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WESTERN TRAVEL/ADVENTURE/LIVING

NOVEMBER 1966

GHOSTS
Desert Magazine Ecck Shcp
THE SEA OF CORTEZ by Sunet Staff. Explores ROCK PAINTINGS OF THE CHUMASH by Camp-
the Gulf of California, Baja California, and bell Grant. The only definitive work relative to
Mexico's Mainland Coast. Fine illustrations. Indian pictographs in the Santa Barbara region.
Advance price $9.95 until Dec. 31st, thereafter Beautifully illustrated in color and interesting,
$13.50. To Insure a Real informative text. 163 pages, hardcover. $10.

ART TREASURES IN THE WEST by Sunset Staff. HILTON PAINTS THE DESERT by John Hilton.
Descriptions and discussions of paintings, sculp- Collection of 12, 16x19 inch Hilton prints ade-
tures and artists displayed in Western museums quate for framing, or bound in plastic cover
and public places. Hardcover $11.75. tied with leather thongs for viewing. Interesting
text explains Hilton's painting technique. State
THE COLORFUL BUTTERFIELD OVERLAND STAGE whether bound or unbound. $65.
by Richard Pourade and Marjorie Reed. With 20
stage coach paintings by Miss Reed, the text LOST DESERT BONANZAS by Eugene Conrotto.
concentrates on the Fort Yuma to San Francisco Brief resumes of lost mine articles printed in
run of the tough Butter field route. Album For- back issues of DESERT Magazine, by a former
Order these books by mail editor. Hardcover, 278 pages. $6.75.
mat, heavy art paper, $6.75.

IT ALL HAPPENED IN TOMBSTONE by John


S" today from DESERT Magazine. J ERNIE PYLE'S SOUTHWEST. A collection of
Clum. Eye-witness account of famous gun battle
between Earps, Doc Holliday and the Clantons
I Ernie s timeless word pictures describing his
wanders through the Southwest. Hardcover.
$5.00.
and McLaurys by publisher of Tombstone
Epitaph. Margin notes by John Gilchriese.
Send for FREE Catalog of our : Jj
Hardcover, 45 pages, $4.00. RARE MAP REPRODUCTIONS from the year 1886.
Recommended Books Series I includes three maps, Arizona, California
DESERT GEM TRAILS by Mary Frances Strong. and Nevada. Series II includes New Mexico,
Field guide to gems and minerals of the Mo- Utah and Colorado. Reproduced on fine paper.
have and Colorado deserts and adjacent areas. They show old towns, mines, springs and trails
Paperback, $2.00 now extinct. Each set of three, $3.75. Be sure to
state series number with order.
GOLD IN THE SUN by Richard Pourade. Fifth in HERE IS NEVADA by Effie Mack and Byrd Saw-
series of historical books about Southern Cali- BOTTLE COLLECTOR'S BOOK by Pat and Bob
yer. A complete picture of every facet of Nevada
fornia. Covers Salton Sea, reclamation of Im- Ferraro. Gives history, descriptions and price
in textbook manner. $12.50.
perial Valley and gem mining in San Diego and lists. Profusely illustrated, 107-pages. Paper-
Riverside counties. Large format, beautiful color MANY MEXICOS by Lesley Byrd Simpson. Entire- back, $3.00.
illustrations. $9.50. ly revised. Among the best books on Mexican
history, customs, travel, art, etc. $7.50. EARLY USES OF CALIFORNIA PLANTS by Edward
THE SILVER DONS by Richard Polrade recounts K. Balls. Tells how native Indians used plants
the wresting of the Franciscan Missionary land DESERT PLANTS AND PEOPLE by Sam Hicks. Tells for subsistence. Checklist contains both popular
by Spanish Dons and then lost to them by how primitive desert dwellers find sustenance, and scientific names. $1.75.
American pioneers. Covers Mormon Battlion and shelter, beverages and healing medicines in
filibusters and war in Baja California. Beauti- nature. Hardcover. $5.95. PIMAS, DEAD PADRES AND GOLD by Paul V.
fully illustrated. $9.50. Lease. The author provides fodder to the idea
ON DESERT TRAILS by Randall Henderson, foun that the Black Robes hid amazing amounts of
THE GLORY YEARS by Richard Pourade covers der and publisher of Desert Magazine for 23 treasure in Pimeria, which is now Arizona.
the early boom period of Southern California years. One of the first good writers to reveal Paperback. $3.
when San Diego's population exploded, then the beauty of the mysterious desert areas. Hen-
collapsed overnight. Beautifully illustrated. Part COOKING AND CAMPING ON THE DESERT by
derson's experiences, combined with his com-
of above series. $9.50. Choral Pepper. Also useful in your own back
ments on the desert of yesterday and today,
yard. Contains chapter by Jack Pepper on driv-
make this a MUST for those who really want
BOOT HILL by Lambert Florin. Sixth in his series ing and surviving in back country. Recipes are
ot understand the desert. 375 pages, illustrated.
of Western ghost town books. Dramatic photos named for ghost towns and lost mines and sug-
Hardcover. $5.00.
with epitaphs and true tales out of the tragic, gest places to go and things to do. Hardcover,
comic and scandalous West. Large format. $3.95.
STANDING UP COUNTRY by C. Gregory Cramp-
$12.95.
ton. Best book ever written about Utah-Arizona
SONORA SKETCHBOOK by John Hilton. Revised
GHOST TOWNS AND MINING CAMPS OF CALI- canyon country. Superb color. $15.
edition. Artist Hilton writes of his years of resi-
FORNIA by Remi Nadeau. The only good, hard- dent in Alamos, the ancient silver capital of Son-
J. ROSS BROWN: Confidential Agent in Old
cover book on the California ghost towns. We ora, Mexico. Interesting, colorfully written,
California. Satirical observations and rare ad-
recommend it highly. $5.95. Hardcover, $5.95.
ventures of this 19th-century writer produce
OLD FORTS OF THE FAR WEST by Herbert Hart. lively fodder for history buffs. Hardcover, 218
pages. $5.95. THE ANCIENT PAST OF MEXICO by Alma Reed.
Maps are included with remarkably lively and Art and architecture of pre-Conquest civilizations
accurate accounts of Western forts back to Civil with up-to-date archeological information. Well-
REMNANTS OF THE OLD WEST by Harriett
War times. This volume covers the Southwest. illustrated and written with easy-to-read style.
Farnsworth. The old West's last living characters
Large format, good photos. $12.95. $7.50.
were interviewed by this author and the book
is filled with never-before published tidbits that
HUNTING LOST MINES BY HELICOPTER by Erie VISITING AMERICAN CAVES by Howard Sloan
deserve recording. An attractive book that makes
Stanley Gardner. As fascinating as one of his and Russell Gurnee. A travel book of caves
a surprisingly inexpensive and worthwhile gift.
Perry Mason mysteries, the author takes you throughout the U.S. with information about
Hardcover. $2.95.
into Arizona's Superstition Mountains looking
history, seasons open, facilities for accommoda-
for the Lost Dutchman mine and into the Trigo
DESERT ANIMALS IN JOSHUA TREE NATIONAL tion etc. $4.95.
Mountains in search of Nummel s lost bonanza.
MONUMENT by Miller and Stebbins. Excellent
Hardcover, color photos. $7.50. HOW TO RETIRE IN MEXICO on $2.47 a Day by
book and first of its kind with thorough text
and good illustrations. Color plates. $10. Eugene Woods. Presents an enticing pre-retire-
JEEP TRAILS TO COLORADO GHOST TOWNS by ment plan that's workable. Also, good travel in-
Robert L. Brown. An illustrated, detailed, infor- NAVAHO NEIGHBORS by Franc Johnson New- formation. Paperback, 95c.
mal history of life in the mining camps deep in comb. One of the better books about Navaho
Colorado Rockies. Fifty-eight towns are included Indians by an author who lived intimately with BAJA CALIFORNIA OVERLAND by L. Burr Belden.
the almost inaccessible mountain fastness of the them for over 30 years. $5.95. Practical guide to Lower California as far as La
as examples of the vigorous struggle for exist- Paz by auto with material gleaned from exten-
ence in the mining camps of the West. 239 TREASURY OF FRONTIER RELICS by Les Beitz. A sion study trip sponsored by Univ. of Calif. In-
pages, illustrated, end sheet map. Hardcover. collectors guide to western frontier relics with cludes things to see and accommodations. Paper-
$5.50. descriptions, uses and prices. Hardcover. $6.95. back. $1.95.

2 / Desert Magazine / November, 1966


"THE WEST'S GREATEST FREE SHOW" is the 17th Annual Death Valley
Encampment in Death Valley National Monument, Nov. 10 through 13.
For events schedule write to Desert Magazine, Dept. DVE, Palm Desert,
California 92260. Please send self-addressed envelope.

Arizona State Fair, Phoenix, Nov. 4-13; Gem and Mineral Show at Na-

CONTENTS tional Guard Armory, Montebello, Calif., 5-6; Exhibition of rare library
collections from Mission archives, with Franciscan Friars answering
questions, public invited, Mission San Luis Rey, San Luis Rey, 5-6;
Vol jme 29 Number 1 1 Salton City 500 mile boat race, Salton Sea, 11-13, Imperial Valley
Rodeo and Brawley Cattle Call, Brawley, 12-13.
NOVEMBER, 1966
EDITOR'S NOTE: Some dates are subject to change. If you plan a trip to attend
a specific event, we suggest checking first with the local Chamber of Commerce.
This Months' Cover EVENTS DEADLINE: Information relative to forthcoming events in the West must be
received TWO MONTHS prior to the event. Address envelopes to Events Editor,
By JACK PEPPER
Desert Magazine, Palm Desert, California 92260.
See story page 27

4 Books for Desert Readers


JACK PEPPER, Publisher CHORAL PEPPER, Editor
8. Desert's Oldest Resident
By ROBERT H. WRIGHT Elta Shively Al Merryman Rose Holly Marvel Barrett
Executive Secretary Staff Artist Circulation Business
9 Death Valley Scotty Desert Magazine, Palm Desert, Calif. 92260 Telephone 346-8144
By CARLYLE LAMAR NELSON
DESERT is published monthly by Desert Magazine, Palm Desert, Calif. Second Class Postage paid at
10 Death Valley Gold Palm Desert, Calif., and at additional mailing offices under Act of March 3, 1879. Title registered
NO. 358865 in U. S. Patent Office, and contents copyrighted 1966 by Desert Magazine. Unsolicited
By JOHN D. MITCHELL
manuscripts and photographs cannot be returned or acknowledged unless full return postage is
enclosed. Permission to reproduce contents must be secured from the editor in writing. SUBSCRIPTION
12 Magic of Baja PRICE: $5.00 per year in U.S., Canada and Mexico. $5.75 elsewhere. Allow five weeks for change
of address. Be sure to send both old and new address.
By CHORAL PEPPER

18 Space Stones
By JANICE BEATY SUBSCRIPTION SERVICE •
PALM DESERT, CALIFORNIA 92260
20 Zane Grey Country
• ENTER A NEW SUBSCRIPTION • RENEW MY PRESENT SUBSCRIPTION
By JAN S. PAUL

21 Salt River Country photo NAME


By ROBERT BLAIR
ADDRESS ZIP CODE
22 Lost Treasures of the Hohokams D SEND GIFT SUBSCRIPTION TO:
By ED HOUCK NAME

25 Ghosts of Port Isabel ADDRESS


By W. MARLIN CHILDERS
NAME
27 Road to Vanderbilt
By JACK PEPPER ADDRESS

30 Great Diamond Hoax NAME


By ROBERT HYATT
ADDRESS
33 Grafton, Utah
By LAMBERT FLORIN Sign Gift Card: "From

One Year $5.00 Two Years $9.50 Three Years $13.00


3!5 Cooking in a Hole
(Or 2 One Years] (Or Three One Years)
By EVELYN FARWELL
• PAYMENT ENCLOSED • BILL ME LATER
38 DESERT Cookery • ALSO SEND DESERTS 12-ISSUE HANDSOME BROWN VINYL BINDER FOR $3.50
By LUCILLE CARLESON (includes tax and postage)
Date Binder(s) with Year(s) • Undated
39 Letters from Our Readers

November, 1966 / Desert Magazine / 3


The Colorful Butterfield Overland
Stage reproduces 20 stage coach
paintings by Marjorie Reed Creese,
world famous painter of horses and
stage coaches. Text by Richard F. THE SEA OF CORTEZ
Books reviewed may be ordered
Pourade, author of five volumes on By the editors of Sunset
from the DESERT Magazine Book
the history of San Diego County. This beautiful book, by far the finest Order Department, Palm Desert,
Both have personally traveled over to cover the unexploited regions south of California 92260. Please include
much of the famous route and bring the California and Arizona borders, will 25c for handling. California resi-
vividly to life the story of the But- be prized by Baja and Sonora aficionados. dents must add 4 % sales tax.
terfield Stage and its dramatic his- Photographs are superb, maps are good. Enclose payment with order.
tory. 8V2XH Album Format, Heavy The book contains comprehensive infor-
Art Paper, 4-color Dust Jacket, 48 mation regarding accommodations, prices,
Pages. Just published. $6.75 (plus routes, spots for skin diving, shell col- REPUBLIC OF LOWER CALIFORNIA
27 cents tax for California residents.) lecting, and hunting and fishing. Histori- 1853-1854
cal data is concise and the text is up-to- Edited by Arthur Woodward
Sonora Sketchbook by John W. Hil-
date and written with more vitality than
ton. A revised edition of one of the This short lived period in Baja Califor-
is usual with Sunset books. Sea life, wild
most popular books ever published nia history owes existence to one man,
life, and plants are described with author- \X illiam Walker, an adventurous former
about Mexico's Sonora by one of the
ity. The book is large format, 284 pages, journalist who fancied himself "born to
West's best known artist-authors. A
and there is no limit to this reviewer's command," and thus led an army of fila-
delightful collection of short and tall
enthusiasm for this book. Whether or busterers into Baja. Billing himself as
tales about colorful individuals of
not you have been to the shores of the President and Commander-in-Chief of
Sonora. $5.95 (plus 24 cents tax for
Gulf of California or will ever go, you Sonora, Walker temporarily conquered
California addresses.)
will enjoy every page of The Sea of Cor- La Paz, Ensenada and a few other strong-
Ernie Pyle's Southwest, illustrated by tex. Advance price before December 31, holds, but his men grew as weary of a
Bob Bales with annotation by Ed 1966 is $9.95. For orders postmarked beef diet as they did of Walker's vanity.
Ainsworth. A collection of more than after that, the price is Si 1.75. C.P. On a final campaign to cross the Colo-
50 columns by the late Ernie Pyle. rado below Yuma and extend his sov-
TURQUOISE AND THE INDIAN
$5.00 (plus 20 cents state tax for ereign as far as Guaymas on the Mexican
By Edna Mae Dennett
California addresses.) mainland, his men deserted and Walker,
Starting with a map indicating tur- with the few he had left, tried to return
PowerBoating the West Coast of quoise mining districts in Nevada, Utah, to his headquarters in Ensenada. Short-
Mexico by Spencer Murray and Ralph Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico, this ages in supplies caused his waning con-
Poole. The only published guidebook book carries the reader along a word tingent to raid ranches near Guadalupe.
for power-boaters who want to cruise trail through old Indian mystery caves, Ranch hands were sent to neighboring
the west coast of Mexico from the Spanish exploitations of turquoise mines, ranches to summon help and in an excit-
head of the Gulf of California south- folk lore associated with the valued ing stand the Mexicans overcame Wal-
ward to Puerto Vallarta. Describes stone and modern Navajo and Zuni work- ker's troop and drove him to Tijuana
in detail route of sail, ports, accom- shop techniques. It describes a rare, pre- and across the border. There he was ar-
modations, supplies and all other historic Hohokam necklace found on a rested, but later released to go to Nicara-
needed information. $6.75 (plus 27 family picnic near Tucson and appraised gua and try the whole thing all over
cents tax for California addresses.) by the Arizona State Museum as well as again.
other turquoise artifacts. Rock hounds
Cruising the Sea of Cortez by Spen- This was one of those improbable in-
and collectors of turquoise will find this
cer Murray. Modern-day adventure in cidents in history which actually happen-
new book well-researched and worth
a 25-foot power cruiser down the ed. Limited to 600 copies. Hardcover, 74
having. Hardcover, 152 pages, $5.00.
Lower California side of the Gulf of pages, $8.00.
Mexico. Includes maps and complete TIN-CAN CRAFTING
information for boaters. $6.75 (plus By Sylvia W. Hoiuard TREES OF THE WEST
27 cents tax for California addresses) Tin ware as an art and craft reached By Matilda Rogers
Send orders for the above great heights in Mexico and South Ameri- Illustrated with fine color photos by
ca many years ago, but only recently Wynn Hammer, this new tree book is of
listed books to:
Americans discovered tin cans are for a convenient size to carry along with you

Best-West more than beans. This book contains pat-


terns and instructions for creating sun-
bursts, masks, candle holders, trays,
so you can identify trees at a glance as
you wander. Exotic and common trees
are all covered—palms, yucca, eucalyptus,

Publications
P. 0. Box 757
frames, figures and Christmas ornaments
from your old tin cans. It is a fun book
to have or give as a gift to hobby con-
acacia, Jerusalem thorn, pines, etc. The
text is interesting to read and describes
the flowers, seasons the trees bloom, and
scious friends. Hardcover, 64 pages, origin of trees brought here from other
Palm Desert, California 92260 $3.95. countries. Paperback, 126 pages, $1.95.

4 / Decert Magazine / November, 1966


PICK FOR '66 FROM THE BEST IN FULL COLOR
WESTERN CHRISTMAS CARDS

Greetings from our outfit to yours Dketree Shadows M<iy hap pine est Benediction - May the Peace an ryin" Home - Merry Christmas and
With Best Wishes for Christmas and the yours at Christmas and in the Ni oy of Christmas be with you all the ._ r py New Year By Brummett Echo-
New Year - b y Arthur FitzSimmons feai by John W. Hilton year - by Allan Husberg Hawk. Pawnee

Christmas Prayer on the T r a i l - M a y old days, old times, old friends Roadrunning Santa Merry Christmas
e Peace and Joy of Christmas be with Christmas Greetings and Best Wishes and Happy New Year hy Charles Lee,
you ail the Year - b y Melvin Warren or the Year--by Clayton Nicies Navajo

light has c o m e . . . May the Ridin1 in to a Warm Welcome - Inside is . . . f a i r and open face of Heaven. " Christmas Eve in the West-Peace ar
ace and Happiness of Christmas be a descriptive 20 line verse by S. Omar May happiness be yours at Christmas and Good Will at Christmas and through a
with you all the Year hy Moreton arker. plus greeting by John Hampton in the New Year-by Wayne Lowdermilk the New Year - b y Joe Stahley

Friendship at Christmas A mendl) Thinkin' of you - W i t h friendly greetings Making Christmas Calls M,iy the May the Great Spirit watch over you,
wish tor ,i Merry Christmas and a Happy of the Season and Happiness throughout meaning of Christmas be deeper, friend etc. - Merry Christmas and Happy New
New Yeai hy Charles Lee, Navajo the New Year-by Charles Paris ups stronger, etc hy Joe Stahley Y tiy Brummett EchoHawk, Pawnee

Silent Night - May the Peace and Happi Sleighbells in the Sky Merry Christ Candles on the Desert Altar May the Visiting Hours Besl Wishes at Christ-
ness of the Christmas Season abide with mas and Happy New Y e a r - b y Bernard Peace and Joy of Christmas be with you mas and Happy New Year from our out-
you all the Y e a r - b y Art FitiSimmons P. Thomas the Y e a r - b y John Hilton fit to yours! by Jack N. Swanson

B E S T Q U A L I T Y A R T : rhese are the western Christmas cards you've been looking tor! All WHY NOT HAVE YOUR BRAND IMPRINTED?
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21

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Rte St or Box No

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Western Reading
FROM
Caxton Printers
K. Clark & L. Tiller GUIDE TO COINS BACKPACK COOKERY
TERRIBLE TRAIL: By the editors of Coin World By Ruth Dyar Mendenhall
THE MEEK CUTOFF 1845
Experts of this numismatic newspaper This little paperback starts you right
THROUGH INTENSIVE RESEARCH AND FIELD
WORK THE ROUTE OF THE PIONEERS WHO here describe and write about in detail the out of your front door with a lunch to
ATTEMPTED A MIDDLE WAY THROUGH OREGON whole range of American coins, includ- eat in the car en route to the trail. The
IN 1845 HAS BEEN RECONSTRUCTED. THE MEEK ing Canadian and Mexican issues. A beau- author advises you to eat a light meal be-
CUTOFF, ASSOCIATED WITH THE LEGEND OF
BLUE BUCKET GOLD, HAS LONG BEEN A CON- tifully illustrated chapter on the early fore you get started so your feet won't
TROVERSIAL WESTERN MYSTERY. Indian Peace medals right up to the latest grow heavy the first mile.
Photographs, 3 maps, endsheet map $4.00 Johnson Presidential medal is included, Dehydrated foods are combined to
along with tips on collecting both here, make one-pot meals and even though the
George E. Franklin in Canada and Mexico. The book ends author takes into account the energy
FROM COTSWOLDS with an illustrated value guide of U.S. values of foods, their weight for carrying
TO HIGH SIERRAS coins which is easy to follow and certain- and convenience in packing, she comes up
EXPERIENCES AND ADVENTURES COVERING
ly worthwhile for desert wanderers who with appetizing recipes as well as good,
SEVENTY-FOUR YEARS ARE RECALLED BY THE often pick up old coins in abandoned common sense advice. There's a list of
AUTHOR. COMING FROM ENGLAND WHEN HE mining camps. Hardcover, 110 pages, suppliers with addresses, so you'll know
WAS TWELVE, HE WORKED AS A FARMHAND
IN IDAHO, WORKED WITH SHEEP, CATTLE,
$3.50. where to order some of the specialty
AND HORSES, DID SOME PROSPECTING AND items described. Paperback, 39 pages,
MINING, AND BECAME A MECHANICAL EN-
PAPIER MACHE $1.00.
GINEER. HE IS THE INVENTOR OF THE FRANK-
LIN AIRPLANE ENGINE. By Mildred Anderson
Photographs, drawings and map __ $4.00 SUCCESSFUL COLOR
Paper mache, which literally means
PHOTOGRAPHY
"chewed up paper," has been an art and
E. R. Jackman and R. A. Long By Andreas Feininger
craft medium for at least 2000 years. Cur-
THE OREGON DESERT rently it is enjoying a revival in fashion This new edition contains all you
NOW IN ITS FIFTH PRINTING, THIS BOOK and extraordinary objects, unbreakable, should know about color photography,
TELLS OF A LITTLE-KNOWN REGION IN OUR
AMERICAN WEST. THE NORTHERN DESERTS,
water-proof, flame-proof, acid-proof and including the new, fast Ansco and Kodak
LONG NEGLECTED IN LITERATURE, ARE DESRIBED stain-proof are being created of it. Mod- color films. Feininger has packed into
WITH SYMPATHY AND CHARM. THERE IS NOS- ern advances in technology—new glues, this book every bit of pertinent informa-
TALGIA IN THE AUTHENTIC CHAPTERS ON
HOMESTEADING, CATTLE DRIVES, ITINERANT finishing resins, etc.—have made it pos- tion on producing better color pictures,
SHEEPMEN, AND LIFE ON THE DESERT. sible to do this work at home as a hobby. presenting the information with a short
109 illustrations from photographs, 16 color The book is packed with easy instructions course for the beginner and then gradua-
prints - - - $6.50 and ideas for making salad bowls, con- ting to technical data in such a way that
tainers, boxes, objets d' art, jewelry and even professional photographers will pro-
Bea Boynton any number of useful and decorative fit. For less than the price of two rolls
A VERY AMATEUR GUIDE TO gifts. Hardcover, 16 pages. $3.95. of color film, instructions in this book
ANTIQUE BOTTLE COLLECTING will save you a multitude of disappoint-
GENERAL CROOK AND THE ments in your own photographic activity.
A SMALL STORY ON A LARGE SUBJECT—
THAT OF WAGON TRAIN BOTTLES AND BOTTLES APACHE WARS It is a splendid book for hobby photo-
BROUGHT ROUND THE HORN IN THE EARLY graphers who work in color. Hardcover,
DAYS OF HE WEST. THIS IS A PRIMER—FOR By Charles F. Lummis 271 pages, $7.95.
THOSE WHO HAVE YET TO FIND THEIR FIRST
BOTTLE, OR FOR THE PROFESSIONALS WHO WILL An on-the-scene account of the Apache
RELIVE THE EXCITEMENT OF THEIR FIRST FIND. outbreak in Arizona Territory in the
30 line drawings, 20 pages, paperbound $1.00 spring of 1886 this book is a selected
collection of newspaper reports written
PLEASE ASK FOR OUR by Charles F. Lummis for the Los Angel-
1966 TRADE LIST # 1 1 4 es Times. Lummis was the only news- BOOKS
paperman to accompany the troops as

UJ
they pursued Geronimo and other Apache
renegades throughout the Southwest and
Caxton Printers Mexico. His vivid accounts of the battles
and his defense of colorful General
or George Crook are as alive today as they Order FREE Catalogue
were when he reported them three-quar-
Caldwell, Idaho ters of a century ago. Hardcover, 148
pages, edited by Turbese Lummis Fiske
DESERT MAGAZINE
BOOK STORE
and illustrated by Don Perceval. $7.50. Palm Desert, California 92260

6 / Desert Magazine / November, 1966


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For Your Party Loving Friends Give . . .
ZODIAC PARTIES MENUS AND RECIPES!
BORED WITH THE SAME READ THESE REVIEWS!!
OLD PARTIES? Zodiac 'Parties is a fun book with very
workable, interesting recipes. A good-
This unique party book by Choral Pepper, gift for your hostess.
editor of DESERT Magazine, shows how —The Dallas Morning News
the stars can make a successful hostess . . .
how astrology can bring together the right
guests and reveal their preferences in Zodiac Parties is a collection of menus
food . . . and finally, how a gourmet and recipes pegged together with an idea
touch may be added to each dish on a • . . a good excuse for a party.
variety of menus. —Associated Press
The author plans a different party for
every month in the year. Her suggestions Zodiac Parties is a new slant on novel
on the guests to invite and the food to entertaining with sensational food design-
serve are based on astrological analyses of ed to match your guests' personality
the tastes and interests of those born traits.
under each of the twelve signs of the —The Hartford Courant
Zodiac.

For every ONE year subscription to DESERT MAGAZINE you can


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Send Check or Money Order to DESERT Magazine, Palm Desert, Calif. 92260
Young are born at intervals of twenty to of the less potent among scorpions; not
forty minutes. Over a period of five houvs much worse than a wasp sting to a per-
this mother gave birth to eighteen. Those son in good health. There are two species
shown are just a few hours old and have which are deadly, and not to be trifled
with, but oddly enough, they don't have
just freed themselves from the membrane
as frightening an appearance as Hairy,
enclosure.
and fortunately are less common.
Hairy being the oldest was also prob-
ably the first to develop one of our most
cherished habits. Breathing. He has what
is known as "book lungs" which are fore-
runners of the oxygen bags we carry
around today. He can get along with a
little less pure air than we can though,
and is sometimes found buried in the
desert sand as deep as five or six feet
where he digs to get water. Although he
has many cousins located all over the
world, and with different habits, Hadru-
rus arizonensis is restricted mostly to the
HE DESERT has many of nature's
T most curious creations. But a resi-
deserts of the Southwest.
Hairy is not only old; he is rather back-
THE dent whose ancestry dates well over 300
million years—so long ago that the only
ward, too. When it comes to I.Q. scien-

DESERT'S life that existed was confined to the


water? It's true.
tists say his is just about the lowest imag-
inable. And he is a real holdout for the

OLDEST He is an infamous character who may


not be one of our best loved, but there is
status quo. Through the incomprehensibly
long eras of time, most creatures have

RESIDENT no question that he is one of the oldest.


Hadritrus arizonensis is his name, but he
either become extinct (such as the dino-
saurs—and they are just "young whipper-
snappers" compared to Hairy) or have
is usually called the Giant Hairy Scor- in someway managed to evolve. But not
pion. Hairy. He is almost totally unchanged
It has been a long time since the first today from the aquatic creature he was
trickle of water began to carve the Grand millions of years ago when he decided to
Canyon, but this desert dweller lays claim earn the distinction of becoming one of
to having been around about four times the first air-breathing forms of life. He
longer. apparently thinks the old-way-the-best-
by Robert H. Wright "Hairy" is not really one of the West's way, and with his record of biological
most dangerous outlaws, even though he longevity, perhaps the old guy isn't really
looks villainous enough. His punch is one as stupid as we believe. •

The Giant Hairy can administer a painful


sting with the black curved stinger at the
end of his tail, but the venom is not
usually fatal. The scorpion eats soft-
bodied insects and spiders. When seek-
ing prey, he carries his tail curled over
his back ready to sting as soon as he grabs
his prey with his front pinchers.

8 / Desert Magazine / November, 1966


Death Valley Scotty
took us for a ride
by Carlyle Lamar Nelson
MONG THE exploits of the fabu- one to greet us. After a wait of about 30 hours. It was either we bet with Scotty,
A lous Death Valley Scotty, one of the
most publicized concerned a venture in
minutes, a covered pickup arrived, driven
by Scotty's "Man Friday." He announced
or the deal was off. After an hour or so
of haggling, negotiations ran into an im-
1905 when he chartered a special train that Scotty was on a binge in Beatty, Ne- passe and no agreements seemed forth-
on the Santa Fe Railroad to establish vada, about 60 miles away over unim- coming.
a speed record from Los Angeles to proved roads. Our key personnel went Then Scotty was invited to take his
Chicago. The price tag for this feat was into a huddle and decided to make the first ride in an airplane, a flight over his
widely reported at $50,000, but docu- trek to Beatty, pick up Scotty, and bring fiefdom. To this he agreed, providing he
mented records of the Santa Fe books him to the Conference Table. While the could take along his Man Friday and his
disclose that the actual payment totaled rest of us tried to be comfortable in the dog, a massive animal on the mastiff
$!>,500. The result of the undertaking broiling desert sun, they took off in the plan. My pilot and I started the motors
was a new mark of 44 hours and 44 min- pickup. and soon took off with our motley cargo.
utes, or approximately three hours faster After four or five hours, a cloud of We circled the castle, gaining altitude
than the fastest rail time to that date. A dust appeared on the horizon in the di- so that the entire spectrum of Death Val-
cherished residual for Scotty was thou- rection of Beatty and the truck drove up ley was visible and encountering the usual
sands of column inches of publicity, with Scotty and our party. Although desert thermal turbulence, or rough air.
which was one of his vanities. The fol- drunk, Scotty was lucid. In the truck Instead of helping to make a sale, though,
lowing is a sequel to this fascinating bit were several cases of bottled beer, all up the flight back-fired when the three VIP
of Western lore in which the writer was against the rear of the interior, and sev- passengers got airsick. Scotty and Man
a participant, 32 years later. eral cakes of ice, all against the front of Friday were helped off, but the dog had
My log book as an airline pilot for the truck. Scotty would pluck a bottle of to be hand-carried. The plot not only
TWA discloses that on May 27, 1937, I beer, bite off the cap, swizzle the con- thickened; it soured.
was assigned as pilot for a special flight tents down his gullet and the front of Finally, in a desperate endeavor to
to Death Valley Scotty's*Castle, to trans- his woolen underwear, and throw the salvage something out of the efforts, the
port a group of TWA traffic and public bottle off on the sand. TWA Traffic Manager decided to try a
relations personnel, newspaper men and Then the debate began, with our per- new tack. "Scotty," he said, "I think
photographers. Our vehicle was the old sonnel attempting to sell Scotty on the you're a wind-bag. I don't believe you've
airline workhorse, a Douglas DC-3. Our idea of making a trip by air in the fan- got the big money you are touted to
landing field was a dry lake bed a few tastic time of 10 hours, plus or minus a have."
miles from the castle. We had been ad- few fractional hours, for the sum of In answer, Scotty whipped off one
vised by wire that Scotty would meet us $7,500. We had to consider the possibil- shoe, from which he extracted five $1000
at 9:00 A.M., May 27th, at the designa- ity of mechanical trouble or weather bills. "If that don't prove nothin', I
ted landing area, and would be agreeable hazard and delay, hence the variable. ain't took off the other one yet," he said,
to the projected discussions, which were Well, Scotty took these boys to the going to the rear of his pickup truck to
predicated on selling him on the idea of Council Table! He set up a proposal pull out a bottle of beer.
beating his record on the Santa Fe by that would put the whole project on a By this time, it was abundantly clear
approximately 34 hours, and thereby gain gambling basis. For so many hours that to those who tried the soft sell and the
more nationwide publicity, which he still we could beat his record, he would pay the hard sell that Scotty wasn't going to
relished. Hence, according to confirmed TWA x number of dollars for such a make a deal in our favor. We'd taken him
arrangements, we arrived at the appointed gain, in proportion to the improvement for an airplane flight, but he's the one
place at the specified time— to find no over the Santa Fe's time, measured in who took us "for a ride." •

November, 1966 / Desert Magazine / 9


THE RISTLISS WEST By reader request DESERT Magazine will reprint a series of arti-
aggressive
inexhaustable cles written by the dean of lost mine yarns, John Mitchell, which
unrivaled
appeared originally in 1940 and 1 9 4 1 .

by
John D.Mitchell
Author of Lost Mines and

Buried Treasures
(Now out of print)
PYRAMfBsLAKE
FOR FURTHEfSJNFORMATlON PLEASE
WRITE DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMI
DEVELOPMENT, CAMQN CITY, NEVADA

H IGH UP along the eastern edge of


Death Valley and not many hours'
bled a great amphitheatre with step-like
terraces extending down to the water's
journey from Scotty's Castle there was dis-
edge. The water bubbled up from the
covered one of the richest deposits of subterranean depths with such great force
placer gold ever found on the American that it brought great amounts of heavy
continent. black sand and piled them on the ter-
Incredible is it may seem, 500 emi- races around the lake. Some of the sand
grants on their way from southern Utah trickled back into the pool only to be
to the new goldfields of California, in brought up again and again.
'49 and '50 passed over, and many of One of the Pahutes took a handful of
let's Go To Baja!" them died within sight of what may this sand out into the sunlight. It sparkled
prove to be the El Dorado of the great with small nuggets and flakes of gold, all
Southwest. worn smooth from constant churriing in
According to the story two Pahute In- the pool. Returning to the cave again the
dian brothers, many years ago, trudging Indians were surprised to see that the
along over the hot sand on the western water was receding, leaving thousands of
edge of a dry lake searching for horses tons of the rich sand stranded on the ter-
that had strayed from their camp, saw in races around the edge of the lake. It was
the distance what appeared to be the en- growing late in the evening when the
trance to an abandoned tunnel. Further brothers made their way back to camp.
investigation proved it to be the mouth of Keeping their secret to themselves they
a cave. The overhanging rocks formed a left early in the morning, taking with
cool shelter that protected them from the them a wagon and several sacks. Entering
ADVENTURE OF A LIFETIME! fierce rays of the summer sun and they the cave again they found it full of water
Are you dreaming of Baja down Mexico were glad to avail themselves of the op- just as it had been the previous day. The
way? Baja California in Old Mexico has me portunity to rest in the shade. small waves were rolling and breaking
in its spell and I must go back again. Maybe
you have always wanted to see this fascina- A cool breeze came from the depths against the shores as if in some mysterious
ting peninsula that time forgot. If so then of the cave and they heard the sound of way they were connected with the tides in
now is your chance. Come with me in
running water in the distance. Removing the Pacific ocean.
4-wheel drive air conditioned station wagons
for a wonderful trip. We leave San Diego
pieces of limestone that had fallen from After filling their sacks with the gold-
area Jan. 1 0 and go all the way down to the roof and partly blocked the entrance, en sands the two brothers decided to ex-
La Paz and the cape on a leisurely trip they went along the narrow tunnel to a plore the cave. By the dim light of a
lasting 30 days. Or you may take the point where the floor sloped downward primitive torch they had brought along,
return trip leaving La Paz in Feb. I am
and the walls opened out into a large they could see hanging from the dome-
taking a limited group so make your reser-
vations soon. Write to me for details.
dome-shaped cavern with a dark pool of shaped roof long beautifully colored cry-
water at the bottom. stals resembling great icicles. Stalagmites
MITCH WILLIAMS Water boiled up from the center of the stood up encrusted all over with gems
156 North First West Moab, Utah
pool and formed waves that dashed that sparkled like diamonds. Here before
Phone 253-4346
against the rocky shore and broke into their eyes beneath the burning desert
fine spray. The shore of the lake resem- sands was a magic castle that outrivaled

10 / Desert Magazine / November, 1966


a chapter from the Arabian Nights. Here
in this Aladdin's cave strewn about on the
floor and in the dark pool lay thousands Make Your Vacation More Fun
—perhaps millions of dollars worth of LOOK FOR GOLD—BURIED TREASURE—OLD COINS
gold. Never in all their lives had they Compare and you will buy Detectron, Rayscope or
seen anything like it. Goldak Metal Detectors. They locate what others miss.
Near the center of the pool was a Top Guarantee—easy to operate. From $75.00 to
$165.00.
small rocky island. One of the brothers
decided to swim to it. When he had Gold Bug dry concentrator,
Gold Pans, Gold Scales. Books
reached a point about half way across, the on Treasure & Lost Mines, Field
bottom seemed to drop out of the pool Oh, so you're a Rockhound? Com- Chemical Kit, $6.00. Jaw
and the water rushed into the subterran- plete line of Lapidary Supplies and Crusher, $90.00. Mortar &
Equipment on display. Finest selec- Pestle.
ean outlet with a gurgling roar, taking tion of jewelry findings.
the unfortunate Indian down with it. The
other Indian remained for several days COMPTON ROCK SHOP
and although the water in the pool con- Ph. 632-9096 1405 Long Beach Blvd., Compton, California 90221
tinued to rise and fall with the tide, he
never saw his brother again.
Among many Indian tribes there is a
taboo against returning to the place where COWBOY BOOTS
one of their number has met death. So
the Pahute never again saw the golden
cavern beneath the burning sands of
[fancy Western
Located in "The Center" (across from the Desert Inn], The Moccasin Shop offers one of the largest
"Tomesha." selections for foot comfort this side of anywhere. Moccasins with beautiful bead work, velvety-
Ancient water lines around the dry lake soft imported deerskin, rugged rawhide, durable full-grain cowhide—some for riding, some for
flying, ajl for just plain walking comfort. Look for us on your next desert trip.
bed below the cave indicate that in pre- WRITE FOR FREE CATALOG
historic times when the water level in
the Pacific ocean was higher than today,
the lake may have been filled with water
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the pool in the cave was filled when the
Fahutes found it. The bedrock of the The Family Vehicle for Year-Round Fun!
dry lake is known to. be covered with Exclusive Sliding Canopy Top
several feet of black sand which from all Only Pullman Camper features this exclusive and patented Canopy Top which adds 36 square
indications was forced out of the cave feet of area and can be completely enclosed with special fitted curtains. It takes only a
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sumably settled to the bottom upon enter- COMFORTABLE WITH THE PATENTED PULLMAN CANOPY.
ing the quiet water of the lake. Other Pullman Features
It is a fact that there are several of STRONG LIGHTWEIGHT CONSTRUCTION. Tubular aluminum framework provides greater
strength yet reduces over-all weight and gas costs. Safety glass in all stationary windows.
these caverns in Death Valley from which LOADING MADE EASY. Extra-wide four-foot rear door.
water apparently gushed in ancient times. SPACE SAVING. Door table cabinet provides storage space and doubles as table or work area.
Perhaps some of them contain black sand CLEAN, DRY INTERIOR. Water-tight and dust proof Neoprene gaskets around all windows,
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mysterious wealth of Death Valley Scotty.
TELEPHONE TOpai 2-7968 or SPruce 3-5686.

November, 1966 / Desert Magazine / 11
The Magic
of Baja
by Choral Pepper
Editor of DESERT Magazine

Gardner Cave

Part Five of Six Parts

Exclusive report on recent Erie Stanley Gardner Expedition


T HERE WE waited, Sam Hicksi-and I, atop a mountain so
high that mapped references read simply "over 3000
feet." The only way up to or down from the primitive ranches
Expecting to meet Erie Stanley Gardner, who'd dropped from
the sky four years before, they were reserved until they
recognized Sam Hicks, who'd accompanied Gardner on the
on the mesa of this Cerro San Francisco is by muleback, unless earlier visit.
you arrive by helicopter, as we did. Sam assured them Uncle Erie would be along the follow-
Flying with pilot Don New in the Fairchild-Heller heli- ing day. In the meantime, we'd landed to double-check Sam's
copter, Dr. Carlos Margain, Sam and I hovered over rambling remembered directions to Arroyo San Pablo, the location of
walls, reservoirs and garden patches sprawled across the flat the now famous Gardner Cave. Dr. Margain wished to offici-
top of the mountain. Cattle stampeded in all directions, some- ally record it and some additional sites for the Museo National
running head-on into the rock walls of their corrals, while de Antropologic in Mexico City. Because we had much to cover
goats cowered under anything in sight and chickens flapped and would be alone in terrain as rugged and remote as any in
blindly, too stunned to even seek roosts. Only the people of the world, Uncle Erie had given us strict orders to return by
San Francisco remained calm. As dust settled and the copter 4:00 p.m. and not to vary the schedule one whit. This was im-
blades whirred to a stop, the men of the village approached. portant because, if we weren't back in camp on time, the

12 / Desert M a g a z i n e / November, 1 9 6 6
other helicopter would know where to search for us. These walls are all that remain of the Dolores Mission, identi-
When the Mexicans at San Francisco learned of Dr. Mar- fied in this article for the first time in modern history.
gain's interest in caves, they all started to talk at once. One
among them had found a cave completely different from the
rest. This was a true cave, rather than a cave shelter, and it had
three entrances leading into its black recess.
Don New scraped the sand with his feet and pretended not
to hear. He knew very well Carlos was going to want to
change the flight plan. And he was right. "Just a quick drop
down the the mountainside," Carlos assured him, translating
the vaquero's directions from Spanish. "It'll only take a little
minute. Now we go!"
Because this terrain was the roughest Don New had ever
flown over and its canyons were dangerously narrow for hover-
ing, he wanted to keep the load as light as possible. The result
was that he took Carlos and a vaquero guide while Sam and The fact that the exact site of Dolores, until now, has
I awaited their return at San Francisco. never been published makes sense when you realize that prior
to our arrival, members of the 1962 Gardner expedition were
For a while it was very pleasant. Sam is a natural-born
the first and last strangers to ever visit this remote community.
visitor and I'm a natural-born snooper, so while he lounged
One native, 82-years old, has lived there his entire life and
under a ramada with the men, I ambled among the courtyards
never known a stranger to set foot on the land, nor had his
of :he ancient village, peering over walls and watching women
father before him.
and girls feed animals in the corrals. The village was very,
very old. Members of one of its seven families traced their an- Although an ancient mission trail leads to San Francisco,
cestry back 200 years, but that was not the beginning of the the village lies at its end and travelers following mission trails
settlement. have circumvented this one in favor of trails leading from one
The floor plans of rambling foundations suggested an point to another. Every household article, every stitch of cloth-
obsolete use for some of the structures—and indeed there was. ing, every tool must be created on the spot or carried up the
This was the site of the early Jesuit mission Nuestra Senora de tenuous, precipitious mountainside via a two or three day mule
los Dolores del Norte. There is no published reference which ride from the nearest community, San Ignacio. Imagine the
places this mission in its correct position. Founded by Fathers self reliance it requires to live here!
Sistiaga and Consag, it was never very prosperous due to its Money doesn't change hands in San Francisco. These peo-
location and dependency upon water caught in natural tinajas. ple obtain necessities by bartering cheese packed in crates
This same problem exists today and its present seven families woven from twigs and kept cool with palm fronds during the
are about all the area can accommodate. Because of its high muleback trek to market in San Ignacio. They also tan goat
altitude, however, San Francisco attracts more rain than lower and cow hides for barter. We noticed horsehair saved like
regions and the climate is desirable both winter and summer. yarn and stored by hanging from a rafter so rodents wouldn't
There is some evidence that the Franciscans inherited Dolores steal it for nests. This is combed and woven into bridles.
from the Jesuits, finally suppressing it in 1768 and moving A small chapel is the center of worship today, visited by
vestments and other churchly articles to a more productive the priest from San Ignacio who comes once a year on All
mission. Saints Day when the community holds a rosary. Of the an-
The men of San Francisco came out to greet us as we landed in the helicopter. Small remains of Dolores foundation indicated by
arrow.

November, 1966 / Desert Magazine / 13


cient mission, only one or two roofless, stone-walled rooms minutes more. Even the Mexicans now directed nervous
remain, although many of the meandering rock walls outlined glances into the sky.
mission corrals. I noticed a healthy stand of prickly pear cac- On the stroke of the moment we'd decided to issue an
tus which at one time formed a hedge—consistent with the alarm, the men rose to their feet in one body. Not as attuned
practice of Franciscan and Dominican padres who instituted to foreign sounds as they, it was a minute or two before I de-
such hedges for protection against wild Indians. As the Jesuits tected the whirr of 'copter blades. Soon the craft rose above
didn't cultivate prickly pear at their other abandoned missions, the sharp sides of the plateau and settled to the ground.
this suggests at least a short spell of Franciscan occupancy. But
Carlos Margain was excited. He'd found the first reported
I think only the dedicated Jesuits would have stuck it out for
cave of this type in the area and he officially gave it his name.
long at Dolores.
In the short time he had to investigate it, he determined only
Time seemed to be slipping by faster than it should. I that the cave had known human occupancy. Typical paintings
closed my ears to the bleating of goats and tinkle of burro of a huge red rabbit, a black rabbit, a doe and a human figure
bells and listened hard for a whirring of 'copter blades. It with arms upraised marked each of the three entrances, but
had been a mighty long minute since our friends had taken off. there were no paintings inside the cavity.
I joined Sam in the shade of the ramada, and we exchanged a
Almost as soon as we'd taken off, we landed again at a
look to that effect. He glanced at his watch. With the Mexican
flat spot on the opposite side of the canyon to the west. This
vaquero aboard, we didn't want his people to think we were
was exciting country with extremes of high and low desert
concerned, but quite frankly, we were.
in juxtaposition. Coral, turquoise and chartreuse lichen clung
Then a sight such as I've never seen appeared before us. to the pink rock wall from which a narrow path was carved by
The women of the village arrived, carrying babies scrubbed hundreds of thousands of burro hoofs. As we avoided looking
and polished, and all dressed in their most colorful best—lots into the deep canyon which dropped sharply from a thread-like
and lots of color! Their black hair shone in the sun, arranged trail, Carlos, Don and I kept up a constant stream of chatter to
with generous coatings of lard, and a few even tottered across keep ourselves from thinking of things like snakes which
the rough ground in high-heeled shoes. I wondered what they might lurk in the brush. Sam, of course, marched in advance,
thought of me dressed in jeans with a loose-hanging shirt, but fearless.
there was no sign of anything other than genuine pleasure When we reached the first of the caves we were seeking, it
that we'd dropped from the sky to pay them a visit. was a beauty—big and broad with giant murals. I recognized it
It was warm in the sun, so we moved back to the ramada. as one described by Diguet, the French archeologist who ex-
Gradually the women disappeared, but the children remained, plored this region in the 1890s. Diguet puzzled over a basin-
politely listening and looking away shyly when I smiled at shaped hollow which had been dug into the rear of the rock
them. I thought of the coming day when Uncle Erie would wall. He thought perhaps it was used for holding water or to
land in a helicopter bulging with gifts and the excitement mix the binding material for pigment. Now the wall above it
which would take place then! it blackened with smoke and there were signs that both humans
There had been a school teacher here for a short time sev- and animals had sought shelter here. Diguet remarked that none
eral years ago, a relative of one of the families, but now there of the caves he found had been used for habitation, as no arti-
was no one to teach the children. It seemed unfortunate that facts were evident. However, we were to find bone whistles,
these handsome, alert and highly-br.ed children should be de- manos, yucca cordage, obsidian chippings and other relics in
nied an education—and yet, they were obviously happy, re- most of them, which probably indicates they were occupied by
sourceful and self-reliant. If they could live this life forever, tribes other than the mysterious race who painted them.
they'd mature into emotionally adjusted adults like their par- Back in the helicopter, I could sense Sam's excitement. We
ents, but it's inevitable their future will be caught up in the were hovering over a long, serpentine canyon which could
mainstream. Even now the community is clearing rocks from only be Shangri-La. Sparkles of water gleamed in its depth,
an area they propose to use for an airstrip so emergency sup- intersperced with silken sand bars, eroded boulders and palm
plies and San Ignacio's new air-minded priest can be flown in. trees taller than even the royal palms of Hawaii. The air was
Surreptitiously Sam and I discussed plans for rescuing our still, even the tu-tu of fronds barely making a whisper. And
companions in the helicopter if it didn't appear soon. Already the canyon was gloriously clean. Accenting a Watteau palette
one and a half hours had elapsed. We decided to give them 30 with powdered sand and scrubbed boulders, slender trunks of
Choral Pepper takes notes at San Francisco while awaiting The ladies appeared en masse, dressed in their best to welcome
return of helicopter. us.

14 / Desert Magazine / November, 1966


27*45' N.

Above: A fig tree grows in Gardner


Cave. Below: Sometimes we had to land
San
on top of a plateau and climb down to
find caves. Right: Map made by Sam
Hicks locates all caves discovered on Erie
Stanley Gardner expeditions and named
and numbered by various members of the
party. These were officially recorded for
the /Mexican government by Dr. Carlos
Alar gam.

BAJA CALIFORNIA SITES


nta Marta
SOLEDAD CANYONS

a San Nicolas VILLAGES Pepper Cave


© ROCK SHELTERS

& HCMNAfl IHt

palm trees naked of husks and burned black rose to the sky. whether they stood on stilts to paint their murals, as did the
It was a strange thing, this burning of palm waste up and ancient Maoris of Polynesia, they lived as one with the deer,
down the canyon. Surely no one had deliberately set them mountain sheep, rabbits, condors, antelopes, whales and sea
afire, and with no trails into the area, an accidental fire was mammals which thrived on the peninsula and its surrounding
unlikely. When Gardner landed here by helicopter four years seas. They slayed these beasts for sustenance, but they recorded
ago, his party puzzled over this then. Their conclusion, as de- their grace and beauty for posterity—life-size and vital. And
scribed in Gardner's book Hovering Over Baja, was that they did it with great risk of life and limb, unless they were,
static electricity is set up during windstorms by the rustling of indeed, 11-feet tall.
fronds, one against another. Soon they burst into flame and Sam described Hicks Cave, discovered by him in 1962, as
the fire spreads with each gust of wind. Fortunately, palms we hovered near it and then Don New spotted a landing area.
are so constituted that fire travels rapidly among the dead He stayed with the 'copter while Carlos and I followed Sam
fronds, but leaves the porous trunk section and fresh growth through fronds that crackled underfoot and over rough granite
at the top smoke-blackened, but still alive. Perhaps this is boulders to the base of Gardner Cave. Truly fit for a man-god
Nature's way of keeping her palm forests uncluttered, but or aborigine king, this cave undisputably contains the most
whatever, the clean-lined sweep of graceful palms springing impressive of all Baja California cave art. From below it, we
from the gushing waters that nursed them was so stirring, so could see areas of brilliant color curl outward with the upper
dramatic and silently beautiful that we felt like intruders slope of the cave shelter's roof, but from no single point could
being here. the 600-foot long expanse of mural be viewed at one glance.
1 don't know if the race of men who established their The climb to the ledge-like floor of the shelter was terraced
identity here by painting murals along the canyon walls had with steep stretches of granite almost impossible to climb with-
more right to it than we had, but I think they did for the sim- out ropes, but somehow we made it up to the cave. I won't
ple fact they remained. Whether they were eleven-feet tall, as go into detail about the paintings here, as Dr. Clement Mei-
believed by the Indians who followed them in historic time, or ghan, U.C.L.A. archeologist who accompanied Gardner's first

November, 1966 / Desert Magazine / 15


expedition into this region, wrote a brilliant article about it for sidered sacred by a number of archaic civilizations long before
DESERT Magazine in JuJy, 1965. Christ.
However, there is one feature which has been ignored in Except for one thing, I would have considered them the
previous reports, both by Gardner in his book The Hidden work of latter day hunters who took shelter in the cave.
Heart of Baja, in his article for Life Magazine, and in Dr. That one thing was a drawing of a life-scaled deer painted
Meighan's story. I won't sidetrack it here. in the same yellow pigment as the crosses. In no other cave
On the rear wall at one point of the shelter, located about paintings of this entire area is yellow pigment used—only
three feet above the floor, was a natural basin in the rock wall white, black and red.
where water seeped through the rock. The wall in this place Now a contemporary hunter could have painted both the
was damp and a small palm had taken root in a crack of the crosses and this deer, but if he did, he must have been about
floor. Then, a few feet further along the ledge, a fair-sized 20 feet tall or else worked from a skylift. For this enormous
fig tree sprouted from the wall. I'm not much of a botanist, yellow outlined doe is painted high on the up-slope of the
but palms grow rapidly, so this one was young, perhaps sprung shelter's roof, extending well beyond the ledge-like floor of
from a seed deposited by a pack rat. The fig tree, I believe, is the cave. In fact, directly below this outer, upper-lip of the
the ficus ghabata, a species native to Mexico. Aztecs on the shelter is a steep drop of 75 feet and the canyon walls above
mainland used to use its bark to make a paper from which they the caves extend for several hundreds of feet, also straight up-
cut out effigies to accomplish feats of black magic, such as and-down. It's unlikely that a hunter wandering through this
making hexes. They grow slowly, so I wouldn't hazard a guess Utopia would, or could, have moved enough boulders himself
as to its age. to erect a trestle in order to reach such a spot, and then taken
But that isn't the mystery of the cave. The thing that jarred time to dismantle it simply for the sake of adding one yellow
me was the presence of three crosses painted on the wall beside doe to the red and black ones already there. Furthermore, this
the water seep. Each was somewhat different in the curlicue em- single yellow doe is so entirely consistent in style with the
bellishes at the ends of the arms. Carefully executed and about others that it is difficult to believe it was not put there as a
12-inches in height, all were painted with a yellow pigment. part of the original cult.
The cross bar in each case was located above-center, with the If this is so, then this race of man who so mysteriously ap-
arms of the crosses drawn in outline and the centers left un- peared and disappeared may not be as old as we think. There
painted. Dr. Margain said they were typical Roman Catholic are spearheads depicted in the murals, extending from the
crosses. This is no doubt true, but similar crosses were con- bodies of slain animals. Fire-hardened spearheads have been
found among the debris of Gardner cave, but such spears
Part of Gardner Cave is visible in cavity at upper right. This were used also by the retarded aborigines found by early mis-
is the typical type of location and structure for painted caves sionaries, so the ones recovered from the cave were not neces-
of this region. sarily those of the artists. A wooden peg found in the shelter,
dated by radiocarbon at U.C.L.A., indicated the shelter was
occupied about 550 years ago.
Nevertheless, at least one of these aborigines had been ex-
posed to Christianity, presuming the crosses are Catholic
crosses. If so, this would put the people who painted the caves
into a time span following 1519, the year Cortes entered the
Valley of Mexico. History records that word of Cortes' arrival
preceded him all of the way from Yucatan, with Indians ar-
riving from great distances to reach the scenes of action even
before the curtains rose. It's possible Indians from Baja navi-
gated the Gulf of California, or runners circled it to the north,
between Cortes' arrival on the mainland and Iturbe's brief
visit to Baja, in 1616, and returned to warn their people of
the havoc the Spanish were creating under this sign of the
cross in the land of Moctezuma.
Carrying this supposition further, imagine a group of
Baja's cave artists having left their mountain retreat for a fish-
ing expedition to the Gulf. We know they were familiar with
sea-life because of the whales depicted in their murals. Then,
much to their surprise, where formerly they had met only de-
praved Indians, this time they beheld a robed priest holding
mass on the beach where his ship, exploring the Gulf of Cali-
fornia, had put into a bay to look for fresh water. It could
have been Cortes' ship, the Concepcion, in 1533, 160 years
before the Spanish returned to colonize and explore the Baja
peninsula.
Stealthily, the native fishermen approached the strangers,
curious, yet frightened. A Spanish bullet brought down a bird.
This gun could also shoot down sacred deer, already growing
scarce. The robed priest made the sign of the cross above a
contrived altar covered with cloth, the ends of which were
embroidered with three golden crosses. Observant, as primi-
tive peoples have always been, the natives imprinted these de-

16 / Desert Magazine / November, 1966


signs in their minds. Because of repetition in the priest's cere- But a new generation among a small population can ex-
mony, it was apparent the symbol of the cross held significance. perience great change. The new ones were expert hunters, but
The eldest of the fishermen consulted with his companions. knowledge of currents and navigation had vanished with their
Could these be the same people their scout had seen on the fathers who had sailed to this sea-girdled land. If any now
land beyond the waters of the Gulf? Were these the people escaped the torments of the sea, the storms, the tricky currents,
who ravaged the great nation of the Aztecs? They must report the man-eating sharks, they were too few to multiply and carry
this to their wizard chief. But how could they depict golden on the traditions of their heritage. By the time the Jesuits dis-
crosses when their only pigments were red and black? covered their brilliant caves, the people for whom the caves
had meaning were no more.
Perhaps the bay where they encountered the stranger was
San Raphael Bay, inland from where a friendly tribe decorated This imagined sequence could be close to the truth. The
cave shelters with an entirely different kind of magic, painted people may have been giants and, like dinosaurs, became over-
in a variety of colors. The fishermen would warn the tribe specialized in height and couldn't support themselves. Or, they
there of what they'd seen and ask for a chunk of the material could have degenerated, or killed one another off in a series of
from which their friends mixed yellow paint. battles. Or they could have migrated north and died in the
dreaded Infierno region of Baja. But judging them by their
Back at their mountain retreat, they drew the crosses on
art, they were a vital, prideful people with wit and intelligence.
the cave wall to show their people. After studying them, the
wise leader said, "This sign is a warning; we must go." They Nothing indicates they may not have lived here around 550
were a traveling race, or they'd never have reached Baja's years ago, as the carbon-14 test suggests, but if we give the
shores in the first place. Perhaps, like the Maoris of Polynesia, drawings of the crosses and the yellow doe the attention it
they had sailed into the sun in search of forebears who'd split deserves, these people were still on the Baja California penin-
from the tribe to seek peace and new lands. Baja was only an sula when Cortes came to California, and later.
interlude, so now they would set forth again. While runners In spite of the fact Gardner cave has been described on
carried the message through the myriads of canyons where each the pages of DESERT before, I feel privileged to have seen it
family had decorated its own shelter, the wizard paid a last, first hand and to be able to write about it again. It contains by
giant-sized tribute to his sacred deer, using the yellow pigment far the most impressive and ambitious of any recorded prehis-
to render the deer as powerful as the golden cross. toric pictographs on the North American continent. When I
discovered a cave site of my own on the following day, I ex-
Then, long before the Jesuits came to settle the eastern perienced some part of the excitement Uncle Erie and his team
coast of Baja—maybe a century and a half before—these peo- must have felt when they first came upon Gardner Cave. •
ple constructed rafts of tough mangle, such as their ancestors
had constructed, and prepared to seek another land. To Be Continued

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November, 1966 / Desert M a g a z i n e / 17


Space Stones
W ITHIN THE past half-dozen
years the desert has become
science's number-one location for study-
terested, which include the following
facts:
Meteorites are not light porous rocks.
ing outer space. Moon-simulating ter- They are often marked with shallow pits
rain like Arizona's Meteor Crater and but are not porous. They are not round
Grand Canyon have brought both astro- like a ball. At least no round one is yet
nauts and researchers to the desert for a knoivn. They are not hollow. Meteorites
close-up look. Even more intriguing is do not come to the ground in a burning
the fact that the desert is the only area condition. They do not set fires. They
on earth which preserves actual stones burn while high in the air but generally
from outer space: the meteorites. And it cease burning about 5 to 20 miles above
is meteorites that provide science with the soil.
the most direct and tangible evidence of
conditions outside our planet. Meteorites are usually much heavier
than ordinary rocks. They are generally
Science estimates that the earths' at- irregular in form—almost any shape.
mosphere is bombarded with as many as They are often pitted more or less. The
400,000,000 meteors daily. Of these, corners and edges are notably dulled or
only 20,000,000 are large enough to rounded. A few meteorites are conical in
form "shooting stars" visible on earth. shape. Meteorites are covered with a thin
Although most of these are completely fusion crust due to burning during their
consumed before reaching the ground, flight through the atmosphere. This crust
there may be as many as 900 meteorites is nearly or quite black in most meteorites
which actually land on earth yearly. at the time of the fall. Later it becomes
Three-quarters of these probably end up brown from rust if exposed to the ivea-
How in the oceans. Of the 225 meteorites
that may fall on the land, most of these
ther. They nearly always contain an alloy
of nickle-iron. This metal may be in small

to disintegrate through oxidation. In fact,


about the only ones that do survive are
meteorites that land in arid regions like
grains embedded in a stony matrix or it
may constitute almost the entire meteorite.
In either case it can be detected by grind-
catch our Southwestern deserts. But until the
present era of intensive desert explora-
ing a corner of the suspected specimen
with an emery wheel or emery paper
tion with advanced equipment, only which will reveal bright white metal.
a three or four of these stones ever found
their way into collections.
Should you happen to find a stone
which conforms to this description, you

falling Now the picture has changed. With


modern rockhounds, prospectors, and
should submit it to a scientific institution
for more exhaustive tests by experts.
campers invading the desert en masse, it American Meteorite Laboratory ( a pri-
star is perfectly possible for an amateur to
stumble upon a meteorite . . . if he knows
vate company) makes such tests free of
charge (but asks that return postage be
included if the sender wants his rock
what he is looking for. A serious shortage
back). Two Southwestern universities
of research specimens has prompted the make similar tests: Arizona State Univer-
American Meteorite Laboratory (P. O. sity, Tempe, Arizona; and Institute of
Box 2098, Denver Colo.) to distribute Meteoritics, University of New Mexico,
free indentification leaflets to anyone in- Albuquerque, N . M.

18 / Desert M a g a z i n e / November, 1966


intrigued by desert space stones. A large
iron meteorite weighing 3,407 pounds
was found in a tomb at the ruins of Casas
FROM
Grandes, Chihuahua, Mexico in 1867,
where it had been carefully wrapped in
linen like an Egyptian mummy by the
ancient people. The most sacred desert
GOLDAK
meteorite of all is the famous "black
stone" of the Moslems, preserved as a
holy relic at Mecca since the A.D. 600s.
The Southwest's most famous meteorite
is undoubtedly the celebrated "Tucson
RICHES!
stone," a ring-shaped iron weighing 1,370
pounds, which was discovered in a pass
with the All New
of the Sierra de la Madera mountains by
Spanish soldiers and taken to the old Pre-
COMMANDER' 720
sidio at Tucson. After the withdrawal of
by Janice Beaty the Spanish garrison, it was set up in the
town square as a public anvil. An army
doctor stationed there in I860 (B. J. Ir-
The spot where the meteorite is re- win) finally convinced the town it should
covered should also be marked by the be sent to the Smithsonian Institute in
finder in case the area turns out to be Washington. This was finally accomplish-
Treasure Locator!
strewn with other space stones. Impact ed with great difficulty over the next The 'Commander' 720
may have buried most of them under- three years via Hermosillo, Guaymas, San unsurpassed for locating
ground where they can be located only Francisco and the Isthmus of Panama. buried treasure, coins, Civil
with high-powered detectors. The pattern Today the Southwest's most outstand- War relics and for beach-
they form on the ground is important in ing meteorites are included in the famous combing, features the
determining the path and rate of their Nininger Collection at Arizona State "Tell-Tone" Signal. Locates
fall. Scientists would, in fact, prefer that University. Its 1,220 specimens represent- any metal object under dirt,
all meteorites be left in place, and only ing more than half of the known meteor- sand, mud, rock, etc. No
their position recorded on a master search cumbersome cords —
ite falls on earth, make it one of the four
grid for the area. completely transistorized,
most important collections in the world,
Once in the laboratory, meteorite speci- battery powered.
and the only one of major size at any
mens are sliced, weighed, x-rayed and university.
analyzed with spectograph, microscope EFFECTIVE DEPTH RANGE
Arizona's own meteorite falls are well (Under Normal Conditions)
and chemicals. Overall aim of this intense
represented in the collection. The "Can-
scrutiny is to discover the circumstances
of their origin and their life histories. No yon Diablo irons," for instance, were
3" . . Bullet
one is really sure where meteorites come found by the thousands in the 1890's
7" Penny
from in the first place. Over the years around the huge "Meteor Crater" blasted
8-12" Silver
theories have ranged from: The moon, out of the Arizona desert by a prehistoric Dollar
the sun, a planet, a comet, the depths of meteorite perhaps 22,000 years ago. Only 18" Pistol
space, the asteroid belt . . . to the earth's dry desert air could have preserved so 24" Jar of
own volcanoes. One modern theory pro- many bits of metal for such a long span Coins
poses that tiny solid particles in space of years. 30" Kettle
form into large planet-like bodies which 36" Placer Gold
Over 14,000 separate pieces were re- Deposit
eventually break apart, and whose pieces
are later captured by the earth's gravity. covered from a remarkable meteor "show- 48" Metal Chest

The process may take centuries, with er" which occurred at Holbrook, Arizona 60" Large Metallic
Object
some of these pieces orbiting the earth on July 19, 1912. Other Arizona falls
like man-made satellites and never falling. include: Ashfork, 1901; Bagdad, 1961;
Facts gleamed from the study of me- Camp Verde, 1915; Clover Springs, 1956;
teorites are invaluable in our space pro- Cottonwood, 1955; Ehrenberg, 1862;
gram. Because of their own fiery plunge- Gun Creek, 1909; Houck, 1927; Kofa,
to earth, they have helped to determine 1893; Navajo, 1921; Pima County, before
THE GOLDAK COMPANY, INC.
1544 West Glenoaks Blvd.,
the best shapes and materials for missile 1947; San Francisco Mrs., 1920; Selig- Glendale, California 91201
nose cones. Because of their long ex- Gentlemen: Please send free literature on Goldak
man, 1949; Silver Bell, before 1947; treasure locators.
posure to cosmic rays, they offer the best
Wallapai, 1927; Weaver Mrs., 1898; • I enclose $1.00 for my American Treasure
means for studying the effects of this Hunters' Guide (reg. $2.00 value).
radiation. Previous study of the metallic Wickenburg, 1940; Winona, prehistoric.
Name
content of meteorites has led to such im- So keep your eyes open and your metal
Address
portant advances as the development of detector clicking. Yours could be a most
City
stainless steel and armor-plating for ships. important contribution to space science,
should you really "catch a falling star."D State _ Zip Code
But modern man was not the first to be

November, 1966 / Desert M a g a z i n e / 19


Zane Grey Country by Jan S. Paul
in the Zane Grey saga, an inquiry will
get quick directions to the site of the old
Zane Grey cabin where he lived and
wrote his famous stones of the Mogollon
Rim. Payson also boasts the world's
oldest rodeo, started in 1884 and held
each August.
South from Payson the road drops into
the very heart of the Tonto Basin. Fifteen
miles south of Payson, our route leaves
State 87 in favor of State 188, the direct
road to Roosevelt Dam. Just beyond the
town of Roosevelt is the Tonto National
Monument on State 88, the Apache Trail.
State 88 goes on south to Globe, but we
shortly head back north on State 288.
This road passes the Sierra Ancha Ex-
perimental Forest; however, our main
objective is the town of Young.
Here is something unique in our pre-
sent jet age; a quiet, simple place, un-
marred by the hustle and bustle. There's
no electricity nor telephone service in
Young and the nearest doctor is at Globe,

P HOENIX A N D Tucson have long


been the recognized "fun in the
sun" cities of Arizona, yet Flagstaff, on
is the site of the oldest standing school-
house in the state. Built in 1885 of hand
hewn logs, it is an interesting place to
90 miles back down the road we just
came over. Life is simple and it takes a
sturdy breed to live there, but just for a
U. S. 66, if for nothing more than tourist visit. Just south of Strawberry is Pine little while it's a welcome change.
volume, should rate very high. The num- where the oldest annual Pioneer Day
Beyond Young the road tops the Mo-
ber one side trip from Flagstaff is defin- celebration in Arizona is held.
gollon Rim and crosses State 160, con-
itely the Grand Canyon, with Oak Creek Take State 87 south. Five miles south
tinuing back to the northwest along the
Canyon and the first capital, Prescott, as of Pine is the turn-off to Tonto Natural
top of the Rim. From here you can look
close seconds. Bridge; 400 feet long, 180 feet high,
into the Basin and see all the places you
There is a third trip, however, which, with a 150 foot span. It is a spectacular
sight, and much easier to reach than most have been. This Rim road ends at State
in the short span of 350 miles, takes in
of the other natural bridges in the south- 65 midway between Strawberry and Clint
some of the most historic and scenic
west. Wells. It's possible to go back to Flag-
areas of the state. Zane Grey immortal-
staff via Camp Verde, but more new
ized the Tonto Basin and Mogollon Next stop is Payson, under the Mo-
("Muggy-Own") Rim and this trip goes gollon Rim. It is a thriving town of ap- scenery unfolds by going right on State
through both, with some very excellent proximately 2,000, built primarily on a 65. At Clint Wells the route leaves the
scenery and a few Indian dwellings as lumber and cattle economy. The largest numbered road in favor of an unnum-
well. seismological observatory in the Western bered road north. This road passes
Hemisphere is located just five miles through Happy Jack and along the east-
Drive south out of Flagstaff on Inter-
north of town, and for those interested ern shores of Lake Mormon and the
state 17 toward Camp Verde. Monte-
zuma Well is the first stop, approximately rather curious Mary Lake—eight miles
10 miles north of Camp Verde. From long and less than a mile wide. There
time to time visitors to this historic site used to be a dirt road past tiny Marshall
have created problems by dropping coins Lake to Walnut Canyon National Monu-
and other objects into the well. The ment, but it is now necessary to drive out
really big attraction in the area is the of Flagstaff on 66 to reach this monu-
Montezuma Castle National Monument. ment. Our road joins Interstate 17 three
but another point of worthwhile interest miles south of Flagstaff.
is the splendid cavalry museum at Fort While the entire loop may be made in
Verde. It is one of the best such displays one day without strain, a more leisurely
in the nation. trip can be made by stopp:ig overnight
From Camp Verde the route lies east- in Payson, or at one of the eight Forest
ward to the little settlement of Straw- Service camps in the Basin and Rim area.
berry. The road is unnumbered, but as In any event, eat lunch in Young. TK
there is only one road a wrong turn isn't place may be simple and slow-paced, but
possible. The settlement of Strawberry the food is excellent. •

20 / Dcrert M a g a z i n e / November, 1966


; • ' • ' . . ' • ' • < - . . .

•***••-
• ••«*•

I ,
H
!l
Lost Treasure of the HohoKam
&
"\ * \

north. The credit given was justly due buried nearby and believed that anyone
by Ed Houck for it was Kino, the tireless frontiers- who touched the olla would only bury it
man, who found the remains of an an- deeper; if he attempted to take it, he
N ANCIENT treasure, pre-dating
A the Spanish Conquest, is once again
drawing attention to Arizona's Casa
cient civilization sprawling along the
Gila River in 1694. He listened to the
Pima legends and named his discovery
would fall to the bottom of the hole.
They refused to burn any of the timbers
in the ancient building and their beliefs
Grande. Lured by the soft, green lustre the Casa Grande (Big House) in honor extended to a small, cleft hill in the vi-
of emeralds, today's treasure hunter is re- of a particularly large structure that re- cinity. It would close on all who traveled
searching the Gila River Country of Ari- mained standing. A building "as large as through, according to their legend, and
zona. No idle whim motivates him. He a castle and equal to the largest church therefore it was sacred.
knows a large olla of chalchiguites, in these lands of Sonora." After Kino's death, Campos made the
"stones of the fineness and quality of em-
erald," buried in the general area of Casa Kino returned to his Casa Grande in journeys to Casa Grande. He attempted
Grande National Monument, is a matter 1697, this time in the company of Cap- to dissuade the Pimas from their beliefs
or recorded history. He believes Casa tain Juan Mateo Manje. Manje, a young by burning timbers of the building and
Grande's history contains the key to over Spanish officer, described the Casa Gran- throwing the Pima offerings from the
one hundred simrlar treasures in the de in his bookL//z de Tierra Incognita. temple. His efforts are looked upon by
same area. Spurred on by keen competi- It is this building, still standing today, treasure hunters, most of whom view
tion and encouraged by the fact the that marks one of the treasure sites. clerical history with a jaundiced eye, as
United States Government's obstinate At the time of Kino's discovery, the an attempt to force revelation of the
attitude toward gold does not apply to Pimas venerated the Casa Grande as a treasure location from the Pimas. In
this treasure, he is concentrating his ef- temple of Moctezuma. Offerings of ar- either case, his labors were in vain, For,
forts towards recovery of the easily-dis- rows, jewels, feathers and other articles when he asked the Pimas to tell him the
posed-of gems. of value were put into a large room of location of the treasure, they remained
the building to placate the god. The silent. Not so the young officer Manje.
The treasure belonged to a lost tribe Pimas knew of an olla of precious stones With the matter-of-factness of his trade,
whose civilization vanished about the
mid-fifteenth century. Their towns, each Casa Grande toddy
with its huge temple and irrigation
canals, stretched along the Gila, Verde
and Salt Rivers of Arizona. Some of their
lore, including the olla of gems, was well
established in Pima legend. These leg-
ends were written into the history of the
Casa Grande by the explorers of New
Spain. Somewhere in this recorded his-
tory lies the secret of the lost Hohokam
hoards.
First Spanish explorer to learn of the
treasure was the remarkable Jesuit, Kino.
"He worked tirelessly in continuous pere-
grinations and in the reduction of all
this Pimeria. He discovered the Casa
Grande . . . " Thus reads the death record
of Eusebio Francisco Kino as recorded
by his co-worker, Augustine de Campos
in the year 1711. This tribute, written at
Magdalena, Sonora, Mexico, referred to
the Casa Grande some 175 miles to the

22 / Desert Magazine / November, 1966


he recorded the unsuccessful efforts of of the Anza expedition to California, ed, as well he might have been. They
Campos in his Luz de Tierra Incognita. visited the site. Garces called it the House described the buildings whose inside sur-
In 1742 another Jesuit, Ignacio Javier of Moctezuma and referred his readers to face was "as beautiful as the pottery of
Keller, passed the Casa Grande on his Font for a description. Both Font and Puebla." They guessed with uncanny ac-
way to the Moqui Country north of the Lieutenant Colonel Anza, who accom- curacy at the width of the canals "about
Gila. Much of this trip remains a mys- panied the priests on their trip, sketched ten varas wide" and attempted to assess
tery. A mystery heightened by his des- the ground plan of Casa Grande for their the depths by tying pieces of cord to-
cription of a Casa Grande structure half diaries. gether and weighting them with a rock.
a league in length and depth, divided They puzzled over the disappearance of
The Casa Grande of the early Span-
into square blocks three or four stories the builders and listened to the Pima
iards was part of the ruins scattered for
high, with a reservoir in front and canals miles along both banks of the Gila, east legends of the Hohokams; the Ancient
in every street. The author of the Kudo and west of the Santa Cruz River. The Ones, whose leader El Siba (Ciba) peer-
Bnsayo, who records Keller's description, limits of the ruins were never clearly de- ed through the small, round, east/west
conjectures the building was situated fined but they were extensive. Over one holes in Casa Grande's walls and saluted
north of the Gila. Possibly that author, hundred towns went to make up the the rising sun. They nodded with under-
knowing Keller, had some reason for his debris. Many-roomed, multi-storied dwel- standing, born of personal experience,
when the Pimas told of the Apache har-
assment that finally drove the Hohokams
'X. • ' away. They recorded their observations,
paused for a last look at the Casa Grande,
then, like the former inhabitants of the
big building, they traveled mas alia.
By the eighteen hundreds, a single
building still stood in the V of the Gila
and Santa Cruz Rivers. Other ruins in
the area had melted away. Early travelers,
following the Gila Route, re-discovered
this building and even as their Spanish
predecessors, paused to wonder. Their
number included James and his father
Sylvester Pattie; Colonel W. H. Emory,
who traveled with Kearney's party in
1846 and Charles D. Poston, later ac-
claimed the "father of Arizona." Poston
remarked in his writings that Pauline
Weaver, old time mountain-man and
famous Southwestern frontiersman, carved
his name on the walls of the Casa Grande
in 1836. The name P. Weaver and the
Casa Grande 1880 date 18— is carved on an inside wall of
this building and may be seen today.
conjecture. In any event, it is interesting lings dotted the length of the vast ruins These explorers of the eighteen hun-
to note that others described a large re- as late as the eighteen hundreds and an dreds found other ruins, some larger
servoir in the area of Kino's discovery, irrigation system, with large canals, still than the Casa Grande. Colonel Hodge,
south of the Gila. wound through its various divisions. in his book Arizona as It Is, describes
Still another Jesuit visited the Casa Each Spaniard in his turn was im- the ruins of a large town six miles east
Grande in 1744 and again sometime pressed by the part of the ruins he view- of Phoenix. Near the center of the ruins
after 1751. Jacobo Sedelmayr, who later TO PHOENIX, 24 MILES
MAWVA'AK a ENVIRONS
joined Ignacio Keller to become key fig-
ures in the Pima Uprising of 1751, trek-
ked to the ruins and wrote of his find-
ings. According to his reports, he visited
similar ruins north of the Gila and along
the Salado (Salt) Rivers. Some doubt is
cast on his journeys, however, by the
fact he copied his description of the Casa
Grande from that of Juan Mateo Manje;
in parts, sentence for sentence.
Jesuit treks to the Casa Grande ceased
with their expulsion from New Spain in
1767. But the black robes of the Jesuits
were soon replaced with the grey robes
of the Franciscans and in 1775, two of
the newcomers visited the Casa Grande.
Fr. Pedro Font and Fr. Garces, members

November, 1966 / Desert Magazine / 23


was a building 275 feet long and 130 de area—one to each town. Only time
of those who followed, the Casa Grande
feet wide whose debris formed a mound became a National Monument in 1918. and persistent hunhng w'A\ ccl).
30 feet high. J. R. Bartlett, member of Today, two miles north of Coolidge, In addition to the abandonment, the
the Boundary Commission and author of Arizona on state highway 87, shielded treasure hunter is confronted with the
Personal Narratives found ruins along from the elements by a modern metal mystery of the contents of the ollas. Are
the Salt River and in the area formed by umbrella, the lonely remains of the Hoho- they really emeralds? Well, if the Hoho-
its junction with the Verde. Ruins found kam civilization stand in silent despair. kams were a northern tribe of the vast
near La Tempe contained the mound of No sentry scans the desert from its tower- Aztec kingdom, there is a very good
a building 200-225 feet long by 60-80 ing rooftop. No one watches the calendar probability they are emeralds. The Aztecs
feet wide. This mound, like all the hole to "salute the sun" and determine had plenty, as Cortez discovered. But
mounds and buildings, fitted Fr. Font's the time for planting. There is no need— even if they are not emeralds, the search
description of the Casa Grande; they were for the civilization that lived behind is still on. An olla of jade "of the fine-
"true to the cardinal points of the com- defensive walls, built watchtowers, prayed ness and quality of emerald" would bring
pass." to unknown gods and cremated their a staggering fortune on today's market.
Until 1892, when the lands around the dead, has vanished. When they disap- Other treasures may exist in the form
old building were reserved by executive peared, they took their history with them of pearls. Sedelmayr, without giving rea-
order, unknown hundreds of settlers, and only bits of items, used in their sons for his belief, advanced the hope
soldiers and travelers had examined the stay, remain to puzzle archeologists. that pearls might be found in these
structure and many scrawled their names Why they abandoned their treasure is rivers. He may have had good reason for
on the walls. These early Westerners, in one of the many mysteries of the Casa his optimism. Excavations have shown
spite of their holographic proclivities, Grande. Perhaps it had a particular sym- that the Hohokam made jewelry of tur-
were as deeply impressed as the Spanish bolic/religious value with a dedication to quoise together with shell from the Gulf
had been and they did something about that temple. If so, over one hundred sim- of California. If they used shell from
it. Through their efforts and the efforts ilar treasures may exist in the Casa Gran- the gulf, they may also have used pearls.
Sedelmayr would certainly have recog-
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Take along the new
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were harvesting hundreds of pounds of
NOW ONLY them. Where? You guessed it—the Gulf
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sures. A chain is nothing but links. Bear

MACDONALD in mind, however, that the Casa Grande


National Monument itself is not open to
search. When researching, check your
ALL STEEL FRAME
sources thoroughly, many are biased and
you will have to learn to check what they
CAMPERS say against known facts and other author-
ities.
Don't be discouraged by contradic-
tions, especially among the writings of
the Jesuits. Take it from an old Isabel
researcher, for every Baegert who decries
the poverty of Lower California, there is
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Oven - Formica Counters . . . AND, MUCH, MUCH MOREI
the game. And a wonderful game it is!
see t h e m a t . . . Whether you search for tangible wealth
or tidbits of history like a name scrawled
MACDONALD CAMPER KIT CO. on a wall, the treasures of Casa Grande
are waiting to be found. Welcome to
11015 E. Rush St., El Monte, California
the search! •

24 / Desert M a g a z i n e / November, 1966


a true adventure with

The Ghosts
Port Isabel
y Marlin Childers :

I F SHIPS have ghosts and if ghosts


have children the ghost ships of Port
Isabel must be restless and confused and
the difficulties involved in official com-
missioning. With this co-mingling of
parts and papers, how was a self-respect-
the Colorado River. Many had been with-
out incident, but on several occasions our
physical and mental capacities were push-
the children wrought with uncertainty con- ing ghost ship to know with certainty its ed to their limits. Little did we realize
cerning their ancestry. The nearest mari- family tree? that the trip ahead of us was to be more
time office for boat licensing and registra- This disregard for maritime laws can trying than any previous sojourn into this
tion was in San Diego. By water that was be condoned when you consider the ex- land of mud.
1 500 miles away—south over the unpre- treme conditions under which commerce For years I had read about the former
dictable Sea of Cortez and back along the operated on the Colorado River during port of call at the head of the Gulf of
west coast of Baja California. Further- California. I had seen it documented on
the 19th century. These things Captain
more, it was difficule to operate the flat old maps, but there were no roads nor
John R. Myers and I reflected upon on
bottom boats upstream under the force of distances from known points to locate the
the way back to Yuma, Arizona after a
cross winds and the bore tide from the former repair facility and the exact loca-
harrowing trip to the abandoned ship-
Gulf offered a real danger. It a craft sur- tion was impossible to determine.
yard on the Colorado delta.
vived this peril, it might ram a mud bar
in the shallow river or encounter flood Captain Myers, U.S.N., better known Discouraged, I had given up hope of
waters from up-stream rains that could as "Dick" to his friends, became curious finding the former port when Dr. Rich-
destroy it in minutes. about the little-known delta lands during ard Merriam, a geologist from U.S.C.,
his duty at the El Centro Aero Space Re- showed me an aerial photo with a white
Those charged with keeping supplies covery Facility where he was the Com- rectangular area which could possibly be
and passengers moving on the Colorado manding Officer. Later he was transferred the location of Port Isabel. A few days
River and with the transporting of rich to Phoenix and our plans to explore it later, with Jim Adkins and Jim Bailey of
ore to ocean going vessels in the Gulf were interrupted until I revived his in- El Centro, California, I flew down across
found it expedient to convert and impro- terest with a telephone call to suggest he the delta and over the mud flats. We fol-
vise usable parts of unrepairable boats for join me on an expedition to seek out the lowed the well-defined San Jacinto fault
the use of other vessels. To accomplish lost 19th century Port Isabel. and located the rectangular white zone
this, they established a boat building and that appeared on the aerial photo. The
V( e met as scheduled and on our first
repair facility at the head of the Gulf and area was surrounded with debris foreign
night out camped at the top of the cliffs
another up-stream at Fort Yuma, or Colo- to the area. We felt certain this was the
overlooking the mud flats a few miles
rado City, as it was called then. Registra- former boat repair depot.
below El Doctor, Sonora, Mexico. We
tion and official papers from wrecked barbecued a steak, and while the campfire As we flew from the delta land, I felt
river craft were commonly transferred to flickered, reminisced of other trips into confident I could return to the Cliffs by
newly constructed boats in order to avoid little-known areas around the mouth of the old road to El Gulfo and find the

November, 1966 / Desert Magazine / 25


survey marker. I would then be able to came more aware that this inhospitable iron, varied in size from l/2 inch to four
spot the north tip of Gore Island and by land was not meant to be trespassed. The feet in length and hand-tooled wooden
taking a compass reading and following noon sun bore down on the salt covered parts had been carved to order. An old
it for six miles, I could expect to arrive mud, reflecting its heat into our faces wood hand-operated water pump with
at Port Isabel. Simple! The only catch and blinding our eyes. The motor bike, brass foot valve was still intact and inside
turned out to be that when we reached laden with mud, finally refused to budge the pump was a beautiful bottle, presum-
the survey marker by land, Dick Myers any further. ably dropped there while the pump was
and I could not see Gore Island. While we rested, sitting on the ma- in use. Interesting bottle and glass balls
chine, we considered the perilous situation lay everywhere; some purple and all
July first broke hot and humid. Our
we had created for ourselves. My eyes hand-blown.
never to be forgotten experience was
told me I was seeing something that re- Bellows used to start the forge furnaces
underway. We had brought along a trail
sembled the old shipyard I'd seen from were intact as was a windlass for raising
bike in order to carry back souvenirs and
the air. Finally convinced it was real, we the gates to control the flow of water
hoped the ground would be firm so one altered our course and struggled toward into the dry docks.
of us could ride the machine part of the it. Even without the burden of the mach- Only one building remains standing,
time. However, within 100 feet of the ine, the mud was formidable. As we ap- although there are signs of at least three
starting point we were using all of the proached the port, it became necessary to others near the larger dry dock.
machine's pulling power and all of our rest every few steps. At last we climbed After an hour of poking around, we
pushing power to keep it moving. Mud the elevated earth surrounding the dry left reluctantly, taking with us several
clung to its wheels and frame like taffy dock facility and found it firm enough bottles and some glass fish balls. Heat
candy. Because of my weight there was to bear our weight. from the sun had drawn water to the sur-

Old windlass was designed to raise and Old ropes, bottles, all kinds of debris Author inspects iron weight probably
lower floodgates which controlled access was found at Port Isabel. used to secure boats while being repaired.
and egress of water to drydock.

no riding for me, but Dick, some 35 It appeared that no one had visited the face and the mud which had been firm
pounds lighter, rode about 50% of the port since the last river boat departed and on our arrival was now soft while the
time. The other ")()% of the time, the that the end had come quickly. soft mud was .softer yet.
machine rode us. I felt like an intruder as I wandered In spite of the misery of the trip—I'll
We passed several ground water flows about, inspecting the various remnants of never do it again—I feel very close to
with tulles growing around them. The this once busy shipyard. The elevated this former epic in history and will always
water was evidently from sources oflier area around the dry dock facility was ap- wonder what, exactly, befell the boats of
than the Gulf, but tasted salty and brack- parently created by workmen while exca- Port Isabel. Do its ghosts rest in peace
ish. Some of these water flows were vating a sump in which to repair the or frustration 5
aligned and the direction and alignment damaged boats. It was here where we dis- There are relics with historical signifi-
was perpendicular to the San Jacmto and covered a wealth of interesting relics left cance which should be salvaged. It does
other major faults in the area. Future behind when the port was abandoned. not seem likely, however, that anyone
study by geologists may find this of sig- The ship fitters who worked there were will gain access to the old dry docks with
nificance. an ingenious group. Not only had they equipment capable of removing the heav-
In the areas where these water flows hand-forged metal parts to repair boats, ier items.
existed, the earth was soft and made pro- but they even manufactured the tools with One thing I am sure of: Visits to Port
gress difficult. We widened our distance which they performed these duties. Hand- Isabel haven't a chance of becoming a
from the cliffs and with each step, be- made nails and bolts, both brass and national pastime! •
26 / De:ert Magazine / November, 1966
An ideal fall weekend trip by either
passenger car or 4-wheel drive into the
Lanfair Valley and New York Mountains

The Road to in California's San Bernardino County,


including a mysterious telephone booth
out in the middle of nowhere!

Vanderbilt

-
Jit *
J by lack Pepper
m-
LTHOUGH THE Eastern financier for bottles," he said, producing three vin-
A probably was unaware of it, a once
prosperous gold mining town in Califor-
tage specimens.
It is easy to miss the short road to
southeast of the U.P. railroad station at
Ivanpah. This Ivanpah should not be con-
fused with the former mining town of
nia's San Bernardino County was named Vanderbilt from the gravel road. I passed Ivanpah located on the east slope of
after Cornelius Vanderbilt III. it twice before discovering the entrance Clark Mountain.
Vanderbilt is located 2 miles off a good which cuts through a small hill 2.2 miles Originally the road was a railroad bed,
gravel road which runs between Goffs but long ago the rails and ties were re-
on the south and U.S. Highway 15, ten moved and the top graded for automo-
miles south of the Nevada border on the biles. Although narrow, it is passable for
north. passenger cars for 1.4 miles to the first
Tile 37-mile Ivanpah Road between side road, from which the ruins of Van-
Goffs and Ivanpah is suitable for passen- derbilt may be seen to the right. Drivers
ger cars and is criss-crossed by numerous of passenger cars should leave their ve-
side roads leading to abandoned gold and hicles here and hike the short distance
silver mines and picturesque tree-covered up hill. Four-wheel drive vehicles can
country. Fascinating rock formations pro- make it up to the ruins. (Do N O T go up
to the next side road and enter. It leads
vide nooks and crannies for private camp-
to a working mine and trespassing is
ing. The area around Grotto Hills in Lan-
prohibited.)
fair Valley, and where the road passes
through New York Mountain, is excel- The largest frame building still stand-
lent for rock hunting. ing housed the offices of the Gold Bar
Mine built in 1900, the year the commun-
Near an abandoned mine I found a Why this working telephone booth was ity adopted Vanderbilt's name. Other
man digging down several feet deep in a put out in the middle of nowhere is a famous mines included the Boomerang,
wash. "I used to hunt for gems and min- moot quest/on as there are more jack original name of the community, Bonanza
erals, but now I have more fun digging rabbits than people around it. King and Gold Bronze. The area was de-

November, 1966 / Desert Magazine / 27


veloped by A. G. Campbell after being
discovered by Bob Black, a Piute Indian.
Campbell shipped a 10 stamp mill from
one of his Utah holdings and within a
few weeks things were booming.
There was only one problem; how to
ship the ore to market other than by slow
mule-train. Denver capitalist Isaac E.
Blake, who also had mining interests
throughout San Bernardino County,
solved the problem by constructing a
branch line from Goffs to a point just
south of Vanderbilt. This railroad, at the
summit of the New York Mountains, in-
spired the railroad junction town of
Manvel, built in 1892. Named for Allen
Manvel, then president of the A. & P.,
the name was later changed to Barnwell.
Its ruins are visible from the junction of
Ivanpah Road and Hart Mountain Road,
which continues on to Searchlight, Ne-
vada.
Named the Nevada Southern, the
branch line connected with the Atlantic
and Pacific (later the Atchison, Topeka
and Santa Fe) at Goffs. The next year
Blake financed another branch line con-
necting Manvel with the main line at
Ivanpah. Now connected to the outside
world by rail, Vanderbilt grew and pros-
pered as its 3000 inhabitants supplied
ore to a gold-hungry world.
Among a half-dozen saloons were the

Pepper and Wayne Purves use Got'dak's new Commander metal locator in
search of buried valuables around the mines at Vanderbilt, Below, after unhitching
the "Grasshopper." the author and his son prepare to use the versatile vehicle to ex-
plore the more rugged parts of the New York Mountains.

In front of a shell that once housed the


offices of the Gold Bar Mine, Bob Wil-
liams, Phoenix, Ariz., and his brother,
Dick Williams, Hacienda Heights, Calif,
discuss the colorful history of Vanderbilt
with Choral Pepper.

28 / Doserf Magazine / November, 1966


Gold Bar and Whist Club, open 24-
houn; a day. Virgil Earp, one-armed
brother of the famous marshall of Dodge STILL Survival Kit
City, owned the only two-story building NEW PROCESS PRODUCES 1 TO 2
in town where lodge meetings and dances HEAT QUARTS OF PURE WATER DAILY
were held. The community also had a
IN DRIEST DESERT
weekly newspaper, The Shaft, four restau-
rants, three boarding houses and a half- A Reusable kit for Survival and a
dozen general stores. Fascinating Experiment for the Young
Water was nearly as expensive as good Scientist. Easy to install and operate.
whiskey. Jim Fisk hauled it in and sold Complete Kit $2.49
it for $1.00 a barrel. Going a step fur-
WATER Send Check or Money Order plus 25c postage lo:
ther, he started an ice plant at Manvel DROPS
and supplied not only Vanderbilt, but DESERT MAGAZINE
also Searchlight, albeit on a limited basis Palm Desert, California 92260
since he could only produce a ton of ice HOW IT WORKS California residents add 10c sales tax.

daily.
As the ice melted and disappeared in
the hot sun, so did the veins of gold un-
der Vanderbilt. After producing several
million dollars worth of gold and silver TRI-PALM
during five bonanza years, the miners,
dance hall girls and merchants gradually
drifted away to resume their activities
ESTATES
elsewhere. Although there was still gold, A cJl&me Planned
the principal treatment by amalgamation
used in those days no longer worked on With Cou*it/uf, Club J.iuina
the low grade.
AdulU oj All
With the demise of Vanderbilt and the
construction of the San Pedro, Los An-
geles and Salt Lake Railroad through Only 2 hours
Las Vegas in 1905, which captured the from Los Angeles
Nevada markets once served by Manvel,
the railroad junction ceased to exist. As and 10 minutes
years passed, tracks were torn from the
beds, and transported away so today you
from Palm Springs
can hardly trace what once was the life-
line to Vanderbilt.
Another abandoned mine site which
may be seen from the Ivanpah Road
(called the Lanfair Road at the Goff's in- Own your own
tersection) is the Sagamore Mine (DES- 50 x 70 lot
ERT, July, '64). Many other mines,
reached by sideroads, are being reworked Not just a lease but r f £ " j *
today, so observe No Trespassing signs
and watch children, as mine shafts are a wise investment! I
not marked. It is not wise to explore From $2995—$495 Down—$35.81 per month
mining areas after dark. HERE ARE SOME OF YOUR COUNTRY CLUB ACTIVITIES
One of the best camping areas we've Unlimited golf on our championship course at no additional cost . . .
found in Southern California is located Perfect 7 channel Los Angeles TV reception at no extra cost . . . Seven
along the New York Mountain Road acre country club house . . . Imperial sized swimming pool . . . Thera-
which intersects the Ivanpah Road about peutic pool . . . Refrigerated clubhouse . . . Spacious community
17 miles from Goffs. We made our base kitchen . . . Year-round night patrol . . Crafts center . . . Color TV
camp here amid huge boulders and giant lounge and card room . . . Cinemascope and color movies . . . All
juniper trees. (See cover.) types of sports and recreation facilities . . . Wide paved streets . . .
Landscaped and lighted parkways.
After a day or two here, you'll be For CARE-FREE COUNTRY CLUB LIVING CALL or WRITE TODAY!
looking for an excuse to stay longer. If
you decide to call the boss to tell him TRI-PALM ESTATES Telephone: Area Code 7 1 4 FIRESIDE 6 - 2 9 2 0
about your sick, helpless old aunt, you P. O. Box 2686, Palm Springs, Calif. 92263
Gentlemen:
won't even have to return to the high- Tri-Palm Estates sounds like a place for me! Please send more information.
way Out here among the sage brush and
NAME
jack rabbits, on Ivanpah Road, you'll
ADDRESS
find just what you need—a telephone
booth! • CITY .. STATE ZIP..

November, 1966 / Desert Magazine / 29


Great Diamond Hoax
by Robert Hyatt

T HE GLORY days of wicked old


Shakespeare, two miles south of
Lordsburg, N. M., are gone forever but
A mystery like this is a challenge to
any reporter when it is remembered that
for the past century mining held the spot-
'The Great Diamond Hoax', published in
the 1880s) was involved, I am inclined
to accept his vague account of the precise
her fabulous memory lingers on and her light and mineral claims were quickly (sic) location. Since the entire thing was
ghosts are still chuckling. filed and recorded to prevent "jumpers" a hoax, and the perpetrators never did
Their merriment is not due to her from moving in. A departure from this publicly announce a location but kept it
wanton ways, for she was probably no strict rule would seem incredible in view a close secret except to the investigators,
more of a tart than many another mining of the enormous importance of the real who can really say? Newspaper accounts
camp of her day. It's because she alleged- estate involved. published were non-conclusive. Wild-
ly touched off a swindle of such heroic The possibility of an oversight in fil- eyed searchers looked in southeastern Ari-
proportions that it tickles the West to ing this claim seemed too freakish for zona, as Harpending points out, while
this day—even after nearly a century. these reporters to accept. The first step others went into northeastern Arizona—
was a canvass of the guardians of the in the vicinity of the Four Corners—hop-
We use the word "allegedly" because
five states' historical documents. A subse- ing to find the riches there . . . "
the exact location of the legendary "Great
Diamond Hoax" of the 1870s, a fraud quent exchange of letters reveal some in- Mrs. Enid T. Thompson of the State
that suckered many of the world's lead- teresting observations, but no facts. Here Historical Society of Colorado goes out
ing financiers out of millions and fooled are a few excerpts—the first from Mr. on no controversial limb. Her letter sim-
the top mining experts of the time, is Burt M. Fireman of the Arizona Histori- ply states that a reading of Richard Bart-
still unknown. cal Foundation, Phoenix, who takes an lett's "Great Surveys of the American
uncharitable view of the whole thing: West," and the Harpending book, will
How such a fabulous site could become
"lost" is one for Ripley, but such is the "It is beyond my belief why any state reveal the facts.
case. The fake diamond "field" which would want to 'claim' the site of the John James, Jr., Utah State Historical
launched this monumental swindle is Great Diamond Hoax. If others in the Society, is more daring, but undecided:
variously placed in Colorado, Arizona, Mountain Area wish the dubious honor, "The so-called 'Great Diamond Swin-
New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming, but let them have it. dle' took place in Utah or Colorado—at
can be pinpointed in none of them. Why? "Since Asbury Harpending (author of least one involving Asbury Harpending

30 / Desert Magazine / November, 1966


and Clarence King (government geolo-
gist) was in that area . . ."
Only Mrs. Katherine Halverson, Wy-
oming State Archives and Historical De-
partment, takes a wild swing that would
brush aside the shroud of mystery once
and for all. Says she:
"In reply to your question about where
the diamond swindle of the 1870s took
place, a famous diamond hoax in 1876
was perpetrated by two prospectors who
salted the Table Rock area in Carbon
County, Wyoming.
"The book (by Harpending) is the
most comprehensive material we can sug-
gest on the Wyoming diamond hoax in
which Horace Greeley, the Rothschilds
and others were taken in . . ."
Whoa, Mrs. Halverson! Were there
two diamond hoaxes? The one we're dis-
cussing seems, from the meager details
available, to have kicked off in 1871 or The old Grant house.
thereabouts, and had collapsed long be-
fore the date you mention. about geological reports, jewelers' apprai- they had a real find, and did so. They
From the Museum of New Mexico, in sals, company books and stock records, to took the precaution of blindfolding their
Santa Fe, we received only an unsigned say nothing of county or territorial mine guests when within 20 miles of the site,
card which advised us that the Historical claim records? How could all these docu- going and coming. Meanwhile, the dia-
Society was a private membership group ments vanish? monds they "found" were sent to Tif-
and did not fill mail requests for refer- And time. Someone over the years fany's, in New York, for appraisal. That
ence library service. must have talked, tipped off the location reputable firm placed a tentative value of
Here we have five professional history of the field. The instigators of the hoax gl 50,000 on them. All doubt faded.
groups (one mute) who are unable to must have crowed plenty. YX hen the startling figure hit the news-
agree on a place or even a date of an The more one digs into this dilemma papers, a sort of insanity ensued. Every-
evert that rocked the world 90-odd years the more insoluble it becomes. Yet we one wanted in on the deal, if it meant
ago. know the names of the perpetrators, the hocking their homes, their businesses, and
Now the big question: How could bank where the whole thing began, the even their souls to raise money to buy
there be all this uncertainty about the jewelry firm that assayed the original stock. A party, including Henry Janin,
time and location of a diamond field, rough gems, the geologists who tested one of the foremost geologists of the
faked though it was, when several ex- the field. And then we hit a blank wall. day, made the trip to test the field. They
perts examined it? What muzzled those were guided by Arnold and Slack, who
Let's review the event briefly. It started
experts when the bubble burst and a took the most circuitous route until the
in the early 1870s when two prospectors,
universal laugh went up- Were their confused party believed they were at
Philip Arnold and John Slack, walked
faces so red they refused to admit having least 10?) miles from the railroad whereas
into San Francisco's Bank of California
any connection with the stunt? What they were probably less than 20, or so
with a heavy sack of rough diamonds
the story goes. One of the greenhorns
which they claimed to have "found" in
thought he heard a train whistle, and per-
a nearby state.
LORDSBURGIJLL.
1 Bankers being what they are, they
haps he did, but Arnold joshed him out
s of it.
should have been instantly suspicious; no
Janin, the expert, and a man of un-
i/ diamonds have ever been found in the
continental United States. Geologically,
the odds were one in a million against
questioned integrity, pronounced the field
genuine. That clinched it. A company

SHAKESPEARE /
J such a find. Years later, some low-grade
industrial diamonds were unearthed in
Arkansas and are still found occasionally.
was formed with a capitalization of some
$10 million. Arnold and Slack were
bought out for $300,000 apiece (which
Were the California bankers blinded strangely ended up in Arnold's hands,
by the glitter before them, or by rosy while Slack was never heard from again),
visions of the vast profits to be gleaned and America's first diamond mine seemed
from a domestic deposit? Anyway, in no ready to produce untold wealth. Stock
time several financial wizards were up to sold like lottery tickets. More than $\^
" " " ' " ^ ^ , • *
their ears in the sensational "discovery" million worth was sold in England, the
and busy pencils were jotting down fig- majority of it by Asbury Harpending,
ures—dazzling figures. and sizable blocks were unloaded in

F
T The pair of scamps agreed to guide a
couple of men to the location to prove
other countries.
Then disaster.

November, 1966 / Desert Magazine / 31


Charles King, a sharp government geo- locale of the "diamond" field. Shake- successfully) for any diamonds the greedy
logist, inspected the field. He might have speare underwent a rash of name-chang- might have overlooked.
turned in a glowing report like Janin, ing. About 1865, Uncle Johnny Evensen, The site, as she recalls, and as Johnny
except for one thing: he found a curious an employee of the Butterfield Stage Evensen told her, was a bluff of no
diamond—one already cut and polished! Lines, built a relay station at the foot of great prominence called Lee's Peak, hard
Outraged, King reported, "The clumsi- the Pyramid Mountains and called it by the town, and she had it on authority
est salting job I have ever seen." Grant. Or someone else did. A few years of one who claimed to know, that some
And that was that. later it became Ralston City after the of the gems used to trick the experts were
California financier had invested in some still there. Perhaps they still are. Nearly a
Now, how had all these experts been
nearby silver claims. But long before century has passed since the international
so completely gulled? There were many
either of these names came into being, scandal and literally hundreds of people
explanations at the time, much rationali-
the place was known as Mexican Spring have searched vast areas and old records
zation, but the main reason must have
and Round Mountain Spring, for a in five states for the "lost" field. If any-
been they wanted so badly to believe in
trickle of water that kept a rock basin body found it, he has not come forward.
the impossible.
filled, now long since gone. Mr. and Mrs. Frank Hill and their
It seems to be well known that Arnold
purchased the rough diamonds in Amster- It was in 1879 that Col. William Boyle, daughter have for many years been the
dam and London, smuggled them into the wealthy and high-ranking British mining sole residents of Shakespeare and now
U. S. through Canada, and salted the engineer, came to the area from St. Louis own the town. Their unique dwelling is
field over a period of years, letting a and renamed the ramshackle town Shake- the old mercantile store which they have
couple of winters obliterate all traces of speare—not, certainly, because of any converted into a local museum.
his work. semblance to the Bard's home. One of its Mrs. Hill recently published the re-
three streets he dubbed Avon Avenue and sults of 25 years' research, in which she
When the crash came, Westerners
then, either foreseeing a future in its ore presents evidence for Shakespeare's hav-
howled with glee—those who hadn't
(the diamond scandal had simmered ing been the true location of the salted
been stung. Arnold, a Kentuckian (as
were Slack and Harpending), became down), or in a burst of nostalgia, built a field. She notes conversations with child-
something of a hero in his native Harlan hotel and called it the Stratford Hotel. ren or close kin of former residents and
County where, with the passing years, he The north wall of this old hostelry, a few with aged residents who were still
seems to have gradually slipped into still standing, was part of a Confederate alive a quarter-century ago. In none of
anonymity, but with a tidy fortune to ease fort built by Indian labor brought from these interviews was she able to learn
his declining years. Texas. Over the years, many prominent much about the swindle because, as she
guests signed the register, among them says, "They were afraid to talk,"
Most of the prominent names connect-
Gen. Lew Wallace, Robert Ingersoll, and All those interviewed said that after
ed with the swindle faded. Banker Ral-
Col. Boyle himself. Once, down on his the scheme collapsed, many residents
ston, whose financial institution sparked
luck, Billy the Kid is said to have washed moved out, apparently fearful of danger-
the hoax, was also a key figure in Shake-
dishes in its kitchen to pay for meals. ous repercussions. They stated that the
speare during and after its "diamond
boom." He ended up swimming out into Raiding Apaches were always a menace diamond promoters brought in a dozen
the Pacific and was never heard form and frequent visitations by outlaws kept Texas gunmen to "keep order" but pri-
again. Suicide? the populace jittery. John Ringo, Curly marily to see that no one got near the
Bill Brocius, Sandy King and Russian salted area.
The much-quoted Asbury Harpending,
Bill were among the bad men who bellied The gunmen, according to these ac-
who actually was as close to Arnold and
up to the bar in Roxy Jay Saloon, the counts, warned all departing residents to
Slack as three fingers in a knothole, tried
the town's social center. When a vigil- never talk about the diamond fiasco, if
to clear himself of stigma by writing his
ante committee was formed to clean up they wanted to keep on living.
"expose" book, The Great Diamond
the town, they hanged King and Russian All accounts agree that Asbury Har-
Hoax, wherein he made no mention of
Bill from a rafter in the dining room of pending was seen often with Arnold and
his own shenanigans in the fraud. Those
the Grant Hotel, which also stands. The Slack, and that Arnold was known as
who knew him well at the time were well
rafter served as gallows for the simple "Notorious Arnold" because of other
aware of his association with Arnold and
reason that it was the only substantial shady deals in the Territory. These things
Slack and of his promotion and stock-
beam in town; there were no handy trees. may or may not be substantiating evidence
selling activities in the salted field.
The Roxy Jay was torn down around for Shakespeare's claim as the locale of
Other well-known names connected
1895 and its lumber and bricks hauled to the diamond field. They are too nebulous
with the fraud might be dredged up, but
Lordsburg where that town's first church to be called proof. On the other hand, no
whether they were on the profit or loss
was built of them. It is still in use. area in the four other states involved has
side of the caper is not known because
come up with even a tenth of such evi-
the documents bearing their names ap- The late Mrs. Emma Marble Muir, who
dence supporting such a claim.
parently do not exist. This seems incred- became a well-known historian of south-
ible when you consider that while winners So, until something better in the way
western New Mexico, left many recol-
in a fraud may clam up for obvious rea- of final proof is available, the bluff of
lections of her life in Shakespeare. Born
sons, losers always squawk, threaten or Lee's Peak near Shakespeare will hold the
in Virginia City, Nevada, her father had dubious honor among the "experts" as
start lawsuits. There are no records of worked for Ralston for years. The family
such. Is it logical to assume that all rec- the place where Arnold and Slack salted
moved to Shakespeare about 10 years the earth with rough diamonds.
ords of the swindle have been rifled?
after the diamond hoax. Mrs. Muir refers And don't forget the ghosts of Shake-
This brings us to Shakespeare, which to many persons who had first-hand speare ! They have a glitter and a sparkle
didn't exist by that name in the early knowledge of the glittering fraud and re- that the shades of ordinary ore camps
70s, but which seems the most likely counts that as a youngster she dug (un- never acquired. D

32 / Desert Magazine / November, 1966


A monthly feature by
the author of
Ghost Town Album,
Ghost Town Trails,
Ghost Town Shadows and
GEM MAKING AS A HOBBY
Ghost Town Treasures.
A NEW AND EXCITING BROCHURE
FEATURING BASIC INFORMATION

Grafton, Utah AND IDEAS FOR THE ROCK HOBBY|

PLUS A CATALOG OF THE


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BY LAMBERT FLORIN

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MOVING?

SO YOU WILL NOT MISS AN ISSUE


ROM ITS inception in the 1820s, the smaller villages scattered in an area even NOTIFY US AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.

F Church of Latter Day Saints had en-


dured persecution by outsiders the Mor-
more desolate than the original homesite
by the Wasatch. One of these satelite There is a change of address form
in your current
mons termed "Gentiles." At last the towns was Grafton.
brethren found a homesite in the valley The site selected was on the south bank
of the Great Salt Lake. Here they set to of the Virgin River in full view of sev-
work bringing water from the Wasatch eral of the "Temples of Zion" in what
Mountains to the arid but fertile lands now is Zion National Park. The first
below, building houses and planting building erected was one of logs, a
gardens. The place seemed a permanent
refuge where members of the faith could
live in peace, until it became painfully
school. As others were raised, the Mor-
mons planted cotton, corn and vegetables.
Then all this activity, sparked by lead-
STOP
evident that available food and lumber er Nathan T. Tenney, was wiped out That thief with "LOCK STRAP"!
were insufficient for the rapidly burgeon- when raging flood waters of the Virgin A revolutionary new design
ing population. destroyed most of the infant town. What attaches to front and
Family after family was notified by the settlers didn't know was that thunder- rear slot. For all G.I. cans
leader Brigham Young that stakes must storms in the Zion area were almost im- and all 6 " high rear
again be pulled and belongings piled on mediately followed by massive run-offs panels. All steel construc-
wagons and handcarts. Many grumbled, in the drainage system, with the Virgin
tion and electric welded.
some accepted with stoicism. Soon Provo, TYPE E ONLY $5.00
receiving accumulated waters in a raging Calif, residents add
Ogden and Brigham City sprang up
torrent. 4 % sales tax.
from the desert floor and forts were es-
tablished as far away as Idaho. Then the Next year a new Grafton was started SEND FOR FREE BROCHURE SHOWING FIVE

tide turned south to a land where cotton about a mile upstream. The schoolhouse OTHER MODELS TO FIT ANY VEHICLE.
DEALER INQUIRIES INVITED.
raising could be attempted, a land they was moved, log by log. Other buildings
would call Dixie. St. George became the were salvaged, new fields plowed and LOCK STRAP
metropolis, the center of a cluster of planted. Cotton plants bloomed and burst 329 Wtit Lomlti Avt , Dipt. D, Qlendalt, Calif 91204

November, 1966 / Desert Magazine / 33


into fluffy balls. At least they were sup- of four inches, it became sluggish as a
O I « £ C T F R O M A U S T R A L I A
posed to. All too often a late frost or sign of maturity. At this time brushy
OPALS and SAPPHIRES even a cool spell crippled or killed the twigs or other supports were provided.
This Month's Best Bit) tender plants. An irrigation system was Upon these the worms attached them-
SPECIAL ROUGH AIRMAIL OFFER started across the river at a small sette- selves and spun surrounding cocoons.
1 ol Coober Pedy Opal, 1 oz Andamooka
Opal, 1 oz Opal Matrix (Nat. colors, not
ment called Duncan's Retreat. There Some of these, males and females dif-
dyed) All good sizes, quality for cutting. settlers got together $1800 to finance the fering in size, were saved for future
ALL 3 OZS. FREE AIRMAIL $18.00 digging of a ditch to carry water to their generations of silkworms, others were put
Send personal cheque, international money fields. Chapman Duncan, founder of the to death in hot water. Dried out, the co-
order, bank draft. Free 16 page list of all town, was charged with the job. Lacking coons were gently brushed with some-
Australian Gemstones. engineering knowledge, Duncan dug his
Australian Gem Trading Co. thing similar to a whiskbroom twisted
294 Little Collins Street
canal away from the stream. When the into stronger strands. In Salt Lake City,
MELBOURNE, C.I. AUSTRALIA needed fluid was turned into the conduit, the crude product was made into the
the water refused to flow. It was then
first silk dresses seen in the colonies.
villagers composed a little song to be
JlWtlRY CRAFTS CATALOG About this time the Virgin removed
sung to the tune of Dixie. "Oh, away
19 down in Pocketville, where Duncan dug almost all tillable soil, forcing settlers to
FREE 6 pages retreat to the raising of cattle and sheep.
Lapidary — rockhounding — jewelry making. his ditch uphill!"
add up to a fascinating creative art! Stock was driven to Zion highlands in
Even when irrigation methods became summer and brought down to the mild
GET CRAFT'S BIGGEST CATALOG more dependable, making possible big climate of the lowlands in the winter. No
World's largest selection — over 10,000 items crops of cotton, troubles weren't over. sooner had this adjustment to fate been
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STONES—JEWELRY MATERIALS Now the market was glutted. Lint from made when a final blow fell. Grafton
MOUNTINGS —BOOKS —CRAFT TOOLS Grafton's tiny hand-made gin with that was attacked by Indians. Abandoned en-
MACHINERY— SUPPLIES—ETC.
from Rockville, Virgin City, Santa Clara tirely, as a result of this, the town was
SEND FOR FREE, CATALOG
and other centers grew into supplies for
GRIEGER'S, INC. doomed to extinction.
which there was no market. While Brig-
30 -1633 E. Wolnut—Paiadena, Our photo shows the little cemetery
ham Young and his elders huddled over
this emergency, the inhabitants of Dixie on the fringe of Grafton. Many of the
turned to another project, that of pro- stones bear names of settlers followed by

AUTHORS!
If you have completed a book-length manu-
script, you may be interested in our special
ducing silk. the grim phrase, "Killed by Indians."
Evidently some savages died in skir-
Their almost omnipotent leader, mishes, too. In a far corner are several
Young, had instructed the settlers to wooden markers carved with brief in-
publishing plan. Under this program, many plant mulberry trees right at the start. scriptions. One reads "Ind Puss." In the
lawyers, executives, teachers, scholars and
even housewives have seen their work pub-
lished, promoted and marketed on a digni-
These by now were large enough to bear left background looms Mount Kinesavu,
fied, professional basis. All subjects con- a good crop of foliage. Silkworm eggs, a red rampart on the outer fringes of
sidered — non-fiction, fiction, poetry, etc.
Send for our free 40-page illustrated bro- arriving in semi-dormant condition in Zion.
chure today. Ask for Booklet, D.
early spring, were kept cool until mul
VANTAGE PRESS. INC. berry leaves burgeoned, then brought out A narrow steel bridge crosses the Vir-
120 W. 31st St.. New York 1. N.Y. into light and warmth to hatch. Leaves gin at Rockville. From its south end, a
In Calif.: 6253 Hollywood Blvd., L.A.
In Wash., D.C.: 1010 Vermont Ave., N.W. were clipped into fine pieces and spread primitive road leads north aproximately
over trays. The shreds increased in size as two miles to Grafton. Town and cemetery
GOLDAK and DETECTRON hungry worms (in reality caterpillars) are on private ground given over to
METAL DETECTORS grew. When the larvae attained a length cattle. (Watch out for the bull.) •
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Pala, Calif 'rMe not thirsty—just stalking antelope'

34 / Desert Magazine / November, 1 966


Hints for Desert Travelers Metal Detectors
BOUGHT — SOLD — TRADED
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This month's hint contributed by Evelyn A. Farwell Rayscope, GeoFinder, Metrotech
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AVE YOU ever tried cooking in a foil or in a dutch oven, in the hole. Cover mud, water, 4

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by primitive people in many countries. one foot in depth to 18 inches. Then for- RELCO Dept. D - l 8 Box 10563, Houston 18, Texas

First you must dig a hole in dry get it!


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the very minimum. Fill it with wood and Dutch oven will cook in about four hours. I v i a 4-WHEEL
conrinue to pile wood over it. You Timing needn't be exact so long as there
should have a pile of wood about three is sufficient moisture in the pot. In ad-
times the size of your hole. If you are dition to roast beef, I have cooked corned
doing this on the desert, you'd better beef with all vegetables except cabbage, i front end drag in 2 w . d .
bring your wood along with you. Hard- which is cooked separately so as to not for highway speed, economy!
wood makes the best coals. overcook; chicken, fish chowders, and Save gas, gears, tires, engine! Get where
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After hole is dug and wood piled in and New England style pork and beans (these drive, take rough stuff in 4 w.d. when you
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burn down to coals. Next, remove some when you cook in a hole because flavors HUBS Locking Hubs. Over a million now in use.
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BOX 3 7 , LAKEWOOD, CALIFORNIA 1513 West Romneya Drive — Anaheim, Calif. JACKSON, W Y O M I N G

November, 1966 / Desert Magazine / 35


T r a d i n g Pest HOW TO PLACE YOUR AD
•fa Mail your copy and first-insertion remit-
tance to: Trading Post, Desert Magazine,

CLASSIFIEDS Palm Desert, California 92260. Classified


rates are 25c per word, $5 minimum
per insertion.
DEADLINE FOR CLASSIFIED ADS IS 1OTH OF
SECOND M O N T H PRECEDING COVER DATE.
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• BOOKS - MAGAZINES Railroads, towns, camps, camel trail. $1.50.
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Rt. 1, Box 582, Eagle Point, Oregon.
heim, California. supplies, mountings, equipment, black lights.
"ASSAULT ON BAJA"—newest Baja book. L. Why not stop and browse? Shamrock Rock
OFFICIAL GHOST towns and historical sites, 785 Burr Belden says, "provides reader with zest Shop, 593 West La Cadena Drive, Riverside,
California locations and descriptions, $1.95. of discovery." 75 pages, 30 photos. $2.00 Calif. OVerland 6-3956.
Miracle Enterprises, 1825 Miracle Mile, Tuc- tax included. E. Washburn, 3934 Cortland,
son, Arizona. Lynwood, California. POCKET GOLD, $2. Placer gold, $2. Gold dust,
$1. Attractively displayed. Postpaid. Money-
JUST RELEASED! "Guide to Old Bottles, Contents "1200 BOTTLES PRICED"—well illustrated, com- back guarantee. Lester Lea, Box 1125D, Mt.
& Prices." 250 illustrations, ads, labels plus plete description, covers entire field, 164 Shasta, California.
price list, $2.75. Valuable cross reference to pages, by J. C. Tibbitts, first president of
"Handbook for the Bottleologist;" 1000 bot- Antique Bottle Collectors Association and edi- CHOICE MINERAL specimens, gems, cutting ma-
tles, description and rarity, $2.75. Both for tor of the "Pontil," $4.25 post paid. The terial, machinery, lapidary and jewelers sup-
$5. Richard Fike, 1135 Maxfield Dr., Ogden, Little Glass Shack, 3161-B 56th St., Sacra- plies, mountings, fluorescent lamps, books.
Utah 84404. mento, Calif. 95820. Sumner's, 21108 Devonshire, Chatsworth, Cal.

36 / Desert Magazine / November, 1966


• HOME STUDY • OLD COINS, STAMPS • TREASURE FINDERS
LEARN OIL painting by mail. Also casein or DOLLARS—1878 CC Mint $3.50, very good. FIND BURIED coins, treasures, gold, silver with
acrylic. Amateur, advanced. Easy, fascinating, 1878-79-80-81-82 S. Mint, 1883-84-85-99- sensitive new 1966 transistor "Electronic
1900-01-04 O Mint uncirculated $3 each. Prospectors." Free information. Sensitronix,
naiuralistic. Easy payments. Art, Box 486,
100 page catalog, Coins, 50c. Shultz, Salt 2225-L Lou Ellen, Houston, Texas 77018.
Mcntrose, Colorado. Lake City, Utah 84110.
NEW 1966 Goldak treasure, coin, gold, silver
locators. Goldak, Dept. DMC, 1544 W. Glen-
• INDIAN GOODS • PHOTO SUPPLIES oaks, Calif. 91201.
CUSTOM FILM finishing by mail since 1932.
SUCCESSFUL INDIAN relic mail-order business.
Morgan Camera Shop "The complete photo- • WESTERN GOODS
Owner retiring. $18,000—$22,000 yearly. graphic store," 6262 Sunset Blvd., Holly-
How to buy, what to buy, what to pay, where GHOST TOWN items: Sun-colored glass, ame-
wood, California 90028.
to sell. Work home, full time, part-time. Our thyst to royal purple; ghost railroads ma-
terials, tickets; limited odd items from camps
experience, sources of supply guide you.
$1500 capital required. Be your own boss. If • PLANTS, SEEDS of the '60s. Write your interest—Box 64-D,
Smith, Nevada.
sincerely interested write: Blackhawk, Uma- SMOKETREES, JOSHUA TREES: Germinate $3.25,
tilla 8, Oregon. Precocial $9.50, Large $100. Smoketree or
Joshua Germinate airmailed for $3.25 plus • MISCELLANEOUS
SELLING 20,000 Indian relics. 100 nice ancient $1.95 handling. Rancho Environmental Nur-
arrowheads $25. Indian skull $25. List free. sery. 71554 Samarkand, Twentynine Palms, LIKE GRANDMA used to make—sourdough
Lear's, Glenwood, Arkansas. Calif. 92277. bread, flapjacks, biscuits, donuts. For details
TWO INDIAN WAR arrowheads, scalping knife, on how to prepare these delicious old western
POTTED BONSAI Cork Oak, Ginkgo, or Red-
flint thunderbird, two perfect bird arrow- recipes, plus the history of Sourdough, send
wood guaranteed living and catalog, $1 each
heads, all for $5. Catalog free. Arrowhead, postpaid. Bonsai trees and accessories catalog $1 to K. F. Cook, 9025 Adoree, Downey,
G'enwood, Arkansas 71943. alone, 10c. Westarbor, Box 486-FE, La Can- California.
ada, Calif. 91011. OMNI-WAVE improves radio reception, clearer,
FINE RESERVATION-MADE Navajo, Zuni, Hopi
EL RANCHO Galapagos Cactus Growers. You more volume. Easily constructed. Complete
jewelry. Large selection of old pawn and
are invited to visit our greenhouses and cactus plans $2. California residents add sales tax.
Kcchina dolls now in stock. Many fine old
gardens on the east slope of Copper Moun- Pollard Precision Products, 23032 Strathern,
baskets, moderately priced, in excellent con-
tain. Star Route 1, Box 710, Twentynine Canoga Park, Calif. 91304.
dition Navajo rugs, Yei blankets, Chimayo
blankets, pottery. A collector's paradise! Open Palms, California. TWO "WILL" Forms (finest quality) and lawyer's
daily 10 to 5:30, closed Mondays. Buffalo CACTUS: ARIZONA varieties, Texas and Mexican 64 page booklet about "Wills"—complete,
Trading Post, Highway 18, Apple Valley, imports. Junior assortment 10 varieties $3 $1.00. National Forms, Box 48313-DS, Los
California. postpaid in U.S.A. Mail orders carefully filled. Angeles 48, California.
Visitors cordially invited. Cactus Fair, Wicken-
AUTHENTIC INDIAN jewelry, Navajo rugs, Chi-
burg, Arizona 85358.
mayo blankets, squaw boots. Collector's
items. Closed Tuesdays. Pow-Wow Indian CHIA SEED, with story: 12 ounces, $1.50; 3'/,
pound $5.00; 18 pound $21.00. Pollen Chia
Send for FREE Catalog of our
Trading Post, 19967 Ventura Blvd., East
Woodland Hills, Calif. Open Sundays. Commerce, Box 215 ID, Prescott, Arizona.
Recommended Books
WANTED: OLD Indian basket collections in good
condition. Indian Baskets of Tucson, 2225 • REAL ESTATE
East Blacklidge Drive, Tucson, Arizona.

• MAPS
FOR RENT—one-bedroom duplex with apart-
ment-sized stove, $70 month. Ideal for re-
tired couple. Play golf $20 month, within 30
miles of mountain recreation. Call (805) 947-
TktUL
Magazine Bookshop
SECTIONIZED COUNTY maps — San Bernardino 1393 or write L. R. Bertles, 836 East Avenue
$3; Riverside $ 1 ; Imperial, small $ 1 , large P-15, Palmdale, Calif. 93550.
$2; San Diego $1.25; Inyo $2.50; Kern $1.25, 400,000,000 ACRES government public land in PALM DESERT, CALIFORNIA 92260
other California counties $1.25 each. Nevada 25 states. Some low as $1.00 acre. 1966
counties $1 each. Include 4 percent sales tax. report. Details $1.00. Public Land, 422DM
Topographic maps of all mapped western Washington Building, Washington, D.C.
areas. Westwide Maps Co., 1 14 West Third
S'Teet, Los Angeles 1 3, California.
• TREASURE FINDERS
OREGON BOOMS and busts map now available. EXCITING ADVENTURE locating hidden loot,
Complete showing of ghost towns on either treasure, relics, etc. with powerful, electronic
folded field map $1.00 or parchment suitable STATEMENT OF OWNERSHIP
M-Scope locator. Lightweight. Guaranteed.
for mounting $2.00. White's Electronics, Inc.,
Very easy terms. Send for free booklet, in- Statement of ownership, management and cir-
Sweet Home, Oregon 97386.
teresting customer reports. Fisher Research, culation (Act of October 23, 1962: Section
ARIZONA TREASURE Map: 72 legendary lost Dept. KJY, Palo Alto, California. 94302. 4369, Title 39, United States Code).
mines and hidden treasures. Also, ghost LOOKING FOR treasure: Complete detailed cir- 1. Date of filing: October 1, 1966.
towns, settlements and forts—29 x 35 inches, cuit information to build low-cost transistor 2. Title of publication: DESERT Magazine.
$2.00. Box 10176, Phoenix, Arizona. metal locator and small detector, two circuits
$2. Treasure Hunter, Box 1796, Costa Mesa, 3. Frequency of issue: Monthly.
Calif. 4. Location of known office of publication:
MINING BUILD YOUR OWN commercial type detector. Palm Desert, Calif. 92260.
Find buried treasure, gold, silver, coins. Sen- 5. Location of the headquarters or general
UTAH ASSAYING Co., gold and silver specialists. sitive four transistor circuit with speaker. business offices of the publishers: Palm Desert,
Gold, silver, leod, copper: 1.50 each. Spec- Easy picture-illustrated instructions, schematic, California 92260.
trographs $5 each. 172 North 9th West, Salt parts list, $5.00 prepaid. Janeston Electronics, 6. Names and addresses of publisher and
Lake City, Utah 841 16. Box A, Blanchard, Oklahoma 73010. editor: Publisher: Jack Pepper, 45-805 Cielito
WEEKEND PROSPECTORS! Kits for 8-foot sluice NEW TRANSISTOR instrument detects buried Drive, Palm Desert, Calif.
box, portable, knocks down to 1 x '/2 x 3 coins, firearms, treasures, gold, silver. $19.95, Editor: Choral Pepper, 45-805 Cielito Drive, Palm
feet, comes with pan and operating instruc- up. Free catalog. Relco A-18, Box 10563, Desert, Calif.
tions, $19.95. Dry washes, complete, $59.95. Houston 1 8, Texas. 7. Owner: Jack Pepper dba DESERT Magazine.
Plans and instructions only for sluice box POWERFUL METROTECH locators detect gold, sil- 8. Bondholders, mortgagers, security holders:
kits, $2.00. Complete map of gold bearing ver, coins, relics. Moneyback guarantee. Terms None.
areas for placer mining in California, $1.00. free information. Underground Explorations, 9. Re No. 8: None.
Prospector's Supply Company, P. O. Box 1342, Dept. 3A, Box 793, Menlo Park, California.
Canoga Park, California. 10. Average over 12 month period of issues
FIND LOST or hidden treasures with new tran- from November, 1965 to October, 1966: 47,000
ASSAYS. COMPLETE, accurate, guaranteed. High- sistor metal detector, underwater metal de- copies printed, 23,350 paid circulation, 22,688
est quality spectrographic. Only $5.00 per tectors, scintillation counters, etc. Free litera- mail subscriptions, 46,038 total paid circulation,
sample. Reed Engineering, 620-R So. Ingle- ture. Gardiner Electronics, Dept. 5 1 , 4729 500 free distribution, 46,538 total distribution,
wood Ave., Inglewood, California. North 7th Ave., Phoenix, Arizona. 462 office use, spoiled, etc.

November, 1966 / Desert Magazine / 37


T)ut/tL COOKERY
Food Editor *Jx-te.

MANDARIN CRANBERRY SALAD DELICIOUS SEA FOOD SALAD BUTTERMILK FRUIT SALAD
1 package lemon Jello DRESSING
1 envelope unflavored gelatine
2 tablespoons sugar 1 tablespoon gelatine 2 tablespoons flour
i y 2 cups water % teaspoons salt
1 11 oz. can Mandarin oranges
3 tablespoons lemon juice y 4 teaspoon dry mustard
2 tablespoons lemon juice 11/2 cups salad dressing
1 16 oz. can whole cranberry dash cayenne pepper
1 cup crab meat
sauce 2 cups shrimp 3 tablespoons sugar
y 2 cup finely diced celery 1 small can of pimento, cut in % cup buttermilk
V2 cup chopped pecans or slivered small pieces 1 slightly beaten egg
blanched almonds 1 small bottle of stuffed olives, 1 tablespoon salad oil
Drain Mandarin oranges and place sliced i y 2 tablespoons wine vinegar
syrup in a sauce pan; add gelatine, IV2 cups chopped celery
Soak gelatine in y 2 cup cold water. y 4 cup orange juice
and sugar, place over low heat and Combine flour, salt, mustard, cay-
stir constantly until gelatine is dis- Dissolve Jello in 1 cup hot water.
Add the soaked gelatine to the hot enne and sugar and cook in heavy
solved, then remove from heat. Add pan over low heat, or in double
lemon juice, cranberry sauce, diced Jello and stir until completely dis-
solved. Beat in the salad dressing boiler. Gradually stir in beaten egg
celery, Mandarin oranges cut in and buttermilk. Stir constantly
halves and chopped nuts. Pour into with rotary beater until blended.
When mixture begins to thicken, add while cooking. When thickened, re-
ring mold and refrigerate. Unmold move from heat and stir in oil, vine-
on bed of greens, if desired top with all the other ingredients, gently fold-
ing crab and shrimp into it. Serves gar and orange juice. If too thick you
mayonnaise. Mayonnaise thinned may thin with a little cream. This is
with strawberry yogurt makes a 10.
good with fruit salads or cabbage-
pretty pink topping. Serves 9.
pineapple slaw. Recipe makes about
LOW CALORIE SLAW DRESSING
i y 2 cups.
This is as good as a sour cream
dressing, and the lime flavor adds
an unusual taste.
Into a carton of lime-flavored yogurt,
stir V3 cup vinegar, salt to taste
JERUSALEM PUDDING and 1 tablespoon sucaryl. Stir into a
MOCHA SALAD
bowl of shredded cabbage. This will
1 envelope gelatin dress a small head of cabbage. 1 3 oz. package of orange-
V2 cup cold water Serves six. banana gelatine
V2 cup powdered sugar 1 teaspoon instant coffee
1 cup cooked rice MACARONI SALAD 1 cup boiling water
1 pint whipping cream 1 Ib. elbow macaroni y 4 cup cold water
V2 cup chopped figs 8 oz. bottle French dressing 1 3 oz. package cream cheese,
y 2 cup chopped dates 2 tablespoons chopped Bermuda softened
onions
V2 cup blanched, slivered almonds 1 small can crushed pineapple
Freshly ground pepper to taste
V2 cup chopped candied cherries y 2 cup chopped pecans
1 carton dairy sour cream
Soak gelatin in cold water for 10 i/ 2 cup flaked coconut
Cook macaroni in boiling salted
minutes, then set in pan of hot water water until tender; rinse and drain. Dissolve gelatine and coffee in boil-
until dissolved; add powdered sugar, When macaroni is cold, combine ing water; add cold water. Blend in
salt and a teaspoon vanilla and add dressing, pepper and onion and mix softened cheese and chill mixture
to rice and fruit. Whip cream until with macaroni. Let marinate over- until it begins to thicken. Fold in
stiff and fold into mixture. Chill. night in refrigerator. At serving time, undrained pineapple, nuts and coco-
This may be placed in a long loaf blend in sour cream and salt to nut. Spoon into mold and chill until
pan and sliced to serve, topped with taste. This is delicious and will serve firm. This is an unusual salad and
whipped cream. 10. very good.

38 / Desert Magazine / November, 1966


A DESERT Magazine Gift Subscription
with a beautiful Christmas Gift Card.
A Handsome Brown Vinyl Binder to
Letters requesting answers must include stamped self-addressed envelope preserve issues throughout the year.

BY GIVING DESERT
Hot Stuff. . . The Tree Grows in Libertad . . . YOU'LL BE REMEMBERED
To the Editor: The article about amateur pros- To the Editor: In Part II of your Baja series EVERY MONTH OF THE YEAR
pecting in your October issue was interesting, you said the Cirio grows only in Ba)a. How do
but the writer stated that tests could be made you account for those I saw in Libertad on the JUST FILL OUT THE ENVELOPE IN THIS
with a few inexpensive chemicals which arc- Sonora coast across the Gulf. ISSUE AND WE'LL DO THE REST!
not dangerous. I disagree. Nitric is a danger- DAVID YOUNG.
ous, strong corrosive acid and should not be
handled without proper precautions. Mercury Editor s comment: 1 should have said they grow
is also dangerous, which is good to know, be- only in Mexico, but even that could be wrong.
According to Vegetation of the Sonoran Desert
LOOKING FOR A
cause amateur gold miners sometimes use it
to recover gold. The fumes produced by "burn- by Shreve and Wiggam, the Cirio (Indria CHRISTMAS GIFT?
ing out" with mercury are deadly. columnaris) is the most bizarre plant of the
Sonora Desert. There are large stands spread
DONALD E. LEAKE,
Long Beach, California.
here and there between Rosario and Sta. Ro-
saalia in Baja and a single small grove around
Libertad in Sonora. According to Meet Flora
Cooking and
Mexicana, the Desert Museum near Tucson and
More Pickled Heads . . .
To the Editor: In the Aug/Sept. Letters, there-
was a picture of Murrieta's pickled head. I
the Boyce Thompson Arboretum near Superior,
Arizona hare suceeded in cultivating a few
which may be seen there.
Camping on the
think maybe someone had better pickle another
one—lighter colored and more slender. My
grandfather, his father and brother came to
California from Hermosillo, Mexico, in the
Readers who hare never seen a Cardan, the
largest species of cacti, which is so remarkable
in Baja. might like to know that El Rancho
Galapagos, the well-known cactus grower in
Desert
same caravan with the Murrietas during the 29 Palms, has presented DESERT's editor with by Choral Pepper
goldtush in 1849. According to my grandpa, a Cardon to display in the Desert Magazine
Murrieta was about 6-feet tall and weighed 175 bookshop. Any reader with a "wicked sense
with a chapter on
pounds. My grandfather identified him when of humor" is invited to see it! C.P.
he was dead! Driving and Surviving
MANUEL AVON,
lrwindal, California. on the Desert
Colorful Tourists . . . by Jack Pepper
To the Editor: We took our binder of 1965
Fight For Glory . . . issues with us on our vacation and reviewed
To the Editor: In October there appeared a some articles on places we wanted to see. It
was because of your article on The Valley of
letter from Mr. Frank Masland giving the
startling news that in Pennsylvania exists a Fire that we visited and enjoyed an overnight COOKING and
stay there in our trailer. Among other places
Box Huckleberry Bush over 13,000 years old.
If true, this bush was at least 8,000 years old we enjoyed were Lake Powell, Bryce, Zion, CAMPING
and Oak Creek Canyon. We are going to call
when California's "Oldest Living Thing on
Earth," the Bristlecone Pine, was just starting our slide trip "To the Land of Color." I want on the DESERT
to grow. I would like to see DESERT Maga- to say thank you for printing such an inter-
zine follow up Mr. Masland's claim for the esting magazine. CHORAL PEPPER
Huckleberry Bush with a special article which MRS. K. F. McGINNIS,
would deal with what seems now to be a con- Camanllo, California.
troversial issue over what is the oldest living
thing on earth.
Whoever suspected that Pennslyvania had
something that might be in competition with Nostalgic for DESERT . . .
Calif ^rnia!
HENRY BARNBROCK. To the Editor: I used to work with DESERT
Redondo Beach, Calif. when Randall Henderson was editor-publisher.
Wonderful land, the desert. Thank you for get-
Edior's comment: Mr. Masland accepts the ting the magazine back to what it used to be.
challenge and will give the coup de grace in Love Choral Pepper's account—The Magic of
a forthcoming issue. C.P. Baja!
DOT KOVARIK,
Monterey Park, California.
For Purple Glass Collectors . . .
To the Editor: I am distressed by the incom- "Cooking and Camping on the Desert" is
plete state of Fred Ford's otherwise fine little more than just a book on preparing for a
vign::tte on Endless Ed, the British remittance Controversy re Mineral King . . . desert outing or making meals that will
man turned bandit, in your March '66 issue. appeal while in camp. This book is a brief
To the Editor: Charles R. Grizzle, writing in manual on how to survive in the desert . . .
Ford notes that the monocle-wearing Endless the July issue of DESERT about "Mineral
Ed may have taken his mortal exit in the vicin- the book is a must for anyone making a
King's Hidden Paylode," adopts the attitude trip to the desert, whether it is his first or
ity of Indian Wells, and concludes his article that the development has only positive advan-
by declaring the possibility ". . . that some- fiftieth. BILL HILTON, Santa Barbara News-
ages. There are disadvantages too. An all- Press.
where, within a 12-mile radius of Indian Wells, weather road into the area means many miles
$9,000 in gold coin is hidden and, among the ONLY $3.95
scattered bones of a bandit, possibly an ancient of extensive cut and fill work right through
antique rifle too." the heart of beautiful terrain. And once the
Plus 25 cents mailing charges. California
road is completed, people will pour into Min-
But lying amongst these mortal shards, eral King in such numbers that the essential addresses add 1 6 cents tax. Send check or
would there not also be a purple glass nature of the location will be seriously jeopar- money order to Desert Magazine,
monocle? dized. Palm Desert, Calif. 92260
L. S. GURNEY, ANTHONY L. LEHMAN, AUTOGRAPHED COPIES O N REQUEST
Santa Monica, California. Claremont. California.

November, 1966 / Desert Magazine / 39


ome in an IB, TowSe

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OFFICE, JUST ONE BLOCK FROM THE OLD LOCATION.

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