Arizona weekly citizen., 1882-06-04
Among the Mines.

mine LAtC NAAA r out We continued our journey en roui for the Myers district. Crossing broad valley, we ascended the Quijotc ' mountains, by easy grade, and came 1T
 to the rankest growth of cautus ye
 seen in Arizona. The OeotillO grew '~ twice the ordinary length and ofte '' produced one hundred branches tO
 stalk. It is the most attractive variet
 with it's punches of coral blossom " tipping the ends of the leaf-covere' N shoots. The chOlla also made goo,
 sized tree, but a peculiarity of tn
 locality was the grayish cOmplexi II ol
 everything, soil, gramma grass, shrubs
 treets, etc, all wore a rusty and ageI look. in striking contrast to the Cabab u with it's red shady soil and vigorous
 healthy vegetation. It was a tropica
 scene with mesquite, irOnwood, clnmp:
 of sagebrush, the odd, fantashc-lookins ' cacti and perhaps not vegetable pro,
 duct familiar to the Eastern eye. Upon
 the mountain We found the struggling village of Covered Wells, where under
 the shade of a jacal. sat some twenty five or thirty men Tn dignifed conclave. We watered at the well and drove on to
 Poso Blanco where some Indians went out to gather hay for our horses while
 we ate our dinner.
 A goodly number of the squaws and
 little ones gathered about and were en-
 couraged by distribution of tobacco
 and provisions, provided by our Com
 missary for the purpose of which there
 seemed an everlasting supply. As usual
 we made tour of the place to see the
 mode of life and labor among the people.
 Besides the work noticed elsewhere We
 found squaws grinding four in the
 metates for making pinOle, twisting
 cord from flores of the amole or soap
 plant and then knOtting it into kIjos for carrying purposes, painting ollas with a
 red dye, prepared by themselves, and a
 few engaged in sewing, at which they
 were less proficient than in their other industries They wore heavy lead rings and one was engaged in rocking an in- 1 fant, ingeniously using c kiio for the purpose. Cradles made by binding sticks together with strips of rawhide and then suspending from the roof, and cloths tied in hammock fashion, serve the same purpose. We saw but one pappOOse strapped to q board. On the roofs of the ramadas were large cakes of l mescal prepared for food. It resembled dried pumpkin both in odor and ap- pearance and was put up with ut re- moving the fibre. One of the party | amused the squaws by suggesting that the fibre in the mescal might be used | for kiio cord and they laughed | heartily at the bald head ex- posed by another as he lifted his l hat to get the benefit of the breeze. They | probably thought he had lost his scalp. l Some boys-they all carry larlats or else bows and arrows-made sport in lassOing | a saguara and then tugging away until | they brought it crashing to the ground | They also play with light wooden ball, | each throwing his own ball with LIs | toes and running a race at the same time, to reach a stake. When We drove | away, after four hours delay, quite a number gathered around to see us of, apparently as much interested in our appearance as we in theirs. It would | have been amusing to have known their thoughts and speech concerning us. The Papagos are kind.sOcial and peaceablein their dispositions anu --iways shared the cigar or loaf of bread given them with those standing near In all our journey we were well received and they were pleased to have us visit them in their homes, often taking pains to explain, as best they could, those things we wished to find out. We were now 91 miles from Tucson. Left PosO Blanco about sun set and rode on In the moonlight until after 10 o'clock, when good grazing spot was found and we made camp, turn ing the horses loose to care for them selves. It seemed but a little while when We were called up to take our coffee and prepare for the road. and away we went by the light of the burning grease wood shrubs we fired as we left.
 A ride of ten miles brought us to the millsite of the Gunsight Mining O., five miles away. Here are the Company's wells and from this point the water re- quired at the mine has heretofore been hauled. A few buildings cluster around and MOntezuma and several other peaks tower above the spot. Wall & Brown have a station, ranch and store here and a large adobe is now being constructed to accOmodate the business done with miners, Indians and others. After water ing we took our last ride before reaching the min winding about the mountains and climbing up to the Company's office about 9 a. m., where we were cordially welcomed by the Superintendent, Mr. Caldwell. It was quite an event, the ar- rival of the first lady guest at the mine, and everything that chivalry could sug- gest was done to make the occasion a success. It was proposed to fire the an- vii but something of more utility was ordered, viz. the construction of a cage to carry their guest down the new shaft The bucket-good enough for miners would never do, and the new cage from San Francisco had not arrived SO the services Of carpenter and blacksmith were called into requisition Four busy days were spent at the mine, always go- ing nowhere and seeing something new. Up and down and over the dumps into tunnels, down shafts, until winzes, levels, drifts, stopes, upralses, etc, were SO mixed upin UT poor brain that we had to call upon an expert to set us right.
 Then a worse maze was eated by the first lessons in the use of such terms as sulphurets, chlorides, antimony, DOT phyry, pyrites and host of others which we tried hard to appropriate all at once. When the cage was completed and in position we were favored with a passage the first trip down. The foreman, MT. Russell, insisted on tying us in, nCtwith- standing We had no intention of getting out on the way down and We were low cred by the whim down the central of the three compa't tments to the depth of 145 feet. Here we alighted to view the miners at their work drilling and getting ready for blast. Timbering is done in sections as the work progresses and in a