File:The mystic mid-region, the deserts of the Southwest (1904) (14595062259).jpg

Identifier: mysticmidregiond00burd (find matches)
Title: The mystic mid-region, the deserts of the Southwest
Year: 1904 (1900s)
Authors: Burdick, Arthur J. (Arthur Jerome), 1858-
Subjects: Deserts Southwest, New -- Description and travel
Publisher: New York, London, G.P. Putnam's Sons
Contributing Library: New York Public Library
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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Superstion Mountain... Colorado Desert... section of the plain.It is to them the abode of evil spirits. Among other evil spirits who, they believe,inhabit the mountain, is one which bears a strange resemblance to the Gaelic banshee. The old folks of the Irish peasantry to this day tell of the banshee, a little, old weazened woman, who is said to appear to persons, clapping her hands and wailing, as a warning of approaching death. The Cocopahs have precisely the same superstition, save that the banshee is a little old man, Wah Dindin, who is supposed to come down from Superstition Mountain to bring death to the one to whom he appears. The Cocopahs are very much averse to being photographed, and the sight of a camera is a signal for them to throw themselves face down-ward upon the earth. They believe that their pictures, if taken, are transmitted to the evil spirits in the mountain, and that, by means of this picture, the little old man of death—the Cocopah banshee—will be able to trace them and brine them death. Some of the more en-
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Desert Miscellany 193 A Desert Pottery Factory. lightened and more avaricious, however, upon being bribed with silver, so far overcome their fears as to allow themselves to be photographed. White men are not so loath to visit the locality. It is believed that this mountain or some of the adjacent hills holds the famous lost Pegleg gold mine. In 1837, a one-legged man named Smith found a mine of wonderful richness in the Colorado Desert. He was piloting a party over the desert from Yuma, when he came to three hills which rose out of the plain. Not being sure of his bearings, he mounted the taller of the hills to get a view of the surrounding country. Upon this hill, which seemed to be composed of black quartz or rock, he found out-cropping ore fairly sparkling with the precious metal. He took specimens away with him and learned, upon reaching his destination, that the metal was really gold. The mine became known as the Pegleg Mine from the fact that Smith wore a wooden leg and was known as Pegleg. ^ After conduct

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