Mine Wash Pheromones - Field Notes

Mine Wash Pheromones

By Suzanne Emery

This article was originally published in The Sand Paper, the membership newsletter of the Anza-Borrego Desert Natural History Association

As if I needed an excuse to go down a dirt road ... Whether your interests are in botany, archaeology, anthropology or clean breezes, driving a mile or so south off Highway 78, the peace and quiet down this dirt road refreshes. Bring along a picnic lunch to enjoy under an ironwood tree. The turnoff is 2.5 miles east of Yaqui Pass (S3)/Tamarisk Grove turn.
	Mine Wash

	Since this road’s ancient Kumeyaay village site is recorded on every map ever printed, one cannot claim to “discover” this little cultural interpretive area that is a full-fledged museum resource. However, decades ago, wandering down yet another Borrego dirt road, my late husband and I “discovered” this gem. As docents at a pre-historic Kumeyaay village site in Poway, literally all of our accumulated indigenous factoids, gained significance and came alive.
Pottery Bits

Eventually, completing our training as “certified interpretive guides,” we earned the right/responsibility to monitor this magical place. Husband Bob, the history buff, chronicled time immemorial, and me, a budding student of botany, assessed plants which could be used for food, medicine, and construction. Now all these years later, I can tell you that recent rainy years have nurtured three dozen plants which I can name, attracting raptor, sheep, and all manner of critter.
	Cholla Cactus

The interpretive sign and kiosk provide a segue from today to the past and an invitation to meet the Kumeyaay world. Most observant visitors will learn quite a bit just walking over four or five rolling acres past dozens of morteros, slicks, and basins with an eye occasionally catching sight of a sherd. When it comes to sherds, or pieces of broken ceramic pottery, or arrow points, consider that the spirit of the person who created it, remains with it. If you feel that you must handle it, show respect and replace it exactly as you found it, so that the next visitor can have your same sense of awe and excitement glimpsing into an ancient world.

Morteros

Arrive by 7:30 or 8 a.m. and you will be rewarded with several hours of pleasant temperatures for imagining another eon when visiting native families bustled about milling grass seeds for a morning drink, stirred a pot of ground acorn mush or shawii porridge, and gossiped. Go forward into the site, over the rolling terrain, into a flatter area with ocotillo, agave, lavender, and chia surrounding you. Sometimes you will find Borrego hoof prints, occasionally a jackrabbit, or high in a cleft, a chuckwalla or a messy raptor nest. Kumeyaay seasonal presence is documented here for the past 1,100 years at least, and again in 1600s. Their territory extends to the coast and south to Ensenada.
	Mine Wash

	Storytelling, notetaking, meditation, and photography are needed because there is so much to take in, to remember, and to respond. And remember, a very large inland sea could be seen to the east, and likely supplied fish. What we call the Salton Sea, also known as Lake Cahuilla, has filled and dried up, at least six times over the past thousand years. It was full when Juan Bautista de Anza first came through in the 1700s.
Beavertail Cactus

For the hardy would-be anthropologist, some twenty acres can be explored, to gain a fuller experience, including a bajada/delta area, a yoni, rock shelters, and (I have been told) agave pits. Rock scramblers of all ages delight to join their forebears anticipating discoveries of lizards, shelters, cupules, and the magical view. While I am sure they are under a rock, I have never seen a snake on site, and lizards are rare.
	Desert Spiny Lizard

	To appreciate all the botany, visiting in different seasons is a must. For Summer and Fall, the lack of plants for food explain the seasonal nature of the site. The towering agave can provide in all seasons, but tastes better in late spring when the root ball, like a giant artichoke heart, is roasted in a giant pit. Think apple pie texture and flavor, without cinnamon and nutmeg, or the crust. I love the caramelized edges. At all times of the year, agave leaves provide fiber for twine and rope-making for pack nets and traps. The variety of plants speaks to many medicinal uses, as well as colorful blossoms for pigment in basketry and tattoos.
Agave Stalks

When all is said and done, and you’ve have come back to town for a late breakfast, head over to the Visitor Center at the State Park. In addition to air conditioning, the building holds two must see exhibits: a replica Kumeyaay rock shelter with recorded “bird songs,” and -- opposite the large diorama of wildlife -- a complete exhibit of the archeological digs that have been conducted at Mine Wash. Best of all is a floor-to-ceiling, corner-shaped, acrylic case labeled by metric depth, with the items uncovered from each millennium at Mine Wash. If you did not get goose bumps out at the village, this display will do it.
	Hooded Oriole

	There’s a reason the name is Mine WASH. In the Spring, wait a few weeks after the rains to let the hardcore types tamp down the mounds of run-off sand, which each year, inevitably reshape the dirt road to the village site and beyond. There is an end of the road several miles up the canyon, with a turn around. Hiking a bit further up from the turnaround, gives the vista of “the other side,” Earthquake Valley, and even more flowers and plants to identify. It is not clear what mineral was mined up there, but likely was a WWII item.
View from Mine Wash

When you go: The family SUV and many sedans with high clearance usually do fine; folks in low to the ground vehicles should carpool in other cars. Bring hats, water, sturdy shoes, and sun screen. Do not let your car tires drop off the hard-packed road, or you will need to use those carpet samples you keep in the trunk, along with a small shovel. Hiking out to Highway 78 does not guarantee that one of the 70 MPH vehicles will stop to pick you up.
	Smoke Tree Alley

	Please be respectful of the site’s cultural significance; no collecting is allowed. Do not pitch tents or build fires in the area. A pit toilet is located about half way in from the highway. Four-legged companions need to stay in town, and wheeled vehicles including bicycles, and drones, are not welcome. There is no cell signal; putting your phone in “airplane mode” will conserve power so you can still take pictures and record waypoints.
Jackrabbit

All photos were taken in Mine Wash by Paulette Donnellon.

Directions

From the Tamarisk Grove intersection at Highway 78 and S-3, drive east on Highway 78 for 2.7 miles.
Turn right (south) onto the jeep road for Mine Wash.
Hike or drive on the jeep road toward the south for 1.6 miles to the Mine Wash Indian Village Site.
An interpretative sign near an ironwood tree describes the old Indian Village Site.
4WD is recommended due to soft sand and rocks.

Suzanne Emery was the Archaeological Site Steward for Mine Wash and a long-time ADBNHA volunteer. She was also an educator as well as an avid photographer and bird-watcher. She passed away in October 2020.