Los Angeles herald., 1907-04-14

wv present day are sources OF
wonderfully interesting ac-
counts of lost mines in California, Ari-
zona, Utah, Idaho and Oregon,
Lost Cement Mine
One of the most remarkable Of all
the lost mines is the great Cement
mine, that has never been located by
more than three men. There are vary
ing stories told about this. One Is that
German drifted into Aurora, Nevada,
about 1886 with lot Of specimens Of a
hard red cement full Of gold.
1t was wonderfully rich ore and diff
ferent from anything that had ever
been seen in that country before. The
rumor of the discovery caused such
commotion that the German got fright
ened and disappeared between two
days, fearing that his secret would be
wrested from him.
Another story of the same sort Is told
of a mine located at Horse Head gulch,
in Colorado. It is said that there was
a miner named White who made that
his Headquarters and was out prospect
ing most of the year. He had one IN
dian cook and general assistant one
day he came i'm for supplies and dis
played some specimens of the cement
ore. 1t was so rich that the camp
White was importuned to tell where
his discovery was located. He only
laughed and said that there was plenty
of It and that was all. The leading
lights of camp society prayed and
wrestled with him, but he coolly de-
clined to say anything more about the
find. Then he was called on by the Wig
ilance committee with rope, and told
in effect that II he wanted to be hanged
= 5oN NaI rterI1t fharn
On the other hand, IL he would lead the
ca1np to the spot where he had made
the find he would be given the pick OF
the claims and the camp would work IL
for him, IL he chose. But he simply
would not be allowed to hold out the
information altogether.
White succumbed to this form Of per-
suasion and said that the mine was To-
Gated about $50 miles to the southwest,
and was through a hard country. But
if the boys wanted to follow him. to
come along. The general store was
dismantled, the outfits divided up fairly
and about 200 men, with White and the
Indian in the lead, set off across the
mountains. They travelled for two days,
during which time the band had got
pretty well strung out. The second
night when they camped there were
less than a hundred OF the
original party. They slept tnat
night, and in the morning when they
awoke White and the Indian had disap-
peared. 1t was many years later when
he was heard of again. This time he
turned UP in Utah with lot of the ce-
ment ore He and his Indian bought
what supplies they needed, paid Tor II
with the cement ore and disappeared.
They have not been seen since.
The Quartz Mountain
! An unusually sad case of lost mine
| is that of the Quartz mountain mine IN
Central Idaho. 1t was in the summer
Of 1900 that an old, well-known pros
hector named Mclaughlin was pros
pecting near the Bitter Root forest,
| that impenetrable mountain range
| covered with dense virgin forests, tnat
he came across a ridge several thousand
| feet high, where the formation un-
| mistakably pointed to recent volcanic
| disturbances. He camped with MS
horse on the peak of what was an ex-
tinct crater. The sides of the mountain
were literally streaked with lodes OF
outcropping white quartz, some forty
feet thick, and they had all the ear
marks of true fissure veins, where any
one would have made a mine by ltsel1
| While prospecting down the slope AND
| climbing down into the canyon in the
search of coarser nuggets. he lost MS
bearings. When night came upon him
he had not yet got back to the top or
| the ridge where his horse and camp
outfit were. He slept in the thicket
| that night under an overhanging cliff,
and when it dawned he discovered that
| the entire boulder was literally dotted
with fine and coarse grains of glittering
gold. Cautiously and continually mark
| ing his way on trees, he crept up to the
peak where his camp outfit was. He
packed up hastily and started for
Boise, where the samples assayed bet
| ter than $4,000 to a ton. Two pieces
which were afterwards assayed ran
$50, 900 and $50, 900 to the ton. OF course,
| he had no trouble to get all the money
and backing necessary, and party of
| twelve started back with ample pro-
visions. When they came near the
place they found the mountains for
miles around swept by disastrous for
est fire that made approach impossible,
and for days they camped in sight of
! the peak When the fire abated there
was no trace to be found of the spot
where Mclaughlin had prospected. and
| the party finally came back half
starved and utterly disheartened.
| A similar quartz vein was afterwards
| located by Mclaughlin in the Elk City
district and he named 1t the Consola-
| JlOn mine. he SOlQ out 10 NEW 1Ork
parties for a good round sum, and they
are now working it with good profit.
The quartz ledge is eight feet wide and
mile long and no one can tell how
| deep 1t goes down. 1t is not likely to
get lost this time. The company that
is working it is the old Imperial Corona
Gold Mining company of New York,
and the insiders are spending much
money advertising for information and
are searching for clues that may lead
to the finding of the old Mclaughlin,
and his stoclIholdings in the company.
But the original Quartz mountain mine
has never been found. Year after year
Mclaughlin went in search of it, and
| 1t is believed that he has died in the at
tempt to relocate it.
The Tin Bucket Mine
The same story may be met with in
Colorado, California, oregon, Utah and
Idaho. 1t is fact in Idaho, however,
that the Couer d'Alene deposits were
known to the Hudson bay traders in
the early part of the last century and
were lost and forgotten for fifty years
before they were rediscovered and
I