Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

of getting drunk on hard liquor, he decided to practice the old Paiute custom of marriage by kidnapping th e bride , sometimes called "marriage by cap ture." He sta rte d the 20-day saga by shooting Old Mike dead and dragging Lolita off in to th e desert. My maps sho we d me th at I co uld ha ve ridden th e first sec t io n of t he cha se , down the So uthern Pacific Rail ro ad tracks to th e spring at One Horse Point n ear t he presen t town of Cabazon. Thi s wasn 't too practi cal, since the next leg wen t up Whit ewater Canyon (wh ere Willie Boy and Lolita sneaked past the sleeping posse) an d into th e Mission Indi an rese rvati on. That area is closed to th e general publ ic. There was still pl enty of room for me to ride in open country, so I knew I wasn 't to be disappointed. After consultin g my handy-d andy au to club map I decided to drive my truck be ari ng th e Ya maha south on In terstate 10 fr om Los An geles through Banning and Cabazon. Off to the right , close to Cabazon, I could see One Horse Point where Willie Boy and Lolita spen t the first night after the shooting. A short distance farther on I. cro ssed Whitewater Wash where the fugitive and the posse cut through the In dlail reservation toward the Little San Bernardino Mountains, Taking a left at Highway 62, I drove parallel to their track into Morongo Valley and over J ernsberg Pass to Yu cca then ano ther left on Valley, Pioneertown Road to the foot o f Pipes Canyon. At a cattleman's sh ack at the foot of Pipes Canyon Willie Boy stole some flour, matches and a cante en . True to Indian tradition, he made Lolita carry the gear when they set off northward . This is the place I selected for my jumping-off ba se. I off-loaded the street-legal Yamaha (there are a couple of paved roads you have to cross, but your off-road sticker should cover that) and rode east on Pipes Can yon Road to just short 0 f Old Woman Springs Road. I too k a le ft an d skirt ed th e base of th e San Bern ard inos toward Ru b y Mountain . Alon g this stre tch o f th e trail Lo lita 's strength began giving out. Final ly, o nce agai n in th e Paiu te tradition, Willie Boy shot and killed Lo lita to keep her fro m falling into the hands of his en em ies, the possem en. A co yo te lurking ne ar the girl 's body forced th e lawmen in to the decisio n to break off th e pursuit and return her rem ains to town for a proper burial. In th e area o f t he se tt lement ca lled Flamingo Heights I crossed Old Wo man Sprin gs Ro ad and followed Willie Bo y's ro u te , turning fr om north to d ue eas t. Willie cha nge d d irec tio ns here. He had been bound for Rock Co rr al and the supp lies th ere when he enco un tered five co whands who knew him . li e ran th em o ff at gunpoint and t he n fled in th e di rec ti o n of Surprise Spring. I rode across th e broad and sandy Pipes Wash and th en eas t on dirt roads thro ug h the sparsely settled homesteads to Surprise Spring Road (it's o n the auto club map ). On Surprise Spring Road I met a barrier to my progress; the U.S. Marine Corps b ase boundary. But by riding as far as I legall y co uld on Surprise Spring Road I was able to see the trees around the sp ring itself and the Bullion Mountains beyond. The moun tains and the spring are both very important to th e story. It wa s at the spring where Willie Boy rifled a cache o f pinon nuts and mesquite ca kes left by 0 ther Indians. More importantly, the Bullion Mountains were an impassib le obstacle which prevented him from re ach ing safe ty at the Indian reserva tio n on the Colorado River. It wasn't that he co uld n ' t climb them. To Willie Boy the mountains were taboo, . . both his parents had drowned in a flash flood in those very mountains. By riding east along the base limits I once again cut Willie Boy's trail. He had left the spring toward the Bullions and then doubled ba ck beside Deadman Dry Lake. He ca me to Mesquite Spring in t he northern pa rt o f prese nt day Twen ty nin e Palms. Co nt inuing on to the oasis, w hic h is now in th e m iddle of th e town , he fou nd only o ne old Indian woman, t he res t of the tri b e havin g fled because of the man hun t , now closing fast o n Willie Bo y 's heels. Fin ding his sup p ly of s tas hed ammunition go ne, he ha ck trac ked to l\lesqui te Spring and turned back west. The posse was rig ht be hind. The manhunt was no w ent e ring its ninth day, but th e mo st remarka ble pa rt of th e chase was abo ut to happen. I co uld readily visu alize wh at occurred ne xt. Lik e th e fu gitiv e and the po sse, I was ex p erie ncing 100 de gree Sept em ber heat , heading we st toward Copper Moun tai n and t he dry lak e at its foot . Un like m e though , Willie Bo y was afoo t, car rying a 30-3 0 rifle and leaping over th e hot sand in five-foot stride s. One hour be hi nd, leadi ng his four mounted men, was Deput y Sh er iff Charles Rech e, Fo r fi fteen to eighteen miles Willie Boy ran in the dry heat. Fin ally, Deputy Reche called a halt an d th e pos se turn ed back to Surprise Spring fo r food and rest. The Swift Fox had ou tru n all five horses! But the race had not left Willie Boy un scathed . His legs were wobbling under him and the he at and exertion had taken its toll. He was on the verge of death wh en he stopped close to the dry lake bed by Copper Mountain . I'd come over this last stretch , p as t the emp ty weekend cabins, or "j ac krabbi t h omesteads" they 're called locally, and popped over a small sa nd ridge above the dry lake. I didn't se e wha t Willie Boy saw. His luck was still with him. A sudden cloudburst dumped water in to an al kali -filled depression in the la ke bed. The aw ful tast in g stu ff sav ed his life . _ Fro m the lake I followed his route northeast o n Giant Rock Road to the north side of the Giant Ro ck itself. This is the lo cale for UFO society meetings . discussing flying saucers Beside sigh t ings, some of the society members even claim to have p ieces of U J:'O's (leas tw ise, that's what th ey say he reabo uts). Du e we st of Giant Rock is th e sca ttering of ca b ins called Timico Acres. In a eanyo n j ust south o f th e Acres is Rock Corral, Willie Bo y 's nex t stop. I found Ro ck Corral to be ab o ut the same now as it was 66 ye ars ago . A sma ll enclosu re of hand-stac ked nat ive stone fro m wh ich you can see fift y mile s d own th e valley . Th ere are three torn -down woode n struc tures and. n icest of all, a wooden tank with running spring water and a few green and leafy co tto nwoods - a pleasant oas is, wh er e Willie Boy had sto len all the ca ched supplies and left the posse wi th o nly th eir canne d beans to ea t. When Willie Bo y le ft Roc k Corral, he went overlan d to Ruby Mo un ta in . Since there is no clearly de fin ed road in that d irec t io n , J opted to go so ut h alo ng th e eas tern slope of the San Bernardinos toward Lan de rs. Fro m th ere I followed the printed directions of the Lin n twins. Starting at Lander s, " Go north o n Old Woman Springs ro ad from Reche road 7 tenths mile and tu m left where yo u will see the sign 'Landers Community Church.' This road is called New Dixie Mine road . You will pass a white church with a steeple and bell. Keep on this ro ad for 6.9 miles to a road on the right. There is a sign reading ' Ambush Spring Rd.' Go 2.4 miles down this road to the Willie Boy sit e." The road up the canyo n after the chu rch was really enjoyabl e. Steep ro cky wal ls on either side, a gradual clim b to an alti tude of 4000 feet, and no man-made structure s to mar the view. When I turned right at Ambush Spring Ro ad I quickly saw th at the Linn tw ins were co rrec t in describing the terrain as a four-wheel drive road. It wa s a cinch on my trailbike , but just rough en o ugh to keep the regular tourists ou t. I topped out at ro ad's end on a ridge a cross from the base of Ruby Mountain and was immedia tely glad as . t, o J~lfA.W OM I! . ':1 r -; r: .. . ~ _......... Willie Boy's route - - .-.- . . . -.. .. .., - _.:. - ~ 35

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