196607 desert magazine 1966 july

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JULY 1966

W E S T E R N T R A V E L / A D V E N T U R E / L I V I N G

O F B A J A *,:..O S T P O S T B O N A N Z A

S N E Y R E S O R T L A N D


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(f\eadChora l Pepper and her husband, Jack , ed i t the "De ser t Mag az ine" andfrom t ime to t ime they turn out a book about the sandy . f lowered areasto which they swear e terna l a l leg iance. "Cook ing and Camping on theDesert" is such a book and i t is a good one. With a foreword by ErieStanley Gardn er, a f r ie nd of the Peppers and a long-t im e desert rathimse l f , the book offers a goodly numb er of rec ipes . . . in ad di t io n, i tof fers an excel lent basic text for the amateur apprent ice desert rat .DR. FREDERICK SHRO YER, Los Angeles Herald-Examiner LiteraryEditor.

"Cook ing and Camping on the Deser t " i s more than jus t a book on pre-par ing for a desert ou t ing or ma king meals that wi l l appeal whi le inc a m p . This book is a brief manual on how to surv ive in the desert . . .the book is a must for anyone m akin g a tr i p to the desert , whether i t ishis f i rs t or f i f t ieth. BILL HILTON, Santa Barbara News-Press.Now a recognized wizard at camp cookery, none other than ChoralPepper, who edi ts Desert Magazine, has wri t ten a new book, "Cookingand Camping on the Desert" which needs to be in everyone's camp k i t ,and above al l needs to be read while desert safaris are yet in the plan-ning stage. L. BURR BELDON, San Bernardino Sun-Telegram.

Those who've done even l imi ted camping know what (Erie Stanley)Gardner i s ta lk in g abou t an d wi l l p robably en joy what Chora l and herh u sb a n d , Jack, talk abou t in the book . . . This re porter, som etime cam -per- f i sherman is ne i ther gourmet nor cook bu t Chora l ' s handy bookmakes me enthusiast ic enough to want to be. REX NEVINS, RiversideDaily Enterprise.

Special Chapter byJACK PEPPER

Driving and Surviving on the Desert

'%>

COOKING andCAMPINGon the DESERTCHORAL PEPPER

Forewordby

ERLE STANLEY GARDNER

C o o k i n g a n d C a m p in g on t h e D e s e r tBy Choral Pepper, Editor Desert Magazine

PUBLISHED FEBRUARY 1 966 by THE NAYLOR COMPANY, SAN ANTO NIO, TEXASSend Check or Money Order plus

25 cents for mailing to: ONLY $3.95DESERT MAGAZINE BOOK DEPARTMENT Palm Desert, California 92260

California residents add 16 cents sales taxNo C.O.D.'s or charges, please


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MVlLCONTENTS

Number 7JULY 1966

Flowers in the DunesBy HILL RATCLIFFE4 Books for Desert Readers6 Lill iputian Lemons

By BABS KOBALY8 Close the Door on Hank Brandt

By MYRTLE TEAGUEBlack Mountain MagiBy DOROTHY ROBERTSONGhost Post BonanzaBy GLADWILL RICHARDSONMine ral King's Hidden PaylodeBy CHARLES R. GRIZZLE

0 The Magic of BajaBy CHORAL PEPPERThe Angel Was a MuleBy FRANK SCOTTEerie Elves of De ath ValleyBy DOROTHY ROBERTSONSwede Pete's PickBy KENNETH MARQUISS

1 Treasure Wears Many FacesBy ROBERT RAMSEYElkhorn, MontanaBy LAMBERT FLORINDESERT CookeryBy LUCILLE I. CARLESON

35 Hints for Desert TravelersBy BRUCE BARRON

3 8 Letters from Our Readers3 9 Indian Gargoyles

By DANIEL REARDON

JULY FEATURES Utah's Pioneer Days celebrations for most of themonth. This is the time of Utah's biggest festivals and celebrations.July 5th celebrations are featured in Provo, Manti, Logan, Lewiston,and Hyrum City, complete with pageants, fireworks and family enter-tainment July 24 commemorates the first permanent settlement ofUtah on July 24, 1847, by Brigham Young and his advance party ofMormon Pioneers. Many communities celebrate the week with rodeos,parades, pageants, and other special events. Among the largest cele-brations are those at Salt Lake City (Days of '47) and Ogden (PioneerDays). Fourth of July Celebrations at Holbrook, Flagstaff, Williams,Winslow, Arizona. San Francisco Gem & Mineral Society Annual Fairat H all of Flowers, Golden Gate Park, July 30 and 3 1 .

EDITOR'S NOTE: Some dales are subject to change. If you plan a trip to attenda specif ic event, we suggest checking first with the local Chamber of Commerce.EVENTS DEADLINE: Information relative to forthcoming events in the West must bereceived TWO MONTHS prior to the event. Address envelopes to Events Editor,Desert Magazine, Palm Desert, California 92260.

JACK PEPPER, Publisher CHORAL PEPPER, EditorElta Shively AI Merrym an Rose Holly Marvel Barrett Lois Dou ganExecutive Secretary Staff Artist Circulation Business Subscriptions

Desert M agazine, Palm Desert, Calif. 92 26 0 Telephone 3 46-8 144DESERT is published monthly by Desert Magazine, Palm Desert, Calif. Second Class Postage paid atPalm Desert, Calif., and at additional mailing offices under Act of March 3, 1879. Tit le registeredNO . 358 865 in U. S. Patent Office , and contents copyrighted 1966 by Desert Magaz ine. Unsolicitedmanuscripts and photographs cannot be returned or acknowledged unless full return postage isenclosed. Permission to reproduce contents must be secured from the editor in writing. SUBSCRIPTIONPRICE: $5.00 per year in U.S., Canada and Mexico. $5.75 elsewhere. Allow five weeks for changeof address. Be sure to send both old and new address.

S U B S C R I P T I O N S E R V I C EPALM DESERT, CALIFORNIA 92260

Q ENTER A NEW SUBSCRIPTION

N A M EADDRESSD SEND GIFT SUBSCR IPTION T O :NAMEADDRESSN A M EADDRESSN A M EADDRESS

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Sign Gift Cardt "FromOne Year $5.00 Two Years $9 .50 Three Years $1 3.0 0

(Or 2 One Years) (Or Three One Yearsl PAYM ENT ENCLOSED D BILL ME LATER

ALSO SEND DESERTS 12-ISSUE HA NDSOM E BROWN VINY L BINDER FOR $3. 50(includes tax and postage)Date Binder(s) wi th Year(s) Und ated

July, 1966 / Desert Maga zine / 3


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New Books onBaja and MexicoSONORA SKETCHBOOK by John Hilton. Revisededition. Artist Hilton writes of his years of resi-dent in Alamos, the ancient silver capital of Son-c "a, M ex ico. Interest ing, color fu l ly wr i t ten ,Hardcover , $5.95.THE ANCIENT PAST OF MEXICO by Alma Reed.Art and architecture of p


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B.BlockThis is the story of Thaddeus Lowe,

the myster-of the upper air and builtand larger balloons until he hadto cross theAtlantic.Then came the Civil War. Presidenttoorgan-the first U.S. Military aeronautic unit,

For this purpose,gas generators,and launchingFollowing thewar, Lowe devised awayo make artificial ice and build a refrig-erated ship. This led to other industrialuccesses and soon he was able to retirehe met thechallenge of rugged surrounding moun-tains bybuilding i railway from Altadenato a mile-high mountain subsequentlynamed Mount Lowe. For 40 years South-

rn Californians enjoyed outings onthis narrow gauge trolley to Ye AlpineTavern at Mount Lowe Springs.The book is illustrated with fine oldsteel engravings and historical photo-graphs of early balloon activity andPasa-dena citizens. Hardcover, 188 pages,$4.50.

PLACE NAMES OFSHASTA COUNTYBy Gertrude A.SiegerThe original of this book, published in1945, haslong been out of print. Now anentirely new edition almost doubles thehalf hundred entries of theoriginal. Mrs,Steger began work on this edition, butdid notlive to see it completed, soHelenHinckley Jones, noted writer and histor-ian, has completed the unfinished work.Place names fascinate students of historybecause there is noother key so revealingas to thenature, the life and the romance

that went on at thetime aplace name wasacquired. This is particularly true ofShasta County where Indians lived, Span-ish explored, Russian fur traders passedby, British trappers roamed, Mexicanland grants were made, Mountain Menexplored and miners and settlers laidclaims. Place names arose from ancientIndian legends aswell as everyday eventsboth tragic and comic. This little paper-back of 71 pages costs $2.00.EARLY USES OFCALIFORNIAPLANTSBy Edwards K.Balls

This is the second printing of a bookfirst published in 1962.Information onthe use towhich native California Indiansand early white settlers put the plantsthey found growing around them isgathered into one fine concise referencewith this book. Chapters are dividedinto plants used for food, for drink, forbasketry, medicine, soap, fish poison, dye,gum and tobacco andpresent dayuses. Itis illustrated with line drawings andthereis a check list containing both commonand scientific names. Paperback, 103pages, $1.75.A BOTTLE COLLECTOR'S BOOKBy Pat and Bob Ferraro

Newest book in the fascinating andrapidly growing hobby of bottle collectingis by the authors of The Past InGlass.Their newbook gives an interesting his-tory of how, why and when bottles weremade and traces the evolution of glasscontainers. Other features are the "Glos-sary of Bottle Collectors' Terms" and aprice list comparing theprices of individ-ual bottles in 1950, I960 and 1965.Whether for laymen or veteran bottlecollectors, this profusely illustrated, slickpaper 107-page volume is excellent for afirst book orone toaugment your presentcollection. Paperback, $3.00.

Water Producing Survival Kit

TILLCompleteKit $2.49

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Fascinating Experiment for the YoungScientist. Easy to install andoperate.Send Check or Money Order plus 25cpostage to:

DESERT MAGAZINEPalm Desert, California 92260

California residents add 10csales tax.

HistoricalBook SpecialtiesINYO 1866-1966 . Inyo Co. Centennial Bookby L. Ray, D. Cragen, R. Nadeau andothers.Many old photos. Good Americana. Paper,$2.95STORY OF BODIE by Ella Cain. Rough, toughmining camp now a state park. Paper, $3 .50CLOSE UPS OFTHE HIGH SIERRA by N. Clyde.Mountaineer ing by eminent mountaineer.Paper, $2 .50PATHWAY IN THE SKYby Hal Roth. Story ofJohn Muir Trail. Many pictures. $8 .50BOTTLE TALK by Adele Reed. New by popularauthor. Features Blob Seal bottles. Paper.$2 .00STORY OF INYO by W. A. Chalfant. Indians,pioneers, how L. A. got Owens Val ley water .$5 .95WILD BUNCH AT ROBBERS ROOST by PearlBaker Tales of outlaw s hideout. Photos.$7 .50NAVAHO WEAVING by Charles Amsden.Comprehensive vol. on history and technic.$12 .00CITY MAKERS by Remi Nadeau. New print-ing of story of So. Calif, s f irst boom. $6 .50

Many others. Write for complete list.Postage prepaid on orders over $5.00 ifpayment enclosed with order. In Calif.please add 4% sales tax.

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In the Heart of the Eastern High Sierras

We have excellent job op-portunities for menwith thebackground and knowledgeto qualify for a 2nd classradio telephone license.Call Collect toRiverside, CaliforniaArea Code 714 682-6111

July , 1966 / Desert Magazine / 5


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L i l l i p u t i a n L e m o n a d eby Babs Kobaly

IT WAS JULY when old Redbeardintroduced us to sugarbushes. A warscare was at its peak and dried foods,flashlight batteries, bullets and powderedmilk were being stored in bomb shelters.Not having one close to our high deserthome, wedecided tocram our heads withsurvival knowledge instead.

Our first stop on a planned course ofnature study was at old Redbeard's"cabin," an abandoned trailer that hadbeen dumped into a rugged desert can-yon. Inviting us in, he passed a bowl offuzzy "desert almonds" and poured usfragrant cups of wild tea. He refused totouch the frozen cans of lemonade weoffered. "Never use it!" he spat. "Gath-ering lemonade in a pushcart's no fun.Gather mine in m'hat, m'gloves orm' pocketsif they're men ded!" Hepicked up a jug of water and slung itover hisstooped shoulder. "Come on, I'llshow you what you're missing!"His eyes twinkled as he took off to-ward a green clump ornamenting thedrabhillside, a single ancient sugarbush abuzzwith drunken insects!This insectile excitement meant, ofcourse, that the sugar had begun "worm-ing" out all over the sticky little fruits.

So thick were these worms of sugar thatthe fine crimson down of each tiny berrywas white with thready "moss." Pro-

tected with long sleeves and a jug ofwater to rinse the acid and sugar fromour hands, we too were soon absorbedwith stripping clusters of the velvet ber-ries. Their smallness, about the size of aflattened pea, was made up for by theirfantastic abundance. Often there were ahundred berries to onecluster.

This bush was used by Indians as abeverage, a vegetable, for cough medi-cine and as sugar, though how they suf-fered through it, Redbeard could neverunderstand, for he had tried them all.When boiled, the buds, or flowers, tasteimpossibly bitter. To gather them, In-dians shook the bush and let the berriesfall on a cloth spread underneath thebranches.Nowadays, only birds, insects and oldRedbeard himself appreciate the sugar-bush and, "gardeners," he added, for nomatter how good a wild specimen is,none compares to a cultivated one.From San Francisco to San Diego,Rhus ovata is one of the most attractiveof all native Californian shrubs. Itsglossy evergreen foliage, its clusters offat little flowers, and its royal-velvetfruits excite year 'round notice. Remark-ably free of pests under cultivation, it

adapts well to varying soils and climaticconditions and its spreading habit ofgrowth makes it desirable for back-6 / Desert Magazine / Ju ly , 1966


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grounds, screens, hedges, banks androadsides.

But to thrifty naturelovers or connois-seurs of the "wild taste" who live nearsites landscaped with sugarbushes, Redpasses out this advice: Stake out the mosthealthy old sugarbush you can find andwhen it begins to "worm" sugar , pounceon it. According to Red, nothing qui tecompares with the satisfaction of strip-ping "soak-berr ies," as he calls these lil-l iput ian lemons. He urged new tasters todrink their "soakins" long enough to ac-quire a taste for the peculiar wild essence,and once you do, you'll have a real con-versation piece in the beverage depart-ment .

W h e n out camping, Red proved to us,how just soaked, sugared and sievedthese lemonade berries made a perfect in-stant beverage. Unlike domestic lemons,throwing these wild ones around a campdoesn't invoke the displeasure of a forestranger. Instead they attract birds andsmall animals. When only a few berriesare available, at the beginning or end ofa season, Red simmers them instead ofsoaking to achieve a st ronger , more di-lutable brew.As novice pickers, we were leery about

a few bugs in the brew, but they didn'tbother Red. He spread both feast andfliers on a shallow tray in the sunshinean d in a short t ime the winged "chaff"had flown.

At home he proceeds somewhat dif-ferently. Here is his recipe for about 21/2quarts of Soak-berry Lemonade:Place 2 cups sugarberries in a sauce-pan. Pour over them 6 cups boiling water.Soak 30 minutes. Strain equally into 2pitchers. Add 1 cup sugar into each pit-cher. Add 1 tray of ice cubes to eachpitcher. Stir furiously!"Be sure it's exquisitely cold," hesaid. "Crush your ice, garnish with aberry sprig, and serve it in sun-purpledglasses, if you have them!"Unlike most desert-dwellers, we beganto look forward to July when we pickenough and freeze them to last all year.There are few things in these sophistica-ted times as rewarding as the harvesting

of a room-sized, sugar-fledged lemonadebush. Though we have plucked them inall stages of fruiting, we still prefer Red'swaywhen they have reached the peak ofperfection and become the local pub forthousands of minute tasters on-the-wing!

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July, 1966 / Desert Magazine / 7


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Close the Door on Hank Brandt

Hank Brandt's mine and tailings.

THIS IS AN answer toaDESERTMagazine article published in Octo-ber, 1964, written by Victor Stoyanow.My husband and Ihave found the SecretCanyon of Hank Brandt.We found itaccidentally. What wewere really searching for inthe Anza-Borrego desert were Pegleg's black goldnuggets.However, onseveral occasions we'dtalked of searching for the Hank Brandtlost mine and had informed ourselves ofthe basic facts concerning it.We also were well acquainted with theCarrizo and its mysterious, dangerous andtreacherous badlands and had a fair know-ledge of the country around Split Moun-tain.On this particular trip, we had eightdays tospend so, towing our 4-wheeldrive vehicle behind our camper, we turn-ed off Highway 78 at Ocotillo Wells andfollowed the road around the Gypsummine railroad track to the northern end of

Fish Mountains. Here we located abasecamp under a sheltering tree at the foot ofthe mountain. The view was magnificent,the silence peaceful and serene. The sunburned down on us deliriously and wewere light in spirit as we headed our 4-wheeler into the Superstition Hills firstto satisfy ourselves whether ornot theblack gold was there. After plodding overits sand-slippery hills andcanyons,though, we determined, with our limitedknowledge ofgeology, that the rocks ofthe Superstitions held no gold. The areais undependable, with sand covering dan-gerous pitfalls, so aword ofcaution tothose who visit the Superstitions: watchyour step.

It was late when we made our way backto camp and we had hardly cooked ourdinner before darkness fell. The next fewdays we searched the canyons ofFishCreek Mountains, starting with the north-ern end and working our way east. Onthe fifth day, we headed around theeastern slopes and drove as far as possi-8 / Desert Magazine / July , 1966


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F R O MT f t y t t Uabig canyon

Near the mouth of the canyon on ourwe noticed adimpath. Deciding toit, we ascended themountain to ato abruptlyWe could see for miles across theThe Superstition Hillsin adistance, veiled with puffyand the breeze gently stirred thewe lost the

itagain. At lasttoanarrow canyon framed onup onone, we saw adouble-deckedwe recalled, was acluetoNow we hurried faster, anxious to seethe path would lead. After two

ofstrenuous walking, we reachedbyreddishand this really stopped

s . For here, carved of sandstone, was aerfect replica of aship. The ship wasled to our right, athirdwas toomuch. Had weacciden-the80-year old legendank Bran dt's lost gold ?

It was hot and we were tired, so rest-g in the shade of an overhanging rock,our canteen and gathered"second wind . " But we could just asthe nextbend, there itwasa one-man digging.A p ile of tailings satbeside ahole about3O-feet deep. Wasthis really it? All thesigns seemed to fit.

After twodays of exploring, we found

an exit over aridge which cut throughinto Barrett Canyon from where thetrailled over themountain to thepass in SplitMountain. Here was the route HankBrandt took through Split Mountain onhis yearly trip to Riverside to ship hisgold, and the path we had followed firstwas hisexit toKane Springs.

From our conclusions, itwould takeabout three hours towalk from theshack ofHank's inthe Carrizo slottothe spot where his mine was. But let meadd that, unknowingly, we had stumbledinto the Naval Reservation which is stillclosed and there is still danger from un-exploded bombs and shells. However,there were no restricted signs from thedirection we arrived, so we had no wayof knowing wewere on the reservation.I'm afraid wecan't take credit for dis-covering itfirst, however, for within afew feet of the mine we found acairnwith a claim notice in a tin can. Excitedly,we opened it anddrew forth an oldpieceof paper scribed ingreen ink. Itread,"Hank's Lost Mine," and was datedFebruary 1951. Itwasn't signed, so un-doubtedly whoever found Brandt's Minefirst got the gold, but for reasons of hisown kept the discovery secret. Stoyanowwas right about his convictions. Themine

is in theNaval Reservation andthere's anentrance through Barrett Canyon.Although we found it15 years toolate, westill had the pleasure andadven-ture offinding the elusive lost mine ofHank Brandt and that wasgold enough

for us!

STAGE STATION SITE ,


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BLACK MOUNTAIN MAGIby Dorothy Robertson

WE LEFT U. S. 395 w here it crossedthe railroad tracks south of Inyo-kern and continued up a wide, bladedroad bisecting the El Paso Range in thearea known as Sheep Springs. Here theroad deteriorated into a rough trail lead-ing to collecting sites for jasper, mossagate, opalite, and petrified wood. Out-lined in all its frowning, forbidding ma-

Black Mountain herself glowered, hertumbled boulders of desert varnishedbasalt threatening to bound down andcrush us.Yellow buckwheat, feathery bunch-grass, tiny yellow and white dwarf daisies,twisted greasewoods, peeping splashes ofIndian paintbrush, purple lupine and weeblue-eyes scattered prodigally about, for

J

there had been several good rains lately.Facing us, on the sheer east side, BlackMountain showed a creamy yellow "bib"under her chin where enormous blackboulders had scoured a downward paththrough ages of storms. This is wild andrugged country, and the deeper we pene-trated, the more intriguing it became.Quail called; chukars chuk-chukked deepin their throats, safely out of sight. Wesaw the swift flirt of vanishing powder-puffs as little cottontails made for holes,and lizards and tortoise went sedatelyabout their business. There were also signsof burro, coyote and bobcat!

Despite Black Mountain's inhospitableappearance, the recent rains had openedhospitable arms to the wildlife. Hithertodry springs showed bubbly gleams beneathmatted growth, and tiny pools still re-mained in rocky basins. Where the trailnow made a sharp left turn around thebase of the great mountain, we turnedabruptly west into the southern flank.Then we crossed a narrow little canyonand ran the vehicles up as far as they

jesty against a cloudless sky, Black Moun-tain dominated the northwest end of theburned, dry, bare range. But the El Pasoskeep their secrets well. Once into therange, desert verdure appears in surpris-ing places.Along the western rim rose large basaltboulders inscribed with petroglyphs ofgreat variety. We stopped to examinethem, then explored the flat house-ringshuddling companionably along the rimoverlooking an old spring. Trails ledeverywhere, but Black Mountain lured usonward into a smoothly eroded regioncarved from yellow sandstone conglomer-ate by eons of wind and rain. Features ofthis area are the smooth "cannonballs"and other exotically shaped rocks used inlandscaping.From here the road turns into a trailfit only for 4-wheel drive vehicles. This iswhere adventure really begins. The road

twists and climbs and claws its way alongthe steep hillsides, always angling towardBlack Mountain's surly flanks. Above us10 / Desert Magazine / Ju ly, 1966


11/40

the down-trail and we all piled out WeWe'd made so many stops, exploringlaces of interest, that it was long pastlunchtime. We decided to eat, then beginthe climb.Strung out along the three or four hog-backs that stairstep to the peak, we had aview of the surrounding country. Far be-low to the south we saw the ColoradoCamp's buildings, and the black outcropthat points up the rubbled site of oldCoaldale. In the late 1890s the hopefulrushed to what they believed an extensivedeposit of coal, but tests proved that itwas actually asphaltum tar, which smokedbadly when ignited. After six months'operation, Coaldale folded and today itsremains are faded into the landscape.Speaking of asphaltum, the geologicalformation of this region is most interest-ing. In the upper M iocene or Lower Plio-

cene era, this region was a green paradise.Fan palm, oak and locust flourished inthat long-ago. There was abundant waterand animal life. Today, however, onlypetrified bones and trees which "breakout" of the lower canyon walls througherosive action are left to prove it. Petri-fied palm root has been found in abun-dance, but these days you must dig for it.A few miles to the south and west,famous Last Chance Canyon with itsJoshuas and scenic campsites humps northto east. This area is famous, too, for Red

Buttes, Roaring Ridge and Dry Fallsallwell-known gemstone fields. A number ofminers in this region allow opal collectingfrom their claims for a token fee. Thesebeautiful irridescent stones must behandled carefully, however, for they frac-ture easily.Flora and fauna of this ground surfaceis classified as belonging to the Rosa-mond formation. This range consists oflayer upon layer of decomposed volcanicash. Eventually the released silica had re-sulted in petrification, so volcanic ash

was converted into clay-like rock calledbentonite. Rare benotite is creamy white,but the less-pure rosy shades are so muchmore beautiful!In the canyons, the dark walls arepatched with brilliant white and pinkbentonite, but here in the Black Moun-tain region, bentonite also appears as sal-mon pink to rose; yellow, orange-to-red,and even bluish-brown because of ironore-bodies in the clay.The higher we climbed the more unsus-pected mining camps appeared. Tuckedaway between Last Chance Canyon andMescjuite Canyon, to the south, Burro

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others spilled inside. We experienced astrange feelingas though unfriendlyeyes watched us. Superstition! Yet, asthough to foster this eerie idea, waist-high circles of carefully stacked boulderssurrounded us. What a strange place forContinued on page 33

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July, 1966 / Desert Maga zine / 11


12/40

Blue Can yon as it appeared in 1908. Today not even walls rema in.by Gladwell Richardson

IN THE western Navajo country arenearly 50 "ghost" Indian tradingposts. The life of some were temporary,but others continued in business for manyyears.Today their old sites are marked by aaile of stones, perhaps a rotted cedarpole, or nothing more than drifted sand.They were of two types of construction.The earliest, depending on wood avail-able, was of logs set upright in a trenchand called a picket post, or stockade. Theside walls and pole roof were coveredwith clay. Others were of stone set in

mud mortar. The inside walls and some-times the ceiling of both types wereplastered with a mixture of clay andsand, whitened with alkali.These posts were far from civilization,constantly battling boredom and the ele-ments. As highways often follow ancienttrails, though, many may now be foundadjacent to or along U.S. Highway 89north of Flagstaff. Arizona. The first,Halfway House, is within 15 miles ofCameron. Established on the old TannerTrail about 1880, it served travelers,

freighters and mail carriers as well asIndians. About half the distance betweenFlagstaff and Tuba City, it lasted until

1910. For many years afterward thesquat stone building was visible fromold Highway 89.At Cameron where the present state

highway camp stands, Mrs. Laura Pres-ton (now Mrs. Walter Runke) ran atrading post in a sheet iron buildingduring construction of the first bridgein 1910-1911. Her first husband, SamuelScott Preston had the materials freight-ing contract for the bridge. He also wasan Indian trader at Tuba City.Up the Little Colorado River fromCameron, on the north side at BlackFalls, Preston had put up a stone postin 1888. It lasted less than two years inits desolate setting. From 1891 to 1893,

Fred W. Volz conducted business in thesame small building. Near this site in1935, Jack and Glenn Taylor, sons oftrader Johnny Taylor at Tonalea, tradedin a wooden building until 1941.Twenty one miles north from Cameron,at NX illow Sprin gs, a tra ding post wasestablished in 1876 by John Bigelowe.After several years of indifferent successit folded. In 1885 George W. McAdams,in partnership with Babbitt Brothers Trad-ing Company at Flagstaff, erected asecond stone trading post a short distance

away in what afterwards became knownas Powder House Canyon. In 1890 Mc-Adams, no longer associated with the

Babbitt Brothers, with C. H. Algert builta third stone post closer to the wash andnot far from Clan Rocks. It was knownas Echo Cliffs, the same name as the highescarpment extending from there to theColorado River. It remained in businessuntil 1920.

Ten miles further, at The Gap (namedfor the wide break in Echo Cliffs), amining company established a store in awooden building on Hamblin Wash. Italso served as a stopping place for motor-ized vehicles hauling ore from distantCopper Mine to a railhead north of Flag-staff.

In 1 94 1, C. D. Richardson put in apost a little below The Gap in a rockbuilding leased from a Navajo. BuckLowrey managed the business. In 1916Richardson bought the mining company'sbuilding at a sheriff's sale and moved hisstock into it. He sold the post in 1923.The following year it was sold to Joe Leeand J. C. Brown. When the highway wasrerouted and paved, they constructed astone building across the road from thepresent Gap store and remained in busi-ness until 1938, when flour dust blew up,and burned out the interior.

The present Cedar Ridge trading postseven miles further north is the third inthe vicinity. The first, established in 1881by C. H. Algert, stood west on Bodeway

12 / Desert Magazine / Ju ly, 1966

B O N A N Z Ain the Ghost Post


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Mesa about three miles, a cedar pole pic-ket building, ]n J895 it came into pos-session of Babbitt Brothers and JohnKerley. They moved it, in 1912, to thewash below Cedar Ridge where it handledIndian business until 1918.At Lee Ferry where the ferry went in,in 1869, the dell became a hideout forJohn D. Lee of the infamous MeadowMountain massacre. He set up a tradingpost in the forepart of a red sandstone

building in which one of his several fam-ilies lived. In 1872 the Leather Stockingof the Southwest, Jacob Hamblin tradedthere and reported that the post enjoyed agood business with Navajo and Piute In-dians.This post closed in 1877 when theMormon Church bought the ferry fromLee's widow. Several men traded theresporadically before the church sold theferry to the Grand Cattle Company in1909. Coconino County took ownershipof the ferry in 1916, but established nostore. The remnant of buildings there to-day are claimed to have been built by Lee.No part of his old stone cabins and theirflat roofs have existed for at least 50years.

In 1928 Buck Lowrey constructed anoblcng trading post beside the presenthighway at the south end of NavajoBridge, then under construction. His son,Dave, managed it until the stock of goodsand the interior burned in 1933. TheColorado River posts were the north-western limit of those which have fadedaway.The old dirt road leaving Highway 89,11 miles north of Cameron, passed com-pletely across the Western Navajo Indian

Hubbell's 1871 post beside road to Moencopi Village. Second storj was added in 190 0.

/

Reservation to Kayenta, giving access tomost of the long ago abandoned tradingposts.In and around Tuba City there are noless than 10 such sites. The oldest ofthese was the stone structure of ThomasS. Hubbell (no relation to the GanadoHubbells), in 1871, on the rim over-looking Moencopi Hopi Village. It is theonly ghost post with the walls still intactand its second story is now being occu-pied. In 1879 he sold to Ed Stone and hiswife and moved northeast onto RabbitMesa where he went into business again.This stockade faced the great valley to-wards Blue Canyon. When Mormon col-

\

This 1880 photo shows Joe Tanner's post in Reservoir Canyon, established in 1879-

onists settled Tuba City their leader, LottSmith, is supposed to have seized theStone trading post by force in 1887 andremoved their stock of goods to the storeof the United Order, a cooperative en-terprise. It was in the red sandstone build-ing in the center of the village that laterbecame offices of the Western NavajoIndian Agency.C. H. Algert, in 1880, began tradingout of a large hogan near Musha Springwhich lasted about two years, until sand

blowing over a cliff buried the hogan.By 1898 a great sandhill covered the spot.Algert built a second one about half-waybetween the spring and Moencopi wherehe remained another two years. He thenbuilt the rear half of today's Tuba Citytrading post.Hopi Indians started trading out of aMoencopi village pueblo at a very earlydate, assuredly in the 1880s. It passedthrough several hands, but the James Bro-thers operated it from 1910 to 1940.After Mormon colonists put in theirirrigation works, about 1879, Joe Tannerentered the trading business in ReservoirCanyon. His small picket post didn'tclose its doors until 1914.Up Tuba City's main street, within astones throw of Algert's Tuba City store,George McAdams constructed anotherpost in 1896, putting his younger brotherin to run it until the brother enlisted inthe Rough Riders for the Spanish Ameri-can War and closed the post.At the upper end of main street, nearthe present day school, C. D. Richardsonbuilt a two story post of white sandstone



14/40

in 1925. Nothing remains to mark thespot today. The government bought thebuilding from later owners and demol-ished it in 1947.When George McAdams first enteredthe trading business, in 1879, he put to-gether the usual picket-post-stockadetype. It stood near the old road thatcrossed Sheep Dip Wash, on Rabbit Mesaabout three miles from where Hubbellestablished himself that same year. Theywere too close to each o ther to make muchprofit so McAdams went on north to RedLake in 1881. Building his post duringthe dry summer season, he supposed thelake never filled. A couple of yearslater he awoke one morning to find him-self surrounded by water. He removedto the southeast side of the lake and re-constructed his stockade post into an elon-gated building containing four rooms. Thesite was under the mesa wall less than amile from what is now Red Lake TradingPost, Tonalea. He sold to "Dit" Ditten-

hoffer in 1888. Dittenhoffer went toFlagstaff where he b ought a yellowwheeled buggy and acquired a handsomewoman, but her husband followed themand shot him dead in the post. It thencame into possession of Babbitt Brothersand McAdams rejoined them as a work-ing partner in several area posts. Thepresent Tonalea store was built in 1891by S. S. Preston.In 1890 Sam Smith, son of Lott Smith,

set himself up in business a mile up Red-lake Wash in a lumber shack having acanvas roof. When the business didn'tpay off, he quit and turned outlaw.East of Tonalea on Tokesjhay Wash,Joseph Hyrum Lee, Sr., built a stone postin 1881. Trouble with two renegade Na-vajos forced him out of business the fol-lowing year. He removed his merchandiseto the United Order at Tuba City, run-ning that store for the colony. The Tokes-jhay building stood intact until 1930; thena government stockman hauled its rocksto Tonalea to build himself a residence.Farther east at Blue Canyon, J. P. Wil-liams, a gold miner from Oregon viaCalifornia, took a homestead in 1882 (thereservation was not extended west until1884) and ran a trading post while hesearched regional rivers and canyons forgold. In 1897, he moved his family toWinslow and sold his improvement tothe government for a vocational school.C. H. Algert set up a post under thevari-colored rim beyond the school andturned it over to his brother-in-law. Whenthe school moved to Tuba City in 1904,the buildings stood empty until 1913when C. D. and Hubert Richardson leasedthem from the government. The postoperated until 1921. A few years laterLorenzo Hubbell, Jr., opened a seasonalpost at Blue Canyon Crossing, but due toa jurisdictional dispute between Hopi and

First trading post in M oencopi Village. Photo taken in 1880 .

...

Ruins of Willow Springs post. No storehas been h ere since 1910.Navajo Indian Agents, it had to be aban-doned.

From 1895 to 1898 Ben Williams, sonof J. P. Williams, did business in a smallstone building up Cowspring Canyonfrom the present place of that name be-yond Tonalea on the Kayenta road. JoeLee hauled his goods by wagon from Ga-nado, as Don Lorenzo Hubbell had aninterest in the business. Across a smalllake from him in the canyon, Fred Volzran a post during 1894-1896.From the Kayenta road a spur takesoff northwest to Shonto. There, in 1912,Joe Lee and John Wetherill put in a one

room stone structure beside a spring at thebase of the canyon wall. Lee ran it untilthey sold out to C. D. Richardson in1914, who built most of the present daypost.Up the Kayenta road the son of JohnWetherill, Benjamin Wade, put in asmall post on the west side of MarshPass. Not only to benefit the Indians,but for summer-time archaeologists aswell. It existed from 1921 to 1923 . Th efollowing year Ben went farther west onto

Piute Mesa, setting himself up in anotherstone and mud building. It folded in thefall of 1926.M / Desert Magazine / July, 1966


15/40

At Kayenta, John Wetherill came overtoput in arock and mudthe SanJuan River wasbridged1910.Inconnection with it, he opera-aguest ranch and pack trains fordudes" into thewild canyon country. Heout ofbusiness completely in 1935.ofhisbuildings exist today. Hisrading partner atOljeto, Clyde Colville,ame toKayenta, trading from asmallwooden building Reuben Heflin demol-ished toerect amore substantial postin1957.

Lee Bradley, whose Scotch fatherrantrading posts andfreighted formanyyears, owned his own store onthe out-skirts ofKayenta from 1923until 1928.There arefive other sites oftradingposts deep intheNavajo country west ofthe Kayenta road. Probably themostnoted was that atRat Springs atthe baseof Wild Cat Peak. Constructed oflumberin 1925 by John Kerley, his brother Joe

ran ituntil 1931. That year Babbitt Bro-thers; bought thestock of goods, removingit totheir Tonalea Redlake store, andhired Joe as resident manager.Three miles from Kaibeto in a reddirt flat Bert Tso, Navajo, built arockhouse inwhich heconducted a tradingbusiness from 1924 to1929. Down inNavajo Canyon seven miles from In-scription House another Navajo, PaulBegay, hadasmall rock trading post dur-ing the years 1924-1927. Itwas a pre-carious business, never well stocked be-

cause merchandise had to be packed inbyhorse ormule.Ben Wetherill, who always seemedtobe establishing stores that didn't pan out,pu t inanother near the Utah borderatNavajo Mountain. Located at CottonwoodSprings, he traded from asmall stone hutwith the room dugback under adirt bank.From 1927 to1930 heoperated thereonly during summer and fall monthsofthe year.Earlier, Hubert and S. I. Richardson,after making the first road from Tonalea

to Willow Springs on Navajo Mountain,established Rainbow Lodge trading post.Operated in connection with packingguests toRainbow Natural Bridge, itburned in1951.Itwas then ownedbySenator Barry Goldwater andW. W.Wilson, whomanaged the business.History hunters chase down ghosttowns tosearch forantique bottles anddomestic or mining relics intheir dumps,but abandoned trading post locations sug-gest arelatively unexplored treasure trovehaunted with ghosts who traded in sup-plies. Coin collectors with metal detectorsmight also find bonanza inthe groundaround these old sites.

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M i n e r a l K i n g ' s H i d d e n ' P a y l o d e 'by Charles R. Grizzle

NINETY-THREE years ago, WileyWatson, one of the earliest mayorsof Visalia, California, had a dollar-signtwinkle in his eye and a promotionscheme up his sleeve which has earnedfor him the distinctive title, "prophet ofMineral King." Up until recently, thatmonicker didn't mean tiddle-de-winks toanyone. But the name Mineral King isnow beginning an ascension in famewhich could surpass almost any mountainarea in the world, Zermatt, Garmisch,Interlaken, Sun Valley and Aspen in-cluded.Back in 1873, Wiley Watson first pro-moted the building of a road from hishometown of Visalia in the San JoaquinValley to the Mineral King District, ahigh valley in the Sierra Nevada Moun-tains rich in wildlife, timber, beauty and,

much to Watson's delight, minerals. TheMineral King Silver Rush had begun andWatson concluded that his road wouldgreatly benefit local merchants and farm-ers who ship their produce to the minesif a large settlement should develop there.A wise investor, our good man wasn'tplacing all his silver ingots into onebread basket. If the silver played out andthe boom was a bust, Watson arguedthat a road could be used to capitalize onthe beautiful scenery which would drawsightseers to Mineral King. The valleyis surrounded by half a dozen majesticpeaks approaching an elevation of 12,000feet.

Watson himself never did completelyfinish his road. The magnificent yetawful mountains around the 8,000-footMineral King Valley have, for decades,resisted man's efforts to develop the area.But Watson was undoubtedly the first togaze past the glitter of silver that blindedevery clodhopper and mucker in the statein those days to see profit in the awesomebeauty of the jagged, granite peaks.When California's own Walt Disney,a "bonanza" king in his own right, first

stared in amazement at Mineral King'spanorama of sawtooth peaks and timbercovered slopes, he envisioned a projectthat would permit you and me and littleJohnny Gitalong next door to beholdand savor this wonderful sight.In late December of 1965, Mr. Disneywas notified that his plans for the devel-opment of a $35,000,000 summer andwinter recreational facility at MineralKing had been accepted by the Depart-ment of Agriculture and the UnitedStates Forestry Service. So, the claim forMineral King's second and biggest pay-load has finally been staked out and, afterall these years, Wiley Watson's commentsabout tourist trade in the Sierras is re-membered.The project which conservation-mindedMr. Disney (he is honorary president of

the National Wildlife Federation andhonorary member of the Izaak WaltonLeague, among others) is now beginninghas the populace of San Joaquin as wellas Los Angeles, San Francisco and Sacra-mento about as excited as the hill-and-gully-thumping miners of old Porter-ville were when James A. Crabtree re-vealed his find at Mineral King.Something of a spiritualist, Crabtreetold a tale of discovery involving a WhiteIndian Chief who appeared to him in adream and pointed out the path to follow

for riches. Upon awakening, he and afriend left at once for the mountains.When they returned to Porterville in thefoothills, they jointly filed claim to TheWhite Chief Lode. The old sourdoughsin town may have laughed at Crabtree'stall story, but not too loudly. He had areputation as a successful prospector andthe ore samples he carried in his pokehelped to spread the fever that startedMineral King booming.During the first winter of the rushwhen snow kept the miners from work-ing their claims, Tulare County spiritswere mighty high. Every discussion em-braced the Mineral King mines. Potential

millionaires roamed the streets of Porter-ville and Visalia boasting of the rich-ness of their claims and dreaming of sil-ver, mansions and servants. Rumors rolledfreely as they always did in a miningcommunity and there was considerablecounting of silvery chickens, so to speak,before the eggs were even laid.A town which included saloons, millsites, boarding houses, general stores anda livery stable was eventually built in thehigh valley and named Beulah, meaningthe land of promise. It was a typicalboom town, but the lack of violence inthe district was something of an oddityfor those days. There were fist fights, ashooting, a suicide, a couple of mob hang-ing threats and a few dynamite accidents,but all in all the boom town was a pleas-ant place to work.Although work was pushed twenty-four hours a day and explosions echoedaround the peaks every few minutes, pro-gress was slow. Mineral King was andis an extremely difficult place to reach.Twenty-five miles of precipitous trailthrough country that has been comparedonly to the Swiss Alps by top ski cham-pions and geologists presented an over-whelming problem to the miners. Today,before Disney can proceed with full de-velopment, an all weather road expectedto cost some three million dollars must be

constructed for easy access.One of the major problems for theminer in the early days was his lack ofadequate drilling tools. But they usedgood ol' American ingenuity and startedbusting rocks with heat. Huge bonfireswere built on the rock and kept goingall night. When cold water was thrownon the hot rocks, they would crack andsplit open. Powder was then packed intothe cracks and touched off to shatter therock.Residents of Beulah had to be alertfor they lived in a veritable bowlingalley with tenpins anything in sight. Withcareless miners blasting the steep-sloped

16 / Desert Magazine / J uly, 1966


17/40

New area opens up for resort

granite mountains, rocks and boulderscareened into the valley and tumbledright through town. In the writings ofone Orlando Barton, a law "requiringminers to keep their rocks on their ownland," is mentioned, but evidently itwasn t enforced. Therolling stone menacebecame so severe that the flats of Mon-arch Creek were finally abandoned as aplace to do business.Fc r 10years Mineral King popped andboomed with ups and downs of enthu-

siasm that broke hearts, bankrupted richmen and brought a touch of wealth tojust a few. In late summer of 1879 some

500 people were permanent residentsthere (a fair size for a boom town withmines yet unproven). Once the reason-able facsimile of a toll road was finished,construction increased and still morepeople came to scour the hills and workin the mines. To feed them, the localbutchers obtained bear meat and venisonby none other than a Kentucky sharp-shooter named George W as h in g to nBoone, grandson of Daniel Boone. Thetown was even fortunate enough to havea full-time physician, Dr. T. F. Pegg.The first forms of recreation in thisfuture playground were old-fashioned

hoe-downs with the miners themselvesproviding the music. Hob-nail bootspounded the floors and the few wiveswho lived in town had a wonderful, iftreacherous, time high-stepping witheveryone. Organized Sunday baseball be-came so popular that the Tulare Timesnewspaper claimed, "politics and baseballtogether with silver excitement makeMineral King the liveliest place on thecoast."Mineral King flourished mainly

through the energy, finances and am-bition of one TomFowler who was con-vinced that these craggy mountains wereJuly, 1966 / Desert Maqazine / 17


18/40

to yield the biggest "paylode" inhistory. He poured money into the town,building the first stamping mill, fosteringconstruction of a tramway to the EmpireMine and providing needed backing tofinish the very narrow and dangerouswagon road that Watson had promoted.

Rumors of great wealth tumbled outof the caverns of the Empire Mine anddown into central California. One reportstated that the huge walls of the naturaland man made caves were "one solidmass of rich silver rock." How these talesbegan has never been known, but thesimple fact that Fowler died a sick, broke,and exhausted man lead some to believelie had risked all on a mag nificen t fairy-

communities in this high valley wereghost towns. Gradually the winter snowscrushed the buildings until today onlythe old butcher house remains.

In later years, various explorations andassays further discredited the wild declar-ations of the "silver fever" era in Visaliaand Porterville.Amid all of this commotion over silver,no one heard Wiley Watson's comment

regarding tourists and these remarkablemountains. But now, at long last, WaltDisney has picked up this train ofthought and turned it into a thrillingproject.Today, the Mineral King district isbordered on three sides by Sequoia Na-

Aii artist's rendering of proposed ski lifts and trails in the new Walt D isney resort.To preserve alpine setting, autom obiles will not be allowed in Mineral King district.tale and then failed to make it come true.

Mineral King reached its zenith in1879. Hundreds of people were comingind going and at the close of the year,when the snow began to fly, the minerswere more hopeful than ever before. Butin the following summer, dreams faded.The mountains didn't glitter as they hadpreviously. Inadequate smelting processesprevented the mines from paying off. Thezinc blends in the limestone would notyield galena in rich enough proportions.Fowler went bankrupt and other investorstightened their purse strings, consideringthe area too great a risk. The ore was notas rich as had been supposed. The blendsof minerals made smelting too difficultto pay.The boom town died quickly. By 1882,the Beulah, Silver City and Mineral King

tional Forest. "Its high ridges, uniformsnow conditions and breathtaking vistasmake it potentially the finest ski area inthe United States," says Disney. Carefuland imaginative planning will preservethe natural atmosphere of this wildernesswhile opening it to the growing popula-tion that is increasingly seeking oppor-tunities for outdoor recreation. Includedin this planning are ten basic guidelineswhich Mr. Disney and his staff intend tofollow in the development. They are:

I. Visitor automobiles will not enterthe valley floor, but will park at the val-ley entry. Otherwise Mineral King'sunique flavor could be destroyed. Con-tinuous transportation on the valley floorwill be by a new conveyance systemaesthetically compatible with the Alpinesetting.

2. A centralized village will be locatedat the lower end of the Mineral Kingvalley. It will be convenient to all visitorsentering the area, architecturally blend-ing in with the terrain but with a mini-mum of interference with ski develop-ment .

3. A dominant goal is to preserve oneof the nation's most scenic Alpine andoutdoor recreational areas in its naturalstate while making it available for morethan a limited few to enjoy.4. The natural attractions of the entirearea and certain facilities, such as warm-ing huts, ski lounges, picnic areas, trails,

etc., will be enjoyed by the public with-out charge.

5. Clean, healthful fun and entertain-ment for all age levels, compatible withan outdoor recreational area, will be pro-vided in the village area.6. A pricing structure will be main-tained whereby such basic needs as food

and lodging will be relatively inexpensive,particularly for families and summertourists.7. Development will facilitate enjoy-ment of Mineral King's wilderness andsuch outstanding natural features of thearea as its mountain peaks and snow-

fields, hot springs and other mineralizedsprings, lakes, natural limestone caverns,waterfalls, cool summer temperatures, etc.8. Mineral King can become the na-tion's outstanding winter sports area.Skiers will have a variety of terrain, ski

runs, and facilities unequaled in the nor-thern hemisphere. Other winter visitorswill have their own area to engage in avariety of snow play activities.9. No development is needed for sum-mer visitors to enjoy Mineral King exceptto provide basic facilities such as food,lodging if desired, hiking trails, picnicgrounds, campgrounds, etc.

10 . By day visitors will be able tospread out over the miles of forests,mountains, and snowfields without crowd-ing any area. By night Mineral King mustbe able to accommodate thousands of peo-ple in a cluster of essential buildings andfacilities, leaving the forests and moun-tains to the wildlife.

Never before has such an ambitiousrecreational project been attempted inthe High Sierras. Now, almost a centuryafter its founding, Mineral King's hiddenpaylode has been discovered and claimedby Walt Disney. And certainly there isno one who would do more to maintainthe reverence of the wilderness whileopening the area to nature lovers fromeverywhere.

1 8 / D e s e r t Ma g a z i n e / J u l y , 1 9 6 6


19/40

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20/40

The Magic of Bajaby Choral Pepper

Editor of DESERT Magazine

,

7 he only tracks along Co rdon Boulevard were our own. Never before have wheels crossed this land.

WE WERE floating across sanddunes in J. W. Black's Chapu-l ino. Fields of verbena stretched as far aswe could see. The air was still, the purpledunes endless, time non-existent.

The French have a word for it. Noother language says it quite so well. Theword is le moment. It's spelled the sameas in English, but it isn't pronounced thesame, nor does it have the same connota-tion. Le Moment stands alone, isolatedin Time. It 's a spell of extraordinaryawareness when each sense vibrates to itspurest intensity.

My life has been blessed with splendid

moments . . . not too many, or theywouldn't hold the magic they do, but, per-haps, more than most because I live it sohard. I remember a moment on the Isle ofCrete when I stood transfixed beside apalace wall of the Knossos ruins. TheGreeks say their air is magic. I believethis. The warmth of the sun on my skin,the silence of 4000 years underfoot, thecerulean sky, the hum of a bee, the mysticclarity of the airthis created Le Mo-ment. Now, wherever or whenever Istand in warm sunlight and hear the buzzof a bee, I 'm transported to that momentin Crete.

I don't know what makes such mo-

ments. They contain nothing relevant,really, unless being ecstatically in tunewith your environment is relevant, butwhatever it is, Baja, like Crete, is a creatorof moments. I think Baja's air is magic,too.

We had left Bahia de los Angeles onthe road going south which, on all maps,dead-ends at the old Las Flores ore mill.Before departing, Uncle Erie told AnteroDiaz, proprietor of the resort there, thatwe hoped to find some trace of the tracksleft by his 1962 expedition when, afterdays of moving boulders and winchingcars out of holes, he'd managed to breakthrough the rugged terrain from Las

2 0 / D e s e r t Ma g a z i n e / J u l y , 1 9 6 6


21/40

Part Two of a Six-part SeriesExclusive report on recent Erie Stanley Gardner Expedition

to Baja California made byHiller Fairchild helicopters, Grasshoppers, and 4-wheel drives

With Grasshopp ers, we climbed the mother-of-pearl wall depo sited by eons of turbulent seas.

Instead, he shrugged and said, "TrucksLater, when Uncle Erie discussed our

ian guide from Bahia de los Angelesitions and who joined us now, Ynez alsoshrugged."You know this route?" Erie asked.

Ynez nodded."It's being used?" Erie prodded."Tracks," Ynez said.Well, this was a blow. Here wethought we had a story in being first tobreak a new trail and now we learn it's aregular truck route! Things had changedsince 1962 when, following the Gardnerbreakthrough, the Automobile Club triedto map it, but turned back after the first22 miles.Nevertheless, we consoled ourselves,touristas don't know about it yet and with

the route so well established, we couldtravel faster and have more time to ex-plore in the Grasshoppers, which we were

now calling by their Mexican name,Chaptdinos.Our caravan whizzed along at about 15miles an hour to Las Flores. With theaddition of Ynez to our party, there weredrivers for all trucks so J. W. Black and Iunhitched one of the Chapulinos and tra-veled in it.J. W. has improved this vehicle sinceintroducing it on our search for the JohnNummel mine in Arizona last year (DES-ERT, April 1965). Now its roll bar sup-ports a red and white striped canopy to

cut the sun and a windshield provideswind protection. I can't imagine any tripmore fascinating than one covering theJuly, 1966 / Desert Mag azine / 21


22/40

Richard Castillo asked this couple at Las Animas Baj w here ire might dig clams. Theylive here entirely isolated from civilization, even distilling their own water. Belowright is their ranch where the] keep goats, chickens and a few pigs.

Above. George fee climbs aboard the old engine at Las Vlores. Below, we dug fcclams which ice steamed back at camp.

full length of Baja in a Grasshopper.Their bucket seats are comfortable, theycarry a fair-size load on back, their mile-age is remarkable, they don't requirewater, they are so light they never bogdown and, with four-wheel suspension,they float over the roughest of roads. J.W.manufactures them at his plant in Para-dise, California, and also sells plans($10) and parts so that you can constructyour own. O f all the vehicles J. W. hasinvented for Gardner expeditions, thisone is best.

In 1889 the ore mill at Las Flores wasthe center of English and Americanmining and about $2 million worth ofsilver ore was processed here. Interestingrelics are scattered about, but much hasbeen stripped from them to provide metaland wood for other purposes. J. W. Blackknows a great deal about Las Flores andwill do a DESERT story about it for afuture issue. W e poked our heads into theold jailhouse and took some photos, thenset off again on the road. It didn't appearto be well-traveled, but as yet we didn'tdoubt its reputation as a "truck route."That didn't occur to us until we'd coveredabout 20 miles of it . Then we began towonder. Cardon crowded the sides of theruts and spiny branches of Palo Adam,which looks like an ocotillo with a trunk,broke against the cars. Considering thewide loads Baja trucks carry, this made ussuspicious.

At the end of 30 miles, the trail grewso thin we couldn't distinguish it with cer-tainty. Sam Hicks, a natural born tracker,picked out signs of tire treads from theformer Gardner expedi t ion. "No one hasbeen further than this," he said, empha-tically.

Still , Ynez was our guide. Courtesyprevented us from doubting him verbally.

"Let 's make camp here," Uncle Eriedirected. W e stopped w here we were andwhile the boys popped up tents for Jeanand me and unloaded gear, we combedthe area for firewood. "If this isn'tenough," Erie puffed, dragging up adead mesquite trunk, "I ' l l sit by a candle."

When the smoke curled high and con-versation grew mellow, Uncle Erie turnedto Ynez. "Ynez," he said, "just when wasit that truck drivers used this route?"

Ynez studied the stars while he pon-dered. "I think it was to bring equipmentinto the mill at Las Flores," he recalled."Maybe once about 1940."

"Remarkable memory, these Mexicanshave," someone muttered. Diaz, too, hadrecalled the event as though it were yes-terday !

On the fol lowing morning, explora-22 / Desert Ma gazin e / July, 1966


23/40

t . W e figured that sooner

Our Chapulino took off down a broad

e followed the wash until i t grew

From the top of a dune we saw oneother arrived. W e

he dunes swept against the lava moun-ains and an ancient watercourse led outto the sea. Wind caves gaped from theirnaked sides and the floor of the brief can-canyon was a jumble of rocks, but theChapulinos took it all in stride and sooncarried us to the fringe of a vast saltmarsh. Up ahead a blinking hillockflashed silver in the sun. W e thoug ht ita trick of heat waves, but i t wasn't . It wasa bank of irridescent mother-of-pearloyster shells deposited by eons of turbu-lent sea . We drove the Chapul inos up thebank, over shells and all . On the oppositeside it dropped steeply into the sea. Tonsof sand-polished pebbles lay under thesurf and we picked up fine specimens ofchalcedony and agate among the shells.We didn' t dig for c lams, though. Thiswasn't the place for that.Upon returning to camp via a differentroute, we crossed faint signs of an oldroad which appeared to lead toward thesea somewhat north of us. Our guess wasit started near Las Flores and led to Bahiade las Animas, a primitive port occasion-ally visited by boats from Bahia de losAngeles. Still hopeful of a clambake, weset forth the next day to find out.After again crossing the verbena dunes,

we entered wild lava country where an-cient trails led nowhere, but here andthere appeared threads of our road. Thenit grew firm, leading to the apex of ahill which, as we'd guessed, overlooked

/ . W. Black examines ingenious still which turns sea tvater into fresh w ater, as des-cribed in story.beautiful Las Animas beach and bay. Aswe approached a thicket of mesquite nearthe beach, we heard an oink. Not know-ing whether wild javelina oink or not, Iwarned Ricardo, with whom I rode, toslow down. But I guess he knows hisswine better than I because he ignored mywarning and charged right into themiddle of a farmyard where two pet pigsbathed in the sun.

Only because of a beach shack onwhich someone had nailed a factitioussign reading "Animas Hil ton " did weknow where we were. The couple wholived in the poor, but immaculatelyclean, house and cared for the pigs,chickens, dogs and goats were as resource-ful a couple as you'll ever meet. Thewater from a nearby spring was all rightfor stock, they told us, but not forhumans, so they'd contrived a sea waterstill from two large oil drums which isso ingenious it deserves a description.

One oil drum, the larger, is used as aboiler; the other as a condenser. Theboiler, mounted on a pile of rocks, isfilled about % full of sea water and a fireis built under it . All openings in thedrum are tightly sealed with mud plugs.When the sea water is heated to the boil-ing point, steam rises in a vapor andpasses through a copper tube sealed withmud into the boiler outlet which extendsfrom it into the condenser drum, whichis filled with cold sea water. Here thevapor condenses back into liquid as itpasses through the copper tube and out

of the drum into a glass jug. This liquid,of course, is pure w ater. W ith their wa tersituation solved, the couple lives the mostidyllic life imaginable, if you can imaginea totally isolated existence.

Th e bay h ere con sists of a semi-circularsweep of fine white sand protected bypink and white dunes reaching out intothe sea. The rancher has a pongo for hisown use, but there's a rock pier for thelarger vessel of his patron, a gentlemanfrom Mexicali who owns the ranch andoccasionally comes down to fish. W easked the rancher to accompany us to agood place to dig for clams and he tookus to an estero about 1/j mile down thebeach. After an hour or so of digging, wereturned with our community bucket onlyhalf full . Meanwhile, his wife had col-lected twice as many right in front of thehouse. We'd asked the wrong personwhere to dig! In Mexico it 's the womenwho do that kind of labor.

Bruce Barron spotted it first, the primi-tive dam among rocks and dead trees.Then someone noticed a scraggly datepalm standing alone. Usually they growin groves and this one was relativelyyoung. "Must have sprouted from seedsdropped by dead ones," someone re-marked.We left our Chapulinos and climbedinto the ravine where remnants of a damonce held water in a natural reservoir. Anancient wall, half-buried in sand, angledfrom the dam and stretched in brokensections across the level valley. Then,

July, 1966 / Desert Mag azine / 23


24/40

horn the other end, a similar wall serpen-tined up the side of a steep mountain. Itwas easy to miss, as the stones werecoated with desert varnish and meldedinto the rocky terrain. The upper parts ofdie wall, constructed above a thicker base,remained in only a few places. The topof the mountain appeared flat, but thesides were steep and from where westood, we could only guess at a structureon top."Let ' s go," Ricardo shouted, whi le therest of us contemplated the steep climbin the warm sun.

"I think it 's just a corral," Bruce de-cided."Heluva place to put a corral!" UncleErie observed, considering the prospectof lugging the large rocks up the steepincline."Yeah," Bruce agreed, starting uphill

alongside the wall."I stil l think it 's a corral, though," hisvoice floated down from midpoint alongthe path.But why wouldn't the walls in the val-

ley have held the animals, I questioned, ifall these miles of rock wall were meantonly as a corral? I had to agree with

Uncle Erie. Curious, I took off up thehill . Somehow, I felt we'd discoveredsomething interesting. And I stil l thinkso . I think this is the old Jesuit missionof Santa Maria Magdalena, which wasbegun and never finished!

In the first place, it was an enormouslyambitious project, much more than theIndians native to Baja would have under-taken on their own. Then, the rocks onthe walls were heavily coated with desertvarnish, all of i t deposited on the uppersides. Judging from what scientists knowof desert varnish, it forms exceedinglyslow and in less than several hundredyears the tops of all these rocks wouldn'thave tanned to the same degree. On theplateau at the top of the mountain, thewall continued around the edge, but inseveral areas there were large piles ofrock which appeared to have fallen, orhave been knocked down, from a largerstructure.

One thing that surprised us here wasrock rings grouped in a colony at the farend of the plateau, some with adjoiningopenings as if to designate separate rooms.We've seen prehistoric Indian rock ringsin desert areas of the Southwest, buthaven't found any in Baja, although this

may be because we haven't exploredwhere they're found. Eroded clam shellslay among the rings, further evidence ofhuman populat ion.

Where the water came from that wasdammed below, we can't imagine, but inview of the extensive walls in the valleyand the number of huge old trees, manyof them dead, there must have been alive spring here at one time. And, sincethe walls of the valley were designed toconfine cattle, that, along with the datepalm, is indicative of early missionarydirection.

So here is the reason behind my think-ing.After a num ber of Indian insurrectionsand the destruction of mission properties

in 1742, the King of Spain ordered apresidio erected and instructed the Coun-cil of the Indies to propose a plan for thepacification of the whole Baja Californiaterritory. As a result , four recommenda-tions were made, which King Philip Vaccepted and embodied in a decree dated1744. These stated that missionary workshould continue in charge of the Jesuits;that colonies of Spaniards should befounded near all convenient ports andprotected by military posts; that to make

Uncle Erie, in the lead, waits where the road ends where we'll plot a course into unmapped terrain.24 / Desert Magazine / July, 1966


25/40

of a wall and a datn.doubt upon this idea, but in turn there'sso much doubt cast upon the referencesthat they can hardly discredit the possi-bility. In Camp and Camino in LowerCalifornia published in 1910, authorNorth writes of visiting the ruins of theJesuit mission chapel of Santa Maria dela Magdalena about six miles south ofSanta Rosalia. However, Gerhard andGulick in their superb Loiver CaliforniaGuidebook refer to these same ruins asthose of the Magdalena chapel built bythe Dominicans in 1774. They don't referto them as a mission at all, which makesgood sense, as the Dominicans didn'teven get to Baja until 1773 and theirfirst mission, established in 1774, wasmuch further north and on the Pacificcoast. It's possible that the Jesuits began

It was from this report, dated 1745,

Mision de Santa Mariameans "begun" )Gulf. More-

scan order after

Judging from the ruins in the isolated

ut for a military p ost and it

ision de Santa Maria Magdalena wasnstituted, Fr. Consag was interested inthe Gulf coast, hoping to establish land

There are a few references which cast

On the mesa at the top w e found ancientrock rings.

the Santa Maria de la Magdalena missionon the Gulf slightly above 29 degrees,as indicated on their 1757 map, and thenabandoned the project and moved it southto the 27th paral le l where Arthur Northreported his ruins in 1910, but becausefurther reference to this mission is ignor-ed in other records of importance, I 'minclined to believe the ruins south of San-ta Rosalia never were a mission, but in-stead are those of an early Dominicanchapel estab lished to. serve rancheritasand mines in the productive Magdalenaand Santa Rosalia mining area.

As the days passed by, we exploredother enigmas, by land and by helicopter.This was only the beginning of the ErieStanley Gar dne r expedition of 19 66!

To be continued.

The author is great at finding chip pings, but never comes up with a whole arroivhead!July, 1966 / Desert Mag azine / 25


26/40

The Angel was a MuleBy Frank M . Scott

ONE OF the st rangest roundups everwitnessed was held in the deserteast of Caliente, Nevada.This was whenmembers of the Nat ional Mustang Asso-ciation captured O ld Wh itey, a mule w itha living legend.

The legend begins in the mid-'40swhen Nevada cowboys t rapped, ropedand rounded up wild mustang for pack-ing houses which used the animals for

dog and cat food. Old Whitey, as he iscalled, was caught on several occasions,but released to the hills because of abrand resepected by his captors. OldWhitey had been branded in 1911 whenthe Union Pacific Railroad used him as apack mule to carry supplies into remotesections.

Local residents and cowboys who havewitnessed the fabulous feats of this muleattest to his age of 53 years. Before massroundups conducted by airplanes were

outlawed, Old Whitey assumed theaspects of a quadruped guardian angel byleading mustang herds into primitiveareas where the cowboys couldn't findthem.

Recently the mythical white mule be-came a reality when Tom Holland, presi-dent of the Mustangers, and his groupwere riding in the rolling hills near EcclesFlat on an outing for their organization.Ivan Hunt, a Utah rancher, roped theanimal and brought him to the Calientestockyards and sure enough, a faint U.P.brand was stil l apparent on the right fore-neck of the mule.

Ironic as it may seem, Old Whitey hascontinued to roam in an area near thetracks of the Union Pacific where he onceworked. Tom Holland said, "Accordingto available information, we feel the muleis probably the oldest in the world and Icontribute his longevity to his freedom,fine climatic conditions with mild wintersand having to forage for his food."

Mustanging, not a new sport to cow-boys, is gaining recognition as a spectatorsport. Observers gather in 4-wheel drivevehicles, motorscooters, campers andpickups to watch cowboys and horses rollhell-bent over rocks, shrubs and cactichasing the elusive animals. Although themustang is now protected by law againstslaughter and capture, the National Mus-tang Association has permission to capturesome of the males and replace them withupgraded males in order to improve andprotect this last of the Wild West animalsfrom extinction.

After Old Whitey was captured andbrought to the Caliente Stockyards, hewas kept overnight, fed and photo-graphed, then released to run with hismustang friends until he is again spottedby a hard riding cowboy with an inquisi-tive mind and a desire for a rough ride.Mustang hunts are conducted in theCaliente area by the Caliente Chamber of

Commerce and the Nat ional MustangAssociation. They feature trail rides withsourd ough breakfasts and cookouts.

26 / Desert Magazine / J uly, 1966


27/40

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by DOROTHY ROBERTSONKN O C K - KNOCK! Mos t peop lewould be tempted to ask: " W h o ' sthere?" But not the hardrock miner.H e knows who's knocking behind thewalls of his mine.One miner may shiver and mutter,

"Tommyknockers !"Another may stop, listen a momentthen smile, "Tommyknockers."Every miner is familiar with the fableof these small gnomes or trollsthosefellows around two feet high, caricaturesof men, and having pointed ears andgreat, long noses.In Medieval times these little creatureswere a part of Old Country life. Some-times they were prankish, sometimeshelpful. They were also supposed tobe hardworking. Thus the men who

worked deep underground for the earth'streasures accounted for thestrange noises,thumps, squeaks, clinks and clanks thatsounded occasionally at odd hours , andwere not to be explained away.In Germany these creatures were call-ed kobolds. In Cornwall, they wereknown as tommyknockers. Cornishmen,working their tin mines along the wild,sea-swept northwest coast of England,were especially susceptible to the idea ofthese supernatural sprites they called thetommyknockers, for their country, wild

and isolated as it was, kept them hill-bound and cloistered for centuries, sothat their myths and legends became awa y of life.To avoid the tommyknockers' ill-will,a Cornish miner would leave a bit of hisdinner behind as an offering. Sometimesthe tommyknocker would reward thethoughtful giver by tapping at a certainspot on a hanging-wall . This would, pre-sumably, turn out to prove a rich, ore-bearing vein.O n the other hand, many a miner be-

lieved the knocking to be a friendlywarn ing of coming trouble, or even tobe ominous, a warn ing of impendingdeath due to rockfalls or an accidentin themine.Dur ing our Gold Rush days of '49,there was an influx of Cornish minerswho came to be called Cousin Jacks. Asis natural, the Cousin Jacks' belief intommyknockers soon spread among themining fraternity, reaching as far asMontana and Coloradowherever, as amatter of fact, the miner dug his wayinto the bowels of the earth for treasure.O ur own Death Valley was not ex-empt. Many a miner here will admit to

hearing the strange tapping and knock-ing noises, the just-heard footfalls, thealmost-heard whispers of strange voices;but naturally, no one will ever admit toseeing any of the little gnomes.Back in 1927 my friend Everett was

working in the old Johnnie Mine, 30miles east of Death Valley Junction (andbelieved by many to be the old lost Brey-fogle mine) when a literally hair-raisingevent occurred.Everett and his side-kick Bill Dole hadgone down to the 200-foot level, thenmade their way into the long 1800-footdrift to put in a round of shots. Themany bends or drifts in the tunnels ofa mine help to deaden the s o u n d ofblasting and soften concussion. Froma safe 400 or 500-foot distance Everett

and Bill stopped to count the shots. Asthe last shot died away they turned toleave." It was pitch dark down there," Ev-erett remembered, "and the only lightcame from our own mucker's lamps. Onthe walls ahead of us flickered eerielittle pinpoints of lights, and then therewould be a sudden splatter of fallingstones. It was weird, but we weren ' treally scared because we knew what itwasour lamps reflected in the eyes ofmice."Then all of a sudden we heard foot-steps walking along behind us. I re-member how Bill's jaw dropped. "Youreckon Dick was back in there when weshot off those rounds? ' he worried. ButI d idn ' t see how anyone could have beenback in there. There wasn ' t any otherwa y in except along the drift we were inourselves."Pretty soon we heard footsteps run-ning behind us, and then a rumblingdeep down in the earth . 'Earthquake! '

Bill said, but we couldn't feel the slight-est movement or t remor. We heard thoserunning steps come right up behind us,then stop. Our lamps showed absolutelyno th ing!"Everett looked sheepish. "You know,my hair stood straight up on my head!" ,he said. "We'dheard those blamed foot-steps running right up to us as clear asday, then bam! nothing!"" H o w do you account for it?" I

asked.Everet t grinned, "Well , there are a

lo t of miners around would have beenpretty sure what it was. Tommyknockers!"

28 / Desert Magazine / Ju ly , 1966


29/40

S W E D E P E T E ' S P I C K .by Kenneth Marquiss

WELLS/ i

EL ICO

fCeld Creek Ranchabout herePete'sapprex. route

There's a lot of empty countrypart of Nevada. this

M OST LOST mine directions arera ther nebulous, but this one hasa sign that undoubtedly stil l points rightat it. Thetrick is to find thes ign!I first heard of the lost ledge of ame-thystine quartz (speckled with yellowslugs bigenough to seeafter sun-down),when Dad and I were leasing in centralNevada back in the hungry part of the' 3 0 s . That version was toofilmsy to chaseand besides, myt ires, grub box andbudg-et were in the same condition, even ifthe story had been stronger. It wasn' tuntil recent years that I again cut the trailof Swede Pete and his bonanza rock. Forportions of this , I am indebted to long-time lawman Stanley Fine and to CharleyVaccaro, both of Eureka. Charley is asoft spoken, un

196607 desert magazine 1966 july

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