Ladies of the Canyons: A League of Extraordinary Women and Their Adventures in the American Southwest by Lesley Poling-Kempes

Author:Lesley Poling-Kempes [Poling-Kempes, Lesley]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: University of Arizona Press
Published: 2015-09-16T16:00:00+00:00

Figure 35. Alice Klauber at the home of Julian and Maria Martinez, San Ildefonso Pueblo, August 1916.

After several days of hard riding, walking, and scrambling across the hot, steep, slick rock ledges of the high plateau, the party stood beneath the bridge. On August 24, Pfäffle and the Douglases added their names to the fabled registry tucked in the rocks. It was likely Pfäffle’s and Douglas’s first visit to the sacred arch, but it would not be their last.11

The August pack trip Roy Pfäffle took with the Douglas men was historic in the annals of modern Southwest expeditions, since they were the first to travel by horseback from Santa Fe across Navajo and Hopi country to Rainbow Bridge. Pfäffle and other guides routinely took horses and riders on the train from Lamy to Gallup, where they disembarked, packed up, and headed by horseback into Indian Country. Pfäffle’s historic outing with Douglas and his son began on horseback in Santa Fe and continued north and west across New Mexico into Navajoland, and west and north across Arizona to Kayenta. It was an epic achievement—they rode nine hundred roadless miles in twenty-eight days, and successfully blazed a trail through Cañon del Muerto at the east end of Canyon de Chelly. Pfäffle and Douglas mapped a route from Santa Fe to Canyon de Chelly that would become the standard for horse expeditions in the next decade.12

In late August, Natalie was still bedridden with a lung disorder, and with the lingering effects of the nasty germ picked up on her trip with Carol into the outback in July. Although Natalie remained involved in the discussions about the Pajarito Club’s future, Carol realized that if Chapin and his partners agreed to their proposal, Natalie could not possibly live on the plateau and manage the ranch. Carol, alone, would have to go oversee the Pajarito Club for the winter.13

Carol, Alice, Douglas, and all of Natalie’s Santa Fe friends were anxious about her ill health. On the last day of August, Alice and Carol went to St. Vincent’s and made arrangements for Natalie to move into one of hospital’s private rooms. The next day, they moved her into the sanatorium.14

St. Vincent’s was near the old plaza just off the corner of Palace Avenue and Cathedral Place, and in 1916, with seventy-five beds, it was Santa Fe’s largest hospital. Private rooms were furnished with home-style beds, rocking chairs, and wide windows with a view of Palace Avenue or the cathedral gardens. Visitors were welcome, and Natalie had many during her convalescence. One person in particular, Paul Burlin, remained by her bedside.

Over the spring and summer of 1916, Natalie and Paul Burlin had fallen in love. Carol knew the extent of their relationship because she was with Natalie when the courtship began. Burlin had gone on camping trips with Carol and Natalie’s friends, and when Natalie moved out of the Hotel De Vargas, she had

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