The tribune. (Rich Hill, Mo.) 1900-1902, 1902-10-09

\ Man and a Barre Turned 70 Roeh
BAIT

4 Man and a Bnrro Turned 70 Rcek
HalL
George H. Tucker, q mining prOnpoc-
tor who a juHt returned from a trip
through the Moiaye and Colorado de-
sefts. says the Daily America. tells .
remarkable story Of The discovery Of 81
petrihed man and bufrO in one u the.
large salt 0elds that abound therQ.
One o. the most desolnte psacea %.
the Colorado desert Is ~thlfty-tuo miiea
southeast OF Dandy. Here IL q depot
Of rock salt fifteen miles in length
and from one and one+haif 10 three
miles IA width. There is not a spear
Of grass OF any kind OF vegetation. 10
many places the rock salt can be OBJ
tained BY digging ten OF twelve inches.
no one knows how deep the salt
goes A number Of prospect holes have
been sunk. but the great amount Of
water encountered az a depth Of TWEEN.
ty-aye OF thirty feet makes further
mining impossible without apparatus
for pumping.
Some ten years ago an effort was
made to bring this immense deposit Of
salt into commercial use. Two rail-
roads were built 10 connect the rock
Quarries with the Santa Re. Il was
found necessary 70 build a house In the
middle Of the deposit and for this pur-
pose enough blocks Of rock salt were
cut 70 build a shanty fourteen By thir-
" feet In dimensions.
"A flooring and roof composed Of
the peculiar kind Of earth hat exists
In that vicinity completed the building.
But in a short time the salt mining
operations were discontinued. and the
salt house wal abandoned 70 the coyote
and desert owl
For az least seven years before We
visited this building. about a month
ago. Il had not been Inhabited, and
probably ives very seldom seen by any
one During the summer months in
this locality fine saline dust is blown
In great clouds through the desert
The heat Is almost u~nbearable. What
water Is found is undrinkable. and woe
70 the prosecutor who finds himself 10
this section with an empty cantecn.
"A peculiar feature Of the climate Is
that. no matter how hot the day. the
night is invariably cool, even cold
enough for forming ice.
During the summer Of 1900 a Swede
named johnson. who had been pros
pectlng in the vicinity. started 70
cross this dry lake OF salt TO Old Wo-
mans Springs. When nearly nall way
across a terrible sandstorm blew up.
He trudged on until be came 70 the
salt house. where be and his burro
sought shelter.
Under the v OF the house he
found a number Of galvanized tanks
partly filed with rain water. He con
: Eidered this 8 lucky find. for his can
teen was almost empty. He drank mis-
an OF the water he found and permit
ted his borro 70 DO the same.
THE night was cold and the storm
continued. he determined TO camp in
the hut oyer night The dead embers
Of the Ere were still To be seen when
We visited the place. e~yidencing the
unusual severity OF the weather.
when We opened the door TO this
d~esoIate shack we were Mortified al
seeing what seemed % be q marble
statue lying on the floor. The head
was OF RIabasteg whiteness, the hair
and whfskers having fallen away. The
body Was outlined under a thin blank
ct
we hesitated 70 remove the blanket
but finally mustered enough courage 70
do 90. The body had undergone a SIN
lgular transformation. being nothing
less than complete petridcauon. Tbs
substance was OF 3 nature Of gypsum
pure white la color. The outline OF tbs
body was perfect
'sThe darkness OF the interior az hrsi
! prevented Us from seeing the burro
which was standing In one corner. on'
lof our party advanced and laid his
hand on the animal, when Il fell oSe'
2 aEalnst him. The burro had under
4 gone the same transformation a. ~
master.
, The body Of the man was given Z
! decent burial near tAe house, aud th'
lburro will be ent 20 the Smithsonian
Institution.
: The earth that had been used 70.
the roofing contained chemicals Ehicl
: were taken in solution BY the raii
water as IL drined Through into IA
galvanized tanks. Altar drinking free
ly OF this water the "a aud beast has
I evidently frozen 10 death and wer'
gradually petrshed."