White Pine news. [volume] (East Ely, Nev.) 1920-1923, 1923-01-14


lished. interviewer Herewith Is the
story of a lost mine, only a few miles
from Ely, which is n of the most
romantic as well as the most plaus-
ible of any ever told in the annals of
this state. California, Montana, Alas
ka and elsewhere.
Riordan was a brother of James C..
Riordan. president of the Ely Ma
tional bank and owner of big cattle
outfits at ~Sunnyside and in Cave yal-
ley. Only a few days ago he said
in answer to an inquiry that he had
never heard a word of Mike and he
was as much mystified as ever az to
his whereabouts.
II was in 1883 that a San Francisco
mining expert, who was employed at
Hamilton and who was at Eureka a
portion of his time. made the fabo-
lousy rich gold discovery in the
Ward mountain range, easterly of
what Is now the town OF Lund. The
experts name has been lost, If ever
it was known here. He had been on
q business mission 10 Phoebe and was
on his way back to Hamilton. He
had a saddle horse and a pack horse,
the latter carrying his camp outfit.
study its contour and geology from
the heights. which was why he failed
to follow the stage road and came up
over the mountains. IL was in the
spring or early summer. At that
time of the year there Is a spring at
the summit of the range southeaster-
ly from Lund and south of Ward
peak. The expert camped there, no.
body knows how long. Continuing
his journey he went down a canyon
leading westerly into White River
valley and 1t is presumed that some
where between the summit and the
valley he found the gold. The loca-
tion of the spring is known and II he
traversed the only canyon that, ae-
cording to appearances, he could have
followed and from which he appears
to have emerged. il has high aud alb
rupt walls with an unbroken quartz
lite formation. with little chance of
there being such an occurrence of
high grade therein.
At the mouth of the narrows the
canyon widens to a slope or fiat, with
many scrub cedar trees and a por-
phyry contact interrnpting the
straight quartzite formation.
. During the remaining years of his
life II Is related that he told of hay-
ing put seventy or eighty pounds of
$4,000 ore in a sack and tied IL on
top of his camp outfit on the pack
horse; Of erecting a monument of
rock and leaving his pick and shovel
to mark the spot. II Is supposed
that he either covered the find with
dirt or that erosion did that for him
In the succeeding years.
In the valley he came 10 a water
ing trough which was fed by a lower
spring and watered his horses.
filling his canteen for himself. Two
men were there but their names are
not o%btainable. One of them, Who
died several years later. said before
his death that the expert had \ sack
on top of the pack, indicating that he
had secured its contents and placed
IL there after breaking camp.
Subsequently. probably several
years later. the expert organized a
party at San Francisco TO search for
his mine. At Sacramento he was
taken III and died in a hospital, u
he had furnished his comrades with
a map, which showed his course over
the mountains but was hazy at or
near the point whore the mine'is sup
posed to be located. For several
years these men made annual search
es but never found the coveted prize.
Ranchers in the neighborhood have
also searched and have found float
worth 81 900 a ton or less In n can
Won north of the one IN question but
have not succeeded in tracing II to Its
source.
Since then the spot where the
spring and watering trough were To-
Gated has become the Whitehead
ranch. at the edge OF what is now
the town of Lund.
At the time of the discovery Mike
Rlordan was a mere boy. His father
was exercised over the find and gave
it much study and search. u became.
a hobby with Mike and 1t is said OF
him that he could not be tied down
to a ranch life and would do little
but look for the lost inc and brood
over II while In that part of the coan-
try. His brother did not approve OF
this attitude, urging him without
avail to stay on the ranch.
On one of his numerous searches
Mike had four burros. Down the
canyon, presumably at a not too mar
row place, one of the burros parted
company with the others and ran out
among the trees. Mike followed 1t
and when close behind saw the bur
ro's hoof expose the point of an old
shovel. This he uncovered n
found the handle to have rotted. He
also found a pick and its handle had
rotted. He searched for the monu-
ment and thought he found Its ruins.