The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1886-11-10
GOED SEEKERS REWARDED
THREE MEN FIND THE LoNG-LosT
GUNsIGHT MINES.

and Thirst-GOld in Abundance.
A recent letter from Los Angeles, Cal,
10 the New York San says: There are
now in this city three men who have re-
Gently crossed and reCrossed the famous
Death Valley of Southern California, and
who have succeeded in solving mine
mystery which has bafiled the most dar-
ing and skillful prospectors for many
years. The Gunsight placers were To-
Gated in 40, but were afterward lost,
and though repeated attempts have been
made to lind them, most of the men en-
gagged in the effort have perished.
About six weeks ago when A. f. Jud-
son, A. d. Spring and Barney Carter an
nounced that they were going after the
Gunsight trail, their friends sought to
dissuade them, and chance acquaintances
iaughingly 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 foolhardy.
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 enthu-
siastic over their achievements, and each
had in his pockets Nuggets 10 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 sufferings which they have under
gone.
Knowing that the discoverers of the
Gunsight mines crossed the Death Val
ley, these adventurers sought, if posi-
BILE, to make the same trail. Once through
the Mojave Desert, they soon came to
8 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, aud the goggles
which they had prepared were but feeble
protection for their eyes.
The men had two wagons, each drawn
by two horses, and in these vehicles they
carried water in barrels and other sup
plies. After an hour or two of the most
painful locomotion, the heat becoming
more intolerable at every step, the party
paused few minutes for rest and re-
freshment. The poor beasts fairly groan-
ed in their agony and the men them
selves did not dare look at each other
lest they would read in each other IS
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 vehicles, with the skeletons of
horses and men lying about. Vultures
swooped down upon them with angry
cries, and other birds of prey circled high
above their heads, following them as
they progressed.
When night came they followed the
north star, one man trying to sleep while
the others $drove. At daybreak there
was nothing to relieve the eye. AL
around them was the cleaning sand
overhead the brassy sky, and far away
the rocky sides of the mountains OF
which no vegetable life was ever found
Wearily they pressed on, confident tina
the worst was over, but when almost il
sight of the east range of the Amargosas
to which they were bound, the blazing
heat played them a merciless prank.
The scorching which men and beast
4, were enduring with reasonable fortitud
was too much for the water barrels anC
their wagons The wood of which the,
were made shrank and shriveled unit
they fell to pieces, first the wagons an(
then the barrels. All attempts to keel
them together were useless. With tn
water gone the party was we'll nigh il
despair, but when the wagons, too, fel
to pieces there was minute when al
recognized the probability that anothe
expedition was to be added to the lon.
list of those which had gone into tina
abode of death never to be heard O
again. When things appeared to be a
their worst, Carter spied something il
the white sand few rods away, and
hurrying toward it, found the pieces o
y aSwagof which had belonged to '49e
whose skeleton lay close at hand. WOOD
never decays in that atmosphere, and O
the three wrecked wagons the men wer
able to gear up one vehicle that would
.eanvey their remaining supplies and thei
tools.
This delay came very near being fata
10 hll concerned. Oue morse uleu IN Ln
harness, and Carter was prostrated 81
completely that for time his life wa
despaired of. Toiling painfully along
now without water and with no hope 0
any until they could clear the desof,t
: valley, Judson and Spring were at lengtl
compelled in their agony to dig dee
into the sand in the hope of finding
moisture with which to quench thei
intolerable thirst. At depth of a few
feet they came upon water, but it wa
salt. They drank Of it, but it only serveC
TO increase their suffering, and whel
they gave some of it to their horses tn,
beasts refused to swallow it. With
firm determination to press on 10 th'
utmost limit Of their strength, the mel
continued their journey. and at length
more dead than alive, they emerged