Page 31 - 2003 DT 12 Issues

in, for example, Sandstone Canyon and ○ cause of its thin stems. This is found ample, along the road to Red Rock
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around White Rock Spring. ○ ○ throughout the Spring Mountain Range, Summit. Both have solitary stems and
There is yet another relative in Red ○ but more particularly around Cotton- probably the best way to distinguish the
Rock, O. erinacea, var. ursina. Ursina ○ ○ wood Spring. O. whipplei var. ○ two is by the length of their spines which,
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means bear-like. This has long off-white ○ multigeniculata, the Blue Diamond ○ in the case of the former, are up to a
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spines, some of which can be about 2.5" ○ Cholla, has been designated an endan- ○ 1/2" and in the latter from about 3/4" to
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to 4" long, that give the plant a hairy ○ ○ ○ ○ 1" long. At flowering time the problem
Grizzly Bear or Old Man appearance, ○ ○ is easier, deserti having yellow flowers
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hence its popular names. The joints are ○ ○ and rosea magenta flowers.
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some 5" long and 2" or more wide, and ○ ○ ○ ○ If you come across a large barrel-
the plant forms low-lying clumps about ○ ○ ○ shaped cactus with white woolly fruits
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a yard wide. The fruits are a tan color ○ ○ Glenn Vargas © California Academy of Sciences. ○ ○ on top, that is the Cottontop Cactus or,
with spines on them. It is common and ○ ○ to give it its scientific name,
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widespread in the Canyon. ○ ○ Echinocactus polycephalus. Its cotton
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So now we can recognize an ○ ○ top easily distinguishes it from the fa-
Opuntia. Sorry . . . unfortunately, not ○ ○ ○ miliar Barrel Cactus, Ferocactus
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all Opuntia look like Prickly Pear. ○ ○ Cottontop Cactus ○ cylindraceus or acanthodes.
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Some do not have the pancake form and ○ ○ The Echinocactus is not to be con-
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have evolved stems. The most familiar ○ gered species and is found only in one ○ fused with the similarly named
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in Red Rock is O. acanthocarpa, better ○ location in Red Rock. ○ Echinocereus triglochidiatus, whose red
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known as the Staghorn Cholla. Its rela- ○ A cactus which favors the lime- ○ flowers give it its popular name, Straw-
tive, O. echinocarpa, the Silver Cholla, ○ stone strata is Coryphantha or ○ berry Hedgehog or Claret Kingcup.
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can be found in lower Brownstone Can- ○ Escobaria vivipara, commonly called ○ It is widespread throughout Red Rock.
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yon, Oak Creek and Red Spring, but is ○ the Foxtail Cactus. We have two vari- ○ The fact that it grows in mounds gives it
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probably more proliferous in Pine Creek. ○ eties of this cactus. The var. deserti is ○ its other popular name, the Mojave
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Yet another relative is O. ramosissima, ○ found generally in the lower elevations ○ Mound Cactus.
popularly called the Pencil Cholla be- ○ ○ and the var. rosea can be found, for ex- ○ ○ Enjoy the Red Rock cacti. ;
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Ghost Dance, continued from p. 1 ○ the leading Sioux chiefs, among them the ○ ingredients for bloodshed were present.
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○ Miniconjou, Big Foot. Learning of their ○ What touched off the massacre is still
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Ghost Dance. Indian police surrounded ○ plans, Big Foot led a band of 350 men, ○ ○ under dispute. It was claimed that one
his cabin, led by Lt. Bull Head. The great ○ ○ women and children on a 150-mile jour- ○ ○ Sioux threw dirt in the air and the sol-
chief consented to go with them, but be- ○ ○ ney to reach the ○ diers interpreted this as a signal for
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fore they could leave, a large group ○ protection of ○ attack. In any event, someone fired a
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of Ghost Dancers appeared. Red Cloud, ○ shot, and with that the troops opened
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They challenged the police and one, ○ who had prom- ○ fire. Nearly three hundred men, women
Catch-the-Bear, shot and wounded the ○ ised shelter, ○ ○ and children were killed. Some tried to
lieutenant. Bull Head shot back, but his ○ ○ food, and ○ ○ escape, but they were hunted down and
bullet accidentally hit Sitting Bull in the ○ ○ horses. Al- ○ shot. It was, indeed, a massacre.
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head. With that, several of the Indian ○ though it was ○ Twenty-nine soldiers were killed,
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police were killed. The path was now ○ known that ○ but some of these may have died in
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open to the ultimate tragedy at Wounded ○ both chiefs ○ crossfire during the fighting. Wounded
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Knee Creek. ○ wanted peace, ○ ○ were taken to the Pine Ridge Episcopal
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Just weeks before Sitting Bull was ○ the 7th Cavalry ○ Church, where a banner proclaimed
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shot, the War Department, fearful of In- ○ ○ was in a hostile ○ “Peace on Earth, Good Will to Men.”
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dian attacks, had sent troops to occupy ○ mood. Big Foot ○ For the Indians, it was the end of a dream.
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the Lakota camps at Pine Ridge and ○ raised a white flag to show peaceful in- ○ ;
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Rosebud. Kicking Bear had told his fol- ○ tentions, but troopers were ordered to ○ ○
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lowers, “I bring you word from your ○ disarm the Indians by their commander, ○ ○
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fathers, the ghosts, that they are now ○ Col. James Forsyth. Many of the Indi- ○ ○
marching to join you.” An increasingly ○ ○ ans began the Ghost Dance as the ○
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edgy military decided to arrest some of soldiers searched for weapons. All the ○
FORRC/April 2003 Page 7