, 1923-02-11
BY W. II. KTTTS

Band,
And Heavenly tunes begat-
ottImes he pondered long with pain
Der bygone days OF old
And longed to WELD his pick again
In search Of virgin gold.
In years gone by. with every Spring
He'd to the mountains go
To follow up an old shoe string
TIL driven out by snow.
His pals. with whom he'd travelled
far,
And fought the mountain cold,
Still hunted ridge and vale and bar
For that same virgin gold
Since coming to this Heavenly land,
With vision unrestricted,
Lost mines of fame on every hand
His peace OF mind afflicted.
Could he but to the earth return
With knowledge gained on High;
Those long lost mines Of fame he'd
turn
To pals OF days gone by.
ia trade my wings UP here for
that"
He said one day aloud.
with eyes tear dimmed alone he sat
Cross legged on a cloud.
As . matter Of Justice to contcm-
poraries, as we'll as one of respect
for own inclination, the writer
Acknowledges indebtedness to 8. NJ.
Frazier and others from whom the
following information has been OBJ
tanned
It win seem Incredible to people
in thickly settled regions that such
a thing as a mine can get lost. But.
in fact. a needle is not moro easily
lost IN a haystack, than a mine in
any of the vast unsettled and tree
less regions Of the great flImitable
West Once an instrumental survey
has been made the location can be
found again. but otherwise it is al
most like trying to locate the spot
in the ocean where a ship foundered
and went down by searching for
the hole in the water,
All Regions Have Legends.
Thsre are ths legends Of lost
mines IN every principal mining
country Of the world and, being in
the good old U. 8. A, the ones that
are Of vital interest to US are those
Of Arizona, California. Colorado.
New Mexico, Idaho, Montana and
Wyoming.
In Arizona there is the Old Mad
den Mine. found in 1879 by Cal
Madden, who brought in specimens
very high in gold. He QUILTED and
sneaked put under cover of dark
ness. that one should follow. and
never returned. 1t is supposed that
he met his fate at the hands of In.
dams. This was in the Eagle Tail
Mountains and still remains a nys-
terry.
The Belle McKeeYer Is another
Arizona lost mine. It was first
found by three soldiers In 1869,
while searching for one Belle Nc
Keever. who was held q captive by
Indians. These men endured such
sufferings and privations that they
later lost all reason and the mine
has neve been relocated. On re-
turning. these men brought back
with them ten pounds of the gold
they found and this was bought at
the San Francisco mint for more
than $4,000.
There are also the lost Niger
Diggings and the lost Adams mine
OF Arizona. There. are people, who
are acquainted with the legends OF
these two lost mines. who claim that
they are n and the same. The
existence OF the lode was verified by
man named Hurste, who relocated
the lode while lost In a snow storm.
He brought out rich samples, but
did not blaze his trail. He tried to
go back to the claim, but could
never never find It again.
The lost Pegleg mine was first
found by n "Pegleg" Smith IN
1897 while plotting a party from
Yuma to Los Angeles. He took
some samples and kept his C
Some rs years later he made the
secret public and many have at.
tempted to find this untold wealth.
In 1858 two experienced ~prospectors
spent eight months exploring the
desert and brought back with them
samples Identical with those ex.
hi6ited by PegIeg Smith. These
two men came very near meeting
death in the desert and were'unable
TO state the location OF their find.
This lost bonanza is somewhere in
California.
In the Teton Elange, along the
ldAho'Wyoming line. near the head.
waters Of the Snake river, there ts.
according TO the testimony OF an
Old proprietor. a mountain OF gold.
He is another who went back to his
discovery and was never heard
from again. There is reason to be.
heVe hat there is an ample supply
OF gold close TO the head of the
Snake river, as there arc
dously rich beds Of flour gold along
tHat river and we may hear Of rich