The San Francisco call., 1897-08-14
LIVING STREAM
OF VIRGIN GOLD
Greatest Lost Mine in
the Worlds of Fact
and Fiction.
An Old Arizona ProSpeCtOr'S S
Remarkable Feat of
Imagination.
Unspeakab,e Wealth That Pours
Down the Sides of Crater In
the Cocapah Mountains.

PHCENlN, ARIZ., Aug. Io.-Leonaru j.
Court, one of the oldest and best-knoWn
prospectors and mining men on the from
tier, is in this city arranging for what he
declares will be the most stupendous gold
expedition ever known since the Spanish
concuestadors invaded the treasures o
the 1ncas.
Court is the owner of several promising
claims in this Territory and the discov-
erer and developer OF any numb OF prop
critics in Arizona and the Mexican State
of Sonora. H. has been somewhat
guarded in disclosing his present hopes
and plans and is man of retiring and
reticent disposition. He consented to be
interviewed by THE CALI. correspondent
to-day, however. and his most remarkable
story is given i'll his own words.
ut may seem a little boastful in me to
say it,' began Court, "but | have every
reason to believe that the expedition am
now arranging for will return to Phoenix
within six months laden with more
pounds of virgin gold than will ever be
taken out of the Klondike in the lifetime
of the youngest member of this genera
ton.
This is really lost mine story and l
must go back to the year 1874 to give you
a comprehensive history OF it. Those
were the days of silver, you know, and L
had outitted for prospecting trip in the
Cocopah range in Western Sonora. On
the old Eltar and Yuma trail, about
where the Mexican line crosses or perhaps
little south of it, l was set upon ana
robbed of my entire outfit by band OF
Sonora brigands-we call them 'rustlers
now. l was in great luck to escape alive,
for had been foolish enough to show
fight against about dozen M exicans. l
plunged head forward in to a cactus thicket
and was safe. [ knew something Of the
country and after hours spent ia extract
ing caclus spines | began 10 wander off to-
ward the foothills in search of water. l
found water but was for nearly four days
without a morseI to eat On the evening
of the fourth day reached an Indian set
tlement in a little green canyon half way
up The mountains and about one-third of
the distance between the Eltar and the
Colorado rivers. They proved to be peace
able, kindly disposed natives and | was
given the freedom of the rancherie with
regular me eals and nothing to do but roam
around among the hills as L pleased.
After a week or SO OF resting L began to
take my bearings and look about me tor
signs Of outcroppings
"One day [ wandered to the summit of
the range, where l obtained magnificent
view OF the Sonora desert on the east and
the Gulf OF California westward. l stood
there admiring the strange, beautiful
scene, made weird and awful by the
rough, barren nature of mountains and
the immeEslty of sea on one hand and
desert on the other. AS my eyes wan
dered to the different points of the ccm-
pass finally in southeasterly direction
they saw what appeared TO be an immense
crater on the side of distant peak. |
started along the summit, i'm PEELED merely
by curiosity, to visit the ueer-looking
hole. When / reac ed it found it had
depth of about 1000 feet, with almost
sheer walls of smooth lava and minerals
that had run molten at no very distant
date. The crater was oval in shape, per-
haps half mile in length and about half
that distance in width. The sun, glisten-
ing upon the many-colored minerals and
lava streaks, made wonderful chro.
matte effect.
But had seen other spots like this
they were common enough in the South
west-and | was retracing my steps, in
tending 10 return early to camp, when my
attention was attracted by a something
that seemed to be moving down the side
of the center in one OF the big assures or
cracks in tie otherwise smooth walls. 1t
was long and slender, and appeared to be
moving rapidly. | could not see it all, for
at places it fell bey ond nv range OF vision
in the fssure. The thing glowed. l
could have sworn that it moved. l could
see it in big spots from perhaps half way
up the wall clear to the bottom, and all
these spots corresponded in color and
Il / hnJ hay l.
all parts of one continuous object that
moved.
sit was getting late now, and / could
n 1T stop to investigate. | asked the In
dians about it, and they al once held up
their hands in terror and declared that l
had seen the great vevoia of the Coco
nah. They warned me never, never to
oct within sight Of it again, and declared
me to be the most fortunate of mortals,
having seen the vevoia and being yet
alive.
II said nothing further but the rattle
snake theory did not satisfy me, and Curl
osity drew me o the spot early again the
next day 1 got as close to it as could
from the rim of the crater. 1t did look a
great deal like big golden and black rat
tlesnake. | have seen them of exactly
that color-but the size of il, Can you
imagine a rattler 1000 feet long? could
HOI. L uGClueu ~ get Il uSET0T VIEW. anu
after some difficulty found a smaller fis-
sure that ran slantingly toward the fssure
in which the serpent, or whatever it was,
moved. Many times in the descent | lost
sight OF the object, but at | St, turning
abruptly, the thing was fairly upon me-
/ shuddered. but curiosity got the better
of fear. ] was bound to know what il was.
Besides, had noticed that it kept moving
always in the same direction and always
in the same spots in the same fssure. /
argued that it would not be likely for such
a large monster to change its steady course
of travel for such an insignificant thing as
a man not six feet long. l approached it
cautiously but could not have kept away
from it had / tried, for the thing had an
awful fascination for me.
"At last it was within foot of me. 1t
moved onward and downward as ever OBJ
livious totally, of my presence. [ stood
watching the strange, awesome thing. l
admired it. Ii was beautiful to look upon.
At last. marveling somewhat at my own
daring. but seemingly led on by power
stronger than my inclination, I stopped
and put my hand upon its pretty back
Being so enormously long it could not
suddenly entwine itself about me- l ar.
gued. Then my hand touched what?
II jun ned back in a hurry. 1t was cold
and ciammy, like the scales OF serpent,
but there was no hardness. no resistance.
The moving mass was soft. Ny hand
sunk into IL. 1t parted and poured over