Login or register:
Login:
Password:
Register!


Imageserver Favorite:


Portfolio Galleries:
Animals
Architecture
Flowers
Landscape
People
Wildlife

Recent Subjects:
Landout
5-inch sky robot
Vacuum printing
e-bike
Farnsworth Fusor


Search:


Resources:
ImageServer

Friends:
Jon Sullivan
Mark Blair


New Articles:

Southern California Glider Landout Database
Soaring
5-Inch Sky Robot
FDM in Vacuum
Gin
Books
Hacktastic e-bike
Farnsworth Fusor
Land Anchor
Turchickentato
Bowmaking
Custom Discovery Roof Rack
August, 2012 - Sierra Backpacking
July 22nd, 2012 - Hiking in Santa Barbara
July 15th, 2012 - Valley of Fire
May 5th, 2012 - Afton Canyon
April 28th, 2012 - Devils Playground
Alpine Tripod
Convict Creek Trail
January 2012 - Mustangs
January 3rd, 2012 - Heart Lake
August 7th, 2011 - Kelso Dunes
August 5th, 2011 - Lundy Canyon Hike
August 2011, Mammoth Archery
Birds in the garden
June 4th, 2011 - San Gorgonio
May 29th, 2011 - Sequoia National Forest
April 23rd, 2011 - Living Desert
April 2nd, 2011 - Death Valley
March 8th, 2011 - Mountain Palm Springs
February 13th, 2011 - Iron Smelt
Blacksmithing
November 13th, 2010 - Mojave
October, 2010 - Mammoth
Android
September, 2010 - Mammoth
September, 2010 - Duck Lake Trail Backpacking
Red
Iron bloom forging
August 28th, 2010 - Mt. San Jacinto
OSM Import: US Designated Wilderness
July 25th, 2010 - Mojave Mustangs
July 17th, 2010 - Mojave Exploration
Bloomery furnace iron smelting
Open Street Map: Mojave Project
June 13th, 2010 - Mojave
June 6th, 2010 - El Cajon Trails
Wolf Mountain Sanctuary
Carrizo Gorge
March 28th, 2010 - Salton Sea
March 21st, 2010 - South Main Divide
March 13th, 2010 - Anza Borrego Wildflowers
March 7th, 2010 - CSULB Japanese Garden
February 2010 - Mammoth
GeoRSS
AISlib
OpenStreetMap
Dakota and Asha Celebrate Christmas, 2009
November 21st, 2009 - Mojave Road
November 14th, 2009 - Anza Borrego
Exploring The East Mojave: The Afton Canyon Area
Broken flex plate
Remote Image Serving
Astro/night photography in Inyo National Forest
Wild Mustang Sightings
RSS
September 26th, 2009 - Night Photography In Frazier Park
Whiskey
Brandy
August 15th, 2009 - Catalina dive trip
Astrophotography
Sensornet
January 24th, 2009 - Mojave Exploration
July 2008 Mammoth Vacation
AIS
President Barack Obama!
Rachel Maddow
Big Geek
Barack Obama
April 12th, 2008 - Wildflowers and Landmarks
My Grandfather's Alfa Romeo Spider
March 8th, 2008 - Carrizo Plain
Bridge To Nowhere
High Availability
October 20th, 2007 - Big Bear Camping
October 22nd, 2007 - Fire
Scottish Highlands, Aug 7th, 2006
Scottish Highlands, Aug 6th, 2006
August 5th, 2007 - Duck Lake Trail
May 26th, 2007 - Kelso Dunes
Culloden Battlefield, Aug 5th, 2006
May 20th, 2006 - Irwindale Renaissance Faire
Edinburgh, Aug 4th, 2006
The Clifs of Moher, Aug 3rd, 2006
The Burren, Aug 2nd, 2006
Bunratty Castle, Aug 1st, 2006
May 5th, 2007 - Mojave
Truck Audio/Data Network
2007 - Master Bath Remodel
Centrum: Exit
The Ring of Kerry, Jul 31st, 2006
Nikon D200
Victory in 2006!
Blarney and Killarney, Jul 30th, 2006
Dublin and Cork, Jul 29th, 2006
Dublin, Jul 27th & 28th, 2006
Married!
What Can I Do?
April 30th, 2006 - Anza Borrego
New desktop: Intel 805 D
Macro Photography
Jan 7th and 14th, 2006 - Hiking
Whiting Ranch Hiking
Engaged!
Digital Photography with Linux
September 5th, 2005 - Living Desert
August 19th, 2005 - Mammoth
Hiking and Photography
July 30th, 2005 - Tucker Wildlife Sanctuary
Nikon D70
Death, Fright and Photography
Mmmmmm Eggs
MythTV
Inova T4
May 14th, 2005 - Red Rock
April 2nd, 2005 - Death Valley
Count Every Vote Act of 2005
Image Archiving
Linear Logic ScanGuage
Gentoo Linux
November 6, 2004 - Mojave
Super Tuesday, 2004
John Kerry
Kayaking
Irish Stew
ImageServer
Ireland, 2004
Canon A80 Camera
Jul 25, 2004 - Death Valley
Chronic Hiccups
May 4th, 2004
Landscaping - My Front Slope
Stump Pullin' Yeeee Haw!
Feb 22nd, 2004
Feb 16th, 2004
PostgreSQL Logfile Analysis
Spam
Mountains? Desert? Jan 30th, 2004
Jan 28th, 2004
Encryption
Ceiling Cargo Basket
Front Bumper Version 2
Asha
Exide Orbitals
Land Rover Valve Jobs
Spirits
The Matrix: Revolutions
Halloween 2003
Greg Davis CDL Linkage
Ouzo
Democracy
Mom's Turkey Gravy
Grandma's Guacamole
Top Nodes
Julian Pie Company
DeCSS
The KB1DIG 2-meter Halo Antenna
Incomming searches
Gardening is hard!
Aug 13th, 2003
SQL and Perl
Cancun 2003
Jul 9th, 2003
Aprs intelegence
Jun 17th, 2003
Some People's Comments
Dakota is a silly dog
The Matrix: Reloaded
Chris' Stage Bottle Harness
April 23rd, 2003
Cracked Radiator!
Black Wednesday
DVD Burning Under Linux
My Satellite Phone
Wind!
My Near-Death Experience
Laser Cannon Revival
Front Bumper, Version 2
SpamAssassin
The Critters
Dakota
Milton
KPC 3 Plus and HTX-252
My House
Moving, moving moving...
Mobile 1
Portola Hills
New new house
Suse Linux
Database images
In Truck Dr. Pepper
My Favorite Toilet
Kelso Dunes
Desert Trips
Ifulmuh
Late Thoughts: Dr. Pepper Cooler
265/75-R16 Tires on a DII
Linux
George W. Bush
Rants
Driving
Reservations
Horses Sep 14 2002
Obsession
August 17th Yukon Dives
Less notifications
My Custom Front Bumper
Bracketless, Renamable Links
Discreet Winch
Welding
Jul 28 2002 Day Trip
My Firewall
Jedi Group, my T1 and money
A Bumperless Discovery!
My Custom Rear Bumper
Vanessa's 24th Birthday
Jun 30th Dive to Long Beach Canyon
PHP/PostgreSQL String Quoting
Tonsillectomy, Uvulaectomy and Turbinite Reduction
Searching functionality
240 Watt CO2 Laser Cannon
My Workspace
Dr. Pepper
The Tulsa Rib Company
The quality of hard disks these days
Email notification of articles
Email notification of comments
erikburrows.com source code
User Bios
User Preferences
Login feature
Renisance Faire Jun 9, 2002
Computers hate me, and it is mutual.
Star Wars Sucks!
Horses, Jun 1, 2002
Land Rover Mileage
Insomnia, Robin goes evil.
100 Watt Diode Laser Test Firing 1
Amateur Radio
The Matrix
2001: A Space Odyssey
TDI Deco Class
Horses, Apr 30, 2002
APRS
Movies
Blackbird
My Truck Batteries
My Truck
Vasquez Rocks
The Zope Bible
PSK31
Mojave Apr-12-2002
100 Watt Diode Laser
The New www.erikburrows.com
Hunter the Kitty
Horses
Geeks
Yukon May-13-2001
Computers
Matts Desert Pics
Mojave Feb-10-2001
Mojave Apr-01-2001
Programming Languages
Ironage Jul-4-2001
Mojave Jan-27-2001
Ironage Feb-03-2001
Mojave Jun-09-2001
SCUBA
Jedi Group
Exploring The East Mojave: The Afton Canyon Area   -   2009/11/13Viewed 116 times this month, last update: 2014/06/16


The University of Riverside offers several extension courses. One of which is "Exploring The East Mojave: The Afton Canyon Area", which I took on the November 6th, 2009 weekend. The class is held at the Zzyzx Desert Studies Center on the shore of the Soda Lake, about 60 miles east of Barstow.



The class was expertly taught by Dr. Norman Meek, a geographer, and Dr. Joan Schneider, an archaeologist. The first night and day included Norm's talk and slide show on the historic geography of Afton Canyon and the Mojave River. The second night and day included Joan's talk on the Native American historical population of the area, and specifically of Afton Canyon.





Site 1 : Lake Manix Beach Ridge
This site was a beach ridge of Lake Manix, as evidenced by the ridge, and the small (2-4 inch) stones, worn flat by the wave action. Shells can be found below the ridge peak. A lagoon formed behind this ridge, as is typical for such beach ridges.



Site 2 : Lake Manix Beach Ridge
This site was another beach ridge of Lake Manix. Since then, a form of desert pavement has built up. The small stones on the surface of the land lock together in a flat, pavement-like layer. The action of wind and water causes blown in sand and silt to settle under the stones. The stones float on top, and over time, form the pavement.



Site 3 : Lake Manix, lake bottom clay



This site is near a north shore of Manix Lake. The green-tinted lake bottom can be uncovered in nearby soil. Across the valley (in picture above), the carbonate cemented alluvial material from Cave mountain, underneath the volcanic basalt from the Cady Mountains can be seen where the old lake bottom has eroded away. On top of the Cady volcanic material, the same green lake-bottom layer can be seen. The green tint is caused by iron within the sediment oxidizing underwater, forming iron (II,III) oxide, which has a blue tint underwater, and turns green when dried and exposed to air.

Site 4 : Pyramid Canyon



Pyramid Canyon is a canyon in the foothills of Cady Mountain. Where the canyon intersects the Mojave River in Afton Canyon, evidence of a Native American archaeological site has been found. At this site, stone tool flakes, arrowheads, hammer stones and other evidence of Native American activity can be found. The site has California archaeological identification number CA-SBR-85. Above, several jasper stone flakes, and one raw jasper stone can be seen.
Excavation of this site has revealed it likely to be an encampment of Indian hunters due to the evidence of stone tool making, and lack of pottery, grinding stones and housing.
Fauna remains of Big Horn Sheep, reptiles such as tortoises, iguana and chuckwalla and rodents including bunnies to be the primary diet of the hunters. Lack of some Big Horn Sheep bones, such as vertebrae, cranial pieces and teeth indicate that the animals were butchered at the kill site, and transported in smaller pieces to the camp site.
Flora remains indicate that Mesquite and Tule were the main plant matter consumed.
Shell artifacts including Abalone from the Gulf of California and Pacific Ocean, as well as Beads, and Obsidian stone recovered from the site show trading activity.
The people were most likely part of the Serrano tribes, and less closely related to the Paiute or Colorado River people.

Site 5 : Afton Station



Afton Station was the train station on the East end of Afton Canyon, coordinating traffic along the single-track in the canyon until the town was unnecessary and demolished to prevent vandalism.

Site 6 : Afton Cemetery



Afton Cemetery, just to the South of Afton Station is the final resting places of some of the inhabitants and workers of Afton Station.

Site 7 : The Caves



The "Caves" have been used by many, travelers through Afton Canyon, for shelter and a cool place to rest.

Site 8 : Arbuckle Mine



Arbuckle Mine was a Magnesite mine from 1917 to 1918. Magnesium is an important light-weight building material and incendiary chemical.

Site 9 : Spooky Canyon



Spooky Canyon (a name coined by Bill Mann) is a beautiful example of a Slot Canyon. Rainwater erodes the loose material of the canyon walls into a twisting, softly-lit crack, fun to explore, and comfortable to rest within.

Site 10 : Buried Boxcar



The Buried Boxcar, now known to be at least two boxcars, is a railroad car that seems to have been intentionally buried by the Union Pacific Railroad Company sometime prior to 1984. This could have been done to dispose of damaged equipment, or to protect the railway from erosion.

Site 11 : Afton Canyon Exit

Out of the Eastern end of Afton Canyon the Mojave River continues to flow toward Cronese Lake, Zzyzx, and Death Valley. It is the site of the old town of Basin, a railroad worker town. At this point the Mojave River wash sediment is 230 feet deep, allowing the Mojave River flow to continue sub-surface.

Site 12 : Indian Petroglyphs at Zzyzx


The Zzyxz point has a year-round water seep, making it a natural site for local fauna, and Native Americans. Petroglyphs can be seen on the stones in the area. Site 13: Afton Canyon Overlook



From this site above and to the South of Afton Canyon, the expanse of the canyon, as well as the local geology, including the lake-bottom green clay can be seen.
Site 14: Afton Canyon Overlook



Near the above overloook, still more Native American stone flakes and hammer stones can be found.

Site 15: Cronese Lake



Cronese Lake is one of the lakes fed by the Mojave River. In the recent (geologically speaking) past, Cronese lake was filled with fresh water. Anodonta mussels grew, and were eaten by local Native American people. Along the ancient shore line of the lake, shells, shell cooking pits, and Native American pottery fragments can be found.


Comments:
Richard (2010-03-27): Very interesting. I'll be out there next weekend and will look for this stuff. Thanks for sharing.

DocR (2010-10-08): An attempted murderer is buried in the cemetery--see Afton: a desert station along the Mojave River on the Salt Lake Route, or, Who is buried in the cemetery?” San Bernardino County Museum Association Quarterly 55 (Number 4, 2010).

permalink

Email me!


Erik Griffin Burrows and ErikBurrows.com are not responsible for any damage or loss caused by viewing this site, or actions taken as a result of reading any part of this site. Articles and comments on this site should not be taken as legal, medical, scientific, engineering, botanical, dietary or any other kind of professional direction. This site is not affiliated with any business institution.

You get the idea. This site is just another big pile of misinformed, uneducated, unsolicited opinion, and should be judged as no more truthful or accurate as anything else on the internet.

Don't Panic!