The Arizona sentinel., 1879-08-16
The Wonderful Experiences OF an
Old Refer who PrOspected
the Dragon Mountains


"Ain't 1t kind O hot to-day, Bills'
This enquiry was addressed to our trnth-
full and esteemed fellow citizen William
Lusk by man who yesterday STOOD up
against an awning post in front o. '"'
Miner office. painting for breath and mop
ping the persplration off bis iorehea" y
the quart mop. NV,
"Botl Well, dunno" answered VIII
liam. as he settled his 200 ponnos a'o'rou-
,o,s On a neighboring bench and replen-
ished his COB with fresh chunk OF Mig
ger.heel 81 dunno that it is particularly.
pve seen hotter places than this--consid-
erably hotter, II not more"
"What!-hot:er than it is to day, with
the thermometer marking los in the shade
and rot breath Of air STRINGS" queried
| the man.
And William answered and said:
"Why, pshaw, man-this amt nothin'!
'Tain't hot at all! It's cold! But talking
about the heat puts me in mind of the
time Tom links and went down to pros
pect the Dragon Mountains in southeast
ern Arizona. Whew! Maybe you think
| it wasn't hot there! I'd heard tell OF hell
being an ice-house in comparison with
Arizona, but never believed it until We
got across the San Pedro River and nigh
onto the base OF them hills Great Brigham!
but wasn't that Il country! Thermometers
Amt no use there. We had one along, but
it busted itself trying to get up high
enough to register the heat. 1t was some
hot tell you! Why we could just take
our knives and cut concentrated heat out
Of the air in chunks same as you've seen
men cut ice out ponds in Winter time.
Tom wanted to settle down there and
make our everlasting fortunes by putting
the stuff up in stone pots, Theoretically
sealing 1t with re-proof clay, and ship
ping il to cold countries at IS pit. But |
didn't care about making money particu-
larly, aud Tom soon let the thing drop.
All cared about was prospecting that
range, and did prospect it until one day
when fell in a creek and come near get
ting boiled alive"
"What!-was the water hot, too?"
WAS the watsr hot, too! Well, you'd
although 1t was if you'd tumbied kerslap
into it same as 1 did II WAS just hot
that's all How was it 1 tunbled in?
Why, simply because the heat generated
by the boiling water hid it as etfectually
as three-inch fogs hide ships from one an
other in New York harbor! Oh, no it
wasn't bit hot there! Que day when
our grub sack began to give out, Tom
took his rife and laid for some deer about
a mile off. Pretty soon one OF 'em came
shifting up to within nine feet Of Toms
rifle muzzle, when he blszed away"
Then you had venison for supper, eh ?''
"Well sir, if We did / don't remember
it! My recollection is that we didn't get
snout full of yenison, and all because
that blasted bullet melted in the air before
it could get nine feet to plug the deer! Oh
that was lovely atmosphere, that was
But Tom and concluded to stick her out
and prospect them hills in spite of the
heat and we shonI6 hai done IT iii hadn' y
been for an accident to our whiskey keg
Turned the key over and spilled the
whiskey out, did your"
spill the whiskey! HI, no! You
may think I'm lying, but cuss me if the
heat didn't reduce that whiskey to solir
chunk inside the keg, and the friction oc
casioned by the solidifying process was Sc
t great that it burnt the keg to ashes, arc
the fire tbawed out the wbiskey until ev
cry last bit Of it evaporated in steamw
4 William" solemnly said the man who
stood leaning against the awning post
William, no more O. that, an thou loyes
me! amt got a word to say. but it's m,
d treat. Let's 60 into Hickox's and stand
Billy off"
They drank-they parted. They may
meet again; but if they do, that man viii
never again insinuate anything abou
, heat to William Lush--Siue,. Reef Miner