The Colorado statesman., 1906-11-03
RESERVE OPENED
OF sooNERs EvADE
INDIAN POLICE.
WILD SCENES REPORTED

OpcniH9 VI "a'Ncr Lane indian Rescr-
walton In Nevada Very Disorderly-
Lax Methods Work to Defraud Hon.
est Land Seekers.
Thorne, Nev.-The opening of the
Walker Lake Indian reservation Mon
day was not as imposing as it prom
ised to be, on account of the fact that
countless numbers Of miners had
fiocked into it during the night and
early morning, completely overwhelm-
ing the Indian police, of whom there
were but fourteen to guard seventy
five miles of territory.
While the opening was taking place,
Special Agent Parks of the General
Land Office, was waiting for
an answer to his dispatch
sent % the General Land Of
fee at Washington, Sunday night,
urging that the opening be postponed
on account of the Irregularities he had
discovered. Parks pointed out that
the Indian police, who had been named
to guard the lines were not only made
quate and inefficient, but they had
taken money and liquor as bribes and
were intoxicated most Of the time.
He stated in his dispatch that on ac-
count of the lax methods observed,
hundreds of prospectors had paid no
attention to the time set for the open
ing.
fhrr. ,xl, "a
camps where bona fide prospectors
had gathered to make a rush and as a
result there was a great deal of discon-
tent.
Reoorts have reached here of nu-
merous shooting affrays in the vicinity
OF the old Arastra gold mine, which
was the objective point Of hundreds of
fortune seekers who had arrived only
to find that the land had already been
taken up. They then attempted to get
small sections, with the result that
blood was shed in numerous instances,
although no fatalities have been re-
ported.
Special Land Agent Parks deplores
the fact that the rush was allowed to
take place, when it was known that
the laws of the United States in re-
gard to opening a reservation had been
evaded. He says that there Is yet a
possibility that the present opening
may be declared invalid and a new
one called for.
Sub-Indian Agent Robert Lovegrove
made the sensational statement that
United States engineers who were sent
here for the purpose of carrying out
reclamation work on the portion OF
Walker Lake reservation that had
beer allotted to the Indians, had occu.
pied their time in placing launches on
the edge of Walker lake for the pur-
pose of participating in the rush, con
trary to the law which states that all
persons shall keep off a reservation
until the time fixed for its opening.
With the firing of a mighty blast OF
dynamite from the top of Grant Peak.
the highest point in the adjacent
mountains, the reservation v as opened
at noon Monday. At the given signal
hundreds OF searchers for gold hur'
ried helter-skelter over the boundary
lines of plain and mountain and before
the great cloud of smoke which rose
into the air from the dynamite explo-
sion had drifted away, a spectacular
race Of automobiles, race horses and
vehicles was on So great was the
nearest Hawthorne that a number OF
persons narrowly escaped being tram
pled over, and in numerous instances
injuries were reported.
Horses were ridden till they
dropped and men recounted their i'll
fortune when their automobiles be-
came stalled in the deep sands. Jaded
and overcome by thirst, numbers Of
prospectors barely summoned enodgh
strength to make their locations.
Those who had waited for the signal
from the top of Mount Grant before
rushing into the reservation, found
that all the most valuable claims in
the vicinity of the rich Dutchman, Cot
tonwood and numerous other creeks
emptying into the southwestern Sec
ton of Walker lake had been taken up
by men who had rushed in the night
before Even men who employed
launches to take them across Walker
lake from the eastern side found that
their efforts were of no avail, as they
were much too late to be on an equal
footing with the men who had disre-
garded all law.