GOLD RUSH IN NEW MEXICO.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 17 March 1925, Page 2

GOLD RUSH IN NEW MEXICO.

THOUSANDS HIT BLIZZARDSWEPT DESERT TRAIL. TOWN SPRINGS UP. HATCH, New Mexico, Jan. 20. There is a ne,vv gold rush on by train and automobile into South-west New Mexico, where excitement over the wonderful tales of the riches of the placer region is affecting thousands. ' Any story, no matter how wild, is being' credited about wealth close to the surface in the desert territory affected. Placer miners from Sierra Country exhibiting pokes filled with varying sizes of gold dust were the original source of excitement. The rush started five days ago, and soon developed into a stampede, despite. a terrific blizzard borne down on a freezing north wind three nights ago. Sunday evening brought a cessation of the snow, and the worst of the storm is believed to have passed, but chill blasts are still blowing over the surrounding mountain ranges from the Mescalero and Sierra de los Caballos to the Organ Mountain on the south-east and the Black Range on the west, and the travel, difficulties are great TERRIBLE HARDSHIPS. The stampeders on the roads, especially those riding in open cars or waggons, have been undergoing dreadful hardships because there is little wood on the desert, except mesquite. The gold fever is bringing in many women,- and mothers with babies in arms are not uncommon sights amid the miserable thousands hitting the gold dust trail. Numerous cases of severe frostbite are reported, especially on- the northern route from the Pacific Coast by way of Flagstaff. The passage over the Continental Divide halfway between Williams and Winslow, Arozona, has been especially cold, and those joining in the rush from the west are being warmecj by wire from the gold camp operators to take the southern route by way of Phoenix, if they must come, until the weather moderates on the' routes to the north. Travellers coming in from the east byway of Elpaso, L’Ascruces and Rincon, and from the west by way of Derning and Lake Valley, have not • suffered quite so severely as those heading in rrom the north-east- and north-west by way of Socorro. GOLD DUST TOWN. The town of Gold Dust has sprung up like a mushroom over night since W. C. Hansen, an old-time prospector, made his strike about three miles east of Animas Peak. It is six miles north-east of Hillboro, the seat of Sierra County, and about thirty miles north-east, of the city of Hatch, which is the closest railroad point. Up to Sunday night an enormous aggregate acreage embracing contiguous sections to-tailing about thirty-five square miles had been located, and location monuments. The corners of every legal subdivision from individual claims of twenty acres up to the limit of 100 acres allowed a combination of eight associates. The automobile with its ,:otor generating electricity for lights lends a distinctively modern touch, strange to the experience of okhtime miners from the great camps of the past. As soon as the early winter darkness falls over Gold Dust, a myriad of headlights are switched on as the ear and truck owners run their vehicles right up to the edge of the holes and then the digging is continued along under this rather expensive mode of mining illumination.