Desert Messenger

P��� 10 Voices from the Past The Desert Messenger is proud to feature excerpts from Rosalee Wheeler’s “In the Shadow of Saguaros.” Volume I, circa 1540 to 1839, begins with the fi rst recorded history in Southwestern Arizona; Coronado and the Conquistadors searching for the Seven Cities of Cibola. Volume II covers local history from 1840 to 1939. Volume III will feature stories from 1940 to the present. Her books are available at the Tyson Well’s Stage Station Museum, Reader’s Oasis Bookstore, and the Quartzsite Library. Desert Messenger DEADLINE for WED. JUNE 2 issue is WED. MAY 26 Send your ads, stories, letters to the editor, events and news desertmessenger7@yahoo.com D����� M�������� Excerpts from of Saguaros” By Rosalee Oldham Wheeler “In the Shadow (Previous story: Women Came West Too - Part 1.) Every morning Cocopah Charley brought water from the river in buckets. He fi lled the barrels, and when it settled clear, the ollas were fi lled. The breezes cooled the water in the ollas to around 86 degrees even when the outside t empe r a tur e climbed over 100 degrees. Taking a bath was another l e a r n i n g e x p e r i e n c e . The river water poured into her tub was very muddy. So Martha asked a Mexican lady how she bathed. She was told that the women bathed in the river at daybreak. So the next morning Martha went with them to the riverbank, waded past the thick muddy water, and sat down to let the clear river water fl ow over her body. They dared not to go too far out as the current might carry them away. The river was more refreshing than a muddy tub of water. They would join hands and venture out a little, but the River Captain had warned them. “He 14,000 SQ. FT. BUILDING ON 6 ACRES This exceptionally huge building in Bouse has unlimited potential. 100’x140’ red iron steel building, entirely open, clear span. New steel siding, new insulation, lighting and 4 roll-up doors. Good well, septic. Owner is offering building and improvements on 6 acres. Additional available. Easy access and great exposure off Hwy. 72. 44815 Joshua Road. $459,000 CALL: Pat Schlecht - Branch Manager, Bouse Cell 928-380-2275 Email: Pat@DavidPlunkettRealty.com A beautiful Olla water container who disappears below the surface of the Colorado River is never seen again.” When steamboats paused at Ehrenburg passengers would get off and stretch their legs, bringing news from the Eastern States. It was customary to invite them in and share some food and drink. When Cocopah Charley came in to serve, the visitors were astonished at his meager attire. They were curious about his fi ne smooth copper colored skin with his heavy black hair done up in a pompadour that had been plastered with river mud baked white from the sun and then topped with a small feather stuck in the crown of his head. He wore a wide beaded bracelet on his upper arm and a knife at his waist. Charley knew how to gracefully open a bottle of Cocomonga wine and to keep the glasses fi lled. Charley also knew how to wheel the baby out along the riverbank in the fi ne perambulator we have sent from San Francisco. It was a strange sight to see. The village people fl ocked to watch as the fair-haired Harry, dressed in a single garment without a cap or stockings, being happily pushed in his carriage by a proud Charley who had carefully tucked a gleaming knife into his g-string. These rides came to an end when Charley stopped to look in a store window just as a herd of cattle came stampeding down the street. Fortunately someone saw the carriage and pulled it back just in time. Ehrenburg was known to have sudden violent windstorms on hot summer days when everyone had to make a mad dash to get into the house and close the shutters before the boiling wall of dust roared across the desert. It often took a shovel to get the sand out of the house. Having some knowledge about home remedies was important. Martha’s friend Ellen had an awful toothache. Lt. Jack knew of a man who pulled teeth and asked if he could extract Ellen’s tooth. M�� 19, 2010 Women came west, too (part 2) The man said, “I think so” as he placed Ellen in a armless chair with a rawhide seat. Lt. Jack told Martha to hold a candle and he would hold the woman so the “I think so man” could pull the tooth. Ellen showed him which tooth ached. The man’s hand shook as great beads of perspiration gathered on his face. The smell of Cocomonga was evident as he wrenched out the tooth. Ellen put her hand in her mouth and felt the space. “My God, you have pulled the wrong tooth,’ she cried. The stouthearted woman allowed a second try. Between the “I think so man,” Lt. Jack, and the red wine, the aching molar was fi nally extracted. Earthquakes were not a common occurrence in Ehrenberg but one day in October of 1875 the ground shivered and windows rattled. The earth rocked to and fro like a huge thing trying to get its balance. Finally the earth was still. Jack came rushing in and said, “Did you feel that?” He said he had been in Goldwater’s Store when it suddenly grew strangely quiet and the lamps above their heads began to swing. He assured Martha that it was all over as she braced herself for more. The next day Martha watched as a procession moved slowly out of the village. A man carrying a cross was at the head of the procession. Then came the Mexicans with violins and guitars which were followed by several men carrying a brier that carried with the body of the deceased that had been wrapped in a white cloth. Bringing up the rear was a little band of weeping women with their black “ribosos” folded about their heads. A coffi n was not used because they did not have one. As she watched the procession move towards what Charley quietly told her was “the burying-ground,” Martha wondered what would follow. The next day Martha asked Jack to walk with her to “the burying-ground.” He put it off for several days, but she fi nally got him to go. There was no enclosure. Just a bare, sloping, sandy place sprinkled with graves that were marked by piles of rocks. A few graves  SEE WOMEN ON PAGE 11 Property! What a

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