Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1863-11-05
The New Gold Placer.
NTEgEs1IsG FRoH NEW HEAieo.
Correspondence of the State Journal.
New MEXICO, Sept. %, 1868.

Hams" Fork of the Colorado. Thousands are
/ tlocking to the mines. bona Ana county
4 will lose one half its population on this ac-
| count The reports are indeed startling
| For instance, ten men took out 900 ounces in
one week with pans, worth SO per ounce :
| that is 81, 40 man. Nearly the same
| amount has also been taken by men in the
dry dirt on the top of the mountain, without
! using any water in the process; and none
take less than s. day. They dig up the dirt
among the rocks and Winnow out the dry
dust, when the gold appears in nuggets. /
have seen one worth $50.
These are the same mines mentioned in
your telegraphic report of August 2Sth, and
situated $50 miles east of Fort Mohaye, and
100 miles north of the ella (Heela) Your
readers may locate the region, by taking a
railroad survey map and finding Fort Yuma
at the junction of the ella with the Colorado
also the Pimos villages on the former river.
and drawing lines northerly 125 miles each,
till they intersect, which will be about the
junction Of the Santa Maria with the Billy
Williams, and you are at the mines. The
placer has been proved $50 miles north, and
its boundary on the east is undetermined. I'm
doubtedly 1t reaches to the head waters of the
ella, or at least to the Salinas named on the
maps Rio Verde. The distance from Masilla
New Mexico, by Tucson is about 600 miles
but much shorter track can be found by
leaving the road at the crossing of the San
Pedro, and following it down to the ella and
Pimos villages, and much better supplied with
water and grass for animals. 4 wagon road
will soon be opened by that route, and thus
make saving Of 200 miles travel.
1t seems little strange that this region
should have been traversed by the railroad
explorers with their bands of scientific ex-
amners, and though they pried into every
strata, as they tell Us in their volumes of pic
tured books, though they picked up every
fossil, and examined mountains of felspar,
greensboro and porphyry, with crevices filed
With amygdaloiG, and trachyte and chalcedo-
ny, and, as the auctioneers say, others stones
"too numerous to mention" they saw no
gold no silver, no copper, where all have
been found native, or virgin. Strange as it
may seem, 1t is nevertheless true, the United
States explorers have never found a particle
OF gold, silver or copper, or if they did they
have taken most excellent care pot to report
1t. This discovery, which is as extensive and
rich as any yet found, is due to the untiring
perseverance of the old mountaineer, Wal
ker, who went there with small party un-
aided by government, or rich men, carving
their pans on their backs, and there washed
out the gOld and only returned to inform the
world OF their discovery at the time they did
because they wanted aid to protect them from
the murderous Apaches. So too the placer
on the Puerto (head of the Gila), and at Pinos
Altos on the Mimbres lie in the track of
Lieut.. Emory, and the explorers and were
unseen by them but California volunteer.
with his camp tools washed out the s'color "
OF the first, and an unsuccessful gold hunter
on his return trip, found the last; at either
of which good washer made his five dollars
day
Such facts as these coming to light induce
a man OF not very charitable views to sug-
gcst, that these men may be able to draw
very pretty looking pictures upon paper; but
that the drawers are very poor witnesses,
when called on the stand to give evidence of
what lies buried a few inches in the dust I'M
der their feet, even though they have read all
works of science, and seen men washing gold
in the placerS of California. Perhaps if they
had examined that same SOIL they would have |
SoIled their hands, so that such delicate |
pictures could not have been made. But if |
such thoughts fill the mind as to the man in |
search Of the railroad line, what will be tho't |
OF him who has been paid as a Geologist, and |
whose sole business it was to look for miner
ais Did these have their eyes so firmly fix |
ed on the ''yellow boys" in Uncle Sans peck
ct, that they could not see nuggets of $50 ly-
ing around loose in the sand or the shining |
grains in the rocks which they were sent to |
examine? Or, are we to suppose they were |
so ignorant and lazy as to be unfit for their |
duty? One fact we know, when you have |
led these scientifcs up to the place where |
the hardy miner has knocked out the ''rotten"
quartz, and you put it into their hands freed |
from dust, they have gone into ecstacies over
the golden treasure, and eXpatiated in long
articles on mines and minerals. None of
these however, have found the matrix of the
metal, or the precious article itself, until
some man of hard practical common sense,
who has studied his geology in the earth it.
self, has laid it open to the world The ex-
pl0feIs were in search Of the best route for
railroad to the Pacific ocean, and what route
could offer such inducements as that which
passes over veins of virgin silver and copper
and in the midst Of gold fields inexhaustible,
and which must draw with the power and en-
chantment Of the "almighty dollar" men to
to seek their fortune, where it can be had for
picking up? They were as blind as Justice,
but whether for the same cause, men may
well disagree. Be that as it may. The gold
exists in the mountains west of the Rio
Grande, and its location has been found 1t
is found too where no Spanish grants have
ever been claimed or can be in a country as
unknown to the Mexican as the American
1t is found where the Apache has fled with
his booty after his forays upon the Mexican
frontier, and the miners who are going there
by thousands, will soon break up those haunts
One year will settle the matter with the Indi-
ans, and they must either live in peace by
cultivating the soil or be exterminated
The best route from Wisconsin to the
mines is by Leavenworth, Kansas, and the
Santa Fe roads, until the proper place is
reached to strike down the Rio Grande, and
thence to Mesilla, where the only road leaves
for the west North of this road the trails
are impossible for wagons being intercepted
by mountain ranges, over which only pack
animals can travel. If the war of the rebel
lion were once closed, and the guerrillas were
killed, which God grant soon, the southern
overland mail route would be the true route.
This route would leave Fort Scott, on the
Arkansas river, and passing southwest through
the cross timbers, over the Red river, and
come into Ell Pass, or rather strike the Rio
Grande near that place, and thence up the
river to Meslla and thus save the distance
from Santa Fe to Mesilla, and also having the
advantage OF being as good travelling in win
ter as IN summer, so far as grass is concerned,
and the heats of summer is thus avoided en-
tirely. At present the route would be I'M
safe except with party strong enough to
cope with the guerrillas and Indians. The
mail route from Mesilla to Tucson must be
again opened, and thence to the mines. The
mines of Arizona and New Mexico on and
near the ella, cannot be frozen up more than
one month in year, If they can be that
length of time. These mines may be reached
from New York by the Isthmus and Califor-
MIA route, by leaving the Pacific steamer at
some point on the southern shore of Lower
California, and there taking the boat from