The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-09-11
Fascination of the Desert.

distances TO mark the trails and indi-
cate where water can be had.
This has already been done in Kern
county. Minute directions have been
perforated on sheet metal and rivited
to iron posts that cannot be destroyed
OF removed. Other counties could do
the same at a nominal expense. It
costs very little TO put up sign posts,
and wells can be driven anywhere for
|, a few hundred dollars. IL is a singu-
lar fact that almost anywhere in
Death valley and the other deserts
pure cool water can be gotten by bor-
ing 500 or 400 feet. There are not less
than $50 artesian wells IN Kern coun-
", California. The Nevada legisla-
ture at its last session made an an
preparation for sinking wells, but the
money has not yet been used. Appeals
viii be made TO the legislature OF Cali
fcrnia and Arizona at the approaching
sessions, but the expense is SO small
that the counties should do il.
-
Water is sold by the quart and gal
Ion In all the mining towns. II is
''toted" about on the back of burros,
and the quantity ordered Is left at
each house, like milk in our cities.
(25 cents) for a drink, whether you
take water, beer or whisky. The water
| il always measured out. Customers
are allowed to help themselves to the
whisky. 1t seems strange that more
people do not go into the water bust
ness. 1t takes comparatively little
capital to sink an artesian well, and
/ il does not cost much to handle the
product. 1t does not cost any more
than TO start saloon, and in every
mining settlement the saloon business
{ j. rap <
whisky is plenty. I have asked two
or three men why they do not sink
wells and sell water instead OF bring
ing in whisky from Missouri and Ken
lucky with freight rates at $40 q ton.
Everybody must admit that II IS
| sensible business proposition, yet when
| you suggest it to a saioOnkeeper he
| looks as if he doubts your sanity. 1
| said to one saloonkeeper:
why don't you bore a well and sell
/ good harmless water at 3 cents a
! drink, instead of peddling cut hlthy
| beer and vile whisky at 70 cents
| drink?"
He looked at me sternly for mo-
ment and replied CURLY:
Because people out here are such
damned fools that they win drink
| whisky at two bits rather than water
for nothing"
| You hear dreadful stories about men
who have died in the desert. You re-
member. perhaps, the early history OF
Death valley, and the fate of the cara
van which attempted to cross II on
| the way to the gold fields of California
/ in the early Sos. l wrote letter
/ about it several years ago, when the
/ survivors celebrated the fiftieth ami
/ versary of their escape, in Illinois.
| Several gold hunting expeditions have
! never emerged from this awful region,
/ and, as have already remarked, there
/ has recently been an unusual number
! of lives lost because Of the recklesshess
1 OF prospectors.
! Since 1 have been down III this cOun-
I try I have kept track of the number
/ of deaths reported in the newspapers,
| and have nine on the list since the
] first Of July, with a number of narrow
| escapes.
| Somewhere i'll Death valley. stark
naked in the sands, lie the bodies of B..
/ NJ Titus and Earl Weller of Telluride,
/ Colo. who, with John Mullins, started
] from Rhyolite on July 20 with two
! horses and nineteen burros loaded with
! supplies. They were strangers to the
/ country. They had no experienced
/ guide. but were confident of being able
/ TO follow the trail. They lost it, how
] ever, and wandered around until their
water gave out and one by one, their
animals began to die. John Mullins,
! the strongest member of the party.
! left them at camp, in u conspicuous
1 spot and started to search for the tran.
] He was picked up by another party IN
/ a demented condition, and 1t was three
DAYS before he was able to tell his
! story. Then, as soon as the facts were
/ known, a rescue party started out, and
! searched for several days, but they
J found no traces of Titus and Weller. 1t
! is a curious fact that three brothers OF
/ Weller persisted in a snoWslide at Tel
! luride last winter.
| Mat Riley and James Kippe left the
i 20. Il" mine in the Dale district of
] Riverside county on July 3 with a gal
/ Ion of water between them. Kippe was
Ftaken i'll two miles out and turned
] back. Riley's tracks Indicate that he
| travelled all right for fifty miles, but
/ he must have then left the trail and
wandered into the desert, where, after
/ several days of torment, he undressed
himself, lay down under a sage brush
and died. He had plenty Of food and
! abundance of water when he started,
but his keg was empty when the body
! was found.
1t Is a singular fact that men who
are overcome with thirst usually STRIP
themselves naked and throw away their
clothing.
WEDDINGS.-Just the thing for