Show I I i I I Lost Mines of the Desert Story of ot Wondrous Etches Riches That Lie Lie- Hidden Ridden In the Wastes Vutes Black SUver SU- SU ver an and Sun Burnt Gold History of or The tiThe Lost Breyfogle Lost G Gun Sight and Lost Peg Leg Mines Minos BY CLARENCE E. E EDDYThe EDDY The Poet Prospector Almost e every r mineral region ha has bas it its stories of lost JOlt mines but there is no place where there thero exists a better excuse for lost mines mince than on tho the great reat American Ameri Amen cau can desert It is the luro lure of lost mines miMs that has caused a great eat deal al of the thc prospecting and exploration exploration tion ion of the deserts in recent years and anel andin in In III one manner or other you von win Will find that a lost JOlt mine mine is s at the bottom of almost every important discovery in in inthe the tho desert re regions ion The Tho fame mine of Death valley y has been largely due clue to the fact that timE a number of glowing stories of lost treasure have hac centered about it since Since the tlC earlier da daYs 8 of the first explorers who crossed its ts vast and mysterious wastes There Thero in is the well authenticated stor story of f the u Lost J ost Mine which is is 18 knO known D to ninny many old timers the tle golden gollen luro of which has baa been een a 8 constant constant iu iu- to prospectors for half a con cen hn tury Thou Then there is is U The The Lost Gun GunSight Sight the stor story of which has spread far and wi wide do and ha has b become como one ono of the permanent legends of the western raining mining world The Lord Alvord somewhere in inthe inthe inthe the western verges of Death Drath valley has bas about it a tau tan tang of romance like liko that of ot the lost Spanish treasures s. s And th there re reis is is still another treasure story pertaining to the discovery l of or a a. mountain of floUd ohi black of silver somewhere in in the southern Pa b by a straggling gling party part of emigrants who tm made Je their wa way through that rc region ion in 1850 These stories all give Ji to that region a 11 coloring and allurement that makes s sit it worth orth while to here relate them in print The Lost Breyfogle It It w was wac somewhere back iu jn the earis' earis sixties when ben all tb the southwest was w-as still an arid and sparsely settled co country un tl that an early pioneer of tho desert mountains name namely y James Breyfogle lc a prospector mado his way into the Death valley regions and arid with tho aid of a primitive 1 mno birro was exploring and prospecting the Funeral mountains on the ca eastern verge of the great red forlorn desolate and mysterious valley of death But the burros then were rere as burros now DOt and inclined to stray away Iw-ay as only burros buros can can and so one dt day when Mr Brej lc like liko many prospectors before and since bad had gone jonc in search of his burro he ho fo found o nl himself lured on and andon andon andon on in the vain ain effort to locate the beast or distinguish it from other objects ob ob- ob he penetrated a vast sast far ean canyon on in 10 the Funeral range partly for pur purposes par pur poses of prospecting and exploration and part partly to determine if the burro might be round found browsing in there somewhere some where or seeking the company of or other burros burro However h hI he found no friendly friend 1 or familiar object of the world only the vast allt and anel sun un blackened weather er beaten cliffs cliff A and Ind cra crags and the gray and solemn mn fI sage page Je and Bud sand Band and the I strewn n debris of the hollows and can can- von Finally he espied a lone Jane willow tree in a ravine ra and T with tb the in instinct of one ono accustomed to the tho deserts he new knew that the w willow was 5 a good indication of water Upon investigation in be found that thero there was as rea really lb a spring beside the and what was wall more a bi big ledge JeriJo of ot heavy dark dink rust rusty ore oro traversed traversed tra ua versed the ravine just jUt above l Breaking Breaking Break Break- in ing off some ome of the rock he saw that it was w-a heavily iI permeated with gold The yellow lustrous gleans gleam of the metal everywhere re in the half corroded lc ledge 1 e vcr very quickly gave O the lone prospector the conviction t that ba t he bal haI discovered one of tb the greatest gold old deposits over known He lie broke from the lc ledge a a. number r of ot fabulous specimens mons and ana finally fin fin- ally in the gathering dusy h ho he resumed I hi his bis way a over osor the cra crags s and ridges cs and after Iome some hours of devious travel was a again in at biscamp 1 With a great resolve c to get out to the settlements and return with companions and ancl equipment the lono lone prospector with frith such thoughts as would come rome to most men meu under such circumstances circumstances circum stances made Dis way across arros the rugged nipped solitudes iu in the direction of oC ci tion Just what befell at certain points inthis in inthis this journey journe seems never to have ha been by Whether he be was waR deranged by thirst and hardships hard ships hips and amI fell fen and injured himself or orI whether as ho bo believed beho ho be was w-as sot I upon by br Indians Indian When ultimately reaching tho the settlements ho was bruised and bewildered but still c curried carried the I wondrous specimens rich and heavy y j with it b gold lold made numerous returns to toI I the thc locality of his bis find finel hut hit could never again alain locate lorat the tho coveted co spot In 0 protracted pro protracted I efforts effort to find nl these o desert ert tr treasures treas as' as ashe tires ures he be enlisted the aid of several cral ot othis his hiM friends who were prominent fronti fron fron- ti of tho those e da days but all aU to no avail At a point some lome twelve the miles milc to the south uth of Daylight springs tpring in the eastern east cm ern verge of f the Funeral range approaching ap op- pro preaching the Death valley country is isa isa a IJ spot pot that i ia is known u a 3 as lUre fo IA Despair for th there relt it it is iR that fire tirE trAil ho ross cross on the sun Nun larh parched l d desert des dc's ert rt and ancI trend as al diverging pathways into the vast and h hazy Z solitudes solitude of r Death valle valley There it was that Breyfogle Brey fogle tho the old ld prospector after years years r of patient searching for his t 10 lost Ct mine gave sa up lip and wept c pt for which of or these trails traits lie Ilc had originally taken he lie could never er remember and J later ter he died leaving leav lea ing to the world worM a still unending conjecture con jecture ns tie to the whereabouts of tho those wondrous w gleaming golden ore ores thin the grent rn t and mysterious my Lost Lo t Breyfogle lo loti Mine ti nE' nE The Gun The Lure of ot Lost Sight At a time when hn Death valley was as little known know to th the prospector a 8 as it ft still is to the public thero W was 8 a man named B Bennett who was wa of ot a party of emigrants making their way to the westward arel through that r region ion H He HA had bad straggled away awa and in advance of hi his companions companion and being almost almost- t. t f famished for water he found what is i is known knot alII as al II Bennetts hole bol t this hi being on t the ht I If f western tern bars of oC Death valley aUf Bennett afterward tard made toads his biA way ny into info the foothills foot foothills hills of the Panamint mountain mountains some somA I twenty miles mil to the westward Here he be fo found nd a spring of ot good water ater and camped ns s bet best ho bo could to recuperate Hn lIei was waft not a pro prospector hut but wa was attracted at at- meted h by the metallic quality of ot crop crop- pins pings that were T in great reat quantity about tho the spring prins and protruded n in a mammoth lc lcj n near ar by on the on-the the hillside When theD Bennett Dennett after great hard hardships hips and arid wandering finally made his hi's way out to settlements in Iii tb the farther valleys valleys val val- I leys of California h h. h still tUl carried a I I specimen o of this his heavy y silvery h ry ore anti and later obtaining a R. gun Iun that lacked a R. site Bennett took the theD gun D and the ore oro oreto oreto oroto to a blacksmith shop hop and hal had a ite site fashioned fash out ont of this metal which the blacksmith th told him WR was silver and hence benco the tho stor story of or the Lost Gun Sight Mino Mine for lor which Bennett and his hie friends afterward in vain am anO thousands of other men have also searched in vain ain vain anti and scores have lost Jos their lives trying to find those rich roa masses se of white metal that have bac mado made the tho alluring Ic legend eDd of ot The Ibe Lost Lot Gun GunSight GunSight Sight Mine This The The Lost Peg Leg The Lost Peg Leg Lez Mine line somewhere some somewhere where in Bouth southeastern California is one of the be best t authenticated and mo most t famous fa moms mons of all aU lost lORt treasures of the desert I Like ike an Ingus Fatus Ji light ht it lures men over to tho domains of t the he purple an mist ft for there thero somewhere re upon n a lono boo hillock lie lic its heavy Y heaps beals of sun lun burnt gold sold It was 11 P Leg It Smith Smith 1 nn an oh old ot pro prospector of the the- earlier arlic r days who first found this treasure and thou though h crazed with ith thirst he be reached C civilization with some Fome of the sun burnt nu nuggets But Buttry try as ns be he would Peg Pet Le Leg Smith II could rould never nover retrace hi his steps to that wondrous wealth t ansi and he ht finally died cur cursing tho bitterness of ot fate The Thc mine was U next found b by ba a Mexican can ran who brought out acks sacks of or tI the blackened nuggets and squandered them about shout the desert camps camp until he lie was 1 I killed kihle at a fandango in in a a. ti fight bt over o a worn woman au The last discovery rr of the sun sum lIn burnt gold cold was made b by ba a squaw man and hi his dusky affinity who while the Santa Sinta SantaFe Fo Fe railroad id was wan building came out to toone toone toone one of t the h. h construction ca camps famished f for or water ater but with a 11 fortune in this gold Jold done up tip in in in a bandana handkerchief They now have gone ono tb the way of or all th tb the discoverers of the mysterious rious Lost Loat Pc Peg Leg LeJ Mine ioe but t tic the e gold still lures lure and some somo ct day it will iII fall into juto the thc hands hand of moro morn up up- up to date dato discoverers who ho could coull not bo ho jarred loose from Crom it even by hy the crack rac of loom doom |