Los Angeles herald., 1906-06-11

! come occasional prospeetors, alone
save for their faithful burros. When
| one of those whose "grubstake" was
extra large disappears his taking off
is usually charged to the Plutes. More
often, as am told by old desert men,
! some tramps have felled him with
stone, and then, after robbins his
saddebags, or the pack on his burro,
pushes on into the heart Of the desert.
1t is days before the dead miner Is dis
covered, sometimes the days run into
weeks, and then all trace Of the muir
! derer has been covered up and he
Is somewhere far out on the winding
white trail, living on the food he COM
mitted an awful crime to get.
The circuit of the desert tramps who
start out from Daggett frequently runs
entirely around Death Valley. From
Daggett they go out to the Chino
Ranch or to Resting Springs, thence
| on across low lava hills into the
Furnace Creek country and down to
the old borax works at the north end
of the valley. From there II Is a short
and comparatively safe hike of
couple Of hundred miles into some
one of the mining camps, so that their
tramp, all told, reaches very close to
300 and sometimes 400 miles.
ON this journey water holes are far
apart, and very uncertain. ranches are
scattered and the network of trails so
interwoven by the feet of prospectors
and of burros that they become n
Veritable maze to the man who does
not keep close watch on them year by
year. To make this circuit 1t requires
at least nine months of the year
from late September or October to the
last of May. For the remainder of the
year, as has been said, the tramp
loafs around some border town, where
he has to behave himself-ropes and
telegraph poles and willing men are
too near at hand for the committing
of crimes.
1t is the lonely ranches on the desert
that suffer most from this class of
wanderers/ Coming to the ranch
house, they insolently demand food
and clothing, and they get it, too. IF
they do not the haystack is burned
that night or even the house is set
on fire. If the family depends on
spring of water as likely as not the
water hole will be filled with stones
and earth; frequently springs along
the trail are so treated when the tramp
thinks that one of his enemies is likely
TO pass that way in the near future
and depend on the presence of water
In the tank for himself and his stock,
One incident of this kind may be told
to illustrate the devilsh schemes these
fellows concoct. A new manager was
sent to the borax plant on the northern
rim of Death valley. He was a most ex-
cellent man for the work in hand. but
he knew nothing of the men with whom
ne was to deal, and the first tramp who
came along was ordered to "get out and
stay out" Now the road over which
the borate from this particular plant
was hauled to the refinery was long and
dry, and the company had placed
wooden tanks at necessary intervals. |
keeping them filled with water and de- |
pending on them for the use of the |
wagon teams and their drivers. The |
tramp, angered and revengeful at his |
treatment set out along this road and |
for 100 miles emptied every tank The |
result can better be imagined than de- |
scrfbed; the next wagon train out, two |
huge desert wagons, drawn by twenty |
mules and handled by two men, com |
ing to the first tank and finding no |
water, pushed on to the next; by the |
time they they reached that the men |
were we'll nigh crazed with thirst, but |
no water awaited them there, and on |
they dragged their weary bodies, until |
1t is presumed, abandoning the team, |
they wandered away and died
The wagons and the mules, the latter |
quite dead, were found two weeks later, |
but not even the skeletons of the men |
were ever seen. The desert keeps its
secrets better than the sea. and this
was one of them. Men followed the |
tramp; some say ne was caught. The
men who followed him still live on the
desert; l have seen one of them, but
none can remember whether they
caught this particular tramp or not
Possibly pile of bones could tell il it
could speak. for short shrift is meted
to the man, be he tramp or mine owner,
who NEEDLES with water on the desert.
More valuable than gold it is. and worth
many human lives when thrown in the
balance.
On the desert, too, there is another
kind of tramp, by no means a criminal,
and yet one of the most interesting