Wealth of the Worlds Waste Places and Oceania | Page 6

cactus furnishes them a large part of their food, and the fibre is woven into cloth to provide them with clothing. These Indians have been acclimated to the desert for centuries and are well versed in all of its moods and mysteries. They know of no better abode; neither can they be induced to leave it for a more congenial climate and fertile soil. Travellers and prospectors have told many stories about their experiences in these deserts. But perhaps no story has possessed a greater fascination than that of the lost Pegleg Mine.
The story of this lost mine has been told and retold with many variations for the past seventy years, and more than a score of persons have lost their lives in attempting to rediscover it. In 1836, according to the traditional story, a man named Smith, distinguished from the rest of the Smith family by the possession of a wooden leg, was journeying with several companions from Yuma over the Colorado desert. On account of his wooden stump he was dubbed "Pegleg" by his fellow-travellers.
After having been out several days and not finding any springs or water holes, the prospectors became greatly alarmed and hastened toward three small buttes which they saw standing out in the desert, in the hope of finding water in the dry wash leading from their bases. On arriving at the foot of the hills they were sadly disappointed; diligent search revealed no signs of water. He of the wooden leg climbed to the top of one of the buttes to get a better view of the country, and to the northward saw a high mountain; but before descending, he observed some black stones under his feet and on picking one up found it heavy and filled with a brassy-colored metal. He then picked up several of the stones and put them into his pockets, but being desirous of reaching water as soon as possible, he gave little thought to his find.
He told his companions of the mountain seen to the north and advised all possible haste to reach it, saying that he believed that they would there find water. The next day at nightfall they succeeded in reaching the base of the mountain in an exhausted condition and found a spring of cool, clear water. They were thus barely saved from a lingering death by thirst. The mountain was named Smith Mountain.
At San Bernardino, Smith showed his ore to an expert, who pronounced it nearly pure gold. The real importance of the discovery did not seem to dawn on the one-legged man, however, until thirteen years afterward; then, in 1849, it was heralded to the world that wonderful discoveries of gold had been made in several parts of California and that a man could dig out of the ground a fortune in a few days or weeks. Smith became enthusiastic and organized an expedition in San Francisco to seek for his desert mine where gold could be had for the picking up.
The expedition started out from Los Angeles. One night, just before reaching Smith Mountain, the Indians who had been taken along to pack the supplies secretly decamped with the provisions, thus compelling the prospectors to return as speedily as possible to save their lives. Smith felt discouraged and left the company at San Bernardino. Whether he perished in again trying to find his mine or left the country is not known. At any rate, he was never heard of afterward.
In 1860 a man named McGuire deposited in one of the San Francisco banks several thousand dollars in gold nuggets which he said he obtained near Smith Mountain. He organized a party of six to hunt for the Pegleg Mine. What they found, however, will never be known, for they all perished, and their bleached bones were found on the desert a long time afterward. They were not alone in disaster, however, for very many others in trying to find the legacy of Smith have met the same fate.
But the hidden wealth of this great region, so long known as the "Great American Desert," is by no means confined to its storehouses of gold, silver, and copper. Here, there, and almost everywhere are areas that lack but one element to make them the most productive regions of the world, and that one element is water.
The conquest of the Colorado desert is not the first instance of desert land reclamation in the United States, but it is certainly one of the marvels of the world's history. A more pronounced and inhospitable desert never existed; and, in proportion to the area reclaimed, it is doubtful if one can find greater productivity than the lands that constitute Imperial Valley. Let us take a glance at nature's work in this region.
Long before the Mississippi was born the