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A New Commentary Each Wednesday         Jan 15, 2014


THE COLORADO RIVER PEOPLE OF MOJAVE COUNTY, ARIZONA

   Last week, my wife Phyllis and I drove from the southern border to the northern border of the 5th largest county in the United States: Mojave County, Arizona, in the northwest corner of the State. We left Tucson before sunrise and by 12-noon arrived at the home of friends in Quartzsite, Arizona, a town which sits astride that section of U.S. Interstate 10, that's very near the California state line.

   Every time I've driven through Quartzsite, I've planned to see the monument to a camel driver by the name of Hadji Ali, know locally as Hi Jolly, who is buried there. In 1855, the Army brought Arabian camels to the town, but when the Civil War began, the erstwhile Camel Corps was abandoned. Ali lived for a long time in Tucson, but was interred in Quartzsite. For decades, it's prime industry was selling new fan belts for overheated vehicles.

   Now, 3,000-plus inhabitants of the town play host to what is estimated by some of them to be at least one million winter visitors, attracted by the weather, the rock and mineral shows and either free desert land, or that managed by the U.S. Department of Land Management on which they can, for a small fee, park their recreational vehicles. I would love to fly over the area when the peak number of people are parked there. Last week, on our way north to the Colorado River and Parker, 30-minutes north of Quartzsite, the sight of thousands of mobile conveyances, parked hodge-podge out in the desert, was stunning. The view of them from an airplane must be mind-numbing. Most leave before the first day of June.

   I hadn't researched the area lying between Parker and Lake Havasu on the Colorado River. All I knew was that some industrialist and land developer had purchased London Bridge (Yes, the one in London, England) and brought it stone by stone and erected it in some little village on the Colorado River.  I expected to see all manner of fishing shacks with sports vehicles parked out front, and perhaps a dog chained to a cactus... and of course, many tents of all sizes.

   It may have been that way before Robert P. McCulloch (1911-1977), the chain saw manufacturer* began to buy up miles and miles of private land along the river in the 1960s. What was once a fishing camp visited by Native Americans who came to fish in the lake that formed behind a dam there, is now a beautifully laid-out city of more than 50,000 people. There are marinas in Lake Havasu City such as you might see in La Jolla or Oceanside, CA.  

   Many homes are definitely upper class mansions. We're talking one to three, perhaps five million dollars for a layout overlooking Havasu Lake. Between Parker and Lake Havasu, there is every kind of housing and business in the miles and miles of condominiums, rentals and cottages for those who wish to purchase a modest retirement home. Moreover, there are also thousands of spaces for mobile homes. Rents for them range from $150 to $250 a month.

   We stayed in a super-nice, new motor hotel in Parker. Room rates were reasonable.

   I did not see one tent, though some may appear in the summer when the boys and girls come in droves to revel in the sun. That's when the "snow birds" depart.

   For years I wondered how a place could exist without an industry. Did everyone do someone else's laundry? No, they have the greenest business in the world: R&T...Retired and Tourist.    

   We enjoyed the visit and recommend it highly - for a fall or winter visit. OK, summertime, if you're into water skiing.

Phil Richardson, Storyteller and Longtime Observer of the Human Condition.

*Robert Paxton McCulloch, went on to develop communities, such as Forrest Hills in Arizona, Pueblo West in Colorado and Spring Creek, in Nevada, as well as Lake Havasu City. 

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