Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1913-05-02

Needles, where Fields with his share Of the gold
started for the east to secure capital for develop !
ment. Jamison turned his mules back to Homer
then, and on back to the Piute Bend to his In
dians. arriving there in a delirium caused by a
relapse into fever acquired on the trip from the
diggings. His squaw nursed him tenderly and
medicine. men of the tribe gave him herbs, but
Jamison died. a
Fields came back when he heard of this. He
had a chicken heart induced by past experiences,
and nothing would induce him to start out alone
on quest of wealth that lay hidden in the desert
near the three peaks.
He sent other men for him, giving them a map
of the country as he had conceived it, but they all
failed in the relocation of the treasure.
Three men rode leisurely out of the Panamint
range of mountains at the edge of that famous
sink OF mystery, Death Valley, and on across
country toward San Bernardino, their destination.
They were all on good horses, had ample packs.
and ten-gallon water canteens. They rode through
the heat OF the day, their horses kicking up the
dust of the desert and leaving behind a contin-
uous hazy vapor which always distinguishes any.
thing of life that moves in the desert wastes.
During the heat of the day they stopped to
camp In the shade of their horses, which were
watered and fed. Soon they started on. This
time there was not the same certainty, the same
equanimity, among them, and a quarrel arose as
to the proper direction to take. They quarraled
all that afternoon, and finding their water-supply
, practically all gone on the following morning,
their words almost resulted In blows. They sepa-
rated.
One of them, Frank Goler, struck out alone in
an easterly direction, while the other two went
south.
BY noon of the second day Goler had arrived Mt
a series OF low hills that lay directly in his path.
He crossed them, and on the farther side discov-
cred a canyon into which he plunged without the
least fear and with renewed hope Of salvation.
1t contained abundant vegetation, and what was
more than all the rest, it carried in it's deepest
embrace a little mountain stream.
Arriving at it's banks, Goler, nearly delirious
from lack of water, gave his horse its freedom
and dropped to the edge of the stream and began
tapping up the cool, bright water. And while he
drank, the rays of the sun. penetrating the foliage
of an overhanging cottonwood, glinted upon some
thing on the bottom of the stream-something
yellow just beyond the touch Of his lips.
1t was a nugget weighing several ounces. There
were others near it. and Goler, bewildered at his
good fortune, pulled forth three Of the pieces of
gold and then stopped to think of food, for he
had not taken nourishment for more than a day.
He tucked the nuggets into the bosom of his
shirt, caught his horse, mounted, and then pro-
ceeded with all possible speed down the canyon,
taking little time even to make proper survey OF
the location of the treasure. Finally, after sew
eral hours Of rough riding he cam out upon a
plain. Just ahead of him he saw what apparent
ly had been the bed Of a big body of water.
1t was all dried out and lay in a straight east
erly line with Mount San Antonio, or Mount
Badly, as it is more generally known in the south
west. The snow-capped peak gave Goler encour-
agement, and also indicated the proper direction
to the little mining town at the foot of the famous
Arrowhead, where the Indians found relief from
many ills in the waters that puzzled from several
springs.
1t required another day for him to reach this
place, and when he did he was completely ex-
hausted and his horse fearfully jaded and ready
to collapse.
Three weeks elapsed before he had fully recov-
cred, and then he showed the treasures that he
had collected.
'WhV there is enough of this Stum tn 1Oad aov-
eral wagons where I found it, and / am going to
bring in a load in less than a month" he assured
some of his friends.
He at once set out to fit up a wagon with broad
trimmed wheels, light canvas top and a team OF
sturdy horses.
The day he set out, a large gathering watched
him off and several prospectors followed, hoping
to be in on the wealth that he had discovered. In
a few days they returned, Disguised with the fact
that Goler apparently did not know whittier he
was travelling. In a month he came back. tired
out and disgruntled because he had been unable
to relocate the same chain of hills and the hidden
waters. Six different times he went in search OF
his wealth and always returned with the same
story-one of reverses and loss, until finally he
had spent all of the money he had accumulated
in a lifetime and had to give up the quest.
1t is generally conceded that the GoIer discov.
cry has since been found. His first location was
in 1886. In 1891 an old and odd character, Hen
Moss, who made his home in San Bernardino,
started out on one of his regular prospecting
trips. One of his burros wandered away from the
other three, and Moss started to follow the lost
animal with his entire train.
The wandering, burro found a canyon and in it
water, and in this way led Moss to the discovery
of a gold deposit. In a few hours he PANIED out
several ounces of dust with his horn spoon and
also found two or three fair-sized nuggets. The
discovery went to his head. He failed to place
his locating stakes and hurried back to San Der.
nardino to celebrate his good fortune.
With borrowed capital he fitted up a second
ume, and when he left town he might have been
mistaken at a distance for the Pied Piper OF
Hamelin. More than half the male Inhabitants
of San Bernardino were at his back, all equipped
for a long Journey with pack train or on horse.
Moss tried to throw them off his trail, doubled
on them, returned to San Bernardino. but all to
no avail.
Guess ] might as well take you along he
said one day when his patience had been frazzled
to a rag.
This time he proceeded directly to the distant
range in the omen desert And whom he pa,ro