The Calhoun chronicle. [volume] (Grantsville, W. Va.) 1883-1984, 1896-08-04
INDIAN RUNNERS.
WONDERFUL FEATS OF LSED-
SKINNED MAIL CARRIETS.
They Possess Extraordinary Strength
and Endurance-FIoating Along
the River After the Mail
Running Long Distances.
. r. MARC LEGINGSTON. of


GUS experiences on the West
@ ern border. He has been
interested in mining both in tho north
ern and southern portions of the State,
He owns the old Campbell mine, now
better known as the San Felipe mine,
up the Colorado River some distance
from Yuma. He has been Interested
in the mine six or seven years, and
ut different periods has spent two or
three months there
81 think the most remarkable thing
in my experience down there" said
the Doctor yesterday, "was the extra
ordinary endurance which l witnessed
of those Indians along the river. /
refer to the Yumas. We used to en-
ploy them in the mine.
"Why, / have seen these great,
strapping barbarians take their shovels
and press them down into the rock
with Just their bare hands-never us
ing their feet at all-and they would
keep it up, going right along that way.
The strangest thing about it was the
rock was so hard, too. They might
have done it in tho sand easy enough.
Anybody could do that readily, but to
work that way right in the hard rock
was something to me entirely novel
and In the nature of n revelation.
"There is another thing that those
Indians used to do that | never saw
equalled. They used to, when we
wanted to send any of them down the
river for the mail to Yuma, go right
out to tho river and jump in; some.
times there would be twenty or thirty
of them, and they Just jumped in and
lioated down. Didn't seem to bother
them at all. They didn't swim-seemed
to stay right i'll the current and float,
while it bobbed them along.
They made the whole trip down, q
distance OF twenty miles, in three.
quarters of an hour. Then they'd
start with the letters and come back
up and make the round trip inside of
two hours, the whole forty miles.
"The Colorado River at the San
Felipe Mine is about rs wide rs the
Sacramento is at Sacramento. 1t is n
big sweeping stream with n swift-rush-
ing current. How tho Indians kept
themselves up don't know, but they
did it. That is their way of going
down to Yuma. OF Saturday when
they would quit work every Indian we
had would Jump into the river and
float to Yuma.
"Tho trip back is no easy trip,
either. They are not so high, though,
as they are difficult Of access. The
Indians are extremely useful in carry
ing ore. They thought nothing of
putting upon their shoulders, without
any help, 200-pound sack of ore.
They did the work of horses and mules
and could pack like mules.
"But those Cocopah Indians, down
on the south near the Gulf, so far as
speed is concerned, don't take a sec.
ond place with anything there is on
the Upper Colorado. In 1894 Senator
Fair was down there. He was inter
ested in n lot of land-about /, 900, 900
acres-and lie went down to see it and
get braced up, his health not being
good That is very hot, dry climate,
which makes it one of the best places
for the cure OF consumption that |
know f. Well, he used to utilize the
Indians to bring up our mail from
Yuma and such other things as he
stood in need of from time to time.
The Cocopahs are all giants. There
are none of them that are not six feet
high, and there are lots OF them that
are more than that-great big fellows.
The first time Senator Fair saw these
Indians running he was struck with
surprise. Why, look at them, he
said. Did you ever see anything like
them| They went with a swinging
run and kept it up all day in the
terribly dry heat.
''The distance down to Yuma from
our place was called hundred miles.
in round figures, but it was about
ninety-iive. The Indians would 90
down one day and como back the next,
and come back in good shape, too, and
running right along. Didn't seem n
bit tired. Why, you talk of men of
tho Stygian Alps and the runners in
other parts of the world. / never
saw mountainous or plainsmen that
could begin to approach these people.
"Iho Government sends these
Indians long distances over the desert
with the mails When running, the
Indians are entirely naked, with the
exception Of brcech cloth. They
carry only cauteen Of water and a
bit Of food. One of the famous run
ners Of tho desert Is Indian Jim. -
San Francisco Call