Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1900-08-13
4 n INES have been discovered
N II in many strange ways, hut
" any one from Gila Bend to
RnDcap will foil ,-o, +bot

4 VI any oie from uila benu 10
Benson will tell you that
there Is nothing stranger in the min
ing history of Arizona than the way
in which Tom" Harper, then raw
Fastener. found the lost mine of the
Picacho Peak. Most people in that
country say it was "tenderfoot luck :"
but the Hon. James Penfield contends
that his partner worked it all out in
his mind beforehand.
Harper was then a young man from
the East, who had little money.
Pentield was young man from 'he
West, who had no money, but who
knew cattle. This was the basis of
their partnership. They leased the
Tortilla Ranch in Arizona for ten
years, with the privilege of purchase
at the end of the time.
Penfield one day bought a pair of
mules, led them home, and turned
them into the stockade corral; then he
went into the house to supper.
TOO dark to see them tonight he
said to Harper, as he tossed his SOM
brero in the corner and sat down Mt
the table, but we will have n look at
them in the morning. | know them
of old, and they are all right. Used
to belong to Barlow. But | was forget
ting, you never knew Barlow If you
like, I'll tell you his story after sup
per-"
well, it was this way" Penfleld
went on, later. Barlow kept the first
stage station this side of Picacho Peak
for twenty years. He was an eccen-
tric old fellow, with a taste for soil.
tude, and he kept no one about his
place except a Mexican half-brced
who acted as cook. In fact this MeXi-
can was the real manager of the es-
Enlistment, Barlow devoting most of
his attention to cattle-raising in
small way.
"One morning, about three years
ago, he found that his only pair of
mules had escaped from the corral and
taken to the brush, SO he started out
on their trail. In the evening he re-
turned with them, but stopped at the
station only long enough to eat sup
per, which he ordered the cook to get
in hurry. The Mexican was used to
Barlow's ways, and paid little or no
attention to his movements. When
questioned afterward he remembered
only that Barlow changed his clothes,
which were very wet, ate a hearty
meal, jammed some provisions into
his saddle-bags, saddled horse and
rode off in the darkness. The next
day, near sundown, he came back,
again ordered a hasty supper, and
took the west-bound stage, which
passed his place about s o'clock that
evening for Casa Grande.
"When Barlow had been at Casa
Grande tweve hours, and had made g,
mysterious visit to the assayer's Office
every man in the town knew that the
grumpy and drunken old fellow had
struck one of the richest gold mines
ever found in Southern Arizona. His
pockets We're crammed with speci-
mems which assayed $4,000 to the ton.
and this in a country where ore which
runs 500 to the ton is considered
rich.
Barlow told everybody that he had
come to Casa Grande to get men and
tools to work the claim. Ne blahhed
this in all the saloons, and that was
the beginning of the great spree that
killed him. Two days after he was
dead. The secret of the location of
his claim died with him. He had
been piled with questions, but had not
given the slightest clue which might
lead others to his new mine.
"When it was told in Casa Grande
that Barlow was dead, there was q
great hubbub 1 was there, and was
one of the first to leave for the Picacho
station. All the men of the town
We're racing at the heels of my horse.
1t was then that we put Barlow's
Mexican cook under cross-eXamina-
ton, but we soon saw that he knew
nothing.
1.-The one important piece of infor
nation he gave was as to the length
of time Barlow was absent from the
station when he went after the mules.
AS he had been gone only twelve
hours or so, we knew that his discov
cry must lie in the Picacho Peak yon-
der, for it is the only elevation within
thirty miles of Barlow's place, and so
the fact of his being absent only a
short time was positive evidence that
the rich ledge was somewhere in th4
Picacho Peak, so we went straight
to it.
Il think that in twenty-four hours
almost every stringer and outcrop or
quartz on the sides of that mountain
were located. From the very edge of
the desert on the east, up the long
slope to the high peak at the west end,
the surface of the mountain was
dotted with corner pets Of claims.
In fact, the mountain was examined,
as it were, microscopically.