Los Angeles herald., 1908-01-05

where he found It. The Indians in the store
told him they knew where there was noun
tair of that kind of ore. me brothers were
deeply interested and tried TO find out where
the ore was located.
The Indians were foxy and would not di-
vulge their treasure house without remune-
ration. They finally told the Walkers If they
would dig them well on their reservation
and equip 1t with windlass and two buck
cts. curb the well with lumber and make a
water trough for them they would take them
to the silver mine.
Accept Proposition
The Walkers took up the proposition and
set two men to work digging the WELL The
work took long time. for it was over one
hundred feet to water
At the completion Of the work the Indians
kept their word and took the brothers to the
Vekol mine. There they found tons and tons
of almost pure silver piled upon the ground.
Their find was one of the sensations of the
time.
The vekol mine produced several fortunes
and at times looked like 1t was entirely worked
out. The ore came In pockets and sometimes
pocket would be found where the ore was
i've or six feet in width Then 1t would mar
rev down and almost pinch out. The little
stringer of ore, often no wider than the blade
of knife would be followed by the miners
for a considerable distance until another pocket
was found. Tho mine was literally coy
oted" until the mountain was honeycombed
with crooked cross-cuts. wines, tunnels, drifts.
slopes and shafts. The Vekol lies about half
way between Casa Grande and the Quijotoas.
the latter property being near the border of
Mexico.
Old Araster was greatly interested in the
vekol mine. and roked about for hours samp-
ling the ore piles Indians did most Of the
work at the Veko, and there was an Indian
boy that marvel.
Boy Giant
He was II years old and weighed over 300
Nla, IdHFo In ctr
other boys of his own tribe. 1t was comical TO
see him trying to get down on his hands and
knees to play marbles Araster wanted to take
him with us so we could start a show, but the
il Their would not part with his little son for
the small consideration we could offer.
Five miles from the Vekol Araster made a
much excited H.. found what he took to be
rich placer ground.
We soon pitched camp and got busy with our
prospecting pans We scraped up dirt from on
the bedrock of a little stream and Araster be-
gan to pan it out He found nothing In the
shape Of gold, and was SO disappointed l took
pity on him and made up my mind that /
would give him a surprise took some brass
shoe tacks from the kit In the wagon and cut
them up into small bits with chisel and ham
mer. =
The pieces of brass I slyly dropped into the
ran when he was working away at another
sample of pay dirt He would pan and shake
until he had the top dirt almost washed over
the sides of the pan. Then he would get ms
Finally he found two or three of the pieces OF
brass tacks and was about the most excited
man 1 He yelled to me to come
and see what he had found.
Thinks Brass Is Gold
He said he had coarse gold and lots Of it. !
examined the pan and agreed with MN, ana
he soon rich once more as IN tne Tune Vi
yore when GOLD was plentiful in California.
Finally Araster got his weather eye down
too close to the pan and saw the threads on
| Ibid to de- eva
he discovered what 1t was. Then there was
some tall swearing down around that camp II
was several days before he would as much as
speak to agoln.
Farlv in June we drove up to the little old
shack In Case Grande again and / took my
solitary way, via the brake beam, from whence
had come
| I might add, by way OF explanation. that Mr..
| johnson got the nome of "Araster'' on account
OF the many arasiras that he made In his ear
| ler days
| ore and is very effective when the work IS
| done by experts. such as Johnson. An arastfa
| is made by first n ting lot of fiat stones to-
| gether so as to form circle from ten to twenty
| feet across owing to the desired capacity OF
| the arastra. Sides Of fiat stones are then
| made around the he'd and so cemented together
that they are water tight A post is set up IN
| the center of the bed of stones and ~ long pole
| something like a wagon tongue. is btted by
| the groove and tongue process to the top OF
| the post It will. swing about three feet above
the bed of the stones.
Slow Process
| Two large fiat stones are then procured anc
| holes drilled into the top of them. Staples arr
driven into the mole and the stones hoopea =
the pole by means of a chain, long enough L
allow them to dras on the fiat stones that forn
the floor of tho arastra.
Ia horse is hitched to the end OF the pole
! and driven around and around day after day
The ore that is to be milled is broken up int'
small pieces with hammers and thrown int'
the arastra. The stones grind the ore int
small particles and the gold is recovered by
the same process that is used In the lates
| approved stamp mills.
| Quicksilver is spread on the bottom stones
and water fed into arastra by means of q
little pipe or bucket. Ore is milled very close
| BIZ the arastra process and thousands or COL
| lars have been taken out by this means. The
| ruins of old arastras can be found over certain
sections of California and Arizona.