The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1904-10-01
RISK LIFE FOR
DESERT GOLD
Stampede for the New
Mines Of Death
Valley.

HI SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 15.-New
\ discoveries of gold near Furnace Creek
4 On the heart of the famous Death VAL
| ley are exciting much attention, but
only experienced desert prospectors
(! have had the nerve to go into the dis
trict in the fierce heat of midsummer.
| The first discovery was made at a
place only fourteen miles from the
ranch of the Pacific Coast Borax Com
pany in Inyo county Jack Keane of
Balarat, on the desert, was the first to
find rich vein in this part of Death
Valley.
In December, 1903, he went into the
region to prospect with a Mexican
partner named Domingo Etcharren.
They foune a ledge over twenty feet
wide which assays 500 to the ton
across the whole width of the outcrop,
and without doing any work on the
ledge they sold the claim to Capt. De
la Mar for 100000.
Last June John Sidi and Mike Sui
livan of Ballarat went out toward Fur
mace Creek in the height of the great
heat and in one week found what is
thought to be a continuation of Keane's
ledge. They sold their claim to Gay
lord of Los Angeles. This second find
set all the prospectors on the Mojave
desert wild
They packed UP and hit the trail for
Furnace Creek, and the lonely canons
hi !, Tod faS In
the summer heat have seen men scram-
bling through them in eager search for
gold. If many lives are not lost it will
be wonder, for the heat Is over 100
degrees in the shade and water is in
frequent on the trails.
Only the experienced desert prospec-
tor can endure the heat, which seems
to dry up the tissue and to cause an
thirst. 1t will surprise any
one who is unfamiliar with the desert
to see the results of this heat on men,
animals and even on inaminate things
like wagons and harness
All through Death Valley as we'll as
along the fringe of both the Mojave
and the Colorado desert the atmosphere
is so devoid OF moisture that every
thing is as dry as a bone. The new
arrival finds that all superf1uous fat
and flesh appear to melt away from
him. He has to take UP several holes
in his belt and he has to drink gall
Ions of water every day where he or
dinarily drank glasses
In fact the system Graves so much !
water that when it cannot be procured |
the mans strength fails rapidly. and |
to be without it, even in the Shade. is |
sure death after a day or two To run |
out of water on the trail and to be |
forced to travel over the desert in the |
fierce glare of the sun means insanity
n few minutes and death in a few
hours.
Not even the seasoned resident can
'esist this heat for long. The only re-
course of the old resident who loses his
water supply in any way is to seek
ihelter under a mesquite bush and to
wait until the sun goes down Then
10 must hit the trail and reach well
,efore sunrise, or, unless he has Won
Ierful vitality, his skeleton will be
dded to the large collection that lines
II the roads through Death Valley
Nothing else puts the terror Of the
esers into the tenderfoot like coming
NON ore of these skeletons usually
vitb no trace of clothing near by. If 4
earcb IS made one may find the clo-
hing not far away, where the poor
fctfnl. crazed by the heat, has cast
t. The tendency of every one who
-oes insane on the desert from heat is
0 strip and then travel in a circle till
% drops from weakness.
BY many of these skeletons will be I
ound holes which despairing hands
ave dug in the hot desert sands in the I
ain search for the Hfe-giving water.