Durango semi-weekly herald. (Durango, Colo.) 1899-1907, 1905-07-03
SPENT A MILLION TO
FIND LAKE OF GOLD

A. f. Benson of Silyerton, writing |
for the Denver Post, tells an interest
ing story of toe Highland Mary as
follows:
As rule, there is little Of senti-
mental romance connected with the
mining Industry. For the most part
IL means the risking and Investment
Of a great deal Of good, solid cash,
the employment of much hard labor,
anxious thought and time, almost end
less planning and scheming. and in
many cases tne end sadly justlfies
the outlay. Thousands of holes in
the ground" miles and miles OF
abandoned tunnels and underground
works stand today as memories Of
blasted hopes and Of humanity's over
towering ambition to get rich quick
Notwithstanding, however. the gen
| eral prosaic nature of mining opera
tons, there once in while is come
upon instances where the romantic
| takes the center of the stage and
plays a most important part in the
development Of mining properties, and
when II does, the narrative of the
circumstances becomes of the most
| interesting character and the recital
reads like some story from the Arab
| ian Nights.
Away back in the early 7O's, the
| Ennis brothers, Edward and John.
| both of whom were strongly inclined
| toward the spiritualistic belief. in
New York city. sought to peer into
i the future and ascertain what 1t had
| in store for them. Pursuing the gen
orally accepted course in sucn mat
ters the brothers consulted a female
medium in Gotham. and after assur-
| ing her of their willingness to pay
| the price" for the desired informa-
ton, the lady proceeded to bring her
| self into the trance" state and tell
| things to The brothers which ordinary
| mortals are not supposed to find out,
at least while in the flesh. Among
other things the medium did was 10
| place her finger at a certain spot
| upon map Of the United States and
declare that In tnat exact locality ex
listed lake of gold which had been
especially reserved for The Ennis
| family and which could be reached
and its fabulous wealth enjoyed by
merely follo Wing her directions to the
| letter. This the brothers promised to
do. and after generously reimbursing
their benefactress for the wear and
tear of mind and spirit, they started
| west with q carefully marked map to
guide them.
Their directions landed them in
San Juan county, Colorado, and soon
| they discovered the exact spot indi
Gated by the spirits, and hign up on
King Solomon mountain, about seven
| miles north of Silverton they set their
stakes and christened their prospect
i've bonanza the Highland Mary. The
Ennises were the possessors of am
pie capital and the work of mining
for the underground golden lake was
begun on a most elaborate scale. A
mansion, at a cost of 10000, was
built near the portals of the tunnel
and the building was palatially fur
nished and prodigally conducted at
great cost AS the tunnel proceeded
on into tie mountain toward the lake |
OF gold ahead maps and diagrams of
Its course were from time to time sent
to the spiritualistic director In the |
East, VINO regularly sent back in
structions how to proceed with the |
big bore. Her changes of direction |
were erratic and frequent, and today |
the main tunnel of the Highland Mary |
mine, which is about a mile in length, |
Is certainly a model of twists and |
turns and ups and downs which |
would easily put to shame the famous
passages through the Roman Gaia
combs.
The Ennis brothers followed in
structions to the letter but the lake
OF pure gold. always lust a little way
ahead persistently failed to mater
ialize. and after expanding over ST.
100000 and driving into the mountain
over 400 feet. bankruptcy overlook
the operators and in 1885 they were
forced to suspend work and dispose
OF the property, still retaining. how.
ever. implicit confidence that ION
ahead" existed the shimmering lake
Of yellow wealth The only person
known to nave materially profited by
the Highland Mary venture up to that
time seems to have been the New
York medium whose professional
fees altogether amounted to some.
thing like 100000. During the opera
ton Of the property under tne Ennis
regime no secret was made of the