The Coolidge examiner., 1935-07-19
| GOLDEN
| PHANTOMS
Fascinating
Tales of ,a,,h, w.,.o.
! Lost Mines ewNu.
LETTER IN THE WALLET

0T AN searching for my brother"
L The speaker had driven up
/ 10 farmhouse In Wet Mountain
valley. at the foot Of the Sangre de
I Cristo range In Colorado. and was
telling his story to the farmer.
George came West in 1860, eight
years ago" he continued. "and after
he left our home In Illinois we heard
no more of him. am very anxious
10 end out II he IS alive or dead. /
met grocer In Denver who said
that he sold George a bill OF goods
that year. and that my brother left
some money In his care. saying that
be would not need II In the noun
tnins. and that he would come back
FOR II In the fall. but he never re-
I turned. All | can learn further is
that he was headed for these noun
tains."
The farmer shook his head. 81 do
not know anything about IT,"
The next morning skinner and
his host went through the valley
asking questions. but no one knew
anything about his brother At last
skinner decided TO 20 up into the
mountains, on the chance that he
might find some traces of the miss
ing man. and to this end he hired
guide and spent the summer wan
dering about. following every lead,
but without success.
Autumn came. II was time to
return 10 the valley. On the way
Skinner and his guide camped one
night at tlmberllne on the eastern
slope OF Horns peak. Nearby stood
the remains OF a cabin, and Skin
ner idly explored the long deserted
place. finding nothing OF interest but
an old leather wallet.
During the night snowstorm
commenced. and In the morning the
two men packed hurrIedly and
started for the valley. The wallet
was forgotten for the time being,
but sometime later Skinner remem-
bered his find. and carefully opened
IT, Its contents caused his heart
to leap. for II was n letter written
I by his brother George about six
months after he left Illinois.
The letter related that George
had found a wonderfully rich mine.
lie was planning a trip TO "the set
! elements" to spend the winter out.
fitting for the next spring. when he
Z planned to return 10 the mine Real
lzIng the hazards Of travel through
the mountains, George had given
the location OF his mine In this let
/ ter, which he was leaving In his
cabin. and also asked that anyone
who found II should notify his
\ brother In Illinois.
Skinner said nothing about his
/ discovery; but as soon as spring
came he went TO his guide OF the
previous year and said that he was
anxious to begin his search where
IL had been broken off-at the old
cabin on Horns peak.
The location was not hard TO
reach; but when they arrived, they
found everything changed. Snow
slides had peeled the face of the
slope; trees had been carried away,
great rocks had slid down and 9TH
ers from above had taken their
| places. Nothing remained as II had
been. and the cabin had disappeared
entirely.
Skinner was greatly disappointed.
Still, he thought, he might find some
thing more In spite of the changes
made In the scene, and so he and
the guide spent the entire summer
at the place In the hope OF finding
some further trace of George, or of
locating the mine. But fall came
again, and they had learned moth
ing. They reluctantly started back.
They followed a different route
from the one they had taken before,
and the trail led them along the
face Of steep precipice. II was a
dangerous place: rocks loomed
high above them and the bottom OF
the footing was narrow and inse-
cure. One of the pack-burros began
to plunge and rear, and finally 1t
fell off the trail, rolling down into
the depths below them.
AS soon as they could safely do
so, Skinner and the guide climbed
down to get the animals pack, for
the bprro itself had been killed in
the fall. AS they approached the
dead animal, they saw two skele-
tons, one of a man and the other
OF a burro.
1t seemed a coincidence too apt to
be true, but when the articles
strewn about were collected, a book
was found among them which
proved to be George SINNERS diary,
and showed that the skeleton must
be that of the missing miner. The
diary referred to the wallet left in
the cabin, and its last entry was
apparently written the day after
George left the mine. The camping
outfit which had been packed on
Georges burro lay strewn about
where the animal had fallen, and
considerable gold lay nearby, show
ing that Georges death had been