194202 Desert Magazine 1942 February

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A typical clump of Foxtail cactus, showing the cha racteristic salt-and-pepperappearance. Photo b y the author.

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By GEORGE OLIN

< 4 / OX TA IL cactus," the descrip-/ tive common name of this plant

is perhaps the most suitableapplied to any of our native cacti. Almostanyone coming across a slender solitaryhead of this plant would exclaim, "Whyit looks just like a foxtail!"

Because of persistent collection by an

appreciative but thoughtless public, it hasbecome rather scarce. A sturdy little bar-rel shaped plant; a body covered withpure white spines tipped with black; aprofusion of large pink flowers in seasonthese are the factors which have led tothe inroads upon its numbers by both com-mercial and private collectors. A sad mis-

take for those who do collect it becausdoes not thrive under cultivation and sosuccumbs to a dry rot.

Coryphantha alversonii has a rangwhich can best be described as spottythat is, while occasional specimens mbe found over a wide area, colonies encountered only when certain conditiof altitude, drainage and mineral contof the soil are suitable. In a general wayrange extends from the coastal mountaeast to the Colorado river, and from northern borders of the Colorado deserthe Mexican border. Finest specimens mbe found in isolated patches through Chuckawalla mountains, the Coxcomountains, and the Joshua Tree natiomonument.

This species is the largest of the grof about a dozen which are native to Southwest (this excludes species suchCoryphantha aggregala which commonclumps into large mounds). It is usua

found as a solitary head until with agwill form a clump with sometimes a dobranches. Single heads will attain a sizup to 10 inches in height by 4 inches inameter. It attains its greatest size at atudes ranging from 3000 to 4500 fNear perfect drainage seems to be a resite and it is found sometimes wedtighly between crevices of the rocksmore usually on the edge of wide dewashes in the most coarse and gravsoil.

The plant body has as many as 20 rof short conical tubercles which ascspirally to the tip. The tubercles beadeep groove along their upper surfaThis is one of the identifying charactetics of the genus. The "foxtail" is vstoutly spineda tubercle sometihaving 30 or more radial spines andmany as 14 centrals. All spines are wthrough the lower half of their length dark brown to black near the tips. Tgives the plant the "salt and pepper"fect which furnishes it with its commname.

The flowers grow from the base of last mature tubercles in the tip of plant. Since the blooming season is

the growing season, the new spines intip are short and sparse and the floware free to open unhindered. There mbe as many as a dozen flowers, often inches in diameter and deep pink in coThe fruit is green, somewhat tinged wred when ripe. It is a long oval shape is easily plucked from between the spiIn flavor it resembles a rather sour stberry.

There has been no little controveover the botanical status of this plant.many years it was considered a varietyCoryphan tha deserti (Engelm.) Br. & but later authorities agree that it desespecies rank and Orcutt's description as Corypha ntha alversoniihas been geneally accepted.


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D E S E R T

Galettda/iJA N. 29-FEB. 1 Eighth annual tennis

championships, Palm Springs,

California.JAN. 31 Close of the month-long pho-tographic exhibit sponsored byS o uthw est C a c t u s Grower s,Southwest Museum, Los Angeles.California.

JA N. 31-FEB. 1 Rodeo at Palm Springs.JA N. 31-FEB. 1 W . E. "Andy" An.

drews will lead Sierra club hikersup Andreas and Murray canyons,out of Palm Springs.

FEB. 1 Climax of Gila River Round-up,Safford, Arizona. Started January21 .

1-15 Second annual Ne w Mexico pho-tography competition, Fine Artsbuilding, University of New Mex-ico, Albuquerque. Professionaland amateur photographers of thestate. Dean William McL. Dun-bar, of the university, chairman.

6 "California Des erts," subject forSierra club meeting at Boos Bros,cafeteria, Los Angeles. CatherineSargent, hostess.

6-7 Men 's invitational golf cham-pionship, Palm Springs.

7 California Quail champ ionshipfield trials, Banning, California.

7-8 Agua Piedra ski meet to be heldon ski course near Tres Ritos,New Mexico. Competit ion opento registered skiers in Rockymountain area.

7-8 Martinez and Aqua Alta canyons,Colorado desert, will attract Sier-ra clubbers, as they follow a newtrail discovered and scouted byMr. and Mrs. Russell Hubbard.leaders. Six to eight miles ofhiking, with a stream, probablyflowers, and view of Salton sea.

12-15 Phoenix rodeo, Phoenix, Arizona.Joe M. Pond, chairman.

13-15 University of Neva da winte rsports carnival and Inter-Collegi-ate ski meet, Reno, Nevada.

14-15 No rthern Ne w Mexico educa-tional association meeting, Raton,New Mexico.

15 Indian Tur tle dance, at Taos,New Mexico.

15 Neva da state press associationholds annual convention in Reno.Jsck McClosky, Hawthorne, pres-ident.

19 Comm unity concert at Albuquer-que, New Mexico, with RichardCrooks, tenor.

19-22 Riverside County Fair and DateFestival at Indio, California.

20-22 Fiesta de los Vaqueros, Tucson,Arizona. M. H. Starkweather,chairman.

26 Beginnin g of Lenten Rituals ofLos Hermanos Penitentes, Span-ish-American communities ofnorthern New Mexico.

Buffalo, Deer and Antelope dances held

in various New Mexico Indianpueblos during February, datesvariable.

Volume 5 FEBRUARY, 1942 Number 4

COVER

CACTICALENDARPHOTOGRAPHYRECREATION

TRAVELOG

CONTESTARTISTRY

FIELD TRIP

HISTORY

DESERT QUIZLOST MINE

PICTORIALART O F LIVINGBOTANYLANDMARKFICTION

NEWSBOOKSMININGHOBBY

PLACE NAM ESLETTERSCOMMENTPOETRY

"On the Arizona Range at Sunset ," photo byKegley, Phoenix, Arizona.

Co ryp hanth a alversonii , by GEORGE OLIN .Current events on the desertP riz e w in ni ng p ic tu re s in D ec em b er . . . .Up the West Face of Kofa Mountain

By RUTH DYAR M ENDENHALL . . . .We Found the Sheep Hole Palms

By RANDALL HENDERSONPrize announcement for FebruaryDecorations from Desert Deadwood

By CARLYLE ELLISTropical Corals in a Desert Cavern

By JOHN HILTON'We Cut a Cross'wrote Kit Carson

By CHARLES KELLYTest of your deser t knowledgeLost Quartz Vein of the Tonto Apache Indians

By JOHN D. MITCHELL

Scenic Yavapai County, ArizonaDesert Refuge, by MARSHAL SOUTH . . .Bladder Bush, by MARY BEALCalico Cem etery, by JOHN W. GARNER . .Hard Rock Shorty of Death Valley

By LON GARRISONHere and There on the Desert"Bonanza Rai l roads," and other reviews . .Briefs from the desert regionGems and Minera l s

Edited by ARTHUR L. EATO N . . . .Origin of names in the SouthwestCom ment f rom Desert Mag azine reade rs . .Just Betw een You an d Me, by the Editor . . ."Savagery, " and o ther poems

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The Desert Magazine is published monthly by the Desert Publishing Company,686Sta te Stre et, El Centro, California. Entered as second class ma tter October11, 1987, atthe post office at El Centro, California, under the Act of March 3, 1879 Title re gisteredNo. 358865 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, Associate Editor.Dick Older and A. J. Kupiec, Adv ertising Rand Henderson, 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 photogr aphs althoug h due care will be exercised for their safet y. Subscribers shouldsend notice of change of address to the circulation department by the fifth of the monthpreceding issue.

SUBSCRIPTION RATESOne year, including gold-embossed loose leaf binder $3.00Two years, including binders for both years 5.00

You may deduct SOc each for binders if not desired.Canadian subscriptions 25c extra, foreign 50c extra.

Address correspondence to Desert Magazine, 636 StateSt., El Centro, California.

F E B R U A R Y 1 9 4 2


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(locJzluuuidBy

LEONARD RICHARDSONEscondido, California

This unposed picture ofCarol Dawson is winner offirst prize in the monthlycontest conducted by Des-ert Ma gazine. It was takenwith a 21/4x21/2 Rolliecordcamera , 1/50 sec . at f: 16,on Panatomic X film, 2Xyellow filter.

Mo*iM me*tt ValleyBy ALFRED SCHMITZ

Oakland, CaliforniaWinner of the second prize in

Desert Magazine's December photo-graphic contest is this view in south-ern Utah. Taken with a Voigtlaender9xl2cm camera at f:16, 1/50 sec,light yellow filter, in early April.

Special Me.iitThe following photos were judged

to have special merit:"White Sands," by Helen A.

Young, Morris, Illinois."Desert Blossom," by Margaret

Bundren, Dallas, Texas."Cactus Apples," by Harry W.

Dacquet, Gardena, California.


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From the north, the 4650-foot peak of Kofa mountain in western Arizonais a comparatively easy climb. But until the past year there was no recordof any of the mountaineering fraternity having scaled the precipitouswest face of the greatmassif. Using a 130-foot rope for safety on the diffi-cul t pi tches , Ruth and John Mendenhal l and their companions made theascent without serious difficultybut had some uncomfortable momentswhen darkness overtook them on the way down. Here is the story of amountain adventure in a region where chol la cactus and catsclaw areamong the hazards of t ravel .

Up the We5t *Tace

Koj\& MountainBy RUTH DYAR MENDENHALL

rHE solid block of Kofa mountain, as purple in theearly November morning as; it had been by moonlight,rose from the desert flatness with the characteristic

abruptness of the desert ranges. The main massif tapered offto the north in a long line of sharp, imposing pinnacles andaiguilles. The usual route to the summit is by easy northernslopes. My husband John, Randall Henderson and his sonRand, and I, hoped to make the first ascent by Kofa's steep, for-bidding west face that Saturday.

The wide desert sky bloomed in a canopy of small, brightcloud-roses that faded to grey as, inside our sleeping-bags, westruggled into overalls and plaid shirts. Our campsite had beena broad wash 17 miles south of Cjuartzsite, Arizona, where adiminutive, rickety sign pointed from the Quartzsite-Yuma high-way up a tiny, rocky road to "Palm Canyon." A hurried break-fast was followed by a rocky, bumpy ride in the cars along thePalm canyon road for eight miles eastward.

At 8 a. m. we left the cars, shouldered knapsacks and rope,and tramped across gently rising land toward the bajada spread-ing from the deep, tremendous gap in the west face of Kofa,which split the mountain from skyline to desert floor in oneprecipice-walled "V." The rock's rich purple changed to brownas we neared it.

The name "Kofa" I had thought to be a fine Indian word,but learned that it was a contraction of "King of Arizona," amine on its south side. The mountain rises from an elevationof 1800 feet at the canyon mouth to 4650 feet. Crossing thedesert, we managed to disregard the majestic hulk before uslong enough to inspect the desert plants, all neatly spaced asin a frugal garden: dark green, fine-foliaged creosote, smoothleafed goat nut, gray small burro weed, innocuous-looking locoweed; desert treesironwood, catsclaw, and green-stemmedpalo verde; weird and peculiar cactihigh cylindrical saguaro;exquisitely pale green and deceptively fluffy-looking cholla,and ocotillo clusters of long wiry arms.

Our party entered the canyon and followed the broad washbetween rapidly rising walls of volcanic rock, yellow as ochreand rivalling the Sierras for spectacular sheerness. Small sidecanyons on either side cut the cliffs. High in one of them nestledpalms, said to be the only wild palms in Arizona. In this anda few of the other small canyons, 52 palms have been counted.A scramble up a loose chute gave a better view of the brightgreen, feathery trees that waved with a mirage-like quality be-tween the brown, close walls. There was none of the surface wa-ter usual where wild palms grow.

After this detour, we continued at a leisurely pace up thenarrowing watercourse, over boulders increasingly large and

John Mendenhall led up theprecipitous faces, and then be-layed the other members of theparty with a rope from above.

steep, some of them a peculiar pink conglomerate. The highwalls of the canyon and of the mountain's west face shot up-wards in tremendous, castle-crowned cliffs. In a great goldenamphitheater well up the canyon, we sat down to debate thebest route. The canyon divided into several high steep chim-neys, any one of which might provide a route to the top. Themost northerly of these seemed to offer an encouraging way.Eventually the parley rejected the gullies, and selected a routeto our left over scree slopes broken with sparse vegetation, to-ward a saddle to the left of serrated brown teeth jagging theskyline.

After much upward toil over unsteady scree, in vigorous sun-shine, we attained the saddle and peered eagerly over itonlyto find that the way did not open up behind the teeth in a prac-ticable route to the summit, as we had expected. Meager shadebehind some rocks, and cogitation over a sandwich, followed.

John decided to investigate a traverse beneath the teeth to ourright, back to the easterly canyon we had noted from theamphitheater below. He disappeared among rocks and

F E B R U A R Y 1 9 4 2


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was encouraging in route-finding; wherethe goats could go, surely we with modernrock climbing methods, could go as well.

The path dipped gently downwards,then upwards and across a rocky shoulder,then abruptly up into a deep brown chute.The chute doubtless provided pasturagefor the goats, as it was choked with spiny,thick growing things, through which we

shoved and scrambled and ripped ourway. The growth thinned, and gave wayto steeper going, rocky and loose. Itseemed incredible that a hoofed animalcould surmount these rocks, but the goats'path was marked unmistakably by theirsmall black oval droppings. Cautiousclimbing was now essential, lest a carelessstep dislodge rocks stuck precariously indirt banks, and send them rattling downon those below. Finally we gained a smallhollow, dead-ending beneath a brilliant

Dotted line shows the route taken by the climbers up Cliff canyon and thence by a

precipitous chute to a wide ledge which led almost to the summ it. Mu ch evidenceof mountain go ats, and one rattlesnake, were encountered along the way.

brush, and after a time called back to us.His voice came, a tangled thing of inter-mingling echoes, the words indistinguish-able in the medley of overlapping soundthat was like a musical round. Finally,when he shouted with long pauses be-tween words, we could understandnotthe original shoutbut the first echo ofeach word. The message was for us tocome.

The dim path beneath the great yellowwalls led cleverly among rocks and shrubs.Here, on the unclimbed, barren west faceof Kofa mountain, we were following thetrail of mountain goats. The knowledge

yellow, overhanging wall. Scrambling hadended, and any further progress would en-tail rock climbing.

John uncoiled the 130 feet of manilarope, changed from hiking shoes to crepesoled tennis shoes, and tied one end of therope around his waist. Sitting in the hol-low, I braced myself in a belay with therope about my hips, to protect the climber,and paid the hemp out cautiously as Johntraversed on small rounded holds acrossthe canyon's north wall. Careful climbing,upward and across the exposed face, tookhim over the skyline. A moment later, hecalled "Up!" and one by one the rest of

us followed, John belaying us from abWe were now on a broadshelf, a slop

ing ledge that followed the base of mountain's great brown crown southwto our right. Evidence of the goats wplentiful, and again encouraged us. If goats had been here, there must be a wto the top, a way men could follow. Cto the wall, the ledge was well-wo

chalky-grey rock; it dropped toward cliff edge, grey-green with grass; it ftened out, and shrubs covered it mthickly.

I was third in the procession of fwhen I suddenly heard a soft, chirrwhisper from the ground. I had ofwondered if I would know a rattlesnif I should come face to face with ondid. The rattle was a familiar sound ebefore the thick green body was slooped and vibrant in the grass a few away. W e w ere all rather startled, as it late in the year for a rattler to be seenthe desertprobably the heat of southwest exposure kept him out ofbernation. The inaccessibility of his hand the peculiar pale green color ofskin added to the snake's unusual chater.

The ledge now broke up into a wrocky shoulder, which we traversed tiously, protected by the rope, tillmerged again into a brush-grown commodious shelf that continued sobeneath the high grown wall. A climba short chimney at the end of the wbrought us abruptly out on an open shder of the mountain. Across the head deep gully, a long ridge led east to a cter of humps, two farther chocolcolored rises and a nearer pale one, onwhich must be the highest point. Sdelicate but easy rock work, in and outhe head of the great main canyon dropped down the west face, depositeon the ridge. We trudged up a small scased watercourse, speculating doubtless the nearest hump was nothighest, a thing which wouldn't be tural.

Our concentrated interest in reacthe peak was diverted by the remarkformations of chalcedony, beautif

crystallized "roses," which lay everywamong the gravel, waiting to be plucThese chalcedony formations, as bione's fist, are generally found worn battered at the bottom of canyons, wadown by streams. Those on Kofa's lie waxy and white, some streaked pink carnelian or a rich blue, their pcurling as if in full bloom, fresh ftheir natural mold.

At three o'clock the pale rise gained, and proved after all to be highest point. We had climbed 2800 above the desert, and sank down tiron the summit rocks to finish our lunand reduce the few drops of "precfluid" in our canteens. A rather ill-keheap of planks, ancient dry-cells, an

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bench mark distinguished the exact top, atriangulation point.

Almost 3000 feet beneath, the wonder-ful openness of the desert stretchedsmoothly off in every direction to a sky-line ring of mountains. Kofa's northernpinnacles, which had looked so importantthat morning, had diminished to a far lineof lowly needles. Small black buttes, pos-

sibly ancient volcanoes, studded the neardesert. Eastward an impressive sea ofsharp peaks churned up like waves. To thewest an elbow of the Colorado river bentinto view.

A cold wind and the late hour urgedhasty speculation as to the fastest routedown. The west side was decided on, withthe realization that we would have a racewith darkness and that, no doubt, dark-ness would w in. After a d etour back to therattlesnake place to regain a forgottencamera, a hurried descent was begun di-rectly into the main canyon which hadbeen crossed to reach the summit, andwhich promised a direct, speedy, and easyroute to the bajada. When the canyon fellaway in steep waterfalls, we uncoiled therope, doubled it about a convenient pro-tuberance of rock, and after passing itabout our bodies in such a way as to pro-vide friction, "roped down." After twoor three rope-downs, the angle of the can-yon eased off, and we went hurryingdownwards, scrambling over rocks,swinging down big boulders, sprintingto reach easier going before the earlynight. The darkness seemed to increaseby perceptible jumps, as if betweenwinks.

Left to rightJohn and Ruth Mendenh all and Rand H enderson at their basecamp following the ascent of Kofa peak.

The day had been warm and our can-teens inadequate, so everyone was quitedehydrated though pretending not to no-

Rand Hen derson {left) and Arthur Johnson erected a cairn at the top of K ofa on atrip subsequent to the one described in this story.

F E B R U A R Y 1 9 4 2

tice. All the way up there hadn't been adrop of water; on the way down a singlethreadlike trickle had been very bitter. Wewere running down glowingly white,scoured granite slabs when Randy sud-denly came to a tiny "tank" of water in ahollow of rock. The thirsty climberssniffed it suspiciously, then in turns, ly-ing prone, drank eagerly. It was clean,sweet water left from the late Octoberrains. There wasn't very muchbut itwas wonderful.

Then we dashed on clown the canyon,now surrounded by a tangible cottonydusk. Just as the light failed altogether,the canyon dropped awaythe steep stair-case simply fell away into a well like an

elevator shaft, black with depth and night.John prowled to the brink and tossed

experimental rocks into the emptiness.The sound of their striking came onlyafter seconds of silence. Just how far thedrop was it was impossible to tell, but itwas far enough so we could by no meansbe sure that if we roped down, the doubledrope would reach the bottom. Thatmethod of descent could not be chanced.

It was now as completely dark as it evergets outdoors. Thick clouds were massedover the stars. A flashlight had not beenincluded in the rucksacks, as we had ex-pected to be back at the cars early. Abivouac, hungry and thirsty as everyonefelt, had no appeal if it could safely beavoided. We now thought that a traverse,


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Specimens of chalcedony ''roses" brought back by the climbers as souvenirs oj the trip.These weird formations oj white agate are weathering out of the mother rock at the summ it.

upward and northward across the moun-tainside toward our morning's route,might lead to another canyon providing ameans of descent. Going entirely "byfeel," we started the climbing traverse. Inthe blackness I walked into a cholla. Thefiendish plants seem to be put togethervery carelessly, and a burr sprang eagerlyoff its stem, and fastened its wickedspines in my leg like teeth. John feltaround for a couple of rocks, and withthese implements as pliers, he jerked theburr loose. In the darkness I yanked outall the remaining spines I could seize.

Our wary traverse indeed brought usinto another canyon, which perhaps woulddescend with no impassable drop-offs.Our progress was still entirely by feel.Every step might have landed in a holeor on a hill. Another inspiration material-ized. Anything that grows on the desertseems to burn well, dead or alive, yet thefire does not spread. Dredging matchesfrom our pockets, and using tufts of softdry grass for kindling, we soon had a fineseries of bushes blazing enthusiastically

and lighting up our immediate vicinity. Itseemed a trifle incendiary to set fires sowantonly, but none the less the flamesbrightened spirits as well as the view.John climbed down cautiously. Randy andI spread little fires and hurled clumps ofburning matter down to John, till we hada line of small blazes stretching 30 or 40feet down the canyon. The ones behindus died out into handfuls of sparks, whilewe climbed cheerfully through our ownwalls of fire, and down the rocks dancingin light and shadow.

The fires all went out at once, as if byprearrangement, and as we were grovel-ling about in the rocks feeling for kind-ling that wasn't too prickly, and wastingmatches, our eyes reaccustomed them-

selves to darkness. The rocks which hadhitherto been invisible, began to shimmerever so faintly. At last the moon was ris-ingbehind the eastern buttress of themountain, shrouded heavily in clouds, butstrong enough to light, a little, the deepcanyon.

The water-scoured boulders now shonswhite, though the spaces between weregrey and of indeterminate depth, so wehad to feel our way gradually like blind

persons, swinging down on our arms,reaching out in a measured and tentativeway with our feet, carefully sliding andeasing ourselves along as though crippled.The descent was slow and tedious, but nolonger dangerous or impossible. The faintradiance on the rocks did not make visible

Among the "roses'' strewn over thetop of the peak, one of the climbers

found a "lily,"

the sparse and spiny vegetation, and evbush pricked and grabbed and scratchus. Our hands felt full of thorns, bsomewhat to our disappointment couldn't find any later. Long since, botanical exactitude had evaporatedeverything in the canyon was catsdawus: that's the way it acted!

Gradually the canyon walls towerhigher and higher to either side and hind. Almost imperceptibly the wat

course flattened out. The way had seemwithout end; but we knew we had joined the route of the morning, and wsure of getting out that night. At last passed the palm canyon, tramped dothe wash, over the bajada, and clambeout onto the desert floor.

Relieved though we were, a long trudyet remained. From the summit John aRandy had picked out the approximate cation of the cars in relation to a coniblack butte which now loomed fainperhaps a mile and a half to the wFrom the mountain, the desert had lookflat and smooth with a close network

green watercourses traced gently on surface; now the way lay across rourocky, gully-slashed, spine-infested laThe preceding night, the moon had showith such brilliance that one could mout the color of the wild flowers; toniit never broke through the clouds. At l1 3 hours after our start, we crossedruts of the road and with shouts discered the grey shadows of the cars. Awing us were the delights of plentiful cteen water, a campfire, tinned food, athen the sleeping-bags spread out instone-hard, rocky gullyunexcelled sheer luxury to the very weary. We instantly to sleep, while the purple-blbulk of Kofa stood strong and soagainst the eastern sky.

THE DESERT MA GA ZIN


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Sheep Hole palmsjust six of themin two groups. There is water at thebase oj the grou p in the foreground.

Grotto canyon, where flashlightsare needed to exp lore the natural tun-nels formed by erosion and rockfalls.

We round, the

Sheep -ffole Palm*Thirty-six years ago, George Wharton James followed an old Indian

trail that led to a little group of palms in Southern California's most unin-viting mountain area. The oasis was mentioned in James' book "Won-ders of the Colorado Desert." Since then it has rem ained virtually a "lostoasis" until Desert Steve Ragsdale recently led a group of Sierra clubhikers to the spot. Here is the story of a trip that every desert enthusiastwould enjoy.

By RANDALL HENDERSON

DIM trail leads . . . to awaterhole . . . in an arroyoknown as Sheep Hole Wash,

near two small groups of palms."George Wharton James wrote that no-

tation in his log-book in the winter of1905. Later it appeared in his classic vol-ume "Wonders of the Colorado Desert."

James, with Carl Eytel the artist, andLea Van Anderson as companions, wasfollowing his burros up Box canyon in theDos Palmas badland area that separatesthe Orocopia and Little San Bernardino

mountains in the Southern Californiadesert.According to his notes, he was about

F E B R U A R Y , 1 9 4 2

halfway up the canyon when he saw afaint trail leading over the ridge towardthe southeast. He followed the trail.

"From the ridge," he wrote, "one gainsan idea of the barren desolation of thisregion. No words can express it. And tosee the few palms quietly resting in thissheltered nook gives one a singular sensa-tion. There was no water to be foundwhen I stood at the base of the palms, butit is possible that if one were to dig hecould get a small supply."

For a long time I had wondered as to

the exact location of these palms. This w asan oasis I had never been able to find.Then one day Desert Steve Ragsdale,

Desert Steve Ragsdale (left) and Dr.Marko Petinak, at Hidden Springsoasis. They were leaders of the trip.

colorful "mayor" of Desert Center, men-tioned them. He had come upon themone day while prospecting the hills forwater.

The opportunity to visit them came afew weeks later when Steve offeredtolead a group of Sierra club weekend hik-ers to Sheep Hole Wash, and thence overanother ridge to Hidden Springs palmoasis.

The trip was arranged for early Decem-ber. Our rendezvous for the Saturdaynight camp was the broad sandy floor ofBox canyon 9.5 miles from Mecca, Cali-fornia. There were 68 in our party whenwe gathered around a huge ironwoodcampfire that evening for an informalprogram of song and extemporaneous en-tertainment.

John Hilton was there with his guitarand a fine collection of kodachrome pic-tures he had taken on his trip down thewest coast of Mexico last summer. Thanksto the genius of the Eastman technicians,it is now possible to hook a six-volt pro-jecting lamp to an ordinary automobilebattery and present a picture program any-where that an auto can go. John's lecturesare both entertaining and informative.

A slight breeze was blowing up thewash from Salton sea when we crawledinto our sleeping bags that night. But theair was not as chilly as one would expectat this time of the year. Next morning we

were up with the sun, and smoke was soonrising from a score of breakfast fires upand down the canyon.


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Salton SeaDotted line starting jrom the camp site in Box canyon and continuing over the ridges to

Sheep Hole palms and thence to Hidden Springs palms is the route taken by the hikers.

We found the old trail James had men-tioned. But it is not well marked, and forthe information of others who may want

to visit these palm groups I offer the fol-lowing directions: At a point 9.5 milesup-canyon from Mecca, or 2.3 milesdown-canyon from the site of Shaver's oldwell, park your car on the gravel on theeast side of the oiled road. Cross the floorof the canyon to a small tributary comingin from the east. There are two ironwoodtrees at the entrance to this small side-canyon. The trail that climbs up the ridgewill become visible when less than a quar-ter mile up the arroyo.

It was a half mile climb to the top ofthe ridge. I could understand why Jamesused the words "barren desolation" in de-scribing the view from this point. The sunwas gleaming on Salton sea 10 miles tothe south, but the landscape in all otherdirections was a chaos of highly-erodedclay hills. W ith the exception of the sandyarroyos below there seemed hardly a levelspot spacious enough to build a prospec-tor's cabin.

A passing traveler had erected a three-foot cairn of rock on the ridge, but as faras I could discover, had left no record ofhis identity.

From this summit we got our firstglimpse of Sheep Hole palms. Far belowus in the bottom of an arroyo w ere two lit-tle groups of three palms each, less than ahundred yards apart. The headless trunk

of a seventh palmevidently the victimof age and firestood on the slope nearthe lower group.

The trail, now well marked by the im-prints of the 50 or more hikers ahead ofus, wound off the ridge to the oasis. Nearthe base of the lower group, some animal,a coyote or possibly a mountain sheep, hadpawed away the sand and found water.But the spring had not been cleaned re-cently, and its present condition would beinviting only to one in dire need of water.

I have no doubt the trail we were fol-lowing was first trod by desert Indians.This may have been a main artery of travelfor tribesmen between the coastal rangeand the Colorado river. Perhaps wander-ing families settled here for a few daysor even weeks, though the sparsity of veg-etation and the absence of shelter wouldpreclude the likelihood of its being a per-manent camp.

We continued down Sheep Hole washa quarter of a mile past the oasis, climbedout on the east bank, following the trailtoward the summit of another low ridge.

Vegetation is sparse in this area. Therewere a few palo verde trees. Summer andwinter these spiny-leaved natives of thedesert remain green. Hence their name,which translates "green wood" in English.Ironwood and mesquite, two others of theeight native trees of the Colorado desert,were scattered along the arroyo. There w asa surprising absence of the cactus clan. A

few scrubby beavertails and an occasiondarning-needle or lady-finger were abothe only representatives of the desermost characteristic plant.

Crossing this second ridge, we droppedown into a broad arroyo which we sooidentified as Hidden Springs canyoThere is a passable automobile trail uthis canyona trail well known to madesert explorers for it leads to one of tmost picturesque oases in the Coloraddesertthe Hidden Springs palms.

Box canyon and Hidden Springs cayon both drain into Salton sea. They adeep wide arroyos with watersheds thcover large sectors of the Dos Palmas balands region. Their entrances, where themerge from the eroded clay hills an

spread their floodwaters over a broad bjada that slopes down to the shores of tsea, are about five miles apart.

But they draw together as they extenback into the hills, and the distance btween them at the point where we crossover is less than two miles. This is pertient information for desert travelers wwould like to visit Hidden Springs oaswithout the necessity of making the losandy pull up Hidden Springs arroyo.

Our trail led us into Hidden Sprincanyon about a half mile below the narow tributary in which the HiddeSprings are located. Heavy cloudbursvisited this region last August and tcanyon floor was clean and well packeFew cars had been this way since the flo

10


11/68

waters obliterated all trace of human vis-itation. The ironwood trees wore a richdeep coating of green. Desert Steve hadtied white rags along the route to guidethe stragglers in our party. It is no dis-grace to be a straggler on a Sierra clubouting trip. Generally those who lag be-hind are the botanists and photographersthose who refuse to be rushed along inan area of such natural and scenic interest.

Ahead of us, the canyon walls appearedto close together with vertical cliffs block-ing the way. But when we reached thatpoint we found an open gorge leading offat right angles to the general directionof the canyon. Beyond the gorge the pre-cipitous walls widened out again, creatinga natural amphitheater that is a most in-viting campsite. The sheer cliffs on thesouth side of this secluded cove arestreaked and splotched with highly-colored rock with a hundred shades ofbrown and red and purple and green.There are many "painted canyons" in the

Southwest, but none of them in my opin-ion have beauty and variation of color-ing that surpasses these walls during thebrief period of the day when the sunlightreaches them.

On the north side of the amphitheaterbeneath a spreading palo verde tree, acamper once erected a little palm-thatchedone-room sheltermodeled after thosetropical huts the natives build in the SouthSea islands. I do not know the builder, buthe must have been an artist. Some of thethatch has been swept away by wind andfloodsbut the evidence of his artistichandiwork is still there.

A little sign, "Hidden Springs%mile," points the way into a miniature sidecanyon at this point. Great blocks of con-glomerate have fallen from the cliff wallsabove and partially blocked the narrowpassageway along this tributary. The feetof many visitors have worn a trail over andaround and under these blocks to the

springs.

We were too busy picking our wayover this broken trail to think aboutpalms. Then we edged around the cornerof a huge boulder and the oasis suddenlycame into full view. One does not have tobe an artist to sense the beauty of this pic-ture. Thirty-eight majestic trees of theW'ashingtonia jilijera species are groupedabout a spring of clear cool water. Thetrees are natives. No one knows whencethey came or how long they have beenhere. Fire swept through them at one time,burning their lower skirts of dead fronds.But there is a generous supply of waterseeping up along the fault line thatcrosses the badlands at this point, and thetrees are green and vigorous.

Knapsacks were unpacked here, and asthe Sierrans rested in the shade of thepalms and ate sandwiches, Steve Ragsdaletold about some of the prospectors he hadknown during his 32 years on the Colo-rado desert.

One of his old-time friends was Justus

Hidden Springs oasis. The spring shown in this picture is always open. W ater m ay be ob-tained at other places in the o asis by digging a shallow hole in thesand. Photo by Dick

Freeman.

F E B R U A R Y 1 9 4 2


12/68

Eventually the walls opened up andwe emerged in a typical desert arroyat the upper end of the canyon neathe crest of the badlands. A sheep traskirts along the rim of the canyoabove, but it provides only precarioufooting for human beings.

We back-tracked along the samroute, and then took the right fork o

the main Hidden Springs canyon tPainted Cove where erosion has cr

Box canyon. Photograph taken justbeloiv the campsite mentioned in

this story.

Smith, who spent much of hislife picking and panning therock in this region. His eyesightfailed in his later years and Rags-dale provided a home for him atDesert Center. But Desert Cen-ter was too civilized, and theidleness made him unhappy. Heran away into the hills at everyopportunity. He had a cabin atChuckawalla springs and pre-ferred to stay there alone, pros-pecting as best he could. Rags-dale would often drive out there withcanned foods. Justus could not read thelabels on the cans, and never knew whathis meal was to be until he opened a canand tasted the contents. But he was happythere despite his handicaps.

The fates were not altogether unkindto Justus Smith. Steve Ragsdale told ofone of his trips into the hills searching forthe old man. He found Smith poundingrock in his mortar and panning it forcolor. "He did not recognize me, even

when I approached within three feet ofhim," Steve explained, "but by somestrange quirk of vision, he could see thetiny flakes of gold in his pan." Thus hewas able to carry on his prospecting to theend of his days.

After lunch we took the back trail toHidden Springs canyon and then contin-ued up the main water-course to Grottocanyon. This is an excursion for those wholike to explore caves.

The main course of Hidden Springscanyon forks less than a quarter of a mile-above the palm-thatched shack. We fol-

lowed the left fork approximately a halfmile to a point where the gorge appearedto end in a vertical wall of rock with a

This butte oj clay and gravel is an"island" that has ivithstood the erosion of jloodwaters in Box canyon.

huge pile of boulders at its base. Ragsdale,leading the party, scrambled over andamong these boulders and disappeared ina concealed passageway. We followed himinto a dark narrow tunnel where flash-lights were necessary to make sure of ourfooting. We came to a 12-foot drop in thefloor of the tunnel, but Ragsdale had be-layed a rope to aid members of the partyin making the descent. Then for nearly aquarter mile we followed the narrowgorge of Grotto canyon.

This place is well named. Our route ledus along the floor of a watercourse withvertical walls so close we could barelysquirm through in places. Huge chunksof rock, fallen from the high cliffs over-head and wedged between the sidewallshad created long tunnels of pitch black-ness. Occasionally we would emerge fromone of these tunnels into dim light provid-ed by a narrow slit of sky between thewalls above. There is nothing especiallydifficult about this passage, but do notattempt it without a flashlight.

ated many colorful patterns in the rocformations.

Returning to Box canyon over the trawe had followed earlier in the day, I esmated our excursion had totalled six milone of the most interesting hikes to found in the entire Colorado desert.

Reaching the floor of Box canyowhere our cars were parked late that aernoon I had that pleasant sort of tireness that comes from a long ramble ova rugged scenic desert terrain.

As I came down the trail into Box cayon, a Sierran just ahead of me haclimbed into his car and turned on tradio. Into the still atmosphere of thpeaceful desert canyon boomed the word"Hawaii and Philippines bombed!"

Our day had been spent in Natureworld of peace and harmonywhethere is strength without greed, conflwithout cruelty, beauty without selfisness, and courage without lust for powe

And then this!Evonne and Rand, my daughter anson were with me. We walked to our c

12 THE DESERT MA GAZ IN


13/68

There are 38 veteran palms at Hidden Springs, with a number of smaller ones. Photo by Dick Freeman.

and tuned in our own radio. From manystations th e details of the treachery at PearlHarbor and Manila were coming.

We drove out of the canyon in silence;behind us a world created for man toown and enjoy; somewhere ahead outacross the Pacifica tragedy that will af-fect directly the lives of every one of usand bring bereavement to many.

"I plan to enlist," Rand told me thatevening, "as soon as my place can be filledin the office."

For him, for your son, for all of us, thefuture is uncertain. But when this war isoverof one thing we can be sure: Thedesert will be there waiting, silent, un-changed, and in its grim horizon is to befound the secret that will help men toend warsthe secret of the perfect balancewhich human society can acquire byadherence to the unalterable precepts ofNatural Law. It is a long and painfulcourse of instruction, and we humanshave just begun to glimpse its great

truthsbut Nature is a patient teacher,and the desert her most interesting class-room. _ .

Each month the Desert Magazineoffers cash awards of $5.00 and$3.00 for first and second 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 theresidence of the photographer. Sub-jects may include Indian pictures,plant and animal life of the desert,rock formationsin fact everythingthat belongs essentially to the desertcountry.

Following are the rules govern-ing the photographic contest:

1Pictures submitted in the Febru-ary contest must be received at the Des-ert Magazine office by February 20.

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

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

4Prints must be in black and white,3V4X5V2 or larger, and must be on glossypaper.

Pictures will be returned only whenstamped envelopes or photo-mailers areenclosed.

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

Winners of the February contestwill be announced and the picturespublished in the April numberof the magazine. Address all entriesto:

Contest Editor, Desert Maga-zine, El Centro, California.

F E B R U A R Y 1 9 4 2


14/68

Desert lantern {evening primrose) in p hotographic silhouette. For use as a wall design.

Some years the rain gods are geneious and thedesert is carpet ed w ith flowers. This, how ever, is theexception rather than the rule. But no matter whatthe season may br ingrain or droughtthere are

always colorful decorations in the restful patio ofCasa del Adobe at Palmdale , Cal i fornia , where Mr.and Mrs. Henry W. Mennig are host and hostess .Mrs. Mennig has discovered that the dryest weedsand sticks on the arid horizon make lovely decora-tions if properly arranged. Carlyle Ellis has told aninteresting story about how she does it .

By CARLYLE ELLISPhotographs by the author.

f/ OME rare and happy souls find beauty everywhere, in almost everything. On the desert they go into a glow

of pleasure over the darnedest thingslike weathered

sticks, dry stems and grasses, oddly shaped and colored podsand plant skeletons.This is not a pose. It is real. I found that out. These fortun-

ate mortals really have some magic touch of the divine imagina-tion that is denied the rest of us. They see color harmonies andare sensitive to rhythms in design that we others miss entirely.

Fortunately some of these keenly-tuned folk are also inter-preters and so can help us to see with their eyes. Half my deepenjoyment of the desert has come in this wayfrom thosewhose sympathetic vision made it a wonderland in a new way.

Take the question of color: Anyone will thrill to a purplesea of lupine or a hundred acres of poppies in a solid orangeoutburst. That is beauty but of a rather obvious sort. I find thatartists get much more excited over a combination of rust-redbuckwheat and blue-grey sagebrush against buff-toned rock

the sort of pastel-painting that nature does everywhere on thedesert.What is more, they will make you see it. That, I suppose, is

Mrs. Henry W. Mennig ofCasa del Adobe arranging herdesert "deadwood" for table decoration.

what artists are for. They are interpreters trying to share wus plain folk the joy they get from common things.

There is another sort of artistry that finds expression on desert. It is the sort that takes the objects themselvesnatucastoffs, as a ruleand gives them decorative value by arreing arrangements. Many of us have tried our hands at that few have shown the artistic imagination of my neighbor, MMennig.

The Henry W. Mennigs built themselves a desert ranhome of adobe 20 years ago in Palmdale, California. Thartistry has made it a place of pilgrimage. The sprawling mansion is called the Casa del Adobe and is located near southern border of the Mojave desert, on the level floor of

part known as Antelope valley. Though this is not the marid or barren part of the Great Basin it meets all the trational requirements as to sun, sand and sagebrush. Thus

14 THE DESERT M AGA ZINE


15/68

gathered when plants are dormant or theirlife has passed.

The quest has been rich in results. Toher the desert has yielded a wealth ofhitherto neglected beauty and she hasbeen so successful as its interpreter thatshe is the unintentional founder of a newenterprise.

I was witness to one of her typical dis-

coveries and it was an amusing as well asenlightening experience. Christmas prep-arations were at hand and a party of usdrove east across the Mojave for desertholly. We took Mrs. Mennig along andit happened to be her first visit to our

Branch of a M ojave desert saltbushmounted just as it was cut.

Casa is singularly at home in its settingand a fitting place for the self-expressionthat so well illustrates my theme.

Before the Mennigs started to buildthey spent months in pilgrimages to themore famous adobes remaining from pio-neer days. By this pleasant preparationthey became saturated with the architec-tural traditions and atmosphere of OldCalifornia. Then they planned their ownhouse in this spirit and lived with it untilthey could live in it. The Casa has beengrowing in grace and graciousness undertheir hands ever since.

At the root of this is a sincere love ofthe desertnot just an uncritical enjoy-ment, but an intimate friendship, culti-vated through the years, with all the as-pects of nature. Henry Mennig has ex-pressed it by bringing the desert right tothe front doorfilling his yard with arepresentative collection of native trees,shrubs and plants. Mrs. Mennig plannedthe interiors, furnishing and decoratingin subdued tones to create an atmosphere

mellow with well-filled years, rich inpeace and welcome, the whole seemingcompletely indigenous to the soil.

Chinaberry, the nut-like fruit o f the umbrella tree. This native of India and Persiaflourishes on the American desert where it is ividely used as a shade tree. Theberries are a warm ivory in color and this deepens to sepia in a few months. T he

nuts are not dropped until the following year's crop is set.

The effect is subtle. One cannot saythat this or that does it. But it is proventrue when one sees that the showy flow-ers brought from city greenhouses looklike gaudy strangers in these surround-ings, whereas native wildflower arrange-ments are happily at home.

And so the wildflowers in their seasonring bells of beauty. But there are longstretches of the year when the desert ar-rays itself with few if any flowers. Thislack turned Mrs. Mennig's interest todecorative plant materials that could be

goala mining property in a little-frequented region back of Trona.

We found the cherished hollyacresof it, all velvety white of leaf and stem.The lady of the Casa had eyes for lessfamiliar things. This holly is really a mem-ber of the saltbush tribe of the pigweedfamily. It thrives in alkaline soils. There,too, flourish its saltbush relatives. Thesewere what captured Mrs. Mennig. Theyhad no leaves but their stems were aswhite as the holly, and, to her, far moreinteresting. She saw what the rest of us


16/68

failed to seea fantastic beauty in thebare and twisty stems.

"Just weeds and mighty unpleasantones at that," we declared, but she insist-ed on a harvesting. Time and distance, itseemed, did not matter. Luncheon didnot matter. Our jeers did not matter.There was no denying her, and we drovehome the hundred miles buried in as un-promising a cargo of colorless brush asany respectable car ever carried.

In shallow bowls our enchanted neigh-bor placed selected branches of the pig-weeds, fixing them in small mounds ofcement suitably toned with water color.One of the resulting pieces is reproducedherewith. When it was shown us we free-ly relented, comparing it to the works ofancient Japanese artists. Our botanicalmember identified it as just the commonshadscale, and another as spiny hop-sage.But Art had glorified them. We wouldhave pa;d them the honor of their botani-cal name, Chenopodiaceae, if we couldhave pronounced it.

Another variety of loot from this excur-sion was a bouquet of desert trumpets, amember of the buckwheat genus thatflourishes thickly around Randsburg. Theinflated hollow stems were found mottledwith coppery reds and deep yellowsamong the greens, and the colors re-mained on the dry and fragile plants allwinter, yielding an unfailing spot of beau-ty when well arranged.

More widely distributed, the desertlantern is a prime source of decorative mo-tifs as it is of wonder, even to many des-

ert-dwellers. It is hard to realize that thevelvety primrose plants, spreading sosquatly on the sands, can transform them-selves into these tough, grey skeletons.But the skeletons have inherent beauty,as Mrs. Mennig proves. They have yield-ed des'gns for a bookplate, for woven andstencilled fabrics, for fireplace tiles andfor ornamental metalwork. They can evenbe made effective as veritable lanterns,suiting informal outdoor corners.

It was the shadscale branches, however,that really started something. The Lady ofthe Casa sent several of the arrangementsto Pasadena and Los Angeles at Christ-mas. The gifts were seen and admired,partly because of their novelty. A prom-inent interior decorator greeted them withenthus;asm and asked for more. The de-mand has grown, so that Mrs. Mennigfinds herself with an infant industry onher hands, and one that is very much toher liking. The industry is on its way tobecome a community affair and even theschool children are learning something ofthe beauties that are so near at hand andso rarely recognized.

There:n is the moral of this tale, if amoral is needed. All about us, whereverone is, but especially on the desert, is love-

liness hidden only by our own lack ofvision. Even bleached miles of sun-scorched desert yield unexpected joys ifwe look with open eyes.16

For Nature is an unwearied and ingeni-ous artist. As Shakespeare said of a muchmore fallible lady: "Age cannot withernor custom stale her infinite variety."

AboveDry skeletons of desert trumpetBelowDesert holly and white brush.


17/68

/ topica In

avetnBy JOHN HILTON

In one of the limestone cavernsnumerous in California's Providencemountains, John Hilton found wellpreserved spe cim ens of coral originally deposited probably mil-lions of years ago in a tropical sea.The Providence range is rich in ma-rine fossils, and it is also the home oftwo very hospitable veterans of the

desertIda and Jack Mitchell. Youwill become better acquainted withthem through Hilton's story.

/I T WAS long after dark when Har-V/ low Jones and I left Highway66

at Essex on the Mojave desert ofSouthern California, and took the side-road marked "Mitchell's Caverns."

Jack Mitchell had invited us out to hishome at the base of the Providence moun-tains to look at some fossil rocks he hadfound in that area.

As we followed the well-graded roadacross the floor of the desert we could seea light far ahead. It appeared and disap-peared like a tiny star on the horizon. Ourheadlights picked out an occasional treeyucca among the cacti and smaller desertshrubs that grew on both sides of the road.

After a few miles the road began toclimb, and we knew we were on the greatbajada that rises from the desert floor tothe toe of the Providencemassif. The lightgrew larger and then we could make outthe dim silhouette of a craggy range be-yond it.

We had never met the Mitchells, butfelt that we knew them from the thingswe had read. The cheery welcome thatgreeted us at the door of their comfortablerock home served to emphasize that feel-ing. It was not unnatural that we shouldbe received as old friends, for after all webelong to the same fraternitythe frater-nity of desert dwellers and rock hounds.These ties are stronger than those of manymore formal organizations with presidentsand dues and gold keys.

A few minutes later we were gatheredin the guest room and Jack Mitchell waswarming up to his favorite subjectthecaverns. "Now take those corals downthere 275 feet underground," he said."Where else can you see stalactites andocean corals side by side?"

"Wait a minute," I cut in. "Did you saycorals? Are you sure they aren't just coral-shaped lime formations?"

"Sure they are corals," he repeated."The mountain is full of them, and fossilshells too. They belong to the early car-boniferous period of geologic history andonce thrived in a warm tropical sea. I'llshow them to you in the morning, and alot of other things you wouldn't believe

existed on the side of a desert mountain."So I let it go at that.I awakened before sunrise. The tints in

Above"Cave corals." These are limestone formations which often resem ble truecoral in form.

BeloivTrue fossil corals found along with thestalactites in the Mitchell cavernsin the Mojave desert.


18/68

Petrified bark of a redw ood tree, found at the base of P rovidence mountains nearthe Mitchell caverns.

the eastern sky gave promise of a colorfulsunrise, and I started to dress in order totake a colored picture of one of those fam-ous Mojave sunrises. But the pattern onthe eastern sky was changing rapidly andI finally had to choose between putting onmy shoes or taking the picture. The shoes

were still in the house when I snapped theshutter.After breakfast Jack called me out into

the yard. During the next half hour I sawan interesting collection of old frontier

wagons, an electric light plant, a petsquirrel, a peacock, and a lazy catfishnamed Bolivar. Then Jack started throw-ing handfuls of grain among the rocks andcalling "chukker, chukker, chukker."There was a whirr of wings and a flockof partridges came flying in from all di-rections for their breakfast. By the timewe had inspected the gem-cutting shopand examined pieces of fossil shell andcoral lying about on the ground, I was

willing to believe most anything Jack tome.

There were boulders of red andesitabove the house, with nodules of greenish common opal, making good specimematerial. Fossils of marine life seemed be everywhere. Many of these are imbeded in grey marble that lends itself to cuting and polishing. Mitchell has some othese polished specimens in his workshoand in a display case in the guest roomHe told me he would be pleased to havDesert Magazine readers collect specimeon his 160-acre homestead so long as theare willing to follow this simple rule of nbreaking up rocks, and are content withmoderate group of samples for their owprivate collections. "I have some nicspecimens of onyx cut from one of mcaverns which they may have as souveirs," he added.

The trail that leads to the caverns wibe of special interest to botanists. MaBeal, who frequently visits this area fobotanical study, has identified the shruband cacti along the way with labels. Jacclaims no rating as a scientist, but he hgathered a store of interesting informatioabout the things in his part of the deseOne gets the impression that he regarevery rock and plant and animal as a pesonal friend.

We stopped at a cavern once occupieby Indians, and he showed us some othe artifacts excavated from the cave duafter he acquired his homestead here.

I am not going to try to describe thMitchell's caverns in this article. Thstory of the caves and their stalactites anstalagmites was told in a previous issuof Desert Magazine. But we found min


19/68

Jack Mitchell's workshop, where he cu ts and p olishes the minerals jound in the Providence mountain area.

eral exposures here of special interest torock and fossil collectorsand I want totell about these.

Jack led us down through one of thecaverns to a small opening just largeenough to crawl through. The entrancewas festooned with onyx curtains thatlooked soft as cloth. A flashlight behindthem showed their glassy transparency.Overhead was a group of stalactites thathad been broken by a destructive visitorwho was here before Mitchell took overthe caverns. Jack took a stick and playeda tune on the stub ends of these stalactites.The effect resembled the tones of a xylo-

phone.Then Jack told the tale about the chapwho was reported to have visited one ofthe other well known caverns. This visitordeclared after he emerged that bats flyingaround in the chamber would brushagainst the stalactites with their wingsand create strange weird music.

This yarn is quite at variance with thereport of scientists who undertook to set-tle the long-disputed question as towhether or not bats can see in the dark.They hung silk threads from the ceilingof a bat cave with tiny bells at the end ofeach thread. According to their experi-

ment, the bats circled around the roomwithout ringing a single bell.There are few bats in that part of the

Mitchell caverns which is open to thepublic. In fact we did not see a single oneduring our visit. It may be that the su lphurfumes from the red flares we carried haddriven them to other compartments in thevast underground chain of passages.

Finally Harlow and I crawled throughthe onyx-festooned opening to see thecorals Mitchell had told us about. Thispassage generally is not open to visitorsfor it extends on the horizontal about 125feet, and then makes a sheer drop of 75feet. Harlow remarked that this wouldmake a swell dark room for his photo-graphic laboratory.

The corals were there, several coloniesof them on the left w all. Percolating w aterhas eroded them out of their grey lime-stone matrix so that they stand out nowas perfect as that day, millions of yearsago, when some cataclysmic disturbancesent them dizzily careening to the side ofa newly forming volcano. What a storythese corals could tell, of violent earthshocks, extreme temperatures, strangegases and millions of years of unbrokendarkness.

There were other passageways leadingoff from the tunnel we were in and wethought it would be fun, if we had rope,water and food, to spend days exploringthese passages. Later Jack Mitchell toldus it wasn't as easy as that. One never

knows, he said, whether the floor is genu-ine or merely a layer of dust supported bybroken stalactites which have jammed inthe entrance to a pit. Every foot of rockmust be carefully tested, and ropes usedfor safety. He has had some rather terrify-ing experiences on such exploration tripshimself.

We returned from the caverns to an ex-cellent lunch prepared by Mrs. Mitchell.In the afternoon Jack took us to a place onthe side of the mountain where there is anabundance of fossil coral and shells ingrey polishable marble. There will beplenty of specimens for all who come, he

assured us, without picking up any of thespecimens along his Nature trail.We left the Mitchell home reluctantly.

They have a little kingdom all their ownout here in the Providence mountains.They have the contentment that comesonly from close association with naturalthings. One of Jack's remarks, as we wereabout to leave, was that he wouldn't tradeplaces with Ford, Dupont or the Maharajaof Indor. He is wealthy in the things heloves. They mean more to him than fac-tories or the Rajah's jewels. His only re-gret was that he had not come to this place20 years earlier in life. There is too muchto see and enjoy and learn for one shortspan of life. -


20/68

...

. . > .

Summit of FremontIsland, showing cross chiseled by Kit Carson in 1843. Thecross was chalked in order to ma ke it visible for photographic purposes.

wtote Kit Gat5onBy CHARLES KELLY

Charles Kelly's hobby is thequest for old names and datescarved on the rocks by the pio-neers who explored the Westwhen it was still wild. He hasfound these records carved inmany odd places. Here is thestory of one of his most unusualdiscoveriesa cross chiseled atthe summit of an uninhabited is-land in the Great Salt Lake. Itwas put there in 1843 by menwhose names are well known toall students of western history.

^yEVERAL years ago an old pros-1 pector told me that on Fremont

island far out in the Great SaltLake of Utah he had seen a cross with adim date chiseled beneath it on a boulderat the summit of the rocky promontory.

The date, he said, was 1561. Since thatwas many years earlier than any of theknown Spanish explorations into theGreat Basin, I was skeptical regarding thisdetail, and decided that sooner or later

I would visit the place.The opportunity came recently when

Dr. Thomas C. Adams invited me to joinhim on a cruise of the lake that would in-clude a stop at Fremont island.

It took us 12 hours to reach the islandfrom the northwest shore in a power boat.As soon as we landed I started to climb tothe summit to search for the reportedcross and date.

We had no difficulty in finding thecross, very sharply cut on the surface ofthe highest point of the island. It had ap-parently been done with an iron chiseland still showed distinctly against theblack surface of the rock, although partlycovered with lichens. But there was no

date of any kind to indicate how long ithad been there or who cut it.

Th e m ysterious cross was a puzzle to allof us. Those familiar with early Spanishexplorations insisted it had been putthere by some unknown expedition fromMexico or Santa Fe. Some thought itmight have been made by French trap-pers soon after the original discovery ofthe lake.

I was sure that somewhere in the old

records of exploration in the W est I w ouldfind a clue to the identity of the man whocarved that symbol. My quest led backthrough the pages of history to 1824, thedate when James Bridger is credited withhaving discovered the island.

The following year James Clyman andthree companions in a "bull boat" cruisedits shores in search of an outlet to the west.It was believed at that time the Salt Lakedrained westward into San Francisco bay,and many of the old maps show such amythical river.

Because of the absence of fresh wateralong its shores practically nothing wasdone in the way of exploration by beavertrappers during the next 20 years. Moun-tainous islands could be seen from the

shore, but apparently they were nevevisited. To navigate the mysterious waterin a circular boat of buffalo hide was noexactly a pleasure trip, as those first voyagers had discovered. Lacking definitknowledge, the superstitious trapperpeopled the islands with a strange racsurrounded by animals and vegetation unknown on the mainland. They reportefinding hewn timbers along the shore, indicating that the islands were inhabited bIndians with considerable skill in usintools. An enormous whirlpool in the midle of the lake was said to suck into ivortex anything which floated neaMonsters were supposed to live in thdeeper parts of the briny waters.

Except for three small rivers and few creeks emptying into the lake at isouthern end, its shores were most inhopitable. Along two-thirds of its shorelinno fresh water could be found. The GreSalt desert adjoining it on the west extended for 80 miles, perfectly level, sacovered, and without a blade of grass. I1833 Captain Joseph Walker with a company of trappers, attempted to circle thnorth end of the lake but were forced turn back after nearly dying of thirst. I

20 THE DESERT M AGA ZINE


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1841 the Bidwell-Bartleson party, withthe first wagons to enter what is nowUtah, tried the same thing with disastrousresults.

For these reasons there was not muchdefinite knowledge of the Great Salt Lakewhen John C. Fremont visited it in1843. It was one of his prime objectivesto map the lake and examine some of its

islands. For the latter purpose he hadbrought with him across the plains, withmuch labor, a collapsible rubber boat inwhich he proposed to navigate the saltwaters. The idea was new and the pro-cesses of manufacture only an experiment.

Fremont and his party camped on thelake shore near the mouth of Weber river.As far as the eye could see the water wascovere-d with birdsducks, geese, swansand gulls. None of his men had ever seenanything like it before and they amusedthemselves by firing their guns and watch-ing the entire surface of the lake rise intothe air with a thunderous pounding ofmillions of wings.

On September 9, 1843, the rubberboat was inflated and prepared for an ex-pedition to the nearest island, a supply offresh water being carried in rubber bags.Besides Fremont, the crew selected for thisexperimental voyage consisted of Kit Car-son, Preuss the cartographer, Basil La-jeunesse and Baptiste Bernier. Carson,who had the reputation of being the mostfearless of mountain men, was decidedlynervous about the undertaking. The signswere all wrong and he anticipated theworst.

frill/ f

Triangulation point erected on Carringtonbury in

The large island which was the objec-tive of their voyage, appeared to be but afew miles distant, but it was late afternoonbefore they reached its shores after strenu-ous paddling. Fremont, Preuss and Carsonimmediately climbed to the summit, 800feet above the lake, to obtain an extensiveview while Preuss worked on his map.The three French trappers explored forevidences of strange forms of life butfound nothing. There was no evidencewhatever that the island had ever beeninhabited. From the highest point of the

Rock cairn on Antelope island, Great Salt Lake, which contained a m etal tube leftby Capt. HowardStansbury in 1850.

island, Great Salt Lake, b y Capt. Stans-1850.

island Fremont with his telescope pickedout objects and estimated distances forPreuss. He laid the brass cap of his tele-scope on a rock beside him and laterthoughtlessly walked off and left it.

The party camped that night on the is-land, sleeping soundly without fear of at-tack, for the first time since entering theIndian country. Next morning they begantheir return journey and in leaving namedthe place Disappointment island becausethey had failed to find any of the wondersconjured up by the imaginations of thetrappers. Of this return journey Carsonsays:

"Had not left the island more thana league ivhen the c louds comm encedgathering for a storm. Our boat leak-ing, wind kept one man continuouslyemployed at the bellows. Fremon t di-rected us to pull for our lives, if ivedo not arrive on shore before thestorm commenced ive will surely allperish. We had not more than landedwhen the storm commenced and inan hour the w aters had risen eight orten feet."

Carson stretched the truth somewhat inindicating the rise of the waters; but it isa fact, due to the shallowness of the lake,that a heavy wind will pile the waters ontothe shore to a considerable depth. Thevoyagers, encrusted with salt from thesplashing waves and flying paddles, wereall thankful to be once more back on firmground.

No further attempt to explore the lakewas made until 1849-50, when CaptainStansbury made the first official govern-ment survey. He erected tripods coveredwith white muslin on various islands astriangulation points, some of which, longsince minus the muslin, are still standing.At certain points he built rock monuments

F E B R U A R Y, 1 9 4 2 21


22/68

in which were placed solderedtin tubescontaining recordsof his survey. I wasfortunate enoughto retrieve one of thosetubes in 1930, badly rustedbut still con-taining the sheet of paper.

Stansbury, having read Fremont'sre-port, made a careful searchfor the brasscap of Fremont's telescope, left theresixyears before, but it could not be found.

He changed the island's name fromDis-appointment to Fremont in honor of thePathfinder's original visit.

In reading the log of Fremont's visitto the island, I concluded thathe wasthemost likelyone among all those earlyex-plorers to have carved the cross in therock. He was of the Catholic faith,andhad cut a similar crosson IndependenceRock in South Pass.But if Fremonthadmade it, why had he not also cut an ac-companying date?

It was not until the publication of Sa-bin's "Kit Carson Days" thatI foundthetrue answer. In telling of the expeditionto Disappointment island, Sabin quotedfrom "Kit Carson's Own Story of HisLife," edited by Blanche C. Grant, inwhich Carson himself said:

"We ascended the mountain andunder a shelving rock cut a largecross which is there to this day."Although Kit Carson cut his nameon

large trees in various parts of the westduring those early daysas a trapperandexplorer, this crosson Fremont islandisthe only known mark leftby him in thestate of Utah. Likewiseit is the only markleft by any memberof the old Fur Brigadein the vicinity of the Great Salt Lake.Many of those hardy mountaineers, likeJim Bridger, could neither read nor write,but it seems strange that those who wereliterate and who realized they wereex-ploring absolutely virgin country,did notleave more recordsof their passingon therocks.

As my friend, J. Roderic Korns, oftensays: "The government should havefur-nished all those early trappers with chis-els and ham mers."

B I N D E R SF o r y o u r

D e s e rt M a g a z in e sSPECIAL GOLD-EMBOSSED

LEATHERETTE BINDERSKeep your copiesof Desert Maga-zine neat, cleanand convenient.Each binder holds12 copies. Simplyinsert your newissue each month.

00

(Plus SalesTaxin Calif.)

THE A f W ^ j # mRGflZriE636 Stun.- atreet til Centro, California

A D C A I CET Here's more brain exercisefor the DesertU K r A L w t Magazine's Trueor False fans. The answers

to all these questions have appearedin Desertat some time during the last four years.If you haven't been readingthe magazinethat long, try the test anyway. You will learn something fromit even if your scoreis not high. If you know 10 correct answers youare better informed thanthe av-erage person. Onlythe dyed-in-the-wool desert fans score15 bullseyes. Thosesuper-humans who know more than15 of the answers are either very smartorvery lucky. The answers areon page24.

1The ripple-like surface often seenon sand dunesis caused by water.True False

2A "mud-saw"is a tool used primarilyfor cutting adobe blocksfor construc-tion purposes. True False

3The Bill Williams riveris in Arizona. True False

Taos, New Mexico, derivesits name from a former Spanish governor.True False

5Salt Lake Cityis the capital of Utah. True False

6 Most o the mineral wealth that came fromthe Calico mountainon theMojave desert during the boom period was silver. True False

7Wild turkeysare still found in the White mountainsof Arizona.True False

8Mature ironwood treesare taller than catsclaw. True False

9The old Mexican trail knownas Camino del Diablo passed through Tucson.True False

10Charleston peakis visible from Reno, Neva da. True False

1 1 T . E. Lawrence's book "The Seven Pillarsof Wisdom" has a desert setting.True False

12The Lukachukai mountainsare on the Apache reservation.True False

13Mark Twain once workedon a newspaper at Goldfield, Nevada.True False

14Bingham canyon, Utah,is noted for its copper production.True False

15Partof the Death Valley national monumentis in Nevada.True False

16Gas and volcanic disturbance makeit hazardous to climb down into Amboycrater on the Mojave desert. True False

17The colorof dumortierite, sometimes knownas desert lapis, is blue.True False

18Largest cityin New Mexicois Santa Fe. True False

19Tumacacori national monumentin Arizona is the site of an old Spanishmission. True False

20CahuiUa Indians were using woven netsto fish in Salton sea when GeneralKearny crossed the desert withhis Army of the West.True False


23/68

Two soldiers stationed at old Fort McDowell wentinto the Tonto Apache country to find the source ofthe rich gold quartz that the Indians had been bring-ing to the fort. There is evidence that they found thegoldbut the secret of i ts location was lost whenthey were at tacked by Indian warr iors . Some of the

old-timers in Arizona have seen the rich quartz fromthis minebut its location remains a mystery.

By JOHN D. MITCHELL1 Illustration by John Hansen

f i T HAD long been rumored among early day trappersV/ and scouts that the Ton to Apache Indians were in pos-

session of fabulously rich specimens of gold ore, but itwas not until 1865, when the United States government estab-lished a regular fort at McDowell, 35 miles northeast of Phoe-nix, Arizona, on the west bank of the Verde river, that pieces ofthe wonderful ore appeared in the white man's commerce.

Shortly after Fort McDowell was established the govern-ment built a military road across the Mazatzal mountains anddown into the Tonto basin. There at the foot of Reno pass asub-station was maintained for several years for the purpose of

restraining the activities of the Tonto Apachesmore especial-ly the renegade band under del Shay.The establishment of the fort and the camp at Reno pass had

They were, they said, ontheir way to the wild MountOrd country northeast of theFort to search for the T ontoApache gold mine fromwhence came the rich orebrought into the fort by theApache ivarriors.

a quieting effect on the Apache warriors and they frequentlycame down from the hills bringing with them pieces of the richgold quartz to barter for tobacco and other supplies needed bythe tribe.

This rich ore never failed to create excitement among the sol-diers and the few prospectors who made their headquarters atFort McDowell and Camp Reno. However, prospecting inthose days was a hazardous undertaking as the Indians wereconstantly on the warpath. Few of the men ever ventured outto search for the precious metal. The soldiers were kept busychasing the renegades over Apacheland until 1870 when thegovernment decided to abandon Camp Reno and move thetroops to Fort McDowell on the Verde river.

On their way down to McDowell the troopers met two young

soldiers who had just been discharged from the army. Theycarried 50-calibre rifles, a supply of ammunition and provisionsenough to last them several months. They said they were on

F E B R U A R Y 1 9 4 2 23


24/68

their way to the wild MountOrd countrynortheastof the fort to search for the Ton-to Apache gold mine from whence camethe richore brought in by the Apachewar-riors.

ex-he officers from Camp Renoplained to the boys thatit was a dangerousundertakingand that the Apache warriorswould shoot themon sight if they werecaught in the vicinity of the gold mine.The soldiers refusedto turn backand werelast seen heading intothe brush-coveredOrd range.

Years passed, but no word ever cameout of the rugged hillsto indicatethe fate

that had befallen the soldiers.The Indiansunder Geronimoand other famous lead-ers continued to raid ranchesand miningcamps until 1886, when they were finallyrounded up and placed on reservations.

The names of the boys were forgottenand the mystery of their disappearanceun-explained until five years later whentwosheepherders driving their flocks downfrom the hills came upon five skeletonsscattered amongthe rocks on a high ridgeon the northern slopes of Mount Ord.Shreds of clothing remained neartwo ofthe skeletons and from this clueand in-formation disclosed by examination of

W h y Im p o r t P o w e r W h en W

A n A d e q u a t e S u p p l ya tK o i n e . . .?Defense and armament industries today are needing moreand more power. An actual shortage exists in some places andfederal agencies are bending every effort toward the develop-ment of new sources, and the utilization of all the electricalenergy now available.

The need for power in this period of national emergency hasa direct bearing on the situation that exists in Imperial Valleytoday.

Until recently, Imperial users were dependent to a more orless extent on electrical current brought here over hundreds ofmiles of transmission lines. This imported power was costly, but

until local power was developed it was the only alternative.Today that situation has changed. With two All-American

canal power drops now in operation and a huge diesel plantstanding by with additional capacity, the need no longer existsto go beyond the limits of our own community for electrical cur-rent to supply all our needs.

There are ample markets outside of Imperial Valley for theelectrical energy produced elsewheremarkets where it canbe delivered far more economically than over the long trans-mission lines into this valley.

On the other hand, the most economical market for ImperialIrrigation district's power is here at home in Imperial Valley.There is no need for imported electricity in this community

when an ample supply is being produced within a few miles ofour own switch boards.

Imperial Irrigation District electricity is cooperativelyowned and distributedit belongs to Imperial Valley people,and all the profits from its operation accrue to our own benefit.

Eventually you will be on District lineslonger?

-why postpone it

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 Yo u r O w n P o w e r -M o k e i t fay o r t h e A l l A m e ric a n C a n a l

teeth and hair, the herders decided thattwo of the victims had been whitemenin the uniform of soldiers, and the otherthree Indians. Empty shellsfor a 50-calibre rifle were foundin the gravel,con-firming the conclusion that these weretheremains of the soldiers who had goneoutto find the Apache gold mine.

While poking around amongthe bonesthe sheepherders pickedup a large pieceof white quartz literally covered withbright yellow gold. Henry HardtofChandler, Arizona, livedin the MountOrd countryat the time and saw the speci-men. Hardt describedit to the writer asbeing about three inches long,two inchesbroad and at least one third gold.A ton ofsuch ore at the present priceof gold wouldbe worth a fabulous figure.

Many of the old-timers share Hardt'sopinion thatthe boys had found the mineand were on their way out when attacked

by the three Indians whose bones weregrim evidenceof the fight the soldiersputup before their ammunition gaveout.

It is a well-known fact among miningmen that ore of such great richnesssel-dom occursin very large qu antities.How-ever, a small stringer or pocket of suchore would producea great fortune for thelucky finder. In recent years Apache woodhaulers have been knownto bring piecesof this rich ore into Phoenix and Scotts-dale. One old Indian describedthe ore ascoming from a white quartz stringer,theeight foot hole being covered over withapackrat nest.

TRUE OR FALSE ANSWERSQuestions are on page 22.

1False. The ripples are caused bywind.

2False. A "mud-saw" is primarily apiece of lapidary equipment.

3True.4False. Taos derivesits name from

the Indian puebloat this place.5True. 6True. 7True. 8True.9False. Camino del Diablo extends

from Sonora along the Arizona-Mexico boundary to the Coloradoriver at Yuma .

10False. Charleston peakis seen fromLas Vegas, Nevada.

11True.12False. The Lukachukai mountains

ar e in the Navajo reservation.13False. Mark Twain workedat Vir-

ginia City.14True. 15True.16False. Amboy craterhas been ex-

tinct since the white man came tothe Southwest.

17True.18False. Largest cityin New Mexico

is Albuquerque.19True.20False. There was no Salton sea

when Kearny came west.

24 T HE D E S E RT M A G A Z I N E


25/68

YA VA PATHE HEART OF ARIZONA'S ENCHANTED

CIRCLE AND WONDERLAND!

f )im,< ,.!(Mm,.,


26/68

% . i

"-> \- i

N O R M A NG. WA L L A C E

DRAWINGSBY

Prescott was selected as the site of the first territorial capital in 1864. This busyplace is now the center of a great mining, livestock and vacation area. The

first rodeo ever held was staged here.

The Yavapai County court house at Prescott, one of the most beautiful structures in the west, is picturesquely situatedin a tree-filled square. This building is truly indicative of the spirit of progress of Yavapai 's citizens.

Rising in the veryheart of Arizona'sb r o a d e x p a n s e ,hemmed in on alls i d e s by sister

counties, is Yavapai,long known in earlydays as "Mother ofCounties." Then t h elargest of the four ori-ginal Arizona counties,Yavapai has since beendivided and new coun-

ies created until today, althougha shellf her former self, she still remainsone ofhe favored areas of wealth and greatcenic beauty.

The pine-clothed hillsof Yavapai, rollingn broken rhythmto the far-flung horizons,are oldvery old; yet the ever-refreshingragrance of evergreen after frequentsum-

mer showers, spread overand through herwo million acresof national forestby gen-le cool breezes, exemplifies youth eternal

and inspiration everlasting.Untold wealth has been scooped from

Yavapai's metal laden hillsidesand creekbeds, and aside from the countless tonsbrought up from the depths, buried deepare yet vast deposits of copper and othermetals to match in values the great golddeposits for which this countyhas long beennoted. Yavapai ranks firstof Arizona'sourteen countiesin the number of produc-ng mines.

Spread betweenthe metal and tree-laden


27/68


28/68

the most beautiful buildingsin the Southwest,and the equestrianstatue of the Rough Riderby Solon Borglum is a striking tri-bute to Arizona's sons fightingin the Spanish-AmericanWar.

One of Prescott'fi outstanding attractionsis the Old Gover-nor's Mansion,a log structure builtin 1864 and which now holdsrelics of Arizona's early days.

Northeast of Prescott standsone of the unique cities of theworldJeromegreatcopper mining campof the Phelps DodgeCorporation. Clingingto the steep sides of the rich copper-laden Black Hills, Jerome's houses, supportedin their precariouspositions by props and stilts, appear as though they mightcol-lapse and crash to the canyon depths below.One can almost leanfrom the porch of his home and look down the chimney of hisneighbor's houseon the stree t below. Truly one of the mostinteresting sightsin a wonder-strewn countrysideis Jerome,anddriving from the town at night the identity of the town is lost

U. S. Highway 89, a ribbon of beauty through GraniteDells. Wide, modern highways through Yavapai

county serve well the modern traveler.

O R M A NG. WA L L A C E

Tuzigoot National Monument, nearClarkdale, Camp Verde, Cotton-wood and Cornville, is an interest-ng prehistoric ruin, one of Yava-

pai's many scenic attractions.

Old Yavapa i. . . land of mountainsand plateaus . . . land of extensiveanches . . . real cow outfits, many

accepting guests who aspire to agenuine taste of western life.

N O R M A NG. WA L L A C E

J A C K N O RT H R O P

The statue in the court house plazaat Prescott, honoring the Rough \

\iders from Arizona.


29/68

Desert View onYarnell Hill. . .

Along the upperVerde. . .

except for the hundreds of blinking lightsand they too are blended in with the starlitheavens.

A few miles along is the Company'sClarkdale Smelter, built herefor lack ofroom at Jerome. Great cloudsof smokebelch skyward from gigantic stacksday andnight as the copper producing industrycon-tinues on and on in endless activity.

Skirting Yavapai county's northernboundary are the two railroad centers,Ash-fork and Seligman. The first railroad toPrescott was built from Seligmanin 1888,and now the magnificent streamlinersstreak across the Continent, the Santa Fe'sChief and Super-Chief, and from Ashfork,aSanta Fe branch line now slashes its waythrough passes and around scenic hillstoPrescott and on to Phoenix. In other townsand camps, scattered throughoutthe hillsand valleys and nestled high in the pines,live and work miners, stock-raisers, agri-culturalistsand vacationists. And hereandthere in the expansive hills are seen lonetents and cabins of the prospector, his toilsnever endingand with each new day, hopesof making a strike are renewed.

As a vacationland, Yavapai, especiallyduring the summertime draws many thous-

A cliff dwelling in the limestonecliffs encircling Montezuma Well.J O S E P H M I L L E R

Montezuma Well, on Beaver Creek, is a crater-like depression, apparentlywithout bottom. It has a flow of 2,000,000 gallons every 24 hours.


30/68

Angora goatspart of Yavapai'swealth.

A vista of distance and pine inYavapai.

ands of pleasure seekerswho come to enjoy the coolness of the great for-est areas with their many splendidly equipped cam ping facilities. Alsthe dude ranchesand working cow ranches attract their shareof tourists.

One of the striking features, welcomedby the motorist on his initialtrip through Yavapai county,in fact in all of Arizona

Documents

194202 Desert Magazine 1942 February