| From
the Mohave County Miner - March 3, 1885
THE LOST BASIN
NEW DISCOVERIES OF OLD WORKINGS
In the Lost Basin district many and strange discoveries have been
made during the past three or four weeks which prove conclusively
that in years gone by mining was conducted on a large scale in this
portion, the gold region, of Mohave county. How many men were engaged
in the undertaking will probably never be known as it is evident
from the recent discoveries that many of them met their death from
the hands of the Indians while prosecuting their search for gold,
and of those who escaped if any, nothing has ever been heard.
There are many of our readers who have heard of the 'Lost Shaft'
in the Lost Basin district, and probably some of them have visited
it. It lies about six miles northwest of Patterson's wells, and
many a hardy prospector has come across it in the last five years
and probably speculated on the fate of those who had the temerity
to mine it. There is a tradition among the miners here that the
work was done by a party of Mormons on their way to Utah, some of
whom took the gold fever and left the main part to prosecute their
search for gold and most likely forfeited their lives in so doing.
As the old main-traveled Mormon road runs within a few miles of
the place, this story is probably correct. A Few weeks ago, we are
told, a lady visited Fred Nobmann's house at Hackberry siding, and
stated that many years ago her husband, who is now dead, was in
this portion of Arizona engaged in mining, but was driven out by
the Indians and many of his companions killed. He had given her
a good description of the locality and told her if, as then appeared
very unlikely, she should ever visit Arizona to make some inquiries
about the mines.
From her description of the
locality, Mr. Nobmann, who is an old prospector in this county and
knows the whole country, readily recognized the neighborhood of
the Lost Shaft. Her inquiries, and what little information she was
able to impart concerning the richness of her husband's discoveries
induced Mr. Nobmann to make another visit to the Lost Shaft.Taking
with him John Tilman, one of the oldest settlers in the county and
who is an experienced gold miner, and another man whose name our
informant had forgotten, Mr. Nobmann left Hackberry about three
weeks ago, and immediately upon his arrival at the shaft commenced
the work of cleaning it out.
It was filled almost to the top with debris, brush, cactus etc.
and swarmed with rats, which is probably the main reason that many
prospectors who have visited it have never made a closer examination
of the mine. At the depth of about eighteen feet, the opening of
a tunnel was found, and it was at once decided to explore this tunnel
before going deeper in the shaft. After cleaning out the tunnel
.....which had evidently been packed in by innumerable ...of rats,
it was decided to burn it out, as being the quickest way to clean
it, besides making it ...for the rats. This was accordingly done,
and the party waited patiently for it to burn out.
After waiting two days with no signs of the
fire burning out, they concluded to fill in the time by thoroughly
prospecting the ground in the vicinity. The shaft lies on one side
of a small butte or mound, and in a few hours Mr. Tillman, who was
prospecting on the opposite side of the mound, found a small crevice
or aperture, which bore traces of having been made by the hand of
man, instead of by nature. After cleaning it out and enlarging it,
be found that it was evidently the mouth of an old tunnel. It being
also filled with brush, he set fire to it and an hour or two afterwards
an immense sheet of flame with clouds of smoke and dust burst forth
from the opening with a roaring noise like that from a furnace.
The rest of the party were attracted on the spot by the noise and
at once arrived at the conclusion that the tunnel extended through
the hill a distance of between three and four hundred feet, and
was the same tunnel which they had found in the shaft, and that
they were in a fair way to make an important discovery. When our
informant left the spot, the fire had been burning for four days
with no signs of its dying out. If it should turn out that the tunnel
has been timbered, the fire will no doubt work much injury and probably
result in its caving to, but from the character of the veins it
was supposed that no timbering had been done.
While waiting for the fire
to burn out the party continued prospecting and were rewarded by
finding an immense pile of rocks, some of which were still standing
in walls, being evidently the remains of a stone cabin or more likely
from the size of the ground plan a fortification of some considerable
extent. Behind the remains of one of these walls a human skull was
found, tending to prove the nature and purpose of the building.
Continuing their search the party found evidence of placer mining
in many of the gulches running down towards the Colorado and extending
over a stretch of country some fifteen miles in width lying between
Steen's Ferry and the point where the Wallapai wash runs into the
river.
When our informant left the
scene of these interesting discoveries the party were still prosecuting
their search, and we, in common with many others await with considerable
interest the results. One thing is certain from the numerous traces
of old work found in many different portions of our mining districts,
that Mohave county was once peopled by a generation of miners of
whom we know nothing and of whom nothing remains but a few scattered
bones, and the evidence of their work.
Photograph by Francis H Clark.
Ruins of a stone house, probably at Pearce Ferry. From the Arizona
State Library.
Who knows...maybe this image of ruins is the same
place.
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