The weekly intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1891-1901, 1896-06-20
A Letter from Judge CatrOn.

Friend HY.: According to promise,
9 | send you a few notes OF our trip to
r Lower California. At $50 p. m, MAY
! Is. Frank Trigg, Harvey Plattenburg,
Chas. Ballew and myself, boarded Il
/ tourist sleeper at Kansas City on the
Santa Fe for Yuma, Arizona. In pass
ing up the Kaw valley we saw thOus-
ands OF acres OF Irish pOtatoeS-nOt
:, patches, u seemingly hole farms of
them. This is a fine farming valley.
, On awakening the following morning
and looking out of the car window. L
realized that the map of Kansas in my
school days was correct; that is, hat the
Great American Desert was d reality,
and that l was then crossing the same.
Everything looked dried up, except
patches of alfalfa. which were a beautiful
green. In this land of dryness, in east
ern Colorado, on the Arkansas river, we
saw some n farms of alfalfa, which
looked like an oasis in a desert. At La
Junta our train divided, one part turn
ing oil for Denver and the part we were
On going southwest by way of Trinidad.
On approaching Trinidad we could see
far away in b distance the two snow
capped Spanish peaks towering toward
the sky. About ii o'clock we arrived
at Trinidad. There are said to be ex-
tensive coal fields near this place. From |
Trinidad we passed up a steep grade
6OlBCo W ILC ouLlullL
OF the Rocky Mountains. At one point
up this grade the conductor called my
attention to the beautiful view looking
down ana back over the road which we
had just travelled. l could see small
mountains on either side and i'll the far
distance the beautiful Spanish Peaks
looming up all covered with snow. AT
the summit we passed through a two
thousand o o tunnel.
In passing through Colorado and New
Mexico we saw h carcases of hundreds
of cattle that had persisted from cold or
want of food. New Mexico is a dry,
desolate country. l saw no point on the
railroad where L would be willing to
locate. We changed cars at Alberquer-
que; stopped for breakfast at COcOra;
again changed cars to the Southern Pa
cltc at Demlng, which is situated i'll a
sandy desert, but has plenty of good
water. They find an abundance of water
at a distance of 80 to 40 feet. Sand and
cactus meet the eye Oh each side with
Il background of mountain ranges on
each side, and in fact this is a God-for-
country to a Lafayette county
man. we arrived at Yuma Monday
morning. 1t is situated OH the banks of
the Colorado River, where the ella
unltes with 1t. 1t IS a very hot place,
has waterworks n electric light.
Everything is sand about it. We lay
here three days, camping on the river,
waiting for Prof. Winslow and COM
pleting our arrangements to go the gold I
fields of lower California. We embarked 4
Thursday morning on u fiatboat SX20
feet. There were on board six white !
men, an Indian pilot and a Mexican in :
terpreter. The Colorado is very swift in 3
places n we travelled at a good rate .
most of the time, We fioated until IL
at night and stopped among the mosqui-
tos until daylight when We tiOated down :
~ fl,n month 80 khn IT.-Ia Die. .l@- y
we boarded a little sloop "a feet long by 4
s feet wide with no railing around it. 4
1t looked like a very frail craft for a 4
landSnan 10 go To Open sea i'll, but there
was no other recourse, so We boarded
her aud pulled out. | never saw the
mosquitoes as bad i'll the Missouri river
bottoms in her palmiest days; they
would swarm Oh you in the middle of .
day, and Il man did not ave enough
hands to protect himself. At our first
camp we stopped where a party of
Locopa Indians were camped. They @
were gathering wild rice and rubbing it
between two stones. after roasting it. h
were half dressed, the bodies of most of I
them being naked. Mosquitoes did not 4
seem to relish their thick hides. :
OuI travel on this river Is governed by s.
what they call bura. 1t is caused hy the o
gulf tide coming III and hacking up the s.
the waters of tue river. 1t comes in at 5
times from four to six feet high aud all 81
small craft seek u sheltered point near Z
shore. After avoiding the bura we ran 3,
aground on a sandDar, and had To wait e
for the morning tide to float us out. In n
the morning quite q number of fish was -
as they crossed the slIoal water, Il
Some of them would weigh over 100 81
and | believe felt like he would like to e.
here for life. We sailed ont in v
IN the gulf Sunday morning, arriving at h
point where we got off at II O'Clock ~
Monday night. Saw q number of whales e,
and turtles or the trip and shot at some
of them; Plattenburg sea sick all the -
way: Irigg all right, and self a little
'aint, but not sick. \ sailing vessel is
90 SLOW, unless you have 4 fine breeze. OF
and with four Others
eft the ship at q O'Clock in the morning fc
o walk to Gold Camp, twelve miles dis e.
ant. and up an altitude of 200 feet. W
Crigg was to come on a burrO with the b!
baggage. We had two canteens of water al
or the six. The trail wound around a. ~
md up mountain gorge no wind; Their by
nOmeter lI5' in the shade. Water al
gave out when we were half way. We III
we're in no condition for walking and n
thoroughly exhausted. a Mex til
can pushed ahead and promised to send nj
laok a man with water. Prof. WinslOw, GO GO
'~lattenburg and self just crawled under e.
of the rocks and lay there en-
linking of the cool springs and c~isterns BIT
hat we had drank at in the past. About re-
hree O'Clock a Mexican reached US with -
leather bottle of water, which We
drunk. lie told us more was g,
nming, n 500 another man came on
18th about a gallon of warm water,
we drank; it was good, though fol-
arm. Pack train caught up and UNI aOO
laded INT burrO. Plattenburg crawled $50
n aud off they went to camp. Trigg d ie
nd a sick man still back with one burr0. ma
man took little mule and left Trigg wit
! wait for relief. Prof. w. and 81,
carried along, and i'll just eleven hours 10,
tier starting arrived at camp played Ma
1T. A man brought Trigg in about an on
our later. 1t was the toughest day of n rs
II lives. The mines are situated in a
isin with mountains high all around.
e spent three days samplng Mt mipes -
I'd at Rastra, twelve miles away. to
hlch we were conveyed ON mule wagon. l
md aud rock all the way. Saw plenty T 10
cactus twenty-five feet high. 4 "Je
Is the primitive way of grinding abo
milling ore. A IN track is made ON
It of rock in which the ore is placed
id fiat rock are dragged around nv AZ !
with two mules attached to end hIntt
lever. Cross pieces are fastened to [,
oh lever to which rocks are also fast per
BY this means they grind the OrisS
Iarts to fine powder. They keep plenty ser,
IN nOfT tIRAH NA UHnH not =.