Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1906-07-27
IN THE NEVADA DESERT.

one can VlSlt.-B. M. f1dll.
IN THE NEVADA DESERT.
Travellers Suffering From Heat and
Thrist-Brotherhood Among Pros
peotors.
The lessons about judging dis
tances which are learned in the clear
air of Colorado must be learned over
when the face is turned westward
from the Grand Canon. After spend
ing half a generation in the shadows
of the Rockies, lost a bet that the
distance from rim to rim Of the
Grand Canon at Bright Angel trail
was not fourteen miles. 1t was i'm
possible to believe 1t was half that
far until 1 ran out g. base line and
took the angles. which proved the
distance and cost me the price Of a
dinner.
One typical summer day with a
team and wagon I started across a
valley to a camp at a water hole
fifteen miles away, in plain sight
across an almost level sagebrush
plain. 1t did not seem that the trip
could last longer than three hours,
so the horses were watered, small
canteen was filled for my own use
and no thought Of danger from
thirst was suggested. Why should
there be any? The distance was
small and the plain so level. There
are scores who have made that mis-
take, while a wife, mother, sister or
sweetheart was waiting, hoping,
looking and praying for him who
went out under the pitiless sun never
to be heard Of more.
That fifteen miles over the road
less sagebrush was fifteen miles or
sand from which the heat rose as
from an oven, burning and blister
ing the face, cooking one and call
ing all the time: Water. water, wa
ter! The sand was SC deep that the
horses found 1t hard work to draw
the wagon, and progress was very
slow; they stopped frequently and
soon it was necessary to use the
whip to make them go at all. My
canteen was soon empty. 1 pitied
the horses and got out to walk and
tighten their load. The sand burned
the feet and was unbearably hot
and walking ceased. The iron parts
of the wagon were hot enough to|
blister the hand. I felt as II l were
drying into a mummy. The old
truth was remembered that the way
to forget troubles which cannot be
avoided Is to fasten the mind upon
something else, and l. tried 1t. I'd
like to have told them to the Ice
man. The sun in the heavens stood
still and the water hole seemed to be
going away. My mouth was so dry
that a pebble put In 1t showed no.
moisture and the tongue felt as II
1t was growing thick. A lizard with
a brilliant head and neck sat In the
shade of a sagebrush, making can
nibal meal Of a small lizard In Its
mouth.
No thoughts could drive away the
heat. After six hours, and the long
est ones that ever passed, the horses
staggered rather than walked into
camp at the water hole. Had 1
tried to make the trip on foot these
words would never have been writ
ten.
No one knows how many hundreds
have tried to make such trips. Few
accounts are ever given Of them, be-
cause few live to tell the story. All
that is known is that a man went
out and never came back.
IL Is not strange that the desert
should have been so many years In
giving up it's golden secrets. They
are guarded by dragons that few
are fitted to combat. The contest has
developed a class Of prospectors who
seem to be different from the gen.
eral kind. There Is a peculiar cam
araderie that is generally absent,
in the civilized world, which re-
minds one of the feelings toward
one another of old soldiers who
have done the real thing-hard
service together Sharing common
dangers creates a common brother
hood. In the thickly settled COM
munities, boasting Of the arts and
refinements of civilized life, men die
of want and neglect. On the desert
every man has a helping hand for
his fellow man, and when the game
of life is played out there are always
plenty to chip in and give a poor
fellow a decent funeral, and not al
low it to be said:
Rattle his bones over the stones,
He's only a pauper whom NOBODY
owns
Those who arrive at the water
hole of good luck seldom refuse to
extend a helping hand to the poor
devil who has not reached the cool
| waters and green shade Of success;
nor does the Nevada prospector look
back and weep over the heat ana
winds and bleaching bones In the
drifting sands. He forgets trouble
as soon as the wind covers the blood
stains and bones of the missing.
Prospecting never publishes its list OF
dead, and regrets for suffering and
failure, If they exist, are as substan-
tial as the dreams Of last Christmas
drinks.-Denver Republican.
RELICS FROM sUNKEN WARsHIP