Omaha daily bee., 1902-08-31
LURED BY MYTHICAL MINES
Search Of Lest Cabin and Other Mysterious
Treasure Camps.
TRADITION AND TRAGEDY IN MINING LORE
Stories Of Tabled Wealth which
EIudes the Eager search OF
MaD-Death Frequently
Ends the Chase.

mine" In the Big Horn mountains OF
Wyoming conveys the information that It
is the real thing and the only lost
cabin" mine in the whole range Of min
ing tradition and fiction. Yet the Wyom-
ing discovery is but one Of hundreds of
mysterious mines which have lured pros
pectors on and on for half a century, and
are likely to remain an Irresistible at
traction while fortune hunting Rnimates
the prospector's breast.
There is nothing more romantic In mod
ern gold mines than the legends and myths
of golden and silver ores, whose redis-
covery would bring fabulous riches to the
finders. Nearly all prospectors, no mat
ter how long and severely buffeted by
hard fortune, have an abiding faith that
some time they will strike a lost mine
and be unspeakably wealthy. Every
mining camp in the west has its own char
acteristic stock Of stories of incomparably
rich mines once found by som lonely
prospector, miles away from any human
being and in a region barren of readable
landmarks. and then lost by some fateful
incident. some tragedy or some strangely
accidental circumstance Every mining
camp has its veteran residents, each Of
whom has some set theory as to how
those lost treasure beds may be relocated.
Nothing else In the realm OF mining has
such a charm upon the prospector's mind
as the stories Of lost mines. In every
mining region every year men risk life
and fortune In searching for legendary
lodges once found and then lost. Last
year some fifty men gave up months Of
their time, Travelled over burning deserts,
endured severe privations for weeks at
a time and anne back to civilization older,
poorer, haggard and ragged, after a search
Nnr fha Dc. I a. vaf1n ar,An. 49, roAo-oA
mountains. There will undoubtedly be az
many more men go hunting for the Peg
Leg this year.
MOntana's Lost Cabin.
A Frenchman came into Helena. Mont,
many years ago. bringing with him thou
sands Of dollars worth Of gold dust. He
told his friends that he had found some
placer ground richer than any ever
worked. The dust he brought down had
all been panned out. With sluice boxes
thousands OF dollars could be washed out
in a day. OF course this news created the
greatest excitement. His friends pre-
pared to accompany him back, but ere the
day for their departure arrived the
Frenchman was taken i'll and died. Just
before his death he managed to gasp:
"Blackfoot country, two small lakes,
cabin between them l built
Now this information was very Indefinite.
There are two Blackfoot countries. One is
that great expanse OF forest in which rise
the Big Blackfoot river and Its tributaries;
the other was, In those days, the eastern
slope Of the Rockies, from the Missouri to
the Saskatchewan. The miners wondered
which one he meant. Party after party
was organized to search for the Lost Cabin
mine. Both countries have been explored
again and again. Year after year has gone
by and parties are still searching for 1t,
undaunted by the failure of their prede-
cessors, hoping ever that the morrow will
reveal to them two little lakes nesting
in the depths Of the forest. and, between,
a rude little cabin. long since In ruins.
perhaps. but still the evidence Of untold
wealth.
A Mexican Mystery.
The vallagrana mine is the famous lost
mine Of Lower California. It was a silver
mine and the ruby ore from 1t. so tradi-
ton says, was so rich that Don Thomaso
Aguila, the richest man in Monterey. Mex
leo, in. the Sos offered to buy one-third
Of II for $3.50. 900. Jose vallagrana was a
Mexican governor of the district of Lower
California who fed to la Paz. at the ex-
IRENE southern end Of Lower California, in
1850, during a political revolution. On the
way he and his party took refuge In an
Indian camp. and the Indians there. TAX
ing a fancy 20 their courteous visitors,
took them out in a canyon and showed
the outcropping Of a silver ledge. The ira
dition runs that the silver ore could be
clearly traced along the mountain side for
some 1880 feet. that the ledge at the sur
face was over twenty-five feet wide and
that there were indications that II widened
rapidly below the surface Of the earth. Gov
- A~wN. - A. -.
the Indians in their ancestral rights there
and to keep the silver ledge always a So
cret. On hat promise he and his aaso-
ciates were permitted to take away with
them seven specimens OF the silver ore.
The next day the governor and his party
started on mules some 200 miles farther
over an unbroken. barren wilderness to-
ward La Paz. In the course Of two months
the party was at the City OF Mexico, where
they were political prisoners for nearly n
year. When they were freed only one OF
the party had kept his specimen OF the rich
ore. IN assayer IN the City Of Mexico
assayed a part Of the specimen. and he re,
ported that such ore ran 5000 ounces to
the ton. silver was then worth 81 an ounce.
Every year since 1851 men have gone in
parties OF a dozen OF twenty to seek the
silver ledge. First and last. several thou
sand men have ellmbed over the mountains,
tOiled across the arid wastes and broiled in
summer and shivered in winter while they
prospected for the ledge that Vallagrana
told about and from which the specimens
had come. Time and again the poor. ig-
norant Indians OF Lower California have
gotten money on the promises to lead pros
pectors TO the Vallagrana mine. but each
time It has been an Instance Of a savage
buneoing a trusting miner. In 1888 Gov
ernor Lopez OF the district Of Lower Cali.
fornia omcially reported that that yea
some 200 men had been vainly trying to go
q clue to the mythical vallagrana-
Tragedy OF Death valley.
The pitiful story Of Death valley victiml
IN 1854 Is connected with the Gunsight min'
narrative. sixty-two emigrsnts to the sol
fields OF California. by OK and mule teams
in the summer OF 1854. we're trying to hn'
a southern passage through the Sierras 4
California. They we're persuaded a. Sal
Lake City TO follow what was known a
the southern route In preference to tn
more frequented one farther north. Tn
new route took them through southern Utah
zcross the Colorado river and into the ter
rible and then little known Colorado desert
In . few days thoy reached the drear,
Waafa NJ hath wanaw Ftna ~ m =