| Show J Iho t fROM CALIENTES TO TUE COAST I t MINUTE DESCRIPTION OF THE COUNTRY THROUGH WHICH THE SAN PEDRO WILL PASS FilOM THE PRESENT TERMINUS TO LOS ANGELES TOGETHER WITH MUCH VALUABLE INFORMATION CONCERNING PROSPECTS FOR MINING STOCK RAISING FRUIT RAISING AND OTHER INDUSTRIES NT POINTS OF HISTOR1CAL INTERESTSPOTS WHERE FORTUNES HAVE BEEN WON AND LOST U4JTo YiTtJ JI 5 Recent Interviews In the Salt Lake papers regarding a trip made along I i the line of the new San Pedro Los Angeles j An-geles San Pedro railroad have caused many Inquiries ns to the details of the trip on the part of mining men who are simply waiting for the weather to cool off before visiting that section In person and have suggested the idea ota ot-a short sketch of the trip referred to HOW TO GET STARTED The writer accompanied by one man left Salt Lake on the evening of April 17th over the Oregon Short Line to Callcntea a distance of 373 mllos We purchased our outfit down to everything but horses hare and had it shipped to that point Included In the outfit was a good substantial spring wagon with a carryall top lo It which we found to bo Incomparably superior to any buckboard ever made for several rca Bona It kept off a cold drlnzllag rain for the first two or three < days it wan o splendid protection against tho rays of the BUM which even then wore nut ficlonlly strong to prove uncomfortable and It kept the body of the wagon suf flcl < ntly high above the ground to RAVO us from the clouds ot dust that would arise as we drove along with frequently frequent-ly four or five spokes In the sand BRIvAK FOR THE DESERT At Callcntes we purchased horses loaded our 700 pounds of stuff onboard on-board and started forth over as fine a stretch of desert nearly 200 miles long as there lJ In the country We followed fol-lowed for much of the way tho survey 1 for the new railroad which by tho way Is along the old Mormon trail l used by the pioneers of the early fiCtion IJ in going to rind returning from southern south-ern California Callcntes ID tho station through which communication Is had with Ploehe which lies thirty miles north and which Is taking on now life with every prospect of rivaling Its tort tor-t mer prosperous days Further below a power > plant IH connecting the famous camp of De La Mar with the new road MEADOW VALLEY WASH i Callentes t lies at the head ot the Meadow Valley wash Tho first ranch we came to won Car onH twelve miles away and then Klernuns fifteen miles further on the latter ono of tho pret lest places In Nevada lying deep down In the canyon where even the fruit trees were In bloom Near here arc some very promising copper prospects pros-pects which will bear examination Seventeen miles further on are what Is known as the Pockets and nineteen F nine-teen miles beyond we came to Cain Springs neither of which wero very Interesting In-teresting and thirteen miles still further fur-ther on we reached Moappa on what I has been very Improperly called the Muddy It Is In fact one of they the-y headwaters of tho Virgin river and Is J as clear as crystal It lies in quite a t large valley and the stream is of sufficient t suf-ficient size to admit of Its use for Irrigation t Irri-gation purposes In the valley The soil 1 IH good At all of these places wo found good people and plenty ot feed which of course ve hud to buy MANY MARKS AND BRANDS In driving down through tho canyon Y we had observed many curious Inscriptions inscrip-tions of birds snakes animals and i hieroglyphics of various kinds which we j were unable to decipher but which no doubt meant something but there was I 2 one which Blood out In bold relief and was In classic American It had be n painted on an ImmcnHc rock by some weary and dlngueted traveler and yi It read as follow J This IB the longest i the drlfft and the damndest wash on earth He couldnt have stated It bot qtor It tis OASIS INT THE DESERT At Moappa the survey crosses the Muddy and the first stop Is at thu rfiDpsert well twentyone miles west I very properly named because It Is In a desert and tho water Is so filled with b gypsum as to be unfit for cooking purposes I pur-poses evn and no selfrespecting horse will drink It unless he Is very thirsty Aq From the Desert Well to Las Vegas Is twentvslx I miles which Is a veritable oasis In this desert It consists of several sev-eral thousand acres with a great abun 3 danc > ot water for Irrigating and other j purposes and belongs to Senator Clark MORMONS WERE HERE r It has a history too When It was a iJ trackless waste the early Mormon sct It and It with > if tiers came across planted cottonwood trees which have grown to enormous size They set out vineyards nnd fruit trees and made It blossom like Ithe i rose and they constructed a baptismal bap-tismal fount which has been permitted to degenerate Into a frog pond Theso early ploupora deserve much credit for Or what they did j A GARDEN SPOT At present It In I a garden spot and I i anything that will grow In semitropical cllmatos will reach perfection here It will undoubtedly become an Important I elation on the new system and with the expenditure of money may be mado into c rc ° ort which It will be pleasant to vlsl1 especially on account of the hot spring which are believed to have U L medicinal properties i I j I ROAD NEEDS LITTLE From the Vegas ranch to Cottonwood 0 Is twontyone miles and from there to Goo 5prin s seventeen miles more i I making the total official survey from iCallent to GoodsprlnGs 1C1 miles a i fiery large portion of which Is graded Jtid needs only the finishing touches rand Borne culverts and bridges to makeS make-S r ll 1 ready for the rails MINING HAS BEEN DONE Goodoprlnga la the first point on the wt ire where much mining has been done and where It la evident much more will osbe done In the future a H soon ns the 1 raIlroad which will pass within a few i miles of It Is an established face and rearly for buslnces Not many miles tr im Goodnprlngo Is the famous old iPatosi min in the past a phenomenally l phenomen-ally rich lead 1 property whcro tho Mormons e i Mor-mons first got tholr supply of lead from to make bullets of and before them tho t Scions The Keystone a sold proper employing about forty mon Is wlth L na few miles across tho range This Inc has u mill and a cyanide plant a < < ea f mllpfl further down tho valley and S at prtTtit taking out about J1000 a The estate of the laic Allen G Camp JIJIf 1 rt Y t + e bell who took several millions out of Utah mines owns thirtyeight patented mines In this district Mr Campbell who was an experienced and careful miner regarded this property as one of the best of his assets It Is said that Frank Knox a Salt Lake banker and G S Holmes the wellknown hotelman hotel-man have an option on these claims and that capitalists are to look them over at an early day Mr Campbell regarded these claims so highly that he fixed a hIgh price for them In his will which they must bring or lie In statu quo until his youngest heir roaches the ago of 21 years I SILVER AND COPPER There ore many other load sHYer and copper properties In this district of such a promising character that they need only the advent of the railroad with reasonable transportation to make this a lively place In the pact many shipments ship-ments have been made from this vicinity vicin-ity but the rates for hauling transportation transpor-tation and treatment were so high that It required exceptionally rich oro to permit of Its shipment and yet many shipments Were made There la l already an abundance of water hore which with development may be materially Increased CASTLE IN THE Alit A reduction plant erected by a visionary vision-ary a few years ago at an expense of 100000 Is also here In excellent condition condi-tion which requires the expenditure of only a tow thousand dollars to transform trans-form It Into a firstclass concentrating plant It Is owned by n Los > Angeles syndicate which acquired It under sale by execution They also have fifteen or more very promising looking claims In addition to It TOUCHES OF crVTLIZATION and a store postolllco There orcn number of dwellings and tents at Good springs which when operations begin will without doubt develop Into a substantial sub-stantial town WATER IS PLENTIFUL Twentyfives miles below hero and across Boundary lake a veritable DOn of sand are Murphy Francis wells situated a mile apart Good water wan obtained In both these wells at a depth of less than 100 feet settling beyond question tho fact that water can be obtained ob-tained almost anywhere along this route by sinking END OF THE SANTA FH Three miles below Francis well Is Ivanpah station the end ot the Santa Fe branch and a distributing point for the surrounding country The large borax company operating In Death Valley Val-ley have hore borne twenty large traction trac-tion engines and arc preparing the roads for their use In hauling the borax from Death Valley to the station MANY fEN AT WORK They have a large force of men employed em-ployed and ore getting Into shape to do some business on a large scale miles west of here Is the famous Copper Cop-per World In the past a large producer and In the future destined to become a larger producer still Old Ivanpah famous thirty years ago as a scene of one ot thu greatest of Nevadas excitements i excite-ments lies thirty miles southeast of here and will take on new life when tho I railroad comes The survey of the San Pedro road crosses that of the Santa Fe near here WHERE CAMPBELL WORKED Vanderbllt the scene of some of Allan G Campbells operations lies about eight miles cast of here Mr Campbell operated some very promising properties proper-ties here during the last years of his life and had erected a fivestamp mill which together with the mines Is at present lying Idle These properties like those at Goodsprlngs arc somewhat handicapped by Mr Campbells Idlosyn oracles as expressed In his will Other properties In the district are not however how-ever hindered by anything of this kind and will be reopened when the railroad comes SUGAR LOAF PEAK Sugar Louk Peak seen on the maps rears his head from this valley and is about ten or twelve miles from the valley val-ley There Is an Interesting history connected with this mountain which deserves de-serves more than passing notice FAMOUS THIRTY YEARS AGO It Is situated right In the heart of the Crescent district where ore was found In the early SOs by prospectors from Ivanpah It Is In the McCullough mountains and the peak lies about thirty miles from Eldorado canyon famous fa-mous thirty years ago and about fifteen fif-teen miles from Searchlight the most promising new mining camp ot southern south-ern Nevada at present shut down on account of a strike This district was prospected In 1892 when there was no water except that which the daring prospectors carried with them and when It took a bravo man to venture very far from his source of supply and the pioneers pio-neers were George Simmons William Sherman Milt Layne and Alva Phelps men who had been enured to hardships and for whom the desert had no terrors ter-rors ZACATONE GRASS A man named Grossman observed a kind of grass called Zacatone which was said to denote the proximity of water wa-ter and sank a well and found It at leER than fifteen feet It still continues to be the principal source of supply for the miners In the district although other wells have been sunk and water found at depths varying from twelve to twenty feet A fivestamp mill was operated op-erated here for a time by Los Angeles parties and then taken away TURQUOISE MINES Sugar Loaf Peak has a wider and by far more Interesting significance than simply being the conspicuous landmark It Is It Is here that the famous turquoise tur-quoise mines arc situated which were discovered during the period of Inaction following tho collapse of the district when the Legal render mill was taken away It was some time during 1896 that George Simmons a nervy man from Texas who had spent many years mining and prospecting In Arizona Nevada Ne-vada and California with varied success suc-cess was hunting for the golden fleece and while prospecting on the slope of Sugar Loaf Peak about three miles cast of Croscmans spring found a peculiarly stained piece of quartz which when Hhown come of tho other prospec tons they pronounced copper and of no particular value Mr Simmons was not satisfied with their conclusion and put the specimen In his pocket and thought over It The more ho thought about It and the more he examined It the more I puzzled ho was over It lie was sure It wasnt copper After thinking about it and dreaming over It he came to the conclusion that he had seen something similar In the Burro mountains In New I Mexico some years before which proved to be turquoise LONG WEARY HUNT Then lie began a long and weary and oflon heartbreaking search for more ot It and It was not until eight months afterward that ho discovered what la probably the largest and < most valuable turquoise deposit In the world WORKED CENTURIES AGO It was found upon developing tho property that It had been worked centuries cen-turies ago but by whom must ever remain re-main a mystery Stone hammers and slabs of stone were found nnd Imbedded In tho volcanic ash In which the gems occurred were found pieces of charcoal showing that the mining had been done by fire There are evidences that the mine was worked then abandoned and the tools thrown In and covered up with debris WORKED BY TilE AZTECS Tn all probability the mine was worked by the Toltecs or Aztecs at a time when precious stones were the craze as gold IB ut the present day After many vicissitudes Mr Simmons organized tho Toltec Gem Mining company In which arc prominently Interested besides himself him-self the wellknown firm of Charles F Wood Co of No1 Maiden Lane New York and John Lamont a wellknown lapidary One gem of sixtyeight car is was sold to a prominent New Yorker for 1000 ThlK company practically controls tho output of turquolso In this country and fixes the price FUTURE MINING CAMP Wo camped nt Grossmans spring In tho Crescent district for several weeks and caw evidences of a promlolng future fu-ture mining camp Several properties arc bolng developed and their surface showings are said to be better than wero thoso at Searchlight fifteen miles away and In ono of which fho Quartette Quar-tette 1000 ore wan found on the 600 foot level a day or two before the senseless sense-less strike closed down the camp and stopped the dropping of nlxly otamps WHILE THE SUN SHINES It was no picnic to remain In the rays of the sun from 5 oclock in the morning until It sank In the west at 8 In the evening without a particle of shade to get under except a tunnel now and then and It required a copperlined stomach to drink the water which was good enough except for the fact that almost dally a gangaroo rat bloated and swollen woula be pulled out of the I well I I THE TOTAL DISTANCE As near as could be ascertained the distance from Ivanpah station to Dag gett Is about 100 miles and from Dag gett to Los Angeles ICO miles making the total distance from Salt Lake to Los Angeles In the neighborhood of 722 miles TIllS PART WAS EASY It was a relief to take the train at Manvll on the Santa Fe branch and go to Los Angeles and San Francisco returning to Suit Lake by way of the always pleasant Central Pacific route and no contrast could be more pleasant or greater than to get from the burning sands of Lincoln county to the cool green refreshing slopes of the Sierras and no stream ever looked half so Inviting In-viting as did the Truckee river Salt Lake seemed like fairy land after having hav-ing spent several weeks In Purgatory WHAT THE ROAD MEANS The Importance of the building of this new road Is not half understood or appreciated ap-preciated by the residents of Salt Lake It means taking the train In the evenIng even-Ing and arriving In Los Angeles the following fol-lowIng evening or twentyfour hours from the time of starting and with the completion of the MofTalt road from Denver to Salt Lake only about four days from tho Atlantic to the Pacific seaboard Will It be detrimental to the other railroads ItJ not thought so by those who have given the subject much study There will be an Increase of business and many of those traveling over this route going west will return cast over some other system BENEFITS TO SHIPPER To the fruit shipper of Southern California Cali-fornia It will mean choauer rates and quicker time In getting his product to I market The hurried traveler or the Invalid desirous of quickly reaching the glorious climate of California will patronize pat-ronize it In preference to any other route WILL MAKE SALT LAKE The Importance of the new road to Salt Lake la not even yet dreamed of I and may not be realuied until It Is In actual operation when Its people will wake up some day and find thai they I have hero a metropolis second to none I west of the Missouri river with n climate cli-mate and other natural advantages superior su-perior to them all and then they will wonder why they didnt see It before and profit by It II It R CASPER |
