Desert Rat Scrap Book - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Desert Rat Scrap Book (or DRSB) was a (roughly) quarterly, southwestern

Southwestern United States

The Southwestern United States is a region defined in different ways by different sources. Broad definitions include nearly a quarter of the United States, including Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas and Utah...

humor publication based in Thousand Palms, California

Thousand Palms, California

Thousand Palms is a census-designated place in Riverside County, California, United States. The population was 7,715 at the 2010 census, up from 5,120 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Thousand Palms is located at ....

. DRSB was published in editions of 10,000 to 20,000 copies, whenever its creator, Harry Oliver

Harry Oliver

Harold "Pee-Wee" Oliver was a Canadian ice hockey forward who played for the Calgary Tigers of the Western Canada Hockey League and the Boston Bruins and New York Americans of the National Hockey League . He was a member of the Tigers' 1924 WCHL championship and won the Stanley Cup with the...

had sufficient material, and money enough to pay the printer. Forty-six issues were printed and distributed via Southern California bookstores and newsstands, and by mail worldwide. DRSB was devoted to lore, legends, lies and laughs of the American Southwest region, especially featuring prospectors and other desert rats. The publication was launched in late 1945 and ran through early 1967. For scans and transcriptions of some issues, see the Desert Rat Scrap Book archive.

Format

The DRSB was published in a unique format, printed on both sides of heavy creme-colored stock of about 17 x 22 inches (43.3 x 55.5 centimetres) (Demy) paper size

Paper size

Many paper size standards conventions have existed at different times and in different countries. Today there is one widespread international ISO standard and a localised standard used in North America . The paper sizes affect writing paper, stationery, cards, and some printed documents...

, folded double three times to yield "the smallest newspaper in the world and the only 5-page one... only newspaper in America you can open in the wind." Pages 1 and 5 (the front and back) are about 5.5 x 8.5 inches; page 2 is about 8.5 x 11 inches; page 3 is about 11 x 17 inches; page 5 is the full 17 x 22 inches. See these images, from the March 1953 issue of Arizona Highways magazine, for an illustration of the expansion.

Numbers

Each issue was a 'packet'; each volume was a 'pouch'. The first issue, dated FALL 1946 (but possibly printed on Harry Oliver's birthday of 4 April 1946) was not numbered. The second issue, dated WINTER 1946-47, was numbered PACKET TWO OF POUCH ONE. All further editions were undated, and numbered as PACKET XXX OF POUCH YYY. Sometimes more than three months passed between editions, which is why PACKET TWO OF POUCH TWELVE (the final issue) appeared in 1967, over 20 years from the first.

Layout

PAGE ONE, rarely overprinted with one garish color, usually featured a Harry Oliver woodcut

Woodcut

Woodcut—occasionally known as xylography—is a relief printing artistic technique in printmaking in which an image is carved into the surface of a block of wood, with the printing parts remaining level with the surface while the non-printing parts are removed, typically with gouges...

or a cartoon

Cartoon

A cartoon is a form of two-dimensional illustrated visual art. While the specific definition has changed over time, modern usage refers to a typically non-realistic or semi-realistic drawing or painting intended for satire, caricature, or humor, or to the artistic style of such works...

(sometimes by Walt Disney

Walt Disney

Walter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O...

or Hank Ketcham

Hank Ketcham

Henry King "Hank" Ketcham was an American cartoonist who created the Dennis the Menace comic strip, writing and drawing it from 1951 to 1994, when he retired from drawing the daily page and took up painting full time in his studio at his home. He received the Reuben Award for the strip in 1953...

), and would often announce a theme for that issue - see THEMES below. The issue contents might (or might not) generally follow that theme. In just a very few issues, a full-cover illustration would spread over both the first and last pages.

PAGE TWO would usually (but not always) contain the masthead

Masthead (publishing)

The masthead is a list, published in a newspaper or magazine, of its staff. In some publications it names only the most senior individuals; in others, it may name many or all...

and boilerplate

Boilerplate (text)

Boilerplate is any text that is or can be reused in new contexts or applications without being changed much from the original. Many computer programmers often use the term boilerplate code. A legal boilerplate is a standard provision in a contract....

, something like the following:

This paper is not entered as 2nd class mail.
It's a first class newspaper.

Packet xxx of Pouch yyy

Smallest newspaper in the world
and the only 5 paged one.

Published at Fort Oliver

1000 Palms, California

Four Times a Year

ON THE NEWS STANDS 10¢ A COPY

But sometimes they don't have them.

ONE YEAR BY MAIL — 4 COPIES 50¢

Darned if I am going to the trouble of mailing it for nothing.

10 Years ..................... $5.00

100 Years .....................$50.00

This offer expires when I do.

Asbestos editions will be forwarded in case you don't make it.

Published by

HARRY OLIVER

1888-1999

Fort Commander, Publisher, Distributor, Lamp Lighter, Editor, Artist, Gardener, Janitor, Owner

Following would be an 'editorial', various 'news' items and gags and aphorisms or factoids (original or clipped from other sources) under old-time fonts headings, interspersed with small block prints and/or cartoons of desert characters.

PAGE THREE usually contained more of the same, with some slightly longer text pieces, by Harry Oliver or other writers. Many of these items were recycled from previous Harry Oliver publications — Harry was his own best plagiarist.

PAGE FOUR had yet more of the same, often with even longer pieces (including a complete play once) that might address the issue's theme. Along the bottom of this largest page might be a few advertisements, for ghost towns and publications and date farms and rock shops.

PAGE FIVE, above the mailing address block, might contain a list of conversation starters, or more gags and news and quotes, or a promotion for Harry Oliver's audio album of readings, or maybe just a large woodcut and an essay or mini-epic poem.

Just one issue, Packet Four of Pouch Four, named DESERT RAT HARRY OLIVER'S JOKE BOOK, did not follow the above formats. This is a 32-page book (plus covers), sized about 5.5 x 8.5 inches, folded and stapled. The contents are primarily the usual short gags. The heading on page one says FIRST DESERT JOKE BOOK. This was apparently an unsuccessful experiment.

Themes

Each issue bore on the front cover the name of a supposed theme for that issue, such as: Desert Burros

Donkey

The donkey or ass, Equus africanus asinus, is a domesticated member of the Equidae or horse family. The wild ancestor of the donkey is the African Wild Ass, E...

, Death Valley

Death Valley

Death Valley is a desert valley located in Eastern California. Situated within the Mojave Desert, it features the lowest, driest, and hottest locations in North America. Badwater, a basin located in Death Valley, is the specific location of the lowest elevation in North America at 282 feet below...

, Good Old Desert Fun, Ghost Towns

Ghost town

A ghost town is an abandoned town or city. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economic activity that supported it has failed, or due to natural or human-caused disasters such as floods, government actions, uncontrolled lawlessness, war, or nuclear disasters...

, Along the Border, Simplicity, Indians

Indigenous peoples of the Americas

The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...

, Desert Folklore

Folklore

Folklore consists of legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales and customs that are the traditions of a culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. The study of folklore is sometimes called...

, Peg-Leg Smith

Thomas L. Smith

Thomas L. "Pegleg" Smith was a mountain man who, serving as a guide for many early expeditions into the American Southwest, helped explore parts of present-day New Mexico...

's Gold, Lost Mines

Lost mines

Lost mines are a popular form of lost treasure legend. The mine involved is usually of a high-value commodity such as gold, silver or diamonds. Often there is a map purportedly showing the location of the mine...

And Buried Treasure

Buried treasure

A buried treasure is an important part of the popular beliefs surrounding pirates and Old West outlaws. According to popular conception, criminals and others often buried their stolen fortunes in remote places, intending to return for them later, often with the use of treasure maps.-Pirate...

, Frontier Wild Women, Desert Rats & Hermit

Hermit

A hermit is a person who lives, to some degree, in seclusion from society.In Christianity, the term was originally applied to a Christian who lives the eremitic life out of a religious conviction, namely the Desert Theology of the Old Testament .In the...

s, Death Valley Scotty

Walter E. Scott

Walter Edward Perry Scott , also known as Death Valley Scotty, was a prospector, performer, and con man, who was made famous by his many scams involving gold mining and the iconic mansion in Death Valley, popularly known as Scotty's Castle.- Early years :Scott was born in Cynthiana, Kentucky to...

, etc. Besides these, Harry Oliver would also deal with such themes as: The Lost Ship of the Desert

Lost Ship of the Desert

The Lost Ship of the Desert is the subject of legends about ancient ships found in California's Colorado Desert. Since after the U.S. Civil War, stories have been told about buried ships hidden in the desert lands north of the Gulf of California....

; his Desert County secession

Secession

Secession is the act of withdrawing from an organization, union, or especially a political entity. Threats of secession also can be a strategy for achieving more limited goals.-Secession theory:...

movement and Keep the Desert Beautiful campaign; outlaw

Outlaw

In historical legal systems, an outlaw is declared as outside the protection of the law. In pre-modern societies, this takes the burden of active prosecution of a criminal from the authorities. Instead, the criminal is withdrawn all legal protection, so that anyone is legally empowered to persecute...

s and lawmen

Sheriff

A sheriff is in principle a legal official with responsibility for a county. In practice, the specific combination of legal, political, and ceremonial duties of a sheriff varies greatly from country to country....

; communicating with animals; and what others had written about him.

Ambiance

The above descriptions do nothing to convey the ambiance and attraction of the Desert Rat Scrap Book. It's like holding a booklet that becomes an old-time news sheet, filled with information old and new, real and imaginary, serious and hilarious, all informed by a strong and cantankerous personality. There's always another detail in another corner, another timeless tidbit waiting for a patient reader to stumble upon. Even when new, each issue is a small time machine

Time travel

Time travel is the concept of moving between different points in time in a manner analogous to moving between different points in space. Time travel could hypothetically involve moving backward in time to a moment earlier than the starting point, or forward to the future of that point without the...

Influence

Just as Harry Oliver's design of Gold Gulch

Gold Gulch

Gold Gulch was the largest funfair concession built for visitors at the California Pacific International Exposition, a World's Fair that was open from 1935 to 1936, in San Diego, Southern California, United States...

, at the San Diego World's Fair

World's Fair

World's fair, World fair, Universal Exposition, and World Expo are various large public exhibitions held in different parts of the world. The first Expo was held in The Crystal Palace in Hyde Park, London, United Kingdom, in 1851, under the title "Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All...

(California Pacific International Exposition) of 1935-36, strongly influenced the development of Western theme parks and frontier village reconstructions, so his DRSB can be seen to help shape subsequent Western Americana literary ephemera

Ephemera

Ephemera are transitory written and printed matter not intended to be retained or preserved. The word derives from the Greek, meaning things lasting no more than a day. Some collectible ephemera are advertising trade cards, airsickness bags, bookmarks, catalogues, greeting cards, letters,...

. The DRSB can also be seen as an ancestor of zine

Zine

A zine is most commonly a small circulation publication of original or appropriated texts and images. More broadly, the term encompasses any self-published work of minority interest usually reproduced via photocopier....

culture

Dating

Dating any specific issue has always been problematic. Postmarks on mailed issues are not always helpful. Harry Oliver produced all issues ('packets') of the first 11 pouches, often at very irregular intervals. Later issues depended heavily on reprinted items. Due to failing health and attitude, Oliver ceased publication in 1965. In 1967 he gave his operation to ex-merchant seaman Bill Powers, who produced two more issues (Packets One and Two of Pouch Twelve) and reprinted a few old issues, then abandoned the DRSB forever and disappeared, possibly returning to sea.

First packet was printed on 4 April 1946.

Packet 4, Pouch 5, printed on 4 April 1953.

(timeline needed here)

NOTE: Following is a necessarily incomplete summary of DRSB 'articles'. This list may merely give a taste of the fractally-complex contents of each issue. Unless credited otherwise, text and art are presumably by Harry Oliver.

Pouch One

"Packet One" (unnumbered), Camp Edition, Saddle Bag Size, Fall Edition 1946 - Will Rogers
Will Rogers
William "Will" Penn Adair Rogers was an American cowboy, comedian, humorist, social commentator, vaudeville performer, film actor, and one of the world's best-known celebrities in the 1920s and 1930s....

Says; Harry Oliver's Argument Starters; Toad Watson's Christmas; Rip Snortin'; Pack Rats and Dope; Fame For Nothin'; Adobe
Packet Two, Winter Edition 1946-47 - How to be a Desert Rat and Like It, by John Hilton; The Desert, by Don Blanding
Don Blanding
Donald Benson Blanding was an American poet who sentimentalized warm climates and was sometimes described as "poet laureate of Hawaii". He was also known as a journalist, author of prose, and speaker....

; Death Valley Scotty, Desert Rat, Showman; Wiffletree Carries the Mail; How to Build With Adobe; Indian Signs
Packet Three - What the Desert Rats are Doing Today; Petrified Pete; The Borego Calicoes; Yuma
Yuma, Arizona
Yuma is a city in and the county seat of Yuma County, Arizona, United States. It is located in the southwestern corner of the state, and the population of the city was 77,515 at the 2000 census, with a 2008 Census Bureau estimated population of 90,041....

is an Interesting Town; Adobe
Adobe
Adobe is a natural building material made from sand, clay, water, and some kind of fibrous or organic material , which the builders shape into bricks using frames and dry in the sun. Adobe buildings are similar to cob and mudbrick buildings. Adobe structures are extremely durable, and account for...

; The Peak of Saint Hyacinth
Saint Hyacinth
Saint Hyacinth, O.P., was educated in Paris and Bologna. A Doctor of Sacred Studies and a secular priest, he worked to reform women's monasteries in his native Poland...

; Dog Eater, by Charles M. Russell; Desert Rat Ten Commandments
Packet Four, The Windy Number - Water Witches; Jose y el Burro; Chaparral
Chaparral
Chaparral is a shrubland or heathland plant community found primarily in the U.S. state of California and in the northern portion of the Baja California peninsula, Mexico...

; Captain Catnip Ashby; All's Not Gold That Glitters; That's 30, by Lloyd Smith
Lloyd Smith
Lloyd Smith was born December 12, 1953. He is a native of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He played lead guitar in the funk band the Bar-Kays. His nickname in the band was "Luscious Lloyd". He also plays piano and other instruments....

, Director of the Palm Springs Desert Museum; Haywire Weather; Wind, Wind, and More Wind

Pouch Two

Packet One, The Burro Number (cover woodblock by Lon Megargee) - Jose and the Burro; Whiskers and Christmas; Burros, An Interview; The Barber of Calexico
Calexico, California
Calexico is a city in Imperial County, California. The population was 38,572 at the 2010 census, up from 27,109 at the 2000 census. Calexico is about east of San Diego and west of Yuma, Arizona...

; Adobe, by John Hilton; Gold, $70.00 an Ounce; Squaw Wood
Packet Two (to be determined)
Packet Three, Along The Border Packet - No Burro, No Gold; Screwbean Benny; So You Are a Hermit; Hell In Texas (song), by George E. Hastings; Two Stories of Old Fort Oliver; The "Screaming Sands" of "Smuggler's Charybdis"; The Transplanted Ghosts at Knott's
Packet Four, 2nd Anniversary Packet - How Editors Get Rich; The Sad Tail of Arty Packrat; Low Down on Big Horn, by George Pipkin of Death Valley; Tarantula Hawks an' Aeroplanes; Brigham Young
Brigham Young
Brigham Young was an American leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and a settler of the Western United States. He was the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1847 until his death in 1877, he founded Salt Lake City, and he served as the first governor of the Utah...

and His 20 Wives in Grand Melee; The Lord's Mine, by John C. Herr; Water Water; Chicken Gold; How to be a Desert Rat and Like It, by John Hilton

Pouch Three

Packet One, Hot Weather Packet (cover cartoon by Bob Dell) - Lost Mines; Gold Is Where You Find It; Boot Hill
Boot Hill
Boot Hill is the name for any number of cemeteries, chiefly in the American West. During the 19th century it was a common name for the burial grounds of gunfighters, or those who "died with their boots on" ....

's of the Old West, by Herbert W. Kuhm; Our Good Neighbor, Texas, by S. Omar Barker
S. Omar Barker
S. Omar Barker , an oft-recited cowboy poet, was born in a log cabin in New Mexico where he lived his entire life as a rancher, teacher and writer...

; Your Editor's Prayer; The Chaparral Cock (poem), by Walt Beckwith; Mischievous Burros, by Erle Stanley Gardner
Erle Stanley Gardner
Erle Stanley Gardner was an American lawyer and author of detective stories, best known for the Perry Mason series, he also published under the pseudonyms A.A. Fair, Kyle Corning, Charles M. Green, Carleton Kendrake, Charles J...

; There's Gold in Them Thar Hills, by John C. Hebb; Squaw Wood
Packet Two, Death Valley Packet - Shorty Harris; Pay Dirt; Egg Packer of the Panamints, by George Palmer Putnam
George P. Putnam
George Palmer Putnam was an American publisher, author and explorer. Known for his marriage to and being the widower of Amelia Earhart, he had also achieved fame as one of the most successful promoters in the United States during the 1930s.-Early life:Born in Rye, New York, he was the son of John...

; Death Valley Scotty's Record-Breaking Dash on the Coyote Special, by Lee Shippey
Lee Shippey
Henry Lee Shippey , who wrote under the name Lee Shippey, was an author and journalist whose romance with a French woman during World War I caused a sensation in the United States as a "famous war triangle." Shippey later wrote a popular column in the Los Angeles Times for 22 years.-Early...

; Old Prumes, Colorado's Best-Loved Burro, by Mrs. James Rose Harvey; Death Valley and its Country, by George Palmer Putnam; Panamint Pete, by Leonard F. Murnane; Tall But Short Stories from Death Valley
Packet Three, Moonlight on the Colorado Packet - How the Spaniards Came to Think California Was an Island; The Spanish Galleon at the Bottom of the Salton Sea
Salton Sea
The Salton Sea is a shallow, saline, endorheic rift lake located directly on the San Andreas Fault, predominantly in California's Imperial Valley. The lake occupies the lowest elevations of the Salton Sink in the Colorado Desert of Imperial and Riverside counties in Southern California. Like Death...

; Burros, What They Are Made Of, by Mrs. James Rose Harvey; Earthquakes & Horse Pants; Alligators in the Rio Colorado
Colorado River
The Colorado River , is a river in the Southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, approximately long, draining a part of the arid regions on the western slope of the Rocky Mountains. The watershed of the Colorado River covers in parts of seven U.S. states and two Mexican states...

, by John Hilton; The Pack Rat's Nest; Irvin S. Cobb
Irvin S. Cobb
Irvin Shrewsbury Cobb was an American author, humorist, and columnist who lived in New York and authored more than 60 books and 300 short stories.-Biography:...

's Description of Grand Canyon
Grand Canyon
The Grand Canyon is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in the United States in the state of Arizona. It is largely contained within the Grand Canyon National Park, the 15th national park in the United States...

; The River in Red, by Edwin Corle
Edwin Corle
-Biography:He was born in Wildwood, New Jersey and educated at the University of California, Berkeley, where he received his A.B. in 1928. For the next two years he was a graduate student at Yale University.In 1932 he married Helen Freeman in Ensenada, Mexico....

; Ribbons of Wood; A Ship in the Algodones, by David O. Woodbury; Yuma in 1776, by Father Fout
Packet Four, Treasure Packet - Dick Wick Hall's Mine Was Lost as Stockholders Look On; Wimmin and Cows, by Ken McClure; The Spanish Galleon of Salton Sea, by Antonio de Fierro; West Still Wild, by Harry Carr
Harry Carr
Harry C. Carr , whose byline for most of his career was Harry Carr, was a reporter, editor and columnist for the Los Angeles Times. In 1934 he was given an honorable mention by a Pulitzer Prize committee on awards...

; Where Is Pegleg Smith's Lost Mine; Sidewalks of Silver, by John Hilton; Old Time Remedies; The James Boys Loot, by J. Frank Dobie
J. Frank Dobie
James Frank Dobie was an American folklorist, writer, and newspaper columnist best known for many books depicting the richness and traditions of life in rural Texas during the days of the open range...

; Gold, You Can Have It If You Get The Right Shovel

Pouch Four

Packet One, Good Old Desert Fun - Nevada, Bad Men Buried Alone; A True Desert Turtle Story, by John C. Herr; Fairplay Burro Race Denied Betting Permit; The Burro Led Men to Gold and Silver, by Lucile and Harold Weight; Lem's Fame For Nothin'; Rip's Jumpin' Cactus Drink; Desert Rat Circus, by Geo. A Stingle; Quicksilver Humor
Packet Two, Desert Magic Packet (cover cartoon by Bob Dell) - Singing Sands of Fort Oliver; Hermit Business; Telling About When a Man's Wealth Was Measured by the Size of His Bedroll; Pageant of Death Valley; The Magic of Desert Air, by George A. Stingle; Mirage
Mirage
A mirage is a naturally occurring optical phenomenon in which light rays are bent to produce a displaced image of distant objects or the sky. The word comes to English via the French mirage, from the Latin mirare, meaning "to look at, to wonder at"...

; Desert Weather, Unusual as Usual; Whisky Joe, A Story With a Moral; More About Pegleg Smith, by W.T. Russell
Packet Three, Minnehaha
Minnehaha
Minnehaha is a fictional Native American woman documented in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's 1855 epic poem The Song of Hiawatha. She is the lover of the titular protagonist Hiawatha. The name is often incorrectly said to mean "laughing water", though in reality it translates to "waterfall" or...

's Tee-Hee Packet, Injun Stuff, Indian Packet (cover cartoon by Wilbur Timpe) - Indian Cradleboard, by Mrs. Ben Hicks; Death Valley and Peg Leg Too, by William Caruthers; Back to the Reservation; Indian Signs You Should Know; Gold in the Heart of Santa Rosa Mountain; Wampum
Packet Four, Desert Rat Harry Oliver's Joke Book (cover art by Art Loomer overprinted in red) - First Desert Joke Book; Hot Weather; Burros; Wind, Wind, and More Wind; My Dog Whiskers; Injun Stuff; Death Valley

Pouch Five

Packet One, Good Old Desert Fun, Kindness to Animals Packet (cover cartoon by Frank Adams
Frank Adams (artist)
Frank Adams was an American artist. Starting as an engineering draftsman during World War II, he was known for book illustrations, cartoons, and paintings. .Adams is noted for "The Home Front" first published in 1944...

) - I Am a Little Ashamed; Sinful Gold; Smart Roadrunner
Roadrunner
Roadrunners are birds of the genus Geococcyx.Roadrunner or Road Runner may also refer to:* Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner, an animated character based on the bird** The Road Runner Show, compiled cartoons including the character...

; The Pack Rat's Nest, by Allen J. Papen; U.S. Army Mule; Old Abe Died in 1881, by Chas. Lockwood; Being a Hero is a Lifetime Job; Walter (P.T. Barnum) Knott
Walter Knott
Walter Marvin Knott was an American farmer who created the Knott's Berry Farm amusement park in California....

; Burros; Yuma's (Red Cross) Mosquitos
Packet Two, Frontier Wild Women Good & Bad, Wild Women Packet - Grass Valley
Grass Valley, California
-2010:The 2010 United States Census reported that Grass Valley had a population of 12,860. The population density was 2,711.3 people per square mile . The racial makeup of Grass Valley was 11,493 White, 46 African American, 208 Native American, 188 Asian, 9 Pacific Islander, 419 from other...

's Lotta Crabtree
Lotta Crabtree
Lotta Mignon Crabtree was an American actress, entertainer and comedian. She was also a significant philanthropist....

; Lola Montez
Lola Montez
Eliza Rosanna Gilbert, Countess of Landsfeld , better known by the stage name Lola Montez, was an Irish dancer and actress who became famous as a "Spanish dancer", courtesan and mistress of King Ludwig I of Bavaria, who made her Countess of Landsfeld. She used her influence to institute liberal...

of the Roaring Fifties; Westward the Women, by Nancy Wilson Ross; Street of Red Lights
Red-light district
A red-light district is a part of an urban area where there is a concentration of prostitution and sex-oriented businesses, such as sex shops, strip clubs, adult theaters, etc...

in old Virginia City
Virginia City
Virginia City is a city located in Storey County, Nevada.Virginia City may also refer to:* Virginia City, Montana* Virginia City, Nevada* Virginia City, Virginia* Virginia City , a 1940 film starring Errol Flynn...

; Shorty Harris and the Primadonna; The Frozen Flame of Mt. San Jacinto; The Wages of Sin, by John Herr; This Is California, The Last Slice of La Ballona Rancho; My Old Dog, by Pancho
Packet Three, Death Valley & Nevada Packet - Nuts to Daylight Savings; A New Show is Born; Shoshone Minnie's First Aid Kit; The West's Most Western Town, by Stevens Gaugh; No More Frontier, by Bill Nye
Edgar Wilson Nye
Edgar Wilson "Bill" Nye was a distinguished American journalist, who later became widely known as a humorist...

1886; Critics Don't Agree on What is Wrong With my Book; The Withering Winds of the Mojave Desert
Mojave Desert
The Mojave Desert occupies a significant portion of southeastern California and smaller parts of central California, southern Nevada, southwestern Utah and northwestern Arizona, in the United States...

; Be a One Page Desert Naturalist
Packet Four, Cool Desert Summer Packet (cover cartoon by Maggie Gerke overprinted in red) - My Dog Whiskers, Worse Than Death; Faith, by John Herr; Campaign For Burro Protection Mounting Throughout Desert Area, by L. Burr Belden; She Pinched Out, by Old Bill Williams
Bill Williams
-People:* Bill Williams , American film actor* Bill Williams , original member of The Lockers* Bill Williams Designer and programmer of Atari 8-bit and Amiga games...

; A Cousin Jack Paul Bunyan
Paul Bunyan
Paul Bunyan is a lumberjack figure in North American folklore and tradition. One of the most famous and popular North American folklore heroes, he is usually described as a giant as well as a lumberjack of unusual skill, and is often accompanied in stories by his animal companion, Babe the Blue...

, by Chas. C. Bailey; Bourbon Spring, by Capt. R.A. Gibson; More Gold From Beatty
Beatty, Nevada
Beatty is a census-designated place along the Amargosa River in Nye County in the U.S. state of Nevada. U.S. Route 95 runs through the CDP, which lies between Tonopah, about to the north, and Las Vegas, about to the southeast. State Route 374 connects Beatty to Death Valley National Park, about ...

; Bill Nye's Story of Big Steve; Let's Talk of Graves, of Worms, and Epitaths, by Walter S. Hughes; Current Americana
Americana
Americana refers to artifacts, or a collection of artifacts, related to the history, geography, folklore and cultural heritage of the United States. Many kinds of material fall within the definition of Americana: paintings, prints and drawings; license plates or entire vehicles, household objects,...

Pouch Six

Packet One, Don't Fret Packet (cover cartoon by Maggie Gerke) - The Alcalde
Alcalde
Alcalde , or Alcalde ordinario, is the traditional Spanish municipal magistrate, who had both judicial and administrative functions. An alcalde was, in the absence of a corregidor, the presiding officer of the Castilian cabildo and judge of first instance of a town...

's Report to the Cactus Nation; Conspiracy at Fort Oliver; The Last Chief of the Paiutes, Tecopah; My Twenty-Five Years With Peg Leg Smith; Culture Vultures
Culture Vultures
Culture Vultures is a 2007 indie rock album by American band Orson. The album was released on October 22, 2007 but it leaked online on October 20, 2007....

at Old Adove Fort Oliver, by L. Burr Belden; Death Valley Scotty, Prospector and Showman, by Dane Coolidge; The Old Grouch, by John Herr; Lowdown on Western History
Packet Two, The Contentment Packet (cover art by Art Loomer) - Post Pourri, by Pancho; The Desert (poem), by Don Blanding; Mule Decides to Quit Army; Death Valley Scotty, Prospector and Showman, by Dane Coolidge, second installment; The Great Cat Race, by Guy Bogart
Packet Three, Mixed Up Packet (wraparound cover: The Old Depot, by C. D. Bass) - A Dog's Editorial; Life-Saving Snake Story; The Enchanted Station Wagon
Station wagon
A station wagon is a body style variant of a sedan/saloon with its roof extended rearward over a shared passenger/cargo volume with access at the back via a third or fifth door , instead of a trunk lid...

; Our Town, by John Weld
John Weld
John Weld was a newspaper reporter and writer....

; Death Valley Scotty, by Dane Coolidge (third installment)
Packet Four, Shaggy Dog Edition (cover cartoon by Maggie Gerke) - "Saint Frijole" Rids Mexico of Arthritis
Arthritis
Arthritis is a form of joint disorder that involves inflammation of one or more joints....

; Death Valley Scotty, Prospector and Showman, by Dane Coolidge, fourth installment; A Chinee Boy Buys a Mine, by Capt. R.A. Gibson; Tough Miner in a Tough Country, by Ca

Pouch Seven

Packet One, Jack Ass Edition - Old Prunes, by Everett Blair; The Burro As I Know Him; Burro Flapjack Race; Burros, What They Are Made Of, by Mrs. James Rose Harvey; Burro Love Saga, by Paul Wilhelm; Shorty Harris Burro Story, by George Pipkin; Death Valley Scotty, Prospector and Showman, by Dane Coolidge, fifth installment; What About the Burro? by Chas. Lockwood; No Burros, No Gold
Packet Two, Half Ass Edition (cover cartoon by Maggie Gerke) - Scotty's Castle; New Model Cockroaches; SHAME! Look What YOU Did! (Desert Beautification campaign); I AM A SECESSIONIST (Desert County campaign); Gold; Before the Jeep
Jeep
Jeep is an automobile marque of Chrysler . The first Willys Jeeps were produced in 1941 with the first civilian models in 1945, making it the oldest off-road vehicle and sport utility vehicle brand. It inspired a number of other light utility vehicles, such as the Land Rover which is the second...

, They Tried to Replace the Burro
Burro
The burro is a small donkey used primarily as a pack animal. In addition, significant numbers of feral burros live in the Southwestern United States, where they are protected by law, and in Mexico...

; Death Valley Stories, by Capt. R.A. Gibson; I Killed a Burro, by Anonymous; Paul Wilhelm's Desert Column; Mulish Justice; Cremated Currency, by John Hilton
Packet Three, Haunted Ghost Towns Packet (cover art by Maggie Gerke overprinted in blue) - Randsburg's Dancin' Skeletons; Harry Oliver Swept Here; Colorado's Day Time Ghost; The Day They All (one-act play), by Robert Finch
Robert Finch
Robert Hutchison Finch was a Republican politician from La Canada Flintridge, California. Born in Tempe, Arizona, he was the son of Robert L. Finch, a member of the Arizona House of Representatives....
Packet Four, The Pack Rat Edition (cover art by Maggie Gerke overprinted in orange) - Pioneer Yankee Traders; Toad Watson's Christmas; Shake Rattle & Rob, by Old Bill Williams; The Clown of the Rat Family, by Charles Lockwood; Paul Wilhelm's Desert Column; The Sad Tale of Arty Packrat; Pack Rats & Dope

Pouch Eight

Packet One, An Appetizer for Tourists, Bunk-House Edition (cover cartoon by Hank Ketcham) - All's Not Gold That Glitters; English Words in Southwest Spanish; Joost Playin'; Bewitched Sand, by J. Frank Dobie; Mischievous Burros; Pack Rat Arsonists, by Maidee Nelson; The Matador and the Burro; Souvenir of Mexico
Packet Two, How to Be a Full-Time Idealist, Don Quixote Edition (cover art by Maggie Gerke overprinted in purple) - How to Be a Local Wit; Animal Crackers; The Handsome Horned Toad, by Florence Emmons; Injun Stuff; The Fish That Carried Its Own Pond With It, by Snow Creek Bert; 'Cher Ami' Honored With D.S.C., by Chas. Lockwood; Flowery Tribute to an Old Saloon, by James L. Wright
James L. Wright
James L. Wright, Jr. is a former Republican member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. He represented the 142nd legislative district in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from 1965-1990. He is the father of Matthew N. Wright, who succeeded him in representing the 142nd...

; Was His Grand Pappy a'dreamin?, by Old Bill Williams; The Brook (poem), after Tennyson
Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson
Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson, FRS was Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom during much of Queen Victoria's reign and remains one of the most popular poets in the English language....
Packet Three, The Happy Scramble Edition (cover art by Maggie Gerke overprinted in amber) - Salton Sea Leaks; Colonel Phat's Fort Oliver Dispatches, by Phat Graettinger; Be One Of My "Snoops"; Squeaky Springs; One Way of Proposing (poem); Gold Miners Make Strike In Sky, by Ray Henry; Outsmarted by a Burro, by Anne Evans Bancroft; Crow Made to Eat Crow; A Desert Fable
Packet Four, The Voice of the Desert Packet (cover art by Art Loomer overprinted in brown) - Mutiny at the Fort, by Ray Corliss; Desert Editor's Best (poems), by George Bideaux; Old Sky-Eye Jones; The Big Wind, by Snow Creek Bert; Peg Leg Smith at Palmas Blancas, by Horace Parker

Pouch Nine

Packet One, Power of Positive Bologna Packet (cover cartoon by Harry Mace
Harry Mace
Harry F. Mace was a pitcher in Major League Baseball for the 1891 Washington Statesmen. He played in the minors from 1889–1895 and managed in 1902.-External links:...

overprinted in red) - With a Brood in His Beard; Abe Lincoln's Dry Wit; The Wit of Utah, by Rolfe Peterson; Romantic Desert Trade Rats, by S.F. "Snoop" Garside; The Last Man to Fight Buffalo Bill
Buffalo Bill
William Frederick "Buffalo Bill" Cody was a United States soldier, bison hunter and showman. He was born in the Iowa Territory , in LeClaire but lived several years in Canada before his family moved to the Kansas Territory. Buffalo Bill received the Medal of Honor in 1872 for service to the US...

; Two Damns and a Hell; The Biggest Little Paper; The Cat's Whiskers; Eager Beavers
Packet Two, How Old Is Old? Second Childhood Packet (cover sketch by Roger Armstrong - Whip-Snapping; The Belled Burro; Wiffletree Carries the Mail; Famed Double-Barreled Whale of Great Salt Lake
Great Salt Lake
The Great Salt Lake, located in the northern part of the U.S. state of Utah, is the largest salt water lake in the western hemisphere, the fourth-largest terminal lake in the world. In an average year the lake covers an area of around , but the lake's size fluctuates substantially due to its...

, by Rolfe Peterson; The Tumbleweed of Lordsburg, by Norman V. Christensen; Old Goldfield
Goldfield, Nevada
Goldfield is an unincorporated community and the county seat of Esmeralda County, Nevada, United States, with a resident population of 440 at the 2000 census. It is located about southeast of Carson City, along U.S...

: A Town That Knew How - And How, by Frank Johnson; How Old Is Old?; "Oliver Rides Again" (words & sketch by Margo Gerke)
Packet Three, Your Animals And You (cover overprinted in cinnamon) - Calico Ghost Town, A Bit of History, from Ted Hutchinson; The Jerky Trial, from Rolly Canfield; Best Dam Builder Moves Into Glen Canyon; To Dearest Helen - My Devoted Friend, by William Randolph Hearst
William Randolph Hearst
William Randolph Hearst was an American business magnate and leading newspaper publisher. Hearst entered the publishing business in 1887, after taking control of The San Francisco Examiner from his father...

; Smuggled Chinese Girls & A Mother Mountain Lion; A Walter Knott Project, Calico Restored (AP); Oliver Twists
Packet Four, Tepee (Etiquette) Packet (cover cartoon by Hank Ketcham) - Over Two Hundred Years of Vicious Propaganda: SHAME AMERICA; Mojave or Mohave? Death Valley; Tecopah, The Last Chief of the Paiutes; Only In California; Spring in His Britches, from Dr. Waldo Jones; Shoshone Indians First Aid Kit; Westward the Women, by Nancy Wilson Ross; 49er Gold Rush: Mystery Chief Showed the Good Side of the Indians, by Anonymous; Indian Signs

Pouch Ten

Packet One, Names and Places, Simple Lasting Desert Fun (cover woodblock overprinted in orange) - See the Old West in Festival & Pageant; Peg Leg Smith, The P.T. Barnum of Desert Ghosts; Peg-Leg Gets Applause: Under The Sun, by Bert Fireman; Studebaker Show, by Herb S. Hamlin; Dick Wick Hall Show; John B. Stetson Show; My Modesty Has Gone With The Wind
Packet Two, A Handbook for Rangers & Guides (cover cartoon by Lamb) - Museum Nonsense; The Pack Rats Nest; Wampum; Infant Science (from TIME); Press Agent For A Ghost, by Alfred JaCoby
Packet Three, Man and Animal in Tug-of-War (cover art by unknown, overprinted in orange) - Smart Animals and Stupid People; Mud In The Good Old Desert: My Dad Builds Historic Adobes, by Amy Oliver Vrooman; Galloping in From Another World; 17 Happy Years in the Life of a Desert Dog - As He Tells It (notes and obituaries re: Whiskers)
Packet Four, Editor's 75th Anniversary Edition (cover cartoon by Bob Barnes) - Restoration of an Antique, by Ed Ainsworth; Old Fort Oliver, by Jack Smith; My Year With Pancho Villa
Pancho Villa
José Doroteo Arango Arámbula – better known by his pseudonym Francisco Villa or its hypocorism Pancho Villa – was one of the most prominent Mexican Revolutionary generals....

- How to Stage a Fast-Moving Revolution; Pipe Dreams, by Herb Caen
Herb Caen
Herbert Eugene Caen was a Pulitzer Prize-winning San Francisco journalistwhose daily column of local goings-on, social and political happenings,...

; Writers, Reporters & Editors; The Stubborn Queen (history of a prairie yacht); Simple Life in Desert Castles

Pouch Eleven

Packet One, Editor's 75th Anniversary Edition - Peg-Leg Smith's Gold, Where it was found and where it was lost; Gold; More About Dick Wick Hall; The Spanish Galleon of the Salton Sea; More About Pegleg Smith; The James Boys Loot; Where Is Pegleg Smith's Lost Mine; West Still Wild, by Harry Carr; Peg-Leg Gets Applause From Arizonas Expert Bert Fireman
Packet Two, Desert Beautiful Edition, Raking Up The Past Edition (cover cartoon by Walt Disney) - SHAME! Look What YOU Did! (Desert Beautification campaign); I AM A SECESSIONIST (Desert County campaign); Press Agent For a Ghost; King of the Desert Rats, by Greenfield Lawrel; Let It Be Said We Died With Our Boots On (words & sketch by Margo Gerke)
Packet Three, I Become a Symbol (cover art by Art Loomer) - The Peak of Saint Hyacinth, by Tom Hughes; The Purple Knight of the Salton Sink
Salton Sink
The Salton Sink is a geographic sink in the Coachella and Imperial valleys of southeastern California. It is in the Colorado Desert subregion of the Sonoran Desert ecoregion...

, by Gov. Goodwin Knight
Goodwin Knight
Goodwin Jess Knight , known as "Goodie Knight", was a U.S. politician who was the 31st Governor of California from 1953 until 1959.-Early life:...

; Old Harry (letter to Walt Disney from Mrs. Clifford Henderson); Dick Wick Hall Show; John B. Stetson Show; My Modesty Has Gone With The Wind; Press Agent for a Ghost, by Bert Fireman
Packet Four, Animal Intelligence (cover art by Maggie Gerke) - The Sad Tale of Arty Packrat; Nevada Bad Men Buried Alone; A True Desert Turtle Story; Shorty Harris, Jackass Prospector; Two Stories of Old Fort Oliver; The "Screaming Sands" of "Smuggler's Charybdis"; The True Story of Scotty, by George Palmer Putnam; Adobe, by John Hilton; Bourbon Springs, by Capt. R.A. Gibson

Pouch Twelve

Packet One, Teepee Tales - Council Fire; Death Valley; "Pioneers! O Pioneers!"; Indian Signs; Salton Sea Scrolls; Adult Western (poem) by W.C. Tuttle; Tumbleweeds; Injun Stuff; Prairie Feathers
Packet Two, 21st Anniversary Packet - Death Valley: Tales From Old Ballarat; The Golden Fleece, by John D. Mitchell; Gold in Them Hills, by C.B. Glasscock; The Desert Rat (poem) by Clyde Terrell; Sagebrush Sermon, by Duncan Emrich; Shorty Jones' Magic Tablets, by Vollie Tripp; Smart, Those Burros, by C.B. Glasscock; Pay Dirt, by Scoop Garside; At Cheyenne (poem) by Eugene Field
Eugene Field
Eugene Field, Sr. was an American writer, best known for his children's poetry and humorous essays.-Biography:...