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Show TWILIGHT ON GOLCONDA Chapter XXI Wherever we looked we could fancy we saw glimmers of buried riches, for Nada lay between two sprawling arcs of mining camps. A few of our men actually dug in silver-lead mines or hauled ore to the railroad. But mostly we only dreamed of wealth, knowing we lived near where minerals had made men rich and where new riches might be unearthed. Father early pointed out the "Old Pioche Road" which had linked the two clusters of boom towns before the railroad was built south of Milford. That trail straggling down the desert hinted far glamour and adventure to a youngster. It recalled freight wagons hauling whiskey and blasting powder and groceries, stages conveying miners, gamblers, gay ladies to Delamar and Pioche and other roaring camps. He told me that the battered cabins at our Hot Springs had once been a relay station where fresh horses were hitched to the stage coaches while passengers ate and sniffed the sulphurous water. Once hefore a tottering log hut I found a tiny gold piece bearing an Indian chief's war-bonneted head and marked "1/2 Dollar California 1875." Blue Mountain was pocked with prospect holes. Miners' Hill by the pass into Wah Wah Valley held a cavern still yellow with sulphur |