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The Dead Mountains are a small group of low mountains located about six miles northwest of Needles, California and the Colorado River. This area is hot and dry with daytime temperatures over 100°F May through October, and summer highs may reach 120°. Annual rail fall is less than 5”. In 1826, Frontiersman Jedediah Strong Smith led his party of fur trappers up a small canyon in the dead mountains. Halfway through the canyon he found a spring and around the spring were many petroglyphs. Smith noted this information in his journal and referred to the place as ‘Picture Canyon’. The route through the canyon was suitable for horses and men on foot, but a series of low rock waterfalls made the trail impossible for wagons. In subsequent years the route was moved a few miles north to a trail that could accommodate wagons. This new route later became known as the Mojave Road. Picture Canyon is about 6 miles long, is orientated East-West and varies in width from about 100 feet at its widest to as little as 15 feet at its narrowest. The broken granite canyon walls rise almost 100 feet above the sandy bottom and, at times, a narrow shallow ribbon of water trickles from a spring in the center of the canyon and down the eastern course. Petroglyphs are found in an eighth mile section near the spring. They are found on both margins of the canyon, but most of the petroglyphs are on the northern side facing south. Picture Canyon is located in territory occupied by the Mohaves and since many the petroglyphs are made in the Grapevine Canyon Style, the rock art in Picture Canyon is attributed mostly to the Mohave Culture. Typical of Grapevine Style, the several hundred petroglyphs in Picture
Canyon are mostly nonrepresentational geometric motifs. Also present are several
stick figure anthropomorphs, some solid body anthropomorphs with large hands,
several non species identifiable quadrupeds and some that can be identified as
bighorn sheep. |
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Picture Canyon was not suitable as a road through the mountains because wagons could not navigate the low, dry waterfalls. |
The darker granite found on both sides of the spring contains most of the petroglyphs. |
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Faint petroglyphs made in
the Grapevine Canyon Style are easily missed in poor light conditions. |
Several hundred petroglyphs
are concentrated on dark granite boulders near the spring. |
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Some petroglyphs, like this net-like design, appear high on the canyon north wall. |
The spring provided water for native traders and early settlers. |
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The petroglyphs in the lower half of the photograph are difficult to see, while the image top center stands out against the granite rock. |
Several non species identifiable quadrupeds and some that can be identified as bighorn sheep are found on the boulders |
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| This rattlesnake may represent the great medicine man Humasereha who took the form of a great snake whose head was wider than the door of a house. He could make it rain and thunder by rattling his tail. Humasereha lived in a house made of hair in the Gulf of California and was the source of dark power. |
Replica of the image to the left. see more at www.sandcarveddesigns.com |
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