CRUISE OF LAKE MOHAVE

When you compare the thousands who are annually cruising the lakes of the Colorado to the few hearty souls who ventured up and down the untamed River before the dams were built, you get an idea how boating has opened up new vistas for the explorer.

A desert lake is a mecca for boaters. And Lake Mohave, created by the earth-filled Davis Dam which straddles the Colorado River and connects the states of Arizona and Nevada, is no exception. Here, on this 65-mile reservoir which backs up to the tailrace of Hoover Dam, the boating tourist can enjoy fishing, swimming and other aquatic sports in a mam-

moth jewel box walled by Black, Eldorado, Painted and Pyramid Canyons. Lake Mohave is an incidental benefit to camping, boat-ing and fishing enthusiasts. The Mexican Water Treaty of 1945 required the U.S. Government to construct Davis Dam and reservoir to furnish water from the river to our sister republic in regular amounts throughout the year. The power from the dam and recreational opportunities were secondary benefits.

Named after the Indians of the surrounding country, Lake Mohave is long and slender and is pretty small compared to its big brother, Lake Mead. In fact, at its widest spot, it is only four miles across.

Launching at Katherine Wash, just above Davis Dam in Arizona, gives you a chance to make the complete run from dam to dam. With the high powered motors of today, you could easily make the round trip in six hours or less. But that's not really exploring it.

For a cruise which includes taking in the side canyons and doing a little fishing, it's a good idea to spend at least three days on the lake. You could easily spend longer if you really enjoy life afloat.

Davis Dam which rises 138 feet above river bed in Pyramid Canyon was originally named Bullshead, derived from a rock formation in the river just above the dam. The site was renamed in 1941 in honor of the late Arthur Powell Davis, director of Reclamation from 1914 To 1923, one of a small group of men whose early courage, foresight and vision sparked the beginning of the Colorado River development.

At the end of Pyramid Canyon, a distance of some twelve miles, you enter the largest basin of the lake and as the lake narrows down again you find Cottonwood Cove.

Now if it is the fabulous fishing which brought you here, you'll want to take time to try your luck. In this lower part of the lake, where the water is warm, large-mouth bass of phenomenal size are caught.

And, of course, you'll want to stay in the vicinity-so plan to spend a night in a slip at Cottonwood Cove Fish-ing Camp. Then you can eat at Bob Cole's restaurant or cook your bass on one of the open grills provided at the National Park Service campground.

This is quite an historic spot, too. The first white man to visit here was Jedediah Smith, intrepid trapper-explorer-evangelist, who followed the Colorado River through this area in 1826 while on one of his journeys into Southern California. In 1827 Smith returned over the same route while searching for rich beaver pelts. Smith and other early adventurers subsisted on the native fish which were unique in many ways. One was a minnow or squawfish, which reached lengths of more than six feet and weight of more than a hundred pounds. Other fish included the boney-tail or Gila trout, the humpback sucker and the humpback chub.

After the completion of Hoover Dam, the water became cold and ideal for trout. Then with the completion of Davis Dam and the forming of Lake Mohave, this sec-tion of the Colorado River again underwent changes. So today trout fishing exists in the upper portion of the lake and bass fishing in the lower. The good paved road from Searchlight, Nevada, into Cottonwood Cove follows the old railroad which was built in 1900, connecting the mines of Searchlight with the 20-stamp mill located at Cottonwood, which was orginally called Searchlight Ferry Landing when a ferry connected the roads from Searchlight to Kingman, Ari-zona. In 1924 an aerial tramway carried traffic across the river.

When you've had your fill of bass fishing, you can head on up the lake to Eldorado Canyon Camp and trout fishing.

First you pass Eagle Rock, a startlingly perfect repre-sentation of a sitting eagle, formed by two or three flows of lava over a white formation, probably pumice.

Then you enter Painted Canyon with its gaudy walls.

There is a great deal of history buried beneath the lake's waters in this stretch between Cottonwood and Eldorado. Some old abandoned mills dating back to the roaring goldheyday of that section have been inundated. The Gold Bug mill on the Arizona side and the Rockefeller mill on the Nevada side as well as the old dredge once used in a placer attempt have disappeared beneath the lake.

However, many side canyons wind back into the rugged cliffs and exploring them is just as interesting and exciting as "prospecting."

When you reach the halfway mark to Eldorado, big numbers made with whitewash on the mountains indicate your distance from the resort. It is just like a "marked" mile on the highway, if you want to try out your boat speedometer.

A century ago Eldorado, which is just a fishing camp now, was a gay steamboat, mining community. From Techatticup Mine, about four miles up from the river in Eldorado Canyon, more than $1,700,000 was taken, and steamers used to run up the Colorado River to Eldorado from May 1 to the last of September (stage of water permitting). Gone are the mining booms and steamboats, but Eldorado is still a busy "port" where the fishermen flock to go up the lake for trout or down the lake for bass.

You can launch your boat here, if you desire, driving in from Nelson, Nevada. The road winds through the canyon of the past; the gold and silver are gone but the scenery is as beautiful as ever. The eroded mountains are covered with cholla and cacti. But it's no place to be during a cloudburst. A couple of times recently most of the fishing resort was washed into the lake as the rain waters brought mud and boulders gushing down the narrow canyon.

Eldorado fishing camp is run by Dr. John and Mildred Griffin who took over from Murl Emery, a veteran river boatman since before the days of Hoover Dam. He had the old Colorado River fishing concession here before the completion of Davis Dam and the subsequent changing of the river to a lake.

Lake Mohave, like Lake Mead, comes under the National Park Service domain, the Lake Mead National Recreation Area. For fishing, you need a valid Nevada or Arizona resident, non-resident or five-day special fishing license. Don't get caught fishing from a boat without a Colorado special use stamp. This permit entitles you to fish all waters of Lake Mohave, Lake Mead and the Colorado River where it forms the boundary between the states of Nevada and Arizona. It is attached to your fishing license.

A couple of miles above Eldorado, you reach the Conical Mountains and Chalk Cliffs, Fenlon's Hole, Window Rock and Copper Basin. There are many boats now-a good testimonial for the fishing.

A little breeze has come up and a quick look at the map shows Windy Canyon where you can expect a little blow even on a calm day.

Also on the map you note a place called Roaring Rapids, but there's nothing to indicate rapids now. Back in 1857, the feasibility of using the Colorado River for steamboat traffic was demonstrated when two different expeditions navigated the river from Yuma to the vicinity of the present site of Hoover Dam. One of these, the Lieutenant Ives expedition, explored the river all the way from the Gulf of California to the head of Black Canyon.

By the middle 1860's boats began to regularly use the Colorado River for traffic hauling salt downstream from an old town named Rioville, lying at the confluence of the Virgin and Colorado Rivers. This salt was distributed to several mills, all of which are buried beneath Lake Mohave. Before the invention of the cyanide process, salt was an essential ingredient in the extraction of gold.

At Roaring Rapids and Ringbolt Rapids above Willow Beach, the rapids were so swift and the fall so great that it was necessary to use a steam winch to pull thebig boats up over fast water. To help pull up the boats, ringbolts were embedded on shore. One of the bolts was removed by the National Park Service before the lake was formed for use in a park museum.

Deep in Black Canyon with its varicolored steep walls is Willow Beach Fishing Camp, and at the end of Black Canyon is Hoover Dam. It is a short run from Willow Beach to the closed area below Hoover Dam. The lake is narrow and shallow and the walls of Black Canyon so steep that it is difficult to decide whether the lake goes left or to the right. And you never saw so many fishermen!

It is a short run from Willow Beach to the closed area below Hoover Dam. The lake is narrow and shallow and the walls of Black Canyon so steep that it is difficult to decide whether the lake goes left or to the right. And you never saw so many fishermen!

There's a good sandy beach for a camp site just below Willow Beach, so you can stay right here doing some early morning trout fishing.

On the return trip to Katherine, you get an altogether different impression of the lake. The shadows on the cliffs form new figures and formations.

If you don't have your own boat, you can rent one at any of the four resorts and "putt, putt" right up through Black Canyon from Davis Dam to Hoover's tailrace, enjoying this exciting, desert-water playground.