Palmer, one pair of meadow mice pro- Geronimo Controversy Spreads . duces an average of 17 litters a year, Hamburg, Germany each litter averaging six mice. Since Desert: the minimum breeding age for mice is 45 days, there is a possioiiity of more 1 had the most welcome opportunity than 1,000,000 descendants for that to receive a copy of your Desert Maga- one pair of mice at the end of one zine, the contents of which impressed Tables for Picnics Enroute . year! me greatly. Long Beach, California An Audubon leaflet reports that one On reading your articles, memories Desert: barn owl on the farm will kill more of my own happy past came to life, for On a 7300-mile motor trip across mice than a dozen cats. I too learned to love the great Ameri- the country and back last summer, we MRS. EDITH L. ST. CYR can Southwest during my wanderings passed through many slates. We were coo in Arizona, New Mexico and South- delighted to use the roadside tables Live and Let Live . ern California. This was many, many provided by the highway commissions Corvallis, Oregon years ago. Times have changed, and in nearly all of these states as well as Desert: much of the American desert country in Canada. "Birds of Prey—Do They Deserve may look different now than it did in "Table ahead" signs were posted a Extinction?" NO, absolutely NO! my time. But to me it will always re- mile before the picnic area was reached. God put every creature on this earth main the awe-inspiring country of The tables were in shady places along for a purpose. Is it man's province to mysterious beauty in which there are the highway; if not in natural shade, kill these beings—and destroy the bal- no limitations of time or space. they stood next to buildings or under ance? Already many animal species 1 was interested in the comments of constructed covering. Often there were are extinct for wholesale slaughter of Eleanor Hodgson concerning the an- barbecue facilities and wood for cook- their kind. cestry of the Apache Chief Geronimo. ing. A garbage can alv/ays stood handy I say live and let live. Both Miss Hodgson and Angelo Doxa for trash, and, surprisingly perhaps, ANNA C. BOSTWICK are wrong. Geronimo, or "Goyathlay" the garbage was "canned." The a • • (The Yawning One) had not a drop ground:; were neat and free of rubbish. Desert Field Trip Fans . of Greek blood in him. When one Used? Many times we had to pass Capistrano Beach, California takes the time to read Geronimo's auto- several tables before we found one Desert: biography, written at Fort Sill, Okla- vacant. We saw travelers having break- Occasionally—every third month or homa, he will know that Geronimo fast, lunch and supper, or just resting so—could you please clip away the was a full blooded Ncdni-Bedonkohe out in the open air. field trip stories and maps before send- Apache (Chiricahua) who was born Calilornia seems to be one of the ing Desert to my roommate? Each in 1829 in No-doyohn Canyon, Ari- states which as yet have not established month when your magazine arrives, zona. such roadside way places. Wouldn't she tears away the envelope and ten His father was Taklishin (The Grey it be grand if our own state would pro- minutes later is ready for a trip. vide such conveniences for the motor- One), chief of the Ncdni tribe, while The October number packed six of his mother, Juana, was a full blooded ing public? us off to Beatty, Nevada, where we MR. AND MRS. E. N. JONES Bedonkohc. Maco, his father-in-law, found our first geodes. While there was chief of this tribe. • a o we met a young rockhound. We told Barn Owl Worth 12 Cats . him our next stop was the volcanic The statements made by Miss Hodg- tear field written about in the Septem- son and Mr. Doxa caused some con- Red House, Nevada sternation among German ethnologists, Desert ber, 1950, Desert. He told us to stop at Slim Riggs' service station 36 miles and 1 had the rather unique experience I an very glad you printed Mr. to receive countless requests from all Bradt's article and pictures on birds of north of Beatty, where the road to Scotty's Castle begins and ask Slim over Germany demanding that I conic prey. ''Do they deserve extinction?" to the defense of Geronimo's real In- he asks. Certainly everyone seems bent about the tears. We did, and were di- rected to an area covered with them. dian ancestry! I did so, and my short on exterminating them — from the articles were well received. farmer who loses a chicken, to the We only gathered those the size of so-called sportsman who kills anything walnuts or larger. May 1 say again how much I enjoy just for the killing. Desert for May, 1950, added many the few copies of Desert which I re- For years I have defended these beautiful Wonderstone pebbles to our ceive. My heart is still in the American birds, pointing out their value in elim- collection. That same Desert told us Southwest, although I now am living inating pesky field mice, rattlesnakes of the "Farm House" where we had in a cold country where the beauties and the like. My words seem to avail a marvelous meal and a pleasant visit of Cholla, of the Purple Hedgehog, of little. As far as 1 can determine, the with Mrs. Hallie Jones. Next day Mrs. the Arizona Barrel, the Prickly Pear, schools fail to teach much of anything Jones took us to the canal bank, where the California Poppy and the Purple about wildlife or conservation; hence we found petrified wood. She also Sage are unknown. the great ignorance about these things. gave us some specimens of petrified May I mention that I am active in Perhaps some facts would interest bone from Frenchman's Flat, now off affairs concerning ethnological studies your readers. limits to rockhounds because of atom pertaining to the history and folklore E. Laurence Palmer of Cornell Uni- bomb testing. of the North American Indians? I am versity, wrote for the 1937 Rural Our hunting time almost spent, we founder and leader of the "Mato-ska School Leaflet in an article entitled hurried home—only to find the No- Society of Friends of the North Amc;:- "Are They Vermin": "A conservative vember Desert in the mail box! Now can Indians." As an honorary chief of estimate states that each hawk or owl my roommate is talking me into a the Ogalalas, I am in close contact with in the state of New York kills an aver- drive to Leadfield cave. At my age I some of my old Indian friends. Our age of 1000 mice a year, a saving of don't know how long I can keep this Society was named in honor of Chief at least 20 to 30 dollars to the farmer up—but please don't hold back any White Bear (Mato-ska) of the Ogalala whose property it selects for its home." of our Deserts! Sioux. According to data collected by Dr. BLANCHE BRADBURY DR. OSCAR C. PFAUS DESERT MAGAZINE DESERT CALENDAR December !il-January 1—Annual Peg- leg Smith Lost Gold Trek and Liars' Contest. Borrego Valley, California. January 1—New Year's Grand Sla- lom, Flagstaff, Arizona. January 1—Ceremonial dance at Taos Pueblo; Comanche dancers in Plaza of Rancho de Taos, New Mexico. January 1-31 — Special exhibit of paintings by the late Alfredo Ramos Martinez of Mexico. Southwest Museum Los Angeles, California. January 1-31—Annual winter exhibi- tions at Harwood Foundation, La Fonda da Taos and Blue Door Art Galleries. Taos, New Mexico. Volume 15 JANUARY, 1952 Number 1 January 2, 3—Twelfth Annual Palm Springs Rodeo, Polo Grounds, Palm Springs, California. January 2-5—Arizona National Live- COVER DESERT SUNSET, by Hubert A. Lowman, stock Show, Phoenix, Arizona. Covina, California January 6--Ceremonial dance follow- LETTERS Comment from Deseri's leaders; 2 ing inauguration of new governor at Taos Pueblo, New Mexico. CALENDAR January events on the desert 3 January 6--Don's Club Apache Trail PHOTOGRAPHY Pictures of the Month 4 Trek, from Phoenix, Arizona. January 6—Southern California chap- ARCHEOLOGY We Found the Lost Indian Cave of the San Martins ter of Sierra Club hike to Mt. By RICHARD VAN VALKENBURGH . 5 Harvard via Henninger Flats, Cali- fornia. WRITERS Prize awards in Desert Magazine's "Life on the January 6—King's Day and buffalo Desert" Contest or deer dance at Taos Pueblo, Taos, HISTORY Forgotten Mill of the Joshuas New Mexico. January 10, 24—Desert Sun Ranchers By EVALYN SLACK GIST Guest jolf tournament, Wicken- FIELD TRIP Fossil Leaves From an Ancient Nevada Forest burg Country Club, Wickenburg, 12 Arizona. By HAROLD O. WEIGHT January 12 — Southern California CONTEST Picture of the Month Announcement .... 17 chapter of Sierra Club moonlight HISTORY Forsaken 80 Years, Mission Still Lives hike to San Dimas Canyon, Cali- 18 fornia. By BEULA M. WADSWORTH January 12, 1?—Flagstaff Chamber INTEGRITY Code of Honor in Utah of Commerce Snow Carnival and 20 Fiesta, Flagstaff, Arizona. By HAROLD GLUCK January 12, 13—Southern California ADVENTURE Deep Sea Diver on the Desert chapter of Sierra Club hike to By M. G. MASTIN 21 Chino Canyon, California. January 11, 20—15th annual Border LOST MINE The Lost Shotgun Mine Golf Tournament (Open). Interna- By GUS WIRT 23 tional Golf Club, Calexico, Cali- DESERT QUIZ 24 fornia.