Arizona weekly journal-miner., 1899-06-28
Some Bits of AriEona-An Arizon Girls Experiences Crossing
 the Desert.

. AtLAAhlIt tAtlAEuA 0A AAH party ao victims of mild insanity to say the least.
 Those bronzed old prospectus
 knew what we were going into and
 We did not; but l must declare that ! the water of Williams folk certainly
 finds its way from Hasssyampa creek. for if cur wOuld-be guides ex ! pect to reach heaven or the Colo
 rado river by following the maps and directions they gave us they will be surprised in their ultimate destlna- ton.
 ! h fact our effort to find the pest road resulted a good deal like the
 "embalmed beef controversy ID
 which volumes of evidence were sim mered down to the one fact that there was beef and It was bad. There
 were roads, and they were bad,
 where they came from or where they
 went to was matter of indifference to all but ourselves. However q
 well developed bump of direction
 saved us and we are prepared to fur
 nish guaranteed typographical maps to future explorers. In them we have carefully confined ourselves 10 United States miles, a measure Of ! distance hitherto unknown in the
 region, and a days drive means the
 road agood team can cover in twelve,
 not twenty-iour hours.
 "Whst is the country like,' has ] been the universal query since We came home. and equally universal
 the surprise when We answered: Mountains, all mountains; not enough level land beyond Williams
 fork 10 pitch a tent on and precious
 little this side.
 So general IS the impression that the country between Congress and the Colorado river IS comparatively
 level that may be pardOned fuller description of it. There are indeed some stretches of open plain between the Congress hills and Date creek,
 but they are bordered with rough granite hills and soon give way to
 mesas and rolling hills covered with grease wood, cactus and forests of date palms as gray aud time worn as beggars on the steps of a Mexican cathedral. And by the way l am wondering how the odd and dis tinctive Yucca arborescens came 10 be dubbed a palm at all and a date palm in particular for it does not in the least resemble the oriental pride of the desert, but IS more like an oYergrown specimen of its cousin, the Spanish bayonet.
 From Date creek the road tops a rolling mesa for twenty miles or more, with mountains on all sides and the majestic bulk of the Haqu- awas an unmistakable landmark In front. To the ieft of this great mountain in some lower hills is the famous Bullard mine for which, We are told, the owners ask half a mil lion dollars in gold. Curving up a long, shallow wash we skirt the foot of the Haquawa for miles to enter the mesa again with Date creek can yon trying to persuade us that the Grand Canyon of the Colorado IS just on our right. Beautiful, wild, grand. 1t Is; but as barren and deso- late as anything can bs imagined and as dry as country must be where raining IS a lost art and rivers are traditions written m sand and un-bleached powders.
 The whole country is sandy, a coarse de-compOsed granite that might with sufficient moisture pro- duce grass but under existing clr- cumstances only affords foothold for numberless cacti, carpets of grease wood, and struggling forests of palms.
 From all that we could see or learn there is no water between the sinks of Date creek and the Will liams fork. The Ballard, We are told, has a very scant water supply aud there are no springs in the Ha- quawa or adjoining mountains.
 As river Bill Williams fork is something of a disappointment, but as an annex 10 a glass factory, blast erars unlon, or any thing else calling for an unlimited supply of sand 1t would be a bowling success. A finer stream of decomposed granite never flowed between more iuacces- sable mountain walls, though in jus tice it must be said that the banks show traces of immense floods and the river is said to discharge a tre- mendous volume of water during rainy season. At present a mere thread of alkali moisture forces its way a short distance below the Tap pan place and sinks 10 the sand.
 We crossed the river at the ''old 'dobe shelter" one of the old land marks. a dismantled relic of early days when the miDes Of the section were booming. This shelter, one of the first ever brought to Arizona, was hauled on ox-teams from Cal ifornia, taken down the Colorado by boat to Aubrey, and again by teams l over the Centennial wash to Will 1 liams fork. After a brief trial 1t was again loaded up and freighted to the | head of Lynx creek not far from Prescott where IL had a checkered | career for years.
 About SIX miles up the wash we sighted another relic Of old times, the Rawhide mine which was once to have reYolutionized the silver market of the world bat is now a very deserted looking burrow under the horn of a great jagged peak. It ] iS still good but so far from railroads ! and m such au inaccessible country ! that if the metal came out coined 1t would scarcely pay to haul 1t away There are many copper ledges m the section and some Of them show up | good but the difficulties in the way of working or even of close prospect ing are very great and only an ex- rich lead would pay.
 The indications of placer gold are few, black sand showing in small and isolated traces, and we were told that the ledge matter usually shows copper and silver, but very little gold. .,
 The Tappan ranch is little oasis in a wilderness of peaks and can yons. Just beyond it Artillery Peak looms up blue against the sky, ana in front the Rawhide mountains shut out the very horizon, It IS sixty miles to town or post office yet here on the river bank Is a very pretty modern home with the com forts and refuemeuts of more pop ulous regions and offering a welcome haven to the traveller. Fields oi alfalfa and grain remind one ot and tha narIan and !