The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1888-05-17
WI
ATZING GIANTS.

@"Prospector who Mot u DapcInr
"Out II 'Dervish OF the Desert.
meyer, Nn Nevada" said Joseph Grandle-
NeT Va mining man from white Pine, to
he York Su" correspondent, 1--WE have
saw subhmost dance that any man ever
81 '. We call it tho dance of the giants,
ceat cylinders of sand from eight to
NSWenty feet in diameter, and sometimes
Immensely tall, como carccriug across the
uesert with a whirling, waltzing motion
that Is worry graceful. l have often seen
them when they must have been two or
thrce miles high, for their tops reached up
| into the clouds. But oftener thero will he
one big column: with lot of little columns
amending it, all waltzing along together.
ING erect Is tho strangcst thng imagin-
| aole. IL inspires you with awe, and at the
| Same tlme ills you with tho desire to laugh
| at the odd performance. And, if the man
ID supersutlous, the weird, fantastic sight
| GA can mako him feel mighty uncomfortable
| they arc never seen except in tho summer
| ,' .huo' anu are most frequent in July. They
nave thelr beginning in somo little incin-
| lent whirlwind, which snatches up a hand
1ul OF sand while the surrounding air ia
stnl, and then they keep on growing and
moving onward.
"Ihey are not like tho cyclones further
east' !or thoy move with very little noisc,
ana, instead of being funnel -shapcd. are
VI inc same size from top to bottom. Tho
nno,ion 10 inc same, being both circular
:.is .nu ausuhc'hg. They draw up into the CYL
Ahuer fabulous quantities of sand, tons of
sage brush, and sometimes good sized
sUUhes. HOW far they travel nobody can
'Uh' Inc very big ones must have wnltzed
uiohg Ill their silent majesty over the lonely
ucScrts Tor Il long distance. They mnet
,rnmo' i%roi inc whole distance of the White Pine
somoy;r S"moy; oarto hundred and fifty miles, and
- r 'uCy come down through Spring
'"cy from Idaho TO the Peranncgat valley
yu,;, noo"nh, one OF tho pioneers Of
Whicc fhc, solemnly declares that he owes
ms richest strike to one of tbcen ,y,1tairr,
giants. lie was plodding along through tho
H"licy' lcaiilhS pack mule laden with his
prospecting outnt, whom half a dozen sand
coiuillhs came dancing silently along. Joe
tried TO dodge one of them, and got rioht in
inc way OF the biggest one of tho whole
SahS' III picked up him and the mule as
TSnouSn thcy wore feathers and packed
r1 ul acroSs the valley in tho lvcliest
waltz Joe ever shook a leg in. He
got so dizzy that nc couldn't tell where ho
was gong, and he had just made up his
Hllnd 10 be SmOthCrCd in sand and carried
10 Heaven by this dancing deryish of tho
desert, when his feet truck solid ground
ana atlcr Whlrling about a few times hc fell
INTO The bed OF Il creek that was almost drv
Nhcn nc picked himself up there was the
mulo kicking solcmnly and mcthodcally at |
shower of sand that was falling around
MN The Watzing column had struck a |
sido nil and collapsed, as they often do, and |
inc upper part of the column was lust com. |
ing down Where the foot of the column |
% 81 uch INC D"u or the creek it had torn up |
inc gravel to = depth of three or four feet
anu exposed some of the richest pockets of
small nuggets that Joc ever saw. He stnvcd
WIN inc claim about two months, and
cleaned up nearly SGO.G0O. Then he started
70 go back to the States, and blew in tho
wholo pile at Il faro bank in Phoebe. Joo
mas wandered through those Nevada val
ioys 1or years since then, but hasn't had tho
luck 10 be picked out for Il partner by an
other Waltzing ginntN