This is a bit of a long read but I hope you enjoy it.
Introduction
Gold is where you find it. How many times over the years have we heard this? In the same context, how many treasure maps have been sold to some poor unsuspecting soul? Stories of lost gold and buried treasure have been with us for thousands of years. Of these stories, the American Southwest seems to hold a large percentage of them. The majority of the stories that have been written also have crude hand drawn maps to go with them. It seems that as each new generation of young prospector’s and treasure hunters come on the scene the gold gets bigger and the treasure much larger. Of course, along with this comes a whole new set of maps with more detail and some, even, with pictures that have been manipulated on the computer to look old.
I’ve grown up in the Southern California Desert. The mining districts were my playground. I’ve read all the little paperbacks about lost gold and treasure here in my own backyard. As a very young child I had the chance of meeting a gentleman who wrote booklets under the name of “The Old Prospector”. He also wrote two mining books, “Gold in Lode and Gold in Placer” both of which are still in print today. This gentle man and prospector was Jack Douglas. So for me many of the stories I’ve heard about in my own area have come from word of mouth. My father was a storyteller. He could keep you on the edge of your chair and cause your to dream of riches and the hunt for them. I realize today that many of these stories have never been written about mainly because their local stories. I idolized these old-timers and there art and style of telling campfire adventures. This summer as I began mapping out my prospecting areas for the fall, it hit me between the eyes like a twelve pound single jack, I’ve become the “Old-Timer”. Realizing this, I figured I better start writing down some of these stories because they are localized. Some names are real some are not and the legends may or may not be true. I’ve added my own style to the stories. I hope that you find them enjoyable.
I’ve never really cared about the amount of gold I’ve found, God knows I’ve found my share. It’s not about the money or the gain for I’ve been there too; I’ve prospected and mined for the pure pleasure of finding it and like my father, it’s the beauty of the Desert that’s the true treasure we seek. Yet “If you’ve never seen gold come out of the ground in its natural state, than you have yet to experience the joy, the speechlessness and thrill of finding your first Nugget”.
The story that is presented here was first told to me and my friend, Ron Bassler, by his grandfather Carol Bassler Sr. Who settled in the Gold Park District in the 1920’s. My father told me of this story again one evening around the campfire at the El Toro Mine in 1960.
The OL’29er (aka) The 29 Prospector
Copy write 2007
Chapter I
In the late 1800’s in the southern
California desert stood a very small Oasis. Within this Oasis was a make shift store, bar, a few Indian dwellings and a small mining mill that was used by the prospector’s in the area to crush their ore and retrieve the gold.
One of the old prospector’s that used the mill was Chuckwalla Wilson who had a reputation as being a straight-shooter with you and some what crazy, howbeit he got his name.
Well it was August, hot as hell at night and just plain miserable out, yet old Chuckwalla Wilson sit contently in an old wooden chair with loose legs, at the make shift table in the bar at the little Oasis, listening to the entire room of new prospector’s trying to out bull shit each other. One old prospector caught his attention as he described a ledge of gold ore that ran horizontally on the side of a small cliff. He had a few samples and was showing them to everyone. The gold was crystal like and buried in iron oxide pockets. Now Chuckwalla knew Bill McHaney was no green horn or con-artist. He was known to be a horse thief, gambler and prospector. He had found more than his share of nuggets and gold veins. What made this story so interesting was the fact that Bill couldn’t remember exactly where he found the ore and for Bill this was strange simply because he never forgot anything. Everyone in the bar figured he high graded one of the mines in
Gold
Park and they just wrote him off as heat crazy.
Bill comes over to the table where Chuckwalla is sitting and sits down on an old barrel with his beer. Chuckwalla was one of the few good prospector’s Bill knew. Bill says to him, “I just don’t get it. I’ve spent almost a year now looking for that ledge. I know approximately where it is but it keeps eluding me”. Well Bill, “maybe you need a partner, one you can trust”. What are you saying, “Do you want to help me”? Look Bill, “you helped me rake the side of that damn mountain looking for nuggets and we did pretty good and I said nothing to no one. I’m just saying that two can cover more ground better than one man”. Bill thought about it for awhile and asked Chuckwalla “about an outfit because he was down to one horse”. Chuckwalla told Bill “He had two pack mules, a horse and enough supplies to last them at least 6 months”.
That night, sitting at the table, a deal was made between Bill and Chuckwalla to leave mid-September when the weather cooled down a bit. Both men ordered two more beers and shared mining stories about the
Queen
Valley area. Chuckwalla had discovered two different claims in the area and had sold both when he had proved them up. Both mines were doing well and Chuckwalla had got a good penny for them.
Back at the bar the prospector’s didn’t even give notice to the two strangers at the far end bar. Chuckwalla noticed them as soon as they came in. He figured them for outlaws on the run and moved his shot gun a little closer to himself. The two strangers’ were listening to the prospector’s discussing where old Bill could have found that gold. A few of the old timer’s figured it came out of Gold Park or Queen Valley while the newer prospector’s thought it came out of Music Valley or one of the canyons feeding Dog Wash.
Chapter II
In the early morning hours of the next day, a huge thunderstorm came through the little community leaving mud and debris everywhere. The two stranger’s were up and gone before the sun rose. They figured that they had close to a month to look for that gold before those two crusty old wiry bearded prospector’s started out. They were not worried about the one called Bill, but the one they called Chuckwalla would be trouble. He had handled that shot gun way too easy when they came into the bar realizing he was a seasoned old coot.
Chuckwalla had got up just before dawn and noticed the two strangers’s heading southeast toward
Gold
Park. He knew that they were after one thing and one thing only, that ledge of gold. He fixed himself breakfast than went over to the small community at the Oasis and together with the other’s they started the yearly process of cleaning up. Looking for high spots where the flood didn’t hit, they moved the tent store and bar. This was the third time now that they had to move the tents around. Chuckwalla laughed to himself as he helped. He had made his camp four years ago on a small rise with no shade but had yet to get flooded out. As Chuckwalla worked all day in the hot August sun, he continued to think about the two strangers’. The one who wore his gun
Texas style was young and looking for trouble. The older one wore a two gun rig and looked to be well seasoned. He knew the older feller would be a handful if they run into them.
That night the prospector’s got together and had a cook out and the bar owner furnished the beer. The small community was back together again waiting for the next storm.
Chapter III
The two stranger’s figured they had got away clear and free as they continued to check behind them, for no one was following. They made camp on a small rise in the middle of
Gold
Park. The mines were shut down for the summer so they figured they wouldn’t have to worry about company. Oh, were they in for a surprise.
Over the ridge, One-Eyed George was just getting ready to make camp when he saw the small flicker of light over the ridge. One-Eyed knew that most of the miner’s were at the Oasis because of the heat. He himself enjoyed the heat and his old mule Sassy seemed to like it also. One-Eyed George tried to stay away from the Oasis as much as possible. He went and got drunk one night and some idiot poked him in the eye with a cane (how was he to know that the man was a gambler traveling through the desert) anyway He got one hell of an ass kicking that night and those at the Oasis always remind him of it. Yet seeing the fire was just too much for him so he headed toward it figuring he might get caught up on the latest news.
The two strangers’ heard One-Eyed George coming before they saw him. George hollered out to the fire and asked if he could come in? The strangers’ invited him in and George offered to cook dinner. They all enjoyed a meal of jerked beef, beans and fried bread. The coffee was strong enough to stand a spoon up in it but drinkable. After dinner the two strangers’ caught One-Eyed up on the latest news along with some bullshit thrown in. They told George about Bill’s gold ledge and he laughed his ass off. He tells them, “man old Bill’s been telling that story for two or three years now. He says that it’s somewhere over in
Dog
Wash, but there isn’t any thing over there but light brown dirt and rocks”. The younger stranger asked George “if he could guide them to
Dog
Wash”. Well One-Eyed thought about for a minute or two and said “sure I’ll take you over there; I don’t have nothing else to do”, so the next morning, they headed out toward
Dog
Wash.
Chapter IV
Well the heat didn’t break till the last week of September and the weather was cool enough for the prospector’s to get their gear together for the prospecting season. Bill and Chuckwalla had ordered two new rifles and shot guns along with three hundred rounds of ammunition and dry goods. This was normal for summer in the desert. Everyone ordered up their supplies for the coming season. It usually took one to three months just to get the stuff up the hills from Banning.
Together, they loaded Chuckwalla’s two mules with six months supply of food and powder. Bill had time to draw a crude map of where he thought the gold might be and Chuckwalla suggested that they head out toward
Queen
Valley just in case someone wanted to follow them. Bill agreed saying, “we can cut around
Bell
Mountain and come up the backside to
Gold
Park and then head east to
Music
Valley”. As dawn broke, Bill and Chuckwalla were about two miles out from the Oasis heading south toward
Queen
Valley. As they reached the top of the grade, they headed southeast around
Bell
Mountain then north toward
Gold
Park. With evening approaching, they decided to camp for the night at the southern end of
Gold
Park. This would give them a straight shot toward Music valley.
After a dinner of beans and biscuits, Bill cleaned the dishes and Chuckwalla made another pot of coffee. They kept their fire low so as not to attract to much attention. As they relaxed drinking coffee, Chuckwalla asked Bill “if he saw the two strangers’ in the bar the night he was showing off the gold”? “Yeah, I saw them but took them for saddle tramps just passing through”. Well Bill, “they left before daybreak the next day right after the storm heading towards
Gold
Park”.
Chapter V
One-Eyed George and the two strangers’ broke camp at dawn and started out. George noticed that the strangers’ were traveling pretty light and the way they wore their rigs he knew they weren’t prospectors. George tells them “the first two or three miles would be rough going but once they drop down into the big wash it would be good traveling. From there they would be five maybe six miles to the stone cabin at the beginning of
Dog
Wash”. Now the stone cabin was built years ago and no one knew by who or why. Everyone just used it and would restock it if they were passing through. The going was tough and slow due to very soft sand in the big wash. Seems old Sassy was not wanting to go to
Dog
Wash and poor old George was having a time with her. The strangers’ were getting impatient with George and his damn mule but the older one realized they needed him. It took all day to get to the cabin and it was almost dark by the time they got the horses and mule bedded down. George got a fire going in the stove and started dinner. George had killed a jack rabbit earlier and had him boiling away in a big old pot for almost an hour. The younger stranger said to George “what in the hell are you cooking that jack for you know you can’t eat them, there to tough”. “Not the way I cook them” and at that George went outside and found 6 mesquite pods and two hands full of squaw tea weed. He come back into the cabin and crushed the pods and tea strands and threw them into the pot. After another hour and a half, he serves up a dinner of boiled rabbit, beans and fried bread.
After dinner, the older stranger asked George to describe
Dog
Wash to them. George explained to them that Dog Wash and the canyons feeding it were scared to the Indians, at least most of them and most of the miners’ stayed away. “Well, do you think Bill’s gold might be in one of the canyons?” asked the older stranger. George says, “Well, old Bill has been known to go places where others refuse to tread”. The other stranger says, “He must be down right crazy or mad. I’ve seen what Indians can do when you piss them off”. “Your right on that count” says George.
Chapter VI
Dawn broke way too early for Chuckwalla and Bill. Seems they talked way into the night. Bill got the coffee going and Chuckwalla cooked up some salt pork, beans and left over biscuits. After cleaning up and scouting around a little, they realized that the August rains did not hit this area so the wash would be soft and the going slow. They figured it would take most of the day to get to the rock cabin at the head of
Dog
Wash.
As Bill and Chuckwalla approached the cabin, they could smell something dead. Pulling out their rifles, they circled around and came in from two sides. Chuckwalla came in on the corral side, tied his horse off in the wash, and slowly moved up the bank. Meanwhile, Bill came in on the front side of the cabin. To both of their horrors, what they saw needed no explanation.
In the corral lay Sassy, shot twice in the head and One-Eyed George’s gear slung all around the place. As Bill approached the cabin he saw a man lying face down in the dirt. He knew by the tattered blue shirt that it was One-Eyed George. Poor old George was shot in the back three times. Chuckwalla came around the corner of the cabin and told Bill “that they shot Sassy”, than he saw George. Bill says “this just isn’t right. George never harmed a flea and Sassy was a sweet old mule”. Chuckwalla says to Bill “I think those two gun slingers are involved in this so we have got to be very careful”.
Bill and Chuckwalla checked out the cabin and not much was missing so they rolled George up in his blanket and dragged him over to the corral with Sassy. Chuckwalla went and got his horse and mules and brought them up to the cabin. They tied the animals off on the backside of the cabin out of site from anyone coming back from
Dog
Wash. After removing the gear from the animals and putting it in the cabin, they were tired and both had lost their appetite and decided not to eat. As they talked that night they both knew they were looking for two killers as well as a gold ledge.
Chapter VII
Early that evening, George and the two strangers’s talked for about an hour or so and turned in for the night. The next morning George was up early, fed the animals and was starting breakfast when the strangers’ woke up. Morning gents, breakfast will be ready in about half hour. Coffee is hot so help yourselves. George was cooking up some salt pork with biscuits and gravy. The two strangers’ sure like old George’s cooking and figured he might be handy to keep around for a while.
After breakfast, the older stranger asked George “how well do you know
Dog
Wash and its canyons”? “Well sir says George; I’ve been up and down most of the canyons and all the way down
Dog
Wash to where it opens up in the flats”. The other stranger asks “do you think you could draw use a map of the whole area”? “I think I could answered George, but you got to remember that some of that area is sacred ground to the Indians and they don’t much like the white man messing around their territory, besides that, I’ve never seen any gold anywhere in that wash but I’ll draw up a map and mark the canyons that are sacred to the Indians for you two”. “Thanks” said the older stranger. The two strangers’ did the dishes while George brought in the remainder of the provisions. Once all the shelves were stocked, George sat down and started drawing a map for the two men. They sure seemed strange to him but if they wanted to go wondering around looking for Bill’s lost ledge more power to them.
George finished the map and sit the two strangers’ down and began to explain it to them. He tells them “there are eight canyons that feed into
Dog
Wash. Of those eight, five are sacred Indian grounds leaving only three to search peaceably”. The younger stranger says “well hell why not search all eight canyons we haven’t seen an Indian nor any sign of one this whole trip”. Well gentlemen “I know most of the Indians around here and it’s best to honor their sacred lands”. “Well old man I think your just trying to scare us and keep us from finding that gold”. “Well sonny, I don’t give two hoots what you think. Do what you want, I’ll stay on and hunt and cook for you if that’s alright with the both of you”. The older man says “what’s your cut in this”? “Nothing says George except enough to replace my grub”. “Then we have a deal” says the older one. There was no doubt now in George’s mind that these two fellows we plum crazy.
Chapter VIII
The next morning, Chuckwalla and Bill took to task the job of burying old One-Eyed George and his mule. Seemed only fitting that they be buried together, after all George had Sassy for almost fifteen years. After saying a few words over the grave the two went back to the cabin to clean it out a bit and stock the shelves with some of there own provisions. It was during this process that Bill found a bag of ore hidden behind a pile of wood over in a corner. Bill and Chuckwalla put the heavy canvas bag on the table almost afraid to open it. Both men were seasoned prospectors’ and figured that George probably hid it from the strangers’ and it cost him his life.
Bill and Chuckwalla got out the map and studied it for awhile and decided to spit it up and start by doing the three canyons that were safe first. Chuckwalla and Bill decided it would be a good idea to do the Indian canyons last and together. That way they could cover each others backs”. Chuckwalla says “I’m going hunting to get us something to eat”. Bill says to him “I don’t want any damn lizards for dinner”! Chuckwalla laughed to himself cause he got that nick name because he just loved eating Chuckwallas; they were meaty and reminded him of eating turkey. It didn’t take long before Chuckwalla flushed out two cotton tail rabbits and was on his way back when he noticed up on the mountain ridge three Indians watching him.
Chuckwalla cleaned the two rabbits and cut them into pieces. Bill had found some cactus apples that were ripe and cleaned them up adding some sugar to them, and then made biscuits. Together they both fixed dinner and sat down to enjoy it. After dinner Chuckwalla “told Bill about the Indians he saw and figured they were sent to keep an eye on them”. Bill says “well what do we do now”? Chuckwalla thinks on it for a while and says “well let’s search the three canyons that we know the Indians don’t care that much about and than decide from there what we do”. Bill asks “what do we do with that bag of ore”? “Well we might as well open it and see if it’s your ore or someone else’s dream”, say chuckwalla. Bill got up and retrieved the bag, sitting it on the table with a thud. They both stared at the bag while glancing at each other, both wondering how this one bag might change their future. Chuckwalla slowly opened the bag and dumped it out on the table. Both men sat there staring at the pile, dumb founded and just a tad bit scared. Sitting before them was some of the richest gold ore they had ever seen. They both also realized that just about anyone would kill for this pile of ore and the location of the vein. Chuckwalla breaks the silence by saying “Bill you really did find a ledge of gold didn’t you”. Bill says, “Chuckwalla it was just float, but I knew it had to have come from somewhere in one of these canyons but I just don’t remember which one”.
Chapter IX
The next morning both men woke up and stared at the table, realizing that the night before was not a dream. Bill put some coffee on and Chuckwalla went hunting and returned 30 minutes later with four skinned Chuckwalla’s for breakfast. Poor old Bill shook his heard. He knew sooner or later he would have to get use to eating lizards for breakfast and he found that they tasted pretty good with a lot of pepper on them. Both men cleaned the morning mess up and decided to work on the gold ore that they had. They separated the ore into two piles. One with nuggets showing in it and one that didn’t. They worked on the first pile, cutting the gold out of the rock. It took most of the day to clean up the ore of all visible gold. When they had finished, they guessed that they had about twenty to twenty-five pounds worth of gold nuggets and gold on quartz nuggets. The remainder of the ore they figured weighed about forty pounds. The men had a light dinner of biscuits and rabbit gravy and coffee that Chuckwalla made that would make a coyote howl all night. Bill tells Chuckwalla, “from now on you make the coffee in the morning and I’ll make the night coffee. This stuff is so strong that I’ll be up all night”. Chuckwalla laughed to himself because coffee never bothered him anyway. As they sit outside the little cabin, the air was cool, you could feel fall coming and the night sky was clear as could be. Chuckwalla asks Bill “how far you think those stars go”. Bill thought for a few minutes and answered, “Not rightly sure Chuckwalla, but I’ve heard people say that they think there might be life out there somewhere”. “That could be so Bill” answered Chuckwalla that could be so.
The next morning the men were up before sunrise, had breakfast, pack some jerk meat and were on the road to the first two canyons. Bill worked the first canyon on the west side while Chuckwalla worked the first canyon on the east side. The going was fairly easy the first day. Both men found signs of fresh horse tracks. Bill found a small quartz seam about three quarters of the way up the canyon, but no sign of gold. He did notice that someone had dig at the quartz recently but did so half-heartedly.
Over on the other side, Chuckwalla had gone from the bottom to the top on one side of the canyon and from the top to the bottom on the other side. All he found was four rattlesnakes, which he killed and skinned. Figured they would make a good dinner. He saw a lot of fresh horse tracks but no sign of quartz or gold. He did notice that the Indians were still watching them. He gave them the sign for peace and they returned it. He knew then that for now all was well.
Chuckwalla got back to camp first and unloaded his gear and started getting dinner ready. He found two cans of peaches in the cupboard so he had a peach cobbler going in the fireplace. He washed the snakes off and cut them into bit sized pieces and was cooking them when old Bill rode in. Bill stripped his horse down and came in and the first thing he smelled was that peach cobbler cooking. “He asked Chuckwalla what’s for dinner tonight so we can get to eat that cobbler.” Chuckwalla says, “I’m fixing fried potatoes, onions and rattlesnake”. All Bill could say tongue and cheek was “yum, yum”.
After dinner, of which Bill thanked the chef for such fine food, the two went over the days finds and marked them on the crude map. Chuckwalla mentioned seeing the Indians again and that he gave them the sign for peace and they returned it. Now Bill had not dealt with Indians that much so he asked “what’s all that mean”. Chuckwalla said, “That for now, they were watching over us and that we had nothing to fear”. He then added, “I believe when we get to close to their scared grounds they will let us know ahead of time”. “I sure hope your right Chuckwalla”. “I surely do”.
Chapter X
The next morning the men got up a little late. The sun was already up and they had lost probably three hours of day light. They both grabbed a handful of biscuits and left over rattlesnake (which Chuckwalla cooked down to jerk meat) and hit the trail. Now as I have mentioned, there were three canyons that were considered safe. Well there was a fourth canyon that was safe also but only to Chuckwalla. You see a few years back he shot a mule deer in the canyon and gave half of it to an Indian family that was living there at the time and that news traveled fast among the Indians in the area.
Bill took the west side again while Chuckwalla took the east side. Bill asked Chuckwalla “do you think it’s safe to go up that canyon?” Chuckwalla answered, “I think so judging by the way the Indians reacted yesterday”.
Chuckwalla knew this canyon like the back of his hand. There were two springs in it and a couple places that had high walls but he didn’t remember seeing any float or quartz on the ridges. He entered the canyon very slowly and noticed very fresh horse tracks. He wondered to himself if the family still lived in the canyon. As he scanned the banks and bottom of the canyon, he saw no visible signs of quartz or gold. About half way into the canyon he came upon the little lean-to that the family had lived in and he noticed that there had been a fire earlier because it was still smoking. He got down slowly and took out his biscuits and left them on the table wrapped up. He slowly walked his horse on up the canyon about fifty yards to where it bent to the north; around this bend was the first spring. As he rounded the bend he saw the family and three other families run and hide behind some boulders. Two Warriors stayed at the springs. Chuckwalla moved very slowly now for he knew that more Warriors were up in the rocks. Chuckwalla again gave the sign for peace and it was returned but with a verbal command also. He was asked to remove his weapons and hang them on the saddle horn. He complied moving slowly. At this point he was invited in. He told the two Warriors that he had left fresh biscuits at the lean-to. The families came out from behind the boulders and thank him. As they all gathered at the spring, Chuckwalla broke out the rattlesnake meat and shared it with all present. The two Warriors questioned him about his partner. Chuckwalla told them, “He was harmless and was looking for some lost ledge of gold. The Warriors told Chuckwalla about the two strange ones. “They considered them evil men for they shot a good mule and its owner. Now One-eyed George was a friend to all Indians and they were down right mad about the killing”. Chuckwalla said, “He and Bill were very upset about it too” Chuckwalla and the Indians talked some more about the hunting this season and the fact that more and more white men were come into the area around the Oasis. Chuckwalla asked to filled his water flask and the Indians gave him two barrels full of water to hang on the horse. As he was getting ready to leave, the Warriors warned him, “One more canyon will be all that is allowed you. You will understand all then”. Chuckwalla said, “He understood and thanked them for watching over them”. He mounted his horse and rode slowly out of the canyon leaving his weapons on the saddle horn.
Meanwhile, back on the west canyon Bill was having one hell of a time fighting the cat’s claw and cactus. The stuff was ripping up his pants, his shirt and his horse was not to happy either. He was halfway up the canyon and had not seen anything that looked like gold or quartz. He decided to try and get up on the ridge and look around. He wanted to see if the canyon was worth the fight. The climb out wasn’t much easier. The canyon wall was steep, a lot of lose rock and cactus everywhere. It took Bill the better part of an hour to get up and out of the canyon. As he took a break, he surveyed the damage. His horse had a few deep scratches on her but survived the cactus patch. As for himself, well his pants looked like a Bobcat got to them, his shirt wasn’t much better but it was the cactus that hurt the most. He had it in his legs, arms and even on his back. To put it in simple terms, he felt like hell and hurt all over. Bill got most of the cactus off his pants and arms and took off riding the ridgeline looking for any kind of sign that there might be gold around. After about an hour of painful riding, Bill gave up and started back toward camp. That’s when he saw three Indians off to the south about 300 yards. They were just following him. Bill felt a bit uneasy about this new development but his pain far out weighed the Indians.
Chuckwalla and Bill reached the cabin just about the same time. Chuckwalla took one look at Bill and said, “Bill that’s got to hurt like hell”. “No kidding smart ass” says Bill. “Well maybe I can help you out a little here with a hot bath and I’ll pull the cactus out for you. How’s that for being a good partner”. Bill says, “I don’t know which I want first, the bath or the cactus removed”. Chuckwalla assured him that it would take at least an hour to get enough hot water. Chuckwalla helped Bill down off the horse, stripped the gear off the horse and cleaned up the wounds on the horse’s legs. Chuckwalla sure was glad that someone had left an extra can of horse liniment and salve in the cabin. Meanwhile poor old Bill was trying to get his clothes off without to much pain but was not succeeding very well. Chuckwalla comes around the corner of the cabin and about fell over backward laughing. Not only did Bill have his clothes half off and knotted up, but up on the ridge were about twenty-five Indians watching the goings on. The Indians sent two squaws down to help Chuckwalla out with Bill. While the squaws worked on Bill, who by the way was redder than a cactus apple, Chuckwalla invited the remainder down for dinner. Between the Indians and Bill they had twenty rabbits. The remaining women went to cleaning the rabbits while Chuckwalla got potatoes, onions and dried peppers ready for a big dinner.
Outside it seemed like a party was going on. The two squaws got the entire cactus out of Bill, drained the water out of the cistern and fill it with hot water. Now Bill didn’t know that they had not added any cold water to it yet, so Chuckwalla guessed that old Bill was dancing up a storm for the crowd that had gathered. Now getting thorns out was one thing but getting bathed by two Indian squaws was something else. You see Bill didn’t understand the ways of the Indian very well, so he had no idea what was coming next. Chuckwalla and the head Warrior were discussing Bill’s problem. Chuckwalla says to the Warrior, “He doesn’t understand that he has to pick a wife now after the bath”. The Warrior answers, “That’s no reason for not choosing. I have sent him my best two squaws because he is your friend”. Chuckwalla starts laughing as does the Warrior and they start cooking for the party.
Bill was not use to being fussed over so much and both women seemed a little zealous about the bath thing. He felt like they were going to scrub his skin right off. When they had finished, two Indian men help Bill up out of the water, dried him off and put some newer clothes on him. Somehow Bill was starting to feel like he was the life of the party and wasn’t feeling very good about it. Bill went into the cabin and asked Chuckwalla, “Just what in the hell is going on here”. “Well Bill I’m not sure how to tell you this, but you see the head Warrior over there just gave you his two best women and you have to pick one as a bride”. Bill stood there is utter shock for a few minutes and then asked Chuckwalla, “You mean that I’m getting married tonight”. “No not tonight, you have to wait till spring. Tonight is you acceptance party. The marriage ceremony will take place at the Oasis in April”. “Oh and I forgot to tell you, the Warrior wants two mules also”. Well isn’t that just a fine partner for you. I get cut up, don’t find any gold, get bathed by two women and now I’m getting married but don’t have a clue as to who. Boy oh boy it just doesn’t pay to have partners Bill mumbles as he heads out the door for a smoke. Now I think I should tell you that when the Indians throw a party, it’s not just a little shindig, its one hell of a party and somehow how the news traveled fast. When Bill went out for a smoke, there were about forty to fifty Indians outside smoking away on there pipes. Bill got drawn into the crowd and started smoking with the Indians. After about twenty minutes Bill was feeling just fine and had forgot about the cactus pain. Chuckwalla and the head Warrior were stuffing the rabbits with herbs when another Indian from one of the other tribes came in and said they had half a buck to though in and that they had it going on the fire as they spoke. Chuckwalla thanked the tribesman and said they shall be blessed for their kind deed. Chuckwalla and the Head Warrior laughed out loud to each other; both knew poor old Bill had no idea what was up and probably at this point really didn’t care. As the gala event progressed well into the night, all were fed, new friendships made and at last all sleep well.
Chapter XII
Bill woke up with this headache and the sun burning down on him. Beside him curled up in the blankets were two very beautiful Indian squaws. As he looked around he saw Indians sleeping, tending horses and two helping Chuckwalla cook breakfast. This morning’s breakfast was going to be very special event. Some of the warriors had found a group of pigeons and managed to harvest about six dozen eggs. Chuckwalla had made about four dozen biscuits and killed and skinned four rattlesnakes. All this plus the left over deer and rabbit from the night before promised to be an excellent breakfast. The breakfast feast was awesome and as soon as the mess got cleaned up. The Indians were gone leaving Bill and Chuckwalla to ponder the night before and help get Bill’s head straightened out.
“Well Bill how’s feel knowing your getting married” asked Chuckwalla. “Can’t we just drop this subject until we get done looking for the gold?” “I guess we can answered Chuckwalla but sooner or later your going to have to face up to it”.
Bill asks Chuckwalla, “If he felt it was safe to check out anymore canyons”? Well Bill, “the two Head Warriors said we could check out one more canyon on the east side and that we would receive all the answers that we needed”. I wonder what they meant by that Bill thought to himself. “Do we want to start this afternoon or wait till in the morning”, Chuckwalla asks Bill. “I think we should wait till tomorrow and get some rest this afternoon”. Chuckwalla was fine with that, after all, he wasn’t the one getting married.
The two men were up before the sun had popped over the mountain, had a quick breakfast and were loaded for their last journey. Neither man knew what to expect only that they were guaranteed safe passage to the canyon, in the canyon and back out. They rode in silence for thirty minutes or more before Bill broke the silence. “Chuckwalla, you got any idea what we are riding into”? “No Bill I don’t, I just know that this and this canyon only are all were being allowed into”. As they approached the canyon entrance, they saw old horse tracks heading north down
Dog
Wash. They turned east and headed into the canyon. About two hundred yards into the canyon they saw a body and fifty yards further they saw another body.
As they approached the first body, Chuckwalla noticed it was the older stranger that was in the bar that evening at the Oasis. Both men rode up to the other body and found the second stranger, shot in the back twice and in the back of the head once. His clothes and boots had been removed. They rode back to the other body and noticed several things right away. A pair of boots and extra clothes lay beside the body that was face up. He had four arrows in the front of him and that there were six canvas bags, like the one they found in the cabin, next to his side. Chuckwalla got down off his horse and handed three bags to Bill and threw three bags on his horse. He turned to Bill and said “Its time to leave. We need to get back to the cabin”. Bill couldn’t agree more. The return trip to the cabin seemed to take hours longer, when in fact it was much shorter. The men stripped down their horses, fed and watered them and took the bags into the cabin.
Bill put a pot of coffee on and warmed up what biscuits were left. They still had about a half jar full of cactus apple preserves left so Bill figured they might as well clean it up.
Bill and Chuckwalla both knew that they were in the right canyon and they also knew what fate awaited them had they gone any further. Bill pulled out his make-shift map and marked the canyon with two crudely drawn bodies in it. No other markings what so ever were drawn. Both men knew they would never be back so any other detail was not needed. The men enjoyed a hot cup of coffee and a few biscuits before deciding what to do with the six bags they had just found. The ore in the bags was much richer than the first bag and it took Bill and Chuckwalla the better part of a week just cleaning out the chunky gold let alone the gold on quartz pieces they had.
Chapter XIII
No one except Bill and Chuckwalla knew how much gold they had. When the two returned to the Oasis, they had their ore crushed up and the gold separated and poured into ingots. One thing you can count on in a small community and that’s the fact that news travels fast. Within the week, everyone wanted to buy old Bill and Chuckwalla a drink. Some wanted to know where the ore came from while others just wanted to congratulate Bill on his up coming wedding.
As spring approached, the little Oasis was busy as could be. The Indians had started to come in from all around and one of the older ladies in town was trying to get Chuckwalla fitted in a new shirt and tie, after all he was to be the best man. Now as for Bill, well the squaws of the tribe were fitting Bill with a new set of deer hide buckskins. The little community at the Oasis had not seen this much fussing around in quite awhile. The wedding was going to be a big event.
All went well at the wedding and the Oasis returned to normal. Chuckwalla returned to his tent on the ridge and as for Bill, well Chuckwalla knew he had found his ledge of gold.
The 29 Prospector (aka) Bob Dunkin
Copy write 2007
Real Nugget Hunters
