Williams news., 1905-12-16
THE LOST "PEG.LEG"
Local Party Will Prospect the
 Desert Country

On Thursday of last week party
 of we'll known local men departed
 overland for the desert region of
 Southern California on Q general
 prospecting trip. The party, which
 is composed of F. R. Nellis and his
 son, John, "Rube" Adams and Tom
 Barney, goes fully prepared for an
 extended stay, and though they
 may not be able to locate the "Lost
 Peg-Leg Smith" hills of gold, will
 make an effort to find something
 that will make them much better
 off in this worlds goods.
 They will make their objective point that portion of the desert in California that lies to the westward of Yuma, and are going out with
 the intention of either finding the
 three hills of gold that were found and again lost by man named Smith many years ago or exploding the story altogether. The party is fully aware of the hardships that will confront them in their quest for the lost treasure, but are not of the kind that will turn back for small objects. The NEWS sincerely hopes that their quest may be suc- cessful and that they will return laden with the yellow metal.
 The following is the story of the finding of the famous mine:
 It was in 1886 that Pegleg Smith made his famous discovery. He was one of large body of trappers who left St. Louis in 1881 for the southwest. They struck the head of the Colorado in 1886 and after trapping down that stream to the mouth of the Gila, they crossed over and struck out in a north westerly direction across the desert.
 After three days travel they made their camp one evening near three small hills, which were about fifty feet in height, and found there loose pieces of black rock intermingled with grains of yellow metal. The men thought it might be copper and gathered some of it. They then pushed their way onward, finally reaching Temecula, near where there is mountain, named Smith, after the famous Pegleg.
 It was not until after the discov- cry of gold in California that Smith realized what bonanza he and his fellow trappers had missed. In 1850 he organized an expedition in San Francisco to find the hills of gold. Between Los Angeles and Smiths the Indians ran off all their stock except one mule. This Smith considered an i'll omen and forthwith stumped back to SanFran. cisco, leaving the remainder of the expedition to shift for themselves.
 The next time the Pegleg Smith appeared in history was through Yaqui Indian in the employ of Governor Downey on Warmers ranch. This Indian made several rips, returning each time with luantity of free gold. He used to enter the desert by way of the San Felipe canyon. All efforts to get he Indian to reveal his secret proved unavailing. The brave was , filled in brawl in Anaheim and Governor Downey questioned his quaw, who went with him on his rips. She told him they got their ast supply of water at spring , lear the foot of Smiths mountain, g which they left at daybreak, trav- g ling toward the sun, and that at 3 'clock in the afternoon they reached hree little pachapas or buttes, over r which were scattered "mucho, V nucho. mucho" gold. V
 In 1860 an Irishman appeared in c an Francisco and showed to an q stonished party of miners a cer- ificate of deposit for $12O,OOO, o 'hich he said represented gold a aken from little hills in the Col I rado desert. He organized a party, r