Ships of the Desert

By

Gerry Niskern

Have you noticed the Saguaro getting fatter? No? Neither did I! But that’s what happens after a summer of heavy rains. They store the water. Kind of reminds me of stories of camels that once roamed the Arizona desert.

You see, camels can go for long periods of time without water. They drink up to twenty gallons at a time. (and no, they don’t store it in their hump.) Around l857 camels were brought to Arizona to serve a pack animals for the U. S. Army.

Thirty thousand dollars was appropriated to acquire a ship and purchase some camels. Two officers were given the job of traveling to the Middle East and buying some camels. They hired a man who later became known as Hi Jolly to scout for some of the “Ships of the Desert”. He went into the interior of Tunisia and purchased 30 camels. On the same thirty thousand he went back later and purchased 40 more.

Finally, in the spring of 1857, a caravan of camels loaded with supplies for the Army started out from Texas. The camels could carry around 1,200 pounds. They headed for the Zuni village on the Arizona border. The Indians came for miles around to see the strange beasts.

The trouble with the experiment was that the horses and mules they came into contact with thought they were strange too and usually bolted which caused untold havoc. The army eventually gave up on them and they were sold to mines or mostly  turned loose on the desert.

One funny story happened in downtown Phoenix around 1890. A local saloon keeper paid someone ten dollars to bring him one to tie up to his portico. The advertising scheme was a worked and business was good, but a man driving a freight wagon and a large team of horses came by and the horses saw the camel and snorted in fright and tore off. The frightened camel in turn pulled back with all his strength and yanked out the iron post. The roof came crashing down into the window of the saloon and the adjoining businesses destroying everything.

The camel was turned loose near Camelback mountain and finally disappeared.

At one time it was reported that around 500 were counted along the lower Gila River. It is extremely doubtful that any existed in the desert after about 1910. Although there is one important thing to remember:

IT IS ILLEGAL TO HUNT FOR CAMELS IN THE STATE OF ARIZONA

Bird’s eye View

By

Gerry  Niskern

When my folks had out of town company when I was a kid the first place they drove them was the top of South Mountain. My Dad loved to show off the Valley of the Sun and the fantastic view of the growing city of Phoenix.

Years later, Ken and I discovered another great place to see the city. The view thru the expansive windows of the Compass Arizona Grill on top the Hyatt Regency Phoenix was breathtaking. Having dinner at the Compass on special occasions while the revolving restaurant slowly turned gave us a precious trip down memory lane each time we went there.

“Look, there’s the old Republic and Gazette building (Ken used to go there on Sunday to get extra papers to sell) on Central. And there is where Coney Island was. ( went there for delicious chili dogs after the high school dances). There’s the old Carnegie Library and the Capitol.” And “there’s Adams school, and Phoenix Union Highschool”. Even both our childhood homes close to the Capitol were easy to make out. Old memories appeared every minute as we slowly revolved.

In l989 the restaurant seated ticket holders who came to watch the Formula One United States Grand Prix race through the streets of downtown Phoenix. YES. At one time one of our former Mayors decided that a Grand Prix race was just what our city needed! I know, hard to believe.

We loved to arrive in time to spot our favorite landmarks and then sit enthralled as another magnificent Arizona sunset gave way one by one to city lights that shown like jewels on a bed of darkness.

I guess one of our fondest memories was the time we took our eight year old  great-grandson downtown to the Science Museum and we promised a lunch atop  the Hyatt at the restaurant that ‘turns while you are eating.’

As we stepped off the elevator and walked toward the maitre d’ we were concerned at the look of disappointment on the boy’s face. He turned and said, “I thought it would be going faster.”

The host solemnly explained,  “Well, son, we tried to do that but while people were eating their plates kept flying off the tables.”

“Apache Passion”

By

Gerry Niskern

‘You’ve never heard of it?’ Neither had I until I read an article in the Arizona Republic by Shanti Lerner last week. She wrote about the kids and teenagers at Whiteriver on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation in Eastern Arizona and their love of skateboarding. Sure, the kids on the reservation love baseball, basketball and volleyball and the teams often advance to state championships. But the kids who take up skateboarding are sometimes a little more creative and not into team sports.

When Douglas Miles Jr. a professional skateboarder and film maker moved to Whiteriver the local kids showed him where they skated. They find a spot, usually an abandoned construction site and construct a DYI (do it yourself) skate park. These unofficial parks exist on swaths of abandoned concrete, under bridges or anywhere they find material available. Stacks of old plywood or used concrete beams are made to look like ramps.

Miles was impressed with their love of the sport. “They had been following me and made me welcome by showing me all the spots they had improvised to skate on. I asked myself, what can I do for them and that’s how the project Apache Passion on GoFundMe got started.

Long before that the Elders in the White Mountain Apace Tribe knew of the need. 50% of the reservations residents are 18 or younger. They had helped the skaters with small monetary donations and food and snacks for the tournaments, but the tribe had many challenges and of course, the Covid pandemic put everything on hold. Now the tribal council will contribute land, work to obtain additional grant funding, construction personnel and materials and help make the project happen.

Miles Jr. will hire designers and coordinate the building process. The project will cost around $l50,000. Miles said, ‘It’s been five years since I started trying to raise money for this project and we’ve come a long way. We have artists, professional roller skaters and many other donors who have faith in the project.” He went on to describe how these kids represent the best of the Apache culture. “These kids try trick after trick, fall on the hard cement and get up and do it again and again. There is a fighting spirit, a warrior spirit, that dwells in the bloodline of these kids. They have the endurance and the stamina  to overcome the challenges.”

I was impressed with this story of the skateboarding kids on the Apache Reservation and wanted to share it. I’ve lived in Arizona long enough to remember when tourists thought all the Native American kids did was herd sheep or dance a the Pow-Wows. And after watching the red headed skateboard gold medalist from Australia at the Olympics,  I’ve been thinking. Wouldn’t it be great to see a young Apache Warrior make it to the Olympics?

APACHE PASSION PROJECT ON GOFUNDME