A Wild Heart And The Shirts Off Their Backs

 March 24, 2026

   One of my favorite true stories about hats involves two legendary Mojave In-dins, Irataba and Cairook.

Daily Whip Out:

"Four Hats On The Horizon"

   The Whipple Expedition (1853-54) needed guides to take them from the Mojave villages on the Colorado River to Los Angeles. Irataba and another Mojave, Cairook, volunteered. This is rough, arid country and if you've ever traveled from the Needles area across to Barstow and on to San Bernadino,  you know exactly what I'm talking about. When the expedition reached the settlements, many of Whipple's men literally gave the shirts off their backs to their Mojave guides. Three or four men gave their hats in a token of appreciation for a job well done. The artist on the expedition,  H.B. Mollhausen,  described the scene this way: "Every one had been eager to bestow on the guides who had served us so faithfully whatever article he could spare from his wardrobe, and they had immediately donned it with stoical composure, so that they now look like wandering bundles of old clothes." The two Mojaves then walked back to the Colorado River, which inspired the above painting. I believe this would make a great opening scene in a movie, with four hats, stacked high, rippling in the heatwaves of the Mojave Desert. Slowly, a head and shoulders appear and then we see two tall Mojaves walking towards us, loaded down with multiple hats and layers of clothing. As they reached their villages along the Colorado they most assuredly gifted an item, or two, to friends and family and then walked on to gift the next item until all the bounty was distributed to their tribe.

   Meanwhile, one of the captive Oatman girls was in one of those riverside villages when the Whipple Expedition came through and her name was Olive and by this time she was an excellent swimmer and she often dove deep into the surging waters of the mighty Colorado.

"Olive Dives Deep"

   When she was finally liberated—some say, recaptured—she traveled to California where she stayed briefly with Susan Thompson in Monte, California. Susan had been on the ill-fated Oatman wagon train with Olive and her family.

Susan Thompson 

   So, what really happened on the Colorado River during Olive's three years of captivity there? I believe that story has never been honestly told.

"Midnight On The Colorado"

Olive And Her Children?

   A very famous Prescott historian knew the true story but chose to demure on the side of discretion. Why?

Sharlot In Red

   To the end, they both lived out their lives with a troubling secret.

"Olive In Shadow"

(she was a captive for five years,

three with the Mojave)

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

—Susan Thompson