The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-04-07
MARVELLOUS GOLD FIND
DISCOVERY OF I LEDGEs IN THE
CALIFORNIA DESERT.
The story of a P%rospcctor, which
Reads Like n Fairy Taic-Mine
worked by Some Forgotten Race.

Softtf LtNbL Al ec @1N
Democrat.
A story comes in from the desert, out
Indio way, of a gold find which. If true.
is one of the richest ever discovered in
California; If not true. Ii demonstrates
that on provocation this country can
produce a crop of liars that can hold
over anything in Coolgardie. Australia.
The story in regard to the discovery OF
the mines, admitted as true by the re-
cent locaters and others who know tha
circumstances, reads like a fairy tale.
This is the story:
About three months ago an old pros
pector. with four burros carrying his out
fit, came plodding into lndio. He walked
into Tingman's grocery store. the emily
one in the place. and said: "WhatH
you give me for that ere outfit?" Over
his shoulders and under his arms he
carried two army haversacks, which
seemed heavy enough to weigh him
down, and his pockets bulged with rocks
or something else. Tingman outfits
%prospectors, but his corral was full OF
burros and his store room with kits that
only needed grub to make them COM
plete. so he was shy about making the
old mar an offer.
I1d III EOu WdAl ~ ~ 49,
asked. 'Going to quit prospecting?"
Yep answered the old man. I'm
done prospectin' now 'ur hereafter. Want
to buy that outfit? III sell the whole
business for $40" 1t was easily worth
500 cash, and Tingman told him so. adj
vising him to go further and see what
he could do, but the old fellow was per-
| sistent, and finally the trade was made.
Then the old man ordered something 10
eat, the best in the store. Now, as 70
happened, at thai time the only prepared
edibles on hand were cove oysters,
canned corn beef and soda crackers.
"Well,'' he said, give me plenty OF them;
a man that's ben a livin' onswhang leath-
err and alkali water fer the last six
months amt likely to be p~ertickler."
While he was eating Tingman engaged
him in conversation with a view to find
ing out what a Disguised him with
prospecting. Finally, just before the
train, bound for Arizona, arrived the ola
man said:
II told you 1 had quit prospectin' an
mimi, an l have. I'll show you why,
an then I'll tell you about it, Then
the old fellow dumped on Tingman's
counter from each of his haversacks
twenty bars of pure gold, evidently.
from their shape and appearance, mined
and a-malgamated many, many years ago..
They were worth probably $1,000 a bar,
and Tingman's eyes fairly bulged out or
his head as he looked at them. They
were marked with strange hieroglyphfcs,
evidently indicating their fineness and
weight, but Tingman, who is a Spanish
scholar and talks most of the dialects
of the southern California Indians, could
make nothing of them.
THE DISCOVERY.
st got these bars" said the old prosz
pector, LESS than sixty miles from where
we stand, in a canyon where there is
lodges of millions of dollars worth OF
gold, millions of dollars worth, / tell
you, an it's a stickin' III out OF the
ground. My burros found it. You see,
1 was headin' this way from a trip over
to OF Woman's mountain an the Palm
range. j was out of water an pushed
on a day an night, hopin' TO strike water
at Granite Tanks, but, God Almighty,
when l got there they was as dry as a
bone, an / couldn't strike even moist
sand by diggin'. 1 tell you, it looked
mighty scaly for the old man. i knowed
me an the burros 'ud' never hev the
strength to go on to cottonwood Springs.
an knowed we wouldn't live ter git half
way back ter where we last got water.
Mind you. l hadn't had any water fer
over ~twenty-four hours, an you know
what that means on the desert, an the
burros hadn't had any fer two lays an
nights, so you see it was a gittin' scaly.
Well, sir, me an the burros held a coun-
ell o. war. as they say. 1t was a new
part of the country to me. an 1 didn't
know which way ter turn fer water after
fndin' none in the tanks. / set down ON
a rock an tried ter think what I'd bet
ter do, an the burros come UP clost to
me, an 1 saw by their big bloodshot
eyes that they wasn't good fer moro
thar eight or ten hours longer without
water, if they was that. They looked
at me so pitiful, an begin moanin' in
that turrible half human way they hav'
that l just couldn't stand it. i got up
an seq to 'em. Well, boys, we won't
din n-Gnffin,M hora. yHa11 loon a-tFXinff
an 1 waved my arms an yelled at 'em,
lettin' 'em hav' the choice of ways fer
/ still had sense enough to know that
that was the only thing to do. Well.
sir, they kept in the lead, an it seemed
to me that they didn't do nothinf but
jest wander around from one little dry
canyon to another, an up an down over
ridges. Finally l thought that 'ud never
do; that mebbe they had gone locoed fer
water, an was about ter head 'em in
the direction of Cottonwood Springs.
though God Almighty knows 1 never ex-
pected to reach it, when all t'wonst IL
struck me that they was a gfttin' along
mighty easy fer SIGH rough an broken
country, an i got to lookin' at the
ground mighty close, an. dern me, If
we wasn't a-slippin' along over a old
trail. Twas mighty faint, but twas a
trail, sure enough, an 1 could tell the
way it wound around that twas a old
Injun trail, but admit ben travelled
fer ages, l reckon. l lowed right
away ludL IL leu " MdltIs Jul
whar? / watched the hurros mighty
close, fer / knowed they'd make
signs as soon as they sensed water,
an, sure enough. 'twasn't more than hall
an hour fore that old bell burro there
throwed his head UP an his ears ford,
an stepped along right peart. Then
knOwed they was water ahead Well
sir. they took me up an down two OF
three more hogbacks, still a-stickin' to
the trail, an they led me way down into
! a shut-in canyon, an there, at the bot
!. tom, was a great big spring, right in thu
l rocks. of the best kind of water. Well.
7 sir. / Rugged them burros an fairly
: cried, an they acted like they APP
, preciated ii. We laid around the spring
5 an drunk a little at a time until we got
! enough: then I grubbed, made camp. an
then started out to see where we was.
: As / said. it is a shut-in canyon, an !
/ reckon that / am the first white man
. that has set foot in the place for years
7 God knows how many. I've found out
> since shat Indians are afraid OF the