195801 desertmagazine 1958 january

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Every building along V irginia City's "C" Street is a house of mem ories.HISTORIC PANORAMAS XIT h e C o m s t o c k L o d e

By JOSEF and JOYCE MUENCHBelieved to be the richest singlepiece of mining property in history,the Comstock Lode in west-centralNevada had a production record ofover a billion dollars in gold and silver.From this wealth came great personalfortunes as well as the hard money

which made San Francisco a fashion-able city. Comstock dollars also helpeddefray cost of the Civil War and pro-vided financing for the laying of thetelegraph cable under the Atlantic.At first the silver ore"blue stuff"was cursed by the miners becauseit interfered with extraction of the gold

content. But when its true natur e be-came public knowledge in the 1860s,the rush was on. By 1873 VirginiaCity, principal city of the bonanza, hada popu lation of 35,00 0. Almo st everysliver of wood, every nail, every fixturein the community on the bleak slopeof Mt. Davidson was packed orfreighted in over the Sierras.Today, far from being a ghost town,Virginia City is a popular tourist cen-ter and plans to re-open the longidle Comstock recently were revealedby a mining company.

Virginia City stands on the eastern slope of Mt. Davidson.

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D E S E R T C f t L E I I D f l RJan. 1Comanche Dances, Ranchosde Taos, New Mexico.Jan. 1 Deer, Los Matachines orTurtje Dance, Taos Pueblo, NewMexico. Ceremonial dances in sev-eral other Indian Pueblos on NewYear's Day and three succeeding

days.Jan. 1Sun Bowl Carnival Paradeand Football Game, El Paso, Texas.Jan. 1-410th Annual Arizona Na-tional Livestock Show, Phoenix.Jan. 4-5Sierra Club Camping Tripto BoxCanyon, east of Mecca, Cal.Jan. 5 Dons Club Travelcade toCasa Grande National Monumentand St. John's Mission, from Phoe-nix.Jan. 6Dances and Installation ofGovernors in various Rio GrandePueblos, New Mexico.Jan. 6Twelfth Night, Burning ofChristmas Trees, Raton, N, M.,and other Span ish-Am eric an Set-tlements.Jan. 11-12Dons Club Travelcade toFlagstaff area, from Phoenix.Jan. 11-1210th Annual All-BreedCat Show, Phoenix.Jan. 12Western Saddle Club Gym-khana, Phoenix.Jan. 12 and 26Desert Sun RanchersRodeo, Wickenburg, Arizona.Jan. 16-17 27th Annual ArizonaNational Livestock Show, Phoenix.Jan. 17-18Southern Arizona Squaredance Festival, Tucson.Jan. 17-19Fourth Annual LettuceFestival, El Centro, California.Jan. 18Desert Museum Field Tripto Palm Canyon, from PalmSprings, California.Jan. 18-19Tillicum Trailer Rendez-vous for Trailer Tourists from Pa-cific Northwest, Palm Springs, Cal.Jan. 19Dons Club Travelcade toRay-Hayden Mines, from Phoenix.Jan. 23Buffalo Dance and Fiesta,San Ildefonso Pueblo, N. M.Jan. 23-26Professional Golf Tour-nament, Thunderbird Country Club,Palm Springs, California.Jan. 24-25Annual Western Dance,Clayton, New Mexico.Jan. 24-26 Dons Club Travelcadeto Zion National Park, Las Vegas

and Hoover Dam, from Phoenix.Jan. 25-26 Sierra Club's DesertPeaks Section Kofa Mountain, Ari-zona, Hike.Jan. 25-26 Sierra Club CampingTrip to Agua Caliente Hot Springs,California.Jan. 26Trek to King's Canyon forWinter Visitors, from Mesa, Ariz.Jan. 30-Feb. 2Open Golf Tourna-ment, Phoenix.Jan. 30-Feb. 2Open Golf Tourney,Tucson.Jan. 31-Feb. 2 Parada del Sol,Scottsdale, Arizona,Month of JanuaryArt Show: "Im-age of Asia," Phoenix Art Center.

V o l u m e 21 J A N U A R Y , 1958 N u m b e r 1

C O V E RH I S T O R YC A L E N D A RP O E T R YD E V E L O P M E N TC O N T E S TA R TEXPERIENCEFIELD TRIPDES ERT QUIZC O M M E R C ELETTERSP H O T O G R A P H YN A T U R EC O N T E S TP L A C E R G O L DN E W SF I C T I O NC L O S E - U P SM I N I N GL A P I D A R YH O B B YC O M M E N TB O O K S

Dead Horse Point on the Colorado River nearMoab, Utah.- By SYL LABROT

The Comstock LodeBy JOSEF and JOYCE MUENCH . . . . 2

January events on the desert 3Plank Road in the Dunes, Old Plank. Road

an d other poem s 4Flaming Gorge Dam on the Green RiverBy NELL MURBARGER 5

Desert Story Contest ann ouncem ent 8He Carves the Santos in the Land of the

Penitentes, by W. THETFORD LeVINESS . . 10Primitive Village in Havasu pai Canyon

By ELIZABETH RIGBY 13Black Agate in Gypsum Wash

By EUGENE L. CONROTTO 15A test of your dese rt knowledge 18Guano Tramway in Granite Gorge

By ROBERT O. GREENAWALT 19Comment from Desert's rea ders 22Pictures of the Month 23Doves of the Desert, by EDMUND C. JAEGER . 24Picture-of-the-Month contest announcement . . 26I Found Gold on Rich Hill

By WILLIAM ESENWEIN . 27From he re and there on the desert 30Hard Rock Shorty of Death Valley 30About those who write for Desert 30Current ne ws of desert mines 34Amat eur Gem Cutter, by DR. H. C. DAKE . . 37Gems an d Minerals 38Just Between You an d Me, by the Editor . . . 42Reviews of Southwestern litera ture 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 1958 by the Desert Press , Inc. Permission to reproduce contentsmus t be secured from the editor in writing.RANDALL HENDERSON, EditorBESS STACY, Business Manager EUGENE L. CONROTTO, Associate EditorEVONNE RIDDELL., Circulation ManagerUnsolicited manuscripts and photographs submitted cannot be re turned or acknowledgedunless full return postage Is enclosed. Desert Magazine assumes no responsibility fordamage or loss of manuscripts or Photographs a l though due care will be exercised. Sub-scribers should send notice of change of address by the first of the month preceding issue.

SUBSCRIPTION RATESOne Tear. $4.00 TwoYears $7.00Canadian Subscriptions 25c Extra. Foreign 50c ExtraSubscriptions to Army Personnel Outside U. S. A. Must De Mailed in Conformity WithP. O. D. Order No, 19687

Address C orrespondence to Desert Magazine, Palm Desert, CaliforniaJ A N U A R Y , 1 9 5 6


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Old plank road across the Algodones dunes in Imperial County, California.Photo byHubert Lowman,

O l d P l a n k R o a dBy LAURA W. D U N L A PSanta Ana, CaliforniaA splendid highway runs across thewaste

Of sand, beside the dunes aloof and chaste,And one can see the old plank road, forlorn,Discarded when new concrete skill was born.Now like aworn out shoe tossed tothe sideThe old planks lie, remembering the tideOf slow cars worrying along its way,Content todream, with memory dim andgray;And always when the moon is thin and new.Some ghostly travelers keep a rendezvous. ARIZONA, U.S.A.

By EDSEL FORDHobbs, New MexicoGive me mountains, give me menBroken and made whole again;Give me deserts wide as sky.With men to garden themor try;And Iwill give you back aplaceWith freedom written on its face.

BUZZARDSBy G RACE BARKER WILSO NKirtland, New MexicoThe buzzards look from their eerie nestAt awar ofthings below;But they wait and watch asthe fight goes onBe the battle fast orslow.

Their eyes are keen and their instincts sure,And they stay on high untilThe strife is done, then down they swoopTo feast on another's kill.DESERT CHARMS

By ISOLE BAKEREnid, OklahomaIn barren soil that never knows the graceofgrass orscent of rose,Desert charms lie serenely hidden, notlightly bestowed onthoseW ho do notseek itsbeauty rare. It takestime and patienceTo know this dry andbristling landyes,even morereverence.More tantalizing itsallure grows with longfamiliarity.Then any narrow, meandering pathway willreward your quest for beauty.

P l a n k R o a d i nt h e D u n e s

By BETTY HARDESTYLong Beach, CaliforniaOut where the desert dunes, relentless, pushTheir selfish way along to bury bushOr cactus, heat wracked hut or feeble road,A modern highway nudges, seems togoadThe long forsaken remnants ofan oldAnd twisted track ofplanks. Itcarried goldAnd men with patient beasts acrossThe soft impeding dunes without great lossOf time andenergy. Disjointed, flung onend,Half buried, up side down, these planks stillsendOur thoughts todesert lore and early days.We feel men's exaltation or despair, theircrazeFor wealth which made them willing toendureThe hardships ofdry desert trails; thenseethe sureAdvance ofprogress, ingenuity which beatThe paralyzing dunes wilh roads of smoothconcrete.VANISHING TRAILS

By FRED F. BERGERThere are trails that lead tonowhere acrossthe shifting sands,Bu t the restless men that made themsearched not for fertile lands.They searched for high adventure anddreamed ofwealth untoldAnd the driving force that spurred them onwas the thought ofyellow gold.They climbed thehighest mountains, theysampled the valley floor.And when they made a strike, they spent itand searched formore .Their campfires nolonger glitter among therim rocks highAnd no longer do their silhouettes stand outin the jagged desert sky.Cold arethe trails that they followedlostis the freedom they knew. THE DESERTBy FRANCES PARKER GRAAFAlhambra, CaliforniaMysterious desert, vast and ever changing!Moods mystical, fierce and wildOr gentlelike the coaxing of achild.You hold acharm for those who understandAnd seek your freedombright, enchantedland!To resist you is toforfeit allThe fascination ofthe desert's call.

I claim your gifts, your sunshine, color rare,Your moods, your peace, your wonderfulclear skies,And because inall ofthese I share,My heart finds homehere where yourpromise lies.

By TANYA SOUTHSan Diego, CaliforniaThe Soul is full ofcorners oddThat tend todeviltry orGod.Ah, but torelegate each sinOr virtue toi t s proper p lace-That is thestrength of Truth within,

And saving grace.DESERT MAGAZINE

Saving Grace!


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Artist's conception of Flaming Gorge Dam a nd Reservoir. Photo courtesy U. S,Bureau of Reclamation.

Flaming Gorge DamOn the Green RiverBy NELL MURBARGERMap by Norton Allen

5CEPT FOR doctors, dentistsand dime stores, Daggett Countyin the upper right hand cornerof Utah has just about everything onemight ask. It even has a couple oftowns and a paved road but thelargest of these communities has fewerthan 150 inhabitants, and the pavedroad is only five miles long.Winding through the county on itsway to meet the Colorado River 200

miles down stream is the Green River.An d in this high desert region fivemiles south of the Wyoming borderand 20 miles west of Colorado theBureau of Reclamation has startedwork on the mighty Flaming GorgeDam, farthest north storage and powerunit of the $760,000,000 Upper Colo-rado River Storage Project.Tentatively scheduled for comple-tion in July, 1963, the $65,000,000

A new city is rising in thehigh desert country of north-eastern Utah. Soon hundredsof men will begin work on acolossal dam across the GreenRiver. After a million cubicyards of concrete have beenpoured into the gorge, a lake91 miles long will be created.Flaming Gorge Dam is still an-other vital link in the UpperColorado River Storage Projectwhich is destined to alter thetopography, power capacityand recreational opportunitiesof the Great Basin country.

structure will be the sixth-highest damin the United States and its reservoirby backing water 91 miles up theGreenwill dwarf in size all naturalfresh-water lakes west of the Missis-sippi.First leg of my trip to the damsite

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was the 175-mile drive from Salt LakeCity east to Vern al. All I knew aboutDaggett County then was that itsnortheast corner contained the Utahportion of Brown's Holea three-statehideout once used by the notoriousoutlaw Butch Cassidy and his "WildBunch," and that this was the locale ofthe salted mine that figured in TheGreat Diamond Hoax of 1872 (Desert,Feb. ' 57) .

North of Vernal lay the UintaMountains which I would have to crosson a dirt road generally closed to autotravel during a large portion of eachyear, for this range has half-a-dozen13,000-foot summits and at these

the single diversion tunnel throughwhich the river will be channeledaround the damsite during the mainperiod of construction. Twenty-threefeet in diameter and 1200 feet long,with a capacity of 20,000 cubic-feetper second, this concrete - lined borewill be plugged upon completion ofthe dam properlikely about October,1961.

Thin-arch in type with a 650-footradius, the dam will have a length of1180 feet at its crest, elevation of 6047feet, will stand 450 feet above thesurface of the river or about 500feet above bedrockand will requirea million cubic yards of concrete. The

Project Engineer Jean Walton, left, and Chief Field Engineer RoscoeGran ger at the site of Flam ing Gorge City. Photo cour tesy U . S. Bureauof Reclamation.northern latitudes the wiles of winterare not to be taken lightly.Although it was barely eight o'clockwhen I called next morning at Recla-mation Bureau headquarters in Ver-nal's First Security Bank building, Iwas agreeably surprised to find theentire office force hard at work. JeanR. Walton, Project Construction En-gineer for Flaming Gorge, proved tobe a pleasant young man, friendly andaccommodatingand intensely inter-ested in the huge undertaking to whichhe has been assigned.

Prime contract for the dam, accord-ing to Engineer Walton, is scheduledto be awarded next March with workbeginning immediately thereafter on

reservoir impounded by this barrierwill be long and narrowits capacitywater surface of 42,100 acres extend-ing upstream to within four miles ofthe small city of Green River, Wyom-ing. Of the capacity load of 3,930,000acre-feet of water, all but 230,000 willbe usable storage.

Like Glen Canyon Dam, major unitin the Upper Colorado River StorageProject {Desert, April '57), FlamingGorge Dam will be used primarily forriver regulation and the creation ofelectrical energy. At the downstreambase of the dam will be located thepower plant, consisting of three gener-ating units with a combined output of108,000 kilowatts. Initial production

of power is tentatively scheduled forJune, 1962, and it is anticipated thatthe entire cost of the project will berecovered in approximately 50 yearsthrough sale of power. At presentthere are no plans to use the watersof either Glen Canyon or FlamingGorge dams for irrigation or domesticpurposes. However, at some laterdate, there is the possibility of a tun-nel diversion from the Flaming Gorgereservoir to the Uintah Basin.

Jean Walton, top boss on the Flam-ing Gorge project, is a man well suitedfor the task at hand . After graduatingfrom the University of New Mexicowith the electrical engineering class of1933, he worked three years with theBureau of Indian Affairs constructingirrigation and power projects, beforejoining the Reclamation Bureau. Sub-sequently he served as project engineeron the San Diego aqueduct; spent sixyears on the Colorado River's DavisDam and power plant project; three-and-one-half years with the U.S. ArmyEngineering Corps in the SouthwestPacific during World War II; and later under loan to the Australian govern-ment from the Bureau of Reclamationserved for two years as an advisoron the Snowy Mountain Hydroelectricproject.

Jean Walton was most cooperative.Not only did he answer all my ques-tions freely and concisely, he madeavailable to me an armload of maps,blueprints, diagrams, charts and othermaterial. In our entire conversationwe had only one difference of opinion.Just prior to leaving Jean's officefor the damsite, I discovered he haddetailed a jeep convoy to see that myold car and I made the trip safely overthe mountains to Manila, field head-quarters of the Flaming Gorge project.At that point a difference of opinionarose. I didn't need a convoy, but Ihad to do a tough selling job beforehe consented to let me go my wayalone, as I have been doing on thedesert these many years.

Jean pointed out that due to latesnows the road still was beset by mud-holes and "soft places." He alsowarned that in the entire 75 miles be-tween Vemal and Manila, I would notpass a single service station or tele-phone, and for more than 60 mileswould not see even a ranch house.

Before leaving Vernal I took on afull supply of gasoline and water, extracylinder oil, and had tires, water hoseconnections, and fan and generatorbelts checked precautions I alwaystake before driving in sparsely-inhab-ited country.In the course of climbing out of thedry flats and brightly-hued cliffs thatedge Vernal on the north. Route 44

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Canyon scene in Palisade Park on Route 44 betweenVernal and Manila. Green River near the mouth of H ideout Canyon. Photosby the author.deteriorated from a very good roadto fair, and around 8000 feet eleva-tion became poor, I could see thatlater in the summer it would be smoothand dry, but I had arrived too earlyin the season and the way still wasplagued by mudholes. Even where theroad was its poorest, however, thecountry was so beautiful it almost hurtto look at it, and in the big glory ofthat land I found it easy to overlook

such transient inconveniences as "softplaces."Beyond a wide belt of sage, scrubjunipers and n ut pines, the road entereda high quiet lonely world where thebreeze blew chill and midsummersnowbanks seemed reluctant to leave.Narrowed to little more than a singlelane that cleft like a knife through tallstill aisles of white pine, fir and pencil-thin spruce, the little road skirtedT O G KE 6 N R I V E R

W Y O M I N G

dense copses of quaking aspen, pickedits way through pocket-sized meadowswhere deer peacefully grazed, andcrossed boisterous snow-fed streamsthat came dashing down from the sum-mits in a roar of white water and icyspray.I made camp near one of thesestreams, cooked a good supper andate it; and then typed as long as day-light perm itted. Then I unrolled my

R O P l O S = Groded and PartlyGra v e l e dPa rtia l l y I mp ro v e dGo v 't R o o d -Pre s en tC ondition Uncertain

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sleeping bag on a couch of dry pineneedles and retired to a matchlessnight under the dark sky and the black-velvet silence that spread all around.Breakfast next morning had beenprepared and eaten before the firstshaft of sunlight came stabbing intomy world, and my first adventure ofthis new day was the sight of a herdof four large elkwhich came down todrink at thestream less than 50yardsfrom where I was breaking camp.Following the downward course of

FINAL REMINDER TODES ERT WRITERSThe LIFE ON THE DESERTtrue experience contest endsJanuary 1, 1958. Entries mustbe postmarked on or beforethat date.Here are the contest rules:No limitation to subjectmat-ter so long as the story is setin the Desert Southwest.Manuscripts should be trueexperiences, from 1200 to 1500words in length. Tall tales andher esa y stories are not solicited.All manuscripts should betypewritten anddouble spacedon one side of the page only.If 5x7 or larger photographsshowing good sharp contrastare available , an extra $3willbe paid for each used with thestory. Pictures are not essen-

tial, however.Writers must be prepared tosupply confirmation as to theauthenticity of their stories.True nam es of those involvedmust be given, although withthe knowledge of the judges,fictitious names can be sub-stituted if there is good reasonfor doing so.If the story previously hasappeared in print, this fact andthe time and n a m e of the me-dium inwhich itappeared mustbe given.Judging will be done by theDesert Magazine staff and thedecisions will be final. Unac-cepted manuscripts will be re-turned if accompanied by re-turn postage.First award will be $25. Allother stories accepted for pub-lication will earn $15 for theirauthors. Mail entries to:Life on the Desert ContestDesert MagazinePalm Desert, California

a deep rocky canyon, the little roaddropped rapidly and soon carried meou t of the tall timber and back intothe highland desert realm of junipersand sagebrush.Although Manila is the largest townin Daggett County, and the countyseat, the 1950 census credited it withonly 145persons. The entire countyhas but 365 registered votersaboutone for each two square miles of ter-ritory! Forty years ago this northeast-em corner of Utah was part of UintahCounty, of which Vernal is the seatof local government. During the sev-eral months each year when the highpasses are blocked by snow, Daggettcitizens found it almost impossible totransact business at their county officesand to remedy this situation the newcounty was created in 1918.

From a distance Manila is visibleonly as a grove of green trees thatstand out sharply against the gray-brown desert foothills at the far edgeof Lucerne Valley. Wide andflat, hevalley is checkered with a few smallfields and dotted with cattle and horses,and each ranch house is buried in asmall cluster of cottonwoods. Rollingon down the grade, across the valleyand up the slope beyond, I beganglimpsing other houses that seemed topeep curiously from beneath the cot-tonwoods. At the south edge of thegrove stood a small white roadsignthat said I wasentering the town ofManila, and that it is unincorporated.

Roscoe Granger, field engineer onthe Flaming Gorge project, has hisoffice in a nearby trailer park. He isa tall and pleasant man with gray haira man 54 years of age who alreadyhas 30years of service with theRecla-mation Bureau. He seemed relievedto see me and said Jean Walton hadtelephoned the previous dayconcern-ing mydeparture from Vernal.

"He figured you might have trouble.Said if you didn't get in, I should sendsomeone to look for you . . ."At nine the next morning Grangerand I left his office for the damsite.Traveling over the only stretch ofpaved road in Daggett County, wequickly covered the five miles down-grade to Linwooda tiny trading oostvillage that might have been liftedbodily out of Jim Bridger's day. Inaddition to a general store buildinefabricated of logs, a separate I02 build-ing housed the postoffice. The few olddwellings clustered around these twocommercial structures were built ofweather - bleached logs roofed withpoles and earth.Linwood, unfortunately, will be oneof the firs t casualties of the dam. W henthe reservoir is filled to capacity, Man-ila will become a lakeshore town, but

Linwood will be under 4 0 feet ofwater.The reservoir will be nine miles wideand 200 feet deep where the tempo-rary timber bridge crosses the Greennear Linwood.After crossing Henry's Fork Riverand briefly entering Wyoming, weheaded southeast over a good graveledroad. Near the confluence of Henry'sFork and the Green River in 1825Capt. William Ashley's trappers gath-ered for the first rendezvous ever heldwest of the Rockies. Some studentsof history contend that this meetingwas held at the junction of the tworivers about four miles southeast ofLinwood. Others say it took placefarther up Henry's Fork, which headson Table Mountain 30 miles west ofLinwood. In either case, the AshleyRendezvous was held on Henry's Forkand certainly this region near the river'smouth was well known to many of thefamous mountain men who came toharvest the furs of this little-knownland.

At the Green River crossing fivemiles east ofLinwood, G ranger pointedout the steep north wall of the fiery-hued desert canyon known as Flam-ing Gorge. The dam whose name istaken from this canyon will be built25 miles to the southeast, beyondFlaming Gorge, Horseshoe, Hideoutand Red canyons. Original plans pro-vided for the dam's location in Flam-ing Gorge, but when the abutmentswere declared unsatisfactory, it wasmoved down canyon to the "AshleyDamsite."Twenty miles from Manila we cameto a 450-acre natural clearing slopinggently to the west. The area was grownto lowsagebrush and ringed by smalljunipers. At the upper edge of theflat stood half-a-dozen portable wood-en houses and not far distant a bull-dozer was making a great fuss levelinga small rise of ground."Dutch John Flat will look a lotdifferent if you come back a year fromnow," Granger declared. "This iswhere we are building the city ofFlaming Gorge, Utah."Streets had been laid out and tem-porary street mark ers erected. Laterthese avenues will be surfaced andsoft water, ample for allpurposes, willbe pumped to the townsite two-and-a-half miles from Cart Creek south ofthe Green River.At peak of construction, the upperpart of the new town will be occupiedby 200 government employees andtheir families, with approximately 1500contractors' men and their familiesliving in the lower section. C ontractfor construction of the governmentportion of the camp calls for erection

of 40 dwellings of brick or masonryDESERT MAGAZINE


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veneer, and 40 of frame construction.In addition, said Granger, there willbe a large number of "transa-houses" such as the six already on thegroundptus office and administrationbuildings, field laboratory, school, re-pair shop, fire stations, warehouses anda conference hall for meetings andrecreational purposes. Also, presum -ably, there will be stores."One of the reasons for selectingthis site for the town is that it is onlyhalf-a-mile from the Pacific North-west's natural gas line extending fromSan Juan County, New Mexico, to thenorthwestern part of the UnitedStates," said Granger. "We've beengiven permission to tap mis 26-inchline, and another break like thatwouldn't happen in a hundred years!"

From the townsite we drove theshort distance to the end of the roadand then hiked through junipers andnut-pines for a quarter mile beforecoming into view of the canyon areawhere the dam will be built.Flaming Gorge damsite does notoffer a spectacular viewparticularlyin a land such as Utah where stupen-dous scenery predominates so much ofthe landscape. At the point where thedam will stand, the east canyon wallslopes upward at an angle of about 45degrees; the west wall is slightly moreprecipitous. Both slopes are forestedwith pines. The river was the color ofsplit-pea soup and appeared to becalm and unruffled.Winding 730 miles from its birth-place near the Continental Divide inWyoming's Wind River Mountains toits junction with the Colorado Riverin tile wild canyon country 35 milessouthwest of Moab, Utah, the GreenRiver ranks 20th in length among the

Typical of the many National Forest campgrounds between Vernal andMan ila is this shaded retreat at Red Springs. Man y believe dam wiltgreatly enhanc e area's recreation p otential. Photos by the author.great rivers of America. Historically,it stands far nearer the top of that list.That a river confined wholly to themountain states of Wyoming andnorthern Utah should have been dis-covered by two Spanish missionariesseeking a direct land route from SantaFe to Monterey, California, is in itselfone of the ironic twists of history.When Fathers Escafante and Domin-guez made camp on the Green a shortdistance north of Jensen, Utah, theAmerican Declaration of Independencehad been signed only the month pre-viously.The Escalante party remained onthe river four days during which timethe animals recuperated and huntersbrought in a buffalo for food. OnSeptember 16, 1776, they crossed the

Lo g Postoffice at Linwood will be inundated by the Flaming Gorge reservoir.

Greenwhich they named Rio de SanBuenaventuraand went on to ad-ventures elsewhere.Forty years later Capt. Ashley, thefur trader, first looked upon the GreenRiver-which he called Spanish River.In 1832 the wagons of Capt. Bonne-ville reached the Green , The Bidwell-Bartleson emigrant party crossed thissullen stream in 1841, as did JohnCharles Fremont in 1843, '44 and '45.Harassed travelers on the Oregon Trailin the mid-1840s, the Mormon pio-neers of 1847 and swarming hordes ofgold-seeking Forty-Niners also crossedthe Green.But this passing pageant of historyis over a century old, and now for thefirst time the Green River is to bebridled and trained to do man's laborand serve man's need.Preliminary work on Flaming GorgeDam is only now beginning, and beforethe job is completed many months willhave elapsed and many difficulties willhave arisen.Problems will stem from the factthat all supplies and most materialsmust be freighted 60 miles from GreenRiver, Wyoming, the nearest railhead;and work will be complicated by therigorous climate. Old-timers recallmany winters when the mercury hasfallen to 30 degrees below zero andblizzard-lashed snow has piled to phe-nomenal depths.There will be other problems, toothousands of thembut each in itsturn will be resolved, and all the diffi-culties surmounted. And one dayFlaming Gorge Dam will stand com-pleted, a testimonial to engineeringskill and resourcefulness, a monumentto man's dreams and determination.

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He Carves the Santos - -IN THE LAND O F THE PENITENTES

By W. THETFORD LeVINESSPhotographs courtesyNew Mexico State Tourist Bureau

FIRST MET George Lopez inSanta Fe. He was selling woodcarvings at the fiesta, and at onceI became intrigued byhis santos, jewelSan Pedro.

boxes, animal effigies and the intricatepieces he called Trees of Life. Somearticles were whittled out of juniperand cedar, butmost of the good oneswere of cottonwood. "Cottonwood issofter, and you don't break so manyknives," he said. His voice had astrong flavorful accent.I tried to gethim to talk more,butthe tourists crowded in. Between saleshe invited me to visit him at hisshopin Cordova.Months later myfriend Gino Contiof Providence, Rhode Island, was inSanta Fe and mentioned his interest inliturgical art. I told him about Georgeand his delicately carved santos,andwe were off for Cordova in an hour.The town lies east of Los Alamosand the Espanola Valley, on the his-toric Santa Fe to Taos road. It is inthe heart of the Sangre de CristoMountains and the setting, except for

Best known of the wood sculp-tors and Santo makers of NewMexico is George Lopez of Cor-dova, a sixth, gener ation "santero ."His forceful Santo artistry repre-sents an intertwining of the influ-ences of traditional Catholicism,medieval Spanish art, the moun-tain isolation of his 200-year-oldvillage in the Sangre de CristoMountains, and perhaps most pro-nounced of all the self-castigat-ing Penitente ritual.

electricity in the homes and a pavedhighway nearby, is that of 16th Century Spain. Cordova's inhabitants arepredominantly Roman Catholic; theolder ones speak little English. Build-ings are of adobe, their tin roofs asymbol of the Americanization whichtook place when the railroads reachedNew Mexico. Patron of the church,

George Lopez atwork inhis shop in Cordova, New Mexico.

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Carreta del Muerto.erected in 1831, is St. Anthony ofPadua. Both Protestants and Catho-lics celebrate a feast day in his honoron June 13.Soon we found the sign we werelooking for: "Mr. George Lopez,Wood Carver, Cordova, New Mexico."He was there with his wife, Silvianita.I introduced Gino and we went inside.George is one of the last of thesanteros, or makers of santos. Theword "santo" is Spanish for "saint,"but the term includes apparitions ofthe Virgin and aspects of the life ofChrist. Thus, a "Gua dalupe" or a"Holy Child" is a santo as logically asis a "San Pablo" or a "San Pedro."George's santos resemble those onceseen in every home, church and chapelin these mountain fastnesses. Usuallycarved in the utmost simplicity, oftenthey were painted in various colors.During the past few decades, they havelargely been supplanted by the plaster-of-Paris statuary available in most va-riety stores.

Looking around the workshop, wewere struck by the humble furnishings

an old-fashioned wood stove forwarmth, a rickety table to display thecrafts, and nothing more. A few largecarvings stood on die floor along thewalls the three-and four-foot onesdestined for church and family altars.George chuckled when we examinedthem. "When it gets cold," he said, "Ican always throw those on the fire."Silvianita's look of reproach madehim chuckle even louder! GeorgeLopez is good-natured and jolly muchof the time. He was in his ranchclothes when we arrived for he hadbeen working in the fields since sunup."We had a good rain last night," heexplained, "and I had to plow whilethe ground was still soft."He has been a rancher all his life,but for many years worked on therailroad. Since childhood, however,his primary interest has been woodcarving.Bom in Cordova in 1900, Georgegrew up a Catholic amid Bible storiesand beliefs concerning saints. Hisfather, Jose Dolores Lopez, was a veryfamous santero whose work is in mu-

Head of San Pedro.seums and private collections in manyparts of the country. George's grand -father and great-grandfather also madesantos, and George is fairly certain thatthe craft goes back even further in hisfamily. "I 'm a sixth generation san-tero," he says, "but I guess I'm thelast because I've got no kids of myown."George left Cordova for railroadwork when he was 19. He was on ex-tra gangs and snow crews with theDenver & Rio Grande Western's nar-row-gauge lines in New Mexico andColorado for a score of years; andworked three years for the Union Pa-cific at Raw lins, Wyoming. He did hiscarving on lonely nights in the railcamps.During the war he got a job at near-by Los Alamos and worked there until1952. For the past few years he hasstayed at home, devoting his time toranching and carving."When I'm away all the time," heexplained, "there's no chance to makethese." He picked up a Tree of Life."This is a sort of Adam and Eve cre-

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ation story," he went one, "withoutthe snake ." He got the idea from aGarden of Eden carving his father oncedid, showing a serpent wrapped arounda tree of forbidden fruit. George doesthese conventional pieces, too, butlikes his own version better. It re-sembles a diminutive Christmas treewith small meticulously carved bells.Made of separate piecesas many as395 in some worksthey are stucktogether to symbolize the fragile natureof man. The Denver Art Museum hasexhibited a Lopez Tree of Life, andGeorge sells many of them to peoplewho want something serious on otherthan a strictly religious subject.

Gino was fascinated by all this andbought a Tree of Life on the spot. Itnow occupies prominent shelf spaceat Penelope Court, the Conti children'sart school in Providence."I like his animals best," said Sil-vianita. She pointed to some littlepieces about three inches highburros,sheep, goats and skunks . "Georgesells them to tourists like hot cakes,"she added.But, George Lopez' position in theart world rests squarely upon theheavily stylized santos which he carves.This is the sort of sculpture he sells togalleries and discriminating collectors,and it has made him famous. It is astrange mixture of Catholic tradition,medieval Spanish art, mountain isola-tion, and Penitente ritual. Of all theseinfluences, perhaps that of the Peni-tentes is the most pronounced."All my life," George explained,"I've seen Penitente processions passmy house. In the old days they'd havea procession when somebody died oreven to say prayers at a sick person'shome. Nowadays they just have pro-cessions in Holy Week."The Holy Week processions arelegendary in Cordova and other vil-lages of northern New Mexico. LosHermanos Penitentes (the PenitentBrothers) are an off-shoot of the ThirdOrder of Saint Francisa Catholiclay body known for benevolent acts.Members attend the sick, bury thedead, and hold devotional services inlocalities where there are no residentpriests.There were Penitentes in this regionfrom the days of the first Europeansettlement. They grew powerful in theday-to-day life of many communitiesafter the Mexican Congress secularizedthe missions in 1834. Franciscanpadres were expelled and the clergysent to replace them did not visit thesmaller towns very often. The moun-tain people, at prayer with their santosand singing their atabados (hymns ofprais e), kept the faith alive. Themorada, a chapel with an altar andthe barest of furnishings, was the cen-

ter of religious fervor in each com-munity.Inevitably, extreme practices creptin. Flagellation and cross - bearing,banned by Papal Decree in Europecenturies before, were revived in NewMexico and reached new heights offrenzy. Penitentes would lash them-.selves during Lent with yucca whips.For decades on Good Fridays, mockcrucifixions occurred cand idateswould volunteer, and one, elected thevillage Cristo, would hang upon across.Some of the Holy Week rites con-tinue to this day. In 1947 His Ex -cellency Edwin V. Byrne, archbishopof Santa Fe, recognized the Penitentesas an acceptable group within thechurchon condition that their ex-treme penances be toned down,George spent his impressionableyears in this stoic atmosp here. He.smiled affably when I asked him if hehad ever participatedand admittednothing. Secrecy is still the watchwordof the Penitentes, and membershiprollsSare never open to outsiders.The business of making saints, how-ever, is older than New Mexico's flag-ellants. It springs from the coun ter-Reformation in Spain, and the worksof its three great artist-exponentsElGreco, Velazquez and Murilio.These painters were at the peak oftheir popularity when New Mexico wassettled, and copies of their oils werebrought to the New World. Indiansdestroyed many ,pf these models in thePueblo Rebellion of 1680, but afterthe Spaniards reconquered the area in1692 an indigenous folk art developed.Cristos were represented with bleedingbacksin the Penitente tradition butdeviating from general Catholic con-cept. Hand-carved santos flourishedthroughout the periods of Spanish andMexican rule, and were popular formany years after the American occu-pation.Effigies ef saints with a particularmeaning for New Mexico were seenin abundance. San Ysidro Labrador,with plow and oxen, became the farm-er's patron in this arid land; SanRamon Nonato was a special favoritewith the santero, Guadalupe Virginswere in great demand, and there washardly a home without its woodencrucifijo.George does all these popular santosin addition to many others. He usesonly a handsaw, pocketknife and sand-paper to transform a block of woodinto a San Juan Nepomuceno or aSanto Nino de Atoche. He doesn'tpaint his figures; head and limbs aredone separately and stuck on the torsowithout nails.I noticed that various figures of thesame saint were in many respects un-

like. "How do you think up so manyversions?" I asked him. He smiledapprovingly at Silvianita. "My wifedoes the designs," he said,A recent specialty with George is aminiature carreta del muerto. Realregular-size "death carts" once wereused in the Penitente Holy Week cere-monies, and one is now stored in thebaptistry of the Church of the TwelveApostles at Trampas, a mountain vil-lage near Taos. George's little cartsare replete with wooden wheels andharness tongues. A grim figure ofDeath, with human hair and deep eye-less sockets, sits in the cart, an arrowpoised in her bow to signify an ever-ready willingness to strike. One of thebest of these won a purchase prize in"Craftsmen of New Mexico 1956" atthe Museum of International Folk Artin Santa Fe.George took us on a short tour ofCordova before we left, including thechurch and the morada. We saw thePenitente crosses, and as the waningsun spread its rays on the distantmountains we sensed the full meaningof the name Sangre de CristoSpanishfor "Blood of Ch ris t" Gino and Ireturned to Santa Fe with a new ap-preciation of New Mexico's Spanishheritage of its Penitente tradition,and of the ancient craft of the santero.SMALL TRACT POLICYCHANGE AWAITS STUDYThe Bureau of Land Managementannounced that its Small Tract Policywill not undergo possible changes untilthe House Committee on Interior andInsular Affairs has had time to studytestimony received at last October'sSouthern California hearings.The BLM's Los Angeles office saida major effort will be made to classifyland for lease and sale, and direct saleto applicants who previously filed ap-plications for small tracts. The LosAngeles office will concentrate on theold applications in a renewed effort towipe out the backlog.The BLM administers over 12,000,-000 acres of public domain land,mostly desert, in Southern California.General policy of making availabletracts of from one to five acres will beto give the applicant a choice of leas-ing a tract with an option to purchaseafter improvements have been com-pleted, or direct purchase at the BLMappraisal price.Direct sale also will be made to in-dividuals in groups who organize tomeet county development require-ments, but no action will be taken todispose of the large number of term-inated lease tracts by public auctionor otherwise until the Director of theBLM has conferred with the Congres-sional committee on this problem.

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LIFE ON THE DESERTPrimitive Village inHavasupai Canyon

The isolated Havasupai generally are regarded as the onlyAmerican Indians whohave retained their native culture in anythinglike its pristine condition. They live in close contact with the earthand their desires are very fundamental ones. White visitors from thefast-paced outside -world who follow the 14-mile trail down to theIndianvillage find here a most refreshing tem po of living.By ELIZABETH RIGBY

/H N THIS hustle - bustle countryf where just about everyone triesto make the most of any oppor-tunity for financial advancement, it ismildly astonishing to come upon a

group of people most of whom seeknothing in this world beyond themeansof a very frugal living.Such are the Havasupai, People ofthe Blue-Green Water, who live in a

The late Chief Watahctmogie, formany years the head man of theHavasupai Indians. Photo byCarlosElmer.

faraway peaceful valley at the bottomof the Grand Canyon of the Colorado.Only access to Hava supai Indian village is along a14-mile trail that leads down from the South Rim oflower Grand Canyon.

Havasu Falls, 95 feet high, one of three magnificentwaterfalls in this remote tributary of the ColoradoRiver nea r Supai v illage.

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Hava su Canyo n, inaccessible except by horse trail, where a little band of200 Supai Indians live in mud and brush cabins and raise enough vegetablesand livestock to supply a frugal livelihood. Indian Service photo.The Havasupai are farmers but theyhave only a few pieces of modernequipment (among them a communitytractor) which were packed down thesteep 14-mile trail in pieces. Someyears ago when a disastrous flood de-stroyed many Havasupai hut homes,the United States government providedthe settlement with some neat new cot-tages, American country style. TheHavasupai were grateful after theirfashionthey used most of the housesto shelter their animals, which are im-portant to them, and built themselvessome cosy new mud-and-brush huts.In their village of Supai there is anew church, a converted Quonset hutthat was brought in by helicopter.There had seemed no way to get itdown into the canyon, but a groupof anxiousand practical-mindedoutsiders surmounted the geographicobstacles in businesslike fashion. Now

when the Indians want to use thechurch for some secular affair theyjust set up a screen in front of thealtar and everything is fine.Mail is delivered to Supai twice aweekaboard a mule or horse. Thevillage is connected to the outsideworld by a single telephone, and thereis said to be a radio somewhere about.There are no automobiles, of course.Even if you could wing one of thesecontraptions in, there would only beone place to drive itback and forthup the single block of the dusty mainstreet. The village's only store, opentwo hours a day, sells candy, a fewstaples and a selection of easy cakemixes. I lost my precious pencil onthe trail down, and in all Supai I couldnot buy another.The Valley, home of the Havasupaifor untold centuries, is one of the mostbeautiful places in the world.

Here is heard only a few soundspeople laughing, horses whinnying, thewind in the great trees, water fallingover rocks and the voices of birds andof children playing.Someone once said, "See the GrandCanyon and die"; but I had not seenthe Canyon completely until I visitedthe Land of the Blue-Green Water inCata ract Canyon. Actually this is atributary to the Grand and once it wasalmost inaccessible. Today a fewhundred tourists a year find their waydown the two trails on horseback orafoot and practically every visitorwants to send out picture postcards totheir friends, for everywhere one turnsthere is a beautiful picture: spectacu-lar red and white cliffs, crystal-clearblue waters, bright green fields andthree lovely falls, two of them higherthan Niagara.

Our party was no exception in itscollective wish to mail out cards com-plete with the Supai postm ark. In thestore they told us that the postmistressmight have some for sale. It wasn'tmail time yet, but she might be aroundby and by. We waited. And afterawhile she did comea plump Indianwoman, swarthy, slow - moving andsmiling.We followed her into the postofficeand asked if we might see some cards,but she shook her head. "N ope ," shesaid, and disappeared behind the grill.Thinking we hadn't made ourselvesclear we waited and when she re-emerged we tried again. "Picture post-cards. They told us you had themhere. We'd like to buy some."As though delighted by some pri-vate joke she grinned broadly. "Allgone," was what she said.And still we didn't quite give uphope. Perhaps her card order wouldarrive in the afternoon mail. "Whenwill you have more?" we asked. "Areyou expecting any in the mail today?"She shrugged. "Dunno."And then the private joke came outinto the open. It was too much forher, too good to withhold, and shelooked straight at us, her dark eyesshining, and giggled."Didn't order any," she said. Andthat, we could see, was final.Now dimly we perceived why shehad been so pleased with herselfshehad figured out a way to never againbe bothered with a silly nuisance. Andthrough my regret came the memoryof a storekeeper in a distant industrialtown in New England who had ceasedto stock the Sunday edition of TheNew York Times because, he told us,"they sell out too fast."

Not all the logic of let-things-be, itappears, abides in Supailand.14 D E S E R T M A G A Z I N E


15/44

Black Agate in Gypsum Wash

Earl Napier points to an agate specimen perched on a gypsum pedestal.

By EUGENE L. CONROTTOMap and drawing by Norton AllenF EVERY AGATE field was likethe one Earl Napier and I visitedlast May, the folks who makeprospectors' picks and sore back lini-ment soon would be out of business.Here in a broad sandy basin be-tween the Muddy Mountains and LakeMead, countless hand-sized agatepieces have been "set up" on gypsumpedestals by erosion of the wind. Someof these water-deposited gem stones

are perched six inches above the un-dercut soil so that in places the fieldresembles a miniature petrified mush-room forest stretching to the pastel-shaded mountains beyond.Sixty-year-old Earl Napier lives inBoulder City where he and his verypleasant wife, Clara, are putting in fulltime on the two hobbies that havegiven them the most pleasure duringtheir lives: rockhounding and boating.I had made arrangements the day be-fore to make this trip with Earl, whoadvertises in the various hobby maga-zines a free guide service to the manySouthern Nevada gem fields. He is a

J A N U A R Y , 1 9 5 8

This Southern Nevada agatefield is unique in that its gemstone specimens are not under-ground or even on the groundbut perched as high as sixinches above the sandy surfaceon tiny pedestals of soft gyp-sum. It's an ideal co llectingground for the rockhound witha yen for the unusual and ad e s i r e to r o a m a b a r r e nweather-etched basin, followingin imagination the footsteps ofman y now - extinct mammalsthat once lived in this Ice Ageparadise.partially disabled World War I veter-an and much of his life has been spenton the deserts of the U.S.A. as a minerand prospector. Tall, lean and withan ever-present chuckle on his lips,Earl is a fine representative of therockhound hobby.At six that morning we started offfor the Gypsum Wash agate field whichhe and Clara discovered a few seasonsearlier on one of their desert jaunts.We made the 30-mile drive west-

ward through the industrial city ofHenderson, then northward to U.S. 91(the Las Vegas-Salt Lake City High-way) on which we drove east pastNellis Air Force Base. Two and ahalf miles beyond Nellis' main entranceis the paved entryway to the Navy'sLake Mead Base, clearly mark*ed bya large blue and white billboard-sizesign.The agate field lies at the end of aroad which passes through the Base.While Navy property extends fromHighway 91 to within a mile or two ofthe collecting area, trespass rights arerelaxed for rockhounds and prospec-tors who otherwise would not haveready access to the open country be-hind the Base.However, loitering and photographyare not permitted on the Base, andthis we learned the hard way. Istopped to take a picture and withinmoments we were arrested by Navyguards.Two hours later, after assuring theintelligence officers that we did notwant to assume our rights under theFifth Amendment, and explaining ourinnocent intentions, we were allowed

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to continue minus my exposed film. Iwas given assurance, however, thatrockhounds would not be denied useof the road through the Base so longas the no loitering, no photographyrules were strictly obeyed.To reach Gypsum Wash road weturned right on Forrestal Ave. whichintercepts the Base entrance road amile and a half south of Highway 91;proceeded a few hundred feet to theBase hobby shop; and turned left thereonto the graded road which travelssoutheasterly around a high chain linkfence encircling the main portion of theBase.While the unpaved road to the agatefield is regularly bladed and readilypassable to standard cars, it requirescareful driving, especially in the firsttwo miles beyond Forrestal Avenue.

Up and down it goes over the shoul-

ders of red-stained Sunrise Mountain,and at the top of these roller coasterrises there is the danger of meetingan oncoming vehicle.At 5.9 miles from Highway 91 nearthe southeast corner of the fenced por-

tion of die Base, we turned right at afork in the road which led down Gyp-sum Wash. In this sector the wash isa sandy thickly vegetated pass throughthe rainbow-hued mountains. On thevein-scarred slopes above we countedhalf-a-dozen ore dumps and prospectpits before the country opened up intoa treeless sun-bronzed expansive basin.Nothing remains at the inactivegypsum quarry 8.5 miles from thehighway except a few bits of rustedwreckage, the cement foundation of anoil tank, and acres upon acres ofgeometrically fascinating white gyp-

sum tailings in long high windrows.

Immediately south of the mine yardand behind the crumbling oil tankbase, the wheel tracks lead across alow hump into the weird maze of gyp-sum tailings. These narrow m oundsare piled three times higher than anautomobile and separated by avenuesbroad enough to drive down and seem-ingly get lost in. Fortunate ly, how-ever, the main road is twice as wideas the side canyons intercepting it atright angles, and there is no difficultyin following it through the dump area,a distance of a mile and a half. Weparked here and climbed over the lastwhite barrier into the agate field in theopen desert.Two strides beyond the bank Iplucked my first elevated agate fromits sandy pedestal. The specimens inthis field tend to the blue-gray andblack hues and will take a good polisheither as individually worked stones

or in a tumbler. The outstandingpieces show sharply contrasting blackand white bands, while others are spat-tered with flecks of bright reds andyellows. These surface-lying stonesare visible against the light desert soilfor as far as the eye can see and myguess is that a person could walk allday in this general drainage area andnever run out of material to examine.Sparkling on the ground are thumb-nail flakes of gypsum crystals. Thehuge plate-glass crystals, so prized bycollectors, are not found here, butalong the lake shoreline within theLake Mead National Recreation Areawhere collecting is regulated by theNational Park Service.The m ain portion of the agate fieldis about two miles north of the LMN-RA boundary. Prospecting is permittedwithin the Recreational Area androckhounds who wander into it willnot be breaking the law if they pickup a few samples of stones, gems orother minerals. Mining, however, is

Giant sloth. Rema ins of this pre-historic animal were found in Gyp-sum Cave near the collecting field.



17/44

legal only under special permit andany great amount of rock collectingfalls under the mining classification,Park Naturalist Philip Welles informedme. Collecting with the intent of trad-ing or selling "samples" also is con-sidered mining.Surrounding this natural basin onthe northeast are the somber MuddyMountains, on the west and curvingsouthward the barren irregular heightsof Sunrise Mountain, FrenchmanMountain, the Rainbow Gardens andthe River Mountains. On the lowerlevel of these encircling ridges are thedark burnt patches of lava flows whichtell of a more violent past for thisregion than the calm sunny day wewere enjoying.Nine miles south rose a thin blackfinger of smoke from the government-operated manganese plant which, alongwith the nearby titanium and chem-

ical works at Henderson, make thisgeneral area an important industrialregion in this new age of rare anduncommon minerals and metals. Prod-ucts ranging from weed killers toguided missile propellants and valuedat $100,000,000 annually are pro-duced here.Dominating the southeastern vista isdark sphinx-like Fortification Moun-tain on the Arizona side of HooverDam, one of the Colorado RiverBasin's most famous mountain land-marks.But, the far vistas did not providethe most thrilling sight on this day, forsurrounding us in the agate field andin full bloom was a superb stand ofdazzling shiny-leaved sandpaper-plants{Petalonyx nitidus). This now veryrare shrub has much larger flowers

The main collecting field looking northeast. Muddy Mountains in back-ground. At end of the Ice Age this was a well-watered paradise, thedomain of many now-extinct mammals.than the more common Thurber sand-pape r-plant. Its clustered blooms arewhite and delicately fragrant while therough-toothed leaves actually shone inthe bright sunlight. Usually, shiny-leaved sandpaper-plants do not bloomuntil mid-summer, but the year was anuncommonly warm one and this Maydisplay was an extra dividend.

Drilled into the soft white groundof a nearby slope were a few smallburrows, evidence that even in thiswaterless gypsum-filled basin there isanimal life. By contrast, a mile northof the agate field is the archeologicallyfamous Gypsum Cave {Desert, No-vember '42), once occupied by Noth-rotherium shastense, the now extinctsquat bear-like ground sloth. The cavewas excavated by scientists in fairlyrecent times and from findings madethere has come much of what we todayknow about the sloth.

Clara and E arl Napier of Bo ulder City. Large clear gypsum crystals theyare holding were collected on Lake Mea d shoreline. Napiers are avidboating enthusiasts as w ell as rockhou nds.

He was a hairy long-tailed some-what stupid-appearing animal, measur-ing eight feet from nose to tip of tail.His strong forelegs were tipped witheight-inch claws which he used to stripthe tops of Joshua trees, yuccas andother plant species plentiful here atthe end of the Ice Age.

Sharing this once well-watered par-adise with the sloth were huge mam-moths, camels, giant buffalo, horses,deer, mountain sheep, antelope andelk. Preying on thase vegetarians werethe flesh-eaters: tigers, wolves, lions,coyotes and a physically weaker crea-ture who lately had added to hischances of survival by controlling fireand manufacturing spear pointsman.

Gypsum Cave Man apparently wasignorant of the potter's art, but he wasa master at fashioning projectile pointsfrom flints and obsidians and it wasthese weapons that scientists uncov-ered in the cave in association withthe remains of sloths and camels. Thedistinctive points are diamond-shaped,about two inches long and with smallconvex stems. What an important con-tribution to science it would be ifmore of these points are uncovered inthis region by rockhounds!

The cave is a quarter of a mile westof the bladed Gypsum Wash road wecame over. The tumoff is at 8.2 milesfrom Highway 91, Evidence of theexcavations and gypsum-lined cavernsare the main attractions awaiting vis-itors to this famous site today.And now the sun was directly over-head and Earl and I headed back tothe car for our canteens, our collectingsacks containing some choice speci-mens of the black agate Nature hadserved up to us on tiny pedestals.

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Death Va l l e y 49ers B reakGround For $350,000 MuseumGrotind was broken at the 9th an-nual Encampment of the Death Val-ley '49ers on November 10 for a

$350,000 museum, financed by theState of California, on a site nearFurnace Creek Ranch in Death Valley.

D e s e r t Q u i z This is Desert Magazine's school of thedeserta monthly test prepared by the staffto enable our readers to expand their knowl-edge of the desert country. The questions cover many subjectshistory,geography, mineralogy, botany, literature, Indians and the lore of the aridSouthwest. Read ers will find their scores improving as they read andtravel. From 10 to 12 is a fair score, 13 to 15 is good, 16 to 18 excellent,and a score over 18 exceptional. The answers are on page 40.1In case of a rattlesnake bite, the thing to do first is Run for adoctor Kill the snake . Apply a tourniquet . Ban d-age the wound2 The Epitaph is the name of a famous frontier newspaper publishedatYum a Tombstone Death Valley Ballarat3One of the following desert trees does not have thorns on its limbsMesquite. Ironwood Catsclaw . Smoke Tree4 Butch Cassidy is recorded in history as aStage driver IndianScout Fur trapper. Outlaw5Chief Pahna, friend of the white men in the days when the padresblazed the first trails across the Southwest desert was a YumaIndian Apache Navajo Mojave6"Five-spot" is the name of a common desertLizard Flower.Gemstone Bird7Telescope Peak is the highest point in theSangre de Cristo Moun-tains Panamint range State of Nevada- WhiteMountains of Arizona .8A metate was used by the Indians forKilling game Grindingseeds Snaring birds Ceremonial purposes9The famous Lost Dutchman mine is believed to have been locatedin the-Wasatch Mountains Funeral range Harq ua Halarange Superstition Mountains10The author of Death Valley in '49 wasManly LummisJames Corle-11The Enchanted Mesa is believed to have been the prehistoric homeof theH opi Indians Acoma Zuni Jemez.12Creosote bush derives its name fromThe odor of its foliageThe color of its sap The perfume of its blossoms Theresidue found on the ground beneath it13 Fairy duster is the common nam e of a desertButterfly Flower-ing shrub Bird Insect14Nevada's famous Helldorado is held annually atR eno LasVegas Carson City.. ..... Virginia City

15Boron, on the Mojave Desert of California, is a mining center forthe production of Silver.. Potash Placer goldBorax16Albuquerque, New Mexico, is on the banks of thePecos River_Rio Grande San Juan . Rio Puerco17B andelier was a famous Archeologist Mountain manIndian scout Apache chieftain18The Museum of Northern Arizona is located atPrescott Flag-staff Kayen ta Grand Canyon19Furnace Creek Inn is a famous hotel inMonument Valley.Grand Canyon National Park Death Valley Goblin Val-ley of Utah20Bajada is Spanish forA mountain range The sloping fan atthe base of a desert range A desert dry lake. A deepcanyon

This project has been the goal ofdie '49ers for several years, and wasdefinitely assured two years ago whenState Senator Charles Brown of Sho-shone secured the passage of a billappropriating the necessary funds.Since then a special committee of the'49ers headed by John Anson Ford,Los Angeles supervisor, has workeddiligently ironing out the difficultiesinvolved in securing a site, and recon-ciling a program of state-financed con-struction and National Park Serviceoperation and maintenance. The 50-acre site was donated by Pacific CoastBorax Company.

Plans are being drawn by the archi-tectural office of the National ParkService, and it is expected that con-struction work will be started during1 9 5 8 .A crowd estimated at 13,000 to 14,-000 visitors took part in the 4-day

Encampment program this year, manyof them coming in trailers and otherscamping out, due to limited accommo-dations in Death Valley.Badwater Bill Fryk of Virginia Citywon the annual flapjack burro con-test. Orpha K linker with her paintingof the late Johnny Shoshone, andMarjorie Cummings with her "Landof Mystery" tied for first place in theart exhibit presented at Furnace CreekInn under the chairmanship of ArtistJohn Hilton.This year's program included thededication of a monument to the Wadefamily, the only members of the or-iginal '49er party who found a wagonroute out of Death Valley in the win-ter of 1849. Descendants of the fam-ily were present at the dedication.The usual Artists', Authors' andPhotographers' Breakfast programs ondie Furnace Creek golf course, camp-fire programs each evening, Naturetours conducted by Dr. Thomas Cle-ments of the University of SouthernCalifornia, sunrise services Sundaymorning, a Veteran's Day program onNovember 11, square dancing, mineral

and firearms exhibits, and an old-timers' reunion at Scotty's Castle en-tertained the visitors during the 4-dayEncampment.The following new officers wereelected by directors of the '49er or-ganization to serve for the comingyear: Alex Krater, president; HaroldIhrig, first vice president; John AnsonFord, second vice president; ArthurWalker, treasurer; Eugene Hoffman,executive secretary; and Yvette Mayou,recording secretary. The newly electedofficers already have started prepara-

tions for the 10th Encampment pro-gram in November, 1958.18 D E S E R T M A G A Z I N E


19/44

GUANO TRAMWAY DIESEL GENERATOR DRIVESTRACTION ROPE FROM HERE' SOUTHRIM

U J

ELEVATIONS ARCABOVEtor set, LEVEL

650.6 FT*

G u a n o T r a m w a y n G r a n i t e G o r g e . . .Impossible to Teach by trailfrom the top of the canyon rim.and uneconomical to export bywater and air transportation oper-ating below it, theguano riches ofBat Cave in lower Grand Canyonat last are being reclaimed. Aspectacular tramway has beenbuilt to lift the guano from out thedepths of the Colorado Riverchasm and perhaps man haswon still another skirmish againstthe indomitable river.

By ROBERT O. GREENAWALTM ap and diagram by Norton Allen

Miners making the thrilling ride towork on thecargo bucket. Topcable isstationary; line below it and at bottom is themoving traction rope whichmakes acontinuous loop across the canyon, and propels thebucket.

MAY, six miners climbedaboard an aerial tram bucketfor its maiden voyage acrossthe precipitous depths of Lower Gran-ite Gorge of the Grand Canyon, 100miles downstream from the NationalPark. This newconveyance undoubt-edly provides the most thrilling of allpossible ways to traverse the ColoradoRiver for it has a horizontal main spanof 7500 feet (compared to the GoldenGate Bridge's main span of 4200 feet),and a vertical rise of 2500 feet!The half-million dollar tramway wasbuilt by U. S. Guano Corporation, asubsidiary of New Pacific Coal andOils, Ltd., Toronto, Canada, to ex-tract theestimated $10,000,000 worthof bat guano from a cave deep in thecanyon. Bat Cave is on the chasm'snorth wall on a towering cliff face 800feet above the canyon floor. Since thedeposit was discovered and first ex-I A N U A R Y , 1958


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KINGMANiHT O N E E D L E S

plored by hardy river-runners in the1930s, several attempts have beenmade by boat and airplane to ship thevaluable nitrogen-rich fertilizer andpharmaceutic raw material to market.The tramway seems to provide theonly profitable way to do so, however.For thousands of years during theperiod when the Southwest's climatewas more favorable and insect foodwas plentiful, the cave was the day-light resting place for untold millionsof bats. Today, only a few strays areseen near its m outh.Entire length of the uneven-flooredcave has not been explored, but 100,-000 tons of the dry brownish guanopowder already have been blocked out

for mining. Company officials do notthink it is safe to penetrate any deeperinto the cave at present. In places theguano is so deep and soft a personcannot walk through it. Cave-ins haveadded to the problem of reaching thelabyrinth's furthest depths. By con-trast, some areas of the cave have 100-foot high ceilings.Recently I visited the tram site andthe culmination of a practical idea wasfaithfully described before my eyes,for the tramway operation is quitesimple. The single steel track cableremains stationary at all times and isanchored in solid rock on both sidesof the canyonthe northern terminalnear Bat Cave, the southern on a point

on the South Rim. Upon this cablerides an eight-wheel carriage fromwhich is suspended a large aluminumcargo bucket with a 3500-pound ca-pacity. Attached to the bucket is anend platform upon which six men canride. The bucket is propelled by asteel traction rope, a continuous looptwice spanning the canyon and drivenby a 100 horsepower electric motorhoused on the South Rim.

The northern loading terminal issituated on a small berm 200 feet be-low the cave entrance and 600 feetabove the river. Miners working inthe cave shovel the loose guano to theintake of a 10-inch pipe which leadsto the storage bin at the tram terminalbelow. A mammoth vacuum cleaner-type machine attached to the pipe lit-erally sucks the guano out of the cave.The tram bucket is filled from the binand the cargo carried to storage binson the South Rim. A round-trip takesa little more than 20 minutes and thebucket makes between 20 and 25 suchtrips in a normal working day.

The loaded bucket passes throughonly one other tower in its 8300-footrun up the South Rim. This structureis located on a bluff 400 feet belowthe discharge terminal and it is the7500 feet between the starting pointand this intermediate tower across thecanyon that gives claim to this beingthe longest single span tramway in thiscountry and possibly the world.In order to keep the traction rope

taut at all times, huge counterweightsare attached to it near the loadingterminal. Over 14 tons of loose nativerock was gathered by hand and placedin a steel bin within the counterweighttower. This ballast is free to rise andfall in vertical guides, and thus con-stant tension is maintained in the loop.From the South Rim bins the guanois either sacked or bulk loaded ontotrucks which haul it to Los Angelesmarkets.The operation's 15-man crew has itsquarters on the South Rim. Thoseworking on the opposite side of theriver can expect at least two excitingrides a day.The cost of constructing this tram-way was markedly increased by thearea's isolation and inaccessibility.Since there are no trails from the topof the northern rim to the cave, norsuitable slopes on which one could bebuilt, all personnel, supplies and ma-terial for work at the Bat Cave endof the project had to be flown into thechasm. The landing strip was built ona river mudbank a mile from the caveseveral years ago when air exportationof guano was attemp ted. Unusuallyhigh water recently rendered the land-



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hundred feet below the discharge terminal, thebucket passes the intermediate tower to begin its longfree span across the river to Bat Cave across the way.Loading terminal is located 200 feet below Bat Cave.Guano is sucked from the cave through a pipe to a binin this structure. To the left is the counterw eight tower.

ing strip useless, but fortunately workon the tram was by then completed.No one knew the air route into thecanyon better than did Earl "Buzzy"Westcott, owner and operator of King-

man Flying Service and builder of theriver bottom landing field. Duringconstruction of the tramway, Westcottmade hundreds of flights to the tinyfield and b rought in the entire 35 tons

of structural steel needed for the job.Pieces were limited to 10-foot lengthsand only loads less than 1000 poundswere allowed because of the short run-way.

Bat Cave (arrow) as seen from the South Rim before thetramway was built. View upstream from the bucket in mid-canyon,field is on mud bank at left. Air

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Stringing the inch-and-a-half trackcable across the canyon was a majorunderta king. First step was to lay aone-eighth-inch aircraft control cablefrom the South Rim to the north-ern terminal. A helicopter was usedfor this job. With this line a reel ofthree-eighths-inch diameter wire ropewas pulled across and it in turn wasused to pull over a three-fourths-inchrope. The final track cable was thentied to the rope and inched down thecanyon. Spending the track cable offits giant reel was a ticklish operationsince such a cable weighs nearly fivepounds a running foot. A special reelbrake of timbers was built on the edgeof the canyon rim to control the un-winding operation.

Bat Cave Tram is 90 miles north-east of Kingman and can be reachedby passenger car by turning off ofHighway 66 at Antares and drivingthe dusty graded road to Red Lake,through the Diamond Bar Ranch andpast the Grand Wash Cliffs. The roadis in good condition to a point beyondDiamond Bar Ranch, but becomesrough as Indian lands are approached.It is advisable to secure permission tocross the Hualpai Indian Reservationby writing to the Agency at PeachSprings, Arizona.

Only vehicles in good conditionshould attempt this trip for there areno repair garages along the way. Vis-itors should carry extra water sincenone is available at the tramw ay. Thecompany's limited supply is truckedin from Diamond Bar.

Desert Cam pers will have no troublefindin g a spot in which to lay theirbedrolls, nor is there a shortage ofbreath-taking canyon vistas. There areseveral excellent vantage points fromwhich to trace the almost two-milelong cable to the seemingly minutestructures on the other side of the river.Watching the bucket inch along itsspider-web course is one of the most

incongruous sights I have ever seenon the desert. It was so unreal at firstglance that I had to gaze for severalmoments before I could completelycomprehend what was taking place inthe massive canyon.Thought has been given to sellingrides on the tram to tourists after allthe guano is removed. Perhaps some-day you and I will be able to make thisguided flight across the Colorado and all because millions of bats oncechose an isolated canyon cave for theirhome, and man's genius found a wayto tap still another source of richesfrom the earth.

Faubus and the Constitution . . .Desert: Kreole, MississippiAfter many years of being an en-thusiastic Desert reader, I am surethat your editorial staff is well learnedin subjects concerning the Southwest.But this expert knowledge apparentlydoes not extend beyond the boundar-ies of this territory.I refer specifically to your mentionin the November '57 editorial that "anArkansas governor calls out the militiato defy the Constitution of the UnitedStates . . ,"Since when did court decrees startbecoming part of the Constitutionwithout the ratification of Congress?What part of the Constitution did Gov.Faubus defy by calling out the Na-tional Guard to prevent violence? Canyou cite any Constitutional authorityfor the President's action in sendingtroops to Little Rock? I'm sure youcannot.To many, the real tragedy in Ar-kansas is not the "defiance" of a gov-ernor, but the march of troops onAmerican soil against Americans. Nat-urally, you cannot realize the full im-pact of this because it has never hap-pened in your beautiful West.RUSSELL B. GUNTER

Dear Mr. Gunter Thank you foryour letter. I would not want tolive in a world in which all humanswere in perfect agreement on everysubjectnor would you. It wouldbe a very dull place. Since the daysof my youth I have tried to live bya lesson I learned from the manwhom I have always regarded as thegreatest President to live in theWhite House during my lifetimeWoodrow Wilson. Quoting from awriter of that day: "He (WoodrowWilson) could despise men's ideasand yet hold no ill will toward themen who harbored those ideas."And so, becau se you are art enthu-siastic reader of Des ert, I know youand I have much in common eventhough we may not see alike onevery subject. R.H.

Screwbean Is a Mesquite . . .Fallbrook, CaliforniaDesert:Question 16 in your November '57quiz tripped me up. You say "the

desert screwbean grows on mesquite."I lived in Blythe for many years and

it was my belief that the screwbeantree, while a member of the mesquitefamily, is a distinct and smaller species.The mesquite tree produces largebunches of long beans.IONA BAKER

Dear Mrs. Baker- You are correct but both trees are known as mes-quite s for the botanists have discov-ered that while they do not lookmuch alike, they have the samebasic characteristics. The honeymesquite (Prosopis chilensis) pro-duces the straight pods; screwbea nmesquite (Prosopis pubescens) isthe species referred to in the ques-tion.R.H.

Elmo Proctor's Agate Field . . .Hollister, CaliforniaDesert:

What a pleasant surprise it was toread about the agate field in the CadyMountains (Nov. '57) which myfather, Elmo Proctor, regularly visitedin the old days.We homesteaded 160 acres in theCrucero Valley in 1917 and while sev-eral others also took up claims, ourfamily was the only one to live in thatarea at that time. We gave up thehomestead in 1925.My dad visited his "Jewel Moun-tains," as he called the Cadys, manytimes. He returned with agates and

geodes for we seven children, andwhile we longed to go to th e fieldwith him, it was too far away to reachon foot. Dad would ride his old horseinto the Cadys, and packed his sup-plies on another. He made his firsttrip to the agate field in 1920.Looking for agates that had washeddown into the open valley from theCadys was about the only pastime wechildren had. Our greatest prizes weretiny geodes, some as large as walnuts,others smaller than pea s. Often thecrystals within these geodes could beseen through the thinly worn outer

shells, and when dropped in a glassof water the geodes would float.The milk glass Eugene Conrotto de-scribed in the Cady story we foundby the handfuls, and some of it hadquite a bit of "fire" when held to thesun.I hope some of the rockhounds whovisit the Cady field will take time outto look for some of these diminutivegeodes in the open valleyand youmay stumble across an athel tree sur-rounded by some weather - beatenboards, the site of our long abandoned,but never forgotten desert home.

MILDRED ROOK22 D E S E R T M A G A Z I N E


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M o n k e y - f a c e d O w lA heart-shaped white face is thedistinguishing characteristic of theMonkey-Faced or Barn Owl, a com-ical-appearing bird to all except thesmall rodents and insects it preys

upon. The Barn Ow l is widely dis-persed throughout the Southwest.This month's first prize photo wastaken by Henry P. Chapman ofSan ta Fe. Cam era dat a: Rolleiflex2.8-C camera; Plus-X film; f. 8 at1/25 sec.

W a t e r W h e e l . . .Louis W. Bruton of Downey, Cali-fornia, was awarded second prizefor this photograph of the old waterwheel near Lundy Lake in the HighSierras. Short distance above thewater wheel is the May Lundy Minewhere gold was discovered in thelast century. Photo was taken witha Rolleiflex camera on Plux-X film;f. 22 at 1/10 sec.


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Western mourning dove.

Doves of the Desert

ON DESERT TRAILS WITH A NATURALIST -- LVthe southwest it is a year-long resident,although even here it is somewhat mi-gratory. In southern Arizona and theColorado Desert this dove usually isvery plentiful during the nesting sea-son of spring and summer. Many ofthe birds depart for points southwardby late September, often to the disap-pointment of local hunte rs. In spiteof the heavy slaughter by hunters,some mourning doves always remainthroughout the winter.

An early sign of spring is the male'ssoft oft-given mournful song, ah-coo-roo-cooa song heard from very earlymorning to dusk. Birds which haveconsorted in flocks in late autumn andwinter now break up into pairs. Court-ship and nesting begin in May andsometime continue through September.In fact mourning doves have beenknown to nest in almost every monthof the year. As many as five clutchesof eggs are produced in a single sea-son.Last spring I watched a pair ofthese attractive doves as they courted,built the nest and brooded their young.The nest site was six feet above groundin the crotch of a mesquite tree. Thebringing in of the nest material, mostlysmall sticks and rootlets, was per-formed by the male in the earliermorning hours between 7 and 10. Inchoosing the sticks he nervously w alkedabout the ground and picked up oneafter another, giving each a vigorousshake. Why he selected only certainones I cannot say. Several times hisbeak-hold was insufficient and hedropped a twig, but not once did I seehim attempt to retrieve one that hadfallen.The twigs were presented to hiswaiting mate who placed them in po-sition about or under her at the nestsite. It took three days of very muchdelayed work to complete the nest.The interruptions were spent in amor-ous billing and cooing, what appearedto be very meaningless flights, andfeeding on seeds in nearby fields.The birds often perched on a near-by mesquite limb, and on several oc-casions I saw a quarrel between themale and an incoming rival. Holdingthe wings and upper parts arched out-ward, the two birds would work alongthe limb sidewise toward each other,then suddenly one would give his an-tagonist a vigorous side push . Thiswas repeated again and again until therival was pushed off, gave up and flewaway. In the meantime the femalesat idly by watching in apparent un-concern.Finally into the nest, really littlemore than a loose platform of sticks

Only four of the world's 500 dove species live in the Desert South-west and there is Increasing support for the complete protection of theseworthy creatures against hunters. Man is learning that not only dothese gentle and unobtrusive birds lend aesthetic value to the outdoors,they are also great consum ers of noxious weed seeds.By EDMUND C. JAEGER, D.Sc.Curator of PlantsRiverside Municipal MuseumDrawings by Morris VanDame

^ M A Z I N G INDEED is the fact4* that while there are over 8600species of birds, living and ex-tinct, only a relatively few people areacquainted with more than a few ofthe more common kinds. And evenmore limited are the number of peoplewho can describe the appearance andhabits of even this handful of fre-quently seen feathered neighbors.; Am ong the more universally recog-nized birds are the doves and pigeonsand here we have another stardingstatistic: they account for over 500 ofthe total number of bird species onearth! Distributed over most of theworld, especially in temperate andtropical regions, at least a third of theknown kinds of doves are found inAustralia and the nearby islands ofthe Malay Archipelago.We are all too often given to think-ing of doves as rather dull and uni-formly colored birds, but some are

exceedingly handsome with gay colorsand spreading ornaments of feathers.Doves also vary greatly in size. Thepygmy doves of South America areonly six inches long, whereas thegouras of New Guinea are nearly aslarge as a hen turkey . The extinctdodo was a more than turkey-sizedrelative of the doves and pigeons.Four different doves live in oursouthwestern deserts. The largest isthe mourning dove (Zenaidura mac-roura marginella). A mature bird willmeasure 12 to 12L inches in length,but its total weight is seldom overfour-and-a-half ounces, for much ofits bulk is made up of feathers.This fine unobtrusive bird is notconfined to deserts. It ranges into thelower mountain and foothill areas aswell as coastal valleys from southwest-ern Canada to Guatamala. In thenorth it feeds and nests throughout thesummer, then leaves for the south. In



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and rootlets, two white eggs werelayed. Both birds took turns at settingthe male generally at night, the fe-male during the day. If intruding birdscame near, it was the male which al-ways flew out to drive them off. In-cubation took 15 days. For anothertwo weeks the young remained in thenest and during this time were fed"pigeon-milk" wholly by regurgitation.This food is produced in the parent'slarge crop which becomes glandularduring the breeding season and se-creates a milky fluid to moisten thepartially digested fluid on which theyoung are nourished.When one of the baby doves cameout from beneath the parent andbegged for food the old bird, presum-ably the female, allowed it to thrustits beak into one corner of her mouth.After remaining motionless for a fewseconds she began a slow pumpingmotion of the head, her throat musclestwitching violently. This continued forabout a minute. As soon as the nest-ling withdrew its beak, the other hun-gry youngster came up to take its turn.Once out of the nest the young wereat first very unsuspecting and tame butsoon they learned to fly well. OftenI saw them feeding on seeds in theopen field with the parent birds.Doves do not scratch the ground

to gather the enormous quantities ofseed they daily require. On soil thatappears perfectly barren I have seenthese keen-eyed birds pick up greatnumbers of small seeds almost unin-terruptedly at the rate of 82 per min-ute! No wonder as many as 9000seeds have been found in the crop andstomach of a single birda most ex-emplary record for most of the seedsare those of noxious weeds.Seeds in a dove's gizzard are groundinto minute pieces so that there isnever a chance of weed pests beingcarried to new areas as is the case withsome other birds and mammals whichdigest only the nutritious coating andlater discharge the viable seeds.Almost all ornithologists are defend-ers of the mourning dove. As a de-stroyer of weed seeds the bird is farmore valuable as the farmer's friendthan as a target for the hunter's gun.They would place doves on the pro-tected list of birds valued for theircomforting presence, their song andcontinuous and unquestionable aid toagriculture. The mourning dove is soprotected in a number of states.In spite of their strong powers offlight, doves have many enemies, in-cluding hawks, owls and domestic cats.But their greatest enemy is so-calledcivilized man.

Mourning doves are very dependenton the presence of water. Early in themorning and again near sundown theyfly singly, in pairs or small groups towaterholes, streams or canals, oftenfrom considerable distances. Gunnersall too often take advantage of thethirsty birds as they collect and lingerat the water's edge and shoot themdown in numbers, a practice not con-doned by true sportsmen. During thehunting season enormous numbers ofdoves, sometimes with helpless youngin the nest, are shot. Most reprehen-sible of all is the fact that many ofthe birds are not killed outright, butwounded and left to die.The beautiful blueish-gray white-winged or Sonora dove (Melopeliaasiatica mearnsi) is not as large asthe mourning dove. In contrast to themourning dove's pointed tail, thewhite-wing's is squarish, the outerparts white-tipped except on the twomiddle feathers. A large striking cres-cent-shaped white patch is seen ontheir wings in flight, but only a longi-tudinal white streak shows when thewing is closed.The white-winged dove is essenti-ally a Mexican species appearing onlyin a small strip above the internationalborder in California, Arizona, NewMexico and Texas. It is migratory

Three desert doves: white-winged dove, left; Mexican ground dove, in flight;Jnca dove, on rock lower right.

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and arrives in the United States nearthe last of April."From the day of their arrival inspring," wrote M. French Oilman ofthis dove in Arizona, "they set upa continual call which may roughlybe described as co-co'-o-cok'-co-co.This call is heard from morninguntil night and in such volume thatit becomes a sort of continuous basshum, a background or sounding boardfor all the other bird songs and calls.It lacks the plaintive tone of themourning dove's call, and to mostpeople becomes a dreary monotonousdroning. Be that as it may, the sightand sound is part and parcel of diemesqutte desert and would be sorelymissed."As soon as the young white-wingsare mature, all the birds gather inflocks and diligently seek seeds in theopen fields; there also are occasionalflights to sources of water. When sa -guaro fruit begins to ripen, die dovesgreedily feed on this red-pulped deli-cacy as fast as it matures, and thebeak and feathers about the mouthare stained with die red juice.As late as 1920 rookeries of thou-

sands of nesting pairs were reportedfrom the mesquite hummocks of south-ern Arizona along the Gila River, butfollowing the clearing of land for agri-culture and increased hunting pressuredie white-winged dove population hasmarkedly decreased.The lively little Inca dove's (Sarfa-della inca) metallic coo-a-coo' withstrong accent on the last syllable isheard throughout the year in Pimalandof Arizona and far south into Mexico'sarid brushlands. The notes becomelouder and more earnest sounding asthe season of courting and nesting ap-proaches. The confiding but quick-mannered birds are frequent dwellersabout ranch yards and enjoy nodiingbetter man an opportunity to feed widithe chickens or to perch upon back-yard clotheslines or fences. An d whendie time for nesting comes they sooften build in trees near human habi-tation that diey are regarded as townand small pueblo dwellers. They arecommon about Tucson "where dieyare accounted either exceptionally tameor exceptionally stupid, for they sel-dom take flight until almost troddenupon," reports Dr. Leon Hausman in

C a s h f o r D e s e r t P h o t o g r a p h s . . .W e are an xious 1o bring to our reade rs the best of desert photog-raphy and each month two cash prizes are given to the photograp hersamateur or professionalwho send u s these pictures. No otherplace on earth offers more distinctive camera subjects than does thedesert where practically every day is one suited for the taking ofpictures. Our easy to enter contest is a natural outlet for your desertphotos. Any subject will do, so long as it is of the Desert Southwest.Entries for the Icmuary contest must b e sent to the Desert M agaz ineoffice. Palm Desert, California, postmarked not later than January 18.Winning prints will appear in the March issue. Pictures which arrivetoo late for one contest ar e held o ver for the next month . First prize is$ 1 0 ; second prize. $5. For non-winning pictures accepted for publica-tion $3 eac h will be paid .

HERE ABE THE RULES1Print! mini be black and white, 5x7 or larger, on glossy paper.2 Each photograph submitted should be fully labeled as to subject, time andplace. Also technical data: camera, shutter speed , hour ot day , ate.3PRINTS WILL BE RETURNED WHEN RETURN POSTAGE IS ENCLOSED.4Entries must be In the Desert Magazine office by the 20th ol the contest month.5 Contests are open to both amateur and professional pho tographers. DesertMagazine requires first publication rights only of prize winning pictures.G Time an d pla ce of photo graph a re immaterial, except that tt must be from thedesert Southwest.7

195801 desertmagazine 1958 january

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