Camp Beale Springs

Historic Camp Beale Springs is located on the western edge of Kingman. Pick-up a free parking pass at the Kingman visitor's center before going to the site. The comfortable walk around the grounds is well worth the time. 

Beale Springs was used by Native Americans for centuries before Lt. Edward Beale traveled through the area in the 1850s establishing a wagon road along the 35th parallel. In 1865, Beale Springs became a stop on the toll road from Prescott to Hardyville, which is now modern day Bullhead City. During the Hualapai War of 1866-1870, the site served as a temporary Army outpost and became an official military camp in 1871. The camp provided protection along the toll road and acted as a supply station for the Hualapai Indians. The camp remained active until 1874, but the Beale Springs site remained in use well into the 20th century!  

Through the gate to the left of the trail is where the Camp Beale Springs horse corral would have been. At the back of the corral grounds are foundations of prior stables.

At the end of this section of desert trail is the Beale Springs oasis!  Within the oasis is a grove of fruit trees!

I have to admit that the first day we walked back to the spring and saw this gully rippling with water, I didn't think much about it. It's just a ditch with water, after all! Even the grove of trees offering their shade didn't strike me as anything more than pretty and serene. It took my mind a few days to realize the magnificence of Beale Springs and I couldn't wait to get back to it, so as to revel in the experience! What I had failed to recognize is that Beale Springs is a true oasis surrounded by dry, sandy, cactus desert! There aren't any lakes or rivers within an approximate 40 mile radius of Kingman! 

The spring was buried beneath lots of green plants overhanging its edges, as well as, growing in the water.  In this little opening I could see what appear to be minnows and even a damsel fly!

When I was told that there was a reservoir at the camp that had since gone dry, I was expecting to come across a dry lake bed!  Wasn't I surprised when I figured out that this building foundation with a slanted floor like a swimming pool was the reservoir!  Here is an interesting tidbit. The Beale Springs site became a water source for early Kingman. The reservoir in addition to serving its intended purpose, sometimes doubled as a swimming pool!!! That's quite a thought, isn't it!

The trails are very easy walking. This is the trail going up the hill beyond the reservoir to where the military housing used to be.

The light colored rocks are where the officer's quarters stood.

Here is some information about the officer's housing. 

This is the wonderful view just beyond the officer's quarters!

This is the trail on the hilltop to the company barracks

The rocks outline the barracks.

Here is some information about the barracks.

This is the area where the Hualapai Indian housing was located.

This is the old toll road going to Kingman. This view is looking from the back of Camp Beale Springs toward the gate where we entered the grounds. Along this road by the camp gate once stood a mill and a hotel.     

This plateau is located across from the entrance to Camp Beale Springs. A paved road called Wagon Wheel Drive passes to the right of the plateau. The road was once part of the wagon trail established by Lt. Edward Beale. Take this road to reach another oasis called Atlantic Springs.

Check out the deciduous tree and the cattail pond in the middle of a desert! The water in the spring is about a foot deep!

This is an interesting and pretty flowering bush by the spring.

Here is another look at the amazing desert oasis. It's hard for us to imagine in these modern times the importance of such a little frog pond to early travelers.

It looks like desert dwellers are enjoying this refreshing source of water still today!











Historic Bonelli House

The historic Bonelli house is located just off of Beale Street in old downtown Kingman. The building to the back of the picture is the Mojave County Courthouse, which was built in 1915. The building to the right was built in 1935 as a U.S. Post Office. It now houses the Kingman Engineering Department. I don't know what the trees with the yellow blossoms are, but aren't they gorgeous. Palo Verde trees, which are quite prevalent in his area, look similar to these. Maybe these are very mature ones. 

This little red schoolhouse was built in 1896 and replaced the first school. It now serves as the municipal court building. The Kingman Visitor's Center has a nice walking tour map, with historic buildings labeled and some general information. 

This is the Bonelli home. It was built in 1915. Tours are offered for a minimal donation. George Bonelli was the 4th child of a Swedish immigrant. He took over managing a large cattle operation his father had amassed, as well as, four retail stores. George married the local Santa Fe Railroad station master's daughter.     

You enter this living room, as you come through the front door. Many of the furnishings are original to the family. Isn't the clock grand!

To the right of the living room is this bedroom.

Through the bedroom was an adjoining bathroom.

Here is the laundry equipment! The metal plunger is called a Rapid Wash!

We came through the bathroom into the kitchen. The stove has a tank at the top that served as a water heater. One of the Bonelli family's sons lived in the family home until around 1970. It was said that he continued to use this original stove!

You can see from the kitchen back into the bedroom. I love the way these old houses are a maze of rooms!

The door by the stove (a few pictures back) enters into the dining room. The door to the right goes outside onto a large wrap around porch and overlooks a big yard. Through the door to the left you enter a stairwell.

There was plenty of stair climbing exercise to be had in the Bonelli home!

This is the upstairs landing and a bathroom ahead.

To the right of the landing is the male children's bedroom. The doorway leads to a big wrap around balcony. There is an opening in the ceiling that goes up into the glassed in room on top of the house. It served to vent heat from the room, but the boys also used it as a playroom.

Across from the boy's bedroom is the girl's bedroom.

The door goes to the balcony.

To the right is the girl's bedroom shown in the prior picture. The center doorway is the bathroom, and the doorway to the left is a sitting room.

This is the sitting room.

Across from the sitting room by the stairway railing is the parent's room. The door on the right goes to the balcony.

Here is the bottom of the stairs looking from the living room back towards the dining room! It's a nice home said to be inhabited by welcoming spirits!

Scary Air

When we first told people that we were going to spend the Winter in Arizona, we got lots of dire warnings about there being something in the soil that could make a person ill and even kill them! We were told there wasn't a cure! Nobody seemed to know what it was, but had a healthy fear of it! We were concerned, but figured it couldn't be all that bad if there weren't reports in the news of large numbers of people in Arizona getting sick and dying from the mystery illness. We just recently learned that the thing to be concerned about in the soil is a fungus and that it gets carried through the air on windy days. It is not only a concern in Arizona, but in all the southwestern states and Utah. In Arizona it is referred to as Valley Fever and in southern California it is referred to as San Joaquin Valley Fever. Because of it's flu like symptoms and the ache it can create, it is sometimes referred to as Desert Rheumatism. It can affect humans, as well as, other animals. Get the facts at this link: Scary Air . Org 

Prior to leaving Texas, our Malamute had itchy welts and large oval rings on her belly. The sores would occasionally break out on other parts of her body. We had been in Texas a year and on prior occasions had been there for two years without a problem. We believe the difference was that on the visit where she caught this fungal rash, she and our shepherd were allowed to lay in the soil. On our prior stays they laid on our vinyl outdoor carpet. We surmised from our Internet research that the large oval sores may have been girth itch rather than the rounder sores produced by ringworm. It didn't appear to be infectious as neither the other dog, two cats, or Roy or I caught it. Our research indicated that it could be treated with Monistat (Miconazole) such as used for women's yeast infections. We started treating her with that.  

We discovered this great spray in the horse department at Tractor Supply. It was less expensive than using Monistat and it provides a broader coverage.  The treatment takes weeks! The spray can be used as a treatment, as well as, a preventative.  It seemed to be healing, but not as soothing as the next product.

We later discovered this wonderful anti-fungal lotion at a vet's office. It is available without a prescription and can be ordered online. It seems to be very soothing, as well as, very healing! Our cat, Odie, goes outside. Although he didn't develop welts on his skin, he did lick his fur on his belly to such excess as to lick the fur off and create lick sores. This lotion seemed to stop the itch and desire to lick. It can be distributed through the wet fur following a bath or put on the dog or cat's dry fur, as needed to reduce the desire to lick. The animals are well now, but have recently developed some mysterious shaking of their ears. I've begun suspecting fungal involvement and again went to the internet for answers.  I found this great resource:  Anti-fungal Ear Treatment. We have learned to stay out of the wind and limit the pets contact with the soil. We hope this helps keep you and your pets healthy!