News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1886-10-21
THROUGH DEATH VALLEY.
THREE MEN FIND THE LONG-LOsT
GUNSIGHT MINES.
TheIr Wagons ShriveIIed and their Water
Barrels Burst-AImast Perishiug Before
the Mountains were Reached-Gol old In
Abandance-A New Expedition.


the Mountains were Renchei-Go old In
Abumdance-AN New Expedition.
Los Angeles, Cal.-There are now in
this city three men who have recently
crossed and recrossed the famous Death
Valley of southern California, and who
have succeeded in solving fline mys-
| terry which las bafiied the most DARING,
I and skilful prospectors for many years
The Gunsight placers were located In
'49, but were attereard lost, and, though
repeated attempts have been made to
find them most - tse men ehgaged in
the effort have pesfsIsed.
About six weeks ago when A F
Judson, A. d. Spring, and Barney Car
ter announced that they were going af-
ter the Gunsight tail, their friends
sought to dissuade them, and chance
acquaintance laughingly bade them
| good-by forever. No one ever expected
to see them again, and when they set
out confidently on their mission they
were given up as dead men might have
been. So many such expeditions had
left this and other towns only to meet
death in its most horrible forms, that
this one was regarded as especially fool
hardy.
About week ago the three men re
turned. They came in by rail, ragged,
emaciated, and feeble, and one OF them,
Carter, sick abed. But all were en-
thusiastic over their achievements, and
each had in his pockets nuggets to prove
his assertion that the Gunsight mine had
been found. The story of their trip
would be incredible were they not here
as living witnesses to its truth, their
bodies bearing all too plainly the proofs
of the sutferings which they have under
gone.
Knowing that the d1scoverers of the
Gunsight mines crossed the Death Val
ley, these adventures sought, if possible,
to make the same trail. Once Though
the NIojave desert, they soon me to
the dazzling white sandy plain, where
no life can exist. Almost at the first
step they were prostrated by the fierce
heat from above and below. Their feet
swelled SO that they were compelled to
rip open their shoes, and the goggles
which they had prepared were but feeble
protection for their eyes.
he men had two wagons, each drawn
by two horses, and in these vehicles
they carried water in barrels and other
supplies. After an hour or two of the
most painful locomotiOn, the heat be-
coming more intolerable at every step,
the party paused a few minutes for rest
and refreshment. The poor beasts fairly
gloaned in their agony, aud the men
themselves did not dare look at each
other lest they would read in each others
eyes the despair which all knew was set
ting upon them. On every hand they
beheld the whitened skeletons of men.
of horses, and of burros In some places
they found the remains of what appeared
to have been an expedition ruined We
hicles, with the skeletons of horses and
men lying about. NuItures swooped
down upon them with aggTv cries, and
other birds of preycFretssa high above
their heads, following them as they pro-
crossed.
When night came On they followed
the no tn star, one man trying to sleep
while the others drove. At daybreak
there was nothing to relieve the eye.
All around them was the cleaning sand
overhead the brassy sky, and far away
the rocky sides of mountains on which
no vegetable life was ever found. Wear
lily they passed on, confident that the
worst was over, but when almost in
sight of the east range of the Amargo
sas, to which they were bound. the |
blazing heat played them a merciless
prank.
The scorching which men and beasts |
were enduring with reasonable fortitude |
was too much for their water barrels and |
their wagons. The wood of which they |
were made shrank and shrivelied until |
they fell to pieces, first the wagons and |
then the barrels. All attempts to keep |
them together were useless. With the |
water gone the party was well nigh in |
despair, but when the wagons, too, fell |
to pieces there was a minute when all |
recognized the probability that another
expedition was to be added to the long |
list of these which had gone into that
abode of death never to be heard of |
again. When things appeared to be at
their worst, Carter spied something in
the white sand few rods away, ana,
hurrying toward it, found the pieces of
a wagon which had belonged to a '49er
whose skeleton lay close at hand. Woo
never decays in that atmosphere, and of
the three wrecked wagons the men were
able to gear up one vehicle that would
convey their remaining supplies and
their tools.
This delay came very near being fatal
to all concerned. One horse died in the
harness, and Carter was prostrated so
completely that for a time his life was
despaired of. Toiling painfully along
now without water and with no nope of
any until they could clear the desolate
valley, Judson and Spring were at length
in their agony to dig deep into
the sand in the hope of finding moisture
with which to quench their intolerable
thirst At depth of few feet they |
came upon water, but it was salt. They |
drank of it but it only served to increase
their suffering, and when they gave some
of it to their horses the beasts refused to
swallow it. With a firm determination
to press on to the utmost limit OF their
strength, the men continued their jour
ney. and at length more dead than alive
they emerged from the valley and began
the ascent of the mountain.
Here they found some bunch grass on
which their horses feasted, and spring
of water, copious draughts from which
soon revived the entire party. Tarrying
at this spring day or two for the pur-
pose of recuperating, the men finally
pushed on, prospecting the country close
ly as they went. For week no trace OF
gold or of the previous presence OF man
was found, but on the eighth day as they
were digging for water, they came upon
gravel abounding in coarse gold in mug
gets worth from 81 to So apiece. This
then, wa in the vicinity of the far-famed
Gunsight p!acers, and another days IN
vestigation brought them upon the very
ground where nearly forty years ago the