197908 Desert Magazine 1979 August

8/14/2019 197908 Desert Magazine 1979 August

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A U G U S T , 1979 $1.00

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C o m evisitus. . .\ %

PALM SPRINGS

A GREATSELECTIONOF BOOKSON TH E W EST

HWY 111

PALMDESERT

El Paseo,RPost Office? MAGAZINEBOOK SHOP74-425 HWY 111INDIO ._.

STORE HOURSOpen 10:00 to 3:0Tues day thru FridaC los ed: Sat., Sun., &

WESTERN ARTNOTES PRINTS

MAPS GOLD PANSG R E E T IN G CA R D S

A N DA LARGE

ASSORTMENT OFCU R R E N T A N D

OLD BACK ISSUES

'

MAGAZINE BOOK SHOP"7/l.ilOK Uinhuiau 111 at Floor, fonunn Dnsrl Dolm riacarl California


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W ILL IAM and JOYKNYVETTCo-Publishers/ Ed itorsGEORGE BRAGA, ArtDirectorSHARLENE KNYVETT, Art Departm entMARY FRANCES STRONG, Re id Trip EditorK. L. BOYNTON, Naturalist

Co lor Separations byHenry C olor ServiceLithographed byWo lfer Printing C om pany, nc.Available inMicrofilm byXerox University Microfilm s

Volume 42, Number 8(USPS 154-940)AUGUST 1979

CONTENTSF E A T U R E S

A HAPPY ENCOUNTER OF THE SUMMER KIND 8 Bill JenningsWESTOFBEYOND 12 C.J.Burkhart

KACHINASOFTHEHOPI 16 AnnisCuppettTHE LOST BULLHIDE 20 C.LeRoyWilhelm

CHACO: THE HUB OF THE SOUTHWEST? 24 L. C.HaydenGOLD AND GHOSTS INUTAH'S DIXIE 28 George Thompson

CLARK'S NUTCRACKER, THE CAMPER'S ALARM CLOCK 32 K. L. BoyntonTHE BLYTHE INTAGLIOS: MYTHS OR MARKERS? 36 Keith Barrette

MOUNTAIN PALM SPRINGS: PALM BOWL 38 Dick BloomquistWHAT'S COOKING ON THE DESERT? STRAWBERRIES! 40 StellaHughes

D E P A R T M E N T S

THE C OVER:Lone mountain on asummerevening near an alkali flat inNevada. Photo by DavidMuench of Santa Barbara,California.

A PEEK INTHE PUBLISHER'S POKE 4NEW BOOKS FOR DESERT READERS 6

TRADING POST 42BOOKS OF THE WEST 44

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 46CALENDAR OF WESTERN EVENTS 46

William Knyvett

Book Reviews

Classified Listings

Mail Order Items

Readers' Comments

Club Activities

EDITORIAL, CIRCULATION ANDADVERTISING OFFICES: 74-425Highway 111, P. 0.Box 1318, Palm Desert, California 92260. TelephoneArea Code 714346-8144. SUBSCRIPTION RATES: United States and pos-sessions; 1 year, $8.00; 2years, $15.00; 3years, $22.00. All other countriesadd $2.00 U. S. currency foreach year. SeeSubscription Order Form inthis issue. Allow five weeks for change ofaddress andsend both new andD e s ert /A u u s t1979

old addresses with zip codes. DESERT Magazine is published monthly.Second class postage paid at Palm Desert, California and at additionalmailing offices under ActofMarch 3, 1879. Contents copyrighted 1979 byDESERT Magazine andpermission toreproduce anyorall contents mustbe secured inwriting. Unsolicited manuscripts and photographs will not bereturned unless accompanied byself-addressed, stamped envelope.


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T H E R hKeosharerri

. . . ; ; . - ..si? #11111 "M

1\

Un-wni

WNSTRAILSlONDStAILS: INTERESTEEL-DRIVE ROADS\

Featuring 3\tours or points ofinterest. Mosttvaue appearedin the pages of pastlssuesof DESRT M A G A Z I N K27cai i f . Add Sc postage/handling

today from:DESERT MAQAZINE P.O. Box 1318, Palm Desert,California92260

in thepublisher'syoke

I I I HE PROSPECTOR'S CLUB of Soun ern California, Inc., a non-profit ^ ganization, has announced t

plans are well underway for the 19"Granddaddy of all Treasure Meetthe National Prospectors & TreasHunters Convention. For 12 consecutyears the PCSC has sponsored the mpopular treasure event in the nation wan annual attendance numbering ithe thousands.

Convention '79 will be held Octobe& 7 on the beautiful high desert Galileo Hill Park in California City, Cfornia (approximately 100 miles northLos Angeles). Admission and parkare free and everyone is invited to atteand participate.

Included in the itinerary for the twday meet are the National competitioa free treasure hunt, a multi-thousadollar Finders-Keepers treasure hunoted guest speakers, displays and monstrations of the latest in equipmpresented by some of the top manufturers and dealers in the country, falous treasure displays, horseback rid inhayrides, organized free activities chi ldren, a Saturday night Come-As-YAre dance with a live band and mumuch more.

Accommodations at the Conventinclude great camping facilities for o$3 per nite. For those who prefer, thare motels and restaurants in CaliforCity and nearby Mojave, but make yoreservations early.

This is truly THE treasure hunteevent of the yearpresented BY trsure hunters FOR treasure hunteWhile the monetary value of prizes atrophies to be awarded is expectedexceed $12,000, the true "TREASURof Convention '79 is the fortune in and fellowship that can be had by all wattend this great event.

Desert/ August 1


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ChuckWagonCookin'by STELLA HUGHES

A tantalizing collection of cow-camp cook tales and 112 authen-tic old-time dutch oven recipes.165 pages.

1495only plus 50c postage/ handlingD e s e r t M a g a z i n e B o o k S h o p

P.O. Box 1318. Palm Desert, California 92260

1

Stella and her chuckwagonon the way toWashington, D.C.

Calif, residents add 6% sales tax

GIVE DtHfSLSubscr ipt ions as Gif tsT ; UDETROM PICI

ISBN 0-87004-265-3 Paperbo undApproxim ately 160 Pages

Many Pho to graphs $4.95Like much of Western history, Tel lur ide'smelodramatic character emerges from the ex-

aggera ted sca le o f peop le and events tha tmade up its day. Here were men blasting a rai l-road out of solid rock, Big Bil ly the kindheartedmadam, a world 's f i rst in power generat ion, astr ike that angered the nat ion, and a daringbank robbery by a kid named Butch Cassidyand a group cal led the Wild Bunch. Tel lur idehas not become a museum. Telluride today isvery much alive, and as fine a l iving rem inder ofthe Old West as one can f ind.

The CAXTON PRINTERS, Ltd.P.O. Box 700Ca ldw ell , Idaho 83605

'BooksforDesertReadersV# BY Rll I .IFNNIIY B I L L J E N N I N G S

THE BAJ A FEELINGBy Ben Hunter

Before you get t ired of reading "dcovery" books about Baja California, yhad better pick up this one, because irefreshing.

The author is a longtime radio atelevision personality in Los Angelbut that's not the reason you should his book. It's very good, that's the mreason, and it also is rather informatiwhich is hard to believe after sevehundred Baja books.

Ben Hunter writes his own stuff, athat's important, too, because yousee Baja through his eyes, not soghost writer who got no closer to Lorthan Malibu. He admits he's a novand that's important, because the oare good that the reader is just as mout of his element the first few trsouth of Ensenada or San Felipe an

RIVERSIDE COUNTY'S LARGEST4-WHEEL-DRIVE HEADQUARTER

Accessories for All Makesn JeepJOHNSON'S 4WD CENTER, IN

7590 Cypress [at V a n B ur e n ]P. O Box 4277R iv e r s id e , C a l i fo r n ia 9 2 50 4Telephone [714] 785-1330

D e s e r t / A u g u s t


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toread about other people's mis-The Baja Feeling may not offer much

for the oldBaja hand, butthenit just might, and certainly itcon-awealth of f irsthand experiences

of you who are just thinkingfor he f i rst t ime.

Hunter eventually buil t a houseatejido,

Ifyou're not into becom-aparttime Baja resident, you maytoskip the inevitable trauma n-

but t is entertaining reading,of the Hunters' education as

The tr ibulations ofGringo homebui ld-been well to ld

it isat least you have

of his mistakes before em-n casa. Aword of ad-

Hardcover, 334pages, photographs, $8.95.

BACKPACK ING G UIDE TOSAN DIEGO COUNTYBy Skip Ruland

This slim paperback covers alot moreground than its t i t le suggests. It s bothabackpacking guide and a handy refer-ence file for many of the emergency ser-

vices andmountain-desert safety tipsyou will need in a far arger area thanmerely San Diego County.

It isa guide to the back country ofth eentire Anza-Borrego Desert State Park,and as such it herefore assists visitors ntwo other counties, Riverside and Imper-ial. It includes ahandy index of backcountry place names, descriptions ofth ePacific Crest and California Riding andHiking trai ls and many other useful t id-bits for the back country visito r, whetherhe be abackpacker, ajeeper or just acasual visitor.

Al l of the mountain and summit cl imbsare signed bythose who did the fieldwork, indicating the book isnot just theopinion ofthe editor, who operates theoldest backpacking shop in the SanDiego County area.

Not all the hikes are very strenuous,and they are all rated as to their seve rity,including elevation gained or lost, totalmileage from road to road, the name anddimensions of the opographical mapscovering each and agood narrative,bypeople who have hiked the route.

Not all backpacking, for example,need bydefinit ion to beconsidered asovernight. Several inhis little book areday hikes. Others are grouped togetherfor extended backpack journeys involv-ing several days and nights. Take yourchoice.

And, the author-editor includes aslipof paper on which you can write your cr i-ticisms and suggestions to help make thenext edition better. Not many authorsorpublishers are that thoughtful.

Paperback, several maps, humorousdrawing s, 80 pages, $2.95.

All books reviewed are available through theDesert Magazine Book Shop. Please add 50cper total order forhandling and Californiaresidents must include 6% state sales tax.

Cave Paintings of BajaThe first d efinit iv e book on the art of prehistor ic peo-ple which has long been neglected byhistor ians,archaeologists and artists. Forty pages ofcolor re-productions ofsome ofthe finest ofthe cave paint-ings, 70 sketches of f igures which appear invariouscolors on cave walls in four mountain ranges.Hardcover, $18.50.

Send check o r m o ne y o rde r to day to Add 50c per o rder fo rp o s t a g e / h a n d l i n gC a l i fo r n i a r e s i d e n t sp le a s e a d d 6 % S a l e s t a x

By Harry Crosby

L I M E P O W E L LD F F - s E n s o n is J U S T usB E H U T I F U L

It's th e greatest fo r summer family fun.Wahweap, Bullfrog and Hite resorts/marinasare open year around, but you really shouldtry us in the spring, fall and winter...Not only fo r moderate temperatures,|betterfishing and less crowded conditions, but fo r

S a v i n g s to

Send color and rate brochures on

Magazine Book ShopP . O . B o x 1 31 8 P a lm D e s e r t , C a l i f o r n i a 9 2 2 6 0

Send color and rate brochures onWahweap, Bullfrog and Hite resorts/marinas

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N e w c e n t ra l r e s e rv a t io n s s y s t e m :W e s t of M i s s i s s i p p i c a l l t o l l - fr e e 1 - 8 0 0 - 5 2 8 - 6 1 5 4 .i n A r i z o n a , c a l l (602)2 6 4 - 8 4 6 6 .

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D e s e r t / A u a u s t 1 97 9


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A H A P P Y E N C O U N T E RWORRIED ABOUT gaso l ine? Want toomo keep your sum mer vacation dri vin gI f to a min imu m, your scenic delights

to a maximum? Too hot for the desert,yet you would like to be able to look outover it once in a while? Try the pine-covered back country of California's SanDiego County.

From Mt. Palomar on the northwest,to the Laguna Mountains on the south-east, there is a continuous, green up-lands belt that ranges from 4,200 feet inthe center of Julian, a history-r ich oldmining town, to more than 6,000 feet onPalomar and in the Lagunas and themaximum, 6,533 feet at the U. S. ForestService lookout tower on Hot SpringsMountain, Los Coyotes Indian Reserva-t ion near Warner Springs.

You have a wide choice of overnightaccom m oda t ions , f r om a 92 -yea r -o ldgold rush hotel to federal and statecampgrounds. Best of all, there is anabundance of food centers from hide-away gourmet dining to those familiarplastic fast food places. Gasoline stationsare plent iful as wel l , along a network ofscenic, predom inantly two -lane state andcounty highways.

Jul ian, the oldest and most authenticof the scores of litt le towns still f lankingthose hundreds of miles of narrow,paved mountain roads, is worth morethan a fuel or coffee stop. Pull over andstay a wh ile. You may f ind it the perfecttrip headquarters for a series of shortdrives into the surrounding Cuyamaca,Laguna, Pa lomar and Warner HotSprings mountain areas.

The l it t le mining center nearly 100years ago was in the finals for selectionas the San Diego County seat accordingto popular legend. This seems doubtfulwhen you remember that San DiegoCounty was formed in 1853, one of theoriginal California group, but the recordis there.

It was established in either late 1869or early 1870 by Drury Bailey, a formerConfederate soldier from Georgia andnamed for his cousin, Mike Julian, theco-discoverer of a promising gold-fleckedqua rtz ledge that was the second and de-ciding f ind leading to a new rush.

A few months earl ier, a miner namedFred Coleman had started the new boomwith a placer strike but it was the Bailey-Julian discovery that brought hundreds

byBILL

J E N N I N G S

Julian, historicmining center in

the San DiegoCounty back

country.False-front

store buildingson right are

authenticoriginals, some

dating tobefore 1900.

of miners by early 1870.Bailey, his two brothers, Jim

Frank, and the Julians, Mike and Weestablished homes in the pretty lmountain meadow and their descendare still residents of San Diego, Riside and Imperial counties.

The town prospered enough, accing to the story, to force a new electiopick a county seat and lost out to Diego by three votes.

The major m ine of the area turnedto be the Stonewall, named by its cove re r , W i l l i am S k idm ore , f o r famed general and president. It wasmiles south of Julian. Skidmo re, a mber of a wagon t ra in , reportedly foun

This old store building near Wa rnRanch stage station is often m istakena Butterfield stage station, but is histin its own right, d ating to the Civil W8 Des ert/August


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S I M M E R K I N D

rich ledge 10 miles south of Julian onMarch 22, 1870. By 1892, when theStonewall closed, the m ine had produceda reported $2 million in gold and wasowned for several years by Robert W.Waterman, governor of California from1887 to 1891.

Some of the claims closer to J ulian arestill ac tive, at least to the ex tent of b eingposted and fenced against trespass.These are in the Banner district, sixmiles east of Julian in the San FelipeValley on the edge of Anza-BorregoDesert State Park, via State Route (SR)7 8 .

One Julian mine, the Eagle, remainsopen, a a tourist attraction, with a dis-play of old mining and mill ing equip-ment, including a f ive-stamp m ill and ashort tunn el.

With more than 50 active claims in thetriple districtBanner, Julian, Cuya-macaJulian grew into a sizable town

and had an estimated 500 residents by1 8 7 5 , approxim ately the same number astoday.

By 1887, a former slave, Alber t Ro bin-s o n , who had worked up a good stake inthe mines, was able to build a two-storyhotel, which remains today and is openfor guests. It is described as the oldestcontinuously active hotel in SouthernCalifornia, but predates three others bya matter of months, two in San Jacinto,Riverside County, and more im portantly,the famous Hotel Del Coronado on SanDiego Bay.

Julian's natural interest in history isalso reflected in a well-f i l led MemorialMuseum and the nearby branch countylibrary located in the 1888-vintage WitchCreek School, moved to town from thatcommunity 13 miles to the west severalyears ago.The nearest campgrounds are in Cuya-maca Rancho State Park, which also in-

cludes the site of the Stonewall Mine.Heart of the park is the 20,000-acreMexican land grant for which the park isnamed. Cuyamaca reportedly is a Die-gueno Indian word meaning "rain be-y o n d . " Much as the founding date forJul ian, the total gold produced in Stone-wall and many other facts about thearea, the Cuyamaca derivation is subjectto debate.

Regardless, the major attraction in thehuge park today remains the mine and amuseum and interpretive center in thebeautiful old Green Valley ranch houseand lodge, halfway between Julian andDescanso to the south.

The park also is well known for Los Ca-ballos, a pioneering horseman's groupcampgrounds established in 1950, someyears after the park was dedicated.

When the Waterman fam ily owned theStonewall Mine they also acquired theold Mexican land grant ranch.


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Waterman sold the spread and hiswater- f i l led, played-out m ine in 1892. Hereportedly had spent more than $100,000trying to re-f ind the ore body with dia-mond dril l ing. Eventually, after a suc-cession of rich owners, the rancho wassold to the state in 1933 by its then cur-rent owner, Ralph Dyar of Beverly Hillsfor $125,000, about half its appraisedvalue. The park contains many goodcampgrounds.

The park includes Cuyamaca Peak,second highest in San Diego County at6,512 feet. Nearby Cuyamaca Lake isoutside the park, as part of a local taxdistrict. There are several private campsin this area, also.

Just east of Cuyamaca is the LagunaRecreation Area, a unit of the ClevelandNational Forest, with several additionalfamily and group campgrounds, a visitorscenter and numerous day use sites andt ra i ls .

Cuyamaca and Laguna are linked byCounty Route S1, generally known as theSunrise Highway because of its breath-taking views along the ridge between theLagunas and the Mason Valley-Vallecitoregion in the desert below, parts ofwhich are in Anza-EJorrego Desert StatePark.

Anza-Borrego and Rancho Cuyamacahave a common boundary along the Sun-rise Highway which provides severalscenic turnouts with views east to theSalton Sea and Imperial Valley.

The northerly extension of the San

Diego County high country is marked bythe distinctive whale-shaped profile ofM t. Palomar and the pyramidal HotSprings Mountain, just across the histor-ic Warner Ranch to the east.

Palomar is home for the famous200-inch telescope which has probed thefar corners of space at Palomar Observa-tory since the late 1930s. There is a smallbut informative museum at the observa-tory which is open for public visits on adaily basis.

A Forest Service campgrounds is lo-cated two miles from the observatoryand Palomar Mountain State Park is justseven miles to the southwest.

Members of the Los Coyotes Indian

Reservation have opened their beauoak meadows to public c amping the yround, with day and overnight feessystem of trails and jeep roads. Tcampgrounds are seven miles southeof the now-closed Warner Hot Sprion a paved and graded dirt road. Accfrom State Highway 79, 22 miles nowest of Julian, is well-marked adjointhe Warner golf course.

Another four miles south along 79 aeast on County S2 is the historic Wa rRanch headquarters, one of the few maining stations along the 1858-1Butterfield Stage route from San Frcisco to Tipton, Missouri.

The huge (nearly 100,000 acres) W

Warner'sranchhouse,dating to about1835, was also aButterfieldstage stationfrom 1858 o 1861.Building has beenpartially restoredand fencedfor protection.


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Indian FlatsWarner Hot Springs

is on the site of anold Cupeno Indianvillage, with many

s underthe oaks. This is a

Forest Service campseven miles fromState Highway 79west of Warner 's.

ta I r r i -

wo rking ca ttle ranch under lease

Lake Henshaw resort, also an integralthe old ra nch, is still operating as

aven, with groceries and a re-

public-use campground maintained byhe La Jolla Indian Reservation with

Built 40 yearsago by thelate BertVaughn ofJacumba, thispicturesquewatchtoweroverlooksthe InkopahMountainsand historicMountainSpringsGrade insoutheasternSan DiegoCounty,

stream trout f ishing.Access to the San Diego County back-

country is as varied and interesting asthe region itself.

For visitors coming from Los Angelesand Orange County the primary accessroutes are Interstate 5 to Oceanside andeast over State Route 76; or Interstate 15to the same state highway near the inter-esting Indian Village of Pala and up-stream along the San Luis Rey River toLake Henshaw and the Warner country.

Inland Empire residents, around theRiverside-San Bernardino-Pomona area,have several alternate choices, the mostscenic but circuituous being State High-

way 79 from Beaumont, at Interstate 10,south through San Jacinto and Hemet toWarner and Julian. Another is alongState Route 71 through Lake Elsinore,the futur e ro uting for 1-15, by way of his-toric Temecula and easterly throughRancho California along SR 79.

San Diegans can reach the inland re-gion via either SR 67 throu gh Ramonaand a junctio n w ith SR 78 there , theneast to Julian, or by way of Pine Valleyand the Laguna Mountains on Interstate8 and County S1.

SR 79, the only north-south state high-way through the region, hits I-8 at Des-canso, offerin g another approach for SanDiegans by way of Descanso and RanchoCuyamaca.

Whatever route you choose, you'll findmountain country with its green coolnesswithin an hour's easy drive of San Diego,and only two hours from Los Angelesand Orange County.

In this summer of anticipated fuelshortages for those long-distance vaca-tion trips, the handy back country of SanDiego offers a pleasant substitute forf irst-t ime visitors. Many others, whohave been there before, have planned tohit Julian, Laguna, Palomar, Cuyamacaor Warner Ranch as their primary objec-tives all the time. A happy encounter ofthe summer kind is ahead for all of you.

D


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West An aerial view of Canyon Counby C .J . BURKHART


13/48

Picturesquearea near

Calf CreekCampground.M l EST, BEYOND the hor izon, greatBrno plateaus, craggy escarpments, pro-| | found canyons and lofty mountainscombine to create a land of striking, de-solate beauty.

West, beyond picturesque Lake Pow-ell, one of America's largest unsurveyedwilderness areas beckons the adventur-ous. Colorful terraces, precipitous clif fs,tall buttes and sinuous gorges blend intoa vast panorama of superbly sculpturedlandscape.

Situated in the heart of the great Colo-rado Plateau, canyon country possessesa surface that is relatively flat. Broadvistas are characteristic of this rim rockterr i tory.

At a distance the dramatic erosion ofthe sandstone may not be evident, but anapproach from any direction will bringtravelers to the abrupt edge of a water-worn precipice. The giant staircase ef-fect, created by patient sculpturingthroughout millions of years, is one ofthe country's m ost outstanding features.

Comprised of wide terraces, separatedby a facade of patina-streaked cliffs,these huge steps dominate a deeplychiseled landscape. Water, wind andtime have worked ceaselessly to formmesas, pinnacles, pilasters, minaretsand buttes in an infinite variety of sizesand shapes.

Sheer escarpments of the Paunsau-gunt and Aquarius Plateaus, of whichBryce Canyon occupies a segment, formthe western barrier of this symphony insandstone.

Vari-colored bluffs of the Paria Pla-teau fashion the southern boundarywhile the northern limits reach the baseof the Book Cliffs that constitute thelower ramparts of the Tavaputs Plateau.

This rugged land is encircled by hard-surface roads that offer tourists only atempting glimpse of raw beauty. But tothoroughly appreciate and enjoy its re-mote grandeur it is necessary to explorethe back country, traveling unimprovedand sometimes hairy roads that wanderamong the canyons and cliffs.

Many of these roads are passable ingood weather in conventional cars whileothers must be negotiated by four-wheel-drive vehicles. Horseback riding is athird and the most venturesome methodused to explore the trackless slick-rock.

Escalante, Utah, a quiet, restful vil-lage with no traffic lights, no parkingmeters, no smog, no time schedules andno boredom is snuggled deep within thisrugged landscape.

Fortunately, Escalante is located 30miles from the nearest town (Boulder)and 75 miles from any large city. Thehorse population outnumbers the resi-

dents. At 6,000 feet elevation, the air isclean and clear with warm summer daysand crisp nights.

Within a 100-mile radius a varied to-pography offers visitors a potpourri ofoutstanding scenic areas. By using Es-calante as a base, many circle trips maybe taken with length and type of terrainto be visited tailored to f it the indivi-dual's wants.

Escalante is proud of its tourist facili-t ies. Mo dern , comfortable m otels, pleas-ant, friendly restaurants, service sta-t i o n s , f u l l y -e q u ip p e d t ra i l e r co u r t s ,general stores and specialty shops fulfillthe visitor's every need.

A circle trip on Hell's Backbone Roadis a favor ite one-day excursion suitablefor passnger cars (except in bad weath-er). At the east end of town the roadpasses the school and follows Pine Creekfor a few miles before clim bing intoBoulder Mountain's tall-t imber country.

Fourteen miles from Escalante thejewe l-like waters of Posey Lake invite thetraveler to rest. Numerous picnic andcamping sites and f ighting trout enticethe visitor to stay longer and enjoy thequiet solitude.

Breathtaking Hell 's Backbone Bridgeis reached after leaving Posey Lake andnegotiating a twistin g 12-mile clim b. Thebridge spans a narrow gap between two


14/48

profound canyons.After leaving Hell 's Backbone, the

road circles southward and follows theeastern edge of adeep forbidding can-yon named Death Hollow.

At Boulder, the road meets StateRoute 54. A section of road south ofBoulder named "The Hogback" c l ingsto avery slender r idge protrudingbe-tween two yawning chasms. Itboastsofbeing the only road inthe country withthousand-foot-deep gutters.

After dropping off the r idge through aseries of switchbacks, theroad entersCalf Creek Canyon. Situated beside therushing creek a pleasant campgroundand picnic area, with comfort stat ions,gri l ls, tables and water offers a quietrespite.

In addit ion to Calf Creek Camp-ground, other improved locations in-clude Lonesome Beaver and McMillanSprings found high inhe Henry Moun-tains. Posey Lake contains all facilit iesfor campers and trailers as well asboatrentals. Blue Spruce Campground, 21miles north ofEscalante, has all facilit iesexcept those for trailers. W ithin the areanumerous unimproved camping spotslure the solitude-seeker.

Highw ay 54, continuing in a southwest

direction, snakes between h igh , redcliffs, crosses theEscalante River 14miles east of town and climbs to BoyntonLookout. Here, colorful and spectacularv iews of theEsca lante R iver andCalf Creek Canyon fascinate the visitor.

The remaining 14miles toEscalanteprovide, inaddit ion tomore remarkablescenery, many locations where MoquiIndian pictographs and petroglyphs arevisible. These well-preserved writ ingswere scratched orpainted on the rocks600 years before Columbus "discove r-e d " America.

For the more courageous and hardy, ahorseback trip from Boulder to Escalantethrough the forbidding beauty ofDeathHollow Canyon may bearranged. Thist r ip is extremely strenuous, at t imesdangerous and formost not advisable.

Less s t renuous t ra i l t r ips t rave lthrough both upper and lower EscalanteCanyons, to Broken Bow Arch and up thesteep-sloped Kaiparowits Plateau (FiftyMi le Mounta in) .

Numerous area guides arrange toursthat take visitors infour-wheel-drive ve-hicles deep into theslick-rock wilder-ness. One of the most spectacular,varied and interest ing is a t r ip to theCircle Cliffs area.

Right:Gnarled treeand sandstone

cliffs. Below:At times

the drivingbecomes quite

challenging.From Escalante Route 54 is followed

Boulder where anarrow, dirt road leato Deer Creek, which must befordeand then into the depths of LoCanyon.At the head ofLong Canyon, near tentrance tothe Circle Clif fs (48milfrom Escalante), ascene of outstandicolors greets the exp lorer. A n area callVelvet Hil ls provides the spectacFrom afar, the hills appear as soft, luinous velvet, but close examination dcloses they arecomposed of a larggranular material that ismost dif f icultwalk upon.

Nearby, an area filled with sectionspetrif ied wood provides visitors with aadded chance forexplorat ion. A shhike reveals pieces ranging insize frosmall chips tohuge trunks four feetdiameter.

Near the base of Boulder M oun tain,miles from Escalante, a large elipt idepression is r inged by an impresspalisade. This colorfu l, intr icately-carvsection named Circle Cliffs is afavorof photographers as well asprospectand rockhounds.

To the east, a tall m onoclinal r idge sects the land. Named WaterpockFold, itpresents a continuous, nearly i

14 Desprt/ Annnct 1


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pregnable parapet that runs 80 milesfrom the Colorado River northwestwardto Capitol Reef National Monument.

The only road that challenges this bar-r ier is the Burr Trai l . Winding switch-backs lead dow n a narrow, steep niche inthe Fold's jagged face. At its base, theTrail joins a road that parallels the Wa-terpocket Fold and terminates at CapitolReef National Monument.

South of Capi to l Reef , the roadwanders through cool, high-mountaincountry of the Aquarius Plateau. Cold,clear mountain lakes teem with hard-f ight ing t rout . Its forests of pungent pineand white-barked aspen andgrassy mea-dows cut by tumbling streams, deer,beaver, bear, marmots, porcupine andwild turkeys roam undisturbed.

A t ingl ing drop down Boulder Moun-tain's precipitous south f lank and a plea-sant drive through Pine Creek completesthe circle.

Because of the area's inexhaustiblesupply of superb scenery, numerousviv id and spectacular trips may beplanned. The 47-mile jaunt to Koda-chrome Flats and vault ing GrosvenorArch on the Cottonwood Canyon Road iswell worth every jolt and bump. If moun-tain scenery ispreferred, the21-mile tr ip

to the North Creek Semi-WildernessArea offers unequalled mountain splen-dor.

Another intr iguing tr ip leads south-eastward ending at the Hole-in-the-Rockon the shores of fabulous Lake Powell.This 125-mile round tr ip is f i l led with amult i tude of scenic attractions.

At road's end, travelers view historicHole-in-the-Rock where pioneers lower-ed wagons down an unbelievably steepcleft in the walls of Glen Canyon. Here,also, the energetic hiker may scrambledown to Lake Powell for a refreshingswim. The climb back is much morestrenuous.

Al though the area is almost denudedof soil, except in a few small canyons,the lack of vegetation only adds to itsbarren beauty. Places such as Lit t le RedValley, H arris Wash , Giant Earth Cracks,Chimney and Dancehall Rocks, CoyoteGulch and Broken Bow Arch make thisone of the region's most rewardingjourneys.

Canyon country is a big rugged, wi ldland. Wherever anadventurous wander-er may t rave l , he wi l l be inspired andawed by magnif icent vistas.

West of Beyond; just around the nextbend in the t ra i l .

'Hop i " Thunderbird

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16/48

0fbyANNISCUPPETT

O N THREE of the mesas which towerover the sizzling desert floor ofNortheastern Arizona, the proud andindependent Hopi l ive much as their an-cestors did more than 2,000 years ago.Here, in the area appropriately known asThree Mesas, the winds blow coldthrough the scrub-oak and the essentialwater needed for the survival of man,beast and crops is scarce yet the irpeople continue, secure in the age-oldtradit ions which continue to guide themeven as the 21st century approaches.

Of major importance to the spir itualconsciousness of these men and womenis a steadfast belief in Kachinas su-pernatural beings who l ive, for the mostpart, in the San Francisco Peaks on thewestern horizon of Three Mesas. A sur-prise to many is the fact that Kachinasare not actually worshipped althoughthey ar e loved, revered and, sometimes,feared by the Hopi: emotions which areno dif ferent than those found in humanrelat ionships.

" . . . A nd t he ch il d ren who wereseparated from their people duringt he ea r l i es t m ig ra t i on s we readopted by eagles and taken to livein the highest reaches of the moun-tains. With the passage of t ime,their spir its became one with thoseof the birds which cared for them.Thus was born the Eagle Kachina a being to be revered as a l ink be-tween the W or ld s . "The Hopi people have no writ ten lan-guage, making it imperat ive for Kachinamythology to be handed down from gen-erat ion to generat ion in oral story form.Perhaps this account of the Eagle Ka-china's b irth was once a f ireside tale told

Corn Dancer [left] an dGreat-Horned Owl kachinasare well-known participants

in the Hopi MixedKachina Dance.

by a village storyteller who, in his ownchildhood, heard it at an elder's knee. Inspite of the adeptness of these bearers oforal history, however, a visual methodwas needed to teach the children of eachgeneration to recognize easily theirmany Kachinas usually est imated atmore than 250. It is essentially for thisreason that Kachinas now are portrayedin one of two ways: as masked humandancers or as dolls.

Kachina Dances and DancersKachina dances are memorable fortheir vibrant color, rhythmic motion andharmonious blend of drum and hand-rattle. As it is forbidden for women toparticipate in the actual dancing, maleand female roles, alike, are performedby the masked men of the clan. Sched-uled from the winter solst ice throughJuly, the individual dances are enactedfor growth, ra in , fert i l i ty and/or a goodcrop harvest. This joyful season culmi-nates in the m onth of J uly with Niman orHome Dance a celebrat ion to com-memorate the leave-taking of the spiritsas they prepare to return to their homesin the pinnacles of the San FranciscoPeaks.

Main Kachina Croups1. A representative of the Chief

Kachina group is the first Kachina to ap-pear each year as part of the winter sol-stice rites. Chief Kachinas appear onlyas single dancers never in groups and only at sepcified times. Their meisksare simple and permanent and the r ightof human dancers to wear them is ahereditary one. The group numbersabout 30 although many of these are sel-dom, if ever, seen.16 D e s e r t / A u g u s t 1 9 7 9


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2. Clowns add merriment to the seri-ous festivities of the season. The best-known representatives of this group arethe Kuyemse or Mudh ead C lowns sonamed because their heads and bodiesare completely covered with mud.3. Runners run races with Hopi menduring various celebrat ions. I f the manwins, he is often given a gift but if heloses, his body may be plastered with

mu d . Even into old age, Hopi men takepride in their physical prowess and forthis reason, the races have special signi-f icance for each male p art icipat ing in theyearly fest ivit ies.

The remaining Kachinas, of whichthere are l i terally hundred s, may be seenin the Powamu Ceremony and in theMixed Kachina Dances of spring andearly summer. While some Kachinas wil lappear singly or in pairs during these oc-casions, others will accompany groups ofup to 30 in one-day ceremonies. Theselatter dances seldom have fixed datesand may occur anyt ime during theseason.

Kachina DollsIn the homes of the Hopi, the dolls are

used as toys and as enjoyable learningtools and are given to all the children at ayearly Kachina ceremony. At the end ofthe celebrat ion, each child takes histreasured doll to his home and allows itto be tacked to the w all or hung from therafters where it may be seen easily andoften.

Kachina dolls are most often pat-terned after animals (W olf, Bear or Fox),b i rds (Roos ter , Eag le , Red- ta i ledHawk) or even emotions (Angry Kachi-na) and wil l be carved, painted anddressed in symbolic ways to immediatelyidentify the particular Kachina each ismeant to represent. Over the years, ascollectors have discovered the unstudiedbeauty of these remarkable works of Na-t ive American folk art, the dolls havegrown m ore elaborate thus com-manding ever-increasing prices com-mensurate with the amount.of detail in-volved. The single feather or tiny bit offur that once would have been used tosignify the nature of the Kachina nowoften gives way to a complete headdressof feathers or a fu ll mask of rabb it fu r.The demand for "act ion" Kachinas isf lour ishing, as wel l , and dolls of this typemay be recognized easily by the dance-like gestures of the upraised arms andbent legs.Desert/August 1979


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How a Kachina Doll Is MadeThe intricate process of making a

Kachina doll begins with the necessaryand sometimes back-breaking chore oflocating a workable piece of cottonwoodroot. In the dry washes and on the banksof the river beds near his home, the car-ver will search for dried roots that mea-sure approximately four inches in diame-ter. After co llecting the wood, he will re-tur n home and gather his tools which sel-dom consist of more than a penknife,chisel, wood rasp and a piece of sand-stone.

The first step of carving the doll is ap-proached in the init ial "roughing out,"after which the shape will be whitt ledinto more detailed and recognizable con-tours. The wood rasp is used for roughsanding and the final step of the pro-cedure is considered complete only afterthe sandstone has been run lightly overthe f igure, leaving the wood feelingsmooth and silky to the touch. Depend-ing on which figure the carver has inmind, a nose, snout, eyes, horns, ears,or ornately-carved tableta will be re-quired and these, too, must be whitt ledof cottonwood. The tradit ional art ist willseldom use glue to affix these often mi-nute features; more often choosing touse hand-carved dowels of infinitesimalmeasurements.

When the basic accessories, includingrattles, spears, bows, etc., have beenattached securely to the carving, it is

time to paint the figure. Before proced-ing with the outer color, however, thedoll will be covered with a thin glaze ofkaolin (a fine w hite clay) which serves asa protective undercoat. And, f inally,when this initial coating has dried, ap-propria te colors will be added in patternstypical of the particular Kachina. (Nottoo many years ago, only natural vege-table dyes were used but wit h the adventof easily-obtainable poster paints, themodern craftsman is more apt to use thisbrilliant and longer-lasting category ofpaint substances.)

An An cient Tale of SorrowOne of the most fascinating and im-

portant stories in Hopi Kachina lorecenters around Snow Kachinas, who m aysometimes be seen in the Powamu andWater Serpent Ceremonies as well as inthe Mixed Kachina Dance. The tale de-scribes the murder of a group of thesebeloved Kachinas and is of paramountinterest to anyone desiring a deeper un-derstanding of Kachina mythology.

As it is to ld , the actual happeningstook place many years ago during theearly days of the settlement of ThreeMesas. At that t ime, all but a few vil-lages were knowledgeable of the mightypower controlled by the spiritual beingscalled Kachinas. Unfortunately, respon-sibility for the following melancholystory lies with a certain number of thenaive minority.

" . . A group of Snow Kachinas

were traveling through the countryside when they came upon a gardenin which the corn was short andstubb ly. Realizing that rain was desperately needed, the Kachinas, taking pity on the townspeople, proceded to the center of the hamleand began to dance. Because it wasthe middle of the night, the Kachin as t h o u g h t f u l l y re f ra in e d f ro msinging but their leg-rattles betrayed them and awakened everyperson in the village. When the people peered out from their housesand saw these strange beings intheir m idst, they were afraid andthey took up their weapons.

Realizing the immediate dangerfacing them, the Snow Kachinasf led, with the men of the town in hotpursuit. The Kachinas ran acrossthe mesa until they came to theedge, but realized there was no-where to hide. Turning, they quick-ly ran in a different direction andfound a deep, narrow crevice inwhich they hoped to find safety.Tumbling in, one on top of another,they hid, hoping they would not bediscovered. But they were foundand, after being pelted with arrowsand flaming torches, everyone inthe group was soon dead. Every-one, that is, but the Counselor ofthe group, who had been shelteredat the bottom of the pile of bodies

All Kachina dolls are fromthe collections ofFrances Walter andMr. & Mrs. Clair Cuppett.Photographs by Philip Acton.

Left: Wolf Kachinas, while diffeing in size and de tail, share cetain important characteristicNote the elongated muzzle, thfangs and the pattern of whitdots on the black forearms anlower legs. Right: Two, very diferent Wolf Kachinas flank thmulti-feathered Creat-HorneOwl Kachina.


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He remained hidden until the sunwas high in the east and then ex-tricated himself from the jumbledhill of dead and dying Kachinas tobegin the long return journey to hishome in Black Mountain. As hewalked, he sang a song of mourn-ing and it was this sad, despairingchant that his people heard as heapproached.In answer to the many questionsthrown at him by the Kachinas whohad stayed at home, he explainedthe events that had led to the ter-rible deaths of the Snow Kachinas.After listening to his story, an im-mediate assembly of all Kachinas inthe area was called. Smoking to-gether, the Kachinas decided tocommand the clouds to do their bid-ding and with the power of theMixed Kachina Dance, this wassoon accomplished. It was not longbefore storm clouds hovered direct-ly over the town in which the mur-derous people l ived.

Back in the village, the peoplewatched apprehens ive ly as thegreat clouds gathered above them.Looking far to the horizons on everyside, they were able to see that theclouds were centered only over th eirown homes: everywhere else, thesky was clear and the sun shone.They began to be afraid; not know-ing what was happening.

Soon, lightning lit up the sky andthunder rolled across the land.Great balls of hail fell and the townwas flooded. The crops were ruinedbeyond hope and many of the peo-ple were drowned. And at BlackM o u n t a i n , t h e M ix e d Ka ch in aDance cont inued."The age-old story continues,

"It was only after all the homeshad been demolished and the cropsruined that the rain stopped. Thesun came out and the surv ivors, too ,came out of hidin g. Seeing the greatdestruction that was all aroundt hem, they understood that thespirits were angry and began torealize that the dancers they had sobrutally murdered were not meremortals. Agreeing among them-selves that they had, indeed, killedKachinas, they promised the spiritsthat in the future, such beingswould be welcomed with fearlesslove. But such promises came toolate and in spite of them, shame en-veloped the town. The vil lagers be-gan to disperse to other regions andsoon the town was abandoned untilone day, nothing remained butruins. But the rubble gained fameand , among the Hop i , becameknown as a sacred place. And today,a pile of stones is all that remainsto remind travelers of the immensepower held by Kachina sp irit s."

Kuyemse[Mudhead Clowns]

add a light noteto the serious tone

of most Kachinadances. These dollsare usually painted

in a red-ochre shadeto simulate themud which covers

their bodies.

A very detailed W olf K achina.Imitation turquoise jewelry andan emb roidered kilt providemore elaborate touches thanare usually se en on these dolls.

D e s e r t / A u g u s t 1 9 7 9 19


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George Wilhelmspends time withone of his sons.

THE LOSTBULy C .LEROY WILHELMIT WAS in the fall of '98 that Al camethe ranch. He was a stranger in theparts, but the Wilhelm brothers, a pof reformed sheep men turned to catranching, had the latchstring out for who came their way.

Al stated that he was looking for wo an arrangement where he might taas part of his pay, living expenses h imse l f and h is an ima ls , w i th tbalance, of course, in cash. This wagreeable to the Wilhelms, so Al stayon for the winter.

Al was a good ranch hand, but whard to get acquainted wi th . Everythabout him was his own well-guard ed sret; so as far as the Wilhelm's knew, was just " A l , " for not once dur ing entire winter did he mention anothname nor did the brothers ask him.At the first signs of spring Al becarestless, and it wasn 't long before he his pack outfit together and bade Wilhelms good-bye. As they watchhim disappear over the east ridge, thwere in agreement that he was jusdrifte r w ith a dark spot in his past. Likstray dog, after you had fed him would leave and you would never shim again.

As the summer season of '99 wdrawing to a close, events were to prothat the Wilhelms' snap judgment ofhad been a little premature. As the fhint of winter was blowing down outthe high country, a lone rider on a bay horse, leading a pair of pack mulchecked in once more at the ranch.was accepted on the terms of previous year, and again he settled in the winter.

This year was a carbon copy of the lexcept that the brothers would, on ocsion, make some small effort to find something more about Al, but all to avail. Once again with the coming 20


21/48

Haight Wilhelmon a favorite corner

of the ranch.

pr ing, Al was off, taking his mysteryAs an added evidence that history

oes repeat itself, AI was back at theirst sign of winter. This t ime the Wil-

helms, having disposed of much of theirstock, did not really need an extra hand.However, since they had formed quite afriendship with Al, they told him that hewas welcome to stay and share whatwork there was, but his only pay wouldbe the keep for himself and his animals.This seemed quite a blow to Al, but withthe first snows of an early winter alreadyon them, he had no choice.

At first he was his old mysterious self,but in midwinter he came out of hisshell. He was will ing, even anxious, totalk about himself, his past and his pos-sible future.He stated that his name was Al Gil-m a n, and he told the most amazing storythat the brothers had ever heard. Hesaid that a few years prior an Indian hadappeared in a barroom in El Paso, andwhile sitting at the bar in an almostdrunken stupor, he kept up a continualmumbl ing.

The barkeeper, in his slack periods,began stopping by to see if he cou ld pickup anything of what the Indian was say-ing. To his amazement the Indian wasrepeating over and over something aboutan old buckskin map and a buffalo hidefull of gold.

Intrigued by this unusual character,the barkeeper decided to keep himaround un til he could get the full story ofwhat he was talking about. After manydays, during which he fed the Indian adelicate balance of food and whiske y, thebarkeeper pieced together a most un-

During the conquest of Mexico, the In-dian had said, the news came north ofthat brutal campaign and of the many

atrocities being committed by the Span-iards in their plund ering for gold. Know-ing that the same thing would happen tot hem, all the Indians in this northernpart sealed off their mines, obliteratedtheir placer workings, and pooled theirgold.

Taking the gold to the highest moun-tain in this northern wilderness, theylaced it up in a bull b uffalo's hide , buriedit on the north side near the top, and re-corded the details of the cache on a buck-skin map.

According to his account, the Indianwas descended from a line of chiefs w ho,in the beg inning, had organized the h id-ing of the treasure. Through the manyyears, they had preserved the map andkept the tradition alive. Now, they feltthat the time had come to locate and re-trieve their gold. Having worked in themines with white men, where he gaineda working knowledge of English, this In-dian had been chosen to take the mapand locate the treasure.

Now having fallen into the evil ways of


22/48

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the paleface, he had squandered his"search" money on whiskey, and withit, his chance of finding the gold. He didnot dare return to his people, and theonly thing he had left was the old buck-skin map.

At this point the scheming barkeep cutthe whiskey off, and his Indian friendsoon developed a bad case of the D.T.s.In this condition the Indian was desper-ate, and a deal was made that for atwo-gallon keg of whiskey, he wouldtrade the map and explain the markingson it . As a furthe r concession, he wou ldtake his keg and leave El Paso and notreturn.

The barkeeper, not being the outdoortype, must wait for someone who waswho could be trusted. When the bar-keeper became acquainted with Al Gil-man, he seemed to be the righ t ma n. Sothey made a deal. Cilman would take themap and make the search; then, if andwhen the bull hide was found, theywould split i t down the middle.

According to Al, not long after their,arrangement was made, the barkeeperwas killed in a poker game leaving Al asthe sole owner of the map and thelegend.

Al had spent considerable time check-ing out all the mountains in the area andhad settled on the second highest in theMount Thomas Range. True, it was notthe highest, but it was almost, and it wasthe only one that fit the map with itsmany signs and keys. As the mountainwas just one day's ride away, the ranchhad been a convenient place for Al tospend his winters.

Not being able to earn a grubstakeduring this winter, A l wanted to take theWilhelms in for a share if they would f i-nance him while he f inished his dig ging .We l l , the Wilhelm brothers were a sus-picious pair and they, though very in-terested, wanted to look before theyleaped.

The balance of the winter was spentpouring over the old map and rehashingthe story. The m ap was a curious piece ofwork with many symbols and signs all inIndian picture writ ing which, when ex-plained, became quite clear.

Whe n the t ime arrived , it was decidedthat the older brother, Haight, would gowith Al to inspect the mountain and the"diggin 's , " whi le George would remainto tend the ranch.

When they reached the mountain,

Haight found everything as representeon the m ap. There was the great groovrock whic h, for want of a better name, had cal led the "washboard." Thewere also the six strange trees supposely imported from the mountains of Mexco to serve, along w ith the great groovrock, as a witness that this was the rigmountain. There were the hundreds old scar-blazed trees ingeniously aranged so that regardless of the diret ion from which you approached ttreasure sight, you could home in by flowing the blazes. At the focal point all these signs, the ancient wood carviof a buffalo's head was placed to mathe cache.

To say that Haight was amazed woubean understatement, though this is nto say that there weren't a few flies the ointment. G ilman had driven his dr80 feet into the solid rock. Haight did nfeel it had been possible for a primitipeople to do this, to say nothing putting the rock back in such a mannthat it appeared to be undisturbed. Futhermore, at the diggin's Al was not t"above average nice guy" that he hbeen at the ranch. It was Haight's feing that being near the treasure sigold fever was gett ing to him.

Another thing that worried Haight wthat Al was very nervous and was alwapeering intently into the woods. For ttwo nights that they spent on tmountain, Al chose not to sleep in his tablished camp, but took his blankeand disappeared into the darkness of tforest.

Wilhelm left the mountain convincthat there was indeed a fabulous tresure buried there. Perhaps Al had nunderstood one of the keys shown on tmap, and, therefore, was digging in twrong place. Because of Al's peculbehavior, Haight felt that it would best for the Wilhelms not to get volved any more than they already we

Back at the ranch when the brothetold him that the answer was no, Al wunderstandably disappointed. He gaered his outfit, said good-bye, and roover the ridge for the last time.

The Wilhelms never saw Al Gilmagain, but they did hear of him. He wwritten up in the local news sevetime s. It seems that he had in his posssion a fabulous bay horse, and he maquite a stir over the terr itory by w inniseveral matched horse races.

Desert/August 1


23/48

Abando ned trapper's cabin along the Gillman Trail.The last time Al made the headlines,

just one year from the time he left theranch, it was stated in the news that"B ul lh id e" Al Gi lman had, wi th his fam-ous horse, been accidentally drowned inan attempt to swim the flooding SaltRiver.

The brothers were saddened by theuntimely passing of their fr iend. Na-turally, they wondered about the lostbull hide. I f Al had leveled with them,then perhaps they alone had knowledgeof the treasure. If so, sometime theywould do something about it .

It seems that the brothers were alonein their knowledge of the legend, foreven today some of the old timers stillrefer to him as "Bul lh id e A l " ; but noone has ever seemed to know why he wascalled that.

The Wilhelm brothers were catt lemen,not treasure hunters. Although they al-ways intended to do something about thetreasure, they never did. In fact, Georgenever visited the diggin's and it was 28years later that an aging H aight W ilhelmled a group of the second generation tovisit the site. From this time on the leg-end belonged to the whole family. How-ever, the second generation did no moreabout it than their fathers, had.

Now, most of the descendants sub-scribe to the theory that Old Al hadfound the gold, was taking it out withhim, and that the drowning story was hisclever ruse to close the book on thischapter of his life. Perhaps, and perhapsnot.

Al , the map, and the brothers aregone. The mountain and the legend re-main, however; and most of the signsthat were shown on the map are there,

Note: The site of this legendary cacheis located on the Apache Indian Reserva-tion. Anyone wishing to take a look forthemselves should get permission fromthe Apache Tribal Council in Whiteriver,Arizona. All a ctivity on the reservation isregulated by the very efficient ApachePolice.together with the caved-in remains of thed igg in 's .

With this writ ing, the legend is nolonge r a secret possession of theW ilhe lms . It passes now to all who love amystery and the lure of buried treasure.Who knows sometime, someone justmight f ind buried among those manymarkings, that fabulous bull hide f i l ledwith Aztec gold.

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T H E S O U T H W E S T ?by L. C . HA YDEN

EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED whenyou visit Chaco Canyon NationalMonument. You'l l be able to wanderthrough the largest excavated prehistor-ic Indian Ruins in the Southwest. Yet bytraveling a few hundred feet, you canstep back into history and see an unex-cavated ruin much the same way that ou rancestors saw it when the ruins werefirst described in 1849.

You'l l also have the opportunity towatch an archeologist at work and askhim qu estions. You can do all of these bywandering among the ruins by yourselfor if you prefer, take one of the threedaily tours scheduled through the dif fer-ent pueblos. And that 's not all. You'l l beable to experience what makes ChacoCanyon such a unique place.

Located in the northwestern section ofNew Mexico, Chaco Canyon, consist ingof 21,500 acres, houses 2,500 surveyedsites. It can be reached from th e north byturning on New Mexico 44 at BlancoTrading Post and following New Mexico57 for 23 unpaved miles to the north en-trance of the monum ent. Th e visitor cen-ter is seven miles beyond that.

I f traveling from the south, turn northon New Mexico 57 from U.S. 66 atThoreau and proceed 64 miles to thesouth entrance of the monument. Thelast 20 miles are unpaved.Once there, begin at the visitor cen-ter where museum displays wil l help youunderstand Chaco Canyon and its earlyinhabitants. Also, National Park Servicepersonnel there will answer questionsand assist in making the most of your

visit .Your next step should include touringthrough the 12 pueblos which vary insize and interest. Pamphlets with corres-ponding number to a certain point-of-interest enhance your tour through mostof these pueblos. If you plan to visit all12 pueblos allow yourself plenty of time,as three of these pueblos, Pueblo Alto,Penasco Blanco and Tsin Kletzin requirea back-country permit.To realize more enjoyment of your

visit, as you travel through these pueblos25


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visualize what life must have been likesome thousands years ago. Begin bystudying their architecture. At PuebloBonito note the symmetrical layout of thepueblo. It is "D"-shaped with the greatkiva (ceremonial round structure) in itscenter or plaza. The walls, thicker at thebottom and thinner on the top, were builtwith plans to expand upwards. And up-wards they did expand. Some structuresare five stories high.

It is then evident that in their finesthour, the ancient Chacoans built elabor-ate vil lages showing outstanding ad-vances in architecture. Yet, by walking afew thousand feet, you' l l f ind yourself inKin Kletso, another pueblo within theChaco Canyon system. Compare the ar-chitecture. The stone and masonry stylediffer. Immediately you' l l be able to tellthat Pueblo Bonito was a pre-plannedpueblo, while Kin Kletso appears tohave been erected rather hurriedly.

The architectural style which separatesthese two pueblos is not the only differ-ence. Various forms of pottery, turquoise,bone and stone material have been un-earthed. This leads the archeologists tobelieve that at least two separate groupsof people lived concurrently side-by-side. Because of a third different styleand patterns found within some of thepueblos, some believe that a third groupof people existe d. They are known as theBonito, Hassta Butte and the McElmophases. If this is true, then Chaco Can-26

yon can claim to be the only place in theSouthwest which concurrently housedthree distinctive separate groups ofpeople.

When looking at the kivas, it is in-teresting to see how some of these kivasare geometrically and astronomicallyal igned. The largest of these kivas, CasaRinconada (house without corners) is aperfect circle measuring 64 feet in di-ameter and 25 feet in depth. It's beenexcavated to the below-ground levelfloor but is lacking its roof.

When the Chacoans left, they discon-t inued building the great kivas. Theyd id , however, continue to build thesmaller or clan kivas. This, in itself,shows the decline of their culture.

As you wander through the ruins,compare the size of the rooms to theother pueblos. While they contain fairlysmall adjoining rooms, Chaco boastsrooms as large as 10 feet by 15 feet.Usually, there were two such roomsjoined by two smaller rooms which werenot connected to the other units. Whythe Chacoans d id th is remains amystery.

But perhaps one of the most intri gui ngaspects of Chaco is its 250-mile system of30-foot-wide roads. Why these roads ex-isted tease historians who try to put theChaco puzzle together. A majority ofthese roads, radiating out from PuebloAl to , lead to as far away places as theAztec Ruins and maybe even Mesa

Verde. Whenever a road comes tocrest, it leads to an ancient stairway

Since these are real roads and npathways, the importance of Chaco Cayon National Monument is immediateassumed. Perhaps Chaco Canyon servas a great distribution center for foopottery, jewelry and even birds. Bfeathers have been found of birds whiare native only to Mexico. Also, shjewelry not common to the desert was found there. Another reason Chais bel ieved to have served as d is t r ibu t ion cen te r is because tpueblos are evenly distributed amothese roads. Some historians believe ththese pueblos served much the sampurpose that our weighing stations noserve.

A third reason for these roads ceters around the lack of wood in this arePollen studies done within the past tyears show that no pine trees existed this area as earlier b elieved . Instead, tlogs had to be carried 12-70 miles ; thuspossible use of the roads. But the quetion still haunts historians: why 30-fowide roads? At that time, the Chacoahad no beasts of burden.

But in spite of this, they carried tt imber to their vil lages, chopping it wstone axes. It has been estimated thsome 100,000 trees we re used in the etire canyon for roof construction aloduring the 11th century. Some of theoriginal roofs can still be seen by th


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Pueblo Bonito [far left], one of the 12 main pueblosat Chaco Canyo n, is the largest excavated prehistoric ruin

in the Southw est. An intriguing aspect [right] ofChaco Canyon is realizing how much preplanning was

required to build these pueblos. One such hint is found inthe structure of the walls. B eing thicker a t the bottom

and thinner at the top enabled the Cha coans to build upwithout worrying about the walls collapsing.

The Chaco ans built their roo fs [above] by laying do wnheavy cross beams, then placed lighter beams which werethen covered by a mixture of clay and mud. A thousand

years later, some of the original roofs are still standing.visitor to Chaco Canyon.

In order to achieve the most out ofyour visit, plan on spending the night atChaco Canyon at the campsite providedone mile away from the visitor center.Tables, barbeque grills, water and rest-rooms are provided. However, there isno f irewood, food, gasoline, repair ser-vices or lodging within 60 miles of ChacoCanyon. If you are driving a passengercar, return to Farmington where severalfine motels and restaurants await you.

If you do stay overnight, plan to at-tend the nightly campfire lecture wherea n c ie n t a rch i t e c tu re , p o t t e ry , a s t ro -archeology and several other subjectsare discussed. These lectures, lastingabout an hour, usually begin about mid-May and continue until mid-September.

On the h igher mesas, you' l l be able tospot an occasional juniper. But mostlysaltbush and greasewood can be found.In the deep arroyos, cotton wood, willow

and the locally exotic tamarisk (salt-cedar) have been planted. Also, through-out the monument, grama grass, Indianricegrass, rabbitbrush and sagebrushthr ive.

Although the park is open all yeararound, the best t ime to visit is Aprilthrough early November, as the winterscan get cold. The day temperaturereaches the low 40s while during thenigh ts, it drops down to 0-10 The hot-test month is June and their rainy sea-son is late J uly to m id-A ugu st. Since thepark can only be reached by dirt roads,inquire locally when travelling in stormyweather.

As you become acquainted with theChacoans, it will be evident to you thattheir departure brought on the climax totheir culture. After they left, there wereno great kivas built; there were no morepre-planning to their cities, no moreroads constructed, no high degree of

masonry. There was also a decline in thepottery making.

What motivated the Chacoans to leavetheir great pueblos why they built30-foot wide roads instead of pathways how they managed to move and setthe stones and heavy roof logs whatwas the main purpose that Chaco Can-yon pueblos served all of these ques-tions plague the archeologists at theyslowly continue to uncover the Cha-coans' secrets.

As I sat in Pueblo Bonito (beautifulpueblo) slowly contemplating the sunset,a feeling of tranquility enveloped me. Ifelt nothing but admiration for the tire-less workers who designed, built andlived in these pueblos.

As the timeless beauty of Chaco Can-yon completely engulfed me, I shared afeeling with countless other Chaco Can-yon visitors: its beauty had so capturedme that I knew I'd retu rn.

Desert/August 1979 27


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G o l da n d G h o s t sI n U t a h ' s D i x i eT ODAY ST. GEORGE is bil led as thePalm Springs of Utah, but it wasn'talways a tourist mecca and retire-ment center. A century ago, the Dixie ofthe Desert was a supply center for gold,silver and copper prospectors, and manyof the old mines they located and m iningcamps they set t led , a l though l i t t leremembered now, are still of interest todesert travelers.

Most modern-day ghost town explor-ers in Utah's Dixie know that Silver Reefwas southern Utah's boom bonanza.Few, however, have heard of Conger,Shem or Goldstrike, or of the once fam-ous Black Warrior, Grand Gulch or Cop-per Apex mines, to name only a few ofthe places where argona uts of yesteryearsearched for fame and fortune.

During the 1870s, prospector " B y "*

by GEORGE THOMPSOPace discovered a gigantic ledg e of blagalena lead ore in sandstone, away outthe West Mountains, not far from tpresent Arizona-Nevada border. Pastaked a claim and named it the BlaWarrior, and was soon making substatial shipments of ore rich in both leand silver, hauling it all the way to SLake City. But 300 miles was too far ship ore even as rich as that from t

^

Miners at theCopper Apex,back inthe 1880s.2 8 D e s e r t / A u u s t 1 9


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Black Warrior, so a smelter was built onthe Santa Clara River between present-day Cunlock and Shivwits.

Pace's Black Warrior smelter wasbui l t near the "old Conger farm," sowhen a townsite began growing uparound its workings, the new sett lementwas called Conger. Only a few o ld mapsfrom before the turn of the century re-veal Conger's location.

For some unknown reason, Pace'smine and smelter fell into receivership,and their operat ion was closed down.But Conger was n't down and out yet, foronly a few years later it would have a re-birth as Shem, smelter town for a new ly-discovered mine named the CopperApex.

In 1884, Brigham Jarvis and Bil l W ebbwere cut t ing wood in the West Moun-tains when they chanced upon an out-cropping of almost pure native copper.Their f ind was f irst developed as a poor-boy, pick-and-shovel operation, but itsore was so rich that before long a largenumber of miners were being employed.In 1890, pioneer merchants Woolley,Lund & Judd of St. George acquired theCopper Apex Mine and organized theUtah & Eastern Mining Company.

The mining camp at the Copper Apexgrew rapidly under its new owners, andmany miners moved their families there.Soon a regular mining camp blossomedon the rocky slopes of the West Moun-tains. A large boarding house was builtfor bachelor miners while a companystore furnished supplies for family men.

Ore from the C opper Apex was ha uledby wagon to the Salt Lake, San Pedro &Los Angeles end of track at Milford,more than 100 miles away to the north,across the Escalante Desert. During the1890s, eastern capitalists obtained an in-terest in the mine and built a large newsmelter on the Santa Clara River, at al-most the same place that Pace's smelterhad been. Almost overnight a new townbloomed where Conger had been, but itsnew settlers called it Shem.

Not much is remembered about Shemtoday. I t was a Mormon community sothere probably weren't any saloons, st i l lit was a busy place for aw hile, a nd a placenow long forgotten and overlooked.Metal detector-equipped coin and relichunters might have a f ield day there!

If you don't have access to a real oldmap of Utah's Dixie, the site of Shemand Conger can be located by traveling

west from St. George on the now aban-doned Highway 91 for 16 miles to wherea side road turns right to Gunlock. TheCunlock road (paved) is just beyondseveral Indian cabins on the S hivwits Re-servation, and just before Highway 91leaves the level to climp a steep grade.The site of old Shem is reached about amile and a half along the Cunlock road.The ruins of a water power dam still forma small pond on the Santa Clara R iver. Ifyou're a rockhound, many large chunksof heavy black manganese-type ore canbe found on the uphill side of the roadnear the pon d.The old Copper Apex Mine is locatedfurther west on Highway 91, nine miles

past the Gunlock turnoff, and high on thesteep mountain front to the left (eastside) of the highway. A dirt trail once aroad leaves the highway near an aban-doned service station, but it is near im-passable now. If you decide to hike intothat rugged range, remember to carry afull canteen and let someone know whereyou're going, for the desert doesn'ttolerate any mistakes.

Not in Utah, but still a satellite of St.George, was the Grand Gulch mine andcamp, located a long hard 90 miles to thesouth, across the state line in MohaveCounty, Arizona. The long dirt road toGrand Gulch sees few autos these days,used only by a few ranchers and occa-


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No let ter ing or fo ldsThe artist 's personal accountof how each phase of theseries came to be painted isl i thographed on the back ofeach paint ing.

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sional rockhounds. Flash floods often cutdeep into it, so inquire locally beforeventuring into that wild never-neverland.

The Grand Gulch and adjacent mines,most notable of which was the Savanac,shipped their ore to St. George, whereSam Adams had erected a smelter. TheGrand Gulch was discovered by Adamsduring the early 1870s, its ore beingsome of the richest copper ever found,assaying up to 65 percent copper whilecarrying high values in both silver anduranium.

Ruins of a large reverberatory fur-nace, store, cabins and bunkhouse, aswell as several amost melted away adobebuildings, st i l l remain, but remember,they are private property. The mines atGrand Gulch added millions to St.George's economy. One old newspaperaccount reveals that Hinman & Companymade one shipment of six tons of purebul l ion! The Grand Gulch, Savanac andother mines there were in steady produc-tion until after World War I, and have

operated sporadically since then.During the heyday of the Grand Gu

Camp, Jud Snyder traced the GraGulch vein southward to where he saidoutcropped near the north rim of Grand Canyon. For three years, Snydworked at constructing a pack m ule trto his f ind , and during all that t ime often brought sacks of rich ore into George. Pieces of that ore assayed high as 85 percent copper. Snyder fused to tell anyone where his find wlocated, and long before he got his butrail built anywhere near his mine, died. Many have searched for Snydelost ledge, but not a trace of it has evbeen foun d, although sections of the trhe cut and blasted through the roucanyon country still remain to be seethe only clue to the Lost Snyder Mi

Probably the least known or remebered of D ixie's m ining camps was Gostrike, located near the head of the 1mile-long Beaver Dam W ash, in the BValley Mountain area northwest of George. There are very few natives


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Forgotten tombstonesare all that remain ofold Hamblin.

who have ever heard of it, very few oldmaps reveal its location, and only themost meager reference is made to it inobscure mining journals. Unlike theother camps of Dixie which produced sil-ver, lead or copper, Coldstrike was agold camp.

Go ldstrike is a mys tery. No one recallswho first discovered gold ore in the BullValley Mountains, and both county andmining records are silent about its past.Its entire history seems to be told in afew brief l ines in an old Utah M inin g As-sociation report which states, "Gold wasfound in the early days at Goldstrike, butits veins played out and the rush sub-s id e d . " A pretty brief epitaph to record acamp's entire l i fe story!

Time and the elements have beencruel to Goldstrike, and litt le remains toreveal its past. There are two ways to g etto Goldstr ike. One's impassable, and theother's impossible!

About one-half mile west of the Gun-lock road, a narrow d irt track turns north-ward . A sign warns that you are enteringthe Shivwits Indian Reservation. If youdon't get lost in a maze of criss-crossside roads, you should pass an old logstage station at 11 miles and drop d own asteep dugway to the East Fork of BeaverDam Wash at about 19 miles from H igh-way 91. A Jeep trail goes up the EastFork but soon loses itself in deep sandtraps. But a hike of about three miles u p-canyon should bring you to an old cabinand a log barn, while another two milesshould bring you to several large tunnelson the left side of the canyon.You might try your luck from Gunlock,leaving the pavement about five milesup-canyon from Gunlock and turning upCove Canyon. A BL M sign points out theGoldstrike Road, but it offers no mileageto that mysterious place, nor does it giveany clue how to get there! For the firstfew miles up Cove Canyon you shouldhave no problem, unless the road'swashed out, but after Maple Ridge iscrossed, dirt roads go everywhere. Butnot counting detours, about 13 milesfrom the Gunlock road you should passthe "Pinnacles" and come into the head

D e s e r t / A um is t 1 S7

of the East Fork of Beaver Dam Wash. Anarrow dirt trail on the left (southwest)drops steeply down canyon for fivemiles, more or less, to end at an oldhouse. A side road from there climbsvery steeply to the old Hamburg Mine.All other workings are further down can-yon, and can be reached only be shank'smare.

Besides the old house below the Ham-burg Mine, there is l i t t le more than rub-ble stone foundations, twisted and rottedboards turned silver-gray from a half-century of winter storms and bits andpieces of purple glass to mark the placeswhere other mine buildings and miners'cabins once stood. Some four or fivemiles down canyon is the old cabin andlog barn already mentioned and inbe-tween are the two strange old tunnels.At least I thin k the y're strange, for theylook as though they were dug by giants!

The tunnels are at least seven feethigh and wide, dug s traight into a ver t i -cal canyon wall righ t at water level of theintermittent East Fork Creek. There areno waste dumps, the mine tail ings evi-dently having been dumped right intothe creek and washed away. Coveredwith vines and moss, they are dif f icult toexplore. But cool and inviting as they ap-pear, they are still in the heart of desertcou ntry, and only a few feet outside th eirportals canyon temperatures range wellover 100 degrees in the su mm er.

For the desert explorer who likes torough it while panning for color, Gold-strike might be the place to prospect. Aseldon seen National Park Service docu-ment, "Geological At las of WashingtonCounty, " contains the fol lowing, "Goldhas been produced in the G oldstrike Dis-tr ict , where miners found high gradegold ore. An amalgamation stamp millwas built , creating the mining camp ofGoldstrike. Exceptional specimens offree gold were found in fractured l ime-stone. Other rich ores occurred in por-phyry, but was so highly altered its highvalue wasn't always recognized."

With techniques and metal detectorsunknown to the old-t imers, and with goldwo rth $250 an ounce instead of th e $16 itwas during Goldstr ike's heyday, a mod-ern-day prospec tor m ight be wel ladvised to take a closer look at that"highly al tered" ore whose "high valuewasn't always recognized."And the re are other lost mines in D ixie

Continued on Page 39

B A C K I S S U EB A R G A I N S !ODDS AND ENDS

Miscellaneo us C o piesfrom 1959 to 1965Package of 10$0003o se lectio ns availableVOLUMES FOR YEARS1966*1974

11 issue s o nly

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and 1975ONLY c o o E A C H

COMPLETE1976 1977 1978VOLUMESONLY$ c o o6 E A C HSend check or money o rder to

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Photo courtesyFish and Wildlife Service.

Clark'sN utcracker,TheCampers'A larm Clockby K. L . BOYNTON

1979

1

A NY CA MP ER who has been snatchedfrom slumber by a chorus of raucoussqualls, crackles, whistles, gutteralcroaks all accompanied by vigorous treetrunk hammering, needs no introductionto Clark's Nutcracker.Now here's a bird who's up and at itbefore the sun has its eye half open, andwhose major aim in l ife, obviously, is tomake things lively for his neighbors.Pestering the pine squirrels, worryingthe red-tailed hawks, running the chip-munks are all in a day's f un . The sight ofa slothful human being just lying therewhen it must be all of 5 a.m. is simplymore than the bird can stand. He blastsloose with tha t khaakarrackharr call thatcan be heard a mile or more away, and itfetches his relatives winging in by thescore. The resultant din gets results. The

camper arises, for the birds have seen toit that his day has begun. And the birds ,32

now that he's begun to potter about hiscamp, take off with a whirr of wings, nodoubt to see if they can't find an owlwho, thinking it 's safely hidden, has justgone to sleep after a big night.

Nutcrackers belong to the crow tribe,wh ich accounts fo r the i r bo is te rousways. And, they look something likecrows. But, clad as they are in bold grey,black and white feathers, they also re-semble woodpeckers. What with theirlong sharp bills and penchant for treetrunk pounding, they certainly act muchlike them. They also seem to think theyare f lycatchers, capturing moths in midair with surprising speed and accuracyfor such heavily built birds. Nor are theyto be outdone by hawks w hen it comes tosoaring in the clear mountain air andmaking those break-neck dives earth-ward to be checked only at the last mo-ment w ith a sudden opening of wings.

Nutcrackers are, in short, strontough birds with a lifestyle of their owIt should come as no surprise t hen,f ind Mrs. N. sitt ing on her nest high inpine tree with a winter snowstorm peing down on her. Believing in gettthrough with family raising chores eathese birds are among the first NoAme r ica n p a sse r in e s (p e rch in g t ybirds i.e. robins, etc.) to nest each sson no small feat at 6,000- to 8,0foot alt itudes where they breed. Thremain paired year after year, whsaves mate-hunting time, and so by tlast of February or early Ma rch domeschores are well underway in spite freezing temperatures and the snow sheavy on the ground.

It's cold, as biologist L.D. Mewacould testify, since he did a lot of traming aroun d in the snow and sat for hoin a well-ventilated blind with telescop

D e s e r t /A u g u s t 1


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TO ^

camera and sound equipment t ry ing tolearn how these Nutcrackers get awaywith nesting so early.In spite of foul weather, nest buildingproceeds apace with both birds luggingin material from perhaps as far as 600yards away, one or the other arr ivingabout every four minutes. The lady does

much of the actual construction work,careful ly adjusting and arranging eachshipment. The nest has an outside di-mension of from 11 to 13 inches by a boutsix to seven inches high. The floor andouter walls are made of some 200 Doug-las fir twigs eight to 12 inches long, thenest bowl is a roomy hollow some threeinches deep and four inches in diame ter.The architects, with an eye on their fr i-gid mountain surroundings, insulate thenest heavily. There is a solid base of rot-ten wood pulp about one-half inch thick,while fine str ips of inner bark and dried

grass make a soft l ining. Between thepulp base and the grass lining is a layerof soil another half-inch thick carried indamp pellets.A territory of around two acres in sizeis set up about the nest site and lookoutperches are located in strategic treeswhere the male sits on guard during

much of the daylight hours. Intrudersare run off in swift wing pursuit, anystray gent Nutcracker reluctant to leaveis attacked, a figh t ensuing in which bothb i r d s sq u a l l i n g an d f l u t t e r i n g , b i l l sso me t ime s i n te r l o cke d , f a l l t o t h eground. Serious trouble such as a crowwith nest robbing on his mind, or a lurk-ing hawk, is dealt with promptly by sev-eral householders rallied by the cries ofthe one involved and who join in the bat-tle and chase.

A clutch of three eggs is par and fromthe moment the first is la id, somebody

always has to be on warming duty ajob that goes right on after the chicks ar-r ive. Now this is a big drawback to suchfr igid weather reproduction, but theNutcrackers have an answer . Bo thparents take turns, and while many birdspecies subscribe to this sharing of duty,i t is usually only the female who devel-ops an incubating patch. T his is an areaon the underside where the feathers fal lout and the region becomes puffy andrich in extra blood vessels. With Nut-crackers, the expectant papa also ac-quires an incubating patch for the occa-sion. Thus both parents are equippedwith a temporary heating blanket, so theeggs are kept constantly warm duringthe 18 days of incubation. The youngmust also be brooded nearly 100 percentof the time for the first nine days afterarr ival while their own temperature reg-ulating system is getting geared up.

Desert/August 1979 33


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Several seeds are placed in the samehole and camouflaged with pebbles or apine cone. In the next 10 minutes otherspots are selected, seeds rammed in,an d the pouch emptied. The bird thenshoves off to the harvesting area for an-other load.

It takes abo ut 80 to 100 minutes for anentire cache job (seed harvest ing, bury-in g and round t r ip f l ight ) so the bird whoreally puts his back into it could makeseven to eight tr ips a day. However, be-cause time out is essential in Nutcrackercircles for exchanging loud insults withsquirrels, hob-nobbing with f lock mem-bers and general noise ma king, probablynot more than fou r to six t r ips are made.

Punching away at their computers, thezoologists saw that if there were a 100-day harvest and a bird made four to sixt r ips a day with 55 seeds aboard, hewould store between 22,000 and 33,000seeds. He actually

Documents

197908 Desert Magazine 1979 August