195210 Desert Magazine 1952 October

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Through Yon Window . . . Gold?Ontario, CaliforniaDesert:1 was very interested in John D.Mitchell's "Lost Mine with the IronDoor" in the July issue of Desert Mag-azine.Mitchell indicates the lost mine islocated one league northwest of theVentana or "Window Rock" in theCatalinas. According to this story,"when the miners stood at the mouthof the tunnel, they could look tothe southeast and see through thiswindow."

On the south slope of the Catalinas,near the top, the.c is a rock formationwith a V.entana facing in a southerlydirection. Situated as it is, it is possibleto look through it to the southeast,south or southwest.On top and at the west end of thisformation is a stone face carved bynature. A picture taken looking to-ward the southeast shows the imagefacing the northeast.Although the directions do not gibeexactly, could it be that nature placedthis stone sentinel to watch and guardthe entrance to the Lost Mine with theIron Door? R. L . WITTER "Beercan Highway" . . .Portal, ArizonaDesert:I have long been engaged in a one-man campaign to remove beer cansand litter from our highway-sides. Iam glad to learn, from "Between Youand Me" in the September Desert,that I have company.In this editorial, it is suggested thatthe brewing companies be forced topay for the roadside cleanups. How-ever, I cannot feel that the fault iswith those who sell cans, but ratherwith those who use them.

I have written a humorous satirecalled "Beercan Highway" which willbe published in American Forests inthe spring. I suggested to the editorsthat breweries be approached andpersuaded, if possible, to include intheir advertisements a note remindingtheir customers: "Keep America'sHighways Clean! Please do not throwour cans out of your ca r." This wouldmake them thousands of friends andmight have an effect on the thoughtlessnitwits who heave their empty cansout on your roads and mine.

Vandalism of all kinds is becom-

This rock formation in the Catalina Mountains of Arizona may be the clueto the long-lost Mine with the Iron Door, believes Desert Reader R . L. Witter.ing one of America's foremost prob-lems today. I believe more of thistype of "Beercan Highway" articlemight reform some of the worst of-fenders.moron,put var.'that c'r.s

No one likes to be called aand the:;: articles definitely;!:, and beer can throwers inWELDON F . HEALD

Rock ' iounds Take W arning! . . .Salt Lake City, UtahDesert:Recent issues of Desert have car-ried brief notes mentioning talks givenbefore gem and mineral groups bymembers of the National SpeleologicalSociety. I would like to point out thatslides illustrating these talks alwaysshow cave minerals in situ, it beingagainst society policy to collect cvc:ibroken specimens. To do so wouldencourage others to break off speci-mens, soon producing a thoroughlyvandalized cave.Rockhounds should further bewarned against collecting in caves sincein most states and in all national parksand monuments it is against the law.Violators are subject to maximum fines

of $500 and six months in jail. Inview of the terrible desecration com-mon in western cave s, the society w 11vigorously aid the prosecution of anys:;ch vandalism discovered.Many mineralogists innocently seekcave specimens. A warning againstsLich collecting might prevent serioustrouble as well as protect the beauty ofmany a ca.ve.DR. W. R. HALLIDAYMember. Board of GovernorsNational Speleological Society

s oVirgin or Virgen? . . .Washington, UtahDesert:In "Lost Lead of the Santa Clara"in the September issue, I notice Des-er t uses the modern spelling of theVirgin River.I spell it Rio Virgen, the way it ap-peared in the old geographies. Manyof us maintain that it was named forThomas Virgen, one of JedediahSmith's men, and not by the Spaniardsafter the Virgin Mary.Escalantc called it "Sulphur River"because of the sulphur springs nearLa Verkin. RUFAS JOHNSON

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D E S E R T C A L E N D A RSeptember 27-October 6New Mex-ico State Fair, Albuquerque, NewMexico.September 29-30San Geronimo Fi-esta, Taos, New Mexico.October 1-2 Taos Village Fiesta,Taos, New Mexico.October 1-31 Special Exhibit ofAmerican Indian handicraft fromcollection of the late Kathryn W.Leighton, noted artist. SouthwestMuseum, Highland Park, Los An-geles, California.October 3-4Spanish Village Fiesta,Rancho de Taos, Taos, New Mex-October 4Feast Day of St. Francisof Assisi, patron saint of SantaFe. Santa Fe, New Mexico.October 4 Annual Fiesta andDances, Nambe Indian Pueblo,New Mexico.October 4-6 Navajo Indian Fair,Shiprock, New Mexico.October 5Fifth Annual ColoradoRiver Outboard Motor Boat Race,Needles, California.October 7-11Eastern New MexicoState Fair, Roswell, New Mexico.October 9-11 Las Cruces Lions'Cotton Carnival, Las Cruces, NewMexico.October 9-12 Tri-State Fair andRodeo, Deming, New Mexico.October 10-12 Greenlee CountyFair, Clifton, Arizona.October 11-12Annual Liars Con-test (formerly on New Year's Eve)and Pegleg Smith Gold Trek.Borrego Valley, California. I Seepage 16.)October 17-1915th Annual PioneerDays Celeb ra t ion , Twen tyn inePalms, California.October 18-19Cochise County Fair,

Douglas, Arizona.October 19-25Southwestern CattleFestival. Clovis, New Mexico.October 31Hallowe'en Mardi Gras,Barstow, California.

Volume 15 OCTOBER, 1952 Number 10COVERLETTERSCALENDARPOETRYMEMORIALEXPLORATIONTRUE OR FALSEINDIANSFICTIONINVITATIONWILDLIFEPLAYGROUNDMININGPHOTOGRAPHYLOST MINECONTESTHISTORYCLOSE-UPSNEWSHOBBYFIELD TRIPLAPIDARYCOMMENTBOOKS

Storm over Taos Pueblo, New MexicoBy Willard Luce, Provo, Utah.Comm ent from Deser t ' s rea der s 2O ctober even ts on the desert . . . . . . . . 3Land-Locked Sea Monster , an d other po em s . . 4Nevills Pla qu e is Ded icated 5Glen Canyon Voyage

By RANDALL HENDERSON 7A test of your desert kno wle dge 12Tribal Meeting of the NavajoBy DOROTHY PILLSBURY 1316

1617

Hard Rock Shorty of Death ValleyPegleg Trek and Liars ContestDeath Valley Playmates, by PAT STURTEVANTCliff Home of the Ancients

By WELDO N F. HEALD 18Current ne w s of dese rt min es 22Picture of the Mon th 23Lost Pima Indian Gold

By JOHN D. MITCHELL 24Prizes for ca m er a pictures 25The Salt in Salton Sea, by W . DEANE WILEY . 26About those wh o write for Desert 28From Here an d The re on the Desert 29Gem s an d Minerals 35Gems, Minerals and Mines Along SouthwesternTrai ls , by CLAUDE A. CONLIN, JR. . . . 38Am ate ur Ge m Cutter, b y LELANDE QUICK . . 41Jus t Be tween You and Me, by the Ed ito r . . . 42Review s of Southw estern l i terature 43

The Desert Magazine is published monthly by the Desert Press, Inc., Palm Desert,California. Re-entered as second class matter J uly 17, 1948, at the p ost office at Palm Desert,California, under the Act of March 3, 1879. Title registered No. 358865 in U. S. Patent Office,and contents copyrighted 1952 by the Desert Press, Inc. Permission to reproduce contentsmust be secured from the editor in writing.RANDALL HENDERSON, EditorBESS STACY, Business Manager MARGARET GERKE, Associate EditorMARTIN MORAN, Circulation ManagerUnsolicited manuscripts and photographs submitted cannot be returned or acknowledgedunless full retu rn postage is enclosed. Desert Magazine assumes no responsibility fordamage or loss of manu scripts or photograp hs although due care will be exercised. Sub-scribers should send notice of change of address by the first of the month preceding issue.

SUBSCRIPTION RATESOne Year $3.50 Two Years $6.00Canadian Subscriptions 25c Extra, Foreign 50c ExtraSubscriptions to Army Personnel O utside U. S. A. Must Be Mailed in Conformity WithP . O. D. Order No. 19687Address Correspondence to Desert Magazine, Palm Desert, CaliforniaO C T O B E R , 1 9 5 2


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Twisted Joshua tree along U. S. Highway 395 south of Red Mountain,California. Photo by Alice Paster of Pomona, California, was awardedsecond prize in Desert Mag azine's August Picture-of-the-Month contest.It w as taken w ith an Argoflex camera, Super XX film, 1/100second at fl6.M O N E Y C A N T BUY

By THELMA BLACKWhittier, CaliforniaMoney can't buy thecool, blue dawn,The smell of thesage thedew lieson.Money can't buy thelonesome lowOf a dogie that's lost and knows not whereto go.Money can't buy thefaith it is trueOf a stout hearted horse that will carry youthrough.The desert storm, thedesert sand,The sweat andthirst of thedesert land.Money can't buy thecrimson glowOf thewestern sky when the sun is low.Money can't buy thewarm desert gale,Or thesoft thud of hoofs on an alkali trail.Money can't buy thecampfire's cheer.Or the cry of a nightbird hovering near.

Money can't buy a life free andfineAnd wild and untamed as the coyotes' andDESERT HILL FORLISTENING

By GASTON BURRIDGEDowney, CaliforniaI like to sit upon this hillJust listening to thequiet.No railroad for a hundred miles,No motor road comes nigh it.Few air-men ever saw these brown.Uneven mountain shouldersAnd fewer still of trailsmen haveConsorted with these boulders.It is a lonely, friendly placeWhere eagles circle slowly,An altar for themoon tolight,For storm-clouds tomake holy.No distant humming motor bus,Few, butwinds, come by it.I like tocome upon this hillAnd just listen to thequiet.

DESERT PEACECOMES WITH MOONLIGHT

By PAUL WILHELMThousand Palms. CaliforniaI watched the moon rise out of desert hills.Peace comes with moonlight and the eve-ning glow,With cry of coyote, calling whippoorwillsAnd whispers in these ancient palms I know.Peace comes in fragrance from rippleddunesKissed by the moonlight, cooled by windsof night,Peace comes with bark of fox stalking sanddunes,From silver fronds reflecting star's palelight.A cricket's lullaby lends drowsy peaceAnd piping frogs within a spring's deepheart,Songs new in these old hills that will notceaseThough we, too, rest eternal andapart.Hills somber in the moonlight strangelybringThe heart sadjoy, andlight andsong to me.More clear than curlew's lulling cry, I singEnchanted by this peace, this moon beauty.ATTENTION, RABBITS!By GRACE PARSONS HARMONDesert HotSprings, CaliforniaAttention, rabbits, gophers, mice,All denizens at large!

You've nibbled down mycactusbedFor moisturewithout charge!With allthis rain we've had todate,Your water store isbigIt's soaked five feet, E.Jaeger says.O. K.! Get out and dig!

SeaBy ALICE PUSTERPomona, CaliforniaWhat strange weird things I seeIn the twisted branches of a Joshua tree:

A two-headed sea monster thrashing about.Its feelers andtentacles reaching outTwisting andturning in its sea of sand.Fo r theunwary caught near at hand.So don't go toonear, unwaryone,But come stroll with me 'neath the desertsun:We'll look for other strange fantasiesIn thetwisted limbs of a Joshua tree.

A DESERT FAIRYLANDBy SUSIE EAGLESONMy soul in solemn reverence knelt todayFo r I'm sure the Great Creator passed ihisway.I stood where yesterday was barren sand

And gazed upon a Desert Fairyland.The regal lilies with their snowy crest.So like thesilken ruffles on a bridal dress.Brought to mymind thewords of Jesus whenHe said. "They toil notneither do they spin."Yet the royal robes of Solomon ne'er com-paredWith all thegorgeous colors growing there.The mountains in a gayparade were clothedIn robes of purple interlaced with gold.While nestling at their feet in sandy nests.Like babes afraid to leave their Mother'sbreast.Were tiny snow-white flowers with goldenheartsSo small and yet they still must have theirpartIn allthis glorious Desert FairylandFashioned by ourGreat Creator's hand.The yellow daisy and theblue lupine.The stalwart primrose with itsgolden sheen.All turn adoring faces to the sunAnd curtsy anddance until the day isdone.No words can e'erdescribe thebeauty there;The soul of man canonly kneel in prayerAnd thank theloving Father on that dayShould Heperchance again topass this way. FLOWER SHOW

By LUCY BARKERLong Beach, CaliforniaWhen winter winds have spent their flairIn far flung dust andsanded air,The desert comes into itsownAnd wraps the peace that spring has grownAbout itself. It opens wideThe garden gate that none canhideIts transient bloom of brilliant flowers.Each vibrant huereflects thehoursOf love within thedesert heartAnd prompts this show of living art.

Ctt

By TANYA SOUTHSomewhere in EternityThe highest heights still wait for me.The sweetest Heaven ever knownBeckons. Naught that I have doneCompares ingrandeur with those fineAnd noble splendours that awaitIn theeternal anddivineFuture Fate.

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At the dedication of the Nevills plaque, left to right,Barry Goldwater, master of ceremonies, Frank E. Mas-land, Joan Nevills, Sandra Nevills, Mary O gden Abbott,sculptor, and Mrs. Mae Nevills.The Nevills plaque will remain on the canyon wall justbeneath Navajo bridge over the Colorado River, as apermanent tribute to the memory of the famous river-man and his wife, Doris.Nevills Plaque is Dedicated

Following is the inscription engraved in bronze on theplaque shown above.

T H E Y RUN THE RIVERS OF ETERNITYIN M E M O R Y O FN O R M A N D. NEVI LLS

A P R I L 9, 1908SEPTEMBER 19, 1949A N D D O R IS , HIS W I F EM A R C H 11 , 1914SEPTEMBER 19, 1949W HO SOUGHT AND RAN AND MASTEREDTH E WILD AND SECRET WATERSSA N J UAN RI VER GR EEN RI VER

COLORADO RI VER GRAND CANYONSALMON RIV ER SNAKE RIVERB Y THE R I VER THEY LOVED SO W ELL

IN THE DE SERT THAT W AS THEI R HOM ET H I S RECORD IS PLACED BYT H E C A N Y O N E E R S

TRAVELING from the SouthRim of Grand Canyon to the North Rim, andvice versa, cross the Colorado River on Nav-ajo bridge in northern Arizona.Beneath the steel girders at the western abutmentof this bridge a little group of Grand Canyon voyagersand their friends gathered from across the nation lastJuly 11 to honor the memory of one of the West'sgreatest rivermen, Norman Nevillsand his wife, Doris.Nevills' adventurous career as a pilot-boatman onthe wildest rivers in western United States came to anend September 19, 1949, when he and Doris plungedto their death in a rocky canyon just after taking offin their private plane at their home at Mexican Hat,Utah.Immediately after their tragic death, friends of theNevills began making preparations for a memorialand the gathering at Navajo bridge last July was forthe unveiling of a bronze plaque which had been inthe making for more than two years.For 10 years, Norman and Doris Nevills had oper-ated as a team. Norman was the designer and builderof the rugged little cataract boats which had proved

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their stability on six expeditions through the treacher-ous rapids of Grand Canyon. While Norman was onthe river, Doris was the manager of shore operations.She planned the menus, bought the food, and attendedto the thousand and one details necessary to operate afast schedule of river trips during the summer seasoneach year.Barry Goldwater, city councilman in Phoenix, andcompanion of Norman Nevills on more than one of hisriver excursions, flew in from the Arizona capital inhis private plane to officiate as master of ceremoniesat the unveiling of the plaque. Assisting him in thededication ritual were Mary Ogden Abbott of Concord.Massachusetts, artist who had carved the original modelfor the plaque, and Frank E. Masland of Carlisle, Pa.,whose interest and financial help had made the mem-orial possible.The Nevills' daughters, Joan and Sandra, and MaeNevills, Norman's mother, were present at the cere-mo nies. In a brief pro gram just before the unveilingof the plaque, Wayne McConkie of Moab, Utah, for-mer boatm an for Nevills, offered an invocation. BenAvery, newspaperman of Phoenix, was present as thepersonal representative of Governor Pyle, and FrankStreater of Moab spoke in behalf of Governor Lee ofUtah.

To Comeron



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Rainbow bridge, with two mem bers of the party on top. Frank Wright, senior pilot of the Mexican Hat Expeditions.Glen Canyon VoyageBy RANDALL HENDERSONMap by Nor ton Al lenAST FEBRUARY J im Riggwrote to m e: "In connectionwith the dedication of the Nev-ills plaque at Marble Canyon next

July, Frank Wright and I are plan-ning a trip down the Colorado Riverthrough Glen Canyon from Hite, Utah,and we would like to have you as oneof our guests. We plan to leave Hiteon July 4 and reach Lee's ferry July10 , the day before the dedication."I was glad to accept this invitation,for I have long wanted to become bet-ter acquainted with certain landmarksalong the upper Glen Canyon sectorof the Colorado. I had previouslynavigated lower Glen Canyon withboth Norman Nevills and Harry Ale-son, but the sector above the Esca-lante River junction was still strangeto me.Major John Wesley Powell, whofirst explored the Colorado River in1869, and again in 1872, was respon-O C T O B E R , 1 9 5 2

When Norman and DorisNevills met tragic death in anairplane accident in Septem-ber, 1949, the river boats whichNorman had designed andbuilt for his river excursionswere purchased from the es-tate by I. Frank Wright ofBlanding, Utah, and JamesRigg of Grand Junction, Colo-rado. Wright and Rigg hadserved as boatmen, and hadacquired skill in running therapids under the tutelage ofNev ills. For three yea rs theteam of Wright and Rigg, op-erating as Mexican Hat Expe-ditions, have been carrying onsuccessfully the river traditionsleft them by the Nevills.

sible for the sector names given to thevarious canyons through which hislittle river flotilla passed. Below Moab,Utah, Powell encountered a ruggedseries of rapids extending for a dis-

tance of 20 miles, and he called thissector Cataract Canyon.Below Cataract Canyon the riverflows through Glen Canyon as far asthe mouth of the Paria River. At thatpoint Glen Canyon gives way toMarble Canyon, and below the junc-tion of the Little Colorado MarbleCanyon becomes Grand Canyon.In Cataract , Marble and GrandCanyons the river plunges down steepdeclivities, forming rapids which havegiven the Colorado River its reputa-tion as a treacherous stream to navi-gate.But sandwiched in between Cataractand Marble Canyons, from the tribu-tary Fremont River to Lee's ferry, isa 149-mile sector where the mightyColorado flows in a deep well-definedchannel with hardly a riffle to breakthe surface of the water.On his original voyage of explora-tion Powell called this sector Moundand Monument Canyons, but on hissecond trip he renamed it Glen Can-


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yon. The best description of this can-yon was written by Lewis R. Freemanwho accompanied U. S. Engineer E.C. La Rue on a surveying expeditionhere in 1922. Freeman wrote:"Glen Canyon is the Grand Canyonon a slightly reduced scale; but whatit lacks in sheer magnitude it makesup in the added charms of its gentler

natural beauties. Although its wallsare neither less sheer nor less loftythan the average run of those of theInner Gorge of the greater chasm, theless torrential current of the riverdue to slighter declivity in GlenCanyon has permitted the formationof more frequent and more fertilestretches of wooded bank and bench.One is never out of sight of trees, noroften of flowers . . . But the crowningglory of Glen Canyon is in the bower-like amphitheaters of verdure that areresponsible for its name . . . they forman almost unbroken chain of hanginggardens through the 150 miles fromthe mouth of Fremont River to thehead of Marble Canyon."

This is the canyon through whichFrank Wright and Jim Rigg of theMexican Hat Expeditions proposed tomake a 7-day run preceding the dateof the Nevills dedication at the headof Marble Canyon.Our starting point was to be at Hitewhere Art and Delia Chaffin operatea ferry across the Colorado River(Desert Magazine, February '52). Thecrossing at this point was named forCass Hite, a recluse who had settledthere in 1883. In 1898 when reportswere circulated through the West thatthe sands of the Colorado River wererich in gold, there was a stampede offortune-hunters to this area and in1900 a postoflice was established atHite.

The place soon became too crowdedfor Cass Hite and he moved down-stream and built a little hermit's cabinat the mouth of Ticaboo Creek wherehe died in 1912.The postofiice at Hite was closedwhen the sands of the Colorado failedto yield enough gold to pay for themining. But since this was one of thefew points along the Colorado River

Above Frank E. Masland andDr. Josiah Eisaman in the fold-boat with which they accompan-ied the expedition through GlenCanyon.Middle On the sandbar at For-bidden Canyon. Rubber boattrips through (lien Canyon havebecome very popular.Below Old log cabin built bythe late Bert Loper, veteran riverman, six miles below Hite ferry.



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A majority of the members of our

Intensive prospecting since World

bove the ferry.The Chaffins were away when weeing operated by Reuben and Beth

Three members of our river partyarrived at the crossing the morningof July 4, having come in from thewest by way of Hanksville. When theboats were launched and passengersassigned to their seats our roster wasas follows:In the boat Music Hall: FrankWright , boatman, and Tad and MaryJane Nichols of Tucson, Arizona, pas-sengers.In the Redbud Canyon: Bob Rigg,boatman, and Warner Seeley of Cleve-land, Ohio, and his daughter Susan,passengers.In the Hidden Passage: John Har-per, boatman, and Mary Ogden Ab-bott of Concord, Massachusetts , andmyself, passengers.

The boats, named for t ributary can-yons along the San Juan and Colo-rado Rivers, were buil t by NormanAbove Mem bers of the expedi-tion, left to right, Randall Hen-derson, Frank Masland, FrankWright, Tad Nichols, John Har-per, Mary Jane Nichols, MaryOgden Abbott, Dr. Josiah Eisa-man, Bob Rigg, Susan and War-ner Seely.Middle Night camps generallywere on sandbars where there

was driftwood.Below Typical lunch menu:Lemonade, canned ham, cannedfish, cheese, pickles, relish andbread.O C T O B E R , 1 9 5 2


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Nevills, and taken over by Wright andRigg following Nevills' death in 1949.A fourth boat arrived on the scenejust before we shoved off early in theafternoon of July 4. This was a grace-ful two-passenger foldboat whichFrank E. Masland brought from hishome in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, in apackage not much bigger than a suit-case, and assembled at Hite landing.Accompanying Masland was his friendDr. Josiah Eisaman of Pittsburgh.Their little canvas craft, weighingless than 60 pounds and fashionedsomewhat after the lines of a kayak,proved to be a fast sea-worthy boatfor Glen Canyon navigation. The twopassengers occupied the limit of itsspace load, but with the Mexican Hatboats available for the transportationof food and gear, the foldboat servedits role as purely a pleasure craft verywell, and all the members of the ex-pedition had the opportunity to ridein it during the 7-day river schedule.

Six miles downstream from Hite wepulled in for a landing at the 10-acreranch developed by the veteran riverman Bert Loper before his death inJuly, 1949. Loper had found a fertilebench which could be irrigated bygravity from the little stream in RedCanyon a mile away, and had erecteda stone and mud cabin here. Theplace is accessible only by river, orby a very bad jeep ro ad . It is one ofthose hide-aways which city folksdream aboutwhere they could goand raise their own food and neverhave to worry about tax assessors andbill collectors.This year the little ranch is beingfarmed by a Mormon boy, ElderTrone. He told us he had a very finecrop of corn and melons until somerange cattle discovered the garden,and ate much of it. Next season therewill be fences to keep the cattle out.Since we had seven days in whichto cover a distance of 149 miles, anda 4-mile-an-hour current to carry usalong, we floated down-stream at aleisurely pace, seldom using the oars.During that first afternoon wepassed a conspicuous landmark knownas Castle Butte one of probablymore than a hundred buttes with thissame name in western United States.The hills and cliffs along much of ourafternoon route were beautifully tintedwith pink, gray, brown and a dozenshades of yellow. The coloring re-minded me of Artist 's Drive in DeathValley National Monument.

At sundown we pulled in to a sand-bar opposite the mouth of TicabooCreek. Frank Wright, who was chiefcook as well as skipper of the expedi-tion, soon had a delicious steak din-ner on the fire. This first night out

we could enjoy the luxury of freshmeat. The rest of the week we gotour meat out of cans.We had come 12 miles this firstafternoonjust drifting along. It washot in mid-day. The thermometerwent up to 97 degrees. But the waterwas cool and there was no discomfortwhen one could sit on the deck of theboat and drag his bare feet in thestream.

Frank was kindling a driftwood firefor breakfast when I awakened thenext morning at 5:30. By eight o'clockwe had eaten our breakfast of coffee,cereal, bacon and eggs, and cannedfruit and were ready to shove off.Much of the second day's journeywas through an area which had beenthe center of a gold rush in the late1890s. Some one had discovered finegold dust in the sand along the riverand several fortunes were spent in-stalling machinery to recover the goldbefore it was proven that there wasn'tenough of the yellow metal for profit-able operation.

Some of the wreckage of the goldboom is still to be seen along thebanks of the river. Late in the morn-ing we passed a huge steel frameperched on a protruding rock abovethe riverthe remains of what hadbeen known as the Bennett wheel. Abig water wheel had been installed todevelop power for pumping water toa sluicing plant on the bench higherup. Many thousands of dollars hadbeen spent on this installation a halfcentury ago, but it was evident thatvery little gravel had ever gone overthe sluiceway.

But w hile there was not sufficientgold to make this a paying operation,I found a rich field of cutting materialhere for the rockhounds. There weregreat chunks of agate and jasper inmany shades, and fine specimens ofblack and white fossilized wood whichhad been worn by ages of streambedtravel. Presumably this wood hadcome down from the Henry Moun-tains, and from the White Canyondeposits described by Harold Weightin the Desert Magazine of March,1950.

I also found similar material onseveral of the sand and gravel barsalong this sector of Glen Canyon.Since these specimens cannot be re-moved except by boat, it hardly islikely this mineral field ever will be-come entirely exhausted.During the afternoon of this secondday we stopped at the entrance to

Moki Canyon. At high water it ispossible for small boats to run somedistance up in the tributary, to a lovelycanyon vista where there is clear coolwater. However, we found the en-

trance to Moki closed by a bar ofquicksandand that discouraged anyfurther travel in that direction.Our camp that night was on a barat the mouth of Bullfrog tributary,and as on all the other nights we foundit necessary to crawl inside our sleep-ing bags for warmth, despite mid-daytemperatures of nearly 100 degrees.On Sunday, our third day on theriver, we reached Lake Canyon tribu-tary at nine in the morning, and hikeda mile up along the little creek to somewell-preserved Moki cliff dwellings ina great arched recess in the sandstonewall. The Indians abandoned theircliff homes here many hundreds ofyears ago, but one of the rooms re-mained in almost perfect state of pres-ervation. It had been built with nativestone laid in mud mortar, and thefinger-prints of the Indian masonscould still be seen in the dry mud.After leaving Lake Canyon we rodefor many hours between vertical wallsof red sandstone, stopping on a sand-bar for lunch. Occasionally, high upon a bench or ledge above the riverwe could see a cairn, probably putthere during the gold rush days as acorner monument for a mining claim.There are also a few of the oldBrown-Stanton survey stakes still tobe seen above the high water level.F . M. Brown in 1889 had undertakento run a survey down through the can-yons of the Colorado River to deter-mine the feasibility of building a rail-road to the west coast by this route.Brown's chief engineer was RobertBrewster Stanton, and when Brownwas drowned after his boat capsizedin upper Marble Canyon Stanton re-organized the expedition and com-pleted the survey. In the end , it wasagreed that the railroad in the canyonwas not feasible.Late in the afternoon of our thirdday we passed the mouth of EscalanteRiver, one of the principal tributariesof the Glen Canyon sector of the

Co lorado . Passing this point I re-called a rugged experience two yearsago when my wife and I undertook torun the Escalante River in rubberboats with Harry Aleson. The waterwas at such a low stage we spent mostof the eight days hiking along theshallow channel and dragging theboats. {Desert Magazine, Sept. '50.)Below the Escalante we stopped toreplenish our water supply at Hole-in-the-Rock spring. This place was givenits name when a wagon train of Mor-mon settlers in 1879-80 crossed theColorado River here enroute to Bluff,U tah , to establish a colony . Severalweeks' time were required to chisel apassageway through the rocks in orderto get the wagons down to the river.

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Members of the expedition hiked up Lake Canyon amile to this well preserved cliff house relic of the dayswhen Moki Indians lived here.A bar of quicksand closed the mouth of Mok i Canyon .Tad Nichols and Bob Rigg are shown floundering inthe treacherous sandbar.

A bronze plaque now marks the spotand many of the Glen Canyon riverparties make an overnight stop at thisplace because of the fine spring.We decided to push on, and at 7:30passed the mouth of the San JuanRiver and made camp on a 40-acresandbar deposited by this year's floodwaters just below the junction of theSan Juan with the Colorado.At this point we reached a sector ofGlen Canyon known to many hun-dreds of boat passengers who in recentyears have been on one of the Mexi-can Hat expeditions with NormanNevills, Harry Aleson, Wright andRigg, and other boatmen who conductexcursions on the San Juan and thencethrough lower Glen Canyon to Lee'sferry.On Monday, the 4th day of ourjourney, we awakened to find the SanJuan pouring a stream of red fluidmud into the channel of the Colorado.The upper San Juan flows through thePainted Desert of northern Arizona,and storms in the upper basin bringdown flood waters of various hues, ac-cording to the sector in which the rain-fall occurs.

Immediately below the San Juanjunction are a series of side canyonsof rare scenic beauty, and since theyare easily accessible to river voyagerswe made brief stops at all of them: AtHidden Passage where a narrow slotin the vertical side-wall leads back intoa labyrinth of colorful passageways;at Music Hall, named by Powell in1869 because of the acoustical quali-ties of the great domed amphitheaterfound here; at Twilight Canyon wherethe petroglyphs of prehistoric Indiansare found on the side-wall of a rockygorge which derives its name fromthe lack of sunlight beneath its over-hanging walls; at Mystery Canyonwhere at high water a small boat maypenetrate far back into the canyonalong a narrow winding channel, witha delicious pool at the end.This was a delightful day of side-trips. One is amazed at the beautyconcealed in the recesses of thosegreat walls which form Glen Canyon.Much of this area has not been fullyexplored, and it remains for futureColorado River adventurers who haveunlimited time at their disposal topenetrate further into the labyrinth of

side canyons along the Colorado, andperhaps discover scenic vistas and an-cient Indian ruins now unknown.Our camp that night was on a sand-bar at the mouth of. Forbidden Can-yonat the river end of the six-miletrail which leads to Rainbow NaturalBridge. Nearly every river party re-mains here for a day in order to visitAmerica's most spectacular naturalarch of stone.The trail follows the floor of For-bidden Canyon to its junction withBridge Canyon, and thence to theBridge. It is not a difficult route. Ihave been over it four times, and myadvice to hikers is to ignore the horse-trail which climbs over the sandbanksat each bend in the canyon, and keepto the hard rock at the creek level.Hiking in fine sand is much more tir-ing than on rockand the boatmenwho serve as guides on this route oftenfail to point out this difference to theirpassengers.Along the floor of the canyon lead-ing to the Bridge are many pools ofclear cool wateran ever present in-vitation to the hiker to stop for arefreshing dip.

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It is possible to reach the top ofRainbow Bridge by following a ratherprecipitous route up the south wall ofBridge Canyon to a point above thearch, and then work down over a 50-foot vertical rock face where toe andfinger holds have been chiseled in thestone. When a rope is available foradded security, there is no hazard inthis climb.Beneath the great rock span is abook for the registration of visitors,kept here by the National Park Serv-i c e . The bridge first was seen by awhite party which included JohnWetherill and Byron Cummings inAugust , 1909, and the number of vis-itors on record from that date untilth e day of our arrival there has been7997. During the last seven years anaverage of 600 names have beenadded to the register annually.On the sandbar at the mouth of For-bidden Canyon two other river partieswere camped while we were there,both of them having come down theriver in rubber boats of the WorldW ar II salvage type. One of theparties, with four of these boats, hadfitted them with frames to carry out-board motors.These river parties are typical ofincreasing numbers of persons whoare making the Glen Canyon voyageeach summer in all kinds of craftrubber boats, foldboats, canoes, kay-a k s , rowboats of every type, and oftenwith outboard motors.

With no rapids to run, the GlenCanyon trip offers a safe, pleasant,and inexpensive outing for people ofall ages. Many Boy Scout troops havemade the run in recent years.A sandstorm of short duration gaveus a gritty hour on the sandbar afterwe returned from our hike to RainbowBridge that evening. This was theonly unpleasant bit of weather weencountered on the seven-day outing.The photographers in our party com-plained that they needed more cloudsfor good picture composition, and wedid have light sprinkles of rain ontwo occasions. But most of the timewe were floating down stream underclear skies.We embarked at Forbidden Can-yon on the sixth day of our trip at7: 30 in the morning. At eleven wereached Kane Creek where a landingwas made for lunch. A mile down-stream from here is Padre Creek whereFather Escalante and the members ofhis party cut steps in the canyon side-wall in order to ford their horses andequipment across the stream duringtheir historic trek in November , 1776.Since Padre Creek often is closedto hiking due to quicksand at itsmouth, river parties desiring to visitthe old hand-hewn stone steps gener-ally land at Kane Creek and walk

overland a mile and a half to the site.A majority of our party already hadvisited the Escalante steps, and so wedid not make the overland journeyon this occasion. Later we stoppedat the mouth of Padre Creek andBoatman John Harper went into theside-canyon a short distance andbrought back the report that the sandwas too soft for hikers.At 6:15 that evening our little flo-tilla pulled in at a great arched recessin the canyon wall known as OutlawCave. This is one of the favorite camp-ing places for river parties, and the lastovernight stop before reaching Lee'sferry. From here it is 17V z miles tothe ferry.The following morning we got anearly start and before noon had Tandedat the sandbar below Lee's ferry whereour journey ended. We were on sched-

u l e , and friends were on the river bankto greet us. The welcoming crowd waslarger than usually greets river expe-ditions at this point for the reason thatthe dedication of the Nevills plaquewas scheduled to take place the fol-lowing day, and old rivermen andfriends of the Nevills had gatheredfrom across the country to pay tributeto the memory of Norman and Doris.No river journey to Lee's ferry isquite complete without a final reuniondinner served by the Art Greene familyat Cliff Dwellers' Lodge, 10 miles fromNavajo Bridge on the road to HouseRock Valley1;After many years in the role of hostsat Marble Canyon Lodge and morerecently at Cliff Dwellers', the Greeneshave become as much an institution atthis place as have the Vermillion Cliffsin whose shadow they dwell.

T R U E O R F A L S E Very few of us can travel thedesert country as much as wewould like, but that is no rea-son why our knowledge of the desert should become rusty. These quizquestions which appear each month in Desert Magazine serve as a sortof "refresher course" for those who like to keep in touch with the geog-raphy, the mineralogy, botany, history and lore of the arid Southwest.Twelve to 14 correct answers is a fair score; 15 to 17 is excellent; 18 orover is very superior. The answers are on page 25.1The bite of a Chu ckaw alla lizard som etimes prov es fatal. TrueFalse2The atlatl was a tool used by the Papago Indians to harvest fruit ofthe Saguaro cactus. True . False3Tuzigoot Ruins National Monument is in New Mexico. TrueFalse4Calcite is harder than rose quartz. True . False5Visitors to the Petrified National Monument are permitted to pickup and carry away specimens not exceeding one pound in weight.True . False6Pyramid Lake in Nevada derives its name from a pyramid-shapedrock near its shores. True . False7Cochise was an Apache Indian chieftain. True . False8The Mojavc River of California is a tributary of the Colorado.True . False9A line drawn east and west through Salt Lake City would pass northof Reno, Nevada. True . False-The Virgin River flows through Zion National Park.False-Shivwits is the name of an Indian tribe in New Mexico.False-Joseph Smith, founder of the Mormon Church, never saw Utah.True . False-The Wasatch Mountains may be seen from the Great Salt Lake.True . False-The blossom of the Joshua Tree is red. True . False15Winnemucca, Nevada, derived its name from a Navajo Indian chief.True . False16 Tinajas is a Spanish word commonly used in the Southwest meaningpack mule. True . False17The mineral specimens known as Apache Tears are nodules of ob-sidian. True . False18Death Valley Scotty was once a cowboy in Buffalo Bill's Wild WestShow. True . False19The beans of the mesquite tree were a staple item of food for desertIndians when white men first explored the Southwest. TrueFalse20Leade r of the first expedition to seek the Seven Cities of Cibola wasMarcos de Niza. True . False

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Navajo D elegates gather for their Tribal Council mee ting at Window Rock,Arizona. In addition to the 70-odd elected delegates the meetings are attended bymany hundreds of tribesmen, some of whom travel long distances with team andwagon to be present. Photo by Milton Snow , U . S. Indian Service.Tribal Meetinqof the NavajoBy DOROTHY PILLSBURY

>US A FT E R bus rolled up in acloud of dust to a big stonebuilding in Window Rock, Ari-zona. The buses bore signs that seemedno part of the American scene Chinle, Tohatchi, Lukachukai. Trucksroared in to disgorge men in overalls,bright pink and blue shirts and broad-brimmed black felt hats. Women inred and yellow velveteen basquesflounced layers of petticoats over thesides. Horse-drawn white covered

wagons ground to a standstill. Men,women and children galloped up onsweating horses. Horns tooted, en-gines backfired, dogs barked. The mostpoignant expression of the democraticprocess in the country, the NavajoTribal Council, was about to open anall-week session.Sam Ahkeah, chairman of the Coun-cil, mounted the platform at one endof the big room, shaped like a Navajohogan. As he did so, he tossed his big

Since many of the Navajo In-dians cannot read, they holdelections by printing the picturesof the candidates on the ballots.But despite their illiteracy, thetribesmen on America's biggestIndian reservation are makingamazing strides toward demo-cratic management of their tribalaffairs.black hat to one corner of the rostrum.As the 70 duly elected delegates fromthe 16,000,000-acre Navajo domaintrooped in, most of them tossed theirhats to the same spo t. It ma de a littlemountain of sombreros.

Chairman Ahkeah stood on theplatform gavel in hand. The delegatesfilled three long rows of front seats onthe main floor in front of him. The ywere there because they had been dulyelected by nearly 70,000 Navajos toO C T O B E R , 1 9 5 2 13


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Navajos casting their ballots at one of the many polling places on thereservation. Since many of the tribesmen cannot read, the pictures of thecandidates are printed on the ballots. Photo courtesy N ew M exico Associa-tion of Indian Affairs.represent them. Until last year thevoting had been done by means ofcolored cards, as the majority of thetribesmen could not read. Now theyvoted by ballotsthe most unique bal-lots ever cast in the United States.Each ballot carried a picture of thecandidate to enlighten voters whocould not read. At the same time thevast Navajo land was divided intowell-defined precincts and all votershad to register.

Seventy-live percent of all eligibleNavajo adults cast their ballots! Any-one who knows the vast distances, thelack of even small settlements and themaze of unimproved dirt roads on thereservation will recognize this as anastounding demonstration of the dem-ocratic process of government.Some Navajos traveled 60 miles by

horse-drawn wagon or on horsebackto vote. Naturally, there were manycomplications. Mr. and Mrs. LowWagon appeared bright and early onelection day at the polling place ofPinyon in northeastern Arizona. Theyhad traveled all night by coveredwagon, the 30 miles from their hogan.But alas, they had registered in theprecinct of Jeddito and therefore couldnot vote in Pinyon. Asked why theydid not vote in the precinct where theyregistered, Low Wagon explained thathis wife wanted to buy a few thingsin Pinyon and they had thought in theNavajo equivalent of "two birds withone stone."Before it was time to open the meet-ing, Sam Ahkeah stood quietly watch-ing the big room fill with delegates and

hundreds of constituents. Sam is amod ern Navajo. His big brief casebulging with papers has made manya trip to Washington to plead the causeof his peo ple. He kno ws his wayaround. But for all his white man'shair cut, business suit and fountainpen, Sam Ahkeah could never be takenfor other than one of the "Dineh, ThePeople" as the Navajos call themselves.For all his ability to lead and fight forhis people, Sam has a smile as warmas desert sunshine. Even when his eyesare somber or flashing with indigna-tion, they light up his strong bronzeface.

The three rows of delegates repre-sented every degree of adaptation bythe Navajo to modern life. Some likeSam had short hair, wore businesssuits and carried brief cases. One agedtribesman had given the Indian touchto his white man's coat by cutting offthe buttons and substituting large silverones set with turquoise, made by aNava jo craftsman . Side by side werestore shoes and moccasins, long locksconfined by bright silk bandas and GIhaircuts, pink mail-order house shirtsand velveteen jackets. White hairedoldsters seemed more bent with theweight of turquoise chains about theirnecks than with the years. Even Nav-ajos in store suits wore gems of uncutturquoise in their ears.

Behind the delegates sat a thousandof their constituents. They had comefrom mountains stark against the sky,from canyons floored with quicksandsand from pinyon covered mesa tops.They had come here, not only because

the Navajos arc the greatest visitorsamong the Southwest Indians, but be-cause they are a people eternally insome kind of dramatic distressflashfloods, parched or eroded fields, drywater holes and winter blizzards withstarvation ever gibbering behind thered rock pinnacles of their gorgeousbut unproductive domain.Women looked like dolls in layersof full-gathered long skirts topped bybright velvet basques with heavy shawlsabout their shoulders. Their turquoiseand silver ornaments would havestocked half of the curio stoics of theregion. Unhappily, a lot of it wouldhave to be returned to the "HardGoods Pole" of the traders as soon asthe session was over, there to hang inpawn for sacks of flour and cans oflard. But pawn or no pawn, the womenlistened bright-eyed to all the longdiscussions. When sheep, wool and

blankets came up for attention, theyswished up the aisles in their long fullskirts, and in no uncertain languagetold their men folks how to vote inthat phase of Navajo life which be-longs particularly to the women.Children, miniature duplicates oftheir parents, sat quietly for long hoursor slept on hard benches. Never oncein the long sessions did a youngsterhowl or whimp er. Never once was achild berated and jerked about by anexasperated mother. Big-eyed babieson cradle-boards were passed up and

down the rows in dull moments andseemed to have a reviving elfeet onthe entire assembly.For a full week in morning, after-noon and some evenins: sessions thediscussions continued. It kept two in-terpreters busy putting English elo-quence into Navajo and Navajo ora-tory into English. The problems wereas modern as todayuranium, air-plane fields, oil and mineral rights andthe old, old ones of sheep, water,schools and what to use for money.Robert 's Rules of Order are no

mystery to Navaio delegates or to theirchairman. Sometimes several delegateswere on their feet at the same time.Thev waited patiently to be recognizedby the chair. When motions flew aboutto the confusion of evervone, an oldNavajo jumped to his feet and an-nounced, "too many motions beforethe House." But always the talk cameback to schools for their children. Evenat this writing, it is estimated that 15,-000 children of school age are receiv-ing no more education than chipmunks.Of those who are sent off the reserva-tion to Indian boarding schools, somehave been shipped as far away as Ore-gon.On the last day of the session, rep-resentatives of the Indian Bureau tookthe floor, some from far away Wash-D E S E R T M A G A Z I N E


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ington. They looked strangely pallidin the midst of this earth g roup. Theofficials talked expansively of whatmight be done to better the conditionof the tribesmen. Mineral and oil de-velopment, irrigation, soil conserva-tion, possible industries! It soundedfine and impressive. It went on andon. Delegates and constituents snoozedand took a much needed rest.Finally a little delegate in fadedblue overalls and a moth-eaten jacketjump ed to his feet. Ben eath a mangeyKit Carson fur cap, his grey locks fellto his shoulders. "Mr. Chairman," heurged, "I move that all this big talkgo on the table. Let's talk schools allthe time we have left. W hat good isanything unless we are educated?" Hisbrown moccasins executed a few stepsof a war dance before he sat down tothe roaring laughter of the tribesmen.Among the other Indians, the Navajos

are noted for their wit. It was theywho dubbed the little man of the ThirdReich in the last war, "Smells HisMustache" and his companion acrossthe Alps, "Gourd Face." Wherever theNavajos go visiting ceremonial dancesin the Rio Grande pueblos, gales oflaughter follow their passing.Between sessions the tribesmengathered in little groups, even as theirwhite brothers do, to talk over whathad happened and to discuss forthcom-ing issues. Window Rock, the Navajocapital, is located near the New Mex-ico-Arizona line in the midst ofstrangely eroded outcroppings ofcreamish pink and light tan limestonein rolling hills tufted with dwarf pin-yon and cedar trees.Here the Indian Bureau has itsNavajo Service executive offices insprawling one-story buildings strungtogether with a maze of corridors.Within, radiators sizzle with steamheat, hot water hisses into capaciousbath tubs and dining room and kitchenstwinkle with electrical gadgets. With-out, Navajos camp in the lee of cov-ered wagons and trucks, build theirfragrant cedar fires and pass aroundthe big, smoke-blackened coffee potand the frying pan filled with squawbread.The elected delegates with theirwives were served their meals in thedining room of the building used bythe employes of the Indian Bureau.Each noon I noticed a handsome mid-dle-aged Navajo woman sitting in abig chair waiting for the summons todinner. Her turquoise and silver jew-elry indicated she was the wife ofa well-to-do delegate. Although thesky was without a cloud, she heldacross her lap a big old fashionedcotton umbrella. Any one who knowsanything about Indians knows that itis not the thing to dash up and start

5am Ahkeah, chairman of the Navajo Tribal Council. Photo by MiltonSnow, U. S. Indian Service.talkingthat is, if there is a story inprospect. I waited. The Navajo womanwaited.On the third day she took a chairnext to me and plunged into the storyI knew she had been wanting to tellm e. "I want to tell you the terriblething that happen to my boy. I havefour boys, but one is a lot smarter thanall the others. He want to learn to bedoctor or lawyer and help his people.He study hard and get through Indianday school. Then we send him to In-dian boarding school in Albuquerquefor high school so he can go to uni-versity and learn to be doctor or law-yer and help his people."The Navajo woman sighed andclutched her big umbrella for support."After awhile we get letter from himand we see he is not hap py. It gotworse and worse. At last his papaand I took our horses and wagon andwent to Albuq uerque . It took a long

time. The school was nice and every-one was nice. At last we found outwhat was the trouble. At that timethe Indian school in Albuquerque andthe one in Santa Fe had no creditswith the university either in Arizonaor New Mexico. He couldn't get inwithout taking examinations and hewas sure he couldn't pass them."

"What did you do," I asked won-dering if the Tribal Council had beenforced to call an emergency meeting."We took him home and got himin a high school run by missionaries.It had the credit to the university. Butfirst they give him examination andput him back two years. My boy feltso bad, I thought he would never comeout of it. But he did. Now he is inuniversity and soon will be lawyer.And now both those Indian highschools in New Mexico have creditsto the university. So everything isfine." With that she picked up herO C T O B E R , 1 9 5 2 15


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cotton umbrella and swished her volu-minous petticoats into the dining room."The People" have stamina, we werefinding out. Neither are they a van-ishing tribe, but are increasing at therate of some 1000 a year. They arethe most aggressive of all the South-west Indians. With one hand they holdfast to a pride in their ancient ways.With the other they are reaching outfor tractors and machinery and all therights of their American citizenship.I had come to the Tribal Councilthinking of the poverty, the illiteracyand the isolation of the Nav ajos. I leftwith a strange reversal of feeling. "Th ePeople" have something. They havea heritage of song and poetry, of skillsand crafts. They have hum or andabove all they have something thatapproaches New Eingland spunk.We were to see another example oftheir stamina on the way home. Onthe long lonely road from WindowRock that leads to Gallup, we saw anold Navajo hobbling along on crutches.One foot was so wrapped in bandagesit was abou t the size of a ham. Asthere were no settlements or even visi-ble hogans for miles around, we won-dered where he was going.

We stopped. He understood noEnglish and could speak but a fewwords. But he understood our motionstha t we wou ld give him a lift. W herehe was headed on crutches we couldnot imagine. Smiling broadly, he rodemile after mile. At last he began wav-ing his arms and pointed to a threadof a trail that wound between thebushes to a barely discernible hoganat least a quarter of a mile away. Some

way he managed to get out of the car.Propped on his crutches, he spoke thefirst connected English words that hadcome from him. "You make me toohappy," he beamed."Would he have walked all thosemiles we had brought him," someonein the car wanted to know, "oncrutches!"He would. Th at is the way mostNavajos are walking ahead todayoncrutches of one kind or another.

CACTUS EASY TO GROWIF YOU FOLLOW RULESIf your cactus dish garden is dyingin a green roomthat's why. Cactiare repelled by the color green.If you move a desert cactus to yourown yard and fail to keep it turned inthe same direction it grew on the des-ert, the plant will die because youhave upset its metabolism. Cactus hasa cooler body temperature on the sideaway from the sun.These are two of the suggestionsoffered by a group of cactus collectorswho meet monthly at the ArizonaBotanical Gardens. The club wasformed for the purpose of learninghow to identify and care for cactusand for club members to have an op-portunity to trade species and enlargetheir garden collections.Most of the gardeners are agreedthat the main consideration for suc-cessful planting is good drainage. Sand,gravel and silt make good soil for thegarden. Also, all warn against over-watering plants. Too much water isas deadly to a cactus as too little.Arizona Republic.

P l a n P e g l e g T r e k i n O c t o b e r . . .Two important changes are to be made this year in holding the 6thannual Pegleg Smith Gold Trek and Liar's Contest in Borrego Valley,California, according to the announcement of Ray Hetherington. the

original sponsor of the program.1The dates have been changed from New Year's Eve and January1 to Saturday, October 11 and Sunday, October 12. The Liar's Contestwill be Saturday night.2The place has been changed from the Pegleg Monument in Bor-rego Valley to a new location in a natural amphitheater near Borrego'sDesert Club.Directors recently named to sponsor this year's Pegleg program inaddition to President Hetherington of the Ghost Town in Knott's BerryFarm are: Howard D. Clark of Buena Park, secretary, Fred Harvey ofEncinitas, Ralph L. Cainc of Los Angeles, and David Olmsted of theRoad to Romance association at Long Beach.While the Pegleg Trek and Liar's Contest are open to all visitors, a spe-cial invitation is being sent out to the Rockhounds this year, inviting themto come and add their specimens to a mineral display in the Desert Club.There will be ample space for the many campers who usually attendthe annual Pegleg Trek, and who look forward to this event as an annualreunion of the desert prospectors.

M a r d K o c k S h o r t yofDeath

ValleyWhile their broken Lii belt wasbeing replaced by the mechanicat the Inferno garage, the twodudes who were touring DeathValley wandered into the gen-eral store where Hard RockShorty was on temporary dutyas clerk.The strangers asked manyquestions, and finally Shorty be-gan to ask a few himself. Helearned that the visitors were in-stalling a radar station for thenavy out somewhere on the des-ert."Radar!" exclaimed Hard Rock."I been readin' about th at. If Iunderstand it right, you use somekind uva gadget to send outsound waves, an' when they hit

some object an" bounce back itmakes a pichure on a screen ufsome kind."The visitors laughed."It's something like that," oneof them remarked."Well, we got a pretty goodradar out here already." HardRock went on. "Only we call itEcho Mountain.""On account o' this EchoMountain ol' Pisgah Bill don'tneed no alarm clock to git himup when he's out working at hislead mine. Works like this:"Jes before Bill goes to bed atnight he points his nose towardthat Echo peak an' shouts, 'Timeto git up!""That mountain is about 50miles away, and sure enough,eight hours later, jes as the sunis comin" over the Funeral moun-tains that echo comes back jesas plain as Bill said it: ' li m e togi t up! '"



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The Kirk children and their pet Death Valley burros. Four-year-old Sara hugsMelinda, while brother Billy, seven, kneels beside Pedro.Death Valley Playmates. . .By PAT STURTEVANT

* 7 / / H A T H A P P EN S to baby b ur-fr(/ ros when their parents areshot by "sportsmen" invadingFour-year-old Sara Rene Kirk and

t least two such orphaned burros andThe children became foster parents

isconsolately beside the body of itsother. Together they struggled toarry the animal home and anxiouslyottle-fed it a typical baby's formula(Karo syrup and canned milk) forll it fattened and thrived. Buthe burro seemed lonely for four-legged

This problem was solved a month

later, when Billy found a half-starvedblack bur ro in the hills above his home.Now Melinda, their curly gray pet,and Pedro, the newcomer, frolic to-gether near the Kirks' home and fol-low their two-legged "parents" aroundlike dogs."The children have taken completecare of Melinda and Pedro since theyfirst found them," their mother, Mrs.E. W. Kirk, said. "They're such lov-

able animals I can't understand whyhunters kill them."The burros present no special prob-lem to the Kirks, who came fromWashington two years ago in searchof a healthful climate for Billy. Onoccasion, however, the family has re-turned to its home to find both Me-linda and Pedro peacefully standing inthe kitchen, having entered through anunlatched door.

For many years conservation-ists and wildlife lovers havefought to protect the wild burroswhich roam in the Death ValleyNational Monument and overother remote desert hill areas.Many of the hardy little animalshave been killed because theyallegedly interfere with mountainsheep, eating the limited forageon which the bighorns dependand driving the sheep from waterholes.Present laws protecting the

burros are effective only if thekillers are caught in the act oftransporting a carcass for foodpurposes and were designed tostop wholesale slaughter of theharmless animals for dog food.Several groups in past yearshave urged that the burro belegally classified as a game ani-mal and protected by game laws.It is hoped that a refuge for bur-ros will be established in the nearfuture.

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The Tonto Ruins, bu ilt by the Salado Tribe of Indians in the Fourteenth Century,occupy a natural arched cave in the cliff,330 feet above the canyon floor.Cliff Home of the AncientsAfter a Rip Van Winkle sleep of 500 years, the Tonto Cliff Ruins ofArizona ha ve co me back to life. W eldon and Ph yllis Heald weren'tprepared for all the surprises they met when they visited the nationalmonument this spring. The former stepchild of the park service wasspic and span; a nature trail identified typical desert flora, and artifactswere neatly displayed in a small museum beside the paved parkingarea . In this story, W eldon tells how Tonto Superintendent CharlesSharp and Park Archeologist Lloyd Pierson have restored the ancientdw ellings of a forgotten Sa lado tribe.

By WELDON F. HEALDPhotographs by the AuthorMap by Norton AllenE AREN'T crowded yet in

southeastern Arizona. Ourneighborhood stretches in alldirections to the distant horizon, andwe have good friends scattered over anarea the size of Ohio. We don't seesome of them as often as we would

like, but our etlicient desert grapevinekeeps us informed of their doings.Within 24 hours we know when some-body has a baby, that So-and-so'smother-in-law is on a visit from theEast, or that a fellow rancher 50 miles'round the other side of the mesa sot

a record pr ice for his cat tle. In fact,you'd be surprised how our vast openspaces hum with human activity.Two of our neighbors, a few hun-dred miles up the road, are Charlesand Frances Sharp. Charles was for-merly a Park Service ranger next doorat Chiricahua National Monument, butwas promoted in 1947 to superintend-ent of Tonto Cliff Dwellings. Phyllisand I hadn't seen the Sharps for a yearand a half, so we dropped in for aneighborly call this spring on our wayto Phoenix over the Apache "Frail.The monument had changed muchsince we last saw it. Park ServiceArcheologist Lloyd Pierson greeted us."How did you do it?" I said, indi-cating the newly-paved parking areaoutlined with cement curbs and the



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spic and span museum. "I 'll bet there r--TOPAhasn't been so much activity aroundhere since the Indians left.""We have been kind of busy," saidLloyd modestly.It was one of those sweeping under-statements typical of Arizonans. T o ^# #w f yius, it seemed as if life and vitality hadreturned once more to these cliff dwel-lings after a Rip Van Winkle sleep of500 years. At last, we thought, Tontois getting the Park Service polish andcan take its rightful place on an equalfooting with the state's other 15 na-tional monuments.That is good news. For too longa time Tonto was a stepchild nobodywanted, a prey to vandalism and neg-lect. In 1907, President TheodoreRoosevelt set aside 1120 acres to pro-tect these easily-accessible and inter-esting prehistoric cliff dwellings. Butfor more than 20 years Tonto was anational monument on paper only, andvandals knocked down walls, burnedbeams, carved their initials, excavatedand carried away artifacts. Nominallyunder the jurisdiction of the ForestService, the monument was partiallydeveloped under a special use permit

\

Park Service Archeologist Pierson and Superintendent Sharp puzzle out how toput together a fine Tonto polychrome pot dug up in the cliff dwellings.

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More than 18,000 people from all over the country visited the Tonto CliffDwellings last year. Every one of them w as met and guided through the

ruin by Superintendent Sharp and his two helpers.by the Southern Pacific Railroad in thelate 1920s as a tourist attraction onthe Apache Trail detour. This affordedsome degree of protection, but unfor-tunately much of the damage had al-ready been done. The Southern Pa-cific built an access road, a trail tothe lower ruin, a chain link fenceacross the front of the cave and in-stalled an Apache Indian caretakerand guide. But it wasn't until 1933that Tonto finally was taken over bythe National Park Service, and onlyrecently have appropriations been suf-ficient for the hard-working team ofSharp and Pierson to put the monu-ment in tiptop condition."Where's Charles?" I asked as wegot out of the car."Oh, he's driving the last stakes onthe new nature trail," said Lloyd. "Wejust finished the job this morning, andvou two can be the first to trv it out."

He handed us a mimeographed leafletdescribing 21 objects of interest indi-cated by numbered stakes along thetrail. "We'll have this printed when weget the bugs out of it. Let us knowwhat you think of the job."The lower cliff dwellings can beseen perched in a natural arched cavein the quartzite bluff, 330 feet abovemonument headquarters. The trailswitchbacks up the canyon wall to theruin through a fascinating garden ofdesert flora. Tonto's elevation puts itin the Lower Sonoran life zone, withan Upper Sonoran shrub here andthere.We wound up the trail in the bril-liant morning sun, the sharp, aromatictang of the desert in our nostrils.Spring wildflowers were in bloom, andthe songs of canyon wrens cascadeddown from the cliffs above. To theeast we looked out across broad Salt

River Valley to the bold lofty outlineof the Sierra Ancha.The stakes drew our attention topalo verde, staghorn and teddy bearcholla, tall saguaros, spiny fishhook.hedgehog and fat barrel cactus, oco-tillo, crucifixion thorn and mesquite.There were geological points of inter-est too, and even long white honey-combs in a crevice of the cliffs, aroundwhich swarms of bees were buzzing.We stopped and read the descriptionsand would have missed several thingswitho ut the stakes and leaflet. So thefirst visitors to walk Tonto's naturetrail approved thoroughly; but I mustadmit one of the markers we likedbest was a neat sign which read:"Let no man saw and say it to yourshame.That all was beauty here until youcame."

At the 21st marker we met Super-intendent Sharp. As we shook handsand complimented him on the manyimprovements at Tonto, a quiet prideshone in his eyes. They are deep,calm, grey eyes which often seem torest on distant things, as if they werecontemplating another world beyondthe horizon.

A product of Nebraska. Charleswas graduated from Nebraska Wes-leyan as a geography major. He hasbeen with the Park Service 1 1 ye;:rs.'i started as a roving ranger," hewill tell you. "T here 's no such thingnow, but while it lasted it was the bestjob in the service for a young fellow,if," he smiled, "he had an adaptablewife. Fortun ately, 1 have. France sand I lived in a house trailer pulledby a government pickup truck andwere ready to move on short noticeto any of the Southwestern nationalmo num ents. I was relief range r atWhite Sands, Montezuma Castle, Ban-delier, Tonto. Saguaro and CasaGr and e. Believe me, it was an educ a-tion. I not only learned abou t thePark Service, but came out of it acarpenter, plumber and mechanic."After this introduction, Charles v/asstationed at Carlsbad Caverns andChiricahua National Monument be-tween 194! and 1947.

The three of us walked on up to thecliff dwelling. We were silent as wecame to the cave, with its ancientmasonry and fire-blackened walls.Here was once the busy settlement ofa people now lost among the dim pagesof prehistory.The Indians who built these eagle-nest communities high in the cliffs

were not too different from the pres-ent-day Hopis or Zunis. Archeologistscall them the Salado people, which isthe Spanish word for "salty." Theyapparently emigrated from the northabout 1200 A.D. and settled aloneD E S E R T M A G A Z I N E


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the Salt Riv er. The y built villages andcultivated maize, beans, squash andcotton. In fact, before Roosevelt Damflooded the valley, remains of Saladoirrigation ditches could plainly be seen.But along in the early 1300s some-thing happened. Probably enemiesswarmed down into the peaceful landand drove the Salados into defensivecommunities in the surrounding hills.At any rate, for almost a century theyoccupied their cliff dwellings and con-tinued to farm along the river below.But around 1400 A.D. they suddenlyabandoned the region. No one knowswhy or where they went. The bestguess is that the country was invadedby modern Yavapais from the north-west or Apaches from the east, andthe Salados were forced to retreat.The main cliff dwelling, 85 feet longand 40 feet deep, originally was twostories high and contained about 25rooms. The walls are of rough stone,cemented with adobe clay in whichthe finger marks of the builders arestill visible. Much of the dwelling hascrumbled to dust, but one room re-mains roofed over with saguaro ribs,topped by four or five inches of adobeand supported by the original beamsand posts, cut and shaped by stone'axes. After 500 years, there still areevidences of the former red-skinnedoccupants: perfectly-preserved corncobs, seeds and the bones of wild ani-mals can be seen. The skeleton of achild has been excavated in the floor

of one of the rooms and now is pro-tected under glass in a museum case.But life in a cliff dwelling was ap-parently no existence for the faint-hearted or weak-backed. The nearestwater supply was a seep or spring inthe canyon a half mile distant; the val-ley farmlands were two to four milesaway and 1000 feet below. Water,firewood, harvested crops and wildgame all had to be carried Indian-backup to the dwellings. Furthermore,these ancient apartment houses weremore crowded than the worst moderntenementfive to ten Indians eatingand sleeping together in dark, smoky,windowless rooms little bigger thanclosets.Nevertheless the Salados were ob-viously an industrious hard-workingpeople with a high level of culture.They made excellent decorative andplain pottery and wove fine cotton tex-tiles, embroidery, open work and dia-mond twills. Their dwellings haveyielded sandals, mats and ropes ofyucca fiber, shell and turquoise orna-ments, bows and arrows and stone

implements, which give a revealingcross section of the daily lives andhabits of the extinct Salados.Due to the enthusiastic labors ofLloyd Pierson, many of these artifacts

Marian and Lloyd Pierson, Park Service archeologist at Tonto, with DaleFred Pierson, probably the first baby born in the area in 500 years.now are preserved at the museum be-side the parking area. Lloyd came toTonto in 1948 as park archeologist,and I found him on my last visit withhammer in hand and nails in teeth,busily building exhibit cases. Today,the neat little museum has a model dis-play room and a small but growing li-brary of Southwestern archeologicalliterature. Lloyd pointed out the sitefor a future larger museum which willbe built wh en and ifsufficient ap -propriations come through.There are several other cliff dwel-lings within the monu ment. The so-called Upper Ruin, largest of all, con-tains 32 rooms. But there is no trail,and the walls are in a rather danger-ous state of deterioration, so the ParkService discourages all visitors exceptserious archeological students. Whentime and funds can be found this fineruin undoubtedly will be stabilized andopened to the public. Another 14-room dwelling, adjacent to the lowerruin, Lloyd excavated last year with acrew of four menand Mrs. Pierson."In fact, it was Marian who dis-covered 'Little Louie'," said Lloyd."Little Louie" was one of the mostremarkable finds at Tonto. One dayLloyd and Marian saw the corner ofa bear grass mat sticking out of theground.

"You dig it up," said Lloyd, "whileI look over those upper rooms."So Marian started digging gopher-fashion around the mat. She pulled itout, but that wasn't all. Underneath

was a cradle board, then two baskets,under that a gourd pot and finally, afoot and a half below the surface, shefound the skeleton of a child sur-rounded with food, a hat, spindle stick,yucca bow and arrows and a rattle."Little Louie," with all the parapher-nalia for his premature trip to theHappy Hunting Grounds, now lies instate at the museumone of Tonto'smost prized possessions.We lunched at the picnic groundsunder a spreading mesquite and visited,as country neighbors will, with theSharps and Piersons. Meanwhile Ran-ger Bob Vrickland played Park Ser-vice host to the continually arrivingvisitors whose cars bore license platesfrom New York to California. Las tyear 18,460 people registered at Tonto,and this year they have been comingat the rate of 3000 a monthabouttwice as many as when SuperintendentSharp took over the monument.

Although open all year, Tonto ishot in summer, and the best seasonis from late October until mid-June.It can be reached in three hours' driveover Arizona's famed Apache Trailfrom Apache Junction to the west, orin an hour from Globe to the south.You can get gasoline, meals and lim-ited supplies at the little town of Roose-velt, V?2 miles distant, and there isa motel. No camping is permitted inthe monument, but there are severalfair spots near Roosevelt Dam by theshores of Roosevelt Lake.

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Window Rock, Arizona . . .The Navajo Tribal Council hasvoted to enter the mining business asa tribal enterprise. The resolution em-powered the tribe to acquire its ownmining or oil drilling properties andto produce its own minerals, supplant-ing the present setup whereby privatecompanies lease tribal land and payroyalties on their production. Wh atthe tribe actually does will dependlargely on results of surveys now beingconducted on the New Mexico-Ari-zona reservation. At the present time,Vanadium Corporation of America isdoing the bulk of the uranium mining

on the reservation. Some teams fromthe Atomic Energy Commission itselfalso are working on the Navajo lands. Arizona Republic. Washington, D. C. . . .In a report to Congress, Secretaryof Interior Oscar L. Chapman visual-ized a vast synthetic oil industry whichhe said would return a handsome profitand boost the nation's oil reserves by"many billions of barrels." He urgedprivate industry to develop as soon aspossible commercial plants for trans-forming oil shale and coal into gaso-line and other synthetic fuels. VernalExpress. Santa Fe, New Mexico . . .Eighteen miles south and west ofSanta Fe, in a section known as LosCerrillosthe Little Hillszinc andlead are causing new activity in theoldest mining area of the state. Twomines the Tom Payne owned bySanta Fe Lead Mines and the Penn-sylvania mine are producing orewith a content of approximately 16percent lead and 25 percent zinc. Ex-pansion is planned this winter. LosCerrillos long has hummed with min-ing activity. The fabulous Mina delTiro, a silver-lead mine known to theSpaniards prior to the Pueblo revoltof 1680, is there, and the famousChalchihuitl turquoise mine of theIndians lies nearby. Humboldt Star. Barstow, California . . .Lighthouse Mining Corporation ofBarstow has announced it will buyscheelite-bearing ores or mill such oreson a custom basis at its Mojave riverbed plant. Machinery consists of pri-mary and secondary jaw crushers,screens, ball mill, cone classifiers andtables. The m ill has a capacity ofabout 80 tons per 24 hours. H u m -boldt Star.

Carlsbad, New Mexico . . .The 100.000th carload of potashwas shipped this sum mer from Inter-national Minerals and ChemicalCorporation's mines at Carlsbad. In-ternational Minerals produces approx-imately one-fourth of the total domesticoutput of potash salts. cMoab, Utah . . .Development and production ofuranium mines in the Moab area areendangered by an amendment to thefederal leasing act, passed in 1946 butkept secret until now. The amend-ment reserves to the United Statesgovernment all fissionable materialsfound in land covered by oil and gasleases. This casts a shadow over manylode claims. Unless Cong ress passesremedial legislation to nullify or modi-fy the amendment, hundreds of minersand prospectors and several large com-panies stand to lose vast sums ofmoney already invested in develop-ment of their claims. Moab Times-Independent. Virginia City, Nevada . . .Three former gold mills now are

running on tungsten ore on the his-toric silver and gold Comstock Lode.The Consolidated Virginia and Day-ton Consolidated plants have beentreating scheelite several months, andthe Recovery mill at Silver City hasbeen changed to a tungsten concen-trator to handle scheelite from theBrunswick Canyon Mine. Beowawe , Nevada . . .Discovery of deposit of commer-cial sulphur near Beowawe has beenannounced by Oscar J. Streeter andPete Peterson of Elko. The deposit isbelieved to contain 100 ,000 tons ofthe mineral. About 400 tons of sul-phur have been uncovered to date.Rattle Mou ntain Scout. Searchlight, Nevada . . .Searchlight, once one of Nevada'simportant gold and silver centers, mayenjoy another boom through discov-ery of uranium. John E. Loring ofLas Vegas and a scientist friend fromthe east recently explored the areawith geiger counters, and in Search-light proper the instrument reactedviolently, indicating that the area washighly radioactive. The Canadian Ra-dium and Uranium Corp. of New Yorkhas been awarded exploration rights. Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Hillsdale, Arizona . . .The tungsten unit at Hillsdale Min-ing and Milling Company's mill isreported near completion. The unit.a conventional gravity plant of 300tons capacity, will be used to treatboth company and custom ores. Thegravity section includes crushing andgrinding equipment with concentra-tion by flotation, tabling and magneticseparation. Principal production willcome from the Tungstona and BlackPearl mines. Mining Record. Winnemucca, Nevada . . .The Riley Mine, 42 miles northeastof Winnemucca, has been reopened bythe United States Vanadium Corpora-tion and is again a producer of tung-sten. The ore will be hauled twomiles to the mill of Getchell Mines.Inc.. for preliminary milling, and con-centrates will be shipped to the U.S.V.plant at Bishop, California, for proc-essing.Humboldt Star.

e Tonopah, Nevada . . .The Last Chance Mining Company,which conducts the only antimonyoperation of its kind in the state, re-cently com pleted its smelter. It em-ploys an electrolytic method of treat-ment which was developed by theU. S. Bureau of Mines. Op eration sare located southwest of Round Moun-tain in the Wall Canyon district. Goldfield News. Austin, Nevada . . .Recalling the days when Austin wasa famous silver producer, the CastleMountain Mine will begin large scaleproduction as soon as preliminaryconstruction work is completed. Amill to be operated on the propertywill handle custom work for smallmines throughout the Austin area in-sofar as custom contracts do not inter-fere with the regular output of theCastle Mountain mine. The drift to

the old mine shaft has been completed,and workmen now are stoping andhauling to the mill. Reese RiverReveille. Virginia City, Nevada . . .. Th e last stam p mill to op erate forthe recovery of precious metals inVirginia City has resumed processinggold. The 10 stam p mill owned byEarl and Abe Evans commenced op-eration s in Augu st. If worked on a24-hour basis, the mill will have adaily capacity of between 12 and 15tons. A backlog of ore from theEvanses' Bold Eagle Claim near thesouthern slope of Cedar Hill has beentrucked in for processing. TerritorialEnterprise.



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P i c t u r e ofT h e M o n t hPainted , , ,

On an April trip through Painted Canyon east of Mecca, California, RobertLeatherman of San Bernardino saw a beautiful white crested lizard basking inthe sun. With his Crown Graphic camera set for 1/25 second at f 1 6 , Leather-m an took this study , first prize winner in the August photo con test. Secondprize was won by Alice Puster, whose picture of gnarled Joshua tree limbsappe ars on the poetry p age.

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Hoping to rediscover the lost gold ledge for himself, the prospector held up apiece of the rich ore and advised the Indians: "It is no good. Throw it away."Lost Pima Indian G o l d .By JOHN D. MITCHELLSketch by Charles Keetsie ShirleyNavajo ar t i s t

YEARS ago, a party ofeastern bear hunters engageda group of young Pima Indi-ans to guide them into the Mt. Ordcountry 50 miles northeast of Phoenix,Arizona.The easterners planned to spendseveral weeks hunting in the area, andwhen the Indian guides had seen themcomfortably established in the wilder-ness camp, they started back to thereservation. To shorten the distancehome, they traveled in a straight linefrom the southern base of Mt. Ord tothe northern foothills of the Supersti-tion Mountains. They had been wellpaid for the trip and, in a merry mood,they traveled fast, single file, chantingtheir tribal songs as they hurried along.While passing through the highrocky ground a few miles north of theSuperstition Mountains, the youngbucks suddenly came upon two skele-tons. Upon closer examination, theyappeared to be white men, probablyprospectors. The bones had bleachedwhite from long exposure to the ele-ments and lay over a considerablearea, evidently disturbed by coyotes

On the Sacaton reservation inArizona are living Pima Indianswho were present many yearsago when a guide party of theirtribesmen found two bleachedskeletons and a pile of oresea m ed with gold. Here is thestory as pieced together byJohn Mitchell from informationgained from the Indians andfrom other sources.and carrion birds. Nearby lay a num-ber of old brass shells of the largecaliber used in guns of that early per-iod in the West. A few b adly ru stedcooking utensils, mining tools andother pieces of camp equipment layscattered over the ground near a shal-low mining shaft. On one side of therude working was a pile of ore con-taining yellow metal that sparkled inthe sunlight. Thinking the rock mightbe of some use to tribal craftsmen, thebucks gathered a few of the largerpieces to take home with them.It was late afternoon when theyagain set out for the reservation. Theyskirted the sandy lands on the westside of the Superstitions and by lateevening arrived at an ancient water-hole between Queen Creek and the

north end of tiie San Tan M oun tains.They stopped here to quench theirthirst and to rest for the night.Just before sunset, an old prospec-tor came to the waterhole to fill hiskegs and water his burros. The ani-mals drank their fill and stood dosingin the warm light from the setting sun,while the prospector busied himselffilling the kegs and mak ing read y toreturn to his camp high in the foothillsof the Superstitions.His tasks done, he stopped to chat

with the young Pimas who were pre-paring their evening meal of smallgame they had killed along the way.Seeing the pile of ore that the Indianshad carelessly thrown on the ground,the old man casually picked up a fewpieces and was surprised to find themflecked with bright yellow gold. Notwishing to excite the Pimas and hopingto disguise from them the value oftheir find, he threw the ore on theground. "It is no good," he told thebucks, and advised them to throw itaway.The next morning when the pros-pector returned to the waterhole theIndians were gone; but he was de-lighted to find they had left a fewpieces of the ore beh ind. After w ater-



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ing his burros again, he gathered upthe rich samples and hurried back tohis camp in the mountains. He ate ahasty meal, then saddled one of hisburros and set out to backtrack theIndians to where they had found theo r e , the shallow shaft and the twoskeletons they had told him about thenight before.

He found the trail easy to followuntil he came to the high rocky coun-try north of the Superstitions, whereit disappeared among barren boulders.He rode in circles, cutting for signs,but was unable to find any tracks be-yond the desert's edge and the softsand. It was growing late, and thetired old man reluctantly decided toreturn to camp for the night and laterplan another trip into the high rockyground that lay beyond the desert tothe north.Anxious to know what the ore wouldrun in gold, he took the samples tothe assay office in Phoenix. Joe Por-terea, an old-time assayer well knownto many pioneers of the state, testedthe gold-studded quartz, and the cer-tificate he turned over to the prospec-tor showed that it ran $35,000 per tonin gold and showed every evidence ofhaving come from the country wherethe Pimas said they had found it

between Mt. Ord and the northernslopes of the Superstitions.After celebrating his good fortunefor several days, the old man returnedto his camp to plan a campaign thatwould enable him to keep the secretof the mine while locating the old shaftand reap its benefits for himself.In the years that followed, he man-aged to guard his secret and to live

off the country while he searched therocky wilds for the lost gold. Finally,when too old and feeble to face thecontinued hardships of life alone inthe desert, he revealed the secret toothers. Several took up the search, butlike the old prospector, they neverwere able to locate the right place.Disillusioned and broke, the oldman spent the last years of his lifehanging around saloons and gamblinghouses in Phoenix, where he earnedmany a free drink or a good meal byshowing the small pieces of rich quartz

and telling his story to new arrivals inthe frontier town.Evidently the old man had not livedin the West long enough to learn thatIndians, traveling on foot or on horse-back, often follow a straight course.By drawing a straight line on a mapfrom the north end of the Superstitions

P r i z e P i c t u r e C o n t e s t - fa*With the coming of October and the cool fall months on the desert,th e camera fraternity will be starting their seasonal trek to the landof colorful sunsets and long shadows. The desert offers both cleardays and cloudy daysand such a wide variety of subjects as areto be found nowhere else. In order that the best of the pictures takenb y Desert Magazine readers may be shared with others, Desert's staffoffers cash prizes each month for photographs submitted in ourPicture-of-the-Month contest.Entries for the October contest must be in the Desert Magazineoffice. Palm Desert, California, by October 20, and the winning printswill appear in the December issue. Pictures which arrive too late forone contest are held over for the next month. First prize is $10; secondprize $5.00. For non-winning pictures accepted for publication $3.00

each will be paid. HERE ARE THE RULES1Prints for monthly contests must be black and white, 5x7 or larger, printed

o n glossy paper.2Each photograph submitted should be fully labeled as to subject, time andplace. Also technical data: camera, shutter speed, hour of day, etc.3PRINTS WILL BE RETURNED WHEN RETURN POSTAGE IS ENCLOSED.4All entries must be in the Desert Magazine office by the 20th of the contestmonth.5Contests are open to both amateur and professional photographers. DesertMagazine requires first publication rights only of prize winning pictures.6Time and place of photograph are immaterial, except that it must be from thedesert Southwest.7Judges will be selected from Desert's editorial staff, and awards will be madeimmediately after the close of the contest each month.

Address All Entries to Photo Editor'Decent PALM DESERT. CALIFORNIA

to the southern slopes of Mt. Ord andthen prospecting along both sides ofthe line, he might have located thelost ledge.Another story seems to explain theconstruction of the crude mine shaftand the two whitened skeletons theyoung Pima guides found near it.One day, during the time UnitedStates soldiers were stationed at Fort

McDowell in the Apache countrynorth of Phoenix, two soldiers wentout deer hunting across the VerdeRiver east of the fort. They returnedthat evening loaded down with all therich gold ore they could carry. Theore was a white milky quartz gener-ously flecked with free gold; the metalrecovered from it was sold in Phoenixfor $1400. Soon after the two soldiersreturned to the high rocky locationbetween the Superstitions and Mt. Ord,but they were unable to find the whiteledge they had discovered while trail-ing a wounded deer that day and fromwhich they had broken the rich ore.

After being discharged from thearmy, the soldiers are believed to havemade their way back into the countryand again taken up the search for thelost ledge. The skeletons found by theyoung Indian guides most likely weretheirs. Successful in rediscovering thegold lode, they probably had beenkilled by Apache renegades hiding outin the caves of the Superstitions longafter Geronimo and his band of war-riors had been rounded up and placedon reservations.There are yet a few old Pimas onthe Sacaton reservation along the GilaRiver who were members of the guideparty which first found the soldiers'o r e . They might have led the old pros-pector back to the rich gold lode, buthe selfishly kept his secret until he nolonger could hope to benefit from it.

TRUE OR FALSE ANSWERSQuestions are on page 121False. The Chuckawalla is harm-less.2False. The atlatl was used as aweapon for killing game.3False. Tuzigoot Ruins NationalMonument is in Arizona.4False. Rose quartz has a hard-ness of 7. Calcite is 3.5False. Taking petrified wood outo f the Monument is forbidden.6True. 7.True.8False. The Mojave River endsin a series of desert playas.9True. 10True.11False. The Shivwits Indians arein Utah.12True. 13-Tru

Documents

195210 Desert Magazine 1952 October