 We're here in Arizona, it's 114 degrees and we're trying to find some wild camels that were let loose by the U.S. government. Now, we don't know if they still exist but we're pretty sure they did at one time. Because in 1855 the U.S. war department had a strange plan: they wanted to build a wagon route between Texas and California and this plan didn't involve driving any golden spikes. No, this plan involved 33 hump-backed Egyptian immigrants and a man called Hi Jolly!
When you come to Arizona – you expect to find cacti, blistering heat, and lonely desert as far as the eye can see. But in the small town of Quartzsite, we've heard you can add one more thing to that isogamies. But how did they get here in the first place, and where are they now?
In 1855, and the U.S. Army had a problem: The California gold rush was attracting scores of potential prospectors west to seek their fortune. But a huge, inhospitable desert separated them from the eastern supply chain.
How could the Army bridge the gap between Texas and California? The trans-continental railroad was still a dream, and the climate proved to be too harsh for horses.
U.S. secretary of war, Jefferson Davis–who would later become president of the Confederacy–thought he had the answer. He asked the Senate to fund a wild idea: bring camels to America from the Middle East, and create caravan routes along the southwestern frontier.
It sounded like the perfect solution. Camels can go 5-7 days without food or water, and the strongest ones can carry almost 1,000 pounds.
In 1856, 33 seasick camels arrived on Texas shores after a two-month transatlantic cruise. escorting the traveling band is a Syrian camel expert with a funny name–Hadji Ali, dubbed Hi Jolly by tongue-tied American soldiers.
In June 1857, Hi-Jolly leads the first camel expedition from Texas to California. The journey is a true test of the animals' endurance–each camel has to carry more than 600 pounds over 1000 miles through the desert.
 In 1861, the Civil War breaks out, and the camels come under the control of the Confederate army. After the war, most of them are sold off, but a few escape into the wild Arizona desert– where an impressive pyramid shaped monument to their master still dominates the flat Quartzite landscape.
We asked Rosalee Oldham Wheeler, who has lived in Quartzsite for 65 years, if she'd ever heard the tales of descendants of Hi Jolly's camels still roaming the desert around the town.
"Oh yes," she replied.
Have you seen them yourself?
"No I haven't seen them myself, but ah they came in one time and said there was a camel up there, and he came around a bend and saw them and instead of walking away this way, he backed away. Which, you know horse's wouldn't have backed away. They'd have come forward."
That close encounter is actually one of many that have occurred. After the Civil War, wild camels were spotted in Idaho, Nevada, California, New Mexico and Texas. But the majority of sightings occurred in Arizona. A Native American camel hunt took place near Yuma in 1899, and in 1941, fresh camel tracks are spotted near the desert town of Douglas.
Today, Rosalee still holds out hope that she'll get to see one with her own eyes. As we bid her farewell she called out to us, "If you can find one, will you come back and tell me?"
Sure Rosalee, as long as it doesn't hock a lugy on us!
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