Trek For Gold

two days to follow up on the latest clues of the Lost Dutchman Gold.

This group with two Dons as guides may number from a half dozen men-only to a maximum of twenty-five. The only requirements are the desire to go along, a reasonable ability to endure two days of hiking over the rocky, trackless, upand-down, rough, tangle of Arizona mountainous desert and canyon country, a canteen, a few blankets, and a cooperative investment of three or four dollars each to share the cost of food and pack animals to carry that food and the bedrolls to a predetermined campsight deep in the interior of the mountains.

This group leaves base camp at daylight the day before the main celebration and returns late the afternoon of the second day when the base camp festivities are in full swing.

The map we were following on this mock search was a photographic copy of the old map which had been handed down by the Peraltas, original discoverers of the Superstition gold. Ours was a duplicate of the map for which Adolph Ruth was killed and robbed in the Superstitions in 1931. The names of all the persons who have entered the Superstitions in search of the Peralta and Dutchman gold never again to be heard of and those who have become lost or have perished from lack of water along with the scores of earlier explorers massacred by the Apaches would make a long and fearsome list. But the strange fascination of gold which lures men in the Superstitions has always discounted such odds, and the gold must be there, for too much documented

(Please turn to page twenty-six.)

WALTER E. BOHL

Water colors used on the following pages to illustrate this article on Walter E. Bohl are from the collection of the Valley National Bank. The originals are hung at the bank's most attractive new branch in Glendale.

The gentle creatures of desert, mountain and swamplands are the concern and study of the artist, Walter E. Bohl. Subjects for his etchings and water colors include quail, dove and roadrunner of the Arizona des-ert; wild turkey of the Arizona mountains; grouse and woodcocks in the north woods of Wisconsin and Minnesota; ducks and geese in the lowlands of Arkansas and Louisiana. He lives where they live, following the seasons, setting up his trailer so that his subjects become his neighbors and friends, studying their ways, acquiring an understanding and appreciation of them, recording them faithfully for the pleasure of us who are not so fortunate to know so well the creatures that live in that placid world so far away. His love of nature and the out-of-doors began in his birthplace in Columbus, Wisconsin. It was 1931, while he was recuperating from a serious illness that necessitated a complicated spinal fusion operation, that he decided on an art career. After a year of being bed ridden he was able to do his first work on copper after studying the process from books borrowed from the Chicago Public Library. Two years passed before he was well enough to construct a make-shift etching press from parts of a discarded clothes wringer. The career of Artist Walter E. Bohl began. A natural talent for drawing that he showed in his early boyhood was developed to an ultimate means of pleasure and livelihood. He turned to subjects that pleased him the most: wildlife, horses and dogs. His English setter, Freckles, was a guide in finding game birds-and also a model. His home is where his trailer is: the Arizona desert

in winter; Wisconsin and Minnesota in summer; and the swamps of the south when the duck and geese are on the wing. He spent one summer near Williams making a motion picture of the life of the wild turkey, an unusual and unique portrayal of this proud and elusive bird. Painstaking research and study of life habits of wildlife and animals used for his subjects require even more time than the execution of the etching or the water color. When the Bohls move into a place they first set up a comfortable camp in an area where wildlife abounds. They then arrange to be a neighborly as possible to encourage their friends to visit them. In the desert, for instance, a spacious waterhole is installed and in a short time quail and desert birds overcome their shyness and move closer and closer to camp. The cactus wren, a cautious bird, is offered a tempting sanctuary in a tree near the Bohl trailer and invited with delicious tidbits. The bird is soon under close observation and repays the Bohls for the thought and care they take to please him.

a short time quail and desert birds overcome their shyness and move closer and closer to camp. The cactus wren, a cautious bird, is offered a tempting sanctuary in a tree near the Bohl trailer and invited with delicious tidbits. The bird is soon under close observation and repays the Bohls for the thought and care they take to please him.

The artist's love of nature and the creatures of nature, plus the patience to study them and the desire to know, coupled with the integrity and skill of the finished craftsman, have resulted in the acceptance of Mr. Bohl as one of our foremost nature artists. His subjects are brought to us full of life, beauty and sunshine, drawn with deep understanding.

Mr. Bohl, a noted etcher, has in recent years been making striking nature studies in water colors.

Since 1933, when Mr. Bohl sold his first etching at an outdoor show in Chicago, his work has steadily earned for him the admiration of an ever-growing audience. Esquire Magazine presented a portfolio of his etchings in 1935, and since then his work has appeared in the Chicago Tribune, Arts & Decorations, the American Field and Westways Magazine. In 1946 one of his etchings, "Morning Flight," was chosen by the American Society of Etchers to be invited to design the Duck Stamp for the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 1943, a tribute to his ability. His work is now handled by seventeen galleries throughout the United States, one of which is Clay Smith in Phoenix. He is also represented in many private collections. This quiet, pleasant man is completely happy in his career. He will continue to record the serenity of the deep woods and desert and the comings and goings of the gentle creatures residing therein.-R. C.