196406 Desert Magazine 1964 June

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JUNE

PHOTO

C O N T E S T

W I N N E R S

TSE-LANICharles Supplee

GANADO, ARIZONA

Tse-Lani is an area of beautifully sculptured rocks andcanyons on the Navajo Indian Reservation. Tse-lanimeans "many rocks" in Navajo. Photog rapher Suppleewaited for two hours to capture the shadows at the right

mom ent. Data: 4x5 Super Graphic,16 at 1/50, RoyalPan, dark red filter.

Fi r s t P r i z

ADOBE MAKERKen McVey

TORRANCE, CALIFORNIA

This desert design was takennorth of Xogales, Arizona onasummer morning. Data: 4x5Speed Graphic , 111 at 1/100 ,Kodak Super XX.

S ernnH Pri7P


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CONTENTSVolume 27 Number 6

JUNE, 1964

This Month's CoverThe Coral Pink Dunesof Kanab, UtahPhoto by FRANK JENSEN

4 Books for Desert Readers

6 Garnets in Hell's Hole

By KATHLEEN POWERS

8 Racial Unrest at BelmontBy LAMBERT FLORIN

9 Ladybug FarmBy TIM ST. GEORGE

10 Jim Dollar's Lost MineBy KENNETH MARQUISS

12 Axel Anderson's MineBy KEITH WRIGHT

14 Baja's Pacific BeachesBy JACK PEPPER

16 Cross at Witches PocketBy EARL SPENDLOVE

19 Strange Legend of Salton SeaBy RETTA EWERS

20 Hawikuh, Cibola's Golden CityBy PETER ODENS

22 The Night of the Ash Flow

By ALLENR. HAGOOD

26 Bewitched by BajaBy CHORAL PEPPER

32 Run, Wild HorseBy DR. JOHN GOODMAN

34 Desert DispensaryBy SAM HICKS

36 Anyone for Cactus Apples?By THOMAS DICKENSON

38 DESERT CookeryBy LUCILLEI. CARLESON

42 Letters from Our Readers

QiaestioxiTo the Editor: A friend of mine recentlyreturned from Lake Powelland told methe level of the water was lower than ithad been and that it is still going down.I read, too, that they were letting wateroutof Glen Canyon Dam because Lake Meadis so low. I am planning a trip to LakePowell this summer as a result of yourstory in the April issue of DESERT. Couldyou give me information about this,orwhere to write?

VICTOR FORCE,Beverly Hills, California

Mr. Force's letter is similar to morethan a dozen received by DESERT askingfor information on the water level of LakePowell. To separate rumor from factwequeried both government officialsand con-cessionaires on the lake. As of press time(May 1) here are the facts:

1. It was necessary to let water throughGlen Canyon Dam to fulfill the com-mitments of Lake Mead's Boulder(Hoover) Dam. Lake Powell is downapproximately 11 feet from its interimcrest. But the lake presently extendsfor 135 miles above Glen CanyonDam. It is still one of the largest lakesin the West.

2. Continued cold weather (whichmaybreak by the time you read this) hasdelayed an anticipated runoff whichwould have brought water downtheColorado into Lake Powelland atleast kept the water level even bycounteracting the planned release of

water to Lake Mead. Reports indicatea healthy runoff, once it starts.

3. Boats are still being launched fromWahweap Creek and will continue tobe unless the water drops anothersixfeet, which is unlikely. If it does, atemporary launching site willbe putup at nearby Kane Creek. Bill Green e,of Art Greene's Wahweap LodgeandMarina, reportsthe water will tempor-arily delay launching boatsat theirnew million dollar Marina,but they arecontinuing businessas usual at Wah-weap Creek and their motel, restaur-ant and marine facilities are operatingas usual. Boats are also still beinglaunched at Hall's Crossing underFrank Wright. The delayed rise inthe lake has temporarily preventedlaunching at Castle Butte (Hite)butConcessionaire Gaylord Staveley willbe open for business as soon at thewater reacheshis area.

4. For last minute information relativeto the level of the lake and launchingsites write or call the following: GlenCanyon National Recreation AreaHeadquarters, Page, Arizona, AreaCode 602, 645-2472;Art Greene Can-yon Tours, Wahweap Lodgeand Mar-ina, P. O. Box 1356, Page Arizona,Area Code 602, 645-2761; FrankWright, Lake Powell Ferry Service(atHall's Crossing),P. O. Box 665, Blan-ding, Utah. Phone 678-2281; GaylordStaveley, Glen Canyon Boating (CastleButte, Hite) P.O. Box 156, MexicanHat, Utah, Phone MexicanHat 43.

DESERT is published monthly by Desert Maga zine, Palm Desert, C alif. Second Closs Postage paidat Palm Desert, Calif., and at additional mailingoffices under Act of March 3, 1879. Title registered No. 358865 in U. S. Patent Office, and contents copyrighted 1964 by Desert Magazine. Un-solicited manuscripts and photographs cannot be returned or acknowledged unless full return postageis enclosed. Permission to reproduce contentsmust be secured from the editor in writing. SUBSCRIPTION PRICE: $4.50per year (12 issues) in the U.S.; $5 elsewhere- Allow five weeksfor changeof address, and be sure to send the old as well as new address.

JACK PEPPER, Publisher CHORAL PEPPER, Editor

ELTA SHIVELY AL MERRYM AN ROSE HOLLY MARVEL BARRETTExecutive Secretary Staff Artist Circulation Manager Business Manager

Address Correspondence To:Desert Magazine, Palm Desert, Calif. 92260 Phone: FI 6-8144

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4/44

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THE OLD CHISHOLM TRAILBy Alexander Chisholm; Edited byKathryn Kay

Sort of a Dangerous Dan McGrewthat just didn't stop, this raucous taleof singing cowboys goes on for 570pages, all in rhyme.

Based upon a bibliography exceed-ing 300 volumes, author Chisolm, adescendant of the Cherokee scout forwhom Chisholm T rail was named, in-cludes in his saga facts and legendsabout Sam Houston, Sitting Bull,Buffalo Bill, Davy Crockett, WillRogers, Teddy Roosevelt, and a mul-titude of other famous and infamouspersons whose paths crossed the oldChisholm Trail.

Nor does he stop with persons. Buf-falo, mustang, and longhorn roar,stampede, thunder and die on hispages. Delightful Seuss-like descrip-tions, such as:A most odd and distinctive design of

of a beastWas the buffalo, from head to heels,

With long front hair as coarse as thetail of a horse

And fine rear hair as soft as a seal's.change to blood and gut drama suchas :In the wanton slaug hter that history

knoivsBuffaloes by the millions were shot,

They were shot down in tides, andthen stripped o f their hides

And left there on the Great Plainsto rot.

Every chapter produces a surprise,in this fresh new book. Those wholike to read aloud will find enoughgripping historical material in THEOLD CHISHOLM TRAIL to keepan audience mesmerized for weeks.

Published by Handkraft Art andPublishing Company, Los Angeles,this thick hardcover book is nicelyillustrated with black and whitesketches by Jim Pratt. Pub licationdate is June and the price is $6.95.

BEACHWALKER'S GUIDEBy Dick Smith an d Frank Van Schaick

After a lengthy dissertation aboutthe joys of beach w alking, presumablyalready understood by anyone buy-ing this bright citrus-colored paper-back book, its authors finally get

down to the business of imparting alimited amount of information, slant-ed toward the proverbial 14-year-oldmen tality. However, I suppose theauthors should be forgiven for this.It may be hard to write about hermitcrabs, sea hare, and other strangefellows of the sea without it soundinglike a children's book.

Beachwalkers are warned againsteating the vivid, red-orange meat ofmussels in summertime, as warmwater encourages microscopic organ-isms poisonous to humans which themussels eat. Edible clams are de-scribed, but with no instructions asto how to dig lor them. But, as theauthors say, this book is merely anintroduction. Those desiring deeperknowledge will seek it elsewhere.

Superb black and white photo-graphs and line drawings make forclear identification. Published by Mc-Nally and Loftin, the soft cover booksells for $1.95.

ARIDITY AND MANEdited by Carle Hodge

In a preface to ARIDITY ANDMan called "Lands of Little Water"Dr. Luna B. Leopold nicely sets thetone for the book. He concludes:

"In the many lands where peoplestill must fight for the very necessi-ties of life, there is little room forprotection of purely esthetic values.But the time comes soon enough, withpopulation expansion, when some atleast will look back and wish thatthought had been given to the pro-tection of rare species, unique history,

and exceptional scenery. This lesson,particularly, is one that is manifestlyapplicable to the arid zones."

This meaty volume was originallyprepared as part of our country's con-tribution to the Scientific Conferenceon the Arid Lands of Latin Americaheld in Buenos Aires last year to aidLatin Americans in the intelligent useof their lands. It presents a terse andthought-provoking account of the suc-cesses and failures we have had inour attempts to exploit, as well as

wisely use, our "lands of little rain."Among the seventy-four contribu-

tors from fourteen different states aremany, if not most, of the American

A I fJ / T


5/44

M y C h o r a l P e p p e r

scientists who are today's authoritieson anthropology, biology,and westernpolitical socialand political institu-tions. Particularly interestingto thoseliving in the Los Angelesand Tucsonareas and California's Central Valleyshould be the chapters dealing withhow various problemsdue to aridityin these areasare being workedout.

ARIDITY AND MAN makesfre-quent mention of the estheticandeconomic values inherentin the desertlands of the West, but, unfortunately,it does not contain a single contribu-tion on the subject of recreation, asubject whose vitalityis growing rightalong with the oft-cited "populationexplosion."

Dr. Gordon L. Bender, ProfessorofZoology at Arizona State University,in his extremely interesting chapter"Native Animalsand Plants as Re-sources" stresses the recreationalvaluesof game animals,of course,butalso, looking to the future, he empha-sizes the values of desert wildlife(again, both estheticand economic)to the photography and to the out-doorsman who simply enjoys seeingwild animalsin their native habitats.Of predatorshe has this to say:

"A number of other animalsnowclassified as predators as a resultofdeep-seated but outmoded biasesandprejudices should be reclassified asgame animals, managedas a renew-able resource,and converted intoaneconomically and esthetically impor-tant componentof the local scene."

ARIDITY AND MAN is no bookfor the casual reader,but it is an inval-uable handbookfor all of us whoseinterest in the desert promptsa de-

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knowall we can

aboutit.

Great creditfor the readabilityof thebook lies in the excellent editorialwork done by Carle Hodge, ScienceEditor, The Arizona Daily Star,andto the discriminating selectionof pic-tures, maps,and graphs by AlbertW.Smith, University of Coloradogeo-grapher.

Published by the American Asso-ciation for the Advancement of Sci-ence, 1615 Massachusetts Avenue,N.W., Washington, D.C., this 604-page illustrated book sellsfor $12.00.

ReviewedbyHarry C. James

SPICE YDURSPANISH WITH

DICHDSBy Richard Castillo

Interpreted by Sam Hicks)ichos"are the pungent Spanish

proverbs which contributeso muchcolor and logic to the conversation

and thinkingofour Mexican neigh-bors. Ricardo Castillo and SamHicks will collaboratefor the nextfew months in presenting someofthe most popularfor the enjoymentof DESERT readers.

"La mala suerte y los pendejos,siempre andan juntes."

Bad luck and plain damn foolsalways travel together.

"No hay mal que dure cien anos,ni cabron que los aguante."

There's no bad thing that can last

a hundred years, nor the son-of-a-gun who can live wih it."Poco veneno no mata mucha

gente."A little poison never killed many

people."Del dicho al hecho hay gran

trecho."A talker isn't necessarily a doer.

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T h r e e P a t h s A lo n ga Rive r. . . the heritage of the valleyof the River of San Luis Rey

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by Ralph Love The mark of three peoplesthe In-

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book are: Warner's Ranch, SantaYsabel, Pala, Pauma Valley, Julian,San Pasqual, Santa Margarita, Gua-jome, Temecula, Camp Wright, theButterfield Stage stations, Aguanga.

A round-up of history that belongsto the beautiful "back-country" andthe seashore hills of San DiegoCounty.

258 pages, illustrated, indexed, bib-liographed, hard cover. $6 plus 25cpostage and packaging. (Californiaaddresses add 24c state sales tax).

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four W heel Drive Center1625 S. Harbor Blvd., Fullerton 7, C alif.

IT WAS AN exhi larat ing morningfor our trip into Hell's Hole, asecreted Arizona canyon reached

by a treacherous drive over forestroads filled with switch-backs. Ou rdestination was a hole at its bottomwhere we hoped to relocate an emer-

ald that Ben Scott, a prospector, guideand wranger who accompanied us,had seen on a previous trip.

Our trek carried us along precipi-tous cliffs, through cacti, and past theghost town of Bumblee Bee where"diggings" dotted the mountain sides.At Cleator we paused to visit Phil andAudrey Reasoner's rock shop and ob-tain information a b o u t spec imensfound in the nearby Bradshaw Moun-tains.

The higher we climbed, the taller

grew the trees and the worse grew theroad. Part way up to Crown Kingwe parked in an alcove formed byan old railroad tunnel near the Hell 'sHole trail sign.

Carrying lunches, chisels, and rockhammers, we followed a faint traildown hill. Within 20 feet we haddropped below the road. Manzanitaand catsclaw crowded a few scatteredpines. At the halfway point stood amahogany tree. On we went, pausingonly to note the changing varietiesof growth at various levels.

Unexpectedly, the narrow footpathreached an end. Opening up, i t re-vealed a beautiful oasis in a hiddenhollow. Ou r eyes had bee n so busy

watching the placement of our feet othe drop from 5600 feet above to Hell'Hole at 2400 feet that we had overlooked a ribbon of water cascadingdown the west side of the basin. T hfalls originated at-the Horse ThieBasin lake 300 feet above our heads

After a short rest, we located Ben'emerald on the other side of theoasis, but even though he worked aninch away from the stone to avoidbreaking it , an unfortunate percussion shattered it beyond salvage.

Searching for another produced noresults, but we did find a bonanzain garnets. These were large, translucent stones stained with a dark mineral which we peeled from the muscovite that impregnated the pegmatite rock.

After lunch we inspected the ruinof a silver mine at the other end othe pool and marveled at the menwho had packed machinery piece bpiece into this almost inaccessiblregion and packed the ore out ontheir backs. Bill was very interestein the equipment and tailings lefbehind.

I would like to issue warning thathe trip up the canyon is not theeasy trek down. Do not take this trialone or if you have breathing difficulties. For those who cannot gdown to Hell's Hole, let me suggesyou stop at any of the switch-backup the grade, park your car and hunaroun d. Th is is Beryl country. My


7/44

POLSHBU'REEK TRAIL

-*- L OW E R; P O U M O C R E E K-* - H E L L ' S J H O L El */z4 - ALGONQUIN MINE 2

G U T SIKH E L L 'S H O L Eb y K a th le e n P o w e r scollection from this area includesallof the colors; someare pieces, othersare perfectly clear crystals.The small-est is a light pink and the largestaninch in diameteris mottled with m ilkwhite spots. Also, pegmatite mineralsand crystals may be found in abun-dance.

Upon close examination,the gar-nets we brought up from Hell's Holepuzzled us, so we took them to theUniversity of Arizona for identifica-tion. They provedto be spessartitegarnets, somea transparent red andable to be cut. Others contained fieryamber colors.

Our big surprise came two-fold.Some were shaped like garnets,butwere actually a compact conglomera-tion of crystalsmicromounts. Fromone alone we had perfect crystalsofgolden beryl, pink beryl, green tour-maline, and amethyst and whattheprofessor believed were severalzir-cons. The second surprise was thefinding of a micromount that mustbe viewed underat least a 25 micro-scope that to date has defied inden-tification. The university is stillworking on this.

If you should take this trip, enjoyit as we did, but remember the rulesfor driving mountain roadsand, ifyou wish to be welcomein these parts,do not disturb any "diggings." Theyare not abandoned. All are beingworked or are patented. / / /

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R A C I A L U N R E S TA TB E L M O N TB y L a m b e r t F l o r i n

BELMONT'S STAR beganto blazein 1865 when a rich strikeofsilver was madein the ToquimaMountains. A tent city almostex-ploded in the foothills, soon to bereplaced by a more substantialcol-lection of brick and stone buildings.

Growth was so rapid that the newcamp was made seat of Nye county,an honor removed from neighboringlone, original seatof the then newlyformed political division. Belmontbuilt its courthouse of brick, and sosolidly that the structure standsde-fiantly to this day, oneof the best pre-served relics from the heyday of Ne-vada's miningera.

While the town flourished it num-bered among its businesses an oysterhouse, a jewelry shop, bakery, fruitstore, drugstoreand doctor's office.

Belmont in 1867 had the usualquota of "Cousin Jacks,"but the Cor-

nishmen were outnumberedby min-ers from old Ireland. They were,however, preferredby mine operatorsbecause they were willingto workforless wages. While this madefor con-stant friction, real trouble didn'tde-velop until an announcementwas

made that the big Silver Bend Com-pany operation wouldbe closed.Themine was paying well, therewas stillplenty of good ore, so what was thereason? Was it that the New Yorkowners were closing downso theIrish would move awayand thenplanning to reopen with Cornishonly?

With this conclusion reached,thesons of the old sod took action.Atthe mine office they siezedthe super-intendent,R. B. Canfield, placedhimastraddle a rail and headed for theoutskirtsof town. Stoppingat bistrosalong the way for a shot of BelmontLightning, they left Canfield guarded

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by the mob leader,Pat Dignon, whohad already reachedhis drinkingca-pacity.

About this time along came LewiM. Bodrow who, althoughhe had noofficial status in Belmont, had foryears been city marshalin Austin andlooked with disfavorupon displaysof violence. While attemptingto in-tervene in Canfield's enforced ridehe received a blow in the face fromDignon. At this point the men inthe saloon pouredout with flamingguns. When the smoke cleared, bothDignon and Bodrow were dead,butSuperintendent Canfieldhad escaped.

Belmont wasn't all business,noreven violence, however.The other-wise raw camp paid some atttentionto culturein buildingan Opera house,the Cosmopolitan. Here were showprograms to please the "most chaste,fastidious or squeamish," such asplays titled Maid withthe MilkingPail, Female Gambler and UncleTom's Cabin.

By 1895 Belmont had produced astaggering $15,000,000in silver andlead, but after that year values dropped, and by 1900 the town was barelyalive. Th e big, new strikes then madat Tonopah (trained Belmontof whatlittle blood she had retained and thecamp in the Toquimas was deadanother ghost town in the shadowyroster of Nevada's boom camps. / / /

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T k eL a d y b u g F a r mIB yTimSt. eorge

W I T H A BEST-SELLING bookcalling attention to the dan-gers of indiscriminate use ofpesticides, ladybugs are assuming aprominent place in pest control. Ina lifetime of eating, the so-called"ladybug" (Hippodamia convergens)may devour more than 7,000 aphids.

"Ladybugs are far more effectivethan insecticides)" says MarcellaNel-son, who sells mo re than three-fourthsof all ladybugs sold in the Uni tedStates. Last year,the "Ladybug Lady"shipped more thanone billion bright-ly colored ladybugsto all of the Uni-ted States, Canadaand Mexico, fromher Gridley, California headquarters.

These ladybird beetles, which havea fondness for aphids, mites, scales,mealybugs, bollworms,and a host ofother soft-shelled insect larvae,are ga-thered in shallow gold pansin Janu-ary through Marchand, dur ing thehot months, from the high Sierracan-yons where pickers earn$50 to $60

pe r day picking them.The "LadybugQueen" overseesa crew of nearly 100pickers, plus the packing and refrig-erating of ladybugs for later shipment.Miss Nelson has been in the businesssince 1938.

To prove that effectivenessis morethan a green-thumber's superstit ion,the Mexican Departmentof Agricul-ture purchases about one-halfof MissNelson's annual harvest, having foundth e use of Ladybugs less dangerousthan pesticidesand overall farmpro-duction increased 10 percent. Th ecity of Los Angeles is another largeuser of ladybugs, where theyare freedin the sunken rose gardensof Exposi-tion Park.

Despite the fact that a critical eyeis occasionally caston claims m adeforthese bug-eaters, their valuewas estab-lished in medieval Europe whenthedainty, shell-backed insects werede-dicated to the Virgin and called"Beetles of Our Lady," hence theterm "Ladybird beetles." Swedishcountryfolk still sometimes refertothem as the "Virgin Mary's goldenhens." Generationsago, it was widelybelieved that a decaying tooth couldbe made to stop aching by placing acrushed ladybirdin its cavity. In Eng-land, a superstition still lingersto

the effect that the presence of lady-birds forecasts fine weatherand abun-dant crops. And, in remote partsofEurope, village maidens seekthe lady-birds' help in finding husbands. Aftercovering their hands withthe beetles,girls chant: "Theyare measuringmefor my bridal gloves."

T h e n , too, there's the famous oldnursery rhyme:

Ladybug, Ladybug fly away home!Your house is on fire,Your children do roam.Except little Nan, who sits in a pan,Weaving gold laces as fast as she

c a n .

Some of the symbolismof this poemno doubt escapes modern youngsters.The fire alludes to the ancient prac-tice of burning certain plants afterhar-vesting. And "Nan" represents thepupa or adolescent ladybirdwho can-not leave the "pan" (her own skin)because it is still attached to the plantby the handle.

Whether or not chants will makeladybugs fly away home may be givenserious consideration to certain resi-dents of Washington and Californiathese days. In those neighboringstates the ladybug has become so im-portant that a "war" recently flaredover its harvesting. Washingtonac-cused Californians of pirating theirmeager supply of ladybugs and theWashington Senate passeda bill pro-hibiting shipments of ladybugs outof the state.

Ladybug Lady Nelson isn'tdis-turbed, however. Along withtwoother ladybug concerns,she simplysniffs, "Washington's meagre supplyis as nothing compared with theibillions we require every year!"/ / /

SCENIC TOURSHISTORIC MININGAND

GHOST TOWNSOFOWENS VALLEY

L O N E P I N E , C A L IT R I PONE11 Hours

Monday, Wednesday, Friday$22.50 person, minimum3 fares

T R I PTW O5 Hours

Tuesday, Thursday,Saturday, Sunday

$12.50 person, minimum3 fares.T R I P T H R E E

5 HoursTuesday, Thursday,Saturday, Sunday

$8.50 person, minimum3 fares.Write for detailed informationon

these and other tripsC H U C K AND EVA W H I T N E Y

OwnersPhone: TRipoly 6-3451or

TRipoly 6-2281P.O. Box 327

L O N E P I N E , C A L I F O R N I A

A PA C H E L A N D

BEAUTIFUtSCENERYFISHING

HUNTINGFREE

CAMP GROUNDSMODERN CABINS

a Vacation Landto Remember

FORTmm

tmmmThe W hite Mountain Apache Indians welcome you.Come and enjoy the wonderful mountain climate,the beautifu l primitive scenery, clear, cold streamsand the best trout fishing in the Southwest.

F O R I N F O R M AT I O NAN D MAPS, WRITE

W H IT E M O U N T A I NR E C R E AT I O N E N T E R P R I S E

P.O. BOX 218WHITERIVER, ARIZONA


10/44

K e n n e t h

c h a l l e n g e s

D E S E RT r e a d e r s

to f i n d t h i s

lo s t g o ld

ANY PROPER lost mine waybillshould be discolored and raggedfrom handling, and sadly clog-eared by change Of ownershipif itis authentic.

By contrast, these directions cometo you third hand and relativelyshiny, but that doesn't make zeroing-inon this bonanza one bit easier. Don'tget any wrong ideas about altruisticmotives; I'm not burdened with phil-anthropic zeal. Thirty years of sparetime searching have convinced methis ledge of spangled jewelry rockcannot be found.

In 1933 after college, I found jobswere like hens' teeth. I finally wangleda position as project inspector ofsome road jobs with the then StateRelief Admin istration. One of thejob foremen, a tall, quiet, capablegrey haired man became a goodfriend. For obvious reasons I willcall him Jim Dollar. The hem of my

geology courses probably showed, be-cause when the road job gave signs ofwinding up, he came to me with aproposition.

J IM D O L L A R 'S J IM D A N DHe possessed detailed directions to

a large ledge of rich gold ore oncefound by his father-in-law out on thedesert; had now saved up an applebox full of surplus commodities (in-cluding rice, flour, dried fruit andcorned beef) ; and had squeezed about513.50 in small change into a piggybank.

Since his old car was about readyto fold and mine was in fair shape;

because soon we would both be o ut ofwork; and as I was single and he wascorralled with a house full of young-sters and an ailing wifewould Ithrow in with him, stake the mine,and split the take?

I stalled, trying to be hard-headed,but, unfortunately, he had samples toback up his story. Such rocks I hadnever seen! They looked like frozenchunks of pale butterscotch pudding,chocolate streaked, all glittering andlaced with little threads of green-tinted metallic gold. Malleability,acid, cupel and specific gravity testswere superfluous. Even an amateurcould see a dazzling fortune in ourhands.

Jim Dollar's story was plain, consistent, and in the years I knew himit never varied. His directions wereclear and simple, but there's a piecmissing in the jig saw puzzle thathwarts every angle I've tried to work

The story starts back in the '90s innorthern Nevada where Jim's prospective father-in-law was ranchingThis rancher pulled a Ute he knewout of a tight spot involving two

squaws and an irate horse traderBefore the second bullet hit, and thIndian figured he was about to joinhis old chiefs the rancher disarmedthe attacker. This made the rancher blood brother, in the Indian's heart

Some time later the Indian gavehis benefactor some samples (hcalled them "big shinum rocks") ia bag made from the crown of an olfelt hat, and with a pointed stick inthe dirt, drew a map to the ledgfrom where they came. The traipointed to eastern San Bernardincounty. What a Ute had been doinso far south in Mojave stompingrounds, I don't know, but the Indiamust have feathered a straight arrow


11/44

because the rancher moved south andhad no t rouble unt i l he found theledge.

That was when the ugly li t t le devilswho guard all lost mines movedin.To celebrate his discovery the ran-cher opened his last can of peachesfor supper. Imps joggledhis elbowand he stabbed his left palm withapoke-and-pry can opener. The woundwould not heal so he headed for

home. To make matters worse,theheat was almost unbearable.A dia-betic, he found himself constantlyand unnaturallythirsty, whichinthose pre- insulin days was tanta-m oun t to a dea th sentence . B eforehe died he gave his wife and youngdaughter a m ap and directionsandtold them to sell the two canvassacks of ore in the pack boxes underthe bed.

Some years later Jim Dollar mar-ried into the family. He told methetwo sacks of ore went for better than$1,700 at the old price. I have noproof of this, but if the samples Isaw came out of those sacks, I canbelieve it. It should be rememberedhowever, that the orein the sacks wasundoubtedly choice hand-picked high-grade. The claim was never recorded,because the old rancher hopedto ge twell enough to protect his strikebe-fore the cat got out of the bag.

After marriage, in-law friction keptJim Dollar from hunting for themine. He saw the map only once, but

his wife had a copy of the directions.Twice he was "all hunkeredto j um p , "twice fate jerked the rug with deathsin the family. An estate settlement thelast t ime turned up no trace of themap, and the best two of the fivesamples were missing.

After that, like so many of therest of us, Jim Dollar was enmeshedin the net of depression; and that waswhen I met him.

Over the years those diabolical "bigshinums" have made me a "desert

bum," an "impractical dreamer," anda "rainbow chaser." You play withthe curse at your own risk.

If you are so foolish, then standat the railroad tracks at Danby,andthe easterly straight lineat r i g h tangles to the tracks is "your walkingline." As Jim Dollar said, "If youlook out the east door of a box carat Danby, you'll be looking squaretowards a million bucks."

About two anda half days by burroalong this walking line,you should

come to a "humped hogback withapoint l ike a turned-up nose on thenorth end." The hill is supposed tol ie roughly north and south, and as

you would be facing about east-south-east as you travel, the "nose" shouldbe to your left.

J im had an idea the hill was onlyabout twoor three hundred feet high,bu t he was positive "it sits out byitself on the floor of the desert, sortof looking like a blanket-wrappedsquaw grinding corn."

"On the far (presumably east) sideof the hill, backof the point, aboutathird of the way up is the ledge.It'sabout two feet wide, strikes almostdue northeast by southwest, and dipsdown real steep westerly. On thehanging wall is the highgrade, threeor lour inches wide,and all chokedup with crisscrossing spiderweb wiresand li t t le beansof gold.

"The ledge don't stick up none ,you have to look for it, butit is there."Jim told me he was sure from whathe had heard thatthe ledge croppedup in at least three places,and he

thought his father-in-law had triedtocover them with brush and rocksbe-fore he left.

"Down below the nose', in a littlewash, you'll find water. You havetodig for it, but you can tell the placereal easy by a couple of green mes-quites, a bunch of hookthorn, and alittle spot of turtle grass," whateverthat is. "It's real good water toohardly any alkali ."

You can save yourself a lot ofsweat by taking my word for it, the

ledge is N O T at the end of thosedirections. There are dozensof "hog-backs"none of them the right one.I hunted with burro, jeep, ai rplane,and shank's mare. I boxed the com-pass, tried direction "switcheroos";and when topo mapsof the areabe-came available, I footchecked everyindicative bunching of wiggly littlelines. You can find pink and whiteamorphous quartz roses, Apache tears,some run ty stauro lite crossesin aglauccophane schist streak,and somebeautiful blue and gray checkeredand metamorphically re- cementedquartz-like cutting rock,but no ledgenor hogback likeJim described.

Since I know you won't takemyword for it, all I can say is, "Go wellshod, carry a rabbit's foot and packplenty of water." Also, bewareof oldunexploded tank ammunit ionin thearea; Patton trainedhis troops here.

I know it isn't there. BUT if bysome wild fluke you SHOULD hap-pen to stumble over it, be a goodsport and don't rubit in by sending

me a sample. Call it sour grapesifyou want, but I have come to hatethose cursed yellow-poxed cobbles.

Turtle Mountain Search area summerof 1934. It was hot'.

m .

M

Camp in Turtle Mou ntains winter of1935. It was cold! Below: Recentphoto. The mountains get taller andI get wider. I giveup!

June 1964 / Desert Magazine / 11


12/44

X . ?*

AXEL ANDERSON'S MINE

By Keith W right

NO GOLD prospector ever drovemore fervently toward a dreamlode than did Axel Andersontoward his coal mine.

If a motorist today should pausewhere Utah Highway 10 crosses RockCanyon Wash and look westwardwhere the steep faces of the NorthHorn brace themselves from tumb-ling into the valley, he'll detect adistinct black blob among the pinonpeppering the mountain's slope. But,unless curiosity draws him from thehighway and along abandoned roadsand mountain trails, he'll never knowhe's looking at the remains of one ofthe most colorful mining ventures ofseveral generations ago.

Axel Anderson was one of the firstsettlers of Clawson, a tiny Castle Val-ley settlement developed in the late1890s. During the communities' firstyears, Axel and his neighbors weretoo busy establishing homesteads tothink about coal, even though theirmost time-consuming problem was theacqu isition of fuel. Each foray intothe foothills to collect pinon logs re-quired a full day, in addition to partof another to break them into stove-size pieces. Furthermore, m a n ywagon loads were required to supplyonly a single family through Claw-son's frigid winters.

Before long the "easy" wood wasgone. Wagon trails leading into

steeper parts of the mountains grewincreasingly difficult to plow andeven to drag knobby logs from inaccessible places down to the trail'sterminal became impossible. So, whilthe 20th Century was still little morethan a stranger, enterprising farmersof Clawson began looking for anothesource of fuel.

Undoubtedly they had noted theseveral seams of coal showing on thperpendicular face of the SouthHorn, possibly scrutinizing them afairly close range as their woodroadpushed up the side of the mountainHowever, the several seams appearedthin and, although indicative of coain the area, hardly worth developing

It was northward, across the ruggedness of Rock Canyon on the facof a "point" of the North Horn, thathe first workable seam was uncovered. Originally staked-out by WilliamCheshire, the claim remained undeveloped until later contested and"proved-up" by Axel Anderson.

The seam was not exposed on theface of the cliff, although it was atapproximately the same elevation athose on the South Horn, but it layon a ledge approached only by slopeso steep as to present a distinct challenge. From its lofty location, mileof the untameable San Rafael Swelstretched beyond the tenuous greenthread of irrigated homesteads below


13/44

It would have been much easier todevelop the mine had Axel been afull-time miner; but he was of neces-sity a farmer first. It was only duringslack periods of farmingif suchexistthat he developed the mine.After finishing morning chores on thefarm, he walked seven miles to themine to put in a hard day of laborbefore returning to his farm forthe chores that awaited the night.

His was an uphill task, in everysense of the word. Whoever namedRock Canyon did not exhibit anydegree of imagination, but merelychristened it with the name of itsmost abundant commodity. Construc-ting a road across the boulder-impreg-nated length of Cedar Bench andhalfway up the mountainside withonly hand tools and a team of horseswas an incredible accomplishment.

But the truly backbreaking workwas the building of a tramway from

the upper limit of the road over theremaining section of mountains toosceep for the use of anything exceptmanpower. Up this incredible inclinewere carried rails, ties, spikes, steelcableseverything that was needed tobegin the mining operation. Once thecars began running up and down thetramway, materials could be hauledquite simply, but weeks of man-killinglabor were required before such lux-ury was possible.

The seam was opened between twomassive layers of solid sandstone, a

coal-miner's dream since there wouldbe little danger of a cave-in. Twosteel beams set upright in the mouthof the mine supported, above thetrack, a large drum around which thecable was wrapped in such a mannerthat a loaded car going down the in-cline would pull an empty car to thetop. Speed was controlled by a lever-operated brake drum lined withwooden blocks, and the two carspassed each other halfway up theslope at a "parting," or double sectionof track.

A trail was blazed angling up thecanyon to a place where a mule couldclimb to the vicinity of the coal seam,then follow the ledge back around tothe mouth of the mine. On the op-posite side of the portal, a spot wasleveled off, barely large enough toset up a tent, one side of which rub-bed shoulders with the mountain,while the other stood precariouslyclose to an abrupt drop.

At last the mine was ready lor busi-ness.

The coal was drilled by hand, us-ing a contrapt ion like an oversizedcarpenter's brace and bit. The holeswere loaded with black powder wrap-

ped in pages of newspapers or maga-zines and the charge was shot "on thesolid" by the use of a fuse. Then theshattered coal was loaded with scoopshovels into a small car which waspulled to the portal by the mule andsent down the tramway. One ma n-or, sometimes, a boyrode the cardown to dump it into the chute atthe bottom and load any wagons thatmight be waiting.

Fortunately for Axel, the wagonsdid come. His coal was of good qua-lity. Many farmers bypassed minesnearer their own communities to getAxel's Rock Canyon coal, often tak-ing two days to haul a mere two tons.

When coal was available for load-ing, the miners built a fire at nighton a prominent boulder to signal themessage across darkened miles to far-mers in the valley. The next mor-ning wagons took off before dawn,their iron-tired wheels crunching a

tune in the hard packed snow. Eachdriver carried in his wagon an oldtub or milk can containing a fire atwhich he could warm himself as healternated between riding the wagonand walking beside the team to keephis blood circulating. If he werelucky, he obtained his load of coaland returned the same night, but iftoo many others arrived to haul coalthe same day, he either spent thenight at the mine, hoping to be firstin line come dawn, or drove homeempty and tried again later.

A series of different operatorsworked the mine through the years,but none became wealthy. The hand-powered operation lacked efficiencyand any setback, such as a car jump-ing the track, required untold hoursof "dead work."

In the early '30s, after a period ofnon-operation, a new owner investedmuch time and capital in an attemptto modernize the operation. His mainchange eliminated the old double-rope system lor moving cars along the

slope and substituted a gas-poweredhoist in its place. But when, afterweeks of hopeful preparation, thefirst load of coal sent down the slopebroke loose and scattered materialsover the mountainside, the projectwas abandoned. Today only relics ofits spectacular tramway, cables, tracksand tent frames remain.

How much of the feeling may bedue to nostaglia is diffictult to deter-mine, but many an old-timer aroundClawson still turns his eyes towardthe long-abandoned mine Axel An-

derson's strong back once made areality and complains, "I haven't hada good lire since old Rock Canyonshut down." / / /

Slimmer Time SunWinter Time Fun

Heber Valley, UtahSpend your summers, wintersor allyear 'round in this scenic area onlyashort distance over paved highway fromSalt Lake City. Idealfor seasonal cot-tages or permanent homes.

5 ACRE LOTSONLY $3995, TERMSAdjoining Heber City LimitsWater and Power Available

For maps and information write to

WILLIAM H. THAYNE6 ASSOCIATES

1243 East 21st South,Salt Lake City, Utah

Area (ode 801 48G1091

"Yah-Teh-Heh to Navajoland"(NAVAJO FOR "WELCOME")

M E X I C A N H AT , UNear New Lake Powell

"A"A"^Cafes, Motels, Trading Post; Clothingand Curio Store; Service Stations, Auto-motive Garage; Navajo Rugs; Jewelry;Film and Travel Supplies; Air Strip,Hangar and Tiedowns; Overnight TravelTrailer and Camper Facilities, Saddle Trips.*"fc*For additional information write

Chamber of CommerceMEXICANHAT, UTAH

LAKE POWELLFERRY SE R VICE ,N C .Operating on Lake Powell from Hall's Cross-ing in Glen Canyon National Recreation Area.Under concessionary contract with the Na-tional Park Service.

REGULAR BOAT TOURSAIR-LAKE SCENIC TOURSECONOMY TOURSCHARTER TOURS

Services at Hall's Crossing:Ferry Service for Light VehiclesCharter Boat ServiceBoat RentalsGas and OilFishing S uppliesLunch Materials

Lake Powell Ferry Service,Inc.

P.O. Box 665 Blanding, UtahPhon e 678-2281J. Frank Wright, Pres.


14/44

E L C E N T R OO

.CALEXICO

By Jack Pepper

WE WERE driving along a 14-mile stretch of hard surfacedbeach when my wife yelled,"Stop the car!" Two hundred yardsahead of us a seal flapped its flipperson the beach and rolled in the sand.

Choral started taking pictures asshe walked toward the seal, but bythe time she was close enough to geta good picture, she ran out of film.She was sure that before he casuallyre-entered the water he winked ather. I don't doubt it. In amazingBaja California anything can happen.

During our 14-mile drive down thebeach we encountered only threehomo sapiens, hundreds of sea gullsand other marine birds and one seal.And no empty beer cans.

This was on the clean, white beacheight miles south of Bahia de SanQuintin where the Santa Maria Sky

Ranch is the jumping off place forfurther travel down the peninsula ofBaja California.

Although the last eight miles fromBahia de San Quintin to the SkyRanch must be driven slowly, theycan be traversed by passenger car.Past the Sky Ranch a pickup truckor 4-wheel drive vehicle is recom-mended .

T he 191 miles from Tijua na downthe Pacific Ocean side of the Mexicanpeninsula to Bahia de San Quintin

takes you along beach front, over sev-eral small mountain ranges, throughverdant valleys and into the fascina-t ing land of "manana."

Left, ruins of Mission Santo Dom ingo, one of 30 Baja m issions built bythe Spanish d uring the 1700s. Center, map showing p oints of interest. Rightuncrowded, clean beaches and camping areas like the one at Punta Bandaare found along the Baja coast, where tue parked our Land-Rover.

How long it takes to make the tripdepends upon the amount of timeyou have. It can easily be made inthree days . . . we spent four . . .or you can spend two weeks and stillfeel there are things you have missed.Time is not measured by the clockin Baja; it's measured by the memor-able experiences.

Since we were on a scouting tripto find beaches for DESERT readersand to see and photograph four mis-sions of the many missions built bythe Spanish fathers during the 1700and 1800s, we elected to drive a 4-wheel vehicle, sacrificing space for arugged vehicle which needs no roads.As it turned out, all of the beacheswhere we camped can be reached bypassenger car, and only one missionwas so isolated as to require a 4-wheelvehicle. The other missions may bereached by regular automobiles, orare only a short walk from the high-way.

Although now only ruins, the mis-sions are interesting and well worthstopping to see. They are, from northto south, San Miquel, Santo Tomas,San Vicente and Santo Domingo, thelatter located five miles up a creekbed from the Hamilton Ranch, nearColonia Guerrero .

In traveling anywhere in Baja Ihave found the Baja map of the Auto-mobile Association of America andthe Lower California Guidebook by

Peter Gerhard and Howard E. Gulickare musts. The former locates all ofthe roads and places of interest andthe latter gives a fascinating back-

ground along with detailed maps oftowns, bays, and historical sites.

Entering Mexico at Tijuana, 11miles south of San Diego, Californiait took us only an hour and a halfto drive the 67 miles to Ensenada.

Third largest city in Baja, with apopulation of 42,770, Ensenada is located on the Pacific Ocean with sev-eral bays (bahias) offering excellentfishing, swimming and camping facilities. Motels are on a par with thoseof the United States. Curios andsouvenirs and more abundant andusually less expensive than in Tiju-ana. Boats may be cha rtered for deepsea fishing.

Ten miles south of Ensenada westopped at the one-room customsoffice to obtain our tourista permitsAll that is required is your birth cer-tificate. Since I am just learn ing to

speak Spanish I tried out a fewphrases. The friendly inspector spokeEnglish, but was even more friendlywhen I insisted upon speaking hisnative tongue. From the customsoffice southward, you really startgetting into Baja California. T h efriendliness of the Mexican peopleincreases the further south you go.

Passing Punta Banda, where westayed overnight on our return, thepaved highway leaves the ocean andcuts through a picturesque moun-tain pass and into verdant valleys

with well kep t farms. Eigh teen m ilessouth of San Vicente, where westocked up with cold drinks, thepaved road ends.

14 / Desert Ma azine / June. 1964


15/44

Baja's

PacificBeaches

The remaining 47 miles to Bahiade San Quintin is a wide gravel roadwhich can easily be negotiated. Justdon't be in a hurry. After all, youare now in the land of manana.

Since the sun was setting as wearrived at Colonia Guerrero we de-cided to camp on the beach at Bahiade San Ramo n. Th e map showed a

dirt road going three miles to thebeach from the main road. Some-how I became lost in the darknessand ended up heading back towardthe main road. As I stopped to lookat the map a passenger car containingtwo Mexican soldiers stopped.

They smiled and said something inSpanish,

"Buenos tardes," I said, "Uh, canyou tell . . . I mean, Bahia de SanRamon esta?" and I motioned straightahead.

They smiled and shook their heads.I pointed to our sleeping bags,made motions like sleeping, thenmade motions like fishing and said"Bahia, si?". They grinned and mo-tioned for me to follow them.

How they maneuvered their pas-senger car over the dirt road, throughfields and around trees, I'll neverknow. Finally they stopped by a bigsand dune and pointed over the top.Our son, Trent, and his friend, ScottBarrett, climbed the dunes and likeBalboa discovering the Pacific Ocean,

proudly yelled it was there.The soldiers smiled, waved anddrove off. This is a good example ofthe friendliness of the people of Baja.

Climate along the Pacific Coastdescribed in this article is similarto San Diego. Whether you go onan overnight trip to EnsenadaandPunta Banda or a longer trip likethe author, the summer monthsare ideal.

Three miles inland from ColoniaGuerrero is the Hamilton Ranch. Formany years the Hamilton Ranch hascatered to sportsmen who eitherdrive or fly down for hunting birds,deer or other game. For the past 20years it has been operated by MargotCesena, an attractive and dynamicwidow. Her hospitality is natural,unpretentious and known by scores offamous people.

Although the Hamilton Ranchmay be reached by passenger car, thefive miles up the creek to the MissionSanto Domingo is best for a 4-wheelvehicle. The mission, built in 1775by the Dominicans, after the Jesuitswere expelled from Baja, was aban-doned in 1839 after the majority ofthe Indians died of diseases broughtin by the white man. Th e struggles

of the missionaries to build the Bajamissions and the tragic story of theprimitive Indians is a fascinatingpart of the history of the westernhemisphere.

Returning to Colonia Guerrero westopped for gas and then drove the23 miles to the Santa Maria SkyRanch, arriving just in time to lunch

(Continued on Page 31)

A motel is now located where an En glish com pany in 1885 established alarge flour m ill on the Bahia de San Quintin.


16/44

This Cross found at

Witches Pocket

may be the last

remaining testimony

of Escalante's trek

By Earl Spendlove

A THOUSAND silt-laden floodsroaring down the narrow can-yon had gouged a deep holeinto the ha rd volcanic rock. Oneither side of a low rock fall, blackwalls rose over 100 feet. I was inthe bottom of a deep, black pit.

Overhead, on the right, bony fin-gers of a dead juniper silhouettedagainst the sky. Intense heat from ahot Arizona sun reflected from theblack rock. In spite of this I shive red.

The eerie place was aptly named"Witches Pocket."

Moving closer to the stagnant,scum-covered pool in the bottom ofthe "Pocket," I looked up at its blackwall. About three feet above thefloor, were a few laboriously chippedpetroglyphs chiseled by some long-forgotten artist . Slowly my eyes fol-lowed the upward tilt of the wall. Afew feet above the etchings I saw itthe cross I had traveled 60 miles

Now under Lake Powell, steps caned at Padre Creek may b e seen alongsloping ridge in center of photo.

across northern Arizona's desert wastland to see!

It was approximately two feet higha foot and a half across, and the horzontal and vertical bars were abouthree inches in width. It had beepicked into the black lava rock wita pointed object and the bottoms othe depressions filled in with a whiish material. App arently after thcross was completed, it had been pouded with a piece of limestone and thlime adhered to the roughened rockgiving it a greyish cast.

I had first heard of this cross wheI told Lamar Bybee of Kanab, Utahthat it was a shame the steps carvein the rocks at the Crossing of thFathers on the Colorado River werto be covered by the rising waters oLake Pow ell. T he steps were, to mknowledge, the only remaining traceof three months of wandering in trackless wilderness by two Spanispriests and a party of ten.

"Oh, I know where there's anothetrace of those old Spaniards," Bybereplied.

Then, he told me about 40 yearago, while herding sheep in northerArizona, he had come upon a croscarved on a canyon wall at a placcalled Witches Pocket. The old timerdidn't know how it got there, but thedid know that the gloomy canyon waconsidered an evil place by Indianwho inhabi tated the area. They'visit the water hole in the middle o

the day, but refused to stay in thcanyon overnight.

Several years ago, Bybee read "Pageant in the Wilderness" by Herber

/ T


17/44

E. Bolton and learned that 200 yearsago a party of hardy Spanish ex-plorers spent two days in the vicinityof Witches Pocket. The more hestudied this book, the more convincedhe became that it was they who putthe cross on thecliff. After seeing thecross,exploring the surrounding coun-try, and studying the records of thisgreat adventure, I agree with him.But, let's begin at the beginning.

The clanging of the Liberty Bell inthe State House in Philadelphia stillechoed along the eastern seaboardwhen, 2000 miles to the west, twoFranciscan priests, unaware of thisgreat event, led a party of 10 downthe narrow, crooked streets of SantaFe, New Mexico and headed into theunexplored country that lay to thenorthwest. It was July 29, 1776, andtheir objective was to find a routefrom Santa Fe to the Spanish Missionsat Monterey, California and convertthe heathen savages who lived alongthe way.

Leader of the party was FatherFrancisco Atanasio Dominguez, Su-perior of the Franciscan missions ofNew Mexico. Dominguez was an ableman, but his fame is over-shadowedby that of the man who kept the rec-ord of their journey, Fray SilvestreVelez de Escalante. Velez, or Escal-ante as he is called today, kept a d iarythat has become a classic in westernhistory.

The men in the padre's party werea mixed lot. Don Bernardo M iera yPacheco, engineer and soldier, wasto guide them to Monterey by mak-ing celestial observations with anastrolabe. Th e M unez brothers, An-

dres and Lucerio were traders whohad followed the old Spanish Trailnorth into Colorado. They alone hadseen a few miles of the route theywere to travel. Don Pedro Cisneros,Don Joaquin Lain and Lorenzo Oli-vares were Spanish noblemen alongfor the adventureor perhaps theyhad dreams of gold or glory to begained at the end of the journey.Juan de Aguilar and Simon Luceriohad no titles and no mention is madeof the reason for their having beenincluded in the party. Perhaps theywere servants of the noblemen.

Prayers for the success of the expe-dition were recited at Sunday masseson July 28, and early next morningthey left Santa Fe. They were wellmounted, had plenty of pack animalsto carry their food and equipment,and drove a herd of cattle to providemeat along the way.

Right from the first they encoun-

tered difficulties. The cattle scatter-ed into thick brush, hid and refusedto move. No doubt priestly ears werescorched by vigorous Spanish cursesas the men tried to prod the crittersinto action.

A few weeks out of Santa Fe, theguides became hopelessly lost. Exasp-erated, Escalante wrote that they,". . . seemed to have forgotten theslight knowledge they appeared topossess."

Escalante wrote, "These women wereso poorly dressed that their clotheshardly covered what cannot be lookedat without peril."

In spite of difficulties, they movedsteadily in a northwesterly directionand, on September 16, crossed theGreen River a few few miles abovewhat is now Jensen, Utah . Here , thefaithful Escalante recorded an inci-dent which adds authenticity to thecross at Witches Pocket. "Don Joaquin

Lain," he wrote, "with an adz cleareda small space (on a cottonwood tree)in the form of a rectangular window,and with a chisel carved in the lettersof this inscription.The Year IT]6;and lower down in different lettersthe name Lain, with two crosses out-side, the larger one above the inscrip-tion and the smaller one below it."Crosses, of course, were common sym-bols for the devout men who followedthe Franciscan Fathers as they carriedthe word of God to the wild inhabi-tants of an even wilder land.

A week after leaving the Green,the Spaniards emerged from the Wa-satch Mountains and rode into thebroad, well - watered Utah Valley.From Utah Lake they turned southand on October 8th, after a week ofsnow and cold weather, the padrestold the others they were going backto Santa Fean unpopular decisionwith the rest of the party. Miera,keeper of the astrolabe, tried to con-convince them that Monterey wasonly a few miles to the west. (Actu-ally it was almost 700 miles, as the

crow flies, to the southwest.) Whenhe failed, he grumbled and stirred upso much discontent among the othersthat the padres were forced to act.


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In his diary Escalante wrote,". . . wedecided to inquire anew the will ofGod by means of casting lots . . . "Apparent ly, in those day, God let Hiswill be known on the turn of a cardor the drawing of straws.

The record doesnot say who did thedrawing, but results agreed withthepriest's decision."Now, thank God,"Escalante says,"we all agreeablyand

gladly accepted this result."It is nothard to imagine that the fiery Mieramuttered a few dark oaths beforehe"agreeably and gladly accepted."

South of Utah Lake, the Indianswere poorly fed, poorly clothed,pov-erty stricken savageswho had littleto eat and less to wear. On the SevierRiver the party met a band of strangebearded Indians. These BarbonesorLongbeards, as they called them,lived in the open or in tiny brush shel-ters and subsisted on seeds, bugs,lizards, rodents, and now and then

an antelope or deer. N ear what isnow Cedar City, Utah, they foundagroup of women gathering grass seed."These Indian women wereso poorlydressed," Escalante prudently observ-ed, that their clothes,". . . hardlycovered what carlnot be looked atwithout peril ."

No matter how lowly or savagethe Indians were, the good priests,". . . preached the gospel as well asthe interpreter could explainit." Butthe suspicious, frightened Indians,in-terested only in getting these strange,white invadersout of their land, gavethem false informationon the trailsand waterholesand, on one occasion,led them up a blind canyon and de-serted them whenthe trail becametoosteep and rough for the horses.

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they reached north ern Arizona. Th eirfood supply was exhaused, waterholeswere few and far between and theydid not know where they could crossthe Colorado River. On October 17,they turned eastand climbed the highrock wall, now known as the Hurr i -cane Fault , and camped on the edgeof the cliff. Next day, they traveledsome ten miles to the southeast wherethey found two shallow poolsof water

in a grove of cedars. The thirstymenand animals soon drainedthe pools,but they campedfor two days in thecedars while membersof the partyscoured the countryside in search offood and water.

This camp, which they namedSanSamuel, has been identifiedby Boltonas Cooper's Pocket. San Samuel isonly 18 or 20 miles north of WitchesPocket and it is highly probably thatthe Spaniards visited this waterholeas well. Escalante makesno mentionof the cross, but while waiting forcompanions or obtaining water fromthe pool, one of the men could havechipped the cross into the rock . . .for the same purpose thatDon Joa-quin Lain carved crosseson a cotton-wood tree on the banks of the GreenRiver, a month before.

W e may never be certain thatoneof the Spaniards did put the cross onth e cliff, but a num ber of facts makesit highly probable:

1. They were definitelyin the vici-nity, had ample opportuni tyand because they possessedim-plements to cut steps in therock at the Crossing of the Fa-thers, picking a cross, even inhard volcanic rock, wouldnothave been a difficult task.

2 . The cross is not a symbol nor-mally used by Indians of thearea, but was a symbol the fol-lowers of Franciscan Friars used.

3 . The Indians the white settlersencountered in the area avoidWitches Pocket, but the pre-

sence of petroglyphs indicatesthat they once lived nearthewaterhole. A cross placed hereby the Spaniards could well havebeen interpretedas a hex or evilomen by the superstit ious redmen.

From San Samuel the priests re-turned to New Mexico, crossingtheColorado just northof the Utah-Ari-zona border. He re, at this historiccrossing,the steps theycut in the rockwill soon be covered forever by therising watersof Lake Powell,but theghosts of men in flowing robesandbroad-brimmed sombrerosmay stillworship at the Witches Pocket cross.

/ /


19/44


20/44

> ' ^ - : '

t r ipo f t h em o n t h

OUR HEARTS pounded wi th ex-citement as we approached thepueblo of Zuni. One of thegreatest hoaxes of our history, thatof the fabulous Seven Golden Citiesof Cibola, occurred in this region. Wehoped that near Zuni we might findthe ruins of Hawikuh, the first ofthis group of cities. But, would we beable to locate them? Would we findthe house in which the unfortunateEsteban, the Moorish slave, met hisdeath? Would we be permitted toexplore the Hawikuh ruins and, aboveallwas anything left?

Ahead we saw the square top ofThunder Mountain, the holy moun-tain of the Zunis, and then we droveinto the pueblo which must look to-day very much as it did centuries ago.At a trading post, we purchased a$1.00 permit to take photographs.Then we asked directions to the ruinsof Hawikuh.

After a two-mile trip over sandytrails we reached a knoll on whichthe ruins of a pueblo overlooked thevalley of Ojo C aliente. Ha ving sear-ched for Hawikuh for such a longtime, it looked good to us, eventhough only rubble remained.

"Hawikuh," our guide said. Wepressed a dollar into his hand and hedrove away, leaving us to walk aloneinto history.

Esteban's story began early in the16th century in the Moorish villageof Azamor at the mouth of the Mor-beya Riv er. A rag-clad beggar boy, heused to lie on the street watchingcaravans pass, until he was acquiredas a slave for Moslem traders. Later,Christian zealots snatched him fromhis masters and took him to Spain.There he joined the Narvaez expedi-tion which was shipwrecked on theTexas coast in 1528. Only four mem-bers of its 300 survived, includingEsteban and his master. For eightyears they crossed mountains anddeserts until , alter many adventures,they reached Mexico City and thecourt of Antonio de Mendoza, thefirst viceroy of Nueva Espana. Men-doza tried to buy the Moor from his

F I R

master, thinking Esteban would bevaluable to him in conquering newland for King Charles V. And res deDorantes, Esteban's master, refused tosell, but he agreed to lease the Moorto the viceroy.

By then, news of the seven GoldenCities of Cibola had filtered into Nue-va Espana . In 1539 Esteban joine d anexpedition under the leadership ofFray Marcos de Niza to strike north-ward in search of Cibola.

The gaunt, olive-skinned Fray Mar-co s , clad in the coarse grey robe andwhite cordelier of the Franciscans,and the huge Moor with his blackbeard reaching to his chest and hislove for the flashy made strange com-panions. They did, indeed, disagreeon many things. Fray Marcos wishedto convert Indians even while investi-gating their wealth, but Esteban wasmore interested in the feminine popu-lation. For a while many In dia n girlsfollowed the expedition, bestowingfavors upon the "black-bearded Mexi-can " and presenting him with finepieces of turquoise. When this becamea problem, Fray Marcos sent Estebanahead on a scouting expedition, hop-

ing he'd be so busy exploring that hecouldn't bother the girls. DirectingEsteban to send back word of thetype of country he found, the priestconcocted a codea small white crossfor a discovery of moderate impor-tance, and larger crosses as the dis-coveries warranted.

On the afternoon of Passion Sun-day, 1539, Esteban pushed ahead. Hewho had been commanded ever sincehe could think was now a leader him-self! He found a ready audience inthe men under his command, as wellas the women who flocked to hiscamp to hear exciting tales of hisnative country which he related atnight around campfires.

At last an Indian told Esteban hisGolden Cities were only 30 daysahead. Jubilant, the Moor fashioneda man-sized cross to send back to FrayMarcos.

Although his orders were to awaitthe priest, he decided to continue onand preserve his precious freedom alit t le longer. Meanwhile, his campfire stories grew more weird. Heaverred he possessed healing powersand, to lend more weight to hisclaims, decorated himself with bellsand plumes and carried a "magic"gourd with red and black feathers.

Early in May of 1539, he stood atthe foot of a ridge on which perchedthe mysterious city of Hawikuh. Emis-saries who had been sent to thepueblo in advance met a cool recep-tion. Returning to the Moor, theyadvised him not to proceed, but dis-regarding them, he approached thepueblo anyway. To the cities' chiefshe announced that many white menfollowed, and he promised that hehimself would cure all the ills ofHawikuh if the chiefs would bringhim the fairest maidens of Hawikuh

as a reward for his services, as wellas pieces of turquoise.

Perhaps his reputation as a des-poiler of Indian womanhood had pre-


21/44

O F T H E G O L D E N C IT IE S

ceded him; or perhaps he was con-sidered a Mexican spy. In any event,the Indians threw him into an emptyhouse at the foot of the hill, outside ofthe pueblo proper, where he waskept without food or water for threedays. From his prison, he could lookup toward the village. Perhaps thenhe realized that Hawikuh was not acity of gold, but just another Indianvillage somewhat larger than most.

Meanwhile, the chiefs deliberatedon the Moor's fate. Some believedhim a medicine man who could not

be killed. Others argued it might be

worth trying to find ou t. A trap wasset. Early one morning the door tothe jail was left ajar. The Moor, hun-gry and thirsty, saw a chance toescape, but as he dashed from thedoor he was cut down by a showerof arrows.

Shortly after the death of Esteban,Fray Marcos de Niza reached Hawi-kuh. To ld of the Moor's fate, he didnot enter the pueblo, but with goldenrays of afternoon sun shining on thebuildings of Hawikuh, he perhaps feltjustified in believing stories he hadheard about its streets being pavedwith gold. Thus, he reported back tothe viceroy that, indeed, Hawikuh wasa city of gold.

B y P e t e r O d e n s

A year later, Francisco Vasquez deCoronado, a captain-general of theSpanish army, reached the pueblo, tolearn there was no truth in the rumorsabout a city of gold. After a severebattle with the Indians, Coronado,with 300 horsemen and 1000 Indiansand servants, captured the hill. Mostof the inhabitants, however, alreadyhad been evacuted to T h u n d e rMountain. Coronado remained inHawikuh for some time and, fromthere, sent out expeditions which sub-sequently discovered the ColoradoRiver and G rand Canyon. A mission,La Concepcion, was established atHawikuh in 1629.

The fate of the mission was not ahappy one. In 1632, a fiery, zealouspriest was placed in charge. On Sun-day, February 22, he celebrated mass,but only a lew Indians attended. Im-patient, he left the mission buildingto castigate the inhabitants of Hawi-kuh. As a threatening crowd gather-ed, the priest, now thoroughly fright-ened, knelt with a small crucifix inhis hands. As he held it out to thecrowd, he was shot to death witharrows and scalped. This instituted

general unrest among the pueblo In-dians. Five days later, a missionary,passing through Hawikuh, was am-bushed and killed. To investigate thekilling, Governor Francisco de laMora Ceballos sent a group of sol-diers and priests. Stopping at In-scription Rock, in what is today theEl Morro National Monument, a sol-dier named Lujan carved the follow-ing inscription, in Spanish, into astone: They passed on the 23rd ofMarch 1632 to avenge the death ofFather Latrado.

The Zunis, appraised of the comingof the punitive expedition, again re-treated to Thunder Mountain wherethey remained for three years. Not

until 1642 was mission work at thepueblo resumed. Th en , in 1670, whileFray Pedro de Avila y Ayala was sta-tioned at the mission, Hawikuh wasattacked by a group of Indians be-lieved to be Apaches or Navajos. Themultitudes killed included the priest,whose brains were beaten out with abell while he clung to his cross insidethe mission building.

An interesting story is told of apadre who, during the great pueblorebellion of 1680, escaped being kill-ed when he asked to join the Zunitribe. Years later, however, before hefinally died, he requested burial ina Christian church with his headtouching the altar.

After the great rebellion the mis-sion was abandoned and the entirepueblo sank into dust. In 1919 theHendricks - Lodge expedition, spon-sored by the Museum of the Ameri-can Indian in New York City, un-covered some of its ruins. They lo-cated the mission and in it, under anadobe altar, found an adult maleskeleton with the skull pointing east.Were these the remains of the priestwho asked to be buried in the church?Or was it the skeleton of Ayala?

Wandering near the base of theknoll, my wife and I found the ruinsof several buildings. One of them,the largest, had apparently been theMission La Concepcion. Here wefound arrowheads, broken bits of pot-tery and human bones.

In our minds we saw it allthegigantic Moor looking up at thepueblo he was never allowed to enter;missionaries holding up crosses in anadvance of Indian arrows; Spaniardslusting for gold that drove many totheir deaths.

Where the hoax originated, of Ci-bola's Seven Cities of Gold, is nomore traceable than the similar leg-ends which have existed in otherlands since time began. And , eventhough today they are known to beuntrue, men will continue to searchfor them as long as time goes on. / / /


22/44

DR AW IN G BY HARO LD BLE N DE R MAN


23/44

a terrifying phenomenof natm*e

that has happened in thepaand could happen again

b yAH enR.Ha good

THE MORNING started peacefully on thfateful day many millions of years ago. Liabounded in the valley. Rhino -like beasand primitive camels and horses browsed across tland. Despite the bizarre ungulates and primiticarnivores that preyed upon them, the scene meven have been pleasant by hum an standards. Bat that time, man did not exist. So we must reon the findings of geologists and paleontologito reconstruct the ancient scene from the rock afossil record.

Tranquility reigned and the land was fillewith the miracle of lifethat is, until serenity wshattered by one of the few geologic phenomethat is truly catastrophic. It came without w aring. Some of the beasts sensed the danger onbriefly before they were overwhelmed and destroed. A few astonished snorts, a momentary stampede, a few flashes of flamethen nothing. Iferno raced across the forested flats and in tvalleys. No animal could outrun the burning blaket of death. Its ash flow covered h undreds square miles with startlin g speed. All life perishin a fleeting moment. Nothing survived the scou

June, 1964 / Desert Magazine / 23


24/44

ing holocaust of white-hot glass splin-ters and burning gases . . .

A fantastic description, to be sure,but many such flows must have oc-cured in the ancient Southwest. Pre-sent desert regionsin Utah, Nevada,Arizona, New Mexico, and Californiacontain many examples of volcanicrock left by ash flows.

Geologists have identified severalash-flow layers in southern Nevadaand northwestern Arizona. In thepresent Lake Mohave region, therewere many violent eruptive episodesin the most recent broad chapter ofgeologic time, the Cenozoic era, whichspans the last 70 mi llion years. Laye rupon layer of ash-flow rock may beseen in canyon walls near the colorfulold mining town of Nelson, Nevada.Prominent rimrocks, north of King-man, Arizona, are capped by rock ofthis origin.

The widespread ash flows of theSouthwest are believed to have spreadout at velocities greater than 100miles per ho ur! Ma ny single flowscovered hundreds of square miles and,conceivably, some may have coveredthousands of square miles.

"How," you may ask, "can lavaflows cover such large areas sorapidly?" Ash flows are not like truelava flows of mo lten rock. An o rdin-ary lava flow may move so slowlythat observers can approach the frontof the flow and even outwalk its ad-

vance. An ash flow is altogether dif-ferent. It is a gaseous flow, ratherthan a liquid flow, and is a blanketof searing gas with a suspended loadof tiny glass fragments. T h e suspen-sion expands explosively and is ofsuch density that its bulk remains lowand spreads across the land.

French volcanologists refer to somerecent ash flows asnuees ardentes or ,li terally translated, "burning clouds."Where eruptions of this type havebeen observed, the glowing cloudshave been described as "boiling over

like foam" from the volcanic crateror fissure. T h e mass is com posed ofgas and tiny particles that are incan-descent like the white-hot filaments oflight bulbs. Although much of thevolume is taken up by gas, the suspen-sion is so dense that it cannot rise intothe air. It expands and annihilatesall things in its pat h. Surprisingly,the onward rush may be frictionlessand noiseless because the solid frag-ments are enveloped in a "lubricatingcushion" of red-hot turbulent gas.

What causes ash flows? The con-tributing molten regions deep in thecrust of the earth must contain largequantities of dissolved vapormostlywaterunder immense pressure. Upon

eruption to the surface, the pressuresuddenly is released and the gas in-stantly foams out of solution andforms a hot froth, T he cond itionsmust be just right for the hardeningfroth to break into a tumultuousmixture of shattered glass and flaminggas of the proper density to form anexpanding ground flow. The flowthen would spread outward until theexpansive force was exhausted, pos-sibly many tens of miles from thevolcan o (a volca no is no t necessarilya mountain; it can be a fissure en-tirely without an associated moun-tain) .

As if ash flows are not violentenough, there are similar eruptionsthat actually aretoo explosive to formash flows! The streaming, expandinggas bubbles break the hardening glassfroth with great force, and the erupt-ing mass shatters into a cloud of glassfragments. Ch unk s of white-hot glassfoam may be hurled aside and cooledrapidly enough to entrap gas bubblesand form the light, spongy rock calledpumice; so much pore space may re-main that large blocks of pumice canfloat on water with surprising buoy-ancy.

In some of the world's violent erup-tions, innumerable glass fragmentsthrown thousands of feet into theatmosphere required long periods tosettle to the ground. Such eruptionsare so highly explosive that fine par-ticles are scattered widely and cannot

form ash flows. Winds may c a r r ythese particles great distances andspread a layer of gray, glassy ash overthousands of square miles.

A microscopic examination of mostvolcanic ash shows that many of thetiny glass fragments have curved sur-faces. The curved surfaces are thebroken walls of bubble tubes andcavities of the original glassy froth.Geologists call the pieces of glass,shards, some of which resemble thecurved potte ry f ragments c a l l e dshards by archeologists.

The main solid materials of ashflows, like those of more violenteruptions, are glass shards and pum-ice. But during the eruption of anash flow, the escape of gas is not soviolent as to throw much of theshattered glass into the atmosphere.Rather, the white-hot glass shardsand ignited vapors are of just thedensity to stay on the ground and flowby gaseous expansion.

The rock that results from the con-solid ation of ash flows (or wind -blow n ash) is called volcanictuff.Sometimes the temperature and com-paction in ancient ash flows were sogreat that the white-hot glass shards

Above: Microscopic view of a pre-pared slide of welded tuff from theGreat Basin Desert. Long whitishblobs are distorted glass shards, com-pressed and welded while hot. Mag-nified 125 times. Below: Knobby

columns weather from a welded ash-flow layer north of Kingman .


25/44

became welded to one another.Theresulta hard, welded tuff mademostly of compressed glass fragments.Welded tuff may resemble the morecommon types of lava rock thatre-sist erosion and form the protectivecaps of lava buttes. In cases of verygreat compaction in ash flows, theglass fragments may coalesce intosolid black glass that is similar inoutward appearanceto obsidian.Onthe other hand, some ash-flow tuffmay be welded only slightly.Andsome may be non-welded completelyand remain as a powdery ash that iseroded very rapidly by wind andwater.

The erosion of some weldedashflows provide interesting sculpturedlandscapes. For example, the tuffmay weather more rapidly alongin-tersecting vertical cracksand weakhorizontal zones than acrossthe restof the rock. In this manner, thewelded ash-flow deposit of Chiri-cahua Nat iona l Monumentin south-eastern Arizonawas carved into weirdpinnacles and grotesque columns(see cover, DESERT Magazine, Janu-

ary, 1964).Some layers of welded tuff, such

as the caprock atop buttes northofKingman, Arizona,are cut by cracksthat formed by shrinkage whentherock cooled. Huge, angular blocksweather in knobby and roundedcolumnar forms. Blocky massesof theKingman tuff periodically break fromthe rimrock and tumble downtheslope as softer rock beneaththe rimis removed by erosion.

In ash-flow layers welded onlyslightly, erosion is more rapid.Fas-cinating cone-shaped pinnaclesand"teepees" result ,as in the case of the"tent rocks" in the Valles Mountainsof northeastern New Mexico. Thesurfaces of ash-flow layers in thatregion have been honeycombedsoextensively by wind erosion that theyresemble Swiss cheese on a grandscale. Th e larger holes were enlargedby Pueblo Indiansand used as dwell-ings.

If an ash flow like those of thegeologic past eruptedin the modernSouthwest, it would result in one ofthe most terrible disastersof mankind.Imagine such a death blanket overLas Vegas, Cedar City, Kingman,Tombstone ,or Santa Fe! Yet theseareonly a few of the southeastern citiessituated in or close to ash-flow regionsof the past. There would be littlechance of human survival un

Documents

196406 Desert Magazine 1964 June