Las Vegas daily optic. [volume] (Las Vegas, N.M.) 1880-1908, 1903-09-26

reduction is placed here as will be
done at no distant day.
From the mine we returned with
the men to camp for the night. roy
al supper was spread in the big tent
which Is the home OF Mr.. Bell, his
wife and son Of five years. Such an
abundant, we'll cooked, neatly served
homelike meal this solitary old bach
elor has not been privileged to eat In
many long day and coming amid
such surroundings, on the summit of
d lone mountain in the wilderness II
was double surprise and thrice
blessed. After supper sat with Mr..
. Bell on hour Or Two getting facts
from him for this letter to Optic
readers while Charley and Elwyn
with the men of the camp sat In an
adjoining tent telling and listening to
bear stories which they declared
would have made more entertaining
reading for the paper than all my
mining information. That's hint
I'll make use of when l visit camp
again. Mrs. Bell now came In and
| Informed me that she had arranged
to go and stay with Mrs. McCullum IN
her tent. for the night, so that myself
and nartxt should cnc,,nx, tbair fapf
with Mr.. Bell and son, l to have Mr..
Bakers bed as he was In town. Such
an instance Of thoughtful hospitality
Is SO rare in my experience that |
must make mention of it as showing
that genuine warm heartedness yet
exists in the world and particularly
where least expected and least de.
served Mr.. and Mrs Bell are from
the south and surely none could ex.
emplify the proverbial southern hos
pitality more beautifully than do they
even amid the rude surroundings of
a mining camp. Delicious sleep was
ours that night In the comfortable bed
in the tent among the tall pines Of
Mineral HILL and we awoke early re.
freshed and happy. The first sound of
the morning was the squawking of
young chickens which are housed N
/ a box over night and which the little
shepherd puppy Of baby Bell was
dragging from their roost one after
another by the tails. That puppy with
Cullum children make life pleasant
for the three little ones OF the camp
and add considerable to the enjoy
ment Of everybody else The every
body" is made up Of Mr. and Mrs
Bell and boy, J. A. Baker, Mr.. and
Mrs. G. McCullnm and two little girls,
| Lee Muir and John Sheridan. Eleu-
/ terio Trujillo is also day worker in
the mine whose home is in the canyon
| below the hill.
After breakfast Mr.. Bell, Blake and
Il set out afoot to do some prospect.
ing while Charley took the horses
down to the sawmill TO give them a
feed of oats and afterward to meet us
at the coal prospects In Tecolote can.
yon. We three went first up over the
backbone of Mineral Hill observing
on every hand the prospect holes,
claim monumets and decaying cabins
OF the miners Of 1880.
In one place around shaft open
ing the yellow rock was all neatly
laid in row ready for shipment and
there 1t has been lying these twenty.
three years quite undisturbed. II il a
jasper stained with iron and not con,
sidered worth carrying away. Then
we came to the well which had fur.
nished water for the settlement. II
was caved In and a COW had fallen
into IL and never been rescued We
now began to descend into the Blue
canyon and after considerable scram.
BILE reached the stream. Here we
we're amazed to find evidences that
a wagon road had once existed In this
seemingly inaccessible place. frightful.
ly rough and precipitous and obstruct
ed by down timber and tangled growth
But there II was. plainly TO be seen
the rotted logs laid along the hill.
slope, the excavation at the upper
side. Just as road Is built today IN
the mountains anywhere. How long
ago this road must have been built
one could Judge by the size Of young
aspen trees growing In Its course,
some now four inches or more
through. Who built 1t and where u
may have led to can be only matters
Of conjecture. but 1t Is supposed TO
have been the work of the Iiiltey
Brothers and probably led TO their
workings somewhere In this Blue
canyon. Hiltey Bros. were wholesale
grocera uho came into Las Vegas al