Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1910-10-29
FOUND ANOTHER LOST MINE.

FOUND ANOTHER LOST NINE.
There is no industry In the world
in which romance and fantas(ical
tales mingle 30 much as mining.
There is no industry that SO frequent
ly harkens back to the days of the
pioneers and the episodes that mark
ed the coming Of white men where
savages were wont to tread as min
ing, and about no industry has there
been woven such a glamor OF mys-
terry and quaintness, yet 1t is one Of
the most staid and solid of modern
commercial Industries and is hedged
about with the most pronunced scinti-
fic and technical research.
Lost mines are a favorite subject
OF romance writer's and the number
of lost mines in the country are
well, beyond enumeration. Lost
mines are always rich. There was
never one but what gave up q for
tune or two and then lost itself while
the owner was spending the fortune.
They have a way of secreting them
selves that Is astonishing. They
simr;y disappear without the least
effort and very few Of them are found
or If they are. they have usually
'ost their richness.
The Black Hills has furnished its
full quota of lost mines, but 1t has
been SO long since one has been
found that we have almost given up
hopes of ev finding another. How
ever, here is refreshing story from
our neighbor, Colorado, and 1t may
be our turn next:
twenty-five or thirty years ago
q man named Towner came out Of
the hills to the west of Loveland,
Colo, with number of burros laden
with ore, which he took to Denver
and received in return $1,000. This
money he used in satisfying an ap-
petite for liquor.
when his funds were gone he
again DISAPPEARED into the unexplored
region lying to the west Of this place.
He told his friends he was going in
search of his mine and gave rather
fantastic account Of how he had been
attacked and driven from it by saw
ages on his former visit to the region.
Thereafter he was a familiar figure
to the denizens of this valley, pass
ing up in the spring of the year with
a lone burro for companion and re-
turning with the first SHOWS of win
ter. This he continued until his
death, Is years ago, but he never
was able to bring ore of any great
value with him. At this period he
was rather feeble in mind and body.
when the country on the upper
Buckhorn was finally opened to set
tlement with the building of wagon
road among the giant white
spruces, high up on the northern
slopes of Crystal peak, a spur Of
Signal peak, the timeber cutters dis
covered the name of "Towner's
Park" carved in the white bark of
a quaking aspen tree and beneath 1t
a series of dates corresponding with
the years the old prospector entered
the hills. Shallow prospects were
found near by, but no pay ore.
Interest in the tales of the riches
he declared were held in the mine he
30 long claimed to be unable to find
again, recently were revived in the
minds of T. H. Johnson and other
residents Of Loveland, who knew
Towner, and Johnson made visit
to the Denver smelter and requested
that he might examine the records
of the year the ore was sold. He
was rewarded with the discovery of
a nentry of purchase Of concent-
ates from a man named Towner, the
rice of which was $1,000.
"Just how he could have obtained
re in this form in a trackless Wild
rness was mystery. But the men
ontinued the search and finally we're
ewarded by the discovery Of a tun-
mel high on Signal peak and several
miles to the west of Towner park. In
It was fine fissure vein of gold
bearing rock, and old Georgia rocker
to attest the manner in which the
were obtained.
"On the southern slope of Crystal
peak is the burned over site Of old
Crystal City and the Bismuth mine,
which caused 1t to spring up. The
vein was rich, but was lost.
was fom this placre that Towner
seems to have crossed over the
range to the northern side
to prospect. On his later visits, 1t
ls surmised he was so reduced by
age and dissipation as to be unable
10 penetrate to the high altitude of
the old mine"