The copper era., 1904-01-21
THE ADAMS DIGGlNGS.
A Romantic Story of Fabulous Wealth Found and Lost and Sought for
 Again m Vain.
From the socorro chicnnin

hSollt III E0lH.
 From the Socorro Chicnain
 The realms Of fact and fiction proba-
 bly, afford DO parallel to the romantic
 story Of the finding Of the famed
 Adams digging5, Of the tragical cir cumstances under which they lost, and Of the money expended and the hard ships endured in vein efforts 10 find them again. That A. V. Adams about forty years ago headed party Of pros- pectors who found some placer dig gings fabulOusly rich in gold some- where in western New Mexico or east ern Arizona, that nearly all the party were ma--acrcd by the Indians while undertaking to gather the gold they had found, and that Adams himself and other pro-pectors by the score have since "gone broke" both finan- cially and phy ysically in their efforts to relocate those diggings, these are facts too well authenticated 10 admit Of question.
 Probably no man living is better authority on the subject Of the Adams digginCe than is II C. Patterson, an old and highly respected citizen Of | SocOrro county. For the purpose of preserving the most authentic in or nation on the subject, as well as for the purpose of giving the readers Of this paper the benefit of the romantic and interesting story, Mir Patterson gl- | | he knew about the Adams diggings Here it is d. he tells it:
 ''It was in 1875 that I came to my ranch 100 miles west of Socorro The next year a party Of four men came along and inquired for certain To- cd'ity, partic llarly an ash spring. knew they were prospectors The . leader finally told me that they wore original members of the A. V Adams party from California. He added that I Adams was southern man and as he couldn't cuss the government as he wanted To in California he went to i Arizona. He camped at the Pima i Villages and there made up party to i go prospecting. A Mexican in the T1IaGe Emaha tH9H AR9t,u hfetp ,eanIiHe if the party would give him six horses he would show them where there was plenty of gold. This was in the win ter of lS65-G The party consisted ot twcutv-two men. The guide took them to a big mountain, going north east through the country. So much learned from the leader of the four pro-prctors.
 .In 1876 Adams himself came to my placr. We talked together all one sunday. asked him what mountains he passed through after leaving the Pima villages. He replied that they went into mo mountains until they reached those in which they found the ooli. He added that their course was northeast. that ali the streams they saw were small, and that there were small mountains to their right ana big open country to their left all the time. The party finally camped al the mouth of d small canyon from ! which tho water ran southwest. It | took the party nearly all day |" z" fourteen mile. up the canyon. it wa SO rouuh. At the summit they could see two rcakS like hays tacil- about day : travel from them toward tue north east. The party now went down on the east side through timber into valley six miles long in which the ln- diaus had planted corn. The water in this valley ran northwest and at the lower end fell over d prccj pice eighty feet hirh. The guide told the party that they would find gold in this val lev, and they paid the Indian a horse for the privilege Of working in the corn field.
 Adams said that Dutchman ID the party seemed to scent trouble, Tor he said. II tink you hal some troubles init desc Indiaus.' and asked that he might take his grub to himself and what goId he wanted and go away Adams said, further, that this Dutch man banned out forty pounds of gold in ten days without making hole in the ground as big Il. wagon box or reaching bedrock.
 According to Adams story the rations now got short and ten men started for a fresh supply and for tools to work with. The Dutchman was among the number. They were to go iC
 th, nearest point, Adams did not know