The daily morning Alaskan., 1903-07-10
Toe LoSf
 Wagon Troin
foriglnaL1


 One spring day in 1868 caravan toiied up the side of the sierra Nevada mountains on tue road from Maryville to washoe City. A trapper saw the caravan and shook his head omlnously. Two days later Indian hunters saw it After that it was seen by no man, or if any man saw it he dld not live to tell of it Searching parties were sent out which followed the trail Into the heart of the mountains, but all finally lost it
 Mary DeNne was a baby when her father organized and went with this expedition. As the years passed and nothing was ever heard of Roger Deane Mary's mother came to consider him dead and married again. Other chn' dren were born. Mary grew to woman hood and went out from her home made unpleasant to her by her step father and her half brothers and sis- ters Roger Deane's estate had been administered upon under the intcstate law. and .he stepfather and his chil- dren managed to get all there was of it. After they had used lt-and there were many mouths to hll-Mary saw that they were anxious to get rid of her. It was then that she went to work to earn a living Those who knew her father said. 'what pity that De didn't leave a win bequeathing to Mary her full share of his property'
 One morning hunter in the noun tains. becoming separated from his companions. sat down on a rock to rest On the one hand was narrow tral. on the other a sudden rise. lt occurred to the man that the face ot the country was not as nature made 1t. The position of the powders, the small size of the trees on the rise compared with those on eitEcr side of it, the con aguration of the slopes, all told him that there had been some change with in perhaps a century. Climbing higher be turned and looked again. Then be saw that the ground beneath him had been a valley. Turning he cast his eye to a point 1000 feet above. A noun tain side was wanting. He saw it all. At some time there had been a land slide, breaking the continuity of the valley.
 Gradually the rains had undermined the mountain side tn millions of tons of earth and rock hung poised, waiting for some disturbance to shake them loose and send them pouring down Into the valley. Perhaps it would be clap of thunder mighty wlnd. Ter. haps it would be some sightcr cause the tread of a wild animal the crack cf rifle. the sAout of a man. What ,vcr the cause, once tGc delicate bal Lee was destroyed thc great mass tot cred and fen with a roar of a thou and cannon.
 Thc man descended Co the trail at the point where it began Co mount the avalanche of earth. Huccins at a bring Co drink. he saw something .owu pro,ruding from the wet earth. lt was not a branch. It was something made with hands He seized lt and found it cold. lt was iron. Pulling it aqt. he saw a gun barrel from which the stock had been rottcd. In the hole from which he took it wus a horse shoe. He tried to take it out. but found that it was fixed to a horses foot. Then his party came up, and. digging, they found the skeletons of a horse and a man and the ironwork Of a wagon.
 Mary Deane had come In from he, work tired and. throwing herself on a lounge. was resting and thinking. John Herr!ck wanted her to marry him. She loved him. but John had llt- tie or nothing on which to support a family, and Mary, who was level head ed, foresnw only accumulated burdens fin becoming his wife. Martin Hughes. an unculured storckeeper, who had a competency, also wanted her, and she was now deliberating whether to ac cept the continued evil of poverty anc work too hard for her delicate phy slque or husband she would rathc' live without.
 John Herrlck wants to see you said the woman with whom she board ed. Hes In the sittin' room
 What could John have to say to her that led him to call at that houri A week before she had told him that their marriage would be folly. Never theless she went downstairs to see him.
 Mary" be said. q wish you had married me before this. Now it iq impossible"
 "why more SO than beforeY
 Because you are rich and I am poor"
 q rich? John. have you gone daftT
 q said you are rich, and it is true.'
 "Of what do my riches consisty"
 "Of the Gold HIl. originally named the Mary Deane mine"
 John took from his pocket a yellow folded paper and handed 1t to her. li was her fathers will, leaving all hls property to her mother in trust for her. Among the assets was claiw be had bought the day before the will was made. which he designated as the Mary Deane mine. For years it hn0