Los Angeles herald., 1908-01-05
DESCRIBES FAMOUS CHARACTER
OF '49
ODD EXPERIENCE IN CAREER OF
"ARAsTER" JOHNSON
Pioneer Settler Followed Many
Strange Trails and Was Always
Present When Rich Strikes
Were Made
ny ID, d. MCDONALD

EVeTF TITTI -,
Gus fellow and goes wherever his sweet WIZ
dictates ever on the lookout for sings VI
all the curious fellows ever met "Araster .
johnson was the limit.
crossed the great Rockies and landed in the
gold fields of California. He was but youth
then, and had the constitution OF an IRON man,
Through the decades that followed the great
strike of gold at Suffers mill, Araster kept 10
his favorite occupation and followed the strikes
in various states and territories. wherever
new strike was made there you would hnd
Araster, ready to prospect from morning uh,l
night. ..,
On the Southern Pacific in Maricopa county,
4rIzona some twenty years ago; and 1t was
lucky for me we met for although ne was ny
:rg pretty light. | was a few degrees leaI near,
BEDROCK, and his acquaintance was eagerly
sought and Just ds eagerly retained. 1t was
the fact that he had little grub ana DIE
heart that first attracted me; and II was ms
unselfsh disposition that kept me with MN lor
months.
Meets Character
dropped from a dusty freight car beam one
morning in April and was casting about ior
square meal When l happened TO run aG Ii.,1s
Araster He standing OUTSIDE ms ht.Ie
tcvel. and the SUI was glistening throush oiio
Of the finest mops of white whiskers ever
saw hailed HIM and he called back ~ ms
CHEEKY tones inviting me TO come IN anu nave
breakfast . . Aoso
frame was tina. OF a giant, disclosed the facI
that he was nearl. blind, but ne never coin-
planned of that fact Breakfast una. ooFree
consisted Of beef stew, slapJacks anu eollee.
The word stew meant everything that the mar
ket afforded in Cas- Grande for as aug oo Own
into the savory 1 hshed out carro.s' W .ua
n;ps potatoes onions. meat, Dacon anu O
ingredients too numerous 10 mention.
Araster and 1 coon became irlenus loi H
needed a boy such as l was then 10 ~ VIZ,
him on a prospecting trip through tne EeA1 Ii
country to the Cuijotoas. He coulo not VIZ ,,n
90 through the country without eyes, and ne
would not give up prospecting. -
For several days prior to the rlii,e v, spont 10
-nts per day We would buy the leg Oh d
beee from the knee down for 10 cents. il,is
with vegetables that we purlolneu Iroll Prhose
places after dark kept us In PROVISIONS. lbs
shin homes with their long rolls or marrow
were marvellous things indeed; .,..., % 8
When ready to start our outht consisted VI ~, -
ueht blackboard drawn by snow, an on
white mule and Sam, an antiquateu sorIess
horse. we had provisions, to say nothlns OF
three shin bones, which we're corded up on l,i0
back end Of the rig we nau Sn 90 Tiu Arnster's
heart He thought more of that gun tnhh NJ
a.d of his life, and before we had gone "a
came in very handy. Araster was !" vi along
with his other Junk. We had little p oWue'
and shot. enough for six loads in the shotgun,
We also had box Of primers anu "a q uo~s'
IRA shells The gun was NUMBER ~
- two or three days on the desert our
beef got a little too rank for use, and Afastes
sorrowflllly intrusted the gun 10 me anu ~
me to get game bu. to make every sno' 0oN''''
Gees After Game
was. fortunately, an excellent shot, and naa
no trouble in getting some fat YOUNG ~
| ~ was rabbit or no dinner on more IMAM oIie
| ]ccosion When the last load of shot had peen
fred we stopped by large pie OF Slu avs S1,s
| that had been hauled away from the poni ui.,s
| bouee at fine old Vekol mine, marNelous pr
Queer of silver in its day, and there we pro 70,
| ceeded TO manufacture some shot we pileu ~. W
brush and threw lot OF cans on .Og o NJ
heap. Then we set fire 10 the DfuS" anu
the solder in the cans +. ,ooos n,
The solder fell to the ground in pieces OF
various size, from buckshot to the sliaa,es
drop shot made. and was afterwaius 49, t,,,c
Inv panning the ashes. We mace a pou' 49,
| ,o,nds of shot in this manner. we were eiieN
ieady to go farther into the desert 49,. orord
4 After a few dayG we wound up at 1 nS a1,d
| Tr,,nr group OF mines, owned by toru any
| = lumn Two we'll known miners who AFTER
wards made quite a stake out or their pIopsIs
| Ford and Brownell asked us to stay Win tlle"
/ a dov or two and rest, and we did NOT hest-
q "a, We" g. s,rthcr urging Jackrabbits were plen-
| tifu1 around the mines and mad soihe III a. {
| snort shooting them in the hlsh grass s et,eer
not dare shoot a. RABBIT more utaN whistle
/ reet awav for the solder slugs Woulu Mnis ~,
1 md 20 in every direction after leaVihs tns
~ Iu Farrell I sometimes shot rabbits head
| almost off with one slug AT tora anu H'o"
! nelTs we lived oil the fat of the lahu'
Famous Story Teller
/ Arastor was famous for his frontier stories
snd RECALLED us every night Win ta is "
/ ohrl,, days of California. lie eeherahy 49, -,
| - b,, CONNIE sting his old shotgun WIN ~. ~,
| story He was mixed up in the uoupie W." ~
| tbn Indians In the owens river sectloh ~ Wy
early days and helped drive lne se ~ men that
| the land He was with the gang OF men .iiu
drove a body of Indians into the lake anu
drowned them. Only one nttle pappoos s,aSia.
saved and he is il. this state TO-DAY, l,,
| aged Indian. In telling OF TINS lhuiah UNIV
| toid no following story
| ~ was sent out by the eommahuer ol II'
| Axnedition to look up the camp OF ,lie ~
dams so that they could ne SUI Luz, anS
| siain followed the trail two days am
| analIr discovered smoke curling from Ia -
pine thicket mile from @nere was a,o orv
! tinv on nv horse. Dismounting crepl aiolis
| srn,, rock to rock until l was within thirty
Yards of the Indian camp. l soon saw l was
| not at the camp OF the main body, put mao
! found the camp of a small party
There twenty Indians et' IN, nr"un az
| ~ q deer they had roasted. AS watched tne
rascals | determined to open hostiiitles alo',ei
| for I knew my old shot gun was equai 10 'iis
| occasion. -. 4,o,, T arAd one
| h.rraI and then the other In quick succession
and then jumped in with my gun eluoned'
Kills Fifteen Indians
.cUben the smoke rolled away counted M
.,on dead indians ] had killed thirteen WITH
The two barrels and had clupped Two u
| death" - roa,,,, bolieved
| ~ himself Such a panied look would come
into his eyes If any. one spoke as '"oue" '''
doubted the old mans word g.. =,
| Vvbuc Araster was almost blind as lar as
seaine with the eye was concerned ne eouio
IcolS through an old French telescope ana seS
| a pnat's heel at fifty yards lie coula ne
teet the SMALLEST object whenever ne had sna'
oId brass telescope to his right eye. Whel
animals strayed from the camp no would go e
] hin and climb to the top Then he ~oulo
| sueen the horizon with the telescope ano
| soon he would tell me where to go 10 gel
them. He could tell copper or gold ore
quarter of a mile with his old eye piece.
| One day after leaving Ford and broWnel ;
we camped early and Araster ala some assay
ing. He built a small Mexican Forge AUG
eot enough heat from It with only WOOD rue
Ia melt tho finely ground pieces OF ore.
| He, assayed piece after piece ana soon nde
| tho whole pile cleaned up. He never tound
anv values in the buttons that were left IN the
crucibles, for we were not very lucky on ina
trim as far as finding a mine was concerned
On the return trip TO Casa Grande we
comped three or four days at the Vekoi. whicf
was then being worked with small force
| Of men The Vekol was the property or th'
| two Walker brothers, John and Luoien, ana VI
| in the courts at present, various heirs or the
long deceased brothers being in litigation oyel
| the property. 60.
zcna in the early lays, for at one time the
old "pockety" mine babe fair TO rival thu
| Ccmstock OF Nevada.
| Jchn and 1.ucien Walker were owners OF q
little indian trading store and did business
with the Cuajarte Indians. They treated the
/ natives right and enjoyed their friendship e
degree seldom given to white men by In
\ dams. one day one OF the Walkers came into
4 the store with a small piece of silver float