The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-08-03
DELVING In AN INFERNO
MINING FOR SULPHUR IN A
VOLCANIC CRATER.
Abundant Supply, Procurable Only
With Great Discomfort-Telling
Proofs Of the Tragic End
Of venturesome Souls.


face indication of heat whatever, We
found the subterranean temperature to
be something tremendous.
1t was a strange thing that we came
upon. Let me tell 1t to you.
1t was in January, 1900, that formed q
partnership with my former associate u
gold mining to prospect for sulphur de-
posits In Northern Nevada. There are
vast beds Of pure sulphur (the largest in
the United States, unless those OF Louis
lana that lie under the sea are included)
lying west of north of the Central Pacific
Railroad and forty miles away. They are
the great Humboldt sulphur mines. so
well known. Following that trend all the
way to the Oregon line are scattered in-
dications of sulphur throughout that
weird and barren land that the great lava
| flow OF the north has spread itself over.
For our initial work we selected a dis
| trict situated a mile westward from the
| railroad station OF Humboldt. Ever since
| the late eos had had knowledge of q
| small prospect hole at that especial place.
and, as 1t was within $50 yards of the
railroad track (thus solving the problem
| Of cheap transportation, which in that
| land of long distances Is the most serious
| drawback to the development of mines Of
small values), we determined to begin our
| operations there.
Although / knew of 1t earlier. was too
young to take any special note of it until
about the year 1873. At that time 1t at
tracted my attention by reason of the
very great number of freshly shed snake
skins that lay about in the crevices OF
the gypsum and lava the sulphur and
ash. Dozens Of them! Hundreds Of theHil
And paying heed to the fact observed
thereafter that each spring they were re-
placed by others while the old ones were
blown away by the whiriwinds Evident
ly 1t was a famous place for reptiles: yet
1t was a puzzle to me always that In such
a quarry OF snake skins I should never
chance to see the snakes themselves.
Working the Old Crater.
On summer days when the desert sun
shone hot and a particularly fascinating
book fell into my hands. I at once sought
some spot that offered both quiet and
cool shade. What better place than just
within the deserted incline of the old
sulphur mine? There, with eyes and
heart deep buried in my books, spent
many and many a delightful hour; re-
treating farther and farther down the in
cline as the afternoon sun found and fol-
lowed me in there. For. burn as 1t might
outside, II was always a delightfully."- cool
place within the incline.
Then by and by l left the desert for
home at tide water, and straightway /
forgot all about the sulphur beds until
years afterward. when I was reminded
of them by hearing of a skeleton that had
been found there. A hollow cone that Is
commonly known as THE Crater" Is half
a mile from the old prospect hole
1t was at THE Crater"-after doing
some preliminary work at the point of
where Spence had once worked the claim
that We decided to sink our first shaft.
This cone is one of a number of such
vent holes that can be traced whereabouts
vent holes for furnaces that were put
out centuries ago. Fires have burned and
died great mountain ranges have been
lifted high on either side of the valley,
down In which now the vents are all but
covered by the valleys soil. Only this
one lifts itself distinctive, rising sharply
a few feet from the level of the plain, to
be seen several miles away.
We began sinking the shaft in THE
Crater on January 20. The only ones
working on the claims then were my part
ner and one of his sons. Later the young.
er mans place was taken by an Indian,
young Piute.
Full of Dead Mems Bones.
Though 1t lie no part of this story yet
right here let me tell what we found du-
ring the morning of that days work
There in 1.-The Crater" but two or three
feet down we came on the skeleton of a
man that had been thrust mot buried in
decent wise, but Jammed) into q shallow
hole that the wind drifts Of each year
had covered still deeper with the pow
dered pumice and gypsum and ash they
tossed down from the brim Of the wee
crater"
The side of the skull was crushed in
and the body bent nearly double as
htR 1T
small for honest burial The story? Who
knows7 1t is but another mystery Of that
great gray land of mysteries.
The skeleton, when unearthed fell apart
and lay on the crater's edge, where It
was cast up by the shovels, a heap OF
fragile brown bones that seemed more
like strips and bits of wet pasteboard
than anything else. The water-soaked
ash for there had been an unusually
warm period for January and the snow
OF the valleys was entirely melted sat
uratins the ground had communicated
to the bones a peculiar fiexibilIty, for
they bent between our fingers like whale
bone. 1t was an uncanny thing to find
at the very outset of our work and So
we quickly buried them again, giving
them sepulture in the "PopocatapetIs"
location monument at the "craters"
brim. All but the skull and thigh bones |
we are SUN unuer/ the spell that the |
grewsome find" had cast over us. when |
the shaft developed something even yet |
more of a mystery-an unsolved mystery
to this day to the four persons who alone |
have known Of 1t.
After the last slabs Of lava rock that |
made the monument had been replaced I |
dropped over the rim into the pit and |
clambered down to the shaft. The era
ter" (such a baby crater 1t isD was filled |
well to the top with fine gray volcanic |
ash-dry on top, bit moist from the |
rains beneath while scattered through |
1t were quantities of the rough, un-
friendly rock that made the crust of the
cone. In the center of this was the hole
that was yet too small to be dignifed by
the name of a shaft
As From a Fiery Furnace.
Fam the bottom Of the excavation my
partner scooped up a handful OF the moist
earth and asked me to hold out my
hands. l did so and he poured il in. It
was warm. perceptibly so. I was too as
too puzzled to say anything, and
stood there holding it. looking stupidity at
rim for an explanation, He laughed and
then, throwing out shovelful or two
from the shaft. took from underneath
some that was freshly uncovered.
Here. take this"
/ let spill the other and he poured II in
10 my doubled, upturned palms. | don't
what ] said but / cried out I'm
as I let 1t fall. 1t was hot
very hot! That was the beginning OF
what for weeks and weeks was to us a
laiIv wonder Seven or eioht foat ha |