Los Angeles herald., 1892-03-25
FL REY DEL ARGENT0
The Strange Rediscovery Of
an Old Mine.
A Mysterious Find in the Olym-
pic Mountains.
Captain Dick Unearths a Story of
FOrty-One Years Ago.
The Scout and Frontiersman In the City.
His Search for the Lost Mine in
San Diego County Sue
cessful.

Captain Dick, the famous captain of
scouts of the Reil half-breed rebellion of
Manitoba, in 1885, returned to the city
yesterday. He first came to Los An
geles last Sunday, directly from the
Olympic mountains of Washington,
where he has been engaged in hunt.
ing, exploring and prospecting for over
a year. The captain was on his way to
San Diego county, where he intended to
look up an old mining claim, the de-
scription of which he obtained in a most
remarkable manner.
1t was in the spring of 1891 that Dick
first came into Washington from the
British northwest territory, after hav-
ing knocked about through Canada and
British Columbia in rowing sort of
way. He had heard it claimed that it
was impossible to penetrate the mount
ain fastnesses of the Olympics on horse
back. His spirit of adventure as we'll as
his anticipation that valuable mining in
dications might reward. him for his under
taking, ledCaptain Dick to outfit himself
at Hoodsport, near Lake Cushman, and
enter the wilderness from that point.
He rode tough, sure-footed Oregon
mountain pony, which carried pack of
25O pounds in addition to the weight of
his rider.
A solitary life OF lonesome camps in
the rugged mountains ensued, and the
frontiersman visited almost every part
OF the Olympic range, reaching an alti-
tude at times Of over 5000 feet, horse and
all. He persistently and carefully pros
pected everywhere, and succeeded in
locating several promising copper
mining claims.
1t was some time last August, when
the lonely traveller, while again ap-
preaching the Lake Cushman country,
was surprised to come upon the de-
cayed ruins of an old miners cabin.
Only dilapidated remains of the walls
were distinguishable, and desolate air
of mouldy antiquity lowered about the
place. When Dick dismounted and
turned his horse loose, the night
had fallen, and the phosphorescence
of the rotten old logs shed
a dim and spectral light over the scene.
The frontiersman approached the an
cient howell, struck light and entered
upon an investigation. He looked over
the place carefully. but found only
moist layer of decayed organic matter
covering what had been the floor. A
cheerful campfire, the wanderers best
friend, soon cracked before the cabin,
however, and after his usual primitive
repast, Dick rolled himself up in his
blankets and snored sonorously through
the night.
The next morning at an early hour he
arose and looked more carefully over the
premises. The irst thing he struck was
the old shaft, probably twenty feet deep,
of an abandoned mine. A few rusted
remnants of some tools lay near the
scene, and when the captain began once
more poking about the cabin, he came
upon frying-pan, a camp-kettle and a
few other articles of miners outfit.
An irregular heap of something lying
in the corner, something which Dick
had taken for dirt, finally attracted his
attention, and upon kicking it with his
foot, the frontiersman was shocked to
find beneath the surface of loan the
skeleton of a man still clad in the tat
tered rags which had once formed q
suit of clothes. Overcoming any little
squeamishness he might have felt, Dick
removed all the dirt from the remains.
and found, lying near them rusty
Misunderstanding pistol, mouldy leather
wallet and a buckskin bag containing
about four ounces of gold dust. In the
wallet were few old documents almost
entirely illegible, but appearing to have
been agreements between certain per-
sons, and notices of claims. Only one
of the papers was in any way decipher.
able, and from it the name OF the dead
man seemed to be James, John or
Joseph Martin. 1t was letter which
must have been written shortly before
the mans death, and it was addressed
to Mrs. Nora Martin, Canandaigua, New
York, and dated November 7. 1850. The
text of the letter was written with a
pencil, and the mould had penetrated
and blurred all of it except the address
and signature. A few words of which
fragments still appeared seemed to bear
some reference to a map rudely drawn
on brown paper, in which the letter
had been folded. This map was one of a
part of San Diego county, and described
and fixed mining claim in that region
known as "El Rey del Argento" mine.
Rough and badly-spelled notes in Span
ish we're scribbled all over the map.
Captain Dick buried the poor old bones
Vi MhTtlu, tOOA tuo W6iIot, pOuCu Auu
the old pistol and continued his way
out of the wilderness. Upon again reach
ing the outposts of civilization, he gave
az much information of his find as he
considered advisable, and in. September
a party of miners went to the old cabin
and looked at the old hole. The placer
indications were not found very good,
but an excellent quartz ledge has been
struck since then near the old shaft.
From Indian traditions still related
about Cushman lake, Captain Dick OBJ
tanned information, whatever it may be
worth, that in 1850, six miners from
California had entered the Olympic
mountains. Five OF them returned the
same year, while the sixth was never
heard from since.
| The captain since his find made at
tempts to learn something about Mar
tins people in New York state, but has
received no answer to his letters.
On the morning of Thursday, March