Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1904-09-11
FORTUNE IN DESERT
RICH FIND MADE BY A LONE
PROSPEcToR.
George Simmons Discovery Of Long
Abandoned Mine Made Him this
"Turquoise king"-Assassinated by
Discharged Foreman.

lac fnrCuOl&e Ling is dead. A earce:'
OF thr;},:,ns adventures and hal
Dreadti. t.ats.leH. a life IL Which Ii.
snlte q fo.fii4)e :ame at the most III
!, expected tll..:s and places, has been
ended. Ike lie ives of 81, many others
bearing royal Il -. - au assassfn's
bullet.
George mlous, the ture, ,u9;se king
was tr@Guaat yjslto: il Denver. dur
ing the l:.tel years @: his LIE. Mr
Simmons was murdered on October
10 at Manvei Cal.. al isola, ad mining
town near the Nevada line. While get
| ting into wagon 10 drive home ht
was shot and instantly killed by W. r.
Miller, a I:reman whom he had dis
charged q year or SO ago.
The discovery OF his mine was an
exa,aEi nf is Keen scent for th~
unusual Riding through TIE Crescent
| mountains III the Mojave desert one
day, he noticed al :; little distance
slight elevation or mound, which
although PERHAPS ln:aisturbed for cen.
turtles, had apparently been built by
human hands. T. closer examination
Of the heterogeneous materials com
posing the lnuUEti convinced him Of its
artificial character. 3liI as it vas tot
large for an u~c.'::,a,,.ss y. ave. he deter
mined to inv >asti,~::a further Digging
down into the c< - = the mound, h
came upon q s.cHa and later complete
sets OF the r;.de stone tools used In
mining by unc;y;l ed persons. Con
tinuing the excavation. ne opened ue
the workings OF c. ancient mine anu
she deposits OF turquoise which after
ward Brought him wealth.
For years ne kept the location Q
the mine secret, working it in a de-
ultory manner The property was not
patented, and lest some Wanderin&
prospectors should run upon it bs
accident he built a stockade around il
and kept a man with a Winchester OF
guard night and day, People who tried
to learn the location OF mis- mine by
following him into the desert founl
that it was a dangerous business. For
instance, there was Jim McClurg, one
of the first men whose acquaint .nce
Simmons made in Denver. Unknown
TO Simmons. McClurg boarded the
same tram with the owner Of the mine
and followed him to Nevada. Simmons
quick eye, however caught a glimpse
of. McClurg as the latter got down
from the rear end of the train at their
destination, and the Denver man wae
promptly warned that bullet would
stop him if he attempted to follow
Simmons to the mine,
On Simmons first visits to Denver
he used to bring with I'm large trav.
cling grip filed With splendid tur.
quoises. The stones were pale blue in
color, while those from the old mines
In New Mexico were dark blue, and
at first it was hard to find buyers for
the product of Simmons mine.
Failing to get enough money from
the sale of the turGucises to pate4lt
the property and develop it. Simmons
went to London to secure capital. He
put valuation of 500 600 on his mine
and foated it OH that basis.
When he returned to New York,
Simmons put up at the Waldorf
Astoria. The collection of turquoiscs
he had with him were the talk of the
hotel Some one got him to show
them to party Of ladies, including the
wife of the manager, Boldt. The lat
ter asked him to put price on a par
ticularly fine stone weighing 32 karats
Simmons said $1,000 not for moment
expecting to make a sale, but Mrs
Bolt turned to her husband and had
him write out check for that
amount. One of the stones in the col
lection was the larges. in the world.
weighing 164 carats. An agent Of
New York dealer followed him, offer.
ing him $4,000. 1t was Simmons am
bition to get a 200carat stone and he
finally uccseded--Denver Times.