195101 Desert Magazine 1951 January

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D E S E R T C A L E N D A RJan. 1 Annual Pegleg Smith LostGold Trek. Liar's conlest NewYear's eve, in Borrego Valley, Cal-ifornia.Jan. 1Annual presentation of "TheMessiah", Salt Lake Tabernacle,Temple Square, by Salt Lake Ora-torio society, Salt Lake City, Utah.Jan. 1Ceremonial dance followinginauguration of governor and gov-erning council. Taos pueblo, NewMexico.Jan. 1New Year's race, downhilland slalom races, at Arizona SnowBowl, Flagstaff.Jan. 3-6 Livestock sh ow , Fair-grounds, Phoenix, Arizona.Jan. 5-7Arizona Newspaper assoc-iation convention. Phoenix.Jan. 6El Dia de los Tres Reyes,ceremonial dance, Taos pueblo,New Mexico.Jan . 6-7 Squaw Valley ;,ki cha m-pionships, combined with FWSAClass C downhill and slalomchampionships, Reno, Nevada.Jan. 7Phoenix Don's club trek toTucson, Arizona.Jan. 7 Round-up safari, Wicken-burg, Arizona.Jan. 12Phoenix Symphony concert.Phoenix, Arizona.Jan. 12-27Art display sponsored byWomen's Ten Thousand club, ElCentro, California.Jan . 13-14 Ann ual downh ill skichampionship, Sugar Bowl, Mt.Disney, Nevada.Jan. 14 Bandollero trip to PalmCanyon, in heart of Kofa GameRange. Here is only stand of na-

tive palm trees (Washingtonia fili-fera) in Arizona. Tour starts 9:00a.m. from chamber of commercebuilding, Yuma.Jan. 14Phoenix Don's club travel-cade to Wickenburg Dude ranchesand rodeo.Jan. 14-15Berkeley Inter-City Ro-tary club convention, Reno, Nev-ada.Jan. 20Wickenburg Country club'sGuest Golf tourney, Wickenburg,Arizona.Jan. 20-21Sierra Club hike via BoxCanyon to Hidden Springs, in theheart of the Little San BernardinoMountains, California. Dry campin Box Canyon.Jan. 21Phoenix Don's club trek toApache Trail.

Jan. 27-28Desert Peaks section ofSierra club, camping and hikingtrip to Eagle Mountains of theColorado desert. Overnight campat Cottonwood Springs, 25 mileseast of Indio, California.Jan. 28Desert Sun Ranchers rodeoat Slash-Bar-K ranch, Wickenburg,Arizona.Jan. 31-Feb. 4 Tucson Open Golftournament, El Rio Country club,Tucson, Arizona.JanuaryOne-man show of paintings

by Waano Gano, Cherokee Indianartist, Southwest Museum, High-land Park, Los Angeles, California.

V o l u m e 1 4 JANUARY, 1951 N u m b e r 3CO VERCALENDARP O ETRYEXP LO RATIO NPERSONALITYLO ST G O LDMINESI N D I A N SQUIZFIELD TRIPRAINFALLLETTERSCLO SE-UP SCO NTESTN E W SLAP IDARYH O BBYFICTIONC O M M E N TB O O K S

SUNRISE IN MONUMENT VALLEY. Photo by DonOllis of Santa Barbara, CaliforniaJanuary events on the desert 3Discarded Gold Pan, and other poem s . .We Found the Way into EleganteBy RANDALL HENDERSON .Trail of a NaturalistBy LLOYD MASON SMITH .An nua l Pegleg Smith Trek . .Current news of desert miningNavajo JusticeBy SANDY HASSELL . .

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A t e s t of y o u r d e s e r t k n o w l e d g e 2 2N e v a d a I n v it e d t h e R o c k h o u n d s

B y A L H A W O R T H 2 3R e p o r t o n R e s e r v o i r S t o r a g e 2 8V i e w s a n d c o m m e n t of D e s e rt 's r e a d e r s . . . 2 9Ab ou t t ho se w ho wr i t e for De ser t 31P i c tu r e - of - th e - M o n t h A n n o u n c e m e n t 3 1F r o m h e r e a n d t h e r e o n t h e d e s e r t 3 3A m a t e u r G e m C u t t e r, b y L EL A N D E Q U I C K . . 4 0G e m s a n d M i n e r a l s 4 1H a r d R o c k S h o r t y of D e a t h V a l l e y 4 5J us t B e t w e e n Y o u a n d M e , b y t h e E d it or . . . 4 6R e v i e w s o f S o u t h w e s t l i t e r a t u r e 47

The Desert Magazine is published monthly by the Desert Press, Inc., Palm Desert,California. Re-entered as second class matte r July 17, 1948, at the p ost office at Palm Desert,California, under the Act of March 3, 1879. Title registered No. 358865 in U. S. Patent Office,and contents copyrigh ted 1951 by the Desert Press, Inc. Permission to reproduc e c ontentsmust be secured from the editor in writing.RANDALL HENDERSON, Editor AL HAWORTH , Associate Edito rBESS STACY, Business Manager MARTIN MORAN, Circulation ManagerE. H. VAN NOSTRAND, Advertising ManagerLos Angeles Office (Advertising O nly): 2635 Adelbert Ave., Phone NOrmandy 3-1509Unsolicited manuscripts and photographs submitted cannot be returned or acknowledgedunless full retu rn po stage is enclosed. Desert Magazine assumes no responsibility fordamage or loss of manuscripts or photographs although due care will be exercised. Sub-scribers should send notice of change of address by the first of the month preceding issue.SUBSCRIPTION RATESOne Year $3.50 Two Years $6.00Canadian Subscriptions 25c Extra, Foreign 50c ExtraSubscriptions to Army Personnel Outside U. S. A. Must Be Mailed in Conformity WithP. 0. D. Order No. 19687Address Correspondence to Desert Magazine, Palm Desert, CaliforniaJ A N U A R Y , 1 9 5 1


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Vi& canded Pan

OH TURQUOISE SKY!By MICHAEL O'NEILMorongo Valley, CaliforniaOh blue of turquoise summer sky!Glory of far-flung sunset gold!Don't let the gorgeous gladness dieKeep it a little while for me.Don't let it die.

Illimitable desert slopesCalling on eager eyes to restOn distance in the shining West,Where hosts of iridescent hopesLike living rainbows gleam,With promise that each glowing dreamWithin a yearning heart shall beFulfilledDon't let the cloud-sparks flyInto a world of ashen grayLike promises all washed away!Don't let the rose-red color dieFrom off your breast, Oh turquoise sky!Don't let the crimson cloud grow cold,And disappointed, sad and old.Keep it a little while for me.Don't let it die!

TEMPLE ON THE DESERTBy PAUL WILHELMThousand Palms, CaliforniaBuild you a temple in the glowOf desert hills and in your breastWake hungers death will never knowA dream, a Courage and a Quest!

DESERT CHRISTMASBy JEAN C. MOORETucson, Arizona

No silent snowflakes fallingUpon these desert lanes.No fields of white this Holy Night,No frosted window panes.But to our golden valleys.Untouched by winter's s:iow,'Mid gifts of blooms the Christ Child

comesAs in the long ago.And may the love He brings us.The promise and the light,Like the desert flower in a hushed, darkhour,Alleviate our night.

WINTER ON THE DESERTBy LUCY BARKERLong Beach, California

Winter on the desertSings an urgent song,Wooing with a firmnessPassionate and strong:Sunshine floats on sand a-drifting,Tempests rage in sands a-siftingNurses seed for spring's upliftingIt has cherished long!

By J. A. STEBBINSHi Vista, CaliforniaOld, forgotten and cast aside;Never a burro again to ride,Never to see the red brown slopes,The gravel that raises a m iner's hopes.Thrown aside in a rubbish mound,I rust and decay into the ground.Old and battered and gravel worn,Once in my hold great wealth was born.Wealth, has it kept or faded away?Has it brought new joy or sorrow today?For me . . .I yearn for the thrill of gold-fevered men,To bring me back to life again.

PROSPECTORBy RALP H A. F ISHER, SR.Phoenix, ArizonaLittle sheet-iron pan worn thin is coloredwith rust,Tool of his long forgotten dream of goldendust.His aged burro, sunburned rope, the saddle

pack,All mute evidence, cabalistic warning. "Idid come back!"Warped wagon-bed, a broken pick andspokeless hubTo testify of courage, toil, of hope, defeat,a dud.Upon wind-blown mound of worthless,dust-free rock,A foolish mockingbird alights and fails, tomockThe silent, lonely wash of glittering sandso dry,A tempting place to live, a peaceful placeto die.DESERT JESTER

By H ELEN VOGEL MOOGLaguna Beach, California"Yes ma'm, we usta have them Smoketrees here.Folks come seein' them from far and near."His eyes were bland, he met her glareWith innocent unblinking stare."Yes ma'm, those trees jest had to go,And if you really want to knowWell, they fogged the air with too muchsmoke.Made too much smog for desert folk."The fire alarms came thick and fast,Our men and engines wouldn't last.No ma'm, they ain't no trees to paint.The Smoke trees wuz, but now they ain't."Your lookin' thar? That ain't no tree,Jest a mirage that soon won't be."His eyes still bland, her outraged stareHe met with simple guileless air.

By TANYA SOUTHEternity can stretch so far,That e'en the largest, brightest starIs young to it! Yet I can seeAll cradled in Eternity.And every fleeting thought I think.,Each summit that I gain, eachbrinkIs of Eternal substance rife,Imbued with life.

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Members of the exploring party reached the bottom of Elegante crater withoutuse of rope by the route indicated by dotted lines. The alternative route of theascent wa s selected to avoid the fine pea gravel encountered on the descent. Theauthor b elieves there are other possible routes to the bottom. The dep th of thecrater is 610 feet.

We Found a Way into EleganteMany American fishermen a l r e a d y h a v e discovered the recentlypaved road which gives them easy access to the Gulf of California 65miles south of the international linebut few of them realize that thegreat black range which extends along the west s ide of the new high-way looks down on a desert pitted with over 500 cratersrelics of aday when this area was a seething inferno of volcanic eruption. Hereis a story of a trip into the heart of this land of extinct volcanos, and ofdescent to the floor of its largest crater.

By RANDALL HENDERSONMap by Norton AllenA JANUARY day in 1910,Car l Lumho l tz , exp lo re r and

writer employed to make an econ-omic survey of the region around theheadwaters of the Gulf of Californiain Sonora, Mexico, stood on the rimof a great crater which he had spottedpreviously from a nearby peak. Hewas so impressed by the beauty of this

volcanic cavity he gave it the nameCrater Elegante.In his book about this region. NewTrails in Mexico, long out of print,Lumholtz wrote: "I do not know howdeep it is, for I had no opportunity tomake a descent, which is said to befeasible though difficult, and it looksvery difficult too, for the walls have

crumbled less than the other craters Isaw later in the region."If Carl Lumholtz were still living Icould answer the question in his mindon that January morning as to thedepth of Crater Elegante. Last Oct-ober 9 I stood on the rim of the samecrater and my altimeter showed anelevation of 975 feet. Four hours later,

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after a hand and toe scramble downthose precipitous walls the instrumentregistered 365 feet. De pth 610 feet. 'Aries Adams and I had longplanned a trip into the Pinacate coun-try. We had read Lumholtz ' book,and also Campfires on Desert andLava, another out-of-print book writ-ten by William T. Hornaday in 1908about the same area.Our trip was arranged for the sec-ond week in October this year. Ourparty included William A. (Bill) Sher-rill of the U.S. Immigration borderpatrol, and Wilson McKenney, myformer associate on the Desert Maga-zine staff.Lumholtz explored the Pinacateswith a wagon and saddle horses. Buthe had all winter to do his job. Sinceour time was limited to a week weused m ore modern transportation two jeeps. The Pinacate country is aweird mixture of sandhills and lavabeds inaccessible to a paved-roadautomobile.Pinacate is Spanish for a blackbeetle that in some parts of the UnitedStates is known as a tumble bug. Whendisturbed it sticks its head in theground and rears its hind end in theair like a clown standing on his head.The Papago Indians who once campedin the dunes and at the tinajas in thisarea called the Pinacate range Tjuk-toak, meaning black mountain.But life here was very hard, evenfor Indians, and as the threat of raid-ing Apaches diminished before thefirearms of American soldiers, thePinacate Papagos drifted north tomore fruitful lands in southern Ari-zona.The four of us left El Centro themorning of October 7. Because wehad good cars for the purpose, wefollowed the Devil's Highway, Cam-ino del Diablo, the old Mexican '49ertrail east from Yuma, Arizona. Theroute took us past the old Fortunamine in the lower end of the Gilarange. Fortuna was once a rich gold

To p The giant Ironwood treeon the Lechuguilla desert alongCamino del Diablo east of Tin-ajas A Itas. Lumholtz comm entedon the size of this tree forty yearsago.Center Tree cholla is one of themost conspicuous plants on thePinacate desert. In the right back-ground between the Saguaro cactiis an Organ Pipe cactus.Bottom With bark and red saplike the Elephant tree, and leaveslike an Ocotillo, this is Jatrophacuneata, called by the Mexicans"Sangre-de-drago", blood of thedragon. Grows along the border.

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producer, but the ore pinched out andnow even the caretaker has left andthe camp is a litter of debris.Continuing south from Fortuna thelittle-used road became rough andsandy. Eventually the old trail swungeast through a pass between the lowerend of the Gila range and the northend of the Tinajas Altas mountainsSurveyor's Pass it is called. Here wewere in a luxurious garden of Sonoranvegetationalong the arroyos a densegrowth of Palo Verde and Ironwood,and on the plain the giant Saguaroand many less imposing species ofcacti, ocotillo, incense bush and cre-osote in profusion.Beyond the pass we turned southalong the base of the mountains tothe his toric High Tanks, Tinajas Altas.Mexican prospectors, following thediscovery of gold in California in1849, struggled across the old trail toreach the natural tanks of water atthis point, and stories have been toldthat some of them perished at the baseof the precipitous trough in which thewater is found because they lacked thestrength to climb the steep walls.

There are glyphs and pictographs onthe rock walls in this vicinity to indi-cate it was a popular watering placefor pre-historic Indians. There arealso many grinding holes in the rocks.When I first visited Tinajas Altas 15

years ago there was a little cemeteryon the gravel mesa near the tanks. Itwas a fascinating retreat for a day'souting. But the seclusion of this spotis gone. The American border patrol-men charged with the duty of prevent-

ing Mexico's hoof and mouth epi-demic from spreading across the bor-der to the United States, have erectedsheet-iron huts on ground once occu-pied by the cemetery and cars bustlein and out of the camp all day.Old stone grinding mill at Quitovaquita. The top stone is turned with hand-pikes. Grain poured in a small hole in the top stone is ground as it workstoward the outer edge where it is caught in a blanket.

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East of the Lechiiguilla Desert the Devil's Highway winds among the buttes of theCabeza Prieta range.East from Tinajas Altas there arenow two trailsthe winding ruts leftby the '49ers, and a new road bull-dozed across the creosote plain forthe use of the patrolmen. The old cam-ino is being abandoned, and for lackof use will soon become impassable.However, it could still be followed byjeeps, and we chose to take the historictrail.Seven miles beyond Tinajas Altaswe saw a gigantic Ironwood tree onthe horizon ahead. This is said to be

one of the finest specimens found inthe Southwest, and I photographed itfor comparison with the picture takenby Lumholtz 40 years ago. The treehas grown a little during the 40 years,and today is a more conspicuous land-mark even than when he was there.The Ironwood, olneya tesota or

Palo fierro as the Mexicans call it, isthe most useful of all trees to one whotravels the desert, according to Lum-holtz. He wrote: "Although there wasconsiderable galleta grass growing here

and there, all the mules, donkeys andhorses gathered at once around a lonebut very large palo fierro tree to eatits bark and green juicy leaves, whichthey much preferred . . . Usually someof its branches are dry, and they fur-nish the very best campfire, especiallyfor cooking purposes."Three and a half miles beyond thegiant Ironwood we came to a circle ofrocks on the ground, perhaps 25 feetin diameter. According to Tom Childswho has spent a long lifetime in this

East of Qidtovaquita the road parallels the new boundary fence erected by theUnited States to keep diseased cattle from c rossing from Mexico.



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Flashlight picture taken in camp at the base of the Pinacate range. Even after thesun had gone down the temperature ranged around the 100-degree mark. L eft toright: Wilson McKenney, Bill Sherrill, Randa ll Henderson and Aries Adam s.

part of the desert, the circle marks oneof the tragedies of the Devil's High-way. Nearly 100 years ago Papago In-dians killed Mexican prospectors enroute to the California gold fields onthis spot. Some of the Papagos toldChilds about it many years later. Theysaid they had killed for loot.Harold Weight found good collect-ing material for the rockhounds north-east of the rock circle and mapped the

trip for Desert readers (September' 4 9 ) . The new patrol road misses therock circle about 100 yards.At dusk we arrived at Tule well,one of the few watering places alongCamino del Diablo. Border patrolmenhave a camp here also. They are em-ployed by the U.S. Department ofAgriculture, Bureau of Animal Hus-bandry. Generally they work in pairs,covering a beat of 35 miles along theborder daily in motor vehicles. Theirorders are to shoot and burn the car-cass of any livestock which they have

reason to believe has wandered acrossthe unfenced border from Sonora.During the previous three months theyhad killed nine animals.

There is a windmill and crudeshower at Tule well. It was a refresh-ing stop after traveling all afternoonacross the Lechuguilla desert with thetemperature well over 100 degrees.Lechuguilla is Spanish and this desertwas named for an edible lettuce-likeplant which grows here.

On a hill overlooking Tide well several of the Boy Sco ut troops of Arizonaerected this monu ment to mark the Cabeza Prieta game refuge.

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We camped on thebank of an ar-royo near thewindmill and had bar-Decued steaks for dinner. Tule wellis in a game refuge, and covies ofquail were running through thethick-ets that surrounded ourbedrolls earlyin the morning.Going east from Tule well weagain had our choice of two roads, theold camino, or thenewly-graded roadused by thepatrolmen. We followedth e old trail. Thegravel along theroadside for a mile east of thewell issprinkled with chalcedony roses. Wedid not have time to trace them totheir source, butthis probably is goodhunting grounds for the rock collect-ors.Fifteen miles out, wecame to thefirst tongue of the great lava fieldwhich covers much of thearea southof the border here. Thirty or fortymiles to thesouth wecould seedarkbrown Pinacate range, in theheart ofa region which at some time in thedistant past was aninferno of volcanicaction.The late Godfrey Sykes, formerlyconnected with the Carnegie DesertLaboratory at Tucson, estimated therewere 500 extinct volcanic craterswithin a radius of 50miles of Pinacate

peak. Lava flows extend over thelandscape in all directions, makingmuch of thearea impenetrable excepton foot orwith burros. The main vol-canic vent evidently was at the topof the range. Pinacate peak andnearby Carnegie peak, 200 feet lower,are the high points on therim ofwhatwas once a huge boiling cauldron ofliquid stone. Sogreat was thepressureof gas beneath the surface that smallervents opened up allover the area, eachspewing out itsown stream of moltenrock.The road parallels close to theboundary all theway, and later in themorning we caught our first glimpseof the new 7-strand barbed wire fenceUncle Sam is in process of buildingalong theentire border from El Pasoto thePacific.At noon wearrived at Gray's well.Bob Gray is a cattleman whorunsstock inthis desert. His camp isoccu-pied only part of the time and wefound noon e at home, but thewind-mill was pumping water.In mid-afternoon wearrived at an-other of the oldwatering places onCamino del Diablo Quitovaquita.The word is theMexican translationof a Papago word which I amtold

means many springs. A fine flow ofwater gushes from therocks in an ar-royo above thetown.Here wemet Mr. andMrs. GeorgeW. Cleveland. He is a border patrol-man who covers part of hisbeat onhorseback and part in a pickup truck.They live in a comfortable tcnthouse.The temperature was 110 degrees thatafternoon, but the Clevclands arehardy folks whoprefer the frontier,even when it is very hot. They bringin tank gas for their Serveland weappreciated the icewater they servedus after drinking hotwater from ourcanteens for twodays. Title to theland andwater here remains in thehands of a Mexican family which hasowned it formany generations.Just outside thecrumbling walls ofone of the settlement's first adobebuildings I found a primitive grindingmill twohuge disks of stone, thelower one in fixed position and theupper one turned by hand-pikes orpossibly by a burro. It has notbeenused for many years. The Arizonamuseum should acquire this oldmillbefore it falls into less worthy hands.The Sonoyta river, sometimes withwater and more often dry, is justacross theboundary on the Mexican

Palos Verdes tinajas on e of thenatural tanks at thebase of thePinacate range.Wildlife over alarge area comes tothese tanks for water.

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side of the fence. And back amongthe hills is an ancient cemeteryaburial place that dates back more than100 years.Camino del Diablo dips into Mexicoand follows the course of the Sonoytariver east from Quitovaquita, andsince there were no customs or immi-gration officers here to inspect ourpasses, we continued east along thenew road north of the boundary fenceto Sonoyta, 15 miles east.Until four years ago when a pavedroad was completed from Gila Bend,Arizona, to Rocky Point on the Gulfof California, Sonoyta was a sleepylittle settlement where visitors seldomcame. But paved roads, especiallywhen they lead to such fine fishingwaters as are found in the Gulf ofCalifornia, soon work miracles. Son-oyta is becoming a tourist townwithmotor courts and modern gas stationsand juke boxes.Neat garitas have been erected onboth sides of the international gate,and customs and immigration officersare on duty here to service the hun-dreds of American visitors who nowcross the border with their fishingtackle bound for Rocky Point, orPunta Peflasco as it is known to theMexicans. Tourist passes are issuedwithout much delay for $2.50 a per-son.Carrying border permits issued bythe chief of the immigration service inMexicali, we got speedy clearance, and

our dusty jeeps paraded through thegate and headed south. The originalSonoyta old town is three milesbelow the border. Here we stopped atthe office of Alfredo Barillo, chief ofpolice and wildlife commissioner forthis area. He gave us detailed direc-tions for reaching Crater Elegante, andsome sidelights on wildlife in that area.He estimated there are 500 bighornsheep in the Pinacate country.For the next 33 miles we enjoyedthe luxury of paved roads, for thenew highway to the gulf passes nearthe base of the Pinacate range. Wecrossed the Sonoyta river where itheads off toward the gulf. All themaps show this river as emptying intoth e gulf. But that is only because thedraftsmen who draw maps cannot con-ceive of a river which has no mouth.They do not know about this desertcountry where sizable rivers just evap-orate in thin airor disappear in thesand. The Mojave river of Californiais like that. And so is the Sonoyta. Itsoutlet is a playa somewhere out amongthe sand dunes which extend along thewestern shore of the gulf. In flood

time the Sonoyta flows quite a streamof waterbut none of it ever reachesthe Sea of Cortez, as the Gulf of Cal-ifornia is labeled on old maps.

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To p Title well one of the old waterholes along Camino del Diablo.Center Quitovaquita where a generous spring of water supplies the littlesettlement.Bottom International port of entry at Sonoyta, looking tow ard the Am eri-can customs house.Beyond the Sonoyta bridge we came

to the ranch of Sr. Rudolfo Espinosa,and he proved a very helpful guide. Aformer Californian, he speaks excel-lent English. There are many wood-

cutters' roads in the Pinacate area, andhe carefully drew a sketch in the sandto show which ones we should take toreach Elegante.The sun was near the horizon when

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Bill Sherrill led the way out into theland of lava beds and black volcanicbuttes . We dipped into an arroyo andwent around the first butte on theright, passed through a little forest oftree cholla cactus, passed the next twobuttes on the left, andnine miles fromthe Espinosa ranch turned west on arough sandy trail. It wasn' t much ofa roadjust two tracks that becamevery hard to follow when they led usout on a great bed of lava. It got darkand we lost the trail. So there wecamped for the nighta warm desertnight with no cloud nor haze to dimthe sparkle of a billion stars overhead.Sr. Espinosa had told us that therim of Crater Elegante would appearas a low mesa in thedistance. At day-break Wilson McKenney was up andscanning the horizon for that lowmesa. With mountains on the skylineall around us, and little buttes stickingtheir black heads above the plain inevery direction, we were uncertain.But we continued along the trail, andstopped once to climb one of the littlecraters to see if we could spot the bigonefor Elegante is said to be thedaddy of all thecraters in the Pinacateregion.Our climb yielded no information,so we continued in the direction of

what appeared to be a low gray hill inthe distant northwest. When we cameto the base of the hill the jeeps wereblocked by a deep arroyo with verticalbanks.We climbed the hill, rot more than100 feet in elevation above our park-ing space. And there in front and be-low us was the great chasm which werecognized at once as Ellegante. It isa stupendous crater.The rim sloped gently 150 or 200feet to the top ledge of a ragged es-carpment. The escarpment did notappear to average over 50 feet highand below it was a long talus slopewhich led to the bottom. But that 50-foot vertical drop obviously would bea difficult climbing problem. We hadplenty of rope and it would not behard to rappel down the rocky face.But how would we get to the top again?We spread out and explored the rimfoot by foot, hoping to find a creviceor chimney which not only wouldoffer a waydown, but much more im-portant, would offer a feasible routefor the return to the top. The floor ofthe crater appeared dry, with a scatter-ing of Sonoran vegetation and manysaguaro cacti. A little play a of whitesand indicated the low point, wherewater remained forperhaps a few hours

after a rainstorm. Obviously it was nota place to be marooned for long with-out food or water.We were exploring the south rim.A mile across the chasm at the north-west side there appeared to be astreak of deep red talus which ex-tended up to within a few feet of theto p of the escarpment. Finally weagreed the south rim was not feasiblefor the descent, and followed a dimtrail which led around the rim, per-haps a mile and a quarter to a pointabove the red streak of talus.It waseasy to work our way downto the top of theescarpment as we haddone on the south side. There wefound a rock ledge and made a trav-erse along the top of the cliff to ourlandmark th e red streak of talus.And there we found the route to thebottom. The talus was composed offine gravel and every step started asmall rock slide. Most of the way weslid with the rock. It was easy goingdownhill. We knew the return tripwould be tough in that kind of rockbu t it could be done.Wilson McKenney was leading. Ihave been on many exploring tripswith Wilson. When the going getsrough he is always out ahead, break-ing trail. Aries Adams had received

Crater Elegante, viewed from the north rim. ft is approximately one mile acrossfrom rim to rim.

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explicit orders from the doctor beforeleaving home not to do any mountainclimbing on this trip. He remained atthe topand it was a fortunate cir-cumstance for the rest of us that hedid not make the descent.We reached the bottom at 1:00 p.m.We had been away from the carsnearly four hours, and our canteenswere dry. It was hot down there, veryhot. Shade and water were the twothings we wanted most. There were afew Palo Verdesbut the Palo Verdeisn't a good shade tree. Finally I founda cluster of three saguaros growing to-gether through the branches of aPalo Verd e and the four of themgave us relief from the sun rays beat-ing down into that pit. My thermo-meter registered 112 degrees in theshade. Then I put it out in the sunand it went up to 132.The weather gods of the desert gottheir dates mixed this year, and weregiving us August temperatures in Oct-ober. This crater has been dead somany thousands of years I am surenone of the heat was radiating frombeneath the surface. It came from thedirect rays of the sun overhead, andreflected rays from the rocks that sur-rounded us.

The prospect of making our way upthrough that loose talus in 132-degreeair was not a cheerful thought. ThenMac opened his knapsack and tookout three apples. Apples never havetasted so good. I sliced mine thin andkept a small piece in my mouth aslong as it lasted.

We piled a few rocks at the base ofa senita cactus and put a record ofour descent in a small plastic con-tainer. We found no record of a pre-vious descent. Later I learned that inNovember, 1949, Joe King of SanJacinto, California, James E. Brockof El Centro, and Dr. Phil A. Bir-dick of Yuma, Arizona, had visitedthe crater, and Dr. Birdick had de-scended to the bottom.Elegante differs from most of the

other craters in the Pinacate region inthat it shows no evidence of volcanicaction. There is no lava around itsrim, no cinders on its floor. While Ido not pose as an expert geologist, myguess is that it was caused by a greatsubterranean gas explosiona blow-out rather than a vent for the escape ofmolten rock. And what an explosionthat must have beento blow a holea mile wide in the crust of the earth!The fires which once turned the Pin-acate region into a volcanic infernohave long since burned out. The re-ports of Lumholtz, W. T. Hornaday,Godfrey Sykes and others who ex-plored this area nearly a half centuryago indicate that no action has takenplace here for thousands of years.

At the base of this Senita cactus in the floor of Elegante crater the climbersleft a record of their descent in a plastic container covered with rocks.I counted more than 100 maturesaguaros in the bottom of the crater.Most of the other well known mem-bers of the Sonoran plant family werethere Ironwood, Palo Verde , c reo-sote, ocotillo, jumping cholla, treecholla, encelia and senita cactus.At 2:00 o 'clock Mac announced hewas heading for the top. "1 wouldrather be on my way," he said, "thandown here drying out."Bill and I decided to wait until the

sun had dropped below the rim. Wecrossed to the south wall to explorethe possibility of an easier route thereand when we found none we weresorry we had used up our energy inthe attempt.Our thirst had reached the pointwhere we would have welcomed therather bitter juice of a bisnaga cactus.But there was no bisnaga. 1 knew th atsaguaro is worse than useless as athirst-quencher. I cut the stem of a

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' - " " * '

Pipe cactus near the Mexican border.senitathe "old man" cactus of theSonora desert. It was like green cu-cumber. It soothed our parched lipsbut our palates rebelled against thisvile tasting pulp.The sun was sinking now and wemoved up the slope with the shadow.We found a slope of talus that offeredbetter footing than the place of ourdescentand we made our way uphoping that it would be possible toscale the vertical cliff at the top. Wecould go only a few steps betweenrests. We reached the ledge above theescarpment just before dark andthere was Aries Adams with a flash-light and two canteens of water wait-ing for us. Good ol' Aries!14

Further up the slope that leads tothe top of the rim Mac was waitingwith a rope to help us scale a steeppitch. We reached the top of the rimat 8:00 o'clock.I know now that the descent intoElegante involves no great climbingdifficultiesbu t I do not recomm endit in 132-degree temperatures. On acool day a quart canteen of waterwould be enou gh bu : not in suchtemperatures as we encountered.Our schedule permitted two more

days in the Pinacates, and we decidedto seek the natural tanks where Lum-holtz had campedthe tanks he hadnamed Las Tinajas de Emilia in honor

of his friend Miss Emily Beebe ofBoston.Following directions given us by Sr.Espinosa, we backtracked to the littleforest of tree cholla and then took offon a faint road which led directly tothe east base of the Pinacate range. Hetold us this was known as Hunters'camp because it was used by occa-sional parties who came here to huntsheep. Near the camp, he said, weresome tanks known as Tinajas PalosVerdes.Mexicans come out here from Son-oyta to gather Ironwood for their cookstoves, and we got off on several falsetrails before we arrived finally atHunters' camp late in the afternoon.Palos Verdes tanks are located lessthan a mile from the camp near thebase of the range. They containedwater, but had not been replenishedby storm floods for many months and

the water was not inviting.Early the next morning we headedup a canyon that appeared to lead di-rectly toward the high peaks in therange. None of the Mexicans wasfamiliar with Emily's tanksand wewere on a blind search. Three hourslater we had climbed to the 2,000-foot level and my canteen was emptyagain. Mac decided to head on uptoward the cinder cone that is Car-negie peak, but the rest of us turnedback to camp. It was another hot day,and we knew the agony of climbing in132-degree temperatures with drycanteens.Two hours later Mac returned tocamp. His water, too, had run outbut not before he reached the base ofthe cone. There, quite by accident, hehad come upon the Sacred Cave ofthe Papago Indians, described at somelength in Lumholtz' book.Many years ago when the Papagoscamped at the waterholes in this area,and on the sand dunes to the west, oneof their gods was Iitoi. The Indiansbelived that the cave was the entrance

to a long underground passage, theterminal of which was an island in theGulf of California where Elder Broth-er's wife lived.Periodically the Papagos made pil-grimages to his cave and depositedceremonial ob je ct s prayer st icks,eagle feathers, bunches of yucca fibre,beads, arrows and other items whichmight please the fancy of Iitoi, or hiswife.Mac reported that the cave actuallyextended 200 feet back into the lavaflow, and that there were scores of

prayer sticks on its floor, and in crev-ices. When Lumholtz visited the cavein 1910 his guide was an old Papagowh o broug ht his sacrificial offeringsto the cave and sang his prayers to theD E S E R T M A G A Z I N E


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god. The cave probably has not beendisturbed for many years as the Indi-ans have long since ceased to comehere .We saw evidence of the bighornsheep in many places but did not sightany of the animals. The Mexicans toldus it had been a very dry year, and theanimals probably were further west

where the water supply is better.Between Pinacate range and thegulf is a great expanse of sand dunes.Lumholtz reported that he had foundthe abandoned camps of members ofthe Indian tribe known as the SandPapagos out in the dunes.As soon as Mac came down themountain, we packed our jeeps andheaded for waterthe great body ofwater known as the Gulf of Californiawhere there is found some of the finestdeep-sea fishing in the world. Wewould have no time for fishing, but

a dip in the surf would be refreshingafter four days in that land of blacklava and burning sun.It was a pleasant 30-mile ride downthe paved road from the Espinosaranch to Punta Penasco, and one ofthe Mexican police directed us to asandy beach three miles from townwhere we would have a comfortablecamp for the night.Punta Penasco is a boom townMexican style. The newly-paved roadhas brought many American visitorsmostly fishermen bringing their own

boats on trailers, or in parties to char-ter boats from the Mexicans.Shrimp, the main catch of the com-mercial fisherman here, have beenbringing high prices, and the busiestplace in town was the little shipyardwhere we saw 36 boats of varioussizes under construction. The keelsand framing of the boats are mesquitewood, sawed from a mesquite forestthat lies along the Sonoyta river nearthe town. Hand labor is cheap here,and mesquite lends itself admirably tothe timber work in boats.We learned that the boat ownerscharter their craft to fishing partieson approximately the following terms:for the large boats the rate is $6.50 aperson with a minimum of $50 a day.The 30-foot boats with 114 horse-power will carry eight people and therate is $5 a person with a minimumof $30. Smaller boats with 45 horse-power are rented with crew for $20 aday. They carry four passengers.Motor court and hotel accommoda-tions are now available at RockyPoint, once a primitive fishing village

with only a few adobe houses and littlecontact with the outside world.Mexican towns generally are wellpoliced, and Rocky Point is no excep-

' f

Above On the beach at Rocky Point. The Mexican village of Punta P en-asco is across the bay in the background.Below Thirty-six fishing boats are now under construction in the littleshipyard at Punta Pen asco. They are used mostly for c harter trips of sportsfishermen from the United States and for catching shrimp.tion. The police chief not only keepshis town in order, but he also servesas a sort of chamber of commerce. Heis always the best source of informa-tion for visitors.Rocky Point is handicapped by lackof domestic water. Its supply istrucked in tanks from a well at Papa-lote 14 miles away. Under the circum-stances hotel rooms do not includebath facilities.

Our return trip was over the pavedroad by way of Ajo, Arizona. GilaBend and thence over Highway 80 toYuma. For the information of motor-ists who may sooner or later want tovisit this lively little fishing town onthe gulf my log showed 150 milesfrom the port to Gila Bend.

You will understand why Luoholtzand Hornaday came into this fascin-

ating region around the headwaters ofthe gulfand how they found enoughmaterial to write books about it. ThePinacates are still practically a virginfield for archeo logists and geologistsand explorersfor a majority of the500 craters in this region have beenneither mapped nor named. It is arugged country at bestbut the newpaved road to the gulf which extendsalong one side of the Pinacate rangehas opened the way for a better ac-quaintance with this land of black rockand white sand, of hidden tinajas andpre-historic Indian sites, of pagan godsand bighorn sheep and spreadingout at the western base of the Pina-cates are the blue waters of the Gulfof California, a virgin playground forAmerican sportsmen and those whoprefer beaches which have not yet be-come too crowded.

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1ECAUSE OF our common inter-es t in thewildlife of thedesertcountry Edmund C. Jaeger andI have camped together many times inthe canyons of California's Coloradodesert. Hespends nearly all hisweek-ends on such camping trips, generallyaccompanied by one or more of hisstudents at Riverside College.16

It hasbeen during thestarlit even-ings as we sat around the campfirethat I learned Jaeger's story thestory of one of the foremost natural-ists of the Southwest.His camp routine issimple. Cookingis done over anopen fire. He finds twoflat rocks and lays them 15 to 18inches apart. Across them areplaced

two iron bars and the fire isbuiltbe-neath. I know many campers objectto this procedure. It smokes up thecooking utensils. But there arealwaysold newspapers to wipe off the soot,and later theutensils arepacked inold papers in hiscamp kit. At everycamp he digs a "gosh hole" for gar-

DESERT MAGAZINE

Edmu nd Jaeger spends nearly every weekend camping on thedesert. Hehas re-duced hiscamping chores to thelast word in simplicity a couple of iron barsover an open fire support the cooking utensils.

This month at Stanford University Press at Palo Alto a newbook is beingpublished. Its title is Desert Neighbors, its author is Edmund C. Jaeger, fore-most among thenaturalists of thedesert country. This is Jaeger's eighth book,the fourth hehas written about the animal andplant life of theGreat AmericanDesert. And here is thestory oi the manwho hasdevoted most of his maturelife to a study of desert lifeand who writes thethings he learns, not for sci-entists, but for folks who are interested only in the common names and interms they can understand.By LLOYD MASON SMITHDirector, Palm Springs Desert Museum

Trail of aNaturalist. . .


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bage and empty cans, and buries ev-ery bit of waste before he leaves.During the daylight hours he prowlsthe canyons and mesas and his in-terest extends from the tiniest insectsto the largest of the desert mammals.At night after his simple camp choresare finished he writes up his notesfrom the day's exploration, and per-haps completes the line drawingswhich make his books so popular withlay readers.

Edmund Jaeger 's interest in theSouthern California desertall desertsin fact, for Jaeger is a student of Na-ture everywherebegan in 1915 whenhe spent a year teaching in the littleone-room school house which thenserved the six to twelve pupils in PalmSprings.Jaeger was trying to earn moneyto continue his schooling at Occidentalcollege. His Palm Springs home wasa little tenthouse that he built himself

at a cost of $10.67.After a year at Palm Springs he re-turned to Occidental and in 1918 wasgraduated with a major in zoologyand a minor in botany. Then he re-turned to the desert to continue hisstudies of its plants and animals. Twoof his neighbors were Carl Eytel, theearly-day artist of Palm Springs, andJ. Smeaton Chase, then engaged inwriting that classic of the arid countryCalifornia Desert Trails, now out ofprint.Jaeger was a student of natural his-

tory long before he came to the Cali-fornia desert. His interest really goesback to the late 1880s in the littletown of Loup City, Nebraska, wherehe was born. Edmund Carroll was theyoungest of five children, all of themlater becoming teachers .His mother encouraged his study ofnative wildlife. His most vivid boy-hood recollections are of the prairiefires which periodically swept over theplains and of th e rabbits, coyotesand even wolves which came throughthe town in great numbers ahead ofthe on-rushing flames. Their fear offire was greater even than their fearof man.In the library he found a volume,The Growing World, and it gave hima glimpse of the world of living things a w orld he has spent most of his lifetrying to understand. During his fresh-man year in high school the studentscontributed to the purchase of a com-pound microscope, and when he be-gan to study the tiny structure of plantforms he became more eager thanever to perfect his knowledge of bot-any.He was graduated from high schoolat 15, with high honors. He taughtschool for a year and then one day

J A N U A R Y , 1 9 5 1

Jaeger in his study in Riverside where he heads the department of zoologyin the Junior College.he read a colorful advertisement in acurrent magazine which contained apicture of a golden yellow onion, anda glowing account of the opportunitiesfor onion farmers at Walla Walla,Washington. The idea of going westwas suggested by that picture of anonion. His family agreed, but at thesuggestion of a friend they selectedRiverside, California, rather thanWalla Walla as their destination.

The Jaeger family crossed the des-ert on the Southern Pacific in 1906, atthe time when flood waters from theColorado River were pouring into theCahuilla basin and forming Salton Sea.From the train window they could seethe partly submerged tracks of the or-iginal rail line across the basin, and thetops of the buildings of the LiverpoolSalt Works, which a little later wereentirely inundated.Young Edmund took the s ta teteacher's examination at once and re-

ceived his credentials. His first teach-ing position was in a prep school nearSan Fernando. Then his father's phys-ician, Dr. George Abbott, obtained ascholarship for him in the newly char-tered school of medicine at LomaLinda.From 1909 to 1911 he rode a bi-cycle 22 miles daily to attend medicalclasses. Then one day in the labora-tory he saw a box of beetles. One ofhis instructors was a collector ofbeetles, and Jaeger begged to go alongon the next collecting trip.

On that trip he realized that theworld of natural history held muchmore fascination for him than a medi-cal careerand he resolved immedi-ately to spend as much of his life aspossible in the outdoor world of livingthings.He wanted to enter Occidental col-lege in Los Angeles, but it was neces-sary for him to teach a year to obtain

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some funds. On weekends and when-ever there was opportunity he knap-sacked over mountain trails. One triptook him up Icehouse Canyon in theSan Gabriel Mountains where the vir-gin timberland captured his fancy andstarted a study of trees which yearslater resulted in his first publishedbook, The Mountain Trees of South-ern California.The next important turning point inhis life came when he read John Muir'sOne Thousand Mile Walk to theGulf.Muir's feat so gripped his imaginationthat he decided to repeat it himself.During 1914 on weekends and duringvacations he did t ramp 1000 miles,much of the time with a 50-poundpack on hisback. It was a rich exper-ience, but the long hours of hikingover rocky trails with a heavy packeventually caused injury to his feet,an d the damage was so serious it be-came necessary for him to drop outof college.F o r a time it appeared that the Na-ture trails which held such a fascina-tion for him would be closed to himforever. It was a dismal prospect. Andthen another book helped solve his dil-emma. He read Robert Louis Steven-son's Travels With a Donkey.If he couldn't walk, he could atleast ride a burro, and he resolved tocontinue his travels on the back of adonkey. Raymond Cree, then superin-tendent of schools in Riverside county,suggested that he take the teachingjo b in Palm Springs' little one-room

school. He bought a burro called Net-tie, and outside of his school hours,with his artist friend Carl Eytel andoccasionally with J. Smeaton Chase,he trekked up the canyons in questof strange beetles and snails and bo-tanical specimens.After a year on the desert he com-pleted his work at Occidental, andthen returned to the desert. This was

in 1918 and his two companions wereurging him to put hisnaturalist's notesinto a book about thedesert. He wasn'tready yet for that, he said, but he didcomplete his book on the mountaintreesthe study he had started yearsbefore in Icehouse Canyon. Thebookwas illustrated with his owndrawings.Published by the Star News in Pasa-dena, it waswell received, and is nowa collector's item.Encouraged by the success of hisfirst book, Jaeger worked hard on hisnext volume, and Denizens of the Des-er t was published in 1920. Jaeger's lat-est book, Desert Neighbors, nowbeingprinted by Stanford University Press,is an enlarged and revised edition ofDenizens of theDesert which has longbeen out of print.His studies were nowwidely known,an d he was asked to become teacherof natural history at Riverside highschool in 1921. He took the positionan d a year later wastransferred to theJunior College where he has beenhead of the department of zoology for28 years.His third book, Denizens of the

forfaaual ^,fan,'& (fatte& t

For three years the old-timers of Southern California's Coloradodesert have been gathering in Borrego Valley on New Year 's Day forthe annual Pegleg Smith Lost Gold Trek. Since no one has yet foundthe gold, Harry Oliver, originator of the gold hunt, has announced thefourth trek will be held on January 1, 1951 .A t a big campfire reunion NewYear 's eve the annual Lkr 's contestis to be staged. Oliver is to be master of ceremonies, and has named thefollowing committee to assist him: Ray Hetherington of Knott's BerryF a r m ; Ed Duvall, old-time storekeeper of Borrego; John Hilton, artist;M . W. Scott of Ocotillo, and Desert Steve Ragsdale of Desert Center.Fifty California newspapermen are to be invited to judge the Liar 'scontest. The trophy this year is to be a small bronzed statue of PeglegSmith, modeled by Cyria Henderson, sculptress and lecturer. Ray Heth-erington is the donor of this award and will be at the campfire with Mrs.Henderson to make the presentation. Knott's Berry Farm will contributeother prizes. Both men and women are eligible for the contest.Many of those who attend the annual Trek bring their camping

equipment asaccommodations in Borrego Valley are limited. Campers areadvised to bring water and wood.

Mountains, was published in 1925.Then Stanford Press asked him to pre-pare a desert guide book, and TheCalifornia Deserts was published in1933.Between books on the natural his-tory of desert and mountains he hasfound time to publish two small vol-umes, A Dictionary of Greek andLatin Combining Forms, andA SourceBook of Biological Names and Terms.In addition to his several books, Ed-mund Jaeger's contributions to thescientific world aremany. He was thefirst to report on the birds and plantsof the Spring (Charleston) Mountainsof Nevada. He made the first plantcollections on Clark Mountain on theMojave, where he discovered four newplant species in a single day. He firstbrought to the attention of botaniststhe aberrant type of Joshua Tree foundin Southern Nevada and far EasternCalifornia. This was later named var-iety Jaegeriana, or Jaeger ' s TreeYucca. He also discovered the MunzCholla and wasinstrumental in gettingit described and named. Quite recentlyhe collected a newmillipede near Des-ert Hot Springs that now bears thespecific name Jaegeri.

In his early collecting days, Edmundfreely admits, his donkey often calledattention to plants that he might haveoverlooked. Butno w he has graduatedto a "mechanical donkey", the auto-mobile, which can take himmuch far-ther afield than old Nettie ever could.His present car, a 1938Chevrolet se-dan, is called "Whichwhat, the GoldenScorpion." The first part of this nick-name was suggested by the names oftwo abandoned Mojavean mines andwas deemed appropriate because, ashe will tell you, "I never know whichroad the car will take or what I willsee when I get there." Thepaved roadis a virtual stranger to Whichwhat. Itmuch prefers the rough and dusty by-paths, often making its own trail overbrush and cactus.

The various utensils that form Jaeg-er's camping equipment all have in-dividual names that only he can re-member . Thewash basin, for instance,is a cast-off iron differential plate,shaped like a soldier's helmet, and iscalled "Corvus" because there wereravens near where he found it. Thewhittled wooden handle for the skilletis the Whoopy-Doop. How that nameoriginated even he has forgotten.H e has even invented some savorycamp dishes. One of these consists ofred kidney beans cooked in gravymade of flour which hasbeen brownedin oil, with tomato sauce added. Atthe time he invented this concoctionhe was on a collecting trip with Dr.Stillman Berry of Redlands, seekingdesert snails. Dr. Berry had just dis-

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covered a new species of snail whichhe said would be called "Avawatzica"after the Avawatz mountains nearwhich the men were camped. Later atdinner Dr. Berry asked Jaeger whathe proposed to call his new bean dish.The answer was "Avawatz ica , ofcourse!"Since Jaeger goes camping nearlyevery weekend throughout the year,

he has reduced his camping techniqueto a simplified art. He has removedthe entire back seat of his car and cutthrough the partition to make it partof the luggage compartment. A mov-able section makes room for his bed-roll and here on one side he keeps hisair-mattress inflated with sleeping bagunrolled on top, ready for immediateuse. Removable screens for the carwindows insure adequate ventilation.Food, mainly of the canned anddried varieties, is packed neatly insturdy wooden boxes. Two jeep cansprovide ample water for a long outing.The desert author has learned wellthe value of utilizing bits of time,rather than waiting for long periods toaccomplish a task. He does much ofhis writing at odd moments, betweenclasses, while lunching, on field trips,in fact whenever he has a few mom-ents to spare. Nor does he alwayswrite on regular note paper. More of-ten it is on the back of an envelopeor on an irregular piece of brownwrapping paper.He carries on an enormous corres-pondence, much of it on postal cards.All this in addition to his routineschool duties and serious writing. Hispenmanship is painstakingly preciseand small, every letter distinct. He of-ten puts more information on a singlepostal card than most people can in along letter.

Recently Jaeger has gained interna-tional recognition in the scientificrealm by his discovery in California'sChuckawalla Mountains of a hibernat-ing poor-will. Until this time there hadnever been an authentic account ofan y bird hibernating. Prof. RaymondCowles of U.C.L.A. terms it one ofthe "discoveries of the century in or-ni thology". Edmund has continued hisobservations on this bird for more thanfour years now.Few people know that he has fin-ancially aided nearly a hundred youngmen to complete their college educa-tions. Most of these lads are now suc-cessful botanists, zoologists, doctors,or dentists. Because of his interest inthe healing art, Edmund has also longmaintained a scholarship fund at theLoma Linda Medical School. Of these

activities, he seldom speaks.Every weekend almost without fail,as soon as the Friday classes are over,he heads for his beloved desert, not to

In the field Jaeger has an avid interest in everything that lives and moves.

return until early Monday morning intime for his 8:00 o'clock lecture. Onthese trips he usually takes one or twoof his students, preferably those un-acquainted with the desert or new atcamping.When you meet Jaeger today, youare impressed with his healthy appear-ance in spite of graying hair, of hisquick wit and sense of humor, of hisready smile and ease of manner. Younever feel awkward or ill-at-easearound him. He is a brilliant conver-sationalist in any company, althoughhis manner is quiet and unobtrusive.Unmarried, Edmund now lives in ajust-completed modern pumice-brickhouse in Riverside. But he is seldomthere.In a few years he plans to retirefrom teaching and to devote full-timeto writing. He has notebook after note-book filled with detailed observations

made in the field. He could use theseas source material for the rest of hislife and never exhaust their wealth offact. Yes, he could. But not Jaeger.He could never be happy within fourwalls. Happiness to him is being outon the desert itself, smelling the odorof the creosote after a rain, watchinga pair of gnatcatchers foraging in asmoke tree, tracking down the high-pitched whistling of a cicada, feelingthe warmth of the sun against histanned skin, watching the cloudsgather overhead for a summer shower,sipping a cup of coffee brewed overa bed of juniper coals, breathing theclear, cool, fragrant night air, andhearing the winds murmur through thepifions.

No one is better qualified to writeabout the desert than is EdmundCarroll Jaeger, loving and knowing itintimately as he does.J A N U A R Y , 1 9 5 1 19


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Wickenburg, Arizona . . .Uncle Sam and the MaricopaCounty board of supervisors are work-ing together to speed up delivery oflithium from two mines in the Wick-enburg area. The immediate problemis one of roads. One lithium deposit ison San Domingo Wash about sevenmiles north of the Phoenix highway,the other is 16 miles south of townand approximately 10 miles from thepaved California highway. Lithium isa strategic metal, in as vital a class asuranium. It is going now from Wick-enburg to federal laboratories wheresecret experime nts are underway . Dif-ficulty now is that the two mines arenot accessible to trucks. However,one carload of lithium has rolled fromWickenburg for Amboy, New Jersey.The shipment consisted of 50 tonsvalued at $55 per ton. WickenburgSun.

o Tonopah, Nevada . . .Leasing activity and reopening ofsome small gold properties in the Man-hattan district and adjacent areas isexpected to follow remodeling of theWar Eagle mill, after which the millwill begin handling custom ore. Theplant is being changed over from theamalgamation and concentration proc-ess to straight cyanidation. The plantwas built in 1908 by the late MattKeanne, operated on gold ore fromManhattan mines many years . I t pro-duced more than $3,000,000. Tono-pah Times-Bonanza. Darwin, California . . .Regular shipments of lead-silver oreare being made from the Minniettalead mine, on the east slope of theArgus range and about 10 miles fromthe Panamint Springs resort. The oreis going to the Selby smelter of the.American Smelting and Refining com-p a re . The property is owned by HelenM. Ipunn, Independence, California,is ui^der lease to Tom Vignich andRoss Finley of Bishop. A uniquefeature of the mine is an aerial tram-way which carries ore from upperworkings to a small gravity concentra-tion plant recently completed on theproperty.Humboldt Star. Win n emu cca , N evad a . . .About 900 tons of sulphide gold oredaily is being milled by Getchell Mine,Inc., at its property near Red Housein the Potosi district, it has been re-ported. An improved reduction plantis in operation, is designed to treat1500 tons of ore a day. HumboldtStar.

Vernal Utah . . .A new and promising process forcontinuous extraction of oil from shalemay bring a huge new industry to theRocky Mountain states and at thesame time give this nation a source ofoil that far exceeds the proved petro-leum reserves remaining in the ground,according to Boyd Guthrie, chief ofthe U. S. Bureau of Mines' oil-shaledemonstration plant near Rifle, Colo-rado.The Green River oil shale forma-tion lies in western Colorad o and Utah.Extensive experimental work in min-ing and refining has steadily reducedthe cost of producing oil from shale,and it is predicted that the day is notfar distant when shale oil can com-pete commercially with natural petro-leum. A dramatic milestone in devel-opment of the West's oil shale resour-ces was reached recently when for thefirst time diesel fuel refined from shalewas used to power a railroad train. TheRio Grande's streamlined Prospectormade its overnight run from Salt LakeCity to Denver on fuel produced atthe Bureau of Mines pilot plant. Morethan a score of the nation's top miningexperts were in the passenger list.Vernal Express. Prescotl, Arizona . . .Mo dern metallurgy is; to be em -ployed in an attempt to revive theMount Union mine, 10 miles south ofPrescott, where separation of complexgold-silver-lead-zinc ore had proven tobe too difficult for previous operators.The Silver King Divide Mining com-pany, Austin, Nevada, is undertakingthe project on advice of engineers andmineralogists. Henry V. Snell, super-intendent, says first move will be toreopen a 600-foot tunnel along themain vein. As soon as the ore supplyjustifies, a complete mill will bebrought from Austin. According tolocal reports, the mine has not beenoperated since 1906. The MiningRecord. Battle Mountain. Nevada . . .Copper Canyon Mining companyhas resumed production of lead-zinc-silver ore on a substantial scale fromthe Hornfels ore body at the firm'sCopper Canyon property. The depositwas discovered a few years ago, hasbeen developed to a depth of 700feet from the Julie shaft and is themost important ore body in the mine.It was formerly noted for its outputof copper and gold. Battle MountainScout.

Miami, Arizona . . .A $13,000,000 copper mining de-velopment in the Globe-Miami area an open pit operation- is gettingstarted immediately following approvalof an R.F.C. loan to the Copper CitiesMining company, a subsidiary of theMiami Copper company. Productivecapacity of the new property, threemiles northeast of Miami, is estimatedat 12,000 tons of ore a day or 45,000,-000 pounds of copper a year.The new development will replacethe Castle Dome operation which isto be halted because of ore depletions.Equipment from Castle Dome will bemoved to the new site, including theCastle Dome concentrator. An esti-mated 500 workers have been depend-ent on the Castle Dome operation.Tucson Daily Citizen. Panguitch, Utah . . .To encourage uranium prospectingand mining development in the Marys-vale area, the U. S. Atomic EnergyCommission has lowered the minimumgrade of development ore that will beaccepted from producers in that re-gion. The minimum has been droppedfrom two-tenths of one percent toone-tenth of one percent uranium ox-ide. The new arrangement will applyonly to ores extracted during the pros-pecting and development stage of op-erations. The program is designed tomeet special conditions peculiar to theMarysvale area. Garfield CountyNews.

Barstow, California . . .Four years of prospecting by A. C.Lam bert have resulted in what prom isesto be one of the richest tungsten strikesin many years on the Mojave desert.The mine is located approximately 25miles northeast of Barstow near CampIrwin. Discovered in November, 1949,subsequent tests and operations haveproduced ore graded at an average of3.5 percent scheelite per ton. About50 tons of scheelite ore a day are nowbeing mined by the open pit method.Called the Starbrite Mine, the diggingsare owned by A. C. Lambert andClair Dunton, are leased to the Min-eral Materials company. BarstowPrinter-Review. Globe, Arizona . . .A steady production rate of a tonof No. 1 fiber daily and three-quartersof a ton of No. 2 grade is being main-tained by the Gila Asbestos company.All the No. 1, which is long and iron-free asbestos with fibers up to fourinches, is purchased by the govern-ment at $1050 a ton. The No. 2 as-bestos, worth $550 a ton, is shippedto Los Angeles and sold on the openmarket. Los Angeles Times.

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For ma ny y ears Sandy Has-sell was a trader on the Navajoreservation, and out of his as-sociation with the Indians hehas written for Desert Maga-zine a series of revealing storieslittle episodes which disclosethe intimate character traits ofthe Navajo Indian. The namesare fictitious but the storiesare true.

By SANDY HASSELLSketch by Char les Keets ie Shir ley ,the Navajo ar t is t

t ,

T H E t r a d i n g p o s tchanged management Jack He-looks-the-other-way's serviceswere accepted by the new trader thesame as if they were a part of the fix-tures in the store. Jack was a goodman to have for he knew all the In-dians, how many sheep they had andwhere they lived. But what was of themost value he knew all their names.Some of them made a practice ofchanging their names every time therewas a new trader and then trying toget credit under this name.

True, Jack was not s trong enoughto sack wool and do heavy work buthe was honest and all of his relativeslived a long way off so were not al-ways around the store wanting creditand then expecting Jack to pay theirdebts. But Jack's cough never seemedto get any better so the trader thoughtit besl; that he stay at home more andless around the store. He wasn't fired,just retired without any regular pay.But the trader would still put down onthe books all the groceries that he andhis wife Sadie needed, for Jack hadbeen faithful.This pleased Jack for he could nowstay at home most of the time, liedown when he felt tired and have allthat he wanted to eat.His wife was a good weaver andwhat she received for her rugs couldbe spent for something besides gro-ceries.But now Sadie had left him and hewas hurt. He didn't mind losing her

"You are smart men, smarter than I am, and have given this case muchtime and consideration and have tried to be just. But I think I know betterthan you how much this woman is worth for she has been my wife."

but it was the injustice of it all, for hehad given her no cause to leave. Therehad been no quarrel and he had fur-nished all the groceries very fewmen did this . He had made no com-plaint about Harry Longnose visitinghis home almost every day that hewas working and said nothing nowthat Sadie was going out frequently atnight and staying late.Last week she had gone to visit herfolks and in a few days Harry had fol-lowed. Now they were living togetherand Sadie wouldn't come home. Shesaid that Harry was now her husband.Jack had talked to the headmen inthe community and they said thatthere should be a trial and he hadagreed.The hour and the day of the trialwas set. No one was appointed to no-tify Harry but this wasn't necessary.Indians always heard about trials andcame.On the day of the trial they were allat the trading post: Jack, Harry, Sadie,

a few close relatives and four head-men. Slow Talker, He-came-back-mad,Many Children and Long Mustachewere the four headmen who acted as

judge, jury, prosecuting attorney, de-fense and witness.The courtroom was a room that ad-joined the trading post. They liked tohold their trials here for it was warmand they wouldn't be interrupted. Ifit was necessary they could always callon the trader to pass on some finaldecision. If he did, the headmen werealways right.The trial lasted more than two hoursand neither the defense nor the pros-

ecution were called on to give anytestimonyand didn' t . The headmengave all the evidence, debated the caseand agreed on the verdict without anyone else making any comment.Harry had taken Sadie away fromJack and of course could keep her, butJack should be paid for his loss. Fivedollars a month was soon agreed onfor they thought that was about allHarry would be able to pay. The num-ber of payments he would have tomake would be decided on later. Inthe meantime Sadie's good and badpoints would have to be debated.Nothing about Sadie was too inti-mate for them to discuss and nothingwas overlooked. If good features were

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stressed so were the bad. They werefair and impartial.Her disposition came first. That wasabove reproach. She smiled often andnever took offense at any jokes. Sheand Jack never quarreled and shenever complained or nagged. She wasgood to her relatives and anyone whocame to her home was always welcometo eat. Her fried bread was excellentshe always washed her hands whenshe made bread and patted it a longtime. She always had coffee made withlots of sugar in it and didn't keep thegrounds in the pot until there was noroom for water. She was clean andorderly about the house and yard.Was a good dresser and her clotheswere always clean. She bathed regu-larly, kept her hair tidy and was al-ways free from bugs both on her headand body. Her rugs always brought agood price for she was a good weaver.Never asked Harry to chop woodshedid thatand there was always somein the house in the morning to put onthe fire. Yes, she was very modest andnever stood around on the street andtalked in a loud voice. No mentionwas made of her morals for they hadno bearing on the case. If they had,they would have been discussed justas freely as anything else.

It didn't take much time to pointout what was undesirable about her.She had had no children and nonecould be expected. She had no sheepbut that wasn't so bad. Her cough wassimilar to Jack's and they didn't thinkthat she would live very many yearseven with the aid of the medicine manand the white doctor. If it hadn't beenfor her cough they would have con-sidered giving Jack a little more.

After all of Sadie's good and badpoints had been gone over severaltimes by each headman they thoughtit was time to decide on how manypayments Harry should make. ManyChildren suggested 12 paym ents. Therest agreed that it was about right.Y e s , that made $60.Now the trial was over and every-body was free to talk. Only good man-ners and natural restraint had keptJack silent this long. Not that hewanted to say anything that would in-fluence the decision but he was an or-ator and generally took part in all dis-cussions.

Jack now arose, looked at eachheadman and spoke in a low voice."I know that all of you are smart men,smarter than I am, and have given thiscase time and consideration and havetried to be just. But I think that Iknow better than you how much thiswoman is worth for she has been mywife. I think that $50 is enough."

D e s e r t Q u i z Here's a new list of brain-exercises for folkswho like to keep their minds active. Youneed to have a heap o' knowledge about awide variety of subjects to get a high score in this test. Th e questionsinclude Southwestern history, botany, mineralogy, geography and thegeneral lore of the dessrt country. A tenderfoot p robably will not scoremore than 10. Seasoned desert rats will get 15, and there may be a fewstudious folks who score as high as 18. When they are that good we call'em Sand Dune Sages. The answers are on page 45.1Going from Los Angeles to Phoenix, Arizona, by the shortest pavedroute you would travel on Highway 60 Highway 66Highway 93...- Highway 80...2 Jojoba is the name ofA desert tribe of Indians A plantA bird .. A rodent3A rattlesnake adds a new button to its rattlesOnce a yearEvery time it sheds its skin Twice a year Scientists donot know the answer4According to legend the Enchanted Mesa of New Mexico is theancient home ofThe Zuni Indians Acom as HopisTaos5H adji Ali (Hi Jolly) was a Yaqui chieftain Navajo godCamel driver Army scout6Capitol Reef National Monument is located inNew MexicoUtah ... Arizo na California7 J. Frank Dobie is best known as A movie cowboy Miningengineer Au thority on gems and minerals W riter ofSouthwestern books...8Canyon del Muerto in Arizona is a tributary ofGrand CanyonOak Creek Canyon Canyon de Chelly Bryce Canyon9The first colony of Mormon emigrants reached Utah in1823

1862 1870 184710One of the following men played a leading role in the LincolnCoun ty Wa r in New Mexico Butch Cassidy Billy the KidWyatt Earp.. Geronimo11One of the following minerals is harder than quartzCalciteFeldspar Malachite Corund um .'12Old mining camp on the Oak Creek road between Prescott andFlagstaff, Arizona is Oatm an Ajo GlobeJerome13To reach Taos, New Mexico, from Santa Fe you would travel ap-proximatelyNorlh East South West14Wickenburg, Arizona, is on the bank of theBig Sandy RiverHassay ampa Salt River Bill Williams River15Clyde Forsythe is best known in the Southwest as aWriter of des-

ert books Painter Mining engineer Death Valleyguide..16Tinajas is a Spanish word meaning Natural water tanksMoun tain range Prospector Roasted corn17The old Butterfield stage line crossed the Colorado river at Needles Ehrenberg Parker Yuma18M. R. Harrington is best known in the Southwest as an authority on Botan y Archeology Mineralogy Flood control19Ubehebe is the name of an extinct volcanic crater inZion NationalPark The Great Salt Desert... Death Valley Nevada'sValley of Fire....20C hief industry of the Yum a Indians is Farm ing Weaving

Sheep raising.. Potter y mak ing

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Agate hunters of all ages swarm over this rocky hillside only three miles fromHoover Dam in the Lake Mead National Recreational Area. They are partof the 1000 who responded to the Clark County Gem Collectors invitation to joina mass field trip to this virgin collecting area.Nevada Invitedthe Rockhounds

By AL HAWORTHPhotographs by the authorMap by Norton Allen

When the Gem Collectors of Clark County.Nevada, invited all the rockhounds in the worldto join them on a mammoth field trip to a newlydiscovered hill of flower agate they wonderedwhat the response would be. The answer: athree-mile caiu va n jvith nearly a thousa ndhammerhounds. Bui the host society was equalto the occasion, and with some help from theNational Park Service, provided a field day pro-gram like nothing ever staged before.

JLL BROWN stood tal l andtanned at the crest of a low sad-dle in the range of rocky hillsand pointed across the shallow canyon."There it is, folks. But don't stopdown in the wash. Climb on up theslope on the other side to find thegood stuff."Bill Brown is president of the ClarkCounty Gem Collectors, Las Vegas,Nevada, and with that wave of his armhe was directing nearly 1000 personsof all ageswho had come from as faraway as New York City for the big-gest mass field trip of rockhounds ever

stagedto an easily accessible but vir-gin flower agate field.Dorothy and I were a little out ofbreath as we topped the rise andlooked west, hoping to be able to seeBlack Canyon, at the bottom of whichthe once unruly Colorado River nowflows sedately. But the interveningranges of the rugged Black Mountainsblocked our view.The spot where we stood was onlythree-quarters of a mile off U.S. High-way 93-466, three miles from HooverDam on the Arizona side of the Colo-rado River and in the heart of the

Lake Mead National RecreationalArea. We had driven the day beforefrom the Desert Magazine Pueblo atPalm Desert, California, and hadcamped that night along with hun-dreds of enthusiastic rock collectorsand desert lovers at Boulder Beachcampground, on the clean sandy shoreof blue Lake Mead only five milesfrom Boulder City.It was an ideal camping spot, andone of the few places on the desertwhere the unique idea, conceived sixmonths before by President Brown andPaul Drury, publicity director of theJ A N U A R Y , 1 9 5 1 23


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Paul Drury, left, and Mr. and Mrs. C. F. Hamilton examine huge specimenfound by D. R. Crawford, China Lake, C alifornia, mem ber of the N.O.T.S.Rockhoun ds. It was prize find of the day.Clark County Gem Collectors, couldhave been successfully carried out.The men had located the virgin ag-ate field while prospecting for new lo-cations. They are true rockhounds,constantly searching out new fields inlittle-known parts of the desert. Butthis time they found an unusual com-binationa virgin collecting area onlya few steps from a paved highway.They kept it secret. But it wasn'tlong before they began to think aboutwhat would be the best way to sharetheir find with othersfor that is atypical trait of those in the rock andgem fraternity. Little by little theirplan was evoived. Working with otherleaders in the Clark County society,it was decided to sponsor an unprec-edented mass field trip, inviting so-cieties and clubs from all over South-ern California and rockhounds fromany part of the country to visit theLake Mead area, spend a day or twoon the desert and hunt for flower ag-ate in an untouched location.

Invitations went out well in advance

of the October 8 date and the responsefar exceeded expectations. When Dor-othy and I registered Friday afternoonat the ranger station at entrance to thepublic campground maintained by theNational Park Service on the lakeshore, there were already nearly 300people in camp. Some were just put-ting up their tents and a lew beginningto prepare their evening meal.We found Mr. and Mrs. Drury atheadquarters tent, identified by a flagflying from the center pole, and metMr. and Mrs. C. F. Hamilton, officialwelcomers. The Hamiltcns were ev-erywhere in their jeep, shouting greet-ings to old and new friends, furnishinginformation or just making everyonefeel at home. How she managed Idon't know, but hardly a new-comerarrived without being personallygreeted by the smiling Mrs. Hamilton.The campground had been reservedfor the occasion. We were told to pickour own site, and no matter where wesettled we would be among friends.We moved close to the water's edge

where we could hear the gentle splashof miniature waves lapping on thesandy beacha rare sound indeed onthe desert. By the time we had ourown bedrolls straightened out, it wasdusk and as the warmth of the Oct-ober sun disappeared a pleasant chillcould be felt.All about us tents were beingpitched and camp suppers were in

preparation. We were among the veryfew who were without tents, but westill believe that one of the greatestjoys of desert camping is out in theopen, staring upward at the fleecywhite clouds as they appear to threadtheir way through the myriad stars.Much later, just before sleep came tous , Dorothy murm ured: "1 think thedesert has a monopoly on all the starsin the universe."We were to discover that a nightof sound slumber was to be denied us.Virtually all night long cars were ar-

riving. They would come one or twoat a time, then a group. We could hearthe motors grinding along in low gearuntil a likely looking stopping placewas found. Then the occupants wouldpile out, and in a few minutes therewould be the sounds of tent stakes be-ing driven into the ground. About thetime one group got settled, some newcampers would pull in and the processwould be repeated.Next day we learned the reason forthese late arrivals. Many of them werefrom the metropolitan areas of SanDiego and Los Angeles, had put intheir full work-day on Friday, thenhurried home, packed their gear andstarted out on the long drive to LakeMead. Most of them planned to campSaturday night also, so came with fullequipment. Here, I thought, was a re-vealing and significant thing. This na-tion, I decided, despite its alleged so-cial, moral and political decay, willnever go completely to the dogs aslong as folks want to and can escapefrom the man-imposed regimentationof congested cities and go out on thefree open deserteither in congenial

groups or alone.The camp was astir early Saturdaymorning. Starting time for the trip tothe agate field was set for 8:00 andby 6:00 the smell of coffee and siz-zling bacon was in the air. Here wascamping without hardships. The ParkService has provided running water,cook stoves, wood and shaded tables,plus sanitary facilities and dressingrooms. And it is all free.By 7:30 cars were lining up on thepaved road in front of the ranger sta-tion. Finally the caravan got started,

with Field Trip Leader Bill Brown asguide.We looked back. A solid line of cars



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stretched all the way back to the camp blasted to reach Hoov er Dam lodg ed the Arizona sideo ur caravan pickedentran ce, a distance of two miles. We firmly between the almost perpendicu - up mo re cars, late com ers who hadlooked ahea d. Fo r nearly a mile we lar walls of Black Canyon . It was not cam ped at Boulder B each thecould see the twisting processio n of a three-mile-long c arav an, truly the night before but had arrived in timeautomo biles almost bum per to largest mass field trip ever mad e. to join the trek.bum per. Th e lead jeep was already out W e reached the dam at 9:3 0 and We made the short climb up out ofof sight as the highway entere d the red at center of the awe-inspiring mass of Black Cany on and at 1.0 miles leftand black hills of solid rock through cement and steel we zeroed our speed- the restricted dam area heading to-which the paved roadway has been ometer. At the east end of the dam ward Kingma n, Arizona , on Highway

Looking over Boulder Beach campground from U.S. Ranger station at entranceto camp. The cam p was reserved the weekend of October 7 and 8 for visitingrockhounds.

if. f * ' W mm

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By noon most of the rock huntershad enough specimens or enoughhard work to satisfy them. There wassome grumbling about the quality ofmaterial found, and it is true thatmuch of it showed soft spots. Butmany of those who really dug intoveins for material that had not weath-ered out found flower agate that wasextremely colorful and, as was provenlater, made beautiful cabochons.Saturday night found most of therockhounds back in camp. Althoughthey had gathered from all parts ofthe United States they were on asfriendly terms as if they were next-door neighbors. The outdoors doesthis for people, but in addition thisvaried group had the twin commonbonds of belonging to the rock frater-nity and being lovers of the deserttrails.

On Saturday night, with the neonlights and the artificial glamor of

At right President BillBrown of the Clark CountyGem Collectors, Las Vegas,Nevada , directs eager agatehunters to best collecting

spot.Below Natural parkingarea just off paved highway.At right of center low saddlein range of hills can be seen.Cross this to agate grounds.

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^ eA &uM tinA Sfocv Sfaontaye o IRain,..Drouth conditions over the greater part of the Southwest during thelast year are reflected in the report of the U. S. Bureau of Reclamationgiving the acre feet of water in storage in its irrigation reservoirs onSeptember 30 this year compared with the same date in 1949:

Project Reservoir CapacityBoulder Canyon Lake Mead 27,935,000Parker Dam Power Havasu 688,000Salt River Bartlett 179,500Horse Mesa 245,100Horseshoe 67,900

Mormon Flat 57,900Roosevelt 1,398,400Stewart Mountain 69,800Fruit Growers Fruit Growers 4,500Humbolt Rye Patch 179,000Hyrum HyrumMoor. Lake Moon Lake .Newlands LahontanLake TahoeNewton NewtonOgden River Pine ViewPine River VallecitoProvo River Deer Creek ....Scofield ScofieldStrawberry Valley StrawberryTruckee River Storage BocaUncompahgre - Taylor Park ....Weber River EchoW . C. Austin AltusCarlsbad - Alamogordo ....Colorado River Marshall FordR io Grande- CaballoElephant ButteTucumcari Conchas -...Belle Fourche Belle Fourche

15,30035,800290,900732,0005,30044,200126,300149,70065,800270,00040,900106,20073,900145,000132,200810,000346,0002,197,600274,900177,500

Milk River... ..Fresno 127,200Nelson 68,800Sherburne Lakes 66,100Rapid Valley DeerfieldRiverton Bull Lake

Pilot ButteS h o s h o n e B u ff a lo BillS u n River...- G i b s o n

P i s h k u nW i l l o w C r e e k

1 5 , 0 0 01 5 2 , 0 0 03 1 , 5 0 04 5 6 , 6 0 0

1 0 5 , 0 0 03 2 , 1 0 03 2 , 3 0 0

S e p t . 3 0 . 4 92 2 , 8 2 8 , 0 0 0

6 1 3 , 4 0 08,900

1 6 6 , 9 0 05 0 0

3 5 , 2 0 03 8 5 , 6 0 03 4 , 7 0 0

4 0 03 5 , 5 0 04,9009,700

7 2 , 5 0 01 2 7 , 2 0 0

1,0001 1 , 1 0 05 9 , 9 0 0

1 1 6 , 0 0 01 9 , 9 0 01 0 4 , 9 0 01 7 , 6 0 06 5 , 9 0 01 9 , 0 0 0

1 2 0 , 8 0 01 0 6 , 2 0 05 0 9 , 5 0 06 7 , 9 0 0

7 1 4 , 4 0 02 5 2 , 4 0 03 4 , 2 0 01 0 , 4 0 0

09,900

1 3 , 1 0 07 1 , 1 0 03 , 1 0 0, 3 3 6 , 1 0 04,300

1 1 , 3 0 01,000

i jept. 3 0 . ' 5 01 9 , 7 5 1 , 0 0 0

5 8 8 , 8 0 02,900

2 0 0 , 8 0 08 0 0

5 2 , 2 0 05,200

4 5 , 6 0 07 0 0

2 8 , 9 0 06,900

1 0 , 9 0 01 5 9 , 8 0 03 3 2 , 4 0 0

1,1001 5 , 6 0 02 4 , 8 0 0

1 2 0 , 4 0 02 6 , 9 0 01 2 3 , 8 0 02 7 , 7 0 03 5 , 2 0 03 9 , 5 0 0

1 4 8 , 9 0 09 5 , 2 0 0

1 5 7 , 6 0 04 3 , 0 0 0

3 3 3 , 5 0 02 1 4 , 0 0 04 7 , 9 0 03 4 , 1 0 01 9 , 0 0 02 2 , 0 0 01 2 , 6 0 0

1 0 1 , 3 0 06,2003 9 1 , 3 0 0

6 3 , 5 0 02 3 , 8 0 02 1 , 2 0 0

O P A L I Z E D O B S I D I A N - F R O M M E X IC OW a y down in Mexico, the land of romance and undis-covered precious and semi-precious stones, I have foundsomething entirely new and fascinating. Basically, it is

opalized obsidian (Pitchstone) but embedded in it arebeautiful round, bright red inclusions like round peanutso r jumping beans. It makes beautiful cabochons and out-standing cabinet specimens in the rough. Send me fivedollars for about three pounds and get the thrill of yourrockhound experience. Don't ask for free sample; or askquestions. Shipping expense is too high from here and I'mt o o busy.

M r. J. L Kraft has been my friend for many years. I'm sure he willvouch for my honesty.MR. ALBERTO E. MAASAlamos, Sonora, MexicoP . S . Perhaps you can suggest a name for this most interesting gem.

Las Vegas not many miles away, thesepeople chose to enjoy themselvesaround a huge bonfire under God'sopen sky, dropping later into deepslumber from which they couldawaken next morning refreshed, withclear heads and no regrets.At the campfire program George F.Baggley, superintendent of the LakeMead National Recreational Area,was introduced and Naturalist Gratertalked for several minutes on the geol-ogy of the region. Also introduced wasLelande Quick, editor of the Lapidary

Journal and a regular contributor toDesert Magazine. Then as entertain-ment four costumed couples dancedsquare dances to music of an eight-piece western band directed by MarionJohnson, member of the Las Vegasclub. Following this exhibition, theband played on and many of theguests joined in the fun of open-airsquare dancing.

Most of the visitors delayed theirtrip home until Sunday and therewas another field trip Sunday morn-ing. This was to the park onyx field(Desert, Sept. '46) which was visitedby 391 persons in 142 cars. Had itnot been for the record-shatteringgathering of the day before, this in it-self would have been a huge massfield trip.

The influx of rockhounds, added tothe regular visitors at Hoover Dam, re-sulted in two new records for federalofficials to enter in their books. Satur-day, October 7, was the largest singleOctober day since the dam wasopened, and the largest October week-end.

It must have been gratifying to ClubPresident Bill Brown, Vice PresidentCortes Cooper, Mr. and Mrs. Drury,Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton and AlexBoyleall of whom worked hard toput over the unprecedented undertak-ingwhen there was such a tremen-dous response to the Clark CountyGem Collectors' unlimited invitation.Certainly they must have felt well re-paid for their efforts.

Driving back to the Desert Maga-zine Pueblo at Palm Desert, Dorothyand I pondered this question: doescontact with the outdoors and with thedesert make people into friendly, gen-uine, tolerant humans like the folks wehad been with for the past two days;or are friendly, genuine and tolerantpeople the ones who are attracted bythe outdoors and the beauty of thedesert?It's probably a little of both, we de-cided.

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Tall TalesThe Montana Brand . . .Gallatin Gateway, MontanaDeser t : (With apo logies to Hard Rock

Shorty)After several hours search we choseour camping site. This place is uniquein two respects. First, there are threelittle hills all in a row that are readilyspotted miles away, making our campeasy to find. Second, at the foot of themiddle hill there are a number oflarge black boulders. They are smoothand cannot be moved. We use themas tables and extra chairs.I set up a stone and rendered outa nice fresh supply of shortening fromthe nearby greasewood. Joe set up ourwater supply. He tapped a barrel cac-tus on the north side of the hill forcold water, one on the South for hotwater and a very large one on top ofthe hill for our shower bath.It took our united efforts to catchenough lightning bugs to fill our lightglobes. These turn on and off whenwe pull a chain which raises and low-ers a hood over the globe.We now feel that we are as rattyas any "desert rat."There seems to be some mistake asto why we are here. Let me make thisclear. It did not get too cold for usin Montana. We enjoy cold

Documents

195101 Desert Magazine 1951 January