The Opelousas courier., 1905-07-29
ARlZONA'S WILD MONKEYS.
'Hc OF TRES ALAMOS
AND THE WoNDERFULeGo GOLD
MINE.
a mystery Is ~soIved-The Strange
iaie OF Three Organ Grinders and ?
cold Mine-Veracious Explanation
VI a Short Tailed Freak.

cSiSuS
VI a Short Tailed Freak,
O1tentlmes as the lone ]prospector
or tired cowboy stops a few moments
at Tres Alamos Springs, Yayapai
county, to rest and to quench his
tnirst with water from the cold
spring, he is surprised by a queer
ground as OF scampcring feet, and on
investigation there may be seen a
mockins, ugly face peering over the
Gill or out of a friendly date tree. and
as suddenly disappearing among the
rocks. says the Los Angeles Herald
Seldom is a good view of these wild
monkeys to be had, for they are ex-
ceedlngly shy. How they came here
or whence has been a mystery.
Not long since a w%ell-known cattle
man While resting at the springs no,
tlced the metallic glare of something
half buried in the sand. Scratching
away the sand, he found a small metal
box, which contained a rude map and
some closely written pages from a
notebook. The description and map
evidently belong to the l~ong7souSht-
for Niger Ben mine, which is sup
posed to be only q myth.
1t seems, years ago, three Italian
organ grinders, with their r,orkeys,
travelling from Ehrenhurg to Prescott,
turned aside from the road n day to
rest under the shade of a Falo Verde
tree. Here they found an old Indian
lying down wearied and dying of
thirst. They shared the contents OF
their canteens with him and gave him
food. Grateful for their kindness, the
old Mojave Indian told them that if
they would come with him he would
show them a rich gold mine.
Is Two days brought them to the
Santa Maria River, and on the third
day they reached a deep arroyo up in
Ethe hills north of Peoples canyon. A
small stream of clear water trickled
from under a big rock and two or
three small cottonwood trees grew
by the little spring. After making
camp the Indian pointed westward
and said laconically "Busca.' Then
he threw himself upon the ground
and rolled a cigarette, as if that were
the only*interest he had in life.
Westward the Italians hurried. and
at a few hundred yards distance up q
short arm Of the main arroyo a small
dixie of dark colored rock arrested
their attention: They broke off q
piece, which glistened in the after
noon sunlight, and found it thickly
was everywhere in the ledge spark
ling and %glittering, wherever they
broke the rock.
On the morrow they filled several
small bags with the pieces Of quartz
and golden nuggets from the ledge
and prepared to leave, for they had
little food with them, intending to
return as soon as possible to dig out
their fortunes. They covered up the
ledge; and, marking the locality well.
| drew a map of the place with a few
Of the most prominent landmarks
Then they wrote out the facts of theil
discovery, with plain directions iol
the trail leading up from the river
and reached Tres Alamos Springs in
safety, resting there over night
They planned to start YER early next
morning for WickenbeTg, the near
est town.
Before the faint glow Of dawn tint
ed the peaks of the adjacent Haucu,
vars a yell startled the tired sleepers
from dreams of untold wealth. Three
or four Hualapai Indians sprang upoI
them and killed two of the Italians
and the pcor old Mojave. The third
Italian, screened by some brush, made
his scape The Indians left hastily
evidently in fear Of spursuit by sol
diers from Camp Date.
When the Indians ~retreated thu
italian returned, placed the bodies OF
his friends together, and, piling brust
over them, set a match to it, thus ere
mating them, as the only means OF
saving the bodies from the hungr!
coyotes. He next put. the chart anC
written pages in a metal box ana
! buried the box near the spring. Then
gathering up the bag Of gold anG
taking a canteen Of water, he set Out
On his lonely journey across the des
ert. The three monkeys were left
free at the spring. Two days later
a teamster found the unfortunate
Italian lying face downward in the
sand. He had fallen a victim Of thirst
and the cruel desert heat. The bags
of quartz were clutched in his stiff
ened fingers, which held a note in
Italian telling of the tragedy at Tres
Alamos and of the wonderful gold
mine.
The Indians were troublesome a
the time and the teamster thought the
written words might have been the
mere fancies of a frenzied brain. SO
taking the gold on to Ehrenburs, ne
made no effort to prove the truth o.
the Italians story.
All RI sse wears the metal box has
held it's secret under the sane lhe
map and descriptions agree with tht
stories of and point out the LOCALITY
of the Niger Ben mine, and new:
of it's discovery by the lucky finder O.
the italians metal box may be heart
any day.
The poor monkeys. left alone, mus
have gradually adapted themselves L
their new life, subsisting on mesquite
"a wild honey They