October 21st: I was sitting and looking out the dining room window …
Looking out the window while drinking my morning joy juice; it looks like Quartzsite has a Tour Bus; I've not seen this here, before.
… when Holland suggested getting dressed to meet the public, "let's go check out that stone cabin - and check out the ghost town too, out by the Yuma Proving Grounds."
He didn't have to repeat himself ;-)
I guzzled my coffee, switched out my clothes in record time … and we were soon on our way towards Yuma :-D
Travis Tritt - 'Ghost Town Nation' song:
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGDGiLE_Pzo)
I laughed when I saw this; this mountain looks like a relaxing Scottie dog :-D
Border Patrol; 3 hrs. from the border.
We didn't have to stop at the Border Patrol station this pass … but we were diverted in, when we first arrived in AZ recently, headed to Quartzsite. Mind you - this station is 2 hours from Yuma-AZ … and the AZ-MEX border is about an hour beyond Yuma. What on Earth is this station doing way up here, instead of being down there: where it is actually needed? That's government mentality, for you.
We were stopped, like I said, when we first came through here 9 days ago. We were asked if we had anyone in the back seat; we said no. We were asked if we had anyone in Independence; we said no. We were waved through after those 2 questions. I had thought they'd detain us and rummage through Independence - but they didn't.
I still think it's silly to have boarder control waaaay up here - I mean, what kind of special stupid would try to smuggle human contraband through a military compound area????
Back to the main topic: Holland and I both, like ghost towns (I'd live in a ghost town, given the chance ;-)) Our first adventure today was to include the Stone Cabin artifact that was advertised both sides of the road, promising to find it "19 miles" up the road, one way; and "20 miles" up the road, the other direction: we never did locate a road leading to it, by any way-shape-or form; and GPS was of no help at all … so, we decided to stop wasting fuel - and focus on finding the Castle Dome Mine Ghost Town.
We followed a road sign that pointed to the ghost town we hoped to find - along the route, we ended up in a risky wilderness area, saw a gigantic rocky tortoise, and had a near hit and run with a speeding hummingbird as the tiny dive bomber buzzed past our windshield before speeding off into the wilderness - where it could find anything with nectar in it, in this vast landscape of scrub brush, cactus, and sunbaked rock … is a wild guess: but it is here, so it must know where to go for refreshment ;-)
GPS kept pointing us towards another location - we'd already been there last Fall, and did not see sign of a ghost town.
Trying to pinpoint exact location …
Original location of Castle Dome Landing.
New Castle Dome Landing location.
ONLY direction, there … and the the last eight miles are on gravel.
Road is thru a 'wash'.
This rock looks like a tortoise.
Tortoises in Arizona:
(https://www.allturtles.com/tortoises-in-arizona/)
Kofa National Wildlife Refuge-AZ
Hopefully what we're looking for, is actually waiting at the end of our move forward …
We kept keeping on, our aging bladders getting teased on that bumpy gravel road in; but the liver-shaking drive was worth it in the end ;-)
FOUND IT!
Research Info.
Museum Office & back Parking Lot.
Metal artwork.
The town is accessed through this building … pretty entry steps; local rocks.
The open-air museum has a beautiful backdrop.
Inside the {museum}; first order of the day is ducking into the Restroom … Mule metal art = history; camels and mules did better for desert environments, than horses.
Working Mules of AZ:
(https://tucson.com/news/retrotucson/mine-tales-when-mines-needed-muscle-mules-were-often-the-ticket/article_32eebbdf-7bb7-5927-9471-10381de69ffa.html#:~:text=This%20trussed%2C%20900%2Dpound%20mule%20was%20taken%20into,mining%20towns%20and%20camps%20of%20the%20past.)
Camels in the American Southwest:
(https://westernlivingjournal.com/wild-camels-did-exist-in-the-american-southwest/#:~:text=Wild%20camels%20really%20did%20exist%20in%20the,to%20be%20used%20as%20beasts%20of%20burden.)
{{The remains of Castle Dome Landing, once on the banks of the Colorado River, are now submerged beneath the Imperial Dam reservoir in Martinez Lake. The property that was previously Castle Dome town and mining camp was purchased in 1994 by Allen and Stephanie Armstrong, and turned into the Castle Dome Museum. The museum site houses over 50 restored and recreated buildings — seven original to the town, and the rest are period representations built mostly from locally scavenged materials. Each building, among them a saloon, a hotel, a mill, and a blacksmith, is staged to look like it might have looked in the town's heyday, some 100 years ago. Castle Dome Landing, Arizona: (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_Dome_Landing,_Arizona)}}
We were at the original location of the Castle Dome Landing townsite, last year - me, twice with Bleu, & Holland once: and never knew. Until now ;-)
Castle Dome's Rich History Includes Mining & Gunfights: https://tucson.com/news/local/castle-domes-rich-history-includes-mining-gunfights/article_3e011d90-40f4-5daf-9153-1b01f646a27e.html
I walked for a good hour and a half through this realistically inspired ghost town, this afternoon … so, I did get my daily walk in, after all ;-)
I love this …
The Miner's Diner porch; Saguaro skeleton tacked to the exterior wall.
Call to eats ;-)
Come and Get It! - Ron Scofield:
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COjf1kuXrZw)
When I spent a year or so of my childhood in Togo, MN, my mother would have crates of green bottled coke stacked along the 'fridge's side; she would drop a salty peanut into an opened bottle before drinking it. My Uncle Don was a long-haul semi driver, and he would drop the new crates off as he visited us while passing through Minnesota.
Inside the Miner's Diner.
I love vintage dishware.
Stanhome Ivy Dinner Plate; hand painted plate produced by American Handmade Pottery~Blue Ridge Potteries, in the 1950s
Hand Painted Arizona Desert Peaks Folk art collector's wall plate.
Vintage drilling rig called a spudder rig, used for drilling water wells. The spudder rig-drill was primarily used to drill shallow water wells in soft soil conditions, essentially "spudding" or starting the initial hole for a well by using a cable tool drilling method, which was the primary method before the development of modern rotary drills for deeper wells; it was particularly useful for quick, initial exploratory drilling to determine the presence of water at a shallow depth. It works to “drill” a hole by dropping a cylindrical weight on the end of a cable to break the rock in the ground. As the hole becomes filled with broken rock, the spudder was refitted with a pipe to bail the broken material out of the hole.
October is Vaccine Injury Month
Illustration of a 'Brush House'.
Stone façade Barber Shop; exterior.
Barber Shop interior. Shaving mugs were popular from around 1860 until the early 1900s; shaving mugs were often kept in barber shops and personalized for each customer. Shaving mugs were used to hold a bar of soap in place while a barber lathered a customer's face. Some shaving mugs had a built-in brush rest to keep the brush from sitting in lather. My stepfather had a shaving mug & soft bristled face brush; he shaved with a straight razor, and kept it razor sharp with a leather strop.
This electrifying movie was all I could think about when I saw that questionable electric hair dryer. LOL
1922 Electric hair drying chair. By the 1920's Electric Hair Dryers were made of aluminum and the cost of a hair dryer could range from $12 to $22.
Hair Dryer: (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hair_dryer#:~:text=Even%20in%20the%201920s%2C%20the,instances%20of%20overheating%20and%20electrocution.)
Military Building.
An entire town plat.
Township Plat:
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plat#:~:text=In%20the%20United%20States%2C%20a,has%20become%20known%20as%20subdivision.)
Warehouse storage of 'tools', & Stamping Shed.
A Stamp Mill; used to release mineral from rock; heavy iron stamps would slam down onto a metal anvil to crush the ore. The crushed ore would be pounded continuously until it fit smoothly down the grate before being washed in a chemical ash to create an amalgam (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amalgam_(chemistry)), which was treated to release the precious minerals - which would then be processed through a sluice; a sluice is a long, inclined trough used in mining to separate and recover valuable minerals from placer deposits (swirl a pan of water and sediment to wash away the lighter material, leaving the precious minerals behind).
Stamp Mill:
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stamp_mill).
By the end of the 19th century, more efficient methods began to replace stamp mills in many applications. However, their simplicity meant that they were still used in remote areas for ore processing well into the 20th century.
Mining equipment.
Water trough, behind the Stamping Shed.
Venturing in further …
'Square Range'; wood burning cook stove.
Great Majestic Ranges: (https://woodcookstovecooking.blogspot.com/2021/03/great-majestic-ranges.html); my grandma Brockway had a stove like this one in her cabin kitchen - bigger though, because her brood was 14 living children and scads of grandkids, that she'd cook for. I sure miss my grandma and her warm and cozy kitchen. I miss the homestead lifestyle.
Vintage wood burning cook stove; large cooking cauldron. A cauldron (or caldron) is a large pot (kettle) for cooking or boiling over an open fire, with a lid and frequently with an arc-shaped hanger and/or integral handles or feet. They are containers used to heat up their contents over a fire and withstand and disperse a large amount of heat. Cauldrons were used for laundering clothing, melting pitch for repairing a leaky ship, cooking meals, or brewing beverages.
AZ Merchants: William Miller~Miner & Store Owner - (https://azoffroad.net/big-eye-mine); Gandolfo - (https://pastvu.com/p/2064729?hl=comments); Sanguinetti -(https://yumalibrary.org/e-f-sanguinetti-collection-2/, .net/https://theclio.com/entry/114475 & https://www.pressreader.com/usa/yuma-sun/20220918/281565179616034?srsltid=AfmBOooDcWcO3MqPdKMvl3XhCY88Lfl5DfM8C4LiAXWQzlsJz2UhL_Jb)
Mercantile goods.
Pickling crocks, clothing trunk, & stovetop waffle iron.
Fancy, ornate clothing trunk.
Mining Cache Safe.
A portable Smelting Furnace.
Smelting:
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smelting)
Smelting implements.
Second wooden streets junction …
Sherriff's Office-Jail.
Church interior. I prefer small country churches over the concert environments of the super-sized mega churches … but the backwards, mean-spirited people of Oak Point, Longview-WA, left a seriously bad taste in my mouth (meeting Jake, Holland, & Crystal there, was the only good thing my heart walked away with). I don't know that I'll ever feel comfortable in any money grubbing, in your business, doctorial board-run church building, ever again.
Childhood Memories were tripped here … all good ;-)
Toolshed.
Could be a mine shaft entrance … there is an underground mine tour on these premises, somewhere; this could be {it}. I stuck to the main town streets; it was hot, and Holland was patiently waiting my walk-thru out ;-)
Repair shop, maybe.
Working my way back …
Stone Bank building.
Bank interior …
Eureka! What a surprise!
Nice mirrored dresser.
My mother had a Singer treadle-pedal-sewing machine, similar to this one.
This section is wrapped up; time to find my patient husband, and feel some cooling breeze.
My patient, gentle, giant waits at the end of the boardwalk … together, we walked though the indoor Museum, on the back of the Office entrance building.
Holland says this is a winch.
Mule collars.
Mule Collar Function:
(https://smallfarmersjournal.com/work-horse-mule-harness-design-function-part-1/)
Saloon interior.
A working mine picture.
Ore Wagons used in mining.
Large mining bucket; used to lift men in, and out, of mine shafts.
I'm a mouse … there's not enough $$$$ in the world to entice me to be lowered down a deep, dark, mine shaft; where the bucket sides would grind against the dug out shaft edges. NO WAY!
The Press Room; News.
Vintage barbed wire examples; name, ply, & date of patent (file claim to invention).
Mine drill bores.
Drill & Blast Mining:
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drilling_and_blasting)
Mining tools & Man Bucket.
Mining cart & ore sacks.
Another working mine picture.
Cooling off on the Museum Office's porch.
Mine cart & rails …
A mystery …
Mini Stamper; example.
Underground jeans …
LEVI'S® FIND AT CASTLE DOME: (https://www.levi.com/GB/en_GB/blog/article/levis-find-at-castle-dome?srsltid=AfmBOorZXt2xzGmpuzNB8IjAlgQt45PvPzlj8iaeKEody4lE5GMLjIwB)
Safeguard measures.
Stir up a little dust ;-)
Lovingly grousing husband~OX
I tapped on my Tablet to find the address of the Indian Restaurant we plan to grab a take-out meal from … and was happy to see our MR. PRESIDENT, doing what he does best: mingling with The People :-D
The Indian Restaurant in Quartzsite-AZ is across the road from the Love's Truck Stop - and it's roomier inside than it appears to be from the outside.
Adventurous eating ;-)
Kohinoor Dhaba Restaurant:
S Quartzsite Ave, 725 S Quartzsite Ave, Quartzsite, AZ~Open 24 Hours
The owner of the Indian Restaurant we ordered Supper from, was friendly; he and I talked while waiting for the take-out order to be processed - at one point, he asked, "Are you voting for Trump?" I don't vote … but I said, "Trump has my full support; I stand behind him 100%." Then, as an afterthought, I asked him who he was pulling for - and without missing a beat, he replied, "Trump. If Trump doesn't win, we won't have a country anymore. I've lived in AZ for 20+ years, but if Trump doesn't get the Win … I told my mother we'll be going back home. To India; because there will no longer be any future for prosperity in America."
So.
The general vibe everywhere the obamanites do not have a wicked grasp on the populace, is that "Trump has got to win, or we've lost America". It's refreshing to hear, but also agreeably a scary place to be … to know that in roughly a week and a half, we could lose our great nation to political madness, and freakish insanity.
The Specials - 'Ghost Town' song:
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpDQDccOxHw)
Despite kamala pushing her {Indian, as in India} heritage, even the Indians, familiar with the caste system (what communism and socialism are built on), are not voting for her communist obamanite agenda. kamala, like barak hussein obama, is a rabid communist with a willy-nilly religious conception: but no one is buying obama's 4th coup bullshit spin.
It was a fun day.
It was an adventurous day.
It was an informative day.
It was a long day.
It was good to be home, relaxing, while eating our meal.
Supper: Butter Chicken over basmati rice; Chicken Biryani with a cottage cheese sauce; and Indian flat bread, Roti: good, but hot, hot, h.o.t.! Indian cuisine is not for the timid ;-)
Holland bought these cute little bottles of coke, for me. I'm glad I'm always in my big guy's thoughts ;-)
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