198105 desert magazine 1981 may

8/14/2019 198105 Desert Magazine 1981 May

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UtJII UH IVJ IMay, 1981$1.50


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East Mojave, California.

We'reWe're looking for excellence andsignificance. We're conducting as ea r ch f o r t h e b es t w r i t e r s ,photographers, illustrators, poets andcartoonists. Whether you join us as acontr ibu tor or a full time staffer, you'llfind a real spirit of innovation andcomm unication (the bucks aren't badeither). Send us your resume or port-folio; if we like wha t we see, we'll set upan appointment.

Address items to:The Editorial StaffDesert Magazine

P.O. Box 1318Palm Desert, CA 92261


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VOL UM E 44 NU MB ER 4 May, 1981

ISSN 0194-3405

A Cathedral inthe Rockiesby John Wesley SeringThere before us, enhanced bythe rays of the setting sun,lay what seemed to be anenchanted city.page 8The Mountain Lionby Karen S a u s m a nRegardless of what you callthis cat, he's a fascinatinganimal. His power andstrength are legendary.page 14Sanguinez: Baja'sPrison of Hopeby Mary Eileen TwymanThe padre had assured Pablohe was forgiven. He was notmeant to live mired andtrapped in guilt.page 18Why Owens Lake isRedby Wayne P. ArmstrongThe coloration of OwensLake is caused byastronomical numbers ofmicroscopic algae andbacteria.page 22The Cactus CityClarion:Mary Eileen Twyman,E d.News and nostalgia as seenby the nosiest newspaper inthe west. Where to go andwhat you'll find when youget there.page 29

Hueco Tank s: Islandor Rock Pile?by Joseph LeachThirty minutes east of ElPaso, a reddish stone upliftfloats serenely over the plainlike a great island in time.page 38The Life and Timesof Padre Kinoby Joseph F. KellyTrue to his vow of poverty,he was never known to keepa gift, sleep in a bed or ownmore than two shirts.page 42Reprieve for Brightyby Alan J. KaniaThe youngster, with tears inhis eyes, peered under thechain barrier and whimpered,"Where's Brighty?"page 50The Best of DavidMuenchby Don MacDonaldTh is famous photographercalls himself "a maverickwho studied under thetutorship of nature." Hiswork, indeed, is unique.page 54George Van Tasseland His Anti-GravityTime Machineby Rosemary EvansNo one doubted his claim tohave hosted visitors fromouter space at his homeinside Giant Rock.page 60

Departments5 Editorial6 Letters27 Th e Second Tim eAround34 Desert Rockhou nd35 Desert Calendar

45475362

page 50

The Living DesertChuck WagonCookin'Desert Product ofthe MonthThe Trading Post

Our Cover:Clouds, chased by high pressure clearing, roll acrossCalifornia's Mt. San Jacinto, witnessed by chollaand barrel cactus in the foreground. Photo by DavidMuench, 10 a.m. February, 1970. E6 Ektachrome,1/ 10th sec. at F32 , using 360mm Rodenstock lens.

DESERT


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S I T U A T I O N : W e l d - o n h i t c h r e c e i v e r sTow bar hitch receivers that arewelded on toavehicle fram e can be improperlyinstalled. Under certain circumstances welding canweaken the frame, or nullifythe vehicle's warranty.

S O L U T I O N : R e e s e T o w B a r K it H i t c h R e c e i v e r sReese Tow Bar Kit Hitch Receivers have been individually designed tofitspecificvehicle frames to efficiently distribute weight th rough the frame structure. Whereverpossible, kits bolt-on to theframe using existing holes, for efficient attachm entwithout welding!The Reese Tow Bar Kit Hitch Receiver fit-list contains abolt-on kit foralmost anyvehicle. And, all kits accept a standard 2" x2" hitch bar.An adaptor bushing is available for usewith the Reese 350 MiniHitch system's 1 % " hitch bar. Give yourself the secu rity of anindividually-designed Reese TowBar Kit Hitch Receiver. They'reengineered to fit your needs.

For informationon the ful l l ine of Reese products,write to: Reese Products P.O. Box 1706 5 1 6 7 1 St. Rd . 19-N Elkhart, IN 4 6 5 1 5A division ofMasco Corp. ofIndiana W E E N G I N E E R S O L U T IO N S

For more information write or call:Free SpanEnterprisesAuthorized Distributor

73-744 Hwy.11 1, Suite 2Palm Desert, California 92260(714) 568-3283

H Energy Efficient HomesReduce Monthly Utility Bills Heating andcooling bills are cut byone-third toone-half.Classes forBuilding Your Own Home Withour extensive owner-builder assistanceprogram, you can save even more bybuildingyour own home.Design Your Own Floor Plan ACathedralitehome does not need interior load-bearingwalls to hold up the roof so you're free todesign thehome of your own choice.Blueprint Building Plans Select from awidechoice of Cathedralite Domes engineeredbuilding plans foreach home package.Have an Old Fashioned Home Raising Theshell of your Cathedralite framing packagecan bebuilt in a day byyou and your friends.

D M A O LMagazine Since 1937

EditorD O N A LD M A CD O N A LDEditorial Coordinator

MARY EILEEN TWYMANAssistant E ditorK A TH RY N K RA H EN BU H L

Copy EditorE. S. M I T M A N

Art Director/Photo EditorTHPMAS THREINEN

Design C onsultantP EG G Y F LETCH ERGraphic ArtistsGITTA PFAHL

LI Z M CD O N A LDArchives LibrarianSUSAN GOLDENContributing EditorsCHORAL PEPPER, Special Projects

N O R M A LEEBROWNING, Special ProjectsKAREN SAUSMAN, Natural SciencesWAYNE P. ARM STRO NG , Natural SciencesM E R L E H. GRAFFAM, Cartographer

Advertising SalesK A TH RY N J O H N S O NMARY ANNPERRY

Marketing DirectorG EO RG E E. SECTOR

PublisherM I CH A EL J O H N S O NExecutive PublisherJULIE BRAZEAU

ABC MEMBERSHIP APPLIED FOR 8/19/80Advertising Information: See Current SRDS, Sec. 30AD esert M agazine ISSN 0194-3405, is published monthly bySeacoast Communication Corporation. Editorial Office: P.O. Box1318, Palm Desert, CA92261. Telephone: (714) 568-2781.Business Office: 121 West EStreet , Encinitas , CA 92024.Telephone: (714) 436-4218. O fficers: EdScykota, Chairman oftheBoard; Michael Johnson, President. Application to mail and Con-trolled Circulation postage pending at Encinitas, California.Copyright 1981 byD esert M agazine. All rights reserved. Nopart ofthis publication may be reproduced in anymanner withoutwritten permission from the publisher. Subscription Rates forU.S. and its possessions, Canada andMexico: 1 year, $12; 2years,$20. Elsewhere: Add $4 peryear surface, $20 peryear airmail (U.S.currency). To Subscribe, Renew orChange Address: WriteDesert Magazine, P.O. Box28816, SanDiego, CA92128. Pleaseallow sixweeks for processing and include, where applicable, theaddress label from your most recent copy. Exact zipcodes are re-quired by the Post Office. Donors ofgift subscriptions should in-clude their own name andaddress aswell as hose ofthe recipient(s).POSTMASTER: SEND CHANGE OF ADDRESS BY FORM3579 TOD E S E R T M A G A Z I N E , P.O. BOX 28816, SANDIE GO, CA 92128. Contributions: The Editor welcomes un-solicited manuscripts and photographs, but they can be returnedonly ifaccompanied byS.A.S.E. or international exchange coupons.While we treat submissions with care, we cannot assume respon-sibility for loss ordamage. Payment isupon acceptance. WritersGuide free with S.A.S.E.; sample copy, $1.50. Photographers:Please include technical data with each photograph submitted.

MAY, 1981


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R ETIRED LT. Colonels , entry-level journalism majors,housewives who sign them-selves "M s. ," persons who orderTecate because they are afraid to pro-nounce Tres XXX (Trayz-Ehkee); inshort, anyone who dreams someday ofbeing the editor of a magazine, anymagazine, had best be thick-skinned.For to be an editor, one must writeeditorials, and for every editorial onwhatever subject, there are 100 to1,000 of you out there who willdisagree with whatever the editor says.And a percentage of you will fire backwhat in essence is a counter-editorial ofyour own.

You-have the advantage. You cancall me a misinformed, myopic twerpand / won't cancel your subscription.If I, on the other hand, complimen't youwith the suggestion that human beingsdeserve prior rights to landahead,say, of the Coachella Valley fringe-toedlizardthere will be among you somewho believe the lizard is their equal.And those that do inevitably canceltheir subscriptions. Now should I sidewith equal opportunity for the lizard,then land developers will cancel theirsubscriptions. Luckily, the lizardsthemselves don't read.The editor can choose among broadand narrow issues for his editorial, oruse one issue to illustrate another. Thelizard as an issue, for example, is nar-row but when one weighs the rights ofanimals versus man's, the issuebecomes broad indeed, almost asbeamy as the Sagebrush Rebellion.There's one that causes oursubscriber count to fluctuate! TheRebellion, which incidentally is amovement and not an organization,dedicates itself to getting federalgovernment out of the land business.The goal is to return these lands to thestates, where they would remain theproperty of the people. There's no sug-gestion here that the lands be openedto commercial exploitation, is there?And since no state can deny free accessto visitors from another state, why doesJoe Jones in New York, where federallands hardly show on the map, cryfoul?-

J o e , by his fear, implies that industrycan more easily manipulate stategovernments than the federal, and thusmove in and despoil these lands. Joe,

by his anger, must think it'sYellowstone or Yosemite that's beingthreatenedhis, Joe's, heritage,wherever he lives. Joe need not fear.The feds already allow grazing,mineral exploration and, in some in-stances, homesteading on the landstargeted by the Rebellion. What's atissue is the income from these leasesand rights. And Joe need not be angry.The Sagebrushers want BLM landback, not national parks or monumentsor even, really, any land that clearlymerits a wilderness designation.Experience tells me that state govern-ments, being smaller, are more quicklyresponsive; there are a few less layersof bureaucracy to bore through.Recreationists, thus, need cut less redtape to do their thing, accomplish theirvarious and sometimes conflictinggoals, whether their interest bebackpacking or dirt biking. All of us, Ibelieve, will be a step closer to ou r landif the Sagebrushers prevail.More immediately, in preparation forcoexistence, we might conditionoutselves to compromise. I like an ex-ample in the Garner Valley near whereI live. There are several large ranchesthere, grazing herds on both private,and leased government lands. All butone of the ranchers have talked theForest Service into allowing themlocked gates, even though the roadsthus closed were originally built andare now maintained by public moniesAnd all but one experience constantproblems with forced entry. Therancher that doesn't hangs anhospitably worded sign on his unlockedgate. It says, "Please close this gatebehind you." The owner can'tremember when he last lost a cow.

It can work, and I see the role ofDesert Magazine as helping it to work.Public lands are for everyone in trust.Let everyone use them, each in hisown way, the only rule being to do un-to others as you would have done untoyourself. And I'd rather lobby for thatancient admonition at the state thanthe federal level. Maybe, even, we cansomeday live within its meaningwithout any supervision (or editorials)whatever.

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Unsolved MysteryAllow me to introduce myself as thebrother of Everett Ruess, the artist,writer and poet who disappeared latein 1934while exploring the canyoncountry along the Colorado River eastof Escalante, Utah. Hugh Lacy serial-ized Everett's tragic story five yearslater in Desert Magazine and, subse-quently, it appeared in book form. Iwould still like to see the mystery ofmy brother's disappearance solved, justas , I imagine, would friends and rela-tives of people like Judge Crater, Jim-my Hoffa and Amelia Earhart.From the record and from familypapers I've seen, it seems most likelythat Everett met with foul play on thepart of some cattle rustlers I heardwere encamped above the end of DavisGulch, the same place where theyfound hisburros in a sort of naturalcorral, but the Utah authorities neverpursued the investigation. I've noteven been told the names of the sus-pected rustlers, though I'm sure somepeople in Escalante and neighboringtowns had this information. My fami-ly's hope wasthat on his deathbed atleast one of the rustlers would tell, butthis does not seem to have happened.Since our parents are dead, it wouldmean more to me than to anyone elsein theworld if you still have copies inyour files of all the nice letters peoplewrote about Everett and could send meduplicates of these. Nationally knownlecturer Edward Howard Griggs calledmy brother "Thoreau to the Nthpower," which I think wasquite acompliment. This appeared in a con-temporary edition of Who's Who inAmerica.Waldo RuessSanta Barbara, Calif.

All back issues ofD esert Maga-zine since Vol. 1, No. 1 (Novem-ber, 1937) are available, perhapsmost conveniently, onmicrofilm atlarger libraries or in bound format ouroffice. Letters notprintedwere notkept. If any reader canshed further light onEverett's stillunexplained disappearance, wewill forward the information instrict confidence toWaldo Ruess.6 MAY, 1981

More "Resting Eggs"Choral Pepp er's account of the myster-ious appearance of jellyfish in LakeMead (Desert, March 1981)remindedme of an out-of-place marine creature Icame across back on the family farm insouthwestern Oklahoma during the late1930s. Despite the usual drought eachsummer, we could nearly always counton at least one toad-strangling, gully-washing rain in the early spring. Stand-ing water would last in the fields twoor three weeks, long enough for numer-ous forms of life to appear and multi-ply, including toads, tadpoles, crayfishand countless water bugs.I'd avidly probe these murkymudholes to add to the living collec-tion I kept in boxes and glass jarsaround the house, but one year, alongwith the normal haul of crayfish andsundry water creatures, I came up witha strange looking animal I had neverseen before. With a light brown, leath-ery, horseshoe-shaped carapace aboutthe size of a half-dollar, wriggling pin-cer-like legs and a long, straight-point-ed tail, it looked rather menacing. Aswell as I can recall, it lasted about aweek or so in captivity before expiring.Many years later, in a book onpaleontology, I came across a picture ofit. The curious creature was Xiphosura(or Limulus) polyphemus, commonlyknown as the king or horseshoe crab.Since its normal habitat is the Atlanticseaboard and parts of the Pacific, howdi d it, or its eggs, end up in a mudpuddle in the middle of a farm in Ok-lahoma, a thousand miles from thenearest ocean?Tony B. RainesOklahoma City, Okla.

After reading Choral Pepper's fine arti-cle, "Desert Jellyfish," I sat back inmy chair and mused howlike flyingsaucers these creatures seem to be. Forinstance:1. "When triggered they emit a poi-son powerful enough to stun."2. "Their progress ... is achieved asa result of rythmic pulsations or ...contractions."3. They "move up and down as fastas a Yo-yo."

4. They are circular and have a "belltop."5. Youcan't catch them.6. They "disappear as suddenly asthey first appeared."There are probably more patternsand parallels. If we would study thesecreatures a little more thoroughly, froma mechanical, asexual viewpoint, per-haps this country could then come upwith its own UFOs!Adora RickardOjai,Calif.

Let There Be PeopleI have enjoyed your magazine for 10years now and I wasespecially pleasedwith your February (1981) "DeathValley" issue. That area has more soulthan any city, and I agree that the Na-tional Park Service has closed ofF thegreatest intrigue by not allowing a fewpeople to live there. Why not give afew prospectors permits to wanderwith their burros around thevalley?After all, if they lived life as it waslived there in the past and didn't usemodern machines, they would be awelcome addition to the natural set-ting.Phil HerbertSalt Lake City, Utah

Explosion R ecalledYour article on Jerome, Arizona(Desert, March 1981) wasquite inter-esting to me, especially mention of 250tons of dynamite exploding in 1925.1remember it occurred in November,around 4:15 p.m. I was sawing woodin our backyard at Cottonwood when Iheard the explosion and felt the shock,and having a clear view of Jerome fouror five airline miles away, I saw a dustcloud rise. I did not see anything inthe paper concerning the explosion,and I didn't hear of any damage tohomes or windows in Jerome. Muchlater, though, I was told that two (orfour) railroad box cars loaded withdynamite had exploded on a siding,and that it was not reported as such toavoid investigation of safety lawviola-tions. There were nounions around atthe time, these having been broken up


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during World War I.K.E. BloomOakland, Calif.

Offending TrashMy wife and I, ardent rockhounds whobelieve in keeping the desert beautiful,were utterly disgusted and sickened re-cently while searching for agate andjasper at the Early ManSite east ofBarstow, California. The MineolaRoad turnoff from 1-15 takes youthrough a disposal area before you getto the site, which I know is a federalgovernment project. As to the dump, Idon't know if it's city or county, but Ido know that it's the filthiest testamentto mankind we have ever seen. Trash,papers, unknown and unidentifiablefilth, all blow to the four winds over avast area of beautiful land, and no ef-fort to control this is evident. It is adisgrace! The agency responsible forthis should be made to clean it up!Fred BarnesSanta Ana, Calif.

He Qui tsAfter five years of searching forPegleg's gold, I quit. The price of gas-oline and the first twinge of failing legmuscles (I'm 84) force me to give up.Between the BLM and the military,most of the land has been confiscated.The parks are artificial. We are toldwhere to walk, ride, camp and play.The straight jacket does not fit myshoulders, but I've enjoyed every hourof the search.Don SpringerYucaipa, Calif.

Water RightsYour editorial in February, 1981 Desertabout the water problem at Mono Lakewas excellent. You've written with in-sight and clarity on a complex subjectthat wasalways difficult for me to ap-proach when I was a Mono Countyresident. I've referred this issue tomagazines and newspapers in the coun-ty-Buddy NoonanSierra Vista, Ariz.

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CATHEDRALIN THEROCKIESSome say Colorado's Wheeler Geologic Area is the

land of the absurd. Others liken it to a vast cathedral.

). V/


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Wheeler is a land of contrast,saivtoothed formations jostlingfurrowed erosions in the soft rock(insert). Here, adults lose allinhibitions and become childrenonce again.


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"There before us, enhanced by the rays ofthe setting sun, lay the vista of whatseemed to us an enchanted city. Spiresand domes, castles and cathedrals,mosques and temples, with their flutedcolumns and wonderfully carved friezes,were arrayed in a confusing panorama ofform and color."THU S W ROTE Frank Spencer,forest supervisor for the RioGrande National Forest, afterhis journey in the summer of 1908when he first viewed the Wheeler Geo-logic Area near the silver mining com-munity of Creede, Colorado.No other landscape in the ColoradoRocky Mountains is more mystical orbizarre, nor draws a greater emotionalresponse from the infrequent visitor. Itis a desert-like landscape, resemblingBryce Canyon, yet is located near tim-berline one-half mile from the Conti-nental Divide. It is a land of immensebeauty and unique human history.Wheeler Geologic Area is a badlandsformation composed of tuff, depositedfrom nearby volcanic activity. The de-bris varies from minute dust particlesto large, three-foot blocks. Being soft,unconsolidated and uncompacted, ero-sion by rainfall and wind has createdfantastic features of spires and pinna-cles in the highly colorful pastel shadesof tuff.

The geologic history is far more ac-tive than the area's human history.There is no recorded "first" discoveryof the geologic formations prior toFrank Spencer's trip in 1908. Previous-ly, rumors had been spread by sheep-herders, miners, trappers and huntersof an eerie landscape known as the"Sand Stones." Long before the whiteman's arrival, it is probable that theUte Indians knew of its existence fromsummer hunting trips into the highmountain country.Explorer John Charles Fremont, the"Pathfinder," and his party were inthe vicinity of the area in the winter of1848-1849. Guided by the famed62-year-old Taos, New Mexico moun-tain man, "Old Bill" Williams, theFremont party attempted to cross theRockies via the headwaters of the RioGrande. Williams argued with Fre-mont to turn south and travel througheasier country and warmer weather,but his suggestion was ignored. Inmid-December, Fremont's party wascaught high in the mountains withtemperatures 20 degrees below zero.

Ten feet of snow lay on the ground,driven by howling winds. The partybecame confused and disoriented, andsoon it was every man for himself. Be-fore the ordeal had ended, 10 menwere dead and more than 100 pack ani-mals were lost.Williams returned the following spr-ing to collect some provisions Fremonthad left behind, but he was never seenagain, so it is presumed that Ute ar-rows brought an end to the colorfuland far-traveled mountain man's life.Then, approximately 25 years later,Lieutenant George Montague Wheelerled a War Department survey partyacross southern Colorado. There is norecord or indication that either Wheel-er or any of his men ever observed theformations.In 1906, Congress passed the Antiq-uities Act, which allowed the Presi-dent, by his authority, to designate his-toric landmarks, prehistoric structuresand government administered landswhich contain historic or scientificvalues as National M onum ents.Spencer's enthusiasm for the area ledto a report and recommendation for itsestablishment as a National Monu-ment. The forest supervisor traveled inperson to Washington, D.C. and metwith then chief forester of the U.S.Forest Service, Gifford Pinchot.Wheeler's name was attached to thegeologic area by default. Originally,Fremont's name was proposed; how-ever, it was decided that enough prom-inent natural objects had already been

Early morning is the timeto photograph Wheeler(left); the rising sun addsits own illusions. M ap(below) shows the fouraccess routes to the area.

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\La Garita Wilderness i

// / ,' 'xX^rTabfe^WAGON T , . AWHEEL U 4 9 )GAP V w ^ V x

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V. D EL N O R TE

SOUTHFORK

DESERT 11


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W H O NEEDS ACURE CANCER?Certainly not the chemotherapists, radiologists, surgeons, hospitals northe American Cancer Society. It would kill their golden goose and costthem billions of dollars. Is there a preventive or cure available?Of course, and it is presently used in Gerrhany.. Have American scientists found a preventive?Yes, when they injected female mice with a cancer causing substance(carcinogen) all the mice got breast cancer. Adding this preventive andinjecting female mice with the same carcinogen NOT A SINGLE MOUSEGOT C ANC ER . Is quitting smoking the answer?In the 1979 Surgeon General 's report you find this quote... "smokers havefewer restrictive activity days and fewer chronic conditions than formersmokers. Hasn't the government stated that smoking is dangerous?Yes, but other government studies have shown that STO PP ING smoking. . . may actually increase your chances of cancer, heart disease, kidneystones, high blood pressure and dozens of other illnesses. Can som e people be getting this element without know ing it?Yes, if they are lucky en ough to live in the right place. Tha t's why in Jap anbreast ca ncer is only 15% of what it is in Am erica; why Rapid City, So.Dakota has half the lung cancer rate of Lima, Ohio. Are there places where cancer and heart disease are rare?Yes, and these people live to well over a hundred years old. Hav e researchers tried this element on incuba ting cancer cells?Yes, and it completely stopped cancer cell development.

Does this element have any side effects?The side effects are only positive. This element is needed by the heart tostreng then the heart mus cle. Fertility is also influenced by this element.It stimulates the motility of sperm. Wasn't there a recent story from China on this element?Yes, doc tors there repo rt a drama tic decline in certain forms of congestiveheart disease. Is this preventive available now?Yes, it can be obtained legally without a prescription. Why call a book like this "The Joy of Smoking"?Because the auth or was given six m onths to live 14 YE AR S A GO .And he has been smoking two packs a day for the last 12 years."Perhaps the real sleeper in this book is a method to reduce one's smoking

from 40 cigarettes a day to 4 . . . without pills, will power or expensive clinics."Herald American Book Review

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named in honor of the Pathfinder.In 1908, within three months of thereport, President Theodore Rooseveltdesignated the area as the Wheeler Na-tional Monument, to preserve volcanicformations which "are of unusualscientific interest as illustrating erraticerosion."It seems no one knew under whichgovernment agency the monumentcould best be managed. In 1933, theWheeler area was transferred from theForest Service to the National ParkService along with other nationalmonuments in the national forest sys-tem. T he n, after 17 short years of ad-ministration, Wheeler National Monu-

No oneknew under which

government agency themonum ent could best be

managed.

ment was transferred back to theForest Service because of poor accessand the isolated nature of the area inrelation to other park service areas.Originally 300 acres in size, the For-est Service expanded the protected areato 640 acres and withdrew it from min-eral entry and purchase. Then, in1969, the Forest Service prohibitedmotorized vehicles within the area andrequested that the formations be reclas-sified as the Wheeler Geologic Area.The political future of the area con-tinues to be as unpredictable and vola-tile as was the volcanic action whichcreated the geologic oddities. In De-cember, 1980, Congress passed theColorado Wilderness Bill, which statesthat the Wheeler Geologic Area andcontiguous lands will be studied andrecommended by 1983 for possible Na-tional Park, National Monument orNational Recreation A rea d esignation.In addition, during the last decade, nu-merous proposals have recommendedthat the area be included within theexisting La Garita Wilderness Area,whose present boundary lies along theContinental Divide overlooking theWheeler formations near Half MoonPass.

To visit the Wheeler Geologic Area,there are four primary routes which of-12 MAY , 1981


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fer a wide variety of experiences. In theearly 1900s, a 14-mile foot and horsetrail was constructed from Creede tothe area. At the terminus of this, onewill find a cabin shelter unit built forcampers by the Forest Service nearly75 years ago.The most used access route beginsnear Wagon Wheel Gap. From StateHighway 149, turn off on Pool TableRoad (maintained gravel) to the site ofHansen Mill, once a logging mill. Justbeyond the mill site is a road fork. Theleft fork is a seven-mile foot and horsetrail and the right fork is a 14-mile jeeproad, both to the Geologic Area^ Thebest way to describe the roughness of

No otherlandscape in the

Colorado Rocky M ountainsis more mystical

or bizarre.

the jeep road is that it takes almost aslong to drive as it takes the hiker onthe seven-mile trail along East BellowsCreek.One other trail, a highly scenic one,is the West Bellows Creek Trail. Thetrail begins near Highway 149 at thePhipps Ranch. Regardless of yourroute, it is advisable to contact theranger station in Creede for trail condi-tions, regulations, information andmaps before your trip.A visit to the Wheeler Geologic Areais like a visit to the land of the absurd.Adults become children as they .scamper over eroded volcanic forma-tions or give names to rock shapes in

this enchanted landscape, names suchas "Dante's Lost Souls," "The Phan-tom Ship," "The Chicken Roosts" or"The Ghos ts ."Arthur Carhardt, a landscape archi-tect for the Forest Service, wrote of thearea in 1924: "A description of theshapes assumed by the up-thrust rockmight cover many pages. Every step inany part of the monument seems tobring several new ones into view. Animaginative person can see in theseeroded objects the shapes of almost anyanimate creature and not a few offanciful beasts such as live only indreams or in gnomeland." 0

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14/64

O NE OF THE first animals Icared for after joining the staff ofthe Lincoln Park Zoo in Chica-go , Illinois, was a young, exquisitelybeautiful mountain lion kitten namedLucky. At several months old, sheweighed 25 pounds and could leap,spring and climb w ith tremendousagility. She thought nothing of climb-ing right up our legs and onto ourshoulders, a little disconcerting whenher sharp claws poked through ourclothes, even though she wasreasonably gentle and never purposelyattempted to hurt us. I would oftenspend time after working hours "talk-ing" with her. Well, almost! One ofthe little known facts about mountainlions is that they whistle and chirp likea bird when they are excited.Lucky was fortunate to have a per-manent home in a zoo. Each year,many people foolishly purchase youngmountain lion kittens for pets. They donot, however, make very good pets. As

The fine-textured fur of an adultlion (above) contrasts with thefluffy coat of a six-month-old cub(opposite page).

TheMountainLionThe elusive king of cats stillroams A merica's wilderness.

by Karen SausmanPhotographs by David Sum nerwith all wild animals, the cute antics ofthe young kitten soon turn into theagile and powerful roughho using of a100-pound cat. If suddenly frightened,even in play, they can inflict severewounds. Each year zoos throughout thecountry are inundated with phone callsfrom people trying to give them"tame" mountain lions, many of whomhave been defanged and declawed bytheir owners in a misguided effort todomesticate them. Such cats are evenharder to place in zoological parks, andmany wind up being destroyed.The mountain lion (Felis concolor) isthe largest wild cat in the UnitedStates, and the second largest in theNew World. Only the jaguar of Cen-tral and South America is larger. Atone time jaguars were also found insouthern Texas and Arizona; there arestill occasional reports of these animalscrossing the Rio Grande.Not too long ago, mountain lionsroamed across all of North and SouthAmerica. Like all of our largepredators, they eventually came intoconflict with settlers and the livestockindustry. People were fearful of thelarge cats, of their size and power, andunwilling to put up with the depreda-

tion of their livestock. So, slowly butsurely, wherever man has crossed pathswith the mountain lion, the mountainlion has been exterminated. It has beentotally eliminated from the east andmidwestern portions of our country,leaving a small population of mountainlions still to be found in southernFlorida and in the west.With such a broad range, it is notsurprising that the mountain lionearned a wide variety of commonnames, among them cougar, puma,panther and catamount. Only in thewest is the name mountain lion ap-propriate, for here they are primarilycreatures of the mountain ranges. InFlorida, these animals are often calledpanthers.Regardless of what you call moun-tain lions, they are fascinating animals.Their power and strength are legend-ary. Mountain lions are medium sizedcats; total body length including thetail is somewhere in the vicinity ofseven to eight feet. There is a greatvariety in the physical size and color ofthe cats. Adult females have beenfound weighing as little as 75 poun ds,whereas males can weigh from 80 to200 pounds. From the scanty statistics

14 MAY, 1981


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. *

available, it would seem that mountainlions in California are smaller thanthose in most of the other westernstates. Color ranges from tawny beigeto gray, with a brown tip on the tailand on the back of the ears. Within thesame mountain range you can findlions of a variety of colors.Without question, the favorite preyof the mountain lion is deer. Anywherethere is a good, stable population ofdeer, there will most likely be moun-tain lions. They are said to kill anaverage of one deer a week,supplementing this diet with smallanimals. Porcupines seem to be adelicacy. They manage to overpowerthese prickly prey, turning them up-side down to consume everything butthe pelt and quills. Mountain lions oc-casionally hunt during the daylighthours, but are primarily nocturnal.Deer are often stalked and pouncedupon from trees or ledges. Most of thetime, the impact alone will kill. Aftereating its fill, the cat covers the re-mains and often returns a few dayslater to eat again. Since it prefers freshmeat, whatever is left after the secondfeeding is fair game for scavengers suchas coyotes, foxes, ravens and vultures.

Besides their natural prey, mountainlions may take livestock that happensto be within their territory. They canoverpower horses, calves and sheep.The killing of livestock led manywestern states to put bounties on thelions at the turn of the century, butsince the early 1960s, most states havesubstituted depredation permits forbounties and now treat the mountainlions as game animals, which means16 MAY, 1981

they are subject to being hunted underpermit during special seasons with abag limit. In Texas, however, themountain lion is still consideredvermin.In California, the mountain lionbecame a protected game animal in1963. In 1971, Assembly Bill 660changed its status to a protected non-game animal and established a four-year moratorium on the taking ofmountain lions. The legislature hassince extended the moratorium toJanuary 1, 1983. For the period of themoratorium, the California Depart-ment of Fish and Game was directed toascertain the number of mountain lionsin the state and to determine the bestmeans of managing species.The first phase of the mountain lionstudy was a statewide survey begun inJune, 1971 and concluded two yearslater. The second phase involvedresearch on specific lion populations intwo areas of the state. The first areawas 175 square miles of the coast rangein Monterey County and the secondarea was in the southern Sierra Nevadarange, a 130-square-mile area of Tulareand Kern counties. Information on lionmovement, population dynamics andsocial structure was gathered. Thelions were treed with dogs and re-strained temporarily with drugs.Measurements were recorded and thecats were equipped with radiotransmitting collars before they werereleased so that their movements couldbe followed with receivers.The Department of Fish and Gameestimates the mountain lion populationin California to be approximately 2,400

This three-month-old cub couldno t have been very far from itsmother when this photograph wastaken.

animals. The greatest number of theseare concentrated in the coastal rangesfrom Mendocino to Del Norte coun-ties, the southern Sierra Nevada range,in Fresno and Tulare counties and inthe coastal ranges from Monterey toVentura counties. Mountain lions werealso found in most of the forest andbrushland areas of the state wherethere were deer populations. TheDepartment of Fish and Game feelsthat at this time no areas of the stateappear to have drastically decliningmountain lion populations. Low-density, reproducing populations existin various portions of Riverside andSan Bernardino counties. Otherwestern states report about the samething, and there is generally a feelingthat mountain lions are not currentlythreatened with extinction.Thus , despite years of persecution byman, mountain lions do continue toroam in the wilder portions of the westand deep in southern Florida. Theyessentially are loners, hunting bythemselves, males and females comingtogether only during breeding periods.A female often hunts with her cubs,who many number from one to six andmay be born in any month of the year.Th e den may be under a rock creviceor beneath a fallen tree. The gestationperiod is 88 to 97 days. The cubs areborn blind and helpless. Their eyes donot open for two weeks. Their spottedcolor patterns act as a camouflage, butby the time they are yearlings the spotshave disappeared. The young lionsmay accompany their mother for a yearor 18 months before striking out toestablish their own territories.The sight of a mountain lion is anelectrifying experience. Although peo-ple are afraid they will encounter onewhen hiking, cats are usually secretiveand not particularly interested in hunt-ing man. However, they have beenknown to follow people out of curiosi-ty. Most of us could spend a lifetimehiking in the wilderness and nevercome across these stealthy predators.But just knowing that these fascinatingcats still share our wild areas, continu-ing to roam over hundreds of squaremiles searching for prey, and raisingtheir young, makes any wilderness tripa more complete experience. 0


17/64

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18/64


19/64

SANGUINEZBaja 's Prison ofHopeby Mary Eileen Twytnan THE CONCH'S wail wafted overMulege and slowly settled intothe evening's shadows, whichwere beginning tostretch leisurelyacross the dusty roadways.

Pablo Murillo, playing seal in theRio Mulege, trying to swim with as lit-tle limb movement and ripple aspossi-ble, laughed at hisefforts and broke in-to firm strokes, reaching the bank inseconds. The eerie sound was justfading as hewalked up the bank , toss-ing hisblue-black hair out ofhis eyeswith a quick movement that arched acrystal spray against the scattered raysof sunlight still piercing through densegrowth to touch the earth.Already dry from the blasting desertheat, hepulled on his rousers.Hestarted walking while carelessly stuff-

The gates (opposite page) werenever locked during the day,which was w hy they calledSanguinez "the Prison of Hope."The structure (left) isstill inexcellent condition.

ing a corner ofhis shirt in the backpocket, leaving the rest tohang flag-ging behind him as hislong stridesturned him uphill. Hefelt pretty darngood.He looked up toward hisdestination,the imposing building situated on thehill's highest pointSanguinez Prison.His growing sense ofwell-being madeit hard foreven him tobelieve hewasa prisoner. In fact, today, that jolt ofamazement made him smile as hethought about the pesos nestled deepin hispocket and hiscache ofmanymore buried in his cell.

His thoughts turned to that wary-eyed little boy that was himself, bornand raised in a grim Baja Californiavillage. It seemed hisfamily wasalways scraping and scratching tosur-vive, never sure, once one sparse mealwas finished, where thenext onewould come from. That boy, that fami-ly seemed so far away, yetPablo knewthat boy and that family were the verybasis ofhis firm determination to bethe best hecould be, forhimself andmostly for them.He had become anexcellent thief,and therelief his efforts brought to hisunquestioning family were rewardenough to spur him onuntil thenightwhen, cornered and threatened withcapture, hekilled a man. With a harsheffort ofwill, heheaded off thisdownward thrust ofhis thoughts. Thepadre had assured him hewasforgiven, that therest ofhis life wasnot meant to be spent mired andtrapped inguilt.Pablo reached theentrance ofthe

stockade, butbefore hewalked in helet hiseyes roam over Mulege, and hisDESERT 19


20/64

thoughts soared with his gaze. Grow-ing up with nothing but burning sandunder his feet and as far as he couldsee in all directions, this encompassingview of Mulege's thick green vegeta-tion and freely flowing water neverfailed to refresh his spirit, even moreso than his daily swim in the RioMulege refreshed his body.When he was a young boy, Pablowould sit at the window, his mother'shomemade curtains fluttering aroundhim in the warm breeze, and look pastthe lean cow and scrawny chickens, hisbrothers and sisters playing in the dirtyard, and try to imagine what laybeyond the jagged mountains risingfrom the distant desert floor. When hefirst came to Sanguinez, knotted indespair and homesickness, he hadtaken a piece of charcoal from the edgeof the fire and drawn a crude windowon the wall of his cell. He had evendrawn the curtains to look like theywere being lifted by a gentle breeze. Atnight when he lay on his bunk, hismind's eye projecting the scene of hishome on his sketched window, theflickering firelight indeed made thecharcoaled curtains appear to flutter.One of Pablo's boyhood friends hadcome to Mulege. He had talked withhim this very afternoon. Juan hadbrought him news of his family, newsthat had lifted and eased the tremen-dous weight of worry that alwaysseemed jammed somewhere betweenhis shoulders, bound there by invisiblechains, relentless in their savage, con-stricting grip around his back andacross his chest.Mama and Papa were well and lov-ingly cared for by his brothers andsisters. It was hard for him to perceiveall of his brothers and sisters but theyoungest being married, even moreastonishing to hear that he was an un-cle, several times. They were all stillpoor, very poor.The plan, his plan, that always laydormant somewhere at the base of hisbeing, nourishing his dogged deter-mination, leapt forward in his thoughtswith startling clarity. His plan hadbeen conceived the day he had talkedwith the padre, and had realized he nolonger had to labor under his guilt. Onthat day, he had realized thatSanguinez Prison was not a house ofpunishment for him, but a newbeginning.He had jobs, working wherever thetownspeople needed him. And, becauseof his bold way of wading into andfuriously diminishing whatever workwas set before him, it was Pablo20 MAY , 1981

Murillo the townspeople sought out towork in the date and banana grovesthat flourished in Mulege. The pesosburied in the floor of his cell attestedto the many years of hard work behindhim.He would soon be free. In an effortto will his days even more swiftly tothat end, he leaned even moreferociously into the body-wrenchingtoil that brought nights of deep,satisfied sleep.It wouldn't be long before his planwould be reality. When he was free, he

M ost of the graffiti in the cells is ofmodern, gringo origin.would return home. Then, he wouldbring Mama and Papa to Mulege. Hewould buy a farm. Maybe his brothersand sisters would come too. Mulegehad plenty of work.

W 7 H E N C 0 L 0 N E L August\y L /S an g u in ez was governor of BajaT T California, he built this uniq ueprison on a hill overlooking Mulege in1906, naming it after himself.Mulege, being an oasis, is a virtualgarden. Because its productivity faroutstripped the ability of its residentsto keep up with it, it didn't take longfor the people of Mulege to tap thewealth of manpower housed in thecells behind the brick and plaster,guard-towered stockade. It was out ofMulege's need that a unique honorsystem evolved for the inmates ofSanguinez.There were a few incorrigibles whowere not included in this program, butduring the 59 years of its operation,most of the prisoners merely slept at

the prison in open cells, eating mealsprepared by the wife of one of them.Their days were spent working,wherever needed, in Mulege. Theywere even paid for their labor.The townspeople had no fear at all ofthe prisoners. On a typical workday,the only way to tell the prisoners fromthe free was that at 6:00 p.m., a guardwould climb up to one of thestockade's corner watchtowers andblow a conch shell, and various mencould be seen breaking away and filingup the hill toward the prison.These men were so trusted and ac-cepted by the local people that at thecompletion of their term s, many ofthem stayed in Mulege, marrying andraising families. Even today the iden-tities of these ex-prisoners and theirdescendants are intensely yet politelyprotected from outsiders, "for the sakeof their families."In 1965, its residents reduced to onlythree, Sanguinez Prison w as closed.Pigeons thrive there now, nesting inthe 53 cells. Jose Luis, an ex-policeman, lives there too, in what wasonce the kitchen. He has madeSanguinez his home "because he likesit" (no rent). He also serves as a"guard" for the occasional drank,gringo as well as Mexican, that may bein need of a place to sleep it off.The 53 back-to-back cells form asquare around an open courtyardwithin the stockade. In the center ofthis courtyard is a container which wasused for water. A roaring fire was alsolit here every night to fight off thechill. On the left wall, looking out intothe courtyard, is someone's sketch ofOur Lady of Guadalupe.Exploration of the cells reveals a lotof graffiti which has accumulated overthe last fifteen years, but closer inspec-tion reveals old faded drawings, namesof family members and datesseg-ments and traces, glimpses into amulti-faceted diary ripped from thepages of many lives.All of the prisoners at SanguinezPrison were men. A very few of themwere hardened criminals, and anothersmall minority of them were mentallyill. There seems to have been only oneknown escape attempt. A man scaledand leaped from the wall of thestockade, and was shot and killed byone of the guards.Why escape? The rehabilitation pro-gram unwittingly proposed by the peo-ple of Mulege was a way of life betterthan any the prisoners had known. Itoffered hope, and a future, as the priesthad promised, free of guilt. @


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22/64

W hy Owens Lake is RedOne of nature's most remarkable biological phenomena is the pink and redcoloration of salt lakes andplayas. Here is theexplanation, knownheretofore only to a handful of scientists.

IF YOU HAVE ever drivennorth on U.S. Highway 395along the eastern side of theSierra N evada in late summer, youmay have no ticed the vast, pinkish-red,crusted surface of Owens Lake glowingin the desert sun. Near the abandonedColumbia-Southern soda plant at Bart-lett, along the northwestern end of thelake, solar evaporation ponds may becolored a brilliant red. Pink salt lakesand playas, and the bright red evapora-tion pon ds of salt recovery plants alongtheir shores, are among nature's mostremarkable biological phenomena, oc-curring in arid regions throughout the

world. Similar and related biologicalphenomena are responsible for the col-oration of hot springs, other bodies ofwater, and snow in the high mountainranges.Owens Lake is actually a playa, anintermittent dry lake that may containstanding water during wet years, buteven when the lake appears dry, a layer. of brine occurs beneath the salty crust.It is fed by the Owens River and allthe tributaries that drain the snow-cov-ered Sierra Nevada. Before the riverwas diverted into the Los AngelesAqueduct in 1913,Owens was a large,blue, salt lake 30 feet deep and cover-ing 100 square miles. Several thousandyears ago, the lake wasmore than 200feet deep and nearly twice as large.

Remnants of ancient beaches are stillpreserved at several places around thelake.Owens Lake, in fact, had been gradu-ally drying up for thousands of years,and wasalready saline when the OwensRiver wasdiverted to supply Los An-geles with water. Brine fly pupae(Ephydra), common insects of salineponds and lakes, were an importantfood in the diet of local Paiute Indians.The pupae, which look like grains ofrice, occur in enormous numbers andcan still be found around the shorelinewhere there is standing water. Theycan also be found by the thousands,embedded in the salty crust.The coloration of Owens Lake iscaused by astronomical numbers of mi-croscopic o rganisms, which can be con-veniently classified into two majorgroups, algae and bacteria. Algae andbacteria include thousands of differentspecies, but only a few kinds are ableto tolerate the extreme salinity ofplayas such as Owens Lake. The groupof organisms primarily responsible forth e red coloration of the salt crust andbrine pools are the haloph ilic (salt-loving) bacteria.The amount of salt in a lake or sea isoften expressed as apercent, and refersto the total grams ofdissolved salts in100 m illiliters ofwater. The total per-cent of salinity includes all salts pres-

ent, such as sulfates, chlorides, carbon-ates, magnesium, calcium and sodium;however, the most abundant salt in thebrine where halophilic algae and bac-teria thrive is ordinary table salt, orsodium chloride. The percent of salin-ity mayvary in a salt lake or playa, de-pending upon where the water is test-ed, such as close to freshwater springsor a river inlet. For example, in thenorthern arm of the Great Salt Lake,the total dissolved salt content is morethan 30percent, whereas in the south-ern arm (where the rivers enter) thesalt concentration ranges from 12 to 20percent.Unlike most living things, thehalophilic bacteria thrive in saline lakeswith salt concentrations of 15 to 30percent. This is roughly four to ninetimes the salinity of sea water (3.5 per-cent). Their optimum growth condi-tion is 20-30 percent salinity. Th ey caneven live in saturated salt and remainalive in salt crystals for years. In fact,they cannot survive if the salt concen-tration drops much below 12 percent.Very few life forms on earth are knownto be adapted to this extreme salinity.

The brine ponds of Owens Lake are soalkaline and hot in mid-August thatthey can actually burn and dehydrateyour fingers. In many places, the brineis saturated with sodium chloride (over30 percent salinity) and salt is precipi-

Article andphotographs by WAYNE P. ARMSTRONG

22 MAY, 1981


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The stark Inyo Range glowers over thevivid red brine an d salt crust of California'sO wens L ake.

A hole chopped through the salt crustreveals the red brine beneath.DESERT 23


24/64

20-MULE TEAM DAYS IN DEATH VALLEY byHarold O . Weight. Specialists and critics praisethis account of the great borax wagons of the1880s, the drivers and mules, the trail to Mojave.Story of Borax Smith, Wm. T. Coleman, DeathValley pioneers, Harmony Borax Works. First-hand stories. Includes reprint of Henry G. Hawks'report on D eath Valley 1883. Pb ., 48 pgs ., 33historic and modern photos, map. 5th ed. $1.00.CHILI LOVERS' COOKBOOK compiled by Aland Mildred Fischer. Two cookbooks in one . Thefirst portion describes the best of chili cookery,from mild to fiery, with recipes for some of thebest. The second part gives a variety of taste-tempting foods made from chili peppers with manysuggestions on use and preparation. Spiral bound.Pb. , 128 pgs. $3.00.SCOTTY'S CASTLE by Dorothy Shally andWilliam Bolton. The sumptuousness of the castle,i t s his tory , const r uc t i on , and des ign of thebuildings are told by the authors, both NationalPark Service employees who have been associatedwith the maintenance and interpretation of theproperty since the government acquired tit le in1970. Pb., large format, profusely illus., $2.00.ANZA-BORREGO DESERT GUIDE BOOK,Southern California's Last Frontier by H oraceParker, revised by George and jean Leetch. A clas-sic reference to America 's largest desert park,originally published in 1957 and now updated ,enlarged and improved by the "dean of desertrangers" and his wife. With excellent logs, maps,and photographs brought up to 1979 standards.Pb. , 154 pgs. , two maps, many photos, $6.95.HIGH MOUNTAINS A N D DEEP VALLEYS byLew and Ginny Clark, with photographs by EdwinC. Rockwell. A history and general guide book tothe vast lands east of the High Sierra, south of theComstock Lode, north of the Mojave Desert, andwest of Death Valley, by oldtimers who know thearea. Pb. , 192 pgs. , 250 photographs, and manymaps. $6.95

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tating out. So, when you consider theextreme environment of the brine, it israther easy to narrow the field of possi-ble organisms responsible for the startl-ing coloration.If samples of the red brine are spunin a high speed centrifuge at 5,000rpm, the water becomes clear as thered bacterial cells are forced to the bot-tom under about 3,000 Gs. Thebacteria may then be grown in aspecial nutrient agar containing at least25 percent sodium chloride, incubatedin a warm oven. After several weeks,small reddish colonies of bacteria beginto appear in the culture dishes.There are two main kinds of extremesalt-loving bacteria, the rod-shapedhalobacteria and the spherical halo-cocci. They are extremely small uni-cellular organism s, visible only u nderhigh magnification. To get a roughidea of how small these bacterial cellsreally are, it would take more than halfa million to cover the surface of an or-dinary pinhead. A single drop of brinefrom Owens Lake may contain millionsof the minute, rod-shaped Halo-bacterium, squirming about with seem-ingly perpetual motion. They are ableto swim about by means of minute,hairlike flagella at their ends. Thebacterial cells contain a red carotenoidpigment which, depending upon theirconcentration, may color the waterpink, orange, vermilion, or mauve-red.The red pigment is similar to thatfound in tomatoes, red peppers, andmany colorful flowers and autumnleaves. It has been suggested that thebright red pigments protect thedelicate cells from the intense desertsunlight. They are found in salt lakesand brine ponds throughout the world,including the Great Salt Lake and theDead Sea.

The halophilic bacteria may be anuisance to industry using evaporationponds for the production of solar salt.Freshly produced solar salt is oftenheavily contaminated with theseorganisms, and they occasionally causespoilage of fish, sausage casings, meat,vegetables and hides when salt (sodiumchloride) has been used in the preserva-tion process. The y may also cause anunsightly, pinkish discoloring ofpickled foods. The discoloration isknown as "pinkeye" in salted fish and"red-heat" in salted hides.

THE EXACT chemical explana-tion for the extreme salt toler-ance of these bacteria, and theirneed for salinity at least three to fourtimes that of sea water, is very compli-

cated. The cells themselves contain avery high internal salt concentration,about equal to their environment.Otherwise, they would be rapidly de-hydrated (plasmolyzed) in the brine. Ithas also been shown that the highlysaline environment is essential for nor-mal enzyme function within the cells,and to maintain the fragile proteincoating or "wall" around the delicatecell membrane. In fact, if the salt con-centration drops too low, the outer pro-tein "wall" actually dissolves and theinner cell membrane disintegrates, thusdestroying the cell.

The salty crust and brine of OwensLake is sometimes greenish, due to the

It has beensuggested that the

bright red pigments protectthe delicate cells from the

intense desert sunlight.

abundance of another organism calledDunaliella. This is a unicellular greenalga, much larger than the bacteria,though visible only under high magni-fication. Each individual oval or pear-shaped cell has two whip-like tails orflagella at its anterior (head) end. Themoving flagella propelDunaliellathrough the water in a spiral motion.Under high magnification, numerousDunaliella can be seen swimmingamong the gleaming, geometrically-shaped crystals of salts. Dunaliella isclearly a green alga because of adistinct, green, cup-shaped chloroplastthat occupies most of the cell. In near-by Searles Dry Lake to the southeast,Dunaliella and a closely related species,Stephanoptera, may be so abundantthat they color the salt crust a brightgreen. Here they thrive in water with33 percent dissolved salts, and w herethe salt forms a solid surface cruststrong enough to bear the weight of anautomobile. In solar evaporation pondsof the large Kerr-McGee ChemicalPlant at Trona, Dunaliella sometimesforms a thick, green, "pea soup." Asingle drop of this thick water maycontain several thousand individuals ofDunaliella.

Under unfavorable conditions, Duna-liella produces a red carotenoid pig-24 MAY, 1981


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merit similar to that found inside thehalophilic bacteria. The red pigmentmay completely mask the green of itschloroplast, and salt lakes practicallyanywhere in the world may be coloredreddish by Dunaliella. For decades,scientists in Russia were puzzled bythe pinkish coloration of salt lakes inthe hot, lower Volga region, north ofthe Caspian Sea. The pinkish waterwas finally attributed to the presence ofDuna liella salina, either dying naturallyor excreted in the fecal mass of brineshrimp (Artemia), which feed exclu-sively on it. Dunaliella in the verysaline northern arm of the Great SaltLake in Utah are brilliant red. Therethe water is colored red by both theDunaliella and the red halophilic bac-teria. Some authorities recognize a redand a green species of Dunaliella; how-ever, all the Dunaliella I have observedin Searles Lake and Owens Lake werebright green. It appears that thebrilliant red coloration of brine in theselakes is caused primarily by bacteria.

The distribution of Dunaliellathroughout the world in very special-ized, highly saline habitats is convinc-ing evidence that its dormant cells aredispersed by the wind in the form ofdust clouds. Much to the chagrin ofOwens Valley residents, alkali dustclouds are a common sight over OwensLake. This is also happening to MonoLake to the north as its main supplystreams are diverted to provide LosAngeles with more water.In addition to red saline lakes, micro-organisms are responsible for the color-ation of other bodies of water, treetrunks and even rocks. Enormouspopulations of algae are responsible forthe coloration of the Red Sea and for aperiodic cond ition of coastal watersknown as the "red tide." Another alga,closely related to Dunaliella, thrivesand multiplies by the millions in snowbanks. The individual cells are brightred, and from a distance the snow ac-tually appears pink. Compacting thesnow increases the density of the redcells and heightens the color.Algal cells also color the trunks oftrees velvety green, and the trunks ofMonterey cypress on the MontereyPeninsula in California a brilliantorange. The colorful crusted growth onrocks and boulders throughout the westis caused by an intimate association ofalgae and fungi known as lichen.Several different kinds of algae andfungi are responsible for the many col-ors of lichen, including biack, red,orange, green, yellow and chartreuse.For years, people have wondered about

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R E A D A B O U TT O D A Y ' S G O L D R U S HArticles and news items aboutprospecting, mines and mining, bothlarge and small operations. Pictures,hints, tips, advertisements for ma-chinery, mines and claims. Publishedmonthly. $5.00 per year. Send forsample copy.

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Brine from solar evaporationponds (below) looks like tomatojuice. The pupae of brine flies(right) were once an importantfood in the diet of local PaiuteIndians.

WSm^w'^mm dFM n 1 ^ - &fr

the peculiar green coats of polar bearsin zoos, particularly during the warmermonths. It has been shown that greenalgal cells actually live and multiply in-side the hollow core of each hair, thusproducing the "green polar bear syn-drome." There are numerous other ex-amples of colorful algae and bacteria inour environment.Except for coloring salt lakes red, thesalt-loving bacteria probably seem in-significant to most people; however,they have been studied extensively inrecent years by biologists and biochem-ists. A pigment has been discovered inthe cell membrane of Halobacteriumthat is remarkably similar to the lightsensitive pigment (rhodopsin) in therod cells of human eyes which enablesus to see in dim light. When weenter a dimly lighted room, it takes26 MAY , 1981

several minutes for our eyes to adjustas the pigment rhodopsin gradually in-creases in concentration. In fact, dur-ing World War II night-flying aviatorssometimes wore special goggles justbefore the start of a mission. Th e gog-gles enabled the pilots to see and carryon normal activities while stimulatingrhodopsin production in the eye formaximum night vision. The pigmentin salt-loving bacteria (called bacterior-hodopsin) enables them to utilizesunlight for energy, just as green pho-tosynthetic plants are able to capturethe sun's energy. Future studies ofthese amazing solar-powered bacteriamay lead to new and more efficientuses of the sun as a source of energy,and perhaps a better understanding ofthe remarkable mechanisms of vision.The gleaming red salt flats of Owens

Lake can be quite spectacular in theearly morning or late afternoon of sum-mer, but not nearly so beautiful as theenormous blue Owens Lake that oncefilled the deep, sunken valley betweenthe massive Sierra Nevada and Inyoranges. Like Mono Lake today,Owens Lake was once a haven formany forms of life, from insects andbrine shrimp to water fowl. As thewater evaporated and the salinity in-creased, only the most salt tolerant mi-cro-organisms could survive in thebrine. This appears to be the fate ofMono Lake unless the natural drain-ings of nearby streams is restored to itsshores. In the case of Owens Lake, theLos Angeles Aqueduct has destroyed abeautiful blue lake, but has created anenormous pink playa of thriving, salt-loving bacteria and algae. 0


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Make your ownsprouting jarby Nyerges

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TH E NO SIEST NEWSPAPER IN THEWESTVOL. 2 NO. 4 MARY EILEEN TW YM AN, EDITOR MAY, 1981

S N O W B I R D S F I G H T R E G IM E N T A T I O Nby Richard Louv

I mp er ia l C ou n ty , Calif.Each fall, as the Choco la teMountains shimmer violet inthe diminishing heat, anunlike-ly popula tion of migrants arrivesin the surrounding desert, haul-ing trailers, driving vans andpickup campers with "SeniorPower" bumper stickers.The "snowbirds," as they arecalled, winterwithout electrici-ty or sanitation facilitieson adesolate stretch of federal landcalled "The Slabs," where Gen.George S. Patton trained histroops during W orld War II. Orthey camp on Quechan Indianreservation lands along the Col-orado River.Sometimes they pull off thehighway anddrive dusty sedansout into the desert, and pitchtents. If they can afford it, theylive in commercial trailer campsnear the Salton Sea.Many of them have sold theirhomes and live year-round intheir recreat ional vehicles ,following the seasons.N a t i o n a l l y , not m u c h isk n o w n a b o u t l o w - i n c o m esnowbirds. Because of theirtransiency and their rugged in-dependence from governmentservices, their numbers andeconomic background are dif-ficult to determine.Economy draws seniors intothe migrant stream, but some-thing quite different keeps themcoming back: a sense of commu-nity that they often don't find intheir own hometowns.In 1978, Ralph and DorothyHoefflinger set up the non-d e n o m i n a t i o n a l C a m p e r s '

Christian Center in a mobilehome out on The Slabsalsoknown as "Slab City"wherecampers are spread out over sev-eral square m iles. The Hoeffling-ers attempted to set up a formalregistration system for the in-coming snowbirds.But when they erected a signoutside the center that said"Registry Slab," it disappearedquickly. Explained one resident:"We've lived with regimentation

all our lives, and we just don'twant it anymore."Over theyears, thesnowbirdshave agreed, without any formalvote, that rules were fine as longas they were not written down,as long as they remained volun-tary andsubtle.As they arrive each fall, thesnowbirds can, if they wish,enter their names and thenamesof their next-of-kin, to be con-tacted incase of emergencies, in-

to a voluntary regis t ra t ionsystem operated by a somewhathumbled Campers' ChristianCenter. No signs designate itsexistence.Since The Slabs are in such adesolate location, the seniorshave established their own radiostation, of sorts, on a CBband.At 7:00 p.m. each evening asnowbird called "Good Sam"clicks on his CB base stationContinued on page 36

M - X MA Y RAIN NEVADA DRY SAYS EXPERTPioche, Nev. Jay Lehr, theexecutive director of the Na-tional Water Well Associationfor thepast 13years, blasted theM-X m issile system. As a formerUniversity of Arizona professor,Lehr conducted extensive stud-ies on the groundwater supplies

in the arid Nevada desert whereth e U.S. Air Force hopes to ro-tate the 200 M-Xmissiles am ong4,600 concrete shelters.If Nevada gives 20,000 acrefeet of water a year to the AirForce for the M-X system, littlewater could be left for agricul-

Calico lives again on page 32.

ture, mining and light industryuses because it will beflowing oa m issile system which will needat least 4,600 wells.Ground water systems under-lying N evada are. connected tothe deep water systems. Thewater table will drop when theAir Force begins pumping w aterfor its missile shelters.The AirForce hasmaintainedit will follow state water laws inacquiring the water it needs forthe missile project. However,U n d e r s e c r e t a r y A n t o n i aChayes said recently that theAir Force will seek preferentialtreatment in acquiring waterrights.The Air Force has alreadyfiled 95 applications for waterrights in 22 Nevada valleys39of these applications within Lin-coln County. State water engin-eer Bill Newman said he hasreturned ninety of these waterapplications to the Air Force"for corrections."The Lincoln County RECORD

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R E N T E D J U D G E ST O S P E E D T R I A L SLos Angeles, Calif.For thegoing rate of$500 aday, Califor-nians whowant quick, discreettrials can"ren t" retired judges todecide their cases wherever andwhenever they want. Thedeci-sion is asbinding as anyregularcourt judgment.

The unusual process is legallyknown as "general order ofreference" and exists only inCalifornia, according to theAmerican Bar Association.It's been on the books since1872 but wasn't used this wayu n t i l 1976 w h e n two LosAngeles lawyers, Hillel Chodosand Seth Hufstedler, were onopposite sides of a complexdispute between theoperator ofa medical billing company andtwo other attorneys.Using imagination and in-novation, Chodos andHufsted-ler interpreted thelong dorm antcivil code subsection to allow forwhat is now called the "rent-a-judge" system.The subsectionwhich ap-plies only to c i v i l c a s e s -provides for a trial outside thesystem by a referee, usually aretired judge, who is selected byboth parties in thecase.D esert News Service

COWS VERSUSTORTOISESM onticello, UtahThe UtahFarm Bureau and a group ofranchers will take legal actionagainst a U.S.Fish andWildlifeService plan to eliminate live-stock grazing from more than22,000 acres in Washingtonc o u n t y for the p u r p o s e ofestablishing a desert tortoisepreserve on Beaver Dam slopenear St.George.

The service claims that deserttortoises arevanishing from thearea and should be protectedunder the Endangered SpeciesAct. Ranchers in thearea pointout that a Bureau ofLand Man-agement study disputes declin-ing population of the tortoises.Many people have also testifiedthat there is noconflict betweenlivestock grazing and thesafe ex-istence of tortoises because theyeat different types of vegetation,and tortoises are in hibernationdeep underground during theseason whe n grazing takes place.The SanJuan RECORD

D U N E S H I D E L O N G - L O S T W H I S K E Yby Phillip I. EarlTonopah, Nev. Some 23mi l e s sou t h of B ea t t y insouthern Nyecounty lies one ofth e few real sand dunes to befound in Nevada.Somewhere benea t h t ha tdune lies an abandoned wagon

laden with several casks of thefinest California whiskey whichwas being freighted south to themining camps of northern Ari-zona sometime in the 1880s.The freighter and his teamhad been overtaken by a stormout near thedune. Turning hishorse s l oose to fend forthemselves unt i l the s tormabated, he bedded down be-neath thewagon.When he awoke the nextAAAAAAAAAAARECORD BIGHORNCOUNT IN NEVADAT o n o p a h , Nev.Desert big-horn sheep surveys have beenc o m p l e t e d a c c o r d i n g to aNevada Department of Wildliferepor t wi t h 1,748 an i ma l sobserved on 12major mountainranges in the southern part ofthe state.Department biologists classi-fied therecord number of sheepduring 80hours of flying time ina helicopter and averaged 21.8sightings perhour, compared to16.6 last year. Helicopters havebeen used byN D O W to surveyand classify bighorn sheep since1969, andhave been proven tobe themost effective method forobtaining information onpopu-lation conditions andtrends.Eureka SENTINEL

morning, he found himself inthe middle of a dead calm andwalked out insearch ofhis team,but thehorses were nowhere tobe found. Disgusted, he tookwhat water he had left andhiked to Oasis Valley, where hewas able to secure a newteam.When hereturned to thesanddune , the wagon was gone .Thinking that it had perhapsbeen hitched up and pulledaway by a group of thirstytravelers, hesearched for wagontracks and other signs leadingaway from the site, but to noavail. Hethen thought back, gothis bearings and looked for thewagon where he had remem-bered leaving it, but thesitewascovered by a part of the dune

which had apparently shiftedover during another storm whilehe wasatOasis Valley. Not having a shovel with him,hedecid-ed against trying to uncover hiscargo andgave thewhole thingup as a bad job.Although the dune has beensearched periodically over theyears, likely as not thewell-agedwhiskey is still buried where thestorm covered it almost a century ago.For those who are interested,the dune is about three mileswest of State Highway 95. It isnecessary to walk the last milein, since theterrain is toosandyfor most vehicles.Nevada Historical Society

A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A

JUDGE CUTFEDS TO SIZ21,000,000 Acres in WyomingReopened to Exploration

Cheyenne , Wyo.A federaljudge in Wyoming has over-thrown a U.S.Interior Depart-ment opinion closing nearly21,000,000 acres of westernroadless area to oil and gasexploration.U.S. District Judge EwingKerr said Interior Departmentand Bureau of Land Manage-ment restrictions on leasingandexploration of wilderness studyareas aremuch stricter than theWilderness Actitself.To allow the Interior Depart-ment res t r ic t ions would be" l u d i c r o u s " and woul d be

counter to the intent of Congress, thejudge said.The judge also said hisreviewof the Federal Land Policy andManagement Act clearly indi-cates it tries to balance wilder-ness values with mineral andother concerns."Conflicts between policiessuch asdevelopment ofmineralsand environmental protectionare bound to occur," he said"One policy should not suffefor thebenefit ofanother.Compromises m ust beworkedout."- W e s t e r n PROSPECTOR &MINER

TRUCKERS CONVERTEDSierra Vista, Ariz.He is at rucker who hauls a specialcargo from city to city, truckstop to truck stop. SamRust is atraveling m inister whotakes hischurch with him. He pulls itwith an "old loghauler" that hehas transformed into a roadtractor.Rust has been involved intraveling ministry for two years,and chose truckers because hewas raised among them on thecoast of Virginia. He was calledto the ministry and served as a

pastor for 12years, butwhen hedecided to follow the call toserve truck ers, ittook himaboutfour years to get enough finan-cial support to start traveling.Rust spends about half of theyear at home and half on theroad. Although he enjoys hischurch stops, themain effort ofhis ministry takes place at truckstops where heestimates that hereaches 120 " u n c h u r c h e d "truckers a week with his specialservices.-B i sbee DAILY REVIEW

ACCESS NOTAUTOMATICW a s h i n g t o n , D.C.Privatland owners within a nationaforest do not have a statutoryright of access, according to thU.S. Attorney General in anopinion requested by the U.Depar t ment of Agricul tureUSDA can deny access undethe Wilderness Act, but a landexchange as indemnity must bof fe red , a ccord i ng to thopinion.Desert New s Service

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S T T O W N T O U R O F O R E G O NSalem, Ore. T he one-timeboom town of Jacksonville,Oregon has so many restoredbui ld ings that i t has beendesignated a National HistoricLandmark.When two pack train drivers,t ravel ing between Oregon ' sWillamette Valley and Califor-nia, discovered gold in a localcreek in 1851, Jacksonville ex-ploded overnight into a lusty,fast-paced frontier mining town.When the r a i l road came

thr ou gh in 1883, Jacksonvillewas bypassed and local farmersbegan trading in nearby cities.The former mining center quick-ly became a sleepy village.Jacksonville slumbered until1 9 5 0 , when the pioneer court-house was transformed into acounty m useum, now one of thestate's most popular historicala t t ract ions . The cour thouseconversion triggered a majortown-wide renovation that lefthardly a pioneer building un-

touched. Today, the refurbishedstructures bring to life the dailylife of Jacksonville's early m iners,gamblers, lawmen and farmers.While Jacksonville, with itspopulation of 2,120, claims to beOregon's liveliest ghost town,the only thing left to identify theonce prosperous Rye Valley, 34miles south of Baker, is a grown-over cemetery.Cornucopia, an old miningtown in the Wallowa Moun-tains and Flora, established in

The old courthouse in Jacksonville, Oregon, is now a museum.

Oregon's early days in the highmesa country by ranchers andsheepmen, s til l have manyunique buildings standing.The remains of the early min-ing settlements of Granite,Bourne, Sumpter, Susanville,Austin and Whitney are locatedclose together, 28 miles east ofthe town of John Day. Becauseof heavy mining activity, someof the water is reputed to con-tain arsenic, and as portions ofthis area are extremely ruggedand are subject to sudden rainand snow squalls, the road con-ditions are classified as "at yourown risk."Southwest of Madras, the oldtown of Grandview still has afew buildings left, and northeastof Madras the two towns of Sha-niko and Antelope can bereached by asphalt roads. Shani-ko is the site of the last range w arin Oregon between sheepmenand cattlemen, and Antelope'stown tavern, complete withswinging doors, spittoons andbrass rails, is still in operation.The nearly deserted town ofHardman lies a little further eastof Madras and a few miles southof Heppner.The wooden roads and desert-ed camp houses of the old log-ging town of Wendling, 25 milesnorthwest of Springfield, still re-main. And, gold mining stillcontinues in the remote town ofBohemia City, 35 miles east ofCottage Grove. A few peoplestill reside in Kerby, an old min-ing town in Southern Oregon,all that remain of the 500 whoonce lived there.Desert News Service

T H E R O S E H A SB E E N A R O U N DL O N G , L O N G T I M EC r o o k e d R i v e r , O r e . Afossilized rose was found hererecently, establishing that thearistocrat of the flower gardengrew on ou r con t inen t35,000,000 years ago. Otherpaleobotanists claim roses dateback to the Cretaceous Agesome 70,000,000 years ago, thuspredating Cupid by severaleons.Desert News Service

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SILVER COMESBACK TO CALICOby Wayne WintersCal ico, Cal i f . One of thegreat old mining camps of the

west traveled the whole route,from prospect to a boomingcamp and then on to a gradualdecline as silver prices dropped.Death came with the closing in1941 of the Total Wreck Mine.Yet today,

198105 desert magazine 1981 may

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