An Arizona Necktie Party

The woman pushed her way through the crowd, squealing with delight, hand clutching, eyes aglow, until she reached her goal, a tall handsome gentleman wearing a bola tie. She jabbed excitedly at the tie exclaiming, "Where did you get that tie? I must have one like it for my husband!"

Such a performance is repeated countless times daily throughout Arizona, for the bola tie and the people infected with bola tie mania are all around us and are here to stay!

Currently one of the more rapidly developing diseases in the Southwest, and reaching pandemic proportion, this mania seems harmless enough when first contracted. The victim tends to ease into a more relaxed life-style with open shirt and dangling slide tie. The symptoms, however, become much more severe as the disease takes hold.

Aside from occasional public outbursts of search and seizure, distaff symptoms are likely to be nothing more than a desire to aid and abet her mate's infection, for it is the male who suffers most severely.

He develops an insatiable lust for anything resembling a fine bola tie. Never satisfied with just a few ties for convenience, he collects and collects, accumulating hundreds of the things. The Bolaphile not only holds the four-in-hand tie in complete disdain, but also refuses to button his shirt collar (perhaps in fear of strangulation). A dedicated bolaphile is not satisfied to bear his affliction in silence. He propounds its benefits wherever he goes, seeking to inflict others with the malady.

Lacking a cure, the disease can only be controlled. This is accomplished by wearing the tie in perpetuity, sometimes to the complete dismay of one's spouse.

It is being spread rapidly by visitors who become unwitting, but not unwilling, carriers when they leave for home. In fact, hot spots of the disease are now known to occur in population centers the world over. Local suppliers of ties report an increasing number of orders coming in from capitals around the world. Some companies are even sending sales representatives to Japan and Europe, where the disease is spreading fastest.

History suggests it may have existed even back in Ancient Egyptian times. Drawings on tomb walls depict a mode of dress incorporating a bola-tie-like device. This would seem to indicate some suffered from the disease even then.

The point of origin in the U.S. is most certainly the Southwest, probably in the 1920s. Traders visiting the reservations at that time tell of seeing "slide ties," as They were known. The ties were not too common in those days, however, and were usually made by Indian craftsmen for personal use only. Occasionally a trader would obtain one he particularly liked but, again, it was for personal use. Bill McGee, noted Indian trader who worked in the Ganado area back in those days, has a tie he traded in the early 1930s and he still gains great satisfaction from wearing it.

Toward the end of the 1930s the bola tie was a little better known and began appearing more often in the cities. It remained for World War II to give impetus to the spread of the disease. Military men stationed here encountered the ties and some became afflicted. After the war, when they returned to the Southwest to live or visit, the symptoms took hold. Still the disease was not recognized as such.

One of the first to recognize the potential for treatment was Vic Cedarstaff, of Wickenburg. In 1949 he developed the first true bola, which he so named upon seeing the similarity between the slide tie and the Argentinean pampas weapon. Not only did he christen the slide tie, but he brought a technical expertise to the making of a quality tie and still holds a patent on his development.

Cedarstaff uses a series of complicated

(Opposite) A combination of cast and hand wrought silver work, accented with turquoise, by Navajo Artist Anthony Yazzie. Courtesy Turkois Nugget, Flagstaff.

(Right) Examples of fine beadwork bolas by Pima creator Harrison Rhodes. Courtesy Jim Bialac collection.

(Below) Unusual handcarved Kachima bolas by Hopi artist Mary Shelton. Courtesy Jim Bialac collection.

Photographs by Jerry Jacka

(Left) Individual examples of Zuni inlay work from the 1960s and 70s. Courtesy Virginia's Trading Post, Kingman, and private collections.

(Below) Miniature animal heads, in careful detail, cast in silver and adorned with turquoise. Courtesy Virginia's Trading Post, Kingman.

(Opposite) Contemporary bola tie designs using natural materials such as mother-ofpearl, ironwood, turquoise, coral, and jet, by Navajo artist Victor Beck. Courtesy Turkois Nugget, Flagstaff.

Photographs by Jerry Jacka

(continued from page 41) steps of leather braiding, metalsmithing, and forming to make his tie. Most craftsmen use commercially prepared components, choosing only to make the decorative ornament - which is the heart of any bola tie.

On a purely social basis, there isn't a bolaphile alive who can not cite examples of heartwarming and humorous tales involving the tie. The classic story involves a bolaphile being refused service in a posh restaurant because he isn't wearing a standard cloth "soup blotter." Invariably, our bolaphile wins the day when he compares the value of his jeweled ornament with the black bow tie worn by the maître d'.

"Bola Bill" Kramer, secretary of the Bola Tie Society and proprietor of an exclusive bola tie shop, is currently researching a book. For that purpose he sent out questionnaires to Society members asking for significant experiences involving the tie.

Oliver Netzow, of Wickenburg, reports he was wearing a Cedarstaff original in Switzerland when he saw another Cedarstaff tie coming toward him. The wearer turned out to be a fellow Arizonan. Although they never met before, the gentleman was also from Wickenburg. It would seem that destiny had always planned for this friendship to be formed in Switzerland.

Another member reported having formed a bola tie club spontaneously aboard ship when a group of travelers all showed up for dinner sporting slide ties.

Another lucky bolaphile was standing in line waiting for hotel accommodations. Suddenly, he was ushered into the main lobby and given the VIP treatment. It turned out that the hotel staff was interested in his bola tie! (Bolas have a way of bringing out the best in people.) Many salesmen report they wear the tie as a trademark because buyers remember the tie before they recall the face.

A favorite story involves the fellow who tried for weeks to buy the finest bola tie a local Indian artist ever made. He finally succeeded but had to loan the tie back every time the artist had a showing so he could dress the part properly! In spite of such travails, bolaphiles pursue their collecting with vigor and enjoyment.

Once bolamania established itself in Arizona it was only a matter of time before a society for the care and treatment of those afflicted would be formed. In October of 1966 a handful of dedicated bolaphiles, led by Phoenix newscaster Bill Close, met and formed the Bola Tie Society of Arizona.

Seeing the need for recognition of the disease, the Society became the standard-bearer of a legislative bill to make the bola tie Arizona's official state neckwear. Many, the local press included, failed to see the importance of having the state legislature expend energies in passing such a bill, and much public debate(sometimes quite heated) ensued. First introduced in February of 1967, the bill failed to pass several legislative sessions. After much politicking, the bill passed and was signed into law in the year 1971. Bolaphiles were at last given government sanction to openly seek treatment for their symptoms. In fact, many unaffected citizens began wearing the tie, perhaps in sympathy with the bolaphiles, little realizing they, too, would be infected.

The financial impact the bola tie has had on Arizona's economy has more than exonerated the Society's pioneers in getting legislation passed. True, some argue the very passage of legislation openly contributed to the spread of the disease, but this is largely offset by the financial gains accrued.

It is impossible to determine just how many ties are made or who makes them, for they are easy to make and there are literally thousands of fulland part-time craftsmen. A study done in 1969 by the Valley National Bank reports that the bola tie industry, in Arizona alone, was grossing over half a million dollars a year at that time. Those active in the industry conservatively estimate the amount is at least ten times that today! No one will ever know for sure, since the making of bola ties is part of an extensive lapidary cottage industry.

As for all those individuals who are, and those who will be, infected with bolamania - may it ever remain a wonderfully and hopelessly incurable disease.

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Bookshelf

by Donald M. Powell Head, Special Collections, The University of Arizona Library, Tucson.

Desert Commentary: The Spanish Years, 1767 1821. Kieran McCarty, O.F.M.

Arizona Historical Society, 949 East Second St., Tucson, AZ 85719; 1976. (Historical Monograph No. 4) 150 pp., $9.50 (clothbound), $5.00 (paperbound).

This is the season, it appears, for books of documents. Through possible editorial oversight the book's title fails to inform the reader that the documents therein illustrate the early history of Tucson (many of them appear to be documents which Dobyns used for his Spanish Colonial Tucson [Bookshelf, May 1976]). Fr. McCarty has made a selection to provide a glimpse of the historic community as seen by those who lived there from 1775 when the presidio was moved north from Tubac - until the close of the period of Spanish rule.

It begins appropriately with Juan Bautista de Anza summarizing his years of personal service to the Spanish crown and closes with the last military roster of 1818. Other documents detail the construction of the first buildings, record the Yuma Massacre of 1781, are reports from Captain Pedro de Allande on his activities as commander of the Presidio of Tucson, give a description of Spanish Arizona in 1804, and report on Tucson's first murder trial.

McCarty briefly introduces each translated document, and the book has been pleasingly designed and illustrated. If there be a stricture, it is that the selection is too few. Perhaps this will be remedied in another volume.

Pottery Treasures The Splendor of Southwest Indian Art. Jerry Jacka (photography) and Spencer Gill (text).

Graphic Arts Center Publishing Co., 2000 N.W. Wilson, Portland, OR 97209; 1976. 96 pp., $19.50.

For this jewel of a book photographer Jerry Jacka (whose work appears often in ARIZONA HIGHWAYS) has assembled a veritable museum of more than two hundred examples of the finest pottery made in the Southwest. The pieces range in time from Hohokam jars made as early as the eighth century A.D. (pottery already highly sophisticated in form and decoration) to some of the masterpieces being produced today by such artists as María of San Ildefonso and Fannie Nampeyo of the Hopi Country. Jacka has posed these beautiful pieces appropriately against natural settings of stone, sand, native textiles, weathered wood, and even rabbit fur. The harmony is compelling.

The text is a clear and succinct account of the history, manufacture, and decoration of pottery in the Southwest, and is, interestingly, placed after rather than before the picture section.

This is not another “coffee table” book, but its size is large enough - ten inches by ten inches to reveal detail. It is a beautiful book and worth the price.

This is companion volume to Turquoise Treasures, by the same author and photographer, published in 1975.

Attention of this nation to other things; as a result, use of camel power was never really tried on a large scale. In any event, the experiment was probably doomed to failure because the exotic animals had too many unlovely qualities. The male camels fought viciously in the rutting season, and all camels emitted a peculiar odor which was offensive to humans and caused horses to panic and flee in terror. The soldiers, for the most part, hated the smelly beasts. The camels wound up in private ownership after the army disposed of them, many ultimately being turned loose to roam the deserts for years afterward. The legend of the Red Ghost is now firmly embedded in the folklore of the Southwest.

Odie Faulk's book is the first to recount the whole story of the U.S. Camel Corps. It is, as we would expect, written in an easy prose style and will provide the Southwest history buff and the general reader worthwhile entertainment.

The Lost Dutchman: A Short Story of a Tall Tale. Harry G. Black. Branden Press, 221 Columbus Ave., Boston, MA 03116; 1975. 134 pp., $7.95.

It was probably too much to hope that Robert Blair's book on the Lost Dutchman (Bookshelf, March 1976) would lay the legend to rest. Here, hard on its heels, is another that lovers of lost-mine lore will surely want to read.

Apparently working independently of Blair, Black examines the same evidence, follows many of the same trails, and comes to the same conclusion no lead leads to more than bare rock.

48

POTTERY TREASURES The U.S. Camel Corps An Army Experiment. Odie B. Faulk. Oxford Uni-

University Press, 200 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016; 1976. 213 pp., $9.75.

The experiment using the camel as a beast of burden in the arid American Southwest was inaugurated in 1856, on the eve of the Civil War, with the enthusiastic encouragement of secretary of war Jefferson Davis.

Not surprisingly, the camel adapted well to the desert country, and also showed remarkable adaptability during experiments in cold and snowy mountainous environments. The camel could cover longer distances, carry heavier loads, and required much less frequent watering than either the horse or the mule. Lieutenant Edward Beale used the animals on his survey of a wagon route across what is now northern Arizona (then part of the Territory of New Mexico), and commented enthusiastically on their endurance. Camels performed splendidly also on an extended survey of the Big Bend in Texas, and in limited uses in California and elsewhere in the Southwest.

The outbreak of civil war forced the

35mm COLOR SLIDES