Bob Duffy always had superbly maintained four-wheel drive vehicles. He was a business associate of Dad’s and a longtime friend of the family. Roberta was his wife who, at the time, worked at the Caltech Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Editha was our housekeeper for a while and a very sharp cookie; not only could she stay ahead of my sister, Angelique, and I, so that my mother, Kathy, could get things done, but she was able to help Dad in situations like this one by keeping careful notes.
…Kathy and Angelique remained in Barstow. Editha, Bob, Beau and Roberta came with me. We drove to Windmill Station, turned south into the desert, thru mag. [magnificent] stand of Joshua (I had not known it extended this far west) between Teutonia and Kessler Peaks (which I shall use) and to Cima. The desert here is higher, with different plants than further west, and I would have made a serious mistake by trying to write about it without a closer view.
Earlier we drove through cave canyon along the line of the r.r. [railroad] explored a little along the way. This is the route of travel along the Mojave River toward the west, a route followed by Father Garces [in] 1776, by Jedediah Smith in 1826, by Kit Carson, Fremont, and many others, including the Mormons who settled in San Bernardino.
After the search for Rock Springs we turned south from Cima to Kelso, saw the great sand dunes further along, and searched for Marl Springs. All of the maps are off somewhat. Some roads were not on the maps, some road[s] on the maps simply do not exist where they are supposed to be. Drove back by Rasor Road and returned to Barstow.
On Sunday we drove to the Cinder Cones area, climbed one of them, explored somewhat in the lava beds (enough to get the feel of the country) and the[n] turned south again, followed a power line roads [road] across the country, but failed to find the turn-off for Marl Spring. We drove to Kelso, and from the San Bernardino County map, decided where the turn-off must be. By carefully checking our speedometer, we located the other turn-off from the road below Kelso. Opening a wire gate, we drove across a long, gently sloping hill broken by many ruts (only a Jeep-type vehicle could make it) and into the vicinity of the spring. We came upon some people in an old car, a man who had a tungsten-copper mine, and he told us how to get to the spring.
The site was interesting. An old corral, built since the days of which I am writing. Two water tanks with good water, and the ruins of several stone rooms, some old pits, many signs of occupation. Took several photos, sighted with compass on nearby peaks and sketched a bit. The view south toward the Providence Mts. was tremendous. To soldiers stationed here that view must have been all they had. It was a lonely, miserable duty, guarding such a place. The small stone fort, to guard the mail route, was badly situated except for the proximity of water, its reason for being. A peak, Kelso Pk. rises right above it and the place must have been difficult to protect unless a man was kept on the peak above, a likely spot.
April 30, 1971—First day I could shake Bob Duffy loose to drive the Blazer for us. Into the Mojave to finish scouting locations on new novel. Fortunate thing; an area where I recalled an abrupt cliff, and where the map so indicated there was a bare talus slope with no hiding. Chose a clump of boulders not far from the base. Excellent place with all the hiding required. This near Kessler Pk. in Upper Desert. Drove around behind Table Mt. across Round Valley and into Gold Valley. Table Mt. I shall not use unless for observation. Doubt on prelim. [preliminary] inspection if one could get a horse up there. Intended to talk to owner of Gold Valley Ranch, but too little time. Drove into Gold Valley, exciting formations everywhere, and on a closed road (by Dept. of Interior) we found a most intriguing place. It is either volcanic or where a hot spring once existed. The rocks as full of holes as a Swiss cheese, of varied colors, and with some amazingly deep holes….I believe it will add much to my story, and is again proof that I need on the spot investigation. Ground maps can mislead one.
Dad has failed to mention the fifth member of the family to join us on these trips, our beagle, Spring. I’m amazed at the Duffys’ patience with us and our dog. Spring was always getting up to some mischief or escaping to run away into the desert or chase any roadside cattle. She clearly understood the word “cattle” and would rouse from a deep sleep the instant she heard it in order to leap around the inside of the vehicle, barking ferociously. When bored, my sister and I used to say the magic word just to amuse ourselves with the chaos that would follow. The adults were rarely as entertained as we were.
In its early stages, Louis called this story “The Desert Road.” It was re-titled Callaghen by the editorial staff at Bantam in order to stick with the program they had established of using character names for many of the titles of Louis’s books.
For more interesting information, photos, fragments of stories, and notes, please visit
louislamourslosttreasures.com.
Beau L’Amour
November 2017
To all
who travel the desert road,
wherever the desert,
whatever the time.
* * *
Bantam Books by Louis L’Amour
* * *
NOVELS
Bendigo Shafter
Borden Chantry
Brionne
The Broken Gun
The Burning Hills
The Californios
Callaghen
Catlow
Chancy
The Cherokee Trail
Comstock Lode
Conagher
Crossfire Trail
Dark Canyon
Down the Long Hills
The Empty Land
Fair Blows the Wind
Fallon
The Ferguson Rifle
The First Fast Draw
Flint
Guns of the Timberlands
Hanging Woman Creek
The Haunted Mesa
Heller with a Gun
The High Graders
High Lonesome
Hondo
How the West Was Won
The Iron Marshal
The Key-Lock Man
Kid Rodelo
Kilkenny
Killoe
Kilrone
Kiowa Trail
Last of the Breed
Last Stand at Papago Wells
The Lonesome Gods
The Man Called Noon
The Man from Skibbereen
The Man from the Broken Hills
Matagorda
Milo Talon
The Mountain Valley War
North to the Rails
Over on the Dry Side
Passin’ Through
The Proving Trail
The Quick and the Dead
Radigan
Reilly’s Luck
The Rider of Lost Creek
Rivers West
The Shadow Riders
Shalako
Showdown at Yellow Butte
Silver Canyon
Sitka
Son of a Wanted Man
Taggart
The Tall Stranger
Tucker
Under the Sweetwater Rim
Utah Blaine
The Walking Drum
Westward the Tide
Where the Long Grass Blows
SHORT STORY COLLECTIONS
Beyond the Great Snow Mountains
Bowdrie
Bowdrie’s Law
Buckskin Run
The Collected Short Stories of Louis L’Amour (vols. 1–7)
Dutchman’s Flat
End of the Drive
From the Listening Hills
The Hills of Homicide
Law of the Desert Born
Long Ride Home
Lonigan
May There Be a Road
Monument Rock
Night Over the Solomons
Off the Mangrove Coast
The Outlaws of Mesquite
The Rider of the Ruby Hills
Riding for the Brand
The Strong Shall Live
The Trail to Crazy Man
Valley of the Sun
War Party
West from Singapore
West of Dodge
With These Hands
Yondering
SACKETT TITLES
Sackett’s Land
To the Far Blue Mountains
The Warrior’s Path
Jubal Sackett
Ride the River
Sackett
Lando
Mojave Crossing
Mustang Man
The Lonely Men
Galloway
Treasure Mountain
Lonely on the Mountain
Ride the Dark Trail
The Sackett Brand
The Sky-Liners
THE HOPALONG CASSIDY NOVELS
The Riders of High Rock
The Rustlers of West Fork
The Trail to Seven Pines
Trouble Shooter
NONFICTION
Education of a Wandering Man
Frontier
The Sackett Companion: A Personal Guide to the Sackett Novels
A Trail of Memories: The Quotations of Louis L’Amour, compiled by Angelique L’Amour
POETRY
Smoke from This Altar
LOST TREASURES
Louis L’Amour’s Lost Treasures: Volume 1
About Louis L’Amour
* * *
“I think of myself in the oral tradition—as a troubadour, a village taleteller, the man in the shadows of the campfire. That’s the way I’d like to be remembered—as a storyteller. A good storyteller.”
IT IS DOUBTFUL that any author could be as at home in the world re-created in his novels as Louis Dearborn L’Amour. Not only could he physically fill the boots of the rugged characters he wrote about, but he literally “walked the land my characters walk.” His personal experiences as well as his lifelong devotion to historical research combined to give Mr. L’Amour the unique knowledge and understanding of people, events, and the challenge of the American frontier that became the hallmarks of his popularity.
As a boy growing up in Jamestown, North Dakota, he absorbed all he could about his family’s frontier heritage, including the story of his great-grandfather who was scalped by Sioux warriors.
Spurred by an eager curiosity and desire to broaden his horizons, Mr. L’Amour left home at the age of fifteen and enjoyed a wide variety of jobs, including seaman, lumberjack, elephant handler, skinner of dead cattle, miner, and an officer in the transportation corps during World War II. He was a voracious reader and collector of books. His personal library contained 17,000 volumes.
Mr. L’Amour “wanted to write almost from the time I could talk.” After developing a widespread following for his many frontier and adventure stories written for fiction magazines, Mr. L’Amour published his first full-length novel, Hondo, in the United States in 1953. Every one of his more than 120 books is in print; there are more than 300 million copies of his books in print worldwide, making him one of the bestselling authors in modern literary history. His books have been translated into twenty languages, and more than forty-five of his novels and stories have been made into feature films and television movies.
His hardcover bestsellers include The Lonesome Gods, The Walking Drum (his twelfth-century historical novel), Jubal Sackett, Last of the Breed, and The Haunted Mesa. His memoir, Education of a Wandering Man, was a leading bestseller in 1989. Audio dramatizations and adaptations of many L’Amour stories are available from Random House Audio.
The recipient of many great honors and awards, in 1983 Mr. L’Amour became the first novelist ever to be awarded the Congressional Gold Medal by the United States Congress in honor of his life’s work. In 1984 he was also awarded the Medal of Freedom by President Reagan.
Louis L’Amour died on June 10, 1988.