When the World Comes To Quartzsite

They're striking it rich again at Old Quartzsite! And it has brought a "rush" the likes of which haven't been seen around this tiny desert town of 1200 since Pauline Weaver found gold in nearby La Paz, in the early 1860s. But this time it's not the bright yellow metal that's luring over 750,000 people out there, from every state of the Union and overseas as well. It's the annual Quartzsite Pow Wow, when some 30,000 trailers and campers surround the little town and up to 500 jewelry and gem dealers harangue the keyed-up and turned-on crowd of 750,000 modern day argonauts, searching for rich bargains in rocks, gems, jewelry, and crystals. Unlike the first Pow Wow in 1967, which featured about 20 sellers and only eight gem displays, today's show has a large solid core of talented gem and jewelry demonstrators and exhibitors, such as Ray Arndt of Southern California and others whose displays have rivaled even those found in major museums. To be part of this colorful spectacle, held annually on the first Thursday in February, is asking for worn out shoes, aching legs, and strained eyes. And even with that you probably won't see everything that's going on, even if you stay until Sunday, when the show closes for another year. Just to see what's happening inside the town's community center, the central showplace, is a challenge. You can spend a day shuffling past dealers and special displays loaded with jewelry and polished gems. More hours can be spent watching skilled craftsmen facet gems, shape and polish baroque jewels and make inlaid jewelry as well as cast silver and gold items right on the spot. For rockhounds it's Christmas all over again! Dealers make a special effort to go all out for the Pow Wow. There are startlingly beautiful mineral crystals from Arizona's copper mines, Mexico's silver mines, California's gem mines, and a host of gem and mineral deposits the world over. Here, too, you'll find a variety of handcrafted wares, including bola ties, belt buckles, pins, pendants, necklaces, rings, natural gold nuggets, jade carvings and even ivory scrimshaw from Alaska. But that's far from all the show has to offer. There are also acres of swap groups out on the desert, where crowds of enthusiastic collectors barter to their heart's content. And if that isn't enough, you can wander through the stacks of books on how to collect, where to collect, and how to identify and work with the semi-precious gems you find. It's no wonder visitors keep saying, "It's overwhelming!"

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Dealers themselves find it an extraordinary place to be. Martin Koning, of Morristown, Arizona, still talks about the time his grandson sold over $500 worth of small ten and fifteen cent

polished gem stones in one weekend. And Alaska dealer Don Orcutt, who features superb jade and gold nugget jewelry he makes himself, claims he never has enough of the good things. “They go so fast! People stand in line with the cash in their hands. You can't miss making money!”

Inlay jewelry artist Jerry Cline is another Pow Wow supporter. “It's the wildest thing I've ever seen. You can sell anything there and buy anything there!”

When it all began back in 1967, in a small room of the local schoolhouse, no one dreamed the Pow Wow would develop beyond a local event. But today visitors from every state in the Union find themselves rubbing elbows and sharing sore feet with visitors and buyers from Japan, Switzerland, Canada, France, and Germany. Like Gerhard Becker, whose family has run a lapidarybusiness in Idar-Oberstein for genera-tions, many foreign buyers now make the Pow Wow one of the important stops on their yearly buying trips.

There's no one reason for the growth of the Pow Wow. Certainly the amenable winter weather and gorgeous des-ert scenery are a part of it. But the Pow Wow has became an old fashioned mar-ketplace and people now purposely return each year to relax in the desert and renew old friendships. Swapping stories and trading their wares, travelers from all over the country come and take advantage of the friendly atmosphere nourished by a very hard working Quartzsite Improvement Association, sponsors of the show.

But all this growth has its problems too. There's sanitation for one, and food service, and overcrowded desert camp-grounds. The crowds that are always in and about and underfoot, in the Com-munity Center, in the swap areas, on the highways, and in the desert, are constantly seeking whatever clear space can be found.

To help solve the sanitation problem, the Bureau of Land Management has designated special areas for trailer hold-ing tanks. And as you drive through town during the show portable toilets line the streets like so many fire hydrants. The BLM has also reserved a special 40-acre section for campers, and minor medical emergencies can be easily taken care of in a new facility recently built partly with receipts from the Pow Wow.

Remarkably, the whole rambling affair is orderly and under control. A minimum of police effort produces a maximum of regulation. People sense their interdependence in the desert and that's what makes it work.

Should a trailer break down or an auto mis-function there is always someone who shows up willing to lend a helping hand. And this holds true for major problems as well. When the local cafe burned down, and there wasn't going to be enough food for the thou-

sands of people who were attending the show, nearly everybody in the commu-

nity volunteered to help. They stayed up all one night making 25,000 sand-

wiches!

Like pioneers of old, the people of Quartzsite have shown a strong initiative and have developed an independence based on a self-help philosophy. Recognizing they were their own best

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resource to get what any small community needs, the people of the community formed the Quartzsite Improvement Association to improve their lot. Through cooperative effort and selfreliance these people have proven the wisdom of their self-help philosophy, a major tenet of the pioneer spirit.

And the results have been worth it. With the aid of community activities and supported by Pow Wow receipts they have a new community center, used for the show and throughout the year for a number of functions. The center stands on land generously donated by someone who supported the Q.I.A. They also have a new medical clinic, partly as a result of the Show. It aids travelers, accident victims and residents all year long in addition to providing first aid to show visitors. There's also a new fire truck and new water tank, extra land for expanding the Pow Wow, and cable TV, which brings the world to Quartzsite even when there isn't a Pow Wow.

In the 10 years since that first Pow Wow, the show has grown from a casual desert gathering to a full-scale international marketplace. Much of the old and familiar is lost perhaps, but that's expected and, if possible, provided for. On the plus side it has pumped life into an old community that had seen better days and it has brought the world to Quartzsite for one fantastic weekend each year. It also gives residents and visitors something to remember, to talk about and to look forward to next year. Did any real gold rush ever accomplish half as much?

Editor's note: If you get a hankering to become an argonaut to the next Pow Wow, just mark off the first Thursday in February and get out your walking shoes. For five days you will be immersed in a desert happening! For details, write Show Chairman, Quartzsite Improvement Association, Box 881, Quartzsite, Arizona 85346.

(Left) To the south of Quartzsite the great desert extends to the horizon, populated by starkly beautiful mountain ranges, homes of the jackrabbit, the hawk and the saguaro.