Durango semi-weekly herald., 1902-01-09
MINING HONEY.
A New Mexico Industry Of Which
Little Has Been heretofore
Known.

Blasting or mining the honey Of
bees Ia probably not new TO some
people and some countries, but there
are many In Durango doubtless, who
have never known that honey could
be mined from the rocks
Down In sunny New Mexico, there
was time when not many bees
could have subsisted. That was
twenty-five years ago. indeed several
years later, but for ten years the
blossom OF fruit trees. flowers and
clover and thousand things have
presented rich held for the bees.
and the swarms aud hives have
grown and expanded beyond the or.
dinary means provided for keeping
them domcsiioa,ed. ana they have
made homes in hollow trees, those
,rcea that grow along the river. called
cottonwood because they have no
name. and good for nothing else.
and In the croyices of rocks. the kind
OF rocks that geologist would toll
you belongs TO either the auarternary
or tertiary period. probably what
Navajo BIZ Wallace would
fHii dfUtFtbf u lHk' oUl7
wiier were around 10 hear u.
but the bees don't care what kind
Of rock so there are crcvlces In which
they ean build honey comb and MI
II with sweets.
Along the blufIs and abrupt banks
of the river. and In the somewhat
broken, Irregular and displaced sand.
stones OF the oretaceous, many such
places M the bees fipd convenient
may be found. and such fellows aa
Dilly Mann. always scaling the
heights like a mountain goat and
looking into everything pcnctrablo.
nnd even the hiding places OF foxy
bees. Billy Mann had been In the
mountains long time. In the powder
smoke. chewing more tobacco than
three ordinary cbewers. and buying
Il all himself and his physician said
to him one day. billy II yon don't
yet down TO lowe altitude or use
more tobacco, you viii dir some
time BILLY being man of few
words. said nothing. but bought thirty
pounds more tobacco and pulled out
for New Mexico. "A few days Of Idle
n-sa fxed him for the road II he
couldn't fnd something To keep him
moving about. He had aeon those
bees swarning about ana no had
trailcd Jesse Shields ON n plan OF
bee hunt that Was imported from In
diam forty years ago, and he .ook
up the trail What did he nnd :
Well. just wait TIL we nguro min.
.tt..--av.rt,l.al.lx sntltt..a "a al
honey honey In all tho ereviccs. ore.
ceHses and holes In the rocks for
miies In every direction. When he
came 10 Durango which he actually
did do, To buy st~ol drills and hammer
and giant blasting powder. he said
that II the honey were all mined with.
In six month";, honey would be ie-
monctixed, so he had decided 90 cur
tail the production To n quantity
which would fnd market a, Iree.
ent prices. but" he added. ~ those
get stuck up In social way about
their dances and doin's will fiood
the market with honey and send
every sucker to the wall. A blark
Friday won't be In II"
II WAS not more ,hnn fifteen Year,
ago that the frs, bees were taken
into Now Mexico. and there was iit,l,
success In handliW them at hrst
In fact, since the bees have beer
camping IN the rocks, the coun,r,
has not been producing half the hon
ey Il should produce. This is n fact
with which some OF the people there
may not be familiar. but they vii
ind on investigation that the beei
have been playing this very trick OF
the unsuspecting people who so gen
erousiy took them there aud gay,
them homes where they could reve
In fields of sweets. Billy says tn,
north eud OF bee is 80 provided
with means of defense that the worl
Of recovering honey from the rock
is a little hazardous. but he fndi
that the liberal squirting OF tobacc,
juice makes them little more cir
cumspect than they are ordinaril,
inclined to be.
Mr.. Mann AYERS that there arr
thousands OF pounds OF honey In th'
rock crevices which has become NJ
old that II would not be very palata
BILE. but he says there are great guam
titles OF the article AS delicious a
ever came from any apiary In an!
country. II he cannot find salts
factory markc, at home for his pro
duct he will try to ship quantities GU
OF the country.
Mr.. Mann says he has not foun,