Boot of Cortez Gold Nugget
(courtesy Heritage Auction Galleries)
The austere and forbidding Sonora Desert of the United States and Mexico regularly experiences some of the most extreme weather in the Western Hemisphere. Daytime temperatures often exceed 125 degrees in the shade even as blast-furnace winds swiftly strip life-sustaining water from the few men and animals tough enough and wily enough to make a living in this land of stark, unforgiving beauty. [...] Click here to continue reading.