Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1889-06-21

Ascension, we saw about dozen natives
working by this method. which is as old us
that mentioned in the Bible, The rich ore,
showing probably $3.50 to the ton. has been
pricd out of tho vein with crowbars and
Tough blasting and then brought to the
fown on the backs .of burros. Here the
huge rocks We're broken at first with sledge-
banners until they We're reduced to Il size
abont rs big as ones fist so that they could
pc handled and broken by smaller hand
hammers until it was almost as fine as sand.
1t was reduced to a complete powder by
being beaten in coarse leathern bags. 1t was
then taken and mixed with water and
thrown into an arasbra. which is Il cross
between q cofree-mil and Il quartz crusher;
in short. it is four stones tied to revolving
mill bar drawn by the inevitable mule Of
Mexico.
This makes paste rich in granulated
silver, which is mixed with salt and boiled
in little pot. as if they were making apple
butter or putting up the preserves for a
family's winter use, instead of working one
of the richest veins of silver in a country
celebrated for its valuable silver mines.
This resulting mass is washed out in pan
like prospective miner washes for signs
OF gold in the sand and gravel of Il mountain
stream, with the exception that quicksilver
is put In to form ln amalgam with the now
liberated silver. This is pressed out with
the hand. and the little ball of amalgam. as
bright as silver itself, has the mercury
driven off by furnace big enough to fry
the eggs for a party of two and the pure
silver ball. glistening like hoar frost in the
morning sun. is beaten down to the size of
a big marble to prevent it, in its very friable
condition, from breaking to pieces. It is
exasperating in the extreme to see such
dlabollcal works of man applied to the rich
offerings OF nature. In my first 200 miles
of travel I passed half as many silver
prospects that would pay we'll if a rail-
road ran within II days easy haul of them,
that are now idle. and that will remain so
until Anglo-SaXon blood, muscle and ma
chinery get into these parts to change the
present sluggish course of affairs.
My trip of over two hundred miles down
the eastern slope of the Sierra Madre Noun
tains, from the boundary between the two
countries. coupled with the information I
had gained en- route, showed me that I
could undoubtedly do better by attempting
to make my way through the great range
from the westward. so the remainder of the
article details our change of base from the
State of Chihuahua to that of Sonora to
the westward. preparatory to piercing the
Sierra Madres at the most available line for
the best interests of the expedition. There
was but very little out OF routine travel for
day or two, until we came to the third
crossing OF the Casas Grandes River, at a
point so near its mouth or where it emptied
into Laguna Guzman, that we felt sure we
would nave little trouble in crossing it. for,
as nave already explained, most of the
rivers in this country are the larger. the
nearer they get to their head. There had
been no rains to swell the streams and our
surprise can therefore be imagined when
we reached the river TO find it a raging tor
rent. 1t was over the backs of our smallest
horses and over the tops of all the wagon
beds, SO the prospect was not very encour-
aging Tor a crossing with our effects in a
dry condition.
long experience in frontier field service
had taught mo that it was seldom wise to
await the falling of a swollen river if it could
be crossed at all. and SO we set to work to
get over the obstreperous stream. The
artist in the illustration has no doubt de-
seribed it better than can possibly do. but
10 give some OF them. The loads were piled
above the beds and this made them ton
heaVy, the great empty beds acting like SO
many boats as they dashed into the river.
e e2hntrlou ting very much to making the
Mexican. by the name Of Chaves. had the
worst time of it in a low. light wagon.
drawn by two small pinto bronchos.
The Hood swept him down stream under
an overhansing clump of willows. drspi;,. :,
rope tied to the tongue or TIL. WAGON and
another held firmly by IL half dozen persons
on the upstream side. But he was rs cool
at the head rs at his feet, although Ii. wa,
Knee deep i'll the ice-water OF the rive" as
ne stood upright in the wagon-bed. a mo-
ment's waiting to allow the horses TO regan
their bewiliered senses. and Chaves swan
them up stream to the crossing. aud the
men with u whoop and yell dragged tie
whole affair on shore. looking like drowned
rats tied to a dripping cigar-box. Wew we're
three hours and a quarter getting over the
river. which was finished just at nightfall,
but we felt as if we could have lyncheu the
man who wrote that Mexico was a vast
waterless tract of country. We saw enough
water that day to have supplied Bourbon
County. Kentucky. for iull century. A
good system of conserving the water supply
here would allow thirty Caucasians to live
OF OF the soil to where one Mexican is now
found.
A MAN never thinks of the good
l1ia L Al