The herald and news. (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, August 16, 1907, Page FIVE, Image 5
DRY WASHING IN THE DESERT.! v
Gold Hunting After the Old Mexican '
Plan. (
*--1The
desert country of the south- *
west is rich in legends of lucky strik- 1
es made by dry washers. And the I o
( ,y. *'Xh*l(iV ls ?ot a laundry utensil f
designed tor use where water is too t
scarce to be used other than inter- s
nally. It is the sole mechanical invention
with which the native Mexi- ?,
can is credited, a means of taking pla- ccr
gold from the sand in which wind (
supplies the place of water.
Given a good head of water and *
the man with the hydraulic giant will \
w ish a fortune for auriferous gravel .<
tl'al carries a few cents' worth of
gold to the square yard. The fellow 1
with the pan must find fifty t.euts j
worth or better in the same area to t
make wages but ^the dry washer re- t
gards the ground as barren if he i
does not find a dollar's worth of the
yellow metal on his riffles after
screening the same amount of sand, i
There was old man Cushcnberry,
whose haunt was south of Casa'Dom'a,
that curious volcanic plateau which is
visible from a hundred miles around
^ uma. He was in his chronic condition
of hard luck when a shovelful
of sand left the riffles of his primitive
dry washer clogged to overflowing
with dust and nuggets.
In naif an hour he had taken out
*14,000 and in the next six months he
had spent every cent of it in an ineffectual
effort to raise water from the
Colorado for more extensive operalions.
ITe never found another pock<>t.
Down around Yuma, when you talk |
of dry washing, they will also'tell you (
of flie ditched hobo. A Southern Pa- i
cilic brakeman ejected him Prom a side <
door Pullman, and lie sought the wa- (
terfront, which was an institution (
then celebrated from the Dallas to the <
Yaqui country.
"The I'Yont," was a narrow strip ,
of shore just below the old govern- !
ment cornu, where by ancient usage
was established the commonwealth of j
the dead broke. Everything was own- j
ed in common. They had a mayor ,
and an unwritten code enforced bv a
Kangaroo court. In earlier days no j
loss of caste attached to residence on
'The Front," today's insolvent was
frequently tomorrow's magnate. Gra- j
dually however, the hoho element
came to be predominant, and (lie city |
marshal abated the sanctuary as a ]
nuisance.
Hnt to return to the ditched hobo ]
lie told the Fronters a hard luck
story that would a few years ago have '
insured aid, comfort and indolence.
The taming of the Apache and the extension
of the Santa Fe and the <
Southern Pacatie had, however, made
them familiar with his kind, and his
wa.- very promptly disposed of. A ,
grubstake was made up and lie was
advised to accompany a couple of men j
who were just starting on a dry wash- ^
ing expedition up the river.
That same day the outfit uncovered
a gold ledge that was shot and
speckled with free gold and the hobo's .
share brought him $50,000. All hobo- ,
land preserves traditions of the per- (
iod of plenty that followed. Incidentally
not one of the trio that struck ]
the lode was alive a year later.
But as to the dry washer and the
man who operates it. The tourist ,
who crosses the sand and alkali wastes J
in a Pullman, or is whirled in an an- j
tomobile to the bonanza to look at
the good thing the superintendent
has framed up for him sees neither.
The desert prospector is the brother
of silence, a silence so profound '
and pervasive that when a vagrant
wind raises a level jil of sand and
moves it a yard or two the silken
swish of its transit is audible for furlongs.
\
The scamper of the horned toad '
fills the void corridor of the ear, the ,
fpotfall of the .sad-eyed burro is percussive.
Only at night, when the
coyote lifts a lean muzzle to the
bland moon is the stillness shattered
as infinite desolation fi.uls a voice.
Another sound there is that speaks .
of man's presence. In the heart of
the waste, miles from the railway and
equally remote from wood and water,
there may be heard a recurrent popping
that is not to be confounded *
with the parring rataplan of the
stamp mill.
It is like the pop-pojv-popping of a .
gasolene launch, and the tenderfoot
might fancy that the ship of the desert
had been brought up to date and
equipped with those mysterious applianecs
of which the motor enthusiast ;
loves to discourse.
Approach the sound and you will
come upon a man and his machine?a ^
sun browned and solitary man, the
corners of his eyes wrinkled like an
apple that has been frozen and thawed,
by the instinctive contraction of
the lids against the glare of refracted j
rays.
He is the last of the placer miners, ^
'V the survival of a type that levels
$ hills and fills valleys by a magic that ^
VU"I,1 dUlKi-b the ivsl 0f ,u? mistlly
Mzard, Michael Scott.
w?>'.s, Iron, ||,? i'rozt.?
ha of the north to cienegas of the
Imvc long since ?iven up their
two of ye low nictal. The pan, the
ongtom and the flume exploited thein,
i ter which the hydraulic recovered
ortunes from tailings or from gravel
oo poor to work by the more expensive
method.
But the desert is rich in auriferous
,ia\t . I here are thousands of
iquare miles i? the Mojave and the
-olorado that yield placer gold in
,Uyh quantities thai, given water, the
"tput of Cripple Creek and Tonopah
u>uld be made to look like a grub
ilake proposition.
Water is not, but there is wind.
(lrv w.asher is merely a rude belows
of the familiar blacksmith pater".
It forces a current of air
iiough a sheet of muslin set on an
nclined plane and crossed at right
ingles by sticks of woods called riffles.
A he gravel is made to run down t his
nuslin incline, while the bellow* lifts1
t over the riffles. The gold being
teavy is caught and held under the
ross pieces; pebbles and sand are
sjected at the bottom.
'N anous forms of the dry washer
lave been patented, but the simplest
ypc remains the best; an old soap
)i>x, a few yards of tarpaulin, half a
ard of line muslin and a little balng
wire are all the material required
or its construction. Th* whole ap>aratus
need not weigh over twenty
rounds and the prospector can pack
t from place to place on Ins back.
Down in southwestern Arizona the
Mexican is credited with the inveniou
of the dry washer and nothing
dse. It is the last resource of the
H'ospeclor who cannot get a grub
stake. 1'or miles around Yuma on
jither side of the Colorado, one may
.'ount 011 taking out an average of a
lollar a day with this crude appliance
uid as .+.> will grub stake a man for a
nontli there is little excuse for being
Flat broke.
For twenty miles north of the continence
of the Gila and the Colorado
the barren gulches are honeycombed
with the work of the dry washer. The
ivork of the while man is easily distinguishable
from that of the chula.
In places the bedrock has been exposed
for hundreds of feet along the
iottom of the shalloy gulch, the cenent
strata swept clean with a whistH'ootn,
since pay dirt is found mostly
at the bottom. This is the work of
the American. The Mexican seldom
lays bare more than a square yard
iind from that, so the envious Gringo
isseils, lie gets what lie is after.
A still more simple a .id primitive
nethod of dry washing is indicated
iy innumerable basin-like depressions
ilong the sides of these gulches. From
2aeh has been taken about a bucketful
of sand which is placed, a handful
it a time, in an ordinary gold pan, a
russia iron basin a little larger than
the-ordinary tin wash ba.un.
This, by a dexterous turn of the
wrist, the Mexican throws into the
iiir, at the same time blowing through
it. As it falls he lilts the pan, allowing
it to run in a thin stream over
the edge. His bead-like eye is caught
and sent back to the foxtail of black
sand and concentrates on the opposite
edge of the pan. In half an hour he
is solvent, and the placer ground will
know him n<> more until a run of hard
hick at oockfighting or monte sends
l>.iui hack to the band nature has provided
for him.
ll is confidently asserted throughout
the southwest that the Mexican
possesses a sixth sense which enables
liim to locate infallibly the pockets
which niiilc men either miss altogether
or only stumble upon by accident
Men have carefully studied the
natural features of these spots, but
ire unable to discover the indications
which point them out to the native.
II is maddening to work ten days unlet1
a blazing sun for a few dollars'
worth of dust and nuggets, and then
o see a la/.v Mexican walk directly
to a j.pot a few rods away, pan a
nickelful of dirt and slouch off after
:aif an hour's work with $50 worth
>f liie \ellow metal knotted up in his
?audy handkerchief
But if ihe Mexican possesses this
<ense, ho is easeful noi to abuse it.
do takes only cnorgh for his immediate
necex?ities, and Via." a lofty conetnpt
f.ir the A-nc. van's ambit! )?.
0 a.'ipnre ricii.'S. Xn" will he locate
1 quartz vein if he happens na?over
.me.
By an unwritten law these dry
?lacers above Yuma are free to all.
STo o.'o stakes a claim other than
ho?.c ! ca'od by dredging companies,
tvlio after years of disaster liava not
>*et gi-'cn over Hie a?.enipt to eat
iway <he bank s^f tie Colorado nail
they have opened a passage in to
he desert.
ManvjV-: discoveri.-5 ' of quartz
ode? Iiayo l.x.-en made by ?.Vy washers
1 iiiI ?o;n?* have been v>cked by the
same prim.! "e method
Now and then a rich stringer, a
fcin an inch or two wide, is found, j
ml i? lot ol snllieiem volnme to
' 'must ,
l?|l ? crude quart/. crusher operby
,m,le or oven l,v hand.
K M, wu?'. '? i'leeisei
IIC boil ut null to which the l>|,a.
bin. Iwrnowml Samson, tteeoi-diug
to the familiar picture by Dure. The
2*7, ";e? '%* a spring pestle
mlrt pulverizes the rotten
the through
tlic dry washer.
Early in the 90's two young: fellZL
T such.a stri,W near the
7n,iP ?f With
!i> ? . y Wnsher ,h?.v managed
to K-el out several thousand dollars'
y th ot dust, but a good deal of the
oek was too refractory to be worked
that nay and this was sacked in
the form of specimens and eonccn$10,000
?Ie an,wunti,,? to over
They came down the river in a boat,
?Inch was tipped over in three feet
<>t water within a few miles of Yuma
.V a Jig- doo- that accompanied the
party, and tried to climb aboard after
being- pitched out for a swim. Not a
cent s worth of the cargo Was saved.
I he bottom of the Colorado is a vast
deposit of silt and quicksand. Dredgers
have sunk seventy feet in it
rock6 LayUlm vvit,lout touching bedThe
placer miners say the gold of
the desert which the dry wrisher recovers
in such minute quantities was
deposited by the river, the bed of
which is liable to/change materially
in a few weeks. In the mile deep
canyon that is one of the world's wonders,
a ditch from five to fifteen miles
wide and hundreds of miles long-, cut
through a hig-hly mineralized region,
there must have been many rich lodes,'
richer perhaps than any of which the
world holds record. These, the nation
<?i the water through countless ages
has disintegrated and carried far
down toward the delta of the great
liver m the form of dust and nuggets.
he Colorado is a natural flume.
Its bottom, deep under the silt whore
nits and ridges of bedrock form
mile wide riffles, is a treasure nouse
whose riches no man may estimate.
Hut even the opaque water is said >
carry an average of twenty-five cents'
worth ot gold to the ton, held in solution
or floating on the surface.
ft wm' "I'161' knows that ?old will
tloat, the flour gold whose particles
are so minute that only the avid grip
ot quicksilver may clutch and hold it.
erhaps some day some Jernigan will
make good and wrest it from the
.broad and shallow Colorado a treasure
that will complicate anew the relation
of the precjous metals
Mcai.wl.il? the chief source of product
ion, |,r. Ms l|l0Sc plju>cii. (le
posits are concerned, will continue to
be that legacy of the Aztecs, the drv
washer.
Barbecuo.
I will furnish a fii-st class barbecue
at Jno. P. Wicker's August 22, to be
prepared by J. A. Graham and H. M.
\\ lckcr. Everybody come and enjoy
ft good dinner. *
W. L. Graham.
Notice.
An extra meeting of the County
i aimers Lmon is hereby called for
Saturday August 17, on important
business. All local unions wMl see
1liat delegates are chosen.
J. R. O'Neall Hollowav,
T, Scc,'?tary County Union.
\\. Brown,
I'resident.
Broaddus and Huffs oc tablets have
>< ( ?i and more paper in them than
pan be bought elsewhere. Buy one mid
see tor yourself.
Barbecue at Sligh's.
M.. Jno. C. Mills will furnish a
nirbccue nt Sligh's on Auarust 17. the
ycasion being the meering of (he
I aimers' union. Prominent speakers
will be present and will deliver addresses.
The price of dinner will be
d-> cents and 40 cents. ttverybody is
invited and a good dinner is'guaranteed.
NOTICE.
THE BEE HIVE
will move Sept. 1st into
the store room now
used by Shelley&Sumformerly
occupied
by Kibler-Dennis
Furniture Co., opposite
Daniel YViI!iam^on's
Jewelry Store
E. L. BAILES GO. i
C
8
ft
? THE GLOBI
"i
1 We announce
Foil and Win
of our Merchant "
ment which will b
a Special Reprt
THE CLOSE TAILO
Makers of the best tt
CINCINNA
August 15,
Over 500 Suitings,
Overcoatings wil
for your in
Smith &
Newberr
Orders taken for immedi
Measures taken
' ' V
Just received, car load
2 1-2 and 2 3-4 Wagons,
we will sell these Wagoi
It's the strongest, best m<
Wagon on the market.
I
Buggies!
I We carry but one line c
jufactured by The Summe
ville, Ga. These Buggies
!be the best and neatest j
|market. Our prices and
Buy a Summers Buggy C
factured at Barnsville, Ga
No more broken wheels
shafts, broken springs c
only parties handling the:
Come and see our stock <
and you will buy from
~ 1 ~~ :1
Z, IS IT?
i the formal
ter Opening
Tailoring Depart- I
e in charge of I
jsentative of I
RING COMPANY,
iere is inTailoring
TI, OHIO 1
16 and 17
Trouserings and
II be displayed
spection.
Wearn,
y, S. C. I
ate or fufure delivery.
Scientifically.
of Fish Bros, high grade
For the next 30 days
ns regardless of profits,
ade and easiest running
Buggies!
)f Buggies in stock, manirs
Buggy Co, of Barns:
are considered by all to
:ob ever offered on this
Terms are reasonable.
Company's Buggy, manu
1
i., and you have the best,
s, ^plit bodies, cracked
)r bent tops. We are the
se Buggies in this county,
of Wagons and Buggies