Arizona weekly enterprise., 1890-01-11
A LONG LOST GOLCONDA.
STRANGE STORY OF THE LITTLE
 WONDER GOLD MINE IN ARIZONA.

It Disappeared Into the Earth-How Two Partners Were Separated, Each Be-
 lieving the Other Dead-The Mys-
 tery of the Subterranean Riv-
 er-The Figure in the Cave
 and Its Ursine Attend
 ant-A Romance of
 the Late Little
 Unpleasant
 ness.
 (Chas L. Mosher in the Examiner)
 At a late hour one night last winter received call from a stranger-a ruddy, gray and grizzled little man of about fifty-five years-who introduced himself as Wilson; "Jerky Will" he said he was called during the war.
 He added that he had heard that 1 was lately from Arizona, and he came to secure my assistance in the matter of preparing for publication certain facts concerning a mine-a very rich mine, of course-which he and partner discovered a long time ago, but were compelled to abandon under a force of circumstances. Subsequent search on his part, covering " period of over twenty-one years, had failed to reveal the locality of the mine. His plan was to raise sufficient money to secure the services of driver to pros pect the box canyon of the Salt river, and ascertain the point where certain subterranean stream which flowed through the mine debouched into that river. The project was singularly impracticable in more ways than one, but MT. Wilson was deeply in earnest. The box canyon referred to is an i'm passable mountain gorge through which the Salt river courses for dis tance of about thirty miles. Its walls rise abruptly, vary ing in height from 200 to 1000 feet, and are insurmount- able. While there are doubtless pools of sufficient depth to enable diver to sink himself out of sight, It is to be questioned if there are any where the swift current would permit of his do- ing so. Nevertheless I was profuse in my pledges of assistance to the strange scheme.
 "Well, then, I'll tell you all about how came to get the mine and where she is located. In 1856, just after the Beale survey, me and Jim Towne left Santa Fe for the Arizona country to find some of the minerals they talked about. We had a good outfit and plenty of grub to do us year, seeing that game was so plenty. We spent three months prospecting in the San Francisco mQigltains and then went south to the Bradshaw range, where we put in about as much more time. Not finding any gold there, we struck east, bearing for Santa Fe again, but prospecting on the way. One day when We were ia the mountains, just east of tue Four Peaks, Jim, Mllo had been knocking about. came into camp and said he had found gi,ld. siio~isss me a couple of chunks of rock which ! know now. hut l didn't know then, were lousy rieI,s We went ci, and Jlfi sl.ewad fs,e the ledge. Next day we got our tools, for Jim, who had been in the Mexican war and seen mines worked, said we had better sink and see whats in her So we went to work, and when we got too deep to pitch the rock out Jim put in a windlass, made q bucket out of deer hide and took one of our riatas for rope. He, knowing something about mining, worked Tn the shaft, while hauled the rock up. We were at work about two months and had got down over twenty feet, when Jim said to me one day at dinner i; The Golden Wonder is looking fine as q queen, but our grub's looking short. Next week I'll sack up about lOO pounds of our boss rock and we'll pull stakes for Albuquerque. There's no use of talking. We've got fortune, and we must be back here in 2 couple of months.'
 "But a man never can tell how things are going. That afternoon, while windlassing, Ifelt the earth sink ing from under me, and jumped back as far as I could. fell and rolled down hill way, and when l got up our shaft was all gone. The walls had caved, and rocks rolled down from the mountain side and filled it up, and poor Jim was under all of 'em.
 "As soon as 1 got oyer my shock and horIor-ior it was hard blow-l got up a pony and rode off to an In dian camp about twelve miles away, where got dozen Tontos, who promised to work for tobacco. Next morning we started in to dig Jim out, but in two days, without making much headway, my Indians quit, cause I'd run out of tobacco.
 There was nothing left to do but to give Jim up; so I cut a couple of sap lings, sharpened their ends and drove 'em in for head and foot boards to his grave, writing his name. Then packed up our traps and started for Santa Fe. When got there I found letter from mother, which had been waiting for me two or three months telling me that father was dead. sold our outfit and went back home to Massachusetts.
 "I never forgot Jim or the Golden Wonder mine, and was getting ready to go back to the Territory when the war broke out and l joined the Four teenth Massachusetts, thinking PC have plenty of time to take hold of tht mine after the trouble was over. IT 1863 I was assigned to the hospita service. After the battle of Chan cellorviIle I was going among tht wounded, when l noticed youns surgeon bending over the form of { man in the cavalry uniform of thu ' Confederates. 'Fatalv I heard hin say, and then he strengthened up ant walked on. This gave me chance tc see the wounded mans face, and if i had been a ghosts 1 wouldn't hay, been more surprised. It was Jin Towne! I wouldn't have believed m, own eyes but for that he saw ap' recognized me. l went to his side raised his head, put g coat under and gave him a drink of water. Feebl grasping my hand Jim said:
 I "Wilson, old pard, l am done fo this time. It's all over. In my cart ridge-box you'll find your chunk iron the "Golden Wonder" I had to us the biggest one myself, but ther