The Washington critic., 1888-03-24
THE LOST CABIN MINE
A Celebrated Gold Find in the Big
Horn Mountains.
THE TRAIL H0PELESSLY LOST
Bold But Fruitless Attempts TO Re.
discover the Lost Treasure.


Perhaps the most famous, as we'll as
The most mysterious, mine on the
continent is the celebrated Lost Cabin
lead. II has been discovered, redis-
covered and lost half dozen times,
and at the present writing the exact
location of this rich lode is us much a
mystery as ever. This mine is one of
the magnets that drew Thomas Paige
Comstock (Old Pancake) north from
his Nevada bonanzas; but he never
found the lead, and he came but to
find suicides death and paupers
grave awaiting him. lie drove
pistol ball through his brain near
Bozeman, September 27, 1870, and
his neglected tomb is now there,
without a sign to mark this fa-
NOUS mans last resting place, and
almost unknown. The Lost Cabin
has grown to be somewhat of n
/ legend, although there can be no
doubt that very rich veins of gold are
scattered all through the Big Horn
| range, and among those mountains
this muchsought mine is snugly
I hidden away and will probably re-
main so, until some lucky prospecter
stumbles upon it, and so becomes q
thrice millionaire in twinkling. /
have. seen many descriptions of the
Lost Cabin in print, but never yet has
the true story been told, or how it got
the name of Cabin, nor how such
big thing as gold mine, with log
cabin attachment, came to be so
utterly and totally lost as never to be
found again,
THE LOST CABIN TRIO.
Allen Hulburt, California stam-
peder of the 40 epoch, was the man
who discovered the mine, built the
cabin, lost the mine, and never found
it again. He was a quiet, sensible
citizen of Janesvile, Wis, in 1910,
when he caught the California gold
fever like great many others, and so
in October of the same year he left
home, friends, and everything else
behind him, and iourneyed across the
plains to the Pacific Ell Dorado. He
worked his way orth to Oregon, then
into what is now Washington, and in
the spring of 1868 found himself in
Walla Walla without cent in his
pocket.
In company with two other rowing
spirits, one Jones and one Cox, the
I trio bought new prospecting outfit,
{ including six horses, and with a
months provisions in pannier packs,
set cut over the Mullen trail for an
exploring expedition on the eastern
slope of the Rockies. After hard
trials, and encompassing almost insur-
mountable difficulties, the little band
finally reached the Yellowstone,
tloated down on raft to the Big
Horn River and made camp on an
island in the widest and most hostile
portion of the United States.
They whip-sawed lumber, built q
dam across the creek, put up sluice-
boxes, and sluieed from morning till
night while the weather lasted. The
average yield was about 800 day
to the man until snow began to fly.
When the water froze, and mining
operations had to be suspended, Cox,
Jones and Hulburt had about half a
bushel each of bright, sparkling mug
gets and gold dust. Now came win
ter. The time was too valuable while
the season lasted to waste it in build
ing operations; but now it was getting
late, and the boys sindustriously whip
sawed lumber and cut logs sufficient to
erect a cabin and surround it with a
stoekade. This was the famous cabin
that has since been lost so many
times. Hay was cut, too, for the five
horses. One had been drowned in
crossing the Yellowstone. In the
spring, when the water began to run
again, the three men were at their
sluice-boXes and taking out as much
gold as ever. One day Hulburt sud
denly returned to the cabin for some
necessary article. leaving his two COM
rades busily at work.
Scarcely had he gotten out of sight
when bang bang went number of
rifles, and Cox and Jones lay welter-
Hulburt saw the Indians strip, scalp
and mutilate his comrades, after
which the redskins followed the we'll
beaten trail up to the cabin andrifled
! the latter of every single article or
thing they wanted. They even at
] tempted to set fire to the famous
J structure, but the logs were green and
would not burn, thus sparing the eel
ebrated building to future discovery
After awhile the Indians left. Hull
burt slipped quickly from his perch
gathered together a few necessary
articles (the Indians had carried off
the horses), packed his knapsack full
of gold (burying such treasure as he
could not carry, and without pausing
to look around or even TO take land
mark, fled for his life.
HULBuRT's FLIGHT.
His route did not lay back over the
old trail he and his two friends had
come the year before (the Indians had
gone that way), but to the South, in
the opposite direction, through a
strange, wild, undiscovered country,
so to speak, over which no white
mans foot had ever travelled before.
After many days, when far away
from the old camp, he arrived at a
lofty precipice where, TO the East,
could be seen vast stretch of open
prairie, while to the West was lofty
range of mountains, whose snow
capped peaks pierced the very clouds.
Hoping to strike some trail if he
trtsted to the open, Hubert struck
boldly out over the prairie and
headed, as near as he could judge, for
the Platte crossing of the great trans
continental route to California After
eighteen days he did reach the North
Platte River, ninety miles above Fort
Laramie, at Reshaw's Bridge, and
found himself on the old trail which
he had passed over, fifteen years be-
fore, on his way to California. Here
he met big stampede coming up the
Platte bound for Montana. Without
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