The Wichita daily eagle., 1893-12-29
A HUNTERS YARN.
The White Deer Of San Carlos
An Arizona Mystery.

The white deer of San Carlos are ons
| of the many wonders of Arizona.
| There are many hunters who deny
| their existence, but there are many
others who say positively that they
| have seen them. AL the Indians in the
part Of the country where the deer are
said to live tell of them, and many can
be found who say they have seen them.
But the Indians don't want to see them,
because they have religious belief
| that they belong to the Great White
Spirit, and that if an Indian should kill
one of them he would be cursed for
ever. The place in which the deer live
| is one of the widest spots in the coun.
try to-day. 1t is in the San Carlos In
! dian reservation, and is almost mac
cessible. Its exact distance from any
settlement is not known, but the near.
est place to any whisky and tobacco
| is the Mammoth gold camp.
| About a month ago one Of the boys
! from the Rilito mine went out hunting.
He was gone several days. and when be
came back was very much excited. His
horse was worn cut and had evidently
| been driven very hard for several hours.
| The man said that ne had seen the
| white deer and never wanted to see
them again. He couldn't tell why he
was afraid OF them. as nothing had
! happened to him of an injurious nature.
| He told how he saw the herd grazing
| on a grassy ridge that reached across
! the bottom Of a beautiful valley. 1t
was not at all like any other valley he
had seen il the territory, but was wa
tered by dozen streams, and trees and
grass grew luxuriantly. The deer were
grazing calmly, and he thought he
saw chance to get one, SO he found a
place to rest his rife and took dead
aim at big buck. The instant his
rife cracked the entire herd vanished
like magic, leaving behind them moth
ing but thin veil of white mist He
jumped on his horse and started for
camp, never stopping until he reached it.
His story was so remarkable that two
of the other boys, Joe Franklin and
Henry Roberts, wanted him to go with
eeE to the place and make an investi.
cation. But the man who saw the deer
had seen all he wanted.
Franklin and Roberts got particular
directions, but did not start until the
next morning, but were up very early,
and by sunrise had gone over the range
that divides the standardization from
the bowling wilderness Of wild beasts
and muroerous Apaches. It took them
day and half to get to the locality.
They travelled through country where
death seemed to be lurking behind
every stone and clump of bushes. By
day they passed several bleaching skel-
etons and deserted huts that told the
to make q home in this desolate spot
By taking turns all through the
night Franklin and Roberts both did
well, and when morning came and the
ghostly forms stealthily gliding
through the darkness had given place
to cactus, sand and rocks, both men
were as fresh as if they had slept in
bed in San Francisco. When the sun
came up the horses slept while the men
were getting breakfast. A start was
soon made, and by noon the men knew
that the valley could not be far
away, although they saw no signs
of it. The country was wild and
rugged and vegetation was very linn
tied. There was no sign of water, nor
did they see any place where water
could come from. They knew by GER
tain things they were told to look for
that they had followed the directions
closely. Bus where was the valley?
1t could not be ahead of them, and
must be to one side, as the sand grad
ually sloped that way. Before startil
down Franklin proposed that he climb
to the top of ridge few hundred
feet to the right and see if he could see
the tops of the green trees. 1t was
long. hard climb, and as he assembled
he saw no sign of the refreshing green.
He felt sure that they must have made
some mistake or that the other man
lied. but concluded he would go to the
top just to see what there was. When
he reached the summit there was no
patch of green-nothing but desert
hills, and far off in the distance an
Apache village.
concluded to cross over the ridge and
see what was on the other side Max
ing his way through the scrub, mes
quite and cactus, he soon came to an
open space, and there before him was
the valley he had been looking for. 1t
was carpeted with green grass, and on
the other side a range Of mountains rose,
the tops of which were covered with
snow that was constantly melting and
forming silver streams that tum mbled
iCto the valley below.
To one accustomed to the glare and
dust of Arizona deserts the spot was
like glimpse of paradise, and Frank
lin rubbed his eyes 70 make sure he was
not dreaming. He was satisfied that
the spot had been found. so he went
back to the top OF the ridge and sig
nailed to Roberts to come up and bring
the horses-an act Roberts was not
very slow in performing Both agreed
that the spot had been found, and the
next was TO find the deer. But first
they would rest awhile and get some
thing to eat 1t really was like para
disc when they had found cool. shady
spot and built fire. The blue smoke
curled upward among the trees, where
it was caught by the gentle wind and
carried across the valley. Dinner had
been cooked and disposed of, and both
men stretched themselves out comfort
ably, intending each minute to get Up
and go and look for the deer But
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