The Lost Breyfogle Mine

[oroblanco]

Before the Lost Dutchman became the most famous lost mine in the USA, one of the most famous was the Lost Breyfogle gold mine.

There are at least a half-dozen versions of this story, with several different Breyfogle's being named in them including having TWO Breyfogles (brothers) as the finders. Basically the story was that Breyfogle (also found spelled Brefogle and several other ways) had gone into the desert country around Death Valley, and were attacked by Indians. Breyfogle survived being whacked in the head by a tomahawk (or a rock?) and wandered dazed and confused through the desert, living on Mesquite beans and happened on a ledge or outcropping of very rich gold ore. He filled his shoes with samples of the ore and managed to find his way out to "civilization". The ore proved to be rich indeed, a rose quartz sprinkled with gold!

Breyfogle made repeated attempts to return to his mine, enlisting the aid of several partners but always got mixed up when ever he thought he might be close. Searchers have hunted Nye county Nevada and the Amargosa river country in California, and we might well say that the lost Breyfogle is not really lost! Gold ore is a bit like fingerprints, in that the ore from any source is not exactly like the ore from any other source; an expert in geology and some experienced assayers can ID the source of a gold sample by just examining it with a jeweler's loupe. The somewhat famous Amargosa gold mine in CA had ore very similar to the samples brought out by Breyfogle; in fact an expert said they are identical, which would mean that Breyfogle's lost mine is in fact the not-lost Amargosa mine!

Here are a few good articles on the Lost Breyfogle mine
http://www.desertusa.com/mag02/sep/lostm.html

http://www.legendsofamerica.com/NV-Treasures6.html

http://www.thegeozone.com/treasure/neva ... nv012a.jsp

This article has some of the history on the Amargosa gold mine;
http://vredenburgh.org/mining_history/p ... Irwin.html

I don't wish to discourage anyone from searching for the Breyfogle, perhaps the Amargosa is not a match and there could be other outcrops of the same vein elsewhere that could be what Breyfogle discovered. There is also a story of a rich placer deposit that was found by accident, when searchers for the Breyfogle lode happened to find a very rich placer but they were unable to find it when they tried to return to it so it is not exactly a waste of time to search. Anyone have any pet theories or ideas on this lost bonanza? Thank you in advance.

Good luck and good hunting amigos, I hope you find the treasures that you seek.
Roy ~ Oroblanco

[Rick from Kali]

many belive that the Keane wonder mine in Death Valley is the Lost Breyfogle mine as it also sits in the Funeral Mtns. as did the lost Breyfogle was supposed to.
Rick

http://www.ghosttowns.com/states/ca/keane.html

[oroblanco]

Welcome to DUSA Rick! Thank you for the interesting link!
Roy ~ Oroblanco

[Guz]

Love the site...HATE the music...sheesh! Wheres the mute button? lol!


Guz

[Rick from Kali]

the last time i visited the Keane mine was back in 1978. was a sight to behold with the tram and all. to bad it's closed. i would like to visit it again. thanks for the welcome Roy. Any of you ever heard of the lost Dutch Oven mine some where in the Chocolate Mtn. off of route 66....?
Rick

[oroblanco]

Rick wrote

any of ever heard of the lost Dutch Oven mine some where in the Chocolate Mtn. off of route 66....

Hoo boy yes indeed! Maybe we ought to start a thread on it? What do you think amigo?
Roy ~ Oroblanco

[Rick from Kali]

from all that i have read on it, it supposed to lay not too far from the SP tracks near Amboy. now that i am under employed i just might take some time and see what i can find. if the Dutch oven is still there it's probably coverd with dirt so a metal dectector will probably be in order. better start doing more research. maybe i'll be more lucky than Earl Stanley Gardner....where's
Perry Mason when you need him.........

Rick

[oroblanco]

I am setting up a new thread for the Dutch Oven mine, will be up in a moment;
Roy

Here is the link for the new thread
http://www.desertusa.com/mb3/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=1939