196210 Desert Magazine 1962 October

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Toyota's Land Cruiser has got the power the othershaven't to take you where the prized fish areand theother fishermen aren't. Goes up to 85 MPH on the high-wayyou don't have to tow a Toyota Land Cruiser towhere it's needed. Goes up steep 64grades-throughsand, mud, swamp or snow. With 135 HP under thehood, and 9 forward speeds, 3 reverse, the ToyotaLand Cruiser 4-wheel drive soft top, station wagon orpick-up truck is game enough to go anywhere. Seats 7.Amazes all. Drive it today-at your Toyota Land Cruiserdealer's. It's just what you've been fishing for!

m $ \ k IL A N D C R U I S E R !

ARIZONAFLAGSTAFFMorris Motors322 W. Santa FePHOENIXWestern Truck Sales, Inc.3530 E.WashingtonPRESCOTTRol l ie Gerdes Motors, nc.301 W. Gurley StreetTUCSONJoe's Auto Center2209 S.Sixth AvenueYUMASwift Ford Sales1491 Fourth AvenueCALIFORNIAALTURAS23 inN erMai 'n St.'AVENALSanders Motors120 E.Kings StreetBAKERSFIELDS. A. Camp Motor Co.20th Street, G to HP.O. Box 1556BARSTOWJim Soutar, Dodge1230 W. Main St.BLYTHEMunson Equ ipment Co.11390 Highway 60,WestP.O. Box 128CARMICHAELCarmichael Cars. Inc.3842 Fair Oaks Blvd.CHICOVee Bee Engineering Co.469 S. H.ghway 99EEL CAJONJohn A.Rose Imports727 ElCajon Blvd.EL CENTROImperial Honda Sales ay 99(n r to Cawy Patrol )EUREKAK. B. McCarthy4t h and"A"StreetsGRASS VALLEYHartman Chev. Oldsmobi le314 W. Main StreetHEMETDamon F. Pauley25050 SanJacinto StreetHOLLYWOODHol lywood Toyota Motor, nc.6032 Hol lywood Blvd.LARKSPURHil Probert Motors250 Magnol ia AvenueLONG BEACHK & L T r u c k s3595 E.Paci fic Coast Hwy.MADERAHartwig Motors409 N."E " StreetNAPARitz Equipment Co.2032 Vallejo RoadPASADENATrans Ocean Motor Co., Inc.2124 E.Colorado Blvd.PLACERVILLEStanci l 's Garage7 Market StreetPOMONAPomona Motors840 E. Holt Ave.REDDINGDon D.Davis Motors1234 Yuba StreetRESEDAAl lenNei l l Motors7601 Reseda Blvd.RIVERSIDECitrus Motor Company3100 Market StreetSAN DIEGOJohn A Rose Imports5921 Fairmount Avem Ext.SANTA ANACopeland Motors, Inc.32 1 E.First StreetSANTA MARIASpeed Marine Sports Cente1637 N. BroadwaySUSANVILLEDeal &Davie, Inc.1107 Main StreetUKIAHRiva Motor Service Garage301 S.State StreetWOODLANDW. S.MarksRoute 2,Box 260YREKAFrank Sel lstrom99 Highway SouthYUBA CITYEarl R. Huffmaster226 Bridge Street

COLORADOBOULDERJefferies Motor Co.2689 Pe; I St.COLORADO SPRINGSLarry Dummer ' sAuto &Marine1329 Fountain CreekBlvd. (Motor Ci ty)CRAIGCraig Motor CompanyDENVERJames Motor Company1278 Lincoln StreetSoulh Federal Motors889 S.Federal Blvd.GLENWOOD SPRINGS918 Grand AvenueTELLUR1DETel luride TransferTRINIDAD115 ElmStreet

IDAHOBOISEBoise Import Cars3860 Chinden Blvd.SALMONMeeks MotorsMONTANABILLINGSMid land Implement Co., 1mP.O. Box 2533Surges Supply1916 Third Avenue, NorthBOZEMANNorine MotorsBUTTEH & KMotors1921 Harrison Ave.CONRAD

324 S.FrontSt.DEER LODGEMarvin C.Beck Used Cars311 MissouriENNISGREAT FALLSJohnson Farm Equipment, liHAMILTONHami l ton Motor Co.800 N.FirstHARDINVal ley Implement Co.323 N. CheyenneHARLOWTONBrown's Ranch Supply,KALISPELLGreg's Mobi le Homes,City 7,Highway #2LEWISTOWNDan Morrison &Sons207 W. JaneauxMISSOULAFolsom Co., Inc.920 S. 3rdWestPLAINSCoffey Chev. Co.REDSTONENash Brothers

NEVADAHENDERSONDi e120 Wa1 rSt.

NEW MEXICOALBUQUERQUERoadrunner Equipment Co150 Woodward RoadLAS CRUCES2220 So.Truck By-PassROSWELLRamm's Body Shop120 E.Walnut

OREGONCOOS BAYBay Motors, Inc.Broadway atCurtisEUGENEEconomy Motors164 W. 11thStreetHOOD RIVERC. M.&W. O. SheppardMEDFORDDean & Taylor Pont iac Co.6t h &Grape StreetONTARIOOre-Ida Motors, Inc.59 S.W. Third AvenueOSWEGOLake Oswego Rambler109 "A"Street

UTAHCEDAR CITY380 S.MainMURRAYZion Motors. Inc.4646 State St.SALT LAKE CITYDiamond TUtah1045 S. Main

WASHINGTONABERDEENEllison Pontiac416 N.Park StreetSEATTLETenney's Automotive3300 N.E. 55th StreetSPOKANEBarton Oldsmobi le Co.1002 W.Second AvenueVANCOUVER4209 St. Johns RoadYAKIMABuckley's Jeep&Truck Repai i113 S.4th StreetWYOMINGBUFFALOHank's Car MarketE. Highway 16CASPERThe Motor Mart130 N.WalcottCODYCustom Auto Sales1 7 3 7 - 17thStreetDOUGLASYellow Dot Service100 S. FourthLANDERChopping, Inc.H ghway 287, S.W. ofLanderRAWLINSUptown Motors329-4th StreetRIVERTONChopping Chevrolet, Inc.1500 N.Highway 26WORLAND1218 BigHorn AvenueFACTORY HEADQUARTERS,U.S.A.Toyota Motor Dist., Inc.6032 Hol lywood BoulevardLos Angeles 28,Cal i fornia

2 / Desert Magazine / October, 1962


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TH E DESERT IN OCTOB ER:500 BOATS. There are some p arts of thedesert than can only be reached by boat,foot or helicopter. The former method of loco-motion remains the most popular so far asthe wilderne ss stretches of the ColoradoRiver are concerned. On the weekend ofOctober 6-7, an estimated 2000 persons willpile into 500 outboard-class boats (14 to 18-foot craft) and away they will chugdown78 miles of the Colorado from Blythe to Mar-tinez Lake.

This an nu al eventthe Colorado RiverFor 2000 boaters: desert-river wilderness

MAGAZINE OF THE SOUTHWESTVolume 25

25TH YEARNumber 10

CONTENTS FOR OCTOBER, 1962This Month's Cover

Photographer Chuck Abbott calls this picture, "Western Ranch,"realiz ing, perhaps, that a more poetic t it le could add nothing to thisstrikin g scene. The ph oto , taken near Castleton , Utah, speaks for itself.Observations, Discoveries

3 The Desert in October4 Desert Detours8 A Murder Victim at Piute Springs16 Riverrunner Woo lley: Ide ntif ied !36 New Products for Desert LivingA Closer Look

7 Kitt Peak: Space Ag e Obse rvatory14 Stretching the Rain in Spain31 Nissan Patrol Test Drive ReportPlants, Pa l ms , Plans

11 The Desert Is an Indian Drugstore18 Fourteen Palms for the Southwest28 Garden Guide for October

OREN ARNOLDJAMES M. HARRIGANP. T. REILLYDAN LEE

WELDON F. HEALDV. LEE OERTLE

JERRY LAUDERMILKDESMOND MUIRHEAD

Yesterday's Desert22 The Great Au to Race fro m Los Angeles to Phoenix RALPH HAM LIN

Other Features

Cruiseis sponsored by the Palo VerdeChamber of Commerce (Blythe). The outinghas a reputation of being a family event,and the only danger connected with it isthat participants often want to stay longerthan the two-day limit!The Colorado is usually low in earlyOctober, with the twisting channels lacedwith sand-bars and tricky bends throughhuge deltas dotted with wild geese andducks. For this reason, most of the 500 skip-pers stay well behind the river pilots assign-ed to them. Overnight camp is made atMartinez, where the boats scatter to find aclean, sandy beach or a secluded riverlagoon, of which there are hundreds. Fullcruise particulars are available from thePalo Verde C of C, Blythe, Calif.

37 Letters fro m our Readers38 New and In te rest ing Southwes t Books CHARLES E. SHELTON

Floating marina on Lake MeadFloating Marina. While on the subject ofwater, let us consider the small miracle thatrecently opened its doors to the public at(more properly, "on") Lake Mea d. How doyou build a three-acre marina at water'sedge when the water recedes two-thirds ofa mile during the yea r? The solution wa srelatively simple, according to the develop-ers who built Lake Mead Marina on and

Continued on page 6DESERT is pub lished mo nthly by Desert Mag azine, Inc., Palm Desert, Calif. Second Class Postage pa id at Palm Desert, Calif., and atadd ition al m ailin g offices under Act of M arch 3, 1879. Title registered No . 358865 in U.S. Patent Office, and contents copyrigh ted 1962by Desert Mag azine, inc. Un solicited manuscripts and photo graph s cannot be returne d or ackn owle dge d unless ful l re turn postage isenclosed. Permission to rep roduce contents must be secured f ro m the editor in wr iti ng . SUBSCRIPTION PRICE: $4.50 per year (12 issues)in the U.S.; $5 elsewhere. Allow five weeks for change of address, sn d be sure to send the old as well as new address.

To subscribe, or to give a DESERT gift subscription, please use the coupon on page 37NATIONAL ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVES:Arden E. Roney & Associates580 South San Vicente Blvd., Los Angeles 48, California. Phone: 651-3930

NEW YORK 1 7 - 4 1 East 42nd Street. YU 6-0625 SAN FRANCISCO 3 - 1 3 5 5 Market Street. UN 1-7175CHICAGO 1 - 3 5 East Wacker Drive. ST 2-8196 DETROIT 2 6 - 6 5 8 Book Building . WO 1-6063

EUGENE L. CONROTTO, editor & publisherAddress Correspondence To: Desert Magazine, Palm Desert, Calif. Phone: FI 6-8037


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"Come ye yourselves apart into a desertplace, and rest a while ." Mark 6:31

October! T he color month. The rejuvenation month. Theblessed smile-and-get-outdoors m onth. October is April inreverse, thus is one of my favorite months (although I have11 other favo rites). It's a time for desert creature s, includingman, to come out of estivation and get going again. Socome onto the wild free desert now and live!"October is wonderful ," al leges old desert explorerBob Xeece, "beca use i t ' s s t i ll too wa rm to begin worry -ing about winter, and s t i l l cool enough to s top worryinga b o u t s u m m e r . " A New York publisher recently issued my 27th book,White Danger, a novel of high adventure and fast action inthe desert sunshine and the desert mountain snows, especiallyfor teenagers . In it I also try to prove that a high school ladcan triumph ov er troubles just as a grown man c an. Bestreview to date comes from a boy in jail: "If I'd had th is toread a month ago, I wouldn't be here.""Inflation? It acts more like ow/flation to me ," grousedOld Man Give-A-Damn Jones recently, on his cabin porchoverlooking Superstition M ountain. "It develops most whenmoney goes out." He has a point there!*I don't understand high finance, but I do thoroughly under-stand one attitude that my daughter shows. Reading Shake-speare or something last night, she said, "Moil and toil appealto me more as words than as activities."Out there on Beer Can Boulevard, leading to beautifulScottsdale, Arizona, I found an old prospector trodding alongbehind a burro, exactly as in the posed photos. Couldn'tresist that, so I stopped and / hope tactfully asked himhow he made his living. "Posing for photos," said he.Got one of these newfangled little motor scooter things

N O R D B E & r"Found a way to whip your crab grass, Ed?"

and rode it away up Back of Beyond. Bragged abo ut it somuch, my daughters and sons-in-law now want to borrow it.But sad experience, with other items, tells me I might neverget it back. An ageing man is entitled to some selfishness,isn't he? Co ld weather does have some advan tages over sum-mer. For example, you can usual ly s low down to 70 onthe deser t h ighways wi thou t be ing crashed by somep lung ing tou r i s t beh ind you .Automobile improbabilities:taining a glove. a glove compartment con-During th e several days this year that 1 have sat herewriting these monthly pages, I have had a radio on at myside. And while I've heard classical music, jazz, rock-and-roll,semi-classical, "pops" stuff, wailing nightclub abortions, down-on-the-farm tunes, sea chanteys, songs about cities, and"westerns" until they drain out of my ears, not once haveI heard a desert song.Are there any desert songs? Good tunes and w ords inspiredby the matchless beauties of the desert? I mean, as distin-guished from cowboy laments, Indian love calls and such.I honestly can't think of one. What re ader will help here?Your s tanding in your community , mister, is meas-ured by what people say behind your back.That irresistible Gloria Goodwin, wearing a neckline lowenough to make a baby cry, saw me standing alone at theparty on her desert lawn last night and. with my wifeobserving us from across the patio, swivel-hipped over tome and in sultry tones spoke to me. You w anta know , withmy wife, what she said? All right, all right, I'll tell you;Gloria's gloriously low voice said, "Abnormally cool weatherfor October, isn't it, sir?" Pardon me for bringing this up again and again, but thepersonal income of us Americans has a little more thantripled since 1939. Except oneUncle Sam's. His hasincreased 23 times! Yet he's more broke than any of us.For happy home living, hug whenever you have the urgeto hit. Seems that Ike and his most bosom pal were on thePalm Desert golf course. The pal stepped to the tee, took amighty swing, and knocked out a hole in one. Ike glared,then himself stepped to the tee and said, "Okay, now I'lltake my practice swing, then we'll start the game.""Why don't you play golf with Sam any more," Mamieasked Ike one day.Ike asked her, "Would you play with a heel who nudgesthe ball to a better lie when you aren't looking, and thenreports the wrong score?""Certainly not," Mamie frowned."Well," said Ike, "neither will Sam."Played on a desert course with gravel fairways and sandgreens, and came in two under bogey. Played on a swanky

Country Club course with half a million dollars worth ofgrass and came in four over bog ey. Which proves thatwhenever an old desert rat gets off his desert he should gofishing. "Personally I don't think there'll be another war," DesertSteve Ragsdale told me recently. "But I'll rest a lot easierwhen Russia applies for space at the 1964 New York World'sFair." Ed Kirkland from Red Mountain, Calif., sent me a photoof a big Mojave desert rock just like a dinosaur. But youcan't trust Ed; his letter said he'd spent the day out therewith Fred and Wilma Flintstone, who had this dino fortheir pet. Maybe he's right, though ; I saw it later on TV .Took my New English Bible out under a 1000-foot cliffand read two chapters, with only some birds and a lizardand Godfor com pany. But they were enough. When youget fed up with modern people, friends, go out alone on thedesert and commun e with those old ones, via The Book. It'sthe most rewarding habit you could ever form. / / /

4 I r io Qo rl M n n m in o / C Vtn h e r 1 Qfi9


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C o w b o y ' s C h ri s tm a s P t i j t rF e a t u r e s c l a s s i c w e s t e r n p o e man d M a y h e P e a c e a n d G o o d W i l lo l C h r i s t m a s a l w a y s bew i t h you

H i | t i i l l i i ' I I I C k r i s l m s M a i lB e s t W i s h e s at C h r i s t m a s andH a p p i n e s s t h r o u g h a l l h e C o m i n gY e a r

T i m l i n ol (00 at C h n s t m j sW i t h B e s t W i s h e s lor a H a p p yH o l i d a y S e a s o n

M i l ! CintA F r i e n d l y G r e e t i n g at C h r i s t m a sa n d B e s t W i s he s o r t h e N e w Y e a r

" C i m r i - i n t o a i e s i r t p l i i i - 1M a y e v e r y h a p p i n es s be y o u r s atC h r i s t m a s a n d t h r o u g h o u t theC o m i n g V e a r

iBHOELSitttiwM e n ) C h r is t m a s a n d B e s t W is h e s(o r t h e N e w Y e a r

C h r i s ti n a s G r u t i i | s I n n O HO u t f i t t i Y m r sw i t h B e s t W i s h e s for h e C o m i n jY e a r

m S u r p r i s i P a c k a g eG r e e t i n g s a c l e v e r a n d a p p r o p ra t e w e s t e r n v e r s e

,m U t t e r th i S t i r iM e r r y C h r is t m a s an d B e s t W i s h e slo r t h e N ew Y e a ,

C a n i i s b a c i s C o m i n [ nS e a s o n ' s G r e e t i n g s a n d B e s tW i s h e s for all he Y e a r

th e tw o ol us1W i t h F r i e n d l y G o o d W i s h e s f o r t h eC o m i n g Ne w Y e a r

. n s M a sH a p p y H o l id a y s a n d B e s t W i s h eslo r th e C o m i n g Y e a r

Sendin 'Best Wishesa tC h r i s t m a s . . .

C a r i s t M S N i | MM e r r y C h r i s t m a s a n d H a p p y N ewY e a r

Wanist GrNtngsW i t h B e s t W i s he s lor th e S e a so n

1 a n d a H a p p y N ew Y e a r - t l i t r i > t r t s h e p h t r d s - "Ma y th e P e a c e a n d Jo y of C h r i s tm a s a b i d e i t h you h r o u g h allt h e C o m i n g Y e a r

C l m s t i i s M tr n i M jB e s t W i s h e s at C h r i s t m a s andH a p p i n e s s t h r o u g h a ll h e C o m i ngY e a r

C h r i s ti n a s S h a p p n 'M e r r y C h r is t m a s a n d a H a p p yN e w Y e a r

H o p i n g y o u h a v e a H a p p y H o l id a yS e a s o n a n d a P r o s p e r o u s N ew

' Y e a r

U S E T H I S P A G E T O O R D E R : Write quantity of each card you want inbox below il lustration. Cards may be assorted at no extra cost. Circle totalquantity and cost below. Fill out coupon and mail entire page with cash,check, or money order to:T h e L A Z Y R L R A N C H B o x 1 5 0 0B o u l d e r , C o l o .

C a n d l i s if theIn S i le n t N i g h tM a y e v e i y h a p p i n e ss be y ou rs at p " ^ Ma y theP e a ce a n d J o y otC hr i s t -Christmas and throughout the mas be with you hrough all the

J Comng Year I I YearAl l new and dif ferent f o r 1962. Beautiful full-color reproductions o f original paintings by opwestern artists featur ing Lorenz and including Hilton, Fogg, Harmon, Wands, a n d Yazz. Finestquality, heavy-grade paper single folds to 43A" x 6 ! / 4 " with matching white envelopes. With o rwithout your name custom printed i n red to match greetings. These exclusive cards availableby mail only. Your order carefully fil led an d shipped with in 24 hours r ight up ' t i l Christmas.Use this handy page, or order by l e t t e r . . . t o d a y !

TOTAL QUANTITYWITHOUT NAMEWITH NAME

15$2.75J3.75

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507.258.75

7510.8512.85

10013.4515.45

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20025.9529.45

30038.2543.45

50062.4569.95

Canada residents remit in U.S. dollar values. Colorado residents a d d 2 % sales ta x

NameAddressCityNames tobe printed

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F U L L C O L O R M O N E Y B A C K G U A R A N T E E W E P A Y P O S T A G E


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KITT PEAK OBSERVATORYTheSouthwest'sNewestTouristAttraction...

By WELDON F. HEALD

TH E NEW K I T T P E A K N A T I O N A L O B S E R V A T O R Y ISPERCHED ATOP A 6 8 7 5 - F O O T M O U N T A I N IN S O U T H -E R N A R I Z O N A . W H I T E T R I A N G U L A R S T RU C TU R E INT H E F O R E G R O U N D IS THE WORLD'S MOST POWER-FUL SOLAR TELESCOPE. IT STANDS 110 FEET HIGH.

QUIETLY, WITH little publi-city, another fabulous projectof the Space Age is being add-ed to the Southwest. That is KittP e a k National Observatory, theworld's latest andmost modern astro-nomical station. There Manhopes toprobe the Universe further than everbefore, and perhaps learn his even-tual place in it.Although still uncompleted, theobservatory was recently opened tothe public, and you can now drivethere on a wide, all-paved highway.Already 1000 people a month are vis-iting this outpost of advanced scienceperched on a remote southern Ari-zona mountaintop. These people aregaining a new insight into the amaz-ing cosmology of planets, sun, stars

and nebulae.Kitt Peak is a 6875-foot mountain,southwest of Tucson, situated in thevast desert realm of the Papago In-dian Reservation. The Observatorysite was chosen after an intensivethree-year search, which extendedfrom the East Coast to Hawaii andincluded 150possible locations. Finaldecision was made in 1958, and thePapagos were persuaded to lease thenecessary land atop their sacredmountain to "the men with the longeyes." Since then the tribe has givenits enthusiastic cooperation. The in-stallation is being built and directedby the Association of Universities forResearch in Astronomy, usuallyknown as AURA, under contractwith the National Science Founda-tion. Its facilities will be available toqualified astronomers and astro-phys-icists of all nationalities.The Observatory is 53 miles fromTucson and is reached via ArizonaState 86 and a newly-completed 12-mile highway on the mountain. The

road is high-gear throughout andsweeps up the north slopes of KittPeak with an even grade of about 315feet to the mile. As you climb, the

views widen and spread over thou-sands of square miles of broad desertvalleys and barren, tawny mountainsto the distant blue horizon. The veg-etation, too, changes from cactus,yucca and ocotillo to oaks, pinyons,and junipers.The top is a busy place, as con-struction is still going on. The build-ings are scattered over a broad ridgeand consist of workshops, labora-tories, instrument housings, dormi-tories, and attractive territorial-styleresidences for the permanent staff.Although the 36-inch and 84-inchstellar reflecting telescopes are notinstalled, conventional gleaming-white domes are there to accom-modate them. But nothing like theKitt Peak Solar Telescope has everbeen seen before. In its streamlined,triangular simplicity, it stands 110feet high and looks as if it might bea huge temple to the Sun built bymen from Mars. Largest in theworld,the telescope's focal length is 300feet, and it produces a solar image 34inches in diameter in an under-ground observing room.From now on big things will behappening on Kitt Peak. Its place asone of the world's most importantrocket-age scientific centers is assur-ed. In addition to ground-based fa-

cilities, the Observatory hopes tolaunch a sizable reflecting telescopein space. Scientists are now workingon a long-range project to place a50-inch instrument in a 24-hour orbitmore than 20,000 miles from theearth's surface. Through radio con-trol astronomers will be able to usethe orbiting telescope at all timesregardless of weather conditions.New, different and fascinating,Kitt Peak is a distinctive sightseeingtarget. Don't miss it. The mountainmay be made as a comfortable half-

day's round-trip drive from Tucsonor as a short detour on a trip to Or-gan Pipe Cactus National Monumentand Mexico's Puerto Penasco. / / /

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A Long-AgoMurder atPiute Springs...By JAMES M. H AR RIGA N

FOR THE past five years, my partner, Joe Hess, andI have scoured the desert for those elusive shinyyellow particles commonly known as gold. Drywashing is a peculiar business. You have to go whereit rains a lot, but hasn't for a long time. If the groundis damp, the gold has a tendency to stick to the dirt asit passes through the machine, and you finish your runwithout reward. When the ground is damp, Joe and Ihead for other parts.This is the situation that had led us to Piute Springsa remote ou tpost in California near w here that statecomes together with Nevada and Arizona. On that firsttrip we had found not gold, but a grave.And now Joe and I were returning to the springs tolead some men from the San Bernardino County Mu-seum to the grave.

The bashed-in skull (photo above) was face-dow n. At the grave(below) are, from left, author Harrigan; Ralph dimming of theSan Bernardino Archeological Society; Robert Anderson of theMuseum Field Section; and Joseph Hess. Yucca, Arizona, prospector.

/ Desert Ma azine / October, 1962


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As we crossed the last ridge just before the road startsdown the steep grade into Piute Valley, I saw a bigblack vul ture plummet f rom a hundred-foot powerl inetower and momentari ly disappear behind the rim ofcanyon draining the val ley. A prophetic fl ight!Scanning the valley with my glasses, I could trace thepowerl ine road as i t diminishes over the horizon intoNevad a. Eastward, I could make out Highway 95 nearthe state line. And still further west, the Newberry andDead Mou ntains which cradle the Colorado River. On

the far bank of the Colorado is the razed site of FortMohavein the midst of a land that was home to themuch feared and t reacherous Mohave Indians .In the sum me r of 1827, Jed ed iah Sm ith, on his sec-ond venture into California, was waylaid by the Mo-haves somewh ere along the river in this vicinity. Te nof the trappers with Smith were ki l led, and the leaderand his remaining men hightai led i t into the moun-tains. Somewhere in this country a long forgotten trailnow dimmed to obscuri ty was created by the escapingmembers of the Smith party.Easing our jeep down the steep grade, we set outacross the valley, still following the powerline road. We

turn ed off on the old Go vernm ent Roa d and passedthrough the unoccupied Irwin Ranch. George Irwin hada successful turkey raising enterprise here some yearsago, but illness forced him to move nearer to civiliza-t ion.The road gets progressively worse at it nears PiuteSprings. The ruins of the strong redoubt buil t by theArmy a century ago stand atop a gentle rise centered inthe mouth of the canyon, and just inside the IrwinRanch boundary l ine . We pul led up wi thin a scanthundred yards of what is now commonly cal led "FortPiute," and made our camp. Fifty yards down the can-yon bed, a small creek gurgled over the rocks and intopools harboring small frogs. It was quite a surprise to

find such an abundance of water in this place. A deeppool , a half-mile upstream, encouraged by a small damthat was buil t by a group of men from Needles, affordedan excellent swimming hole.For t Piute was established in the early 1860s. Itsruins are among the most interest ing in the Southwest .When George Irwin took possession of his ranch, hefound many interest ing rel ics hereaboutsincluding anold camel saddle.T h e redou bt was strategical ly si tuated. By peeringthrough the gun ports, you have a commanding view ofthe Government Road as it twists and winds its waythrough heavy sand toward the Dead Mountains. Any-one traveling that road would have been spotted longbefore he arrived at Piute Springs.North of the Fort, on a hill at the same level, is aflanking breastwork which provided the cross-fire coverthat would have discouraged frontal at tack. Behind theFort is a deep ravine which gouges an erratic coursedown to the creekbed. On the far bank of that ravineare the remains of the stockade. A trai l bordered by apartially-standing rock wall crosses the ravine, linkingFort with stockade.The sun sets early at Piute Springs, and the shadowsfrom the mountains quickly deepen to black. As thefrogs in the creek began their concert, Joe and I finishedour supper and were soon in our beds.Early next morning Ralph Gumming and Bob Ander-son of the County Archeological Society arrived. T h e

Ruins of the Army redoubt at Piute Springs. Below:A Jeep maneuvers a rugged section of the OldGovernment Road. Photos by A. P. Van Rossen.


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ROUTE OF THE4 9 rs

UTAHJEDEDIAH SMITHFOLLOWED RIVER TOMOHAVE INDIANVILLAGES\ _ (1826-27)

NE OF JEDEDIAH SMITH- 1 RIVER MASSACREiY MOHAVE INDIANS 1827ARIZONA

LOS ANGELES"We traveled all night and part of the nextmorning arriving at a spring in the mountainswhere we camped a full day," wrote JedediahSmith in his diary following the slaughter of10 of his men on the Colorado River by Moha veIndians. The exact route the survivors follow-ed is not known but the possibility existsthat they could have traveled the 45 miles toPiute Springs; the grave near the Springs dis-covered by the author and his companionmight possibly hold one of the inctims of thatlong-ago massacre. A beleaguered party carryingits wounded could not have traveled muchfarther.\

four of us threw our gear over our backs and starteddown the trail to the grave.It was a two-mile hike, beyond the stockade, up therim trail which brought us to dizzyand dangerous-heights above the canyon. Treacherous shale footingdemanded cau tion. Th e trail dips back to low ground,enters the south fork canyon, and once again climbs asteep bank to a small flat mesa. A huge boulder,scarred with ancient petroglyphs, sits atop the mesa.These Indian writings seem considerably older than the

others strewn along the trail.Nearby is the mound of stones six feet long. At oneend was the "headstone"an elongated slab thrust intothe ground at a vertical angle."This is it," announced Joe. Ralph Gumming stoopedover and picked up an arrowhead chip, and less thansix feet from the grave I also found an arrowpoint.Carefully, the mound of stones was laid aside. Wewent down 14 inches and found a skull.The skull lay at a very peculiar angle; nearly face-down. It was bashed-in. The victim had been cruellymurdered.As we scooped away the dirt, it soon became appar-ent that we could not remove the skull because of itsdecomposed state. We removed as much dirt as possibleand then could go no farther without seriously damag-ing the skeleton. Reluctantly we sifted the dirt backupon the skull and replaced the rocks. Ralph and Bobwere already making plans for a more thorough excava-tion of the grave at a later date. Perhaps the answer tothe riddle lay deeper in the ground.We agreed on one thing: the victim had probably metdeath at the hands of Indians. The fact that the gravehad a "headstone" indicated burial had been matte bywhitemen who had either found or recovered the bodyfrom a possible Indian torture.Jedediah Smith may have been the first American topass through Piute Springs, following the Colorado Riv-er massacre. There is a remote chance that the skull wedug up belonged to one of his wounded who later died.Another group of trappers was likewise attacked by theMohaves some weeks before the Smith tragedy. Thesemen were from the Hudson Bay Company endeavoringto enter Alta California (then Mexican territory) tocontinue their search for beaver pelts.James Ohio Pattie relates in his famous diary offighting off these same Mohave Indians at a slightlylater date. And George C. Yount also was attacked bythese Indians.One of the main roads of the pioneers passed northof the Piute Springs area, following William Wolfskill'sroute from Salt Lake to Los Angeles. Some travelersalong this trail may have wandered into the PiuteSprings areaand perhaps it was one of these men orwomen who fell victim to the Indians.Then came soldiers establishing their "GovernmentRoad" to protect the Western migrant and to supplyFort Mohave. But soldiers who died at Fort Piu te wereburied at Fort Mohave or Camp Cady.Chances are that all we will ever know for sure is thata century agoor even earliera person was murderedin this desert, and thrown face-down in a crude grave.(Editor's Note: DESER T will carry results of thecomplete excavation soon as they are m ade known.)


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A SILVER ANNIVERSARY

MORMON TEA: an effic ient tonic con-taining the alkaloid pseudoephedrine.

YERBA MANSA: widely used as a bloodpurif ier and all-around remedy.

fEKBA SANTA: prompt eff ic ient remedyfor coughs. It also masks bitter tasteof quinine.

BONUS FEATUREReprinted from Desert'sissue for April, 1944.

JERRYLAUDERMILKthe desert isan Indiandrugstore

During the 1940s, Jerry Lauder-milk's by-line appeared frequently inDESERT. Lauderm ilk was a natura-list who had the ability to "human-ize, dramatize a nd make popular andunderstandable scientific asp ects ofthe natural and particularly thedesert world . . . "At the time of hisdeath in 1956, he was a researcherat Pomona College.

11 EAT OR NO HEAT, I was out for~f~J for a hike, on the trail of one oft h o s e "petrified" woodpecker'snests you sometimes find in dead Saguaros.I was taking a new route out of Wicken-burg, Arizona, towards the Hassayampariver and the foothills on the opposite side.It was what I called a "glorious" day butthe kind that made oldtimers sit in theshade and cuss the heat.

At one of those cool damp places alongthe river where the water comes close tothe surface and little blue butterflies con-gregate, a picturesque old woman who ap-peared to be either a dark Mexican or anIndian was digging small attractive plantswith wh ite flowers. She was so absorbedin her work that I slipped away quietlywithout being noticed. But I was deter-mined as soon as I reached town to findout her purpose with the flowers.One of the few cool spots in Wicken-

SOWTHISTLE: infusion of leaves causesa fever to "quie t ly depar t . "

SAN JUAN TREE: this Argentine immi-grant containing considerable nicotineis used for headaches.

CREOSOTE BUSH: considered good forlung trouble, except asthma. Strongdoses are emetic.


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burg where I could loaf was Joe Aguilar'sshoe shop. Here could be heard legendsand strange tales of other and wickederdays when W ickenb urg was tough. If any-one would know why an old woman dugwhite flowers on a hot morning it wouldbe the white-moustached old shoemaker.It was not only cool but also rather darkand smelly in Joe's place. The sour aromaof the tub where he soaked his leather com-

bined with the smoke of Durham cigar-ettes in just the right proportions to makethe place smell ex actly the way it shou ld -in Arizona . After the usual preliminariesabout the weather and health, I graduallycircled in on my subject. "Jo e," I said," this morning I saw an odd-looking oldIndian woman digging plants down by theriversmall plants about so high withwhite flowers and shiny green leaves.W ha t do you suppose she wanted themfor?"Joe looked up, all interest. Did shehave a blue and white bandana round herhead, folded neat?" I remembered that she-had. "W ell, that was my Aun t Rosa. Iam a Mexican but Rosa has much Indianblood. She 's old and knows much old

stuff. That plant she gathered was Yerbamansa, a very good medicine plant, verystrong when you dig it toward noon on ahot day."He went on to tell me about his aunt,"a very smart wom an." How she had beenthe local herb doctor to the Mexican popu-lation for years and knew the proper plantsto use for nearly every ailment. Th ere was

some use for almost everything that grew.Many useful plants grew close by. Somewere to be found nowhere except in re-mote canyons and there only in limitedareas.To be an herb doctor, you must knowwhere to look for your herbs, the rightseason and the right time to gather. Afteryour herbs were once gathered you werejust ready to go to work. Plants had to bedried and stored in exactly the right wayto keep their strength as long as possible.Some drugs like barks and roots kept wellfor years but others, especially dried flow-ers, grew weaker mon th by mon th. Th epackages of dried herbs people bought atthe drugstore were a joke to Joe's AuntRosa. She "had no English" and liked tobe by herself a nd thi nk. It was just as wellI had left her alone.In nearly every Mexican communitylives someone who is the accepted author-ity on plant medicine. Th e herb doctorusually is a woman who learned her art asa girl by practice with some old woman.They aim for results and make no effort todiscover why their remedies work. Th eaverage herb doctor never has heard theword s ' 'alkalo id" or "glucoside" althoug hmany of their plants are rich in them. Nine

WILD GOU RD: makes a good soap sub-stitute if you can stand the s mell.

t imes out of ten they have no other phar-macopoeia than the herb lore stored in agood memory. They seldom have anysecret cures but may have their favoriteremedies, their old stand-bys.Joe had lived with his aunt for manyyears and so had come to know a great dealof desert herb lore. When he learned that

I was a pharmacist myself and had an in-terest in drugs, his little cobbling shop be-came a kind of unconventional school ofherb-ology. He called the desert the "In-dian drug store and as he said, they knewhow to use it."A few days after the event of Joe's AuntRosa, I hiked out to my cousin's ranch. Onthe way back to town I collected a coupleof specim ens. On e of these was Creosotebush . Of course I had noticed it before,there is so much of it. It is the mostabundant shrub on the Arizona desert. Ac-

cording to Joe. this plant, which he calledGob ernado ra (the gover nor's wife) was aremedy for tuberculosis and some otherpulmonary troublesbut not for asthma.He was emphatic on this point. You madea brew of the twigs and leaves and it had tobe just the right strength or instead ofstaying down and curing your cough itwould "turn around" and act as an emetic.Gobernadora was good for you inside andout. A strong wash, black like coffee ma dewou nds heal very quickly. Th e gum thataccumulated on the surface of the waterwhen a large quantity of twigs and leaveswas boiled made a good waterproof ce-ment. This was a good p lant and it waslucky that it grew so profusely.

According to Joe his Aunt Rosa soldlots of Gobernadora, which seemed oddto me. It grew wild right in town, so whyshould a person pay for something hecould gather free. His answer was that i twas too much "trobble" to collect and dryyour own herb when for dos reales ( t w obits) you could get enough to last you along time and already prepared by anexpert."You must have hunted plants withst rong smel l ," was Joe 's remark when Ihanded him my second specimen. "T hisis Marruju, a good thing for homesick peo-ple to smell, it makes them feel all rightagain and they forget all about hom e. 'This remarkable plant was good for otherthings than dispel l ing "dark humors."The crushed stems made into a strong de-coction became a powerful antiseptic. Th isprobably is true, as the plant is rich in apeculiar essential oil . A drink preparedfrom Marruju was supposed to produce acondition like second sight but when I

wanted to try its effect on myself Joedidn't know the dose. People had diedfrom Marruju although it didn't rate asa poisonous plant. It is an interesting factthat this plant belongs to the same familyas oranges and lemons. Th e fruit , whichis no bigger th an a pea, is brigh t yellowish-green and looks like a li t t le orange.My interest in the subject of medicinaldesert plants had roused a similar concernon Joe's part. He hadn 't thou ght muchabout them for several years and decidedto see how much he had forgotten. W ewould take an afternoon off and search out

some of the "good" plants in their naturalsurroundings.Joe headed his two-man expedition inan approxim ately northeast direction. Hesaid we would hike out only about threemiles over the mesas, then circle back byway of the washes and th e river. Th is waywe would see them all since certain plantsgrew only in certain environm ents. Youwouldn't , for example, expect to see daintylitt le Yerba mansa growing up on a mesaalongside Saguaros and Chollas.On the low mesas and foothills along

the Hassayampa there is a regular parkwhich extends for miles and probably isone of the best displays of desert plants inArizona. Th e commonest, of course, wasCreosote bush it was everywhere. The nthere were the Saguarosnot medicine butfood whe n the fruit ripened . Th e fan-tastic Jumping chollas grew so thickly inplaces that sometimes a wide detour wasthe only way to get ahead. Even thisdevilish cactus which carries meanness tothe point of being ridiculous had its uses.According to Joe Americans sometimesmade ornamental knick-knacks and walk-ing sticks from the seasoned, openworkwood of the dead stems.Then there were many plants of the


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Ocotillo. A strong extract of the rootcould be used like a liniment for aches andpains or fatigue in general.Another plant that grew abundantly inthickets when it did occuryou mighthunt for weeks without seeing a speci-men was the Jojoba bean. Joe's mannerwhen he found some old plant acquaint-ance of famous reputation was always astudy in expansive pride, even gusto, as if

he were introducing one of his family."Now this one, my friend, is very, verygood. She is called Jojoba (hohov a) . Sheis not a medicine but better than chocolateor coffee and very rich. " Mexicans some-times roast the beans which ripen in win-ter, grind them to a fine meal and boil.This makes a good coffee substitute buthas a peculiar flavor.Another vegetable friend was also thesource of a beverage as well as a potentdrug. This was Canutillo or Mormon tea.The plant looks like a small shrub made

of green switches. On close examinationtiny leaves like scales can be seen on thenew branches. The twigs and smallbranches dried and infused in water makea beverage which tastes much like tea.Strong infusions are said to be potent as ablood remedy. The plant contains thealkaloid pseudoephedrine, cousin to thealkaloid ephedrine, a powerful drug.While we rambled through this naturalbotanical g arden, Joe told me some curiousthings about the old-time Indian doctors.He had lived among some of the Coloradoriver tribes around Yuma in his youngerdays and had a good memory. Some of theIndian remedies were strong drugs, others"by golly, took a lot of prayers to makethem take hold ." It was a question withJoe whether imagination and large quan-tities of hot water didn't have a lot to dowith it in some cases, for some of theirbrews were no more powerful than teasmade from corn-shucks.Most of the herbs his aunt used did theirwork without any help from psychology.

Of course she might toss in a prayer or twoif her customer was inclined that way buta good drug produced results even if youtook it by accident or if someone put it inyour food w ithout your knowing it. Heknew of an herb that sometimes was usedin this way by "bad" peop le.On our way back we found the plantgiow ing on lower ground. It had big vel-vety leaves, purplish stem and a peculiarnarcotic smell. Th e flowers were closedat this time of day but I could see that theywould be large white trumpets when they

opened. Here was a plant that was bothgood and bad. This was the magical herbToloache (I-bow-my-head-in-reverence)used by the Indians in religious ceremonies

and for the treatment of several ills. Inolden times the Indians used to make aperilous drink by pounding the wholeplant and steeping the bruised stems,leaves and flowers in water. Th is drinkgave one the power of foretelling thefuture. It also produced visions of theother world. But its use was exceedinglydangerous, liable to cause blindness andinsanity. Aunt Rosa used only the freshleaves which were applied as a poultice forrelief of pain. It was very effective. Some-times the dried leaves were smoked for therelief of asthma but this also was riskysince the plant contains large amounts ofsome very powerful alkaloids includingatropine and daturine. Joe wouldn't tellme about Toloache's bad uses as he saidthe fewer people who knew such thingsthe better.Then he showed me Yerba mora ordeath-plant. T his is a species of belladonnaor nightshade. His aunt powdered the dryleaves and made them into a plaster witholive oil. This, like the old-fashionedbelladonna plaster, was used for the reliefof any kind of muscular ache or pain. Thenextdoor neighbor of questionable To-loache and Yerba mora was benevolence invegetable form.Here were some dark green, woodyshrubs with shiny leaves. In fact, the uppersurfaces of the leaves, their "faces" as Joecalled them, looked as if they had beenvarnished. The backs were grey and furry.The clusters of dainty, pale lilac-coloredflowers looked out of place on such coarsestems. Later, I found tha t this plant be-longed to the same family as "baby blue-eyes" and so came by its flowers honestly.Joe called it Yerba santa, or holy herb.This was the trusted panacea for tubercu-losis or any kind of cough. You made atea of the dried leaves. It couldn 't hurtyou and was practically certain to do yougood. Oldtimers sometimes used Yerbasanta as a beverage. W hen lemon juice isadded to the clear yellow infusion it pro-duces a remarkable result. Th e brew in-stantly becomes white and opaque as if

cream had been added.We encountered many interesting plantsalong the wash. One of these was a coarseweed and a natural soap substitute."There's Cabazillo," Joe said, pointing outa plant I always had called "mock-orange."It is not confined to the desert but growsalong the roads in sandy places. Nearlyeveryone has seen these spreading, squash-like vines with their coarse leaves andstems. Sometimes the ground is coveredwith the yellow gourds which give it itsmock-orange name, "mock" because of its

continued on page 2SNIGHTSHADE: in poultice form relievesneuralgic pain. This plant has a high p e r- f \centage of atropine and hyoscyamine Valkaloids.

TOLOACHE: this datura banishes pain,produces strange visions; can be adeadly narcotic.

TURPENTINE BROO M: used by Indiansto produce visions, cure stomach ache.


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SPAIN HAS GIVEN the American Southwest acolorful and romantic heritage, as attested by thearchitecture and customs that endure here to thisday.AND W HIL E it may be a little-known featviewed in the context of the exploits of the Con-quistadoresSpaniards also made their imprint onAmerican irrigation farming. In 1598 the Span-iards constructed an irrigation ditch on the bankof the Rio Grande near San Juan, Texasthe firstirrigation by Europeans in what is now the UnitedStates.THE SPANISH pioneers learned the technique ofirrigation from the Moors who invaded Spain inthe 8th Cen tury. But, even before the Moors,


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Spain was the scene of great wate r-transportationachievementswhen the Romans developed aque-ducts to bring water to their Iberian cities. But,despite this long history of w ater developmen t,only one-fourth of Spain's irrigable lands havebeen developed.THE PHOTOS on these pages point-up some ofthe differences between Spanish and American ir-rigation. In Spain greater emphasis is placed onsaving water; hence, a greater concentration onlining canals and laterals to make them as water-tight as possible. The Spanish prefer above-groundconstruction, which allows leaks to be repairedwithou t delay. Farmers irrigate sparingly an d ac-cept lower crop yields than their American coun-terparts could afford. / / /

PHOTOS: Far left: Canal runs through country similar to AmericanWest. Center: Siphons built in 1921 carry irrigation w ater acrossarroyos. Right, top: A Roman-type aqueduct spans a ravineRight, center: Canal with m any drop structures serves irrigatedlands on a steep hillside. Right, bottom : Farm laterals are aboveground and watertight.PHOTOS COURTESY "TH E RECLAMATION ER A", OFFICIALPUBLICATION OF THE BUREAU OF RECLAMATION


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Who Was Bias B. Woolley, FifthRiverrunner to Traverse the Colorado?To the question askedin our January issue.A n a n s w e r . . . a n d a r a r e p h o t oThe Southwest history book wasrevised in January of this year whenDESERT published P. T. Reilly'sstory of a hitherto unknown traverseof Marble and Grand canyons by ariverrun ner, E1 i a s B. Woolley,whose name appears nowhere in themany volumes dedicated to theColorado River. But, aside from the

I T WOULD be nice to report thata Woolley grandson read the storyin DESERT a n d immediatelycame forth with the journal and apicture of Elias; but such was not thecase.The first clue came from RhamaCubbage of Palm Desert. A friend ofhers claimed to have been contactedby Woolley for information on theriver prior to the 1903 trip. The in-formant is known to have spent timein the area between Moapa andQuartzsite. Beyond a few cryptic

statements, this man has not chosento reveal what he knows, but thereis still hope that he will comethrough.

fact that the trip was made, and arecord of the journey kept by oneof the two men who accompaniedhim on the 1903 trip; Woolley him-self remained an enigma. In orderto help complete the record, DES-ERT's readers were asked to con-tribute whatever information onWoolley they might have. Here arethe results of Reilly's search:Other direct results from the pub-lishing of the story in DESERT werenot long in making their appearance.Early in January I hit pay-dirt ina letter from Arthur L. Chaffin, whofirst came to the Colorado River in1894 and had lived at various placesin Glen Canyon for most of his life.He established a ranch at Hite in1932 and later built and operated aferry.Chaffin stated that in 1903 he wastaking care of the Hoskaninni Dredgeand running a trading post at Camp

Stone. Late in September of thatyear, Lon Tu rne r, an old m iningfriend, came down from the HenryMountains to pick up a gasoline en-

gine. The two friends spent the nighttogether visiting, and Turner men-tioned that there was a party at Lee'sFerry preparing to run throughGrand Canyon. Jack Sumner, whohad been a member of the 1869 Pow-ell group, had bet Lon "a quart ofHanier" that this party would notmake it through. (Sumner was alsomining in the Henrys at this time.)Arthur Chaffin never learned wheth-er the bet was paid, but his storygave me added confirmation of Wool-ley's trip.

Later in January, Ellis W. Footecontacted me as a result of the DES-ERT story. He stated that when hewas a young man he ran a power-scow from Parker, Arizona, to a mineon the California side several milesabove the mouth of the Bill Wil-liams River. Foote stated that themost difficult part of the up-trip wasa narrow place where the river madea couple of sharp bends. Here werethree large whirlpools. Their loca-tion was about an hour's run abovethe mouth of the Bill Williams Riv-er, and Foote remembers his scowmaking about five miles per hourhere. This places the location underthe waters of Lake Havasu. EllisFoote's statement makes my locationof Woolley's mileage for October 7,1903, appear rather accurate.

A very interesting letter was re-ceived from R. J. O'Neal of Alexan-dria, Louisiana. O'Neal wrote thathis friend and neighbor, HenryFranklin, knew Woolley in Lamar,Colorado, before the trip was made.Franklin said Woolley called himselfa Tarheel from North Carolina.Henry Franklin was born June 10,1851, and is thus approaching 111years. He is in good health, has akeen memory and is considered tobe the oldest living person in thatpart of the nation. He rememberedthe R. B. Stanton river trip made in1890. However, the leads providedby Franklin did not reveal additionalinformation from either Colorado orNorth Carolina.Lau ra and John Riffey (he isCustodian of Grand Canyon Nation-al Park) wrote me regarding a Wool-ley who lived in Arizona's Strip, butthis man turned out to be from aUtah branch of another family bythat name.Another DESERT subscriber sug-gested that the town of Sedro-Wool-ley, Washington , might have beenthe home of the sought-for Woolley.An inquiry to the Chamber of Com-merce resulted in a negative reply.

Several other leads or suggestionsarrived from throughout the nation,and as far away as the Philippines16 / Desert Ma azine / October. 1962


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(where one reader told of his step-grandfather's being forced to climbto the rim after capsizing during anattempted traverse of Grand Can-yon) . But, my objective was still be-yond my reach.The perseverance of my wife,Susie, combined with a copy of theJanuary DESERT, finally turned thetrick.Working with old city directoriesin the library and hunting throughthe vital statistics in the Departmentof Health, we had long known thatElias had fathered a son, Bert Hous-ton. Susie also found that Bert hadmarried Althea Helen Norcross. Fromthis union was born Edwin BenjaminWoolley. We had traced this grand-son to an address in San Gabriel aslate at 1958. However, he had moved,left no forwarding address, and noneof the neighbors knew where he nowlived. He was not listed in any phonebook in Southern California. I hadwritten him a letter in 1961. It wasnot returned, but I had received noanswer.In April our efforts were rewarded.Susie contacted the Registrar of Vot-ers. In five minutes she had the newaddress of Edwin Benjamin Woolley.She then returned to the Depart-ment of Health for another look atthe death records. During previousvisits, the various clerks had not al-lowed her to handle the indexes, buthad read them off to her. This time

a very nice clerk allowed Susie theopportunity to go behind the coun-ter and do her own looking. In the1914 index she came to an entry forElisa Bay Woolley. Deducing thatthe records had been transcribed andhad picked up an error of transpos-ition, she obtained the volume indi-cated, and was soon looking at thedeath certificate of Elisa BenjaminWoolley. Even Woolley's final docu-ment obscured his identity by record-ing him Elisa instead of Elias.The certificate listed Woolley'sbirthdate as May 28, 1843, and hedied January 27, 1914. This meantthat he had passed his 60th year whenhe took a boat from Lee's Ferry tobelow Yuma!That evening I wrote Woolley'sgrandson another letter and clippedii to a copy of the Woolley story inDESERT. Having received no an-swer by Saturday, we drove to thegrandson's address in El Monte.Edwin Woolley was at work whenwe arrived, but his daughter, Dale,

ushered us into the house and hand-ed us the reply to my letter whichhad not yet been mailed. Dale thencalled her grandmother, Helen Boggs,

ELIAS B. WOOLLEY

who had married Bert, the youngestson of Elias.Mrs. Boggs filled in many gaps, butnot the important ones. She knew ofno family photos of Elias nor whathad happened to his effects at hisdeath. Elias had five children whowere now deceased, and none of thegrandchildren had ever seen theirgrandfather.We were referred to Mrs. GeorgePalmer, daughter of Will Woolley,who was the second son of Elias. Mrs.Palmer generously contributed what

information she had and providedthe only known picture of Eliaslor copying. This was a family groupof seven people.

Copies of the group photo wereshown to Arthur Sanger and BillReiser, the only living people knownto have seen Elias. Both men pickedhim out of the group without beingprompted, and the identificationphase was now closed.It appears that we will never knowwhether Elias B. Woolley wrote ajournal of his river trip. Apparentlyalso destined to remain unansweredis the question of where Woolleylearned the technique of runningrapids. / / /B y P . T . R E I L L Y

Ontnher. 1 fi?. / Desert Mnnnzine / 17


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P A L M SBy DESMOND MUIRHEAD

ABOUT THE A U T H O R -Desmond Muirhead, Phoenix resident, is alandscape architect and city plan ner. Some ofhis better-known landscape and site-planningprojects include Jasper Park Lodge in the Cana-dian Rockies, the aluminum town ofKitmat, B. C,Henry Kaiser's Hawaii Kai in the HawaiianIslands, and DelWebb's Sun City in Ar izona.Muirhead isauthor of the Dale Stuart King book,"Palms" (available by mail from Desert Maga-zine Bookstore for $1.95 (papercover) or $3.20(cloth) plus 15c forpostage-handl ing, 4% Cal i f,sales tax.)O F ALL thegreat trees that can begrown inthe warmer climates, there isnone torival the palm. Wherever yousee them, they completely dominate the

landscape. Especially is this true in theSouthwestern desert regions ofArizona andCalifornia.There are some 4000 palm species intheworld; most ofthem are native tothe trop-ics andsubtropics. A few are found inAustralia andAfrica, butmost are fromAsia and thewarmer regions of America.Two species, thedate palm andcoconut,wereand still arecornerstones of manycivilizations. The date, the Tree ofLife ofthe Bible, still helps feed millions ofpeoplein Arabia andIndia andother parts ofAsia andAfrica. The tall graceful coco-nut provides man with food, drink, clothingand building materials (how many plantscan dothat?); unfortunately, this wonder-

ful tree isnot hardy inArizona and Cali-fornia.Of the many types of palms which canbe grown in theSouthwest, most of thelandscape effects can beobtained byvar-ious arrangements of thefollowing four-teen types. There are twomain groups,those with feather-like foliage with a cen-tral mid-rib, like the date palm, and thosewith fan-like foliage like the California fanpalm.

1. California Fan Palm. Washingtonia fili-fera.This is thecharacteristic street tree ofPhoenix, and to a lesser extent to palm

grows in a few canyons and draws whereits roots can get water.This magnificent tree will reach 100 feetunder optimum conditions, but ismore of-ten 30 to60 feet when mature. As ayoungtree itwill grow up totwo feet ayear, butlater this will be reduced to less than afoot. The trunk isup tofour feet thick andwrinkled both horizontally andvertically.The tree isgood for atleast 100 years.Hardy enough to be grown in Globe,Las Vegas, and Nogales, it will withstandtemperatures down to10 degrees F. inth edesert, enjoying a rich, deep soil with am-ple water. Manure and other organic mat-te r is always appreciated. After planting,the leaves should betied upvertically aswith all palms toprotect the growing pointfrom the hot summer sun.The California Fan Palm, known as theFilifera in the trade, can be used as astreet tree, as a tree to line driveways, toedge properties inrows, or as a specimen.It even makes good groups. It can alsobegrown planted upright inopen groups withMexican FanPalms andCanary IslandDates.The California FanPalm does have adisease which attacks it inlate summera

fungus, Penicillium vermoeseni. The sym-toms are blanching and eventual death ofthe leaves. Although only a handful oftrees areattacked annually, three out offour trees can becured byapplication ofBordeaux mixture poured into thecrown.The California Fan Palm is easily prop-agated byseed sown inthe spring.

value of your home. Every tract houseshould grow at least a dozen Robustapalms!

Springs, although it is found throughoutthe desert regions. It is the only palm na-tive to Arizona andCalifornia where it

2. Mexican Fan Palm. Washingtonia ro-busta.This native of theMexican desert is atall palm up to 150 feet high with a slen-der trunk not usually more than a foot indiameter apd considerably less than this inold trees. It is almost impossible toover

water this tree if the drainage isgpod andif thesoil is supplied with ample quanti-ties of rotted manure. Under such condi-tions itwill grow four tosix feet a year.The head is very graceful on thebestforms, and the Mexican Fan Palm can beorganized into groups if thearrangerhassufficient flair. It also makes excellentclumps, lines and avenues.Rather less hardy than the CaliforniaFan Palm, theRobusta will take deserttemperatures down toabout 15degrees F.It seems tothrive ondry air and rjot sum-mers, since it does particularly well inPalm Springs, and is the characteristictree of the Palm Springs area.The Robusta is the, best-selling palm inthe desert regions where large trees canbe moved into people's gardens for$10 to$20 per foot of trunk , but small trees' costonly a few dollars and rapidly increase the

3. Canary Island Date. Phoenix canarien-sis.This is on e of themost widely grownpalms in California andArizona. It is amarvelous tree with a huge head of lus-trous dark green foliage up to IS feetin length, and a massive trunk reaching40 to60 feet eventually but growing slow-ly toabout 20 feet in25 years.In the same hardiness range as theWashingtonias, this palm will endure des-ert temperatures down toabout 12degreesF. Although itwill grow inpractically anysoil, neglected specimens are unrecogniz-able when compared with specimens grow-ing ingood soil with plenty of water.The fruits of theCanary Island Datesare orange and children eat them, but any-way they present a terrific sight against thedark green foliage. The trees areuncom-monly free from insects and disease.Old leaves have to bepruned from timeto time and should be cut hard back tothetrunk for the familiar diamond trim, other-wise little maintenance is necessary.The Canary Island Date can be used likethe ordinary date ingroups, lines avenues,or as single specimens. In California thismagnificent plant has been planted inrowsdown the streets ofwhole subdivisions, anidea which could betaken up in Arizonawith considerable benefits tothe landscape.

4. Date Palm.This fine palm has been increasinglyused over the last few years forlandscapework inthe desert asthe old groves' breakup . However, since it iseasily grown fromoffsets which may besevered with a largechisel from the parent tree, it is ideal forhome gardens.Home dates have the advantage thatonly the best varieties need beplanted. Incommerce the Deglet Noor isused almostexclusively and although it is a good dateit is fibrous and lacks the flavor of Med-jool, Kadrawi or Halawi. It also ripensearly and is often affected by thehumid

weather which we get in August.Medjool is a magnificent date whichmelts inyour mouth. It is twice as largeContinued onpage29

1 & / Hoeort Wnnrwino / dninUar 1QRO


19/40

THE WILLISPALMS OASISMUNITY OFTHOUSANDPALMS IN CALI-FORNIA'SCOACHELLAVALLEY. THEREARE SEVERAL

FILIFERA PALMAREA. IN THESAN JACINTO.PHOTO BY


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1912: HAMLIN'S FRANKLIN IS THE FIRST CAR OUT OF YUMAON THE SECOND LAP OF THE LONG GRIND TO PHOENIX

BY R A LP H H A M L I N WINNER

A LL MY early - day racing bi-cycle, motorcycle, speed boat,and automobi le was strictlyas an amateur . I enjoyed the thri l lof winning, but the most importantof all was the publicity ga ined forthe merchandise I was engaged inselling. In those days a win was agreat boost for sales, and as I was theSouthern California distributor forth e Franklin air-cooled car from 1905unt i l the manufacturers went bank-rup t in the Great Depression, I wasinterested in seeing that the Frank-lin was a winner . It was not easy tosell air-cooled cars. My competi tors ,al l of whom sold water-cooled ve-hicles, would tell my prospects thatif air-cooling was so good, the rest ofthe cars would be using it.

I entered any event that came a-long, and when the Los Angeles toPhoenix Desert Race was born Isaw it as a chance to put the Frank-lin and air-cooled motors on topprovided I could win.In 1908, John Purely Bullard, at-torney general of the Terr i tory ofArizona, was president of the Mari-copa Automobile Club, and a greatworker for good roads. He was agood friend of another road booster,John W. Mitchell , general managerof the Hol lenbeck Hote l in Los An-geles. These two men conceived thegreat race across the desert.Bullard sold the idea to the Ari-zona Republic, which promised todona te a perpe tual t rophy. Joh n

Mitchell then approached Leon T.Shettler, a fine sportsman and dis-t r ibutor of the Kissel Kar in theterritory. Shettler was immediatelyinterested and contacted ColonelFenner and Capta in Ryus , the W h i t eSteamer people in Los Angeles. Shet-tler and the White dealers had beentrying for some time to settle whichhad the fastest car. This race wouldprovide the answer.At a regular meeting of the direc-tors of the Los Angeles auto dealers,1 overheard these men ta lking overthe race and I asked how I couldget in. I well remember CaptainRyus saying that the air-cooledFranklin could not possibly cross thedesert . That s ta tement got unde r myskin.

22 / Desert Magazine / Ociober, 1962


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This article is reprinted bypermission from the H. H. Franklin Club'spublication, "Air Cooled News"

The first race was set for October,only two months away, but my entrywas accepted. Andrew J. Smith, theElmore distributor, entered thefourth car.

An interesting feature of the 1908race was that the entries providedfour distinct types of carsa Frank-lin air-cooled six cylinder: a Kisselwater-cooled four cylinder; an El-more water cooled two-cycle fourcylinder; and a White Steamer.My car was equipped with 36X3MJlires in front, and four-inch tires in

the rear mounted on quick detach-able rims. Extra equipment includedlour spare tires, block and tackle,strips of canvas to help get out ofdeep sand, two canvas water bags, afew spare parts, and a good supplyof tools. Guy Erwin was my mechan-ic. We had never seen any of thecourse beyond Banning, so Shettlerloaned me a guide who had coveredmost of the course. He sat on thefloor.The race started at midnight infront of the Hollenbeck Hotel. We

left at five minute intervals in ablaze of glory. Large crowds linedthe course through Pomona, Colton,ft.edlands Junction and Banning. Wemade good time until reaching thedesert at Whitewater. Through Palm

again in an hour. Up to this pointwe had not seen any of the othercars, for we had started last. In afew more miles we spotted the KisselKar stuck in the sand. We pulled outaround it, backed up and hooked ona rope. With the power of both carsand both crews we got them out.Harris Hanshue said to me, "Ralph,don't you know we are in a race?" Ianswered: "I may be in the same fixsome timeit's not so good to bestuck 200 miles from nowhere." Thislittle incident cemented a friendshipthat lasted as long as Hon lived.

As we approached the Palo Verdecountry, the trails came together. Ihad wondered where the Steamerwas getting its water in this country.I found out when we passed a largerag tied to a bush under which washidden a five-gallon can of water.Smaller rags warned of a bad wallopin the road.Leaving Blythe, there was a shortrun to the river and the overnightcontrol point, but darkness overtookus and we got lost. They were build-ing canals at that time, and no mat-ter which trail we took, it dead-end-ed at a canal. Our gas was gettinglow and we were forced to quit shortof reaching the control point. Wewere hopelessly out of -the race, bu tdecided it would be easier to con-

1912 LOS ANGELES - TO - PHOENIX CLASSICSprings and Indio the trail was fair-ly well defined, but rqugh and sandy.As we entered Indio, daylight wasjust appearing. The road from herefollowed through Mecca. Beyondthis town our trail led to Blythe andEhrenberg on the Colorado River.

From Mecca we skirted the northshore of the Sal ton Sea above theabandoned Southern 'Pacific tracks,;md in a short time met a junctionwhere the trails divided. Our guideadvised us to follow what he calledthe Chuckawalla Well Trail. He hadbeen over it. The other route was viaCorn Springs Trail.We soon entered a very steep can-yon with shelving rock. Here webroke a steering arm, but fortunate-ly had a spare. We were on our way

tinue on to Phoenix than to returnto Los Angeles.The finish was planned to be atthe Territorial Fairgrounds on aThursday afternoon. Ryus and Fen-ner in their White Steamer, "BlackBess," came in first, circled the track,received the ovation of the grand-stands, and were presented to theGovernor. Their winning time was30 hours and 20 minutes. I was last,and all I could do was look forwardto better things in 1909.That evening we gathered at theAdams Hotel for a banquet, The tro-phy was presented to the winners,

and then we retired to the LouvreBar next door where a custom wasestablished that was followed in allfuture races. The trophy was filled

and refilled with champagne untileveryone's thirst was quenched. Mostof us returned to Los Angeles bytrain, shipping our cars.

When 1909 came around, we putto good use the experience that hadbeen forced upon us the year before,and made our preparations withgreat care. Once again I drove aModel H Franklin, a newer modelthis time. This year my mechanic wasClayton Carris, an experienced manin desert travel.The course was through Yuma in

1909. We got off to a fine start andeverything went well until we hitand I do mean HIT Brawley. Idrove too fast over a railroad cross-ing and smashed the Franklin's dif-ferential housing. We had no hopeof continuing.That year 10 cars started, and fourfinished. One car, an Isotta, cameagonizingly close to being a fifth fin-isher, but went out of commissionwithin four miles of the finish andhad to be towed to Phoenix. Joe andLouis Nikrent in a Buick were thewinners with a time of 19 hours, 13minutes and 30 seconds.For the 1910 race we chose a 191140 horsepower, six cylinder Model H.After the first race, interest ran sohigh that a special train known asthe "Howdy Special" followed theraces. The train met the cars at thefirst night's control point, and thenagain at the finish where the HowdyBand performed and acted as escortfor the winner. The band becamevery popular.After spending the night in con-trol, the cars would take off again atintervals in accordance with theirtimes of entering control. The lastgap was about 200 miles.In our 1910 attempt we greatly im-proved our performance, finishingsecond just 32 minutes behind thewinning Kissel Kar driven by Har-vey Herrick in 15 hours, 44 minutes.Eleven out of the 14 starters finished.By 1911 interest was really runninghigh, and lots of money changedhands. I stated earlier that I alwaysraced as an amateur, but I was alwayswilling to bet on my own car. My


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customary bet was even money thatI could beat any other car. The ex-pense of preparing a car for this kindof event was considerable, and thefactory paid none of this cost. Myside bets helped quite a bit.This time (1911) we were drivinga 1912 Model H, and with Erwinagain in the left seat, we finishedsecond. Harvey Herrick repeated his1910 victory, but this time he drovea National. His time was 20 hoursand 22 minutes. The 1911 coursewas somewhat longer than in 1910,which accounts for the slower win-ning time. Ten out of 16 cars finish-ed.In 1912, with two good secondplaces to my credit, I decided it washigh time to quit the fooling aroundand win this race. This year I laidmy plans carefully, and at the startI was confident that only an acci-dent would prevent me from finish-ing first.I drove the same 40 horsepowersix-cylinder Franklin that I had runin the 1911 race. This was a car wellsuited for the work it had to do be-cause of its ability to make goodspeed steadily under the hardest driv-ing conditions.Before the race started that year,

I made a test run over the course.I let the car out over the bad places

A BO U T TH E A U TH O R Ralph Hamlin, now past 80, helped put the 20th Century onwheels. For more than three decadesstarting in 1905he soldcars (Hamlin is credited with innovating time-payment car buy-ing) in Los Angeles, where he still resides. In those early days,Hamlin recalls, car-selling had one hazard not known today: thedealer usually had to teach his customers how to drive. To boostsales, Hamlin raced his vehicles against all comersand cash-ed-in on the resulting publicity. By the early '20s, he had branch

offices in Pasadena, Hollywood and San Diego, in addition tothe original location on Flower Street in Los Angeles.

C A L I F O R N I ALOSANGELES COLTON REDLANDS

BANNINGWHITEWATERRANCH

PALMSPRINGSINDIO

PACIFIC

CHUCKAWALLAWELL

OCEAN


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to see what it could take. My experi-ence in previous years stood me ingood stead. The Franklin air-cooledmotor, full - elliptic springs, woodchassis, flexible construction, largetires, and light weight gave me theessentials to win.After my test run, I realisticallyfigured I could make the run in 18hours and 10 minutes. This wouldgive me a higher average mileage perhour than ever made before.

I won the 1912 race in 18 hours,10 minutes, and 22 seconds, and Iran every inch of the way on a fixedprogram.The start of the long desert grindwas staged at an hour before mid-night on Saturday, October 26, in thebusiness center of Los Angeles. Therewere 12 entries.We were lined up for the startingsignala dozen cars with snorting ex-hausts being held in leash by 12 im-patient drivers. Twenty-four beamsof light cut great round holes intothe night. Twelve restless mechani-cians nervously fumbled at the con-trols and pressure pumps. Before usstretched 511 miles of mountains,desert and streams.At 11:05 Eddie Maier slapped the

driver of the first car on the back,and the race was on. Seven other carsstarted before I got away at 11:45. Ofthe eight cars that were ahead of me,two were driven by men experiencedin the desert race: Bramlette in aCadillac, and Louis Nikrent in aBuickthe same car he had drivenin 1911. Soules, also in a Cadillac,was another worthy contender. Hehad established a reputation for ac-cepting hazardous chances on therace track, and he was a figure to bereckoned with in the long, mad des-ert scramble.In the 307 miles from Los Angelesto Yuma, a long desert stretch beganafter leaving Banning, 100 miles fromthe start. The bigger, higher-power-ed cars would speed it up over thegood roads, but when they came tothe sand, the steady plugging of mylighter car would tell, and that waswhere I planned to overtake them.

The city officials were taking nochances on hazardous speeds withinthe city limits, and each car was es-corted to the county roads by motor-cycle officers. Crowds lined thesireets of the city, diminishing as wegot out to the rough streets of the out-

skirts, and appearing again in mul-titudes along the county roads wherewe began to hit up speed. Out on thiscounty highway some of the biggercars were reaching terrific speeds. MyFranklin was responding nobly tothe throttle and as we passed overthe good roads of Los Angeles Coun-ty we were hitting well over 65 milesper hour.

The crowds lining the highwaygrew thinner, and finally there wasnothing ahead but the glow of oursearchlights showing the road.My mechanic, Andrew Smith, wasbusy with the big searchlight keep-ing every twist and turn in the roadlighted for 200 yards ahead. The clockwhich I was going to use to gauge

my running time stopped after 15minutes, and I was compelled to re-ly on shouted answers from specta-tors in the towns through which wepassed to tell me whether or not Iwas on schedule.We made the 33 miles to Pomonain 41 minutes. Good time. Just be-yond Ontario we met the first andonly bad accident in the race. Smithyelled that it was the Buick drivenby Nikrent. The car was a twistedmass of broken steel. We barelyavoided colliding with the overturn-

ed car, and afterward learned thatBigelow in his flying Mercedes hadrun into the peril.There was nothing that we couldd o , so we kept up our speed un-diminished. Nikrent's accident hadeliminated two of the eight carsahead of me, and I was now out toovertake the other six. I could see thegleam from the lights of one of them.I gave the Franklin a little more gas,and soon there were only five cars tocatch.We sped into Colton at one o'clock.We had been on the road only anhour and a quarter, and it seemed asif we had hardly begun the race.A few miles out of Banning wepassed the 32-horsepower Hupmobiledriven by Leonard Jones. He wasmaking a noble fight, but we flashedby him. Smith shouted: "Only fourahead of us now."A short time later we overtook thefirst Cadillac to start. That the othershad distanced this car told us that

they were making terrific speeds overthe roads that were now becomingmere trails. But the 40-minute gainthat we had made on the first car to

t r a v e l t h ed i f f e r e n t w o r l d of

i s F a l l S p l e n d o rI f y o u l ik e v ib r a n t a u t u m n c o l o r s , y o u ' l ll o v e U t a h ' s c o l o r f u l c a n y o n s in t h e i r c r i s pF a l l g l o r y . B r i n g c a m e r a or c a n v a s andc a p t u r e t h e r a p t u r e of U t a h 's c o l o r s e a s o n .

i s S p o r t s L a n dI f y o u l i k e t h e t h r i l l of t h e o u t d o o r s , y o u ' l llo v e U t a h w h e r e s p o r ts m e n r e t u r n fo r s u c -c e s s f u l h u n t s y e a r a f t e r y e a r . J o i n t h e mt h i s y e a r ! G e n e r a l d e e r s e a s o n : O c t o b e r 20t o 3 0 ; s p e c i a l h u n t s s t a r t S e p t e m b e r 1.

i s M o r m o n C o u n t r yI f y o u l i k e p i o n e e r h i s t o r y , y o u ' l l l o v eU t a h w i t h it s t r a c e s of the m o u n t a in m e n ,t h e D o n n e r P a r ty , a n d th e M o r m o n S e t t l e r so n the s t o r i e d t r a i l s of U t a h .

W r i t e t o d a yf o r d e t a i l so n e x c i t i n g F a l lt r a v e l a n d h u n t s .

U T A H T O U R IS T & P U B L I C I T Y C O U N C I LD e p t . 1 1 6 , U t a h S t a t e C a p i t o lS a l t L a k e C i t y , U t a hN a m eA d d r e s sC i t y S t a t e


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start also told us that we were crawl-ing up on the leaders.The three cars ahead of us werereduced to two in the sands betweenWhitewater and Palm Springs. Wepassed Bramlette in the second Cadil-lac. Only two to go nowthe Cadillacdriven by Soules, and Faulkner inthe Simplex. I knew the kind of raceboth of these men would drive, and

they were taking advantage of everyinch of the road.At Indio we lost eight minuteswhen we threw a t ire. This was theonly t ime during the race that wehad to stop outside of the checkingplaces and the eight minutes seemedlike eight hours.Coming into Coachella, the secondchecking place, the roads grew better,and here only a few minutes separat-ed us from the two leading cars. Day-light began to break in the east.Mecca, the next town we passed,had been catalogued as the end ofthings desirable. Ahead lay the desertof the Salton Basin.Twenty miles southeast of Meccawe saw a cloud of dust ahead. It wasFaulkner and the Simplex, with agood lead that I would have to workhard to overcome. The Simplex wasmaking remarkable t ime.The sun was climbing higher, andit was no longer necessary to use the

searchlight. Smith sank back into hisseat for a few minutes' rest, tempo-rari ly exhausted from the constantstrain of keeping the light on thePREHISTORIC ROCK ART OF NEVADAA N D E AS TE RN C A L I F O R N I A Robert F. Heizer and Martin A. BaumhoffAn analysis of the rock art of prehi; toric Ind ians occu-pying the western part of the Gnat Basin of NorthAm erica. Included are the petroglyphs (figures or sym-bols pecked, scratched, or carved into the surface of arock or boulder) and pictographs (designs painted on

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road, and working the gasoline pres-su r e pump.In Brawley, 200 miles from home,the race became neck and neck. Theentire population was out to greet usand there were loud bursts of cheersas we passed through.The dreaded Mammoth Wash layahead, and i t was here that I plannedto overtake the heavy cars ahead of

me. The easy-riding of our light carwas begin nin g to m ake itself feltover the rough trails and deep sand.In Mammoth Wash i t was dig, dig,dig and plow, plow, plow through themiles of sand, and here we passed theSimplex. Teams of horses were stand-ing by to haul the autos out of dif-ficulty, but we had no use for them.Only twice did Smith jump out ofthe Franklin and get busy with hisshovel as we struggled through asand pit .One gets an intimate feeling driv-ing a car through a test like this, andI began to feel that the motor infront of me was almost human andseemed to know the effort that itwould have to make before it reach-ed its goal, and was putting outevery ounce of strength to do it.My Franklin was doing all that Iknew it could do; never was there acar that could stand so much abuseor do such consistent work. Deepsand, rough trailsthese became nomore difficult than smooth roadas

we sped eastward.When we reached the Southern Pa-cific track at Mammoth Station, wewere ahead in running t ime, al-though in position, Soules in theCadillac was still in the lead.The roads were in fairly good con-dit ion from Mammoth to the Color-ado River, and we were making ex-ceptional time. I knew that it wasonly necessary to hold our pace tocome out on topand that was all Iwanted. I was not trying any stunts

or accepting unnecessary hazards.An old boat manned by Indiansand forgotten white men ferried usacross the river, and the first lap ofthe race was over. We had a 15-min-ute running t ime lead over Soules.The Franklin was in perfect condi-t ion.They said that we were exhaustedwhen we arrived in Yuma, and I pre-sume that expresses it. We had runthrough sandstorms that had cut ourfaces terribly. The constant strain ofwatching the road in the dark, thewind in our faces, and the intensecold that had marked the early partof the race had left us blood-shot andhaggard. But we were impatient for


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. - - . - . . - . . -

O N THE " R O A D " JU S T O U T S I D E Y U M A

F O R D I N G THE AGUA FRIA R IVER

G A S S I N G -U P . . . 3 0 G A L L O N S IN 30 SECONDS

THi: " H O W D Y B A N D " W E L C OM E S W I N N E R H A M L I N

the resumption of the race on Mon-day morning. I would start fromYuma 15 minutes ahead of the others,and I did not propose to lose thatlead.Our cars were in the control pointat Yuma from noon Sunday to day-break Monday. This was the mostdiscouraging period in the race, for

telegrams were flooding us with badnews ahead: "Mountain streams ofmiddle Arizona are raging . . . Allroad connections cut off . . .ManyPhoenix-bound autos stalled . . . Onelarge car abandoned in mid-stream atKirkland Creek . . . Hassayampa Riv-er Impassable . . . No ferry available. . . No bridge for a distance of 50miles of couise . . ."The next morningdetermined topush through to Phoenix regardlessof conditions aheadwe sped out ofYuma with our 15 minute lead.Through Middle Wells, Dome andCastle Dome we raced. At Agua Cali-ente and Buckeye we hit road condi-tions favorable to our vehicle, andour lead increased. But, a flood ofwater was crowding the banks of theHassayampa River, and it looked fora moment as if we would be stoppedby nature. The water was two feetdeep and rushing in torrents. We

plunged into the river and plowedthrough to the opposite bank.At Agua Fria River we were facedwith more flood difficulties. A rail-road bridge across the swollen riverwas tempting, but there was a pro-hibition against running railroadtracks in this race. I stopped themotor, wrapped the magneto with arubber cover, and with the aid offour good horses managed to crosssafely, losing only a few minutes.From the Agua Fria, driving con-ditions grew better. Here we had a20-minute lead, and only Soules inthe Cadillac was within reach.The Franklin's motor was workingto perfection. The race over the re-maining good roads settled down toa steady plug for speed, and then thetown of Phoenix hove into view. Wesped to the fairgrounds, circled thetrack and crossed the finish line. Ihad averaged 28.1 miles an hour forthe race1.5 miles an hour betterthan the best previous record. Soulesarrived 43 minutes and 43 seconds

later. Fred Fuller, driving a National,came in 50 minutes later.By this time the "Howdy" crowdfrom Los Angeles had me doing aprocession around the track on theirshoulders.This was the greatest win of allmy racing efforts. I cashed in all mybets!I did not ugain enter the DesertRace, but to add some final statistics,the 1913 race was won by Olin Davisin a Locomobile in 18 hours and 50minutes. Twenty-seven tried thatyear, only eight finished. The lastrace was held in 1914 and was wonby Barney Oldfield in 23 hours and1 minute, driving a Stutz. / / /

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Humboldt StarWINNEMUCCA, NEVADA

i HICKORY FARMS OF OHIOII BEEF STICK""No Pepper""No Garlic""No Vinegar""No Pork" FOR SPORTSMEN

A MUST for Fishing, Hunting,Camping, Picnics, Boating, Pack-ing T r ips Because of its longlasting freshnessw ill keep wi th -out refr igeration.Guarantee of Satisfactionand Safe Delivery

No Charge for Mailing100% Pure BeefHickory Farms of OhioWestern DivisionP. O. Box 3306, Van Nuys, Cal.Approx. 4 Ib, beef sticks are $5.98 ea. inc lud-ing all packing and ma ilin g. Send check ormoney order.

Please ship me Beef Sticks at $5.98 ea.New Customer Old CustomerTo :

"DON'T FORGET A FRIEND THIS XMAS"


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October is the month to put your desertyard and garden in order.

196210 Desert Magazine 1962 October

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Transcript of 196210 Desert Magazine 1962 October