Last night I dreamed coyotes were calling me. They hung up when I answered.

This visit to the Deming Luna Mimbres Museum,“The Biggest Little Museum in the Southwest,” included the stunning mineral collection. It’s a veritable hoard of gems and geods and dreamy-deep geology lessons and details. The book selection in the gift shop and the gifts in the gift shop make this a required stop.

I wanted to camp in Apache land. Mostly I saw a lot of overgrazed land and cows.

The Apache shaped history but those who fought the hardest and longest don’t live in the Chiricahua Mountains or environs now. They went to Mexico or Mescalero or San Carlos or Fort Sill after Geronimo’s surrender. In their homeland they remain only in place names. Their history and what we know of this entire region has been filtered and modified by the the actions of multiple players over centuries.

Take old movies for example. I like an old Vincent Price movie. He stars in The Baron of Arizona, 1950. It’s based on the true story of a man who claimed much of present day Arizona and New Mexico for himself. James Addison Reavis (1843-1914) collected millions through sale of quit claim deeds and investments before his ultimate failure.

Like several other infamous Civil War veterans from Missouri, Reavis exploited the U.S. land grant claims system. But a significant block in his efforts were Apache conflicts.  Entire portions of southern Arizona and its pioneer populace were subject to waves of upheaval and abandonment during this period. Reavis left for the safety of California and in 1895 his claim was finally found to be “wholly fictitious and fraudulent.” He died, broke, in Los Angeles in 1914.

It’s shocking to see the number of cattle on public land in the Sonoran desert. In most places there’s not a speck of grass visible anywhere from the ground or from the satellite photos. Look at the range and the vegetation within fenced-off parcels where cows aren’t, if you can find them. There was a new but torn vinyl billboard on I-10 near Bowie that says something like Ranchers feed America, not Wolves. It’s my understanding that range cattle make up less than 2% of the beef supply in this country. Maybe it should be: Farmers and the Mexicans they hire feed America.

Rock Hound State Park searching for “pretties” in the perfect weather of early November. A lot of people bring a pick and know what they’re looking for. Alas, I found one rock with a tiny little crack and a tiny little layer of tiny little crystals. Mostly I saw pretty stars.   

I’m getting into geology now that flora and fauna are shot. Cows don’t eat rocks.

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