The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1904-10-02
WIG WAGGING LOST ANTELOPE
BAND OF PRONGHORNs FOUND
IN PANAMINT MOUNTAINS.
Only Ones, 1t 10 Thought, Remaining In
acknowledgements by Hall Breed
Pluto Near Death Valley--Day's Ride
Over 4 Desert to Their Hiding Place.


Over 4 Desert to Their Hiding Place.
As commonly regarded, the Great Amer
lean Desert Is not sportsman's paradise,
but, considered from the point OF view
OF those who prefer quality to quantity, 1t
contains a numerous population OF birds
and animals once common to a much wider
range, but now driven to seek safety in
the heart OF a section that less often feels
the foot Of man.
It was my good fortune, says Harry Fl.
Dunn in Forest and Stream. to spend some
four months in and around Death Valley
about a year ago. and Bob, my half breed
Piute guide, brought this last statement home
to my mind in q most vivid manner when
he led me one afternoon to sheltered
nook in the Panamint Mountains, whence
we had an undisturbed view Of band Of
about fifty bighorns feeding In perfect
security at distance Of less than one hun
dred yards. This Indian knew the country
perfectly, and often spoke to me OF his
band Of "deer," by which, OF course. ]
supposed he meent some herd Of white
tailed deer that he had found living q
comparatively restricted life In one OF the
little valleys with which these mountains
are Scared. Like most Of the breeds Of
the region, however, he was not given to
oyermuch talking; hut some months later.
when We had pitched a temporary camp
UP near the northwestern end Of Death
Valley. he came to me and begged me to
20 and see his deer
So the next morning, in that noiseless
hour that comes just ere the sun lifts itself
over the eastern rim of the world, followed
him away out over the level floor OF the
desert toward a blue-gray line OF buttes
which, so he told me, marked the rise OF a
river. Those who know the desert know
perforce, the desert river, shallow. slow
flowing stream that it is, rising from some
assure spring in the low hills, twisting itself
through ten or fifteen miles of sloping
plain, and finally losing the last silver
thread in the Unsuitable sands. For space
it enlivens it's world and makes possible
the maintenance Of the scant grasses and
the few flowers that invariably fringe its
brim. To it, too. come the wild things OF
its world, not alone to drink it's waters.
hut to feed themselves with that which
it's waters bring from the SOIL Following
them in tho everlasting order OF the hunter
people the world over come such primal
men as manage to exc out an existence
in this barren land; but for some reason,
prooably because it was in a way somewhat
Of the beaten trails Of this part OF the desert,
no camp OF Flutes had been pitched upon
the banks of the stream to which my COM
panion was leading me. This much l
pathered in the rare intervals OF his loquac-
fty: the rest learned by keeping my eyes
open as we rode along.
From early dawn until noon we passed
slowly over as level a bit OF country as
can be found anywhere in the world, the
we'll trained ponies keeping up that rolling
lone for which animals OF their kind are
noted, and which puts behind them miles
OF which the rider scarce may take ac-
count until he has reached his destination.
The sun at the zenith found us fully forty
miles from camp, and well within the
shadow Of range o. lava buttes which
extended some five miles on either side of
the clump OF mesquite trees whereunder
we paused to rest our horses and eat the
lunch brought from the well-stocked larder
Of the camp cook.
Then the way led on up through defile
in the lowest part of the range-a narrow
gorge through which, in all probability,
and on down to a little spring which flowed
ftfull from crevice in a lava covered
wall Of conglomerate, wrought by the fires
OF long ago into a hardness that nothing
short OF the patient cutting OF the water
could ever overcome. Below the spring
other tiny streams, born of like sources.
Joined the main brook, until, where 1t broke
away from the hills, II was a stream Of
some twenty feet in width and a foot or
two in depth. Lush grasses studded with
| wild flowers innumerable and thin line
Of scrubby mesquite shrubs bordered the
water course for a few yards on either
side, but Of animal life there was very little
visible save few long cared jack-rabbits
that slept away the heated hours in fancied
security IN the shade Of the leafiest Of the
mosquitoes.
For perhaps ten miles we followed the
river bed, startling hares from their forms
end stopping only to kill two OF the dreaded
ssidewinders.' as the little yellow rattle
snakes Of the desert are called, until. the
stream began TO dwindle appreciably in
volume and the verdure along Its banks
became q mere struggling line Of green.
! Then suddenly, as II by some strange magic
| OF nature, the narrow coulee into which
the river had sunk spread out into a minia.
ture lske--a mere pond OF some hundred
feet IN length and width, and scant depth
Of not more than q couple Of feet. Here
the stream ended, and. rrotioning for 81
lence, the breed dismounted, tied his horse
to one Of the many convenient mosquitoes,