The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1883-08-10

Il
il TO- friend, he was told BIZ him that -
thought the place meant was Dungeon roek.
Lynn. Marble, upon hearing the whole hte.
tory Of the rock, became interested and visited
the spot &c discovered . large open seam q
the rock which he thought would lead 70 To
and two other men, he began undetermined ~
saplt upon the mass Of stone. which neither
ne nor his son ceased to continue until death
prevented For year all hands 1abored hard
On tn 1e III tunnel they had made which was 70
couraged. lost faith and stopped work. But
the Marbles were not disheartenedin the leasts
on the contrary, they redoubled their sxertions
to secure the treasure. ,E;5t \. a &
I. DETERMINED SEARCH "
They purchased the entire rock aud sur.
round,ngs Of the then town OF Lynn, and stead
lily but slowly increased the depth Of their ex-
caVations It was hard work, and few mon
would have persisted in the Undertaking. 81
father a;t and son did The rock'i Of the hardest
They had nothing to work with but drill or
two and sledge hammer. The son would
bold the drill while the father welded ina
s.edge, relieving each other at intervals Az
OF blast the fragments Of rock would be
shoveled into basket and then one or the
other would climb laboriously up the winding
and uneven path they had made, with it upoa
his shoulder, land dump it outside.
They persevered for year longer, when
aomethlng occurred which gave them new
nope iJ :, and increased their faith. 1t was the
regular Intervals, who directed him in his
work. On one occasion he was told that
within certain number of hours he would
md something in the rock that would greatly
encourage ,cat nm to proceed. Four days later an
Unlocking, rusty sword with, a leather
wound haft and brass bound scabbard was
found in large seam inside the rock. Soon
AFTER being exposed TO tho air the leather
upon the handle crumbled away, and the
thick, blue mo- ld on the brass began to wear
on. Father aud son worked Oh sum-
year out living in small hut near sat
| the mouth of the tunnel, and subsisting upon
what could be purchased with the small sums
OF money presented them by visitors. Many
time hunger stared them in the face, butts
vent them from starving. Five long years they
toled together, then five more without making
| the discovery they expected. The ten years
changed to fifteen, and still no treasure. But
| the wonderful faith Of the Marbles was not
shaken in the least Two years later Nov. 10,
after having laborcd increasingly for seventeen
years, the father. Hiram, died, aged sixty
three, without having laid eyes upon the silver
and gold he had dug so deep into the heart Of
the rock for: 10 the very last he
beneath the rock, and that sometime it would
be found. But Edwin, the son, continued the
work upon the tunnel alone. He drilled.
blasted and carried out rock unaided, increas-
ing it's length from year to year, but never
reaching the pirates cave or its treasure He
about the cave that came through mediums.
he was very patient worker, cheerful and
hopeful, and determined in his object. Neither
argument OF criticism moved him in the least,
and for eleven years longer he continued to
| delve in the stony depths. But he secured not
inl Ian, op
alysis, brought OIL by hard and persistent
labor in the dark, damp excavation
upon which he had spent nearly all
of his years, having entered upon the work
when but twenty. Weird and solemn services
were held by the sp:ritualiss over the remains
within the silent depths of the forest near the
opening OF the tunnel, surrounded by Snow and
| ice. The body of young Marble at his request,
was Inferred near the foot of Dungeon rock on
the southwest slope, close to the scene of his
the sledse and drill was laid down forever
| by Edwin, there was no one to take it up, and
| the cavern has not been invaded except by
visitors The female Marbles who lived in the
hut near the tunnel through all the long years,
! were as strong in their faith as the men,
| and have not yet deserted the rock. AS our
party approached Dungeon rock we could
plainly see the effects Of the ancient earth
quake in the massive fragments Of rock scat
tsred about, the huge powders and the riffs
anu CunSlns Ill uluerent parts. We We're
! taken in charge by one of tbs relatives of the
dauntless diggers COMO before, who told us the
history of the rock and showed us the old
sword and scabbard found within it
For small fee we were taken into
the excavation, through winding passage
eight feet i'll height, eight in width aud
seventy oight in length, the walls, of which
were moist and cold and the pathway ragged.
The tunnel winds around as 1t tlesconds, and
tho end, where the last blow WAS struck only
three years ago. is sixty five feet In perpendic-
ular depth from the surface aud directly under
the spot where the first blow was struck thirty
one years ago. We were q so shown tho crev-
ice whore the sword was found, but the i'm
preston it had made in clayey soil, which
had hardened into rock in the nearly 200 years,
was not to be seen as it had been
destroyed in a search made for more
relics. The visit We paid the
excavation was most interesting. one, and
when sixty-five feet beneath the surface of the
earth, surrounded by the rocky and threaten
ing walls, could not help shuddering and
thinking what if the malicious spirit of the oil
pirate, Thomas Veal, should bar our passage
back to the open sunlight, or should drop
huge bowlder from above, and thus entomb us
alive, as he himself was entombed. But there
| were no spirit manifestations of any description,
and We reached the surface in safety.
NELsE