The San Francisco call., 1897-06-26
It Came Up on the Anchor
and Chung to the
Lead.
Captain Linbridge's Story of a
Vein of Wondrous
Richness.
Traced It From Ocean to Shore and
From Shore to Noun
tain.

Captain Robert Linbridge of the
schooner Lila and Matte, which sailed
for the South Seas with party of scien-
lists last Monday, tells story of re-
markable discovery of what is probl bly,
the richest gold bearing ledge of rock in
the world.
The captain spent several months off
the coast of Alaska last summer, and it
was while he was cruising from point to
point that he made the discovery. He
SAID he had told his story to some
of mis- friends who had money,
and they are organizing a COM
pany for the purpose of making a thorough
investigation of the matter, and when he
returned from the present trip he expected
to take a party to the spot, which he alone
could locate. The story as he told 1t is as
follows:
1--WE had been cruising along the coast
and were compelled 10 do much sounding,
as the whole coast was new TO me. One
evening when the sounding lead came up
] noticed there were a numb Of yellow
scales adhering TO 1t. l paid little atten-
lion to this and finally cast anchor.near the
same spot. Next morning l found the
anchor had caught on a ledge of rock and L
hau some difficulty in getting IL up.
when it came up saw that there were
particles of the same yellow material
sticking to the flukes Of the anchor, and
this made me think little more about it.
] had some hedges that / had used to drag
for shells, and l let these down and
dragged up a lot of stuff from the bottom
and found several pieces of rock which
carried particles of the same yellow metal,
which 1 was sure was gold.
Il made soundings and found that
ledge OF rock could be traced for mile to
Al 81,
groupings which could be followed clear
to the mountains, showing that the ledge
in the water was the exte nsion of the one
on land. | got several pieces of rock from
the shore and put them away in M V locker.
when | came back the schooner was
im Immediately chartered for a trip to Mex
leo, and l gave the sounding-lead, which
still held the yellow particles. and the
pieces of rock from the ledge to a friend,
who took them 10 an assayer. l returned
from the Mexico trip about a month ago
and found that the experts pronounced
the metal gold and the rock was so rich
with it that it ran all through it in
threads. The assayer said it was the
richest lot of ore he had ever seen, taking
the whole lot together, and expressed the
opinion that the ledge would prove to be
the most wonderful find of gold that had
been recorded.
"The Lila and Matte has been char
teISo 10 90 " Tue COutu OSdS anu we VIII
be gone until next spring. On my re-
turn the com pany will be fully organized
and l shall take the parry to the peace. I
do not know what boat we will take or
who will be in the com pany, and l think
the whole matter will be kept secret
until the ledge is properly located and
mining operations are fully uuder way"
Captain Lin bridge showed several rich
pieces Of quartz which were thickly veined
with fine threads of gold, and also showed
the sounding LEAD, which still had the yell
low particles clinging to it. de says the
ledge where he made the soundings is fully
thirty feet wide. bu. that where it comes
out on the shore it has evidently been
covered with sand, as it shows only in a
few spots. He says the mines there car
be worked at least six months IN the wear.
and believes that there are fabulous riches
in store for himself and those associated
with him.