State Treasure - Wyoming

The Lost Downey Lode
ALBANY COUNTY – After being wounded in the Battle of Harper’s Ferry, Maryland native Colonel Stephen Wheeler Downey (1839-1902) was discharged from the military and studied law, being admitted to the bar in Washington, D.C., in 1863.
Six years later, in 1869 Downey found himself traveling across the frontier of the Wyoming Territory.
He settled in Laramie where he practiced law, opened a survey office, and served as district attorney for Albany County in 1869-70. He married Evangeline Victoria Owen (1853-1937) in Laramie in 1872, who bore him 10 children.
In spite of his large family, a law practice, and his political endeavors, Downey somehow found the time to prospect for gold.
He discovered a rich vein of gold in 1875 and founded the Centennial Gold Mining Company of Laramie. But two years later the gold stopped at a fault line and Downey never could find where the vein continued on the other side of the fault.
When asked why he’d stopped mining, Downey said the rich vein had simply pinched out, not mentioning the fault line or the fact that he was still searching for where the vein resumed.
But local prospectors believed his explanation to be a ruse. It was reputed that his mine was on Centennial Mountain (known as Centennial Ridge today), though Downey remained silent as to the actual location.
Dr. Lester C. Hunt, Wyoming Secretary of State, (1935 – 1943) wrote of Downey’s lost mine stating… “In the 1870’s, Colonel Stephen W. Downey refused $100,000 for a [the] rich gold lode.”
Hunt also provided the location of the mine, which he published in 1941 stating “In the late 1920’s, prospectors, [were] searching the Centennial Mountain district for the lost Downey Lode.” But Hunt claims his mine was actually located, “along the North Fork.”
Map research helped me better understand where prospectors had searched for Downey’s mine and where Hunt claims it was actually located.
Unfortunately, Hunt gives no landmarks to better pinpoint where the mine sat “along the North Fork,” but it’s clear that Downey wasn’t mining on Centennial Mountain.
Hunt’s reference to “the North Fork” clearly refers to the North Fork of the Little Laramie River, which descends from north of the town of Centennial (Pop. 191) and bypasses it to the east and continues south until it turns east and connects with the Little Laramie River, just west of Sheep Mountain North.
That puts Downey’s lost lode in the Centennial Valley east of Centennial Mountain and just west of the Sheep Mountains North. Gold was reported to have been found near Centennial in 2010, causing many to believe that Downey’s rich vein had finally been found.
So far I have been unable to confirm this.Martinez Massacre
& Lost Mine
SHERIDAN COUNTY – In 1888, a party of Mexican prospectors led by Miguel Martinez laid over in Cheyenne for a bit while en-route to the Big Horn Mountains.
While there, Martinez made some inquiries; he explained that his family had once worked a very rich gold mine dating to the late 1700’s somewhere in the Big Horn Mountains.
He claimed to be a descendant of those who actually worked the mine, which he claimed the entrance to was carefully concealed before they returned to Mexico.
While heading south through present-day New Mexico, the party was massacred by Indians, save one man who managed to survive and did return home.
Martinez stated his party was heading into the Big Horn Mountains to re-open their ancestor’s mine. He added that a map leading to the mine had survived, which he was in possession of.
Several weeks after Martinez and his party had departed Cheyenne, word came that their bodies had been discovered “riddled with bullets and badly mutilated” in the mountains.
No map was ever found with the slain party and the mine has been lost ever since.Hog Ranch Treasure
CONVERSE COUNTY – A “Hog Ranch” by 19th century definition was a brothel. Hog Ranches were commonly erected on the Plains within several miles of American military posts.
Most were places where a soldier, cowhand or a gentlemen caller from neighboring towns could spend their money. So, in addition to the houses of ill repute, there were also saloons, dance halls and gambling dens.
Hog Ranches frequently attracted deserters, fugitives and, in the case of Fort Fetterman’s Hog Ranch, the killer cannibal Alfred “Alferd” Packer, who was arrested there in 1883.
Fort Fetterman is located just north of Douglas, on the south bank of the North Platte River, on a high plateau overlooking the LaPrele Creek and North Platt River valleys.
Established as a military post on July 19, 1867, and named Fort Fetterman on July 31, 1867, in honor of Captain William J. Fetterman, who fell in battle on December 21, 1866, near Fort Phil Kearney while fighting Indians.
The fort served to protect the Union Pacific Railroad and American civilization as it advanced westward following the railroad, and as a major supply center on the frontier.
Per the Treaty of 1868, Fort C.F. Smith, Fort Reno, and Fort Kearney, all located along the Bozeman Trail were abandoned, leaving Fort Fetterman the only remaining American outpost to hold ground in the disputed territory.
By the mid-1870’s, the fort served as the base for three of General George Crook’s Powder River Expeditions, as well as Colonel Randall McKenzie’s campaign against Dull Knife and the Cheyenne.
After the Indians in the region had been restrained on reservations, the fort was abandoned in 1882.
Being assigned to Fort Fetterman was considered a “hardship post” both by officers and troops.
Being an outpost on the edge of the western frontier provided little opportunity for recreational activities for the men on their time off.
But there was the Hog Ranch, not so conveniently located about seven miles north of the fort and on the opposite (north) bank of the river, forcing soldiers to swim across the river in order to reach the outpost of rapture.
After the fort was abandoned, the ever-popular Hog Ranch was acquired by Jack Saunders and Jim Lawrence, who ran the camp until 1886 when Saunders was killed in a fight by Billy Bacon.
Saunders regularly buried his take of the profits, but his business partner never knew where. After several unsuccessful searches for Saunders’ treasure, Lawrence moved on and the Hog Ranch closed. The cache was never found.Wyoming Ghost Towns
Mormon Row, TETON COUNTY – In 1889, four Mormon families settled here and a larger community soon developed.
Located about 13.5 miles north-northeast of Jackson, as the crow flies. Take US 89 from Jackson and go right onto Antelope Flats Road (closed May). Go about 1.5 miles to Mormon Row Road and go right. Several buildings remain though the town was abandoned after 1950.South Pass City, FREMONT COUNTY – Gold was discovered in nearby Sweetwater Creek in 1842 and quite a mining town developed. The population reached 4,000 in 1870, but the town started to decline a few years later.
Many original buildings remain along with a few current residents. Located 25 miles south of Lander off US 287 (Dickenson Avenue), go left on South Pass City Road for roughly 1.9 miles to the ghost town.Bosler, ALBANY COUNTY – Originally a railroad shipping stop for the Diamond Ranch, a small village grew up here, and a post office followed in 1908.
Located nearly 20 miles north of Laramie, the original road followed the railroad tracks, present-day US 30 and, by the mid-1920’s, the population reached 75 with several roadside business flourishing.
The 1940 US Census shows its population at 264 people. In 1972, the Interstate bypassed this area and the town began to fade. By 1990, only 50 people remained.
A post office remains and the town is still incorporated, but you’ll find few residents today and many empty buildings.Sources:
Treasures in Wyoming: http://www.gwizit.com/treasures/wyomin
g.html
Centennial, Wyoming, http://www.centennialwyoming.com/
Wikipedia research: Centennial, Wyoming, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centennial,_WY
Wikipedia research: Stephen Wheeler Downey, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Wheeler_Downey
Hunt, Dr. Lester C., Wyoming: a guide to its history, highways, and people, 1941, New York, Oxford University Press
Map research: Lost Downey Mine, by Belli Research Maps, Pollock Pines, CA.
Terry, Thomas P., U.S. Treasure Atlas-Volume 10, 1985, La Crosse, WI, Specialty Publishing Company, p. 1114
Henson, Michael Paul, America’s Lost Treasures, 1984, South Bend, IN, Jayco Publishing Company, p. 130
Wyoming State Parks, Fort Fetterman, http://wyoparks.state.wy.us/Site/SiteInfo.asp?siteID=15
Mormon Row, http://www.ghostt
owns.com/states/wy/mormonrow.html
Wikipedia: Mormon Row Historic District, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mormon_Row
South Pass City, http://www.ghosttowns.com/states/wy/southpas
s.html
Bosler, Ancestry.com, http://freepages.history.rootsweb.ancestry
.com/~gtusa/usa/wy/bosler.htm
http://freepages.history.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~gtusa/usa/wy.htm