The daily herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1892-1897, 1895-02-12
THE LOST SILVER VEIN.
How Albright Carried His Secret with
Him to the Grave.


Him to the Grave.
The Lost Vein of Colorado still
eludes the eager prospector. Behind
it range the incidents of one of the
most touching love stories ever writ
ten. In the early sixties Amos Al
bright went to Colorado to seek his
fortune, leaving his wife and chill
dren on an Illinois farm. His health
began to fail soon after his arrival IN
Colorado, and, to make matters
worse, came distressing news from
home, for to make the journey to
the goldfields he had borrowed
money from q rich neighbor, in for.
mer days an unsuccessful sutton for
his wife's hand, and the wife wrote
that their creditor now threatened
to foreclose his loan and drive her
and her children from their home,
The news made Albright desperate.
He sold portion of his scanty be.
longings, exchanged tie money for
provisions and set out alone for the
mountains. He was sick unto death,
but desperation nerved him on. He
reached the mountains, turned from
the trail and began prospecting on
unbroken ground, but day after day
disappointment alone attended his
efforts. In a fortnight his provi-
sions were gone, and he saw that only
starvation or retreat lay before him
One weary day SHUTDOWN found him
sitting on heap OF drift at the base
of q great rock. He was fearfully
hungry. and WEAKNESS and the cold
winds OF the mountains bitterly op-
pressed him. Then came O discovery
such as is seldom heard of outside
the pages Of old romance. What was
it that he saw in herocl upon which
he was sitting? Silver! Not quartz
nor glace, but virgin ore. Tho vein
was as broad as his hand in the mid
die and dwindled away in wavering
lines a yard in length.
Albright sprang up and set to work
with feverish energy and the unim-
paired strength of giant. 1t was a
bright moonlight night, and he Ia
bored without pause until sunrise.
When morning came, he had mined
more ore than he could carry away
with him. He saw clearly that the
vein he had discovered was a true
one and probably extended a great
distance. Within his grasp lay for.
tune of millions. He made careful
reckoning of his bearings, staked his
claim, concealed all traces of his Ia
Dor, and collecting as much of the
ore as he could carry away with him
set out for Denver, which city he
reached late that night. Next morn
ing he purchased an outfit, an abun.
dance OF provisions and a mule, and
again set out for his claim. Within
a month he had mined enough silver
to load q train. Moreover, he had
traced the f5surc to its origin in the
hills and satisfied himself that he
was the owner of one of the richest
claims in Colorado. Then a hemor-
rhage struck him down, and it was by
a miracle that, blind and staggering,
he reached Denver alive. AS soon
as he had gained sufficient strength
he set out for his home in Illinois.
As yet, though eagerly importuned
to do so, he had revealed to no one
the location of his claim. Hereached
home only to find that his wife and
children had been driven from their
home by his creditor and to die in
his wife's arms. The money he had
brought with him from Colorado
served to recover the home from
which his family had been driven,
but the secret of the Lost Vein died
with him. No one of the hundreds
who have since attempted to search
has been able to find it. Western
mining history contains no more pa
thetic story than that which relates
To Amos Albright and the Lost Vein
Washington Pest