Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1896-10-01
MYTH GOLD MINES.
TREASURES FOR WHICH THERE
HAVE BEEN MANY SEEKERS
The Famous "White's Cement, and
sLost Cabin Mines in the Rocky
Mountain Rcgion-kit Carson the
Reputed Discovers.
New York TImes)


covered and then lost by some fateful in
| cident or chain OF accidents, have long
bothered hundreds OF imaginative trea-
sure-seekers IN the Rockies and the
| Sierras. There are three myths that are
particularly bothersome to the old-timers
in the far West; two concern the miners
OF South Dakota and Colorado. and the
third occupies the attention OF the gold
hunters in Southern California.
Everybody In the Rocky-Mountain re-
gion has heard about Whites Cement
mine and the Lost Cabin" mine. In
1855 Kit Carson. James Kinney. and q
haIf-breed Blackfoot came into Fort Ran
dali. or the Missouri .iver. with bag
| full of nuggess and "A story OF gold de-
posits OF inc edible richness on Cabin
creek. a branch OF the north fork OF the
Cheyenne river, just west OF what is now
the Montana boundary line. As they
were old mountain men, and Carson had a
! great reputation as a guide, everybody
went crazy No white man was supposed
10 have been within 500 miles OF the place.
and. indeed, men were being cut off by
Indians within FIVE miles Of the fort.
Carson and Kinney went on weeks
drunk, and soon gambled away their gold.
but showed no disposition TO take a party
to the new Eldorado. The United States
officers at the fort discredited the whols
thing and dissuaded the crowd from fol-
lowing 1t up, but men started out and
none returned and hundreds tried II from
time TO time The Indians. no doubt.
knew of the existence OF gold there, and.
of course. wanted to keep the whites out.
4 lly NJ
A thousand lives and mountain OF
treasure were spent in seeking the loca-
ton in vain, and it was believed by the
old timers 10 be a fraud from the first.
Neither Carson nor Kinney ever made
any attempt to seek 1t again, but both
repeated their original story from time
to time SO this is about the truth as to
the Lost Cabin" bonanza.
"Whife's Cement mine Is more re-
markable as a narrative. White was
New Englander. 60 years old, who was
in California in 1872. AS a gold-seeker
he was known and talked about In every
mining camp on the coast, and stories
were told of his phenomenal luck. He.
no doubt, made many fortunes, but was
always poor. and tramped about with 4
lean mule and a half-breed Indian boy.
getting supplies where he could. Many
people thought he was slightly demented,
but all looked up to him, and he un-
doubtedly knew more about the gold
region than any man living. one day
in 1853 White came into Horse Head
Gulch from the region In Northern New
Mexico, driving his mule, and looking
utterly used up. He got something TO
eat, and then took out or his pack a
number OF pieces of what looked Ike
hard. white clay, glittering with specks
of metal, but he said little and went OH
10 an assayer, a German named Helyat.
Before night, 1t was known in camp that
Whites specimens showed 1000 ounces Of
gold TO the ton. In five minutes every
body went wild. Nobody slept that night,
Int sat around the fires and talked
cement" In the morning party headed
by Senator Sharon's brother called on
White who was sleeping In one or the
'.shacks" He was told that he must
pilot the men to his find; he could have
the pick of the claims and help to work
It, but go he must. and on his refusal
was warned that his life would not be
worth shucks II he stood OFT the camp
Then he consented.
A crazier mining camp was never
known. and anybody who has ever seen
a lot of ragged tired-out, and anxious
gold miners set wild by belief that untold
wealth is about TO be theirs knows what
q crazy lot OF treasure seekers means.
Men in Horse Gulch, who were little
credulous and not DESTROYS of following
White over 800 miles from camp, were
offered $1,000 and 81 200 each for their
camp outfits. consisting OF picks. shovels,
kettles, pans, greasy, old blankets,
bushel of beans, and two jackasses. But
In two days there was no outht TO be
bought in the whole gulch mining camp.
. ..rNA Ktss4 Tod is
own outfit. The trail led down across
the Rockies IL was a very difficult
tourney. even for the old miners, who
seemed never TO know what physical
fatigue meant. 1t led along rocky trails,
ND and down canons. and across noun
tain crests. The first day was a race,
and two thirds Of the men broke down.
Thu, Indian leaped ahead like a wolf.
ard then White followed. his long. gray
hair flying 10 the wind. BY the end of the
second day the party was in the heart
of the mountains, i'm a desert where no
human being had ever been before. HAIR
of the animals were lost, and the men
were haggard with fatigue and excite
ment White was told that II ne played
false he was a dead man, but he still
pointed east The weary party passed
good indications that showed color. but In
~
America would not have awaited a man.
ON the evening Of the third day White
said that the miners were near their
Journeys end. and to-mCrrow-and len
he waved his long arms and such yell
went I'M from the frenZied men that made
the pine-clad mountains shake. Every
one Law down expecting 70 arise mil
lionaire. but In the morning White was
gone, and had left no trace. About one
half of the party. after incredible suffer-
inc edt back to life and civilization,
and yet despite their story 100 men
started back over the trail two days after.
Three years after White reappeared In
Salt Lake City with his cement speci-
mems as before. incredibly rich, and again
disappeared, and from that time TO
this has never been heard Of but men
sfll wear out their lives in seeking his
lost cement mine
The peg Leg Mine. in Southern Califor-
mia. is the most famous of the fabulously
rich mines west OF the Rockies 1t has
been yainly hunted by treasure seekers
for more than two decades. A gold
miner. John G.. Smith, who was known
all over the southern part of the State
as "Peg-Leg Smith," because Of
wooden peg-leg that he wore in place
Of n limb OF bone and muscle which
had been amputated, came into Los
Angeles one day In July OF 1871 with his
camp outfit. and his mules laden with
several sacks Of gold ore. The rock was
assayed by mining experts In the place.
and the news quickly spread that Peg
Leg" Smith had ore that ran all the way
from $50 10 $500 a ton. or course, the
whole country In and about what was
then a little Mexican town OF Los Ange-