Could there be a lost gold mine somewhere in Death Valley? Many believe there is, and millions of dollars worth of gold is still waiting to be found!
Like so many other stories about lost gold, this one has many versions. Most accounts agree that in 1849, two brothers, Charles and Joshua Breyfogle, and possibly a third brother, set out from Lockhart, New York, and headed west to seek their fortune. They joined other prospectors in Columbus, Ohio. Traveling west toward the California gold mines, they arrived in Sacramento, California on August 14, 1849.
The brothers made their way to the Chico River and Butte Creek area, but were unsuccessful in mining gold there. In January 1850 on the Yuba River, they prospected for gold in Marysville, which had developed into a gold mining tent city. Once again, they were unlucky and the following month they headed upriver to Goodhues to make a new claim.
Along the banks and at the bottom of the river, their efforts paid off and they began to find gold.Charles returned to New York in 1850 with $20,000. Joshua remained behind to continue pressing their claim. The following year, Charles returned to California and tried his hand at politics, but after being tried for fraud after losing more than $6,000 in county funds and sent to prison (though eventually released), he clearly decided politics wasn’t for him. . He continued his search.
When a rich strike occurred in Nevada, Charles went to Virginia City. There were stories about the Big Smoky Valley having rich gold reserves, and Charles decided to open a real estate office in Geneva, a nearby mining town, but by the time he arrived the golden age had already begun. over, the blood vessels were exhausted and he was looking for new opportunities again.
Charles heard several men talking about a map in 1863 and felt certain they were talking about a legendary mine known as the Lost Gun Mine of Death Valley. They departed the next day, and after tracking them across Nevada, he caught up with them somewhere between Goldfield and Tonopah. I’m sure he was disappointed when he discovered that the men were not prospectors at all but were going to Texas to make contact with the Confederate army. One account indicates that Breyfogle traveled with them for the purpose of participating, but most stories claim that he was just along for the ride.
A few nights later, while camping in the Mohave Desert south of Ash Meadows, Charles placed his sleeping bag away from the other men. Awakened in the night by the sounds of other men being attacked by Indians, he grabbed his boots and sleeping bag and dragged it out of camp. Other stories tell of the poor man who left his boots behind after being partially burned but escaped from the Indians and had to walk barefoot in the desert.
Due to his hasty retreat, he had no food or water, and staggered in the desert for several days before reaching a small stream, which undoubtedly saved his life. While drinking, he saw a quartz mine containing gold, some stories claim the samples were 50% gold.
Taking a few samples with him and recording the site he planned to find his way back to civilization and file a mining claim in the area. Traveling south, he reached Stump Spring, located in the Pahrump Valley of the Mojave Desert, and waited there in an effort to catch up with any railroad cars that came along.
Once again Breyfogle encountered Indians, this time a group of Shoshones. One account claims he was beaten unconscious, robbed, and left in the desert. Another account says he was taken prisoner and worked as a slave, helping women in their work. After several months, he was rescued by a Mormon train that visited the Indian village and ransomed him. He was transported to a southern Nevada ranch located at a place called Manse Spring, where he was treated kindly and recuperated. In gratitude for his rescue, he told the ranchers about the discovery of gold at Stump Spring and showed them rock samples he had brought with him.
Charles Breyfogle moved back to Austin after recuperating and searched Death Valley in the northeast for 26 years, trying to relocate his great discovery. He never found it again, but claimed he would die trying. He insisted the gold was real until the day he died in the late 1880s or possibly the early 1890s.
A man named George Montgomery was a believer in the lost mine of Charles Breyfogle and discovered gold north of Pahrump in January 1891. He started a mining operation there known as the Johnnie Mine and In just a short time, there were more than 100 miners working at this mine. area and a stamp mill were built in 1895. A town grew up there, but it was almost abandoned by 1914. Little remains of the camp except a few mines, a few Old building and some foundations.
Many researchers believe that the Johnnie Mine is actually the gold discovered by Charles Breyfogle while wandering in the desert. Some people tend to believe that it is located in the Amargosa River Valley in California. But of course there are others who believe it was never found, so they continue the hunt for Breyfogle’s Lost Gold.
