Arizona weekly citizen., 1893-06-03
THE PEG-LEG MINE.
Returned ProspectOrs Say It Is a
 Myth.
All the Old Landmarks Found and the Place Where the Gold Ought to Be, but None
 Was There.
Yuma Times,

panions would probably have found 1t,
 but MT. Mellus says that there never
 was such a mine and states moreover
 that the imaginative Mir. Peg-leg was
 8 blamed old liar.
 Ex-Deputy Sheriff Mellus, who has
 so rudely torn away the veil of romance
 which has surrounded the lost Fl
 Dorado for over 30 years, has been a
 crank on the subject since he was Is, IS years ago. Just 10 years back he made
 bis first search for the lost gold, taking
 the Hidden Spring as his objective
 point. Accoroipg to reliable informa-
 tion this hidden spring vas in the
 locality of the mine and was necessary on account of the lack or water on the | desert. With the aid If ap Indian, who
 WAS informed that Mellus was hunting
 moun tain sheep, the spring was fyunG
 ID little Casis, covering about quar- 1 ter If an acre of territory. Satisfied wi h lhs result, Mellus returned, to | Los Angeles with the determination of resuming his search on the first oppor- tur ity. But funds were not plentiful
 and be never bud the opportunity un- | til Judge Bronson offered to grubstake 1 him and his companions in their hunt
 for the long-lcst mine. On the 17th of | February last, Mellus. in company with
 his cousin, P. c. Mellus, ex-Shriff Mar
 tin Aguirre and Michael Kirby, well 1 known p-ospector, started out with four | horses and eight burros for the Colo
 rado desert. They made for little | valley known as the "Vallecitos," in-
 tending to make that their headquart-
 CTS. The journey was long and rough | one. Their progress was barred with 1 the almost impenetrable jungles of cacti | and prickly mescal plan through which the treasure seekers had to hew their | way. The season WAS the rainy one ' and the travellers often rode day and night through the pouring rain with
 out finding shelter or dwelling of any kInd. At last they reached the little | valley and made their camp before con-
 meucing their march across the desert. | After a short rest tae burros were re- | laden and 6 start made for the three
 buttes, which od Peg-leg had described
 as being the locality In which he found | the gold in shining heaps. Taking warn | ing from the fate of the numerous pros pectors who had lost their lives in the | search, Mellus first saw to their water ! supply. Eight barrels, containing eleven gallons apiece, were packed on the bur
 ros, and the journey began. Some miles 1 out the party overlook a female spirit | uailst medium in company with three | Americans. The medium stated that | she knew where the treasure lay and | that she was gong to the exact spot, but l she rather dispell-d the illusion by ask ! ing Mellus and his companions in what | direction the hidden spring lay. She | did not receive satisfactory answer. | Mellus advised her to consult the spirite, | and also warned her against undertaking | the journey without water, drawing a | graphic picture of death from thirst, which latter effort so scared the spirit | ualistic party that tbey incontinently 1 turned tail and made for home
 Not knowing exactly how long 1t would be before they reached the spring,
 the party determined to husband their
 water supply and for four days the un- | fourtunate burros plodded along in the | burning sand without drop of water. | At the best of times burro is a sulky i animal and by the time the water was | reached the beasts of burden were hot in both senses of the word. They were \ led 70 the stream with their four days ! thirst on them, but in vain; the burros were dead sulky and would only look at
 the refresshing liquid and snort, and it
 was not until they thought they had l evinced their sense of mans injustice | that they would condescend to wet their | lips.
 From this spring. which is so carefully | concealed by nature that man may be parchipg with thirst within 50 feet of it
 and not discover it's existence, they I . al &l ,-N4
 bnttes, along which Id Peg-leg had stat
 ed ley gold. They were reached. and vast ing no time the party commenced their
 search. Days and days were pass d in fruit.ess hunting. There were TO signs
 of gold. All of Peg-leg's landmarks | were found. all was there except the pre-
 cious metal. The only approach to it
 was a decomposei ledge running north
 west and southeast. The ledge was
 Loneycombed throughout, a9d.' he pros pectors dug to depth of 20 feet, but
 when the dirt came to be washed not even a color could be found. All that remained were small garuets, none larg- CT than pins head. The whole country for two miles around was thoroughly ex-
 amined and at last the dIsgusted trea-
 sure seekers packed up and made their
 way back over the desert. Speaking to a reporter yeasterday MT. Mellus said: "I want to say for the benefit of fu-
 ture prospectors that there is and can
 be no such place as the Peg-leg mine.
 I have looked up old Peg-leg's record,
 and judging from the evidence of his
 friends and aquaintainces, the old man
 was blamed old liar. He has been the
 cause If many good man losing his
 life, and want to say right here that he
 was faker of the first water.
 "The only foundation I can fiDd for
 the story s thaty ago miners in going
 to Fort Yuma used to take the old But
 tertie d route, which leads in the direc-
 tion of the supposed Peg leg mine. The
 Coachuilla Indians used to make prac-
 tice of ambushing these miners and rob- bing them of their gold dust.
 q know for a fact that F miners Were shot down at one time. The h.
 disns, afraid to bring pack this dust at one time. used to bury 1t in the desert
 and account for their possession of it by atiug they had found a wonderful , mine, the locality of which they refused ! to des;ribe. In my opinion, this is the source of the story ot the wounderful Peg leg nine. Old Peg-leg drew on h's , imagination, which was good one Why, he said he got To t aud woke up ; enc m"rning to find glittering Jumps of , gold all around hIm. The durned cld
 ----" and in disgUs'ed tone } of voice MT. Melius called for a drink T. F. Wedding Gets the Persimmon 2 Ever since the announcement ti the appointment Of Judge Rouse for ' this dlstrict there has been an active