Mohave County miner., 1888-12-08

/" tSu uufrr coSis oisu tcu Va tShsus "
twelve oxen each. With these teams !
intended to haul this freight. The country
from the Colorado River 10 Fort whipple,
q distance Of 1876 miles, was aninhabited.
] was Obliged TO build road first, then
fit ont men with improved arms, and
would generally hire men (somctimes men
who were travelling through from Cali
irnia would volunteer for protcction) 10
assist 10 guard the trains while en- route
and improve the roads when needed.
For wsgon:mzst1f and drivers I hired a
party Of young men who came through,
They had been driving teams on the
plains from the Missouri River TO Santa
Fe, New Mexico, for Russell, Majors x
CO., and were thoroughly posted on In
dian tricks and Indian warfare. They
had had little experience In the army
of the South that helped accnstoE them
10 the use OF arms, and they were Of the
right stripe--full Of grit and dash. be-
lieve that these men had rather fight
Indians than eat when hungry. They
really enjoyed themselves. They looked
upon an Indian as q wild beast, and they
always got away with the fight. During
that fall and winter many an Indian was
converted from bad Indians TO good ones,
and they remained good ever after. In
fact the Indians were learned to fear
these drivers and gave them wide berth,
and made but little trouble after few
brushes. did not lose q hoo OF stock
during the year these boys handled the
teams.
] loaded the mule train with freight
about the 10th OF September and told the
boys as they pulled out that would
overtake them on the road and stop day
with them and be at Fort Whipple 10
help unload. was detained at home
two days longer than ! expected, but
finally got of at p. m. alone, intending
to take advantage OF the darkness of
night Tor my protection. The Indians
we're either superstitious about night or
cowardly. They never attacked at night,
but were always up at daylight and
would sometimes try to stampede the
herd, but with my train always lost. ]
would ride two or three hours fast, then
dismount and let my horse roll and pick
grass about five or ten minutes, then
saddle up and so as fast as the horse
could travel and stand up to IL. ex-
pected to have reached the train before
morning, but IL had had good luck and
made more miles than expected. /
rode noted large buckskin horse. The
horse is now owned by ex-Member Of
Congress G. G. Bean, Of Prescott, and IL
rs years old. II anyone il enclined to
disbelieye what / write about the endur-
ing and staying qualities OF this horse
they can. find at least one hundred men in
and aronnd Prescott who stand ready To
back the horse and substantiate all !
write. One thousand good horses might
be tried and fail to perform what this
horse did. When daylight came found
old camping places. / rode on until after
p. m. until / overlook the train, and
had ridden over 120 miles. The train
had camped upon the same ground that |
had camped upon when the turkeys tried
TO fool me. During the day noticed
signal smokes rise from hin and valley
and mountain tops. could read these
sigma! smokes. They meant war.
could read in these pillars OF smoke the
number of teams I had and the number
Of men with the train. ..-..
The question is, how did the Indians
make these signal smokes? In those days
the Indian had no knowledge Of matches
They had no guns. Each Isiian when
out on the warpath carried two sticks,
one dry stock Of beargrass with notcbes
! cut in 1t, the other q hard stick like an
old-fashioned foghorn ramrod. They
would place the stick with notches on the
ground, put their feet on IL and set the
other stick with the end in the notch,
then roll fast between the hands Within
half a minute they would start a blaze OF
fire, caused by friction. These sticks the
Indians call "ocacha." They sometimes
used fints. These the Indians called
"otavia." When the fire WAS stated they
wonld sprinkle little pulverized pitch or
resin on it. It started black smoke
quick. They would spread q handful Of
green weeds or grass on the fire and q
white smoke or steam would follow.
Again they would remove the grass and
blow the fire a little and add pitch. Thus
dots and dashes might be made, quite
like the old-iashioned way OF telegrapbing
on paper. Again at night I have seen
signal fires on the side or top os mountains
and blanket or robe passed In s-out ~
II conveyed information. ..
There was no patent covering this way
Of conveying news by the savsges. /
have seen on calm day column Of
smoke with black and white spots rise
near one thousand feet high. / have
known correct news concerning the move
ments of y. s. troops in war times to be
smoked through at least three hundred
miles in two or three hours, and news by
courier five or six days later would prove
the news by Indians to be correct.
AS dismouDted Jack, the wagon.
master. eaid eve will have fun tonight. -