Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1867-12-04
a,..oxsocK AND IsENBEcK
pRoNoUNcED HUMBU9S,

sane, asylum" an idea, to be in time,
fully established, even to the satisfac-
ton of the most credulous, Of his
victims. The facts from which
conclusions are drawn are
in substance as follows: An emigrant
by the name of Harden, on his way
to California from the Western States,
in ls49, passing somewhere in the vicin-
ity of what is now known as Blackjack,
up some pieces of native metal,
which, on his arrival in California, be-
ing subjected to the usual tests, was
found to be pure silver. Considerable
excitement was created by this discov-
cry, and the following Spring an expe-
dition headed by Harden himself was
fitted out, bnt resulted in q failure;
Harden not being able to find the place
again where he picked up the silver.
During subsequent years, several
other expeditions were fitted out, but
uone were at all successful, and the
story of Harden and his native silver
was finally allowed TO subside among
the sealed mysteries of the past. In
1860 and 1861 the great discoveries OF
silver ore both in this section and in
Humboldt had the effect at length to
revive the old tradition of Harder and
his native silver, and plenty Of men
were found willing TO brave all danger
from hostile savages, in search Of the
tabled treasure, but again all to no pur-
pose. A party of prospectors from Star
City, in the Fall Of 1868, were out in
the alleged vicinity Of where Harden
was supposed to have found the silver,
and after some little elaboration they
conceived the idea taht if ore could only
be found with even q small amount OF
silver in it, by the aid of the romance
and mystery shroudiug the locality, an
excitement might be created, and q
good thing made out of it by selling
eject" In pursuance of this plan, their
| s~carchiugs at length resulted in theil
coming upon a dark, soft mineral sub
stance, apparently existing in unlimited
quantities, and they resolved to make il
serve their purposes. They took somt
of it home to Star City, where, on assay
ing, not q trace Of silver was found ii
it. This settled the matter for the time
but q couple of years afterward an emf
nent German chemist, from Frieburg,
was reported to have experimental will
the ore and obtained marvellous results
therefrom.
A real lively excitement was the con
sequence, and people from Honey Lake
Humboldt, and everywhere else, rushed
in and staked off the country into min
ing claims, mill sites, town lots, etc.
after the good old style. The ore was
extensively assayed, far and near, bu'
strange to say, the certificates of assay
as they came in, were wonderfully
unanimous in saying that no traces o.
the precious metals were to be found
I.enbeck, the aforesaid eminent German
| chemist, however, was boldly asserted
to be the only man in the world who
! fully understood these ores and the
| propcr manner of their treatment. In
order to demonstrate the thing in n prac'
teal manner, some six tom of the orc
were worked ut Falls mill, U%nionville
under the special supervision OF isen
beck himself; but, alas! it was q com
plete failure, as far rs getting any bull
lion was concerned. %Isenbeck, how
ever, laid it all to the mill, and per
suaded those who still had faith in him
to construct an arastra at the mines
which should be productive of astonish
ing results. 1t, too, proved q failure
More recently, the Evans L Bass mill
ut Blackjack, erected and operated
directly under the supervision Of lsen
peck, failed to produce the desired bull
lion, and all other practical tests hav'
also, thus far, failed in like manner.
The Register goes on to enumeratt
other operations of n similar and SOM
of them of even q criminal characte
on the part Of Isenbeck, in variou,
parts of California, and in view of tn
fact that he reaps no pecuniary advan
tages from his deceptive practices
strongly favors the idea that Isenbecl
is a confirmed monomaniac, not account
able for what he does, and only fit to b'
an inmate of q lunatic ASYLUM. Mr.
Bass, one of the owners of the mill a
Blackjack, in view of the total failure
honestly out and says that hi
"never yet has seen a quarter of
dollar in silver or gold actually pro-
duced from the workings of Blackrocs
ores" Assuming the opinions and
assertions of the Register, relative to
Isenbeck and Blackjack to be correct,
the luminous, not to say ludicrous idea
set forth in the recent annual report Of
the County Surveyor and County Asses.
sor of Humboldt county, where they
say ssif Isenbeck succeeds rs he expects,
the people of Blackjack and the whole
county should erect a statue to his mem
DRY in solid silver" assumes a highly
satirical aspect. They probably go'
that idea from the Bible, wherein it is
recorded that the Israelites worshipped
a golden calf, at the base Of Mount
Sinai.
As q sort of a postscript to the above,
we will state that q letter recently
received from the Frieberg Institute,
Germany, prouounces the Blackjack
ore to be one-hundredth part pure
silver, equal to $500 per ton.
H-AN