STEAMBOAT WATERING STATION . . . I THINK IT UNLIKELY

This tower is on the California side of the Colorado River about forty miles south of Blythe. When I first saw it, people who should know explained it was the site of the old federal steamboat watering station. No one has ever explained, however, why any steamboat would need a station to load water that was free for the taking from the river it was floating on. There was a large mine about a quarter mile from the tower. It's my belief the tower was associated with the mine, and had nothing to do with supplying steamboats. In fact, I think it's likely the tower was where supplies for the mine and ore from the mine were unloaded and loaded from and to the riverboats. There is no record I've been able to find indicating the federal government had any kind of a permanent facility on the river between Blythe and Yuma.

RUINS OF THE QUESTIONABLE STEAMBOAT WATERING STATION

Above are the ruins of a building adjacent to the tower in the previous phototgraph, and obviously associated with it. As you can see, only the foundations remain. When I first saw it, there were burned timbers and quite a bit of charcol scattered about. The building had evidently burned many years ago. When I revisited the site about three years later most indications of the fire were gone. The top of the tower can be seen at the rear left of the foundations.

SOMEBODY'S HOME . . . ONCE UPON A TIME

Old shacks are also found throughout the desert surrounding the Palo Verde Valley. Miners, prospectors, eccentrics, or sometimes just plain hermits were prone to find a spot within a short walk to drinking water, and set up housekeeping. Above is such a dwelling. It's hand made, and when I first found it, there was a propane stove, and a few pieces of primitive furniture inside. There was no indication as to who once occupied it, or what happened to the occupant. Throughout subsequent revisits, first the furniture, then the stove vanished. Today only the bare hut remains. It's about thirty-five miles downriver from Blythe on the California side. The hut's close to, but not visible from, the Colorado River.

CONSTRUCTION DETAIL

This is a closeup of the construction used in the shack shown in the previous photograph. Native materials were used exclusively. No nails or screws were employed. Everything was fitted with masonry, and occasionally tied together. The hut is so carefully blended into the hill behind it that a person could walk down the hill and stand on its roof completely unaware of the hut below. In fact, that's exactly what I did the first time I found it.

CAUTION! ABANDONED MINE

Other things we have lots of, especially along the Colorado River, include abandoned mines. The picture above was taken at such a minesite. The mine was worked until the ore ran out, and it was then abandoned. The operators simply walked away from all that expensive machinery and vehicles leaving all to gradually rot and rust away. From the vehicles left at this site, it was abandoned during the late 1930s. There were several vertical shafts at this mine. Some were hundreds of feet deep. Someone, presumably the operators of the mine, had laid wall board across the open shafts. Through the years a thin layer of mud and vegetation accumulated on the wallboard. The board began to disintegrate leaving about an inch of dried mud covering the vertical shaft below. One must be very careful, and use a stick to poke the ground where one walks or a fatal fall could result. The mine's many miles from civilization, and chances are a body would never be found at the bottom of such a shaft. This mine is about a fifty mile canoe trip from Blythe on the California side of the river. If one paddles steadily, it takes most of a day to get there.

SANDSTONE PETROGLYPHS

There are many Native American petroglyphs in the Blythe area. Almost all are on hard rocks. The surfaces' designs are scratched a millimeter or two into the rock. The petroglyph above is not like that. Sandstone is a very soft rock, and these designs are carved deeply into the surface. The result, when new, is very easily seen, but erodes much more rapidly than those on harder rocks. The design above appear mostly anthropomorphic. They pretty much cover the entire face of the rock, though many are nearly worn off. These petroglyphs are not as well known as some, but are much closer to the Palo Verde Valley than their better known rivals.

A CROSS & PENNANTS

I've been told this sandstone petroglyph is unique. It's the only petroglyph depicting this type of cross. It's eroded, but not nearly to the extent of petroglyphs on other nearby stones. Does that indicate the above image is more recent? Probably. Also next to the cross are what look like two pennants such as those flown from ships. For those reasons we've been speculating this petroglyph might be of Spanish origin rather than Native American. What do you think? I believe this petroglyph and those on the previous page are the only examples, in the area, of this type of rock art imaging crosses.

HERE, BY THE RIVER HE LOVED, LIES . . . ?

Life can be very difficult today in our desert. One can only imagine how miserable it was a century ago. A consequence of that difficulty is that sometimes people died. Our desert has many graves, and finding them is not unusual. Because of our dry climate, even a simple wooden marker can survive many years. The picture above shows such a marker. It indicates the deceased was born in 1906 and passed away in 1954, and that he had grown to love that part of the Colorado River. Ironically perhaps, the name has been worn off. When I returned to the site several years later, the marker was gone.

CREVICE

This apparently small crevice is several hundred yards in length. At its west end, warm moist air is continually expelled, and can be easily felt by simply placing a hand over the orifice. A stone dropped into the crevice cannot be heard to hit bottom. It's about twenty yards from a blowhole from which a stream of hot air is also continually blown. Is there a batholith under the desert surrounding the Palo Verde Valley?

FLINT KINFE & POTTERY SHARDS

The Palo Verde Valley was once home to many Native American Trails that crossed the valley on an east west axis. The remnants of those trails are still easily visible in the desert west of Blythe. If one follows those trails until an old waterhole is found, there is almost always pottery shards in the area. They're rarely larger than the nail on your little finger, most are even smaller. The image above is of larger shards held in the discoverer's left hand. In the right hand is a much rarer find. This is a carefully worked flint knife left on the desert floor centuries ago. Both shards and knife were found near a dry water hole north of Blythe.

PAINTED POTTERY SHARDS

Rarer and very difficult to find are painted Native American pottery shards. Click on the above image to observe the paintings on the shards being held by the discoverer. Pottery shards are found nearly every time we go into the deserts surrounding Blythe. After they're found and photographed, they are returned to the desert floor where they were discovered. If you should actually follow the footsteps of the early Native Americans that once inhabited our deserts, I urge you also to experience the thrill of discovery. Then please return your artifacts to the deserts that have been their home for centuries.

THE FOUR FOOT WIDE CANYON

This erosion feature is a small canyon about four feet wide, and in some places less. I followed it about a quarter mile. It appeared to be about twenty feet deep. In most places I could touch both canyon walls while standing in its center. The floor is very sandy with a lot of decomposed rock. It's actually a box canyon, ending several hundred yards beyond where I decided to stop following it. This little canyon is south of the little village of Palo Verde, just outside the Palo Verde Valley.

NATIVE AMERICAN GRINDING HOLE

The Native Americans inhabiting our area were hunter gatherers originally, but as time passed they developed agrarian societies. They would grind their grain with a rock pestle in grinding holes such as the one above. This is perhaps the best example in the local area. If you click on the image several depressions are apparent adjacent to it that are the start of other grinding holes. There are many such holes in the deserts surrounding Blythe and the Palo Verde Valley, though few as well defined as the one above.

BULLET RIDDLED SIGN

I'm not too sure what this represents other than just plain irony. The Department of Interior urges the presevation of Native American artifacts in the immediate area. Vandals have riddled the sign with bullet holes. I don't know what it means. Perhaps a disrespect for our deserts, their history, and themselves are indicated. I don't even know why I'm including it on this website, except it makes me very angry.

SPIDER?

Please click on the image. This remarkable petroglyph appears to depict a spider, but with only six legs. All spiders have eight. It's carved into sandstone, and on the same small rock there are several other abstract designs not visible in the image above. It's about thirty miles south of Blythe. In my opinion it's one of the best preserved examples of sandstone petroglyphs.

RANDY PYLE'S BURIAL SITE

Randy Pyle rests in a beautiful albeit desolate site overlooking a scenic desert valley. It's between the Palo Verde Valley and the Mule Mountains, but no roads are anywhere near it. It's very unusual in that the welded iron marker states Randy passed away in 2004. No details are given. It's the most recent grave, I'm aware of, in the deserts surrounding Blythe. If you click on the picture, you can barely discern the mountains southwest of the Coachella Valley, about 125 miles distant, peeking through the haze, over the horizon.