LOAFING ALONG
DEATH VALLEY TRAILS
By WILLIAM CARUTHERS
A Personal Narrative of People and Places
COPYRIGHT 1951 BY WILLIAM CARUTHERS
Printed in the U.S.A. by P-B Press, Inc., Pomona, Calif.
Published by Death Valley Publishing Co.
Ontario, California
DEDICATION
To one who, without complaint or previous experience with desert hardships, shared with me the difficult and often dangerous adventures in part recorded in this book, which but for her persistent urging, would never have reached the printed page. She is, of course, my wife—with me in a sense far broader than the words imply: always—always.
CONTENTS
[Dedication] 5 [This Book] 9 [I A Foretaste of Things to Come] 11 [II What Caused Death Valley] 19 [III Aaron and Rosie Winters] 25 [IV John Searles and His Lake of Ooze] 30 [V But Where Was God?] 35 [VI Death Valley Geology] 39 [VII Indians of the Area] 43 [VIII Desert Gold. Too Many Fractions] 48 [IX Romance Strikes the Parson] 53 [X Greenwater—Last of the Boom Towns] 60 [XI The Amargosa Country] 64 [XII A Hovel That Ought To Be a Shrine] 82 [XIII Sex in Death Valley Country] 87 [XIV Shoshone Country. Resting Springs] 92 [XV The Story of Charles Brown] 102 [XVI Long Man, Short Man] 109 [XVII Shorty Frank Harris] 113 [XVIII A Million Dollar Poker Game] 125 [XIX Death Valley Scotty] 130 [XX Odd But Interesting Characters] 136 [XXI Roads. Cracker Box Signs] 144 [XXII Lost Mines. The Breyfogle and Others] 154 [XXIII Panamint City. Genial Crooks] 164 [XXIV Indian George. Legend of the Panamint] 171 [XXV Ballarat. Ghost Town] 175 [Index] 189