A Visit to Lake Mohave

Visitors to Arizona are usually surprised to learn that over 80% of its western boundary is formed by water. Study of an Arizona map will show that the Colorado River with its series of man-made lakes forms a blue ribbon tied neatly to Arizona's western edge. The map makers should take a bow for depicting with such aptness this truly "blue ribbon" water wonderland.

As this is far too extensive an area to cover in one brief writing (or visit) we will confine our attention to one of its most outstanding areas that water playground stretching from Davis Dam to Hoover Dam Lake Mohave.

Just a relatively few years ago this popular bluewatered lake was but a little known segment of the raging, almost inaccessible Colorado. Filled with the red mud that gave it its name and several of the dangerous rapids which helped create its fearsome reputation, the river in this area was seldom visited.

What a contrast there is today! Fun seekers the country over gather at this sixty-seven mile long "oasis in the desert" for the boating, fishing, skiing, swimming, and camping times of their lives.

What has cast this spell over the Colorado? What magic has transformed it into the Lake Mohave, with its ruggedly beautiful, water-filled canyons and valleys, that we know today? Magic in the form of 3,800,000 cubic yards of earth, rock, and concrete known as Davis Dam.

This structure which rises 138 feet above the river bed was originally named Bullshead after a rock formation near the dam site. Several years before its dedication ceremonies of December 10, 1952, however, it was changed to Davis in honor of the late Arthur Powell Davis, Director of Reclamation from 1914 to 1923. Squarely astride the border between Arizona and Nevada, Davis Dam stretches 1600 feet across Pyramid Canyon and is capable of backing up a reservoir of 1,820,000 acre feet of water. Investigations of this area as a possible dam site were made as early as 1902 by engineers of the Bureau of Reclamation. However, a dam at this point on the Colorado was not feasible until a larger one could be built farther upstream. When the completion of Hoover Dam had put a harness on the Colorado investigations were again carried out, and in 1941 Congress authorized the new dam's construction.

Davis Dam, of course, provides recreation and power and permits more adequate control of the water released from Hoover Dam. But its primary function is to give the United States a means of living up to the terms of its 1945 water treaty with Mexico. This agreement requires that our neighbor to the south be furnished with regular amounts of water from the Colorado throughout the year.

The number of visitors to Lake Mohave is increasing annually as its reputation for excellent fishing, spectacular scenery, and all around recreational opportunities continues to grow throughout the Southwest.

Statisticians of the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, of which Lake Mohave is a part, have determined that Mohave draws approximately 20% of the total L.M.N.R.A. visitors. This means that over 600,000 people will visit the lake this year.

Facilities at Lake Mohave are provided by four resort areas operated as concessions under the National Park Service. These are located at Willow Beach, Eldorado Canyon, Cottonwood Cove, and Katherine Wash. Each has available a wide range of supplies and services includ-ing cabins, trailer facilities, cafe, boat and motor rental and services, moorings, boat slips, gasoline and oil, fishing licenses, tackle, and bait. Groceries may be obtained at Willow Beach and Cottonwood Cove. Also, the Park Service provides a free public campground and launching ramp at each of these sites and has established ranger stations at all but Eldorado Canyon.

These fishing and boating centers have improved tremendously over the past few years. The Park Service (and in turn the public) has been very fortunate to have concessioners with the interest and foresight to develop their areas as rapidly as possible in keeping with the public need.

Serving as an excellent example of this kind of development is Willow Beach. It is the first resort on upper Lake Mohave, just twelve miles below Hoover Dam on the Arizona side.

Reached via a four mile paved road from U.S. 93, it is located in spectacular, colorful Black Canyon, and occupies one of the most beautiful settings on the entire lake. It has been said of this area that if the fish don't happen to be biting it is only because they are too busy enjoying the scenery.

Few fishermen, however, find them that preoccupied. Indeed, the waters of Black Canyon, cold and deep and clear as green crystal, provide some of the finest trout fishing thrills in America.

With Willow Beach already boasting such outstanding attractions it would have been easy for concessioner Earl Brothers and his managers (currently, Mr. and Mrs. W. L. Ferguson) to have rested a little on these "natural laurels." That they have not done so is readily apparent. Their efforts have produced an extremely popular, up-todate resort with excellent present facilities and large-scale plans for future expansion. House trailer and boat spaces should be at least doubled by the end of this year with the number of modern motel units scheduled to reach 78.

A federally operated fish hatchery has recently been completed here and keeps the entire upper lake well supplied with trout that grow amazingly fast in this ideal environment.

Bass (for which lower Lake Mohave is famous) and trout are not native to the Colorado and were introduced into these waters many years ago. Native species include the razorback sucker, Colorado River squawfish, and bonytail.

The squawfish is of particular interest as it is the largest member of the minnow family in America, weighing as much as a hundred pounds and growing over six feet in length. Unfortunately it has been unable to adjust adequately to lake conditions and, as none have been caught within the last couple of years, may now be extinct.

From Willow Beach boaters can follow upper Lake Mohave's green water highway eleven miles through unforgettable Black Canyon to the restricted area just below Hoover Dam.

Several fine "roadside rests" are offered by small sandy beaches along the way and near one a "hot" waterfall, created by warm springs, may be reached by a short hike. If historical markers were ever erected along this scenic water route it is certain that one would be placed at Ringbolt Rapids about ten miles above Willow Beach. These rapids are now thoroughly tamed, but back in the middle 1860's, when boats first began to use the Colorado regularly for hauling salt, they presented a formidable barrier.

Several gold refining mills, like the Gold Bug and Rockefeller, which were later covered by the rising waters of Lake Mohave, needed large quantities of salt, then an essential ingredient in the gold extraction process. It was necessary to pull the salt-carrying boats up over the rapids by using a steam winch, and for this purpose ringbolts were embedded along the shore (this same method was also used at Roaring Rapids below Willow Beach). Before the lake was filled one of the ringbolts was removed and placed in a park museum.

The Black Canyon region is noted for its desert big horn sheep (Nelson's mountain sheep). Sharp eyes will often spot their majestic, brownish-colored forms in the rugged side canyons or silhouetted on rocky crests high above the water.

Wild burros are also common and their tracks are often seen on the beaches and canyon floors. They are actually descendants from domestic animals turned loose by early day miners and seem to have found this an ideal habitat.

Black Canyon had its origin in ancient volcanic activity. Its dark rock was formed by several flows of black lava called andesite. The forces of erosion working through the centuries are responsible for its steep walls and rugged features that so greatly impress upper Lake Mohave visitors.

There is evidence that the earliest visitors, that can be definitely identified, to enjoy its scenic offerings came to the Willow Beach area in prehistoric times-probably from 600 to 900 A.D.-and were known as the Basket makers. They were followed around 900 A.D. by the Pueblos and Patayans. The Patayans, meaning "Ancient Ones," are the ancestral stock of present day Hualapais and Mohaves (from which Lake Mohave takes its name). Excavations at Willow Beach in 1948 and 1950 uncovered many evidences of these ancient Indian cultures and furnished a strong indication that this area was used as an intermittent camping site by both the Patayans and Pueblos.

Below Willow Beach, Black Canyon continues for another eleven miles before allowing Mohave's waters to spread out in a more lake-like fashion. This final stretch of the canyon contains many interesting and color-fully named landmarks like Roar Increasingly Rapids, Monkey Rock, the Caves, Copper Basin and Fenlon Bend.

The end of Black Canyon, about three miles above Eldorado Canyon Resort, marks the beginning of a water skier's paradise extending all the way to Davis Dam. Skiing is prohibited in the upper lake because of the low water temperature. From this point on, however, the lake becomes progressively warmer and offers a combination of open water and beautiful surroundings that attracts skiers from the entire Southwest.

Also, in this area there occurs a natural phenomenon of great importance to fishermen. Cold water flowing south from the upper lake meets the warmer water backed up by Davis Dam. At this point the cold water flowing under, and the warm water flowing over, creates an unusual revolving current that churns up the bottom of the lake, making a natural feeding place for fish. Generally speaking, this also marks the dividing line between Lake Mohave's trout and bass fishing.

Before reaching Eldorado Canyon, one of Lake Mohave's new navigation lights can be seen on a projection of the Chalk Cliffs. A string of fifteen such lights have been recently installed from here to Katherine Wash on Mohave's lower end. They are turned on and off automatically by electric cells which respond to changing light and serve as effective navigational aids to night-time boaters.

As an additional aid to safety the Park Service has placed markers on the more dangerous reefs. They are made of a kind of large, rubber tubing which will bend if struck by a boat. It is very important to watch them carefully because the level of the lake varies greatly depending upon the amount of water being released from Hoover Dam.

Eldorado Canyon resort is nestled in a canyon on the Nevada side which opens into a pleasant cove harboring the boat dock. It is reached from U. S. 95 by paved Route 60, an interesting nineteen mile trip through picturesque Eldorado Canyon.

This is not the largest resort on the lake, but it has always enjoyed a fine popularity which should continue to grow rapidly as its outstanding fishing and good location certainly warrant.

Eldorado, formerly called Emery's Landing after Murl Emery, a veteran river boatsman, was once an active mining community and steamship port. More than $1,700,000 worth of gold was taken from the Techatti cup Mine just four miles up Eldorado Canyon, and from