Hi Jolly Monument
Hi Jolly Monument | |
 The monument in 2008. The mention of "Syria" on the grave refers to the region of Ottoman Syria. | |
   | |
| Location | 245 Kofa Ave., Quartzsite, Arizona |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 33°39′52.00″N 114°14′11.00″W / 33.6644444°N 114.2363889°W |
| Area | 0.1 acres (0.040 ha) |
| Built | 1935 |
| NRHP reference No. | 11000054[1] |
| Added to NRHP | February 28, 2011 |
The Hi Jolly Monument is a grave site in the Hi Jolly Cemetery located at Quartzsite, Arizona, United States marking the grave of Hi Jolly, a Syrian-born camel driver brought to the United States in 1856 to drive camels for the US Cavalry.[2] The site is located halfway between Phoenix, Arizona, and Los Angeles, California.[3] It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2011.
Hi Jolly
Hi Jolly was born in Syria in 1828 as Philip Tedro, an Ottoman subject of Syrian and Greek parentage,[4]. Upon converting to Islam and making a pilgrimage to Mecca, he became known as Haiji Ali (later Americanized to Hi Jolly).[2] He came to the United States in 1856 after being recruited in Smyrna, Greece by the US Army as a camel driver/tender.[5] At the time, the United States government wanted to fund a project that would help link small communities of the west to the east using camels.[6]
On February 10, 1856, 33 camels, purchased in the Middle East by Edward F. Beale, left Old Camp Verde, the headquarters of the newly-formed United States Camel Corps in Texas, with Hi Jolly leading the pack.[7] The following year, on the Beale Expedition, the U.S. government wanted to construct a wagon road across Arizona's vast desert from Fort Defiance to California.[8] The expedition was such a success that the federal government ordered 44 additional camels to be added to the project.[9] That same year the camel expedition failed for unknown reasons, likely due to the high costs. Hi Jolly is the best known of the recruited camel drivers, having remained in the southwest after the camel experiment ended. He became a prospector, desert guide, mail courier, and freight hauler.[2]
Death and monument
Hi Jolly died in December 1902 in Quartzsite, Arizona and was buried there, the first grave in what became Hi Jolly Cemetery.[2][10][11] Due to his popularity with the local citizens, they spent weeks building a pyramid monument over his grave made from multi-colored petrified wood and quartz. The cairn was dedicated on January 4, 1903.[6] In 1935, the Arizona Highway Department added a bronze plaque with a synopsis of his life to the monument, and a camel silhouette on top. The plaque was dedicated by Arizona governor Benjamin Moeur.[6][12] The monument was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2011.[13]
The pyramid measures 9 feet (2.7 m) at the base on each side and is 8-foot-tall (2.4 m). The camel silhouette on the apex is made of steel, 2-foot-tall (0.61 m), and faces west. It is located in the older "pioneer section" of the cemetery, marking the first of 124 graves in the section. The cemetery is in a natural desert setting with hard packed dirt, one block off the main street (U.S. Route 95) in Quartzsite.[14]
The plaque on the monument reads:
THE LAST CAMP
OF
HI JOLLY
BORN SOMEWHERE IN SYRIA
ABOUT 1828
DIED AT QUARTZSITE
DECEMBER 16, 1902
CAME TO THIS COUNTRY
FEBRUARY 10, 1856
CAMELDRIVER – PACKER
SCOUT – OVER THIRTY
YEARS A FAITHFUL AID
TO THE U.S. GOVERNMENT
ARIZONA
HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT
1935
References
- ^ "National Register Information System – (#11000054)". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
- ^ a b c d "Hi Jolly Monument". www.ci.quartzsite.az.us. Retrieved 2022-01-15.
- ^ "Hi Jolly Monument". Atlas Obscura. Retrieved 2022-01-15.
- ^ "Philip Tedro: A Greek Legend of the American West". helleniccomserve.com.
- ^ "Hi Jolly – Uncle Sam's Camel Captain - AramcoWorld". www.aramcoworld.com. Retrieved 2022-01-15.
- ^ a b c "Hi Jolly's Tomb, Quartzsite, Arizona". RoadsideAmerica.com. Retrieved 2022-01-15.
- ^ Liberty, Always On (2017-08-21). "Great Camel Experiment: Hi Jolly Monument in Quartzsite, Arizona". Always On Liberty. Retrieved 2022-01-15.
- ^ "Hi Jolly". AZOFFROAD.NET. Retrieved 2022-01-15.
- ^ "SCVHistory.com LW2161a | U.S. Camel Corps | Hi Jolly's Tomb". www.scvhistory.com. Retrieved 2022-01-15.
- ^ "The Last Camp of Hi Jolly Historical Marker". www.hmdb.org. Retrieved 2022-01-15.
- ^ Army History: The Professional Bulletin of Army History, Issue 86. U.S. Army Center of Military History. 2013. pp. 36–. OCLC 21069441.
- ^ "Hi Jolly Monument". Clio. Retrieved 2022-01-15.
- ^ "A visit to an unusual tomb in Quartzsite | ADOT". azdot.gov. Retrieved 2022-01-15.
- ^ "Historic Property Information Form for Hi Jolly Cemetery". Retrieved January 15, 2022.