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Show j IX HIS WILDERNESS. A "Herald" Correspondent, Wilt Hds ien "Out of tiia J Wo-ld" For a Year, I Reports ProgTss. A Long Tramp in a Wild Couutry. Indian Tales and Romantic Truths. Searching for the Preeioas Hetals Dnitr Difficulties. Correspondence of the Herald. Elk Mountain-, Feb. 14, 1S79. When I left your city, now aim jst a twelve month ago, I was healed in the direction of Green river, where- I had previously discovered some very rich mineral. Bit something ad adverse fate.circum-tincesover which I had no control, or an overruling. beneficient Providence (I presume there is some such influence over the lives and fortunes of prospectors as well those of other human brings.) turned my course southward. INDIAN TRADITIONS. Whilst prospecting in the Bridger mountains, I ran into a camp of Ute Indians. They belonged to the Uiatah reservation, and were out for a hunt. Of course they were very anxious to know who I was, where I was going, and what was the object of my journey ? I soon enlightened them on the first two questions; about the third 1 was Bomewbat cnary of answering, being eniirely alone aud well knowing that the tribe of poor L? don't go very much on prospectors pros-pectors and mmerj; as a general thing they would prefer that all white men should dig iu the ground on y to grow wheat and potatoes that they (Lo,) may beg the surplus. This meeting occurred in the evening and ia tbe morning one of the old men of tbe party brought me a couple of pieces of quartz rock.wbich contained not only silver but free gold. O: course I was on the 51a vice where rock was concerned and inquired as to the iocality where he found it. He informed me that he found the mineral min-eral in a mountain which Uy a long ( twelve days' journey ) way to the south. He also related the following fol-lowing tradition: A long time ago the Mexicans who usedJ annually to come into this section o( couutry for th3 purpose of trading with the Indians, In-dians, discovered some very rich mines, which they worked, carrying the rock on pack mulss to Mexico, where (so runs the Indian tale.) they took much money out of tbe rock. As was U:ual witu the Spanish race in it dealings with the natives it enslaved en-slaved largi) numbers of tho Indians and compelled them to uo the labor of extracting tbe ores, while their captors or misterj, largely in the minority as to numbers, guarded their slaves aud supervised the v;ork. Amosgst the number of their slaves there waa one young man, the son of a chief, who refused to perform the work required of him, and in consequence was saverely chastised by his masters. A lew days after, the young chief escaped from his thraldom and fled to some of the more northern tribes, where he succeeded suc-ceeded in raising a large war party, who, coming upon tbe Spaniards in an unguarded moment, overpowered aud slaughtered the entire company. The mine was partialy filled up, as much trace of it as possible was destroyed, and to this day its whereabouts has remained a profound secret known only to a few Indiana. The old In dian gave me a piece of the rock and marked out on the ground a chart of the country, for which I gave him ammunition and a few days after I waa on the trail en route for the south and a buut for the OLD SPANISH MINE. I started for Brown's Hole via the Uintah valley, intending to cross Green river, visit Brown's Hole where I have Borne very warm friends amongst the old stock of mountain men, and then turn southward from that point toward the country for which I wa3 in search. On tbe Du Chesne liver, I had the gooi fortune to (all in with an old time friend, a mountaineer, who informed me that I could not get to where I wished to go if I continued my journey in the direction I was then traveling without great loss of time and a useless amount of travel, and he advised me to cross the mountain range which bounds the Strawborry valley on tbe southwest south-west coming out on the bead waters ol Little White river and so through C:ts'le valley, when I would be in ?ipht of. aud about sixty mileadistant from my point of destination. I accordingly ac-cordingly retraced my steps to the Strawberry valley, turned south, following fol-lowing the course of tho White Eirth creek to its source; thore I crossed tbe range and came out on the divide between Spanish Fork and White river, and on what is known as the old Spanish trail. This trail I followed down the White river to a point about twenty miles from its confluence with the Green river where I struck a trail bearing off lo the southward and in the dire:lion of the SAN RAFAEL RIYER, The country through which I bad been traveling einco leaving the Uiutah was desolate aud barren enough to cive a person with more elastic spirits than myself tho horrors, hut this which 1 waa now entering was calculated, such is its utterly desolate, dreary aspect, to make a sane man with a well balanced head j go mad. The formation is a coarse red or gray s-inditoue. There is, in many places, barely enough sand to Apread a thin covering over the bed rock; in other places ibis covering is lacking, and the borse' feet clattered along over a solid rock for mile after mile with not a vestige of vegetation, and only an occasional hillock of sand in sight. Tnen the couutry is cut into canons, whose depth and narrowness are simply in indescribable, indescrib-able, and can unly he realized by one who br.s travt-ltd in this country ol 1 ftinhtfoi chasm?, perpendicular cUG-and cUG-and ma (T-bie-toppod) mountains. Indue course ot time I crossed the Sn Rafael, and struck as Btraight a course as 1 could across the country for the Dirty Devil, a stream most appropriately named, which I crossed , SHOUT sations. I When I reached the above named 'stream I loutid thai I was about forty j miles distant from the mountains where I fondly hoped to find the 'jpini-b ra'r.e ami a fortune, when !n.y stock of provisions had pretty nearly become exbau-ted, and of y;ame (my chief reiiince) there wat' irtc'uaily no:--e iu the country. After ! .1 m;!.t ppeut in seriouB cgitatioMS on :t!,e n-alter I determined to turn 'tv.?t twr.l the whits settlements laud a bett.r e:i:vl' of "grub." Turn-west Turn-west I niiilo my way through ' U.b':t Tvihy. At this point I learned jUiAttnt-re v? a eUTipede to Marys-! Marys-! vale, a ti.n on the tevier river where t:;t-re had recu.t'.y been some rich ! disco veiies of ore. 1 made the beat (time I could to that point hoping to be able at that place to recruit my stock ol provisions aDd so continue my search tV the old nrne. When I I arrived et Marysvaie I found me reported rich strikes hsd dwindled I down to one mine or prospect of low grade ore similar in character to the t majority of Ophir ores, very few men lincamp, and no show for employ -jment, nut I fortunately met with a couple of old prospectors, who were in gocd circumstances as regards ! "grub" and ripe for a prospecting ! tour in the country to which 1 wished Itogo. 60 with replenished store I j in company with my friends again set my fce to the eastward, bjund j iur Grand river and the I ELE MOUNTAINS. This change in my point of destiaa-tion destiaa-tion was owing to the fact that I had become convinced from bearing the following circumstances, that I had betn deceived by the Indians, as to the true locality of the "lost mine." In the autumn of 1S76 two young men, brothers, by the name of Green, furmeriy residents of Montana, moved their heid of horses and cattle into Grand River valley and took up their quarters in the atone fort or mission ouuse. This house was built a number num-ber ol years ago by some Mormoo pioneers belonging to what is known as the E k mjuutain mission, the mit-sion being unsuccessful and the missionaries driven from tbe valley by hostile Indians. Snortly after the Green brothers' location in this place, they began to prospect through tbe mountains. Ig the spriug ol '77 they sent word to a friend in Sevier valley 1 that he must make haste and come out to Grand valley as they had found that which would make them all (friend and Belvee) rich. Duriog the time that be was making ready (or the journey a Mr. Taylor ol Salt creek arrived in the Grand valley with a large herd of cattle intending to remain re-main there, tui was astonished to find numbers ol the Green brothers' cattle, horses and mules slaughtered through the valley, the balance driven ofi" the brothers themselves gone and iu fact all the unmistakable signs of an Indian raid. This bo frightened the Tajlor party that they fled incouti neutly leaving cattle, horses, wagons, provisions, and their whole outfit be-nind be-nind them, with the exception of the horses they bestrode. Returning to tbe Sevier valley they obuined recruits re-cruits and went again to tbe valley to find, much to their surprise, their outfit of wagonB and provisions intact, in-tact, their eattle unbirmed and nn-stolen. nn-stolen. ThiB occurred in the month of April, and whilst out this time for the recovery of his stock which he subsequently drove back to Castle valley. Mr. Taylor fuuDd in the fort some of the gold quartz- of which the Green brothers had Bent word to their friend. On his (Taylor's) return lo the settlement he set a bo -it orioii-iug orioii-iug a proipecting party, to search for the mine which the Green's had discovered, and which, knowing the extreme jealousy with which tbe Indians In-dians guarded their secret, they or he surmised was the cause of their (the Green's) sudden disappearance, Mr. Taylor, succeeded in raisiog the prospecting pirty, several well kuown residents of your city bring among the number. The party arrived in the valley sometime in tbe month ol July, '77, and before their search, ani almost tbe first thing they discovered dis-covered was the corpse of the younger of the Green brothers near the base of tbe mountain on a 6t earn known as Pack creek. They interred tne body of the murdered man but tbe shock of finding him waB too much for the nerves of tbe party, and they loitered about the valley for a few days, only venturing away from camp in hrga parties and well armed, much more intent on finding hostile Indians than the discovery of mineral. In a lew days they discovered fresh tracks, made by Indiau ponies, near their camp and they again got up and levanted. MORMON DISCOVERIES. During the time that the Mormons remained in the valley some of tbe party discovered, bo I have been told by members of the party, placer gold in the gravel bars aloog the creeks, and float quartz containing free gold in the mountains and they were forbidden for-bidden from searching any farther for the precious metal bo dear to the eye of all white men, by the Indians. In-dians. These stories, tho truth of which is vouched lor by a great many credible, witnesses, sent me into this country. Since our arrival here we hf.ve had a chance to prove the truth ol at least one part of the traditionary tales ol the richnesj of the country. We find plenty of fine gold (of the kind kuwu as flour gold) in the gravel bars, and as this dust has to run through a canon in the sandstoue formation for a distance of about twenty miles in its passage from the mountain to tbe valley, it is eubjected lo Eucb a grinding process in its transit tran-sit over the bire file, or rasp-like bed rock that the only wonder is that there is any of it lelt either fine or coarse. The great depth of Bnow in in tiie mountain precluded the possibility pos-sibility of any search in that direction for the present lor the eourie of this gold, but aa soon as spring time comes we intend to prosecute our search for ' tbe quariz ledges at all hazards. In toe meantime we have discovered, and are now working an immense vein (twenty feet in width) of chloride ore from which we can obtain, by the process known as panning, a fair prospect o( gold with occasional glimpses ol horn, native silver and black aulphurets.. Plus Ultha. |