The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1908-01-29

- e. 10 hil lhio
/ ground for placer mining"
When the readers mind had recov-
cred from its earthquake Of astonish-
ment the miner made n snatch Mt the
placard. A pricking thrill went through
his fingers, as though they had taken
liberties with an electric battery. The
luminous writing was gone, but in his
ears roared the flowing water Of the
sluice and through the roar the sharp,
clear cut tap, tap, OF a pick. Again the
fash Of warning Highland before him
stood Tom Bowers.
The California miner Is no coward.
The rife was lifted, fired. With n yell
Of rage the ghost, brandishing pick
and shovel in excited arms, pursued
the trespasser.
a race between life and death In a
new sense was the one that followed
all h way to Pike City. There the
other miners, celebrating a new find
by a dance in n saloon, were suddenly
alarmed by terrified screams. Running
out, they found neither man nor ghost,
but tossed upon the ground a rife and
a pick and a shovel with the initials
T.. B. cut in the handle.
A legend Of an entirely different type
Is connected with the same period OF
California history.
During the rush for gold in the fifties
a party came west by the ella river
route. The heat was intense. The sup
ply of water gave out. On the hot,
barren sands just below Yuma the
| divine n nra1nnI@ ,ttoI,-I 4lot. -o
ate camp.
In the silence Of the early night from
one OF the wagons came the prattling
voice Of a little child lifted in prayer
"Do, dear God, give us water, and I
never will be naughty again"
And scarcely had the petition gone
up to the stars when the sound Of
running water was heard, and up from
the dry, hot sands dubbed q pure, life
giving spring.
The water Of this New river, as 1t
was called, swept north for twenty
miles, at n place spreading into a
deep lake two miles wide, but when
migration went by the northern route,
the pretty tradition naively ends, no
longer needed, the New rivers spring
dried up.
Perhaps no more desolate spot can
be pictured than Death valley, with
Its terrific heat, It's lack Of water, the
soda dust Of It's plains strewn with
mummifed animals and the bleached
bones OF lost prospectors. But fair
and fertile once lay the valley, n -four
ishing pueblo ruled over by a beauti-
full queen.
Alas, the beauty was only skin deep,
and ambition alone ruled n cold, cruel
heart. A palace to surpass the houses
Of the neighboring Aztecs was her
dream, and she cared not how many
lives might be sacrificed in speeding
the labor.
Fol miles the tribe carried stone and
timber, and when they faltered by
he wayside she dashed their naked
backs. SO sacred was royalty regard
ed that her people dared not protest,
but In her zeal to have the palace
erected before accident or possible
death she. had forced her daughter
even to join the throng Of workers,
and when the lash was lifted against
her own flesh and blood the princess
turned before sinking down in death
from exhaustion n cursed both her
mother and the kingdom.
The gods answered quickly. The sun
sent down a heat so fierce that the
streams dried up, vegetation became
scorched, the animals sought new
abodes, while queen and people died
as though by plague.
But In the midst OF the desolation
tho palace half completed may be seen
to this day-if fortune favors the trav.
eler with a mirage.
An amusing ghost story haunts the
early history Of Santa Barbara island.
Such were the awful noises heard
by ships in passing that every sailor on
board devoutly crossed himself, con-
WINGED that 1t was the headquarters of
swimming and flying monsters. IN
fortunately for the sailors yarns 1t
was latterly discovered that some ship.
wrecked cats had landed on the is
land, their numerous progeny living
sumptuously On dead fish and the eggs
and the young sea fowl.
Long before the first white man en-
tered Kern county that locality was