| Afton Canyon, California - 'In Search
of the Desert Megaphone' GPS: N35° 03' 09" W116° 22' 54" (WGS 84) December 23, 2000 |
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Continuing our search for the Desert Megaphone, we found the old abandoned rail spur a short distance east of Crucero. We traveled south along a road to one side of the spur for several miles. The rail ties appear to have been removed long ago. |
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Map Point 6:
After a little searching we finally found the mysterious desert megaphone on the top of a small rocky hill. GPS: N35° 01' 18" W116° 11' 51" (WGS 84) |
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Nobody knows who built the Desert Megaphone or who put it there, but I feel it was made by someone working for the railroad long ago. The Megaphone is a big tube of welded steel fashioned from several train parts. From the looks of it some attention to detail was done to create it. If you bang on it with a rock it makes a loud clanging noise. Someone also attached a small brass bell to it, for what reason who knows. The direction it points also has no reason either. |
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A picture of me standing next to the Desert Megaphone. |
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Not far from the Desert Megaphone and next to the old rail spur, we found a couple small kilns. We don't know how old they are, but we assume they may have been used to heat metal to repair a broken down train traveling on the old rail spur. |
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After a few minutes eating lunch and looking around the Desert Megaphone area, we decided to head back towards Crucero. This is a view of the surrounding desert looking north towards Crucero. The Desert Megaphone is just behind us. You can just make out the old rail spur in the middle right side of the picture. |
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Along the way back to Crucero, we decided to take a different way back along another dirt road. While traveling in a wash, I noticed something unusual. We stopped to investigate and found an unusual rock alignment in a patch of desert pavement. The two rows of rock were evenly spaced and looked too ordered to be naturally formed. The lines are made of the only large rocks in the entire patch of desert pavement. The inset picture shows how the rocks were aligned. From a guide book of the Mojave Desert, similar rock alignments are found all over the Mojave Desert. |
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Using the Mojave Desert guide book, we also found three sleeping circles. We found them some distance away from Crucero and west of I -15. The native americans would clear rocks away in circles to make thier Wikiups or grass huts over them. It took us a little while to find them and walked right past them at first. |
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