The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-02-07
@PHE LOST CABIN"
The Greatest Romance in the Mining History
of America Told by One Who Knows 1t.


A Pigment of some fertile imagination, which
is attracting much attention at present, is the
discovery of .The Lost Cabin of Wyoming"
fore, and they have all resulted, as this viii. IN
the belief that the real Lost Cabin has not been
found but that, still hidden in some dark canyon,
it remains waiting for the open sesame of
keen eyes to reveal it's wondrous treasure.
The story of this mysterious gold mine is the
great romance of mining in America. 1t was
not clear and well-defned account in its ear
hest stage of existence, but it has been added to
by romancers of more or less ability until, but
for It's name, its identity would be gone. Its To-
cation has been stated to be in various parts Of
Dakota Montana, Wyoming and Idaho, and one
book maker, in a volume which. with uncon-
scions truth, he calls "Unwritten History" has
put it in the Modoc country of northeastern Cali
fornIa A year or two ago an enterprsing re-
porter of the Rocky Mountain News had the
original discoverer of the mine in a mad-house,
making maps upon the walls of his dungeon, by
which the mine was rediscovered. About the
same time an ingenious liar on a Wyoming
paper had two men find the mine, but find it
guarded by the insane discoverer who fell upon
them with an enormous club, and almost sue
ceeded in numbering them. One of our weekly
journals of illustrated obscenity was so taken
with this latter account that it printed full
page cut of the tragic scene. and gave the corrob-
GRAFTON of its sanction to the story.
What is the real story of the Lost Cabin9 There
are not many who know it. In 1873, soon after
the Northern Pacific railroad reached Perham,
Minnesota. there was working with one of the con-
struction gangs, young fellow of the neighbor-
hood, named Wetmore. If he ever had Chris
tian name it was lost under the shade of the
sobriquet "Top," and Top Wetmore is the firm
name and style by which he must be handed
down to posterity. In the early summer of the
year mentioned he and two others started
across the plains in search of gold f!othing was
heard of them for months 1t was generally be-
leved that they had been killed by Indians, and
with the characteristic resignation of frontiers
men, no one became gray headed by worrying
about it. In the late fall, however Wetmore
returned and. what was more interesting, he
brought a large amount of gold with him; he
bought farm and settled down in a comfortable
way. He was not inclined to be communicative
but of course had to tell enough to explain the
reached the mountains and after prospecting for
a short time had discovered lead of rotten
quartz of remarkable richness which as 1T wore
away by the action of the elements had formed
placer that was absolutely full of gold. They
first built cabin across the lead for shelter and
for place of defense in which they could, if at
tackled still continue working. They worked
but few days before the Indians discovered
and attacked them while they were working ON
the placer Wetmore had been CARRYING his
share of the gold OF his person, but his compan-
ions had secreted theirs in the cabin; while he
fed they FASTENED to the cabin for their treasure
and Wetmore, from his hiding place, saw them
killed by the Indians, He continued his flight
soon as night came, and reached the settle
ments. as mentioned, with his share of the treas
ure.
This story created a sensation locally, but was
not believed by many. 1t was extremely improb-
able that three men, poorly furnished with tools
as these We're should have built cabin in an
Indian country. There was no need of it in the
summer; they could gather all the gold they
could carry, by Wetmores account in a short
time; the noise of building would be almost GER
tain to attract Indians. 1t seemed strange that
they should have adopted different methods of
securing their gold, and especially that two of
them should have left theirs in the cabin, which
might be captured by the Indians while
the men were at work. There was a
wel-marked drift of public opinion toward the
belief that these men had found rich placer
somewhere and after working out considera-
BILE amount of gold, Wetmore had murdered hs
companions and carried off their accumulation Z.
ftopf ha IF fho Yntn in d.,
Hills many accounted this theory certain ',
and believed that the Deadwood placers were L g
true Lost Cabin mines. To add to the mys-
terry of the affair, Wetmore began to show S: ms
of insanity, and some then advocated that he
mad been crazy all the time, while others n:ain-
tanned that he had lost his mind in brooding over
his crime
Among those who still believed in \ genuine Lost
Cabin was one Burke who was called Judge by
virtue of having once been q Justice of the
peace He was a tall. rather good locking man.
wearing the long mustaches and thin imperial
which stand sc high in the frontier estimate of
manly beauty. He was inan of fair common
education and good intellect He thought Wet
more's insanity was more pretense than reality,
and formed an intimate acquaintance with him,
which grew particularly close after both of them
had gone to the Black Hills, in 1876 Burke
finally persuaded Wetmore to show him the loca-
ton OF the great mines, and six more were
taken in with them so that sufficient party for
venturipg into hostile country was made up
In May, 1877. this party left Deadwood in the
night, splendidly armed and equipped. To avoid
being followed they went out one at a time by
different routes, and united at designated
point They struck across the plains to tho Mis-
souri, river above Bismarck, and then 70 ed
up the river. stopping for day at Fort Berthond
All along Wetmore gave evidence of knowing
the country, and they entered the mountains
his information appeared to increase. Each day
he foretold: $50 morrow shall sight certain
peak" or 'croes creek" or pass peculiar
rock formation" and each time his prediction
was verified. He also appeared to grow more
restless, and the others feared he might fail
in his agreement they notified him that except
he led them to the mine he would be shot He
was kept under constant surveillance. Finally,
one evening he announced to them: TO morrow
we shall reach the mouth of narrow CANYON,
and after going up it for short distance we will
come to a rock slide over which the horses and
pack-anmals cannot pass At the upper end of
this the canyon opens out, and at the head of