Mural #16

Cattle Days in Hidden Valley

The monolithic buttes and towers that surround Hidden Valley in what is now Joshua Tree National Park were once reputed to be the stronghold of rustlers and outlaws known locally as the McHaney gang. The valley was aptly named due to its remoteness and concealed entrance through which passed stolen cattle and horses. There they were re-branded before being herded to Arizona for resale. Cattle would winter in the high desert of the Morongo Basin from the 1880's on into the 1940s. The area around Twentynine Palms was used by the early cattlemen for the water at the Oasis of Mara while they grazed their stock in the Queen Valley area, now in Joshua Tree National Park. The herds were then driven, following the water sources, back to summer pasture in the high meadows around Big Bear Lake in the San Bernardino mountains where the ranches were located. Early cattle companies were the Swarthout, Barker and Shay outfits.

Created by artist John Pugh of, the work was painted on the Crossroad Christian Books building.