News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1886-12-30
THE LOST NUGGET.
A STORY OF THE GOLD MINES.
The History of the Lost Nugget which Is a
Ninety-pound Lump of California Gold.

There were few lines of telegraph
matter in the daily press few days az
to the effect that party had left Cole
RADIO Springs to hunt for the Lost Mug
get" Among the romances of the gol
coast there are two which will live be
yond all others. The one is the LOS
{ abin, -" and the other the "Lost Mug
get" Both have a foundation in fact
but the story of the 'Lost Nugget
the more truthful.
In the old mining days of Californi
five or six men who had come out to
gether from Indiana ha a claim on tn
San Joaquin River. They were dom!
fairly well, but nothing to Drag of, whel
one of them, man named harles Y
Tooker, whose relatives yet live in In
dianapolis. made the discovery of tn
celebrated nugget. 1t was in the sprin
| of the year, and he was out hunting TO
roots and herbs to cure sort of scurv,
which had taken hold of some of them
In climbing up a bank he dislodged
boulder, and as this rolled down it I'm
covered the nugget 1t was a chunl
of crude gold weighing about ninet!
pounds. 1t is not likely that the mas
was as pure the average of small mug
gets, but still it must have been wortf
many thousand dollars. The entire
bank was afterward dug away, and thu
neighborhood for half mile around
carefully searched, but without anotheI
ounce of gold being found.
Tooker was single man, about 81
Y ars old, and up to this hour it had beer
share and share alike with the little band
His mind was instantly made up to keeE
his discovery to himself, and to gel
away with his treasure at the first OPP
portunity. He dug hole and buried
! the find, carefully marked the spot, and
returned to camp and tried to concea
| his satisfaction and anxiety. His OBJ
| ject was to get the nugget to San Fran
cisco, and it must be carried On the back
of a horse or mule. He had to invent
an excuse for separating himself from
the band, and this probably gave rise
! to the first suspicious. Tooker pur-
chased a mule of an igrant, hung
around until he believed it was safe for
him to depart, and then dug up his mug
get one night and set out on a journey
which would not have been safe for half
dozen men to undertake Those were
rough days, and men who had met with
poor luck hunting for gold in the earth
were on the road as robbers and assas-
sins. lockers companions felt certain
that he had made find, and his every
action was under surveillance for several
days before he started. hequietly with
drew from camp at night, led his mule
to the spot where the nugget was each
ed, and loading it upon pack saddle he
started off. He must have known of
the dangers of the road, but the desire
to convert that big lump into gold pieces
overcame his prudence. He was follow
ed by two of his companions, hut they
hardly knew what course to take. He
had made q find and was "jumpingn
them, bu they had no legal right to
force division.
Tooker was followed until daybreak,
and the men had about made up their
minds to halt him and force HIM to turn
back with his precious burden when he
was attacked by four or five footpads.
A lively fight ensued, and Tooker and
one of his pursuers were killed, and the
other was driven off. He returned to
camp with the story, and this was the
first of a long series of adventures in
which the big nugget has figured.
lockers friends determined to overhaul
the robbers, and, five in number. they
broke camp and at once began pursuit.
The foOtpads had camp or rendezvous
within a few miles of where the robbery
occurred, and the nugget was taken there
e..
by the Tooker crowd, and in the fight
which f flowed two OF them were killed,
while only one of the robbers escaped
with his life. The nugget had been
buried, and although the closest search
was made for it the victors did not I'M
earth it. The robter who escaped made
his way to San Francisco, and six months
later set about organizing an expedition
to go after the lump. One of the men
who were to accompany him got the
location of the cache and set out with
companion and reached the place two
days ahead of the others. The nugget
was found, loaded on the back OF
mule, and the two had start of a day
and half. They journeyed about forty
miles, buried the lump near mining
camp, and staked out a claim and went
to work as a part of the programme TO
preserve thei1 secret. They remained
in camp six weeks, and then left on foot,
their mule having been stolen. What
happened to them and the nugget is not
known, or at least has not been stated.
The next ime the big lump was heard
from it was unearthed in the Hot Creek
Mountains of Nevada by three miners
who had come from California. The
fact that they dug it up and had 1t in
their possession was known to band of
sixty or seventy immigrants, with whom
the trio travelled for several days. Eve
rybody got look at the lump. and its
history was related by one of the pos
SCISSORS.
I efore crossing the line into Califor.
mia the three men and the nugget left
the train secretly and was never heard
of again. 1t was three years before the
nugget was heard of again, and infor-
nation of its whereabouts then came
through half breed Indian who was
dying at a military post in Colorado.
He told sergeant of caVSry where it
could be found, and the sergeant and
two private soldiers deserted and went
to secure it. They were tracked to a
mountain about 80 miles away, and were
found to have dug up something and
headed for Kansas They were followed
for day and half. and then the bodies
of the two privates were found on the
ground, shot through the head. The
sergeant had murdered them in order
to have the prize all to himself. ivil
officers all over Kansas and Nebraska
were notified to be on the lookout for
the deserter and murderer, but to this
day no one can tell what fate befell him.
The big nugget has been heard of in an
indirect and roundabout way several
times since, and it has always been I'm
delstood that it was in the hands of
the Indians. Something definite as to
its exact location must have been learn
ed this fall, or an expedition would not
be preparing to set out at the opening of
winter. The lost nugget is no doubt the
largest mass of crude gold ever discov-
cred in California, and perhaps in the
world, and if an expedition of five or
six men can succeed in getting possession
of it at this time, there is a fortune in
it for each and every one.
TCO Good a Preacher.