The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1900-02-18
INDIANS KEEP WATCH
Over Fabulous Wealth in the
Wichita Mountains
WILLIAM COOLEY BELIEVES
And That 1t Is Death to Ap-
preach the Treasure.

FL Reno, o. T., Feb. Ito the Editor
lowing article from my journal, under
date January 49, 1897 L am very busy
writing up my new discoveries in the
Wichita Mountains and placing them on
a map, so that l can find them again at
some future time. When one finds vein
the law requires him to build a monu-
ment of rocks and to place stakes there
on, describing the length and breadth of
said claim and the directions or course, it
pursues, including ap dips, spurs and
angles, and all veins inside of said lines;
also a hole, or shaft, must be dug, from
one to ten feet deep, so that any person
can see il is live claim. When the law
is in force it requires you to do 800 worth
of labor each year, for five years. Then
you will get patent for the claim. But
a man may do all his assessments in one
year, by making other improvements on
his claim, though if he fails to do such
work in each and every year, according
to law, the claim becomes vacant and is
''jumpable" by any other person. But
since the government has made such a
bungled-up mess with the mines AMI
lands in the Wichita Mountains, we cd
miners are not compelled to do the legal
assessments; consequently we are sink
ing down on our own claims as deep as
we have a mind to and relocating them,
every now and then, by putting up out
monuments of rocks, writing a fresh no
tice, and digging down some leeper.
People will then respect our rights.
have never been able to go and pros
Pect in what L consider the best part
of the mountains, where 1 know the
placer" diggings are. The Indians are
watching those places so close that it is
dangerous business for a man to go there
alone. / have been very close to some
of their watching places and am told by
parties that there was a bead" drawn
on me and Bill Kinman, but l am in
clined to disbelieve the report. l depend
very little on what l hear, unless it
comes from the lips o fthose on whom 1
can depend. But since the above lines
were written Judge John, Fox informs me
that an educated Indian informed him
near the spot where the hidden tunnel is
located, and that the Indians were watch
ing US, and if We had discovered it they
had concluded to kill US. We saw no one
around. We stole in there one day when
all the Indians had apparently gone away
to Raine yMountain school to draw their
chuckaway (rations.) Theol d blind In
dian notified US not to go there. He eau
toned US, but we needed him hot, and
when he went away We stole in anyhow
1t was Cutthroat Gap, on Sugar Creek,
so-called on account of another tribe Of
Indians, with whom they were at war,
having stolen into their camp where they
had their old men, women and children,
and cut their throats 1t is the most
dangerous point to prospect in the whole
mountains.
The above information is a guide for me
to discover that hidden tunnel which the
old Mexicans used to work. know about
the spot, but the noble red man is watch
ing those rich places. One of our men
went into that vicinity last summer and
was panning out some dirt in the creek,
when all of a sudden he jumped up and
sang out to his partner, Il have struck
it. At that moment a rifle ball struck
his pan and knocked it out of his hand.
He then ran and jumped on to his horse,
when another bullet came whizzing along
and shot his horse down, which fell on
his foot and famed him, and he has not
fully recovered yet. His partner, how
ever, who was looking out for the In
dams whilst he panned out the gold, fired
two or three shots at the two Indians,
and he thought he wounded one of them.
Il will say that know there are placer
diggings there The free milling ore is
there; also refractory. 1 have seen shot
gold, which was sluiced out in a certain
creek some years ago. have seen coarse
iron rock with pieces Of gold sticking to
1t, but it is kept secret by certain parties
who refuse to tell whence it came. There
are men who have discovered placers and
have buried the rocks, and marked the
spot and kept things dark, and viii by
and by bring them TO light l have seen
men who have sIuiced out the coarse gold,
by night. But they commenced to sluice
it out by day, and an Indian coming along
the creek, seeing the muddy water. traced
it up to where the men were washing out
the gold, and captured them. There were
four men. They were taken to Fort Sill
and kept there a short time and let loose,
just the same old trick today. by tyran-
meal military power
l wish TO say that when the govern
ment gives Us permission 10 90 there in
peace, l promise you I viii find those
placer diggings. The quartz that pro-
dUces them are there. The FIRE in the
bowels OF the earth is there, and the
great mother lode. or vein. is there. b<InC
red with the fire that underlies its ore
body. II the mineral has been burnt out
OF the rock whichS. which crop out On
the surface. reason and common sense,
combined with experience, teaches US that
the mineral is below. II the gold has
been melted out o. the action Of fire, and
blown out by the natural forces below.
such as a crater or vein. the god would
be cast on the surface. and coarse gold
placer diggings would be found: Just the
same as my dry gulch in Montana Red
Mountain City. At the top OF the noun
tain. there was an old extinct crater.
which no dotfo5 elected. IN a melted state.
those large nuggets Of gold which / used
TO pick Up and sluice out. in 81 and :,
nuggets OF gold weighing very near $500.
Viz. a fat usece worth 90 < a1zo .uo