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LOST MINES.Almost every roiling region on the Pacific Coast hm iu “lost mi dm legends. lo Nevada, California, Arixons, Colorado, Montana, Idaho—everywhere—we find •tones of loot minaa. Tha lost mines, whether of gold or silver, art always represented aa baing immensely rich. Duwu in Ariioaa and New Mexico tha loat minaa ara usually thoaa of silver, while in California and elsewhere they ara principally rainaa of gold. Tha •toriaa con oar tad with many of tha loat minaa. aa tha Breyfogle, Gun-aight, Peg-Leg and Loat Cabin, ara too wall-known to bs rapaatad bara. First and last much money haa baan azpandad in aaarohing for on# and anotbar of these loat mmsa. Many axpaditiooa bara baan fitted out, and often great hardships hare been endured In not a few instances liras hare bean loat in thesesearchesTbaaa minaa that bara never bean (oand are, of couraa, more numerous than thoaa that bars bean loat. In California, in almost every mining town and camp, tha old settlers tall of places where streams, gulohea and ravines were wonderfully rich in placer gold up to a certain point, when tbs pay” suddenly ceased. Somewhere in the immediate vicinity doubtleas lie* the old river channal whence came the gold .‘oand below, bat do mao baa ever been able to hit upon it and it lies there to this day awaiting accidental discovery. It ii one of tbe mtnea that have never been found.Sometimes, on a flat or any on the aide of a hill or moon tain, the placer miner baa unexpectedly found great quantities of float quarts rich in gold. In vain he searches for the vein whence came the qnartx— it remains one of the mine# that have never been found.In all parta of California thare are to day acores of old miners who can tell of such plaoss—and not only tell of them but also point them oat. Few of the old-time miners have anything of the dog in-the-manger disposition; where they have tbemselvea tried and failed they are quite willing to see others try, and were they to succeed tho miner of tha old daya would heartily rejoice that ho had lived to see tha problem aolvad.Iq some instances not only fragments of gold duartz are found, but also great blocks and boulders of quartz filled with gold.For a time dihgeat search ia mads for tbs fountain head whence flowed the gold stream* but one after another the proe-pectora become discouraged. At last it is aat down, not as a loat mine, but aa one of the mints that have oaver been found.In California it is not au aaay matter to find a mine traoea of which have bean discovered jn the “float,” aa m many placet tha bedrock is covered by several f«At of aurfaos soil. Thua are hundreds of rich veins buried to be accidentally discovered in the days to come; probably nut a few a buudred years hancs.A man going from town to town in California, and in aach place interviewing the old aettlera in regard to the “loat mines” and ••the mines that have never boen found” would accumulate material for a large, interesting and uaeful volume. Such a book would contain many wild and thrilling ed-ventaree and romantic and tragi' stories. It would also contain much that would ba a guide to the proapector and an incentive to prospecting. Such a guide bookto the mines, if honestly ao.l carefully written up. would doubt leas be the mean* of rssursctiugmore thaw one now deserted cetnp in California. In that Stats there ia no doubt to d«y mors gold If-ng hidden in mines that bate never been found than yet remains in all those that art known ard worked.In the western edge of the Great Haain reigoo, are gold minaa that have never yet been found by tbs whites. One of these ia known to a sub-tribe of the Piutea living naar Morn* lake. Two or three times each summer thaee Indiana bring from somewhere in the mountains considerable quantities of a kfud of a red cement that ia ail alive and glittering with gold. This auriferona material ia werked by the squaws who pound it up, grind it on flat atones and wash it in on# of tbs streams tributary to Mono lake. For many years the whites have tried in vain to discover where the Indiana obtain ibis rich cement All bribes offered by the wh:tea are scorned hy ike rads, and it ia said that however drunk an Indian may be he instantly becomes sober when the subject of tbs secret mine ia broached. Miners have camped on the trail’ of the Iudiaua for a whole summer without being able to trace them to tbeir mines, yet presently a number of them were to be seen aa usual at their washing places with pouies and squaws packed with the precious cement.in the early daya a white men — a German—appeared in the town of Aurora with a quantity of tha same cement and by allowing U about the place created a great excitement. That night the mao disappeared and was never again seen. At first it was thought be bad slipped away to his mine, but aa time passed without his reappearance it was d Deluded that he had liesn murdered, as besides his samples he had two or three hundred dollars in dust, and the tewo was I hen full of desperate characters who would kill a roan for half that amount. The town of Aurora is near Mono lake ami many are I now of the opinion the mine found by the German was that known to the Indiana and that they caught him at work and killed him.This cement miue has been more •ought for than any other of whichstories are told and prospectors atLundy, Bodie, Aurora and there-about are still looking for it whenever they are out in the mountains.Tha aarly aettlera at Steamboat Springs, about ten milea west of the Comstock, aay that some years before the discovery of silver, three Mexicana worked for two summers in a gold mioe aomewhera in the hilla in that vicinity. The men had several pack animal* on which tnsy brought to Steamboat creek the dirt they washed The Mex -ieans were aever seen except when they were engaged in washing out their gold and no one knew where they obuined the material they brought to the creek, which w*i described at a kind of fine red dirt.”In i860 61 there wee tome search by prospectors for tlie“mines of the Spaniards.” which waa supposed to be a placer, but nothing of the kind being found the ato/Avs of the (si t]# ranch#* wereaet down as l-eing mere flights of ths imagination, Withia the last three years, however, a belt of gold-bearing quarts vein# haa been diecoverod in the wateriest hilla lietween Mount Davison and Steamboat Springs, and in theaa veins tha gold is found in poekete of a red decomposed material. Some small pockets con »aia thousands of dollars, therefore it is probable that the ranchmen told the truth about tha Mexicana. A number of Mexicena were on Gold canon at tha time and it it nut ' unlikely that two or three of them•couti ng over to the weal aide of the ridge found a rich pocket, which tbev worked out in thv two sum-mere during wbieh they were sr«ii about Steaniloat. The ranchers thought little sbnit the operationsof tha Mexicans autil after the discovery of ailver in the Comstock, j Tha great region, however, of lost mines aa well aa of mines that have I never been found, ia that of Ariao-J us, New Mexico, and indeed all the | way down through Central and ‘4outb America. It ia also a region of lost treasures in the aha|s of hidden hoards of gold—Indeed, down that wey there are even lost cities and towns John I. Ginn, soold newspaper rnao of the Comstock, spent much time in search of the loet mining town of Guaynopa, supposed to lie somewhere in tha Sierra Madre mountains, but ha nevei was able to penstrate to where the old town waa said to be situated. Hundreds of raeu have loat their lives while trying to find il About three jeraa ago thia city waa said to have been found by Louis Proto, a Freneb-Amerioan miner ami prospector. Proto says the old rains are in the Sierra Me-dra. in the very heart of tha Apache conntry. lie went out alone and prowled tnrough the mountains Indian fashion till he found the remains of the old town. II# found tha ruins of buildings, furnaces, arras traa and a atone church through the floor of which large trees weie growing. The whole of the people of Guaynopa were maaaacred by thoikwloA8ai04nlt;binApaches over 20J yeera ago, andfinally even knowledge of its site loat. Proto returned to LawasTrinidad, Sonora, the place whence be set out, with bis pack mule loaded with the richest ore# of gold aud silver ever aeen in that place. Thaee ores were oonsideacd good evidence thet be told the truth about bis discovery. Proto not ouly eaw plenty of rich silver ore in the old tnnnel about the ruin, but also rich gold quarts and placer diggings. lie stated that the ruina indicated a town of about 15U0 inhabitants.Two years ago a party of Honor-ains, headed by one Pedro Kncinis, came up into Ariiona in aearch of a ailvar miue described aa e mountain of silver ore.” The mint badbeen found l*fore by a com pad re whoae age and bodily infirmity prevented his returning to look for the treasure which bs thought might now be takes possession of under the protection of the U. 9. troops. The party of searchers were provided with letters from tha govern or of Sonora and other MaxicanMIIK01nTofficials. Thee# documents theypresented to Capt J. L. Bailie, acting Indian agant at San Carlos, aud were greeted prtnwaemn to seerob fur the silver moaatain, hut with the proviso that should it be found to be on the reservation the exploration waa to end at once.Dan Di Quill*.West Bros.,formerly of Michigan, lately from Tellttnde, Colo., left here at noon to-day for the lower Peeoe valley, going via Las Vegae These are the parties who are traveling through New Mexico trapping and buying wild animals for exhibition at Chicago next year. Their collection at present number* twenty fiveaaimals, which include an unusually large coyote, trapped io Canon Largo, San Juan oounty, a big bob-tailed wild cat, four poroupines, ss tame as houae kittens, three wood-chcuka, two varieties of mountain rate, squirrels, prairie doge, etc t*p at Ridgeway. Colo., they have oontracted a mountain lion which weigh# 400 pounds and which will be shipped through to them when they reeehCbioego.—beats Fe New Mexioea *I(
Newspaper Details
Sierra County Advocate
Hillsboro, New Mexico, US
Fri, Dec 09, 1892
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
Dean T.
USA 15 Dec 2022
Other Publications Near Hillsboro, New Mexico
Sierra County Advocate
