Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1934-05-13

interview in the Northern Miner leading Cans
dian mining paper, he tells that some years
after the McLeods disappeared, and after other
proSpectors had unsucceSsfully looked for the
mine, old Klondike gold miner named Jor.
genson crossed the mountains which divide the
Yukon Territory from the Northwest Territories
and proSpected along the Nahanni River
JorgenSon had evidently heard the Mcleod
story, and hunted near where the bodies had
been found. He wandered somewhat afield-
Near the junction Of the Nahanni and Flat
Rivers he found something.
An Indian must have carried a message to
his partner in the Klondike. He came to the
Jorgenson camp as directed in the message.
But of Jorgenson there was trace. There
was no mine, only some rich samples.
His partner followed trails days old, and
finally found Jorgenson. He had been killed,
his head severed from his body. The murderer.
if there was one, has never been found.
DILL POWERS also hailing from the Klon-
! dixie gold fields took up the trail to the
Mcleod mine some years later. He also hit
the Flat and Nahanni Rivers and worked up.
the Flat River. What he found has never
been learned But when he was missing some
time police are said to have found his body
in the center of his burned down camp.
Again murder, perhaps by Indians, perhaps
by whites. Case unsolved- Powers was not far
from where the McLeods had hidden their
mine
These are secrets Of Dead Mans Valley. In
1928 the airplane invaded the Nahanni River
country. The legend Of the lost Mcleod mine
still lured prospectors.
Jack Hammen, one Of the Dominion's best
known mining men. was responsible for the
aerial armada that landed on the lakes of the
Nahanni River region in 1928. He was looking
e. h. ~ A,l rIsr <7aru Svn
with food supplies for several years, with camp
ing equipment drums and drums of gasoline
and oil, sectional canoes and prospectors.
He intended to hne-comb the country. He
established caches so that his men could hunt
continuously. He brought big business into the
hunt for the lost mine.
With the aerial armada went Charles Nc
Ieod. the brother who had found the bodies
of VIII and Frank Charley knew the country,
he had looked for that mine himself many .
year. But now he could travel quicker and was
better grubstaked.
The planes with Charley and biologists and
proSpectors searched from the air and from the
country. Hammen did not give up for several
years after that. But the Mcleod mine re-
manned lost despite all Of their efforts.
No signs Of workings but some small finds
of copper and gold were made, for claims were
staked. The Mcleod mine remained hidden
until 1888.
It Is vast country, that around the Ma
hanni River. Few Indians live there, and those
that do are credited with superstitious beliefs
Stories are told of their cruelties, their witch
craft practices. Some claim those stories have
been circulated by them to keep the white
man out.
Perhaps that Is one reason the secret of the
McLeods was kept as long as it was. But
the lure of gold is stronger. White men have
gone, have failed to find what they went after,
but now that the gold has been found, whites