Waterbury evening Democrat., 1895-07-26
nenl was 0nerOlls, ana lnoy wU

:, mem was onerUus, anu L4IUy VUre ovcrTvY! orc unxelcome and gradually fell into disuse.
 h 1861 tie herd numbered nearly 50 head. Some of these were in 1869 taken to the Comstock mines for use in the des- ert, and a train of 15 of these beasts was employed in packing salt from Sand Springs, in a desert of salt and alkali about 100 miles east of Virginia City. Wagons, too, were used in the transporta- tion of salt from these springs, and soon with the aid of prairie schooners crowded out the business of the camels. They>were then sold to Mexicans, who used them in packing wood down the mountains. Knocking about among the mountains, the wretched beasts soon became gaunt skeletons. They were finally sold to a ranchman on the Carson river, who turned them out to roam at their fancy and to feed on the prickly shrubs of the desert, upon which, as they were somewhat like those of their native country, tho animals thrived and increased.
 Next they were used by miners for pack ing ore from the mountains to the mills in the valleys. But soon the burro, the slow footed, easy going "canary bird'' of the Rockies, superseded them, and the entire drove was sent adrift ill the wilderness. Today the camels are wild, hoary with years, and their hides have assumed a lcathery appearance There are only a few left now in the extreme southern DOT tion of Arizona, and members of a recent boundary commission reported that they saw two camels on the line between Ari- zona and Mexico near Sonora.
 In the Gila country, where these ami malls roamed at one time, is the greatest souvenir left by the aboriginal races of North America-an immense network of prehistoric irrigating canals. Their age is entirely a matter of conjecture. Only one tradition exists among the present Indian tribes concerning them, and that is of their destruction.
 Indian Traditions.
 In 1542 Coronado came from Spain seek ing the seven cities of Cibola, expecting to wrest glory and riches from their conquest, as had PiZarro in Peru and Cortez in Mex ico. He found these ruins of canals, but could learn nothing of their age or build ers. The Indian tradition tells that once these great valleys of the Salt and Gila rivers were peopled by dense and pros porous nation that excclled all others in the building of vast palaces and the man. ufacture of stone implements, but mostly by changing the terrible desert into q mighty garden by putting into it the wa ters of great rivers.
 This people grew and multiplied so that all other tribes envicd and feared them, and the dwellors on the mountains began to plot how they could seize this paradise in tho valleys for themselves. So the war riors of the hills descended upon the peace ful inhabitants of these valleys, and those who were not killed fled southwark
 Soon after great storms came and the rivers burst through and destroyed the vast canals No longer could the conquer ors water their fields. Their grain burned and died, and the trees grew parched and withered until their leaves crumbled in the hand. Then they sent their swiftest runners to the south to find the people they had driven out and bring them back that the secret of repairing these great irrigating ditches might be learned.
 A Few Dead Bodies.
 But of all the host that had been driven from tho valley the runners could only find a few dead bodies on the arid plains where the unfortunate victims had per ished from hunger and thirst. Then the tribes from the hills knew they had done wrong and that the anger of the Great Spirit burned against them, and they en- deavored to return to the mountains, but only few succeeded, as those who were sick and faint perishod by the way.
 This is the only legend of theso prehis- toric ruins. Curious fact it is that the poor dumb bruteS brought from tho oldest countries of the orient by tho youngest government should drift to the oldest re- zion of this country and perish amid it's ruins. EDITH SESSIONS TUPPER.