Marietta daily leader. (Marietta, Ohio) 1895-1906, 1901-03-01
FIND RICH TREASURE
Accidental Discovery of Two Pros
pectors in the Northwest.
Enter Cougars Den and After n
Terrible Struggle with the Fero-
ciOus Animals Behold u Mine
of Mineral wealth.

time proSpettor who, for the past ten
years, has spent most of his time
hunting for big game and precious
metals i'll the mountains of the north
fork of Kettle river, reports the Min.
neapolis journal. In the late fall he
arrived in town with companion
who had broken and badly lacer-
ated leg According to their reports
the injuries were caused by a prema-
ture blast in prospect on which
they were doing assessment work,
but the story told by the prospector
while in garrulous mood induced hy
conviyiality connects the accident
with romance which was almost u
| tragedy.
IT appears that the two were fol-
lowing the fresh tracks of a cougar
i'll the newly fallen snow, and after
several hours of trailing were con-
Quoted to the mou,h of an old aban-
doned tunnel, the existence of which
was unknown to them, or, for that
matter, to anyone in this country.
The snow at the mouth of the tunnel
was beaten down by cougar tracks,
and men with more caution would
have hesitated before disturbing
what was undoubtedly lair of these
| dangerous animals. After short
conference, however, the hunters
| decided to take the risk, and adj
vanced into the dark passage abreast
and with their rifles ready for in
stant use.
After penetrating distance APP
proNinately $50 feet they heard a
rustic farther down the tunnel, ac-
companied by ominous snarling and
| growing. At the same instant they
deserted numerous sets of eyes glow
| ing through the darkness. Both
raised their rifles and fired. and i'm
| stantly heat retreat, but before
| they had run ton steps both were
thrown down by the rush of animals
attempting to escape. They were
Temporarily stunned, and. as the pros
| pector expressed it, BADLY ratified"
so that before they could gain the
open air they were set upon by one
1 of the cougars which they had
wounded. The infuriated animal
seized one of them by the leg and
crushed the bone as if it had been
a paper tube. The injured man faint
ed, hut his companion threw himself
| upon the cougar and finished him
with hunting knife. He then
dragged his friend to the tunnel
mouth and revived him with snow.
Night was approaching and they
decided to camp in the tunnel know
! ing that fire at its mouth would
prevent the cougars from molesting
! them. The uniniured man washed
| his friends wounds and bandaged
| them with strips torn from his shirt.
| He cut a number of splints from
! saplings and bound them tight with
stout cord, without which no hunter
/ ever goes into the hills. After a
I supper of jerked venison he took a
| brand from the fire and went back
! into the tunnel to investigate the
result of their encounter with the
cougars. Passing over the dead body
of one he had killed with the knife,
he continued TO the breast of the
/ tunnel. There he found another
cougar which was shot between the
eyes and instantly killed. While eX-
amining this game he noticed that
the light from his torch was reflected
| by peculiar glitter in the breast of
the tunnel, and also among the
broken rocks which lay on the floor.
Some of these he gathered up and
took back to the fire. There he veri-
fed his b lief that the glrtering was
caused by particles of free gold
scattered through the rock in such
! profusion as to render it fabulously
rich.
The hunters entered into solemn
compact never to return to the find
alone, but to share it equally. They
passed an uncomfortable night physi.
cally. but their sufferings were
! alleviated by visions of untold wealth.
In the morning a sledge was inn
provised and on this the injured man
reclined, while his companion with in
finite toll dragged him slowly toward
civilization. 1t was necessary to
travel in this manner nearly twenty
five miles ~ Bannoclt City, at the end
of the wagon road north of Grand
Forks. There wagon was secured
and in three hourS the fractured limb
was under a doctor's care.
This accident and discovery oc-
Cured IN November. Meanwhile the
injured man had gone for special
treatment to Spokane and his partner
has kept strict silence, awaiting the
time when both could return TO the
mine. But the holiday celebration
loosened HIS tongue and the town is
agog with excitement over his dis
closure.
Who were the original discoverers
of this bonanza win probably never
be known. The prs spector who gives
the story and who, now that his
celebration" has passed, bitterly re-
grets his imprudsnce, says that the
timbering near the mouth of the
tunnel has almost completely rotted