![]() Today, that boot of nuggets is worth approximately $3.6 million dollars!Ĭould these stories be true? Stranger things have happened and only time will tell.The problem remains, as previously stated by others, is that the Jellyshroom caves are a relatively early-game area. ![]() It is believed that $40,000 worth of gold nuggets is buried in a knee-high rubber boot, covered with an inverted frying pan, 18 inches below the surface. On his death bed, he indicated the gold was buried 150 yards, or feet, or 250 yards, or feet, northwest from the northwest corner of the largest building in Leechtown. Marshall and taken back to California where he died in either Folsom or San Quentin. The Leechtown buried treasure story is that the bandit set up camp on the banks of the Leech River, enjoying fruits of the saloons and young ladies in the dance hall. Readers digest published a story by Fairfax Downey that Rattlesnake Dick Barter’s Gang attacked a Wells-Fargo mule train in California, making off with $80,000 in stolen gold, burying it and who did not live long enough to retrieve it. Today, the cave still remains a mystery.īut yet, another story abounds. He died of tuberculosis in a Victoria rest home in late 1865. He spent he next year of his life trying to find the cave, but was unsuccessful. When he finally sobered up, he could not remember the location of the cave. In celebration of his discovery, Christen went on a drinking binge. He found the scared mule hiding in a small cave, and upon examination of the cave, he found a vein of gold 24 inches wide extending all the way into the cave. The following morning, Christen set out to find his missing mule. The panicked mule broke free from it’s tether and fled into the night. Not long after establishing his base camp, a violent storm blew in, panicking his pack mule. Hans was a trained geologist with a degree from the University of Copenhagen, and set up his camp at the base of Survey Mountain. One of the original prospectors was a Swede by the name of Hans Christen. Nuggets varying in size from 15.6 to 31.1 grams have been recovered. ![]() The gold recovered from the benches was mined either at: a) a depth of 3 to 5 metres and 3 metres above river level on a clay “false bedrock” of a low bench on the north side of the Leech River that extends 400 metres upstream from its junction with the Sooke River or b) on the bedrock beneath the shallow overburden on a rock bench about 3 metres above river level that extends more or less continuously on one side of the river or the other, at least as far as the first fork in the river about 5 kilometres upstream from Sooke River. ![]() It appears that most of the gold was derived from bars or in crevices in the bedrock of the river bed, or from benches along the side of the river. Of the tributaries to Leech River, Martin’s Gulch is notable for the gold that was found for a distance of 2 kilometres up from Leech River. Between 19 a recorded 192 ounces of gold were recovered. Dawson the run of gold turned up the North Fork but rapidly diminished and ran out above the falls in the Devil’s Grip. Signs of old workings are seen along the river upstream from the Sooke River, a distance of about 6.5 kilometres, to a point 1.5 kilometres beyond the first fork. Later estimates place the actual value between 100,000 and 200,000 dollars. By 1876, it was estimated that 100,000 dollars worth of gold had been recovered. It is believed that over 3,000 men were engaged in placer mining at one time along Leech River. In addition to the 1,200 miners working the area, the town boasted several stores, saloons and hotels. In less than a month, the bustling town of Leechtown was established. When Governor Kennedy publicized Leech’s gold discovery, hordes of miners flocked to the area.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |