194201 desert magazine 1942 january

8/14/2019 194201 Desert Magazine 1942 January

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Writers of the Desert . . .Although LESTER ROUNTREE is a

new recruit this month among DesertMagazine contributors, she is sowidelyknown for herwriting, herseed business,

and herlandscape designing as toneedlittle introduction toreaders intheSouth-west.

Author of thebooks Hardy Californi-ans and Flowering Shrubs of California,

she has contributed widely tomagazines,ships seeds all over theworld, does land-scaping, lectures occasionally, and carrieson an enthusiastic research inthe field of

botany between times.Miss Rountree's story of the "Tricksand Manners oftheDesert Plants" inthisissue iswritten from her ownobservationduring those excursions when sheloads

WHERE TOSTAY . . .WHERE TOBUY IN

Palm SpringsAMERICA'S FOREMOST DESERT RESORT

INDIAN TRADING P OS T APARTMENTS

INVIANOYAINDIAN TRADING POST

DIS TINCTIV E G IFTS OPTHE DESERT

LA PLAZAApartments with fireplaces andelectric

heat, in thecenter of the village.

ROBERT RANSOMDeveloper andManager

Box 1000 Phone 5544

INFORMATIONF OR I NF ORMATION A B O U T P ALM

SPRINGS, America's foremost desert resort,write toBox D-l, Chamber of Commerce,Palm Springs, Calif.

ART GALLERIES . . .

431MORTH PflLM CflNWDN D R I V EPALM SPRINGS, CflUF.

U-DRIV E -CARS

LIMOUSINES - YELLOW CABS - SIGHT-SEEING - DESERT TOURS. TANNERMOTOR LIVERY. Phone 4444, or inquireat your hotel.

REAL ESTATE . . .

THE NOOKS APARTMENTS—A place ofquiet dignity. Open fireplaces ineach apart-ment. Martha Forward, owner. Phone 8300.

HARLOW HAVEN, Solana Court. Apart-ments from $5.00 for two. Private patios,housekeeping facilities. For reservationswrite Box D.

VISTA DEL CHINO—Tel. 5835. Moderaterates. Adults preferred. 1-2-3room apart-ments. Private screened porches. Sundeck.1535 N.Indian Ave. Louise Klug.

HOTE L AND AP ARTME NT . . .

EL DORADO HOTEL and HARRY'S CAFE—Open all year. Comfortable rooms, finefood, reasonable rates. Harry M utascio, prop.

LA SERENA COTTAGES and HOTELROOMS. Unit heat. For reservations write,telephone 6040, orconsult any travel agency.

LA HACIENDA APARTMENTS —Singles,Doubles and overnight accommodations.$22.50 to$35.00 aweek for 2.3blocks fromcenter ofvillage.

C A C T I ANDROCKS . . .

HAROLD HICKS - REAL ESTATESpecial — 5 bedroom, 4 bath. Ranch

Type House, $9500

Complete Rental Dept.Ask forour folder

813 N. Palm Canyon Dr. Ph. 5353

SUM'S MUSEO DEL DESIERTONatural Gifts oftheDesert—

CACTI —ROCKS — CURIOSDish Gardens —Smoke Trees —Shrubs

Rocks &Minerals —Fluorescent SpecimensMineralights

In Palm Springs —OnIndian Avenue. JustSouth of Indian Mineral Springs

her sleeping bag andcamp outfit into hercar andgoes outalone toexplore the des-ert.

Her interest inplants dates back almostto the time shebegan towalk, inher na-tive England. She hasgardened and col-lected inmany countries. Herhome is atCarmel, California, where herchief oc-cupation just nowis experimenting withboth foreign andnative species of wildor little known plants which shewants tomake available forAmerican gardens.

• • •

NI NA PAUL SHUM WAY ofCoa-chella, California, hastaken apledge thatshe will spend four hours aday writingduring thecoming year. Mrs. Shumwayusually finds aready market for hermaga-zine features—but most ofthe time she istoo busy cooking for theranch hands, rais-ing pigs, grubbing brush atthemountainhomestead, orpromoting sales for the delicious dates that grow inShumway date

gardens tobebothered with a typewriter.• • •It wasAUDREY WALLS MOSLEY'S

liking forchocolate nut sundaes thatledto thewriting of this month's feature storyabout HalEmpie, "drug-store cartoonist"of Duncan, Arizona. Mrs.Mosley foundthe young man jerking sodas when shestopped athisdrug store forher favoriterefreshment.

Mrs. Mosley's home is Tulsa, Okla-homa, where her husband is assistant toR. W. Slemaker, oil producer. She attended theuniversity at Norman, Okla-home, andsince then has divided hertime

between newspaper work andhousekeep-ing, hercub reporter days having beenserved onthe society and feature deskofthe Leader atGuthrie, Oklahoma.

Like most journalists, Mrs.Mosleyaspired towrite abook—and she has donebetter than amajority ofthem becauseherbook already iswritten—"Vanilla Is anOrchid." Itisn't offthepress yet, but shehas assured Desert Magazine staff:"You'll hear about it induetime."

• • •LON GARRISON, only writerwho

has ever succeeded in crashing DesertMagazine's strict rule against fiction

stories, recently waspromoted tothe po-sition of Assistant Chief of Informationin the U. S.Park service office atWash-ington. For the information of the 2000new subscribers added toDesert's list thismonth, Lonisthe creator of that lovableold liar, Hard Rock Shorty ofDeath Val-ley. Hard Rock has been spinning hisyarns forDMreaders since thefirst is-sue ofthemagazine inNovember,1937.

Garrison was stationed inDeath Valleyin the early days ofhis service as a parkranger. More recently hehasbeen custodi-an ofHopewell Village national historicsite atBirdsboro, Pennsylvania.

Lon has given assurance that his promotion tooneof those mahogany desksin Washington will not interfere with thecontinued adventures of Hard Rock.

THE DESERT MAGAZINE



D E S E R T

Calendar

JAN. 1 Climax of 4-day SouthwesternSun Carnival, El Paso, Texas. Dr.C. M. Hendricks, director.

1 Indian dances in many of the NewMexican pueblos.

1-31 Southwest Cactus Grow ers holdthird annual photographic ex-h ib it at S o u t h w e s t M useum ,Highland Park. Los Angeles.W. C. Runyan, show chairman.

3-4 Sierra club members will take theSkyline trail back of Palm Springson their moonlight hike; camp atmouth of Tahquitz canyon. W. E."Andy" Andrews, leader. MissBetty Bole, 1329 W . 5th St., LosAngeles, reservations.

6 Installation of newly elected Gov-ernors in Indian pueblos of NewMexico, usually followed by tra-ditional dances.

6 "Old Christmas," Feast of theThree Kings. Performances ofLos Tres Magos in Spanish-American villages of New Mex-

6 Buffalo dance at Taos pueblo;Eagle dance at San Ildefonsopueblo.

7-9 American Na tiona l Livestock as-sociation convention, at HotelUtah, Salt Lake City. Lawrence F.Mollin, Denver, Colorado, assis-tant secretary.

18 Ice Fiesta, sponsored by 20-30club, Las Vegas, New Mexico.

23 Norman D . Nevills of MexicanHat, Utah, to show colored mo-tion pictures of his Coloradoriver expeditions at Boos Bros,cafeteria meeting of Sierra club,Los Angeles.

23 Feast Day of San Ildefonso inSan Ildefonso Pueblo, New Mex-ico. Annual fiesta and Buffalodance.

29-FEB. 1 Eighth annual tennis cham-pionship, Desert Inn, El Mirador,Palm Springs Tennis club andRacquet club, Palm Springs, Cali-fornia.

31-FEB. 1 Gila River Round-up at Saf-ford, Arizona.

Ski competition on weekends throughoutthe winter on Mount Rose, out ofReno, Nevada.

Winter Ski Carnival, Upper Hyde Parkarea, 12 miles from Santa Fe,New Mexico, during third weekin January.

Volume 5 JANUARY, 1942 Number 3

COVER

CONTRIBUTORS

CALENDAR

PHOTOGRAPHY

HISTORY

INDIAN CRAFTS

DESERT QUIZ

PERSONALITY

FIELD TRIP

BOTANY

FICTION

ART O F LIVING

PLACE NAMES

POETRY

WEATHER

LETTERS

LANDMARK

CONTEST

MINING

NEWS

BOOKSHOBBY

COMMENT

Southern California 's San Antonio peak (Mt. Baldy)f rom Baldy mesa . Pho tograph by Loyd Cooper ,Claremont , Cal i fo rn ia .

W riters of the De sert • 2

Curren t even ts on the deser t 3

Pr ize winn ing p ic tu res in Nov emb er 4

Old Iron Boat on the ColoradoBy RANDALL HENDERSON 5

Drum Maker of Cochiti

By BETTY W O OD S 11

Test of you r deser t kno wle dge 14

Red-headed Car toon is tBy AUDREY WALLS 15

Pa r ad i se f o r Ham m er Ho u n d sBy JOHN HILTON 18

Tr icks and Manners—of Deser t P lan tsBy LESTER ROUNTR EE 22

Hard Rock Shor ty o f Death Val leyBy LON GARR ISON 23

Desert Refuge

By MARSHAL SOUTH 27

Origin of na m es in the Sou thw est 29

"Deser t Ro ads ," an d o ther poe ms 30

No v em b er t em p e r a tu r e s o n th e d e se r t . . . . 3 1

C o m m e n t from D e se rt M a g a z i n e r e a d e rs . . . 3 2

Old Arizona PrisonBy SARA E. BADGLEY and V . G. YEAGER . 34

Pr ize ann oun cem ent fo r Jan uary 35

Briefs from the des ert reg ion 36

Here an d There on the Deser t 37

Southw estern book rev iew s 40

Gem s an d M in e r a l s—E dited by ARTHUR L. EATO N 41

Ju st B e tw e en Y o u a n d M e , b y t he E dito r . . . . 46The Desert Magazine is published monthly by the Desert Publishing Company, 636

State Street, £3 Centro, California. Entered as second class m atter October 11, 19*7, atthe post office at El Centra, California, under the Ac t of March S, 1879. Title registeredNo. S58865 in U. S. Patent Office, and contents copyrighted 1941 by the Desert PublishingCompany. Permission to reproduce contents must be secured from the editor in writing.

RANDALL HENDERSON, Editor. LUCILE HARRIS, Associa te Editor.Dick Older and A. J. Kupiec, Adv ertising Rand Hende rson, Circulation

Manuscripts and photographs submitted must be accompanied by full return post-age. The Desert Magazine assumes no responsibility for damage or loss of manuscriptsor photographs although due care will be exercised for their saf ety. Subscribers shouldsend notice of change of address to the circulation department by the fifth of the monthpreceding issue.

SUBSCRIPTION RATES

One year, including gold-embossed loose leaf binder • $3.00Two years, including binders for both years 5.00You may deduct 50c each for binders if not desired.Canadian subscriptions 25c extra, foreign 50c extra.

Address correspondence to Desert Magazine, 636 State St., El Centro, California.

J A N U A R Y , 1 9 4 2



Native AmericanBy D. E. KELLY

Los Angeles, California

This photograph of a young Navajowoman is winner of the first prize inDesert Magazine's November photo-graphic contest. It was taken with a

Voightlander 2V4x3V4, Superpan Su-preme film, f.8 at 1/50 sec, yellow filter.

Special MeritThe following photos were judged to

have unusual merit:

"Desolation—Death Valley," by JackBagnall, Jr., Huntington Park, Califor-

nia."Wagon Wheel, Parker, Arizona," by

Doris Priestley, Pomona, California.

"Horned Toad," Charles T. Morgan,Los Angeles, California.

Badlands - -

Petrified Foresty MARGARET BUNDRENDallas, Texas

Second prize winner in the monthlycontest was taken with a Rolleicord-

Zeiss Triotar, f4.5. Alfa Supreme film,1/50 sec, at fl6, K2 filter.



Explorer on theColorado in 1858. In the background is Chimney peak— so named by Lieut.lves—but nowgenerally called Picacho. This old lithograph, reprodu ced ]rom Ives' repo rt,was made jrom asketch drawn by H. B. Mollhausen, artist andnaturalist who accompanied

reconnaissance.

Old Iron Boat on the ColoradoEighty-four years ago thismonth Lieut. Joseph C. Ives was

steaming up the Colorado riverin an iron boat for the purpose ofdetermining whether or not thestream was navigable. Withmuch pushing and towing theclumsy craft finally reachedBlack canyon. and then almostmet with disaster near the spotwhere Boulder dam is located.Following the exploratory trip,the boat was sold to Yuma river-men and then disappeared fromthe pages of history- Within re-

cent years the craft has been re-discovered, almost buried in thesilt of the Colorado river delta—and its skeleton is still to be seenthere. Here is the story of one ofthe most thrilling episodes in thehistory of the Southwest.

By RANDALL HENDERSON

WERE shooting past theentrance to Black canyon,"wrote Lieutenant Joseph C.

Ives in his mariner's log book on March8, 1858,"when the Explorer with a stun-

ning crash, brought up abruptly and in-stantaneously against a sunken rock.

"For a second the impression was that

the canyon had fallen in. The concussionwas so violent that the men near the bowwere thrown overboard; the doctor, Mr.Mollhausen andmyself, having been seat-ed in front of the upper deck, were pre-cipitated head foremost into the bottomof theboat; the fireman who waspitchinga log into the fire, went half way in withit ; theboiler was thrown out of place; thesteam pipe doubled up; the wheel-housetorn away, and it was expected the boatwould fill and sink instantly by all. Find-ing, after a few moments had passed thatshe still floated, Captain Robinson had aline taken into the skiff, and the steamerwas towed alongside agravelly spit a little

below . . ."

Thus ended, after three and one-halfmonths of arduous labor, the initial cruiseof the Explorer, the iron steamboat com-missioned by the U. S. wardepartment in1857 to determine whether or not theColorado river was a navigable stream.

The Explorer wasbuilt in Philadelphia.It was a 56-foot stern-wheel steamer. Aftera brief trial run on the Delaware river, itwas knocked down in eight sections,shipped byboat to the Isthmus of Panama,thence overland to the Pacific, again byboat to San Francisco, and finally to the

mud flats at the head of the Gulf of Cali-fornia to be assembled for the trip up theriver—as far as it would go.

It wasbuilt of iron, with a huge boilermounted in the center of the deck. Theboiler was too heavy. To correct thisweakness and give the craft longitudinalstability four long wooden beams werebolted to the bottom. Needless to say,this clumsy makeshift caused no end oftrouble in navigating the countless barsin thechannel of the lower Colorado.

Accompanying Lieut. Ives on the expe-dition were A. J. Carroll of Philadelphiaas engineer; Dr. J. S. Newberry, physicianand geologist; F. W. Egloffstein, who hadbeen a member of the Fremont expeditionin 1853, topographer; P. H. Taylor andC. K. Booker, astronomical and meteoro-logical assistants; H. B. Mollhausen,artist and collector in natural history.Lieutenant Tipton, 3rd artillery, and 25soldiers from thegarrison at Yuma servedas military escort. Due to the limited ca-pacity of the boat, the soldiers traveledoverland with packtrain. It was an escortin name only, since the troop left Yumaseveral days after the Explorer steamedaway—and did not catch up with theriver expedition until Ives reached Mo-jave valley on his return trip.

Lieut. Ives completed the reconnois-sance without serious mishap, and on the

basis of his report to Secretary of WarJohn B. Floyd in I860, the Colorado wasdeclared to be a navigable river.

J A N U A R Y , 1942



CARGO MCHACHO IMPiRIAL DAM

rg "* •--

LAGUNADAM

VMEXICAL

B S ^//4c/r Bi/rrs

A few months after the return of theexpedition theExplorer was sold by thegovernment to Yuma rivermen whoplanned to use it for freighting on theColorado. According to old Arizona re-cords quoted by Godfrey Sykes in hisbook The Colorado Delta, after a fewtripshauling wood, the steamer broke awayfrom itsmoorings near Pilot Knob, float-ed downstream and disappeared fromsight.

Thus ended thefirst chapter in thesaga

of thegood ship Explorer.Seventy years passed. The men who hadpiloted theExplorer and stoked mesqu'te

wood in itshuge boiler remained as livingnames only to those students of historywho had read the fine record left byLieut.Ives.

Then in 1929word came out of themesquite and willow jungle that coversthe delta of the Colorado that an agedIndian named Calabasa hadseen the rust-ed hulk of an old barca partly buried inthe silt of a chanrel long abandoned bythe fickle waters of theColorado.

The story of thewhite man's rediscov-

ery of this boat was told to me by GusSeligman, member of anengineering partyengaged in surveying the Co'orado delta.

Seligman covered nearly every foot of thevast silt plain bycar, horseback or on foot.He said:

"On one of my trips with Tony Mansewe raninto a friend of Tony's, an old Cocopah named Calabasa. When I was introduced, Tony made it very clear thatCalabasa washead of a clan and had th

title of Capitan. It was through this Indianthat I learned of theboat and its location."Tony, my brother Dirk and I later

found the remains of the boat, early in1929. We took pictures of it and beganto look up its history. About six monthslater C. N. Perry joined us in our work,identified thecraft asLieut. Ives' Explor-er, and wrote an article about it for theAmerican Society of Civil Engineers.

"A t the time we found the boat therewasn't much left. It reminded me of acarcass after the coyotes andbuzzards werethrough with it. Only the bones re-mained."

That was 12years ago. Today theboatis still there—but even some of the"bones" have disappeared.

I visited the old iron skeleton in November with Herbert Rouse, who spentmany years as engineer for the 800,000-acre ranch owned byHarry Chandler andassociates in theColorado delta.

Rouse and I followed the road southfrom Yuma to SanLuis, port of entry onthe Arizona-Sonora border. As the tripwould require only a fewhours nopass-ports were necessary, and the only for-mality was the registering of my foreign-made camera equipment on theAmerican

side so it could be returned to theUnitedStates without red tape.When we reached theMexican side of

the bordrar weinquired for FrankPachecoDominguez, ranchero who raises twobales of cotton tothe acre onthe rich deltaland in Mexico. Roads in the delta areaare subject to overflow when theriver ishigh or the canal system not functioningproperly—and wewanted to get thebestinformation regarding our route. It wasSunday, and Frank, with characteristicMexican generosity, volunteered to serveas guide.

The accompanying mapshows the lo

cation of the oldboat—but I'll not try tdescribe the devious route by which wereached it. There are no improved roadson the Sonora side of the delta—just anetwork of winding trails that run in alldirections. These trails were easy to followwhile we remained on the Sonora mesaBut when wedropped over thebluff intothe river bottom we used what my sten-ographer calls thehunt and peck system ofinding our way. Mexican farmers havemoved into the upper delta area andcleared little ranches in the mesquite—hundreds of them—and with water dis-charged from the Yuma valley drainage

system are raising cotton and corn andbeans.

The delta silt grows fine crops, but a

THE DESERT MAGAZINE



' •

Robinson's landing at the mou th o f the Co lorado, where the Explorer was assembled inDecember, 1857. The schoo ner is the Monterey in which Capt. Walsh brought the iron

parts of the Explorer from San Francisco to the C olorado. Both the schooner and the Ivesboat waited on this bar until the h igh tides floated them off.

road material it is worse than a total loss.Sometimes we plowed through it hubdeep. It is fine as flour, and when westopped the car for an instant with thewind in our back we were enveloped in acloud of dust so dense we could not seebeyond the windshield.

The trails wind through the mesquite,or around the little ranches in all direc-tions. Sometimes there are bridges acrossthe irrigation canals and sometimes—•well, you just backtrack and look for an-other road.

Finally we came to a 'dobe ranch housewhere the ranchero took us to a little riseand pointed far out across the tops of themesquites to a cottonwood tree, a ratherconspicuous landmark on the horizon.La Barca was near that tree, he said.

How would we get there? He didn'tknow. There was no bridge over the canaljust ahead of us. But Frank Pacheco haslived on the delta for many years, and heshowed an uncanny accuracy in taking aleft turn at this junction and a right turnat the next—with that cottonwood always

as our guidon.Eventually we came to the Rancho delChavez—and Braulio Chavez, being a

very accommodating Mexican, agreed tolead us through the arrowweed thicketsto la barca— in an uncleared corner of thetract of land on which he had filed underthe rather simple homestead procedure inMexico.

I must confess a surge of disappoint-ment when I first saw the wreck of theExplorer. I had harbored thoughts of sal-vaging this historic old steamboat for oneof the museums, perhaps in Mexico or

more properly in United States sinceUncle Sam had voted $25,000 for theboat originally, and had spent a muchgreater sum on the expedition.

There was nothing left but the ironribs—some of them still in place, but heldtogether by such a fragile foundation ofrusty sheet iron and 'dobe earth as makethe moving of the skeleton impracticable.The sheet iron sides were entirely gone.Some of the Mexicans, I was told, had de-cided the sheet iron would make excellentplates on which to cook tortillas, and forother domestic purposes. And so the oldExplorer is still serving a useful purpose

—and perhaps it is better that way thanthat it should have turned to rust and dis-appeared in the silt of the river bottom.

When first discovered, only a narrowrim of iron was visible above the surfaceof the ground. However, the first visi-tors excavated the earth from inside andaround it, and the skeleton stands in athree-foot pit.

As I sat on the edge of the pit, I re-called some of the passages from Ives' re-port. It was a thrilling adventure, thatjourney up the Colorado in the winter of1857-58, through a country inhabited bysavages who still wore G-strings and re-

garded all white men with distrust if notenmity.

Ives' difficulties started on the mudflats at the mouth of the river.

The trip from San Francisco to the headof the gulf was made in the Monterey, a120-ton schooner in charge of CaptainWalsh. As there were no docking facili-ties at the mouth of the river, CaptainWalsh ran his ship as far up into themouth of the river as was possible duringthe high tides at the full of the moon, andunloaded the parts of the Explorer on themud banks.

It was necessary then for the Explor-er's crew to improvise ways from the drift-wood found on the bars, and assemble

J A N U A R Y , 1 9 4 2



When the Explorer grounded on abar. the creiv got out the tow line and sometimesspent hours moving the steamer afew feet. Mollhausen sketch.

their boat before the returning high tidesa month later would submerge the bar.

Work wasstarted December 5, 1857,and on December 31, the Explorer wascompleted and the engineer had steamup ready tostart when thetide would liftthe craft off its ways. That night thetide arrived, and theExplorer was off onits great adventure.

Mesquite and willow were used forfuel, and when the supply ran low theskipper brought his boat in to the bankand allhands went overboard to cutmorewood.

The steamer reached Yuma January 9,and remained there two days while finalpreparations were made for thevoyage upthe river. Theshore waslined with Indi-ans as the Explorer started on its way.Lieut. Ives described the departure in hisreport: "The men grinned, and thewom-en and children shouted with laughter,which was responded to by a scream fromthe Explorer's w histle; and in themidstof

the uproar the line was cast off, theenginepu t in motion, and, gliding away fromth e wharf, we soon passed through thegorge abreast thefort andemerged in theopen valley above."

Describing the Yuma Indians of thattime, Lieut. Ives wrote: "Many of them, ifleft in their natural state, would be finelooking; but foreverything that resemblesclothing they have a passion, and a tallwarrior with a figure like anApollo, willstrut along in a dilapidated hat and a rag-ged jacket or pair of trousers made for aman two or three sizes smaller, andthinkhe is amazingly beautiful by his toilet. A

knot of them gathered together exhibits aludicrous variety of tawdry colors anddirty finery."

The winter flow in the Colorado wasabnormally low at thetime of theIves ex-pedition, and the shallow water and fre-quent sandbars proved serious obstacles.When thesteamer would go aground thecrew baled out andpushed andtowed un-til a deeper channel wasreached.

The Yuma Indians who then livedalong theriver as far north as thepresent

sites of Blythe and Ehrenberg, gave un-witting assistance to the navigators. Thelieutenant reported:

"The Yumas have been constantly en-countered since wehave been in thisval-ley (Palo Verde valley). They collect inknots upon the banks to watch us pass,and their appearance is invariably the pre-cursor of trouble. Whether their villagesare near places where the river is mosteasily forded, or whether they select forpoints of view thespots where they knowwe will meet with detention, we cannottell; but the coincidence between theirpresence and a bad bar is sounfailing that

Mr. Carroll considers it sufficient reasonto slow down the engine when he seesthem collecting upon thebank."

Continuing upstream the expeditionencountered Indians of a different char-acter. "TheYumas are no longer seen,"wrote the lieutenant. "Our sharp-wittedfriends, the Chemehuevis, seem to haveexclusive possession of the upper end ofthe valley (Parker valley). N ot having thesame experience in steamers as the formertribe, for they seldom go to Fort Yuma,they have doubtless watched with greatcuriosity for thelong-expected boat. If wehad anticipated inspiring them with ad-

miration or awe, we should be sadly dis-appointed, for I am sure they regard ourmethod of ascending the river with un-

affected contempt. They have been dem-onstrating to Mariano and Capitan (In-dian interpreters with the Ives party)—who are disposed to espouse our cause,and yet are a little ashamed of being insuch ridiculous company—how vastly in-ferior ourmode of locomotion is to theirs.They canfoot it on shore, or pole along a

raft upon the river without interruption;and that we should spend days in doingwhat they canaccomplish inhalf asmanyhours strikes them as unaccountably stu-pid. The gleeful consciousness of superior-ity at allevents keeps them in anexcellenthumor.

"When we reached the Sand islandshoals, as usual, they were awaiting theapproach of thesteamer atpoints oppositeto the bars. At first our troubles oc-casioned them with unqualified delight.They watched the boat with breathlesseagerness as we tried in vain to getthrough one place after another, and

every time we ran aground a peal oflaughter would ring from thebank; butafter a while our mishaps appeared tomove their compassion, and some one othem would run ahead and point out toCaptain Robinson thepart of the bar thatha d the greatest depth upon it, whichtheir frequent fording of thestream oftenenabled them to know. An old woman,among others, endeavored to help thecaptain along, but as we approached theplace she indicated, hisknowledge of theriver showed him it would not do, and hsheered off without making thetrial.Thebenevolence of the old hag was at once

converted into rage, and with clenchedfists andflaming eyes shefollowed alongthe bank, screaming atthe captain, as longas hewas in hearing, a volley of maledic-tions."

The Chemehuevis, like theHopi today,ha d a reputation among desert tribesmenfor being shrewd traders. But they learnedsomething new from Lieut. Ives. Describ-ing his experience in the Chemehuevisvalley—now covered by the waters ofLake Havasu—he wrote:

"Our camp is at theheadquarters of theChemehuevis nation, and great numbersof all ages andboth sexes visited it today.

They have been perfectly friendly, andconsidering their knavish character andrestless inquisitive dispositions, have be-haved very well andgiven little trouble.The amount of cultivable land in theirvalley is soinconsiderable, andthey them-selves so inclined to vagrancy, that Icould not expect to find them with muchprovision to spare, but last evening abouttwo dozen brought baskets and earthenbowls of corn andbeans.

"I saw that they hadcome prepared fora long haggling, and I made them placetheir burdens in a row on some boardsthat were laid out for the purpose; ask-

ing each in turn whether he preferredbeads ormanta, I placed w hat I thought afair amount of thedesired article opposite

8 THE DESERT MAGAZINE



This picture of the Explorer was taken by Herbert Rouse soon after its rediscovery 12 years ago.

the proper heap of provisions. The wholetribe had crowded around to look on, andtheir amusement during this performancewas extreme. Every sharp face expandedinto a grin as I weighed the different pilesin succession in my hand, and gravely es-timated their contents; and when the ap-portionment being over I directed two ofmy men to bag the corn and beans, andcoolly walked away, the delight of the by-standers at the summary method of com-pleting the bargain, reached its climaxand they fairly screamed with laughter.A few of the traders seemed not to com-

prehend why they should have had solittle to say in the matter, but having beenreally well recompensed, according to

their idea of things, the tariff of priceswas established, and this morning, whenfresh supplies were brought, they receivedthe same rate of pay without question ordemur."

Entering the Mojave valley at theNeedles, Lieut. Ives was impressed by thesuperiority of the Mojave tribesmen.

"All day the Indians have followed us,"he wrote, "examining the boat and its oc-cupants with eager curiosity. They, ontheir side, have been subjected to criticalinspection, which they can stand betterthan any of the tribes that live below. The

men as a general rule have noble figures,and the stature of some is gigantic."Having no clothing but a strip of cot-

ton, their fine proportions are displayed tothe greatest advantage. Most of them haveintelligent countenances and an agreeableexpression.

"The women, over the age of 18 or 20,are almost invariably short and stout, withfat good-natured faces. Their only articleof dress is a short petticoat, made of stripsof bark sticking out about eight inches be-hind. Some of the younger girls are verypretty and have slender graceful figures.The children wear only the apparel inwhich they were born, and have a preco-cious impish look. Their delight today hasbeen to mimic the man at the bow whotakes soundings, every call being echoed

Skeleton o f the Explorer as it appears today on B raulio Chavetf ranch in the Colorad o river delta.

J A N U A R Y , 1 9 4 2



Chemehuevis Indians sketched by H. B. Mollhausen and later reproduced in lithograph.

from the bank with amusing fidelity of

tone and accent."Communication with the Indians wasnot easy. Of the two interpreters on theexpedition, Mariano was a Diegueno, andCapitan a Yuma. Neither of them wereversatile linguists. Describing a pow-wowwith one of the Mojave chiefs, Ives wrote:

"Oral communication, under existing

circumstances, is a complicated process. I

have to deliver my message to Mr. Bie-lawski, who puts it into indifferent Span-ish for the benefit of Mariano, whoseknowledge of the language is slight.When Mariano has caught the idea he im-parts it in the Yuma tongue, with whichhe is not altogether conversant, to Capi-tan, who in turn puts it into the Mojave

These Mexcian rancheros no w farm the delta lands where Yuma and Cocopah Indi-ans once carried on intermittent warfare.

vernacular. What changes my remarks

have undergone during these differentstages I shall never know; but I observethat they are sometimes received with anastonishment and bewilderment that theoriginal sense does not altogether war-rant."

It was on March 8, 68 days after theExplorer left the ways at the mouth of theColorado, that the expedition entered thenarrow gorge of Black canyon—and therethe boat hit the sunken boulder thatbrought the upstream journey to an end.

Lieut. Ives spent two days in a skiff ex-ploring the river above, going as far asthe mouth of the Virgin river. He decid-ed it was not practicable to take the Ex-plorer beyond the point where it met withnear-disaster—and so the river recon-noissance ended in Black canyon, not farbelow the site of Boulder dam.

To those of us who are inclined to besentimental about the historical things ofthe Southwest, it is a matter of regret thatthe old iron stern-wheeler could not havebeen preserved as a memento of one ofthe most interesting episodes in the his-tory of this region. But thanks to pain-staking work of Lieut. Ives and his as-sociates a fine record of that reconnois-sance is still available for us—and afterall, it is the work men do, and not theirtools, that is really important.

10 T HE D E S E R T M A G A Z I N E



Berina's workshop is a crumbling oldadobe building. Herhusband cuts hollow aspens fcthe trunk, and the ends arecovered with cowhide. Her ancestors used bu\\do hide.

Drum M akerof Cochiti

All the Indian tribesmen of the Southwest usedrums in their ceremonials—just as their ancestorshave done for countless generations. And if you aska Pueblo Indian what drum he likes the best, morethan likely he will tell you "CochitL" The Cochitipueblans in New Mexico have specialized in thiscraft, and find a wide market for their product notonly among the tribesmen but among Anglo-Americans who use them for decorative purposes.Here is the story of Berina Cordero, who is proud ofthe drums she makes—and doesn't mind havingher picture taken by a friend.

RY chips of quaking aspen cov-ered the blanket on which Ber-ina sat. With every tap of her

hammer on the chisel more chips curledout of the hollow piece of log. When shesaw me her pretty plump face told me shewas glad that I had come, and she heldout her small brown hand.

"Sit down," she invited, pointingIndian-fashion with her lips to the lowstool close by. I asked about each member

of her family from thegrandmother downto the toddler, Pauline, Berina's young-est. Then we talked about thecrops.

J A N U A R Y , 1942

By BETTY WOODS

"The corn isgood," Berina said. "Chiliis late this year. Too much rain in thespring."

But Berina Cordero and her family arelucky they don't have to depend alto-gether on the whims of nature for theirlivelihood. Nearly every member of thispueblo family makes drums, and goodones they are, too. Haven't the Corderodrums taken prizes in San Francisco, Gal-lu p and Santa Fe? Drum making is an artat Cochiti, a little adobe village that liesquietly on the Rio Grande at the easternlimits of the Pajarito plateau in northernNew Mexico. Ask any Indian of another

tribe what kind of a drum he prefers andhe will say, "Cochiti."

Three of Berina's children sat besideher playing at making drums.

"That is how Indians learn to dothings," Berina explained. "We watchthe old people when we are young."

This way of teaching arts and crafts iscommon among all the Southwest tribes.It is a showing howrather than the teach-ing of theory and technique.

The Cordero workshop is in an old un-

tenanted house,the

grey adobe wallsof

which are melting back to earth. Inside,the log and brush ceiling reminded me of

11



Berina's mother, Estejanita, makes the huge pottery bowls so much sought by

collectors.

those I hadseen in the ancient dwellingsat Chaco canyon. In thecorner was a smallfireplace, and here I could picture smallbrown people in bygone years roastingcorn and cooking bone soup. On thehard-packed earth floor were a fewhollow as-pen logs, dead and dry. From these Berinawill have herhusband saw off pieces inthe lengths desired for her drums.

W he n the sun is warm the Corderoswork outside their little shop, not farfrom the family home. It washere that Ifound Berina making drums, in theshadeof themelting walls.

"My husband went with thewagon tothe mountains," sheexplained. "We needmore logs for drums this winter. It takesall day to get to theaspen woods with ateam andwagon, then it takes anotherdayto come back. Maybe hewill hunt a dayfor a load of logs. They must bedead along time, and hollow."

"Berina," I said, feeling that I hadwaited the proper length of time beforecoming to the reason for myvisit, "you

make better drums than anyone else inthe pueblo, I hear, and so I want to takeyour picture."

She did not say a word, andcontinuedworking. The hammer tapped the chiselwhich sheheld at an angle, theblade justtouching a tree ring at the top of the in-completed drum. The chisel split downthrough thedead wood. Berina hollowedou t thelog more andtrimmed theshell toan all-around evenness. This drum was tobe a small one, with a shell about aninchthick. The larger drums are somewhatthicker.

Pictures! White people and their an-

noying cameras that cause so muchtrouble and misunderstanding between

the two races. I thought about the signsI'd seen at the various pueblos warningvisitors against picture taking. NOCAM-ERAS ALLOWED. Or NO PICTURETAKING W ITHOUT P ER MIS S IONO F THEGOVERNOR. I had left ourcamera in the car, out of deference to thewishes of these people.

Eventually, Berina said something inthe Keresan language to heroldest daugh-

ter. The child sprang upand ran to anear-by house. In a fewminutes there appeareda large, happy-faced woman carrying acomb. She was Berina's mother. Shesmiled and touched my hand with thelight Indian handshake. More soft wordswere spoken in thestrange tongue.

"She will comb my hair," announcedBerina, "so it will look nice for your pic-tures."

I breathed myrelief. I could take pic-tures!

Berina got up from the blanket andbrushed the aspen chips from her apron.

Then shesaid, "Come tomy house. I willpu t on another dress, too."

We walked across theclean-swept yardswhile Ia2y dogs looked at us with sleepyeyes. They didn't bother to bark at thestrange white woman, but they wouldkeep an eye on her.

Berina's house was neat. On thewhite,yeso-covered walls hung santos of theCatholic church, butover in onecorner Isaw a small leather medicine bag. Themedicine bag is Cochiti, and wasCochitia thousand years ago. There was thewingfireplace, two beds and other furniturethat made this long room a typical one

among Indian pueblo homes. Then I sawthe imprint of a small feminine hand on

the wall. Berina had plastered this roomherself.

"Before the feast of Saint Buenaven-tura," she told me, "all. the women putnew mud on their houses. Inside and out-side we fix up the house. Then all thewomen plaster new mudonto the kivas,too."

Saint Buenaventura is the patron saint

of this pueblo and hisday isJuly 14.TheCochitis celebrate in his honor with acorn dance, the customary manner of thepueblos in doing homage totheir saints.

"Once at Isleta," I told Berina, "I triedto help some friends put mud on theirhouse. But it didn't stay." I ha d to behon-est. "They had to do my work all overagain."

We both laughed at myclumsy effortsat doing themost simple work with mud.

"That is like the first time I tried toplay basketball," Berina said. "But aftera fewmonths I was on theschool team—Saint Catherine's Indian school in Santa

Fe.""And she was the best one on that

team," Berina's oldest daughter addedwith thepride of seven years.

"My husband went to the same schoolan d he was a good player, too,"Berinadismissed her ownathletic prowess.

Basketball is a favorite game amongall young Indians who go to school. I'veseen theTaos youngsters play it as enthu-siastically as those down on thePima andPapago reservations. Even prehistoric In-dians of the Southwest played variouskinds of ball games—with stone balls!

In a clean dress, Berina called to her

mother. The older woman motioned forus to sit in the shade of a salt cedar tree.Berina and hermother sat on theground,while I was given a box. Berina's longblack hair shines like jet, from years ofwashing in amole suds. No Eli7abeth Ar-den beauty preparation has thequality ofmaking feminine hair more lovely thandoes the simple shampoo of amole roots.

I watched fascinated as the mothertwisted the straight heavy hair into achongo knot at theback of Berina's head.Over her high forehead hung the longbangs, in keeping with the fashion ofpueblo women.

"W e goback to thedrum shop now,"said Berina. "I'll show you how to makethe drums while you take my picture.Later you may take apicture ofmy motherwhen she is making bigpottery."

I wondered if it were possible that therewas still living a single woman who madethe large beautiful storage bowls of longago, with their olddesigns.

"She is proud to show them to whitepeople," Berina smiled. "Sometimes theybuy them to put in their houses. We puour corn meal and dried fruit in them."

After we reached the shop, Berinabrought out an especially fine drum and

sat down to resume work on it. "This isthe way wedo," shesaid. "We fasten the




end pieces of hide tight with hide thongs.Then we hang the drum up to dry. Some-times we paint them with paint made ofground rock or plants."

"What kind of hide do you use?" Iasked.

"Cow hide. W e soak it in the river totake the hair off. In the summer when it ishot the hide has to soak only a day or two;

in the winter it must soak about a m onth.""Don't you use buckskin at all?""No," she laughed. "That would make

our drums sound like tin cans.""How many drums can you make in a

day?" I wanted to know."About 10 this size," pointing to a

drum about ten inches long. "I have totake care of the children and cook, andclean house, too."

The Corderos also make ceremonialdrums for other tribes. I wondered whattribe would sing and dance and chant tothe throbbing beat of the large one whichBerina's husband had finished recently.

Or would it become a coffee table in somemodernistic New York apartment?"Where do you sell your drums?" I

had to keep asking questions.

"In Santa Fe and Gallup, and in theEast. Once we sent some to the fair in SanFrancisco, and we got prizes on our olla-bumbas there."

"Ollabumbas?"

"Yes," she laughed, "ollabumba iswhat we call a drum in Cochiti."

She made it sound very rhythmical. Iwondered if the word might not be amixture of Spanish and the sound of the

drum, "olla" being Spanish for earthenjar.

They start learning their drum craft early in C ochiti. And if you don't think thisyoung lady is intent on her work, just notice the angle at which her tongue is set.

While Berina worked, we had funmaking pictures. We joked and laughed,and let the baby, Pauline, wander in andout of the pictures in great unconcern.

With childlike mimicry, she tried to doeverything her mother did. How many

Little Pau line takes a lesson from her mother. T he aspen logs are hollowed out to athin shell before the ends are covered. This detail has to be just right to give theproper vibration and sound.

generations this same thing has gone onhere, daughter learning from mother andson from father!

"The old people say we lived in Frijole

canyon before we came here," Berina an-swered a direct question regarding herancestors. "After that, we lived on a mesacalled Potrero de las Vacas. That is wherethe old people say the two lions turned tostone when the big fire burned up theworld. We used to live near the Paintedcave, too. It is a big cave with many paint-ings, mostly in red and yellow colors.There are pictures of the sun and cloudsand lightning."

"Can you reach the cave in a car?" andI was thinking of this new place to ex-plore.

"No , you have to walk or go on a horse.On the trail there you can see where welived near two more stone lions."

There was anger in Berina's voice asshe went on: "That is on the Potrero delos Idolos. But somebody looking forgold dynamited one of the lions. The goldhe wanted is not there. My mother's fa-ther told her that when the Spanish sol-diers came a long time ago, all the peoplehid in the mountains. Two medicine mentook the gold and buried it in the river.They didn't tell the people where theyhid it because they were afraid that theSpanish would capture the people and

torture some to make them tell where thegold was. There was a big fight and many

J A N U A R Y , 1 9 4 2 13



Indians were killed. The two medicinemen were killed with them."

The bigfight which Berina referred towas the Pueblo Rebellion of 1680, with itssubsequent turmoil for several years, un-til DeVargas reconquered NewMexico.

Berina again spoke strange words to hermother and thelatter answered her in theCochiti language. "Shesays," Berina in-terpreted, "that there was turquoise andother things of thekiva, with thegold."

So, as far as anyone knows, the RioGrande still keeps secret thewhereaboutsof Cochiti's buried treasure. Wheneverwe drive along theriver near this pueblo,I have animpulse to getout and walk overthe old river bed, with the hunch thatmaybe I'll find some of that long-losttreasure.

As I sat looking out across thevillageI thought of thedifferent names bywhichCochiti is known to other tribes, all ap-plied with Indian directness. The Jemez

people call Cochiti the Mountain SheepHome. The Isleta Indians call it SoapweedTown. Cochiti, called by anyname, is aromantic remnant of a long-long-ago.Most of itshouses areone story high,andopen onto small, sunbaked plazas. Threehundred and tenIndians live in thepueb-lo andalong ther'to. Within neighboringdistances are several Mexican placiltas.Farther to the south lies the pueblo ofSanto Domingo.

Few pueblos inthe Southwest have sucha variety of crafts asCochiti. Besides manydrum makers, there arefine pottery mak-ers andsome belt weavers. They dobead

work, too. Thework of two or threeCo-chiti artists pleases the white travelers whoventure from the main highway to thissequestered village.

"Here isyour drum ," said Berina, hand-ing me one she had just finished. "Youcan remember me by it."

I did notneed anyreminder of Berina.No one needs a reminder of agood friend,and good friends these Cochitis are.

BIG DISCHARGE FROM LAKEMEAD CAUSES DAMAGE

Needles and other points along thelower Colorado river are reporting dam-age from too much water. Normal dis-charge through the spillways at Boulderdam hasbeen from 20,000 to 25,000sec-ond feet. However, due to excessiverun-off from theupper watershed this fall thewater level in Lake Mead has not beenlowered as rapidly as reclamation bureauengineers have felt wasnecessary to pro-vide storage for thespring flood next year.To meet this situation the discharge atBoulder dam hasbeen stepped up to 35,-000 second feet. "Better have 35,000 feetcoming down theriver now, than 50,000

or 75,000 next spring," say those incharge.

D E S E R T Q U I ZDesert Magazine gets many letters from theQuiz fans. Only a few of them make top scores—but the rest are learning. This monthly Quiz

really is an interesting lesson in thegeography, history, geology, botany andgen-eral lore of the desert, and many Desert Magazine readers take the test each monthas a means of improving their knowledge of the desert country. If youmake ascore of 10 you know more than theaverage person. Fifteen correct answers is sel-dom attained except by the dyed-in-the-wool desert rats. More than 15entitles you

to thehonorary degree of Sand Dun e Sage. Th e answers are onpage26.

1—Most conspicuous species of cactus seen on the southern Arizona landscapeis— Cholla Saguaro Bisnaga Prickly pear

2—Bill Williams and theMountain Mencame to the Southwest looking pri-marily for— Beaverskins Gold Ind ian scalps Hom esteads

3—Indian tribesmen who live atMescalero, New Mexico, are—Navajo Pahute Hualpai Apache

4—Going from theSouth tothe North rim of Grand Canyon by themost directhighway route you would cross theColorado river onthe—Topock bridge Boulder dam Navajo bridge Lee's ferry

5—Most valuable product being taken from the floor of theSalton sink beforethe Colorado river flood submerged it in 1905-07 was—

Gypsum Onyx Salt Pottery clay

6—Going from Monument valley toBluff, Utah, themost important riveryouwould cross is the— SanJuan Colorado Little ColoradoGreen

7—The Jayhawkers crossed Death Valley in thewinter of—1843-44 1875-76 1857-58 1849-50

8—Escalante desert is in— New Mexico California NevadaUtah

9—Hopi Indians use theklsi as a place to— Conduct their underground cere-monies Store grain Bury their dead Confine their snakes forthe annual snake dance........

10—Common name for thedesert shrub known as jojoba is-

Goat nut Tumb le weed Crucifixion thorn

Rattle bush.

11—The Kaibab squirrel found in theforest of thesame name has a—black tail Brown tail W hit e tail No tail

12—According to themost commonly quoted version of theLost Pegleg legend,the gold was found— In adeep canyon Onto p ofone of three hillsCached in an oldmine tunnel In thesand dunes

13—Most common mineral sought byprospectors w orking at night with a fluor-escent lamp is— Quicksilver Man ganese AsbestosScheelite

14—Searchlight is thename of an oldmining town in—Nevada Utah Arizona New Mexico

15- -The book, Wonders of the Colorado Desert, was written by—

Chase VanDyke James Saunders16—Closest settlement tothe entrance toCanyon deChelly inArizona is—

Ganado Chin Lee Ft. Defiance Kayenta

17—The kangaroo ratgenerally makes itshom e— Nea r desert waterholesOn sandy mesas Onhigh peaks In desert shrubs or trees

18—Grand Falls is in the— Gila river Salt river Little ColoradoMojave river

19—Indians generally made their arrowpoints byflaking therock with—Heat andcold Quartz crystals Piece of boneAn ironwood awl

20—Survivors of theCocopah tribe of Indians still live near their original habi-tat— InCoachella valley Alo ng the lower Colorado river

In Death Valley Atthe headwaters of theGila




If you stopped at the Duncan drug store in south-eastern Arizona, you wouldn't guess that the red-headed young man behind the counter jerkingsodas was the art ist whose comic postcards aredisplayed on the stands all the way across thedesert. Hal Empie, who r uns the d rug store in reg ularhours and draws cartoons in his spare t ime, couldbe working, if he chose, at a high salary in eitherNew York or Hollywood. And if you wonder why

he prefers to remain in a little desert town, you'llfind the answer in this story.

Red-headedCartoonist

By AUDREY WALLSCARTOONIST HAL EMPIE —By Himsel)

I I AL Empie is a story.-j—j And he will be amazed that I

should have seen, in him, anythingto write about. That, in all probability, iswhy he is a story.

The young man poured the chocolateand the slivered pecans over the ice creamwith the grace and ease of one long ex-

perienced behind the soda counter. Themost noticeable thing about him, besidehis graceful hands, was his red hair. Andit went with the impish grin.

The interior of the Duncan, Arizona,drug store was an oasis in the desert. Imeant to take my time with the sundaeand cool off a bit.

A customer came in and the young manwaited on him for a package of razorblades. My eyes rested on a picture of alank, amusing cowboy, painted in colorson the mirror back-drop of the soda foun-tain.

The bow-legged Arizona horseman inthe picture had neatly lassoed a strawber-ry soda.

I mused over the painting. It was donein tempera—or something. You artistswould know. Just the way the thing wasdrawn had a certain sparkle to it.

Another customer wanted a bottle ofhair oil and the third brought a prescrip-tion to be filled. It kept the red hairedyoung man pretty busy.

He came back to the fountain and re-filled my water glass.

"You do all of the work around here?"I aske"3.

"Yes'm—that is—most of it."He rang up the 15 cents for my sundae

and inquired politely, "Will there be any-thing else, ma'am?"

"Yes, I should like to know who paint-ed the picture of the cowboy on the mirrorback-drop."

Red eyelashes fluttered over brown eyesthat closed almost shut when he laughed.He replied modestly, "I did, ma'am."

"Very good!" I exclaimed. "I see it isn'tall cactus that grows on this Arizona des-ert."

"You think not? Thank you, ma'am."I turned to go out the door and bumped

smack into a large rack of copyrightedKartoon-Kards.

One of the post cards showed an In dianwoman carrying her papoose in a twentiethcentury, streamlined cradle board. It wasequipped with a sun shade to keep thesnoozing youngster cool, and a practicallooking water gauge also had been added.The faucet at the bottom, of course, wasto permit the escape of excess moisture.

Another card was the scene of a desertfilling station. The attendant, leaningagainst the gasoline pump, snored in sies-ta and relied upon the honesty of his cus-tomers. The crudely lettered sign toldthem to help themselves, thanked themand asked them to come back again. Themoney was to be placed in the bucket near-by .

To the left was a clump of sage brush,protected from the desert sun by an um-brella. The sign said, "Ladies."

To the right, the sign on another sagebrush said, "Gents." But there was no um-brella.

Other designs showed tenderfeet climb-ing desert cacti to escape the gorings of

enraged bulls. That explained, the ten-derfeet said, why they were too busy towrite.

I chuckled at the dozens of clever sub-jects on the cards.

"I see they are done by a Duncan, Ari-zona, man," I said. "Who is the artist?"

"Why—I—am, ma'am."

The name, Hal Empie, was on the cards."You are Hal Em pie?""Yes, ma'am.""This is the Empie drug store, isn't it?

Does your father own it?""No, I do." He grinned the impish grin

and looked at me almost bashfully frombeneath red eyebrows.

I sat down limply in a chair nearby."How long have you been doing this

art business?""Oh for years. Ever since I can remem-

ber. I guess there have been thousands ofthese cards sold in the past few years. Ido that in my spare time."

"Those oils and water colors I see abovethe display shelves. Are they yours, too?"

"Yes, ma'am. People are always afterme to do more of those. I will, maybe,when I get time. That surrealist thing yousee up there, the one showing Hitler andStalin and all that crazy stuff, was fun topaint. But I don't like surrealism. Thisother stuff is my hobby. It is what I amgoing to do."

"What do you mean, 'this other stuff?""Oh, the Kartoon-Kards and books and

things. I am working on a bunch of cardsfor the army now. What I mean is, themen in the camps may like them—I hope!

Would you like to see the two new onesI am working on now?"

J A N U A R Y , 1 9 4 2 15



WAITING IS OUT OF

< ? U e S T I O N - I

A preview of thecards in the making

would indicate a flourishing business forthis unassuming red-head.

"Very interesting!" I said inadequately,"and have you ever done other cartoonwork—for newspapers, or syndicates?"

"No, ma'am. The syndicates can't seeme down in this country. I'm afraid Icouldn't work their way. Mymind wouldgo dry as a sand dune."

Imagine, if you can,Niagara Fallsgo-ingdry!

"When I get an idea," he continued,"I like towork it out tosuit myself.AndI prefer towork only when I feel likeit."

I thought: That must be most of the

time—judging from thequantity of workon display. Positive proof is the new auto-mobile hebought from his Kartoon-Kardroyaltiesafew weeks ago. So theneighborssaid. Hal did notmention it.

Sounds nervy, doesn't it,my calling himHal? I talked with himonly 15minutes. Ihad never seen himbefore. He doesn'teven know myname-—or that I amwrit-ing this. But Hal is that kind of a person.And the longer I thought about him themore I realized heshould bewritten about.As I say, he is a story. I'll tell you why Ithinkso.

I hounded himwith questions."Aren't you interested in branchingout?"

"Maybe. I amalways working forsome-thing better, and I am not one toturn downa deal if the setup was right. But whatis branching out anyway, except givingyourself more grief than you canhandle?I have had a fewoffers, but I couldn'tseethem. Anyhow, I don't think anybody wasvery badly disappointed. There are lotsof good artists. They don't need me. It isn'tthat I didn't appreciate theoffers . . ."

I learned later that the opportunitieswith thewrong kind of setup, as hecalled

it, were from a Hollywood studio andfrom a prominent newspaper.

16

"I would rather work where I am

needed," hesaid. "I am notboasting thatthese folks need mehere, but I amquite

IHF I .• \ t . . r'. . "

DRUG r

Cartoonson these pages copyrighted

by HalEmpie.

busy. And I think as long as a fellow isbusyhe ishappy." (If hecould have heardthe noteofpride inthe voicesof the towns-men when they talked of Hal . . .)

"Besides," hewent on, "I have mydrugstore. Andthese friends I have here arepretty hard to beat. Duncan is all rightfor me. I can be a loyal American citizenright here, thesame as I could in Holly-wood or NewYork.

"And whoknows, I may beable to doeven more forUncle Sam bystaying righthere andkeeping calm andhelping otherfolks to laugh and stay calm. We've gotto keep ourheads, youknow. Wecan'tgorunning around like a bunch of locoedprairie dogs andexpect tocome outwithour shirts on our backs. Andwhen I amcalled into training I am ready for that,too."

That was thepart ofhis story I especial-ly liked. When a loyal American citizenlooks you in the eye and talks sense like

that, it makes yourealize what weneed ismore of these calm acting folks. Plainpeople, just like Hal.Alert as a burroonthe trail he is. But notpanicky.

"You must sit up nights, thinking upall these ideas for your cards," I suggest-ed.

"No, ma'am, such as they are," he ex-plained, "they are all to be found righthere in Arizona. I can't seem to get 'emdown on paper fast enough. They'rearound here—plain as the stickers on acactus. All youhave to do is reach up andpick themout ofthe air."

Sez he! I thought tomyself, it's nowon-

der he canafford towait for therightset-up . . .

"I should think there would be otherstry tocopy your idea for thepost cards."

"Why, it isn't mine by divine right,ma'am. I have my ownideas copyrighted.But anybody who wants to, candraw postcards. Come tothink of it, there have beenafewothers who have tried it.About sevenor eight of them."

WfeST'THING'S

THE DESERT MAGAZINE



Ked-headed Hal Empie, who runs a drug store at Duncan, Arizona, and drawscartoons in h is spare time.

"I see." And I kept thinking of the oldadage, "Build a better mousetrap . . ."

For here in this little Arizona town ofDuncan, that seems to be in perpetual si-esta, the world is mak ing a path to the doorof Hal Empie's drug store.

Hal, the owner, cartoonist, artist andwriter, turns his red head upon offers thatwould flatter some folks beyond speech.

Hal, the soda-jerk, greets the worldwith a welcome and unassuming, "How dy,folks! What'll it be? A soda? What flav-or?"

And if you reply with that old cheese-paring, "Strawberry, you dummy, don'tyou know your business?" you will be offon the wrong track.

Ha l Em pie knows his business. Especial-ly about the locoed prairie dogs. And otherthings, too.

I can hear him say, "Oh, that woman?The one with all the questions? If you wantmy honest opinion, she was a hobo w riter,just passing through!"

Ha l Empie knows his business—plenty!• • •

MEMORIESBY MAXINE ELIZABETH MILEY

Los Angeles, CaliforniaWould that I might share the song,My memory keeps singing.That I could share the perfect peaceI find my childhood bringing.

Of city life, we weary grow,And dream of deeper ties;Forever replacing steel and stoneWith purple against paler skies.

I change the darkness of morning streets,And the din of city clatterTo the glorious desert sunrise,And the gentle quails' soft chatter.

My place beside a busy desk,To a spot where the mescjuite grows.My near and workaday tailleureTo jeans with a patch that shows.

My once turbulent, weary mindBecomes more crystal clear,As I bask again in my memories rich,Of the desert I hold so dear.

"You said something about books," Ireminded him.

"I wrote a juvenile book not long ago,and that took quite a while. Just the other

day I started to sign a contract with a pub-lisher. Then I read all the fine print. Ididn't like the contract. So I didn't sign it."

"Well," I offered weakly, "someoneought to write about you. Have they everdone it?"

"A few weeks ago a man came throughhere and took a lot of pictures. Came inhere right when I was the busiest andcluttered the place with his cameras andstuff. Said he was with one of those pic-ture magazines.

"But if you want to know my honestopinion, I think he was a hobo photog-rapher, just passing through. Maybe he

was working his way through college. Idon't know."

'WAV OUT W6ST

J A N U A R Y , 1 9 4 2 17



After spending three monthson the west coast of Mexicopainting andcollecting mineraland botanical specimens, John-ny Hilton is back at hisuniqueroadside studio onHighway 99

near Indio—and writing oncemore forDesert Magazine read-ers. This month John followedan

old Indian trail into the SantaRosa mountains in the areawhere FigTree John's mythicalgold mine is supposed to be lo-

cated. Hilton didn't have muchluck finding the mine—but he

came upon a little known palmoasis, and mineral and fossilde-

posits which will be interestingto thecollecting fraternity.

Howard Barnes, Hilton's companion,at the marble-graphite deposit.

Paradise for

Hammer HoundsBy JOHN HILTON

11/ EWERE looking for thelegen-VV dary lost mine of Fig Tree John

when I discovered the interest-ing mineral deposits in theSanta Rosamountains near Travertine point on the

west side of Southern California's Saltonsea.

Had itnot been for the story ofthe lostmine I probably never would have wan-dered into that uninviting region. Fromthe highway it is arough drab desert, andone would never suspect itcontained suchmineral outcroppings as garnet, marble,graphite in limestone, wollastonite and

aragonite.W e did not find thegold mine. I rather

doubt if the mine exists. FigTree died in

1927. His son, Johnny Mac, when ques-tioned about his father's gold mine, mut-ters something that sounds like "maybeso, maybe no," andgoes onwith hiswork.But some oftheaged Cahuillas believe the

story ofFigTree's gold—and that the oldIndian killed several trespassers and

threw their bodies into the shaft.Old FigTree hadaflair forshowman-

ship. Heliked toimpress the other Indi-

ans asmuch as he did hiswhite neighbors.It ispossible the "mine" was just anotherstory heinvented to lend mystery to his

strange career. Or, perhaps he actuallyfound gold inthe Santa Rosas. If he did,the secret died with him.

I was following the oral directionsgiven by anaged Cahuilla Indian, with hisgrandson Ben Toro asmy guide, when I

came across the unusual mineral and fos-sil deposits in that area. Also the littlepalm oasis with aspring ofclear water.

The palms are a source of much localspeculation. Some saythat FigTree plant-ed them. Others say this palm oasis was

always there. Ihave metatleast three per-sons who told methey planted thelone

date palm now growing there with the

Washingtonias. Since I know all of themare truthful men,I am forced toconcludethat two of the seeds failed tosprout, or

died at anearly age. Anyway, there is but

one date palm.H . E.W. Wilson, who prospected thisarea formany years insearch of the lostPegleg Smith gold, said hecamped at theoasis in1903.Itwasahot day and whilehe andJohn Collins, forwhom Collinsvalley wasnamed, rested in theshade,their companion John Steen gatheredseeds from theolder palms andstuck themin theground around thecienega. Theyalways referred to theoasis as "Steen'sRest."

This area is full of interest forthe ar-

chaeologist andhistorian aswell as the

mineral collector. There areancient In-

dian inscriptions in thecalcareous tufaalong the old shore line that isvisible at

Travertine point. And there aremany un-answered questions ofmore recent dating.For instance, whowere the two men whoworked asmall gold and copper claim in

this area, and left behind the remains of a

charcoal smelter which they evidently hadused toreduce their ore? And there is thestory ofthe signature found inoneofthecaves—purportedly the inscription of a

member of the first survey party tocomethis way.Another mystery has todo witha bundle of empty money bags imprint-ed "Crocker National Bank ofSan Fran-

cisco," found under arock near the point.My first trip into this part ofthe desert




was several years ago. More recentlyHoward Barnes and I retraced the origin-al route in order to sketch the details for amap for Desert Magazine—the mapwhich accompanies this story. During theintervening years there had been littlechange in the country—and it was no lessfascinating to me than on that first ex-pedition.

We found our first garnets as wecrossed thewash of that name on the map.Here the sand was literally pink with mil-lions of tiny garnet fragments. These areof the almandine type with the purplishwine red so prized by jewelers when thestones are clear and of sufficient size tocut. I have never found any gem qualitystones in this area, however.

Farther up the arroyo, on the rightbank, we found garnets in place, in schistand granite. Although the color in thesmall crystals is good, the larger speci-mens are so flawed as to be of little valueto the gem-cutter. They are nice speci-

mens, however, if chiseled out of the na-tive rock with part of the matrix attached.

Almandine carries as much as 38 per-cent iron. In fact it is so rich in metal thatit fuses to a glassy mass that attracts amagnetic needle. Even some of the crys-tals are slightly magnetic in their naturalform.

Other members of the garnet familyalso are represented in this area. Hesson-ite (calcium aluminum garnet) occurs insmall yellowish or orange crystals in someof the limestones. In one spot high up onthe ridge of Borrego peak, it is in asso-

ciation with vesuvianite and wollastonitein calcite. Boulders in the arroyo near thepalms sometimes carry this combination—float from the slopes above.

Small quartz seams, usually on the con-

tacts between themarbles and thegranites,carry tiny ruby red to black crystals of py-rope (magnesium aluminum garnet), im-

bedded like small plums in apudding.

None of the well-formed crystals inthis area are very large but I have had agreat deal of pleasure with the tiny crys-tals I have found in perfect form. Largegarnets here are malformed or fractured to

the point where it is hard topreserve themintact, but those varying in size from a

match head to a pea are sometimes veryfine and show many interesting crystalforms. Under a low power microscopesome of the quartz, limestone and schistrocks disclose veritable gem collections.Many collectors scorn little crystals in fa-vor of large imperfect specimens. I be-lieve this is a mistake. One of the finestcollections of minerals I have ever seenwas kept in small glass vials, with nosingle specimen larger than a pea.

Ben Toro, who took me into this coun-

try the first time, showed me an old Indiantrail winding up out of the arroyo and

"^ X ^ \rt-'- GRAPHITE ^ fe -r'v

N J L T». > IM LIMESTONE v _̂;N3~*;;

1.0 MILE. ii f>IKf CAR HERE-VERY SANDY BEYOND THIS POINT

\\ V

^ f e

N_. -SHORE LINE OF -

Sr ANCIENT LAKE CAHUILLA -,,

TRAVERTINE

^ POINT

through a low gap in the hills. Wedropped down into another arroyo andthen over a second low ridge into the bigwash where the palm oasis is located.

Ben's grandfather had told me that FigTree John got his water from the springin the palms when he was "working his

mine." As a boy, Ben had accompaniedolder Indians in this area hunting sheep.

When the law was passed protectingthe sheep the Cahuilla Indians were re-sentful. They considered wild game theirrightful prey, just as the plains Indiansfelt that buffalo were their special prop-erty.

But the Cahuillas became reconciled,

and today no hunting parties camp at thepalm oasis, or climb the Santa Rosas for

J A N U A R Y , 1942 19



Three forms of garnet crystals found in the Borrego peak area. Left— Hessoniteoccurs here as a therombic dodecahedron. Center— Amandine takes this form, arhombic dodecahedron the24edges of which are truncated by thefaces of the ico-

sitetrahedron. Right— The pyrope in this a rea has the icositetrahedron form.

mountain sheep. The w hite men came anddestroyed all but a few, and then passeda lawprotecting those that survived.

On my recent trip with Howard Barnes,we followed theIndian trail Ben Toro hadshown mepreviously. In passing over the

first ridge I noticed odd-looking pieces ofbrown sandstone. They appeared out ofplace on this hill which is composed orcrystalline limestone and granite. I stoppedto examine one of therocks andfound im-bedded in its side a radiate of the sand-dollar type, similar to those picked up onCalifornia's beaches.

Leaving the trail I climbed the side ofthe hill and was surprised to find theseand many other marine fossils in place.Many of these shells have weathered com-pletely out of their sandstone matricesandmake fine specimens. Barney and I en-joyed a half hour picking upclams,oys-

ters, periwinkles, mussels and even bar-nacles on top of anocotillo-clad h ill in themiddle of a desert.

We could look down from our highperch and see the water-line of ancientfresh water Lake Cahuilla skirting Traver-tine point and forming a band along thefoot of thehills. And outbeyond, Saltonsea shimmered like a great sapphire in atawny wrinkled mass ofvelvet brown. Thehills that sloped away from the oppositeshore of the sea had the color which in-spired early explorers to name them theChocolate mountains.

Travertine point evidently received itsname before the scientific fraternity hadan opportunity to examine critically thedeposits there. True travertine is a hotwater deposit. The material found here,according authoritative opinion, is calcar-eous tufa. It originally was calcium car-bonate in solution, deposited by the lap-ping waters of the old lake. The parentlimestone from which it came is much inevidence in this area.

N ot far from thefossil bed we foundflakes of graphite imbedded inwhite mar-ble. It is notdifficult totell graphite fromthe mica which also occurs here. Thetestis its streak. A flake of graphite smeared

across one's hand leaves a silvery blackpath similar to themark of a lead pencil.As amatter of fact lead is notused in leadpencils—the substance is compressedgraphite. Under a microscope these flakesshow crystal angles which make them in-

teresting specimens.

We continued along the old trail.Crossing the next arroyo we saw manyboulders of granite andmarble in whichwere garnets of different sizes and types.Some of themarble is compact enough topolish, and the banded specimens wouldmake attractive bookends or desk sets—with much less effort than to work agateor petrified wood.

Our route led over another low ridgeand then down into the arroyo in whichthe palm spring is located. Thepalms arenot visible from the bottom of thewashuntil one turns a bend close to thefoot ofthe Santa Rosas. Then suddenly they ap-pear infull view, their bright green frondsglistening in thebrilliant sunlight. It is adelightful little park, with a mat of ber-muda grass forming a thick sod aroundthe spring. A typical American oasis!

The water had a slight alkaline flavorand was toofull of insects to be inviting.

Kept clean, however, I believe it would

Marine fossils on ahillside in the desert.

This ph otograph shows part of the palm oasis— with the lone date palm tree in the

foreground.




be a satisfactory source of drinking water.With no one there to do the cleaning, Iwould advise hikers to carry their can-teens.

W e ate our lunch in the shade of thepalms, discussed their probable age, andwondered if Fig Tree John really had agold mine in the rugged slopes above.

My friend L. S. Barnes once told me th estory of two prospectors who worked aclaim near this point. He came upon theircamp one afternoon quite unexpectedly.They were friendly enough, but not in-clined to talk. The camp was on a well-concealed bench some distance from thespring, and it was evident the men pre-ferred to be left alone.

Later one of the miners had to be takenout with an injured leg, and the camp wasabandoned. Barnes saw a crude smelterthey had built, but the shaft or tunnel

from which their ore was coming was notin sight.

Several years afterward I accompaniedBarnes to the place. Cloudbursts had car-ried away all evidence of the camp. Wenever were able to locate the mine. It mayhave been Fig Tree John's old workings.I do not know.

After lunch Barney and I climbed theridge toward the peaks above. Our trailcrossed great deposits of cleavable calcite,milky grey to white or cream color. Someareas were almost paved with naturalrhombic cleavages of this mineral, glit-tering like jewels in the sun.

The climbing was steep, and westopped often to rest and survey the beau-tiful desert panorama below us. As wegained altitude we could see more andmore of Salton sea, with the Chocolatemountains, the Orocopias, Chuckawallas,Eagles, Mecca clay hills and the Little SanBernardinos all within our view. San Gor-gonio and San Jacinto peaks formed greatsnow clad portals at either side of SanGorgonio pass. Immediately below uswere the ridges of the Santa Rosas juttingout into the great alluvial fan like giantbuttresses erected to brace the mountainchain behind.

Near the summit we came to the de-posit of wollastonite—a metasilicate ofcalcium—in veins and masses through thecoarsely crystallized limestone. The cal-cite weathers a shiny white, but wollaston-ite has a woody grey appearance thatmakes it easily distinguishable. Once thesurface is broken, the rock takes on an en-tirely different aspect. The interior is amass of needle-like crystals, silky white toclear, with an almost mirror-like luster.

Above— Close-up photograph of the Wollastonite.

Below— Fossils on an ocotillo studded hillside in the middle of the desert.

They form radiating or undulatinggroups, and freshly fractured pieces makeshowy cabinet specimens.

This deposit of limestone and wollas-tonite is a "hammerhound's" paradise.Here at last is one spot where a prospec-tor's pick brings out new beauty withevery blow—and no harm is done. Whatis more, there is a whole mountainside ofthe material to work on—an ideal placeindeed for those members of the collect-ing fraternity who have an uncontrollable

itch to break rocks. But they will have toearn their right to do so by a rather ar-duous hike.

All in all, this is a fine collecting area,offering a rich reward to those who havethe stamina to make the trip. Every timeI visit this region I find something new—and I am sure that I have not yet found allthe interesting mineralogical deposits tobe discovered here.

Although I would never confess thatI am a chronic lost-mine hunter, I'll ad-mit that on my trips into this part of theSanta Rosa range I constantly keep an eyeout for old camps or dumps—the evidenceof previous mining operations. It reallywould be fun to find one of those mythicalold mines at that.

J A N U A R Y , 1 9 4 2 21



Tricks and

Manners

--of desert plants

"Being stuck in the sand in a drywash of a quiet lonely desert canyonis one of mymost restful and revivingexperiences . . . these are times whenI learn most about thedesert and its

plants," says Lester Row ntree.

By LESTER ROWNTREE

AN Y of my notes ondesert plantsa r e made while my car is stuck insome desert canyon and I am

hopefully waiting for help. Since I havea natural antipathy tomachinery and knoweven less than most women about the in-ternals of a car, this happens quite often.However, I ambeginning to learn that I

can sometimes extricate myself from deepsand by letting part of the air out of mytires andbacking in myown tracks, and Iremember every once in awhile to use thefour gunny-sacks which always go withme on a desert trip.

But these devices don't always workand sometimes I wait two days and nights,or even longer, before I hear the laboredchugging and thegrinding tires of a near-in g car. As a rule, though, somebodyturns upwithin 24hours. And as long asI have water to drink and something orother to eat, I would rather poke aboutthe neighborhood than take a long hot

walk back to thenearest main road.Being stuck in the dry sand of a quiet

lonely desert canyon is one of mymostrestful andreviving experiences. Mytimeisn't of anyimportance—I can think andobserve andtake notes at myleisure,andbecome entirely aware of my surroundingworld. These are the times when I learnthe most about the desert and its plants.And I may find that some of myprevious

conceptions have been all wrong—thatsome plant which I thought had a secret-sorrow is really delighted with its situa-tion, that another which seemed to be achronic invalid is only an introvert, thata dainty flowering thing only a fewinchestall makes quite a different figure after ithas attained maturity and thewell-knownmiddle-aged spread, and that heat andsand and drought are not the unmixedblessings to the desert plants we alwayssuppose them to be.

How do we know that they wouldn'trelish a little less heat, a little more mois-ture and a richer diet? Certainly we can

see that their effort toutilize to theutmostwhatever water they can get, conditions

Lester Rowntree ' s idea of abotan ica l exped i t ion on the des-ert is to l o ad her bedro l l and aw e e k ' s g r u b in the car and go offa l o n e on one of the m a n y by-roads tha t lead to remote sec to rsof thear id coun try . On such tr ipssh e g a in s an in t imate acquain t -an ce w i th thef lowers and sh r u b s

that thr ive with l i t t le moisture.Deser t p lan ts , she s a y s , arem u c h l i k e h u m a n s — s o m e ofthem intell igent, and othersd u m b —so m e f r i e n d l y andothers quite hosti le .

their whole lives. The annuals are ofcoursealert to runthrough their cycle of growth,

bloom andseed, striking while theiron ishot, or rather while the ground is wet.Gourds, cacti and a fewothers among theperennials create bulky reservoirs, eithersub-surface or above-ground. DesertTrumpet Eriogonum inflatum carries itsreservoir in its stem, as does the annualDesert Candle Streptanthus inflatus. Theprehistoric-looking Elephant tree Burseramicrophylla stores itsreserve in the lowerpart of his ponderous trunk. Most of therest arewell-diggers, with long tap-rootswhich go deep into the sand after what-ever moisture may be there. An inch-tallseedling of Smoke tree Parosela orDaleaspinosa canhave a root a foot long.Andif youwill examine some of these longtap-roots, you will find that they are moistat thetip, even though the plant itself maybe dried up and to all appearances dead.

Desert plants work very hard at thebusiness of self-protection—harder thanis necessary, I sometimes think, and notalways intelligently. Perhaps, like humanbeings, having started something they goon with it until they are afraid to stop.Sometimes they behave like wolves insheep's clothing, sometimes they try todisguise themselves, all to circumventwhatever it is they areafraid of. They areextremely soft and tender, or extremelyharsh and prickly, either method appar-ently adopted to thesame end. Orboth atthe same time—for this year's leaves andshoots, tender and alluring, clothed indowny silver, may develop by next yearinto thorns andsharp spears.

Desert shrubs arealways on the defen-sive. Some, like Catsclaw Acacia greggiiwear hooks on their stems. Others put onhairs or wool or tiny thorns. Some bearvery few and very small leaves. Othersbear scales under the pretense that they

are leaves, and some, such as CrucifixionThorn Holocantha emoryi bear almost no




leaves at all. Species which do permitthemselves leaves are apt togive them sawedges or barbs, spines or bristles. And thespiny sparsely leaved muddled-shapedKrameria canescens goes to the extremeof sticking pins all over its rounded seedpods to discourage animals and insectsfrom making off with them.

Some desert plants think it wisest to lie

low and flat, like Desert Star Monoptilonbellioides. Others prefer stickiness. Somedevelop a greatly thickened bark. Euphor-bia californica andother Euphorbias hoarda milky juice. And every little while youfind a species with a good strong smell.Take a sniff of Bladder pod Isomeris ar-borea for instance. Not poison gas exact-ly, butvery nasty.

Then there is the method of protectivecoatings, which youmight think from theradio was an entirely newidea. Don't weall know the suave or emotional voiceswhich beg us togive a "protective coating"to this orthat tract of ourphysical makeup?Don't the air-waves warn us daily thatour cars' insides must have a certain sortof "protective film" and their outsidesanother and equally important sort, orthey will crumble to ruin before oureyes?Well , thedesert plants had that idea longbefore the radio began to talk about it.Look at the way onegroup plasters itselfwith gum, like Creosote bush Larrea d't-varicata, and another with varnish, likeTurpentine Broom Thamnosma montana.They have worked out their "protectivefilms" without the benefit of announcersand commercials and they have just as

varying and uncertain luck with them as

we dowith theproducts towhich we suc-cumb.

While I respect many desert plants fortheir success in life, I sometimes suspectothers of poor planning. It isn't unreason-able that a shrub should defend its leavesand stems against rodents while it displaysbrightly colored and pleasantly scentedflowers to attract insects and humming

birds. And thegreens andgreys andsandytans of the plants are doubtless goodcamouflage. But it is not reasonable forthem to put onglistening silvery stemsandleaves, w hich are sure to attract the atten-tion of both theanimals who eat them andthe humans whopick them. TheHosack-ias which start out with succulent leavesand then change to soft gleaming greyones haven't improved their situationmuch. A shrub which in intense heat anddrought is thick-wooled or fiercelythorned, begins to relax its vigilancewhen conditions improve even a little. Itswool becomes thinner and greener or its

thorns become softer. Theanimals againstwhich it was onguard soon discover this,and all its precautions are wasted. Or aplant which has been firmly denying it-self the luxury of leaves will turn spend-thrift at a sudden bonanza of moisture andwill cover itself with foliage—only to beraided and devoured.

It is only those plants with souls of aNew England-like consistency, that neverlose their heads at unexpected good luck,nor abandon thesafe p rinciples establishedby generations of struggle and conflict,which make a real success of plant life in

the desert.

Prizes to Amateur Photographers

Each month theDesert Magazineoffers cash awards of $5.00 and$3.00 for first andsecond place win-ners in an amateur photographiccontest. The staff also reserves theright to buy any non-winning pic-tures.

Pictures submitted in the con-test are limited to desert subjects,but there is no restriction as to theresidenc of he photographer. Sub-jects may include Indian pictures,plant and animal life of the desert,rock formations—in fact everythingthat belongs essentially to thedesertcountry.

Following are the rules govern-ing the photographic contest:

1—Pictures submitted in the Janu-ary contest must be received at the Des-

ert Magazine office by January 20.

2—Not more than four prints may besubmitted by one person in one month.

3—Winners will be required to fur-nish either good glossy enlargements orthe original negatives if requested.

4—Prints must be in black andwhite,3V4X5I/2 or larger, andmust be onglossy

paper.Pictures will be returned only when

stamped envelopes or photo-mailers areenclosed.

For non-prize-winning pictures ac-cepted for publication $1.00 will bepaidfor each print.

Winners of the January contestwill be announced and the picturespublished in the March numberof themagazine. Address all entriesto :

Contest Editor, Desert Maga-

zine, El Cent re California.

Sez HardRock Shorty

ofDeath

Val leyBy LON GARRISON

"D urn greenhorns!" snortedHard Rock Shorty. "Givin' me a bigload o' wind about these alumsprings. 'They don't pucker nomore'n a mejum sized persimmon,'sez he. 'They don't shrink thingsdown no more'n a good thunder-storm.' Du rn half-wit! He don'tknow nuthin'."

Hard Rock paused briefly in hiscastigation of the luckless dude whohad casually questioned the factualbackground of some of Hard Rock'sfabulous reporting.

"Why," sputtered Hard Rock,"what does hewant me to do?Callmyself a liar? Think I didn't seethem things myself? Why—why—I'd like to take 'im an' his durnbook an' drop 'em in that alumspring on Eight Ball crick an' stir'em up a while 'fore I fished 'em

out. He'dlook like a small boywitha postage stamp!

"Why thethings I'veseen shrunkdown in that spring surprises mesome times! It not only puckers upever' thing that falls in, but pullsin all the loose stuff for ten foot allaround.

"One time I wasover there look-in ' at it when a sparrow flew overme. Leastwise I thought it was asparrow from the shadow butwhen I looked up durned if itwasn't an eagle! Reg'lar size an' all.He'd flew over that spring an' it'd

shrunk 'is shadow down."Them eagles had tough luck

seemed like. They built a nest notfar away an' Pa Eagle made a mis-judgement tryin' to dive down andsnatch a jackrabbit that'd just tooka drink. That alum water shrunkthe rabbit down so fast Mr. Eaglemissed his target and nearly brokehis beak on a rock.

"Not only that, Ma Eagle acci-dental dropped her eggs in thespring one day an' 'fore she c'd get'em fished out they'd been puckeredup so they hatched out hummingbirds."

J A N U A R Y , 1942 23



Land of Romance, Scenic Beauty

as Y o u Trave l th e H i s t o r i c

are designated by num-

in the

—a city whose history is

WHITE SANDS NATIONALUMENT — almost 500 square

100 feet in height.

—about three miles

DSBURG — here the roa d

— social and tradingf the largest agricultural

in the

ic wonder, boasts of fine stores, newbeautiful hotels, modern apartmenthouses, comfortable motor courtsand, near Douglas, some of the fin-est Guest Ranches in the West.

Douglas is the gateway to the

quaint Mexican city of Agua PrietaWith a population of 2,500, its pic-turesque shops, history filled streets,its language, traditions and customs,Agua Prieta is one of the most fas-cinating towns you will see on yourtrip!

N o. 2. CHIRICAHUA NATIONALMONUMENT—here Nature has fash-ioned a weird and s i lent community

through the erosive agency of waterand wind. Sometimes cal led RhyolitePark or Wonderland of Rocks, thismonument is eas i ly reached fromDouglas . Words cannot descr ibe thislarge area of fantast ic , highly col-ored and myster iously beautiful rockformations .

While in Douglas be sure to seethe Douglas Smelters and the COM-PANY of MARY NOVITIATE, the onlynovitiate of the International Insti-

tution of the Company of Mary, inthe United States. With Douglas asyour headquarters be sure to visit:

GERONIMO MONUMENTSKELETON CANYONCAVE CREEK CANYONCRYSTAL CAVE

and many other points of interest.Full information service available atthe Chamber of Commerce andMines on G Avenue, in Douglas. Lo-cated right on U. S. Highway 80.

BISBEE—one of the really interest-ing towns in America. Bisbee homescling to the slopes of two long nar-

row canyons, terraced tier upon tier.Proud to be known as one of the rich-est copper districts in the UnitedStates, Bisbee takes pride, too, in hercolorful history. Be sure to see:

SACRAMENTO PIT — loca ted in

Bisbee, is one of the largest mines ofits kind in the world. More than 20,-000,000 tons of copper ore have beentaken from this mine.

Other points of interest in Bisbee:

COCHISE CO. COURT HOUSEMINER'S MONUMENTOLD CUSTOMHOUSEDIVIDE MONUMENTFORT HUACHUCA

By all means, when in Bisbee, geta copy of one of the most interestingw ee kly n e w s p a p e r s p ub lis he d,BREWERY GULCH GAZETTE. Infor-mation service available at theChamber of Commerce, in the Cop-per Queen Hotel.

TOMBSTONE—The town too tough

to die. One of the most famous min-ing towns in the West, at the heightof its glory it was a city of equal im-portance with San Francisco. Duringthe early days of the camp, law andorder were practically unknown.Some of the most notorious gun bat-tles of the West were fought inTombstone—the Earp-Clanton fightat the O. K. CORRAL was one of themost historic.

Steeped in history and legend aresuch places as:

SHEEP'S HEADCRYSTAL PALACE SALOONBIRD CAGE THEATERORIENTAL BARLUCKY CUSS MINEMILLION DOLLAR STOPE

SCHIEFFLEN MONUMENT

N o. 3. BOO T HILL GRAVEY ARD—Burial place of men who died withtheir boots on. Many of the gravesare marked in a way that te l ls thewhole s tory. Such a s :

JOHN HEATHtaken from

county jai l &LYNCHED

By Bisbee Mobin TOMBSTONEFe b. 22nd, 1884.

Scenic and historic markers are tobe found along Tombstone's streets.

More detailed information can beobtained at Boot Hill Motel, a modem auto court at the west end oftown.

An outstanding attraction is theRose Tree Inn, location of LADYBANKSIA, world's largest rose treewith a colorful history of its own. Alunch or dinner served under therose arbor, 50x60 feet in area, is othrill not soon to be forgotten.

COLOSSAL CAVE nd the largestunderground cavern in the entireworld. Lighted paths lead into anunbelievable fairyland of weird formotions. Competent guides explainthe cave's mysteries as well as itscolorful history as a bandit's hideout

No. 4. S A G U A R O NATIONALMONUMENT—over 160,000 acres setaside in 1933 by the government inorder to preserve the Saguaro, thebloom of which is the state flower ofArizona.

TUCSON — "The Old PuebloAround Tucson has revolved muchof the history of the frontier andof early Arizona. There is much tosee around Tucson:

GOVERNOR'S CORNERTHE WISHING SHRINEUNIVERSITY OF ARIZONAYAQUI INDIAN VILLAGE

No. 5. MISSION SAN XAVIER d eBAC — Located nine miles south ofTucson, this miss ion is conceded tobe the most beautiful structure in theSouthwest . Established in 1700.

/fiOC AYPOINT •*fGl/LF FISHING)



ontrast — Yours to Enjoy Going W est!located in the

6. CASA GRANDE NATION-

race. Four stor ies high t his

most interesting pre-structure in Southern Ari-

Gateway to the fin-

miles s outh in M exico. See:

DAM

—

7. ORGAN PIPE NATIONALNT — This cac tus is so

It

AZTEC—Right from here one goesto AGUA CALIENTE HOT SPRINGS.To the south can be found more In-dian writings. Full information canbe obtained frmo H. P. Johnson, atthe Aztec Post Office.

YUMA—Arizona's "Gretna Green"where many movie stars come to getmarried. Center of exceptionally richirrigated area containing 100,000acres of Colorado River land.

Yuma's colorful history is reflectedin many of her interesting and pic-turesque buildings. Starting out as aSpanish trading center at the junc-tion of two Spanish trailways, "ElCamino del Diablo" and "El Caminode los Padres"

No . 8. IMPERIAL AND LAGUNADAMS—Both of these dams are ofthe Indian weir type of construction.Boating and other sports are enjoyedon the lakes that have formed behindthe dams.

No . 9. TERRITORIAL PRISON—Historic landmark on main highwayin Yuma. where in early territorialdays the badman of the territorywere incarcerated.

Prominent among other points ofinterest are:

TERRITORIAL PRISON MUSEUMQUECHAN INDIAN RESERVATIONCOCOPAH INDIAN RESERVATIONLAGUNA DAMGILA PROJECT CONSTRUCTIONIMPERIAL DAMFAMOUS PALM CANYON

To the east of Yuma are the ruggedGila Mountains; to the northwest arethe Picacho and Chimney ranges.To the south, in the Gulf of Califor-nia, easily reached from Yuma, canbe had some of the finest fishing inthe country.

HOLTVILLE—Holtville occupies anenviable position midway betweenSan Diego and Tucson. Holtville en-joys one day trip access to more than50 points of outstanding scenic, edu-cational and historical interest, in-cluding sand dunes, Aztec writingsmore than 25,000 years old, largestlow grade gold ore mine in theworld, Salton Sea and innumerableother attractions. Just beyond theHighline canal five miles east ofHoltville are 130,000 acres of high

mesa land. Construction of the Ail-American canal has made irrigationof this fertile area practical, and thisarea will eventually be open tohomesteading.

EL CENTRO—geographically the

center of the Southern Californiadesert, El Centro is the logical stop-over for all trips to the desert.Through the centuries El Centro andthe Imperial Valley, has been a landof romance and fascination, of won-der and progress.

Using El Centro as a base you canmake daily trips to:

YUHA FOSSIL BEDSPETRIFIED FOREST AREAGOLD FIELDS IN EASTERN

IMPERIAL COUNTY

The following are of special in-terest:

No . 10. MEXICALL in OLD MEXICO—Capital city of Baja California.Home oi the Governor and his staff.A city of 15.000 population, with allthe atmosphere and charm of OldMexico. Gateway to Mexico is neverclosed.

No . 11. ANZA DESERT STATEPARK—Rock strata, brilliantly huedand many varieties of interestingand colorful desert flora are to befound in this painted desert. An easyone day trip from El Centro.

PAINTED GORGE—A deep cleft inCoyote Mountains, the walls andfloor of which are marbled in variedcolors, revealing the colors of therainbow. Easily reached via U. S.Highway 80, just a few miles from ElCentro.

No. 12. JACUMBA — Popu lationabout 400, the first town on the SanDiego county side of the line, has a

business district and ample touriaccommodations. Baths in minerwater from lacumba 's hot sprinare said to have a curative effect fsome ailments. A sulphur watspring is also located here.

MOUNTAIN EMPIRE DISTRICT —For the next 40 miles U. S. Highwa80 rolls through a succession omountain passes, and deep, greevalleys, reaching its peak elevatioat Laguna Junction.

Indian reservations are locatnear Manzanita, Campo and AlpinPresent day Indians remember li t tof ancient customs; ape the whiman, and drive rickety automobilto the nearest store for a loaf bread. Points of interest in the arinclude: a feldspar mine and mill Campo, which produces materifor surfacing the nation's glosbathroom fixtures; Morena Lake; tEleventh Cavalry cantonment Campo; gold mines in operation nePine Valley; the 6220-foot high Lagna recreation area; Cuyamaca Lakand peaceful Descanso valley.

No . 13. Motorists will find ove

night accommodations in rentcabins and cottages at BankheSprings, Boulevard, Manzanita, OKnoll. Campo, Laguna Junction, Lguna Mountain recreation areCuyamaca, Pine Valley, GuataDescanso and Alpine. Hotel dinirooms are at Morena Lodge; PiValley Cabin; Cuyamaca Lake Rsort; Hulburd Grove Guest Rancand Descanso Tavern; The Willowand Ye Alpine Tavern. Saddle horsmay be rented at Pine Valley aHulburd Grove Guest Ranch.

ALPINE—Alpine homes vary froattractive cottages, to pretentio

(Continued on next page.)

NOGALES



(Continued from preceding page.)

estates filled with shrubs and flowergardens . Vineyards and orchards ofpeach, plum andapricot trees dot thel andscape .

Coming down from the mountainsa widespreading vis ta of a huge val-ley checkerboarded with productiveranches and orange groves beginsto unroll. Roadside business com-

munities along this stretch are FlinnSprings, with its noted picnicgrounds; Johnstown, with restaurantsand service station, and Glenview,trading point for surroundingranches .

EL CAJON—El Cajon is an incor-porated city of about 2,000 popula-tion, located 16.3 miles from SanDiego. The city has excellent ac-commodations for tourists, and auto-motive service is expert and reliable.

LA MESA—La Mesa, populationabout 6,000, is a city of beautiful hill-side homes and is the scene of afamous annual flower show. A won-derful view of the surrounding coun-

try may be obtained from nearbyMount Helix, with an automobileroad winding up to its summit. An-nual Easter services are held at sun-r ise beneath a huge Cross here .

SAN DIEGO—U. S. Highway 80enters San Diego over El Cajonboulevard, a seven mile stretchteeming with well regulated traff icand bus iness . On the boulevard arelocated numerous motor courts with

rates ranging from $1.50 to $3.00 perday. Better class courts have fur-nishing equal to those of a first classhotel. Good restaurants are locatedall along the boulevard.

No. 15. All of San Diego's manypoints of historical andscenic inter-es t can be reached quickly and eas-ily from here. Outstanding points ofinterest are OldTown, birthplace ofthe city; the beaches; a harbor fromwhich Navy vessels are continual-ly arriving anddeparting onmyste-rious missions; Balboa Park; a worldfamous zoo, and the gigantic air-plane factories engaged in tremen-dous defense andexport production.

ANSWERS TOQUIZQuestions onpage 14.

1—Saguaro.2—Beaver skins.3—Apache.4—Navajo bridge.5—Salt.

6—San Juan.7—1849-50.8—Utah.9—To confine their snakes.

10—Goatnut.11—White tail.12—On top of one of three hills.13—Scheelite.14—Nevada.15—James.16—Chin Lee.17—On sandy mesas.18—Little Colorado.19—Piece of bone.20—Lower Colorado river.

Visit Beautiful. . .

AfTON CANYON"A Million Years made thewonders of the Mojave Desert. . . Why not spend a day. aweek or a lifetime amongthem?"

Beautiful Afton Canyonis a "Must" . . .on thelist of things in theMojave Empire that everyone shouldsee. Here is where prehistoric Lake Mojave finally brokethrough, chiseling a gorge through the vari-colored layers ofrock. One of themost spectacular of these works of nature's artare thePalisades whose many pinnacles andridges are an in-spiring sight.

AFTON CANYON IS A ROCKHOUND'S DELIGHT . . .

Geodes, jasper and other semi-precious stones are scatteredaround in abundance. Afton Canyon, rich in history, a fascinat-ing puzzle in geology and scenically a triumph of nature, is a

trip everyone should make.

!

. J H L < : V •FREE TRAVELOGUES . . .

A note to the Chamber of Commerce, Barstow,California, will bring free a mapped, illustratedtravelogue of this trip. Ask for Trip No. 25.

C e n t e r o f t h e S c e n i c

M O J A V E E M P I R E

B A R S T O WC a l i f o r n i a




When win ter comes to the remote deser t home ofMarshal Sou th and h is family on Ghost mounta inthe ch i l l a i r b r ings new prob lems, and new compen-sations. This month Marshal tel ls of the plans forChr is tmas a t Yaqui tepec , inc lud ing the task o f se-cur ing a Chr is tmas t ree in a land where there a reneither pine nor f ir trees.

Desert RegugeBy MARSHAL SOUTH

rHE earth—and the desert—wings on towards the turnof the year. Cold days of storm mixed with days whenthe sunshine sparkles over Ghost mountain as warmly as

in late spring.There is this great charm to the desert: every season seems to

be, of itself, perfect. In the summer when the heat drenchesmountain and lowland and weaves fantasies of mirage acrossthe swimming distance we assure ourselves solemnly that now

the desert really is at its best. Then come fall and winter. Andthe storms beat and .the house fires roar. And there is crisp joyin the tangy air. An d the southern-drifted sun comes up eachmorning in sunrises that are the most beautiful to be found inall the world—heaving up from a vast couch of mysterious bluevelvet and wading knee-deep through all the gold and pearlsand rubies and flashing diamonds of ten thousand overturnedtreasure chests to light the fires of day. Beauty in p rodigal meas-ure. And, revelling in it all, we forget. And we declare withequal assurance that undoubtedly fall and winter are the des-ert's best seasons.

But it is the same old tale in spring. When all the facts are as-sembled, we have to admit we have been hasty. There are no"best" seasons on the desert; or rather, they are all "best." Atleast so they seem to us. Which is perhaps to be taken as a con-fession of a satisfied frame of mind. But then that is the sort ofpeace and contentment that the desert gives, if only one willlive close to its h eart.

Last night, misled by sky indications, Rider and Rudyard putout pans of water, in the gloating hope that it would freeze. Icesomehow holds a fascination for them. And the winter stormsthat sometimes mantle Ghost mountain in snow are hailed assupreme holidays. But this time it was a false alarm and thepatter of eager bare feet and the clack of the wide-flung doorwhich roused the chill house in the early dawn, gave advancenotice only to murmurs of disappointment.

"Huh! Just water! W hy didn't it freeze?"Then a sudden yell: "Daddy! Mother! Quick! Quick! Get

up ! Come and look at the sea!"

It took several yells—and much frantic urging. For only theenthusiasm of youth finds attraction in leaping from a warmbed to dash forth into a chilly desert dawn. However, protestingexcuses and violent threats were alike ineffective. And sleep,with a couple of excited young savages clamoring at the bed-side, was out of the question. We got up finally and with Vic-toria, blanket wrapped and voicing no uncertain protests,tramped out into the cold.

And stood suddenly still, ashamed of our unwillingness. Thesight that greeted our sleepy eyes was almost terrifying in itsweird magnificence. Grey fog filled the great desert valley be-low us. High above it we looked out over its tumbled uppersurface as over the surface of a stormy sea. This was by no meansthe first time that we had beheld the mist phantom of the oldocean that long ago rolled in this now dry sea bed. But it was

the first time we had seen it in such terrible reality. Ghosts!—you talk of ghosts! Well, here in grim actuality was the ghostof a great sea. And in a sullen, angry mood. Above it, here and

In one of the hills adjacent to Ghost mountain, RiderSouth joun d a cave where preh istoric Indian dwellers leftpictographs on the walls.

there in the cold morning light, the hard, barren summits ofdesert mountains projected as the lonely islands they had oncebeen. And against them dashed the spume of grey waves. Youcould see the smoky spray drifting to keward, tossing in thewind. Great grey rollers came plunging in and broke upon therocks; leagues and leagues of heaving water that lunged in si-lent thunder against the very foot of Ghost mountain.

Down below, at our very feet, was a rocky beach and a weirdblack blot of shadow that lifted and rolled in the foam in un-canny semblance of the wreck of an ancient ship. Strange

shaped. An old thing. The wind was coming out of the east andit was cold. There was a sense of fear in it. One had an uneasysensation of looking at something that was long dead; of some-thing so far out of the forgotten past that it was frightening.For in spite of all our reasoning, it is sometimes frightening tobe brought abruptly face to face with truth. With stark proof ofthe deathlessness of that substance out of which we and ourwhole universe are fashioned; proof of the thing which we callimmortality. A fact of the universe; so fundamental, so plainlydisplayed. Yet men go mad, seeking frantically in musty booksfor the thing that is ever before their eyes.

The naked savage of the deserts and the mountains is closerto the truth than his civilized brother. The savage knows thatnothing ever really dies or completely disappears. He knowsthese things without need of reasoning because he is still close

to the source of his being; his feet have not travelled so faralong the dubious road of "progress." The savage shows his im-plicit faith in immortality by such actions as putting out dishes

J A N U A R Y , 1 9 4 2 27



of food for the spirits of the dead to eat. . . . And for this dem-onstration of a supreme faith in something w e prate about glibly—and mostly do not believe in—we dub the savage as depravedand superstitious. And we send missionaries to him—to makehim like ourselves.

The sun rose presently and the ghostly sea began to breakup. We went inside and started a fire for breakfast. We were allquite silent and thoughtful. Including the youngsters.

Tanya made the Christmas puddings today. They are madeearly and put away to mellow. Once, tied in the stout cloths inwhich they were boiled, we used to hang them from a ceilingbeam in old fashioned style. Until one year, going blithely tounhook the New Year's day pudding, to make it hot for dinner,we found only a shell. The suspending string was there, and thepudding cloth, and the sturdy shape and semblance of a heartypudding. But all of the inside was gone. There was a neat roundhole in the top of the cloth, near where the string was tied.Some industrious little squirrel had also liked the pudding. Bus-ily, with many trips, while we slept, he had hollowed out thepudding and carried all of it away.

Now we cook our puddings in tin cans, boiling them in abig iron kettle which swings by a chain over a fire of juniperchunks and ancient weather-hardened mescal roots. And we

store them away on a shelf in a tightly screened cupboard. Notye t is the whole house rodent-tight. And bright-eyed friendlylittle marauders come along the beams at night, or perch on thehigh top of the fireplace, daintily nibbling at crumbs.

Pudding making is an event. Attended by much cheerfulchatter, and frequent shrieks of delight. Everyone has to havea stir at the pudding for sentiment's sake. Even Victoria hadher turn. Braced firmly on sturdy little legs she clutched thespoon with both hands and lunged determinedly at the batterin the mixing bowl w hich Tanya held down to her. Shewrinkled up her mouth and laughed and got batter on the tip

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of her nose. "Such funny customs my family have" Victoriaseemed to be reflecting. But she relinquished her batter spoonunwillingly—and only after a bribe of raisins in a cup. Tanyahas to watch the raisins. Else there would be none of them inthe pudding. The hovering sprites who circle the mixing bowlare nimble fingered and very fond of raisins and citron.

But this event of pudding making serves to bring home to usthe fact that another year at Yaquitepec is almost over. Over!—

and it seems only yesterday that we were beginning it. So fastthe years go! It has been a happy year for us on our desert moun-tain. So many new friends and so many cheery contacts with oldones. Almost all of these contacts, old and new, have beenthrough the far stretching net of the postal system. But thesegood friends whom we have never seen are as real to us asthough we had wrung their hands and looked into their eyes.The thin lines of the winging letters are very real and verystrong bonds of friendship.

If there be a shadow to cloud the bright retrospect of the yearit is that many of these good friends have had often to wait longfor answers to their letters. But this is something which wecannot help. Our days are crowded with tasks. Sometimes thereis scant time for writing. The spirit is more than willing, butthe physical flesh is limited as to accomplishment. But perhaps

our worry is needless. Friends—especially desert friends—needlittle explanation or apology. They understand.Soon now Rider and I will go out across the flanks of Ghost

mountain on our annual Christmas tree hunt. Usually it is along trip, for the Christmas tree is selected with care. It is atiny one always—a mere branch of desert mountain juniper, intruth. But it must be a symmetrical branch, one that looks likea real little tree. And its cutting must inflict no great injuryupon the tree from which it is taken. These Ghost mountainjunipers are of slow growth and most of them are very old. Acount of the rings on dead ones leaves one a little awed. Notwantonly, even for Christmas, must one of these sturdy livingthings—fellow sharers with ourselves of the all pervading lifeof the Great Spirit—be injured.

Rudyard has just called me out to inspect his "mine of

pwecious stones." It proves to be a shallow hole which he hasdug in the lee of an ancient granite boulder. He has filled thedepression carefully with a miscellaneous collection of granitechips, bits of limestone, and lumps of dry clay. "See," he says,swelling with all the pride of the proprietor, "I c'lected them allmyself. Pwecious stones! —jus' as good as silver an' diamonds.See, daddy!"

So I complimented him on his industry and left him happilyfingering his hoard while I came back to the typewriter.

"Precious stones!"—bits of clay and scraps of granite—"Justas good as silver and diamonds. See, daddy."

And I have seen. And I am thoughtful. Not without causewrote the ancient writer, in the ancient Book, so long ago:

"Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings ye shall obtainwisdom."

• • •THE PROSPECTOR

His hard old face is sour and b leak,The face of one who 's had to seek,

'Mid frowning rock with prying steel,His substance and his daily weal.

He shrugs at rain or stormy weather,His days— his years— merge all together

Into one common goal alone,As he holds up— a bit of stone.

His burro waits not far away,Nibbling a bit of grass or hay,

His o ld pack shifts; he paces on,Intent with eyes far-sighted grown,

In eager search— for bits of stone.

—Tanya South

28 TH E D E S E R T M A G A Z I N E



D e s e r t P l a c e N a m e sFor the historical datacontained in this de-p artm e nt th e D e s e r t

Magazine is indebted to the research work done by the late Will C. Barnes,author of "Arizona Place Names;" to Betty Toulouse of New Mexico, HughF . O'Neil of Utah, an d Marie Lomas for Ne vad a.

ARIZONA

• SHU NG OPO VI, Hopi Indian reser-

vation, Navajo county. Navajo namemeans "Houses Strung Out" ; Hopi name,"Place of the Reed Spring." Hopi town of363 pop. located on a projecting point ofthe southeast projection of second Mesa.Old Shungopovi, whose ruins are on thehills below the present town, rivals Oraibiin age. According to tree ring data it wasestablished in the 14th century. Estimatedp o p . in 1629, 2000. (Data from Van Val-kenburgh's "The Navajo's Country.")

• C H A N D L E R , M aricopa county.Town founded in 1915 by Dr. A. J.Chandler, who with a Mr. Hurd, owned a

large tract of land in the county. When,after completion of Roosevelt dam, waterwas brought further out upon the im-mense desert flat lying south of Saltriver, they located the town, and amongother improvements, they erected a hotelcosting half a million dollars. Pop. 1378.

• • •

CALIFORNIA

• BAGDAD, San Bernardino county.Now merely a shell (Pop. 20) of whatwas once a rip-roaring camp when theWar Eagle and Orange Blossom goldmines to the north were active. Name

from mine owned by Bagdad Mining andMilling company, of which Chauncey M.Depew was one of the directors. By 1903the mill was handling 200 tons of oredaily. Mean annual average rainfall is2.3 inches; in four out of 20 years it hashad no rainfall at all.

• MO RE NO , Riverside county. Nam edfor F. E. Brown who owned 1500 acresof land in what was part of San Bernar-dino county in 1881. He discovered pos-sibilities of a dam in Bear valley, latersurveyed the town site of Moreno. Wordis Spanish for Brown.

• • •

NEVADA

• PUEBLO GRAN DE DE NEVA DA,Clark county. Known as the "Lost City"this pueblo was once the home of a pre-historic Indian tribe thought to have ex-isted between 600 and 1000 A. D. It hasbeen twice buried, once by sand after hav-ing been evacuated by its original inhabi-tants and finally by water impounded byBoulder dam. Excavations made severalyears ago unde r the sponsorship of thestate of Nevada unearthed this city thathad been lost for centuries. A communitymore than five miles long was discovered.In it were substantial stone and adobedwellings and rich archaeological objects,

including pottery, beads, baskets and gemstones. Not far from "Lost City" an an-cient salt mine was also located. In it wasfound pottery identical with that from the"Lost City" indicating that it had beenoperated by the "Early Pueblos," the com-munity's first inhabitants. The rock-writ-ings in the vicinity were utterly unlike anyothers of the district. Today the artifactsare on exhibit in a museum in Moapa val-ley and the "Lost City" sleeps at the bot-tom of the Southwest's newest body ofwater, Lake Mead.

• • •

NEW MEXICO

• BLAC K MESA, Santa Fe county. Flat

topped table-land near San Ildefonso In-dian Pueblo. Named from black color,due to its composition of black basalt.Oth er less common and local names in-clude Sacred Fire mountain because of analtar on its summit, Mesita, or little mesa,and Huerfano, or orphan, because of itsisolation from any similar formation. Hasplayed many roles in history of northernN . M. pueblo Indians and is closely con-nected with their mythology and religion.For historical details, see federal writers'New Mexico State Guide, pages 277-8.

• • •

UTAH• SALT LAKE, Catron county, U. S. 60.Both Indian and Spanish names for thislake are equivalents of the English form,so name has been in use for centuries, asproven by the fact that the Zufii Indianswho regard it as one of their sacred lakes,had lived for many years in the pueblothey now occupy, when the Spanish firstentered New Mexico in 1540. In recentyears a commercial company has beentaking salt from the lake but the Zunis arestill allowed what they need for domesticu s e . At certain times of the year the Zunimedicine men visit the lake, wading outinto the water to plant their prayerplumes.

• TIM PAN OG OS Cave national monu-ment, theater, camp, Mt. Name, accordingto Frank Beckwith, means Water RunningOver Rocks, from Timp e, Indian w ord forrock, stone, and Noquint, water running."It does NOT mean 'sleeping beauty.' "Monument is 250-acre area containingthe scenic triple cave, open throughoutthe year, with guide service. Trail fromAspen Grove to summit of Mt. is routefor annual Timpanogos Hike, started in1912 by Brigham Young university. Seefederal Utah State Guide, pages 512-519for detailed data.

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J A N U A R Y , 1 9 4 2 29



Desert Roads

WINDS THAT BLOWBy JEANIE ROE

Lone Pine, CaliforniaChangeable winds, nowyou're blowing,Soft as a mother's caress.Yet last night youhowled through thedarknessLike the sounds of a soul in distress.

Now gently you're touching each wild flower,Kissing each petal's cheek.Trailing your robes o'er the sand dunes,Softening each sharpened peak.

Curious winds nowyou're blowingOpen my most cherished book!Do you not know it's mydiaryWhere no one's permitted to look?

Dear gentle winds, I forgive you,When through mytent house youcall,Touching my face, oh so softly,Drying the tear drops that fall.

Whispering sweet words of comfort,That health will return someday.When again I may stand on thehilltopGrateful and carefree and gay.

CREED OF THE DESERT

By JUNE LEMERT PAXTONYucca Valley, California

'Mid solitude anddesert calm,Grim beauty looms in every season;

And o'er it all there seems to be

Mysterious peace that baffles reason.

CHRISTMAS EVEBY MILDRED GOFF

San Diego, CaliforniaHere are the old simplicities.The desert night is blue and deep.Here are the stars, the flocks of sheepWhere shepherd lads their vigil keep,And I am comforted by these.

Tonight, to help my unbelief,I turn to these familiar things.Around me is the sound of wings,I hear the song that Heaven sings,I have forgotten all my grief.

Here are the old simplicities,And I am comforted by these.

MOJAVE DESERT

By EMMA PUTNAM BANCROFTLos Angeles, California

It looks mere empty sand . . . this desert, dryAnd brown. A piece of common burlap laidFor miles about would hold asmuch of shade;Unending, shifting sands; no telling why

The lure, yetmany take the lonely trail;With phantom caravans across thedunesMen brave a burning torture of hot noonsTo disappear beyond a mystic veil.

Perhaps they know that underneath the sandsAre buried eager seeds of rapturous spring,Which winds have carried here from fertile

lands

That nature weave of naught a lovely thing;And on the dunes when April's overhead,Mojave lies . . . a Persian carpet spread.

By ETHEL MARY STANDARDBrown, California

Old Desert roads 'cross a barren dryland, •Twin trails cut deep in the shifting grey sand;They twist andthey turn andthey gowhere

they please,And detour what they cannot climb over with

ease.

You feel theurge tofollow this beckoning trailThrough sagebrush and cacti—for there with-

out failWill be something to grip at your innermost

heartA tumbledown shack, or a miner's oldcart.

Or perhaps a quaint cabin, theowners arethereAn d a kind simple welcome—old-fashioned

and rareAn d youknow that thewords aresincere when

they say"We're glad that youfollowed the trail this

way."

As youjoin in their coffee andbowl of hotstew

And their pattern of life is unfolded for you,You sense thereal wealth in this humble abodeAnd you're glad that youturned on that old

desert road.• • •

DESERT HAZARDSBy KATHARINE BUOY

Portland, OregonA desert wife was once mylonely lot.

I know thedread that follows the cold sighOf frost-winds when they threaten wheat

and rye;When seeds have reached thedough—the dam-

age wroughtIn shriveled grain . . . now flour must needs be

boughtInstead of wheat exchanged at mill; when

dryHot winds leave seared green blades to wilt

and die;When lack of water blights thegarden plot.

But still, the dull grey-green of desert sage,Fringed juniper with berries silver-blue,

A flaming skyabove a distant hill,Are compensations that in part assuage

For drouth and hardships life has broughtus through,

And even deserts may some need fulfill.

SO NG OF THESOURDOUGHBy BETH LEWIS

San Diego, CaliforniaBring mePedro, that faithful jackWith the stubborn head and sturdy back;Pick andshovel are in mypack,

My heart is light and free.Tonight, I follow the starry trail;I follow thewhite clouds as they sailOut to mylonely desert g rail.

Long before dawn, I make mycamp;Unsaddle Pedro, the ornery scamp.My legs areweary after the tramp,My belly cleaves to my back.Bacon andflap-jacks in the pan,Strong black coffee in a can;Pipe andtobacco; good for a man.Some grazing for the jack.

Warm in my blanket, against the coldI sleep todream of finding goldIn a lode half hidden by leaves andmold,Near a newly rain made fill.Heat flares up to a noon-tide high;

Blistering sands, pitiless sky.But wedon't mind, my jack and I;That lode's just over the hill.




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Arrowheads, postpaid for a dollar bill. Cata-log listing thousands of other relics free.Caddo Trading Post, Glenwood, Arkansas.

FREE—Copy America's largest trapping mag-azine. Writers: Butcher, Grigg, Dailey—100others! Send stamp. North American Trap-per, Dept. DM, Charleston, West Virginia.

INDIAN RELICS. Beadwork. Coins. Minerals.Books. Dolls. Old Glass. Old West photos.Miniatures. Weapons. Catalogue 5c. VernonLemley, Osborne, Kansas.

KODACHROME 2X2 SLIDES, "Springtimein the Des ert." 40 slides with descriptivemanual $20. C.O.D. on approval. Write forfolder. C. Edward Graves, Arcata, California.

GENUINE GILLETTE Safety Razor and 100Double edge blue steel blades, all for $1.25postpaid. D. W. Nichols and Company,Kingston, Georgia.

BOOKSCACTUS BOOKS—Cactus and other Succulent

books and magazines. Send for list. FrankMark, 825 Elyria Drive, Los Angeles, Calif.

PHOTO FINISHINGAny six or eight exposure roll developed and

printed, 15c coin! Or 16 guaranteed fadelessVelox prints, or eight Double size printsfrom each roll, 25c. Credit on bad pictures.16 reprints from negatives, 25c! 4x6 enlarge-ments 5c each, 6 for 25c! Amazingly fastservice. Send rolls now or write for freemailers. Rancho Photo, Dept. EL, Ontario,Calif.

BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIESMAKE ARTIFICIAL MARBLE, Glazed ce-

ment, Flooring, Pottery, Novelties. Samples3c; expect surprise. Payne, 945 Grande Vista(Room 699), Los Angeles, Calif.

LIVESTOCKKARAKUL SHEEP have proven profitable.

This fact increases demand. Write for Bul-letin No. 10 on their care and habits. James

Yoakam, California Karakul Sheep Co., 1128North Hill Ave., Pasadena, California.

KARAKULS producers of Persian Lamb furare easy to raise and adapted to the desertwhich is their native home. For further in-formation write Addis Kelley, 4637 E. 52Place, Maywood, California.

REAL ESTATEFOR SALE—2 acres on Highway 91. Health-

ful climate, good water. Inquire MojaveDesert Gem and Mineral Shop. 10 miles eastof Barstow on Highway 91 . Box 363, Yermo,Calif.

For Imperial Valley Farms

W . E

••TheEL CENTRO

H A NFarm LandSince 1914

—

COCKMan"

CALIFORNIA

The Cactus Clan...Denver Cactus and Succulent society,

at its Octobe r meeting, elected the follow-ing officers: Muriel C olburn, Englew ood,president; Harold Hulegard, Denver ,vice-president; J. H . B arker, Den ver, sec-retary; Charles D . Hollingsw orth, Little-

ton, treasurer.Program adopte d for 1941-42 includ-ed these aims:

1. Me mbers to familiarize themselveswith names and types of cacti and succu-lents.

2. Build library of books , magazinesand articles of interest on cacti and suc-culents so that members will be betterable to give information.

3. Make field trips for the purpo se ofgaining a more complete knowledge ofcacti in their natural habitat.

• • •

Arizona's night-blooming cereus (seeDesert Magazine, June 1938) was firstidentified by Dr. George Engelm ann, St.Louis Botanical garden, from specimenssent from Chihuahua, Mexico by Dr.Wislibenus and D r. G regg, and by Lieut.Emory duri ng his military reconaissancefrom Ft. Leavenworth, Missouri to SanDiego, California in 1846-7. Since thedivision of the Cereus group into num-erous genera, it has been called Peniocer-eus greggii.

Joseph Gregg, for whom the queenof the desert night was named, was re-ferred to as "Doctor" though actually he

was not a doctor but a frontier trader andwriter who traveled extensively in Mexi-co. In 1849 he went to California wherethe following year he died of hungerand exposure.

• • •

"If the desert were turned upside downit would be pretty much of a jungle,"according to Dr. Forrest Shreve in "TheCactus and Its Home." This is due tothe characteristic cactus root system. Ex-cept in the very tallest plants, roots rare-ly penetrate deeper than 12 to 18 inches,but spread horizontally sometimes a dis-tance of 30 or 40 feet. Th is extensive

surface system allows the plants to quick-ly absorb moisture from the s udden shortrains of the desert.

• • •

Cacti in general are limited to muchsmaller areas than are species of otherflowering plants. Alth ough there areabout 125 genera in the family, onlyseven are found in both North and SouthAmerica.

• • •

More than 300 years ago a Germanbotanist, Tabernaemontanus, published atreatise in which he used the name "Cer-eus" to describe plants which still areincluded in this important cactus group .

FROM PHOENIX BUREAU

Temperatures— DegreesMean for month 62.1Norm al for Novem ber 59-7High on November 5 89.0Low on November 20 32.0

Rain— Inches

Total for month 1.26Norm al for November 0.70W e a t h e r -

Days clear 17Days partly cloudy 10Days cloudy 3

E. L. FELTON, in charge

FROM YUMA BUREAU

Temperatures— DegreesMean for month 65.2Normal for November 62.4High on November 7 91 0Low on November 22 36.0

Rain— InchesTota l for month 0.37Normal for November 0.29

W e a t h e r -Days clear 23Days partly cloudy 6Days cloudy 1Sunshine 91 percent (286 hours of sunshineout of possible 314).

Colorado river—Disch arge from Lake M ead in-creased from 28,000 sec. feet Nov. 1 to 35,-000 sec. feet No. 30. Storage during themonth dropped from 29,567,000 acre feetto 28,370,000.

JAMES H. GORDON, in charge

in the V a lle y of the Sun^ p Say "Adio s" to winter weather! Come play atyour favorite summertime sport in the ch eerful, glow-ing warmth of the Valley of the Sun! Enjoy golf onvelvety all-grass courses that rank with the country'sfinest. Tennis, riding, po lo, swimm ing, cycling, archery,

badminton, fishing, hunting—just name your preferred

pastime and you can certainly have it every single dayunder cloudless turquoise skies .. . or, if you prefer,just relax and soak up sun shin e... in this desert andmountain paradise appropriately calledthe "Valley of the Sun."

Winter Rates now in effect on j f cTranscontinental Lines. +

a £

fPhcenlxiV a l l e y of the S u n C l u bZ S O Chamber of Commtret tUg. ARIZONA

Please send free n ew l lust rated booklets a n dfolder containing car tograph map of Ar i z ona

Name

M d r » s _

City -S t i t i -

J A N U A R Y , 1 9 4 2 31



L E T T E R SGeography Lesson forthe Editor . . .

Bishop, CaliforniaDear Mr. Henderson:

By thetime my copy of Desert Magazine isforwarded tome incamphere it is pretty well dog-eared from earnest use—and rather late in the

publication month.S o , even though I may not be the first tocomplain, out of loyalty 1

have tocomplain about theanswer toDecember Quiz question No. 19.Maybe you have reference tothe San Juan rather than theLittle Colo-

rado, butunless mymemory fails me themouth of theLittle Coloradois but a fewturns of themother stream from a beautiful view of Hopi

PLAN TO SPEND SOM E TIME IN . . .

YUMA, ARIZONAThe Sunshine Capital of the U. S. A.

There is nothing like anearly morning horseback ride to anearby lake, or over glistening sand dunes, to start the

day off right.

Boating on Lake Imperial is a favorite sport for visitorsand residents alike. Try itl

Take time out to play; time out to reallyREST. This winter come to Yuma, Ari-zona, andreally enjoy thedesert! Thereis much todo, somany things tosee,anda s for climate—Yuma has no rival any-where inthe United States forideal winterweather. Thecoupon below brings youmore detailed information. Noobligation.

YUMA SUNSHINE CLUB. YUMA, ARIZONAPlease send me, entirely free of cost, your illustrated foldercontaining interesting and historical facts about Yuma.

NAME _

ADDRESS..

Tower on the South Rim of Grand Canyon. All of which, in theabsenceof reliable maps, puts thejunction away below Lee's ferry.

Continued congratulations to your magazine. It is the most consis-tently interesting publication of themany that come my way.

J. S. SOUTHWORTH

Dear Mr.Henderson:Winslow, Arizona

This month, as hasbecome a habit, when theDesert Magazine ar-rived, I satdown andhunted for theTrue andFalse questions.

Having tried for many months tobecome a Sand Dune Sage, I was

happy to see a set of questions which I could answer correctly. Thenimagine my sorrow when I answered No. 19 andfind, according to an-swers on page 30, that the Little Colorado river enters the Coloradoabove Lee's ferry.

Could the editor have been thinking of the San Juan river? TheLittle Colorado runs northwest from itssource as far as Cameron andthen continues west andnorth to run into theColorado just inside theeastern boundary of theGrand Canyon national park, which is a num-ber of miles south andbelow Lee's ferry.

W. EWART DAY

TO MESSRS. DAY, SOUTHWORTH and all other DesertQuiz fans, apologies for theincorrect answer to No, 19in the De-cember issue. There's noalibi. Somark up your score another fivepoints, and pray that O V St.Peter will be as merciful as possible toan editor sodumb. —R.H.

• . • •

Too Tragic to Publ ish . . .San Clemente, California

DearSir:Perhaps if enough protests are sent in, it maydiscourage Desert

Magazine from ever again desecrating your magazine with a "Willie-boy" rehash.

To think that theclean out-of-doors, the story of which should fillyour pages, should bepolluted by a 1909 tragedy isunpardonable. Andthis story shows the white man as the real criminal—not the Indianboy who was thevictim because of thealcohol givenhim.

EMMA J. OCHSNER• • •

Shov el vs . Jack . . .Escondido, California

Dear Randall Henderson:In answer toMr. Robert Mack Light's letter inwhich hesays that a

jack ismore handy than a shovel ingetting out of thesand, I'd like togive him a fewlessons in the use of theshovel.

About all I ever use a jack for is changing tires. But for getting outof the sand theshovel has anadvantage of about 20 to 1.The jack is toomuch work. I'll string along with you in that argument.

FLOYD RICHARDSON• • •

U s e Y o u r H a n d s f o r S h o v e l s . . .Yermo, California

Dear Randall:In your November Desert Quiz, question 2, I answered "shovel" be-

cause I was betting that was your answer. Butthat is really wrong.Wherever thesand issoft enough tosink a car it is also soft enough

to digwith thehands. It is far more important tohave a jack. Many atime I have released a stuck car from thesand with a jack after othershad given upwith a shovel. In fact I haven't used a shovel on my ownstuck car for years except topush sand under thewheels after I havejacked it up—and that can bedone easily w ithout a shovel.

I have recently been stuck on the side of a steep hill with the carsideways to theslope. Theproblem was how to get it turned so as tohead downhill. It would have taken several days to dig out enough

ground topermit turning. I got it out in a fewminutes by jacking upthe front axle andpushing the car off thejack sideways down thehill.Just three heats of jacking andpushing and I had the carheaded downthe slope. Didn't use a shovel at all.

Cronese lake is still well filled with water and theduck hunters arehaving good sport here. Andthere areplenty of large fish (bullheadsand bass). Also frogs for those who prefer them.

ELMO PROCTOR• • • .'.«

P r o j e c t T h a t F l o p p e d . . .Berkeley, California

Dear Sir:Regarding Mr.Ellis' request for information about the exploitation

of Joshua trees inAntelope valley, I will relate what I personally knowto betrue.

In 1887 I came toAntelope valley and lived near Palmdale a numberof years. Two or three years before my coming anEnglish company hadcut a lot of trees west of Palmdale. The stumps, branches and sometrunks were still on theground.

I learned that ashipload of the trunks had been sent around the Horn,destined forEngland to beused forpaper pulp. As thetrunks contain a




great deal of water or sap, it was only naturalthat it fermented on the way, making it unfitfor paper.

Then they started tobuild a mill at Revenna,south of Acton. After installing a rubble-stonefoundation they discovered that the stream hadlittle or no water during part of the year, andthe project flopped.

HENRY GEDE• • •

More Power to the Souths . . .

Riverside, CaliforniaDear Mr. Henderson:

Am enclosing a story about your Landmarkpicture in the December issue. I believe I havestated most of the facts, but it would scare meinto fits if I got the prize.

Do you still want copies of February '39 asadvertised some time ago. If so I have an ex-tra copy.

Also, I would like to send my congratula-tions to Marshal South and family on the lifethey lead on Ghost mountain. If more peopletook that attitude toward right living therewould be less strife and discord in the world.

And tell them tokeep the little sign up and ifpeople don't want to comply with it, good rid-dance. A man's house is his castle, and I saymore power to them. Please keep their articles

in Desert Magazine.I think Desert Mag is the best on the mar-

ket, but there are too many places to go and Ican't.

ROBT. HIGDAY

Y e s , we want all the copies we can getof February '39, also May and June of thesame year. Desert M agazine will pay $1.00each for them. —R.H.

• • •

Deserves More Readers . . .San Bernardino, California

Dear Mr. Henderson:After reading Mrs. Mora Brown's little

sketch about Frijoles canyon in the NovemberDesert Magazine, I should like to recommendthat she—and other interested Desert lovers—

read Adolf Bandelier's book, THE DELIGHTMAKERS. Published first about 1890, it wasa result of eight years spent in studying thePueblo Indians of New Mexico for theArchaeological Institute of America. Bandelierwas one of the pioneer ethnologists andarchaeologists of the Southwest.

Not a great many people seem to know thisbook, and I do not believe it has been printedsince 1918.This is a pity, for the book is writ-ten with an unconscious tenderness, a delicatequality, strived for by modern authors. How-ever, few people in the latter part of the nine-tenth century either cared about or knew aboutthe glamorous Southwest.

In the Preface to the second edition, F. W.Hodge, of the Smithsonian Institute, says: "Be-cause not understood, The Delight Makers wasnot received at first with enthusiastic favor. It

seemed unlike the great student to write a bookthe layman might read with interest . . ." Be-cause of his cultural background, Bandelierwas able togive to his book an authenticity un-known to fiction about the West in those days.He himself says: ". . . however scientific worksmay tell the truth about the Indians, they exer-cise always a limited influence upon the gen-eral public . . ." And so, because of this convic-tion, he gave a most valuable and entertainingbook to a most indifferent generation.

M R S . R. M. MOOSE• • •

We Learned About the D e s e r t . . .El Segundo, California

Dear Mr. Henderson:Two years ago the doctor told my husband

he must be quiet and rest aw hile. The Company

doctor advised us to go out on the desert.So we bought a trailer house. And if ever

anyone had a heavy heart and felt low, it was

me as I thought of those weeks we must spendon adesert.

But before we left my sister gave me somecopies of your magazine. She and her husbandpiloted us to Quail springs in the Joshua Treenational monument, a favorite spot of theirs.

Next day we started looking at the maga-zines, they were so attractive. From them welearned to truly love and appreciate our sur-roundings. We found Hidden valley from yourm a p , and took the natives to see it. We ex-plored the Wonderland of Rocks, and appre-ciated the vegetation much more because wehad become acquainted with it through Desert.It was truly a bright spot in our lives.

My husband is back at work again, but wewill always visit the desert as often as pos-sible. We have been buying your magazine atthe stands, but think it will be more convenientto have it sent to our home. We like everythingabout it—even the ads, and always the Quiz.We have both won our "Sand Dune Sage" rat-ings.

M R S . S

D e s e r t a s I t R e a l l y I s . . .

Pittsburgh, PennsylvaniaDear Mr. Henderson:

I want to congratulate you for publishingsuch a swell magazine so truly symbolic of ourgreat Southwest. I used to live in Arizona andI now find that the Desert Magazine serves toremind me of the land I still love. Butyour greatest contribution is picturing theWest as it really is. Back here in the East manypeople think the Southwest to be one greatplain of desert wasteland dotted with giganticmountains and incapable of yielding any use-ful plant life; a place where only the toughestreptiles are able to survive the intense heat. Iam glad to say you are disproving these sillybeliefs. You are showing the West to be notonly a land of health and opportunities but alsocapable of producing fruits, vegetables andother articles which Easterners are using.Lastly you are giving due credit to the bravepioneers through whom the modern West hasemerged. Here's more power to you.

J. S. MURRAY

WARRE N B. P INNE YManaging Owner

EL MIRADOR , PALM SPRINGS

C A L I F O R N I A

Enjoy a healthful,

fun-filled vacation

at El M i r a d o r . . .

RIDING GOLF

SWIMMING

TENNIS SKEET

POLO

THE CORAL ROOM

J A N U A R Y , 1 9 4 2 33



O L D A R i z o n a P R i s o nTwo p r i z e s we re a wa rde d inDe s e r t Ma ga z i ne ' s Nove m be rLa ndm a rk C on t e s t . The en-

t r ies sent in by S a r a E.B a d g l e y of Y u m a and V. G. Y e a g e r of Gila Bend,Arizona , were both outs tanding , and s i nc e e a c h of them included infor-m a t i on notc ove re d by theother, thej udge s de c i de d toa w a r d twoprizesa n d c o m b i n e the twostories. TheLa ndm a rk p i c t u re wasidentified as theold terri toria l prison at Y u m a , now a m u s e u m , and the wi nn i ng m a nu-scripts arepub l i s he d ont h i s pa ge .

By SARA E. BADGLEY, Yuma, Arizona,

a n d V. G. YEAGER, Gila Bend, Arizona

f l R IZONA was once Dona AnaI / county of NewMexico. Itwas cre-

ated "Arizona Territory" by con-gress in 1863. Many bad men inhabited

the West at this time, shooting scrapesand vigilance committees being theorderof theday. This caused a general demandfor a territorial prison.

The legislature passed abill in1868 forconstruction of a penitentiary, butquarrel-ing over its location prevented anyactionuntil in February, 1875, Jose Redondo ofYuma, a member of the legislature per-suaded it to authorize bu ilding theprisonin Yuma.

O. F. Townsend, Wells Fargo agent inYuma owned agranite hill at the junctionof the Gila and Colorado rivers. He do-nated tenacres for theprison. Thecorner

stone of the penitentiary was laid onApril 28,1876. Cells were constructed, astone room tenfeet square wasblasted outof the rock with a foot square skylight into p and an iron ring cemented in thefloorto which unruly prisoners were to bechained in this Rattlesnake den.

Today Prison Hill is anhistorical shrinedominating the Yuma bridge approachand reached from U. S. Highway 80. LastMarch the"desert Alcatraz" officially be-came Territorial Prison Museum, certain-ly one of the most unique institutions ofits kind anywhere.

Financed by a $25,000 bond issue,

prison construction hadbegun in Septem-ber, 1875, from plans drawn by a Yuma

engineer for $150. Thence rose a formid-able Bastille that for over 30years housedas colorful a collection of outlaws as everlaid hand on gun butt—R. G. Apsey of

"haunted corral" note; Pearl Hart; theAlvord gang; Frank Armer; Jack Laus-tenneau; Jack Swilling; Frank Leslie.

Best remembered for the notoriouscompany it kept, Territorial Prison hadother distinctions. It claimed one of theearliest electric plants west of Chicago,ventilation system, hospital, workshops,sewer system, farm, recreational facilities,and thebest library in theterritory.

Earliest board members included DavidNeahr, William Hardy, Jose Maria Re-dondo, w hose daughter participated in therecent museum dedication, and Capt.Isaac Polhamus, father of Yuma's policechief. When gates opened to a nucleus ofseven convicts, George Thurlow tookcharge, although Sheriff Bill Werningerof Yuma wasconsidered first superinten-dent.

Escape from Prison Hill, moated onthree sides by theriver, wasrare. Guardsconstantly patrolled the 18-foot walls.And beyond range of rifle and Gatlinggun, expert Indian trackers waited to col-lect the $50 bounty for each escapee. Inthe most spectacular break four convictswere killed and Supt. Tom Gates re-ceived near fatal knife wounds.

During the early part of the new cen-

tury agitation began for a more centrallylocated penitentiary. A bill waspassed in

1 9 0 / authorizing removal of the territor-ial prison to Florence. In September,1 9 0 9 , Warden Captain Thomas Ryningtook the last prisoner to Florence andturned thebadge of office over toRobertB . Sims.

The Yuma Union high school build-ing burned about this time and theboardof trustees took possession of the vacant

penitentiary buildings for use of theschool. Three classes graduated within theprison walls.

Final abandonment brought decay. Arailroad cut removed part of Prison Hillincluding asection ofPearl Hart's oldcell.The 800-pound alarm bell, cast in SanFraneisco andshipped toYuma bywater,eventually hung unused in a Somertonchurch. Before the Veterans of ForeignW ars took over some years ago, theprisonhad become a hobo "jungle."

A guide nowconducts visitors throughthe crumbling cells and turns the lock ofthe iron door guarding Rattlesnake Den.

Yuma held opening day for the newmuseum, located on Prison Hill, inMarch, 1941, with Clarissa Windsor incharge. Many oldterritorial articles are onexhibition.

Ten-foot holes were blasted out of therock in front of the museum, filled withsoil and trees planted. Soil was placedaround thebuilding and gayflowers nowgrow where Arizona's bad men oncestrolled.

GHOST TOWN VILLAGEA composite picture of those rough and

colorful Mother Lode towns that sprung upduring the fifties is now to be seen atKnott's Berry Place on Highway No. 39just out of Buena Park, California. HereWalter Knott, like Henry Ford with Dear-born Village, is recreating with absoluteaccuracy a picture with the "feel" of thedays of old—the days of gold. Here are theold saloons, livery stables, general store,blacksmith shop and many others, even anewspaper office. The Ghost Town Newsa 32-page magazine gotten out there ischock full of stories and illustrations of thedays of old—and true stories of men, wom-en and institutions that are making historytoday. It's good value for the cost—a dimewill bring a copy postpaid if you writeKnott's Berry Place, Buena Park, Calif. Ad-mission is free at Ghost Town Village andyou will be welcome whether you stop fora chicken dinner or not. The fame of thisdinner brings more than fifty thousand per-sons from all over the land each month. Adinner for a dollar and as one visitor put it•—-"And a dollar's worth of entertainmentfree."

WE DO RESEARCH . . .

On History, Mining, Gems, People, Archaeol-ogy, Places, etc. Arranged Terms for yourmeans. No obligation for estimates. Let'sget acquainted.

NEVADA RESEARCH SERVICEBex 1207-J Reno, Nevada




R O C K P I N N A C L E IN A L A K E

Who canidentify this picture?

P R I Z E C O N T E S T

A N N O U N C E M E N THere is adesert landmark, now almost

entirely surrounded by water, that mightbe claimed by either Arizona orNevada,although oneofthem probably hasa bet-ter claim than theother.

Few white menhave ever reached thisrock pedestal by land—but it is wellknown tomotorboat tourists who havetaken excursions onone of the best known

lakes in thedesert Southwest.In order that all Desert Magazine

readers may know about this huge rock, itsname, location, accessibility andother in-teresting facts, acash award of$5.00 willbe given to theperson whosends in thebest descriptive story of notover500words. The manuscript should give allavailable information, including type ofrock and approximate dimensions if pos-sible. Theprize will beawarded to themost accurate and informative contribu-tor.

Entries should reach theDesert Maga-zine office not later than January 20, and

the winning story will bepublished in theMarch number. There isnorestriction asto residence ofthecontestants.

DEATH VALLEY ROADS . . .

Th e U. S.park service has issued thefollowing report onroads inthe DeathValley national monument:

Ubehebe Crater road, allpaved.Scotty's Castle road, allpaved except

three miles.Badwater, all paved.All roads leading to Wildrose area,

good condition.All entrance roads, good condition.All modern camping facilities areavail-

able in themonument.

t o t he ^D E SE R T I N N . . .

33rd season. Send for a

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off. The Hair pore then seals anda hair cannot growunless the hair sac Is opened.A formula, ENAN CLEANSER FOB THE HAIR

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J A N U A R Y , 1942 35



D E S E R T S T E V E "invites youto

STOP AT

D E S E R T C E N T E R

On the shortest route between Phoenixand Los Angeles . . . on U. S. Highways60-70-93 . . . halfway between Blytheand Indio. Everything for you and yourcar, day and night.

• RESTAURANT. HOTEL SERVICE.CABINS. STORE

• GARAGE. TOW SERVICE.GOOD MECHANICS

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Owner and OperatorSTANLEY RAGSDALE. Manager

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SO Miles West of Blythe . . .

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Mines and Mining . .

Desert FruitsAcclaimed the World's Finest

D A T E S &C I T R U S F R U I T SSend for Beautiful Price List in Natural Color

SHIELDSDate Gardens

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FOR SALE CHEAP . . .Choice private cactus collection for salecheap. Included in this collection are 35varieties of true species Echinopsis all largeflowering plants. Also themost completecol-lection of Trichocereus in the United States,including such rare plants as T. chlorocarpus,T. purpureopilosus, T. uyupampensis, T.peruvianus, and T. funkii. Many of thesetrichocereus are fine specimen plants 4 to 8ft. tall. Many other choice plants in collec-tion. Will sell entire collection cheap or willbreak up.

C. P. S H E R F Y

214 Newport Ave. Long Beach. Calif.

Boulder City, Nevada . . .A pilot plant constructed here by the U. S.

bureau of mines is demonstrating the com-mercial feasibility of recovering high-purity

manganese metal from below-standard do-mestic ores.The electrolytic process which is being

used, has been going through experimentaltests since 1935 and it is believed that themain difficulties have been solved.

The manganese metal produced in theinitial pilot plant operation was made fromore from the Three Kids mine in the LasVegas wash, near Boulder dam.This ore andadditional deposits in the adjacent Virginriver area, which bureau engineers have es-timated to be millions of tons in extent, rep-resent an important potential source of man-ganese metal.

• • •

Lovelock, Ne vad a . . .Nine carloads of dumortierite, used by the

Champion Spark Plug company of Detroit,

have been shipped from the mines near thebase of Humboldt range between Sacramentoand Rochester canyons in recent months.Dumortierite is fused with andalusite, asimilar material, in the making of porcelaincores for spark plugs.

• • •

Pioche, Nevada . . .The rapid expansion of mining operations

in this field is disclosed in the report that130,570 tons of lead, zinc, silver, copper andtungsten were produced from local mines in1940. Improvements are being made at anumber of properties. Increased produc-tion of lead and zinc gives promise that thiswill become one of the leading sources ofthese minerals.

• • •

Hamilton, Nevada . . .Old-timers who believe that rich orebodies are still to be found in the TreasureHill district where surface deposits pro-duced fortunes 70years ago, are interested inthe plans for the reopening of operations atthe Nevada Belmont property by Byron F.Snyder and Arthur A. DeMelik, who are re-ported to have acquired title. Initial opera-tions are to be at the mine dump where 12,-000 tons with an estimated value of $8.00in lead and silver are available.

• • •

Goldfield, Nevada . . .Goldfield Consolidated Mines company,

George Wingfield president, has taken alease and option on the newly discoveredtungsten deposit in northern Washoe coun-

ty, it is reported here. Exploratory work onthe property is now in progress. Claims werestaked recently by John Durkin and Thomasand Jack Dalton.

• • •

Reno, Nevada . . .The widespread report that desert dry

lake beds are a potential source of highvalues in gold and mercury is merely anotherfable according to the opinion of Walter S.Palmer of the Nevada mining laboratory, andOtis A. Kittle of McKay school of mines.After extensive research these two authori-ties are quoted as concluding that "raremetals are no more concentrated in dry lakedetritus than they were in the rocks fromwhich the detritus originally was eroded."

• • •

Miners are reported to have discovered asix-inch vein of silver that assays $700 a tonin Dixie valley, Utah.

Morenci, Arizona . . •December 15 was the date set for the

starting of the first mill unit at the PhelpsDodge copper mine near here. Thecompanyis scheduled to begin handling 5,000 tonsof ore a day, and gradually step this up to23,000 tons. Phelps Dodge spent $35,000,-000 uncovering millions of tons of one per-cent ore for open pit operations.

• • •

Winnemucca, N evada . . .Operating a lease in the Bottle Creek dis-

trict, a crew under the direction of Mrs.W. C. McAdoo is reported to be taking outthree flasks of quicksilver daily. Some of themercury ore is said to be so rich it is neces-sary to mix in low grade rock to treat itsuccessfully.

• • •

Tucson, Arizona . . .Following up a report made by the U. S.

geological survey 10 years ago that 10,000,-

000 tons of iron ore are located on theApache Indian reservation in Arizona, ex-ploration work is now in progress to deter-mine the quality and accessibility of the ore.Prospecting operations are being financedfrom a $380,000 fund voted by congress forexploring iron and coal deposits in theSouthwest. Apache Indians will be paid roy-alties if mining operations are started.

• • •

Las Vegas, Nevada . . .Indicating the all-out effort being made

by the United States government to developthe production of magnesium, a city for 14,-000 workmen is being erected on the desertbetween Las Vegas and Boulder City. Newtown is nowcalled Midway but movement ison foot to change this to Pittman, honoringNevada's Senator Key Pittman.

• • •

Carlsbad, New Mexico . . .Union Potash and Chemical company has

announced that $4,000,000 is to be spent onequipment for recovering magnesium concen-trate from potash magnesium sulphate, nowdiscarded as a waste by-product. The oper-ations are 17 miles southeast of Carlsbad,and will employ 500 men. The magnesium isto be shipped in liquid form to Austin,Texas, for refining.

• • •

Bouse, Arizona . . .After a shut-down of 11 years, the old

Swansea mine started shipping ore duringNovember. Mining is being done at the No.7 shaft on the 135, 200 and 400 foot levels.Ore is said to run seven to eight percentcop-per. Between 1910 and 1930 the Swanseagroup is reported to have yielded 27,000,000pounds of copper. It has been estimatedthere are30,000,000 pounds yet to be mined.

• • •International Smelting and Refining com-

pany of Salt Lake City is drill-exploringcop-per claims near Yerington, Utah. S. C.-Run-dle of Los Angeles is superintending the op-erations.

• • •Desert Silver company, which has been

operating the Nivloc property, said to be oneof the richest silver deposits in Nevada, hasacquired title to the mines according to rec-ords in Esmeralda county court house.

• • •Federal RFC recently loaned the Vanad-

ium corporation of America $720,000 to de-velop extensive vanadium deposits nearMonticello, Utah.

36 T HE D E S E R T M A G A Z I N E



H E R E A n D T H E R E

. . . on the DesertARIZONA

Indians Reveal Story . . .EL MORRO NAT'L. MONUMENT —No general key to the pictographs found onrocks throughout the Southwest ever hasbeen discovered, but occasionally an isolateddrawing is read, though its accuracy can sel-dom be checked. A Navajo Indian recentlydeciphered certain markings on the wall ofa cliff near here, explaining that there weretoe and hand holds leading up the face of thecliff, and that by a hard climb a pool of wa-ter could be reached at the top. Using ropeladders, the local curator later climbed thecliff, and discovered a pool of water, thusverifying the interpretation of the Navajo.

Not Charity. But a Job . . .WINDOW ROCK—Steps towards pas-

toral cooperation among the Navajo havebeen taken by U. S. bureau of Indian affairs.Suggestion has been advanced that owners oflarge flocks lease them to Indians who livewhere grass is plentiful but who have nosheep of their own. Indians will take theirpay in wool and mutton, thus reducing pov-erty and hardship among the tribesmen.

Reluctant Cor pse . . .PHOENIX—Following are excerpts from

a letter received by the superintendent of theArizona highway patrol, written by a Navajowho was reported killed in a traffic accidentnear Holbrook: "Yazzie Greymountain isme who is not dead. If I was a dead acci-dent, then I couldn't write you this letter,could I? I am not killed because editor ofRepublic paper says so. He is telling . . . the

wrong truth. I am 100 percent live NavajoIndian."

A Price on Their Heads . . .WINDOW ROCK—In an effort to rid

the reservation of predatory animals, U. S.biological survey has offered to pay $1.50for every pair of coyote ears turned in. Na-vajo, on whose reservation the coyotes aretaking such a toll of livestock and poultry,are expected to take advantage of the bountyto considerably cut down the number ofpredatory beasts.

Deser t Gives Ground . . .YUMA—Cotton yields reaching nearly

three bales per acre are reported from farm-ers working newly reclaimed land in the

Gila valleys where developments are beingrushed to provide fertile lands to meet theincreasing demands of national food andcrop production. More than 1,000 acres hasbeen put into cultivation in the last year, andwith farm land prices rising steadily that fig-ure is expected to double next year.

WICKENBURG — Henry Wickenburg,for whom this town is named, was honoredby Arizonans from throughout the state ata fiesta held here in November during whichthe Wickenburg monument north of the citywas named.

PHOENIX—Arizona has been told thatno steel will be available for license platesin 1943, and to plan now to devise some sys-tem for using the 1942 plates for two or

more years.WINDOW ROCK—Salary of $200 per

month has been voted by tribal council as

remuneration for the duties and position ofTribal chairman of Navajo.

MIAMI—Six-foot mountain lion weigh-ing 76 pounds was trapped in the Pinalmountains by government trapper BertNichols.

NOGALES—Crediting advertising andpeaceful internal conditions, civic leadersannounce that tourist travel into Mexico hasnearly doubled over last year.

YUMA—The Wellton-Tinajas Altas roadis in good condition after being "bladed"by the county Highway department.

KINGMAN—Estimates show that 38,000more persons have travelled east on U. S.Highway 66 in the first 10 months of 1941than in the entire year of 1940.

MIAMI—With the objective of seeingthat many Gila county scenic and historicalspots are properly marked, interested per-sons have organized a Landmark Club here.

• • •

CALIFORNIA

Was Good Samaritan . . .BARSTOW—Mayor of Cave Springs and

good Samaritan of the desert, Adrian Egberthas gone to join Shorty Harris and otherprospectors wherever they gather togetherto sling yarns in the other world. Egbert isbest known for his line of water bottleswhich he placed and kept filled along theroad from Barstow to Cave Springs, a dryand desolate stretch of desert country. Hisdeath climaxed a 40-year career of mining

and prospecting in the Death Valley region.(See DM, Nov. '39.)

Merely a Question of Definitions . . .IN DE PE ND EN CE — Dr . W l a d i m i r

Gorczynski, California climate authority, saysthat California and Arizona have no deserts,but rather cactus-covered steppes. True des-erts are composed of sand dunes with littleor no vegetation, like the Sahara.

Ne w Institute H ead . . .PALM SPRINGS—Loss of Desert Muse-

um Director Lloyd Mason Smith to the armyis regretted by local supporters of the insti-tute, but Sam D. Hinton, newly appointed tofill the post, will carry on the duties of de-veloping and enlarging the museum. Includ-ed on the new advisory board are Edmund C.

Jaeger, wild-flower authority, and Dr. E. M.Harvey, botanist of Pomona.

Desert Gets Nava l Base . . .DATE PALM BEACH—Mooring buoys,

first development of the projected naval baseon Salton sea, were placed here late in No-vember, in anticipation of the landing ofseveral naval sea-planes. Warehouse for sup-plies and short-wave radio station will beadded soon to make this a full-fledged sea-plane base. Added reason for establishingbase here is to provide a landing place forPacific Clippers when coastal ports are fog-bound.

Fair Ne ws . . .INDIO—New class for non-commercial

date growers to compete in at Riversidecounty fair has been added to the premiumlist. This class is open only to entries whichare produced, packed and placed by the in-

RANCHO BORREGOAn Informal Ameri-can Plan guest ranchwith the open-heart-ed hospitality of ear-ly California days.

MEALSBreakfast $1.00

Luncheon and Dinner$1.25 to $1.50

You many now cometo the Borrego Des-er t knowing thatmoderately priced ac -commodations areavailable for you andyour friends.

(Mail only three times a week)Accommodations are limited

FOR RATES AN D RESERVATIONS, WRITE

DESERT LODGE—RANCHO BORREGOBorrego, California

Noel and Ruth B. Crickmer, Managing Owners

2 9PALMS

I N NTH E HOTEL AT THE

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FIREPLACE ADOBES* * *

FOOD TO REMEMBER

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Gateway to Joshua Tree National MonumentROBERT V A N LAHR, ManagerReservations — write 29 Palms Inn atTwentynine Palms, Calif., or call any Travel

Bureau or Automobile Club.

P A L M S P R I N G S C A L I F O R N I A

EUROPEAN PLAN

en..your headcluarlers von

y.ou come to

P A L M S P R I N G SAn hotel of quiet charm. Excellent cui-sine in Azure Room, Outdoor DiningGrill and "The Buckboard" in the

"Saddle Bar X" Cocktail Lounge.

TENN IS COURT BADMINTON

PING PONG . . . . HORSEBACK RIDING

SWIMMING POOL

M r . a n d M r s . T h o m a s H . L i p p sMANAGING OWNERS

J A N U A R Y , 1 9 4 2 37



dividual grower, andgives date menoppor-tunity to compete in a class in which com-mercial growers are barred.

Seismic Movements Foreseen . . .NILAND—Method for predicting earth-

quakes from peculiar eruptions of Mulletisland mud-pots is being studied by WalterDavis of Mullet island. Davis stated that themud-pots acted oddly before the recent LosAngeles quakes, and believes there is someconnection between the two.

Salt Harvest . . .CALIPATRIA—Imperial Salt company

announces that a good grade of coarse saltis being harvested this winter from the Sal-ton sea. New equipment plus a mild summercombine to make this year a record harvest.

Civic Bodies Cooperate . . .CALEXICO—Surfacing of the last un-

paved link of the Four-States highwaystretching from Canada to Mexico was ad-vocated and a move launched in that direc-tion at a meeting of Imperial county alliedchambers of commerce and board of tradeheld here in the middle of November. An-other action taken by the twogroups as evi-dence of their cooperation was thevoting of$115 to go towards the expense of publish-

ing a program for theDesert Cavalcade, an-nual fiesta of Imperial Valley held at Cal-exico.

From the Other World . . .BLYTHE—Suggestive of Yogaism iand

black magic is theconclusion of Dick Reaves,mining engineer, that dead rattlers can still

1941 Has Been . . .

A YEAR OF PROGRESSDirectors of theImperial Irrigation District take this oppor-

tunity to express to members andpatrons of ourgreat co-operative pow er system , their appreciation for the fine loya ltywhich has brought hundreds of new users toour lines duringthe past year.

During the past 12 months we h av e seen much ofour powerload shifted from the Brawley diesel plant to the hydro-electrical generators along the AU-American canal. An n-creased volume of electrical energy will be available fromthe canal power drops during thecoming year.

This will mean that Imperial Irrigation District will haveelectricity to supply not only all theneeds of this valley, butfor the extension of its lines toother desert comm unities.

Since this power system is owned entirely by the peopleof Imperial Valley, and the profits of its operation revertwholly totheir benefit, it is totheir interest tosee that the gainsmade during 1941 shall becontinued andmultiplied through1942.

As every farm and home owner inthis area knows, it hasbeen ourgoal torepay theentire cost of the Ail-Americancanal through thesale of electrical energy. Thesuccess ofthis program is possible only through thecomplete loyalty ofthe residents ofthis area.

I m p e r i a l I r r i g a t i o n D i s t r i c t .

U s e Y o u r O w n P o w e r- M o k e it P a y fo r th e A H A m e r i c a n C a n a l

kill a man. For 15 years Reaves has studiedthe possibility that yellow jacket waspswhich frequent the 11 western states feedupon dead rattlers, can absorb the poisonfrom the reptile, and inject it into a humanwhen stinging him, while remaining im-mune to the poison itself. He is now con-vinced that this can anddoes happen.

Coyotes onDecrease . . .CALIPATRIA—Lester Reed, one of three

professional trappers working in Imperialcounty, states that coyotes have been thinnedout in this area, and has seen fewer of thepredatory animals so far this year than at anytime since he hasbeen employed down hereby the predatory animal division of the de-partment of interior.

EL CENTRO—Imperial Valley's flax-seedcrop topped all previous records in 1941.Newer planting methods are credited.

PALM SPRINGS—Fifteen bighorn sheepwere reportedly seen near thePalms-to-Pineshighway by a group of BoyScouts recently.

INDIO—Report on advisability of includ-ing DosPalmas region in All-American ca-nal project was submitted to Coachella wa-ter district for study inNovember.

FURNACE CREEK —L ocal golf clubopened its newseason November 2 with anopen tournament of Death Valley enthusi-asts.

NEVADAState Aids OPM . . .

CARSON CITY—Plans for collecting1941 license plates when newones are dis-tributed arebeing worked out by thevariousNevada county assessors in answer to re-quest by office of production managementto conserve all possible scrap steel. StateMotor Vehicle Commissioner Malcolm Mc-Eachin is studying plans of various otherstates to use the same plates for 1942 and1943.

Most likely systemis the one

adoptedby California of attaching renewal tags tothe 1942 plate at its expiration.

"Heavy Money" Stays West . . .WINNEMUCCA—Biggest shipment of

change ever made to theeast from the mintat San Francisco was made in November.Coins ranging from pennies to half-dollars,many using Nevada silver, were sent. But thedollars, "cartwheels" theeasterners sneering-ly call them, were left in thewest, particular-ly in Nevada, where they are most desiredand appreciated. Residents of the "SilverState" areproud of their name, and supportit in their preference for "cartwheels" over"folding money."

Deer Hunts Man . . .

TONOPAH—Rarely does a story appearof a hand-to-hand encounter with such a shycreature as a deer, but Ed Weigelt, localcook, tells thestory and has a painful thigh-wound from the deer's horns to back it up.After being wounded three times, the deerturned on Weigelt and literally chased himup a tree, but not until Ed hadbroken thestock of his gunover thedeer's head. Fromthe tree he reloaded and brought the buckto theground. It weighed 247pounds, hada horn-spread of 31 inches.

"Cartwheels" Preferred . . .CARSON CITY—Reports come from an

anti-aircraft range on the Mojave desert inCalifornia where a group of Nevada soldiersare stationed that theboys arebeing paid insilver dollars, just like they are used to at

home. Easterners can't understand why themen of the frontier state prefer the bulkycoin to paper money, but Nevadans reply




that "folding" money is all right only if itcan be made into a hard roll and held withrubber bands. "And who ever heard of asoldier having that much paper money?"asked one private.

Muddy River Dam Sought . . .LAS VEGAS—To protect the seed and

seedling plant industry in the Moapa valley,officials of Muddy River Irrigation companymet with farm security administration repre-

sentatives to discuss construction of a damand reservoir at White Narrows site on theMoapa Indian reservation. Indian office willpay part of the $155,000 needed for theproject if Moapa valley farmers contributethe rest. A loan will be sought under theCase-Wheeler act by the farmers.

Not a Museum Piece, Either . . .LAS VEGAS—New type of transient ho-

tel has come into existence. Only this "tran-sient" refers not to the patrons but the es-tablishment itself. Purchase of the famousGoodsprings hotel, built during the lead andzinc boom there in 1915-16, has been an-nounced by Fred S. Alward, local attorney.and he plans to move it here to be remodeledand modernized to accommodate the greatinflux of workers and tourists which willtake place during the coming months.

CARSON CITY—Twenty-one thousandpersons crowded into the nation's smalleststate capitol the last day of October to cele-brate Nevada's 77th birthday.

GOLDFIELD—Deer killings for the 1941season are falling short of last year's recordof 1770.

• • •

N E W M E X I C O

" K i d' s " P a r d n e r P a s s e s O n . . .ROSWELL—Crony of Billy the Kid dur-

ing the infamous Lincoln county war, GeorgeW . Coe, pioneer stockman and farmer, diedat the age of 85 on November 13. He wasaligned with the McSween-Chisum faction

during those bloody years of 1876-78 whenLincoln county earned a reputation never tobe forgotten. After "The Kid" was killed byPat Garrett, Governor Lew Wallace gaveCoe a pardon and he had lived a law-abidinglife since.

Decorations Despite Disputes . . .MADRID—Preparations for 16th annual

Christmas display of lights and decorationsfor the town are going ahead despite labordifficulties which have resulted in the

subpoenaing of several workers who werebuilding displays for the now-famouspageant. Joe Husler, secretary of the localEmployes' Club which sponsors the display,estimates that 100,000 persons will come tosee the miracle that is annually wrought inthis coal mining town.

Aborigines Had Idea . . .DEMING—Taking a hint from primitive

inhabitants of the Southwest, government of-

ficials are planning to construct a processingplant here soon to make twine and packingfrom yucca fibre which can be obtained inlarge quantity around here. Indians used yuc-ca fibre for clothing, shoes, bindings. If suc-cessful, many of these processing plants willbe constructed throughout the Southwest.

State Loyalty Shown . . .TAOS—Evidence that New Mexicans are

interested in their state is seen by the supportand interest they have shown in the Touristbureau's all-color movie, "The Land of En-chantment," depicting scenic attractions andhistorical sites of the state. Showings havebeen held in five cities in the past month, anda winter schedule is nearly filled up.

CARLSBAD—Tourists to the Caverns

have set a new high for daily, weekly andmonthly visitors numbers. One week 16,283persons were conducted through the under-ground maze.

LAS CRUCES—Record-breaking produc-tion of broom corn and grain sorghum isanticipated by growers throughout the state.

ALBUQUERQUE—To control flood wa-ters of the Rio Grande and Jemez rivers, a$35,000 construction program has beenstarted by United Pueblos agency here.

SANTA FE—Unemployment figures forOctober hit an all-time low for the state ac-cording to figures released by employmentsecurity commission.

ALBUOUERQUE—In keeping with an

all-around record-breaking year for thestate, wool shipments from here are expect-ed to reach an all-time high of 4,250,000pounds, worth $1,360,000.

• • •

UTAH

Desert Murder Mystery . . .ESCALANTE—Charged with murdering

a prospector in the lonely wilderness regionof southern Utah near Moonlight, two In-

dians have been brought here from Phoenixto await arraignment. The pair confessed theslaying, and guided federal authorities to thegrave of the victim. Proceedings are beingheld up pending more certain identificationof the prospector, which is being done bymeans of dental work.

Attention Pittsburgh! . . .SALT LAKE CITY—Despite unusually

cold weather, necessitating increased use of

combustibles, the city's new smoke controlordinance reduced smoke density 39.4 per-cent under last year for the month of Octo-ber. Engineers of the smoke control divisiondirected their efforts mainly towards rail-roads and industrial users of combustiblesduring the first month of their new duties.

State Fur Praised . . .LOGAN—"Quality in quantity" was the

slogan of the first annual all-western furlivestock show held here in November.Judges stated that the finest grades of foxand mink in the country are raised in Utahand Idaho, even though other parts of thecountry exceed in numbers.

Rains Produce Feed, Trouble . . .

SALT LAKE CITY—Long accustomed tocombating drought difficulties, state ranch-men are perplexed because of the muddyranges caused by abnormally high precipi-tation during early fall months. The heavyrain has produced lush forage for stock, con-sequently it is fatter and in better generalcondition than usual. However, ranchers fearthat the muddy traveling down from the highsummer ranges to the lowlands will take thisweight off.

Too Much Water . . .LOA—Ten times normal rainfall was the

record established in this Wayne countytown for October. Actual precipitation was4.37 inches, 1093 percent of normal. Thiswas in keeping with the figures throughout

the state, which had the wettest Octobersince records were first kept 51 years ago.

BEAVER—Out-of-state hunters brought$400,000 in new wealth to the state duringthe pheasant and deer seasons.

ENTERPRISE — New scenic-sports areahas been opened up in the Pine Park sectionof near-by Dixie national forest, with plansfor a recreational park under considerationby. the forestry service.

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J A N U A R Y , 1942 33



BOOKSOF YESTERDAY A N D TODAY•—a monthly review of thebest literatureof thedesert Southwest, past andpresent.

BIOGRAPHY OF ATRUE WESTERNER

Will C. Barnes was awarded the congres-sional Medal of Honor in 1881 for "braveryin action with hostile Apache Indians." Thatwas the first important recognition given aman who for 57years played a leading role assoldier, cattleman, public official andwriter onthe Arizona-New Mexico desert frontier.

Throughout his life, Barnes kept a carefulrecord of themore exciting andworthwhile in-cidents in hisexperience, and in his later yearsdevoted much time to the preparation of hisbiography. Death came in December, 1936, be-fore it could bepublished. But hisgood friendFrank C. Lockwood of theUniversity, with thehelp of Mrs. Barnes, hasgiven a final editing tothe storyt—and now it has been printed underthe title APACHES &LONGHORNS, by theWard Ritchie Press of LosAngeles.

The book is more than an autobiography—it is history, full of source material andinform-ative sidelights on the Apache Indian warfare,and later the feud between cattle and sheepmen.

Barnes gives interesting glimpses of AdolfBandelier, Gifford Pinchot and other out-standing menof his time in theWest, manyofwhom he knew intimately.

APACHES &LONGHORNS is written inswift, terse graphic language—a story of Indi-ans, cowmen, horse thieves, soldiers, sheriffs—a cross section of that period in theWest, by aman wholived a rich full life and played animportant part in the drama. 210 pages withintroduction byFrank C. Lockwood. $2.50.

—R.H.

STORY OFNATIONAL

PARKS WELL TOLDWith emphasis on the inspirational as well

as thehistorical and scientific value of the na-tion's vast recreational areas, Irving R. Melbo'scomprehensive, two-volume edition, OURCOUNTRY'S NATIONAL PARKS, is de-signed for the special interest of Americanyouth and for the American people who areproud of the ten million acres of natural re-sources set aside for their enjoyment.

Almost 10years of study, travel andresearch,the author says, went into the preparation ofthe book, which was followed by detailedchecking and rechecking with the superinten-dents of the parks for technical accuracy andadequacy. The result is somewhat of a depar-ture from theusual run of National Park books.Not only does it contain information on seen-

R A R E B O O K . . .Desert Magazine has obtained5 copies of Lieut. Ives' report ofhis exploration of theColoradoriver in 1857-58. Fair conditionfor oldbooks, with allmaps andlithographs intact. This book,long out of print, is seldom onthe market. Ma iled postpaidwhile they last at $7.50 plussales tax inCalifornia. Allbookssold by Desert M agazine are re-turnable ifnot satisfactory.

D E S E R T M A G A Z I N EEl Centre California

ery and natural phenomena but there is muchof human interest as well as of trees, rocks,

ruins, Indian life, animals and something ofthe exploration which wasnecessary before theareas became accessible to the public.

The two-volumes are divided according torelated parks. In Vol. I, Part 5, under theheading "Rainbows in theDesert," GrandCan-yon, Zion national park andBryce canyon aregrouped together. Other chapters follow thesame plan. Thestory is told briefly and withdirectness, interspersed with a profusion ofphotographs.

OUR COUNTRY'S NATIONAL PARKS.as a whole, shows careful planning. It shouldmake effective classroom reading for studentsand it no doubt will have an equal appeal forall Americans whowant to know more aboutthese recreational reserves and the opportuni-ties for moral and spiritual inspiration whichthey offer. Bobbs Merrill Co., Indianapolis.Vol. I, 244 pp., $2.Vol. II, 244 pp.,$2.00.

—Marie Lomas

• • •

STORY OFTHE49ers

ANYBODY'S GOLD byJoseph Henry Jack-son is an entertaining and thoroughly soundaccount of California's original gold rushandthe stirring events that brought forth the fam-ous mining towns of theMother Lode country.The second part of the book deals with thesesame mining towns as they are today and is afascinating guide for those whowould like tovisit them either in reality or via the arm-chairroute.

Thirty-two sketches andpencil drawings bythe late E. H. Suydam, notonly illustrate scenesfrom the story but, in perfect harmony, they

also capture the mood and the atmosphere ofgold rush andghost town.

Index. Comprehensive reading list. Mapdrawings. D. Appleton-Century Co. NewYork.468 pp. 1941.$5.00.

•—Marie Lomas

• • •

OLD SANTA FESUPPLIESBACKGROUND FOR NOVEL

DONA LONA is a romance of oldTaosandSanta Fe, of themany loves in Dona Lona'sex-citing life and herrebellion against hertimes tobecome a power in Mexican andAmerican poli-tics during thedevelopment of thegreat South-west.

In a brilliant flash of color, the story openswith thecaravans moving north throughMex-

ico to the frontier town of Santa Fe. Lona'sthoughts are all for Rodolfo, theMexican bull-fighter who hadwhispered the thrilling wordsof undying love under hergrilled window onlythe night before. But Destiny interposes andthe fascinating Spanish beauty moves on to thewild, newcountry ahead to find in BillWil-liams, American trapper extraordinary, a truefriend and adviser.

Lona's great romance with the Americanfrontiersman, Ewing Young, and the story ofher gambling establishment in Taos, follows.The corruption of the Mexican governorspre-cipitates thecoming of theAmerican forcesandDona Lona Barcelona cleverly and brilliantlyforestalls theerupting of a carefully laid Mexi-can plot, thus opening the way for the UnitedStates troops to effect thecapture of the terri-tory.

The realization that Young will never returnand her subsequent marriage to Jose Lucerobring to a dramatic ending this historical ro-

mance. It is an entertaining novel and the introduction of such famous characters asGeneralSam Houston, Kit Carson andothers, add saisfying authenticity. Wilfred Funk, New York,1941, 323 pp. $2.50.

—Marie Lomas

STORIES OFOLD* CALIC ORECENTLY PUBLISHED

Between 1881and 1896 the silver mines atCalico produced more than $65,000,000 accord-ing to estimates contained in a little book re-cently published by Mr. and Mrs. Larry Coke,who live in the oldghost town.

The booklet, under thesimple title CALICO,is a collection of stories about thepeopleandincidents of theCalico camp in itsboom period.A number of the men and women wholivedand worked in thecamp during its heydey stillare living, and it is from these old-timers thatthe Cokes have collected much of their infor-mation.

Many halftone illustrations of the Calicoscene both today and 60 years ago, are includ-ed in thepaper-bound volume. Printed by Bastow Printer-Review, 35c.

M R . ANDMRS. L A R R Y C O K E ' Ss t o r y of . . .

C A L I CNOW A GHOST TOWN — Once a rip-roaring silver boom town on the Mo-jave Desert, which in the 80'sproduced65 million dollars, and was the princi-pal source of the world's supply ofBorax.

A fascinating 56 page booklet . . .crammed with historical andamus-ing incidents pertaining to thepolitical and social life in Calico.

Copies may be obtained by writing . . .

L A R R Y C O K ECalico Camp, Yermo, California

35ca copy —plus tax in Calif.

SUBSCRIBETO

H o o f s and H o r n sTo Keep Abreast of theRODEOGAME and its HAPPENINGS—

Its news about Rodeos and Roundupsis the most authoritative of any pub-lished in America. Rodeo Associationbulletin and Cowboy's Turtle Associa-tion news arepublished monthly.

Those who enjoy poetry of the OldWest will revel in the abundance oftruly typical poetry that appears ineach issue of Hoofs and Horns. You'lllike Hoofs andHorns!

Each issue is generously illustratedwith pictures of the people and placesthat are important to the current andpast history of the Range country.Don't miss a single copy!

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1 YEAR$1.003 YEARS $2.00

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HOOFS and HORNSP. O. Box 790 Tucson, Arizona




G e m s a n d M i n e r a l sThis department of the Desert Magazine is reserved as a clearing house for gem and

mineral collectors and their societies. Members of the "rock-hound' fraternity are invitedto send in news of their field trips, exhibits, rare finds, or other information which will

be of interest to collectors.ARTHUR L. EATON, Editor

'ROCKHOUND RECORD' ISNAME OF NEW PUBLICATION

The six year old Mineralogical society ofArizona, at Phoenix, published in November itsfirst monthly bulletin, the Rockhound Record.The title was suggested by George McKhann,Jr., whose father is secretary of the organiza-tion.

The first field trip of the season was a visitto Live Oak shaft and adit of the Miami coppercompany for chrysocolla specimens (not gemquality) ; on the return trip the party stoppedat a molybdenite locality at the Top of theWorld, and the Apache tear locality on Picketpost. Prince of Arizona mine was visited No-vember 30.

Luther Stewart spoke to the Phoenix groupon the arrangement of a beginner's collection,at the regular November 20 meeting. A. L.Flagg demonstrated preparation of micromounts. At the November 6 meeting, guestspeaker Barney C. Barnes gave an interestingtalk on his prospecting experiences. LutherStewart and H. S. Keithley arranged materialloaned by members for display at the Arizonastate fair and also at the third annual hobby fair.

• • •

FEDERATION DIRECTORSPLAN FOR JUNE SHOW

Member societies of the California Federa-tion of Mineralogical societies have decided toask the 24 clubs in the federation to levy an ad-

ditional per capita tax of five cents to help de-fray the expenses of the parent organization.It has been found that the present 10 cents permember is not enough to operate the federa-tion, and the special assessment is designed totake care of the needs until the delegates canamend the by-laws increasing the individual feeto 15 cents.

At their recent meeting in Huntington hotel,Pasadena, the federation directors made tenta-tive plans for the state convention to be heldthere next June. It was decided to table theplan for launching a federation magazine tem-porarily, due to the national crisis which hasgreatly increased paper and other costs. How-ever, plans are being discussed for a specialconvention issue.

New rules are under discussion for the an-nual convention display, designed to keep thefederation in the hands of amateurs as largelyas possible.

COLORADO COLLECTORSSEEK MEXICAN OPALS

Frank and Grace Morse, "rambling rock-nuts," returned to their home in Bayfield, Colo-rado, for just long enough to store their col-lected specimens, purchase a new location andtake the trail again for Texas and Old Mexico.

After leaving Oregon the Morses visitedGeorge Roper in Sacramento, who, they say,has the best equipped lapidary shop they'veever seen. At Lodi, W. G. Hurrl was theirhost. There they attended the Lodi rockhoundpicnic where they met some old friends andmade new acquaintances.

At Petaluma they viewed Vonsen's $200,000collection, and the micro-mount display be-longing to Dr. Peoples.

I. Harold Soper guided the couple to vari-ous collections in San Francisco and Oakland,

climaxing the trip by a visit to Julius Gisler, acollector par excellence.

Their travels took them to Barstow, Yermo,Las Vegas, Calico, many Southern Californiatowns, El Centro, Phoenix, Globe, and finallyhome November 24. Five days later they wereagain on the road, gathering agates, calcite andfossils in Texas, and were last heard from onthe way to Old Mexico for opals.

• • •

SOURCE OF PEBBLESPUZZLES COLLECTOR

Will L. Grigsby, Box 76, Newport, Oregon,invites theories as to the origin of the wide

variety of materials found in Oregon coastgravel beds. If local volcanic outcrops are thesource, why are not stones occasionally foundin situ? If the gravels came from the north inice floes on the Japanese current, why do dif-ferent beaches furnish distinct types? It has

been established geologically that before theuplift of the coast range the Cascades, draineddirectly into the Pacific. But coast gravels dif-fer from the material in the Cascades. Can thesource be the submerged continental shelf?

"While the question of source of origin,"writes Mr. Grigsby, "is not of great moment,it is a puzzler to the layman, and one that au-thorities have passed over—yet it is a complexproblem."

LAPIDARY GROUP P*LANSEXHIBIT IN LOS ANGELES

Lelande Quick, president of Los Angeleslapidary society, states that the group will holdits second annual exhibit at the Los Angelesswimming stadium building, Exposition park,Los Angeles, March 21 and 22, 1942. Lastyear's show was successful beyond the dreamsof club members. Over 6,000 persons attendedthe two-day exhibit. The March show prom-ises to outshine the 1941 effort.

RARE MINERA#L FOUNDBY OLANCHA COLLECTOR

Specimens from an unusual mineral depositlocated by C. C. King of Kamp Dunmovin atOlancha, California, have been identified by the

U. S. geological survey as coronadoite, an ox-ide of manganese and lead.According to Julian D. Sears, administrative

geologist at Washington, this is the first re-ported occurrence in California, with only twoor three known localities elsewhere.

O u r N e w . . . *T E N T H A N N I V E R S A R Y C A T A L O Gis now ready for distribution. This catalog is 6x9 in. in size and has44 pa ges devoted to the following topics . . .

4 pases on ROUGH GEM MATERIALSAND SLABS

1 page on CABOCHON RING STONESfor Art craft classes and collectors

3 pages on "PREFORM" CABOCHONBLANKS

6 pages on MINERAL SPECIMENS

8 pages on LAPIDARY EQUIPMENT5 pages on LAPIDARY SUPPLIES8 pages on BOOKS AND MAGAZINES4 pages on FLUORESCENT LAMPS5 pages on GEM CUTTING PR ICES,

POLISHED SPECIMENS, and otherdepartments.

Over 60 pictures completely illustrating all items. If you have notreceived one of these catalogs—send for your copy at once. Con-tains valuable information to GEM CUTTERS — you will WANTTO OWN ONE of these books.

LAPIDARY EQUIPMENT IN STOCK — READY FOR DELIVERYShop early for CHRISTMAS GIFT LAPIDARY EQUIPMENT. We will make everypossible effort to have a big floor stock of machinery for Christmas sales—however,it has been so very difficult to obtain basic materials that we cannot promise deliverybefore Xmas if it is impossible to get materials at the last minute. A $5 deposit willhold any order of Lapidary equipment—order the machinery and pay down a $5 deposit.The machinery will be reserved for you and someone will not be disappointed onChristmas morning.

DESERT GEMS — "PREFORM CABO CHO N BLANKS"ANCIENT PALM FORESTS COLLECTION—4 different types of Palm fibre and Rootperfectly shaped cabochon blanks. Reg. $1.40 value—specially priced at $1.00

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$1.00 year (twice monthly) Sample ScPAUL 4 BESSIE WALKER

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Paul Mercer, Boulder City, Nevada, statesthat a new rock collectors' club, to beknown as"Southern Nevada mineral society," is in pro-

cess of organization. Semi-monthly meetingswill beheld, alternating between Las VegasandBoulder City. Anyone living in southern Neva-da or adjacent districts of Arizona, who maybe interested, is invited tocall or write toPaulMercer, 624Avenue D, Boulder City, Nevada.

• • eW. Scott Lewis discussed geology and min-

erals of Mammoth Lake region at theNovember13 meeting of Los Angeles mineralogical so-ciety. Member O. C. Smith also gave a shorttalk on a mineralogical vacation in Arizona.November field trip took thegroup toTwenty-nine Palms area for chalcedony andcarnelian.

• • •

New Jersey mineralogical society, Plainfield,New Jersey, issues a yearly program schedulefor all meetings from September to June. Mar-

tin L.Ehrmann, of New York, lectured on jadeat theNovember session; healso gave a shortaccount of the Calvert collection. A specialmeeting wascalled for November 13 at Geolo-gy hall, Queens campus, Rutgers university,New Brunswick, NewJersey, tohear a talk byR. H. Lee, of NewYork, on "mineralogy andthe blow pipe art. " The Plainfield group ismaking a special effort to interest and enrollmembers of the younger generation.

• • •

H. A. Scott, professor of geology at SantaAna junior college, California, spoke on thecarving of miniatures in gemminerals attheDecember second meeting of West Coastmin-eral society, Fullerton, California. He showedmany specimens from his private collection,which is one of thebest of thetype in thecoun-try.

• e eSan Diego mineralogical society reports the

election of thefollowing officers: G. D. (Jack)Martin, president; C. A. Scott, vice-president;Winifred Balcom, secretary; B. B. Hoff, treas-urer. Thegroup meets every second Friday, inthe Natural History museum, Balboa park. Atthe November meeting, R. W. Ferrill, of Ferrillpaint company, San Diego, explained the useof minerals in paints.

• • •

Long Beach mineralogical society enjoyedone of itsever popular potluck suppers, Novem-ber 14. Thefield trip toActon andLang areasyielded jasper, agate, colemanite, green mossagate, chalcedony geodes and a carnelian "dis-covery."

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RUSSIAN EMERALDS—Cabochon 50c per kt.Ceylon Zircons, different colors 50c per kt,Persia, Turquoise $1.20 and$3.00 per doz..all kinds of Scarabs 50c and up ea., finest

Tigereyes, grade "A" 75c ea., fresh waterPearls 50c ea, all round pearls, Chrysoberyl,Cats-Eyes $2.00 per kt., Chrysoberyl, Alex-andrite $20 per kt. (Russian), Chrysoberyl,plain 5 cutstones for $1 only, Star-Sapphires,clear star $1 per kt.,Fire Opals, Mexican $1per kt., Sapphires, many colors 50c per kt.,Green Garnets, Australia $3 per kt. Ask formy approval selection. Ernest Meier, ChurchSt. Annex, P. O. Box302, New York, N. Y.

CUT STONES, CAMEOS, CABOCHONS andINTAGLIOS. Fine stock at lowprices.Ap-proval selection on request. Dr. Ralph E.Mueller, 600 Professional Bldg., KansasCity,Mo.

ZIRCONS, genuine diamond cut, white, 3 for

$1.75; Golden Brown orBlue Zircons, $1.25per carat. 12genuine Mexican andAustralianOpals, $1.50. B. Lowe, Box 525,Chicago,Illinois.

AGATES, Jaspers, Opalized and Agatizedwoods, Thunder eggs, polka dot and otherspecimens. Three pound assortment $1.25postpaid. Glass floats, price list on request.Jay Ransom, Aberdeen, Wash.

AN INVITATION: Want to know where tohunt rock ? Want a rock sawed inhalf? Wantrock identified? Want to see a world-widecollection of rock? Want to sell rock? Wantto buy rock? Want to talk rock? Want in-formation or equipment for cutting andpolishing rock at home? Then drop in onme. I rock folks to sleep. "ROCKY"MOORE, 401Broadway Arcade Bldg., 542South Broadway, LosAngeles. Any day butSaturday or Sunday—Monday and Fridaysuntil 8 p. m.

HAND FABRICATED MOUNTINGS—Ster-ling blanks 50c to$2.00. Earrings, $1.50pr.,Rings, Brooches, Pins, TieChains, etc.Yourcabochons mounted 75c to$3.25. Descriptiveprice list. O. P.Avery, 1843 N.Alvarado, LosAngeles, Calif.

100 GOOD GRADE Prehistoric Indian Ar-rowheads $3.00. Mixed shapes and material.Ages old.List free. Lear Howell, Glenwood,Arkansas.

ASK FOR"LES," Cutting andPolishing. Rock

and gemstones for sale. Open Saturday andSunday. 21108 Devonshire Blvd., Chats-worth, Calif.

GOLD AND SILVER craft work. Your favor-ite desert stone mounted. Prices quoted.Write R. H. Frowiss, Sr., 523 Brightonstreet, P. O.Box 811, ElCentro, Calif. Phone1589.

CORONADOITE—Rare mineral first timefound in California. Only two or three lo-cations elsewhere. Fair size sample, 30cpost-paid. Kamp Dunmovin, Olancha, Calif.

THE FLUORESCENT SAMPLER. 10 new,different specimens, 50c. Western MineralExchange. 320 Madison, Seattle, Wash.

ATTENTION—$2.50 for super surprise pack-age, all labeled, postpaid. The Rockolgoist(Chuckawalla Slim). Wintering beside theroad, 13miles south of Palm Springs.




Imperial Valley gem and mineral society is-sues distinctive car stickers to members whendues are paid. These serve to identify their carsin traffic, when field trip routes are over crowd-ed highways.

• • •

December meeting of Santa Monica gemo-logical society was a Christmas dinner parry.November field trip, open to members only,was for sagenite.

• • •Pacific mineral society bulletin appears with

a striking new heading in black and white, car-rying the name of the society and a picturedcluster of quartz crystals.

• • •

Dr. Frederick C. Leonard, chairman of de-partment of astronomy at U.C.L.A. was speakerat November 14 meeting of Pacific mineral so-ciety on the subject of meteorites. MemberR. H. Milligan reported the results of his in-vestigations on strategic minerals. The regulardoor prize was augmented by a beautiful speci-men of bornite given by Hugh A. Matier, Oc-tober speaker. The November field trip visitedJensen quarry, Riverside county, California, forwollastonite, scapolite, spinel and garnets.

• • •

Orange belt mineral society elects a programchairman as a regular officer. Kenneth B. Gar-ner, secretary of the state federation, is the pres-ent incumbent.

• • •

S. M. Wheeler has resigned as curator of theNevada museum and art institute and accepteda position with the state highway department,Carson City, Nevada.

• • •

Howard L. Fletcher of Redjands served asfield trip chairman for Orange Belt mineralsociety November 16 on a trek to Yuha Basinin Imperial county, California, for sand spikesand fossils. Members of Imperial Valley gemand mineral society joined the group in El Cen-tro and led them to the Mt. Signal district.Lloyd Richardson, president of the Imperial

Valley society, acted as scout and guide.• • •Wendell O. Stewart presented a most inter-

esting discussion on mines and mineralogy ofOld Mexico at the November meeting of Or-ange Belt mineral society.

• • •Will L. Grigsby of the Newport agate socie-

ty, Newport, Oregon, was the first to respondto the request of Imperial Valley gem and min-eral society for trade grabs. He sent a box ofOregon beach stones. Sequoia mineral societyalso sent 100 choice cutting specimens.

H. A. Coppock, principal of Inyo-Kernschool and secretary of Indian Wells chamberof commerce, was guest speaker at the Novem-ber 5 meeting of Searles Lake gem and mineralsociety. The club observed its annual DeathValley field trip November 16-17. Severalmembers of West Coast mineral society of Ful-lerton, California, also participated.

• • •Searles Lake mineral news, Trona, Califor-

nia, has a cut of a hanksite crystal in the head-ing. As far as known, hanksite is found onlyin the Searles Lake region.

• • •Henri Withington and Frank Darrow re-

port that the famous epsom salt mine in DeathValley shows no signs of having been operatedfor many years. The magnesium sulphate is dis-seminated through a clay-like formation. Thesurrounding hills glisten with gypsum. Dig-ging produces epsonite and selenite crystals.Roads into the district are not recommended forlow clearance cars.

• • •Fred Bitgood resigned as president of Or-

ange Belt mineral society. He has moved toLas Vegas, Nevada, where he is in charge ofthe construction of a large refractory furnace.Fred and his family motored to Imperial Val-

ley to join the Orange Belt group on the No-vember 16 field trip.• • •

Each member present at the November meet-ing of Golden Empire mineral society present-ed a five minute talk on an assigned subject.

• • •Officers of Southwest Mineralogists for 1942

are: John Akers, president; Jeanne Lippit,vice-president; Herbert Collins, recording sec-retary; Dorothy Akers, corresponding secre-tary; Frank Stillwell, treasurer. Joseph Bar-bierri entertained the society in October withan illustrated lecture on the making of arrow-heads. David B. Scott spoke at the Novembermeeting on borax and borax minerals.

• • •Santa Barbara museum has added three new

cases for the display of strategic minerals.• • •

Several arrowheads have been found in vari-ous parts of Imperial Valley during the pastfew months. Mrs. McCune of La Mesa, Califor-nia, found one complete point and two brokenones in Borrego state park. One point camefrom near the Colorado river, and five othersfrom the little hills north of Sidewinder serv-ice station. The material used by the Indians inmaking these arrowheads was quartz, jasper,agate and obsidian. It would be interesting toknow if others have been found recently in thesame region.

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Write toda y far com plete information and free list of fluorescent min erals.—Department D-13—

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H O B B Y ! ! Mak e this yoursNothing more interesting, entertaining,edu-cational and so inexpensive. GEMCUTTINGnow made easy for the beginner. Cutthepretty stones you find on your hikes intoGem Stones.Write for free folder or send 25c for in-teresting, illustrated, 22-page booklet de-scribing the Johns Gem Cutter and thefascinating art of gem cutting.

THE JOHNS COMPANYRt. 3, Box 112-A San Antonio, Texas

F I N E IN ERA L SHundreds of fine minerals in stock.Send for 5c catalog. Ultra-Violet lampsfor collectors and prospectors. Circularfree. Argon lamp and fluorescent min-•ral samples, $1.25. Educational month-ly Mineral Bulletin 35c a year. Sales

tax onabove in California.

W. SCOTT LEWIS2600 N. Beach wood Dr.

HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA

LEARN TOPOLISH GEMSSend for our Free Price List of lapidarysupplies, diamond saws, rough gemcutting material, blank mountings forrings, brooches, etc. Cut gems for artstudents. Send in your stones to bemounted. We have a complete manu-facturing department.

SMITH'S AGATE SHOP228 S. W. Alder Portland, Oregon

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W . A. FELKER 3521 Emerald St., Torrance, C.lifornw

THE AMERICAN MINERAL GUIDEAN IDEAL GIFT FOR ANYMINERALOGIST

Lists 5000 collectors, and the collectingareas of the nation. 120 pages. $1.10

postpaid.

WESTERN MINERAL EXCHANGE320 Madison Seattle, Wash.

UNCUT GEM STONES MOUNTEDin silver. Mounting designed to fit stone.Distinctive pendants, broaches, etc. Pricesmoderate. .Submit your stone and get est i -

mate . L. A.PRITCHARD I

325 So.2ndSt. Las Vegas, Nevada

GIVE MINERAL BOOKSAND MAGAZINES THIS XMAS

On gems and polishing: Thomson, $1.15,Howard, $2.00, Baxter, $2.50, Kraus andSlawson (with color plates), $3.50. Sub-scriptions : National Amateur Mineralogist,$2.00. Rocks and Minerals, $2.00. The Des-ert, $3.00 per year.

We will add a bonus package of gemstoneswith every order. Assured value.

WESTERN MINERAL EXCHANGE320 Madison St. Seattle, Wash.

Santa Maria, California, Rock and Mineralsociety recently named the following officersfor the coming year: E. F. Edwards, reelectedpresident; John Weldon, vice-president; JuneClevenger, secretary-treasurer.

• • •

One of the most sparkling mineral societypublications that comes to Desert Magazineis theSequoia Bulletin, Virginia Breed, editorand Hazel Goff, associate editor. Recording the

news of the Sequoia, California, mineral so-ciety, the latest issue tells of field trips No-vember 9 tolook for fossil leaves at Soda Creekand onDecember 7 to theshark tooth region inKern county.

• • •

When members of the Sequoia mineral so-ciety recently discovered several cans of dogfood in thegrub box of Chris Anderson whileon afield trip, heexplained that hehadbroughtit along for the"rock hounds."

• • •

Kern county mineral society's publication"Pseudomorph" wears a newheading, a pic-ture of wollastonite pseudomorph after garnet,from Kern county, California. C. D. Wood-house of Santa Barbara, California, president ofCalifornia federation of mineralogical socie-

ties, was guest speaker for November. Kerncounty board of supervisors approved theproj-ect for a mineral display cabinet to be placedon thefirst floor ofthecounty court house. Thiscabinet will be used for display of collectionsbelonging to members of the Kern county so-ciety.

• • •

Richard Liddicoat, M. A.,director of researchand education of the gemological institute ofAmerica, recently addressed the Santa Monicagemological society on "Rare gems of theworld." He stated that out of approximatelyone thousand minerals only about 90 areusedas gems. Liddicoat described thework of thegemological institute in training jewelers totest andaccurately identify stones. When jewel-ers first join the organization, they arecalled"registered jewelers"; after completing theirstudies andpassing rigid examinations 100 per-cent, they become "gemologists."

• • •

Eliza de Luce, Castle Dome mine, Arizona,has some interesting and unusual rock whichshe calls "owl eye porphyry." It seems to bea hardened, pinkish clay, containing sections ofcrinoid stems. It takes a good polish. Similarmaterial, jasperized, has been found in theSidewinder field. Arthur Haack, of the samegroup of mines, hasgathered together at hiscabin some fine lead and silver specimens.Large cubes of galena, galena with fluorite, an-glesite, cerussite, beautiful clusters of purplefluorite cubes, geodes, areonly a fewsamplesof hisfine collection.

• • •

Paul and Bessie Walker, Calimesa, Califor-nia, have just launched "Tradewinds," a min-iature, semi-monthly hobby newspaper. Besidesa leading article andnumerous ads,each issuecontains informative items of interest to hob-byists.

• • •

L. A.Pritchard, 325South Second street,LasVegas, Nevada, is showing great originality indeveloping an entirely newtype of mount foruncut gemstones. Each mounting is original,to fit theparticular stone. Pritchard developedthe mounting of uncut stones distinctly as ahobby, but unexpected popularity is forcinghim totake it upcommercially.

• • •

A second report has come in of aquamarineberyl crystals found in lower Carrizo gorge.

The latest prize is a crystal weighing about 30carats. lt!is not high quality gemmaterial, as

the transparency is poor. Thecrystal shape isgood and the blue-green color excellent.

GIFTS FOR THEROCKHOUN D SMake therockhounds inyour home happierthis Xmas with a good textbook to helpidentify specimens and add to the pleasureof collecting.Here is a selected list of books for both theamateur and advanced student.

GETTING ACQUAINTED WITH MIN-ERALS, G. L. English. Fine introductionto mineralogy. 238 illustrations,324 pages $2.50

LEGENDS OF GEMS, H. L. Thomson.Elementary principles of gems and gem-cutting. 136pages $1.15

HANDBOOK FOR THE AMATEURLAPIDARY, J. H. Howard. One of thebest guides for the beginner gemcutter.140 pages. Good illustration $2.00

QUARTZ FAMILY MINERALS, Dake,etc. New andauthoritative handbook forthe mineral collector. Illustrated.304 pages $2.50

MINERAL IDENTIFICATION SIMPLI-FIED, O. C. Smith. Complete table ofall known minerals with simple methodsof testing for identification. Gives specif-ic gravity, hardness, color, streak, luster,cleavage and composition. Index.271 pages $3.50

DESCRIPTIVE LIST of theNew Minerals1892 to 1938,by G. L. English. For ad-vanced collectors. 258pages $2.50

FIELD BOOK OF COMMON ROCKSAND MINERALS, by Frederic Brew-ster Loomis. Fine handbook for collec-tors. Beautifully illustrated. Includes 67colored plates for identifying gemcrys-tals $3.50

HANDBOOK FOR PROSPECTORS, M.W. Bernewitz. Complete guide coveringmining law, methods, occurrence anaidentification of minerals. Illustrated. 362pages and index $3.00

JEWELRY, GEM CUTTING ANDMETALCRAFT, William T. Baxter. Ahandbook for thecraftsman, designed forthe amateur in jewelry-making, metal-craft and gem-stone cutting. Illustratesand describes methods and tools ....$2.50

FLUORESCENT LIGHT AND ITS AP-PLICATION, H. C. Dake and Jack DeMent. New, complete book on history,theories and applications of the spec-tacular phenomenon of fluorescence. Forboth the professional and layman. Ex-tensive bibliography $3.00

NEW WONDER SET . . .Of gems and minerals includes jasper,

obsidian, turquoise, gypsum, silver galena,asbestos, blue calcite, graphite, opal, cop-per ore, tourmaline, actinolite, marca-site, iron pyrite, fluorite, onyx, petrifiedwood andgold ore.

Set contains streak testing block, bottleof mounting glue, small hand lens, 25printed mounting cards, and instructionmanual for gathering and classifying yourgem collection $1.50Same setwithout glue, lens orcards ....$1.00

•Plus 3% sales tax in CaliforniaW e Pay Postage on all Items.

Desert Crafts ShopEl Centro, California

44 THE DESERT MAG AZI NE



Messrs. Chapman and Calvert of the Min-eralogical society of Southern California, leftNovember 29 for Guanato and other parts ofcentral Mexico on a mineral collecting expedi-tion.

• • •The mineral show arranged by Inyo-Kern,

California, in November brought out a widevariety of displays. Following prizes wereawarded: Gae Chenard for non-metallics, Kent

Knowlton for metallics, Trona Gem and Min-eral society for society exhibit, Don Clare forlocal metallics within a radius of 50 miles,Charles King for local non-metallics within aradius of 50 miles, Salsilco for industrial ex-hibit, and Valeria Pipkin for a juvenile exhibitby a youth u nder 16 years of ag e. The show w assponsored by the Indian Wells chamber of com-merce aided by Trona Gem and Mineral so-ciety. Discovery Stone of the Golden Queenand a location map with a case of local min-erals by Mr. and Mrs. Bradley were specialfeatures.

• ' • •The November mineral show held by San

Fernando valley, California, mineral societybrought out 25 fine displays of rough and cutstones, including a colorful showing of fluor-escent stones. The November field trip of theSan Fernando society was in the Acton area.

Mineralogical society of Southern Californiawent to Tick canyon in November to search forHowlite and other minerals.

• • •In quartz crystal lined geodes found in Black

mountains near Blythe, California, have beendiscovered many loose, hairylike crystals of ru-tile (titanium dioxide) of a golden browncolor.

• • •Fine barite (barium sulphate) has been

found in many parts of Imperial county, Cali-fornia, and Yuma county, Arizona, but nonefiner than the few scattered specimens found inthe district west of Palo Verde. Most of theseare small groups of white or yellowish whitebladed crystals of best quality. The district

around travertine rocks produces snow whitespecimens of massive "heavy spar."• • •

Among recent but very eager converts to therockhound fraternity are rancher Haslam andfamily of Palo Verde, California. Herding cat-tle offers magnificent opportunity for searchingthe surrounding mesas for rocks and Indianrelics. Sharp eyes, long trained to the great out-doors, have added a new zest to living.

• • •The only commercial production of cinna-

bar in Kern county, California, is the Cudde-back mine one half mile north of the main Te-hachapi pass highway, and three miles fromKeene post office; a less important locality isabout one and one half miles east of the Cud-deback property. Both yield low grade ore.

FEDERATION BUREAUPROVIDES SPEAKERS

The California Federation, through itsMonthly Mineral Notes, announces that thefollowing speakers have volunteered to lectureat club programs, the only cost being reim-bursement for expenses, including travel andhotel bills:

Dr. M. J. Groesbeck, Porterville, California.Subject: "Geology of Mono Lake Area,"

"Geology and Minerals of Pyramid Lake" andothers.

John Akers, 1210 No. Rose, Compton, Cali-fornia. "Geology of Zion, Bryce, and GrandCanyons," "Desert Wild Flowers;" both areillustrated by slides.

Phil Orr, Santa Barbara museum, Santa Bar-bara, California. "Caves," "Use of Minerals byIndians," "Fossils." Illustrated by lanternslides.

Ernest W. Chapman, 1934 Mill Road, So.Pasadena, California. Subject: "Franklin Fur-nace Mineralized Area," "Famous Mineral Lo-calities," "Meteors."

Mineral Notes hopes to increase this list byadding other volunteers. Please report.

OPEN SEASON NEEDED

ON HAMMER HOUNDSHundreds of large quartz lined geodes havebeen broken and destroyed beyond possible useby "hammer hounds" recently in the northeast-ern sector of Imperial county, California. Tracesof camp sites show that these hammer houndshave camped many times at different spots andplied their trade diligently. It seems evidentthat they are searching for agate geodes as cut-ting material and have no consideration for thehumble collector who can be vastly pleased bythese beautiful creations of nature. The greatmajority of reputable gem and mineral collec-tors condemn this merciless destruction of na-ture's beautiful gifts.

DUMORTIERITE FOUNDIN TWO VARIETIES

Several distinct classes and grades of dumor-tierite are known to mineralogists and collec-tors of Southern California. Near Ogilby andGlamis in Imperial county, are found varietiesin many shades of blue and dark purple. Thismaterial is hard and granular, and some shadesmake fine cabochons. It is sometimes sold asfalse lapis lazuli.

Another, and very distinct variety of dumor-tierite, is to be found between Alpine and De-hesa, in San Diego county. This variety is notgranular and can only be used as specimens. Itoccurs in fibrous, asbestos like material, whosebrilliant lilac color is an attractive addition toany cabinet.

LET US MOUNT YOURFAVORITE GEM STONERings, Brooches, Tie Clips,

Earrings, etc.

J e w e l C r a f tPlatt Preston & Clemente

704 S. San Pedro, Los Angeles

I WILL BUY . . . SPOT CASHI . . .GOLD SPECIMENS—(Must contain VisibleGold.) Also all forms of crystals, especiallycrystal clusters; anything colorful, sparklingor showy. WANT Gem-Stone rough or pol-ished. Wood, Jasper & Agate in slabs only(polished or unpolished). I Quote No Prices.Set your own & send samples. Samples paidfor or returned."ROCKY" MOORE—201 Broadway—ArcadeBIdg. 542 So. Broadway, Los Angeles, Calif.

Of a Rockhound

By LOUISE EATON

• Didja ever note how lovinly an'lingerin' rockhouns licks good speci-ments? It may not be a delectable an'sanitary habit, but they all duz it.

• • •

• Fokes iz usually sort uv gamblers an'treasur hunters in their hearts. Probablythat's what makes so many rockhouns.Diggin' out geodes an' pickin' up agatese t c . certainly is treasur huntin', f'r most-ly they's far afield and somewhot inac-cessable. An' nothin' mutch is a biggergamble than sawin' a geode that may bea dud, but likewize might contain ame-thyst crystals or sagenite.

We have consistently stated that . . .

H E A V Y D U T Y

" S t r e a m l i n e r " D ia m o n d S aw swould out perform any other DiamondSaw made, and this regardless of whomade it, or the price charged. And theproof of the pudding is in the eating.

We never solicited the letter below, andMr. Osgood is a perfect stranger to us.He received the same saw anyone elsedoes .

OSGOOD'S AGATE SHOPRupert, Idaho

Nov. 15th ,1941Dear Sir:

The Saw you sen t me 1 liked very much, asit gave fine service under very hard use. Itsawed nearly 1000 square inches of mate-rial which runs from 7 to 8 in hardness. Withthe average saw I only get from 500 to 600inches, and the saw is worn out.

Besides that, the saw cut 1600 sq. inchesof hard blue agate and agatized wood. A lotof this was badly fractured which soon eatsa saw up. AH together that makes 2600 sq.inches for your saw. The saw will still cutsmall pieces, but will bind in large pieces.Please send another saw.

Respectfully,

S. W. OSGOOD

Thank you, Mr. Osgood. We know thesaw will do it, if the user is capable ofthe task. And we get this kind of lettersters almost daily. No increase in sawprices. 8-in — $5.50 10-in. —$ 6.5012-in. — $7.50 14-in. — $9.00

A MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL

W i l f r e d C . E y l e sMineralogist & Lapidary Engine er

2794-A Street Hayw ard. Calif.

NEW GEM CATALOG . . .

Send stamp for 32 page catalog listingchoice crystals, rough and cut gems, pol-ished specimens, general minerals, fluores-cent minerals, petrified woods, cutting mate-rials, etc.

V. D. HILLComplete Gem & Mineral Establishment

Route 7-G Salem, Oregon

emand Mittesud fOn Highway 91, 10 Mi. East of BarstowTwo Miles West of Yermo CaliforniaE . W. SHAW, P. O. Box 363, Yermo, Calif.

D E L P A S O H O T E L

BANNING, CALIFORNIARooms — $1.00-$1.50-$2.00 — Steam HeatGem collectors—come in and see our Lapi-dary outfit which is available FREE to our

guests.

Art Campbell, Mgr. (Rockologist)

M E R R Y C H R I S T M A SFor Friends and Loved Ones — If you do

your shopping at

MINT CANYON ROCK SHOP;On Highway U. S. 6 — 10 Miles from

Junction with U. S. 99.GORGEOUS SPECIMENS (Polished andUnpolished) — CRYSTALS — SLABS —FINE CUTTING MATERIAL — STUDENTSPECIMEN BOXES (Various Sizes up to 250

Varieties) — LAPIDARY SUPPLIES

BERGQUIST'S CLEAR VIEW SHOW CASESCURIOS — DESERT OIL PAINTINGS

A special gift if you mention Desert Maga-zine. C. H. SMITH

J A N U A R Y , 1 9 4 2 45



By RANDALL HENDERSON

this month tomany hundreds of new read-ers who will receive this number of Desert Magazine asthe gift of some thoughtful friend. Wehope you willen-

joy going along the desert trails with us thecoming year.

For your information, Desert is a friendly informal sort olmagazine—written forfolks who like tospend a few hours eachmonth far away from the problems and the petty annoyancesof this thing wecall civilization.

On the theory that most ofthe troubles inthis world are man-made, we strive to make this a guide book to a world whereNature still rules supreme. We believe that for those who cometo thedesert with friendliness it gives friendship; tothose whocome with courage, it gives newstrength of character. Thoseseeking relaxation find release from the madmerry-go-roundof business and social pursuits. For those seeking beauty, thedesert offers Nature's rarest artistry. This is thedesert that menand women learn to love.

Since it is notpracticable for everyone tocome to thedesert

—we seek through pictures and text to take thebeauty andpeace andstrength of this desert land into your home. This is amagazine forpeople with alert and thoughtful minds, towhomthe fine art of living is more important than theacquiring ofmonetary wealth.

We want Desert to be awelcome visitor inyour home everymonth.

* * *

According to Dr.Wladimir Gorczynski of theScripps insti-tution at LaJolla, southern Arizona andsoutheastern Californiaare not deserts at all—merely "cactus-covered steppes."

I'll notquarrel with the eminent scientist. It merely is aques-tion of definitions. The first Americans who explored this partof the New W orld chose tocall it adesert—and that isthe wordwe have been using ever since. Whatever thecorrect name may

be, it is a most fascinating region for those who have the timeand inclination to take thewinding trails that lead off towardthe purple horizon, into mountains and canyons and valleys thatremain just asNature created them.

* * #

Folks who are planning camping trips on thedesert this win-ter should bring plenty of water-proofing for their camp out-fits. We seem to be passing through one of those wetcycles.The clouds that normally drop their moisture onthe coastal sideof therange have been breaking over with surprising regularitythis season.

My olddesert friend T. D.McCall blames thewar. The dis-charge of all those explosives in theatmosphere—even on theother side of theearth—he declares, is causing a stratospheric

disturbance that affects theentire globe.I cannot vouch for that theory, butwhatever the cause, theexcessive rainfall hasbeen both an asset and a liability. Dry

farmers andcattlemen have reaped a benefit. Thedate growerslost a considerable part of their crop. Maturing dates will notstand much moisture.

The desert generally ismore verdant andcolorful than usual

at this time of the year. Unless freezing weather interferes, therewill bemany flowers on themesas and in thearroyos this win-ter.

# # *W e gotour geography mixed uplast month, and n theTrue

or False answers, placed thejunction of the Colorado andLittleColorado rivers above rather than below Lee's ferry. As a resultI have a whole basket full of themost gentlemanly kicks youever saw.

It really is a pleasure to get complaints from theQuiz fansThey are thekind of folks who invariably end their letters witha few kind words forDesert and itsstaff. They are good friendsWe' l l try not tocross them upagain.

* * *

With members of theSierra club, I camped one weekend inlate fall at thebase of theChuckawalla mountains near DesertCenter, California. Ourhost was Desert Steve Ragsdale.

Steve has a little cove back there among therocks where heparks his trailer and writes philosophical essays onthe iniquitiesof theNew Deal and thefrailties of human nature in generalMuch of what hewrites never reaches theprinter—but Stevegets itout ofhis system and has a lot of fun and noone ishu

We spent theevening around an ironwood campfire, andearly next morning took an oldtrail back into theChuckawallas. It was a trail built many years ago byTommy Jones, jackassprospector who belonged tothe old school ofShorty Harris anFrank Coffey. Tommy died 15years ago and hisbody now liebeneath a mound of rocks far up in Corn Springs canyon.

After twohours of climbing, thetrail ended at the "coyote

hole" where Tommy's last years were spent tunneling into thhillside in quest of that elusive vein of gold he was sure hewould strike sooner orlater. Henever made the big strike. Feof the old-timers ever did. They would nothave known what todo with abag ofgold if they had found it.

Instead they left behind a tradition of integrity and freedomand independence in thegreat outdoors—which after all is amore permanent legacy than anything that men can dig out the ground with picks and dynamite.

We packed along some coffee and hot dogs and ate oulunch in Tommy Jones' oldcamp—just a natural tunnel in ahuge pile ofboulders.

It was aglorious day's outing—with only one minor blunderWe allowed Steve tomake thecoffee. Steve's coffee is like hipoetry—and ifyou have never read any ofhis verse you'll know

what I mean when I explain that his recipe forthe great American beverage is twocups of water to one cup of ground coffeberries.




11. . . A VISITOR COULD SPEND A MONTH AT INDIO with a delightful

siistrip to a new area each day, and not begin to exhaust the possi-

bilities for sight-seeing and recreation

there." (signed)

HERE'S THE PROOF . . .

1st day—Date Palm Beach.2nd day—Biskra palms in Mecca

Hills.3rd day—Painted Canyon.4th day—Fish traps.5th day—Palm Canyon.Gth day—Cottonwood Springs and

Joshua Tree Nat' l . Mon.7th day—1000 Palms.8th da y—Dead Indian Canyon.9th day—Tahquitz Canyon.

10th day—Dos Palmos and SaltCreek gem s tone area .

11th day—Cat Canyon.12th day

—Aqueduct camps.13th day^-Lost Canyon and MonsonCanyon .

14th day—Pinon Flats, Ribbonwoodand Upper Palm Canyon.

15th day—Hidden Palms Oasis .ISth day—Deep Canyon.17th day— Willis, Curtis and other

palm groups .18th day—Palm Springs.19th day—Magnesia Canyon.20th day—Desert Hot Springs and

Two-bunch palms.21st day—Desert Center and Corn

Springs.

22nd da y—Aztec Canyon near Des-ert Center .

23rd day—Falls and Snow CreekCanyons .

24th day—Mullet Island and Paint

Pots.25th day—Palms to Pines Highway.26th day—Dale Mining area .27th day—Top of Santa Rosa Drive.28th day—Pushawalla Canyon.29th day—Date gardens and pack-

ing sheds .30th da y—Andreas Canyon.

HERE'S THE BEST PART . . .

Such authorities as Randall Hender-son, John Hilton, and others, havewritten articles and mapped travel-ogues about m any of the tr ips men-t ioned above. For detai ls as to themonth these t r ips appeared in theDesert Magazine, and informationabout other scenic tr ips—pleasewrite to The Indio Chamber of Com-merce, Indio, California.

DON'T FORGETThe people of Indio invite

you to the Riverside County

Fair and Date Festival, to be

held on the Fair Grounds,

February 19th to February

22nd, inclusive.

To readers of the Desert

Magazine, no ordinary fair

is this. All the fun and ex-citement of the Fair will be

there. Also, there will be

prizes and booth for gem and

mineral collectors, not to

mention all the other exhibits

of interest to lovers of the

desert!

PLAN TO BE THERE!

INDIO CHAMBER OF C O M M E R C EI N D I O , C O A C H E L L A V A L L E Y , C A L I F O R N I A

J A N U A R Y , 1 9 4 2 47



c fi

Rt 4-Bo* SSI

Riverside, Calif

Dec 43

r2 2

A typical adobe Ranch House being constructed on the property. One of the many homes at Desert Hot Springs.

T H I S F A S T G R O W I N G C O M M U N I T Yhas a population sufficient to justify all kinds of business.

SEE IT AN D YO U WILL AGREE

DE SE RT HOT SPRI NGS CAB I N SI T E S T RACT . . .

differs from any subdivision heretofore laid out anywhere inthe West. In principle, this is not merely a subdivision. Thisproperty carries with it features for the benefit of mankind,an d i t is almost impossible to describe the numerous advan-

tages that i t possesses.FIRST, this particular location is blessed with an abun-

dance of a very high standard of Hot Curative Mineral Water—both for drinking and bathing.

SECOND, it has a perfect elevation of 1332 feet, which pro-tects you from extreme desert heat and assures you of cool,delightful nights. Its elevation and close proximity to the foot-hills of the San Bernardino Mountains, protects you againstextreme desert winds. The violet rays from the sun are ex-tremely beneficial. Fog and dust are unknown.

THIRD, Desert Hot Springs Cabin Sites, located on thegentle southwest slope of the San Bernardino Mountains, af-fords one of the most spectacular views of the floor of thedesert and the snow-capped mountain peaks of San Jacintoarid San Gorgonio, which carry a blanket of snow far into thesummer—sometimes as late as the latter part of July.

The so-called Desert Cabin Sites a e in reality residen tiallots, 50x130 feet each. Water mains ere installed throughoutthe entire Tract. The water is furnished by the Desert HotSprings Mutual Water Co., a California Corporation.

Electrical energy is installed throughout the Tract and fur-

nished by the California Electric Power Co. The service is justas complete as in any Metropolitan area.

YOU SHOULD INVESTIGATE this thriving community, farfrom the hustle and bustle of the city throngs, where, by theaid of Nature's natural gifts, you can relieve your pains, wor-ries, trials and tribulations.

Where you can buy a lot, build a cabin to your own taste,for a little more than it would cost for an annual vacation.Where you have all modern conveniences—domestic water,electricity, two cafes, stores, lumber yard, weekly newspaper(The Desert Sentinel). (Motels and Trailer Courts in the mak-ing.

SEE DESERT HOT SPRINGS! Judge for yourself. You owethis trip to yourself and your family.

When you come, bring your bathing suits!

Write for further information, ma ps and d escriptive literature on Desert Hot Springs. Also Gu est Cards!

A C R E A G E . . .Have any amount of acreage with an abundanceof highly mineralized water, ranging from 120 F.to as h igh as 180 F., suitable for Hotels. RestHomes or Health Establishments of various kinds.

Something That Cannot Be Had Elsewhere

P A S A D f N A

DESERT HOT SPRINGS

194201 desert magazine 1942 january

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