195105 Desert Magazine 1951 May

8/14/2019 195105 Desert Magazine 1951 May

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MAY, 1951 35 CENTS


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"the fish arereally fresh sincehe switched toMobilgas"

/WITH MOBILGAS YOU GET top perform-a n c e and e c o n o m y . E v e r y o n e k n o w s theamazing mileage scored by the 32 differentmakes and models of American cars in theMobilgas Economy Run.They averaged 23.9miles per gallon using Mobilgas in the rug-ged 840-mi le run from Los A n g e l e s viaDea th Valley andLas Vegas toGrand Canyon.The Mobilgas Economy Run proved thatevery motorist who is a good, safe driver,who keeps his car in good condition, andwho uses Mobilgas or Mobilgas Special(premium) , can get more from his invest -ment. Both Mobilgas and Mobilgas Specialdel iver maximum power andmileage, as theRun showed. If you car runs knock-free onMobilgas, then save the difference. But, useMobilgas Special if your car requires it ...you'll be money ahead in the long run.FREE-AT YOUR MOBILGAS DEALER-Tohelp you get more mileage from your car,drivers, mechanics, and fuel engineers whoparticipated in the Run have pooled theirexper i ences in a booklet . Your MobilgasDealer has a copy for you.

GENERAL PETROLEUM CORPORATION converting nature's gift to better living.

l o b i l g a ;3 2 C A R S A V ER A G E D

2 3 . 9M I L E S P E R G A L L O N

I N T H E M O B I L G A SE C O N O M Y R U N

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May Forecastfo r Wild flowers

Late March wildflower reports fromfriends who generously keep DesertMagazine posted are similar to thoseof last monthno mass displays suchas had been hoped for.Along Highway 111 beyond theDesert Magazine pueblo, lavender sandverbenas still blossom in sections whereirrigation overflow reached them. Inthe Joshua Tree National Monumentthe Joshuas are in full bud and shouldbe well opened by the middle of April ,remaining to the latter part of themonth, according to Frank Givens,park superintendent.Lovely red plumes are beginning totip the thorny ocotillo bushes, and willbe worth seeing by the middle of April.Mass quantities exist in Ocotillo Val-ley on the way to Julian, Californiaand along Highway 60-70 leadingtoward Blythe, California. Othe rscover the hillside beside the Palms toPines Highway above Palm Desert.In the Death Valley area there area mile or two of primroses and sun-flowers in Daylight Pass and a smallshowing of verbenas in Jubilee Pass,according to T. R. Goodwin, monu-ment superintendent.The Las Vegas section, Dora Tuckerwrites, has a few verbenas, enceliasand the ever faithful lupine.Throughout Arizona the story isstill no rain with weather mild in thesouthern part and cool about the LakeMead Recreational Area. Surprisingly,scarlet mallow, scarlet bugler, poppies,hyacinths, lupine and others of sim-ilar character are to be seen near Mesa,reports Julian King. Hedgehog cactusare in bud and will be followed bystaghorn. The creosote and grease-wood bushes are also putting forth.

Some should last well into April, aug-mented by the saguaro, that giant ofthe wastelands, ocotillo, palo verdeand ironwood. However, generallyspeaking, the blossoms are scatteredand with the exception of cactus, willbe extremely limited in most sections.Since the rain gods of the desertIndians have not seen fit to favor thearid regions this spring, those whofollow the wildflower trails with cam-er a and magnifying glass will have tobe for the most part, content withcactus blossoms. Much as one missesthe colorful carpets, cactus will notdisappoint, since no lovelier flowerexists than those delicate waxy blos-soms in numerous clear shades.

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D E S E R T C A L E N D A RMay 1 Fiesta and Spring CornDance, San Felipe, NewMexico.Ma y 1-6Fiesta de Mayo with pa-rade, Nogales, Arizona.May 3Ceremonial Races, 8:00 a.m.to 10:00 a.m., Santa Cruz DayCorn Dance, Taos, New Mexico.May 3-5Southeastern Utah JuniorLivestock Show, Ferron, Utah.May 5Cinco de Mayo, Mexicanpatriotic observance, Tucson, Ari-zona.Ma y 5All day auto-caravan throughJoshua tree National Monument,start from Palm Springs DesertMuseum, 9:00 a.m., bring lunchand water.May 5-6 Sierra Club overnightcamping trip to Indian Cove onnorthern edge Joshua Tree Na-tional Monument, California.May 5-27Annual wildflower show,nearly 2000 varieties displayed.Community Hall, Julian. California.May 6Nineteenth Annual SpringFestival, 22miles east of Lancaster,Hi Vista, California.May 6 Public pilgrimage to oldSpanish homes, Mesilla, New Mex-i c o .May 10-13 Elks' Heldorado andRodeo, Las Vegas, Nevada.May 12Final guest lecture of sea-son by Edmund C. Jaeger, noteddesert author, entitled "Desert Mis-cellanies,'' 8:00p.m.. Palm SpringsMuseum.May 15Observatory open for First

Quarter moon, Tucson, Arizona.May 15-30 BearArizona. Hunting Season,May 18-20 Annual Calico Dayscelebration, sponsored AmericanLegion Post 797, Calico GuestRanch, Yermo, California.May 22Observatory open for view-ing full moon, Tucson, Arizona.May 24-26Unitah Basin LivestockShow, Vernal, Utah.May 26-27 Sierra Club overnightcamping trip to New York andIvanpah Mountains, California.May 26-28Fiesta of San Felipe deNeri, Old Town Plaza, Albuquer-q u e , NewMexico.May 26-July 5All New MexicoArtShow, OldTown Plaza, Albuquer-q u e , NewMexico.May 30-31D. U. P. Stake Memo-rial Day ce lebration, Fillmore, Utah.May 30-June 2Annual Elks' Rodeo,Carlsbad. New Mexico.May Exhibition of southwesternpaintings by H. Arden Edwards.Southwest Museum, Highland Park.California.MayWeek endchuck wagon break-fasts in the desert by automobile,horseback, hay-wagon or tally-ho.Palm Springs, California.

V o l u m e 14 M A Y , 1951 N u m b e r 7CO VERW I L D F L O W E R SCALENDAR

P R O G R E S SG H O S T T O W NFIELD TRIPMININGTREASUREFICTIONP H O T O G R A P H YPOETRYLETTERSN E W SCO NTESTQUIZLAP IDARYH O BBYCLO SE-UP SB O O K SC O M M E N TLANDMARK

S a g u c t r o in B l o s s o m . P h o t o g r a p h e d by H a r o l d O.W e i g h t , P a s a d e n a , C a l if o r n iaF o r e c a s t for May 2M a y e v e - i t s on the d e s e r t 3Dr i l l C rew in M a r b l e C a n y o n

B y J O YC E R O C K W O O D M U E N C H . . . 4F o r u o t t e n G h o s t of G o l d M o u n t a i nBy NELL MURBARGER 8G e m H u n t on a G h o s t T o w n T r a i l By H A R O L D O. W E I G H T 13C u r r e n t n e w s of thed e r e s t m i n e s 18Los t Go l d of M o n o L a k e

B y A. F R E D E A D S 19H a r d R o c k S h o r t y of D e a t h V a l l e y 19P i c t u r e s of the M o n t h 20J o s h u a in F l o w e r , a n d o t h e r p o e m s 21V i e w s a n d c o m m e n t of D e s e r t ' s r e a d e r s . . . 22F r o m h e r e a nd t h e r e on the d e s e r t 23P i c t u r e s - c f - t h e - M o n t h a n n o u n c e m e n t . . . . 28A t es t of y o u r d e s e r t k n o w l e d g e 29A m a t e u r GemCut t er , By L E L A N D E Q U I C K . . 30G e m s a r d M i n e r a l s 31A b o u t t h o s e w h o w r i t e for D e s e r t 36R e v i e w s of S o u t h w e s t l i t e r a t u r e 37J u s t B e t w e e n You an d Me, By th e e d i t o r . . . 38D e s e r t T r a i l S h r i n e Is D e d i c a t e d 39

The Desert Magazine is published monthly by the Desert Press, Inc. , Palm Desert,California. Re-entered as second cla s mat ter July 17, 1948, at the post office a t Palm Desert,California, u nde r the Act of March 3, 1879. Title regi ster ed No. 358865 in U. S. Patent Office,and contents copyrighted 1950 by the Desert Press, Inc. Permission to reproduce conten tsmust be secured from the editor in writing.RANDALL HENDERSON, Editor 1SESS STACY, Business ManagerMARTIN MORAN, Circulation Manager E. H. VAN NOSTRAND, Advert ising ManagerLos Angeles Office (Advertising Only): 2635 Adelbert Ave., Phone NOrmandy 3-1509Unsolicited manuscripts and photographs submitted cannot be returned or acknowledgedunless full re tu rn postage is enclosed. Desert Magazine assumes no responsibili ty fordamage or loss of manuscr ipts or photograp hs although due care will be exercised. Sub-scribers should send notice of change of address by the first of the month preceding issue.

SUBSCRIPTION RATESOne Year $:i.5O Two Years Sfi.00Canadian Subscriptions 25c Extra, Foreign 50e ExtraSubscriptions to Army Personnel Outside U. S. A. Must Be Mailed in Conformity With

P. O. D. Order No. 19687Address Correspondence to Desert Magazine, Palm Desert, California

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Dropping from the rim of Marble Gorge at 350 feet a minute. There hasbeen noaccident to passenger orcrew member.

Drill Crew in Marble GorgeDeep within the 2500-foot walls of Colorado River's Marble Gorgea little crew of menfrom the Bureau of Reclamation has b een en gagedfor many months inpreliminary drilling to determine if the site is suit-able for a 230-foot dam. This is one of the most inaccessible damsitesalong theColorado Riverbut Uncle Samfound a way to get his menand supplies down over theprecipitous canyon walls .

By JOYCE ROCKWOOD MUENCHP ho tog raphs by Josef MuenchB E R I N G O V E R the edge ofMarble Canyon, we could seethe small squares of the tent-camp, 2200 feet below us. The tinyant-like figures down there were Rec-

lamation Bureau men, taking the mea-sure of the Colorado for another dam,their only contact with the outsideworld, a thread of cable stretching

upward to the steel tripod beside us.The setting was tremendous. Rug-ged canyon walls swooped downward,decorated by thousands of centuriesof weathering. Each passing age hadleft its mark in definite layers on therock, and the inner gorge of marble,tinted redfrom itsoverlying beds, drewthe eye inescapably to the wandering

finger of theriver deep in the shadows.For more than a year, the squatgroup of tents and house trailers hadsat on the rim, living quarters for thecrew making preliminary investigationsto determine a site for the proposedMarble Gorge dam. A small spot inthe desert landscape, 21 miles overNavajo lands from U. S. Highway 89at Cedar Ridge trading post and 100from the nearest railhead at Flagstaff,it is the focal point for a battle frontin the 200 years ' war with the greatriver.Machinery and equipment broughtby men is dwarfed against the over-whelming size of the canyon they seekto subdue. A trail hacked from therocks down Twenty-Nine Mile Can-DESERT MAGAZINE


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Marble Gorge damsite in the C olorado River above Grand C anyon. The gorge is2500 feet deep at this point and men and supplies are lowered to the river on adouble relay of cable, the first being a vertical drop of 2200 feet to the campshown in the center of the picture. From this point anothe r cable drops 350 feetto the edge of the river where borings are going on.M A Y , 1 9 5 1


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yon leads to another outpost of tents,set on a narrow ledge, 350 feet abovethe water. But before the real workof probing could begin, an aerialstaircase was needed, flung from theplateau into the gorge. So the world'slongest unsupported cable was in-stalled, 3800 feet of steel rope oneand three eights inches thick. Fastenedonly at the upper 20-foot structuralsteel tower and again to a lower an-chor block and fitted with a freightcage, it cuts travel time to the canyonbottom from eight hours on the trailto a breathless fifteen minutes.There were six in our party, cometo see this wonder, ride down the cableand view the proposed dam site: RedBaron from Detroit, Irene Johnsonof Cliff Dwellers Lodge, my photog-rapher husband, our 14-year old son,David, and myself.The hoist man assured us that theheavy strands of metal were strongenough to carry a 2000 pounds load,so we needn't worry about our com-bined weights taxing it. He pointedout the 40-foot system of take upblocks to allow for the expansion andcontraction natural in this changeabledesert climate.Yes, of course, it had been danger-ous work installing it, with men cling-ing to the cliff face to drill in the rock,setting the rollers to ease the cableover rock ground, and even pullingthe cable down after thinner strandsof wire. But there had been no acci-dent to workmen or to visitors in all

the months. And every hour spent inthe construction had saved days oftrail work and made it possible forthe drill rigs and steel pontoons to belet down. They could never have beentransported on burro back.When we stepped into the cage andfelt it push off into space / expectedto be frightened. Bu t there was somuch to sec and the sensation of flyingwas so delightful there was no roomleft for fear. Gravity seeme d suspendedfor our special benefit and the wallsgrew like bean-stalks, millions of yearspassing in close review. At one placewe hovered 700 feet above the rocksand we could see our shadows, just asbirds may, skimming across the irregu-lar surface. All too soon the cage wassettling beside a platform and we werebeing welcomed by the camp foreman,Bert Lucas.Now another drop opened below usand we were soon swinging on a shortercableway, 700 feet through the air,across the stream and down to thesandy shore. Here we had reached thespot which had been picked for inten-sive study by the Reclamation Bureau.

The selection was m^de only afterthe entire 65 mile length of the canyonrim had been searched.

Even though the exact location ofthe proposed dam is still uncertain,proportions for it have been fixed. Itwill stand 365 feet above bedrock and290 above the water, with a powerplant capable of producing about 360,-000 kilowatts, and a reservoir extend-ing up canyon to the proposed GlenCanyon Dam. When the entire projectof taming the Colorado is complete,this will be one of the necessary checkreins, fitting neatly into the patternsto make used of every single drop ofwater, for power or irrigation, in the2000 mile length of the Colorado.Many factors will enter into the de-cision as to when the dam may beconstructed but whenever and where-ever it stands, the necessary field workto blue prints or concrete pouring, ismoving steadily ahead.

I found that with only a smallstretch of imagination, I could see thegreat white bulk of the dam, set solidlyin the Redwall formation of the innergorge.The "marble" for which the canyonis named is a sandstone, massive andcompact, light gray when freshlybroken but colored by red shales ofthe Supai formation above it. You'veprobably seen the same conspicuousred cliffs in the Gr and C any on. Theyalways stand in the same relative posi-tion, a bulky 500 feet thick. Here, thetop layers have been scraped off byerosion and the lower ones lie belowthe river, showing only about 350 feet.Redwall was laid down two hundredmillion years ago when huge amphibi-ans ruled the earth.

In this new age, when man hastaken over, the formations are beingprobed by diamond drills to find thedepth and condition of bedrock, howmuch gravel lies in the river's throatand whether the canyon walls will bearthe weight of a great dam. One of thedrill rigs rides on steel pontoons,anchored midstream by wire cablesreaching to either wall, and anotheron the north shore, both bringing upa procession of cores from each footof rock interior. The sec tions, a fewinches long and about two in diameterare marked for their source by theengineer but the date of birth can beread in the fossils they contain. Boxesof the cores form a continual paradefrom way down in Marble Canyon tothe Denver office of the Bureau ofReclamation for study.We began to wonder how manymen it had taken to perform the mira-cles we saw about ussurely an army!Bert Lucas told us it was only a hand-ful, 16 to 20 in the usual crew. Theywork for two 40-hour weeks or a ten

day period followed with four daysoff. Al Lov e, labor foreman . BillGardner, geologist, Danny Daley and

Earl Corey hoistmen, Fred and "Red,"the cooks, drillers, and engineers,are welded together by Bert into asmoothly working team. They seemto enjoy the vigorous life and I foundmyself thinking they looked like Greekwarriors, bronzed by the sun and veryfit. Some of them were shirtless buthatted, and a grin appeared to bestandard equipment even though thetemperature in the canyon is alwaysten degrees higher than on the rim andit may reach 119 degrees in summer.Nights, they assured us, were cooler,but there were apt to be mosquitos.

We photographed the men as wellas the gaunt canyon walls, the cableweb, the river rushing by and the rigfloating on it. Then darkening skiesurged us up to the ledge and aboardthe freight cage to swing skyward. Wewere about halfway up when the skiesopened and drenched us with icy water.The shower lasted only until we werewet all the way through and thenmoved southward in a solid phalanxof black, cutting off our retreat overthe Reservation road which we hadexpected to take us to a six o'clockdinner date at Cliff Dwellers Lodge."You couldn't possibly make it inyour car," Al Love told us. "Not evenfour wheeled jobs would be able toreach Cedar Ridge tonight."So we stayed for dinner and had aglimpse of what life is like for a Rec-lamation crew in the field. Several ofus sat out under the stars and talkedabout the building of dams and the

men who build them. The conversa-tion turned to this crew and their fam-ilies in Phoenix, Flagstaff, or a moredistant place. The men look forwardto the weekend when they can gohome. Not every Reclamation campis as remote as Marble Canyon andthere are times when the men live athome. But they are often called away,being soldiers in the service of theircountry, in the long war against theColorado. Their eyes are on the futureand they think in terms of an expandedvision. The day of triumph will comelong after they, as individuals, havestepped out of the battle line, but theyshare in the coming victory.In a few months this site with itsstirring activity will be deserted andanother one investigated. The cableswill swing at Mile 39.5 (figured fromMile "0" at Lees Ferry) the longerone 300 feet shorter but over a stillsteeper drop and the lower one 500feet longer than at present. The samegigantic walls will shut them in andthe same kind of problems test theirskill and vigor. The battle front will bepushed on, one step closer to the

building of a dam in the mighty mawof Marble Canyon, one more stronglink in harness for the Colorado River.D E S E R T M A G A Z I N E


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Paradise where a great stream of mineralized water gushes from the wallof Marble C anyon a mile above the proposed damsite. This lovely sidewall oasiswas named by John Wesley Powell in honor of Dr. George W. Vasey, botanistof the U. S. Depa rtment of Agriculture.


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Dora Tucker and the author examining some of thesilver ore specimens found in the abandoned cabinwhich w as used as their temporary ho me in Goldpoint.Nevada State Senator Harry Wiley and Mrs. Wiley infront of their small general store, gasoline station andpostoffice in the ghost camp of Goldpoint.

Forgotten Ghostof Gold MountainWith a Nevada state senator as guide, Nell Murbarger followed arocky road which led to a group of ghost mining camps so long de-serted that their existence ha s almost be en forgotten. Here is the story

of a camp which 80 years ago was producing rich orebut today hasonly its memories.By NELL MURBARGERPhotographs by the authorMap by Norton Allen

streams. Viewed through the clear airtheir snowy summits seemed incrediblyclose; yet, for all they had in commonwith the land we were crossing, theymight have been the peaks of anotherplanet.Here in Lida Valley were neitherbrooks nor trees, but only desert

pure and unadu lterated. Heat layupon the flat like a fleecy blanket.Even the scattered Joshuas seemedstrangely somnolent. There was no

TO BE rolling along a Ne-vada highway in May had beengrand enough; but once we hadexchanged that smooth ribbon of pave-ment for the dusty little desert road,we felt that we really had Adventureby the forelock.It was a morning specially designed

for adventuring. Along the westernhorizon stretched the 14,000-foot rangeof the White Mountains, pine forestedand laced by a hundred sparkling

audible soundnot so much as therustle of a creosote leafand everyvisible movement seemed to be en-compassed in one fluttering sparrowhawk.Thirty-five miles to the southwestspread the forbidding outskirts ofDeath Valley, separated from us onlyby the dark bulwark of the Slate Rangeand Gold Mountain. Somewhere inthose rough hills lay our destinationtwo ghost towns so long desertedthat their one-time existence has beennearly forgotten!It was Harry Wiley, of Goldpoint,Nevada state senator from Esmeraldacounty, who first told me of thesetowns."If you can arrange your itineraryto include Goldpoint," he had written,"I'll show you a couple of old boomcamps so little known that their his-tory never has been recorded . . . 'If Harry's previous acquaintancehad included many chronic ghosttowners like Dora Tucker and me, hewouldn't have worried about the itin-erary. Our 25 years of gypsying around

together have left us with definite aver-sion for anything resembling a timetable, and the only schedule we everattempted to follow was sure to have8 D E S E R T M A G A Z I N E


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j f i o NEVADA ::|

' T CVV ^ ^ ^ ? 1

TO DE4TH V 4LLEY

a major operation on its first day, andby the second day, scuttled altogether.By return mail I had assured Harrythat no itinerary would keep us awayfrom Goldpoint and the promisedghost towns.Seven miles on the graveled Lida

road brought us to a fork where weturned left on a semi-improved dirtroad. Another seven miles-all up-gradeand we were rolling throughthe main street of that mile-high min-ing camp which has served as Sena-tor Harry's headquarters for nearly 50years .Important mineral discoveries madehere in the forepart of this century hadresulted in the founding of this campwhich was known as Hornsilver until1929, when its present name wasadopted. A contemporary of such

spectacular boom camps as Rhyolite,Bullfrog, Fairview and Wonder, thisstubborn old settlement has continuedto muddle through while the sites ofher one-time rivals have reverted todesert.That two world wars and other vi-cissitudes have left her hold on liferather shaky, is evidenced by the rowsof dilapidated false-front buildingswhich flank her dusty streets. Almostwithout exception they are emptybuildings. Many of the headframesvisible on surrounding hillsides are

standing over silent mine shafts andghostly dumps.Where 2000 persons once lived, wefound but two remaining business

housesone a small "clubroom" andbar; the other, a pocket-sized generalstore, gasoline station and postofficeoperated by Harry and Mrs. Wiley.After tendering us the sort of wel-come that a promoter might reservefor potential investors, Harry climbed

into the front seat with Dora and me,and leaving Mrs. W. to cope with theassorted commerce of Goldpoint, weheaded off into the range.Following a twisting course, butbearing in a southwesterly direction,the little-traveled desert trail laboredup steep ridges, skirted rocky can-yons, clung to one-way curves andwallowed across dry washes. Branchtrails led away to either side and othertrails intersected and crossed. Occ a-sionally the main route divided, onlyto rejoin itself a few hundred yardsbeyond."Bear to your left," Harry wouldsay. "You'll miss a bad stretch ofsand . . . " or "Take the r ight forkit's not so rocky." Between givingroad instruction s he told UJ; som e-thing of the places we were about tovisit."Like Goldpoint," he said, "both ofthese old camps are known by twonames. Folks like myself, whose per-sonal knowledge of them reaches backonly 40 or 50 years, are inclined torefer to the earlier settlement as Old

Camp and the newer as Stateline, forthe Stateline mine. During their actualyears of activity, however, they wereknown as Oriental and Gold Moun-

tain, and mining reports of the 1870'sand '80's invariably refer to them un-der these names."I must confess," he went on, "Ihave no personal knowledge of thesecamps when they were operating. AllI know about them is what I havebeen told by Doug Rob inson. I wishDoug could have been here to giveyou the story, but he's probation offi-cer of Inyo County now and doesn'tget back to his old Nevada stampinggrounds very often. Both Dou g andhis sister, Mrs. Laura Bulmer, ofReno, were born at Gold Mountain.So far as is known, the y're the survivorsof all those who lived here when thesewere operating camps. Doug and Ihave been close friends since 1905and I've heard him tell so often ofthe early days in these two towns thatsometimes it seems almost as thoughI have lived there myself . . ."As our trail bumped onward throughthe desert hills, Harry unfolded thebasic story.Original strike in the area, he toldus, had been made about 1866 byThomas Shaw, following which theGold Mountain mining district wasorganized in '68. Little outside atten-tion was centered on the area until1871 when Shaw began developmentof his rich Oriental mine. By thistime there were in production severalother mines including the Stateline,Dusty Bob and Nova Zembla."By 1872," said Harry, "GoldMountain was a lively camp with

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weekly pony express service from thenearest railway point, which was Bat-tle Mountain, aoout 250 miles to thenorth. The rider, who handled thesouthern half of this route from Aus-tin to Gold Mountain, stayed overnighttwice weekly at San Antone station,then the home of Doug's mother, Mrs.Alice Robinson."Beginning about 1875, Gold Moun-tain had come in for much newspaperpublicity in which the Stateline minewas represented as one of the trulygreat mines of that day. Ore from theOriental likewise was showing somefabulous assays. In Uncle Sam's Sev-enth Annual Report of Mineral Re-sources West of the Rocky Mountains,published in 1875, it was stated thatselected specimens from the Orientalshowed a gold and silver content of$1370.79 per ton, while nine unse-lected samples from the same mineaveraged $169.19 per ton in silverand $13.47 in gold. The same reportcredited the Nova Zembla with oreaveraging $302.87 to the ton, and theGood Templar, $233.55. Samplesfrom 50 different claims in the GoldMountain district were said to average$150 to the ton."Sale of stock," said Harry, "wasbeing pushed throughout the East,especially in New York, and a longperiod of prosperity was predicted forthe camp."At this point in the chronicle wewere approaching the summit of arocky ridge when we caught our firstsight of stone ruins. For the most partthese tumbled buildings consisted oflittle more than foundations, or thefronts of hillside dugouts. Occasionallythere appeared a roofless wall as highas a man's head, and here and therea stone chimney stood guard over thesite of a vanished house.Well trained as a ghost towner, thecar seemed to halt of its own volitionas we reached the most concentratedportion of the ruins."This is it!" said Harry. "This is thebusiness section of Gold Mountain.That chimney and backwall, yonder,are all that remain of Dennis Reme-

Above The massive fireplaceami oven is about all that remainsof Dennis Remeset's former bak-ery at Gold Mountain, Nevada.Below -- Around the base of arocky knoll, a mile west of GoldMountain, this fort was built asprotection if Indians should attack.The double-faced, earth-filled wallaverages six feet in height and is225 feet long.

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Shortly after inauguration of stage-line service from Candelaria, Mrs.Robinson assumed charge of the GoldMountain stage station and operatedit until 1890, providing travelers withsleeping accommodations and mealsat 50 cents each."And those were real he-man meals!"said Harry. "None of your 'Blue Plate

Specials.' I've heard Doug tell aboutSam Piper bringing prime dressedbeef from his ranch in Fish LakeValley and selling it for a nickel apound! Other wagon peddlers, fromOwens Valley, in California, broughtin pork and poultry, eggs, fresh fruit,honey and vegetables."According to Harry, the worst timethey had at Gold Mountain was dur-ing the winter of 1889-90 when all theroads were blocked by snow and forfour months no wagons or pack ani-mals could make it through to thecamp. The store was completely soldout of food. Greater hardship mighthave resulted but for the fact thatmany Indians in the vicinity were vir-tually starving and would haul flourover the mountains on hand sleds ona 50-50 basisone sack for the haulerand one for the purchaser.Relations between Indians andwhites of that locality had not alwaysbeen so amicable. In 1868 a coupleof miners had been killed by Indiansin Oriental Wash, two miles from GoldMountain; and the area suffered peri-odic Indian scares. The first time anattack was threatened, every personin camp scurried for cover in one ofthe mine tunnels. When it was real-ized that this was not the most com-mendable safety measuresince oneor two members of the attacking forcecould effectually block all escape fromthe tunnel until its inhabitants hadsuccumed to thirst or starvationhecamp built a stone fort around a nearbyknoll."Want to see that fort?" askedHarry. "It's still standing!"Piling into the car, we headed down

the wash toward a rocky knoll a mileto the west. It was not a large knollbut as a means of repelling Indianattack, it must have been ideal. Wthits summit commanding an unob-structed view over several thousandacres of surrounding territory, itwould have been impossible for anenemy to approach the place unseen.Further protection was afforded bya massive breastwork which half en-circled the base of the hill. Built asa double rock wall, with center fillingof earth, we found its average widthto be three to five feet, its greatestinside height about six feet, and itslength 225 feet. Between the wall and

the hill behind it there was adequateroom for all of Gold Mountain's fron-tier defenders, as well as their womenand children.Examining the place, we saw deadJoshua trunks along the top of thewall. Further inspection revealed thatthe trunks had not rotted and fallenin that position, but had been hewn

by axe. The only conclusion we coulddraw was that the trunk sections hadbeen cut and placed there at the timethe fort was builtdoubtless as ameans of affording additional protec-tion and to provide firing loopholes,which were lacking in the rock por-tion of the wall. Smaller breastworks,on the shoulder of the knoll and nearits summit, likewise were topped withJoshua buttsmany of them firm andstout despite the 80-odd years whichmust have elapsed since they were cut.Returning to Gold Mountain proper,

we visited the mill foundations, shaft,and caved stope of the old Statelineminesaid to have been one of thefirst mines patented in the State ofNevada. Wth the sun already drop-ping toward the hills on the west andstill another ghost town to be coveredbefore nightfall, we drew the curtainon Gold Mountain and headed acrosswide Oriental Wash toward Old Camp."If you were to follow this wash toits mouth," said Harry, 'you wouldcome out at Sand Springs, in thenorthern part of Death Valley. Dougtells some great tales about the oldburro prospectors of Death Valleyregion who used to come up OrientalWash to Gold Mountain for supplies.For the most part, he says, they werehunting the Lost Breyfogle mine, butsome, like Old Man Beatty, were justlooking for anything they could find."Jake Staininger, who cultivated anacre-or-so of ground where Death Val-ley Scotty's two-million-dollar castlenow stands, always tried to make it toGold Mountain for Christmas. Oneyear he arrived five days late becausehe had forgotten to cut the notches onhis 'time stick.' When he learned thatChristmas was over for another year,the old man was sore as a boiled owl!"For several miles we had been climb-ing steadily up a stiff grade and wereentering the lower fringe of the juniperbelt when Harry pointed off to theright where a small spot of brilliantgreen stood out vividly against themore sombre tones of the distant hill-side.

"See that green speck? That's theonly cottonwood tree for miles around!There's a spring near the tree andmany years ago a fellow named B. F.Leete ran a small mill there. It quitoperating about 1888."

Another mile of upgrade broughtus to the pinyons and the outlyingruins of Oriental, situated just under8000 feet elevation. Due to its greaterage or briefer period of occupancy, wefound here far less evidence of aformer town than at Gold Mountain.Except for the roofless walls and fire-place of the original Robinson homeand the Oriental postoffice, Harry wasunable to identify any of the rock ruinswhich dotted the pine and cedar-grownhillside and lined the canyon to thewest. For the most part they appearedto have been dwellings.

At the junction of the road and thecanyon, sits an old steam engine inapparently sound condition. Accord-ing to our guide, this engine was in-stalled some time prior to 1871, andwas used to power an arrastre, nowvanished, but originally located onlya few yards to the southeast. Theprimitive-type mill was operated until1900, largely on ore brought downthe mountainside by pack mules.As we left Old Camp and headedback across the hills to Goldpoint andsupper, Dora asked the inevitablequestion, "What killed the camps?"Harry shrugged. "The usual thing!The ore which was to be so rich didn'thold up to assay figures. The stampmill at Gold Mountain was as goodas anyone knew how to build in thosedays but milling processes were crudeand half the values were lost. On topof this, there was prolonged litigation.

Doug's father, H. H. Robinson, whowas postmaster and kept the store atGold Mountain, was put in as receiverof the Stateline property from time totime between 1883 and 1886, and be-tween 1886 and 1890 had full chargeof the mine and its workings."During the eight-year period from1882 to 1890, the mill operated a totalof only three years, with many startsand stops. In 1890 the property wassold and the Robinsons moved away.Finally the water pipeline was pulledand the camp abandoned . . ."And I guess that's about all thereis to the tale," said Esmeralda's Sen-ator Wley as we topped the last ridgeand looked out over the darkeningexpanse of Lida Valley which lay likea quiet sea at the foot of the grade.To the west, the high range was sil-houetted blackly against the flamingsplash of sunset, and a few windows inthe weathered frame buildings ofGoldpoint already showed the friendlyglow of coal oil lamps."It will be dark in thirty minutes,"said the Senator. "You'd better grabone of those empty cabins down thereand stay all night."It sounded like a very good idea.

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Gilbert, Nevada's latest ghost town, sleeps in the sun. It once had 800 residentsand a weekly newspaper.

G E M H U N T O N AG host To w n Tra ilBy HAROLD O. WEIGHT

Photographs by the authorMap by Nor ton Allen

One of the last of the Nevadagold strikes was made in 1924in the Monte Cristo Mountains.It was while enroute to the ghostof this old camp 29 miles fromTonopah that Harold and LucileWeight, following a rock collec-tor's hunch, discovered a fieldwhere obsidian nodules couldbe gathered by the hatful. Hereis an interesting lesson in thegeology of obsidian and its re-lation to that much-in-demandinsulation material known asperlite.

HEN EVA Wilson, Lucile andI headed into the vivid vol-canic Monte Cris to Mountainsof Nevada last September, our primarypurpose was to visit the ghost town ofGilbert, which lies in the heart of thatcolorful range. That old camp heldparticular interest for us in that thediscovery of gold there by the Gilbertbrothers in 1924 set off Nevada's lastreal mining rush, and Gilbert was thelast substantial boom camp in the state.We left Highway 6 and 95 less thanW i miles beyond the ruins of themilling town of Millers and 14.2 milesnorthwest of Tonopah, turning rightonto the big playa there. The turnoffwas indicated by a wooden arrow be-side the highway with the name "An-jax" on it. The road we followedhad a number of chuckholes when dryand would be thoroughly unsatisfac-tory when wet.This lower end of the Great SmokyValley is spider-webbed with a varietyof roads and trailssome of themdating to freighting days of half acentury ago. But from our maps weknew the one we wanted was heading

for a natural gateway in the east faceof the Monte Cristos.As we approached them from thesoutheast, the Monte Cristos werebrilliantly colored wide irregularbandings of orange accented in blackwith grey and ashy areas above andbelow, and what appeared to be theremnants of black and reddish lavaflows.While we were hunting a ghost town,we were keeping our rockhound eyeswide open too. Beautiful materialagreat variety of ithas come fromthese mountains. And rocks came intothe picture just as we passed the pic-turesque portals into the Morte Cris-tos. It was only a faint auto trail angl-ing to the right. But somehow thattrail looked like a rockhound roador at least a road that roc'vhoundsshould investigate.We consulted a moment, and theghost town lost. I turned onto thesandy trail. Half a mile farther itbranched again, the right fork head-ing directly toward the towering vol-canic mountain beside us. That branchcouldn't go far, and it seemed a good

place to find out what the makers ofthe trail were looking for or had found.We left the truck to investigate.After climbing a little mesita, Ipaused and looked back toward thesoutheast. It was late afternoon. Thegateway of the pass by which we hadjust entered the mountains was bril-liant in the golden glow. Through itwe could see the vast shadow-streakedwidth of the Great Smoky Valleyand the thread of a distant highwayleading to Tonopah. We were at least20 miles away but the individual build-ings of the great silver camp could bepicked out.Lucile and Eva had not gone farbefore there were exclamations suchas would come only from a rockhoundon a hot trail."Volcanic tears," called Lucile, andas I approached she showed me sculp-tured chunks of volcanic glass so largethat one nearly covered the palm ofher hand. Eva came up too, thecrown of her broad-brimmed red strawhat full. Eva was happy. Before start-ing the Nevada trip, she had told usshe wanted pick up one volcanic tear

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* ~ * - , _ / //OBSIDIANITE24.0 M i.

: -V;, :^;5 ' A;%,-VV *--. ..Gi lberta=^;--"-"'?'>".'i ':? *-?S M 0 K Y\

TonopahP ' / . : ;

just one would be enough. Here, ina few square rods, she had collected adouble handful.I traced the obsidian nodules towardthe base of the mountain. They con-tinued up the steep slopes. It lookedas if we had come upon the hideoutof the granddaddies of all volcanictears , and most of them of cuttingqualitysmoky-grey, banded, amber-brownish.The formation of these colorful littlenodules of volcanic glass has alwaysintrigued me. Collecting them as floatin a number of localities, I've figuredout any number of plausible explana-tions. But an explanation that seemedto apply in one location would breakdown in another. For a long time, I'dhoped to find them in place, feelingthat then I might be able to dope outthe whys and wherefores.Here it looked as if I might do justthat. About half way up the mountain-side was a tall contorted gray cliff.The volcanic tears might be comingfrom that dike. It was a steep anddifficult climb to the cliff, but when Ifinally made it, the ledge beneath myfeet was littered with volcanic tearswhich had weathered out, and the cliffitself looked like a greyish rice puddingplentifully spotted with raisins andspiced with big plums. As I examinedthe dike closely, I found that it wascomposed of perlite, and each tear wasdelicately wrapped in many thin layersof pearly grey which followed theshape of each nodule exactly. The

GHOST TOWN LOGMiles00.0 Tonopa h. Head northwest onHighway 6 & 95 toward Mina.i2.8 Left branc h to ruins of Millers,once big ore milling center forTonopah. Continue ahead onmain highway.14.2 Tur n right on dirt road overplaya. Small arrow beside high-way at turnoff is marked "An-jax." There are many crossroadson playa. Continue on mainroute toward pass in the eastface of Monte Cristos, nearnorthern end of mountains.18.8 Road Y. Keep left.23.5 Just through gateway of pass,turn right from main road ontosandy tracks.24.0 Faint tracks branch right on tomesa. Obsidianites may be foundall around this area. Obsidianitesin place in grey cliff half way upmountain at end of side trail.NOTE: The grey dike (perlite)has been filed upon ;.nd discov-ery work done by Nevada min-ers. However, there are plentyof volcanic tears, as float, onslopes below the dike all aroundthe mountain.24.5 (Ap prox.) Washes to right ofroad lead up to area beloworange outcrop where opalite,chalcedony, and other colorfulcutting rocks may be collected.28.8 (Direct mileage from Tono pah,without rock-collecting detour)Gilbert ghost town.

nodules ranged in size from threeinches down to perhaps a quarter ofan inch.Perlite apparently, then, was the

TO GOLDFIELO

natural mother rock for volcanic tears,since they had been reported in thesame matrix from Arizona (Desert,Aug. 1939) . But having found themin place, I still was unable to hazarda guess as to their formation. Someoccurred singly and were quite roundwhile othersangled oneswere clust-ered in groups. It was quite obviousthat the obsidianites had not beenmade first, with the perlite flowingaround them later.Chipping some good specimens offthe cliff, complete with obsidianites ofvarious sizes I returned to the car. Bycrossing a narrow gulch to the northand coming down a ridge, I found amuch safer way to reach the cliff thanthe one by which I had climbed. Thisperlite dike has been filed upon byNevada miners and assessment workhas been done. However, there areenough loose obsidianites below thedike and all around the mountainslopes to supply almost any numberof collectors.While I had been studying the ge-ology of the dike, Lucile and Eva hadbeen prospecting the broad wash com-ing down from the north and west.They had found bits of jasp-opal, chal-cedony and a striking banded pastelitewhich called for more investigation.We followed the main side road upthe valley to its end, more than a milefarther, then headed back down therough and narrow track seeking a pro-tected spot to camp for the night. Wepulled off at last onto a little flat under

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Obsidianites a s they occur in the lustrous pearl-grey perlite in Monte C ristoMou ntains. They vary from pea-size to three inches in diameter.a white sha le bu tte a nd sought the I had noted the day before. Lucile and areas con taining c hunk s of beautifulwelcom e warm th of sleeping bags. Th e Eva took oft to investigate a pass jasp-o pal a nd op alite. It was mostwind died comp letely before mornin g through the mo untain s across the val- colorful stufforanges, reds, fine two-and the sun rose clear and hot. I ley to the nort hea st. tone bandin gs in brown and tan andhea ded aroun d the slopes to the south In the washes and on the slopes and white. Un fraetured pieces will cut intoand west, aiming for a bright orange small hills in the formation below the fine cabo chon s and cabine t specimen s,outcrop on the main mou ntain which orange cliff, I found a num ber of small With the sun high and no wind,

Light outcrops are bright orange, and are landmarks for location of pastelite andchalcedony.

HMffPiP ;

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Two specimens to lure collectors to the Monte C ristos. Left, polished pieceof laminated pastelite, a beautiful rose-brown. Right, one of the obsidiantears which occur in this area.the narrow canyons became breathless .Finding myself resorting to the can-teen too frequently, I headed back.Lucile and Eva were resting in theshade of the car. They had foundsome of the same colorful materialthat I had, but in a different statearrow chippings. In the pass they hadcome upon the remnants of an Indiantrail. Around almost every hugelichen-encrusted boulder near the trailin the pass was a scattering of chips.Obsidian flakes were most common,but there was a variety of more color-ful material. Possibly this spot was alookout where guards were posted forthe Indian group that lived at leastpart of the year at Willow spring, afew miles to the southwest. Goodwater still is obtainable at this spring.Lucile also reported that there werethousands of obsidian nodules comingdown from the mountain to the rightof thepass. But we had enough of thetears , so we loaded our camping equip-ment, returned to the main road andmade a right turn for Gilbert. A fewmiles farther it twisted through lowhills, and we came out above the ghosttown.Gilbert is not an attractive ruinperhaps because so much of the debrisis familiar to us and therefore reminis-cent of a waste-dump. Somehowatleast to ourgenerationa ruined gaso-line station pump and sign does nothave the glamor of an ancient black-smith shop. Tar-paper and woodshacks cannot compete in romancewith weathered adobe and stone. Atthe rate that Gilbert is collapsing though some buildings still are occu-

piednothing but a few dugouts willsurvive for future generations to con-sider picturesque.Fred and Logan Gilbert are livingin Luning, Nevada, today and are stillprospecting. Currently, after havingcompleted a long hunt for uranium,they are after manganese and otherstrategic minerals. Herm an Gilbert,the third brother in the Gilbert strike,lives in Mina. At Luning,, from Fredand Logan, we heard the story of theboom in the Monte Cris tos."We were raised in a prospect hole,"Fred declares , "and have been pros-pecting all our lives." Their fathercame across the plains in 1865. Theylived in Idaho, Tintic, Pioche, Pahran-agat, Reveille. Their father came tothe Mo nte Cristos before 1900, foundthe silver mine later known as theCarrie, and moved his family into themountains. They were there "aboutthe time Jim Butler discovered theTonopah silver when there were only21 voters in Nyecounty." They wentto thefirst school in Tonopah, in 1901 ,and Fred still remembers the prettyredheaded teacher.Just before they made the Gilbertstrike, the three boys were working atMillers. But too many of die millmenwere suffering from silicosis and noth-ing was being done to protect them.Herman sold some Tonopah Extensionstock and moved with their motherinto Tono pah. Fred and Logan fol-lowed soon afterward. With no jobsand little money, they decided to goback to theMonte Cristos, certain thatsome paying ore still remained in theCarrie.

So they loaded the big seven-pas-senger Chandler, "not paid for butimpressive," and returned to the OldCamp. They worked out the silver inthe Carrie in three days and, discour-aged, decided to go on to AmericanFork, Utah, where they had relatives.But Fred remembered a little peak lessthan three miles from Old Camp thathe always had intended to prospect.He wanted a day or tw o to look it overbefore they moved on.On September 24, 1924, they drovedown to the area he had in mind.Their mother, who was 70,came alongand was left in a little square woodenshack so she would be in the shade.The three brothers scattered. Fredwent to the top of the little hill. Downon the west side he saw a small de-pression. From the bottom of the de-pression he filled his sample sacks.That night, at home, he panned hissamples and found a pennyweight goldnugget. "I let out a warwhoop," heremembers. "Firs t the others thoughtI'd salted it. Then they suggested thegold must have been in the samplesack. Then they doubted it was realgold." The Gilberts had reason to bedoubtful. Th ere were silver claims inthe area where Fred hadmade hisfind,but no gold mines anywhere in theMonte Cristos. But Fred took a ham-mer and smashed the nugget and "itjust spread out."All three brothers took out for thehill and panned until after darkwithunsatisfactory results. The mother toldthe boys to try again. Their lunch thenext day wascooked over a sagebrushfire, with snow lying on the ground allaround. In the afternoon they beganto find fine gold in the hill. Eachsample improved, one pan showing$38. Thevalues were in silicified shalegold had run into it with the liquidsilica.The Gilberts filed on six claimsaround the hill. When the news gotout, sixcars came the first day, 17 thenext. Visitors were so thick it wasalmost impossible to work, but thevalues continued to soarone pan-ning $97. The real strike, however,was yet to come.

When their friend Dick Raycraftbecame discouraged because the crowdmade work impossible, the Gilbertssent him to a huge outcropping notfar away to prospect for them. ThereDick found a chunk of highgrade cal-cite and quartz running $800-$900 aton. But he panned the whole sampleand they had no float to trace theledge.The place where he made the find

was on land already filed upon as theBlack Mammoth silver claim, but thesilver was way up in another cornerof the property. TheGilberts obtained16 DESERT MAGAZINE


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a $10,000 option on the Black Mam-moth, then told Dick to go ahead andfind where the rich ore was. Twoweeks later Dick found another bitwhere the badgers had been working,but it was a long time after that beforethey located the rock carrying the realvaluesand then it proved to be ina spot in plain sight around whichthey had hunted.This strike started the real boomand the Gilbert brothers later soldtheir share in it for $82,0 00. Pickedsample ore, taken into Tonopah whereit was stored in the bank's undergroundvault, was valued at $18,000 for about12 ore sacks full$96,000 a ton. Gil-bert boomed. A townsite was laid outand lots went for high prices. Peakpopulation was about 800, there wasa weekly newspaper The GilbertRecord printed in Tonopah. The realboom was in 1925 and 1926. Minersbegan to move out the next year andby 1929 the population was down toabout 60.They began to move out becausethe Mammoth mine was having thesame trouble that afflicts many desertproperties. The rich vein was badlyfaulted. It was lost, found again, fol-lowed down to 160 feet and lost. TheGilbert brothers came back and tooka lease when the mine was at the 200foot level. They got out $14,000 then"chased it down" to 600 feet wherethey came to a major fault with thepossibility that the paying ore mighthave shifted 2500 feet in either direc-

tion. There the Gilberts gave up, hav-ing lost $35,000 on this deal. Butmining still continues in the district.Fred says: "I think the Farringtonand Mammoth are still good mines.But it will take money to developthem."So we learned the story of Gilbert.But my problem of the volcanic tearswas still unsolved. When we returnedfrom Nevada, I took my specimens ofobsidianite in perlite out to JerryLaudermilk, research associate at Po-mona college. When it comes to sleuth-

ing out the mysteries of minerals androcks, Jerry is a super-detective. Jerryexamined the little black blobs in thepearly rock through a magnifying glass."Let's try an experiment," he said.He got out charcoal, alcohol lamp andblowpipe, pried one of the tears stillpartly coated with perlite out of themass. With the nodule on the char-coal, he directed a fine hot flameagainst it. Soon there was a cracklingand fine white dust drifted from thenodule."You're popping the perlite," I said."Not only the perlite," Jerry re-sponded. "If I 'm right, the obsidianis popping too." He took anothernodule from the perlite, cleaned the

Logan (left) and Fred Gilbert whose strike in the Monte C risto Mou ntainswas made in 1924. Fred holds picture showing delivery of 12 ore sack sworth $18,000 to a Tonopah bank.perlite coating and put the shiningnodule into a test tube and the tubeover the flame. Soon little wisps ofvapor rose from the tube."See the moisture the steam being driven out of the obsidian?"Jerry asked. "Obsidian has water initjuvenile water it's called since itwas there from the beginning, part ofthe molecular structure of obsidian.Perlite has water toobut less." Herolled the little obsidianite out of thetest tube."Now look at it under the glass." 1looked. The formerly clear glass wascoated with a layer of white, appar-ently a layer of perlite quite similar tothose which originally had surroundedit .

"You know about perlite?" Jerryquestioned. Having just read about itin Pirsson and Knopf's "Rocks andRock Minerals ," I knew. The booksays: "PerliteGlassy rock composedof small spheroids, usually from smallshot to pea size. The spheroids eitherlie separated in a sort of cement andare round, or they are closely aggre-gated and polygonal. They tend tohave a concentric, shelly structure andare the result of a contraction phe-nomenon in the cooling glass, whichproduces a spherical, spiral cracking.. . . They have a rather constant per-centage of combined water, betweenthree and four per cent, and thsre maybe a connection between this amount

of water and the peculiar method ofcracking.""Here's the story as it might be,"Jerry explained. "These volcanic glassnodules are just the remnantsresid-ual wads, you might sayof a dike ofobsidian that is turning into perlite.Yes, that whole big dike where youfound them probably originally was asolid mass of obsidian from a felsiticmagma. Then it started drying outdevitrifying. Obsidian looks and feelssolid to us, but molecularlyfrom itsown point of view, you might sayit's still a liquid. It continues to crys-tallize. The crystallization is micro-scopic and takes a long time. ButNature has plenty of time, and itdoesn't take much heat if there isenough time."When the obsidian is almost com-pletely devitrified, it's perlite. Thevolcanic tears are the last survivors ofthe obsidian. They, if left long enough,will devitrify layer after layer. So thelittle pearls in perlite are the last stage.They are the ghosts of the obsidiannodules."Jerry made it clear he was just put-ting two and two together. But so faras I am concerned, the Mystery of theObsidian Nodules is another solvedcase. Next time I go into the colorfulMonte Cristos to collect them, I canconcentrate on their beauty, and notfracture my brain worrying about howthey were made.

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Washington, D. C. . . .The Atomic Energy Commission hasoffered bonuses up to $35,000 plus asharp price boost to stimulate U. S.production of uranium. Thenew bonusplan does not supersede the commis-sion's long standing offer, yet to becollected, of $10 ,000 for discovery ofa newdeposit and production from itof 20 tons of ore containing 20 per-cent or more of uranium oxide. Thenew premium payments program wentinto effect March 1 for three years. Itapplies to newly discovered depositsproducing ores containing as little as.01 percent uranium oxide. It is pay-able on each pound of newproductionup to 10,000 pounds. Complete de-tails of the new schedules are beingsupplied to the mining industry. Humboldt Star. Henderson, Nevad a . . .A bright future for known mangan-es e ore deposits in the vicinity of Carpand probably for other promising lo-cations is seen, according to an an-nouncement by United States armysignal corps authorities. New and en-larged processing facilities are to bese t up at Henderson to provide newcompounds for electric battery use.These will be located at Western Elec-trochemical company at its basic plant.Much of the ore now being used issaid to be coming from Utah. TheCarp workings in the southeast cornerof Lincoln county, 40 miles downRainbow canyon from Caliente, prom-ise to step into the picture in a bigway. C aliente Herald. Esmercdda, N e v a d a . . .

Higher prices and a constantly in-creasing demand for tungsten, one ofthe strategic metals, has sent Nevadaprospectors into the hills searching fornew deposits. Owners of prospects inth e Nye, Esmeralda and Mineralcounty areas are showing renewedactivity. At least half a dozen prop-erties in these sections have alreadystarted operations. The Nevada Tung-sten corporation has re-opened andis now operating the Sodaville flota-tion mill, concentrating tailings of theold Atkins-Kroll mill which operatedon ore from the Silver Dyke tungstenmine in 1918. Other large and alreadyoperating companies are planning toexpand. Renewed activity in tungstenmining in Nevada does not come as asurprise since it is a highly strategicmineral, holding high priority in gov-ernment needs. Pioche Record.

Austin, Nevada . . .Famous Lander Hill, which playedso important a part in the early de-velopment of Austin and of CentralNevada, is in line to return to thelimelight as the result of a transactionrecently completed. Deep diamonddrill tests will be conducted to learnjust what metals and in what quantities,ar e to be found at depths below anyreached in previous operations. Thetests will bemade by theRound Moun-tain Gold Dredging company. Thearea to be tested covers approximately1000 acres. The Nevada Equity com-pany, which up to three years ago wasactive in the area, will collaborate. Itis believed mineral wealth of variouskinds underlying Lander Hill, greatlyexceed all that was recovered duringearly operations. Pioche Record.

Salt Lake City, Utah . . .Advent of jet engines for both pi-loted and pilotless aircraft has sentscientists searching for materials whichar e not wilted by acid fumes, intenseheat and extreme pressure. Some ofthis research is being carried out bygraduate students at the University ofUtah. Supervised by Dr. George R.Hill, acting head of technology, JohnWeeks, graduate student and reservearmy engineer, began his investigationof corrosion of radioactive cobalt un-de r a grant from the Atomic EnergyCommission. Weeks will subject co-balt to various acids under mechanic-ally brutal conditions, then disolve andevaporate the corrosion film. The co-balt "rust" being radioactive, can bemeasured by a Geiger counter. SaltLake Tribune. Washington, D. C. . . .

Representative Walter S. Baring ofNevada has introduced a bill designedto increase production of strategic andcritical minerals by making incentivepayments. It provides for increasingthe country's ore reserves by puttinginto operation a liberal explorationplan in which mining companies willac t as agents of the government inexpending exploration funds on theirown properties. "The automatic in-centive payment plan worked for cop-per, lead and zinc and I do not seewh y it should notwork for all strategicmetals and minerals," Baring said.According to him, the bill in no wayinterfers with the authority of the I.M . A. under the Defense ProductionAct. Humboldt Star.

Barstow, California . . .A unique night mining operation isreported from the recently discoveredStarbright tungsten deposit 25 milesnorth of Barstow. According to theMineralight Information Service of theCalifornia Division of Mines, the oreis being mined at night by open cutmethods, so ultravolet light may beused to check the ore. Approximately30 tons of crude ore arebeing shippeddaily to Bishop for concentration. Thedeposit, including an outcrop 100 feetlong with a maximum width of about40 feet, wasdiscovered in 1950 by A.C. Lambert of Barstow. It has beenactively mined since August, 1950, byMineral Materials Company of Al-hambra.Mining Record. Washington, D. C. . . .The government has set out to checkskyrocketing world prices of tin, oneof the few strategic minerals whichthe United States does not produce inquantity. It has suspended all pur-chases of tin for the national stockpileand said it will hold down buying ofthe metal for industrial uses to the"barest possible minimum." Tin, whichbefore theoutbreak of the Korean warsold for about 77 cents a pound, nowsells for around $1.79. Battle Moun-tain Scout. Austin, Nevada . . .The Breyfogle Mine, most famousand long sought of all western "lostmines" was not in Death Valley, wheremany prospectors have died huntingit. According to a carefully workedout solution, it is in Round Mountain.The error in calculations which setBreyfogle and his many successorshunting the lost mine 200miles fromits actual location, is explained in astory written by Harold Weight, editorof the Calico Print. Reese River Re-view. Tonopah, Neva da . . .Operations on the WarEagle groupof claims located in San Antone can-yon, west branch of Meadow canyon,is expected to begin early this springaccording to W. A. Flower, owner ofthe land. He has sold a half interestin his holdings to a group of miningm en from T a c o m a , W a s h i n g t o n ,headed by Ed Doty, who will be incharge of the work. The War Eaglegroup is comprised of 11 claims, tra-versed for several thousand feet by aquartz vein carrying gold and silver.The crosscut tunnel, driven 5 yearsag o for thepurpose of cutting the veinat a verticle depth of 250feet, will becompleted as soon as possible and ex-tensive driftings on the vein will bedone. Tonopah Times Bonanza.

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Mon ticello. Utah . . .The largest uranium-copper depositin the United States, according toFletcher Bronson, is in the Happy Jackmine located in White Canyon. It isowned by Cooper and Bronson ofMonticello. The ore mined from it ismore than enough to keep the mill atWhite Canyon running. There is a

surplus stockpile each week, both atthe mill and mine. The mine has beenworked only two or three years, andthe ore is increasing in volume and thepercentage of minerals in value. Threehundred fifty feet back in the minethere is a deposit of pitchblende, oneof the richest sources of uranium. San Juan Record.

C MBy A. FRED EADS

Window Rock. Arizona . . .The eleven-member advisory com-mittee of the Navajo tribal council isstarting work on a detailed program

to develop large uranium deposits onthe reservation. C omm ittee mem bersmet with reservation superintendent,Allan G. Harper and representativesof the Atomic Energy Commission,the geological survey and several ur-anium processing firms. Navajo pros-pectors and miners also sat in on thesessions. The Navajos hope to havea processing mill for the atomic bombmaterial built at Shiprock, New Mex-ico. Tucs on Daily C itizen.

Baker, California . . .Rare-earth minerals of "highest im-portance" have been found 35 mileseast of Baker, according to Secretaryof the Interior, Oscar Ch apm an. Hesaid the discovery area, six miles longand two wide, makes the United Stateslargely self sufficient in rare-earthminerals, many of wartime value.Discovered by geological survey sci-entists, they are chiefly cerium, lan-thanum, neodymium and praseody-mium. Rare-earths are used in arclamps, tracer bullets and luminescentshells as well as in lamps and pocket

lighters. Printer Review. Mina, Nevada . . .

Newmont Mining Corporation hascompleted extention of a 1000-foottunnel into mineral bearing Mt. Di-ablo at Candelaria, 27 miles south ofMina. It is reported to be planning anextensive diamond drilling programnext spring. Mexican prospectors dis-covered rich gold-silver ore in the areain the 1860s, and Candelaria becameone of Nevada's leading producers ofthe precious metals within a few years.The district has been comparativelyinactive for nearly 50 years. MiningRecord.

T WAS in the year 1923 that newstrickled into Los Angeles throughgrapevine channels that the great-est of all California gold discoverieshad been made in Mono Coumy. Thegold was in Mono Lake.With a friend, I left immediately forthe scene of the new gold strike. Whenwe reached Mono Lake I found thatevery foot of the 60-mile shorelinehad been staked out as mining claims.Seven more or less crude gold recov-ery plants had been installed alongthe western shore of the lake and aneighth plant was on the north shore.Most of the plants were owned bystock companies formed at Portland,Oregon. None of the companies hadqualified to sell stock in California.

One of the men who had made anexperimental installation was Profes-sor Herschel Parker, member of theAmerican Geographic Society and aFellow of the Royal Society of Lon-don. He had been a professor of phys-ics at Columbia University 20 years.Prof. Parker had made a commer-cial assay of the water in the lake for

its gold content. The assay produceda small button of gold which he car-ried in a glass vial. When he showedme this he remarked that it was theonly measurable quantity of the pre-cious metal that had ever been ex-tracted from the lake.

He estimated that the water carriedin solution $1.00 a ton in gold and 15pounds of chemical ash. Using suchapproximate measurements as wereavailable, he and I sat down and esti-mated that Mono Lake contained 15billion tons of wa ter. If this figure iscorrect, then there were in the lake$15,000,000,000 in goldmore thanall the gold mined in the United Statessince the first gold discovery was made.And in addition there were 225 bil-lion pounds of chemical ashalsoworth a fortune.

Prof. Parker spent several monthsexperimenting with his recovery plant,revamping it many times. In the endhe made the statement that the goldin Mono could not be salvaged by anyknown chemical or electrical process.

M a r d K o c k S h o r ty

Hard Rock Shorty was em-barrassed. A touring bus filledwith school teachers spendingtheir Easter vacation on a sight-seeing trip through Death Valleyhad stopped at the Inferno storefor cold drinks. Hard Rock washalf asleep on the bench in frontof the store when they arrived,and immediately he was sur-rounded by more women thanhe had seen in 15 years.They recognized Shorty as alocal "character" and began ask-ing questions. "How hot does itget here? Do you have a mineup in the hills? Where are yourburros? etc., etc."Shorty tried to shrug them off,but his embarrassment only madethem more inquisitive. Finallyone of them asked the usualquestion: "Do you have anyrattlesnakes around here?""Naw, they ain't no snakes

here," he exclaimed. "Too hot fer'em."Obviously the young ladieswere disappointed. They wantedsome stories they could tell thefolks when they returned home.Shorty sensed their disappoint-ment."But they's a lot o' snakes upalong Eight Ball Crick," he as-sured them. "Up there the rat-tlers grow as big as a fire hose,an' they can swaller a coyote atone gulp. Snakes got so bad oneyear Pisgah Bill decided he hadbetter build a corral fer his bur-ros so they wouldn't wander offup the crick and get bit."Trouble was he didn't haveno fence posts. Prospectors'dcleaned out all the mesquite ferfirewood. Then Pisgah got oneo' them smart ideas o' hizen.He went out an' lassoed a few o'them rattlers an' staked 'em tothose salt cedar switches growin'just below the spring. Made thesnakes so mad they started bitin'the salt cedars. Within 30 min-utes after a salt cedar got a doseo' that snake pizen it swelled upas big as a full grown mesquitetree. Inside a week Bill hadenough fence posts to build twocorrals an' six cords o' logs fertimberin' the tunnel in his silvermine ."

M A Y , 1 9 5 1 19


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First prize in Desert Magazine's Pictures-of-the-Month contest in March was won byBrooks Hill of Neosho, Missouri, with theaccompanying print oi a veteran junipertree with its root system exposed by theweathering of rain and the erosion of windand sand. Photograph taken in White Can-yon, Utah, with a Medalist II camera, SuperXX film, 200th of a second at f. 22.

JCaviendeiWeldon Heald, author and lecturer ofPainted Canyon Ranch near Portal, Arizona,was winner of second prize in March witha new picture of the much-photographedmission of San Xavier del Bac near Tucson,Arizona. Photograph taken with a GermanFECA at f. 4.5. Taken near sunset with SuperXX film w ith Ki filter a t 100th of a seco nd.


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By CONSTAN CE WALKERLos Angeles, CaliforniaUnsympathetic eyes have often scornedYour tattered garb and melancholy hueAnd labeled you as weird and unadornedWith awkward fingers etching desert blue.Inured to silent days without regard,The solitary monotones of night;Assailed by wind and sun and careless

bardOnly a brooding dream gives you delight.The alchemy of time brings your reward,A long awaited coronation hour,As fortitude becomes a royal swordTo vest humility with petaled power.At last your beauty claims the boon ofspringAnd you are crowned with splendor,flowering.PEACHES OF THE PADRESBy FERN TAPSCOTT BELLAztec, Arizona

The day was hot. The desert sun showndownRelentlessly. A dark robed figure strodeIn silence down the dusty mission road.The glare brought to his genial brow afrown.While curling tongues of dust licked at hisgownAnd settled on its trailing hem, he showedAwareness only to his basket load,Comparing it to gems fit for a crown.The wind-blown trees, their very lives hard-fought,Gave to the scene a touch of Old Worldcharm;Their laden boughs the essence of goodcheer.The padre, counterpart of those who broughtThe seed from far-off Spain, bore on hisarmThe first full-ripened peaches of the year. IF I WAS A FREE SHADOWBy AMY VIAUSanta Ana, California

If I was a shadow and could be freeTo dart away,I'd go where shadows have never beenWith their cooling lay.I'd shadow the desert, here and there,Where men might gazeUntil their eyes caught the lovely tintsOf desert haze.If I was a shadow that could go freeI'd thwart the sunBy healing the burn of the desert sandsBefore I'd run. THE DESERT SLEEPSBy H ALLEE CUSHMAN HENDERSONRiverside, CaliforniaAcross the waste of sand and dunes,Lonesome, silent, deep,Slumbering in yesterday's noons,The desert lies asleep.Bleaching bones of cattle yieldGrimness to the past,Sullen sands are motionless,And heat waves travel fast.But yuccas bloom, white belled andchaste,A sand verbena smiles.Mourning doves still call a mate.Across the desert miles.

Photograph courtesy U. S. Bureau of Reclama tion.TRUE GRACIOUSNESS

By ELSIE MCKINNON STRACHANSanta Ana, CaliforniaI have found true graciousness,On life's highway, in old shade treesThat welcome all with friendliness.And pass cool gifts of shade with ease;Caressing with serenityThe traveler resting for a space,Refreshing him with pleasantry;It matters not, how fair his face.

By TANYA SOUTHErase the stark, the beaten face,The shoulders stooped from burdentrace.The lagging footsteps, and the sigh.Let but your soul to heaven cry,And rest in faith that God is caring,And oh, how easy is the faring!Through peace at heart, a calmergrain,Life will assume a higher plane.Grief and regret can but deter.Have faith, strive on, and you willsoar.

WHERE TUMBLEWEEDS ROLLBy HARRIETT L. GEORGEPasadena, CaliforniaOut where desert and farm lands meetAnd wide blue spaces arch,Where tumbleweeds and dry brown seedsAre ever on the march.There stands a windowless sagging wraithOf what was once a home,Abandoned now like a sunken scowEncircled with sandy loam.The secrets it has known are lostAs the elements win their raceWith steady thrust and searing dustTo leave at last but space. CALL OF THE DESERTBy GRACE BARKER WILSONKirtland, New MexicoThe desert is calling, and I must go,Though the road be hard and the travelslow;Cactus and sagebrush and rattlesnake hole,Sun beating down into my very soul;Sandy and wind-worn, a tortuous sea.Yet the god of the desert is calling me.

Wide, lonesome spaces under the stars,Whispers of magic no human voice mars;The gods walk abroad in communion withallWho follow the road at the desert's call.M A Y , 1 9 5 1 21


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Hasn't Found the Nuggets . . .Aztec Well, CaliforniaDesert:

So many people have been comingto the Corn Spring oasis in the Chuck-awalla Mountains expecting to findwater that I think you should makeclear that the spring has been dry fora long time.Many prospectors have been com-ing into this area in search of the lostPegleg gold as a result of John Mitch-ell's story in your February issue, inwhich he stated he had found someof Pegleg's nuggets in the Chuckawal-las while looking for a meteorite about25 years ago.I don ' t know about the nuggets asI haven't found any, but I did find ameteorite near Corn Spring in 1945.It weighed more than 40 pounds andI still have about half of it in a singlechunk.

WI L L L E WI S Imperial County Geograp hy . . .El Cajon, CaliforniaDeser t :More bad geography, and history.Grace E. Gray stated Imperial, Cali-fornia, was founded in 1904, and ElCentro in 1907. Imperial wasfoundedin 1901 and by 1907 El Centro wasquite a town and won a bitter fightwith Imperial as to the location of thecounty seat in August that year.

A N D Y V A N D E R P O E L

Ancient Spanish Mining . .Los Gatos, CaliforniaDesert:I would like to add mycomment tothe interesting story of ancient Spanishmining as told by Charles Knaus inthe March issue of Desert Magazine.When I read this story I questionedthe statement that this was the onlyevidence of ancient Spanish mining insouthwestern United States.During the first World War 1 spentsome time in NewMexico in connec-tion with mining equipment. I recalla small museum at the open pit mineat Santa Rita where there were ex-hibited some notched logs, rawhidebags and Indian skeletons which hadbeen dug out by steam shovels duringthe mining operation. How ancientthey were, or whether or not they wereSpanish I do not know, bui: apparentlythey were relics of the same perioddescribed by Mr. Knaus, although themine itself had been destroyed yearsago.

G L E N N H O L M E S Which Areas Are OffLimits? . . .Las Vegas, NevadaDesert:Thank you for publishing the mapshowing the boundaries of the LasVegas Bombing and Gunnery range inyour April issue. And now if you canobtain from the military and navalauthorities the maps of their otherreservations in the desert country, andpublish them, it will be a great help tothose of us who follow thedesert trails,an d whowonder just how much of thedesert is left for our explorations.G. M. M E R R I L L

A Guide to the Land of the Northern Lights . . .THE MILEPOSTA LOG OF THE ALASKA HIGHWAY

Sooner or later you will be taking thescenic route that now makesAlaska accessible to every American motorist. In this 96-page guidebook youwill find accurate information as to the road to Alaskaandthe paved highways in Alaska, with map and accurate detail as tothe accommodations youwill find along the way and what they willcost you. With this guide you canbudget your Alaskan trip bcth as totime and expense.$1.00 postpaidCalifornia buyers add 3c tax

"Deten t Palm Desert, California(Just enclose a S1.00 b illand a 3-cent stamp, if you are a California resident)

Save the Mesquite Trees . . .Banning, CaliforniaDesert:Referring to your recent news itemconcerning the controversy betweenthose stockmen who would denudethe range of mesquite trees to providemore grazing lands, and those whobelieve the mesquites should be pre-

served as shade for range animals andfor the food value of their beans,mayI suggest the following?Nitrogen is the prime requirementfo r the building of protein, and directsunlight extracts nitrogen from bothflesh and plants. Without shad e, ani-mals have to eat more of less nutri-tious food.As for the value of mesquite beans,they are equivalent to the carob, aboutwhose virtues any dealer who is for-tunate enough to obtain it can groweloquent. Wherever obtainable it hasbeen food par excellence for the last

4000 years.Both the range and the mesquitetrees may be preserved by periodicallyrunning a fast fire through the forest,just before a storm, thus thinning theold growth and making the pasturagethey have been nursing, but leavingthe roots intact. Meddlers should bewarned that once the roots have beendestroyed mesquite is very hard tostart again. J . BRECK Freedom from W orldly Care . . .Los Angeles, CaliforniaDesert:Within my acquaintance are manyyoung people seeking an independentexistence, usually as writers, but be-cause of the high cost of living theyfind it necessary to engage in workwhich gives them no opportunity forcreative effort or self-expression.About 11 years ago I learned howto live on an expenditure of abouteight cents a day for food, with no in-jury to my health. In fact I havegained over 25 pounds. Then I bought

a half acre lot and built my owncabinnear thedeserttotal cost about $350.The taxes are about $3.00 a year.In this manner 1 found it possibleto live on $10 a month, half of whichwent for books and postage. Thus Icould earn my livelihood in an aver-age of a half hour a day, leaving theremainder of my time for creativework. But this is possible only forthose who are willing to forego every-thing except the basic essentials ofliving. However, that is not too big aprice to pay for the freedom fromanxiety and worldly cares which canbe attained in that manner.

THEODORE B. DUFUR22 DESERT MAGAZINE


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ARIZONAJavel ina Areas Listed . . .AJOPlentiful plant food is keep-ing Javelina in lower areas, accordingto R. L. Neill, assistant chief of thedivision of law enforcement. North-east of Florence, before the countrybreaks out into the lower rolling hillsbetween Calvin and the Gila River, isa favorite area for wild hogs, particu-larly since recent rains have madefood adequate. The Tom Mix washon the south side of Tucson in anotherhaunt, especially in the beds of thewashes. The lower foothills of theSuperstitution Mountains and in theSierra Anchas north east of Rooseveltlake have always been Javelina loca-tions. A jo C opper News. Water forNorth Yuma County . . .W A S H I N G T O N , D. C The De-par tment of Interior has announcedthat farmers in the Ranegras plainarea of Arizona could tap between5,000 and 10,000 acre-feet of watera year by drilling wells. This amountwould support irrigation on a smallscale. The information came throughthe Geological Survey and ArizonaState Land Department, who made astudy of the ground water resourcesof the northern part of the Ranegrasplain. According to the report, a yearago only two wells had been drilledbut others were under construction orbeing planned. Water levels, the re-port states, range from about 30 feetbelow the ground surface near Bouseto more than 250 feet between DesertWells and H ope . Yuma Daily Sun. Poison W eed s Threaten Stock . . .TU CS O N With the ranges of Ari-zona extremely dry and grazing scarceat this time of year, Dr. William J.Pistor, head of the University of Ari-zona department of animal pathology,warns ranchers against loco and burroweed poisoning. Since ranges are espe-cially dry after the winter drought,cattle are more apt to graze on themthan in years of normal rainfall. Locoweed is usually found at from 4,000to 6,000 feet elevation, burro weedat lower levels. All the usual weedkillers will destroy both, but are tooexpensive for general range use. Cat-tle should be kept from infested areasand supplemental feeding employeduntil regular grasses green. The poisonin loco weed is probably an alkaloid,that in burro weed is trematol. Bothhave an accumulative action. TucsonDaily C itizen.

Museum Opened for Summer . . .F L A G S T A F F Opening of theMuseum of Northern Arizona for thesummer season has been announcedby its officials. Hours will be from 9to 12 and from 1 to 5 on weekdays;1 to 5:30 Sundays. Admission is free.Re-opening at this time makes theMuseum and facilities available formany weekend visitors. During thewinter a new panel was added showingthe life of pit house people on BonitoTerrace before and after the eruptionof Sunset Crater about 1066. C o c o -nino Sun.

Archeological Gift Packed . . .GLOBEThe Gila Pueblo arche-ological collection, donated to theArizona State Museum last Decemberby Mr. and Mrs. Harold S. Gladwin,of Santa Barbara, California, is beingpacked at Globe, Arizona, and will betransferred as rapidly as it can be madeready. The first shipment is valued at$1,000,000. The collection will beplaced on the first floor and mezzanineof the museum, located on the campusof the University of Arizona, Tucson.Some of the artifacts are to be housedin the basement, conveniently avail-able to archeological students. It willbe some time before the entire collec-tion, conceded to be the best of itskind in southwestern United States,ca n be unpacked and arranged. Tucson Daily C itizen.Voting Navajos Show Up Whites . . .WIN D O W RO CK The NavajoIndians gave their white brothers anelection lesson recently. Using thewhite man's voting system for the firsttime in a tribal election, more than 75percent of the eligible voters cast theirballots at 74 polling places scatteredover the vast reservation. The cam-paign was similar to election proced-ures everywhere, except that candidatescanvassed undeveloped areas and therewa s no mud-slinging. The ballots borepictures of the candidates in place ofnames since most of the Indians can-not read or write. Since 1938 theNavajos have voted by selecting acolored card representing their choice.Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Dil-lon S. Myer sent a congratulatery mes-sage to Sam Ahkeah, who was re-elected as chairman of the NavajoTribal Council. With the message wenta gavel made from wood taken fromthe White House, now under restora-tion. Department of Interior andGallup Independent.

fra Ve/th ef/igh w a yso fRpmance inI1EUI IIIEX iCO

THE LAND OF ENCHANTMENT

I here's romance in its name . . . TheSanta Fe Trail . . . and for six decades itwas a glamorous route which belongedto thedays of the singing cowboys, of themountain men, the traders and trappers,but also along its course came the longcaravans ofhomeseekers andhomeloverswho remained to help build the West.In fancy you'll travel this and otherfamous trails as you drive along NewMexico's fine highways, to famedscenic w onders and places of historicinterest Carlsbad Caverns NationalPark, eight National Monuments andeighteen Indianpueblos. Each dayyou'lldiscover som ething new and strangeand different; and too, you'll findyourself reliving many of theepochalevents of more than 400years offascinating history in New Mexico.Start planning now for youfvacation of tomorrow!

AND WE'LL SSND YOU OURFREE BOOKLETS AND MAPS

PRONTO! \

Room1492 State Capitol Santa Fe, New MexicoPlease send free: Q New booklet "Land of Enchantment" Official Highway Map, NewMexico "Historic Trails" Map

M A Y , 195 1 23


24/40

T H E D 6 S 6 R T T R A D I N G P O S TClassified Advertising in This Section Costs 8c aWord, $1.00Mnimum Per Issue

INDIAN GOODSWE SEARCH UNCEASINGLY forold and rareIndian Artifacts, but seldom accumulate alarge assortment. Collectors seem aseagertopossess them as their original owners. Tothose who like real Indian things, a heartywelcome. You toomay find here somethingyou have long desired. We arecontinuallyincreasing our stock with the finest inNavajorugs, Indian baskets, and hand-made jewelry.Daniels Trading Post, 401 W. Foothill Blvd.,Fontana, California.( PERFECT AND FINE Indian Arrowheads$1.00. 2 large arrowheads $1.00; extra finestone tomahawk $2.00; 4 beautiful bird ar-rowheads $1.00; 2 flint knives $1.00; fineeffigy peace pipe $8.00; bone fish hook $2.00;6" orover spearhead $5.00, thin and perfect.List Free. Lear's, Glenwood, Arkansas.

BOOKSMAGAZINESPANNING GOLD Another hobby for RockHounds and Desert Roamers. Anew booklet,"What the Beginner Needs to Know," 36 pagesof instructions; also catalogue ofmining books

and prospectors supplies, maps ofwhere to goand blueprints of hand machines you canbuild. Mailed postpaid 25c, coin or stamps.Old Prospector, Box 729, Desk 5, Lodi, Calif."GOLD PANNING FOR PROFIT." Healthy out-door hobby. Beginners big illustrated instruc-tion book$1.00. Miners' gold pans, $2.00.Prospectors' powerful magnifying glass, $1.00.Desert Jim, 627 Lillian, Stockton, California.WE WILL PAY 50cents each forgood copiesof theDesert Magazine issue of April, 1947.Desert Magazine, Palm Desert, California.

REAL ESTATEBORREGO: Some good values areavailable.Excellent andabundant water. Good soil.Whether you want acreage or abuilding siteconsult Rear Admiral Ralph Wood, Ret. Driveover and investigate.COZY, MODERN pumice brick and knotty pine

home. 175 acres. Redwood beam ceiling.Near new school. Allutilities. Finest yearround desert climate. Good location motelor trailer court. Bigpayroll community.$6500 includes furnishings and desert oilpaintings. Half cash. Grail Fuller, owner,Daggett, California.

NEW HOME INDESERT MAGAZINE TRACTlively, 2-Bedroom Desert Home now underconstruction in thevery he; rt of Desert's40-acre cultural andresidential section, one-block from Desert Magazine. Close toshop-ping center, ultra modern school, communitychurch, Shadow Mountain Club, and Stables.Lot size 115'xl34; floor spate 1600 sq. ft.Spacious rooms throughout; extra roomcanbe used for den or breakfast room. Plentyof closets. Air-cooled for sunnier comfort.Full Price$15,000. Write orcall Lois Roy,Box 33, Tel. 76-2251, Carl Henderson, Realtor,Palm Desert, Calif.

CAFE FOR SALE: 9stool, near good trout andbass fishing onColorado River. Also nearlake Mojave. On Hiway 1-95. Good business.Write P.O. Box 60, Searchlight, Nevada.BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES

FABULOUS EARNINGS Fascinating pastime.Growing Genuine, living miniature (Ming)Trees. New Sensational Business or Hobby.Astounding information FREE. Dwarf Gar-dens, Box 355N, Briggs Station, Los Angeles48, California.TRADING POST, Hiway 80, Rox andIndian

Goods. 1 acre, 3 houses, soft water well.Healthy, good living forcoup.e. Reasonoldage. $8500. Trading Post, Boulevard, Calif. - , ' . t^njuw/. HUUU1 5 A\JH , iJWLi-ltVcll'Ja Vtl**VADATwo mining claims, calcium carbon-te, water soluble, at one one, running intobeautiful banded travertine, phosphorescent

icai iorcnicKens, LurKeys or )or hay$7500.00. Or.Hiway.arming or hay$7500.00. OBox 428, Herlong, California

I N V E N T O R SWhen you aresatisfied that you have in-vented amatter ofvalue write me, withoutobligation, for full information on what stepsyou should take tosecure a Patent.PATRICK D. BEAVERSRegistered Patent Attorney1 0 2 3 Columbian Bldg., Washington 1, D.C.

MISCELLANEOUSPROSPECTORS AND ROCKHOUNDS WANTED.To join thenewly incorporated United Pros-pectors Organization. If you ;ireexperiencedor beginners thearticles in ourmagazine arebound tohelp you enjoy your hobby and theoutdoo rs. Send your name for our newbro-chure and liter ature. United Prospectors, Box729, Lodi, California.FR ED AND JESSIE PORTE R wel come you to"Pow-Wow" Rock andGift Shop. East endof Yermo, Calif. Hi-way 91. You are assuredof an interesting stop here; whether it berocks, gifts, information or a souvenir.What's your hobby? Ours is rocks. Come inand "Pow-Wow" with us.PHOTOMICROGRAPHS of rare and unusualscenes, formations and intrusions in agate.2x2 color slides six for$1.95; 100 for $25.00.Also West ern s cenes, cacti, models. Sample,lit erat ure 25c. Dave Harri s, 2401 Pitts burg ,El Paso, Texas.SAVE 50% ON NEW BINOCULARS! F re e Cata-log. F ree Booklet, "How toSelect Binoculars."Writ e Today! Bushn ell' s 43-D3 Green, Pasa-dena 1, California.LADY GODIVA "Th e Worl d' s Fine st Beau tif ier ."

For women who wish tobecome beautiful, forwomen whowish to remain beautiful. Anoutstanding desert cream. For information,write or call Lola Barnes, 963 No. Oakland,Pasadena 6,Calif, orphone SYcamore 4-2378.COLOR SLIDESTravel, Nature, Geology, etc.Free list (with sample 30c, three for dollar).Kelly D. Choda, Box 5, LosAlamos, NewMexico.GEIGE R COUNTER Nucl eus , $16, Postpaid.You addbattery andphones tomake a reli-able, sensitive, beta-gamma detector at low-est possible cost. Fr ee informative li terat ure.West coast Produc ts, Dept. D-M 8227 Grove ,lir national . , < Sunland, California.

end ofa thrilling pack t>ip from DESER T TEA. One pou nd o ne do ll ar post pa id .Greasewood Greenhouses, Lenwood, Barstow," California.>( .> k. iniod,in,, i.od and SILVERY DESER T HOLLY PLANTS. One do ll arp>aii'r. each post pai d. Greas ewood Greenho uses, Len-

\ wood, Barstow, California.m W' ' " Bi" *" " " ' T""'"' ***"* WANTED USED Bausch Lomb

Documents

195105 Desert Magazine 1951 May