Show t V V I n Vidi dd tr ij l i a mountain of S Silver i I I lall i a C Century T 7 more than half a hundred mies miles from the Central line of steel through h Humboldt county count Ne on th the farther Carther edge of Gum Quin River desert slen sullen and gim grim Black rock rIses abruptly from the level levels Since those far days when Fremont found himself under it its lee on one New Years day it ha has been gide guide and land landmark landmark mark to the traveler across te the get great plains through al all the years the erni gant grant wound his way toward the state that sees seer the setting sun sink down downward downward ward to to touch ch salt water Dark for forbiddIng forbidding biddIng and bare te the geat great promontory tor tory ha has al all the gruesomeness that Premont described The range of mountains from which i it jut juts is of garled gnarled Md and misshapen masses of lava rock mixed with mies miles of ashes About are vat vast stretches of alkali plain of whitened hummocks of hardened earth of wide reache reaches of sand fat flats swept into waves by the wind windI I It is s al all fierce hard and repellent Farther away the mountains bear rocks that burst into color and their broken i and bis bits besprinkle the washes in te the foothills Their heir gaveled gray I foor floors are thick strewn wih with vare van gated gated fakes flakes of blue and light blue purple and pink a geen green that is like to emeralds ruby or amb amber r rin in al all the beauty of their carty clarity and coloring Ad And where these jasper frag nent are not are burned and black i volcanic a n IC bOlde rs and then you W will i come across places plaes thickly strewn wit with I fragments of vivid red YOU say to yourself from one of tures great reat brIck yards so like ke unto artificial building stone does it seem I Al All this weird and wonderful valey valley where white plumes of steam steaming steaming ing springs springs wave here and there along the foothills are thIngs to hold your curious of obsidian others of petrified wood turquoise geodes onyx and a thousand other thin things s beneath your horses crunchIng hoofs to make te the riding this range worth your while Away back In 1849 a long trin train of emigrant wagons fourteen a in number were crossing the plaIns on their jour journey ney nev to the west Following the Hum Hm Humboldt boldt rIver down the valey valley of the same name at the Lassen meadows they found so little feed for their stock that they decided upon abandoning that route and instead crossing over toward Black rock and following the old Las Lassen Lassen sen road Into California But at Black Blackrock Blackrock rock also they found but scant feed when they arrived So they pushed on six mies miles farther to make camp an and andrest rest at Double Ht Bt pring About that steaming twin vent hole of the old earths anger was always to be found gs grass geen green and moist wih with steam pearls and nd of the tender shade of hotho hothouse s Go there when you wl will you wi will fId such sweety sweetly fresh v wih with the ever moist breath of the sprin you leave it with regret to take UP your journey joure agin again through the baked with it its leper spots of alkali Here they made their tempo rry nary camp to give their stock an op to rest and recover re over from the journey thus far passed Brown men with bow in hand and the soft tread of a wildcat w Je aJI about the emi emigrant grant in those days a put at t the springs there wa was no shelter heter under which an Indian could creep upon them so they made a hal halt of a number of days there Their next move wa was toward Mud Meadows aroud around on the farther side of the ran range Now it so happened that on the day da they broke camp there three of te the party were deputized to hunt along the mountain rid ridge e for game to replenIsh their depleted larder as was their custom the meat supply ran low They w were r to hunt along the mountain while hi the wagons work worked ed their way up the valleys edge and to meet the trin train that night at Mud Meadows I IOne One of the three selected for that oc occasion casion wa was a man named Hardin a wheelwright and blacksmith by trade and an uncle of J A Hardin of Petaluma Cal a wel well known catte cattle cattleman man of that state and Nevada Nevada The hunters were to cross a near lying mountain and then go over to th the farther side to join the wa wagons ons In leaving their camp camp at Double Hot Springs they crossed first a piece of tableland and then made their way to the higher parts of the mountain No gme game was found Keeping the eat east side of te the mountain for some dis distance tance they finally worked their way upward to the summit from where they had an unobstructed view of the I valey valley They discovered they had lost their bearings for no sign of the wagons was as to be seen They hev were about to strike down into the pl plain in to endeavor to find the wagon tracks and I Iso so follow fonow them into camp when they esp espied ed away down the desert a team that had stopped OI on thE the road The three in this lonely land to find a fellow down the mountain side heading di directly I recty for i it They had gone perhaps a third of I the way when they found themselves foundering floundering through a soft gay gray deposit like sifted ashes in which I 1 they sunk at ever every step And nd here In te the powder powdery stuff was embedded something which shone so soI I brighty brightly in the sun that their gae gaze was arrested and the faraway team for forI forthe I the time forgotten One of the tro troI trio I had year years before been In the Mexican I war and after receiving his discharge I had been employed on the pack trins trains of the famous Potosi mine for some someI sometime I time before leaving that country He HeI Heat at once recognized the geat great slabs of I whish whitish metal as meled melted rand randI I perfectly pure so far as he could judge I It looked as though the awful fres fires that had scattered the he lava rock rok I over the land and burned and blacken blackened I ed the face of the countr country in some ome blanched it in others in the I blaze of fames flames we wot not run I the metal through the ashes that covered that side of the mountain I for several hundred square feet feetE E Everywhere it wa was sticking protruding that were the size of bricks others in uneven mases masses four or five lter fet feet lonz lonzOne ion ionOne One is sloW slow to realize good fortune 1 and they could but compre I head hend the meaning of what they saw Then gathering up hall J they could car carry they started down the moun mountain I tain tam to the place on te the plain where they could still see the wagon stopping by the way Arriving theY found I an emig nt and his wife and child who ha had been overtaken by disaster for th their ir but one yoke werd dead and the mies miles yet et to travel ere reaching California were may many man wa was engaged In tring trying to remodel his larger wagon to ft fit the circum circumstances stances of of his misfortune He was cutting i it down from a to toa toa a cart that the remaining yoke of weak catte cattle might be beable beable able to dra draw ir mo most t important belongings s a and d arring ring California Hardin showed his the theman theman man gf the unco wealth th tf had aked tat that the emigrant would cary carry their s silver sUver for them In vain did he and his companions plead plead Not even the promise that he should sh share re equally wit the move moe th thI the theman man at work wih with hammer and saw I Siver Silver he at last at e exclaimed claimed straight LIning up from rom his work work May be s and may be Not even if I It wa was solid soUd gold gold would I do it it II If I can get through to California alve alive wih with m mM i little family and such things a as we I must have i it wi will be al all tat that I can cando I do Ive Ive got to leave the bulk of I my belongings her here on te the road because wih with a wagon I cant carr carry tem them Al All the silver sUver in the world would not help helD me in my present pre predicament predicament Finding al all importunities of no avail they threw the largest largest one HardIn himel himself had been carrying down by the roadside The remainder wa was then divided among the three and they started for tor Mud Meadows where they arrived long lone after dark dark Ther There I they showed their marvelous find and the stir the shining stuff made as asi asit str mae i it wa was from hand to hand was excuse excuse for the wid wild rejoicing of the l emigrants which wa was kept up by the camp fre fire al all that night For Harin Hardin I declared that there was enough in to load al all fourteen of the wa wagons gons ons of the trin train and for It its would return so soon a as it was practicable to o do so The following morning they left Mud ud M Meadows to resume their journey I Whether b by accident or not is not known but some pieces nieces of the siver silver were ere left where th they y were camped and were afterward found b by others The I emi emigrants at last reached Caloria California and the stor story of Hardins find sp spread ad I throughout hout the state a as tey they repeated the tal tale The tree three men kept the secret of the locality of the deposit however intending al all the time to return to the a as soon a as i it should be safe to do doso doso so Many tin thinas I besIdes the growing depredations of te the IndianS deterred them themI I It may be mentioned here that Steve Bas Bass and his brother were among those of the who ofen often referred to the siver silver that Hardin had found near Mud Meadows On the westward trip Har Hardin Hardin din cut from some of the larger pieces fine bits of the them with an ordinary pocket making a hollow In the side of an ax handle it t bein being of hard wood and not burning i easily laid the fine bit bits therein and them wih with red coals from the fre fire and continuously blowing upon them wa was able to met melt them into a buton button which for may many year years he cr car ned ried In his pocket Lter Later a a collector of minerals and curiosities seeing i it I became of the desire to own j jit L it it and so bought it of Hardin I It was taken to En England lad where probably I it I les lies today on the shelf of some cab cabi i met inet I settled in Petaluma Petaluma whee where he heI I I opened a a wa wagon on shop doing black blacksmithing and such work work Men congre congregated gated tere there to S1 swap D mining stores stories and andone andone one day dav when someone began taking talking I to Hardin about his discovery away bac back on the a A AB B Jennison who ha had just come in ini i from Rose river to sette settle in the val Why Ive heard that story told by another manone manne of the three who found it it I kew knew him wen well wenAnd wellAnd And he Hardins ton tion of the finding of the siver silver in his I telling ot of it a as he had heard i it from the one who had been wih with HarIn Hardin In 1859 1359 a doctor ce came to Honey Lake and took up his h home me in the lower end of the valley He was a silent uncommunicative sort of man and had no confidants In those times there were man many chara characters about that locality I If anyone anone knew aught concerning any valuable posses something material or on only only ly a knowledge e of were careful in whom they repose reposed cn con confidence He had no doubt of some time being able to trace his way back to a place on the plains where he had once seen something of whose value he learned later But ut or of this for years ear he said nothing to any man In was in 1852 when crossing the desett desert near Mud Meadows just ater after Hardins part party had passed through he found lying b by ft lit the lare large piece of silver that the emigrant had refused to carr carry for lone ex emigrant whom Hardin ha had left leH cutting down his wagon At the time the doe doc doctor ton tor found it he failed t to recognize it its value and s so lef left it there But many months after he came to know tha that it wa was pure siver silver he had held in his hads hands Who took it away from the place is not some one who knew as little of is its value as did I the doctor himself Perhaps some one vio 0 did not know what what it was and searched for the ledge from whence i it came a as so many have haye done since Th doctor wa was continually planning the return trip ro to the place where he had seen it it and the ver very month set for hi his star start found him i s I m Ill that that he realized that recover was impossible Calling two men to him Tommy Har Harvey Harvey vey and George Lathrop he confided to them al all he knew of it and the lo 10 cly where they could find it it He de described described scribed to the minutest particular the spot where it ly lay I If I could only go goback goback back there he would say if I could only go i it had only been safe for a man to go there alone since I saw it I know I could go directly to It it Others too coming across the plains after Hardin made his discovery found I evidence evidences of the truth of his state statements ment ments as to having had lumps of pure siver silver in his possession taken from the mountain he averred i it was to be found in such immense deposits Par Parties I te ties crossing in 1852 had camped at the spot where he and his party had camp campe camped I e ed the night of the he at Mud found some of the smaller bit bits of siver silver that had been accidentally dropped Gathering up what they could find though but a asmal smal small amount amount they took it to Shat Shasta to a jeweler named Lewin who gave them te the metals metals weight in Me Mexican dollars in exchange Many a month It was as to be seen in his show window wa was seen by such men as L D Var Vary Governor Rop Roop and others residing in Shat Shasta who were attracted to i it by is Its romantic history r Finally the store wa was destroyed by fre fire and the bit bits of Hardin silver in the show window were meled melted into a sold solid mas mass that was recovered from the ruIns Hardin who did not the hardships and dangers of a trip into that countr country dreaded to under undertake undertake take again In spie spite of the promise of such unbounded wealth the backward journey People who crossed the plains in those old days and had bad en encounter encounters counter counters man many a time and again wih with Indians were not eager to immediately repeat their experiences He fel felt the treasure wa was safe though he did not go at once for it But in 1858 he de determined determined to haard hazard Indians and like evis evils and to tr try to retrace his way to the locality of his find though he e had no doubt he could easily do so Taking with him a man by the name of and one oter other he set out At length they arrived at Double Hot Springs Hardin looked ahead and sa saw Black Rock poInt the monument heso wel well remembered When Ven nearing the place of the wondrous siver silver slabs he said to his companions pointing in inthe inthe the direction te le indicated Look ahead Do you see that spring on the hillside I It wa was afterward named by later Rams Hor Horn Spring and is known by that name today Do you ou see the canyon below tel Tell toys boys I did not find i It that canyon nor doe does i it lemore than a half mie mile above and i it is some somewhere somewhere I where ter there at the left left T They ey went to the place indicated They searched and searched Up ad and down back ad and forth retracing their steps the they looked for tor the ash deposit The face of the mountain seemed corn com completely changed Waterspouts and cloudburst cloudbursts are ot of frequent occurrence i in the Block Rock country and now there were deep gules gullies and cut |