The Yellowstone journal., 1894-12-03
A MYSTERY SOLVED.
ONLY A STRAW IN THE PATHWAY
OF THE AVALANCHE.

Loss Of the Joe Haines Party-Twenty three
Men, Ninety Horses and Mules. With
$4,000 Worth of Goods, Wiped Out on
the New Route Over the Mountains.
The route was from Marysville along
the right bank of the Yuba river, over
Ihe Sierra Nevada mountains and down
20 Washoe City and Gold Hill, a haul
of nearly 200 miles Except in the dead
If winter there were always freighters
going and coming. There had been talk
of q cutoff route over the mountains-a
route which would save many miles OF
heavy hauling and of unloading and re-
loading the great wagons-but the
freighters still stuck to the old trail.
Every mile of it was rough and rugged,
and many miles of it dangerous to man
and horse as well as vehicle, but there
might be more danger in the new route
In the spring of 1868 word was sent
ont that Captain Joe Haines was load
ing his IA wagons for the Gold Hill
country and would be the first to try the
cutoff. Some men sagely shook their
heads and recalled the stories of emi-
grants lost in the grim Sierras; others
applauded the captains nerve and
wished him good luck. Six heavy
horses or mules to a wagon, IA drivers,
two bosses, two cooks, five men giving
their services free to get out TO the Ne
vada mines. Twenty-three men and 30
head of live stock, and the value OF the
goods in the wagons was $50, 900.
One spring day the caravan took the
road. Word came back from it almost
every day until it left the trail leading
up to the pass through which the rail-
road track afterward found its way. At
a certain point IS miles short Of the
bend in the trail the caravan turned
sharp to the east to try the cutoff route.
A trapper saw the wagons among the
foothills, and Indian hunters saw them
two days later. After that no man saw
them and lived to tell of it Days and
weeks passed by, and the weeks had run
into months before it came to be gen.
orally believed that the Haines outfit
had met with some disaster That never
q man had returned to Marysville and
never a man had reached the eastern
slope meant more than disaster. II
meant a terrible tragedy.
One searching party followed the
wagons into the foothills and lost all
trace of them. A second traced them uI
one valley and down another, but at 9
certain point time had obliterated all
further evidences. Winter came, and
they were forgotten. Spring returned,
and the hunters and Indians sent out
reports that the disappearance of the
outfit was mystery beyond them. Ther
the rumor gave out that Captain Haine:
had safely reached his destination, bu
would return no more to Marysville. i
was wartime then, and people scarcely
thought of aught else but war. In an
other year all was forgotten, save per
haps by the shippers who had had no re
turns and were hoping against hope.
Two, three, five, ten years passed
away. Old mon died; boys grew Il
manhood. The railroad came, and th'
wagons disappeared from the trail. Ont
summers day hunter who had becom'
separated from his companions sa
down ON a rock in the heart of th'
mountain range to rest To the west o
him there was only a narrow trail; t
the east and north there was more room
As the hunter rested he scanned th'
hillsides to the east and north. The po
sition Of the bowlders, the size of th'
trees, the queer configuration of TIN
slopes-a dozen signs gave him to under
stand, for he was something of geolo
gist, that the spot was not as nature
left it, He clambered mp the northern
slope ard uttered an "Ahl' of surprise
Once upon a time the ground below hin
had been a valley rich in grass ant
flowers.
Il was q narrow, tortuous valley no
over 10 rods wide-a valley connecting
two larger valleys. To the east a noun
tain reared its head 3, 200 feet high:
mountain Of many mountains. Tive
thousand feet above him had been tn,
starting point of landslip. Millions o
tons Of earth and rock had been set il
motion by the rolling over of ston'
which might nothayeweighed hundreC
pounds. The discharge of a rife, th;
neigh of a horse, the shout of man
even the feet of bird resting after
flight, might have caused the avalanch'
after a long spell Of wet weather. /
had rushed down into that narrow val
ley to fill il up as dirt fills a ditch, t.
bury the green grass and the tender vio
lets l5, 20. 80 feet deep The rush, ant
the roar, and the crash must have beeI
terrific.
The man looked and descended to tht
trail. To him it was only point o.
geology. With his own eyes he had seer
Que of the tremendous changes nature Ii
constantly making in the mountains
All, what's this? He has been absen
less than half an hour, and yet during
that time the waters from hiddeI
tpring have gushed forth from the hill
side and formed creek, which is twist
ing and turning along the trail Th'
hunter kneels down to drink, and hi
avas rest upon rusty gun barrel As N
=. .. - tho soil he secs the hoo