The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1900-04-14
TWO ELUSIVE MINERS.


Then LOST 10 we"
Golden Ledge That Was Seen bat
Once.
There are two interesting legends Of
lost mines that are famous all over the
northwest" said a Spokane mining man
recently. "Many a prospector has out
fitted at Spokane for a search for the
Lost Basin and the Blue Bucket mines,
propositions that have hitherto eluded all
efforts TO find them. The Blue Bucket
mine lies somewhere in Oregon, on line
drawn from the big bend OF the Snake
river, where ii sweeps northward on Its
way to the Columbia, and extending TO
Yreka, Cal.
ut was some time In 1850, l believe,
that a party OF home seekers struck on
In the foothills of the Rockies on the
Oregon trail for the northwest, intending
TO work down into northern California.
They were farmers, pure and simple, and
the news of the discovery of gold In Cali
fornia had never reached them. They
had left the bend of the Snake river
some Overwhelmingly the story Is
not definite as to the number OF days
behind them. and they camped one even
ing ON the banks Of a stream, where they
rested their oxen and horses for a couple
of days While the men Of the party
hunted the surrounding country for fresh
meat and the women spent the time In
washing clothes, the children wandered
about in the vicinity of the camp picking
berries, carrying with them. as the story
has 1t, one OF those old fashioned blue
buckets Old timers say that the blue
bucket was an important part OF the
Argonaut's outfit In those days.
Aax a. he ehtidrQn hmrriRd
into camp, two of them struggling with
the weight of their bucket, the bottom
covered with number Of pieces of yell
low metal. They said they had tried to
dig out of the ground some deep rooted
bush bearing n flower that pleased them,
intending 10 plant 1t in the bucket and
take it alcng. and they had found the
pieces of metal In the ground. Every
body gathered about the find, and nobody
could make anything of 1t. The metal
couldn't be OF brass, Of course. they
knew, but II might be some kind Of ma
tive copper. asst could be beaten out Fat
with ease. The pieces varied from the
size OF pumpkin seed to an egg.
"The argonauts had no use for single
pound of useless weight, and when the
party started of all the metal was
thrown away but few pieces which the
children were allowed TO keep for jack
stones, and heavy jackstones they were
too. or course when Yreka was reached
the playthings were recognized as gold.
Then there was a stampede over the Ore
gon lava beds for the Blue Bucket mine.
but snow had fallen east Of the Cascade
range, and the track was lost. Two or
three Of the party spent their lives look
ing for the lost placer ground and died in
poverty. The others settled down to
farming and succeeded at II. Every few
years some prospector takes n notion TO
make his fortune by finding the Blue
Bucket mine. but no gold has since ever
been discovered in that whole stretch of
southern Oregon.
''rhe lost basin is legendary quartz
proposition hidden in beautiful basin in
the Bitter Root mountains Of southern
Idaho. A packer who was employed by
one of the expeditions that made pre-
liminary survey OF the Union Pacific rail-
way made the discovery in the romantic
way that is characteristic OF the finding
of all lost mines. Several mules got
away one night in the widest part Of
that mountain range, and George Har-
vey-that was the packers name-was
detailed to find them, having first been
ding and grub He was instructed to
hurry along as soon as he had found the
mules, as the engineers in charge Of the
expedition had decided that as the coun-
try was impracticable for a railroad they
would lose no time in pushing westward
to the main camp, where various survey
ing parties were TO meet.
Harvey started back ON the. trail ear
ly on the morning of the breaking up Of
the camp and found the mules in little
valley grazing. He secured them with
out trouble and decided to camp, as night
had fallen. In the morning he looked
around. A peculiar rock formation 70
feet wide protruding from the ground a
foot and extending 100 yards to the edge
of stream arrested his attention. The
rock was soft, and Harvey chopped up
yard or more of the surface. A yellow
CLINT caught his eye, and he picked up a
string Of pure gold a foot long and
weighing half a pound. There was plen-
ty more of the valuable metal in that
spot, and after chopping up the surface
at various places on the rock Harvey
satisfied himself that he had discovered II
great free milling gold ledge big enough
to make him a millionaire several times
over.
"Concealing several pounds Of gold
about his person, he moved out Of the
valley. after impressing the narrow en-
trance upon his mind. He soon found the
surveying party had hurried along SO fast
that they had left no marks, blazes on
trees or otherwise to indicate the way
they had taken, and as he had to depend
on the intelligence OF his horse and the
mules to lind the way he disregarded all
the landmarks. He finally arrived at the
main camp, saying nothing about his dis
covery and working at his job until the
next summer
"F'inally he made confdant Of old
jim Henderson, whose eyes bulged when
he saw the evidence in pure gold of Har-
vey's discovery. Both men put their saw
ings together-they were afraid to try to
dispose of Harvey's gold, as then the
secret would have been theirs no longer
purchased an outfit and started for the
basin or valley. or course%they never
found it. Rocks and peaks and streams
were no landmarks to Harvey. for he had
neglected to notice them on his former