The Southern herald., 1892-09-16
"THE GARDEN OF HE'LL "
Experience Of Two Men In the Ari-
zona Desert
Only the Nerve and Endurance Of Waer
saved Himself ana His Partner VAa
Horn from DsAth-Thelr
Rtoriea.

Stories.
''Who goes into the garden Of hell
pluchs blindness and death"
This sounds like the text from lat
ter-day sensational sermon. The ser.
mon is preached BY the bleaching bones
Of men who have sought the gold that
lies beyond the dreadful place. No one
remembers who It was first used the
sentence The old Mexican prospectors
who knew and hated the place got it
from their fathers The Jarden del In
frno lies 10 the southwark Of this city,
and 10 the west, near its southern
boundary, is q low, solitary line Of
rocky hills. the outline of which against
the sky is that of a giants profile.
There are not many who have looked,
and lived 70 tell it, on the face OF the
giant who has been scowling back at
the blazing sun from the beginning,
but those who have tell weird stories
of what happens there when the
water is all gone from the canteen and
your brain Is on Ere and your tongue
cracks and bleedA At the eastern end
of the low range Is . ravine-that
makes the lips Of the giants face.
When the sun is In the vest it shows a
turn Of the canyon hidden before, that
bends toward the sunset Then the
face seems to grin-a malignant grimace
OF those features Of rock and sand.
The desert stretches from Tucson to
Yuma, aud TO the southwark God only
knows how far. 1t is a gray waste of
sand, and its few ragged mesquite
bushes and grotesque cacti are to vege-
tation only what picture is TO a real
Landscape. They say that even snakes
and lizards cannot live there. Maybe
because of the awful desolation and
hideous dangers Of this country the
story is believed that somewhere be-
yond the desert there is gold
more than would make a whole nation
rich. Is IT a relic Of the superstition
of the time when headless men and fre-
breathing dragons were thought 10
guard treasures that men always be-
lieve gold is most plentiful where thirst
and death threaten?
few days ago two men came back
70 Tucson out of the desert They
found no gold and they are gaunt and
fever wasted, but they came back alive
and they are thankful for that. j. A.
Van Horn and Martin Waer, both of
this city, are the men. They knew
what they were undertaking, for they
have been on the desert before, but,
with all their precautions and expe-
rience, their bones would have made an
other patch of white on the sand but
for the iron strength and endurance Of
the younger man Waer.
About the middle Of May Van Horn
and Waer decided to take trip down to
Sonora for the purpose of obtaining a
bond on a mine. They had heard Of
some rich mines in the mountains near
the line on the American side, and they
decided that, after getting a bond on
the mine in Sonora, they would con- /
tinue their journey to these mountains,
to see for themselves whether or not |
the reports circulated were true.
They left this city on May 20 at |
two o'clock on sunday morning, in q |
light wagon drawn by two good horses.
They had two kegs of water with them
ten gallons for the horses and five
for themselves. They carried an abun-
dance Of provisions, including a good
supply Of canned goods. They went
from Tucson to mining camp named
Quijotoa, and from there they proceed
ed 10 Sonoita, small village on the
Sonoita river, in Sonora, near the line.
They experienced no difficulty in
reaching this point, and after remain
ing there over night they made their
way TO place called Quita Vocquita,
which is situated on the line between
Arizona and Sonora. Then they went
into the wilderness to look for the
gold. They had TO cross FL Tula, the
approach to the Garden Of Hell. They
were aware that they had not water
enough to make the trip, but they had
been on the desert before and knew a
water-hole at the base Of FL Tula
mountains. They would be few hours
out of water, but that Is nothing when
gold lies beyond.
So they drove over FL Tula, past the
hundreds Of rocky mouuds-each show
ing where gold seeker had laid down
TO die Of thirst and madness-and on 10
where the unburied skeletons dot the
road. When men get as far as this
they have no time to bury others But
Van Horn and Waer had seen mounds
and skeletons before, and It gave them
no anxiety that their water kegs went
dry even earlier than they expected,
and alldaY they travelled without water,
and very thirsty they were before they
reached the rising ground that bid the
water hole.
At last they wers there. They broke
through the thick clump Of mesquite
hat marked the only water for miles.
They stood on the edge and looked.
Van Horn and Wasr side By side, and
behind them the quivering, dropping
iofses, with their hot, iniiamsd nos
rils At the bottom Of The natural
aHk was 3 patch Of baked, cracked
leliow earth The water hole was
Iry.
The men knsW of another wstar hole J