The Press., 1898-06-30
A TON OF GOLD.
BY CHARLES B. LEWIS.


 ico, rises to the west of the Sierra Madre mountains and cuts through the rugged range to join the Rio Grande 100 miles away. The San Jose valley lies on eli ther side of the stream for 6 distance of 30 miles, and Is from one to 20 miles wide. To the north of the valley lie the San Juan mountains, which are part and portion of the Sierra Madre. At Jemez, which is the only settlement for 50 miles in any direction, and which of itself is only hamlet, you will find a dozen people who can relate the story of "The Ton of Gold"
 Away back in the fifties three Mexi- can prospectors and miners left Santa Fe, which was then little more than a trading post. and penetrated into the San Juan mountains. The Indians were hos tile and watchful, bears and mountain lions ready to attack them at every turn, and for several months the men were in hourly peril of their lives. In the tast- nesses of the mountains they discovered a cave, and the stories told about this cave have sent at least 8 score of Ameri- cans to their death. Only one of the three miners returned to Santa Fe. In the year 1869 an American named Cush- man, who had been stopping at Jemez for some time and who heard the stories and sifted them, entered the mountains in company with two other Americans whose names do not recall. They were we'll armed and equipped and had plan ned for 8 thorough search. A hundred different people knew of their setting out, for they made no secret of the ex- petition. A month after they entered the mountains they were seen at dis tance by some hunters, but they never returned. When a year had passed away, it came to be believed that they had fallen victims to the Indians, and as far as I know no search was made for them. From 1869 to 1875 no expedition started out. The story of "The Ton of Gold'' has become legendary and was told with so many variations that one found 1t hard to arrive at the truth.
 It was in June. 1875, that Major Jack Williams, who had been serving paigns for years, resigned his commits sion and organized what was known as 'the Williams expedition, with head quarters at Jemez. There were ten men in the expedition, and each furnished his own outfit and contributed $50 to the general purse. We were to share alike in whatever was found. Each man provided himself with winchester rife and 200 pounds of cartridges, blan- kets, etc. We took with us five mules, which were loaded with provisions. and it was agreed that the search should continue until six men out of the ten voted to abandon it. We were strong enough to take care of ourselves against the Indians, and at least half of the party were veteran prospectors and miners. Every one who had talked with the Mexican who came out with the gold had been questioned over and over again, and with us was the man who had accompanied the Payne expedition and returned with his chief. If we failed to find the stream and the cave and bring out the gold, then no other band of men need try.
 Had the Indians who made their home in the foothills and the fastnesses of the mountains been at peace with mankind the natural difficulties which l beset us would have been hard enough to overcome, but we were beset by the hostiles almost from the outset. They were the remnant of band of renegade Apaches who had never made peace and could never be induced to. and they were firm in their determine. tion to keep both Americans and Mexi- cans out of the San Juan mountains. The range was their home and their stronghold and they also knew of the gold and gathered more or less of it. On the second day out of Jemez, before we were fairly in the mountains, we were suddenly attacked by about 50 Indians, armed with bows and arrows.
 | Fortunately we were not taken entire ly by surprise and had a strong position, and after a fight of two hours, during which we killed and wounded nine O, ten of them, they drew off and let us pass on. From all accounts the expedi. tion which had preceded us had entered the range of mountains from the south, travelled 8 distance of 50 or 60 miles right into the heart of the great hills and had found the creek in 8 particu- larly wild and rugged section. But for the pack animals we could of course have got along much faster, but it had been determined that they should ac. company us, and in aiding them along our progress sometimes did not exceed five miles per day. While the Indians did not attack in 8 body again small parties of two or three constantly har. assed us, and at the end of the fifth day we had two men wounded by their ar. rows and one of the mules killed out. right. In return we had killed ol wounded four or five more Indians.
 We were IS days penetrating to the spot which all agreed answered in s general way to tho descriptio of the To- cality where the gold had been found. It was sink, or basin, in the heart o1 the range, which might have been the crater of 8 volcano hundreds of years ago. It was spot cut up with deep dark canyons, with immense bowlderi strewn about. and through the center O, 1t, running east and west, was a small | S-LGh. he~e and InCre Une could easil, | get d.En to the water, but in othe places it flowed through rocky canyons
 with banks rising up like walls to
 height of 200 feet. The basin was abou
 half 8 mile square, and in the center O | AG was d 1oNoA spOt duuub hu bcI6 III eX tent, on which we made our camp. T. find the cave, if cave there was, we mus make a systematic search of the entir
 basin. As soon as camp had been mad
 our force was divided-a part to searcl for the cave of gold and part to pros pect the mountain stream for nuggets It was three days before find of an, importance was made. and then, in tn
 basin at the foot of waterfall abou
 ten feet high. the party working tn creek took out five pounds of nuggets il half day. At the bottom of this basin which was not over three feet deep, the, also found skeleton of mana vic tim of one of the previous expeditions Here and there a stray nugget was pick ed out of the stream as the searchers fol
 lowed it up and down, but no more ricl finds were made. In the four weeks W, | S. &k1 An~s- = -