Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1892-09-01


at Ell Altar, on the Rio de Ia Asuncion,
and at the city of Hermosillo, on the
Rio Sonora, OF the present Sonora line
(the idea was subsequently abandoned
as ilnpracticablel. by reference to the
map it will be observed that these
places are some one hundred and thirty
miles apart, and l was thus obliged to
employ large corps of assistants and
devote my personal attention continu>
ally to the work in order that the sur
vey might be finished upon the date
stipulated in the contract.
had established camps or work sta
tions over the entire distance at about
twenty miles from each other, and it
was my custom to make a journey of
inspection to these stations once every
fortnight AS the work progressed |
found it necessary to increase these
visits and was obliged to spend all Of
my time in passing back and forth over
the line.
This was, of course, tiresorne md
monotonous, but the work in itself was
not difficult, us the terra tfmpyada is I'M
usually free from natural distractions.
l liked the climate, for, unlike many of
my companions, was not sick a single
Gay during the entire period was en-
gagged in the work. The natural attrac-
tons of the place were many, and alto
gether the position was one of pleasure.
The only really Objectionable feature
was the presence of Il large number OF
native Indians and Mexican half-oreeds,
who seemed to regard us intuitively as
worthy of nothing better than the most
hearty contempt and as the source Of
continual apprehension. Not that we
had in any way afforded them reason
to suppose us to be antag0nistic to their
interests. for had issued strict orders
rnon commencing the work that these
people should be in no way mOlcsted,
and had requested that the members of
the engineering corps shoutl>avoid in
tcrcouv>e with them as much as posi-
bic. ! had reason to believe that with
one or two exceptions my orders had
b 'en obeyed. The exceptions referred
to were upon two chance occasions: the
first, when company Of half breed
hunters passing across country come
upon one of our supply stations and
after circling about for an hour or SO,
venturcd in and cndeavored to barter 1t
Guantity of skins and moccasins
for food and tobacco We were
obliged to refuse their propositions, as
at that particular time our supply hap
pened to be very nearly exhausted.
They thereupon rode away in very APP
parent disgust. The second was once
when another party came in contact
with squad of our men engaged in
the process Of taking measurements in
a ravine where the former were fish
ing. They watched our operations with
evident anxiety and seemed momentari-
~ to expect something unusual from
the paraphcrnalia we were using
When one Of our number in operating
the theodolitc unmeun;ngly turned the
instrument pointing in their direction,
the whole party spontaneously uttered
wild ''hnl-lo-lo!' and scampcred away
like iaclira bbits, much to the amuse-
ment of our men. After that whenever
any Of our gangs made their appear
ance, the ''ringers,' us we called them,
beat an immediate and hasty retreat
1t was evident that they considered
most Of our movements were slvlv
watched by them, and they became IA
miliar with the course Of our work and
appeared to avoid us as if in fear.
For time l was inclined to view
them asllance, for ! knew the aborg-
lnal characteristics of cunning and
treachery. As time wore on, however.
l came to look upon them differently,
and considered that they had become
reconciled, as it were, to our presence
and that we need fear no outbreaks
from them as long as they were not
molested. l was mistaken, as the in
cIdent which | am about to relate will
demonstrate.
Along in the latter part of Septem-
Der, near the completion of the survey,
in fact it WAS the very last trip made
over the southern division of the line,
! had been to Hermosillo for imple-
ments and supplies, and had occasion