Hi Mark, Very interesting! I grew up exploring a set of caves and silver mines in Orange County California, so the story of Silver Mine and Powell's is all the more compelling for me.** My father and grandfather were both treasure hunters, so the lore I've gathered from everyone has certainly spiced up my view of the rock trails and caves of Central Texas. Thanks to everyone who's written me; it looks like Coronado's Children is a must-read, and I have some interesting lore for the Austin Adventure guide. Best Regards, ~~Thomas ** Aside: The Blue Light Mine (outside Silverado, CA) discovered the natural caves quite tragically in the nineteenth century, as they were water filled until a miner discovered them. The resulting flood killed two mules and five miners, if I recall correctly. The cave section remains treacherous; some of its areas have air so bad they put out my father's carbide lamp. A few years after I moved to Texas I learned that some teenagers asphyxiated in them.
--- On Fri, 6/26/09, Minton, Mark <mmin...@nmhu.edu> wrote: From: Minton, Mark <mmin...@nmhu.edu> Subject: [Texascavers] RE: Gold mines in Texas To: Texascavers@texascavers.com List-Post: texascavers@texascavers.com Date: Friday, June 26, 2009, 1:00 PM John Brooks said: >In southern Oklahoma (north of here, in case you were wondering)........there >are legends of someone absconding with 20 “jackloads” of gold.... Hmm, that is suspiciously similar to some of the legends of the lost Bowie Mine around Menard. (What's a jackload? Probably something that a mule could carry. See <http://okietreasurehunter.blogspot.com/2009/05/in-stephens-county-oklahoma-near-town.html>.) Texas cavers used to have access to a cave called Silver Mine quite close to Powell's. They are hydrologically related but so far not physically connected. Silver Mine has several entrances, most of which are artificial shafts sunk into the natural cave. At one time they had actually disassembled a bulldozer, taken it down a shaft, and reassembled it in the cave to move fill around in search of gold. I've seen it, and it's ptrobably still there. They never found anything, but someone sunk a lot of money into looking. That cave still has good leads, and sits in a strategic position between Powell's and the rumored "Meteor Crater" which was a collapse feature into a stream passage that has since filled in. I spent a lot of time at Silver Mine with William Russell, Jerry Atkinson and others in the '80's. That would be a nice cave to get back into. You can see a composite line plot in "50 Years of Texas Caving" at <http://pages.suddenlink.net/carl-kunath/50_Years/Powell%27s_Cave.pdf>. There are also several pages devoted to treasure hunting in Texas caves in "Natural History of Texas Caves" by Lundelius and Slaughter (1971), including the San Saba and Bowie stories. Here's another source of Texas treasure legends: <http://www.legendsofamerica.com/TX-Treasure6.html>. Mark Minton
