A Festive Anniversary Week in the Sonoran Desert. Part 4: King of Cowboys, Casa Grande Ruins, the Hohokam, and One Very Weird Fungus

(December 11-17, 2022)

December 13, 2022

This day we explored areas as far as 50 miles north of la Casita. Following the old highway between Tucson and Phoenix, we first came upon a roadside rest area and memorial to the legendary cowboy, Tom Mix, who died at this spot 83 years ago. Tom who?  Of course we had to stop and learn more about this interesting bit of history.  

Then on to Casa Grande Ruins National Monument where history dates back more than 1700 years, well before the first Spanish explorers showed up, exploring. Even Luna was permitted to wander around this cultural monument, but we may have appreciated the stories surrounding the Hohokam more than she did.  

Then to complete our tour for the day, we came upon a lonely ranch road on the way back to la Casita, where the saguaro stood tall over countless cholla, barrel cactus, iron trees and palo verde.  It was here, in the middle of “where-are-we-now?” that I peered under a creosote bush and found the weirdest puffball fungus ever.

Read on for a snapshot of our day.

Tom Mix Memorial

Being more in tuned with western stars, like John Wayne and Roy Rogers, Tom Mix was a mystery to me. Roy, being the western fan that he is, knew of this King of Cowboys, but not the circumstances surrounding his death.  So we stopped to learn more. The memorial consisted of a plaque dedicated to Tom, embedded in a cemented stone pillar, topped by a cut iron silhouette of his equally famous steed, Tony the Wonder Horse. On an adjacent picnic table was a laminated news clipping with a full, and sometimes entertaining account of the events leading up to and on that tragic day, October 12, 1940. There are many accounts on-line of the life and death of Tom Mix, including how he starred in more than 290 films (all but 9 were silent), and how he gave John Wayne his start in the film industry. Tom Mix did almost all of his own stunts, usually with Tony, the Wonder Horse; both suffering numerous injuries as a result.  And 2 years to the day that Tom Mix died, Tony died at the age of 37.

But back to Tom.  Racing from Las Cruces, NM to Phoenix, in his sporty yellow car fully loaded with belongings, including a very large and heavy, leather covered aluminum trunk, Tom was in a hurry to get to his grandson’s christening. About 25 miles north of Tucson, in an area of road construction preceded by warning signs and barricades, Tom lost control of his car, barreled through the barricades and flew off the road at a high rate of speed. The car plunged headlong into a dry wash and came to rest on its side.  Witnesses say that Tom survived the crash; they saw him climbing out of the car, appearing to be unharmed. He waved at the few spectators for a brief moment, and then from out of the car fell that very large and heavy, leather covered aluminum trunk right down onto Tom’s head, crushing him and breaking his neck in the process! 

Tom mix was 60 years old.

Casa Grand Ruins National Monument

About midway between Tucson and Phoenix, lies Casa Grande Ruins National Monument, right in the center of the small town of Coolidge, AZ. The ruins of Casa Grande (Great House) and its adjoining village were part of a network of many villages with Great Houses that were located along an extensive canal system. These canals, built as early as 300 CE (Common Era) by the ancestral people referred to as Hohokam (ho-ho-KAM), transported water from the Gila (he-la) and Salt Rivers to irrigate their fields.  Then around 1150 CE, the Hohokam left these outlying settlements and concentrated in large villages like Casa Grande, still situated near to their vast canal system. These walled villages continued to play a major role in irrigated agriculture. Construction of Casa Grande was complete around 1350, and is the largest of these structures built by the ancestral peoples. 

The early Spanish explorers, who named this structure “Casa Grande” were puzzled by its presence. Noticing the walls faced the 4 cardinal points on their compass, they speculated that openings in the upper walls aligned with the sun and moon at specific times of the year. Was this intentional? Did the ancestral people who built Casa Grande watch the sky to determine ideal planting and harvesting times? Did celestial alignments mark times of celebration or other events? We may never know. Even though the Hohokam thrived for more than 1500 years, by the 1400s their culture began to ebb. By the late 1600s, when the Spanish arrived in the area, Casa Grande and all of the Great Houses and villages had long been abandoned.

A very weird fungus

And then there was the encounter with one of the weirdest puffballs I’ve ever seen.  Standing tall on a spindly 10” stalk, underneath the protective canopy of a creosote bush, was a cream colored mushroom, it’s cap sporting a light covering of clay red dust. Looking to be long dead and dried up, I reached under the creosote expecting the withered ‘shroom to disintegrate when touched. But to my surprise, this long-stalked puffball poofed a cloud of red brown spores all over my hand, as it easily gave up its purchase on the ground. 

The hollow, slightly woody fibrous stalk broke away from from the gill-less cap with ease, but not before tapping and tapping the cap (actually called a spore sac), releasing millions of spores that were carried off by the afternoon breeze. 

This was quite a find (for me, anyhow!). I learned that this species looks like a dead, dried up plant even when fresh and newly emerged from underground.  And this is the only species of fungus in the family Agaricaceae known to occur in North America, in desert habitats. Meet the Saltshaker Stiltball (Battarreoides diguetii)!

There is another closely related Stiltball species found in the deserts of Africa, Asia, Australia and Europe, but if you happen to be peering under brush in a North American desert, and find a long stalked puffball, it will surely be B. diguetii.

And it was another fine day in the Sonoran Desert.  Thanks for coming along! 

Stay tuned for Part 5: Saguaro National Park – East, Rincon Mountains Unit; All saguaro, all the time!