Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-06-03
THE DESERT THIRST"
Prof. MCGEE Discovers Record
Breaking Case.
STORY OF A MEXICAN MINER
Survived After Going Seven Days
Without Water.
DESPERATE FIGHT FOR LIFE
, Gradually Threw Away His Food and
Clothes and Crept Across the
Hot Sand Wastes.
STORY OF A MEXICAN MINER
DESPERATE FIGHT FOR LIFE

copyright 1906, by John EIfreth Watkns)
That there is no death more cruel than
that from the terrible desert thirst of the
far southwest is attested by Prof. w. j.
MCGEE the weIl-known ethnologist who has
been camping for months in the great Amer
lean desert of southwestern Arizona for
purposes of meteorological observation and
study of the effects of light on desert life.
Professor MCGEE dwelt in a tentless camp
directly upon the old Yuma trail, dubbed
THE Devils Highway by the Spanish pio-
neers who traced 1t across the great desert
before the landing of the English at James
town or Plymouth Rock. 1t twas over this
highway of death that from 40 to the
middle SOS the American pioneers In
their long journey to the new gold mines
of California experienced their worst SUI
ferings and the way is lined with the graves
of thousands killed by the bandits who
haunted these parts or by crueler foe
the desert thirst" The barren way begins
at Santo Domingo, on the Mexican boun-
dairy. a feudal Mexican village standing on
the site of the wooden cross erected py the
Spanish priests over two centuries ago.
Thence the trackless path, buried IN drl1t
sand. proceeds northwestw ard-foiowlns
the boundary two-thirds of the way-to
Yuma in the southwestern corner or Arl-
zona This is stretch of 200 miles. and
Professor McGees tentless camp was 70
miles from the western or Yuma emo ana
at a spot which the Spanish Padre kino.
In 1702 named Tinajas Atlas, or High
Tanks"
Here water from the light rains Of the
region and seepage from barren granite
precipice, rising to several hundred feet
above, collects in a number or potnoies OF
water pockets, the worn remains OF one
time cascade. Here the traveller on the
Yuma trail has ever halted to sink his
bucket below the scum the myriad noatlng
insects and tadpoles, and drink from Ma
lures cistern. The nearest certain water Is
eighty miles eastward OF thirty-f1ye miles
northwestward, and the nearest house-the
Southern Pacific station at Weilton-is
thirty miles northward In an air-line over
broad sand wastes
Graves Of Thirst Victims.
In the days Of the Old Yuma Trail this
oasis where Prof. MCGEE camped was reput-,
ed to be the sole sure water between the two
distant extremities. In the whole houseless
20e-mile stretch there is hardly mile that
Is not marked by one or more cross-shaped
stone heaps marking the grave of some vic
tim of bandits or the desert thirst. usually
the latter. These cross-shaped stone heaps,
each telling Its mute tale of tragedy, vastly
increase as the Oasis OF High Tanks is
reached, and within gunshot OF Prof. Me-
Gees camp there he counted over sixty
graves SO marked-and doubtless many
more Misunderstanding mostly on single
little mesa in plain sight of the pools
These attcsted how again and again ex-
haustcd struggiers had fallen at the foot
of the hill. to climb which would have been
their salvation had their strength not failed
at the last moment. Such was the site of
his camp, In which he dwelt alone or with
Jose. his Papago Indian guide. For few
weeks of the long stay Harrison Ford. the
actor. shared the solitude with him. and
two or three times prospectors halted to
rest there for few hours.
Strangers Arrive.
One Monday morning there drifted Into
camp two eQuestrians. Pablo Valencia and
Jesus Rios en- route to certain lost mines
rediscovered by the former some marfha
before. They were supplied with pino1e
(parched wheat mea1l, bread. cheeees sNGIar.
Gomez and tobacco for WeelEs snbelstence;