196109 Desert Magazine 1961 September

September

1961

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DESERT MAGAZINE

PALM DESERT, CALIFORNIA

LETTERS

FROM OUR READERS

Special Nevada Issue . . .

To the Editor: . . .

my interest in Nevadahas always been sort of bland (being sucha devotee of the deep Southwest), but yourcoverage in the special July issue stimulatesa change of attitude for me and likely formany others. This issue is in the "Collec-

tors'

Class."DON BLOODGOODSan Francisco

To the Editor:

... I hope you sell a millioncopies.BYRD SAWYERSparks, Nev.

To the Editor:

I want to congratulate youon the Nevada issue. I was born in Aurorain 1878, and was one of the original locatorsof Rawhide. The 1908 photo of Rawhidethat appeared in

Desert Magazine

showsmonuments atop Hooligan Hill of the"Happy Day" and "Happy Hooligan" claimsthat I located in February, 1907.CHARLES A. McLEODYerington, Nev.

To the Editor:

I was happy to note thatauthor Nell Murbarger has made a mostwelcome re-appearance in your pages. Al-most everything that she says about theSilver State in her article, "My Nevada,"could be applied to the Southwest in general.She did a superb job.LEE MYERSCarlsbad, New Mexico

To the Editor:

After seeing your July issue,I know that 1962 calls for an extensive tourof the Silver State. I believe the issue per-fectly fascinating . . .JOHN R. RAINWATERAlbuquerque

Unbalanced Nature . . .

To the Editor:

Together with the manyother delightful stories in

Desert Magazine,

I do enjoy the articles on wildlife byEdmund Jaeger. But I wonder if Dr. Jaegerreally believes "that nature achieves what,from the standpoint of man, could be calleda desirable balance"?If the desirable creatures become exter-minated, while the undesirable multiply;what kind of a "balance" is that? In otherwords, when nature causes creatures to gob-ble each other, some species decrease whileothers become plentiful. I don't call thata "balance."If fate left all the checks and balancesto nature, disease germs could win, andexterminate all the people; a "survival ofthe fittest," a victory for the disease germs.The same if the insects win a victoryover the struggling plants and exterminatethem. Hurrah for the "fitness" of the bugs!Nature is chaos. The beautiful and whatis beneficial to man is just as much of anaccident as are the roaches and poisonoussnakes.Evidently, man is not physically able tocontrol nature, and it is understandable whysome men should admire and love someof the things that nature has accidentallyproduced; but I can't see why man mustadmire the rest of the chaotic mess whichis nature also.The struggling creatures exist in a blood-thirsty battlefield—but there is no teleologyat work in the process, and no certainty ofwhat the outcome will be. Is such a resulta "balance"?MINA I. LEWISHaverhill, Mass.

The Terrible Winter . . .

To the Editor:

Having come to Navajolandin 1923, you can well imagine the interestwith which I have read Laura Adams Arm-er's articles in

Desert Magazine.

Her story,"The Big Snow," in the April issue, broughtpoignant memories of that winter of 1931-

32.

It all began on the night of November21 with a foot of snow. That same snowlay on the ground for over a hundred days,or until the first thaw early the followingMarch. We had below-zero temperaturesthroughout this period. To the north, wherethe elevation ranges up to 7500 feet, thesnow lay 20-inches deep. The feeding groundfor sheep and ponies was simply buriedbeyond reach.It was only through the heroic efforts ofmen, women and children that some of thesheep were saved. Branches were cut fromstunted pinyon and cedar trees for the sheepto feed upon. Snow was carried into thehogans in blankets and melted in bucketsand pans that the stock might drink. Inspite of the superhuman efforts put forth,the losses were appalling. Our very dearfriend, Lorenzo Hubbell, told me that heestimated the Navajos lost a quarter of amillion sheep, besides thousands of poniesthat winter.Word began filtering down out of thehigh country of near disaster, when at longlast two small Caterpillar 20 tractors wereordered to Oraibi with all speed possiblefrom the nearest agency. I had spent daysin the saddle doing what little I could forour people. Now, on a sub-zero morningin early February, I joined the caravan ofmercy being assembled at Oraibi.The two Cats pushed on ahead, openinga road in the snow toward Pinyon 35 milesto the northeast. Loaded trucks and horse-drawn wagons followed. Along the way,Navajos filtered down out of the brush fromthe mesas to watch the

chidi na nais

("crawling automobile") go by.By night we had made some 20 miles.Camp was set-up near a big hogan.Now planes were out from March Field,California, dropping food for those snow-bound in remote areas. One of the planesspotted our camp and spilled its load ofgroceries in the deep snow nearby.The night was bitter cold, with the tem-perature well below zero. Next morningcrank case oils were frozen

stiff,

so fireswere built under the pans. A faulty gas2 / Desert Magazine / September, 1961

line on one of the trucks caught fire andthe men fought the blaze without success.The order was given to unload the truck,but not being able to reconcile such a loss,and thinking this a good time to demon-strate that a missionary could do somethingbesides preach, I snatched a shovel fromthe hands of one of the men and simplyburied the motor under snow. The fire wasout but much serious damage had been

done.

We all figured that this motor wasthrough, short of a major overhaul.It was long after nightfall of this secondday when we reached Hubbell's tradingpost at Pinyon, with the cold piercing tothe very marrow of our bones. To ourgreat surprise and admiration, the truckwhich had been through the fire early that

morning,

came limping into Pinyon withits Indian driver a couple of hours behindour caravan. That night we slept in ourbags on the floor around the big stove inthe center of the trading post shown onpage 19 in the April

Desert Magazine.

The point of my letter is this: I wasspending all my time with my people inthose days. But in spite of the terrific

losses,

which they could in no wise afford,I heard not one single word of complaintfrom the Navajos. They accepted theirlosses stoically, calmly, philosophically.They simply tightened their belts and car-ried on from there.Do you not see why I have given thebest years of my life to this noble people,and why, during all those years, I wouldnot have traded places with any man onthis earth?BERLYN H. STOKELYNavajo Gospel Mission

Oraibi,

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Magazine

of

the

Outdoor Southwest

Volume24

Contents

for

September 1961

Number

COVER PHOTO:

The Southwest's important—and eye-pleasing—chiliharvest season begins in September. Cover photograph byWestern Ways Features of Tucson shows field hands spreadingthe freshly-picked chilis out to dry. After curing under the desertsun, these bright peppers will be ground into chili powder. Thefull story begins on page 11.

7 FIELD TRIP:

Popular Gem Trails in Western Arizona

GLENN VARGAS

11 AGRICULTURE:

The Desertland's Colorful Crop: Chili Peppers

MARGARET CANNING

14

ART:

Eastern Artist Henry Mockel Settles on the Mojave

16 NATURE:

The Tea That Grows Wild on the Desert

EDMUND JAEGER

18 CRAFTS:

The Indian Applied Arts Business

EUGENE L. CONROTTO

22 NEW BOOK:

Refreshing Photos of Death Valley Scotty

TOM G. MURRAY

26 HISTORY:

James Townsend—Mining Camp Journalist

HOWARD K. LINDER

34 TEST DRIVE:

Japan's New Four-Wheel-Drive "Toyota"

LEE OERTLE

42 PETS:

Our Friend Hairy, The Tarantula

TOMMY THOMAS

OTHER FEATURES:

Readers' Letters __ 2California Travel 4Southwest Calendar 6Poem of the Month 6Classified Ads 32Hare' Rock Shorty 38Arizona Travel _ 38New Desertland Books 40Utah Travel 25 Editorial-42

The Desert Magazine, founded in 1937 by Randall Henderson, is published monthlyby Desert Magazine, Inc., Palm Desert, California. Re-entered as second classmatter July 17, 1948, at the postoffice at Palm Desert, California, under the Actof March 3, 1879. Title registered No. 358865 in U.S. Patent Office, and contentscopyrighted 1961 by Desert Magazine, Inc. Permission to reproduce contents mustbe secured from the editor in writing.Unsolicited manuscripts andphotographs submitted can-not be returned or acknowl-edged unless full returnpostage is enclosed. DesertMagazine assumes no re-sponsibility for damage orloss of manuscripts or pho-tographs although due carewill be exercised. Subscribersshould send notice of changeof address by the first ofthe month preceding issue.

CHARLES E. SHELTON

Publisher

EUGENE L. CONROTTO

Editor

EVONNE RIDDELL

Circulation ManagerAddress all editorial andcirculation correspondence toDesert Magazine, Palm Des-ert, California.Address all advertisingcorrespondence to Aaron D

Viller,

8217 Beverly Blvd.,Los Angeles 48,

Calif.

PhoneOL

1-2225.

"You won't believe this, but we've been knocked out by missiles!"

September, 1961 / Desert Magazine / 3