197512 Desert Magazine 1975 December

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DECEMBER, 1975 75ICD 08256

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WILLIAM KNYVETT, Publisher-Editor

GEORGE BRAGA, Art DirectorMARY FRANCES STRONC, Field Trip EditorF. A. BARNES, Utah Associate EditorGLENN VARGAS, Lapidary EditorK. L. BOYNTON, NaturalistMARVEL BARRETT, Circulation Manager

Volume 38, Number 12 D E C E M B E R 1975

CONTENTSF E A T U R E S

THE COVER:Winter visits thedesert inJoshua Tree NationalMonument , Ca l i fo rn ia .Photo by George Service,Palm Desert, California.

REYMERT REMNANTS 10THE PHANTOM BIRD 12

WINTER ON THE DESERT 16GEMS IN BURRO CREEK VALLEY 20

AN ANGEL AND THE COLO VALLEY GOLD 24PACIFIC ISLANDS OF BAJ A NORTE 28

A SEED WORTH ITS WEIGHT IN GOLD 32MOJAVE'S DESERT QUEEN 36

ANZA RIDES AGAIN 40

Richard DillonK. L. BoyntonMel LewisMary Frances StrongChoral PepperBetty MackintoshHarrison DoyleRichard TreolarHarold O. Weight

D E P A R T M E N T SA PEEK IN THE PUBLISHER'S POKE 4 William Knyvett

BOOK S FOR DESERT READERS 8 Book ReviewsDESERT PLANT LIFE 39 JimCornett

RAMBLING ON ROCKS 42 Glenn and Martha VargasLETTERS TO THE EDITOR 47 Readers' Comments

CALENDAR OF WESTERN EVENTS 47 Club Activities

EDITOR IAL, CIRCULATION AND ADV ER TISING OFFICE S: 74-425 Highway 111, Palm Desert, California 92260. Telephone Area Code 714 346-8144.Listed in Standard Rate and Data. SUBSCRIPTION RATES: United States, Canada and Mexico; 1 year, $6.00; 2 years, $11.00; 3 years, $16.00. Otherforeign subscribers add $1.00 U. S. currency for each year. See Subscription Order Form in this issue. Allow five weeks for change of address and sendboth new and old addresses with zip codes. DESERT Magazine is published monthly. Second class postage paid at Palm Desert, California and at addi-tional mailing offices under Act of March 3, 1879.Contents copyrighted 1975 by DESERT Magazine and permission to reproduce any or all contents mustbe secured in wri t ing. Manuscripts and photographs wil l not De returned unless accompanied by a self-addressed, stamped envelope.Desert/December 1975 3


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onlv-Feb.-Dec

Complete' 6 6 , '67, '68

7 0 , '71, '72, '73Volumes

SI-00F" R a i n B a r r e l "Assorted Issues

Package of 20

A P e e ki n t h eP u b l i s h e r sP o k e I T H THE year drawing to a c lose, i t

D A D is an appropriate t ime to pause andI I g ive thanks to al l our wo nderfulreaders and advertisers who make thepublicat ion of this magazine possible.My wife, Joy, who r ight ful ly shouldshare the t it le of Publisher-Editor, and Icannot express how reward ing and sat is-fying our jobs are made by the warmththat we experience in our personal con-tacts and through correspondence.We have tried this past year to balancethe editorial content so that there issomething of interest to all. We wouldappreciate hearing any crit icisms or sug-gestions that wil l improve the endproduct. We want you to feel that it is

your magazine. Times, people, and theirneeds change, and in the highly com peti-t ive m agazine business, any insight as tothe readers' l ikes and dislikes is ex-t remely vi ta l . So jot your ideas dow n on apenny postcard (which has changed toseven pennies) today and keep us on theright track.

Our sentiments for the coming Christ-mas season appear on the back cover ofthis issue. Our thanks to art ist LloydMitchell for permission to use his origin-al o i l "Lone Watch," and to GeorgeService for the color photography.

A very Merry Chr is tmas and HappyNew Year to all f rom the staff at Deser tMagaz ine.

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GHOSTS OF THE GLORY TRAIL by Nell Mur-barger A pioneer of the ghosl town explorers andwr i te rs , M i ssMurba rge r ' s fo l l owers w i l l be g ladto know th is book is once again in pr int . F i rs t pub-hshed in 1956. it is now in its seventh edition. Thefast-m oving ch ronic le is a resul t of personal in ter-v iews of o ld-t imers who are no longer here to te l lthei r ta les. Hardcover, i l lus trated. 291 pages,$7,00.

30,000 MILES IN MEXICO by Nell Murbarger.Joyous adventures of a t r ip by p ick-up campermade by two women f rom T i j uana to G ua tema laFolksy and enterta in ing, as wel l as instruct ive toothers who migh t make the t r ip . Hardco ver 309pages. $6,00.

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Photo by George Service

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Send orders toBox 1318,Palm Desert, California 92260Please add 25c for postage & handling BOOKS OF

GHOST TOWNS OF ARIZONA by James andBarbara Sherman. If you are looking for a ghosttown in Arizona this is your waybill. Illustrated,maps, townships, range, co-ordinates, history,and other details make this one of the best ghosttown books ever published. Large 9x11 format,heavy paperback, 208 pages, $4.95.OUTDOOR SURVIVAL SKILLS by Larry DeanOlsen. This book had to be lived before it couldbe writ ten . The author's mastery of p rimitiv eskills has made him confident that survival livingneed not be an ordeal once a person has learnedto adjust. Chapters deal with building shelters,making fires, finding water, use of plants forfood and medication. Buckram cover, well illus-trated, 188 pages, revised edition boasts of 96 4-color photos added. $4.95.HISTORICAL ATLAS OF CALIFORNIA by War-ren A. Beck and Ynez D. Haase. Extensive docu-mentation and pertinent detail make this atlas avaluable aid to the student, scholar and every-one intersted in the Golden State. 101 excellentmaps present information on the major faults,ear ly Spanish explorat ions, Mexican landgrants, route to gold fields, the Butterfield andPony Express routes, CCC camps, World War IIInstallations, etc. Hardcover, extensive index,highly recommended, $9.95.LOST MINES OF THE GREAT SOUTHWESTby John D. Mitchell. The first of Mitchell's lostmine books is now available after having beenout of print or years. Reproduced from theoriginal copy and containing 54 articles based onaccounts from people Mitchell interviewed. Hespent his entire adult life investigating reportsand legends of lost mines and treasures of theSouthwest. Hardcover, illustrated, 175 pages$7.50.

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IWHERE TO FIND GOLD IN SOUTHERN CALI -FORNIA by James Klein. Pinpoints areasaround the Los Angeles basin such as San Ga-briel Canyon, Lytle Creek and Orange County.Tips on how to find gold, equipment needed andhow to stake a claim are included as well as thelost treasure tales of each area. Paperback, illus-trated, 95 pages, $4.95.WHERE TO FIND GOLD IN THE DESERT byJames Klein is a sequel to Where to F ind Gold inSouthern California. Author Klein includes losttreasure tales and gem locations as he tellswhere to find gold in the Rosmond-Mohave area,the El Paso Mountains, Randsburg and Barstowareas, and many more. Paperback, 112 pages,$4.95.LAND OF POCO TIEMPO by Charles F.Lummis. A reprint of the famous writer and his-torian of his adventures among the Indians ofNew Mexico. Lummis was one of the foremostwriters of the West. Paperback, 236 pages,$2.95.6

HAPPY WANDERER TRIPS by Slim Barnard.Well-known TV stars, Henrietta and Slim Bar-nard have put together a selection of their tripsthroughout the West from their Happy Wander-er travel shows. Books have excellent maps, his-tory, cost of lodging, meals, etc. Perfect for fam-ilies planning weekends. Both books are largeformat, heavy paperback, 150 pages each and$2.95 each. Volume One covers California andVolume Two Arizona, Nevada and Mexico.WHEN ORDERING STATE WHICH VOLUME.HOW TO DO PERMANENT SANDPAINTINGby David and Jean Villseno r. Instructions for thepermanent adaptation of this age old ephemeralart of the Indians of the Greater Southwest isgiven including where to find the materials,preparation, how to color sand artificially,making and transferring patterns, etc. A^sogives descriptions and meanings of the variousIndian signs used. Well illustrated, 34 pages,$2.50.NAVAJO RUGS, Past, Present and Future byGilbert S. Maxwell. Concerns the history, leg-ends and descriptions of Navajo rugs. Full colorphotographs. Paperback, $3.50.

TURQUOISE, The Gem of the Centuries byOscar T. Branson. The most complete and lav-ishly illustrated all color book on turquoise.Identifies 43 localities, treated and stabilizedmaterial, gives brief history of the gem and de-tails the individual techniques of the SouthwestIndian Tribes. Heavy paperback, large format,68 pages, $7.95.THE BAJA BOOK, A Complete Map-Guide toToday's Baja California by Tom Miller and El-mar Baxter. Waiting until the new transpenin-sula> highway opened, the authors have pooledtheir knowledge to give every minute detail ongas stations, campgrounds, beaches, trailerDarks, road conditions, boating, surfing, flying,f ishing, beachcombing, in addition to a BajaRoadlog which has been broken into convenienttwo-mile segments. A tremendous package forevery Kind of recreationist. Paperback, 178pages, illus., maps, $7.95.DESERT PLANTS AND PEOPLE by Sam Hicks.Tells how pimitive desert dwellers find susten-ance, shelter, beverages and healing medicinesin nature. Hardcover, $6.95.GHOST TOWN ALBUM by Lambert Flor in.Over 200 photos. Fascinating pictorial accountsof the gold mining towns of the Old Westandthe men who worked them. Large format. 184pages, profusely illustrated, originally publishedat $12.50, new edition $4.98.

INSIDE D EAT H VA LLEY by Chuck Gebhardt. Aguide and reference text of forever mysteriousDeath Valley, containing over 80 photographsmany in color. Included, too, are Entry Guidesand Place Name Index for the convenience ovisitors. Written with authority by an avid hikerbackpacker and rockclimber. 160 pages, paperback, $4.95.OUR HISTORIC DESERT, The Story of theAnza-Borrego State Park. Text by DianaLindsay, Edited by R ichard Pourade. The largesstate park in the United States, this bookpresents a concise and cogent history of thethings which have made this desert unique. Theauthor details the geologic beginning and tracesthe history from Juan Bautista de Anza andearly-day settlers, through to the existencetoday of the huge park. Hardcover, 144 pagesbeautifully illustrated, $9.50.BUTCH CASSIDY, My Brother by Lula ParkerBetenson. Official version of the authentic lifestory of Butch Cassidy, actually Robert LeroyParker, famed outlaw of his native Utah and adjoining states, told by his surviving sister. Thebook also offers a new look at Utah Mormom his-tory by a participant. Hardcover, many rare pictues, 265 pages, $7.95.DESERT GEM TRA ILS by M ary Frances StrongDESERT Magazine's Field Trip Editor's popularfield guide for rockhounds. The "bible" for bothamateur and veteran rockhounds and back coun-try explorers, and covers the gems and mineralsof the Mojave and Colorado Deserts. Heavy pa-perback, 80 pages, $2.00.GOLD GAMBLE by Roberta Starry. Lavishly i llustrated with old photos, the text recounts thevivid memories of the gold mining boom in California's Rand Mining District. Large format, excellent index, 167 pages, $4.25.

SELDOM SEEN SLIM by Tom Murray. Profi lesand vignettes of the colorful "single blankejackass prospectors" who lived and died as theylooked for gold and silver in Death Valley. Slickpaperback, exclusive photos of the old-timers65 pages, $3.00.FOUR WHEEL DRIVE HANDBOOK by JameT. Crow and Cameron Warren. Packed into thivolume is material gathered from actual experience and presented in a detailed manner so ican easily be followed and understood. Highlyrecommended for anyone interested in baccountry dr iving . Paper, illus., 96 pages, $2.95.NEW MEXICO, photographs by David Muenchtext by Tony Hillerman, depicting New Mexico'many and varied contrasts in a unique blend thais her mysterious beautyand a grandeur that iour natural heritage. Hardcover, large forma188 pages, $25.00.

Desert/December 1975


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HE WEST California residentsplease add6% state sales taxPlease add 25c for postage & handlingBLUE G OL D, The Turquoise Story by M . G.Broman. Information on the identif ication, his-tory and mining of turquoise, as well as an intro-duction to the lapidary and silversmithing tech-niques used in making turquoise jewelry. Thisbook is intended for the general reader who isinterested in knowing more about the origin ofturquoise as well as the intere sting facets of buy-ing, collecting and assembling of turquoisepieces. Paperback, color and b/w photos, $4.95.GHOST TOWNS OF THE COLORADO ROCK-IES by Robert L. Brown. Written by the authorof Jeep Trails to Colorado Ghost Towns, thisbook deals with ghost towns accessible by pas-senger car. Gives directions and maps for find-ing towns along with historical backgrounds.Hardcover, 401 pages, $7.95.HOPI SILVER, The History and Hallmarks otHopi Silversmithing by Margaret W right. Yearsof research have made this book a historicallydescriptive piece on the H opi si lversm iths. I l lus-trated with many photographs of si lverwo rk, andmore than a dozen pages devoted to the varioushallmarks beginning in 1890 and continuedthrough 1971, naming Jhe si lversmith, the clan,the village, dates worked and whether or not thesilverwork is still being made. Paperback, 100pages, $4.95.NEW MEXICO GEM TRAILS by Bessie W.Simpson. Gield guide for rockhounds with 40maps and 65 locations. 88 pages, profusely i l lu-strated, $3.50.

A FIELD GU IDE TO INSECTS of America Northof Mexico by Donald J. Borror and Richard E.White. This is the most comprehensive, authori-tative and up-to-date guide to North Ame rica in-sects ever pu blished . It covers 579 fam ilies of in-sects and has more than 1300 line drawings and142 color plates. Hardcover, 372 pages, glos-sary, references, $6.95.TH E P ACIFIC CREST TRAIL Volume 1 : Califor-nia by Thomas Winnett. Contains complete mapof the route (127 strip maps) and a verbal de-scription of the route, including mileages. Alsocontains chapter on how to backpack and campin the wilderness, and a chapter on the naturalhistory along the Pacific Crest Trail. Illustrated,paperback, $4.95.DICTIONARY OF PREHISTORIC INDrAN AR-TIFACTS OF THE AMERICAN SOUTHWESTby Franklin Barnett. A highly informative bookthat both illustrates and describes Indian arti-facts of the Southwest, it is a valuable guide forthe person interested in archaeology and anthro-pology. Includes 250 major types of artifacts.Each item has a photo and definition. Paper-back, 130 pages, beautifully illustrated, $7.95.

WILD LIFE OF THE SOUTHW EST DESERTS byJim Cornett. Written for the layman and seriousstudents a like, this is an excellent book on all ofthe common anim als of the Southwest de serts. Amust for desert explorers, it presents a brief lifehistory of everything from ants to burros. Paper-back, 80 pages, $2.99.THE NORTH AMERICAN DESERTS by Ed-mund C. Jaeger. A long-time authority on allphases of desert areas and life, Dr. Jaeger'sbook on the North American Deserts should becarried where ever you travel. It not only de-scribes each of the individual desert areas, buthas illustrated sections on desert insects, rep-tiles, birds, mammals and plants. 315 pages,i l lustrated photographs, l ine drawings andmaps. Hardcover, $6.95CALIFORNIA by David Muench and Ray Atke-son. Two of the West's greatest color photo-graphers have presented their finest works to cre-ate the vibrations of the oceans, lakes, moun tainsand deserts of California. Their photographicpresentations, combined with the moving text ofDavid Toll , makes this a classic in Western Am er-icana. Large 11x14 form at, ha rdcover, 186 pages,$25.00.Desert/December 1975

BEACHES O F BAJA by Walt W heelock. Beach-es on the Pacific side of Lower California are de-scribed by the veteran Baja explorer. UnlikeCalifornia beaches, they are still relatively freeof crowds. Paperback, illus., 72 pages, $1.95.DESERT WILD FLOWERS by Edmund C. Jae-ger. One of the most complete works ever pub-lished on flora of the Southwestern deserts.Easily understood by amateur botanists andtravelers as it is informative to the professional.322 pages, well illustratged, $2.95.GOLD FEVER by Helen E. Wilson. Exciting andtrue story of a couple prospecting against for-midable odds during the Nevada Gold Strike inJarbridg e. Fabulously i l lustrated w ith early-dayphotos. 140 pages, softbound, $5.00.WE ATH ER IN THE W EST by Bette Roda An-derson, is a layman's book covering the funda-mentls of weather. Contains incomparable colorand black and white photos. An unusual and val-uable library addition. Hardcover, large format,223 pages, copiously illustrated, $18.95.PHOTO ALBUM OF YESTERDAY'S SOUTH-WEST compiled by Charles Shelton. Early daysphoto collection da ting from 1860s to 1910 showsprospectors, miners, cowboys, desperados andordinary people. 195 photos, hardcover, fine gifti tem, $12.50.THE ROSE & THE ROBE by Ted DeGrazia.Text and sketches tell of the travels of Fray Juni-pero Serra in California, 176a-1784. T remendoushistory and art appeal. Large format, 25 four-color illustrations by DeGrazia. Hardcover,$11.75.

BACK ROADS OF CALIFORNIA by Earl Thol-lander and the Editors of Sunset Books. Earlystagecoach routes, missions, remote canyons,old prospector cabins, mines, cemeteries, etc.,are visited as the author travels and sketches theCalifornia Backroads. Through maps and notes,the traveler is invited to get off the freeways ands e e the rural and country lanes throughout thestate. Hardcover, large format, unusually beau-tiful illustrations, 207 pages, $10.95.BIG RED: A WILD STALLION by RutherfordMontgomery. There was a time when there weremany wild horse herds on our western ranges.These herds, jealously guarded by the stallionthat had won them, met with real trouble whenthe hunters found they could get good prices forthem from meat processors. Big Red tells howone stallion successfully defends his herd fromboth animal and human enemies. Illustrated,hardcover, 163 pages, $4.95.THE GOLD HEX by Ken Marquiss. A singleman's endeavors, Ken has compiled 20 of histreaure hunts in book form. His failure to hit the"jackpot" does not mean he is treasureless.From gold panning to hardrock, from dredgingto electronic metal detecting, he enjoyed a life-t ime of "doing his thing." Slick paperback, i l-lustrated with photos and maps, 146 pages,$3.50.THE OREGON DESERT by E. R. Jackman andR. A. Long. Filled with both facts and anecdotes,this is the only book on the little but fascinatingdeserts of Oregon. Anyone who reads this bookwill want to visit the areasor wish they could.Hardcover, illustrated, 407 pages, $8.95.

RAY MANLEY'S SOUTHWESTERN INDIANARTS AND CRAFTS is a full color presentationof the culture of the Southwest including jewel-ry, pottery, baskets, rugs, kachinas, Indian artand sandpaintings. 225 color photographs, inter-esting descriptive text. Heavy paperback, 96pages, $7.95.WILY WOMEN OF THE WEST by Grace Er-nestine Ray. Such women of the West as BelleStarr, Cattle Kate and Lola Montez weren't allgood and weren't all bad, but were fascinatingand conflicting personalities, as researched bythe author. Their lives of adventure were a vitapart of the life of the Old West. Hardcover, illus-trated, 155 pages, $7.95TEMALPAKH by Lowell John Bean and Kather-ine Siva Saubel. Temalpakh means "from theearth , " in Cahu illa, and covers the many-uses ofplants used for food, medicine, rituals and thoseused in the manufacturing of baskets, sandals,hunting tools; and plants used for dwellings.Makes for a better understanding of environ-mental and cultural relationships. Well illustrat-ed, 225 pages, hardcover, $10.00; paperback$6.50.


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P E G L E GALL IN ONE PLACEThe whole Pegleg story underone cover.A fresh insight into the PeglegLegend and a unique expla-nation of its origin.The search area cut.Thomas L. "Pegleg" Smith ina new light as an importantcharacter in the very earlyWest.For the lost mine buff whoseeks some order in PeglegianaFor the outdoor man atChristmas.

P E G L E GTO DATEAND BEYOND$3.75 Each by lohn SouthworthWe paypostageCalif, res.ad d 6% sales taxOrder fromPegleg Books, P.O. Box7563Burbank, Calif. 91510

Order FREE CatalogueDESERT MAGAZINE

BOOK STOREPalm Desert, California 92260

B o o k s forD e s e r tH e a d e r s

All books reviewed are available through theDesert Magazine Book Shop. Please add 25c perorder forhandling and California residents mustinclude 6% state sales tax.

A F IELD GUIDE TO THE C O M M O NAND I NTERESTI NG P L ANTSOF BAJ A C A L I F O R N I ABy Jeanet te Coyleand Norman C. Roberts

This comprehensive f ield guide wil lprove appropriate forboth thecasual ob-server and the serious amateur. The

F O R K E D T O N G U E S A N D B R O K E N T R E A T IE SDonald Worcester, Editor

A collection of writings that tell howthe Indians lost their hold onthe land by being bullied and cajoled into signing treaties that werethen deliberately broken. It also tells how in the past two decadesthese same broken promises have been used to open a brighterfuture for the Indian people. Today the Indian population is growing,and past treaties are assuming major importance. Several tribeshave successfully brought suit against the government for landstaken illegally.494 pages $9.95Illustrated with aseries of maps executed especially for his book, andwith many historical photographs.PLEASE WRITE FORDESCRIPTIVE BROCHURE

The CAXTON PRINTERS, Ltd.Box 700Cald well, Idaho 83605

plants discussed have been selectedbe-cause they arecommon, prominent or in-terest ing; most of them are t rees, shrubsor cacti. Each species was selected be-cause the enthusiast ic amateur natural-ist wil l probably encounter it whi le t rav-el ing in the peninsula.

Over 250 plants are described alongwi th 189 beautiful color photographs.Each i l lustrated plant has an ample de-script ion on the facing page enablingeven the novice to readily identify thespecimen. In addit ion to the descr ipt ion,the reader wil l f ind information concern-in g the region of the peninsula where theplant may be f ound, and the habitat inwhich it thr ives.

The fami ly and scientific names aswel l as common Engl ish and Spanishnames are included and there are briefdiscussions of the uses of many of theplants by both the aborigines and theBaja Californians of today.Both a vegetat ive and a physicalmapare included on the inside covers, andother pages give i l lustrat ions of commonbotanical terms, a glossary of botanicalterms andSpanish words and an exten-sive bibliography of the f lora of BajaCal i fornia.

Paperback, 206 pages, highly recom-mended, $8.50.

T H E C R E A T I V E OJOBOOKBy D iane Thomas

Cod's eyes or ojos de Dios thosecolorful yarn talismans originally madeby Pueblo and M exican Indians havebecome a current craze among thedo-it-yourself decorators. However, unt i lnow, it was dif f icul t to f ind a good bookwith diagrams and direct ions available.

Diane T homas, a teacher, travel pho-tographer and f requent contr ibutor toDeser t , has remedied the situat ion bypubl ishing The Creative Ojo Book. In-cluded are direct ions for making wal l -hung ojos aswel l as necklaces, mobilesand gif t-wrap t ie-ons.

Deser t /December 1975


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Primitive people first formed a cross ina square to seek protection from adverseelements. Wound with reeds and fibers,they were crude beginnings ofwhat to-day has become a th ing ofbeauty, rever-ently made byartists who find inspira-tion in the simple designs of past civiliza-tions.Diane includes explicit instructions formany designs such as theApacheCradleboard, Tree ofLife, Squaw Skirtand Star Shield.Well illustrated with four-color photo-graphs, 52 pages, paperback, $2.95.

BAJ A CA LIFORNIA GUIDEBOOKFormerly Gerhard & G ul ick,Low er California GuidebookBy Walt Wheelockand Howard E. Gul ick

This totally revised fifth edition is up-to-the-minute fortheTranspeninsularpaved highway, aswell asother pavedroads inthe north and atthe tip. Italsoincludes new mileages, corrections andadditions for the many side roads, ORVroutes and trails , and descriptions oftheunfrequented and little-know n byways todesert, mountain, beach and bay re-cesses.

The route maps, revised and detailed,are presented in new,more useable,three-section, multi-color layout.An indispensable guide for the travel-er and ibrary, this revised edition ispacked with reliable information for va-cationers, sport-fishermen, hunters, ex-plorers, campers, scientists, yachtsmenand private airpilots. It includes infor-mation on all types oftravel from air-planes topack burros; asketch of the400-year history oftheregion and itsmissions; adescription ofthe land ancits people; anduseful hints onfood,hotels-motels, customs regulations,money, gasoline, automobile equipmentand hundreds ofother elusive details

Hardcover, 232pages, excellent n-dex, well illus trated , $10.50.Dese rt / December 1975

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Cold embossed onbrown vinyl. Spacefo r 12magazines easily inserted. Abeautiful and practical ad dit ion toyourhome book-shelf.

WORTHSAVING!MOST OF OURREADERS SAVETHEIR DESERT MAGAZINES FORFUTURE REFERENCE AND READINGPLEASURE. THE REST WAY TO KEEPYOUR BACK ISSUES IS IN OURATTRACTIVE SPECIALLY-MADEBINDERS

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Left: Heavywooden door a)Reymert minewith Weaver'sNeedle inbackground.Below: Thetown of Reymertwas st rung outalong the washdown wherethe truck is.

ReymertRemnants

T HERE 'S NEVER any way to tel l whatyou' l l f ind when you set out to ex-plore a ghost town. Of ten you arriveat a townsi te that was once a busy com-munity back in the 1880s, but todayseems to have vanished without a t race.But on rare occasions you can stumbleupon a t reasure.

The old ghost town of Reymert, sevenmiles southwest of Super ior , Ar izona,was both a surprise and a disappoint-ment . Only a few ruins remained of thetown that once boasted several stores,numerous houses, a butcher shop, ablacksmith shop, Wells Fargo off ice,school, stables and boarding houses. Al -though there was l i t t le left of the t own , ashort hike up to the Reymert mine wasanother story altogether.

A large number of old mine bui ld ings,ore chutes, loaders and shafts werespread all over the hi l ls ide. The wood ofthe mine st ructures, red-brown w ith age,added color to the set t ing. But the ore it-self is no less beautiful. Great quantit ies

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by RICHARD DILLON

10 Deser t /December 1975


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of black rock laced throug hou t with shinycrystals can be found near ore loadersand around entrances to the shafts.Perhaps a dozen mines stretch along thehillside for a mile or so. The proportionsof the place leave no doubt that the Rey-mert silver mines were once quite an op-erat ion.Reymert l ies in a narrow canyon abouttwo miles long. Looking down from the

mines the outline of the town can easilybe seen. The town extended along thewash with buildings scattered here andthere. Wherever there was space tobui ld , someone put up a house or store.Bu t t o d a y , f o u n d a t io n s , se c t io ns o fwooden walls and rock walls are all thatremain .The view from the mines is quite im-pressive. Away to the northeast the rocktower of Weaver's Needle looms out ofthe Superst i t ion Mounta ins. One is

reminded that one of the clues to thefamous Lost Dutchman gold mine is thatWeaver's Needle could be seen from thehillside opposite the mine. However,Reymert was built by silver and althoughit does not lie in the SuperstitionMountains proper, it certainly l ies in anarea rich in mineral wealth.

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Reymert is located on the edge of thegreat mining district of central Arizona.J ust to the eas t, on the slopes of Apa cheLeap, is the rich underground coppermine at Superior. Farther east are theGlobe;Miami open pit copper mines. Tothe south are the open pit copper minesat Ray and Hayden. Copper is the mostimportant mineral today and is a mult i-mill ion dollar enterprise. But in the pastthe district was dominated by silver. Therich Silver King mine started the boomin 1876. Several other strikes, includingReymert, followed soon after.

The Rey mert silver mines were discov-ered in 1879 by a lawyer from the town ofFlorence named James Denoon Rey-mert. They turned out to be some of therichest and largest silver deposits everfound in Ar izona. J. D. Reymert 'stakedout a series of claims on a ledge nearlytwo miles long. The ledge, named theContinental, contained two silver-bear-ing veins that sometimes were as wide as30 feet across.

The two veins of silver ore run parallelto each other and were described as a"double lode." The one located on thewestern side of the Continental ledge isblack ore with a lot of manganese in it.The eastern vein is composed of bluequartz ore. Both veins can still be seen inplaces and the ore is quite pretty.J. D. Reymert had come West deter-

mined to make his fortun e. In A pr il 1877,he wrote his w ife declaring tha t he hopedto f ind a silver mine. The fabulously richSilver King mine had just been discover-ed and was the talk of all Arizona. Twoyears later, with his discovery of thesilver mines on the Continental ledge,his dream appeared to have come true.Wealth was not instantly forthcoming,however.For the next few years, J. D. Reymertlost money on his mine. He spent thous-ands of dollars sinking shafts and dig-ging tunnels in an endeavor to determ inethe extent of the silver deposits. In themeantime, he moved from Florence toPinal City which was much closer to hismine. There, in addit ion to his law prac-t ice, he became the publisher and editorof a newspaper, the Pinal Dril l.In 1885, J. D. Reymert incorporatedhis mining company. An init ial invest-ment of $100,000 was needed to get intofull production. The explorations con-ducted at the mine turned out to be fa-

vorable. Plenty of ore was found and itDesert /December 1975

was rich enough to be mined at a profitSoon he was able to attract some investors from Milwaukee. By 1887, the minewas in production and the town of Reymert sprang up nearby.There was not sufficient water at themine to process the ore, so a smelter waset up on nearby Queen Creek. A25-stamp mill was erected to crush theore. After complete processing, between30 and 60 ounces of silver were yieldedfrom each ton of ore. Later the smeltingoperations were moved to a site twomiles south of Reymert where the smaltown of Denoon was started. J. D. Reymert 's middle name was Denoon. Theruins of Denoon can still be seen, although the o ld b r ick ovens havecrumbled and it is a l it t le diff icult to gethere.The Reymert silver mines operatedprimarily between 1885 and 1910. Some

work w as done on and off unt il as late as1950, however, there were long periodsof inactivity during those later yearsThe price of silver fell occasionally andother troubles beset the operations. Alin all, the Reymert mines are said tohave yielded its owners about $1,000,000in profits. Small by today's standardsbut q uite a bit around the turn of the cen-tu ry .As is true when visit ing any old min-ing areas, care should be taken to avoidfalling into a mine shaft. None of theshafts at Reymert are marked or fencedand some are several hundred feet deepYou can walk right up to one and not seeit until you're on top of it . Childrenshould be watched extremely carefully.

The road to Reym ert is located off U.SHighway 60 about f ive miles west oSuperior. Although we negotiated it bycar, in reality it is more of a four-wheeldr ive t ra i l . There were several placeswhere the road was almost completelywashed out. One good gully washesince we were last there might havemade the road impassable even for fourwheel-drive. But Reymert is not far offthe main highway. A short hike of amost a mile or two will get you there.

The town of Reymert is in ruins todayHardly enough remains to fit some people's stereotype of a ghost town, bunonetheless, Reymert is st i l l quite interest ing. It takes only a little imaginationto get a feeling for life back in the silver"boom town" days of the Ar izonaTerr i tory. 11


12/48

A full-faceview ofbarn owlreveals itsheart-shapeand concaveareas aroundthe eyes thatact asunique hearing aids.Photos byGeorge Service.

by K. L. BOYNTON1975

T h Er l A N T O MM l H E N THE shadows o f evening grow

omo long and darkness begins to cover| | the face of the desert, i t is t ime for

the barn owl to be abroad. Emergingfrom her cool retreat deep in a canyon'srocky wall where she has waited out theheat of the day, she l i f ts her long broadwings and sails slowly out into the dusk.Pale and wraithlike, she drif ts throughthe gathering gloom in a seemingly ef-

12

fort less f l ight, Queen of the World oDarkness, a phantom s pir it of the desernight .

Silent the f l ight of this big whit ishb i rd , hushed by the softness of owl feathers and swifter, now, as she heads foher favorite hunting ground on the f latssome two miles away. So quiet is her arrival that scarcely one of the rodentsmoving furt ively through the darknesson the ground below knows she hascome. A sudden downward rush, a blowwi th a mailed f ist , a bite at the neck, andthe kil l is made. The barn owl,.on thewing again, has a mouse gripped in hetalons to be carried to her favo rite dinin groost nearby. All through the night shewil l hunt, returning at f irst l ight of day toher home in the canyon wal l .

Now it is indeed true tha t many a des-ert night can be strangely luminous withstars so bright and air so clear that theworld seems il luminated. Under suchcondit ions the owl can easily hunt bysight, i ts vision in a dim light beingaround 10 t imes better than that of manMoonlight, of course, makes it easier tosee, but no easier to hunt, for in turn therodent folk are more cautious, the mosfearful of them not being out at all. Buthere comes a t ime in the desert nighwhen the e arth l ies in blackness for thereis no light at all. Even then , the barn owcont inues to hunt success fu l ly . B igbirds, the adults alone need lots of protein food, and at fami ly-rais ing t imewith a nest full of hungry youngsters toprovide for, their hunting must be moreeff icient.

How do these owls f ind their prey inthe pitch dark?

Natural ly , b io logists had to f ind outIt was obvious that without l ight, eyesight wasn't doing it , and since birds asa class have been notoriously shortchanged in the smell department, imust be that the owls were playing it byear.

Biologists Roger Payne and Will iamDrury devised a neat test for owl-and-mouse reactions in pitch dark wherebythe mouse moved across a foam rubbermat, towing a crumpled paper severainches behind it . The owl zoomed downand made a direct hiton the rust l ingpaper. While this naturally upset theowl, i t did prove that hearing was theanswer, a likely situation since in thenatural set-up rodents going about theirbusiness in the ground l it ter make rustl-

Desert/December 1975


13/48

ing noises, and occasional high-pitchedsqueaks as wel l .

Now birds have no st ick-up ears asmammals do for collect ing sound, theirsimple ear-openings being concealedunder feathers. The barn owl further hasan odd ear arrangement. The left ear islocated higher up in the skull than theright one, although the openings are thesame size, a matter strongly suspectedto contribute to the bird's accuracy insound location.

Zoologist M. Konishi worked on thesounds mice make and on the actualrange of owl hearing. He found to hissatisfaction that indeed mouse rustlesand vocal sounds contain a wide range offrequencies, many of which l ie preciselyin the range where the owl hears best.Tougher tests with owls and mice in thedark showed that the owl only needs tohear a port ion of the rust l ing to do itsjob. O .K. so far, but what happens if ,after the owl starts its zeroing-in f l ight,the noise stops a thin g apt to occurwhen the mouse stops moving. Konishi'sowl obl ig ingly showed him, v ia inf ra-redphotography. The owl makes a midcourse correct ion, slowing its speed, ifnecessary even hove ring. Th en, on againto target when the sound resumes.Konishi then made the test harder, usinga double speaker. The rust le started inone direct ion and the owl launched to-wards that. Then the sound ceased, be-ginning again suddenly from anotherdirect ion. The owl in f l ight turned i tsface f irst to the new direct ion of sound,then its body, and this made Konishiwonder. Standing back, he took a goodlook at M rs . Ow l's hea rt-shaped face andnoted that besides being downright pret-ty, i t was a highly useful one and couldindeed play a part in her acute hearing.

Each half has a high wall of denselypacked feathers around the edges, thefeathers being carried on a fold of skinreaching from above the eye, aroundback of the ear opening and down to thelower bi l l . The two halves come togetherin a ta l l , feathered ridge in the middle ofher face. On either side of this midliner idge then, and extending to the highoutside encircl ing wal l , is a hollow withan inner surface shaped much like aparabola. Could these hollows work l iketoday's paraboloid antenna used by manfor sound collect ing and amplif icat ion?

Further, the eff iciency of each half ofthe face is stepped up by a kind of tunn el

Spooked bya sudden noise

this young adultbarn owl givesa great displayof his feathery

raiments.formed by part of the skin fold that leadsfrom each hollow to its respective earopening. Thus, even the faintest soundscollected and amplif ied in the facial hol-lows would be channeled direct ly intothe hearing department. To make thingswork even better, the skin folds sup port-ing the feathers are movable, so that theowl can actually change the shape of herfacial disc, a factor undoubtedly ex-tremely useful for direct ional hearingand pinpoint ing the location of sound.Flight-wise, the owl's soft feathersmake sounds of such low frequency thatthey do not interfere with the bird's ownsound reception. Nor are they noticed byrodents, most of whose hearing rangelies in the higher frequencies. An excep-t ion is the kangaroo rat who, thanks tothe construction of its big mastoid bullas(the swell ing behind the ear), can hear

low frequencies. Its appearance on abarn owl's menu, therefore, is rarer,calling for especially good hunting tac-tics on the part of the b i rd .Rodents as a class, however, make upthe major part of the food budget of barnowls no matter where they l ive, the par-t icular kind depending on what the spe-

cific area has to offer at the moment.Texas Panhandle owls, the Stickelsfound in their research, like big speciesof pocket mice best, snatching them asthey search the sand around sagebrushfor seeds. Cotton rats, grasshopper micerun a close second as tasty items. Butground squirrels, which l ikewise aboundin the Texas scenery, did not furnishfood items for the owls which made theStickels wonder unti l they rememberedthat the squirrels, being daytimers,wou ld be safely tucked away in their un -

Desert/ December 1975 13


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derground burrows during barn owl ex-cursions.Utah barn owls , studied by the team ofDwight S mith, Charles Wilson and HerbFrost, l ikewise favored rodents, mainly

meadow mic e, deer mice and house micewith a few starlings and sparrows throw nin for good measure. The bird addit ion tothe menu here was largely due to the factthat the owls, starlings and sparrows alldwelt in the same big compound of de-serted steel mill buildings at Ironton, ittherefore being simple for the owls,when they felt like it, to pick off one oftheir neighbors.

Whatever the food item, it is eatenwhole or in big chunks. The owl's inter-ior then goes to work. Digestive juicesare secreted and the stomach muscles,sort ing the cargo over, roll the indigesti-

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ble parts up into wads so neatly that anysharp bone edges or quill points arewrapped up inside a covering of m attedfur and feathers. These wads are thenburped up and ejected through themouth usually about six to twelve hoursafter the owl has f inished eating. Zoologists dearly love f inding these for bytaking them apart and studying the bitsand pieces, they can tell what smalmammals live in that part icular regionwithout bother ing to t rap them. Thanksto the barn owl's collecting work, mantime is saved and in many cases information can be gained about small, odd-balanimals that are not easily trapped.

Particularly edifying were addit ionainvestigations into the affairs of the oldUtah steel mill barn owls. Here wereowls, usually solitary nesters by habitindulging in a kind of colonial l iving. Exploit ing the f ine opportunit ies for roosting offered by the abandoned buildingsthey got their reproductive season goingas early as January. Nests appearedtucked here and there in the frameworkof the old blast furnaces, crane arms andbuilding rafters. Interesting enoughsome nests were located extremely closeto each other. The consequent overlapping of home ranges did not appear tobother the owls much, active defensebeing resorted to only with about 15 feeof the nest itself. The birds seemed toget along together pretty wel l , except foone irate female who not only chased neighboring male away from her nestbut from his own as wel l . Nor did shstop there, but chivvied him on outhrough a broken window and across yard to a d i f ferent b ui ld ing. Apparent lhe irritated her.

In l ine with owl rules, barn owls latheir eggs on a staggered schedule somone to seven days apart. Incubatiostarts with the f irst egg. The female sitdaytimes, the male in the late eveningSometimes both sit on the clutch , side bside. The job takes fro m 27 to 34 days foeach egg to hatch.

The team of Smith, et al, keeping aeye on 15 nests, found that the successtory at Ironton was not so hot. Whythey did not know, unless it was that coonial l iving, so contrary to barn owl nature, had an adverse effect. Six nestfailed right off, as none of the egghatched. Two others failed because thchicks, for some reason, turned in thedinner pails. The remaining seven nest

Deser t /December 197


15/48

did better, each fledg ing at least some oftheir young. The biologists also founda nest with one abandoned and nearlystarved chick in it. They fed it up in thelab and when it was hale and hearty putit in a nest that was doing well with twochicks already in it. When the nest'sadult proprietors returned, if they wereastonished to find that chick numberthree had appeared during their ab-sence, they took it philosophically ap-parently. Accepting the chick, theyraised it and their own two successfully.

Some 62-67 days are required to get ahatchling to the fledgling stage, and ittakes a lot of groceries to do it. Thenestlings eat their own weight in a singlenight, and even barn owls, the best ofhunters, are put to it to bring in enoughsupplies. One biologist reported a familyof seven in the East ate 100 rats andsmall rodents daily. One half-grown littlegourmand ate nine mice one after an-other, stuffed so full finally that the tailof the last mouse hung out of his bill. Butthree hours later he ate four more.

Through the night the nests must alsobe provisioned for snacks during theday. One nest at Ironton had 32 rodentsand birds in it, a mere drop in the bucketcompared to the 190 rodents in a nest re-ported by another zoologist.In spite of daytime lunching, theyoungsters start hollering for food at

sunset and keep it up until a couple ofhours before dawn, shutting up onlywhen food is being rammed into theirbills, and then for a few minutes after.Finally out of the nest, the fledglingshang about for usually seven to eightweeks, being fed by the adults. (The lit-tle abandoned one for some reason took13 weeks of post-nest care from its fosterparents.) This period of dependence isabruptly ended when the adults, in spiteof being pestered from perch to perch bytheir offspring to go out and hunt as

usual, flatly refuse to do so, and theyoung owls at last have to shove offon their own.Actually, they are well set up for des-ert life. Being nocturnal, barn owls es-cape the daytime high temperature andlow humidity, spending these hours indrowsy inactivity in cool canyon walls,rocky hillside retreats, old mine shaftsand the like. Being birds, their waterloss is slight, since their urinary excre-tion is in the form of uric acid which car-

ries away twice as much nitrogen as canDesert /December 1975

be excreted in mammalian urea. Uricacid is also excreted in a semi-solid fo rm,a marked savings in water. Nor do theseowls need to drink. As a matter of fact,their water supply comes, ironically,compliments of the prey they catch.The barn ow l, on her way home after anight's silent concentration on hunt-ing, may indeed indulge in a bit of vocal-ization which, as it should be, is quite inkeeping with her ghostlike appearanceand eerie flapping fligh t. Hisses, rattles,chuckles, maniacal laughter interspers-ed with bill snapping are all in her reper-toire to be rendered con brio in the wilddarkness of the desert night .

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16/48

Utah's red rock cou ntryunder a mant le o f snow.

F. A. B arnes photo.

by MEL LEWIS

HE CIRCLE OF SEASONS is one of'f t ' the irrevocable truth s of nature .j | Spr ing, summer, fa l l and winter ,each season bringing its own specialtouch of magic to all parts of the earth.True, some of the equatorial and polarareas barely notice it , but however quietor slight, seasonal changes do takeplace.

In some regions the seasons arrivewit h a very de finite anno uncement andlinger suff icient ly to make their tenurelengthy enough to be revered, toleratedor despised, depending upon the choiceof the individuals with whom Nature hassha red he r g race . Som et im es t heseasonal change creeps in soft-footedand unnoticed, l ike a thief in the night.Other t ime s she roars in boisterously andvociferant, l ike the fearsome cannonad-ing of a canyonlands thunderstorm, andoccasionally she demures her way in,like the sweet innocence of a lovelyyoung maiden blossoming into the full16

beauty of womanhood. To none of theseseasonal changes has the desert countryever been neglected.In the desert country the seasonsmerge imperceptibly. The change isquiet, unnoticed and unhurried. Sort ofl ike dreaming one into the other; or per-haps more l ike a silent song, hushed andunheard to all but the l istening heart,one stanza f lowing into another in anendless circle of magic. And what hasnot touched the heart today can wait , fori t wi l l return tomorrow.Of all the seasons that touch the desertperhaps Winter's performance is themost memorable. Her cloaking of whiteis unpredictable, her stay is brief, herperformance is subject to the whim ofthe moment, but it is of a magnitude thatis unforgettable.Winter 's overture begins somewheredeep in the northern lat itudes, some-where where great masses of super-

chil led air collect and then begin a slowDesert /December 1975


17/48


18/48

migrat ion southw ard, al l the whi le send-ing message streamers far in advance ofher eventual arr ival . The f i rs t harbingersof winter to reach the desert country arethe "mare 's ta i ls , " those h igh , th i n ,wispy cirrus clouds that grace theheavens l ike the f lowing movements of aghostly symphony. Such is the sure con-f i rmat ion that winter is moving this way.

Winter's coming is even more assuredby an almost imperceptible, but some-how definite change in the atmosphere.The air takes on an unbelievable clarityand a noticeable evening chi l l . Confir-mation is manifested in the increasedbril l iance of the nightt ime stars and inthe longer stays of the hours of darkness.M ornin g and evening shadows lengthen,

y

Left: This old cedar,long since retiredfrom life, takes ona new and etheralbeauty, thanks to asudden desertsnowstorm.Below: Even oldsun-dried goldenrodand rodent tracksare graced by the beautyof Winter on the Dese rt.

the desert landscape sharpens in con-trast, and the rocks and crags and sandsassume a new bri l l iance of color.In the h igher count ry , even the

pinyons and l imber pines acknowledgethe advance of winter by dropping un-wanted needles and dull ing the sheen ofthose they choose to keep. Higher st i l l ,the scrub oaks adorn themselves in ablaze of f iery g lory, and the aspens tradethe pale green of their qu aking leaves fora regal dress of shimmering gold.Oregon grape spreads a carpet of deeppurple at the roots of the trees, and thef lamboyant red- leaved Virginia creepertwists and threads its course up thetrunks to entwine and sun in the upper-most branches. Down on the desert f loorthe Joshuas seem completely unim-pressed by the notices of winter's com-ing, but the ocotillos take on a glossyverdancy to their serpentine stems, andthe many-armed chollas assume theirbest dress with a cotton-l ike appearance.Even the myriads of insects sense theseaonal change and burrow deep into theprotective soil at the roots of the desertplant l i fe.

The exqu isite frailt ies of the h igh , th incirrus accept their f inal curtain call andthen release the scene to the somber,deeper-toned alto stratus, and a new18 Desert/ December 1975


19/48

Nothing on the desertis quite so spectacularas an o ld dead cedar,

just moments afteri t has been "decorated"

by hoar frost.Below: The passing

a sudden, but infrequentsnowstorm transforms

an ordinary i.Arizona desert scene t f

into a beauti ful experienceof tranqu ility and

enchantment.oncert of nature has begun. The prob-ing rays of the early morning sun, st i l lbelow the horizon, seek out a r if t in thelowering clouds and swathe their under-

sides with a dramatic explosion of car-mine . As the r if t closes, the carmine dis-cretely fades to just a whispering blushof gold and f inally succumbs to the su-premacy of the middle and deeper tonesof gray. As the daylight hours pass, them o is t u re - l aden s t r a t us p resses eve rcloser to the desert until f inally itssilvergray wraiths and tendrils swirldown to enfold the highest peaks.

Deep in the night, when all the soundsof the earth are quieted, winter pays hervisit to the desert. She is preceeded byf lurrying l i t t le freshets and breezes,followed by a steadying f low of warmerair bearing the clean, pure scent specialonly to the pending arrival of new snow.Then it comes. F irst, only a scattering ofdancing feathery-white f lakes carriedplayfully along upon the f lowing breez-es. The flakes thicken and increase insize. Al l throu gh the peace and silence ofthe desert night they fa l l , f lake upongentle wh ite f lake, each choosing its ownresting place upon the bosom of theearth, each contribut ing a share to thequiet blanket of white, a blanket that in-creases in depth and beauty unti l f inally

" ' 3

the performance is over and a mostmagnif icent test imony to the purity ofnature l ies in a magical panorama thatcan only be described symphonically orspir i tual ly .A ll of the scars, the decay of plant l i fe,

the iniquit ies of civi l izat ion have beentemporar i ly hidden and c lothed in ascene of inexplicable beauty. There wil lbe no encore for another season, so we

lament the r ising of the morning sun, forsurely it wil l melt the blanket of freshlyfallen snow all too soon and reexpose thedesert in its old familiar form. But then,why should we lament? As surely as theseasons change, spring is coming, andwith the announcement of spring comesthe exci t ing promise of a new and magi-cal part of the desert's Circle of Seasons.

Desert /December 1975 19


20/48

Far right: Bui l t about Civil War t ime,the o ld sod house

at the Spur lock R anchis succum bing to the relentless elements

of over a century.Right: The B.L.M. has bui l t a f ine campg round

near Highway 93 a long Burro Creek.It makes a f ine and ideal base camp

for Arizona's winter visi tors,as wel l a s rock col lectors.

Below : The route to various col lecting areaswanders through the southern end of the Aquar ius

Range. Lava-capped mesas and ash h i llsindicate the volcanic turmoil of bygone eras.

This is lonely, lovely landand primeval Arizona Dese rt at i ts best.

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i E HA D been trave l ing near ly anMM hour along a win din g dir t road in theI I A quarius Range when Bob Fuquaignaled another stop. "This is the

summit and a good place to look outcross the country," he advised. Theiew before us was breathtaking, even

under a leaden Arizona sky.

Resembling dark waves on a giganticsea, sharp ridges undulated across theland. They rose to prominence at BlueMountain before being absorbed intoPrescott National Forest. Lava-cappedmesas with pink and white ash exposedon the i r f lanks ind ica ted th is wasvolcanic country. It was also the valley of

Bu r ro C re e k a n d p r ime va l A r i zo n adesert at its best.M ore or less encircled be low us was anopen area stretching southeasterly toBurro Creek. "This region is known asHai ley's Pasture," B ob to ld us. "I t hassafely hidden many outlaw gangs andhorsethieves. Oldtimers tell tales of

0 Desert /December 197S


21/48

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. ' *? '

. w- -

mSBmSSmby MARY FRANCES STRONG Iphotos by Jerry Strong

: : :

,,t reasure left behind by bandits and oflost mines with inch-wide veins of puregold. This is copper country and quitepossibly the veins seen were of copperrather than gold. Nevertheless, there aremany facts to substantiate lost treasurein th is reg ion. "

Hailey's Pasture has remained largelyunexplored by treasure hunters due toits inaccessibil i ty. Roads only skirt theedges of the "pasture" so horseback orshank's mare is required to do anyexp lor ing . "Th is count ry foo ls you, "Bob remarked. "What looks l ike lowridges to climb are often very steep hil lsand mileage est imates are deceiving. I tis rugged hiking and separates the menf rom the boys . "We had come to Burro Creek p r imar i lyto see the extensive pastelite deposits of

interest to rockhounds but already werecaught up in the spell of this lonely,lovely, desert land. We were for tunate tohave as our guide Bob Fuqua, of Wik ie-up , Arizona. In addi t ion to owning num-eous claims in the area, Bob is a gem

miner, does lapidary work and is deeplyinterested in the history of the region.Our route had led along the crest ofsteep hil ls, through forests of pinyonp ines , i r onwood t r ees and s t a t e l ysaguaros. There had been welcome fallrains and wild gardens of great basin

sage, ocotillo, creosote bushes and yuccawere ful l and green. Though i t was mid-Novem ber, a winter spr ing had awaken-ed the land.We paused brief ly as Kaiser SpringsWash and Bob pointed out "Garnet

H i l l . " This spessart ite garnet area waswr i t t en up by Randa l l Hende rson ,Desert 's founder, in the November, 1941issue. "Some good specimens can st i l lbe obta ined , " Bob to ld us , "bu t therough hike has discouraged all but dedi-cated mineral col lectors. "

When we rolled to a stop at the pastel-ite area, the overcast sky had darkenedcons iderab ly . "Ra in we don ' t need, "Bob warn ed , "a s this is a bad place to bedur ing a storm." We had parked in apass between white hil ls and upon step-

ping out, quickly discovered the entirearea was covered with "p as tel i te . "Unless it has recently come about"p as tel i te " is not an approved name focut t ing mater ia l . However, among collectors, the name is popularly used todescribe one of the many sub-varieties oquartz family minerals. Pastelite generally contains a combination of chertcommon opal , jasper and agate in mutedshades of color. Deposition is usuallyfrom sil ica-bearing solut ions with colorsdependent upon slight absorpt ion ofmineral contaminants picked up alongthe way.

The amount of material exposed athis location was amazing. A s to color orpat tern, you name it and you probablycan f ind it . My favorite specimens werewarty, nodular chunks of frosty agatecontaining brecciated inclusions of sal-mon or red color; and mott led pink andwhite in a "crazy qui l t " pat tern. Thebest material is found away from themain road; though good material is con-stantly eroding to the surface. Bob ex-

Desert/Decem ber 1975 HF 21


22/48

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Bob Fuqua g enerously al lows col lecting [free] at his brecciated jasper claim,place beneath h im is a colorful se am of good qual i ty material. In

plained that the deposit is approxima telya half-m ile wid e and outcrops over a dis-tance of seven miles. "It is a collectingarea that should never run out of ma-t e r i a l , " he concluded.As in any deposit, Burro Creek pas-

telite is not all top quality, gem grade. Agreat deal is vuggy. Often large vuggyspecimens have a "gem my co re" onlythe saw will te l l ! There are all kinds ofsmal l , good quality chunks from w hich tocut cabochons. You will f ind their colorsand patterns intriguing. The problemhere is how to quit collec ting!

J ust over a tenth-of-a-m ile beyond thepastelite area, the road goes through anarrow canyon. On the right-hand side,above the road cut, is a deposit of agatenodules (locally referred to as "pastelitenodules). Their interiors resemble grey-blue Brazil ian agates and many containblack, fern-like dendrites. As an addedbonus, both the pastelite and nodulesfluoresce an apple-green color.Under Bob's guidance we continuedtraveling southeasterly. In less than twomiles we reached Burro Creek. What abeautiful sight. Running strong, clear,18-inches deep and about three carswide , i t looked like a river to we MojaveDesert dwellers! Along this part icular

st retch, the creek meanders through a22

small valley and trees line its course. Re-cent rains had carpeted the land withgrass. It was hard to realize this verdantvalley was part of Arizona's desertcountry."T he re is a f ine swim ming hole a

short distance downstream where thecreek has been dammed," Bob com-mented. "When working my cla ims insumm er, I always jump in for a coolingswim before going home." He also ad-vised us to "watch out for the sandya rea " after crossing the creek. Thefording was quickly accomplished andthe sand easily negotiated. Stock carscould have some problems and careshould be exercised at this point. It is ashort stretch of deep sand which hasbeen deposited by heavy runoff.We stopped for lunch at the ruins ofthe Spurlock Ranch (see map). Builtduring the Civil War, the old sod build-ing is now canopied by trees. "O ldtim erstell me the original owner built the housefor his mail-order bride," Bob comment-

ed . "However, she d idn ' t l ike l iv ing outhere and ran away at every opportunity.Her husband finally was forced to chainher to the bed whenever he had to beaway. Eventually, she learned to acceptthings and lived quite happily. At leastthat is the story they tell around here,"



23/48

he concluded.Our next stop was at Bob's brecciatedjasper claim. We drove a short distanceup the wash, then hiked a few hundredyards to the deposit . The o utcrop is mas-sive and exposed in, as well as on theright-hand side of the wash. I t is verycolorful material clear, yellow, rust andwarm brown. Quality is good but hard-rock mining is required to obtain it .

Bob had saved the piece de resistanceunt i l last his "pu rpl e ag ate " c la im. Hepointed out the two main outcrops whichhave been exposed in a wash cut canyon.One deposit he works and the other isopen to rockhounds. Digging is neces-sary. The degree of color varies accord-ing to location from almost wh ite todeep purple. Naturally, the latter color isthe most sought after.As we walked around Bob handed mea small specimen. I t was of an incrediblepurple color . This int r iguing mater ia lhas been ident i f ied as "dumort ier i tequartz. " Whi le the fel lows talked, Iscrambled around Bob's dump. A nicechunk to slabI had to have! Before welef t , a dandy f ive-pound specimen and

several other goodies were in my rocksack. I was delighted!

Bob charges a reasonable fee to collectat his purple agate claim. I haVe notshown its location on the map becausethis claim contributes to the support ofhis family . Bob also acts as a guide to themany collect ing locales in Burro Creekcountry, inc luding his c la ims. Arrange-ments can be made by writ ing to: BobF u q u a , B o x 9 3 5 , W i k i e u p , A r i z o n a85360. The pastelite and brecciatedjasper locales are open for collect ing-free.

As mentioned earlier, trailers can betaken as far as Burro Creek Crossing.Camp can be made at the pastelite area.There is also an open camping areaalong Burro Creek Road about a quarterof a mile from Highway 93.

We parked our t ra i ler at B.L.M.'sBurro Creek Campground, eight mi lessouth of Burro Creek Road. It is a dandysite with a beautiful view. Burro Creekhas cut quite a gorge and Highway 93crosses it on a long bridge, far above thecampground. This is a popular campused regularly by winter vacationers,

overnighters and rockcollectors. It wasnearly full every night when we werethere in mid-November. Most units havea sun-shade, table and stove. Wa ter andsanitary facilit ies are provided. It is aqu ie t l oca t i on and g rea t f o r "b i r dwa t ch ing . "The sun was almost behind the west-ern hills as we bid Bob goodbye afterfour-wheeling out of his claim. I t hadbeen a long and enjoyable day. Enrouteto the highway, we stopped for a coffeebreak on a ridge just west of the BogleRanch Road. The overcast which hadplagued us all day was breaking up and aflaming sunset spread across the sky. AsJerry put the thermos away a specimencaught his eye. It turned out to be af ist-sized chunk of agate with wavy,salmon-co lored bands a bea uty! Justas Bob told us, "yo u can f ind cu tt ing ma-terial almost anywhere in this country."

A f irst tr ip into this corner of Arizonawill only whet your appetite. You wil lwant to return again and again to explorewhat is st i l l primeval desertuninhabit-e d , uncrowded, unspoiled. I f you do so,your rewards wil l be inf in ite.

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[214] 328-1223 [214]328-0140Desert/December 1975 23


24/48

n Angd and T he


25/48

Oalky GoldMulege, Baja Californiaat sunset.Photo by Author.

H ELLIE CASHMAN was ca l led theAngel of Tombstone because of along list of good deeds. One thatearned her reward in a Mexican priest 'sheaven, however, condemned her to hellin the oaths of her friends. She had be-trayed them with a secret that she keptuntil the day she died.

Generously built and with a pert Ir ishface, Nellie was a tavern keeper inT o m b s t o n e , A r i z o n a . W h a t e v e r s h eearned in the rough, tough town, sheshared with those who were down ontheir luck. So it was quite in characterthat she refused a handful of gold pro-offered one day by an it inerant Mexicanminer in payment for a beer and a meal.

Unable to speak English, the minerhad dumped the nuggets on the bar andpushed them toward her. Quickly Nelliescooped them up, praising the Lord thatthe tavern was momentar i ly empty, andwarned him to keep them out of sight."I 'd rather know where they came fromand stake a claim myself," she laughed.

Although her Spanish consisted of ajargon of colloquialisms, the Mexicangot the point . "They came from a drystream bed near Santa Rosalia," he con-f ided. She failed to comprehend the re-mainder of his directions, except for thefact that it was some place in Baja Cali-forn ia.

Nellie had been around for a longtim e. In spite of her reputation for gener-osity, she was no sucker. She knew allabout old codgers who came seekinggrubstakes on the premise of a few nug-gets of gold confiscated from a formerowner, t hen, with money in hand, disap-peared fo rever . So she s tood theMexican for his refreshment and wishedhim vaya con Dios, fully expecting him toreturn later to make his pitch for thegrubstake.

When a few days had passed and hefailed to reappear, Nellie began to recon-sider. She discussed the incident withher good f r iend, Mark A. Smith, wholater was to become senator of Arizona.Soon word had spread among other


by CHORAL PEPPERprominent cit izens. That the Mexicanwas not looking for a grubstake, a hand-out, nor tryin g to sell something convinc-ed them all that he had leveled withNel l ie .

Barely a month had passed before theAngel of Tombstone and Mark Smithwere leading an expedit ion from Tomb-stone by horseback to Guaymas, fromwhence they would catch a f ishing boatto Santa Rosalia on the Baja Californiaside of the Gulf of California.

At the same time, others, too, werefocussed on Baja. President Garfield wasrumored to be scheming to purchaseLower California for the United States.The territorial governor of Arizona, J. C.Fremont, was lobbying to obtain LowerCalifornia as an asylum for warlikeApache Indians. American vessels werecruising the Lower California peninsularcoast with a proprietary look and U. S.newspapers were prophesying an earlyacquisi t ion.

Mexico, on the other hand, was lessthan eager to impart more territory toher powerful northern neighbor. To dis-courage undue enthusiasm among U. S.sympathizers, government off icials werequietly in terposing a buffer by suggest-ing to the French Rothschilds that therewas a nice little spot in Lower Californiain which to invest some French capital.

The spot was Santa Rosalia. Thepromising aspect was a deposit of bole-ite, a rare mineral associated with cop-per. The p loy worked. With in a fewyears, a f irs t class m ining town hadsprung up, complete with companystore, electric plant, water system andtwo residential areas, f inanced by theRothschilds.

When Nellie Cashman and her entour-age arrived in 1822, however, Rothschildwas still in the process of negotiating theproperty from Moeller and Company ofGuaymas who held copper rights to theland. Santa Rosalia then consisted ofnothing more than a rancheria and an in-signif icant f is hing camp on a natural har-bor conveniently located for f ishing

2


26/48

boats crossing over from Guaymas.Nell ie and party arrived by f ishingboat and did very much as new arrivalson the Santa Rosalia-Guaymas ferry dotoday. They continued direct ly on toMulege, some 50 mi les south, wheremore comfortable accommodations wereavailable.Mulege is a pret ty , o ld miss ion townlocated on the bank of a r iver that dumpsinto the Gulf of California at the edge oftown . With the addit ion of a few pleasantmodern hotels and the new highwaybridge, it dif fers l i t t le now from whenNell ie arr ived to charm its nat ives intorevealing the source of their local gold.And Nell ie had no more success than avisitor would have today. The fr iendlynatives responded with innocent shrugs,

with one exception. He was the store-keeper from whom they had purchasedconsiderable supplies. Having heardrumors concerning the French connec-t ion from a mule driver, the unsophist i-cated storekeeper associated the Arizon aparty with the Rothschild enterprise andsuggested that Nell ie query the rancherin Santa Rosalia from w hom they had ob-tained their mules.Back along the well-worn mission trailthey rode, discussing the pros and cons

of conning the Mexicans out of their26

gold. Smith, the polit ician, suggestedthat if they were more discreet abouttheir real purpose in being there, theymight learn more.Upon arriving back at Santa Rosalia,the Arizonians were greeted hospitably

and invited to set up camp on the ranch.During their stay, the men f ished whileNell ie cult ivated the ladies. I t didn't takeher long to detect that the rancheria ap-peared relat ively prosperous, consider-ing its meager means for accumulat ingincome. When at last she felt secure intheir trust, she asked point-blank fromwhere they received the means to live aswell as they did." A h , Senorita, the good padre Pedrosees to that," one of them assured her."The padre?" Nel l ie pers is ted, awarethat there was no church or mission atSanta Rosalia."H e attends to the chapel at Golo Val-ley, but we are in his parish . He visits ushere each year on special holidays."Nell ie imparted this news to the menso they, in t u r n , could subtly seek moreinformat ion about Golo Val ley. Whatthey learned was that it lay about 27miles inland and consisted of a rancher-

ia . Springs in a nearby mountain fed astream at certain t imes of the year andthere were hugh granite potholes that

Pictured here is theTombstone Epi taphbui lding inTombstone, A r izonawhere the search forthe Golo Val ley goldbegan to unfold.

provided storage basins for water thatfell during the rare rains. Except forthat, it was as arid as the rest of Baja.

At sunup on the fol lowing morning,the Arizon a party set forth on foot carry-ing packs with supplies for three days. Aguide was unnecessary, they assured theMexicans, as they only wanted to ex-plore the surrounding land. They wouldcarefully mark their trail to direct themback to Santa Rosalia.

Old trails never fade away on the des-ert. The f i r m , straight one that carriedthem inland from Santa Rosalia eventu-ally was joined by another s imilarly wel l -worn , but forking off at an oblique angle.Afte r some debate, they followed it to anabandoned sett lement marked by pilesof rocks and the remains of an ancienttombstone t ipped from its base by somemysterious holocaust. Before they hadretraced their steps back to the fork, thesun had sunk behind the mountains andthey were forced to make camp.On the following day, the original trailbranched off in three more direct ions.The one they chose soon forked againand when night fe l l , that one forked intofurther confusion. Supplies were run-ning low. O n the third day, they began torat ion water.The fourth day started out as a grim

Desert/ December 1975


27/48

theto turn back. While theyNellie silently reviewed the

hadContrary totheir promise, theymarked the trails in order to con-

Convinced that they were hopelesslyto

nt of water inher canteenforGolo Val ley. Ifaining inactive, their water allotment

lowing day.Conjur ing up theluck of theI r ish,Nellie came upon a drystreambed bylate afternoon. Onward she struggled,close to tsbanks, hoping forsigns of asett lement. Exhaustion had almost over-

come her when adistant cluster ofdatepalms silhouetted against the sky ind i -cated water. With a last spurt ofs t rength , she hurried tothe oasis andthrew herself upon the rocks of he shal-low stream tosuck up tswater.In sp i te of thed e sp e ra t io n t h a tbrought her there, the prospect ofgoldamong the channel's pebbles didn'telude her. While she dug ahole in whichto f i l l herempty canteen, shepickedthrough t iny pebbles pocketed in rocky

cavit ies on the f loor of the stream. Twogold nuggets lay among them. Excitedly,she scrambled for more when she sensedthe presence of aspectator. She lookedup. Towering above the stream stood arobed priest.

"Yo u mu s t be i red , Senorita. Comewith me to the shelter of the rancheria."W itho ut a sking why she had come so far,he led her to ashady ramada amid thedate palms and asked aMexican lady toquickly prepare food." Y o u areF a t h e r P e d r o ? " N e l l i easked. Wh e n henodded, she toldhimthat she had heard of him in Santa Rosal-ia and went on todescribe the plight ofher party.Af te r ahearty meal of fragrant stewflavored with boiled jerky and accom-panied by apile ofwarm tort i l las,thepriest departed, insist ing that Nellie getsome rest.Immediately Nellie excused herselffrom the ladies and crept by the light ofthe moon back tothe stream bed. Shehad just begun to scramble for more gold

when, again, she was interrupted by thepriest.This t ime heto ld herthat he hadguessed the motive for her visit. He thenrecounted the hardships of the land inwhich hispeople l ived.Padre Pedro never had heard of theAnge l of Tombstone, but hecertainlyrecognized one when he saw one. Aftereloquently describing the consequences

if hoards of prospectors charged in toremove theonly source of l ivelihoodavailable to the native popula tion, he im -plored Nellie to keep secret thegoldsource by which he supported his parish.The next morning the priest dispatch-ed a guide with supplies and mules to ac-company Nellie back to rescue herfr iends. As they parted, she kissedhishands andpromised that h is 'secretwould besafe with her.In spite of the ridicule that greeted the

bedraggled party when they returnedempty-handed toTombstone, she kepther word. It wasn't until 1920 on herdeathbed in anAlaskan min ing campthat Nellie Cashman confided the secretto af r iend .In themeantime, Santa Rosalia hadbecome a thr iv ing min ing communitycontrolled by French interests. The bole-ite vein which gave impetus tohe com-munity turned out tobe amere pocketinstead of adeposit, but the copper was

of high grade and supported the com-munity of over 10,000 persons for half-a-century.In the 1950s, the F rench sold out to theMexican government. Now, with thenew Baja California highway passingthrough town and aferry crossing dailyfrom Guaymas, traff ic has increased, butSanta Rosalia isnot considered atour istat t ract ion. Instead, visitors hurry on tonearby hotels in Mulege and San Ig-nacio. Santa Rosalia islocated midwaybetween the two charming old missiontowns.Golo Valley has disappeared from allmaps if, indeed, it ever was mapped.The springs that fed the rancherias aredried up. It is only when you fly low overthe desert that vestiges of former occu-pat ion, like the opsy-turvy tombstoneseen byNellie's party, become visible.The Padre's gold, however, less obviousthan theconfusing mission trails thatsti l l vividly scar the desert, remains hid-den among sun-baked pebbles in adr y

stream bed.

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Desert/December 1975 2


28/48

P a c i f i cI s l a n d so fBajaNorteby BETTY MACKINTOSH

ROM THE Islas de Coronado, 13miles southward from San Diego, toIsla Cedros, offshore from "The

most, are rocky, barren islands eventhough they receive about the same an-nual rainfall as San Diego (10 inches).Their f irst recorded name, given byCabri l lo , was "La s Islas Des iertas." SanM a r t i n , a hundred miles southward, getsonly five inches, the south end of Cedrosat the weather station, three and one-half inches, and the lower elevations ofoceanic Cuadalupe Island, f ive inches.Not enchanted islands but all tre-mendously interesting because of theirsea birds and animals.

You don't have to own a boat to visitt hem . Week-long lagoon and island tripsat the t ime of the migration of the Cal i-fornia gray whales are sponsored bynatural history societies, zoos, universi-t ies and independent travel companies.Experts in the f ields of sea mammals,plants, birds, geology or another of thenatural sciences give scheduled lecturesand lead shore trips. We went on a Los28

Angeles Museum Al l iance t r ip , on aluxury sportf isher, the Qualif ier 105, andhere is my log.

Feb. 16 Left Fisherman's Landing(San Diego) at 4:30 p.m. The bay wasfairly rough and as we approached openw a te r , w h i t e ca p s t o p p e d t h e o ce a nswells as far as we could see. Our en-gines revved up as we passed the outerbuoys. The bell-ringer t ipped to a 45-degree angle in our wake."Thar she b lows," the capta in cal ledfrom the bridge above. It was a soli-tary California gray whale going north.One more blow, the arched back, the f l ipof the tail flukes and we had passed eachother. Dr. Raymond Gilmore, our seamammal expert (one of the best), esti-mated that the whale was traveling atthree or four knots. We were going al-most south at 13 knots.

Just before suppertime we watched afiery red sun disappear into the ocean,and at the same time, portside, a fullmoon came up over the largest of theCoronados.

Af ter d inner, in the d in ing room-lounge, Dr. Gilmore told us aboutGuadalupe Island, where we will spendthe day tomorrow. An ancient volcano,Isla Guadalupe is 20 miles long, north-south, and two to six miles wide. Itshighest peak is 4,257 feet. It rises up outof the ocean depths 144 miles westerly ofthe nearest Baja point and is Mexico'sfarthest west possession. A radio and

Desert/ December 1975

weather station at the south end of theis land, and a lobster f ishing camp on thewest side are the only permanent set-t lements. The island is a Mexican fed-e ra l p reserve fo r the once near ly -annihilated elephant seal and the Guada-lupe fur seal. Both have recovered here.

Feb. 17 222 nautical miles south-westward from San Diego. Blue sky andsunshine. Calm sea. Isla Guadalupecame into sight about 10:30 a.m., a dim

warn *ai*i *"

; /


29/48

gray silhouette at f irst , clearing as weapproached. Small clouds drif ted over tscrest through a few st ruggl ing pines. W ecruised along the east side ofthe islandonly about 100 years outf rom the ver-t ical rock shoreline."Fur seals," cal led one of thecrew," o n thebroken rocks at the foot of thecl i f f . " Engines stopped, but we had al-ready disturbed them. Quite a few slid

off into the water. They were exactly thesame color asthe rocks. The ones thatheld their ground raised themselves upon their handquarters to look at us. Theirheads arer ound , t he i r noses ve r ypointed with lots ofwhiskers. Pupsaresilvery. They l ive in small groups l ikethis inthe very rough rocky parts of th eshorel ine more or less hidden from pry-ing humans, but are thought tonumberclose to500 now on Isla Guadalupe.By noon we had returned northward to

Barracks Beach, or Northwest Anchor-age, where theanchor chain rumbledout. O n the g ravelly beach at the foot of abeaut i fu l s t raight -up s l ice of brown andorange str iped volcanic rock, at least ahundred elephant seals slept and sunnedthemselves. Their tan bodies, muchlarger than other seals, jumbled togetherlike gunny sacks ofsand dumped hel terskel ter . An occasional " T on k Tonk T o n k " ofa male carried across the waterto the boat.Af ter lunch we allwent ashore. Brief-

^ , * . . ..-..-..

....

pp-j?

will

Opposi te Page:Ki l ler Whale,

San B eni toIslands,

Right : E lephant sealpup, born black,

becomes tweedy tanwhen baby hai r

is replaced.Below: Chal lengingmale elephant seals

at water 's e dgefai l to rouse the

sleeping harem onthe beach:

large male wi th an"X" scar on his

back, seven femalesand seven or eight

pups. IslaGuadalupe.

ing: "If you want to getclose to theelephant seals, keep yourself low on theground. They wil l take you forone oftheir own k ind . Don ' t , inany case,getbetween two b ul ls , orbetween abul l andhis harem, or between a bul l and thewater. " (His escape route. )

Some came into the water tomeet thesmall boats as f they wanted tohelpusup onto dry land. Mos t of them paid usno at tent ion. What a noisy bunch! Itseemed like babies were sq uealing , cowsmooing, women screaming, dogs bark-ing. Then there was the male challenge.

As they lay on thesand, they usedtheir front f l ippers l ike hands toscratchor throw sand over themselves. One bu l l ,surrounded by six females and fourpups, was bi t ing thenearest female inthe back probably alove-making ges-ture while she pointed her head sky-ward andhowled. A bul l wi thout anyha rem app roached f r om the w a t e r .Holding himself erect, he threw his headback and with the end ofhis somewhatexpanded short trunk in his mouth ,broadcast his loud challenge nasal yet

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