196109 desertmagazine 1961 september

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S e p t e m b e r 1961

4 0 C e n t s

M A G A Z I N E of the O U TD O O R SO U TH WEST

M*



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D E S E R T M A G A Z I N EPALM DESERT, CALIFORNIA

LETTERSFROM OUR READERS

Special Nevada Issue . . .

To the Editor: . . . my interest in Nevadahas always been sort of bland (being sucha devotee of the deep Southwest), but yourcoverage in the special July issue stimulatesa change of attitude for me and likely formany other s. This issue is in the "Collec-tors' Class."

DON BLOODGOODSan Francisco

To the Editor: . . . I hope you sell a millioncopies.

BYRD SAWYERSparks, Nev.

To the Editor: I want to congratulate you

on the Nevada issue. I was born in Aurorain 1878, and was one of the original locatorsof Rawhide. The 1908 photo of Rawhidethat appeared in Desert Magazine showsmonuments atop Hooligan Hill of the"Happy Day" and "Happy Hooligan" claimsthat I located in February, 1907.

CHARLES A. McLEODYerington, Nev.

To the Editor: I was happy to note thatauthor Nell Murbarger has made a mostwelcome re-appearance in your pages. Al-most everything that she says about theSilver State in her article, "My Nevada,"could be applied to the Southwest in general.She did a superb job.

LEE MYERSCarlsbad, New Mexico

To the Editor: After seeing your July issue,I know that 1962 calls for an extensive tourof the Silver State. I believe the issue per-fectly fascinating . . .

JOHN R. RAINWATERAlbuquerque

Unbalanced Nature . . .

To the Editor: Together with the manyother delightful stories in Desert Magazine,I do enjoy the articles on wildlife byEdmu nd Jaeger. But I wonde r if Dr. Jaeger

really believes "that nature achieves what,from the standpoint of man, could be calleda desirable balance"?

If the desirable creatures become exter-minated, while the undesirable multiply;what kind of a "balan ce" is that? In otherwords, when nature causes creatures to gob-ble each other, some species decrease whileothers become plentiful. I don't call thata "balance."

If fate left all the checks and balancesto nature, disease germs could win, andexterminate all the people; a "survival ofthe fittest," a victory for the disease germs.

The same if the insects win a victoryover the struggling plants and exterminate

them. Hurrah for the "fitness" of the bugs!Nature is chaos. The beautiful and what

is beneficial to man is just as much of anaccident as are the roaches and poisonoussnakes.

Evidently, man is not physically able to

control nature, and it is understandable whysome men should admire and love some

of the things that nature has accidentallyproduced; but I can't see why man mustadmire the rest of the chaotic mess whichis nature also.

The struggling creatures exist in a blood-thirsty battlefield—but there is no teleologyat work in the process, and no certainty ofwhat the outcome will be. Is such a resulta "balance"?

MINA I. LEWISHaverhill, Mass.

The Terrible Winter . . .

To the Editor: Having come to Navajolandin 1923, you can well imagine the interest

with which I have read Laura Adams Arm-er's articles in Desert Magazine. Her story,"The Big Snow," in the April issue, broughtpoignant memories of that winter of 1931-3 2 .

It all began on the night of November21 with a foot of snow. Tha t same snowlay on the ground for over a hundred days,or until the first thaw early the followingMarch. We had below-zero temperaturesthroughout this period. To the north, wherethe elevation ranges up to 7500 feet, thesnow lay 20-inches deep. The feeding groundfor sheep and ponies was simply buriedbeyond reach.

It was only through the heroic efforts of

men, women and children that some of thesheep were saved. Branches were cut fromstunted pinyon and cedar trees for the sheepto feed upon. Snow was carried into thehogans in blankets and melted in bucketsand pans that the stock might drink. Inspite of the superhuman efforts put forth,the losses were appalling. Our very dearfriend, Lorenzo Hubbell, told me that heestimated the Navajos lost a quarter of amillion sheep, besides thousands of poniesthat winter.

Word began filtering down out of thehigh country of near disaster, when at longlast two small Caterpillar 20 tractors wereordered to Oraibi with all speed possiblefrom the nearest agency. I had spent days

in the saddle doing what little I could forour people. Now, on a sub-zero morningin early February, I joined the caravan ofmercy being assembled at Oraibi.

The two Cats pushed on ahead, openinga road in the snow toward Pinyon 35 milesto the northeast. Loaded trucks and horse-drawn wagons followed. Along the way,Navajos filtered down out of the brush fromthe mesas to watch the chidi na nais("crawling automobile") go by.

By night we had made some 20 miles.Camp was set-up near a big hogan.

Now planes were out from March Field,California, dropping food for those snow-bound in remote areas. One of the planesspotted our camp and spilled its load ofgroceries in the deep snow nearby.

The night was bitter cold, with the tem-perature well below zero. Next morningcrank case oils were frozen stiff, so fireswere built under the pans. A faulty gas

2 / Desert Magazine / September, 1961



line on one of the trucks caught fire andthe men fought the blaze without success.The order was given to unload the truck,but not being able to reconcile such a loss,and thinking this a good time to demon-strate that a missionary could do somethingbesides preach, I snatched a shovel fromthe hands of one of the men and simplyburied the motor under snow. The fire wasout but much serious damage had beendone. We all figured that this motor wasthrough, short of a major overhaul.

It was long after nightfall of this secondday when we reached Hubbell's tradingpost at Pinyon, with the cold piercing tothe very marrow of our bones. To ourgreat surprise and admiration, the truckwhich had been through the fire early thatmorning, came limping into Pinyon withits Indian driver a couple of hours behindour caravan. That night we slept in ourbags on the floor around the big stove inthe center of the trading post shown onpage 19 in the April Desert Magazine.

The point of my letter is this: I wasspending all my time with my people inthose days. But in spite of the terrificlosses, which they could in no wise afford,

I heard not one single word of complaintfrom the Navajos. They accepted theirlosses stoically, calmly, philosophically.They simply tightened their belts and car-ried on from there.

Do you not see why I have given thebest years of my life to this noble people,and why, during all those years, I wouldnot have traded places with any man onthis earth?

BERLYN H. STOKELYNavajo Gospel Mission

Oraibi, Arizona

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M a g a z i n e of the O u td o o r S o u t h w e s t

Volume24 Contents forS e p t em be r 1961 Number

COVER PHOTO: The Southwest's important—and eye-pleasing—chiliharvest season begins in September. Cover photograph byWestern Ways Features of Tucson shows field hands spreadingthe freshly-picked chilis out to dry. After curing under the desertsun, these bright peppers will be ground into chili powder. Thefull story begins on page 11.

7 FIELD TRIP: Popular Gem Trails in Western ArizonaGLENN VARGAS

11 AGRICULTURE: The Desertland's Colorful Crop: Chili PeppersMARGARET CANNING

14 ART: Eastern Artist Henry Mockel Settles on the Mojave

16 NATURE: The Tea That Grows Wild on the DesertEDMUND JAEGER

18 CRAFTS: The Indian Applied Arts BusinessEUGENE L. CONROTTO

22 NEW BOOK: Refreshing Photos of Death Valley ScottyTOM G. MURRAY

26 HISTORY: James Townsend—Mining Camp JournalistHOWARD K. LINDER

34 TEST DRIVE:Japan's New Four-Wheel-Drive "Toyota"LEE OERTLE

42 PETS: Our Friend Hairy, The TarantulaTOMMY THOMAS

OTHER FEATURES: Readers' Letters __ 2

California Travel 4

Southwest Calendar 6

Poem of the Month 6

Classified Ads 32

Hare' Rock Shorty 38

Arizona Travel _ 38

New Desertland Books 40

Utah Travel 25 Editorial -42

The Desert Magaz ine, founded in 1937 by Randall Henderson, is published monthlyby Desert Magazine, Inc., Palm Desert, Cali forn ia. Re-entered as second classmatter July 17, 1948, at the postoffice at Palm Desert, California, under the Actof March 3, 1879. T itle registered No. 358865 in U.S. Patent Off ice, and contentscopyrighted 1961 by Desert Magazine, Inc. Permission to reproduce contents mustbe secured from the editor in writing.

Unsolicited manuscripts and

photographs submitted can-not be returned or acknowl-edged unless fu ll returnpostage is enclosed. DesertMagazine assumes no re-sponsibility for damage orloss of manuscripts or pho-tographs although due carewill be exercised. Subscribersshould send notice of changeof address by the first ofthe month preceding issue.

CHARLES E. SHELTONPublisher

EUGENE L. CONROTTOEditor

EVONNE RIDDELLCirculation Manager

Address all editorial andcirculation correspondence toDesert Magazine, Palm Des-ert, California.

Address all advertisingcorrespondence to Aaron DViller, 8217 Beverly Blvd.,Los Angeles 48, Calif. PhoneOL 1-2225. "You won't believe this, but we've been knocked out by missiles!"

September, 1961 / Desert Magazine / 3



2 0- M U LE T E A M H A U L I N G D O U BL E BO R A X W A G O N S OUT OF C A L I C O H I L L S . C. C. P I E R C E P H O T O .

A September Travel Suggestion by Lucile Weight

2 0 - M U L E T E A M D A Y SI

F YOUGO to Boron during its 20-MuleTeam Days celebration, Sept. 23-Oct. 1,you will see a synthesis of the old and

the new in borax mining. The spirit ofearly desert days will visit this MojaveDesert town in the form of a colorful pa-rade, in bright whirling of square dancersinvited by the Boron Twenty Mule Team

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vistas of adventure. With a minimum of effort youwill reach

the high lakes and streams where the fishing is great! A

mechanical pack horse for hehunter, the Tote Gote will carry

its rider over the roughest terrain to thebest hunting areas

and then pack both rider andgame back to camp. Specially

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Twirlers, at thewhiskerino, gymkhana, con-tests, exhibits, andWestern costume.

And in thebackground will be refineriesturning out products for today's jet-spaceage. Themodern city of Boron, with 4000population, may look far removed from20-Mule Team Days, but it is closely allied.While almost insurmountable problemswere ironed out to haul borax from DeathValley to therailroad at Mojave 165milesaway, Boron's repository of borax was lying

almost on the route, andonly about threemiles from a railroad. But it wasn't until1926 that Clarence Rasor discovered a newborate form here.

So before Boron was dreamed of, 20-mule teams hauled past thesite to Mojaveon theSouthern Pacific. Mojave was bothterminus of thefamous route and thetownwhere thewagons were built. A state his-torical monument, dedicated during Mo-jave's October 1958 Gold Rush Days, marksthe site of thecorral where theteams restedovernight, just east of therails.

Why is borax soimportant? It was prizedlong before the Christian era, and in theyears since its household and agriculture

uses have become so common we are un-aware of most of them. In very recenttimes, borax, in its various forms, has be-come strategic in "miracle" products, andits use hasmultiplied so that it is even lessknown to the general public than it oncewas. Glass fiber is one of its more than100 products. Its importance as a keyingredient for super-fuels of the space agecan hardly be assessed yet. Research pro-grams involving its use inmedicine, atomicenergy development, and food processingindicate that the industry maystill be inits infancy.

The story of borax in Death Valley,starting point for the 20-mule team era,began millions of years agowith creation

of the trough between the Funeral andPanamint mountains in which a prehis-toric lake gradually gave up its charge ofsalts, borax, andother minerals as its waterstarted to evaporate, possibly twomillionyears ago.

While men were stumbling across the

valley seeking gold, andothers later weretaking silver from thePanamints, this whitegold lay by the tons in the trough floor.Even when first found, about 1875,it wasnot recognized. It was the discovery byAaron Winters that was to catapult theDeath Valley borax story to such heightsthat today, 80 years later, the dramaticepisode of Aaron and hiswife Rosie watch-ing thewhite stuff flame green, is knownto millions of radio and TVfans.

As exciting as are thestories of the menwho erected this giant desert business, nonecaught theimagination as did the 20-muleteams, their long-line skinners, andthehugewagons that hauled theborax from DeathValley to Mojave. This was a stretch thatproduced a saga never fully told. At oneend were toilers—many of them Chinese—gathering theborax andcrystallizing it. Farto thewest was thesupply andrail station.

In between were long miles without aseep of water, without a tuft of grass. Onceout of Death Valley, via Wingate Pass,freighters went past Lone Willow Spring,on theeast slope of theSlate Range; thento Granite Well past Pilot Knob—volcanicbeacon for a hundred miles. Then camethe long lowgrade to Mojave, the oldroadnow cut byHighway 395a fewmiles southof Atolia; andcontinuing north of presentBoron and Castle Butte. More than halfof the 10 stops were dry camps, wherewater tanks were kept.

Borax had been hauled out of DeathValley country earlier — to Daggett andMojave—but thesmall loads were not pay-ing. Searles, hauling from Searles Lake,had a shorter easier route. What Wm. T.Coleman wanted were payloads. Heneededwagons that would haul 10tons each, thatwouldn't break down in these desert miles.Such wagons weren't being made. Colemanchose 35-year-old J. W. S. Perry to solve

the problem andtake over as Death Valleysuperintendent at Harmony Borax works,the ruins of which are seen just northwest

—continued onpage 6

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1 0 - M u l e T e a m D a y sContinued From Page 4

of Death Valley National Monument VisitorCenter.

The wagons, 10 of them, were built byPerry in Mojave. The hind wheels wereseven feet high, the front, five feet. Thebed was 16 feet long, four wide, six deep.

They m ade a six-foot track. Cost was $900each. Hitched two together, they hauled asmuch as 45,000 pounds in a load. In theirfive years on that road, there was nevera breakdown. As to hauling such loads,skinner Ed Stiles experimented with variouscombinations and by the time the wagonswere built, had proved that he could handle20 mules stretched out in pairs reachingover 125 feet from the wagon. The skillacquired by both mules and skinners infollowing winding canyons and loopinggrades is a fascinating and technical storyin itself.

The 20-mule team period was brief, butits mark is endu ring. If the nation hadnever heard of Death Valley or its mining

before, it became "20-mule team borax"conscious beginning in 1904 when an outfitwas at St. Louis World's Fair, then paradedthrough New York, Philadelphia and Chi-cago. In 1916, a cross-country tour, inter-rupted by World War I, continued in 1919,with people in hamlets and cities receivingborax samples. Again the wagons and teamswere called out in 1937 for San Francisco'sbridge completion and opening of the DeathValley-Lone Pine Hwy.; in 1940 to publi-

cize the Wallace Beery "Twenty MuleTeam" picture; and in 1949 as part of theCentennial Pageant staged by the DeathValley 49ers.

Latest trek was in November, 1957, whena replica of the famous teams, with one ofthe original wagons, rolled into Boron as aprelude to opening ceremonies for the $20million open pit and refinery.

All but the memory of the rumble of thegiant wagon wheels, the creak and clankof harness, the pounding of 20-mule teams,is drowned out now by roar and scream ofjets and missiles at nearby Air Force bases.

And that memory will be revived byBoron's 20-Mule Team celebration the end

Poem of the month:

... a n d t h e J e s e b t s h a l h e j e k e , a n d

i / o s s o m a s th e am...The water cooled the once parched fevered stoneAnd backed up inch by inch behind its weirIn readiness to move upon the land,To whisper in the earth's now waking ear.

And then, behold! A new thing changed the w as te-Where once was heath and sage the river ranDiverted from its long-time natural bedIn channels dug by implem ents of man.

The land of drouth (like Eden now) burst forthAnd scent of green and song enriched the air—Where man had used his intellect for goodThe hand of God was quite apparent there.

V. Trollope-CameronSalt Lake City

S O U W W S T C A L E N D A RSept. 1 -4: Elko County Fair, Elko, Nev.Sept.' 2-4: Homecom ing & Rodeo,

Bishop, Calif.

Sept. 2-4: Rodeo, Williams, Ariz.Sept. 3-5: Lions' Stampede and 49er

Show, Fallon, Nev.Sept. 3-5: Rodeo and Fair, Winnemucca,

Nev.Sept. 4: 17th Annua l Steel Day Rodeo,

American Fork, Utah.Sept. 4: Annual Rodeo, Benson, Ariz.

Sept. 5: Labor Day Celebrations, Ely,Nev.Sept. 6: Pioneer Day, Ashfork, Ariz.Sept. 7-10: Annual Navajo Tribal Fair,

Window Rock, Ariz.Sept. 9: 16th Ann ual Dick Wick Hall

Days, Salome, Ariz. (SEE STORYON PAGE 38.)

Sept. 9-10: Navajo County Fair, Hol-brook, Ariz.

Sept. 9-10: Nation al Water Ski Races,Lake Mead, Nev.

Sept. 15-18: Washoe County Fair, Reno.Sept. 16-17: Apache County Fair, St.

Johns, Ariz.Sept. 20: Black Canyon Day, Flagstaff.Sept. 21-25: Community Fair, Las Vegas.Sept. 23-Oct. 1: 20-Mule Team Days,

Boron, Calif. (SEE STORY ONPAGE 4.)

Sept. 23-24: Annual Rex Allen Home-coming Days, Willcox, Ariz.Sept. 25-27: Coconino County Fair,

Flagstaff.Sept. 29-Oct. 1: Greenlee County Fair,

Duncan, Ariz.Sept. 29-Oct. 1: Cochise County Fair,

Douglas, Ariz.

of this mo nth. Main events will be thefinal weekend, with a parade and squaredancing on the morning of Sept. 30. Hob-bies and crafts are among displays. Foodbooths will be open. All visitors are invitedto "dress Western." / / /

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many have done so. The signs warn-ing against its removal soon disap-peared, but now the task of preserv-ing one of Arizona's "antiquities"evidently has fallen to the U.S. Army.

Quartz at Crystal Hill

3

SPACE DOES NOT permit meto completely express my enthu-

siasm over famed Crystal Hillsouth and east of Quartzsite. Th ishas been one of my favorite collect-ing areas for many years, and I neverexpect to tire of it. It is on my"must" list for all Western rock-hounds to visit at least once.

Crystal Hill was first described byJohn Hilton in the April, 1942, issueof Desert. Soon after, the rush wason. Quartz of all sizes, varieties an dshapes was collected here with ease.The turnoff to the hill lies betweenmileposts 100 and 101 on Highway95. At times, collectors have used theroad paralleling the gas line to enterthe region. I have nearly alwaysfound the regular access road in muchbetter condition, and on a recent tripI learned that the Texas PipelineCorp. has asked that their road notbe used, as some damage to installa-tions has occurred. Th is should set-

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tie the road question.After traveling about six miles east

from Highway 95, the left turn intoCrystal Hill is easily found. A shortride across the large wash takes youto the main campground in the heartof the collecting area.

The hills near the camp show signsof extensive collecting—trenches and

holes are very numerous. These dig-gings are what gave rise to the no-tion by some writers that this fieldwas exhau sted. It may look that way,but I have found it far from beingworked out. The tracing of pieces ofquartz that have washed down thehillsides as float will in some caseslead you to a concealed pocket ofcrystals. My companions and I havemade these happy discoveries manytimes.

The crystals of Crystal Hill con-tain a number of minerals as inclu-sions and as "phan toms." T he localmaterial "grew" to a certain pointby the laying down of one moleculeupon another of clear or nearly clearquartz. Then something happenedto cause the crystals to be crustedwith a white milky coating. In manycases, other minerals also coated thecrystals at this stage. Again normalgrowth resumed, and more moleculesof clear quartz were laid down, en-closing the abnormal growths andfinally producing water-clear crystalscontaining "prints" of the crystals as

they looked when smaller. Th is"ghost-of-its-former-self" inclusion hasaptly been named a phantom.

The following are some of theminerals as inclusions that are foundat Crystal Hill. Siderite, in the formof yellow or brow n crystals resemblingcubes is quite com mon. I have beenshown many of these specimens bypeople who swear they have foundgold crystals in clear quartz—but italways turns out to be siderite. Asfar as I know, gold does not appear

at Crystal Hill. These specimens alsohave been reported as pyrite, but Ihave never seen pyrite here, either.Chlorite appears as dark green, al-most black flakes, or in balls madeof the flakes. Balls of chlorite arecommonly in a phantom . Dark greenor bluish-green needles of goethiteappear at times at the base of thecrystals. One of the pockets that oneof my students worked, containeddouble-terminated crystals filled withwhat I think is goethite. From timeto time I found crystals here contain-ing a feathery structure which I wasnot able to recognize. No t unti l re-cent years did I learn this materialwas what is now popularly called"cat's eye quartz."

If someone had followed Jay Ran-




C A T ' S E Y E Q U A R T Z

som's suggestion in the September,1953, Desert Magazine, and lookedfurther east for more crystals, thecat's eye material might have beendiscovered sooner. It is a most inter-esting variety of quartz, and will cuta white stone resembling the chryso-beryl cat's eye. The fibers causing the"eye," after careful examination bymineralogists, have been shown to beempty tubes. At some time duringthe history of the formation of thespecimens, these tubes w ere filled withan unknown mineral which later dis-solved. In some crystals, these tubesactually form phantoms, and thesespecimens cut the best cat's eyestones.

It is not easy today to reach thecat's eye field. For three years a

branch road led east from the maincamp turnoff, and after a half-mileturned left into some small hills andended at the new field. Last sum-mer's rains washed out the road intwo places. A hike along this trail isstill a good way to reach the field,but by car a circuitous route must befollowed (see map) —past the w ind-mill for about 3.5 miles east to thefirst turn to the left, double back toa dilapidated water tank, pass to thewest of it for about a quarter-mile,and then turn right into the hills.

These are involved directions, butwe made it to the field by carefullyfollowing them. Perhaps the originalroad will soon be re-opened.

Regardless of how you get to thecat's eye location, th e effort is wellworth it. He re again, extensive dig-gings pinpoint the locale. And dig-ging is the most profitable method ofcollecting. The best way to recognizethe material is to immerse the whitecrystals or fragments in water, thenexamine the piece from all angles in

bright sunlight. Any glint of whiteuncolored light from within the spe-cimen merits its being set aside forfurther investigation. On one tripwe found working a dump quiteprofitable. Evidently the person who

dug the hole did not use water tocheck the pieces he uncovered. Asa result, my group brought homesome excellent material. Th e shim-mering beauty of the cat's eye makesthe finding of only one piece wellworth the trip.

Crystal Hill is one of those collect-ing areas that appeals to both mineral

collectors and lapidary hobbyists.Many of the quartz crystals, with orwithout inclusions, are museumpieces. And many of the fragmentsor poorly-shaped crystals containinginclusions can be cut into excellentstones; of course the cat's eye typeheads this category.

Opalite on the Road to Cibola

4TH E SOUTH - BRANCHINGturnoff from the Cibola Road(4.2 miles from Highway 95) is

easy to find, but from this point on

there are at least four discernibleroads wandering off into the brush.Happily, they all lead back into themain branch before reaching thecampground at the base of the opal-ite hill.

After leaving our cars, my studentsand I had only to walk a few yardsto the east to find pieces of opalite.As we worked further up the hill,the pieces of float became more num-erous. About three-fourths of theway up the hill there are a numberof diggings, presumably in the veins

that are the source of the float mater-ial. Fu rthe r digging in the holes gavevery poor results, so we confined ouractivity to hunting for the float.

We found the opalite to be of poorto fair quality, with only a very fewpieces to our liking. The pink pieceswere the most interesting, and haveless of the annoying holes and pits

that are very prominent in much ofthis area's opalite. T he rare speci-mens without pits are good firm ma-terial, and will polish with no diffi-culty. There is a plentiful supplyof opalite here—all that one needsis time and energy to search out thebetter pieces. Collectors who arereally particular will find their take-home supply to be small. Those who

are only after color and pattern willfind plenty of material here.

Geodes and PalmsIn the Koia Country

5BY HOLDING UP the April ,1949, issue of Desert and compar-ing the Kofa landscape with the

picture at the bottom of page 19 (seesame photograph with this story), wewere able to determine the exact spotwhere Harold Weight stood to takethis picture. The two ocotillos look-ed almost exactly the same as theydid 10 years before, with the branchesabove the skyline appearing identical.I'm sorry to report, however, that sofar as the geodes are concerned, thereis little similarity between what Har-old found in 1949 and what nowexists.

We picked up many small geodes,but what we found were very poor,with less than five percent of themshowing anything interesting. Mostof these were hollow and lined withvery small (drusy) quartz crystals. A

few specimens had a bit of gray chal-cedony in their centers. The remain-ing 95% was simply rock (rhyolite)to the center, or contained small flecksof chalcedony of poor quality. Need-less to say, my students were verydisappointed.

I am of the opinion that the fewgood geodes from this area have long

I T'S F U N T O W A N D E R T H E S I O P E S O F C R YS T A L H I L l , L O O K I N G F O R T R E A S UR E




since been removed, and no doubt,along with them a large number ofpoor ones, also. I must write off thisarea as one where only a very smallpercentage of good material existedin the first place—and this was soonhauled off.

But, are geodes the Kofas onlytreasure? I would say that even the

world's best geodes—f they occurredhere—would be the secondary prize.A hike up the canyon to see the palmoasis is the real treasure of Kofa. Thetrail up from the main canyon is verysteep and rugged. I recommend it

only to those who are adept at using

both hands and feet in climbing.

Geodes on an

Old Silver Trail

6A NUMBER OF YEARS ago Ivisited the geode area describedby Harold Weight in the April,

1951, issue of Desert. The geodes

were very small but extremely num-erous, with a small percentage ofreal interest.

On a recent drive up Highway 95,

I could not be sure of the location

of the old turnoff from the pavement,but the most likely one was only afew hundred yards from a paved roadto the Army's Yuma Test Station.This road is posted against entry andthe only assumption I could makewas that the geode beds were to beconsidered in a similar situation. Ihave included this area in this re-

port—and it shows up as a detailedsection of the map—n anticipationof the day when the military releasessome of its "desert empire" back topublic use. But, don't hold yourbreath. / / /

THE KOFA COUNTRY LANDSCAPE REMAINS UNCHANGED (SEE LOCATION NO. 5)

Do YouHave These

Back Issues

With Detailed Maps Of

Gem-Mineral Fields?ISSUE LOCALE

July '54 Limestone Gulch

near Clifton, Ariz.

March '55 Monte Cristo Mts.

west of Tonopah, Nev.

July '55 Trinity Mountains south-

west of Lovelock, Nev.

Aug. '55 Virgin Valley, Nev.

April '56 Salt Creek Canyon

north of Globe, Ariz.

Sept. '56 Silver Peak Mts.south of Coaldale, Nev.

Dec. '56 Box Canyon, Gila Mts.

north of Ft. Thomas, Ariz.

July '57 Yellow Cat area, south-

east of Thompson, Utah

GEM MATERIAL

Blood-red and deep-purple jas-

per delicately veined with white

or splotched with yellow

Reds, blacks, and yellows in

clear or cloudy or patterned

chalcedony

Jasper, obsidian, opal

Opal

Serpentine

Icicle agate, white flame or

plume agate

White and smoky chalcedony,

chalcedony roses

Gizard stones

ISSUE LOCALE

Sept. '57 Pinto Basin west of

Mexicali, Baja Calif.

Oct. '57 Punta Penasco, Baja Calif.

May '58 Little Chuckawalla

Mts., Calif.

June '58 Whipple Mts., north of

Vidal Junction, Calif.

Aug. '58 Verde Antique Quarry

east of Victorvile, Calif.

Dec. '58 Jack Creek north of

Jarbidge, Nev.

July '59 Mogollon Rim, Ariz.

Aug. '59 Hoover Dam area, Nev.

(5 separate locales)

Nov. '59 Bradshaw Mts., east of

Morristown, Ariz.

Feb. '60 Barstow area, Calif.

(5 separate locales)

GEM MATERIAL

Banded rhyolite

Sea shells

Apache tears

Chalcedony roses

Yellow and green marble

Many-hued agates

Red jasper

Pectolite, onyx, green jasper,

agate

Tourmaline, mica, calcite

crystals

Agate, petrified wood, obsidian,

jasp-agate, jasper

These back issues are complete and in goodcondi t ion. Mailed post paid to any address

in the U.S.

$25c EACH — ANY 6 FOR $1

Order f rom: D e p t . S-l

Desert Magazine

Palm Desert, Calif.




«

h i

C H I L I P EP PE R H A R V E S T S T A R T S I N T H E D E SE R T C O U N T R Y I N S E P T E M BE R A N D C O N T I N U E S T I L L F R O S T

he chil is to dry in the f \

See Front Cover I l lustrat ion LV

D E S E R TCHILI

C

HILI, AN American gift to theworld, was one of the plants

Columbus took home to Spainin 1500. Soon it became a choiceEuropean garden plant, and a prizedseasoning.

In the Desert Southwest, chili isbig business. Commercially cultivatedunder irrigation at altitudes of be-tween 3000 and 5000 feet, the brightred pods of the chili store the heatof the desert sun. Chili is a Spanishword derived from the Nahuatl (Az-tec) chilli.

The ever-growing demand for chiliseasoning makes the pepper harvest

an important and colorful time indesertland. After the land is pre-




TW E N TY TO 25 LARGE REDPODS MAYDEVELOP ON A MATURE CHILI BUSH

pared in theearly spring, mechanicalplanters sow the seeds a half-inchdeep, 18 to 24 inches apart in rowsspaced 36 to 40inches. As theyoungplants grow, the weeds are hoed byhand, and nitrogen fertilizer is fedto the field through irrigation water.

Dusting is necessary as a deterrentto insects. In dry weather a tractor-drawn duster is used, but if it is wetthe dusting is done by air. By Sep-tember, when the bushes are from18 inches to three feet tall and mayaverage 20 to 26green pods, thefirstphase of the chili harvest begins.

The green pods arepicked, washed,steamed cooked, andground tomakechili paste. This, mixed with mus-tard, is used on meats of all kinds.

The second phase of the harvestgets underway when the plants putout red pods. These must be gath-ered before frost, and great care isused in sorting the chili for flavorand color. Red chili paste is madefrom these large bright red banana-shaped "Anahan" chili.

The third product of the harvest

GREAT CARE IS USED IN SELECTING ANDG R A D I N G THECHILI PODS FORCOLOR AND FLAVOR




THESE LARGE REDB A NA NA ( " A NA H A N" ) C H IL IS ARE DRIED, READY TO BE GROUND INTO CHILI POWDER

results when red pods are sun-driedfor several days before being groundinto chili powder. Large flat areasmake good drying areas, and care istaken to turn thepeppers to preventmolding, and to assure even curing.After grinding, the powder is pack-

aged in 50-pound sacks or 5 Vi-poundcardboard cartons for shipping.

It is interesting to note that this"hot" crop must be protected frompredators. Heavy losses may be sus-tained if jackrabbits invade thegrow-ing fields or drying areas. Over nightthese animals can cut-down and eatmany bushes, so growers find it nec-essary to protect their crop with finechickenwire fencing.

One acre of land can produce aton of dried chili valued at approxi-mately $420. This relatively highper-acre yield is offset by thefact thatmore risk and care are involved ingrowing chili than most other South-western crops.

To Latin Americans, chili has longbeen a favorite seasoning. But fewpeople realize chili's long history asa medicine. Such diseases as dropsy,gout, colic, yellow fever, and eventoothache and paralysis were treatedwith doses of chili. In NewEnglanddurin g colonial days, chili mixed withhoney was prescribed for quinsy.

Today chili flavoring is used ex-tensively in many countries. It hasthe happy faculty of appealing toboth hot dog fanciers and connois-seurs of fine iood.-MARGARET H.CANNING

CHILI POWDERS AREBLENDED TOASSURE FINE FLAVORS / / /




l o b i v i a B i n g h a m i a n a

Henry R. Mockel




IT AMAZES ME to find how few desert travelers andeven permanent desert residents have ever tasted thedelicious brew that can be made from the Ephedra,

commonly known as Desert or Squaw Tea.

I have yet to find anyone who having tried this drink,does n't find it very tasty. Of course, it must be prope rlymade, and this involves the correct method of cooking.The stems of Ephedra must be boiled—not steeped—tothe correct strength, and this takes at least 10 minutes

(or until the liquid has the deep amber color of well-steeped C hinese or Ceylonese tea) . T o br ing ou t thefull blossomlike flavor of Ephedra, it is quite essentialto put in at least one teaspoonful of sugar to the cup.Juice of lemon or strawberry jam may be added ifdesired. I never use cream in my tea, bu t the re is noreason why it cannot be added.

Either the green or the dried Ephedra plant may beused. I prefer tea m ad e from th e fresh green stem sgath ered in the open just before cooking. Only a hand-ful of stems is neede d. Th ey sh ould be covered wellwith boil ing water , and used but once.

In the specialty and health-food stores, packaged dried

Ephedra stems cut up in half-inch lengths sell for $1 perpo un d. In a few minute s, you can gath er a bale of these

many uses from their Indian forebears and neighbors,and called it by a great variety of often picturesque andeuphonious names: Tepote , Popot i l lo , I tamoreal , Reta-moreal, and Caniti l lo. The Chinese called one of theirwidespread and much-used Ephedras, Ma-huang, andprized the plant particularly for its alleged therapeuticquali t ies. Ephedra's history in Chinese medicine goesback at least to the times of the mythical father ofChinese medicine, Shen N ung (B.C. 2737-2698).

In the Southwest, Ephedra is sometimes known asMormon Tea or Brigham Young's Weed, but thesenames should be applied only to one or two particularkinds of this plant, Ephedra viridis or E. nevadensis,which grow in Utah where the Mormon sett lers earlyadop ted i ts use as a beverage. T h e nam e T eam ster 'sTea probably came into use because the early freightersoften gathered Ephedra along the wayside, and t iedbundles of the twigs to their wagons where they wereeasy to reach when meals were prepared.

In my estimation, the Ephedra giving the best flavoredbeverage is the Green Ephedra (Ephedra viridis) of thepinyon country. Th is handsom e plant has vividly green

stems set closely together—almost parallel—in broomlikebunches. I t is particularly good-looking when the male

D e s e r t T e a

stems—enough to last many weeks. Ephedra, as it occurson our local deserts, is a low, much-branched, seeminglyleafless, gray-green or vividly green shrub consisting ofnumerous small woody jointed stems—hence one of itsnames: Joint Fir. Actually, this plant has but a slightrelationship to the firs. Perhaps someone in the pastthought that Ephedra's tiny male flowering-cones lookedlike the seed-bearing cones of the fir tree.

Ephedra is a Greek name used by Pliny for Hippuris,the common Horse-tail of streamsides which Ephedrasomewhat resembles in having fluted, jointed stems. Thetwo plants, however, have no direct relationship. T heseveral kinds of Ep hedr as (there are some 50 species)are natives of southern Europe, North Africa, subtrop-ical Asia and ex tratro pica l Ame rica. T he re is only onestrictly Eu rope an species; N ort h Africa has three. Inthe Australian deserts, which seem particularly favor-able to its growth, only a single species—a native ofSouth America—is found. How a South American pla ntcame to grow in Australia, nobody ventures more thana guess. In our South western deserts, each of the U.S.and Mexican states boast of several Ephedra species.

Early-day trappers, huntsmen and explorers were notthe first to make a beverage from the stems of Ephedra,for the Southwest Indians had used it from times un-known as the basis of a decoction used as a drink, ablood purifier, and a remedy for a variety of illnesses

(colds, pneumonia, kidney complaints and diseases ofthe generative organs) . T he Cahu illa Indians of theColorado Desert called the plant, Tu-tut, and in theold days bunches of dried Ephedra twigs could be foundtucked up among the roof poles of almost every jackal.

The Mexicans and Spaniards early learned Ephedra's

plants are thickly covered with staminate blossoms whosebright yellow pollen-filled, closely-clustered anthers adornthe plant with a ma ntle of gold. T he female plan t 'sornament of many leaden-green fruiting cones is incomparison not nearly so appea ling. How ever, thePanamint Indians looked upon the cone-laden femaleshrubs (£. nevadensis) with special favor, since thesizable seeds within the cones were good when roastedto use in making a kind of bit ter but edible and nutr i-tious bread . I have eaten the ovate seeds of this an dother desert teas, and found them qu ite palata ble w henharvested green.

We must not be surprised that the Ephedra fruits arecalled cones, for these they are in fact; the plants beingnear-relations of the pines. The cones are made up ofa number of scales or bracts folded over one another.W ith in this struc ture lie the seed or seeds. In some ofthe Ephedras these bracts are swollen to form pulpyjuicy "fruits" or "berries" of brilliant color, usuallybrigh t red or salm on-pink . In man y regions these pulpy"berries" are eaten.

The beautiful ground-hugging salmon or red-berriedspecies are indeed ornamental and curiosity-provokingshrubs very suitable to use as rock-garden plants. Th eyrequire l i t t le care and a min imu m of water . Sometimesthe colorful fruits are borne in such profusion that theshrubs are conspicuo us from afar. Am ong the red-

berried species are nebrodensis, with wandlike branches;vulgaris from southern Europe; sinica, from China; andseveral kinds from Arizona, New Mexico and Te xas . Icommend them all to desert garden lovers.

The very small, almost unnoticed scalelike leaves ofEphedra occur at the joints or internodes of the stems.




In some species there are two leaves, set opposite oneano ther at each join t. In others there are three, ar-range d ternately. In shape the generally dry and paperytiny leaves vary from narrow and pointed to broad andblun t-end ed. Being so small they are pratically func-tionless, their work of sugar-making being taken overby the green chlorophyll-bearing young stems. T henature and number of the leaves are useful character-istics, along with the fruits, in separating the various

species.The fusiform gall-fly (Lasioptera ephedrae) lays its

eggs in the tender young Ephedra stems during thegrowing season. Swollen spindle-shaped galls soon ap-pear in numbers at the points of the small wasp's ova-positation. The green swellings holding the developinginsects are sometimes mistaken for fruits by the novicein plant lore.

Desert teas have uses other than those referred toabove. Most all are valuable browse plants, especiallyin winter and a t times of drou th. Some species are goodsoilbinders: E. cutleri of the Navajo country is a primeexam ple. In places this evergreen pla nt grows so thick

on sand hummocks and sandy plains that when seenat a distance it resembles a luxuriant growth of grass.

ceiling of her half-lighted dingy stall hang dried snakes,dried sting-rays and sharks, desicated sea-stars and othercreatures of sea and land—the whole comprising themost bizarre assemblage of merchandise I have everlaid eyes on. Inde ed, it is a place so uniq ue tha t Inever fail to visit this mysterious and dark corner of themarket every time I am in inland Mexico.

Among her bundles of herbs are dried bunches ofseveral species of Ep hed ra. W hen one inq uires as to

their use, this strange crone gives such a bewilderingand lengthy list that one is forced to judge that Ephedra("Canitillo," she calls it) is indee d a mu ch valu ed an d

much used remedy—at least in that immediate area.Especially does she commend it as a promoter of elimina-tion of poisons through the kidneys, and as a valuableremedy for colds and fevers.

The naked-seed Ephedras belong to a group of plants,Gne tales, tha t are of great anti qui ty. W e really knowvery little of their descent. Because of the s truc ture oftheir woody stems (they possess no resin ducts, but truesap-conducting vessels) we think of them as ratherclosely resembling the flowering plants, and as inter-mediate in evolutionary posit ion between the Gymno-sperms (pines, firs, etc.) and th e Ang iosperms (higher

J e $ J o i n t F i t T e m t e t ' s T e i

In some desert areas of Africa and China, woody Ephe-dra stems are a major source of fuel. It is said tha t theChinese utilize the ashes of their Ephedra fires to mixwith snuff as a headache remedy.

The very valuable drug, ephedrine, now used so muchas a decongestant and tissue shrinker by medical special-ists in treating head colds, asthma and hayfever, isobtaine d from the salmon-berried Chinese Eph edra (£.sinica) and related species. Our American plants donot yield the drug in quantities sufficient for utilization;they do contain pseudo-ephedrines, and, like all theothe r Ep hedra s, tan nin . It is this tan nin that gives thebeve rage its slight puck ery effect. Since a very stro ngbrew of Desert Tea contains a very appreciable amountof tannin, it may be used as an efficient and harmlesssoothing agent in treating sunburns and other burns.The Chinese have used strong washes of ordinary tea(Thea) as a burn-remedy for many centuries.

Chinese herb doctors have for ages used preparationsof both the Ephedra's dried roots and dried stems forinte rnal as well as exte rnal rem edies. Th ey early knewthat the root-derived drugs produce different reactionsthan drugs made from the green or dried stems. Ephe-drin e is derived only from the stems. Adm inistered inmany ways, these doctors used their Ephedra-deriveddrugs for the cure of colds, coughs, headaches andfevers.

In the big public market of the picturesque Mexicancity of Zacatecas is a strange shop presided over by awrinkled wizard-vizaged old lady always dressed indreary black. On her many shelves-in bottles, boxes,and baskets-are t ime-honored and dust-covered herbsand other substances used as native remedies. From the

flowering pla nts ) . However, Gnetales, along with the irrelatives, the strange Welwitschia and Gnetums, aregenerally l isted as Gymno sperms. T he Ephe dras arethought to be the most primitive of the Gnetales; theWelwitschia the most advanced.

Welwitschia (Welwitschia rnirabilis) or Tumboa, asthe natives call it, is unique to Damaraland and adjoin-ing territory of the west coast of South Africa where therainfall may average as little as one inch per year. Itis rightly described as "one of the most remarkableprodu ctions of the vegetable kingdom ." I never hearof this near-relative of Ephedra without having anenorm ous desire to see it in its nativ e state. A well-grown plant projects less than 12 inches above the

ground, yet the stem may have a circumference of 12feet! From the depressed crown spring two long strap-shaped leaves, sometimes two feet wide and six feetlong, trailing off across the desert sand in oppositedirections. Once formed, these huge leaves persistthroughout the plant 's l ife, which may be a hundredyears or more. Blown abo ut by the dry desert winds,the leaves soon become curled, split and much frayed.In time, branched flower-stalks spring from the broadsquat stem's central area. These flower-stalks bear smallerect cones, each being about the size of a fir cone, andscarlet in color. On this unique structure both malean d female flowers occur. Insects effect pollination.

Gnetum, another of Desert Tea's relatives, is a plantgenus native to tropical America and warm regions ofth e Old W orld. Some of the species are treelike; o thersare climbers. The leaves, with veins like the broad-leafed plants, spring in pairs from the swollen nodesof the stems. In contrast to W elwitschia, the flowers arewind-poll inated . / / /




^ •

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•

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M M

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1 ^

rT H I S B U S I N E S S O F S E L L I N G

I N D I A N A P P L I E D A R T S • • •

H O P I K A C H I N A D O L L

PRAYER STICK from Walpi,$7.50. Zuni Corn Society Shrine,9x13", $47.50. Yaqui Mask, 7",

total length w ith beard 15", $45.Tarascan Figure, standing, carryingvessel on shoulder, well preserved,6x12", $117.50. Infant Kachina Doll,very interesting, with hornlike attach-men ts to mask, $17.50. Preh istoricDeadman Black-on-White MiniatureOlla, 2V2X3", $15.

The half-dozen items listed aboveare a random sampling from the

House of The Six Directions' catalog.Paul F. Huldermann, pipe-smoking

P A U L H U L D E R M A N N SOAKS U P A B I T O F S U N S H I N E I N F R O N T O F SHOP

owner-operator of this Scottsdale, Ari-zona, store, is a middleman par excel-lence in the growing business ofsupplying connoisseurs, collectors,

B y E U G E N E L. C O N R O T T O

devotees of the Southwest, and justplain people with an eye for theunusual and beautiful, with qualityIndian arts—from prehistoric burial

jars to a day-old painting by Yazz orBegay.

The affable Huldermann, whoclaims to be "the only Indian traderin the Southwest with a German ac-cent," runs a small exquisite shop.Every item in the House of The SixDirections is Indian-m ade. Even thestore's name is native, referring tothe six cardinal directions of thePueblo Indians: north, south, east,west, up and down.

Look elsewhere if you are in themarket for a machine-made "Indian-style" trinket or a 50c tomahawk, forthey are as welcome in the House of




T h e Six Directions as areshoplifters.In fact, shoplifters probably wouldbe better received, for H u l d e r m a n nis a philosopher-storekeeper, one whojudges the success of a day not by

dollar volume of sales (although he

is the first toadmit that money helps,and you won't find himmaking anymistakes at thecash register) , but by

the richness of human exper ience."We went 89 days without rain,"

one customer was tel l ing Hulder-m a n n , "soat 11 that morning we put

the Rain Gods yousold usout on the

deck, and, bygolly, by 1:15 we had

rain!"

Hearing such an anecdote inspiresin Hu ldermann a reaction that can

best bedescribed as an explosion of

laughter right from the bot tom of

his soul.

Simple economics rule out Hul-

dermann's personally making longforays into Indian country to selectmerchandise for his shop. He de-

pends on a dozen dealers for his

supplies of contemporary jewelry,rugs, paintings, drums, baskets, ar-

rowheads, Kachina dolls and head-dresses. (The rarer items such as

pre-historic pieces areobtained froma very few selected supply sources,and from individuals.)

Just as so-called Indian stores can

be neatly divided into twoclasses,

" junk- tour is t" and "quality-collector,"so too can thesuppliers who distrib-ute Indian arts and crafts to the

retail outlets.

And here wehave a paradox.

"In this business," explains Hul-

dermann , "you begin to classify the

suppliers into two groups: thesales-men with fancy display cases, and

th e men whocarry their merchandisein cardboard boxes.

"A retailer tends totrade with oneor theother. With but a few excep-

tions, I buy from the cardboardbox fraternity. Th ese supp liersusu-

ally spend more time on the roughreservation roads where a cardboardbo x is at home. They seem tobe

much more interested in the nativepeoples whomake therugs and jew-elry. They can seebeyond thepieceof merchandise itself.

"A city-trained salesman wouldn'tbe caught dead with a cardboard boxlo r his wares—which proves thepointI 'm trying to make. My suppliersaren't salesmen—they are themselvescollectors and students of Indian artsand crafts. Thus, they know theirproduct—and, more important, theyappreciate quali ty."

The trading post operator on the

J E W E L R Y S A L E S M A N D I C K L e R O Y IS A M E M B E R

O F THE " C A R D B O A R D BOX" F R A T E R N I T Y

reservation is an impor tant l ink in

the Indian arts andcrafts business.In essence, the reservation store op-

erator trades the Indian art isan thenecessities of life for jewelry, rugsand other crafts. While the t radingpost retails some of these items directto the few customers whoventureinto the reservation backcountry,

RUG DEALER GILMAXWELL AT HISFARMINGTON WAREHOUSE

most of thepost 's accumulated stockis wholesaled toretail dealers directlyor to " roadmen" whore-sell to the

retail establishments throughout the

Southwest and other parts of the na-

t ion.

Some road salesmen buydirect fromthe Indians. C. Richard LeRoy of

Scottsdale, whospecializes in jewelry,buys from a roster of craftsmen num-bering less than 30. LeRoy isone of

Huldermann ' s " ca rdboard box sup-

pliers." He has been a full-time traderless than nine years, and drifted intothe business from his long-time hobbyof collecting Indian arts and crafts.

But , in the main, Indians havemost of their dealings with the trad-

ing post, and it follows that thequal-ity andquant i ty of thei r output is

most influenced by these traders.Practically without exception, reser-vation store operators areconscienti-ou s and fair-dealing men who realizethat Indian crafts aremore than i temsof commerce. T he ir Indian fr iendsare creating art forms of great in-

trinsic value, and the t rader is the

first to encourage this enterprise.

On the Navajo Reservation, rugsar e the"cash crop;" theIndian 's jew-

elry, hisearthly wealth, is pawn —given to thetrader assecurity againstcredit extended by the store. The

U.S. Indian Service regulates the

terms of this barter , including the

length of t ime thetrader must hold




\ ! 1 I

CLAY LOCKETT, operator of an Indian crafts shop in Tucson, spendsmany hours on the reservations of the Southwest dealing direct withIndian art isans. He is one of the best known and most highly respectedIndian trade rs in the nation. W hen Lockett ope ned the roug h-hew ndoor of his ado b e sho p in 1942, a long-he ld belief w as a bo ut to prov eitself: "good taste i s every bod y 's p leas ure ." Lockett bel ieved then as

he does now that Indian craftsmen, if left to their own devices, invari-ably ex press themselves wi th d iscr imination. To the Navajos andPue bloan s wi th whom he has had long deal ing, he advises: "Dothe best you can—but , do i t your way."

the pawn before he can sell it on theopen market.

An Indian woman, working longhours on a primitive loom, makes arug which she wishes to sell. At thepost the trader examines the rug,determines its quality, and makes anoffer. In this case, let us say $35. Ifthe weaver accepts that price, she has

a choice ol tvo j- 'ms lor collectingpayment: $35 all in trade; or $30hall trade, hall cash.

Enter now a dealer in rugs fromthe cardboard box school, such as GilMaxwell ol Farmington, New Mex-ico. Maxwell, who has one of thefinest private collections ol Navajorugs in the world, is one of the veryfew men who deal on a cash basislor rugs with the trading post owners(most others trade jewelry, crafts and

other com mod ities lor rugs) . And

Maxwell usually buys thousands ofdollars worth of rugs al a time.

Let us assume thai our $35 rug isamong those Maxwell has selected tobuy from the trad ing post. For thisparticular rug he will have paid $35.Why no mark-up? Because Maxwellis a volume buyer, and because thetrader needs cash in order to be ableto buy new merchandise lo sell toth e Indians—groceries, th e all-impor-tant s o d a p o p , t e x t i l e s , o i l , t o o l s ,

hardware.

When the lime comes lor a sellingtrip—and Maxwell is nearly alwayson the road—he will load a quantityol rugs in his station wagon and headlor his various— but not many—cus-tomers, among them the House ofThe Six Directions.

Huldermann likes the $35 rug andpays $42 lor it. He p uts it on hisrack with a $70 price tag.

Thus, on this rug the Indian makes$35; the trading post operator getshis hands on much-needed cash; Max-

well makes $7 (and can afford tooperate on such a small margin be-cause he sells so many rugs) ; andHu lde rm an n — if and when he sellsthe rug—earns a $28 profit.

Those who are cjuick to point outthat Huldermann makes nearly asmuch as the Indian, tend to forget(or never realized) two important

facts: the sale Huldermann makesis the one that counts; and he is theonly one ol the four involved inhandling this rug who has any ap-preciable ove rhea d. In fact, this

overhead includes not only standarditems such as lease, utilities, and ad-vertising; but such "special" Arizonaoverhead items as airconditioning anda high inventory tax.

The average Indian doesn't under-




stand this business of wholesale andretail , distr ibution costs, standardmark-up and profit. But some mu-seums and government agencies don'thave anything on him.

With the best of intentions, thesenon-profit organizations periodicallytry to "he lp" the Indian artist-crafts-m an by merchandising his productsat once-a-year shows and fairs. Jtemscarry only a 5-10% mark-up at suchevents, and instead of receiving $35for a rug that retails for $70, theweaver takes home $70 (less thesmallmark-up re ta ined by the show spon-sors to defray expenses) .

It is easy to guess what happens

MASTER POTTERY MAKER FROM SAN ILDEFONSO PUEBLO, NEWMEXICO

A HULDERMANN DISPLAY PROVES THEPOI N T TH A T I N D I A N D E S I GN S ARE TIMELESS

weeks later when the rugmaker walksinto the trading post with another$35 rug. She points to the $70 figurereceived at the show, and understand-ably wants that price set as a prece-

dent . The t rader won ' t pay $70 forth e rug because he knows Maxwel lwon ' t pay $70 for it because Maxwellknows Huldermann won ' t pay $84for it because Huldermann knowsth e rugcannot fetch $140 on the openmarket .

H u l d e r m a n n and some of his fel-low dealers insist that in the long runthese promoters of special sales aredoing more harm than good for theIndian art ist - craftsman. They areencouraging him to price himself out

of the market on the strength of whathe receives for isolated sales.

Finding ways and means to resolvethe economic problem of Indian art-ists and craftsmen occupies much ofPaul Huklermann 's t ime and effort.H e is forever encouraging new Ind iantalent with special displays of theirwares in his shop. He is in contactwith instructors ol Indian arts andcrafts, and discusses with them trendsin this field. He reads everything onIndian art that he can get his handson, and recommends books and arti-

cles to customers and friends. Chil-dren who show the slightest interestin the artistic side of American Indi-an s are given special at tent ion.

"Indian designs," points out Hul-dermann , "are t imeless. Contempo-rary Hopi bracelets employ designsthat were originated in 900 A.D. bya people who had enough to do justto keep alive.

"Yet, these ancients strove to addbeauty to their lives by embellishingpottery, painting intr icate religious

murals, carving stone figures, andcreating beautiful inlay jewelry andceremonial pieces.

"This creativeness must not be lostin our modern machine age." / / /

September, 1961 / Deseri Magazine / 21



Refreshing photos on a

legendary desert subjectIN 1953 photo-journalist Tom G.Murray fulfilled a boyhood dream:to visit the famous Death Valley

Scotty in his desert Castle.

Murray decided to sleep in his carthat first night, but when Scotty heardabout it he sent one of the caretakers

out to bring in the stranger.

"Tell that kid to come in here,and see that he gets a room," Scottycommanded. He had a nickname foreveryone (Scotty called the Castlemanager's wife, "The Pony Express"),and "Kid" stuck to Murray—even to

this day. Many of his friends callhim "The Death Valley Kid."

It was understood that grub wentwith the free room, and so Murraydined on steaks and chicken.

"The strange thing," recalls Mur-

<

%

DEATH VALLEY SCOTTY AND HIS BELOVED WINDY




. 4E . H E W A S A C H A R M I N G H O S T ; A G R E A T R A C O N T E U R .

ray, "is that no one asked me howlong I was staying. After two weeksI decided with much regret that Ihad to return to Los Angeles."

Tw o weeks with Scotty! The dayswere warm and full of fun.

"Right from the start I realized

that with Scotty it was best to be alistener," Murray points out.

In the evenings Scotty would holdcourt in the great hall of the Castle.All the guests were invited to assem-ble at the hour of 7.

Someone would start the ball roll-ing by asking Scotty w hat had becomeof an old prospector friend of his.

"He died, so I put his body in apine box and shipped it to Ohio,C.O.D.," Scotty would answer.

A lady guest complained about the

heat she had once encountered inRhyolite on a prior visit to the desertcountry.

"That's good," Scotty would say."It will get you used to where you'regoing."

A man would mention that he haddriven West from Pennsylvania, andScotty would recall how he had tour-ed that state with the Buffalo BillShow, and some of the importantthings that had happened to himthere — such as dating a girl w howorked in the watch factory at Lan-

caster.Sooner or later the conversation

would get around to Death Valleyand tales of desert tragedy.

"Once I found an old couple in




Death Valley," Scotty would begin."They were about gone, and I onlyhad enough water for myself, so nat-urally I did the only humane thing."

Pause. And then someone wouldbite: "W hat was that?"

"I shot them both," Scotty wouldanswer.

And so it went, the night sessionswith Scotty sometimes lasting untilthe sun peeked over Tin Mountain.

Murray took many photographs ofScotty and the Castle during his two-week sojourn in Death Valley. Hewanted to record this unique experi-ence for his own personal enjoyment.

He did not strive for the conven-tional photograph. There was noeditor 's deadline to meet; the photo-graphs were not earmarked for any-thing other than Murray's own col-lection. A highly professional pho-tographer on a busman's holiday!

Months later Murray arranged the

Scotty pictures and other Death Val-ley scenes into a single album . Dur-ing the years that followed, this"hand-made one-edit ion book" wasshown to friends who shared its own-er's interest in the desert.

Nearly everyone who saw the al-bum asked Murray if he had an extra

copy that they might have.

Early this year Murray decided toshare his rare and refreshing photo-graphs of Scotty with the public.These Death Valley photographs havegone into a large format (9x12") pa-per-cover book, "Death Valley Scotty,"produced by Desert Printers of Palm

Desert, Calif. Mail-order price is$2.00 plus 15c for postage and handl-ing and 8c sales tax.

In addition to many hitherto un-published photos of Scotty, the bookcontains striking pictures of the Cas-tle, Death Valley scenics, and historicphotographs.

"TH E LAS T T I M E I S A W S COTTY " / / /



A September Travel Suggest ion by Frank Jensen

U t a h ' s L a n d of D i n o s a u r s

DINOSAUR LAND, U.S.A., sprawls

across 330 square miles of easternUtah and western Colorado, and with-in its confines are one of the world'srichest fossil finds and a spectacular laby-rinth of canyons carved by the Green andYampa rivers.

Vernal, Utah, 175 miles east of Salt LakeCity on U.S. Highway 40, has become thegateway to the Dinosaur Country whereDinah the Dinosaur, a comic replica of aprehistoric reptile, greets you at every turn.

At Vernal, youngsters and adults alikecan acquire a Dinosaur Hunting Permitwhich entitles them to "One adult male,Tyrannosaurus Rex, or one Diplodocus Gi-ganticus, either sex, of not less than 5000pounds live weight." How ever, the pick-ings, dinosaur-wise, are pretty slim sincethe last of these creatures disappeared fromthe face of the earth more than 75 millionyears ago.

The real story of the dinosaur in Utahis to be found at the quarry and visitorcenter of Dinosaur National Monument, 20miles east of Vernal and seven miles northof Jensen, Utah. Here the National P arkService has enclosed a drab gray slab ofrock, 180 feet long and more than 40 feethigh in an ultra-modern structure that alsoserves as museum headquarters.

The visitor center is not a museum in theordinary sense of the word, but rather, isdescribed by Dr. Theodore E. White, a

casual shirt-sleeved scientist and the quarry'smuseum geologist, as a "working exhibit."

"We bring the fossil remains of thesecreatures into relief by chipping away theoverlying rock." explained Dr. White. Froman elevated ramp the visitor sees the fossiljust as it was deposited millions of yearsa g o . A framed sketch attached to theplatform railing shows the position of thebones in each dinosaur and serves as aguide for the quarry visitor.

The outcropping of dinosaur bones wasfirst discovered in 1909 by two CarnegieMuseum paleontologists. During the 13 yearsthat followed, the skeletal remains of 300dinosaurs were excavated. At least two

dozen of them were mountable specimens

representing the best collection of reptilianmonsters in the world. The quarry was alsoworked by the Smithsonian Institute andthe University of Utah before being setaside in 1915 under a provision of theFedera l Antiquities Act. Less than a yearlater it was incorporated into the NationalPark System.

Why so many dinosaur bones in oneplace? The evidence indicates the quarrywas once a sandbar or quiet cove in anancient river. The bodies of these dinosaurswere washed downstream, collecting likeso much driftwood in the sand where theinevitable mineralization took place overthe eons of time.

The painstaking work of exposing all ofthe fossil remains has consumed a half-century, and may take another 20 years."But then, there is no hurry," quipped Dr.White. "Some of these reptiles have beenhere 140 million years."

The other half of dinosaurland is thecanyon country of the Green and Yamparivers. Ninety years ago John Wesley Pow-e l l , the one-armed explorer of the ColoradoRiver, made his venture into the unknownby following the Green from its headwatersin Wyoming to its confluence with theColorado in southeastern Utah.

Powell's explorations focused public at-tention on this canyon fantasy, although itwas not until 1938 that the original 80acres of Dinosaur Monument was enlarged

to include the canyons of the Green andYampa rivers.

Under the Mission 66 program of theNational Park Service, $20-million will bespent in the next six years to make a largerpart of the monument accessible to themotoring public. A few roads have alreadybeen carved out of the wilderness to suchscenic overlooks as Harper's Corner, anda 30-unit campground has been built atSplit Mountain Gorge east of Vernal.

For the non-camper, excellent accommo-dations are available in Ver nal. My choiceis the Dine-Aville Motel and adjacent res-taurant, The Skillet, whose trademark isa 30-foot-high pink replica of Dinah the

Dinosaur. The motel and restaurant are

The Alaskan Cam per is quickly tran sform ed from its compac t low silhouette on the road toroomy walk-in living quarters. Drive safely at any speed with minimum drag and sway.Moments later, enjoy the comfort and convenience of a weather tight, high ceiling home awayfrom home complete with three burner stove, sink, cabinets, ice box, beds, and many otherluxury features.

The unique hydraulic mechanism which raises the w l l t 0 <o<lay f o r m o r e intorma-camper top can be safely operated even by a small " " " o n t h e m o s t advancedchild. Locks prevent accidental lowering. The top camper on the road.is lowered quickly by the simple tur n of a valve. Pate nt No. 2879103

R. D. H all M fg. Inc.9847 Glenoaks Blvd.

Sun Valley, Cali f .

" I N N O R T H W E S T "

Campers Inc.8819 Renton Ave.

Seatt le, Wash.

"IN CANADA"

Canadian Campers77 Pelham

Toronto, Ontar io

A CAST REPLICA OF DIPLODOCUS, OTHERWISEKN OW N A S " D I PPY TH E D I N OS A U R " S TA N D SOU TS I D E U TA H F I E LD M U S E U M A T V E R N A L

owned and operated by Henry Millecam,a former Vernal Mayor, and his two sons,George and Don.

While Don does the cooking, Georgeoperates the motel and its companion Can-yon Land Tours. The tours vary fromsimple one-day trips to an extensive itin-

erary that includes most of the scenic andhistoric points of interest. For an yoneplanning to see the heartland of DinosaurNational Monument, the Canyon LandTours are highly recommended.

Among Vernal's other attractions are anine-hole golf course and the Utah FieldMuseum of Natural History, a State Park.

/ / /

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T o :




D e a n of t h e M i n i n g C a m p J o u r n a l i s t sThe Sagebrush C oun t ry 's Boom Days W er e Ch ronic led by Newspapermen as

Color ful and Raucous as Their Surroundings, and I t inerant

Printer-Editor James W . E. Townsend was the

Most Consummate of His Breed

• "I confess to a weakn ess

for mining camp journalism

• N o responsible, cautious,

dignified metropolitan press

can reflect that phase of

American life with half the

accuracy of the raucou s

newspapers which attended

it • There will never be such

journalism in the United

States again, as there will

never be such sou rces of in-

spiration • The Securities

Exchange Commission, the

Corru pt Practices Act, and

allied agencies and laws haveended that" • —from C. B.

Glasscock's Here ' s Death

Valley •

James W . E. Townsendin the early '80s

ONE MORNING in Virginia City,

Nevada, the gang from the Terri-torial Enterprise poured Colonel

James W. E. Townsend onto the south-bound stage. He w as as stiff as a goat,requiring the combined efforts of thedriver and two typesetters to hoist hisloose and lanky form into the front boot.Resplendent in his green tinged PrinceAlbert, white paper collar and blackstring tie, the Colonel teetered near theedge briefly, then amid great cheeringfrom the crowd, collapsed into his seat.He shoved his crumpled black hat fromhis eyes and lifted his arm in victory

and farewell as 24 hoofs pounded downC Street carrying Jim Townsend fromVirginia City for the last time. As thedust settled, the boys tramped into asaloon to toast the new editor of theBodie Miners Index.


The year was 187 9. The Comstock

would miss Jim Townsend.

An itinerant newspaperman whoroamed the mining camps of Californiaand Nevada for over 40 years, JamesW. E. Townsend was at various timesa printer, a typeslinger and an editor.He was a member of that group ofpioneer newspapermen who came Westto join in the great adventure, and hespent the remainder of his life follow-ing the miners, merchants, gamblers andprostitutes from one boom camp to an-other. The urge to roam was common

among the members of his profession.

B y H O W A R D K . U N D E R

The printers, especially the old school

compositors skilled in the art of settingtype by hand, were a footloose breedwho wandered the length of the West atwill. Jim Townsend w as a practicalprinter as well as a sometimes editor,which may explain his restlessness. Atall, rangy New Englander, he wore hishair long and sported a bushy mustache.His pants were baggy and always un-pressed. But Jim Townsend was main-ly remembered in the Far West for hisoriginality of wit and the outrageoustales he printed. He kept the boys inthe mining districts laughing for years

with his quaint expressions and humor-ous use of words.

A score of Western journalists haveat various times been credited with be-ing the true originator of Mark Twain's



famous "Jumping Frog of Calaveras"—everyone except Mark Twain, himself.Among those mentioned is Jim Town-send, a claim to fame with which hewas always in complete agreement.However weak this might be, Jim didhave a strong case for another literarygreat. Students of Bret Harte haveconcluded that Jim Gillis, another fron-

tier newspaper wag, was probably themodel for Harte's Truthful James, theprevaricating narrator of "Society uponthe Stanislau s," and other stories. ButGillis always hotly denied this. Onc e,when a friend gave this story to a mag-azine, he stormed, "Fred, you knowvery well I am not Truthful James. BretHarte meant Jim Townsend becausehe's the damndest liar in these moun-tains, and you know it!"

A native of Portsmouth, New Hamp-shire, James Townsend arrived on theCoast early in the Gold Rush period.His name appears on the passenger listof a vessel docking at San Francisco inOctober, 1849. He apparently workedon the San Francisco Herald for a time,but soon traveled on to Sacramento. Inthe early '50s, Auburn knew him asdid Hangtown and Jackass Hill in oldTuolumne C ounty. It was in the lat-ter regions that he came into contactwith Bret Harte, Jim Gillis and prob-ably Mark Twain. He appeared inter-mittently in Virginia City, Nevada, dur-ing its boom years, working on variousComstock papers and matching wits with

the best of the old sagebrush journalists:Joe Goodman, Sam Davis and Dan De-Quille, to mention a few.

Knowledge of Townsend's life beforearriving in the West is scant. Probablyhis contemporaries knew even less of hispast. Jim was such an unmitigated liarthat even his closest of friends wereunab le to sift fact from fiction. Th eVirginia City Chronicle once carried areview of his life, prepared, no doubt,by Jim, himself. According to thisauthoritative article, he was born in

Patagonia of English nobility, followingan unfortunate shipwreck from whichonly his mother survived. She was sub-sequently eaten by the local natives, Jimhimself being saved and fattened for thefuture. How ever, he miraculously es-caped on a log and paddled to sea wherehe was eventually picked up by a whalerand taken to New Bedford. He thenbecame a Methodist minister, preachingwith "glorious results" for 10 years be-fore traveling to the Sandwich Islandsas a missionary for another 20 years.He reformed, the article continues, and

opened a saloon in New York . He thentried his hand at journalism. Fifteenyears of this reduced him to povertyand preaching. He returned to the sa-loon business and after another 18 yearsbrought his wealth to the Pacific Coast.

The biography concludes: "For severalyears, Mr. Townsend ran . . . eight sa-loons, five newspapers and an immensecattle ranch. For the past decade hehas devoted himself to journalism andis, of course, once more poor . Someof his friends, who are of a mathematicalturn of mind, have ascertained from thedata furnished by him the remarkable

fact that he is 384 years old."Th e Bodie Miners Index was launch-

ed by Jim in 1879, but was short lived.Bodie was a booming camp with 5000eager souls thronging her Main Street.Thirty-six saloons were kept busy dayand night satisfying the thirst of thecitizenry. This journalistic paradis e wasspoiled by the presence of four news-papers already operating in camp.

At this time, a gold strike high on thedesert flank of the Sierra Nevadas oc-curred. The new boom camp was Lun-

dy, squatting on the floor of a narrow

The Homer Mining Index.

PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY.

J. W. E. TOWNSEND,

P U B L I S H E R AND P R OP R I ET O R .

Office—In "Index" Building, Corner of Band Second Streets.

RATES OF SUBSCRIPTION:

Pel Annum, by mail (prepaid) S8 00Six Months 4 SOTliree Mouths 2 50

(Invariably in Advance.)

%S~ Served by carrier in Lundy and vi-einity fo i Twenty-five Cents a week.

M A S T H EA D O F TH E HO M E R M I N I N G I N D E X

canyon with mines dotting the cliffs atdizzying heights. Abruptly, Jim movedto Lundy, establishing its one and onlypaper.

Th e Homer Miners Index, Town-send's Lundy weekly, is considered byauthorities as one of the best examplesof mining camp journalism in the earlyhistory of the Fa r West. Th e paper was

published in a little two-room shack.Conditions were somewhat adverse.Lodged in its narrow canyon, Lundywas the target of frequent avalanchesplummeting down from the 13,000 footpeaks.

"The wind is a holy terror," Jimwrote, "a puff of it will turn a dog insideout." One issue reads: "The Indexwears a cadaverous aspect this week . . .the Boss has gone to Bodie on business.The (printing) devil has been takingmedicine so that his work at the caseis spasmodic and jerky. The printing

office is open on all sides and the snowflies in wherever it pleases. In the morn -ing everything is frozen solid. Whenwe thaw things out, the whole concernis deluged with drippings. It is hardto set type under such conditions. When

the office is dry, it is too cold to workin. When it is warm , the printer needsgum boots and oil-skins. In fact, it hasbeen a hell of a job to get this paperout."

But Jim liked Lund y. "The re's moregold here than at Jackass Hill," hewrote to friends in Virginia City. "Whenwe climb the hills in snowshoes, we canhear the gold below howling for quick-silver."

News was a problem in the newcamp. Lundy failed to achieve thebooming population originally predicted,and even at its largest could muster lessthan 500 persons. The shootings, knif-ings and general mayhem so prominentin the larger mining camps of the time,occurred on a limited scale in Lundy.Jim found it difficult to fill his columns.Once he complained in print: "It re-quires inventive genius to pick up local

news here. This scribe has to trust tohis imagination for facts and to hismemory for things which never oc-curred."

Jim did his best.

Reporting upon a case of horse-theft,he wrote: "A man named Quinn—orsomething like it—found a rope nearMount Gibbs a while ago and draggedit all the way to Devil's Canyon—70miles away. When he got home, hewas astonished to find a horse attachedto the east end of it. Being a religious

man and firmly married to a school-marm too, he was stupendously puzzledover the circumstan ces. It looked verymuch like horse stealing as they viewedthings in Mono County."

Lacking adequate news items, Town-send relied heavily on fillers to solvethe space problem. Here he was at hisbest:

"Our townspeople are complainingabout mosquitoes. Friends, if you wantto see mosquitoes, go to Alaska. They'reso thick up there that you can swing

a pint cup through the air and catch aquart."

"It's so dark in the Table MountainTunnel that a piece of charcoal lookswhite."

"It is learned that Lundy women willrefuse to be vaccinated now because itsometimes superintends lockjaw. Theywould rather have smallpox than en-forced speechlessness."

"The Bodie papers are changing toTri-weekly. The Bridgeport paper re-mains weakly as before."

"Jeff McClellan is going to SouthAfrica as mine foreman, not as super-intendent. This make s it safer for thecompany."

"Of the 250,000 words in the En-




Gordon Bennett, the principal promoter,decided the town needed a lively news-paper to paint a rosy picture for thedisgruntled Easterners. The effect onthe sale of stock would be beneficial. Itwas an old Western trick. Bennett im-mediately sent for Lyin' Jim.

Here was a challenge equal to thetalents of James Townsend. Although

Lundy had declined to a mere 200 pop-ulation, Jim set about the task method-ically. The Index was soon carryingadvertisements for three large groceries,two banks, saloons, millinery stores andlarge mercantile enterprises. He broughta busy railroad into Lundy, publishingappropriate time tables of arrivals anddepartures into a community which wasnever to know the whistle of a locomo-tive.

The society page was filled with gaysocial events. He simply copied columns

from the SanFrancisco papers, substitut-ing appropriate names and describingcostumes at great length. For furtherreality, Jim promoted a scandal in themetropolis of Lundy, a shocking affairinvolving the mayor and the wife of acity councilman. The story dragged onfor weeks and was avidly followed byreaders up and down the Pacific Coastas well as by subscribers in the far-away East. Only those close to thescene, and those who were acquaintedwith Lyin' Jim, knew Lundy had nomayor, let alone a City Council.

But on occasion, Jim reverted to hisold tricks. He simply couldn't resist.Describing the Lundy Art Gallery, hewrote: "Sanford has decorated the wallswith charcoal sketches of every prom-inent man in camp." After elaboratingat length on the portraits, he concluded:"The Deputy District Attorney lookslike a horse's foot in a sock, and yet theColonel's features are all there, exceptthe ears, and there is not room for themunless the roof is raised."

Describing a social affair, he againtossed caution to the winds: "JosephThompson was attired in a light buffsilk handkerchief to conceal the absenceof a collar. Marion Budd's shape wasadvantageously displayed by a close fit-ting jumper and long auburn chin whis-kers to match. Jim McCallum wasdressed — also. George Sherman ap-peared under a high forehead and be-hind an insinuating kind of nose. Char-ley Traver appeared as a gray eagle, ora bald eagle, we forget which."

The late George Montrose of CarsonCity, Nevada, was fond of recalling those

last days of Lundy. As a boy he workedfor Townsend as a printer's devil. Whenthe gold mines had all but given out,

according to Montrose, the promotersmade one final grand effort to bolsterthe sagging fortunes of Lundy. Several

large Eastern investors were invitedWest to inspect the mines. The tripwas arranged to by-pass Lundy itself.Perhaps they preferred that prying East-ern eyes not see to what degree the

town had declined. In any event, theparty was met in San Francisco andescorted to Yosemite Valley where apack-train carried the visitors to thecrest of the Sierras and on to the siteof the mines. This was simple enough.The big problem was Jim Townsend,himself. It was necessary that he bepresent. But Jim had no use for horses.Lacking complete confidence in anymount, the thought of trusting a simple-minded horse with his life on thosesteep trails was almost more than hecould bear. Montrose had been as-signed the job of getting the editor to

the meeting site. After much work andcoaxing, he finally got Jim mounted.The trail was steep and rough. SoonJim was sore and dog tired. But, bysome miracle they arrived at the con-ference, where Jim was at his lying best,spinning tall tales around the eveningcampfires.

All efforts to revive poor old Lundyproved invain. Her mines, having failed,led to a population decline, and shelay down to die the noble death of aWestern mining camp. Jim Townsend

moved on for the final act. He returnedto Bodie, publishing the Bodie MinersIndex. Competition was nil in theonce-booming camp. Her four newspapershad given up the ghost; so had most ofher population.

A few old-timers remained in thetown, as if gathered for a wake, await-ing the final throes of the dying. Amongthe more memorable present was HankBlanchard, an old drinking pardner and"Sunday School pal" of Jim's. Hankwas a graduate of one of the IvyLeagueschools—some said Harvard—and had

spent most of his years in the miningcamps as a teamster, operating a fast-freight business. Here in Bodie, how-ever, he owned a toll road betweenAurora and Bodie. Once Jim Town-send had written: "I have made a list

TH E MAY LUNDY MILL IN THE 189OS

of the three biggest liars in VirginiaCity. I am one and Hank Blanchardis the other two."

Among those who in later years couldvividly recall Lyin' Jim was Mrs. Nat

Boyd. She was the proprietress of theOccidental Hotel where Jim roomedduring his final days in the West. JimTownsend nearly drove her wild. In afury, she once upbraided him for creat-ing a disturbance in his upstairs room.Gravely, Lyin' Jim took the lacing. "Mydear lady," he then answered with agentlemanly flourish, "It would be diffi-cult for anyone to roll a barrel of whis-key up those stairs with as little noiseas I made."

But Jim Townsend's health was fail-ing rapidly. Ga unt from loss of weight,pale and suffering from fatigue, he wasnearly stone deaf. This condition prog-ressed until it was difficult for him tohear his favorite words: "Let's have adrink." At this point he gave up. Some-time in the mid-'90s, James W. E.Townsend announced the suspension ofthe Bodie Miners Index, his last paper.He was, he informed his friends, return-ing to his home in the East for medicaltreatment.

In truth, his disability resulted fromthe final failure of a brave but weary

fiver which had succumbed to an over-whelming volume of frontier whiskeytossed at it over the years. A fearfulcase of dropsy had ensued.

Home at last, the end came soon. Asa final desperate measure, his physicianperformed an operation to drain his ab-domen of the excess fluid. The taskcompleted, the doctor bent close to hispatient.

"Mr. Townsend," he whispered g rave-ly, "I just took more than three quartsof water out of your stomach."

Game to the end, Lyin' Jim managedto lift one eyelid for a typical partingshot.

"You're a damned liar, Doc," hemumbled weakly, "I never drank thatmuch water in my whole life." / / /




1. " R I D E T H R O U G H S A G U A R O L A N D " CHUCK ABBOTT 2 . " C H O L L A A N D W I L D F L O W E R S " DA R WIN VA N C A M

4. "PRICKLY PEAR BLOSS OM " RALPH D. CORNELL 5 . " C O L O R A D O R I VE R A Q U E D U C T " CARLOS EL



C O L O R F U l

t i o t e C w d s8 inch x 5 inch, scored

for fo ld ing, wi th fu l l -

color desert scenes

on front (same size as shownhere); pr in ted on h igh

qua l i ty paper

. . . plus white vel lum envelope

fo r each ca rd

per dozen

(including envelopes)

please specify package desired

12 assorted note cards (2 each of thesix desert scenics shown on thesefacing pages)

12 note cards all of one scene (be sureto order by title of picture desired,as shown below each of these sixscenes)

S P E C I A L : 100 cards (e i ther assorted, or

al l of one scene) and 100 envelopes:

only $10

These colorful scenics, taken by Desert Magazine cover

photographers, are offered in note card form following

numerous requests received down through the years by

readers who have wanted eye-catching stationery with

a real desert motif.

ORDER BY MAIL FROM:

D e t e H M a g a z i n e f a f f s S h o p

Palm Desert Calif.(Above prices include sales tax and shipping costs)

3. "CO LO RADO RIVER BELO W PARKER DAM" H A R R Y VR OM A N

6 . "S T R EA M T H R O U G H W I N T E R L A N D " DA R WIN VA N C A M PE N



C L A S S I F I E D S

• How to Place an A d:• Mai l your copy and f i rs t - inser t ion remi t -

tance to: Trading Post, Desert Magazine,Palm Desert , Calif.

• Classif ied rates are 20c per word, $4minimum per inser t ion.

• BO O KS - M A G A Z I N E S

READ THE Prospector's Guide. Tells how andwhere to prospect for minera ls , etc . Sendfor appl icat ion to Uni ted Prospectors , 701V2East Edgeware, Los Angeles 26, Cali fornia.

BOOKS: "PANNING Gold for Beginners , " 50c ."Gold in P lacer , " $3. F rank J . Harnagy, 701ViE. Edgeware, Los Angeles 26, Cali fornia.

FREE BOOK Ca talog of the So uthwes t— history,people, legends, los t t reasure, Ind ians , nature,gems, minera ls and chi ldren 's books . Wor ld 'slargest al l-desert book select ion. Write foryour catalog today: Desert Maga zine BookShop, Palm Desert , Cali fornia.

OUT-OF-print books at lowest prices! You namei t—we f ind i t ! Western Ame r icana, deser t andIndian books a spec ia l ty . Send us your wants .No obl igat ion . In ternat ional Bookf inders , Box3003-D, Beverly Hil ls, Cali fornia.

"GEMS & Minera ls Magaz ine, " larges t rock hobbymo nthly . F ie ld t r ips , "h o w " ar t ic les , p ic tures ,ads. $3 year. Sample 25c. Box 687J, Men t one ,Cal i forn ia.

HOW AND Where to Pan Gold, jus t publ ished,72 pages, photos , draw ings, p lus maps of 19states , wi th gold p lacer areas marked, $2.Lost Treasure Trai ls, by Penf ield, a f ine bigbook, is back in print af ter a long absence,$3 . Foul Anchor Archives, D.M., Rye, N. Y.

BEFORE YOU take that t r ip to old mining campsread "Rocky Trai ls of the Past," either at yourbook store or the autho r: Charles Labbe, 210Balt imore, Las Vegas, Nevada.

BOOKS BY fo l lowing authors , for sa le or t rade:Bernewi tz , Boardman, B lanco, Cool idge, Craig,Knight, Lamb, Pringle, Patterson, Snow, Stock-t o n , Wal lace Wi lk ins , Woodbury , Botk ins andDriscoll . Wanted—Treasure Trove. Arthur Kas-par ian, 7521 East Nora, Spokane, Washington.

"LOST MINES and Buried Treasures of Cali fornia"book, over a hundred locat ions , $1.50. R. A .Pierce, P.O. Box 3034, Berkeley 5, Calif.

"DEATH VALLEY Scotty Told Me " by EleanorJordan Houston. A ranger 's wi fe recal ls herf r iendship wi th the famous deser t rat andsome of his fabulous stories. $1.50. A. F.Houston, Box 305, Cool idge, Ar izona.

THOUSANDS OF out -of -pr in t books in s tock ,espec ia l ly f ic t ion. Murray 's Bookf inding Serv-ice, 115 State Street, Springf ield 3, Mass.

SPEAK SPANISH by comparing i t with English.New book let exp la ins how . Prepaid 50c .Spanish by Comparison, Box 7, Sunland Park,New Mex ic o .

• EQUIPMENT-SUPPLIES

LIGHTWEIGHT CAMPING and mounta ineer ingequipme nt . The Wor ld 's f ines t ; used on Ever-

est, Himalayas, Andes, etc. For f ree cata log,wr i te : Gerry , Dept. 107, Box 910. Boulder ,C o lo rado .

10X SELF i l lum ina t ing p ocket m agn if ier. Examinespec imens anywhere anyt ime. A magni fy ingglass wi th i ts own bu i l t - in l ight . $3 postpaid.Emerald Dis t r ibutors , Dept . A , Oakr idge, Ore.

• FO R W O M E N

LADY GODIVA "The Wor ld 's F ines t Beaut i f ler ."Your whole beauty t reatment in one jar .W rite: Lola Barnes, 963 Nor th Oa klan d, Pasa-dena 6, Cal i forn ia.

• G E M S , C U T -P O L I S H E DAUSTRALIAN TUMBLED gemstones, 8 dif ferent,

ident i f ied, $1.10 postpaid, or 10 d i f ferent ,ident i f ied, f rom around the wor ld, $1.25 post -paid. Bensusan, 8615 Columbus Avenue, Se-pulveda, Cal i forn ia.

GLEN CANYON Trading P ost—tour is t headquar-ters. Box 95, Page, Arizon a. Extra fluoresce ntspec imens f rom our co l lec t ion. Selec t longwave and shor t wave minera ls . 36 mm f luor-escent mineral s l ides, set of 8—$2.50 pos t pa id .

NEW FIND lavender s tar sapphi res f rom Mon-tana, $2.50 ounce. Blue cov ell i te, Montanaminera ls, crystals. P ostage please. Brant 'sRock Shop, Box 65, Si lver Star, Montana.

• G E M S , D E A LE R S

DESERT ROCKS, wood s, jew elry . Residence rearof shop. Rockhounds welcom e. Mi le west onU.S. 66. McShan's Gem Shop and DesertMuseum. P.O. Box 22, Needles , Cal i forn ia.

RIVERSIDE CALIFOR NIA. We have everyth ingfor the rock hound, pebble pups, in teres t inggi f ts for those who are not rock hounds.Minerals, s labs, rough materials, lapidary sup-p l ies , mount ings , equipment , b lack l ights . Whynot stop and browse? Shamrock Rock Shop ,593 West La Cadena Drive, Riverside, Calif.

OVer land 6-3956.

GEM DEALERS, gif t s tore owner s: wr ite fo r f re ebrochure on ready-made, super ior -pol ish jew-el ry and popular , fas t -se ll ing baroques. Roy 'sRock Shop, Box 133, Tr in idad, Cal i forn ia.

CHOICE MINERAL specimens, gems, cutt ing ma-ter ia l , machinery , lap idary and jeweler 's sup-p l ies , mount ings , f luorescent lamps, books .Sumner 's , 21108 Devonshi re, Chatsworth, Cal .

• GE MS , MINER ALS - FOSSILS

HOUR NATURAL staurol i tes, cross on both sides,for $1 postpa id. "A nim als" assembled f romuncut quar tz c rys ta ls — "Roc khou nd, " $1.25each. Five assorted animals, $5.50 postp aid.Reasoner Rock Or ig inals , Crown King H ighway,Bumble Bee, Ar izona.

FINE DOMESTIC and foreign crystals and mas-sive minerals. Please ask for f ree l ist . Con-t inenta l Minera ls , P.O. Box 1206, Anaconda,Mon t ana .

FOSSILS. 12 dif fere nt for $2 . Othe r prices onrequest. W i l l buy , se l l or t rade. Museum o fFossi ls. Cli f ford H. Earl, P. O. Box 188,Sedona, Ar izona.

CALIFORNIA GEM materials, crystals, fossi ls,minera ls . Good selec t ion to choose f rom.Custom sawing by the inch. Awa rd Orna-menta l I ron and Weld ing, 971 E. Barbour ,Banning, Cal i forn ia.

• G E M S , R O U G H M A T E R IA LGEMSTONES IN the rough; 16 dif ferent k inds

f rom a l l ove r t he wor ld , 1 pound " Qua l i t yGuara nteed " $3 postpaid. F ree l is t , gems andminerals. Char les M. Ozm ent , The Vel lor Co .,P.O. Box 2344(D), St. Louis 14, Missouri. (AGolden Rule Dealer)

REDS, MOTTLED, lace. A n ew f i n d . Jasp-agate.100 pounds p repa id , $22 .50 . Mor t on Minerals& Mining, 21423 (o ld) Hwy. 66, RFD 1 , Bar-s tow, Cal i forn ia.

BRILLIANT ARIZONA f luorescent wi l lemi te col -c i t e c omb ina t i on , new f i nd f rom ChiricauhuaMountains , one to 12 pound p ieces, $1.50 perpou nd postp aid. N. G. Woo lsey, 559 SouthLazona, Mesa, Ar izona .

COLORFUL AUSTRALIAN f ire o p a l ; rough or cut .No depos i t . Approvals sent on request . Seebefore you buy. F ree l is t . W r i te: Walker"Opals Exc lus ive ly" , 20385 Stanton Ave.,Cast ro Val ley , Cal i forn ia.

OPALSI MEXICAN f i re opal spec imens in matrix,6 for $1 postpa id. Rock Park , 5050 East VanBuren, Phoenix 8, Ar izona.

OPALS AND sapphi re d i rec t from Australia.This month 's bes t buy: rough emeralds f inecabochon mater ia l , deep color , 2 to 25 caratpieces. 2 qua li t ies, 1 ounce $15 and $45,

sent a i rmai l . Send personal check , in terna-t ional money order , bank draf t . Free 16 pagel i s t o f a l l Aust ra l ian gemstones. AustralianGem Trading Co., 294 Li t t le Col l ins St . , Mel -bourne C.I . , Aust ra l ia .

• I N D I A N G O O D S

THREE FINE prehistoric Indian war arrowheads$1. Fl in t scalp ing kni fe $ 1. Rare f l in t thunde r-b i rd $3 . A l l $4 . C a t a log f ree . A r rowhea d ,Glenwood, Arkansas.

INDIAN PHONOGRAPH records , authent ic songsand dances, al l speeds. W rite for latest l ist :Canyon Records , 834 No. 7th Avenue, Phoenix ,

1, A r iz ona .

WE APPRAISE, buy, sel l f inest reservat ion-madeIndian goods. Send $1 for genuine turquoisenugget , f ine qual i ty key chain, 16-page catalogof Indian handic raf ts , h is tory of SouthwesternIndian jewel ry , s tory of Navajo rugs , otherin format ion. The Indian Room, 1440 SouthCoast H ighway, Laguna Beach, Cal i forn ia.

AUTHENTIC INDIAN jewelry, Nava|O rugs, Chi-mayo blankets , squaw boots . Col lec tor 's items.Closed Tuesdays. Pow-W ow Ind ian TradingPost, 19967 Ventura Blvd. , East WoodlandHil ls, Calif. Open Sundays.

FINE RESERVATION-MADE Navajo, Zuni, Hopijewel ry . Old pawn. Many f ine o ld baskets ,moderate ly pr iced, in excel lent condi t ion.Navajo rugs , Yei b lankets , Chimayo homespuns,pot tery . A col lec tor 's paradise! Open dai ly10 to 5:30, closed Mond ays. Buffalo TradingPost, H ighway 18, App le Va l ley , Cal i forn ia.

SELLING 20,000 Indian re l ics. 100 nice ancientarrowheads $25. Indian skul l $25. L is t free.Lear 's , Glenwood, Arkansas.

10 WARPOINTS, $1.50; 6 arrowheads, $1.50; 4bi rdpoints , $1.50; 2 spearheads, $1.50, largecol lec t ion beads, prehis tor ic pot tery . PaulSummers , Canyon, Texas.

AMERICAN INDIAN color s l ides . Superb muse-um spec imens cover ing archeology and eth-nology of Western Hemisphere. Excel lent for

teachers, art ists, col lectors. Free l ist . Ame ricanIndian Museum, Broadway and 155th, NewYork -32 .

SELLING LARGE collect ions of f ine Indian rel ics!Large photo-i l lustrated Indian Relic Catalog10c. Al 's Relics, Box 393, Bellmore 7, NewYork .




HAVE INDIAN ar t i fac ts , rough and tumbledgemstones—wi l l t rade. Napier , 17238 Harvard,H ay ward , C a l i f o rn ia .

SPECTACULAR! GIANT photo-i l lustrated Indianre l ic cata log-guide 25c (refundable) . Ind ianRelic Gallery, Dept. D, 8 Helene Avenue,Merr ick 15, New York .

• J E W E L R Y

SEVEN POINT bell caps, $1.95 per gross, in-cludes tax and postage. Doney's Rock Shop ,Box 246, Lucerne, Lake County, Cali fornia.

GENUINE TURQUOISE bolo t ies $1.50, 11 stoneturquoise bracelet $2. Gem qual i ty goldent iger-eye $1.75 pound, beaut i fu l mixed agatebaroques $3 pou nd. Postage and tax ex t ra.Tubby's Rock Shop, 242O'/2 H ono lu lu A v e . ,Mont rose, Cal i forn ia.

DEALERSI Write for wholesale prices on ourfabulous l ine of non- tarn ish ing a luminumchains and baroque mount ings . Inc lude $1for samples . Use le t terhead or send tax num-ber. R. B. Berry & Com pan y, 5040B CorbySt reet , Omaha 4, Nebraska.

SIX BEAUTIFUL buttons matching earrings $1.50;embedded wi th c rys ta l rock , gold sea-horse,leaf, rosebuds, cut shell 's, cameos, fish, pheas-ants, star-f ish. Al l colors. G low bo la t ies$1.25. Key chains $1. Any choice above.Clay tons, 9 West Cornel io , San Clemente, Cal .

• L O D G E S , M O T E L S

ROCK HOUND headquar ters : Mo qui M ote l , Es-calante, Utah—on Highway U. 54, phone MAr-ket 4-4210, Dyna and Mohr Christensen. Packand Jeep Tr ips by appointment .

• M A P S

SECTIONIZED COUNTY maps - San Bernardino$3 ; Rivers ide $ 1; Imper ia l , smal l $1 , large $2;San Diego $1.25; Inyo $2.50; Kern $1.25;other Cali fornia count ies $1.25 each. Nevadacount ies $1 each. Include 4 percent sales tax.Topographic maps of a l l mapped westernareas. Westwide Maps Co., 114 West ThirdStreet, Los Angeles 13, Cali fornia.

• M I N I N G

ASSAYS. COMPLETE, accurate, guaranteed. High-est quality spectrographic. O nly $8 per sam-ple. Reed Engineering, 620-R S o. InglewoodAve., Inglewood, California.

PROSPECTORS! DO not be without new fluor-escent mineral detector that operates in day-light, is economical to use and can be car-ried in shirt pocket. Detects many industrywanted minerals. Useful in uranium and othermining operations. Price only $12.50. Freebroch ure. Essington Products & Eng ineering,Box 41 74, Coronado Station, Santa Fe, N. M .

$1 FOR gold areas, 25 California counties.Ge ology, elevations. Pans $3, $2.50. Poke $1 .Fred Mark, Box 801 , Ojai , California.

BOULDER ASSA Y O ffice: fire assay for gold,silver and platinum; ore analysis; mineralidentification. List of assay charges sent onrequest. 250 Pearl Street, Boulder, Colorado.

• O L D C O I N S , S T A M P S

RARE UNCIRCULATED Carson City mint dol lars,1878, $5. 1882-83-84-90-91, $10 each. 100-page catalog 50c. Shu ltz, P.O. Box 746, SaltLake City 10, Utah.

STAMP COLLECTORS—There is money in stamps.Send for inves tment type approvals . SoundValue Stamps, 1813 Miracerros , A lamogordo,New Mex ic o .

• P H O T O S U P PL IE S

COLOR SLIDES: Railroad , ghost t ow n, scenicsouthwest, Cali fornia missions, Calico, Marine-land. Sample and l ist 25c. Longstreet, 6977Sunnydel l , Hol lywood 28, Cal i forn ia.

BIOLOGIST, BOTANIST, histologist , zoologist ,spec ia l ized and sc ient i f ic photography. Mac-ropho t og raphy , m ic ropho t og raphy , pho t om ic ro -grap hy. Please send for part iculars: Special-ized and Scient if ic Photograp hers, Inc. P.O.Box 367, A lp ine, Calif.

35 mm. COLOR sl ides of Western art ist ClydeForsy the 's great "Gold St r ike" paint ings . Fourexc i t ing s l ides : "Gold Rush, " "Min ing Camp,"" M in ing T own , " " Ghos t Town. " R ise and f a l lo f a typ ica l boom to wn . Set of four s l idesmai led to you for $1. Order f rom Deser tMagazine Book Store, Palm Desert , Calif.

• P L A N T S , S E ED S

WILDFLOWER SEEDS: catalog offers over 600di f ferent k inds of wi ld f lower and wi ld t reeseeds. Catalog 50c. Clyde Robin, P.O. Box2091 , Cast ro Val ley , Cal i forn ia.

• R E A L E S T A T E

LAS VEGAS lots in choice subdivision, five min-utes from Strip, only 2V2 miles from down-town, graded streets, producing water wellsin vicinity, power lines adjoining subdivision.Lots selling fast now. Great investment po-tential for only $10 down and $10 a month.Free illustrated brochure. Land, Inc., 130-DCLas Vegas Blvd. South, Las Vegas, Nevada.

HOOT GIBSON ranchos, 2V2 and 20 acre parcelssold as low as $10 down and $10 month; hasunderground water for development, deepfertile, level, rock-free soil. Huge commercialfarms nearby, raising second best cotton inU.S. Near W est's most famous playground:Las Vegas and Lake Me ad, with M t. Charles-ton's winter sports activities. W onderful in-vestment for future while you play now.Located south end Pahrump Valley, California.Large airport on ranch, with fly-in ranchesalso availab le. Brokers invited to participa te.Hidden H ills Ranch Development, 443 W . Gar-vey, Monterey P ark, California. Phone Clin-ton 7-0818 . Send how for colorful brochure.

80 ACRES in fast growing Coachella Valley.Frontage on both Highway 99 and paved

cross street. W ater, electricity, warm areasuitable for c itrus, grapes, etc. W ill trade fortop quality income property in Los Angelesarea. W rite: Don Bleitz, 1001 N. McCaddenPlace, Los Angeles 38.

FOR SALE: Five acres with Government-Approv-ed Cabin near Twentynine Palms, California,within view of the Marine Base and the com-munity of Twentynine Palms. Ideal for week-end seclusion and /or investment. M ust sell—$1 9 00 . W rite for terms. Mel H arrison, P. O .Box 997, Palm Desert, California.

HI D ESERT, Hespe ria. Practically new one bed-room home with doub le garage. Includesdrapes, refrigerator, water heater, range andheater. $8000 cash. O wner: W . E. Row, Box456, Glendora, California.

FOR SALE: Johannesburg, California, three bed-room modern house, partly furnished, fourlots, $350 0. Chicken Ranch, buildings and20-acre mining claim, $3500. O wner: W ardS. McEntyre, 8382 Lambert Drive, HuntingtonBeach, California. Phone: L exington 6-21 95.

160 ACRES, patented, in Nat ional Forest, nearWh eat land, Wyo ming . $50 an acre. A . T.Foster , Box 572, Phoenix , Ar izona.

FOR INFORMATION on deser t acreage and par-cels for sale in or near Twentynine Palms,please write Silas S. Stanley, Realtor, 73644Twentynine Palms Highway, Twentynine Palms,Cal i forn ia.

110 ACRES for sale in Coachella Valley, onlythree miles from city of Coachella. Sacrif iceat $100 per acre. W rite : Don Bleitz, 1001 N.

McCadden Place, Los Angeles 38, Cal i forn ia.

WHOLESALE LAND l ist : f ive to 640 acres from$28 per acre, located in San Bernardino, Kern,Riverside, Fresno, Inyo and Imperial count ies.Write or cal l for complete l ist of land bar-gains: R. Shaw , Box 8062 , Los Angeles 8.Axminster 19188.

• W E S T E R N M E R C H A N D I S E

FREE "D O -lt-Yourself" Leathercraft c atalog. TandyLeather Company, Box 791-Y-40 , Fort W orth,Texas.

SUN COLORED glass for sale. M rs. A. E. W yc-koff, 11501 Davenport Road, Agua Dulce, Cal.

GHO ST T O W N items: Sun- olored glass, amethystto royal purple; ghost railroads materials,tickets; limited odd items from camps of the'60s. W rite your interest—Box 64 -D , Sm ith,Nevada.

DESERT RATS, rockhounds, beachcombers, atten-tion: Here is opportunity to make that trekpay off. W ill buy anything unusual, includ-ing rocks, minerals, ores, sands, bottles, flasks,sun-colored glass. Any thing from old aban-doned mines, and camps. Not interested indealer's propositions. Inquire before sendingmaterial. All correspondence answered. GeorgeH. Heiser, 3227 Pittsburgh Ave., Erie, Pa.

PINE CONES—extraordinary variety, also wreaths.

Na turalist collections. 15 years shipping toevery state. Booklet: W estern Tree Cones,Corvallis, Oregon.

RELICS, GLASS of mining days, local gems andjewelry, paintings of local historic places, freeinformation on scenic and rock areas. VisitRoberta's in the ghost town of Garlock, be-tween highways 6 and 395, west of Rands-burg. M ail inquiries answ ered. Rob erta's,Box C, Randsburg, California.

• M I S C E L L A N E O U S

LEARN OIL painting. N ew correspondencecourses for amateur and advanced students.Personal forty point critique of each painting.W alker School of Art, Box 486 , Montrose, Colo.

W A NT TO Y trains, electric and cast-iron madeprevious to 1938. Pay cash. D ick Thom pson,2901 East Fourth Street, Long Beach 14, Calif.

ULTRAVIOLET LAMPS from $10 .50. Kits, filters,tubes, accessories. America's most completeline. Free literature . Radiant Ultra VioletProducts, Cambia Heights 11 , New York.

FOR INFORMATION on hunting, f ishing withfamous Edwards family at Lonesome Lake inCanadian wilderness, write : Jack C. Harris,2985 W inifred, Riverside, California.

PHOTO and ART credits(Unless otherwise specified below or in text,photographs and art work are by authors offeatures in which they appear.)

Page 3: Cartoon by B. F. Nordberg. 8:M ap by Norton Allen. 10: Harold O.W eight. 11 -13: Western Ways Features.1 6 , 17 : F ield Studios, Riverside. 18 :Color photo by Harry Vroman. 20:W estern Ways Features. 21 : Fred Rags-dale. 2 6 : California State Library. 29 :Frashers.




H E R E C O M E S T H E T O Y O T A

Desert Magazine

TEST-DRIVES

the latest

FOUR-WHEEL-DRIVE

i m p o r t— t h e ,

135-horsepower

JAPANESE

LAND CRUISER

By LEE OERTLE

DEEP PENETRATION of desert

regions can only be accom-plished with vehicles equipped

with four-wheel drive. And as morepersons become aware of the tremen-dous versatility of 4wd vehicles, thedemand will increase sharply.

With this in mind, Desert Magazinetested the British Land Rover a fewmon ths ago (issue of Feb. '61) .

My test of the newest import, theJapanese Land Cruiser, covered 363miles. This "Made in Japan" prod-uct proved to be very interesting inmany ways.

We picked up the Land Cruiser inHollywood from the local distributor.The model we selected was a hard-t o p , tan in color. The Land Cruiseris a handsome vehicle in a Spartan

i f way. Chrome is hard to find on its-*, functional body shell. The roof-line| is perhaps a bit higher than theI American trail-type vehicles. The

'•If-ftt driver sits higher in the cab, and& 3 ) visibility is excellent. Plenty of leg

a room and comfortable seats were im-* mediately noticeable.

The cockpit arrangement showed

a startling improvement over com-petitive makes of 4wd vehicles. Theshift-lever for the 3-speed transmis-sion is on the steering column.Mounted in the center of the dashpanel is an eigh-inch lever arm thatactuates the front-drive unit andlow-range gearing through the trans-fer case. A green light glows whenfront-drive is engaged. The floor isuncluttered and clean, and to me,this is a major refinement. Stoopingto shift gears is a physical nuisance,in my opinion.

Full-width front seats which foldforward are comfortably padded. Rearseats in this hard-top are placedlengthwise to the body, adding meas-urable passenger space. Side windowsin the front door are operated witha simple sliding m echanism — nocranking is necessary. Just lift theknob and the window raises—pushit down and the frame hauls the win-dow down. One annoyance is therefusal of the window glass to recesscompletely down inside the doorpanel. Abou t an inch of glass pro-

trudes above the sill, rendering ituseless as an arm rest.

Over the one-piece windshield aretwo electric windshield wipers. But—and this is peculiar—there are nosun visors on either side. This proved

to be the most obnoxious feature ofan otherwise well-planned interior.

The spare-tire is mounted on aswinging-gate on the rear of the LandCruiser—a very handy placement. Atool box is provided under the frontseat, with a small collection of handtools and a jack.

Side windows above the rear seatsare immovable, but the large rearwindow folds upward to allow alarge 2'x3' opening for greater aircirculation. The entire hard metaltop is removable.

FREEWAY DRIVING

The first discovery is that the 3-speed transmission, located on thesteering column as in American cars,shifts exactly like s tandard - shiftAmerican cars. Both clutch and brakeare hydraulically assisted and func-tion effortlessly. Even the most frailfemale would have no difficulty driv-ing the Toyota. Steering response isexcellent, with only a slight tendencyto drift into other traffic lanes—nobetter or worse than American ve-hicles in this regard. Maneuve ring,due mainly to the sharp 17-foot turn-

ing radius, is very good. Rid ing com-fort is reasonable, and better thanmost 4wd vehicles. The Land Cruiserwe tested weighed 3263 pounds—al-most a full 1000 pounds heavier thana Jeep.

Big Surprise number two is thepow erplant. Under the hood the six-cylinder water-cooled engine boasts135 horsepower—nearly a third morethan the nearest com petitor. Step onthe gas to pass in traffic and the re-sponse is immediate. Acceleration isbetter than other 4wd cars, but it

cannot be described as "hot."Big 7.60x15 tires give the Toyota

a healthy bite on the road and offergood brak ing surface. Brakes seemedslightly spongy at the pedal, butstopped the Land Cruiser withoutlurch. Braking from speeds above 60miles per hour revealed a tendencyto jack-knife—common to any light-weight vehicle.

Driving speeds up to 70 miles perhour didn't strain the husky enginea bit. Because of the howl set up by

the multitude of gears, normal con-versation is difficult to carry on inthe Land Cruiser.

DEEP SAND TRACTION

At Whitewater, several miles north-




S I D E V I E W OF L A N D C R U I S E R S H O W S ITS

S P A R T A N F E A T U R E S . TOP IS R E M O V A B L E • by.west of Indio, we left the highwayand simply drove off onto a thousandacres of pure drift sand. The LandCruiser negotiated a half-mile of thisabuse before shifting to front-drivebecame necessary. I pulled out the

FD button and hit the pedal.Without shifting down into the low-est gear ratio through the transfercase, wemade our way a respectabledistance from the highway, until wereached a formidable, mile-long dune.The Land Cruiser started up theslope but soon bogged down. I stop-ped, pulled the transfer-case leverdown into Lo-Range position, andgunned the engine. Final-drive ratioin the lowest possible gear is 21.44:1.(Competitive makes of 4wd equip-

ment advertise up to 40:1 ratio in

low gear, but since their horsepoweris materially lower, results are aboutthe same.) In this lowest possiblegear, the Land Cruiser made a vali-ant effort toclimb theshifting sands,but without much success. Part ofthe trouble could be traced to thetires, (inflated to 30 pounds) whichwere snow-type. Tires with smoother,shallower tread patterns would havebeen better. Even though theToyota

did not seem to have special abilityto cross deep sand, it did have one

outstanding feature here: when stuckto the hubs in sand, a simple shiftinto reverse and touch of the gaspedal literally hurls themachine outof the trap. This is one asset that Itested time after time, with the sameresults. The Land Cruiser seems topossess an excellent get - out -quickfeature in reverse gear (3.67:1 rati o ).

Six speeds forward are possiblethrough the transmission and trans-fer case. Ultimate ratio in high gearis 3.30 to 1, which will be changed

in late 1961 to 3.70 to 1.In all truth, I'd say that the Jeep

could probably outperform the LandCruiser in loose, deep sand—possiblybecause it is lighter by 1000pounds.However, as I pointed out, our testvehicle had the worst type of tirefor use in sand. It was a matter oftraction.

WASHBOARD ROADS

Fifty miles south of Whitewater— dunes, we left the highway at Salton

~z Sea State Park and made our wayup to theCoachella Canal. Then we

, _»•*

LAR GE S W I N G- U P R EA R W I N D OW PR OV ID E SGOOD V I S I B I L I TY AND V E N T I L A T IO N . N O T E

SPARE TIRE PLACEMENT ON S W I N G I N G G A T E .




REAR SEATS AREA R R A N G E D L E N G T H W I SE

TO THE BODY FORMAXIMUM SPACE AD-

VANTAGE. THEY FOLD UPWARD OUTOF WAY.

Crossing rocky terrain meant noth-ing to theLand Cruiser. Solong asthe rocks were small enough topassunder thebody, thevehicle forgedahead over all obstacles. Ground

clearance is 8.2 inches, against 8inches fortheJeep and 9.3 inches forthe International Scout.

Now wewere entering rough-and-tumble hill country, where dry-washmeets steep hillside. Bythis time Ihad begun tofeel absolutely unstop-pable. TheLand Cruiser hadasort ofhypnotic "drive on,conquer all" ef-fect on me.

At thebottom of the first ruggedgrade, I shifted down into the lowest4wd range. I gunned theengine andliterally ranuptheslope, pausing for

rocks now and then—but never hesi-tating on firm ground. Make nomistake about it—whatever theLandCruiser lacks in sand it makes upfor in rocky, hilly country! After afew hours of penetrating this backcountry several miles from noplace,I came totheconclusion that aslongas thefuel supply and tires last,theToyota will just keep going—up hilland down. The135horsepoweren-gine isthe bigreason.

turned south andfollowed the roughwashboard dirt road paralleling thecanal forabout 30miles, traveling atabout 40miles anhour. The LandCruiser definitely has a tight, solid-feeling chassis. Few squeaks or rat-tles were noticed above the din setup by thetires thumping across theruts. Werolled upthewindows andtested for dust. Very little enteredthe cockpit. It wasn't objectionableat all. Wereversed directions, re-turned to thenorth end of SaltonSink, then turned northeast into theOrocopia Mountains.

M OUNTA INS, BACK TRAILS

A fewmiles above thecanal weturned off thedirt road andstartedacross a flat plateau covered withpumpkin-sized rocks withoul: tryingto miss many of them. Deliberatelywe rolled upandover some of thesestones at slow speeds. The LandCruiser seemed to be able to pushitself off when onewheel gothungup—though power islost intheproc-ess. Aquick glance under thebodyshows a thick, protective belly tankof steel plate.

RUGGED STEEL BELLY-PAN PROTECTS UN-

DERSIDE OFL A N D C R U I S E R . T H I S ISEXCEL-

LENT SAFETY FEATURE IN R O C K Y T E R R A I N .




LEVER MOUNTED ON D A S H IS C ON TR OL f \

A R M FOR TRANSFER CASE, FRONT-DRIVE 1 /

M E C H A N I S M - A M A J O R 4 WD REFINEMENT

Turning and maneuvering in tightcanyons was accomplished withoutunusual difficulty. Here again theshort turning radius of 17-feet helped.Overall length of the machine is 151.1inches, width is 65.6 inches; front

tread is 53.3 inches; rear tread, 53.1inches. The Land Cruiser body isnarrower than either Scout or Jeep—but there is more distance betweenthe tires on the ground.

Fuel tank capacity is 18.5 gallons,an asset for long hauls. Fuel mileagewas 13.4 miles per gallon for theentire 363 miles we covered that day,including about 70 miles of interme-diate-gear driving off the pavement.

Despite nine solid hours behindthe wheel, I can truthfully say that

the trip was enjoyable. The seatbacks seem a little too vertical fordriving comfort on the highway, butoff-trail they provide good back sup-port. My impression is that the LandCruiser is more comfortable than anymilitary Jeep I ever drove.

PRICES

Toyota Motors lists prices as fol-lows: for the hard-top model at portof entry, $2995. For the soft-top,

$2665. Optional equipment: winch

with 155-foot steel cable, $361; powertake-off, front and rear, $125.

Standard equipment on the hard-top includes high-low range four-wheel-drive; transfer control on dash;rear swing gate; pintle hook & trailersocket; wheel caps; two electric wind-shield wipers; reinforced oil pan;locking gas cap; rear passenger seats.

Major parts supply depot is atLong Beach, California. The dis-tributor said 24-hour delivery of parts,anywhere in the Southwest, would

try to be maintained. This is a pointto consider when buying an importedvehicle.

Considering the extra horsepower,comfort, gear - shifting arrangement,and general handling ability of theToyota, it looks like a sure bet togain increased acceptance among des-ert travelers. The minor problemsassociated with sand travel probablycan be eliminated through use of cor-rect tires. In my opinion, the LandCruiser is a thoroughly engineeredvehicle—one that will make the com-

petition sit up and notice. It hasmany features that I'd like to seeon American 4wd vehicles. / / /

HUSKY SIX-CYLINDER TOYOTA ENGINE PRO-

DUCES 135 H O R S E P O W E R - F A R M O R E T H A NCOMPARABLE FOUR - WHEEL - DRIVE VEHICLES




Ruggedness indesign, lightness in

weight, plus power totake youwherever you please. Total weightwith engine (6hp) tips 65 lbs.Larger mo dels are also available.Prices start at$169.00 complete,ready to run.

Send 25c (for handling)for complete descriptive

literature.

engineering

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Palm Desert, Calif.

The stranger walked across the porchof theInferno Store and stopped infront of the reclining prospector.

"Are you Hard Rock Shorty?" askedthe newcomer.

"At yer service," answered Shorty, notbothering to lift the hat off his face.

"They tell me inthe store you know

more about Death Valley weather thanany other man alive," said the stranger.

"Ain't much toknow 'bout weatherin these parts," said Shorty. "Sometimesit's hot like today; other times it's hot-ter."

"I'm writing a book about Californiaweather," said the man. "Has it everrained here inSeptember?"

" N o , " answered Shorty. "Thet is, itain't never rained rain here inSeptem-ber."

The book-writer took out a note pad."No rain in September," hemumbledas he wrote.

"Thet's right," Shorty said. "It'srained in September, but it's never rainedrain in September."

The stranger stopped writing. "W-whatwas that?" he asked.

"We ain't never had no rain-waterfall here in September," said Shortyslowly and patiently. "But oncet—inSeptember '09—we had a bad stormduring a terrible hot spell."

The would-be author dropped his

H A R D

R O C K

S H O R T Y. . . OF DEATH VALLEY

pencil and gave Shorty his full atten-tion.

"It got so hot thet summer," recountedShorty, "thet all th'lizards started mi-gratin' toward th' Panamints. Apartic-ularly mean spell o' weather caught themcritters in a bunch on the salt flats, andthet ground got sohot it boiled thempoor lizards' insides. Them critters wazso surprised, not aone had time to openhis mouth to let offsteam.

"Well, sir, thet steam commencedbuilding-up in each lizard, an' soon theywaz all puffed-up like parade balloons.

"One by one they began rising off theground. It got so thick with floatin'lizards thet th'sun waz darned nearblacked-out.

"But, when night came on and itcooled off a mite, them lizards starteddescending. It rained reptiles from hereto Shoshone clear up to midnight." / / /

A September Travel Suggestion by W e l d o n F.H e a l d

S a l o m e s D ic h W i t h H a l l

C e l e b r a t i o n : S e p t e m b e r 9B

ETWEEN BLYTHE and Wickenburg,U. S. Highway 60-70 crosses aparticu-larly barren stretch of the Arizona

desert for 113 miles. Wide, treeless valleysalternate with jagged ranges ofnaked rock

extending tothe far horizon. Not a greenoasis can be seen anywhere, and settlementsare few and far between. Biggest is Salome,about half way, a typical highway striptown with service stations, cafes and motels.But actually there's nothing typical aboutSalome—its name, its founder and its his-tory are all unusual, as you'll soon discoverif you spend more time inthis town thanit takes to fill your gas tank.

Here is a community that was launchedwith a smile, christened with a chuckle,and branded with a provocative sloganwhich became familiar throughout thecountry.

In fact, "Salome—Where She Danced"at one time ran the Grand Canyon a closesecond in Arizona fame. The man respon-sible was Dick Wick Hall—prospector, pro-moter, rancher, garageman, newspaper edi-tor, postmaster and nationally-known hu-morist. His tall tales about Salome foundtheir way into big circulation magazines andtickled the nation's ribs for adecade.

Rattlesnakes first lured Hall toArizona.Born at Creston, Iowa, in 1877, heearlydeveloped aninterest inreptiles and cameWest as an amateur herpetologist tostudythe Hopi snake dances. A good-looking,

personable young man, he arrived in1898with $14.35 inhis pocket. The Hopis be-friended him, made him an honorary mem-be r of the tribe, and lethim count theirnoses as official census taker on the Reserva-tion in1900.

But Hall was too volatile a character tovegetate with the isolated Hopis. For thenext four years he was successively a farmhand in Pleasant Valley, a constructionworker on the Territorial Capitol Buildingat Phoenix, did a stint editing the Wicken-burg News-Herald, and went prospectingwith his brother Ernest, who later becameArizona Secretary of State. It was whileeditor that hehad his name changed bycourt order from DeForrest Hall toDickWick Hall. The Wick, heexplained, wasa contraction ofWickenburg.

In 1903 or1904 Hall grubstaked ShortyAlger, who located a small glory hole inthe Harcuvar Mountains, north ofpresent-day Hope. It looked like a rich gold strikeand hordes of"boomers" swarmed in, stak-




ing claims for miles around. But the pocket-sized bonanza yielded but $100,000, thenfizzled out. Everybody left but Ha ll, hisbrother, and a Pittsburgh man namedCharles H. Pratt. As the Grace Develop-ment Company, they filed claim on 100,-000 acres in arid McMullen Valley, be-tween the Harcuvar and Harquahala moun-tains, sank a well, and advertised the areaas an agricultural paradise in the desert.

Hall was particularly eloquent about the

fertility of the land, but his soft-sell tacticslacked the usual chamber of commercepunch. "Melons don't do very well here ,"he wrote, "becuz the vines grow so fastthey wear the melons out dragging themaround the ground—and in dry years wesometimes have to plant onions in betweenthe rows of potatoes and then scratch theonions to make the potatoes' eyes waterenough to irrigate the rest of the garden."People laughed, but the pitch broughtmighty few prospective residents.

The three men were actually countingon the railroad to bring them prosperity.Tracks were laid through the valley in 1906,but missed the two-year-old settlement ofSalome by a mile. So the commun ity was

moved bodily to its present location, anda newcomer, E. S. Jones, built a generalstore and operated Jones' Blue Rock Inne.

As for the town's name, just why Mrs.Grace Salome Pratt, wife of Hall's partner,took her shoes off on the torrid Arizonadesert isn't quite clear. Hall himself dis-claimed any part of it. "Everybody seemsto think I'm the man who made Salomedance," he declared, "but it wasn't my faultat all. I told her to keep her shoes on orthe sand would burn her feet."

But take off her shoes she did, and in theimmortal words of Dick Wick Hall, "Sal-ome hot-footed her way to Fame with anindescribable terpsichorean agitation thathas aroused comment all over the known

world since then." So Salome— Where SheDanced ranks in Arizona history along withTombstone, Prescott and Jerome as a placewhere stirring events have occurred.

Hall managed to keep busy during thefollowing years, promoting oil, mining andland development projects in Arizona andseveral other states. He married , too, andwas father of a boy and a girl. He wasreported to have sold his mine in the Har-cuvar Mountains for $1,000,000, but nosuch affluence was evident in his style ofliving. The Halls were simple desert folk,and he said of himself, "I started withnothing, so I knew I couldn't lose nothing."

But it wasn't until 1920 that Dick WickHall and Salome—Where She Danced cameinto their own. In that year the new statehighway was routed through the valley,south of town. Hall immediately establishedhis famous roadside "Laughing Gas ServiceStation and Garage," and adorned it withsigns reading "Tickle lizzie's carburetor withour laughing gas" and "Smile, you don'thave to stay here but we do."

Soon tourists were chuckling over freecopies of the Salome Sun, "Made with alaugh on a mimeograph by a Rough NeckStaff." It contained tall tales about the heatand dryness, humorous sketches on localcharacters, gibes at the roughness of theso-called highway, outrageous exaggerationsand cracker-barrel philosophy.

People began to follow the adventuresof Dick Wick Hall's desert-bred pet frog.Although seven years old, it couldn't swim,and carried a canteen slung over its back.Readers also appreciated the map of Hall'simaginary desert golf "lynx," which tooktwo days to play and had more hair-raising hazards than any other course in the

. . . : •

DICK WICK HALL AT HIS SALOME SERVICE STATION

world. In fact, the fame of the ebullientSalome Sun spread so rapidly that it be-came a regular feature of the SaturdayEvening Post and was quoted in magazinesand newspapers throughout the country.With this little sheet, Dick Wick Hallfound himself one of the best known andmost widely read of American humorists.

However, the Salome Sun also served apractical purpose in its constant barbedagitation for good roads, and the paper'seditor had a serious side, even if he seldomdisplayed it to the public. Deep dow n,Dick Wick Hall was an ardent lover ofthe great open spaces of the Southwesterndesert. "It's a place," he said, "where Ican do as I please . . . get acquainted withmyself and maybe find something which

every man in his soul is increasingly search-ing for—himself."

But just at the top of his form, aged 50,Dick Wick Hall was stricken with Bright'sdisease in Los Angeles and died there,April 28, 1926. He was buried in Salome,and you can see his grave just north ofthe railroad tracks. It consists of a stonemonument in which is set a circular bronze

medallion of Hall's head and shoulders inrelief. At the foot is a cement slab witha mosaic cross made from pieces of orecontributed by old friends.

The memory of Dick Wick Hall is keptvery much alive in Salome today, and thereare still many reminders of the town'sformer garageman, postmaster and news-paper editor. Several oldtimers rememberhim, and William Sheffler, who operatestourist accommodations along the highway,has preserved copies of the humorist's works.

Each year since 1940, Salome has lustilycelebrated Dick Wick Hall Days. Theseare real old-fashioned Western-type shin-digs, featuring open-pit barbecues andsquare dancing. Ranchers, miners and des-ert dwellers for miles around come toSalome to eat, drink, dance and take partin a country style carniva l. This year'scelebration will be held September 9.

No, Salome—Where She Danced, cer-tainly isn't typical. And it's a pleasantchange to discover one Southwestern com-munity whose fame was derived from leadin a pencil rather than from a gun. / / /

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M ail to DESERT M AG AZ INE , Palm D esert, California




NEW DESERT BOOKS

A NEW BOOK ONLOST TREASURE

Brief descriptions of 93 famous mislaidtreasure hordes in the West make up amodest paperback entitled Buried Treasureand Lost Mines. Author of this book is aprofessional treasure hunter, Frank L. Fishof the Amador City (Calif.) Gold RushTrading Post & Museum. Fish's place isstuffed with weapons, gold scales and strongboxes — so perhaps the casual lost minedevotee had best buy this book and followthe clues contained therein.

Halftone illustrations, drawings, a fewmaps. $1.50 from Des ert Magazine BookStore. (See footnote.)

T R E A S U R E M A P"Gold is where you find it"

Drive to one of theseLOST M INE SITES

Ma gni f i cent 2 3"x 34 " fu l l- co lor map shows theway— via roads, hiways. Fascinating wal l dec-oration & conversation piece. "Best ever!"experts say. Ve l lum Finish $2.00. IvoryDeckle-edged $3.00. Parchment Deluxe $5.00.Wri te for nearest dealer or send check/cash/M.O. ( In Calif, add sales tax.) Ful l refun di f not de l ighted. T R E A S U R A M A , Dept. D3 9 6 9 Goodland Ave., North Hollywood, Calif.

Dealer inquiries invited

Henry R. M ockela n d

Beverly M ockela r e h a p p y t o a n n o u n c e

the opening of the

P H I 1 f l f i l G B L L O iy5686 The Plaza

Twent yn i ne Pa l ms , Calif.

Paintings, prints, watercolors ofdesert subjects; also artsupplies. Cactus - flowernotes and personalizedstationery.

Come and visit. We a re opensix days a week inc lud-i ng Sundays , fo r yourconvenience . (Closed on

Mondays . )Drop over to the San Bernardino

County Fair at Victor-ville, Oct. 3-8. We willbe in booth 29 .

M AM M ALS OF SOUTHWESTM OUNTAINS AND M ESAS

Naturalist George Olin, whose first book,Mammals of the Southwest Deserts, waswell received, has migrated to higherground . Out of this move has come a newbook, Mammals of the Southwest Moun-tains and Mesas, an excellent collection ofwildlife descriptions. It's all very much likea ramble through a desert zoo in companywith a lucid and articulate personal guide.

The Southwest habitat is one of manycontras ts. Its wildlife reflects this unique-ness; they are interesting creatures.

Described in Mammals of the SouthwestMountains and Mesas are 43 species, alongwith distinguishing characteristics of manysubspecies. The roster ranges from the tinyshrew to the grizzly bear.

Actually, Olin's new work is three booksin one: textbook, reference book, and abook that offers pleasure reading.

The book is well illustrated by EdwardBierly; Index; 126 pp. Papercover: $2;Hardcover: $3.25. (See footnote below fordetails on how to buy this book throughthe mails.)

A M OTORIST'S GUIDETO NAVAJOLAND

The Navajo country is as big as it ishandsome, and it's no place for the motor-ized amateur explorer—at least the kindwho can't resist a dirt road. In Navajoland ,the dirt roads stretch for more miles thangas tanks can take some cars.

But, there's plenty to see from the pavedor main-traveled bladed roads, and Motor-ist Guide to the Navajo Indian Reservationwill help you better understand and enjoythe surroundings. The small papercoverbooklet is written by Mary MacF arlane. Itcontains halftone illustrations and a fold-outmap. $1.50 from Desert Magazine BookStore (see below).

REPRINT OF 1851 REPORTBY WHIPPLE IS AVAILABLE

The Whipple Report, a U.S. Senate doc-ument printed in 1851, concerns itself witha boundary survey expedition from SanDiego to the junction of the Gila andColorado rivers. It is the journal of Lt. A.W. Whipple of the Topographical Engineers,who attained prominence in the West forthis and later work along these lines.

A special 1961 reprinting of The WhippleReport, with foreword and notes by E. I.Edwards, now makes this rare documentavailable to the general reader.

The trek from San Diego to the Yumacountry and return took but three months(September 11 to December 1, 1849). Itproduced not only Whipple's Report; bu t

the Journal of Lt. Cave Johnson Couts,officer in charge of Whipple's military guard,as well. It would be a fair statement tosay that Couts and Whipple hated oneanothe r with a passion. This rivalry wasa classic staging—one that Hollywood hasplayed into the desert dust: extrovert Couts,friend of the emigrants moving Westward

across the Gila trail, wonderful companion,well-liked by all (except Whipple); and in-trovert Whipple, displaying a bookish in-terest in the Indians, a "Washington Citydandy with his white kid gloves" (accord-ing to Couts).

This antagonism is what gives spice toThe Whipple Report, although Whipplechildishly mentions Couts but twice in hisnarrative. But, the man's thoughts andobservations reveal his personality, and we

have an opportunity here to become betteracquainted with an interesting personalitywho had some impact on the Western scene.

Hard cover; illustrations; bibliography;index; 100 pages, $5.50.

ALL ABOUT BUILDINGA BARBECUE UNIT

Ideas for Building Barbecues, a SunsetBook, tells about: Types of barbecue units;Planning your barbecue; Simple outdoorgrills; Open-air kitchens; Outdoor firepits;Deep-pit barbecue ovens; Outdoor-indoorbarbecues; Indoor grills; Smoke ovens;

Metal fixtures; Construction specifications;Working with concrete; Building with brickand mortar; Setting Stonework; and Howto use your barbecue. Construction plansfor 16 units are included.

The paper-cover book is illustrated with175 photos and drawings, and sells for$1.50. Good eating! (See footnote below).

Books reviewed on this page can be purchasedby mail from Desert Magazine Book Store,Palm Desert, California. Please add 16c forpostage and handling per book. Californiaresidents also add 4% sales tax. Write for freebook catalog.

Wind HIDDEN TREASURESC OL D , SILVER, PRECIOUS METALS w i t h I h t F o m w f M o d . t2 7 M t t a l D.l. t lor. L i g h t we i g h t , u l h a - s a i u i t l v t , lo wc e t t . N o r . H n t r . A l t s GEIGER COUNTERS fa r uroniwm •an d the V IOUTE (or tungsten. INFORMATION FREE .

INSTRUMENTS.

O f t e n C o p i e d — N e v e r E x c e l l e d

M ETAL DETECTORSMore accurate, i t 's the f i rst metal detectordesigned speci f ical ly for detecting placergold, nuggets , and other smal l meta l ob-jec ts . Depth range 7 feet—comes complete,ready to use.

MOD EL 27—instructions included $11 9.95MODEL 711—with 21 f t . depth range $149.00

LAKEWOO D CHEM ICAL KITThe Lakewood Chemical Ki t can be used inconnection with al l the pr incipal texts onminerals such as Dana, Pough, O. C. Smith,Pennfield, Duke's Course, and many others.The Lakewood Chemical Ki t, because ofthe acids i t contains , is not recommendedfor persons under 18 years old. Pr iced$36.00 Express only.

S E N D F O R FR E E L I T E R A T U R E

1405 S. Long Beach Blvd. , .Compton, Calif.

NEwmork 2-9096

South of Compton Blvd.




_•_ J ' — - - —-••-•

Quit JKetureen l/ou and Ale

i$^L^ ( r i ^£ &$&

By RANDALL HENDERSON

I

THIS IS BEING written in mid-July. The tempera-ture outside is hovering around 115 degrees. Mostof the creatures which live on the desert—ncluding

the human species—have retreated to the shady places.But not all of them. A mockingbird, perched in the topof a fig tree outside my window, is singing as happily asif this were the most comfortable spot on earth.

•HQ|||!^Ha Speaking of fig trees, 1 wonder-why desert dwellers do not growmore of them. Given plenty ofwater, they thrive in this lowdesert, and during June and Julyproduce an abundant crop of

^^^A luscious fruit. Their smoothwhitish trunks and limbs make

Bv M±X them an attractive ornamentaltree, with excellent shade. Our

Wk best tree is a variety commonly^^^•••BBBBBBl known as Brown Turkey.

It is said that in the Garden of Eden a gal namedEve used the big fig leaves for making a dress. How-

ever, I would not recommend that, although in PalmSprings I have seen womens attire which would havebeen less revealing if a few fig leaves had been added.

Weekends we take a big bag of figs to our moun-tain cabin in the San Jacintos where the deer, squirrelsand birds which come to our patio seem to relish them.This has been especially true this summer when theprolonged drouth has seriously reduced the naturalfood supply for the wildlife.

I am in favor of more fig trees on the desert.

# # *

Recently 1 spent a day among the pines and cedars ofa high desert mountain oasis with a ranger of theForestry Service. We were in a National Forest. We

came to a little clearing where a crude shack had beenerected.

"Mining claim," my companion commented.

"Is it a legitimate claim?" I asked. "There is no evi-dence of mineralized rock in this area."

He shook his head. "Probably not," he replied.

My question was a proper one, because I knowanother scenic mountain area in Southern California,also in the National Forest, where there are several ofthese "mining claims." Anyone can stake out a mininglocation by erecting cairns at the four corners andfiling a copy of the location notice with the countyclerk. After that it is necessary only to file an affidavitonce a year stating that $100 worth of assessment workhas been done on the property.

Generally the claimant gouges out a "coyote hole"in the hillside—and that is the mine. There may be atrace of mineral in the rock, but that is not important.The quest is not for ore, but for a rent-free, tax-free

cabinsite in a lovely mountain setting. Road improve-ments, water development, and even the cabin may becharged off as assessment work.

The county where the affidavits are filed has noobligation to check up on actual work done, and federalagencies seldom attempt to verify these claims becauseit would require an army of inspectors.

The affidavits serve only one purpose. They preventsome other person from jumping the claim and confis-cating the improvements. Under present mining law,Uncle Sam retains the surface rights—but the claimantis entitled to build a home, and that is all he is inter-ested in. Since it is unpatented land it is not subject tolocal taxes, and the cabin is seldom pretentious enoughto be put on the county tax rolls.

Death Valley National Monument is dotted withworthless mining claims—and on a majority of themno assessment work has been done for years. Yet theyconstitute a cloud on the title of the land. Uncle Samcannot repossess these claims and restore them to the

public domain without a court action which may belong and costly.

I am not suggesting that we declare war on thesepseudo-miners. They are not outlaws. Generally theyare upright folks who have found a loophole in the lawwhich enables them to acquire what you and I some-times dream about—a little cabin retreat out in the wildswhere we can go occasionally to escape from the rat-raceof a highly-sophisticated society.

But the wilderness areas in this land are rapidly dis-appearing before the advances of an expanding popula-tion, and there is not space enough for all to haveprivate hideaways. Hence it appears that a furtheramendment to the mining laws is in order—one that

will limit mining claims to legitimate mining operations.And when the claim is abandoned, Uncle Sam shouldhave the same right as a private claim-jumper, the rightto take possession in the name of all American citizens,without litigation.

* # *

The desert has a strange fascination for some people.Writers and poets down through the ages have beentrying to express in words the spell which this aridland of sand, rocks and far horizons casts on imaginativepersons. Bertha Greeley Brown once suggested a possi-ble answer. She wrote:

"Under the spell of lurid skies, purple haze

and mauve desert sinks, our imaginations areloosened from the confines of time and space.

Majesty gives birth to idealism."

If you are one of those who have been charmed bythe intangibles of the desert, and have wondered why,there is a simple and beautiful answer.




O U R F R I E N D H A I R Y

"HAIRY" BECOMES A NEIGHBORHOOD HERO

By TOMMY THOMASof Sedona, Arizona

TO MOST PEOPLE, the tarantula is the "KingKong" of the spider world. One look at this hugeand hairy creature immediately conjures up fear-some visions. Everyone knows (it's practically in-born) that tarantulas are horrib le, poisonous mon-sters that leap on you and bite you ferociously.

BUT, DON'T BELIEVE it. Tarantulas native tothe warm Southwestern states are intelligent creaturesthat make interesting and entertaining pets. Tre atthem with kindness and they won't harm you in theleast.

"HAIR Y" WAS GIVEN to us by a friend. I brough thim home but had no intention of keeping him.

Naturally the boys went wild over the big spider. Infact, they were so enthusiastic that my wife, who isdeathly afraid of all spiders, let them keep Hairy.

THE LIBRARY BOOKS we brought home declaredthat the Southwest tarantulas could be consideredquite harmless if treated with the proper respect.S o , armed with proper respect, I decided to find outwhat kind of a pet Hairy was going to make. Puttingon a bold front for the boys, I carried Hairy's apple-box cage into the kitchen and lifted him out. Th enI gingerly let the spider crawl up my arm. It wasa spooky feeling. By the time he was almost to myshoulder, I chickened out and with as much non-chalance as I could muster, set Hairy back down on

M OTH E R IS LESS TH A N E N C H A N TE D W I TH " H A I R Y , " A N D IT W A S Q U ITE A C ON C E S S I ON W H E N S H E ALLOW E D TH E BOYS TO KE EP TH E TA R A N TU LA




the table. The boys were thrilled! They immediatelytook over, and from that moment until he died in anaccident a lew months later, Hairy was our friend.

NOT ONCE JN all the time that we handled him

did he make even the slightest attempt to bite us.

SOON WE DISCOVERED that we had a minorcelebrity on our hands. People would come fromblocks around to see Hairy. Everyone seemed mor-bidly fascinated with our family pet.

ONE EVENING MY older boy insisted on takingHairy along to Animal Night at the Scouts. They

nearly caused a riot. Everyone—Scouts and parentsalike—crowded around to see the giant spider. Thatwas the last time we ever exhibited on that grand ascale.

THE BOYS WOULD play with Hairy on the livingroom carpet. They'd follow him around as he slowlywandered about. Sometimes he'd climb the drapes—and believe me, Hairy was quite a sensation onthose pure white drapes.

WHAT WITH ALL this show of mutual affection,my wife finally got used to having Hairy around. Shenever went so far as to handle him, but she acceptedhim as a family pet. We even caught her talking toHairy at times.

THE END CAME when someone accidentally spilleda hot drink on poor Hairy. The boys and I wrappedour friend in aluminum foil and buried him in theFamily Pet Plot.

SOME TIME LATER, MUCH to our joy, we ac-quired another tarantula. We slightly suspect, be-cause of this spider's definitely lighter coloring, thatinstead of naming the new pet "Hairy II," a moreappropriate name would be "Hairiette."

DOES ANYONE KNOW anything about this sortof thing? / / /

See back coverfo r a portrai t of "Ha i ry " in his heyday

F I N A L R E S T I N G P L A C E




O U R F R IE N D H A I R Y 'continued from preceding page

196109 desertmagazine 1961 september

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