197712 desert magazine 1977 december

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1977 S1 0

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C o m evisitus.. .>. A GREATSELECTIONOF BOOKSON TH E W EST

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W ILLIAM and JOYKNYVETTCo-Publishers/ EditorsGEORGE BRA GA, Art DirectorSHARLENE KNY VETT, Art DepartmentMARY FRANCES STRONG, Field Trip E ditorK.L. BOYNTON, NaturalistMARVEL BARRETT, Circulation ManagerColor Separations byHenry Color ServiceLithographed byWolfer Printing Company, Inc.Available inMicrofi lm byXerox University Microfilms

Volume 40, Number 12 DECEMBER 1977

THE COVER:A frosted Jeffrey pine inthe San Gabriel Mountainsof Southern California.Photo by David Muench ofSanta Barbara, California.

CONTENTSF E A T U R E S

LOST PALMSTHREE SALTY SISTERS

YUMA CLAPPER RAIL

NEW CLUES TO THE LOST WHITE PAPOOSE MINEHOLE IN THE ROCK

PLACER GRAVELS OF RALPH "DRY PAN" FAIRFORGOTTEN TUNNEL TRAIL

OLD FORTS OF SOUTHERN ARIZONAJUNIPER-AN ANCIENT BERRY IN INDIAN CUISINE

THE LITTLE BIG WORLD OF OOLOGY

7 Dick Bloomquist8 Mary Frances Strong12 Stanley medders16 Dick Bloomquist20 Roger Mitchell24 Ralph Neely

28 8/7/ Jennings32 Joe Kraus36 Luc//e Weight40 W. William Harrison

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

NEW BOOKS FOR DESERT READERS 6 Book Reviews

BOOKS OF THE WEST 42 Mail Order Items

TRADING POST 44 Classified ListingsLETTERS TO THE EDITOR 47 Readers'Comments

CALENDAR OF WESTERN EVENTS 47 Club Activities

EDITORIAL, CIRCULATION ANDADVERTISING OFFIC ES: 74-425 Highway 111, Palm Des ert, California 92260. Telephone A rea Code 714346-8144.listed in Standard Rate and Data. SUBSC RIPTION RATES: United States andpossessions; 1 year, $7.00; 2 years, $13.00; 3 years, $19.00. All othercountries add$2.00 U.S.currency for each year, tee Subscription Order Form in this Issue. Allow five weeks for change of address andsend both newand oldaddresses with zipcodes. DESERT Magazine is published monthly. Second class postage paid at Palm Desert, California and at additional mail-ing offices under Act of March 3,1879. C ontents copyrighted 1977 byDESERT Magazine and permission to reproduce any or all contents must besecur-ed inwr it ing . Unsolicited m anuscripts and photographs wil l not bereturned unless accompanied byself-addressed, stamped envelope.Dese rt /Decem ber 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 ENDSMiscellaneo us C opiesfrom 1959 to 1965Package of 10$0003o se lections available

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Send check or money order toDESERT MAGAZINEP.O . Box 1318Palm Desert, Ca lif. 92260

publ isher's D E C E M B E R H E R A L D S C h r i s t m a s44 with peace on earth and goodwill top man. I t troubles me that the spir it ofChristmas is so brief for the majority ofpeople.

One group that carries the banner ofbrotherhood high is the Big Brothers ofSan Diego, Inc., who recently enjoyed afour-wheel-drive outing on the Truck-haven Hills of the Borrego Badlands, inthe Anza-Borrego Desert near SaltonCity, California. The Big Brother organi-zat ion pairs volunteer big brothers withyoung fatherless boys, enabling the m toshare experiences otherwise lost throughthe absence of fathers .

This outing, sponsored annually bythe San Diego Four Wheelers of SanDiego, California, provides these boysan oppo rtunity to enjoy camping and off-roading with an experienced organiza-t ion. This year's act ivit ies included amorning off-road tr ip through the deserthi l ls, several off-road obstacle coursegames, an even ing meal of delicious bar-bequed beef and a campfire programending with drawings for many donatedprizes.

Clubs wanting to part icipate in nextyear's Big Brother Run, or those inter-ested in sponsoring similar events, whowould like to learn from an experiencedclub, are encouraged to contact the SanDiego Four Wheelers, Box 2396, LaMesa, Cal i fornia92041.

Congratulat ions to all involved for thiswonderful event, and it certainly musthave been a memorable time for thoseyoung men of the future .

Merry Christmas to all!

Clyde Forsythe's Famous . ..G o l d S t r i k eS e r i e sF o u r M i n i n g C a m p S ce n e s

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Preserve your copies in thesevinyl binders that hold 12issues. Gold-stamped on thecover and spine, and dated ifyou desire.ONLY PostpaidDESERT MAGAZINEBox 1318Palm Desert, Ca lif. 92260

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D e s e r t / D e c e m b e r 1 9 7


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T E R R I F I C O P P O R T U N I T YR E A C I E R S !

Throu gh the coope rat ion ofU N I V E R S I T YOF C A LIFO R N IA P RE SSTHE LIVES OFDESERTANIMALSIN JOSHUA TREENATIONALM O N U M E N Tb y A L D E N H . M I L L E Ran dR O B E RT C . S T E B B I N SFor everyone with an interest in thedesert life of southern California, thisbook wi ll serve as an indispensablesource and guide. In addition to theactual faunal analysis of 141 residentanimals of the desert, there are 149illustrations, inc luding 74photographs, 58 black and whitedrawings, 9 maps and diagrams, and8 color plates.R E G U L A R L Y P R I C E DA T $2 8 . 5 0N O W1A98L i m i t e d o f fe rgood throughD e c e m be r 3 1 ,1 9 7 7Please add 50c for Postag e/hand lingCalif, residents add 6% state sales tax

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R IVER SID E C O U N TY 'S LA R G EST4 - W H E E L D R I V E H EA D Q U A R TER S

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BooksforT)esertTraders

;LOST MINE S ANDBURIEDTREASURES OF THEWESTBibliography andPlace Names fromKansas W est toCalifornia, Oregon,Washington andMexicoBy T homas Probert

In the past, Lady Luck made possiblemany grea t discoveries ofmineral wealthin theAmerican West. Today, seekers oflost mines and buried treasures know

NEW TITLES F O RF A L L / W I N T E R , 1977 . . .Dick d'Easum . . . SAWTOOTH TALES . . . paper . . . $6.95

Ralph Fr iedman . . . TRACKING DOWN OREGON . . . pape r . . . $5.95Don and Myrt le Holm . . . BOOK OF FOOD DRYING,PICKLING ANDSMOKE CURING . . . paper . . . $4.95

Gene Plowden . . . SINGING WHEELS ANDCIRCUS WAGONS . . . pape r . . . $4.95Sessions S.Whee le r . . . THEBLACK ROCK DESERT . . . paper . . . $4.95Details of these andother tit les in our 1977Color Supplement Catalog.Please write for a copy.

T h e CAXT ON PRI NT ERS,Ltd.'(> Box 700

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that any " f i n d " wi l l be the result ofdoing their homework. Homework in thiscase is research, a tedious task at best,delving into what has been writ ten andrecorded about any given subject. TomProbert 's bibliography is a wonderfulresearch tool.

Wayland D. Hand, in his Foreword,best describes Probert's efforts and results:"Tom Probert is a modern-day trea-sure hun ter, armed notwith theweaponsof conquest butwith the tools andtrain-ing of anengineer and the curiosity of ascientist. More than these assets, hebrings to the study of lost mines andburied treasure wide reading in litera-ture and lore of treasure seeking as wel las of history itself. Probert's indefatiga-ble zeal in bringing together a bibliogra-phy covering some two thousand lostmines and buried-treasure stories fromfifteen states in theWest andSouthwest,as well as f rom Mexico, is noteworthysimply for the logistic feat of hunt ingdown and turning up items that arethemselves often as elusive as the outcroppings and diggings they describe.The real usefulness of this bibliography,however, is the identif icat ion of treasurehoards andmining claims, by whatevername, and by whatever mischance.Where it has been at all possible to doso, the compiler has also tried toauthenticate the data presented by resort togeography, archaeology, photography,and pictography, and above all , by pa-t ient research in the f i e l d . "

Hardcover, 593pages, $22.50 throughDecember 31,1977; thereafter $27.50.

All books reviewed are availablethrough theDesert Magazine BookShop. Please add 50c per totalorder for handling and Californiaresidents must include 6% statesales tax.

LOSTandFOUND...Find Lost Coinsand Other Valuableswith a GarrettMetal Detector

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Desert/December 1977


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NO. 13 IN A SERIES ONC ALIFORN IA PALM OASES

Los tJ f iA m s * CondonbyD ICK B LOOMQU IST1 OST PALMS Canyon is passable tovehicles for two-tenths of a mile be-yond its confluence with MonsenCanyon, although this f inal stretch is

often too sandy for passenger cars. Twoliving W ashingtonias and two dead onesstand near the end of the road. By thefirst dead tree a narrow footpath leads toa low wooden door set between, andunder, monumental boulders of whitegranite. Beyond the doorway an untim-bered tunnel with a l i tt le water near i tsmouth cuts back into the living rock. Asign outside the tunnel explains its pur-pose: "Privately owned water supply.Please do not molest. Joseph L. Chiri-aco. Chir iaco Summit." This is one oftwo places I have seen in the canyonwhere efforts have been made to tap thewater supply. The othera metal shedover a spring is located upstream in theheart of the oasis.

Between these two points more boul-ders than palm trees fill Lost Palms (for-merly Sutterfield) Canyon, but a trai lalong the left-hand slope bypasses themost congested stretches. After a littleless than a mile, the edge of the oasis isreached as the watercourse veers to theright. Here several Washingtonias greetthe traveler after the shadeless hike up-canyon. Around the next bend l ies theshed mentioned above, its slanting roofcovering a pool ten feet wide and a fewDesert/December 1977

inches deep. Bordered by palms androcks on the right side of the arroyo, thisstruc ture is easy to miss. A p ipeline oncecarr ied water to Chir iaco Summit fromthe spring, but the line is abandoned atpresent and has several breaks in it.

Mos t of the palms display short- frond-ed, f ire-blackened trunks. Small wil lows

Mileage Log0.0 Chiriaco Summit, 27 miles east ofIndio along Interstate 10. Drivenorth toward the Eagle Mountainson a dirt road which starts just westof the Chiriaco Summit Trailer Park.0.6 Enter Joshua Tree National Monu -ment. No camping or fires allowed.1.7 Enter Lost Palms Canyon Wa sh.Soft sand in places from th is po inton. It may be advisable, dependingon conditions, to park passengercars on the near side of the washand cover the final two and three-tenths m iles of roadway on foot.3.8 Monsen Canyon comes in on right.Continue straight ahead.4.0 Roadway ends. There are two livingpalms and two standing dead ones ashort distance upstream at an eleva-tion of perhaps 2825 feet. The maingrove begins nearly one mile fartherup the canyon.

grow among them, with yucca, ocoti l lo,jojoba and desert tea on the slopes. Thetal lest WashingtoniasI estimated oneto be 50 feet in heightgrow upstreamfrom the spring. Several lofty trees can

be seen by a precipitous promontory onthe canyon's right side, opposite which atrai l from Cottonwood Spring drops intothe oasis. This old waterhole, also withinJoshua Tree National Monument, is lo-cated four miles to the northwest nearthe Cottonwood Spring Campground onthe other side of the mountains.

I headed back down the canyon a shortdistance beyond the Cottonwood Springtrail junction after having tallied 100Washingtonias85 along the stretch Ihiked plus 15 counted from afar. Theremay be a few more farther upstream.Monsen C anyon, explored in the preced-ing article in this series, contains only 44palms in its lower reaches, but in totaltrees it probably outstrips Lost Palms.Both rank among the highest oases inelevation in the California deserts.

With i ts tal l fan palms and abrupt,bouldered walls, Lost Palms is indeed afascinating oasis. An aura of mystery, ofaloofness dwells here, despite the factthat the canyon l ies within a much-visit-ed national monument. "Lost" is sti l l afitting adjective for this sequesteredgrove high in the Eagle Mountains.

From the Eagles our desert trai l wil ltake us southwesterly to a pair of smallbut alluring oases near the SaltonSeaSheep Hole Palms and HiddenSpring in the foothills of the OrocopiaMounta ins.


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Little remains a t the old camp of Bush, except the skeletal ruins of the water system.In background, Sheep Hole Pass separates Bullion [left] and Sheep Hole Mountains.

T h r e eSaltySisters

by MARY FRANCES STRONGphoto s by Je rry Strong

I ITHO UT SALT and other importantsalines, our health would deterior-a te and our l i f es ty le rad ica l ly

change. However, few people seem totake much interest in saline mining,since it doesn't have the romantic, ad-venturous lure of gold, silver and pre-cious gems. Yet, lowly salt was one ofthe f irst minerals mined in the Ca liforniaDesert Region. Prehistoric Indians ex-ploited salt deposits long before theysought the gemturquoise.

Sodium compounds are vitally impor-tant to modern man, not only for his die-tary needs but as a source of chemicalsused in industrial products and pro-cesses. As a result, saline min ing has be-come an important and highly lucrativebusiness.Except when buried and protectedfrom solution, saline minerals are foundonly in arid regions. These importantminerals include calcium and sodiumchloride, bromine, borates, sodium car-bonate, sodium sulphate, iodine and po-tassium salts. Compounds of strontium,lithium and manganese may be added tothe list, since they, too, are usuallymined from saline brines.

Every undrained desert basin sup-ports a playa which, by the very natureof its existence, contains some degree of

D e s e r t / D e c e m b e r 19 77


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;***On Danby Dry Lake, a shovelful Kof dirt generally produce s ffine selenite and halite crystals.

mineral salts. Playas are nature's "eva-porative ponds" where an accumulationof salts from dilute saline water occurs.Such brines result from the attack of na-tural chemical agents upon mineralswi th in the surrounding reg ion.

The salts transported in solution to theplayas where they accumulate throughevaporation. The kind of salt or salts pre-sent depends upon the predominant rocktype in the region and the natural chem i-cal solvents present that interact withthem.

Searles Lake , east of Tro na, is perhapsthe most well known of California'sdesert playas. First mined for borax in1874, modern methods of minin g sti l l tapits vast subterranean brines. The salinebrines of three other dry lakes in SanBernardino County have also been ex-ploi ted. A tour of these "Three SaltySisters" wil l provide visitors an intimateacquaintance with saline mining, thechance to collect crystals of h alite , selen-ite and thernardite, as well as observesome mining activit ies. A ghost camp

and picturesque sand dunes wil l add in-terest to your tr ip.

Let me caution heredo not trespasson posted property.The "Salty Sisters" l ie within easy

driving distance of one another. Most ofthe route is paved and the graded roadsare good. Stock cars and those pullingtrai lers shouldn't encounter any prob-lems.

BRISTOL DRY L AKEBristol Dry Lake, immediately south of

Amboy on Old National Trai ls High-wayformerly Highway 66is a goodstarting point for exploration of the"Th ree Salty S isters ." One of the largestdesert playas, it encompasses a 60-square-mile basin in what is now one ofthe driest regions of the Mojave Desert.The latter fact has contributed greatly to

Sodium chlorideis precipitated

from the brine insolar evaporative

ponds by theNationalChloride

Company. Theshimmering,

white salt lies instriking contrast

to the brilliant,blue-green brine.


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the successful mining of three saline pro-ductsgypsum, salt and calcium chlor-ide.

While Bristol Lake's sizable depositsof sodium chloride (salt) were known inthe early 1880s, the first claims werefiled in 1904 on gypsum deposits alongthe northwes tern edge of the playa. Con-solidated Pacific Cement Plaster Com-pany developed the claims and erected aplaster mill two miles southeast ofAm boy. A narrow-gauge rai lroad waslaid to connect i t with the quarry.

Finding a source of energy for haulingthe ore cars to and from the mill was noproblem. It was provided by those mostcan tankerous bu t w i l l i ng beasts o fburden "th e onery m ule ." They serv-ed well for more than a decade.

Eventually, a new mil l was erectedcloser to the quarry and the Santa FeRailroad provided a half-mile spur to ser-vice it. Railroads like to give names to alljunct ion points and "Funston" waschosen in honor of the then recently de-ceased Major-General Frederick Fun-ston, hero of the Spanish-American Wa r.

The l i tt le "salt rai lroad" not onlyhauled ore but provided transportationback and forth to Amboy where the

miners were housed. In fact, a specialtrain was set aside solely for this pur-pose.

In 1919, U. S. Gypsum Company pur-chased the Amboy properties and con-tinued production until 1924. At thatt ime, the Amboy plant was closed andmoved in its entirety (including the rai l -road) to Midland in Riverside County.The era of gypsum mining on Bristol DryLake had come to an end.

Me anw hile, the Crystal Salt Company,formerly at Danby, had followed close onthe heels of the gypsum operation byfiling claims for the recovery of calciumchloride in 1908. They, too, erected amil l and laid a narrow-gauge rai lroad toconnect it with their quarry. It wasknown locally as the "Saltus-B ristolL i ne . "

Calcium chloride was the importantproduct during the next 12 years andmost of the sodium c hloride was discard-ed . Crystal Salt sold out to ConsumersSalt Company in 1916 and a successionof lessees followed. In 1927, the Califor-nia Salt Company acquired title to theproperty and, unti l recently, mined bothsodium and calcium chloride.

Salt was recovered by stripping the

overburden from the uppermost saltbed. After dr i l l ing into the bed with anauger bit, the salt was blasted with dyna-mite. The broken salt was loaded bydrag-line into dump cars, 20 to a t ra in,and hauled about four miles to the mil l .There it was crushed to minus lA meshsize, washed in several spiral conveyorsand placed in storage bins for futureshipment. Calcium chloride was pumpedfrom shallow wells and concentrated bysolar evaporation. It was sold in liquidfo rm.

Leslie Salt Company is the presentowner of the operation at Saltus. Wewere quite surprised last spring (May77 ) to find the m ine and mil l closed. Westopped at the office and talked with themaintenance superintendent. He askedme not to mention his name but offeredto give a salt specimen (they fluoresce abeautiful pink) to anyone who comes tothe office. They also have a nice displayof specimens found during their miningoperations. Collecting is not permittedon their property. Please do not tres-pass.

We are all familiar with the use of salton the table and in our home ice creamfreezers. Not so well known is its place

HwyCadizlOmi . Th re e Salty Sister s

, , ' * \ . LAKE / tDanbySalt'"DID\DANBY DR Y

10 D e s e r t /D e c e m b e r 1 9 77


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as an importa nt industr ial ch emical; as apreserver of fish and meat; and as a salt-ice mixture for c ooling rai lroad refr igera-tion cars. Other uses include water soft-eners, as well as in the manufacture ofsoap and synthetic rubber.

If the saline deposits of Bristol DryLake have any claim to fame, it is due tothe over 25 percent calcium chloridefound in i ts br ine. Only one other Cali-fornia lakebedCadiz, which has notbeen exploitedis known to have a sim-i lar concentration. Consequently, BristolLake is the main commercial source ofcalcium chlor ide in the state.

At the present t ime, National Chlor ideCompany is the sole producer on BristolDry Lake. In 1950, it acquired the claimsoriginally developed by Hollar ChemicalCompany in the 1930s and has workedthem almost continuously since then.

The recovery of calcium chloride is arather simple process. Brine is collectedfrom a series of canals cut through theuppermost layer of salt. The canals draininto a sump where the br ine is pumpedinto a number of large, shallow, solarevaporative ponds. When the br inereaches a density of 40 degrees Baume,most o f the sod ium ch lo r ide hasprecipitated. The concentrated br ine isthen pumped into storage basins, loadedinto tank trucks and shipped via ra i l .

Calcium chlor ide is sometimes con-ver ted to " f lake" which has a CaCl2content of 73 to 75 percent. The 40 de-gree liquor is evaporated by heating it inboilers to aro und 350 degrees F. The ho t,saturated solutions are then chilled onrevolving, water-cooled drums. Follow-ing several dry ing and cooling steps, the"flakes" are packaged in moisture-proofbags.

Calcium chlor ide has a variety of im-portant uses such as an agent for de-icing roads, antifreeze for f ire barrels,treatm ent of ores, the m anufacture of al-gin from seaweed, and in the rapid dry-ing of concrete. It is also useful for fire-proofing foliage, control of dust on roadsurfaces, playgrounds and parking lots,in the drying of walnu ts, as a medium foroi l-well dr i l l ing and as ballast in tractort i res.

Several years ago, Jerry and I had thepleasure of visit ing the National C hlor ideCompany's operation on Bristol DryLake. We ta lked wi th Bob Stephens-pumper and grandson of the company'spresident. We presumed the young manD e s e r t /D e c e m b e r 19 77

< . " ' < - ( ' , " ' :

This l ittle "salt train" on Bristol Dry Lake carried salt from the middle of the lake tothe mill at Saltus. In spring of 1977,Leslie Salt works on Bristol Lake was closed.was learning the business from theground up. Bob explained their opera-tions and gave us permission to drivearound their property. W e found the pro-cessess used not only interesting butbeautiful!

In some of the empty ponds, precipi-tates resembled miniature "castles andspires" to r ival well known caverns.Brown canals contained bri l l iant, blue-green brine with borders of pure white,crystalline salt. We appreciated the op-portunity to learn more about saline min-ing and hoped some of our readers coulddo the same.

However, company president, MelvinStephens, advised us he did not wantDesert's readers stopping at the officeand disturbing his employees.

Paved Amboy Road runs along thewestern edge of Bristol Lake and from ityou can see some of the canals w ith theircolorful brines. Along the shoulders ofthis county road, fluorescent salt speci-mens can often be found.

DALE DRY LAKETraveling south from Amboy, Amboy

Road leads over Sheep Hole Summit anddown to the basin containing Dale DryLake.

Dale is the smallest of the "ThreeSalty Sisters." It was the last to be de-veloped and the first to have all opera-tions suspended. The commercial possi-bilities of its extensive salt bodies so-dium sulphate (thernardite) and sodium

chlor ide (salt)were first recognized byIrving E. Bush. He dri l led a number ofwells between the years of 1920-1924and several attempts were made to minethe saline brines.

It wasn't unti l the Desert ChemicalCompany leased the property (they laterpurchased it) , that production began.Ten wells were drilled in the lakebed andthe brine was pumped into four largeponds to precipitate "Glauber's Salt" bysolar evaporation. Recovered salt wastreated at the plant by melting withsteam then adding sodium chloride to"salt out" the anhydrous sodium sul-phate or cake salt.

The remaining br ines were eitherpumped into one of 16 small ponds forsalt recovery or returned to the lakebed.During the winter months when temper-ature dropped below 45 degrees, sodiumsulphate was precipitated by sprayingthe concentrated brine into the air.A sizable camp developed around theplant and was name "Bush" in honor ofthe deposit's early discoverer. All wentwell for nearly a decade. In December of1948, the price of sodium sulphatedropped to a point where m ining was notprofitable. Desert Chemical Companyclosed down and 85 employees wereseeking new jobs.

Today, the picturesque ruins of thesalt works and old Bush lie weathe ring inthe desert sun. Huge concrete silos dom-

Continued on Page 4611


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UR AMERICAN SOUTHWEST hasalways been famous for its fascinat-ing variety of desert wildlife , but few

of the singular animal species livingthere are more intr iguing than Ralluslongirostris yumanensis, the long-facedrail from Yuma, or, as he is popularlyknown, the Yuma clapper rai l . Belongingto a California family which is st i ll repre-sented by small colonies living in the saltmarshes around San Francisco Bay andin the dwindling t idelands along theSouthern California coast, the maverick

Yuma rail occupies a unique spot amonghis scattered western family: not only ishe the smallest member of the clan andthe lightest in color but, most interest-ingly, he is the only member that in-habits inland freshwater marshes as wellas the only one that has retained enoughof his flight ability to migrate south inwinter .

Historically, yumanensis has beenmuch luckier than his distant cousins.These beleaguered relatives have alwayshad to contend with high t ides which

YUMACLAPPERRAIL

bySTANLEYMEDDERS

12


13/48

f lushed them out of their protect ive ve-getat ion and made them ridiculouslyeasy targets for market hunters. Thesehunters, in fact, part icularly during goldrush days, shot countless thousands ofcoastal rails, packed them in salt andshipped them to miners who were con-stantly clamoring for fresh meat. TheYuma clapper, however, has never hadto worry about tides, and his placid lifewas at no t ime disrupted by markethunters. In the past, though, before hewas protected by both state and federallaw as an endangered species, minersalong the Colorado occasionally shotYuma rails for their tender, succulentf lesh.

Yumanensis wasn't discovered unti l1902, and even then he was thought tobe a l i gh t - f oo t ed r a i l , a s t r agg le r ,perhaps, from the salt marshes of South-ern California. Indeed, he did resemblehis coastal relatives in so many respectsthat it wasn't until 1923, when speci-mens taken two years earlier were morethorough ly exam ined, that he was recog-nized not only as a separate desert sub-species but also as a truly unique b i rd .

Because of his late discovery, and alsosince he is only a part time resident ofour desert marshes, litt le is known of theYuma rail's early history. For the past 20years, though, scientists have taken agreat interest in this secretive and elu-

D e s e r t / D e c e m b e r 1 9 77

sive b i rd , and their studies have broughtto light a fascinating portrait of one ofthe desert's most interesting inhabit-ants.

Just as attractive, in his own way, ashis coastal cousins, yumanensis is basic-ally a pale grayish brown with an olivebrown head. His dusky back and sidefeathers are edged in lighter gray, theones on his chest are pinkish cinnamon,and those on this abdomen are dullwhite. These pale colors, complementedby swaths of white across the chin,throat and barred thighs, are somewhatdrab; but they serve the rail perfectly ascamouflage in the dusty tules and cat-tails where he makes his home.

This habitat, which stretches from thecoastal marshes of Sonora and Baja Cali-fornia to Topock Marsh just south ofNeedles, consists mostly of dense standsof reeds growing along the banks of theColorado River, or around small lakesadjacent to the river in both Californiaand Arizona. Although Yuma rails in-habit marshes all along the U.S. portionof the river, most of them are restrictedto marshy areas on the Havasu Lake,Cibolaand Imperial National Wildlife re-fuges and to those on Mittrey Lake Ari-zona State Wildlife Refuge. Small colon-ies also exist around the Salton Sea, par-t icularly in Wister Wildlife Refuge onthe southern end, as well as in marshy

The co lorationof the clapper railaids incamouflagingthem amongst themarsh vegetation.Photos by Bob Gill,of the CaliforniaDepartment ofFish and Game.

spots along the Gila River and in twoareas of dense tule growth on theSalt River near Phoenix. In all theseareas, the rails arrive in April and departfor Mexico in September.

A shy bird, yumanensis, like all otherrai ls, spends most of his life am ong th ickmarsh vegetation; and, in spite of hisstreamlined body, which his ancestorsevolved over the centuries to enablethem to slip elusively through the tules,his feathers often become so tatteredfrom the almost constant friction againstthe tangled vegetation that his appear-ance is completely bedraggled by thet ime he migrates.

Roughly the size of a small hen, theYuma rail weighs just over half a pound,has Jong, skinny legs which are ideal forrunning as well as walking about onthe mudflats, and an elongated, slenderbill that serves him admirably when heprobes in the shal low water anddecaying vegetation to search for food.He is also adorned with a stubby ta i l ,about two and a half inches in length,which is pale underneath and which heflicks almost constantly when he's strut-t ing about on the mudflats.

Often an observer can come upon asolitary swaggering rai l , or even a smallgroup, feeding in the shallows. On sev-eral occasions in the Salton Sea marshes,I've had rails approach me with a seem-

13


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Your pe rsonal VISAto the land settledby the Am erican Indian

I n t e r t r i b a l N a t i v e A m e r i c a nVISA and C er tificate ofEcolog-ica l Awarenes s , an ideal gift,suitable for framing, signifies yoursense of Oneness-With-Nature thattypifies the Native American tradi-tion. Grandfather's Voice, withsignatories who are members oftribes native to the North, South,East and West, welcome you! Each VISA is numbered, regis-tered with hand-lettered name. Attrac tive wallet-size VISACARD is included with eachorder.For your personal VISA andCert i f icate of A w a r e n e s s s e n d$5.50 to:GRANDFATHERS VOICEP.O. Box28441, San Jose, CA95159Please rush me my 11 * 14" VISA andCertificate. Enclosed is my check for$5.50 (including postage and sales tax).Proceeds from the VISA and Certificatewill go to non-profit Indian self-helpprograms.

Name to appear on V IS A (Please Print):

NameAddressCi t y - S t a t e . . Z i p .

Typical marshyhabitat of the

Yuma clapper railis this C olorado

River slough,20 miles north

of Yuma, Arizona.Photo byauthor.

ing lack of fear andeven eye medisdain-fully. Such mavericks notwithstanding,most rails are exceedingly skittish anddisappear quickly when an intruderenters their domain.

When disturbed, the Yuma clapperrail rarely flies away. Since he's a goodswimmer, he will sometimes take to thewater and swim away beneath the sur-face or even dive andhold on to under-water vegetat ion unti l the intruder hasleft the scene. Usually, though, he sim-ply lowers hishead andslips quietly intothe tules. This matted vegetat ion, infact, isoften crisscrossed with well-wornrunways which the rails use not only asescape routes but as tunnels leadingfrom their nests to feeding grounds.

Clapper nests, which the birds builddur ing the mating season in May andJune, arewell concealed amidst the cat-tails and usually constructed on dryhummocks. Occasionally, though, theyare built in the forks of small shrubs justabove thewater. W herever located, theyare ordinari ly in the thickest stands ofreeds surrounding shallow wa ter, and inthe vicinity of mudflats which wil l beused as feeding grounds.

In these nests, roughly fashioned fromsurrounding marsh plants, the Yuma raillays from four to ten eggs, pinkish buffin color, and both parents arethought toshare the incubation duties. The f luffy

14

black chicks are born during the hotsummer months and are soon taught toforage for the many small organismswhich inhabit the surrounding marshes.By the t ime the cattails begin to dry andturn gray in the fa l l , the young rails,which wil l attain an adult wingspan ofapproximately 12 inches, are strongenough to migrate south with theirparents.

Although scient ists aren't absolutelycertain where the Yuma rail disappearsto when heleaves the California and Arizona deserts in September, they're fair lysure that he heads for the ColoradoRiver's delta area on the Gulf of Califor-nia in Mexico. A number of rails do in-habit this region in the winter ; and inthese delta marshes, as wel l as in thoseacross the bay in Sonora, the lush tulefields come alive yearly from Septemberto Apr i l wi th the clarion kek-kek-brrs ofthe Yuma clapper ra i l .

These distinctive calls have been re-corded on tape by scientists Tomlinsonand Todd and have been used in ourSouthwestern marshes to f lush elusiveYuma rails out of the cattails so the sci-entists could make an accurate clappercount. Following these studies, Tomlin-son and Todd est imated that approxi-mately 1000 Yuma ra ils spend the springand summer months in the desertmarshlands of California and Arizona.

D e s e r t /D e c e m b e r 1977


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This number is likely to increase,however, because of the creation of newmarshes along the Colorado River, par-ticular ly on the state and national wi ld -l i fe refuges now existing there. Beforethe creation of these refuges, the situa-tion appeared somewhat gr im for theYuma clapper. In 1946, the Bureau ofReclamation was authorized to "control,m o d i f y , s t ra i g h t e n o r r e c t i f y " t h echannel of the Colorado. As a result ofthis channelization, or straightening bydred ging, hund reds of acres of strandedmarshes disappeared. South of Blythe,for example, Davis and Three Fingerslakes, both of which had held large popu-lations of Yuma rai ls, dr ied up; and astheir once lush marshes died, the rai lcolonies inhabiting them were forced toseek new habitat.

Since 1953, however, vast acreage onthe wildl i fe refuges along both the Colo-rado and the Salton Sea has been re-flooded to create additional marshes. Inall these areas, as soon as the sun drop sbehind the shimm ering fields of creosotebushes and the desert begins to cool, th edarkening marshes spring to l i fe eachMay and J une evening with the hauntingnotes of the Yuma rail as he boldlyemerges from the matted tules to beginthe l ively courtship song that wil l perpetuate his fascinating species for eons tocome. CDesert/December 1977

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N e w C lu e s t oT h e L o s tW h i t e P a p o o s eM i n eS o m e w h e re i n t hev as tne s s o f S ou the rnC alifo rnia's Santa RosaM o u nta i ns is a lo ng-se arched-fo r gold m ine .Dav i d M u e nch, o fSanta Barbara, C ali fo rnia,catches a po rtion ofthese rugged canyonsin his dram at iccolor photo graph.

by DIC K BLOOMQUISTI THE February, 1972 issue of Des-ert Magazine, there appeared anarticle by longtime treasure hunterKen Marquiss (with a companion pieceby his wife, Bessie) in which hedescribed his unsuccessful twenty-yearsearch for a lost gold mine in SouthernCalifornia's Santa Rosa Mountains. Mar-quiss felt sure that the waybill to thetreasure was genuine. A ccording to thestory, it had been drawn up in 1874 by a16

man who, as a boy, had been capturedduring an Indian raid and taken into thet r ibe; the Indians later showed him a richgold deposit in the Santa Rosas (hencethe name "Lost White Papoose" for themine).

Marquiss reproduced the decodedwaybil l in his article tit led "Verbo-t e n ! " and wished the best of luck toany readers who might want to take upthe search for the bonanza. Below arethe directions as they appeared on page40 of the Febr uary, 1972 issue of Desert:

"A bo ut eight miles s of Fish Springs islarge sandy wash. Co up main washabout f ive miles. ( In a l i tt le side canyonyou will see bunch of palm trees 14 or15.) You wil l f ind water by digging. Onup that canyon is a'streak of clay.

"Up the main canyon VA or 2 miles awide canyon goes to right. About twomiles up that you come to three largetanks of water. 1st tank is about 20 ftlong and 12 ft wide very deep. Only getwater with long rope and bucket. Theother two are almost impossible to get tobut can see by climb ing up the hi l l .

"After reaching tank go n which is sside of rabbit peak until you reach firstwide wash. Up that wash you wil l f indstreak of white rock. Rock will be on hi l l -side which is poor quality marble. Only alandmark. Then westerly u nti l you see 2large sabine pine trees at head of wide

wash. Near them you see large whiterock standing like a sentinel on guard.

"If you go from Indian cabin on trai lnear fish springs, take the wide washthas has indian symbols on large rock.Only indian signs on that side. Go up totop of mt where you wil l f ind trai l to oldindian hut trai l to water tankthen n byw up side where you wil l f ind leadrunning n and s."

As to the mine itself, the ore is a "v er ydark brown, close-knit, granular rock."The vein has two paystreaks, separatedby a foot or so of so fter m ater ial, and theauthor of the waybill closed up the mineentrance before he left.

Marquiss told how he tramped theSanta Rosas off and on for 20 years in avain attempt to find the Lost White Pa-poose. The order of the directions in thewayb il l did not f i t the land; as he rema rk-e d , "there is no sequence, not even oftwo par ts . "

I have notobviouslydiscovered thegold. Yet, by a different interpretation ofthe opening parts of the waybil l , I havebeen able to establish a sequence inwhich the first several steps in the direc-tions are in close or reasonably closeagreement with the landmarks calledfor.

The waybil l begins by describing alarge sandy wash about eight milessouth of Fish Springs (Fish Springs is on

Desert/ December 1977


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A M

f e L f Jty*

-


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the west side of the Salton Sea in ex-treme northern Imperial County and istoday part of the community of DesertShores). Approximately five miles upthis wash the wa ybil l cal ls for a group of14 or 15 palm trees in a small tr ib uta ry.The Marquisses believed the wash in thequestion was Arroyo Salado and that theoasis was Seventeen Palms, located in abranch of the main watercourse. This iscertainly a reasonable conclusion and is,in fact, the only conclusion possible inthe l ight of present geography. In thepast, however, another wash south ofF ish Spr ings con ta ined many morepalms than it does today. And one of itsghost oases fits the waybill even moreclosely than do Arroyo Salado andSeventeen Palms.

This wash is Palm Wash. At the pres-ent t ime there is only one l iving palmtree in the arroyo itself, with another sixscattered a short distance to the south.But dead trunks and earl ier accounts tel lus that years ago many more nativepalms graced Palm Wash than is thecase today.

In an article in the August, 1945Desert, Randall Henderson reported thatin 1936 there were 27 l iving Washing-tonia palms in or just south of PalmWash; by 1945 the number had fallen to13. In 1962 the count was down to 10,and now there are only seven. A dimin-ishing water supply has been the reasonfor the decline.

With this great decrease in mind, i t ismy belief that the oasis of 14 or 15 palmtrees referred to in the w aybil l is in a tr i-butary of Palm Wash five miles west ofthe Highway 86 bridge. The trunks andstumps of eight dead palms are all thatmark the place today; nevertheless, con-sidering the drop in the palm populationover just the last four decades, it is notunreasonable to believe that a centuryago, when the waybil l was drawn up,there could have been 14 or 15 livingtrees in the same spot. (Three of theWashingtonias were sti l l al ive in 1945,according to the August issue of Desertfor that year.)

Palm Wash also agrees with the way-bill mileage more closely than does Arro-yo Salado. (The way bil l begins: "A bo uteight m iles s of Fish Sp rings is largesandy wash.") Going due south fromFish Springs, it is 10 miles to Arroyo Sal-ado as the crow fl ies; and travelingsoutheasterly along the route of State

Highway 86, it is 11 miles to ArroyoSalado (bridge #58-13). Palm Wash, onthe other hand, is seven and one-halfmiles due south of Fish Springs as thecrow flies; and going southeasterly fromthe spring along Highway 86, i t is alsoseven and one-half miles to Palm Wash(bridge #58-46).

And now, the case for Palm Washhaving been presented, let us look at thefirst several sections of the waybill. Ihave numbered and capitalized each calland enclosed it in quotes; after each partthe relation of waybil l to larndmarks wil lbe shown.

1. "AB OU T EIGHT MILES S OFFISH SPRINGS IS LARGE SANDYW A S H . "

As explained above, Palm Wash fi tsthis mileage figure. And Palm Wash is alarge and sandy arroyo.

2. " CO UP MA IN WASH ABO UTFIVE MILES. ( IN A LITTLE SIDE CAN-YON YOU WILL SEE BUNCH OF P ALMTREES 14 OR 15.) "

From the Highw ay 86 bridge 7V i milessoutheast of Fish Springs it is 5.1 milesby my odometer to the small tr ibutarywhere the ghost oasis already describedis foun d. The dead palms are a few hun-dred feet up the tr ibutary, which entersPalm Wash from the left, and are easilyvisible from the main wash. One tal lstanding trunk and parts of seven othertrees can be seen here.3 . "YO U W ILL F IND WATER BYD I G G I N G . "

There is no water at the ghos t oasis to-day. The decrease in the water supplywas, in fact, what ki l led the palms, forthe native fan palm requires moisture onor within a few feet of the surface of theground to survive. Water must havebeen close to the surface 100 years agowhen the Washingtonias were flourish-ing. The Aug ust, 1945 Desert already re-ferred to m entions that there was a smallbrackish seep at the oasis earlier in thiscentury.

5. " UP THE MAIN CANYO N VA OR2 MILES A WIDE CANYON GOES TOR I G H T . "

Two and five-tenths miles up PalmWash from the tr ibutary containing theghost oasis, the North Fork of PalmWash comes in from the r ig ht. The mile-ages do not agree as well here but arestill reasonably close. The North Fork,which joins Palm Wash a few feet insidethe Anza-Borrego Desert State Park

boun dary, is a large canyon well over 100yards wide at i ts mouth.

6 . "ABOUT TWO MILES UP THATYOU COME TO THREE LARGE TANKSOF WA TER . 1ST TA NK IS ABOUT 20FT LONG AND 12 FT WIDE VERYD E E P . O N L Y G E T W A T E R W I T HL O NG R OP E A N D B U C K E T . T H EOTHER TWO ARE ALMOST IMPOSSI-BLE TO GET TO BUT CAN SEE BYCL IMBING UP THE H IL L . "

Three natural tanks up the North Forkof Palm Wash fit this description perfect-ly, with the exception that today watercan be obtained from the first tank(Sheep Tank) without using a rope andbucket.

The North Fork can usually be drivenin a r ig with four-wheel-dr ive or highclearance for 1.7 miles, After that it isnecessary to hike for approximatelythree-tenths of a mile to reach SheepTank, m aking a total distance of alm ostexactly two miles from the confluencewith Palm Wash.

Along the hiking portion of the routethere is a short stretch where the NorthFork narrows down to nine or ten feet inwidth, with sheer walls r ising on bothsides. On the left side of this narrow pas-sage the words "To Gold" and an arrowpointing upstream have been cut into thecanyon wal l . The inscription could besomeone's idea of a joke; however, con-sidering the Lost White Papoose waybilland the correspondence of its openingsections to the Palm Wash-North Forkcountry, i t might be genuine.

J u s t b e y on d t h e " n a r r o w s " t h ecanyon divides. The right-hand branch isthe North Fork, while the left branch isthe tributary in which Sheep Tank is lo-cated; the tank is only a few hundredyards up this arroyo. As the walls of thetr ibutary close in, more inscriptions canbe seen, this time on the right side. Theyread "W at er " and H.D. O'Nei l l , March9, 1889."

A few more steps now and a low, drywaterfall across the canyon floor is en-countered. It is easily detoured by climb-ing along a low ledge on the r igh t side ofthe was h. A depression at the base of thedry fal l holds water temporari ly afterrains, but this is not Sheep Tank. Thepermanent tinaja or water-fi l led rockbasin known as Sheep Tank is severalyards farther upstream where sheerwalls on three sides block further pro-gress up the canyon.

18 D e s e r t /D e c e m b e r 1 97 7


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I estimated Sheep Tank to be approxi-mately 20 feet long and 12 to 14 feetwide, dimensions.which agree with thosein the waybil l . The tinaja appears to bequite deep, but the water is not clear andI was unable to determine the exactdepth. The waybil l states that water canbe obtained only with a long rope andbucket. This is not true today, for it ispossible to dr ink directly from the water-hole. However, wi thin the tank there is aledge covered by a few inches of water.This ledge breaks off abruptly not farfrom the r im of the tinaja. If, a centuryago, the water level had been severalfeet below this drop-off, a rope and buck-et would indeed have been necessary.

From Sheep Tank named for the des-ert bighorn sheep that dr ink from itIbacktracked to a point just below the nar-row passage where the "To Gold" in-scription already mentioned is located.Here a rocky chute coming down fromthe left provided easy access to the mesabordering the waterhole. I hiked up-stream along the r imrock unti l I was a bitbeyond Sheep. Below in the twistingdepths of the slot-like canyon I could seeportions of two more large tanks, tankswhich answered the waybil l descriptionper fect ly "a lmo st impossib le to get to "but can be seen "by cl imbing up theh i l l . "

Sheep Tank and its two neighboringtinajas are the last features described inthe waybil l that I have been able to lo-cate. Nevertheless, I do feel confidentthat these three waterholes are indeedthe landmarks c alled for in the log of theLost White Papoose. The tanks seem tomark a dividing l ine in the waybil l . Up tothis point the directions are clear-cut:there is a precise starting place (FishSprings), and approximate mileages aregiven; even the dimensions of the firsttank are included. Beyond the tinajas,however, the waybil l becomes vague,and no additional mileages, not evenrough estimates, appear. Sheep Tank isapparently only the beginning. The mostdifficult part of the route lies ahead onthe incredibly rugged slopes of the Santa

,Rosa Mountains, country which, as KenMarquiss knows better than I, can becovered only by extended backpacking.But with the three tanks as a definitejumping-off point, perhaps other trea-sure seekers with unlimited energy andoptimism wil l be able to piece togetheradditional parts of the waybil l .

N Desert Shores(Fish Sprs.)

SANTAS A L T 0 N

A

Palms

PALM WASH" and VICINITYImperial-San DiegoCounties, California

E l C e n t r o

The key to the final series of callswould seem to be the watercourse de-scribed as the "first wide wash" north ofSheep Tank. Finding this wash couldopen the door to the waybil l 's remaininglandmarks p rovided, of course, thatone or more of them have not disappear-ed in the last 100 years.

Reference is also made in the waybillto two large Sabine pine trees (in thiscase red cedars, that is, junipers). Sincethe California juniper is a shrub or smalltree of the high desert, this is an indica-tion that the vein is well up in the SantaRosas. On my own explorations northand northwest of Sheep Tank into BigWash (which did not f i t the waybil l de-scr ipt ion of a "wid e w as h") , no jun iperswere visible on any of the near or distantr idges.

But even if treasure seekers shouldfail to locate the Sabine pines, the widewash, or the other f inal landmarks, theywil l sti l l f ind the region around and be-yond Sheep Tank a rewarding one to ex-plore. On the mesas and ridges overlook-

ing the steep-walled canyons there arenumerous Indian trails, most still bor-dered here and there by rock markers;along one such trail I found a lone petro-glyphthe figure of a maniQut into arusty-brown boulder. And above SheepTank I came upon a low wall curving forsome 20 feet on a shelf below the mesar im. Add to this the inscriptions left byearly white visitors , the spectacular nar-rowness which at times characterizes thecanyons, the hidden waterholes, and thechance of seeing bighorn sheep, and youhave country Zane Crey would have en-joyed using as a setting for a westernnovel.

The gold may be there. But if it is not,treasure seekers may take comfort in th ewords of the Spanish chronicler Castan-eda, writ ing of Coronado's expeditioninto what is now the American South-west in quest of Gran Quivira and theSeven Cities of Cibola: "Granted thatthey did not find the riches of which they*had been to ld, they found a place inwhich to search for th em ."

D e s e r t /D e c e m b e r 1 97 7 19


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H O L ET H E

R O C Kby ROGER MITC HELL,f


21/48

HE STORY of Hole in the Rock is thea story of rugged pioneers who refused^ to allow hardships and natural bar-

riers from blocking their way to thepromised land. It is the story of blood,sweat and tears, and yes success.

It was in 1878 that the leaders of theChurch of Jesus Christ of Latter DaySaints, the Morm ons, decided that it wasvital to their interests to settle and colon-ize the four corners area where Utah,Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado allcome together. They wanted to expandtheir sphere of influence as they saw athreat from the Navajo Indian and non-Mormon genti le who were both movingup from the south to encroach on theirempire. By establishing colonies alongthe San Juan River, perhaps this couldact as a buffer zone and block further in-f i l t rat ion into the heart of Utah.

But the San Juan Country was un-known to the Mormons. They were notsure of the best way to get there, or ifthey would find any arable land oncethey arrived. The f irst exploratory ex-pedition left Parowan, then the center ofMormon affairs in Southern Utah, inApril of 1879. They went south and en-tered the Arizona Territory by the tradi-tional route. They crossed the ColoradoRiver at Lee's Ferry, then turned east-ward into the N avajo's land. Their recep-tion by the Indians was none too friendly

as waterholes along the way had barelyenough water as it was.

Finally the group reached the SanJuan River in early June. They exploredup and down the river and claimed anybottom land that could be plowed, i r r i -gated and farmed. In mid-August twofamilies were left to winter over at whatis now Montez um a, U tah. The rest of theexpedition returned to Parowan via thelonger and more northernly Old SpanishTrail route. If they went back the waythey came, or if they went the northernroute via Moab and Green River, eitherjourney would take them six weeks.W ishin g to avoid the N avajos, they chosethe northern route.

Upon returning to Parowan, the ex-plorers talked to some settlers from thenewly established colony of Escalante. Ifthey went south from Escalante theremig ht be a shortcut to the San J uan Mis-sions, but nobody had ever tried it so theexistence of a passable route wasunknown.

Anxious to return to the San J uan Mis-sion before winter set in, a second ex-pedition left Parowan in October of 1879.This was a colonizing expedition consist-ing of some 250 men, women and chi l-dren packed into 83 wagons and drivingmore than 1000 head of livestock. Withluck they would rejoin the two familiesalready there by Thanksgiving. But it

was not to be.By mid-November they had reached a

large rock outcrop near 40 Mile Spring,some 50 miles south of Escalante. Herethe going got rou gh. Ea rly deep snows inthe mountains behind them forced themto decide to keep blazing a trail south-ward . While the main party establisheda camp at what is now known as DanceHall Rock, scouts went ahead to pick thebest route. What they found was thatthey w ere on top of a plateau, at the edgeof a cliff, with the Colorado R iver some1500 feet below them. There was no ap-parent way to get the 83 wagons and1000 head of livestock over that cliff. Orwas there . . . ? A narrow c rack.in thecliff offered some promise. If it could bewidened in places, filled in places,perhaps, just p erhaps, a wagon could de-scend to the river. Although it was mid-December by this time, all the able-bodied men put their backs into the task.Meanwhile the main part of the expedi-tion remained camped at Dance HallRock some 20 miles away where 40 MileSpring provided a reliable source ofwater.

In bit ter cold weather, with only theuse of hand tools and a litt le blastingpowder, the Saints carved a ramp out ofthe narrow crevice in only six weekst ime. On January 26, 1880 the firstwagon was gingerly driven into, and

Left: Seen from belowthe "hole" is a mere

cleft in a wall of solid rock.Right: a graded and

well marked road providesaccess to this historic

part in Mormo n history.D e s e r t / D e c e m b e r 1 9 77 21

HOIE IN THi


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down the narrow slot. The wagon had asteady team at the front, and a dozenmen holding it back from the rear. Agreat cheer went up when it reached theriver without mishap. Twenty-f ive morewagons were driven down that day. Inless than a week, the entire expeditionhad been ferried across the river.

With more hardships in front of them,the colonists arrived at the San JuanRiver at the present townsite of Bluff,Utah on April 5th. Although the twofamilies at Montezuma were just a fewmiles upstream, the exhausted groupcould go no farther. They settled rightthere. What had been expected to be amonth's journey had stretched into five22

months and had lasted through theentire winter. But with all the hazardsand hardships encountered along theway, not a single life was lost. On thecontrary, the colonists arrived with twomore human lives than when they start-ed . Two babies were born along the way.

Once established, the H ole in the Rockroute did prove to be a short cut. It wasused for a full year until Charles Hall lo-

Above: The slot looking downto Lake Powell. Right: Dance Hall

Rock where the Mormonscamped for six weeks.D e s e r t /D e c e m b e r 19 77

cated a better route 20 miles upstreamwhich became known as Hall's Crossing.During 1880 there was two-way trafficover the Hole in the Rock road with allwagons being driven up the slot as wellas down.

The noted historian from the Univer-sity of Utah, Dr. David Miller, has this tosay about the spirit of those pioneers:

"Strange as it may seem, the Hole inthe Rock pioneers expressed no doubtabout their ability to make the Hole intoa passable wagon road. It was the wildrugged country beyond the river thatconcerned them. Yet the true pioneerspir it prevailed. Through united effort ofthat valiant band, the deep gulches,solid rock cliffs, and near perpendicu-lar walls of Cray Mesa were overcome.No pioneer group ever demonstratedgreater faith and courage, or ever built aroad through more dif f icult terrain.They l i t e ra l ly danced, prayed, andhacked their way through almost insur-mountable obstacles. They proved thatthere is hardly any country throughwhich wagons cannot be taken. They hadbeen called by their church to plant acolony and with the help of God theywould do i t . "

If you are interested in reading thestory in more detail try to locate an oldcopy of Professor Miller's book, "Hole inthe Rock," published by the University


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of Utah in 1959. It is well researched andmakes fascinating reading.

Hole in the Rock is still there today. Ali tt le worse for nearly a century of wear,and the bottom half inundated by LakePowell, but sti l l there nevertheless. Theold wagon road has been graded so thatwith a l i tt le care, the family automobilecan make the 65-mile journey from Es-calante to Hole in the Rock in a matter ofthree to four hours. The route is wellmarked and you should face none of thehardships experienced by the pioneers.

From Escalante, Utah, take StateRoute 12 east toward Boulder. At a pointfive miles east of Escalante look for asign pointing r ight to a graded dir t roadh e a d in g so u th . Be fo r e l e a v i n g th ehighway be sure that you have amplegasoline and supplies. It is a lonely 120-mile round tr ip from here to Hole in theRock and back.

As you proceed south you will cross aseries of washes, som ew ith cottonwoodsand seeps of water. Some have colorfuland descriptive names like Cat Pasture,Big Hollow and Hurr icane Wash. Othershave more practical names like Ten MileWash and Twenty M i le Wash . At a po int38 miles below the paved highway youwill find Dance Hall Rock. It was here,and at nearby 40 Mile Spring, that theMormon encampment waited six weekswhile their men-folk toi led to enlarge the

crack. See if you can still find th e namesof the emigrants carved into the soft red-dish brown sandstone. Walk in to theamph i thea te r wea thered ou t o f themonolith and listen carefully for the faintstrains of a lively fiddle still echoingamong the sands of t ime.

From Dance Hall Rock the graded dirtroad continues south. Side roads off tothe left and right are well marked byBureau of Land Management signs.Soon another sign announces that youare entering Glen Canyon National Re-creation Area. Hole in the Rock is buteight miles beyond. Where the road ab-ruptly ends today, the pioneer trail downthe cliff begins. After coming all this wayyou must certainly c l imb down a ways toget the feel of what the emigrants wentthrough.

As you look at the slot today, it is ob-viously much too narrow to permit awagon and team to go through. Remem-ber that perhaps some 10 to 12 feet ofsand and rock was used as fill by the pio-neers, and most if not all of that fill hasbeen subsequently washed away. Look

About the AuthorRoger Mitchell has spent much ofhis life exploring backroads and for-gotten trails. He is the author ofDeath Valley Jeep Trails, Inyo-Mono Jeep Trails, Western NevadaJeep Trails, Eastern Sierra JeepTrails, Western Sierra Jeep Trails,Exploring Joshua Tree an d GrandCanyon Jeep T rails 1.

up high on the walls of the s lot. In placesyou can still see the marks of picks wh erethe crevice was widened. This was thelevel of the old wagon road. If you climbto the rim of the crack you can see wherewagon loads of sand and rock were pour-ed directly down into the gorge.

Keep in mind, too, that when the M or-mons came through here it was some1500 feet from the top of the crack downto the Colorado River. With the comple-tion of Glen Canyon Dam in 1963, andthe resulting creation of Lake Powell,half of the trail going down the cliff isnow underwater (when the lake is full).

Whether you come by boat or car, andwhether you spend a few hours or a fewdays at Hole in the Rock, it is an experi-ence you w ill long reme mber.

NOW... , %yGood things \W %o re happening at...

D e a t h V a l l e yStay at the historicAM ARGOSA HOTELThis l ove ly 50-year-o ld hote l i sb e i n g r e s t o r e d . 2 0 r o o m s o p e ny ea r ' r ound . A l l ca rpe t ed . A l lbeaut i fu l ly furn i shed . E lectr ichea t and a ir con d i t i on i n g . Ma kethe Ama rg osa Hot e l y our hea d -quarters whi l e i n the DeathValley area.T e l ephon e Dea th Va l l ey J unc-t i on #1 for i n format ion or re ser-v a t i on s .

Vi s i t Marta Becket ' s famousAMARGOSA OPERA HOUSE.You 'v e r ead a bou t th i s b ea ut i fu land un ique attract i on in Deser tan d National Geographic. Se eM a r t a B e c k e t ' s p r o g r a m o fd a n c e - m im e s . S e e h e r fa b u l o u sm u r a l s i n s i d e t h e O p e r a H o u s e .I Perform ances Fr iday , Saturdaya nd Mon da y Throu g h Ap r i l .

I I Saturdays on ly in May, Septem-\ bet. 8:15; doors open at 7:45 .T e l ephon e Dea th Va l l ey J unc-t i o n #8 fo r r e s e r v a ti o n s . T o u r sw e l c o m e d .

The Genera l Store , Fi l l i ng Sta-t i on a nd Pot t e ry Shop a r e open .RV Park comin g. Sp ace avai l-a b le fo r d e v e l o p m e n t .

For further i n formation abou t IDEATH VALLEY JUNC TION1p l ea s e wr i t e :

Death Val l ey Junct i on , Inc.P.O. Box 675

Death Val l ey Junct i on ,C al iforn ia 92328

D e s e r t / D e c e m b e r 1 97 7 23


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Fair tosses concen trates into the air to winnow o ut the dust. The interior of thebellows at the bottom of the mach ine can be seen here. In operation, the screenedframe to the lower right of the washe r rides atop the bellows and the riffle boardrests atop the screen.search centered in the mineral-richwestern drainage of the Eagle Mountainrange. In this area are numerous aban-doned gold mines, including such storiednames as Mission Sweet, Copper Beltand Nancy. High production costs, lackof water and pinched-out veins (commonin this torn and tumbled country) hadclosed them all. Surface outcroppings ofgold-bearing ore are common, thoughfragmentary.

On the northern edge of this area Fairfound paydirt in a short stretch of a tinywash which meanders through what isl i tt le more than a wrinkle in the sur-rounding ter rain. Here he fi led his claim.

For over two years Fair performedprodigious labors on his little desertdomain. Working his placer gravelsenough to produce a modest income wasnot enough. Finding no color in thestream bed above where a quartz out-cropping crossed it, he concluded he hadfound the source of the placer gold.

All alone he sank two exploratoryshafts, one through the quartz in the drystream bed, the other on the north hi l l -side where the quartz topped out. Hefound gold, but not in paying quantity.And what there was did not resemble thegold he was extracting from his gravels.

He also checked the entire north hi l l -side with negative results except for anoccasional trace of color. It was worth atry, he reflected, but to him the or igin ofthe gold fragments in his dry wash re-mained a mystery. The south slope wasof sedimentary origin and had nevershown a trace of color.

Occasionally, Fair related, he wouldtake a day off to explore the nearby hills.Brief trips to the outside for supplieshelped break the monotony. He claimedhe was too busy to be lonely, but thefeeling was there, for he was not a lonerby nature. An occasional visit from otherprospectors provided the only humancontact at the claim. For almost all of the

time Fair was completely alone.One evening, he to ld, he saw a light

flashing from the lower slopes of PintoMounta in , miles away across Pinto Basinto the west. He answered with his ownflashlight, and for several weeks he andhis unknown light beam correspondentexchanged signals each evening. Al-though Fair made extensive inquiries hewas never able to learn the identity ofthe party at the other end of those lightbeams.

Even though he was a whipcord lean200-pounder in those days, his laborsfinally wore him down both physicallyand mentally. In 1935, frustrated andready for a change, he accepted employ-ment with the Alaska Juneau MiningCompany. In 1939 he returned statesideto try his luck once more on his desertclaim. An d in December, 1941, our coun-try went to war.

In early 1942, answering the cal l , Fairvolunteered for a three-year hitch withthe Seabees. He saw service in the Paci-fic and for a br ief t ime was with theoccupation forces in Japan. Returning tothe states, he marr ied.

Now, with a family coming on, Fairneeded a steady income w hich his placergravels could not provide, and he tookhis responsibilities seriously. Not untilhis son, Ralph Jr., was a senior in highschool did he visit the desert for morethan a few days at a time. While his sonattended high school in 29 Palms, Fairset up housekeeping on his claim.

Fair was never reluctant to demon-strate how he worked his claim. Placergravels, screened through quarter-inchhardware cloth, were then processedthrough his dry washer. Powered by asmall gasoline motor, the washer shookand blew most of the lighter rock away,leaving "concentrates" on the r i ff leboard. Fair 's dry washer included im-provements of his own design, but hestressed that proper operation was moreimportant than small differences in con-struction.

Next, he emptied the r i ff le board intohis soot-black gold pan. Dry panningmotions, he explained, were similar topanning with water. Shaking the panbrings the coarser, lighter dry materialto the top from where it can be shuntedto one side and scraped out by hand.Wh en only a cupfu l or so remains, theparticles that rise to the top are blowngently to the far side of the pan by puff-

26 D e s e r t /D e c e m b e r 1 9 77


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ing, using your own lung power. Now, heemphasized, you must recognize the re-luctant, dragging fashion in which theheavier black sand (usually hematite ormagnetite iron ores in the Eagle Moun-tain area) and the gold moves across thepan. Learn this wel l , Fair urged, so youwo uld n't be blowing away your gold ifany.

It was Fair 's dry panning that drewfire from other dry country prospectors.Wasteful and ineff icient, they describedit . Not so, Fair replie d. Wit h pract ice youcould recover as much gold by dry pan-ning as you would if you panned withwate r. An d a dry pan is ideal prospec-tor's gear. Light and portable, with nomoving parts, it needs no batteries, andlets you see your colors.

How eff icient could you be with a drypan? Fair estimated not more than 10-15percent escaped him. Taking steps tosave that small percentage, he believed,would cost more than he would save.

One day, in my presence, a visitorseriously questioned the efficency of thedry panning technique. To meet thechallenge, Fair extracted three t inygrains of gold from his small store anddropped them into a pan of concentrateswhich had just been dry panned by afr iend to whom he was teaching the art.Dry panning those same concentratesagain, Fair extracted not three, but six,t iny grains of gold!Fair f irmly believed that there werestill plenty of precious minerals around,inc luding gold. Asked for the best way toprepare to search for valuable minerals,Ralph "Dry-Pan" Fair , wi th no formaltraining in mining or mineralogy, had aquick answer.

"Take four years at the best miningschool in the country. More if you canafford it . And then, if you want to besmart about it , take a job with a reliablemining company. And st ick to it !"Fair had one more vital instruction forprospectors: "Never let the gold feverget too high, for then it becomes a sick-ness. "

When Fair returned to his claim forthe last time he had hoped to keep inproduction on a steady basis. There wasalso that elusive source of his gold to dis-cover, for he was still convinced it didnot derive from the quartz outcroppingthat ran athwart his dry stream bed. Butit was not to work out that way.Illness as well as age had forced his re-D e s e r t / D e c e m b e r 1 9 77

While Jerry W hitfield feeds gravels to the hopper, Fair carefully checks operation ofthe washer. The motor is barely visible beneath the pulley. Without a breeze, thedust can get pretty thick.t irement. A few years previously he hadcontacted trichinosis and before thisparasitic disease had run its course ithad ravaged his body severely. He suf-fered almost constant pain, though fewof his visitors were aware of it. He wassimply unable to keep the pace he hadset for himself.

In June, 1968, his body finally quit,

and he died at the home of his son inRancho Mirage, California.

As a prospector, Ralph " D ry -P an "Fair raised the hackles on the necks ofmore than one of the brotherhood of g oldseekers by espousing his dry panning.But to all who were privileged to knowhim, even his critics, he stood high as aman.

Closeupof Fairnearing the end of a

dry panningsession. He has

just shaken the pan,and is blowing the

lighter materialto the far side.27


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F O R G O T T E NT U N N E L T R A I LM O N U M E N T

T OE A R L Y G E N I U SDESERT C ANYON OFFERS UNUSUALLINK W IT H C ALIFOR NIA'S PAST

by BILL JENNINGSN OVERGROWN trai l on the desertslopes of California's San Bernardino

I Mo un t a ins nor theast o f B ann ingleads to an abandoned tunnel, throughpiles of handhewn logs and rusted foodcans that mark a construction camp, theonly visible remains of an audaciouswate r p ro jec t abandoned near ly acentury ago.

The site is still m arke d, on old maps ofthe San Bernardino National Forest, asTunnel Trai l and camp, but few currenthikers or off-roaders know the site oreven where the name came from.

Big Bear Lake's original developer, F.E. Brown, completed the first masonryand mortar dam across upper Bear Creek(a major tr ibutary of the Santa AnaOld Whitewater Tunnel Trail,now little used, descends in to theriver's south fork over this6,500-foot pass.28 D e s e r t / De c e m b e r 1 97 7


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F r o m R a y w o o d F l a t , th e s e l d o m - s e e nWhitewater-Mill Creek jumpoff, lookingsoutheast toward the Coachella Valleyand Salton Sea. River's south fork is inforeground, 50 0 ft. below photographer.from one r ivershedthe Whitewaterto another, the Santa Ana, under statelaw. Ironically, Brown's plan was fol low-ed in subsequent years by two of the im-mense water projects that have led tomodern California's agricultural andindustrial dominance, the city of LosAngeles' Owens Valley Aqueduct andMetropolitan Water Distr ict 's even morestrategic Colorado River Aqueduct. Boththese major works do the same thingBrown tr ied to, divert water from onedrainage to another, but they benefit in-finitely more people and have been de-clared " legal ," long since.

Brown was stopped quickly, aftererecting his construction camp 15 milesnortheast of Banning and making amere pockmark start at his diversiontunnel .

Technically, the Tunnel Trai l andWhitewater camp have nothing to dowith Big Bear Lake and the Redlands ir-rigation system, other than the fact that

.F . E. Brown was responsible for thewhole enterprise. Big Bear fai led to pro-duce enough water for both Redlandsand the Brown acreage in Moreno (Span-ish for Brown) and the Sunnymead-Ales-sandro areas in what was to becomeRiverside County on its formation in1 8 9 3 .

River) between 1883 and 1884 to providean irrigation system for the Redlandsareaand fol lowed up , a year later, withthe i l l- fated project along the White-water River.

The White wa ter, w hich has more forksin its headwaters than a Washingtonpolitician has staff members, rises on theeast slope of Mt. San Corgonio, thehighest peak in Southern California, anddescends steeply to the Coachella Valleyas the main water source for the SaltonSea and the Coachella Valley.

This position, strategically, was theundoing of Brown's grandiose projectbecause it was illegal to divert waters

The bunkhouse at the oldWhitewater water diversion tunnel

construction is shown herewith hiker Anne Jenningsseveral years ago.

D e s e r t / D e c e m b e r 1 97 7 2 9


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A suspension bridge carrying a 24-inchsteel pipe across Live Oa k Creek near theSan Bernardino-Riverside countiesboundary southeast of Redlands is one ofthe last visible rem ains of the ill-fated F.E. Brown irrigation system from BigBear Lake to the Moreno Valley.

Brown lost control of Big Bear, theWhitewater project and Moreno within afew years, due partially to the financialpanic of the time and the superior ma-chinations of his business cohorts. Buthis legacy remains in the masonry ofthe original Big Bear Dam, now sub-merged behind the newer arch dam un-der State Highway 18; the tunnels, sus-pension bridges and aqueduct remnantsof the Moreno system and the White-water vestiges.

The Whitewa ter camp and tunnel pro-tals are easily reached by off-road vehi-cle, with a l i t t le brushlands hiking overU.S. Forest Service marked fire roadsand trails from Banning via the M orongoIndian Reservation and seldom-visitedMil lard Canyon.

Truck trails 2S05 and 2S10 reach thearea from Interstate 10 via Cabazon andthe Indian Reservation, respectively.Distance is about 12 miles from Banningin either r out ing . Tunnel Trail is off icial-ly 2E08, three miles from the head ofauto naviga tion on 2S05 near the season-ally occupied Mil lard guard stat ion. An-other t ra i l , 2E07 leaves the road at theDeer Springs trailhead and reaches thespec t acu la r Wh i t ewa t e r -M i l l C reekjumpoff three miles to the northeast, onRaywood Flats, a broad, grassy Ponder-osa Pine meadow in the saddle betweenthe Mil l Creek and Whitewater drain-ages.

Raywood Flatis a saddle

between the MillCreek and

WhitewaterRiver drainages

in the SanBernardinoMountains.

Old w agon roadin foreground

dates to miningand logging days

a century ago.Peak of San

Gorgon oMountain ishidden behindridge at right.

A strenuous but reasonable seven-mile loop is available to experiencedhikers via the two trails and a short butawesome cross-country trek from Ray-wood down into the WhitewaterSouthFork canyon , one of the most spectacularall-year stream sites in the San Bernar-dino range.

Important partof the ill-fatedMorenoValleyirrigationproject wasthis tunnelnortheast ofMarch AirForce Base.Vandalsrecentlydemolishedthe imposingbrick facade,apparently insearch of usedbrick.

30


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Raywood Flat is also accessible byh igh -cen t e r veh i c le f r om B ann ingthrough the long Water Canyon portagealong the San Gorgonio River, some 12miles f rom Banning. Warning! Thisroute is closed by locked gate and is inthe fire season closure, unless you getpermission from the city of Banning andthe Forest Service.

The closure is due in part to generalfire danger and the importance of Ray-wood Flat and W ater Canyon as the pr in-cipal water source for the city of B anningas well as hydroelectric power for South-ern California Edison Company and i r r i -gation water for fruit farmers on theBanning Bench.

Edison's two tiny power plants on thedrainage were added to the regionalsystem even before they were completedby the independent San Corgonio PowerCompany in 1923. The plants, rated at acombined capacity of only 2,800 kilo-wat ts , seldom operate for more than afew hours a day due to continuing watershortages.

Water Canyon is bear country, too,being the home for a group of elusiveCalifornia black bears, descendants ofYosemite and King's Canyon renegadest ransp lanted many years ago. Fewpeople have seen them in recent years,although a few years ago a Forest Ser-D e s e r t /D e c e m b e r 19 77

vice patrolman reported unofficially hewas pinned under pickup by a big bearfor several hours.

I f you plan to visit the W hitewater his-torical site, carry a machete for the Tun-nel Trail is badly overgrown from its ter-minus with the Deer Springs trail somethree rugged miles from the tunnel por-tal and campsite.

The campsite is easily identified bythe tumbled down roofs and walls of themain bunkhouse and cook shack near thet ra i l , but the tunnel portal, in the south-west wall of the river gorge and a half-mile upstream, may elude you. In 1965,1969 and 1976, storms washed away theapproach trail and tail ings from the abor-t i ve excava t i ons . A nd , unde rg row t hpretty well hides the three-foot diameteropening.There is no 7V i-minute series topo -graphic m aps of the area but the 15-m in-ute scale U.S. Geological Survey chartand the Forest Service's San BernardinoMountains area map serve pretty wel l .

Both truck trails to the area are pass-ablewith great careby high-centersedan or pickup. The Tunnel Trail cannotbe traversed m ore than a quarter mileabove the Deep Springs trail junction byanything but four-wheel-drive orcouldn't when the writer tr ied early lastsummer.

FALL SHOWERS BRINGDESERT FLOWERS...Last summer se ven inches o f rain in theAnza-Borrego Dese rt caus ed f lash f loo dsand "rewrote" miles of trai ls and once-famil iar washes. More water than webargained for! But there ' s goo d in everyra indrop.A few d eep soak ings in late summer andfal l su gges t an exception al crop o f winterwi ld f l owers . A coup le o f dren ching rain sin January , added to what we've h ad ,turns the desert in to a huge garden o fwildf lowers.Nothing in the desert is a fact unt i l i t ' shapp en ed , but i f th in gs con t inu e as theystarted, you' l l want to tour the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park this winterjust for the f lower d isplay. But evenwithout an exceptional burst of f lowers,this largest State Park in the UnitedStates i s a garden o f o ther wonders:Fresh clean air! Blue skies! Warm, drydays and coo l n ight s f or s l eep ing! AHthrough the w inter and in to late sp r ing .To see the Park and l earn the d eser t ,4-WHEEL-DRIVE DESERT TOURStakes you by jeep off paved roads toshow and explain Indian culture, animall ife, birds r anging from Golden Eagles tohou s e f i n che s . We examin e s t o n e s an dbon e s , hun t s ea sh e l l s o n t h e d e s e r tf loor, cl imb mountain streams, and lotsmore .Your guide is the owner of 4-WHEEL-DRIVE DESERT TOURS. Our trips arel imited to four or f ive passengers , d e-pend ing on the t erra in . Noth ing fancy.Everybody goes by f irst name.Let us show you the Anza-BorregoDeser t State Park, just n inety miles eastof San Diego. Plan on at least two orthree j eep t r ips . No on e ever saw in oneday the variety of terrain, plants andwildlife the Park offers.C all o r wr ite Dick Linkroum at:4-WHEEL-DRIVEDESERT TOURS

P. O . Box 511Borrego Sprin gs, C aliforn ia 92004(714)767-570731


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What remains of old Fort Bowie [some30 buildings] is being preservedby the federal government asa National Historic site.The area is reachedonly by a oneand one-halfmile trail.

by JOE KRAUS


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T HEY WERE footholds of civi l izationon the western frontier. Their inhabi-tants often arrived before anyoneelse. An d during their few years of glory,they molded the image of the West.These were the old mil i tary posts. Andnone were perhaps more dangerous orexciting than those forts of SouthernAr izona.

It was in Southern Arizona where mensuch as Kit Carson, Geronimo, PaulineWeaver, Cochise, Hi Jolly, Nachez andGeneral George Crook rubbed shouldersin and out of the mil i tary camps. And itwas in Southern Arizon a, the last strong-hold for the Indian in the west, where ital l came to an end.

There were such names as Fort Bu-chanan, Camp Crittenden, Fort Breckin-r idge and Camp Mason as well as FortBarrett, Fort Goodwin and Fort Thomas.Most of these are gone now, mergingback into the dust from which they came.But a few others such as Fort Lowell,Fort Huachuca, Fort Grant and FortBowie are sti l l visible on the Arizonadesert.

One, Fort Bowie, is a ru in . Another ,Fort Lowell, is an histor ical park. FortHuachuca is sti l l active, currently oper-ating under orders from the Army. Prob-ably the most unusual use of all is FortGrant, now a reform school for boys. Allof the four fo rts, how ever, sport many ofthe or iginal buildings. And al l are l ivingtestimonies, half-buried in the desertsands, of those brave men in A rm y bluewho first blazed the westward t ra i l .

FORT BOWIEMany years ago, but after Fort Bowie

was abandoned, the one thing thatbrought home the tragedy of the Indianwars was the Fort Bowie Cemetery.H e r e , ma r k i n g se t t l e r a n d so ld i e rgraves, were simple wooden markers. Agreat many of these markers were en-graved wi th the words, "Ki l led byInd ians. "

Time, vandals and the elements have(since the fort was abandoned in 1894)taken their tol l on the cemetery as wellas the old fort. An d only a few years agoall was nearly destined to vanish tomingle with the cactus and dust of theArizona desert. Today, however, thanksto the U.S. Government's maintenanceof the area and the fort's designation asa National Historic Site, the fort hasbeen preserved.

Formally established as an historic

Indian scouts occupied these adobe homes at Fort Huachuca. The scouts gavevaluable assistance to the Army during the campaign against Geron imo. Stillstanding, the homes are no longer in use.site July 28, 1972, the site contains 970acres dedicated to preserving the Butter-field Overland Mail Route, the ApachePass Stage Station, Apache Springs andthe Fort Bowie complex. The park (in itsoriginal preserved state) is administeredby the National Park Service.

Established in 1862, the fort was basecamp for U.S. Cavalry in their fightagainst the Apaches, first under Cochiseand Mangas Co lo radas and thenGeronimo.

Apache Pass, which Fort Bowie wasbuilt to protect, was the site of hundredsof ambushes. Before the fort was buil tand even after it was a gamble whethe r awagon or a coach would make it throughthe passthe only way for travelersbound for Tucson. For the early settlers

Apache Pass became a fiery baptismalinto the l i fe of Apache country. As a re-sult historians have tagged the area themost dangerous point on the immigrantroad to California.

Here was fought the B attle of ApachePass and here Tom Jeffords and one-armed General Howard rode into Co-chise's stronghold to negotiate a lastingpeace. The life of Jeffords at Fort Bowieand his relationship with Cochise wasthe basis of a long-running televisionseries just a few years ago.

Fort Bowie is located near the town ofBowie (east of Wilco x). From Bowie takethe Apache Pass road southward forabout 12 miles. The well-marked dirt andgravel road will direct you to the FortBowie parking lot. From here a one and

D e s e r t / D e c e m b e r 1 9 77 33


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The comm anding officer's quarters at Fort Lowell has been reconstructed, the cul-mination of more than thirty years of work by groups and individuals in Arizona.The building contains the room arrangement of the 1880s, and it is furnished as itwould have been in 1886 when inhabited by the post comm ander.one-half mile foot trail passes a numberof historical features to the ruins of thefort. This easy trail takes the visitor pastthe Butterfield Stage Station ruins, thepost cemetery, Apache Spring and thesite of the Battle at Apache Pass beforeyou approach the fort ruin s. A short sidetrail leads to the site of the first FortBowie. From the parking lot to a casualvisit of the fort and then back to the park-ing lot visitors should allow about twoand one-half hours.

At the ruins of the fort visitors wil l f indabout 30 buildings, al l of which are nowon ly founda t ions and wa l ls . Theseinclude officers quarters, mess hal l , th ehosp i ta l , t rad ing post , schoo l andinfantr y barracks as well as guardhouse.

F O R T H U A C H U C AFort Huachuca (pronounced wah-chu-

kah) is 30 miles west of Bisbee on theoutskir ts of the community of SierraVista and with in a few m iles of h istor icTombstone. Established in 1877, thefort 's main function was to protect set-tlers and travelers from the Apache. TheIndians, however, careful ly watched themaneuvers of the troops and

197712 desert magazine 1977 december

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