The Arizona sentinel. [volume] (Arizona City [Yuma], Yuma County, A.T. [Ariz.]) 1872-1911, 1878-04-20

nedFy WINDS having kept ncr from geILlnS
here in time to leave on the 18th. She was
not yet loaded as we went to press.
Queer People near SantO Domingo.
Exceedingly rich silver ore is being
brought up from these new, yet long
known, mines lying on the southern edge
of Yuma county. Large bodies lie at the
surface, and the Lodges are numerous and
well defined In common with others, We
thought that there could be no good silver
mines in that country, that would not long
ago have been worked by MeXicans, or
disclosed by Papago Indians. The same
reasoning, and the scarcity Of water be-
tween the ella river and Santo Domingo,
have kept Americans from prospecting
that country, during the last fifteen years
that American miners have learned how
to prospect for silver. Specimens and
shipments Of rich ore and reports of re-
lab men have set us 20 trying to recon-
ellie pre- conceived ideas with actual facts,
and to discovering the reasons for Mexi-
can apathy toward mines so near the So
nora frontier. In the first place, it is only
within the last thirty years that the Are
memo Papagos inhabiting the vicinity of
Santo Domingo, have been at peace with
Mexicans or suffered their presence among
them. They destroyed or drove back every
party of miners who ventured there. An
arm Of the Sonora desert, makes these
mines difficult of access from the settle
ments on the Altar river. This fact, and
danger, kept the early Mexican miners
away. After 1S48 they yielded to the
superior attractions Of the California gold
fields, and the most enterprising went
there and have stayed. Since then, revo-
luton and disorder have reduced the So
nora frontier to u condition of poverty
that can not be realized by an American
who has not been down there. The So
noita valley (not the Sonoita south of Tue
SOM lies within dozen miles Of the mines,
and is the only part of that section where
men can live by agriculture or grazing.
The few inhabitants are of mixed blood,
presided over by a few MeXicans of purer
lineage. These few have a small number
Of horses and cattle: the others live by
farming. Generations of hopeless penury
have crushed their energy and stifed their
ambition: sullen resignation has supplant-
ed enterprise: they will show good mines
for a consideration, but will not try to
work them. They are now living on wheat,
mense deposits in the Pinacate mountains
close by. Their new crop will be ripe
enough to eat in about two weeks. Mean
while a Mr.. Roblcdo trades them wheat, at
the rate of ten cents per pound, for what
ever animals they may have; or he loans
them sack of wheat to be repaid by
three sacks at harvest time There are
plenty Of rabbits and other game there,
but every gun was long ago tr ded for
food or lost in gambling. The Papagos
are the richest people there, having consi-
derable livestock. These Indians will
wash gravel for gold, but seem to have
some superstition against mining ledge
for other metals; besides that they have
never learned to reduce ores. They know
how to live on products of the desert.
Once in while one will get drunk on
mescal and kill beef, squirting himself in
remorse when sober again. The Mexicans
there have houses doorless and window
less, and destitute of furniture; their cloth
ing is of thin cotton cloth, and the unfail-
ing sarape is their cloak by day and their,
bed at night. If they find a rich ledge
they can not mine or reduce ores, for want
of means. The very few wealthier ones
are too poor to work ores, even if they
could acquire legal title to mines which
are on American soil Santo Domingo
lies off the trail travelled by MexicanS,
and very rarely by Americans: paucity of
watering places, and the long marches be-
tween them, have barred prospecting.
These and other facts seem to explain why
valuable lodges. within 100 miles of the
ella river, have laid untouched till now.
Messrs. Smith Brothers and Samuel Purdy,
Jr., have brought up quantities of ore that,
four years ago, would have set Arizona
wild, and that are only surpassed by spe-
county. Santo Domingo has wood, water