Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-09-03
LOST GOLD MINES
IN WESTERN DESERTS
bonanza SCOTS Find Recalls Some of Stories
That Are Told of the H hidden "Pegleg" and the
"Gunsight Lode"
"Gunsight Lode"


dying Of thirst before he got back n N.
traiL He picked up lot of curious-lookine
nuggets on the way. but was ignorant of
thelr value till year or more afterward
Mnen ne showed them to man in Los An
seies. Inc latter got excited over the find
ana when Smith realized how near he had
come to making his fortune, he had a fit or
brain fever az -
The fever did not have much to operate
on, according to those who knew him bur
IL Killed Smith anyhow and of about frtv
men who followed his trail into the desert
trying 10 locate the famous placer nearly
HI DIED OF thirst or went crazy or broke.
Many years later a miner who had
drlfted into the same desert country came
out with about $1,000 In nuggets of the
same sunournt gold. He had struck the
same mysterious placer. but he died from
prlVation and exposure and his secret died
with him.
Not many years ago an Indian squaw,
three-quarters dead from thirst, drirted into
construction camp on the Southern Pa
enc NOT rar from the edge of the Saton
sea, that great dry lake of the southwest
That has been full OF water for about tbreA
years within the memory of man. She and
her man had gotten lost in the desert and
ciifnnins peak to try TO get their bearings
they had run onto the Pegleg placer The
Apaches know what gold is well enough
ana the squaw had about two pounds of II
In handkerchief. She had seen the smoke
OF 'he construction train. so she said, from
the place where they found the gold. but.
she refused to lead any of the workmen to
Il.
NO one knew from which direction she
had come into camp. Her man was dead
In the desert, and though the whole OF tho
construction crew deserted and started on
to find the Pegleg. and a good many OF
them died In the attempt. none Of them did
ma 1t. They did not find the body of the
Indian buck either. and the squaw promptly
vanished after she recovered. and was seen
no more.
THE latest discovery of the Pegleg on
record in 1896, when Mexican va
Quero on a ranch near San Bernadino came
in with about $4,000 worth OF nuggets He
had better luck than his predecessors. for
he went back to the place time after time
He gambled and he drank, he made love
to all the girls in the region and he spent
money as though ne had the treasury of the
United states behind him. When he went
shy on gold he would disappear for a few
days and come back loaded with It,
Tell where he got II? Not much But
II was Pegleg gold all right and Just from
the region where the mine was known to
be located. OF course, he was trailed and
followed but he had better sense than to
ever take the same trail twice or allow
himself to be tracked 10 his cache An
easterner may think that this shows lack
of enterprise on the part OF the people who
wanted the secret, out cowboy skilled
in desert craft come near losing a
whole settlement once he gets start OF
them into that desert country. Finally, the
Mexican got cut to pieces in knife fight
at bile, and since then the Pegleg has
been undisturbed, though there are peo-
pie hunting for it every year The vaquero
had $1,000 In gold on deposit at the home
ranch when he was killed.
\
at is thought that the famous Brey fogls
mine has been redlscovered and is now be-