Desert Magazine 1939 August

THE
M A G A Z
AUGUST. 1939
n
San Francisco, California

Dear Mr. Henderson:
The crayon sketch 1 am sending you is a
copy of a photograph I took of the old Span-
ish church at Acoma many years ago. This
building I understand was 40 years in con-
struction and the materials were all brought
up on the backs of the Indians from the plain
350 feet below.
I happened to visit there when the Indians
were in the church decorating for Christmas
festivities. As I entered the church I saw 12
paintings as large as a door. Eleven of them
were in ruins from dew damp.
One of the paintings was in good condition.
It represented a saint holding the infant Christ
in his hands, painted by the old master Moro.
Mr. Marmon who lived at Laguna, N. M.,
told me the picture was medicine to the In- Old Spanish church a! Acoma. Neir Mexico — Crayon sketch by E. A. Burbank.
dians, and that during a war the Laguna tribes-
men had stolen it away from the Acoma. Later Glendale, California Los Angeles, California
the Acoma got it back again. Dear Sir: Dear Sir:
I wrote to the Smithsonian institution in I herewith send my check for $3.50 for We enjoyed Desert Steve Ragsdale, in his
Washington about the painting. They wrote me Volume 1 of your magazine—to complete my article "My Friend the Tortoise," but were
they knew all about it and the government tile. somewhat surprised when he dashed damn
would give $40,000 for the painting. A few Later in the season when my long-suffering thus, d— —. Or did you do it? Imagine a
months later in St. Michaels where the Fran- schnozzle is removed from the grindstone for desert man going sissy to that extent.
ciscan fathers lived they told me the painting a brief vacation I hope to visit you in your NED MAUSTON.
belonged to the Catholic church. The last native ha'nts and tell you howdy. I might
time I heard of the painting it had been de- also take you to task for the mental anguish
stroyed by dampness, the same as the other you cause me with your darned magazine — Lemon Grove, Calif.
11 pictures. how the aitch can I get any work done when Dear Sir:
E. A. BURBANK. I think about the jaunts outlined by this The Desert Quiz in the June issue certain-
Mr. Burbank's sketch is reproduced on this Hilton person? Or what happens to my con- ly was a splendid test. Through a stroke of
page. centration when I consider these two guys good luck my score was 18. Numbers five and
• • • Kelly and Korn reading up on the Manly 16 proved to be stumbling blocks. A great
party, and then going right to the one spot deal of credit is due the originator or origin-
Rhyolite, Nevada in all that wilderness and finding "H. W. B." ators of the Quiz. I hope you have other
Dear Ed: carved on rhat rock? How can I give ade- similar tests in the future.
That feller Tom Worthington who wrote quate attention to the problem in hand when
the answers to that examination quiz in your I am trying to figure what a chuckawalla FLETCHER A. CARR.
last copy may know his desert but he is plumb lizard lives on? Congratulations, Mr. Carr, on your
cuckoo when he says the Amargosa desert is admission to the Royal Order oj Sand
I could write three pages of this if I
in Calif. I've tramped that plateau from stem thought you could stand it. Dune Sages. Only two other readers have
to stern—and most of the time I was in Ne- DR. ROBERT R. ORR. equalled your score as jar as we have
vada. California can claim one corner of the • • • learned. — R. H.
Amargosa if she wants to—but not the whole Long Beach, California
works. You boys are doin' a good job down Dear Mr. Henderson:
there with your magazine and puttin' the Waban, Mass.
I note in the July number of your excellent Dear Desert Magazine:
Amargosa where it really belongs I got 18 publication your request for proper spelling
of them answers right. of the word KACHINA, so I am offering May I express to you the pleasure your
SHOSHONE GUS. this information: Desert Magazine has given me. I am not a
The Handbook of American Indians North desert dweller, but let me assure you not even
of Mexico, (Bulletin 30), Bureau of Ameri- a desert veteran could enjoy the magazine
Colton, California more than I.
Dear Editor: can Ethnology, (the most authentic authority
extant), says: Last June in Los Angeles, stopping at the
This morning out in my back yard I found Figueroa hotel I "discovered" your magazine
a friend of mine dead. "KACHINA.—A term applied by the Hopi
to supernatural beings impersonated by men on the newsstand in the lobby. At once I
Don't get excited (it was only a small cac- knew I wanted to carry back with me that
tus by the name of Cholla—introduced to me wearing masks or by statuettes in imitation of
of same."—Part I, p. 638. particular number. Then I conceived the idea
as Jumping Cholla.) This morning it did not of subscribing for it. It may have been an
look very much like a Jumping Cholla. Trans- Also:
"Dolls.—Among the Hopi these little fig- unusual request to make of a newsstand at-
planted from the warm sunny atmosphere of tendant in a hotel lobby, and there were no
his native home, he could not adjust himself ures are of soft cottonwood, so cut and painted
as to indicate in miniature the elaborate head- subscription blanks or official receipts. So I ac-
to the cold wet lonely environment (apolo- cepted the receipt the young lady wrote for
gies to the chamber of commerce). dress, decorated face, body and clothing of
those who represent Kachinas or imperson- me—and placed it in my purse with a won-
For one who has lived on the desert and derful sense of having done something that
ations of ancestral breath bodies or spirits of
loved it, and often has that homesick feeling, would make me quite content to leave Los
men. These dolls are not worshipped but are
I know where I would want to lay me down Angeles and return to my home in the extreme
made by the priests in their kivas during the
and sleep—and my friend Cholla shall rest east. . .
great spring ceremonies as presents for the
in his native soil. Soon I shall make a trip to
little girls to whom they are presented on I like the poetry page. And would so much
the desert for the purpose of returning him
the morning of the last day of the festival by like true experiences of persons who are in
to his own.
men personating Kachinas." any way connected with rattlesnakes, or any
And who knows? Perhaps my friend Cholla I was in charge of the Hopis ten years. snake stories. I'm scared to death of them,
may grow roots and blossom out with flowers. Spent 35 years in the U. S. Indian service. but strange to say enjoy reading about them.
IDA MAY GRIFFITHS. EDGAR K. MILLER. MRS. F. A. WOODMAN.
DESERT
A U G U S T
2 to 16—Arizona landscapes, in
oil, by Robert Atwood of
Phoenix, exhibited at Museum
of Northern Arizona, Flag-
Volume 2 AUGUST, 1939 Number 10
staff.
2 to 16—Exhibit of silver jewelry COVER NAVAJO WEAVER, photograph by Josef Muench,
of Indian design at Museum Santa Barbara, California.
of Northern Arizona, Flag-
staff, by Julian Hayden of LETTERS Comment from the readers of Desert Magazine
Phoenix. Inside Cover
i—Green Corn dance at Santo Do- CALENDAR August events in the desert country 1
mingo Pueblo in New Mexico.
i to 6— Mormon lake rodeo in PHOTOGRAPHY Prize winning pictures in June 2
northern Arizona. They Found Gold—the Hard W a y
6—Annual Smoki snake dance giv- FORTUNE
By RANDALL HENDERSON 3
en by the Smoki clan at Pres- Trail to Hopi Snake Dance
cott, Arizona. TRAVELOG By MRS. WHITE MOUNTAIN SMITH . . . 6
10—Horse show at Prescott, Ari-
zona. I Drove A w a y Countless Hordes of Evil Spirits
VAGABOND By EVERETT RUESS 11
11 to 12—New Mexico Press as-
sociation meets at Carlsbad. Underworld at Carlsbad
11 to 13—Annual Long Valley, NATURE
By LECIE McDONALD VIOLETT 13
Arizona rodeo.
12-13—Annual Spanish trails fiesta Announcement of August photographic contest . 16
PRIZES
at Durango, Colorado. The Oraibi Boy and the Hawk
12-13—Annual New Mexico Nat- LEGEND
ional guard horse show at ••'•; •
As told to HARRY C. JAMES . . . . . .17
Las Vegas. INDIANS Primitive Ceremonial at Gallup 18
17 to 20—Inter-Tribal Indian cere-
GEMS 'Apache Tears'
monial program at Gallup,
By JOHN W. HILTON 20
New Mexico. M. L. Wood- FICTION Hard Rock Shorty of Death Valley
ard, secretary.
19 to Sept. 3—Water colors by By LON GARRISON 22
Walton Blodgett on exhibit at CAMERA ART
Photograph by WM. M. PENNINGTON . . . . 23
Museum of Northern Arizona, MYSTERY
Flagstaff. Whence C a m e the Cahuillas
20—"Trail Riders" annual trek in- By RUTH MARTIN PASCOE 24
PUZZLE Desert Quiz—A test of your knowledge of
to the high Sierra leaves Bish-
the Southwest 26
op, California. Thirteen-day
saddle tour sponsored by CONTRIBUTORS Writers of the Desert 27
American Forestry association. LANDMARK Prize contest for August 29
23 to 25—Uintah Basin industrial
NEWS Here a n d There on the Desert 30
convention and Indian fair at
Fort Duchesne, Utah. BOOKS Current Reviews 32
28—St. Augustine's Day observed PLACE NAMES Origin of n a m e s in the Southwest 34
annually by Indians at Isleta
Pueblo, New Mexico. MINING Briefs from the desert region 35
28 to 31—Sixth annual metal min- COMMENT Just Between You a n d Me—by the Editor . . . 36
ing convention and exposition
POETRY Grand Canyon of Arizona, a n d other poems . . 37
of the American Mining con-
gress at Salt Lake City.
31 to Sept. 2—Arizona department The Desert Magazine is published monthly by the Desert Publishing Company, 597
State Street, El Centro, California. Entered as second class matter October II, 1937, at
of the American legion holds the post office at El Centro, California, under the Act of March 3, 1879.
annual convention at Tucson, Title registered No. 358865 in U. S. Patent Office, and contents copyrighted 1939 by
Arizona. the Desert Publishing Company. Permission to reproduce contents must be secured
from the editor in writing. Subscription rate $2.50 per year in U. S. A. or possessions.
Single copy 25 cents.
Announcement of the Hopi snake RANDALL HENDERSON, Editor
dances held the latter part of Au- TAZEWELL H. LAMB, Associate Editor
gust will be made about 10 days Manuscripts and photographs submitted must be accompanied by full return post-
before the ceremonies are held. age. The Desert Magazine assumes no responsibility for damage or loss of manuscripts
or photographs although due care will be exercised for their safety. Subscribers should
send notice of change of address to the circulation department by the fifth of the
month preceding issue.
A U G U S T , 1 9 3 9
/Zauldei jbam at A/ujJtt
By JIM LEONARD
810 S. Flower St., Los Angeles, California
First prize winning picture in the June contest of
the Desert Magazine. Taken with a 4x5 Speed
Graphic, 60-second exposure, S. S. S. Agfa film.
Belli off San Xcuu&i del Bac
(Tucson, Arizona)
By ALICE MARIE ROBERTS
5626 Aldama St., Los Angeles, California
Awarded second prize in the June contest of the
Desert Magazine. Taken with a 2lAx2lA Automatic
Rolleiflex, f 11, 1/100 second at 10 a. m., light yellow
filter, Agfa Superpan press film.
Judges in the monthly photographic contest

named the following entries as having exceptional
quality:
"Sentinels of the Storm," by Vio Golvin, Los An-
geles, California.
"Night Blooming Cereus," by Ivan B. Mardis, Tuc-
son, Arizona.
"Zabriskie Point," by Fred Hankins, Taft, Califor-
nia.
The DESERT MAGAZINE

Thousands of prospectors have tramped over the _
barren Chocolate mountains in the Southern Cali-
fornia desert during the past 75 years. They found V
a little placer gold, and that was all. Then two
Imperial valley farmers came along this year and
uncovered a ledge carrying values as high as
$5,000 to the ton. The new strike may be a million
dollar mine—or just a rich pocket. No one knows
yet. But after you read this story you will agree
that the men who found the Mary lode deserve a
rich reward.
They Found Gold

- - the Hard Way Western R. VanDerpoel {right) and his son Everett at
the place where their new gold strike was made.
By RANDALL HENDERSON
/ / / / vE panned out a trace of gold shallow mine tunnel high up on the side a century ago. Peg-leg Smith came this
lA/ down there in the wash near of a rugged peak that looks out over the way many times, and thousands of other
*" our camp and we just fol- Salton basin. The haze of a mid-June gold-seekers have picked and panned in
lowed it up the canyon until we struck day shimmered over the sand dunes on and around the Chocolates during the
the ledge it came from." the desert below us. The cultivated area intervening years.
Everett VanDerpoel was telling me of Imperial valley could be seen dimly Rumors of the new gold strike had
about the new gold strike in the Choco- way off to the southwest. been so conflicting as to the value and
late mountains of Southern California. The story sounded very simple as Ev- extent of the ore body I wanted to go
The discovery was made by Everett and erett told it. Anyone ought to be able to there and learn the facts for myself. Also,
his father, Weston R. VanDerpoel, early find a gold mine by a method so logical. I wanted to shake hands with a pros-
in April this year and today they are tak- But it wasn't as easy as that. Otherwise pector who actually had found a gold
ing out ore that runs as high as $5,000 the gold ledge would have been discov- lode in the Chocolate mountains.
in gold to the ton. ered long before now. Pauline Weaver I have been in and out of the Choco-
We were seated at the entrance to their prospected this country three-quarters of lates for 27 years and I have known a
&MARY LODE MINE
••'• • • ••••••• M ••••.••• •;•»•.•• • • • . ; ; - ^ ; y ^ r :

TO HOLTVILLE • • '
=ALL AMERICAN CANAL *——--m—"~~^Z MEXICO7
A U G U S T , 1 9 3 9
score of veteran prospectors who have A three-quarter mile trail leads from faster than a burro—but not as reliable.
tramped these hills at one time or another camp up to the chocolate-colored He was prospecting in a country where
in search of precious metal. In the bot- ridge where the mine is located. waterholes are far apart. He worked at
tom of my trunk are some beautifully en- Gold was discovered at the point seasons when the sun was so hot it was
graved mining shares once sold to me by marked by a black circle. High grade necessary to wear cotton gloves to keep
a promoter who assured me he and his ore is being back-packed out of the his hands from being blistered on the
associates had uncovered a rich vein of mountains to supply funds for de- gold pan. The fiction writers make ro-
gold-bearing quartz in these mountains. velopment of the property. mance of prospecting — but for Weston
It was a sucker investment. VanDerpoel it was year after year of
Placer gold has been found at the trail that climbs to an elevation of 500 hard work and disappointments.
eastern end of the range, yes, but in the feet above the camp. Sometimes he went alone and at other
entire 60-mile span of chocolate-colored The VanDerpoels and James Murphy times he was accompanied by Everett or
hills that extend along the north side of were in the group. Murphy is a long Jim Murphy. They followed the method
the Salton basin from Glamis to Mecca, time friend of the family and a partner of the practical miner rather than the
I never had heard of any one uncovering in the mining venture. That evening in engineer. Systematically they worked one
a lode claim worth the shoe leather it camp and during a visit to the mine the wash after another with pick and pan.
took to find it. next day they told me their story—sim- Somewhere near the mouth of an arroyo
And so I drove out to see for myself. ply and unreservedly. There is nothing they would wash a few pans of gravel.
I found the mining camp 12 miles out of mysterious or glamorous about the tale If there was no surface showing of gold
Glamis at the end of a jalopy trail that as they recited it. they would dig to bedrock and pan some
zig-zagged over the malpais and cross- There are many ways of finding a gold more. That is the routine they have fol-
washes without regard for the compass. mine. The VanDerpoels found theirs the lowed for years.
It is a typical prospector's road—one of hard way. There was no romance in the Early last spring they found a show-
those 10-mile-an-hour thoroughfares. It discovery of the Mary Lode—as they call ing of color in the wash sand near where
merely follows the easiest cross-country their claim. They did not stumble across their present camp is located. Somewhere
route located by the VanDerpoels follow- it while hunting for a lost burro, nor did back in the hills that gold had weathered
ing their gold discovery. they get their clue from nuggets depos- out of the mother lode. And so they
I arrived at the camp some time after ited on the surface of the ground by in- worked up the canyon. Each tributary was
dark and found a dozen men lounging dustrious gophers. panned for color—and one by one they
on cots spread over a narrow bench by There are 10,000 rocky gulches in the were eliminated. The gold trail led them
the side of the arroyo in which the Van- Chocolate mountains—more or less. It to the slopes of a rugged peak far back
Derpoels found their first trace of placer took 20 years for Weston VanDerpoel to in the range.
gold. The mine is three-quarters of a find the right one. He trekked over the There was no bright outcropping of
mile back in the hills, reached by a foot desert in an old jalopy that was somewhat quartz to give them a clue to the exact
The DESERT MAGAZINE

10'ration. The slope was covered with the • ' ..'• ' . m J
same weathered brown stone found on a

thousand other slopes in the Chocolate
range.
It was a case of climb the steep sides of
the hill and start digging in. An over-
burden of three feet of rock must be re-
moved before they could get down to the
fcrmation where they might expect to
find gold-bearing ore. They went at the
jcb with the same dogged persistence
with which they had panned gravel in
countless washes below. It was slow hard
work, but by a process of elimination
they gradually closed in on the area
where the gold should be.
Then late one afternoon just as they
were about to start the long hike back
tc their base camp at the foot of the
mountains Everett turned over a rock that
koked promising. He broke it in two and
it was flaked with tiny particles of gold.
That was the end of the 20-year trail
for Weston VanDerpoel. "We knew it
was good ore," said Everett, "and the
assays were even better than we had ex-
ported."
Since the original discovery they have
staked seven claims and named them the
Mary Lode — honoring the wife and Gold values of the rock in the tunnel are determined by the old mortar and pan
IT other who remained at home on the method.
n.nch while Weston and Everett pros-
pected the hills. road. Some of it will run $1,000 to the he would rather mine than farm. All of
They may have a $25,000 mine—or ton—some much less than that. his spare time was spent in the arroyos
there may be a million beneath the sur- "So far, we have worked only at the and barren slopes of the ranges that en-
face where they are working or in the original discovery, and the hole isn't deep close the Salton basin on three sides.
adjoining claims. Mining engineers have enough to require a windlass. We've When Everett became 22—that was
visited the property and have come away hardly done more than the necessary lo- 10 years ago—he began going out with
eithused over the ore that is being taken cation work. We have traced the ledqe his father on prospecting trips—and to-
oat—but no one can say yet how much along the side of the mountain for a dis- gether they followed the trail that led
o: it is there. tance of perhaps a hundred feet. At srrne them to one of the most important strikes
points it is 18 inches wide — at other ever made on the Colorado desert—and
Development work goes on despite the the first discovery of a pay lode in the
118-degree midday temperature at this places it breaks up into a series of string-
ers. It may be a rich mine, or it may Chocolate mountains.
time of the year. Every morning before Everett divides his time between the
sunup a half-dozen men file out of camp pinch out. We don't want to kid our-
selves or anyone else about this mine." mine and his watermelon field in Im-
aid up the steep trail to the diggings. perial valley. If the mine turns out well
And every evening toward sundown these The strike was made near the section he will probably quit the melons after
sime men march back, each with a 75- line between sections 14 and 15, town- this year. He prefers to follow the gold
pound sack of ore on his shoulder. Only ship 12 south, range 18 east, San Ber- trail in the desert hills.
tie best rock is being packed out now — nardino base and meridian. Since the strike was made, Jim Mur-
j jst enough to supply money for the de- The VanDerpoels have had little an- phy, who was taken into partnership aft-
velopment work. noyance from the army of curious folks er the discovery, has practically deserted
Plans are being made for a new road who usually rush to the scene of every his drive-in rootbeer stand in El Centra.
v/hich will enable trucks to go directly new gold strike. One reason is the 12- Jim prefers to remain in the back-
t) the base of the slope where the mine mile trail across the humps and bumps ground. "Weston and Everett found this
is located. An ore chute will be installed between Glamis and the gold camp. It claim," he said. "They worked hard for
en the mountainside and the back-pack- is no place for tenderfoot drivers. The it and they deserve every dollar they can
i ig days will be over. other reason is that the south side of the take out of those rocks—and also all the
"I don't know how rich our mine is," Chocolate mountains in summertime is credit that goes with it."
Everett said. "We've got a good prospect hotter than a ringside seat in hades. I'll say this for the VanDerpoels
hole and that is about all. We've taken Weston VanDerpoel is 68 years old— and their Irish friend—they deserve to
cut ore that assayed $4800 in gold and one of the pioneers of Imperial valley. win. And if you want to know why I
: 57 ounces of silver—and some that He came to the desert in 1900 and took feel that way about it—just take your
didn't assay 48 cents. We packed 1900 up an Imperial valley homestead. He car one of these summer days and follow
pounds of it down from the mine on our leveled his claim and was waiting for the trail out to that mining camp. Ol'
1 tacks and put it through a little two- water when the first irrigation canal was Man Desert doesn't give up his treasures
,'tamp mill at San Diego and it yielded built from the Colorado river. He never readily — and he demands an extra heavy
JJ1200. There are 25 tons sacked up at studied mineralogy in the classrooms. penalty from those who would win gold
the mine waiting for the building of the But he liked the hills—his friends say from the Chocolate mountains.
A U G U S T , 1 9 3 9
This picture of the Hopi Snake Dance was taken 30 years ago, before the Indians put a ban on cameras.
On the Hopi mesa at Walpi this year the Indians will

hold another of those amazing ceremonials—the Snake
Trail to Hopi Dance. Americans will go there and witness this weird
ritual—and come away more puzzled than ever as to the
strange magic which enables the Hopi Snake Priests to
survive unharmed from the bite of venomous reptiles.
Mrs. White Mountain Smith h a s lived with the Hopi and
Snake Dance has many close personal friends among them. In the ac-
companying story she gives some intimate glimpses into
the lives of these mysterious tribesmen—and also some
helpful information for those who plan sooner or later to
By MRS. WHITE MOUNTAIN SMITH witness the Snake Dance.
•*")T the head of one of the trails Tewa women on the First Mesa. Every priests who made our people worship a
I / leading to the Hopi First mesa in shred of legend and history of the Hopi strange god and build big houses to him,
I ' northern Arizona, sunning her people is known to her and it was from and we were afraid of the Spaniards and
aged frame in the midday warmth of her her I first learned the story of the huge did not like the new religion.
doorway, sits Nampeyo, oldest woman rock down the trail halfway which bears "These people also came among the
in Walpi. There for almost a century she rows and rows of straight lines chiseled Hopi and at the village of Awatobi they
has watched the first red rays of day deeply on its face. That is Tally Rock. built a great mission and were very cruel
breaking in the east, and at sunset turned And this is the tale she told me after a to the Hopi people. Somehow the Hopi
her eyes on the dying gleams in the west- long silence while I waited and she made got rid of the intruders and then they
ern skies. No more can she see the golden a journey into the past: were happy until the Utes and the
sun, for the years have robbed her of "Back in the years before any white Apaches and the Navajos began to ha-
vision, but she lives again her eventful people lived in this land, and only the rass them and steal their food and their
life as she sits and dreams, turning sight- Spaniards and priests came among the families. They made slaves of the people
less eyes ever toward the east. Indian people, the Hopi lived in the val- they took from the Hopi country and
I've spent many hours beside Nampeyo leys and tilled their fields. Over on the were very cruel to them.
here in her doorway and in the courtyard Great River—the Rio Grande—my peo- "The Hopi Indians have always been
where she mixed the clay and shaped the ple, the Tewa Indians, had a village and peaceful and they did not know how to
finest of all Hopi bowls and pots in the made pottery and had fruitful fields. At fight the warlike tribes. So they moved
years before she lost her sight. She is the least that is what is told from one father high on this mesa here and because of the
grand old lady who revived the art of to another as the seasons go along. Then gap in the mesa they named their town
pottery making among the Hopi and the Spaniards came and with them the Walpi—the Place of the Gap. They made
The DESERT MAGAZINE

no paths up to their houses but took long
legs and notched them and these were
lewered when the men wanted to go to
and from the fields or when the women
n :eded to carry water from the springs
ai the foot of the mesa. But always the
1- opi were frightened and the ladders
viere not safe when one's hands were
filed with food or fuel or water jars.
S) they sent messengers to our village on
the Rio Grande and asked that my peo-
ple come here and live. We were to
gjard the Hopi people from the warlike
tiibes who fought with them. The Hopi
would give us a place to make our village
aid share all their land and crops with
u;. Because the Tewa people wanted to
gat away from the Spaniards they came
a id their town was built here at the head
o the trail. The Hopi gave us land and
springs to the eastward, and for hun-
dreds of years the Tewa people have
lived here and guarded the entrance to
the Hopi towns. We are known as
'] keepers of the Trail.' "
"Well, tell me about the marks on
the rock beside the trail."
"For years after my people came here
the Utes and Apaches tried to climb up Nampeyo—in her doorway at the head o\ the Walpi trail. Mularky photograph.
the trail in the darkness and steal food
aid wives from the Hopi. But the Tewa warrior lay in the trail forbidden to him. counted the marks time and again and
guards never slept. They always knew Each time such an Indian was killed the 180 dead are numbered!)
w hen strangers were near the mesa and Tewa people made a mark on Tally Rock Nampeyo folded her hands in a com-
a 1 night they'd sit hunched behind a to show what they had done to protect placent manner and ended her story with,
bDulder waiting until a head would come their Hopi neighbors." "Even today no one can enter the Hopi
in view. That was the end of the intruder. (I wondered if perhaps they did not towns without passing through the Tewa
A swift blow from a stone ax and a dead over-emphasize their record as I've village of Hano. The white people who
come up here to watch the Hopi dance
with snakes have to pass by my doorway.
We Tewas are indeed Keepers of the
Trail!"
If you would see one of the most un-
believable sights to be found anywhere
: ^ - • • - • • •
in the civilized world follow this trail
of the Tally Rock up past Nampeyo's
door and witness the Hopi Snake Dance.
There are three mesas on which the
Hopi live, and snake dances are held on
all of them. In the odd years Walpi stages
her dance and here high above the gold
and purple desert are gathered people
from every section of the world. This
age-old dance of the serpents is believed
by the faithful to bring abundant rain
to their fields and water to their springs.
Nothing that has been printed or told
can prepare the visitors for the pagan
pageant of the Hopi Snake Dance at
Walpi.
Ten days before, the dance date is made
public and after that no one except mem-
bers of the Snake Clan and the Antelope
Tally Rock - - where the Teiva In-

dians kept score of the trespassers
who died with cracked skulls. Mrs.
White Mountain Smith, pictured be-
side the rock, has counted these
tallies many times.
****
A U G U S T , 1 9 3 9
:-! VH1ULACE3 1 1 / A
, GALLUP S
/
/v-»J- \.""VJ'.»'I j , ' • ' . : „ ,
Clan is permitted to linger near the known that a great many big black beetles their little brothers loose to carry prayers
underground kivas, or club rooms, where are brought up from the desert to give and thanks to underground gods.
secret ceremonies and preparations are it a certain zip! After the rattlers are There is a lot more to the Snake Dance
in progress. washed the non-poisonous snakes are but one needs to be there in person to
Four days before the dance, runners given a bath and then they are tossed on get all the details. All roads lead to Hopi-
leave the mesa before dawn and spread the sand painting made of colored clays land in August. The safest and most prac-
out over the northern country in search before the altar and herded back and tical are given on the map presented here.
of snakes; on the second day they hunt forth over the painting until it is de- It is possible to leave U. S. Highway 66
to the west, the third finds them scouring stroyed and they are dry. Small naked at four points, Gallup being the eastern
the south and their final hunt is in the boys belonging to the clan take this task gateway and Flagstaff the western. More
east. They go, completely unclothed ex- upon themselves and seem to enjoy it direct routes are from Winslow and Hol-
cept for moccasins and G-string, armed brook. A good reservation road running
immensely, as they flip a savage old side
with a short digging stick and a bag of northward from Holbrook to Keam's
winder back to his corner. canyon follows the base of the mesa 12
sacred meal.
About an hour before sunset the snakes miles from there to Walpi. There are no
When a snake has been tracked to its are put back into skin bags and carried real hazards in making the trip to the
hiding place under a sage bush or coiled out to the plaza where a cottonwood Hopi Snake Dance, provided one has a
round a bunch of grass it is sprinkled kisi has been erected just behind a sym- car in good repair, well greased, serviced
with the meal, then induced to try escape. bolic entrance to the underworld where and carrying a spare tire. Service stations
Once in motion the rattler is touched the water gods are assembled listening are scarce in the Indian country.
lightly with a bunch of eagle feathers to this dance held in their honor. At A shovel is needed in case of sand
tied to a stick and then the catcher grabs sunset the Snake priests, barbaric and across the road, and chains are imperative
his snake brother tightly with thumb and terrible in their painted nakedness, shell if there should be a sudden rain on the
forefinger right behind the head. It is ornaments and fox skins, come into the dirt highway. Rains do follow the Hopi
quickly dropped into a stout buffalo hide plaza. After chants and more chants each Snake Dance, and don't let anybody tell
bag used for generations as a snake dancer secures a snake between his teeth you otherwise. Whether the priests are
carrier. When the day's work is done and circles the dance space with it four supreme weather prophets and know just
the wriggling harvest is stored in big times. He opens his mouth and the snake when a storm is due, or whether they
earthern ollas behind the ladder leading drops to the earth sometimes seeking have a special brand of black magic all
down into the kiva. their own, still it rains after the Snake
refuge among the inhospitable white vis- Dance.
In the forenoon of the day set for the itors. Ordinary clothing is all right for the
dance all snakes are tumbled out on the When all of something like a hundred journey, with the addition of a sunshade
floor in a squirming mass of rattlers, bull snakes have been honored, they are gath- for use during the hot sunny hours before
snakes, whip snakes, red racers and king ered into a circle made of sacred meal the dance, and a raincoat to be worn on
snakes, and with chanting and ceremony and sprinkled with more meal by women the way down the hill. Your car will be
they are dipped into a jar of medicine members of the clan, after which the left at the foot of the mesa in a parking
prepared by the Snake Priestess. No one priests gather huge handfuls of them and ground provided by the Indian service,
knows just what herbs and other ingredi- run down the steep trails to the snake and from there you walk up and admire
ents go into this concoction, but it is shrines in the desert. There they turn the scenery or you ride on an Indian
The DESERT MAGAZINE

\/agon drawn by two sleepy ponies. In
tnat case you pay 50 cents for taxi serv-
i:e well worth it. You'll need your
tiermos jug of water up on the mesa. No
c rinking water is available there. Indian
toys peddle soft drinks all day long.
Visitors should leave Holbrook around
tiine o'clock in the morning to make the
10-mile drive in comfort, have time for
picnic lunch along the way under the
pifion trees, and admire the flocks of
Navajo sheep with their small brilliantly
clad shepherd girls. The road leads
through beautiful country with imposing
buttes and soft painted desert back-
ground.
Indian Wells, half way to Keam's can-
yon, is one of the oldest trading posts in
the country and the stock of Navajo rugs,
jewelry and curios is authentic. Tom Pav-
i tea, at the foot of the Hopi mesa, keeps (*•
unusual Indian treasures in the great rock
.'tore house over which he rules. Year
;fter year this fine Hopi gentleman has
greeted his friends here, and the Hopi *•!!
baskets, pottery and kachinas have gone
out wherever Indian goods are carried.
It is impossible for a visitor to the
Hopi Snake Dance to photograph it and
if you think you can outwit the Indians
i.nd get your kodak up on the mesa, think
;.gain. All one gains by such conduct is
it hurried trip to the foot of the trail
;.nd loss of the kodak.
You'll probably go down the trail so
fast after you try to take a forbidden pic-
ture that you'll miss seeing the Spider
.'hrine, where the gap occurs which al-
lows you to look northward a hundred
miles or so. This shrine, made of stones
laid smoothly in a square, is adorned
with Hopi prayer sticks called bahos, all
trimmed with the down from an eagle's
breast to waft them quickly to the spirits.
Sea shells and favorite bits of petrified
wood and turquoise are left at this shrine.
Where the gap breaks the trail there
is a hidden path that leads to the other
:ide of the ledge and that is a path
many a heavy hearted mother treads with
her dead baby wrapped in her arms. This
is where little ones are placed in their
rock crypts, crevices in the cliffs. The
Hopi believe that the spirits of children
;.re too weak to be placed underground
so they are left here in the cliffs near their
mothers' homes, and can wander around
us they please. They often visit their
houses and find the bits of corn meal and
other titbits placed in out of way cor-
ners for them by their mothers. They
really are homeless little waifs until the
Upper—Spider Shrine of the Hopi

Indians.
Lower—Child burials were in the
crevices in the rocks. Mularky photo-
graph.
A U G U S T , 1 9 3 9
Pueblo oj Walpi
mother gives birth to another baby and native dances of the Indians have been
then the spirit of the dead baby enters commercialized for the benefit of both In-
the body of the newborn child and every- No visitor has ever been bitten by a dians and whites. The Hopi Snake dance,
body is happy again. The dry air and hot snake as far as the records show and perhaps more than any other ceremonial
sun at a 7000-foot elevation serve to chances are you won't be. But if you are among the tribesmen, remains a sacred
mummify the small bodies there in the timid about reptiles and hate to be jostled ritual untouched by white influence. The
cliffs. by Navajo, Zuni, Hopi and assorted Hopi does not care whether visitors come
tourists then give the housewife a dollar to his dance or not. However, if you go
At the foot of the mesa is the sleeping and enjoy the view from her front porti- you will be treated respectfully as long
place of the older Hopi. One of the most co. The real dance lasts about 40 min- as you observe the same rules of conduct
lavishly decorated graves is that of Harry utes, and there is time to be down off the that would apply if the Hopi were a
Shupali, for many years Snake Priest at mesa and safely in your car long before guest at your house of worship.
Walpi. The Snake Dance under his rule darkness covers the desert.
was a ceremony full of grimness and se-
verity. The day he was buried thousands In many places in the Southwest the
of dollars worth of turquoise jewelry was
placed on his grave instead of flowers.
MAY REPORT FROM U. S. BUREAU
The Hopi Indians are kindly, smiling SNAKE PRIESTS SET DATES AT PHOENIX
people and they welcome white people Temperatures—
Dotes for the annual Snake Mean for month 85.9
into their homes with the utmost gra- Normal for June 84.5
ciousness. On the window ledges and dances are determined by the High on June 12 109.0
doorstep are displayed their pottery and Hopi Snake priests according to Low on June 18 60.0
baskets and the hand carved gaily painted certain signs of the sun and Rain—
moon. The time is not given out Total for month 00.0
Hopi dolls or Kachinas. Hours of labor Normal for June 0.07
and skill go into the making of even a until ten days before the Weather —
ten-cent ash tray offered by these women. dances, but they always occur Days clear 28
during the last half of August. Days partly cloudy 2
The Snake plaza is in the end village, The dance is performed in Days cloudy 0
Old Walpi, standing gaunt against the five Hopi pueblos, each village G. K. GREENING, Meterologist.
Arizona skyline. Perhaps 400 Indians holding one dance near sun- FROM YUMA BUREAU
live in this castle-like pueblo with its down on the day fixed by the Temperatures—
hidden rooms and outdoor pent houses. priests. Walpi and Mishong- Mean for month .. 85.0
On the topmost floor one can likely find Normal for June 84.7
novi hold the dance on odd High on June 12 113.0
an aged crone baking the ceremonial years (this year), and on the Low on June 6 58.0
bread—piki—for use in the feast to fol- even years it is at Hotevilla, Rain—
low the dance. That is a sight worth seek- Shimopovi and Shipaulavi. The Total for month 00.0
ing. 69-year average for June 0.02
dance is never held in more Weather —
Seats on housetops around the Snake than one village on the same Days clear 30
plaza are sold by the house owners for J>1 day. Days partly cloudy 0
Days cloudy 0
each. There is no argument about it. You When the dates are deter- Sunshine, 425 hours of sunshine out of possi-
pay the dollar and sit in safety above the mined they are announced at ble 428 hours.
ground over which the released snakes sunset by village criers on the Colorado river—June discharge at Grand Can-
housetops. yon 1,660,000 acre feet. Discharge at Parker
wiggle, or you can take your chance with 588,000 acre feet. Estimated storage behind
the mob down around the Snake Rock. Boulder dam 24,350,000 acre feet.
10 The DESERT MAGAZINE

In September, 1934, two months before he mysteriously dropped
from sight in the desert wilderness of southeastern Utah, Everett EVERETT RUESS
Ruess wrote the following letter to his friend Ned Frisius. This BY DAVID EARL MCDANIEL
letter, like those previously published in the Desert Magazine, San Jose, California
gives new sidelights on the nomadic life of the young vagabond
artist. The original story of Everett's disappearance, written by Some name him fool—but I don't know—
Hugh Lacy, appeared in the September, 1938, issue of this maga- He said the sun and yucca's glow,
The feel of rising wind across the sands
Were gifts he sought from God's own
hands.
I watched him go, the shimmering haze
Absorb his form in the desert's maze.
Some call him fool—I think he knew
His trail but led to some rendezvous.
(2ountUs* -fjotde*
SphitA
By EVERETT RUESS
Illustration by G. A. RANDALL
Dear Ned:
I was surprised and pleased to find
)our letter at Grand Canyon the other
clay. I have spent the last week near Flag-
staff vacationing. I left my burros, Cock-
hburrs and Chocolatero, under the care
of an artist friend at Desert View, and
tDok the highway down here to visit a
friend with whom I did some archaeo-
lagical work this summer. It was fascinat-
ing work—in ruins dating from eight
hundred to fifteen hundred years back.
And the climbing—up almost sheer sand-
stone cliffs, clinging by worn foot holds
hundreds of years old, or on narrow
crumbling edges—was more spectacular
than anything in the Sierras.
From Flagstaff I went south to Oak
creek, and painted some brilliantly
lighted vermillion cliffs against inky
storm skies. I came back and saw the
frst snows on the San Francisco peaks,
and the slopes golden with yellowing of evil spirits but after I went away the ward from the vermillion sands of the
aspens. girl died. The sand paintings, seldom desert, canyons five feet wide at the bot-
Evidently you overheard something of seen by white men, were gorgeous. tom and hundreds of feet deep, cloud-
riy adventure with my friends the In- In my wanderings this year, I have bursts roaring down unnamed canyons,
dians. I have a great time with them, es- taken more chances and had more and and hundreds of houses of the cliff dwell-
pecially the Navajos. I once spent three wilder adventures than ever before. And ers, abandoned a thousand years ago.
clays far up a desert canyon, assisting what magnificent country I have seen — Glad you are getting a good start at
and watching a Navajo "sing" for a sick wild, tremendous wasteland stretches, college.
woman. I drove away countless hordes lost mesas, blue mountains rearing up- Your friend Everett.
AUGUST, 1939 11
&
s .,
. •
Mi,
><••, i*4
:-_-l
Domes and Onyx drapes near the entrance to the Queen's Chamber, Carlsbad caverns.
The DESERT MAGAZINE

Visitors who take the seven-mile hike along the
underground trails in Carlsbad caverns experience
strange reactions. For one thing, it deflates their
egos—they come away with the realization that
man, with all his genius, plays a rather insignifi-
cant role in the general scheme of the universe.
Here is a report of a trip along the cavern trail by
a woman who marveled at the fantastic beauty
of the place—but found added interest in observ-
ing the actions and reactions of the humans she
met along the way. If you are a student of human
nature you will find this story especially interest-
ing.
Underworld
at Carlsbad
By LECIE McDONALD VIOLETT
Photos, U. S. park service
\ I OR the park rangers this was just another day — and

/ another crowd. But for a majority of us who had
come to this barren hillside in the desert region of
southeastern New Mexico it was to be the day of our big
Chinese Temple in Carlsbad caverns.
adventure. We had come from 36 states and the Hawaiian
islands to see Carlsbad caverns.
too obvious middle years. The young man's word went un-
Busses and private cars had been arriving since dawn, and questioned, The cavern trip does something to a fellow's
there was a waiting line in front of the ticket window as the conscience. If he lies going in he's practically certain to pay
hour approached for the start of the daily guide trip down in- coming out. Or mail it later.
to the world's most famous caves.
The process of buying a ticket finished, I studied my tour-
Officially, this place is named Carlsbad caverns national ist companions as they stood about awaiting the 10:30 start-
park. Owned and operated by the United States government ing signal.
and administered by the national park service, it is located There was a blond couple who would make their own
in the Guadalupe mountains, the tapered end of the Rockies. sandwiches. She carried a double-wrapped-in-wax-paper loaf
The park reservation includes 49,448 acres of rugged hills and he carried the boloney and the blond youngster. A smart-
and canyons with practically no grass or trees—just brown- ly tailored New Yorker wore flaming lip rouge and a prop-
gray slopes that bristle with cacti and thorny shrubs. The erly bored manner. A high school youth was coolly superior
beauty of this area is not the landscape, but in the fantastic to "this sort of thing" and to his parents who strove to please
rock formations far beneath the surface of the ground. and to educate, regardless.
The entrance in the side of a mountainous rock gloomed Khaki-clad rangers with strained patience, considering that
cool and inviting. It was a big hole—so big you could shove this was their job—and they had a job—answered funny
in a five-room cottage and still have room for the cat. questions. They said yes the elevator recently installed at a
White government buildings, square, Spanish and thor- cost of $126,000 was entirely safe. It costs 50 cents each
oughly uninteresting, lay scattered over the hard hills. Their way and is for the convenience of the aged, decrepit and
flat roofs merged into the horizon in straight unbroken lines. folks with hurty feet.
The mid-morning sun beat upon them in arid brilliance and We wore comfortable shoes and light weight coats or
upon us as we waited our turn for tickets. sweaters. We were going to ivalk seven miles. Not too ex-
A guide service fee of $1.50 is made for each person above cited over the prospect of that walk I fell in behind the
the age of 16 years, and although this revenue amounts blond family with the bread and followed the winding path
to hundreds of thousands of dollars each year, it is nearly downward toward the mouth of the cave.
all spent in improvements, so that the Carlsbad cavern to- And then I stopped. My calm gave a kind of inward gasp
day is not only the world's largest and most beautiful cave, and slipped away. Before I regained my customary composure
but it is also the best trailed and best lighted. I was to know thrills, to grow dizzy and dazed and finally
Ahead of me a youth blushingly declared his wife under to experience a spiritual uplift unlike anything I'd ever known.
age. Folks under 17 may enter free. I mentally deplored my I knew there was a crowd but such a great number was
AUGUST, 1939 13
breath taking. There on the paths that spiraled into grey tifully as a sky. I toyed with the idea of a ladder that would
depths stood hundreds! Six hundred and eighteen to be exact. reach up there. Suppose a workman had to go up to fix a
Those farthest down were so far away they looked little! stalactite. But it was no good. Might as well think of an
They stood quietly, almost reverently and there was a Sunday electrician climbing up some night to work on a star. The
solemnity in the way the cavern walls gave back their hushed place had everything—hills, valleys, a sky!
voices. It was so staggering I got bothered and dizzy. But other
I hurried down into their midst. A sudden shrill whistle folks were struggling, too. A man behind me said, "There
froze us to silence, then the head ranger, so far down he ain't no hole as big as this on earth and if there is I ain't
seemed no bigger than a boy scout, stepped out from the in it."
crowd and began to speak: The crowd swept me along and we must have climbed a
"You are about to enter the world's largest known caverns. hill. Anyway when I came out of the daze we were starting
Although 30 miles have been explored, their extent is as yet down a steep hill. Daylight had been left behind and now
unknown. They lie on three levels in endless reaches, the we walked by dim reflected glow from hidden light globes.
great mystery of the ages." There was to be no loud talking Folks were exclaiming, "See the seal!" and, "Look, there's
and laughter, no loitering and we were to keep close to- a whale!" The whale's mouth gaped wide and there were
gether. He carried the longest flashlight I ever saw but it creamy stalactites that seemed trying to be teeth. A boy de-
made a comforting headlight before us as he swung out into clared they looked like strips of dried codfish.
mysterious darkness. We wound down, down, down. Now don't misunderstand me. There's nothing artificial
There were rangers behind, pushing, sort of, and rangers in the caverns except the lights which a government artist in
hurried back and forth keeping us on the right of way. We shadow effects placed carefully and prayerfully lest they de-
went past a sign that said "Bat cave." I'd hoped a ranger tract from the beauty already created. Government men feel
would flash a light in on the bats and show us two or three such awe and wonder in the place it's said they work always
millions hanging head down by their toenails. But their under a strain. And none would have dared use a chisel to
cave was five miles back and there was practically no chance help nature along!
to wander off on side trips—
I was conscious of the echo of many voices and the tramp,
We went through a narrow passage and then out into a tramp of many feet on the spiraling rock-bordered path and
great open space. It was the biggest place I was ever in ex- it was rhythmic like the roar of a train. So many people wind-
cept outdoors! The reddish brown sides of the cavern closed ing, walking down below me. I looked back and there were
down in the distance so far away it was kind of like a horizon. as many behind winding and walking and still pouring in
Huge boulders projected over us and rose beside our path. from behind a great rock at the top of the hill!
Above us reddish brown swords and needles hung from a Looking backward was a mistake. It made me dizzier than
reddish brown rocky "ceiling ' which was pinch hitting beau- ever. 1 had to concentrate on walking. Have you ever seen 600
Hikers in the Carlsbad caverns stop at the underground lunch stand maintained by the park service.
people on one hill? And this, remember, was down inside
the earth. Even if you don't care much for rocks—
There were eleven Hawaiians in that day's crowd. Perhaps
the man in tropical white just ahead was one of them. He
told his companion of his world travels, even adventures. An
oldish woman behind complained about her heart and her
feet. She hadn't wanted to come anyway.
More than a million and a half hearts have survived the
caverns trip. Probably a third were owned by folks who con-
fidently expected to die some day of heart trouble. Physically
we react to great depths somewhat as we do to great heights
and a certain amount of common sense preparation should
be made for this unusual journey.
A nurse accompanies every crowd to give first aid when
necessary but her services are not often needed. The authori-
ties regard it as a good omen that few accidents have occurred
and none of a serious nature. Once a man 100 years old made
the trip with no ill effects.
The formidable wooden steps that confronted early cavern
visitors were pulled up when the government took over under
the Calvin Coolidge administration. Easy spiraling trails were
built then. You can walk two or three abreast.
But to get back to the hill and all those people—the first
walkers finally reached bottom, piled up and became a crowd.
This is the first stop and is 200 feet below the earth's sur-
face.
The chief ranger stood on a path a little above the crowd,
his figure in dim outline against the great rocky background.
The chin strap on his broad hat looked choky and his flash-
light jiggled a yellow spot about his feet, as if he were under
a strain too. (It's said they never get over it.) When all
were within hearing he attempted to explain the caverns.
They are under the mountain known thereabouts as Carls-
bad limestone. Limestone, it seems is soluble and when water
touches it almost anything can happen, and did. As it evapo-
rated it left the limestone crystalized in figures fantastic,
weird and indescribably beautiful. It had taken 200 million
years of drip, drip and evaporation to make the caverns as Col. Thomas Boles, superintendent oj Carlsbad caverns
they are now. national park.
It wasn't very satisfactory—what he said—for he didn't ex-
plain the something that in so many cases gave the rock Texas, who were on their fourth trip through. When the
definite form as evaporation took place. A chandelier, a ranger finished the El Paso man said in an undertone,
shrine, a bath tub, a pipe organ—there were too many of "Shucks, I can beat that. This is the place where the Scotch-
them for it to be mere coincidence. Neither is it anybody's man lost his dollar." A very fat girl in a huge blue polka dot
imagination. dress giggled that he'd left no stone unturned, and the blond
woman dropped her bread.
I had been tagging along with a family from El Paso,
We went on to scenes of incredible beauty. The ceiling was
now creamy white and came down lower and the chambers
were smaller and more like rooms. And all the hanging for-
mations and those on the floor were like alabaster.
In the Queen's chamber more than 800 feet below the
surface the formations suggest the feminine. Great curtains
drop in folds and you want to touch them to make sure
they're not velvet instead of stone. There is lace and intri-
cate basket weave. A stalagmite had become a drinking foun-
tain, all except the water.
Outside the King's palace I saw a garden of flowers
frozen in stone, pools with stone lily pads, Indian shrines
and totem poles. I caught only glimpses as I was hustled
along. We had to move on schedule. We were a train of
people due at certain points at specified time. So we did the
best we could with only one pair of eyes. People who live in
the region visit the caverns again and again, some as many
as 12 and 15 times. Even they have never seen the half.
•**yt We had 45 minutes for lunch. This is not a money making
enterprise. There are no concessions along the route. The
Entrance to Carlsbad caverns commercial just doesn't belong in the caverns. We were
A U G U S T , 1939 15
served quickly and quietly. Many people carried their own to our feet and resumed our journey I overheard a 12-year-
lunch and bought coffee. old boy whisper, "Mother, I'm going to be a better boy."
In the afternoon we went into the Big Room. This cozy The trip out is equally as interesting as the one going in.
little place is 4000 feet long and 625 feet wide. The scenes You see everything from a different approach. The crowd
along the trail are about to be inadequately described. (The falls back and gives its last and biggest gasp toward the end
right words have not been coined.) of the journey. A wide shaft of blue-white light slants across
The ceiling 350 feet above—in places—was reddish brown. the great cavern depth in an effect ethereal and super-natural.
Some of the formations were that color but mostly they were It's only the afternoon sun flooding through the opening.
creamy white and they rose from the floor to staggering I had dropped back, and now I walked out with the rear
heights. All the world's wonders were reproduced. There ranger. Our crowd, he said was average. Yesterday there had
were the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the Chinese Temple, Colo- been 700, tomorrow there might be 800. The previous July
rado's Garden of the Gods. The trail wound through small and August there were from 1500 to 2000 a day. On July
canyons and beside upturned rocks, jagged and rugged, for fourth, 3800.
all the world like a range of Rockies in miniature, only not The stark ugliness of the outside world hit us as we came
too miniature. up into daylight. We were not tired. We were excited as
The trip through the Big Room is one of rising drama. At though we'd just thudded back to earth from the moon where
each turn on the trail you come upon new vistas of grandeur we'd walked together through a beautiful garden, a garden
and airy fantasy, each more amazing than the one before. The all made of stone, a forbidden place, one that had been kept
crowd grew more quiet and you could hear the breathless hidden from human eyes through all the ages while the
"ohs" from the startled folks nearest you. earth's surface changed and the sun and moon and the stars
The air was pure as on a mountain top, although a cloud changed places.
of tobacco smoke moved along over the crowd ahead. I saw Carlsbad caverns are the eighth and greatest of all the
white fleecy clouds reflected in the shallow pools of water World Wonders. Long before Americans began going there
along the route. I finally stepped out of line to take a better in crowds the Old World had heard of them. Geologists,
look. Sure enough, there they were, not only clouds but a blue- scientists, archaeologists, research groups have been coming
sky reflected, such as you see in pools on top of the earth across the seas for many years to visit this subterranean mir-
in Illinois, New York and Texas. Finally I grabbed a pass- acle. Scarcely a day passes now without these foreign visitors.
ing man by the sleeve. I said, "Mister, are those clouds, or A ranger said, "Folks who have been everywhere and seen
am I seeing things?" everything declare there is nothing on the earth so weirdly
He had a dark solemn look. He looked down, then up and grandly mysterious as our Carlsbad caverns."
at the dark rocky ceiling, "Well, I swan," he drawled, "Not So you see how it is. The longer you postpone seeing Carls-
a cloud in sight. Just a clear day. Pretty soon we'll be seeing bad caverns the longer you delay the most amazing, breath-
stars." taking experience of your whole travel career.
We walked on together for a little way. He discovered the
head of a Scottie and I saw a perfectly formed bear. Some-
body else saw the face of Herbert Hoover "just as plain as
life." Prizes Offered to
My companion-of-the-moment seemed to be a college man.
He talked about evolution and said there was plenty in the flmateurPhotographers
caverns to support the theory for even the most ardent be- Each month the Desert Magazine offers two cash
lievers had found it difficult to believe that a rock had mind prizes for the best camera pictures submitted by ama-
in it. He said rocks, you could see, had ambition. "They teur photographers. The first award is $5.00 and the
want to make something of themselves. Give them TIME. second $3.00.
Two hundred million years and they can become very suc- Pictures are limited to desert subjects, but there is
cessful." no restriction as to the residence of the photographer.
A Reverend Somebody behind told his companion there Entries may include Indian pictures, rock formations,
was a place in the Bible where it's recorded, "And the very flowers and wild animals, canyons, trees, water holes—
rocks cried out." Seemed to him that was what these were in fact anything that belongs to the desert country.
doing. Following are the rules governing the photographic
contest:
At about two o'clock in the afternoon, nearly five hours 1—Pictures submitted in the August contest must
after we entered the cavern, we reached a crescent shaped be received at the Desert Magazine office by August 20.
slope on one side of the Big Room and were seated on rugged
stone seats facing a golden hued stalagmite probably 30 or 2—Not more than four prints may be submitted by
one person in one month.
40 feet high.
3—Winners will be required to furnish either good
Colonel Thomas Boles, superintendent of the park, stood glossy enlargements or the original negatives if re-
on the trail beside the formation and talked to us. Some of quested.
the formations are ten thousand times older than the pyra- 4—Prints must be in black and white, 2Vix3Vi or
mids of Egypt, he said, and then called special attention to larger, and must be on glossy paper.
the formation by which he was standing. On account of its
5—Pictures will be returned only when postage is
beauty and age it has been named "Rock of Ages." Colonel enclosed.
Boles asked for complete silence. The lights were extinguished For non-prize-winning pictures accepted for pub-
and after 30 seconds of absolute darkness a clear tenor lication $1.00 will be paid for each print.
voice, from a ranger 600 feet away, sang "Rock of Ages." Winners of the August contest will be announced
The lights came on one by one until the entire Big Room and the pictures published in the October number of the
was again flooded but we remained in spell-bound silence. magazine. Address all entries to:
For most of us this was a moment of rapture when our souls
were merged with the Soul of All Things. As we quietly got Contest Editor. Desert Magazine, El Centro, Calif.

While the Hopi and Navajo
Indians are living in peace to-
day on adjoining reservations,
the relationship between them
has not always been friendly. In
fact, before the white man's gov-
ernment intervened, they were
traditional enemies, with the
Navajo usually the aggressor.
The distrust which the peaceful
Hopi has always held for his
neighbor is revealed in some of
the eld Hopi legends. The folk
tale related by Harry C. James
for Desert Magazine readers this
month is one of this type.
The Oraib
Boy and
the Hawk
(A Hopi Legend)
As told to HARRY C. JAMES
Illustration by W. MOOTZKA,
Hopi Artist
f/ ONG, long ago when your

iL_ grandfather's grandfather was a
little boy, there were some Nava-
jo.s living near Oraibi. They had few chil-
dren and desiring to have a boy to help
look after their flocks of sheep and goats,
one day stole a little Hopi boy.
They were not kind to the child, giv-
ing him just enough poor food to keep
hi:n alive and forcing him to work all
the time at jobs that should have been flew to the Navajo camp. He began fly- tive safe on the hawk's back and they
dene by a fully-grown man. The poor ing around in a great spiral, coming each were very much surprised. They had
boy became very unhappy and soon turn a little closer to the ground. The never expected the hawk to do such a
looked so thin that he resembled a skele- little Hopi boy was frightened and cried thing.
ton more; than a live child. to the hawk not to hurt him. The hawk The hawk set the little boy safely on
North, a short distance from where lit close beside the boy and sat down the top of the cliff, then said to him:
thi3*? Navajos had their hogan — their right by him, saying: "I will not hurt "You are cold. I will borrow some
hfinsp made of logs and earth—was a you! You climb on my back and I will clothes for you."
pr*ot cliff near the top of which lived carry you away to my house where these He swooped down upon the Navajo
a huge hawk. Often, as the hawk flew Navajos will never be able to find you camp and picked out the son of a great
around in his search for food he saw the again." Navajo chief. The boy was richly clothed
Iitde Hopi boy being so cruelly treated The Hopi boy was delighted and in fine buckskins. He picked the Navajo
by the Navajos. The hawk felt very sorry climbed on the hawk's back, holding on boy up, took his clothes from him and
foi: the boy and determined to help him. to its strong feathers with both hands. then dropped him to his frightened par-
One day the Navajos left the little boy The hawk took a long run, then with ents below. He brought the clothes to
behind -when they were away some dis- great strong flaps of his wings, he rose the little Hopi boy who pulled them on
tance to attend a Navajo dance. As soon in the air. He flew right over the place with delight.
as they were well out of sight, the great where the Navajos were having their Then the hawk saw that he had no
hawk slipped from his high cliff and dance. They could see their former cap- {Continued on page 27)
AUGUST, 1939
17
Dancing girls from Ponca, Oklahoma
Na;
Acoma Buffalo dancers

G&i
F ROM hogan and pueblo
Indian tribesmen will gath
ceremonial at Gallup, Nev,
This is the 18th annual progi
sociation—sponsored by a civic-]
Indian country in New Mexico.
Early in August the Indians
the desert wilderness—traveling
mobiles, all of them looking forv
the dancing events and in expos
various tribes is exhibited and ji
There will be the singing oik
Apache country, the Butterfly da
dancers—these and more than a s
will range from painted nakedn
ments of the most intricate design
In the exhibit building nath
painting kachinas, weaving blai
drawing the delicate lines of the
The Ceremonial this year is
than in previous years. The chanc
patches was made to avoid the in
bring to that region the latter part
rites are never known far in adva
following the Gallup fiesta.
With the exception of the sand pain
studio of Bradley R. Currey, Burbi
Frasher,
Hopi Kachina dancers
i every part of the Southwest,

August this year for the annual
ter-Triba:. Indian Ceremonial as-

p of leaders in the heart of the
leir trek from remote corners of

>y pony, some of them in auto-
days of friendly rivalry both in
lere the finest craft work of the
merit.
'urn, the Devil dancers from the
ne Hopi mesas, the Navajo fire
tribal dancing teams. Costumes
:ul, beaded and feathered gar-
may be seen making pottery,

ig in silver and turquoise and
d paintings.
Vugust 17 to 20, a week earlier
was explained in the press dis-
s which the Hopi snake dancers
Idle the dates of the Hopi snake
jbcbly will be held immediately
ographs on this page are from the
t. Sand painting photograph by
\ornia.
Here is a handful of the black obsidian nodules picked Near Superior, Arizona, John Hilton found great
up from the ground at the base of the cliffs where they quantities of black pebbles weathering out of an
are iveathering out of the rock. ancient lava flow. Hilton identifies them as glassy
obsidian nodules, sometimes sold under the name
LEGEND OF "APACHE LEAP" of "smoky topaz." According to Indian legend,
however, they are "tears of stone" shed by sym-
Sitting at the edge of a cliff high among the pathetic Mother Nature when an Apache Indian
rugged peaks of the land we now know as Ari- maiden met a tragic death near this spot. Here's
zona, an Indian maiden sat with bowed head. a story that will be interesting to gem collectors
The stillness of the evening was broken only by and students of Indian lore.
convulsive sobs that came from the heart of the
brown-skinned girl.
The tips of the surrounding crags were painted
with the ruddy glow of the sinking sun. In the
distance "Weaver's Needle" pierced the sky like
a sword of gold, its base hidden amid the pinna-
cles and rocky massifs of the Superstition range.
Apache Tears
Far below, the tawny browns of the desert floor
were giving way to the bluish haze of night.
But the beauty of this landscape meant nothing By JOHN W. HILTON
to the Apache girl, for at the base of this precipice
lay the broken bodies of her father, her brothers / A C C O R D I N G to the story the small band of Apaches
and the lover she was to have married on the I / in which her lover and her relatives were traveling
following day. had been ambushed by a war party of enemy tribes-
Since dawn she had huddled in this spot, ob- men who far outnumbered them. They fought valiantly, climb-
livious to the heat of midday sun, unmindful of ing toward the fastnesses of the crags above as they retreated.
thirst or discomfort, aware only of the fact of her By the time the summit was reached their spears were broken
tragedy and of the emptiness of the life that lay and their arrows spent.
before her. Capture meant torture and death—and when suddenly they
Now the sun was sinking behind the distant found further retreat cut off by a yawning abyss, they turned
range. She arose and for a moment her figure one by one and plunged to the rocks below.
was silhouetted against the flaming sky. Then The story goes on to relate that the grief of the young
she plunged forward into space—to rest in peace Apache girl was so profound it affected all nature about her.
with those below. Even the mountain was said to have wept at her tragic death.
Thus is told the ancient legend of Apache Leap. In support of this statement, the Indians point to the count-

less numbers of round glassy pebbles that
lie scattered about the base of the moun-
tain.
These "tears of stone," as the Indians
call them, appear to be black until they
are held up to the light, and then they
become surprisingly clear, but tinged
with a fine smoky grey.
My first sight of "Apache Leap" was
early in the morning. A light wind had
drifted the smelter smoke from Superior
so that the entire mountain was enveloped
in a swirling mass of silver fog. Such a
sight on the desert is as beautiful as it
is unusual. The morning sun shining
through this smoke gave it a peculiarly
luminous quality that served to accentu-
ate the height and ruggedness of the pin-
nacles above.
We passed the Boyce Thompson Ar-
boremm where so many secrets of desert
plant life are being studied and solved.
Its setting in a rugged canyon at the Norton Allen, staff artist for the Desert Magazine, visited the "Apache Tear"
base of the mountain is indeed beautiful field and took this picture of his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Ernest G. Allen, as they
and fitting. gathered specimens on the desert near where the obsidian nodules are weathering
As, we came within sight of Superior, out of the cliffs.
we took the dirt road turnoff on the
right: of the highway. From the paving misleading for these lovely pebbles of The smoky obsidian we found at this
it was a mile to the Underwood ranch obsidian are in no way related to topaz. point is too soft for facet cutting, but
where we parked our cars to look for Topaz has a hardness of eight and is a takes a high polish and makes a rather
the gem stones we had been told were crystalline mineral, whereas these stones pleasing gem in a cabochon cut. Topaz
here have a hardness of from five to six and itself is seldom if ever found in a dark
We saw some of them on the ground are an amorphous volcanic glass. smoky color and is rarely cut into gems.
almost as soon as we stepped from our It might be well here to clear up some Personally, I have never seen a true topaz
automobiles, and as we walked toward of the misunderstanding that exists re- "smoky" enough to deserve the name.
the hills the supply became more plenti- garding the gem called "smoky topaz." We had not climbed far up the hill-
ful. In some places it was impossible to Most of the faceted material sold on the side before we discovered the "tears" are
walk without stepping on them. market today under this name is actually weathering out of a flow of silver grey
For years these obsidian nodules have a dark colored form of quartz crystal. It volcanic rock. A close examination of
been gathered and sold by curio dealers has been sold as "topaz" for so long a this rock revealed that it also is volcanic
under the name of Arizona smoky to- time, however, that the trade generally glass. The only essential difference be-
paz. This name is as unfortunate as it is has accepted that name for it. tween the nodules and the mother rock
ill. STOP CARS Ht«r.4^.11 <*T?0.9 ' '''*• " ": =:

WALK ACRO5S WASH V1IHH ?' •'
A U G U S T , 1939 21
is that the latter is so scaled and fractured The black nodules are "Apache
that the air imprisoned in its cracks give Tears'' as they occur in their matrix
it a sort of pearly grey appearance. The of pearl obsidian.
sun shining on these scales of obsidian
reminds one of the luster of sea shells. story of a freight driver who was haul-
The natural conchoidal fracture of the ing some of this rich silver ore to the
obsidian probably is responsible for the river. He was overtaken by a party of
nearly round shape of the nodules. The emigrants who, out of curiosity, inquired
molten glass appears to have reached the as to the nature of the ore. For answer,
surface under considerable pressure where the driver slowly drew a silver dollar
it suddenly expanded and cooled, leaving from his pocket and flipped it in the air.
a porous mass of fracture scales arranged
"That's what she be, boys! All it needs
in whorls, the centers of which nearly
always contain solid nodules of obsidian. is the U. S. stamp."
We noted that in sections of the flow It was sunset when we returned past
where the fracture pattern is arranged in Apache Leap. Smoke from the smelter
very small whorls there were no obsid- hung about it again, but this time it
ian centers, but where the magma ap- was gold. High up on a lofty peak I
parently cooled more slowly and the thought I could see the figure of a lone
whorls were larger they all contained ob- Indian girl, poised on the brink of a
sidian pebbles. This slower cooling had cliff. But she remained immovable as
allowed pieces of the glass to become long as we were in sight—just a trick of
solid without breaking. the sunlight and shadows, and perhaps
Many of the weathered stones have a a bit of imagination inspired by the leg-
rather fine polish due to action of wind end that had been told to me.
and rain and I could not help thinking
what fine necklaces could be made from
the stones if they were graduated and my to catch an' unload at the top.
drilled like pearls. "I started liftin' the first load. It
Toward noon the wind changed, clear-
ing the smoke away from the mountain
Hard was durn near as heavy as I was,
but it went along fine 'til it got
clear at the top.
and bringing its rugged beauty into full
view. Some of its pinnacles would be a Rock Shorty ' 'Hold 'er a minute while I
clear a place to set it,' yells Jimmy.
serious challenge to the most expert rock
climbers. Its scenic beauty will always of . . . "I took a couple o' turns around
my wrist with the rope, an' that
make this place an inspiration to artists proved to be a mistake. Jimmy
and photographers. Death reached for the box, slipped, an'
We found a friendly atmosphere in fell right in the blamed thing. Well
Superior. Restaurants and overnight ac-
commodations were fine and the town it-
Valley sir, that was somethin' else again!
"I couldn't let go—I was just
self is an interesting place to visit. It is By LON GARRISON yanked up in the air, spun around
an odd combination of the old and the a dozen times, an' bounced all over
"Rheumatics?" asked Hard Rock the rocks on the way up. As I
new. Almost in the shadow of the giant
Shorty. "Naw, I just been out im- passed Jimmy he kicked me in the
smoke-plumed chimney of its modern
itatin' this guy Newton what in- stummick, an' one o' the picks took
smelter are prospectors at work develop-
vented aviation by gettin' hit on a yard o' hide off o' my shin. I hit
ing their claims with no better equipment
the head with a green apple. An' the wall one more good lick just
than was used by the first miners who
by gum I got just what any guy afore I run my hand into the block.
came into this western country.
had ought'o get who goes stickin' I figgered I was stuck, but I didn't
In the business district the most mod- his nose in other guys' businesses know Jimmy.
ern stores and service stations are flanked helpin' 'em out!" "When the box hit the ground,
in some locations by old-fashioned build- He creaked across the porch and Jimmy fell out, the box busted
ings with their high false fronts—a relic lowered himself stiffly and pain- open, an' all the tools slid out too.
of the days when Superior was a roar- fully into the rocking chair. Then I was heavier'n the box an'
ing silver camp and freight teams plod- "Jimminy, I'm sore!" he moaned. I started the return trip in high
ded along its dusty streets. Old-timers tell "Hurts to stand up, lay down, set gear. On the way down I met the
of the glory and excitement of the days down, or roll over. An' it's all be- remains o' the box goin' up, an'
when their fathers hauled out ore in cause I offered to help Jimmy Jen- that's when I lost the rest o' the
wagons, freighting it to the Colorado kins get some stuff up to his Goph- skin off o' my face. I slid over a
river where it was loaded on barges, er Hole mine shaft. He'd some few more sandpaper rocks, an' then
floated down to the gulf and shipped by picks, drills, and hammers he hit the ground so hard I bounced
sailing vessel around the Horn to Wales, wanted histed 20 feet up the face twice. Then durned if that rope
where it was smelted. Needless to say, of a cliff, an' it was gonna be hard didn't jiggle loose off o' my wrist,
it was no low grade ore such as is the work luggin' ail that junk up a lad- an' the rest o' the box come back
backbone of the modern mining camp. It der. So we rigged a pulley up at the down an' hit me on the head!
was high grade "wire" or "ruby silver," tunnel, an' loaded the stuff in a "Yup—me an' Newton learn the
assaying several dollars to the pound. powder box. I was to stay at the same way, an' I'll bet you by gum
bottom an' pull the box up for Jim- that I stay learned!"
A police officer there told me the

'•COOPERATION1' —Photo by Wm. M. Pennington
reel on tke. l/elett

By JOHN STEWART MacCLARY
Labor disputes and board-of-trade manipulations do not affect the price

of bread in Zuni. Each housewife serves as miller and baker for her personal
family, completely controlling the destiny of grain which has been cultivated,
harvested and threshed by her menfolks and children.
While each is competent to handle the complete milling process without
assistance, the Zuni women have found the efficiency that comes from work-
ing together. It may be the milling room has a socializing influence similar to
that of the bridge clubs of white American ladies. After all—where there are
neither newspapers, radios nor telephones—there must be some method for
spreading the news of the day.
The stone manos and metates used by these women may be the same
ones described by Coronado's publicity man Castenada. Who knows? At
least the method of using them is the same just as it must have been among
the cliff dwellers whose similar utensils are found beneath the dust of ages.
Man may not live on bread alone -but he seems to have been using it a
long, long time!
AUGUST, 1939 23
Brush dwelling used by the Cahuilla Indians in Santa Rosa mountains. — Photo by E. B. Gray studio, Idyllwild.
Whence Came the Cahuillas

They are not as picturesque perhaps a s some of the tribesmen in other
desert regions, but the Cahuilla Indians are nevertheless industrious farmers
and good citizens—and have accepted the constant crowding of the white man
with amazing tolerance. In the accompanying story Ruth Pascoe h a s given a
brief story of the background of an Indian people who once occupied Southern
California from the Colorado river to the Pacific ocean.
By RUTH MARTIN PASCOE
" 11/ E have been here always!" This both were of this same tribe. With this missionary beloved by Indians, Fray
\/\/ tf> the reply I invariably receive understanding, I now can see how little Francisco Garces followed the trail up
when I ask older members of variation there is between the stories of San Carlos pass and found the Cahuilla
the Cahuilla Indian tribe of Southern the Indians and of the ethnologists. Indians living in rocky caves in the hills.
California as to the length of time their The reservation of the Mountain Ca- Now they occupy small frame houses on
people have occupied this region. Accord- huilla Indians is a dry rolling valley, ly- the knolls of these same hills and there
ing to historians and ethnologists they ing between the San Jacinto and the Santa I have visited them often. Even those
may be right—or they may be wrong. Rosa mountains of Southern California. members of the tribe who have gone out
It is difficult to get a complete story It is semi-desert country but it is supplied into our world return gratefully to this
from an Indian. Years are consumed in with water by both hot and cold springs. peaceful home of their ancestors.
gathering it. I had taken for granted that Here the fields and meadows are pro- The other day my Cahuilla friend Cin-
when a Cahuilla Indian said he had been tected from the encroachment of distant ciona Lubo was visiting me in the San
here always, he meant in that particular high peaks by Cahuilla mountain itself, Jacinto mountains. We were picking
section of land which comprises his pres- on whose rocky face the sun casts its hot acorns for the Indians, who consider these
ent reservation. Only yesterday I was in- rays and the clouds drop their darkening nuts a delicacy. Cinciona said her people
formed, at Cahuilla, of the distance trav- shadows. Beneath it rests the age-old had come here to gather acorns for many
eled by some of these Indians in their home of these Indians. Few changes have generations. They felt these mountains
youth. One had been baptized at Santa taken place here since the coming of the belonged to them. When we took her
Barbara and another had been brought as first white men in 1774-1776, when Cap- picture picking acorns, Cinciona said,
a bride from the hills near Corona. Yet tain Juan Bautista de Anza and that "No Indian woman used to carry a bur-

lap sack to hold her acorns. She wove a
hammock (carrying net), to carry over
her shoulder as she picked. But she did
use a basket like this of my Aunt Nina's,
which she filled first."
It is through Cinciona that I have
come close to the lives of her people. She
interprets not only their language but
their thoughts and feelings. Cinciona,
born an Indian and educated at Sher-
man institute, has lived much of her life
among white people. Her amazing intu-
ition and unfailing good humor permit
her to fit into white or Indian role with
equal ease.
Though these Indians always have been
extremely poor, they would prefer to
live and die on this land of their ances-
tors and trust nature to provide for them,
than to exchange it for any wealth the
white man might offer.
Of course some of the earlier Indians
may be blamed for losing their land.
They were not shrewd enough to deal
with invaders who would trade them
seven cows for a whole mountain.
That the ancient Cahuillas roamed the
entire San Jacinto mountain area is evi-
denced by petroglyphs and grinding holes
found frequently today. Many of their I
legends are woven around San Jacinto
and Tahquitz.
According to Dr. David Prescott Bar-
rows in "The Ethno-Botany of the Cahu-
illa Indians," this tribe "once controlled
Southern California from the Colorado
river westward to the Pacific sea."
• ' - *
In "The Handbook of the American

Indians North of Mexico," compiled in
1907-1910 by Frederick Webb Hodge, •
now director of the Southwest Museum

at Los Angeles, information concerning
this tribe is found under the name Kawai.
Dr. Hodge says there have been changes
in the spelling of the name Cahuilla.
To study the genealogy of any family
it is necessary to watch the change in
spelling of that family name back through
the records. The Cahuillas were called Cinciona Lubo gathers acorns in the San Jacinto mountains as her ancestors have
Danzarines by Fray Garces, because of done for many generations—except that they used fibre carrying-nets of their own
the odd gestures of their hands when they weave, instead of gunny sacks. — Photo by E. B. Gray, Idylhvild.
talked. These mannerisms are noticeable
tains and canyons surrounding San Ja- huillas have some difference in dialect,
today during ceremonials, as an accom-
paniment to the dancing movements of cinto peak. the members of one group understand
their feet. Another name for the Cahuillas (2) Pass Cahuilla, in San Gorgonio those of another. Their language is Sho-
was told Garces by his guide. It is the pass and at Palm Springs. shonean in origin.
Mojave name ]ecuich. However, Ca- (3) Desert Cahuilla between Indio All of these Shoshonean tribes are
huilla is now generally adopted. This and the Salton Sea. members of a more ancient family called
word is of uncertain origin. It is said to "Uto-Aztekan" by Hodge, Kroeber, and
In the late summer when the Indians other authorities. Dr. Hodge says, "Their
be a Spanish version of Kawika (west- hold a rodeo at one of their mountain res-
ward, literally mountainward) in A. L. habitat extended almost from the Canadi-
ervations, it is possible to see represen- an border to southern Mexico." Dr.
Kroeber's "Ethnography of the Cahuilla tatives of all three groups. It is also evi-
Indians." Kroeber tells us that this association of
dent some of these Indians have traveled Shoshoneans in California "opens a far
Most authorities agree in listing three a long distance. They come prepared to perspective. The lowly desert tribes and
divisions of the Cahuilla Indians of remain for a week in the brush huts, simple-minded folk of the southern coast
Southern California, living in these stated which they weave, in the shelter of Ca- are seen in a new light as kinsmen, how-
localities: huilla mountain. ever remote, of the famous Aztecs."
(1) Mountain Cahuilla, in the moun- Although the three groups of the Ca- Among primitive desert peoples there
A U G U S T , 1939 25
was constant migration, due to climatic
conditions and the ceaseless search for Some of the Desert Magazine readers are
water and food. The Cahuillas were no
exception, hence in any general move-
DESERT QUIZ making high scores in the monthly Quiz.
All who read these questions and verify
ment one group, of necessity, had some the answers are learning interesting new facts about the most fascinat-
intercourse with the others. In August, ing area in the United States. The questions include history, geography,
when the pinon nuts of the mountain botany, Indian life and lore of the desert. If you can answer 10 of
regions ripened, and later when acorns them correctly you are a well-informed student of the desert. If you
fell, the Cahuillas moved up there for score 15 you are eligible for the fraternity of "desert rats." If you an-
the purpose of gathering their winter's swer more than 15 correctly you are entitled to the degree of S. D. S.
supply of nuts. When it was time to visit —Sand Dune Sage. Answers on page 28.
the desert to gather mesquite beans, as 1—Cochise county, Arizona, is named after—
well as cactus fruit, the Cahuillas were A Spanish explorer A famous Navajo
free to go. Charles Francis Saunders tells A Yaqui warrior An Apache chief
us almost every variety of cactus was used 2—Most of the reptiles on the desert, if exposed to the direct rays of mid-
by the Indians for food. summer sun will—
While Curtis says the fauna of the Des- Die Go to sleep Become vicious Go blind
ert Cahuilla consisted of "antelope, deer, 3—Watermelons first were brought to the desert country by—
mountain lions, wildcats, tortoise, and White pioneers Prehistoric Indians
lizards," he adds, "Fish were not avail- Spanish invaders The Padres
able to the Desert Cahuilla within his- 4—Lee's Ferry on the Colorado river was named for—
A celebrated explorer A noted fugitive
toric times, but the mountaineers secured
A southern general A pioneer missionary
limited quantities of trout." 5—Fron Dante's View a visitor looks down on—
Today men travel from far cities to Searles dry lake Devil's playground
hunt and fish in these mountains for Salton sea Death Valley
sport and it is quite probable that the 6—The leading character in Dr. Herbert Bolton's "Rim of Christendom" is—
Desert and Pass Cahuilla Indians of an Father Serra Coronado Portola Father Kino
earlier day made similar excursions for 7—The White Sands national monument is located in—
food. Just prior to historic times, it is California Nevada Utah New Mexico
likely the Mountain Cahuillas went to the 8—Chin Lee, Arizona derives its name from—
desert to fish. Among the Cahuillas is a The Navajo language An Indian trader
tradition of their ancestors, who im- A Chinese camp cook Early Spaniards
pounded fish in circular enclosures of 9—One of the epic marches in the military annals of the Southwest was
stone—open at one end—when the great made by—
Inland Sea beat against the high cliffs The Seventh cavalry The Mormon Battalion
The Ninth infantry Fort Yuma garrison
about Coachella valley. Remains of these
10—The desert "swift" is—
"fish-traps" are still to be seen, and so A fox A reptile A bird A rodent
is the ancient shore-line along the base of 11—The monument of Hadji Ali (Hi-Jolly) famous early day camel driver
Santa Rosa mountains. on the southwest desert is located near—
Tracing the wanderings of these migra- Yuma, Arizona Ft. Defiance, Arizona
tory people, we can see the need for their Quartzsite, Arizona Tehachapi, California
having large territories in which to roam. 12—Chuckawalla well in Southern California formerly was a relay station on
Most of their trails kept them in sight the—
of San Jacinto and San Gorgonio peaks. Bradshaw stage road Santa Fe trail
These great mountains have been called Butterfield route Broadway of America
the "Two Brothers" by the Indians, who 13—Blossoms of the Smoke tree are—
believe they are early creations of the Indigo White Yellow Pink..
"Earth Mother." 14—Purpose of the Lieut. Ives expedition was to—
Make peace with the Mojave Indians
Perhaps only the mountains themselves Determine the navigability of the Colorado river
who have so long sheltered these In- Open a new route across the desert to California
dians, could give the true answer as to Establish the boundaries after the Gadsden Purchase
whence came the Cahuilla Indians. Any 15—The Valley of Fire in Nevada was named because of its—
man, primitive or modern, who travels Volcanic craters Rock coloration
within sight of those mountains must Extreme heat Smoldering coal beds
feel the sublimity of San Jac and "Ol' 16—The alloy most commonly found in native gold is—
Grayback." This can help us to under- Silver Copper Zinc Lead
stand the Cahuilla Indian. Life changes 17—At the Tinajas Altas along Camino del Diablo in southern Arizona, water
for him as for us. He who is here today is found in—
is gone tomorrow. Yet, the Cahuilla A well Natural tanks A spring Underground lake
wishes to die as he has lived, within the 18—Boulder Dam Recreational area is administered by—
shadows of these mountains. He knows Nevada State Park commission U. S. Park Service
that they long have endured. They U. S. Forestry Service Reclamation Bureau
have an unchanging effect upon any re- 19—The Navajo Indians have common tribal ancestry with the—
sponsive soul who goes out to them year Plains Indians Pueblos Apaches Pimas
after year, as does the Indian, for a re- 20—The greatest area of unexplored land in the Southwest is in the state of—
Utah New Mexico Arizona Nevada
newal of faith and courage.

ORAIBI BOY . . . 0/
Complete Your file of the
{Continued from page 17)
the DESERT
moccasins. Again he swooped down on LECIE McDONALD VIOLETT whose
the Navajos and picked up another little entertaining story of her trip through Volume 1 complete
boy and took off his moccasins and drop- Carlsbad Caverns appears in this number,
(12 copies and binder) 4.50
ped him down to his terrified parents. is a resident of Denver, Colorado. She
The Navajos were now so frightened started her career as a music teacher— Volume 1 without binder 3.50
that they scattered out in all directions. but married a railroad man and this in-
The dance was forgotten. They were in volved moving so often she finally had Volume 1 with binder and
such a hurry that they left many valu- to give up her music. "I'd no more than 1-year advance subs. 6.50
ables behind which the hawk secured for get a dozen pupils over the rough spots Gold-embossed loose-lsaf binder
the little Hopi boy. than it was time to move again," she ex- (specify volume number) 1.00
plains. "So I cast about for a career that
It was then time to eat. The hawk ate
would move with me — and ironically
only raw food, but he brought wood and enough, now that I have a profession I
REGULAR 1-year 2.50
fire for the boy who cooked for himself can pack up and take anywhere we've
SUBSCRIPTION 2-years 4.00
and nad plenty of good food. The little never left Denver." 3-years 5.00
RATES
Hopi stayed with the hawk four days. In Mrs. Violett's features have appeared
that time he recovered his strength from in Country Home, Family Circle, Ameri- 597 State St. El Centra, Calif.
the good food the hawk brought him to can Press, Midwest, Rocky Mountain
eat. Then he climbed again on the back News, Denver Post, and she has written
of the hawk and off they flew from the syndicated material for a number of other
high cliff. Before going back to Oraibi, newspapers.
however, the hawk circled several times • • •
around the old Navajo camp so that the Hundreds of manuscripts are submit-
Indians there were frightened. ted to the Desert Magazine every month.
They could see the happy little Hopi Only a few of them are accepted. Writ-
boy on the hawk's back. The hawk then ers, perhaps, will be interested in know-
flew to Oraibi and returned the boy safe- ing some of the reasons for rejection:
ly to his own father and mother. 1—Lack of good pictures. Clear, well- Talk over accommodations
composed photographs are no less im- by telephone! Save time,
portant than well-written text matter in miles, disappointment.
the editorial program of the Desert Mag-
azine. Prints must have strong contrast for The cost is small.
halftone reproduction, and should be on
glossy paper not less than 5x7 inches.
2—Outside the field. For the present
the Desert Magazine is limiting its ma-
terial to the desert area of southwestern ANNOUNCING A
United States, that is the states of Ari-
zona, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, and $400 Prize Picture and
California. Story Contest
3—Lack of human interest. Desert Here is a chance for you to get that
Magazine editors are not interested in im- fishing equipment you've wanted so long
—and get it free. Haven't you a fish pic-
personal essays, no matter how scholarly ture that is unusual, or can't you tell us
they may be. Human interest is essential. about that last fishing trip you took? And
As far as possible stories should be built don't try to make us believe you can't tell
DOITT COOK THE COOK around personalities—or be written from
a personal angle.
a "tall" story!
There are three divisions in this contest.
THIS summER 4—Ugliness is barred. There is both
You may submit fact fishing articles with
photos, fishing fiction or "tall" tales, and
fishing pictures. Literary skill and photo-
an ELECTRIC RANGE is COOL beauty and ugliness in everything, ac-
graphic technique do not count. The
cording to your viewpoint. And that in- story's the thing, and a good, clear photo
A new Woolwine Electric cludes human beings as well as land- that tells a story, or is in some manner un-
Range now costs as little as scapes. The Desert Magazine is interested usual, has just as much chance of winning
$93, easy terms available. in the beauty of people and things. The as submissions from those who are skilled
Average cost to operate an in the craft.
editors believe it is possible to present the
electric range (if you already cheerful aspect of desert subjects—and $400.00 in sporting goods will
have an electric refrigerator) is still be accurate and realistic. be given to lucky winners
$2! a month. Prizes consist of Horrocks-Ibbotson fish-
It is always a mistake for a writer to ing tackle, Coleman lanterns and outdoor
See our complete display submit material to any magazine with- cooking stoves, and Penn fishing reels. It's
of n e w and reconditioned out first making a careful study of the a fisherman's dream of tackle—
ranges. type of material and the general editori- 102 Prizes in all!
al pattern of the publication. Drop a card for particulars to:
llEV-CflL ELECTRIC If in doubt as to the acceptability of THE SOUTHERII SPORTSfllfln
DISTRIBUTOR OF YOUR BOULDER your material, query the editor. The Des- P. O. Box 16 — DEPT. DM
D A M POWER
ert Magazine welcomes such inquiries. AUSTIN, TEXAS
A U G U S T , 1 9 3 9 27
Frieda Freda of Anaheim, California is the winner
GREAT STONE FACE of the $5.00 prize offered by the Desert Magazine
for the most accurate identification and descrip-
tion of the stone figure pictured below. The Great Stone Face is in Utah, and is one of the most interesting land-
marks in the Southwest. Below is Mrs. Freda's story:
Photographs sent to the Desert Magazine by Frank Beckwith, Delta, Utah.

By FRIEDA FREDA nation can conjure pictures of the days cloth and paper and multiple other uses.
r
when water was more plentiful in this Jojoba is known by several common
area than now, when Indians lived here names such as coffee berry, goat nut and
HE Landmark pictured in the in large numbers—and of later periods bush nut. Botanically it is Simmondsia
May issue of the Desert Magazine when Escalante's band toiled across this califomica. It is recognized by its thick
is "The Great Stone Face" in west desert—and of a still later period when leathery blue-green leaves and sometimes
central Utah, and bears a striking resem- the Mormon pioneers were trekking this
grows to a height of six or eight feet.
blance to Joseph Smith, one of the Mor- way.
mon prophets.
It is not a hard trip to The Great Stone
This rock face is located 18 miles from Face, but a most inspiring one, especially
Delta, Utah, and is 11 miles from U. S. at high noon when the lights and shad- DESERT QUIZ ANSWERS
Highway No. 6. The road is passable the ows bring out the lines of the face to (Questions on page 26)
year around. best advantage. 1—An Apache chief. 2—Die.
A splendid view of the Utah region 3—Prehistoric Indians.
surrounding this landmark can be ob- 4—A noted fugitive.
tained from the top of the head. The pan- 5—Death Valley. 6—Father Kino.
orama includes Notch peak with an ele- JOJOBA PLANT MAY HAVE 7—New Mexico.
vation of 9725 feet, Marjum pass, Ante- COMMERCIAL VALUE 8—The Navajo language.
lope pass, Swasey peak, the Drum moun- As a result of experiments conducted 9—The Mormon battalion.
:ains, Simpson range, Fish springs range, by the U. S. Forestry service the jojoba 10—A fox.
Mt. Nebo, 11,000 feet, and Mt. Belnap, plant (pronounced ho-hoba), found in 11—Quartzsite, Arizona.
12,200 feet, in the Tushar (White) the deserts of southern Arizona, Califor- 12—Bradshaw stage road.
range. nia and Mexico may find a useful place in 13—Indigo.
Father Escalante passed near here. His American industry. The chemical analysis 14—Determine the navigability of
route was through Scipio pass south of of the oil of this nut shows that it con- the Colorado.
Fillmore, and then west of the present tains 45.66 per cent crude fat. It has been 15—Rock coloration. 16—Silver.
town of Deseret, thence south between used as a substitute for olive oil and in 17—Natural tanks.
Pavant butte and Clear lake to Milford by the manufacture of face cream, soap, rub- 18—U. S. Park service.
way of Beaver creek. ber cement, blow gum, linoleum, baked 19—Apaches. 20—Utah.
Standing at this landmark one's imagi- enamel and as an agent in waterproofing

STRANGE ROCK IN
ta ibeaiA Valley National Monument NEW MEXICO
The popular idea that Death Valley national monument is Who can identify this picture?
dangerous and cannot be traversed during the summer due
to the extreme heat and low relative humidity is correct only
in part. Visitors from the east and those who cannot visit the
valley during the winter months can see this desert wonder-
land in safety and comparative comfort by observing a few
simple rules and using common sense.
On the other hand, the dangers of Death Valley summer
heat are not to be minimized. Temperatures of 120 degrees
or higher in the shade are common; and sun temperatures far
exceed this figure. The extreme heat and the great distances
between inhabited points makes it imperative that precautions
be taken.
The following suggestions are made by the National Park
service authorities to guide those contemplating trips into the
monument between May and October:
1. CARRY PLENTY OF WATER. A minimum of one
half gaJlon of water per person and five gallons for the radi-
ator is necessary. Drinking water is best carried in water bags
or canteens and should not be ice-cold. Radiator water is
available at strategic points along the main roads.
2. HAVE SUFFICIENT GASOLINE AND OIL. Filling
stations are 30 miles or more apart. TIRES should be in good
condition; at least one spare tire is necessary. DO NOT DE-
FLATE TIRES. By the time you reach Death Valley tire
pressure will be constant. Check tire tools and car jack be-
fore starting trip.
3. STAY ON THE MAIN ROADS. The main roads in
the valley are patrolled by park rangers. Unpatrolled roads
are posted as such and should be avoided.
4. STAY WITH YOUR CAR. If car trouble develops,
do not attempt to walk any distance for help. Wait for a
ranger or another traveler.
5. WEAR A HAT while in the sun. A little table salt
in a glass of water aids one materially to withstand the heat.
6. WATCH THE TEMPERATURE OF YOUR CAR
MOTOR. Your car motor will heat on the hills. Cool the
motor if it boils, by turning the car into the wind (usually
the wind blows up hill in the daytime) and leave the motor
idle. Don't turn the ignition off until the temperature of your
motor drops. If a "vapor lock" develops, cool the fuel-pump
and gas line to the carburetor with a wet cloth, and let motor
cool. If on a hill, the motor can be started by coasting in gear.
Do not blow into the gas tank; the gasoline will spurt back Prize Contest Announcement
into your face. A fairly large book might be written about the rock
7. DON'T TAKE CHANCES, DON'T GET EXCITED. shown in the above picture. Both its history and its present
USE COMMON SENSE. Inquire of a ranger regarding cur- day status are interesting.
rent road information in the monument, and heed his advice. It is located in New Mexico, in a place easily accessible.
If the above suggestions are observed, your summer trip into Hundreds of visitors go there every year and hear the strange
Death Valley will be a pleasant adventure. Often the daytime story connected with this formation.
temperature is only 100 degrees or so, and in any case the Desert Magazine readers who pride themselves on their
low relative humidity makes even higher temperatures no knowledge of the Southwest should know more about this
more than uncomfortable. rock. As a test for those who have visited the place, and
as a source of information for others, a prize of $5.00 will
Many of the side trips in the high country are open, and be paid by the Desert Magazine to the reader who identifies
areas inaccessible during the winter can be visited with ease. the picture and sends in the best 500 word story about it.
For instance, one can drive up Wildrose canyon to Mahogany The manuscript should include exact location, highway
flat, at an elevation of 8500, and hike six miles on an easy facilities, and all the history and interesting facts which can
trail to Telescope peak, 11,325 feet above the Valley floor. be put into a 500-word descriptive article. Entries should be
Last year upward of 7000 people visited the monument addressed to Landmarks Editor, Desert Magazine, El Centra,
during the summer months and due to the travel to the San California, and must be received by August 20, 1939. The
Francisco World's Fair this figure is expected to be materially winning reply will be published in the October number of
increased this summer. this magazine.
A UGU S T 19 3 9 29
GALLUP, NEW MEXICO rjete and Tkete
"THE INDIAN CAPITAL" . . . O N THE DESERT
ARIZONA Showlow . . .
INVITES YOU TO THE Headed by Dr. Emil W. Haury of Ari-
Flagstaff . . . zona U. anthropology department, 14 archae-
18TH nnnuflL Hon-why-nem, (Walking Girl), first
Hopi Indian girl to receive a degree from
any college, was a member of the 1939
ological students are excavating 10 miles
south of here the site of a city believed to
have flourished about 700 A. D. as part
INTER-TRIBAL graduating class, Arizona State teachers col- of the Mogollon culture.
lege. Oraibi—which claims to be the oldest
continuously inhabited town in North Yuma . . .
America—is Walking Girl's home. She says Surveys are under way for water tanks
she will teach in Indian service schools. and other improvements on the 690,000-
acre Kofa mountain wildlife refuge, first
Tucson . . . steps to preserve Bighorn sheep range in
White man makes tardy discovery he arid southwestern Arizona. Engineers of
doesn't know as much about beans as the U. S. grazing service and U. S. Indian ser-
Indian knew 400 years ago. Prof. Ian Briggs vice are working with officials of the federal
of the state university announces the red biological survey. John Ray Painter, regional
man was right when he grew the Hopi grazier, says: "Indian service will supply
(lima) bean in days when primitive Ameri- a crew of 40 men throughout the year to
can agriculture struggled along without improve the range. These men are now in
farm advisors and crop benefits. Pale-face camp on the range, enrolled in the CCC.
experts later talked the Indian into plant- Surveyors will stake out water holes and
ing other kinds of beans. Now these white- spillways to be built this year."
collared specialists find the Indian knew
best, the Hopi bean is tops for Indian farm- Kingman . . .
ers, says Professor Briggs. An "improved" Soon the state flag will float from the
strain of the Hopi bean will be tried. quarterdeck of an addition to the Arizona
navy. State's Colorado river commission an-
Phoenix . . . nounces plans for 18-foot flatbottomed boat
Arizona will buy 152,208 pairs of 1940 to navigate the Colorado for inspection of
license plates for private automobiles and damsites "and other matters." One duty of
FEATURING trucks. State highway department has called new flagship will be to collect samples of
for bids, will also want 7,618 single plates sand, rock and other material from pro-
7000 inomns for trailers, motorcycles and dealers' cars. posed Bridge canyon damsite at upper end
Passenger automobiles will use 116,750 of Lake Mead.
pairs of plates. Passenger car plates will
have dark blue letters on white background, Grand Canyon . . .
commercial plates yellow letters on black. One of the boats used by Maj. John Wes-
OF Across the top "Ariz. 1940," across the ley Powell on his second expedition down
bottom "Grand Canyon State." Maricopa the Colorado river in 1871-72, found near
county takes the lion share of passenger car the Paria on the Weaver ranch, has been
31 TRIB€S plates, 50,000. Next county, Pima, uses

19,000.
Phoenix . . .
placed in the museum here. Identity of the
craft as the "Nellie Powell" has been estab-
lished, says Edwin D. McKee, park natural-
ist. Frederick S. Dellenbaugh, recorder for
"The Padre on Horseback" is bronze the Powell expedition, wrote: "We had to
plaque to be placed at St. Francis Xavier leave one boat, the Nellie Powell, behind
• DANCES and Powell gave it to John D . Lee, who
chapel here in honor of Father Eusebio
Kino. The plaque shows Father Kino riding had been helpful to us. With this he started
• RITES the ferry known by his name." The old hull
in the desert foothills of the Pima Indian
reservation. Forty-two inches high, the was unearthed near Lee's Ferry by Leo
• CHANTS Weaver.
memorial carries this legend: "1645-Eusebio
• SPORTS Francisco Kino, S. J.—1711. Apostle to the
Pimas. Mighty spiritual captain; dauntless
• HANDICRAFTS explorer; earliest ranchman in the Spanish CALIFORNIA
Southwest; builder of missions; statesman.
He was the first to traverse and map Pim- Banning . . .
eria Aha (Northern Sonora and Southern Metropolitan district's aqueduct from the
MAIL COUPON FOR FREE Arizona) ; he first brought domestic animals Colorado river to the coastal plain will be
INFORMATION into Arizona; San Xavier Mission was ready to carry water as soon as a 700-foot
founded by him; and he it was who proved siphon at the west portal of San Jacinto
INTER-TRIBAL CEREMONIAL ASSN. that California is not an island but a penin- tunnel is completed. Construction under
Gallup, New Mexico sula accessible from Northern Mexico.— way will be finished by the time clean-up
Frank C. Lockwood." work in the tunnel is done. Thirteen miles
Please send me free literature and in- of railroad track used in excavating and
formation about the Inter-Tribal Indian Tucson . . . lining the tunnel must be removed. Tunnel
Ceremonial August 17, 18, 19 and 20. Phelps Dodge corporation gives a new lining of concrete has been placed.
college of mines building to Arizona uni-
versity. Entire cost of more than a quarter Indio . . .
NAME
million dollars will be paid by the corpor- Ice-dip packing for sweet corn brings
ation. University regents have ordered plans profits to George Ames, produce shipper.
STREET NUMBER for construction, following unanimous vote Corn is crated, each crate holding four to
to accept the offer made by P. G. Beckett, six dozen ears is dipped in a vat of crushed
P-D vice president. The building will be ice, kept there 30 minutes, then loaded into
CITY STATE
named in honor of Dr. James Douglas, refrigerator trucks or refrigerator express
pioneer in Arizona copper mining. Ninety- cars. The corn is said to arrive at destination
three of the 383 students enrolled at the in better condition than untreated corn fresh
college are registered in mining engineering. picked in the field.

Barstow . . . Carson City . . . scenic Yampa river canyon from Lily Park,
Alfred Merritt Smith (Long Tom) has Colo., announcing their destination as the
Wild burros roaming the desert regions
of California found defenders in the state been reappointed state engineer. This is Dinosaur national monument or the Jensen
legislature when senate and assembly voted third major appointment of Governor E. P. bridge on the Green river. Leader of the
approval of a bill to prohibit slaughter of Carville. Smith is a native of Nevada, expedition was Bus Hatch, who had made
the old-time prospector's friend and pack- graduate of the state university, completed five trips over the route, noting caves, natur-
anirral. Senator Ralph Swing said burros on May 28 a four-year term in the office al bridges and other formations interesting
were being killed to make cat and dog food. Carville asked him to retain. to explorers.
Desert dwellers, however, are not unani- e • •
mous in saying a good word for the burro.
NEW MEXICO
KEEP COOL
Some cattlemen say burros hog water holes,
prevent calves from drinking, cause live- Santa Fe . . .
stock losses.
Federal government appropriation of
$250,000 for Coronado exposition pageants AT LONG BEACH
Palm Springs . . . in Arizona, West Texas and New Mexico in
Petitions for disincorporation of Palm 1940 has been recommended by the state
Springs were shy 14 names of the required department at Washington. Celebrations
20 per cent of voters, Superior Judge O. K. commemorating 400th anniversary of Coro-
Morton has ruled. Therefore the court acted nado's exploration of the Southwest thus
to cancel election which had been scheduled receive endorsement insuring congressional
for June 20 on the question whether this action, says New Mexico's Senator Chavez.
community should continue its incorporated
existence. There were 306 names on the Las Vegas . . .
petition, but only 261 were qualified voters Announcement by Governor Miles launch-
as of November 8, the court was advised by es proposal to establish a national monu-
Mrs. Harriett Cody. ment at old Fort Union near here on the
THIS SUMMER STAY A T
Santa Fe trail. Plans call for transfer of
Bishop . . .
Thirteen-day wilderness trip in the saddle
1200 acres to the federal government under
surveys the park service has been asked to HOTEL LflfflYETTE
is sponsored by American Forestry associ- make. Road would be built to the fort site A Distinctive Hotel reflecting the
ation. Schedule calls for departure of "Trail from U. S. highway 85. utmost in refinement and comfort.
Riders" from Bishop on August 20 for ex- Albuquerque . . . TARIFF FROM $2.50
ploration of high Sierra country in Inyo, After 25 years in the U. S. biological sur-
Sierra and Sequoia national forests. The
party will be led by Norman (Ike) Liver-
vey, Regional director Don A. Gilchrist is CflFE LflfflYETTEi
retiring. From headquarters here Gilchrist the Cafe par excellence serving the
more, veteran Sierra club guide. has supervised activities in Texas. Okla-
• • • choicest of foods prepared for
homa, New Mexico and Arizona. John C. those who are accustomed to better
NEVADA Gatling of this city will be acting director. than the average.
Alamogordo . . . Broadway at Linden—Long Beach, Cal.
Boulder City . . . Contract was awarded to Skousen brothers
Game wardens are upset, fishing laws for of Albuquerque for surfacing 29 miles of EARL R. MILTON, MANAGER
Lake Mead behind Boulder dam are a highway between the White Sands and the
"tangled mess," anglers are confused. Organ mountains, closing the last gap on
Sheriff M. E. Ward arrested Bob Robinson highway 70 between here and Las Cruces.
vncflTion
for alleged violation of rules established by
Arizona and Nevada commissions. But dis- Santa Fe . . .
trict attorney Roland H. Wiley refuses to Hand-carved plaques will mark the his-
prosecute until the Nevada attorney general toric palace of the governors now housing
hands down an opinion. Trouble: Nevada the state museum here. At each side of the
main entrance, plaques will carry legends
legislature passed a bill empowering the
state fish and game commission to fix legal
limits for fishing in the lake and river,
outlining history of the building from its
construction about 1612, through Spanish,
where the desert
after agreement with the Arizona commis-
sion. Wiley says the bill provides no penal-
ty for violation. There is a general law
Mexican and American rule.
Gcrllcrher . . .
Thomas R. Gallaher, passenger traffic
takes a dip!
which does set up a limit, prescribes penal- manager of the Santa Fe railroad system, is This year relax on the cool, clean
ties. honored in the new name of this station, sands of the beach at Del Mar, Southern
known until June 11 as Portair. California's distinctive seaside resort . .
Carson City . . . • • • where the quaint charm of merrie old
Collection of relics from caves and In- England wins instant favor among
dian mounds—especially in White Pine
UTAH sports-enthusiasts and sun-lazers alike.
county—is authorized in a WPA project Salt Lake City . . .
for which $15,000 is expected. Curator M. Enjoy the savory food . . . slumber
High flying geology students of the state
R. Harrington of the Southwest museum of university pursue their collegiate work in deep in comfy beds . . . at Del Mar,
Los Angeles will direct the work. Harring- the clouds. A transport plane has been chart- where the desert meets the blue Pacific.
ton uncovered the lost city at St. Thomas; ered for their use, trips have been made AMERICAN PLAN
made discoveries at Lovelock cave in Persh- over Grand, Zion and Bryce canyons. In-
ing county, at Gypsum cave and near Pyra- structor Bronson Stringham says: "For ele- $6 to $10 Single $10 to $18 Double
mid lake, where his activities were sus- mentary geology study an airplane trip is EUROPEAN PLAN
pended when Indians protested. Interesting unequaled because it gives the students a
finds during the White Pine digging will general viewpoint of large formations." $2.50 to $7 Single $5 to $12 Double
be placed in the state museum at the old Hite . . .
mint building here. 20 miles north
Bert Loper began his 47th year as a
riverman when he launched here a rowboat of San Diego
Silver Peak . . .
expedition bound for Lee's Ferry on the
Light signals flashed across the desert Colorado, first expedition of the season to
notify miners in an isolated community start downstream on a journey scheduled 105 miles
when telegrams are received at the local to end at Boulder dam. Loper will be 70 south o]
substation of the Nevada-California Elec- years old on July 31, says he will celebrate Los Angeles
tric corporation for any one at the mine. his birthday at the end of the voyage. He
By rough and dusty road it is 15 miles is chaperoning (wo geologists to Lee's Fer-
from the power station to the mine. System ry, will pick up there a party of four to
worked out with the mine superintendent: continue to the dam.
Power crew turns off station lights at exact-
ly 8 o'clock at night, to report receipt of Vernal . . .
a telegram. In the clear desert air the lights To photograph the "highest vertical drop
are seen easily at the mine, a messenger is cliffs in the world" three men and their
sent to pick up the wire. wives planned a trip by boat down the
A U G U S T , 1 9 3 9 31
ing trips, later in archaeological expedi-
tions.
OF YESTERDAY AND TODAY His bond with Mexico was strength-
—a monthly review of the best literature ened when he became chief surgeon for
of the desert Southwest, past and present. the extensive mining and lumber interests
of Bill Greene and Albert B. Fall in the
states of Chihuahua and Sonora.
DOCTOR FINDS ADVENTURE May 1939, he has told of his life from Upon his resignation and return to F.I
ON SOUTHWESTERN FRONTIER the early days of practice in Ft. Davis, Paso, he found revolution in the air. His
When young Dr. Bush turned his back Pecos and El Paso through the aftermath friendship with those who now became
on Louisiana swamplands and headed for of the Madero revolution in Mexico. leaders in the revolt led the Gringo doc-
west Texas, he had already discarded his "There is a difference between a green- tor to become not only an American sym-
"wild and woolly West" ideas. It was horn and a tenderfoot. The greenhorn pathizer in raising funds and ammuni-
1891—the Apache troubles had been may learn, but the tenderfoot never." Dr. tion, but to assume the active duties of
quelled a few years before; the stagecoach Bush was a greenhorn, but not for long. Coronet del Cuerpo Medico Militar de
had been outmoded almost ten years. As His easy adaptability and his skill as a Ejercito Libertador. As a friend of Ma-
he traveled west in the luxurious kero- surgeon soon won him the confidence dero, Abraham Gonzales and Pancho Vil-
sene-lighted train, the comparative civili- la, and as a participant in the 1911 revo-
zation of eastern Texas gave no hint of and friendship of American, Mexican and
Indian alike. lution, Dr. Bush was able to give a clear
the adventures awaiting him—adventures exposition of the forces at work across
of more momentous character than those After eight years of practice in the
rugged Davis mountain country, where the border and of the circumstances
associated with many of the Western which caused distrust and resentment
heroes. there were only four doctors to an area
against the government at Washington.
For Dr. I. J. Bush was not only to play as large as Massachusetts, he settled in
El Paso, which was then a wide-open GRINGO DOCTOR is more than the
the important role of a frontier doctor,
Western town of 16,000 population. It autobiography of a Western pioneer. Be-
but to enter into affairs of national and
international consequence. In GRINGO was during this period that his interest cause of the author's association with
DOCTOR, published by Caxton Printers, in Mexico began, first in big game hunt- men and events of unusual significance,
his book is also the story of a western
frontier during the years of its most im-
portant changes.
For almost 40 years Dr. Bush was a
3oti/ofjtkel?e5ett~\^
:otu o BOOKS beloved citizen of El Paso—he died just
two days before his book left the bindery.
($3.00) LUCILE HARRIS.
MINERALS AND GEMS . . . HISTORY AND GENERAL . . . • O •
GETTING ACQUAINTED W I T H BOOKS OF THE SOUTHWEST, Mary

MINERALS, G. L. English. Fine in- Tucker. 105 page bibliography. Paper
IT TOOK 50 YEARS TO
troduction to mineralogy. 258 illus- bound 75c CONQUER THE APACHES
trations, 324 pp .. $2.50 DEATH VALLEY, W . A. Chalfant. Au- Traditional bad men" of the South-
LEGENDS OF GEMS, H. L. Thomson. thentic history of the famous sink. west were the Apaches. They were kill-
Elementary principles of gems and 160 pages, ill $2.75
gem-cutting. 136 pp $1-15 DESERT OF THE PALMS, Don Admir-
ing and robbing their Indian neighbors
HANDBOOK FOR THE AMATEUR al. Scenic wonders of the Palm in the Pueblo villages long before the
LAPIDARY, J. H. Howard. One of the Springs region. 56 pages 50c first Europeans appeared on American
best guides for the beginner gem- DESERT ROUGH CUTS, Harry Oliver. soil — and when the Spaniards carried
cutter. 140 pages. Good illustration, Novelty booklet on Borrego Valley. their New World conquest into New
at $2.00 64 pp $1.50
Mexico the wild tribesmen of the desert
QUARTZ FAMILY MINERALS, Dake, I MARRIED A RANGER, Mrs. W. M.
etc. New and authoritative handbook Smith. Amusing experiences at Grand immediately transferred their hatred to
for the mineral collector. Illustrated. Canyon. 179 pages $1.00 the newcomers.
304 pages $2.50 CALIFORNIA DESERTS, Edmund Jae- Still later, in 1848 when the treaty of
ger. Complete information on Colo- Guadalupe Hidalgo gave the New Mexi-
CACTI AND BOTANY . . . rado and Mojave deserts. 209 pages,
CACTI FOR THE AMATEUR, S. E. illustrated $2.00 co region to the United States—the en-
Haselton. By a ranking cacti authority. DEATH VALLEY, A GUIDE, New mity of the Apaches became an unwritten
Color illustrations. Paper cover $1.00, publication of Federal Writers Pro- legacy. And then followed 50 years of
board cover $1.50. ject. Very complete and beautifully guerilla warfare that constitute one of
CACTUS A N D ITS HOME, Forrest illustrated $1.00
BORN OF THE DESERT, C. R. Rock-
the blackest chapters in American history.
Shreve. A readable book for cacti and
succulent hobbyists. Illustrated. 195 wood. Story of Imperial Valley's con- Charles Morgan Wood many years
pages $1.50 quest 50c ago began the tremendous research task
DESERT CACTI, A. T. Helm. New INDIANS . . . necessary to publish a completely docu-
edition of a unique booklet, illustrated mented record of the Apaches and their
with sketches 50c FIRST PENTHOUSE DWELLERS OF
AMERICA, Ruth Underbill. Life and relations with Indian, Mexican and
MAGAZINES . . . customs of the Pueblos. 154 pages, American. Wood died before his work
profusely illustrated $2.75
DESERT MAGAZINE, Complete Vol- INDIAN TRIBES OF THE SOUTH-
was completed, and it remained for
ume 1 with handsome binder. Com- WEST, Mrs. W . M. Smith. A vivid Frank C. Lockwood of the University of
pletely indexed $4.50 useful handbook on the desert tribes. Arizona to finish the work his friend had
160 pages $1.00 started.
Orders filled day received. Prices above Dr. Lockwood's book THE APACHE
postpaid in U. S. A.; sales tax 3 % added Desert Crafts Shop INDIANS, was published last year by
for buyers in California. 597 State Street El Centro, Calif. The MacMillan Company of New York,
and is generally accepted as the most

authentic history of this time and people
yet compiled.
Dr. Lockwood writes as a true histor-
ian—putting blame where the records
The Desert Trading Post
establish that it should be placed, and Classified advertising in this section cotts eight cents a word, $1.60 minimum
giving credit where it is due. He finds per issue—actually about 10 cents per thousand readers.
there were bad Apaches and good Apach-
es, just as the white officials sent out
from Washington to deal with them in- POINTS OF INTEREST OPPORTUNITY
cluded both men of honor and scoun- CATHEDRAL CITY, California: The Desert SALESMEN are making as high as $45 a day
drels. Village. A quiet place to live under the selling inexpensive new air-coolers for auto-
"Pity was a feeling unknown to the life-giving sun. See W . R. HILLERY. mobiles. Priced low, easily attached to any
car. Every desert driver will want one.
Apacne, cruelty an ingrained quality," BENSON'S Service Station. Headquarters for Quick sales, immediate delivery. Choice
writes the author. "It must be admitted visitors to Borrego desert region. Gas, oil, territory still open. For agent's terms and
that he was never able to conceive of water, meals, cabins, trailer space, informa- territory write Koolair Company, 1354 Ray-
tion. On Julian-Kane Springs highway. P.O. mond Ave., Long Beach, California.
pains more cruel than those he suffered Box 108, Westmorland, California.
from his Christian enemies. The only BOOKS
difference between them and him was INVESTMENT
that the Apache openly confessed and
practiced his creed of cruelty and rapacity, YOUNG MAN 28, desires to make invest-
ment in business proposition of merit; with
whereas the white man hypocritically pro- or without services. Address E. J. Edwards,
fessed mercy and honesty and at the same 3134 N. Kimball Ave., Chicago, Illinois. A HAYWIRE HI STORY OF
THE BORE.GO DEJERT~
time surpassed the Apache in deeds of
dishonor and blood." DESERT MUSEUM BY HARRY OLIVER
For those who would become better ANTELOPE VALLEY INDIAN MUSEUM
acquainted with the characters and deeds 21 miles east of Lancaster. Be sure to visit PIPE
of Cochise, Mangas Colorada, Geroni- this interesting place. See the relics
mo, and the lesser chieftains on the one of primitive man; how he lived,
fought and died.
side, and Gen. Crook, Capt. Jeffords,
Camp Grounds — Cabin — Pic-
Lieut Gatewood and other Americans nic Tables. Director: H. Arden
who played leading roles in the long Edwards. Resident Curator: Rex Johnson,
warfare against the redskins, this book Mail Address: Lancaster, California.
gives most if not all the answers. ($3.50)
R. H. GEMS AND MINERALS
• • • OPALIZED WOOD. Fine assortment from INCOME PROPERTY
HOW TO COOL THE near Goldfield, Nevada. Send 25c for sam-
ple specimen or $1.00 for beautiful 2x3x4
SUMMER TEMPERATURES
Two members of the mechanical en-
inch specimen. Postpaid. Gem Tourist Court,
R. D. No. 2, Box 250A, Redlands, Calif.
$35,000 Annual Income
gineering faculty at the University of
Arizona, Tucson, have just completed a
41/2 miles west of Redlands on Highway 99.
Clear of All Expenses
30-page booklet giving detailed infor- USE THE A WINTER PLAY RANCH
mation for the construction and operation A SUMMER PAY RANCH
of evaporative air coolers now in general Gem
use in the desert area. Cutting 400 acres. Just around the moun-
According to the estimates of Martin machine tains (40 miles) from Palm Springs
L. Thornburg and Paul M. Thornburg, with longer days and milder
w\ A . FEIKER 3521 Emerald St., Torrance, California
authors of the book, the cost of a home- climate.
made air cooler may vary from $10 to • Free from high winds and dust
$100, and the operation normally is not storms.
more than one cent an hour.
The booklets are being distributed by
the Agricultural Extension service at the
Gem Collectors! • 275 acres Thompson Seedless grapes
• First grapes to reach Eastern markets,
so they bring higher prices.
university. You may now obtain a fine sample
• 30 acres Deglet Noor dates
• • • collection of 15 different species of
• 10 flowing wells. 325 inches of
UTAH WRITERS PREPARING desert gems and minerals. Attrac- water.
HISTORICAL VOLUMES tive case includes copper ore, tour- • Sports—horseback, shooting, tennis
Writers in the service of the Works court, swimming pool, etc.
maline, silver and galena, rose
Progress Administration in Utah have Efficient foreman gives owner freedom.
quartz, dumortierite, petrified wood,
just completed their 23rd volume in a marcasite, turquoise, agate, jasper,
Harvesting began in June — Therefore, it's
series of county history surveys which important to see the ranch, N O W , while
Iceland spar, onyx, fluorite, obsid- the crop is intact. Glad to show you.
have been in preparation since 1935.
The current survey is a 260-page mime- ian, and gold ore. RANCH COST $225,000. PRICE
ographed book covering the history and NOW $210,000
administration of Tooele county and was Boxed set, including small hand
TERMS TO RESPONSIBLE BUYER
editec by Hugh F. O'Neil, state editor- lens $1.00
supervisor for the project. Plus Sales Tax in California Excellent reason for selling and that rea-
son is your big opportunity.
The series when completed is to cover
all of the 29 counties in the state, with
an additional volume for 10 county units
DESERT CRAFTS SHOP JOHn m. GATES
not now in existence. 597 State St. El Centro, Calif. SECURITY BUILDING PASADENA
A U G U S T , 1 9 3 9 33
For the historical data
PRINTING Desert Place Names contained in this de-

partment t h e Desert
Magazine is indebted to the research work done by the late Will C. Barnes,
FOR THE DESERT author of "Arizona Place Names;" to Frances Rosser Brown of New Mexico,
• STATIONERY to Margaret Hussmann of Nevada, Hugh F. O'Neil of Utah, and to James
• BOOKLETS A. Jasper of Los Angeles.
• CARDS
• MAILING PIECES ARIZONA NEW MEXICO
Suggestive of the desert. ANTELOPE HILL Yuim county SANTA RITA Gr?nt county
W E SUPPLY ART WORK, An early day stage station about 50 miles Named by the Spanish when Indians some
east of Yuma on the old Yuma-Tucson road, time before 1700 showed them the deposit
ENGRAVING AND PRINTING of copper here. Called by Mexicans Santa
south side of Gila river. Hinton's Hand-
Dummies and quotations gladly book calls it Antelope peak, says: "It is a Rita del Cobre, Saint Rita of the Copper,
furnished. singular mass of volcanic rock whose north- when John R. Bartlett, leader of the inter-
ern side rises bold and sheer to its ragged national boundary commission, came here in
ELITE PRINTING COMPANY top." J. Ross Browne in 1864 wrote, "It 1851. For many years the Spaniards mined
597 State Street was called Antelope peak station, was in the native copper, about 9 8 % pure, and
charge of two soldiers who had hay for carried it on pack mules and by wagon train
E L CENTRO, CALIFORNIA
supplying government teams." Poston, com- to Mexico City. On the return trip freighters
menting on numbers of antelope in the vi- delivered supplies to Santa Rita. Small piles
cinity, gives this poetical derivation: of Santa Rita ore may be seen today at a
"We next pass peak of Antelope, few places along the old trail, where a pack
Where road with river had to cope; mule probably was killed by Indians. The
SUBSCRIBE T O mines were worked at one time by convict
Where once, in happy days gone by,
labor, under guard of Spanish soldiers garri-
HOOFS -NP HORNS The harmless antelope could fly
To quench their thirst with Gila drink." soned in a triangular fort, one corner of
A Western Range Magazine which is standing now. American settlers
BEALE SPRING Mohave county began to locate here about 1804. In 1838
Its contents cover a wide range of A few miles northwest of Kingman. Apaches captured supply trains near the
subjects, all closely connected with Named for Lieut. E. F. Beale, graduate of camp and announced no others would be
Western activities — Rodeos and Annapolis, who served as a lieutenant in permitted to pass through their territory.
Roundups — Western poetry — the U. S. Navy during the Mexican war. Santa Rita was abandoned then until the
Western pictures. You'll enjoy each When he resigned from the navy at the U. S. boundary commission opened head-
issue! Send your subscription today. close of the war, Beale became an explorer. quarters here in 1851. Since that time the
Widely known is his survey for a wagon copper has been worked from open pit
O N E YEAR $1.00
road from Fort Smith, Ark., to the Colorado mines. At present the prospected area covers
T H R E E YEARS $2.00
river (1858-1859). He named many places approximately 3/4 of a mile in width and
FIVE YEARS $3.50
1-3/4 miles in length. It has been worked to
HOOFS AND HORNS in northern Arizona, died in 1893. His
a depth of 600 feet.
brother George was a member of his party
in southwestern exploration. Vanished Ari-
P. O. Box 790 Tucson, Arizona zona (1874): "Beale's spring did not differ
from the other ranches except possibly it UTAH
NAME was even more desolate. A German lived SOLDIERS SUMMIT Carbon county
there who must have had a knowledge of Named for soldiers of Albert Sidney
cookery, for we bought a peach pie which Johnston's army. Returning to the east after
ADDRESS we ate with relish. I remember we paid the Mormon rebellion in 1858, the troops
him a big silver dollar for it." Hinton says were caught in a blizzard at this point in
the spring is an abandoned military post. Spanish Fork canyon and several died from
In the Center of Downtown exposure. Ele. 7,440 ft.
KOOSHAREM (koo-shar-omp) Sevier county
LOS ANGELES CALIFORNIA Indian village. Name means "roots that
are good to eat," is derived from wild red
HAVASU LAKE (hav'-a-su) clover plants flourishing in the vicinity,
which were cooked and eaten.
FOURTH Ah San Bernardino county
Artificial lake, formed by impounding
SPRING SI Colorado river behind Parker dam, extends NEVADA
DOWNTOWN 50 miles northwesterly from the dam to a
point a few miles south of Needles, Cali- BOWERS MANSION Washoe county-
fornia. It borders also on Yuma and Mohave Sandy Bowers was a placer miner. Eilley
Orrum was a laundress. They held adjoin-
counties in Arizona. Lake area about 25,000 ing claims at Virginia City. When the Corn-
acres. Name proposed by secretary of the stock Lode was uncovered, silver catapulted
interior Harold L. Ickes and John C. Page, them into the lap of luxury. They married,
commissioner of the bureau of reclamation, immediately built in Washoe Valley an elab-
has been approved by board of geographic orately pretentious home with many land-
names. Havasu is the Mojave Indian word scaped acres, swimming pools, formal gar-
for "blue." Members of the tribe attended dens. In the showy house they hung crystal
the celebration marking completion of Par- chandeliers, golden knobs gleamed on every
ker dam. When the Indians saw the lake, door. Bowers was the only one of the Lode's
their leader was astonished at its color and original owners who cashed in a fortune.
called it havasu. They had expected to see He held on to his claim while it produced
the coffee-colored water of the river, in- richly from the bonanza near the surface,
stead a clear blue lake stretched before their mining at minimum cost. Sandy and Eilley
Right in the center of activities.. eyes. Parker dam is 155 miles below Boul- rode righ on a fast-rising tide of quick
. . . . a quiet, comfortable hotel der dam, is the diversion point for the great wealth, a tide which ebbed as rapidly as it
home . . 200 rooms * j Oc aqueduct of the Metropolitan Water district flowed to peak, left the one-time placer
From $ 2 with from of Southern California. Built from the dam, miner and laundress stranded, broke. When
Private Bath Sandy died, Eilley turned Bowers Mansion,
across arid deserts and through rugged its landscaped grounds and swimming pools,
mountains, this artificial waterway carries into a resort. She died a pauper, telling for-
Angclus De Anza one billion gallons of water daily, serving
13 cities in the metropolitan district tribu-
tunes, herself unfortunate. For sometime the
place was popular for picnics and swimming
H O T E L tary to Los Angeles. parties.

Descanso, California . . .
Promotion of a custom mill to handle
gold ore from San Diego county mines is
proposed by Will Crosby, former director
of the Julian bureau of mines. Present trans-
port rates are so high, Crosby says, that only
Hope springs eternal in the prospector's Prescott, Arizona . . . comparatively rich ores can be shipped
breast, despite official warnings that odds profitably. Shipments from recent discoveries
are badly against success for the gold seek- Sale of the Monte Cristo silver mine at in Long Valley averaged $80 a ton in re-
er. Walter Bradley, chief of California's Constellation, 12 miles northeast of Wick- turns from the Selby smelter at San Fran-
division of mines, says average earnings enburg, transfers the property from receiver- cisco and $150 a ton from selected ore sent
from hand placer mining in the state amount ship to M. B. Dudley of Kingman and Dr. to Rosamond near Mojave. Minimum freight
to less than 50 cents per day per person. N. H. Morrison of Phoenix. New owners seems to be about $10 a ton.
"It's a tough business," says Bradley, "and say active operation will begin immediately.
in most cases it doesn't pay." Bradley in- The Monte Cristo was first developed by
vites persons interested in locating or hold- the late Ezra Thayer of Phoenix, said to Daggett, California . . .
ing mineral claims to communicate with his have spent several hundred thousand dol- Dr. Rose L. Burcham of Alhambra has
department, which has offices in the Ferry lars during 16 years' development. He- sold to Burcham Mines, Inc., H. S. Kim-
building, San Francisco. blocked out ore, removed none. C. C. Julian, ball of Hollywood, president, the Burcham
late oil promoter, bought the property in mine in the Calico district near here. This
1926, for price reported as $500,000 cash property, known chiefly for its silver values,
Stafford, Arizona . . . and $500,000 in bonds. Julian installed was first worked by Mrs. Burcham's hus-
mill and other machinery, but before actual- band, who was one of the original owners
Discovery of the first commercial deposit ly operating the mine he went to China
of cobalt in the United States is reported in of the Yellow Aster mine or Randsburg.
and died. Receivership followed. At one time Mrs. Burcham owned and op-
the Turnbull mining district of the Graham
mountain region west of here. Chicago erated the Randsburg water company, held
lessees of 41 claims are said to have pledged also other interests in that camp.
immediate development to justify install- Tombstone, Arizona . . . • • •
ation of a 50-ton mill. Cobalt is defined as Morenci, Arizona . . .
a tough, lustrous, silver-white metal related Ore shipments from local mines main-
to and occurring with iron and nickel. It tained during June an average of one car Phelps Dodge corporation is driving
is used as a component of certain alloy daily. Most operators were trying to ship ahead here with a program to spend
steels. Bunkhouse and messhall have been all available ore before the month end, as $27,000,000 before smelting a single pound
built at discovery site and work is under insurance against loss in case of cut in of metal from "the largest known copper
way to develop a water supply for the pro- price of silver. Meantime Arizona miners deposit in the United States." Stripping of
posed mill. joined other western operators in a cam- the immense orebody is proceeding accord-
paign to advocate government fixing price ing to schedule. Four diesel locomotives
for silver at a definite and permanent figure. will be added to equipment carrying away
W. J. Graham, president of the state small the overburden and dumping it to make a
Salt Lake City, Utah . . . mine operators association says a stable level spot for the new town. "Copper by
Sixth annual metal mining convention and price is necessary since prosperity of western 1941" is the slogan of the P-D force work-
exposition of the western division of Ameri- mining so largely depends on silver. ing on the big job.
can mining congress will be held here Au-
gust 28-31. Prominent mining men from all
parts of the west will serve on the program
committee, headed by George H. Rupp of
Pueblo, manager of the Colorado Fuel and
Iron corporation. Fred Gray of Desert Sil-
ver, Inc., Nevada, and Joseph Walton of the
Arizona copper board, are program com-
mittee state chairmen. Arizona small mine
operators predict convention discussion of
GO S.P. TO SEE
many problems of the small mine operators.
Winnemucca, Nevada . . .
BOTH FAIRS!
Jumbo Extension mining corporation an- Only $135 first class roundtrip (plus
nounces purchase of the historic Alabama berth charge) to New York either
gold mine from its Florida owners. The way via San Francisco. In coaches
Alabama is at the east side of the Slumber-
ing hills, has produced considerable paying $90 roundtrip.
ore s::nce its discovery in 1910. Equipment
includes a small mill and mine plant.
Hawthorne, Nevada . . .
Designed to treat 50 tons of ore daily,
a new mill at the Junietta group of gold
properties near Aurora is scheduled to be-
gin operation in September. Under lease
and purchase option from the Goldfield
consolidated mines company by H. W.
Evans, E. J. Neil and others, development
work on these claims has been carried on
during the past year. Operators say three
ledges with average width of five feet
have been uncovered, ore running close to By using Southern Pacific's choice of scenic routes
$10 p e r ton. to "go one way, return another," you can SEE
T W I C E AS M U C H S C E N E R Y T O O !
Phoenix, Arizona . . .
Thrty-one new mining operations were
started in Arizona in the period between
December 1, 1938 and May 30, 1939, ac-
Southern Pacific
cording to report by Tom Foster, state mine
inspector.
AUGUST, 1939 35
By RANDALL HENDERSON
/O Y the time this number of the Desert Magazine is off their shoulders and go out in the desert and investigate for
1/ the press I will be somewhere in Arizona or New Mexi- themselves, they believed what was told them and passed
•^^ co—on a vacation trip in the fascinating plateau coun- resolutions accordingly.
try among the Indians and traders and park rangers — in a But the greater Anza park project is not dead. Selfish pri-
land of painted hills and fantastic buttes and interesting vate interests have opposed every state and national park
people. project ever presented, but that has not prevented the Ameri-
This desert is too big for one person to cover. I get away can people from acquiring a fine system of public parks.
from the office for a day or two occasionally and see as much Sooner or later the citizens of San Diego will learn the truth
of it as I can. But I am always in too much of a hurry. I have about the Carrizo and Vallecito desert region. Then the con-
time only to say hello to folks with whom I would like to troversy can be settled on its merits, and that is all that the
spend a whole evening, or several days. That isn't the way advocates of the park proposal are asking.
to travel — I miss the really important things—the heart to * * *
heart chats with real people—the beauty that can be appreci- The Creator did not design this world as a place to be de-
ated only when one is unhurried and relaxed. voted exclusively to growing potatoes and fattening hogs and
I am looking forward to the time when the Desert Maga- digging for gold. It would be a drab dull earth indeed if such
zine will have a bigger staff and I can turn more of the de- had been the plan. And yet there are many men among us—
tail of the office over to others. Then I can load my bedroll unfortunately some of them in high places—who would make-
and camera and some hardtack and beans in the car and it just that, if they could have their way about it.
spend days at a time in the canyons and on the mesas with * * *
companions who have not become too "civilized" to lose I want to pay my tribute to the memory of George P. Irish
their sense of true values. There are many of that kind of who died a few days ago in Los Angeles. He pioneered in the
folks in the world. I get letters from them every day - - I Palo Verde valley of California with Thomas Blythe over a
wish I knew more of them personally. half century ago. I have not seen George Irish many times
* * * in recent years—but how I enjoyed the few moments I had
Here are a few lines written by Louise Avery Eaton of with him! He never acquired great material wealth—but he
Holtville, California, that are worth repeating: was rich in the things that really count—generosity, cheer-
"I've been polishing stones today. And I cannot but think fulness, loyalty, courage. I have never known a person who
how like people are these gems. Some of them appear so could live so completely apart from the petty things of life.
rough and colorless one would pass them by without a second * * *
glance—but underneath the uninviting surface there is rare Yes, it is hot as blazes out on the desert now. Some days
hidden beauty. There are other stones that appear so fair the temperature reaches 115 degrees in the shade. But the
without—and yet no amount of cutting and polishing will average home and office in the southwestern desert region
disclose any real worth. this summer is more comfortable than in any other section of
"And then there are still other stones that you know at the United States. The answer is: air-coolers. Here in this
once will make perfect jewels. They radiate the beauty that region they are now regarded as a necessity, the same as a
is within them. They resemble humans in whose hearts are heating plant in wintertime. Nearly every one has a cooler
love and courage. They are of ineffable worth—life buffs them of some type. In the so-called milder areas air-conditioning is
to a scintillating lustre. If the stones of our desert were to still regarded as a luxury—and folks swelter in stuffy houses
become incarnate, there would be the same variations in char- and office buildings that would be unbearable to desert dwell
acter that we now have in the big human family—and some ers. Air-conditioning has revolutionized indoor life on the
of them would be just like you and me." desert in summertime—all within the last five years.
* * * * * #
As a result of the opposition of certain groups in the city And now we have a law protecting desert tortoises. That
of San Diego, the California state park commission has with- is fine. But let's ask the next legislature to give us one pro-
drawn temporarily its effort to extend the Borrego desert tecting horned toads and chuckawallas — and in fact the
park to include the Carrizo and Vallecito areas. whole lizard family. They are harmless little creatures. They've
Some one has been telling the San Diego folks they were waged a courageous battle for life against terrific odds. And
about to be robbed of a rich agricultural and mineral do- they've licked every foe—except man. It is not to the credit
main in the eastern end of their county. And since few of the of our much touted civilization that the wild animals run for
San Diegans have had the hardihood to hang a canteen on their lives every time they see a human approaching.

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Desert Magazine 1939 August

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THE

San Francisco, California

Judges in the monthly photographic contest

The DESERT MAGAZINE

They Found Gold

&MARY LODE MINE

••'• • • ••••••• M ••••.••• •;•»•.•• • • • . ; ; - ^ ; y ^ r :

=ALL AMERICAN CANAL *——--m—"~~^Z MEXICO7

The DESERT MAGAZINE

same weathered brown stone found on a

On the Hopi mesa at Walpi this year the Indians will

The DESERT MAGAZINE

Tally Rock - - where the Teiva In-

The DESERT MAGAZINE

Upper—Spider Shrine of the Hopi

10 The DESERT MAGAZINE

The DESERT MAGAZINE

\ I OR the park rangers this was just another day — and

16 The DESERT MAGAZINE

f/ ONG, long ago when your

Acoma Buffalo dancers

i every part of the Southwest,

ter-Triba:. Indian Ceremonial as-

leir trek from remote corners of

may be seen making pottery,

20 The DESERT MAGAZINE

ill. STOP CARS Ht«r.4^.11 <*T?0.9 ' '''*• " ": =:

22 The DESERT MAGAZINE

reel on tke. l/elett

Labor disputes and board-of-trade manipulations do not affect the price

Whence Came the Cahuillas

By RUTH MARTIN PASCOE

24 The DESERT MAGAZINE

In "The Handbook of the American

now director of the Southwest Museum

26 The DESERT MAGAZINE

Photographs sent to the Desert Magazine by Frank Beckwith, Delta, Utah.

28 The DESERT MAGAZINE

31 TRIB€S plates, 50,000. Next county, Pima, uses

30 The DESERT MAGAZINE

GETTING ACQUAINTED W I T H BOOKS OF THE SOUTHWEST, Mary

32 The DESERT MAGAZINE

PRINTING Desert Place Names contained in this de-

34 The DESERT MAGAZINE

36 The DESERT MAGAZINE

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ill. STOP CARS Ht«r.4^.11 <T?0.9 ' '''• " ": =: