The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1882-03-24
LEGENDS OF MINES.
Nao York World.

As class, there are no more superstitious
men than miners, nor have any class more
eerie conceptions.
The miners of the West represent strange
condemnation of men. The English,
Welsh and Germans brought all of the Old
World snperstitions with them, and found
themselves among n class nf men In the Mex
lean camps wis" could equal and In some
cases surpass theirs. The MeSicans drew
their tales fom t.n sources, their own
Spanish fof.fsthris, and the Azlrrs aud Toll
t.rs. found In he eounlry ~i,rn their FORE
fathers conquered IL. Strange are the sto-
ries that have gown cut of tie union OF
th.se superstitious elements. Things are
fuckg or uHlucky because possibly some
worker In the iianz said so 300 years ago, or
some old old Tollee had fiji Of nightmare
at an equally remote period. One Of the
most commonly believed tales ls that OF the
aStep Devil" Tile men tell you that In
some OF the oldest mines there Is All evil
spirit which takes the form Of q deformed
dwarf. A popularity about him Is that he
has immensely long arms, 80 long that he
can take off his sandals without STOPPING
This dwarf, when there Is any danger In the
mine, such rs q cave, goes up the ladders,
lifting himself by bis arms with his legs
hanging free. As he passes each rung he
kicks or stamps 1t out Of the side pieces, so
that the men when they attempt to fly find
that all means of climbing out Of the mine
are destroyed. In the very old mines, which
were worked by the Indians, there were no
ladders, but In their place trunks Of trees In
which notches had been cut, and the Indians
climbed by inserting the big toes in the
notches. When the Indians tell you Of the
"Step Devil" they say that he has on each
big toe an enormous nail and that AZ he
climbs the tree trunk he uses this TO gouge
the notch out by splitting off the part on
. which the toe rests. The story is evidently
an Indian one, although altered by the Mex
leans to suit the change in the means Of 60
ing up and down the shaft.
THE MADRE DE ORC.
A story about which there Is fascination
which II Is impossible TO resist when you
hear men tell 1t, Ii that of the "Home Of the
Cold" Somewhere In Southwestern New
Mexico, In the Sierra Madre, 1t Is said there
Ia wonderful valley. Small, inclosed by
gh,rocky walls, and accessible only through
secret passage, which Ia known TO but few,
Is this extraordinary place. 1t Is about ten
: acres In extent, has running through 1t a
stream which waters 1t thoroughly and
makes 1t q perfect paradise, with Its ex-
qnislte flowers and beautiful trees. In 1t
are thousands of birds of the most brilliant
plumage. Running across II La ledge of
pure gold about thirty feet wide, which glis-
tens In the sunlight q great golden belt.
The stream crosses the ledge, and rs
1t runs, murmurs around large
blocks OF yellew metal Is other
streams do among the pebbles. This ledge
Of gold Is supposed TO be solid gold and to
run down into the center of the earth. The
legend In of Indian origin, and around IL
cluster number of Indian stories In which
the name of the Inflated Montezuma occurs
frequently. The descendants Of the Aztecs
believe firmly that the day will come when
Montezuma viii return and free them from
the domination of the Conquistadores. They |
believe that the money necessary for this |
work will be taken from Madre de Orc. The |
secret of the entrance into the valley Ii sup |
posed TO be carefully guarded by . tribe OF
Indians living near 1t, and among them 1t Is
only communicated to the oldest men amid
thesolemn ceremonies OF the medicine lodge.
Having such story to work upon, there Ia
little wonder that the vivid imagination Of
the Mexicans should have built upon IL tales
OF men who haye found this wonderful place.
One Ia that . certain Jose Alvarez, who,
wandering through the mountains In search
Of game, saw the valley from the top of one
of the walls. Finding that he could not
hope TO enter II by climbing down, he took
up his abode with the Indians who guard the
canon leading into IL. The daughter of the
chief fell In love with him and betrayed the
secret TO him. Exactly how she found 1t out
they do not tell. Having been shown the
entrance, Jose went In and would possibly /
have got away with some Of the gold had he
not weighted himself down TO such an ex-
tent that he could net get up the declivity 1t
the lower end Of the passage. He was dis
covered and the Indians sacrificed him on the
golden ledge with all theterrible ceremonies
of the old Aztec religion. The girl, In de-
spair Ut losing him, threw herself from the
high walls Int the valley below. Hundreds
OF prospectors have spent months of toll try
ing TO find the Madre dc Orc, but, 1t Is
scarcely necessary TO say, with no result.
Miners In the quartz mines believe that the
Tats--therc are thousands or them In mines /
that are being worked-can tell when an
earthquake or cave In the walls Of the mines
10 coming. They claim that before anything
Of the kind occurs the rats will be seen try
Ing to crowd into the cages or buckets, - the
case may be, In which the ore Ia heisted To
the surface. There Ii similar belief about
the cockroaches, which are said u crawl up
the shat before an accident happens.
IL sometimes happens that In the clay
"casings," or seams Of clay between tho
ledge and the rock on each side Of 1t, punches
OF wire silver will be found. In North
western Arizona this Ia frequently the case.
These lunches consist of pure silver In the
form Of wire curiously matted together. The
Indians and Mexicans account for them by
saying that the silver dislikes the rock In
which II finds itself and tries TO get out.
Reaching the clay 1t finds that there Ia more
rock beyond, and 30, in despair, stays where
u ID. 4 more fanciful explanation which ID
sometimes given Ii that the matted punches
Of silver wire were originally little snakes
turned into metal and placed In the clay -
punishment for having offended the Great
Snake Gsd.
BEwrTcuED ARAsrRAs.
One Of the oldest superstitions Ia that con-
nected with the arastras." An arastra ID .
circular pit about two feet deep lined with