Ray Howland and the Adolph Ruth Mystery

[releventchair]

Mr. R. Chair,

It would have been a pretty good effort just for Ruth to make it up to Boulder Basin or just south of there. A slow pace in that heat just cooks you longer at a shorter distance. West Boulder would be very difficult for someone who required a cane, just to walk, let alone considering the heat and Ruth's age. Once Ruth left Willow Spring there was no water available, that he would have come on. He was sucking on that small thermos of water that he carried with him.

Have you been in the Superstitions? Something else is at play here.

Good luck,

Joe Ribaudo

Thank you for the suspicion of more being at play.
What I am hinting at is that the only distinct trait of Ruth's tracks were cane marks.

With a stick we can measure gait on easy straight aways. Lose next print ,use the stick to reach where it should be. Mixed tracks from different non distinct feet causing a mix up( to casual eyes) means to try to match that gait/ stride again to stay on one individual.

Ruth could have been long dead , but his cane and shoes could still have been leaving tracks.

More suspicion can be aroused if those tracks made after he was dead went a direction some one wanted them to for diversion. Had Ruths gait and scuff pattern been measured on easy going ground ( where known to actually be his) , then compared to the tracks others reported after he was missing we would know more.

I have never been in the Sups. Ol Ruth was though. (Where I wandered Az. long ago had no mountains.) I have watched footage and satellite and have relation in sight of mountains. If rough ground were desired, it can be found quick enough. Why? Do you suspect I am ignorant? I'm on the subject of tracking. Something I have plenty of hours into on a variety of creatures in varied states of living and dying.
Ruth was making tracks there ,as were others.. Focus on that fact and not what terrain I have been in in relation.

A plate in well healed bone ( circulation a big factor in healing) would not be his demise.
He knew his limitations of mobility. And the terrain he was in/ at/ around.
My vote is his risk level ( in hiking) was a conservative one at it's upper range. That does not mean his cane and shoe prints could not lead over a cliff or down a crevice after he was already done walking. But walk he did.

I've labored long in heat that will cook the grease out of a body. Stepped from it into below freezing from it for a smoke and not had goose bumps.
While conditioning factors in the skill of working in heat,it is an acclimation that takes time. Did Ruth have exposure to it in advance of his last outing? Yes . Did he wet his hat? Wet rag on the back of his shaded neck? Was he walking at noon , at night or the first hour or two of daylight?

His distance from water ,with his experience meant the water he had with him at the half volume meant his outer range before returning to water. He had not peed in his thermos yet,unless unreported.

 

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[motel6.5]

If Ruth was in such poor physical shape, why did he choose to go searching by himself ? To me it does not make common sense, he must have had a helper with him. The complete true story has probably been covered up from the beginning, and the cover story is what we have been left with. My thoughts only.

 

[cactusjumper]

Thank you for the suspicion of more being at play.
What I am hinting at is that the only distinct trait of Ruth's tracks were cane marks.

With a stick we can measure gait on easy straight aways. Lose next print ,use the stick to reach where it should be. Mixed tracks from different non distinct feet causing a mix up( to casual eyes) means to try to match that gait/ stride again to stay on one individual.

Ruth could have been long dead , but his cane and shoes could still have been leaving tracks.

More suspicion can be aroused if those tracks made after he was dead went a direction some one wanted them to for diversion. Had Ruths gait and scuff pattern been measured on easy going ground ( where known to actually be his) , then compared to the tracks others reported after he was missing we would know more.

I have never been in the Sups. Ol Ruth was though. (Where I wandered Az. long ago had no mountains.) I have watched footage and satellite and have relation in sight of mountains. If rough ground were desired, it can be found quick enough. Why? Do you suspect I am ignorant? I'm on the subject of tracking. Something I have plenty of hours into on a variety of creatures in varied states of living and dying.
Ruth was making tracks there ,as were others.. Focus on that fact and not what terrain I have been in in relation.

A plate in well healed bone ( circulation a big factor in healing) would not be his demise.
He knew his limitations of mobility. And the terrain he was in/ at/ around.
My vote is his risk level ( in hiking) was a conservative one at it's upper range. That does not mean his cane and shoe prints could not lead over a cliff or down a crevice after he was already done walking. But walk he did.

I've labored long in heat that will cook the grease out of a body. Stepped from it into below freezing from it for a smoke and not had goose bumps.
While conditioning factors in the skill of working in heat,it is an acclimation that takes time. Did Ruth have exposure to it in advance of his last outing? Yes . Did he wet his hat? Wet rag on the back of his shaded neck? Was he walking at noon , at night or the first hour or two of daylight?

His distance from water ,with his experience meant the water he had with him at the half volume meant his outer range before returning to water. He had not peed in his thermos yet,unless unreported.

RC,

To those who have been going into those mountains, it was pretty clear that you had not been there. If it was Ruth's intention to just hang around the general area of Willow Spring, he was fine. Most of us have been going into those mountains for decades, and studying/researching the stories for the same amount of time. Those who ignore those lessons often end up being carried out.....sometimes, like Ruth, in a bag.

Just to get to the mouth of West Boulder where it spills into Boulder Basin would be a two mile hike, often over boulders. If Ruth was thinking that straight and was so experienced, he would never have left camp without his hiking boots. Man needed a cane to maintain his balance on flat terrain. Needing a cane myself, these days, I understand the physics of the whole thing.

For a better idea of Ruth's health problems, you might want to read Garry's fine research here:

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.../ruth/Adolph Ruth's Government Employment.pdf

You need to read the entire report, but here's a small portion:

[1924 Jun 30 Adolph was in Washington at his daughter’s home and he was unable to report for work on June 23, 1924 in Wheeling. He is requesting a disability pension. Adolph states that a plate inserted in his right leg causes continuous pain when his weight rest on this leg and makes it difficult to remain on his feet for any considerable length of time.. He also has a double rupture caused by work on the killing floor which impairs his movement causing considerable pain at times. He also suffers from rheumatism which aggravates his condition.]

Here's an old timer who lived in the mountains:


AL MORROW IN NEEDLE CANYON

Don't mean to demean your outdoor experience, but the Superstitions are a special breed of cat.

Good luck,

Joe Ribaudo

 

[releventchair]

RC,

To those who have been going into those mountains, it was pretty clear that you had not been there. If it was Ruth's intention to just hang around the general area of Willow Spring, he was fine. Most of us have been going into those mountains for decades, and studying/researching the stories for the same amount of time. Those who ignore those lessons often end up being carried out.....sometimes, like Ruth, in a bag.

Just to get to the mouth of West Boulder where it spills into Boulder Basin would be a two mile hike, often over boulders. If Ruth was thinking that straight and was so experienced, he would never have left camp without his hiking boots. Man needed a cane to maintain his balance on flat terrain. Needing a cane myself, these days, I understand the physics of the whole thing.

For a better idea of Ruth's health problems, you might want to read Garry's fine research here:

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.../ruth/Adolph Ruth's Government Employment.pdf

You need to read the entire report, but here's a small portion:

[1924 Jun 30 Adolph was in Washington at his daughter’s home and he was unable to report for work on June 23, 1924 in Wheeling. He is requesting a disability pension. Adolph states that a plate inserted in his right leg causes continuous pain when his weight rest on this leg and makes it difficult to remain on his feet for any considerable length of time.. He also has a double rupture caused by work on the killing floor which impairs his movement causing considerable pain at times. He also suffers from rheumatism which aggravates his condition.]

Here's an old timer who lived in the mountains:


AL MORROW IN NEEDLE CANYON

Don't mean to demean your outdoor experience, but the Superstitions are a special breed of cat.

Good luck,

Joe Ribaudo

Knew you would pull the " you ain't been here" card.
Check out the greenstone region of Canada From Palisades to beach sand boulder, rock,stone in every size from exposed bed rock to scree slopes ..
No burro or mule going to get far with an intact hide unless in a boat.
Yet my sign is on some of the terrain. An old frail man could have joined me. Enough to say %#&@ this stuff anyway.
No rush. The 2% possible trail has had others of one form or another use it. Not sure where the greatest concern should be focused..house sized boulders moving ,or sliding on something smaller,or getting wedged .

Thanks for the link. I'll look it over. Applying for disability would not encourage boasting of feats of skill...
Though the killing floor would aggregate rheumatism many ways. Guess Ruth carried no bow for good reason.

Did not expect Ruth to beat himself up. Wondered too , if on short recon movements away from camp if he did not squirrel a soda bottle or similar of water down a most used route. If wanting to avoid camp awhile when returning near enough to watch camp due to non welcome company an option would be needed.
Though Ruth may not have been worried about needing water beyond camp....It is hard to accept his being painted as a frail old greenhorn with no desert sense.

Again ,had Ruth found walking unbearable for any great distance ,why walk great distance? His associate not showing up , and not having any other recourse and any desperation would(?) mean stay in camp or head back. Unless molested... camp was fine depending on who was scheduled when to pack him out.

For him to strike out solo into rough terrain if concluding something was wrong by some one not showing up ....seems odd.
No communication meant not knowing why , but something was up.
With folks knowing where he should be , just keep an eye on camp while out of site hoping for an ally to show first ,or ease back out if a more secure site below was available.

 

[releventchair]

Unghh.
I'm going to coffee up and go back to a hunting forum : C.J.
And try not to picture Ruth being popped before knowing what was going on...

 

[releventchair]

Well C.J.. :I read the Bureau file.
A better guess of fracture site but regardless ,Ruth knew anatomy and bone enough to know his limits.
If the Sups. are a special breed ,so too those in and around it's goin's ons.

What urgency beyond a puzzle solve would have drawn Ruth west again ...and placed him back out in the field with no means of transporting himself or anything else of substance. .
Corralled for all practical purposes within a short radius of camp.

Guess for now I would end the film by showing him soaking his feet while waiting solo in camp.
After a shot fired and a fade to black ,then show a car stirring up dust retracing his trip coming from the East with a Skip James tune. Looking at a map and smiling like some one who has been waiting a long time , and soured on Bureau's.. but not quite soured on burro's.

Hard time here and everywhere you go
Times is harder than ever been before
And the people are driftin' from door to door
Can't find no heaven, I don't care where they go
Hear me tell you people, just before I go
These hard times will kill you just dry long so
Well, you hear me singin' my lonesome song
These hard times can last us so very long
If I ever get off this killin' floor
I'll never get down this low no more
No-no, no-no, I'll never get down this low no more
And you say you had money, you better be sure
'Cause these hard times will drive you from door to door
Sing this song and I ain't gonna sing no more
Sing this song and I ain't gonna sing no more


Not sure if Skip or some one else's version would be better. Stuff gets shared,stuff gets stolen, stuff gets patents expired on , or claims fought over, and folks runned over ... till it gets hard to sort out.

 

[cactusjumper]

Well C.J.. :I read the Bureau file.
A better guess of fracture site but regardless ,Ruth knew anatomy and bone enough to know his limits.
If the Sups. are a special breed ,so too those in and around it's goin's ons.

What urgency beyond a puzzle solve would have drawn Ruth west again ...and placed him back out in the field with no means of transporting himself or anything else of substance. .
Corralled for all practical purposes within a short radius of camp.

Guess for now I would end the film by showing him soaking his feet while waiting solo in camp.
After a shot fired and a fade to black ,then show a car stirring up dust retracing his trip coming from the East with a Skip James tune. Looking at a map and smiling like some one who has been waiting a long time , and soured on Bureau's.. but not quite soured on burro's.

Hard time here and everywhere you go
Times is harder than ever been before
And the people are driftin' from door to door
Can't find no heaven, I don't care where they go
Hear me tell you people, just before I go
These hard times will kill you just dry long so
Well, you hear me singin' my lonesome song
These hard times can last us so very long
If I ever get off this killin' floor
I'll never get down this low no more
No-no, no-no, I'll never get down this low no more
And you say you had money, you better be sure
'Cause these hard times will drive you from door to door
Sing this song and I ain't gonna sing no more
Sing this song and I ain't gonna sing no more


Not sure if Skip or some one else's version would be better. Stuff gets shared,stuff gets stolen, stuff gets patents expired on , or claims fought over, and folks runned over ... till it gets hard to sort out.

RC,

After one trip that came very close to killing him, and a second that did kill him, I have serious doubts the good doctor did "know his limits". With the golden bit clamped tightly in his teeth, I believe the people around him were better able to judge his limits. Many an older man has hiked circles around much younger and seemingly stronger men in the Superstitions, which is one of the reasons I posted that picture of Al Morrow. Uncle Obie Stoker was another. There is nothing to be read in Adolph Ruth's history to indicate he played in the same ball park......or even state.

Tough as you are, I would not suggest you try to hike where it's being claimed Ruth did.......in June, with nothing but a small thermos of water.

Good luck,

Joe Ribaudo

 

[releventchair]

Alas C.J..
Tough is now a past tense.
Can hold a map still ,if it's not too windy out.

 

[cactusjumper]

Alas C.J..
Tough is now a past tense.
Can hold a map still ,if it's not too windy out.

RC,

I am exactly in the same boat. I can get around with my cane, but the wife always grabs my free hand.

Take care,

Joe

 

[releventchair]

RC,

I am exactly in the same boat. I can get around with my cane, but the wife always grabs my free hand.

Take care,

Joe

An agreeable woman that after so many years does not hand you a map and point at the desert?
You Sir , are a rich man...

Stay well , albeit wobbly.

 

[gollum]

Mr. Chair,

I have to agree 100% with Cactusjumper here. After spending about 14 years in both the US Navy and the US Army, I have put boots on the ground in some very nasty places (Middle East, Far East, Central and South America). I have been all over the US Southwest as well. The Superstitions are different from anywhere else I have been. If the Borrego Badlands (in Anza-Borrego Desert) were larger, they would be worse, but thank heavens they are only a few miles wide and about 1 or 2 miles deep.

Not ALL of the Superstitions are that nasty, but a goodly chunk of them are (mostly if you are off trail). Several places along Fish, Peter's, Tortilla, and Lower LaBarge Box are almost impenetrable, except by boulder hopping and a chainsaw. Several places in the Eastern End of the mountains are bad for scrub oak and cat claw (not to mention Cholla from end to end). To make matters worse, there are few places to find usable water year round, and no easy way to get out of the mountains if you find yourself in a bad way (one of the reasons I preach to everyone to get either an EPIRB or SPOT GPS Locator).

MIke

 

[releventchair]

I'll concede.
But if any other readers have frolicked on the Laurentain North of Lake Superior , pipe in as to terrain.

 

[EarnieP]

I'll concede advancing age makes every terrain harder.
No negotiating with Father Time.
Can't remember having to stop and catch my breath so often.

"Hold on fellas I'll catch up in a minute!"

 

[azdave35]

Mr. Chair,

I have to agree 100% with Cactusjumper here. After spending about 14 years in both the US Navy and the US Army, I have put boots on the ground in some very nasty places (Middle East, Far East, Central and South America). I have been all over the US Southwest as well. The Superstitions are different from anywhere else I have been. If the Borrego Badlands (in Anza-Borrego Desert) were larger, they would be worse, but thank heavens they are only a few miles wide and about 1 or 2 miles deep.

Not ALL of the Superstitions are that nasty, but a goodly chunk of them are (mostly if you are off trail). Several places along Fish, Peter's, Tortilla, and Lower LaBarge Box are almost impenetrable, except by boulder hopping and a chainsaw. Several places in the Eastern End of the mountains are bad for scrub oak and cat claw (not to mention Cholla from end to end). To make matters worse, there are few places to find usable water year round, and no easy way to get out of the mountains if you find yourself in a bad way (one of the reasons I preach to everyone to get either an EPIRB or SPOT GPS Locator).

MIke

cruising around in the supers is a piece of cake ..if you stay on the trails..once you get off the trails its a whole new game

 

[South Sea mariner]

just want to say thumbs up and what a wonderful informative thread this has been. I Am really getting the history behind the mysterious death of Adolph Ruth. For a wet behind the ears newbie like me it sure has brought the Dutchman story to life.

Mal

 

[wrmickel1]

Well I find this thread to be the most spot on of any I read here. My thoughts have become yours,
So why did Ruth not cross the river because there is no need to, He picked his spot to camp because he was there
and didn't need to walk very far. Now did the natives bury the mines, I don't believe that to be true at all, because there not buried.
The circle in a circle is the Passover
They rolled a stone over the entrance to close the tomb so Jesus could not rise, but in the morning the tomb was empty.
I found two such spots like this and opened them, Which brings me to Carrol's dads story of silver bars cause the mines were silver mines, but I've found two more I still need to open. Not even father Polzer new the meanings of the circle in the circle. The round stone covers the entrance so if the natives did this the priests must have taught them.

Believe me or not oh well

Babymick1

 

[wrmickel1]

Do do you see the Passover Stones

babymick1

 

[wrmickel1]

I would imagine Ryan Gordon should be paying close attention to the master, Cause he about to be thwarted in his queer Quest by the most Queer Quester of them all.

Babymick1

 

[azdave35]

I would imagine Ryan Gordon should be paying close attention to the master, Cause he about to be thwarted in his queer Quest by the most Queer Quester of them all.

Babymick1

look..... the grand poo-bah is back

 

[wrmickel1]

Hi Dave,

Look at pic 2 These are the numbers I was asking Somehiker about, it seems there on every wedding invitation highly spiritual since Jesus time on earth. Kinda hard to debunk a religion connection to the Stones now.
I got more pic's then that one with 424 on them.

babymick1. But I never left