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YOUGN A & M GRAD RELATES
ROMANTIC STORY OF HUNTING
FOR
GOLD IN OLD MEXICO
(By Chas. A. King, Jr., ’32
Ysleta, Texas)
The real reason for my being so
interested in our Latin neighbor,
Mexico, and I am sure that you
will agree with me, is the search
for that elusive metal, called gold.
Since my father had repeatedly
filled my mind with the beautiful
possibilities of finding gold in a
particular part of Mexico; I was
indeed willing and ready to see for
myself what fortune lay in wait
for some lucky fellow. Whether we
were to be the lucky ones still re-
mains. to be seen.
I may add that this is 'no new
adventure as my grandfather found
this particular place in question
about thirty years ago, but as a
result of the Mexican Revolution
no further exploration was under-
taken until 1930.
This property, as near as I can
tell you, is situated in the state of
Michoacan and is about six days
mule ride from the end of the rail-
road, which is at Uruapan, Michoa-
can. Our claim begins at the ocean
and runs back into the mountains
for twenty miles. This should give
you a fair idea as to the location
of our workings.
A year and four months after
my graduation from A. & M. was
time enough for me to understand
that jobs were scarce; so as soon
as the opportunity presented it-
of borrowed
money, my brother and I decided
to seek our fortunes with our
father who was already on the
“field”, and had been for some
time.
In Oct. 1933 we started and ar-
rived several days later at Urapan,
the end of the rail journey. From
there we travelled by mule, for
six days. We were equipped with
the Mexican saddle, an instrument
of torture no matter how seasoned
you may be.
In Arteaga we met a Frenchman,
who is a friend of my father’s, and
he was to to guide us the rest of the
pe way into camp. We left early the
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on our property,
~another days ride from this place.
next morning, and about sundown
we arrived at the “diggings”. The
Frenchman, who had gone “native”,
was to lazy to work but had given
us permission to work on his prop-
erty; as it was raining too hard
which is still
Here we met father, who was
beaming like a Christmas turkey.
He had a right to because he had
not seen us in two years, and was
alone for all that time, with the
exception of the natives and the
Frenchman.
My father seemed to have a good
proposition here, so we decided to
stay and work on it. A sluice box
had already been built, which was
‘very rough in character, but since
it didn’t leak, it was as good as
could be expected.
TROPIC ENEMIES
We were no taking about five
grains of quinine a day, as a pre-
ventative for malaria. The malaria
mosquito is about as plentiful as
the gnat of the hot country. Among
other insects and pests were the
following: a large insect which
the natives call the “wild bed bug”.
It is about one and a half inches
long and about three quarters of |*
inch wide, and grows to be twice
that big after a good meal of
blood taken from us. It is indeed
a sickening sensation when you
see how much blood is sucks from
ones’ body. Along with the insects
are many types of animals, such
as; mountain lions, and other cats,
that vary in size from a common
house cat, to one that measures
twelve feet from tip to tip; a great
number of deer, which are very
good eating; wild hogs or javalinas
iguanas or lizzards that grow to
“a at least four feet long, which
ti natives eat; alligators, and
many other animals that are na-
tive to any tropical country. Birds
of all sizes and descriptions are
to be found, including parrots and
other tropical birds, some of which
are very beautiful. Large snakes
of the Boa family are also very
common. I have seen several that
measured twenty five feet.
DISAPPOINTMENT
Amid all this and the beautiful
tropical forest and jungles, we
found it necessary to work. Our
hours were from sunup to the set
of sun. Working is no welcome
thing in this lazy country, but we
had no alternative. With the three
of us working hard all day, we
managed to save about five dollars
worth of gold daily, but the black
sand that we were saving along
with it seemed very high in value,
so we began saving all that we
coul, which required slower feeding
of the box. We did this for about
five months saving all of the black
sand that we could. An assay show-
ed that it did run high in value,
so we shipped it out by pack train
to the nearest smelter, about =a
thousand miles away. At the end,
the smelter sent us a bill for $37.50
instead of a $1,000.00 check we
were expecting. This broke up our
camp as well as our hearts.
Our menu consisted of beans in
the morning, beans at lunch, and
beans for the evening meal. We
improved this by having beans
straight in the morning, beans with
olive. oil at noon, and beans with
onions in the evening. Since that
time I usually get sick when I
see or hear of beans. However, we
had all kinds of tropical fruits to
go along with them, which saved
the day many a time. Our bread
was of ground corn, and our
drink was boiled water with
grass, which helped to flavor it.
When we had time, we killed a
deer for meat, but it was seldom
as we were so busy.
We left that country about the
twentieth of March of this year,
feeling as you may expect, rather
blue. During the time we were able
to save just enough gold to pay
our railroad fare and other ex-
penses that were necessary, com-
ing out second class. ;
Reaching El Paso, Texas, we
contracted one of the best known
mining men in the States. He
seemed to be highly interested in
our place in Mexico, in fact so
interested, that he took it over
and sent me down to the Mexcal-
huacan River to survey it. Under-
stand that this place has no con-
H. W. Dugan, ’34, is taking grad-
ulate work at Columbia Univer-
sity and lives at room 510 Fur-
nald Hall, Columbia U,, New York
City.
Louis -H. Shearer, ’32,
at Freeport, Texas.
is living
Podge W. Reed, ’32, who recent-
ly completed the flying course at
Randolph Field, has been assigned
to duty at March Field, Califor-
nia.
D. M. Davis, 26, is with the
Electrical Research Products, Inc.,
and gets his mail at 3415 Morrow
Ave., Waco.
George M. “Levi” Garrett, 24,
was recently named Division En-
gineer for Division five, State
Highway Dept., with headquarters
at Lubbock. The appointment was
a nice promotion for Garrett.
Elam Eckles, '28, has been elect-
ed principal of the high school at
Bay City, Texas, and has moved
there from Cuero. He had been
teaching in the Cuero high school
for a number of years.
Dy... Oliver W. Orson, ’32, is a
junior veterinarian with the U.S.
D.A., and has headquarters at 318
Livestock Exchange Bldg., Herr’s
Island, Pittsburgh, Pa.
J. W. Moore, ’32, is assistant
chemist for the Missouri Pacific
railroad, with headquarters at 311
Union Station Bldg., Houston. His
work carries him all over Texas
and Louisiana. He reports seeing
Mr. and Mrs. “Midge” Slaughter,
’32, quite often in Houston.
Alex Bateman, ’13, and old foot-
ball star during his cadet days, is
County Agent at Farwell, Texas.
He advises that there will be anoth-
er big A. & M. banquet at Plain-
view during the Plains Dairy Show
sometime in April, with details to
be announced later.
J. H. Flood, ’32, has been pro-
moted to the post of District Man-
ager for the Woodmen of the
World at Waco. His address is
Box 175, Waco. He has openings
in his organization for some men,
and anyone interested should ap-
roe Field several years ago, and
is now successfully operating and
producing in South West Texas.
His company has become one of
the most successful independent
companies in the field in Texas.
J. W. “Bean’ ’Davis, ’28, lives
at Lometa, Texas. He is an Ex
member of the Aggieland Orches-
tra, when a student at A. & M.
H. W. Leach, ’34, is living at
Sabine Pass and reports that as
being a great country for hunt-
ing fishing in season. He is a mem-
ber of the Port Arthur A. & M.
Club, and reports seeing lots of
his A. & M. friends down there in
the Sabine District.
, W. 0. Cox, ’29, is Agricultural
Director for the Tyler Chamber of
Commerce ,Tyler, Texas. He took
the place vacated by Louis Mer-
rill, ’26, who became director of
the big Soil Erosion project at
Lindale.
Herbert E. Schmidt, ’22, is an
Associate Engineer in the U. S.
Corps of Engineers at Galveston.
D. H. Schuenemann, ’24, is with
the Houston Lighting and Power
Co. After graduation he spent some
six years in Cuba and Mexico in
electric public utility work. He is
an associate member in the A.S.
M.E.
Carl Scudder, ’21, is with the
S. W. Bell Telephone Co., at Ama-
rillo.
W. D. Stine, ’29, is a drilling
engineer for the Gulf Production
Co., with headquarters at 1514
Gulf Bldg., Houston.
R. L. “Soapy” Suggs, '32, is with
the Humble Oil and Ref. Co., 215-B
Humble Bldg. Annex, Houston.
W. A. Tolson, '23, is engaged in
television research for the R.C.A.
Manufacturing Co., at Camden,
New Jersey.
D. P. “Deeper” Tunstall, ’30, is
assistant to the refrigeration en-
gineer of the Commonwealth Edi- |
son Co., in Chicago. His address
is Room 1035 A, 72 West Adams
Eugene F. Hurdle, ’15, is en-
gaged in erosion control work with
the Mississippi Forest Service at
Holly Springs, Miss. He sends his
regards to his old class-mates.
J. W. Pittman, ’34, is with the
Shell Petroleum Corp., at Kilgore,
Texas. .
James W. McCowan, ’09, is
County Agent for the A. & M.
Extension Service at Quitman,
Texas.
Carl "H.'Rulfs, «Jr., >33, “is with
the U. S .Coast and Geodetic Sur-
vey, and was recently with a
party at Corpus Christi. His per-
manent address is San Augustine,
Texas.
<4
AUSTIN
BRIDGE COMPANY
DALLAS, TEXAS
CONTRACTORS - BUILDERS
MANUFACTURERS
Roads - Bridges - Road Machinery
r
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San Antonio
MACHINERY
AND INDUSTRIAL SUPPLIES
Irrigation Plants — Cotton Gins — Power Plants
Foundry and Machine Shops
SAN ANTONIO
MACHINE & SUPPLY CO.
Wace
3CG0
Corpus Christi
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—Breathe again the
On the
When at or near College Station
Stopping at
THE AGGIELAND INN
Modern Conveniences
For Reservations address the
AGGIELAND INN
College Station, Texas
7
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Spirit of Aggieland—
Campus
Good Food
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Wh CAMERON & co.
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71N
ion
Lpection.— with-—the— Frenchman's
property, where we had near heart-
failure. I made this trip by myself,
no one to talk to, and beans to
eat. This is the most lonesome place
on earth. The only thing of comfort
I had was the TEXAS AGGIE and
I can not tell you how much it
helped me.
Traveling through the jungles,
on a mountainous trail where all
of the vines, trees, and shrubs have
countless numbers of stickers on
them, makes it extremely tire-
some dodging them all of the time.
Arriving at the mouth of the river
I began the survey. With six In-
dians: armed with large knives
called “machette”, it took five long
days to run a line around a four
hundred meter square. That will
give you some idea as to what the
jungle is like. We killed about a
dozen alligators and one mountain
lion during the week.
Every day large ships could
plainly be seen, near the coast,
which helped relieve the monotony
of this forgotten land. One day a
fleet of about twelve U. S. air-
planes passed by on their way to
Panama. I felt rather proud to
tell the natives what they were
and to whom they belonged.
The streams in this part of the
country are so warm that one can
not enjoy swimming in them. As
a result, drinking water is hard to
find and must be boiled before
drinking it.
About a month later I finished
with the survey, turned the map
over to the mineral agent at Coal-
coman and was on my way back to
the States.
Our four years of test work
shows that the gravel will average
one dollar a yard. My survey shows
that we have approximately 63,-
000,000 yards of this gravel, and
our backer says that work will
commence in October of this year.
So things look pretty rosy along
the Mexcalhuacan.
Richard L. “Dick” Garrett, ’24,
sends in his dues from 940 East
56 St., Chicago, with nice words
of praise for President Warden and
the Association. He’s been in Chi-
cago several years and considers
himself almost a native.
Captain Stewart D. Hervey, ’17,
was recently transferred from
Houston to Fort Douglas, Utah.
ply to him directly. He hopes to
be on hand for the annual meeting
this spring, and to see many of his
friends also on the campus.
Norfleet G. Bone, ’23, recently
moved from Austin to Bastrop. He
is still with the State and National
Park Services.
Homer E. Womack, 24, is pro-
prietor of Womack’s Sinclair Ser-
vice Station, located in the cen-
ter of the town of Sinton, on both
highways. He has built his business
up to the point where his station
is doing a big business. Womack
reports seeing W. D. “Bull” John-
son, 24, recently, when “Bull
came thru on his way to South
Texas with his bird dogs. “Bull”
is living at Victoria and Womack
reports that he looks in as good
condition as he did when he was
making athletic history on Aggie
grid teams. Womack invites any
of his friends who are wolf hunt-
ers to pay him a visit and says he
has some good dogs and belongs
to the Wolf Hunters Club at Sin-
ton.
Herman F. Heep, ’18, is presi-
dent of the Heep Oil Co., with
headquarters in the Gulf Bldg., in
Houston. He was one of the big
operators in bringing in the Con-
St., Chicago. He is an active mem-
ber of the Chicago A. & M. Club.
Robert J. Uhr, ’33, is still with
the San Antonio Public Service
Co., and located at New Braun-
fels.
John H. Pirie, ’06, is a Lieuten-
ant- Colonel in the Air Corps of
the U. S. Army. At the present
time he is stationed at Fort Hayes,
Columbus, Ohio.
A. Lyman Egan, ’23, landscape
architect of Dallas, was recently
awarded several nice contracts for
highway beautification and road-
side improvements, at a “Letting”
in Austin by the State Highway
Dept.
D. P. “Little Buck” Schiwetz,
’26, who is with the York Ice Ma-
chinery Corp., was recently trans-
ferred from Houston to Charlotte,
Nort Carolina. He reports seeing |.
his class-mate, A. I. Richardson,
who is also located in Charlotte
and representing the Allis-Chal-
mers Mfg. Co.
S. M. Richie, 29, is at present
Assistant Radio Engineer for the
U. S. Dept. of Commerce, and is
in charge of the Radio Laboratory
at Chicago, Ill. His mail address
is 1850 S. Kostner, Chicago.
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