196208 Desert Magazine 1962 August

8/14/2019 196208 Desert Magazine 1962 August

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of the SOUTHWEST40c


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l'iti getting something, Elwood!"

"Come ye yourselves apart into a desertplace, and rest a while." Mark 6:31

We pretend not to notice it in late May and June. In Julywe set our lips firmly in a straight line and dare it to do itsworst. In August it does its worst. So by August 15 or sowe borrow something or hock something or if we have it de-posited we withdraw something, and head for the highlandsor the surf. There's no shame attached to this; nature issupposed to triumph over man now and then, just to remindus Who is boss, and heat is one of its weapons. Anyway it'stwo-thirds over, so take heart.

Significant sign on a pretty little desert village church:You think THIS is hot?August can't frighten me by turning the heat on. I've beenlong married to a spirited woman."Lord knows I've tried to make this a better community,"says my desert-dwelling pal "Foxtail" Johnson. "I've votedagainst every candidate that got elected around here since Iwas 16 years old."Lots of talk now about toll roads across our deserts. I'mag'in 'em, unless. Unless the franchises make specific limita-tions on the owners, and demand specific protections for usmotorists. The owners must not be allowed to control theroadside eateries and filling stations, or prices will shoot sky

so that the toll takers don't let a road go to chuck holethe government must still be forced to maintain nearby roads. Think twice before you give toll people a go-ahead.One of the greatest boons to all desert dwellers and tris the simple soda pop. Actually pop is just pap; noning, harmless. But, cold, it can be like the adv. delicious and refreshing. Most of us don't need or evea Rolls Royce, a mountain villa, a seaside estate, or figure bank account. But we are humbly grateful fmany little blessings of life. Pop is one of them.There is a magic moment in every summe r dayjust at nightfall, when the flies have quit and thequitoes have not yet gone to work.Ken Palmer, who once had no money and bad heamade himself wealthy and strong by accepting the open-armed invitation. He did it not by exploitatioby sharp chicanery, but by dedicated Christian appreof the rocks and hills, the cacti and animals, the azurand the sunsets of crimson, emerald and gold. He lia parcel of "cheap" land 30 miles from the nearest But his enthusiasm was so contagious that dozenhundreds of folk yearned to become his neighborsacreage all around went sky high, the area is boomingand his beloved Betty have brought a cultural level toarea that never knew any such before. Somehow that's Americanism at its finest.

Had a little visit with Frank Kush, football coach local "desert" university. Learned that he plans to three-platoon system this Fallone for defense, ooffense, one to attend classes. "Why do you keep bragging about the Southwestern da good reader writes me. "What's wrong with my homNew York?"Not a cotton-pickin' thing, sir. I'd live there if theme the place. O happy day! Friend Mort Kimsey, who is mayodesert town, saw a litterbug dump a sack of garbage cactus-gemmed acreage. He gathered it up, traced license, and returned the garbage to the litterbug's fron

My interferiority complex frequently causes an embaboomerang. Came onto an old, wrinkled, ragged trying to dig a hole in rocky desert soil. So, grinning sI needled him about seeking gold in such an unlikel"No gold," grunted he."Then what?" demanded 1, the superior city soph"Oil?"He straightened up, wiped sweator tearsoff hiand dismissed me with two more words"Bury wifeOur postal service isn't perfect, I suppose. did deliver a letter addressed to a man at "ElmeArizona." They sent it to El Mirage.One of my desert-country friends has come up w

idea so revolutionary it could wreck our economic It's a "Cash Card," officially printed and mounted in tive plastic. It reads: "The bearer of this card is entmake any purchase for cash. It must be honored anwhen accompanied with either silver or currency. It no identification, no billing procedures, no limit amount."It'll never gain acceptance by us vacationers."What makes these Western plains so flat?" a dude acowboy."I reckon," drawled the old whanghide, "it's becausun sets on 'em every night." Greatest blessing about August days isthey have nights. Stew all day; fret and fume, sweat and drip a

and gripe. But come 10 p.m. lie back on a pallet or feast your eyes on the velvet sky. Count every geming that for each one up there you have somewhere a b


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T H E D E S E R T I N A U G U S T :On Schedule. On May 15, 1963, 80 digni-taries will take their seats in an 80-passen-ger tram car (one of two now under con-struction in Switzerland), and in a matter ofminutes be whisked to the flank of Mt. SanJacinto, 8000 feet above the desert floor. Attheir feet, appearing as a child's toytown,will be the city of Palm Sp rings. Eastw ardwill stretch the dark green squares of Indio'sdate orchards, the blue of Salton Sea, andthe brown expanse of Imperial Valley. Allthis provided, of course, the weather onMay 15, 1963, is clear, and the workmen

M A G A Z I N E O F T H E S O U T H W E S TVolume 25

25TH YEARNumber 8

CONTENTS FOR AUGUST, 1962This Month's Cover

The Claret Cup Cactus belongs to the Southw est. The species is foun dthroughout Arizona and New Mexico, and into West Texas, Colorado,Utah and Californ ia. Several varieties occur at elevation s be twee n4000 and 8000 feet. Natt N. Dodge of Santa Fe photo graphe d theblossom trio for our Au gust cove r. For more on cacti, see page 7.< Mher D e s e r t s

10 Exp lorin g Australia 's V ictoria Desert V. L. SERVENTYSpecial Report

14 Is Small Mi nin g Dead?14 The Last Gold M ill()bservations. Discoveries

2 Desert Detours3 The Desert in Aug ust20 At a Navajo Waterhole22 Lost Jesuit Treasure: Fact or Fancy?38 Poem of the MonthNature's Wonders

6 Garden Hints for August7 An Easy Way to Graft Cactus12 Smallest of the Desert "Haw ks"Yesterday's Desert

28 Ghost Mountain DiaryOther Features

8 New Ideas for Desert Living9 Letters from our Readers38 New and Interesting Southwest Books

CHARLES H. DUNNINGWARREN and BARBARA TRANSUE

OREN ARNOLDSAM ROSENTHAL, JR.CHARLES W. POLZER, S.J.VIOLETTE NEWTON

HIRAM L. PARENTEDMUND C. JAEGER

MARSHAL SOUTH

DAN LEECHARLES E. SHELTON

who have already spent a year buildthe Palm Springs Aerial Tramway mtain their "on schedule" pace.A total of 148,000 feet of locked coil cawire rope and strand is being producedTrenton, New Jersey, for the double trand double hauling cables. Fabricationapproximately 263 tons of structural steelthe five towers has already begun in Angeles. Total cost of what will be world's largest passenger - carrying tr$7,700,000. The photo above shows tramway route up Chino Canyon (the soline below Valley Station represents a flane road currently being built.Both terminal stations will have restaurgift shop and lobby facilities; the three ping areas at Valley Station will accomdate 1000 cars; each tramway car willcapable of transporting 400 persons per hin either direction; an estimated half-milpersons will make the ride the first year.A half-million people suddenly and sptacularly deposited in the heart of a motain wilderness! Let us hope that more gthan harm comes of this considerable venture. * * *A Friend Is Gone. Victor Clyde Forsydesert artist, died in mid-May. After a scessful career as cartoonist in the E("Joe's Car", "Dynamite Don", "Way West") Forsythe established himself asserious painter of Western scenes. His mnoteworthy contribution to DESERT was "Gold Strike" series which appeared DESERT's covers in the summer of 1960Overland to Rainbow. Before it burnedthe ground some years ago, Rainbow Lowas the outfitting point for horseback hiking trips to Rainbow Bridge. Myles Herick has established a small trading p

continued on next pDESERT is pub lished mo nthly by Desert Mag azine, Inc., Palm Desert, Calif. Second Class Postage pa id at Palm Desert, C alif., anadd ition al m ailing offices under Act of March 3, 1879. T itle registered No . 358865 in U.S. Patent Office, and contents copyri ght ed by Desert Magazine, Inc. Unsolicited manuscripts and photographs cannot be returned or a cknowle dged unless ful l return postagenclosed. Permission to re produc e contents must be secured fro m the edito r in wr iti ng . SUBSCRIPTION PRICE: $4.50 per year (12 isin the U.S.; $5 elsewhere. Allo w five weeks for change of address, and be sure to send the old as we ll as new address.CHARLES E. SHELTONPublisher EUGENE L. CONROTTOEditor


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THE DESERT IN AUGUST (continued from preceding page)at the site and hopes eventually to rebuild the lodge. At present however, this is the situation there: no facilities for serving meals; campewelcome; cabinsnot modernavailable at $5 per night; with ampnotice Headrick can procure Navajo guides and horses ($15 a day fguide; $7 for saddle horses; food and camping equipment not provied). Headrick's address: Rainbow Trading Post, Tonalea, Ariz.* * *The Late Law After months and years of feet dragging, the RiversidCalif., County Board of Supervisors finally passed an ordinance maing it unlawful for subdividers and farmers to disturb the top-soil areas susceptible to blow-sand conditions. The new law requires thprotective measures (fencing, plantings, sprinkling) be taken to heland scars and hold the soil in place.* * *Down the River. Art Greene, veteran riverrunner featured in lamonth's DESERT, recently had two customers on one of his Glen Cayon "farewell" voyages who had more on their minds than mentalsaying goodbye to the scenery that will be inundated by the lake-to-behind Glen Canyon Dam. Making the 150-mile trip from Hite, Utato Page, Arizona, with Greene, were Governors George D. Clyde Utah and Paul Fcmnin of Arizona. Their states w ill witness a revoltion in Southwest recreation when Lake Powell becomes a realinext year. * * *Vandals Discover Am boy. Word comes to us that the outdoor-wreckehave made their way into Amboy Crater, the classic black coskirted by Highway 66 east of Barstow. What the vandals have dois scratch and paint their names and pseudonames (cuss words) othe volcanic rocks. What are the prospects for protecting the crateAt presen t, it doe sn't look too good. W rites Jay Homan , chief of tSan Bernardino County Planning Commission: "M any y ear s ag o . the Amboy Crater was recommended for inclusion in the State PaSystem. I doubt that it wa s ever seriously consid ered b ec au se of comparatively isolated and barren situation amid extensive rouglav a flows. W e in the Plann ing Department, how ever, look upon as an important and impressive landmark . . . and it might well bidentified by an appropriate monum ent along the Highw ay." AdHorace "Doc" Parker, conservation lea der: "The only wa y w e caprotect desert lands of scenic, historic, recreational or scientific valis to have them included in either a State or National park or monment. However, for the foreseeable future, the Amboy Crater wprobably h ave to remain at the mercy of the desert vand als. monument will not protect it." * * *Stabilizing Nature. The National Park Service is spending $25,0in an attempt to pin a large natural arch to the cliff above SpruTree Ruin in Mesa Verde N ational Park. The 3000-ton sa nds tone slhas been gradually pulling away from the cliff and now threateto fall.

* * *Not Enough. The past winter's rains were "bountiful and welcomebut it take s more than one rain y winter to end So uthern Californiwater problem. This is the word from Preston Hotchkis, gen era l ch aman of the Southland W ater Committee. "W ater problem s in SoutheCalifornia will not be resolved until the State Water Project is completed and Delta-Feather River water is flowing from the taps in ohom es," said Hotchkis. "That is still 10 ye ars aw ay an d that rem aithe dead line in our need." Along with last winter's ab ove-a veragrainfall, only three other wet seasons in the past 18 years produceabove-average precipitation, and one year had only an inch abovAs a result, the cumulative rainfall deficit in Southern California nototals approximately 52 inchesor about four years of full normrainfall.* * *Trail Scooter Policy. The Regional Forester for the Pacific Northwe


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wilderness-type and similar areas where motor vehicles already areexcluded, and in areas where their use will damage resources, en-d mge r the pub lic, or seriously interfere w ith other important publicu:>es or valu es." Forest supe rvisors will give public notice an d postn strictions for each N ationa l Forest trail closure. DESERT app laud sthis move towards the clarification of the trail scooter's status in atk ast one segment of the public lands.* * *Wrong Direction. The nation's largest firm handling radioactive wastematerial will no longer dump its hot cargo in the Pacific Ocean offthe Fara llone Islan ds. Instead, it will bury the w aste m aterial in theP . margo sa Desert near Beatty, Nevad a.* * *August Calendar: If you have ever tried to inspire, cajole, wheedleO' force a burro into actionyou may picture the scene to be enactedat the start of the 9th Annual National Burro Derby on August 2-5.T !iis will mark the opening of a unique four-day celebration beginningiii the desert sands at Apple Valley, Calif., and having its climaxamong mountain pines and lakes 44 miles away and 6800 feet higha< Big Bear. You can join in festive activities at the be ginning of thed srby and follow its tortuous a nd comical prog ress up the north-sideol the great San Bernardino Mountains, or you can come up to thec )ol mountain s from the other side, enjoy yourself in a varie ty ofv ays, and be on hand for the grand finale of the burro event.E'irros are rounded up mainly from Nevada and Arizona and broughtto Apple Valley. Volunteer wranglers, backed by sponsors, attemptto m ake the trek, leading the burro by rope h alter only. Of the 70 or8') who usua lly start out, ma ny a re left by the way side . On ha nd isa humane officer to protect the burros; but the wranglers need protec-tion more. One year a burro knocked down his wrangler, stompedhim, then bit him several times before rescuers got the man to ah :>spital. On e rac e w as p articularly rough on the men. Two wenttc the hospital, many were kicked, knocked down, bitten or dragged,a ad many burros escaped.E3st time for the 44-mile derb y is just un der 10 hou rs. In 1956, Dr.William R. Thomas, Apple Valley surgeon who last June won theR 9publican nom ination for Con gress , m ad e it in 13:25.28. Otherv ranglers hav e b een a California Highway Patrolman, a n animal-ti in er , former college star runner, a wom an veteran of the M arineC orps, 14 and 16 ye ar old boy s, and severa l girls.While thousands wait for the burros, continuous festivities throughouttie Big Bear Lake area will be in swing Friday and Saturday, withSunday reserved for the gigantic parade, with awards in the manycontests being given that afternoon. Three pa ve d routes lead up thes mth-side of the San Be rnardino Mou ntains: Highw ay 18 up W ater-man Canyon north of San Bernardino ("Rim of the World" route);Highway 30 up City Canyon north from Highland; and the new pavedFoute 38 via Barton Flats northeast from R edland s. Those com ingfiom the Mojave Desert side and all those who want to follow willtake Highway 18 at Lucerne Valley to climb to Big Bear.. Somec jmbination of these routes ma kes an interesting circle tour.E 3sides the natural scenic attractions, there ar e un usu al features suchas San ta's Village and Enchan ted Forest. Storybook cha racters v itches, gnomes, princesses come alive in these year-round "fairy-lands." It sound fantastic to suggest heading desertward in Augustca d to see San ta Clau s! But the San B ernardinos rise 11,500 feetcbove the desert, creating a summer resort as well as a winter play-ground. Besides many resort facilities there are numerous publiccamps at 5000 to 7500 feet elevation.Also on the August Ca lend ar are these Southwest events: Aug. 4: moki Ceremo nials, Prescott, Ariz. Aug. 9-12: Indian Cerem onial,Callup, New Mexico. Aug. 15-19: Farmers' Fair, Hemet, Calif. Aug.16-18: Ca che Coun ty Fair and Rodeo, Logan, Utah. Aug . 18-19, 25-26:Pony Express Days, Ely, Nev. Aug. 19: Annual Sheriff's Posse Rodeo,Eedona, Ariz. August 24-26: Nevada Fair of Industry, Ely. Aug. 30-Sept. 3: Antelope Valley Fair and Alfalfa Festival, Lancaster, Calif.In late August the Hopis da nc e for rain (this ye ar a t Hotevilla). Writei) the Winslow Chamber of Commerce for the date, which is set a few

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' J l M K t THINGS TO DO IN AUGUST

jjnnualsAnnuals for winter flowering (indoorsor greenhouse) should be sown now. Cin-erarias will bloom in March if seeds areplanted in early August. Bulbs for fallplanting should be ordered now.LOW DESERT: Mulch and light feed-ing where necessary, is the routine forAugust. Pull out annuals that have finishedblooming.This is the time to take a good look atyour flowers. Are you disappointed? Avariety of annuals can weather the heatwhen the soil is properly prepared beforeplanting. Most of our Southwest Desert soilcan use more humus or compost workeddeeply at the start.To fill that gap in the garden, try por-tulaca, marigolds, four-o'clocks, cosmos,zinnias, petunias, verbenas. Sweet peas canbe planted now if protected from the sun.Madonna lilies should be planted thismonth.Long slow watering will be most bene-ficial.HIGH DESERT: Thorough wateringand mulching (if not done previously) arenecessary for August's annuals.NEVADA, UTAH and NORTHERNARIZONA: Thorough watering.

perennialsLOW DESERT: Roses will need lotsof water this month. Perennial seeds maybe planted at the end of the month inshaded areas. Mulch and light feeding,spraying or dusting for detrimental insectsand disease, is the main chore. A goodall-purpose insecticide may be used ratherthan several different kinds.HIGH DESERT: Thorough wateringand mulching; sow seeds at end of themonth.NEVADA. UTAH AND NORTHERNARIZONA: Fertilize mums regularly un-til buds show color. Roses should be fed.

SJreesFertilize old trees in mid-August; threepounds of 10-6-4 or 10-5-5 per trunk-inch-diamcler.LOW DESERT: Mulch shrubs and newtrees if you have not done soit conserves

water and keeps the roots cool. In someareas, trees or shrubs grown in containerscan be planted, but make sure they do notlack for water, especially bougainvillea.Long, slow watering leaches the alkali fromthe soil.HIGH DESERT: Mulch and waterthoroughly. Prune out unruly growth.NEVADA. UTAH AND NORTHERNARIZONA: Prune and water as necessary.Don't over-fertilize evergreen shrubs inAugust. New shoots need to be hardenedbefore killing frosts arrive.

.. - , ' . ; !JjkwnsWater lawns deeply as needed. Mowingfrequently to remove a small portion of tophelps build a strong root system. If clip-pings arc left on lawn, some potash willbe returned to the soil, though it may notlook as neat as a raked lawn. Shady ordamp areas should be raked.NEVADA, UTAH AND NORTHERNARIZONA: Continue light feeding andwatering. New lawn sites should be pre-pared now for September planting.

Manzanita should not be watered insummer months. Seeds of creosotebush canbe gathered in late summer; kept until nextsummer when they can be planted aboutone-inch deep. Soak thoroughly whenplanting, again when plants appear. Blad-

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NEW IDEAS forDESERT LIVINGBy DAN LEE

King-Size BarbecueBarbecue braziers all run pretty muchalike, but Mr. Smokestack, a departurefrom conventional design, has many inter-esting features. It resembles a water heat-er chopped off short, but in actuality is aminiature smokehouse and barbecue ovenrolled into one comp act unit : 40-incheshigh, 16-inches in diameter; made of cold-rolled steel. I like it, even though I havenot tested it to capacity: Mr. Smokestackcan smoke and barbecue 40 pounds ofmeat at one time. It barbecues withoutbasting, without turningwithout any at-tention, once the fire is going. The priceis $39.95. Mr.Smokestack is available fromDept. D, P. O. Box 22212, Houston 27,Texas.

Liquid Meal in a CanIf 40 pounds of barbecue meat is toomuch to put in your pack on that hike tothe top of Mt. SanGorgonio, consider themeal in a can. Most of the survival foodsand emergency rations that hit the marketar e as dry as a popcorn sandwich. Not sowith Nutrament, a 400-calorie meal inliquid form. The user gets both food anddrink in one can. (A can of Nutramentequals the food value of a glass of orangejuice, poached egg, strip of bacon, sweetroll and coffee.) It come in vanilla andchocolate flavor, and is quite tasty, re-sembling that of a rich malted milk.I'd say it would make an excellent desert

ration on those hot days when food justdoesn't seem inviting. It can be stored with-out refrigeration for long periods. No cook-ing is requiredonly a sharp object topuncture the can. Sorrythe cost of thisnew product was not announced. Nutra-ment will be handled by most stores thatsell Metrecal, the companion product.Butane Camp LightAnyone who camps in the desert needslight at night, and there's nothing like alamp that burns for hours and even dayswithout pumping, refilling, or batterycharging. A newunit, LPCamplite, standsonly 10 inches high, and is fitted with both

wall-bracket and ground-stake. It can beused in conjunction with an LP (butane-propane gas) container, via a flexible hose.One 20-pound LPgas cylinder will burn thelamp 175 hours! The price was not an-nounced, but it will probably be competi-tive with other camplights. The long-burnfeature, not requiring pumping or refuel-ing, is a big advantage. From: Dept. D,Camplite, Humphrey Products, Box2008,Kalamazoo, Mich.Tent Trailer Canopy

Warm weather desert camping has itsproblems, andforemost among them is thematter of proper ventilation. If air can cir-culate over a shaded area, cooling takesplace much faster. A new 14 x 18 - footheavy-duty canopy made especially for useas additional roofing over tent trailers isavailable from Heilite Trailers, Inc.This highly practical item is made foruse with the Heilite Tent Trailer. Used inhot weather, the canopy provides a wel-comed roof over the campsite, thus allow-ing cooling air to keep things more com-fortable during the heat of the day.Tele-scopic tent poles and guy ropes with stakesare included. Called the Cover-All Canopyit can also be used as a windbreak, lean-to shelter and ground cover. Poles are 7to 8 feet high. No price announced.Con-tact: Dept. D, Heilite Trailers, Inc., P. O.Box 480,Lodi, Calif.

New Camper JacksIt's been quite a while since anyone hascome up with a new idea in truck camperjacks. Travel Queen Coach has a newjackwhich fits into three built-in holes in thecamper. Thebuilder claims that a ten-year-old boy can load or unload a big camperwith a set of these new jacks. They looksturdy enough, but they haven't beenaround long enough for anyone to peg theirlife expectancy. There is certainly room forplenty of improvement in the camper jackfield. Perhaps these new models fromTravel Queen will solve some problems.Contact Dept. D, Travel Queen Coaches,P . O. Box816, Corona, Calif. / / /

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LETTERSFROM OUR READERSBurrah forthe Fourth . . .To theEditor: Congratulations to writerP-ggy Trego and toyou foryour patrioticstory on theway theFourth of July usedto be celebrated in the Southwest (JulyDESERT). Now, more than ever, American eds this kind of reminder.

W. A. BROOKSWhittier, Calif.Ghost Island . . .I,) the Editor: After reading the July storyon Salton Sea's Ghost Island, I am con-vinced that I must get out to Californianext winter tosee this inland body ofwater.

FRED DAWSONChicagoTrail Scooters, Continued . . .7 > the Editor: I have written to ErieSianley Gardner stating briefly (3 pages)my opposition to hisselfish andridiculousdifense of trail scooters (May DESERT).

If these people feel they cannot go anyplace without wheels, I think they should8 ay on roads which were designed forvehicular traffic andstay off trails whichwere built forfoot travel only. Even moreti agic is their utter disregard for thecoun-ti yside, as shown by numerous scars ine rery area they have penetrated.Can you honestly say that you know evenon e trail scooter operator who is "courteouson the trail" asdefined inyour May issue?

DOUGLAS A. EMERSONVentura, Calif.1 o the Editor: "The greatest good forthegreatest number of people" is a concepttliat doesn't make sense. There is littlepoint ininstalling facilities inoutdoor areasv hen by doing so youremove thechiefcliarm of that placeits solitude, quiet,untouched wilderness, or whatever.

By sodoing, those who appreciate suchqualities lose them; those who donot, gainonly a few more square miles inwhich tocongregate andpicnic. In this respect, the(.rand Canyon or Yosemite are notmuchc ifferent than theextensive city park sys-t m of Cleveland, Ohio.

When we speak of doing good fornum-bers ofpeople, let usremember that peoplehave different ideas of what is good.Youcin't settle on a standard good bymajorityvote. If wehave parks with different de-grees of accessibility, aswe now have, thenpeople ofdifferent tastes can select the areasthat appeal tothem.RALPH HAMILTONPlacerville, Calif.

3 o theEditor: Your May issue was de-plorable. For a temporary advertising in-come you have become the desert's greatestenemy.

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The author is one of Australia's most emnent biologists. DESERT is gratefulto PACIFIC DSCOVERY, published bi-monthly by the California Academy of Sciences,for permssion to reprint Serventy's storyand photos of his Great Victoria ' ,Desert exploration. ,

I I I \i , .


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r p H E GREAT VICTORIA is oneI of Australia's most famous des-erts. Lying in Western Australia,ii is a desert hemmed in by deserts.1 o the west is the arid countryaround Kalgoorlie; to the north liesthe Great Sandy Desert; to the souththe Nullarbor Plain; and to the eastdie stony desert of the gibber plains.It was this almost unknown landv e visited. Blanks on a map have afascination, and the Great VictoriaDesert has remained almost unknownsince the explorer Ernest Giles firstdiscovered it in 1875. From Boun-d.iry Dam on the South Australianborder Giles traveled 323 waterlessmiles until, near disaster, he stumbledacross Queen Victoria Spring. Th isi what he called it:". . . The most singularly placedv ater I have ever seen, lying in asmall hollow in the center of a little

grassy flat, and surrounded by clumpsof the funereal pines, 'in a desert in-accessible, under the shade of mel-ancholy boughs.'" Giles' journal de-scribes the situation of the "no doubtpermanent" water in detail, givingthanks "for the discovery of this onlyand lonely watered spot, after travers-ing such a desert."On the western edge of the GreatVictoria Desert a mission has beenestablished at Cundeelee. The super-intendent of this mission, BobStew-Eirt, has made several "mercy expedi-

tions" to the east to meet the desertaborigines. He offered me the op-portunity to travel with him on hismost recent expedition . Quickly Iorganized a small scientific party.With my brother Dr. D. L. Serventy,1 >r. A. R. Main, and the naturalist,W. H. Butler, we made our rendez-i ous at Cundeelee. With us as guideswent Ben and Laurie, two aborigineswho a few years ago lived in the des-< rt. In case of trouble it was theirjob to get us safely back to civiliza-I ion. Only the expert can find foodand water in the desert. Laurie andBen had learned that skill by thesufferings of thousands of years of

ABOVE: Warning signon the desert's edge.RIGHT: An emu chick.BEIOW: Great WesternRailway's Nullarbor t ine.


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SPARROW HAWK Sparrow Haw k is a most unfortun ate common name. The friendly, charmingly - colored birthat bears tha t name is neither hawk nor eager killer of sparrows. The Sparrow H aw k is a falconand, when possible, feeds largely on grasshoppers and other small creatures, inc ludin g rode nts. Onlrarely, when driven by great hun ger, does it prey upo n small birds. A bette r name would bGrasshopper Falcon, and I suggest that this name be more widely used. W ith a body length oonly 9 to 12 inches, it is the smallest of our nativ e birds of prey . (Th e spa rrow pa rt of its namalludes to its "sparro w-size " bo dy ). In flight, the Sp arrow H aw k seems much larger than it ithis optical deception resulting from the bird's remarkably great wing spreadnearly two feet widin some cases. Falco sparverius is for the most part a bird of the lower altitude open fields, athoug h occasionally we see it in open glades amon g the forest trees. The desert Sparrow H aw ksubspecies, Falco sparverius phalaena ("phalaena" in Latin means "moth"), lighter in color andperhaps a b it larger th an its Eastern representative, is a familiar inh abitan t of the wide-spacesof the Far West, especially of the deserts of the Southwe st and Mexico, as far sou th asGu errero. Q Most comm on of the smaller N or th American birds of prey, the Spar-row Hawk often occurs in considerable numbers, particularly in autumn just after thenesting season. N ex t tim e you travel over long stretches of desert road bordered(as in parts of Arizona) by fence posts and wire, try counting the number of Grass-hopper Falcons sitting about. I have counted as man y as 8 to 10 in the space ofa few miles. Often these birds are quite "tame" and allow close approach beforeflying. This often leads to their becoming the victims of hun ters wh o d on 'tknow or do n't careabout this bird's beneficial value as an insect-destroy-er. Very often we see a Sparrow Haw k sitting atop a telephone pole,fence post, agave or yucca floweringstalk, scanning the ground beneathwith sharp eyes. After locating thelarge insect that is to become its sup-per, the bird dives upon it verticallywith startling celerity, and moves off withits prey in its talons. Th e Sparrow H aw kis a skilful flier. Along w ith the hum mi ng-birds, terns, Rough-legged Hawk and BeltedKingfisher, it shares the ability to gracefullyhover for moments at a time in mid-air, especiallywhen fixing an intended victim in its sights. The re is little chance to mistake this slim daringflier for any other bird of similar size. The Spar-row Hawk is the onlysmall "haw k" w ith red- ]&''' **" w"'"dish back and tail. Thelatter is tipped in wh itewith a black or brownsubterminal band. Thejerking motion of thistail when the bird is atrest is another identi-fying clue. On thesides of the head aretwo vertical stripes ofblack. T h e c r o w n ,wing coverts and sec- EDMUND C. JAEGERauthor of "DESE RT WILDFLOWERS," "TH E CALIFORNIA DESERT"OUR DESERT NEIGHBORS," "THE NORTH AMERICAN DESERT


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ish gray, and on the crown is a med ium che stnut p atc h. Color pa tte rn of b oth sexes is quite simi\~J While this com bination of colors is most appealing, still more won derful are this bird's very laroun d glistening black eyes. Especially beau tiful to behold is the clean ceye of the young birds. The most common n ote is a shrill "crhigh-pitched and repeated frequently over long periods, particulain the nesting and imm ediate post-nesting seasonkilly-killy-kikilly, over and over again. It is a cry t ha t is wild, forceful always impressive. Th ere are other n otes, but th e one just mtioned is the one we most often associate with this handsome bof the desert wilderness. On e of the early Fre nch ornithologiVieillot, described this bird under the generic name Tinnunc(Latin for "a little bell") referring to the pleasing but querultinkling notes. The nesting site is usually an abandowoodpecker excavation, a decaying tree cavity, a hole inarroyo bank or a crevice in a rock cliff. One pair I cameknow laid its clutch of eggs, usually 4 to 6 in number, yafter year in a cavity in a Grecian pillar of the portico ocollege building. The birds gave no atten tion to the m oments and conversations of students going about some feet below them . The re is no such thin g as nest buildin the ordin ary sense, tha t is, no bringing in of tw igs. Teggs are merely laid in the bottom of the chosen cavThe eggs are oval in shape, white to cream color with maings of bro wn , sometimes quite fine, sometimes coarse.

The eggs hatch in 20 to 30 days. Almost from the very fthe temp eram ent of the you ng birds shows definite differenin the sexes. The males are quite docile and retiring all throuthe nest-occupying period, but the females early show themselto be "terrors" ready to look fiercely and to claw and bite when a human intruder shows upthe bird nursery. How ever, when being fed by the m other they are very dec ent-acting birdlitakin g their turn s and otherwise cooperating in a really affectionate way. W riti ngsome 18-day-old nestlings under observation, Althea Sherman observed that "whenfinger or stick was pointed into the nest, all opened their mouths; the males little more than this as they hugged the farthest side of the nest, but the males, springing to the center of the nest, every feather on their heads staing out seemingly at right angles, wings spread, mouths open and squawing, were ready to claw and bite." Na turally , the male birds mthe best pets. I know a boy who secures and tames one each sprifjifet. keeping it und er observation in a large screened enclosure uit is nearly full grown; then he turns it loose to enthe life of freedom. W hen autu m n comes this often a definite movement of the young aadult birds southward. My friend, J. EugLaw, said of an unusual migratory fliof western Sparrow Hawks in NMexico: "Th ousan ds sailed bya continuous stream . . . ofte

hundred or more were in sifrom the car window at ot i m e . Individuals f r


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I SS M A L L M I N I N GD E A D ?T H E M E E T I N G r o o m at theannual Amer ican Mining Con-gress was overcrow ded. Standeeslined the walls and filled the aisles.A crowd was gathered inthe corridoroutside the door.

One man came out, wormed hisway through the crowd, and an-nounced in a loud voice: "I don ' tsee how you fellows can expect thegovernment to doanything foryo uwhen you can't agree among your-selves as to what your industry needs.""T he 10,000 govern men t burea usconcerned with mining can't agreeeither ," replied a heckler.

Inside the hall , a high-poweredgovernment official wasexplainingthe various proposals and billsbe-fore Congress designed to alleviatethe plight of the small mine r. Andthat plight is a real one.Around the turn of t h e c e n t u r y -heyday for min ing in the DesertSouthwestan estimated 2000 smallmines were in operat ion. Today, Iwould guess thetotal hassunk to

1 0 0 . The Arizona State Mine Inspec-tor reported that in 1961 hevisited206 mines (of all kinds) inhis state.Sixty-four of these, inoperation theprevious year, were shut-down in

1 9 6 1 . Heclassified 50 of the activmines as"small ."What kil led thegoose that useto lay golden and silver eggs in tSouthwest? Small min ing has becomunprofitable largely because of tgreat advance inwages and someothe other operating costs. In the earpar t ofthe century, miners were pa33.50 to4.50 a day. Now the scais 25.The large companies have beeable to offset such increases wimechanizat ion and improved tecniques that can only beused onbig scale on big deposits. Inthe pas

Southern California'sLast Operating Gold MillWorks the Tailings of aTurn-of-the-CenturyBonanza Mine . . .By Warren and Barbara T r a n s u e

Bert Wegman runs theten-stamp mill at Rands-burg as aone-man operation. His mill was originallybuilt in1897 at the Butte Lode Mine. It burned in1 9 1 6 . Rebuilt, it lay idle for man y years until Weg-man acquired it in 1950. Heoperates it as a smallstock company, with a 10 percent cut of the millingsgoing to the mine property owners. At thepresent time, themill isprocessing orereclaimed from the tailings of thefamous YellowAster, in addition to other small workings in thevicinity. The Yellow Aster ore runs from $15 to$30in gold to the tonwhich makes for a profitablemining venture even in1962.


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B y C H A R L E S H . D O M I N GThe author began his career as a mining engineer in Arizona in 1909,following graduation from Yale University. For several years heoperatedmines in the Prescott area, and in 1921 helped found the Smoki clanwhich annually perpetuates Indian ceremonials. Dunning sank the firstelevator shaft at Carlsbad Caverns in 1927. During ensuing years hismining activities took him to every part of Arizona. This experiencebrought hisappointment, in 1944, as Director of the Arizona Departmentof Mineral Resources, a position he held for seven years. Dunning is theauthor of two books, Rock to Riches, an d Arizona's Golden Road.

the production of one ton per em-ployee perday was standard. Tod ay,many large companies getmore than10 times that production. It wouldbe difficult to use an open pit, orapply the caving system, on a two-f ot vein.Another reason for the decline insmall mining is that most high-gradesurface deposits have been found andworked out. Now it takes an enor-mous amount of capital to put a

1* >wer grade deposit into production.S.in Manuel, 30 miles north of Tuc-son, spent $100,000,000 in explora-tion and development of its low

grade deposit before it produced apound of copper.And who wants to see wages andworking conditions reduced to thoseof the "good old days?" Or whowants a colossal subterranean up-heaval to disgorge some new mineraldeposits?Let's return to the meeting. Thegovernment speaker was giving a listof all the proposals before Congressto aid the small miner. There weremore than 50, which could bedividedinto six categories of proposed solu-tions:1. Tariffs on foreign imports.

2 . Quotas on imports, or other rstrictions.3 . Government purchase and stopiling of a multitude of met

or minerals.4 . Direct subsidies to be paid by government to the producer.5 . A free world market for gold.6. Government to pay more fnewly mined, domestically pr

continued

Bert Wegman (photo above) checks ore in oneof the bins with a magnifying glass. The ore isgraded into separate bins above the mill site, andeach bin is numbered as toore owner and mine name. Wegman's mill is shown in the foreground of thephoto at the left.

continued


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Small Mining (continued)duced gold to be set aside andused for currency backing only.(Similar to the old silver actwhich kept many a small minealive when the world price waslow. Now, however, this act hasbecome obsolete because the greatdemand for silver in the arts hascaused the world price to riseabove the price the mint was pay-ing domestic producers.)

Let's take them one at a time:1. Tariffs on imports. We mustaccept thefact that ournationa l econ-omy depends in large measure inselling our labor-produced goods toforeign countries. We cannot do thatvery long unless we buy somethingfrom them that they produce. Inmany countries this is raw materialsmetals or ores.2. Quotas and restrictions on im-ports. This "solution" has been themost popular in Washington, andhas been used to some extent for leadand zinc. It has probably kept a fewof our lead-zinc mines alive, but inthe long run it produces the sameresults as tariffs.3. Government purchase and stock-

FIFTY YEARS AGOWHEN THIS PICTURE OF AMINER WORKING HIS DRY WASHWAS TAKEN, AN OUNCE OF GOLD WOULD KEEP A MANWORKING FOR A WEpiling. This was a splendid idea whenfirst inaugurated. It has been a his-torical fact that whenever our nation,or any other, became involved in awar, essential metals could not beproduced fast enough, and foreignsources were unreliable.

Stockpiles should be consideredinsurance, not as a subsidy. Thcost money, but so do insuranpolicies. They should not be thougof as a boon to the miner, thougthey help at times. Even if thstimulate production for a whilthere is always a limit which, whe

Rcmdsburg Gold Mill (continued)

When Wegman is ready to "run a load"through hismill, he fills an ore carfrom a binchute. The car,which holds a ton of ore, ispushed down a track onto a scale, weighed andrecorded, then dumped into the stamp mill{photo above) where it ispounded and groundinto a fine dust.


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leached, will cause a sharp curtail-ment in production.Such a situation pertains at pres-i nt. We are probably overstocked onseveral materials, and there is theever present threat that the govern-ment will dump them on the openmarketcreating more havoc.A peculiar situation developed withtungsten. A large amount of theworld's tungsten is mined in Korea;md China. Durin g the Korean War,i here was a great shortage here.Having no stockpile, our Governmentnrfered to buy tungsten at $60 perink (20 lb s.) . P rospectors took toihe hills and soon we had tungstenI unn ing o ut our ears. Th e war ended,;ind the hungry Koreans shippedmore tungsten than the world needed.The world price dropped below $25.In 1951 there were more than 50-nines producing tungsten in ourSouthwest. Today tungsten miningis the deadest of dead clucks.4. Direct subsidies to the producer.' This plan wou ld en able users to buymetals at a low market price, butwould have the government pay theminer a subsidy so he could makemoney. The idea of all the peoplepaying to help a relatively smallI roup is obnoxious.

5. A free world market for gold.This makes sense and should be donebut it would produce little benefitto the small miner at present. Ou rlaws require that a domestic producerof gold sell it to the mint for approx-imately $35 per ounce. The marketis somewhat higher in various freemarkets throughout the worldvary-ing from slightly higher in Londonto considerably higher in places likeBombay and Tangiers . (Howeverthese higher markets usually havesome strings attached to them so thatthe net benefit to our gold producerwould be nil.)Because there is more demand forgold in the arts and indus try (notcounting that used for coinage andpaper currency backing) through outthe world than is being produced, thelaw of supply and demand shouldeventually force up the price.Another proposal often made,which many think is sure to come,

is that our Government raise theprice of golda highly inflationarymove.6. Price increase for domestic pro-duction only, to be held for currencybacking. For every ounce of gold themint buys from the domestic pro-ducer at $35 per ounce, the govern-ment may issue $140 in currency.

Once upon a time there was $20gold beh ind every $20 bill . For agold has been the only really accable medium of exchange throughthe world, and factually still is. reason is not because of its glitteglamor, but because of its usefulnits enduring qualities; the fact too much of it has never been fouand while scarce and expensivemine, its occurrence is widesprthroughout the world.SUMMING UP. We need a mining industry for our natioeconomy and safety. Small minesan essential part of that industry

Many of the proposals before Cgress are not practical, but there two that should benefit the greanumber of people for the lontime:(A) A unified mining authorityWashington.(B) Paying the domestic mmore for gold to be used onlymake stronger currency backing.

Let's take a closer look:(A) During World War II a mhad to deal with 63 different Govment agencies, bureaus, or depcontinued

The powdered ore is splashed over platescovered with mercury-cyanide where 90 percentof the gold is caught. The ore then flows overlarge mercury-covered copper plates where moregold is caught as an amalgam. In photo below,Wegman checks the plates to see if amalgam isready for scraping (photo at right).

After all the free gold isamalgamated on the plates,the filtered water is sentto the cyanide plant. Onefinal process awaits th egold which has eluded re-covery.

continued


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Small Mining (continued)merits. Today, there may be a fewless, but still he has no staunch friendamong them.

Often these various agencies dis-agree sharply in their aims and pol-icies, and the minerespecially thesmall oneis the whipping boy.An example is the Carl Larsen

situation. Larsen discovered and holdsa uranium property north of Globe,Arizona. When the Governmentwanted uranium badly, some $80,000worth was mined and shipped fromLarsen's mine. The Atomic EnergyCommission examined the mine andcarried on exploratory drilling, dis-closing a large tonnage of low gradeore, on average too low grade to beshipped to distant mills or buyingdepots, but sufficient in grade to behighly profitable if Larsen had alarge mill at the mine and couldobtain the going price.(A Canadian company, with evenlower grade ore reported a net profitof $3,145,112 for the quarter endingSept. 30, 1961.)Larsen could gut his mine andcontinue high-grade shipments, butprefers to vision it as a large lowgrade mine with really big future

possibilities. He should be com-mended for that attitude.In order to finance a mill, Larsenneeds a mineral patent on his land.The Atomic Energy Commission rec-ommended it, but the Forest Serviceis fighting it under the theory thatthe future market for uranium isuncertain.Proposal (B) paying the domesticproducer more for newly mined gold,to make better backing for our cur-rencywould put men in the hillsagain; and result in the discovery ofnew mines, some of which will turnout to be big mines, important to ournational self-sufficiency."Excuse me mister," some willshout. "You're talking only aboutgoldit ain't essential to our s,elf-sufficiency."Perhaps not in itself, but remem-berin our Southwest most of ourimportant metallic mineral deposits

had an outcrop of gold sufficient tointrigue the prospector. Being in-trigued, he dug. Usually he ran outof high grade gold, and ran into basemetals of greater total value.Witness the Iron King Mine inYavapai County, Arizona. It was dis-covered and promoted as a gold minearound the turn of the century. As

AN ABANDONED MINE IN THE BLACKMOUNTAINS OF NORTHWESTERN ARI-ZONA. PHOTOGRAPH BY CARLOS ELMER.

it was explored deeper, the gold con-tent declined and "obnoxious" basemetals increased. Today the IronKing is one of the biggest lead-zincmines in the world.There would be another very im-

portant result from increasing themint buying price for domesticallymined gold. Many of our big mineshave a small gold content in theiroreperhaps $1 a ton. If they couldget $2 for that gold, they could in-crease their now marginal ore re-serves immensely; they would be inbetter shape to compete with cheapforeign labor, and more inclined todevelop new deposits in the UnitedStates, rather than overseas.Such a specialized raise would notbe inflationary except to the extent

of creating more employment, andputting a few more dollars in thehands of the miners."Subsidy! Subsidy!" many will crybut if the mint pays the domesticminer $70 instead of $35 per ounceof gold, and still issues $140 in cur-rency against itjust who is subsidiz-ing whom? / / /

Randsburg Gold Mill (continued) Any remaining gold is dissolved in a cyanide solu-tion. In photo at left, Wegman places shredded zincin the cyanide vats. Zinc will precipitate the gold asa black sludge. Photo below shows two samples of refined gold.The large pile is dried precipitate from the fusingof the gold and zinc. The smaller pile is gold"sponge" smelted down from prior processing onquicksilver and mercury-cyanide plates. Crude gold bullion is sent to the U.S. Mint forfinal recovery and apportionment: the miner, milloperator and mine owner receive their shares of theproceeds directly from the Mint. ///


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TH IS IS TOD AY -1962. W ithin walking distance of the waterhole,oil wells pump around the clock; and it is less than a day's drive towhere factories build missies and rockets and space-age hardwa re. 1962has not yet come to those Navajos who take their domestic water fromwaterholes, and haul it in horse-drawn wagons to mud-walled hogans.It makes a beautiful pictureprovided the viewer's water is piped intohis home, and the vehicle that brings him to Navajoland is a 300-horsepower automobile. But the Navajos are not to be pitied. Theywho drink the brown water and ride the hard wagons find beauty inthis scene, too. That is their wealth. Photo by Sam Rosenthal, Jr.


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mciauic

T HAPPENED in Mex ico . Undera warm March sun I wanderedup a hil l where a crumblingruin met my gaze. Although Iknew where I was and why I"' 'had come, a sense of discoverywelled up in me as I stood besidethe walls of Cocosp era. I steppedinside.

Piles of mud brick, splintered mes-quite logs, fallen plaster and driedweeds packed the old mission churchmore t ightly than her congregationhad on a cold winter mornin g. Hervaulted roof no longer protected themodern visi tor from the howlingwind; only the jagged edge of a brickarch pushed heavenward. The churchfloor was pock-marked with pits, dugwell below the level on which herpeople once knelt . Even the nichesin the sanctuary wall were rutted bypicks and erosion. A few bits of plas-ter clung defiantly to a protected cor-ner, and even they were etched withthe meaningless initials of forgottenvagabonds.I was stun ned . Certa inly it was aruin, but why demolish i t?Why? As I walked away from Co-cospera my heart harbored a sad sus-

J , S . c l

There are two kinds of lost treasurein our Southwestthe untapped nat-ural resources famous in the legendsof a mine l ike the Dutchman, andthe missing cultural artifacts of pastages. When I was a young lad, Ipoured over my Desert Magazineswith the enthusiasm of another JimHaw kins on a treasure hunt. If i twas lost, it was valuable; and I paidno heed to the difference between alost m ine or a lost mission. Bu t grow-ing older , I remember reading Des-ert's continual pleas to preserve therare beauties of the desert's loveliness.I never joined these ideas of preser-vation and lost treasure until thatwarm March day on that forsakenhill in a forgotten valley.

No man on earth can blame an-other for searching out a hiddentreasure whether God placed it be-neath mountain boulders, or whethera threadbare Blackrobe buried achalice in a canyon cave. But thereseems to be a difference in ho w it issought. Should no one ever stumbleon the golden ledges of Pegleg'slegend, what is harmed? Th ere areonly the hundreds of happy hoursmen have accumulated in the questof the almost-real. Each of them finds

But, what happens when someonsearches for a cultural artifact tharumor has lodged beneath a missionfloor? The frantic shoveling ruthlessly destroys the real treasure in itnecessarily futile efforts.

What the missionaries left in thelegacy to the Southwest were villageof civilized Indians where only savages had previously lived. They letemples dedicated to God in a widerness that defied the possibility otheir achievements. In fact, thereal legacy is our Southwest.Always the desert has had its unwritten lawsof travel, of conducof survival. The very isolation othe desert's vastness is one of its prmary attractions, and that isolatioimposes on the desert traveler a dutto preserve what the desert climaitself has preserved.But this is really beyond my concern which was born by reflectinon the legend of the Jesuit treasurMy corncern is for the integrity othe vestiges of mission h istory . Athe people of our expanding Soutwest eye the enticements of Sonorand Baja California, they repeatedhear of the fantastic wealth amasse

JesuitGold


23/40

react ion of the thousands who readin the San Diego Union for March26 1961:The Jesuits were supposed tohive built it {M ission Santa Isa-bi) while searching for a routebtween the West Coast and theG ulf coast of Baja . . . The legendwas that they found gold. We doknow that they had an enormouscollection of pearls.When the Jesuits were replacedby the Franciscan Order in theV, 60s, the Franciscans were unableto find the mission or the treasure.The Jesuits had buried the treasureto keep it out of the hands of then-w order, according to the legend.

We might cal l this the "Baja"legend because there are other varia-tions for the Jesuit missions of So-noia , Sina loa , and Chihuahua .If we analyze the Union report , wefind the perfect blend of Jesuit-mythingredjents:1) a treas ure of gold, (silver,)or pearls2) concealed from an "antagon-ist"3) and subsequen tly lost orabandoned .Whatever story one hears, i t rein-terprets these general themes intoloc.il color "facts." T h e Baja versionspopularly feature pearls and a lostmission somewhere on the ruggedpen insu la. Sono ra series prefer silver

and hidden caves. The antagonistsvai y accord ing to tim e a nd place. Ifa local mission was abandoned longbelore the expulsion of the Societyfrom the New World in 1767andsuch is the case with many of thecentral Sierra visitas the tale tells oftreasur e lost in an Ind ian raid Ap. iche , Ser i , Tarahumare , Tepehu-am s. If th e mission was active in17(>7, the antagonists are garbed inFranciscan gray; their legendary arch-enemies bury prized possessions asthis gray wave ominously advancesacross M exico. (I have been askedin utter sincerity if we Jesuits reallydo get along with the Franciscans as

signs of past elegance, the treasureshifts to silver bars, candlesticks,chalices and ciboria set in pearls, andbells; such is the Tumacacori story.Having l istened to the sincere ren-ditions of dozens of variations, mysingle im pression is kaleidosco pic that is, each offers a new ar ran gem en tof colorful bits of fragmented history.They may seem as real to us as thecities of Cibola to the Spanish con-quistadores. Th ey gl i t ter like art of

intricate design, but they are onlyrepetitious reflections of a single andshattered series of near-truths.A scholar once said that lost minesand mission-myths are the literarygenre of the Southwest . Un witt inglythe Spanish colonials picked up theCibola fever from the Indians andpassed it on in new gar b. I for on eenjoy the tales as a literary formbecause I believe they capture thehaunting real i ty of an inexplicablecou ntry. But taken seriously they areas harmful to history as Jonah in the

whale.Can a more scientific answer begiven to the perennial doubts raisedby these persistent myths? I believeso. Let us proceed systematicallythrough the general assumptions l ist-ed above.Physically, Jesuits had access togold, silver and pea rls. Pfefferkornin his Description of Sonora men-tions five mines near his mission ofCuc urpe. But in his t reatme nt, as insimilar works of other missionary

padres, it is clear that all the mineswere worked by Spanish colonists;many of these men "buried theirwealth again" by digging too deeplyinto unprofitable veinsthe age oldsaga of minin g. Segesser men tions a150-arroba (3500-pound ) l um p ofsilver discovered near Mission Gue-vavi; he adds that this meant noth-ing"my treasure is souls." Jaco bBaegert opines in his Observationsin Lower California that very littlegold was prevalent; the peninsulamines were silver-bearing and thesewere, at best, mediocre prospects.Pearls have always been the story-stopper. Everyone thinks of gold and

earliest excursions to the Isla California the Spanish Crown was vi tal lyinterested in developing the pearfields. Padre Kino's reports on thpearl fishing indicate early disappointment , but some opt imismAtondo was disgruntled at the exped it ion's pal try pearl profit . An dgruff old Padre Baegert, 80 yearwiser, put it well:/ / a Spaniard after six or eightlueeks of fear and hope, sweat and

misery, has a net profit of one hun-dred American pesos, he thinks thisis a rare fortune which does notcome to all of them, or every year.Note that Baegert mentions Span iard. All exta nt records of thJesuits speak of mining and pearldiving in the same impersonal wayThere is more to this than style.When the Jesui t s moved into thmission frontier, it was not long before their superiors realized the "fabulous wealth of Nueva Viscaya" wagoing to be a source of t rouble between colonizat ion and Christ ianization. The Society strictly forbade hemen to engage in mining or mininaffiliated activities in any way. Fromarchival sources we know of onltwo instances in which Padres becaminvolved in m inin g ope rat ions (thesbeing in the Sierra Madre missionare a). In both cases the men werseverely reprimanded and removed.Curiously enough, many peoplare unaware that the missionariewere not alone on the frontier; thathe terrain was dotted with realcommonly centered on colonial minesIn repeated instances the Jesuits refused to perform any services for thSpanish colonials in strict obediencto the min ing restrictions! Th is reluctance and later the "anti-slaverycedula combined to create ill feelingbetween the missionaries and thcolon ists. As a m att er of fact, thirelat ionship is a principal source oanti-Jesuit legend, and these legendare the seeds of today's fables.The pear l problem on the penin

sula was similar. Span ish vice-regaauthority was so intensely concerneover pearl "production," the mission


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COUNTERFEIT SILVER. These pieces of "Jesuit-five," reproduced in actual size, haveappearances similar to others that have cropped-up l i teral ly from Maine to Mexico.They are unquestionably si lver (40 to 60 per cent) just as they are unquestionablycount erfeit. For a rather insignificant investment (cost of the low-g rade si lver) theperson who casts such pieces can dump them on the "antiquities market" andclean-up a tidy sum . Purveyors of this bul l ion desc ribed the cross as the mon etaryseal of the Jesuits and the " M " above as Franciscan "ascendency to the re alm ."Ingots of nearly this precise shape have appeared with Kino's name engravedwit h the date of 17 01. The " V " pro bably refers to the quintum or fi fth-pa rt of al lore operations owed as tax to the K ing. The Jesuits, in most of the lost treasuretales, are supposed to have concealed the King's share.

History ofpper and Lower California:. . . soldiers, sailors, and othersunder their command, should beprohibited, not only from divingfor pearls, but from trafficking inthem. The law was the cause ofgreat and frequent discontent, butit was nevertheless rigidly enforcedby them during the whole periodof their rule.True, in the very early years pearls

P repo ste ro us ru mors r u m b l e dcoup d'etat, financed by

One of the strange incon-a strident symphony of charge andtion. Royally comm issioned in-

Mission inventories and details ofkept on hand . So com-

he quinto levied on the rough silver

silver and gold. T he Padres prim ar-ily did not have muc h money. Bud-geted allotments coming from theroyal fiscal were handled by the pur-chasing agent at Mexico City. W hatlittle cash surplus accumulated fromthe sale of cattle and grain, after thesubstantial expenses of clothing,equipment and other food stuffswere met, was used for new vest-ments and church ornaments. Manymissions prized their paintings byEuropean and Mexican masters.Gilded altars, packed in sections,were shipped from Mexico City orGua dalajara. Costly beeswax bur nedin solid silver cande labra. Indeed,the Padres could often claim quitejustly that their frontier churcheswere equal to many a cathedral inEurope.If any Jesuit treasure has survived,it is physically possible that it is acache of vestments, sacred vessels, andchurch orname nts. (But we have yetto review this possibility in terms ofits concealment and subsequent loss.)Mission archives tell us nothingabout any cache which was lost afterprotective burial or concealment dur-ing an imminent Indian raid. Thereare occasional references to this prac-tice, but in each case the missionarieshave returned to recover the sacredarticles; or the hiding place was dis-covered by the marauders and thevaluables stolen. In no instance werethese ever left unrecovered in anychurch! And the practice of stealingnegotiable metals didn't tempt thehungry, nomadic Indian until muchlater in frontier history when hefound men who would accept thestolen valuables for food, guns, andam m unition . Frankly I have alwayschuckled to imagine the lean Apache

choked arroyos, candlestick in hTrinkets, yes; treasures, no.Since the majority of the trealegends hinge on the events of Society's expulsion in 1767 rathan on Indian raids, the truthfalsity of "hiding the hoard fromFranciscans" depends on a knowleof the circumstances. The expulis one of the most fascinating sof colonial history, but it is a sfar too long for our purposes.basic acquaintance, however, is estial.On June 24, 1767, the higauthorities in New Spain witnethe unsealing of the "top secret"ders from Carlos III. Under penof death, the orders demanded within 24 hours each and every Jewas to be seized and sent to VCruz, on to Spain, and banishmfrom the realm. No mean feat the 18th Century!In Mexico City that same n3000 troops, foot and horse, moout of scattered forts and surrounreligious houses. In five reside178 Jesuits slept unaware of tiron-hande d fate. At 4 a.m. the uswarmed through the houses to rthe drowsy fathers and brotherstheir chapels. Jose de Galvez, Vidor General, at the Colegio Pedro y San Pablo tensed for rebellion; his 300 soldiers stiffenexpectantly as the decree was rto the 90 Jesuits. One fainted; screamed; a few wept. And Galinstead of rebellion, watched community file past to sign the cree and return to their rooms their brevaries, one book, and ttravel clothingall that was allothem for the trip to exile.Detachments of troops impoun


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property with guards. And a notefor the treasure seeker: the wealth ofhe house was confiscated for theoyal treasury80 pesos cash and anNet$39,920!The Colegio Espir i tu Santo atPuebla was ransacked: floors torn up,alls smashed, toilets searched, andraves opened. No thing. At the Casa

Pro Tessa, 100 soldi ers inv ad ed the"eliLe" residence. The 30 Fathersknelt while the decree was pronoun-ced and replied by chanting the TcDa mi. The searchers, infuriated atthe poverty, confiscated the chalicesand ciboria. Morning dawned in si-Ien< e. No c hurc hes tolled the an ge-lus. The populace woke to cit iesswarming with infantry and cavalry.Men and women were roughly turnedaway from churches and religioussen ices ban ned . On e old man whosehearing was poor walked towartl achurch and was shot in his tracks.No one could speak to a Jesuit onpenalty of death. And the protest ofthe people was silenced at the in-sistence of the Padres themselves; butwhi n the mo men t came to transportthe Blackrobes to Vera Cruz, onlyeight of Mexico City's 4000 carriagescou Id be found and com ma ndee red!The same sealed decree with thethreat of succeed or die had left thecapital posthaste before the suddensuppression of June 25. District mil-itai y captain s lost little tim e in mov-

ing against the Jesuits of the frontier.Sudden and swift secrecy was imper-ati ' e lest the Indians prevent theplan; as it was, political unrest overtaxation had already posed someprovinces on the brink of war.The pattern for the frontier de-manded that the Jesuits gather at asingle mission station in each district.The pretext for the gathering wassimply a written order from the re-ligious superior and the voiced pur-pose of "a great work for the king."While Spanish authority feared the

power of these men of God, they didrel\ on their unquestioning obedi-ence. Unaware of the true purpose,mis.sion superiors summoned theirdistant missioners to the rectorates.Ea( h summons was delivered by smalldet.ichments of soldiers under thesame death threat to clap the Padrein i hains and return him u nde r arm-ed guard to the central mission.Again, records were seized; prop-erf, confiscated; searches perpetrated;

W H I N T HE W A L LS O F T HE M I S S I O N C H U R C H A TT EH E C O , M E X I C O , B E G A N C R U M B L I N G , T HEPEOl 'LE REMOV ED THE BELLS AN D MOU NTE D

and inventories logged. Indians alongthe frontier teetered on rebellion, butthe Padres counseled patience andobedience to the King! Even Galvezrealized the tenuous position of themilitary and rushed troops into thecentral provinces, but he miscalcu-lated the staying influence of themissionary priests. The speculationis probably true that without theJesuits arguing and complying totheir own expulsion, Spain wouldhave been strangled in her tracks.Distant Sonora and Sinaloa didnot hear the decree until July 25when the 52 Jesuits of the northwestmet in the cordoned church of theColegio San Jose de Ma tape. Loade dmuskets poked through windows andstamping cavalry kicked up plazadust while Carlos III expelled hiscivilization-makers from the foremostfrontier.Of all the Mexican Jesuits ban-

ished, these men of Sonora sufferedmost. They were marched to Guay-mas in September; eight months werepassed in near-shelterless imprison-ment in the swampy delta of the

Yaqui. They embarked in May, 1768only to be blown across to Californiawhe re Portola , after 15 days and thepleas of the Franciscans, permittedthe boat-load of dying Jesuits to comeasho re. Just sho rt of recovery, theysailed lor San Biasdriven by Portola's fear of Galvez' impending visito Loreto. The march across Mexicomimicked the best Bataan tradit ionwith 20 dropping dead along theroute to Guadalajara.The Padres of the peninsula faredbetter . While detachments arrestedmainland blackrobes, an embargowas clamped on communicat ions wi thCalifornia. For six mo nths no onesailed until Captain Caspar de Portola landed at San Bernabe, Novem-be r ?>(), 1767. H is sma ll force cro ssedthe country to seize silver mines, vasagricultural stores, and well organized pueblos. Instead, they cloppedacross barren hills, passed leatheryminers scratching out their lives inhot, dry canyons, and searched forwater to quench their thirst.

Word crept up the peninsula inadvance of Portola. Padre Ducrue


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, * -

THE RUINS OF MISSIO N GU EV AV I. IS THERE HIDDEN TREASURE IN THESE WALLS?

the mission rector, hurried to Lorto meet the new governor of Calinia. Th e familiar sequence was peated; all the missionaries gatheat Loreto and awaited passage San Bias. Not all was quiet, howev2000 Indians rioted at San FranciBorja when Padre Link was removBut at San Ignatio the neophytesPadre Retz fashioned a litter to cvey him 100 miles to Loreto exile. Disease, short supplies, uversal poverty and the experiencethe military captain of Califorfinally convinced Portola that Cfornia was not a cornucopia. Tpeninsula was not a Jesuit heartlempire, but only a desolate missdependent on Jesuit dedication.

Mission accounts and civil doments detail the same story: suddseizure under armed guard, tosecrecy, confiscation of monies, pounding of books and records, caful inventories, death marches, ccentration camps, banishm ent. Tdecree, thorough execution, adeathly secrecy weave the refutatof the myth of Jesuit treasure.

What of the gray-robed side of tadventure the Franciscans? Wmeager contact occurred in , the change of the missions demonstraonly kindness and concern. Appefor the acceptance of the Franciscwere made by the departing Jesuto their Christian communities; gent, inadequate attempts were mto impart the languages. As Franciscans came into complete ctrol, epidemics destroyed whole msions. Records, vestments and orments were transferred, many beshipped to Alta California. F

A Note on Santa IsabelErie Stanley Gardner records the re-cent discovery of the "lost mission ofSanta Isabel" in his Hovering Over Baja(Morrow, 1961). Happily for the his-torian, he does not make a definitive

claim that the buildings visited in hisHiller-copter were those of a Jesuit mis-sion.I personally do not know Mr. Gard-ner, and I have seen nothing more thanhe published for the public in his inter-esting book. When I plotted out hisdescribed course, the "mission" seemedto lie south and east of the known siteof Santa Maria de Los Angeles. Thesite of the early attempt to found SantaMaria at Calamajue should be some-where in this region (Santa Maria was16 leagues northwest of Calamajue),but Gardner identifies another locationwith this placename.Since historians have found no men-tion of this mission (Santa Isabel) inany of the manuscripts or "secret"

or even by any other name that wouldsmell as suspicious, 1 am curious if thisstructure might not be a later develop-ment at an old visita. The original ob-jection to Santa Maria was its distancefrom San Francisco Borja, the support-ing mission for the step into the frontier.Half-way points were searched out, butnone were found in Jesuit times. Yetthe urgent need of a mission at Guricata(Santa Maria) surmounted the objec-tion to the distance and isolation.

My larger problem with Gardner'sfindings is the photo of a section ofthe compou nd. Unless my myopia mis-leads me, the lines of this building aremore common to later frontier dwellings,especially the sloped roof angled behindthe tree. The proportions of the adobesthemselves don't display mission char-acteristics. This evidently came to Gard-ner's attention since he mentions theapparent age of the foundation in con-trast to the walls.In all due regard for Gardner's rendi-tion of the myth, the aspect of inacces-sibility raises a problem. The e ntire

defines incontrovertibly that life on thpeninsula without mainland support waimpossible for any civilized communityIndeed, the whole mission programthrived precisely on accessibility, and tthrive in Baja California for the Padremeant simply to survive.In view of the turbulent times on thpeninsula in the 1800s a retreat such aGardner dropped in on would have beea boon to the empire-makers. To defeated revolutionary, survival in seclusion is better than civilized incarcerationIt is not impossible that this was aoasis built by Indian skills. AlthougGardner pays the Society a complimenin the evidences of "high executivability," he overlooks the fact that thnorthern missions were constructed under Indian supervision, an unsilent poinof pride with the early Padres. BlindAndres Comanaji Sistiaga erected SantGertrudis, and Juan NeupomocenoSanta Maria.I'm as anxious as Mr. Gardner tknow what he found; whatever it was


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DO THESE BONES SYMBOLIZE THE REAL "TREASURE" OF THE PADRES?

Francisco Palou cautiously recordsthese transferrals expressly to preventcharges of mismanagement or loss.Apparent ly the tide of disbelief onthe mainland was beginning to flowag inst the sons of Francis.1 ranciscan frontiers ma nship differ-ed from the Jesuit . Moving in pairs,the gray-robed missionaries central-ized the Indian villages and spentgr e it efforts on splendid churches.The distant twins of San Xavier delBai and La Concepcion del Caborca,T u b u t a m a , and Tumacacor i s tandtheir lonely vigils today in memorialto it greatness that might have been.T h e plain truth is tragic. Withthe stroke of a pen, Spain wiped out24 colleges, 11 seminaries, and dozensof Indian schools. The Franciscans

COLIrageously tried to fill the gap andre p lir the rift in Mexican society.Bui the same incredulous forces thats tamped out the Society turned onthe Seraphic Order. The new lifebo in by Garces and Serra was snuffedout in the decrees of secularizationfreedom for the Indians to becomeslai es, and distr ibution of missionwealth into the land-hungry handsof ;i few favored individuals. Thesewoi ds may seem harsh, but the factsare more so. The proof lies acrossthe face of northwestern Mexico andBaj i California where progress flow-ere< I, faded, and crumbles into thedust: of the desert.

B ut in the dust lingers legend, andin ihe legends, clouded history. Re-peatedly Jesuit historians have beenasked if there is any t ru th to thetreasure tales. Fr. Peter M. Dunne ,S.J. once confided th at in his longyears of manuscript research no singlereference to concealed wealth or a

Ernest Burrus, S.J., the Society's spe-cialist on Spanish colonial history,shudders when he hears the merement ion of the myth. His daily fareis taken amid those "private, secretfiles" of the Society in Rome. Metic-ulously he has covered the inventor-ies of the Mexican missions to famil-iarize himself with authentic Jesuit-ica. Never has he found any refer-ence to treasure or lost missions.Poverty prevails over the peso.No doubt precious relics of themission era remain undiscovered orunrecognized today. But they will befound in forgotten mountain strong-holds of Indians long since dead orstill superstitious. More likely theywill turn up in attics and basementsall over the world. We cannot forgetthe waves of "explorers" who lootedthe lonely missions, or the "legal"plunder that came with seculariza-tion, or the devout protection givenby the people against desecration.Some things have found their wayback to the churches; some neverwill. But of the vanished wealth, atleast we know nothing was bur ied orconcealed in the missions themselves,

and no trail-weary Jesuit ever "lost"his mission. Can you imagine a"Padre Peg-leg?"Real mysteries remain. Where areEusebio Kino's astrolabe and diary?Keller's notes, and Salvatierra's doc-uments? These are real treasures thatlie somewhere in dusty oblivion.W h a t of the myth of the Jesuitgold? I like to hear the skilful talesof mission days, of Indian raids andsilver mines. I like the literary formsof the Southwest. But I want the

man with the shovel to be an arche-ologist directed by t ru th and notmyth. And the simple truth is: the

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A SILVER ANNIVERSARY BONUS FEATUREReprinted from DES ERT'S issue for February, 1940

MARSHALsouthT h e D i a r y ' s F i r s t P a g e

Q When the Depression brought financial disaster to Marshal and Tanya South, they loaded thtew belongings in an old car and turn ed their back s on civilization. Th e Souths followed a dcrail to the top of Ghost Mountain"somewhere in the Anza-Borrego country" and there in wilderness they built their home, Yaquitepec, and raised three children "who have never known aubut the clear air and freedom of a secluded desert m ou nta in retreat. " South was a gifted write r. i "diary" whose installments were published intermittently in DESERT over a period of nine years,told of his family's life at Yaq uitepec. Re printed below is the first chapter of that re cord. Sodied in Oc tober, 1948; Tan ya and her children moved to San Diego. Theirs was a bold, romanind controversial experiment. Even today a mo nth does not go by without DESERT receivingleast one letter inqu iring as to the fate of Yaquitepe c and its former occupants.

VICTORIA, BORN IN OCEANSIDE, IS WELCOMED TO HER NEW HOME ATOP A


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7"'HERE IS always something tremendously excitingabou t beg innin g a New Year. Especially in thedesert. H ere at Yaquitepec we don't m ake "resolu-tions"out in the brooding silences of the wastelandsone doesn't need to bolster confidence with such trivialprips. But every time January first rolls around wegn et it with joy. It is the beginning of a new page;a page of some fascinating, illumined parchm ent. Ananeient page, but to us, still unre ad. What will it hold?The desert is full of mystery and surprise. No two yearsan ever the saime.Vnd New Year's Day is always an event. Perhaps itis because it draws added luster from the recent mem-or es of Chris tmas trees and the mysterious visit ofSanta Claus. Yes, Santa comes to Yaquitepec. Silently,in the dead of night, his gold-belled reindeer speed be-

tween the swaying wands of the ocotillos and the tall,d n stalks of the mescals and whisk his gift-laden sleighto the sum mit of Ghost Mountain . And always, whenthi old sain t comes to stuff the stockings of the two littletousledheads who dream on expectantly, he finds ade ked Christmas tree awaiting him. Th e Christmastrees of Yaquitepec are carefully cut branches of berry-laden mou ntain juniper. They are never largeforwe are jealously careful of our desert junipe rs. Butwhat they lack in size they make up in beauty. Thewhite clusters of berries glisten against the dark, bunch-ed green of the tiny branches. And the silver star thatdoes duty every year at the tree tip sparkles in rivalrywiih the shimmering, hung streamers of tinsel.The little desert mice, which scamper trustfully andunmolested in the darkness of our enclosed porch, ex-plore timidly the rustling crepe paper and greenerypiled about the base of this strange, glittering spectacle.And I am sure that the old Saint, as he busies himselfat his task of filling the two big stockings hung beforeth< old adobe stove, must pause often to glance at thega\ tree and to smile and chuckle. Yes, Christmas is aglad time at Yaquitepec.And New Year is somehow a joyous finale of the gladseason. A wind-up and a beginning. And it doesn'tms tter much whethe r the wind is yelling down from thegliitering, white-capped summits of the Laguna rangeami chasing snowflakes like clouds of ghostly moths

across the bleak granite rocks of our mountain crest orwhether the desert sun spreads a summer-like sparkleov< r all the s tretch ing leagues of wilderness. New Year'sda-* is a happy day just the same. The youngsters, eagerin i he joy of a lot of new tools and possessions, are fullof plans. Rider, desert-minded and ever concerned withthe water question, is usually full of ideas concerningthe digging of cisterns. Or perhaps with the manufac-ture of a whole lot of new adobe bricks. Rudyard, withall the imitative enthusiasm of two whole years, followseagerly in big brother's lead. He is fond of tools, too.One of his cherished possessions is an old woodenmallet "wooda ham mah ," w hich he wields lustilyu p >n anything conveniently at hand. And prying intoRider's toolbox and helping himself to punches andhammers and saws and nails, is his favorite indoorsport.

tain?" visitors ask sympathetically at times. And theystare when we laugh at them . Lonely! How is it pos-sible to be lonely in the desert? Th ere are no two daysthe same. Always, on the mighty canvas of the skyand the stretching leagues of the wasteland, the GreatSpirit is pain ting new pictures. And constantly, throughthe tiny thoroughfares and trails of our world of mescalsand rocks our wild creatures hurry. The flow ers havegone now and the chill of winter is in the air. But lifegoes on just the same.

Coyotes range their beats with nightly regularity. Wehave been officially placed upon the coyote highwaysystem and almost every night they come to sniff aboutour cisterns and to nose over the ash dump in searchof possible eats. And sometimes grey foxes wander inon friendly calls. The snakes have holed up and theliza

Documents

196208 Desert Magazine 1962 August