Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1896-08-24
GOLD IN MOJAVE SANDS.
A Prospector Seeking Water Dis
covers a Large Vein of
GIittering Ore.

field, Cal. to the San Francisco Call,
gives details of the discovery of gold on
the Mojave desert, which has already
been briefly reported by telegraph. The
story is q veritable romance. Two men,
DrouilIard and Pyle by name, and ut
terly without means, determined to seek
their fortunes in the Mojave desert A
! brother of one Of the men furnished the
/ ''grubstake'' The partners started for
| the desert at the commencement of a hot
wave which for three weeks held the in
terror valleys in it's fiery grasp and sent
to death more human beings and animals
than the newspapers have cared to pub
lish
But such a drawback as 125 degrees,
more or less, in the shade and up to $50
in the sun, could not daunt these two
| prCspectors.
On the first day Of the third week
| Droullard started out alone and i'll diff
ferent direction from any. IN which he
| had previously gone. Someone who
claimed to be acquainted with the coun-
| try told him where there was a spring
in the direction in which he proposed 60
| ing where he could find abundance of
water Very carelessly, but quite nat
urally, he put faith in these instructions,
took the bearings of the presumed spring
/ W
| supposed was water enough IN his can
/ teen to suffice until the spring could be
reached Having full faith in the direc
! tons given, he did not husband his sup
ply Of water as he might otherwise have
| done, but drank freely whenever thirsty.
! The result was that his canteen was
empty long before he reached the spot
where he expected to obtain a fresh sup
ply of water. Some time passed after the
, last drink had been taken before he
reached the spot where the spring was
supposed to be- When Drouillard arrived
at the hoped-for locality at last he found
where the spring had been, but not
drop Of water was there. 1t had van
| ished, evaporated completely, and not so
much as sign of moisture remained.
| The unusually hot weather had dried up
every drop of what had been a fairly
abundant supply.
Not sign of water could be found
anywhere. While looking for the pre-
cious fluid half blinded with the heat
and glare and half mad with the tor
ments of thirst. he stumbled over some
/ ''f1oat,'' which his experienced eye told
| him at glance was a good indication
Of the proximity of ledge of quartz.
Even his thirst did not deprive him of
/ the desire which had prompted the trip,
and, half unconsciously almost, he aban-
doned the search for water and followed
| uD the float, determined to find its source,
| even if it were the last thing he did,
/ He had not far to go. Perhaps oOO
| yards he travelled, led on all the while
! by the increasing quantities of float, and
| then suddenly he came to the ledge
which was it's origin. At the point
| where he struck it the soil was nearly
level and the quartz projected perhaps
couple of feet above the surface, A
glance showed him that it was beau
! tiful Give rock Then blow with his
pick and a piece was broken off and
! picked up for examination. That was
enough: he had found what he sought.
All across the fracture the bright vel
low metal glittered in the sun. mass
of wirework held together by a spongy
formation of half-decomposed quartz,
dark red in hue and contrasting hand
somely with the treasure in it's grasp.
! Almost half gold was the fragment Of
rock. Another and yet another piece
were broken off, and all with the same
result. The ledge was followed some
distance, and still the rock, wherever
| broken off, showed up rich with gold.
! It was a bonanza!
| AS soon as he realized what he had
discovered Drouillard put up monument
and notice of claim, and then started for
camp, and for five long hours Travelled
| with an empty canteen at his side. The
| latter portion of the period he was
! buoyed up by the glorious news Which
he was Fastening to impart to his COM
panion. Had it not been for that it is
! doubtful whether he would ever have
reached camp alive. When he did arrive
| he was as near death as one can be and
! recover.
The rest of the story is easily told, in
! asmuch as it is but a repetition of what
! has occurred hundreds of times. The
| partners went back to the scene of the
| discovery, staked out claims for them
selves and their hackers, and then gave
! the news to the world -Four claims,
| ~ r. lOCrr flonJ1s
modest limit, and then the discovery was
free for anyone. AS soon as the news
| cot out miners from Red Rock and Mo
| Ave from GOler and RandSburg, from
/ Cow Wells and Coyote Hole, rushed III,
and in an incredibly short time had the
country staked out for miles The orig
inal discoveries traced the groupings of
similar character nine miles away and
| the intervening country has been pretty
nearly all taken up.
Ore taken from several points on the
! ledge shows assays anywhere from $3.50
to $4,000 ton, mostly in gold, but with
a fair amount of silver. All along the
! ledge, which is three feet in width on the
surface, samples taken at random show
/ the same wonderful layers and stringers
of pure gold running. through the quartz.
| A small shipment of 700 or 800 pounds
| of ore was taken from the Groupings and
sent to be worked, and from the assays
! is expected to return from 81 to Sl.00 per
pound in free gold.
Other locators on the ledge are finding
rich rock, while dry washers are already
at work in several localities along the
ledge and are making good wages.
The exact location of these newly dis
covered mines is at the southern base of
the range of mountains on the northern
slope of which Randsburg is situated.
They are about ten or twelve miles near
err Mojave than Randsburg- A dry lake
| known as Cuddeback lake is close by,
/ and at Cuddebacl Wells. four or five
miles distant, is an abundant supply of
| pure water.
The report has been circulated that
this is probably the lost Pegleg mine.
The proposition is absurd on it's face.
The Pegleg mine is on a direct line be-
| tween the Colorado river at about the
Needles and Warmers Pass. away to
the southeast from Los Angeles. 1t is
not more than three days horseback
ride from Warmers ranch, and is
couple of hundred miles or so from st.
IL