Travel or Archaeology blog....you decide. Either way.....Welcome to Joshua Tree National Park.

 Good Morning Blog World,
Little Fox here. I am enjoying the sunshine of the California Desert at Joshua Tree National Park.

Is today's blog a travel blog or an archaeology blog?  That is to be determined by the universe.  Today, my adventure starts out at the History Keys Desert Queen Ranch in Joshua Tree National Park.  Bill Keys homesteaded the ranch in 1917, then when he passed in 1969 the park service traded the current owner for some land in San Diego and the park service got the land for the Key's ranch.    

Key's Ranch has been untouched since Keys died in 1969 and the desert air has maintained the equipment.  The park service plans to keep the ranch in the same condition you see it today.  Lot's old old vehicles at the ranch.  This is a ford truck from back in the day.  One of Bill Keys children got the engine runing in 2013.  Maybe it still runs today? 

So much ranch and mining equipment. I need to put a proposal together for the museum to see if they will let me catalog the site. 

Living in the middle of the desert makes one resourceful.  Keys built his ranch and expanded the buildings any time he could.  In fact, this is his table saw.  It's hooked up to the tractors motor to move the blade.  Pretty darn resourceful Mr. Keys.

Keys was a rancher, a miner and a scavenger.  When other homesteaders left the desert Keys would fire up a truck and collect anything usable and/or left behind.  Being that he has 160 acres homestead he has lots of space to store everything he scavenged. 

This would be a great challenge for an archaeology student like myself.  I need to email my advisor. 

Keys built everything on the ranch.  House, shed, overnighter cabin, fences, dams, you name it he built it.  Anyone with those skills needs a good workshop and Bill Keys had a great one.  

So much to catalog. 

The ranch is only open via ranger led tours.  The ranger did a great job sharing information about the ranch.  This good looking dog is Ruby.  She's a 10 year old rescue and lives at the ranch with a caretaker.  How does one get that job? 

Onward my friends more of the park to explore.