The Idaho Springs siftings-news., August 31, 1912, Image 6

About The Idaho Springs siftings-news. (Idaho Springs, Colo.) 1905-19??

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LOST TREASURES
OF AMERICA
G'jlJ and Jewels Still Waiting to be
Found by Some Modern Adventurer.
BY
BUFFINGTON PHILLIPS
***** »«***«
(Copyright, by the Kldgway Co.)
[IE greatest treasure in the
United States, a vast sum that
awaits some one's finding, is one
concerning which I have sought
T
the exact truth for the several years
that I have followed this fad of col
lecting treasure-trove data The pub
lication of the story or stories about It
may bring to light the men who can
say definitely what Is what However
any man who cares to set out after It
In a business-like manner may turn
i (IB elf into a multi millionaire be
tween Christmas and Fourth of July.
This much is certain somewhere
on the upper reaches of the Missouri
river lie four large barges, lost in
1X«6. Iaoded to their utmost capacity
with gold estimated In amount from.,
$'.',000,000 to $25,000,000.
Just at the close of the civil war
Mime rumors of the finding of gold In
the lilack Hills of Dakota and Mon
tana drifted Into the towns on the
l>order of civilization In the northwest.
If st ems odd to think that fifty years
ago that region was a frontier, but
there are hundreds of old Indians now
living on the reservations who then
were fighting braves and fifty years
ago they had never seen a white
man's fare
In the spring of ISO*) pome old pros
pe< tors In the back <1 rIft from Califor
nia fpund gold In one of the tributaries
of the Missouri, said now to be the
north fork of the Cheyenne Why It is
no more certain will appear. Others
of thler ilk “smelled" the discovery
and a band of no more than forty j
drew into the region, making a won j
derfiil strike, the richest that has ever (
b<-<-n made on America soil according
to all accounts. The strike was made
In what Is now- called Headmen's
Gulch, named to suit the story, but
called in the old records Federation,
Desperation and Starvation Gulches.
The gold was alluvial, washed down
from the northern ledges, now being
worked by the rich Caledonia Qaurtz
Mine Company near Deadwood. The
gravel banks and flats were inexpres
sibly rich with It and all summer the
forty men toiled feverishly, extracting !
as much ns they could before the win
ter should descend upon them, shut
. «IT their fish, game and vegetable food
supply and drive them to civilization,
where the knowledge of the vast
wealth of the Black Hills and the re
mainder of the auriferous region would
become public property.
When the ground froze and they
could work no longer they cut timber
and made four large barges of shallow
draft and on them Iaoded the gold In
provision boxes, and mule and deer
akins made into rawhide sacks. Even
then they were compelled to leave
some of It behind because the barges
would not carry It.
The hostile Indians who had not
dared attack so large a party In the
mining camp with Its excellent de
fenses and those who were apparently
on friendly terms with the miners now
took a hand In the game. After the
hardy forty had reached the Missouri
and had negotiated a portion of its
distance they tied up one night, not
long before Christmas. They were at
tacked by a large band of Indians,
who massacred every living soul, sank
the barges and took all their Ixdong-
Ings except the gold, of which they did
not know the value. Some accounts
hold the Blackfoet responsible, others
the Ogalala.
How the news ever got to the world
1 cannot say. save as the Indians told
of it and friends of the dead men
traced them into the country from
which they never came out. Gradual
ly the story took form and it set the
prospectors wild They ranged the
region from the Bad I.ands to the Big
Horn river for twenty seven years and
then came the great discovery in the
Black Hills.
The gold left behind at the point of
embarkation was finally found. Old
workings which showed the vast
quantities taken out by the forty pros
pectors were discovered and for a few
years a torrent of alluvial gold poured
out of the Black Hills. Then the whole
thing settled down to the staid and
regular quartz proposition.
The Kansas City Star some years
ego printed a circumstantial story
stating that a young Indian student at
Haskell had told a professor that his
father was one of the braves In the
massacre, knew where the barges were
punk and was still living on the reser
vation. It may be that the river has
changed Its course and left the barges
under a thin layer of gravel, easily ac
cessible on dry land. The way to find
the treasure is to trace down the sto
ries. locate pome of the old Indians
and induce them to locate the spot
and point it out from memory. It
should not be difficult.
In 1759 there was lost In the Bay of
Islands, at the mouth of the St.
rence river, the good ship Primrose,
with a store of gold and silver and
Jewels aboard her. The exact amount
of her treasure la unknown, but It
must be vast.
Full of wild romance Is the story
of the “Devil Duval’s Horde” on the
top of the Rocks of Perce on the
G&spe peninsula, only about twenty
four hours ride by train from New
York City. Certain British laws must
he repealed before It can be recovered,
however. It is in one of the out-of
way places of the w-orld and very lit
tle is known by the general public
about It The superstitious French
fishermen, unchanged In a hundred
and fifty years, still await the return
of the fierce pilot to claim bis own.
The Rock of Perce, named for the
adjacent fishing village, is one of the
true natural wonders of our continent.
When some convulsion of nature rent
the coast this rock was split from the
nearby mountain and left standing, a
grim monument to the caprice of the
gods of sea and land Several hun
dred feet high, with a comparatively
Mat top, its sides are beetling and one
side is about two hundred feet higher
than the other. Once it was pierced
by three arches through any one of
which a small ship might sail, but now
one of these has collapsed, leaving
only the two huge galleries.
Captain Duval was a French priva
teer who returned only a small por
tion of his loot from English and oth
er ships to the French authorities,
and after the declaration of peace he
became an out-and-out pirate He
protected the French fishermen and
was generous with them. They, in
their turn, protected him as the Eng
lish peasant protected Dick Turpin.
At last he was hard pressed by the
English, and having in his service a
Micmac Indian who knew a secret
trail to the supposedly inaccessible
Rock of Perce, he collected all his
cache; of treasure In the maritime
provinces and brought them to Perce
The Indian carried a line to the top
of the rock and hauled up a block and
fall. Then two prisoners were hauled
up. and next Duval himself Boats
containing the great treasure chests
stood b> below.
The tradition is that they were a
day ana a moonlight night getting It
all up Then the Indian was sent
down and Duval himself was lowered
away. His rapier was dripping with
blood and when he reached the boat
he stood up. and with a harquebus
shot at the tackle till it was cut clean,
too high up the rocks for any one to
reach. “Devil Duval” sailed away and
never returned.
For years the winds battered and
the sun and rains rotted the ropes on
the walls of the rock till at last they
disappeared. So many lives were lost j
in attempts to scale the rocks and re
cover the treasure that a law was j
passed forbidding any one to make
the attempt without the necessary le
galized concession from the governor o T i
the province of Quebec. Only the wild *
sea birds, making their nests in the {
top of the rock, know the story of the
two prisoners and the chests of treas
ure on the bleak heights. But an air
ship could learn it.
Carleton Island, in the sft. Lawrence
river, was an outfitting place for Tory
raiding parties and an arsenal was es
tablished there. A pay chest was sent
to the post with a large sum of money.
The chest disappeared and its loss was
reported to General Haldimand at
Montreal. In 1879, Colonel Horr of
Cape St. Vincent, received a visit from
a stranger, who requested the use of
a boat and. being granted it. he rowed
to Carleton Island and returned In a
short time with a heavy iron chest
covered with clinging wet clay. Col
onel Horr. thinking nothing wrong,
helped the man row to the steamboat
landing and he was never heard from
again. In a few days William Majo.
one ot the owners of the island, sent
a hoy into the pine thicket for stray
ing horses and there the lad found
the* flat-stone-lined hole where the
chest had rested.
There are two extensive areas of
buried treasure In the thickly popu
lated parts of the United States. One.
the lesser. Is on the general lines of
Sherman’s march to the sea. North
and south of it, plantation after plan
tation, town after town, have their
stories of treasures ranging from a
few hundreds of dollars to hundreds
of thousands which were burled for
fear the Union army would get them
Many were never recovered because
of the failure of the owners to locate
the burial places. The surest way to
lose a treasure is to bury It, It seems.
Tho earth In some mysterious way
spreads a mantle of oblivion which
can not be pierced by the memory of
man and takes hack to her bosom the
treasure that was wrested from bar.
Tho other area is in the east, be
ginnig at about Camden, N. J., and ex
tending north to Albany and thence
to Portland, Maine. In that field lived
the rich Royalist and Tory families.
The sudden turning of the tide found
the Tories In possession of a great
quantity of gold coin, gold and silver
plate and Jewels, and fearing they
would lose these, they buried them
and then fled. Comparatively little of
it was ever exhumed and the area is
dotted thickly with localities where a
searqh would be highly profitable. Of
them I can mention a few only.
At Sound Beach, Conn., lives Mrs.
Jane Ixjuden, 101 years of age. Her
husband, knowing that on the home
farm a wealthy Tory family had buried
gold, hunted until he found several
pots containing several thousand dol
lars each. A neighbor also acquired
sudden wealth which he did not ex
plain. Every one knew there was a
great Joint family cache somewhere
near.
It was known for many years that
on Lord Edmeston’s estate near West
Edmeaton. N Y., his personal
sentative, Perdifer Carr, had burled a
treasure The property known as the
Burdick Farm, having been bought by
Henry F Burdick in 1850, was the
site. In 1904 a tenant named Cheese
borough plowed into a case of china
and glass, breaking half of It before he
realized what the obstruction was. By
reason of design and quality the re
mainder, however, was worth a small
fortune to dealers in antiques. It was
the Edmeston ware. The law suit that
followed for possession made the case
famous. Where Is the remainder of
the treasure?
Joel Coryell, sexton at Romulus, N
Y . digging a grave on what waa a
Tory estate In 1776, found a large
quantity of money In an old pot. The
grave belonged to Thomas Mann, but
Coryell kept the gold.
Walter Butler, the notorious Mo
hawk Valley Tory, returned to the val
ley at the end of the war with a force
of Tories and Indians to dig up the
treasures he had burled and those that
had been buried by other wealthy
Tories who had told him where to re
cover It in their behalf. When he had
finished his work and was returning,
the pursuing Colonials under Colonel
Marinus Willet. overtook the treasure
squad beyond Johnson's Hall on the
bank of the West Canada lo northern
Herkimer county.
The treasure was too heavy for the
fleeing party so It was dumped In the
shallows and horses were ridden
through the water to make it muddy.
Butler was killed, the raiders driven
away and the spoils await present-day
seekers
While there is some doubt is to au
thenticity, there Is said to a $16,-
000,000 cache of Spanish doublons,
buried by Captain Kidd, on Esopus
Island in the Hudson river, not far
from New York City, while at the very I
gate of New York Is a forgot en treas- !
ure of many hundreds of thousands.
This famous treasure was lost when
th«* British frigate Hesarar, pay ship
sent in for the British soldo rs during
the revolutionary war, went down in
the East river. It will be easy to look
up the old Admiralty records and get
the full information that may lead to
the finding of the treasure
The facts pertaining to Klopper
Smith's horde are as follows* “Der
Klopi>er" was a very brutal and much
feared knight of the road or: the west
shores of the Hudson from Nyack to
the Catskills and he robbed the
' wealthy Dutch in an unmerciful man
ner. He had no opportunities for
| spending his ill-gotten wealth and
hoarded it somewhere. At last he was
[ captured and before his execution at
; Newburg confided to a keeper w’ho had
I been kind to him that he had sacks of
! Pold and silver and Jewels buried in a
j spot on Storm King Mountain. Just
j north of Comwall-on-the-Hudson. some
i thirty-five miles north of New York
' City. No search has ever been made.
In the hey-day of Mississippi river
steamboat traffic, a great deal of sun
! ken treasure accumulated in the Ohio,
| Cumberland. Tennessee, Missouri. Red
and Arkansas rivers. A pay boat on
I Its way to Grant’s army at Vicksburg
I wlth more than two million dollars
aboard was fired by some of her crew
j w ho meant to rob her. The paymas
i ter’s men defended the money till the
boat sank. James B. Eads, who built
the Eads bridge at St. Louis and the
Eads Jetties at the mouth of the Mis
sissippi, invented an apparatus by use
of which he could reach some of the
treasure-wrecks In shallow water and
recovered several million doUax*. All
of !t could be reached with compara
tive ease now.
Just above Pine Bluff. Arkansas, a
steamboat said to have been the Car*
Iyle J. Harrison, with several hundred
thousand dollars in gold to pay for
cotton, was sunk In 1869. None cf it
has ever been recovered
There is a fascinating story about
an old barge that is buried in the Mis
souri sand-flats near Fort Rice. North
Dakota. With it is burled silver
more than half a million dollar*. At
the time when the unsuccessful pros
pectors were tolling, empty handed,
back from the gold fields of California,
a little band of men struck a rich find
near what is now Virginia City, Mon
tana.
I The built a rude camp and, with the
I poor implements that they had, work
ed feverishly for many months until
I they had taken out all that their
packs could carry across the miles of
uncivilized country they must cross to
i the navigable rivers of the upper Mis
souri. Toiling across the mountains,
always in danger of massacre, facing
starvation and privations, breaking
1 roads in the frozen flats and blazing
: trails through the forests, they finally
, reached the river near Painted Woods,
and there built a rude barge and load
ed it to the water's edge with the rich
j silver ore.
Traveling by night, in constant fear
i of Indian outbreaks, they wended slow
; ly down the partly frozen river, know
! lng that soon they would reach the
frontier town and safety. It was in
’64 and the few scattered settlements
; had been deserted. No Indians bad
| been seen for days and, taking c6ur
age, they traveled faster and with less
• aution. When they were near Fort
Rice they were attacked by the In
dians aod all of the little band were
killed with the exception of one man,
Pierre I.aselle.
Ignorant of the wealth aboard, the
Redskins sunk the float, and Pierre
Laselle escaped to Fort Rice leaving
behind him no trace of the expedition;
| the secret of the hardships and toll
i and wealth were with the river and
with him. He told no one anything
about It for some time —not until he ;
| had enlisted in the army and maneu- j
vered so as to get back to be near his
i treasure.* Then he took an old Quak- i
er. named Richard Pope, into his con- 1
fldence and at the urgent request of
the Quaker his son was also told the
\ secret.
Three months later the lltle party,
well armed and well provisioned, went
i quietly to the spot that Laselle remem
bered so well, only to find that the
river course had changed and a bar
■ of sand had formed over the barge
| Not dismayed however, they dug un
j til they found the prow of the old
j scow and on the very eve of success
j they too were attacked by the Indians
and was killed’ Pope and his
son. too badly frightened to work
again within the year, went back with
the secret to the town and while there |
young Pope died.
After many years the old Quaker
took another man. named Emerson.
aDd with the drawings that Laselle
and he had made they went back to
the place of trove and found that the
sand bar had grown and that the river
ran many hundreds of feet away from
tlve spot where the fortune lay buried
In glistening sands. Where Pope said !
the old diggings would be found a
young cottonwood tree was flourish
ing. They spent weeks digging for
many feet around the place, but found
nothing. Some mistake had evidently
been made in following out the former
Instructions, but the barge was there,
because Pope and Laselle found It on
their first visit. Pope is dead, but j
Emerson is still alive and has the old
drawings, letters and records. Maybe
he can be induced to part with it. and
maybe not. but somewhere in the flats
near Fort Rice is a snug little fortune
awaiting some finder.
Behind the city of St. Augustine. 1n
some likely spot, another rich treasure
is located. When it was a rich Span
ish town a favorite putting-in port for
the heavily laden Spanish galleons
that were coming through the Straits
of Florida to avoid sailing the waters
, made dangerous by Peter the Terrible
and Sir Henry Morgan, its wealth at
tracted the attention of the free-boot
ers and word of their preparations to
attack and loot the city was carried
, to the captain-general.
For weeks the city was in a state of
■ great perturbation and when some
■ English ships, probably privateers, ap
peared off the coast, the public treas
ure. the church treasure and the valu
, ables of the wealthy citizens were as
, sembled. removed inland and hidden.
For months the state of suspense con
. tinued until the Spanish Admiral Quin
[ tana appeared with his fleet. Then
, the St. Augustlnians thought they
; could safely bring back their wealth,
i To their horror the three prominent
► men entrusted with the secreting of
’ it, either could not find It or pretend
ed they could not. One fled to Spain
i before the anger of his fellow-citizens
■ and his flight cost the lives of the oth
er two. They were assassinated as
soon as the flight became known.
The archives of the Spanish admir
alty have full record of the affair and
' the true key to the treasure trove can
best be found by searching the family
\ papers of the man who fled. He never
’ returned, but without doubt he left
| the valuable information tc hi* heirs.
Where millions await the finder in
f wilder and more uncertain spots la
t far more intereating ground than the
» localities where thousands lie under
- the very noses of the townspeople, or
i where the plow passes every year over
» the burled trove. All through the
| west are rich mines which have been
I found and lost.
CONGRESS ENDS
LONG SESSION
MANY NEW LAWS ENACTED
DURING 266-DAY
SESSION.
TARIFF BOARD “KILLED”
INCREASED PENSIONS FOR CIVIL
WAR VETERANS BY SERVICE
PENSION LAW.
Washington.—Congress has closed
another billion dollar session, but the
exact total of the nation’s "cost of liv
ing” varies as it is seen through Re
publican and Democratic eyes.
The total appropriations for the fis
cal year 1913, which began July 1,
1912, amount to $1,019,636,143.66, as
given to the Senate and House by Sen
ator Warren and Representative Fitz
gerald, respectively chairmen of the
two appropriation committees.
It is conceded by both of these lead
ers that this is $7,046,000 less than
the nation’s budget of 1912, but it re
mained for former Speaker Cannon, in
behalf of the Republican forces of the
House, to produce figures to show that
the present Democratic Congress had
actually appropriated more for general
purposes than did the preceding Re
publican Congress. Representative
Cannon declared that out of the gen
eral total should be taken all expendi
tures made for the Panama canal.
With such deductions, he said, the to
tal appropriations for 1913 would be
$990,656,143, as compared with a total
of $981,122,881 appropriated for gen
eral purposes last year.
Important Bills Passed.
Among the more important laws en
acted during the session are the fol
lowing:
Abolishment by high taxation of the
manufacture of white phosphorus
matches.
Eight-hour federal labor law.
Prohibition against exportation
arms, coal or supplies to insurrection
ists in other countries.
Granting commissions as ensigns to
midshipmen on graduation from An
napolis naval academy.
Authorizing the separate sale of the
surface coal and asphalt lands belong
ing to the Choctaw and Chickasaw In
dians.
Granting authority to the govern
ment for official use of the American
Red Cross organization in time of war.
Barring prize fight ideture films
from transportation, if they are to be
used for public exhibition.
Authorizing new census reports on
tobacco production and cotton ginning
and new agricultural reports o*» cotton
production.
Requiring that wireless operators be
constantly on duty on ocean-going ves
sels.
Establishing a standard barrel and
grade for apples.
Encouraging invention and original
research in the agricultural and army
ordnance divisions by giving cash re
wards to employes.
Equipment of army transports with
adequate life saving apparatus.
Uniform wireless law to prevent in
terference by amateurs.
Naval appropriation act carrying
I provision for one battleship instead of
I two demanded by the administration,
; ihe new Dreadnaught to be the largest
! ever constructed.
Sundry civil act carrying provision
for the abolition of the tariff board.
Army reorganization, with provision
for seven-year enlistments.
Act providing for administration of
Panama canal, for exemption from
tolls of vessels engaged in the coast
wise trade, and providing for the di
vorce of railroad and water transporta
tion interests.
Creation of children’s bureau in de- ,
partment of commerce and labor.
Increase of pension of Civil war vet
erans through the enactment of a ser
vice pension law.
Other Features.
Among other important features of
the dfession were the following:
The decision of the Senate that Wil
liam Lorimer had not been legally
elected senator from Illinois.
The beginning of impeachment pro
ceedings against Judge Robert W.
Archbald of the Commerce Court.
Abrogation of the Russian treaty,
following the agitation in Congress
over the Jewish passport question.
Substantial defeat by amendment of
President Taft’s arbitration treaties
with Great Britain and France.
Notice by the Senate to foreign na
tions that the United States will per
mit none to acquire naval or military
sites in the Western hemisphere.
Approval of a constitutional amend
ment for direct election of senators.
Record Wages for Haymakers.
Laramie. —There is a crying demand
for hay hands in this valley and in
North Park, Colorado, where an im
mense crop of native hay has grown.
The wages have risen to $2.50 a day
and board, with not many to be had
at that. The recent high price of
steers on the Eastern market is stimu
lating a good deal of activity to save
the immense crop to be harvested in
the two states adjacent to Laramie.
The light frost noted has done no
harm to the meadows or grain fields
WESTERN
MINING NEWS
IN BRIEF
Western N«>wap»P*r Union News Service.
THHM) OF METAL PRICES.
3llv«r * .S' 5 *
L-ad i-ij
espwtir '
Copper x ‘*
Colorado.
The output of the coal mines of
Colorado for the year ending July Ist
was 5,277,238 tons, showing an in
crease of 711,90 S tons over the like
period last year.
The story of a rich discovery of
gold at South Colony, in the Sangre
de Crlsto range, Custer county, west
of Pueblo, is contained in a letter that
has been received by mining men.
An advance of silver to 70 cents, it
is stated, is looked for on the New
York market, before the steady rise
in the price of this metal, which is
continued for several months, stops.
Lessees on the property of the Gold
Bond Consolidated Gold Mining Com
pany of Victor are shipping again. Ore
mined in World’s Fair shaft is esti
mated at better than two-ounce grade.
The Elk Mountain Coal Company of
Gunnison, which owns 200 acres of
coal land south of Crested Butte, is
advertising for standard gauge ties to
be used in constructing a siding near
the mine.
Teams were busy loading out a
three car shipment from the main
shaft of the Midget Bonanza Gold Min
ing and Milling Company on the Mid
get mine on the western slope of Gold
hill at Victor.
That mining men have faith in the
future prosperity of the Cripple Creek
district is evidenc'd by the plans laid
by the El Paso Gold Mining and Mill
ing and associated companies, for the
construction of a fourth and the larg
est deep drainage tunnel in the dis
trict.
A force of men went down to Lew
iston, which is twelve miles east of
Atlantic City, to commence work tear
ing down the mill on the Helen G.
property as well as the buildings and
will move them as fast as possible to
the shaft head of the Mary Ellen mine
near Hudson.
Only thirty-five feet from a crosscut
driven years ago in the Isabella mine
lesst*v? have opened a shoot of ore as
rich as any ever taken from the Crip
ple Creek district. The strike was
made 'at a depth of 768 feet on a
block of ground under lease to Ben
Hill and Alex Olsen of Cripple Creek
and G. P. Branu of Chicago.
A consolidation of leading Cripple
Creek mining properties is reported as
nearing consummation as a result of
negotiations due to the recent excel
lent showing of the El Paso mine and
adjoining properties. Inu the deal,
which will result in the formation of a
$10,000,000 company, are the El Paso,
tieury Adney, C. K. & N., Old Gold
and Katinka mines.
A strike of even greater importance
than that made by Ben Hill and asso
ciates has been made at the 900-foot
level of Lee shaft of the Isabella
Mines Company by E. J. Thackerall of
Cripple Creek, lessee and former su
erintendent of the property under
the Kilbourn administration. At a
point about 1,200 feet northwest from
the shaft, the junction of the Malo
ney and No. 4 vein, ore has been
opened in previously undeveloped ter
ritory. The ore body, six to eight feet
wide, is so rich that the sides of the
drift glisten with sylvanite and the
ore pile hack of the machine is white
with tellurium and gold. The lessee
shot into the ore about fifteen feet
and has in excess of 100 tons of ore
broken that will«bring settlement at a
better than S2OO gold to the ton with
out sorting.
Wyoming.
The present treatment capacity of
the Chino mill is approximately 3,000
tons of ore per day.
The first car of zinc concentrates
was recently shipped by the Sunset
Mining & Smelting Company.
J. C. McKee of Hanover has leased
the Doc Watson claim and has drifted
into a new shoot of lead-carbonate
ore.
R. Kaseman and associates have
started work on opening a new coal
mine in Defiance Cafion, a couple
miles west of Gallup.
The new mill at Cleveland has been
doing satisfactory work. It is ex
pected that the total shipments for
the week ended August 1 will be four
cars.
The Empire Zinc Company, operat
ing in the Hanover district, recently
found a rich zinc deposit, and at a
place where no surface indications
could be seen. This discovery is im
portant, as it seems to confirm the be
lief that in this district large deposits
occur at depth. The work in the past
has been largely near the surface.
Noew Mexico.
The Areola Oil Company has been
incorporated for $50,000 and will do
business near Casper.
Preparations are being made at
Lewiston, Wyo., for the most valuable
shipment of ore from that district in
twenty years. At the Hidden Hand
mine sixteen tons of ore has been
hand-picked and sacked which ranges
in value from $2,000 to $3,000 to tha
ton.