The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1898-03-01
A TON OF GOLD.
BY CHARLES B. LEWIS.

II you have an atlas handy, you will
see that the San Jose river, New Mex
leo, 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 Ell
ther side of the stream for distance of
90 miles, and is from one to 30 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
so 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 fast
nesses of the mountains they discovered
a cave, and the stories told about this
cave have sent at least 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 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 know no search was made for them.
From 1869 to 1876 no expedition started
out. The story of "The Ton of Gold"
has become legendary and was told with
SO many variations that one found it
hard to arrive at the truth.
It was in June, 1876, that Major
Jack Williams, who had been serving
with the cavalry in the Indian cam
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 Businesses
of the mountains been at peace with
mankind the natural difficulties which
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
Apaohes who had never made peace
and could never be induced to, aud |
they were firm in their determine
ton 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 80 Indians,
armed with bows and arrows.
Fortunately we were not taken entire
ly by surprise and had strong position,
and after a fight of two hours, during
which we killed and wounded nine or
ten of them, they drew off and let us
pass on. From all accounts the expedi-
ton which had preceded us had entered
the range of mountains from the south,
right into the heart of the great hills
and had found the creek in particu-
1arly wild and rugged section. But for
the pack animals we could Of course
have got along much faster, but 1t 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 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 or
wounded four or five more Indians.
We were Is days penetrating to the
spot which all agreed answered in
general way to the desert ption Of the To-
cality where the gold had been found.
1t was a sink, or basin, in the heart Of
the range, which might have been the
crater of volcano hundreds of years
ago. 1t was spot cut up with deep,
dark canyons, with immense powders
strewn about, and through the center of
creek. Here and there one could easily
get down to the water but in other
places it flowed through rocky canyons,
with banks rising up like walls to
height of 200 feet. The basin was about
half mile square, and in the center Of
it was level spot about an acre in ex-
tent, on which we made our camp. To
find the cave, if cave there was, we must
make systematic search of the entire
basin AS soon as camp had been made
our force was divided-a part to search
for the cave of gold and part to pros
pect the mountain stream for nuggets.
1t was three days before find Of any
was made. and then, in the
basin at the foot of a waterfall about
ten feet high, the party working the
creek took out five pounds of nuggets in
half day At the bottom of this basin,
which was not over three feet deep, they !
also found a skeleton of mana vic
tim of one of the previous expeditions.
Here and there stray nugget was pick
ed out Of the stream as the searchers fol-
lowed it up and down, but no more rich
finds were made In the four weeks we
were encamped in the basin we gather
ed eight pounds of nuggets and nothing
was left behind
There were three of us in the party
searching for the cave, and for the first
week we kept together on account of the
Indians. We divided the basin into dis
tricts and went carefully over each, but
met with no luck. After the first week
we separated, and each man searched as
his ndn,,nor,h dinfa tnd Rrr fha end of