The Athena press. [volume] (Athena, Umatilla County, Or.) 18??-1942, 1895-03-29
A MOUNTAIN MYSTERY.
Cache Containing At Ounces of Gold
and ST 900.


and ST 900.
A queer story comes from Dry
Creek to a Walla Walla paper. Il
is to the effect that in the mountain
fastness somewhere there is secre-
ted in hollow log golden wealth,
extracted in an early day from the
moving sands of the Columbia.
So far not many have been let
into the secret that any such treas
ure is hid away in the neighbor-
hood. And for a long time the in
formation was in the possession Of
but one young man, the discoverer
of the clue, and he kept his own
counsel so long as hethought there
was any chance of bis uncoyering
the valuable metal.
The young mans name is C. M,
Churchill, and he gets his mail at
Dixie, Wash. He is n wood chop
per and has been industriously
working up huge fir trees into cord
wood the past winter. 1t was
while engaged in this occupation
that Mr.. Churchill discovered in a
spruce tree, so feet from the ground
a block of wood, enclosed in which
was q mysterious letter. The block
had been split, carved out on the
inside and nailed together again
with what appears to be steel pins
from cigar boxes. Through one
end of the block hole had been
cut with a knife. 1t appears that
after this it was burned on the out
side, which was probably to re.
move any appearance of newness
which it's manufacture might leave,
and thereby render it less con.
spicuious. It looks as If the limb
had filled up the hole in the block
and then died. The letter is writ,
ten ON scraps of paper which was
evidently torn out Of q note book
and some Of the lines are very dim
The words are spelled by the
phonetic system, if by any system
at all. One end of the sheet Of pa
per has been burned This is
where the hole was cut through
the block that it might be hung OF
the limb.
The strange writing was as fol
lows:
June 9Th 1863,
BIS the rots of this spruc tire I an
listinin to the paplin Of littl
spring an a ritin thes lines that
is goin to hang in this tire the mai
that fines this vii fine gold that il
goin to hid with mysef in a hole
log I nugget is 20 ounces hevy wi
be foun with my he'd on it. an
other | in a crack ON the south sic
Of this monten Is ounce hevy th,
log an myself vii be foun in thick
grove of tres haf mil to the lef O
this branch in sorter gulch tht
inJuns ar huntin me for this gold
en- an my scalp want writ to ge
it foun it in the Clombe river Of
ther Ian D. Stone
from corvallis
oregon
the is 1000 dolers in a purs hi,
close to the gold.
The spot where this wasfound i
remote from any trail or line 0
travel. 1t is a heavy wooden dra.
at the head of a canyon far back il
the mountains. D. Stone the write
had evidently taken refuge ther
from the Indians. Why he di
| not go to Fort Walla Wall
and avail himself of the protection
of the army, which had but shor
time previously been stationed il
the valley, we can only conjecture
He may have feared to expose him
self. TO view or he may have ha
good reasons for not joining th
prospectors at Walla Walla. Thos
were promiscuous times.
In 1868, when the letter was dt
posted, Walla Walla was a ne,
settlement, simply a station fo
miners to gather in the winter tim
and to lay in supplies for the sum
mer prospecting. It was abou
this time that we are told "a ma
was served for breakfast ever
morning" Gambling was tn
chief amusement and it was no IN
common thing to see men shoot 4
one another across the street {
across card table. This was the &c
vance guard Of a higher civilizs
ton and it required men Of jui
such character to prepare the wa
for those who should follow.