The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1898-03-05

4
elsewhere are not whit behind the
fairskins on pure, unadulterated
Lying. I am learning more and
more every day, although thought
knew it oil before I took this trip
out into the woolly wild world to
see how people were getting along
in the great battle of life. Gold
buys everything that ia for sale, and
more too, and that is why it is be.
come fashionable to lie to get it.
am getting so that believe nothing
that / hear, little that | read and
less that | see.
/ don't believe now that Columbus
was the first TO discover America or
any part OF it. / don't believe that
the Spaniards ever conquered Mex
leo; the natives let them stop with
them and that was the end of it.
don't believe old Montezuma had y
dollar to his name or knew gold
dust from black sand. He lived in
. dugout and never saw q palace,
and | have it on authority Of a man
who said his father knew MIN we'll.
l don't believe that Spaniard or a
Mexican ever died a natural death.
| can't begin to believe that Romu-
lus, the founder of Rome, was
sucked by q wolf; / am 10th to be-
lieve that Pharaoh was drowned in
the Red Sea. / don't believe that
Adam and Eve ever owned garden
or raised anything but fig leaves. l
don't believe that Moses was born
and reared in the bullrushes. l
don't believe that Washington ever
crossed the Delaware on the ice, and
I'm id sure l don't believe McKin-
ley was elected President on fair
ballot. There is nothing above
doubt or suspicion any more in this
golden age. cannot, as q learned
Professor of our Observatory, tell
lie, but l am almost ready to doubt
myself so far as truth and veracity
is concerned. When the census re-
ports of 1900 are all in, l expect to
see this condensation: Population
Of the United States, sevsnty-fve
million-many d'n fools and all d'n
liars"
But have overlooked the pictur-
esque and sublime to be found in
Nature in these ATTITUDES. In both
Old and New Mexico there is much
very grand scenery. Some of it you
may have seen pictured in the rail.
road guides and immigration pam
phlets. But the most marvellous
and awe-inspiring and strangest bit
of scenery in this world, or perhaps
any other, is to be found in the main
chain Of mountains lying between
chihuahua and the Pacific coast,
in the Mexico state of Sinaloa.
NOTE. The written Spanish language
is mighty deceiving. Every thing is pro-
nounced altogether different from the way
it is spelled. As for instance, "Chihua-
hua" is She waw waw; "Juarez" is only
War-ez, aud everything else Spanish is
just the opposite of what it looks and
seems to be. Even the sweet faced, high
ly- perfumed, dreamy eyed, love inspiring
senorita, with all her graces and smiles, |
carries rosette Of cigarettes in her b0.l.
som, a stiietto up her sleeve, and the Lord
only knows what manner of Internal ma.
chine is lurking in the vicinity of her
hip pocket
But this particular strip of scenery
has never been sketched, painted
nor kodacked. On the Pacific side
Of the mountains are some very fair
mines. both quartz and placer, that
have been worked 1T different times
for hundreds of years. Some claim
that these mines are the mines from
which King Solomon obtained his
vast treasures of gold required in
he building of his great Mosaic
Temple. AS all we know of King
oolomon's mines is that it took him
three years to get shipload of gold,
We are all left to guess where he
got it. The Californians think he
got it there. The Idahoans think
be got it in Boise Basin; the Mon.
'anians think he got in Alder Gulch
he Dakotans think be got in the
Black Hills, and the kIondikers, OF
course, believe he got it there, while
have good reasons for believing
hat be didn't get it at all. l an,
very sure that it would take over
;hree years to get a shipload of gold
rom any mines l have seen since |
eft Wood River. But many people
believe that the ancients had rich
mines in that portion of Mexico,
10 they keep on going in there to
lee for themselves or for others who
believe.
But in order to get there from the
'ast side you must cross over the
op of q range of mountains, COM
pared to which the Sawtooths are
. but foothills. The trail over this
portion of the mountains
8 seven miles in length, and it re.
luires about as many hours travel
o make it over. But you are not
Flowed to look upon it. The mar
ow footway is cut along the sides
+ the peaks $4,000 To- $4,000 feet
Ugh, and is just wide enough for
ms III mi,1o nr a hnrrn m no oeaurod j