The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1896-12-12

mdudSeu IO Cross Cn0 Summlt, anu
reached small summer cabin used
by cattle men known to DIR. Burke.
Here they expected to find some
flour and bacon, cached several
months before, but Indians had
taken everything. 1t showed heavily,
and they stayed in their cabin until
donkey meat was nearly gone; then
they started down the mountain
sides. The snow shoes were useless;
they kept finding and losing the trail,
and circled on their own tracks. The
damp had spoiled their matches and
gun. They threw away everything
they could-even Aliens papers
and ran for their lives. At night
they burrowed in the snow for
warmth; their clothes were constant
ly wet. 1t still showed, and their
strength began to fail. On Decem
ber 3rd they made only ten miles.
That day and the next they wan
dered about the rugged canyons along
the middle fork of the American. On
December 5th they were still weaker.
DR.. Burke writes: This afternoon,
when exhausted and despairing, l
sat down weeping, proposed to give
up and lie down and die where we
were. Allen said, No we will keep
going as long as we can walk =.
and SO after little he persuaded me
to make another effort"
On December 6 they were barely
able to crawl along, often on hands
and knees. They made about three
quarters of mile about noon, when
they came upon the ditch and log
cabins OF Last Chance Mining Camp.
"Wewere nolonger hungry" writes
DR.. Burke, land when food was Of
fered us we could not eat. Our feet
were badly frozen. We got worse
and worse. We could not sleep.
After few days we became delirious.
On the twelfth day after we reached
the camp, Allen died."
Thus three young men, friends and
fellow-workers, who were interested
in the development of Nevada lodges,
had all perished-Brown by violence,
Hosea Grosh by accident, Allen
Grosh from exposure to the Sierra
winter. DIR. Burke, crippled and for
a time broken in health, abandoned
the life of miner and returned to
Canada. If Allen Grosh had lived
few months longer the whole story
of the Comstock would probably
have been different, and it's earlier
fortunes less chaotic. By his death
the possession of the great Comstock
lode was left to others, ignorant and
undeserving the needless rabble,
even then swearing loud caths at the
unknown metal that clogged their
sluice boxes. None of the Californ-
ians whom the Grosh brothers had
interested in their quartz lodges
made any immediate effort to take
possession. In fact the clue was lost.
The Comstockers, themselves,
have always credited the Grosh
brothers with having taken at least
the first steps toward the great dis
covery and there is growing belief
among those who have studied the
subject, that these two men deserve
to be remembered as the true pioneers
of the district. In 1865, when Schuy-
Ter Colfax visited Virginia City, he
presided at the ceremony of erecting
a commemoration tablet over the
grave of Hosea Grosh in the little
Silver City cemetery. 1t still remains
for the commonwealth of Nevada to
search for the lonely grave of Allen
Grosh in the Sierras, and then to
bring the remains of the brothers to-
gether at the foot of Mount Davidson,
under shaft of Comstock porphyry
on which should be written "They
were the First Quartz Prospecters on
the Comstock."
Returning to the Grosh cabin of
1857 we find another thread of the
main story. When the surviving
brother, Allen, went on that fatal
journey to California, he cast about
for some one to leave in charge of his
effects. Comstock seemed the most
available. 1t is said that written
contract was drawn up; Comstock
was to have a onefourth interest in
one claim for keeping it from being
jumped in the absence of Grosh, and
was to live in the little stone cabin.
He does not seem to have oeen taken
any further into Aliens confidence.
Both the brothers were very cautious
and secretive; but this claim, which
was somewhere around the head of
Gold Canyon, was now staked out, and
known to many, so Allen probably