197704 desert magazine 1977 april

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W ILL IAM and JOYKNYVETTCo-Pub lishers/ EditorsGEORGE BRAGA, Art DirectorMARY FRANCES STRONC, Field Trip EditorF. A. BARNES, Utah Associate EditorGLENN VARGA S, Lapidary EditorK. L. BOYNTO N, NaturalistMARVEL BARRETT, Circulation ManagerColor Separations byHenry Color ServiceLithographed byWolfer Printing Company, Inc.Available in Microfi lm byXerox University Microfi lms

Volume 40, Number 4 APRIL 1977

CONTENTS

THE COVER:The headframe of the Miz-pah Mine in Tonopah,Nevada. See article on JimButler Days on Page 28.Photo by Howard Neal,Arcadia, California.

F ECRUCERO-HIGH DESERT CROSSING

YELLOW BELLIED MARMOTPALM AND FERN CANYONS

NEW LIFE ON GHOST MOUNTAIN

LYLE BALLTONOPAH BOOMS IN "BUTLER DAYS"

MOJ AVE DESERT TURQUOISEEPHEDRA

HAPPENINGS AT HITE

A T U8

1216202428

R E SBill Jennings

K. L. Boynton

Dick Blaomquist

Ernie Cowan

Western Artist

Valerie Joralemon

32 Mary Frances Strong36 Lucile Weight39 Lake Powell Up-date

D E P A R T M E N T SWilliam Knyvett

Book Reviews

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

RAMBLING ON ROCKS 40 Glenn and Martha VargasTRADING POST 42 Classified Listings

BOOKS OF THE WEST 44 Mail Order ItemsLETTERS TO THE EDITOR 46 Readers'Comments

CALENDAR OF WESTERN EVENTS 46 Club A ctivitiesEDITORIAL, CIRCULATION ANDADVERTISING OFFICES: 74-425 Highway 111, Palm Desert, California 92260. Telephone Area Code 714346-8144.Listed in Standard Rate andData. SUBSCRIPTION RATES: United States, Canada andMexico; 1 year, $6.00; 2 years, $11.00; 3 years, $16.00. Otherforeign subscribers add $1.00 U. S.currency for each year. See Subscription Order Form in this issue. Allow five weeks for change of address andsendboth new and old addresses with zipcodes. DESERT Magazine ispublished monthly. Second class postage paid at Palm Desert, California and at addi-tional mailing offices under Act of March 3,1879. Contents copyrighted 1977 byDESERT Magazine and permission to reproduce any or all contents mustbe secured inwrit in g. Man uscripts and photographs wil l not bereturned unless accompanied byself-addressed, stamped envelope.Desert/April 1977 3


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

Miscellaneous Copiesfrom 1959 to 1965Package of 10$0003No selections available

VOLUMES FOR YEARS1966 1969* 197411 issues only

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

F OR THOSE who love the desert, withits wide variety of f lora and fauna, i tis most disheartening to learn that"cactus rustlers" are creating a realcr isis by plowing into the Californiadesert and hauling away cactus by thetons. Although it is illegal to take cactusoff public or pr ivate land withou t permis-sion, the cactus napper must be caughtin the act in order to be prosecuted.

Actually, the cactus crisis was touchedoff about a year and a half ago when Ari-zona passed laws protecting cactus inthat state. As a result, cactus stealersstarted slipping over the border intoCalifornia, and the eastern portions ofRiverside, Imperial and San Bernardinocounties are being hard hit. Most of thatland is under the authority of the FederalBureau of Land Management (BLM)and, although patrol led, they estimatethat at least 50,000 plants annually arelost on public lands.

Although the desert looks barrenenough to be indestructible, actually theecology is delicate, and BLM officials saythe wholesale removal of plants couldbreak up the topsoil crust. The desertwinds could then do decades of damageto the soil.

Assemblyman Jerry Lewis has intro-duced emergency and long range legisla-tion to help protect California desertplants. To date, his emergency Assem-bly Bill 131 has received tremendous re-sponse from fellow legislators.

Everyone can do their share by report-ing shipments of cacti to legal law en-forcement officials, and take down thel i cense numbers o f t rucks hau l ingpoached cacti. This action by the publiccould play a crucial role in en forcing thenew legislation, and in saving thisbeautiful southwestern desert.

A n z aG o n q u e r st h e D e s e r tCommissioned by James S. CopleyWritten by Richard F. Pourade

: . . . ( . , , . : b / ! , . . <

The colonization of California in the 1770'sreceived its greatest impetus with the open-Ing of an overland route from northernMexico. The man who opened i t was JuanBautista de Anza. This book Is the story ofhis conquest of the Great Desert which fortwo hundred years had Impeded the northernadvance of the Spanish Empire. The colon-ists who were led into California by Anzafounded th presidio of San Francisco; othercolonists who came over the road opened byAnza h elped found the city of Los Ang eles.Large format, hardcover, beautifully I l lus-trated, 216 pages, $12.50.Order from

. Magazine Book ShopBox 1318, Palm Desert, Calif.Calif. Res. add 6% sales taxPlease add 50c handling /postage

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3 G R E A T B O O K S !INDIANJEWELRY MAKINGFor the first time Indianjewelry'makers, whetherexperienced or novice, haveat their disposal a full-colorphotographic essay of basicIndian designs. The bookutilizes a sequential, step-by-step approach for thecraftsman. In addition tobasic designs, a short pic-torial history of Indian jew-elry making as well asmodern day techniques andtools are presented. Valu-able information on how toset up a work bench, gaugewire, know the weight ofsilver, etc.

64 PAGESALL COLOR

I N D I A NJEWELRY. M A K I N G

64 PAGESALL COLOR

T URQ UO IS E , The Gemof the CenturiesBeautiful illustrations inaccurate color can help youidentify the turquoise inyour jewelry. Pictures ofturquoise from 43 localitiesfrom U.S. and around theworld. A must for anyonepossessing even one pieceof turquoise.FETISHES And Carvingsof the SouthwestA vivid pictorial account ofthe use and beliefs associ-

ated with fetishes and thehistory of popular fetishnecklaces since prehistorictimes. This book presentsthe wide range of fetishesand carvings from severalSouthwestern Indian tribesas well as the outstandingworks of several knownfetish carvers.

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C O O K B O O K SFor the outdoor enthusiast,and those who like to flavortheir life with the unusual

ROUGHING IT EASY by Dian Thomas, putshe fun back into camping with easy andeconomical ways to prepare foods, equip acampsite and organize a camping trip. Pa-perback, 203 pages, $5.95.AMERICAN INDIAN FOOD AND LORE byCarolyn Neithammer. Original Indian plantsused for foods, medicinal purposes, etc., de-scribed, plus unusual recipes. Large format,91 pages, profusely illustrated, $4.95.DUTCH OVEN COOK BOOK by Don Holm.Mew and exciting culinary adventures inDutch Oven cooking. Heavy paperback, 106pages, $4.95.ARIZONA COOK BOOK by Al and MildredFischer. Unusual recipes for Indian cooking,Vlexican d ishes, Western specialties. Uniquecollection. Paperback, 142pages, $3.00.

CACTUS COOK BOOK compiled byJoyce LTate. An excellent selection of recipes thatemphasize their edible or potable qualitiesAlso includes chapter on Food PreservationPaperback, 127pages, $2.00.SOURDOUGH COOKBOOK by Don andMyrtle Holm. How to make a sourdoughstarter, and many dozens of sourdough re-cipes. Paperback, 136pages, illus., $4.95.CITRUS COOK BOOK by Glenda McGillisAn unusual and outstanding treasury ocitrus cookery. Includes tips on freezingjuicing and shipping. Paperback, spirabound, $2.00.CALIFORNIA COOK BOOK by Al andMildred Fischer. Recipes divided into "EarlyCal i fornia," "Cal i fornia Frui ts," "Cal i forniaProducts," "Sea Foods" and "Wine Cook-i n g . " 400 more unique collections by theFischers. Paperback, 142 pages, $3.00.

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All books reviews are availablethrough the Desert Magazine BookShop. Please add 50c per total orderfor handling and California resi-dents must Include 6% sales tax.

anza, Red Boy, Vir tue and the famedCornucopia. Author Miles Potter, withhis interesting text and fabulous collec-tion of old photos, wanders in and out ofthe lives and events of those goldenyears with authority. Potter isn't just avisitor to this country. He is the electedmayor of Greenhorn City, a gold-rushboomtown of the 1880s. A miner onceuncovered a nugget worth $14,000 nearGreenhorn. The author says the townhas a "ghost under every boulder ."

The amount of yesterday's goldortomorrow's is not the paramount fac-tor, however. The th ing to remember isth is: It was'the prospector who blazedth e t ra i l ; gold was the keystone of Ore-gon's economy. A reminder of this is theminer's pick in the Oregon State Seal.Men in search of treasure opened thegates to the w i l d e r n e s s . Oregon'sGolden years, with affection and goodhumor, honors these men and their im-perishable lust for gold.

Large format, heavy sl ick paperback,lavishly i l lustrate d, $7.95.

INDIANJEWELRY.MAKINGOREGON'S GOLDEN YEARSBy Miles F. Potter

A single handful of shiny nuggetschanged Oregon from the a quiet settle-ment in the Wil lamette Val ley to abrawling frontier that stretched from theRockies to the Pacific Ocean. At the f i rstcr y of gold, thousands of prospectorsswarmed into the state and headed forthe mines with pick, pan and burro.Wise merchants and farmers fo l lowed.

Settlements sprang upovern ight, f i rstin southern Oregon and then in the wil-derness east of the Cascades-. Hillsideswere pocked with mines, large andsmall the Colum bia, Greenback, Bon-

OLD FASHIONEDWINDMILLOutstandingly handcrafted incopper and brass. Completewith ladder, faucet and tiedown. Unusual gift and conver-sation piece. Only 12 inchestall, it is easily displayed onmantle, desk, etc. Great fordisplays and model railroads.Money back guarantee. $15.00each. Donell Enterprises,44146 Halcom Ave., Lancaster,Calif. 93534. Free gift catalogon request.

INDIAN JEWELRY MAKINGBy Oscar T. BransonSo u th we s te r n In d ia n j e we l r y has

probably become the foremost Amer icancraft. It has not only become a monetaryinvestment for mill ions of Amer icans butan investment in beauty they can enjoyevery minute of theday. Weth ink of it ast ru ly Amer ican, and it really is. Thesquash blossom necklace is composed ofthree main components all of foreignorigins. They are put together in a veryunique and original manner. Possiblynowhere else in the wor ld has such abeautiful piece of jewelry been evolvedwhich uniquely belongs to a singlepeople, the Navajo Indians.

The concha belt isanother example ofthe foreign elements of design which theNavajo a dopted, changed anddevelopedinto a very unique piece of jewelry and asymbol of the Navajo na tion. Thebracel-

Desert /Apri l1977


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ets that have been designed and madeby the Indians, especially theNavajo butalso all the Indians of theSouthwest, areagain unique creations, indigenous tothe Southwest even if some of theor ig ina l ideas are b o r r o w e d . T h e ycombine theelements of beautiful whitesilver and lovely blue turquoise , which tothem symbolizes the beaut i fu l Westernskies.

There has been no drastic change inIndian jewelry design during the lastfi fty years, although styles areconstant-ly changing under social and economicpressures. There has been a t rend bysome si lversmiths to add numerouse lements such as l e a ve s , f e a th e r s ,f lowers, but this has not really alteredthe design.

This book is intended as a step-by-step how-to-do-it method of makingjewelry. Notonly Indian jewelry but anykind of jewelry. Where only one methodor technique hasbeen i l lustrated, therecould beseveral different ways to do thesame thing. Information is given as toho w to set up awork bench, gauge wire,know the weight of silver for variousjewelry pieces, and soon. There are in-structions for making buttons, chains,r ings, bracelets, squash blossoms, theNavajo concha, earr ings, chokers, bolos,watchbands, Hopi style overlay, si lvercasting and more.

The most important thing this book isintended to provide is the basic know-ledge of how jewelry ismade so one canjudge if it is well made and basicallygood design.

This intr iguing al l-color book is anasset to the consumer as wel l as to theproducer of Indian jewelry today.

Beautiful ly presented in the samelarge four-color format as Branson'sTURQUOISE, The Gemof the Centuriesan d FETISHES And Carvings of theSouthwest, $7.95.

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C R U C E R OA H I G H D E S E R T C R O S S I N GHISTORIC TRAIL AND RAIL JUNCTIONHAS LASTING LURE FOR OFF-ROADERS

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Ancient steam engine water tank at Rasor siding, just north of Crucero, is aMojave Desert landmark, now part of a private ranch. R asor was named for

Pacific Coast Borax's chief engineer. P hoto by Walter E. Frisbie.by BILL JENNINGS

T IN t h g h i g h d e s e r t r e g io n c e n t e r -i ed by Death V alley are a half-dozeni abandoned mining rai lroads dating to

the 1890s and early 1900s, ready madeand legal routes for off-roaders.

The longest lasting, and probably themost ambitious, was the famous Tono-pah and Tidewater, which never got neareither goal in the corporate ti t le but sti l lran 170 miles from Ludlow to Beatty,w i t h we e k l y De a th Va l l e y Pu l lma nservice into the early 1930s. It was a vic-tim of the World War II scrap metald r i ve .

Forty miles north of the Ludlow junc-tion with the Santa Fe Railway is the oldcrossing with the Salt Lake Route theSan Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt LakeRailroad originally, now the Union Paci-fic. T&T rai ls were removed in 1934,nearly four years after formal abandon-ment.

Crucero, which means crossing inSpanish, was named for the rai lroadjunction, established in 1907. However,the region around the X-shaped track-age had been part of a much earliertransportation system.

Crucero is nine miles southwest ofSoda Lake, a landmark on the old trailsl inking Arizona and Southern Californiafor many centuries. Used first by theMojave and Piute Indians as a traderoute to the Pacific coast for barter withthe Chumash, the old trai ls via the hugesalt marsh and sink of the Mojave Rivereventually became part of the Govern-ment Road, established in 1859 and usedunti l construction of the Atlantic andPacific Railroad, now Santa Fe, some 25years later.

(Note: the spell ing of Mohave with a" j " is a California- ism. The Indiansplus everyone east of the Colorado Riveruse the " h " because the word is Ind ianin o r ig in and d rew a " j " when translated into Spanish 200 years ago. Bothversions are pronounced the same.)Man y of the sti l l e xisting tracks acrossthe sink and the visible and viable r ightof-way of the T&T qualify as "existingtrai ls" in the parlance of the U.SBureau of Land Management. This isimportant because of restrictions of theBLM Desert Plan, which dictates use opublic domain lands throughout undeveloped portions of the Southern California desert.

Much of the land along the old T&T isin restricted categories due to naturaand man-made wonders found there8 Deser t/April 197


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The area from Ludlow north throug hCrucero to Baker, where the rai lroadcrossed what is now Interstate 15, isd e s i g n a t e d " R e s t r i c t e d " e i t h e r a s"Spec ia l Des ign" o r "Ex is t ing Rou tes"in the Desert Plan.

In either category, vehicular traffic ispermitted only along routes that were ingeneral use prior to November 1, 1973.Unless posted otherwise, motorists mayuse a corridor 300 feet wide on each sideof whatever t ra i l , track, path or road theyare using. Use includes picnicking, rock-h o u n d in g , ca mp in g o r j u s t p o k in ga r o u n d . Th i s r e s t r i c t i o n ma y se e mconfusing, particular ly when all aroundyou vehicles are running the dunes, butmaybe you had better make a stop inBarstow before you reach Ludlow orBaker, the two generally used gatewaysto the Crucero region.

BLM maintains a handsome way sta-tion just off the freeway at Barstow.Here you can draw accurate, up-to-the-minute information as well as currentmaps of the area. The section south ofthe Union Pacific is within the "existingvehicle routes" category and not l ikely tochange.

North of Crucero, however, publiclands are l isted as "specia l design,"which is a catch-all temporary categoryused where BL M plans a coordinated ap-proach to camping or other less-restr ic-tive uses. In the planning period, how-ever, access is restricted to existingroutes.

The special design area around Cru-cero is a huge one, encompassing SodaLake, the Devil 's Playground, a networkof dunes, washes, public uti l i ty routesand old mines. It includes Afton Canyonon the west and stops abruptly on theeast when it runs into the Kelso Duneclosed area.

Al l of whic h means Crucero is the cen-ter of a huge, ancient recreational areathat off-roaders have been using sinceW or ld War I I . Many rockhound sites arewithin the so-called Eastern Mojave tr i-angle, a region bounded by Barstow atthe western apex, the two interstates,1-15 on the north nd I-40 on the south,and the Colorado River and Nevadaboundary on the east.

It also contains Mitchell Caverns StateRe c r e a t i o n A r e a , two BL M ca mp -grounds, a t Mid-Hi l ls and Hole- in- the-W al l , both near the caverns, several so-called ghost towns, remnants of twoother mining rai lroads, a half-dozen des-Dese rt/April 1977 9

Rasor-Cruc ero dune system is extensive, access ible within 300 feet of long-usedpublic roads , hence are considerable legal for limited use under the B ureau of LandManagem ent D esert Plan regulations. Photo by author.ert mountain ranges and many outstand-ing off-road areas.

Ghost towns are getting to be so-calledbecause of the revival in m ining activity.Vanderbil t, for example, for many yearssemi-abandoned except for caretakers, isagain active, complete with "pr ivatep r o p e r t y " a n d " k e e p o u t " s i g n s .Others, such as Ivanpah, Broadwell,Barnwell and Providence exist pr imari lyon topographic maps.

The other abandoned rail lines includethe California Eastern, which ran fromCoffs, on the Santa Fe, northwardthrough Barnwell, Vanderbil t, Leastalk(now listed as Ivanpah on Union Pacifict imetables) and " o l d " Ivanpah.At Barnwell, another short l ine stag-gered eastward to Searchlight, under theaegis of the Santa Fe. It was the Barn-well and Searchlight, wonder of won-ders, a rai lroad that reached the two

All that remains of Crucero siding on the long-abandoned Tonopah & TidewaterRailroad north of Ludlow. Cut between two mesquite dunes in the background ledtrains toward D eath Valley, nearly 90 miles to the north. D esert has nearly reclaim-ed the 1907-vintage line. Photo by W alter E. Frisbie, Jr.


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towns named in i ts corporate ti t le.The rai lroads and their pr incipal sta-tions are listed because in the recentpast, bottle hunters and other souvenirseekers found old station sites rich lodesof miscellany, ranging from telegraphkeys to insulators and old baking sodacans.

Unfor tunate ly, much of the T&T'ssouth end, from Baker to Crucero andLudlow, was inundated by the Mojave inthe great floods of 1938, which led di-rectly to the rai lroad's demise. Most oft h e t r a ck d i sa p p e a r e d f r o m Ba ke rthrough Soda to Crucero, along withbuildings and other f ixtures. The writerfound some rusted ra i l , spikes and an in-sulator or two near Crucero several yearsago, after another near-record winterstorm.

Campsites are plentiful from Ludlownor th. The first six miles of a gradedcountry road are on top of the old T&T

" 4'"

grade to the south shore of BroadwellDry Lake. Just two miles south of thelake a poor-quality dir t road trai ls off tothe r ight, northeast. On the Broadwelltopo, and most San Bernardino Countyeditions of Auto Club maps, a naturalarch is marked near the upper end of thisroad, about f ive miles into the BristolMountains. The road reaches severalabandoned mines in addition to the t ra i l -head for the arch, which is at the head ofan unnamed canyon. This is bighornsheep country also.

The long, slender dry lake is the north-south low point between the Cady Mo un-tains on the west and the Bristols to theeast. Both are pocked with many aban-doned mines and one, the Old Dom inion,to the west of the lake bed, appearedsemi-active a year or two ago. A ll minin gclaims are subject to trespass laws ifposted.

North of the lakebed the road and rai l-

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The late Bud Jackson of Hemet, a pion-eering jeeper, pauses on a Crucero tripwith the Hem et Jeep Club. AbandonedTonopah & Tidewater railroad right-of-way in middle o f picture. Devil's Play-ground dunes are in the distance. Photoby Walter E. Frisbie Valley Studios.road resume the same graded r ight-of-wa y i n te r m i t t e n t l y a l l t h e wa y toCrucero. One problem along the T & T inthis 13-mile stretch is the presence ofcross ties, most of them partial ly buriedin the sand and windblown earth. Driv-ing is hazardous, particular ly at night.

Half way from the lake to Crucero an-other dimly marked road heads easterlyacross an unnamed dry lake to link upwith the power l ine easement road thateventually reaches the UP line midwaybetween Crucero and Kelso. Warning!This is blowsand country and many trav-elers have spent more time digging outthan driving along this lonely stretch.The power line roads across the east-ern Mojave represent a doubtful pros-pect much of the time. Some are posted;some are not, most are not well-main-tained and therefore are not recommen-d e d fo r n o n - fo u r - wh e e l - d r i ve . Ro ad spara l le l ing the "b ig i n c h " natural gaslines are even less promising becausethey fol low the contour of the ground andmany 30 percent grades lurk along theway. One road particular ly, from theKelso area east over Foshay Pass intothe Providence-Lanfair Valley country,has steep grades over clay and calicheterrain, twice as sl ippery in occasionalwet weather.

Back to the Ludlow-Baker "h igh wa y"along the T&T. The sand dunes aroundCrucero, m ost of them covered with mes-qui te , offer invit ing campsites, althoughthe presence of dunes is a sure sign thewind can blow in that cou ntry, but usual-ly it gives ample warning to head for thefreeway before it settles down to blow.

Dunes around the Mojave usuallyteem with wildl i fe, ranging in size fromlizards, antelope ground squirrels up tokit fox. Coyotes are more often heardthan seen in this region and there are in-frequent signs of burros, particular lywest toward Afton Canyon and CaveMounta in .

Midway between Crucero and SodaLake is the old railroad watering stop ofRasor, named for Clarence Rasor, long-time chief engineer of the Pacific CoastBorax Company. Rasor was the father ofBoron, the town and open pit borax

Dese rt/April 1977


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quarry that led to the abandonment ofthe T & T. Ironically, Rasor 's discov-ery came at a tim e when the l i tt le rai l-road seemed set for generations as theprime mover of thousands of tons of bor-ate ore from the Death Valley area.

Rasor, the siding, has the greatest re-maining concentration of T & T memor-abil ia extant. A huge water tower, sec-tion houses, several corrals made of oldties and trestle timbers and other build-ings attest to the importance the l i tt lestation site had during rai lroad days.Most of it in recent years has been a pri-vate cattle ranch , with an airst r ip, so vis-itors are cautioned against trespass.

To the west of Rasor are several invit-ing box canyons that offer wind-freecampsites. The ever-present supply ofold cross ties assures cam pfire wood butal l travelers are warned to br ing theirown water supply. Underground wells atRasor and Soda Lake produce potablebut poor-tasting water, f i t for the oldsteam engines and your au tomobile radi -ator but not much else.

Zzyzx Springs reverted to BLM controlthree years ago when the mining claimon which the extensive buildings wereinstal led was voided because, in part,the federal government indicated nomeaningfu l min ing act iv i ty had occurred.

At present, the two-story main build-ing and big pools of somewhat brackishwater are being converted into a biologi-cal f ield station and study site for theCalifornia State University system, notthe University of California. CaliforniaState College at San Bernardino has puttogether a consortium of Southern Cali-fornia colleges and university brancheswith the BLM's suppor t . Travel throughthe area is sti l l open to the general pub-lic but heed the signs indicating researchstudy sites.

From the springs northeast to Bakerthe old r ight-of-way is sandblown, oc-casionally marshy and usually impass-able to all but high-clearance four-w h e e l - d r i v e . M a n y m o t o r i s t s d o u b l eback to Rasor and enter 1-15 at the Bea-con on-ramp to make the short, 10-milerun to Baker which has fue l , food andlodging.

Baker also is the jumping-off point formany other Eastern Mojave areas. TheBaker-Kelso-Amboy road, known locallyas the Ke lbaker, is a paved shortcut be-tween the two east-west freeways andalso gives you a closer look at the 1859-vintage Government or Mojave Road. ItDesert/April 1977

Old Tonopah and T idewater railroad ties are still in use as cattle pen fencing an d forother needs of Mojave Desert ranchers. Pen above is near Rasor, midway betweenBaker and Crucero, along old right-of-way. Photo by Walter E. Frisbie, Jr.crosses the Kelbaker at Seventeen-MilePoint, so named because it was a fre-quent overnight rest stop for the oldfreight wagons which made 16-17 milesor so in an average day.

It was 17 miles from Soda Springs,more or less, and about the same dis-tance from Marl Spring, the next wat-er ing po int to the east. The old track canbe seen very plainly across the long fanfrom Seventeen-Mile east to Marl Springand even further to the east towardCedar Canyon.

Kelso is worth a visit. The old SaltLake Route helper point is at the foot ofthe 20-mile, 2,000-foot cl imb to Cimaand all freight trains during steam daystook a helper engine here. All that's leftof the old terminal is a 100-foot highsmoke stack that served the smallroundhouse and the two-story Kelso sta-tion h otel. Un ti l a few years ago the trav-eler could stay overnight and eat in thecommodious lunchroom downstairs, butnow the UP reserves service for its ownemDloyees.

There is little else to see at Kelso butthe sight of the expansive green lawnand landscaping around the old Salt Lakestation hotel is invit ing in midsummer.The little one-room school has closed andthe Trail 's End, a small beer bar, also islocked up.

From K elso, a paved road leads up hi l lto Cima, Lanfair Valley and eventually to

Las Vegas. The Kelbaker continuessouth through the Granite Pass to I-40and eventually Old 66 near Amb oy. If therai lroad is sti l l favorable, you can re-turn to Crucero along the graded dir tservice road parallel ing the rai lroad. Ifnot, another less negotiable road spansthe 30-mile distance through the Devil 'sPlayground. This road, however, is notmaintained and is frequently impassableto two-wheel-dr ive due to sand andwashes.

Or, you can assay the GovernmentRoad. Under the determined leadershipof Dennis Casebier, semi-official histor-ian for the histor ic route, a movement isnow seeking restoration or at least com-mem oration of the old road over much ofits Mojave route, from Camp Cady, nearYermo, 130 miles east to the ColoradoRiver at Ft. Mojave north of Needles.

Portions of the old road are passable,and form part of the San BernardinoCounty road system through Cedar Can-yon. Other l inks, Casebier suggests,might be uti l ized as a hiking and eques-tr ian t ra i l . BLM controls most of theroute and favors Casebier 's plan, butsuch things take time to weave their waythrough Washington bureaucracy.

Crucero, meanwhile, languishes mid-way between Ludlow and Baker. There'sno movement afoot to memorial ize the70-year-old Tonopah and Tidewater, therai lroad borax buil t and abandoned.

11


12/48

YELLOW BELLIEDMARMOTby K. L. BOYNTON1977

f*;%*."?T.''' .--1

POTLICHTED IN scient if ic invest i-gation today is a certain grizzled-fac-ed small-eared, short-legged,fat l i t t le

rodent, given to loud and shri l l whist l-ing. An important member of the Mar-mot tr ibe, he, and widely known as thewestern woodchuck. Also, since Nature,in a Picasso mood, tinted the fur on hisunderside a gorgeous orangish-yellow,he is appropriately called the yellow bel-l ied marmot; and f inally, Marmota flavi-ventris by those who wish to betechnical.

Unlike their eastern woodchuck coun-terparts who by and large don't care forheights, yellow bell ied marmots aremountain folk at heart. A w ide variety ofmontane meadows in southern Cas-cades, the Sierras, the southern Rockieson down into the drier pinyon-juniperwilderness of Utah, New Mexico, evenNevada's desert ranges can be home forthese chubby rodents. The story of howthey meet the rigors of their up-in-the-world homes is gradually unfolding!through the hard and persistent work ofsuch biologists as Andersen, Armitage,Barash, Downhower, Hof fman, Ki lgoreand Svendsen. The tale is a strange one,a saga of animals whose social behaviorforms an integral part of their biologyand in which the individual dif ferencesin temperament and personality of theseplump lit t le creatures plays a surpris-ingly important role.

Quite unlike the unsociable easternwoodchucks who live solitary lives withonly a brief seasonal interest in theirfellows, members of the western end ofthe marmot clan have turned to colonialliving of a very special kind with acharacter and flavor all its own. Theideal setting for such a colony is a bigrocky area with rocks piled in great

Desert/April 1977


13/48

dumps or flung down helter skelter inlong slides from sheared-off cliff faces.The more tumbled about the rocks, thebetter, seemingly for a good selection ofsafe and snug underground homesites.A nd then, for a handy source of greengroceries, a meadow nearby is the thing .Natural ly enough, mountain real estatebeing what it is, the ideal is not always tobe had, particular ly in the more ar id re-gions, and it is surprising what the mar-mots can get along with or without.

A yellow bell ied marmot colony itselfis no hodgepodge collection of burrows,nor can just anybody wander in and setup housekeeping. A typical colony ismade up of one or more males, each withhis own terr i tory which he defends vig-orously and in which there resides aharem of one or more females withyearl ing youngsters and this year 's off-

' spr ing. The adult population is apt to re-main fair ly stable, but the colony's over-al l numbers change with the addition ofyoung, and the dispersal of the year-l ings. On the periphery of such a colonythere may be a satel l i te group, usuallymade up either of the more subordinatemales, or conversely the more aggres-sive who feel the need for more elbowroom. Usually the satellite location is notas favorable, there being fewer desir-able homesites and a greater distance totravel for food.

Among certain mammals with haremssuch as the sea l ion, for instance, themale actively rounds up additions andforcibly, if necessary, keeps the femaleshe already has from straying. The yel-low bell ied marmot, on the other hand,while not discouraging prospective re-cruits and in fact indicating that he'sopen to the idea, does not go out afternew brides, nor does he stop the de-parture of present ones. The thing thatdetermines the size of a given harem isthe temperament of the ladies making itup .

If they are of the sociable type, and ifafter looking a candidate over she seemsok. to them, she's in, and the haremmay be augmented from time to time.However, there are indeed harems con-sisting of but one. Need it be said thatsuch may well be graced by a lady withdefinite ideas of keeping it that way?

The timetable of the colony is run bythe harsh mountain environment andbasically by the length of the growingseason, roughly from the first snow meltof spring and the first heavy snow of fa l l .At alt i tudes favored by the marmots, thismeans that they can be active only aboutfive or so months of the year, the re-maining six or seven being spent in hi-bernation. Along about the early part ofMay in Colorado, for instance, there's astir and the animals emerge from hiber-

nation. By middle or late September,they have gone underground once morenot to come out again unti l the fol low-ing spr ing.

Now this is a very short tim e indeedfor the business of making a personall iving, building up new fat reserves fornext winter 's long hibernation, to saynothing of getting that al l- important jobof family raising done. But the marmotshave developed a strategy to get on withit, and just as early as possible.

Waking from h ibernat ion, they d igtheir way up through the snow, poppingout at last in the sp ring sunshine. Every-body greets everybody, nose to nose,getting acquainted al l over again, andwhat with the warm sun shining and thesteep slopes bare now and green withtasty Potentilla gracilis sprouts for theeating, everybody is in a very fr iendlyframe of mine, indeed. The females con-gregate about the male's burrow, andthings proceed apace.

Gestation takes about 30 days. Foodbecomes more plentiful al l the time withthe advance of the growing season andthe pregnant females eat wel l . In dryyears or under other unfavorable condi-tions, they may have to depend on bodyfat left over from hibernation, i f any, asituation cutting down on offspring num-bers. Reproductively, the temperamentof the females makes a big difference in

Oppositepage: The

Sierra Marmot[marmotaflaviventris]is on the alert

and hislight-coloredbelly is clearly

seen.Right: His

woodchuckcousin

[marmotamonax] is onthe prowl for

some tastytidbits.

San DiegoZoo photos.

Desert/April 1977


14/48

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he i r success, too . The aggress iveemales over the years produce aboutwo times as many litters as the so-cial ly minded ones. The "avoiders" pro-

duce the least.The youngsters appear above ground

during the first half of July. For theseittle fellows time is short, for they must

not only grow during the next month orso , but also somehow put on enough fatto see them through the coming winter.wonder they just can't do it, since aszoologist Barash's big study showed,they on ly achieve less than 25 percent ofadult weight. The chances would be veryDoor for their survival if they wereshoved out on their own at this tenderage as are their cousins the easternwoodchucks who live in easier habitats.

But again the yellow bellied marmotshave the answer, evolving a system thatprotects the young against their harshmountain environment: this year 's batchsimply remains in the colony, thanks tothe tolerance of the adults. Dispersaltime does not come until they are year-l ings, then about 60 percent mature andtheir chances of survival are very muchbetter. At this t ime, too, differences intemperament play a part. Some year-l ings, under pressure of females nowwith new young to care for, depart. Theygo into the satel l i te communities, orwander off to found colonies of their ownin favorable locations. Other yearlingsresist the pressure and stay, establish -ing themselves in burrows of their own.Others, oddly enough, remain becauseno pressure is put on them to get out.

At al l t imes during the period of ac-tivity above ground, food is important inthe growth of the young and the welfareof the colony, and under normal condi-t ions, sufficient is around. Zoologist Ki l-gore points out that a colony usua lly eatsonly about 20 percent of the availableplant resources, the West and South-west providing a good table of drouth-resistant plants to take care of the dryyears. Eating involves keeping an eyeout for trouble, the marmots stoppingoften to sit up and look around, withagain differences in temperament beingapparent. Some, perhaps self-appointedsentinels, seem to seek out what lookslike very exposed sites to eat in butwhich actually have very commandingviews. At the first inkl ing of danger theyset up a shri l l whistl ing and don't dashfor cover, but seem to clim b up on highe rrocks and continue the racket. Other

14

marmots always seem to feed in theheavier and more protective vegetationand when the alarm sounds, tear off fortheir home burrows.

To the individual, a burrow is essen-t ia l . It is a home and place of safety, anursery for offspring. To the species, thenumber of occupied burrows in a male'sterritory is an indication of his success,and a key to future colony numbers.Interested in marmot residential archi-tec tu re , Zoo log is t Gera ld Svendsenpitched in to dig out a burrow to see howit was put together from entrance to nextlocation. The first thing he learned wasthat the marm ots had already thought ofthe possibility of such an exploration be-ing conducted by predatory neighbors ofthe badger and coyote ilk. Hence theylocate their home sweet homes whereboulders and slabs and rock chunks arealways in the way, with the entrancessqueezed into narrow fissures in thickrocks, or up a cliff face. All this makesdigging out a burrow exceedingly dis-couraging if not practically impossible.However, by dint of great perseveranceSvendsen succeeded in excavating fiveover a period of t ime. And here is whathe learned.

First of all, it seems that most mar-mots favor a northeast or southwesternexposure and like a slope with anaverage angle of around 27 degreeswhich, what with the porous sandy loamsoil and big and little rocks providesgood drainage for surface water. Themain entrance generally goes into thehillside about two feet before angling offto run parallel with the surface, and thetunne l then goes on back some nine to 11feet. Rocks keep the soil from collapsinginto it and into the various lateral tun-nels that branch off from the main one.The boudoir is at the end of the mainpassageway in a hollowed-out chamber,generally under a big rock, and in this,the temperature remains about a con-stant 50 degrees F. from June to Oc-tober. The angle of the slope is also im-portant on the outside since it allows agood view of the surroundings for keep-ing an eye out for both land-based andairborne enemies. Lastly, and very im-portant, such a slope gives good ex-posure to the sun.

The marmot's day starts early. Sunlovers they are , up and out when the firs trays hit the colony. For the next halfhour or so, they sit about neating uptheir fur and sunning themselves. The

Desert/Ap ril 1977


15/48

mountain sun's strong ultraviolet radia-t ion, incidental ly, ki l ls off fungus andbacteria that might be on their skin andfu r , and may be one reason why theselitt le rodents are by and large such ahealthy lot. Their period of greatest ac-t ivity runs from about 7 to 11 a.m. withmiddays spent in the burrow. They areout again in late afternoon for anotherfeeding and new nose to nose greetings,play fights, chases and more lol l ingabout in the sun.

But no matter how successful thesummer may be, the welfare of thecolony, and in the long run of the spe-cies itself, depends on how many of theresidents survive the winter 's heavymorta l i ty ra te. In determin ing th is, thehibernat ing burrow is the decisive fac-tor . If it isn ' t a good one, the occupantwon ' t bearound to answer roll call comespr ing. Hence they are always locatedwhere a heavy snow fal l wil l providegood insulation.

Fur thermore, to marmots together-ness is af ine way to make themost of theh ib e r n a t i n g co n d i t i o n s . Se ve r a l mayoccupy the same burrow the malewi th a couple of females and maybesome youngsters, or females with theiryoung and odds and ends of yearl ings.Clumped, the warmth of each keeps theothers warm and cuts down on theamount of energy each has to expend tokeep alive the six or seven months.

Heavy fat is demanded for so long aperiod and indeed during their t imeabove ground they stuff themselves.That is, up unti l perhaps the last threeweeks or so when the amount eatentapers off. This is a prudent move, sinceif too much is taken aboard just prior toenter ing h ibernat ion, the bui ld-up ofbody wastes and kidney function wouldlead to arousal too soon. As it is, theirhibernation is a deep one, the team ofanatomists Goodrich and Lyman findingthat in an air temperature of 42 degreesF. the body temperature of the marmotis about 51.8degrees F. an o.k. situa-tion as indicated by the slow, evenly-spaced breathing.

So, rol led up into a ball , forepaws overtheir eyes, they are snug andsafe whileO ld Man Winter does his stuff, andwhen at last it is t ime, they burst upthrough the snow, topside once more.Time now to check up on who's around,soak up the warm sunshine, and rejoicein being a yellow bell ied marmot in thespr ing. Desert/April1977

00 YOU REQLIZE THAT O


16/48

PALM OASES OF TH ECALIFORNIA DESERTS

SPRinGS

m m ,w'lwm *^

? ALM CANYON, one mi le south ofMurray, is the patr iarch of Cali-fornia's palm oases. More than 3,000Washingtonias crowd its floor and lowerslopes as it courses south to north be-tween the lofty San Jacinto and SantaRosa ranges. No other oasis in the Cali-fornia deserts can remotely rival thistotal. From the Hermit's Bench tradingpost the palms extend upstream forabout six miles; the canyon penetratesthe mountains for an even greater dis-tance. Indeed, it is possible to hike theentire length of Palm Canyon and even-tually str ike the Palms-to-Pines Highway(State Highway 74) 14 miles south of theBench. A 60-foot waterfall sparkles inthe sunshine seven miles upstream fromthe trading post.

The road to Hermit's Bench passeswithin sight of Andreas and Murray can-yons, squeezes through a rocky cleft,crosses the West Fork of Palm Canyon(which also contains palms), then climbssteeply to the trading post, with its com-manding view of the lower canyon. Fromthere a trail descends to dense stands ofpalms watered by a shallow stream.

Ed itor 's Note: Due to a f i re 'Murray Canyon is closed until fur-\\\\///,\r$:~.ther notice. AW/J)h.^:\

SERMIT'S BENCH overlooking PalmCanyon is also the trailhead for thehike to nearby Fern (Wentworth)

Canyon. The route leads down PalmCanyon for a very short distance, thencrests a low saddle on the right and con-tinues on a straight course into steep-sided Fern Canyon. Palm litter marksthe dry stream bed like a signpost,tel l ing the observant hiker that a l ivingoasis lies not far ahead. Just as the old-time burro prospector found si lver andgold by examining the arroyos for"float," that is, chunks of rock washeddown from distant outcrops, so themodern-day palm hunter relies on storm-borne fronds and trunks to point the wayto hidden groves of Washingtonias.

A half-hour 's hike from He rmit'sBench brought me to the first wild palm,a youngster two and one-half feet ta l l . (Afew paces below this tree, a precipitoushorse trail had started working its wayup the r ight-ha nd slope of the gorg e, butI had stayed in the creek bed.) Maturepalms made their first appearance at alow, dry waterfal l a l i tt le way farther up-stream. Very soon a second and much

16 Desert/April 1977


17/48

Willows, cottonwoods, mesquite, andmoisture-loving undergrowth comple-ment the Washingtonias, creating ajungle-like atmosphere in places.

Some of the palms a ttain a height of 60feet, a trunk diameter of three feet, andan age of 200 to 250 years. Countlessyoung trees are thriving alongside theadults. In 1939 a fire burned the palmsjust below Hermit 's Bench; the treesl ived, but even today their trunks areblack and their skirts are short.

I hiked up the canyon for nearly amile, fol lowing a trail along the lowerright-hand slope for much of this dis-tance. Along the way I passed a deepCahuil la grinding hole or mortero, theonly sign of former Indian habitation Isaw in the gorge. Palm Canyon finallyswung abruptly to the r ight, but the hik-ing route continued straight ahead intothe dry bed of the East Fork. A stategame refuge sign helped to identify theconfluence.

Palm Canyon,largest oasis of

Washingtonia palmsin the California

deserts.

C a n y o n sbyDICKBLOOMQUIST

View down FernCanyon from the siteof Dripping Springs.San Jacinto Peakin background.

Pencil sketchesby the author.

higher dry fall with a tiny seep near itsbase blocked the arroyo. Bees dronedheavily about this thin f i lm of moisture,the only surface water in the entirecanyon.

From this second fall I backtracked to17


18/48

Although fi l led with Washingtonias,the lower East Fork was completely lack-ing in surface water. The stream in PalmCanyon itself was low very low , infact, compared with the flow in Andreasand Murray canyons. The month wasFebruary, and the two latter gorges,

Mileage Log0.0 Junc tion of State Highway 111 andSouth Palm Canyon Drive in PalmSprings. Drive south on the latterroad.1.6 Junctio n. Bear right.2.7 Agua Caliente Indian Reservationtollgate.2.8 Junction. Bear left. (Right forkleads to Andreas Canyon.)4.9 Cross West Fork of Palm Canyon.5.0 Road ends at Herm it 's Benchtrading post overlooking Palm Can-yon. Elevation at Bench slightlyover 800 feet.

Beautiful running west to east, were evidentlyPalm gathering moisture from the wet upperCanyon, reaches of the San Jacinto Mountains.California's Palm Canyon, on the other hand, origi-largest nates in drier country to the south. Faultpalm l ines probably have much to do with theoasis. quantity of surface water, also.

the horse t ra i l , built so r iders might by-pass the two rocky barriers on the floorof the gorge. I tal l ied 42 palms in lowerFern, and downstream from the upperfall I could see a knot of Washingtoniasin Palm Canyon's West Fork. The horsetrail climbed steeply before leveling offand retu rning to the creek bed a fractionof a mile above the dry waterfal l . Threedozen palms packed the wash at thispoint, and quail rustled in shelter inggrowths of arrow-weed; desert Indiansused the grey -white branches of this ta l lshrub for making arrow shafts. There isanother cluster o f some 70 palmsdownstream to the left, also.A 10-minute hike upstream broughtme to the site of Dripping Springs,where water once oozed from an over-hanging, fern-covered c l i ff. This bank ofmaidenhair ferns gave the canyon itsname, but today, after several years ofdrought, both the ferns and the springshave vanished, leaving only a bare,water-streaked scarp along the right sideof the arro yo. Nearly 100 feet long and 35to 40 feet h igh , the bluff was formerlylush with g reenery for the f irs t eight .or10 feet above the canyon floor, judging18

Mileage Log0.0 Junction of State Highw ay 111 andSouth Palm Canyon Drive in PalmSprings. Drive south on the latterroad.1.6 Junc tion. Bear righ t.2.7 Agua Caliente Indian Reservationtollgate.2.8 Junction. Bear left. (Right forkleads to A ndreas Canyon.)4.9 Cross West Fork of Palm Canyon.5.0 Roads ends at Her mit's Bench trad-ing post overlooking Palm Canyon.From the Bench hike down PalmCanyon for several hundred yardsbefore climbing out via the first lowsaddle on the right. Drop into a drywash on the far side of the saddle

and continue straight on ahead intoFern Canyon, with its scatteredpalm debris. A short distance belowthe first Washingtonia, a steephorse trail leaves the canyon on theright, bypassing two dry waterfallsbefore returning to the floor of thegorge. From the point where thistrail rejoins Fern Canyon it is a 10-minute hike upstream to the finalpalm group at the site of DrippingSprings. Hiking distance from theBench to the last palms about twoand one-quarter miles each way.Elevation at last cluster roughly1100 feet .

by the water stains and traces of deadvegetation.

Despite the disappearance of Dripp ingSprings, this spot is still an attractiveone. More than 50 palms line the washhere, framing a lovely vista of canyonwalls and the snowy summit of MountSan Jacinto. Some of the trees equal thecli ff in height. The "springs" mark theupper limit of Washingtonia filifera;beyond, rifted palisades give way toopen uplands dotted with jojoba andyucca.

For the present, at least, Fern Canyonis a dying oasis in which dozens ofstanding dead palms mingle with theirliving companions. All told I counted 205live trees, but many appeared witheredand sickly. The cottonwoods which inyears gone by added flashing foliage tothe gorge have al l died, and the l i tt lecreek which moistened portions of theoasis has sunk into the sands. A few wetyears, however, or an increase in thewater supply through fault l ine move-ment, could revive Fern Canyon. Soon,perhaps, the palms will prosper onceagain, and the arching cliff will be lushwith ferns and fal l ing water.

Desert/A pril 1977


19/48

The hills andmountains bordering theCoachella Valley hold the greatest con-ce n t r a t i o n of W a s h i n g t o n i a s in theUnited States, and in number of treesPalm Canyon is the unquestioned king ofthe Am erican desert oases. At least onegrove in the Baja California deserts doesoutstr ip Palm Canyon, however. This isTajo Canyon in the Sierra Juarez not farbelow the border. Tajo meaning a cutor opening in a mountain probablycontains between 4,000 and5,000 palms,wi th m any more in its t r ibutar ies, but theg r e a t ma jo r i t y are the b lue pa lm[Erythea armata), a shorter Mexicanspecies with a bluish cast to its leaves.Consequen t ly , wh i le Ta jo su rpassesPalm Canyon in total trees, the AltaCalifornia oasis maintains the distinc-tion of having more Washingtonias thanits Mexican rival.

From Palm Canyon our path leadsnortheastward to Fern Canyon, whichwi l l be our four th and final stop nearPalm Springs. Although the ferns havewithered and died, over 200 Washing-tonias sti l l l ine this rugged defi le in theSanta Rosa Mounta ins.

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The answers to mosttax questions are inth e tax returnsinstructions, so lookthe re first. If youstil!need help, checkwith the IRS.CHECK THEINSTRUCTIONS.Desert/April 1977

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20/48

JNlev/" l i f e

by ERNIE CO WAN

^ .4'' ^BK

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1Fit*.f 1 W HEY H AD to walk to get there, but5 that didn 't stop a group of dedicated off-roaders from doing their part tohelp preserve a fascinating bit of deserthistory.The Orange County Chapter of Asso-ciated Blazers of Southern California-rounded up 57 of its members and madetwo tr ips into a remote corner of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park to do theirpart for conservation.They could only drive part of the way.

The last mile was a steep climb along arough, rocky t ra i l . But this didn't deterthem from hauling up more than 300pounds of building materials and cement

Left: Framed by an arched doorway, aBlazer mem ber rakes debris. Right:With the tin roof removed, the partialwalls presented a challenge to put themin a state of "arrested decay."20 Desert/April 1977


21/48


22/48

and bringing down almost that muchdebr is.Their dest inat ion Ghost Moun ta in,a lonely, wind-swept desert peak in thesouthern comer of California's largeststate park.Their m ission to clean up thecrumbling ruins once called home by amodern family who l ived a pioneer l i fefor 15 years on the mountaintop.Known as Yaquitepec, these ruins arewhat remain of the unusual story of afamily seeking closer contact with theearth and its creatures. Yaquitepec, or"home of the Yaqui Tr ibe," was named

by Marshal South, a man who sought l i feas the Yaqui Indians had l ived in thisar id environment.South and his wife, Tanya, came toGhost Mountain in 1932, turning aside acomfortable l i fe in the city for a l i fe ofstruggle in the harsh, ar id desert.Du ring the next 15 years, M arsha l andTanya would build their home and theirfamily at Yaquitepec. Three childrenwould be born to the couple, and raisedas children of the wilderness, learningthe ways of survival in their remote

location.Although the South family existence

Left: This is howYaquitepec appearedbefore the preservationproject began.The old cistern forwater storage can beseen on the left.Below: Two huskymembers carry the rooffor the memorialplaque upthe mountainside.

, s ~ :

was remote from the world in distanceand style, i t was not remote in under-standing. For several years, starting in1940, South would send a story eachmonth to Desert Magazine. Tanya, ateacher, would also submit poems to themagazine for public ation. The articles bySouth were often a strong statement ofhis wilderness philosophy in addition toan account of events at Yaquitepec. Andthe sensitive poetry of Tanya South gaveone insight into a woman at peace withthe wilderness and in love with her God.Randall Handerson, the late editor,p u b l i sh e r a n d fo u n d e r o f DesertMagazine, visite d the S ouths on occasionand wrote about their pr im itive desertl i fe.

When they came to the mounta in,"they had no shelter but a tarpaulin. Butthere they have remained, and throughthe years have been able to collectenough rain water to build a modestadobe cottage," Henderson wrote.

Indeed, their wilderness l i fe was be-coming more comfortable. Their white-washed adobe home contained severalrooms, a fireplace heating sys tem, adobeoven, and tin roof that not only shel-tered the fami ly f rom the ra in, but actedas a collector for rainwater and drained itinto huge tar- l ined storage tanks.

Except for a few occasional trips intoJulian or Escondido for needed supplies,the family l ived a pr imitive l i fe. Theirclothing often consisted of breech clothand sandals. Their food was mostly w hatthey could collect in the wild or grow insmall terraced gardens around theirhome.

The days at Yaquitepec were fi l ledwith making candles, gathering firewoodor food, teaching ch i ldren, mi lk ing the irtwo goats, making pottery or adding totheir house.The Souths left the mountain for goodin 1947; a year later, Marshal died. Th ereason the family left is not clear, andTanya, who still lives in San Diego, doesnot wish to talk about her years on the3,000-foot desert peak.So, since 1947, the humble little Southcottage has begun to return to the soil.According to Bud Getty, manager ofthe half-mil l ion-acre Anza-Borrego Des-ert State Park, the ruins were nothingmore than an opportunity for vandalismfor many hikers to the mountain top."Becaus e the ruins could not be called

histor ic in nature, there were no funds22 Desert/April 1977


23/48

Right: Marshall South's old sundialgets cemented on a new base.

Center: Good old Ame rican ingenuitycame to the fore when it was

necessary to transport long-handledtools. Lashed together, they became alot easier to maneuver.Bottom: Eve rything for the day'sneeds, supplies, food and water, had to

be carried up the trail. Here agroup begins the climb while the basecamp, with their multi-purpose

Blazers, appears in the background.available for restoration," Getty said.

I t was this plight of Yaquitepec, men-tioned in a May 1975 Desert Magazineart ic le, that spurred the AssociatedBlazers into action. A ccording to the pastPresident Tom Hartman, members oft h e o f f - ro a d ve h ic le g ro u p d e c id e dYa q u i t e p e c w o u ld b e a w o r th w h i leproject."Since there wasn't much the statecould do, we decided we'd do what wecould to at least preserve a little bit ofth is in terest ing story," Hartman said.His group spent their f irs t weekend onChost Mountain removing the danger-ous old roof and cleaning the area ofdebris. Then they returned to put upplaques showing a picture of the o riginalSouth home, a plot plan of the area, abrief history of Yaquitepec and a pictureof Marshal South.For their efforts, members of theBlazers club received a special conser-vation award from the California Off-Road Vehicle Association (CORVA).Park Manager Getty said the workdone by the Blazers group will do a lot topreserve the history of the area."N ow hikers to Yaquitepec can learn alittle of the history of the area, and per-haps respect the ruins a lit t le more,"said Getty.Although funds for further restoration

are still limited, he hopes soon to havemoney for some trail maintenance to themounta in top."Those tremendous rains we had lastfall just about wiped out the t r a i l , " hesaid.The Yaquitepec project shows whatcan be done by a few interested people.About $200 out-of-pocket dollars werespent on the project, but what accom-plished the job was the thousands ofch i ld ren, woman and man hours thatwent into the task of putt ing a lit t le l ifeback onto Ghost Mo unta in.

Desert/ April 1977 23


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WESTERN ART "The New Cook,"Watercolor20"x38"

N E V A D A ' SH i s T O R i o v lMTERCOIORIST

L B A L L

"Machine Shop,"Watercolor20"x30"

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ILE V. BALL began his career in themidst of the Depression, and neverdreaming he could ever become anartist , he gave up his ambition to becomean architect, and opened his one-roomsign shop.Sometime between then and now hefell in love with the shacks and shantiesof the ghost towns, and is today retiredand happily painting the homey, every-day life of early ranchers and st ill-life ofthe ir tools and accessories, thus preserv-ing a record for posterity.

His mother, widowed when Lyle wasonly nine months o ld, became a cook inthe mining towns of Nevada. It was inthis environment he learned to love hisstate, especially the historic element.He first started painting in oil, butafter studying with Edgar Whitney inDesert/April 1977

New York, felt that watercolor was hisforte. However, the climate of the NewEngland states is a far cry from the dryheat of the desert, and after his water-color paper curled up and dried tooquickly outdoors, he decided thatsketches and slides would be more re-warding. He now prefers to paint in thecalm of his own studio, with all his ma-terials at hand . This enables him to con-trol the i l lusive watercolor mediumwhich is so impressive in his work.

Wh ile his paintings seem to be realis-tic at first glance, careful study will showthe depth of thought which he focusesupon the essence of a subject in order toeliminate detail into a cleaner composi-tion. It is his thought that all good workrelates to the abstract.Avoiding the spectacular in both color

and subject, Lyle prefers his work toquietly invite the viewer back to examineagain what was previously overlooked.Besides the barns, shacks and Ameri-cana, he is a devotee of the Virginia andTruckee Railroad which ran betweenReno, Carson City and Virginia City dur-ing the Bonanza Days of the Corn-stock. On the occasion of its Centennial,Ball drew sketches depicting the trainsat different depots and had them madeinto notepaper. They were also repro-duced in a portfolio suitable for framin g.The Nevada National Bank of Reno pur-chased the entire supply for premiums.They also purchased a painting of a traincrossing the Crown Point trestle whichhas been reproduced on their checks,and bank statements.

He has presented many speeches to25


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, .

"Restless,"Watercolor20"x28"

Service Clubs on the history of the V&T.When a new city hall was built in Reno,Ball made a drawin g of the old one whichnow hangs in the reception room, to-gether with a paint ing by C.B. McClellanof "Lake's Crossing," Reno's f i rs t Inn,which is now occupied by The River-side Hotel. This old paint ing was refur-bished and repaired by Mr. Bal l .

Lyle loves the ghost towns and deeplyregrets the vandalism and progresswhich is fast destroying them. Onesprin g day he dec ided to take a close lookat Ophir , in Washoe Val ley, betweenReno and Carson City. This old mil l sitewas in the middle of a f ield and on

private property. He secured permissionfrom the owner, cl imbed over fences,shooed horses and cattle out of the way,and wading in about six inches of water,took some nice slides of the superin-tendent 's two-story wooden home.Some years later, the route of the free-way was to go by and Lyle thought hownice it would be to have the road passthis old mil lsite. I t would make a nicetourist attract ion. Imagine his chagrinone day on returning from Carson City tosee the old house in f lames. The High-way Department burned it , and the free-way goes right over the spot. All that isleft is- a few b rick ruin s.

Lyle has been very active in art c ircles;he served two terms on the Nevada StateCouncil of the Arts, is an Invitat ionalArt is t in the 49ers Encampm ent in DeathValley, w here he has won prizes f ive outof seven years he has partic ipa ted , and isone of the foun ders and Past President ofThe Art ists Co-Operat ive Gallery ofReno.Every artist has a secret dream of hav-ing his own gallery, bu t often f inds whenhe has it that it is so confining he thenhas l it t le t ime for paint ing. Knowing thisto be true, in 1966 some of Reno's moreserious artists joined in a Co-Op, andthey wil l celebrate their 10th birthday

"Berlin Mill,"Watercolor20"x30"26 Desert/April 197


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by VALERIE J . JORALEMON

C ENTRAL NEV ADA is a region aparta law unto itself . Wi th its high moun-tains, long sweeping valleys, cleardry air and pungent sagebrush, it mightbe called the last western front ie r wherepeople are independent and th e distancebetween towns is measured in hours, nomiles.In the middle of this rugged highdesert, Tonopah, "The Queen of theSilver Camps," cl ings to the steep sidesof Mt. Oddie and Mt. Brougher at 6,050feet. Hand-hewn stone buildings l inemost of Main Street and the hills aredotted with weathered gray wood andaging headframes. Except for somemodern buildings and a smaller popula

Upper left: The originalMizpah claim that startedit all. Arrow points topile of rock locating thefamous silver strike.From left: Tasker Oddie,Jenkins, Belle andJim Butler. Left: the 7976black powder shoot attractedmany w omen as wellas men, and fine gunswere to be seen.28 Desert/April 197


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t ion , the town looks much the same as itdid in the f irst years following JimButler 's discovery of si lver.J im was a transplanted Ca l i fornian, arancher in Monitor Valley who was muchm ore t aken w i t h p rosp ec t i ng t hanstaying home with Belle, his part-Sho-shone wife . In May of 1900, J m and hisburro were making a t r ip to KlondikeWells about 15 miles south of the pres-ent site of Tonopah. According to leg-end, the burro wandered off in just theright place and the rock Jim chose tothrow at him was heavy with silver.Mo re l ikely that J m had both eyes open ,

as prospectors are wont to do.

Jim showed his samples to assayerFrank Higgs, but Frank wanted no partof it without payment which Jim didn'thave. However, Tasker Oddie, a youngattorney from New Jersey who wouldlater become Nevada Governor and StateSenator, had more faith and bettersense. He showed the rock to his friendWalter Gayhart, a science teacher inAustin who ran a backyard assay outf it .The results were incredibly r ich and inAugust, J m, Tasker and Wilse Brougherset about staking claims.Jim's original claim was named TheMizp a h , an ancient Hebrew word mean-

ing, "The Lord watch between me and

Butler Days 1975. The Tonopah Fire De-partment and the Gabbs Fire Depart-ment stage a water fight in front of theMizpah Hotel.

thee while we are absent one from an-other." The choice may have been..Belle's touch.Pah is a Shoshone word for water, orspr ing. Hence Tonopah, l i terally trans-lated, means something l ike water bush,'though the site was bone dry and earlyresidents used to pay between one andtwo dollars a gallon for water from a

water wagon.Desert/April 1977 29


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Float cars are no longer decoratedwith sagebrush as they were for oneparade in 1918, however, there areplenty of entires. The Ely Antique CarClub, mounted u nits, school groups, TheShriners and Junior and Senior ButlerDays Queens are but a few who haveparticipated in these parades. In 1976,Mrs. Elizabeth Titlow, who reigned asSenior Queen, remarked, "I came toTonopah in 1903. There was no water, nolights or anything." An accurate de-scription of the young camp.

When the parade is over there issomething for everyone to do. The an-tique bottle show and sale has growneach year and is one of the highlights ofthe weekend.

The mucking contest is str ictly miningcamp fare. Rock from the Belmont Mineis hauled in and dumped in a huge pileon one of the vacant lots in town. Themuckers shovel it into an ore car in theold tim e tradition with a time r keepingwatch, no easy task with the sun hot andthe rock heavy. Kids are welcome to trytheir hand in the junior mucking contest.

Drilling contests are part of Nevadahistory and date back to the earliest cele-brations in Tonopah. They are taken ser-iously in mining camps and a championdri l ler is a respected man.

A huge block of granite is hauled infrom the nearby hills and set on a standat the vacant lot. In the double jack con-test one man crouches, turnin g the steeldrill while the other hammers it into therock. They may change places as often asthey wish and it is done with such pre-cision that they seldom miss a stroke.

In the single jack contest one manhammers and turns the dr i l l with hisother hand. When the time keeper calls10 minutes the hole is measured and thedeepest hole is the winner.

It requires technique and endurance.If a stroke is off a man's hand can bebadly hurt. The crowd cheers, cal l ing en-couragement. "They must have got areal hard rock this year!" "If you winwe' l l g ive you the roc k!" "H ey Terry,get some powder." There is a red stainwhere the hammer has missed. "GoTerry, go. We got beer to replace thatb l ood ! " "O h , there goes that knuckleaga i n . " The crowd groans if the hammermisses its mark, but no man ever givesup.

When the hard work is done there isfood and drink available at a western-style barbecue. A grand ball is given inone of the halls in town and is an affairthat calls to mind the old days of dancesand gala evenings. A woman in 1890'sdress smiles. "I wish more people wouldwear period costumes," she sighs.

The famous water fight is looked for-ward to by everyone, especial ly young-sters. It is probably the grandest scalewater fight ever held in the middle of thedesert. The Tonopah Fire Departmentgives an opposing town's fire depart-ment a good hosing, or vice versa, withthe target being an empty drum strunghigh above the crowd. In warm weatherthe resulting showers are welcome.

1976 saw the first antique fire hosecart races. One person pulls the cartwhile the other rushes to connect thehose and be ready to turn on the water"Water !" came the ca l l whi le the car twas only halfway up the street and thehose spurted over a surprised team anccrew alike. "Didn't you guys yell forw ate r? " shouted the grew at the hy-drant. " N o ! " came the reply. There wasa repressed oath and much laugh ter, ancafter this escapade it was standarcpractice for everyone to yell for watebefore the teams reached the point oreadiness.

Continued on Page 38Desert/April 1977

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M O J A U E D E S E R TT U R Q U O I S Eby MA RY FRANCES STRONGphotos by Jerry Strong I RECENT YEARS, the gemstoneturquoise has risen to unprecedentedpopularity throughout the UnitedStates and possibly the world. Such ac-claim is not new to turqu oise . It has beent reasured by man s ince preh is tor icaborigines used it as an adornment andvaluable trading commodity. They also

believed the "stone of many blues"possessed mys t ica l qua l i t ies wh ichwould protect them from evil spir its.

The early Egyptians, Persians, Chin-ese and Aztecs revered turquoise. Theirtalented craftsmen produced magnif i-

32

cent carvings bowls, vases and otherornamental pieces as well as beauti-ful jewelry Some of these priceless oldpieces are still in existence today.

As is to be expected, the current in-terest in turquoise has led to the pub-lications of several excellent books onthe subject. Most of them contain out-standing color photographs of jewelryand rough material from important lo-cales around the wo rld.

Deposits in the United States are wellrepresented by Nevada, Arizona, NewMexico and Colorado. However, not oneof the books or magazine articles I haveseen discusses or contains photographsof turquoise from the Mojave Desert Re-gion. Not only have these locales pro-duced some top-quality gem material,but they also have proved to be of con-siderable archeological value.

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hazardous journey from the terr itory thatis now New Mexico and A rizona. In viewof this, it seems safe to conclude MojaveDesert turquoise may have been foundamong their artifacts, but its source es-caped recognit ion.

In 1897, T.C. Basset was prospectingnorth of Halloran Springs and observed"blue -stain ed ro cks " in a white talcosemater ia l . A lit t le digging disclosed nod-ules and small masses of turquoise.Fine, gem material was located some 20feet below the surface. Basset also un-covered two stone hammers the f irstevidence of prehistoric miners! Fit t ingly,Basset named his claim the Stone Ham-mer M ine .

News of the archeological find arousedgreat interest, part icularly in San Fran-cisco, California. This resulted in anelaborate expedit ion to invest igate theaboriginal sites. Headed by CustaveEisen of the California Academy of Sci-ence, his account of the findings waspublished in the March 18, 1898 issue ofthe San Francisco Call. In 1929, the SanDiego Muse um published the results of amodern archeological reconnaissance ofthe old working s and associated rema ins.

Turquoise proved to be abundant andthe well-known Toltec and HimalayaMines were developed. Gem materialoccurred in minute to IVi- inch veins, aswell as nodules disseminated in altera-t ions zones within granite rock. The de-posits were shallow with no turquoisebeing found deeper than 100 feet. Min-ing was extensive from 1898 to 1903 but34 -

Somehow, itseemed moreexciting andventuresomewhen a hikewas requiredto collect atthe ToltecMine. Thearrow pointsto the authoron the trailand gives anidea of thevastness ofthis wild andruggedterrain.

halted when the larger veins appeared tobe exhausted. Production was reportedlylarge though I have been unable to findany record of the amount. Of particu-lar interest is the report of a single, bluestone which cut into a perfect ovalweighing 203 carats.

The district has been divided intothree sect ions called "West Camp"(Tol tec) , "Middle Camp" (Stone Ham-mer) and "East Camp" (Himalaya).A ma p, after M .J. Rogers, 1929, and in-formation on the Turquoise Distr ict waspublished in Bullet in 136, Minerals ofCalifornia, 1948, by the California Divi -sion of Mines. A quarter of a centurylater, a report in Bulletin 189 states thatH E . Pemberton (C.D.M.) had retracedthe route and suggests the names of themines were confused on Roger's origina lmap. This would make the mine nameson the map in Bulletin 136 in error.

The mine at West Cam p, known as theToltec, may be the Himalaya. The EastCamp Mine may be the Toltec. Con-fusing? No problem. While it is good toknow a mine's proper name, you wil lf ind they often have several if they wereoperated during dif ferent periods undervarious leasees. The Toltec has beenknown as such for nearly 50 years andprobably will continue to be called" T o l t e c " b y l o n g - t i m e d e s e r tenthusiasts.

On our recent tr ip to the TurquoiseDistrict, we had chosen a centrally lo-cated base campsite and made EastCamp our f irst point of explorat ion. We

found my 25-year-old map st i l l val id ,even though travel is now via a freeway.We followed the old route, passed theYucca Grove Talc Mine to East Camp.Rather, I should say, to a gate across theroad just prior to the camp. There weredire warnings to trespassers, some large"Keep Out" signs and another stat ingthis was the Stone Hammer Mine. Cer-tainly not the original mine but an oldname now given to East Camp.

We couldn't f ind anyone around but itwas obvious turquoise was being minedand assumed a new claim has been filedon the old property. We had planned tofollow the road west to Halloran Springsbut did n't , since the signs indicated hos-t i l i ty. We were sorry there wasn't an op-portunity to talk with the occupants.However, it seems doubtful the roadcould be leg ally close d. It has served as aconnecting link between the three maincamps since 1899, as well as giving ac-cess to other mines in the locale. OnlyBLM has been granted the power toclose long established roads.

Our next object ive was West Camp(Toltec Mine). We elected to make the" loop t r i p " and headed no r t h onHalloran Springs Road. This seven milesof paving is courtesy of the MicrowaveRelay Station on Turqoise Mountain andeliminates some sandy sections alongthe former graded road. Our routeskirted the Yucca Talc Mine not to beconfused with Yucca Grove Talc Mine.This deposit is worth looking over assome good, carvable talc has been col-lected here.

Leaving the paving, we continued onFrancis Spring Road (dirt tracks) south-westerly along a wash through themountains. In about a mile of travel, anew road was encountered on the r ight." W e be tter check this road out. It maybe a new road to the Toltec since it isheading in the r ight direct ion," Jerry ad-vised. We soon found it ended on theside of a peak well above a nd east of themine. A new trail appeared to be moredifficult than the old one, as it had asteep climb up to the car on the returnt r ip . The old trail was all downslope frommine to car!

Back on Francis Spring Road, anothermile of travel brought us to the turnoffand in short order we were parked at theold mine campsite. Nothing remains.Even the t in shacklong a landmark forthe t rai l and shelter on a stormy n ig h t -was gone.

Desert /Apr i l 1977


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We hiked up to the mine and found anew road from the west leads right to thebase of the dump! Pickups shouldn'thave any problems. The road is gradedand has a few steep sections. However,we noted several places where cars hadspun their wheels. If this continues andthe road is not maintained, four-wheel-dr ive wil l become necessary.

Who has graded the new roads and forwhat reasons, we have not learned. Themine is not posted and there had notbeen any changes since our previousvisit. With the public's considerable in-terest in turquoise and the high pr ice itnow commands, there is always the pos-sibi l i ty the Toltec may be reactivated. Inthe past, it has produced some excellentturquoise of pale blue to bluish-greencolor.

Rock collectors have been trying theirluck at the Toltec for over a quarter of acentury. Many have found some nicegem material. If you wonder whetherturquoise is sti l l being found today the answer is yes. Small, but good qual-i ty pieces are regular ly collected. Areany sizable chunks found? Yes, they are.A few years ago, I noted a bluish

coating on the south wall of the Toltec'sglory hole. I almost didn't check it out,since others I had seen proved to on ly bepaper-thin coatings. Much to my joy,this one was a seam of gem-quality tur-quoise. It appeared to be an isolatedseam running back into the wal l . Imanaged to dig out a number of cabo-chon-sized pieces and one good-sizedchunk. The latter weighed 5V i ounces.There is no matrix and it would probablycut into a dozen lovely, blue-gre en slabs.

I eventually traded by smaller piecesfor other gem material and intended touse the larger specimen in jew elry. Theproblem now is that I cannot br ing my-self to cut it. It is not every day I find abeautiful mineral specimen that is also avaluable gem. I feel I have enjoyed it inthe rough much more than if it were cutinto jewelry.

So I can personally say there isstill good turquoise at the Toltec. If youhave any doubts, drop by and see myspecimen. Eventually, someone wil l un-cover another small seam or pocket.When they do, I hope they enjoy as Ihave"Mojave Deser t turquoise, thestone of many blu es ."

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Vista, California 92083Desert /Apr i l 1977 35


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N A T I V E B E V E R A G E

EARly EVERyONEHAS A NAME FOR IT!T HE MANY common names used forspecies of Ephedra is a clue to itswide use. Ephedra has been used byIndians, Spaniards and Mexicans, Mor-mons and other pioneers, as well as laterfreighters and prospectors.

The name Joint Fir refers to thegrooved and jointed stems. Other namesare Mexican Tea or Canuti l la, Popoti l lo,Squaw Tea, Desert Tea.

Among Indian names is Co-oosti or

Kvopat (a newer name) of the Pimas inAr izona, referr ing to "st ick tea," thewhole plant appearing l ike a bundle ofsticks, as the leaves are scale-like.

The Cahuil la, of California, storedbundles of Ephedra or "tu-tut" insidetheir homes, as did the Chemehuevis,formerly, at Twentynine Palms. TheNavajo of Arizona and New Mexico had aname for one species that meant "grasswaving back and for th. "

Ephedra, in the southernmost part of the Colorado Desert, sometimes is the onlystabilizing element in loose sandy areas. Indians who lived in now-vanished desertcamps, or traveled along waterless trails, found Ephedra both stimulating andthirst-quenching.

by LUCILE W EIGH TWe had heard of Mormon Tea, but it

was in the Thomas Mountains of Utah,on a 1947 f ield tr ip, that Dr. Junius J.Hayes of the University of Utah, told usthe " r e a l " name was Brigham Tea, forthe Mormon leader, Brigham Young. Inthe monograph, "Ethnobotany of theNavajo," by Francis H. Elmore, . tri-furca is called Mormon Tea, BrighamTea and Brigham Young Tea, amongother names. And E. viridis is calledGreen Morm on Tea. I his latter species,according to the Navajo name, is "coughmedicine." Many Indians, too, are saidto chew the stems to relieve thirst on awaterless t ra i l .

A sad footnote on this use by deserttravelers was supplied by B il l Ke ys, pio-neer of Death Valley and TwentyninePalms country. It was Keys who foundthe body of Johnny Lang, up near KeysView, now in Joshua Tree National Mon -umen t, in March 1926. The oldt imer, for-ever associated with the Lost HorseMin e , had been carrying a litt le bag ofDesert Teabut no water.

In recent years, as many have becomeaware of health measures, they havesought more "natural" foods and bever-ages. And recently the coffee prices havedriven many others to seek substitutes.Ephedra, although used for centuries, isnew to most people. The ephedrin of thepharmacists is well known, but thiscomes from the Chinese species, E.sinica, used for nearly 3,000 years. Itsimportant ingredient is the alkaloidephedr in . Our several desert specieslack its potency for treatment of variousailments. Nevertheless, they have beenused by Indians medicinally and as atonic, as well as a pleasant beverage.36 Dese rt/April 1977


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The tannin of our species serves as ath i r s t q u e n ch e r . Th e a u th o r , M a r yAustin, who l ived in both Owens Valleybeside the Sierra Nevada and in NewMexico, wrote that desert tr ibes in Cali-fornia used the dry stems to chew in lieuof water, and when possible they usedthe tea to prevent thirst.

Ephedra is best known by laymen as atea. The Ephedra connoisseur does notsteep it, according to some. Boiling isnecessary. Some used dried stems,others the green, but there is no choice ifi t cannot be gathered in i ts spring pr ime .

The Navajo, before making the tea,are said to roast the stems, in or near acampfire. This might produce a more ef-fective tea without so much boil ing. Toprepare the decoction for medicinal use,the Navajo crushed the stems to powder,then stirred it into water. It seems thatthis powdered form would be especial lyappropriate for those traveling a longtrai l with l i tt le water or t ime. Navajoused E. trifurca especial ly for medicine,and E. viridis fo r the beverage ,according to Elmore's information.

The Cahuil la boiled E. nevadensis,picked in late summer, unti l the waterbecame wine-co lored, according to Da vidPrescott B arrows, who was among theseIndians of Coachella Valley and SanJacinto Mountains in the 1

197704 desert magazine 1977 april

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