The Nome nugget., 1901-09-03
.OF GREAT WEALTH
The Ledge Is Said to Be Twelve Feet Wide and Can Be Traced a Thousand Eeet-t!0ey the Find Was Made and What It Promises.


 Mount BeIidelesan. The ledge is said lto be F feet @aCle betwean well defined walls, and has been traced aa distance of 900 or 1000 feet. Samples of the mica were brought tnNomea few days ago by R. F. Lewis. Mir Lewis came in from the Council City country. where he was the directing spirit of 8 prospecting .party, composed Of Big Harry" Campbell, R. B. Sibley, N. e. Davidson and Mike McCsrthy. The four men started out from Coun- ecil City on q trip two hundred miles north of that place. They were ] not successful in finding anything of ,value. On the way back they rested ~on the north side of Mount Bendeleben, and as they talked Harry Campbell re- lated the story of old Dr. Bendeleben, .As told him by.Dan Libby, now resi- dent of Council City. Away back in 1866, when the Western Union Tele- graph Company were locating their proposed telegraph line through what was then Russian "A merica, Dan Libby was then . member of the exploring party of which Dr. Bendeleben was the . geologist, and after whom the noun tain was named. The party was .camped on the river now called the Neukluk, and one day Dr. Bendeleben made trip to the mountain in the dis tance and climbed to. it's highest pin nacle. He returned to camp thoroughly exhausted and very wet. He was cared . for and put to bed, but next morning he was raving maniac. In this de- lirium he declared, in his German manner: "Boys, I've discovered d mountain of gold" The old doctor, it is eaid, never fully recovered his men, tal faculties, and soon thereafter the ,cxploration party was recalled snd the cold man went home and died. Dan Libby wasa young man in those days, .nnd was secretary to tho superintend- ent of the survey party.
 This country was almost forgotten for many years, but in 1897 Charles Nelson, the steamship owner of San Francisco. and Captain Tyson, to whom Libby had related his experiences in l866, fitted out party, in which were Libby, H. l.. Blake, l.. F. Melsing. A. r. Mordaunt and number of other adventurous spirits, and sent them north. Their objective point WAS the mountain called iBendeleben. The party campedmhere Council City now stands and held "council" Hence the name of the town. Finally they .starteikunt over Ophir mountain and locatad the celebrated Ophir creek and other creeks in that neighborhood.
 Such was. in ST ubstance, .the story told by Harry Campbell to his fellow uAshers.while they rested. Then Sib? 1sy.toM the fdibl a of -the 6xliing of -the great Sahara diamond, how the weary traveller across the great desert came 60 an oasis where he refreshed himself at a sparkling spring. Then he looked np, and away in the distance a brilliant 1ight attracted his attention. He tray -eled many weary miles toward it, and .the light grew more dazzling and brilliant. Finally his hand grasped rthe precious stone,e ,eand said Sibley, as fhe again looked toward the top ,of Mount Bendelehep, "'Boys, there s my .Iiamond, and he pointed to- glitter ing streak omthe mountain side. Thsy started out in the direction of the gilt Luering streak, but they could not locate
 Ezrinally Mccarthy, who is'a New Hampshire Yankee, determined to try smother ascent, and this time he was successful He located the streak, y sand it proved-to be mica. A cut was Nrun across the deposit in order to de- termine it's width, and it was found to he l2 feet. They did not know the vralue of this find, and returned td Council, but they brought samples 14x18 inches. Mir. Lewis knew thai
 mica was scarce and valuable, and the men went back and located three claims.
 Samples brought to Nome were shown to Dr. Whitehead, of the Alaska Bank ing and Safe Deposit Company. They had been sbroken in transit and the
 samples had been reduced to pieces
 4x6. Dr. Whitehead pronounced the
 samples excellent.
 Mica is rare and found in small de
 posits. Commercially, it is worth iron
 g to s2O pound for 4x6 inches. whict .ts. ths usual sizv. 1pquantitis~ larger