Morning journal and courier., 1892-06-13
DEATH VALLEYS MONSTER

DEATH VALLEYS MONSTER.
 Storfe. of a Lost Mine, SnovsiIdes and
 other Remarkable Things that Get
 Into Print.
 A few years ago a creature resembling 6 marine monster is said to have appeared on the sandbars near Plsttsmouth, Neb. Some days later the monster appeared at Greggsport, and after a few low, hoarse roars disappeared from sight. Fishermen and scientists along the river discoursed wisely about the beast, but were unable to agree as to its age, color snd previous con- dition. A Plattsmouth savant insisted that it was of the saurian family. with gigantic Higillarids, and wet with eternal fogs. The general belief was that the beast was a link connecting the plesiosaurus of antiquity with the modern paleliecene period. From the descriptions given in California papers, the monster is at present cavorting in Death Valley, New, A region rarely visited by man. Oscar W. Clark, who is conducting geological researches in that region in the interest of the Royal Academy of Sciences, visited the valley and describes the animal
 Happening to glance to the southwest" he says. through the haze peculiar to the desert, I saw strange body moving along about one mile away. I went toward it and was soon both elated and mortified by seeing an animal fully thirty feet long that differed from any of the known forms of the present epoch. It was an immense monster, walking part of the time on its hind feet and at times dragging itself Al. II. l. 4 three toed foot and a peculiar scratchy configuration in the sand whenever it changed its form of locomotion and drag ged itself. The forelimbs of the animal were extremely short, and it occasionally grasped the nearest scrub and devoured it The thumb of the three pronged forefoot was evidently a strong conicsl spine that would be dangerous weapon of attack. Whenever the animal stood upright it was fully fourteen feet high. The head was as large as a good-sized cask, and WAS shaped somewhat like horse, while the body was AS large as that of an elephant, with a long tale extending from the hindquarters something like that of an alligator.
 ''When saw it the strange animal was on the edge of a great sink hole of aka line water-a sink-hole. by the way, that my guides told me was bottomless pit, and evidently a remnant of the days when Death Valley was an inland sea. ap- preached within three hundred yards of the monster, crawling cautiously over the sand, and watched it for fully half an hour. Suddenly the beast began to below, and the sound was of most ter rifying and blood dcurdling character. Its immense eyes, fully as large as saucers, projected from the head, and glesmed with a wild and furious fire, while from the enormous mouth of the monster streams of steamlike vapor were exhsled, and as they drifted toward one the effiuvia was something awful. The animal was liver colored, with bronze-like spots"
 An Alum Mine that shut Its Mouth. From the Omaha Bee.l
 Recent reference to the natural wonders of Montana, particularly the chicken. broth and bichloride springs, brings to light others of equal magnitude. Colonel John Doyle's wonderful vinegar mine in Beaver head county passes the domain of doubt into the sunlight of truth. It is backed by crisp affidsvits, and affidavits cost Sl | each in Montana. The colonel and his | partners did not confine themselves to | vinegar. They discovered a mountain of pure alum in the Beaverhead range. The discovery was a ten-strike and better than a gold mine. They kept the find a secret for several weeks, during which s shaft
 was sunk to the depth of 200 feet The | cut was made all the way through a solid | vein of alum, and it WAS estimated that | the whole mountain was composed of it. | large pile of the stuff was heaped near the mine, ready for shipments, and the miners had s scheme to flood the market
 with their product and rake in sl GOO, ,O00 at one fell swoop. Last Monday the colo
 ners partner went to town to lay in q
 supply of grub, and the former remained
 behind to guard their treasure.
 During the morning a heavy rain began | to fall and continued all day, and in the
 afternoon the colonel hsd occasion to go
 down into the mine, making the descent
 by sliding down the rope, and when once
 down at the bottom was so taken up with | a contemplation of his novel and wonder full mine that he did not heed the fieetipg
 hours until he happened to cast his eyes
 upward and saw that daylight had faded
 from the mouth of the shaft. He started
 to climb upward, but had not proceeded
 more than half way when to his horror he
 discovered that the heavy fall of rain had
 so thoroughly saturated the alum sides of
 the shaft that, as 8 natural result, they
 had drawn together until the hole wal
 scarcely large enough for a man to crawl
 through. The imprisoned man recognized
 his awful position, and without losing
 much time struggled toward the top of ths
 shaft. Every foot he advanced the shaft
 became smaller, and for the last ten feet
 he was compelled to dig his way up witt
 a pocket knife, and when he finally reach
 ed the surface he was completely ex
 hausted, his clothes were torn and hi, | body bsdly bruised The rain was still falling, which soon revived the colonel and he started towards the camp 10 mee his partner, to whom he related his re
 markable experience. Together they re turned to their mine, or at least tried to for although they searched for two day they were unable to find any sign of theil .. possessions. The rain had undouhtedl, thorouehly and tightly closed up the dis ] covery shaft snd melted away every sigr ! of the alum piled on the outside, SO that |.
 this time it has been impossible to find an.