Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

of the Zzyzx Min eral Sp a ( how's tha t for a name ?) on t he sh ores of Sod a Dry. Lake . Prior to b ein g designated Fort Soda , th e stone breastworks and corra ls had been na med Hancock's Redou b t. Several ba ttles between U .S . sold iers and th e Indians took place around th is location . Fa rthest -west , an d th e las t of th e fo rt s, was Ca mp Cady. Virtu all y nothing rema ins of this ca m p . In its day, Camp Cady was on e of the largest of the Mojave fo rts. Over 120 men manned th e forts at times. Severa l sold iers wer e killed in th e many skirmishes against the local In d ia ns. W he n th e fort was sold to civilians in 1871 the need to protect travelers' on the Government Road was over. A be tter , safer ro u te had been found fa rt her south a nd Government Road was ren amed Ol d Government Road , T he days of the Moj ave for ts wer e a t an en d , I decid ed to see for m yself what it was like a long the path of th e Ol d Government Road . My plan ca lled for me to tra iler m y bik e to an a rea sou th of the Fort Piute Ru ins. I d rove past San Bernardino and over Cajon Pa ss to Interstate H ighway 15 . At Barstow I swu ng east on Interstate 40 toward th e Colorado River. Ab out 42 miles west of Needles and th e river, and just a little north of Interstate 40 , is a sm a ll sett lem ent ca lled Goffs. I stopped at the little store and got gas a nd a cold drink. The lady behind the co u n te r was ve ry pl easant and gave me directions to the ruins of the fort. If you go that wa y, stop in a nd see her . T ell her I sai d hell o . ~ Dr ivin g east of Goffs for 5. 7 m iles I ca me to a po werl ine road. I followed it north for severa l m iles until I fou nd a litt le sid e ca nyo n that struck m y fancy as a ca m psi te. Sixty-mil e visibi lity is so me th ing we peopl e fr om th e Los Angeles b asin ra rely have , but th at's what I was enjoying now , I didn't was te a ny time off-load ing m y bik e ; I jus t kicked her over, j um pe d in th e sa d d le a nd armed with m y trusty ma p a nd ca mera . too k off up th e ro ad to Fort Piute . The powerl in e road climbs a nd twists northw ard over a rise between Ho mer Mou n tain and Sign a l Hill from my ' base ca mp . It 's lots of fu n on a bike , bu t I tho ught it was a little too steep a nd narrow fo r a car. Anywa y. who wants to drive a car on th e d esert when it's mu ch more enjoya b le to rid e a bike? Three -and-a-half m iles no rt h of th is serpent ine you int erse ct wit h Ceda r Ca nyo n (O ld Government) Road. A qua rter- mi le lat er a wa ter tank will appea r on you r left. Accord ing to th e map , th e roa d bearing northwest besid e t he tank will take you to th e ruins. An other road , a m ile north on the powerline ro ad , will a lso take you west to the fort. I e lected to take the road near th e water ta nk . Road hec k! It was just a track throu gh the lava bed . My jeep could n't ha ve m ade it , but it was no p rob lem for m y fa ithful two -stroke . If I had it to d o over aga in I would still op t for th e ta nk ro a d . The tra il followed up a pretty ' little ro cky ca nyo n and about a mi le ou t I came to a small , crys ta l-clea r strea m . In th e middle of t he d esert yet! This was Piute Sprin gs. It only flows on the su rface for slightly over half a mil e, then dives back under the sa nds of th e desert. I could see why the fort had been placed here. When I rode abreast of a burned ou t rock and wood structure on th e no rt h bank of th e creek bed , I d ism ou nted a nd made a n inspection on foot. It was th e fort al righ t! I unslung m y ca mera a nd sna ppe d away all a ro und me. I'd neve r bee n in a p reCivil W a r fort before . The burned -out building on th e IAbove) There are corrals of w ire and wood, topped w ith barbed wire, behind the main Fort Piute building.IBelow) The ma in structure of Fort Piute, It wasn't really imp ressive until you think of how hard it was to build. creek ba nk was formed by digging into th e wa ll of th e bank a nd the n building up the sides toward th e cree k bed with st on e . A rock ch im ney was st ill sta nding a nd th e blackened heart h show ed tha t it had been used by others in recent years . This was p ro bably th e offi cers' quarters. On the level gro u nd, nea r the fire ra zed bui lding , was th e m a in structu re of th e fort . It wasn 't really im pressive until you thi nk of how hard it must hav e bee n to bui ld . All th e stones we re handfitt ed and mort ared a nd it wasn 't difficu lt to im agine wh at effort it too k to build anyt hing in th e hot desert with hand tools. Fou r wa lls, ap p roxi m a tely 20 feet by 10 feet a re a ll that re ma ins of th e m a in ho use . O rigi nall y the re were bu llet proof baffles outs ide th e doors, to prevent maraud ers from shoo ting directl y into th e room. Now that they'r e no longer needed , someone has p ulled them down , There are corrals of wire and wood , topped with barbed wir e , behind th e m ain buildin g . O n the rise above t he pa rade ground is a co ncrete wa ter reservoir . The rese rvoir pipes are rive ted together , not weld ed or cast like mod ern pip e . Rem em ber , this ca m p was built in t he early 1860s, befor e t he Civil W a r. Next to th e wa ter reservoir is a block of concrete into which th e riveted wa ter pi pes in tersect. W h en th e concrete was po u red someone pressed pe bb les into the ha rden ing cem en t to spel l out the words "W elcome to Ft. Piute ." Actually th e red ou b t was origi nally named Fort Beale , a fter Lieu te nant Edw ard Beal e , who crossed the Colorado R iver with a camel ca rava n in 1857. Later , however , the Army ren am ed the camp Fort Piute . "T his was th e case in the vicin ity of Fort Piu re , if local legen d is to be be lieved. Apparently th e battle sta rted when a party of Piutes were attacked in th eir tra d itional hunting grounds by a larger gro up of Navajos . Included in th e observers d ra wn by the clatter were sever al Apache scou ts. " O ne of th em hustled off to his main camp and led his coho rts back to the ba ttle a rea . When it appea red that things wer e quieting down writh the Navajos th e winners, the Ap aches moved in and claimed victory over both tribes . I tried to picture in m y mind th e way it was t hen ; the Ca ll to Col or s on a b ree zy, lava -cove red hill , with not a no ther living th ing in sigh t as far as t he eye ca n see. How lonel y a nd bori ng_ it m ust have been; living in th e rou ghest of co nditions , with no thi ng to d o but bid e you r time (at eig h t dollars a month ) until you r d ischa rge fro m th e service . Mayb e th ey welc omed a n occ asio na l Indi an raid just to break th e mon otony. "T he 'sto ry cont inues tha t a resu ltant pe a ce tre a ty between the t rib es restricted th e right to ea t meat to th e Apaches. It p rohib ited the Piu tes fro m eating a nything but fish . T he Navajos were permitt ed any di et th ey desired so long as it d id not inlcu de mea t. Supposedl y t his trad it ion st ill is ob served - but no rest aurateur in th e desert a rea will vouch for id" Speak ing of Indian ra ids, Herbert M. Hart , in " Old Forts of t he Fa r West ," third series, ha d th is to say in his section on Fort Piute , " Ind ian fig hts were common arou nd weste rn forts , but not ma ny of th em could cla im one tha t invo lved th ree tr ibes and no t a single whi te man . I kind of id led m y b ike d own th e roa d away from the ru ins a nd into th e su nset. Althou gh m y m ac hine has a street- legal muffler , it seemed a shame to make even a slig htly noi sy departure and distu rb the ghosts of Fort Piu te a nd t he blue -clad tough gu ys that helped lead th e way west! • 21

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