The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1894-12-13
A MYSTERY SOLVED.
ONLY. A STRAW IN THE PATHWAY
or THE AVALANCHE.

Loss Of the Joe Haines Party-Twenty-thre
Men, Ninety Horses and Mules, With
$4,000 worth OF Goods, Wiped Ont ON
the New Route Over the Mountains.
The route was from Marysville along
the right bank of the Yuba river, over
the Sierra Nevada mountains and down
TO Washoo City and Gold Hill, haul
Of nearly 900 miles. Except in the dead
Of winter there were always freighters
going and coming. There had been talk
of 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 we'll as vehicle, but there
might be more danger in the new route.
In the spring Of 1863 word was sent
out that Captain Joc Haines was load
ing his Id 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 emf
grants lost in the grim Sierras; others
applauded the captains nerve and
wished him good luck. Six heavy
horses or mules to o wagon, IA drivers,
two bosses, two cooks, five men giving
their services free to get out to the Me-
vada mines. Twenty three men and 80
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
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
man had returned to Marysville and
never o man had reached the eastern
slope meant more than. disaster. II
| meant q terrible tragedy.
. One searching party followed the
wagons into the foothills and lost al
trace of them. "A second traced them nj
one valley and down another, but at
certain point time had obliterated MI
4 further evidences. Winter came, anS
they were forgotten. Spring returned
and the hunters and Indians sent on
reports that the disappearance Of TIN
outfit was q mystery beyond them. Thel
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 scarcel.
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 passe,
away. Old men died; boys grew t.
manhood. The railroad came, and tn
wagons disappeared from the trail. On
summers day hunter who had becom
separated from his companions "a
down ON q rock in the heart Of th
mountain range to rest TO the west O
him there was only q narrow trail; +
7 the east and north there was more room