Houses are Made of Dreams

What is it about a house that makes it so much the stuff of dreams?

I recently got back from a trip back to to the Midwest--Kansas City--on a search for investment houses in the there. Of course, I want to keep this house I plan to buy for personal use, possibly, too, in the future. This makes it a more difficult buy by far. So many qualities must go into a place that you might want to live. As in, how does the place make you feel? Is there air and light? Movement from room to room?

And each place, if one notices, has a certain smell...maybe old and musty, maybe of cheap new linoleum, maybe like the pine trees outside in the lawn.

And there are artists, such as Karyn Olson, whose work, left, draws on the house as a visual motif, drawing on our ancient sense of shelter, of sanctuary or emotional connection to place.

The best use of a house as a motif yet in literature has got to be in the novel The Shipping News by Annie Proulx, where the weight of this old house, tied down by ropes on an island in the wind finally is torn apart by the elements (both in mother nature and the forces within the family) that have whipped at it for decades.

Connected Categories & Relativity

I've been neglecting this blog and my book aspirations, mainly because other aspirations get in the way or must take precendence.

Then I came across this:

http://www.michenermuseum.org/exhibits/ellis.php

Where one of my favorite photo exhibits shown in Santa Fe, James A. Michener and Ellis Island all meet, all tied together with a string of freedom and a sense of place.

Life, not just geometry and mathematical field theory, is strange like that.

The Reasons I Want to Write This Book

It seeps like fingers of rain
Soaking parched valleys in winter.

Whatever field we must cross, it
was crossed; whatever melody we
hear, it was heard.

Say that you don't seek these
notes distant like snow in the canyons...


One of the main reasons is that I've been taken, in one way or another, by this crazy wild land.

In painting and literature circles, it's common to say a that the landscape you are creating in effects the landscape of the mind.

And so, perhaps, it is.

But I do not mean that in a sugared, all-things-beautiful way at all. For there are many things here that are quite frankly, ugly. I begin to wonder, as a South African hotel concierge I met in San Diego a few years ago--who was working as such because this was one of the hotels his family owned--whether desert and tropical environments cause a lack of planning in the develpment of human beings. Whereas, I am almost sure he would theorize this is only inherent in dark skinned people, I would extend that to all people, and maybe especially some whites in this area and in those who initially settled this area.

I have never seen such poverty and wealth living side by side. The cities don't have it beat--not for the sheer disparity.

Down the road from me, this house which has been here for over 150 years, is a housing development with horse 'ranchettes,' all literally yards and yards of white picket fences mixed in with custom designed adobe mini-mansions. All of them--or most of them--looking uncomfortable and far too cavernous. A few miles a way, near a local high school, there are people living in old camper tops with lean to's built on to them with goats tied out in the front 'yard.'

People who live in the East or the Midwest, although they may be used to the inner city, have never seen such things, and never great poverty and great wealth spaced so close together.

And the place is truly what one would term 'Post-colonial,' with a mishmash of cultures and outlooks competing with each other and surviving into the millenium.

Indian art shops displaying artifacts abound. Oddly enough, it is mainly the Anglos who are interested in these cultural items. Or maybe we just like to institutionalize things. And the Indians--a numbered some--Yavapai, Apache, Navajo--are strangely more interested in the acutrements of traditional (our) status symbols than they are in any art.

This is the first time in my life, even though the term has gone Hollywood, that I have ever heard the term "Redneck" used on almost a daily basis. Also competitions as to which little hamlet has residents with the fewest teeth.

But then there is the land.

Inspiring greats such as D.H. Lawrence and Ansel Adams to record their impressions. And much to see, take in, digest. It has taken me a few years to understand the weather patterns and the micro-climates produced by the different elevations. How some little valleys can be alight in fall color while in other areas winter has already made its reach. What violent upheavals formed much of the texture of the rock walls of canyons, how steady and slow forces carved and continue to carve the largest canyon on earth--and how all that may be used in metaphor; in a story.

Random Thoughts

I was just thinking how in the Verde Valley her in AZ, Sedona is the now the little playground of a few wealthy and makes its money off the tourists who come to the big spas here. And all the little towns around it basically serve it with workers in this day and age.

In the 1800's, however, due to the need for an adjacent water source and reliance on local agriculture, the areas near the River Verde(Camp Verde) or Oak Creek were obviously the most valued properties.

It strikes me that the current situation is absolutely about the power of myth. Similar to the real estate in Manhattan, which is valuable not on to itself, but because many have ascribed value to it, and the rest follow like lemmings. And I wonder if those initiators of any real estate over-valuation believe their own myths.

Really a very current question, as well, to be asking.

Historical Facts

Stuff I dug up at Sharlot Hall (historical society in Prescott, Yavapai County seat) and the historical society at Fort Verde:

5 EARLY SETTLERS
FARMERS 1100: A cliff dwelling, six miles north of Camp Verde, c. 1100 supports prehistory evi-dence of early farming. Assumed to be descendents of today’s Hopis, the Sinagua Indians lived in this area about 300 years before disappearing or assimilating into other tribes. Today, the site is a tourist attraction known as Montezuma Castle National Monument. Earlier agricultural influence
(c. 700 A.D.) suggest Anasazi influence.

SPANISH INFLUENCE 1500-1583: Time period that five conquistadores, considered the first Europeans in the Verde Valley, came looking for silver.

MOUNTAIN MEN 1821-1848: Scoured southwestern rivers searching for beaver during the Mexican period—the first to reach the Verde Valley was Ewing Young in 1826. Like predecessors, the Spanish, they did not stay.

APACHE and YAVAPAI (dates unknown): Two tribes of pre-anglo residents lived in the Verde Valley, in and around Camp Verde. The Apache have an Athapaskan background, and the Yavapai are Yuman-speaking people-the Pai. Rounded up by the military in 1875 (Exodus), they were forced collectively into exile until 1900. The two tribes were formed into one, the Yavapai-Apache Nation in 1934. Today with 665 acres of reservation land in Camp Verde, Rimrock, and Clarkdale, they are successful entrepreneurs and owners of the popular Cliff Castle Casino located at I-17 and Montezuma Castle Highway.

ANGLO FARMERS, late 1800s: In January 1865, a party of nine - James Parrish, Dr. J. M. Swetnam, William L. Osborn, Clayton M. Ralston, Henry D. Morse, Jake Ramstein, Thomas Ruff, Edward A. Boblett, and James Robinson traveled to what is now Camp Verde to find land suitable to establish a farming colony. Later, they would return from Prescott with a party of 19, six oxen-drawn wagons on a journey that took four days settling near the Verde River and Clear Fork. It was reported that the Swetnam party built a 60 x 40 foot stone fort, well, and ditch. Prior to this, around 1864, hay cutters from Prescott harvested lush grasses to sell to Fort Whipple in Prescott, but did not stake land.
Camp Verde’s Pioneer Legacy

Feature 5
Incorporated December 8, 1986
5 EARLY MILITARY
Lt. Antonio Abeytia headed a small detachment from Prescott’s Fort Whipple. In early May of 1865, the small homestead fort was attacked by Indians (no human casualties, but there was a loss of crops and livestock which threatened the outpost). Settlers demanded protection from the military.

Lt. William McNeil replaced Abeytia. The military encampment near the settler’s fort was relocated near the Verde’s junction with the Beaver Creek. In December 1865, it was named Camp Lincoln. There would be base changes and name changes, eventually it would become Fort Verde in today’s downtown area.

General George Crook became commanding office of the Department of Arizona and used Camp Verde as one of his main bases. His name is associated with Geronimo’s surrender.
Fort Verde: Built in 1871, successor to Camp Lincoln and Camp Verde.

Cap’t Smylie,: Indian Scout, born in 1833, a/k/a Chief Yellow Whiskers, was head of the Indian scouts and later the Indian police. It has been reported that he received a medal of honor for his part in the surrender of Geronimo under General Crook’s command in southern Arizona.

5 EARLY RETAILERS
Horn Saloon: Located on the western fringes of Fort Verde in Copper Canyon, this local establish-ment catered to fort residents near what is today the intersection of Oasis Drive and Salt Mine Road, adjacent to the Copper Canyon trailhead. Only a pile of rocks remain.
Wales Arnold: A former Army scout, he was first post trader, a “sutler” to the early military personnel.

William Sanford “Boss” Head: Purchased the sutler’s store in 1872 , built by Hugo Richards in 1871. It is the adobe wing located on the south side of today’s Wingfield Plaza. He expanded his business to include sales to civilians throughout the Verde Valley. Included inside was a post office and a club room. A hay-and-grain barn was north of the store. Mr. Head contracted to supply grain to military posts throughout the territory.

Stage Stop and Boarding House: Located on today’s Main Street, across from the Sutler Store, this building served as a stay-over for soldiers and freighters transporting by stage. This building still stands and is now a restaurant.

Clint Wingfield & Mack Rogers (tale of a fatal hold-up): Subsequent owners of the Sutler Store. On a late Sunday evening in 1899, a stranger entered the porch and ordered Rogers inside. Rogers grabbed for his gun and was shot. Clint came to see what happened and was also shot. Both died in this robbery-gone-bad incident. Black Jack Ketcham, who was reported to have been the culprit guilty of these horrific acts, would hang a year later for a different crime in New Mexico.

2
5 EARLY PREACHERS, TEACHERS, DOCTORS
Rev. R. A. Windes: A pioneer preacher of the Verde Valley, a missionary type who established churches.
Parson Bristow: Started the Old Tree Baptist meetings in Middle Verde around 1875. With help from Rev. Windes, Parson Bristow organized a Sunday school, the first church and was pastor until 1905.
Dr. E. B. Keycherside: c 1890s, doctor who also founded a church in Camp Verde
Dr. M. A. Carrier: c 1880s, early Verde Valley doctor
Professor John H. Hicks: Likely the first school teacher in the Lower Verde area.

5 EARLY POLITIC FIGURES
Dr. Swetnam: Helped head the original “19” who colonized Camp Verde in 1865. The Swetnam party built a stone fort. Dr. Swetnam, however, left for Phoenix to become a surgeon around 1866.

William Sanford “Boss” Head: In 1878, he was named to the Arizona Territorial Legislature.
Judge George Hance: Considered by many to be the area’s unofficial mayor who was held in high esteem throughout the Verde Valley. First official postmaster, a longtime notary public, territorial census marshal (1880) and most notable, elected justice of the peace for 30 years.
Norman Fain: Norman Fain served three terms in the Arizona State Senate (1941-1946) and was instrumental in the Arizona Right-to-Work Bill. He was actually born in Camp Verde in 1907. He ran his father’s Diamond S Allotment between Camp Verde and Cottonwood after buying an interest in an outfit near Sedona. The Fain family is well-known in the Prescott and Prescott Valley area for its major ranching operations and Arizona political history with early roots in Camp Verde.

Wingfield: The name Wingfield had a strong political presence in Camp Verde. In 1914, Robert Wingfield organized the Verde Valley Telephone Association. Later he headed a resident’s group that built the Camp Verde State Bank.

The Power of Stories

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceRP8rSwlMc

This was originally posted by Pam Grundy on FB, but it is worth re-posting. Especially in regards to the discussion of myth, how we believe in our 'modern' society, we have none; our machine oriented culture, and just the power of narrative to shape world views...only most people listen to a few others' ideas, to their possible detriment.

Why don't people write more of their own stories? The question I'm asking.

Researching Historical Facts and Stories

http://www.thebigmoney.com/blogs/goodnight-gutenberg/2010/05/19/want-write-historical-fiction-now-you-can

This is cool. Unfortunately, it will be a long time, I reckon, ;), before the historical societies in Northern Arizona's Verde Valley are open more than 1-2 days a week, let alone commit their documents to the internet.

Which makes this book all the more authentic, doesn't it, in a sort of very direct way?