Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1901-07-11
Thirst; A True Story
BY T. s. VAN DYKE.

How many people know that every
year eight or ten men in the United
States die of thirst? And who could
imagine that this happens in southern
California to which thousands now go
every summer from the North and East
TO be cool and comfortable? Yet it does
happen there, because the main chain of
the mountains cuts the land into two
parts as diverse in nature as any two
parts of the world.
Cutting off the rainfall of the western
I slope it makes the basins on the east two
deserts of terrific heat and dryness in
which the air often contains less than
Il three per cent. of the moisture it could
q hold at the temperature. In the por-
tons near the level of the sea the mer-
curry often rises to over one hundred and
twenty-five degrees in the best shade
obtainable and ten degrees more than
that have been commonly recorded.
Deaths upon these deserts, the Mohave
and the Colorado, have been SO common
ever since the settlement of the State
that they have long since ceased to excite
comment. Yet no one seems to know
whether there is much suffering con-
nected with such death, or what the ma
ture of it may be. For no one who
has seen another die of thirst has ever
returned to tell of it. In most cases
lost parties are not missed for SO long
time that the light SOIL shifting under
the wind, has obliterated the last trace
Of their wanderings, and searching
parties have rarely done more than find
the remains, and have often failed even
in that.
A whole half-century has given us but
one trustworthy record of the suffer
ings of such a party. This is the story
of the BreedlOves, who were lost a few
years ago on the Colorado Desert some
eighty miles west of Yuma. They had
with them young man of wealth from
the East. whose friends quickly sent out
searching party that found their trail
before any wind had blown across it.
The whole story was written on the fine,
dry dusty soil as plainly as any printed
diary could have given it.
knew the Breedloves, father and son,
and both were strong and hardy men.
Young Fish their companion, was in the
prime of life and strength, and nothing
but thirst overcame any of them. The
elder Breedlove knew that part of the
desert so well, and was so confident of
his ability to go straight to the watering
places, that he took but one barrel of
water The outfit was all right in other
respects. Breedlove even taking the pre-
caution to have an extra mule beside the
two fine, tough mules that drew the
wagon.
he trail of the party was found near
the Laguna some ten miles from the base
Of the Cocopah Mountain. 1t was plain
that they had expected to find water IN
the Laguna 1t was equally plain that
they had failed to find water enough the
night before, for everything indicated
trepidation and alarm The harness had
been slung helter-skelter, and the men
had mounted the mules and started for
the Cocopah Mountain, at the base OF
which was a spring that had never failed.
Il was probably the certainty of water
at this spring that induced Breedlove
10 80 ahead that morning instead OF re-
turning to the last water they had LETT.
Alter about a rlile the steps of the
mules had begun to drag; their foot
prints lay closer together A little far
Their on the men had dismounted and led
the animals Then after while they
had tried to drive them instead of lead
ing, but the mules had wandered here
and there to the sides, and had tried to
turn back.
Suddenly the tracks OF the three men
went on without the mules, and it was
PLAIN they had abandoned the animals
without even stopping to take OFT their
saddles. This showed desperate suffer-
ing, for if the mules had had strength
enough to be of any further use in TAX
ING the party out of the desert, they
could never again have been captured !;
and it would have been impossible tor
the men to carry the water and pro-
visions necessary if they were to get
ont on foot.
At about half mile beyond this point
the stems of one of the men had begun
to drag. and in about three miles from
the wagon F1Sh had evidently IAN doWh
10 wait for the others 10 bring him water
from the mountain. What must have
been his condition, when, without even
stone for pillow or the smallest spear
of grass or brush TO interrupt the blazing
sunshine, he lay down for relief on
ground even hotter than the air. When
the searching party came, there he still
Law. on his back with hat over his eyes,
hut with no sign of past struggling, and
dried almost to mummy. And what
must have been the condition of the
other two? They had gone on without
stopping even to look back, for the
ground around young Fish showed no
tracks but his own.