The Marietta journal and courier. (Marietta, Ga.) 1909-1918, 1913-09-05
Man and Dog Save Prospeetors
from a Horrible Death

ment of the September American
Magazine contains an article about
Lew Wescott Beck, who is known as
the Good Samaritan of Death Val
ley" He and his dog, Rufus, have
saved many prospectors from hor-
rible death by making the desert
blossom with guide posts showing
the way to water. The following is
an extract from the article:
Time was when Beck was plain
prospector in theCripple Creek coun-
try. He was in on the diggins at
Leadville, and he panned around in
Montana a while. Likewise he rush
ed into the Big Horn at the time of
the mineral strike there, but he ne
yer struck a lead that made him
rich. Eventually he drifted down
through Nevada and into Death Val
mors about Death Valley, Scotty's
big find in that section, electrified
the country, and scores of prospec-
tors rushed into the desert, expect
ing to maketheir fortune in few
days Beck was among those pre-
sent.
There were several in Beck's par
ty. They liked many miles through
the mirage land, finding nothing
worth while, and worrying constant
ly lest they exhaust their supply Of
water For two days they sought
water holes; and when out of water
they went for ours with tongues
swollen and lips parched from want
of moisture. Then when death
seemed inevitable they suddenly dis
covered a tiny stream trickling out
of canyon at the base of the Pana-
mint Mountains.
when Beck returned to ciyiliza-
tion he was a changed man. He had
skulls, and that sight had put big
idea into his head.
Game spring, and Beck made an
other trip through Death Valley.
At his side was Newfoundland dog.
The prospector acrried a bundle OF
tin strips. They were signboards to
guide the wanderers steps Alright.
Each summer since then thepros-
pector and his dog have made a
journey to the land of the purple
mist, piling up rocks and attaching
signs to them, searching for lost
travellers and incidentally keeping a
lookout for a piece of precious me-
tai. Once or twice Rufus has led
his master to prospectors who, after
long suffering from thirst, had fall
en- upon the burning sands to die
In signboarding the desert Beck has
saved number of thirst-mad rain
bow chasers, and has also, inremote
districts, stumbled upon the bleach
ing bones of dead men who may
have found fortunes in the silver
sulphuret district but who did not
live to tell the world about it, At
one time he assisted at the burial
of four men who died of thirst with
in two miles of spring.
The country that Beck traverses
is the most arid section of the Amer
lean cOntinent-a dreary stretch of
hundreds of miles of desert, dotted
here and there with foothills, buttes,
dry creek beds, chaparral, prickly
pear, and sagebrush. Springs are
miles upon miles apart Most of
them are bitterly alkali, and some
are poison.
On an ordinary summer after
noon the thermometer runs up to
about 1874 degrees in the shade out
in Death Valley, and the most I'M
pleasant thing about it is that there
is dearth of shade. When man
ventures out upon this trackless ex-
panse, the shimmering heat dazes
him, the scarcity of water crazes
him, and the mirage -treacherous,
lying thing of beauty that it is
looms ever before him, flashing upon
the canvas of his minds eye a YER
dant valley, gorgeously green with
growing things, fresh with flowers,
. wet with water, and waiting to well
come him. He can see grassy Hill
slopes just ahead, and the mirrored
lake appears to lie just beyond some
beackoning meadow He follows on
and on; and afterward drains the
last drop from his canteen. Then
his throat becomes parched, his ton
que cleaves to the roof of his mouth,
and strange things pass before his
eyes. The buzzards begin to soar
over him, and the coyotes sit upon
their hunkers and watch him chase
rainbows until he pitches forward
upon his face and closes his eyes
upon world that is too mysterious
and merciless for him to linger in
longer"