The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1885-01-22
a LOST MINE.
Untold Treasures Waiting In the Bowels of
the Earth for the Lucky Finder.

Untold Treasures Waiting In the Bowels Of
the Earth for the Lucky Finder.
A-----r--7s-z
Aaron Leopold. besides his marine
interests. IS large in estor in Lake
Superior mining properties 1t was his
good luck Ia be one q. IKE men W 10
held Calumet aad iIccla stock before
the AgasSiz process for reducing copper
ore was discovered, which discovery
increased the value of copper mine
stocks five hundred folA. and placed
Calumet and Hecla among the greatest
wealth producing shafts ever dug into
mother earth.
In conversation with reporter
day or two ago he told the following
fascinating story: Copper is uu-
doubtedly good thing. No man who
was lucky enough to get into some of
the Michigan mines on the ground
floor can gainsay that. but silver is
better thing, for all that, and as sure
as my name is Leopold, some time or
other there will be one of the biggest
| strikes of silver made on the north
shore of Lake Superior ever heard of in
America 1t will outdo the Rocky
Mountain finds just as our copper gets
| away with the Arizona mines. OF
/ course, you know that where copper
OCSulSs Shfc1 - Iihclt ~ D1 dlSO
and that this is more than theory, the
| frequent discovery of silver in northern
Michigan, and es -ecially on the north
shore, proves. You know there is an
island on Lake Superior called Silver
| island, on which silver is very profitably
| mined. Did YOU ever hear the story of
the lost silver minc?'
.'Never," said the reporter.
''Well, it is good enOguh to print
said Mr.. Leopold. at is a current
/ tradition at OntOnagon, Hancock,
| HOughton, and especially at Duluth,
/ and while yOu can hear it a good many
ways, | have looked into it very often,
AMI ! believe you will find this to be
! about the truth of it. About sixty years
| ago all the country north of Duluth
/ was wilderness. There were a few
| Hudson bay cOmpany's ports scattered
| about the lakes and rivers up there, and
| the rest of that part of British Amef.i-
| c,l was the home OF rowing Indians and
| nobody else. The story was current
lsthen that somewhere down along the
! northern shore OF the lake there was a
| mine where virgin silver was to be
| found in Jumps. One day party of
| Indans-thiS is the cold truth, which
| you can find on record in books printed
| years ago one day party of Indians
/ came into port on Lake Winnipeg, but
| instead OF turs they had solid ingots of
| silver. Every one of the party was
| provided with bricks worth hundreds
| of dollars. You may believe this
! caused L sensation. 1t proved that the
/ rumors current so long had some foun-
| dation. The Indians were strangers at
| the post. They belonged to different
tribe from any ever seen there before,
and they pointed ont vaguely in a
southeasterly direction, when asked
whence they had come. OF course,
| they had the usual carouse, and at last
they loaded up with guns, calicoes,
beads and whisky and started for home.
Two Frenchmen who were at the post
tracke them across the wilderness,
shadowing them like a pair of detec-
tive5, and after about one hundred
miles further than from St. Louis to
Chicago-through incredible hardships
and sul!erings-they at last tracked
them to earth. According to the story
the home of these Indians was in the
range of hills between Crooked lake
| ami Superior, south of Pigeon river, in
what is now the state of Minnesota.
They did mere than this, they found
the Indian mine, and lis wealth was be-
SODu ALI lh6 stories lOlu Oh IL. IN
grotto OF rotten rock the virgin silver
was to be seen veining the DIES in
every direction. The two men marked
down the position of the mine as close
| ly As could be, taking a number of land
marks, SO that there could be no mis-
take. The mine stood at the head of a
long serpentine ravine. which trended
southeast. Then they loaded up with
all the silver they could carry and start
ed lack. All this time the Indians
knew nothing OF their visits. Well,
! they tOiled along for days and days,
| borne down by the weight of metal,
| and at last one OF them sickened and
| died on the road. Winter was coming
| on and the remaining explorer strug-
| gled onward after burying his COM
pan on and now and then stopping and
cachSing some more silver. until at last
he got back TO the post. The work and
| the exposure were too much fer him.
| however, and in 4 couple of days he too
| sickened and died. He gave the most
! explicit Instructions to his companions
at the post as to how the mine was to
| be reached, and you may believe that
the search male the next summer was
an exhaustive one. The body OF the
other cX: lOrer was found, so was also
the silver hidden on the road, but the
| mine itself was not come upon. There
| is an old Canadian that everybody calls
| Leon, who is occasionally TO be seen in
! Duluth. where he comes to buy stores,
/ who is the son of one of the men that
/ We're at the post when the survivor of
| the two first finders got back. This
Leon has done nothing all his life but
| hunt .or that mine. He has got old
| papers describing its location as close
ly rs possible. but he has never found
it, although there is not a ravine IN
those hills that he has not examined
! He will keep up his hunt until he dies,
of course, and he may find it, stranger
things have happened.
do you believe the stOry?"
Certainly do. 1t may be exag-
gerated, but that the Indians knew of
some great silver deposit, nobody who
has frequcnted the north shore has any
doubt. | uppose 1000 men have at
one time OF another been at work look
ing for that mine. You can't help be-
evidence the actual in9ots of silver, and
of these ingots the records are too
plain and sure to leave any doubt.
1T seems as though these Indians
would hardly be satisfied with taking
one lot of silver out of the mine9"
They are not satisfied. There are
hundreds of stories afloat of trades
made by the Indians wherein solid in-
gcts of silver were bartered off for
couple of yards of calico. Some of
them, | suppose, are false and others
true; but as to their appearing at Win
nipeg with the silver, nobody who will
take record evidence for any fact can
doubt. 1t is as sure as anything can
be.