Desert Rats: They Came With a Pick, a Shovel and a Dream - Joe Kraus - Bog

There's probably no definition of a desert rat other than someone who lives, breathes, and thinks desert. As harsh as things were in their surroundings, they would have it no other way. They came soon after the West was already won, when Indian wars, gunfights, cattle drives, and range disputes were history. For them they came to make their mark in a place nobody else wanted. Most of them were prospectors, but not all. Others tended store, drove wagons, or just were up to no good most of the time. What they all had in common was that they were fixtures, permant implants in the sand. No guidebooks told them how they were to conduct themselves. So they became colorful and crusty to match the land. Along the way they had fun - and a good laugh.