The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-07-01

4AA11AAS 4ec1SV 1ASA OSS NSSoa4 y VA
ley by Dauntless Gold
s::sssa Hunters. ..-s-.:
Special to The Journal.
Goldfeld, New, June 30.-Shut your
eyes and say Hgold -hunting.' The Wis
ion is Of an old sun-baked prospector,
shuffling along behind pack of dusty
ourros, thru an endless desert.
But out here in southwestern Nevada,
where mining is newest and most mod
ern, there is another kind of 'gold-
hpnting,' the kind that Is done BY the he
called mine-hunting. The men that en-
mines and mines. They are looking
a mine. They know that it needs
one mine to fix q man for life-and
ge something for his descendants.
that kind of mine-hunting Is not
e afoot behind file of burros. It 8
in automobiles. The men that en-
- b, in it keep up an Intelligence de-
European governments. They have
, osaries all over the goldfields- plod-
/ patiently thru the desert, "pan-
f. in ravines, upon mountain tops.
have emissarics in the towns, in
dsaloons, the gambling places fell
"a Hwho can engage conversation and
migood ears. In the garage close to
office is their automobile--oiled
s like a watch, laden with extra tires,
asolene, a "grub' box, and water,
ne chauffeur Longing near.
Comes the news of a strike. Mr.. Mine
sunter grabs up his overcoat, saunters
eross the street to the garage, steps
.nto the tonneau, and he is off. Beneath
the perpendicular sun, beneath the blaz-
ing stars, thru desert and oasis, noun
cain Or sink, his big machine whirrs-
tne day, two days, three, if necessary.
i'll, he comes to the find. He steps off
snd examines it. # it looks good. he
wants is one mino. It's big, noble hunt
pr impatient. For, remember, all he
buys 1t. IF not, he. goes back. bootless.
Bootless thus he often returns, but new
ing.
The Race Across Death Valley.
Nearly every one Of these trips is an
adventure. The men Of the mining dis
tricts relate them to each other as, in
home told of the hardships and deeds of
the searchers for the holy grail. The
story that is being told here now is the
run made by l.. M Sullivan and
"Jack' Campbell. From Manhattan
Sullivan and Campbell sprang 25C
miles. clean across Death Valley, the
earth s inferno, into the Panamint
mountains, on the California side, and
bounced there upon a monstrous ledge
been dimly heralded, on the wings OF
rumor: They. got there just in time
too. y For hardly had they made pre-
lifninary examination and closed the
deal, when d big black auto. carving
the fortunes Of Charles M. Schwab, the
steel magnate, whirred into the little
camp from the California sidc-too late
Just before midnight of June IS
Campbell whizzed thru the main street
front of the Sullivan office. j. Campbell
20 GINNING engineer in charge Of the
oovan properties in Manhattan. The
diligence Of the strike had reached
=" first, and he had come down from
Enhattan, seventy miles, in two hours
Bllivan was presiding over a meeting
directors. Two words from Camp
ell were enough, and, Selling a DO,
# cigars and his big automobile leather
5oat. he stepped in to the machine. A
short stop was made at the garage tt
take on extra tires and gasolene, ant
then the big machine, an eighty-horse
power Pope Toledo, owned by Sullivan
buzzed out into the open country.
That night g run was uneventful. A
20 clock, crossing the Amargosa river
a little stream of bitter water twt
inches wide, one of the rear tires blew
up. The chauffeur lacked the machin,
up. and put in a new one-and the,
went on. !, They passed thru Beatty Xix;
lightning, midst bowling of startle,
dogs, At O'Clock they were in Rhy
ollte. They had made eighty miles O.
mountainous desert in three hours.
A Forehanded Scout.
There they met Chafey, the youn
fellow who had flashed the first new
of the strike. He informed them tina
he had sent on mule team with ORC
visions to Stove Pipe Spring, on tn
edge of Death Valley. A half-hou
stop was made. Breakfast was eater
A new supply of gasolene was take
aboard, and each man was given a Sout
eral coal oil cans full of water wer
also dashed to the shelf behind, fo
they, were entering the country O
death and desolation.
They started off again with the gree
sky Of dawn behind them and whirre
down dry wash thru a canyon of re
walls: The enfevered breath of tn
still invisible valley struck their face
as if she were kissing warning to then
After a while, the canyon walls opene
and Death Valley was below them
huge bowl, its bottom leprous wit
some loathsome- hued sediment. The
whirred on, down a wash of black fiji
rock; with each plunge of the machin
they entered layer of air hotter tina
the preceding, till they painted as at th
finish of a mile run. They rolled OF
and the mountains rose on all side
yelled, painted mysterious mountain
Finally they were at the bottom, lC
feet below sea level, and stopped {
Stove Pipe spring, a hole in the san
from which a little black water ooze,
The mule wagon which Chafey ha
sent on ahead was there, driven by M
Mccullough, desert prospector {
years experience They loaded Il
with water from the spring for the mi
chine, boarding the better water Fl
+, drinking, and then they went on, aero!
The valley of death.
Stuck In Treacherous Sand.
A half mile on, they reached Il
J sand dunes, and the big machine stuc
its wheels whirring impotently thu
the elusive stuff without catching.
1--WE can't make it, said the chau
feur