The Washington critic., 1888-03-24

anu dllcI leUuiuH HIS party cNciN-
where without success till winter
came on, he finally and reluctantly
confessed that ne was lost, and his
famous cabin mine along with him.
This man, whose word had been law
in camp for so many days, was now
an outcast and in danger of death by
violence. Men and women sprung at
him like tigers, crying; Lynch him;
he has lied to us; lynch him.
Preparations were made for an i'm
prcmptu necktie party and Ilulburt
was just about TO be strung up, when
one individual in that crazy mob, who
had spark Of humanity left in him,
stepped over to the doomed mans side
and drew his revolver That was
enough. Sullcn with rage but cowod
by one mans bravery, the lvnching
bee was postponed, and poor. wretched
Hulburt's s life spared. The Indians
started on the war path about this
time, which made il very unhealthy
country for white people; whcreupon
the Lost Cabin stampedcrs fastened
westward and scattered through the
eulches in and around Virginia
City. Hulburt was last seen in Nir-
ginia City in the fall of '6l, since
when the world has lost track Of him,
although it still remembers his famous
though mythical lead. Hundreds saw
the gold which Hulburt brought
back with him from the Big Horn
country, and since then a sort of blind
faith has possessed many that the
Lost Cabin Mine really exists. Bart
Beckley, a Colorado miner and chum
of Jack Mcdonald, spent q year of his
life searching the Big Horn, Castle
and Emigrant Mountains for this
wonderful lead, but ut last he, like
the rest, became dishearened and
gaveit up
Jack Mcdonald spent many years
in the Montana mining camps, during
a twelve month of which he was lost
to all save himself, somewhere on the
southern slope of the Big Horn range.
Suddenly Jack turned up. all hustle
and excitement, leaving hurried v for
Colorado; but there he was taken sick
and died in a cabin on BuckslIln
Creek, where the city of Leadville
now stands. Before he died he called
his friend and "pard" Bart Beckley
Ito his side, and told him of n lead in
far-away Montana that he believed to
be very rich.
BART BECKLEY's BONANZA.
Years rolled on and Beckley finally
decided to make an attempt to find
this famous gold mineof McDonald's.
He drifted hither and tlrither among
the mountains of the Northwest, found
himself first in the Black Hills, then
in the Wood River country, and finally
| in the New World mining district
near the Big Horn. He recognized
Cloud Peak, the loftiest pile in the
country, and strange to say from the
accurate description given him by his
friend, he was enabled to find McDon-
AIDS lead, which was half way up the
side of the very mountain he was then
exploring. But, alas! the dying man
was either deceived or else distance
lent enchantment to the view, for the
supposed gold turned out to be only
copper, which would not have paid
the cost of mining it at that lofty alti-
tude and in such rugged country.
Beckley confidently thought he was
on the trace of the Lost Cabin mine,
but his practiced eye told him at q
glance that only copper lay before
him, and he gave up the chase, re-
turning TO Colorado much disheart-
ened and thoroughly disgusted.
Not long after Beckley's failure
another prospecter from the Southern
Mines, named Joe Sweeney, suddenly
appeared in the Big Horn Mountains
and spent days and days hunting for
the lead that seemed to battle all eff
forts at discovery. He finally stun.
bled upon vein far up near the head
\ of the Big Horn Canyon, which he
firmly believed TO be an out-cropping
of the famous lode, if not the mother
treasure herself. A great lead had
been discovered, for 80 per cent of
the rock was pure metal, but there
was not sign of gold about it, and
l therefore it could not be the Lost
Cabin. Again, unfortunately, this
! galena lode was on the Grow Reserva-
| ton. which precluded the working of
it, no matter how profitable it might
1 be.
JACK NYE's ADVENTURE.
A short time afterward Jack Nye
mo relation to William and his cat,
a well-known Nevada prospecter, ap-
peared in the Big Horn country, and
was lost TO view for several months.
All at once he bounced into Bozeman
and startled the natives with the as
sertion that he had positively redis-
covered the Lost Cabin lead. Nye
wired his father and uncle to come
on without delay, but the result was
easily foreseen, for the vein which
Nye believed to be the much sought
| for Lost Cabin was neither more nor
less than Joe Sweeney's old discovery,
and Nye went back to Nevada a very
badly disappointed man.
UNPARALLELED HARDIHooD.
About this time the Sitting Bull
troubles came on, and the country
where the Lost Cabin lead was sup
posed to be hidden away, became
alive with hostile Indians. Old
Touka-te-tonka Sitting BulD, with
over thousand lodges, had his camp
near the junction of the two Horn
Rivers. on the spot where General
4 Custer afterward found him and met
his death. Notwithstanding the
frightful dangers and almost certain
death awaiting any white man who
should have the hardihood to .pene-
trate into the country, three white
men did go prospecting up the Big
Horn about this time and made their
way safely through the hostile re-
| gions 0raveling nights and rest
ing days., finally reaching the
| headwaters of the Little Big
Horn in safety. Here these three
venttWesome spirits ran across a body
| of ore so lnrne and 80 rich flint thnu