Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1919-10-02
FABULOUSLY RICH
6OLD NINE ALONG.
Upper SALMON is.
LOST FOR 20 YEARS
Tireless Quest for Fortune
! Hidden in Mountains of Ida
] no County Again Taken Up
One Man Who Held Secret of
Hills Murdered, So Story
Goes; Prospectors Are Busy

sX The old, old story of the long lost
bold mine on the upper Solmon river,
Asip Idaho county, has again been taken
pp. and is being published in newspa-
z'bers throughout the country under a
gSSnokane date line. The story, doubt
isSsit if YOU will, nevertheless has stimu-
ated interest among mining men, some
of whom laugh at it, but others this
Z ssummer took up the hunt for the mine,
to be fabulously rich, and
which has been lost for twenty years.
MAY BE JUST A LIE
81 Whether the famous lost mine of
Idaho county will ever be recovered,
3zor whether the story of it's first dis
1xcovery is purely a myth, is left to con
{ lecture, but the tale of the lost bon
lama, nevertheless, is herewith repro
*duced:
e Somewhere along the upper Salmon
river in Idaho county is a gold mine
ga fabulously rich gold mine-which has
lost for more than twenty years.
81 It is so rich that in the early days
#nnscrupulous persons made every pos
#sible effort to locate it, and one man
5who held the secret was murdered. The
story is Just another of those stories of
Il lost mines, but the only other man who
*possessed the secret was murdered.
This story is just another one of those
stories of lost mines, but the only 9TH
z er man who possessed the secret, after
4 the murder of his partner, told such
vivid story on his death bed, to a few
; old timers whom he trusted, that one
: of them has spent most of his summers
: for twenty years in trying to locate the
mine.
The story is that of Old Hughes lost
I mine, and there are many of the old
timers who remember when it was not
lost mine, but just secret mine, from
which great wealth came each year.
LOCATION OF MINE
For many years prior to 1900 old
James Hughes and wife lived in Spo-
kane. During his residence there
Hughes and an unknown partner had
worked a secret mine in the remote and |
Rugged canyons of the upper Salmon
River Starting out secretly in the
spring by unknown trails they returned /
|in the fall with a goodly quantity OF !
gold dust and nuggets, and so carefully |
did they guard their secret that no one
ever was able to follow them or to dis |
cover the hidden sources of their wealth. |
FINALLY Hughes became so crippled !
from rheumatism and the Affections OF
advanced age that he was unable to |
make the annual pilgrimage and for a
couple Of years the partner worked the
mine alone. About 1898 the partner re-
turned gold laden from the mine and
was murdered on the lower Salmon ri
yer by robbers who had lain in wait
for him for the purpose of securing
the gold he carried.
TELLS SECRET TO FRIENDS
Hughes at once tried to enlist the as
sistance of trusted friends to visit the
mine. Among those he told the story to
was Joseph III. Boyd. Another was a
former City Policeman @. H. Rolf of
Spokane. To these and others he told
his story.
The mine was situated at the foot OF
very high cliff in narrow canyon
very difficult to get into and out of, and
was skilfully concealed by its owners
from sight of any one who by chance
might visit that remote and almost in
accessible spot. The vein, while morrow,
was so rich in gold that the two old
prospectors simply pounded out the gold
from the quartz by pestle in little iron
mortar, and then washed, panned and
sacked it up. When he told the story
James Hughes was an old ond decreplt
nan. The vein must have been surprls-
ngly rich to have enabled two feeble
I'D men to obtain by these crude meth
IDS their large annual returns in gold
lust.
James Hughes never regained sui
lcient strength to visit the mine at
er the murder of his partner. Before
le died he drew a rough map showing ;
he mine and the trail into the canyon =
md gave it to his friend, Charles Rolf,
NTH minute directions for locating it.
Mr.. Rolf still has the map and for
wenty years he has spent the greater
art of each summer in the wilds on the
PIPER Salmo nriver, yainly searching
or James Hughes lost mine. A few
Teeks ago Rolf again left Spokane on
rs annual search for the mine, ond j
e is now on the upper Salmon search I
or it.