Then, as now, a tribe of Indians dwelt in the vicinity of the fort, but, unlike the present time, they were hostile to whites, and unprotected parties fared but poorly at their hands. Redwine had completed the greater part of his journey to the fort when his caravan wound around the foot of a clump of hills and came unexpectedly upon an encampment of Mojave Indians. It is doubtful which party was the more surprised, the Indians at the sight of the strange cavalcade, or the whites at witnessing the frantic efforts of the redskins to put space between themselves and the approaching caravan. The sight of the camels was too much for them. It was the most complete rout in the history of the frontier.
A little later, when the caravan reached the fort, there was another surprise. The horses and mules corraled near the fort proved as timid as the Indians, and a general stampede ensued. The corral was broken down, and it took the soldiers several days to gather in the scattered herd. The camels forthwith became objects of hatred to the bluecoats.
THE ADVANCE AGENT OF PROGRESS
From photograph by C. C. Pierce & Co.
As a means of transportation the camels were a success. The heat and drought and sands of the desert were as naught to them, and they throve on hardships that would have proven fatal to horses or mules, but their approach to a military post was a signal for a stampede of the stock, and the camels were marked for destruction. Every now and then, as opportunity offered, the soldiers would shoot down one or more of the camels till their numbers were so reduced that there were not enough for a caravan. Then the remnant of the herd was turned loose in the desert, to live or die as might happen. True to instinct, the liberated animals sought an oasis, and there they began to multiply. Later, however, hunters shot them for sport, and, so far as is now known, they have become extinct.
Redwine, the man who introduced the camels to the deserts of California, closed his earthly career in the desert town of Imperial in July, 1902. Much of Mr. Redwine's life was spent in the deserts of the great West, and this region of mystery, so terrifying to most men, seemed to possess for him a peculiar charm, and when the desert city of Imperial was started he left his comfortable home in Phœnix, Arizona, to take part in the founding of this town.
When the camel project came to an end, the burro came to the front and has since held the foremost place as a means of desert transportation in localities not reached by the railroads.