Rensselaer Union, Volume 8, Number 50, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 August 1876 — The Heat in Arizona. [ARTICLE]

The Heat in Arizona.

An Eastern gentleman engaged in mining in Arizona writes as follows: “The weather is hot beyond relief. Never, I think, less than ninety degrees in the shade, and from that up to 120 degrees. There is no lumber in the country, and all the building lias to be done with cottonwood poles, and hanled five miles on jackasses to the mine. In addition, I have had to pack water five miles, as we have had no rain, and the tanks at the mine are exhausted. We have now killed three rattlesnakes in the house, besides any quantity of scorpions, etc. In opening my trunk I was stung in the finger by a scorpion. I bound a poultice of onions and tobacco on the wound and drank three full pints of whisky. It made me “very drunk, and I think killed the other poison, although my whole hand and arm was numb for a day or two. It is a pretty hard country, three men have already died of thirst near here. My last letters’ were sent here from the Mine (only fourteen miles distant) by an old Scotchman. The letters did not arrive, and we searched for him and found him dead only four miles from camp. He was stripped and liis nails were worn from his hands by scratching in the sand for water. We have sent out twice and brought in men who were crazy and blind and speechless front thirst. The sun is terribly hot, and the rocks so hot that they blister the fleslf if touched.”