The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1913-05-02


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
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.
II finds its origin in the early eighties, either
1888 1884, when white man, lone prospec-
tor, wandered into the camp of the Piute Indians
at Piute Bend the Nevada side of the Colo
RADIO river The bend only lay few miles above
Fort Mohave and it is there that Jamison, which
is generally given as the mans name, gathered
his first inkngs of the stored wealth accumuat
ed by several members Of the tribe.
They 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 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 chcanery.
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 indebted for the discovery Of an i'm
mensey rich placer To reach It at all seasons
of the year was apparently impossible.
I'VE shall walt 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. not being usual thing in that portion
of the country every year. And when 1t came,
the Indian took his adopted tribesman for a long
journey to a place of three peaks and a place
where water was obtainable, save through
melting the snow, and there they gathered from
beneath the white cloak much gravel and carried
it back to the camp of the Indians in three days
Feeling assured, then, of the wealth he
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
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 bust
in California
Then with Fields he went to Homer a station
on the Santa Fee railroad in San Bernardino coun-
ty California. There they purchased span of
good mules with some of the gold that Jamison
had saved from his first trip and they loaded an
old blackboard with a 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 diggings early the next morning.
There we climbed a mesa" said Fields, telling
or the discovery IN after years. And on top or
this proceeded with work, which merely
sisted in scrapng the gravel in heaps and pan.
ming it 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
off only the gold and the nuggets and
dumped the residue Of fine gold and dust into the
tub 1t was far too much work to pan it clean"
Want Of water. the bugaboo that has menaced
every prospectOr at one time another in the
southwest. came upon them at nightfal when
they forced to give to the two mules the wa
ter that had been used for pannng. It 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 off the mesa.
Then came their retreat as ignominous as any
that ever befell army With all their wealth
they wer forced to run. panic seemed to
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 1t
in that summer period. With coming of dawn
they found themselves in sad plight They
had lost the trail entirely. were in country new
to them had not a drop of water and scarcely a
handful Of food
With breaking light came hope. Way off in the
distance they discerned the budapest that has
led to many 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
the WORKOUT mules, they struggled on, their
tongues oing black from out their mouths their
threats burned to a cinder crispness, their eyes
bullying in continued effort and strain
And reaching the railroad they could discern,
just a short distance to the right a few strag-
Cling buildings, some little outpost of civilization
with promise of water II nothing more And this
they reached eventually, pulling their mules be-
hind them. They found by an old miner
who happened to the broad wooden platform
of the only bar in Blake during the noon sesta
Of the town. They more dead than alive
and 1t took several hours of hard work to bring
them to. For two days they were out of their
minds
Their first thought coming to was their gold
Had they lost 1t? Had it been stolen? They
directed search for 1t in the wagon and there it
lay in large canvas sack untouched by the men
who had cared for the mules When 1t was
weighed the men found themselves in possession
of $4,000 for a single days work! The story Of
their find made Blake deserted village in few
hours. stampede for gold on. For days
and weeks it continued. but never successfully
Their trail had been obliterated in the winds that
continually sway the sand from dune to dune and
obliterate ceaselessly through ages
1t was a week before Jamson and Fields could
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