Imperial Valley press., 1912-08-31
REEVES PEC-LEC MINE STORY !.
OFTEN REC|TEO HERETOFORE

The fascination and the lure Of lost
mines is strong upon, the prospectors
and miners of this part of the country.
The story of the old lost Peg-Leg mine
has been published many times. The
following story, taken from the Adven-
ture Magazine for August, is the cor
rect and accurate story, down to the
date of the second famous lost mine
of this part of the Southwest, the Old
Padre lost mine being easily the most
famous. The story, which is more
entertaining than fiction, reads as fol
lows:
Just about three years ago the great
Southwest was awakened by the posi-
bility of the relocation of the widely
known Peg-Leg mine. The Southern
Pacific railroad was doing considerable
work through Imperial valley, val
ley which five years previously was
one of the hottest and most foraSken
deserts on the American continent, but
which, with the coming of water
through the extensive irrigation sys-
den spots of the world.
The only human being who ever ven
tured into the valley before the bring
ing in of water were the prospectors
and then the engineers and their crews
of hardy linemen, rodmen and assist
ants, who were surveying roads, lateral
canals for subsequent irrigation, and
similar work. A large crew was sta
ton between Ogilby and Salton. re-
building much of the track. They
were near a watering place called
GlamiS when the incident occurred
which sent many of them scurrying
from their work into the mountain
ranges in a vain effort to find the
wonderful property that they knew
must exist.
While driving the work along slowly
under the braZen sun and amid the
occasional sand clouds stirred up by
a slight breeze from the mountains.
a figure appeared in the distance, just
a vague, traceable figure, slowly and
wearily pushing along through the
clogging sands. AS it approached, it
resolved itself into a wandering Indian
squaw. apparently half dead from lack
OF water. who, without going near the
workmen, passed on to the tank and
there started to drink from the open
trough.
Thinking to assist her when she
seemed about to drop into a heap
from nothing more than the exhaustion
of her toilsome journey, several of the
men started in her direction. She saw
them coming. With an effort she arose
and made off with all speed down the
track in the opposite direction.
She was followed for some distance
until she turned off into the desert
again, and having no great interest
III single squaw the men returned
On arriving at the water tank thew dis
covered an old piece of blanket Sc
curely tied. On opening it they found
a lot of black pieces of metal. which
under knife revealed pure gold Of
darkest hue. They were nuggets. doz-
ems OF them varying in size from
than dime TO the size of an
English walnut, and all of/them black
Hastily the men tried to follow the
squaw. but by this time she had dis
appFa" IN the same range of noun
fdIns to the north from which she had
been seen to emerge. When the find.
ers of the gold had an opportunity of
having the metal assayed and valued,
they were brought to a realization of
the worth of the discovery. The little
pack had contained more than $4,000
worth of property.
Such find could not help starting
a search and creating talk, and it was
but short time before a number Of
old miners were on the scene. They
knew the value of the black gold and
also that in this section, buried far
from observation or generally over
looked by prospectors who had been