Mexico weekly ledger., 1898-05-12

nile and q half away. I had noticed
,efore dark that a high bluff lay along
he river on the side We were on and
when I got to it the darkness was 80
intense that I could not see my hand
me. I was very careful when
I started down the bluff, but 1t seemed
70 slope so gradually that / thought
there was no danger and the first thing
knew I stepped on nothing but the
air. Shooting downward about ten
feet I landed squarely on my feet on
q sold rock, and 80 sudden was the
contact that 1t almost jerked my head
off. After that l was very careful to
feel my way to the bottom and when
I got to the river / had to feel for the
water with my hand for it was so dark
that I could not see it. When / re-
to camp with that small can
teen of water Benson and Alex were
In a bad fix, and they said that they
believed that / had saved their lives.
One night we camped near the road
in a big bottom that lies below where
the town of Winnemucca now 1s, and
a short time after we had laid down In
the thick sage brush a pack of wolves
began to howl neal the foot hills south
of us and they were quickly answered
by a pack of cayotes down towards
the river. 1t was not long before We
knew that the wolves were coming
straight to us aud Benson and Alex
were both badly scared. told them
that there was nc danger, but when
a wolf gave a loud howl within so yards
of our camp Benson sprang to his feet
and just as he did SO a big shaggy wolf
jumped into the road not 20 steps from
him. The moon was shining brightly
and when that big wolf opened his
mouth and snarled at Benson, show
ing his long gIittering fangs, it fright
ened him SO badly that l thought he
would have a eonniption fit. I jumped
up quickly then and gathered some
dry sage brush and started a fire and
when the wolves saw it they turned
tail and fed back to the hills. When
we reached the head of the lakes,
where the water of the river sinks in
the sand and the desert begins, it was
80 hot that we had to lay by all day.
Benson had half a blanket and we
stuck four dry willow sticks into the
sand and tied the corners of the blank
ct to the top of them and this made a
poor excuse for a shade, but 1t was the
best that we could do. In the after
noon I waded out several hundred
yards into the shallow lake to try to
get some water that we could drink,
but found it all alike, about the color
of concentrated lye and as warm as
dishwater. Here / saw for the first
time the wonderful mirage (me'razh)
that I often read about, but had never
seen before. 1t is frequently seen on
the hot desert west of the Rocky
Mountains and has lured many a man
to death who was In search of water.
Several miles away you will see what
appears to be a vast lake of water and
when you reach the place where you
saw it you will find nothing but the
hot sand of the desert. At the sink of
the Humboldt a man walking a mile
ahead of you would look as though he
was 60 feet high and all legs with his
head stuck on the top of them. just
before reaching the sink of the Hum
boldt 1 went dead broke by paying an
old German emigrant the last cent 1
had, $3.50 in gold, for a piece of dried
beef half the size of my hand. At the
foot of the lake we found a small
trading post, where there was some
grub for sale, but, as we were out of
money, we would cast a wistful glance
at it and pass it by. Flour was 30 cents
a pound, a small box of sardines 90. so,
straight dried apple pies, no sugar in
them and a rawhide crust, 81 a piece,
and bacon so cents pound. Nothing
on earth but an ostrich could have
digested one of those pies, but I would
have been very willing to have taken
the chances on 1t at that time. We
waited there until dark and when we
started on the Truckee desert there
was a 16 year old boy with us who had
tramped alone all the way from Salt
Lake City. He picked up an old boot
at the sink that an emigrant had
thrown away, filed it with water and
that was all that he had to drink
until he reached the Truckee river the
next day. Midway the Truckee desert
there is a hot sulphur spring and when
we reached it we concluded to rest
until daylight. I laid down on a big
rock and slept soundly until morning.
About 25 years ago some prospectors
camped at that spring one night and
some time in the night they were
by a frightful noise and
jumping from their blankets they saw a
solid sheet of flame coming out of the
that shot up sixty feet high.
Hastily gathering up their outfits they
made tracks away from there as fast
their legs could carry them. They
said that they thought
that hell had broken loose and they
had better skedaddIe before Old Nick
put in In appearance. Northeast of
the hot spring for several miles the
ground was white with salt.
It Is 20 miles across the Truckee
desert and the last eight miles before
reaching the river was the hardest
I ever did, being deep loose
sand all the way and worse than deep
snow to walk through. 1t vas very
hot when I reached the river and
about ten O'Clock In the morning and /
felt 80 dry and thirsty that ] Thought
I could easily drink half q gallon of
water, but the water was SO cold and
hard that half q pint was all that /
could swallow. When I waded the
river at that crossing a couple of big
Pinte bucks led the way, the water
being about three feet deep and very
swift and cold. The large and -four