Day 91

“Born somewhere in Syria about 1828. Died at quartzite December 16, 1902.” 

The town of Quartzite uses the silhouette of a camel as part of their logo.  I thought, as I notice this symbol, that they must have chosen it because there are a desert town.

Hadji Ali (commonly known as Hi Jolly) was a camel wrangler before he immigrated to the US and he went to work for the US Army as a caretaker for animals. 

Just before the civil war someone got the maybe-hairbrained idea to create the US Army Camel Corps with Hi Jolly at the ready to care for the animals he knew so well.  The idea was that the camels could haul supplies to troops much more efficiently than the previously used 6-mule wagons, especially considering the hot weather. 

Unfortunately, the project didn’t come to full fruition, and was sidelined at the inception of the war.  The camels were just not ready logistically for prime time. 

There is a very good blog written about this if you would care to know more. 

https://alwaysonliberty.com/2017/08/the-great-camel-experiment-quartzsite-arizona.html/

Quartzite AZ