196002 Desert Magazine 1960 February

8/14/2019 196002 Desert Magazine 1960 February

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F a t h e r S k y a n d M o t h e r E a r t hT HE INDIAN KNOWS that the Great Spirit is not bred into manalone, but that the whole of the universe shares in an immortalperfection.

The first creation of the Great Spirit was Father Sky and MotherEa rth (see above) from whom all life sprang. The crossing of theirhands and feet signifies the union of heaven and earth, bound eternallytogether by the Rainbow Guard ian. The stars and moon and the con-stellations are shown on the body of Father Sky, and the criss-crossingon his arms and legs is the Milky W ay. From the bosom of MotherEarth radiates the life-giving energy of the sun, bringing fertility tothe womb of Mother Earth, from whence spring the seeds of all livingthings.

The four circles, in divisions of four, represent the four cardinalpoints of the compass, the four elements, the four ages of man, and thefour seasons of the year. The small figure on the left is an astral m edicinepouch deriving the power to heal from the constellations. The bat,sacred messenger of the spirits of the night, guards the sandpaintingat the opening of its border.David Villasenor


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D a v i d V i l l a s e n o rA R T I S T W I T H S A N D

By PEGGY POWELL

TO ARTIST David V. Villasenorof Pasadena, Calif., the sandpaint-ings he first saw as a youth of 16on the Navajo Reservation were adetermining influence in his continu-ing search for artistic expression . Outof this has been created a new mediathat brings the perishable sandpaint-ings, once relegated to the remoteareas of Navajoland, into the livingrooms of modern Americans as per-manent works of art.Since a sandpainting's very perman-ency is in opposition to Navajo tradi-tion (sandpaintings started after sunupare destroyed before sunset, and thosebegun after sunset are destroyed be-fore dawn), Villasenor deliberatelymakes one "mistake" in each of hiswork s. Also , he leaves each cere-monial sandpainting reproduction in-complete (as Medicine Men do inpublic dem ons tration s). In this waythe artist feels that his "tapestries insand" are not sacrilegiousand at thesame time he is helping to perpetuatea form of art that could die out withthe older Navajo generation. Med i-cine Men who use sandpaintings aspart of their sacred curing rituals areusually the first to encourage the pres-ervation of these ancient forms whenthe artist's motive is sincere.

Villasenor's technique is very sim-ple. For small demonstration paint-ings he uses a piece of sandpaper fora "canva s." First he makes a penciloutline of the figure or symbol to be"pain ted." Wo rking on a small sec-tion of this design, he applies a thincoating of clear plastic cement whichis quickly doused with a generoushandful of colored sand. After allow-ing this to set for a few minutes, hepours the excess sand back into itscontainer and blows away the loosegrains on the canv as. Th e lines onthe design are cleaned and made evenwith a small scrape r. Ad ditional coa t-ings (Villasenor sometimes applies asmany as 21) give the painting contourand brighter color. The artist oftengrinds his own sand from rocks, andno artificial coloring is added.

Villasenor's sandpaintings are notlimited to Indian designs. He has donemany landscapes and portraits, but hismost outstanding work to date is agroup of 21 sacred Navajo sandpaint-ings commissioned by the AmericanMuseum of Natu ral History. It tooknine months to complete this project.The artist, part Spanish and partOtomi Indian, was born 43 years agoin Jalisco, Mexico. He received hisintroduction to art and Navajo sand-paintings at 16 when he hired on ascook for a party of Tucson artiststouring the Arizona Indian country.

EN D

You are cordially invited to attend a special showing ofDavid Villasenor's work at (he Desert Magazine Art Galleryin Palm Desert, Calif., Februa ry 2 to 22. Other one-man show sschedu led at the admission-free G allery this seaso n: FremontEllis, Feb. 23-March 14; Charles Reynolds. March 15-April 4;and R. Brcwnell McGrew, April 5-May 2.


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LETTERSFROM OUR READERSthree daysbut that's better than it wouldhave been had wecelebrated Christmas inQuartzsite. BILL KEISERQuartzsite, Ariz.

Lost LeeMisinformation . . .Desert:Referring to thearticle byWalter Ford,"Cottonwood Springs," in the Decemberissue:The author writes: "During'the '90s, aprospector . . . discovered a fabulous ledgeof gold-bearing quartz inthe Bullion Moun-tains . . ." Farther down, hewrites: "Add-ing credence to the story is the fact thatex-Governor Waterman of California . . .offered a huge cash reward for a partinterest in themine . . ."This statement is entirely incorrect. Notonly is it erronious, it is ridiculous. Therenever was a "Lost LeeMine." The Leeheirs or people claiming to be his heirsbrought suit against Gov. Waterman in theearly '80s in an attempt to get theWater-man Mine. First they had toprove that Leewas dead (he had not been seen or heardfrom since about the middle '70s). Theyproduced a skeletonclaiming it was Lee's.In court it was proven that theskeleton wasthat of an Indian woman. Gov. Watermanwon thecase.During the past 70 years I have heardmany variations of the Lost Lee Mine fable,an d I have tried to correct them.R. W. WATERMANDaggett, Calif.Christinas at theMine . . .Desert:Your stories of Christmas on thedesertin theDecember issue brought back mem-ories of theChristmas of 1906. In the fallof that year, A. R. Burch and I took acontract to drive a 200-foot tunnel at theCopper Bottom property in CunninghamPass, 12miles southwest of Quartzsite, Ari-zona.At the time there were 10 saloons inQuartzsite, and it was customary at Christ-mas time for these places toserve Tom andJerry to the miners. My partner and Iknew that if we allowed our crew to goto town wewouldn't be able to get backon our work schedule until after New Years.And chances are we'dnever see some ofour boys again. So wedecided to have aChristmas feed at themine camp.From Pete Smith, who ran a hotel nearthe schoolhouse, I purchased an 18poundturkey andtwo quarts of theJuice of For-bidden Fruit. When Pete handed over theturkey, he said, "Here is a bird all dressedand ready for thepot." I took him at hisword.Back at camp wefound out that no oneknew thefirst thing about cooking a turkey so thejob fell on myshoulders. I stuffed

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the bird with canned oysters and ploppedhim into the oven. Then I mashed potatoes,heated some canned peas and corn, andmade a salad. I also served brown gravy,candied sweet potatoes, cranberries andpickles. Mypartner made a great pan ofbiscuits.The turkey was browned nicely andlooked fit for a king. I hadtaken a lot ofpains and did a lot of basting. Of courseI was proud of thejob, this being myfirstturkey.Burch setthe table and themen gatheredaround thebeautiful bird. I suggested thathe carve.Luckily, the menwere busy passing thebottle for they didn't catch the sorrowfullook Burch gave mewhen he cut into thebird."I must go out to thekitchen to carve,"he said hurriedly. "The re's not enoughroom on thetable." With this he gatheredup theturkey andrushed out of theroom.I followed on his heels."You didn't remove the turkey's craw!"he said in a lowvoice. I explained thatPete hadtold me thebird was"ready forthe pot," and anyhow, I never knew anyoneto start at theneck when carving a turkey,they usually start with a leg.Burch cleaned out thecraw andbroughtthe bird back to thetable. We ate for anhour or more (Burch and I ate the legs)and theboys were loud in their praises forthe finest Christmas dinner many of themhad had inyears.As it was, wedidn't getback towork for

S p a n i s h for"Merry" . . .Desert:I note onpage 6 of your December '59issue the words "Felice Navidad" as thetitle of Phyllis Heald's Christmas story.This is supposed to beSpanish for "MerryChristmas," but in fact it is notSpanish atall. "Felice" is Italian. TheSpanish formis "Feliz."This is a pretty badbreak for a maga-zine of theclass of Desert, and I am sur-prised that theeditor let it go through.S. G. MORLEYDept. of Spanish and PortugueseUniversity of CaliforniaBerkeley(My Spanish dictionary compiled byVelazquez lists "Felice" as meaning"happy, fortunate, lucky, prosperous, fe-licitous" although "Feliz" is preferred.Ed.)

"Canyoneer," Continued . . .Desert:The debate between "Doc" Marston,Randall Henderson, et al., over "canyon-eer" versus "river rat" strikes me as ratherpointless, since both men seem to haveoverlooked thedifferent shades of meaningin the two terms.To me a "river rat" isone who finds hisrecreation inboating on rivers whether fastor slow, placid or turbulent. A "canyoneer,"on the other hand, is one wholoves thecanyons, whether hismode of travel be byboat, pack mule or shanks' mare. Heneed

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DESERT MAGAZINE


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not even be a competent boatman to be acanyoneer.As editor of American White Water 1have endeavored to avoid using the termsinterchangeably; even though the two avo-cations can (and frequently do) overlap inthe same person, they may also be distinctand separate. Take my own case as anexample. I am a river rat 12 months ayear; during the brief weeks I am able tospend in the West 1 am also a canyoneer.An d in both capacities I am saddened bythe apparent success of the campaign todestroy our beautiful rivers and canyonswith dams of questionable justification. Let'squit quibbling over terms and get togetherto try to save the sites where both fraterni-ties find their enjoyment.MARTIN VANDERVEENChicagoNevada's Longest line . . .Desert:Peggy Trego's December travel column,"Montgomery Pass," contains the followingstatement:"Happily, the highway follows the nar-row-gauge remnant of what was once Ne-vada's longest railroadthe Carson andColoradothe line of the Slim Princess."The Carson andColorado between MoundHouse, Nevada, and Keeler, California,was 293 miles in length, of which 107 mileswere in California, leaving 186 in Nevada.This from timetable No. 15, effective Mon-day, October 15, 1883.The records show that the Union Pacifichas 288 miles of track across Nevada, theWestern Pacific 428 miles, and the SouthernPacific 443 miles. Of course, the Unionand Western Pacific lines are "Johnnie-Come-Latelies," having been constructedlong after Carson and Colorado was built,

V I S I T B E A U T I F U LM O N U M E N T V A L L E YStay at the Wether i l l Inn, Kayenta, Arizona,a new modern 14 unit AAA motel, locatedin the heart of the Navajo reservation. Jeeptr ips into Monument Valley may be arranged.Side trips by automobi le to Betatakin, oneo f the most picturesque cliff dwellings in theU.S., and horseback trips may be arrangedinto famed Keet-Seel cliff dwelling, the larg-est cliff dwelling in Northern Arizona. Tripsby auto may also be made to Mexican Hatan d the famed Goose Necks.Write for ReservationsW E T H E R I L L I N N

HAGLE CHILDREN EXAMINE SNAKE SKIN

Lucy Meets a Rattler . . .Desert:After reading about "Mr. Rattle-snake" (Laurence Klauber) in DesertMagazine (July '59) I met one of his"pets" face to face. I was afraid fora second. I think he was afraid, too,because he didn't even move, shakehis rattles, or strike at me. I ran tothe house to get my mother. Shecame out with the hoe and cut off hishead. My mother was sorry that helost his head, because she thinks hewould have liked to have kept it.My brother skinned the rattlesnakeand tanned the skin. Do you knowhow to tan a snake skin? An old-timerancher told us how. It is very easy:first you cut the skin down the middleof the belly. After scraping thefleshoff the under-side, you stretch andtack the skin to a board, then rubneat's-foot oil into it, until it is soft.It will make my brother a beautifulbelt or wallet.LUCY E. H A G LE (age 9)Ramona, Calif.

but the Central Pacific, now a part of theSouthern Pacific system, was in existenceconsiderably before the Carson and Colo-rado was constructed.From the above you can see why I ques-tion that the Carson and Colorado wasonce Nevada's longest railroad.ARTHUR C. DAVISReseda, California(Of all the railroads planned, financedand built within Nevadawith that stateas "home port"the C&C was the long-est. The transcontinental lines were neverregarded as "Nevada's." They still aren't.Ask any Nevadan. Mrs. Trego considers294 track miles (a figure that does notinclude the Filben to Candelaria spur)as the rightful claim of the C&C's totallength. "Some highly interesting argu-ments," she writes, "can be set forth asto track mileage of various roads entirelywithin the state. Sen. William Clark'sLas V egas-T onopah line had approxi-mately 207 miles of rail." Borax Smith'sTonopah & Tidewater RR, running upfrom California's Mojave Desert intosouthern Nevada, might possibly be con-sidered by some as being "Nevada'slongest line."Ed.)

The Alcan Camper is quickly transformed from its compact low silhouette onthe road to roomy walk-in living quarter s. Drive safely at any speed withminimum drag and sway. Moments later, enjoy the comfort and convenienceof a weather tight, high ceiling, home away from home complete with threeburner stove, sink, cabinets, ice box, beds, and many other luxury features.The unique hydraulic mechanism which raises the , . ,camper top can be safely operated even by a Write today for more informa-small child. Locks prevent accidental lowering. t j o n o n .u. m o s f advancedThe top is lowered quickly by the simple turn of C n 0Sf a d v a n c e da valve. camper on the road.Paten t No. 2879103R. D. HALL MANUFACTURING CO.13408 SATICOY ST NORTH HOLLYWOOD CALIFORNIA ST. 5-6378

A n Out-of-Place N a m e . . .Desert:In John Hilton's excellent series on hisrecent Baja California explorations (DesertMagazine, Oct., Nov. and Dec. '59 andJan. '60) I note the mention of a "Smith'sIsland" in Bahia de Los Angeles. How inthe world did so incongruous a name as"Smith's Island" come to be in a gulf full ofislands bearing melodious names such as"Angel de la Guarda," "Encantada," "Ti-buron," "San Lorenzo," "San Esteban,""Espiritu Santo," et. al.? J. B. MASONLos Angeles

(In the winter of 1850-51, Lieut. GeorgeH. Derby of the Topographical Engineersmade a reconnaissance of the Gulf ofCalifornia and the Colorado River'smouth. Derby's ship put into Bahia delos Angeles for fresh water and there"we discovered a large island lying closeto the [Baja] California shore, off thesouthern extremity of Angeles Island[Isla Angel de la Guarda] . . . which,not being put down upon any chart, Inamed Smith's Island, in compliment tothe general commanding, by whose orderthe expedition was undertaken." Thehonored officer wasMajor General P. F.Smith, then commander of the PacificDivision. Ed .)

SAFEGUARD YOUR EYES!Don't use your binocu-lars in bright sunlightwithout this Filtrol!Raw, unf i l tered, uncon-trolled, bright sunshineon desert, mountain orsea will strain youreyes . Th is Var iab leDensity Filtrol {Polaroid) varies, at your rwnneeds and pleasure, the exact amount 'l ight (without glare) you need for best view-ing. You alone can adjust exactly the correctamount of l ight reaching your eyes, at any

given time day or night . U.S. Gov.surplus issuedto Navy, Army & Air Corps. Cost over nine timeswhat we ask. Filtrol to fit over theeyepieces ofany binocular: Only $1.00 postpaid!SCIENTIFIC & LABORATORY APPARATUSHARRY ROSS

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F E B R U A R Y , 1960


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Publisher's Notes . A special feature this month (page 20) takes the readersoutside our own Southwest tothe Iranian desert half aworldaway. William E.Warne, a former Point Four director inIran, has authored aninteresting article onthe primitive buteffective water-gathering ghanats of ancientand modern

Persia. Can ghanats beadapted tosome of the arid South-western valleys? The modern. Western world is beginning todevelop thehorizontal well drilling technique.Some future topics that Warne proposes forthe pagesofDesert are ice-making in anarid land, and camels, the desert'sbeast ofburden.Hoping that we have agood winter rain here inthe desertcountry, bringing a carpet of wildflowers for thedunes andcanyons, we have scheduled agem and mineral trip into theheart of theMojave Desert, always a wonderful target for

those who have spring fever. Pages 39 to 41tell of fivemapped field trips for rock-hounders.:;: :;: =:Of further interest tothe bulletin editors of the rock andgem societies. Desert Magazine is planning to conduct theannual bulletin editor's seminar inlate March orearly April.Again we are hoping for a bountiful flower display toattractthe editors to our area.Starting February 23 and lasting until March 14, the DesertMagazine Art Gallery features the one-man show of FremontEllis, leading artist ofSanta Fe. Ellis will provide next month'sfour-color cover. The Monument Valley scene is typical ofhis bold colors andclean design.Once again Desert Magazine extends acordial invitation toour readers and friends tovisit theDesert Magazine's FineArts Gallery, theleading all-desert gallery of thenation.CHUCK SHELTONPublisher

d t k O U T D O O R S O U T H W E S TVolume23 FEBRUARY, 1960 Number 2

COVER

ART 2TRANSPORTATION 7

PERSONALITY 14RECREATION 16

WATER 20HOMEMAKING 22

NATURE 24PERSONALITY 26ARCHEOLOGY 28

WATERHOLE 30GEMS-MINERALS 39

Colorado River Aqueduct at itscrossing byU.S.Highway 60near Indio, California, in theheartof theColorado Desert. In thedistance is thesnow-clad peak of Mt. SanGorgonio, 11,485feet. Photo is by Carlos ElmerSand-Painter David Villasenor Peggy PowellPre-Automotive Conveyances Mary HillMojave Barbecue KingBack-Country Jeep ToursIngenious Persian WellsHome EntrancesDesert VulturesPancho Villa's Widow

Evelyn R.YoungCharles E.SheltonWilliam E.Warne

Louise BellEdmund C.Jaeger

W. Thelford LeVinessTwo Little-Known Arizona Ruins Elizabeth RigbyThe Historic Huecos Louise AuerBarstow-Area Field Trips Charles Silvernail

4: Readers' Letters13: Poem of the Month3 1 : Southwest Books32: News Briefs32 : Desert Quiz33 : Arizona TravelWickenburg

34 : California TravelPinnacles35 : Nev.TravelWinter Olympics38 : Photo Hints42 : Editorial43: Harry Oliver's AlmanacBack Cover: SWLiterature Awards

The Desert Magazine, founded in1937 byRandall Henderson, is pub-l ished monthly byDesert Magazine,Inc., Palm Desert, Cali-fornia. Re-entered asse co nd c l a s s m a t t e rluly 17,1948, at thepostoffice atPalm Des-ert, California, underr o i O ' the Act of March 3,1 8 7 9 . Title registered

N o . 358865 inU.S. Patent Office,and contents copyrighted 1960byDesert Magazine, Inc. Permission toreproduce contents must be securedfrom the editor inwrit ing.

CHARLES E.SHELTON . . PublisherEUGENE L.CONROTTO . . . EditorRANDALL HENDERSONAdvisory EditorEVONNE RIDDELLCirculation Manager

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Address alleditorial and circula-tion correspondence toDesert Mag-azine, Palm Desert, California.Address all advertis ing corre-spondence toEdith K.Whaley, 3493Cahuenga Blvd., Suite 3,Los Ange-les 28, Cali fornia.

Unsolicited manuscripts and pho-tographs submitted cannot be re-turned or acknowledged unless fullreturn postage is enclosed. DesertMagazine assumes noresponsibilityfor damage or loss of manuscriptsor photographs although due carewill beexercised. Subscribers shouldsend notice of change of addressby the f irst of the month precedingissue.DESERT MAGAZINE


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T R A N S P O R T A T I O NO N T H E D E S E R T . . .

B yM a r yH i l l

M ETTING ABOUT the desert a hundred years agoxii*f was no t so fast, so com forta ble , nor so neatas is possible today . There was no equivalent of thejet th at can sweep from Mojave to Santa Fe in a ma tter ofminutes, leaving behind an air-quake ahund red miles wide, nor of the helicopter th at canhover gently above the desert sand.But even now, most of us don 't travel by jet orhelicopter. W e travel by train, wh ich had its predecessorin the wagon tr ain ; or we travel by bus,descendant of the overland stage; or by automobile,wh ich m igh t be likened to the horse of earlier times. Thoseof us who are more venturesome may take jeepsinto the wilder portions of the desert;a cen tu ry ago we would have chosen a mule or one of itsrelatives. But for steep rugged country,there is still no sub stitute for Shanks' Mare. C o n t i n u e d

F E B R U A R Y , 1 9 6 0

Before the Automotive Age


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T r a n s p o r t a t i o n o n t h e D e s e r t . . .(continued from preceding page)

One's own feet were often the bestoronlymeans of transportation.Here is a group of Mojave men walkingthrough the desert.Prodigious walkers, the Mojavetraveled 30 miles easily, and h ave beenknown to walk 90 miles in a sin gleda y and night. They met their match inendurance, if not in speed, in themen of the Sixth Regiment (now the SixthArmy). Sent to the Mexican wars, theSixth was called to dutyon footinto Minnesota, Kansas,Nebraska, Arkansas, Iowa and Missouri;they saw actionon footagainst theCheyenne and Sioux. They weresenton footto Utahduring the "Mormon Trouble," but onarriving in Utah were hurriedon footto Oregon, a nd finally to amu ch-ne eded rest in California. Theirsiesta was brief, however. Theyarrived in San Francisco Bayon November 15, 1858; by March 25they had walked to Yuma(or Camp Dirty, as the soldiers called it).Their intention was to"wipe out the Mojave," who hadallegedly massacred a wagon trainthe first to cross on thepartly finished Beale wagon route toCalifornia. W hateve r the truth about thema ssac re, the wa r did not come off.The problems were settled at theconference table.Drawn by H. B. Mollhausen in 1853.

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/ i D uring the California Gold Rush, the EasternV press made sport of certain species of Westernimmigrant. This cartoon, "A Gold Hunter on his wa yto California, via St. Louis,"be ars the caption: "I am sorry I did not followthe advice of Granny to go 'round the Horn."Starting with the Mountain Men, theWest has known many "Great Walkers," not leastof whom was the renowned naturalist John Muir.

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

SHANKS' MARE


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. . . T r a n s p o r t a t i o n o n t h e D e s e r t(continued from preceding page)

In a land wherewaterholes were sepa-rated by great distances,a man's lifequite often depended onhis horse. In manyinstances, stealing orkilling a horse was tanta-mount to murdering itsownerand thatis why horsethieves werehung. This paintingby Frederic Remington, arenow ned artist ofthe early West, is titled,"The Well in the Desert."

For those who traveled in groups, as most of the immigrants did forthe sake of safety, the "prairie schooner," usually drawnby oxen or mules, w as the ma instay. In 1849, Lieutenant Coutsreported seeing 5000 of these wagon trains on the southern routeto California. Here is a train being protected by the Army. Most of thesoldiers walked, including officers up to the grade of Captain.Remington's painting "Protecting a Wagon Train," was published in 1897.

F E B R U A R Y , 1 9 6 0C o n t i n u e d

H O R S E F L E S H

THE WAGON TRAIN


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T r a n s p o r t a t i o n o n t h e D e s e r t . . .(continued from preceding page)

The 20-Mule Teams of Death Valley famesolved the borax miners' heavy transpor-tation problem . W rites W. A. Chalfant in"Death ValleyThe Facts": "The wagonswere hauled in couples, and carried loadsup to 46,000 po un ds of bo rax. Add to thisweight the nearly 16,000 pounds of wagonand the hay and water that had to betaken on every trip, and it will be seenthat the team s of 18 mules a nd two horseshad to be well-chosen animals."

/ i Man and m ule were a familiar sight on the desertsV of the Southwest. Here is J. Ross Browne,a self-portrait. A true world-adv enture r, Browneleft his native Ireland as a very young man,worked his way in far pla ces a s best he coulddeckhand, laborer, and the like.His pen and pencil were his most dependableme ans of livelihood; magaz ines here a nd in Europecarried his lively adventures.This un-flattering picture (contemp oraries saidBrowne was neat and dapper) was drawn in theArizona desert while he was on a tripthrough the Southwestern mining country in theearly 1860s. "Hardy adventurer"was his caption for it.

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

MULEPOWER


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T r a n s p o r t a t i o n o n t h e D e s e r t(continued from preceding page)

Oxen were used to draw smallwagons as well as largeone s. Here is the town ofMono, California, as J. RossBrowne saw it;the city no longer ex ists. Thedrawing is from his "Travels inArizona," first publishedin 1864 in "Harper's Magazine."

ACROSSWATER

Though little of the desert is navigable,where there is water there likelyare boats. Sailors hav e gone up theColorado since the day s of Coronado;in the early d ays , theirsailboats weresometimes powered bystrong Indian swimmerswhose ancestors formany centuries had beennavigating the riversby raft an d boa t. Here isthe "Monterey" in1 8 5 8 , after delivering thevarious parts of theColorado ExploringExpedition's boat "Ex-plorer" and members ofher crew. The schooneris "parked" by a "hotel"run by one CaptainRobinson, asteamboat pilot.

Camelsa method of locomotion that did not workatleast, not well. Camels were introduced to theAm erican dese rt in 1857 for the purpo se of aiding theArmy in carrying supplies from outpost to outpost.

I i *

FE B RU AR Y , 1.9 60 C o n t i n u e d

DROMEDARY EXPRESSOXEN


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T r a n s p o r t a t i o n o n t h e D e s e r t . .(continued from preceding page)

OVERLAND STAGEThe overland stage r idethrough the southern desert wascertainly one of the world'sroughest and dustiest rides.Besides an attack uponone's digestive system, thestage ride presented thepossibility of attack by Indiansor bandits. The man whorode up front with the driver,often called the"shotgun," was supposed to bethe protective shield betweenthe passengers (and cargo)and the dangers of thetrail. Published in 1880.

.

A t some points the stage could count on theprotection of the men at the stage stationif itcould manage to drive fast enough togain the asylum . In this mem orable painting byRemington, "An Overland Station: Indians Comingin with the S tage," it looks as if the sta ge willmake it.End12 D E S E R T M A G A Z I N E


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' 1

liHO

Transient WaterwaysBy FLORENCE EMMONSSanta Barbara, Calif.

io

Yesterday the shallow desert washWas a bed of dry sand,Following its plunging wayThrough the sun-scarred land.Today, clouds pile upon cloudsTo soar, to boil, to burstAnd each desert dust-streamSoon fills its eternal thirst.Tomorrow, the shallow desert washWill be a bed of dry sand,Following its plunging wayThrough the sun-twisted land.

R *

Photograph: Bright Ange l Creek, Grand Canyon, Arizona


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M O J A V E B A R B E C U E K I N GRawley Duntley has been doing good workandgood deedsat the barbecue pit for 50 years

By EVELYN R. YOUNG

CATTLEMAN RAWLEY DUNTLEY is "King of theBarbecue" in the Mojave Desert of California. Forover 50 years he has been digging pits and buryingsacks of choice beef amid hot ashes and rocks. Duntleyhas spent each night before these many "Barbecue Days"working in his kitchen to prepare frijoles, salsa, salad androllsthe never-varying beef barbecue supplements. Dur-ing this half-century of one barbecue after another, Rawleyhas fed thousands of desert citizensand he has neverreceived one dime for his services or the use of his costlyequipment. It's his sincere pleasure to contribute hiswidely-recognized talents to the community.

A desert dweller since the days of the giant MojaveDesert jackrabbit drives (special trains would bring huntersfrom Los Angeles) which always ended in a big communitybarbecue, Duntley decided to carry on the tradition of theCalifornia-Spanish feast. He learned these culinary ac-complishments from Spanish-speaking neighbors when hewas a lad on his father's ranch, and he has continued thiscustom to the delight and prosperity of his fellow desertcitizens not only to help raise money for benefits close tohis heart, but because "we always had such fun at a bar-becue when I was a boy."The Duntley famly migrated to Antelope Valley from

Iowa when Rawley was a young lad. On their "inspectiontour" of California, the Duntley farm wagon passedthrough Bakersfield. Young Rawley was dismayed to seea dead dog lying in the middle of Bakersfield's main street,and he remembers his father's observation:"Any town that's too lazy to move a dead dog out ofthe road wll never amount to anything." The Duntleysdrove over the Tehachapi Mountains to Antelope Valley.Any worthy cause can enlist Duntley's help in staginga real old-time barbecue. Through his cooperation, Ante-lope Valley churches have garnered considerable funds,Little Leagues have raised money for uniforms and equip-ment, mining councils have been fed while importantaffairs were settled, P.T.A. and Women's Clubs have soldtickets to Rawley Duntley barbecues to increase theircharity funds. The list of benefactors is endless.

During the 50 years of their married life, the lateMrs. Duntley took over the kitchen chores for the barbe-cues, but since her death, Rawley has relied on his"volunteer assistants." These friends come from all overthe valley to helpand from all walks of life. From theMaster Barbecuer they have learned how to contributeto their communities through the medium of the publicfeast. Duntley hopes that these younger desert dwellers,many of them newcomers to the wide expanse of theMojave, wll carry on the early Californian tradition ofgood food and plenty of it when he is no longer able todo so.One of the biggest and most successful of Duntley'scommunity dinners was the one given recently at Kern.He fed over 5000 desert citizens who had rallied thereto discuss water problems! From Newhall to Death Valley,Rawley Duntley's effort to aid his neighbors through hisbarbecues has become a living legend. During the Depres-

RAWLEY DUNTLEY INSPECTS A PIECE OF BARBECUED MEAT

sion Thirties, when the area's mines were shut down,Duntley's barbecues were often the only guarantee someof the miners had of receiving a decent meal. The meatwas often donated by the chief cook from his dwindlingherd.A story told around the Mojave about Duntley duringthe Depression Days pretty well sums up this man's goodwork. While walking down the highway he passed adarkened restaurant, a candle gleaming inside. On investi-gating he found the lady owner at the counter, crying. The

electricity had been turned off; she had no customers andno money. The cafe had been in business for yearsbut the mines were closed."We'll give a barbecue," said Duntley, and then heproceeded to dig a fire pit in the restaurant's yard.While his wfe prepared the frijoles, Rawley rode allover the Mojave on his horse (desert tires being too wellpatched in the Thirties) to spread the word. Like PaulRevere, he rode all night from one small town to another,inviting famlies to the barbecue. The beef came from hisown little cluster of cattle.The next day the folks gathered at the cafe. The softdrinks they bought alone put the restaurant back inbusiness."Shucks," said Duntley when I brought this story backto him "if a feller can't be neighborly, what's the use oflivin'?"Here are Duntley's pit barbecue "secrets":The meat: one pound of beef per guest. Cheaper cutscan be used: neck, ribs, brisketbut all must be carefullyboned, and all gristle removed.Meat seasoning: plenty of salt, black pepper and lotsof garlic salt.Wrapping: the meat is selected and wrapped at thepacking house these days, but in the past Rawley did allof this himself. Each package contains 24 pounds of meat.Place in two clean white cotton sacks, then into a brandnew (must be unused) burlap sack. Tie sack and dip in

water. Sack must be well-moistened before placed in pit.The pit: select a level spot where earth is hard. Diga pit four feet deep, four feet wide and six feet long forevery 400 pounds of beef. Use field stones to line bottomand sides of pit.Wood: any hard wood wll do, but wood must notcontain pitch (Duntley's favorite was dried yucca stalksin the old days). When the bonfire has reached the rightintensity, scatter the embers and hot ashes in pit, lay onmeat sacks then quickly cover with dirt (don't allow sacksto ignite). Allow meat to cook 24 hours.Frijoles: allow 1 10 pound pink beans for everyguest. Wash carefully and let soak overnight. Cook withstrips of bacon, ground beef and onions. Cooking time

varies with elevation: between two and four hours. Beansare done when tender.Salsa: let your taste determine proportions of ingredi-ents: chopped green and red chile, chopped onions, solidpack tomatoes, oil, vinegar. Serve cold in separate con-tainerbut sauce is "hot."F.ND

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I F YOU CAN take campfire smoke and dust and bumpyroads, if you can spare 10 days and $300, then you canstill be one of this nation's "explore rs.'" But don 't waitlong, for the age of adventuring is about finished on thiscontine nt. Paved roa ds, pushing their oiled feelers intothe back-country, are dissolving the last strongholds ofthe fabled Western Frontier.It's an axiom of modern A me rica: the firmer the sur-facing on the road, the softer the living along the roadside.Let any oldtimer tell you about the Los Angeles-Yumaroad in 1920 : it wasn 't a road , it was an experience allthree days of it. Now , in 1960, it's nothing but a familyouting for the day. Or ask dad t o tell you what he wentthrough on the sand trail from Santa Fe down to El Pasothree decades ago. That soul-tester of a by-gone day ismerely a speed test today.Yet, there are a few spots in the Southwest even nowwhere you can get all the red dust you can choke down,

where there's no gas station within a day's journey, andthe nearest motel is a long dream away.One of the few remaining escape-corners in Americais in San Juan County, Utah . Though San Juan has m anypaved roads, a large hunk of the countryan area as largeas the state of Massachusetts doesn't have anythingsmoother than rough trails fit only for four-wheel drivevehicles and horse s. Ten m iles an hour is good a veragetravel in this poorly mapped million-acre malpais.Along with its rugged roads and escapism, the south-eastern corner of Utah offers some of the most fantasticand colorful scenery in Ame rica. Recently I went into theSan Juan back-country on a trip conducted by Kent Frostof Mo nticello, Uta h. Tho ugh hu ndre ds of vehicles ofvarious types had explored the same area over the pastdozen yearsmost of them prospecting for uranium oroilour group was the first commercial "party trip" tobounce over the rutted hills and canyons lying between


Mechanical " M u l e s "Increasing numbers of vacationing Americans are spending their leisure days"d isc ov er ing " the Southwest's last frontier, thanks to the growing pop ularity of

By CHARLES E. SHELTON


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/

Tom Shelton gazes into the water of ahuge "pot-hole" near The Chuteas other members of the party edgedown-canyon to view newly-discoveredPioneer Natural Bridgenamedonor of Arthur Lyman

Jeep convoy drives into theentrance of a large cave used asa shelter by early-daycowboys near the NeedlesCountry* J** Fern Frost eases her jeep down a steepsandstone slope nearElephap.! Hill. The next jeep awaits its turn.

the San Juan River and the Needles Country. (In theNovember, 1956, Desert Magazine, W. G. Carrol l de-scribed a jeep trip he and three others made to the Needles.After I had seen this country, I felt that Carroll had beena very conservative writer. He could have used the ad-jectives "fantastic" and "colorful" and "beautiful" aboutevery third sentence!)For me, our expedition had its thrills as our convoyof four jeeps climbed up and down the slick rock hills,and we had more bumps than I care to remember, butall in all it was a pleasant tour in a land that will one daybe as famous and as heavily traveled as Monument Valley,or even Bryce and Zion parks.We saw the Goose Necks of the San Juan River,visited the noble plateau of Nokai Dome, stood at thetop of Cottonwood Canyon across from historic Hole-in-the-Ro ck. We climbed over Clay Hill Pass to Gray M esa,chugged up the Chute-the-Chute in low compound gear,

visited the ruins of Ruin Valley where a forgotten Indianculture once flourished, and wandered among the brilliantlycolored spires of Chesler Park . We saw the cliff dw ellingsof Horse Canyon and Salt Creek, and we watched the sunset behind lovely Angel Arch . Ther e were a dozen o therpoints of interest in the 525-mile Jornada that Frost led.His tours are but one of a dozen or more that areavailable through experienced guides in Utah and northernAr izon a. These guides are licensed and franchised. Theyare experienced men and women who know their areas.Some conduct river float trips, some specialize in shorttrips from comfortable lodges, others combine river andcar and pack trips.Guided trips are becoming increasingly popular and,surprisingly, they appeal most strongly at the present tofolks who are "old han ds" at Southwest travel. The desert-Continued

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Mechanical "Mules"cont inuedland fever is in their blood, and they are looking for newcorners of the West to poke into before these placesbecome "civilized."

The individual jeep owner who wants to see south-eastern Utah's wilderness should think twice before ventur-ing forth into the remote back-country without a guide.This area is vast; its few trails that survive winter snowsand summer rainstorms are rugged; in places the way isnot evident at allwavy inclines of slickrock that revealno tire ruts of vehicles that have gone before. Many partsof this terrain have not been seen by anyone driving avehiclean alluring feature for some folks, but no placefor one who is not prepared to survive a 60 or 70 milewalk out to civilization should his jeep encounter mechani-cal failure.

Anyone who has the time and the money can enjoya guided jeep trip, assuming he's healthy and has a bitof a sense of humor to ease him over some of the ruts inthe road. Costs run from $15 to $25 a day. This feeincludes all food, transportation, guide service and prep-aration of mea ls. Some of the guides feature one-daytrips. Kent Frost specializes in longer trips, some lasting10 days.The longer trips are the ones that get "back beyond."On the first day out of Monticello we sailed almost ahund red miles over paved or graded gravel roads. Afterthat it was 30 to 40 miles a day. Part of each day w astaken up with visits to cliff ruins, photo halts, walks tothe rim of the canyon of the Colorado or the gorge of the

San Juan, and, pleasantly, noontime naps.On a trip such as ours, there are three or four placeswhere you can get a bath and do the laundry, but they're



19/44

cm|\bin V

m .. Cr-

Kent Frost examinesIndian storage birnear ruins in Horse Canyon.Door slab fits theopening so perfectly that a mousecould not have gained accessto this granary.

/ [ Two back-country explorersV walk down historicMormon-built Dugway onSlick Rock Hll. This roughwagon trail was blasted from thesedimentary sandstone.Trail leads off Gray Mesa.

Pink and White sandstonespires of Chesler Parkin the Needles.There are no roads norN / ' houses in this area.

Seldom-seen Angel Arch, one ofthe loveliest in the Southwest,w as irreverently called"Poodle Dog Arch" by one memberof the jeep party.Arch's brown sedimentary rock isstreaked with rain marks.

all of the cold water variety. Tour guides provide every-thing except clothing, toothbrush and camera. They furnishsleeping bags, gasoline, food, utensils, tools and roughgear to pitch a camp and get out of tough spots. Thetraveler brings his own toilet items, tarp for inclementweather, carrying bags, mosquito repellent (seldom needed)and sunburn lotion.On our trip there were three women and eight men.The oldest "dude" was 70 (he celebrated his 70th inscenic Squaw Valley!) Kent told me that about half ofhis passengers are women, and that about half are re-tired people.The older folks seem to want to travel over some ofthis back country before "it's gone and they're gone,"Kent explained. "On the other hand, we are getting moreand more famly groups who want to camp out for a fewdays."

Two arms of the Glen Canyon reservoir wll one dayborder the area Kent Frost now travels. New and betterroads wll penetrate the hinterland when it becomes partof the proposed Glen Canyon Recreational area. Thebeauty of the Needles, the grandeur of Gray Mesa, thecolors of Clay Hills, and the historic ruins of Horse Can-yon wll one day be regular sight-seeing stops for the fast-traveling tourist.In the meantime, the roads are rough, the dust hangsheavy, the bath water is cold, and the travelers are fewIf you want further information on jeeping trips intothe San Juan or Four Corners area of Utah, write to:Chamber of Commerce, Monticello, Utah; Chamber ofCommerce, Richfield, Utah; Chamber of Commerce, Moab,Utah; the Utah Tourist and Development Bureau. SaltLake City, or Desert Magazine Travel Guide, Palm Desert.California.END

FEBRUARY, 1960 19


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T H E G H A N A T . . .. . . i n g e n i o u s h o r i z o n t a l w e l l of a n c i e n t

P e r s i a w h i c h m a y h o l d p t o m i se f o ro u t w a t e r - sc a r c e S o u t h w e st D e se r t

A MOGHANI AND HIS SON LOWER LEATHER BUCKET TO THE DIGGER INTH E TUNNEL 70 FEET BELOW. WINDLASS HAS ITS ORIGI N IN ANTIQUITY .

A TRAVELER FROM our Southwest would see muchthat is familiar in Iran. In con trast, the ghanats thatare older than Persia herself would strike our new-come r as being absolutely new and strange. No thing likethese horizontal wells are found in the deserts of NorthAmerica.In the vast arid plateau that stretches from the ElburzMountains, just south of the Caspian Sea, to the edge ofthe Persian Gulf, the ghanat supplies water to most landsthat are irrigated. It provides the drinking water for manand beast in most of the villages and for many of the townsand cities such as Teheran, Isfahan, Yezd, Shiraz, andKerman.The origin of the ghanat is lost in pre-history. Perse-polis, the capitol of Xerxes destroyed by Alexander theGreat, the Macedonian, rested its splendor on ghanatswhich watered the gardens and fed the marbled channelsand fountains.

Ghanats are an ingenious means of bleeding the watertable, and of gently leading a stream through a slopingtunnel down to a point where it can be surfaced. Herethe water springs forth as from a natural cavernlimpid,cold and pure, prepared to create and to maintain anoasis in the desert. Most of the outfall cones at the m outhsof the innumerable canyons and washes in the mountainsthat surround the Iranian plateau, support one or moregh an ats . If there is but one , a tiny village built of mud isfound there. If there are many, a large town . So, the land-scape is dotted with villages and towns along the base of20

B y W I L L I A M E . W A R MD irector of the California D epartment ofA griculture who for severa l years hea dedthe International Cooperation A dministra-

tion Program (Point 4) in Iran

the mountains all around the great dish that is almost asbig as Texas and has no river that runs to the sea.Ghanats of another type, but essentially the same intheir construction, are found further down the slopes inthe valley areas . Only areas which are geologically blessedwith formations that make accumulation of ground waterpossible will supp ort valley ghan ats. Such areas are theVeramin Plain, the Yezd Valley, and the Kerman Valley.Here wonderfully productive fields abound and numerousvillages flourish, even great tow ns and cities exist. In sucha valley the vine that inspired Omar grew.

While the origin of the ghanat is lost in antiquity, thehighly specialized trade of laying out these unique watersystems and digging them is very much alive. The ghan atdiggers are called Moghanis. Often theirs is a family oc-cupation handed down from father to son through manygene rations. The diggers have none of the modern en gineer-ing equipment that tunnel makers would use in America,but they have great skill and are highly successful withcrude instrum ents. A saturated string is held an end ineither han d. A drop of water collecting in the very centerwill indicate how to run a level. Even w ith this rudeinstrument in the dark holes where they work, the Moghanisare able to keep appropriate slopes and to avoid disaster.The windlasses used to lift the muck in leather buckets fromthe tunnels are crude but efficient, and exactly m ade. Th esticks and thongs can be knocked apart and tied in a neatbundle for carrying. I doub t whether any marked technicaladvance has been made in ghanat digging in a thousandyears.

Gh ana ts are of Persian origin. Only in Afgha nistan.next door, are they so widely used as in Ira n. They arefound, however, in the Arab world from Iraq to Algeria.The Moors apparently took knowledge of them to Spainand the Spanish to South Am erica. A few ghana ts are stilloperating in Chile. Trade routes from Persia ran to Chinain ancient times, and ghanats are found in the Gobi andother western Chinese deserts.There are no ghanats in the United States and nonehave been recorded in North Am erica. W ater collectionsystems like ghanats in principle are used by the City ofLos Angeles in subterranean channels under the Los An-geles River. The City of Honolulu and the United S tates

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


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Navy at Pearl Harbor use a ghanat-like system of tunnelsto extract water from the mountain that rises from thedry shore of Oahu Island.American engineers in the few instances in which theyhave drilled horizontal wells have used methods similarto common tunnelling. These, of course, can be economiconly in instances in which large yield is a foregone con-clusion. Some experimentation, still incomplete, has beenundertaken with regard to mechanical drilling in Persia.This seems unlikely to replace the age-old ghanat diggers.Ghanats suffer by comparison with wells equipped withelectric pumps in some regards, but have advantages overthem in others. The initial cost of a ghanat in Iran todayexceeds that of a deep well and pump. But, because aghanat produces its water through the action of gravity andrequires little maintenance, its operation costs are extremelysmall. To most Iranian farmers the advantage of low opera-tion cost far exceeds any disadvantage in initial outlay.Also, in a land where the transportation system is stillinadequate and utilities are unknown in rural areas, anelectric or gasoline pump is impractical. The ghanat,therefore, isnot apt soon to be replaced by the pumpswhich have substituted for them in the United States.The independent irrigation bongah (Iran's Bureau ofReclamation) has reported that mountain ghanats, thosewell up on the outfall cones, vary from 165 to 8000 feetin length and from 16 to 165 feet in depth of the motherwell. They flow from 8 to 800 gallons per minute, withan average of about 80 gallons. Ghanats in the plains aremore constant in their flow and less affected by seasonalchanges. They may vary from 4900 feet to \2Vi miles inlength, and the mother well from 49 feet to 495 feet indepth. The flow of the plain ghanat may range from 160to 2400 gallons per minute, with an average of about 400gallons per minute. Four outstanding ghanats are:

The Bidokht Ghanat, near the town of Gon-abad, has a mother well 1148 feet deep. It flows2400 gallons per minute and irrigates 370 acresof land.

The Kerman Ghanats are exceptional becauseof their great length, which extend to 25 miles.Several of these have mother wells as deep as394 feet, but their flow is not great being about300 gallons per minute.The Doulatabad Ghanat, near Yezd, is 31miles long and has a capacity of 634 gallons perminute. A part of the length of this ghanat actu-ally is in a surface canal. The tunnel was so shal-lowly bored beneath the surface that a channelwas formed.

A KILN FOR FIRING CLAY "HORSE COLLARS" USED TO LINE GHANATS

The Shahrood Ghanat is the most productive.Its mother well has a depth of 197 feet, and itproduces 3963 gallons per minute. It is the onlysouce of water for the whole town of Shahrood.A practiced eye wll see that our Southwest abounds inplaces where ghanats could be utilized. The wizardry ofmodern science and technology has not, in many instances,produced a method to get water in many of these places.A platoon of Moghanis would know how to go about it.Most likely areas in the Southwest which overlay

abundant ground water reservoirs of the type that supplythe ghanats of the plains of Iran already have been rendereduseful by wells and pumping. But, many opportunities likethose which support ghanats of the mountain type in Iranare available here.No nation has contributed more to the technology ofwater control and irrigation than the United States. Tech-nicians have literally been sent over all the earth to dem-onstrate these techniques and to plan "modern works."In this field, however, the gadgetry of the scientific age hasnot rendered obsolete the folk methods of an ancient civil-ization. A reverse technical assistance program by whichIran would provide the Southwest with ghanat diggerswould not be inappropriate.END

VERTICAL 8HAFT8

MOUTH

CROSS SECTIONOF A GHANAT SYSTEM

F E B R U A R Y , 1960 2i


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24/44

V U L T U R E St h e d e s e r t ' s f e a t h e r e d s c a v e n g e r s

B y E D M U N D I J A E G E R

DURING THE past year I have traveled 15,000 milesover the great desert areas of North America from

middle Mexico to Texas, California and Arizona.In this arid expanse I have noticed that there are two largeblack birds always present in the skiesthe wily sagaciousraven and the carrion-eating vulture. Both are able andspectacular fliers, and during daylight hours are almostconstantly on the wing in search of food or seemingly justenjoying their magnificent pow ers of flight. The rav ensare mostly found in pairs, the vultures singly or in flocks.The vultures are better and more graceful fliers and areprone to mount much higher, often attaining such greatheights that they become mere specks in the sky. In o urnorthern deserts they are more prevalent in summer, butin Mexico one sees them throughout the year.Many persons have difficulty in distinguishing ravens

from vultur es. In flight the wings of the vultures are heldin a plane above the horizontal; the tips of the wingfeathers are noticeably wider apart; the head conspicuouslysmaller.To me one of the most extraordinary events of theautumnal months is the gathering together of hundredsupon hundreds of turkey buzzards {Cathartes aura sep-tentrionalis) along the Mojave River of Southeastern Cali-fornia in preparation for communal migration east andsouthw ard. Wh ere all the somber-feathered creatures comefrom I can only guess, but it must be from a wide desertarea. An even greater mystery is how without op portunityto feed they are able to fly in giant funnel-shaped gyrationsfor hours and hours on end. Sometimes dozens of these

well-integrated flocks beautifully wheel about in the airat one time. It is always intere sting to see how some ofthe birds, acting independently, will leave a flock of theirsoaring fellows to join and sport-fly with birds of a nearby"flying-funnel."As night comes on, the gifted aviators assemble, some-times hundreds of birds together in tree tops, settling thereclose together with partially-spread drooping wings andindrawn h eads . In the mornin g they begin to cons ort inflight when the sun is well up a nd the earth sufficientlyheated to cause air currents upon which they can rise andgracefully glide.At some signal from a leader or in response to someinner-stimulus, the birds of a sudden become restless and

begin to move off due-east, later to turn southward to newfeeding grounds probably deep in Mexico. When springcomes they come north again and spend several days inthe same stately wheeling flocks before dispersing in smallgroups or pairs to their ancestral nesting and feedinggrou nds . It is strange that in all the many acco unts of the24

habits of the turkey vulture I can find no mention of thispeculiar avian phenomenon.I have seen the smaller black-headed vultures {Cora-gyps atratus) only occasionally in southern Arizona andfar northern Sonora, but southward in more-humid-cactus-and acacia-covered Sonora and Sinaloa they are commonabout every village and ranch . The denser human pop ula-tion means a greater number of carcasses of goats, cats,dogs and burros that are aband oned to them. Unlike thered-headed turkey vultures which range much farther tothe north (even to southwestern Canada), the black vul-tures are seldom migratory. At times flocks move abou tfrom place to place but the periods are not regular noris the direction of movement necessarily from north tosouth. Such territorial changes as occur are probab lydependent wholly on the necessity for finding new sourcesof food.In their funereal dress of dusty-black feathers, blackvultures are only "good looking birds" when in flight. Thefeather-bare neck and small head are gloomy-black, theskin often w rinkled. Com pared to the turkey vu lture'stail, the black vulture's is quite short and broad, barelyextending beyond the closed wings. The wings too areshorter but little less capable organs of flight. Wingspreadof the black vulture is about four and a half feet, comparedto the near-six-foot w ingspread of the turkey vu lture. Onthe underside of the black vulture's wings, and seen inflight, is a white to silver-gray area which serves as a goodmark of identification.As with other vultures, these birds are scavengershunting out and eating putrid flesh. Their hooked beaksare well adap ted for rending holes in carcasses. Th e eyesand mouth of the dead animal are first attacked; the fleshis extracted throug h open ings in the skin. Th e birds finallyinsert their whole head and neck, and if the carcass is thatof a horse, burro or large ruminant, the vultures go rightinside the large abdom inal cavity. It is ama zing how g lut-tonou s these birds can be. At times of easy feeding theymay eat until they are so heavy that they can scarcely leavethe ground in flight.No animal is long dead before the vultures congregateabo ut it and begin tearing at its softer par ts. Often theever-hu ngry village dogs feed alongside the birds. If thedogs are large the birds usually make way before them,demurely waiting near at hand until the canines have

finished their foul mea l. If the vultur es crowd in too so on,the dogs often growl or snap at them. Th e birds thenspring up for a moment, only to gather near again andpatiently wait.Although they are on the whole peaceful complacentcreatures and well disposed toward other birds, amongD E S E R T M A G A Z I N E


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themselves black vultures are not wholly amiable at feed-ing time. They push and frequently attack one another,"fighting with their claws or heels, striking like a cockwith open wings," all the while making sniffing or hissingsounds while the mouth is held wide open. These soundsare akin to those made when a red-hot poker is thrust intocold water. The birds are incapable of making true vocalnoises because they do not possess the voice-box or syrinxof singing birds.Black vultures drink a great deal if water is available,and are even fond of bathing. I once saw a morninggathering of about 500 birds on the flat sandy banks ofthe Mayo River near Navajoa. At any given time aboutone-third of the flock was in the shallow water, the birdsdrenching their feathers or walking out on the sunny shoreto spread wide their wings and preen body feathers whiledrying off. They paid little attention to me and I was ableto approach very near.The one or two eggs, pale-green or cream-colored withspots of brown, are laid upon the ground under bushes orin some cavity of rock or tree. The parents feed the fuzzy-feathered young many times a day. The young are keptgorged with food. While the adult bird stands upright, the

nestlings insert their beaks between the opened mandiblesof the parent and take the regurgitated food. Young birdshave their parents' habit of ejecting the fetid contents oftheir stomachs upon any creature which disturbs themAlmost two months pass before the young leave the nest;not before three months are they able to fly well.For a long time it has been debated how vultures soquickly find their food; also how they can so skillfully and

so speedily communicate knowledge of their prize to theirfellow birds, often distantly located. When a dead animalis discovered by one of the soaring birds, either by smellor by their extraordinarily keen sight, it floats directly downtoward the carcass in such a way that other vultures onsimilar search quickly make for the spot.Most writers refer to vultures as repulsive scavengingcreatures. Perhaps at close range they arebut when Ithink of their marvelously skillful flights and the utile part

they play as sanitarians, especially in summer in tropicaland semi-tropical lands, I am inclined toward tolerance,thinking they deserve a reputation without undue stigma.There are several accounts of persons keeping youngvultures as pets. These people report that vultures havea high degree of intelligence and devotion toward theirkeepers. These birds are playful and fond of sportingwith other household pets such as cats and dogs. Freshmeat is always their favorite food.The Old World vultures, of which there are manykinds (for instance, seven in the South African deserts andat least five species in the deserts of Egypt and Arabia),along with the hawks all belong to the bird sub-order,"Falcones." Our American vultures, differing so markedly

in structure, are placed in the distinct sub-order, "Cath-artes." In their mode of living all vultures have much incommon.The American vultures include two of the largest offlying birds, the great Condor of the Andes, with a wing-spread of almost 10 feet, and the large California Condornow nearing extinction due to poisoning campaigns againstit years ago and the impress or civilization today.END

f

MVDTURKEY VULTURE

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PANCHOVILLA'SWIDOW

BY W . THETFORD LeVINESSThe "good days" have long since departed,but Dona Luzcarries on her f ight torestore honor tothe name ofher controversialhusband

I N ADILAPIDATED, a lmost decadent ne ighborhood ofChihuahua , on a street lined with lowadobe buildings,lives anelderly lady in a stone structure with two storiesand some 20rooms. Chihuahua is thecapital of thestateof the same name, Mexico's largest. The lady isDona Luz ,widow of Pancho Villa, whoterrorized all Mexico whenthis century was young.The house sheoccupies was Villa's military headquar-ters inChihuahua. Dona Luz hasdeveloped a museum inseveral of thedownstairs rooms and thepatio. Faithful tothe outlaw's memory for nearly four decades, she meetsvisitors whenever she is there, andpersonally escorts themthrough port ions of thehome she hasarranged for display.With Americans she speaks a good, rapid English; butwhether in this language or in her native Spanish, sheapparently never tires of relating the daring exploits ofher historic and fabled husband.Villa has been called the "Robin Hood of modern

Mexico." Born in themountains of Durango, he led thepoor and oppressed against despotic landowners of theday. Heonce captured Mexico City andproclaimed him-self thenation's dictator; early in 1915, however, he lostpower and fled north.It was in March, 1916, that hoodlums among his fol-lowers raided Columbus, New Mexicothe only time sincethe War of 1812 that a state of theUnion suffered armedinvasion. There w ere many casualties, Am erican andMexican alike.Whether Villa instigated this raid or even knew aboutit is in serious doubt. In anycase, it resulted in a "puni -tive expedition" of United States forces into Mexico. The

contingent was led byGen. John J. Pershing.The Chihuah ua action lasted several mo nths. Crudeairplanes replenished supply lines on the hot desert chasethe first time in history that flying craft were put tomilitary use. Pershing never caught up with Villa, andpublic opinion at home wasdivided. Theexpedition was26

DONA LUZ IN FRONT OF HER CHIHUAHUA HOMEDESERT MAGAZINE


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recalled, and Villa became a bandit hero to many excite-ment-starved Americans.In Mexico, Villa made peace with the authorities andtook up ranching. Conditions failed to improve, and rumorsof a comeback persisted. The government is said to havehired assassins; at any rate, Villa was shot to death in anopen touring car in 1923. The killing took place in south-ern Chihuahua stateat Hidalgo del Parral, 200 milessouth of Chihuahua city and near the boundary of hisnative Durango.He was buried in a crowded cemetery near the sceneof the ambush. Soon after, in the dead of night, vandalsexhumed the body, decapitated it, and left it to be reburied.The tombstone carries an inscription appropriate to therank and importance of "General Francisco Villa." Thehead was never found.Dona Luz is short, and through the years has put onweight. Her face reflects the struggle waged by most Chi-huahua people against sun, wind and dryness. She is notpoor, as poverty goes in Mexico; but she has shared thefinancial fate of many other widows of fallen politicalleaders. Dona Luz finds it hard to maintain the pride andelegance of her former glory under a government still hos-tile to the principles of her slain spouse."That is why 1 ask donations," she explains. "Fiveservants to keep this place cleant costs too much." Asign, neatly lettered in Spanish and English, says that moneygiven goes principally for upkeep, and that any left overwill be used for the permanent memorial she is trying toestablish there.

The rooms open to the public are furnished elaboratelyand are paneled in the European manner so popular inMexican interiors of the period 1890-1910. Dona Luzshows the overstuffed divan, the old-fashioned gramophonewith horn, and the writing desk Villa used when he sentand received his field dispatches. She even shows a fewpictures of herself and the famous bandit chief, taken soonafter their marriage."And here are the weapons," she says with pride. Sheknows about all of them and how they were acquired.Some are swords and side-arms given Villa by crownedheads of Europe who backed him as a pawn of diplomaticintrigue in the tense days before the 1914-1918 war.French doors open on the patio, with its flowing foun-tain and tiled walks. In an abandoned solarium to oneside is the car in which Villa was riding when shot. Besidea bullet-riddled door of this old vehicle, Dona Luz speakscalmly of the ambush."They used rapid-fire automatics and aimed from awindow," she says. "Pancho Villa didn't have a chance."Villa's widow has traveled thousands of miles in theinterest of winning official recognition for the famed out-law In Mexico City, she has personally petitioned everypresident of the republic since her husband's murder forpermission to move the headless corpse to Chihuahua.There an impressive mausoleum built with the meagerdonations of the poor who loved him stands unoccupied.Social unrest still pervades Mexico. Each president hasrefused the plea, fearful that an honored tomb for Villamight somehow become a rallying point for revolution.The present government is relenting a little. For yearsno likeness of Villa could be erected anywhere in Mexico.But just recently an equestrian statue of the bandit leaderwas unveiled in Chihuahua, in a new university suburband adjacent to the state governor's residence.In the United States, Dona Luz enjoys solid popularity.Several years ago Hollywood made a film about Pancho

UNOCCUPIED TOMB OF PANCHO VILLA IN CHIHUAHUA j \

Villa, and she was guest of honor at the premiere. Onceshe was billed as the stellar attraction at a fiesta in Es-panola, New Mexico. Occasionally she will take the shot-up death car out of the solarium and send it "on tour."It has been (by truck, since its motor doesn't run and itstires are worn out) to many cities in the United States andMexico. For a year or so it occupied a portion of a hotellobby in Ciudad Juarez. Everywhere it is sent, a donationbox for the Villa memorial goes with it.Mexicans in Chihuahua disagree over Villa's reputation.Some regard him as a militant savior; others call him aruthless killer. Mexico is a land of raw inequalities; eventoday, those in power must guard against the spark thatmight set off the powder keg.It is this continuing atmosphere that has enabled DonaLuz to prosper, in spite of decades of official oppositionto her cause.END

F EB RU ARY . 1 960 27


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I N G A N C I E N TH O N A N K I

P A L A T K I

SCENES ON THIS PAGEA R E OF HONANKI

ILIVE IN A haunted land, a many-canyoned countrywhose fabulous red and white cliffs are multitudinouslyhaunted by reminders of men and women who dwelthere before us. From my home near Sedona I look outupon a distant hole high up on the face of the north moun-tain. The "hole," a sizable cave, once held two Indiandwellings snug in its protective embrace. A short distancedown the roadf you know where to lookyou can find

scores of other remnant human eyries, some tumbled bytime into barely recognizable stone heaps, many still moreor less intact. Indeed, there is scarcely a rocky nook orcranny of Arizona's upper Verde Valley and its Red Rockcountry that does not conceal some ledge or cave whichnow long-gone Indians once called home.There are fortified hilltops and relic agricultural pueblos,cliff houses and cave dwellings, single famly retreats andentire villages. Two, Tuzigoot and Montezuma Castle, are

national monuments visited by thousands of tourists eachyear. These are, of course, well worth seeing; but if youenjoy the taste of discovery, if you like to savor your ruinsin solitude and do not mind leaving the pavement, youmay want to seek out some of the more sequestered sites.Many, like our cave, require considerable hiking to gett o , but some are close to graded roads. Of these, two ofthe largest are reached via the Red Canyon Road whichtakes off from Highway 89A 12 mles northeast of Cotton-wood, or, if you are coming from the north, lO/i mlessouthwest of Sedona. Both are on private property, butvisitors who observe the normal courtesies of ruin explora-tion (don't dig, don't deface, don't demolish) are welcome.These ruins, of course, are protected by federal and statelaws.Palatki ("Red House") and Honanki ("Bear House")were so named in 1895 by Jesse Walter Fewkes, the notedarcheologist who first described them Today you needgive thought to the access road only in wet weather; butwhen Fewkes and his party made their way into Red Can-yon and beyond, there was no road of any sort, good, bad,or indifferent.

"We were obliged to make our own wagon road, asno vehicle had ever penetrated the rugged canyons visitedby us," wrote Fewkes in his report to the SmithsonianInstitution. "It was necessary to carry our drinking waterfrom Oak Creek, which fact impeded our progress andlimted the time available to our reconnaissance. Therew a s , however, in the pool near the ruins of Honanki enoughwater for our horses, and, at the time we were there, alimted amount of grass . . ."

One wonders if the "pool" was the same dramatic rockcatchment which today supplies the Joe Hancock Ranch(on which Honanki stands) with water many months outof the year.Describing the region through which you pass on theway to the two ruins, Fewkes wrote:"The colors of the rocks are variegated, so that thegorgeous cliffs appear to be banded, rising from 800 to1000 feet sheer on all sides. These rocks had weatheredinto fantastic shapes suggestive of cathedrals, Greek tem-

ples, and sharp steeples of churches extending like giantneedles into the sky. The scenery compares very favorablywith that of the Garden of the Gods, and is much moreextended. This place, I have no doubt, wll sooner or laterbecome popular with the sightseer, and I regard the dis-covery of these cliffs one of the most interesting of mysummer's field work."His remark about the coming of sightseers to the RedRock country made him something of a soothsayer. Sixty-five years ago the area was so sparsely settled that Fewkeshad great difficulty in finding anyone to help with his dig-ging. Today the Sedona postoffice serves close to 2000people, many of whom came first as tourists. Yet thenearby countryside around Honanki and Palatki is still

almost as deserted as it was when Fewkes named Honankifor a bear which wandered unconcernedly past his camp-site. From the highway to Honankia distance of 10milesyou wll pass four ranches, but wll not see thatmany houses, and when you get out to walk it will not betoo unusual, even now if you come across sign of bear.2 8 DESERT MAGAZINE


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There was a period, perhaps 500 to 800 years ago,when the canyons were far more populated than at present.The Indians who built Honanki, Palatki and the otherVerde Valley cliff dwellings, were members of a grouparcheologists call the Southern Sinagua, those who dweltin a land of little water; and judging by the extent of theruins at Honanki and Palatki, several hundred of thesepeople at one time may have lived in these two settlementsalone.Farmers, eventually they were forced out of the valleyand its canyons as a result, partially, at least, of a pro-longed and disastrous drouth. Much later came the war-like Yavapai, or Mohave Apaches as they are sometimesknown, who found the carefully constructed cave and cliffhomes of the Sinagua convenient shelters for themselves.The painted pictographs on the cliffs were the handiworkof these more recent inhabitants whose descendants stilllive on reservations at Mddle Verde and Prescott in theArizona county which bears their name.When you turn on to the Red Canyon Road, clockthe mileage, for these two ruins are well hidden. Six mlesfrom the highway there's a sign: "Red Canyon Ranch, 2miles; Hancock Ranch, 4 miles." Here the road forks.The right prong leads to Red Canyon Ranch and Palatkiat a dead end. If Dolly and Joe Robinson, owners of theattractive well-kept ranch, are at home, they'll gladlyshow you how to reach the ruins, which are not visiblefrom the white ranch buildings. Leaving your car at thegate, walk toward the cliffs, bear right past a tumbled-down dynamite storage pit, and skirt the edge of a lowhill until you come to the trail. A short climb leads to theaist of the two Red House ruins.Perched high on the talus slope, it hugs the face of amajestic rock palisade that protected it from hostile ele-ments and human enemies alike. Once at least 120 feetlong and two, possibly three, stories high, the buildings

follow the contour of the cliff, and the front walls arerounded in places like bay windows to provide more spacein the rooms behind. The people who dressed the buildingstones and set them in adobe mortar with such originalityand effectiveness were evidently skillful workmen.A few hundred feet to the west is the second ruin, deepin a high-arched cave which overlooks the fields belowbacked by incredibly grand semi-circular red bluffs. It isnot hard to reconstruct in imagination the scene as it musthave been centuries ago when industrious Sinagua farmerslived and worked here in comparative security. Call out,and the echo that comes back sounds like a voice out ofthat distant past.Back in the car, retrace your route to the road forkand take the left-hand prong. From here on, the road isnarrower and rougher, but in dry weather entirely passable.It crosses the Hancock Ranch cattleguard, continues pastthe ranch house driveway. About three-tenths of a milebeyond the driveway, park in a clearing to the right. (Ifyou come to a closed gate across the road, you wll havedriven a bit too far.)From the clearing, which is marked with a Hancocksign, an easy foot trail leads to Honanki, though you mayhave to look a bit sharp to locate it. At its beginning aretwo small pinyon trees. Sight carefully between them andyou'll spot the built walls at the foot of the tremendouscliff.Wth binoculars you will be able to look into thenumerous small caves high on the sheer face of the rockand discover that this place is also an apartment house forbirds. The ravens soaring so nonchalantly above havenests in these sky-reaching niches.Larger than Palatki, Honanki had a series of rooms

FEBRUARY, 1960

B Y E L I Z A B E T H R I G B Y

SCENES ON THIS PAGEARE OF PALATKI

fiLi

running along the base of the cliff and a large structurewithin a great arching cavern which may have served asa fortress in time of danger. The pictographs, particularlyinteresting here, are believed to be chiefly of Apache origin,but some at least may have been made by the originalinhabitants, since they suggest a form still used by" themodern Hopis who, archeologists believe, may numberthe Sinagua among their ancestors .END

29


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T H E H I S T O R I C H U E C O ST h e West-BoundParade O History-Passed ThroughThis ImportantTexas Waterhole

B y LOUISE AUER

I N THE Hueco Mountains, 30 mleseast of El Paso, Texas, and easilyaccessible, is a happy huntingground for devotees of Indian andWestern lore. Strange indeed are theHueco (Spanish: "holes") Tanks,covering an area of approximately onesquare milea fantastic stone heap ofimmense tumbled granite boulderswith numerous large and small water-holes gashed into the solid rock by theforces of nature. The tanks, the richromantic history enveloping them andthe great concentration of hieroglyph-ics (some of the finest specimens ofancient Indian "writings" in America)have made the place quite famousand well worth visiting.

As an "oasis"' in a long stretch ofarid desert, Hueco Tanks have servedfor centuries as a prominent wateringpoint for travelers passing this way.Long before the advent of the whiteman and long after, the Indians madeimportant use of these tanks. Herethey established camps, held councilsand fought bloody battles. The placeabounds in caves, great sheltering cliffs,caverns and canyons once used forhabitation and fortifications by theRedman. Pre-historic tribesmen re-corded fragments of their way of lifewith pictographs, and some petro-glyphs. These range in age from 2000to 100 years.The pictographs are vividly exe-

cuted in colorsbrownish yellow red,black and white identified as thework of Pre-Pueblos. Pueblos, Basket-makers. Apaches and Navajos. Amongthese interesting and symbolic paint-ings are the "Rabbit Dance," the "Sun

Symbol," a headless woman, and vari-ous insects and animals.Spanish explorers quenched theirthirst and watered their mounts at thehistoric old tanks. The '49ers foundthe waterholes a welcome rest spot ontheir arduous trek to the Golconda ofthe Pacific. And many of these pas-sersby scribbled their names on therocks, names that are still legible todayafter more than a century.Other visitors, swept along in theswirling maelstrom that was the greatWestward movement, made the tanksa temporary camping place on the OldImmigrant Trail to California, andthey too left names and dates behindthem The Indians used this secludedregion as a cache for cattle and goodspilfered from ranches and farms inthe E! Paso vicinity, and when theButterfield Overland Mail was placedin operation in 1858. a way stationwas established at Hueco Tanks.Waterman L. Ormsby. a correspon-dent for the New York Herald, wasthe only through passenger on the firstWestbound Butterfield stage. Hueco'swater supply failed, and Ormsby de-scribed the incident with these words:"On reaching the Waco [Hueco]Tanks we found an excellent corral

Louise Cheney Auer's "hobby ;ind al-most whole interest in life" is Westernhis tory . It ;ill started at the age of 10when she read "The Fall of the A l a m o . "However, her interest in becoming awriter began even earlier. She was bornin East Texas , attended Trinity University,a n d has lived in I.a Por te . Texas , for thepast 14 years.

and cabin built; but to our consterna-tion the station keeper pointed to twoeight gallon kegs, saying, "that is allthe water we have left for a dozenmen and as many head of cattle."The Waco [Hueco] Tanks have beenreported to be inexhaustible, but theunusual drouths had drained themand the most rigorous search throughthe mountain did not bring to lightany more. The tank had been recent-ly enlarged so as to hold water enoughto last a year when the rain next fell,but until that time the station wouldhave to be abandoned unless bychance water could be found in thevicinity . . ."

On a recent visit, I found water indeep cave-like depressions in the rocksnature-built tanks sheltered by hugeoverhanging boulders. Southwest ofthe road is a natural amphitheater inthe rock mass v/here the Indians heldtheir councils. This tiny field was thesite of a furious battle between theRedmen and a band of Mexicans.After the initial assault against themthe Indians took refuge in a nearbycavern. They erected a stone stock-a d e , but the Mexicans laid siege andafter a few days annihilated the bandof 150 Indians.

Hueco Tanks is located on the 15,-000-acre Hueco Tanks Ranch ownedby J. R. Davis of El Paso. Afteremerging from the Tank's dim corri-dors of history, there are many formsof recreation to enjoy at the ranch.The area is a picnicker's paradise, andthere are horses for hire, a dance hallfor private parties, game room tablesand a canteen.END

30 DESERT MAGAZINE


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BOOKS of theSOUTHWESTT H E STORY OF AVERY HAPPY PEOPLET h e Santa Fe adobe lady, Dorothy Pills-bury, author of Adobe Doorways andNoHigh Adobe, again turns to her. Spanish-

American neighbors for the subject-mattero f a newbook: Roots inAdobe.Short stories make up theseparate chap-ters of this volume. The little tales,com-plete within themselves, are quaint andfanciful; the book as a whole, entertaining.Author Pillsbury seems not concerned withprobing the mysterious (to the Anglo andIndian) subconscious of her charmingsub-jects. What makes Pedro "tick" is notone-tenth as interesting as his often erratic"ticking." Mss Pillsbury glides over thesurface with a great deal of skill toachieveh e r goal: something that is fun to read.Roots inAdobe is published by the Uni-versity of NewMexico Press, Albuquerque;illustrated by Sam Smith; 232 pages; $4.

REVISED WORK DESCRIBESN E W MEXICO'S MINERALSA revised edition of Minerals of NewMexico has been published by the Univer-sity of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Stuart A. Northrop, professor of geologya t U.N.M, is the author of this volume.T h e publishers say therevised edition "con-tains twice as much information as the firstedition which appeared in 1942."Descriptions and records of occurrenceo f NewMexico's minerals take up mostof

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196002 Desert Magazine 1960 February

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Transcript of 196002 Desert Magazine 1960 February