The copper era., 1903-12-31
A STORY OF THE ADAMS DIGGINGS
The Other Side All That Critters is
 Not Gold"

Editor Era:-W hen al your request and saying you had hunted for the AdaTs diggins and asking fl I knew of another tale that ran with them, I, with pain took up my pen, for my wound Is fast carrying me 10 the shadows. ito the end,' so I have plunged deep into the recollections Of my youthful days ari looked the ghosts of friends all Of whom have since passed away-sOmc leaving but names written in lines Of blood, some in the full tide Of success. as they ap- pcarcd across the chasm of we'll nigh fifty years, many well remembered faces smiled leach Ringing a memory, each bringing a thought"
 Gt was the year 1858 when the final touch was done to the bounds of the Gad-on treaty. The overland stage ran on time. Life seemed easier and the sun seemed to shine brighter then. Perhaps it was youth. The danger of which you read by Indians, who were said to then hold the whites at bay on mountain and desert. was a travesty. IL was Arizona county, New Mexico, whose county seat Tubec. lived C. D. Posten, Arlzonas first con- gressional delegate. There he wrote his poem Apache Land" which was blank verse and five cantos passed two editions, remember the opening lines:
 Born in Spanish palaces
 Nursed in Moorish jcalousy.'
 The delayed commissioner had waited long on Mexico-but now Gen eral Comonfort's distracted rule had ended in his abdication, and Benito Pablo JuareZ beca me president. With the MeXicano came their ex-presdent and a big following. On our side Col Casey with a few, the fourth U. 5. dragons were at Bucannon on the Luntcs and spiritusfumenti was part of the ratiOns. Then passia on to California q big immigration. the stage brought New Orleans papers l2 days old, many ladies passed ana the stage looked packed for it was the days Of crinoine. Now all Chls had been laid away in my mind, buried in the ashes of the past along with the old life and yet no" how alive it was all suddenly became alive with life that no pen can picture.
 The Gladden. treaty which had in the main this object that the Butterfield overland stage line should run on American soil, encountered much opposition, notably from Senator Ben ton of Missouri, who described it as a ''treeless, trackless waste and would so for ever be-" The spirit of prophecy We must say did not then inspire the famous senator. If we now look around and sec the final commission for some reason made tVo trips to the junction of the Gila and san Francisco. They made the trip in pell mell fash ion. They had been joined by an out fiji from Sonora with plenty of new made mescal. Now of course l know that you never drank new mescal on a trip under q July sun. Well, 1 have. but you have read, Paradise Lost, and know the lines which say:
 .'l seem to see that in the lowest depths, lower depth still threatening to dcvour me opens wide to which the he'll suffer seems heaven"
 often wonder if Milton ever drank mescal, at all event, on their last trip two oI their men, named Adams and Blair, were left on the north side Of the Gila tO sleep and dream away the idle hours. The river rO5o and they were lrftand it seems forgotten until some weeks after some U. $. dragons from Fort Bucannon out on hunt found them in q very hard fix and took them back with them to the fort. When there they told a tale of their wander ings, saying they had found gulch in which wild roses grew and a big placer mine and had their tobacco sacks full of nuggets of dark colorcd gold which they had picked up. NO inducement would make them go back nor would they part with the nuggets, but they had them for they were seen and hc(tcd by many.
 The story spread and Of course lost nothing in the telling and was soon on the SaC Pedro. Al this time the White mountain Apaches would at times come in and trade, they were then very easily approached always anxious to trade and often drove hard bargain They at times brought q little fine placer gold which they carried in turkey Quills sealed with mesquite gum. Bayeta, the fire red cloth woven in Spain, which they prized highly and black powder which was then not couutcrband, were the things they ap- preciated most. had made friend ship with young man named "Moosk" and he and played ball and l tried to learn Apache but failed. For a roll of red cloth he anu soml others We got them to understand in spanish set out to find the camp of the lost five men. They returned with broken tobacco pipe and a tale of wan- deriug for miles on the banks of the Gila, killing of rabbits, chewing Of mesquite, but no rocks no placer. Now Moosk was very wise for au "Ismial of the desert" he took up an ,r,p,,- rne-pal bntfla ,,DnN5 il apS