"We could not erase the wild from her heart."

January 4, 2018
   The Olive Oatman feature took a turn this morning in our weekly Design Review meeting. Thanks to a lively discussion—okay, physical threats were made—the angle of the story moved. Not exactly sure where it's going to land, but I have a hunch it's going to be stronger.

   Went home for lunch and finished a couple hangout illustrations:

Daily Whip Out: "Oatmans Struggle to Cross The Gila"

The twin saguaros and the distant mountain—ironically called Oatman Mountain today—were drawn on location when Vince Murray and I first visited the massacre site last spring:

Oatman Mountain dust devil

   Thanks to Jeff Cuneo, who has studied and hiked this entire region, we now know the probable route Olive and her captors took when leaving the massacre site. Hint: they crossed this range to the left of this photo, in a narrow pass. We have a great map of the entire route executed by Kevin Kibsey.

Daily Whip Out: "Oatman Wagon Train Hoedown"

Daily Whip Out: "Oatman Crossing Sketch"

Daily Whip Out: "Talking Rocks"

   The irony here is that the rock that inspired this painting is at the foot of the mesa where the Oatmans were massacred. You can't see it from the road they took to the top, but if you throw a stone off the edge, to the north, you would hit this ominous rock.

The Actual Talking Rock. Note how the 1916 date addition

spoils the whole effect.

"We could not erase the wild from her heart."

—Susan Thompson Lewis Parrish