Akron daily Democrat. [volume] (Akron, Ohio) 1892-1902, 1899-08-18

LANDING MULES ON THE MEXICAN COAST.
back Having recovered, he sailed from
San Diego ON the 18th of April ON tn,
schooner Hong Kong. bound for tn,
goldfields. He returned on May %, anG
was seen by reporter of the San Diego
Tribune To him Mr. Fraser described
the new goldfelds in glowing colors
He declared the San Rogue placers tc
be. in his Judgment. among the richest
in the world. At that time there were
over 800 miners on the ground, and al
were making from $15 to $50 day.
Then Mr.. Fraser exhibited few mug
gets, weighing about 21s ounces.
This was sufficient Everybody in
this city read the interview Parties
were at once organized TO start for the
goldfelds. and many persons. contrib
uted to form syndicates The next
steamer which sailed down the coast was
the st. Denis. and she left two days
after the interview with Mr. Fraser
appeared. The ship was crowded with
hopeful gold seekers Every berth was
taken, and many were content with q
place on the floor for d bed
The fever spread still wider Every
available vessel i'll San Diego harbor
was chartered Old Klondike boats were
called into service When ship head
ed for San Diego was reported along the
coast. an attempt was made to secure
it by telegraph. One boat, just in from
Honolulu, was hired as soon as it
touched anchor in the bay The charge
for passage was $50. The merchants of
the city tried to increase their business
by attracting the miners. The -four
merchant would advertise some self
raising brand as being ''just the thing
for the miners. The shoe dealer would
get out line of strong shoes calculated
to stand the heaviest of wear.
One of the first trials of the miners
was seasickness. The ocean would some
times get angry and toss the ships
about The nearest point of embarka-
ton was Asunsion bay. and here the
man found no docks. The ships could
but stand off from the shore and anchor
and then land the prospective miners
and their supplies in small boats The
water was cold. and baths were quite
frequent
Soon after landing the start was
made for the gold workings Then be-
gan wearisome march across the burn
ing sands The trail is narrow, and
burros must be employed to carry lug
gage AS soon as the workings are
reached claim must be staked out,
and this covers about three acres There
is land enough for about 5000 claims,
and as each claim is generally worked
by four men there is room enough for
about 1000 men There have never
been, however, more than 2, 900 miners
at work.
In month or six weeks it appeared
that the workings were a failure. and
the men commenced to return home
One of them, most intelligent and re-
liable man, thus related his mining ex-
perience to the writer: I'VE reached
the gold diggings after a very hard
journey and at once staked out claim
We had taken down what we supposed
was rolled oats. but when the packages
were opened we found quantity of
jerked beef We spent half day trying
to exchange our beef for other food. but
with little success. We soon discovered
we could get very little of the precious
metal and made preparations for re-
turning TO Our native land. None of the !
men Were making over So a day, and |
the average received 81 Supplies were
high. We paid 75 cents for breakfast |
Of one egg and a cVpof coffee. We lived |
Dn cakes made of -four and water. One |
lucky man came down with three bot
ties of whisky, and as that fluid was
scarce he could dispose of little when
ever he wished anything, and he lived
IN The fat, or rather the leanness, of
he land We had a good time, and
I'm glad made the trip. have sus-
,icion that one of the transportation
engineered the whole bust
less
The story of the boom could not be
written without mention of the deeds
# two individuals. The first is Kirby,
Who in the space of few days won the
itle king of the Burros He is ris-
ng young lawyer, and he lives over on
,orouado beach. He is an ex-deputy
ssistant district attorney of San Diego.
lewis R. Kirby is more than a lawyer.
Te is great and original speculator.
My, of course, ON Il small scale, The
nique idea occurred to him that in the
normous mining operations which
'sre about to take place large num-
er of mules, or burros, as they call
nem down here, would be needed He
nought the matter over and then made
purchase.
But Lew was not satisfied He bought
lore. The news of the corner spread,
nd the birth of a new liking" was
allied with delight. He strutted about
ne town gleefully, and when he sailed
18th his precious burden of animal