, Denver Box 4, Hiway 89, Livingston Bishop Clingan's Jet. R. 1, Box 225, Eagle Point 2022 Third Ave., Seattle Bishop Hardware & Sup. Co. Highway 180 Sheldon's Minerals Agency NEBRASKA The House of Guns C. M. Fassett Co., 336 N. Main St. Palo Alto 307 14th St.. Denver Hastings Typewriter Co. 111 Washington St., W. 7 Trent Ave., Spokane Buena Park Fisher Research Labor., Inc. Eckert Mineral Research 518 W. 3rd St., Hastings Garibaldi Chas. O. Fernquist 1961 University Ave. 112 E. Main St.. Florence Hodge Podge Agate & Ghost Town Rock & NEVADA W. 333'/;. Riverside Ave., Book Shop Pasadena Palmer's Lapidary & Supply Shop Spokane Knott's Berry Farm Grieger's Fixit Shop Toiyabe Supply Company 322 Hiway 99 S., Grants Pass Tacoma Lapidary Sup. Co. Canoga Park 1633 E. Walnut St. 1503 N. College, Ft. Collins Gabbs Wrightway Gemcrafters 631 St. Helens Ave., Tacoma Warren C. Bieber Paso Robles Bernstein Brothers Woodfords Cash Store. P.O. Box 4, Hauser Irwin's Gem Shop 7229 Remmet Ave. Coast Counties Pump & 164 N'. Mechanic St.. Pueblo Wood fords, Calif., Smith's Fluorescents 381 Chase Ave., Walla Walla Castro Valley Elee. Co. D. C—Washington P.O. Gardnerville, Nev. Rm. 311-220 S.W. Alder. Williams Lapidary Supply The Sterling Shop, 124O'/i Park St. Gem Lapidary Portland P.O. Box 50, Waterville 8679 Castro Valley Blvd. Arthur C. Terrill 2006 Florida Ave. N.W.. 15 Water St., Henderson Dorothy's Gift Shop Chico Placerville 4639 N. Stephens, Roseburg WISCONSIN Golden Empire Mineral Shop Enterprises Unlimited Washington, D.C. Rock Hollow. Rt. 3. Box 143 Last Frontier Village White's Furniture C-C Distributing Company P.O. Box 906 FLORIDA 1218 M St., Sweet Home 3104 W. Vliet St., Milwaukee Compton Randsburg & Ridgecrest Las Vegas Rock & Shell Shop Ken Dunham PENNSYLVANIA The House of Hobbies Compton Rock Shop W. A. Hankammer 215 Alhambra Cir.. Lost Cave Mineral Shop 721 W. Wisconsin. Milwaukee 1409 S. Long Beach Blvd. ("oral Gables P.O. Box 150, Mina Redlands Commercial Hardware Co. Lost Cave, Hellcrtown The Stones Throw Rock Shop Covington Lapidary GEORGIA Sirchie Finger Print Labors. 221 S. Main St., Walworth Pacitic Mill & Mine Sup. Co. Engineering 500 E. 4th St., Reno 922 Chestnut St., 530 Van Ness Ave. 1st & Hiway 99 Owen Hoffman Nevada Gem Shop CANADA N. Alexander Ave., Philadelphia Glendale Reedley 335 East 4th, Reno Riley's Reproductions Ltd. Pascoes Washington Nevada Mineral Laboratories TENNESSEE 630 8th Ave. W., Tyler Jack IDAHO Hare's Pharmacy 336 Morrill Ave., Reno Technical Products Company Calgary, Alta. 1414 W. Glenoaks The Sawtooth Company Lodi Tonopah Studio 19 N. Dunlap. Memphis Milburns Gem Shop Armstrong's Riverside 1115 Grove St.. Boise TEXAS 1605 Trans-Canada Hwy., Rt. 2. Box 516 Hurrle's Gem Shop P.O. Box 331. Tonopah 3825 7th St. S. V. Higley NEW JERSEY D & B Engineering Co. Inc. New Westminster, B.C. Long Beach 1718 Albion Ave, Burley 1510 S. 14th St., Abilene Cave & Company Ltd Sacramento Slidecraft Co., Elliott Gem & Mineral Shop ILLINOIS Meadows A.V.C. Service, Dwight's 567 Hornby St.. MaeClanahan & Son Tom Roberts Rock Shop 235 E. Seaside Blvd. Mountain Lakes 516 Tyler St.. Amarillo Vancouver. B.C. Gordon's Gem & Mineral 3461 2nd Ave. 1006 S. Michigan Ave., Sharpe Instruments Ltd. Supplies Ivan Ogden Chicago Para Laboratory Sup. Co. Odom's 6038 Yonge St.. 1850 E. Pac. Coast Hwy. 520 56th St. Ret R. Latta Lapidary Equip. 221 N. Hermitage Ave., Star Rt A. Box 32-C. Austin Newtonhrook. Toronto, Ont. Mohave Sales, Inc. San Bernardino 254 Pearl Ave., Loves Park Trenton 1768 Atlantic Ave. Greenwood's KENTUCKY Westfield Lapidary & Sup. Co. Los Angeles 455 Third St. Ben E. Clement 309 Hyslip Ave.. Westfield ULTRA-VIOLET PRODUCTS, INC. Black Light Corp. of San Carlos Marion Garden State Minerals Los Angeles Lloyd Underwood, Ancient Buried City 332 Columbia Blvd., 145 Pasadena Ave.. South Pasadena, Calif. 5403 Santa Monica Blvd. 1027 E. San Carlos Ave. Wickliffe Wood Ridge

APRIL, 1953 OAK CREEK CANYON, ARIZONA. At Sedona near Flagstaff and Jerome in ADVERTISING RATE Technicolor country, visit the Randolph GEITI 8c a Word . . . Minimum $1.00 Shop for specimens and fluorescents. TUNGSTEN: Selected 1 lb. (Approx.) specimen from my own claims in North- 105 DIFFERENT Mineral Specimens $4.50. McSHAN'S GEM SHOP—open part time, ern Nevada. Sent postpaid for $1.00. E. Carefully selected. Makes a valuable aid or find us by directions on door. Cholla W. Darrah, Box 606, Winnemucca, Nev. in helping identify and classify your find- Cactus Wood a specialty, write for prices. ings or makes a wonderful gift. Boxed 1 mile west on U. S. 66. Needles, Cali- BEAUTIFUL FREE GOLD specimens and labeled. 70 different $3.00, 35 dif- fornia, Box 22. $1.00 each, postpaid and returnable if ferent $1.50. Add postage. Coast Gems not satisfied. J. N. Reed, Bouse, Arizona. and Minerals, 11669 Ferris Road, El FOR SALE: Beautiful purple Petrified Monte, California. Wood with Uranium, Pyrolusite, Man- SELL OR TRADE mineral collection and ganite. Nice sample $1.00. Postage. cabinets. Also Mineralight. C. E. Gal- AUSTRALIAN OPAL CABS: $5.00 and Maggie Baker, Rt. 1, Box 284, Blythe, lagher, 1306 W. 83rd Place, Los Angeles $10.00 each. Small but beautiful, every California. stone a gem. A beautiful cultured pearl 44, California. for your collection $5.00. Ace Lapidary, Box 67D, Jamaica, New York. AUSTRALIAN CUTTING FIRE OPAL: MONTANA SAPPHIRES: Small vial $2.00. We stock this lovely fire opal in all grades mine run, postpaid. Harry Bentz, Box MOJAVE DESERT GEMSTONE — Send we import from the mines. Low grades 522, Philipsburg, Montana. for price list and description of beautiful for student cutters $1.00, $2.00, $4.00 & Gemstones from many parts of world. $6.00 per ounce. Better grades for ex- ROCKHOUND PARADISE. Stop and see Sold with satisfaction or money back perienced cutters $10.00 to $20.00 per our display. Montana moss agate rough guarantee. We sell Highland Park Lapi- ounce. Gem grades $25.00 and up per and slabs. No junk. Also other slabs dary machinery, Congo reversible blades ounce. We also stock fine cutting and and minerals. Fluorescent calcite and and supplies. Write for literature. San faceting material, and the best in speci- willemite. Satisfaction guaranteed or Fernando Valley Rock Shop, 6319 Lind- mens. H. A. Ivers, 1400 Hacienda Blvd. money back. Write for prices. P. G. (Highway 39), La Habra, California. Nichols, Prop., Sun Valley Trailer Park, ley Ave., Reseda, California. 3922 No. Oracle Rd., Tucson, Arizona. STOP—LOOK—BUY—Specimens, slabs- RADIOACTIVE ORE Collection: 6 won- rough, from A. L. Jarvis, 1051 Salinas derful different specimens in neat Red- GEMS AND MINERALS, collecting, gem- Road, Watsonville, California. On Sa- wood chest, $2.00. Pretty Gold nugget. cutting. Illustrated magazine tells how, linas Highway, State No. 1, 3 miles South $1.00, four nuggets, $2.00. choice col- where to collect and buy, many dealer of Watsonville. lection 12 nuggets, $5.00. Uranium advertisements. Completely covers the Prospector, Box 604, Stockton, Calif. hobby. The rockhound's own magazine for only $2.00 year (12 full issues) or ROCK COLLECTORS — ATTENTION! write for brochure and booklist. Mineral Both Trailer Rock Stores are again open ATTENTION ROCK COLLECTORS. It Notes and News, Box 716B, Palmdale. for business, full of quality merchandise. will pay you to visit the Ken-Dor Rock California. On Highway one-eleven between Palm Roost. We buy, sell, or exchange min- Springs and Palm Desert. Crystallized eral specimens. Visitors are always wel- minerals a specialty! The Rockologist DENDRITIC OPAL Kansas, good polish- come. Ken-Dor Rock Roost, 419 Slit- ing stone, only $1.25 a pound. Hastings (Chuckawalla Slim), Box 181 Cathedral ter, Modesto, California. City, California. Typewriter Co., Hastings, Nebraska. PROFESSIONALS AND AMATEURS. Cut ONYX BLANKS, unpolished, black 25c SANDING, POLISHING and lapping discs, each; red, green, blue 35c each. Perfect use both sides. Twelve inch precision your cabochons the exact size for mount- 5 ings. Complete set of patterns showing cut Titanium. Fine cutting and polishing machined, arbor holes Vi, /s, V* and 1 exact ring sizes, angles, squares, crosses at reasonable prices. Prompt attention to inch. $3.50 each, two for $6.00, postpaid. and hearts and two types ovals. All five mail orders. Juchem Bros., 315 West 5th Can be substituted for grinding wheels— patterns for only $1.00 postpaid. Hast- St., Los Angeles 13, California. paint with shellac and charge with desired ings Typewriter Co., Hastings, Nebraska. grit of Carborundum. Look at the sav- DESERT ROSES $1.00. Fire Agate spe- ings! Ed Malott, 5023 Meridian St., Los THULITE: Cuts beautiful color. $1.25 cimens $1.00. Apache Tears, 5 for $1.00, Angeles 42, California. brings you 1 lb. Ask for list of many $1.00, $2.00. Obsidian Nodules $1.00. fine specimens and cutting materials. Jack postpaid. Sally Ellison, P. O. Box 846, URUGUAY AMETHYST geode sections The Rock Hound, P. O. Box 245, Car- Clifton, Arizona. for collections, $3.50 to $5.00 postpaid. bondale, Colo. Rudolf Opavsky, Casilla 1219, Montevi- FIFTY MINERAL Specimens, %-in. or deo, Uruguay. COBALT SPECIMENS: One inch plus, over, boxed, identified, described, mounted. $1.00 plus 25c postage. Included with Postpaid $4.00. Old Prospector, Box 729, MINERAL SPECIMENS and cutting ma- each specimen will be one specimen of Lodi, California. terials, specimen boxes—24 %-inch Black beautiful cobalt bloom, very rare. Daniel Hills minerals identified, Black Hills G. Wyatt, Box 516, Cobalt, Idaho. gold jewelry. Send for complete list and PEANUT PITCHSTONE (Alamasite) — prices. The Rock House, Mac-Mich Mexico's oddest semi-precious stone, for Minerals Co., Custer, South Dakota. GEMS FROM the Desert and Mountains: polishing or collecting, 3-lb. chunk $5 Agates of plume, moss scenics and vugs. postpaid. Or, Rockhound special, 1-lb. Petrified woods of palm and rootmasses, fragments $1. Also Flor de Amapa (pink YES THERE IS a Rockhound in the city juniper, mahogany, fig, oak and Osage crystallized epidote) rare. Same prices. of Porterville, California. At 1120 Third orange, top grade $1.75 per lb. or 10 Alberto E. Maas, Alamos, Sonora, Mex- Street. lbs. for $15.00. Travertine, silver onyx. ico. Send checks only. Death Valley onyx, howelite and ob- GENUINE TURQUOISE: Natural color, sidian. Beautiful material for bookends, blue and bluish green, cut and polished ash trays and spheres for 50c per lb. MINERAL SPECIMENS and cutting ma- cabochons—25 carats (5 to 10 stones Quartz crystals and black tourmaline terial of all kinds. Gold and Silver jew- according to size) $3.50 including tax, specimens from 10c to $10.00. Or will elery made to order. Your stones or ours. postpaid in U.S.A. Package 50 carats swap rocks with you "no junk." A. Hugh 5 lbs. good cutting material $4.00 or (10 to 20 cabochons) $6.15 including Dial, 7417 Jamieson Ave., Reseda, Calif. $1.00 per lb. J. L. James, Battle Moun- tax, postpaid in U.S.A. Elliott Gem & tain, Nevada. Mineral Shop, 235 E. Seaside Blvd., Long FOR SALE: Staurolite matrix with incom- Beach 2, California. plete crosses. Fossil plant stem, both for CABOCHONS: genuine imported Agates, 50c postpaid. Aug. Gathmann, 1680 Hy- Carnelians, Rose Quartz, Lapis Lazuli, TONOPAH, Nevada, is where C. C. Boak acinth Ave., St. Paul, Minn. Tiger Eye, etc., beautifully cut and pol- lives, with his outstanding, scientific, ished. Oval stones in sizes from 10 mm. world-wide collection of Mineral, Gem URANIUM ORE—Guaranteed radio-active. to 16 mm. 25c each. Minimum order and Semi-Gemstone species—spectacular Two sizes, 50c or 25c, postpaid. A-Ore, $1.00. Pacific Gem Cutters, 424 So. crystal groups, etc. Visitors welcome. C. Box 1266, Prescott, Arizona. Broadway, Los Angeles, California. C. Boak, 511 Ellis St., Tonopah, Nevada.

36 DESERT MAGAZINE A silent auction was held in January by Colorado Mineral Society. After bidding, Hew St

APRIL, 1 953 37 Color pictures, restored and tinted from Diatoms starred in the sound-and-color AMONG THE old historical photographs by Henry Bus- motion picture presented by Tom Ludlow sian, took members of Marquette Geolo- of Johns-Manville Company for the Earth gists Association to the World's Colom- Science Club of Northern Illinois. The film ROCK HUNTERS bian Exposition of 1892-93. Slides showed was about diatomaceous silica, or diatomite, the exposition's various exhibit buildings which is a 5,000,000-year-old material com- and many lagoons and gardens as well as posed of the fossil silica skeletons of dia- Perfect weather made a field trip to the the famous electric fountains. The geolo- toms, tiny aquatic animals. old Vulture mine in Arizona more enjoyable gists also saw pictures of the fair's "moving • • • for members of the Mineralogical Society sidewalk" and the Midway Plaisance, which of Arizona. The Vulture's custodian, Claude San Antonio Rock and Lapidary Society housed the amusement area of the exposi- packed picnic lunches and traveled to a Craker, operated a large dry-washer for the tion, including a ferris wheel capable of group; and Ben Humphreys, who with wooded site near Calliham, Texas, to search carrying 2160 passengers, two hundred for petrified wood, palm and agate. Charles Vanhook planned the trip, demon- sixty-four feet high. The round trip took strated dry panning. A tour of the mine 20 minutes. After the exposition pictures, • • • followed. Afterwards, members searched Bussian showed fluorescent slides. "Hidden Treasures," a film produced by for lead minerals at a prospect 12 miles the Moody Institute of Science, was shown southeast of the mine. • • • members of Hollywood Lapidary Society • • • "A Stained Glass Craftsman Looks at at a recent evening meeting. The movie the Twentieth Century" was the topic Hor- reveals the beauty of miniatures in Nature Mrs. K. E. McAfee of Norman, Okla- ace T. Judson chose for a talk before as seen under a microscope. homa, discussed Indian jewelry at a meet- Southwest Mineralogists, Los Angeles, Cali- ing of the Oklahoma Mineral and Gem • • • fornia. Judson is a nationally recognized Members entertained themselves at the Society. She exhibited her private collection authority on church symbolism, design, of turquoise stones and silver jewelry. February meeting of Nebraska Mineral and color and architecture, and is head of Gem Club, Omaha. They brought "brag- • • • Judson Studios, designers and craftsmen in ging" pieces and trading material, and a San Fernando Valley Mineral and Gem stained glass, mosaics, wood and precious few spoke on choice specimen finds. Society, North Hollywood, California, has metals. • • • a large Mineralight which it rents to mem- • • • bers for a small fee. Several smaller min- San Diego Lapidary Society's first field Gem Mountain, near Rosamond, Califor- trip of 1953 was to Coon Hollow in South- eralights are available to members without nia, was scheduled for the February field cost. ern California. Members searched the area trip of Pasadena Lapidary Society. Jasper, for fire agate. petrified wood and agate are found in the area. • • • Seventh birthday of Chicago Rocks and • • • Minerals Society was celebrated on St. Val- Ray O. Lynn's banquet committee planned entine's Day at a meeting held in the Green a party for February 28, to celebrate the Briar Park Field House in Chicago. Mrs. 17th birthday of Sacramento Mineral So- Gertrude Lewis spoke on "Indian Jewelry ciety, Sacramento, California. Members of of the Southwest." Guest of honor was neighboring gem and mineral societies were the society's first president, George C. invited. Anderson. • • • • • • ALLEN Little known areas of Utah's Wayne Questions about gems and minerals were Wonderland were described by word and featured in a "turning down" contest con- JUNIOR GEM CUTTER colored slides at a meeting of the Minera- ducted as entertainment at a recent meet- logical Society of Southern California, Pasa- ing of El Paso Mineral and Gem Society, A Complete Lapidary Shop dena. Speaker was Worthen Jackson of Only $43.50 El Paso, Texas. Geologist A. B. McAntire Fremont, Utah. Pictures showed scenes in was referee. • Ideal for apartment house dwellers. Capital Reef National Monument, Cathe- a • • • Polish rocks into beautiful gems. dral Valley and Goblin Valley. Two open house tours were planned by • Anyone can learn. Minnesota Mineral Club, inviting members • Instructions included. to visit the lapidary workshops and view Write for Catalog, 25c NEW!-SensationalI GEIGER COUNTER the collections of others. February 15, hosts and hostesses were the Ken Johnsons, Charles ALLEN LAPIDARY EQUIPMENT "The SNOOPER" and Carrie Heller, Bill, Julia and Jean COMPANY — Dept. D LOW PRICI: CAJIOC Bingham and the Ray Lullings, all of St. 3632 W. Slauson Ave., Los Angeles 43. Cal. Paul, Minnesota. Invitations for February Phone Axminster 2-6206 COMPLETE 21 were postmarked Minneapolis and were Find a fortune in uranium with thii issued by Mr. and Mrs. Charles Smart, new, super-sensitive Geiger Counter. Get one for atom bomb defense. So small it fits in the palm of Lawrence and Martha Jensen, Jean and the hand or in the hip pocket, and yet more sensitive than many Bill Dahlberg and Halvor and Nathan PAKCHO THE ROCKHOUND large, expensive instruments. Weighs only 1 y$ lbs. Uses flash- light battery. Low price includes earphone, radio active sample, Stuvetro. says, "Write for our list of instructions. Sold with ironclad moneyback guarantee. • • • Gems, Minerals, and Cutting Materials. Also books on lapi- ORDER YOURS TODAY—Send $5.00 with order When he learned of Mrs. Jo Unsell's in- dary and equipment." or payment in full to save C.O.D. Write for terest and ability in solving invisible writing, free catalog on larger, more elaborate Geiger secret codes and cryptograms, Editor H. L. LAS PALMAS ANTIQUE SHOP Counters, metal locaters and our Sclntillator Counter. Zollars of the Voice of the El Paso Rock- 818 Ft. Stockton Dr. hounds decided to test her skill. He sent San Diego 3, California DEALER INQUIRIES PRECISION RADIATION INSTRUMENTS her a blank piece of paper with an attached INVITED 2235D S. LA BREA, LOS ANGELES 16, CAL. note: "Try to find the message." She was to phone him as soon as she solved the puzzle. Weeks passed. Finally Mrs. Unsell called to admit defeat. She had tried warm- ing the paper, soaking it in lemon juice and vinegar—in fact, all the formulas she knew for bringing out invisible ink. Editor Zol- lars suggested she try her Mineralight. He BEFORE YOU BUY had written the message with a fluorescent SEND FOR OUR BIGFREE CATALOG crayon, invisible until exposed to ultra- violet light. The world-famous HILLOUIST LINE of lapidary equipment • • • Intricate crystal patterns of snowflakes LAPIDARY EQUIP. CO. 1545 w. 49 ST., SEATTLE 7, WASH and the beauty of hoarfrost were brought to members of East Bay Mineral Society, Oakland, California, in a color and sound movie on crystallization. Artificial growth of crystals under a microscope, comparison between mineral and organic matter, forma- tion of skeleton crystals and many other interesting crystal facts were illustrated. 38 DESERT MAGAZINE Three members told of rockhunting trips JADE WINDOW DEDICATED "Specimen or a quarter" is the rule for at a recent meeting of Humboldt Gem and IN NORTH SHORE CHURCH the monthly rock exchange table of Coa- Mineral Society, Eureka, California. Ed chella Valley Mineral Society, Indio, Cali- One of the most impressive examples of fornia. The treasury is boosted 25 cents by Hutchison and George Morgan told of their the lapidary's art was unveiled when the trip to Monterey for jade; A. M. Porter jade window in North Shore Baptist Church, each forgetful member. gave highlights of a field trip to Albany, Chicago, was dedicated in September. The • • • Oregon, and Ogden Scoville described min- window is the culmination of Collector J. New editor of San Diego Lapidary So- eral collecting in Mexico. L. Kraft's many years of finding and fash- ciety's monthly bulletin, Shop Notes and • • • ioning American jade. News, is Fairy V. "Tex" Oliver, who as- Members of Orange Belt Mineralogical Twenty colors of jade share the 288 sumes editorial duties of Ed Soukup, editor Society were shocked to learn of the death panels. Each slab of flawless material was for the past three years. of their president, Izaac V. Graham, and ground and polished to a thickness of 3 • • • his wife, Alma, of San Bernardino in an millimeters, then put together like stained Southwest Mineralogists members now automobile accident on Highway 99 January glass into a framework 3'/2 feet wide and have an advisory panel to which they can 9. The Grahams were on their way to the 6'/2 feet high. take their mineral and lapidary problems. geode beds near Desert Center, California, From Arizona came the white of the A. C. Gustafson will assist the faceter, when the accident occurred seven miles central cross; from California, mottled ma- Louis Sears will advise on difficult grind- west of Indio. At a special election, George terial and a rusty red jade used in the ing jobs, and Arthur Rich will identify Tyler was chosen to fill the vacancy left by letters within the cross; from Wyoming puzzling mineral and gem specimens. the death of Graham. Mary Lue Tyler and Alaska, various shades of green. assumed the office of her husband, former Most of the work was done by Mr. and treasurer. Mrs. E. A. Williams of Elkhart, Indiana. • • • When Williams became ill last spring. John HELLO FOLKS During winter, storms lash the Oregon Grieger of Pasadena, California, carried on We are just opening a Shop. Will have coast, shifting beach pebbles and sand and Carnelian, Moss Agate, some Plume, Chal- the work, which took two years to complete. cedony and just plain agate of different uncovering agates which lie under sand • • • colors. A smart bit of Jasper very beauti- most of the year. Tacoma Agate Club field A "swap and shop" night was the first fully colored. Also nice specimens of Marine trip scouts calculated tides would be low Fossils from West Texas. Let us know your event on Colorado Mineral Society's 1953 needs. You must be satisfied or your money enough for collecting over the Washington's calendar. Trading material was displayed back on return of Rocks. birthday holiday, and the club planned an and a silent auction held. overnight trip that week-end. Milt Barrick • • • Minney's Agate and Hobby Shop is field trip chairman. Thin slices of stone to be used for trans- • • • parencies or iris are usually too fragile to 5644 Kast I'ima Ave., Tucson, Ariz. In a new contest sponsored by Compton stand polishing without dopping, yet some Gem and Mineral Club, Compton, Califor- of them will not stand the heat of" dopping nia, members are asked to submit designs cement. "Try using two-sided tape," sug- for the cover of the club bulletin, Rock- gests Ray Lilling, editor of "The Lapidary hounds Call. Special covers for holidays, Corner" in Minnesota Mineral Club's Rock IADE seasons, special months, are invited. Prizes Rustler's News. The tape has adhesive on Apple Green Color. Top Jade from Alaska's famous Jade Mt. Very fine condition. will be donation award tickets, redeemable both sides, he explains. "Cut a piece of V-i lb. $6.00 at any club meeting. Grand prize will go flat board a little larger than the stone slab Slabs, per square inch 1.00 to the best cover of all; other winners will to be polished; then lay strips of the tape Polished cabochons, 18x13 Cash. ea. . 2.00 be used throughout the year. on the board and press the slab down flat. BURNITE • • • This arrangement will stand up under heavy Beautiful Azurite, Malachite & Cuprite, Nev grinding and sanding. The finished piece V-> lb $3.00 "Arizona: Its Scenic Wonders and Min- Slabs, per square inch .50 eral Resources" was the title of a film pro- can be removed by warming or by soaking Polished cabochons, 18x25 oval, ea. 2.50 jected for Santa Barbara Mineralogical it in gasoline or lacquer thinner." SLABS & CHUNKS Society at a meeting in the Santa Barbara SLABS—Assortment of color and variety. Museum of Natural History, Santa Bar- ALTA INDUSTRIES 40 to 60 sq. inches $2.00 Mailing Address: Chunk Material—Assorted. 8 lbs. for.... 2.00 bara, California. Box 19, Laveen Stage, Phoenix, Arizona Obsidian, double flow, brn. & blk., lb... .65 • • • Location—7006 So. 19th Avenue Hemctite—England, Fine quality, lb 2.00 A two-day trip to the Toltec and Hima- LAPIDARY EQUIPMENT Fire Opal specimens—Mexico, ea. .25 laya turquoise mines near Baker, California, Lapidary Equipment Manufacture it Design POLISHED CABS & was planned as the February field excur- 16-18 inch Power Feed Slabbing Saw sion of Searles Lake Gem and Mineral Belt Sanders & Trim Saws FACETED GEMS (Send Postal for free literature) (> dif. cabochons, from 12x10 mm. op..$3.00 Society. The mines were first worked by I dif. genuine tourmaline faceted gems aboriginal Indians; they were rediscovered Average size 5 mm _ 3.00 19 mm. genuine amethyst hearts, facd. in 1867. The area abounds in Indian arti- front and back. Drilled for studs 3.00 facts, and many ancient petroglyphs are to Agate Jewelry 13 nun. cabochoned blue or green chal- be found. cedony hearts, drilled for device 1.05 10x8 oct. syn. spinels, faceted, ea 1.00 • • • Wholesale (Peridot, Blue Zircon, & Aquamarine) Santa Fe Gem and Mineral Society in- Rings — Pendants — Tie Chains stalled a display cabinet at the Chamber TURQUOISE NUGGETS Brooches — Ear Rings Drilled and Polished — ready for jewelry. of Commerce rooms in Santa Fe, New Bracelets — Matched Setu 12 mm. (average size), ea 40 Mexico, to exhibit members' collections for — Send stamp for price list No. 1 — 15 mm. (average size), ea. .60 the pleasure of tourists who visit the build- 18 mm. (average size), ea. .80 ing. ROUGH FACETING MATERIAL • • • Blank Mountings l'i-lb. Sunstone (chatoyant tones) $3.00 On their way home from Blue Bird Hill, Rings — Ear Wires — Tie Chains Vi-lb. Garnet (deep rich color) av. size each 2\b grams 4.00 California, where they collected limonite Cuff Links — Neck Chains li-lb. Peridot (Fair siz.es) 4.00 pseudomorphs of pyriteohedrons, kyanite Bezel — devices — Shanks V:i-lb. Apatite (rich golden color) 2.50 and garnets, members of Coachella Valley Solder — Findings ^-lb. Precious Topaz (cuts brilliant stones) 2.00 Mineral Society stopped at Coon Hollow — Send stamp for price list No. 2 — li-lb. Kunzite (various shades) 3.00 and picked up specimens of chalcedony. Vi-lb. Amethyst (dark color) 4.00 Vi-lb. Smoky Qtz. (golden brown) facet 1.00 • e • O. R. JUNKINS & SON (Satisfaction Guaranteed or money refunded) Harold Larson demonstrated silversmith- 440 N.W. Beach St. DEALERS—write on letterhead for prices ing at a recent meeting of Wasatch Gem NEWPORT. OREGON Please add postage to all orders, 20% Fed. Tax to slabs, rough facet material and cut Society, Salt Lake City, Utah. • stones. 3% California Sales Tax. • • • STORK HOURS R. D. Bradley, who has been associated FIRE OP At. - MEXICO lion, Tues., Thurs., Fri.—9:00 to 5:00 with the Lapidary Equipment Company of Wed.—9 to 9 • Sat. & Sun.—Closed Seattle, Washington, since the business was Fine minerals, Aztec agate ami other founded, announces he has purchased the CHOICE cutting materials;. stock of Karl J. Hillquist, former president REQUEST FREE PRICE LIST Coast Gems and Minerals of the company. Hillquist has retired from RALPH E. MUELLER & SON active business in the lapidary field. Bradley llfifift Ferris Road El Monte, Calif. is the firm's new president. 1000 E. Camclback Phoenix, Arizona

APRIL, 1953 39 By LELANDE QUICK, Editor of The Lapidary Journal

It seems that every one in the country is to the next 12 inches of the cloth and the having trouble with wet sanding all at the second sheet of paper and also on top of same time for we have received calls for the first quarter inch of the first sheet. help every day for the last five days. We After allowing this to get tacky, press the wonder at the extreme naivete of some of strip down, overlapping the first. Proceed the correspondents. One of them, for ex- with the third sheet in like manner and so ample, writes that he spent $58 for a wet on. When you have the strips done hang sander and when it arrived it was dry. He them on the clothesline with spring clothes wrote the manufacturer and was told that pins to dry. he was supposed to supply the wetting When all the strips are dry take a steel equipment and to keep the cloth wet him- straight edge and a sharp knife, rule off self. He then wet the cloth and complains strips to desired width and cut. Similarly, that it only stayed wet ten minutes. Well make other pieces of one sheet of paper, —he's making progress. backed by a larger piece of cloth, for hol- Of course wet sanders do not arrive wet. low head sanders. Allow all strips to dry The purchaser has to supply some form of thoroughly so they will not stick to the H1LLQUIST nozzle or spray arrangement to keep his surface of the next strip. sander wet. In that regard Necessity be- In applying the strips to your drum COMPARE! comes Edison's Grandmother and it takes sander, be sure that the over-lap runs with # Put the Hillquist Gemmoster beside any lapidary little ingenuity to devise a method of apply- you and not against the work. Fill the machine — cheaper, flimsy "gadgets" or units that ing a fine spray to the sanding cloth. The tray with about a half inch of water and sell at twice the price. Compare construction! Com- dip water from the tray to the belt sander pare ease of operation! Compare how much you old timers will remember how the old time get for your money and you'll say, "I'll take the Chinaman would iron shirts—after blowing with a small paint brush at the necessary Gem master!" a fine spray on the shirt from a can of intervals. As you sand, a tell-tale streak of gray warns you to shift to another area Here is a worthy companion for our larger and water. This method was outlawed because more expensive Hillquist Compact Lapidary Unit. the Chinaman too often had germs that of the belt or to swipe again with the brush. Tho smaller in size, the Hillquist Gem master has went along with the spray. Today the This necessity for intermittent re-wetting many of the same features. It's all-metal with spun easiest solution is the salvage of one of those tends to prevent over-ambitious pressure aluminum tub. You get a rugged, double-action rock plastic containers of the squeeze type vari- with consequent generation of heat that clamp, not a puny little pebble pincher. You get a ety, or the purchase of a small syringe in spoils so many gems. full 3" babbitt sleeve bearing and ball thrust bear- ing. You get a big 7" Super Speed diamond saw a drug store, such as an ear syringe etc. In We are indebted to Hugh Leiper of Aus- and all the equipment you need to go right to work. a pinch just borrow the boy's water pistol. tin, Texas, for these suggestions. Mr. Leiper You can take it from there. suggests that paper and not cloth be used. USES ALL ACCESSORIES Questions come in about the kind of glue Wet sanding paper is for sale in all size You can use all the regular Hillquist accessories grits at all auto supply stores. with the Gemmaster: The Hillquist Facetor, Sphere to use that will be waterproof. Any hard- Cutters, Laps, Drum and Disc Sanders, etc. ware store worthy of being in business has The merits of wet sanding have been discussed in this column on several occa- WRITE FOR FREE CATALOG the answer to that question. One good suggestion is to visit an auto parts store sions. Those who have tried it are certain they will never return to dry sanding for TcOMPLEn"REAdyjo"sB! "yOUGET AU THIS- and secure a can of gray trim cement, the kind with which rubber gasket is applied in the results are too good. The freedom from auto body work. If you wish to make heating, with the resulting ugly white spots your own wet sanders you can do so for that show up on delicate material is just the expenditure of less than two dollars. one good reason. The superior polish at- tainable is the best reason. After picking up the can of trim cement, visit a dry goods store and get a couple of Another correspondent writes "if you BIG 7" Diamond Saw • 6" x 1" Grinding can't tell me how to keep the sander wet Wheel • 6" Felt Buff • 6" Backing Wheel yards of unbleached muslin, fairly light 6" Disc Sander • Double-action Rock in weight. Stop by the lumber yard and then tell me where I can buy a blower to Clamp . Oil Feed Cup • Water Feed have them saw out a piece of plywood keep the dust away from my nose." If you Hose X Clamp • Dop Sticks & Dop Wax* are near a large community where they Polish, Compound, Etc. about 15 inches by 48 inches in size. With ordinary tacks fasten a 14-inch wide strip have a vacuum cleaner repair shop just pay BUILT FOR LONG SERVICE! of the muslin (torn lengthwise from the them a visit and do a little bargaining for No other low-cost lap unit piece you bought) to the board. Tack it the blower from an old vacuum cleaner. gives you full 3" sleeve This can be rigged so that the dust can be bearing, ball thrust bearing first across the short end and then the op- and pressure lubrication. posite end but do not stretch the material. carried out the window nearest to your If you do, the sanding belts will stretch lapidary bench. and wrinkle later. Then tack the sides If you do not wish to make your own P, without stretching. wet sanding paper you can buy Behr-Man- Apply the viscous rubber cement to the ning Speedwet paper—also at auto supply cloth first with a small paint brush. Cover stores. Then visit a laboratory supply house an area the size of one sheet of the paper and get two laboratory pint size beakers with some glass tubing. Have two tubes JASPER JUNCTION LAPIDARY at a time (9"xl2"). Then paint the back of the paper thinly with the cement. Al- come from near the bottom of the beaker 4!>09tt Eagle Rock Blvd. — CL. 6-2021 low both to dry to the tacky stage and through a large cork. One of these should Los Angeles 41, California apply the sheet, being sure the cement ex- be bent in a gas flame. Have about four teaspoons of grit in the bottom of the jar. WORK SHOP tends to the edges. Press down or roll out with a small soft roller. Apply the cement When the paper is new merely blow through 1112 Xeola St. — CL. 6-7197 one tube and the water comes out the other. Los Angeles 41, California Just like the old Chinaman wetting your WE SPECIALIZE IN CUTTING BOOKENDS APACHE TEARS shirt before ironing it. As the paper wears Custom sawing and polishing—24" saw you agitate the beaker before blowing and Slabs, bulk stone, Mineral Specimens GEM QUALITY, translucent Smoky then blow water and new grit to the polish- Polished Specimens & Cabochons Topaz. Matched pair usable size, Machinery & Supplies 50c postpaid. Copy of local legend ing surface. We rent polishing machinery by the hour included. Satisfaction guaranteed. We would be happy to receive any new INSTRUCTION AT NO EXTRA COST LOST MOUNTAIN GEMS suggestions on the wet sanding procedure Call CL. 6-7197 for Appointment Box 5012, Phoenix, Arizona and any ideas that will take the pain out of lapidary work. 40 DESERT MAGAZINE Salt Lake City, Utah . . . Silver King Coalition Mines and Park-Utah Consolidated Mines Com- pany have announced plans to merge. James Ivers, president of Silver King Coalition, and Lawrence Fox, presi- dent of Park-Utah, said each board has tentatively agreed consolidation would be achieved by forming a new Albuquerque, New Mexico . . . Moab, Utah . . . corporation, capitalized at 6,000,000 A uranium permit covering 7000 Uncle Sam is grubstaking 326 pros- shares of $1 par value stock. Present acres of the Zuni Indian reservation pectors in an $18,927,000 search for Silver King stockholders would receive has been granted to Walter Graves of minerals needed for defense. The De- 1.25 shares of stock in the new com- Aztec. Under it, Graves has the right fense Minerals Exploration Adminis- pany for each share of Silver-King to conduct exploration and testing and tration has signed contracts promising held; Park-Utah stockholders would is given an option to take a lease if to put up $11,316,500 of the money receive 1.1 shares per share held. uranium is found. Similar permits needed in the nationwide quest for Properties of both companies are in have been issued on other Indian res- scarce minerals. The government's the Park City mine district of Utah. ervations, but this is the first author- share, determined by the urgency of They produce lead, zinc, copper, gold ized on Zuni lands. Grant's permit the need for the metal, is from 50 to covers the northeast corner of the 90 percent of the total cost of the and silver.—Mining Record. reservation, about 30 miles south of work. Most of the prospecting is be- • • • Gallup.—New Mexican. ing done in the Rocky Mountain area, Globe, Arizona . . . • • • where 208 companies are participating Extensive zinc explorations are un- Ely, Nevada . . . in a $13,713,000 search for strategic derway by the Globe-Miami Copper In spite of underground water ore.—Moab Times-Independent. Zinc Corporation at the old Comstock troubles, Kennecott Copper Corpora- • • • Mine properties north of Globe. Work tion is holding to its mid-1954 dead- Blanding. Utah . . . now in progress consists of deepening line for completion of the Deep Ruth Thirty-eight one-year permits for the old Irene shaft to 800 feet and Project in White Pine County, Nevada. exploration for uranium ores in Capi- construction of drifts to the new ore J. C. Kinnear, Jr., general manager of tol Reef National Monument were body previously located by drilling Kennecott's Nevada Mines Division, granted by the Atomic Energy Com- operations. The exploration and de- announced that the goal for finishing mission in February. Prospecting un- velopment work, due for completion the $14,000,000 project still is July, der these permits is authori2;ed any- this year, involves an expenditure of 1954. Most of the needed surface in- where in the monument area excepting $63,750, of which $31,875 is being stallations were completed in 1952. certain tracts held by the State of Utah supplied by the government's Defense When development is completed, the and by Wayne County and the 80- Minerals Exploration Administration. Deep Ruth will mine a 25,000,000-ton acre Oyler Tunnel tract. The monu- The Comstock properties, which ore body by block caving methods.— ment was opened to uranium prospect- Globe-Miami acquired last year, con- Pioche Record. ing under a joint agreement between sist of patented and unpatented mineral the AEC and the National Park Serv- locations in four sections of land north- Hite. Utah . ice.—Dove Creek Press. west of Copper Hill in the Globe min- ing district.—Arizona Republic. Negotiations are continuing with • • • Vanadium Corporation of America for Benson, Arizona . . . • • • establishment of a uranium mill near Coronado Copper and Zinc Com- Eureka, Nevada . . . Hite. Sheldon P. Wimpfen, head of pany, which closed its old Republic Encouraged by a $750,000 govern- the Grand Junction, Colorado, office shaft several months ago at its Johnson ment loan, Eureka Corporation has of the Atomic Energy Commission, Camp properties 30 miles northeast launched a $3,000,000 program at its said he had hopes construction of the of Benson, is now operating from a Richmond-Eureka mine on Ruby Hill. mill might be started this year. Vana- new shaft with drifts at the 500-, 600-, The 2350-foot, four-compartment Fad dium Corporation and the AEC have and 700-foot levels. Fred 12. Gray, shaft has been repaired to the water not yet reached agreement on what superintendent, reports 25 to 28 cars level, and core drilling has been in the government should pay for the of copper and zinc concentrates are progress for several months, with the uranium salts or oxides produced by being shipped monthly, with a total object of locating ore deposits on or the mill. Both agree there is sufficient average output of 1,750 tons.—Ari- above the 1700-foot level. Ore bodies copper-uranium ore in the area to zona Republic. disclosed several years ago by diamond merit construction of the processing Vernal, Utah . . . drilling contain lead-zinc-gold-silver facility.—Salt Lake Tribune. A process to extract oil from two ore. A sudden flow of water early in • • • billion barrels of native rock asphal- 1949 flooded the long cross cut ad- Miami, Arizona . . . tum west of Vernal has been perfected vancing toward the main ore bodies. An agreement to produce 230,000,- by a Pacific Coast firm. Barnes En- Dewatering operations are underway. 000 pounds of copper from low-grade gineering Company of Los Angeles, —Humboldt Star. Arizona ore has been signed by the which controls all the claims covering • • • government with the Miami Copper the main deposits in the bitumen re- Grants, New Mexico . . . Company. The copper is to be pro- serve, announced its process makes U. S. Gypsum Corporation, which duced from an undeveloped ore body possible profitable exploitation of the recently bought large holdings of per- extending out from an underground oil-bearing material. Pilot plant ex- lite deposits in the Mt. Taylor area, deposit of higher grade ore in the perimentation indicates as much as has purchased the Pumice Corporation Globe-Miami mining district. The one barrel of oil might be obtained for of America. The latter's pumice works company has been working the deposit every cubic yard of sand processed.— at Grants will be adapted to perlite since 1906.—Arizona Republic. Vernal Express. operations.—Grants Beacon.

APRIL, 1953 41 between If on and Ate

By RANDALL HENDERSON

T WAS with regret that I learned this week that my —or even locations for highway service stations. By doing former neighbors in Calexico, California, had de- $ 100 worth of assessment work annually they can hold cided not to hold their annual historical pageant, these claims tax-free indefinitely. Since the burden of The Desert Cavalcade, this season. proof that the land does not contain sufficient minerals With the exception of the war years, the Cavalcade for profitable mining is the obligation of the U. S. Forestry has been presented in the border town each spring since Service, very few claims are contested. 1940—and in my opinion it has been one of the finest Honest mining men are no less indignant over the community cultural achievements in California, ranking filing of phoney mining claims than are conservation- with the Ramona Pageant at Hemet. minded Americans who want to see the beauty of the Although most of the work involved in staging this natural landscape given all possible protection. annual pageant has been given freely and without payroll There are today over 335 million acres of publicly cost by the people of Calexico and Mexicali, the purchase owned land in the United States. About half of it is of costumes and properties has been a heavy financial under the jurisdiction of the U. S. Forest Service. It is drain and the pageant never has been profitable. the policy of the forestry department to permit the cutting There was a deficit last year, and this season those of timber on a sustained yield basis, to protect watersheds who normally underwrite the pageant were reluctant to and to provide the opportunity for all Americans to enjoy do so—and so there will be no Desert Cavalcade this these public lands for camping and hunting and fishing. April. I sincerely hope that before another year the nec- But when a phoney mining claim is filed, the forestry essary funds will be forthcoming for a resumption of the service virtually loses control of the land—and in the Cavalcade program. It was a beautiful pageant, staged end you and I are the ones who lose. in a magnificent manner—the kind of drama that brings * * * tears of pride to your eyes—pride in the courage and Two of the most avid rockhounds within my acquain- vision and faith of those who pioneered this desert tance are Arthur and Louise Eaton of Holtville, Califor- country, and pride in the generous contribution of those nia. In former years when Desert Magazine was published good Calexico and Mexicali people who worked day and at El Centro, the Eatons were regular contributors to these night for weeks with no thought of remunerations to pre- pages. Louise once wrote something that I think is worth sent this historical pageant. repeating: * * * "I've been polishing stones today. And I cannot but I hope that before too long the new administration in think how like people are these gems. Some of them Washington will get around to the task of bringing our appear so rough and colorless one would pass them by antiquated mining laws up to date. without a second glance—but underneath the uninviting Much of the federal mining code on the books today surface there is rare hidden beauty. There are other was written in 1872. In recent years, selfish interests have stones that appear so fair without—and yet no amount found loopholes which are threatening to rob you and me of cutting and polishing will disclose any real worth. as American citizens of some of the best land in our public "And then there are still other stones that you know domain. at once will make perfect jewels. They radiate the beauty Mining claims, lode and placer, average about 20 that is within them. They resemble humans in whose acres each, and the filing of a mineral claim entitles the hearts are love and courage. They are of ineffable worth holder to the surface values—timber, water and grass— —life buffs them to a scintillating lustre. If the stones of as well as the underground minerals. our desert were to become incarnate, there would be the Since sand, gravel, pumice and cinders are classed as same variations in character that we now have in the minerals, it is easy for an unscrupulous person to go into human family—and some of them would be just like you a U. S. National Forest and make a mineral "discovery" and me." which under a liberal interpretation of mining law will * * * justify the filing of a claim on 20 acres with a $20,000 By the time this issue of Desert is on the press, early stand of fine timber, even though the land may never yield in March, Cyria and I will be rolling on Highway 80 a dollar's worth of milling ore. toward the Big Bend National Park in Texas. One of the Under the guise of mining claims or mining millsites, newest of the national parks, the Big Bend country is many thousands of such claims are being filed every year said to be one of the most delightful desert areas in the by persons who have no thought of mining them. They United States. I am planning to write for Desert Magazine are seeking valuable timber, or water rights, or homesites readers a report on what I find in the Big Bend.

42 DESERT MAGAZINE HOW TO PLANT, CARE FOR YOUR SOUTHWEST GARDEN "Gardening back home was such an easy chore," remembers Rosalie Doolittle. "One slipped a seed into the ground, nature watered and fed it, and up popped the most beautiful flower imaginable." NEW INFORMATION ADDED explain the phenomenon of earth TO DEATH VALLEY BOOK movement; geysers are likened to the Then the Doolittles moved to New There is a saying of the Paiutes action of percolating coffee—and by Mexico, and Mrs. Doolittle found her that no man should go far in the des- numerous ink sketches. home gardening needs had changed. ert who cannot sleep in the shade of Published by William R. Scott, New The Southwest soil was different, irri- his arrows. Planted head down in the York. 181 pages, index. $3.00. gation was a problem, high winds burning sand, the feathered shafts af- • • • threatened unprotected plants, and al- forded just enough shadow to block Mesquite Tough on Cowboys . . . titude and climate demanded consid- the relentlessly staring sun from the Spread of the mesquite tree in the eration. Indian's weary eyes. Southwest is jeopardizing the economy Southwest Gardening tells how Mrs. The Paiutes knew how terrible could of the livestock industry, according to Doolittle solved her gardening prob- be the waterless sand wastes and the a U. S. Department of Agriculture lems and how she landscaped and ismiting heat of Death Valley; the publication. The 72-page booklet. planted the new Doolittle home in Jayhawkers had to learn — the hard The Mesquite Problem on Southern Albuquerque. Written in collabora- way. Arizona Ranges, states that the inva- tion with Harriet Tiedebohl, it includes Shadow of the Arrow is the story sion of the mesquite is reducing the information on landscaping, native of Death Valley and of these valiant grazing capacity of the range lands. plants, irrigation, pests and diseases, men and women who crossed it in Not only does the tree reduce grazing tools and time savers, shrubs, trees, 1849. Published in 1941, a second area, but its thorny branches cause flowers, fruit and vegetables. A series edition was issued recently, including additional wear and tear both to the of plot plans, a glossary of gardening much new information and an enlarged clothes and to the good temper of the terms and a planting calendar com- appendix. cowboys who have to round up stock prise a handy appendix. The author, Dr. Margaret Long, in mesquite covered terrain. Published by the University of New made frequent trips to the Death Val- Published by U. S. Printing Office, Mexico Press.' 204 pages. $4.50. ley region during the years 1921 to booklet is available from Superinten- • • • 1942. She is thoroughly familiar with dent of Documents, Washington, D.C., Rooks reviewed on this page are available at the nature of the country itself, has 25 cents. Desert Crafts Shop, Palm Desert personally retraced many of the immi- grant trails and has carefully studied the journals of the pioneers. Her book —at once travel sketch and history— brings Death Valley close to the reader not only as a picturesque country but for traveler, camper, as a region that has challenged the sportsman and explorer courage and resourcefulness of man MAPS for many a decade. Published by Caxton Printers, Cald- well, Idaho. 345 pages, index, bibli- LOWER CALIFORNIA ography, halftone illustrations. $5.00. Most complete map yet published of Baia California, contain- • • • ing hundreds cf original place names. 28x42 inches, in two BOOK WOULD DIRECT colors $1-00 FAMILY GEOLOGY STUDY Rocks, Rivers and the Changing Earth is a first book about geology, GHOST TOWNS of the old West planned and written by Herman and A beautiful four-color map of Arizona, California and Nevada Nina Schneider to help children learn on 18x24 inch parchment paper. Artistically pictorial with a to read in Nature itself the fascinating wealth of authentic early western history $1.00 story of the earth. The Schneiders have produced a valuable textbook—primarily for the The COLORADO RIVER Lake Mead to the Gulf elementary or junior high school pupil Set of 15 maps giving accurate detail of the Colorado River but also for the adult who has never from upper Lake Mead to the Gulf cf California. Campsites, formally studied earth science. It will lodgings, road conditions, boaiing facilities. Sportsman's Atlas provide many instructive hours for the of the Colorado River and Lake Mead. Handy book form, in family who would read aloud the text waterproof plastic bag. ..$1.50 and together do the simple experi- ments—then apply the geologic the- Postage prepaid California buyers add 3% tax ories to Nature itself on trips to desert, mountains or seashore. Explanations are always simple and completely logical. Understanding is aided further by examples drawn from PALM DESERT, CALIFORNIA everyday life—a toothpaste tube helps

APRIL, 1953 Purple motor oil keeps engines in top condition!

The purple color of Royal Triton motor oil is your assurance of complete lubricant protection HOW TO GET 100% PERFORMANCE FROM under all driving conditions. YOUR CAR! Take your car to your car dealer's for fruquent checkups (at least Royal Triton protects against acid and corro- every 2,000 miles) and use the finest motor sive action and keeps your engine cleaner than oil your money can buy— either regular or premium grade oils. In short, Royal Triton—454 per quart. heavy-duty Royal Triton does a far better job of Available at all Union lubricating—and protecting-today's high-com- Oil Minute Man stations and at leading car dealers' pression automotive engines. throughout the West and Western Canada. UNION OIL COMPANY OF CALIFORNIA