It's Day 195......it's also November 17 2019...and we are in Bagdad Arizona

It's Day 195......it's also November 17 2019...and we are in Bagdad Arizona

we'd continue our trek on Date Creek Road ... leaving our spot near the railroad tracks in Congress....and watching the mountains built with boulders give way silently to vast open spaces lined with mountains and dotted sporadically with large green patches of agricultural activity....and still every once in a while....one of those stately Saguaro Cactus.…Having seen...and learned of these guys for the first time as we transitioned from the Mohave desert into the Sonoran Desert....I started to do some reading on this interesting plant.....known only to exist naturally in this part of the world. First thing I learned was that I had apparently been pronouncing Saguaro incorrectly....but after watching a couple video's about it.....it appears the proper pronunciation is Saguaro....A Mexican Spanish word that does not appear to have meaning....beyond it's use to refer to this pretty cool type of cactus.

The next thing I figured out is that you can go down a rabbit hole on this one pretty quickly ....mainly because information seems to be all over the board on when it comes to how long they've been around...and in particular. growth rates......I didn't really want to spend hours becoming a botonist.....so stuck with some quick.....and interesting takeaways....

First....these guys.....if your looking at a 20 foot....40 foot.....even 60 foot tall saguaro.....this guys been around a while...

they grow super slowly. And by design. Nature's design.

A ton of time is invested in this seedling.....building the foundation that will ultimately lead to the century or so old plant I could be looking at. During the first ten years of a Saguaro seedlings life....it will reach a mind boggling height... of not more than a couple inches.....

and that first ten years is spent near...even under....what is called a nurse plant. Seedlings can only sprout when protected by another plant....one that will provide shelter....shade....and the critical moisture during the plants formative years.

Turns out....this particular plant is likely the epitome of a species that spent some 4 to 8 thousand years....carefully dating to the harsh environment that it will be born into.... And that foundation....being built....is first...the root system. The plant simultaneously develops the tap root that will ultimately reach some 5 feet or more in depth.....along with the lateral root system that grows along with the cactus. The lateral root system is just 3 inches below the surface of the desert and typically spans laterally around the plant....equal to the height of the plant. A 60 foot tall Saguaro ...for example...can have a lateral root system that spans some 70 feet in every direction.....around it. And again....the genius of nature at work here.....during a a single rainstorm....a single, mature, Saguaro can absorb up to 200 gallons of water into the plant....storing it for the next desert drought to come.

The second part of that foundation is the plants structure itself. The thick malleable skin covered with that waxy film all built.....and strengthened over time ...layer upon layer...to support the plants growth.....and weight....and retain water. All this....results in a plant that takes some 35 years or more to reach maturity and flower for the first time.....and can go on to live nearly two centuries before lapsing back into the desert dirt from which it was born. There was more.... a lot more.....and I have no idea why I was so fascinated by this.....maybe I do want to be a botanist? Prolly not.....but....as I've learned so many times here is that while reading about one thing....you learn some pretty cool stuff about other things too. During this read....I became curious to know what....if a 2 century old Saguaro Cactus was not among the longest living species in the world....what is...

And wouldn't ya know....one of the oldest.....the Creosote Bush....which can be found right here in this same Arizona desert can live for thousands of years...and likely.....have served as the nurse plant for generations of Saguaro's.

And then....there is the Bristlecone Pine. These trees, found in the western United States, are among the oldest living organisms on Earth. They grow very slowly too.....that whole build a solid foundation thing that mother nature seems to have figured out.....with some individuals being over 5,000 years old. And these guys...can only be found naturally in California, Nevada, and Utah.... I might have even driven past some of them in the last few months....I'm gonna need to pay closer attention ... the next time I find myself in the proximity of a tree that could be 5000 years old!

But for now...lets get back to this dirt road we are on. The road that would take us by other things as well....like the metal contraption on the side of the road....built on...what at one point was a solid wooden structure....clearly....a valued, and carefully crafted piece of mining equipment over a century ago. But how did it come to find it's final resting place in this patch of Arizona desert? My guess is....that last set of human hands to have ever operated it are long since gone....and only the failing wooden structure....and remaining....rusted out pieces of metal are left to tell the rest of the story....and they aren't tellin. But they do their part in conjuring up the curiosity....and imagination of a guy like me.

That same curiosity ...and imagination....would be conjured time and time again... as we stopped to take photo's of other desert oddities.....

The ranch entrance arch....still standing proudly....clearly....at some point in time....another human took to time to build the structure. marking the entrance to their brand new life...and likely ....the name of the ranch once hung proudly from it....It was built well....clearly...it's still standing.....but today.....it marks only the remnant of the driveway that was once was.....and now everything....covered in sage brush and weathered by time.

And what about those big old trucks we passed by? Really Big...Army style vehicles I think....WW2 era equipment .... clearly....they didn't start their service here in the desert some 70 years ago.....what have they seen? Where have they been? And how did they end up here? And why? Is this their final resting place....only to become a rusted out piece of metal just like that piece of mining equipment just a mile or so up the road from them?

Around nearly every corner....the same curiosity.....just a different object. In some cases....it would be a ranch house.....one...still providing shelter from this desert for someone.....but just across this dirt road from another.....abandoned long ago to be reclaimed by this desert....but brandishing a for sale sign promising someone....their chance at life.....on a few acres of the Arizona desert. ......will anyone find it worth the 20 thousand dollar asking price? Probably.......some day.

at one point we even drove by an orchard…though it looked as though it had seen better days…maybe that’s just what an orchard looks like when it is in the middle of a desert.

Huge ranches…some still vibrant with activity…others dormant…marked with those faded “for sale” signs hanging crooked…swinging with the wind.

And then.....Our Date Creek Road leading us through what looked like lava rock riddled fields when we drove by a band of wild horses that seemed unaffected by our passing or the fact that they were grazing alongside cattle. .... and just up the road a bit from that....we would come upon another one of those for sale signs....This one at the gated entrance of someone's old home.....and someone else's new home.....so we pulled in. Pulled round that big circular driveway in the desert dirt...taking note of the abandoned rock walled pond in the center of the driveway that had clearly been the object of the previous dwellers children....brightly, and colorfully painted.....all in fun......pulled up in front of that little adobe style dwelling....clearly vacant....and thought....good a place as any for lunch. ..... and some exploring.....maybe even a little reading.....oh yea....and that's where you would have found us....eating a grilled ham and cheese sandwich while reading about the Saguaro cactus ...

But we'd also spend a couple of hours nosing around the house.....that back concrete patio...strategically placed under a massive ironwood tree providing just the perfect shade for the hot desert afternoon....then exploring the perimeters of this little ranch in the desert.....studying how someone had once carefully fenced off a few acres....built their adobe style home.....along with a few outbuildings.....and then...it appears...had spent years tending to what they had built....and then moving on. After lunch we'd pull back out onto that washboard dirt road and find asphalt once again just a few miles up in a place called Hillside Arizona..... shortly after that....our road...that road that had taken us some 45 miles through a desert that only a few call home..... would end....we had two choices. Prescott was about 60 miles to our right..but 23 miles to the left we were being invited...to visit a place called Bagdad.......so left it was.

Pulling into Bagdad on a Sunday afternoon was oddly quiet for a town of over 2000. Even the gas station where we stopped for fuel was unmanned. The hand written sign on a piece of cardboard taped to a shop door read “24 hour fueling convenience. Credit and Debit cards only”

The only signs of life were just up the street at the grocery store. I drove back up main street contemplating whether to stay or go when I saw a sign…”Rodeo Grounds” with an arrow pointing left. It was no surprise that as we crested a hill about a mile outside of town the road was once again dirt.

At the bottom of that hill we found an archery range with a large parking area. 15 minutes later we were parked and Dougie and I were out exploring. Just past the archery range we crossed a cattle guard and entered the “Bagdad Corrals”…looked to be some boarding facility maybe?.....the run down and pieced together facility was a series of pens tacked together using rusty sheets of tin, shipping containers and just about any other means of repurposed material you could imagine. But It was the only other place in town we had seen activity. Lots of activity actually…a steady stream of pickups dusted up and down that dirt road hill rattling across that cattle guard well into the night. The flurry of activity picked up where it left off around 5am the following day.

And Just behind the corrals we found the home of the Copper Spur Rodeo Co. Interesting....seems these desert cowboys enjoy a rodeo from time to time just like everyone else......and I guess when you live around 100 miles or so from....well....anywhere.....you tend to find ways to bring the fun to you!

The smell of horses and hay filled the air conjuring up visions of straw hats, cowboy boots and wranglers.

As we walked back towards Vacilando I noticed that two pickup trucks had parked adjacent us. Two bow cases sat on the ground between the two men taking turns on the archery field.

Started to settle in a bit and start reading about this secluded place in Arizona....as I read....I couldn’t help but overhear conversations just outside our door....on that archery range. A lively debate around the upcoming bow season…best places to hunt…(on which they disagreed)…the effects of wind speed on accuracy of shot over distance…and each had a story of that massive white tail they’d been chasin for years…their conversation occasionally interrupted by silence…and then the “thwaaaap!” of an arrow hitting that target...tacked to a bail of hay.

And then back to reading .....about Bagdad....the first thing I would learn is that ....

Bagdad...is a company town.....one of very few remaining in the United States. In fact....a search shows only a handful of them left across the country. Also interesting to read that most of the remaining company towns are all in Arizona....and pretty easy to see why.

What is a company town.? ..the concept was born during the industrial revolution era....at it's peak...there would be around 2000 company towns across the country. These towns were built, by the company to house workers and provide all necessary amenities. ....thus helping to ensure a strong, and secure worker base....while providing a quality of life for those workers...and their families. Since the company built the town....it therefore owned the town....including the infrastructure, and even most of the housing. Most often, these towns were built in remote locations in which large scale industrial operations were taking place....and in most of these cases....the industry...was mining. Which explains why company towns were....and in some cases still are....a prominent fixture in Arizona....where some of the nations largest mineral deposits have been discovered over time.

Bagdad...in particular, was founded in 1882 when a couple of guys named W.J. Pace and J.M. Murphy discovered copper ore in the area. Initially, the mining operations were small-scale and underground, focusing on extracting not only copper.....but gold, silver and lead as well along Copper Creek......

In 1928, the first mill was constructed to process ore from the underground mine. By 1929, large-scale mining had commenced with block caving....a technique used for the underground mining of a low grade ore.

By the 1940s, the transition to open-pit mining had begun, and The .Bagdad Copper Corporation was formed . But by 1944 a new owner and general manager would begin making significant investments into the operation taking it to new heights in copper production. The mine has shifted ownership through the years....but it's location on one of the nations largest copper reserves maintains it's rank as one of the top five producing copper mines in the country . The Bagdad mine produces nearly 10,000 metric tons of Copper. each year.... So what the heck does 10,000 metric tons mean? It means around 22 million pounds......Ask the internet what on earth might weigh 22 million pounds.....it'll tell ya....The Eifel Tower....A Cruise Ship....even a fully loaded freight train! So.....that's a lot of Copper!

And why is copper so valuable....or necessary? Coppers Electrical, and Thermal Conductivity ..... means that anything in our world that requires electricity....or is electronic related....probably starts with Copper.....hmmm.....yup.....pretty necessary.....I think to myself as I tap away on electronic device on my lap......140 years after those two guys filed a copper claim in a place that would soon be called....Bagdad

And the towns name...I gotta say......of all the stories I've read around how towns got their names...this one....might be one of my favorites.......

Hearing the name Bagdad.....my brain automatically went to that ancient city in the middle East....in what is now Iraq....spelled a little differently...throwing in that H......but that nearly 1300 year old city that has seen it all....conquest and riches...spanning centuries of the Muslim faith and culture....but also experiencing devastation in times of war....which have been many in that part of the world....including an 8 year period not so long ago in which it would be us....the US....bombing this ancient city.....but through it all....this sacred Islamic place remains....and with over 8 million residents...it's second in population only to Cairo in the Arab world today.....

So in my mind....it was not much of a stretch to make the connection between a little mining town in and Arizona desert....and the rich history of one of the oldest cities in a very different Arabian desert....some 7500 miles away...

But it turns out that local legend....in this part of the Arizona desert...tells a much different story....

As the legend goes...A father-son mining duo would arrive in the area in the late 1800's staking a claim....and beginning a small scale copper mining operation. The fathers job...was to dig out the ore, while his son loaded it into bags to be carted out. Each time the sone filled a bag....he'd shout out "Bag-Dad" The phrase Bagdad would catch on...so much so that in 1910 when the areas first post office was established....it would be named Bagdad.

So who knows...is the local legend....the story folks like to tell......or was it really some connection with that far away place....documentation for the time is scarce.....personally....think I'll go with the story of that young miner working hard alongside pops and yelling "Bag Dad".....every so often.

Bagdad is likely many things I’ll never know , in addition to what I had just learned...but as I drove out of town the next morning, leaving the same level of activity on a Monday morning as we drove into on a Sunday afternoon…I thought of what I did know. First..a quiet life at the end of a road. It truly is the town at the end of the road. If you are an individual inclined to travel only on paved roads you have only one way in and that same way out....of Bagdad…more adventuresome have an option or two more. ...involving dirt roads...and four wheeI drives. I also knew that as quiet as the town might seem....we were leaving behind one of the busiest and most productive copper mines in the country. The mine itself is a few miles outside of town....beyond where we had camped in the parking lot of that Archery Field...we didn't make it all the way out to the actual mine this time....maybe next trip.

As Main Street became highway 96…and Bagdad waved goodbye through my rear view mirror… I thought about the movie “Bagdad Cafe”. Turns out the cafe in the film is actually 287 miles away in Newberry Springs California…with only portions of the film being shot on location here in Bagdad....but it got the towns name.

I think I was reminded of that movie because I couldn’t help but visualize Yasmine’s skirt clad silhouette walking out of that wide open desert we were driving into…suitcase in tow and the feather in her hat fluttering in the wind…her shape distorted by the heat reflecting off the hot asphalt......

And remembering when Yasmine.....never having seen a desert.....telling Brenda.....After all...every life....could use a little magic.

I was reminding myself to watch that movie again when we came upon that roadside memorial....the one we had driven past on the way into Bagdad. I'd made a mental note to stop on the way out....so we did.

I was interested to learn more....we've all seen roadside memorials....in most cases marking a tragic loss of life....on...or along side a road. But this one...was different. ...from any I had seen before. It was more than a sign...a marker.....or some plastic flowers ..... this one.....was built. It was constructed....clearly....with not only the intent to memorialize a life that meant so much....to someone....but also....built as if...to invite others...maybe someone just like me....to stop....and invest some of my time....into learning about that someone.....that someone that meant so much.....to the person that had created where we were today. More than a shrine of sorts. There were pathways, seating areas, rocks painted with hearts and names...a small mausoleum like structure....the front was open....but barred off. for preservation of it's contents....and at the same time....allowing me to see the photo's and pieces of jewelry carefully placed within it.

A little digging around the internet would tell me that roadside memorials in Arizona, often referred to as descansos...and that the tradition of placing roadside memorials in the Southwest dates back over 200 years. The term "descanso" means "resting place" in Spanish and originally referred to the spots where funeral processions would rest while transporting the deceased to their final resting place. This practice evolved into marking the sites of tragic accidents with crosses or other markers.

This practice would continue to evolve in Arizona.....when during the 1940s and 1950s, the Arizona Highway Patrol began using white crosses to mark the sites of fatal car accidents². This practice contributed to the spread and visibility of roadside memorials. Over time, these markers have become more elaborate, incorporating various cultural and personal elements......all of which are super evident in the memorial I am sitting in.

Interesting that here....I didn't see names. I did see photo's....the photo's told the story of a family man....a young man....a man that wore our countries uniform....and saw combat. And a man that was missed terribly. And while I may not know his name.....after hangin out with his memory for a few minutes.....I thanked him, and his family for his service and found my way back down that dirt path to the hiway.

Arriving back at that intersection in Hillside....we would go in the opposite direction this time. The sign said Prescott....and we could see the mountains rising out of the desert on the horizon.......

As the miles passed.....and those mountains drew near.....I found myself once again whispering to myself.....

I wonder what we'll learn there?