Event of the Month

By Joseph Stocker

Dolan Springs, a community of some 4,000 people, sits 35 miles or so northwest of Kingman. It's a typical small town: a few stores, several restaurants, a school, and some churches - all strung along a county road. BIG DOIN'S AMONG THE JOSHUA TREES AT DOLAN SPRINGS But, oh, the scenery. A low laid-back mountain known as Mount Tipton, just above the town. Much larger and nobler mountain ranges gracing just about every horizon. A deep green valley a short distance to the east. And right there, all around you, Joshua trees those bunchy, spiky, hairy-armed desert growths pioneers named after the Biblical warrior. This is one of the largest Joshua tree forests in the West. And those 4,000 Dolan Springs folks are scattered among them, in mobile homes, solid block houses, even a few rather palatial places. Head up Dolan Springs way about mid-September, and you'll find yourself in the midst of an annual celebration: Dolan Springs Days. What the home folks celebrate is, you might say, just the fact of living in a nice place, which they'd like you to see. And they celebrate it in pretty much the conventional small-town way, with things like a parade, beauty contest, and swap meet. What makes Dolan Springs a nice place, besides the Joshua trees and the scenery overall, is what Hazel Mazy, retired secretary of the chamber of commerce, calls simply its "serenity." "It's quiet," she says. "No crime. And the water is plentiful." The water, or a goodly portion of it, comes from the springs the town was named after. A prospector named Dolan (first name long since lost in the drift of history) found the springs on the slopes of Mount Tipton. In due time, others came along, and

WHEN YOU GO

Dolan Springs Days will take place September 17-19 (the only activity on the 17th is a beauty pageant). There'll be a parade, swap meet, dance, chili cook-off, and children's games. Admission is free. Getting there: From Kingman drive northwest on U.S. Route 93 toward Hoover Dam. At the Dolan Springs sign at Pierce Ferry Road, turn northeast. It's six miles to town. Accommodations: Very limited in Dolan Springs, which has one modest motel. If you plan an overnight stay in the area, return to Kingman where there are a number of quality motels. For more information: Call Directory Assistance for the new telephone number of the Dolan Springs Chamber of Commerce, or telephone Hazel Mazy, (602) 767-3602; or Ted Bruce, (602) 767-3530, afternoons.

a stagecoach run was established around Mount Tipton and southward through what is now Mohave County. Then in 1958, modern times began. Two developers, Bill Parker and Gene Vogt, bought an 86,000-acre ranch and subdivided it. They called the development Lake Mohave Ranchos and ran ads all over the country. Wondrous weather. Good water. Great location: midway between Lakes Mead and Mohave, close to Las Vegas and the west end of the Grand Canyon. Ten dollars down, $10 a month. People bought the parcels sight unseen. Recently a man stopped by the real estate office to view, for the first time, the land he'd bought 34 years ago. It worries some of the Dolan Springsers that the Joshua tree forest is starting to shrink. Well, not seriously yet. But people have begun to dig up some of their Joshuas and take them away to sell to other people to put in their landscapes. Julia Moser, a retired teacher from Virginia, is spark plugging a crusade to save the Joshuas. "A hundred years from now, they might be all gone," she says. "Too many people will do anything to make a buck."

Come the third weekend in September, drop by Dolan Springs. Share the fun of Dolan Springs Days. Enjoy the weather and those noble mountains. Relish those stark and oddly beautiful Joshua trees. In 2093, were you to come back in some incarnation or other, and if Julia Moser's crusade doesn't make it, they just might not be there.