New – Romantic Heritage of the Mojave River Valley
http://mojavedesert.net/books/mojave-river-valley/
New – Romantic Heritage of the Upper Mojave Desert
http://mojavedesert.net/books/upper-mojave/
Update – Ridgecrest, Ca.
http://digital-desert.com/ridgecrest-ca/
Update – Mormon Rocks (Cajon Pass)
http://digital-desert.com/mormon-rocks/
Update – Barstow, Ca.
http://digital-desert.com/barstow-ca/
Update to cream cup in the wildflower guide:
Cream cups
Flowering early-late spring. Open, grassy areas with loose or disturbed soil or following burns; 0-1000(-2000) m; Ariz., Calif., Nev., Oreg., Utah; Mexico (Baja California). …
Updated Moorehouse Talc Mine near Ibex Springs, Death Valley National Park..
Ashford Mill – Death Valley
In 1910, Harold Ashford began work in the former claims of the Keys Gold Mining Company. In the mountains to the east Ashford and his brother worked the mine for four years without striking results. They leased the mine to B.W McClausland and his son Ross which led to the …
Ashford Mill – Death Valley
I had a year to prepare but didn’t take advantage of it–Google changed the way the interface to their maps worked. No big deal though–there are plenty of examples for me to work from now, so it is just a matter for changing the code. Time consuming at the worst.
New Pages to Digital-Desert.com
Updates to MojaveDesert.Net
There are quite a few more changes in progress and somewhat hidden from view. I’ll post them as soon as they are ready.
Both pages in this update are out of the Mojave, but were essential to the Mojave as destinations and bases of operation.
Mission San Gabriel
San Gabriel Mission
The mission was the destination for early explorers, trappers, and traders to southern California.
San Bernardino, California
San Bernardino, California as seen from the San Bernardino mountain range
Initially starting as an “Astencia” or outpost to the San Gabriel mission, Mormons purchased the land from The Lugo brothers and turned it into a stronghold and ultimately into the gateway to southern California.
Quite a pretty bird, one I had probably seen before, but never really paid attention to. These were in the Saline Valley, one of the most remote and difficult-to-access locations in Death Valley National Park. These birds stand out to me now because someone I talked to said that these birds wandered in during a wet spring and never left; that it was too far to the next body of water that was livable for them, and ultimately, they just began to live here throughout the year. I know better now, however, there is no sense in throwing a good story like that away.
I’ve heard that Jim McHaney got Charlie Martin to get a man named James to sign over the Desert Queen Mine before Charlie shot and killed him. Charlie went on trial for the murder, but got off on self-defense. Charlie also was pals with the San Bernardino County Sheriff so that may have helped, and it may have helped Charlie Martin become the Chief of Police in San Bernardino once Charlie decided to settle down. However, that had nothing to do with Jim McHaney and his band of rustlers, thieves and killers running the Desert Queen into the ground after spending the investors’ money. McHaney ended up using the gold from the mine to counterfeit twenty dollar gold pieces, which after he got caught and sent to prison where he either died there or ended up sweeping streets in Riverside until he did die. Whoever did own the mine after McHaney lost it didn’t pay Bill Keys for working it, and Keys took over the claim for back wages. There was about four million of today’s dollars total in gold that came out of the mine over the 60-70 years that it was in operation. At least that’s what I heard.
The Desert Queen Mine
Somehow I got off track from the food web and started working on my bird section. It was in need of updating for sure, so I spent sometime bringing that up to speed. While I was there I decided to work on some of my favorites and see what I could do to improve the pages- Mostly just make the pictures larger.
Western Tanager
Summer Tanager
Vermilion Flycatcher
When I first moved to the Mojave Desert I found it funny to see these at the local lakes. I thought they had been shipped in to add ambiance to the park atmosphere. I was right–They do make it nice in the parks. But they came on their own.
Bird of the Day – Canada goose
As mentioned, I’ve seen these at the local park fishing lake. They certainly aren’t as obnoxious as the domestic white geese there. They will chase you though–and chase you and chase you and chase you. At least that’s what I seen happen to a little boy trying to bully one. I’ll bet that kid doesn’t do it again.
These geese, there were a Momma, Papa, and five or six little goslings on a tiny island made of rocks in the Colorado River. There was a nice backwater flow and I went around the island several times taking pictures. Mom and Dad were concerned but not aggressive . I kept my distance and admired the little family.
I think the strangest place I’ve ever seen geese was at Saratoga Springs at the extreme southern end of Death Valley. I certainly wasn’t expecting that. Now that I know more about these beautiful creatures it doesn’t seem so odd. They were probably just taking a break on their way south.
I finally found a graphic I could use for a page on a food pyramid. I probably could have made one faster, but it was a good excuse for it putting off for a few years. The food web is a little trickier. I’ll definitely be making my own illustration for that. I seen one where someone used one of my images and did a sloppy job of it. It is a same when someone steals your work and uses it as part of something that isn’t worth stealing back. I can do better. So I will. That will come in time though.
Links:
I’m certain that these updates do not appear to be all that complex. What is interesting is the updates that spring off of these. For instance, associated words such as:
There may be a couple more- but I know for sure that there are a couple that still need to be updated.
Going through these and adding photos has been a trip. The shots come from various times and places. In these updates I used all my own photos, and even though some sots were taken of caged animals, they are geographically accurate. That means I didn’t go to a zoo out of the area to get these photos. The cougars and sometimes coyotes may look fat and spoiled, and they may well be, however, the park or zoo is geographically located in the same general environment. There are some exceptions further into the site I can think of, but not now.
I should get back to work on the food web page. It needs a graphic and some relevant information.
I’ve been going through updating sections like popular pages in the glossary. I am hoping to get things uniform and reasonable to navigate.
The important thing with this update is that I’ll be blogging future updates here instead of continually editing and uploading a static page. Over the years it has become cumbersome and I tend to just let journal updates go. For now I’ve put a notice on the “Features” page redirecting to the “Updates” category here on the Desert Gazette.
The problem with the Socialist colony at Llano Del Rio was that it wasn’t by a Rio (river). It was during a wet year that the land was purchased and the wash coming out of Big Rock Creek was flowing with water. It didn’t take but a few years for them to realize that the dried-up desert plain they were living on wasn’t more than what it looked like, a dried-up desert plain. Certainly, there were other reasons the colony failed. Probably politics–individual, internal, external or otherwise. Ain’t it always like that though?
I was driving through the area yesterday in the morning. I had to go westward toward Palmdale for an appointment that was sure to take most of the day. There were road crews widening Highway 138 at the site of the ruins. This and that was barricaded and fenced off and dust and paving and whatnot. I had updated the web page I keep on the place a few days before and noticed I only had low-resolution photos I took in probably 1999. I thought it would be a good idea to stop on my way back and get some shots for a photo update.
My meeting went on about an hour longer than I anticipated and I was running late. The sunset light was great, golden, and a little harsh. I could have got some nice shots if I could avoid getting myself into the long shadows. I must admit, in some spots I drove a little fast, but I’d catch myself and mostly I drove safe. I like to think I’d rather get to where I’m going late, but alive rather than early and dead. Now I know the second half of that makes no sense, but when I think of it the word ‘dead’ is a keyword to me and I slow it down.
The sun had just slipped behind the mountain when I arrived. I grabbed the camera and tripod and hiked a hundred yards or so to the site of the ruins. There was some great ambient light going and I had probably about half an hour of shooting. When the sun slips behind the mountains as it does at this time of year it gives a false sunset. It stays light, but the shadows disappear. For me, the light was perfect. I couldn’t have timed it better.
I’ve been trying to eliminate my inconsistencies as a mapmaker and standardize various levels of my maps. One of the problems over the years has been finding uniform base maps that are okey-dokey to use. I think I’ve finally come up with something, at least for California, that I can work with. The less symbols the easier. I’ve decided to try working with the Owens Valley as one of my first vicinity map areas. So far I am pleased with the result.
I believe the title may not make sense. Good.
A few of these shots in this update were taken on the way to Pahrump, Nevada, the first time Bob Hope was reported as having passed away–and I believe (if my camera was correct) that was June 28, 2003. But Bob wasn’t dead. At least that’s what he said. It seems some over-exuberant television reporter may have put the information out without checking facts.
The wilderness areas section is being brought up to speed on the pages with photos- The major change, however, is the base map, which was fairly crude. Now it is all kind of snazzy. 😉 Also, both the alphabetical and numerical index pages have this new interactive map embedded. The individual wilderness area updates are mostly just enlarging the photos and doing a little clean up. A list of the updated pages follows:
Wilderness Map (alphabetical index)
Wilderness Map (numerical index)
Individual wilderness areas
A couple of years later, in 2005, I had bought a 13 foot, leaking, aluminum fishing boat. My friend Cliff, who owned a canoe and kayak rental at the Topock marina, was going to sell me his Grandfather’s 5 horsepower outboard motor. So what I did was photograph a few of the wilderness areas along the I-40 freeway on my way out to pick it up.
I’ve heard it said that the two most memorable days in a boat owner’s mind are the day you buy your boat, and the day you sell it. Certainly, I remember the day I sold it–but I can’t recall the day I bought it. Wait … Now I can. Anyway, I remember the day I bought that motor. That was a lot of fun. I’ll tell you about the day I got the boat in some other update.
Originally this was a Pecha Kucha presentation. Pecha Kucha is a program in which 20 slides/photos are shown one at a time for twenty seconds each, for a total of 6 minutes 40 seconds, while the presenter explains the idea or concept behind the presentation.
Graceful beauty- As with just about anything wild in Nature, flash floods are only to be feared if you do something stupid.
Desert flash flood meets its end at a playa
Cow Wells doesn’t sound like that great of a place to have a good time; but Garlock sure does, and that made all the difference!
Garlock Ghost Town
New Dale – New Dale wasn’t called New Dale back then, it was just called Dale even though it was new, at least newer than Old Dale, which wasn’t called Old Dale then either, just Dale. But you see the problem with them both being called Dale then don’t you? To further complicate matters neither Old Dale or New Dale was too much worth looking at. In fact if you click on the link you’ll probably be a might disappointed because if there weren’t a title on the page you wouldn’t be able to tell if you were in New Dale or Old Dale, because New Dale doesn’t look any newer than Old Dale and Old Dale doesn’t either. BTW, nobody knows who Dale was in the first place. He moved out of Old Dale while it was still new.
New Dale Ghost Town – Twentynine Palms, California Area
