Salt Lake Mining Review | 1920-01-30 | Page 29 | The Prospector and His Burro

THE prospector AND MS t S by will C higgins when we reached our camp and had told Top feather and the womenfolk women folk of our strange and remarkable discovery said the prospector to his burro we surely created some excitement for nol no one could believe for a minute that real live cliff dwellers were still in existence to be sure all of our party excepting art had seen and visited the remains of the habitations of this ancient and supposedly erx extinct race rac e but no one had even dreamed that a remnant of this once dominant people in america had survived and we recalled with interest the efforts of scientists and explorers to get some line on the past history of these strange strang e peoples being fully aware that no light had been shown as yet as to their origin and the cause of their utter disappearance and we knew we had bad made a discovery that would startle the scientific world when once the news became public mrs jenkins lueta and jims squaw were pleased beyond measure with the beautiful gifts our unknown friends had bad sent us by the air route and could hardly conceive of anything more beautiful than the vase the necklace and the silver ornament and we let them draw lots for them mrs jenkins was delighted when the necklace fell to her lot and lueta seemed perfectly satisfied with the vase while jims squaw greatly appreciated the silver ornament set with rubies and sapphires sapp hires evidently intended for the decoration of the head and hair As for the men folks of the party we were more interested in the discovery we had made and fully decided among us to make the effort to ta reach the cliff dwellers and we made a careful study of the map or rough drawing we had found in the vase among t the he other articles of value and interest after fully discussing the subject pro and con we decided to set out in the morning equipped as much as possible with our limited resources to make what seemed to ja us to be a perilous trip we made up quite a pack of provi collected all the rope we had in camp and carried pick and shovel our rifles and a revolver or two we deemed it advisable to leave one man of the party with the women but this question was difficult to decide as we all wanted to go even top feather and so sa we drew lots as the women had done for the presents given us and jim drew the short stick much to his disappointment but it was absolutely necessary to leave some one of us to guard the women and the camp with high spirits and inspired by great anticipations the four of us set out the next morning for the cave in the cliff where Top feather had killed the lioness in the rescue of his pap boose and we were accompanied by the entire party to this point of final departure we all gathered together at the mouth of the cave continued the prospector as we had much to say to each other for the adventure might end seriously for all that we knew and we might be gone for several days a week at least jenkins and his wife seemed to dread the parting while Top feather and lueta looked mighty serious as they sat apart on a rock with the between and we felt almost inclined to abandon the trip altogether so perilous it looked as we gazed up to the towering cliffs and pinnacles which seemed forbidding and impenetrable As we looked however the great bird was seen again and it was heading our way it flew lower this time and its rider when above us seemed to be beckoning us to come on and indicating that he would lead the way and so we made our final farewells to those we were leaving behind and started on our journey art led the party tor for the first mile or two when Top feather took the role of pathfinder for the indian was expert in that line meanwhile the great bird hovered above us swerving to the right or left so as to indicate the best way to travel by noon we were high up on the mountainside but still we seemed to be miles from the preci apices which still towered skyward above us at a little spring we stopped for lunch while the birdman flew away to his home in the cliffs supposedly for refreshment and rest from our elevation we could see for miles around the country and our camp was quite visible while we could even eve discern the misty skyline of the blue mountains the home of father and his tribe but we knew we must still go much higher and when we set out the man on the bird was with us again guiding and directing our ascent the way had become much more rugged by this time and we encountered several difficult obstacles in our path at one place we had to scale an almost perpendicular cliff for about forty feet it was a dangerous place but the base was rather jagged tor for about twenty feet where a narrow shelf gave us a precarious foothold for a time here we had use of a small coil of rope fitted with a grappling hook art who had roped steers in texas was selected to make the cast and he succeeded in throwing the hook to a safe anchorage Top feather successfully climbed the short distance for he was the lightest of the party and we were all safely up within a short time here to our astonishment we found a plateau of several thousand acres in the center of which quite a large lake existed upon the surface of which hundreds of ducks geese and beautifully feather swans di sported themselves while in thickets which bordered this wonderful sheet of water which mir rowed the cliffs high above it we saw deer and elk in abundance in order to continue our way we were obliged to circle the lake and by the time we had reached its further shore it was growing dusk and so we decided to camp for the night building our fire beneath a mammoth pine our sky pilot soon took his homeward flight and we were left alone in the solemn solitude of the night we found that mountain quail were in the vicinity and so tame that we were able to get a mess for supper by simply knocking them down with sticks and these succulent birds added materially to our rather scant bill of fare we rested well during the night and awoke greatly refreshed and as hungry as bears for our climb of the day before had stimulated our appetites for breakfast art provided the party with some plump and juicy pine hens and we did full justice to the repast although anxious to continue on our way we soon left the little valley behind us and began our climb upward the way becoming more and more dangerous and it was not long before we came to a great crevice which successfully blocked further progress until jenkins managed to span the chasm by felling a big pine which stood on its brink the crevice was fully thirty feet in width and its sides were as smooth as glass while its depth was incalculable as we could not see the bottom which was lost in gloom and darkness the tree trunk however afforded safe and easy passage for it was all of three feet in diameter once over we did not stop to still further investigate the crevice but continued on our way stopping only once to inspect a ledge of gold bearing ore the cropping of which extended above our heads so strong it was at least two feet of the ledge contained gold in its native state some of the nuggets being as large as a pigeon egg it was a great find and under ordinary circumstances we would have all gone crazy over its discovery but as it was we felt we must go forward if we desired to reach our destination within a reasonable time and so we continued on climbing higher and higher sometimes tied together with ropes like alpine climb ers and often being compelled to dig steps in the solid rock in order to be able to make further advance it seemed to us now as if we had reached the end of the world and still the great cliffs seemed to be some distance beyond although not looking so tall for we were gradually nearing the summit of the range night again found us before we had completed the ascent and we made our beds in great holes in the sand rocks which had been hollowed out by the winds we were now almost above vegi tation but were able to gather broken limbs of scrub oak for our fire upon which we roasted some cotton tails which Top feather in some mysterious manner had been able to capture during the afternoon from our position we could look down upon the valley and lake where we had camped the night before and we seemed to be a mile above them although we had traveled at least ten miles during our trip of the day in the morning we were up again although not so greatly refreshed as on the previous day for our strength had been greatly drawn upon by our great efforts in scaling the mountain to our present position our aerial guide was again with us and so we started out with the hope that we might be able to accomplish the object of our trip before nightfall in this we were fortunate however but as the sun was sinking in the west we stood on the top of the highest peak and looking down upon a sight that fairly dazed us for we saw a great basin surrounded by cliffs the sides of which were dotted with the dwellings of the clift men in the center of this area there was a beautiful lake while around it were many acres of fertile earth which were in cultivation in corn and maize the land being irrigated by means of fine mountain streams which coursed through the valley and emptied into the lake watching us from their homes we could make out several hundred of the inhabitants of the place and they looked odd to us in their fantastic dress and queer appearance they must have been at least feet below us and it seemed as if it would be impossible to get down to their level and it was rapidly growing dark As a matter of fact we felt lonesome and somewhat forlorn for our birdman had left us and we felt as if we were all alone on the top of the earth however we decided to make camp for the night and to let the morning bring to us what it might just what happened the next day and how we were enabled to reach the basin below and make the acquaintance of the queer people believed to be extinct I 1 will tell you in our next conversation for I 1 am weary now and will soon hit the hay 1 I want to tell you old long ears concluded the prospector the thrill I 1 ex perien ced when I 1 saw the glorious sunrise the next morning was comparable only to the nerve racking experience we all had that day before we were able to partake of the hospitality of the long lost race down on the plateau it was the climax of a lifetime but worth the undertaking and there you are and then some