Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 24, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 June 1895 — STRAY BURROS. [ARTICLE]

STRAY BURROS.

Thwy Furnish ■ Desert Indian With ■ Livelihood. . An old Indian, known to prospectors as “ Figtree John,” has for many years lived alone beside a large spring in the Colorado desert in San Diego .county. His home is one of the most desolate and inaccessible spots on the earth's surface and the last place one would expect to find a human being living in contentment. It is close to the Mexican line and about fifty miles east of the hills that form the western boundary to the waste of white sand. At all seasons of the year the heat is intolerable and the awful hot wind blows day and night. Five yards from the spring in any direction there is not a living green thing in sight—only the blinding glare of the sandy plain stretching for miles on all sides until it joins the foothills in a simmering purple hue. Figtree John’s place, however, is a tiny oasis of about 20U square feet. The spring is a large one and the water pure and fresh when it bubbles from the earth. But it evaporates during the day almost as fast as it comes from the ground, so that the surface is only moistened for a small extent. On the edge of the spring grasses and weeds grow, ana one large hg tree - spreads its branches over the whole spot. The tree hears fruit almost the

year around and also serves as a shelter ,lor John. Blapkets are spread on the ground and camp utensils scattered around. But there are always plenty of things to eat and drink that have been brought froui,the markets of civilization, and thfl way John obtained these, was-a puzzle to the prospectors for a long time. He never did any work and certainly could not raise nor find anything to sell anywhere near his place. Bn| it seems John’s money has always came to him without an effort. He simply' lay down and waited. It is horrible to, think about, but he waited for. the pack burros of prospectors who had been overcome by thirst apddied in the desert. John’s place is several miles off the trail of prospectors going to and from the gold country, and hundreds of bleaching bones have been found in the vicinity. Most of these men have several burros and good outfits when they start, but somehow they lose the trail or are overtaken by sandstorms. All share the same fate—a few days of horrible suffering and then death. The burros, being more hardy than the men, are more able to stand the hardships, and when their masters lie down and die in the burning sand they find water by instinct. Since old John has been at the spring a large number have come to his place crazy for water. Of course he takfck care of them and makes a search for their owners, or holds them for identification. Sometimes they have expensive outfits, showing the owner to have been a tenderfoot that expected to find a mountain of gold. The provisions in the packs John has always appropriated after a certain time, and the burros he has sold to people in the foothills to whom he makes periodical trips. On one occasion a whole train of burros came to his place, and the owners were never found, so that John cleared several dollars just by waiting under his fig tree. Old John is perfectly happy in his desert home, and is well pleased to have prospectors die in the desert, so long as their burros come to his spring. He takes good care of the animals and becomes very friendly with them. He never sells any of them or the contents of their packs for at least a year, but keeps them in case any one calls to claim them. But nobody ever calls to claim stray burros that are driven by thirst to Figtree John’s place.