More History in the Ryan Ranch Area - Joshua Tree National Park

One of the great things about the southwest (and many other areas) are the layers of history left behind by different cultures. This area is no different. In late 2013, I did a post about Ryan's Ranch (click the link for a refresher). This post primarily relates to the earlier presence of American Indians who lived in the same area. Although the old adobe is an awesome thing for tourists who don't mind hiking a little bit, none of the other things in this post are advertised, or discussed by park officals.  

The first 13 photos relate to the Ryan Ranch period of the area. Here is what's left of the adobe ranch house. In a moment of temporary insanity, I included a photo with me in it. The photos look different from each other, because they are from a few different visits to the area.

I would LOVE to look out at that view every day

Or this one, in another direction

Old cone style beer can (made of steel)

Back in the day, if your trash didn't burn, you buried it, or just piled it up

A rock circle, plus a date, plus a name, equals grave site #1. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any information relating to who is in these graves. 

This spot would be easy to miss because the writing has faded so much in the last 120+ years.

A little help from DStretch makes it all visible.  James-1893.

Number 2 doesn't have any type of marker.

Number 3

A better look at #3

Number 4

A better look at #4

Several bedrock mortars

A grinding surface and maybe a few cupules

A couple more

My granddaughter Tay doing her thing (look closely)

A nice rock shelter with a couple of mortars and a few cupules

A large mortar in the same shelter

Nice to find a petroglyph. This one might be an atlatl (predecessor to the bow and arrow)

A deep mortero (or mortar). There are also a few couples on the far left of the rock and a couple more in the lower right of the photo.

 A better view of the cupules. If you remember, cupules are considered by many to be one of the oldest forms of rock art.

Another mortar

And another...

A great piece of bedrock with large mortars and several cupules

A mortar in another rock shelter

I almost missed this old and almost totally faded pictograph!

Not much better even after being enhanced. I was still very happy to find it

A different view of an earlier photo. Mortar and cupules

Another rock shelter with a rock circle in it. 

A faded grid like petroglyph

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Ryan Ranch - Joshua Tree National Park

As some of you may already know, Joshua Tree is pure desert. Water of any type is very valuable. In the late 1800's Jepp and Tom Ryan homesteaded this site to obtain the rights to a natural spring that used to be located there. The water was used to support the Lost Horse Mine (subject of a future post), which was owned by Jepp, Tom, their brother Matt and a local prospector named Johnny Lang. Water was pumped from the spring to the mine, that was over 3 miles away. In addition to supporting mining activities, the Ryan family also raised cattle. At one time there was over 50 people living on the ranch. 

The main ranch house was very much intact until 1978. That year an arsonist set fire to it. The adobe walls and foundation are all that remains.

The ranch house commanded a fantastic view. 

See the rock formation to the left of the tree? The large rectangular stone jutting into the sky above the rest is called "Headstone." It's a very well known rock climbing site. Joshua Tree has hundreds, if not thousands of them...

The walls of the ranch house were made from bricks and adobe. Both of which were made from local materials, including tailings from the mine. Years later they discovered that the mine tailings still contained gold. From that point forward they referred to the place as the "gold brick house."

 Heading up the hill to the spring and pump house.

 The remains of the old windmill.

Looking past the spring and pump towards the ranch house. I was standing near the base of what is now called "Ryan Mountain."

The amazing rock formation behind the ranch house. There is a lot of evidence around there relating to a long period of Indian presence in the area. 

 The remains of the original ranch bunk house.

We just returned from two weeks in the Joshua Tree area. The first five days it was closed because of the federal government shutdown. I can probably do about 10 posts on this amazing place. I'll probably cut it down a bit, but I love it and there is so much to see and do. In addition, I have a lot of personal history in the area. I might even tell a true story about something amazing that happened to me and a friend there when we were about 12 years old. 

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