The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1900-07-06
0ab One Man, a Mexican, Got Any Goo4
From II, and He Was Murdered.
SOME sUpERsTlTIORS OF THE INDIANS
kssp Some Mines Hidden, and The Hunt for
Them Generally Results IN the Hunlsr
Disappearing for Good.

There comes a time in the life of ev-
cry desert prospector in the Southwest
when he has to go forth and look for
the famous Pegleg piacers. In some
cases one experience is sufficient, and IL
he is lucky enough TO come through il
alive he is satisfied TO let others do the
hunting thereafter. Then again. the
disease may become chronic and he IS
known in the camps upon the edge of
the desert as "Peglegger." No one is
surprised If he disappears utterly, be-
cause that is the general fate OF the
Pegleggers who do mot have the luck To
die by accident within the jurisdiction
of a coronor. Every winter men take
up the quest.
Few mineral regions in the West are
without the legends Of treasures found
and lost. Up In Wyoming there Is the
Lost CABIN" In Washington men hunt
for the deposit that Schfflin the Dia-
mond King who founded Tombstone
discovered just before his lonely death.
Some where around Mono Lake in Cali
fornla lies the Whitman m-ne of which
Mark Twain wrote in the book that
made him famous. Southern Califor-
ria has the Breyfogle and the Gunsight
IN the Death Valley region; there Is
the Lee in old San Bernard no county,
the Pegleg and the lost IN mes of the
Spaniards i'm San Diego counts, with
many more whose very existence has
been forgotten.
Among lost mines the Pegleg occupies
q unique place in that IL has been lound
and lost again at least four times. Ii
has been hunted In California, Arizona
and across the line I'm Mexican terri
tory. Its story is a record Of tragedy,
and the number of victims will not be
known until the desert. like the sea
gives up its dead.
In 1887 a trapper named Smith, who
was subsequently, known as "Pegleg."
because OF an accident that left him
with one leg, started from Yuma for
Los Angeles The old trail, which is
still travelled. zgzags westward along
the Mexican line between infrequent
and uncertain water holes, until 1t
climbs out of the desert north, by War
ner's Pass, over the Paioma and so
down into the fertile Mission grants
that now form the orange belt OF CAL
ffornia. Somewhere east Of the pass
Smith lost the trail in attempting a
short cut and climbed the highest Of
three long hills to regain his bearings.
While accommodating he picked UP some
Jumps OF black burned looking metal
with which the hin was literally cover
ed which he supposed to be native cop
per. Years aftcrward he showed the
cooper" to miner, to whom ne re-
lated the incident. The stuff was pure
gold. Pegleg, on learning what he had
found. promptly went crazy with ex-
citement. developed brain fever
and died. But the story got out of
the secretiveness OF prospectors on the
course, and the search for Pegleg' s
treasure began. number OF men were
|sx o~&in ~ oil tod
that time combined their knowledge.
something might have been done. but
the secretivness of prospectors on the
track OF q good thing stood in the way.
90 each followed his own path to a COM
mon failure. Others. men with no clue
whatever, to guide them. trusted blind
~ to luck and over-ran the rugged and
Wtaterless wastes to no profitable end
Then ,bybchance the Pegleg was again
discovered.
A discharged soldier from Fort Yuma
lost the Los Angeles trail and met with
an experience similar TO Smiths
Climbing one OF the three low hills Ia
catch sight of Warmers Pass. he found
mis- feet on the same black and burned
looking metal, but the soldier knew
what IT was. Loading himself with as
much as me could carry OF the coarse
gold nuggets, he made his way 10 Los
Angeles. He told his story there II
every man who tok his fancy, promis-
ing them fortunes with the generosity
Of an autocrat in his cups. and assert
Ing that there was gold enough on the
hIll he woulu lead them to to make reg
dment OF millionaires. Presently the
soldier and his gang started back with
big outfit of mule teams and wagons
For some reason that only could bt
GUESSED at. the party did not strike
back TO Warmers Pass and out by the
Caroso Springs stage station. now q
picturesque ruin. Probably ths
country in which the Pegleg was found
was not passable for vehicles from thu
paw and they decided upon a shorter
route. BE this as IL may. not one OF th'
party was ever seen alive. For year.
their fate remained one OF the mum
cradle mysteries OF the desert. until on,
day some prospectors whose burros ha,
Utampeded came upon the skeletons .
men ard mules In the foothills OF th'
Cuymaccas that overlook the madden
lnR desolatson OF the Salton Sea. Ira
dition has II that one OF the skeleton
had bullet hole in the skull II ma,
nave been the soldiers whose compan
eone lured to their death, we're probab bl,
ripe for any violence when their pligh
. was discovered.
The next hnder OF the Pegleg was
0oboba squaw. II was when the South
ern Pacific was building across the wa
terless wastes from Yuma 20 the Sa
0orGonio Passo-through the Purgator,