Overview

"With Nomads Of The Badlands: Walt continues the autobiographical family story he started in Last Rig To Battle Mountain. 'Nomads' is filled with tales and details vital to a meaningful understanding of the people, places and times that were the Mohave and Mojave Deserts of the Nineteen-teens. Hunting gold in the desert across today's 1,542,776 acre Mojave National Preserve. 'Nomads' is ""High Grade Ore,"" the very ""Jewelry Rock"" they hunted. In August of 1915 in the Hassayampa mining district by Prescott, AZ Sherman and Dora Wilhelm with seven children, in two 1912 era cars left the Ruth Mine. They prospected for gold across the southern deserts of AZ, NV, and CA. Rarely sleeping under a roof, they drove through desolate desert country with water holes fifty miles apart. Crossing the deserts with no gas stations, or mechanics they were one of the first to drive cars across the Mojave Badlands. They made their own roads when they weren't driving in freight wagon-wheel ruts the cars wheel tracks didn't fit in. Yielding right of way to wagons was treacherous as they pulled off the ""roads"" into the sand, frequently getting stuck. They prospected Siegelman, Goldroad, Oatman, Kingman and Topock, Arizona driving the Old National Trails Road route, forefather of The Mother Road, U.S. Route 66. They crossed the Colorado on the Atlantic & Pacific Railroad Co. Red Rock Canyon train bridge. They camped, hunted, swam, and prospected along the Colorado now under Lake Mojave. They found gold in an abandoned boat and dugout cave along the Colorado. They had ""school"" & ""church"" with family teachers. They prospected Searchlight, Nelson, 4th of July Pass, El Dorado Canyon, and Cottonwood, Nevada before graded roads and Colorado dams. They met colorful desert characters: prospectors, miners, & mining engineers; tenderfoots', bootleggers, & rustlers; cooks, caretakers, & cowboys; blacksmiths, bartenders, & sporting girls. Creating new friendships while rekindling old ones, Walt vividly describes how the family lived, hunted gold, and searched for the elusive placer miner Arizona. Wintering in a miners shack near the headquarters of the Rock Springs Land & Cattle Co. in Barnwell, CA they prospected the Mojave National Preserve from Hole-in-the-Wall & Government Holes to Ivanpah as well as from Nipton & Goodsprings to Las Vegas staying close to the lifelines of the desert, the Searchlight, Nevada Southern, Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe, and the San Pedro Los Angeles & Salt Lake which Hazel, Eva and Juanita rode to Long Beach for Christmas with relatives."

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Reviews

"In 1970 Walt Wilhelm wrote the story of his family and their lives and exploits traveling the West in a covered wagon. Last Rig to Battle Mountain is now out of print and available copies are expensive and practically non-existent. This new book, also written by Walt but edited by his grandnephew Wes Wilhelm, picks up the story five years later when they left the Ruth Mine in Arizona to prospect for gold in the Mojave Desert. The covered wagon has been retired and they are now driving old cars through the Needles and Searchlight and Nipton and Barnwell areas. The family finally settles in Yermo and Manix where they become successful business men, desert explorers, miners, oil men, and world famous archery experts. This is a good book, full of local history and familiar names. It reads like a visit with old friends, and I had a hard time putting it down. Pat Schoffstall Mojave River Valley Museum, Barstow Nomads of the Badlands weaves a fascinating tale of the Wilhelm family during the early 1900s in their adventures traipsing around the Mojave Desert, seven children in tow, looking for gold and other valuable endeavors. Theirs is a story full of grit and courage...the kind so rarely found today. It is also filled with love of family and strong connections to the land and other fellow desert dwellers. I was fortunate to have met Ken Wilhelm in his twilight years when I was a young girl. My father, Dennis Casebier, was a desert historian and author. He was interested in the Army posts on the old Mojave Road, and Camp Cady was the first major stop heading east from Barstow. Ken Wilhelm and his wife Mabel welcomed my dad, mom, and I many times into the old ranch house with the surrounding lush, green pastures, a big barn with actual horses (!) and sparkling lakes. My fondest memory of Ken was when he would bang the metal trash can lid of his wild bird food container...just two or three times...and hundreds of ducks and all manner of wild fowl would fly in from miles around to partake in Ken's bounty. Camp Cady Ranch was a magical place to this little girl, and I loved visiting and camping on the banks of one of the lakes...so rare in the vast dry Mojave Desert. The Wilhelm family story is so compelling, so uniquely American, that anyone with a sense of adventure and a wandering spirit will find it extremely enjoyable. Darelyn Casebier Treasurer of the Mojave Desert Heritage and Cultural Association Today there are not many families who would take a car trip with their kids further than the mall much less to another state. Well, that was not the case for the Wilhelm family in the early 1900's! Nomads of the Badlands is the account of the Wilhelm's taking two cars, seven children and hitting the road in search of gold. They covered several states, spent a lot of time in the Mojave Desert, had amazing adventures and met some real characters. ""Be right with you soon as I pee, blow my nose, and spit."" You'll have to read the book to get it. The more you read the more impressed, inspired and captivated you will become with this family. Jay Barrs Archery Olympian Gold Medalist Men's Individual & Men's Team Silver Two Time World Field Champion & Nineteen Time US National Champion"

Author Information

Born February 27, 1893, in Trenton, MO, Walt Wilhelm settled in Yermo, CA. He is buried in the Old Genoa Cemetery, Genoa, NV. A roughneck driller and civilian blacksmith for the U.S. Marine Corps, Walt was an engaging story teller, an accomplished photographer, off-road car builder, welder, amateur archaeologist, and Mojave Desert and Death Valley expert. Walt fished and boated the Colorado River before the dams, he worked with the Fish and Game Commission, was a friend of Zane Grey, and for many years explored the Southwestern Deserts with close friend Erle Stanley Gardner. An exceptional archer, Walt, brother Ken and nephew Dennis starred in Paramount Picture movies for Grantland Rice Productions showcasing off-road driving and archery trick shooting. Walt and Ken appeared on the TV show You Asked For It and toured the country on the sportshow circuit for fifteen years doing archery exhibitions. Walt and Ken were inducted into the California Archery Hall of Fame in 1978. Their custom built off-road vehicles, Prowler & Leaping Lena saved lives in the Mojave Desert and were described in Mechanics Illustrated and Popular Science. Archery Olympian Gold Medalist Men's Individual and Men's Team Silver, Two Time World Field Champion and Nineteen Time US National Champion Treasurer of the Mojave Desert Heritage and Cultural Association

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