Desert Wife, by Hilda Faunce
I've had this for years, but it has such a plain name and such a cheesy 80s cover that I hadn't picked it out of the book case to read before now. Big mistake. Hilda Faunce married into the Weatherill family, the huge family of Southwest ranchers, traders, and amateur archeologists. She's changed names due to a divorce, but this is her story of living on a trading post on the Navajo Reservation in the years just before World War 1. Her husband worked for Hubbell, of Hubbell Trading Post fame, and they lived out west of Chinle, Arizona on their post for about 4 years. She had written letters to a relative and this book was developed by her later from those letters, so it's newsy and personal. She follows Najavo families through the years and tells their stories. Several times her and her husband's lives were in danger from misunderstandings with the Navajo. It was really fascinating.
Uncle Sam's Camels, edited by Lewis Burt Lesley
This is a facsimile of the 1927 book, but with a new foreward. It's two journals, written on the 1857-1858 exploration of a western road through Arizona. Lt. Edward F. Beale was also experimentimg with a large herd of camels to see how they adapted to the Southwest region. They adapted very well, and he enthusiastically recommended them for further use. Then the pesky Civil War happened, along with the railroad, and nobody gave a shit about camels anymore. The first part of the book is the journal of a young man along for the adventure. His journal is interesting. Beale's report is a little dry and repetitive. He did love those camels, though.
I realize that the modern editor(s) were doing the whole facsimile thing, but would it have killed them to get a decent cartographer? The only map included was apparently the one Beale drew. It's not very good. I've been over much of this country and it would have been fun and waaaayyy more interesting to have a decent map included.
