The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1892-11-18
THE CEMENT NINE.
A ,PHILADEEPHlAN'S EXPERIENCE IN
SEEKING MYTHICAL GOLD.

A Hard Tramp Through the Sierras in
Search for the Deposit That Assayed
a Thousand Ounces to the Ton-Some-
thing Ab.ut the Lost Cabin Mine.
Jacob Metz, lastmaker of this city,
is an old time California miner and was
for eleven years prospector in the
mountains, and he tells curious story
about the alleged rediscovery of the
Lost Cabin mine in South Dakota. He
says:
There are two mountain myths that
have been bothering the heads of imagi-
native treasure seekers in the Rockies
since 1855. One is "Whites Cement
mine" and the other is the Lost Cabin.
In 1856 Kit Carson, James Kinney and
half breed Blackfoot come into Fort
Randall, on the Missouri river, with a
bag full of nuggets and story of gold
deposits of incredible richness on Cabin
creek, a branch of the North fork of
the Cheyenne river just west of what is
now the Montana boundary line. AS
they were old mountain men, and Car
son having a great reputation as guide,
was supposed to have been within 500
miles of the place, and indeed men were
being cut off by Indians within five
miles of the fort.
Carson and Kinney went ON weeks
drunk, and soon gambled away their
gold, but showed no disposition to take
a party to the new Eldorado. The
United States officers at the fort dis
credited the whole thing, and dissuaded
the crowd from following it up, but
men started out and none returned. and
hundreds tried it from time to time. The
Indians no doubt knew of the existence
of gold there, and of course wanted to
keep the whites out, and they did eff
fectually for thirty years. A thousand
lives and mountain of treasure were
spent in seeking the location in vain,
and it was believed by the old timers to
be fraud from the first. Neither Car
son nor Kinney ever made the attempt
to seek it again, but both repeated their
original story from time to time. So
this is about the truth as to the Lost
Cabin bonanza.
remarkable as a narrative. White was
New Highlander, sixty years old, who
had come to California in 1872 AS
gold seeker he was known and talked
about in every mining camp on the coast
and stories related of his phenomenal
luck. He no doubt made many fortunes,
but was always poor, and tramped about
wit 10 holt tn
boy, getting supplies where he could.
l believe he was slightly demented, but
all looked up to him, and he undoubted-
ly knew more about the gold region than
any man living.
One day in 1858 White came to Horse
Head gulch from the Sierras, driving
his mule and looking utterly used up
He got something to eat, and then took
out of his pack number of pieces of
what looked like hard white clay gilt
tering with specks of metal, but he said
little and went off to an assayer, a Ger
man named Helyat, and an honest man.
Before night it was known in camp that
Whites specimen showed 1000 ounces
of gold to the ton. In five minutes every
one went crazy. Nobody slept that
night, but sat around the fires and
talked cement" In the morning
party headed by Senator Sharon's
brother called on White, who was sleep
ing in one of the "shacks." He was
told in few words that he must pilot
the men to his find, he should have the
pick of the claims and help to work it,
but go he must, and on his refusal was
warned that his life would not be worth
shucks if he 'stood off, the camp Then
he consented.
Every one was wild. | was offered
$1,000 for my two mules and outfit, but
like fool went with the rest. The trail
led right into the Sierras. The first day
was race and one-third of the men
broke down. The Indian leaped ahead
like wolf and then White followed,
his long gray hair flying in the wind.
By the end of the second day we We're
in the heart of the mountain, in des-
ert where no human being had ever
been before. Half of the animals were
lost, and the men were haggard with
fatigue and excitement. White was told
that if he played false he was a dead
man, but he still pointed east. We
passed good indications that showed
color, but in that land of desolation all
the gold in America would not have
availed man then.
On the evening of the third day White
said we were near to our journeys end,
and by tomorrow-and then he waved
his long arms and such yell went up
from the frenzied men that partly made
the pine clad mountains shake. Every
one lay down expecting to arise a mil
ionaire, but in the morning White was
gone and left no trace. About one-half
of the party, after incredible suffering,
got back to life and civilization, and
yet, despite our story, 100 men started
back over our trail two days after.
Three years after White reappeared in
Salt Lake City with his cement speci-
mems as before incredibly rich and again
disappeared, and from that day to this
has never been heard of, but men still
wear out their lives in seeking his lost
cement mine.
After eleven years labor in the mines
l got home with $500 and a heap of
knowledge that will last for the rest of
my life.-Philadelphia Press.