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N������� 17, 2010 Voices from the Past Excerpts from “In the Shadow of Saguaros” By Rosalee Oldham Wheeler 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 first recorded history in Southwestern Arizona; Coronado and the Conquistadors searching for the Seven Cities of Cibola. ���.D�����M��������.��� Buried Alive in the La Paz Placers In 1932 my father-in-law took out a mining claim in the La Paz Mining District. Mr. Oldham (everyone called him Mr. Oldham) was the Chief of the Northern Coconino National Forest and for vacations he would load up his mining equipment and head for his Jack of Dia- monds Mine west of Quartzsite. If others wanted to get out of the snow and cold, they were welcome to come along and enjoy the warm desert. When I married his son, Charles, I was also invited to make the trip. It was fun to crank the dry washer, check the riffles, and especially to pluck out the gold specimens. I loved the desert and looked forward to our stays at the Jack of Diamonds campsite. The next winter, even though we had a three-month old baby, I again decid- ed to go. I didn’t feel that we should be left up in the cold while the rest of the family went on holiday to the desert. Our stay that winter was over way too soon. Before leaving, Mr. Oldham said he needed to go into Quartzsite to get the mail and a supply of honey from Mr. Mott, the bee man. After he left, I hiked up to the diggings and stayed un- til the baby got hungry, then returned to camp. When he returned we both started for the diggings. “Oh, Rosalee, I forgot to tell you, there was a let- ter from your mother.” So I turned back to camp reminding Mr. Oldham that dinner would be ready in about an hour. Two hours passed. I waited and waited. So I picked up the baby and walked toward the dig- gings. I saw four men kneeling around some- thing. “Where did all those men come from?” I wondered. The closer I got, I could see someone was lying down. A little closer and I realized it was Charles. A man I didn’t know said to me, “Your husband was in a cave-in.” He introduced himself as Frank Marti- nez, along with his friend Pete Gonza- lez, and a German-speaking miner. I told them how grateful I was that they were there to dig out my husband. Frank said that earlier he had been talking to Charles about how their par- P��� 19 allel holes were on bedrock. Both had been successful in finding some rather nice specimens of placer gold at that level. Frank then walked back over to his hole, about 300 feet away. From a palo verde tree he had cut a limb and made notches for climbing into the hole. He had just started to dig when he heard the cry of a baby. He didn’t know about our baby, so he listened and, again, heard what he thought was a crying baby. Because he and Charles were both on bedrock, it acted as a conductor, carrying the clearly trans- mitted crying sounds between the two SEE BURIED ON PG. 23 Quartzsite Student Run Radio Station! 91.7 FM KQES Scholars’ Radio Gospel Opry Isaiah 58 Project 100 S. Moon Mountain Ave. Welcomes all to join us for every Friday at 7pm Admission is Free • Refreshments Served • Donations Welcomed