197412 Desert Magazine 1974 December

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Come visit us...at ournew location74-425 Highway 111at Deep Canyon RoadinPalm Desert, California

FEATURING:BOOKS OF THEWEST . . . PRINTS . . . MAPS . . .NOTE CARDS . . . STATIONERY . . . GOLD PANS

MAGAZINE & BOOK SHOP74-425 HIGH WA Y 111 PALM DESERT, CALIFORN IA

[714] 346-8144Store Hours:9:00-4:00, Monday-FridayClosed Saturday andSunday


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WIL.I 1AM K N Y V E T T f Publisher-Editor

CEORGE BRAGA, Art DirectorMARY FRANCES STRONG, Field Trip EditorF. A BARNES, Utah Associate EditorGLENN VARGAS, Lapidary EditorK. I BOYNTON, Natural istMAKVEL BARRETT, Circulation Manager

DutriLVolume 37,Number 12

MAGAZINE

D EC EMBER 1974

Utah 's co lor fu l BryceCanwm. Photograph byHan .Id E. Waltz of PalmSprings, California.

F E A T U R E STHE TOGETHERNESS JAYS 10 K. L. Boynton

CHINESE CAMP 14 Howard NealNEVER ENOUGH TIME 16 Al Pearce

TRINCHERAS, A PUZZLE INTHE SOUTHWEST 20 Roger Mi tchel lA CREEK CALLED ONION 24 F. A. Barnes

GILLETTE 28 Ida SmithROSES ANDBOTTLES ALONG THE OLDNATIONAL TRAIL 32 Mary Frances Strong

RIDGE ROUTE: FOUR ROADS WITH THE SAME NAME 36 Jim Pr ice

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

BOOKS FORDESERT READERS 6 Book ReviewsR AMBL IN G ONROCKS 42 Glenn andMar tha Vargas

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 47 Readers'CommentsCALENDAR OFWESTERN EVENTS 47 Club Act ivi t ies

EDITORIAL, CIRCULATION AND ADVERTISING OFFICES: 74-425 Highway 111, Palm Desert, California 92260. Telephone Area Code 714 346-8144.Listed in Standard Rate and Data. SUBSCRIPTION RATES: United States, Canada and Mexico; 1 year, $6.00; 2 years, $11.00; 3 years, $16.00. Otherforeiiin subscribers add $1.00 U. S. currency for each year. See Subscription Order Form in this issue. Allow f ive weeks for change of address and sendboth now and old addresses with zip codes. DESERT Magazine is published monthly. Second class postage paid at Palm Desert, Cali fornia and at addi-tional mailing offices under Act of March 3,1879. Contents copyrighted 1974 by DESERT Magazine and permission to reproduce any or all contents mustbe s i ured in writ ing. Manuscripts and photographs will not be returned unless accompanied by a self-addressed, stamped envelope.

Desen December 1974


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B A C KI S S U ESPECIALComplete'66 '67 68V O L U M E S

Complete'70 71 '72V O L U M E S

Rain Barrel"Assorted issues1959 to 1965OftPackage of 20

M a i l all orders to: DEPT. TDESERT Magazine

Palm Desert, Calif. 92260Personal check or money order must

accompany your order.Be sure to include your zip code.

A P e e ki n t h eP u b l i s h e r sP o k e

D ECEMBER IS a joyous month formost, and especially for desert lov-e r s . It brings cool nights anddaytimetemperatures that give one the wander-lust, the urge to get into the back-coun-try for some solitude and serenity.

That's just what author Al Pearce hasin mind in his article, "Never EnoughTime," about canoeing on Lake Mead.Taking pen and paddle in hand, he givesus a gl impse of what such an adventureis like. One interesting fact that Al leftout is that he made his own canoe. Per-haps I canconvince him to tell us how hedid it in a future issue.

It gives megreat pleasure to introducea new feature to Deser t Magazine that Iam sure will become a popular part ofour format. Ent i t led, "Desert Ghosts,"it will deal with old segments of the past,tell ing a brief history and what remainsfo r one to see today. Author HowardNeal kicks off the series with "ChineseC a m p " in California's Mother LodeCountry. If any reader has a ghost theywould like to hear about, drop us a l ine.

Desert has.moved its Editorial Off icesand Book Shop to bright new quarters.Located onHighway 111 at Deep CanyonRoad, in Palm Desert, we look forwa rd towelcoming our old f r iends, and meetinga lot of new ones. Our hours are 9 to 4,and we are closed on the weekends.

We at DESERT hope that the peaceand serenity that is so much a part of thedesert southwest can be shared by all inevery part of the world as the HolidaySeason nears.

New Mexico is a country where edgesmeet formed by the Western rim of theGreat Plains, the windy ridges of theRockies and the strangeness of the Son-oran Desert. It is avertical country, whereone looks down from cold fir-spruce for-ests into hot valleys of yucca, cactus anddesert flowers a mile below.Traditions and cultures are as variableas the landscape. Here is the Dinetah, theHoly Land of the Navajos made safe frommonsters by the Hero Twins andguardedby the four Sacred Mountains. Here, too,are the pueblos of the Keresan, Tanoanand Zunian people who hadbuilt apeace-ful democratic society while Europe bledthrough the Dark Ages and who still callthe clouds with their ritual dances. Andhere remain the old Hispanic mountainvillages which mark the last fron tier of heSpanish Empire.In this collection of landscapes by DavidMuench and illuminating words by TonyHillerman, NewMexico's many and var-ied contrasts unfold in aunique blend thatis her mysterious beauty and agrandeurthat is our natural heritage.Hardcover, large format, 188 pages,$22.00 until January 1,1975, then $2.5.00.25c handling charge

California residents add 6%sales taxMagazine Book Shop

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Deser t , December 197


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his year, give a gift that provides excitement and profityear around...a W hite 's Electronics mineral/me tal detector!Choose from 24 diffe rent models. Prices start at $79.50 withterms available. Ask your White's dealer to demonstrate the newseries II discriminator models (exclusive on the Goldmaster 66TR4B,Coinmaster IV TR4B, or Alaskan TR4B). And while you're there, askto see the fantastic Coinmaster V Supreme...the most powerfuldetector on the market today! Or write for further information:

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B o o k s f o rD e s e r tH e a d e r s

DESERT PLANTSFOR DESERT GARDE NSBy Patric ia M oorten and Rex Nevins

Compiled for better understandingand appreciation of the usefulness and

OWYHEE TRAILS:The West's Forgotten CornerMike Hanley tvith Ellis LuciaThe Owyhees, as they rise impressively from the high desertof Oregon and Idaho, have been the site of mining booms and In-dian battles, holdups and range w ars. Precious metals aboundedon their slopes, and their valleys held another sort of riches in theform of water and feed for cattle and sheep. Rancher-author MikeHanley, who lives in Jordan Valley, Oregon, under the shadow ofthe Owyhee Mountains, and his collaborator, the well knownwriter, Ellis Lucia, recount the boisterous past and intriguingpresent of this still wild corner of the West.6 x 9 , 225 pages, 102 photos, cloth $7.95TIMBER COUNTRYEarl RobergeHere, at last, is a beautiful, big, informative book on the con-troversial logging industry of the Great Northwest: a book thatshows logging as it is, by an author with first hand observationand information on the subject. Beautifully illustrated with 137full color photographs, it is the first comprehensive report on adynamic industry that is basic to the economy and ecology of theNorthwest and the nation.14%xlli / 2 , 182 pages, 137 photos, cloth $25.00

The CAXTON PRINTERS, Ltd.Box 700Caldwell, Idah o 83605

beauty of plants indigenous to the desertregion, this book will prove most helpfulfor homeowners, landscape architects,interior decorators and nurseries. Itbrings to attention the principle of work-ing with Nature instead of against it, andof appreciation of the desert for what it israther than comparison with watered re-gions.

General knowledge of desert plants isimportant for proper design of desertgardens, including container plants, poolareas and complete landscaping. Thisbook includes a complete guide to desertplants, l isted by their common and bo-tanical names, to aid in selecting theproper plants, shrubs or trees for everypurpose.

The authors are eminently q ualif ied toproduce such a book. Patricia Moorten isan internationally known botanist anddesigner in the specialized profession ofdesert plants. Co-owner and executivedirector of Moorten's Botanical Gardens,Palm Springs, Mrs. Moorten has alsoserved as a member of the board ofdirectors of the Cactus and Succulent So-ciety of America, Inc. Rex Nevins is anaward-winning newspaper reporter, au-thor and photographer.

Profusely illustrated, paperback, 113pages, $3.00.

TREASURE HUNTER'S MANUAL #7By Kar l von Mu el lerIs there one among us with so little

imagination that he has never dreamedof f inding lost treasure? What wildly ex-cit ing fantasies are conjured up by themere thought of coming upon hidden,and perhaps long-lost, treasures of thepast. Most of us, alas, give over thesedreams when we come to terms with aharsh, workaday w orld . The realit ies anddemands on our time and energies makei t seem foo lhardy to pursue suchdreams.


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B ui is it impossible? In his book,Tre.v.ure Hunter 's Ma nual , Kar l vonMueller tells how anyone with a lick ofcuriosity and a degree of determinat ioncan embark on a treasure hunting car-eer .pending as much or as l i t t le t ime asis possible for him. Sometimes treasureis as(lose as your ownbackyard or att ic,or the search may take you far af ie ld.

Ticasure is not l imited to cash orbul l ion. It may consist of anyth ing what-evei Ihat has acash or convertible value.The list may include money in all forms,bullion, jewelry, guns, gems, heirlooms,g e n u in e a n t iq u e s , ra re le t t e rs anddocuments, rare andscarce books, mum-mie1., skeletons, trade stamps and tradestamp books, Liberty bonds, securit iesanc just about anything else that is notmade or used anymore.

The author covers every aspect of trea-sure hunt ing: how, when and where ,tool . ,indsupplies, maps and transporta-t ion, instruments and how to use t h e m,th e law and tax problems, as wel l aslegends and myths.

This is an adventure in that even aftermany readings one constantly f indssome new and excit ing bits of in forma-tion Secret mea nings , priv ate passages,helplul ideas, fascinating facts are care-fu l lv and ski l l fu l ly h idden with in itspages. Thedeeper you dig, the more re-warding your f ind . Tyro or pro, there istreasure trove for everyone.

So -as you read this book, be prepar-ed to stumble upon many treasures ofwords and facts and f igures. In the sud-derly mushrooming f ie ld of adventurel i te i . i ture, there is stil l no work tocompare with the authority of TreasureHunter 's Manual nor any that is somui h fun to read.

hl.ippy hunt ing !P . i p e rb a ck , we l l i l l u s t ra te d , 295

pages, $6.50.All books reviewed may beordered from Desert MagazineBook Shop, Box 1318, PalmDesert, California 92260. Besine to enclose check or moneyorder and California residentsmust add 6% state sales tax.

T O H E L L O N W H E E L SA glove box size guide for Desert Drivers.

.l t divides survival into two parts; TheVehicleand Afoot. A fully illustrated Boondockers) Bible . $2.95 postpaid by Alan H.Siebert

California residents add 6% TaxBROWN BURRO PRESS, Box2 8 6 3 , (DM) Pasadena, Co. 91105ean December 1174

POPULARARCHAEOIOCYPopular Archaeology is a magazine thatbrings you the Mystery and Excitement ofthe Search and Excavation. The archaeologythat is covered in each issue is on a world-wide basis with special emphasis on theprehistory and history of the United States.Subscription is $9.50 per year.

Order from: P.O. Box42 11 , Arlington, VA22204

EACHIncluding tax andpostage

Cold embossed on brown vinyl. Spacefo r 12 magazines easi ly inserted. Abeaut i ful and pract ical addit ion to yourhome book-shelf.

WORTHS A V I N G !MOST OF OUR READERS SAVETHEIR DESERT MAGAZINES FORFUTURE REFERENCE AND READINGPLEASURE THE BEST WAY TO KEEPYOUR BACK ISSUES IS IN OURATTRACTIVE SPECIALLY-MADE

BINDERSP.O. BOX1318, PALM DESERT, CALIFORNIA 92260M A P S !DESERT OVERVIEW MAPSUsing topographic maps as basic underlays, areIwo excellently detailed maps for back countryexplorers of the Mojave and Colorado Deserts.Maps show highways, gravel roads, jeep trails,plus historic routes and sites, old wells, whichare not on modern-day maps, plus ghost towns.Indian sites, etc. Mojave Desert Overviewcovers from U.S. 395 at Little Lake to BoulderCity, Nevada, to Parker Dam toVictorvil le. Colo-rado Desert Overview covers from the Mexicanborder to Joshua Tree National Monument toBanning to theArizona side of the Colorado Riv-er. Becertain tostate which mapwhen ordering.$3.00 EachANZA-BORREGO DESERT STATE PARKTOPOGRAPHIC MAPSA set of 7 maps covering theAnza-Borrego Des-ert State Park, 8 V i " x 1 1 " format, bound. $5.50

ROADMAP TO CALIFORNIA'S PIONEERTOWNS,GHOST TOWNS AND M I N I N GCAMPSCompiled by Varna Enterprises, 38"x25" andscaled. Southern California on one side andNorthern California on the other. Contains de-tailed location of place names, many of whichare not on regular maps. $3.50MAP OF PIONEER TRAILSCompiled by Varna Enterprises, this is their newlarge map on pioneer trails blazed from 1541through 1867 in the western United States. Su-perimposed in red on black and wh i te , 37"x45" .$4.00ROADMAP TO CALIFORNIA'S LOST MINESAND BURIED TREASURESCompiled by Varna Enterprises, 38"x25" andscaled. Southern California on one side andNorthern California on the other. Contains de-tailed location of place names, many of whichare not on regular maps. $4.00

Order maps today from

D e s e r t M a g a z in e B o o k S h o pP.O. Box 1318, Palm Desert, California 92260Please add 25 cents lor postage & handling Cali f , res idents p lease add6% state sales tax


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

OUR HISTORIC DESERT, The Story of theAnza-Borrego State Park. Text by DianaLindsay, Edited by Richard Pourade. The largeststate park in the United States, this bookpresents a concise and cogent history of thethings which have made this desert unique. Theauthor details the geologic beginning and tracesthe history from Juan Bautista de Anza andearly-day settlers, through to the existencetoday of the huge park. Hardcover, 144 pages,beautifully illustrated, $9.50.

FLOWERS OF THE CANYON COUNTRY byStanley L. Welsh, text; and Bill Ratcliffe, photo-graphs. Brigham Young University Press. Twoprofessionals have united their talents to presentan informative, scholarly and artistic promotionof the beauty found in flowers and plants of vastregions of the Southw est. Paperback, 51 pages,$2.95.A FIELD GUIDE TO INSECTS of America Northof Mexico by Donald J. Borror and Richard E.White. This is the most comprehensive, authori-tative and up-to-date guide to North America in-sects ever pu blished. It covers 579 families of in-sects and has more than 1300 line drawings and142 color plates. Hardcover, 372 pages, glos-sary, references, $5.95.FANTASIES OF GOLD by E. B. Sayles. Duringhis search for archeological finds for more than30 years, the author was exposed to the rumorsand legends of lost gold and treasures. After hisretirement as curator of the Arizona State Mu-seum, he classified and delved into these stillunsolved mysteries. An interesting and informa-tive book on lost bonanzas and legends, many ofwhich have never been published. Hardcover,well illustrated, 135 pages, $6.50.

THE ROCKS BEGIN TO SPEAK by LaVan Mar-tineau. The author tells how his interest in rockwriting led to years of study and how he haslearned that many esp ecially the comp lex pe-troglyphsare historical accounts of actualevents. Hardcover, well illustrated, glossarybibliography, 210 pages, $8.95.FROSTY, A Raccoon to Remember by HarriettE. Weaver. The only uniformed woman on Cali-fornia's State Park Ranger crews for 20 years,Harriett Weaver shares her hilarious andheart-warming experiences of being a "m oth er"to an orphaned baby raccoon. A delightful bookfor all ages. Illustrated with line-drawings byJennifer O. Dewey, hard cover, 156 pages, $5.95DICTIONARY OF PREHISTORIC INDIAN AR-TIFACTS OF THE AMERICAN SOUTHWESTby Franklin Barnett. A highly informative bookthat both illustrates and describes Indian arti-facts of the Southwest, it is a valuable guide forthe person interested in archaeology and anthro-pology. Include;; 250 major types of artifacts.Each item has a photo and definition. Paper-back, 130 pages, beautifully illustrated, $7.95.

THE CALIFORNIA MISSIONS by the Editors ofSunset Books. A beautifully written history ofCalifornia's 21 missions. One can feel, as hereads, the ferver of the padres as they gatheredmaterials to build their churches, and an insightmto history develops as the authors tell in simpleprose what was go ing onin the w orld atth e sametime. 300 pages, complete with artful sketchesand photographs, and paintings in color, hard-cover, large format, $12.75.NEVADA GHOST TOWNS AND MININGCAMPS by Stanley W. Paher. Covering all of Ne-vada's 17 counties, Paher has documented 575mining camps, many of which have been erasedfrom the earth. The book contains the greatestand most complete collection of historic photo-graphs of Nevada ever published. This, coupledw ith his excellent w riting and map, creates a bookof lasting value. Large 9x11 format, 700 photo-graphs, hardcover, 492 pages, $15.00.8

THE DESERT IS YOURS by Erie Stanley Gard-ner. This is the late author's fifth book writtenon the desert but the first that is devoted to thewestern desert of the United States. With par-ties of hunters and companions, he proves to bethe true adventurer, c ombing the vast reaches oftrackless land, and shows how the good out-weighs the bad in the perils of the desert. Hard-cover, well illustrated, 256 pages, $7.50.DEATH VALLEY GHOST TOWNS by StanleyPaher. Death Valley, today a National Monu-ment, has in its environs the ghostly remains ofmany mines and mining towns. The author hasalso written of ghost towns in Nevada and Ari-zona and knows how to blend a brief outline ofeach of Death Valley's ghost towns with historicphotos. For sheer drama, fact or fiction, it pro-duces an enticing package for ghost town buffs.Paperback, illus., 9x12 format, 48 pages, $1.95.EARTHQUAKE COUNTRY by Robert lacopi.Published by Sunset Books, this well illustratedbook separates fact from fiction and showswhere faults are located, w hat to do in the eventof an earthquake, past history and what to ex-pect in the future. Large format, slick paper-back, 160 pages, $2.95.DESERT, The American Southwest by RuthKirk. Combining her knowledge of the physicalcharacteristics of the land, and man's relation tothe desert from the prehistoric past to the prob-able future, with her photographer's eye and herenthusiasm for a strange and beautiful country,the result of Ruth Kirk's work is an extraordinar-ily perceptive account of the living desert. High-ly recommended. Hardcover, beautifully illus-trated, 334 pages, $10.00.

OLD MINES AND GHOST CAMPS OF CALI-FORNIA, compiled by A. Ekman, I. H. Parker,W. H. Storms, H. W. Penniman and M. E. Ditt-itiar. A lot of informative reading takes youcounty by county through the vast mining areasof the Mother Lode and adjoining rich proper-ties. Paperback, photos, 144 pages, $3.50.OUTDOOR SURVIVAL SKILLS by Larry DeanOlsen. This book had to be lived before it couldbe written. The author's mastery of primitiveskills has made him confident that s urvival livingneed not be an ordeal once a person has learnedto adjust. Chapters deal with building shelters,making fires, finding water, use of plants forfood and medication. Buckram cover, well-illus-trated, 188 pages, revised edition boasts of 96 4-color photos adced.l$3.95GEM TRAILS IN CALIFORNIA by A. L. Abbott.This comp act lit tle book can easily be 'carriedwh ile hiking or riding and combines detailed mapdrawings with pictures. In addition to gem andmineral names w ith their sp ecific locations, thereare other leads to nearby ghost towns, camp-grounds and recreation areas. Paperback, illus .,$2.95.DEAD MEN DO TELL TALES by Lake ErieSchaefer. A secuel to BURIED TREASURE &LOST MINES by Frank Fish, the author knewFish for many years and claims he was mu rdered.Her book adds other information on alleged lostbonanzas, plus reasons why she thinks Fish didnot die a natural death as stated by the a utho ri-ties. Paperback, illus., 80 pages, $3.00.

BURIED TREASURE & LOST MINES, by FrankFish. One of the original treasure hunters pro-vides data on 93 lost bonanzas, many of which hepersonally searched for. He died under myster-ious circumstances in 1968 after leading an ad-venturous life. Illustrated with photos and maps.Paperback, 68 pages, $2.00.MY CANYONLANDS by Kent Frost. A vividaccount of the early exploration of Utah's Can-yonlands by the author who spent his entire lifeexploring America's new national park and whopresently runs a guide service through thescenic country. Hardcover, artist illustrations,160 pages, $6.95.COMMON EDIBLE & USEFUL PLANTS OFTHE WEST by Muriel Sweet. A description withartist drawings of edible (and those not to touch)plants along with how Indians and pioneers usedthem. Paperback, 64 pages, $1.50.POISONOUS DWELLERS OF THE West by NattDodge. Anyonew alking through the backcountryshould have and study this book, especially fa mil-ies with ch ildren. Illustrates and describes w hichdwellers are poisonous and which are not. Slickpaperback, 40 pages, 75 cents.

Deser t December 197


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NAVAJO SILVER by Arthur Woodward. Asummary of the history of silversmithing by theNavi\j tribe , W oodw ard presents a com prehen-sive view of the four major influences on Navajodesi'in, showing how the silversmiths adaptedthe ac I forms of European settlers and Indians inthe cis ter n United States, as well as those of theSpanish and Mexican colonists of the Southwest.Papciliack, well illustrated, 100 pages, $4.95.GHOST TOW N BOTTLE PRICE GUIDE by Wesand Huby Bressie. A new and revised edition oftheii popular bottle book, first published in196-1 New section on Oriental relics, plus up-to-date' values of bottles. Slick, paperback, illus-trated, 124 pages, $3.95UTAH by David Muench, text by HartI Wixom.The impressions captured here by DavidMunich's camera and Hartt Wixom's pen bringto life a most beautiful under-one-cover profile ofthe fascinating state of Utah . Large 11x14 fo rma t,hardcover, 188 pages, $25.00.TR1 ASURE HUNTER'S G UIDE TO T HE LAWby Clair Martin Christensen Answers all of theque 1.lions relative to the legal aspect of findingtreasure trove. Subjects include Antiquities Act,Miring Claims, Gold Regulations, Trespass andSalv.uie, Claim Recordings, Tax Aspect andmany others. Concise and fac tual. Paperback, 46pag.'s, $2.75.FIEI I) GUIDE TO WESTERN BIRDS by RogerTory Peterson. The standard book for field iden-tification sponsored by the National AudubonSoch'ly. 2nd edition, enlarged with new sectionon Hawaiian birds. 658 in full color. Hardcover,$5.96,

THE GOLD HEX by Ken Marquiss. A singleman's endeavors, Ken has compiled 20 of histreaure hunts in book form. His failure to hit the"jackpot" does not mean he is treasureless.From gold panning to hardrock, from dredgingto electronic metal detecting, he enjoyed a life-time of "doing his thing." Slick paperback, i l-lustrated with photos and maps, 146 pages,$'3.50.GEM MINERALS OF IDAHO by John Beckwith.Contains information on physical and opticalcharacteristics of m inerals; the history, lore, andfashioning of many gems. Also eleven rew ardingfield trips to every sort of collecting area. Slickpaperback, maps and photos, 123 pages, $3.95NEVADA LOST MINES AND HIDDEN TREAS-URES* compiled by Dave Basso. The SecondEdition is updated with photographs and a newlook. Portions of U.S. Geological Survey topo-graphic maps are provided to give the reader anidea of the general locale in which the specificstory is centered. Paperback, 71 pages, $2.50.GEM TRAILS OF ARIZONA by Bessie W . Simp-son. This field guide is prepared for the hobbiestand almost every location is accessible by car orpickup accompanied by maps to show sandyroads, steep rocky hills, etc., as cautions. Lawsregarding collecting on Federal and Indian landoutlined. Paperback, 88 pages, illus., $3.00.

RELICS OF THE REDMAN by Marvin & HelenDavh Relics can be valuable! Those dating backto Indian history in our land are becoming al-mosi priceless. How to search for these " ha rd tof i nd " Indian relics, w here to search and at w hattime of the year, and types of tools needed, areamo'ui the many helpful suggestions given.Larg" lormat, many color and b/w illustrations,a striking cover. Paperback, 63 pages, $3:95.ROCKS AND MINERALS OF CALIFORNIAcompiled by Vinson Brown, David Allan andJam' Stark. This third revised edition will saveyou hours of time by the description and p icturesof rooks and minerals found in this state. Colorpictmns with clearly developed keys show youhow to identify what you have found and givesyou Ihe fine tools to increase your ability as afield collector. Paperback, well illustrated withphot".;, locality maps, charts and quadranglemap information. 200 pages, $3.95.

California residentsplease add6% state sales taxPlease add 25c for postage & handling

PLANTS USED IN BASKETRY BY THE CALI-FORNIA INDIANS by Ruth Earl Merrill. Seven-ty-odd plant species, their uses and combineduses, limitations, patterns, waterproofing, etc.,are all brought into focus in an easily-read pre-sentation. Appendix lists basket materials ac-cording to part, use and Tribe. Paperback, 25pages, $2.00.THE NORTH AMERICAN DESERTS by Ed-mund C. Jaeger. A long-time authority on allphases of desert areas and life, Dr. Jaeger'sbook on the North American Deserts should becarried where ever you travel. It not only de-scribes each of the individual desert areas, buthas illustrated sections on desert insects, rep-tiles, birds, mammals and plants. 315 pages,illustrated photographs, line drawings andmaps. Hardcover, $6.95ANASAZI: Ancient People of the Rock, photo-graphs by David Muench, text by Donald G.Pike. This outstanding, moving publicationgives the reader the unique opportunity to seeand understand the Anasazi civilization thatexisted some 2,000 years ago. Blending withDavid Muench's suberb photography, historianDonald Pike provides a fascinating text. Hard-cover, profusely illustrated with color and blackand white photos, 192 pages, $16.95 until Dec.31 , 1974, then $18.95.GOLDROCK Facts and Folktales by Iva L. Gei-singer. The author describes this site on theCalifornia Desert giving brief, but interesting re-counts of the facts and legends of the ghosttowns, lost mines and personalities of the Gold-rock area. Paperback, 65 pages, illus., $2.25.

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Desen D ecember 1974


10/48

aS IS well know n to one and all, jays asa tribe are exceedingly brash andboisterous birds, notoriously inquisi-

t ive and loud-mouthed in expressingtheir opinions. In all this, the Mexicanjays are no exception. However, it mustbe said that the Arizona contingent ofth is Mexican brand , wh i le subscr ib ing tomost jay rules, have developed a strangecode of their own that sets them apartfrom their near relatives and from mostbirds as wel l . In fact, the social organiza-t ion of the bunch residing in southernArizona (and called Arizona jays in thenorthern end of their range) is quite un-like that of any other bird north of thetropical regions.

W ith these jays, the core of the set-upis the f lock, and this f lock is maintainedthroughout the year, even dur ing thenest ing season. This, in itself, is quiteunusual, for while it is customary formany kinds of birds to congregate to-gether during part of the year, at family-raising t imes such temporary f locksbreak up. Pairs are formed, and the erst-while feeding and visit ing pals of the oldf locking days, suddenly regarded as in-truders, are rudely chased away by10

by K. L. BOYNTON1974

couples setting up housekeeping. Not sowith these jays. At nesting t ime, morethan ever, togetherness is the thi ng . Yet,unlike colonial birds such as cormorantsand other sea birds, they do not formbreeding colonies w here each pair has itsnest area which it vigorously defends.

Instead, what happens in the socialset-up of these jays is that while a singlecouple eventually occupies the nest,members of the flock pitch in to helpw ith the familv-raising chores all the wayfrom b uilding the nest to the f inal gradu -ation of the f ledglings to adulthood.

It need not be said what this coopera-tive breeding bit does to old thinkingabout bird behavior and evolutionary de-velopment. Nor, for that matter, whythere has been so much c og itating on themeaning of this near communistic phe-nomenon since scientists became awareof what was actually going on.

Not that the light dawned all at once.True enough, naturalists for some timehad been commenting on the f lockingpropensities of these jays and ZoologistAlfr ed Cross, studying them in the SantaRita mountains of southern Arizona,came up with details on how a nest is

built by the Mexican Jay ConstructionCompany. Architectural plans, it seems,call for an ample nest some 15 inchesacross made of twigs approximately afoot long arranged in a mass. In thecenter of this is a lined nest cavity somethree to four inches in diameter andthree inches deep. The whole works isbuilt f irmly against the trunk of a treewith good lateral branch and living twigsupport. Well up in a live oak is consid-ered an especially good location.

Some seven or eight birds had a beakin the erection of the nest that Cross ob-served, and already had about a dozensticks in place by April 9, when he f irstfound it . Watching proceedings, henoted that jay-style building is done w ithaccompanying sound effects. Long be-fore the inc oming b i rd , bearing construc-t ion materials, arrived , a curious f lutter-ing of its wings could be heard followedby its announcing "wh eat w he at" beforelanding. Taking a great deal of pains, it

Desert/ December 7974


11/48

cai du ll y manipulated its stick into place,sui i eeding finally, after many tries, togel it into just the "right spot." All thistime, three other members of the flock,peiched nearby, were eying the work,rriLitIering gutteral comments amongthemselves in the best sidewalk superin-tendent fashion. The first bird departedan'11 he second arrived with its stick and,in due time, a third bird; then the by-peuhers, waiting only long enough forthe last one to finish and fly off, landeden masse on the nest. Pull ing and yank-ing and poking and commenting, theyre^uianged the material already added.

Work proceeded thereafter at a rate ofabout five trips per hour during themornings; the birds, taking the after-noons off, were at it again by 4:00 P.M.Only fresh twigs from the trees wereused, jerked off by one bird alone or withth .issistance of another. In three days,the jays had the twig part all finished.Next, one flew in with a mess of horse-Desi ' i ! December 1974

ha i r . S i t t i ng in the m i d d l e , it ca r e f u l l yw o v e in e a ch s t r a n d . A n o t h e r jay t ookover , and s i t t i n g , t u r n e d a r o u n d anda r o u n d , p r e s s i n g w i t h its b r e a s t , b e g i n -n i n g to f o r m the nes t cav i t y . Mo re so f tm a t e r i a l was b r o u g h t , jay a f te r jayw o r k i n g the p r e s s i n g d e t a i l . By A p r i l 16,t h e job was done , i nspec ted and a p p a r -e n t l y a p p r o v e d of by the b a n d .

T h e n , for d a y s , n o t h i n g h a p p e n e d .F i n a l l y , on A p r i l 25, a jay c a m e and saton the nest a l o n g t i m e b e f o r e l e a v i n g .

G r o s s , s c r a m b l i n g up the t r e e , h o p e f u l l yp e e r e d in the nes t . No e g g . J ust a t r y o u t ,a p p a r e n t l y .

D i t t o for the nex t t h ree days .F i n a l l y , on A p r i l 29, he f o u n d the f i r s t

e g g , and by May 2, the last of a c l u t ch off o u r was d e p o s i t e d . A jay f a m i l y was fin-a l l y u n d e r w a y .

M r s . Jay does the s i t t i n g , and inper iods of h igh hea t , pe rches up on thenes t edge shad ing the e g g s f r o m the dir-ec t sun. B a n d m e m b e r s s h o w e d up f r o m

The sociable l i tt le Ar izona Jay.Photo by John Blackford.

t i m e to t i m e , p e e r i n g at the e g g s andf l y i n g a w a y . F i n a l l y , a f t e r 18 d a y s , thef i r s t j ay le ts put in a p p e a r a n ce : v e r yn a k e d , red of h i d e , b a l d of p a t e , ands w o l l e n of s h u t - e y e . F r o m the h u m a np o i n t of v i e w , not m u c h to look at for allt h i s j o in t e f fo r t .

B u t , t h e y a p p a r e n t l y s u i t e d the jayb a n d who all p i t c h e d in to ra ise up they o u n g . E x a c t l y who in the f l ock doesw h a t in all t h i s was not k n o w n u n t i l B i o l -o g i s t J e r r a m B r o w n , s t u d y i n g t h e s e j a y sin the same reg ion and in the C h i r i c a h u am o u n t a i n s of s o u t h e r n A r i zo n a s o m eyears l a te r , marked the b i r d s w i t h co l o r -e d ch i c k e n leg bands . Ind i v idua ls cou ldt h e n be eas i l y i den t i f i ed and the a c t i v i -t ies of e a ch t a b u l a t e d .

T h e r e w e r e two f l ocks in the v i c i n i t ya n d t h e y did not m i n g l e . E a ch had itso w n t e r r i to r y w h i c h its m e m b e r s d e f e n d -e d . Rare c ross ing of b o u n d a r i e s g a v er ise to l oud d i spu tes and f i g h t s , so thef l o ck s s t a y e d w e l l w i t h i n t h e i r ownr e a l m s . The o n l y t i m e t h e r e was i n te r -f l ock coopera t i on was w h e n all the b i r d su n i t e d to mob a co u p l e of s t u f f e d o w l s

77


12/48

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Brown had set out to make things inter-est ing.

Within each f lock's area, nestingproceeded on schedule. The identifyingbands showed that while non-breedingmembers of the f lock do, indeed, assistin nest construction, the actual couplewhose eggs are to be in it eventually as-sume the most responsibil ity and do amajor share of thework. It also turns outthat all is not always sweetness and l ightw i th in the flock itself at this t ime, since anesting pair, behind in its bu i ld ing , mayrob the nest of another further along inconstruction. Lining material is part icu-larly pirated. And, the t ru th must out,for among the thieves, the ladies, itseems, are the wo rst Robbing goes oneven if theowner is home, defense beingmain ly t ry ing to squat down t ight. Notthat this always does any good, for theraider may reach underneath and pul lout bits and pieces. Behavorists viewthis lack of defense as surpr is ing, itbeing not at all the usual wont of nestingbirds.

Post-hatching t ime is an extremelybusy one for the f lock. The femalebrooding the young is fed by her mateand by helpers as wel l , perhaps as manyas six t imes an hour. (One lady had atrain of nine birds lugging groceries toher.) Every member of the flock assistsin the care of the nestlings. In fact , in thef ive nests that Brown most intensivelystudies, 68 percent of all the feedingsstudied, 68 percent of all the feedingswere done by helpers. Fresh-out chicksinsects being added as they grow older.Certain helpers show a preference for a

particular nest, and in some cases feedthe nestlings oftener than do the realparents. And,since baby bird machineryis such that the food stuffed intowide-open mouths is processed quicklyand departs from the other end in prac-t ically no t ime at all , birds bringing foodalso have fecal sacs to carry away.Hence, with feeding schedules and spic-and-span housekeeping to keep up,there are much comings and goings ateach nest for the ensuing days while thenaked hatchlings gradually get to lookmore and more like birds. At some 24days of age, they have their juvenilep lumage and can hop f rom l imb to l imb .

Once out of the nest, the f ledglingskeep together, generally close to theground. Adults, ca l l ing to them fromthick masses of vines, encourage them to

Deser t December 1174 ,


13/48

hop up owards them inthe tangle, intowhcil is t ip-top protection forsuch littlebirds who as yet can't flywe l l , butw hocan | i imp.

A I this f ledgling stage of youngsterdevelopment, abig shift inpoint of viewon I ie par t of theparents themselvestakes place. Where before they had justfed I heir own chick s, now they begin tofeed the young from other nests as oftenor oliener. Itmakes no difference whoseof fspr ing it iswi th itsmouth wide openyammer ing for food. Feeding of thef lednlings becomes a completely com-muii. i l affair, with every member of theband working thegrocery detail.

The net result ofall this cooperation ispra< iica lly no fled gli ng loss a big factormaking for success in anarid environ-ment Flock mem bersh ip also makes itpossible forthese jays to hold a largerterritory with less energy expenditurebecuise thewhole f lock defends it. Italso makes forgreater eff iciency in for-agih)', for food, since everybody looks forit , togetherness ineating being acom-mon sight among these birds incontrastto 11K; ha bits of the unsociable ScrubJay. , forexample. Danger is also mini-mized, since everybody watches foran dhelps rout predators.

But where does the individual comeout on all this? Cooperative breeding isaltruist ic behavior, which involves thesaci i l ice of the ndividual's own f itnessto enhance the fitness of others. Evolu-t ion, ry theory has always held that suchbeh.ivior would beselected against: inother words, the "bighearted" oneswould fade from thescene without off-spring, thus such self-sacrif icing traitswould not become established in thespecies.

Zoologist Brown, aware of all th is,wrinkled his brow. True enough, allageclas.es of these jays tended toremain inthe I ock, the result being a close-knitsoci.il group. There wasbound to besomr individuals inthis l ikely to be un-paired either because there were toomany females or too many males, ortheylacked jay-appeal, orbecause they werestil l yearlings and had not yet reachedrepioduct ive matur i ty. All these birdsaround w ith noth ing todo w ould be con-ducive toaltruist ic feeding behavior, hereasoned.

Also, since there would be inbreedingin the f loc k, in ime many of itsmemberswould be actually related toeach other.

D


14/48

D E S E R T G H O S T SLOCATION: Chinese Camp is located approxim itely

12 miles south of Sonora on California Highway 49.BRIEF HISTORY: In the year 1849, the cry was gold.

People journeyed from near and far hoping to take t h e i ' for-tunes from the streams and rivers of Ca lifornia. They travel-ed in covered wa gons, they w alked and rode horseback andthey sailed in ships . Almo st every race and nationality wasrepresented, and among the gold hunters there were lot afew whose home had once been China.

By the year 1852, nearly 20,000 Chinese were n theMother Lode Country, and during that decade of the f if t ies,some 5,000 of them settled at the town known as ChineseCamp. In many w ays, Chinese Camp was a typical gold tDwn.It had a brick We lls Fargo off ice, stores with their iron doorsand shutters, and saloons with their rowdy customers. B ut, insome ways, the place was dif ferent. In other camps theChinese were a minority. At Chinese Camp, they domin i ted,making up more than half the population. Their culture couldbe seen even in the trees, as the locust-like Chinese "trees ofheaven" were planted in greater profusion than elsewhere.More dram atic than the trees, thou gh , was the one big d f fer-

ence about Chinese Camp. It was the site of a war!The declaration of war was clear. It had been printed

and posted. There was to be a battle, a battle of honor, on arocky California plain, west of the Sierra Nevada foothil ls.The notice appeared in a September, 1856, issue of theColumbia Gazet te. The headline read: "Chal lenge f rom theSam-Yap Company, at Rock River Ranch, to the Yan-WoCompany at Chinese Camp." No words were minced. TheChinese tong of Sam-Yap promised ex termination for those ofYan-Wo.

The challenge was accepted. Members of each groupcame frorn as far as San Francisco to do battle . Th is w as not alocal f ig ht for a few. Weapons w ere purchased and prep ared.There were pikes, spears, swords and even a few f irearm s. Itwas a very serious affair.

It had started as a small squabble, between a fewmembers of each tong, over the fact that a boulder had rolledfrom the property of one onto the property of the other. Win-ning the argument became a matter of prid e, a ma tter of sav-ing face, so nearly 1,000 of the Yan-Wo faithful gathered tobattle some 1,200 opponents.

More than 2,000 soldiers met, eyeball to eyeball, on a

"Trees ofheaven"[ai lahthus] shadethe facade ofthe oldU.S. Pos t Off iceat ChineseC amp.The locust- l iket rees wereplantedthroughout thecommuni ty andwherever elsethe Chinesesett led in theCal i forniaMother LodeCountry.

Deser t , December 1 9 7 4


15/48

byOWARD

NEAL

St. Francisier Cathol ich over looksinese Camp

from k hi l least of

Cal i forniai ighway49.ted in 1855,

i t was thefi rst churchin the area.

The or ig inalbe/fryjandteeple werereplaced bysmal l qross

in 1949.

corched f ie ld. The swords slashed, the spears f lew , andthan 100 shots were f i red. Yet, there was no victor. Thesheriff saw to that. When the smoke had cleared theIty list (stood at four dead and four wounded. Not oneatant had been shot. The s herif f had stopped the f ig ht"i a face could be saved, before one man's honor couldstored.

All tong members were disarmed, a>id some 250 were:o ja i l . Tjhe war at Chinese Camp was over and, even ifwe re ncj> w inne rs, all w hisp ered a sigh of relie f. Chinesei could once again go back to its life of relative peace the wide branches of the beautiful "trees of h eav en."December 1974

CHINESE CAMP TODAY: The Chinese trees are sti l lcommunity with few more than a hundred residents. So, too,are some of the buildings from gold rush days. The old PostOff ice is st i l l in use. The Wells Fargo building is now in ruins.The quaint St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church still sits highon a hill above the town as if to remind us that all who lived inChinese Camp, during those exc it ing days, were not Chinese.The remnants of the gold rush remain, both abandon-ed and preserved by continued use. Yet, there is no evidence,no scars of battle on the field s, to tell us: " H er e . . . there wasonce a war ! "


16/48

P M E SILENTLY slipped around a bendI in Lake Me ad's long shorelineand

U U there they were: a small herd of des-ert bighorn sheep. They had n't heard us;but now, they saw us. They f idgeted,they stared, but they d idn ' t run. Mywi f e , lola, and I quietly lifted our pad-dles out of the water and let the lake'scurrent slowly pull us closer to thesheep.

If we could convince them in the nextmoment or two that we meant them noharm, they mig ht st ick around and let ustake pictures.

So far, so good.Then, something else happened. A

whining reel disturbed the silence wehad been trying so hard to protect. Itswhine was demanding. A bass hadattacked the lure I had been draggingbehind our canoe. And it wasn't a smallone.

This turned out to be one of life's frus-trating moments. A quick action on mypart would startle the sheep and they un-questionably would take off up the hil land disappear quickly from sight. Butthe lack of quick action could cost me thepleasure of f ighting one of Lake Mead'slunker bronzebacks.

Of course, at that t im e, I didn't know itwould turn out to be a lunker. Up untilt hen, all we had caught were one- andtwo-pounders.

Like I said, i t was a frustrating mo-ment, but it happens everytime we gocanoeing on Lake Me ad. We are plaguedby frustrations. There always seems tobv a need for a choice. "Shall we stopand investigate a part icularly promisingrock outcro pp ing, and paddle faster laterto make up the t ime, or shall we continueleisurely and photograph those toweringwalls in the distance before dark?"

The truth is: There are simply toodamn many things to do.

Sure, a person could jump in a powerboat and scoot around the lake in a76

Y n o n c ebyALPEARCE

couple of days b ut all he has had is aboat ride. It takes a canoe to really seethe lakeany lake. Wildlife doesn't runbefore you get there. Fish aren't scurry-ing in every direction in front of a propel-lerand it 's quiet; pleasantly quiet.

But it sure is hard to get everythingdone. Every time I pull a canoe out ofLake Mead, I promise myself that thenext t ime w ill be dif feren t. The next t imeI'll get around to looking at that old goldmine; I' ll take an afternoon and hike intothat old ghost town which rarely seespeople. I' ll even spend a few minutesturnin g into those promising coves wh ichappear to have been created only for thepurpose of bringing a bass and a f isher-man together.

There are more then 500 miles ofshoreline on Lake Mead and I h aven 'teven covered half of itdespite the factthat the f irst t ime we went canoeing onthat lake, we had intended to go from theriver's mouth to the dam. Those hadbeen our plans. We f igured our f irst tr ipwould take care of this part of the lake and a second tri p w ould h andle the Over-ton Arm and we would have done ourt h ing .

But we never made it to the dam thatf i rst t r ipnor the second. We didn ' tmake it on the third trip, either, for thatmatter. We keep going back, hoping thatthis t ime we' ll see the things we missedon the trip before.

The Colorado River enters Lake Meada few hundred yards above Pierce Ferry-There is a strange separation between

Th e author br ings his canoeinto landing at P ierce Ferry

on Lake Mea d just below the pointwhere C olorado River merges into lake.

The area is rapidly becominga popular canoeing spo t .

this area and wh at we have come to knowas civ iliz atio n. The re is a touch of it hereand there. Back in the 1930s, the CCCboys did a lit t le work here. There's acampground, but rarely any campers.

It's at the end of a di rt road th at anglesoff the paved Pierce Ferry Road. Thepavement drops down the other side ofthe hill and wanders down to SouthCove. That's where most people gobutnot so many that they crowd the upperreaches of Lake Mead. It's so vast that athousand boats seem like only one ortwo.

By road, i t 's only a hop, skip and ajump f rom South Cove to Pierce F e rr y -but by canoe, it 's a mighty long way topaddle; especially w hen p addling is con-stantly interrupted by the promise ofsometh ing excit ing.

The isolated shoreline is constantlybeckoning a f inger and making the sum-mons more enticing by displaying milesof promising geology. As sort of a rock-hound, I always like to look. I remembera friend of mine who answered a beckon-ing f inger and wound up with 500

Desert/December 1974


17/48


18/48

pounds of quartz crystalsa lot of it inlarge pieces!

There is a problem involved in canoe-ing this part of the lake. Nature has herown ideas where people should camp.Rock cliffs and sloping mountain sidesdo not good campgrounds make. And toreach out from one point to another in acanoe more or less determines theamount of extra time the canoeist has forlooking.

Or, more precisely, those areas thatnature selected for camping are farenough apart to demand a choice on thepart of the man or woman with apaddle.

It's that choice again.You can take it leisurelyif all you

want to do is slowly canoe from one pointto the next. However, you must keep thefact in mind that if you stop somewhereto investigate this, that or somethingelse, it's going to take some hot paddlingto make up the lost time.

For example, after you leave PierceFerry, you pass through Iceberg Canyon.The walls are straight up and down.There is no place to campunless youtie up against the wall and sleep in thebottom of the canoeand if you lingersomewhere, you might have to.

However, beyond Iceberg Canyon, thelake opens its arms like a long separatedlover and offers the canoeist severalcamping spots.

The same thing is true out of SouthCove. Here, it's Virgin Canyon; andagain, once through the canyon there arenumerous sandy beaches for camping.

Because of these canyons, I shouldperhaps take a moment for a word ofcaution. It is a long way between goodcamping areas and if the wind comesup, it's tough canoeing through thesecanyons. The water gets angry, it boilsand it has a tendency to put a bit of itselfin canoes.

This is the uncomfortable part abouttrying to sleep in a canoe in the canyons.If there is no wind , fine. But if the winddoes come up, it can get a bit uncomfort-able.

If you'd like to try canoeing the lake-it's getting to be more and more popu-larI might suggest that you first makethe trip with someone who has been onthe lake.Such a person is Fran Wilson, who, bythe way, is organizing a week-long tripduring the Easter school vacation week.She proposes, along with her husband,to canoe from Pierce Ferry to SouthCovethe same section we've beentalking about.

Taking a week for this trip makes itvery comfortable. It gives the canoeisttime to see everything. Fran, who livesin nearby Meadview, is an experiencedcanoeist and she and her husband haveorganized several canoe clubs in South-

ern California.I learned about the trip when I met her

last August. "Anybody can go," shesaid. "The more the merrier. We plan totake off from Pierce Ferry and stop atdifferent places for a couple of days. Thiswill give us time to hike into that oldghost town and possibly explore an oldgold mine."

That't just what I've been trying tofind time to do for a long time; but, un-fortunately, I won't be able to take theEaster trip.

Anyone who might be interested canwrite to Fran at: Box 2424 MeadviewRoute, Dolan Springs, Arizona 86441.There is no charge for the trip; but youmust furnish your own equipment.

The tr ip Fran is planning is about 20miles, maybe 25. It passes through Ice-berg Canyon where the geology is over-whelmingnature sure got angry hereonce upon a time.

Just beyond this canyon I once watch-ed a coyote sneak down to the water'sedge and pick up a dead fish and carry itback to its mate. That crazy coyote suremust have been hungry. It came out intothe open, in plain sight and cautiously,with one eye on us, tip-toed to thewater's edge and snatched that fishoutof the jaws of death, so to speak.

It then turned around and took off likea scalded cat for its mate. I wheeled ourcanoe into the beach and followed their

"i *.,

Canoe s dwarfedby spectacularmountainsbordering theupper reaches ofLake Mead.The river entersto the left of photo.


19/48

/ , ithy a nd JamesWuid padd le canoe

n e a r Sandy Cove.The sandy beachesin background are

popular campingareas.

tra< ks. I never saw either of them again;but we d id wind up camp ing in that spotfor I he nigh t, rather than a lit t le farth eron as we had planned.

Elctween Pierce Ferry and South Cove,the geology changes frequently. I t 'sopen and invit ing where the ColoradoRiver joins the lakealthough the moun-tains here are one long series of conflict-ing inclines and anticlines. The numer-ous strata are more mult i-colored than arainbow and when hit just right by re-flected sunlight from the lake, theybecome like a kaleidoscope dancing inthe distance-

Hrre is the place to keep a camerahandy. Remember, the Grand Canyonhas, just given up a few hundred yardsbehind you but not c omp letely. Thegeological strata which give color to theGnuid Canyon are sti l l alive; but disap-pearing as you continue away from themoiiih of the river.

II you look back south, just before youlos" sight of Pierce Ferry, you'll seeGrand Wash. Like the Grand Canyon,it's .1 bank of differ en t c olored g eologicalstr. i la, reaching for miles into the fadingdistance. The f irst visible stratum c losestto ihe bottom was formed about 60 mil-lion years ago.

As you turn the bend from Pierce Fer-ry , It's diff icult to determine just wherethe lake goes. It seems to disappear inthe c lif fs ly ing on the horizon ahead

quite a way ahead. But as you drawnearer, you' l l notice a gap. This is thebeginning of Iceberg Canyon and whrethe lake becomes a river again for a sho rtdistance.

J ust as you enter the cany on, there is asort of island to your right. It's more likea giant rock sticking into the air; but be-tween this giant rock and the toweringwalls of the canyon, there will probablybe a bass, maybe even two. Try it!

Iceberg Canyon really isn't very long,nor are its walls really very steep. Butthe water is deep and when the windhowls across the lake you just left, it canget somewhat choppy. When there is nowind , however, it 's comfortable andsmooth, w ith just enough current to pusha canoe along with l it t le effort on the partof the people inside with the paddles.

Emerging from the canyon is an ex-perience a canoeist is not likely to soonforget; it 's l ike walking from one part ofDisneyland to another. Everything issuddenly dif ferent.

To the right is the huge Iceberg Baythat reaches for miles back into terrainthat appears to be totally unfam iliar w iththe footsteps of man. But there is an oldgold mine back there; and there is an oldghost town that only knowledgable boat-ers are generally privileged to see. Itreally takes a guidesomeone who hasbeen there beforeto hike from thewater's edge to the old ghost town. Fran

Wilson said this is one of the things hergroup plans to do this Easter.

But as you emerge from the canyon,the f irst thing you generally see is a" w a l l " of debris separating the mainbody of the river from Iceberg Bay. Tothe left of this wall is the main body ofthe lake and is sharply contrasted fromthe water you just left and the bay waterin that it's c lear and clean not mudd yand full of silt .

Your f irst impression when seeing this"second" lake might be one of d isap-pointment. You suddenly realize whatyou have let yourself in for. It's a long,long way to the next narrow spotandno place to camp except in Iceberg Bay;and it's a long way across Iceberg Bay.

If it 's early in the day, you may escapethe feeling of disappointment and exper-ience instead a feeling of anticipation;given birth by the sudden realizationthat there is a lot of new country andexperiences ahead.

This particular section of the lake issurrounded by clif fs and large canyonsthat seem to almost merge with thewater. There is an island off to oneside good bass fish ing between it andthe shore.

Then the water narrows again. Alongth is st retch of "n ar ro w s, " there are sev-eral small coves working back into thesurrounding land. A couple of them, if

Cont inued on Page 40


20/48

T r i n c b e r a sP u z z l e

S o u t h w e s tby ROGER M ITCHEL L T HE SOUTHWEST is full of mysteriesand one of the most puzzling is whathappened to the ancient people whoinhab ited this area 1000 years ago. Wh athappened to the cli f f dwellers? Whatcaused them to abandon the ir homes andfields and seemingly vanish? Was itdrought, foreign invader, or what?Related to this mystery, an equallypuzzling story exists in the border coun-try of western Arizona and Sonora.There, on certain hil lsides, can be foundextensive systems of man-made rock ter-races. Why they were built and who builtthem is largely a matter of speculat ion.

The ancient people who built theseterraces are usually referred to as the


21/48

"Inncheras Culture" af ter the Spanishwon I t r incheras, meaning trenches asmiuht be found in a defensive fort if ica-t ion The f irst and largest Trinch eras-type ruin to be discovered was in theM.ii;dalena Valley of Northern Sonora.Today, the name Trincheras applies toboth this specif ic site as well as the cul-tu ir in general.

I he Trincheras site in Sonora was firstde-.cribed by Juan Mateo Ma nje, a sol-dii-r who accompanied Father Kinoacioss Northern Mexico in the late1600s. Padre Ignacio Pfefferkorn, an-other 18th Century Jesuit missionary,alto mentioned the ruins in his writ ings.Aiound the turn of the 20th Century,

that veteran explorer of unknown Mexi-co , Carl Lum holtz, spends a wh ole chap-ter in his book, New Trai ls in Mexicodescribing the Trincheras site. Like mostof those who followed him, Lumholtzthought the terraces must be defensivefo r t i f i ca t io n s . No o t h e r e xp la n a t io nseemed to fit so wel l .

As scientif ic knowledge grows, moreTrincheras-type sites have been found.In the United States, at least seven ter-raced hillsides have been found on whatis now the Papago Indian Reservation,and 13 other similar sites have beenfound elsewhere in the S outhern Arizonaborder country. Across the border inSonora, Mexico, at least six other sites

have been identif ied. It seems reason-able to believe, however, that many ad-ditional sites await discovery south of theborder.

Typically, these Trincheras sites arefound on hil lsides. Walls of rock f ive-to-ten-feet h igh , forming a terrace ten-to-twenty-feet wide, contour horizontallyaround the hil lside. There m ay be sever-al dozen of these terraces at any particu-lar site. At some locations, like BlackMountain near Tucson, man-made trailsand petroglyphs may be found near theruins. Whether these features weremade at the same time as the terraces re-mains unknown.

Pottery sherds may be found at manyof the Trincheras sites. The markings onthese sherds sugg est the Trincheras peo-ples may have been a part of the largeHohokam Culture f rom which today'sPimas and Papagos may have descend-ed . This rem ains a point of archeologicalcontroversy. The Hohokams occupiedmostly the valleys of the Gila, the Saltand the Santa Cruz rivers, but their in-f luence no doubt spread into adjoiningareas. Earliest traces of the Hohokam

SANTA ANA RD.

TRINCHERASIl lHIUI I I I I i i l l l l i i i i j l l i i i i i l in i i i i in iB J


22/48

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Cultu re go back to around 300 B.C. Th eirculture grew for 1600 years until it reach-ed its zenith around 1300 A.D. Then,w ithin a cen tury, the Hohokam appearsto have abandoned their villages and ex-tensively irr igated f ields, and myster-iously dispersed themselves to the fourwinds.

Today, it is relatively easy to reachTrincheras, the best and biggest of theseterraced hil lsides. Mexican Highway No.2 more or less parallels the entire borderin Northern Sonora. At a point 20 mileseast of Altar and 26 miles west of SantaAna, a dirt road starts south throu gh thelonely desert. A sign on the highwaypoints to the turnoff and reads " T r i n -cheras 33 K m . " The road is graded dirt ,and while it is a very good dirt road byMexican rural standards, it is neverthe-less very dusty.

At a point 12 miles south of the pavedhighway, you wil l cross the old dirt roadw h i c h , at one t ime, was the main l ink be-tween Santa Ana and Caborca. In thisarea is an extensive archeological sitewh ere a vil lage of ancient T rincheraspeople once l ived. The site, named La

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Palaya after a nearby ranch, covers anarea two miles long and one-and-one-half miles wide. Pottery sherds foundhere are similar to Hohokam potteryfound north of the border. This pre-Col-umbian vil lage was probably occupiedcontinuously betw een 800 and 1100 A .D .If the terraces at Trincheras were indeeda defensive stronghold, they must havebeen used by the people here at La Pal-aya. The distance between the twopoints is only seven miles and the pot-tery sherds at both locations are identi-cal.

Continuing south on the dirt road,youwil l cross a large sandy wash. Here, youwil l get your f irst view of the terracedhil lside to the south. The modern vil lageof Trincheras is but a mile beyond. Costraight south past the edge of the townwhere the road suddenly ends, blockedby the railroad tracks. It is only a shortwalk of a few hund red yards to thelowest terraces on the other side of thetracks.

An archeological survey of the areaproduced an abundance o f po t te rysherds, manos, metates, hammerstonesand shell ornaments. This accumulat ionof artifacts suggests that the site wascontinuously occup ied, and did not servesolely as a defensive fort i f ic at ion . In ad-dit ion to the rock walled terraces, circu-lar rock rings on some of the terracessuggest foundation stones for smalldwel l ings .

When you climb the hil l f rom the northyou can appreciate how dif f icult i t wouldbe for an invader to attack the hil lside.He would have to f ight his way up andover a never-ending series of walls. Thedefenders would have a strategically ad-vantageous position. For this reason,everyone who visits the ruins comesaway with the belief that the terraceswere defensive fort i f icat ion s. This theoryappears the most logical, but it has oneserious f law.

The south side of the hill has litt le orno terraces. If someone wanted to attackth e h i l l , all he would have to do is comeup the unprotected south side and sweepover the crest to the defenders below.The tables would then be turned in favorof the invader. Surely the Trincheraspeople recognized this, yet i f this were afortress, why would they leave one sideunprotected?Several alternative theories as to whythe terraces were built have been


23/48

proposed, but they have even biggerf l a w . It has been suggested that thevalley wasonce flooded and this hil l pro-vided an island retreat from the risingwater. There is no geologic evidence tosupport this idea, and it is fur ther dis-credited by the La Palaya site. Howcould Trincheras people have lived there300 years if it were under water?

Another interesting idea is that theter .ices were built to grow a particulartype of plant which could not stand theharsh direct rays of the sun. By bui ld ingthe lerraces on the north side of the hi l l ,the sunlight would strike the crop at amore oblique angle and not directly. Thistheory might have more validity if all theten aces were b uilt on the north slope inall locations, but they are not.

( urrent archeological thinking seemsto bethat the terraces were built for sev-era I purp oses, andwhile those in Mexicoma\ be 1000years old, some in Arizonamay have been built as late as the 1700swhen the f ierce Apache was on the ram-pace. There may be four basic types ofTrincheras sites, based on what theyweie originally used for. First and fore-mo,I would be the defensive sites char-acterized by stone walls and bastionshaving a commanding posit ion over thesur iounding countryside. Next might bethe habitational sites where the remainsof louse ring s and pottery sherds mightbe lound in great number.

"I lie main Trincheras site seems to fitbe:-1 in this category. A th ird type mightbe built largely for ceremonial purposes.Pelioglyphs rather than pottery sherdsmight be found here. Several sites inArizona seem to fit th is pat tern. A fourthtype terrace site might be bui l t predom-inately for agricultural purposes, al-though none found to date fi t th is mold.

i 'csert readers might look at the ruinsand come upwith st i l l other ideas. Whatdo \ou think took place here?

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r * ****, ir ? # >


25/48

by F. A. BARNES

T HE FIRST t ime I saw Onion Creek Icouldn't believe my eyes. That wasseven years ago. Today, a fter thre ad-ing my way throug h the chromat ic mazeof that odorous stream countless t imes,in every season and all kinds of w eathe r,I st i l l stand in awe whenever I pause be-side the f lowing water and look aboutme.

M y w i fe and I were f i rs t introduced tothe sheer loveliness and soaring m ajestyof the comp lex gro ttoland of Onion Creekby Lin Ott inger, of Ott inger Tours inMoab, Utah. To us, that int roduct ionwas memorable. I t showed us a kind ofnatural beauty that we had not knownexisted, absolutely uniqu e, one of a kind,in many ways.

To understand and appreciate the un-

Onion Creekgrottoland inth e winter.

usual nature of Onion Creek, it is neces-sary to know som ething of the g eology ofthe land that surrounds it .

Only a professional geologist, onefamil iar wi th the unique st ructure andhistory of the vast Colorado Plateau ofthe Four Corners area, could fully ex-plain the complex geophysical eventsthat form ed Onion Creek and the strangevalley it drains. But perhaps a simplif ieddescr ipt ion w i l l help those who v is i t th isregion to gain some degree of under-standing of the wonders they are seeing.

Two major geological events contri-buted to the formation of Fisher Valleyand Onion Creek. One was of such mag-nitude that it formed a whole range ofmountains. The other was smaller, butst i l l g igant ic by human measure. Thescale of t ime against which these eventsoccurred is almost beyond human com-prehension, but the end results are notbeyond human appreciat ion.

Picture a vast, mult i- layered land con-25


26/48

Left: A few OnionCreek s idecanyonscan be t raveled byoff-road vehicleunt i l the washbot tom getstoo narrowfor further prog ress.Below: The roadbes ide Onion Creekt ravels throughthe gigant icexposure of gypsumthat f i l ls the val leyabove the grot tosystem. The spr ingthat gives the creeki ts odor and nameseeps from thismass of co lor fulmineral .

sist ing of many thick and ancient strataof sandstone, sediment, volcanic ash,mudstone, seabottom limestone, shaleand the petrif ied remnants of immenseSahara-like deserts. The crust of thissprawling land was then several thous-and feet thicker than it is now.

Next, speed up t ime by a mill ion ormore to one and watch part of this an-cient land being pushed upward, brokenand cracked, by the irresist ible upthrustof igneous rock from deep beneath theearth's crust. See an enormous "b li s te r"form on the tortured land, one in whichthe lava-like rock never actually breaksthe surface, but instead forms a stupen-dous "p imp le" o f rup tu red , bu lg inglayers of rock.

Watc h this distorted land again, as thesame subterranean forces squeeze agigantic mass of gypsum and other pres-sure-f luidized salts upward from far be-low, upward into some of the slopingrock layers near the crown of themountainous bulge formed earlier. Thismassive "gypsqueeze" does not breakthe surface of the land either, but frac-tures that surface sti l l more, making itmore vulnerable to later erosion.

Now see sti l l more eons of t ime com-pressed, as three, four, five and sixthousand feet of rock and sediments arecarried away to the oceans, leaving be-hind the harder, more resistant rock for-mations, but removing all that wasbroken up by the two violent events de-scribed, plus others. Much of thesecountless megatons of rock and sand andother deposits are carried away by theColorado River, an ancient waterwayeven then.

Today, the Colorado River still wendsits way through this tortured land, bu tthose geologic events of so long ago haveleft their mark, a beauty mark, upon aregion that would otherwise have beenless magnif icent.

With all the fractured overburdengone, the harder core of that ugly "pim-p l e " on the face of the earth has becomea lofty and beautiful range of alpinemountains, sit t ing proudly in the midstof vast red-rock, desert-canyon country.These are the La Sal mountains of south-eastern Utah, the mountains that makesuch a p icture-window view f rom Moab.

The "gypsqueeze" that in t ruded intodeep layers of red-hued sandstone alsoadded to the beauty of a land already in-credibly lovely. A series of radiating can-


27/48

yon . were created by erosion in the re-lat ively unbroken but t i lted strata thatformed the foothil ls of the La Sal moun-tains Wh ere these canyons encounteredthe Colorado River gorge, that deep andnarrow gorge broadened, reaching thedistant mountains.

This broad, cl i f f -wal led amphitheaterbegins just 13 miles upriver from MoabValley, and is crossed lengthwise by apaved state highway, Utah 128. Threemajor canyon-valleys reach from thiswidened rivergorge toward the La Sals.One is magnif icent Castle Valley, thenexl is Professor Valley and the third isFisher Va lley, the strange home of OnionCreek.

Fisher Valley contains three dist inctregions in its ten-mile length. All threeare hounded on two sides by the sheerwalls and talus slopes of elevated pla-teaus. Upper Fisher Valley is essentiallya vast meadowland, boxed in by thesewalls. I t shelters a picturesque catt leranch.

These meadowlands were formed bysediments accumulated behind the now-exposed "gypsqueeze," which for eonsserved as a sort o f "d a m ." Now, the im-mense wal l- to-wal l gypsum intrusion,the second dist inct region in Fisher Val-ley has been cut throug h by erosion,and slow seepage from the sediments ofthe upper valley, plus rainfall runofffrom the central valley, have createdOnion Creek and its geologically uniquegorge.

As the relatively pure waters of thisstream pass through the pastel-huedhills of eroded gypsum, several smallsprings add highly mineralized water tothe How. One such, approp riately named"St ink ing Spr ing , " con t r ibu tes wa te rthai has the pungent odor of garlic oronions, hence the name Onion Creek.

Alter passing through the gypsumare.i, Onion Creek cuts deeply into thedark red Moenkopi and Cutler depositsthai lorm the third and lowest region ofFisi ier Val ley. There, the win ding , twist -ing stream has formed an incrediblemaze of very deep and narrow canyonsand r.rottos, and branching, rebranchingside canyons. Here, is the truly uniquepari of Onion Creek.

Eielow this miles-long, blood-red grot-to , ()nion Creek emerges to f low througha short but colorful stretch of open, red-sanil desert before adding its water tothe lirown f low of the Colorado River.

Right: Hiking upsome of the

numerous s idecanyons f rom

Onion Creekcan be fascinating.

One conta ins anold mine with this

o ld s team winch.Below: The OnionCreek skyl ine

is a continual lychanging fantasy

of weird shapes.Onion Creek tr icklesby in the foreground

Utah 128, the road that travels the rivergorge upriver from Moab Valley, fordsOnion Creek midway between the riverand the redrock maze.

It would be dif f icult to imagine how to

spend a more unusual and in sp iring daythan to explore the full length of OnionCreek, be tw een U tah 128 and thesprings that form the creek at the base of

Cont inued on Page 46


28/48

A n A ri zo n a G h o s t T o w n

G i l l e t t eS ILENCE SHROUDED the crumblingw alls of the old hote l, once an im port-ant stage stop. Desert birds that fol-lowed us curiously from tree to treeseemed unafraid because visitors so sel-dom came to this deserted spot. Thelit t le ghost town of Gille tte, forever quietin its desert valley, was hidden by thick-ets of mesquite and catclaw. Who werethe people that populated it nearly a cen-tury ago? Who was the young outlawwho brought his riders once to this iso-lated spot? We had come to picnic along

the Agua Fria river and to take pic tures,and the story of the deserted ghost townthat once made frontier history intriguedus.

The tall hil l that jutted up back of Gil-lette was once the site of the famous TipTop M in e. It was discovered in 1875, andother rich discoveries followed.

The town of Gillette was laid out in1878, according to records, and namedafter the superintendent of the Tip TopCompany, D. B. Gillette, Jr. U. S. De-puty Surveyor C. B. Foster described it

by IDA SM ITHin glowing terms to the Prescot t Enter-prise; "a 40-acre tract on a low measoverlooking the Agua Fria river, withfive blocks containing 20 to 60 lots each.It will be watered by an acequa (irriga-t ion trench) from the Agua Fria. I tsstreets will be named Main, California,North Pine, Mi l l and Market ."

Lots sold rap id ly. " I n a few yea rs,"said Foster, " w e m ay expect to seeshade trees growing along the streets ofGillette as in Phoenix and Florence."

During its l i fet ime, Gillette had, in ad-

- r

The Burf ind Hotelwas bui l t of na t ives tones and adobe.It contained 7 uni tsaround a smal lpat io. There weretwo cornerf i replaces.Photos by Ida Smi th


29/48

-turn*

S t r e e t in Gillettevi here the stage

stopped wi thp.r.sengers near

the IturfindHo tel. . ..dit iun to the picturesque Burf ind Hotel,a si.ige station, general store, post of-f ice, blacksmith shop, a ten-stamp milland Iwo or three saloons. There was noschool at Gillette, but eventually one atTip lop. The peak of Gillette's popula-t ion was around 100. It was an imp ortantstasjc stop for the Black Canyon StageL in " operating between Prescott andPhomix. The stage crossed the river toget to Gillette and again on leaving, re-gardless of high water. There was nobridge. In addition to the hazards ofcro .sing the r iver, history records sev-eral spectacular holdups of the BlackCanyon Stage.

F ive years after the discov ery of silverat 1 ip Top, the m ining company movedits mill from Gillette up to Tip Top. Aroad was graded through. Water waspumped from various places, includingBoulder Creek. During its prosperity,Tip I op had a pop ulation of around 1000.Gil l i ' i te w as sti l l the im portan t stage stopand post office, and remained so untilthe I ip Top mines closed down and therail ioad replaced the stage line. Gil-lette s history covered about 15 years,from 1878 to 1893.

It is estimated that three mill ion dol-lars worth of silver was recovered fromthe Tip Top mines. Operations ceasedwhen the ore bodies, recoverable withthe equipment of that t ime, ran out. Theprice of silver, which had been a dollaran ounce, dropped to 40 cents, makingfurther effort impossible.

"Al l they had to work w i t h , " said thelate Oscar Wag er of Phoenix, "w as handwindlass and blast. Air compression andgasoline engines were unknown. Theycould only go so deep and then had toquit. The old-timers just scraped it over.There's silver and tungsten and someg o l d , " Wager was posit ive. "Al l that 'sneeded is capital and modern machineryto bring it to the surface."

In 1878, Edgar E. Lincoln came to TipTop and established mining intereststhere. A year later, Mrs. Lincoln camewith their family; two boys and smalldaughter, Maude. A second daughter,Norma, was born to them while l iving attheir Tip Top-Gillette home.

One day Mrs . Lincoln and the c hildrenw ent dow n to call on the lady at the stagestat ion. Wh ile they w ere vis i t ing, a bandof young men rode up. Their leader

asked if they could have something toeat. While the women were preparingth e food, the young men practiced targetshoot ing. Mrs. Lincoln's l it t le boys, whoseldom missed anything, watched withinterest. Soon, they casually saunteredinto the house. "W e heard them talk-i n g , " t h e b o ys wh isp e re d t o t h e i rmother, "and we th ink they' re ban dits."

The women placed the food on thetable and while the strangers wereeat ing, they quietly hurried up the hil ltoward the mine. They met the mencoming down.When they returned to the diningroom, their guests were gone. They hadleft a pile of silver coins on the table andthis note, "Bil ly the Kid never harmedwomen or ch i ld ren . "

Arou nd that t ime there were three out-laws who cal led themselves "Bi l ly theK i d . " History does not record all of theirtravels.

" M r. and M rs. Edgar L incoln were mygrandparents," says Lorna Lockwood,Arizona's f irst and only woman SupremeCourt Justice and past Chief Justice.Their daughter, Maude, marr ied Alf redC. Lockwood. They were my pa rents. Be-


30/48

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The Min in g Town

t*hT h e G h o s t T o w n

Fi replace chimney;al l that is left of

the Wil liam W. [Bi l ly] Coo khome at Gi l let te.Photo by M oul ton Smi th.

fore my mother married, she was thefirst school teacher in Douglass, Ari-zo n a . "

Justice Lorna Lockwood's father, thelate J ustice A lfred C. Lockw ood, was oneof the best-known jurists in westernUnited States.

Miss Lockwood's great uncle, Dr. Lin-coln, came to Arizona from California,where he had been in the big gold rush.Dr. Lincoln established the ferry at Er-

,henberg, Arizona, and was later kil ledby the Indians.

" M y grandmother, M rs. Edgar L in-coln, came on the f irst passenger trainfrom San Francisco to Maricopa City,"says Justice Lorna Lockwood. " I st i l lhave the train t icket that brought them. Ialso have my grandmother's organ thatwas transported to Gillette part way bystage and part way in a sling betwen tw om u l e s . "

The late Oscar Wager's parents oper-ated the stage station at Gillette during1892-1893, together with a restaurant,bar and feed stable. The family came toArizona in 1884. At one t ime, theyowned the El D orado, F ourth of J uly and76 mines near Tip Top.

Later, Oscar served in the Span-ish-American War in 1898, in BuckyO'Neil 's troop; and in France duringWorld War I. For a year, in 1903, he wasa prison guard at the Yuma TerritorialPrison.

It was also from Oscar Wager's remi-niscences that we were able to piece to-gether certain parts of the early historyof Tip Top and Gillette.

The mines at Tip Top were producingten-pound bars of silver valued at $160 abar. While the company's mill was on abank at Gillette near the Ag ua Fria river,the ore was carried down the hil l partway by mule and burro trains, and therest of the way into Gillette by wagon.The return t r ip carr ied water f rom theAgua Fria up to the mines. "They calledit a n ine-mile t r ip ," sa id Oscar, "n ot asthe crow f l ies. A crow couldn't f ly upthere w i thou t h i t t ing the mounta in ! "

After the ore was milled into ten-pound bars, it was taken by w agon to theFirst National B ank in Phoenix. One day,some men from the vicinity had to make

Documents

197412 Desert Magazine 1974 December