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."[1]
After conducting his party safely to Los Angeles, Smith returned to the desert to investigate his find. He could not locate it. He could not even find the hills which had been the landmark upon which he depended.
In 1861 or 1862, a prospector passed over the trail from Yuma to Los Angeles. In the Colorado Desert he chanced upon three hills, and upon the larger one he discovered gold. He reached Los Angeles with $7000 worth of gold nuggets. He told of his find and described the location. It tallied with the description given by Smith of his find. A party was formed for the exploiting of the mine, and the prospector was preparing to guide his associates to the spot when he was taken ill and died. The mine was again lost and has never been found.
From time to time expeditions have gone forth to look for the lost Pegleg mine, but their searches have been fruitless. Scores of lives have been lost in the quest. To this day skeletons are frequently found in that section of the desert, grewsome reminders of the tortures of that terrible region.
One of the last of these search parties consisted of Tom Clover of Los Angeles and a man named Russell, of San Bernardino. The latter still lives in San Bernardino, but Tom Clover left his bones upon the desert. He ascended Superstition Mountain to take observations while Russell remained upon the plain. They agreed to meet on the opposite side of the mountain. Russell kept the appointment, but Clover was never seen again.
In the midst of the Colorado Desert, where, previous to the bringing in of water by the Imperial canal system, neither man nor beast could find means of subsistence, are found many earthen ollas of Indian make and of ancient pattern. Nearly every settler in the Imperial Valley has one or more of these relics, some chipped and broken, but many in a perfect condition.
These ollas are not found in groups and collections, but in ones and twos at various intervals in the interior of the desert. They have a story to tell of conditions in the dim past and explain how it happened that certain tribes chose so forbidding a region as a dwelling-place.
In ancient times, before the white man—the most formidable foe the redman has known—came to this continent, the various tribes warred with each other. The strong wrested the choice portions of the land from the weaker tribes, and the latter were forced to choose between the desert with possible death or certain annihilation at the hands of their foes. They chose the desert.
As was natural in the case, those who dared the desert made their abiding-place at the oases of the desolate region. Here, after a certain manner, they lived and accumulated more or less of the things which represented, to the savage mind, wealth. But even here they were not yet free from their oppressors, who occasionally bore down upon them to give them battle.