Arizona weekly journal-miner., 1894-04-18
rnr rnAaEo1 KlSt.s ufLr.
An Incl lent of rsourey Days on the
 Arizona Desert.


 Arizona Desert.
 Corr,vponlenccol tbe Glolso-Denecrat
 PuENIx. Arizona, February 27,-A favorite enterprise. or rather specu- ! lation, with certain of the hardy adventurers in the early days of | Arlzona's history. was well digging. ! In those days travelled roads were few, and on all of them the water ing places were far between. The ! lucky man who succeeded in sinking 1 a shaft to water on one 0t those ! deserl roads had property that 1 was better than gold mine, Tor l the returns commenced to How in ] the moment the water commenced | flowing in his well. Ia the midst of 1 a thirsty desert water IS as goot as cash. aud its owner at oace blOssons | into a station keeper On the sure road to wealth The great freight teams. with eight and ten mules must stop there for water if for nothing else; the stage company would leave it's relays ol stock here, paying him for the keeping oi the hostlers and horses, and 1Iluging travellers unasked to bis rough and ready table d'hote, barrel ot $ his key and tin cup or two iorme his bar. to which, in those days, every passer was a customer and every thing in sigh. was for sale, from his woodpile and hays;ack of desert cut by his hired man, to the very water in his well.
 To an adventurous, energetic man, with no capital but his trenSth and courags, such a prospect vas alluFing; aud many were the wells attempted m all the desert roads iu the territory. Of course, as Is the case in many other lines Of business the failures far exceeded tue suc- cesSes, and the old travelled roads are dotted to-day with many dan gorous open shafts, that never touched water. where hardy pro; pecto rs drove them down lOO Co 300 feet before abandoning them Co try 1 their luck elsewhere. The record oi d failure k more or less pathetic with it's suggestions of wasted eder- gy and disappointed hopes; and here. in these dreary solitude it would seem still more so; yet, said one of the well diggeIs Go me not a long time since, when relating how he anu another had put in three months sinking a 300 well feet. only to abandon 1t and try somewhere else. "Why, we had nothing but our time invested in that job, and we had more time'n We knew what to do with after We got through.
 Then, too, it was frequently ac- companied with danger, this well digging; for Indians might sWoop down on the lonely workers at uG- expected moments, and. isolate as they were, with twenty to fifty m.les of lonely desert between them and the near, st human habitation. hey had but their own vigilance and pluck to depend on in case of any accident Indeed, the history of the desert wells of Arizona, should it ever be written, would prove deeply interesting one, for there are but few of them to which the story of some dark tragedy does not attach. In conversation with an old freighter, who used to drive his teams on the La Paz road thirty years ago, 1 recently unearthed tbe history of one of these wells, from an almost forgotten past. The lace is still marked on the map of Ari- zona as Kings Well, but 1t was abandoned ou the occasion 1 am about to relate, and is now nothing but half covered shaft, wish a lonely grave beside It.
 THE BEGINNING OF KINGS WELL.
 In December, 1865. Dave King and Dan --, surname unknown started out for the prosperous mining camp of Wickenburg, on the Hassay ampa river, To try their tuck digging a we'll on the La Paz road. By this road the distance was l25 miles from Wickenburg to La Paz, and in all that distance there were only two wells. Could they succeed in striking water at some point thirty or forty miles from Wickenburg. there would be easy times ahead. They selected a point some thirty-five mics out on the desert as favorable location for a water station, and when the wagon that had brought them unioaded their tools aud camp outfit, and turning back, left them there alone, they never stopped to think whether there was anything romantic CT heroic in their situation, but just went to work and cleared away the cactus and greasewood to make a good place ou which to spread their l blankets and build their camp fire. l A six-shooter apiece, a few blankets, 1 two picks and shoyels, frying pan 1 and coffee pot and some flour, bacon | and beans, was the extent of their l capital, bat they knew the future would turn out all right, and they l went to work perfectly contented 1 and happy.
 One day, nearly two months later, ] they stopped work for dinner, when l the sun had climbed straight over head. They had sunk their shalt | nearly 2O0 feet by this time, and | they were beginning to think they ! ought to De getting pretty close to | water. On that day in particular, | many and bright were the plans they | laid out for the future. when. with ! the water in the well, cQrrall and | adobe house built, they could com mence to live easy and save money | While they were eating and plan hing, two Sulky looking Mexicans | approached from tho road, aud, without ceremony, were invited to sit down on the ground and help themselves. The boys noticed that these strangers were evidently de serters from the company of Mexi- can soldiers, stationed at the time near Prescott, for they wore govern ment uniforms and carried army muskets. No questions were asked, however, for these are occasions when inattcntio to a guest is .h, bighpst form pf ciVilitV and D,vo