195704 desert magazine 1957 april

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Ancient Kiva in

DESERT UNVEILINGBy AMY VIAU

Santa Ana, California

From the rim of great distanceWhere the sky is tucked in,New morning spreads crimsonWhere night shades have been.

The crests of saguaroAre etched in mid airWhile unhurried silencePervades everywhere.

And in the cool freshnessOf unstirring reign.The desert unveilsIts luring domain.

DESERT DAWNBy GEORGIA JORDAN

Ocean Beach. California

The Desert Dawn is softly shedding light.As she dismisses stars and night.

And blushes into heaven's blue.To listen as a mighty Silence speaks."My peace I leave. My peace I give to you."

Bandelier National Monu ment. PhotoTourist Bureau.

courtesy New Mexico State

P u y e L i s t e n sBy ADA VIRGINIA Hm I

Hollywood. CaliforniaHushed the rhythm of the tom-tom:

Silent now the warriors' cry,Where the quiet cliffs of Puye

Face a gray and cloudless sky.Sleeping cornfields sometimes shudder

At a sound like distant thunder!Ghosts of ancient Tewa chieftains

Wake to listen—wake to wonder!

While the White Man tests the rockelsMiles away—from earth to sky!

Ghosts of ancient Tewa chieftainsShake their heads—and mutter. "Why

• • •

DESERT HAYEKBy SYLVIA REEVES

Tucson, Arizona

Shadow patterns, knit by sunshine

Shuttling through the lone mesquiteDainty as a lace mantilla,Shelter all who seek retreat.

SPRING MORNINGBy HELENA RIDGWAY STONESouth Pasadena, California

It is as though an artist, overnight.Has dipped his brush deep in a tube of

greenAnd touched the desert, making emerald

bright

Where only sage-gray drabness has beenseen.

Alone, through silent hours he toils unaided.Stirring in Stardust for a silver hue.And 1 awak e to find th at w inter's fadedAnd desert sands are carpeted anew!

T r u t h D w e l l e r sBy TANYA SOUTH

None can attest to Truth so wellAs they who only in it dwell.They seem to stand apart, to liveWith purpose but to do and giveFor others. And an exaltationSo guides their every mood and

way,That neither burden nor privation

Can dismay.

D E S E R T M A G A Z I N E



D E S E R T C R L E n D f l RMarch 13-April 3—John Hilton Ex-

hibit, Desert Magazine Art Gallery,Palm Desert, California. (See page26.)

April 3-22—Marjorie Reed Exhibit,Desert Magazine Art Gallery, PalmDesert, California. (See page 26.)

April 4-7—Art of Arizoia Show ongrounds ofPhoenix Public Library.

April 4-7—Community Fair, Blythe,California.April 6—Desert Museum field trip to

Deep Canyon, from Palm Springs,California. (Field trips also areplanned forthe 13 th and 20th,butdestinations not yet announced.)

April 6—Desert Magic Flower Show,Needles, California.

April 6-7—9th Annual DeAnza JeepCavalcade, from Hemet, California.

April 6-7 —Livestock andQuarterHorse Show, Tucson.

April 6-7—Dons Club Travelcade (bybus only) toGrand Canyon, fromPhoenix.

April 8-12—Desert Caballeros Ride,Wickenburg, Arizona.

April 10-14—County Fair, Yuma.April 12-14 (tentative)—Annual Lilac

Show, Palmdale, California.April 13—Annual Play Day at White

Sands National Monument, Alamo-gordo, New Mexico.

April 13-14 — 11thAnnual RabbitShow, Roswell, New Mexico.

April 13-14 —Spring Horse Show,Phoenix, Arizona.

April 14-May 5—Festival ArtShow,Tucson.

April 16 — Old Timers' Celebration,Deming, New Mexico.

April 18—Spring Flower Show, Mesa,Arizona.

April 19 —Penitcnte Passion Play,Ranchos dcTaos, New Mexico.

April 21—Easter Sunrise Services atmost Southwest Communities. Makelocal inquiries. Outstanding pro-grams at Grand Canyon and Wick-enburg (horseback), Arizona; DeathValley, Red Rock Canyon, JuniperHills, California; Tao>, N. M.

April 21—Western Saddle Club Gym-khana, Phoenix, Arizona.

April 21-22—Lions Club Rodeo, Bat-tle Mountain, Nevada.

April 21-24—Ceremonial Dances atCochiti, San Felipe andSanto Do-mingo pueblos, New Mexico.

April 26—San Xavier Fiesta, Tucson.April 26-28—8th Annual Fiesta and

Rodeo, Truth or Consequences,New Mexico.

April 27—Fourth Annual Wild BurroBarbecue, Bullhead City, Arizona.

April 27 —Nizhoni Dances at theUniversity of New Mexico. Albu-querque.

April 27-28—Horse Show andKid'sRodeo, Yuma.

April 27-28, May 4-5, 11-12—30thpresentation of theRamona Page-ant, Hemet, California.

April 28—Annual Wildflower Festi-v a l , Community Ham Dinner, Tur-tle Race, Hi Vista (east ofLan-caster), California.

April 29-May 19—23rd Annual Jun-ior Indian ArtShow, Museum ofNorthern Arizona, Flagstaff.

April 30—Square Dance Fandango,

Tucson.Week prior toEaster—Yaqui Indian

Ceremonials, Tucson.

WtMS^M

Volume 20

COVER

POETRY

CALENDAR

DEVELOPMENT

WILDFLOWERS

PHOTOGRAPHY

HOME-MAKING

GHOST TOWN

TRUE OR FALSE

NATURE

CLOSE-UPS

HISTORY

EXPERIENCE

GARDENING

RECREATION

FORECAST

FICTION

LETTERS

CONTEST

NEWS

MINING

URANIUM

HOBBY

LAPIDARY

COMMENT

BOOKS

APRIL, 1957 Number 4

Ocotillo blossoms, by JOSEF MUENCH

Puye Listens, and other poems 2

April events on the desert 3

Dam inGlen Canyon, by NELL MURBARGER . 4

Flowering Predictions for April 10

Pictures of fhe Month 12

More Garden with Less WaterBy RANDALL HENDERSON 13

The Virginia Dale's TwoForgotten Towns

By DONALD DEAN MILLER 17

A test of your desert knowledge 18

Denizens of the Desert Underworld

By EDMUND C. JAEGER 20

About those whowrite for Desert 22

The Hole in the Rock

By JOSEF and JOYCE MUENCH . . . . 22

Water from a Cup to Save Porky's Life

By JUNE HAINES BETSWORTH 24

Citrus Fruit in Your Desert GardenBy RUTH REYNOLDS 25

On Desert Slopes with the Sierrans

By LOUISE WERNER 27

Southwest river runoff predictions 28

Hard Rock Shorty of Death Valley 28

Comment from Desert's readers 29

Picture-of-the-Month Contest announcement . . 29

From here andthere on thedesert 30

Current news of desert mines 34

Latest developments in the industry 35

Gems and Minerals 37

Amateur GemCutter, byDR. H. C. DAKE . . . 41fust Between You and Me, by the Editor . . . 42

Reviews of Southwestern Literature 43

The Desert Magazine is published monthly by the Desert Press. Inc., Palm Desert,California. Re-entered as second class matter July 17. 1948. at the postoffice at Palm Desert,California, under the Act of March 3. 1879. Title registered No. 358865 in U. S. Patent Office,and contents copyrighted 1957 by the Desert Press. Inc. Permission to reproduce contentsmust be secured from the editor in writing.

RANDALL HENDERSON, Editor

BESS STACY, Business Manager

EUGENE L. CONROTTO. Associate Editor

EVONNE RIDDELL. Circulation Manager

Unsolicited manuscripts and photographs submitted cannot be returned or acknowledgedunless full return postage is enclosed. Desert Magazine assumes no responsibility fordamage or loss of manuscripts or photographs although due care will be exercised. Sub-scribers should send notice of change of address by the first of the month preceding issue.

SUBSCRIPTION KATES

One Year S4.00 Two Years ST01)

Canadian Subscriptions 25c Extra. Foreign 30c Extra

Subscriptions to Army Personnel Outside U. S. A. Must Be Mailed in Conformity With

P. O. D. Order No. 19687

Address Correspondence to Desert Magazine*Palm Desert, California

1 9 5 7



Artist's conception of Glen Canyon dam and bridge. Prominent landmark left of

dam is known as the Beehive.

D am in Glen CanyonWhen man erects a mighty dam across the Colorado River at Glen Canyon, a vast region's way

of life will vanish like the desert sunset, and a new era will dawn, The upper Colorado will beharnessed; white water rapids will be submerged beneath a placid lake; impassable canyons willbecome blue water fiords, their fingers extending into the red sandstone cliffs in many directions;inaccessible canyon mysteries will be inundated and new secrets of the land revealed along a newly-created shoreline. A city will rise from, the desert floor; new factories will turn their wheels withpower from the impounded water. People will come—fishermen, boatmen, pleasure-seekers, scien-tists, engineers—and a few who loved the turbulent river and the sheer canyon walls which will belost to them forever. Wildlife, vegetation, man, the canyon vistas—all except the weather—will feelthe impact of this great dam.

By NELL MURBARGERMaps by Norton Allen

IN THE RED sandstonecountry where Arizona joinsUtah, man is sowing the seeds

of a miracle that will manifest itselffor generations to come and in waysnow past all knowing.

In the course of that miracle-mak-ing, a tawny river will pass through afive-year chrysalis to emerge as a clear,

blue lake. Sun-scorched canyons willbe transformed into dim-lighted deepswhere fishes will swim; old landmarkswill be lost forever, new place-names

born. Indian trails and rough jeeproads will be replaced by wide pavedhighways, and a modem city—or cities—will spring from a desert waste.

All this because of a concrete wedgeto be driven between the high sheerwalls of Glen Canyon.

Major unit in the $760,000,000Colorado River Storage Project—one

of the most stupendous river controlprograms ever devised—Glen Canyondarn will be situated 13 miles downstream from the Utah-Arizona state

line. Planned as the world's fourth-highest dam, its bedrock-to-crest heightof 700 feet will impound a lake cover-ing, at capacity, 153,000 acres. Ex-tending along the main course of theColorado for 187 miles, up the SanJuan for a distance of 71 miles, andfor as much as a dozen miles intoscores of deep and now near-inacces-

sible side canyons, this new desert lakewill contain, at capacity, water suffi-cient to flood the entire state of Indianato a depth of 14 inches. Its 1500 miles

DESERT MAGAZ IN E



be as picturesquelyasthat cut by the fiords ofNor-

Programs of this scopie, needless to

was ap-by both houses of Congress

it had run a long

of criticism andand had been pared,

Some ofthese concessions, naturally,the public's growing

tounderwrite further expen-for gigantic federal reclamation

inthe matter ofEcho Parkin having

from the program . But theinthe famil-

ofColorado River politics.Rivers andpolitical intrigue—par-

in our arid Southwest—seemto gohand in hand. Especially

of the Colorado, whichby feeding upon

ofthe Rocky Moun-ofwater sup-to meet the

of pyramiding populations, theof who-gets-what-

and-how-much from this interstate andinternational river hasbecome prog-ressively involved until every gallon ofsilt-laden liquid flowing in itschannelis literally loaded with dynamite!

Seeking to effect anequitable divi-sion of the Colorado's great water andpower potential, representatives of theseveral litigant states in 1922 adoptedan agreement known as theColorado

River Com pact. Und er terms of thispact the river was divided legally intotwo portions termed the Upper andLower Basins, with thedividing lineat Lee's Ferry, Arizona. The river'supper basin, it wasprovided, mustdeliver tothe lower basin not less than75,000,000-acre-feet of water in anyperiod of 10 consecutive years, includ-ing water to beallocated toMexico.After this amount ofwater has passedLee's Ferry into jurisdiction of thelower basin, the upper basin (compris-ing thestates of Wyoming, Colorado,Utah, New Mexico andArizona) isgiven the right towithhold for its ownuse up to7,500,000-acre-feet ofwateryearly.

In the 35years since acceptance ofthe Compact, half a dozen large damshave been constructed in the lowerbasin and are now supplying water andpower tomillions ofconsumers inthatdivision. M eanwh ile, how ever, the

Colorado's upper basin hasremainedlargely undeveloped, and the fact thatit has had no adequate means ofutiliz-ing itsapportioned share ofwater hasmeant that each year from 4,000,000to 22,000,000 - acre -feet have beenflowing unused past Lee's Ferry intothe lower basin. Since theColoradoRiver Storage Project will put anen dto this beneficent outpouring of water,

it goes without saying that the bill wasnot popular with lower basin interests.

The project, as approved byCon-gress, calls forconstruction of storagedams in five states, the whole providingapproximately 32,000,000-acre-feet ofreservoir capacity and 1,100,000 kilo-watts of electrical generating capacity.About 80 per cent ofthese totals (26,-000,000-acre-feet, and900,000 ki lo-watts) will be supplied by the project'smajor andinitial unit, Glen Canyondam, where work gotunder way offi-cially October 15,1956, when Presi-dent Eisenhower pressed a button inWashington, D.C., to fire the firstround of shots at thedamsitc, nearly2000 miles distant.

Less than two months after this his-tory-making blast, I journeyed toK a-nab, take offpoint forthe damsite onthe Utah side ofthe river.

Kanab, insummer, is avery pleasantplace. Due to its abundant sunshine,

The blast triggered inWashington by thePresident onOctober 15 of last yearwhich officially inaugurated construction of thedam. View isupstream. Photo-

graph by A. J. Randolph.

•>»•« »»mi

>>•, -

Jw M



itehi ys '"'•- \i 1

j clear air, nearby wide-open spaces and^scenic surroundings, it has become a

favorite locale for filming Westernmovies, which activity, in turn, hasinspired the erection of numerousswank motels and lodges of the typeendorsed by Duncan Hines, and has

" broug ht to the place a notable degreeof prosperity. Decem ber, however, isa different story climatically, and myarrival in this mile-high sandstonecountry of southcentral Utah foundthe sky upholstered in heavy clouds,with hard-frozen sleet pellets pepperingthe streets, and an icy gale blowing.

Despite this inclement weather, I

had never seen Kanab as busy as itwas on this blustery winter day!

Thronging its short main street wereassorted vehicles bearing the insign ia

of the U. S. Bureau of Reclamation,orange-colored trucks of the state high-

way department, jeeps of all ages, hur-rying men in khaki drill trousers andconstruction helmets, Indians in Pen-dleton blankets, cowmen in blue jeansand Stetsons, and obvious employment-seekers in cars bearing license platesfrom half the states of the union. WhileI was making a purchase in a grocerystore, the woman clerk asked if I was"moving in." I said no — that I was intown for only a few days, on business.

"Well, you'll find plenty of it here,"remarke d the wom an briskly. "We'vegot more business than anything else!"

This, I soon learned, was more thana mere pleasantry. The town was posi-tively booming! Motels were display-ing No Vacancy signs, restaurants were

packed with patrons, every trailer parkwas bulging. Since I never go on afield assignment without my camp out-fit, I solved the matter of lodging andeating accommodations by driving outto the edge of town, where I set uphousekeeping under a juniper tree.

Next morning I set out to learn thestory behind this sensational and un-seasonable boom.

On a rounded hill overlooking Ka-nab stands a rambling one-story build-ing which formerly housed the localhigh school, but was replaced severalyears ago by a larger and more modernstructure. In this outmo ded schoolbuilding the U. S. Bureau of Reclama-tion has set up temporary headquartersfor the Glen Can yon project. Highestranking official here is L. F. Wylie,project engineer, upon whose shouldersrests responsibility for construction ofthe dam.

Dynamic, determined, good-looking

and middle-aged, Wylie serves also asliaison officer between the ReclamationBureau and the Indians, river runners,contractors, ranchers, highway depart-ment and all other persons and con-cerns who wish to do business with theBureau or to "pick a bone" with it.He also functions as public relationsofficer, and despite a calendar so fullit would be frightening to most folks,he spared me a generous slice of hisbusy day and visited most affably dur-ing the brief periods when he wasn'tadjusting some emergency or talking

over long-distance telephone to Wash-ington, D.C., and other ports of call.As organization is perfected, many

of Wylie's present duties undoubtedlywill be delegated to others, since hisbackground suggests a man whose ex-perience and know-how is much toovaluable to be squandered on pettydetails. Affiliated with the Reclama-tion Bureau for a quarter of a century,his tours of duty have included fouryears in construction of Hoover Dam,six years on the AU-American Canalin Southern California, three years inthe U. S. Marine Corps, three years on

an improvement project in Alaska andseveral years as head engineer on alarge development project near Ama-rillo, Texas. His present Glen Canyonassignment is the largest and most im-portant job he has yet undertaken.

Total estimated cost of the 700-footGlen Canyon dam, power plant andappurtenant works is $421,300,000,with the entire cost and applicable in-terest to be repaid within 50 years bysale of power, said Wylie. Not yet al-located, this power will be sold on abid basis to distributing companies

serving, presumably, the states of Col-orado, Utah, New Mexico and Arizona.

Bids on the prime contract for con-struction of dam and power plant are




March. By July, 1962, the dam is

and it is hoped that by the sum-f 1963 the reservoir will be full

full power capacity ex-

By the time this article appears in

eet downstream from theWith its single arch standing 700

half again asavajo bridge over the Colo-

inill carry a 30-foot road-

and two four-foot walks. Decision

ie said. Building a bridge

Completion of the bridge is sched-r the end of 1959, at which time

ll link the two prongs of a pavedo

on the basis of sur-

Reclamation, shows the

ed behind Glen— a lake 200

— in

in the United States.

GLEN CANYONDAMSITE

OM1

the canyon's south rim to U.S. High-way 89 at Bitter Springs, about halfway between Navajo bridge and CedarRidge trading post. Total length ofthe new Glen Canyon loop will be 96miles—almost exactly the same dis-tance as from Bitter Springs to Kanabvia the present route of U.S. 89. Sincethe new road will eliminate the long

twisting climb from Houserock Valleyto Jacob's Lake, a vertical rise ofnearly 4000 feet in a relatively fewmiles, it is conceivable that the Glen

7



Canyon route may become, in t ime,the main traveled highway betweenFlagstaff and Salt Lake City,

That time still is quite a few moonsremoved—as I discovered next daywhen I drove from Kanab to the dam-site. Not that the present road is bad—on the contrary, it is quite good ex-cept for being rough in spots and ratherdusty. W ork of grading it was begun

in July, 1956. and by the time I trav-eled it in December it had been gravel-surfaced for nearly its entire length,with completion of this phase sched-uled for January.

For about 25 miles out of Kanabthe present Glen Canyon road followsthe old Paria river road . Only threeyears ago I traveled 104 miles overthis road and intersecting sideroadswithout seeing another person, vehicle,roadsign or occupied house. Housesand roadsigns were still scarce, but ofvehicles—especially trucks and jeeps

— there was now no lack. As work onthe Glen Canyon project had but bare-ly begun, it seemed incredible that somany persons could have business thatwould take them to the damsite; yetnone of the outfits I saw appeared tobe only '"sidewalk superintendents" ortour ists. Visitors of this sort will comelater when wind and weather and otherfactors are more conducive to humancomfort. Life at the damsite in Decem -ber was still terribly real and terriblyearnest.

On the north rim of the canyon at

the westerly base of a large baldheadedpromontory known as The Beehive,I halted my car in a small raw tatter-demalion construction camp. Build-ing of a permanent camp with ware-houses, sewage and water treatmentplants, streets, fire station, conferencehall, residences and the other nicetiesof civilization will get under way earlythis year, Wylie had said. Mean while,government engineers on the job arel iving at Kanab and making the 72-mile drive to their work each morning,and 72 miles home in the evening.Rather than submit to this onerous and

time-consuming travel, a dozen-or-socontractor 's men—a few of them ac-companied by their wives—had takenup residence at the damsite. My hatis off to this little vanguard of thou-sands who will follow. They are pio -neers in the fullest sense of the word•—the first to send down human rootsin this part of the wilderness.

In the camp were four house trailers,battered old veterans that looked asif they might have been used in theBoer War . The re were a few cars, thetwo nearest to me carrying license

plates from Idaho and New Mexico.A track was standing on three wheelsand a wooden block. Ano ther t ruckhad its differential dismantled. There

were four or five shacks and shedsroofed with corrugated iron sheeting.A few oil barrels were scatteredaround, and there was a portable tankcapable of holding perhaps 1000 gal-lons of water. There were no trees,no grass—not even any large sage-brush or greasewood. Nothing butsandstone, sky and space. An icywind was sweeping through the camp

with the ferocity of a West Indianhurricane, and powdery red sand wasrolling over the landscape like smokefrom a prairie fire.

The door of the Idaho trailer startedto open, was snatched by the wind and(lung back on its hinges with a resound-ing bang. A woman emerged frominside the trailer and fought with thewind to close the door behind her.With head bent to the gale and skirtsflapping wildly about her, she begansealing the cracks around her windowswith friction tape. A younger woman

came over from a neighboring trailerto help with the taping. It occu rredto me that a woman would have tolove a man a whole lot to willinglyfollow him from one construction campto another.

Reluctantly leaving the relativewarmth and security of my car, Iheaded into the teeth of the wind, fol-lowing a twisting construction roadthat led to the canyon's rim, about 100yards distant. I could hear the motorof an air-c om pre sso r chuff-chuffingaway in the placid detached fashionof air compressors everywhere; andat the far end of the construction roadhalf a dozen men were working aroundan A-frame, from which highline cablesled across to the canyon's oppositerim.

Breasting the wind, scrambling overrocks and floundering through deepblow sand, I made my way along thelip of the canyon for 300 yards to avantage point from which it was pos-sible to view a considerable length ofthe left canyon wall and the cocoa-colored river at its base. Locating acold but wind-sheltered pocket in the

sandstone rocks, I sat down to catchmy breath and take stock of the situa-tion.

Composed of massive uniform Nav-ajo sandstone — good material forabutments, Wylie had said—the can-yon walls at this point are about 1200feet apart and rise nearly sheer fromthe river. The dam to be built betweenthese walls will be of gravity-arch typerequiring 5,000,000 cubic yards ofconcrete — nearly 54 per cent morethan was used in Hoover Dam. (Folkswith a liking for statistics may be in-

terested to know that 5,000,000 yardsof concrete is enough to pave a high-way 20 feet wide from San Franciscoto New York City.)

At the downriver base or "toe" ofthe dam, will stand the single powerhouse, 665 feet in length, 112 feetwide and 160 feet high . He re will behoused eight generators of 112,500kilowatts capacity each. About 6,000,-000-acre-feet of the reservoir's capac-ity will be held as inactive storagebelow the outlet level for the purposeof sediment accumulation, to protect

fish in the lake and to increase thepow er head. Incidentally, there stillseems to be considerable misconcep-tion regarding the use to which GlenCanyon dam will be put. Primarilyit is for the purpose of generatingpow er. It also will help to regulatethe flow of this always erratic riverand to protect Hoover Dam from thepres ent heavy infiltration of silt. Butits water will not be used for irriga-tion—not at completion or, presum-ably, ever.

Studying that long and twisting can-

yon I tried to imagine how it will lookwhen filled with a clear blue lake. Itwill be a pretty sight, that is certain—and a strange sight, in this desertwaste.

Advent of that great reservoir, nat-urally, will no t be entirely gain. The rewill be casualties, too . W aters of thenew lake will roll deeply over thehistoric Crossing of the Fathers wherethe exploring Spaniards led by FatherSilvestre Velez de Escalante and Fath erAtanasio Dominguez forded the turbu-lent Colorado River in 1776 while re-

turning to Santa Fe after their unsuc-cessful attempt to discover an overlandroute to M onterey, California. TheSpaniard, Armijo, crossed at this samepoint in 1829-30. Also inundated willbe the equally historic Hole-in-the-Rock Crossing made by members ofa Mormon wagon train on their wayto settle in southeastern Utah in 1879-80. Undoubtedly, too, the new lakewill cover a few rich mineral deposits—there are literally thousands of ur-anium claims in the land to be flooded—and almost assuredly it will inundateprehistoric Indian cliff dwellings yetundiscovered by archeological sciencedue to inaccessibility.

Whether the colorful river boatmenand river-running parties also will fallby the wayside, remains to be seen.Whether an exit road out of the can-yon can or will be provided for themis unc ertain. Should it prov e feasibleto provide such a road, boating partiesmight embark on the water near Hiteon the Colorado, or Mexican Hat onthe San Juan, visit the various scenicside canyons and Rainbow Bridge, and

then have their cars meet them at apoint of debarkation near the dam.But where?

Wahweap Canyon, about a mile




Project Engineer L. F. Wylie, second from left, explains initial construction prob-lems to B. David, field engineer, Governor G eorge Clyde and Senator ArthurWatkins o f Utah, from left. Photograp h by F. S. Finch, Depa rtment of the Interior.

exit road . Wylie does notwill be practical. Althoug h

The river, at present, is closed to

ppro ach the vicinity of the dam. This

uling of the Reclamation Bureau, but matter of life and death, Wylie said.ue to blasting on the canyon rim and

walls, the river area below will berendered extremely hazardous, for al-though each blast is preceded by awarning signal, it isn't likely that aboat could be maneuvered out of range

in time to escape falling rock anddebris.How the river travel question will

be resolved is anyone's guess, but theriver boatman is a stubborn, indomit-able fellow. He has to be, or hewouldn't survive long in his business.Consequently, it seems safe to assumethat the matter eventually will beironed out in a manner satisfactory toall concerned.

The winter sun that had been shin-ing palely when I arrived at the can-yon had receded still farther into thegoose-feathery gray clouds that nowcovered the sky, and the knife-sharpwind had veered a little so that it wasnow whipping sand into my retreat

on the canyon rim. It occurred to methat 1 wo uldn 't care to be one of thedrillers working in the cage that dan-gled half way down the opposite can-

yon wall; nor would I wish to be oneof the workmen on the drill barge thatrode on the sullen river below; and,most especially, not one of the highsealers suspended from rope's end mid-way between river and rim along thecanyon's north wall.

I remained at the damsite that night,sleeping in my car-bed and eating acold supper because it was too windyto risk lighting a fire. Late in theafternoon the clouds moved aside fora few minutes so that the sun wentdown in a blaze of red glory. Dar kne ssdescended soon afterward. Tw o by

two and in small groups, workmenreturned from the canyon. Some tookoff on the 72-mile drive to Kanab.Others disappeared into trailers andcabins. A gasoline generator began itsbusy staccato song and a dozen-or-sosmall windows soon framed the yellowglow of lampligh t. Soon after sunsetthe interior of my car grew too coldfor comfort, and by six o'clock I soughtthe cozy warmth of my sleeping bag.

The first time I awakened, aboutthree hours later, the generator wassilent and the camp was as dark as the

dark world spread around us.Next morning I drove back to Ka-nab, held another consultation withWylie and other officials at headquar-ters, and that afternoon set out forFredonia, Jacob's Lake, HouserockValley and the south rim of Glen Can-yon. From the north rim, whence Ihad started that morning, a hawk ofeven fair ability could have flown tothe south rim with one strong flap ofhis wings; but for me to reach thatsame point by road meant a drive of240 miles.

Present take off point for the southrim is at The Gap, an Indian tradingpost on U. S. 89, 33 miles north ofCam eron. Fo r the first dozen miles

the road is black-topped—a pleasantsurprise—but for the remaining milesit is an unsurfaced sand-road, alreadytreacherous as the result of long sm ooth

stretches broken, with exasperatingabruptness, by deep sand traps. Sincethis is only a temporary route it is tobe presumed that it will grow worserather than bet ter. The permanentroute on the Arizona side will breakthrough the Echo Cliffs at BitterSpring, thereby cutting in half the pres-ent driving distance to the south rim.

Even the present route from TheGap to the damsite is not one that ex-perienced desert drivers need fear, andthe region through which it passes ismore interesting, in my estimation,than that served by the road from

Kanab.After rounding rugged promontories

and skirting deep washes for about40 miles, my road broke out upon awide plateau-—which may not alwaysbe as clean, still and peaceful as itwas this day. Since there will be man yemployees at the dam—both duringits construction and after its comple-tion—it is a certainty that a permanentcity will be founded in this vicinity,but where that city will be situatedand what name it will be given arematters still undeterm ined. When I

asked Wylie where he thought thisnew town should be located he re-fused to commit himself, but suggested,in an off-hand manner, that I "take alook" at this high mesa south of thedam.

"See what you think of it," he saidcasually.

Mentally appraising that expanse ofcountry, I saw a place having much tooffer a potential town. Em bracinghundreds of acres of level-to-rollingland carrying no growth larger thansagebrush, its chief disadvantage wouldseem to be its complete exposure tothe sweep of the wind. By this sametoken, however, the area is investedwith a scenic interest possibly unsur-

A P R I L , 1 9 5 7



passed by any tract of similar size inthe region.

Ranging my eyes for 360 degreesaround, not a telephone pole or fencepost obstructed my vision. Along thewest stretched the long fluted wall ofthe Vermillion Cliffs, topped by PariaPlateau and the snowy conifer-thatchedroof of the Kaibab. Glen Canyon'ssinuous rock trough formed a deep

moat along the north side of the mesa,and to the northeast and east my eyesroamed hungrily over a land studdedwith towers and pinnacles, laced by

deep canyons and spangled with themagic of purple haze and lonelinessand far distance. Deep in the heart ofthat isolated land 30 miles northeast ofthis mesa on which I was standing, isthe magnificent arch of RainbowBridge—one of the greatest naturalwonders in the West.

Since Glen Canyon dam first wasproposed there has been much specu-

lation and apprehension concerningwhat effect its creation will have uponthis loveliest of all the natural bridges.Rumors even circulated, that water im-

Additional rains plus favorable

growing conditions give further evi-dence that the desert's wildflower showthis spring will be the best in recentyears .

On the low desert areas of Califor-nia which generally come into bloomthree to four weeks before the highdesert, most of the roadsides are linedwith green shoots. Dalton E. Merkel,naturalist at Borrego State Park, saysthe floor of the park is in large measurecovered with new growth of annuals.Any of the roads leading into Anza orBorrego parks should provide goodviewing locales for the late March and

April flower display, he added. TheYaqui Pass road from Tamarisk Groveon Highway 78 to Borrego Springs isexpected to afford an especially excel-lent display.

Apricot mallow was starting tobloom in the arroyos and washes ofthe Anza desert, reports Lucile Weightwho made an extensive trip throughthe desert regions in Feb ruary . Ver-benas and geraeas were blooming inthe Mecca, Valerie and Oasis areasof the Coachefla Valley, and east ofHoltville, the creosote is in fine condi-

tion. V erben a shoots have appea redon the sand mounds south of White-water along Highway 99.

Reports all along the ocotillo beltfrom Baja California north to the highdesert indicate that these plants are inexceptionally fine leaf and many arecoming into brilliant scarlet bloom atthis time (see cover).

O. L. Wallis, supervisor of LakeMead National Recreation Area, re-ports prospects for a good April wild-flower showing there are excellent.Along the shores of Lake Mojave

brittle-bush, creosote and various otherplants will be at peak bloom in earlyAp ril. At Boulder City and the nearbyshores of Lake Mead, a profusion (if

poppies, sunflowers, sunrays and beav-

ertail cacti blossoms are forecast. Atthe higher elevations the flowers willnot appear in great numbers until lateAp ril or early Ma y. M escal, ocotillo,mariposa lilies and various cacti shouldbe among the most abundant, Wallissaid.

The best rainfall since 1949 fell overthe high desert country, Mrs. Weightreported. By mid-Febru ary the annualswere making green patches undershrubs on the northern slopes of theLittle San Bernardinos along Twenty-nine Palms Highway. The PintoMountain area (see map page 19) hasmany annual seedlings showing, withapricot mallow leafing out and greathedgerows of chuperosa blooming inthe lower south-facing canyons of thatrange. Isolated gardens of wildflowersare forecast by Mrs. Weight for thewash and slope areas between Amboyand Ludlow.

Prospects for colorful blossoms aregood in the Chuckawalla Valley. Ad -vanced growth is visible along thesouth base of the Eagle Mountains butrain in the Chuckawallas was spotty,although ocotillo, palo verde and iron-wood all are in fine condition on thisrange.

The Joshua tree blossom show atJoshua Tree National Monument willbe extraordinary this year, reportsNaturalist Bruce W. Black. The looproad between Twentynine Palms andthe town of Joshua Tree will take themotorists through some fine groves.

Mary Beal of Daggett says the wild-flower prospect for the Barstow area ismo st prom ising. Best place to finddisplays will be toward the mountainson both sides of the valley. Sheep aregrazing in some of the best flowerstretches in that area, however.

To the west in the Antelope Valley

pounded behind the dam would com-pletely cover the arch! The re is notruth in this statement, as anyone mustknow who has taken time to read theColorado River Storage Project Billwhich provides in Section i: ". . . thatas part of the Glen Canyon Unit, theSecretary of the Interior shall take ade-quate protective measures to precludeimpairment of the Rainbow Bridge Na-

tional Monument."True, the waters of the new lake

will rise in Forbidden and Bridge Can-yons, but even w hen the lake is filled

region, Jane S. Pinheiro says Hi Vistaarea expects April blooms of squawcabbage, coreopsis, giJia, forget-me-notaster, primrose and popcorn flower.The Wilsona area also expects displaysof these flowers plus several others,including sand verbena and thistle.Mrs. Pinheiro believes lupine, mari-posa lilies and other blooms will befound in most sections of the valley.The middle-butte area between Rosa-mond and Mojave should be well cov-ered with flowers of many varietiesand the oak grove road to Tehachapishould mak e a fine drive for wildflowerlovers in late April or early May.

The news from Death Valley is notas encouraging. Naturalist Merdith B.Ingham says this year's display prob-ably will be about the same as lastyear's. The more common plantsblooming during April are phacelia,five-spot, aster, monkey flower, encelia,gilia, creosote, beavertail cactus, ment-zelia and gold-poppy.

At Saguaro National Monumentnear Tucson, Park Superintendent .1.Barton Herschler believes April 'sflower show will be the best since1952. He expects these plants tobloom during the month: brittle-bush,paper daisy, ocotillo, bladder-pod, owlclover, desert sage, fake morning-glory,penstemon, lupine, delphinium, poppy,hyacinth and evening primrose. Bestplaces to see the displays will be at

Picacho Peak and on the NogalesHighway, he added.

Hedgehog, creosote, evening prim-rose and ocotillo are expected to high-light the blossoms at Casa GrandeNational Monument near Tucson, ac-cording to A. T. Bicknell, superin-tendent.

John T. Mullady, acting superin-tendent of the Organ Pipe Cactus Na-tional Monument at Ajo, Arizona, saysthe Sonora desert has a lush greenessfollowing drouth-breaking rains andwarm (95 degrees F.) February days.If favorable conditions hold, OrganPipe may have mass floral displays inApril.


Desert Awaits Best Wildflower

D isplay in Recent Years . . .



High sealer starts over the canyon rim. Photogra ph by A. J. Rando lph.

touch upo n it at any point. Thu s,

Leaving the potential townsite on

Gazing across the short intervening

on the dam. Men were moving

ff-chuffing impassively, and

was visibly manifest from time to timewhen red rock and sand dislodged fromthe nearly-sheer wall in miniature land-slides that slithered quickly and silent-

ly into the gorge below.All work now under way is in the

nature of a prelude to the main show,but a year from now should see con-siderable change in appearance of thedamsite. Work, by then, should becompleted on the right diversion tun-nel, now being drilled through theabutment rock of the northwest can-yon wall by Mountain States Construc-tion Co., of Denver. Aw arded on abid price of $2,452,340, the contractcalls for a bore 2768 feet in length andfrom 44 to 47 feet in diameter. After

a second tunnel of similar size andlength has been drilled through the op-posite wall of the canyon, an earthencoffer dam will be built upstream todivert into these tunnels the entire flowof the river, thereby leaving the dam-site free of water so the work of con-struction can proceed.

Watching the dam take form andthe reservoir fill will be, to those soprivileged, an unforgettable experience.Prior to completion of the dam thenew lake will be officially chr isten ed,but the name it will bear is yet unde-cided. Charles Kelly, superintendentof Capitol Reef National Monument,

has proposed calling it Lake Escalantein honor of the first white explorer topenetrate this section of the wilderness.The suggestion seems a logical one that

should be acceptable to the severalstates involved, as well as to followersof all political parties and religiousfaiths.

As the new lake pushes back intothe many side canyons, its waters willerase forever historical landmarks andplaces enshrined in the hearts of a fewmen . At the same time, however, thosewaters will render accessible for thefirst time other fascinating places yetunknown and untrodden by human-kind. From a recreational standpointthe lake probably will be superior to

the river; at least it will lend itself tothe enjoyment of more persons. Con-versely, this same encroachment bycivilization can have but one result—noise and confusion will replace theprecious quiet that now reigns overthis land, and another slice of the wil-derness will be lost.

To every true lover of the desert-—-and certainly that includes myself—the relinquishment of any wildernessarea is a tragic thing that amounts toperson al defeat. In the case of GlenCanyon dam, however, I feel confident

that whatever loss is accrued will bemore than adequately compensated bythe gain.

R I L , 1 9 5 711



Praying M antis . . .

Wells Fargo Office

This photograph of a "lion of the insectworld" by Dick Randall of Rock Springs, Wy-oming, is first prize winner in this month'scontest. The Pray ing Mantis is arm ed withpowerful sawtoothed front legs and a ravenousappetite for anim al food. Not even b ees an dwasps are safe from them. Randall used a 4x5Graphic View camera. Royal Pan Film, f. 32with strobe light illumination at 1/800 seconds.

P i c t u r e s o ft h e M o n t h

Columbia, California, is a well preservedstate park in the Mother Lode country. ConradA. Diethelm's photo of the old community'srestored Wells Fargo office is second prize

winner this month. His cam era da ta: Rollei-cord camera, Verichrome Pan film, f. 16 at1/125 seconds, Diethelm is a resident of Anti-och, California.



Cyria's watering job consists mostly of turning on and off nine faucets.

ore Gardenith Less Water

By RANDALL HENDERSON

Drawi ngs by Margo Gerke

HREE YEARS ago Cyria and Imoved into our new desert homein Palm Desert, California —

We had scarcely gotten the furni-

Cyria loves flowers. My regard for

100 degrees, and the high cost of

nnual rainfall is about three inches.We must not lose any time, my

green-thumbed wife explained, becauseare-root trees and shrubs should be

planted in the winter. I listened withsilent reservations. Bu t I was notalarmed, for we had agreed that we

would be our own gardeners. I wassure the task of digging holes, luggingfertilizer and peat moss, building trel-lises and dragging the garden hose

from one spot to another would serveas an automatic brake on her enthusi-asm.

But I had under-estimated Cyria'szest for planting things. She becam e

an avid reader of the seed catalogs andinstruction books for amateur garden-ers. Her trips to the local nurseriesbecame so frequent that I never knewwhat my home landscape would looklike when I returned from my office inthe evening.

"But Cyria, don't you realize you'llbe spending most of your days water-ing those things," I remonstrated. "Itis only the native shrubs of the desertthat can survive on the rainfall."

But I was waging a losing battle—and when friends and neighbors began

lugging in bulbs, and vines and shrubs"for Cyria's garden" I knew I wasbeaten. "It would be discourteous notto plant things when friends give themto us," she explained.

It was about this time that I visitedthe jackrabbit homestead of GuernseyClose in Apple Valley, California. Andthere I got the germ of an idea thatwas to bridge the gap between Cyria'smania for planting things and myaversion to high water bills.

To conserve his water supply Guern-sey had constructed some rather crude

cement canals from one tree to an-other. "Tak es only half as much waterthis way," he explained.

I knew at once that Guernsey had

Home gardeners on the desertw here the summer sun is verythirsty and the moisture supplylimited, have to manage theirw ater carefully. Here is the storyof a little dom estic w ater sy stemengineered and built for these des-ert conditions—a home-made jobthat converted a to w n lot into anoa sis of shrubbery w ith a mini-mum of w ater.

the answer to my domestic water prob-

lem. Mason ry happen s to be my fa-vorite hobby, and before I reachedhom e 1 had envisioned a system ofminiature irrigation canals that notonly would beat the high cost of water,but would save Cyria many hours ofwork with her hose every week.

Today our water system is not quitecomplete—but Cyria's duties as chiefirrigator consist for the most part inturning on and off nine hose bibs lo-cated at strategic points on our townlot.

When finished we will have 577 feetof miniature canal watering 140 trees

and shrubs, and countless floweringannuals in the yard surrounding ourhom e. Cyria has learned her timing sowell that she can sit in the patio andread a book while the irrigation is inprogress, with only an occasional in-terruption to turn a faucet on or off.Our water pressure is such that we canrun three water lines simultaneously.

Our soil is sandy and the bajadawhere Palm Desert is located—likemost desert bajadas—is so sprinkledwith rocks and pebbles of all sizes thatmaterials for masonry construction

were no problem. I built a screen withquarter-inch mesh and merely use thesand underfoot for my cement mix—four parts sand to one of cement. Also,

A P R I L , 1 9 5 7 13



Top—77ie toofa. Hom e-made mortar box, sand screen and tamper; 5-footlength of 4-inch fiber composition pipe; wheelbarrow, shovel, hoe, level,bucket for measuring sand and cement, 3 trowels and a pair of gloves.

Bottom — Randie Riddell, grandson of the author, opens the 2-inch head-gate which regulates the stream flow in No. 6 system.

with scrap lumber 1 built a 3x3 footmortar box on a sled, had the tinsmithmake a pan to fit it, and tied a ropeat one end to simplify the problem ofdragging it aiong as it follows thecanal construction.

For molding the canal channel I

got a 5-foot length of 4-inch fibercomposition pipe. Wet sand moldswell, and my procedure is this:

To keep the line true I stretch build-er's cord from point to point, andthen with shovel or hoe rough in theditch, using a level to get the propergrade. Then the pipe is seated in theditch and with trowel the sand ispacked against it on both sides. AgainI check it with the level. The pipe isremoved and cement: roughly spreadon the bottom and sides of the chan-nel. I use a soft mix, and try to put

in enough cement for a wall % toone inch in thickness. Then the mold-ing pipe is laid in the channel again,

and to seat it properly I stomp on it afew times. While the m old is still inplace I add more cement on both sidesand then cap them with rounded washrocks about the size of a baseball or alittle larger. A small trowel and verysoft cement is then used to fill in the

crevices between the rocks.With this completed, the mold is re-

mo ved. To get away from the suctionthat tends to hold it in place I give ita turn or two before lifting it out.

As a finishing tool for the inside ofthe canal after the mold is removed Iuse a little round scoop such as grocersand seedsmen use for scooping bulkconten ts out of bags. It serves the pu r-pose well.

Some days later, after the cementhas dried, I coat the inside with Bon-dex to mak e it waterproof. There

probably are other patent materialsjust as good but this happened to bethe brand sold at the local paint store.

Where a long line serving manyshrubs is required it is a simple mat-ter to make turn-outs into the basinaround each shrub; or as often as isnecessary for proper watering.

When the line merely extends fromtree to tree the canal empties into thebasin around the tree, and when thisis filled the water flows on to the nexttree.

Cyria, who likes to gather small

rocks almost as well as grow flowers,has brought in stones for cappingaround the basin of each tree andshrub, but we do not use any cementin the rims of these basins.

When finished, the canal proper isat ground level, as shown in the ac-companying sketch, with the rock cap-ping above ground level.

The level is a very important toolin the construction of these canals.Very little fall is necessary, and I be-lieve such a system could be built onlevel ground. In places where the nat-ural slope in our ground was too great,I put in little waterfalls at intervals.

Since it hardly is practicable to con-struct a canal line with 20 or moreturnouts that will distribute the waterperfectly, the basin around each shrubis lower than the bottom of the aque-duct. Hence the water flows in and fillsthe basin to the height of the waterlevel in the canal, and then continueson to the next turn-out.

The lawn and some of the flowerbeds still require hand watering, or asprinkler, but most of the hose bibsare equipped with double faucets so the

sprinkling can be done while water isflowing in the canals. Whe re the canalpasses through the stone parapet wallin front of the house, and under theflagstone sidewalks, I laid short lengthsof 2-inch pipe, underground.

Following is the list of shrubs andtrees served by each of the nine canalsystems; as numbered on the accom-panying chart:

No. 1—195 feet in length: 12 ole-anders, 6 lantanas, 6 Washingtonpalms, 11 grapevines.

No. 2—47 feet: 2 grapefruit, 2 tan-

gerines, 1 pineapple guava, 1 kadotafig-

No. 3—1 1 feet: 1 umb rella tree , 1Shamel ash, 3 cassias, 10 gazanias.

N o. 4—23 feet: 2 snail vines, 1jasmine, annual flower bed.

N o. 5—28 feet: 1 dwarf lemo n, 1orange, 1 kumquat.

N o. 6—1 62 feet: 3 pyracanthas, 1Brazilian pep per, 1 cottonwood, ahedge of 26 Japan ese privets, 1 cassia,1 trum pet bush, 1 bird of parad ise, 1passion vine, 3 palms, 2 pampas grass,2 arborvitaes—and a hedge yet to be

planted.N o. 7—53 feet: 1 hibiscus, 2 eu-onymu s, 1 umb rella tree, 1 Chinese

> D E S E R T M A G A Z I N E



CHINESEELM

Showing the layout of the nine canal lines served by the same number of hosebibs. These trees and shrubs, and flower beds not shown on the diagram, wereplanted with four goals in mind: lots of shade, ample privacy, a bit of floral perfume,and fruit in season. The interior arrangem ent of the home, built for summer com-

fort, was shown in the Desert Magazine of July, '54.

lm, 1 oleander, 1 tecoma h oney-uckle.

N o. 8—36 feet: 1 carob tree, 1 py-racan tha, 1 tecoma honey suckle, 1catalpa, 1 Rh us ova ta.

N o. 9—32 feet: 1 cottonwood , 1brown turkey fig, 1 tropical bird of

paradise, 1 hibiscus and a bed of an-nual flowers.

Totals: 577 feet of canal, 140 trees

and shrubs and 2 beds of annualflowers.

There is no way of knowing howmuch we have saved in water bills,but in this porous soil of sand andgravel I am sure that more than halfthe water which flows in an unlined

ditch is lost through seepage. Com par-ing my water bills with those of neigh-bors who have similar plantings, I be-

lieve the saving is at least 40 percent.Last year our water for yard and alldomestic purposes ranged from $3.15in January to $12.40 in August—anaverage of $7.57 a mon th. At ourlocal water company rate this amountsto approximately 4,450 cubic feet of

water a month.Actually, about 50 percent of this

water went into our little patio lawn

A P R I L , 1 9 5 7 15



.1 f;

' '

: •••.•:•• ' F V . ' i F - y ' F : • ;•-•: . ' • • - > . ••''- . • • • • •i r W i i i ' f i i T i i i M l i i S i i n i i i I i » HI w i W I " I IIWITli MH Ti l ili'IF'

rMv -•" '

. : • •-• v . • . ; • • • • ' • ' . '^ • • " / ' • ; • ; • . . . •

Showing canal serving grapevines planted along the railfence that borders the lot. Turn-outs at every vine.

This canal 162 jeet long serves the hedges that borderthe streets on this corner lot. Privets in foreground.

Showing a section of thecanal withthe turn-out construction at eachshrub. There is no cement in the

stone capping around thewater ba-s i n . Native stones were gatheredfrom the desert, and the sand under-foot wasscreened for the cement

mix, four toone.

16

of dichondra, which was sprinkled al-

most daily. It was a pretty lawn fortwo years. Then the bermuda grassmoved in andwithin sixmonths thedichondra had been smothered out.

Our team, Cyria asthe gardener andme as the waterworks engineer, got

. along very harmoniously until we cameto that "yet - to -be -planted" hedgeacross the front ofthe lot. We've been

feuding over that for nearly a year.She wants to plant pyracanthas, and

I amholding out for Texas Sage, orRanger. I 've threatened, cajoled, prom-ised, and even tried tobribe her, butI don't seem to bemaking any head-way. Of course I have known all alongwe would end upwith pyracanthas—but I think themale member of thehousehold ought toassert his authorityonce in awhile.

In the meantime our trees and flow-ering shrubs, all ofthem planted within

the last three years, are paying increas-ing dividends in beauty and in our

knowledge of the way of plant life.

Truly there is no greater miracle on

earth than the germination of the seed,an d thegrowth and flowering of the

tiny sprout that comes through the

ground. The little irrigation systemdoes its job very well, but it is a crudeand clumsy affair compared with the

amazing system ofcirculation the Cre-ator has devised for even the mosthumble shrub inthe backyard. We are

deriving anextra dividend of satisfac-tion from our little oasis onthe desert—because we built it with our own

hands.

Cross-section of the miniature canalwhen completed. D etails of con-

struction in accomp anying text.

DESERT MAGAZINE



The Virginia Dale'sTw o Forgotten Towns

Set in the ruggedly beautifulPinto and Black Mountains of theHigh Desert of California are thetw o easi ly rea ched locations ofthe mining tow n of Dale — bothleveled nearly to the plane of thereclaiming desert—both filled w iththe memories of the pas t — bothsleeping peacefully in oblivion.

By RONALD D. MILLER

Phot ographs by t he au t hor

Map by Norton Al len

7HE SUN was swinging low into

the western sky as my motherand I followed the Baseline road

n surroun ding Dale Dry Lak e. The

ast. From the well-paved highwayhe Pintos are a striking range. They

are among the most beautiful moun-tains in the high desert, largely becauseof their color—a mixture of deep vio-lets and rich browns. This range, whenseen in the evening, often reminds meof a South American travel poster thathung in my room when I was a child.The low sun and a great swirl of cirruspouring up from the west promised acolorful sunset.

We were taking color slides of ourTwentynine Palms region for a lectureseries and had at the last minute de-cided to add the interesting ghost townsof Old and New Dale after we dis-covered that since our last trip to thearea, the Baseline road had been paved.

Today it is hard to visualize thisroad as it used to be. W hat was oncea collection of ruts and washouts isnow smooth pavement extending fromTwentynine Palms eastward 19 milesto the ruins of Old Dale.

To distinguish the few remainingrelics at Old Dale with the name of"Ghost Town" would be a masterfulexamp le of overstatement. It is at thispoint that the pavement of the Base-line road ends. Another road whichgoes to Pinto Basin in the Joshua TreeNational Monument by way of NewDale branches to the south. At thisintersection is all that remains of OldDale. A rather well preserved cabinforlornly marks the site of the oldpum p house. The cabin is not muchbigger than the water tank that isperched precariously on its roof. Thefading letters on the tank spell out"Thornton's Comer." Surrounding thejunction in various stages of disrepair

Virginia D ale Mine.

are other remains of a once-active goldmining center.

Among these ruins is a well pre-served arrastre, a primitive machine formilling ore. How ever, wha t it lacks inmodernity it makes up in economy. Inthe early days, the cost of fuel forsteam engines became prohibitive.Therefore, a shallow pit was dug andlined with flat smo oth rocks . A po stwas made secure in the center and tothis a sweep or boom pole was a ttachedin a horizontal position. To this boom

was fastened two large rock s. Th eeconomy comes into the picture withthe means of locomo tion. A burro washitched to the boom end and drivenaround the arrastre in a circle. As thetwo rocks on the other end of theboom were drug over the lining of thepit, the ore was thrown in for process-ing. A slow but effective method.

A short distance from the arrastreare the remains of a five stamp mill. In1896, when serious development ofthe mines in this area began, the millwhich had been operating at Twenty-

nine Palms, was dismantled and set upat Old Dale. Later, this arrangementproved too costly so the mines pipedwater from the Dale and set up their

own mills. Since the mines no longersent their ore to the mill at Dale, andother mines had sprung up further intothe rugged hills to the south, the townapparently had outlived its usefulness.But Dale was not ready for death.Everything that did not have roots wasmoved to a new location about eightmiles to the south at what is nowcalled New Dale. The heavy millequipment did not have roots, but itwas set in cemen t. Per hap s this is whyit is still in place.

We returned to the car and starteddown the road to New Dale whichleads south through a pass between thePinto and the Black Mountains. Whentaking this route, we always wait ex-pectantly until we round the first curve.Here the traveler is given his first viewof the Virginia Dale Mine. This mineis perched on a mountainside and looksas if it is holding on in the fear thatit will fall. The tin roofs and buildingsglittered in the evening sun. Th e Vir-ginia Dale is our favorite because wethink of it as the beginning of theDales.

In 1882 two men named Wilson andLyons left the Oasis of TwentyninePalms to explore the Sheephole Moun-

A P R I L , 1 9 5 7 17



tains to the east. They found the ter-rain rugged and had to follow a washin order to make anyprogress. Whilein this wash they discovered some in-teresting quartz float and traced it toits source. The Virginia Dale was lo-cated there.

Lyons andWilson moved to the siteand built a shack from rocks, coveringthe roof with willow and smoke tree

branches. Later another larger shackwith a fireplace was built. The fire-place ruins still are standing at thebase of the diggings.

The two prospectors kept their dis-covery a secret for as long as possible,but eventually thenews leaked out and

a rush started. The trail from Twenty-nine Palms was lined with pack burros,mules and horses pulling wagonsloaded with water and camp supplies.Later a well was dug and water foundabout four miles north of the VirginiaDale. Soon a town developed aroundthis water source and it was calledDale. Thus the Virginia Dale minewas the parent of Old and NewDale.

Three miles farther to the south,the Pinto Basin road is joined by aroad to theIvanho e M ine. Half a mileup this road is all that remains of NewDale. Thesite of this once active townis marked by a group of rock founda-tions along the north side of the road

T R U E O R F A L S E :- I

This quiz is a yardstick bywhich you may measure theprogress youhave made in your

acquaintance with one of the most interesting regions on earth—the GreatAmerican Desert . The questions touch the fields of geography, mineral-

ogy, history, native tribesmen and the general lore of the desert. Thisfeature in Desert Magazine each month actually is a school of instructionfor those who would broaden their knowledge. Twelve to 15 correctanswers is a good score, 16 to 18 is superior. Perfect scores are very rare.The answers are onpage 36.

-Desert wildflowers never grow on sand dunes. True _ . False

-Free gold sometimes occurs in white quartz. True _ . False

-Pauline Weaver was a famous woman stage driver. TrueFalse

4—Hassayampa is the name of an Indian tribe in Arizona. TrueFalse

5—The road-runner never leaves the ground in flight. True ....

False6—The capital of Nevada is Reno. True . False

7—Prehistoric Indians used the pliable switches of the Tamarisk treefor weaving baskets. True . False

8—Certain species of desert birds build their nests in cholla cactus.True . False

9—Deglet Noor is the name of a date now cultivated in some areas ofthe Southwest. Tru e False

1 0 -

1 1 -

12

-Largest river flowing through New Mexico is the SanJuan. TrueFalse

-Bright Angel creek comes into the Grand Canyon of the ColoradoRiver from thenorth rim. Tru e False

-Ultra-violet rays of the sun are believed to have caused the fossiliza-tion of the petrified wood found in many places in the Southwest.True - . False

13—Azuri te is a copper ore. True . False

14—Billy the Kidplayed a leading role in New Mexico's "Lincoln CountyW ar." True. False

15—Staple food crop grown by the Hopi Indians is corn. TrueFalse

16—Rainbow Natural Bridge is in Utah. True . . . False

17—Agate belongs to the quartz family of mine rals. T rue __ .... False. ....

18—Navajos and Hopi Indians speak the same language. TrueFalse.

19—Hoskinini was a famous Apache chieftain. True . False

20—From the top of the Panamint Range one maylook down on DeathValley, California. True False

and surrounded by beautiful sepia-shaded mountains. The terrain is ex-tremely rugged and deeply cut bysandy rock strewn washes. It is a mel-ancholy view in the late afternoon, butthe grandeur of the surrounding coun-tryside gives a statcliness to the ruinsof NewDale.

New Dale thrived during the miningboom and eventually became a com-

pany town for the Supply Mine, themost productive mine in the district.A t its peak, the town boasted severaldwellings, a post office and a saloon.The saloon doubled as a hotel, withguests bedding down in the storageroom. No record exists of any businesshouses or stores, but undoubtedly theydid exist.

Various freight companies made reg-ular supply runs to Dale. Their equip-ment usually consisted of 12 mulespulling a front and trailer wagon. Oneoutfit established by Del Irvine and

George Goodsell operated two single-wagon six-mule units. These freighterstraveled from Dale to the railroad atAmboy with highgrade ore and re-turned with coal for steam engines andmachinery for the mines. Anotherroute used for the shipping of supplieswas the road from Banning to Dale.This was a two day trip with a stop-over at Warren's Well in Yucca Valley.

Frank Sabathe ran a stage line fromBanning to Dale, and Sam Joyner, atone time the saloon keeper, ran thestage to Amboy. TheConcord Coachwas used in the early days. This ve-

hicle rested on leather straps strunglengthwise from front to rear axle inlieu of springs. This saved the occu-pants from a merciless shaking on thebumpy desert roads. Thecoach seatedsix to eight people inside and in caseof a full load there was room for onepassenger beside thedriver. The freightboot in the rear, the baggage rack onto p and the mail pouch under thedriver's seat were all covered withleather.

When the visitor to New Dale looksaround and surveys the pitiful remains

of a once-lively town, he is faced withthe obvious question: "W hat hap-pened?" The answer is a simple one.Government reports give the total pro-duction of the district at close to amillion dollars, most of it recoveredbetween 1900 and 1915. But they donot tell how much money wasspent tobring that million out of the ground.

The area always has been isolated,with supplies andequipment and laborcostly. Themines hadpiled huge ton-nages of ore in reserve, but nowherecould they find a profitable place to

sell or treat it. During World War I,the price of labor and supplies wentup but theprice of gold did not. Thisspelled ruin for the miners. When the

18 DESERT MAGAZINE



Supply Mine closed, so did the townof New Dale.

Dave and Anna Poste of TwentyninePalms went to the Dale District in1923 to try their luck with the VirginiaDale. When ihe Postes first saw NewDale, the saloon, the major's houseand the restaurant were still standing,but no one was living in the town.The saloon still had the billiard tablescomplete with balls in the pockets,cues and even chalk. Th e safe wasstill in the building. Its doo r was open,so Dav e closed it. Th e si.fe was empty ,but vandals later blew it open to seeif there was any money in it.

The town started disappearing. Van-dals destroyed much of it. Pieces ofthe buildings were taken to patch near-by mine shacks. What wasn't "bor-row ed" or stolen was broken . Thetown that had boomed in the '90s wasstripped until nothing remained. Soit was that when we arrived that eve-ning we were greeted only by gaping

cellar-holes and piled stone founda-tions. Only a mou nd of stones andbroken glass which has turned purpleby the desert sun, marked the site ofthe once noisy saloon.

The only other trace of man left atNew Dale lies in the sandy cemetery.It is small and heart-shaped and madeof marble. It bears the inscription:Carl P.—Son of Percy J. and AdalineD . McCabe—Oct. 17, 1903-Jan. 11,1904—B AB Y.

\ m

Remains of the five-stamp mill at Old Dale— loo expensive to run, tooheavy to cart away.

We have never met the McCabesnor have we found anyone who did.However, someone in the district mustknow them . The grave always is wellcared for. It is neatly lined with rockand covered with horseshoes that havebeen cut in half. We never leave NewDale without a trip to this lone grave.To us, it has become a marker forthe grave of New Dale.

By now, the sun had almost gone.The evening sky was splashed with

reds and yellows as the expected sun-set materialized over the Pinto Moun-tains. We looked around and tried tovisualize the town as it had b een. Themodern world has brought changes tothe desert. It has brought paved roads,80-mile-an-hour tourists and five-acrehomesteaders. It has taken some thingsaway—but nothing more can be takenfrom New D ale. It lies quietly, markedonly by a grave covered by brokenhorseshoes.

.TWENTYNINE PALMS

RIVERSIDE ^xXCOUNTY

A P R I L , 1 9 5 7 19



ON DESERT TRAILS WITH A NATURALIST - XXXVIThis month Dr. Jaeger takes his

readers on a hole-hunt ing expedi -tion. For it is by the holes theymake tha t many of the c rea turesof the desert may be identified.Here is a fascinat ing study forth os e w h o would become be t te racquainted wi th the s t range under-ground l i fe of the desert region.

By EDMUND C. JAEGER, D.Sc.

Curator of Plants

Rivers ide Munic ipa l Museum

AST APRIL my alert and en-thusiastic biologist friend, JerryBecker of Pasadena, joined me

on a five day desert hole-hunting expe-dition.

Birds, mammals, reptiles and manyother creatures leave behind them hintsof their presence other than footprints,food remains and odors. Among theseevidences are the holes or openings totheir permanent or temporary abodes.

At our first desert campsite wemarked off a 200 square foot sectionof typical desert terrain and thencounted all the holes, large and small,within this plot. We were amazed atthe number— 102 . Next we identifiedthe animals that made these holes, andsome were real puzzlers.

Each hole was the site of some small

creature's very earnest labors. Somewere mere shallow excavations; otherswere holes that obviously had beenused for very temporary shelters byrodents; still others marked the en-trance to the more or less permanentabodes of insects or their lowly rela-tives, spiders, millepedes and scorpions.

It was easy to tell those which weremo st recently used. They were cleanand well open and often had freshfootmarks around them. The unoccu-pied and abandoned holes often wereragged-edged and had cobwebs acrossthe openings.

In almost all areas there are num-bers of little walnut sized pits in theearth that 1 call doodlebug h oles. Theyare small and shallow and only meanthat some small provident rodents—probably kangaroo rats or white-footedor pocket mice, have been probingaroun d for wind-buried seeds. Rodentsare very clever and acute in their sens-ing of buried food. They seldom digwithout bringing up something wortheating, be it an insect or a seed. Someof these seeds they may have cached atsome time in the past.

This past autumn while in the aridpinyon country of the San JacintoMountains of California, we became

Western bad ger. This large under ground-dw elling creature digs his ow nhole. D rawing by Morris Van D ame.

Denizens of theDesert Underworld

aware of the extraordinary diligenceand thoroughness of rodents in seedgathering and storing.

Last year was a good pinyon-nutyear, as the Indians would say, andwhen late September came the branchesof the pinyon trees, heavily laden with

cones, were everywhere yielding greatquantities of the delicious fat nuts.When the cones split open many ofthese nuts spill on the pine needlecarpet beneath the gnarled old trees.One can pick up many handfuls in avery short time. In places the groundwas covered brown w ith nuts. Yet,three weeks later when we returned,not a pinyon nut was to be found.

The rodents had completely cleanedthem up and carried them away totheir underground domiciles. Pinyonjays got a few to be sure, a very fewwere gathered by man, but most ofthe million-ton crop was taken by theprudent circumspect rodents — packrats, white-footed mice and groundsquirrels. Yes, rode nts are frugal hardworking creatures. Their little pawsare almost constantly gleaning theseeds that man and most other largermammals neglect,or despise.

The most common larger holes wesaw on our hunt were those made bythe several kinds of widespread andabundant kangaroo rats or dipos asthey are sometimes called because oftheir generic nam e, Dipodo mys. The

large excavations were made in theloose sands by the Big Kangaroo Rat(Dipodomys deserti). The extensive

galleries of this handsome long-tailedand soft-furred rodent often caved inbeneath us as we walked over the hole-covered sands. Often we noticed themain gallery entrances were neatlyplugged with sand to keep reptilianintruders out.

In places we came upon colonies ofholes of the smaller kangaroo ratsmade in clay soils at the bases of cre-osote bushes and mesquite trees, evensometimes in stony stretches of theupland mesas.

Once we entered a badger's terri-tory. W e found not only the largewider-than-high main opening to theunderground hide-out surrounded byits large piles of excavated clays andgravels, but also many other holes,some of them pretty large and exten-sive. These latter had been made bythe badger as he dug out rodents whichconstitute his chief fare. M ost of thesehunting holes had been made at nightand were extensively distributed overthe badger's big territory. This hand-some flat-bodied quadruped has ahuge appetite and must find manysmall or several medium-sized mam-mals, such as gophers and groundsquirrels, each night to appease hishun ger. It is this comp elling appetitefor burrowing rodents that makes theshy, retiring and inoffensive badgersuch a valuable ally to the farmer andstockman.

Next day we came across the denof a little family of spotted skunks.The odor made identification unrnis-

20 D E S E R T M A G A Z I N E



been appropriated from rodents. Thetunnels always are loosely lined withsilk and the entrances are neatlyrimmed with webbing.

On the face of a steep clay-sidedcanyon 1pointed out thework of otherdiggers. The small holes were madein the unbelievably hard soil of thevertical canyon wall by mason bees.

First they soften the clay with saliva

and then bit by bit remove the wetsoil. The near pencil-sized completedtubes, from an inch to an inch-and-a-half deep, had upon completion beenprovided with nectar and pollen and theegg layed thereon. Then the openingswere sealed with wax so that they werequite invisible until the adult beesemerged. After the eggs hatched thelarvae ate the pasty mass, turned topupae and then reached adulthood.These bees sometimes work in largeaggregations and then the holes whichpuncture thebank are in such numbers

that it figuratively resembles the topof a huge pepper box.

Despite popular belief, snakes sel-dom live in holes. They sometimesenter holes to escape a pursuer or tohunt food. Do n't worry about a snakecoming out of a hole to bite you. Par-ents should teach this to their children.Furthermore, they should tell themthat snakes do not dig holes in whichto hide.

On the fourth morning of our holehunt we came upon a johnny or bur-rowing owl habitation. I knew it in-

stantly, for about the sides of the wash-bank entrance were numerous bone-and-hair pellets—the rejectamenta socommon about owl habitations of allkinds. The birds were not at home orelse were resting below ground, forwe saw no sight of them although wewatched nearby for some time.

The desert jack rabbit, really a hare,does not occupy holes but his nearrelation, the cottontail rabbit, like alltrue rabbits, does. In these they notonly often spend daylight hours, buthere they give birth to and later rear

their young.

One opening to a cottontail burrowwe found under a burro bush wasabout five inches across. The rabbitmay have dug it, but chances are itadapted for its needs a burrow pre-viously dug by some other mammal,probably a ground squirrel. Cotton-tails generally have an extra outlet ortw o for escape should a snake or furi-ously digging predator enter the under-ground galleries.

Many indeed were the holes of

scorpions wesaw. At times there wereso many, all looking quite fresh, thatwe almost concluded that scorpions

Historic Panoramas II

The Hole in the RockBy JOSEF and JOYCE MUENCH

An impressive cavalcade of 80 wagons, 200 horses, 1000cattle and

250 men, women andchildren pushed through this narrow slit of rock inthe walls of Glen Canyon and crossed the Colorado River in February,1880. Never used as a crossing before—or since—the Mormon partyspent weeks building a road to the rim,blasting andmaking a remarkabletrail down through it.

There wasperhaps no wagon trek in history more difficult than thatmade at the command of the Mormon church to proceed from the Utahtowns of Panguitch, Kanab andHenriville to found Bluff, on the San JuanRiver. Only a group fired by religious zeal could have made it. They firstworked their way through a flat region with almost no water, feed forstock, or even fuel for fires—then down the widened "Hole in the Rock,"across the formidable river and on for more long months through therugged canyon country. Visitors to the scene of their struggle still wonderat the achievement.

Upper photograph , opposite page—

Hole-in-the-Rock. Looking from part way down, through the cutwhich leads from the rim of Glen Canyon to the Colorado Riverbelow . Over this almost impo ssible rou te, 250 Mormon Pioneerswent, across thestream and up through another cut seen in themiddledistance, to found Bluff on the San Juan River. They spent sixweeksbuilding a "road" to enable the wagons and almost 1000 head ofcattle to make the 1000 foot (one and a half mile) descent to thewater, in 1880.

Lower photograph, opposite page—

Mormon Steps at Hole-in-the-Rock. Although they were cut in 1880,these steps still show clearly what great difficulties the 250 MormonPioneers faced ingetting their wagons and 1000 head of cattle throughthe rocky cut in Glen Canyon.

were the most common and most nu-merous of creatures that sought shelterunderground. The scorpion's hole isunique. If you see a small wide, fiat-tish hole leading underground at onlya slight angle, and out before it a longfanlike carpet of debris, you can becertain that this is a scorpion's dwell-

ing place. The tube is excavated toa considerable depth and because italways is made in loose textured soilwhich easily caves in, it is hard forthe investigator to follow. The hidingscorpion may be found even up to afoot or more beyond the entrance.The burrow is made at night—oftena new one each night, but sometimesa scorpion will occupy his den for anumber of successive nights.

Hole hunting on the desert can bea fascinating pastime and points upthe fact that you can learn much moreon exploration trips if you concentrateon one or two particular phenomenawhen studying Nature.

"The Virginia Dale's Two ForgottenTowns," the ghost town feature in thismonth's Desert, waswritten by RonaldDean Miller, a school teacher atTwentynine Palms, California. For thepast three years, he has worked week-ends as information-receptionist forthe National Park Service at JoshuaTree National Monument.

Miller wasborn in Eureka, Califor-nia, in 1928 and studied at StanfordUniversity where he majored in dram-atics. He has been teaching for thepast five years, with a short time takenout for army duty.

In his spare time he pursues threehobbies: writing, photography andpainting.

'.:- DESERT MAGAZINE



<: A

-¥•

A P R I L , 1 9 5 723



LIFE ON THE DESERT

The porcupine— Erethizon dorsatum— is a large rodent which feeds largelyon bark and leaves. Photograph courtesy U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

W a t e r f r o m aC u p t opS a v e P o r k y ' s L i f e .

The dying porcupine had no reason to trust these two-leggedcreatures, members of the Animal Kingdom's most feared and ruthlesspredator species—but Porky drank thewater they offered providing aninteresting lesson in the way s ofNature.

By JUNE HAINES BETSWORTH

7H I S L I T T L E guy had courage—

and brains—the character wefound dying in a desert waste,

40 miles from Albuquerque, NewMexico, last summer.

Our jeep wheels had lost all hint oftrail 16miles back and wewere cross-ing a sand bedbarren of all vegetation.The sea of sand was burning underthe July sun's 105 degrees.

Ahead in the far distance we sawthe jagged bushless outline of the blackvolcanic boulders where wewere goingto search for gem stones. Near theroad basked a few tilted fence posts,

reminders that this area had seen wet-ter days when cattle fed on now-absentforage.

And there he was! Standing im-mobile with his front paws bracedagainst a two-by-four post. His mouthwas agape. Glazed eyes watched usfrom his little rabbit-face. The noisyjeep motor must have terrified him, yethe did notmove when wepulled along-side, straining to see what creaturecould possibly be so many miles fromvegetation and water.

Perhaps he could smell the water

we carried in the jeep cans. Or maybeit was sheer bravery instilled by anintelligence that caused him to knowthat to move away from those two

inches of shade would be an even

surer death than taking his chanceswith this noisy red monster bulgingwith human beings.

We stopped. My husband and ourtwo little girls stepped out. We weresure now. It was a porcupine!

As weedged closer, he slowly turnedhis furry-gray face towards us. Heloosened his grip on the fence post,but hesitated in an upright position.This mid-air pause was the sluggish-ness of dehydration, but it looked asif he were begging with his tiny out-stretched paws.

We moved closer. Porky seemed togive up hope and came down on allfours. He began a resigned painfulturn to menacingly wave thelong quillsof his back at us.

George, my husband, motioned forus to stop. He filled a tin cup withwater and started toward Porky, talk-ing quietly. The porcupine waited.Finally he again turned his back to us.George crept forward holding thewater in front of him at arms length.Would Porky at the last second boltoff across the desert in a final death-spasm of energy? Or would the fra-grance of moisture in that sizzlingsand-sea momentarily subdue his fearof man?

Closer and closer the cup of watercame to Pork y's mou th. George waswithin a foot of the animal. He setth e cupdown andbacked away. Porkyeyed it without moving. Then Georgepicked it up again anddropped to oneknee. Porky swayed and attempted aclumsy turn-around with his friendly-end facing George.

The distance between cup andmouth

narrowed to inches. Suddenly it hap-pened. Porky could stand it no longer.Up came his little front paws. Thefinger-like claws reached out frantic-ally and pulled George's hand to hismouth and Porky drank with his chinsubmerged in thecup, holding George'shands like a baby grasping its milkbottle. So eagerly did he go after thewater, a steady stream trickled downhis jaw. In such a manner he emptiedcup after cup. Wewatched in amazedsilence. The desert had again met itsmatch and lost a victim. PluckyPorky's courage and reasoning power

had triumphed.But Porky was not yet completely

out of danger. The worst crisis hadbeen met, but, if we left him herecould he make it back to greenery inhis weakened condition? (We neverdid solve the mystery of his being outin themiddle of nowhere!) We had totake himwith us! With no equipmentfor catching or carrying an animal,much less a porcupine, it would be aj o b .

The remainder of the afternoon wasspent: in getting Porky into the jeep.

After much difficulty, including severalquill wounds, we placed him in anequipment box. It was my duty, asGeorge drove, to keep the "head end"open for air and the dangerous "backend" covered. The quills had only tograze theskin to penetrate. Tiny barbsmade extraction difficult and painful.Contrary to the still prevalent belief ofmany, porcupine quills arc not shotout by the animal.

My arms ached before the two-hourride ended at a beautiful green thicketon the banks of the Pdo Grande near

Albuquerque. Porky turped often inthe box, andeach time he did I wouldhave to close the quill-end and openthe head-end. We poured water overa blanket to cool off his cramped quar-ters.

Among the reeds and river plantsthat grew under the cottonwoods atthe river's edge, we said good-bye toPorky, but notuntil he haddrunk quitea number of additional cups of water.We lost count of theexact number, butestimated that he had taken close tofour quarts of water that afternoonbefore he ambled off, somewhat live-lier than when first we met him, intothe bushes.

A4 D E S E R T M A G A Z I N E



HOME ONH E D E S E R T

i t r u s F r u i t

n Y o u re s e r t G a r d e nY ou m a y have both perfume and

delicious fruit in your desert door-yard—if your home is in one ofthe zones w here the air currentsare favorable. Here Ruth Reynoldstells about the varieties of citrustrees w hich thrive in Tucson, Ari-

zona—and in most of the desertregions.

By RUTH REYNOLDS

COMES with a grandflourish to the desert garden.Mornings dawn to the accom-

The birds, at least a hundred

Shou ld they ever do either I

up .

Soon after sunrise the birds feed

ipated as the air—slightly humid by

But early and late, April is, garden-the month we live for on the

esert. There is so much to be en-Ou r gardens glow with annuals

planted in the fall and hopefully tendedthrough out the winter. Roses bloom,and iris. Th ere are flower shows toattend and club-sponsored garden toursto be taken during which one maywander through numerous oases ofenchantment.

And there is work to be done inApri l .

With the heavenly scent of my n eigh-bors ' orange blossoms drifting overthe wall, and with visions of manylovely citrus tree-enhanced gardensfresh in my mind, nothing appeals tome more or seems more timely than

the planting of a citrus tree or two—or three. Where the danger of frostis not yet past it may be a little early

Large fruit-laden kumquat tree on the University of Arizona campu s.Kum quats are almost ever-bearing and often are grown as dw arfs.

Photograph by Helen Gardiner Doyle.

for planting, but plans and prepara-tions surely should be started.

Citrus growing in the Southwest isrestricted largely to the valleys andmesas which comprise the most typic-ally "dese rt" areas of this region. Thehigher plateaus are too cold. The lowmesas are almost ideal. The re citrus

fruits are grown commercially and ascommon dooryard trees.Between these extremes are areas

where citrus trees are grown very suc-cessfully with care and plann ing. TheTucson valley, with a mean annualtemperature of 62.2 degrees and agrowing season of 250 (frost free)days, is such a middle groun d. Buteven within the town there are climatezones—some more favorable, which isto say warmer, than others.

Were it not for the orange andlemon trees just beyond our wall andthousands of others all about town, I

would have qualms about planting cit-rus trees on our premises, for we donot live in one of the more frost-pro-

tected sections of town . This 1 hav elong supposed to be true but have onlyrecently found confirming statistics—along with much other valuable infor-mation—in The Climate of Arizona,Experiment Station Bulletin No. 279,by H. V. Smith. You can obtain acopy by writing to Agricultural Exper-

iment Station, University of Arizona,Tucson, Arizona.Besides pointing up the drama of

climate—the wide range between dayand night temperatures and the sharpcontrasts where desert and mountainmeet at the same latitude—the publi-cation demonstrates that the lowestelevations are not always the warmest.Tucson's cold zones are found alongriver beds and draws where cold aircurrents flow down from the slopesabove, dropping temperatures two orthree degrees lower than in the restof the valley.

Where the foothills begin there arefrost protected areas which, althoughhigher, are sometimes from five to ten

A P R I L , 1 9 5 7 25



degrees warmer than the colder zonesof the valley floor. One such area eightmiles from downtown Tucson is athermal belt of over 200 acres con-taining some of the southwest's finestcitrus groves, chiefly orange, grape-fruit and tangerine. A few lemons aregrown but they are less cold hardyand a greater commercial risk.

Many varieties of citrus grown thereand chosen for quality of fruit, coldhardiness and general adaptability arerecommended for the desert garden.Properly planted in the most shelteredspace available and kept healthy withsufficient water and fertilizer, they willyield delicious tree-ripened fruit—aswell as fragrant blossoms. And theyare, of course, among the most orna-mental of trees.

Among citrus varieties for the gar-den, oranges are most frequently cho-sen. Ho wev er it is only within recentyears that any except the sour Seville(citrus aurantium) have been at all

widely planted in our valley. Impervi-ous to our coldest weather, these hardytrees ornament many a patio, beautifyresidential streets and border the park-way before the railroad station—tocatch the eye of all visitors arrivingthere.

The fact that the fruit is not ediblefrom the tree makes them all the moreuseful for avenue planting. The or-anges are too sour to tempt passers-bybut, home grown, they may be usedto make orangeade, orange pie, cakeor marmalade — all with a delicious

orangy flavor and lemon tartness,The ease with which this variety

grows probably has given impetus tothe growing of edible fruit varieties.There may have been many newcom-ers who, like our neighbors, werethrilled by the orange trees and notknowing any better, insisted on sweetoranges—to have them turn out justfine. Of course a great deal of researchand experiment actually have broughtedible varieties to the garden.

The Washington Navel is the mostpopular eating orange. The Cardinal,

with its red skin and pink juice, isboth an eating and a juice orange. Thecommercial juice orange, Valencia,tastes better off the tree.

Diller and Hamlin bear excellentfruit and can stand considerable cold,requiring protection only during unus-ual cold spells when the trees are youngand tender. Acco rding to the Univer-sity of Arizona's citrus growing bulle-tin, oranges on mature trees requireprotection when the temperature isexpected to be below 26 degrees forperiods of two hou rs or longer. Forcommercial groves they recommendirrigating and wind machines, but fora dooryard tree a string of Christmastree lights is effective. Lem ons and

tangerines, being smaller, require lesstime to freeze and need protectionwhen temperatures are two degreeshigher. Conversely, grapefruit standsa little mo re cold. Citrus blossomsand new spring growth are in dangerwhen temperatures fall below 28 de-grees.

I pass this information on paren-thetically, to forewarn and guide thegarde ner planting citrus trees. But thepoint is that little protection may everbe necessary if the trees are planted,as they should be, with a shelteringwall to the north of them or, betterstill, in the corner of a courtyard en-closed or partially enclosed by walls ofthe house.

Now back to adaptable varieties.Grapefruit recommended for the gar-den include Marsh Seedless and vari-ous seedless strains having a pink fleshand a red tint to the peel. Rcdblush ,Cardinal and Ruby Blush are favoritesand have exciting eye-appeal as well

as taste-appeal.Among lemons the Meyer (dwarf

lemon) has long held first place butlast summer it was condemned as afruit virus vector which should be ban-ished from the garden and the grove.Our neighbors' lemon is a Meyer andbears wonderful fruit. It is really amaz-ing how aromatic and tempting even alemon fresh from the tree can be.

With the Meyer off the market per-haps the Pondorosa will supplant it .This is a decorative tree with largeflowers, large leaves and fruit. Like

the Meyer, it can be espaliered. Eurek aand Lisbon do well but their fruit ismore ordinary.

Newer and to many people more de-sirable are the unusual and interestingvarieties of limes which may be avail-able to gardeners. Rangpur and Ota-heite are among the most frost resist-ant.

For the unprotected garden thereare Mandarin type oranges: frost re-sistant tangerines, tangelos and newhybrids worth shopping around for.And there is still the sour orange which

grows as far up (5000 feet) as War-ren, Arizona. There is also the kum -quat with small oval fruit for eatingor making into jam . I cook seeds, skinand all and skim off the seeds—whichrise to the top — before adding thesugar.

The Calamondin—not well known— is very hardy. Its small orange-likefruit: is not for eating but makes thebest jam of them all. Th e tree is orna-mental and being ever-blooming andever-bearin g is also never-failing. Itis, I think, our tree of the future thoughI have seen only one full grown.

Usually citrus trees should not bepruned beyond the removal of deadwood, if any, and suckers in spring.

They were meant to wear their skirtslong and the best fruit is often on thelower branches where it is best pro-tected.

Actually the trees' best protection—after all other conditions have beenmade favorable—is water. Water tomaintain healthy growth the yeararound and to fill their tissues to ca-pacity during the coldest weath er. Adehydrated tree suffers most from

freezing. As the leaves and twigs thawthey dry out and die, with the normalflow of sap checked and transpirationgoing on.

Where no freezing temperatures arefeared, gardeners might like to try"The New Irrigation Plan" for com-mercial orange groves explained, inProgressive Agriculture, by R. H.Hilgeman who states: "Yie lds, sizesand quality of oranges have been sig-nificantly changed by the timing ofirrigations. It appe ars that a progr amof drying the soil during October

should be seriously considered . . ."While this may not be practicable

in many gardens, few gardeners willbe discouraged, or convinced that anyfruit is better than their own.

DESERT MAGAZINE GALLERYSCHEDULES JOHN HILTON,MARJORIE REED EXHIBITS

Two of the Southwest's most famousartists, John Hilton and Marjorie Reed,will exhibit their paintings in consecu-tive shows this spring at the DesertMagazine Pueblo Art Gallery on High-

way 111 mid-way between Indio andPalm Sp rings. Th ere will be no ad-mission charge for these shows andthe gallery is open from 9 a.m. to 5p.m. every day of the week.

Hilton, whose show is scheduledfor March 13 to April 3, recently hasreturned from a highly successful ex-hibit at the Grand Central Gallery inNew York which was held over fortwo weeks by popu lar demand. Hiswork has been shown at the DesertMagazine Pueblo for the past 10 years.He is one of the few artists who has

been able to capture on canvas thesubtle colorings of the desert at dawnand at sunset. John plans to be pre s-ent in person with his guitar duringthe weekends of his show.

Miss Reed's show is scheduled torun from April 3 to April 22 and willfeature a unique group of paintingscommemorating the Centennial of theButterfield Stage Route through South-ern California. She is known for herportrayal of the stage coaches, horses,Indians and long vistas and mountainsof the Old West. A ma p of the Butter -field road showing the points of inter-est Miss Reed selected to paint, alongwith her original sketches will be dis-played at the show.

9.1 D E S E R T M A G A Z I N E



n D e s e r t S l o p e s w i t h t h e S i e r r a n sThe Desert Peaks Section of the Sierra Club is a Southern California

group w hich mak es a hobb y of exploring desert mountain ranges andclimbing to their high points. For many years Louise Werner, a memberof the club an d an en thusiastic moun tain climber, has b een w ritingabout these trips for Desert Mag azine. The Desert Peakers w elcom eguests on these cl imbs.

By LOUISE TOP WERNER

Mountains Are for Everyone

Many of us have discovered that

Most of us already have nearly

We began exploring the recreational

for

Patches and darns were taken

Joining a group has many advan-tages. The camaraderie that developsamong a group hiking together in the

mountains has a flavor rich in good-will; under such circumstances it some-

wants to be. An established group hasa great deal of know-how about the

articular area it visits—what foodsare most enjoyed, how best to planone's cooking (depending on fuel andwater sources), what clothing andsleeping bag is most efficient, whethera shelter is essential, how to dress,where to find maps and literature, andwhat the special dangers are from poi-son animals or plants, lack of water,foul weather or rotten rock.

We would like to hear from moun-tain clubs in desert areas especiallyfrom those who would like to help pro-

mote an exchange of ideas, and invitereaders to take part in their activities.Wr i t e t o : MOUNTAINS AR E FOREVERYONE, 142 Palat ine Dr. , Al-hambra, California.

One such group is the Desert PeaksSection of the Sierra Club, a SouthernCalifornia group that makes a hobbyof exploring desert mountain rangesand climbing to their high points. Hereis advance information about theirApril trip to Manly Peak in the Pana-mint Rang e. Readers who feel thatthis trip is within their capacity areinvited to join the group.

April G—Manly Peak

Elevation 7,196 feet. Panamint RangeThe Panamint Range forms the west-

ern boundary of Death Valley in east-ern California. Man ly Peak, its south-ernmost high point, was named forWm. Lewis Manly who in 1849, to-gether with John Rogers, found a wayout of Death Valley over this sectionof the Panamints, for the Bennett-Arcane party.

We will meet at 7 a.m. at the ghosttown of Ballarat in Panamint Valleyon the west side of the range, andcaravan to the start of the climb,which will be steep, gaining about5700 feet of elevation in five miles,but without technical difficulties. Th eleaders estimate the round trip willtake a long day. Bring flashlight andwater, as well as lunch.

If any four-wheel drive vehiclesshow up, Polly Connable, one of theleaders, would like to take a part ofthe group up Goler Wash, over Men-gel Pass, into Butte Valley (an arm ofDeath Valley) on the opposite side

of the peak and climb it from the endof the jeep road in Redlands Canyon,a short three miles of hiking, gainingabo ut 2400 feet in elevation. Thiswould add about 60 miles of drivingand might require carrying extra gaso-line. Polly plans to check this roadin late M arch after the rains. Cam pat Ballarat Saturday night.

"We Lost a Ledge of Gold" by AsaM. Russell, in the September, 1955,issue of Desert Magazine, gives muchinteresting information on this area,including a map. A topographic map

of the Manly Quadrangle is availablefrom the U.S. Geological Survey, show-ing this area and its immediate sur-roundings in great detail.

"Death Valley in '49," by J. WilsonMcKenney, in the December, 1949,issue of Desert, reviews the story ofhow Manly and Rogers saved the Ben-nett-Arcane party.

Lead er: Polly Con nable, 214-AMitscher Rd., China Lake, California.

Maps for Arizona Mountaineers?Dear Madam:

I read your interesting column in

the February issue of Desert Maga-zine. Can you tell me if there is abranch of the Sierra Club in Ari-zona? 1 would like to get ma psshowing desert trails suitable forovernight hikes , clc. I find the Fo r-est Service maps here somewhatinadequ ate. Tha nk you for any in-formation you can send.

Sincerely,Lt. Col. R. L. LashTucson, Arizona

There is no branch of the SierraClub in Arizon a. You probably know

about the Kachina Mountain Clubwith headqu arters in Phoen ix. It isthe only mountain club we know ofin your state.

We presume you want informationabout maps covering your own state.Have you checked over your back is-sues of Desert Magazine?

In the Desert Magazine have ap-peared stories about mountain climb-ing in the Kofa Range, Castle Dome,the Chiricahuas, San Francisco Peaks,the Gila Range, and Navajo Mountain.There were maps with some of these

articles, and all the back copies areavailable from the publishers.

The problem of securing maps show-ing hiking trails in desert mountainsis one I think hikers will have to helpsolve. Such maps seem to becomeavailable only as Randall Henderson,Weldon Heald, and you and I makethem, and make them available toothers.

Fire Sw eep s El Picacho del Diablo

Fire raged unchecked for five weekslast summer through three canyons onthe flanks of El Picacho del Diablo,

the highest peak in Baja California(10,130 feet, Sierra San Pedro Mar-t y r ) , about 125 miles south of thebord er. This peak has presented someof the most intriguing route-findingproblems the Desert Peakers have thusfar encountered .

The three canyons burned are Di-ablo, Tolerdo and Del Media; thefire licked the edge of the great plateauto the west of the peak, on which growsthe only sizeable stand of timber on theentire penin sula. Luck ily the firestopped sh ort of the timber. Officials

of the Mexican government went upto look at the fire but could do noth-ing; the nearest fire-fighting equipmentwas at Ensenada, 130 automobile miles

A P R I L , 1 9 5 7 27



plus 25 horse-back miles plus 10 footmiles from the peak.

Desert Peakcrs Don Clarke andVernon Jones of Los Angeles, whoclimbed the peak during Christmas va-cation via Canyon Diablo, reportedthat canyon burned out between base-camp at about 6000 feet and the firststream fork below it, a distance ofabout two miles.

They sounded one hopeful note:the burned-off roots in the canyonbottom arc already sprouting newgrow th. Th e cause of the fire has notbeen determined, as far as we know.

Articles about this area that haveappeared in Desert Magazine by Ran-dall Henderson: "We Climbed El Di-ablo from the Desert Side," Jan., 1953,and "Three Days in Devil 's Canyon,"Aug ., 1955; by Louise We rner: "Onthe Trail to Picacho del Diablo," Mar.,1 9 5 1 .

S o u t h w e s t R i v e r R u n o f f F o r e c a s t s

I m p r o v e F o l l o w i n g W i n t e r S n o w s .Heavy mid-winter precipitation has

greatly improved the predicted waterrunoff volumes for most of the majorstreams of the Southwest, the U. S.

Weather Bureau reported.The rain that fell over the Colorado

River Basin above Cisco generally ex-ceeded 250 percent of the Januarynorm . Highest percentages were ob-served for the Taylor Basin, averagingnearly 400 percent of norm al. Allforecasts for the basin reflect this heavyrainfall w ith increase s of from 10 to30 percent over the predictions issuedlast mo nth . Near average streamfiowis now in prospect for the ColoradoRiver and its tributaries above Cameo,Colorado, and at Cisco, Utah.

H a t d R o c kof Death Valley

S h o r t y

"Naw, we don't have no wood-peckers aroun' here," Hard RockShorty was explaining to the newPark ranger who had just come toDeath Valley monum ent. "Ain' twood fer 'em to work on—nothin'

except those ironwood trees downon the lower end of the Mojave,an' the only woodpecker evertried to drill a hole in ironwoodbusted his beak and starved todeath.

"Rem in's me o* the time ol 'Pisgah Bill got one o' them smartidears o' his'n. Bill wuz work in'on a tin prospect over th' otherside o' the Vinegaroon moun-tains. Took a lot o' blastin', andBill run ou t o' drill bits. Theywas a war goin' on, and nobodyhad a ny bits t' sell. So Bill sat

aroun' broodin' over his bad luck."Then one day he sez t ' me.

'Shorty, ' sez he, 'I don't need nodrill bits. If you'll loan me thato l' truck o' yourn fer a few daysI'll get somethin" to drill themholes. '

"So I let 'im have the truckan' a few days later he shows upwith a big crate full o' wood-peckers. 'Got 'em over'n Ari-zony,' he sez, 'where all themwoodpeckers live in the big cac-t u s . '

"Next mornin' Bill wuz upearly, fussin' around over at that

o l' rock house by the spring. Afew days later T wan dered overthere an' Bill explained what hewuz doin'. He had closed up all

the windows with rock, all exceptone little hole that wuz coveredwith glass from an oP car wind-shield. An' the woodpeckers wuzall inside.

" 'Yu see tha t petrified logstandin" in the middle o' thefloor,' sez Bill. 'I brought thatback from Arizony too. Nowthem birds has got no place tog o , and no place to drill holes'cep t in tha t petrified tree. Ifigger if they work on that awhilethey'll get their peckin' tools sotough they can drill holes in rock.

Then I'll taken 'em down in themine. Ain't much light in thestone house so they'll sorta gitused to workin' in the dark. '

"Well, a couple months laterBill wuz lookin' kinda droopy and1 ast him how the birds wuz get-tin' along.

" 'Heck!' he said. 'Them peck-ers got their bills plenty tough allright. I went out to look at 'emthis mornin' and they wuzn't abird in the hou se. Th ey'd drilleda hole through the side o' that

stone house an' gone back t 'Arizony!' "

The Green River basin, however,received 25 percent less than normalrainfall. Th e water-ye ar streamfiowfor this stream at Linwood, Utah, is

forecast to be 89 percent of the 1938-52 average.

The record breaking, much abovenormal precipitation during Januaryover the San Juan watersheds hasgreatly improved the water-supply out-look there. Precipitation ranged from300 to 450 percent of normal and thecurrent outlook is for near-averagewater-year streamfiow for most of thebasin.

Precipitation over the Lower Colo-rado Basin in general also was muchabove normal and the current forecast

for the Little Colorado at Woodruff,Arizona, is for November to June run-off of 68 percent of the 15-year aver-a g e . Only about 25 percent of averagerunoff is forecast for the main GilaRiver in Arizona.

Although there were many stormsduring January, northern parts of theGreat Salt Lake Basin had less thannormal precipitation amounts. Fore-casts for the Bear, Logan and upperWeber Rivers indicate that the water-year runoff will range from about 90percent to slightly over 100 percent of

the 1938-52 average.Much above normal precipitation

during January occurred over the Sev-ier, Beaver and Mojave basins result-ing in these forecasts: Sevier, 60 to 70percent of average; East Fork of theSevier, 80 percent; Beaver, 70 percent;Mojave, 60 percent—an increase of 30percent over last month's forecast.

January precipitation was belownormal over the Humboldt, Truckee,Carson, Walker and Owens river ba-sins resulting in these water flow fore-casts: Humboldt, about half of the

1938-52 average; Truckee, 71 per-cent; Inflow between Lake Tahoe andFarad, California, 62 percent; Carsonand Walker, 70 percent; Owens Rivernear Bishop, California, 83 percent.

The water-supply outlook for theRio Grande Basin has greatly im-proved. Forecasts include: RioGrande at Del Norte, Colorado, 96percent of the 15-year average; RioGrande at Lobatos, Colorado, 77 per-cent; eastern tributaries along theSangre de Cristo range in New Mexico,58 to 92 percent; Rio Grande at Oto-wi Bridge, New Mexico, 88 percent;Pccos River headwater area, 60 to 80percent; Inflow to Alamogordo Reser-voir, 62 percent.




. . .

Glendale, California

Evidently some time had elapsed

February issue. More recently

tory has been fenced off and

I agree with Mr. Ransom, the

as to theccessibility of the mineralized areat the mine.

VAL MESSENGER

Desert Magazine's editors regret thatup-to-date information had not been

obtained before publishing this field

trip. We are at fault and we can

only hope that the pleasure of meet-

ing Frank and Fannie will compen-

sate for the disappointment of find-

ing the field closed to rock hunters.

—R.H.

• • •Colorado Desert Boundary . . .

Rosemead, CaliforniaDesert:

From a biological standpoint, thenorthern limit of the Colorado Desertmay be placed as far north as a linedrawn from the Morongo Pass easterlyto the Colorado River, according tothe early reports of geologist W. P.Blake.

Can the dividing line between theMojave and Colorado deserts be de-fined more closely?

GEORGE L. POIGNEEDear Mr. Poignee: In terms of local

place names, we have always con-

sidered the dividing line approxi-

mately the Little San Bernardino

range in this sector and further east

the Eagle and Palen mountainranges. Twentynine Palms and Rice

would be a little north of this line

and in the Mojave desert. This is

an arbitrary line and I can quote no

authority for it.—R.H.

• • •

Trail to Rainbow Bridge . . .

Tonalea, Arizona

Desert:

Although picturesque old RainbowLodge was destroyed by fire and hasnot operated since our friends, Kath-erine and Bill Wilson, retired in 1952,

I think your readers will be interestedto know there are facilities for reach-ing Rainbow Bridge by horse.

We have been licensed by the Nav-

ajo Tribe since 1953 to conduct packtrips to Rainbow Bridge and the areasurrounding Navajo Mountain.

These trips require two or threedays from the post. The first 10 milesis by jeep and the remaining 14 byhorse, using the scenic trail north ofNavajo Mt. The old Rainbow Lodgetrail is no longer maintained, and isnearly impassable through Red BudPass.

We do not recommend hiking. Isay this not because we are in thebusiness, but because too many sup-posedly "seasoned" hikers have hadto turn back or were lost, sometimeswith nearly disastrous results.

RALPH CAMERONNavajo Mt. Trading Post

• • •

Quizzer Queried . . .

Phoenix, ArizonaDesert:

I believe the answer to the lastquestion in the January '57 quiz, "Most

of the flagstone used for building andlandscaping in the Southwest comesfrom—" should have been "sandstone"instead of "limestone" deposits in theAshfork area of Arizona.

GERALD L. WOODDear G. L. W.— You are right and

our apologies to those who were

tripped up by this answer.—R.H.

Meteorite Hunting Club . . .

Whittier, California

Desert:

How about forming a MeteoriteClub? While there are many excusesfor long walks on the desert, this wan-derer knows of none more agreeablethan "looking for a meteorite."

Once I thought 1 had found oneand was 1 thrilled! But it was dolo-mite.

A Meteorite Club would surely re-ceive the guidance and blessing of Dr.H. H. Nininger of Sedona.

PAUL J. LINSLEY

Tamarack Not a Lodgepole . .

Ellenburg, WashingtonDesert:

In your magazine for January, 1957,R. H. Flournay of El Cajon, California,questions Harold O. Weight's callingyour desert tree, the tamarisk, a tama-rack.

I believe Flournay is in error whenhe says the tamarack of the PacificNorthwest also is known as lodgepolepine.

Our tamarack is a deciduous coniferthat sheds its needles in the fall. It isclosely related to the Eastern larch.The lodgepole pine is a true pine.

C. N. CLINESMITH

( t o s h f o t O m t i P b o i o p B p k. . .

There's no month like April on the desert! The days are warm,t h e nights are cool and spring is everywhere, redecorating the landa n d rejuvenating its inhabitants. These are excursion days—hikingdays—camping days—and camera days. We invite you to sharet h e best of your desert photography with other members of the DesertMagazine family by entering the monthly photo contest. Two cashprizes are given each month and amateur as well as professionalphotographers are eligible to enter.

Entries for the April contest must be sent to the Desert Magazineoffice. Palm Desert, California, and postmarked not later than April 18.Winning prints will appear in the June issue. Pictures which arrivetoo late for one contest are held over for the next month. First prizeis $10; second prize $5. For non-winning pictures accepted for publica-

tion $3 each will be paid.

HERE ARE THE RULES

1—Prints must be black and white, 5x7 or larger, on glossy paper.

2—Each photograph submitted should be fully labeled as to subject, time andp lace . Also technical data: camera, shutter speed, hour of day, etc.

3—PRINTS WILL BE RETURNED WHEN RETURN POSTAGE IS ENCLOSED.

4—Entries must be in the Desert Magazine office by the 20th of the contest month.

5—Contests are open to both amateur and professional photographers. DesertMagazine requires first publication rights only of prize •winning pictures.

6—Time and place of photograph are immaterial, except that it must be from thedesert Southwest.

7—Judges will be selected from Desert's editorial staff, and awards will be madeimmediately after the close of the contest each month.

Address All Entries to Photo Editor

'De&ett PALM DESERT, CALIFORNIA

A P R I L , 1 9 5 7 29



m d Ihm o n t h e D m t t . . ..AR IZONA

Navajos Offer Land forD am . . .

W I N D O W R O C K — TheNavajoTribal Council has offered thefederalgovernment all the land it needs forthe Glen Canyon Dam on an acre-for-acre exchange basis. The offer in-cludes land for a proposed townsite aswell as for thestorage reservoir. Thetribe seeks inexchange unappropriatedpublic lands in theMcCracken Mesaof Southern Utah which adjoins pres-ent tribal holdings.— Salt Lake Tribune

3000 Navajos AreChris t ians , . .

ORAIBI—A representa t ive of the

Navajo Gospel Mission ofOraibi , Ari-zona, estimates that 3000 of the tribe's76,000 members arenominal Chris-tians. New freedoms granted over the

past fewyears have greatly increasedsome of theIndians ' problems, it waspointed out. Whereas, 25 years ago

alcoholism was virtually unknown, to-da y it has greatly increased, with a

result that a majority of accidents andinjuries can be attributed directly to

th e use of intoxicating beverages, theNavajo Gospel Mission representative

F i s h i n g L i n e F R E E !

We've been eating loco weed here atWESTERN SPORTSMAN and may be tempo-rarily off our rockers, but you can dependon this offer being guaranteed—no "catch"whatsoever.

We have a big supply of She famous Gude-brod bait casting fishing line, 15 Jb. test. Itretails at $2.60 per 100-yds. (Two 50-yd. spoolsin a handy plastic box.) Man, it's terrific!

SPECIAL! So long as the line lasts, we'llsend vou a 16-issue subscription to Western

Sportsman ($2.40) and this line ($2.60)—a$5.00 value for just $2.00!

1 told you we'd been eating loco weed!

WESTERN SPORTSMAN is crammed witharticles on hunting, fishing, Old West arti-cles, guns, boats, fishing tackle, true adven-ture, tips and information on our great, wild,rugged West. It's a different, real he-man'smagazine on a very masculine country—the22 western slates.

IMPORTANT! Don't lay this magazine downwithout cutting out the coupon below—oryou'll forget it sure and miss the greatestoffer of our publishing history!

WESTERN SPORTSMANP.O. Box 5008M Austin 3t, Texas

Boys, 1 want that $5.00 bargain for $2.00!Send me 16 issues of Western Sportsmanand, as a premium—absolutely FREK!—two

50-yd. spools of Gudebrod line in the handyplastic utility box.

Name -

said. Population of thetribe has in-creased 26,000 inthe past 25 years.—Hemet News

» # •

Navajo At tacks Peyole Ban. , . ,

PRESC OTT — A rres ted inDecem-ber under atribal ordinance forbidding

the use of peyote, Mike Kayonnie re-cently brought habeas corpus actionagainst P. H.Nelson, chief of Navajopolice, claiming the tribal ban wasunconstitutional because it bars reli-gious freedom, Kayon nie's attorneyscompared theuse of peyote as a reli-gious sacrament to the use of wine inother religions. The peyote plant is aspineless cactus and itsuse is claimedto bring about dreamy spiritual orpsychological experiences. State andfederal laws specifically prohibit theuse of peyote, which is classed as a

narcotic. Users of theplant includethousands of Indians who arelooselyorganized in anation-wide group calledthe Native American Church.—YumaSun

• • •

Sun, Furnace To BeBuilt . . .

P H O E N I X —Announcement wasmade at theclosing session of the re-cent Solar Furnace Symposium, thatthe hottest sunfurnace in theworldwill be constructed somewhere inSouthern Arizona at a cost of at least$1,000,000. Arizona State College,

Tempe, currently has thelargest sunfurnace in the state, a huge 60-inchinstrument being used inhigh tempera-ture metallurgical research for theNavy.— The Arizonan

You'll want to keep those

MAPSwhich appear each month inDesert Magazine—maps whichwill be your guide on many de-

lightiul excursions into the greatdesert playground.

Attractive loose-leaf binders em-bossed in gold not only willpreserve the maps, but will bea beautiful addition to yourhome book-shelf. Each binderholds 12 copies. Easy toinsert,they open flat.

Mailed postpaid forS2.00

Address

City ..State..PALM DESERT, CALIFORNIA

Historical Society Created . . .

H O L B R O O K — Civic leaders ofNavajo and Apache counties haveformed aninterim committee toworktoward theorganization of a perman-ent Navajo-Apache Historical Society.Senator William R.Bourdon of Snow-flake was named interim chairman ofthe group. Aconvention is scheduledto be held at the Holbrook Courthouseon Apri l 13 forrepresentatives of the

various communities in thetwo coun-t ies.—Holbrook Tribune-News

• • •

Sta te Park Plan Advances . • ,

PHOENIX—The 30-yea r s t ruggl eto establish a state park system inAri -zona appeared headed for fulfillmentas thestate House of Representativespassed a bill tocreate a seven-memberboard todraft plans. The present billlimits theboard toacquiring 160-acresites without specific legislative ap-proval .—Phoenix Gazette

• • •Marriage Law Puzzles Indians . , ,

HOLBROOK—Severa l Navajo andHopi Indian couples have been refusedmarriage licenses for nonconformationwith the blood-test requirement thatwent into effect December 3. Officialsreported that many of the couples,married for years "by the Indian Law,"do not understand the necessity ofsecuring a blood-test. — HolbrookTribune

• o •

Hopis Reaffirm Peaceful W ay s . . .

O R A I B I —White Bear, a full-blooded Hopi whose family isbelievedto have established the oldest constant-ly inhabited village on this continent,thinks Hopi philosophy will never al-low yielding the uranium and coal un-der their reservation, land. "At notime will we allow the Creator's gift tous to beused for a destructive pur-pose," he declared in a talk at aPhoenix church. It is this peacefulHopi philosophy and rigidity of beliefthat is open to misunderstanding, hebelieves.— Phoenix Gazette

• • •

CALIFORNIA

Action onRoad Imminent . . .

G L A M I S —Spurred on by U. S.Senator Thomas H.Kuchel of Califor-nia, final governmental action appearedimminent on the long-awaited ImperialValley to Palo Verde Valley road.Payment of $660,000 to ImperialCounty forconstruction of a new roadacross thesand hills between Brawleyand Glamis was approved byCongresslast year. Theroad will replace anoriginal route by way of Niland and

passing through theNavy's ChocolateMountain bombing range which hasbeen closed topublic use.— Palo VerdeValley Times

30 . ; , i'H " M AG. A', IN



U n d er w a y . . .P A L M S P R I N G S — Solicitation in

r the Palm Springs Desert Museuma mid-

by 60 civicwho will serve

in the special gifts sectionthe drive. Philip L. Boyd, former

and land devel-

the keynote address at theDeser t Sun

• • •

. . .D E A T H V A L L E Y — The Death

of a newfor Park Service Per-

at Death Valley National Mon-of

for whichof California has appropriated

can be started, the '49ers

it will be necessary to determineto such questions as theof the museum, whether

of California or the Federal

and maintain the building, andbe made for its

Inyo Register

• • •

er Plant Tests End . . .

PILOT KNOB —Tes t s on the newfor the

as very successful. The in-

is on the All-American Canald its two generators are capable ofof elec-

A new power line in the areathe generated power is

Yuma Sun

• • •

Not G a m e . . .E I T W A N D A — The Justice Court

e not game, in a case involving twowho were arrested

of the California Divisionand Game for possessing three

The court orderedto their nativeand fined the two

enders $ 50 0. They were placed onBarstow Print-

Salton Sea Fails to Rise . . .SALTON SEA—For the first time

in several years, the Salton Sea did notrise during 1956. In fact, the sea'ssurface, 235.31 feet below sea level,is two inches lower than it was a yeara g o . — Banning Record

NEVADA

Avalanche-Fighters GetCannons . . .R E N O — T h e U. S. Forest Servicewill receive a valuable assist in ava-lanche control work from Sixth Armyinstallations through the loan of five75 mm. recoiless cannon and the train-ing of Forest Service crews to operatethe weapons. The rifles will be usedto trigger the release of unstable snowmasses which become a serious hazardto the growing number of people whoare flocking to alpine ski slopes onnational forest lands.— Nevada StateJournal

m • •

Balloons May Carry A-Bombs . . .LAS VEGAS—The AEC disclosed

that full-scale experiments will beginat the test site 75 miles north of LasVegas to determine the feasibility ofemploying helium gas bags as inex-pensive detonation platforms for at-omic bomb test shots. The AEC be-lieves balloon suspension explosions area cheaper means of studying nuclearexplosions.— Yuma Sun

• • •

Curtiss-Wright Seeks Water . . .

FALLON — A year-around supplyof as much as 20 second feet of waterflow w ill be required by Curtiss-WrightCorporat ion for its future plant andtownsite development in western Ne-vada, it was reported. It was under-stood that most of the water neededby the firm would be for plant opera-tion, plus a lesser amount for domesticuse at the housing site.— Nevada StateJournal

• • •

Lake Mead Improvements Asked . . .B OULDER C ITY—Funds amount -

ing to $839,847 have been requestedfor the Lake Mead area for fiscal year

L o o k i n g fora P U B L I S H E R ?Do you have a book-length manuscript youwould like to have published? Learn aboutour unusual plan whereby your book can bepublished, promoted and distributed on aprofessional basis. We consider all types ofwork—fiction, biography, poetry, scholarlyand religious books, etc. New authors wel-come. For more information, write for valu-able booklet D. I t's free.

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1 9 5 8 . Park Service officials said therequest was a portion of the $10,244,-000 projected last year to be spentover the next 10 years in developingthe Lake Mead Recreat ional area. Abreakdown of funds for various de-partments is as follows: roads andtrails, $72,600; buildings and utilities,$408,600; management and protectionfunds, $165,247; maintenance and re-habilitation of physical facilities, $193,-

400.— Nevada State Journal

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A GALLERY OF WESTERNBADMEN is a book of fact-ual accounts on the lives anddeaths of 21 notorious gun-slingers of the Old Westsuch as Wyatt Earp, Bil lyth e Kid, Wes Hardin, JohnRingo, Jesse James, BillLongley, Doc Hol l iday, Wi ldBil l Hickok, Clay Al l ison, BenThompson and 11 others!There are 26 authentic pho-tographs!

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NameAddress

City State

1 9 5 7 31



T H E D E S E R T T R A D I N G P O S TClassified Advertising in This Section Costs 12c a Word, $2.00 Minimum Per Issue

B OOKS—MAGAZINES

INTE REST ED IN Nevada? A new minia-ture album just printed contains 10 fineKodachromes of historic mining townsaround Nevada, with brief descriptionsand locations. "Historic Highlights ofNevada" available now for just 25c incoin or money order to: E. W, Darrah,P . O. Box 606, Winnemucca, Nevada.

OUT-OF-PRINT books at lowest prices!You name it—we find it! Western Ameri-cana, desert and Indian books a specialty.Send us your wants. No obligation. In-ternational Bookfinders, Box 3003-D,Beverly Hills, California.

SCIEN TOLO GY —- The Fundam entals ofThough t, by L. Ron Hubbard. The basicbook of the theory and practice of Scien-tology for beginners . The answer to fission

and fear. Send $1 to C. I. Clark, Box3 1 3 , Palm Desert, California.

HAVE REAL fun with desert gems, min-erals and rocks. The rockhound's how-to-do-it magazine tells how. One year(12 issues) only $3.00. Sample 25c. Gemsand Minerals, Box 687-D, Mentone, Cal.

SCENIC GUIDE to Arizona by Johnson.New 1957 edition, completely revised.Accurate maps, pictures and descriptions,alphabetically arranged. Price $1.00 post-paid. Scenic Guides to Oregon, Nevada ,Colorado and California by Heald, $1.50each. Send for our "Selected List ofBooks on Western Travel and Rock Col-lecting ." 37 titles to1 choose from. Ad-dress—Scenic Guides, Box 288, Susan-ville, California.

DESERT MAGAZINE Back Issues wanted.We will pay $5 for November, 1937 is-s u e ; $2.00 for February, 1939; and $1.00for March, 1939. Must be in good con-dition. Mail to Deser t Magazine Circula-tion Department, Palm Desert, California.

COMPLETE VOLUMES Desert Magazinefor sale, including Volume One. JohnYoungkin, 1631 Oakdale Street, Pasa-dena, California.

INDIAN GOODS

FIVE FINE Prehistoric Indian arrowheads$2.00. Perfect stone tomahawk $2.20. Ef-figy pipe $5.00. Perfect flint thunderbird$3.00. Flint fish hook $3.00. List free.Five offers for only $12.00. Arrowhead,Glenwood, Arkansas.

FINE RESERVATION-MADE Navajo andZuni jewelry. Old pawn. Hun dreds offine old baskets, moderately priced, in.excellent condition. Navajo rugs, old andnew, Bayeta, native dyes, Two Gray Hills.Artifacts and gems. A collector's para-dise! Open daily 10 to 5:30, closed Mon-days, Buffalo Trading Post, Highway 18,Apple Valley, California.

AUTHENTIC INDIAN Jewelry, NavajoRugs, War Bonnets, Squaw Dresses,Squaw Boots. Fine old Indian collection.Pow-Wow Indian Trading Post, 19967Ventura Blvd.. East Woodland Hills, Cal.

FOR SALE—Large size Indian olla. Canbe seen at Banner store. Highway 78.Best offer. Andy Willison, Box 182,Julian, California.

IROQUOIS MASK $25.00; pipe-tomahawk$27.50; catlinite peace-pipe $12.50; 5 ar-rowheads $1.00; strand trade beads, $1.00.Iron pointed African spear with shaft$7.50. Paul Summers, Canyon, Texas.

RARE ITEMS for interior decoration, col-lectors. Authentic Navaho, Hopi andZu ni jewelry, old pawn. Large collectionold Indian pottery, baskets, kachinas. Nocatalogs but inquiries invited. The Nav-aho Shop, 1133 N. La Brea Avenue,Inglewood, California. ORcha rd 4-8717.

SEL LIN G 100,000 Indian relics. 100 niceancient arrowheads $25.00. Small groovedstone tomahawk $2.00. Large grooved

stone tomahawk $3.00. Perfect spear-head over 8 inches long $20.00. Flintscalping knife $1.00, Indian skull $25.00.Ancient water bottle from grave $7.00.List free. Lear's. G lenwood, Arka nsas.

REAL ESTATE

CHOICE HOMESITES and acreage. SaltonSea vicinity. For full information writePon & Co., Box 46 D A, Azusa, California.

CLEAN METICULOUSLY farmed 80 acresin heart of Coachella Valley showing$20,000 net. Ronald L. Johnson, broker,Box 162, Thermal, California.

LIVE YOUR DREAM! Recent rain guar-antees wonderful desert blossoms. We'llbe here all summer to take you up intothe mou ntains or out on the desert. Spe-cimens, cutting rock, Indian artifacts, oldmines — all sorts, good schools, roads,utilities, water readily available, healthfulclimate almost dust-free, uninterruptedviews from your land whether half-acrelot or quar ter section. Prices reason able,terms. Darlington and Palmer, Realtors,P . O . Box 214, Cavecreek, Arizona.

OWNER WOULD like to trade summerhome site in Central Oregon for winterhome site in Southern California or Ari-zona. 40 acres fine young pine timber,excellent spring water, good deer hunting.

17 miles from town over mountain roads.Write Lonesome Forty, Route 1, Box3 5 7 , Prineville, Oregon.

WANTED TO RENT or buy: building withliving quarters. Prefer 6-395 betweenWalker Pass to Lone Pine. Anna Golam-b o s , 8113 Cypress Ave., South Gate, Cal.

CRAFTS—HOBBIES

PAIN T OILS : Exciting home-courses. Triallesson $1.00, specify landscape or still-life. Folders free. Prickett's DesertwindStudios, Millerton, New York.

UNIQUE MANZANITA jewelry, handthrown pottery, material for dry arrange-ments— all made in Julian. Mineral spe-cimens, antiques, paintings. Apple Moun-tain Workshop, Box 403, Julian, Calif.

MISCELLANEOUS

REAL "DO-IT-YOURSELF" Books! Wanta Pool? Read "Let's Build a SwimmingPool!"—$1.00. Want to Pan Gold? Read"Gold Panning for Profit"—$1.00. BothBooks $1.50. J. Robertson, Box 604,Stockton. California.

GHOST TOWN IT EM S: Sun-colored glass,amethyst to royal purple; ghost railroadsmaterials, tickets; limited odd items fromcamps of the '60s. Write your interest—

Box 64-D, Smith, Nevada.TRAVEL UNITED STATES by horseback

via picture postcards of Pack Train Fam-ily. Sample 10c, eleven all different $1,different card every day for year $9, story$ 1 . PTF, 1544G Maiden Lane, Spring-field, Ohio.

JOIN A REAL Prospectors and Rockhoundsorganization. A mateurs welcome. Manybenefits for members. Membership $2.50year, includes publication "Panning Gold."United Prospectors, 701V2 East Edge-ware, Los Angeles, California.

LADY G0D1VA "The World's FinestBeautifier." Fo r women who wish tobecome beautiful, for women who wish

to remain beautiful. An outstanding des-ert cream. For information, write or callLola Barnes, 963 N. Oakland, Pasadena6, Calif., or phone SYcamore 4-2378.

SECTIONIZED COUNTY maps — SanBernardino $1; Riverside $1; Imperial5 0 c ; San Diego 50c; Inyo 75c; other Cali-fornia counties $1.25 each. Nevada coun-ties $1 each. Topographic maps of allmapped areas. Westwide Maps Co., 114W. Third St., Los Angeles, California.

ANTIQUE WALL phones. Excellent con-dition. $9.95; two $18.50. Luscious pur-ple sage honey— raw, thick. Organicallygrown dried fruit, nuts. Free circular.Tonlz Honey Farm and Country Store,

old highway 71, Elsinore, California.Open every day.

VERMONT MAPLE syrup—direct fromsugar orchard to you. Guaranteed pureGrade A syrup. All shipments postpaidand insured. Check or money order mustaccompany order. $8.95 per gallon;$4.75 per Yz gallon. M. G. Corti, Wal-den, Vermont.

BARRY STORM—famed writer "ThunderGod's Gold," "Practical Prospecting," etc.,(see Cardex files most public libraries)has ready for publication:

TALES OF THE SOUTHWEST.Incredible frontier stories of miners, In-dians, gunfighters, cowboys, outlaws, pi-

oneer women, adventurers, consideredcapable making dozen to one profit onspeculative investment in year or two plusprobable additional thousands royaltiesfrom pocketbook rights. Need fifty onlyactual copyright co-owners underwriteprinting, advertising, national book store,library exploitation. $75 per each 1/100thco-owner copyright interest, payable $10down, balance 90 days. 56 year bookcopyright life. I operate deal, own halfinterest. (No high gross income tax onco-partnerships. Pay only own share asreceived). Book publishing contract foractual copyright co-ownership sent on ap-proval or upon receipt of first payment.STORM PUBLISHING ASSOCIATES,Box 74, Inyokern, California.

FOR SALE: unframed original desert andNevada photos, sketches, water colors,and oil paintings. W. R. Averett, 709 N.18th, Las Vegas. Nevada.

:v DESERT MAGAZINE



on June 1, Treasure Hunter's Day. Arm-chair hunters welcome, too. Local chap-ters now forming. Interesting Circularfree. Treasure Trove Club, Williamsburg,New Mexico.

$1 for 75 panning areas in25 California counties. Geological for-mations, elevations, pertinent notes. Pan-ning pans $2.75, $2.25. Leather nuggetand dust poke $1. Fred Mark, Box 801,Ojai, California.

NEW MEXICO

Now O p e n . . .LOS ALAMOS—The At omi c En-

Loshas become an "Open City."

to the restric-on the town's gates. There will

no relaxation of controls over theto the Los Alamos Scientific

or its technical installation.in the Los

and use of the local

be continued. Since thewas founded in 1943, ad-has required a pass. — New

• e •

. . .SANTA FE—Dr. J ames R. Shaw,

of the Division of Indian Health,. S. Public Health Service, reported

the average age at time of deathis only 39, compared with

for the general populat ion. A thirdthe deaths among them occur be-

the fifth year of life, he pointedthe general popu-

the age of 30,of

the age of 20,Statistics show that

65 will not live to be oneold, whereas the average for the

is 27.—New Mexi-n

• • •New County . . .

S A N T A FE — The New Mexicohas been asked to form

new county embracing all the Nav-

in theof the state. Sam

to form the state's 33rdwas based on the feeling that

of handlingown county affairs. The land in

andby25,000 Navajos.— Ada-

SEMINARS ONINDIAN AFFAIRS

Exhibit Hall • Rodeo

AUGUST 8-11Write for information

Ceremonial AssociationGAUUP, NEWMEXICO

UTAH

Forest Recreation to Expand . . :W A S H I N G T O N , D. C —Opera t i on

Outdoors, a five-year plan to doublecamping and picnicking facilities inthe national forests to meet a steadilybuilding demand for such facilities,was announced by the U. S. Depart-ment of Agriculture. Recreation visitsto the national forests will hit the 66,-

000,000 mark by 1962,Forest Serviceofficials predict. The program has twoaims: solving the problem of ever-in-creasing family outdoor activities; im-provement and management of wildlifehabitat in cooperation with state gamedepartments.—Southern Utah News

e s •

Glen Bridge Job A w a r d e d . . .K A N A B — Judson-Kiewit-Pacific-

Murphy Construction Syndicate ofEmeryville, California, was awarded acontract to build the high bridge overthe Colorado River near the site ofth e new Glen Canyon dam. The syn-dicate's bid was$4,139,277. The Stateof Arizona will contribute 25 percentof the cost of construction, it was re-ported. It is expected that the bridgewill be completed before actual build-ing of the dam is started. The spanwill be used for construction work ofth e dam and will replace the high linecables such as were used during con-struction of Hoover Dam.

• • •Glen Recreation Area Proposed . . .

W A S H I N G T O N , D. C. — SenatorArthur V. Watkins of Utah requested

Secretary of the Interior Fred A. Sea-to n to study the possibility of earlyestablishment of a national recreationarea at the site of the great inlandlake to be formed by construction ofGlen Canyon Dam of the ColoradoRiver Storage Project. Anx ious riverrunners who in years past have con-ducted individuals and expeditionsdown the canyons of the river fromMexican Hat and Hite, Utah, to LeesFerry, Arizona, prompted the request.— San Juan Record

• • •

Coyotes Controlled from Air . . .V E R N A L — F i s h and Wildlife Serv-ice trappers have taken to the air inan effort to control coyotes. Snowconditions must be just right for thistype hunting, the trappers said. Theytrack down the coyotes and thenswoop down in a light plane to just10 feet above the ground and shootthe animals with a 12-gauge shotgunloaded with BBs.— Vernal Express

KENT FROST JEEP TRIPSInto the Faniotis Utah Needles Area

Junction of the Green and Colorado riversIndian and Salt creeks; Davis, LavanderMonument, Red, Dark and White canyons

Dead Horse and Grand View points; Hovweep and Bridges national monuments.3-day or longer trips for 2-6 person parties—$25 daily per person. Includes sleepingbags, transportation, guide service, meals.Write KENT FROST, Monticello, Utah.

T O P V A L U E S . . . .

As Near As Your Post OfficePRISMS—GIANT SIZE

Brilliant crystal whiteoptical crown glass. Doz-ens of wonderful thingsto do and make; trapsunlight rainbows, take Isecret pi ct ur es with lEmfea l̂B j nK jcameras, see a r o u m l ^ Kc o r n e r s , see u p s i d e - ^ ^ • H H S Fdown, etc. 6%"x2", 45°-!>0°. Alu- ^"« Pminized back. Mounted. U. S. surplus.Cost $22.00, now

ONLY $2.50, plus 3 lbs. postage

Don't Pay More For U.V. Light!250-Watt Purple-X Lamp, for in-termittent service. A convenientsource of longer-wave-length ultra-violet radiation. Unlike MercuryU.V. sources, it requires no aux-iliary transformer or glass filterfor energizing fluorescent mater-ials with "black light." Operatesdirectly on a 115-volt supply, AC

or DC current. Use in porcelain socket withreflector. Also has medical uses.

ONLY $2.75, postpaid

DESK MAGNIFIERHandy necessity for home,office and field. Beautifulpitch polished, pure whiteoptical crown glass lensmounted in satin black an-o d i z e d alu min um ri ngmount with plastic flutedhandle. 3V2-power lens, 1%"diameter. From choiceGovt. surplus. Complete with zippered sim-ulated leatherette case. Worth many timesour low, low price!

ONLY $1.25, postpaid

LUCITE BOXES WITH LIDSKeep Small Items Orderly!

Crystal clear 2"x2"x%" boxesmade of lucite with radius of1" on one side. Box and lidhold together tightly. Keepscrews, seeds, pins, powder,crystals and minerals — any-thing small which must bevisible when stored—in them.

Suitable for home, laboratory, shop, fisher-men. ONLY $1.00 PER DOZEN, postpaid.

A L N I C O H O R S E S H O E M A G N E T SPenomenal, super - powerfulpermanent magnet that lifts

many times its own weight.Versatile! Use in laboratory,workshop, toolroom, platingand foundry, at home, office,boat. Holds parts for weld-ing, re mo ves ch ip s fromdrilled hole ; for bu ll et inboard, door catch, to plot magnetic fields,etc. Weight 2 oz. Complete with "keeper."FREE IRON FILINGS in plastic display boxplus free sheet of experiments with eachmagnet purchased! Your best dollar's worth!

ONLY $1.00 EA., postpaid

Pee-Wee Miniature

INSERT COMPASSAccurate, lively—useful! Direc-tional finder. Easy to read.Wonderfully fascinating and in-structive "toy." Meal to testwatches and minerals for mag-netism. Very small, only V2"diameter, Va" thick (12x4 mm.).

Every watchmaker and gunsmith should

have some on hand. Excellent gift for thatbright child, too.

ONH" $1.00 I 'M DOZEN, postpaid

3 y 2 " DIAMETER MAGNIFIERWO ND ER FU L BURNING GLASS!

A terrific value! Use thislens as magnifier, burn-ing glass, spotlight lens,projection lens, stereoand photo viewer. Slightedge imperfections willnot harm effectiveness.Also ideal for readingvery fine print, for art-ists, students, stamp andcoin collectors. Handy to have around, andfor gifting. Made in U.S.A. Our price for 3is what you'd ordinarily pay for just one!Order now. 3 for $1.00, postpaid.

No open accounts—no C.O.D.'s.Comprehensive catalog—$1.00

None free.

H A R R Y R O S STEI/ESCOPKS MICROSCOPES

(Desk 14), 61 Reade St., New York 7, N.Y.In Business Over a Quarter Century

1 9 5 7 33



M I N B STwentynine Palms, California . , .

A reconnaissance geologic map of a largepreviously unmapped part of thesoutheast-ern Mojave Desert has been released forpublic inspection by the U. S. Geological

Survey. Themap covers an area of about3500 square miles north and east ofTwenty-nine Palms andsouth of theUnion PacificRailroad. It includes theCady, Bristol, OldDad, Granite, Bullion, Sheepholc, Coxcomband Iron Mountains, and the basinscon-taining Bristol, Cadiz, Danby and Dale DryLakes. Themap hasbeen placed in openfile in thelibraries of theGeologicalSur-vey inMenlo Park; inthe office of the Geo-logical Survey, Claremont, and1031 Bart-lett Building, LosAngeles; and the officeof theCalifornia Division of Mines, SanFrancisco.

Goldfield, Nevada , , .

Revival of operations at the NewmontMill by theMonarch Milling and MiningC o . hasbegun with production of mercuryfrom ores mined at lone and theRalstonmine, 17miles south. TheMonarch com-pany took over the mill last September andimmediately started putting the plant inreadiness with installation of a special re-tort furnace andother equipment to pro-duce quicksilver. The mill is thelargest inNevada to adopt the floatation concentra-tion process for treatment of mercury ores.— Humboldt Star

M I N I N GNew York, NewYork . . .

The U. S. aluminum industry hascaughtup with demand and isnow turning its at-tention tothe development ofnew end usesto guarantee its growth. For thefirst time

since the war, the metal now isfreely avail-able. Leaders of theindustry feel that im-proved supply of themetal will allow de-velopment ofnew end uses that up to nowhas been hindered by shortages of aluminum.Principal advantages of aluminum are itslight weight, easy workability andfreedomfrom rust.— Humboldt Star

9 9 ®

Calico, California . . .

Fred Noler, incharge of restoring the oldghost town of Calico for Knotts BerryFarm, present owners of theproperty, saidthere still was$2,000,000 worth of silverore blocked out at theformer boom camp.Calico thrived from 1881 to 1895.—DesertValley News-Herald

• • «Las Vegas, Nevada . . .

Flintkote Company has purchased theUnited States Lime Products Corporation.U . S . Lime is the largest producer of limeproducts in theWest. Flintkote's entry intothe lime field is a natural onebecause, asa building material, lime fits inwith Flint-kote's present line of products and channelsof distribution, I. J. Harvey, Jr., presidentof the corporation, said. - - Nevada StateJournal

C o m p t o n R o e k S h o pMETAL DETECTORS

• Battery test switch

• Head phones with clear signal

• Great sensitivity « Lowcost operation

• One; nobcontrol • 'Easiest of all to operate

MORE ACCURATE, it's the first METAL DETECTOR designed SPE-

CIFICALLY for celecting placer gold, nuggets, and other small metalcomplete ready to use.bjects. Depth range 7 feet—come

MODEL 27—instructions included .

MODEL 711—with 21 ft. depth ran^e. $138.50

$110.00

..$10.50

..$12.00

MINERALIGHT—Complete line from $14.95 up to.... ...$114.00

Send for Complete Information

HARDNESS TESTING PENCILS—

complete with diamond, in leather case..

PENSCOPES — 20-40 Power

LAPIDARY EQUIPMENT & SUPPLIES—TOOLS—GEMS--JEWELRY

CHEMICAL KITS, MORTARS & PESTELS—PICKS—BOOKS—ETC.

FOR THEWOOD WORKING HOBBYIST WE NOWSTOCI A

COMPLETE LINE OF ATLAS ANDPORTER CABLE POWER TOOLS

(buy from anexperienced wood worker)

(Lomfaton cf\ock

1405 S. Long Beach Blvd. 3 blocks south of Olive

NEmark 2-9096 Open Friday Evenings Compton, California

Henderson, Nevada . . .E. R. Rowley, president of Titanium

Metals Corporation, predicted that Hender-son will become a titanium producing cen-ter, with the eventual establishment of arolling mill at the Basic Plant. Theplantcurrently is producing 6000 tons of metala year andwith completion of theexpan-sion program now underway, productionwill beincreased to9000 tons, Rowley said.—Pioche Record

• • 4

Boron, California . . .

Three deep test holes are scheduled tobe drilled at the Four Corners east ofBoron, the U.S. Geological Survey an-nounced. The tests will bepart of the gov-ernment agency's search for the elementboron in all itscompounds. Object of thegeological scouting expedition, which hasbeen in progress since August, 1952, is topin point, if possible, all surface or under-ground deposits yielding boron and otherchemicals, or to otherwise indicate forma-tions in which thechemicals might be lo-cated.—Boron Enterprise

• • •

Grants, NewMexico . . .Dow Chemical Co.announced the start

of construction on the firm's proposed dis-tribution facilities at Grants. Theservicestation for uranium producers in this areawill beequipped tohandle storage and dis-tribution of 50 percent caustic solution,soda ash, and other Dowchemicals forthe mining industry.— Grants Beacon

• • •

Carson City, Nevada . . .Value forthe metals and minerals output

of Nevada forthe year 1956 was the great-est in thehistory of thestate, theNevadaMining Association reported. A prelimin-ary survey gives the estimated value of1956 production at $124,283,-200 of whichmetals accounted for $107,890,000; non-metallics $16,393,200; and crude oil, $108,-0 0 0 . The increase over 1955 was duelargely to a $10,000,000 increase in the

value of copper production; $2,750,000 iniron; and about $1,000,000 each in leadand zinc.—Nevada State Journal

• • •

Flagstaff, Arizona . . .Gold values ingravel deposits that could

be used inGlen Canyon Dam developmentswere under dispute bymining claim holdersand thegovernment. The latter is contend-ing that the claims are invalid because therewas no market for the gravel when theBureau of Reclamation asked withdrawalofthe sites inJune, 1954. The gold values inthe claims were termed insignificant by thegovernment.— Phoenix Gazette

® c ®

Pioche, Nevada . . .

Old mercury mines throughout the UnitedStates arebeing reactivated and prospectorsare actively looking fornew deposits, espe-cially in California, Nevada and Oregon.Not only is thepresent price of $255 perflask attractive, but the mining fraternityis awakening to the newuses being de-veloped for this ancient metal. The "liquidsilver" has topsecret andstrategic uses inguided missiles, and as a coolerant andheat exchanger in atomic reactors.—PiocheRecord

THE PROSPECTORS CATALOG

We are pleased to announce the advent of

a new Minerals Unlimited Catalog, specifi-

cally designed for the amateur or profes-

sional prospector. If you are interested in

Geiger Counters, Mineralights, Blowj>ipe Sets,

Gold Pan or any of the other equipment

necessary to a field or prospecting trip,

send 5c in stamps or coin for your copy.

MINERALS UNLIMITED, Bent. D

1724 University Are., Berkeley, California




D. C. . . .The Department of Interior reported that

of mineral production in thea new high of $17.3

in 1956, a gain of more than $11955. Greatest gain was made

had a value of $7.3up $500 million from 1955. Thein total value was due mostly to

forcomm odities also contribu ted. Most

the Department of In-

Yuma Sun• • •

. . .Six oil companies formed a pipeline com-

to move crude oil from the Four Cor-of Utah and New Mexico to

in Los Angeles. The firm, FourCo., proposes to build

thein southeast Utah to

by way of Seligman, Arizona;and Banning, California.

of the $50,000,000 line willa day. Stockholders in

new line are Continental Pipe Line Co.,Oil Co., 25 percent; Gulf

20 percent; Richfield Oil Corp.,Oil Co. of California.

and Superior Oil Co., 10 per-New Mexican

. . .Reserves of iron ore in the Iron Moun-

of Utah total 350,000,000 tons,e U. S. Bureau of Mines reported. Of

is recoverable at this time andat deeper levels were pre-

If all the potential ore of the dis-was of direct shipping grade and mine-by the open-pit methods now in use.

ore supply would befor at least 35 years, the Bureau of

Efficient mining , block cavinglow cost concentration would be re-

to develop the remaining 250,000,-of submarginal ores.— Salt Lake

• • •

D. C. . . .The rulings of the Bureau of Land Man-

no longer are the final word inons regarding mining claims. SecretaryA. Seaton of the Interior Department

on mining claim validity mustan impartial hearings officer.is the first break through inof the Administrative Pro-

Act of 1946 to hearings in publicact provides, among

no officer shall presidethe reception of evidence at hearings if

is "responsible to or subject toor direction of any officer,

or agent engaged in the perform-of investigative or prosecuting func-

Pioche Record

Find Valuable

Strategic Minerals!

Uranium—Tungsten—Zinc

Mercury—Zirconium

Outdoors for fun and prof it?

Take along an ultra-violet Mineral ight!

Write Dept. D for free prospecting information kit!

ULTRA-VIOLET PRODUCTS, INC., San Gabriel, California

U R A N I U M N E W S

E l e c t r i c a l ,Sea

P o w e r N e e d s f o r

U r a n i u m G r o w i n gElectrical generating stations in the United

States will be consuming from 20.000 to30,000 tons of uranium annually in thenext two decades. AEC member Dr. Wil-lard L. Libby said.

"If you assume the same requirementsfor the rest of the free world—and theymight be considerably higher—a world re-quirement of from 40,000 to 100,000 tonsof U3O8 is indicated." he declared.

During that period, the bulk of U308consumed by new, non-governmental uses,will be for initial inventories of reactorsand their auxiliary fuel processing systems.A lesser amount will be needed to replacethe fuel consumed each year.

"'Although the present and near future

demand for uranium is mostly military, anew non-military market for uranium isopening up," he said. "It is based on sta-tionary reactors for electrical power andreactors for merchant ship propulsion."

Dr. Libby also said that the new bilateralagreements entered into by this country withforeign nations offer opportunities for do-mestic producers to compete for a share ofthe international market. He said nuclearenergy should within the near future be asuccessful competitor with fossil fuels inrunning the ships of the seas.—Salt Lake

Tribune• a «

U-Ore Depletion FearedIn Five Years on Plateau

Announced reserves of uranium on theUtah, Colorado and Arizona segments ofthe Colorado Plateau are "sufficient to sus-tain uranium mills for only about five years'operation," Phillip L. Merritt of E. J. Long-

M I N E R A L O G YOffers unl imited opportunity for rock col lector or Ura-nium prospector. Make it your career or hobby. We t r a inyou at home. Diploma course. Send for Free Catalog.

MINERAL SCIENCE INSTITUTEDesk 7 • 159 E.Ontar io • Chicago 11

P r o s p e c t o r s ' H e a d q u a r t e r sGEIGER COUNTERS AND SCINTILLATORS

The "Snooper" Gteiger counter—mode! 108The "Lucky St rike" Geiger counter—Model 10(iCTlie "Professional" Geiger Counter—Model 107C -The "Special Scintillator"—Model 117The "Deluxe" Scintillator—Model 111B

ULTRA-V I OLE T MI NE RALI GHTSModel Ml—Operates on 110 AC onlyModel M12—Operates on batteries only—with batteryModel SIJ-2537—Operates on batteries or 110 AC—without case and batteries .

With No. 303 case and batteriesWith No. 404 case and batteries

B O O K S"Prospecting with a Geiger Counter" by Wright"Uranium Color Photo Tone""Uranium Prospectors Hand Book""The Uranium and Fluorescent Minerals" b.v II. C. I>ake"Popular Prospecting" by II. C. Pake"Uranium, Where It Is and How to Find It" b.v Proctor and H.VHII"Minerals for Atomic Energy" by Nininger"Let' s Go Prospecting" by Edward Arthur

MAPSMap and Geology (Uranium and Mineral Districts of California)..Map of Kern County (New Section and Township)

Map Uranium and Minerals (The Nine Southwest States)Rook and Map "Gems and Minerals of California" by McAllister .Book and Map "Lost Mines and Treasures of the Southwest"

OTHER SUPPLIESMineral Hardness Test SetRadiassay—Uranium Test KitMercury—Detector Fluorescent ScreenSclieelite Fluorescent AnalyzerFluorescent Mineral Set—10 Specimens—boxed-Mineral Specimen Boxes (35 named Minerals)Prospectors Picks (not polished)Prospectors Picks (polished)12" Diameter Steel Gold Pan16" Diameter Steel Gold Pan

. 09.50149.50299.50495.00

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A L L E N L A P I D A R Y E Q U I P M E N T C O M P A N Y3632 West Slauson Ave., Dept. D Open Monday evening unt i l 9:00 Los Angeles, Calif.

1 9 5 7 35



year &Co., New York, and former assistantdirector of exploration for the Division ofRaw Materials, Atomic Energy Commission,declared.

"Obviously, continued discoveries w illhave to be made in order to maintain pro-duction beyond 1962, and I am confidentthat this can be done," he said.

Bu t he added that "present indications arethat much of the easy ore on the ColoradoPlateau has been found and that more cost-ly exploration involving deeper and moreexpensive drilling for hidden ore bodies will

be required in the future." He said the U-oreminer would for the next decade be largelydependent on the government for a market.—Salt Lake Tribune

South African UraaiumMines No Threat 1o U.S.

United States uranium miners have noth-ing to fear from South African competitionif a free market for uranium develops, de-clared George O. Argall, Jr., Mining Worldeditor. His studies show that under existingBritish and United States government con-tracts, the South African miners have avery good thing in uraaium. Declared prof-its by 20 mines vary from $3.32 to $10.70per pound of uranium oxide. Profits perpound for many African companies are

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higher than the total gross price paid someU . S . producers for equivalent products.

But, in comparison with U.S. reserve, theSouth African ore, largely a by-product ofgold mining, is very low grade.

While existing long-term contracts are ineffect, South African producers are makinglots of money, but it is high-cost uraniumand could not meet United States' competi-tion for commercial uses if free trading inuranium concentrates becomes a reality.—Humboldt Star

Happy Jack Mine MayTry Open Pit Operation

The Happy Jack uranium mine at WhiteCanyon, San Juan County, Utah, may bemined at least in part by open pit opera-tions. More than 1,000,000 tons of over-burden could be removed from the under-ground properties nowcontrolled by Texas-Zinc Minerals Co. by such methods. Texas-Zinc is building a 750-ton-a-day mill atMexican Hat, Utah.

Not only is Texas-Zinc considering openpit work on what has been considered bymany as a traditional underground opera-tion, but expansion of open cut mining tonew uranium areas of the West is forecast

by mining men.— Salt Lake Tribune

Uranium Ore Hunt ShowsSlackening, DMEA Says

The Defense Mineral Exploration Admin-istration said the quest for uranium ore inthis nation still is vigorous, although itslackened slightly last year following the1951-55 boom. The DMEA has been par-ticipating in a multi-million-dollar prospect-ing program in search of critical minerals.During the past six years, DMEA received669 applications for federal funds to helpfinance searchers for uranium and manymore covering other minerals. Of the ur-anium applications. 179 were submitted in

1 9 5 6 .

DMEA has signed 151 contracts agree-ing to put up a maximum of $4,620,000 foruranium exploration in partnership withprospectors. The agency rejected 324 appli-cations and 134were withdrawn. Sixty stillare in process.

DMEA officials beiieve that about $50,-000,000 of potential new resources will re-sult from each million invested by thegovernment.— New Mexican

" O V E R L O O K E D F O R T U N E S "IN THERARER MINERALS

Find war minerals! Here are a few of the

40 or more strategic rarer minerals whichyo u may be over looking in the hills or inthat mine or prospect hole: columbium, tan-talum, uranium, vanadium, tungsten, nickel,cobalt, bismuth, pal ladium, iridium, osmi-u m , pla t inum, rhodium, ru thenium, t i tan-s u m , tin, molybdenum, selenium, germanium,manganese, cadmium, thal l ium, antimony,mercury, chromium, etc. Prices booming;many much more valuable than a goldmine: cassiterite now $1000 a ton; bismuth$1500 a ton; columbite $2500 a ton;tanta-l ite or microl ite $5000 a ton; tungsten $3pound; platinum $90ounce, etc. Now youcan learn what they are, how to f ind, iden-t i fy andcash in upon them. Send for freecopy "over looked fortunes"—it may leadto knowledge which may make you r ich!

A postcard w i l l do.

DUKE'S RESEARCH LABORATORYBex 666, Dept. B, Hot Springs, New Mexico

Long-Range Study to ProbeHealth Hazards of U-Mining

Uranium mining is being investigated asa possible cause of cancer.

Evidence is not conclusive that uraniummining is harmful to the miners, but ex-perience in Europe makes it suspect.

To safeguard American miners, a medi-cal study into the after-effects of uraniummining is being conducted. Duncan A.Holaday, director of Public Health Serviceat Salt Lake City, said approximately 1300

men with known experience in undergrounduranium mining were examined in the sum-mer of 1954, and their health status andoccupational histories recorded.

The medical studies will be repeated everythree years, and during the interveningyears, a census will be taken to see howmany of the group are still employed inthe mines and to keep in touch with thosewho have left the industry. Ultimate hopeof the program is to accumulate data whichwill give estimates of the levels of radio-active dust and gas which were actuallypresent in the mines during periods ofoperation. Such information was missing inthe European case history, leaving conclu-sions about the toxic effects on humansinconclusive.—Pioche Record

TRUE OR FALSE ANSWERSQuestions are on page 18

1—False. When there is sufficientrainfall the dunes are a blaze ofcolor.

2—True.3—False. Pauline Weaver was a

man—a scout and prospector.4—False. Hassayampa is the name

of an Arizona river.5—False. The road-runner when

frightened may take off for a

short flight.6—False. Capital of Nevada is Car-

son City.7—False. Tamarisk was imported

to United States from NorthAfrica early this century.

8—-True. 9—True.10—False. The Rio Grande is the

largest river in New Mexico.11—True.12—False. Fossilization of wood took

place under water.13—True. 14—True. 15—True.16—True. 17—True.18—False. The languages of the Nav-

ajo and Hopi have little in com-mon.

19—False. Hoskinini was a Navaio20—True.

$ $ $ T R E A S U R E $ $ $Find lost or hidden treasure with new, im-proved metal detector. Works around saltwater. Has no ground pick-up. Find coinsjewelry, gold and silver—Civil War relics!

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GARDINERELECTRONICS

COMPANY

DEPT. 9

2 5 4 5 E. INDIAN

SCHOOL ROAD

PHOENIX, ARIZ.

36 DESERT MAGAZINE



TO

The Nevada State Park Commission hasits position regarding the

of petrified wood by collectors. The

of the laws prohibitingis more lenient, J. W.of the Nevada State

"I t is unlawful to remove petrified wooda monument, State Park, or any lo-

by the State Park Commis-are notwelcome,"

"The laws were enacted tothe natural speci-

in situ; that is, petrified stumps, trees,With the exception of the restricted

are welcomebut should not be greedy."

DEALER *SHO W FOR

Plans for the Second Annual Mineralto be held in conjunction

the San Fernando Valley Fair at29-

2,were announced. An estimatedsee the exhibits.

Daily contests in cutting and polishingare scheduled along with the selec-

of a "Queen of Diamonds" to representhe rockhound industry.

In last year's experimental show, 14ooths were occupied and the show proved

so successful that this year application hasbeen made for 40 booths, show officials an-nounced.

Dealers desiring more information shouldcontact Albert Keilin. 13814Ventura Blvd.,Sherman Oaks, California.

NEW ROCKHOUND CLUB FORSIMI VALLEY, CALIF., AREA

A new gem and mineral society — theSimi Valley, California, Rockhounds, re-cently was organized. Meetings are sched-uled for the second Tuesday evening ofeach month at the Simi Valley Mineral Co.on Highway 118 between Simi and SantaSusana. Local residents desiring informa-tion regarding the club should call Fireside62130 or 61014.

FEDERATION ANNOUNCESJUNIOR ESSAY CONTEST

The American Federation of Mineralogi-cal Societies announced an essay contest forJunior Rockhounds. Here are the rules:

1. Any junior member (or any regular

member who is 16 years of age or underby May 1, 1957) of any club which is amember of the American Federationthrough a regional federation, mayenter.

2 . Each entry shall be entirely the workof the junior member submitting it.

3. The subject of the essay shall be"Ethics of a Rockhound," and shall be notover 2000 words in length.

4 . Each entry must be accompanied bya statement from theSecretary of the spon-soring club, stating that the author is ajunior member in good standing.

5 . Allentries are to bemailed to: VincentMorgan, P.O. Box 542, Boron, California.Deadline for entries is May 1, 1957.

6. Prizes are a $50 U.S. Savings bondfor first prize, and a $25 bond for secondprize. Winners will be announced at theAmerican Federation Convention in Denver.

7 . The decision of the judges is final.• • •

The Rogue Gem and Geology Club ofGrants Pass, Oregon, is planning its fifthannual gem and mineral show for June 22-23 at theCounty Fair Grounds. Show hoursare 10 a.m. to 10p.m. on the 22nd and 10a.m. to 6 p.m. on the 23rd.

TURQUOISE NUGGETSClean — Graded — Good

V B to J/2-inch size, per ounce...

3 ounces (about 60 nuggets)

Shop rejects, above sizes, per

Drilled Nuggets, Our Best

V2-inch 35c each

%-inch 50c each,

% to 1-inch 75c each

Minimum order $2.00. Tax and

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LOST MOUNTAIN

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postage

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GEMSP.O. Box 5012 Phoenix, Arizona

e SeenPetrified Wood, Moss Agate, Chrysocolla

Turquoise , Jade and Jasper Jewelry

H A N D M A D E IN STERLING SILVER

Bracelets. Rings, Necklaces, Earringsand Brooches

SPECIALLY SELECTED STONES WITHCHOICE COLORS ANDPICTURES

Write for Folder With Prices

E L L I O T T ' S G E M S H O P235 East Seaside Blvd. Long Beach 2. California

Across from West End of MunicipalAuditorium Grounds

Hours 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Daily Except Monday

April 27-28 are the dates chosen bymembers of the Shasta Gem and MineralSociety for their seventh annual show. Theevent is scheduled to take place at the Vet-erans Memorial Building in Redding, Cali-fornia. Show hours are 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.,Saturday the 27th: and 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.,Sunday the 28th.

• • •The 20th mineral and lapidary show of

the Southwest Mineralogists is scheduled forApril 27 from noon to 10 p.m. and on thefollowing day from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at

the Palestine Masonic Temple, 41st Placeand Figueroa street in Los Angeles, Cali-fornia. Admission is free and refreshmentswill be served.

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Arbors of all sizes—Tumblers, two models.

Wet and dry belt sanders—Lapidary units

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A P R I L , 1 9 5 7 37



TW O COLLECTING ABEASCLOSED TO' ORDINARY CARS

The California Federation made the fol-lowing report on these collecting areas:Cerro Gordo Mine—-tine steep 14 percentgrade road to the mini; has been surfacedwith loose gravel: only four-wheel drivevehicles can reach the mine. ImperialCounty CaScite Mine— a heavy storm hascompletely washed out the road and it isdoubtful thai even jeeps can drive withintwo or three miles of the mine.— The Sphere

• # •The Texas Federation of Mineral Soci-

eties will hold its annual convention andshow May 3, 4 and 5 at the Bexar County

Coliseum, San Antonio, Texas. The SanAntonio Rock and Lapidary Society is thehost club. The show will be held in theexposition building on the Coliseum grounds,and its theme is "A Rock Hound's Show—By Rock Hounds—For Rock Hounds." Ex-hibitors and dealers should contact the showchairman, Raymond Rock, 322 Arlington,San Antonio, Texas.

• • •Th e San Fernando Valley, California,

Mineral and Gem Society has set October19 and 20 as dates for its 16th annualmineral and gem show. It is scheduled tobe held at the Victory-Van Owen RecreationBuilding, 12240 Archw ood Street, NorthHollywood,

0.\ JANUARY 1st, WE RELEASED,Jy Edition of our Encyclopedia

and Super-Catalog of the Lapidary & Jewelry Arts.Y O U MAY PURCHASE THESE AT;

$1.95 for Paper Sound Copies

$ 2 . 9 5 for DELUXE Book Binding

A d d 25c for D om es ti c Postage & Packing or

5 0 c for A. P. O.'s, Foreign, or U. S. Territories.

This is a book of 240 P A G E S V/i" x 11 " in

size, the equivalent of 4110 regu la r tex tbook

size pages. Et GH T C OL OR S of ink are u s e d .

T H I S E N C Y C L O P E D I A is nhandsome volume

of NEW and VALUABLE information for the

JEWELRY CRAFTSMAN and GEit CUTTER, If is an out-

standing NEW BOOKTJnot jus t a catalog. It is

e x c e l l e n t for S C H O O L S and their CRAFT

T E A C H E R S .

N E I T H E R T I M E , C O S T OR R E S E A R C H H A V E B E E N S P A R E D

to M A I N T A I N THE H I G H E S T S T A N D A R D OF U S E F U L N E S S

A N D S C O P E . ITS U G G E S T S T H I N G S TO D O — T H E M O S T ]

A P P R O V E D M E T H O D S OF D O I I I G T H E M AND ISF I L L E D I

W I T H I L L U S T R A T I O N S ond I N S T R U C T I O N S D E S I G N E D to

F U L F I L L Y O U R E V ER Y R E Q U I R E M E N T .

IT IISTS 2 2 0 0 i t em s —mpihinery, tools supplies

for gem cutting and jewelrylmaking. Baroque gems,

books, Jewelry metals andpirts. Gilding metal and

copper forms for enameling.! •

DE A LE RS : SEND FORDenier Information

G o ld F i l l e d ACCESSORY

SPECIAL OFFER No. $-194contains all metal ports needed to make complete

necklace ond earrings from stars in P-84. REGULAR

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H e r e ' s W h a t One C u s t o m e r S a y s a b o u t

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Your catalog &"Bible" isgetting more valuable to me

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instructions in the "Bible".

H. D. Bushey, Bakersfield, Calif,

THREE STARPREMIUM OFFER No.

ONE PREMIUM OFFER No.

i l l us t ra ted . Regular VALUE $3.45. I

WITH thepurchase of an E n c y c l o p e d i a .N O T E : Word your oraer like this:

I No. HOE (Point Drilled . . . . . . $ 1.50*

I Encyclopedia . . . j . . . . . . 1.95

T O T A L P R I C E of the 2 items . . . $ 3 . 4 5

Y O U GET B O T H I T E M S for the

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mJLdMLm &*) 1 I I | ; « Pasadena 4, Calif,

). Box 4185, CATALINA STATION! PASADENA, CALIF.

M O R E G e m C l u b s

N a m e O f f i c e r s

F o r C o m i n g y e a rPete Eagle is the new president of the

Long Beach, California, Mineral andGemSociety. Also named to office were Mar-guerite Bunch, vice president; Peggy Patch,secretary; and Carl Brenner, treasurer.—Mineral News

These new officers were elected by mem-bers of the Ventura, California, Gem andMineral Society: Bruno Benson, president;J. Renger, director; Ted Lemmon, secretary;E. R. Hall, treasurer; and Virginia Van-Delinder, editor.— Rockhound Rambling

* * *Ralph Johnson, president; Claude Wal-

born, vice president; Mrs. Henry Nichols,secretary; and M. P. Springer, treasurer;are the newly elected officers of the EasternSierra Gem and Mineral Club of Indepen-dence, California.— Inyo Independent

* :;: *New officers of the Gem Cutters Guild

of Baltimore, Maryland, are Elmer Gissel,president; Robert White, vice president;John Wise, treasurer; Edward Geisler, as-sistant treasurer; Etta Davison, recordingsecretary; and Catherine Muffoletto, cor-responding secretary.— Gem Cutlers News

Primo Martini will head the SouthernSiskiyou Gem and Mineral Society of Mc-Cloud, California, in the coming year. Othernew officers are Hi Wellman, vice president;Irene Correa, secretary-treasurer; and FernDunlap, federation director.— Siskiyou Gem

* -.• • .•

The Dona Ana County Rockhounds ofLas Cruces, NewMexico, elected these newofficers: Lyle Waddell, president; HughDerham, vice president; Mrs. Lesla Mark-ley, secretary; Max Opitz, treasurer; EltonLove, editor; and Mrs. Faye Cruzon, his-torian.— Citizen

The following new officers were electedby members of the Contra Costa Mineraland Gem Society of Walnut Creek, Cali-fornia: Joan Soule, president; Bob Smith,vice president; Edythe Landregan, secretary;and Gerald Hemrich, treasurer.

Elected to head the South Bay Lapidaryand Mineral Society of Hermosa Beach,California, was Harry Johnson. Walt Reely

wi l l serve as vice president; Richard Storm,treasurer; Pat Biluk, corresponding secretary;and Dorothy Boycr, recording secretary.—Agatizer

OKIEMA IL ADDRESS: P.

1957 NATIONAL GEMAND MINERAL SHOWDENVER, COLORADO

June 13-14-15-16National Guard Armory

East 3rd Ave. and Logan St.Joint American and Rocky Mountain

Federation Convention and ShowWoodruff and Parser Trophies

to be aw ar de dOutstanding Di sp l ays and Deal er s

For i n fo rmat i on wr i t e to:E . E. PARSHALL, pub l i c i t y

2620 So. P e a r l St., Denver 10, Colo.




New officers ofthe El Paso, Texas, Min-and GemSociety are C. E. Ross, presi-

A. Derham, vice president;H. Brown, secretary; H. H. Berryhill,

Mrs. Hortense Newell, historian;H. Miller, trustee; H. L. Zollars, bulletin

andMrs. Grace Zollars, assistantThe Voice

* * *Lillian Coleman was re-elected presidentthe Sacramento, California, Mineral So-

to office were Gene

and Luther Ford, treasurer.* * *

Clay Scott was elected president of the

W. M. Meddles,trip chairma n; E rwin Rasch, federation

and Walter Zeiders, alternate fed-Hemet News* * *

New officers ofthe Mother Lode Mineralof Modesto, California, areLois

O.W. Halteman, house director;Ghost Sheet

* * *New officers of the Sequoia Mineral So-

ofReedley, California, are Sylvia Dial,

Len McCreary, federationand Chris Anderson, Minnie La-

andWm. Wedel,Sequoia Bulletin

* • •

Emil Mueller of the El Paso, Texas,and Gem Society, hasdevised a

bywhich tomount selectedthe bulk and some-

of the regularcap.After the tumbled gems are selected and

as to how they are tothe point orportion which is to be

is carefully ground off on a 220-a smooth, flat surface

3/16 inch in diameter.A small drill ismade from a 3/16 inch

or brass rod, about three inchescut inone end with

saw or thin hacksaw, acrossVs inch apart.

The baroques areplaced in a shallowhas been filled with a ratherofmolding cement andwater,

the ground-off ends level, and thetoharden.

The slotted drill is then placed in theofany drill press set torun at regu-and the embedded baroques in

G E NUI NE P E DRE RA O NYXapproximately

3/4-inch diameter in various

striking colors andpatterns, set in gleamingwhite finish, sturdy action back cuff link.

Cuff l inks perpair $4.00

Al l igator tie clip 2.00tax &postage paid — noC.O.D. please

THE TRIBAL CRAFTSMENP . O. Box 5012 —- Phoenix , Ar izona

the tray ofplaster are placed onthe tableof the drill press. Eighty grit silicon car-bide grains, 220 grit, or diamond powderor bort can beused on theface ofthesmall drill and a round depression, about1/32 inch ismade on the flattened portionof each gem. After the shallow holes havebeen sunk, the baroques are washed, and,using glyptal cement and tiny pads-—smallrings with a round base 3/16 inch in di-ameter—are cemented into the holes in thedirection in which thestones areto besuspended, making a very neat mounting,

especially for clear gems which might showa dark shadow if holes were drilled andtiny screw-eyes inserted.— The Voice

NEW MAN-MADE SUBSTANCECAN SCRATCH DIAMOND

A man-made substance, borazon, is sohard it canscratch a diamond, GeneralElectric scientists who developed this newmaterial claimed. Borazon was createdthrough the application oftremendous pres-sure and heat and itscubic crystal forma-tion is said to bestrikingly similar tothatof a diamond. The new product, the an-nouncement said, is expected tohave far-reaching impact inindustrial polishing and

cutting operations. Its resistance toheat isdouble that ofdiamonds but ithas no ap-parent value as a gem.— Phoenix Gazette

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G £ HI fllfiRT A D V E R T I S

12c a word , .

N G R A T E

Min imum $2.00

FIRE AGATE—ground to show the fire,you finish it. $2, $3 and $5 each. B&HRock Shop, 29 Cherry Lane, Granbury,Texas.

VISIT GOL D Pan Rock Shop. Beautifulsphere material, gems, mineral specimens,choke crystals, gem materials, jewelry,baroq ues, etc. Over 100 tons of materialto select from. John and Etta James,proprietors, 2020 N. Carson Street, Car-son City, Nevada.

*OCKS—-opposite West End Air Base, ag-ate, woods, minerals, books, local infor-mation. No mail orders please. Iron-wood Rock Shop, Highway 60-70 Westof Blythe, California.

OPALS, BRILLIANT colors, direct frommine, 15 for $5.00. 10 ringsize cabochons(opal, amethyst, onyx, etc.) $5.00. Ken-dall's,, Sanmiguel d'Allende, Guanajuanto,Mexico.

TUMBLED GEMS of the desert for sale.Agates, jaspers, obsidians, etc. Mixedlots $4 per pound. T & J Rockho unds,9000 National Blvd., Los Angeles 34,California.

LARGE VARIETY mixed tumbled stone—tigereye, agates, obsidian, palm root,quartz. 40-60 stones in pound—only $4.Free: matched preforms with every poundpurchased. Route 1, Box 369, Beaum ont,California.

HAVE REAL FUN with desert gems,minerals and rocks. The rockhound'show-to-do-if magazine tells how. Oneyear (12 issues) only $3.00. Sample 25c.Gems and Minerals, Box 687-D, Mentone,

Calilornia.CALCITE CRYSTAL groups. Drousy $2;

$3 ; $5. Ask for list. Jack the Rockhound,Carbondale, Colorado, P. O. Box 245.

GEMS OF THE desert, tumbled polishedbaroq ues. Mexican lace and carnelianagate, Death Valley jasper agate, rosequartz, petrified wood palm, black fig,many others. General mixture, $6 pound.Mexican agate slices and various cuff linkpreforms. Slabs and findings. Earringsize tumbled turquoise $8 pound, largersize $1 ounce. Price list. Golden West GemCo., 7355 Lankershim Blvd., North Hol-lywood, California.

OPA L! Z ED WO OD 6.5c pound plus postage.

A. B. Cutler, Box 32, Salmon, Idaho.Slabs, tumbled, J. E. Cutler, Gcarhart,Oregon.

SURPLUS TUMBLED gems. Less thanwholesale. Mixed material and sizes.Petrified wood, rose quartz, agate, obsid-ian and others. Two pounds for $5; 10pounds $22.50 postpaid. Western Min-

erals, Box 61, Boulder City, Nevada.OPEN 8 A.M. to 5 P.M. Monday through

Friday. Other hours by appointment orwhen home. Residence back of shop.Mile west on U.S. 66. McShan's GemShop, Box 22, Needles, California.

GE NU INE TURQ UOISE: Natural color,blue and bluish green, cut and polishedCabochons—25 carats (5 to 10 stonesaccording to size) $3.50 including tax,postpaid in U.S.A. Package 50 carats (10to 20 cabochons) $6.15 including tax,postpaid in U.S.A. Elliott Gem & MineralShop, 235 E. Seaside Blvd., Long Beach2, California.

GEMS A-PLENTY: Beautiful baroque gems,

large variety, tumbled polished all over,$10.00 for one pound (about 100 stones).10 lbs. of top grade gemstone prepaid for$7.00. Wholesale price to dealers on ba-roque gems and gemstone in the rough.Satisfaction guaranteed on every sale.San Fernando Valley Gem Co., 5905Kester Ave., Van Nuys, California.

CHRYSOCOLLA SPECIMENS, some withfree gold. $1 prepaid. Rocks and Min-erals, Box 156, Lone Pine, California.

MINERALS FROM way out East. Brilli-ant fluorescent willemite, clinohedrite, cal-cite, hardystonite, calcium-larsenite, etc.Also snow-white radiating pectolite, gem-my green prehn ite and others. Prices de-pend on size and quality. R. Hauck, 49

Montgomery St., Bloomfield, New Jersey.

IV2TONS of an Oregon rockhound's collec-tion of gem material and Hanilpton Buttewood. Price $500. Mrs. Elizabeth Hou-ston, Box 643, Prineville, Oregon.

OPALS AND Sapphires direct from Aus-tralia. Special—this month's best buy:Fine cut genuine sapphires; one blackstar sapphire; one blue star sapphire; oneblue faceted sapphire; one sapphire cabo-chon. Each over one carat—all for $18.Free airma iled. Send persona l check, in-ternational money order, bank draft. Free16 page list of all Australian Gemstones.Australian Gem Trading Co., 49 Eliza-beth Street, Melbourne, Australia.

C. EARL N APIE R "for rocks." 19 LakeView, Boulder City, Neva da. Free guideservice to collecting areas.

To Rockhounds, Everywhere

From Lapidary Equipment Co., Inc.

BIG, FREE C A T A L O G of fine lapidary equipment by

Hil lquist! Send a post card toda y, to De pt. D-l , 1545

West 49th Street, Seatt le 7, Washington.

CALLING CONNOISSEUR collectors — agem so rare and dazzling! Unique in all-around qualities, 7 to 8 in hardness, lus-ter polish. Rainbow colors flashing onfire, it's entertainment beyond description!Will sacrifice collection for $10,000. Re-sponsible collectors only please write -Gems, P.O. Box 1062, Blythe, California.

FOR SALE: Beautiful purple petrified woodwith uranium, pyrolusite, manganite. Nicesample $1.00 Postage. Maggie Baker,Box 7, Hackberry, Arizona.

COLORADO MINERAL specimens, cut-ting and tumbling m aterials. Send 2 centstamp for list and terms. Dealers pleasewrite for wholesale list. John Patrick,Idaho Springs, Colorado.

THE CONTINENTAL Minerals (formerlyRocky Mountain Minerals) welcomesyour orders and inquiries about massiveand also crystallized mineral specimens.No cutting material. Free list. Thismonth special: Nice Azurile crystalclusters and rare earth minerals. Box1206, Anaconda, Montana.

12 POUNDS OF beautiful Colorado min-eral specimens, $8.00 prepaid. Ask for

list of others. Jack the Rockhound, P. O.Box 245, Carbondale, Colorado.

ONLY DIAMONDS OUTSHINEMULTI-COLORED ZIRCONS

Zircon, which comes in many colors, wasknown in medieval times as a cure for in-somnia, plague and other ills. The strikingcharacteristics of the zircon are its brilli-ancy and fire. Among the popular gemsit is outshone only by the diamond.

The most popular zircon color is a richblue. Other colors include pale honey,golden yellow, red and leaf green. Certain

of these colors are improved by the care-ful application of heat.

Because zircon gems of good size canbe bought for moderate prices, they are anexcellent choice for dramatic designs inbracelets, earrings, clips and pins.

Chief source of zircons are the gravelbeds of Ceylon and they usually are foundwith rubies, sapphires, spinels and garnets.—South Gate, California, Mineral and Lapi-dary Club's Boulder B uster Press

': - :

QUOTESFROM THE GEM AND MINERAL WORLD

You can learn more about a man in aweek in the woods than in a year in thecity. The ideal camp companion may belarge or small, weak or strong, an old timeror a beginner—but if he is willing, nothingelse matters. If he is all in but not a quit-ter; if he is able to joke when tired andwet; if he will do his share and then some—this is the man you want to go with onyour next trip.— Sequoia Bulletin

One of our members had been seriouslyill, and during the period of recuperationhad the new-found hobby of stone-cuttingto fall back on. He was grateful for it andwe are glad he had found it. What m orewould one want to recommend our organi-zation?—Evansville, Indiana, Lapidary So-ciety's News Letter




A M A T E U R G E M C U T T E RBy DR. H. C. DAKE, Editor of TheMineralogist

ofgem mineralsto determine by hand testingisonly a slight variation. It is,

a simple matter to separate thoseone degree or more, like quartz

canbest becarried outfor that purpose.

aremore satisfactory than attemptinga scratch with a large blunt point.

on a smooth surface can bea lowpower glass to note

beThegirdle is theplace

for hardness and theslightof abrasion should not be confused

an actual scratch.

of hardness, used in allonmineralogy, fails toprop-

the actual difference betweenOnMoh's scale, sapphire

as nine anddiamond as ten, butis actually at least ten times

The tables below may serve tothe actual differences:

Moh's Gem Scale. ...10 10,000

9'A 4,0009 1,0008 450IVi 3507 250

225200150

.. 100_... 100

__ _.. 000

thepast fewyears a number of

the gem cutters. These include the widelyof diamond and

in facet

bywhich the powders may be

of "micron" sizes is ex-A micron being .00J milli-

or .00003937 inches. These "super-as are used in polishing gems

aregraded as fal-No. 1 with the largest

2 microns in diameter. This isto standard grit size of about

No. 2, with smallest particle1 micron, and largest 3 microns in

or equivalent tostandard grit size

Micron size No.3,having smallest particleand largest 5microns, or standard

of about 2500. The micron size desig-at 3x, is slightly larger, having a

of about 2,250. Whilearevarious other graded micron sizes

PERSIAN TURQUOISENew Shipment ofPersian H igh grade

Nat ive Cut Cabochons

Wholesale Only —Send forListLOST MOUNTAIN GEMS

P. O.Box 5012 Phoenix, Arizona

the 3 and 3x are themost widely used infacet polishing in thegem cutting industry.

Serving as a link between the purely use-ful and the purely ornamental, broocheshave long held a rather unique positionamong articles of jewelry. The term"brooch" is used for almost anytemporaryand removable arrangement which holdstwo parts of a garment together. Neitherhooks andeyes, nor buckles would comeunder this definition. Brooches have beenpopular for many centuries among Euro-peans, but thebrooch, as weknow it, wasand is hardly used in theOrient.

The simplest and earliest is a "safety-pin" form, which consists of apin, a hinge,a spring, and a bow. From this earliestform, many fastening improvements havebeen developed. These improvements rep-resent theattempts made byvarious crafts-men to circumvent the natural inclinationcf Ihe simple skewer-shaped pin to workout of thefabric which it was intended to

hold together.A great many types of brooches were inuse during the Iron Age. However, theuse of bronze was not discontinued whenthe Bronze Age ended. Thesafety pin orcatch wasdeveloped at an early date,andthe Romans appear tohave used the safety-pin form of brooch almost exclusively.

At the outset, brooches were made almostsoley of various metals andalloys, includ-ing silver andgold. During the 18th and19th centuries, brooches were elaboratelydecorated with enamels and various cutstones, andsome were of considerable size.This tendency hasprevailed to thepresentday. Atone time cameo brooches were thestyle.

The light under which a gemstone isviewed will have a considerable effect inbringing out thebrilliancy, color, fire, flawsand other properties of thestone.

In a dark room by thelight of a singlecandle thediamond will stand out and re-veal all its brilliant glory and "fire," Bythe light of a campfire thediamond also isvery brilliant and under a battery of power-ful electric lights thediamond will revealits dancing flames of fire. However, thesetypes of illumination are notused togradediamonds commercially, and neither is itadvisable tojudge orpurchase astone basedsolely upon its appearance under these cir-cumstances. Good daylight illumination is

indicated tonote inclusions or imperfectionsin diamonds.

As a contrast, a fire opal shows tobest

BLANK MOUNTINGSior

AGATE JEWELRY

WHOLESALE

Rings — Ear Wires — Tie Chains

Cuff Links — Neck Chains

Bezel — devices — Shanks

Solder — Findings

Send stamp for price list No 4

O. R JUNKINS75.1 N W Alpi-,e S - P.O. Box 1233

NEWPORT. OREGON

advantage when viewed in direct sunlight,hence opal jewelry will prove most effectivewhen worn on a bright sunny day. Bycandlelight orcampfire the opal is relativelya dull stone. In general the well-coloredgems, dependent upon color for their beauty,are best revealed in daylight.

Both professional andamateur lapidarieswill encounter difficulties in polishing thelong table on a rectangular step cutolivincor zircon. Scratches mayappear on the

large facets of this material that aremostannoying to eliminate. Often this can beimmediately eliminated by removing thestone from the dep and recementing insuch a fashion as to present the oppositeside ofthe facet tothe lap wheel. Why thisshould be effective is open to debate, butit is effective when other remedies havefailed. It is a little difficult to reset thestone in thecement at theproper anglebutwith a little practice andpatience il can beaccomplished.

DIAMOND BLADES"Treat yourself lo the best"

Triers and pol ishers6 Covlngton Trim SHWHUi choose from iii latestI-Yee Catalog. •

Select any one of 7C o v i n y l on Slab Sawsfrom latest Free Cafa-log.

Mult i-

Fea tu r e Lap id n r y Un i t . F r ee Cat-alog .shows 8 Cov-i n gt o n H o r i z o n L ai dmodels.

urn,i> YOUR OWNl . . \ r ;tn(l s; ive . FreeC a t a l o g s h o w s 13B u i l d Yo ii r O w nI t e ms .

USED BV TFIK I\s.fiOVICKNMENTSend for l a t e s t C a ta lo g sh o win g C o v in g to n ,Ilic hu'KesI lapidary c<|nii>nienl line inAn ic r i r n . IT'S F R E E .

DUAI . KR S W ANTED

Covington Lapidary Eng.Rlilll.lXIIS I),CAIilFOKJSIA

1 9 5 7 41



etuteen Lfoa and

By RANDALL HENDERSON

Y MA I L the last few days has been filled withletters of protest against the proposal of a mem-ber of the Los Angeles County board of super-

visors that the desert be made a dumping ground forgarbage from the metropo litan area. The story appearedin the Los Angeles papers two weeks ago.

A similar suggestion three years ago aroused so muchopp osition it was dropp ed. Not only are all desert dwellers

opposed to the idea, but many of the protestants are citydwellers in Los Angeles County—folks who regard thedesert as their playground, and want its landscape keptclean and its air unpolluted.

I can sympathize with Los Angeles in its need for agarbage dum p. We have a similar problem in our Coa-chella Valley. But other large cities in the United S tateshave found a solution—and it wasn't on the desert becausethey have no desert for a dump ing ground. An d you maybe sure we desert dwellers will not permit our land of farhorizons to become a city dump if we can help it.

Thanks to the interest of DeWeese W. Stevens, viceprincipal of the Palo Verde high school, a program hasbeen initiated for the restoration and protection of the"Giant Figures"5 on the desert mesa 20 miles north ofBlythe, California.

Under the leadership of Stevens, the student councilat the high school has pledged its efforts to restore theseancient Indian relics, and the Blythe chamber of com-merce and Desert Protective Council have promised finan-cial aid to carry out the project.

The figures, consisting of gigantic men, animals andreptiles, formed by raking the varnish covered malpairocks into outlines, were discovered in 1932 by anaviator flying overhead. The California D epartm ent ofNational Resources placed historical markers there, butin the absence of protective measures the site has been

overrun and the figures mutilated. How ever, completerestoration is possible, based on aerial photographs takenat the time of the discovery.

When the task is completed, I'll be publishing thestory—with proper credit to the teen-agers who havepledged many da\s of hard work in carrying out theprogram.

* * *Two Arizona university professors have offered a

program drastic and alarming to those of us who have asense of reverence for the natural landscape.

As a step toward the solution of Arizona's urgent needfor water, they have proposed that great areas of forestand chaparral land in the White Mountain watershed of

the Salt River be stripped of its natural cover and reseededto forage grass. They w ould start by clearing the spruceand fir trees from the upper slopes of the Apache Indianreservation, and according to newspaper reports they have

persuaded the Indians that this would be advantageousto them.

Obviously, such a program would meet with the ap-prov al of the cattlemen in that region. Als o, it is quitecertain that the flood runoff into Roosevelt and the otherreservoirs in the Salt River would be increased.

But what of the price that will be paid for these im-med iate benefits? W hat will hap pen to the storage ca-

pacity if the flood debris of bare mountain slopes ispoured into Roosevelt Lake? Wh at will be the impact ofgreat torrents of water following storms of cloudburstproportions, or warm winds on a deep and exposed snowpack ? Or the effects on the und ergro und water reservoirswhich feed springs and ranchers' wells at the lower levels?

These are the more obvious questions which may beasked. N o less imp ortan t from the long range viewpointare the far-reaching ecological results which follow whenthe balance of Nature is disturbed over a wide area—thedestruction of the natural enemies of insect pests androdents. We humans do not know much about such thingsyet—but we do have a record of what happened in southChina when great areas of forest lands were denuded of

their trees and the soil washed away—leaving a land sopoor that much of the Chinese emigration to all parts ofthe world has come from this region.

Aside from the purely economic factors involved, Iam reluctant to believe that our sense of moral obligationto future generations of Americans has reached so low apoint that we are ready to start stripping our land of thenatural life and beauty which are so much a part of theheritage of western A merica.

* * *

Up in Monument Valley just beyond the northernborder of Arizona are two buttes named Mitchell andMerrick in memory of two prospectors. They were reputedto have found a rich silver mine on the Navajo reservation,

and were taking some of their loot out of the countrywhen they were overtaken and killed by the tribesmenwhose land they were robbing.

Harry Goulding, who has spent most of his maturelife in Monument Valley, and who knows the Navajobetter perhaps than any other white man, has told memore than once that the Indians killed Mitchell and Mer-rick, not because they were stealing silver from thereservation, but because these men had desecrated theGood Earth, the Mother from whom derives all the bless-ings of life in this univ erse. Th at is pa rt of the Navajoreligion.

Somehow I feel that the problems of the litterbug, thevandal, the destroyer, man's greed, and even of peace

on earth will be solved only after our schools and ourchurches begin teaching reverence for the land and thelife which is on it—for truly these are our great gifts fromthe Creator.




WILDF LO WER BO O K

In the late 1890s two young womena writer and the other an artist

the width and breadthout the Golden

wildflowers. They wanted toa book about what was to them

of Nature's blessings

"There has been a long felt needa popular work upon the wildflowers

in the preface to The Wildof California. "Though cele-

the world for theirand beauty, and though many

way across

and endeared themselves toin many a foreign garden,

of their home life has never

What Mary Parsons saw and wroteon those hikes and what her

has delighted outdoor lov-1897, for flowers were more

and leaves to

A new edition of this book recentlyIt is unaltered from the

in 1930 except for addi-of six watercolor plates by Mar-

and an appendix whichthe scientific names of the plants

to date and gives currently accepted

This is a book to carry with youthe field. And after you read it

d use it you will better understandtwo women wanted to do

us by pointing out that a flower ist " . . . a trivial thing only worthy of

To the mind openthe great truths of the universe, it

on a dee per significance. S uchin its often humble begin-

•

Desert Best Seller List*Ghosts of the Glory Trail

Nell Murbarger $5.75G eological Story of Death Valley

Thomas Clements $1.50Wild Palms of the California Desert

Randall Henderson $ .50Rocks and Minerals of California

Vinson Brown & David Allanpaper $2.75cloth $4.50

Poisonous Dwellers of the DesertNatt N. Dodge $ .50

*Based on February sales by DesertMagazine Bookshop.

nings the genesis of things far-reachingand mighty."

Published by California Academyof Sciences, San Francisco; illustrated;

with key to the flowering plants; index,glossary and appendix; 423 pages;$3.95.

• • •A R I Z O N A T R A V E L A D V E N T U R E SDESCRIBED BY THOS. LESURE

Writing with the authority of onewho has been over every inch of thetrail he describes for his readers, travelwriter Thomas B. Lesure tells of thewonders of his adopted state in a newbook entitled, Adventures in Arizona.It will be sure to please those who wantto get the most out of their actual orarm-chair visits to that delightful land

of contrasts.Lesure combines a vivid imagina-

tion, which makes even the most rou-tine side jaunts real adventures as hetakes you back into time to tell you ofthe area's history and local legends;with a realistic approach to road con-ditions, supplies needed, travel haz-ards, etc.

On every page is an appeal, an invi-tation to park your car, get out andwalk around—to see and smell and

feel the things most tourists miss whenthey stick close to the main-traveledroads.

The book is divided into three mainparts—Northern, Central and SouthernArizona—for the convenience of thetraveling reader. Also included arespecial sections on Indian handicraft— w h a t you can expect to find, howmuch to pay for it and what to lookfor in the product; fishing on thedesert; horseback riding and duderanches; and ghost towns.

One hundred of the book's 270pages are devoted to full-page photo-graphs, many taken by the author.

Published by the Naylor Company,San Antonio, Texas; $5.00.

Books reviewed on these pages areavailable at Desert Crafts Shop

Palm Desert, California

Add three percent sales tax on ordersto be sent to California

Write for complete catalog of

Southwestern books

B o o k M a n u s c r ip t sby cooperative publisher who offers authorsearly publication, higher royalty, nationaldistribution, and beautifully designed books.All subjects welcomed. Write, or send yourMS directly.

GREENWICH BOOK PUBLISHERS, INC.Atte n . Mr. S l o c u m, 489Fi l th Ale., N.T., JJ.Y.

SPECIAL

for a limited time only

There's a w ea lth of information in back issues of Desert Mag-

azine—lost mine stories, gem andmineral field trips, travelogs.

Nature study, ghost tow ns, maps — information that neverg r o w s old. A limited number of complete volumes for the

last four years are available at a special rate—

1 9 5 3 - 1 9 5 4 - 1 9 5 5 - 1 9 5 6 V o lu m e s C o m p le te

a t $ 3 . 0 0 f o r e a c h v o l u m e

These wi l l be mailed postpaid to any address in U.S.A. If you w a n t

them in loose leaf binders w ith index in the December copy- add $2.00

for each binder holding the full year's copies

PALM DESERT, CALIFORNIA

1 9 5 7 43



D E S E R T P R O T E C T IV E C O U N C I L I N C .A NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION

To safeguard for wise and reverent use by this and succeeding generations

those desert are as of unique scenic, scientific, historical, spiritual andrecreational value and to educate, by all appropriate means children and adultsto a better understanding of the desert.

Gathered around a blazing campfire of desert drift-wood in October, 1954, a little group of conservationminded desert and mountain dwellers banded themselvestogether in an association whose immediate goal was topreserve the integrity of California's Joshua Tree Na-t ional Monu ment .

The Monument was facing threats from two sources:One small faction calling themselves the Desert chapterof the Western Mining Council was seeking to have theMonument thrown open to prospecting and mining.

This, despite the fact that the Monument is sprinkledwith the "coyote holes" of prospectors who had soughtin vain for 75 years to find m ineral wealth ther e. Th eother group was seeking to promote a commercial high-way through the Monument, in violation of the time-honored code that national parks and monuments shallbe held inviolate against commercial exploitation.

The campfire meeting was held at the entrance toDeep Canyon, where the Santa Rosa Mountains meetthe desert floor of Coachella Valley, home of Califor-nia's date growing industry. Less than 40 persons werepresent at that first meeting, but they were outspokenin behalf of a common cause—to organize not onlyfor the protection of Joshua Tree National Monument,

but for the preservation of scenic, scientific, historical,recreational and spiritual values anyw here on the desertthat these values might be threatened.

As an outgrowth of that meeting there was formedthe Desert Protective Council, a non-profit corporation,with Harry C. James a widely recognized leader inconservation activities as its first president.

In the two and one-half years since the Council wasformed its membership has been expanded to includerepresentatives of all the five southwestern states—Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah.Its advisory panel includes leading scientists, educatorsand journalists whose high standing in their professionsis well know n.

Within the past year the by-laws of the Council wereamended to provide for an executive director whowould be the administrative officer of the ever-expand-

BOARD OF DIRECTORS—1956-57RANDALL HENDERSON, PresidentM R S . RALPH H. LUTZ, Vice-PresidenlRICHARD M. KELLER, SecretaryH. M. WEBER, M.D., TreasurerHARRY C. JAMES, Executive DirectorWELDON F. HEALD (Arizona)EDMUND C. JAEGER

ing activities of the orga nization. Ha rry Jam es steppeddown from the presidency to assume this role. Althoughit is not a salaried position, he and Mrs. James devotemany hours every day at Lolomi, their mountain homein the San Jacinto Mountains overlooking Banning,California, to the research and correspondence involvedin a job that could only be filled by those dedicatedto the highest goals of human endeavor.

Although the protection of Joshua Tree NationalMonument remains one of the prime interests of the

Council, its influence is now being brought to bear inmany directions, including—

Protection of desert terrain against unrestricted ac-quisition by the armed forces.

Revision of fish and game codes in conformity withthe findings of scientific study.

Protection of bighorn sheep and other near-extinctspecies of wildlife.

Continued ban on hunting in state and national parks.

Extension of state and national park and recreationalareas to provide outdoor space for increasing popula-tion.

Restoration and preservation of historical monu-

ments.Establishment of roadside park and picnic facilities

along desert highways.

Protection of the scenic landscape including drasticlimitation on billboards.

Continued crusade through legal and educationalprocesses against road and campsite litter and van-dalism.

Membership in the Council is as follows:Active membership is open to all adults interested in

the purposes of the Council. Ann ual dues $1.00 or morea year.

Junior membership is open to children who subscribe tothe objectives of the Council. Dues for Junior mem bership—50 cents.

Contributing membership is open to individuals and or-ganizations interested in aiding financially in the work ofthe Council.

Organization membership is open to all organizationssubscribing to the Council's purpose. Dues $5.00 or morea year.

Membership in the Desert Protective Council is open to allw ho subscribe to the purposes of the organization as set

195704 desert magazine 1957 april

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