"He is dead, he is dead!It is Sutuma our chief, our beloved.He lived an hundred years and did no evil.He was the son of an hundred chiefs and he was wise.His words were like drops of water on thirsty ground.His deeds were good and they will live forever."
"He is dead, he is dead!It is Sutuma our chief, our beloved.He lived an hundred years and did no evil.He was the son of an hundred chiefs and he was wise.His words were like drops of water on thirsty ground.His deeds were good and they will live forever."
"He is dead, he is dead!It is Sutuma our chief, our beloved.He lived an hundred years and did no evil.He was the son of an hundred chiefs and he was wise.His words were like drops of water on thirsty ground.His deeds were good and they will live forever."
This poet continued to chant his improvised epic as he ran about the pyre, till he became exhausted, when he exchanged places with one of his companions who took up the strain and went on:
THE FUNERAL PYRETHE FUNERAL PYREFrom photograph by C. C. Pierce & Co.
"The sun is darkened because our chief is gone.The stars weep dewdrops because he is dead.The wind sings sorrowfully because he lies low.When he was alive the earth was very glad.His household rejoiced because of his good sayings.His braves were fearless because he was strong.He was great, he was good, he was full of wisdom.He is dead and the earth groans with its sorrow."
"The sun is darkened because our chief is gone.The stars weep dewdrops because he is dead.The wind sings sorrowfully because he lies low.When he was alive the earth was very glad.His household rejoiced because of his good sayings.His braves were fearless because he was strong.He was great, he was good, he was full of wisdom.He is dead and the earth groans with its sorrow."
"The sun is darkened because our chief is gone.The stars weep dewdrops because he is dead.The wind sings sorrowfully because he lies low.When he was alive the earth was very glad.His household rejoiced because of his good sayings.His braves were fearless because he was strong.He was great, he was good, he was full of wisdom.He is dead and the earth groans with its sorrow."
From time to time the chanters changed places, and the poem of praise and sorrow continued till the fire burned low and died out. Then the old prophetess, Morabico, lifted from the embers a handful of ashes, which she cast upon the winds saying:
"To the Glad Land waft thy spirit. Be there happy ever as thou art entitled to be because of thy goodness and wisdom."
"To the Glad Land waft thy spirit. Be there happy ever as thou art entitled to be because of thy goodness and wisdom."
Then, in the blackness of the night, lighted only by the stars above, the picturesque band journeyed back into the lonely desert village, and the funeral was at an end.
In the midst of a region so repellent that a large part of it remains comparatively unknown and unexplored, one art has reached a state of perfection unattained in civilized communities. This is the art of basket-making.
When, in 1539, Marcos de Niza, in his explorations northward from Mexico, entered the great desert region, he found peoples equipped with baskets of wonderful make and of marvelous fineness, such as the enlightened nations of Europe could not produce.
The basket-makers of that time had all the skill that is known to their descendants to-day. More than three and one-half centuries have passed since then, but it has marked no improvement in the art. It was perfect then; it was perfect as far back as the traditions of that early day could trace it. It is an art to which civilization can add nothing; on the contrary, civilization threatens it with retrogression.
A MOJAVE INDIAN POUNDING MESQUITE BEANS IN WOODEN MORTARA MOJAVE INDIAN POUNDING MESQUITE BEANS IN WOODEN MORTARFrom photograph by C. C. Pierce & Co.
Neither history nor tradition goes back far enough to determine when the art of plaiting and weaving had its birth, nor can we find evidence of a period when the work of the weaver has been less perfect. Progressiveness in those lines has been at the expense of the quality of the article produced. While the Indian is weaving a single blanket the modern loom will produce thousands, but never has loom been invented which could produce a blanket equal in quality to the hand-made blanket turned out by some of the Indian tribes who inhabit the arid lands of the West.
Almost all the basket-weaving tribes—and that includes nearly every tribe west of the Rocky Mountains—have legends pointing to the antiquity of the art. The Pomo Indians of Northern California tell that when the progenitors of their tribe were created, the Great Spirit furnished them with food in conical, water-tight baskets which served them as patterns for future work in that line. The Navajos learned the art by patterning after the baby-baskets in which the infant gods of war were sent to them, and the Havasupais believe that the daughter of the good god Tochopa taught the art to her daughter, from whom the tribe descended.
The basket plays an important part in the affairs of the desert Indian. It is his cradle in infancy; it is necessary in his domestic life, baskets being used in which to store his grain, cook his meals, serve his food, and carry his burdens. It figures in religious ceremonies, in marriage festivals, and in funeral rites. It forms a part of the decoration of his home, and serves him as a repository for his precious turquoise, wampum, and other treasures. His water-supply is brought and stored in baskets, the history and traditions of his tribe are woven into basket designs, and of late years, since the curio hunter is abroad in the land, the basket has become a very fertile source of revenue, bringing, in some instances, actual wealth.
Indian baskets may be divided into four general classes:
1. Burden baskets, such as are used for the carrying of loads of various kinds. These are generally of coarse material and are quite likely to be the work of old men who are incapacitated for other labor, or of young members of the tribe who are learning the art of basket-weaving.
1. Burden baskets, such as are used for the carrying of loads of various kinds. These are generally of coarse material and are quite likely to be the work of old men who are incapacitated for other labor, or of young members of the tribe who are learning the art of basket-weaving.
RARE TULARE AND POMO BASKETSRARE TULARE AND POMO BASKETSFrom photograph by C. C. Pierce & Co.
2. Domestic baskets, including the granaries, cooking utensils, water-bottles, and other baskets in general use about the house. In this line may be classed the baskets in which are cradled the infants.3. Jewel baskets, which are used for holding articles of value and trinkets prized by the householder, and baskets used solely for ornamental purposes.4. Ceremonial, embracing such as have sacred significance and historical import, and those used at feasts and festivals and at marriages and funerals.
2. Domestic baskets, including the granaries, cooking utensils, water-bottles, and other baskets in general use about the house. In this line may be classed the baskets in which are cradled the infants.
3. Jewel baskets, which are used for holding articles of value and trinkets prized by the householder, and baskets used solely for ornamental purposes.
4. Ceremonial, embracing such as have sacred significance and historical import, and those used at feasts and festivals and at marriages and funerals.
It may seem strange to speak of using baskets in which to cook food, but this is a common practice with certain tribes. Vegetables are boiled and mush is cooked in baskets, by dropping into the basket with the food stones which have been heated on live coals. Certain foods are also cooked in shallow baskets, which have been lined with clay, by placing live coals beside the food, and then skilfully twirling the basket in such a manner as to keep the food and coals constantly changing places, but at the same time separate from each other. By occasionally blowing into the dish the mess is kept free from ashes and the coals are kept glowing.
The designs which appear in Indian baskets are not merely artistic conceptions of theweavers, but have significance. The sacred baskets are dedicated to certain purposes suggested by the designs woven in them. Thus the cobweb pattern in a Hopi basket signifies that it is to be used in conveying offerings to the "spider woman," as one of the deities or saints in the Hopi calendar is designated. Even the seeming miscalculation in the weaving of patterns is by design, as in the instance of patterns which apparently are calculated to run entirely around the basket but fail to join at the place of meeting. The opening is purposely left that the evil spirits may find a place of exit and pass out before they have opportunity to work harm to the possessor of the basket.
The colors in the design have their significance. Red means triumph or success; blue signifies defeat; black represents death; white denotes peace and happiness. Colors are also used to designate the points of the compass. Yellow symbolizes the north because, as the Indians explain, the light of the morning is yellow in the winter season when the sun rises toward the north instead of directly in the east. Blue stands for the west because the blue waters of the Pacific are in that direction. Red is the sign of the south, for that is the region of summer and the red sun. White represents the east, for the sky grows white in the east at the rising of the sun.
A YUMA WOMAN WEAVING COARSE BASKETSA YUMA WOMAN WEAVING COARSE BASKETSFrom photograph by C. C. Pierce & Co.
With most tribes red is a sacred color. It is symbolical of blood, which is the life and strength of man, and is therefore the source of his success and achievement.
A variety of material is used in basket-making, and by observing the kind of material used the expert collector is able to determine very closely the authorship of the basket, as well as to read from the designs the purpose for which it was created. Different tribes use different materials, and, naturally, those found nearest at hand. Southern California Indians make use of tule and certain fine grasses found in that part of the State. The Pomos, who are exceedingly adept weavers, use a tough slough-grass, capable of being split, and willow shoots. Havasupais use willows and certain fibrous plants found growing in the strange cañon which is their home. The Hopi Indians use yucca and grasses, while the Indians of Northern California make use of spruce roots and fibrous barks found in that locality. The Panamint Indians of Death Valley use year-old willow shoots, stalks of the aromatic sumac, fibers of the pods of the unicorn plant, and roots of the yucca.
Color is gained by various methods. Sometimes the bright red, green, and scarlet plumage of birds is used. Natural colors are much employed. The brown designs are mostly made by the use of maiden-hair fern stalks. Black is usually obtained by dyeing the material used with martynia pods; red from yucca roots and certain berries; green from willow bark; pink and various shades of red from the juice of the blackberry, and other colors and shades from various barks and fruits.
Basket-making has recently become a fad with white women, but the dusky woman need not fear the rivalry of her white sister. Civilization has too many claims upon her, and she has too little time and strength to devote to the work to permit of her spending weeks in searching mountain, valley, and plain for the material, and toiling months in the weaving, of a single basket. Even were she to do this, she could not weave into it the traditions of a race, the faith of a religion, the longings of a soul, and the poetry of a people. Until this is possible, the Indian basket will stand without a peer and its maker without a rival.
MOJAVE BASKET-MAKERMOJAVE BASKET-MAKERFrom photograph by C. C. Pierce & Co.
An account of the desert which omitted to make mention of the burro would be woefully incomplete. The burro has been one of the most important factors in desert exploration and development. He is far more sagacious and enduring than the horse or mule. He is to the American desert what the camel is to the deserts of the Eastern hemisphere.
Few persons are aware that camels were once used upon the American deserts, but such are the facts. Ten years after the Pathfinder, General John C. Fremont, crossed the desert and traversed the Golden State, and four years after Marshall had thrilled the world with his discovery of gold in Northern California, Jefferson Davis, Secretary of State under President Pierce, consigned to Mr. L. P. Redwine, of Los Angeles, a lot of camels, to be used in transporting supplies to Government postslocated in the arid regions. The camels were delivered to Mr. Redwine, at Los Angeles, in 1853, and one of his first assignments was the transporting of a lot of supplies to the troops stationed at Fort Mojave at the eastern confines of the Great Mojave Desert.
Then, as now, a tribe of Indians dwelt in the vicinity of the fort, but, unlike the present time, they were hostile to whites, and unprotected parties fared but poorly at their hands. Redwine had completed the greater part of his journey to the fort when his caravan wound around the foot of a clump of hills and came unexpectedly upon an encampment of Mojave Indians. It is doubtful which party was the more surprised, the Indians at the sight of the strange cavalcade, or the whites at witnessing the frantic efforts of the redskins to put space between themselves and the approaching caravan. The sight of the camels was too much for them. It was the most complete rout in the history of the frontier.
A little later, when the caravan reached the fort, there was another surprise. The horses and mules corraled near the fort proved as timid as the Indians, and a general stampede ensued. The corral was broken down, and it took the soldiers several days to gather in the scattered herd. The camels forthwith became objects of hatred to the bluecoats.
THE ADVANCE AGENT OF PROGRESSTHE ADVANCE AGENT OF PROGRESSFrom photograph by C. C. Pierce & Co.
As a means of transportation the camels were a success. The heat and drought and sands of the desert were as naught to them, and they throve on hardships that would have proven fatal to horses or mules, but their approach to a military post was a signal for a stampede of the stock, and the camels were marked for destruction. Every now and then, as opportunity offered, the soldiers would shoot down one or more of the camels till their numbers were so reduced that there were not enough for a caravan. Then the remnant of the herd was turned loose in the desert, to live or die as might happen. True to instinct, the liberated animals sought an oasis, and there they began to multiply. Later, however, hunters shot them for sport, and, so far as is now known, they have become extinct.
Redwine, the man who introduced the camels to the deserts of California, closed his earthly career in the desert town of Imperial in July, 1902. Much of Mr. Redwine's life was spent in the deserts of the great West, and this region of mystery, so terrifying to most men, seemed to possess for him a peculiar charm, and when the desert city of Imperial wasstarted he left his comfortable home in Phœnix, Arizona, to take part in the founding of this town.
When the camel project came to an end, the burro came to the front and has since held the foremost place as a means of desert transportation in localities not reached by the railroads.
The burro is a native of Spain, and he came to America at the time of the Spanish conquest. He carried the accoutrements of Cortez through Mexico and into the Montezumian capital. He was with De Soto when he journeyed into the heart of the American continent. De Balboa was indebted to him for the opportunity to discover the greatest of oceans. The padres who planted the chain of missions through Mexico, and who three hundred and fifty years ago reared the walls of the mission of San Xavier del Bac, in Arizona, had the assistance of the burro. The Franciscan fathers, who more than a century ago dotted the coast of California with another chain of missions, depended upon the burro for aid, and he did not disappoint them. And so for more than three centuries he has been in the procession of progress and has marched at its head.
SHIPS OF THE DESERTSHIPS OF THE DESERTFrom photograph by C. C. Pierce & Co.
The fortunes of the Spaniard have fluctuated, but the burro has known no rise nor fall in his prospects. He came as a beast of burden, and as such he has remained. It is all one with him—Spain or America. If he has a little to eat, a few hours for slumber, and is not too heavily burdened, he will patiently and contentedly perform his work and offer no complaint.
He clambers up the mountain trail where the horse could find no footing, carrying upon his back twice his own weight, and he picks his way along the brow of the mountain or the edge of mighty precipices as unconcernedly as though he were treading the pavement of a boulevard or the soft turf of green meadows. If his owner places too heavy a load upon him he makes no complaint. Not he! He simply lies down till the burden is made lighter. There is no arguing the question with him. He is indifferent alike to blows and pleadings. Not an inch will he stir till matters are adjusted. He knows his capacity, and his load must conform to it.
Few mines have been discovered in the mountainous or desert regions of the West without the assistance of the burro. The steel tracks of the locomotive which wind in and out of the cañons and passes and over the mountains were led thither by the burro. Theexplorer has thrown the burden of his efforts upon him, and the prospector deems him indispensable. He is the veritable "ship" of the western desert, and many a man owes his life to his burro. He will live longer without water and scent it farther than any known animal save the camel.
As an example of the keen scent of the burro for water may be related the experience of two prospectors named Peterson and Kelley, who a few years ago attempted to cross the Great Mojave Desert on foot. They had with them, to carry their supplies, a burro. In passing from oasis to oasis they lost their way and the supply of water became exhausted. To be lost in the desert is a terrible thing, and the anxiety, coupled with the torturing thirst and the intense heat, drove Peterson insane. He left his companion and fled shrieking across the plain. Kelley picketed the burro and went after Peterson to bring him back, but he was unable to overtake him. He returned to the trail to find that his burro had broken his tether and was moving across the desert at a leisurely pace. He followed, but the animal was so far in the lead, and he was so exhausted from his efforts to overtake Peterson, that he could not come up to him.
BEARING THE REDMAN'S BURDENBEARING THE REDMAN'S BURDENFrom photograph by C. C. Pierce & Co.
Night came upon him, and it soon became so dark that he could not distinguish the burro and he had to follow him by the footprints in the sand. When it became too dark to distinguish them he still staggered on in sheer desperation.
By and by his heart gave a great throb. Before him, outlined against the sky and seemingly suspended in the air, was a form which he knew to be either his burro or an apparition. He hurried forward and lo! standing upon a sharp rise of ground and facing him was his lost burro, who seemed to be awaiting him for a purpose, for when he came up to him the animal turned and led the way down the incline to a spring of living water.
Kelley gave a shout of joy and plunged bodily into the spring. After he had soaked his parched skin and moistened his lips and throat, he crawled out and went to his burro, which was browsing upon the green herbs growing about the place. Throwing his arms about the neck of the animal he gave the creature a hearty hug and a kiss. If this mark of affection surprised or touched the burro he made no sign. He merely nipped another mouthful of the herbage and continued chewing.
When Kelley had taken a fresh supply of water he retraced his steps to the point where the burro had broken away. It was fully ten miles. There is no doubt but the animal had scented the water all that distance, and his eagerness to get to it had led him to strain at his fastenings till he broke loose. Poor Peterson did not survive. Kelley found his dead body the next morning four or five miles from the point where he had left the trail.
The burro draws no color line. He affiliates as readily with the Mexican and the Indian as he does with the whites. The desert tribes have little success with horses, and even the rugged bronchos cannot endure the heat and thirst incident to life in that region, but the burro is as much at home and seemingly as contented there as are his brethren who live and labor in the alfalfa meadows of the fertile belt.
The burro is never vicious. Unlike his cousin, the mule, he knows no guile. As a playmate for children he has no rival. He humors them, bears with them, and lets them work their own sweet wills with him. He requires little care, asks little to eat, and seems simply to crave existence.
TAKING ON THE CARGOTAKING ON THE CARGOFrom photograph by C. C. Pierce & Co.
Let the artist in search of a model for contentment go to the burro. There he will find contentment personified.
He does not sigh and moan that he, alas,Is but a mongrel, neither horse nor ass.Content that being neither, he may doHis work and live as nature meant him to.
He does not sigh and moan that he, alas,Is but a mongrel, neither horse nor ass.Content that being neither, he may doHis work and live as nature meant him to.
He does not sigh and moan that he, alas,Is but a mongrel, neither horse nor ass.Content that being neither, he may doHis work and live as nature meant him to.
If "the love of money is the root of evil," it is, as well, the germ of progress. It was the imaginary glitter of the yellow metal that lured De Soto across the continent to the Mississippi and beyond; it enticed De Balboa to the shores of the Pacific, led Cortez through the land of the Aztecs, and its magnetism drew Alvarado down into Central America and carried Pizarro to the conquest of Peru; it dragged Coronado across the arid plains of Mexico, New Mexico, and Arizona in search of the fabled land of Cibola, and, in fact, its gleaming has explored and exploited the Americas from Alaska to Cape Horn. It has led man to brave the perils of the desert, and as the result prosperous towns have sprung up in that dread region, and millions of dollars of wealth have been wrested from its treasure-house. Just what this continent would now be, had it not been for the glitter of the yellow dust, it is hard to estimate. It is probable that the dusky savage would still hold dominion over the land.
THE PROSPECTOR SETS FORTHTHE PROSPECTOR SETS FORTHFrom photograph by C. C. Pierce & Co.
The prospector is the advance agent of progress, civilization, and prosperity. He has spied out the country,—with the aid of his faithful burro,—and has marked every trail, preceded every stage route and railroad, and founded the greater number of towns on the western half of this United States.
He it is who has unlocked the treasure-house of the continent and poured into the coffers of this Republic the golden stream which has made her the first nation on the globe. It is for the sight of a yellow streak in his pan that he has been tempted to endure the fatigue, cold, and hunger of the mountains, and the heat, thirst, and horror of the desert.
The prospector is a man of small pretentions, of peaceful disposition, indomitable will, boundless perseverance, remarkable endurance, undoubted courage, irrepressible hopefulness, and unlimited hospitality. He is the friend of every man till he has evidence that the man is his enemy, and he is the most respected man in the mining regions of the West.
Of what does the prospector's outfit consist? That is a question the writer put to one of the ilk who was just starting out for the desert.
"Plenty of bacon, son," said he, "for that's whar ye git yer grease fer to fry yer flap-jacks, yer stock fer soup, an' it gives ye rines fer the burro to chaw. Next ye takes rice, fer it don't take up much room an' it swells like all-git-out when ye gits it in the pot. Comes mighty handy in yer soup, too. Half a dozen onions an' a few taters—not many, fer ye can't tote 'em—them's fer soup, too, an' then the flour. Flour's the principal thing in the grub line. A few beans is good an' they swells like the rice. Then thar's the tent canvas an' the blankets an' the pick an' shovel an' pan, fer washin' dirt, the mortar an' chemicals fer testin' rock, an' the cookin' outfit. There's a knife, a fork, a spoon, a tin plate an' cup an' the fryin' pan, an' thar ye are."
"Plenty of bacon, son," said he, "for that's whar ye git yer grease fer to fry yer flap-jacks, yer stock fer soup, an' it gives ye rines fer the burro to chaw. Next ye takes rice, fer it don't take up much room an' it swells like all-git-out when ye gits it in the pot. Comes mighty handy in yer soup, too. Half a dozen onions an' a few taters—not many, fer ye can't tote 'em—them's fer soup, too, an' then the flour. Flour's the principal thing in the grub line. A few beans is good an' they swells like the rice. Then thar's the tent canvas an' the blankets an' the pick an' shovel an' pan, fer washin' dirt, the mortar an' chemicals fer testin' rock, an' the cookin' outfit. There's a knife, a fork, a spoon, a tin plate an' cup an' the fryin' pan, an' thar ye are."
The prospector no longer deems it necessary to seek entirely new territory in which to prosecute his search for the precious metal. He has learned that good results are obtained on ground many times prospected. It takes sharp eyes to detect traces of the precious stuff—not only that, but keen judgment and technical knowledge coupled with experience.
AN AGED PROSPECTOR AT MOUTH OF HIS MINEAN AGED PROSPECTOR AT MOUTH OF HIS MINEFrom photograph by C. C. Pierce & Co.
In the early days of mining in this country it was in the placer fields that the prospector reaped his fortune. In California, successive ages of erosion had worn away portions of the gold-bearing veins of the Sierras, and the rains and brooks and rivers had distributed the metal along the valleys and plains where it but awaited the test of the pan to disclose its whereabouts. In ten years after the prospector began his wanderings through the State there were taken from the placer diggings more than $500,000,000 worth of gold. In the year 1875, $20,000,000 worth were washed from the sands of California Gulch alone.
When the placer fields were practically worked out the prospector began looking for "mother lodes," as they termed the veins which had furnished the dust and yellow lumps they had been gathering from the sands in the placer diggings. In this search the real skill of the prospector comes into play.
Gold is found in a variety of rocks. Its usual home, however, is in quartz, although a few of our richest mines have been found in other rocks. The prospector must be able to read the book of nature closely.
He starts from the placer fields to search for the mother lode. He must determine in what direction to prosecute his search. The fine particles of gold which have been disseminated through the soil must originally havecome from higher ground. One thing to determine is whether, since the gold has been laid down, there has been displacement or upheaval. If not, it is evident that somewhere upstream he must look for the vein, but the question is: Where. There are mountains and valleys upon every side, and in any one of these may lie the object of his search.
He circles about, looking for "float," as the small pieces of disintegrated quartz or rock are called. If he finds one piece he seeks a second and a third, that he may get a line or trail to the point from which they came.
We will suppose that he finds several pieces of float at intervals on a certain line. He follows these to a point where two cañons or valleys join. Here is another puzzle. He must again turn to the book of nature and closely scan her pages. His mode of reasoning will be something like this:
"Here are three pieces of float. One I found back at the mouth of this valley. Another I picked up forty rods back, and here, where the cañon splits, I find the third. Now from which branch did they come? They could not have come from the sides of this cañon, for they bear away from both sides where I found this last piece. Now, if they had come from the left branch they would have landed over against the right side of the valley, for there is where the débris from that gulch has piled up. The float was on the left side and therefore must have come from the gulch on the right. They did not come from far, for the edges have not been worn smooth by the action of the water and by friction with other pebbles. Then, too, this last piece is too large to have been carried any great distance."
AN ANXIOUS MOMENT—LOOKING FOR THE YELLOW STREAKAN ANXIOUS MOMENT—LOOKING FOR THE YELLOW STREAKFrom photograph by C. C. Pierce & Co.
The prospector then takes the right-hand gulch and soon finds other pieces of float and knows that he is on the right trail. By and by he finds his quartz vein outcropping, or he has the good luck to uncover it. He examines the rock carefully and obtains some promising specimens and proceeds to test them. In his mortar he grinds the specimens to a fine powder. This powder he roasts in a big iron spoon till it is cherry red. He finds that the ore fuses, indicating a metal of some kind, so he drops a bit of blazing paper into it and notes that the flame burns brighter. That indicates the presence of nitrates and chlorides. Then he takes some of the oxidized ore and puts it into a tin cup and covers it with iodine. After it has stood two orthree hours he soaks a piece of filter paper in the solution and sets fire to it. If it gives out a purple color in burning he knows there is gold in it. How much must be determined by assay, but it is encouragement enough to lead him to select the most promising location and stake his claim thereon. Then he loads his burro with specimens of his ore and returns to civilization to seek an assayer.
If the assayer finds large proportions of gold in the ore the prospector has little trouble in finding capital to interest itself in his property to the extent of developing it for an interest, and perhaps his fortune is made. On the other hand, the assay may prove unfavorable and show returns so small as to make it unprofitable to mill the ore, and the matter ends there. The prospector then starts out after another will-o'-the-wisp. With many it is a lifelong chase, with a pauper's grave at the end of the course. It is a fascinating life, however, and once a prospector is, in most cases, always a prospector.
To some, fortune comes on the brink of the grave, to some never, and now and then the most inexperienced "tenderfoot" stumbles upon wealth at the very outset of his search. There was the notable case of Dave Moffatt. He had no technical knowledge of mining and absolutely no experience. He started out in the hills prospecting and chanced upon a deer's horn lying upon the ground.
AN AËRIAL FERRY—PROSPECTORS CROSSING COLORADO RIVERAN AËRIAL FERRY—PROSPECTORS CROSSING COLORADO RIVERFrom photograph by C. C. Pierce & Co.
"That's a sign of good luck," reasoned he, and he fell to digging where had lain the horn. He struck it rich, named his claim the "Deer's Horn," sold out for forty thousand dollars—and got cheated.
Even the most experienced prospector believes in luck. They believe that experience counts for little if a man is not naturally lucky. They still refer to the late multi-millionaire Stratton as an example of the lucky man. He found his famous Independence mine where hundreds of experienced prospectors had repeatedly looked over the ground. They tell how the cows once cropped the grasses over the richest mines of Cripple Creek, while their owners cursed their luck for not being able to strike pay. No amount of hard luck, however, will convince the prospector that his good luck is not waiting just ahead, so he totes his pick and pan over mountain and plain, out into the heart of the desert, up and down the face of the earth, till he stakes his final claim—six feet of earth—where the lucky and unlucky are on an equal footing.
Many rich strikes of gold have been made in the Colorado and Mojave deserts. The possibilities of these deserts are not exhausted, however. Prof. G. E. Bailey of San Francisco, who was one of a party of Government surveyors who recently made an exhaustive study of the Mojave Desert, says:
"We have heard a great deal about Alaska as a gold-producer, but the Mojave Desert is now more talked about in the financial centers of the East than Alaska, and the day is not far off when there will be a greater rush to this desert than ever there was to the northern zone."Take the desert as a mineral-bearing region, and we have not begun to discover its vast wealth. There are gold-fields here which will astonish the world. Every little while some prospector brings in float rock, sparkling with the precious metal which has been broken from a ledge as rich, but that ledge has been hunted for in vain. The day will come when these rich ledges will be located and contribute to the world's wealth of gold."
"We have heard a great deal about Alaska as a gold-producer, but the Mojave Desert is now more talked about in the financial centers of the East than Alaska, and the day is not far off when there will be a greater rush to this desert than ever there was to the northern zone.
"Take the desert as a mineral-bearing region, and we have not begun to discover its vast wealth. There are gold-fields here which will astonish the world. Every little while some prospector brings in float rock, sparkling with the precious metal which has been broken from a ledge as rich, but that ledge has been hunted for in vain. The day will come when these rich ledges will be located and contribute to the world's wealth of gold."
Speaking of the recent placer strike near the town of Needles he says:
"The real wealth of the ground has not been determined, but gold, coarse gold and nuggets of good size, have been discovered. The real story of the strike is about like this:"'The Clark road is building down a cañon between Needles and Goff, and the men had occasion to driveseveral piles. One of the piles was split and was withdrawn, when several nuggets were found imbedded in the pine. Word of the strike was sent quietly to San Francisco, and several well-known men from there came down and located. I believe the field is to develop into a permanent one, and may yet grow to large proportions.'"
"The real wealth of the ground has not been determined, but gold, coarse gold and nuggets of good size, have been discovered. The real story of the strike is about like this:
"'The Clark road is building down a cañon between Needles and Goff, and the men had occasion to driveseveral piles. One of the piles was split and was withdrawn, when several nuggets were found imbedded in the pine. Word of the strike was sent quietly to San Francisco, and several well-known men from there came down and located. I believe the field is to develop into a permanent one, and may yet grow to large proportions.'"
The Randsburg district was discovered in 1894, and it has developed into an extensive gold-producing district of which Randsburg and Johannesburg are the chief towns. That field has yielded millions of dollars of gold and is yet in an early stage of development.
In the most desolate, dangerous, and terrifying locality in the United States, if not in the whole world, lie the largest known deposits of borax in the universe. Death Valley is the repository of more mineral wealth than has ever been brought out of the Klondike, but Death stands guard over the hoards of gold, silver, copper, salt, niter, borax, and precious stones known to abound there.
Every year prospectors brave the terrors of the desert and enter the dread portals of the gateway to the valley. This gateway is through a range of mountains to which have been given the most appropriate name of Funeral Mountains. Every year new tragedies are enacted in the valley and new graves are made under the shadow of these mountains, or else the victims, finding no grave, lie upon the burning sands and stare with sightless eyes at the mountains which bound the valley.
A TRACTION ENGINE HAULING BORAX FROM DEATH VALLEYA TRACTION ENGINE HAULING BORAX FROM DEATH VALLEYFrom photograph by C. C. Pierce & Co.
Where fortunes are to be made lives are held cheap, and natures great deposits of wealth in the valley have tempted man to pit his ingenuity, strength, and endurance against the powers of the great destroyer.
In the United States the supply of borax is limited to the States of California, Oregon, and Nevada. Until within the last ten or twelve years the supply of borax in this country was derived from evaporating the water of Clear Lake and several alkaline marshes in California and Nevada. In 1890, it was discovered that the crust of borax which formed in such places was but a secondary deposit from the main body of the mineral drug stored below. Then began the real history of the borax industry in this country.
It is said that borax is never found in nature except in craters of extinct volcanoes. Be that as it may, certain it is that in California all the deposits yet discovered lie at the bottom of those bowl-shaped valleys which are known to have been once the outlet for the vomitings of prehistoric Pélées.
The presence of borax is indicated by the snowy appearance of the valley bottoms, and to the uninitiated these white stretches, when seen from a little distance, might well bemistaken for snow-fields. Many a life has been lost in attempting to cross these snowy plains, for beneath the thin shell of salts lie fathomless depths of poisonous waters, for the funnels of those extinct volcanoes are filled with solutions of a multitude of mineral drugs such as were never brewed in chemist's laboratory.
In Death Valley thirty thousand acres of borax, niter, soda, and salt deposits have been located. The valley is literally a vast chemical laboratory where Nature has compounded and stored drugs by the millions of tons. It is the drug store of the universe.
There are several different forms in which borax occurs in nature. It is found in solution in some of the lakes and pools, from which it is obtained by evaporation; in salts or crystals known as boreat, which require no other treatment than to be dissolved in vats of boiling water and then allowed to crystallize again, and it is found in the form of "cotton balls," as the round masses of ulexite are called, masses varying in size from a rifle-ball to a bushel basket. The finest borax on the market is made from the "cotton balls." These balls, when broken, are fibrous and woolly in appearance, hence the name.
THE PAINTED DESERTTHE PAINTED DESERTFrom photograph by C. C. Pierce & Co.
When it was discovered that the real deposits of borax lie beneath the surface deposits, a genuine borax mine was located and developed at what is now known as Boreat, twelve miles north of Daggett, on the line of the Santa Fé railroad, where the reduction works are situated. The wonderful richness of this deposit has led to further explorations, and the remarkable finds in Death Valley have resulted.
When brought to the works at Daggett, the lumps of borax are fed into the mammoth iron jaws of a crusher which breaks them into lumps of an uniform size about the bigness of the average chestnut. These lumps are fed to the grinder, which reduces them to powder, and the powder, in turn, is passed through rollers like those used in the manufacture of the finest grades of wheat flour. From these rollers it comes forth as fine as the product of the wheat from which our most choice bread is made. Then it is mixed with carbonate of soda, which is mined in Death Valley, and the mixture is thrown into vats of boiling water and agitated by means of revolving wheels till the mass is dissolved and thoroughly mixed. From this compound are precipitated two powders, one the borax of commerce, the other the well-known product styled sal soda.
Borax from Death Valley first entered the markets about twenty years ago. It was mined from deposits found in the Calico Mountains and from one or two sinks in the valley, and it was hauled out of the valley and one hundred miles across the desert in wagons drawn by mule teams of from eighteen to thirty-two mules each.
During the five or six years following the opening of the mines, large quantities of borax were taken out and placed upon the market. Then, in the spring of 1888, the mines were closed because it was impossible to find men to work the mines or drive the mules. It became known that few men who went into the mines came out alive. At the end of six or seven months the miner succumbed to the terrific heat and the poisonous atmosphere, or else he was a broken-down invalid incapable of doing further work. It came to be considered simply a form of suicide to engage in the work, consequently the mine-owners were unable to continue operations.