196811 desert magazine 1968 november

8/14/2019 196811 Desert Magazine 1968 November

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D E S E R T M A G A Z I N E B O O K S H O PA N Z A - B O R R E G O D ES ER T G U I D E by H o r a c e Par-ker. Second edit ion of th is wel l - i l lust ra ted anddocumented book is enlarged considerably. Topsamong gu idebooks, it is equally recommendedfor research material in an area that was crossedby Anza, Kit Carson, the Mormon Bat ta l ion,49ers, Railroad Survey part ies, Pegleg Smith, theJackass Ma i l , Butterf ield Stage, and today'sadventurous tourists. 139 pages, cardboardcover, $2.95.THE MAN WHO WALKED THROUGH TIME byColin Fletcher. An odyssey of a man who l ivedsimply and in solitude for two months as hehiked through the Grand Canyon. Combin inghis physical prowess with Thoreau-like observa-t ions, the author has wri t ten a book of greatmagni tude. Hardcover, i l lust ra ted, 239 pages,$5 .95 .A M A T E U R G U I D E TO BOTTLE COLLECTING by BeaBoynton. Popular l i t t le book for beginners. High-ly recommended. Paper. $1.00.

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1 " J U M t A U H E K M R S O HON DESERT TRAILSBy RANDALL HENDERSON

Founder and publisher of Desert Maga-zine for 23 years, Randall Henderson isone of the first good writers to reveal thebeauty of the mysterious desert areas.His experiences, combined with his com--nenfs on the desert of yesterday andtoday, make this book a MUST for thosewho want to understand the southwest.Hardcover, illustrated, 375 pages.

$5.00

FANTASIES OF G O L D by E. B. S a y l e s . D u r i n ghis search for archeological f inds for more than30 years, the author was exposed to the rumorsand legends of lost gold and treasures. Afterhis ret irement as curator of the Arizona StateMuseum, he classif ied and delved into thesesti l l unsolved mysteries. An interesting and in-fo rmat ive book on lost bonanzas and legends,many of which have never been published.Hardcover, wel l i l lust ra ted, 135 pages, $6.50.MAMMALS OF DEEP CANYON by R. Mark Ryan.A study of the habits of more than 40 animalsl iv ing in the Deep Canyon Research Area in theColorado Desert. The site was selected becauseits ecology is typ ica l of deserts throughout theworld . Paperback, i l lust ra ted, 1 37 pages, $2.95.

EXPLORING DEATH VALLEYBy RUTH KIRK

A comprehensive guide to the wondersof Death Valley National Monument withcomplete details as to where to go bycar, 4-wheel-drive and on foot. Intro-ductory chapters summarize the Valley'shistory, geology, animals, plants andweather. Directory section tells where tofind lodging, meals, gas stations, camp-grounds and driving techniques. Paper-back, slick paper, photos and maps, 88pages.$1.95

GEMS, MINERALS, CRYSTALS AND ORES byRichard M. Pearl. A paperback edit ion of hisbest-sell ing hardcover book which has been outof print for a year. From agate to zircon, thebook tells where gems, minerals, crystals andores can be f ound , how they are ident i f ied, col-lected, cut and displayed. Paperback, slickpaper, 64 color photographs, 320 pages, $2.95.1 0 0 0 M I L L I O N Y E A R S ON THE C O L O R A D O PLA-TEAU by Al Look. For 40 years the author hashiked over and explored the Colorado Plateau.Cit ing the area as a typ ica l example of theearth's overall evolut ion, he gives a viv id ac-count of the geology, paleontology, archeologyand uranium discoveries start ing back 1000mill ion years. Written for the l a yman , the non-f ict ion account reads l ike a journey throughtime. Hardcover, i l lustrated, 300 page:., $3.75.BIRDS OF SOUTHWESTERN DESERT by G. T.Smith. I n fo rma l , but informative with coloredd rawings and l ive ly text . $2.95.

WHEN ORDERING BOOKSPLEASE

Add 50 cents PER ORDER(Not Each Book)

for handling and mailingCalifornia residents add 5 percentsales tax, regardless of whether youar e a Republican or Democrat.Send check or money order to Desert Maga-zine Book Shop, Palm Desert, California

92260. Sorry, but we cannot accept chargesor C.O.D. orders.

H U N T I N G L O S T M I N E S BY HELICOPTER by ErieStanley Gardner. As fascinating as one of hisPerry Mason mysteries, the author takes youinto Arizona's Superstit ion Mountains lookingfo r the Lost Dutchman mine and into the TrigoMounta ins in search of Nummel's lost bonanza.Hardcover, color photos. $7.50.DESERT GARDENING by the edi tors of SunsetBooks. Written exclusively for desert gardeners,this book is climate zoned with maps pinpoint-ing f ive diverse desert zones. Calendar pre-sents plans for care of plantings throughoutthe year. 11 lust rated, 8 x 11 heavy paperback,S i .95.HIGH TRAILS WEST by Robert F. Leslie. Complete information about the trail systems fromthe Canadian border to Mexico is provided bythe author including it ineraries, maps, trailtips and wha t to do in case of danger alongwith persona! experiences. Excellent for camp-ers and hikers. Hardcover, 277 pages, $4.95.

MINES OF DEATH VALLEYBy BURR BELDEN

An authority of Death Valley, Burr Bel-den tells the story of fabulous miningbooms, of men who braved hot wastes tofind gold and silver bonanzas from 1849to World War II. Accounts of the famousLost Gunsight and Lost Breyfogle minesan d an explanation of the Lost MormonDiggings are based on factual research.Paperback, illustrated, 72 pages.

$1.95

G E M , MINERAL AND 4-WHEEL-DRIVE MAPS com-piled by Dale Hileman. Maps showing gemand mineral collect ing areas, roads for passen-ger cars and 4WD roads only. Map No. 1 is onLast Chance Canyon, Mesquite Canyon andIron Canyon in Kern County. Map No. 2 coversthe Opal Mounta in and Black Canyon areas inSan Bernardino County. Both are black andred colors on 1 6x17-inch parchment paper.$1 .00 per map.PIONEERS OF THE WESTERN FRONTIER by Har-riett Farnsworth. The author presents the OldWest through the eyes of old-t imers who arestill ahve. Each chapter is an in terv iew wi tha prospector or adventurer reminiscing aboutthe days back when. Hardcover, i l lustrated, 12^pages, $2.95.

FOR COMPLETE BOOK CATALOG WRITE TO DESERT MAGAZINE, PALM DES ERT, CALIFORNIA 9 22 60


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Number 1 1NOVEMBER, 1968

WILLIAM KNYVETTPUBLISHER

JACK PEPPEREDITOR

C O N T E N T S4 Book Reviews6 Pioneer Village

By KENNETH BARTLETT

8 California Mitch ell CavernsBy FRANK TAYLOR

ROGER DEANArt Director

ELTA SHIVELYExecutive SecretaryMARVEL BARRETT

Business

LLOYD SHIVELYCirculation

CHORAL PEPPERTravel Feature Editor

10 An Old Fort RoadBy WALTER FORD

14 We Lost A Ledge of Gold!By ASA M. RUSSELL

18 The Desolate Drama of Death Valley24 Death Valley National Encampment26 Death Valley Borax

By BEN TRAYWICKJACK DELANEY

Staff WriterBILL BRYAN

Back Country Editor

EDITORIAL OFFICES: 74-109 Larrea, Palm Desert,Cal i fo-nia 92260. Area Code 714 3 4 6 - 8 1 4 4 .Unsolicited manuscripts and photographs notaccompanied by self addressed, stamped and zipcoded envelopes will NOT be returned.ADVERTISING OFFICES: James March & Asso-ciates Inc., 1709 West 8th Street, Los Angeles,Ca l i fo rn ia 90017, HUbbard 3 -0561115 NewMontgomery, San Francisco, California 94105,DOuglas 2-4994. Listed in Standard Rate & Data.CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT: 74-109 Larrea,Palm Desert, California 92260. Desert Magazineis published monthly. Subscription prices: UnitedStates 1 year , $5.00; 2 years , $9.50; 3 years,$ 1 3 . 0 0 . Foreign subscribers add $1.00 U. S.Currency for each year. See Subscription OrderForm n back of this issue. Allow five weeks forchange of address and be sure to send bothne w and old addresses with zip code.

DESERT is publ ished monthly by Desert Magazine,Palm Desert, Calif. Second Class Postage paid atPalm Desert, Calif., and at addit ional mai l ingoffices under Act of March 3, 1879. Title regis-tered NO. 358865 in U. S. Patent Office, andconterts copyrighted 1968 by Desert Magazine.Unsolicited manuscripts and photographs cannotbe returned or acknowledged unless full returnpostage is enclosed. Permission to reproduce con-tents rrust be secured from the editor in wr i t ing .

28 Riddle of the RacetrackBy ROGER MITCHELL

31 Adventures in Desert CampingBy RANDALL HENDERSON35 Peek in the Publisher's Poke36 Calabasas

By FLORENCE DIEHL

37 Wom an's View Point38 Back Country Travel

By BILL BRYAN

39 Calendar of Western Events42 Letters

NOVEMBER COLOR PHOTOSThe roll ing patterns of sand formed by the winds of DeathValley are captured in the dramatic cover photograph by DavidMuench, of Santa Barbara, Calif. The loneliness of Death Valleyis portrayed in the back cover photograph by Hubert Lowman.


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B O O K . K E V 1 E WTHE CALIFORNIA GOLD RUSHBy Donald Chidsey

The Cal i fornia Gold Rush of 1848 and1849 changed the lives of thousands uponthousands of people and altered the courseof American history. When word spreadfrom Sutter's Mill that gold had been dis-covered, men left their homes, jobs andoften fam ilies to head for California.

They came from all parts of the UnitedStates, from foreign countries and by allmeans of transportation. Sailors jumpedtheir ships to join adventurers, gamblers,politicians, businessmen and a scatteringof women in a search for excitement and?old.

Historian Chidsey has presented thisera of American history in a well-writtenand colorful account of such men as JohnAugustus Sutter and the flamboyant SamBrannan, former Mormon turned vigi l -ante. He vividly describes the ill-fatedDonner party whose members were forcedto cannibalism to survive, San Franciscoand the Committee of Vigilance, and thecpartan lives of prospectors. Hardcover,excellent artist i l lustrations, 208 pages,$3 .95.

B E A C H E S O F B A JABy Walt Wheelock

Unlike most of the beaches of UpperCalifornia, the beaches of Baja Califor-nia are uncrowded and uncluttered. Theyalso are some of the most beautiful to befound any where in the world . Veteran

DEATH VALLEY BOOKSPublished by the Death Valley 49ers thesefive volumes have been selected by '49ersas outstanding works on the history of DeathValley. All are durable paperback on slickstock.A NATURALIST'S DEATH VALLEY (Revised edi-tion) by Edmund C. Jaeg er, ScD $1 .50MANLY AND DEATH VALLEY. Symbols of Des-t iny , by Ardis Man ly Walker $1.25GOODBYE, DEATH VALLEY! The story of theJayha wker Party, by L. Burr Belden $1.5 0CAMELS AND SURVEYORS IN DEATH VALLEYBy Ar thur Woo dwa rd - $2.00DEATH VALLEY TALES by 10 di f ferent au-thors $1.25

explorer Walt Wheelock describes thebeaches on the Pacific side of Lower Cali-fornia and tells you how to get to them.

Although the blacktop ends at Colnett ,halfway between Ensenada and El Ros-ario, passenger cars can reach the majorityof the beaches, providing drivers remem-ber they are not on a Los Angeles free-way. The author tells which beaches canand cannot be reached and by what typeof transportation.

This is an excellent book for adven-turers headed down the west coast ofBaja. Paperback, i l lustrated, 72 pages,S i .95 .

G H O S T S O F T H E G O L D R U S HB\ George Koenig

Majority of travelers through Califor-nia's Mother Lode Country miss the majorpoints of interest in this country whichplayed such an important part in the his-tory and settlement of the United States.

They not only miss the points of inter-cut, bu t having lit t le knowledge of theexciting history of the gold rush days,they are unable to appreciate their ventureinto the past.

An authority on Western Americanaand a long-time explorer into li t t le knowncorners of California, Koenig has writtenan excellent travel and historical guide.Whether you are visi t ing the MotherLode Country for the first or tenth time,or are just an arm-chair explorer, his bookis interesting and practical reading. Paper-back, i l lustrated, 72 pages, $1.95.

G E M S , M I N E R A L S , C R Y S T A L SA N D O R E SBy Richard M. Pearl

The original hardcover edition of thisbook has been out of print for more thana year. The fact that Desert MagazineBook Shop has received more than 50orders for the original edition during thepast six months proves its popularity.With the exception of having a colorsoftcover instead of hardcover, the new

Books reviewed may be orderedfrom the DESERT Magazine BookOrder Department, Palm Desert,California 92 26 0. Please include50c for handling. California resi-dents must add 5% sales tax.Enclose payment with order.edition is identical to the original, pro-fusely illustrated with 64 pages in full-color photographs.From agate to zircon, this authoritativehandbook tells where gems, minerals,crystals and ores can be found; how theyare identified; how they can be collected,cut, and displayed. Whether you are anamateur rockhound, or have advanced tothe stage where you are ge ttin g into lapi-dary work, you will find this collector'sencyclopedia invaluable.

Professor of Geology at Colorado Col-lege, the author has written 21 booksabout the mineral world and is a well-known lecturer. On the practical side, hehas prospected and collected in nearlyevery state and province in the UnitedStates and Canada. Color softcover, slickpaper, illustrated in color and black andwhite, 320 pages, $2.95.

H A P P Y W A N D E R E R T R I P SVolume TwoBy Slim and Henrietta Barnard

Producers and stars of the popularHappy Wanderers television series, Slimand Henrietta Barnard have publishedanother book containing excellent mapsand descriptions of their trips throughArizona, Nevada and Mexico.

Their f i rst Happy Wanderers Trips,Volume I, published last April , l isted 52of their trips through Southern Califor-nia. It was so well received, they haveissued Volume II. The second volume has41 trips to unusual and exciting places,including romantic towns of Mexico,ghost towns, fishing resorts and huntingareas in Arizona and Nevada.

It also includes a section on tips onhunting, driving, visiting Mexico, boat-ing and many other useful pages of in-formation. Both volumes are 8l/ 2 x 11format, heavy paperback, well illustratedand highly recommended. When orderingplease specify Volume I or Volume II.S2.95 each.


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PICK FOR '68FROM THE BEST INFULL COLORWESTERN CHRISTMAS CARDS

Chr is tmas Day-May thePeace and Happiness Yucca Can dle s-M ay theSpirit ofChristmas Christmas EveCallers-Merry Christmas and Decorat ing the Desert-Merry Christmas andof Christmas bewith you allYea r-L owd erm ilk abide with you, et c. -H il to n Happy New Yea r-Be rnar d Thomas aHappy New Y e a r - L a u

Forest Cathedral May you have theSpirit of Stablemate s May themeaning oftheSeason Car oli ng Surf May the Peace and Joy ofChrist- Bells of Christinas May the Spirit ofChristmasChristmas which isPeace, etc. - Husberg bedeeper .. .as Christmas comes, etc. - Dick mas be with you all Year - Mo ret on Abide with You, etc. - Hampton

Night-Herder's Watch - May the Peace and Joy Through th e Aspen - Greeting is an appropriate, AChristmas Sampler - May thewar mth . . . of An ndian Pictograph - May Peace be your Giftof Christmas be with you, etc. - Delano merry and cheerful western verse - McLean Christmas be with you all the Year - Nic ies atChriStmas, etc. - Brummett EchoHawk

A Happy Pai r Christmas Greetings from the twoof us , double Good Wishes, etc. Fitz Sim mons Cabin in th e Pines May the Peace and Joy ofChristmas be with youalltheYear W arren "Chr is tmas t ime has come a gai n" -M err y Ocotillo Bloom s-Chri stmas Greetings and BestChristmas and aHappy New Ye ar - Ralston Wishes for all the Y e a r - La u

Clear ing Sk ies over Superst i t ion-Peace andGood Will atChristmas, etc. - Lowdermilk Peace-A Christmas wish for you and all theworld, etc. - Donahue Friendship at Christmas - A friendly wish to r a Peaceful Morning - May you have the Spirit ofMerry Christmas and aHappy New Year - Lee Christmas which isPeace, etc. -Th om as

ALL NEW DESIGNS IN BRIGHT FULL COLORB E S T Q U A L I T Y A R T : Yes, these are the western Christmas cards you've been lookingfor ! Heavy textured enamel paper folds to make a rich card, approx. 5 x7. We can print your name, orbrand, orBOTH inred tomatch g reeting. Deluxe white envelopes extras included. 24 hour shipping'til Christmas. 25 c will rush any card sample and color brochure to you.H O W T O O R D E R : Fill inquantity of each card you want inbox beside that number in thecoupon order blank. Circle total quantity and cost on order blank. Mix and assort,at no extra cost.Order all of one kind or asmany of each asdesired. Canada residents please remit in U.S. dollarvalues. Colorado residents add 3% sales tax. You may order by letter or fi l l out coupon and mail withcash, check ormoney order. Thank you kindly, and remember, i t 's fun tobuy from the leanin1 Tree.

WHY NOT AVE YOUR BRAND IMPRINTEDAdd the personal touch for 1968. Let usprint your own ranch brand onyour cards at our low, lowprice! We will then send you FREE the zinc engraving ofyour brand, individually mounted on wood fo rhandy, everyday use. Usual cost ofthis mounted plate is $4.00, but it's yours FREE with your order.

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P I O N E E R V I L L A G E B A K E R S F I E L Dby Kenneth Bartlett

EARLY EVERY man orboy who ever watched anold-fashioned steam loco-motive has wanted toclimb up into the cab andpretend he was the engi-neer or fireman. Now h e can mount thecab of Engine No. 2914, built in 1898,one of Southern Pacific's largest andmost powerful in its day, presently lo-cated in Bakersfield's Pioneer Village,100 miles north of Los Angeles. Justbehind "Old 2914" he can also scrambleup a wooden caboose to see where theflagman, the switchman, and freight

conductor slept and kept supplies to ser-vice freight cars.He may not be as eager to enter thetraveling wooden jail. Built in 1874 innearby Delano, it was carried on a flatcar when railroad tracks were being laidto Caliente. The re is also a handcar,used by workmen to hand-propel them-selves to areas needing track repair. Ad-jacent is a narrow gauge boxcar onceused by the Inyo County line of the Sou-

thern Pacific.Boys who have played at being cow-boys will like an exhibit of cattle brandsin the Branding Iron Exhibit. Brandingof animals goes back to the ancientEgyptians, and later spread throughcivilized Africa. When the Moors cap-tured Spain in the 8th century, theybrought the branding iron to Europe.Several centuries later the Spaniards, inturn, brought it to the New World,where it eventually spread throughoutMexico and Southwestern United States.In the old days of the West a cowboywould build a small hot fire, heat the

branding iron and apply it to the hip orshoulder of the cow. Naturally, the cowresisted, so it was necessary to rope andtie the animal before applying the brand.Nowadays, the cow is no longer roped,but instead is held rigidly and less harm-fully in a chute while the cowboy ap-plies the iron, which, unlike the smok-ing hot iron of former days, is nowsmeared with acid.

Across from the Branding Iron exhibit,near the fence, lies an enormous plow,the largest known animal-drawn plow inhistory, formerly drawn by no less than

80 oxen. It was designed in 1874 by W.G. Souther to aid in digging the KernIsland Canal.A typical ranch yard, complete withsuch buildings as the ranch house, barn,windmill and tankhouse, cook - wagon,hay-derrick, and even a hog-scaldingkettle, is located nearby. The cook-wagon,which formerly helped feed large groupsof ranch herds, was actually a horse-drawncafeteria on wheels.Among the many horse-drawn vehiclesat Pioneer Village are an extremely longfeed rack wagon, a street sprinkler,

Built in 189 8, this Southern P acific Steam Loco motive No. 2914 is now "out topasture." Steps enable the visitors to see the engine's interior.


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Built at the same time was Firehouseo. 1, containing a hand-drawn hosecart

Several professional buildings such as

Others are the Bella Union

You may visit Pioneer Village at 3801

Next door to the Pioneer Village is the

Across town is another exhibit thatadults and children alike theLocated in Build-

One of these vehicles is the Stanhope

Continued on page 33

The old-fashioned barber shop and telephone exchange are faithfully reproducedwith all their trimmings, including a candy-striped pole.

The Tallyho, or Break, w as a four-in-hand pleasure coach, taking passengers topicnics and sporting even ts. Although slow, no gas was needed.


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THERE ARE a number of interestingcaverns scattered about the length ofCalifornia but one of the finest is foundtucked away in a remote part of the des-ert. Mitchell Caverns has a history as ex-citing as a tour of the caverns themselves.The caverns are 25 miles north of Es-sex, California, a small community halfway between Needles and Amboy. TheProvidence Mountains, rough and jag-ged, poke at the sky like an ancient for-tress, forbidding and remote. A broadvalley spreads out at the base of thesepatriarchs sprinkled with a profusion ofdesert vegetation and wild life.Once the home of roving Indians, thecaves wind deep into the mountains atseveral points. For many years only the

8

bats used them for shelter. The Indiansdisappeared and there was no one toclaim these beautiful natural features orexplore their twisting chambers.During the 1940 Depression a joblessminer and prospector, Jack Mitchell,heard about the caves. He was so im-pressed he sold his home in Los Angelesand moved to the desert with his wife tostake a mining claim on the property.Mitchell gradually improved the site,did a little mining to prove up the claimhe filed, and built a modest rock housefor himself. The Mitchells supportedthemselves by giving tours of the caves

and boarding guests who w anted to en-joy the desert. After Mitchell's death, theState of California acquired the caverns

and now operate them on a seven-days-a-week schedule.Despite its beauty and attractions, Mit-chell Caverns is one of the least visitedparks in the entire state system. Less than10,000 persons annually drive up thepaved and graded dirt road leading tothe caverns. Those that do discover oneof the finest tourist bargains in the state,and one of the coolest bargains on theentire desert. A guided walking tourcosts only 25


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The caves are lit by electricity, a far

A modern improved campsite with a

Along the way the park rangers point

Inside the caverns you will need flash

noff at Essex, you can expect a coolat the park. Sixty million yea rs ago

underground rivers formedthe caves. When the riversdried up, weird formations

of limestone were madeby dripping water.

Mitchell Caverns are inthe Providence Mountainshigh above the desert floor.Below the Visitors Centerthere is a campsite withrock stoves.

9


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by Walter Ford

IFTEEN miles directlynorth of Cima there is amountain around whichhas been woven one ofthe most fantastic lostgold tales ever to comeout of the southwestern desert. It isknown as Kokoweef Peak. Accordingto a statement which allegedly wassworn to in November, 1934, and pub-lished in the November, 1940 issue ofthe California Mining Journal, a pros-pector and a mining engineer entereda cave in Kokoweef Peak during May,1927, and remained underground forfour days. As they worked their waydownward from the entrance they passedthrough a maze of huge stalactites, one ofwhich had a diameter of 27 feet anddescended 1500 feet into a canyon 3500feet deep.

All measurements were claimed to havebeen verified by instruments which theycarried with them. In the canyon theyfound a river which rose and fell withthe tides of the sea, and varied from awidth of 300 feet at high tide to about10 feet when the tide was low. At thatstage beaches of gold-bearing black sandwere exposed, some of which assayed laterto show a value of over $2,000 per yard.After the prospector's affidavit appear-ed in print, the Kokoweef story began tobe heard in many different forms. Oneversion was the prospectors, fearing de-tection, blasted the entrance closed andwere never able to find it again. An-other account had them closing the ori-ginal entrance merely to make another ofeasier access. And somewhere along the

line rumor gave it a gruesome twist. Asthe story was told the prospectors foundtwo claim jumpers at work within thecave when they returned to close the en-trance. Quickly preparing a charge of dy-namite, they blasted the entrance closedand sealed in the intruders.There was also a report of a miningcompany taking over to operate the claim,

but no news of a fabulous strike hassince filtered out of the region. The orig-inal prospectors have long since passedfrom the scene, so perhaps the gold-filledsands still line the underground beaches,disturbed only by the flow of the riveras it follows the rhythm of the distantsea.While you may be denied the thrill ofgold-filled sands filtering through yourfingers, this region in California's SanBernardino County provides wealth of an-other sort which requires only pleasantexplorations. You may travel back infancy nearly 200 years and follow thefootsteps of Father Francisco Garces, thefirst white man to enter the region, ashe hastened toward his goal at San Ga-briel mission. You may prowl throughstone fortifications set up by U.S. troops75 years later as they endeavored to keepthe westward supply lines open. And youmay gaze upon what is considered to be

the largest sand dune in North America,a glistening expanse of white sand whichrises 500 feet above the desert floor andcovers an area of over 50 square miles.On a hot day in August, 1858, a groupof immigrants from Iowa stopped on theeast bank of the Colorado River to restbefore continuing their journey to the

A NO LDF O R TR O A D


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of California. Suddenly

detachment of soldiers during April,with instructions to pacify the

By I860 travel was increasing over

"Stuart, 4th Inf. May 16, 1851," andSgt. Swain, 1851" indicate that troopsfort was established.

The lot of the troops manning the forts

to a lowering of morale. Desertions werefrequent. On some occasions when non-coms were sent out to try to apprehendthe fugitives, they joined the ranks of thehunted themselves. In spite of the unfav-orable conditions under which they hadto serve, the garrisons along the route dida commendable job in subduing the hos-tile tribes. In October, 1870, a treaty wassigned with the various chiefs in the Mo-jave Desert region and organized attacksagainst travelers on the Government Roadcame to an end. Shortly after the fortsalong the route were abandoned, withCamp Cady being the last to go in March,1871.

Last April I visited the Kelso-Cimaarea over the Amboy-Kelso road withBaylor Brooks, Geology Professor at SanDiego State College. We carried no camp-ing equipment other than sleeping bagsand no one we asked in Amboy wouldassure us that food would be available atKelso. We moved along to Kelso anyway,and learned that our concern had beenunnecessary. Glowing in the darknessabove the Union Pacific station was asign, "Cafe Open 24 Hours." Althoughthe building resembles a railroad station,its main function is to serve as a club-house for train crews that end their runsat that point. On my last visit to Kelsothe nearby Vulcan iron mine was in fulloperation and the little town was bustlingwith activity. Today it seems to be sur-rounded by an air of quiet contentment,with only the occasional passing of atrain to break the spell.

Early last spring the residents of Kelsowere jolted from their tranquil state by

the arrival of two women w ho statedthat they had bought the land on whichthe one room school house stands at atax sale, and that the building would haveto be moved. They then filed a suit tovacate, so they could build a resort. OnApril 11, Superior Judge Haberkorn ofSan Bernardino, ended one of the town'sgreatest crises by denying the women'srequest. "If there had been any disputeabout the location," he ruled, "it shouldhave occurred 50 years ago."I asked a local resident about the typeof construction the women had in mind,but he said that he had no idea as to whatthey intended to do. He did say, however,and apparently in all seriousness, "Some-time, someone is going to develop amethod for skiing on sand." "Then", headded, "we'll have it made." As I pon-dered the strange prophesy, I thought

that in this age of miracles, perhaps itwasn't as far out as it sounded. Maybe, atsome future date we may read on our fa-vorite sport page something like, "JoeSandpiper breaks the world sand skiingrecord on Kelso Dunes!"While a missing wagonload of whiskeymay not fall into the category of a losttreasure, there is a 60-year-old legendconcerning a shipment of the amber liquidwhich merits retelling. During the build-ing of the San Pedro, Los Angeles, andSalt Lake Railroad, now the Union Paci-fic, a teamster started out from Bagdadstation with a wagonload of whiskey forthe saloons of Kelso. Their supplies wereexhausted and the thirsty railroad workerswere eagerly awaiting the arrival of thecargo. All went well until the driver


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o* 1 * '

started across the Kelso dunes. A sand-storm arose suddenly forcing him to un-hitch his team and move it away from thestifling sand which filled the air. Whenhe returned later to get his wagon and itsprecious load it was nowhere to be found.The sand had covered it completely.On certain moonlit nights when theair is s|ill, it is said that sounds of revelrymay be heard coming from the dunes.Some oldtimers say ghosts of the teamsterand his cronies have located the lost liquidbonanza and return to celebrate their find.Non-believers, however, insist that the sounds heard are only the yapping ofcoyotes on their nightly search for food.Cliff Barnes, a cattleman who used tolive at the Pine Tree ranch about 10 milessouth of Kelso, believes the sand duneshave never been fully explored. Once,when he was high upon the Old DadMountains looking for stray cattle throughfield glasses, he spotted a valley withtrees in the dunes, but was never able tolocate it.

12

Dr. Elliott Coues, in his interpretationof Father Garces' diary, On the Tra il ofa Spanish Pioneer, indicated Garces fol-lowed a route which was to become theGovernment Road about 75 years later.Dix Van Dyke, noted desert historianand long time Justice of the Peace forDaggett Township, disagreed with Coues'interpretation and spent many months re-tracing Garces' route to confirm his be-liefs. The results of his wanderings andobservations appeared in the Annual Pub-lication of the Historical Society of South-ern California for the year 1927. Accord-ing to Van Dyke, Garces followed PiuteWash from the Colorado River, thenturned northeast toward VontriggerSpring. South of the spring he veered to-ward the base of Providence Mountains,which he followed to what is now knownas Foshay Pass. From Foshay Pass, VanDyke traces Garces' trail down a wash,past the Kelso sand dunes and on to SodaLake.

Historically minded travelers through

the area may find it interesting to com-pare the routes about which Coues andVan Dyke did not agree. The two impor-tant forts along the Government Road,Rock Springs and Marl Springs, may bereached over graded dirt roads, and Fo-shay Pass was made accessible a few yearsback when a road was graded over it tobring natural gas to southern California.This road connects with a paved roadwhich extends from Kelso to the aban-doned Vulcan Iron Mine and providesan opportunity to see this interesting openpit type of mining operation.

When comparing Van Dyke's routewith Coues', it is easy to understand thelogic of Van Dyke's reasoning. His routeis shorter by at least a day's travel, whichwould be of much importance to foottravelers such as Garces. There were nomountain ranges to cross except FoshayPass and it was accessible over a longgradual slope. And the few springs alongthe route were sufficient for the traveler'sneeds.


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Weathered and dim, the figures"May 16, 1851" are faintlydiscernible on a stone wallnear Rock Springs.

The road over Foshay Pass includes avery steep grade which seems to be in-tended for 4WD vehicles only. A stand-ard car might make it with a long run-ning start, but for safety's sake a detourwhich by-passes the steep section isstrongly recommended. Since we hadslept at the Vulcan Mine the previousnight, we traveled over Foshay Pass inthe opposite direction followed by Gar-ces merely as a matter of convenience,but I believe that travel over it in eitherdirection will show its advantages overthe route outlined by Dr. Coues.

From Foshay Pass the road leads east-ward about five miles to join the Essex-Mitchell Cavern State Reserve road. Wehad not visited Mitchell Caverns sincethey were acquired by the State of Cali-fornia, so we were pleasantly surprisedto find Frank Fairchild as Supervisor incharge of the Reserve. Frank formerlyserved as a ranger in the Anza-BorregoDesert State Park, where his courtesyand assistance to travelers made him oneof the most popular rangers on theState Park staff.When Jack Mitchell lived at the Cav-erns I visited him several times a yearand on those occasions he usually wouldhave some happening or story to relateabout visitors to the Caverns. I recall one

such story that had somewhat of a sequelsome 300 miles away.Shortly after the Kokoweef gold storyappeared in print, Mitchell said a mandrove up to the Caverns and introducedhimself as a writer for an eastern newsservice. He told Mitchell he wanted towrite a story about his caverns and askedMitchell for a photograph to illustrate it.I visited Mitchell during March, 1941.He said the professed news-service manhad used the cavern picture, not in a

Mitchell Caverns story, but about one inKokoweef Peak in which he claimed hehad found several thousand mummifiedpygmies!One week later I was reclining under

a palm tree in the Borrego Badlandswhen a man drove up who said he wasan anthropologist for the SmithsonianInstitution. He told me he had foundsome pygmy dwellings in an adjacentcanyon and he would be glad to showthem to me if I would meet him at alower tributary in about an hour. Pyg-mies again! I began to think the little

men really got around. At the risk of ap-pearing extremely gullible I agreed tomeet him, but I might as well have con-tinued my siesta under the palm. Thepseudo-scientist never showed up. Weekslater I heard he had been locked up forsafe keeping.Ten miles north from where the BlackCanyon road joins the Essex-Mitchell

Caverns road, there is a section knownas the "Hole-in-the-Wall," where windhas carved a fantastic array of towers,human figures, and caves which servedas dwellings for long departed Indiantribes. A narrow ravine through a steepgranite upthrust connects the upper andlower levels together. Many odd forma-tions are located near the east entranceor upper level, but to see what is prob-ably one of the most bizarre assortmentsof figures ever carved by desert winds,you must reach the lower area. Formerly,it was possible to pass through the adja-cent 7IL ranch, but that road is nowclosed to the public. To reach the lowersection today it is necessary to descendon some shakey wooden ladders whichwere put there over 35 years ago, butthere is a brighter picture ahead.Frank Fairchild wrote to me recentlythe Bureau of Land Management, whichcontrols most of the land in the vicinity,

had laid out a campground near theupper level or east entrance of the Hole-in-the-Wall, and another one is plannednear the lower level. Also, they are pre-sently surveying a road which will by-pass the private road and open the westside of the area for automobile travel.There are a number of roads into and

from the Kelso-Cima region from Inter-state 15, or U.S. Highway 66. Any oneof them should satisfy your preferencefor a particular type of desert scenery,or provide for activity to match yourmood. Historical trails, abandoned forts,lava beds, yucca forests, mysteriousmounds of sand, and mile-high moun-tain peaksall are there for your en-joyment. There are no motels nearby,but you will find hundreds of squaremiles of unrestricted terrain on whichyou may set up camp. And if you wishto dispense with camp cooking, you willfind the excellent food available at Kel-so's Union Pacific Cafea most satisfyinging substitute.

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W E L O S T AL E D G E of G O L D !The majority of lost bonanza

legends are ba sically true, albeitembellished as they are passed

down through the years.Although few of the old-time

prospectors who found and lostfortunes are alive today, manyof them related their experiences

in ea rly issues of DesertMagazine. So you m ay share

their exciting adventuresfirst-hand, we will, from time

to time, reprint the articles as theyappeared. This one on D eathValley is from the September.

1955 issue.

by Asa M . RussellERNIE HUHN, or Siberian Red as he

was known by his friends, is gone now.He passed away a few years ago and isburied at Shoshone, east of Death Valley.He was fairly well off financially when hedied because of the interest he had in thewel l run Grantham Talc Mine.

But Ernie could have been one of therichest men on earth and me along withhim ifan d that 's a mighty small if!

While he lived I dared not tell of ourexperience high in the Panamint Rangein 1925, but now I 'm sure he wouldn' tmind if I do. He was very touchy aboutit saying that if anyone ever found outthey would class us as fools. I guess hewas right, but he should have made it"careless fools."

Folks wondered why Ernie, who hadmined gold in Siberia, Alaska and Cali-fornia and loved the yellow metal asmuch as any man, suddenly gave up look-ing for it and satisfied himself instead byopening up drifts of plain baby talcumpowder, as he called it. I was his part-ner and the last man to grubstake him ona gold venture . I know why.

I met Siberian Red at the Cresta Esca-vada (sum mit digg ings ) , a placer propertynear Randsburg in the early 1920s. Theterrain there was made up of rolling,

spotted bedrock with no paydirt , just eggshaped rocks. Although it mined out to adollar a yard Ernie soon found that i twouldn't float a dredge so he decided tomove on. There was no way to make itpay.

W e met again in Tro na some time laterand during our visit he repeatedly gazedintently at the towering Panamint Rangevisible behind the Slate Range. Finally heremarked, "I understand that four forma-tions meet there at the south end of thePanamints. It should be a hot spot toprospect ." Somewhere Ernie found outthat a road could be easily cut from DeathValley up to Anvil Canyon opening thatarea for mining if and when a discoverywas made. At Anvil Springs there was astone house and plenty of water.

"Carl Mengel, who has only one leg,says he came through there with his bur-rosstayed at the stone house and saysthe area looks like good gold country tohim," Ernie went on. I soon became en-thusiastic about the area's prospects andoffered to grubstake him on the trip andto accompany him, too. I had a fairlysuccessful tree business in Los Angelesat that t ime and could afford the venture.Before long we struck an agreement.

I bought a truck, loaded it with sup-plies enough for three months and weheaded for Butte Valley by way of Death

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Valley. In those days there was an oldroad through Death Valley with a signpost pointed toward the mountains whichread: "Butte Valley, 21 Miles." Insteadof going on to Butte, the road endedright there in a soft sandy wash wherethe water drained down to Death Valleythrough the narrow canyon.We returned to our original plan and

headed up Anvil Canyon making ourown road. Every thousand feet we had tostop and drag off the rocks to clear thenext thousand feet ahead. To get throughthe loose gravel we used block and tackle.After five days of hard work we had ourroad into Butte Canyon by way of AnvilCanyon. The former takes its name froma strata of solid rock projecting 500 feethigh in the center of this valley. Therewas no dirt or vegetation on this hugerock and it was striped with many dif-ferent colors. The miners called it theStriped Butte.

W e located the spring and the stonehouse and set up camp. We were neverable to find out who built the house, butit was built to last. It dated back to theearly 1880s and was as good as ever.Here we relaxed for a couple of days,taking short walks around camp.

We had a beautiful view down thecanyon to the floor of Death Valley, 20miles below. The refreshing breeze pickedup the scent of sage, ephedra and pinyonmaking our campsite a delightful place.

The country immediately around uswas well mineralized. Small veins shotout across the hills in all directions. Somelooked like they would pan fairly goodand had they been wider would havecaused plenty of excitement. The stonehouse contained some old newspapersand books, pack saddles and odd shapeddemijohns, reminders of days that hadgone before. We had ideal prospectingheadquarters.

We soon found that this was a big areato cover. Naturally we concentrated on thevalley floor at first, p rospecting a day andthen resting a day. We wanted to toughenup gradually before we tackled the highground. On these low level hikes Erniewould often reach down to the groundwith his pick and crack open a rock thatlooked like ordinary mud to me. He ex-plained that after a little experience I toocould distinguish mere mud from stonesthat had been thinly covered with mudfollowing a rain.

O c c a s i o n a l l y I p i c k e d up " X p i e c e offloat. Each time I did Ernie knocked itfrom my hand and warned me that it wasa bad habit to get into. "Unless you in-tend to follow the float up and find outwhere it comes from, don't waste yourtime and mine. You might have a piecethat dropped out of a saddle bag or packmule. Be sure your sample comes off avein of ore in placeand a vein wideenough to investigate. Remember, we are67 miles from the nearest supplies. Don'twaste time." I listened to his advice. Iknew it was experience talking and I hadmuch to learn.In time we became tanned and tough-ened. Our legs were strong. Ernie wasconvinced that somewhere along this con-tact a rich vein existed.One day we had a visitora Shoshone

Indianwho was leading a string of packburros. He was on his way to WarmSprings to do a little prospecting. He toldus that if we needed some packing in thenear future, he would be glad to do itfor us.

Another week went by and on the firstof October a tall, unshaven man namedGreenslit walked into our camp. He was a

..- .;' >'"'M,.i...''f//&!ldf'^:

1 5


16/44

tough old fellow of 65 and had beenprospecting the hills for six days out ofTro n a .

He took out a piece of ore and showedit to us. He had found it on the ridgenear Manly peak in a short tunnel of anabandoned mine. He relocated it and wason his way now to Shoshone to try to in-terest some friends in his find.

After he had gone the next morningErnie took the piece of ore Greenslit hadgiven him and panned it out. He foundit to run about $200 to the ton.

"I wonder just exactly where he gotthat rock?" I asked. By the look onErnie's face I knew he was wonderingthe same thing. He pointed to the highridge to the right of Manly Peak. "Itmust be up there," he said. He scannedthe area with his field glasses and thenhanded them to me. "Look close up therethere's a little gray patch on the moun-tain s idelooks l ike an old dumpthatmay be where Greenslit found his ore."

The next day we tried the higherground. Ernie warned me before we leftthat when we reached the timber line ourvision would be cut down considerably ex-cept in small and infrequent clearings. Hehad me prepare 10 pieces of five differentcolored rags and told me that should Ifind a vein large enough to locate, I wasto mark it properly, take one piece ofcolored cloth and wrap the sample in itand number it. The matching piece of ragI was to tie on the top of the highest andnearest tree. A small strip of the clothwas to be tied at gro und level. If, afterpanning the ore, we found it to be worthwhile, the vein would be easy to relocate.I was also instructed to make a note ofthe general terrain around my find. "Thisis the best system I know of for tender-foot prospectors," Ernie said to me as westarted out at dawn.

It was a steep climb up the hogbackto Manly Peak, but we took our time andhad no trouble reaching the saddle on theridge at the right of the peak before noon.The view alone was worth the climb.Looking over the Slate Range towardTrona the Panamint Valley lay at ourfeet and at our back was Death Valley.

W e ate lunch on the ridge and thenmade our way to the gray patch below thesaddle. As Ernie had predicted we foundthat it was an old ore dump and therenearby, was Greensl i t ' s new monument.1 6

Stone house in Butte Valley where Ernie and Russ made cam p.An old anvil and a few scattered toolswith rotten wooden handles lay near thetunnel mou th. We guessed that its formerowner was an old timer who had foundthe high altitude detrimental to his min-ing efforts.

Before we separated Ernie gave me myinstructions for the prospecting trip backto camp. He was going to cover the lowerside, close to the contact while I was tostay close up along the side hill. If Ineeded him I was to yell as loud as Icouldthe air was clear and my voicewould carry. If I found anything sensa-tional I was to let him know at once.

W e started off and for a time I couldhear him cracking rocks with his pick.I made my way around some largeboulders, keeping my eye out for snakes,outcroppings and quartz veins and allthe time trying to remember all I hadbeen taught during the past weeks byErnie.

The little veins made me mad as theypeeked out under ledges. I followedthem down draws, out under ledges andup steep slopes. Few were wide enoughto get excited about. Still I took some sam-ples from the widest ones and markedthem as ordered.

About four in the afternoon I ranacross an outcropping of yellow brokenquartz under , a pinyon tree. The vein,the widest I had ever seen, was about15 inches across. It was heavy with ironoxide and I figured important enoughto call Ernie.I yelled down the canyon and presentlyhe answered. It took him 30 minutesr

to find me. After studying the vein hegave me his verdict: "pretty high up,rugged approach, should run about $40a ton. It would have to widen out con-siderably to be profitable."

I was disappointed, but he suggestedthat I put up a monument, locate, andmark it well for perhaps someday theprice of gold would go up and then itwould be worth mining this vein.

I showed him the rest of my samples,all wrapped carefully in their coloredcloths and numbered. He didn't com-ment on them, but told me that wewould pan them out on Sunday. Hereached into his pockets an'd pulled outa half dozen pieces of rock. One of themwas cement gray in color and was veryheavy. I showed surprise at the weightand asked him about it.

H e had ch ipped it off a vein abo utthree feet wide. The ledge was only ex-posed for about 20 feet on the surfaceon the steep side of the draw near thecontact. Although he had never heard ofanyone finding platinum in these moun-tains, he wondered if the sample he hadmight not contain some of that preciousmetal.

I asked him if I could use his glass togive the specimen a close look, but hehad forgotten it. "We'll pan it Sundayalong with the other stuff," he said andstarted off toward camp.

"Did you mark it with a coloredcloth?" I shouted after him.

Ernie laughed. "That's only forrookies. An old timer remembers anddoesn't need flags and sign posts."


17/44

When we got back to our stone

gain. I placed all the samples weutside of the house and we agreed toood pastime when you are laying

around camp. But we were out of freshmeat and spent a day hunting and thenon the next day there were shoes to sole,wood to cut and other chores aroundcamp. On the third day we tended thesmall garden we had put in earlier nearthe spring, so we put off panning thespecimens again.Then we had visitors. A couple ofminers took the road we had made tocamp. They were looking over the countryand we spent many hours talking to them

around the campfire. When Sunday cameagain we spent it quail hunting and thatnight the four of us enjoyed a deliciousdinner.Our supplies were running low so

after the miners left Ernie and I took aweek off and went into Shoshone to

stock up again. W e didn't hurry and stillanother week went by before we pickedup the specimens to pan them out. Bynow over three weeks had slipped by.

Ernie breezed through my six coloredcloth wrapped samples and a few of hisown before noon. We found nothing toexcite us. The whole lot averaged about$25 a ton. The rock from the vein I hadcalled him to see under the pinyon treewas the bestit ran around $40.

After lunch I ground up the heavycement-gray stone and Ernie started topan it out. He remarked that he wouldn'tat all be surprised to find a little plati-num in it.I had ground it up well as Ernie hadasked me to do. Coarse pieces of ironmay often hold small particles of goldthat had to be released if a good panwas to be had.While Ernie panned the gray stone Isat on a large rock near camp and tooksome pot shots at a hawk that was circlinglow trying to scare a family of quail outin the open.An explosive yell from Ernie broughtmy thoughts back into focus and I slid

off the boulder and ran toward him. Hewas jumping up and down with glee andshouting, "We hit it! We hit it! We hitit!""Look at the gold," he cried holdingout the pan to me. I grabbed it from himand still dazed peered into it. The bottomwas covered with gold.Ernie was excited and spoke on in a

frenzied voice: "I knew itI knew Iwould find something good on the con-tact! We hit it this time, Russ! Ourtroubles are over! We're rich! We'rerich! I never saw ore like that any placein the world!"After he calmed down he told me thatthe panning indicated an ore value of515,000 a ton! "And just think, it's readymoneyfree milling. The ground is allopen for location. How does it feel tobe rich, Russ ? How does it feel to be able

to have anything you wantand plentyof good yellow gold to pay for it?"I couldn't answerit had all been sosudden. I walked into the house and in afog put on the spuds and beans forsupper.

Continued o n page 3 4

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18/44

T H EDESOLATED R A M A

Once dreaded by prospectors and '49ersas they headed for California, Death

Valley today is a National Monum entvisited by thousands of people during

the winter season. Man has builtfilling stations, restaurants,

motels, a golf course anda landing field. The

National Park Servicehas paved roads

and built a VisitorsCenter and

Museum in whichis told th e Storyof Death Valley.

O F DE ATHBut these marks of man's

civilization are hardly discerniblein the thousands of acres of Death Valley.And the moods and shifting sands of this

timeless and silent land have notchanged during the centuries.It is a strange and sometimes

eerie silence that prevails; from Badwater,280 feet below sea level, to Dantes View,

5780 feet above. Better than words,these selected photographs convey

the moods and shadows of Death Valley.

1 8


19/44

The rugged rocks of Aguereberry Pointare silhouetted against the sky withDeath Valley below and the Panam intMountains in the distance.

VALLEY.. . .A late afternoon suncasts weird shadowson the sands ofDeath Valley.

1 9


20/44

D E A T H V A L L E Y

Death Valley's metallic mushroom.

When the thirsty'49ers saw thewhite outlinefrom thousandsof feet above thevalley theythought it wasdrink ing wateronly to find it wassaline anddeadly that 'swhy they called itDeath Valley.

Once busy and hot, the charcoal kilnsof Wildrose Canyon today are modern housing forthe animals and birds of Death Valley.

Death Valley Scotty's Castlewho really paid for it and provided the gold dustso Scotty could live like a king?

20


21/44

m-mmm

Man's footprintsand his endeavorsare fleeting. His signsof yesterday are obliterated tomorrow by the winds which playupon the sands, returning them to their natural state of silenceand shadows.The Drama of Death Valley unfolds as the sun sinks and leavesthe world to darknessonly to rise again to reveal its chang-ing, timeless and mysterious beauty.


22/44

D E A T H V A L L E Y

Death Valley is beau tiful, lonely and som etimes deadly. The fingers of Red Rock Canyon seem to reach for prey

The sand dunesconstantly moveand change in thisstrange world ofsilence.

22


23/44

Twenty-mule team hauling borax under the searing sun.

Gutted and lone ly, Ashford Mill is avictim of changing times and the inexorablewinds and heat of Death Valley.

"The wheels of weary life at last stood st i l l . "

23


24/44

D E A T HV A L L E Y N A T I O N A L E N C A M P M E N TDEATH VALLEY'S annual ou tdoorextravaganza, a kaleidoscope of familyentertainment known as "The West 'sGreatest Free Show," will be held thisyear No vem ber 8 through 11. It will bethe 18th year of the event, sponsored bythe Death Valley '49ers in cooperationwith the National Park Service.

Held in the Death Valley NationalMonument in California, next to the Ne-vada border, the event attracts thousandsof families who come to the historic areany passenger car, camper, 4-wheel-driveand sometimes by just plain muleto en-joy the start of the winter desert season.

The Encampment features exhibits byoutstanding western artists, authors andphotographers, conducted tours of theValley, an old-fashioned fiddlers ' contest,evening campfires featuring noted musi-cians and historians and family sings.

Other attractions include gems, miner-a l s , gold and historical Indian artifactsdisplays, museum exhibits of the famedTwenty Mule Team wagons and othermining equipment, daily naturalist talksby Park Rangers, and nightly dancingunder the desert stars.

One of the highlights of the Encamp-ment is the Burro-Flapjack Contest. Nomatter how large the number of specta-tors, the outdoor circle affords easy view24

as you watch the contestants coax, cajoleor carry their critters around a center postand return to their own starting pointwhere each will unpack the burro, builda fire, mix and cook a pancake. The firstprospector (real or would-be) to feed hisanimal the finished product is declaredthe winner. The top three contestants ineach of two races will compete for topprizes in a third race, which has beencalled a "crazy cook-off."

The Burro-Flapjack Contest is the mostpopular for all visitors to Death Valleybecause a contestant will finish (at leasthe wou ld hop e to finish) the race directlyin front of a spectator.

All events at the Encampment are opento the public and most are free of charge.There are only a few activities for whicha fee is collected: the Authors' breakfastwhere a noted author is the featuredspeaker; the Photo graph ers' breakfastwith exhibits of prize-winning photo-graphs of Death Valley; the Artists 'breakfast, highlighted by top-flight west-ern artists painting striking pictureswhile you watch. An added attraction tothis breakfast is the auction sale of apicture painted at the previous year'sbreakfasta valued addition to any col-lection. These events are at FurnaceCreek golf course.

Because of the large number of events

presented during the Encampment, visit-ors find it impossible to participate in allof them; however, they always find amplecamping and trailer facilities available.The many camping and trailer parkingareas are large enough to accommodatethousands of people. Campsites and trailerparking are available at Texas SpringsCampground, Stovepipe Wells Vil lage,and Furnace Creek Ranch.

Lightweight clothing is generally allthat is needed, but it is wise to bringwarm clothing and adequate bedding be-cause the nights sometimes turn chilly.Food and other necessary supplies can bepurchased at various locations in the Val-ley, but firewood is at a premium andmany campers supply their own.

There are hotel and motel accommoda-tions available for those less-than-hardypeople who prefer comforts of indoorliving, but due to the limited number offacilities in Death Valley, it is suggestedthat reservations be made well in advanceof the Encampment.

For 18 years Death Valley has beenthe site of this great celebration. Thesponsoring group, the Death Valley' 49ers, Inc., was formed in 1949 to paycentennial tribute to those heroic men,women and children, who late in 1849,found themselves in a desperate situa-tion. Lost, hungry, almost without hope,


25/44

The founders of the Death Valleya group of civic and businesseaders, as well as persons interested inhe history of the Valley, wished to planan annual commemorative celebration tohonor the original '49ers and to pre-serve the memories and beauty of DeathValley. The result was the Death ValleyNational Encampment, which increasesin interest, pageantry, and attendanceeach year.

A non-profit organization, the DeathValley '49ers sole income is from thesale of memberships and publications,and donations. A single membership is$3.00, a family membership $5.00, anda Life Membership $100.00. For de-tailed information as to how to become amember, write the Death Valley '49ers,Death Valley, California. They will behappy to send you information, a list ofaccommodations and a guide map, and acalendar of events for the 19th annualDeath Valley Encampment to be heldNovember 8 through 11, 1968.

IN THE HEART OFD E A T H V A L L E Y

HistoricS T O Y E P I P E W E L L S U L L A G E

Luxurious new units bea uti ful new dining roomand cocktail loungeGift ShopHeated PoolGeneral StoreService Stat ionLanding Str ipCampground

Write or call:S T O Y E P I P E W E L L S Y I L L A 6 E

Death Valley, California 92328Area Code 714Stove Pipe Wells # 1 Toll Station

Spectators at the Burro-Flapjack race near Stove P ipe W ells are entertained withhoe-down music. Square dances are also held during Encamp ment.MKt

An old-timer tries to control his ornery critter who seems to have his own ideasabout w here he is going. B ottom, his burro waits for his flap-jack as the pros-pector lights the fire. First contestant to make and eat the hot dough wins.25


26/44

AI\ON WIN TER S was adesert prospector wholived in a crude hutwith his Indian wife,Rosie, at Ash Meadowsnear the Funeral Moun-tains of Death Valley. He had spent mostof his life in the desolate wastelandssearching for gold.On his way to the Nevada miningcountry, a lone prospector stopped over-night at Winters' cabin. As they talkedof prospecting, the visitor mentioned anew compound found in the desert inlarge beds of small crystal-like salt. Hesaid it was borax and was selling as highas 25 cents an ounce.As he listened to the prospector, Win-ters remembered a bed of white crystals

c a u s e of a c h a n c e v i s i t f r o m a l o n e l yprospector whom he befriended. Soonafter the discovery, Winters sold hisclaim to William T. Coleman for$20,000a pittance compared to thefortune borax would later bring to Cole-man and his partner, Frank Smith.Borax was discovered in Tibet in 1742.The Tibetans called this unusual mineral

ba/irach. Sometimes is is referred toas tincal, but most often it is calledborax, a mispronunciation of the Tibetanname. Borax is commonly found inthe dry marshes of the desert where therains gather and evaporate after drainingfrom the barren mountains.Winters' discovery was a significantfind, but not the first in California. Dr.John A. Veatch found borax crystals in

e, 1JV&J ift & canyon nede Co J u n i Lu sMarsh. From his cabin he could see themen shovelling crude borax from Colum-bus Marsh. He could also see Teel'sMarsh, but there were no men gatheringborax there. This seemed strange toSmith, since both marshes looked justalike.Curious about Teel's Marsh, Smith

took samples and sent them to a chemist.When the chemist's report was returnedhe knew he found a rich deposit of borax.He immediately staked out his claim.Smith dug and sold borax until he was arich man. People began to call him "Bor-ax Smith." It was not long before Smithand Coleman formed a partnership inmining Death Valley Borax.The Harmony Works was located at

he had seen while looking for gold inDeath Valleycrystals he had walkedever and ignored. The visitor said thatif he poured a certain liquid over thecrystals and set them afire and theresultant flame was green, is was a surestgn of borax.After obtaining the test liquid, Aaronand Rosie crossed the comparatively coolFuneral Mountains and descended intoDeath Valley and the vicinity of FurnaceCreek. The prospector selected a piece ofthe white deposit, saturated it with liquidand lit a match. The fuel sputtered and asRosie and Aaron held each other, itsuddenly took hold and burst into agreen flame!

After all the years of searching, AaronWinters did not strike gold, but he diddiscover a rich deposit of boraxall be-2 6

the waters of Lick Springs in TehamaCounty in January, 1856. He also foundborax in Borax Lake in Lake County thesame year.The mud of Borax Lake was about fivefeet deep and was filled with borax cry-

stals. The mud was shovelled out andplaced in vats where the impurities werewashed away with water. Crude boraxcrystallized when the water evaporated.In 1865 the Lake yielded 240 tons ofborax.Columbus Marsh was the first big dis-covery site of borax in Nevada. Thismarsh was a salt crust approximatelythree feet deep. Borax was obtained hereby simply boiling it in big vats and re-crystallizing it.Frank Smith, a gigantic man withbushy hair and large drooping mous-

the site of the Aaron Winters discovery,northwest of Furnace Creek. Work at thissite was done in the open under the sizz-loing sun. Even at night there was norelief from the heat. Consequently, it wasdifficult to find men who would workunder such conditions.Borax was shipped out of Death Val-ley by 20 mule teams which consisted of18 mules and two wheel horses. A jerkline 125 feet long was used to guide theteam as it pulled the two wagons. Thewagons were built in Mojave for $900,had rear wheels 7 feet high and frontwheels 5 feet high, each with steel tires8 inches wide and one inch thick. Thehubs were 18 inches in diameter and 22inches in length.

The spokes, of split oak, measured51/2 inches w,de at the hub. The axle-

DEATHVALLEYBORAXby Ben Traywick


27/44

Borax Smith was the most famous ofthe Death Valley prospectors. Aftermaking his fortune he became an im-in SanFrancisco.

Opposite page, a twenty-mule teamhauls borax out of Death Valley. Teamshauled borax even in the summer when

temperatures reached 120degrees.

A chan ce meeting with another pros-pector resulted in Aaron Winters andhis wife, Rosie, finding a fortune.

trees were made of solid steel bars, 3l/2inches square. The wagon beds were 16feet long, 4 feet wide and 6 feet deep.Empty, each wagon weighed 7,800pounds. Loaded with borax, it weighed31,800 pounds. Two such loaded wag-o n s , plus the water tank (which held1,200 gallons and weighed 9,600pounds) made a total of 73,200 poundsor 36I/2 tons-It took anywhere from ten to twentydays each trip to haul borax out of DeathValley, often in heat of 120 degrees withthe mule skinners averaging only 15 to18 miles a day. And the nights (therewas no air conditioning in those days)were only a few degrees cooler than theHays! For hauling borax across the hotdesert and over the hazardous PanamintMountains, the driver was paid a totalof $100 a month and his swamper $75.

The discovery of a new, hard formof borax southeast of Furnace Creek onMount Blanc closed Harmony Works.The name colemanite was given tothis new form of borax in honor ofWilliam T. Coleman. New deposits ofcolemanite were found throughout Cali-fornia, in Ventura County near Bakers-field, in the Calico Mountains, and inthe Mojave Desert. The borax boomwas on.William T. Coleman, because of mis-fortunes in other business ventures, lostall his investment in the borax business.Frank Smith rose to the front as the topborax man of the world. Eventually somuch borax was mined that the price wasreduced to just a few cents a pound andstill the demand for it grew and grew.Another huge deposit of borax wasfound in the Mojave Desert in 1928 andyet another in Death Valley soon after.The strike in the Mojave was a new type

of borax called "rasorite." It has beenfound nowhere else. This particular de-posit is 100 feet thick, almost pure boraxand lies 400 feet beneath the earth'ssurface.Death Valley gave the world an inex-pensive and almost limitless supply ofborax. Borax gave the world adventurethrough the 20 mule teams that crossedthe valley of death.California still leads the world in theproduction of borax today. Aaron Winters

didn't fully realize the impact of hiswords when he shouted in joy, "Sheburns green! We're rich!"

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28/44

THERIDDLEO FTHERACETRACK

by Roger Mitchell

Rounded objects, like the more flatobjects, slide along keeping the samerelative position. Many of these movingstones are rather small, about the sizeof a softball, others weigh 50 to 600pounds.Close examination of the tracks re-veals one important fact. At the timeof movement, the playa's surface is wet.The furrows and grooves left behind bythe moving objects plainly show theonce muddy nature of the playa's sur-face. Ridges of once soft mud are alsoseen pushed up in front of the oncesliding object.The theory is that the wind movesthe various objects only when the playais wet or muddy. Because several objectsclose together sometimes appear to havemoved in echelon, the theory is furtherexpanded that water on the playa sur-

face freezestrapping several objectstogether in an iceberg. The wind thenblows this iceberg around causing onlythe rocks to leave tracks in a parallel

pattern. This line of reasoning seems tohave some merit.The surrounding country of some 70square miles drains into the RacetrackPlaya. This desert area receives aboutthree inches of rainfall annually on along term average, although rainfall insome years may be almost nil. A thinsheet of water on the playa has beenobserved a number of times, and being3708 feet in elevation, such water wouldfreeze during the cold winter nights.Although every theory has some flawsin it, it does seem likely that the phenom-ena must be related to the combination ofwind and a wet playa surface. Actuallythe Racetrack Playa is best known forthe mystery, but the phenomena has beenobserved in other dry lake beds. Similaroccurrences have been reported at Bon-nie Clair and Nelson dry lakes in nearby

Nevada and also near McKittrick in Cali-fornia's San Joaquin Valley. I have alsoseen similar tracks at Laguna Chapala inBaja California.

OFF the beaten path in the north-west corner of Death Valley NationalMonument lies a hidden valleyand amystery. The valley contains a dry lakeapproximately one-and-a-quarter mileswide and three miles long. The Race-track Playa at first glance appears likeany other of hundreds of such dry lakesin the southwest.It has one different and mystifyingfeature; rocks and other objects on itssurface have been known to shift, moveand skate about! No one has actuallyseen any of these objects move but thetracks left from such movement areobvious.There are many theories explainingthe phenomena. Some say it has to do

with the earth's magnetism, while othersclaim it is related to the sunspots. Stillothers suspect the gravitational pull ofthe moon producing an effect similar tothe ocean's tides. Under scientific exam-ination, however, most of these theoriescan be dismissed.The wind is immediately suspect ofbeing the culprit. This alone seems un-likely for a number of reasons. First,many of these moving rocks are roundin shape. It seems the wind wouldtend to roll such objects like a bowlingball. Such is not the case however.

28Death Valley's mysterious moving stones have puzzled scientists for years, al-though the most popular theory is they are moved by winds when the usually drylake is covered with ice.


29/44

hile it is easy to tear holes inotherit is difficult to sug-

a solution which itself is not flaw-Abou t theonly thing observers can

is that thetracks aretruly aof nature and not some prank-

idea of a joke. It appears that theat theplaya's edge all

andwaits with a movie cameratheaction tobegin. Any volunteers?

The Racetrack can be reached by con-by way of a 25in the north end

A more scenic route comes up fromandgoes over pinyon-covered

the dirtof this route is almost 40

and may be a little moreat first, leaves

190 at a point approximatelyof theDarwin Road. Signs

it as the Saline Valley Road.15.7 miles to a junction. The

the right fork which continues toup the slopes of Hunter Moun-If you disregard the numerous

evi-of use, the next major road

be at TeaKett le Junction,the last one. Turn left

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No onehas ever seen thestones actually move. Some of thegiant boulders weighmore than 500 pounds. Thearea is in thenorthern part of scenic Death Valley.here and the Racetrack is but 7 milesdown the valley. This second route isnot difficult for vehicles with highcleaxance, andwith care canusually benegotiated by standard passenger carsif they are not tooheavily laden. Thisroute is not recommended unless youare a seasoned desert driver. Neitherroute should be attempted unless yourtires are ingood condition.

The best time tovisit theRacetrack isin the spring or fall, although the weath-er may be pleasant on many winterdays. Because of the extremely hightemperatures and lack of assistanceshould youbecome stranded, theRace-track area should be avoided during thesummer months .

There are noestablished campgroundsat theRacetrack, butmany campers havefound shelter in The Grands tandalarge rock outcrop at the northern endof thePlaya. Plenty of water should becarried, however, as thenearest depend-able source of drinking water is at Gold-belt Spring, some 20miles away on theHunter Mountain Road. Whether youspend anhour or a day there, theriddleof the Racetrack is sure to prove fas-

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cinating. 29


30/44

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MAGAZINE Palm Desert Cal i fornia 92260


31/44

FROM A COASTAL city in California

More recently, on a camping trip, I met

They invited me to join them at their

got the impression that the father had

They were very intelligent people, and

ot just the kind of outdoor life thatonsists of long motor trips on pavedroads. They realized that such activityor hick of activitycould become verytedious to energetic young people. Theywould camp out and make a grand ad-venture of the chores of cooking overan open fire, sleeping on the ground,and exploring the canyons and moun-tainsIn order to have companions qualifiedto help and instruct them they joinedthe Sierra Club of California, whosemembers camp in the mountains or onthe beaches or in the desert nearly everyweekend of the year.

To middle-aged people who havenever slept on the ground in their lives,the first few nights may not be too com-fortable. There are some problems incamping that can be solved only by thetrial and error method. But humans whohave kept their adaptive functions canadjust to the experience.

A D V E N T U I 1 E SI N

D E S E R TC A M P I N Gby Randall Henderson

Using the copy comp iledin his reporter's notebook duringmore than 50 years as ajourna list on the Am ericandesert, Randall Henderson,founder of the Desert Magazinein 1937, recently has completed abook to be published inOctober by Westernlore Pressin Los Angeles under the title"Sun, Sand and Solitude."Following are some of theauthor's experiences recordedin his chapter "Adventuresin Camping." Mr. Henderson isalso author of the excellentbook, "On Desert Trails."

It is the plan of the parents, as thegirls grow older, to invite their boyfriends on these camping trips. With afew exceptions youngsters like campingand exploring, and there probably is nomore wholesome environment for theiractivities than evenings around a camp-fire and days spent in close associationwith the natural things of this earth.Some campers spend hours preparingelaborate meals with soup and salad andall the thrills of a Thanksgiving dinner,and more hours washing pots and pansand dishes. And that is all right if theylike to do it that way. I happen to be oneof those indolent campers who wouldrather eat crackers and cheese than fussaround with a camp stove and a lot ofdirty dishes.I have rather prided myself on the

simplicity of my camp chores, but re-cently I learned some new labor-savinggimmicks from a couple of friends fromthe city. I regard them as the world'schampions when it comes to preparinga camp dinner. Here is their formula:Their tools are a coffee pot and somepaper utensils. For dinner in the eve-ning they scoop out a little cavity in thesand and build a fire big enough for thecoffee pot and a couple of cans. A fewsticks of dead creosote will provide allthe flame they need. Then they open thelids on the cans, perhaps one vegetableand one meat, and set them in the firealong with the coffee pot. When thefood is hot it is served on paper plateswith paper cups. After the meal theyburn the utensils, smash the cans andbury them with the fire, rinse the in-side of the coffee-maker and put it ina paper bag. This takes only a few min-utes and allows them extra hours forexploring the nearest canyon.Now that is my idea of campingbut I am not going to argue with any-one about it because others may have aformula which suits them betterandafter all, the glory of a camping trip onthe desert is in the opportunity to getaway from that pestiferous tribe ofhuman beings who are everlastingly try-ing to get you to do as they do andthink as they think.This is being written in September

and in another month I will be gettingout my hiking boots and making circlesaround some of the dates on my calen-3 1


32/44

dardates scheduled for weekend camp-ing trips into desert canyons and moun-tains during the winter season.

Since my home is less than a hundredmiles from the Mexican border, I ' l l bemaking two or three trips into BajaCalifornia where there are many lovelypalm canyons few humans have evervisited because they are so inaccessible.Also on my agenda for this season isa gem-stone collecting area along theColorado river which can most easilybe reached by boat, and a backpackjaunt into the Santa Rosa Mountains insearch of a cavethe walls of which aresaid to be blackened by the soot of an-cient Indian fires. The more years I l iveon the desert the longer grows the list ofremote places I want to visit and explore.

And of course I ' l l be resuming my life-long quest for a meteorite. I think Iwould get a greater thrill in finding achip off the moon or one of the distantstars than in find ing a gold mine . I 'vebeen looking for one for more than 50years and I hav en't found it yet. Prob-ably I have passed over hundreds of:hem, for the celestial bodies are said tohave been pelting this earth with stoneand metal fragments for millions of years.I always carry a piece of emery paper, atthe suggestion of a science professor. "Ifin doubt" he told me, just rub the stonewith emery and if it is a meteorite it maydisclose bright specks of nickel or iron."

Soon after the school year ends inJune each year, and during the Christ-mas and Easter vacations, motor travel toand from and across the desert South-west reaches a peak. Heavy travel, es-pecially on weekends, brings out a blazeof "No Vacancy" signs along the road-side. All of which is evidence of goodbusiness for the motel proprietors, butexasperating sometimes to the motoristwho has been at the wheel since earlymorning .

I have found a simple formu la forbeating the "No Vacancy" situation. Mysolution will not appeal to everyone, butit offers a carefree way to travel on thedesert where , wi th proper equipment , onemay sleep comfortably out of doors almostevery night of the year.

There's always a sleeping bag and abox of groceries in my car. And in thesleeping bag is one of those pneumatic32

mattressesthe kind that can be inflatedeither with the tire pump or my ownlung power. The latter method is a fineexercise in deep breathing. I generallycarry a two-third length mattress. Itserves adequately, and takes less puffing.

In the great expanse of the desertSouthwest there are a hun dred thousandarroyos and sheltered coves and levelmesas where one can park not far fromthe road, spread the bedroll on theground and sleep in security and comfort.I carry a lightweight waterproof tarpaul-in, and if it starts to rain during thenightas it seldom doesmy bedrollsheds water like a duck. One of my In-dian friends once said to me: "Good forwhite man sleep on the ground, allrame Indian."

Traveling with that kind of insurancegives one a freedom of action and a sortof gypsy independence that adds im-measurably to the pleasure of the tripeven when I have no occasion to use thesleeping bag. The "No Vacancy" signscause no dismay because the wide opendesert always has ample bedroom space.

Of course there are many refinementsto the comfort of sleeping outdoorsacot for those who have inhibitions regard-ing crawling reptiles, a wool ski cap forcold weather, a hot rock for addedwarmth if needed, an electric lantern forreading in bed, a thermos of hot coffeefor a morning rouser. But I regard a tentmerely as needless excess baggage.

A few cans and packages of food area good standby for emergencyin factI fare better with my private larder thanin some of the roadside eating places.There are no more skilled chefs on earththan the cooks who prepare the cannedand packaged goods on the marketshelves.

Once on a trip through New Mexico Ifound a new function for my grub box.I had stopped at one of the roadsidestands where the Pueblo Indian womensell their pottery to passing motorists.When I started to leave without havingbought any of the ceramics, the elderlyIndian woman said, "Maybe you havesomething, t rade?"

When I asked what she meant, shesaid: "You got groceries?"

That was an idea. So I got out the grubbox, and for the next half hour we had agrand time swapping sardines and canned

peaches and soda crackers for decoratedpottery. I would select a piece of herearthenware. Then she would reach intothe box and set out the items she wantedin exchange for it. Of course she askedmore than it was worthor expected toget. So I would deduct a can of spaghetti ,or reach into her stock for another pieceof pottery.

She would giggle and I would hag-gleand I don' t know yet who got thebest of the deal. But we both had a lotof fun.

Yes, the food box is a useful item,whether you are on a camping trip or not.And with a sleeping bag stowed awaywith the luggage for each member of theparty you can laugh at the "No Vacancy"signs, and the memory of that night onthe sand will long remain a pleasantrecollection.

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