197511 desert magazine 1975 november

8/14/2019 197511 Desert Magazine 1975 November

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MAG AZINE OF THE SOUTHWEST

NOVE MBE R, 1975 75cICD 08256


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D e s e r t M a g a z i n e B o o k S h o pNEVADA GHOST TOWNS AND MININGCAMPS by Stanley W . Paher. Covering all of Ne-vada's 17 counties, Paher has documented 575mining camps, many of which have been erasedfrom the earth. The book contains the greatestand most complete collection of historic photo-graphs of Nevada ever published. This, coupledwith his excellent writin g and map, creates a bookof lasting value. Large 9x11 format, 700 photo-graphs, hardcover, 492 pages, $15.00.THE BAJA BOOK, A Complete Map-Guide toToday's Baja California by Tom Miller and El-mar Baxter. Waiting until the new transpenin-sular highway opened, the authors have pooledtheir knowledge to give every minute detail ongas stations, campgrounds, beaches, trailerDarks, road conditions, boating, surfing, flying,f ishing, beachcombing, in addition to a BajaRoadlog which has been broken into convenienttwo-mile segments. A tremendous package forevery kind of recreationist. Paperback, 178pages, illus., maps, $7.95.DICTIONARY OF PREHISTORIC INDIAN AR-TIFACTS OF THE AMERICAN SOUTHWESTby Franklin Barnett. A highly informative bookthat both illustrates and describes Indian arti-facts of the Southwest, it is a valuable guide forthe person interested in archaeology and anthro-pology. Includes 250 major types of artifacts.Each item has a photo and definition. Paper-back, 130 pages, beautifully illustrated, $7.95.TURQUOISE, The Gem of the Centuries byOscar T. Branson. The most complete and lav-ishly illustrated all color book on turquoise.Identifies 43 localities, treated and stabilizedmaterial, gives brief history of the gem and de-tails the individual techniques of the SouthwestIndian Tribes. Heavy paperback, large format,68 pages, $7.95.THE WIND LEAVES NO SHADOW by RuthLaughlin. "La Tules," an acknowledged queenof the monte game in old Santa Fe, was acclaim-ed not only for her red hair, her silver slippersand diamond rings, but also for her dazzling wit,which made even losers at her monte carlo tablesmile as she raked in their silver. Miss Laughlinhas combined the historians's skill and the nov-elist's gift to unravel the truth about this legend-ary lady in a historical romance that has provenpopular for nearly two decades. Hardcover, 361pages, $4.95.GHOSTS OF THE GLORY TRAIL by Nell Mur-barger. A pioneer of the ghost town explorers andwriters, Miss Murbarger's followers will be gladto know this book is once again in prin t. First pu b-lished in 1956, it is now in its seventh e dition . Thefast-moving chronicle is a result of personal inter-views of old-timers who are no longer here to telltheir tales. Hardcover, illustrated, 291 pages,$7.00.GOLD RUSHES AND MINING CAMPS OF THEEARLY AMERICAN WEST by Vardis Fisherand Opal Laurel Holmes. Few are better pre-pared than Vardis Fisher to write of the goldrushes and mining camps of the West. He bringstogether all the men and wom en, all the fascinat-ing ingredients, all the violent contrasts whichgo to make up one of the most enthralling chap-ters in American history. 300 illustrations fromphotographs. Large format, hardcover, boxed,466 pages, highly recommended. $17.95.LOST MINES AND HIDDEN TREASURES byLeland Lovelace. Authoritative and exact ac-counts give locations and fascinating data abouta lost lake of gold in California, buried Aztec in-gots in Arizo na, kegs of coins, and all sorts of ex-citing booty for treasure seekers. Hardcover$5.95.

GHOST TOWNS OF ARIZONA by James andBarbara Sherman. If you are looking for a ghosttown in Arizona this is your waybill. Illustrated,maps, townships, range, co-ordinates, history,and other details make this one of the best ghosttown books ever published. Large 9x11 format,heavy paperback, 208 pages, $4.95.THE GUNFIGHTERS, paintings and text by LeaF. McCarty.Contains 20 four-color reproductionsof some of the most famous gunfighters of theWest, together with a brief history of each.Large format, beautifully illustrated, $3.00.SUCCESSFUL COIN HUNTING by Charles L.Garrett. An informative study of coin hunting,this is a complete guide on where to search,metal detector selection and use, digging toolsand accessories, how to dig and the care andhandling of coins. A classic book in the field. 181pages, paperback, $5.00.

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PUEBLO OF THE HEARTS by John UptonTerrell. Named Pueblo of the Hearts byCabeza de Vaca, this Opata Indian Villageplayed host to some of the most famous ex-plorers of the 16th Century, including FrayMarcos, Estenvanico, Diaz, Coronado and deVaca, and was at one time one of the mostimportant frontier outposts in Spanish Amer-i c a . Although the village disappeared fourcenturies ago, its fame endures. Hardcover,103 pag es.

CALIFORNIA by David Muench and Ray Atke-s o n . Two of the West's greatest color photo-graphers have presented their finest works to cre-ate the vibrationso f the oceans, lakes, m ountainsand deserts of California. Their photographicpresentations, combined with the moving text ofDavid Toll, makes this aclassic in Western Amer-icana. Large 11x14 forma t, hardcov er, 186 pages,$25.00.PHOTO ALBUM OF YESTERDAY'S SOUTH-WEST compiled by Charles Shelton. Early daysphoto collection d ating from 1860s to 1910 showsprospectors, miners, cowboys, desperados andordinary people. 195 photos, hardcover, fine giftitem, $12.50.OWYHEE TRAILS by Mike Hanley and EllisLucia. The authors have teamed to present theboisterous past and intriguin g present of this stillwild corner of the West sometimes called theI-O-N, where Idaho, Oregon and Nevada come to-gether. Hardcover, 225 pages, $7.95.

California residentsplease add6% state sales taxPlease add 25c for postage & handling

B o o k s o n D e a t h V a l l e yEXPLORING DEATH VALLEY by Ruth Kirk.Good photos and maps with time estimates fromplace to place and geology, natural history andhuman interest information included. Paper-back, $2.25.A NATURALIST'S DEATH VALLEY by Dr. Ed-mund C. Jaeger. In this revised third edition,Dr. Jaeger covers and uncovers some of themysteries of this once humid, and now aridtrough. He tells of the Indians of Death Valley,the mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians,fishes, insects, trees, wild flowers and fossils.Paperback, 66 pages, $1.50.LOST MINES OF DEATH VALLEY by HaroldWeight. This is a new approach to the enigma ofDeath Valley Scotty's life and legends and givesadditional insight into the Lost Gunsight andBreyfogle bonanzas, plus other Death Valleymysteries. Paperback, historic photographs,reference material, 86 pages, $2.50.GREENWATER by Harold Weight. Called the"monumental swindle of the century" this is thestory of the 1906 stampede to the Black Moun-tains and how $30,000,000 disappeared. Paper-back, historic photos, 34 pages. $1.00.50 YEARS IN DEATH VALLEY by Harry P.Gower. First hand account of the dramaticmining years by a man who spent his life in themysterious valley. Describes the famous charac-ters of Death Valley. Paperback, illus trated , 145pages, $2.95.INSIDE DEATH VALLEY by Chuck Gebhardt. Aguide and reference text of forever mysteriousDeath Valley, containing over 80 photographs,many in color. Included, too, are Entry Guidesand Place Name Index for the convenience ofvisitors. Written with authority by an avid hiker,backpacker and rockclimber. 160 pages, paper-back, $4.95.DEATH VALLEY GHOST TOWNS by StanleyPaher. Death Valley, today a National Monu-ment, has in its environs the ghostly remains ofmany mines and mining towns. The author hasalso written of ghost towns in Nevada and Ari-zona and knows how to blend a brief outline ofeach of Death Valley's ghost towns with historicphotos. For sheer drama, fact or fiction, it pro-duces an enticing package for ghost town buffs.Paperback, illus., 9x12 format, 48 pages, $1.95.BALLARAT, Compiled by Paul Hubbard, DorisBray and George Pipkin. Ballarat, now a ghosttown in the Panamint Valley, was once a flour-ishing headquarters during the late 1880s and1900s for the prospectors who searched for silverand gold in that desolate area of California. Theauthors tell of the lives and relate anecdotes ofthe famous old-timers. First published in 1965,this reprinted edition is an asset to any library.Paperback, illustrated, 98 pages, $3.00.LOAFING ALONG DEATH VALLEY TRAILS byWilliam caruthers. Author Caruthers was anewspaper man and a ghost writer for earlymovie stars, politicians and industrialists. He"slowed down" long enough to move to DeathValley and there w rote his on-the-spot story thatwill take you through the quest for gold on thedeserts of California and Nevada. Hardcover,old photos, 187 pages, $4.25.SELDOM SEEN SLIM by Tom Murray. Profilesand vignettes of the colorful "single blanketjackass prospe ctors" who lived and died as theylooked for gold and silver in Death Valley. Slickpaperback, exclusive photos of the old-timers,65 pages, $3.00.


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WILLIAM KNYVETT, Publisher-Editor

GEORGE BRACA, An DirectorMARY FRANCES STRONG, Field Trip EditorF. A. BARNES, Utah Associate EditorGLENN VARGAS, Lapidary EditorK. L. BOYNTON, NaturalistMARVEL BARRETT, Circulation Manager

DaviLVolume 38,Number 11

MAGAZINE

NOVEMBER1975

CONTENTS

THE COVER:On e of the wild burrosthat ca l l Death Val leyhome Photo by Wal terDeBrouwer, Modesto,Cal i fornia.

F E A T UTHE JAYHAWKER TREASURE 8

BLACK GOLD OF THESAHUARAL 10DEATH VALLEY CHARCOAL KILNS 14

DEATH VALLEY-75 16AMARGOSA GORGE 20

WESTERN ART-LLOYD MITCHELL 24PORCUPINE . . . THEDESERT'S NEWCOMER 28

DEATH VALLEY ENCAMPMENT 32AVALANCHE ONCOPPER MOUNTAIN 34

OLD DEATH VALLEY TRAILS 38

R E SRich Taylor

Harold O. WeightHoward Neal

Chuck Cebhardt

Mary Frances Strong

Artist of the MonthK. L. Boynton

Program of EventsRoger Mitchell

Walter Ford

D E P A R T M E N T SA PEEK IN THEPUBLISHER'S POKE 4 William Knyvett

BOOKS FORDESERT READERS 6 Book ReviewsDESERT PLANT LIFE 37 JimCornett

RAMBLING ONROCKS 42 Glenn andMartha VargasLETTERS TO THEEDITOR 47 Readers' Comments

CALENDAR OFWESTERN EVENTS 47 Club Activities

EDITORIAL, C IRCULATION ANDADVER TISING OFFICES: 74-425 Highway 111, Palm Desert, California 92260. Telephone Area Code 714346-8144.Listed inStandard Rate andData. SUBSCRIPTION RATES: United States, Canada and Mexico; 1year, $6.00; 2years, $11.00; 3 years, $16.00. Otherforeign subscribers add $1.00 U. S.currency foreach year. See Subscription Order Form inthis issue. Allow five weeks forchange ofaddress andsendboth new and oldaddresses with zipcodes. DESERT Magazine ispublished monthly. Second class postage paid atPalm Desert, California andataddi-tional ma iling offices under ActofMarch 3,1879. Contents copyrighted 1975 byDESERT Magazine and permission toreproduce anyor allcontents mustbe secured in writ ing. Manuscripts andphotographs will not Dereturned unless accompanied by a self-addressed, stamped envelope.Desert/November 1975


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IIAIXSPECIAL

1969-11 issuesonly-Feb.-Dec.

Complete'66, '67, '6870 , 71,72, 73Volumes

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1974Volume$1-00

"Rain Barrel"Assorted Issues1959to 1965

Packageof 20

A P e e ki n t h eP u b l i s h e r sP o k e

E'RE PROUD to welcome artist|0 Lloyd Mitchell to our pages thisI month. Lloyd is a member of the

American Indian and Cowboy ArtistsAssociation and s a really grand fellow.His artristy covers all aspects of theWest, and his tremendous sense ofhumor is reflected in his "SkinnySaloon" paintings. Be sure to say helloto Lloyd, as well as many other AICAmembers at the 26th Annual DeathValley '49er Encampment this month.

Speaking of the Encampment, it isbeing held November 6through the 9th,and wehave included thecomplete '49erProgram of Events onpages 32 and 33.Be sure toattend and oin in on the fun.The '49ers are anon-profit organization,but the volunteer members goall-out toprovide the many events and activitiesthat keep Death Valley's historical back-ground alive. They must count onyourdonations, so be sure and join up thisyear if your are not already a member.Your membership feewill bewell used,and you can beproud to be apart of thisgroup.

Early reservations are a must for theEncampment. Folding chairs or campstools are handy for attending thevarious activities. The nights can getchilly, so take ample bedding andcloth-ing. There are several locations wheremeals andgroceries areavailable. If youare camping, besure to bring your ownfirewood as t isavailableatstores only.

GHOSTS OF THE GLORY TRAIL by Nell Mur-barger Apioneerof theghost town explorers andwr i te rs . Miss Murbarg ers followers will begladt o k n o w t h i s b o o k i s o n c e a g a i n i n p r i n t . Firstpub-ished in1956. it isnow in itsseventh edition. Thefast-moving chronicle is aresult ofpersonal inter-views ofold-timerswho are no longer here to telltheir tales Hardcover, il lustrated. 291 pages.S7.00.

30.000 MILES IN MEXICO by Nell Murbarger.Joyous adventures of a trip by pick-up campermade by twowomen from Tijuana toGuatemala.Folksy andentertaining,aswell as instructivetoothers whomight make thet r i p . Hardcover 309pages. $6.00.

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A FIELD GUIDETo the Com mon andInterestingPLANTS OFBAJA CALIFORNIAJeanette Coyleand Norman C. RobertsThe first botanical field guide to the woodyplants of peninsular Baja Ca. Over 250plants are described along with 189 colorphoto s. Descriptions include past and pres-ent uses of the plants by aborigines andpeople in Baja today. Scientific, Spanish,and common names are given. Choice ofdurable coated paperback or clothboundhardcover. 224 pages, 6 x 9 inches.To order: Natural History Publishing Co.,P . O . Box 962, La Jolla, Ca. 92037. Hard-cover: $11 .00/Paperb ack: $8.50. (Cal ifor-nia residents please add 6% sales tax.)

KEENE ENGINEERING, Inc. Dept. D9330 Corbin AvenueNorthr idge, CA 91324 Send me your FREE 1976 Catalog Enclosed is $7.95 . Send me your240 page "Dredging For Gold, "the book that tel l s everythingabout underwa ter go Id-dredging.Name _AddressCi ty

B o o k s f o rD e s e r tH e a d e r s

HISTORICAL ATLAS OF CALIFORNIABy W arren A. Beck and Ynez D. Haase

Warren A. Beck, chairman of the De-partment of History in Cal i fornia StateCollege at Ful lerton , and Ynez D. Haase,professional geographer and ca rtograph-er in Santa Barbara, Cal i fornia, are theco-authors of this intriguing historicalatlas of the Golden State.

Cali fornia, with i ts great diversity oflandforms, has an unparal leled range ofcl imate, soi ls, and natural vegetation.Al l these influence where man l ives,what he does with the land, and whatkind of communication and transporta-tion he has. Beck and Haase have col-laborated to record these and other as-pects of Cal i fornia's geography andevents of its history. The narrative is il-lustrated by 101 excel lent maps present-ing information previously avai lable only

to the scholar, and in some cases notavai lable at al l .

The maps cover all of the physicalcharacteristics of the state and also havesubstantial detai l on the f lora and fauna.Al l phases of history, from the Indian eradown to the present, are included.

There are maps of major faults andearthquakes, early Spanish ex plorations,Mexican land grants, mountain passes,and routes to the gold f ields. The goldrush period, 1849-69, is mapped and ex-plained, as well as the main stage coachroads and Wells Fargo off ices. Thereader can trace the route of the PonyExpress, locate the great sheep and cat-t le ranches, and f ind the Butterf ieldoverland mail route.

CCC camps, World War II instal la-tions, and the St. Francis Dam disasterare depicted and discussed. The authorshave mapped the Santa Barbara oi l spi l l ,the major irr igation systems, the wildland f ires, and even the pol i t ical districtsof the state. All these and many othertopics from the present and the past arefascinat ing reading.

Extensive documentation and perti-nent detail make this atlas a valuable aidto historians. Its f luent style and simpli-city of language make it an excellent re-ference to the student, the scholar, andeveryone interested in the Golden State.

Hardcover, profusely i l lustrated, ex-tens ive index and re fe re nce , la rgeformat, 101 pages, $9.95.

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WHE RE TO FIND COLDIN THE DESERTandWHER E TO FIND GOLDIN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIABy James Klein

James Klein, a rugged former news-paperman turned actor, was introducedto gold prospecting ten years ago, and

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at once. Apartner inK.&M. Mining Explorat ionsCompany, which isnowdeveloping threegold min ing cla ims, hespends most ofhis time inthe ie ld looking fornew de-posits. Having prospected extensivelyall over California, Jim nowshares theknowledge he hasgained in his twobooks, Where toFind Gold inthe Desert,an d Where toFind Cold in SouthernCalifornia. He hastaken gold out ofevery area l isted.

His first book, Where toFind Gold nSouthern California, pinpoints theareaaround theLos Angeles basin. Startingwith theplacers around theNewhal l -Saugus re gion, (itwashere that he foundhis first piece ofgold), he tel ls where thef irst gold wasfound, when itwas found ,who found it,howmuch was ound in thepast, andwhere you canf ind itnow. Losttreasure tales arealso passed along, andthe latest clues totheir location.

Some of theareas listed are:Acton ,Frazier Mounta in, San Gabriel Canyon,Lytle Creek, Holcomb Valley, Pinacate,Orange County and Julian-Banner.

Also included is a section on theequipment needed tof ind gold, how touse it and how ostake acla im.

Where toFind Cold intheDesert is asequel totheauthor 's f irst book. Areascovered include theRosamond-Mohave,El Paso Mountains, Randsburg, Bar-stow, Dale, Anza-Borrego, ChocolateM o u n t a i n s - T u m c o - P o t h ol e s , A r i z o n aand other gold-bearing locations.

Some gemareas are ncluded, aswel las the lost treasure tales ofeach region,and thechapter, "Some Tips on DesertProspecting" contains excellent infor-mation for both the beginner and the oldp r o .

Where toFind Gold intheDesert, 112pages, paperback, $4.95.Where toFind Cold inSouthern Cali-

fornia, 96pages, paperback, $4.95.

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Aguereberry Camp andHarrisburg Flats.

Road across centerleads to Aguereberry Point.

TheJayhawkerTreasure

by RICH TAYLOR

S OMEWHERE NEAR thenow-obscured Jayhawkers T railthat was painfully paved acrossthe desolate floor of Death Valleyin 1849, lies bu ried $6,000 in shinygold eagles. In the same area withthis treasure, prized familyheirlooms such as valuable ch ina,albums, musical instruments,fur nitu re, books and other itemswere put into the ground forsafekeeping. An d, according to therecord, neither the gold coins northe he irlooms have ever beenrecovered.In 1849, a group of ill-fatedpioneers known as the' 'Jayhaw kers" was forced toabandon their wagons on theblistering floor of Death Valley.They packed what they could onthe ir weakened oxen and began thelong trek out.Thomas Whannon, wealthy by

1849 standards, had $6,000 in goldeagles with him. After transferringthe heavy gold coins to one of hisoxen, he followed the rest of thepioneers for a day and a half. Atthat poin t, they reached a placecalled Snow Camp, somewhere onthe Wh ite Sage Flats, in thePanamint Mountain Range.There, Shannon's oxen gave out.As was customary, the animal waskilled and the meat was dried in thehot sun for the half-starvedcompanyKno wing that he would never beable to pack the heavy gold acrossthe miles of desolation tocivilization by himse lf, Shannon hitupon a desperate plan.He offered any man at SnowCamp ha lf of his gold coins forcarrying out all of them . But notone man would accept his offer.All they were interested in was

carrying enough water to make itthrough. And a ll of that gold wouldnot have bought a drop of waterwhere there was none to be had.Shannon had no choice. He wasforced to bu ry his $6,000 in goldeagles at Snow Camp. And it is amatter of record that he never wentback to claim it. A t the same tim e,many of the other Jayhawkers alsoburied the ir valuables somewherenear this campsite.John B. Colton, the youngest ofthe Jayhawkers, verifie d that thegold coins had been buried, andgave an approximate location. Hestated that the gold was buried in acanyon in the Tucki M ounta ins,just where the T owne-M artingroup (also known as theGeorgians) found the Gunsightsilver.There is only oneproblem today, no one knows


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. - -

exactly where Snow Camp w as. Indifferen t accounts it is called bothSnow Camp and Summ it Camp.The Sum mit is a large mesacovered w ith bunch grass, andaccording to some accounts,Summ it Camp was located in acanyon about 20 yards wide , justbelow the canyon's edge.It seems that W hite Sage Flatsand Sum mit may have been oneand the same place. If this is thecase, W hite Sage must haveincluded H arrisburg F lats.Snow Camp was described bysome of the emigran ts as being adry camp located near the base ofhigh snow-covered peaks to theright of the pass, as they went up .Personal accounts state that theycamped close to the snow so theycould melt it for water. A lso, theystated that snow fe ll on the campwhile they were there. A careful

Photo from Harold O . Weight collection.check of weather conditions inDeath Valley might pay off.In 1869, an attempt to recoverthe go ld coins was made byW illiam B. Road, a formerJayhawker. According to hisaccount, his party located the oldcampsite, and searched ca refully.They found charcoal, bones fromthe slaughtered oxen , and otherremnants, but they didn't knowexactly where the gold eagles hadbeen buried , and a cloudburst hadsomewhat altered the canyon. Theydidn 't find the coins.Today, that $6,000 in gold eaglesis worth more than $100,000, aprize we ll worth seeking.If you decide tolook for it, be sure to take a partnerand plenty of water. The desert canbe just as treacherous today as itwas in the days of the Jayhawkersof 1849.

D e a t h V a l l e yi

J u n c t i o nStay at the historicAMARGOSA HOTELThis lovely 50-year-old hotel isbeing rejuvenated. 20 roomsopening October, 1975. All car-peted . All beautifully furnished.You, your family or your groupcan make the Amargosa Hotelyour headquarters while in theDeath Valley a rea.You can now dine in the restor-ed DINING ROOM in the Hotel.A separate banquet facility is Iavailable for group s.Telephone Death Valley Junc-tion #1 for information or reser-vations.Don't miss seeing Marta Becketat her famous AMARGOSAOPERA HOUSE. You've readabout this beautiful and uniqueattraction in Desert an d Nation-al Geographic. Make a visit tothe Amargosa Opera House amust while you're in this area.See Marta Becket's fabulousmurals inside the Opera House.Performances on Friday, Satur-day and Monday evenings at8:15; doors open at 7:45.Telephone Death Valley Junc-tion #8 for reservations. Tourswelcomed.

The AMARGOSA GENERALSTORE, Death Valley JunctionService S tat ion and AMAR-GOSA POTTERY are ope n .Space is available for develop-ment. Watch this space eachmonth for more news as the re-storation of Death Valley Junc-tion continue s.

For further information aboutDEATH VALLEY JUNCTIONplease write:Death Valley Junction, Inc.P . O . Box 675Death Valley Junction,California 92328

"Desert /November 1975


10/48

B L A C KGOLDOFT H ES A H U A R A L

by HAROLD O. WEIG HT

OSE ALVA RA DO never actually4 saw the black gold of the sahuaral

y h im se l f . Never , in fac t , evenreached the sahuaral. But he knew thegold was there, and he knew where thesahuaral was roughly. About 75 mileseast of Yuma, and south of the GilaRiver. He had almost reached it once,when he went out with the Greek. Waswithin 10 miles and if only the manhadn't been such a poor desert driver . .A sahuaral? Jose Alvarado said it wassimply a place a grove, if you will where the giant sahuaro cacti grew. Onlythis one, where in places the sahuarosgrew so thickly a man could scarcelywalk between them, was a very specialsahuaral:

"The Indians used to go up there int h e s u m m e r t i m e , " A l v a r a d o sa id ."Pack this sahuaro fruit out. The l it t leIndians used to go up on top of the hillsthere and pick up gold. Bring in the gold oh, lots of gold and play with it ,see. The old Indians made them take it

10

back and throw it away. Never touch itany more. Gonna die.

"This Indian, this old squaw, I knewher when she was a kid in Palomas. Andshe says the g old you go and look at it,you think it is black pebbles. Little bits ofrock. But you pick it up, she says, theother side is yellow."

Jose Alvarado was a true believer inlost mines, lost ledges and lost treasuresall his life. The Arizona of his youthnurtured such fa i th . Lost mine legendswere numerous and respectable. Theywere no more fantastic, their riches nomore fabulous, than actual strikes thathad been and were being made: La Paz,Antelope Hi l l , the Potholes, Laguna, LaFortuna, the King of Arizona, theHarquahala.

And Alvarado was no armchair lostmine hunter, credulous because un-init iated in mines and mining. Start ingat 18, at La Fortuna, he worked in mostof the great mines of those days.

"L a F ortuna the gold was awfulr i ch , " he remembered. "W hy you could,after a big blast, in the drifts youcould go up there with a miner's candle-stick and pry nug gets out. Yo u could see,lots of times, w ire gold hanging there on

the ceiling of the drift. Rough goldhang ing there . "

Why shouldn't golden nuggets l ie alsoon the hilltops of the sahuaral?Whi le A l va rado 's de f i n i t i on o f asahuaral is quite accurate for today, inolden t imes it was much more than th at.In those days the Indian economy ofsouthern Arizona if not based on thesahuaro, was largely dependent upon it.The Papago year began with a monthcalled Sahuaro Harvest M oon . When theegg-sized, crimson-f leshed fruit r ipenedin June, villages and groups of thePapago, the Pima and the Yavapaimoved out among the tow ering cacti andcamped and remained there unti l theseason ended, usually about mid-July.

The fruit was gathered by the women,who hooked it down with sahuaro-ribpoles, thumbed the red pulp from itsspiny skin, and dumped it into water-tight baskets. It was eaten fresh. It wasmade into jam. It was dried and pressedinto balls. It was boiled in big jars, re-duced to a sweet syrup, and sealed awayin clay pots. And, perhaps most relishedby the men of some tribes, its juice wasfermented into a very potent wine. Im-bibed excessively during the important

nkttr -1O7C


11/48

Jose Alvarado and Ed Rochester,who both were practical miningexperts, discuss the merits of apiece of float Alvarado had brought in.night-long ceremonials and festivals thatfollowed the sahuaro season, this wineoften resulted in another odd sort ofharvest for the tr ibeswomen, who had togather up their husbands and their hus-band's scattered belongings, and dragthem home.

Obviou sly, a good sahuaral would be avery important asset, and probably therecogn ized proper ty o f a par t icu larvil lage or clan. The one Alvarado soughtwas the fruit-gathering terr itory of aband of the so-called Tonto (Fool)Apaches who lived in the Palomas-AguaCaliente area along the lower Gila. Thiswas the country where Jose Alvarado"was raised, pretty near," and where heknew the small Indian girl who onceplayed with golden pebbles.

"1 do not know why they called themTontos," Alvarado said. "They weregentler than the others. But if you didnot treat them right goodnight! Theywould camp around our ranch and were

fr iendly, and my father got pretty wellacquainted with them . Had lots of catt le,and when he would kill beeves, he wouldgive them all some."

Many others, including authorit iessuch as Frederick Webb Hodge, havepuzzled about that "Tonto" label . "So-called because of their supposed im-be cil i t y," he wrote , "th e designation is amisnomer." And he noted that the termwas applied by Nineteenth Centurywriters to practically all Indians roamingbetween the White Mountains and theRio Colorado.

Hilario Callego, an early Tucson cit i -zen, gave the most reasonable explana-tion I have found in his recollections inthe Arizona Historical Review:

"T he re was a kind of peaceful tr ibe ofApaches that had a camp right out ofTucson a litt le ways. Then there were theothers, the wild Apaches, who werea lways on the warpath . The w i ldApaches called the peaceful Apaches'Tontos, ' or 'Fools. ' Any Apache whowanted to be peaceful would come andstay with these Indians near town; thenthe wild Apaches would follow them upand t ry to k i l l them."

The Palomas band apparently werepeople of the Western Yavapai. Theywere among those rounded up duringthe savage warfare in Arizona in theearly 1870s, were taken to Camp Verde,then uprooted and forced to make a cruelmarch to the San Carlos Reservation.From San Carlos, many Apaches slippedaway, or were allowed to leave as ten-sions lessened. This group came back tothe Cila.

When George Wharton James visitedthe Palomas band at the turn of thecentury, he reported that they surpassedall other Apaches in the weaving of bas-kets. And he found that Alvarado'sopinion was shared by other neighbors:

"From the storekeeper and farmers ofPalomas I learn they are good workers,most of the men being engaged ashelpers on the ranches. They are intel-ligent, honest, capable and reliable.Their word once given, they can be de-pended upon to perform what they havesaid. Indeed, M. J. Fred Nottbusch, thePalomas storekeeper, assures me that hehas learned to respect and esteem themhighly for their good qualit ies, theirmanliness and character."

A sahuaral,Jose Alvarado

said, is aplace where

the giantsahuaro cacti

grows, andwhere Indiansonce gathered

its fruit.


12/48

Ruins of the old Nottbusch general store at abandoned Palomas village, almost hid-den by a wild grow th of athel. Photographed in 1954.Palomas was a largely Mexican vi l-

lage, hidden in thickets of great mes-quite trees, on the north bank of the Cilanear present Aztec. The 14-mile-longPalomas canal, first used in 1887, wasone of Arizona's early irr igation pro-jects. The great Gila River flood of 1905washed out the heading and damagedthe project so badly that the canal wasabandoned. But the scattering of woodenand adobe houses remained a stoppingplace on the old river road betweenPhoenix and Yuma, and Nottbusch'sstore survived as a trading center formany years. As late as 1920, the villagehad a population of 46.

Palomas was named well named for i ts ever-present doves, both white-winged and mourn ing. When we f i rstvisited it, long after the last human in-habitant had moved away, their calls andgentle complaints sti l l f i l led and vi-brated the air around its ruins.

Before it became Palomas, with estab-lishment of a post office so named inAp ri l 1891, the vi l lage was known asDoanvil le. Before there was a Doanvil le,small cattle ranches were scattered overthe mesa. Alvarado's father establishedone of them in 1878.

Jose junior was an Arizonan, born atYuma January 17, 1879, but his par-ents were Californians. His father was ason of Juan Bautista Alvarado, who wasgovernor of California from 1836 through12

1842 first as a successful revolu-tionary and then as a Mexican appoin-tee . His mother was born in LosAngeles. Jose Alvarado senior first cameto Arizona as a freighter, hauling goodsfrom San Diego to Yuma. Later hemoved to Arizona Terr itory, and then tothe Gila Valley.

In early days the Gila was a river to bereckoned wi th . The Alvarado familylived on their ranch until the historic Gilaflood of 1891, in which most of theircattle were drowned. Alvarado retainedthe ranch, but moved his family intoYuma. There young Alvarado grew up,learned the pr inting trade, and went towork for the Yuma Sentinel. He set typeby hand, ran the old Washington handpress, f inal ly became shop forema n. B utthe work proved unhealthy for him. Hedecided to build up his strength withmore rugged labor.

"W he n I went to the Fortuna, I hadnever been in a mine, knew nothingabout mining. But I knew the super-intendent pretty wel l , so I took a chance.Worked in the mine quite a while.Worked down to the 900-foot level. Oneday a miner got killed. I was prettyyoung then. I quit and went over toTumco, and worked the re. "

Tumco. Picacho. The Harqua hala. TheKing of Arizona. During World War I,with min ing slack, he operated a dairy atYuma. And in 1928, he was back on the

Gila, running wild horses. His camp wasat the ranch of an old woman namedJuana, whom he had known at Palomas.The family was very poor, and he hadhired the two sons to help catch the wildhorses.

" A t night, there at the house, wewould have a b ig bonf i re ," Alvaradosaid. "One night this old Indian wasthere. He used to know Juana too, atPalomas, when he was young whenthere were jobs at Palomas and he camethere to work. And this night he wastel l ing her about the sahuaral.

" 'Get the team and horses,' he said.'Take the boys. Go over to the sahuaral.There you're gonna pick up lots of gold.My father used to take us back and makeus throw it away. W ou ldn 't let us have it.

" 'You can go up there in two daysand back. You gonna find it. And if youdon 't f ind it, come over to my house andI' l l go with you.'

"I was l istening, and rememberingwhat I had heard about the sahuaral, an dthe next day I told the boys:

" 'Boys, I got a car here.' (ThisDodge, you know. Old time Dodge.) ' Ican go anywhere in this car,' I says.'Let's go up there. Leave the horses.We' l l go up there now. '

" O h , no. They wouldn't go. Indianswould never touch the gold. Up to thisday they won't touch it. These boys werehalf Indians themselves, I guess. Theywere afraid to go.

" Th e y said, 'No. Let's get the horsesf i rst , and then we' l l g o. '

" I could never get them to go with me.I could have gone, but I wanted them togo so they could get their share. No, theywou ldn ' t go a t a l l . "

An Indian taboo against gold strongenough to survive into modern times? EdRochester, with us talking to Alvarado,had spent much of his life on or at theedges of the Yuma Reservation. Yes,said Ed, it could be. He knew youngYumas, educated, o therwise "modern"who believed they would die if they ledwhite men to hidden gold. He knew onewho had died. Such taboos probablywere the result of disastrous past tribalexperiences. Ed recalled a Yuma legendthat warr iors from the south had en-slaved these people long before theSpaniards came, and had forced them togather gold until they had revolted anddestroyed their masters.

With his wide knowledge of desert


13/48

roads, trails and places, Rochester triedto narrow the possible location of thegolden sahuaral. Alvarado remainedvague; it was close to the old f re ightroad, he thought. What freight road?Th e one to Ajo.

Ed finally concluded it must be the onefrom Ajo to Sentinel, then on to Yuma.That ancient route dated from the 1860s,when Ajo ore washauled to the ColoradoRiver andshipped down the Gulf of Cali-forn ia . And the sahuaral, he f igured bythe mi leage, might be south and a l i t t lewest of Black Tanks in the CraterMoun ta ins .

Had placer gold ever been found inthat section, I wondered.

" W e l l , " said Alvarado, "nobody everlooks for placer in that country. Pros-pectors don't go up in there. Water 'sawful scarce in tha t coun t ry . "

Jose Alvarado made the one hunt forth e sahuaral tha t he told us about, wi thhis Greek acquaintance, before therewas a bombing range. Alvarado wasdoubtful about the expedition from thebeginning. He hadmade one memorablelost mine hunt with this manbefore, upin the Eagle Tail Mountains.

"He broke down up the re , " A lva rados a i d . " We got s tu ck . I t o l d him:'Don ' t put that gas on strong. Go slow!You gonna break the car!' Oh no! He gotmad and put the gas on so strong hebroke theaxle in two. And there we was.That was pretty near summer, too.Awfu l hot. We walked out. Twenty- f ivemiles to theQuartzsite highway, to catcha r i d e . "

He went this second time because hewanted to f ind that sahuaral, and theGreek was the only one anxious to takeh i m . They left Aztec early in the morn-i n g , and as Alvarado feared, t rouble

began as the road deteriorated." H e had to get stuck, and I had to get

ou t and push the darned car out. Hedon't know how to dr ive. He used to goon the good ground and hit the sand,s e e . And then he'd stop and changegears. After he wasstopped, he couldn ' tpull out. He'd go down.

"W e m ust have been pretty close tothis placer country and he gets stuckagain. And it was pretty hot.

" I to ld him: I can't push no more. Myshoulders are sore now from pushingy o u . You let me dr ive, we don ' t getstuck. You don ' t let me dr ive, I a in ' tgonna go any farther with you. Yougonna break theaxle again. '

" He wo u ld n ' t let me dr ive. So wewent back."

Alvarado was 75 years old when hetold us the story of the black gold of thesahuaral, in Ja n u a r y 1954, but heseemed wil l ing to try again to f ind it.And both Ed Rochester and I were toler-able desert dr ivers .

But there was then and is now another reason whyprospectors don't goup in that country, a reason the old-t imers could noteven have conceived. Ifthe golden sahuaral exists, it is in or onthe edge of thehuge, sprawling Luke AirForce bombing and gunnery range. Themap warns: "Do not leave right of wayon main traveled roads. Use roads opento publ ic on ly."

And just th is spr ing, as we fol lowedthe Gila Bend-Ajo highway and gazedlongingly across at the Crater Moun-tains, military jets screamed across thehighwayonly feet above us, it seemed and blasted targets over the moun-tains. It is an unnerving experience, andthe range certainly should not be enteredwithout official permission.

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Deser t /November 1975 1 3


14/48

G H O S T S by HOWA RD NEALLOCATION: The charcoal kilns are locatedin Wildrose Canyon, seven miles east of EmigrantCanyon Road, near the western boundary of DeathValley National Monument.BRIEF HISTORY: The history of DeathValley country is replete with legends of lost mines.One of the most famous is the story of the Lost Gun-sight. It is said that a member of the Death Valleyparty of 1849 found a fabulous vein of silver in themountains somewhere west of Death Valley itself.The silver was reputed to be so pure that a gunsightwas carved from it. The discovery was ignored, andits location lost, because of the eagerness of theparty to move on to the gold fields of NorthernCalifornia.The Lost Gunsight silver was not forgotten,though, and within a few years prospectors werecombing the Panamint and Argus Mountains insearch of the rich lode. It is assumed, even today,that the Gunsight remains lost. Yet, silver was found

in the Panamint Mountains, in Surprise Canyon, in1873, and at Lookout in the Argus Range, in 1875.Both discoveries proved to be rich. TheArgus claims were quickly purchased by developersincluding Senator George Hearst's Modoc Consoli-dated Mining Company.The need to haul heavy ore from the ArgusMountains, across much of the length of the Pana-mint Valley, and up steep and narrow Surprise Can-yon to Panamint City for milling made it quicklyobvious that Lookout needed its own processingfacilities. Charcoal,too, was needed for use in thereduction of the silver-lead ore.The most convenient stand of trees whichcould provide wood for charcoal was in WildroseCanyon, some 25 miles directly across PanamintValley. In that canyon Hearst's company bought ex-tensive wood claims and, reportedly using Swissstonemasons and Chinese laborers, in 187^7 built 10huge kilns to feed the Lookout smelters.The kilns, some 25 feet high and 30 feet

Ten charcoal kilnsare located inWildrose Canyonnear the western boundaryof Death ValleyNational Monument.Built in 1877to provide charcoalfor the smelters ofthe Modoc Mines,the kilns are nearly25 feet tall and30 feet across.


15/48

Pine woodwas cut fromthe slopes of

the PanamintMountains and

loaded intoeach kiln

through boththe door and

the high window.After the wood

was burningproperly iron doors

were shut overboth openings

causing the fireto smolder slowly.

Photographsby Howard Neal .

across, were designed with a low doorway and ahigher window. Each ki ln has smal l vent holesaround i ts base. In use, wood was pi led through theopenings and set on f i re. When the f i re was burningproperly heavy i ron doors were closed over both thedoor and the window . W i th l imi ted ai r c i rculat ion thef i r e s m o l d e r e d s l o w l y t u r n i n g t h e w o o d i n t ocharcoal . As the mines at Lookout went, so went theW i ldrose C anyon charcoal k i lns. W i th in a few shor tyears the si lver veins in the Argus Mountainspinched out, the Modoc mines closed, and the ki lnscooled to become yet another desert ghost of DeathVal ley.

T HE CHARCO AL K IL NS T O DAY : One ofthe major attractions of Death Val ley NationalMonument, the charcoal ki lns are among the bestpreserved examples of such ki lns in the West. Thevisi tor to W i ldros e Canyon wi l l f ind a wel l m ain-tained (but steep) road to the ki lns, camping faci l-i t ies, and pleasant picnic spots in the pines, at the6,000-foot level , near the ki lns . Today, al l that can beheard is the whisp er of the win d thro ug h the pinesand the occasional dista nt bray of a w ild bu rro . It isdi ff icu l t to bel ieve that nearly a century ago dozensof Indian laborers worked feverishly to fel l the pineson the Panamint slopes and feed the f i res of theDeath Val ley Charcoal Ki lns . P


16/48

I LONG TH E scale of human emotions,pg anticipation is perhaps the most de-l l scr ip t ive characterist ic o f one 's feel-ing when plann ing a visit to Death V alleyNational Monument. This wil l be thecase whether the visit is the first, or an-other of many. The visitor may travel upand down the same roads from season toseason throughout the Monument, yetview a different landscape each andevery time. This changing scene may bebrought about by the time of day, thecloud cover, or the amount of rainfal lduring the past summer.

An unstable cliff face of sandstonemay have finally given way to the ele-ments and left exposed a new facade ofcolors never thought to exist behind thebland walls. A new wash might havebeen formed due to the previous sum-mer 's ra in, or a famil iar wash wil l haveappeared to alter direction or size. Allthese changes are in a continuum asNature does her thing with the weather,geology and the plants. The extremes ofthe Valley's cl imate contr ibute greatly tothese changes; some subtle and somegross. But, Man has and wil l have hisway toward influencing the changingscene, and his actions should always betaken into account when discussingDeath Valley.

Except for those changes wrought byMan and his vehicles, most of which arefortunately random but predominatelyunexpected, a good portion of thechanging scene is predictable. The num -ber of available campgrounds, motel andhotel services, roads and historic sitesare but a few items in Death Valley'smakeup that have a tendency to changefrom season to season. One forthcomingchange in Death Valley that has unne-cessari ly alarmed a good number of ci t i -zens is the Wilderness Proposal, and isworthy of some explanation here.

There appear to be recognized organi-zations involved in conservation, historicpreservation, or desert preservation whofear that the Wilderness Proposal wil lessent ia l ly "c lose down" the ir favor i teareas. In reali ty, the particular wilder-ness designation for Death Valley willemphasize special corridors for back-country access to e l iminate "o ve rr id i ng "delicate ter rain . For example, i t is antici-pated that 250 miles of existing Jeeproads and trails will no longer be acces-sible if the Wilderness Proposal is adopt-ed. Granted, this sounds terr ible to the

backcountry Jeep traveler, but the pro-posal must be fully understood. Basical-ly, only two types of roads w il l be closed;multiple roadways and i l legal exten-sions.

Multiple use roads are spur roadsbranching off from main Jeep trai lswhich encroach upon delicately balancednatural areas, and which have beenmade, for the most part, by backcountryexplorers seeking a new challenging

route. The closing of illegal extensions isequally important since, as the term im-plies, many Jeep trails extend far be-yond their intended and legal l imits re-sulting in an impact to natural forma-tions. A good example of the latter maybe seen at the terminu s of Cotton woodCanyon. Cottonwood Creek, a year-round water supply running about 50gallons per minute, has been literally re-directed due to the road extending a halfmile past the creek's designated origin.Johnson Canyon, in the southern Pana-mints, has suffered a similar fate be-cause the trail has been illegally extend-ed several hundred yards past the moun-tain water mark. The road closures pro-posed in the Wilderness B il l wi l l not pre-

vent the public from having access tothese areas, but will force drivers out oftheir vehicles sooner to perhaps createanother lovehiking!

The Wilderness Bill (S.1101) for theestablishment of the Death Valley Wil-derness was introduced on March 7,1975 by Senator Haskell, and is now inthe Senate Interior and Insular AffairsCommittee. Of equal note is an omnibusbill introduced April 9, 1975 to establishDeath Valley National Park. W hen askedthe difference between a Park and aMonument, the Park Service stated thata Mo n u m e n t i s g e n e r a l l y f e d e r a l l yowned land (BLM) and requires only anExecutive Order for establishment. ANational Park is granted that status onlyby an act of Congress, and usually in-volves pr ivately owned land. This latterbill is presently in the House Interior andInsular Affairs Committee.

For the 1975/1976 season, the visitorto Death Valley wil l be treated to a spe-cial interpretive program by the ParkService as their contr ibution to the Bi-centennial celebration. The program in-cludes two themes; the U. S. Govern-ment in Death Valley, and mining inDeath Valley. The former wil l describethe mil i tary and scientif ic expeditions ofthe period 1850-1900, and the latter wi l ltreat the past, present and future ofDeath Valley mining through the eco-nomic history of the mineral industry inth e r e g io n . Asso c ia te d w i th t h e sethemes wil l be talks at the Visitor Centerand conducted trips to various spots inthe Monument in addi t ion to the trad i-tional series of naturalist activities puton by the Park Service.

During early March of this year, theDeath Valley H iker 's Association made atwo-day spring backpack trek throughTitus in the ra in. Despite the inclementweather, dozens of cars (including alarge motor home) made their way intothe Canyon and out i ts narrow mouthwith out a single proble m. How ever, thislatter car trip was under the guidance ofthe Park Service and their vehicles wereavailable in the event of an emergency.

As of Apri l 1975, the road to NaturalBridge was in pretty poor condition, i tssu r face scar red w i th po tho les and

Sage pattern, rim view at Ubehebe Crater inDeath Val ley. David Muench photo.


17/48


18/48

ridges. West Side Road is, at times,equally questionable for the use of pas-senger cars. The main drawback of thelatter road is its corrugated surfacewhich plays havoc with lightly-sprungvehicles. Here again, the Park Servicewill be able to instruct the passenger cardriver on the conditions of the road andwhether or not it is fit to travel. A trip outto Racetrack Valley in other than a truckor 4VVD can become hazardous at certain

H M H B Ptimes of the year when heavy mountainrains or considerable snow melt in theCottonwood Mountains overlay the roadwith piles of gravel. Backcountry tripsafoot or by vehicle should always be pre-ceded by good planning which includesnotification to the Park Service of theroute and times of the trip, and carryingmore water than will be required.

The Death Valley region has seen anincrease and improvement in overall ac-

The weird and rugged CorkscrewPeak, easily seen from the CentralValley, situated at the southernterminus of the Grapevine Mountainsin full view of the Daylight Pass road.

commodations in the past few years.Both campground and eating/sleepingfacilities have been expanded for thevisitor's convenience. The government-owned and operated campgrounds boasta total of 1600 sites for tenters, campers,trailers and motor homes. Few, if any,have shade worthy of mention. Exceptfor the private trailer facilities at Stove-pipe Wells Village and Furnace CreekRanch, there are no electrical, sewer orwater hookups at the campgrounds. Fiveof the Park Service campgrounds havesanitary stations (dumps) for those re-quiring it, and they are Furnace Creek,Texas Spring, Sunset, Stovepipe Wellsand Mesquite Spring campgrounds.Complete hookups at Furnace CreekRanch trailer park are $4.00 per night,two people. At Stovepipe Wells Villagenext to the general store, trailer spaceswith full hookups cost $3.50 per night fortwo people.

If you have not been to Furnace CreekRanch for a couple of years, there are afew surprises. Accommodations have in-creased and improved on the ranch withthe construction of deluxe motel units offthe golf course. By December 1, 164units will be available for occupancy withrates starting at $30.50 per night (twolarge units are already in service).Redwood cabins and poolside motelunits are available at prices ranging from$22 to $27 per night. The beautifulFurnach Creek Inn, built in 1926,operates on the American plan (meals in-cluded) with room rates starting at $69and running all the way up to $121 for afourth floor connecting room.

Stovepipe Wells Village, built at thebase of an alluvial fan under the shadowof Tuck Mountain, offers both an historicand scenic background found nowhereelse in the Valley. It is presently owned

Jeepers take time out to explorethe ruins at the ghost town site ofChloride City, high up in theFuneral Mountains.


19/48

The remnants of a Cousin Jackstructure, anidea of ahome broughtto thedesert country by Welsh miners.In thebackground is themarshof Saratoga Springs.

by the f r iendliest people in the wor ld ,Ellie andTrevor Povah, also owners andoperators of the Hamilton Stores of Yel-lowstone Park. Accommodations rangefrom small patio rooms to deluxe moteluni ts, all wi th bath. Prices for the 80units at the Vil lage run f rom $15 to $25fo r two. Due to the location of the Vil-lage, water has always presented a pro-blem, and some rooms still do not havedrinkable water. This problem should beovercome this season with the construc-tion of a osmosis plant by the ParkService.

In the past, water was purchsed fromthe government's supply at EmigrantSpring (reportedly 700gallons per day),and hauled by tank truck every two daysto the Village. Despite this small set-back, the Village offers a beautiful din-ing room, rustically decorated saloon, agift shop, well-stocked general store andnightly sl ide talks by their ownguides inthe lobby/auditor ium. The new managerof Stovepipe Wells Vil lage, Jim Blaine,has mentioned that horseback riding isexpected to be available by this Novem-ber. Future plans for the Village includea new general store with a snack bar, arecreation center, tennis courts and apitch and putt course. A special featureintroduced by the Village managementlast Easter Week, that will continuethrough thecom ing season atevery holi-day period, is a series of personally con-ducted tours to sites litt le known to theaverage visitor. Included in these seriesDesert / November 1975

for each holiday season is a Jeep ride toChloride Clif fs, Titus Canyon or Race-track Valley, road condit ions permitt ing.

To prevent further changes to theunique desert region of Death ValleyNational Monument other than thoseplanned and executed by the govern-ment, it is every visitor 's responsibil i tyto monitor the trash that they generateand the routes that they drive. If every-one would clean uptheir trash and neverdrive off established roads or t ra i ls , it ispossible that Death Valley will changelit t le in thegenerations tocome.

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20/48

A i n a r g o s aG o r g eby MA RY FRANCES STRONG

photos by Jerry Strong

S EVERING THE Inyo-San BernardinoCounty l ine, the Amargosa RiverGorge cuts through the AlexanderHil ls almost due south of Tecopa, Cali-fornia. This unique desert r iver has notonly carved a picturesque canyon, offer-ed sanctuary to wildl i fe, and produced aspectacular recreational region, but hasplayed an impo rtant role in the history ofthe Mojave Desert.

Amargosa Gorge is go rgeous! Inplaces, i ts sandy-gravelly bottom widensto almost a half-m ile, narrow ing to only afew hundred feet at other points. It istypical of the flat-bottomed washes inflash-flood country, but on a muchgrander scale. High, erosion-fluted cl i ffsrise on each side of the river and blendinto the upper flanks of the VolcanicHi l ls.

Though not br i l l iantly colored, themany outstanding geological formationshave been delicately touched by Na-ture's subdued brush. It is when anearly-morning sun's first rays highlightthe canyon, or the blazing late-afternoonones flood the formations, that theirdelicate, abstract beauty is best ob-served. Almost devoid of vegetation, thesurrounding Alexander Hil ls stand bold-ly naked in this savage desert setting.Lying as it does at the southern end ofDeath Valley, this is not a region to visitbetween May and September.

Amargosa Gorge awakes from itssummer hibernation in October. Theriver, r ising from springs north of

Above: At thesouthernentrance to its

Gorge, theAmargosa

River spillsout o nto asandy plain

and eventuallydisappearsunderground.Easilyfordable at

this point, itbecomes a

raging torrentfollowingthunder-storms.

Right:Exposed in a

naturalamphitheateris one of the

finestpetrified wood

areas on theMojave

Desert. Thisregion once

hosted asubtropical

forest ofpalms, tree

ferns andcycads.

20 Desert / November 1975


21/48

Be a t t y , Ne va d a f l o ws u n d e r g r o u n dduring most of its long, winding journeyto the floor of Death Valley. South ofTecopa it surfaces, f lows through theGorge then sinks into a sandy plain atthe southern entrance. Along most of i tscourse, it is readily seen as a "river ofs and . "

Aborigines were the first visitors inAmargosa Gorge and considerable evi-dence of their leisurely tenure exists.The river was also known to early-dayexplorers. Annual horse-caravans fromMexico traveled through the Gorge onwhat was known as "The SpanishT r a i l . " Though re portedly used for manyyears, there was l i tt le rel iable infor-mation regarding the exact route.

One of the objectives of John C. Fre-mont's Second California Expedition in1844 was to locate and map the trail'sroute through the desert region. Fre-mont talked with many people who hadfol lowed the trai l to California. Guideshad led their way and they could givehim few deta i ls as to "wh ere i t wa s."Some of the sketchy d irections given to

Many longcuts were

made toaccommodatethe Tonopah-

TidewaterRailroadthrough

AmargosaGorge andmany serve as

the roadwaytoday. The

long fillsbetween them

have notfaired as well.

Periodicthunder-

showers arecutting into

the fillsmaking them

safe fortraverse only

by narrowvehicles.

him included , "Ne ar the Pass (Cajon), inthe mountains and along a river acrossthe deser t . "

Entering the Mojave Desert via Te-hachapi Pass, Fremont's party skirtedthe base of the San Gabriel Mountainsand "struck" the Spanish Trail south ofwhat is now Victorvi l le. They fol lowed italong the Mojave River for many miles.At a point east of Barstow, not clearlydiscerned, they turned north. Campswere made at Bitter and Salt Springsbe fo re they reached the sou thernentrance to Amargosa Gorge.

Of the r iver, John Fremont wrote, "Itis called by the Spaniards Amargosa the bitter water of the deser t." Fre-mont and his men headed north throughthe Gorge and he mentions stopping atsprings along the r iver in his diary.Camp was also made at a large springeast of Tecopa. Fremont duly marked iton his map and named it "Aqua deHernandez," in honor of two Mexicans aband of Indians had killed a few daysearlier. Later, it was called "Rest ingSprings" by the emigrants and bearsthis name today.

Fremont's party continued throughNevada, reached Salt Lake City andeventually returned to the east. Hiscomprehensive notes and maps of hisDesert /November 1975

explorations were subsequently pub-lished. Because of the information hehad gathered about crossing the "fe arf uldeserts," hundreds of people were wil-ling to undertake the long hazardousjourney over the Spanish and Salt LakeTrails to settle in Central and SouthernCal i forn ia .

There are several ways to exploreAmargosa Gorge but i t should not bedone in a hurry. Too much can be missedduring a brief reconnaissance. Personal-ly, I feel it is at its best when viewedcoming down from the north (Tecopa)and fol lowing Sperry Wash Road into theGorge. Driving up from the south (Du-mont Dunes Area) does not allow thefine bird's eye view of the many unusualgeological formations. This is especiallytrue in morn ing l ight the sun " jus ta in ' t r igh t . "

Newcomers to this fascinating cornerof the Great Mojave Desert wil l f ind a46-mile circle tour a delightful way toacquaint themselves with the region.Remember, I said Amargosa Gorge isbest viewed when coming down into i tfrom the north. To do so, let's start thetour from the junction of State Highway127 and Sperry Wash Road 35 milesnorth of Baker. See map.From the above point, Highway 127

21


22/48

After over 60 years of production, the Western Talc Mines are idle. It has been thelargest producer in San Bernardino County.heads north up a long grade over the Al-exander Hil ls. At the summit of IbexPass you will be treated to a fine view ofAncient Lake Tecopa now a drylakebed exposed in an elongated basin be-tween desert ranges. It was formedwhen the climate was less arid andwaters of the Amargosa River were re-str icted by the Alexander Hil ls. Even-tually, the impounded water cut throughthe hi l ls to create Amargosa Gorge. Theriver is still at work today. Followingheavy thunderstorms, the rush of watercontinues to cut its channel ever deeperand wider .

From the summit, the road descendsand in about six miles our route turnsright onto a paved road marked "OldSpanish Trail Road." It wil l take youalong the southern edge of the lakebedwhich is dotted with hi l ls, buttes andpinnacles in muted shades of grey,wh i te , beige and brown. Just before en-ter ing the l i tt le community of Tecopa, anabandoned rai lbed wil l be crossed. Earlyin this century, Borax S mith's famedTonopah-Tidewater Railroad played animportant role to keep mining al ive inthe Tecopa area.

"Resting Springs," three miles east ofTecopa, offered sanctuary to the firstexplorers. Later, i t would provide respite

to emig ran ts and p rospecto rs whotraveled the Spanish Trail to California.However, it wasn't until 1865 that richsilver and lead deposits were located inthe southern end of the Nopah Range.Development of the Gunsight Mine fol-lowed. A 12-stamp mill and severalfurnaces were built to process the ores,as well as those from other properties.By 1900, mining had become intermit-tent. However the completion of theTonopah-Tidewater Railroad in 1907,brought a resurgence of mining activitywhich continued until the depression ofthe 1930's.

Construction of the T & T throughAmargosa Gorge is a tale of frustration,misery and victory. This 12-mile sectionof track-laying encountered almost un-surmountable problems. The route re-quired a number of long cuts and verylong fi l ls. Without the large equipmentavailable today, Smith had to use "pickand shovel" man power. In addition tominor trestles, major ones over 500 feetlong had to be built.

Work on this section of track began inMay when temperatures were cl imbingwell over the 100 degree mark. Nightbrought l i tt le rel ief and made workingconditions abominable. As summer pro-gressed, the men refused to work in such

heat and left their jobs. Rumors circu-lated in the hiring halls at Los Angeles "Men are dying in Death Val ley."Consequently, few men were wil l ing tosign on and the contractor went broke.

Work ceased unti l the weather cooledand men returned to their jobs but al l" t roubles" had not d isappeared. Addi-tional laborers, mostly Mexicans, werehired and, though work co ntinued, manyunfr iendly incidents occurred betweenthe "Mexicanos and the Whites." Therewere also delays in receipt of supplies soprogress through the Gorge was at asnail's pace.

Finally, on October 7th, the last spikewas driven at end-of-track GoldCen ter, N evada. It was not a happy d ay.The Panic of 1907 had closed the banksand brought on a depression. The futureof the Tonopah-Tidewater Railroad wasin doubt.From Tecopa, our circle tour swingssoutheasterly. It passes the GunsightMine, high on the hi l ls to the left, andgoes through the middle of NoondayMine Camp. The latter is in good repairthough boarded up and guarded by acaretaker as the mines are inactive.

A mile south of Noonday, turn r ightand cross Tule Wash . Continuing w est, apaved road leads by an old mill andfair ly-modern mining camp. The latterwas built over the site of an older one.Hidden from view by newer, woodenbuildings are several old adobes datingback at least to 1865. The camp is posted"No Trespass ing . "

Sti l l fol lowing the paving west, ourroute leads by the W estern Talc Min e one of the largest in San BernardinoCounty. There has been considerableproduction at this property and a detournow leads around a recently excavatedpit. The mine was idle in 1974.

A short distance beyond the pit turnr ight onto a graded dir t road. A sign atthis junction points the way to 'SperryW a s h . " Three miles of travel down abroad al luvial fan wil l br ing you to theupper entrance to Sperry Wash Canyon.It is in the surrounding area that some ofthe finest petr i f ied wood on the deserthas been found.

First located in 1956, there is an al-most unbelievable variety of wood. Redand white palm fiber; black agatizedroots and limb sections; orange-coloredwood, and pink and tan cycad are amongthe more outstanding specimens to be


23/48

SHOSHONETN O P A H

D U M O N T ' - . - . ' . S A N D - D U N E S ; .

A n j a r g o s a G o r g em iS p e r r y W a s h

collected. The w ood occurs in f loat and inplace as large buried logs. Many speci-mens have been identif ied leading to theconclusion that the region once hosted asub-tropical forest of palms, tree fernsand cycads.

The orig inal discoverers chose to keepthe area "secret" and share i t only withf r iends. Many t r ips were made and agreat deal of f ine wood specimens col-lected before the weather became toohot. As soon as the weather cooled a bit,the discoverers returned to their virgingem f ield after an absence of only threeDesert/ November 1975

months. Much to their dismay, theyfound their "secret" had not been kept .Many people had been wil l ing to brave aDeath Valley summer in order to obtainsome f ine wood specimens. Consider-able f loat material was gone and gapingholes revealed where logs had oncebeen.

Though it was too late to do anythingabout the ravaging which had takenplace, the group decided they nowwished to share their f ind with other col-lectors. Mrs. Ai leen McKinney, one ofthe discoverers, provided me with the

facts for a short art icle which appearedin the January, 1958 issue of Gems &Minerals Magazine.

" S e c r e t l o c a t i o n s " c a n n o t r e m a i nsecret if more than one person, or a manand wife, know about it . I t seems ob-vious in this case that "leaks" hadreached the ears of side-pocket dealersand rock hogs who proceeded to go inand high-grade the f ie ld . I, too, had beenshown specimens and told enough aboutit to have a good idea of its location.

After 18 years of collect ing, goodContinued on Page 4623


24/48

Lost Horizon20"x16"

WESTERN ART24

BuffaloCountry, 18"\24"Desert/November 1975


25/48

T OMBSTONE MA Y be a longway from Temple City,Ca lifornia, but the West s tilll ives in the studio of Lloyd Mitch ellon Las Tunas Drive . M itchell is oneof the foremost We stern paintersand his studio is packed withcanvasses of cowboys, Indians ,saloons and wild horses.

\


26/48

;*- -v-.

Raised in the Van Buren-FortSmith area of Arkansas, near theborder of Oklahoma and adjacentto the Cherokee Indian territory,Lloyd was immersed in the lore ofthe Old West at an early age.Leaving home at the age of 16 tosee what he could of the world, hisfirst job, at $30 a month, was on thebig Sherman Ranch in westernKansas. From there he drifted onto Wyoming where he worked for ahorse ranch in the vicinity of RockEagle located in the Goshin Holecountry.

In the 1930s, Mitchell ended upin Hollywood working,appropriately, as a bit player inWesterns and associated with suchcowboy stars as Tom Mix, BobSteel and Ken Maynard.

Joining the Navy during WorldWar II, he attended Quartermasterschool along with actor HenryFonda at the U. S. Naval Base inSan Diego, California. Lloyd canwell be proud of the painting hestill has that Fonda, who was alsointerested in art, posed for. Whileserving on a minesweeper, he

1Outlaw


27/48


28/48

Porcupine

B ESIGNED BY nature to take l i fe at aflat-footed waddle, the port ly porcu-pine flourishes today even as of yorein the juniper-pinyon woodlands andmountain forests of the Southwest. Sur-prisingly, these animated pincushionsare also being encoun tered with increas-ing frequency far out in the desert scrubin places that are many miles from thenearest treed areas.

For a child of the forests, open desertland is a very strange place to be. Butthere the porcupine is, padding serenelyabout his business through sage andmesquitea sight to gladden the eye ofthe biologist who l ikes to think aboutwhat m ust take place physiological ly andbehav i o r -w i s e w hen members o f aspecies push out into areas where condi-t ions are anything but normal for them.

Not that the porcupine himself is anys t range r t o z oo l og i c a l i nv es t i ga t i on ,there being many a learned paper writ-ten on this and that aspect and scatteredthrough professional l i terature. Thanksnow to the recent f ine work of biologistCharles Woods, information delved outin the past and reports of research goingon currently have been brought togeth-er. From this new con sol idation of facts amighty interesting animal emerges.

Basically the porcupine is a very solidcharacter with the calm outlook of a cit i -zen who, in making an honest l iving forhimself, lets his fel low w ildl i fe alone andin turn expects to be let alone himself. Astrict vegetarian, he dines part of theyear on the bark of trees and top twigs,food i tems not in heavy dem and by othervegetarians. In fact, he even suppliessome of the m ore earth-bound neighborswith branches he cuts and drops in hisforaging upstairs, a habit credited withhelping to save deer from starvation intimes of heavy snow.

Nor does the porcupine offer muchcompetit ion to fel low wildl i fe when i tthe desert'snewcomer

by K. L. BOYNTON1975

28


29/48

I:

Oppositepage: A .

porcupinehigh in a

ponderosa pine in

northern Jf% ' , iArizona near Mt ,Hoi brook. *Rght: f^ySCaught by the jf

camera in the jj*j:[entrance to his

cave in $?/Papago

Springs,Arizona.

comes to picking out a home location.A den in a rock slide or in a fallen log orsecond-hand hole suits him fine, or forthat ma tter a tree crotch or strong l imbto sprawl out on serves equally well forsleeping. Nor is he a believer in terr i -tory maintenance and defense. Being arover at heart, he does a lot of localtraveling and sometimes makes treks ofconsiderable distance depending on theweather, food conditions and the state offamily affairs. The Southwest offers ap a r t i cu l a r l y g o o d t r a ve l o p p o r tu n i t ysince the desert, foothi l ls and moun-tains all such differe nt h abitats lieso closely together the porcupine canshift his operational base with the sea-son, and in accordance with specific con-ditions of the locali ty.

In Idaho and Utah, for instance, theymigrate between pine-covered buttes forwinter feeding to sagebrush for summerfeeding grounds. In eastern Oregon, onthe other hand, they clamber down fromthe rocky forests of the higher eleva-tions to mountain meadows thoselocal openings in the forests perhapseven winter ing along the streams, goingback up to the higher elevations whenDesert /Nnvamhar 137S

Right: A rearview showing

how thequills areraised in

a bristlingdefense.

Photos byGeorge M. Bradt.


30/48

the green plants appear again there inthe spring. Travel routes lie alongridges, down through draws, alongbrushy stream bottoms, picked for easygoing. Not that the traveling porcupineis in any hurry. Heavy-set and short-legged, he's not buil t to make time, andanyhow, some sort of food is always athand, the menu varying natural ly withthe season.

In winter, the main staple is the innerbark of trees, rich in sugar and starch.Zoologist Ira Gabrielson's Oregon studyshowed that ponderosa pine, lodgepole,tamarack, spruce, f ir , alder, aspen, al lserved as food as we ll as cottonwood andwil low twigs and sagebrush bark. Sum-mertime the diet is almost entirely her-baceous plants, geraniums, sedge, knot-weed, berries, leaves and grass, the por-cu p in e se e m in g l y a lwa ys w i l l i n g tosample new items. Desert regions offerpenstamen, pr ickly pear flowers, rabbitbush, wil low bark, palo verde, palo-ferro and mesquite, annual f lowers andgrasses.

As apparent from his proportions, thestout porcupine is a good trencherman,

tucking away perhaps 430 grams of foodper day. Now all this greenstuff requiresspecial handling by interior machinerycapable of making the most of the foodcontent. Anatomists were natural ly in-terested, among them Starrett, Dodge,Balows, Jennison, Johnson and McBeeand from their various investigations itturns out that the porcupine has a gutsome 8.5 meters long, 46 percent ofwhich is small intestine, harboring somefine bacteria useful in decomposingplant cellulose. Also included in theequipment is a special system wherebyfatty acids produced by fermentation canbe absorbed directly into the blood, anda big l iver acts to store vitamins. With aset-up like this and such a wide v ariety ofvegetable food possible, the porcupineunder normal circumstances has fewgrocery worr ies.

Enemy annoyances a re few, too ,coyotes sometimes being brash enoughto try for porcupine dinner, the maintrouble coming from the fisher, a tree-going relative of the weasel who forsome reason seems to know how to getthrough that marvelous defensive-offen-

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sive system afforded the porcupine byhis quil ls.

A quill is actually a hair, modified intoa different kind of structure. It has abulb-like base, set in a pit. The quillsgrow out from their fol l icle-pits and arearranged in groups two to five mm apartin neat rows across the porcupine'sbody. The longest are on his rump, theshortest on his cheeks. When a quillreaches its ful l growth, nourishment iscut off, and it becomes a dead structurewith less rootage. Hence it is easier topull out. Lost quills are replaced by newones growing out at some 1/2mm a day,it taking anywhere from two to eightmonths for a new quill to reach fulllength. Not that the time element is ofmuch concern, since there are some30,000 quills on the porcupine, anyhow.

When the porcupine is going peace-ful ly about his business, the quil ls l ie f latamong the long guard hairs of his coat.But they can be jerked erect by muscularaction to make a thick wall of tall spikes.Needle sharp, many of the quills are alsobarbed, having a scaled surface maybetwo-thirds of the way back from the tipand these are the ones that can cause themost damage. Take those 1,600 barbedspikes in the ta i l , for instance, which ap-pendage the porcupine uses as a f lai l -weapon. Tucking his head down and outof the way, he presents his spiked rumpto the enemy, and backing suddenlyfo rces h is e rect qu i l l s aga ins t theenemy's body. The old ta i l , f lai l ing aboutat the same time, drives in its sharpspines. Ma ny q uil ls are left in the enemyand, held securely by their barbs, will bedrawn deeper and deeper in by the vic-tim's own muscle action. Lodged in theright places, the embeddd quil ls can befata l .

Such encounters are probably few, aporcupine br istl ing with spikes and ob-viously ready for action being a most dis-heartening sight, one bound to discour-age a predator from pursuing the matterfurther. The porcupine knows this andhence his leisu rely pace in the conduct ofhis business, much of which is carried onupstairs, anyhow, since a tree can fur-nish both food and lodging. As is to beexpected, he's an excellent cl imbe r. Notonly does he have long claws, the baresoles of his hands and feet have roughbumps and hook-l ike surfaces, al l con-tr ibuting to a good grip. Climbing styleis to hug the trunk of a tree, brace the


31/48

ta i l , and pul l up by extending one arm,then the other , br ing ing the hind feet upunder the body. Zoologist Batchelder,watch ing one cl imb, noted the easystrong rhythm of the action, steady andsure up to the very top of the t ree, outo n to the s w a y i n g , d i p p i n g t o p m o s tbranches, where the animal wi th as-tonishing balance proceeded to dine ofthe very end tw igs .Wi th a l i fe style l ike this, porcu-pines are mostly soli tary except ofcourse, dur ing thesocial season whic h inthe West opens along about August andSeptember. At this t ime the gent lemen,particular ly, seem to make up for the i runcommunicative days as bachelors, forporcupine wooing seems to involve noen d of sound effects. They have therepertoire for it, ranging from whines,moans, grunts, sniffs, squeaks, sobs,snorts, wails and squalls, and muchteeth chatter ing. Just which of these areserenades to win a lady being unknownto researchers, or for that matter whatother sounds may mean. One zoologistreported hearing "o deahp! o d e a h p "f r o m his g a r d e n one n ig h t wh i chsounded like a person bemoaning a sadsituation and which, when he investi-gated, turned out to be a porcupine ap-parently enjoying what it was eat ing.

In any event, the wooing successful,gestation takes 210days which is a sur-prising seven months, the youngsterbeing born Apr i l to June, as late as Julyin Oregon's higher elevations. Only oneoffspr ing is the ru le , the porcupetteweighing about onepound. Precocious isthe word, since young arr ivals are bornwith their eyes open, their big front teethalready in andtucked inamong the blackcoat hairs are quil ls. Soft at f i rst , thequi l ls harden wi th in an hour , and thenewborn youngster already knows howto defend itself.

In terest ing enough, whi le the young-ster can cl imb a lmost immediate ly, itusually remains on the ground hiddenin a rocky den or old log or brush pi le fo r the f i rst few days while Mama doesthe cl imbing and may stay up a nearbytree most of the t ime . The two are incomm unicat ion, however, Mrs. P. clam-ber ing down from t ime to t ime for milkdel ivery. Impor tant now are succulentherbs and tender browse for the l i t t leporcupette and this being the good timeof the year , the mountain meadows andjuniper-pinyon woodlands provide wel l ,Deser t /November 1975

the youngster stuffing itself ongreens aweek or two after b i r th . Besides learn-ing what is good to eat, the youngstermust also learn to cl imb wel l . Fumbly atf irst, with tentative tr ies and near slips,it progresses slowly but as the days passth e old inherited cl imbing ski l l begins toassert itself, and in no t ime at all, theyoungster is as at home in a tree as onthe ground.In the woodland-montane forests ofthe Southwest, the porcupine has a roleto play. His cutt ing and t r imming ofupper b ranches le ts the su n sh in ethrough to the forest f loor promotingseedling growth the trees of thefu ture. It also enables a greater varietyof plants to grow and to enrich the land.True, hiseating of top twigs of a tree ifcarr ied too far, changes its growthpattern. This interferes with the plans ofman who, f irmly convinced that every-th ing in the universe belongs exclusivelyto him, wishes the tree to grow big andtal l so that he can cut it down for him-self. Running amuck of man's in terest,of course, bodes ill for the porcupine'sfuture.

Moving out into the desert scrub, as itis apparently doing, may be the answerof a t r ibe that hasweathered all sorts ofconditions for some 10 mil l ion years.Here in the desert there is food to beh a d , rocky places for dens, sometimeswil lows along watercourses, or even outin the most uninhabitable and hot placesmaybe anacacia to cl imb in, as zoologistReynolds reports, the porcupine in thiscase being sound asleep in a fork on onesome 10 feet off the ground .

Being slow by nature, his tempo isr ight for desert l iving and energy con-servation, his coat of guard hairs andquil ls a f ine insulation against the sun'sradiat ion, a protection in turn againstcold. And his inter ior machinery, as onean d all know, quite capable of handlingthis different desert fare. Best of all,there is l i t t le in the uninhabi ted and hotsections of the desert that manwants fo r the moment.

Hence biologists arewatching wi th in-terest thecourse of porc

197511 desert magazine 1975 november

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