Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1885-01-01
A LOST MINE.
Untold Treasures w an ting IN TN
Bowels of the Earth for the Lucky
Finder

aaron LSODOlu, 3cSIuCo hAS LhdIiHO
interests, is large investor IA Lake
Superior mining properties. 1t was
his good luck to be one OF the men
who held Calumet and Hecla stock
before the Agasslz process for reduc-
ing copper ore was discovered, which
discovery increased the value of cop
der mine stocks five hundred fold, AID
placed Calumet and Hecla among the
greatest wealth producing shafts ever
dug into mother earth.
Ia conversation with a reporter
day or two ago, he told the following
fascinating story: Copper is un-
doubtedly a good thing No man who
was lucky enough to get into some of
the Michigan mines Oh the ground
Il DOR cad 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
III America. 1t will Guido the Rocky
mountain finds, just as our copper
gets away with the Arizona mines. Of
course, you know that where copper
occurs, silver is likely to be also found,
and t&at this is more than theory the
frequent discovery of silver in north
ern Michigan, and especially on the
north shore, proves. You know there
is an island on Lake Superior called
Silver island, on which silver is very
profitaOly mined. Did you ever hear
the story of the lost silver mine?"
Never" said the reporter.
We'll, it. is good enough TO print"
said Mr.. Leopold cit is a currant
tradi ion at Ontonagon, Hancock,
HOughton, and especially at Duluth,
and while you can hear it a good
many ways, have looked into it very
often, and I believe you will find this
about the truth of 1t. About sixty
years ago all of the north of Duluth
was wilderness There were q few
Hudson bay company's ports scattered
about the lak.5 and rivers up there,
and the rest of that part of British
America was the home of rowing In
dams and nobody else. The story
was current then 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 Indians-this is the
cold truth, which you can find on rec
old Ia books printed years ago-0ne
day party of Indians came into port
on Lake Winnipeg to trade, but in
stead of furs they had solid ingots of
silver. Every one of the party was
provided with bricks worth hundreds
of dollars. You may believe this
caused a sensation. 1t proved that
the rumors current SO long had some
foundation. The Indians were strang-
ers at the post. They belonged to a
different tribe from any ever seen
there before, and they pointed out
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,
calico IS, beads, and whisky and start
ed for home Two Frenchmen. who
were at the post, tracked them
across the wilderness, shadOwing
them like a pair of detectives, and
after about one hundred miles
further than from st Louis to Chica-
go-thrOugh incrediable hardships
and suferIngs- at last tracked
them TO earth. According to the
story, the home of these Indians was
in the range of hills between Crooked
lake and Superior, south of Pigeon
river, and what is now the state of
Minnesota. They did more than this,
they found the Indian mine, and its
wealth was beyond all the stories told
of 1t. In a grotto of rotten rock the
virgin silver was to be seen veining
the sides IN every direction. The two
men marked down the position of the
mine as closely as could be, taking a
mum 1er of land marks. so that there
could be no mistake. The mine stood
at the head Of a long serpentine ravine
trended southeast. Then they loaded
up with all the silver they could carry
aud started back. All this time the
Indians knew nothing of their visits.
" ell, they toiled along for days and
days, borne down by the weight of
metal, and at last one Of them sicken-
ed and died on the road. Winter was
coming on and the remaining expl0r-
er struggled onward after burying his
companion, and now and then stop
ping and cacheing some more sill
yer, ul5Il at last he got back to
the post. The work and the ex-
posture we're too much for him, how
ever, and la couple of days he, too,
sickened and died. He gave the most
xpllcitinstructions to his companions
at the post as to how the min ewas to
be reached, and you may believe that
the search made the next summer was
an exhaustive one. The body of the
other explorer 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 m N that were at the post when
the survivor of the two first fiaders
got back This Leon has done moth
ing all his life but hunt for this mine
He has got old papers describing its
location as closely as possible, but he
has never found If althouuh there Is