LOST COLD MINE FOUND

Opotiki News, Volume I, Issue 106, 7 November 1938, Page 4

LOST COLD MINE FOUND

LEGENDARY HOARD NEW MEXICO DISCOVERY SAN ANTONIO, Texas, Aug. 29. Deep in the Fhxrida Mountains of New Mexico "the legendary and fabulously rich lost gold mine known in treasure lore of the southwest as the “Lost Dutchman” mine, lias been found at fast, according to A. B ; . Cooper who has returned here after a- five months’ search for the property. Partners with -Mr. Cooper in the adventure were Messrs. J. A- Walton, former sheriff of El Pascoe County, and A. J. Chesney of Goose Creek, Texas, a wellknown oil man. It was during the days of Apache Indian troubles in New -Mexico and Arizona, that a prospector, known as the “Dutchman,” wont into the mountains and came back to Doming a few weeks later with a pack-load of gold of high assay value. That was in 1855. At intervals for 17 years he made per-, iodical visits to Doming, El Pasco and other towns, each time with his pack animals laden with gold. He always refused to divulge the location of his mine and efforts to trail him were futile. He disappeared mysteriously in 1872, and since then the search for the “lost” mine has been going on. According to legend, it Avas operated long before the Dutchman came.

// '-A' Among High Peaks. M'r. Cooper said tliat the mine is situated in the midst of a group of mountain peaks that are almost insurmountable. The ancient shaft was explored by Mr. Cooper ahd~his companions. The vein of ore was found /md the samples which they have had assayed show them to be exceedingly rich in gold, it was declared. The mine was once believed to be in the Oregon Mountains near El Pasco, but'for . the past .decade prospectors have’ been searching the Florida Mountains, about 26 miles west of Doming. Lives have been lost and thousands of dollars spent in seeking the lost claim. .' • . Few definite facts are known about the mine, originally believed to have ( bqeni worked by the Spanish Con-, quistadoros.