The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1889-12-04
HIT BY A WINDLASS.
A Queer Encounter at the Mouth
Of an Old Mine.
Before the Victim Dies He Asks Who It
Was That Struck Him-The Ledge
Didn't Give Out a Fort
une After All.


ga man gets some queer ideas in hi
head when he's out all alone in tn,
mountains" said John Sanderson. a,
old prospector who has his headquarter
at Ell Paso, but who makes several in
cursions to the mining districts every
year. ''Half of them believe in ghosts
nine out of ten in signs, and about all O
them in luck. My own experience has
changed my views in good many par
ticulars, and, for one thing, it has made
me firm believer in special provi
dences. 1t didn't come about gradually
but through as marvellous an escape
from an awful death as | believe evel
falls to men.
1T happened up in the Mimbres
mountains four years ago this summer
The Mimbres lie in New Mexico, down
below old Fort Tule Rosa, and they
must be full of gold somewhere, be-
cause the beds of the creeks that find
their way down the sides are so rich in
placer dlggings that you can't pull up a
sage brush around there without seeing
bright specks among the roots. had a
pet theory then that if you followed the
creeks up high enough and looked close
enough you would find tremendous de-
post OF gold in decomposed quartz. |
thought, you see, that little of it had
washed off the surface in the course of
time and formed those places. What l
wanted to find was the mother mine.
Il talked the thing up to Charley
Burke, another prospector and friend of
mine, until he agreed to put up half the
OUTFIT and join in the search. We got a
couple OF burros, the necessary tools,
and started early in the spring. The
country about the Mimbres is about as
wild and desolate as any on earth, and
IL was trip that nothing but faith and
enthusiasm would prompt man to at
Tempt. 1t was one succession of gorges,
gulches and activities, all stl wn with
granite powders from the size of a
mans hand to a four-story block, and
often we were obliged to leave the water
course we were following and make de-
tours that took days at time.
1.-The creek we followed was almost
dry, and we stopped frequently looking
for placers. We found no very rich ones,
but everywhere there was gold. Some
times there would be lots of it in the
bottom of the tin cup after we had taken
drink, and sometimes-here is a Gu
rious thing-it would be floating on the
surface. / will let some one who is bet
ter posted in science than 1 tell WHY
gold now and then floats, but | only know
that little flakes of it do, and a lot of it
is lost in sluice-mining that way. AS
long as we found placers we knew that
the main deposit was ahead, SO we
pushed along, tired enough, butconfident.
AT last we came to spot where the
sand was barren for several DAYS Jour
ney, and then we began to prospect
all around. To make long story short,
we struck ledge one morning with
outcroppings that crumbled under nv
pick and showed quartz all streaked with
yellow threads. Charlie l yelled out.
all atire at once, we have struck it!'
But before we sunk shaft we found
something else that sent our hearts to
our mouths. 1t was an old shaft. back
allttle ways, and in claim, properly
staked out, that covered that very ledge.
There was a notification, according to
law, on one of the posts, that Peter
Sumner and Joseph Klautzy had taken
possession of the Big Six and done the
legal assessment work.
Il sat right down and collapsed, but
oharlle went over to the shaft and
came back to tell me that il did NOT
cover half the amount necessary, under
the law, to hold the property for year.
We measured it, and sure enough, it
was only down about half the required
Instance, so we took possession of the
property, changed its name the The
treasure, and went to work.
we built ourselves rough shanty,
rugged up windlass and began to sink.
IN lew days we were into formation
sioh enough to make mans head swim,
Oh anu getting better as we went down.
We were both so excited that we be-
siuuseu the time to sleep and eat and |
we helther of us meditated for al, in
e'ahe giving the claim up to any BODY,
assessment work or no assessment work.
what had become of the two men was a |
mystery They had left no trace except
ene notification board and shaft, and it |
gave me the creeps now and then to
think that they might be dead. But we
we're not in frame of mind to let senti-
nent interfere with business.
Il suppose we had been there for a
couple OF weeks when provisions began
70 run short. We didn't want to both |
cave the claim at once, SO it was finally
arranged that Charley should go down
me creek to camp about fifty miles
away and bring a supply. He took both
'urros and started off. I calculated it
would take him week to make the
rip, and time hung heavy on my hands
tried to work little on the shaft. The
ormation was very hard, and we had
flgged up a sort of crossbar ladder
would go down this, fill the bucket.
eiimo to the surface and pull itup.
AT about noon of the second day
a =, ne left l was startled at what 1
WV smought was man crossing a little
saleh half-mile away. / only had a
''sW OF it between two rocks, and,