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Show j GOLDEN 1 PHANTOMS j Fascinating J j Tales Of fdlll L wauon Lost M incs wnu. 1 i INDIAN GUARDIANS TOE Utes know or. they used to know where there is a valley full of gold nuggets. The gold is so thick that it may be gathered by bushels. And since no white man has ever found It for keeps, it must still lie somewhere out in the old Ute country, which Is so desolate that no one save the most desperate would venture Into its fastnesses. Mike Gray heard of the valley of gold from a Frenchman In California Califor-nia in 1S72. He organized a small party and outfitted for gold-seeking, but somehow he never managed to reach his goal. He said that a white woman, held captive by the Utes, knew its location, but the Indians feared that she would tell, and at last killed her to silence her tongue. There was a Mexican woman once who saw another Indian gold mine, and she told about It In detail, but no one could find it So the Utes might as well have let their captive live, since describing definite locations loca-tions among the mountains is no easy task. The Mexican woman was a friend of an old Pima chief. He fell ill, and she cured him with her homely remedies, so that his gratitude was great Now, the Pimas had long been known to have a gold mine, called the Talopa. When they were in need, 'they would sell pieces of very rich high-grade ore, but they would never divulge its source. The old Pimas chief gave his Mexican friend some of this ore, and from time to time he would present her with more, but all her entreaties would not budge his determination to keep the secret. He said that he would be struck dead if he told and certainly cer-tainly that was a powerful reason for not telling. At last, determined to find out the location of the Talopa, the Mexican woman packed up her belongings and went to live in the Pima village. vil-lage. Here she made herself useful use-ful and agreeable. She made gifts of some of her trinkets to the most prominent women. She was always ready to aid the sick. She became, practically, a member of the tribe. And all the time she tried to learn the secret of the hidden mine. At last this method of persuasion wore down the old chief's resistance. resist-ance. He began to talk a little about the mine. It had been worked when he was a boy. It was very rich, indeed. No, no, he would not take her there, for he feared the retribution of his red gods. But at last he weakened. He would allow two women of his people peo-ple to lead the Mexican woman to the mine, and she should see It with her own eyes. He could no longer escape the vast obligation which lie and his people owed her, and thl3 would be his repayment. Joyously, the Mexican woman set out with her escort to fe mine. For three nights they climbed mountains and crossed valleys, and at last, on the fourth night, the end of the journey was near. However, it was after midnight when the women stopped In a deep canyon, and by the pale light of the moon pointed out a large dump and an arrastra, which showed signs of great age, nearby. The visitor went over to the dump and picked up a few pieces of ore. Suddenly, as if frightened by something Invisible and terrible, her guides Insisted on their hurrying away. They traveled all the rest of the night, and late the next afternoon aft-ernoon they reached the Pima village. vil-lage. It had taken only one day to return from a four days' Journey, which proved that she had been led by a roundabout route to the mine. Further questions on her pnrt met with failure. The old chief had done all he could and more than he should he made that plain. Beyond Be-yond that he would not go. It was Impossible to retrace that Journey made In the darkness. She had seen the mine and Bhe had the ore to prove it But that was all. And though she told her story over and over again, no one ever wa able to find the Pima mine. THE DENTAL GOLD FIND UWRLY this year an ex-service - man named Charles Williams became lost In Superstition mountain, moun-tain, site of the "Lost Dutchman" mine and mecca of treasure-hunters. When he finally made his way out of the mazes In which so many men have been forever lost, he brought with him a dozen pieces of gold, and claimed that he had found a cache containing some twenty pounds of the metaL Assays showed one of the "nuggets" "nug-gets" to be what Is knowD as "dental "den-tal gold" an alloy of gold, copper, and a trace of platinum. As this Is written, Williams ha3 not been able to find the cache, but believes that he will discover It again. If all the gold proves to be alloy. It will add another mystery to the many already accumulated about Superstition. |