Hi Jolly Monument, Historic grave in Quartzsite, Arizona, US.
The Hi Jolly Monument is a grave in Quartzsite, Arizona, built from multicolored petrified wood and quartz. The pyramid shape supports a metal camel silhouette at the top.
Hi Jolly died in Quartzsite in December 1902 and was buried there as the first grave of what became Hi Jolly Cemetery. Local citizens spent weeks building a pyramid of petrified wood and quartz over the grave, dedicated on January 4, 1903. In 1934 the Arizona Highway Department added the plaque and a steel camel silhouette, and the plaque was dedicated in 1935 by Governor Benjamin Moeur. The monument was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2011.
Locals knew him as Hi Jolly, an Americanized form of Hadji Ali, the name he took after converting to Islam and making the pilgrimage to Mecca. He was born Philip Tedro in Syria in 1828. After the Camel Corps ended, he stayed in the Southwest as a prospector, desert guide, mail courier and freight hauler, and his popularity led citizens to spend weeks building the monument.
The monument stands in the pioneer section of Quartzsite Cemetery, about half a mile (800 meters) east of Interstate 10 exit 17. Access runs through the flea market area along Business Route 10.
The 1934 plaque addition also sealed a vault at the monument's base, holding memorabilia from Hi Jolly's life and the ashes of "Old Topsy", the last camel survivor of the Army experiment. The steel camel silhouette at the apex is 2 feet tall and faces west.
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