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Did anyone else besides Kevin and myself go to the Everett Ruess forum last night? What a testimony to the power of oral tradition.
It's surprising to me that level of lawlessness still existed in the area as late as 1934; I would have thought it ended in the 20s. Maybe because of the hardship of the Depression? I didn't hear any theory last night as to why the 3 Utes mrudered Ruess; wasn't there speculation previously that it was for his gear?
What a noble deed, for the Nez grandfather to take it upon himself to bury this unfortunate white boy, thereby contaminating his own horse, his saddle, and himself. He left the saddle at the crevice burial, and the grandson said he must have either turned the horse loose or killed it.
Later when the grandfather got sick and went to a medicine man, who did not know the story but said he was sick because he "had white man's blood on his hands", and Nez went back to get a lock of hair to burn; some report reputedy said the hair was "red". The grandson when questioned explained that the Navajo word that Nez used could mean either red or brown.
I haven't read the National Geographic Adventurer article, should have bought one last night. A good resume is from Science Daily at http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090430144708.htm
The family showed some of Ruess' artwork that had never been public before. Another sidelight was that the FBI in checking out the site as a possible crime scene, early on, messed it up considerably.
Theory is that Ruess crossed the Colorado at the Hole in the Rock. If so, another reason that he could not take his original burros, as well as the fact that sometimes burros will not cross water. Even in Jan 1962, when a Sierra Club group attempted to have more time in Glen Canyon in its last days, and had the big idea of putting in there, it ws badly eroded and almost impassable. It took so long to get their boats down that they didn't have as much time to hike the lower side canyons as they had hoped. (Also it was one of those years when the river below the confuence where the current was slower was frozen bank to bank; it was not a problem with the kayaks, they just slid them across the ice, but they had to make runners for the rubber boats.) Anyway, Hole in the Rock was probably quite rough already in the 30s.
Dorde
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