Hi Jolly Cemetery & the Hi Jolly Monument in Quartzite, Arizona

Eric & I pass the Quartzsite
sign each time we head
into town.







A pyramid and camels are unusual features for a town's sign in Arizona.  Here's the story behind the sign: Secretary of State Jefferson Davis (later President of the Confederate States of America) approved an experiment to create a Camel Calvary Corps to pack freight for a team opening up a wagon road from California to Arizona.  Seventy-seven camels and six caretakers were shipped to the US in the 1850s.  The camel experiment was  considered a failure. The camels were left to wander the desert, where they lived for many years.  One of the caretakers, Hajj Ali, became known as Hi Jolly.  After the Camel Cavalry Corps was disbanded, Hi Jolly stayed in Arizona.  He married, had two children, mined, occasionally scouted for the US government, delivered "jackass" mail and sold water to travelers.

Hi Jolly Cemetery

Graves here are covered

with stones or with a

cement slab.

This monument was constructed at
 Hi Jolly's grave to commemorate
the Camel Cavalry Corps & his
role in the failed experiment.

The Hi Jolly Monument was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2011.

Charles V. Kuehn

Died May 3, 1930

Among the graves with markers, no matter how small are unmarked graves.

Jose Maria Sias

Died 1883

McNamara

Died 1900