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Death Valley from Dante's View. Photo by Truman D. Vencilcourtesy Las Vegas, Nevada, Chamber of Commerce.
DESERT SUNRISE
By
ETHELYN
M.
KINCHER
Meeker, ColoradoThe dawn unrolls the tapestry of day,A masterpiece, clean-woven by the HandThat wipes out night and puts the starsaway,Preparing sunrise on the desert land.Low in the east, the carols of color comeAnd rise in a crescendo to a songThat fills the desert heart, but leaves lips
dumb—
Even the winds are silenced, moment-long.Then, arched across the mesa, cliff and crest.The canopy of sky turns slowly blue,A ray of sun points to the waiting West.And once again the desert day is new.
DESERT SUNSET
By
KENNETH
W.
PAULI
Stanford, CaliforniaThe air in the canyon lay tiredAnd breathed hot on the crest of the rimWhen the sun—red-stained with dust,Dismounted, sank and grew dim.The stars were hardly a wisp;Thin was the mountain haze.The tumbleweed shadows were blueAs the smoke of a dying blaze.But deep in the West the heavens werebright,And something or someone up highSet spurs to a mount and rode trailTo the end of that blazing sky.Then branding the clouds with fireUpgathercd the straggling light,And slammed the corral gates shutIn the face of the galloping night.
SHADOW CLAN
By
ALICE BRILEY
Albuquerque, New MexicoAt dusk, the ancient gods returnTo walk their tribal paths once more.Filing forth from tented rocks.They dance upon this desert floor,Some stately, long-forgotten rite.At last, the twilight ritual done.Tall, the shadow chieftains standWith ceremonial robes drawn close.And lay themselves upon the sandBeneath a star's ancestral light.
TRANSITION
By
MILDRED BREEDLOVE
Las Vegas. NevadaThese many years I pitched my lonely tentUpon the desert's bare unfriendly sandAnd in a plantlcss world I paper-plannedA vivid southern garden where the scentOf lilacs would bewitch the passersby.A garden where the dews and morning mistsWould sprinkle pearls among the amethystsProviding nectar for
a
butterfly.The seasons came and went, though unper-ceived;And day on cloudless day wove magic spells;The soundless solitude of space retrievedThe heart I gave to trees and carpet-bells.No less colorful these hills no Spring hasleaved.And I've forgotten how a lilac smells.
DESERT WIND
By
PAUL WILHELM
Thousand Palms. CaliforniaSo let me live where I may hearThe silken whisper of the sand,The singing music of the sphere,The light-wing feet, the unseen handOf pressing winds that murmur nearThe pulsing spirit of this land!
As seen by Ted Huggins
and
RaymondMoulin at Dante's View
By
BESSIE BERG
Rio
Linda,
CaliforniaWhere in this sweeping vision does theunreal end.Reality begin'.' "The Path of Death" theycalled it;Sea of seething alkali—waves of heat thatsendTheir wash as if on ocean shore; image knitFrom dreams, where ocean is no more:strange beachWhere mortals never cooled parched feet;and only fitFor sprites of Hades: mirage shores thatreachTo the worn
talus of
the
Panamints
withsurgeOf surf-like
haze,
where wanderers mightbeseechThe desert all in vain for water, as theyurgeFailing spirits toward a shimmering, elusiveplace;An ever distant fantasy: until their dirgeIs sung by wind-driven sand, whose burningwaves eraseFootprints from this arid shore, leaving notrace.
BLIND MAK'TA
By
ELLA LOUISE HEATLEY
Long Beach, CaliforniaDaily sitting at his loom.Weaving, weaving;Intricate his work, his blindnessPast believing.Fingers, skill and memory—All combiningTo produce this masterpiece—His designing.Vigorous, past seventy,
Free,
wise, gritty,Younger men seek his advice(He scorns pity!)Happy, proud, he labors on.Never grieving.Daily sitting at his loomWeaving, weaving!• • •
DESERT PEACE
By
NESSIE
M.
KEMMER
San Diego, CaliforniaSomewhere there is a place,A place of wide and open space.With quail and coyote callsUnconfined in man made walls.Where whirring wings may mean a dove.Not warring jets that scream above.• • •
STRANGE WAYS
By
GRACE BARKER WILSON
Kirtland,
New MexicoThe desert ways are strange ways,Harsh, silent, and austere,Beneath
a
blazing sun by days,A thing for men to fear.The desert ways are strange waysWith magic luring far,Beneath a silver moon that staysTo light a vagrant star.The desert ways are strange ways.But those within its boundFeel all the world lies in the mazeThat circles it around.
DESERT MAGAZINE
 
DESERT CALENDAR
May
1 —
Annual Fiesta
and
SpringCorn Dance,
San
Felipe IndianPueblo,
New
Mexico.May
1-2—Turtle
Races
and
WesternParade, Joshua Tree, California.May
1-2—Southern
California SierraClub natural science outing
to
Joshua Tree National Monument,California.May
2 —
Annual Parker Regatta,Parker, Arizona.May
3 —
Ceremonial Races,
8:30-
10:00
a.m.,
Taos Pueblo,
New
Mexico.May
6 —
Public pilgrimages
to old
Spanish homes, Mesilla,
New Mex-
May 7-9—13th Annual Lone PineStampede, Lone Pine, California.May 8-23—28th Annual WildflowerShow, Julian, California.May 12-15—Junior Livestock Show,Spanish Fork, Utah.May 13-16—20th Annual Helldoradoand Rodeo,
Las
Vegas, Nevada.May
14-15 —
Procession
and
Bless-ing
of
Fields,
San
Ysidro Chapelnear
Los
Cordovas,
New
Mexico.May 15-16—Annual Grubstake Days,Yucca Valley, California.May
16 —
Quarter horse show,
So-
noita, Arizona.May 21-23—Calico Days, sponsoredby Yermo Chamber
of
Commerceat Calico Ghost Town, California.May 26-29—Elks Rodeo, Carlsbad,New Mexico.May 27-28—Annual Livestock Show,Vernal, Utah.May 29-30—Fiesta
of San
Felipe
de
Neri, Albuquerque,
New
Mexico.May 29-3 I
—
Desert Peaks Section,Southern California Sierra Clubclimb
of
Glass Mountain, singlepeak which rises
out of the
desertbetween
the
White Mountains
and
the High Sierra.
Volume
17
MAY,
1954
Number
5
COVERPOETRYCALENDARPHOTOGRAPHYGHOST TOWNWATERWILDFLOWERSINDIANSEXPLORATIONCONTESTNATUREEXPERIENCELOST MINEDESERT QUIZWILDLIFEMININGLETTERSCLOSE-UPSNEWSFICTIONLAPIDARYHOBBYCOMMENTBOOKS
Saguaro Blossoms by HUBERT A. LOWMAN ofCovina, California. This giant cactus pro-duces creamy white blossoms generally latein May. It is the Arizona state flower.Death Valley Panorama, and other desert poems 2May events on the desert 3Pictures of the Month 4Nevada Ghost Town Where the School BellStill Rings, by NELL MURBARGER .... 5Forecasts for Colorado, Rio Grande River basins 9Predictions of May blossoming 10Raphael's Last Deer DanceBy CHARLES GALLENKAMP 11We Climbed an Old VolcanoBy RANDALL HENDERSON 15Announcement for Photographers 18On Desert Trails with a Naturalist—II: Exploringthe Kelso Dunes, by EDMUND C. JAEGER . 19Life on the Desert, by ELLA BRISON JOY . . 21Search for the Lost Pegleg Mine—1884By HENRY WINFIELD SPLITTER .... 22A True-False test of your desert knowledge . . 24A new Desert contest for writers 25Current news of desert mines 26Comment from Desert's readers 27About those who write for Desert 28From Flere and There on the Desert 29Hard Rock Shorty of Death Valley 29Amateur Gem Cutter, by LELANDE QUICK . . 34Gems and Minerals 35Just Between You and Me, by the Editor ... 42Reviews of Southwestern literature 43
The Desert Magazine
is
published monthly
by the
Desert Press,
Inc.,
Palm Desert,California. Re-entered
as
second class matter July
17, 1948, at the
postoffice
at
Palm Desert,California, under
the Act of
March
3, 1S79.
Title registered
No.
358865
in U. S.
Patent Office,and contents copyrighted
1954 by the
Desert Press,
Inc.
Permission
to
reproduce contentsmust
be
secured from
the
editor
in
writing.MARGARET GERKE, Associate EditorEVONNE RIDDELL, Circulation Manager
SUBSCRIPTION RATESOne Year $3.50
Two
Years SB.00Canadian Subscriptions
25c
Extra, Foreign
50c
Extra
Subscriptions
to
Army Personnel Outside
U. S. A.
Must
Be
Mailed
in
Conformity With
P.
0.
D.
Order
No.
19687
Address Correspondence
to
Desert Magazine, Palm Desert, California
MAY,
1954
of 00

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