Dear Ron, 10/18/91

My favorite "Desert book" is "Riders of the Purple Sage" by lane Grey. Desert book? you say. Why would one pick that sort of book when there are so many so-called factual and/or photo-descriptive books about the desert? Well, I first read Riders of the Purple Sage when I was a teenaged dreamer back in Arkansas & everything about the West was fresh and exciting and wonderful. The story line & the action involving the black clad gunman, Lasaiter, & the pure & beautiful but Put-upon Mormon girl, Jane Withersteen, were fascinating to me. Years later I read the book once again. This time I saw the talent of Mr. Grey in his descriptions of the long sweeps of the Utah & Nevada sage slopes. The exciting tales of the discoveries of cliff dwellings and secret valleys with water flowing sweetly in them are inspirational. Then after I, myself, became a desert rat and a lover of the lonely, hot and barren stretches of the desert, I read the book once again. This time I as struck by the accuracy of Zane Grey's descriptions of the desert panorama. He puts the wild plum and Buckthorn thickets in the proper places. The rock scenery is awe inspiringly correct. Just ask anyone who has traversed the Utah uplands and has seen its arches and spires and sandstone cliffs. Still, I haven't read his "Wanderers of the Wastelands". It just might be as good---or even better. Your friend, Lou Brecheen

"RAINBOW BRIDGE: Expedition to Navajo Mountain" by Charles L. Bernheimer

This is the story - a diary, really - of Charles Bernheimer written on the numerous expeditions taken between 1915 and 1924 on the search for Rainbow bridge, across and around Navajo Mountain and the Utah Badlands in an attempt to find a passage through to Rainbow Bridge. I loved the descriptions of Arizona, Utah and Navajo Mountain as it was before the dam. I was fascinated by the amazing things they had to carry on their expeditions; the many burros and mules needed to carry their heavy canvases and canned goods; the food, water and horseshoe problems associated with the animals. The descriptions of the area - petroglyphs, hundreds of ruins, pre- excavation artifact sites - I couldn't help but compare with the trips we do today in a matter of hours instead of weeks or months. The description of the Indians living in the area at the time of the expeditions - their habitats and beliefs (they believed that the War God lived on Navajo Mountain!) - all I found to be fascinating. This book is a bridge - we visit these places and ruins and only guess now as to who may have lived there and how they may have lived. This book provides a connection with these people and these places - written by a delightful individual I would have loved hiking with. ---Pat Acheson

Page Index	Prev	Page 35	Next	Issue Index