197311 desert magazine 1973 november

8/14/2019 197311 Desert Magazine 1973 November

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NO VEM BER , 1973 50ICD 06?i


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y o u r .. m e t a ll o c a t o ro b s o l e t e !RECISION'S MARKSMAKES IT SO;

N o w P r e c is i o n g i v e s y o u t h e b e t t e r l o c a t o rt o do the j o b s d e m a n d e d by t o d a y ' ss o p h i s t i c a t e d p r o s p e c t o r an d t r e a s u r eh u n t e r .Heres whyi t ' s better. Truetonel o u d s p e a k e r . S e n s i t i v ei n d ic a t in g m e t e r . 7 " s e a r c hl o o p . B a t t e r yt e s t e r . G r o u n dc o n t r o l . T - R c i r c u i t .

M e t a l - M i n e r a lc o n t r o l . T e l e s c o p i n gs h a f t . S p a c e a g eh e a d p h o n e s V e r n i e rt u n i n g . 2 y e a rg u a r a n t e e .N e w u l tr a s c a n w a t e r p r o o f s e a r c h l o o p w i th up to4 - ti m e s as m u c h c o v e r a g e as o t h e r T - R ' s . Com-p l e t e w i t h P r e c i s i o n s g e o - b a l a n c e c o n t r o l , fo r w o r k -in g in h i g h ly m i n e r a l iz e d g r o u n d , s a l t w a t e r , w etg r a s s , e t c .

O r d e r n o w. . . or s e n df o r m o r ei n fo r m a t io n .

G e n e r a l E l e c t ro n i c D e t e c t i o n C o .1 6 2 3 8 L a k e w o o d B o u le v a r d

B E L L F L O W E R , C A L I F O R N I A 9 0 7 0 6

A s N O T E D in the August issue, theBureau of Land Management hasput the finishing touches on its D esertPlan for the operation of O ff-Road Ve-hicles. T his preliminary draft will besent on to Sacramento for approval byRuss Penney, State D irector for theBLM.T his plan was not an overnight, slap-

together, but a carefully scrutinized planto allow the most availability to the manyspecial interest groups and yet restrict theareas most susceptible to major damage bysevere overuse. T hose who have not beento the desert areas on weekends simply donot realize the crush of people and ve-hicles that congregate in certain areas.D ata was gathered from many organi-zations, clubs, etc., and fed into the River-side office where N eil Pfulb, director ofthe D esert Plan , and his staff analyzed andestimated use of the desert area.T he culmination of this small staffs'effort is lauded by this magazine as beingan earnest step in the right direction. T histype of land-use restriction has never beendone before, there were no standards tofollow and there were pressures from eachspecial interest group to keep things theway that was best for them.So now we have a starting point. Someareas are closed, some restricted and thefirst step has been taken. T he accompany-ing photograph is a graphic example ofwhy desert management is necessary. Inthe photo it clearly shows a "N o T res-pass" sign. Also in the photo are a num-

P u b l i s h e r ' sber of vehicle owners who just don't givea damn about that sign. It is scenes likethis, multiplied over and over, that havebeen one of the major reasons for controls.People do not respect other people's pro-perty, their rights, or the laws of the land.

What a fantasy world it must be to somany. Just doing what they want, wherethey want and when they want!Controls are necessary and so is respect.Respect is defined in the dictionary thusly:"T o view or consider with some degree ofreverence." O ur desert deserves respect.It's about time the wheel began to turnthe other way. If it doesn't, one thing iscertain. We won't have the desert to kickaround any more.

Desert Magazine


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W I L L I A M K N Y V E T T , P U B L I S H E R - E D I T O R

GEORGE BRAGA, Art DirectorMARY FRANCES STRONG, Field Trip EditorJ A C K P E P P E R , Special Feature EditorE N I D C . H O W A R D , Associate EditorF. A . B A R N E S , Utah Associate EditorGLENN VARGAS, Lapidary EditorK. L. B OYNT ON, NaturalistM A R V E L B A R R E T T . Circulation Manager

Volume 36, N umber 11 N O VE MBE R, 1973

CONTENTSF E / M U R E S

THE COVER:D iadem of sand Miijriscon Mesquite Flat dunts.D e at h V alle y N a t i o n a lMonum ent , Calif. Photo byD avid Muencb, Santa Bar-bara, California.

H U N G R Y B IL L'S H I D E A W A YD E A T H VA LLE Y G H O S T S

T E C O P A C O U N T R YD E SE R T N I G H T L IZ A RD

A N I N C I D E N T O F M E M O RYT H E L O N E L IE S T R O A D

P A GE S O F T H E P A STD E A T H V A L L E Y E N C A M P M E N T

O L D E S T HO U SE I N A M E RIC A

Betty ShannonStanley PaherMary Frances StrongK. I.. BoyntonHelen WalkerRuss LeadabrandTom BaugbProgram of Eventsdrover Brinkman

D E P A R T M E N T SP E E K I N T H E P U BL IS H E R 'S P O K E

B O O K S F O R D E S E R T R E A D E R SD E S E R T L IF E

R A M B L IN G O N R O C KSLE T T E R S T O T H E E D I T O R

C ALE N D A R O F W E S T E R N E V E N T S

William KnyvettBook ReviewsHans BaenvaldGlenn and Martha VargasReader's CommentsClub Activities

E D I T O R I A L , C I R C U L A T I O N A N D A D V E R T I S I N G O F F I C E S : 7 4- 10 9 La rr ea S t., P al m D e s e rt , Ca li fo rn ia 9 2 2 6 0 . T e l e p ho n e A re a C o de714 346-8144. Li sted in Standard Rate and D at a. SU BSCRIPT IO N RA T E S: U ni t ed St ates, Canada and Mexi co; 1 year, $5.00; 2 years,$9.50; 3 years $1 30 0. O ther foreign sub scribers add $1 .00 U.S . currency for each year. See Subscription O rder F orm in this issue. Allowfive weeks for change of address and send both new and old addresses with zip codes. D E SE RT Magaz ine is published monthly. Secondclass postage paid at Palm D esert, California and at additional mailing offices under A ct of March 3, 1879. Contents copyrighted 1 973by D E SE RT Mag azine and permission to reproduc e any or all contents must be secured in writing . Unsolicited m anuscripts and photo-g r a p h s W I L L N O T B E R E T U R N E D u n le s s ac c o mp a n ie d b y a s el f- a dd r es se d a nd s ta m p ed e nv e l op e .November, 1973


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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 p100 HIKING TRAILS by Don and Roberta Lowe.There are two separate books: one on trai ls inNorthern California and the other in SouthernCalifornia. Both have 100 tr ips (both easy andrugged) described in detai l . Both books are 225pages, heavy paperback, $5.95 each. Whenordering state whether you want NORTHERN orSOUTHERN Hiking Trails.LOAFING ALO NG DEATH VALLEY TRAILS by W il-l iam Caruthers. Author Caruthers was a newspa-per man and a ghost writer for early movie stars,pol i t ic ians and indust r ia l is ts . He "s lowed down"long enough to move to Death Valley and therewrote his on-ths-spot story that wil l take youthrough the quest for gold on the deserts of Cal i -fornia and Nevada. Hardcover, old photos, 187pages, $4.25.CALIFORNIA-NEVADA GHOST TOWN ATLAS andSOUTHWESTERN GHOST TOWN ATLAS by RobertNeil Johnson. These at lases are excellent do-it -your self guides to lead you back to scenes andplaces of the early West. Some photos and manydetai led maps wi th legends and br ight , detai leddescript ions of what you wil l see, also mileageand highway des ignat ions. Heavy paperback,each 48 pages, $2.00 each.MINES OF JULIAN by Helen Ellsberg. The townsof Jul ian and Banner located above the Anza-Borrego State Park in San Diego County, are littleknown for their mining history. I t did happen,though, some 20 years after the Mother Loderush. The authors remarkable abi l i t y to g leanthis informat ion f rom old- t imers and digging intonewspapers and old records makes this a ski l l -ful ly blended story. Paperback, historic photo-graphs, reference mater ia l , 68 pages, $1.95.THE ROCKS BEGIN TO SPEAK by LaVan Martin-eau. The author tells how his interest in rockwrit ing led to years of study and how he haslearned that manyespec ia l ly the complex pet -roglyphs are historical accounts of actualevents. Hardcover, wet l i l lustrated, glossary,b ib l i og raphy , 210 pages , $8 . 95 .TEMALPAKH by Lowell John Bean and KatherineSiva Saubel . Temalpakh means " f rom the ear th, "in Cahuil la, and covers the many uses of plantsused for f ood , medicine, r i tuals and those used inthe manufacturing of baskets, sandals, hunt ingtools; and plants used for dwell ings. Makes fora better understanding of environmental and cul-tural re lat ionships . Wel l i l lus t rated, 225 pages,hardcover , $10.00; paperback, $6.50.FOUR WHEEL DRIVE HANDBOOK by James T.Crow and Cameron Warren. Packed into thisvolume is mater ia l gathered f rom actual exper i -ence and presented in a detai led manner so itcan easily be fol lowed and understood. Highlyrecommended for anyone interested in backcountry driving. Paperback, i l lustrated 96 pages,$3 . 95 .ARIZONA by David Muench. The f inest pictorialpresentat ion of the Grand Canyon State everpublished. One of the outstanding color photo-graphers of the world, Muench has selected 1 6 0of his 4-color photographs which are augmentedby comprehensive text of David Toll . Hardcover,11x14 format , 200 heavy s l ick pages. $25.00.MAP OF PIONEER TRAILS Compiled by VarnaEnterprises. Publishers of popular maps on lostmines and ghost towns in California, Varna hasreleased a new large map on pioneer trai lsblazed f rom 1541 throug h 1867 in the westernUnited States. Superimposed in red on blackand whi te, the 37x45- inch map is $4,00.

BAJA CALIFORNIA BY ROAD, AIRPLANE ANDBOAT by Clif f Cross. Author of a popular travelguide to the mainland of Mexico, Cross hascompiled a comprehensive book on Baja Cal i -forn ia. The new guide is we ll i l lustrated w ithdetai led maps of the v i l lages and bays alongthe 1000-mile route plus travel, history andf ishing information. Large format, heavy paper-back, 170 pages. $3.50.NEVADA GHOST TOWNS AND MINING CAMPSby Stanley W. Paher. Covering al l of Nevada's17 count ies, Paher has documented 575 miningcamps, many of which have been erased fromthe earth. The book contains the greatest andmost complete collect ion of historic photographsof Nevada ever published. This, coupled withhis excellent writ ing and map, creates a bookof last ing value. Large 9x11 format, 700photographs, hardcover , 492 pages, $15.00.

WESTERN GEM HUNTERS ATLAS by Cy Johnsonand Son. A helpfu l book of detai led m aps show-ing gem and mineral locat ions, f rom Californiato the Dakotas and Brit ish Columbia to Texas.Markings note private claims, gem claims (feecharged) and rock and gem locat ions. Alsosuggested reading for more detai l on areasincluded and other r ich areas not included inthis publicat ion. Paperback, maps galore, col-lec tor 's l ibrary , 79 pages, $3.00.THE BEAUTIFUL SOUTHWEST by the Editors ofSunset Books. A pictorial with a brief text show-ing modern day act iv it ies of cit ies such asPhoenix, El Paso, Taos, and communit ies belowthe Mexican border, and covering the South-western states, canyons and deserts. 240 photo-graphs of which 47 are four-color, large format,223 pages, hardcover , $10.95.OVERLAND STAGE TO CALIFORNIA AND THEPONY EXPRESS by Frank A. Root. A first-handaccount of a mai l agent who l ived and foughtwith the men who sett led the West throughtheir ef forts to establish communicat ion acrossthe wilderness during the 1800's. First publish-ed in 1901 and just republished. Heavy stockand hardcover, original art ist i l lustrat ions, two1800 maps, 645 pages, this is a book forhis tory buf fs , $15.00.ON DESERT TRAILS by Randall Henderson, founcler and publisher of Desert Magazine for 23years. One of the f irst good writers to revealthe beauty of the mysterious desert areas. Hen-derson's experiences., combined with his com-ments on the dese rt of yesterday and today,make this a MUST for thoso who really wantto understand the desert . 375 pages, i l lustrated.Hardcover . $6.95.

WRITEFORCOMPLETE BOOK CATALOG

GHOST TOWNS OF THE NORTHWEST by Nor manD. Weis. The ghost-town country of the Pacif icNorthwest including tr ips to many l i t t le-knownareas, is explored in this f irst-hand factual andinteresting book. Excellent photography. Bestbook to date on ghost towns of the Northwest.Maps. Hardcover, heavy sl ick paper, 319 pages.$6 . 95 .GEM TRAILS IN CALIFORNIA oy A. L. Abbott.This compact little book can easily be carriedwhiie hiking or r iding and combines detai ledmap drawings with pictures. In addit ion to gemand mineral names with their specif ic locat ions,there are other ieads to nearby ghost towns, fos-si ls, campgrounds and recreat ion areas. Paper-back, well i l lustrated, 84 pages, $2.95.WILY WOMEN OF THE WEST by Grace ErnestineRay. Such women of the West as Belle Starr,Catt le Kate and Lola Montez weren't al l goodand weren't al l bad, but were fascinat ing andconf ict ing personalit ies, as researched by theauthor. Their l ives of adventure were a vitalpart of the l i fe of the Old West. Hardcover, i l lus-t rated, 155 pages, $5.95.DANCING GODS by Erna Ferguson. Many Indiandances and ceremonies of the Southwest areopen to the public, but some are restricted orclosed to vie win g. H ow this came about is ex-plained by the author who describes and locatesthe dances open to the public, and why someare not. Paperback, i l lustrated, 280 pages, $2.45.LAS VEGAS (As I t BeganAs It Grew) by Stan-ley W. Paher. Here is the first general history ofearly Las Vegas ever to be published. The authorwas born and raised there in what, to many, isconsidered a town synonymous with lavish gamb-l ing and unabashed night l i fe. Newcomers to thearea, and even natives themselves, will be sur-prised by the facts they did not know about theirtown. Western Americana book lovers wil l appre-ciate the usefulness of this book. You don't haveto gamble on this one! Hardcover, large format,loaded with historical photos, 180 pages, $10.95PADRE ISLAND (Treasure Kingdom of the World)by Wi l l iam Mahan. At the age of 13 the authorhad done research en lost treasures and complet-ed a scrapbeok en the subject. In later years, hediscovered "Padre Island," of f the coast of hishome state of Texas. Bil l Mahan is well quali f iedfor his work having made countless trips toPadre where he relates in historical detail of losttreasures, shipwrecks and savage Indian tr ibes.I f you are an historian or treasure hunter, you' l l" d i g " this adventurous account ing. Hardcover,i l lustrat ions, maps, translat ions of Fray Marcosde Mena from Spanish to English, 139 pages,$6 . 95 .LOST LEGENDS OF THE WEST by Brad Williamsand Choral Pepper. The authors examine thn" lo re , legends, characters and myths that grewout of the Old West" in a sequel to their popu-lar first book. The Mysterious West. Includedamong the more than 20 "lost legends" areGuch intriguing subjects as lost bones, lostladies, lost towns, and lost diamonds. Hardcover, i l lustrated, 192 pages, $5.95.GHOST TOWNS OF THE WEST by the Editors ofSunset. Compares the past with the present andprovides both a detai led and overal l picture ofthe early-day west. The outstanding collect ion ofhistoric photographs are matched by current-day photos by Wil l iam Carter. Hardcover, 11x9format, heavy sl ick paper, 225 pages, maps,diagrams, etc . $11.75.

Desert Magazine


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B o o k s f o rD e s e r tH e a d e r s

CALIFORNIAAn IllustratedHistoryByT. H. Watkins

The author is a native Californian andhis articles on western history and con-servation have appeared in many maga-zines, including American Heritage. Heis an associate editor of The AmericanWest.

This 400-year epic of the Golden State,from the coming of the Spaniards to ourchallenging present, is not only colorfulin historical fact, but in the many illus-trations of the old and the new in pictureand art form. It is considered the mostbeautiful and comprehensive pictorialtreatment the history of California hasever received; some 150 illustrations withmore than 100 of them reproduced in fullcolor.

From 1540 to 1900, the author de-scribes "The Land Waiting" as he pro-gresses from myth to reality in SectionO n e , called "The Island" and a land ofgolden griffinsthe arrival of the Span-iards, the Indians, who were already here,and the arrival of the Padres like FrayJunipero Serra, who built their missionsalong the Spanish trails.

From there California unfolds into Sec-tion Two, "The Money Machine" whereinare described the Fools of '49, along withthe advent of the railroad, the automobileand all that went with the excitement ofthe days of gold. Politics, people andpower also enter into the picture andCalifornia as a state reaches out for waterand oil. Then came the romance of wheelsand wings when aviation became synony-mous with Southern California, leadinginto the 20th Century, through the SanNovember, 1973

F r a nc is c o e a r thqua ke and on into thedepression that s we pt thr ough the stateeconomy like a scythe creating a welter1of problems and a de a r th of solutions.

T he m ovie indus tr y and the g l a m o rthat was o n c e H o l l y w o o d l a n d and the" D r e a m M a c h i n e , " s o m e of whic h c a m etrue, pa ints a nothe r c ha pte r in this color-ful epic. From there the author takes hisreaders to "The G i a n t W i t h F o u r L e g s , "in which is described the rise of Califor-nia a gr ic ul tur e a n e pic of water, land,industr ialization, and labor.

T h e n on to "The Celebration of Steel,"s u r r o u n d i n g the o p e n i n g s of the G o l d e nGa te B r idge and the San F r a nc is c o- O a k-land Bay Br idge in the mid-30s . T h e ncame the war years and industry connectedwith it, the politics following, the conser-vation, the pla nne d c om m unit ie s , newg r o w t h , new architecture, and the con-stant challenge of the concept and ef-fects of this gr owth.

California is a m onum e nta l a c hie ve -ment, crossing the barriers of t im e toilluminate both past and pr e s e nt . It is apowerful tool in the que s t of unde r s ta nd-i n g w h i c h is, as the a uthor has writtenelsewhere, "that shield we hold againstfate and its consequences, the only realreason for the art of his tor y. "

Hardcover, large format, beautifullyillustrated, 544 pa ge s , $25. 00. [~J

TURQUOISByJoseph E. Pogue(Memoirs of theNational Academyof Sciences.)

9 *?

:

A uthor P ogue holds an incredible num-be r of dis t inguis he d and honored posi-tions in the fields of petroleum and geo-logical technology. Along with these tal-ents, he defies the dictionary by pr e pa r inghis paper on Turc/uois without the final" e . "

T he f irst edition of this "Rio G r a n d eClassic" was published in 1915; the pres-ent, or third edition, in 1973. The thirddiffers from the first in the f ol lowingwa ys : A new P ublis he r ' s P r e f a c e , a newscholarly introduction, a new alphabeticallisting of c ur r e nt ly- ope r a t ing tur quois em ine s , a new and extensive list of refer-ences and bibl iogr a phy and 16 new fullcolor plates with captions and ta ble .

T he wor k c onta ins e ve rything youmighl: want to k n o w a b o u t T u r q u o i s e , butwere always afraid to ask. The publishers,the author, the assist from geologist-min-ing e ngine e r Rex A r r o w s m i t h , and colorp h o t o g r a p h y of Len Bouche, RichardD e lls pr oduc tion staff, all must takecredit for a fascinating history of a valu-able mineral as well as one of mysticproperties and religious signification.Hardcover, illustrated with photos andplates 175 pages, $15.00. Book; l is te d may be o b t a i n e d f r o m ourD e s e r t M a g a z i n e B o o k S h o p , Box 1318,P alm D eser t, Calif., 92260. California

residents please add state sales tax.

FOR A COMPLETE LINEOF BOOKS ANDMAPS ON

WRITE FOR ILLUSTRATEDFREE BROCHUREH I G H D E S E R T B O O K S T O R EP.O. BOX 161LITTLEROCK, CALIF. 93543

G o l d e n C h i aAncient Indian Energy Food

By HARRISON DOYLET h e a u th o r of 'Boy's Eyeview of theWild West," first saw the Moj ave D esertthrough the dust curtains of a Concord"Muok in Am eri ca on this ancient food."101) pages, i l lustrated. Paperback, $4.75;cloth cover, $7.75, postpaid. (Californiaresidents add sales tax.)

HILLSIDE PRESSP. O. Box 785

Vista, California 92083


8/48

A PARK SERVICE sign marks the be-ginning of the Johnson Canyonjeep trail. But that's all there is to indi-cate the way to the site of one of D eathValley's most unusual and improbableenterprises.Johnson Canyon penetrates the heartof that massive block of mountains thatforms D eath Valley's western wall, thePanam int range. T he upper reaches ofthe canyon have been blessed with anample supply of the desert's most pre-cious commodity, water. T here are severalsprings and a clear, sparkling streamwhich flows miles down canyon before itsinks and disappears into the gravel wash.

However, the canyon is barely widerthan the stream in many places, its wallsare steep and precipitous, and what littlesoil exists is poor and liberally laced withrocks, making Johnson Canyon a mostunlikely place for agriculture.But in 1873 a startling announcementreached the west's centers of civilization,sparking wild hopes and even wilderspeculation. Silver had been discovered

Above: A segmentof the stone-lined

aqueduct thatwinds through

Johnson Canyon.Right: One ofthe mysterious

stone walls, builtby the Indians,

and the cause of agreat d eal of

concern amongPanamint pros-

pectors until thereason for their

constructionbecame evident.

H U N G R YB I L L ' S

m C


9/48

One ofthe threefig treesplanted bythe Swissfarmers.

b yB e t t yS h a n n o nI D E A W A Y

on the western slope of the Panamints.Within a year, hundreds of people wereswarming across the desert and up a nar-row toll road into the newly establishedPanamint City.F ollowing that trail was a small butambitious group of Swiss immigrants.Knowing that a mining camp cannot livesolely on the gleam of metallic riches,and seeing the scarcity of fresh produceand the price it could demand, the immi-grants continued on over the crest of themountains. T heir journey ended in John-son Canyon. Settling down to the back-breaking task of removing brush andboulders, they cleared a spot where theyhoped to grow fruit and vegetables tofeed the isolated town's burgeoning pop-ulation. From the site they had selectedtheir market was ten miles away by trail.Although little is known about thegroup, there is evidence that their agri-cultural adventure met with at least limitedsuccess. Lieutenant Rogers Birnie, Jr., onan assignment to explore D eath Valley,led a contingent of seven men through

November, 1973

Johnson Canyon in July, 1875. In hisjournd of the expedition he mentionedpassing a small place where vegetableswere being raised by irrigation. But Pana-mint's boom was short-lived, and its bustthat sime year also ended the hopes ofthe Swiss farmers.T oday, by following a foot trail upJohnson Canyon, visitors can see theremnants of their efforts. T he "ra nch"lies along the north side of the creek ata point where the canyon is wide andopen. Four thick stone walls enclose theone-time garden plot, and gently slopingarea about 300 feet long and 100 feetwide. Evenly spaced along the north wallare three ancient fig trees, survivors ofa fledging fruit orchard that was said tohave ilso included apple trees. T houghlacking care and adequate water, thetrees still faithfully bear a crop of dim inu-tive yellow Kadota figs each year.The immigrants probably lived in tentsduring their brief occupancy of JohnsonCanyon. Contrary to one published report,there is no abandoned stone-wall house,nor are there the ruins of any such struc-ture. Chiseled into the sloping north sideof the canyon are three level areas, eachabout 12 feet square, which most likelywere the sites for tent houses.After the departure of the Swiss, Hun-gry Bill, the son of a Shoshone chief,claimed the ranch and for years it remain-


10/48

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The sign along Death Valley's Westside road marking the Johnson Canyon jeeptrail. In the background trail climbs the alluvial fan to the mouth of the canyon.cd his exclusive domain. As a young boy,Hungry Bill is said to have witnessed theentrance of the f irst white people intoD e a th Va lley in 1849.

Conflicting accounts of Hungry Billand his exploits have been recorded inseveral early volumes on D eath V alleyhistory. However, all do seem to agreethat Hungry Bill acquired his name-through his habit of stopping white mentraveling across D eath Valley and beggingfood from their packs. T he stories varyas to the fate of those w ho refused hisrequests.

J ohns on Ca nyon wa s c ons ide r e d theancestral home of Hungry Bill 's people.A cave, far up the canyon, was the bir th-plac e of P a na m in t T o m , br othe r of Hun-gry Bill. I t is a probable assumption thatwhen Bill took up residence at the aban-doned ranch he was only repossessing landthat he considered r ightfully his. But onehistorical source states that the Indian re-ceived the ranch as payment for his ser-vice to the government as a scout duringthe Modoc War in the lava beds of north-ern California.

A role in the tamin g of D eath V alleyhas also been attr ibuted to the tall, power-fully-built Shoshone. Following the dis-covery of borax, the company contractedwith Hungry Bill and his brother tobuild a road across that broken, torturedla nds c a pe now known the the D e vil ' sGolf C ourse. T ogeth er they succeeded insmoothing a trail for the borax wagonsby beating the pinnacles of the saltbed

in

f lat with sledge ham mers. Th ey also sup-plied fuel, mesquite brush and wood forten dollars a cord, to boil the borax.

T hr ough out the yea rs Johns on Ca nyonhas also attracted its share of prospectorsand miners. Although no great wealthhas been credited to the canyon, its in-teresting assortment of artifacts remainsfrom the early day mining activities.

A small, stone-lined aqueduct, severalstretches of it still intact, snakes alongthe canyon bottom. T her e are at least threearrastras, a primitive device of Mexicanorigin for pulverizing ore. An arrastraconsists of a circular wall built around acentral pivot point; the enclosed area ispaved w ith flat stones. O re was placed inthe basin-like structure, and heavy stoneswere pulled over the ore, eventually break-ing it up. Usually a burro or mule, yokedto a center shaft, provided the energy tooperate the arrastra, but at least one ofthe arrastras in Johnson Canyon may havebeen water-powered. A stone structure, ad-jacent to one, appears to have once helda water barrel.

T he most curious constructions, how-ever, are several stone walls, about threefeet high, unconnected, and which seem-ingly serve no useful purpose. O ne wallruns only twenty or thirty feet along arecess in the canyon's south face highabove the streambed. Another runs severalhundred feet, following the contours ofa brushy hillside and roughly parallel tothe stream.According to a report published in

Desert Magazine


11/48

1891, the Indians had only recently builtthe meandering walls, their constructioncausing a great deal of concern amongprospectors in the Panamints. As miningwas forecast in the minds of the whitemen, it was assumed the stones were be-ing piled as a line of fortification to de-fend discoveries of immense value.

However, mutton, not money, was ofmore immediate importance to the Sho-shones. The walls had been strategicallyplaced along the runways of the desertbighorns, to serve as blinds for the hunt-ers. As a result, thirty sheep were takenin a big drive. When the Indians were ob-served bringing the game into their camps,the excitement among the prospectorsquieted down.

Remote and removed from the impactof civilization. Johnson Canyon is onlya little more accessible than it was a cen-tury ago. The Johnson Canyon jeep trailtakes off from Death Valley's Westsideroad, eight miles south of the site of theEagle Borax works. The trail is roughand rocky as it climbs the alluvial fan, adistance of six miles from the Westsideroad to the mouth of the canyon.

Officially the trail terminates there, but

it is possible to drive another three andone-half miles by following the previoustracks up a broad, rocky wash. The can-yon divides about two and one-half milesfrom its mouth. One set of tracks followsthe south fork and ends in a short dis-tance. The main trail continues up thenorth fork for another mile, crosses thelast trickle of the stream before it dis-appears underground, and ends in a lushgrove of cottonwoods. Here, on the slopeabove the stream are several excellent,but unimproved campsites. This also isthe beginning of the foot trail which con-tinues on up Johnson Canyon.

The first arrastra, an exceptionally wellpreserved example, is just a few hundredyards up the canyon on the south sideof the trail. Watch for it, as it is easyto walk past without recognizing the care-fully placed stones which blend into thedesert landscape so well.

The trail continues up the canyon,closely paralleling the stream, crossingand recrossing it several times. The hiketo the ranch takes about an hour, a dis-tance of two or two and one-half miles.

Hungry Bill died in 1928. It is saidthat recently his sister, Mabel Bill, and

her husband spent a summer at HungryBill's Hideaway.

Wht.t voices they might have heardreverberating from those deep canyonwalls! Perhaps there's a legend there alive, vital, yet untold. So when you visitJohnson Canyon, let your imagination racewith h:story . . . listen for Hungry Bill'smoccasins padding along the creek bed . . .you may even "see" a tall shadow of thisnoble Shoshone! ( ]

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November, 19'/'3 11


12/48

Headquarters for horse-driven stages at Rhyolite in1905 was at the Southern Hotel, which boasteda first class grill and bar. Rhyolite's finesthotel also had 36 furnished rooms,many with private baths,a luxury on thedesert.

B O R A X M I N I N G , high temperwestbound emigrants and f or bde s e r ts the s e wor ds are frequentsociated with D eath Valley. F roa ir pla ne the valley looks like a bdesolate wasteland which one wouldto cross with a m i n i m u m of delay. Ilifeless, with no apparent vegetationthe vast white stretches of saltpathe dull brown alluvial fans at thof the m ounta ins .

But D e a th Va lley has a historyvaried and significant one. The stemigrants crossing the valley in thof '49 has been told and retold, buwa s m or e . T he r e we r e gold and

Whenthe shrinersvisited Rhyolite in 1907,they paraded down Golden Street.In the rear the engine and cars of the LasVegas and Tonopah Railroad pass to the right.

EDITOR'S NOTE:Stanley Paher is theaumany books of the Wemost recent book is e"Death Valley Ghost Tand is amply docuwith almost five dozeand historic photos ofValley, towns like SRhyolite, Greenwater,

i? Desert Magazine


13/48

Mud Springs, nine miles by road north of Rhyolite,was in 1905-06 the last whiskey stop and water

stop before travelers entered Rhyolite fromthe north, the direction

of fabulousGoldfield

e y P a h e r

floor of D eath Valley.ing camp cycle of boom thenevident in D eath Valley as inIn-the skeletal ruins and foundationsrections from D eath Valley N ational

itself.nly several months after California-

Continued

\

November, 1971

Rhyolitegrew fast during

1906 and 190 7 and g ained areputation with every stroke of the pick.Lumber had to be hauled to Rhyolite inhuge wagons dravm by horse teams, as shown here.

13


14/48

At the Denvermine (left)high-grade ore issacked awaitingshipment tothe mill.Right: Not allof DeathValley'ssettlements weremining camps.Besides thefamous FurnaceCreek Ranch,there were stagestations, suchas StovepipeWells.

alkali plan in 1849, fantastic stories ofscorching temperatures and rich goldmines emanated from the valley. A fewintrepid prospectors did penetrate the east-ern California deserts for minerals duringthe decade of 1850. Initial work was start-ed at Salt Springs, a small mining district29 miles north of Baker, early in 1850.Gold discoveries there had been made ayear earlier by men following the famousMormon guide, Jefferson Hunt.

T hough worked by two mining com-panies in 1851, the effort at Salt Springsdied out within a few years. General re-moteness and Indian troubles hamperedoperations, and local arrastras (crude pitsin which ore is ground by large revolvingstones) could not make the ore pay. T herewas no mining effort in the important

mineralized areas adjacent to D eath Valleybefore I860.After 1861 a few small companies and

other individuals mined gold and silverin the deserts. Prospectors searched thearea immediately west of D eath Valleyfor the so-called "Lost Gunsight Lode,"a phantom silver deposit believed to havebeen discovered by a westbound party ofemigrants in 1849. D r. D arwin F rench's1 5-man prospec ting party found ore at apoint 25 miles south of modern Keeler, onthe east side of the Coso Range. T he newcamp of Coso that soon sprang up was aWest Coast sensation in 1861. Unfortun-ately, that effort: died out by the middleof the decade.

T he first sustained boom near D eathValley took place at Panamint, early in

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the 1870s. T hat camp on the west flankof the Panamint Range came into beingonly weeks after three prospectors foundsilver in Surprise Canyon, early in thewinter of 1873. T he magic of Panamintlured the money of investors from theBay area as well as capital from N evada'stwo Senators, Jones and Stewart. About2000 people were drawn to Panamint by1874, but the decline of the camp camea year later as small veins discouragedlarge development. A flash flood in 1876dampened the spring of the camp. Todaynumerous foundations and walls of a hugemill are left to indicate the site of Pana-mint City.Finally it was borax in the early t880sthat put D eath Valley on the map. E arlyborax mining and refining took place atthe Amargosa Borax Works (generallysummers only), Eagle Borax Works andat the Harmony Works. Work at thesethree plants took place at various timesfrom 1882 until Harmony shut down in1888. O re was hauled from the center ofD eath V alley 165 miles to the railhead atMohave by the famous 20-mule teams.

A fter 1890 brave adventurers exploredthe area and discovered many springswhich aided prospectors and travelers whoventured into the D eath Valley countryearly in this century. Such important min-ing camps as Rhyolite, Skidoo and Green-water then were developed.T he 20th century mining booms inD eath Valley came about after intensiveprospecting which had been stimulatedby the remarkable mineral discoveriesat T onopah in 1900, Goldfield in 1902,and Rhyolite in 1904. Prospectors thencombed the mountain ranges surroundingD eath V alley, and several districts were


15/48

;organized and mining development com-menced.Rhyolite was therichest and perhapsthe noisiest ofthe new desert camps earlyin this century. O nly weeks after the init-ial discovery of green-colored ore by E ddieCross and "Shorty" Harris, ared-hot min-ing rush was started inthe direction ofwhat became the Bullfrog district. Amidthe mines and prospect holes of the dis-trict, the town ofRhyolite was platted inFebruary 1905. Within three years thepopulation grew from amere handful toabout 6000 restless souls, notincludinghundreds of transients who left earlyafter learning that the principal propertiesalready had been claimed.

But except for a few mines, develop-ment work was discouraging because oflow-grade ore. Thenational financialpanic of 1907 closed down allbut onemine, and easy credit quickly driedup.After World War I only one person wasleft inRhyolite, and forawhile duringthe 1930s the town was completely aban-doned. Today ahalf dozen people resideamid the railroad depot, the bottle house,and the pale and concrete skeletons thatused tobe the business district.

But the camp with the greatest specula-tive backing was Greenwater. It had every-thing a successful mining town neededexcept ore. T he rush to Greenwater startedin the winter of1906, about ayear afterinitial discoveries ofrich copper ore weremade on the east side ofthe Black Moun-tains. For several months in 1906 hun-dreds ofpeople came and went, andbyearly 1907 Greenwater had apopulationof about 1000. Serious miners rubbedshoulders with speculators and merchantsfrom all walks of life. Competing weeklies\7nudinhfii- 7O7 3

Right: One ofthe original

towns in theGreenwaterdistrict was

Vurnace, thecampofthe Vurnace

Creek CopperCompany, whose

principal backerwas "Patsy"

Clark. In early1907 theone-year-old

town consistedchiefly oflentbuildings.

continually boomed the mines. But whencopper could not be found incommercialquantities, thedistrict declined late in1 9 0 7 . O nly some cellars and broken glassmark the site ofGreenwater.

Skidoo was another member of the classof 1907. Inthat year the camp had morethan 500 people which supported a weeklynewspaper, a school, abank, severalsa-loons, stores, and ahumming "red light"district. Later, in1907, many people left,but anew era was begun for the camp in1908 when Skidoo Mines Company be-gan tomine theprincipal properties inearnest. T his era of the company lasteduntil 1917, producing more than $1.5million in gold, according to official pro-duction records. But nothing today isleftof the Skidoo townsite. T he ruins of a

mill, afew graves and amine portal areleft atthe Skidoo Mine.O ther smaller 20th century camps inthe D eath Valley country include Ryan(both anolder camp and anewer campby that name), Leadfield, Furnace, KeaneWonder Mine, Chloride Cliff, andtheAshfotd mine. But inthe final analysisD eath Valley was not the setting for arich mining camp such asmany ofthoseon the Mother Lode or in central N evada.N everthele ss, the search for rich depositsof borax, gold andsilver brought eco-nomic life to D eath Valley andlaterbrought attention toits beauty and gran-deur a:; atourist attraction. Ultimately,in1 9 3 3 , D eath Valley N ational Monumentwas ceated to set aside this uniqueland.

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16/48

A C a l i f o r n i a F i e l d T r i pp h o t o s b y

J e r r y S t r o n gRight: Fire opals occur in warty,

irregular concretionary masses bothinsitu and in the talus. Small,

but colorful, the opals areextremely difficult to remove

from the matrix.Below: Just west of

Highw ay 127, the ruins ofthe Amargosa Borax Works are

gradually "melting" back into theearth. It serves as a marker for

the opal deposit in thek Hills,

LO O K I N G D O W N from Ibex Pass, thei first glimpse of T ecopa Country doeslittle to confirm it as a "land of littlerain and plenty wa ter." T his may seeman incongruous description of an areaseparated only by a mountain range fromone of our country's most arid regionsD eath Valley, C alifornia.In the basin far below, crowded on

all sides by bleak desert ranges, liesexposed the skeletal remains of AncientLake T ecopa. Small buttes, low hills and7/f

pinnacles rise from the elongated playalike ships on a shimmering sea of mud.T heir m uted tones of grey, white andbeige add to the awesome starkness ofthis seemingly lonely land. Off to theeast, a dark blotch of color denotes the''hub" of the areaT ecopa, a place forhealing man's body, as well as his soul.T hough rain is a seldom visitor, springsbubble forth in unexpected placesthroughout Tecopa Country. Long in useas a "resting place" by the early Indians,

John C. Fremont was one of the first whitemen to travel through the area in 1844.He made note in his diary of "a largespring of good water." Later, the sitebecame known as Resting Springsa wel-come respite for wagon trains travelingthe O ld Spanish T rail from Salt Lake,Utah to San Bernardino, California.However, it is the hot springs several

miles northwest of Resting Springs thathave brought fame to the locale in morerecent years. T he m erits of their curative


17/48

ifit

b yM a r yF r a n c e sS t r o n g

Left: The Tecopa Railroadwas built in 1910 to haul the oresof the Gunsight and Noonday Mines,Dismantled in the 40s, rottingties and rusty spikes denotethe former railroad grade.Below: Noonday City now slumberspeacefully at the southern end ofthe Nopnh Range. It was oncea bustling camp when rich silver-leadores were, mined from theGunsight, Noonday and WarEagle properties.

powers have widely circulated; and peoplehave come from many parts of the countryto seek relief from pain in the warm (108degrees), mineral-laden waters.T ecopa Hot Springs has been developedfor public use by Inyo County D epart-ment of Parks and R ecreation. T wo bath-houses are open 24 hours a day. Use ofthe facilities are free. An undeveloped

campground offers water and sanitary fa-cilities at $1.00 per night. Weekly andmonthly rates are available. Lloyd and

Winnie Miller were Park Supervisorswhen we stayed in the area. They seemedto find their work a "labor of love" andmade every effort to make sure all visitorsenjoyed a pleasant stay at the springs.Its close proximity to D eath Valleymakes T ecopa Country an ideal locationfor a winter vacation. Hot mineral baths,rock collecting and exploring historicalsites keep visitors busy. Four-wheelers andtrailbike enthusiasts find plenty of roomto roam in the wide open spaces.

When California's gold rush was over,thousands of men who had not foundtheir "pot of gold" began to fan out intothe N evada and California deserts insearch of golden treasure. Lead and sil-ver, not gold, lay waiting in Tecopa C oun-try. D iscovery was made in 1865 and theGunsight Mine developed. A 10-stampmill and thre e furnaces handled the ores.Miring became intermittent late in thecentury but, by 1907, new machinery wasinstalled at the Gunsight and N oonday


18/48

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Resting Springs, an important stop along the Old Spanish Trail to Southern Cali-fornia, surfaces in a "badlands" topography.mines. T he arrival of the T onopah T ide-water Railroad at this time brought aresurgence of mining to the district.Wagons were used to haul the ores overa six-mile route to T ecopa Station (fourand one-half miles southwest of RestingSprings ). T he mine owners pressed fora spur track and after much confusion anddelay, their hopes were realized in 1910when the nine and one-half mile TecopaRailroad was completed.

E quipped with a steam engine andseveral ore cars, the little line began oper-ations. O re was delivered twice dailyto the concentration m ill at T ecopa while"high value" ore was shipped on to thesmelter at Murray, Utah. T hough shortin length, the Tecopa Railroad was longon excitement. Grades were steep andthe loaded train literally "roared downthe track" to T ecopa. T here were a num-ber of runaway trains and several menkilled.

T he great depression of the 1930sbrought mining to a standstill throughoutthe United States. Tecopa w as not an ex-ception and many properties were sold at

tax sales. Th e T ecopa Railroad also metthis fate and the rails were taken up forscrap.In 1947, the Anaconda Copper MiningCompany purchased the Gunsight andN oonday Mines along with nearly a dozenother properties. A flotation mill was builtand handled 75 to 85 tons of ore daily.Mill concentrates and ore of shippinggrade were hauled to D unn Siding on theUnion Pacific Railroad for shipment toa smelter at T oole, Utah. T he mines arepresently idle and the camp of "N oondayCity" stands patiently waiting for a newera in mining. With the current rise inthe price of silver, it may not wait muchlonger.A mile south on T ule Wash are theremnants of a mill and camp from theearlier era. T he site is partially occupiedpossibly by employees of the nearbyWestern Talc Mine.Gem collectors will find a fine area foramethyst crystals in the Kingston Range,11 miles southeast of Tule Wash. Thereis no surface material and hard diggingis required. T he beautiful crystals to be


19/48

foundgroups and singlesare wellworth the effort required to obtain them.It is an easy-to-reach locale. Just followthe road logbelow asIhaven't shown thisarea on the map.Kingston Amethyst Road LogMiles0.0 T ecopa Postoffice. T ake the TecopaRoad east.

8.6 Keep ahead. Road on right to Wes-tern Talc Mine.4.7 Pavement ends as road starts up passin the Kingston Range.6.3 Summit 5200 feet.1.0 T urn right onto two-track road. (Of-ten hard to see after storms or whenthe road grades goes through). Fol-low tracks over hill. Not for trailers.1.1 Fair camping area. Amethyst veinsabout y4 mile south of camp via trail.Car mileages will vary over long dis-tances. T ake mileage at the summit and goone mile. Ifyou pass through acattle-guard you have gone too far. Thoughthe road through the Kingstons is graded,it is narrow in places. The last five milesis asteep pull for trailers.

Along the western shore of PleistoceneLake T ecopa, just west of Highway 127,

are the ruins of another early-day miningventure the Amargosa Borax Works.T h i s was the "summer home" of the Har-mony Borax Works ofD eath Valley.D u r in g the summer months, when heatmade mining inthe Valley unbearable,operations were moved toTecopa Country.A plant wasbuilt and borax mining con-tinued in the cooler, 110 degree tempera-tures from 1882 to 1890.T he ruins arequite photogenic. Built of"desert adobe," they are melting backinto the earth . from which they came.Several wells were drilled and one nowforms a small pool. It seems to be a popu-lar car washing location. "Gives themreal silicone polish," one man told us.

Immediately west ofthe borax ruinsrise the Silica Hillsa barren, desolateregion ofbadlands topography. Withintheir confines, only a short distance fromthe highway, will be found precious opalresembling the beautiful Australian ma-terial.

T he hills consist of silicified tuff withvarious horizons honey-combed with pipesand tubules (concretionary masses) filledwith opal. Unfortunately, there are twodrawbacks to this material. The opals are

usually smalltoothpick to pencil sizeand they are extremely hard to removefrom the matrix. Some larger stones(Ihave seen several the size of aquarter)do occur here and they are beauties!M.'iny methods of removing the opalsfrom matrix have been tried with varyingdegrees ofsuccess. Attempting toprythem loose only results in breakage. The

method which seems to work best is tosaw away asmuch matrix as possible,then carefully grind down to the opal.Gc'Od campsites will be found in acanycn near the opal deposits. Suppliesand gasoline (hopefully) are availableat Tecopa.Tecopa Country is rich in sweet desertair, scenic beauty, warm mineral springs,gems for collectors, plus exciting trailsand historical sites for back-country ex-ploring. D uring the winter months a

warm sun reflects from the barren hills. Itis good to bask in its warm caress whilestorms battle the land you have left be-hind.Ye>, T ecopa C ountry seems to have ahealing effect. O nce again, Old MotherN ature has provided aunique restingplace to revitalize Ma n's body and soul,fj

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November, 1973


20/48

\ * * ,

i t t

A s A T RIBE , desert biologists are adoughty lot, accustomed to surprisesand upsets in their thinking. T his ismainly because they are dealing with ani-mals who, up against a near-lethal en-vironment, have developed offbeat charac-teristics and ways unusual in their kindin order to survive. A fine case in point isthe Yucca N ight Lizard eclept Xantusiavigilh (Xantusia in honor of John Xan-tus who in the 1850s found the first speci-men at F ort T ejon, California, and vigilisfor night-awake).

For his size, this little lizard has wrink-led many a scientific brow . T ail and all hemeasures only about 2.56 inches, and isdressed quite modestly in smokey grey.Unlike most lizards seen legging it about

in the desert sunshine, he hides by day,coming out only at night. N ow this is oddbehavior, for lizards, being unable toregulate their temperatures very well, needthe warmth of the sun to get them going,and are sluggish until, by basking, theysucceed in soaking up enough heat to startactivities.

In addition to crossing up clan rulesby operating at night, Xantusia stays openfor business the year around, for eventhough the cold weather calls for hiberna-tion and other lizards have duly retiredfor the season, he's active. As all handsknow, winter in the Mojave at altitudesaround 3600 feet can get cold. T he sum-mers there also can be very, very hotand very, very dry, and things generally


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Opposite page:Old yucca debris

are home,sweet home to

the desert nightlizard.

Photo byFred Hawkins.

Right: Thenight lizard

enlarged to morethan double

life-size. Photoby George

Service, DesertExpeditions

DESERTNIGHTLIZARDy K. L. B o y n t o nCOPYRIGHT 1973

are very tough. Still, if Xantusia and hiskind can find the right living conditionsthey may flourish to the tune of an esti-mated 12,000 per square mile, which inanybody's books, is pretty good living.Right living conditions according toXantusia taste are provided by the treeyuccas (Yucca brevifolia), known also asJoshua trees, and after these desert giantshave tumbled down at that. For it is inpiles of broken limbs and decaying leaves,under fallen logs of these trees that Xan-tusia and his kind take up residence, quitecontrary again to the usual lizard behaviorwhich calls for underground holes fordesert living. Sheltered then in the moistand decaying debris of yucca trees, wellinsulated against sun and chill, Xantusia

1973 .

has a fine place to live.As to be expected, what looks goodto one Xantusia is going to look goodto another and since the best logs andbest sites are hard to come by, severallizards may wish to dwell in the samespot. N ow it seems that this is all rightwith one and all in winter, in fact theremay be as many as 30-40 lizards congre-gated in one place, and everybody seemsto get along all right. But come springand the breeding season opens up, thingsare likely to be very different. T he erst-while gregarious Xantusias, pairing off,become quite anti-social. Claims are stakedout, territory lines drawn and fighting isin order.True enough, many another kind of

lizard, under such emotional strain, en-gages in battles which are mostly postur-ing and bluff. T he X antusias, on the otherhand, sail in grabbing and biting and whenthe desert dust has settled there is a goodchance that all combatants will have lostsomethinga toe, maybe, or part of hisor her tail. N ow a toe lost is gone for-ever, but tails can be regrown in time,the period depending on how much wasbroken off and how good the provenderavailable to provide the wherewithal forgrow th. T ail losing is an old trick sharedby many kinds of lizards, generally con-sidered handy for survival, the owner scur-rying away to safety leaving his tail be-hind to engage the attention of the enemy.O rdinarily the new tail, when finallygrown, is obviously a second try job dif-fering in size, scale pattern and generallycolor from the original. N ot so with theXantusias whose brand new tails look somuch like the old ones that only an X-raywill show that just a carilaginous rod sup-ports it instead of the normal tail verte-brae. So bellicose are these lizards, sohandy at tail regrowth, that in a givenpopulation the chances are better thaneven money that every adult has lost his or

2


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her tail at least one timea surprisingscore.Once the population has spread itselfout so that a single pair occupies a pileof debris, peace descends on the neighbor-hood anddomestic affairs proceed. Again,the Xantusias are not like most lizardswh o lay eggs, for they bear their youngalive. O nly one family is on the schedulefor the year, and only two youngstersmake up the brood. T his astonishinglylow turnout, plus the fact that the fe-males don't get around to family raisinguntil they are three years old themselves,pu t theXantusias in a class by themselvesas having probably the lowest reproduc-tive potential among lizards known.T he team of biologists Richard Zweifeland Charles Lowe, studying these lizardsin theAntelope Valley area of the Mojavedesert, pondered this fact. T hey comparedthe Xantusias with Sceloporus oliveceus,the spiny lizards and a record holder forhigh potential reproduction. Mrs. Scelo-porus, it seems, breeds at less than a yearof age, and turns out four clutches a year,the size of the clutches starting at 11eggsand increasing up to 24 eggs to a batchwhen she is three. At that time, if all goeswell, she would be the mother of 217offspring, while Mrs. Xantusia is justgetting around to producing herfirst twoyoungsters.T he catch is that mortality among thespiny lizards is so high that maybe only40 of any 1000 eggs make it to one yearof age (spiny lizard adulthood) while

chances are excellent that 300-600 outof 1000 Xantusia youngsters will survivethe long three years to their maturity.Some of this is what Mrs. Sceloporusgets for laying her eggs and forgetting allabout them, for many never hatch andthe lucky hatchlings that do have to shiftfor themselves daytimes, and are pickedoff by predators in considerable numbers.Young Xantusias, on the other hand, car-ried in their mother's body until born, getoff to a better start, and since they, too,hide by day, miss getting caught.Adult Xantusias, too, are well offenemy wise, since the fastest desert preda-tors are dayoperators. T heir main troublescome from the desert night snake wholikes the same habitat, but is not abun-dant, and from the grasshopper mouse

who, while not above grabbing off a tastyXantusia, is such a good hunter he caneasily make a meal off of something else.N or are the Xantusias given to roamingabout topside very much, Zweifel andLowe finding that the farthest any theymarked traveled about 1050 feet in threeyears, Most of their recaptures show thatat least 91 per cent of the lizards stayedright where they had been caught andreleased originally.N ot much information is around onXantusia courtship. It is known, however,thanks to Malcolm Miller's careful work,that the gestation period is about 90 dayswith breeding in April and May. The twoyoungsters make their bow to the worldin September, a seemingly inauspicious

Desert Magazine


23/48

time particularly in dry years since it isstill hot and the insect supply apt to below. Apparently the youngsters subsist onstored reserves left over from their pre-natal days, until at last the rains come,and after them the new insect supplies.Still, growth is slow the first year, theyoung lizards maybe not adding morethan 6 mm. to their less than an inchbirth length. T he second year things pickup , until by the end of the third, fullsize is obtained, the females becominglarger than the males.T he life span of these lizards is anotherrocker, for each youngster has a potentialof at least four years. A ripe old nineand one-half years has been definitelyrecorded and eleven years pretty wellestablished. T his is remarkable longevity,for while it is true that their normalsecretive night life does protect them mostof the year, they feed outside daytimes inwinter. A dangerous thing to do, not onlyfrom the standpoint of exposure to preda-tors, but as Zweifel and Lowe found inchecking the temperatures where the liz-ards are feeding, hazardous from thisangle, too. D ecember, for instance, in theMojave may have a soil temperature underthe Joshua trees at about 48 degrees F, theair in the shade two cm. above the ground(lizard level) about 68 degrees F, whichare okay, but the surface of the log wherethe sun beats down directly may be atorrid 109 degrees F . T his is much toohot, for these lizards die when exposed totemperatures above 102 degrees F. So,even during winter, the Xantusias moveabout within inches of potentially fataltemperatures.

Interestingly enough, the nests of desertpackrats have a great attraction for theselizards since the rats use the yucca debrisas background for their edifices of piledsticks and what not interspersed withcholla cactus. T he bristly pile may houseseveral lizards in addition to the rat resi-dent, and when he moves out to anotheradobe, the lizards continue to enjoy hisabondoned palaccio until it finally de-cays, and collapsing, fails to offer goodprotection. T hen the lizards themselvesmust move.With good sites scarce and with thenatural sedentary tendencies of theselizards, and taking into consideration howfew enemies they have and their successin raising offspring, it would seem inevi-table that a given area would experienceNovember. 7 73

a first class population explosion withtoo many Xantusias gracing the scene.But this is not so, and scientists, ponde r-ing this, conclude that what regulatesXantusia numbers here is the good oldsocial antagonism in full bloom most ofthe year. T he most critical time is in theearly summer when the heat is steadilygrowing in intensity. Th en it is that thelizards, in fighting to set up their terri-tories, are bound to drive the losers outinto habitats that are not as good, andthese individuals may not make it in theirnew places. O r, in seeking better spots,they may have to disperse further away,and hence thin out the local populationnumbers.

N ot that all is beer and skittles for theXantusias. Being insect eaters and din-ers on termites, springtails and the like,they are basically dependent on the sea-son's rains, which are what determinehow abundant the food supply is goingto be. A poor rainy season and the Xan-tusias show it in slow growth. Lost tails,in taking away that much of a fat-storageorgan, make things tougher, since theenergy put into tail regeneration can't gointo body growth at the same time, the

young lizards showing this particularly.But what with optimum living condi-tior.s amid the yucca debris, average rainat normal times, and by shifting their be-havior from gregarious clustering in win-ter to anti-social belligerency in springand summer, the Xantusias get along justfine in a desert known far and wide forits inhospitality. Q

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24/48


25/48

IftctiUftt

b yH e l e n W a l k e r

h ^ Vwl Mwk

LAND was hostile, unmapped byman, deserted by wild game, andinhabited by but a few renegade IndiansT hose who dared to trespass endured privations, sacrificed their worldly possessions, and gambled w ith their lives. T heimotivation was gold their destinationCalifornia.

Assemblages of wagons and livestockoccured at Great Salt Lake, Utah T erritorythe date was N ovember 1849- T imhad been forfeited by those inexperiencein this mode of travel. N ow, to proceewest, over the Sierra N evada m ountainswas a calculated risk. Snows were due anday, and drifts to 20 feet could be expected. Wagons must travel south, int


26/48

Ii ,H 0 *

#>^ ^ # .. V

\;^PN ^ %

0/ *&e '49ers Trail. Drawn by William Manly. From the Palmer Collection.Credit: Henry E . Huntington Library and Art Gallery.

the barren waste, where no wagon wheelshad creased the grit of the desert sands.

Captain Jefferson Hunt professedknowledge of a trail to Los Angeles." T r odd e n by foot f or pe r ha ps a hundr e dyears," he acclaimed, "and now, with littleeffort, this old Span ish T rail could bebr oa de ne d f or wa gons . " Hunt ' s f e e a s a

guide would be $10. 00 a f a m ily 107wa gons s igne d to Hunt ' s t r a in.

Single men, traveling alone, were signedto the mess of a family grou p. T hey w erewelcome, if they provided their fair shareof f lour and bacon. William Lewis Manlywas attached to the Bennetts, Bennetttraveled with his wife and three smallchildren. His outfit included two wagons,two drivers, four yoke of good oxen, andhorses. Manly agreed to serve as scout,and provide fresh game, when possible.

Ca pta in Hunt or ga niz e d his wa gon t r a inon a rotating schedule. He divided thegroup into seven divisions. Each divisionlead the train and cared for the livestockone day, then they rotated to the rear . Butfor an occasioned loss of trail markings,and back tracking from dead-end can-yons, the train moved smoothly. Eagerness

for fortunes in the gold fields kept spiritshigh, te m pe r s down!

A few days out, Hunt's train was joinedby a smaller group, also bound for Cali-fornia. Th eir leader, O . K. Smith, wasf ol lowing a m a p dr a wn by a m ounta ine e rwho professed to have knowledge of allthe routes through Utah and the SierraN e va da m ounta ins . S m ith gla dly s ha re dhis map. "By following the mountainpass, near Rim of the Basin, our wagonswill come out in T ulare Valley, north ofLos Angeles, and closer to the gold f ields,"he spoke with authority.

D uri ng the next few days, Smith's mapbecame a matter of camp discord. Somespoke enthusiastically about the short cut.T hey po inted to the marked camp areas,indications of grass and water, even pos-sible hazardswhich did not seem in-surmountable. Reverend J. W. Brier spokewith approval in regard to the short cut.and his opinion influenced others.

Captain Hunt said to his followers,"You hired me to guide you to Los An-geles, but if you wish to change, and fol-low Smith's map, I will go with you. How-ever, if just one wagon of my train de-cides against Smith's route, I shall bebound to guide that wagon as agreed."

Silence hung heavy over the encamp-ment the morning of f inal decision. Sep-aration occured at a "Y" in the trail, nearwhere the town of Enterprise, Utah, standstoday. T eam after team mad e the turn tothe r ight, only with an occasional wagona dva nc ing s tr a ight a he a d. Captain H u n t ,and his small group, wished Smith and hisnew train a pleasant and safe journey.As wheels rolled, dust filled the void be-tween the two lines of wagonsobscuringthe possibility of the last apprehensiveglance.

Bennett 's wagons had made the turnto the r ight, following Smith. T his route,without the benefit of choice, also be-c a m e M a nly ' s f or tune !

It was a pleasant journey until a heavycover of chaparral disguised the first in-dication of troublea precipice too steepfor wagons to descend. Progress came toa haltscouts were dispatched to searchfor an alternate route.

T hose who were still apprehensiveabout their decision to leave Hunt nowlost favor quickly with Smith's new trail.Wagons were made ready to retreat, evenbefore the f irst returning scouts reported," no s a fe pa s sa ge f ound. " T he f ol lowingmorning, only 27 wagons remained.


27/48

Scouts brought news of a pass the fol-lowing day, and the few remaining wag-ons rolled without hesitation. Bennett'soutfit was among them.At the first night's campfire, a meetingwas held for reorganization. T he exper-ience of the past days had forewarned thesingle men that there were drawbacks intraveling with family wagons. They no

longer wished to be obligated; they plan-ned to travel on ahead, alonehoping tomake up the precious lost time. ReverendBrier stated that he did not intend to beleft behind with the stragglershe wouldfollow the tracks of the unattached men.D uring the days that followed, theremaining wagons grouped together, theirspeed being a determining factor. T ravel-ing with the Bennetts were the Arcanes,Wades, and those who shared their mess.T hey traveled south along the easternrim of the Amargosa, crossing the desertthrough its center, in an east to west di-rection. T he ground was hard, rocky, andthe arid climates produced only sparseshrubs. T he stock suffered from lack ofwater and green feedtheir bodies be-came gaunt, their feet sore and broken.As was Manly's habit, he scouted ahead,often several days at a time. First indi-cation of the other parties' whereaboutsbecame apparent when he discovered adead ox along the trail. With his sheathknife, he cut a long strip of meat fromthe carcass and relished it raw. T he hun -ger that gnawed at his belly was nowquieted.F ollowing the impressions of wagontracks, Manly walked down what we knowtoday as F urnace Creek W ash. He firstencountered Reverend Brier and familywho were still in pursuit of the singlemen. Further north, a column of smokelead Manly to the camp of the advancedpartythey were a discouraged lot. Th eirgroup, Manly learned, had attempted tocross the salt beds beyond the mouth ofthe wash, but were forced to retrace theirtracks. T heir oxen had become so weakthat they could no longer bear the bur-den of the wagons. T heir unanim ous de-cision had been to kill the oxen, thenburn the wagons for fuel to dry the meat.T hey, who now call themselves the "Jay-hawkers," would proceed on foot.Before the sun spread its light on thevalley, Manly was on the trail back tohis wagons. He stood for a moment at the

mouth of the wash in surveillance of thevaste waste. Would this arid land thatNovember, 1973

WilliamLewis Manly. S

Photo courtesy fCalifornia J

StateLibrary.

spread between two ranges of forebod-ing mountains bring an end to his dreamsdevour the lives of those dependentupon him? His heart was heavy withdespair, as he moved again toward thosewho awaited his return.Anguish showed in the faces of thosearound the campfire. T heir bodies ap-peared parched from exposure and lack ofwater. Small children cried, and were noteasily comforted. T hey, too, had slainan ox for food, but its flesh did not offermuch nourishment. It was painful forManly to add to their misery for he couldoffer no hope, just more suffering to beendured.

Wagons moved forward at dawn. Theyentered the long valley, then turned north-west, past where the Furnace Creek Innstands today. T heir camp that night wasmade near a clump of mesquite whichoffered little in relief.O n the west side of the valley the fol-lowing night, a good spring quenched

their parched throats. T hose who had read"F remo nt's T ravels," felt certain this was

the range he told ofone which separ-ated the dry arid land from the fertilevalley of California.Manly scouted several canyonswag-ons nade regretful attempts on their ownno pass was found. T wo of Bennett'steam drivers deserted, and two of Arcane'sjoined them. Finally, Bennett made a de-cision. "O ur only hope for survival," hetold the others, "is to send someone aheadfor aid." He continued, "we who are leftwill return to the good spring and wait.Surely it could take no longer than 10days!" Bennett asked Manly to make thetrip, and pehaps, John Rogers, a tall, leanyoung man from T ennessee, would ac-company him.In preparation, an ox was slaughtered,and :he meat dried and packed. A fewprecious ounces of flour and rice werespared. Rogers would carry his shotgun,and Manly accepted Bennett's offer of hisseven-shot rifle.At the first emergence of light, Roger

and Manly embarked on their journey.Continued on Page 4427


28/48

The LoneliestRoad


29/48

DE A T H V A L L E Y is a north-south valleyin California's most inhospitabledesert countrymean and low-down, in acountry of north-south valleys, all ofthem almost just as mean and low-down.O nly D eath Valley, because of whathappened there, is a sort of king of Cali-fornia desert locales. It sinks down intothe floor of the earth to a minus 282 feet

near Badwater, and Badwater is so badthat I can't remember anyone in moderntimes foolish enough to sample the broth.By summer D eath V alley gets as hotas the bottom of a frying pan on a mes-quite fire. O nce, according to the records,it reached 134 degrees at a weather stationin the N ational M onument. Wiser headssaid that 134 deegrees only hinted at howhot it really got, that something like 160degrees might be closer to being accurate.People have died of the heat in D eath

Valley, then and now, and while theMonument is open in the summertime,most of the side roads are closedsimplybecause they cannot be patrolled by theMonument's skeleton summer staff. Thereare side roads where the summer explorercan get into a mess of trouble. A car

O N T H E T R A I L w i th . . .R u s s L e a d a b r a n d

A de s e rt r oa dth a t begs to b e t a k e n . . .offering a va riety of ch arm s

breakdown, running out of water, walkingfor help in the noonday sun, all spelltrouble.Still, D eath Valley has other seasonsthan summer, and other persuasions than

mean and low-down.And there is a side road adventure, an-other way of getting there that few knowabout and fewer still have driven. T hisin the lonely Eureka Valley route and itbegs to be takenit begs to be taken ifyou have been to D eath Valley before

but never heard of this route, and it begsto be taken if you have never been toD eath Valley at all because it is special,something set aside as a kind of rewardfor waiting. It is a byway exploration ad-venture in California you will never for-get.

D eath Valley is an exuberant place bywinter and spring. It manages, with greateffort, to siphon off some rain from theboiling storm clouds that frost up thetop of i:he Sierra N evada and the Panamint

November, 1973


30/48

O n e l i t t l e . . .T w o l i t t l e .

T h r e e l i t t l e o w l s c a m e o u t f o r a v i e w ,A l o n g c a m e a c h i c k e n h a w k , a n d t h e n

t h e r e w e r e tw o .T w o l it t le o w l e ts , p r e e n i n g in t h e s u n ,A l o n g c a m e a r a t t le s n a k e , a n d th e nt h e r e w a s o n e .O n e l i t t l e o w l , a l l a lo n e a n d s a d ,A l o n g c a m e H a n s B a e r w a l d , a n d m a d e

u s a l l g l a d .


31/48

and Inyo and White Mountains off to thewest. With this little rain, D eath Valleyeach spring arranges a wildflower show,staged, conducted and presented with na-ture's almost careless extravagance. Whennature is profligate you'll see flowers inbloom in D eath Valley you probably havenever seen anywhere else in the country;you'll see them in such massing that you'llbe boggled.D eath Valley is mean and low-down,but it is also poetic and pastel, phantomand fairyland-like. You can run yourstring out in either direction as far asmood is concerned in the Monum ent. O na wintry day, among the mesquite hum-mocks near Ash Meadow, I once felt asmelancholy as if all the heartbreak of theforty-niners had been distilled and pouredover me; in the sand dunes near StovePipe Wells, on a similar wintry, windyday, I have found the salt sand running,making incredible patterns of light anddark, fluid geography, and I felt exaltedby the uncommon show.

Moody people should go to D eathValleythe blase should stay away. Gothere with your pores open. T he moodsare what make the faithful come backand come back, seeing the same thingsover and over and not really seeing thesame things twice at all.A few years ago a new road was hacked

and chewed and bladed into D eath Valley.In a land of north-south valleys, the roadtravels along a lateral depression, aneast-west valley. N ot many of these existand this one links the O wens Valley withthe Monument.T his special side road starts in Big

Pine, in the once cultivated, now water-depleted O wens Valley. It starts up overa shoulder of what builds into WestgardPass, but it doesn't follow all the way onthat route. Instead, it ducks off to thesouth and seems to seek Saline Valley.But once the head of Saline Valley isgained, the new road shies to the northa notch, drops down into Cowhorn Valleyand runs through that winter-beautifulvale into Eureka Valley proper. O nceacross these barrens the road has but tocorkscrew up and over the Last ChanceRange and then drop steeply into D eathValley Wash. South then and D eathValley opens.

Why didn't someone think of itsooner ?F irst off, it's country that invites few

roads. Some of the old ones have beenremodeled and straightened. But newroads are not all that much in vogue.And since it has opened, not many peopleknow about the Eureka Valley route intoD eath Valley. Fewer people still take itbecause the route is remote and lonely(you'll go close to 100 miles without see-ing a sign of a modern convenience), andit, like the parent destination valley, hasa strong mood on it.

T he road is not paved. N ot all the way.Into Cowhorn Valley, yes. Beyond that,no.

Still it is a good dirt road and the onlytime you need be a little concerned aboutit is right after a gully-buster storm. Whileit is an Inyo County road, it isn't alwayseasy to get information on the byway.Recently, after a sort of winter cloudburstthat dropped an inch and a half of waterinto normally arid D eath Valley, I calledall the agencies I could think of in InyoCounty, asking for road conditions.

It's just that few people venture intothe region and neither the road depart-ment, the sheriff's office or the highwaypatrol could advise me. Even the nearestranger in D eath Valley N ational Monu-ment did not know the condition of theroad that entered his preserve. "All I cantell you is that we had a lot of rain upthere," was what he said.Armed with a complete lack of infor-mation, and a bounty of faith, we enteredthe area, drove the route, encountered afew mud puddles and had no difficultyat all. T he moods were there. T hemystique was working. T he legends andhistory were still in place, Eureka Valleyhadn't suffered a bit for its lonesomeness.In fact it grows fat on it.T he histories of Inyo County still listas unsolved mysteries the disappearanceof two civilian guides when Eureka Valleywas first probed in the summer of 1871.A survey party under First LieutenantGeorge M. Wheeler, Corps of Engineers,U. S. Army, and headed by Second Lieu-tenant D . A. Lyle, Second Un ited StatesArtillery, struck west from Camp Inde-pendence into the totally unknown tangleof mountains and deserts.Lyle's assignment was to determineif a route could be found "directly to theeastward over the sterile deserts andmountains intervening between the Am-argosa and O wens Rivers that was possiblefor a large train of men and anim als." T he

A n U n u s u a lB o o k A b o u t

Death ValleyD EATHVALLEY'SVICTIMS(A E'escriptiveChronology,1849 and 1966),ByDanid Cronkhite

T his book is a collector's item, andthere are only 225 numbered copiesavailable.T he author explains that this book isnot intended to be saturated with gorydetail and that the treatise is not an at-tempt to be "the final word" on the sub-ject.T he valley was held to be a virtual pitof death in the earlier days, hence itsname, but with the founding and de-velopment of springs and wells, the dan-ger was lessened.Air conditioning at Furnace Creek andStovepipe Wells, and in automobiles hasmade becoming a statistic seem impossi-ble to the casual visitor. However, a sum-mer day, if one is traveling on foot, isstill .i matter of concern, and dying undera summer sun is not a pleasant ordeal.

T hough the verbal content and photo-graphs in this book are of historical im-portance, the author believes there is greatvalue1 in the fact that Death Valley's Vic-tims was set up by 19th Century standardsand printed on "obsolete machinery.' 'Everv letter has been set and justified ina composing stick by the author. "How-ever, ' he states, "we were forced to suc-cumb to the use of offset printing in thereprcduction of the photographs."

In addition to its other fine qualities,Death Valley's Victims is hand bound."Sagebrush D an" C ronkhite fully intendsto continue publishing limited-edition ma-terial in the field of Western Americana,and deal in rare and out-of-print books.

Hardcover, 35 pages, $7.50.Order from Desert Magazine Book Shop

P. O. Box 1318, Palm Desert, California 92260California residents please add state sales tax.


32/48

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expedit ion was not a happy one."Before I started," Lyle later told his

superior, "I co

197311 desert magazine 1973 november

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