Arizona silver belt., 1893-04-08
THE CEMENT MINE.
.A PAILApELPHiAN's EXPERIENCE IN
 SEEKING MYTHICAL GOLD.

A Hard Tramp Through the slerras in
 Search for the Deposit That Assayed
 g Thousand Ounces to the Ton-Some-
 thing About tho 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 redisco9ery of the Lost Cabin mine in Sohth Dakota, He says;
 There are two mountain myths that have been bothering the heads of iInagi- native treasure seekers in the Rockies since 1855 One is "White's Cement mine" and the other is the Lost Cabin In 1855 Kit Carson, James Kinney and half breed BlaclIfoot 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, branch of the North fork of the Cheyenne river just west of what is how the Montana boundary line, As they were old mountain men, and Car. son having great reputation as guide, everybody went crazy. No white man was supposed to have been within 300 miles of the place, and indeed men were being cut off by Indians within five miles of the fort.
 Carson and Kinney went on a week's 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 ef- 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.
 Whites Cement mine Is much more remarkable Rs narrative. White was New Englander, sixty years old, who had come to California in ls49, As a 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 with q lean mule and half breed Indian boy, getting supplies where he could. believe he was slightly demented, but all looked mp 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 aEd 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 1 ,000 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 a 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 tl, ,,,a,, 4o, h;p f;,,1 l,o eho,,TI Lo,-o tL 5 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 of the camp Then he consented
 | Every one was wild l was offered $1, 600 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 a wolf and then White followed, his long gray hair flying in the wind, By the end of the second day we were 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 be 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 q 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 h;s 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 mil liouaire, but in the morning White was gone and left no trace. About one-hali 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 mine, 1 got home with $500 and heap oi knowledge that will last for the rest oi my life. Philadelphia Press.