Tensas gazette. [volume] (St. Joseph, La.) 1886-current, 1913-05-23

eQge OF getting Dack was gone with IT,
Men will sacrifice love- life, virtue and kindred
things is there is a great opportunity presented
for the accumulation of sudden wealth. Strange
alliances. stories of murder long legal fights and
bitterest enmity have grown up in the southwest
as adjuncts to the continued hunt for treasure
Among the strange stories that are more widely
known is that which has to do with lost placer
of great riches
1t finds its origin in the early eighties, either
1883 1884, when a white man, a lone prospec-
tor, wandered into the camp of the Piute Indians
at Pute Bend on the Nevada side of the Colo
RADIO river. The bend only lay few miles above
Fort Mohave, and 1t is there that Jamson, which
is generally given the mans name. gathered
his first inklngs of the storied wealth accumulat-
ed by several members of the tribe.
They were said to know of several great gold
deposits in the desert and mountain country con-
tiguous to their place of living and from these
they frequently brought to Fort Mohave splendid
specimens Of nuggets and gold dust. This gold
they traded for half or third of its actual value
buying the baubles and the gaudy apparel so dear
to the heart Of the red man. 1t also led occa-
sionally to serious trouble attempts Of unscrupu-
lous whites to obtain their secrets, sometimes
even by force, usually by some chicanery,
Jamison took course which brought him In
direct and continued contact with all members Of
the tribe He married one of the sQuaws and
after year or two of living with the Indians
gained many Of their secrets To his brother-in
law he was indebted for the discovery of an i'm
mensely rich placer. To reach 1t at all seasons
Of the year was apparently impossible
I'VE shall wait till the snow falls and covers all
the land" said the red brother to Jamson
They waited for two years for such time to
come, snow not being usual thing in that portion
OF the country every year And when 1t came.
the Indian took his adopted tribesman for long
journey. to a place of three peaks and place
oh
melting the snow. and there they gathered from
beneath the white cloak much gravel and carried
II back to the camp OF the Indians In three days
Feeling assured then, of the wealth he was
to gather. Jamison wrote an old eastern friend
whose name has been lost 1t is said to have
been Fields. He told Fields all about the won
derful gravel and excited his desire for riches
that within a few months Fields had arrived at
Fort Mohave. Jamison left the Indians with the
excuse that he had to look after particular busi-
ness In California
Then with Fields he went to Homer a station
on the Santa Fe railroad in San Bernardino coun-
ty, California. There they purchased a span of
good mules with some Of the gold that Jamison
had saved from his first trip. and they loaded an
old blackboard with barrel of water and few
provisions and started out. driving south into
Homer Wash. From all reports they probably
travelled forty miles that day and night, arriving
at the dggings early the next morning.
There we climbed a mesa" said Fields, telling
of the discovery in after years. And on top of
this proceeded with our work, which merely con-
sisted in scraping the gravel in heaps and PAN
ming 1t in tub which Jamison had brought along
for the purpose. The water which had been left
In the barrel was used in the tub The gravel
was nearly half gold so rich that 1t nearly stun
ned US. We became careless in our work picking
on only the coarse gold and the nuggets and
dumped the residue of fine gold and dust into the
IN WIS IN toO mob
Want Of water the bugaboo that has menaced
every prospector at one time or another in the
southwest came upon them at nightfan when
they were forced to give to the two mules the wa
ter that had been used for panning II was less
than enough to quench their thirst and in half
panic the two miners cached their tub. half full
OF dust, and their gold pan in a small cave which
they had discovered In one of the little CANYONS
leading of the mesa
Then came their retreat as ignominious as any
that ever befell army. With all their wealth
they wer forced to run A panic seemed to over
take them and they logged their mules through
the desert night, trying to get to Homer before
the break OF day and the heat that came with It
In that summer period. With coming of dawn
they found themselves in a sad plight. They
had lost the trail entirely were in a country new
to them, had not drop of water and scarcely
handful of food
With breaking light came hope. Way OF in the
distance they discerned the gudepost that has
led to many a salvation in the desert wastes;
telegraph poles strung at regular intervals To
reach them and the railroad tracks they marked
was their aim. Through three hours Of tortuous
work. walking instead Of trying to ride behind
he WORKOUT mules, they struggled on, their
tongues lolling black from out their mouths their
hroats burned to a cinder crispness their eyes
oulging in continued effort and strain
And reaching the railroad. they could discern,
lust short distance to the right few strag-
Cling buildings. little outpost OF civilization
With promise of water II nothing more And this
hey reached eventually, pulling their mules be-
lind them. They were found by an old miner
Who happened on to the broad wooden platform
VI the only bar in Blake during the noon siesta
" the town. They were more dead than alive.
md IT took several hours OF hard work to bring
hem to- For two days they were out of their
minds
Their first thought on coming to was their gold
Had they lost It? Had II been stolen? They
Erected search for 1t in the wagon and there It
ay In large canvas sack untouched by the men
Who had cared for the mules When It was
Weighed, the men found themselves in possession
4 $4,000 for single days work. The story of
heir find made Blake deserted village in few
ours. stampede for gold was on For days
nd weeks 1t continued. but never successfully
heir trail had been obliterated in the winds that
ontinually sway the sand from dune to dune and
bliterate ceaselessly through ages
1t a week before Jamson and Fields could