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Show Scene 76 CLASSIFIEDS FEATURES PAUL HARVEY WEEKS TV GUIDE -- -- -- J -- IHUISUf, AUGUST U, 1976 MINE WITH AN IRON DOOR ...when the sieagecosach ran through Mealead Rancher Glipsy Waldron ipotted the Mine with the Iron Door aronnd the tarn of the century, but was unable to relocate the treasure trove when he returned with help. Many other have tried their luck at recovering the robber' tainted gold, including several who have suddenly been stricken ill the Iron Door, scattered and died. Although crystal ball and metal detectors have not yet .efforts are still underway to claim the Samaria Mt. Jacknot. , photo Courtesy of Ovalear Waldron pin-point- a. , . - rf r By COLEN H. SWEETEN, JR. Many counties in the West have legends lost mines or buried treasure, or both. Oneida County is no exception. Malad City has been the county seat since 1866 and around that county seat the favorite legend is The Mine With The Iron Door." Every summer, Just about as regular as wood-tick- s we hear some new or old version of this fascinating tale. The story begins, In the early days, or When this country was first settled, or "When the stagecoach ran through Malad to Montana. Although this is a bit vague, it seems to be as dose as can come to a date for the beginning of our story. There are many versions but the most persistent one goes something like this. of WHEN THE stagecoach ran through Malad to Montana there were numerous holdups because of the many miles of wild unprotected country through which the road passed. Mining activity in Montana and the trade which resulted had put much gold an the move and a lot of it was carried on the stage between Butte and Salt Lake City. Ben Holidays stage lines, Wells Fargo, and other freight outfits were active in the 1860's and 1870's. During this period three strangers showed up in a Utah town, possibly Corrine. A fire destroyed several buildings and among the rubble was a bank vault type door made of iron. The door was still usable so the men purchased it, loaded it on a wagon and disappeared north. There they had a hidden campsite border in near what is now die south central Idaho. Somehow they managed to install the iron door over the mouth of a cave in a solid granite ledge where they hid the loot from their robberies. If we date this happening in the 1860's and locate it somewhere" on the Samaria mountain above the village of Samaria, then we have the setting for a campfire story or a barbershop yarn which is more interesting now than it was a century ago. tough-lookin-g Utah-Idah- o REGARDLESS OF who is telling the story, the next chapter begins with a bang. One of the three robbers shows up at a ranch, weakened from fever and loss of blood asking for help. When it is evident that his life cannot be saved, he recites the story of the holdup men, the hidden camp, and of the iron door protecting the loot As most criminals do, these robbers had a falling out and in the fight that followed they were all wounded and one escaped the mine leaving his companions locked inside to die. Then the bad guy passed away without leaving any detailed instructions to lead the way to the mine. Some years later, the rancher's young son was gathering horses out of the mountains when he chanced upon the mine with the iron door and recognized it as the one he had heard about Returning later . with his father, he was unable to relocate it The young man was the late Glispy Waldron, a Samaria Rancher. The Waldron family had no record of anyone resembling a bandit seeking help jor dying at the ranch in the early days, nor do they claim to have information as to who placed the door there in the first place, but Glispy said he saw the iron door and Glispy didnt lie. I recall as a young man I saw Glispy in the barbershop with spurs on his boots and while the barber dipped away at his hair, the men in the shop dipped away at Glispy about his experience. Again, just a short time before he passed away I had occasion to hear Waldron tell of seeing the Iron Dow. The story was the same. He said, "I suppose the place is all covered up by a slide or I would have found it yean ago. I was confused as to the exact location because it was storming at the time but I did see the Iron Dow and nothing can change that AND THAT is the way it has turned out fw everyone who has a story to tell about the Iron Dow. A man named Nelson was sure he could find it again and planned to return with his brother and tods to open the dow but he suddenly became ill and died before they could return. A sheepherder even tied a sheep, so the story goes, near the dow in hopes that its bleating would lead him back to the spot the following day but that didnt wwk either. The same results were had by the man who left his coat to mark the (dace. To the skeptic these stories are Just something to chuckle about. To the believer they are a great challenge. The mountain itself adds to the mystery. It is as steep as a bulls face," changeable as a womans mind," w as rough as a cob, depending on who is describing it. There are numerous shale slides, brushy thickets, and other natural obstructions. There are few trails, many washes and a few old prospector's claims thrown in to add to the excitement. THE RANCHERS on the east side of the mountain tell of strange booming sounds w angry rumblings which occur in the spring of the year suggesting that the earth is settling w dropping as the frost leaves the ground. On the west foot of the mountain lies the spot which was the center of the destructive earthquake of March 28, 1975. The earth shifted enough to cause large cracks to appear in the surface. A similar quake was experienced in March 1934. So there have been plenty of chances fw the earth to shift. These facts give strength to the theory that rock slides w the shifting of the earth's surface have long since covered the Iron Dow. Another school of thought is that brush has overgrown the place and now completely hides the treasure as it does sane old prospect holes. No one seems to be sure if file cave is really a mine. The common reference has always been The Mine with the Iron Dow. . ONE THING is certain though, and that is that a lot of people have searched in vain for it and the mine is still lost. Treasure hunters from near and far have heard the story and many of them have looked fw it In the 1960s a man who waked in Utah was seen on file mountain every summer with a burro dressed in a miner's outfit The gleam of treasure in his eye. Years ago fortune tellers and the crystal ball were brought into use and although they claimed to reveal many details (such as how many skeletons were in the cave and how much gold was there) , they failed to give good enough instructions fw the exact location to be found. Modern devices havent fared much better. In 1970, a man with some special electronic equipment in his airplane flew back and forth over the area in an attempt to locate the Iron Dow from the air. It is not known what success he had. ONE OF THE most serious attempts fw the treasure was made in recent years when Leo D. Williams, a former resident of Samaria filed a claim and began digging out an ancient mine shaft which had been completely filled in with washed silt and dirt. There was no rock ledge on the surface but as soon as a little digging was done there appeared a rock formation and the opening of a slanting mine shaft. Williams had a partner, a doctw from Ogden, Utah, and the two of them spent many weekends digging dirt out of the shaft. They didnt claim to have found the iron dow but they reasoned that there could have been one and that when they reached the bottom of the steep shaft they might find the remains of the dow. The first season's efforts were quite rewarding. They had opened up a long tunnel and were caning to a large room when the operation was stopped by winter. Next summer they found the hole full of water and much of it filled up again with mud. With renewed determination they set up pumps and soon were down in the earth far enough to again feel the excitement of the unknown. Then one day they uncovered some bones. These bones looked so much like human bones that they were at once reminded of the two skeletons which were supposed to be behind the Iron Dow. Even the Doctw couldn't be positive what kind of bones they were so it was decided that he should take them home with him and have positive identification made at Weber College. He put the bones in his pickup and returned to Ogden with plans to return next weekend to continue digging. During the week however, he phoned Williams and told him that he had become ill and must postpone the appointment In a few days the doctor was dead and whan Ms track was daanad ant file bones were .lost This of course only added to the mystery. IN JULY 1986, the rumw showed up in Malad City that Henry Roderick of Portage, Utah, had found file mine with file Iron Dow. Yea he had! He was working with a geologist from Utah State University and as soon as they had the money all counted and 'ownership established a public announcement would be made. Well, that news spread like something that shouldn't be told! Before the day was over every man, woman and child in town had the story and half of them had improved on it. A reporter fw the local weekly newspaper hopped in her car and hunted down Roderick, intent on getting a first hand account of this great event Well, Roderick wasnt too hard to find. He was out in his field harvesting his crop. No, he hadnt heard the story that was in town. Yes, he had thought of looking fw the gold because his father had thought at one time that he knew where it was. So far, he had made no attempt Even that didn't stop the rumw. Some people were saying, Of course that is what he would say! If he would admit he had the gold the Internal Revenue and all the fortune hunters in the country would move in on him. SOPHISTICATED METAL locators have been tried all over Samaria mountain and Im sure that most dew hunters who have hunted in that area looked fw gold while they looked fw game. By now I think the hunters have sprayed so much lead and scattered so much used brass on that mountain that a metal locatw wouldnt be very dependable. The latest report is of a group who have a new locating device which is so accurate that it almost draws a picture of underground metal objects. When trained upon a certain slide rode location it draws the form of a metal rectangle. Is it the Iron Door? Is it a buried chest? Is it imagination? And what is a granite ledge doing under a sandstone rock slide? Questions such as these are what make interest. The only thing I am sure of is that Glispy Waldron was an honest, well respected man. He was the youth who saw the dow while driving range horses in a storm. He never changed his story and never failed to take every opportunity in his long life in the saddle to take another look fw it when in the vicinity. It was no joke as far as he was concerned. So the legend lives, the men will continue and some to scoff and to believe meanwhile over in Malad City there is a drugstore cowboy who does a darn good job of strummin' his guitar while he sings his ballad of THE MINE WITH THE IRON DOOR. |