197806 Desert Magazine 1978 June

8/14/2019 197806 Desert Magazine 1978 June

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C o m evisit us. . .PALM SPRINGS

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WILLIAM and JOYKNYVETTCo-Publishers/ EditorsGEORGE BRAGA, Art DirectorSHARLENE KNYVETT, Art DepartmentMAR Y FRANCES STRONG, Field Trip EditorK I..BOYNT ON, NaturalistMARVEL BARRETT, Circulation ManagerColor Separations byHonry Color ServiceLithographed byWolfer Printing Company, Inc.Available inMicrofilm byXcuox University Microfilm s

DuuxLMAGAZINE

Volume 41, Number 6 JUNE 1978

CONTENTS

THl COVER:Onn of the unique sandstonefor in , Metate Arch, in theDevi l 's Garden, EscalanteCanyon , Utah. Photo byDavid Muench, Santa Bar-bara California.

F E A T UNONNEZOSHE-THE RAINBOW OF STONE 8

BEAR CREEK CANYON PALMS 12ALONG THE OWLHOOT TRAIL 16

TAOS IS STILL MAGIC 20

DESERT DEATH IMAGES 24

MOUNTAIN LIZARD 28

ARAVAIPA CANYON 32

PHOTO QUIZ ANSWER 35CHINA RANCH 36

LONE PALM OASIS 38WHAT'S COOKING ON THE DESERT?-CHILI! 40

R E SNeal Matthews

Bill JenningsMel LewisRuth W. ArmstrongMerle Howard CraffamK.L. BoyntonGeorge Wuerthner

Fun and GamesNema AndersonDick BloomquistStella Hughes

D E P A R T M E N T SA PEEK IN THE PUBLISHER'S POKE 4 William Knyvett

NEW BOOKS FOR DESERT READERS 6 Book ReviewsTRADING POST 42 Classified Listings

BOOKS OF THE WEST 44 Mail Order ItemsLETTERS TO THE EDITOR 46 Readers'Comments

CALENDAR OF WESTERN EVENTS 46 Club Activities

EDITORIAL, CIRCULATION AND ADVERTISING OFFICES: 74-425Highway 111, P. 0. Box 1318, Palm Desert, California 92260. TelephoneArea (ode 714346-8144. SUBSCRIPTION RATES: United States and pos-sessions; 1 year, $7.00; 2years, $13.00; 3years, $19.00. All other countriesadd $2.00 U. S. currency for each year. SeeSubscription Order Form inthis i . ue.Allow five weeks forchange of address andsend both new andDesurt/June 1978

old addresses with zip codes. DESERT Magazine is published monthly.Second class postage paid at Palm Desert, California and at additionalmailing offices under Act of March 3, 1879. Contents copyrighted 1978 byDESERT Magazine andpermission to reproduce any or all contents mustbe secured inwrit ing. U nsolicited manuscripts and photographs will not bereturned unless accompanied byself-addressed, stamped envelope.


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F OLARIZATION SEEMS to be the in-evitable result of the current desert-use planning program of the U. S.Bureau of Land Management, despitenews reports showing cooperation andmutual understanding emanating frommeetings of the California Desert Con-servation Area Advisory Committee.

The maneuvering room for those of ushere at Desert and others who see them-selves as the majority in the middle be-tween the conservationists and the fu l l -use fraternity appears to be gettingtighter each month. ^ ^ ^ ^

For example, we drive a four-wheelerevery day, to work and to the store and for the bit of recreation our tight deadlinespermit. We have prided ourselves on keeping a clear windshield and not descendinginto the name-calling and the hysteria at the two poles. There is room in the greatAmerican desert right outside our door for all of us to co-exist, admittedly by havingto give a little here and there. After all, even Sierra Club members drive four-wheel-ers and even a few off-roaders have doctoral degrees.

But now, we learn that the U. S. Bureau of Land Management is altering theEnglish language, or at least the every-day usage we all grew up with. A road is nolonger what we thought it was, an organized way to go. Not necessarily well-graded,paved or bisected with a neat, broken yellow line, but well defined, frequently usedand generally agreed to be: a road.

No longer, according to the May issue of B.L.M. NEWSBEAT, the agency'smonthly California news broadside, a good place, incidentally, to learn what thefederals are up to. In a discussion of the current wilderness review, covering alltracts of federal land of 5,000 acres or more, the public affairs chief, Jerry Harrell,says a road is:

"An access route which has been improved and maintained by using hard orpower machinery or tools to insure relatively regular and continuous use. A waymaintained solely by the passage of vehicles does not constitute a road."

Other federal, state and local agencies may be quick to seize on this handy-dandydefinition. Many historical routes to old mines, washes, passes or even trails pio-neered by stage coaches, freight wagons, let alone jeeps or sand buggies thus nolonger have the protection of a defined roadway. Hence, land use classificationsbased on the definition of a road become more restricted.

Trails and routes used in national parks, monuments and forests, state parks andrecreation areas, county and district parks and elsewhere are subject to a new inter-pretation. Hence they may be closed and access denied.

Now, those of us at Desert are still not adversaries, have not been since thebeginning in 1937, seeing as how there are enough of those, the adversaries, allaround. We are endeavoring to remain neutral observers and we hope many more ofyou out there are doing the same.But, a few more arbitrary definitions without benefit of public discussion, letalone legal hearings or even a conference among carefully selected proponents ofvarying point of view, and many of us might waver.

After all, suppose next time they want to re-define "recreation," or "publicuse," or even "off-road vehicular use." Shades of George Orwell!


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GaptttitaSunshitieA marvelous ne w book aboutJ o h n W. Hilton"The Dean ofAmerican Deser t Painters"byKatherine Ainsworth

Just one of the many beautifully reproduced Hilton paintings included in thebook.

The Man Who Captured Sunshine is a biography of ar e m a r k a b l e , m o d e rn day, Renaissance Man J o h n W. Hi l to n.T h o u g h J o h n H i l t o n is b e s t k n o w n as the " D e a n of A m e r i c a nD e s e r t P a i n t e r s , " he is also a dist inguished bo tanis t, gem ologis t,a nd zo o l o gi s t . H i l to n a l s o is a no te d w r i te r a nd li ngu i s t , a gu i ta r i s tand s inger .

T h e a u t h o r , K a t h e r i n e A i n s w o r t h , m a k e s no apology for the" l a c k of o bj e c t i v i ty " inw r i ti ng th is b o o k . . . she hasb e e n a f r ienda nd a dm i r e r of J o h n H i l t o n for o v e r t h i r t y y e a r s . K a t i e 's la t ehu s ba nd, Ed A i n s w o r t h , wasJ o hn Hi l to n' s be s t f r i e nd for a l m o s ta s m a n y y e a r s . T h i s " l a b o r of l o v e " has r e s u l t e d in a m a gnifi c e ntb o o k a b o u t a m a gnif ic e nt man.

Th e Man Who Captured Sunshine is i n s p i r a t i o n a l . . . ab o o k w h i c h i n s p i r e s one to o v e r c o m e a d v e r s i t y , to a c h i e v ee x c e l l e n c e , tos t r i v e for a genuine joy of l iving. The r e a d e r w i l l cry,b u t m o r e o f te n w i l l fi nd h i m s e l f /h e r s e l f e n jo y i ng the pl e a s u r e ofh e a r t y l a u g h t e r , ofgr a nd a dv e ntu r e . Thes ignif icance oft h i s b o o k ,a b o v e all e l s e , li e s in an i m pe l l i ng fo r c e w hi c h i ns pir e s the r e a d e rto l i v e a f u l le r , m o r e m e a n i ng fu l , m o r e jo y o u s l i f e . . . to be a d o e r ,ac r e a t o r , a gi v e r .

TO PLACE ORDER:Please send check or money order ($12.95 per copy)

DESERT MAGAZINE BOOK SHOPP.O. Box 1318Palm Desert, California 92260

California residents add 6%sales tax, andplease enclose50 C for postage and handling. 5 AN ETCPUBLICATION


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T H E"m G O L D H E XBY KENMARQUISS

$3.50! A single man's endeav-i ors, Ken has compiled20 of his treasure hunts

in book form. His failure to hit the " jack-pot" does not mean he is treasureless.From gold panning to hardrock, fromdredging to electronic metal detecting, heenjoyed a l i fetime of "do ing his t h i ng . "

, Magazine Book ShopP. O. Box 1318Palm Desert, California 92260Please add 50cfor postage/handlingCalif, residents add 6%state sales tax

' Theoriginal of this painting not forsale. Nowii thecollection of Dr. &.Mrs. R. S. Baddour,F aim Springs, Ca lifornia."

r OnSalz atDtAViCMAGAZINE'SWESTERN ART GALLERY See. them, at74 ^-4 25 HIGHWAY 111.PALM DESERT,CALIF-1 6 " 2 0 ' s ] z e w i t

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other succulents are reason enough forcul t ivat ing them, but in addit ion, manyof them, especially cacti, produce lovelybio .oms which rival other house-plantf lowers in beauty.

Mr. Bechtel gives us the scientificname of each plant, as wel l as thepopular name, a detailed descript ion ofeach, where they are to be f ound, andhow to care for t hem.Although a small format, this hard-cover book contains 256 pages of infor-mative read ing, plus thebeau tiful photo-graphs. $4.95.

EDII3LE AND USEFULPLANTS OFCALIFORNIABy ( harlotte Bringle Clarke

B ot h A m er i can I nd ians and thepioneers knew and used many dif ferentplant speciesfor food, f ibers, medi-cine, tools and other purposes. Thisunique book is a guide to identifyingmci than 220 such plants. But it goesmm h furtherit also tells the readerhow to prepare, cook and otherwise usethem. Some of the dishes for which re-cipes aregiven have wonculinary prizes.All have been tested not only by theauihor but also by her students and byjournalistswho have been uniformlysurprised and impressed.

"I he plants are organized by habitatcom m un i t i es . Desc r i p t i ons , pho t os ,drawings and distr ibut ion informationare ^iven. Where poisonous look-alikesexisi , they too are i l lustrated. Fascinat-ing information about Indian uses ofnative and introduced species is in-

1 he author emphasizes conservationconsiderations; the aim of the book is toeducate the reader about intriguing usesof ihe plants, and to tel l how to gatheran d use the palatable and abundantspecies without damaging the environ-

H. i rdcover , conta ins an ex t ens i vecro: reference and glossary, profuselyi l lust rated, 280pages, $10.95.De s e r t / J u ne 1978

Off the Beaten Track with Summ er Reading ...THE BLACK ROCK DESERTby Sessions S. Wheeler

The unknown people who, thousands of years ago, l ived beside a largelake and lef t behind puzzling evidences of their cul tures; the f irst whiteexp lorers ; the for ty-niners who f o l lowed Lassen 's "Death Route" ; thedesert 's vicious Indian war; lost mines; and the history of the basin's bigranches are inc luded in the fascinat ing story of an unusual par t of ourearth, Nevada's Black Rock Desert." B uck " Wheeler is widely known as an author i ty on Nevada history andgeology.Paperbound, I l lust rated w ith P hotographs $4.95

Paint ings by Craig SheppardThe CAXTON PRINTERS, Ltd.Box 700Caldwell, Idaho 83605

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N O N N E Z O S H E . . .T H ER A I N B O WO F S T O N Ey N E A L M A T T H E W S

I J N A HOT August day in 1909, In| | dian trader John W ethe ril l rode hisW horse at a gallop up to the base of theRainbow Bridge in Southern Utah, andthus became the first white man to reachthe legendary "Nonnezoshe." Historyhas penned in his name as the officiadiscoverer of the largest and most beautiful natural arch in the world, an archthe Ind ians had wor sh ip ped fo rcenturies. It was a sweet victory foWetheril l, because it marked the end oyears of fruitless searching, and thebridge itself was even more spectaculathan the Indians had made it out to be

The long road to Nonnezoshe, Navajofor " ra inbow of stone" and/or "path othe sun," began before the 20th century was f ive years old. John Wetheriland his wife Louisa, whom the Indianscalled Astan Zoche, " l it t le slender wom a n , " ran a trading post at OljatoAriz ona . It also served as a startin g poinfrom which expedit ions, usually led bWetheril l, would begin their treks intoth e So u th w e s te rn d e se r t . MrsWetheril l, who like her husband was intensely interested in Indian culture, firsheard of the "Rock Rainbow that Spanthe Canyon" f rom the One-Eyed Man othe Salt Clan.

This old, wrinkled Navajo had just returned from the White Canyon NationaBridges, now known as Natural BridgeNational Monument. He had been senthere by the Wetheril ls to guide a partof white men. He was perplexed as twhy the men wanted to make such a difficult journey just to see rocks. Asta8 D e s e r t / J u n e 1 9 7


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Color photo by author.D e s e r t / Jun e 1 9 7 8


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2oche told him that there was nothinglike those strange stone bridges any-v here else in the wo rld.

"They are not the only bridges in thev o r l d , " said the One-Eyed Man of theSalt Clan. " W e have better one in thiscoun t ry . "

"Where is there a better one in thiscountry?" asked Astan Zoche.

" It is back of Navajo Mo unta in. Only af >w go there. They do not know theprayers. They used to go there for cere-monies, but the old men who knew theprayers are gone. I have horses in thatcountry and I have seen the bridge."

A few months after this conversationwith Mrs. Wether i l l , the One-Eyed Mancf the Salt Clan died. The followingspring Clyde Colvil le, one of Wetheril l 'spartners, and an Indian named Luke,conducted the first bona fide search forMonnezoshe. They climbed to the top ofNavajo Mountain after losing the trail inthe rocks on the other side of Beaver( reek. They did not see the b ridg e,v hich lies just four miles to the North-v est , and w ere fo rc ed to re tu rndefeated.

In the years to follow there were manyr iore attempts to find the Rock Rainbowthat Spans the Canyon, most of them ledby We the ril l. The forays for Nonnezoshe

were usually a minor objective of thenumerous archaeological expeditionsthat he guided in search of ancient ruins.He was a man of the desert, a brother tothe Indians, and an explorer who lovedleaving his boot print where no man'shad been before.

In August of 1909 Dr. Byron Cum-mings, an archaeologist from the Uni-versity of Utah, brought some of hisstudents into the Navajo country and en-listed the services of John Wetherill as aguide. The two had worked together inthe past and had become friends. Theydecided to look for Nonnezoshe as an ad-junct to the search for ruins.

A surveyor for the General Land Of-fice named William Douglass was in thearea at the same time under orders fromthe Department of Interior to try to findthe purported stone bridge. Douglassand Cummings did not extend to one an-other the fondness and respect each h eldfor Wetheril l. They had had differencesover jurisdiction and excavation rights ofthe Indian ruins. Wetheril l knew thatDouglass' presence threatened to put anend to some important diggings thatwere being conducted by Cummings, soin an effort to settle the dispute he sug-gested that the two parties merge for thesearch. He reasoned that if Cummings

Dr. Cummingsat RainbowBridge in 7936.

10

and Douglass could travel together eachwould gain a better understanding of theother and their differences might beworked out.

The party of 12 men and n early 30 ani-mals started out into the land of reddomes and box canyons on a positivenote. Mrs. Wetheril l had just talked to aPaiute named Nasja-begay who said hehad been to the arch just a few daysbefore. Because he was a Paiute he didnot fear to go to Nonnezoshe, and heagreed to meet the expedition at PaiuteCanyon and guide them to it.

As the small bevy of men and horsesand mules crept over solid mountains ofrock where not another living thing couldbe seen, and where their two young In-dian guides said no white man's ponycould go, Wetherill felt assured that thistime he would find the great stone archBut the Indians had not been beyondBald Rocks, and they became lostWetheril l refused to turn back, and ledthe party in the direction he thought theyshould go. They missed Paiute Canyonbut Nasja-begay managed to track downthe exhausted bunch of explorers. Heguided them the short distance intoBridge Canyon.

Nasja-begay led the struggling horsesand men past gigantic overhangingcaves and across s l ippery , deser t -polished ledges where unshod hoovesslid and horses went lame. The journeyrequired two horses per man. Left andright down the meandering canyon theconfident Indian took the white men,until he reached a sharp bend to the leftwhere he stopped the bedraggled groupof cowboys, scientists and surveyors. Hepassed word to Wetherill that the RockRainbow that Spans the Canyon lay inview just around the bend.

Naturally there was rivalry amongDouglass, Cumm ings and Weth eril l as towho would be the first to look upon thelegendary bridge, and after a discussionthat is unfortunately lost to history it wasdecided that Cummings would go onahead and view it. When Douglass camearound close behind him and spotted thearch, he rode on past Cummings, on hiswas to being the first white man to reachthe Rainbow Bridge. John Wetheril l, al-ways the peace keeper, saw that if onepreceded the other to Nonnezoshe, thelast one would lose all credit and the ir al-ready strained relations would becomethat much worse.

D e s e r t / J u n e 1 9 7


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RainbowIt ridge is asimpressive

from the air asit is from

the ground.So W eth eril l kicked his horse, shot

past Cummings and Douglass, and con-si;' ied himself to the honor of being thefirst white man to reach Nonnezoshe.

Hut aside from the technicalit ies ofwh i got to where f irst, what exactly didCummings see when he came aroundth.il last crook in the canyon? Leave it toZane Grey, our most eminent writer ofwi - lern novels, who in the spring of191 i was the firs t artist to see thebridg e, to describe what wa ited so manyeons in the sile nt heat of the de sert:

But this thing was glorious. It ab-ilutely silenced me . . . This Rain-bow Bridge was the one greatn.itural phenomenon . . . which Ih.id ever seen that did not at firstve vague disappointment . . . adisenchantme nt of contrast withwhat the mind had conceived . . . Ihid a strange, mystic perceptionthat this rosey-hued, tremendous.trch of stone was a goal I hadI tiled to reach in some former life,bu t had now found. H ere w as a rain-bow magnif ied even beyondearns, a thing not transparentand ethereal, but solidified, a work! ages, sweeping up majesticallyfrom the red walls, its iris-hued.ach against the blue sky."As the rest of Wetheril l 's party ap-

pro iched the bridge and began to ridebeneath it in order to set up camp on theo t h e r side, Nasja-begay stopped. Hestood still and silent, near the ruins of anan< tent alta r bu ilt by his ancestors,

Den. ' 1 / J u n e 1 9 7 8

saying his prayers to the great stonerainbow. Then, to the surprise of thewhite men, he began to climb up thesteep slope out of the dry creek bed andwalk around the r ight abutment of thebridge. In all the later trips he madethere with Wetheril l , the Indian neveronce walked beneath the arch.

In order to ensure the protection andpreservation of Rainbow Bridge, Presi-dent Taft on May 30, 1910, proclaimed ita National Monu me nt. At the t ime it waswidely believed that only a hardy fewwould ever have the privi lege of seeingRainbow Bridge. The men who hadsweated and toiled on the tra il to Nonne-zoshe thought that people were alwaysgoing to have to earn the honor of look-ing upon such a magnificent spectacle,just as they did . But som ething as beau-tiful as that arc of stone could not staytucked away forever, and eventually atrail was established from the ColoradoRiver that meandered through Forbid-den Canyon and turned up into BridgeCanyon at their junct ion. A Jeep trailalso was cut, but neither of these routesbrought in anywhere near the amount ofpeople who visit the monument thesedays.

With the complet ion of the Clen Can-yon Dam and the result ing creation ofcolossal Lake Powell in 1963, RainbowBridge has become accessible to anyonewho can get a boat onto the lake. Today,part of the land that forms the perimeteraround Rainbow Bridge National Monu-

ment is under water. Boaters can easeup into Forbidden Canyon and leave awake 300 feet above the old trail toRainbow. They can land at a dock that iswithin sight of the bridge, and as manyas 30,000 people a year walk u p the shortdistance to the foot of Nonnezoshe.

So now, 69 years after John W e t h e r i l lstood beneath the Rock Rainbow thatSpans the Canyon for the f irst t ime, andlooked up to see the solid crescent ofstone blott ing out the sun, his descen-dants need to walk only one-fourth of amile to stand in the same place. The si-lence of that place seems to h old secrets,for it is not an easy silence. As you walkin the soft sand below the towering spanof sandstone, high enough to stand afootball f ield on end beneath it with roomto spare, the air and silence seem to con-spire into a pressurized unit. A forcehovers in the area that renders wordsuseless. When people do speak it is inlow, muffled tones, as if they were inchurch. There is something very per-sonal in the way the arch reaches up intothe sky and plants an enormous foot 278feet across the canyon. That appendageof rock seems to reach across time aswell as space. It defies gravity, age, andin so doin g touches people in a place th atlongs for eternity, freedom. There was asaying that began in 1909 when the firstwhite m an came back from Nonnezoshe,and it is as true now as it was then: Noman returns from the Rainbow B ridge anatheist.

11


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I L I T T L E - K N O W N d e s e rt c a ny o nJo with a Sierra Nevada-style name, just 15 miles from a freeway, has

perhaps the best documented group ofnative palms in the Southern Californiadesert but even so, relatively few peoplehave even been there.

Bear Creek is a major drainage chan-nel off Sheep Mountain in the SantaRosa range, reached by a three-m ile trailf rom La Qu inta. The trail has existedsince the early 1920s, perhaps longer,and the three-part grove, containingmore than 150 trees, is now part of theUniversity of California's Phil ip L. BoydDeep Canyon Desert Research Center.

Despite this closeness to civilization,plus the niceties of a relatively easy foott ra i l , Bear Creek is seldom visited, ex-cept by the researchers and palm enthu-siasts and, most unfortunately, twice byarsonists in the past 50 years or so.

There doesn't seem to be any specialreason for the regular census of BearCreek, except that it was the penchant ofthe late Randall Henderson, founder andlongtime editor of Desert Magazine, tocount the palms of the many groves hevisited, provid ed it was possible to do so.It's not as easy as it sounds, sort of likecounting catt le during a stampede orsheep in a sandstorm. Confusing is thebest one-word descript ion.

Henderson first visited Bear Creek in

Randa ll Hende rson's 1947 view of BearCreek palms shows heavy beards onadult trees, a sign they h ad never burnedduring their long lifetime. Indian grind-ing holes are found in the foregroundboulders, above the tiny sp ring thatgives the grove life.12 D e s e r t / J u n e 1 9 7 8


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I r e e ky BILL JENNINGS

19M) with a Sierra Club hiking party.T h e y followed a steep but well-gradedtrail over several switchbacks from anelevation of approximately 600 feet tothe oasis, at 2,300 feet. The tra il dates toth e original development of La Quinta inthe early 1920s. The remains of a rockfireplace and picnic area at the end of thetrail under a group of dead palms hintsa t i t s o r ig ina l purpose , to b r inghoi semen and hardy hikers to one of thebe11 viewpoints overlooking the beauti-ful cove on the northeast edge of SheepMounta in .

I he trail st i l l exists, although thehe.ivy rains of the past two sum mers andthe 1977-78 winter have rutted it badly.Motorcyclists have added to the damageat the lower end but fortunately gave upwli n they reached the switchbacks.

Arsonists had visited Bear Creek sometime prior to Henderson's f irst tree-count. He found 11 mature trees withbinned skirts and scarred trunks, butpeihaps these had been scorched bylightning or Indians seeking the packrai or other succulent small animalsth.il make their homes in the deadfronds.Bu t there was no doubt about the se-cond f ire. In mid-afternoon on Marc h 18,197 t, La Quinta residents reported to thestate division of forestry that a smokeplume was risin g out of the side of SheepMounta in . A foot crew reached the scene

The Bear Creek trail is still well-preserv-ed where flooding has not rutted it. Thisview to the east shows the OrocopiaMaintains across the Coach ella Valley.

COACHELLA VALLEY

D e j ii -i t / J u n e 1 9 7 8 13


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Looking upBear Creek canyon, thepalms aredifficult to spot from a distance. Peakof 5,500-foot She ep Moun tain is off to the left.to determine tha t someone had set f ire tothe middle section of the l i t t le grove ofpalms, then numbering about 200 t rees,from seedlings to 50-foot adults.

Fortunately, the f ire burned out wi th -out reaching theupper grove or the deadgroup just down the canyon where thef ire had burned previously, some t imebefore 1936.

PRESENTING THE TWELFTH SEASON OF

A S P E C T A C U L A R S O U N D A N D L IG H T P R O D U C T IO NT H A T R IV A L S F A M O U S E U R O P E A N S H O W S

Our season is Easter Sunday through OctoberC a n y o n l a n d s By N i g h t

Canyon walls come to life under 40,000watts ofcontrolled illumination.

is a unique two-hour cruise on the Colo-rado River at dusk, as twiliqht fades intonight.Along theway, astartling variety of light-ing effects bring to life thedarkened redrock cliffs of the Colorado River gorgeduring an inspiring program dramatizingsouth-eastern Utah's unusual natural andhuman history.C a n y o n l a n d s By N i g h tCruises leave our dock at the highwaybridge near scenic M o a b, Uta h, e v e r yevening throughout the travel season.

Group Rates Av ai lableFor detailed brochure,- reservations orexact departure times, write or call theCANYONLANDS BY NIGHT office at:SLICKROCK COUNTRY CAMPGROUNDOne-half mile north of M o a bMa iling address: P.O.Box 328D,Moa b, Utah 84532(801) 259-5261W E L T O N B . W I N N ,General Manager

A Deep Canyon researcher visitedBear Creek the day after the 1973 f i re.His init ial assessment of damage wasgloomy. He estimated 75 palms hadburned andonly three in the central sec-t ion were untouched. But the zest for lifein the Washingtonia filifera, California'sonly native desert palm , isoften measur-ed by f ire scars. A trace of greenremained deep in the crown of several othe trees. A second visit two years lateindicated they were st i l l al ive and thencame Hurricane Kathleen in September1976, fo l lowed by an above-normal wewinter, Hurricane Doreen in August1977, and another wet winter , which isst i l l going on.

A 1974 vis i t , by this writer, also aDeep Canyon staff member, indicatedthe l i t t le grove high on the side of SheepMounta in was making a vigorous comeback. In November of that year I found118 l iving trees, many of them seedlingsrising from the scorched undergrowthbeneath the scarred adults in the centragroup. Several of the older trees haddied. Af ter all, the end of the 1944drought had not come yet in 1974.

In February, 1978, I puffed over thespiny cholla terraces that separate DeepCanyon, Coyote Canyon and Bear Creekgorge, planning to return via the LaQuinta t ra i l . It was a rugged six-mileroundtr ip for a 56-year-old former hikerbut I made it. I found that once againarsonists or anyone else had better nofool wi th Mother Nature. TheBear Creeoasis was alive with newgrowth, a shorrunning stream and t rembl ing on theedge of what turned out to be one of thegreenest and most f lower-f i l led spring

14 De s e r t / J u ne 197


15/48

..ii. :::

in modern years.I here were 152 alive and healthy

palms but no trace of the three cotton-wood trees shading the old picnic areanot I'd and photographed by Hendersonboth in 1936and 1948.

I lenderson's original count of 384trees in 1936,swelled to a peak of 422palms in 1948, hadshrunk to 280 l iv ingt runks by 1961 andthe nadir, three un-bui ned trees in 1973. The ollowing yearI Ind counted 118 st i l l s t ruggl ing, andthis year, Bear Creek's population hasa g . m risen to 152 and there may wel l beat least that many more seedlings tryingto push up through the f ire-blackenedbut rich soil.

A ll of this counting and classifyingdoesn't prove that Bear Creek is a spe-cial place for nurtur ing and preservationof desert fan palms. All it proves is thatthr huge natives, not even a tree bypurists' standards perhaps, are t ough,

D e n . rt /J u n e 1978

A view fromabove BearCreek palms,photographedby RandallHenderson in1947, shows thegroup of nativepalm trees thatthen markedthe spring in themiddle of theoasis. In7967the cottonwood swere dead,andthe trunks andstumps weregone by 1973.

resil ient and respond quickly to anygratis moisture they receive.

One mystery H enderson touched on isst i l l unsolved. Hesaid, in a September,1947 a rticle in this magazine, "Oasis onBear Creek, " that theorigin of the can-yon's name was not clear, and invitedreaders to " th row add i t iona l l igh t " onthe name's origin. Nobody did,and themystery of a Sierra name for a desertcanyon remains.

Maybe the original pathf inder wholaid out he t ra i l in the1920s wasnamedBear, or maybe a half-century before,sometime before hunters killed the lastSanta Rosa-San Jacinto Mountains bearin Garner Valley, there had been a black-robed visitor, sort of a pre-television"B ig Foot , " sp ied in therocky gorge offthe north escarpment of Sheep Moun-ta in . After all, they say there is a wordfor Bear in the Desert Cahuilla Indianlanguage.

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16/48

A L O N G T H E 0 W L H 0 0I LL HE ever meant to do was to en-j l dure in the age-old struggle for sur-

}v iv a l of the f i ttest . Depending on howY )u look at it, it wasn 't so differ ent fromcur present automated society. Quitelike us, he sought after the finest con-v ?niences of live lihood by th e shortestmute and with the least possible expen-diture of t ime and effort. For the mostpart, personal reputation or recognitionwas unim portan t. He chose to avoid that.However wild and exploitative his deedsn iay have become, they probably werecreated for his own entertainmentas as ivory seasoning for an otherwise unpal-atable bland existence. Nor did he eversot out purposely to epitomize himself asthe hallmark of his t imes.

The hard-living, fun-seeking Long-rider of the Owl hoot Trail faded from thes :ene long ago, b ut the legends and tr a-cit ions which he unintentionally scatter-ed in his trail dust persist and expandv ith each te lli ng . If his resurrectioncould be updated to our t imes, he wouldb i astonished over the drama that hissuccessors have woven around and abouthis t imes. He would, for example, dis-c iver th at, he had been a steely-eyed

gunfighter with his bloody reputationsymbolized by the number of notchescarved in his gun butt. Of course, hewouldn ' t remember h is " in fa l l ib le m ark-manship with handgun or r i f le , " norwould he be likely to remember "thelong row of corpses" of those who daredtest his mettle. He would surely be con-fused by being labeled as a "coldblooded ki l le r" by one biographer and asa "Robin Hood" by another. And hewou ld be even more confused by his p or-trayal in motion pictures and in thewri t ten word.

To the brand of "Out law" he wouldreadily subscribe, but that was no indica-tion that he had any real criminal in-stincts, either inherited or acquired.Rather, his deeds and the shadowy trailshe rode were simply a matter of econom-ics of his times. Indeed, he wore his titleof "O ut la w" with a certa in kind of pr ide,because during that era his was consid-ered by many as an honorable a profes-sion as any other. Many lawmen, them-selves "converted outlaws," shared thesame regard, because often his exploitswere applauded by lawmen as well asonlookers and not in frequ ently by the

vict ims themselves. But however accur-ate or fancied the chronicles of hisexploits may be, he has become irrevoc-ably romanticized in fable and song. Hewas the Longrider of the Owlhoot Trai l .

An applicable mosaic of such a " l o n g -r id ing out law" might be found in theperson of one Robert Leroy Parker, aliasButch Cassidy.

The Owlhoot Trail that Cassidy andother longriders like him rode ran rightdown the backbone of the nation, reach-ing all the way from Canada to Mexico.Not that there was any definable trail pe rs e , but there were way stations scatteredalong the route that were consideredgenerally safe stopping-over places forthe longriders. Contrary to popular be-lief, these way stations were not hide-outs as such, but rather isolated cabins,or well known ranches, and even townswhere the citizenry were more apt to ac-cept the generosity of the outlaws than totip off the law. In fact, some individualsand communit ies derived a larger shareof their l ivelihood from the longridersthan from any other source. Such namesas Landusky, Montana; Baggs and Kay-c e e , Wyoming; Green River, Utah andA lm a , New Mexico were well knownsanctuaries along the Owlhoot Trai l .Such places offered a reasonable am ountof security, especially when they knewthat their local saloons or other estab-lishments of pleasure and necessitywould benefit generously out of thepockets of the Owlhooters. But any Owl-hooter with a high enough price on hishead to make him attractive game to law-men or cit izenry alike found his sanctu-ary in any one of the impenetrable for-tresses spaced about equidistant alongth e t ra i l : the Hole-in-the-Wall in centralWyoming; Brown's Hole at the three-cornered junction of Utah, Wyo ming andColorado, and Robber's Roost, in south-eastern Utah. At sometime or other, allof the Owlhoot Trail traff ic was either

This old cabin, hidden aw ay from sight,was never actually occupied, but servedwell as a stopover place along theOwlhoot Trail.


17/48

by MEL LEWIS

Crouse Canyon: The only entranceto Brown's Hole. A major

part of the Owlhoot traffic was funneledthrough here. If the traveler's

proper credentials were not mademanifest, passage was denied by a quick

bullet from any one of a hundredvantage points.

going to or coming from any one of thesethi e natural fortresses.

Over the l i fe-span of the t ra i l , manyunbe l i evab le r i des , r equ i r i ng supe r -hum an f ea t s o f ho r sem ansh ip andendurance, were carried out by groupsor individual longriders. Some rideswi'i e later epitomized in script and song,while others, perhaps the most heroic,l ived and died only in the memories ofthu e who pe rformed the m. Perhaps oneof lite most fantastic rides of all was car-n o I out by Butch Cassidy and three ofhi companions, generally accepted tohave been Bob Mee ks, Sam McCaid andEl/. i Lay.

I I al l started on a quiet A pr il afternoonin 1897 in the coal mining town ofC;i t legate, Utah . The paymaster for thePit isant Valley Coal Company had justpi ed up the payroll money from theDenver and R io Grande Railway expresscar out of Salt Lake City, and with hisburden of cash mounted the outsidestairway leading to the coal company of-f ice He never completed his tr i p, be-cause comfortably seated directly in hispa Ih on about th e f if th stair was oneBuii:h Cassidy. The sixgun in Cassidy'shand told eloquently everything the pay-m,i ter needed to know. And if he hadan> notions of protest, the quiet appear-aru e of Elza L ay's g un at the back of hisneck removed any doubts as to whoDe ta r t / J u ne 1978

migh t be in charge.This was the f irst major robbery en-

gineered and directed by Butch Cassidyand it instantly set him apart as the un-disputed architect of the profession.Within minutes after the Castlegate rob-bery, Butch Cassidy and selected mem-bers of the " W i l d Bu nc h" were $8000richer and we ll on their way to Robber'sRoost.

The chase that followed would havemade good material for a cops and rob-bers comedy. The sheriff, summonedfrom the county seat of Price, was almosta day late in arr iving and assembling aposseand then, led them off in thewrong direct ion. A switch engine with af lat car was commandeered from D & RCRailroad and loaded with armed men and it took off in the wrong direct ion.Posses from two different towns, Priceand Huntington, met somewhere in the

darkness of nightand f ired on eachother, each thinking that the other wasthe out laws.

It was no problem for the famous out-laws to reach Robber's Roost in safety,for Cassidy had carefully planned theirescape route and had stationed freshhorses and water along the way. There isl it t le doubt that they were well wi thin theconfines of Roost country before any pur-suing posse really got organized. How-ever, the ensuing days presented a dif-ferent kind of problem.

There is an indispu table law of humannature decreeing that several daringyoung men with a full rat ion of wild oatsyet to sow and with more money in theirpockets than they'd ever seen in all theirl ives weren't going to appreciate thesolitude of the Roost for very long. Trueenough, several ladies had been broughtin for their pleasure, and gambling in

17


18/48

various forms was a round-the-clockpastime, but, such things were no sub-stitute for an insatiable appetite for the\ onders of the outside wor ld. So was in-iiiated one of the most memorable rides< ver undertaken by the riders of the Owl-hoot Trai l .

Under cover of darkness, Cassidy andhis companions, with their saddle bagsstuffed with money fairly j ingling tol>e spent, mounted up and struck out on; course for the more desirable atmos-I here of Baggs, Wyoming. They pulledOut at night because, contrary to popularl>elief, the Roost, instead of being amaze of pinnacles and inaccessible can-} ons, is in reality a large, low-crownediwejl of ground that can easily be ob-: e rved f rom many d i s tan t van tagepoints. However, that is precisely theI eological characteristic that made theI '.oost an ideal fortress for the outlaws todefend. They, too, could observe activi-l ies for many miles around, which gavethem the advantage of ample notice forthe setting up of an ambush for the re-(eption of any unwanted intruders. Butood of observation was improbable.

By the way the crow flies it is about'. 40 miles from the Roost to Baggs. Bythe way the horse trots it's more like 300miles. But any way you measure it, it 's,as they say in Texas, " A fur piec e."I ince it is well known that the outlaws

Any artifacts left to attest to the Owl-hooters habitation o f Robbe r's R oose areindeed hard to find. This old boot whichwe photographed there may or may notbe a mem ento of those times, but itserves well to fire up the imagination.favored the Horseshoe Canyon area ofthe Roost, we conjectured that they be-gan their ride from there. Accordinglythen, we selected Horseshoe Canyon asour own start ing point.

The Green River Desert slopes northand east away from the Roost and offersonly two reliable water holes along thenortherly direction of the Owlhoot Trai l .These are Dugout Spring and NorthSpr ing, respectively about 10 and 18miles north of the Roost, and the onlysources of water between there and theSan Rafael River, some 40 miles to thenortheast. The canny Owlhooters, know-ing that both Dugout and North springswere likely to be watched, had previous-ly put a little something in the bank byburying several containers of water inthe sand drifts at the base of the F lat TopButtes which lie due north of the Roostand several miles west of the springs.That little trick had fooled more than onepursuing posse who, rather than attemptto trail the outlaws, had simply set up an

ambush at the springs, only to wait invain for their quarry to appear.

From the Roost t hen, we followed thelikely traila pretty good road nowthat sloped down from the crown of theswell with plenty of pinyon and juniperfor cover. After about 20 miles wedropped over a sandstone shelf and outonto the sandy Green River Desert. Wenooned at the base of the Flat Tops andspent some time there searching throughthe sand drifts for the most likely placethat the outlaws would choose to cachetheir water supply. Such places were inabundance, any one of which would be agood choice. From the Flat Tops the trailcontinues north and by using existingranch and survey roads we were able toparallel it, staying to the desert and by-passing Dugout and North Springs byabout five miles to the north. A goodrider and horse could make that part ofthe journey with l it t le trouble, but me-chanized as we were, we were obliged toseek out established roads to completethe t r ip .

Before dawn and after a ride of at least60 miles across the desert, the Owlhoot-ers rode into the town of Green Riverwhere they refreshed themselves andtheir mounts at the cabin of a widowwhose departed husband had been sym-

1 i D e s e r t / J u n e 1 9 7 8


19/48

pattu>tic to the cause. As the story goes,the penniless widow was awakened inthe dawn by the sound of gunfire anddashed outside to f ind the outlaws me-thodically shooting the heads off herchi. kensthe last means of survival shehad left. But she was paid far moremoney than she had ever seen for thechicken dinner she subsequently servedher guests, and the fact that she'd evenheard of them was never mentioned inthe wrong company.

Ri-sted and with appetites satisfied,the Owlho oters forde d the Green Riverand cut toward the east where theywou ld by-pass the sometimes unfriendlycommunity of Thompson. They entered

the mouth of a three-forked canyon thatsnaked and sloped upward toward thelofty ledges of the Roan Cli ffs. A rich de-posit of coal had recently been discover-ed in the main canyon, and the boomtown of Sego was enjoying the calamityof its birthright. The outlaws passedthrough Sego with no more notice giventhem than any other drif ters who werecrowding to the area.

As the old-t imers put it , "Them next40 miles are more vertical than horizon-tal. To git up there a man'd do betterwith buzzard wings than horses hoo ves."There is a certain amount of truth tothat. Now, however, there is a good roadthrough the canyons and up the precipi-

foV^about 50 miles to its confluence withWillow Creek. And as if that 50 mileswasn't enough, the jingle of money intheir saddlebags urged them onward forat least another 40 miles before theymade camp at the Davis Ranch on BrushCreek in the Uintah Basin, and just ascant day's ride from Brown's Hole.

On the fourth day on their monumen-tal r ide, the Owlhooters met the risingsun as they topped out at the parentsprings of Brush Creek in the high flatcountry of Vernal, Utah. Through themorning hours they cantered across thelush green f lats, and as morning surren-dered her tenure to afternoon they pass-ed within hail ing distance of Matt War-

This old ranch ispurported to be the

U nation of the destitutewidow's home where

Butch Cassidy and hisfriends stopped for

an impromptuchicken dinner.

tous face of the Roan Cliffs, but duringthe Owlhooter's t ime it certainly musthave taken buzzard's wings to make it.Whatever method used, they made it.

This old cabin, They topped out at better than 9000 feetlocated on high on the edge of the East Tavaputsthe west slope Plateau and made camp amid the highof Diamond country spruces at the headwaters ofMountain, is Hill Creek on what is now the southwestsaid to be one corner of the Uinta h-Oura y Indian Reser-of the places vat ion.frequently You can't spend much money on theused by wild high country, so the next leg of theButch Cassidy ride wasn't long in gett ing underway.when in the The Owlhooters followed Hill Creekarea of along its meandering way across theBrown's Park, most rugged part of the East TavaputsD e s e r t / J u n e 1 9 7 8

ner's ranch, himself one of their breed,and skirted the west slope of DiamondMountain. They slipped into the narrowand tightly guarded confines of CrouseCanyon, and because they were knownand gave the right signals, the guardsstationed at hidden vantage points allow-ed them to pass.

There must have been a.momentousreunion at the Crouse Ranch in Brown'sHole that night. Charlie Crouse himselfwas a frequent dealer in rustled live-stock. Matt Warner, later to become alawman, was there. Tom McCarty, theoutlaw credited with teaching the tricksof the trade to both Warner and Cassidy,

Continued on Page 3519


20/48

.Stiffby RUTH W. ARMSTRONG

Pueblo photo by New MexicoState Tourist Bureau.

I YOU SEE the f lag f lying over Taoplaza at night, don't think they're being careless. Taos is one of the fewplaces in the United States that has permission to fly the flag past sundown. Idates back to the beginning of the CiviWar when southern sympathizers kepremoving the Union f lag. Kit Carson andseveral other Taos frontiersmen went tothe mountains and cut the tallest pinetree they could f ind , nailed the flag to itand planted it in the plaza. Then to besure no one climbed the tree at n ight andremoved Old Glory, they took turnsstanding guard on the rooftops of buildings around the plaza. They were alsharp shooters, so there was no moretrouble. From that episode Taos wasgranted special permission to fly the flag24 hours a day.

Taos is different from any other placein a hundred ways. It glows w ith a physical radiance, white sunlight and laven


21/48

St. Francis of AsisiMission, Ranchos

Taos. Photo byRuth Armstrong.

lielow: A wide-angleview of Taos Pueblotaken in 1940. Little

change has takenplace through the

years. Ph oto byU.S. Indian Service.

der shadows, blue distance and goldenear th. The quality of its l ight has drawnarlists since 1912 when Blumenschein,Phi l l ips, Ufer , Higgins, Dunton, Bern-in aus, Sharp and Couse formed theTaos Society of Artists. These men aregone now, but their names are still im-portant in the ar t wor ld.

I he magic of Taos was felt by D. H.Lawrence and thousands of other crea-t ive people. Whether the mystery l ies inthe radiant l ig ht, the legends, history, itsfonignness, or as some spir itualists be-l ieve, in a magnetism that comes up outof the earth there, it 's a place to visit ifyou want long memories.

immer is hectic. No town of 15,000can accommodate 100,000 visitors wi th -

4&P-

out straining somewhere. Streets arecrowded, stores are jamm ed, it 's hard toget a motel reservation, restaurants havewait ing l ines, but if that 's the only t imeyou can go, it 's better than not at all.Even in summer there are quiet, shadypatios, cool galleries, crisp nights andmountains all around.

Taos was settled in the early 1600s,and l ike all early towns in New Mexico,was close to an Indian pueblo. The re-servation now adjoins the city limits.Though probably the most famous of the19 New Mexico pueblos, most photo-graphed, subject of many movies, booksand articles, it remains conservative, not

even permitt ing electr icity within the oldpart of the pueblo.

Centuries ago most pueblos were fromthree to five stories high, like so manybuilding blocks stacked stair-step fash-ion, with ladders protruding from roofs.Taos is the only pueblo left that still hasan original f ive-story building.

Taos Pueblo was the place wherefierce Plains Indians met the peacefulPueblo Indians on neutral gro und . Twicea year throughout the 1700s and 1800sthe nomads from the plains came to Taosto trade buffalo skins for agriculturalproducts and crafts made by the PuebloIndians and Spaniards. When Frenchand American mountain men began to


22/48

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Right:Taos Pueblo.

Harvey Caplinphotograph.

Below:Taos Indian

an dbaby.

Photo byFrasher.

trap beavers in the Rocky Mountains inthe 1800s they, too, came to Taos totrade with the Indians and Spaniards.

Through those years of contact theTaos Indians acquired traits and charac-teristics, even physical resemblances, tothe Plains Indians. For example, thebraided hair, the making and using ofbeaded leather objects, and some evenhave the thin faces and aquiline noses ofthe Plains Indians.

Taos Pueblo is open to visitors, andthere is a visitor fee of $1.50 which in-cludes a picture-taking permit. The bigcelebration of the year is the Fiesta ofSan Geronimo on September 29 and 30,which celebrates their patron saint.Other dances are January 1 and 6; May3; June 24; July 25 and 26; and De-cember 24 and 25. On these special feastdays photography is not permitted.

Taos offers a banquet of art that over-whelms the eye and the soul. Every-where are galleries and studios offamous and hope-to-be-famous people.Excellent crafts are available in shops allover town jewelry, pottery, fabrics,metal, wood and as with the art,prices vary considerably according to thereputat ion of the craftsma n.Kit Carson, famous scout, front iers-

Dese rt/ June 1978


23/48

m a n , soldier and fr iend of the Indian,spent the last few years of his life in Taosami is buried in Kit Carson State Park ont h main street of Taos. A block away isG>'ernor Bent Museum which preservesthe adobe home of the first Americang < > \ ernor of New Mexico Territory afterth( occupation. Charles Bent and hisbti i hers es tablished Bents Fo rt, his-toric landmark on the Santa Fe Tra i l ,wln-re Mountain Men l ike Kit Carsonbn ught beaver pelts to trade. Bent wasmurdered in this house in 1847, but hiswife and her sister, Kit Carson's wife,es( iped by digging through an adobewall.

Mabel Dodge Lujan wrote an inter-eslmg chapter in the history of Taos. Itwa she who encouraged D.H . Law-rein e and m any other w riters an d art iststo i nme to Taos in the 1920 and 1930s.Shr gave Lawrence a ranch in the moun-tains north of Taos where he found brieftimes of serenity. After he died in Francein l()30 his widow brought his ashes backto ihe ranch and built a shrine to hismi-inory. The ranch was wil led to theUniversity of New Mexico, and creativewniing and philosophy and other semi-nar, are held there in the summer. I t isopt n to visitors at no charge.

There are several restaurants of notein the Taos area, and two of the best areLa Dona Luz and Casa Cordova. La DonaLuz, just a half block off the plaza, hasan impressive wine cellar and featuresNew Mexican (a comb ination of Spanishand Mexican) and French cuisine. CasaCordova is in a lovely old country haci-enda on the road to Taos Ski Va lley, themost challenging of the 13 in the state.Dinners at these restaurants run be-tween $8 and $12, not including w ine. Agood dinner of chicken or fish is servedfamily style at a small restaurant aboutthree miles north of town, the CountryKitchen . The food is plain, but very we llprepared a nd seasoned, the restau rant isimmaculate, and the price is $5. Thereare two other fine restaurants near theski area, with prices somewhat higherthan those in town.

Ranchos de Taos used to be a villagethree miles south of Taos, but the twovil lages ran together some t ime ago . Themission church at Ranchos, though notone of the oldest in New Mexico (1722),is probably the best known and mostphotographed because it is a classic ex-ample o f ear ly pueb lo m iss ionarchitecture.

The Rio Grande runs a few miles westof Taos creating a deep and spectaculargorge through a volcanic plateau. Someof the best fishing in the state is on thispart of the upper Rio Grande. On theeast side of Taos dark, brooding moun-tains run north and south as far as youcan see. There are small, old-worldvil lages in every valley, and manybeautiful forest campgrounds.

You have to drive, walk, or r ide ahorse to get to Taos because it has no airor train service. Albuquerque, 130 milessouth of Taos, is served by TWA, Fron-t i e r , Con t i nen t a l , and Texas I n t e r -national air lines, and all rental cars areavailable at the airport. Take Interstate25 north to Santa Fe, and then U.S.84-285 north to Taos.

Taos is a jewel of many facets, but it 'snot for everybody. Some find the narrowor non-ex is tent s idewalks , unpavedstreets, cracked tile in the bathroomsand the laissez-faire attitude of thepeople a l i t t le disconcert ing, but forthose who l ike art, l i terature, history,unsurpassed scenic beauty and the flow-ing natural lines of pueblo architecture itis an experience to be enjoyed and amemory to be treasured.

I

[Now...iGoodthmgs \Ware happen ing at...D e a t h V a l l e yJ u n c t i o nStay at the historicAMARGOSA HOTELThis lovely 50-year-old hotel isbe ing restored. 20 rooms openyear 'round. All carpeted. Allbeautifully furnished. Electricheat and a ir condi t ion ing . Makethe Amargosa Hotel your head-quarters w hile in the DeathValley area.Telephone Death Val ley Junc-tion #1 for information or reser-vat ion s .

Visit Marta Becket's famousAMARGOSA OPERA HOUSE.You 've read about this beautifuland unique attraction in Desertan d National Geographic. SeeM a r t a B e c k e t ' s p r o g r a m o fdance-mimes. See her fabulousmurals in s ide the Opera Ho use .Performances Friday, Saturdayand Monday Through April .Saturdays only in May, Septem-ber. 8:15; doors open at 7:45.Telephone Death Val ley Junc-tion #8 for reservations. Toursloomed.

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De m f t / J u n e 1 9 78 23


24/48


25/48

Fig. 2812 actual size)

Several points of sim ilarity are obviouswhen they are compared to o therf igures found locally, such as the shapeof the head and shoulders, l ines on theface (possibly tattooing) and appliquedor pinched breasts. These similarit iesmay indicate that this stylizat ion of thehuman shape was a well-established artform among the Desert Cahuil la of theCoachella Valley. More recently dis-covered f igures also fall into this style.(Fig. 11,12,13,14 and 15. )

All of the f igurines from this regionmentioned so far were found in an arealess than f ive miles square. The greatnumber of specimens in such a smallarea would suggest that the supposedrarity of this art ifact type is an i l lusion.

The re a re i nhe ren t p rob lem s ,however. Most are unfired and when the

inds blow the sand away, the f iguresfall to dust. In fact, many had to besoaked in glue in order to preserve themfrom dis integrat ion.

The cove area of La Quinta has pro-duced some astonishing pieces, includ-ing the largest human clay eff igy foundin the greater Southwest (40.4 cm) and

hese wierd f igures look back at theiewer with "cof fee bean eyes, " which

appear closed, a trai t which probably1978 25

These amazing firedclay arti facts arereproduced here intheir natural colorand are actual size.Color photographyby George Service.

- V ;


26/48

gave rise to the local theory that theyrepresent the dead (Fig. 16). Severalhave been found, however, with eyesmi sing or with round eyes lacking slits(Figs. 17 and 18). Mos t do not have armsor legs, but the re are exceptions, such asshown in Figs. 19 and 20.

In a 1943 report, archaeologist Rob-ed F. Heizer concluded (though no con-clu ;ive evidence supported the theory atthe t ime) that California clay f igureswould eventually be found to fall intoperipheral Hohokam context, meaningthat California Indians picked up this artform by dif fusion from the greaterSouthwest, Hohokam or Anasazi areas.

1 he " cof fee bean ey es" and prom i-nent noses are found in the Santa Cruzphase of the Hohokam at Snaketown,Arizona. Ken Hedges, of the San Diego

M seum of Ma n, in a 1973 report on 55spi cimens from Southern California ,called them Hakataya f igurines. Theterm "Hakataya" relates these f iguresto Western Arizona cultures. Hohokam-type artifacts are also occasionaly foundin the Coachella Valley. A glycymerisshi II bracelet was found in a bull-dozedcremation in west Indio, and ceremonialanowpoints (called by local collectors" f i s h p o i n t s " ) a re o n l y s e m i - ra r ethi jugho ut the en tire area from PalmSpi ings to the Salton Sea. These long,serrated points are probably not of localmanufacture, but Hohokam imports.Hewer's predict ion of the original con-text of these f igures being peripheralHohokam is strongly supported by suchevi ionce.

i oachella Valley has produced such awiHe range of f igurine types, however,that they probably represent a wide mixof cultural inf luences from the north aswell as from the east (and perhapsMe


27/48

19

All illustrationsby the author.Artifacts areillustrated samesize as actualspecimensunless otherwisenoted.

Fig. 16(2/3 actual size)

Twoof thefamousPillingFigurinesfromUtah.actualsize.)

Fig. 27 Fig. 24 Fig. 25

were manifestations of the "corn-grow-ii com plex ." Archaic Mexico also pro-duced figures which were scattered inth a fields to produce abundant harvests.Though the Desert Cahuilla were notagricultural until modern t imes, thereare areas of their religious belief inwhich a "m other goddess " or " fe r-t i l i ty goddess" might have f i t . We dokrow that the Porno, Zuni, Hopi andCochiti Indians made flat clay figures asm.igical child-ge tt ing charms.

(2) CURING FETISHESCalifornia witch doctors, or shamans,

are known to have sucked wounds orp.iinful areas to pull out the evil whichthey thought caused the illness. In 1928,record was made of a Havasupai sha-rn m who told an ill man that his deadi;i oat-grandfather had invaded his body

D n a r t / J u n e 1 9 7 8

and was causing the sickness. Amongseveral objects produced by the shamanas having been sucked out of the painedarea was a " l i t t le white man" with ahead but no limbs. He showed thisfigure often as proof of his curativepowers.

(3) DEATH IMAGESOne image found in Indio was dis-

covered buried head down, with the facepointed to the east. The lifeless look ofthe coffee-bean eyes and the fact thatsome are found in cremation burns hasled us to suspect that the figures repre-sented the dead in mourning ceremonies.

(4) AFTERLIFE FIGURESAn extension of the preceding theory

was presented in 1973 by Paul Glace,

former technical advisor to Pacific CoastArchaeological Society. An aged Seriwoman reported that in her youth, sm allf igures were given to children at their"naming ceremony," to represent t ra i tsthe children should develop during theirl ives. Mr. Glace proposed that femaleclay figurines found in a cremation (asthose found in 1931 in the CoachellaValley) may have symbolized traits notattained in l ife by a young female, buthoped for in afterlife. To prove this,archaeologists would have to comparefigurines and cremation remains to see ifthere is a consistent relationship be-tween these pieces and burials of youngfemales.

(5) TOYSAnother theory is that they are simply

toys. Some may be; the animal figuressuggest this possibility. But experts donot believe this of most human f igurine s,because of the burial associations inadult cremations and the fact that of theCoachella specimens, about 80 percentare unfired. From a practical stand-point, unfired f igures would not be dur-able enough for children's toys.

(6) HEXING OBJECTSAmong both the Luiseno and Diegu-

eno of Southern California, figurineshave been identified as hexing objects.Some witches and shamans were said tohave the power to kill people with theirthoughts. Sometimes small clay imageswere made, then trampled upon whilethoughts of hate and death were pro-jected toward them.

The truth may be that of the six theor-ies presented, several may be val id. Thevariety of forms and the large range ofthese figures over California and thegreater Southwest may indicate that inone area they were used for one pur-pose and in another area they served adifferent function.Mu ch mo re in fo rma t io n mu s t b egathered before these riddles can beanswered adequately. However, much ofthe land in the Coachella Valley is be-ing developed rapidly. Of the more than50 specimens known to the author, manywere found on what was open desert butis now the site of homes or golf courses.Unfortunately, there is no strata to des-ert archaeological sites; the firs t blade ofthe tractor destroys all.

The answers to the questions raised bythese intriguing f igurines are sti l l to befound in the sandat least for a tim e.

27


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P OORLY EQUIPPED by Nature formanufacturing body heat, lizards areunable to maintain a constant tem-perature within themselves. Their tem-peratures therefore vary with that oft h e i r surroundings, and they are depen-dent upon outside sources of heat towarm them suff iciently for activity.

Hence they tend to dwell where thesun is on the job most of the year, andheat loss is minimum. This is why, na-turally, that the arid regions of theScuthwest and part icularly the lowerdt sert sections are not likely to run shortof them. However, not all lizards sub-s< ribe to the rank and file 's idea of su it-able real estate. Some have even invad-ed the mountains taking on a host of al t i -tude-related problems besides tempera-ture regulation made more diff icult byth e cold. One such intrepid character isYarrow's spiny lizard.

Sceloporus jarrovi is a very handsomefellow to be sure in his spiny armor. Thesi lies on his back are brill ian t w ith high-l ights of white, touched with pinks andblues and edged in black. His broadbl ick collar with its white trim adds adash to his raiment, surpassed only bythe sweep of dark metall ic blue thatre iches from his throa t down over hischest onto his belly. While Ms. jar- {rovi's couturier selected more mutedbody tones for her costume, she stillw e a r s her clan's smart black collar, and-during the social season, her throat andct>est are a beautiful light sky blue.

Very much at home in their southernArizona-southern New Mexico montaneenvironment, the jarrovis are rock enthu -si ists. Agile c limbers, they live on wallsand ledges of cliffs and canyons, in andabout rock slides, amongst boulders andcrevices. They dearly love to perch on amck and bask in the sunshine and whileshaking up the warmth, practice theirlunch catching technique. This consistsof sitting motionless until an insect hap-pens a long . T h e n a l ig h tn in g - f a s tmove, a snatch, and another luckless in-sect joins some 20 of its predecessors ina jar rovi's podded-out stomach.

They tend to live in the same generalvicin ity, so where there's one there's aptto be another and another. Each has itsown home range and within this a terr i -tory which it defends the year around,and which is marked by some kind ofpersonal scent, perhaps by substancesfrom pores located on the underside of

28

the thighs. As the team of zoologists A.De Fazio, C. A. Simon, G. A. Midden-dorf and D. Romano found, jarrovi keepsup on the scent news by flicking out itstongue and touching its surroundings.The retracted tongue brings back chemi-cal particles which s timula te a spot in thefront of the palate called Jacobson'sorgan. This nerve-rich region is connect-ed with the big olfactory nerve, and thenews is transmitted along it to the smellcenter in the lizard's brain for properaction. Used in food finding and in court-ship, this scent pick-up system is alsovery valuable in the maintenance ofterritory, since any lizard whose Jacob-son's organ is wo rking has no excuse forbumbling into the private property ofanother.

But supposing this happens. Whatthen?

Zoologist D. Ruby set about findingout in his Arizona field study. To maketh in g s in te re s t in g , h e in t ro d u ce d atethered lizard into the territories be-longing to selected active residents. Ineach case the intruder was discovered atonce, and what followed then, seems tobe a prescribe d ritua l in jarrovi circles.The resident promptly sets aboutejecting the intruder. The intruder, ifsmaller, beats a hasty retreat, so the jobis easily done. But if they are aboutevenly matched in size, the residentgives a rapid head bob or two , then goesinto pushup calisthentics, followed by asudden extension of his throat region,arching of back and flattening of his

Yarrow's spiny lizard.Photo fay George Olin,

ofAjo, Arizona. M O U I N T A J Nr

D e s e r t / J u n e 1 9 7 8


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sides. He looks, needless to say, sudden-ly very much larger and very, very un-pl asant. This may be enoug h, the in tru-dt i indicating that he has lost interest inremaining. But , maybe he's tough, too,and has decided to stay. In fact, he'sdi ng some fancy displaying himself . I tappears neither is about to throw in thesponge. The resident now begins ascries of warlike shuddering head bobs,and if these don't get immediate results he charges!

Oddly enough, in all the tail lashingand ruckus that ensues, l i t t le bit ingtakes place, for one or the other shortlyre ' t reats. The dominance display w ith itsshuddering head bobs as high excite-ment p oint just prior to the charge givesthe in trud er a last chance to call it off. If

the fight does take place, the damage issmall enough to keep everybody fair lyintact and the species hasn't wasted anybreeding mater ia l .

Such terr itorial defense is not l imitedto the agressive males, but enthusiastic-ally indulged in by the ladies amongthemselves and by juveniles against ju-veniles. It is a key factor in the overallsuccess of the individual lizard, sincespacing out in territories gives each abetter chance at the food supply andwhatever else the region has to offer.

Zoologist Simon, interested in know-ing how the abundance or scarcity offood would affect the size of the terr itor-ies defend ed, marked the l izards inhab it-ing a study area, plotted each one's te r r i -tory and t inkered up the food supply. A

b y K . L . B O Y N T O N 19 78

' mmOn a r t / J u n e 1 9 7 8

decrease i.e. a drop in the insect popu-lat ioncalled for more area to provideadequate food. The l izards expandedtheir terr itories in response to scarcity,the males, incidentally, quite careful todo their expanding away from the ter r i -tory of a neighboring male.

How about an abundance of food?Simon f i l led dishes with meal worms

and set them about strategically. Thelargess was discovered at once, and ifthe food had been placed near the centerof a terr ito ry, the resident pro mp tly cutdown on its land holdings to focus on anarea closer around the dish. One female,faced with the sudden appearance of adish of worms on her boundary, revisedher l ines to get the provender well in-side. So wh at if it me ant grab bing someof the terr itory belonging to the smallerfemale next door, and chasing her off?Another female with two dishes setabout 20 feet apart on her boundary tr iedto defend both, but under the determin-ed charges of her buxom neighbor nextdoor, had to sett le for one. She immedi-ately revised her terr itory accordingly.Increased victuals eliminates the needfor large terr itories, and the l izards arequick to take advantage of the situat ion,cutt ing down on the size they defend.

Interest ing to report, when Simon col-lected the dishes and got ready to gohome, the lizards restored the old statusquo with the terr itoria l set-up once againjust about what it was before the scholar-ly nose was stuck into their affairs.

A h , but the jarrovis have st i l l a furthe rstrategy for divvying up the food re-sources. Simon, this t ime working withG. A. Middendorf, found that the l izardsare not active every day, but averageabout two and a half days a week. Butthere is still more to this, for not only isthe populat ion therefore act ive on dif fer-ent days, those that are out are active atdif ferent t imes of the day. The adultstend to feed in the early mo rning , the ju-veniles around noon. Thus there can beoverlapping of terr itories but they aret ime dist ince, as witness the jaunty ju-venile sashshaying around the domain ofa big male, which it would never havedared to do if the owner had been abroad.

Nor is this t ime division of the re-sources the only additional strategy. Thelizards also make a vertical division ofthe habitat, perching at dif ferent levels.The youngest and smallest sit nearestthe groun d, the next size up furthe r, and

29


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the largest the highest up. Thus the /ar-row's sitting and waiting for prey as isthrir wont are actually feeding at dif fer-ent levels. The result is that they catchdifferent size insects and often dif feren tkinds, since the insects themselves donot all operate at the same levels. Preyselection by size even among the adults(the males tending to eat smaller onesth, in the females) further divides up thefon J su pply.

What with the apport ionment of thehal' i tat by spacing and by t ime of act ivityand by perch height, the jarrovis haveevd ved a slick way of making the m ost ofthu'ir mountain food supply. This stepsup the carrying capacity of the area,m t imp orta nt since popu lation size de-pends on what an environment can

support.As might be expected, the reproduc-

tive strategy of these spiny lizards isgeared to mountain l iving. Unlike theiregg-laying cousins, they give birth totheir young, a system which eliminatesexposure of eggs to low temperaturesand their loss to predators. They alsopick an off-beat time of year for familyproduction, their social hoe-down occur-r ing in November and December. Anyawkward situat ion that might result isavoided by delayed development of theembryos. Beyond gett ing a bare start,nothing much happens to them for aboutfour months, so the females are not sub-jected to the stress of young develop-ment during the winter when food isl imited. Then, along about March, as

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anatomist S. R. Goldberg fou nd , the em-bryos begin to grow very rapidly. Keyfactor here is the basking habit of the fe-males who are thus able to raise theirtemperatures w ell above that of their en-vironm ent, the increased wa rmth of theirbodies speeding up embryo deve lopmentconsiderably.

Born in May in the lower alt i tudemountains, and in July in the highest,the youngsters arrive at the very bestt ime of year, for the weather is warm andthe insect supply on the increase. Theselive birth youngsters are bigger upon ar-r ival than the hatchlings of egg layingspecies, and their large size greatly in-creases their chances for survival. Infact, some 15 percent of the jarroviyoung make it to maturity, a very goodscore for any lizard species. They ma turefast, Zoologist R. E. Ball inger's invest i-gat ions coming up with the eyebrow rais-ing news that some 60 percent of the fe-males in the lower alt i tude mountainsare ready to join in the approaching fallbreeding season, although they are onlyfour to f ive months old . An d this is some-thing of a record for l izards.

One litter a season is par. The young-est and smallest females usually producea family of two, the largest, experiencedladies averaging a bouncing ten. As thebig energy-study conducted by Zoolo-gists D. W. T inkle and N. F. H adley con-cluded, these l izards show again thatthey know what they are about with theirfall social season-delayed developmentsystem. Their reproduction chores arethus all over for the season by the timethat most temperate zone l izards areputt ing much of their energy into thej o b . Hence the jarrovis can loaf away thesummer, stuff ing themselves with in-sects and gro win g. This results in a dra-matic increase in body size for femalesbetween the f irst and second breedingseasons, enabling them to produce verylarge l i t ters. In the numbers game, thispays off in species success.

So does their excellent adult survivalrate, some 48 percent greater than thatof early maturing egg laying l izards.Certainly the safety features of theirrocky habitat cuts their losses to preda-tors. Oddly enough, too, while it is truethat the colder higher altitudes increasethe l izards' need for tempera ture reg ula-t ion, the altitude itself actually helpsthem to do so. Basking on the rocky out-crops, they have maximum exposure tointense solar radiat ion, for the air

D e s e r t / J u n e 1 9 7 8


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column in mou ntains is thinn er, w ith lessv or and dust content.

i he jarrovis also know how to maketh e most out every l i t t le dif ference incondit ions around them, for as ZoologistK. S. Norris points out, there can begreat contrasts in temperatures withininches. A dark rock, for instance, warmsup more and faster than a l ight colored01 i, so this is the one to sit on. A ledgesi i I tered from the win d in d irect sun-light makes the job of heating up a jar-r o \ /-sized lizard fairly easy. The lizarditself can also speed things up by dark-en ing down i t s ove ra l l co lo ra t i on ,m,iking a net heat gain of 4.1 deg. C am in u t e i n t h i s da r kened cond i t i ona igain st 3.8 C in the light phase.

Whi le jarrovis are act ive with bodytemperatures anywhere from 19-37 C,th e prefe rred range seems to be 30-37 C.Zoologist T. A. Burns, working with twopopulations at 6,000 and 10,713 feet inth e Pinaleno Mountains of Arizona,found that the l izards l iving below 6,000fe d took to scrub oaks for relief when thea i temperature hit 35 C and the ground4D C in summe r. F urther laboratory testsshowed that these lizards do not pantwhen under high temperature stress,and thus are unable to unload heat by re-spiratory cooling. Pondering this, hewondered if maybe the isolat ion of thisclan and their abundance over 6,000 feetin lhe mountains weren't maybe due toth e fact that they just can't stand hightemperatures.

I hey certain ly can handle low ones,out grocerying at 10,000 feet when theaii is a chilly 14 C. Come win ter, how-ever, and periods of prolonged cold, th ejarrovis retire into deep crevices locatedon the southern and eastern slopeswhere there is the most sun and the leastsi i .w and whe re th ings are bound tow.nm up sooner. Piled some 15-30liy.irds deep in those cozy crevices, theyhelp keep each other warm, and when-ever the scenery topside warms upenough, they emerge for sunning.

What with their system of divvying upth e food supply, their use of unfavorablet ines of the year to get reproduction un-d


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A R A V f t l P AbyGEORGEWUERTHNER

Hiker about to fordAravaipa Creek.We found sneakersto be the best footgearsince creek crossings arefrequent, but pleasantaffairs. Notice theshallowness of the creek.32 D e s e r t / J u n e 1 9 7 8


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EAN YQ NT HE GRbAT Blue Heron which f lewtowards the green cottonwood treeslooked conspicuously out of place inthi brigh t Arizona desert sunlight. Likea gull signall ing land to sea-weary sail-01 the heron meant to us that AravaipaCri-ek and its deep canyon could not befei away.

I ipon vie win g the creek, I was as-tonished by its incredibly small size.Thirty feet wide and seldom more than afc dee p, the creek seemed incapable ofcull ing its splendid canyon with wallst h a i r ise more than a thousand feet fromth e creekbed.

Persistence is Aravaipa's secret. Itfl /s year-ro und in an area whe re nearlyall other streams dry up or f low onlydie ing summ er cloud bursts. AravaipaCtvek patient ly cut downward throughro( k, while at an equal rate of speed thesui rounding land was being up lif ted,cr< iting the canyon.

I he canyon's e levationa l range andconstant water flow create a variety ofhuhitats that attract plants and animalsrare or non-existent in the surroundingd(


34/48

they provide food for the bird and mam-mal predators of the creek.

I enjoy track watching and a canyonsiK h as Aravaipa is perfect for this hob-bv The narrow confines of the canyonwalls restrict most wildlife travel to thecreek bottom where the many sand andmud f lats record their m ovement. I foundthe prints of deer, coyote and javelina.Some fortunate canyon visitors are oc-casionally treated to the sight of a freshmountain lion print. These increasinglyrare and exceedingly shy creatures stillwander through the canyon, though inmust cases the only trace of the big catsmust people see is their round and claw-less impressions left in soft mud.

Mexican wildlife species occasionallys t r a y north of the border and are ob-seived in the Primit ive Area. The ZoneTail Hawk and the Coatimundi, a long-tailed animal similar to a raccoon, aretypical Mexican species that wandernorth.

After we made our camp the f irstnight, I climbed up on the canyon wallslooking for caves and overhangs whereIndian ruins might be found. I neverfound anything, but long before thewhite man, Indians dwelled beside the

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f lowing waters. Apache Indians livednear the canyon as little as 100 yearsa g o . In 1871 blood was spilled. Localranchers, baffled by unexplained mur-ders and cattle losses, killed and en-slaved 85 Apaches in what is now knownas the Aravaipa Massacre.

The canyon is little changed from howit looked when the Indians lived along itstree-shaded course. To enjoy the primi-tive area to its fullest, spring would bethe best season for a visit. The days arewarm and the nights are pleasant. Fa ll issometimes better for there are fewerpeople and the autum n foliage adds colorto the already beautiful stream. Summertemperatures can easily rise to over 100degrees, but there is always the streamto keep cool in. If you want s olitude, takea trip in the winter months of Decem-ber, January or February.

To maintain the canyon's primit ivecharacter, the BLM limits the number ofvisitors that m ay enter the canyon on anyone day. All users are required to ob-tain a free permit either by writ ing theBLM District Off ice in Safford, Arizonaor by inquiring at the visitor informa-tion stations located at the east and westentrances to the canyon. Reservationsare recommended in the spring and onmost weekends dur ing the warmermonths.

We found water to pose no problems.You can always drink from the stream. Inaddition there are seeps and springsscattered through out the area. These canusually be spotted by looking for fernsand mosses growing along the canyonwalls. All water must be boiled beforeusing. Unless you plan, to stay for sev-eral days, it's often easier to carry all

your drinking water with you.Firewood is becoming increasingly

diff icult to obtain in the more popularcamping areas, therefore the BLM re-quests that all cooking be done on smallcamp stoves. This is not required, andwe found wood abundant in the tributa rycanyon we camped in, but the stove iseasier to use and less demanding uponthe l imi ted wood resources o f thecanyon.

If you plan to hike through the en-t ire Primit ive Area, transportation canpose a slight problem since many milesof driving are involved in getting fromone entrance to the other. The best solu-tion is to find two hiking parties for thet r ip . Each group starts at an oppositeentrance and vehicle keys are exchangedwhen the groups rendezvous at a pre-arranged location in the canyon.

The Primitive Area is located in east-ern Arizona, northeast of Tucson, south-east of Globe, and east of Safford. If youcome from the east, take Highway 70through Safford. Approx imately 15 milesnorthwest of town is the Klondyke Roadturnoff. Follow this graded dirt road for45 miles to the east entrance. If youcome from the west, you' l l want to fol-low Highway 77 until you see a wellmarked sign for Aravaipa Canyon Road.Co east for 13 miles on a paved andgravel road to the west entrance parkinglot.

A visit to the canyon is worthwhilewhether for a few days or a singleafternoon. If you're a bird watcher, awildf lower enthusiast, an amateur arch-aeologist or even a track watcher;Aravaipa Canyon Primit ive Area hassome thing to offer everyone.

SU M M E R C AM PING TRIP FOR BOYSD E S E B I E X P

197806 Desert Magazine 1978 June

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Transcript of 197806 Desert Magazine 1978 June