Historical Notes — Amargosa Days
Amargosa Day (Now DEATH VALLEY FALL FESTIVAL) is celebrated
annually in Shoshone by the citizens whose fortune it is to live
on the banks of the Amargosa, more or less, in settlements such
as Amargosa Valley, Death Valley Junction, Shoshone and Tecopa.
Folk from all around also come to celebrate. By around, I mean
from a few homesteaders sprinkled among various mining camps,
a remote valley and perhaps a lonely gas station. These are my
roots. I have an aunt and a cousin living in the area who have
seen all Amargosa Days—since the first one in '49 if my
reckoning is right.
Visiting the region for the first time, the visitor might come
to understand that like their brethren the Plainsmen and Mountainmen,
the Amargosa Valley Desert Rats share a fierce loyalty to their
particular life style. But there the similarities appear to end.
The Desert Rat has no game to hunt, no crops to grow, not even
moonshine to distill. He has no cultural activities, not even
a local high school anymore. Each town has a restaurant, motel,
water supply, electricity, telephones, and also satellite and
repeater TV. But sewage treatment is a maybe thing, and so is
crossing the Amargosa. So also for a dentist, doctor or fire
department. No supermarket or regular police patrols either.
But crime by resident citizens is rather rare.
For many, life on the desert means no neighbors within miles
nor visible means of support—like the wild rats (and other
animals) of the desert. And desert folk seem to like it just
that way.
Several years ago, an author of the desert asked me to share
some of my memories. I have considerable trepidation about adding
more here. So much time has passed, can I possibly have all my
facts straight? Will I offend someone or someone's memory? Since
most of the characters I recall have passed on to that great
whirlwind in the sky, surely they would want their memories kept
alive—one way or another.
I remember the countless evenings shooting the breeze with passersby
(with entertainment hard to come by, we made our own). Visitors
heard wild, impossible tales of hardship and danger in the desert,
but at the same time how these were nothing alongside the deceit,
thievery and mayhem of the big cities we Desert Rats were all
supposed to be "refugees" from. Visitors would usually
laugh. Only the thoughtful might not, and there were few of them.
Only in recent times have I come to realize the range of the
complexities that drove the early desert-rat personalities. Many
were hardy frontier-type characters; others were simply mild
but antisocial introverts; some claimed to be on the lam from
the law and found the desert waste a feasible place to hide;
others undoubtedly were looking for peace and quiet; still others
were fiercely independent and needed the room for self expression;
still others felt that they could not compete in fast company
and opted for the simple life; and to be sure there were some
true misfits or ne'er-do-wells; a final type came to find a bonanza,
and maybe to become rock hound but never rich. Whatever his/her
reason for choosing a lonely lifestyle, each desert rat assumed
a persona which became his/her identity. But some of us were
born there. Our personas were more in-born, than self-made.
But those were the days and I feel some urge to write about
them, recalling some adventures and maybe describing some antics
and characters I knew or heard of. Are all those stories literally
true? Probably not—distorted by: the "distance" of
memory time, my biased observational ability and probably some
untrue hearsay in the first place.
Chapters go here — if I ever get the time.
Chapter on T&T line in building.
Leaving The Amargosa Country
Needless to say it was not easy. Not so much for the emotional
ties which were real enough, but for the difficulties in going
to school full time while raising a family. Courageous? Maybe.
Foolhardy? That too. Am I sorry? No. Do I ever go back? Occasionally
and when I do a camera goes along to capture what I can of my
past. Along the way I learned something of Mentorship.