The thing most people notice right away when they enter the Quartzsite Cemetery is a stone pyramid topped by a copper camel, and there’s quite a story behind its presence. The cairn marks the grave site of a man they called Hi Jolly, who came to this country in the 1860s to act as a camel driver for the U.S. Army during an ill-fated attempt to use the animals as beasts of burden for military purposes in the deserts of the Southwest.
About 20 miles up the Gila River from Yuma, the community of Dome basks in the desert sun. It’s pretty quiet around here these days—a far cry from that prosperous time in the late 1850s when the boisterous boom town of Gila City boasted some thousand rough and tumble prospectors. It was Arizona’s first gold strike, and the town set the style for other mining camps over the next few years.
The town square in Superior isn’t very big. In fact, it’s not even a square; it’s a triangle. A small triangle. So small that if it weren’t for the statue, there’s a good chance nobody would ever notice it. But the statue’s there and it gives the square triangle purpose.
Up around Chloride, the painted rocks are known simply as “the Mural.” Roy Purcell, the artist, called the work “The Journey” and says it was the result of a deep personal introspection. Either way, the decorated boulders have withstood the elements, bureaucracy and the multitude of tourists who travel a crooked mile to view them, photograph them, comment on them and attempt to decipher their hidden meaning.
