The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1900-02-02
AN ELUSIVE BONANZA
THE STORY OF THE LOST LODE OF
GORE RANGE.

GORE RANGE.
How a Tenderfoot Accidentally Dis
covered This wonderful Bank of
Gold and why He Didn't Enjoy the
Richness Thereof.
They were telling mining stories in
the courthouse, and Dee Reese. the
lawyer, asked:
Did you ever hear of the lost lode
Of the Gore ranger
The other lawyers sitting around
him said they had never heard of it
and then waited for him to begin. Mr..
Reese borrowed fresh chew of tobac-
co and told this story
Hundreds of experienced and mex
perienced miners as well~have spent
a great deal of time and money looking
for the lost lode of the Gore range.
and they are searching for it yet
This famous mine was found and lost
from Iowa visited Routt county, Colo,
in the fall of 1896 on hunting and
fishing trip The party made it's
headquarters at Steamboat Springs.
In the latter part of October the party
moved up and went into camp on
Rock creek in the Gore range OF
mountains, which runs through north
ern Colorado. One of the party was
a druggist. who had gone on the trip
for his health He knew nothing Of
mining. He had been warned by an
old miner before he left Iowa not to be
fooled. as many u tenderfoot had been.
by what is known as FOOLS gold, or
iron pyrites. So this druggist paid no
attention to the rocks but attended
strictly to his hunting and fishing.
Zone afternoon while hunting for
deer he started a fine buck and fired at
him and wounded him. The buck fell,
but got up and ran before the druggist
could get to him Where he fell was a
pool of blood, which showed that he
was badly wounded The hunter trailed
him by the blood spots on the dead
leaves and grass for mile and there
found where the buck had lain down
and then rising had gone on again In
this way the chase continued until
shutdown. and then the hunter. who
was exhausted, sat down on an out
cropping ledge of rocks to rest.
I'm the enthusiasm of the chase he
had not noted which way he travelled
and he realized that he was lost in the
heavily timbered mountains, with
night coming on. He knew it would
be useless to try and find the camp
l1of itrl, l,a tlt NIL Of
dead limbs and kindled a fire against
the ledge of rocks and laid down with
his feet to the blaze and prepared to
sleep While lying there he noticed
the rocks sparklcd in the freIight. He
got up and examined it. supposng ii
was the fools gold he had been warn
ed against But the rock looked SO
pretty that he broke off several pieces
and put them ia the pocket of his
hunting coat, intending to carry them
back to Iowa with him as curiosties
THE next day he wandered all the
forenoon. and chen found the Gore
pass road over the range and followed
it to the camp That very afternoon
a regular mountain snowstorin began,
and the party broke camp, returned TO
Steamboat Springs and from there
Went east
The druggist, whose name | have
forgotten. staid in Denver for few
days ON his way TO his home in Iowa
In the lobby of a hotel in Denver the
talk drfted to mining. and the drug
gist mentioned the specimens of stone
he had found and was taking home
An old miner never misses chance to
examine a specimen and in this group
in the hotel lobby was an old prospect
or. He asked to be shown the speci
mems. The druggist Went to his room
fshed up the old bunting coat from
the bottom Of his trunk ana took out
the piece OF stone The miner exam
ined ii closely and exclaimed:
Man. that's the richest specimen
of gold bearing quartz have ever
seenr
THE druggist thought at first thai
he was being ioked with, but at last
the old miner induced him TO take the
specimens TO Burlingame the best as
sayer in Denver BurIingame assayed
a piece Of the quartz and reported that
it yielded gold at the rate Of SIT Geo to
the ton. The druggist WIS not salts
fed He submitted another piece Of
the quartz to another expert assayer
and got report that il yielded gold a
the rate of $4,000 to the ton
The druggist returned at once 10
Steamboat Springs, but there was snow
in the mountains. He went back to
Iowa and returned to the Gore range
the next spring and has spent every
summer since then looking for the lost
lode, and others have searched for it,
too, but no trace of it has been found
Kansas City Star.