Old Bookaroo
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DEAD MAN'S CABIN.
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Grim Rawness in the Western Mountains in the Sixties.
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Grim Rawness in the Western Mountains in the Sixties.
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For many months past reports have been received in Cheyenne regarding a strange discovery in an abandoned mine several miles from Newcastle on the banks of a creek. More than twenty years ago the first lurid tales of what is termed the "Lost Cabin" mine commenced to attract the attention of prospectors. Its exact place was unknown, and as years passed the story of it sank into oblivion until December, when several miners, while grub staking along Castle creek, came upon a rusty tablet. On close inspection it was found to contain an inscription which read, "God Help Us—1867, August 4th. We can never get out alive. This hill is rich. Below we have walled up our minerals. O Lord, hope somebody find this. Eight of us." Signed "Fritz Duke, Germ."
It was clearly evident that the words had been cut into the sandstone with some sharp implement. The name signed was recognized as that of a former resident. At the time of the Newcastle mining excitement in the '60's a party of prospectors are said to have discovered a rich mine. On frequent occasions they came to town with valuable specimens, but never revealed the locations of their property. Some months later the prolonged absence of the prospectors became gossip and a fruitless search was made. The matter was then almost forgotten until about five years later, when a communication was received from the German Minister at Washington requesting the Governor of Wyoming to ascertain if possible the whereabouts of a party of Germans who had come West and written home frequently for several weeks, when suddenly all correspondence ceased. An investigation was again made, with no result.
The finding of the tablet last December gave renewed hope and a search has resulted in the vigorous unearthing of an abandoned mine. In one of the deep recesses of a shaft the bones of four men were discovered and the mystery of the Lost Cabin mine unfathomed. Another mine of this same character was discovered in the vicinity of Lead City. It is said that the discovery looks like a mine that a crazy Hebrew located about that time. The man, who was a mysterious character, lived alone in what is now known as Dead Man's Cabin located on Castle creek in 1877. He packed his grub stake from Lead City on his back and wended his lonely way to Dead Man's Cabin, where no other human being was ever known to visit. He went in the winter in the early part of 1877, and was not seen during the long and stormy season that followed. Nobody at Rockford thought anything about his absence, and he never put in an appearance unless he went on his way to Lead City. He made a confidant of a man there and told him he had a rich mine, but was afraid to let anyone know lest he might be killed and his property stolen. The man did not turn up in the spring, and a party proceeded to his cabin to ascertain what had become of him. He was found in his cabin alone, cold, stiff and dead. He was buried in the prospect hole that he dug so silently and lonely, and the body covered up with the dirt his own hands had dug out.
These are but two instances of many similar experiences which have befallen unfortunate prospectors throughout the Rocky mountains. Scarcely a week passes where in some portion of Colorado, Utah, New Mexico or Wyoming a report is not received of the locating of an abandoned claim and the unearthing of bones. How these met death can only be surmised, but in more than one in stance it has been due to the greed of others.—Cheyenne Corr. New York Tribune.
~ The Keystone Ketchum [“Sole Representative of the Great Upper Wood River Mining Region”] Ketchum, Alturas County, Idaho 22 July 1893 VOL. XII. No. 32.
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Good luck to all,
The Old Bookaroo
