Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1913-05-02

continental systems, one of their
greatest difficulties lay in the sup
INV ply of water for the men who were
MENX "a working on the projects. Great
E&&SS4S1s wagontrains were frequently es-
es:gISa1SHEH sential. to bring sufficient of the
$TsSS494&&; supply to make work for a week at
H4GAA a time possible. Even after the
%-.2&% completion of the roads there was
;rSSEsxS difficulty in obtaining water for the
purpose of supplying the engines or
the little stations necessary wheT-
ever there was a siding.
In order to secure water In abundance, the
Santa Fe railroad had ordered a tunnel bored in
the Clipper range, located in San Bernardlno
county from eight to ten miles northwest Of
Dandy, the station to which it was to be piped II
discovered in a large quantity. This all happened
within a score of years. The man who volun-
teered for the work, a competent mining man,
who was well acquainted with the sinking Of
shafts and the boring Of tunnels, was Thomas
Schofeld of Los Angeles.
firing of work one day in early June of 1894,
he started on a prospecting trip, something which
he did whenever he felt in need of relaxation.
He wandered into one of the canyons close at
hand and discovered there a spring. What to-
him was more surprising and even startling was
the trail that led up the canyon, stopping at the
watering place.
The trail, at times very indistinct because of
the solid rock formation, led over three or four
small hills, the hogback of two ranges and then
into another canyon. This he followed until it
ended in a blank wall and he realized that the
trail naQ Deen lCSC. GOlnS DdCk q SHOfl uiStdnCe
he discovered it winding up the side OF the hill.
It led to two immense rocks, rivaling the towers
Of an old English castle. They seemed to form
the portal to the wealth beyond, and nature had
set them SO closely together that they allowed
just sufficient p~assageway to permit a burro well
packed to enter.
And just beyond the portal stood an isolated
rock. There beside the black boulder of enor-
nous size stood the shreds of what had been q
camp. The wooden upright supports were still
standing. and draped from them, floating in the
breeze, were the shreds of what had been a
tent. Brush had been carefully piled up around
the sides. Inside there was a bench of boughs,
still covered with a blanket. which was, like the
tent covering, dilapidated and ragged. The still
ness Of the place and the fact that man had been
making his habitation there struck Schofield like
a blow from a fist.
A pile of railroad ties, a number of rusty old
axes which had been used as wedges for splitting
the ties for tagging, a few other mining tools
and some badly ~decomposed food still lay about
the place., indicating very sudden abandonment
of the camp by it's owner. The most conspicuous
of all things about the place was an old-fashioned.
heavily rusted Dutch oven, the largest Schofeld
had ever seen and a trifle over two feet in diam
eter. So oppressive was the place and so nerve
racking the immediate strain. that he continued
on the trail which led away from the camp.
Just a short distance away he came to a shaft
where considerable work had been done. 1t was
sunk upon a series of small stringers that ran
parallel to one another for a long distance and
at intervals Of about six inches. He counted
twelve of these peculiar formations in the rock
and they were of almost solid gold! He tested
them, 'horning' great strings Of coarse gold.
The surrounding ore was of an indigo-blue
quartz formation, and 'to me the strfngers. pass
ing through the dark %porphyry, appeared a bed Of
roses of golden hues hidden in the depths Of a
giant bed of violets," said Schofeld in telling Of
his discovery. 81 traced these lines of high-grade
ore for a distance Of nearly 5000 feet, and found
them widening and charging as they went. They
interested me SO that I failed to notice for hours
that the day was fast waning and that would be
forced to remain there over night.
The mystery, the awe and even the fear Of
that night ! shall never forget. Was / in the
haunt of a robber crew who had found wealth far
richer than could be obtained from their nefar-
fous trade in the city? Had the owners been
cruelty murdered and their wealth carried off by
some one else? Was I the victim of some strange
pha~ntasmagoria, or would I awaken to find all
the wealth and the adventure of the day a dream?
These and countless other suggestions coursed
through my t%hrobbing brain, and I slept little that
night.
I'm the morning l explored the shaft at the
first light of breaking sun above the jagged sky
line of broken peaks. 7 found that the shaft had
been sunk to possibly seventy or eighty feet, that
it was equipped with a windlass, rope and bucket
and that it had been well timbered all the way
to the bottom. Outside l discovered a large pile
of ore. indicative Of the fact that little or none of
the product of the mine had ever been carried
away.
After gathering a number of fine samples and
a large quantity of the horned gold. ] went back
to the camp and there again I was attracted by
the Dutch oven. Something seemed to draw me
toward it. 1t contained gold! Half of 1t was full
of the product and there was I unable to cart 1t
away. All marks of those who resided there were
of such an old stamp that 7 never thought wheth-
er it would be right or wrong. The idea of pos
session of SO much wealth nearly overwhelmed
me-, and after grasping some of it I started back
to the camp by the tunnel, planning a trip to Los
Angeles to see whether it was really gold that I
had found
~ .,
And when Schofeld had his ore and his metal
tested he found that it was the real article and
that he had made himself richer by several hun
drad dollars with just the small amount he had
been able to lug out on his person. 1t fred him
with the desire to return at once and obtain all
of the treasure if the right owners had not re-
turned. But he has never been able to get back
to the Dutch ovenI
In coming back from the mine he had paid lit
tie heed to the general direction taken. He had
followed the trail blindly on his way UP and
again on his return journey. Consequently after
a number of weeks, when he returned with a part
ner to look for the treasure and found that some
terrific rains and even a waterspout had been