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About The Sumpter miner. (Sumpter, Or.) 1899-1905 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 26, 1904)
t Wednesday, October 26. 1904 THE SUMPTER MINER DEPLORABLE SITUATION AT TONOPAH, GOLDFIFLD BLUE BIRD BUCK HORN Provisions Already Scarce and Railroad is Blockaded With Eight Hundred Cars of Freight. The Portlaud Telegram publishes a special disputoh frntn Rcuo, Nevada, dated the seventeenth iu stnnt, as follews: it might aa well be made kuowu ouoo and for all that there la au over-rtiBh to the Touopah aud Gold fled country. It la already urideut to the thinkiug people that there will ' be fliifforluK thia winter at beat, aud with tbo rush of people continuing aa at the present time, tboro is uo telling how sorioua the rcaults will bo. Thore are already moro people than can obtain acoominudatioua for Jove or money. The freight traffic ia blocked in au irretrievable manner, aud the plaoo ia threatened with epidemic, aa well aa groat in dividual 8ufforing. Though winter has already reachod tho oouutry of the new gold dis coveries, aud hundreds of meu there oauuot obtaiu work, au average of 200 meu are pouring in daily from all parts of the world, a majority of whom have not euuugb mouey to keep them through the wiuter. Everything iu the way of living brings fabulous prices, and moat of the people have nothing with which to buy. Wood, which is a aoarco article at any time, ia now 820 a cord, and of very poor quality at that. Other ueooaaarioa are pro portionately high-priced. The thouaauds of pooplo at Uold Hold have to depend upou wagous to haul supplies over twenty-eight miles from Touopah, and while vehicles at preBeut are adequate to meet the demand, tbo railroad to Touopah ia not. A railioad man in Reno today from that portion of the country divulged a serious state of affairs that has not heretofore been made public. Many cars of perish able goods dostiued for the uew camps have been emptied by the aide of -tho .track., The railroad has re fused to carry certain kinds of per ishable merchandise any more. Fruit shipments have eutirely ceased. There are over 150 oars of freight bound for Touopah on the sidetracks at the town or Sparks, three miles east of Reno, aud the railroad officials are unable to state when they will be moved. More tbau 8U0 oars are sidetracked between Reno and Touopah, all of which are heavily loaded with suplies for Touopah aud (Joldfleld. Mercbuauts, notel meu and miuiug meu are be sieging the railroad company daily for their oousignments, but the com pany is powerless. Officials are workiug diligently, but the opacity is not equal to the demaud, and will possibly uot be made ao until next spring. In the meantime people are coming from everywhere, and the stories in the newspapers are in creasing the rush of the goldseekers. They all say that more are coming. Ouly a few shacks and tents are now to be had at CSoldflold for shelter. People aro packed iuto these aud iu dirt houses like sar diuea. Alon pay aeveuty-flve conts to 81. HO to sleep in a cot alongside a (1 ozon other mou in tho samo room or tout, aud meals average seventy Ave ceuta to 81 HO apiece. Tho supply of provisions is kept short by the iucreaavd demaud, aud should the storms of winter blookado tho railroad into Touopah, the results would be appalling. Tho altitude of Touopah ih ti,:)00 feet, aud thia fact alone should be sufficient to convince stiaugers that it ia no place to wiutor unless thoy aro propared, tlmmoially aud othorwiae. There ia no seworago at (ioldllold, aud peraoua returning from there say that there ia a stench constantly lisiug iu the cpmp, that muat soouor or later cauae disease. There ia uo hoapital or building iu which the sick could bo cared for, aud tho conservative element regard the conditions uow existing with alarm. LOOKING FOR GOLD IN DEATH VALLEY A story of hardship aud dangor aud ulimato success iu quest of tho pot of gold that 1 1 oh at tho foot of the rainbow of the desert pros pector's hopes, is that told by Jimmy Wilder, au old-time Nevada hunter of the yellow metal. Wilder has just completed a four-months pros pecting trip through Death Valloy a trip iu which ho got close to the border laud of eternity, but which wai not uurowarded, as he located four miuiug claims about one hundred aud twouty miles uorthorly of the Salt Lake railroad route. From these claims samples of ore, said to run 82,000 per ton, weie obtained, (t is asserted that the ledge trom which thia ore was takeu is two feet wide, says the Los Augelea Examiner. Wilder Just his horse on the trip, and was compelled to punch his pack burro over one hundred miles, ankle deep iu sand, over sharp volcauio rocks, aud uuder a blazing suu, on short ratious of water. Tho skin was peeled from his face, nook and hands, aud he claims to have lost about forty pounds on the trip (le states that Duko Morton, another well kuowu prosector, who left Caliente iu May, seventy-live miles into Death Valley, aud that Morton has located two claims sbowiug three foot veins of guld ore ou the apex of the mountain, and that he will bring iu about one VALLEY QUEEN BLACK BUTTE Are the greatest money-making stocks on the market today. InveHgate them. Write for annual reports and prospectuses- WHEELER & CO., BANKERS Dept. 60 32 Broadway. New York. Sole agents for above companies. hundred pouuds of oro, which will go iuto thousands ot dollars per ton. Two Indians, who guided Morton to the claims, told Morton that llfty miles northwest from the latter was a cavern in what they called "black rook," where chunks of gold had boon found by two white men years ago, and that their fathers had killed the prospectors and sold their gold at Salt Lake for several hundred dollars. The Indians would uot guide tho prospectors to tho cavern, which thoy said was guarded by the spirits of tho murdered men. Wilder states that iu his opinion, Death Valloy ia a verltablo treasuro laud, which, when opened up by riilrcads, will enrich tho oouutry million i of dollars. There have boon roports brought into Caliente at iutervals by Indians for yoars, and in every . instance they come from the direction of Death Valloy. Another talo of discovered desort wealth, iutortwiuod with details of sulferiug aud tragody, is cited by Martiu Ryuer and Nolsou Standlah, who have located gold aud aluminum deposits iu Death Valley, about one hundred miles from the route of the Salt Lake railway. The exact location of the licit is, of course, not divulged, but that it must bo im portant is indicated by samples which show chunks of gold as large ih kernels of wheat all through the ore. The discovery is said to consist of a flvo-foot ledge of freo milling (ire, aud the ouly obstacle in the way of its exploitation, say the dis coverers, is the apparent remoteness from water. Messrs. Ryuer and Staudish had a sorious time on tho desert and well nigh perished from thirst. They were two day) abso lutely without water, under a blazing August sun, ou account of their burros tipping over their water barrel at night. Ryuer was nearly blind when they got out of the dread waste, from the effects of the stud storm which overtook them on their last day. They found the skeleton of a man on whose bones tho skin aud ileal) had dried aud baked iuto the resemblance of au Egyptian mummy. Three brass buttons, such as are worn by United States soldiers, were the ouly clews of identification, the clothing having eutirely disappeared. They buried the remains near tho camp, aud named their claim "Dead Man's Mine," after their gruesome dud. Olive Lake Water Power. Mr. aud Mrs. John Thomson re turned from Raker City this foreuoon ou their way to the Red Roy. Mr. Thomson says that bis meu are busy at Olive Lake sawing 100,000 feet of logo iuto lumber, which will lie used iu tho construction of tho wator power plant. The company is getting everything ready to start up early in tho spring. If tho weather permits tho new power plant will lie built thia fall. Thore has been somo snow during the last few days, but It is uot expected bad weather will come for another mouth yet. Ho Is having tho remaining seven claims of tho Red Roy group pateutod through the United States laud office. XyV ivi f9k lcJi I v.icsrio 9 OREGON Shopj line mo Union Pacific TO Salt Late, Denver, Kansas City. CHIGIGO ST. LOUIS NEW YOHI Ocean steamers between Portland and Srii Francisco every five dayi. Low Rati ! Tickets to and from all parts of tho United States, Canada ind Europe. Through I'ullman Standard and Tourist Bleeping Cars daily to Omaha, Chicago, Spokane ; Tourist Sleeping car daily to Kansas City ; through I'ullman tourist sleeping cam (per sonally conducted) weekly to Chi cago, Kansas City; reclining chair cars (seats free) to die East daily. For particulars, call on at add II. O. Bowaaa, Agent, Baker City, Or. -, 1 WfiSKiK& V. .JUt&Mk&A. &H-C