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The Bradshaw Trail near Wiley's Well Campground.Bradshaw's Desert Trail To Gold - His good friend Horace Bell called him a "most polished gentleman" and a "natural lunatic." Whichever label fit, 36-year-old William David Bradshaw knew opportunity when he saw it. He knew that Powell Weaver, a well-known scout and trapper, had found gold at a place called La Paz on January 12, 1862. He knew that Weaver's strike lay on the Arizona side of the Colorado River, about 250 miles east of Los Angeles. He knew that the inevitable stampede of Argonauts - many of them refugees from the exhausted gold mines to the north - would need a new, more direct trail east from the Los Angeles area across the desert to reach Weaver's strike. More...

Sharbs carbine breech closed. Sharps Rifle - Marcellus E. Jones, Lieutenant, 8th Illinois Volunteer Cavalry, watched from behind a fence next to blacksmith Ephraim Wisler's home, on Knoxlyn Ridge, as a Confederate division lead the Third Corps toward Gettysburg. Jones borrowed a Sharps carbine from Sergeant Levi Shafer. He rested it on the fence railing. Quoted by Petruzzi, Jones later said, "I took aim at an officer on a white or light gray horse and fired-the first shot at the battle of Gettysburg."

While Jones' claim of firing the first shot would prove arguable, his weapon of choice, the Sharps carbine, signified a growing revolution in small arms development. The Sharps carbines and the Sharps rifles, invented by Christian Sharps and manufactured by Sharps Rifle Manufacturing Company, would become legends for the roles they played in the theatres of the Civil War, the buffalo-killing fields of the Great Plains and the desert battlefields of the Southwest's Indian Wars. More...

Wahweap Marina on Lake Powell

Lake Powell, AZ - Lake Powell, created by the Glen Canyon Dam, is 186 miles long with more than 1,986 miles of shoreline. After the dam was completed in 1963, it took another 14 years to fill Lake Powell. Since then, Lake Powell has proven to be a premier attraction for millions of visitors from all over the world.

Before the completion of Glen Canyon Dam in 1963, these remote rugged canyons were a discouraging barrier to the early pioneers and explorers. Today, Lake Powell winds its way through this desert paradise with excellent views of balancing rocks, pinnacles, buttes, arches and amphitheaters. The combination of clear skies, crystal clear water and red sandstone rock formations makes this national recreation area an ideal place for the outdoor enthusiast. Lake Powell is more than just a fantastic recreation area. Awesome in its dimensions and complexity, its desolate beauty makes it an experience never to be forgotten. Read more...

The Apache KidThe Apache Kid - High in the San Mateo Mountains of the Cibola National Forest in New Mexico is Apache Kid Peak, and one mile northwest as the crow flies, at Cyclone Saddle, is the Apache Kid gravesite. The hiker who comes across the marked site in such a remote area may wonder who the Kid was, and perhaps will ask himself why, so far from the usual tourist attractions, such an elaborate memorial has been assembled. In the story of the Apache Kid, much of it fact and part of it legend, rests one of the Southwest's many intriguing sagas. Click here for more...

Lang's grave in Joshua Tree NPJohnny Lang's Lost Horse Mine - On a winter morning in 1925, Johnny Lang rolled up his canvas sleeping bag and packed what remained of his supplies, a half-slice of bacon and a small sack of flour. He would have to hoof it from his mining site in hopes of catching a freight wagon into Banning, some fifty miles away. Gone were his burros. He had eaten those one by one. The seventy-five-year-old prospector slung his gear over his shoulder, and he tacked a note, dated January 25th, to the ramshackle desert hut that served as his home: "Gone for grub. Be back soon."

Three months later, while pioneer rancher Bill Keys and two companions were constructing the road to what is now Keys View in Joshua Tree National Park, they came upon Lang's mummified body. More...

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