oracle oaks grand meet the festival marshals · 2016. 4. 12. · reiki sessions with dawn weiss...
TRANSCRIPT
ORACLE OAKSFESTIVAL
WILD WEST DAYS IN ORACLE
APRIL 23, 2016
MEET THEGRANDMARSHALS
pages 10-11
2 | Oracle Oaks Festival www.oraclecommunitycenter.org April 23, 2016
Welcome to the 31st Annual Oracle Oaks Festival“Wild West Days in Oracle”
BACK TO BACK CHIROPRACTIC
www.back-to-backchiropractic.com
Meggan A. Medley, R.N., D.C.
15615 N. ORACLE RD., #135TUCSON, AZ 85739
TELEPHONE: (520) 818-3774FAX: (520) 818-3775
CELL: (520) 975-1359
Cody WilkinsonBranch Manager
15883 N. Oracle Rd., Catalina, AZ 85739PO Box 37170, Tucson, AZ 85740
Office: 520-825-1114 • Fax: 520-825-2109email: [email protected]
Greetings . . . Every spring our community comes together to celebrate everything from our oak trees and landscapes to our diverse personalities and passions. This year is no different as the Oracle Community Center once again hosts our annual Oaks Festival. Our theme this year is “Wild West Days in Oracle” honoring some of the wild west characters that have passed through our town and made their mark one way or the other. Start the day with breakfast inside the Center – then cheer at the festival parade, enjoy browsing booths, make a bid in our silent auction, and treat the kids to a cakewalk or games all day. Stay for lunch and enjoy music at our outdoor stage under the shade. There’s lots to see and do throughout the day all over Oracle. Check out the Library sale, Oracle State Park, the Car Show, as well as local shops and restaurants.
April 23, 2016 www.oraclecommunitycenter.org Oracle Oaks Festival | 3
Charlotte’s WayLow-Cost Spay & Neuter • Pet Adoptions • Rescues
Cher: [email protected]
••••• Car Show Route- - - - Parade Route
A - (Village Square) Start of Car Show.
B - (St. Helen’s) Start of Oaks Festival Parade.
C - (Oracle Inn) Parade Announcing
D - (near Post Office) Oaks Festival Parade Finish
E - (OCC) Announce Oaks Festival Parade Winners (2pm)
Parade Map Legend
PARADE PRE-LINEUP begins between 8:00-9:30 a.m. as follows:• On-foot or on-hoof entries and bicycles lineup at St. Helen Catholic Church.• Motorized vehicles and floats lineup at Village Square Car Wash. • Actual parade starts at 10:00 a.m. Length is 2.5 miles on paved American Ave. • Pre-Judging will begin at 8:30 a.m. at St. Helen for bicycles, on-foot and on-hoof entries and at 9:00 a.m. at the Car Wash for other parade entries.
Get all application forms, view Parade Map and further details on our website:www.OracleCommunityCenter.org
Oracle Oaks Festival Parade, Saturday, April 23
& Art GalleryGallery
Claire JohnsonChef/Owner
Stephen JohnsonCEO
Simply Wonderful Food
16140 N. Oracle Rd., Catalina • (520) 825-2525
Michelle Gonzales-Castro101 McNab Pkwy., San Manuel385-2231 • Fax 385-2417
4 | Oracle Oaks Festival www.oraclecommunitycenter.org April 23, 2016
Oracle Oaks Festival Schedule of Events6:30-10:30 a.m. ..................Oracle Pancake or Burro Breakfast inside Oracle Community Center (OCC).6:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. ............Silent Auction (inside OCC). Winners announced between 2:30-3:00pm. You must be present to win.7 a.m.-4 p.m. ....................... Several authors with their books for sale will on the right side of the Center. Buy a book or just stop to chat. More information in this
paper or go online: www.OracleCommunityCenter.org9 a.m.-3 p.m. ........................Oracle Public Library Book Sale (at the Library). Includes famous $3-per-bag sale from 2-3 p.m. 9:30 a.m. .............................2016 Spring Car Run starts at the Village Square.10 a.m. .................................The 31st Annual Oracle Oaks Festival Parade. This year’s theme is “Wild West Days in Oracle.” The parade starts at St. Helen
Roman Catholic Church and ends near the Oracle Post Office. Parade entries will be pre-judged before they march in the parade. Watch for their ribbons! Go to our website for parade map, application forms and more info: (www.OracleCommunityCenter.org)
10 a.m.-4 p.m. .....................Various Arts & Crafts, Information & Food Booths located in the midway, in front of the OCC.10 a.m.-4 p.m. .....................Kids’ activities throughout the site, lots of kid’s games, cakewalk, beanbag toss, Firewise info and souvenirs.10 a.m.-4 p.m. .....................OCC Photo Booth outside OCC, bring your cell phone, and take pics in front of the board!11 a.m.-2 p.m. ......................Lunch inside OCC featuring burros with beans and rice.11 a.m.-2 p.m. .......................Cakewalk inside OCC. Yum!11 a.m.-6 p.m. .......................Musicians will be playing at the OCC outdoor main stage. See lineup on page 6 or check their bios on website.
Family FirstPregnancy Care Centerand Family Diaper Bank, INCHelping Mothers, Youth and Families
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• Band Night • Whole Pies• Local Artists Display & Sales
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April 23, 2016 www.oraclecommunitycenter.org Oracle Oaks Festival | 5
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Past Grand Marshals of theOracle Oaks Festival Parade
1986 - Nancy Terry1987 - Don Hartman1988 - Agnes Ramsay1989 - Senator Pete Rios1990 - Red Hildreth1991 - Edna May Hendrickson1992 - Glenn & Louise Mortimer1993 - Jo Flieger1994 - Wilma Huggett1996 - William Buzan1997 - Waymon Totty1998 - Pat & Carrie Gaona2000 - Minnie Huffman2001 - John Ronquillo
2002 - Molly Clark2003 - Reg & Gloria Ramsay2004 - Nancy Patten2005 - Mark & Rita Baird2006 - Wanda Thompson2007 - Roy & Jane Taylor2008 - Jack & Pat Egan2009 - Armand & Ellie Mattausch2010 - Bill & Marion Wood2011 - Bill & Anne Blomquist2012 - Margaret Guyton2013 - Darrell Klesch2014 - Bob & Shirley Cannon2015 - Bob & Jessie Miller
6 | Oracle Oaks Festival www.oraclecommunitycenter.org April 23, 2016
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Celebrating Our First Anniversary
Saturday, April 23rdCome in and help us celebrate
Hamburgers, Burros, Tacos,Sonoran Hot Dogs
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Dale’sAuto Collision Center
Hours: M-F 9 a.m.-5 p.m.140 8th Ave., San Manuel
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Annie’s Hair Studio“Specializing in Just You!”
Annie NavarroOwner/Stylist
Steve ChavezBarber/Stylist
896-9707360 American Ave, Oracle, AZ 85623
Annie’s Hair Studio
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Guyton’sCarpet Tile & Grout
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Oracle Oaks Festival Music Lineup11 a.m. ........Matt Bruner Noon ..........Ron Walker 1 p.m. ..........Kathy Kolmer 2 p.m. .........Ron Pandy3 p.m. .........Rocky Martinez4 p.m. .........John Huntington with Steve Priestle5 p.m. .........Open Jam
www.OracleCommunityCenter.orgVisit the website for more information on the musicians.
John Huntington, Zoomer, Jamie, and Steve Priestly in 2015.
April 23, 2016 www.oraclecommunitycenter.org Oracle Oaks Festival | 7
Oaks Festival – Saturday, April 23rdCome watch the parade from our patio:Enjoy the Outside Bar, BBQ and Food Specials!
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Join us forAuthentic German Food2nd weekend of every month
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Wednesdays:Pool Tourneys (6:30pm)2-for-1 Drinks All Day!
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This is an old story I sold many times many years ago, including to the joke page of Arizona Highways but it is not my story, this is an old cowboy joke. Exactly how old no one is certain but when I sold it to one western magazine somebody sent in a letter to the editor saying that they had heard the story in Wyoming in 1929. I hope you like it. Once upon a time there was a parcel out west filled with a bunch of sheepherders that was having a terrible coyote predation problem. As the numbers of their flock dwindled the sheepherders went to the government requesting a solution to their problem. The government responded by sending out a university intellectual egghead bureaucrat kind of guy. The egghead called a town meeting and invited all the sheepherders to attend. The problem, he said, is that coyotes are sensitive breeders. The number of pups in a coyote litter can vary anywhere from two to fourteen coyotes; depending on the circumstances. Therefore it is almost impossible to eradicate the coyote population by hunting them. They just make more coyotes in a hurry. We can try leaving poisoned meat out, but either the coyotes figure it out real quick or the ones that survive breed like rabbits. Therefore, the university intellectual egghead bureaucrat kind of guy presented a new sort of plan. To control the coyote population they would still put out baited meat but instead of poison, the meat would be laced with birth control. This would not result in an immediate decline in the coyote
Coyote Birth Control
EVERY MAN’S MUSINGSBy Gary Every
population but in the long run it would put a stop to the sheepherders problems. To drive home his point, the university intellectual egghead bureaucrat lectured on and on with lots of research cleverly displayed with charts and graphs filled with circles and arrows and little paragraphs on the back describing each one. While the dumbfounded sheepherders looked on, the egghead bureaucrat began to talk about coyote fertility by age, coyote love urges by elevation, coyote sex drive according to season, coyote romantic interest conveyed by the phases of the moon, coyote horniness by time of day… At last one of the frustrated sheepherders raised his hand and interrupted the longwinded lecture. “Excuse me sir,” the sheepherder said, “All this talk about coyote romance is fine but when those coyotes catch our sheep all they want to do is eat them.”
8 | Oracle Oaks Festival www.oraclecommunitycenter.org April 23, 2016
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The town of Oracle was founded in 1880. In 1912, the economic development of Oracle and the surrounding areas relied mainly on ranching, health-seekers, tourists and mining. William Fredrick “Buffalo Bill” Cody was one of the more famous prospectors who were seeking their fortune in the hills surrounding Oracle. His mine was the Campo Bonito camp. News of Buffalo Bill and his mine were reported in the Arizona newspapers of the time as well as events in and around Oracle. The following news about Oracle appeared in Arizona newspapers in 1912:February 21, 1912 Bisbee Daily Review For a visit to the Camp Bonito mine, near Oracle, Mr. and Mrs. W.F. Cody arrived in Tucson last week, accompanied by I.W. Getchell, consulting engineer, and Mike Russel, who is connected with “Buffalo Bill” in the management of his Wyoming enterprises. Lieutenant General Nelson A. Miles, who was to have accompanied the Cody’s to Tucson, was prevented from doing so by sudden indisposition, but hopes to join them within a few days and visit the Campo Bonito mine. The party left for Oracle yesterday.May 5, 1912 Bisbee Daily Review The Campo Bonito mine at Oracle the property of “Buffalo Bill Cody and D. B. Dyer of Kansas City, has been closed down
temporarily. It is stated that Col. Cody has spent $100,000 on the property since he took hold of it.August 28, 1912 Weekly Journal-Miner As a result of a duel fought about a week ago with guns near Campo Bonito not far from Oracle, Jose Ramirez has been given a hearing before the Justice of the Peace at Oracle and held to the grand jury of Pinal County while Thomas Torres, who was shot three times and clubbed with a gun, is missing but is believed to be on the road to recovery, possibly in Tucson.May 21, 1912 Bisbee Daily Review It is planned in Tucson to expend the sum of $1,000 in improving the highway from that city to Oracle. Oracle which has an elevation 2,000 feet more than Tucson, is rapidly becoming the summer home of Tucsonans who own automobiles, and good roads are an important factor to it.June 23, 1912 Between 40 and 50 families have left Tucson within the last month for the cool heights of the Catalinas, according to H. King of Hayhurst and King. The season at Oracle has begun and 20 families are there enjoying the cool breezes that sweep down from the majestic peaks of the Catalina range.June 2, 1912 Tombstone Epitaph The record price for one year old steers was secured at Tucson by J.M. Ronstadt for a herd of 700 Arcade cattle which were The Mountain View Hotel in Oracle.
Oracle in 1912 and the Newssold to W. O’Brien of Hereford, Texas, at $22 per head. These cattle were from the ranches of Col. Sturgis and J.M. Ronstadt, both of them located in Oracle.March 3, 1912 Tombstone Epitaph
With fear of the gallows attributed as the cause, Charles Weeks, the black who killed Ruperto Torres at Oracle, died in a cell in the Pinal County Jail, his terror tormenting him until relieved by death.
April 23, 2016 www.oraclecommunitycenter.org Oracle Oaks Festival | 9
EVERY MAN’S MUSINGSBy Gary Every
XPERT AUTOMOTIVETRY US TODAY.
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Native Americans were the first people on the planet to ever get a glimpse of a horse. When the first Native Americans traversed the exposed land bridge across the Bering Strait, they entered a land which had many strange and beautiful animals but no humans. These large mammals included mammoths, camels, saber toothed cats, and prehistoric horses; tiny ponies which were no more than waist high. The same land bridge which allowed human beings to migrate into North America also let the first horses enter into Asia. The horses encountered by these first Native Americans were simply too small to be domesticated and ridden.
Magic Dogs Ecological conditions on the North American continent quickly changed as the Ice Aged ended and the glaciers retreated. The land bridge of Berengia sank back beneath the ocean. A large group of animals, specifically designed for the Ice Age, went extinct in the hotter drier conditions. This included the tiny prehistoric ponies of North America. The ancestors of all modern horses came from a Mongolian horse, migrants from North America. It is ironic that Native
Americans, the first people on the planet to
glimpse horses, did not get a second
look for over 15,000 years.
When Cortes landed on the shores of
Mexico with an expedition which included 16 horses;
these equines were the first to put their hooves back on the
North American mainland. The De Soto expedition through the
American south in 1539 was a
disaster to all whom it touched and an example of this failure was that out of 214 horses who started with the expedition only 22 returned. Some perished in battle, others from hardships, but many were stolen. The peoples of the southeast were the first mounted Native American warriors. In 1540, the Coronado expedition trudged into the American southwest from Mexico City with an expedition which included over 1600 horses. The expedition chronicler, a man named Castaneda wrote that many of the horses disappeared in the vast Texas plains. Most experts agree that tribes of the southwest; Navajo, Comanche, Pueblo, and Apache, started riding horses by 1550. By 1664 there were written accounts of the people of the Plains coming to the southwest trade fairs with the intention of swapping captives and buffalo robes for horses. Their reputation on horseback and most importantly, their reputation as horse traders earned the Cheyenne the nickname of Painted Pony People. The oral traditions of many different Indian nations credit the
Cheyenne with the introduction of the horse. For many peoples, such as the Sioux or Apache, the horse completely revolutionized their culture. The Lakota chief American Horse told the legend of the Thunder Horse. The Thunder Horse was a huge and monstrous beast who only came to earth during the fiercest
Continued on page 12
10 | Oracle Oaks Festival www.oraclecommunitycenter.org April 23, 2016
Mockbees Chosenas Grand Marshals for Oaks Festival
Tammy and Paul Mockbee have been selected as the Grand Marshals for the 2016 Oaks Festival. The Mockbees have lived in Oracle over 20 years and have been active in the community and helping others. Tammy has been riding and working with horses since she was four years old. She was working at the Miraval Spa and Resort as a riding instructor, horse trainer and a teacher of equestrian classes. At Miraval, she met Patty Green. This chance meeting and a mutual love of horses brought Tammy
By John HernandezCopper Area News
Paul melted my heart
April 23, 2016 www.oraclecommunitycenter.org Oracle Oaks Festival | 11
MARSHALS
Paul and Tammy Mockbee are this year’s Grand Marshals for the Oracle Oaks Festival.
SMALL PACKAGES
Short in stature but big in heart, miniature horses have given hope to
disabled children, seniors, others.
and Patty Green together. An overwhelming desire to help others brought Little Hooves and Big Hearts into existence. LHBH is a therapy program for mentally and physically handicapped kids that uses miniature “therapy” horses. The program has provided therapy to children living with disabilities in the Tri-Community, at no charge. Standing waist-high to a grown up, miniature horses are taken directly into nursing homes, children’s clinics and hospitals. Paul worked 24 years for Texas Instruments. He currently works for Ventana Medical and is the wrangler and maintenance manager for Little Hooves and Big Hearts. Paul was born in Missouri and moved from California to Tucson when he was 13. Tammy was born in Texas and grew up in what is now Continental Ranch in Marana, Arizona. When they were teenagers, they met at Casas Adobes Church and their friendship grew from there. Tammy said it was through the love of her horses that “Paul melted my heart” and to this day they continue to enjoy (the horses). They were married four years later. Tammy was familiar with Oracle as a child. Tammy and her parents enjoyed themselves exploring Peppersauce Canyon and the Oracle area. When Tammy’s parents decided to retire to Oracle, Paul and Tammy chose to move to Oracle with their two baby daughters Diana and Bethany. In 1987, they purchased some land and began building a custom home by hand with Tammy’s father. It was a slow process,
working weekends and after work to get the house built. Tammy said that “a huge joy in their lives is spending time with our six grandchildren, with the seventh one on the way in July.” After moving to Oracle they spent several years as 4-H leaders and are heavily involved in their church. They have always made community outreach and helping others an important part of their lives. You
will often see Paul and Tammy around Oracle, riding their horses or driving in a wagon, a pastime they have enjoyed since their youth and share with their friends and family. Congratulations, Paul and Tammy, on being named the 2016 Oracle Oaks Festival Grand Marshals and thank you for your “Big Hearts” in caring for others and making your community a better place.
12 | Oracle Oaks Festival www.oraclecommunitycenter.org April 23, 2016
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of lightning storms. While the tempest raged, the Thunder Horse would hunt buffalo, killing the shaggy beasts with a single blow of his massive hooves. There was one summer that an entire village was in danger of starvation. All attempts to hunt game had ended in futility. A drought had left the crops parched and withered. The drought was ended with a terrible storm which filled
the sky with thick black clouds, tornadoes, huge hail stones, and a thousand spears of lightning. The Thunder Horse dropped down in a terrible avalanche of speed, muscle, and fury. As the wind wailed with roars of thunder, the magic equine drove a herd of buffalo right through the center of the village, the people were saved. The only domesticated animals that Native Americans possessed before the
arrival of Europeans were dogs so perhaps it is only natural that the word for horse in most native tongues includes the word dog somewhere. The Snake called the horse “Big Dog.” “Ponaka Nikita” or elk like dog was the Blackfoot name. The Sioux referred to the horse as “Shonka Wakon” or Medicine Dog. The Comanche showed their respect by naming the horse Dog God.
A sad example of the importance of the horse in colonial North America took place in 1698. That is when the first public hanging took on the continent. Spanish governor Juan De Onate sentenced two Pueblo men to be hung till dead as punishment for the capital offense of horse thievery. Can you imagine being sentenced for execution for the crime of trying to steal, tame, and ride God?
MAGIC DOGSContinued from page 9
April 23, 2016 www.oraclecommunitycenter.org Oracle Oaks Festival | 13
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30th Annual
ORACLE SPRING
RUN CAR SHOW
Saturday, April 23 Parade at 9:30 am
to the show at Pinal County Courthouse
Park. Awards at 2:30pm.
SEE THE CARS!
www.oraclehistoricalsociety.org • 520-896-9609
The Oracle Historical Society’s (OHS) annual fundraiser, the Spring Run Car Show, will be held Saturday, April 23, 2016. This is the 30th year of the event, which takes place during the Oracle Oaks Festival. The Spring Run is open to all cars, motorcycles and trucks, and participants must pre-register or come to the registration area on the morning of the event. Generous businesses and individuals donate funds to cover Spring Run t-shirt printing and other expenses. The car parade runs through Oracle at 9:30 a.m. and ends at the Pinal County Courthouse parking lot where trophies are awarded at 2:30 p.m.
OHS also sponsors a food booth that is open during the entire event, serving green chile, bean or combo burros, BBQ sandwiches and drinks. All proceeds from the Spring Run and food booth benefit the Oracle Historical Society. The parade and awards ceremony are free to the public, so plan to come see the display of classic, exotic and new vehicles on April 23. If you would like to enter your vehicle in the car show, entry forms are available at CarQuest in Oracle, Dale’s Auto Body in San Manuel, or call 520-896-9609 (leave a message for Margaret). You can also go online to www.cruisinarizona.com.
Annual Oracle Spring Run Car Show planned for April 23
14 | Oracle Oaks Festival www.oraclecommunitycenter.org April 23, 2016
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The gunman rode a dusty trail,saw a sign that read;“Three miles to Buzzard’s Rest”,three miles up ahead.
He didn’t want to stop there,something told him “no”.But the next town was far away,forty miles or so.
His horse was hot and tired,they both could use a rest.On they went and in a while,came to Buzzard’s Rest.
The streets were deadly silent,not the slightest sound.Except the anxious buzzards,circling … circling round.
He didn’t like the feeling,that ran down to his spine.“Don’t be a fool”, he said aloud,“it’s only in your mind.”
The weathered door was open,to the “Aces and Eights Saloon”,He got down from his horse and walked,into a smoke filled room.
Hung his holster on a peg,near the other ones.The sign above said, “No guns here”,“Heed you mother’s sons.”
He felt a bit uneasy,felt a little strange.Thought he knew the barkeep,but couldn’t place his name.
Good the dirty whiskey glass,from an outstretched hand.And realized with a sudden chill,he had known this man.
He had killed him years ago,shot him in the back.Dodge or Denver, could have been,so many … he’d lost track.
Before the gunman could react,buckshot burned his chest.He never reached his gun in time,as it hung there with the rest.
Again he rode the dusty trail,and saw the sign that read;“Three more miles to Buzzard’s Rest”,three miles up ahead.
Poem © 1995 by Don Harris. Harris spends winters in the Tri-Community and summers in Winterport, Maine. He can be reached by phone at 207-745-1571.
Buzzard’s Rest
April 23, 2016 www.oraclecommunitycenter.org Oracle Oaks Festival | 15
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Alice Ivers was born in Sudbury, England in 1851. Her family left England for the United Stated while Miss Alice was still a teenager. The family ended up in Colorado which was experiencing a mining
boom. Mr. Ivers’ pretty young daughter soon got married. Alice Ivers married a mining engineer named Duffield. Her stint as a housewife was a short one because Duffield died in a mining accident before his wife had reached her twenty-first birthday. The widow received a generous pension so it must have been boredom and not money which first propelled her to gravitate towards the saloons. She took a fancy to playing cards and soon earned the nickname “Poker Alice”. Alice also acquired a liking for fat cigars and kept a .45 revolver with her at the gambling tables. Alice refused to gamble on Sundays. Poker Alice followed the gold rush to Deadwood, South Dakota. Her skills
as a card sharp brought her a great deal of fame and fortune. Her sense of fashion and extravagant hairdos became legendary including extravagant shopping sprees in New York City. Although Poker Alice never confessed to cheating it was certainly a standard practice of the times. It was obvious she admired the men who had the stuff to pull off such nefarious schemes. The cigar chomping, English lady had this to say about a fellow professional gambler who had practiced the tricks of the trade so well that he soon had the deft skills of a magician. “When he got into a game with the sharp eyes of professional gamblers upon him the courage necessary to practice that crooked skill wilted and he became only an honest, frightened, exceedingly bad player, who lost his chips almost as soon as they were set before him.” Poker Alice became adept at the tricks of the trade herself; her soft gentle hands were much valued in the card sharp business. Soft hands were better at reading the notches and bumps found on
marked cards. A man who was caught using a marked deck could forfeit his life. Poker Alice remembered some card dealers whose fingers were “sandpapered until the blood all but oozed through the skin.” Poker Alice claimed she never cheated although her profession required her to learn the tricks of the trade to protect herself. She swore that in all her years of gambling, “I handled a cold deck only once, and that for a joke.” There was a man in the Black Hills of the Dakotas who claimed that every time he lost it was because the game was fixed and every time he won the game was fair. “It got on my nerves,” Alice recollected wryly. She decided to teach the gentleman a lesson. True to Alice’s nickname the game was poker and the man started out riding a winning streak. “I never saw such luck,” Poker Alice said. “By actual count he had 27 sets of threes without me ever winning a hand. If I held three kings, then he would have three aces; and if I drew the three highest cards in the deck then he would have a small straight
EVERY MAN’S MUSINGSBy Gary Every
Poker Alice
to beat it.” “I’ve got into a square game at last,” the man cried out. Then the English schoolteacher’s daughter taught her student his lesson. She used the cold deck to deal the gentleman a pat flush - five cards of one suit. Alice knew that the loudmouth would not stand still on such a hand. She
Continued on page 18
16 | Oracle Oaks Festival www.oraclecommunitycenter.org April 23, 2016
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Walking along the sandy wash I keep my eyes open for jaguar tracks. There have been reports of tracks in nearby mountains. My eyes search the thickets of bushes, scanning for a trace of the hunting cats. There are only a few animals which reside in North America which I have not seen in the wild and the jaguar, rare in Southern Arizona, is one of them. My head swivels from side to side as I walk along the sandy wash, watching for the shadow of a nocturnal feline, hoping to startle one with my footsteps. This day, I walk along the sandy wash, searching the shadows for a jaguar, as elusive as a ghost and perhaps more rare. At least the walking is easy, this sandy wash used to be a wagon road. The road stretched from Mammoth, Arizona, west to Casa Grande. This old wagon road crosses Aravaipa Creek and then the San Pedro River and I have to remove my shoes before wading across both of them. This is a luxury really, a moment to savor by pausing beneath the shade of the trees.
Ghost Hunting The San Pedro used to flow into the Gila River before connecting to the mighty Colorado River and emptying into the Sea of Cortez. Nowadays, the San Pedro dries up before it reaches the Gila River and even if it didn’t - the Gila dries up before it reaches the Colorado and the Colorado is dammed up well before it reaches the sea. I wade across the water and head up the dry sandy wash, following the four wheel drive tracks along what was once a wagon road. The location of this road was revealed to one of my friends by an old cowboy in a local bar. I walk along the road to where the canyon begins to narrow, walking in the shadows of an old copper mine. As the rock walls begin to close in, steep cliffs of red and black rock rise above me. A raven calls and flies away. The old cowboy calls this Putnam Wash but the maps refer to it as Camp Grant Wash. Camp Grant was a US Cavalry post where the Aravaipa Apache
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EVERY MAN’S MUSINGSBy Gary Every
in Camp Grant Washvoluntarily situated themselves, hoping to put a peaceful end to the Apache wars. Instead, one day while the Apache men were out harvesting hay for the soldiers, a Tucson vigilante army took this very road into Camp Grant. When they showed up the vigilante army killed over 200 old people, women, and children. Twenty-seven more children were captured and sold into slavery. It was an event which has been recorded in the history books as the Camp Grant Massacre. Eskiminzin threatened to lead the Aravaipa Apache on the warpath unless the enslaved children were returned. General O. O. Howard proceeded over the treaty negotiations. When he handed the treaty to Eskiminzin, Eskiminzin is said to have confessed his illiteracy. He placed a rock before the general and claimed that this was his piece of paper and that he wished a peace which would last as long as this rock. It is said that a butterfly landed on the rock as he spoke. The canyon twists and turns between the rock walls. After hiking a couple miles,
a tiny stream appears, trickling between rows of desert willows. Our cowboy informant had said there was permanent water here, a spring which bubbles up from the canyon floor. The tiny riparian zone is also something that would have appeal for a jaguar. My eyes search the willow thickets and discover nothing but bird life. I spot a sparrowhawk, merlin, phainopeplia, and cardinal. There are scores of chickadees, gnatcatchers, and sparrows. There is a small grove of ash and cottonwood trees at the sharp bend where the spring arises. After the canyon walls separate, the desert dries up, and the thickets of mesquite and willow give way to Saguaro and Cholla cactus. As I walk back, I continue to keep my eyes open for jaguarundi. I also watch the rocks for petroglyph art and old prospects. The old cowboy said that during the 1920’s and 30’s these hills were alive with antelope. I try to imagine what the red rock slopes would look like with the white and tan horned mammals scampering across them. The old cowboy
left this region to go fight as a soldier in World War II and when he came back all the antelope were gone. General Howard described the Eskiminzin and his band crossing the San Pedro River. Howard said that the Apache would take off one moccasin and hop across the water. I leap into the water on one foot, holding one shoe in my hand. My splashing scares up a small flock of ducks. The sudden movement and rustling flapping of wings startles me for a second just as much my unexpected appearance frightened them. Counting and estimating quickly, I figure as many as fifty ducks, a green stripe above their eyes identifying them as wigeons. They double back, flying directly over my head. Quack. Quack. The ducks fly away, floating above the canopy of fluttering cottonwood trees. I am left alone in the water, hopping on one foot. Butterflies hover about the flowers lining the bank. I think about Eskiminzin and his rock, serving as a piece of paper for a treaty. I hope peace
does come these hills for as long as the rocks shall last, and there are plenty of old rocks in these ancient hills. I hope the antelope do return to this canyon some day. The butterflies hover as the ducks fly away, nothing more than a burst of green and the flapping of wings - quack, quack.
18 | Oracle Oaks Festival www.oraclecommunitycenter.org April 23, 2016
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dealt herself a full house - one pair and three of a kind; a slightly better hand than that of her opponent. “The betting began,” Poker Alice said, “With my victim pushing forth the chips by the stack.” When the game was over Alice had won over $900. Alice tried to return the money to the man, that she had only intended to teach the obnoxious loudmouth a lesson. She had wanted to demonstrate to her poker adversary that he would not recognize a
fixed game if he saw one. Her opponent was obstinate. He had not been outsmarted by a woman. After all, he had won every hand except the last one. “I guess you’ve got the right to win a hand once in a while.” he grumbled. Poker Alice kept the money. She traveled all across the west, riding the rails and hustling the tourists. At least until the locomotive lines got wise and banned professional gamblers. Before the end of the century she had returned to Deadwood. Poker Alice
remarried a gentleman named Tubbs. The newlyweds had a great deal in common for they were both professional gamblers. They decided to retire from their dangerous past time and purchased a chicken ranch. They enjoyed a rather peaceful, pastoral, but odorous existence of wedded bliss until Tubbs died of pneumonia in 1910. Alice once again grew bored of the widow’s life. She returned to gambling, saving her winnings until she could afford to open up a saloon called “Poker
Alice”, located in South Dakota between the town of Sturgis and South Fort Meade. Business was quite lucrative. For the benefit of the local soldiers Alice imported some soiled doves. Alice’s puritanical Victorian English upbringing revealed itself and none of her working girls were permitted to employ their trade on Sundays. Alice would round the girls up and drag them to church every Sunday as a condition of employment. Alice married again. The groom was
POKER ALICEContinued from page 15
Continued on page 19
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another professional gambler who went by the name of George Huckert. Prohibition now darkened the land but the local law stayed away from a celebrity such as Poker Alice. At least until Alice was charged with shooting one of the Fort Meade soldiers. Although the jury acquitted Alice by saying that she acted in self defense, the irate
D.A. did manage to close the saloon. In the late 1920’s George Huckert had gone to meet his maker. Alice retired to a small house in Sturgis and kept chomping cigars until her own death in 1930 when Alice Ivers Duffield Tubbs Huckert folded her last hand.
Editor’s Note: Gary Every said while the story of Poker Alice has no real ties to Oracle, “When I lived in Oracle, Rancho Bonito used to have an old wagon that had been used in the movie “Poker Alice” starring Elizabeth Taylor.” Still a great story.
POKER ALICEContinued from page 18
Much thanks to Gary Every for the great cowboy stories!
20 | Oracle Oaks Festival www.oraclecommunitycenter.org April 23, 2016
Meet and talk with local Southern Arizona authors at the annual Oracle Oaks Festival on Saturday, April 23, 2016. Throughout the day, from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m., published authors will display and sign their books for sale on the west side of the Oracle Community Center. This year’s participating authors include Sherrie Todd-Beshore, William “Flint” Carter, Doug Hocking, and Robert Zucker. For more information, call 520-623-3733.
Authors to present works at Oracle Oaks Festival
Sherrie Todd-Beshore began writing for her high school newspaper then over three decades published features and columns in both magazines and newspapers in Alberta, Colorado and New York. In 2006, Sherrie left journalism to concentrate on her fiction ideas full time. To date she has published five adult suspense novels, a MG mystery series and the first book in a YA fantasy-suspense trilogy. Her titles include: Mountains and Shadows, (sequel) Shadows and Light, 24 Sussex Drive, Behind the Sun, The Count of Baldpate; seven books in middle-grade mystery
series, including Mosquito Creek, Black Eagle Pass, High Stakes Gamble, Dakota Mist, Toy Master, and Crow Child. Sherrie can be contacted via email from her website: www.patchworkpublishing.com.
William “Flint” Carter is a local seasoned prospector and author of The Canyon of Gold, Buffalo Bill Cody & the Legendary Iron Door Mine Treasure and collaborator of Treasures of the Santa Catalina Mountains. Flint has a large artifact and mineral display on the Catalinas and Buffalo Bill Cody at the Oracle Inn Steakhouse in Oracle. He has spent the past four decades prospecting and mining hundreds of claims in the Santa Catalina Mountains. Visit his
website at emol.org/flintcarter.
Doug Hocking is an independent scholar who has completed advanced studies in American history, ethnology and historical
archaeology. A retired armored cavalry officer, he grew up among the Jicarilla Apache and paisanos of the Rio Arriba (Northern New Mexico). Doug writes both fiction and history and is working on a biography of Tom Jeffords. He is a member of the board of the Arizona Historical Society. He serves as Sheriff of the Bisbee Corral of the Westerners twice
winning the Heads Up Award for best corral and is a Road Scholar for AZ Humanities. His books include Massacre at Point of Rocks, Mystery of Chaco Canyon and Devil on the Loose.
Robert Zucker is the author of Treasures of the Santa Catalina Mountains, an extensive review of the history and legends of the
Catalinas; Entertaining Tucson Across the Decades, a three-volume set of Tucson entertainers and musicians from the 1950s through the 1990s; and Traveling Show. Bob publishes the 20-year old Entertainment Magazine On Line website at EMOL.org and the Tucson Chronicles online at tucsonchronicles.com. Bob is a former journalism instructor at the University of Arizona and Pima Community College. He is also representing local
author Ron Quinn who published Searching for Arizona’s Buried Treasures and Mysterious Disappearances. Visit his website at robert-zucker.com