Arizona republican., 1898-03-11
THE ADAMS DIGGINGS.
The Interesting Story of the Mythical
 Lost Mine.

revived by the 1OllOW1nS letIeT pup- lished in the Albuquerque Democrat:
 In the fall of the year 1850 while the gold fever of California was at Its height, a man by the name of Adams and his three companions were cross ing New Mexico on their way to Cali fornia. Late one evening they came to a path which led them up short canyon to where they found water and it may be remarked here that wa ter is scarce in that part of the coun- try. They struck camp for the night and during the evening one of the men concluded to try pan of dirt, and to his great surprise found gold in great abundance. After they were satisfied that they had struck it rich they went to work and built a miners cabin and prepared to pass the winter in work ing their claim. In building the fire place to the cabin they made a box of stone with the hearth rock as cover ing for place of safety to store their earnings. When they had been work ing the mine for about three months Adams took his gun one evening and went out to kill a deer for meat. When he returned late in the evening he found one of his partners lying in the trail about 100 yards from the cabin. where he had been killed by the In dians. On closer investigation he found the other two killed and the cab in burned down. The first thought with Adams was to get away from there as far and as fast as possible, and as California had been their objective point he started in that direction. As there was no living in that country and the Indians were always on the Warpath in that day and time. he trav- eled in the night and lay by in the day time. After two nights travel and about o'clock a. m. on the third day he came to a stream or water at which point he marked a cottnwood tree so that he might have something as a guide to assist him in locating his mines sometime in the near future. He then made his way in a westerly di- rection, travelling for days and days. or rather nights, without seeing any one until at last he landed in Ca1ifor- nla- He there was engaged in differ ent occupations for about twenty-five years, but at all times with the inten- tion of closing out his business and re- turning to his rich mine in southern New Mexico whenever the country was sufficiently settled to make it safe for him to return. In about the year '7S MT. Adams sold his two farms in California, which brought him s14 900 He then returned to New Mexico and began systematic search for the mine
 On his return to the country where he thought he might be getting some where in the vicinity of his lost mine he found few mining towns scattered over the country. He informed some of the best men of the country as to his business there. which created quite an excitement. He told them of how he had marked the cottonwood tree; he also produced nugget of gold that he had taken from the mine and had carefully kept for twenty-five years He described the stream upon whose banks the marked tree was growing Some of the old timers who had heard and become interested in his story concluded to help him look for the marked tree, thinking if they found it as described there must be some thing in the story. After a diligent search of a few days the stream was located-it is now known as the Ne grito, or Little Black. It is a tributary of the Gila and heads up in the Datil mountains. After a further search of a day or two the tree was found and was marked just as described by Ad- ans, and showed to have been marked many years. Those Eho were present when the marked tree was found say that old man Adams was wild with joy and said. "Now, if the mine can be found I will be a millionaire and only want what is hid under the hearth stone, and there are millions in the mines for others"
 Adams and his party began search ing for the mine proper. They thought the mine would be some forty O. fifty miles from the marked tree. so they began the search on that theory, sup posing that Adams would have tray e1ed about twenty or twenty-five mi es in a night. Adams continued the search for about twelve or fourteen years and squandered the whole of his s14,000 long before he gave up the search; in fact, he never quit hunt ing for that nine until death claimed him as it's own. He died a poor, old broken hearted man, always sayino that there were millions in the mine if it could be found. MT. Kenock, fore man of the Y Cattle company, who is HOW d I6SlueHt Ol ludL part OI IN0W Mexico where the mine was generally supposed to be. took his outfit of twenty-five or thirty men and put in two weeks looking for the lost mine. MT. Patterson, who is an old time miner and western man, and is now postmaster at Patterson. near where the mine is supposed to be- has spent about S5,000 looking for the mine and he is perfectly sure in his mind that the lost mine does exist somewhere in that part Of the country.
 Adams said that when they discov- cred the mine the grass was waist high all over the country, so it is gen orally supposed that fire has long since destroyed all the signs of the ax made in building their cabin.
 In conclusion, I will say to all those who may chance to read this that the facts herein contained are the solemn truth, as there are men now living in southern New Mexico who were well acquainted with old man Adams and who helped him hunt the lost mine.
 GEORGE R. SPOONER.