Lost Frenchman Goldmine
Yuma co. Az
Arizona Republican Newspaper
March 16, 1897

Editor John W. Dorrington of the Arizona Sentinel, who came up from 
Yuma yesterday, said that the mining excitement in consequence of 
the late gold strike in the country between Castle Dome and Eagle 
Tall Mountains was on the increase.  The still later discovery of 
gold within the city limits of Yuma, a circumstance in itself 
sufficient to produce a wild excitement has been overshadowed by 
the phenomenal find in the northeast.

There is no longer any doubt in Yuma or among old prospectors and 
miners that the Lost Frenchman Mine has been rediscovered after 
more than twenty five years. The mine whose very existence was 
half doubted was so named because it was supposed to be worked 
by a couple of Frenchmen, one or the other of whom used to make 
periodical visits to Yuma after supplies which were always paid 
for with large gold nuggets.  Fruitless attempts were made to 
learn from them the locality in which the nuggets were found 
and equally fruitless attempts were made to follow them.  The 
Frenchmen always succeeded in leaving town unobserved.

One time they were followed by a party of Mexicans whom they 
managed to elude near Agua Calente.  At last the Frenchmen came 
to Yuma no more.  As it was evident that they would likely 
leave the country in no other way than through Yuma it was 
supposed that they had been murdered by Indians.

Years afterward a skeleton was found in the vicinity of the 
late strike.  It was believed to be the skeleton of one of the 
Frenchmen and though there were no workings in the vicinity, 
interest in the supposed wealthy mine was revived and the whole 
country was prospected over again and again. Of late years, 
people only smil when the Lost Frenchman was mentioned.  The 
gold brought in from the new strike is said to be of the same 
character as the gold with which the Frenchmen fired up Yuma 
a quarter of a century ago.  

Mr. Dorrington says there is a sick and disgusted prospecting 
party in Yuma. About three weeks before the country was 
electrified by the discovery of Elchebarger and his companion, 
this party camped one night on the very ground where the strike 
was made.  The members of the party console themselves by the 
observation that nobody but an infernal fool would think of 
looking for gold in such an unlikely locality.  But it is in 
such localities that all the great strikes in Arizona have been 
made and almost without exception they have been accidents.  
The latest discovery, the Pearce Mine, has been tramped over 
by prospectors since white men first came into the country, 
and La Fortuna lay on the old Sonora Road traveled for years 
by thousands of men.  The discoverer of La Fortuna was in the 
frenzy of delirium tremens and he afterward admitted that if 
he had been in his right mind he wouldn't have been in that 
neighborhood looking for gold.

April 4, 1897

Three prospectors are now in the southeastern part of the S.H. 
Mountains endeavoring to locate the famous Lost Frenchman Mine 
which is supposed to have existed thirty years ago.  They were 
sent out by George W. Norton of Mohawk, who believes he is on 
the track of the lost mine.  The fact that the three Frenchmen 
came to Yuma with $1500 worth of ore and left $1400 on deposit 
with Barney and Company of that place, which was never called 
for by the Frenchmen, goes to prove that the mine did exist.

And Mr. Norton has a further evidence in the discovery of the 
bones of the Frenchmen at the foot of a little butte in the 
S.H. Mountains fifteen miles northeast of the King of Arizona.  
An old Apache Indian now living in the Mohawk Valley related 
the story of a fight with three Frenchmen in the S.H. Mountains 
to a Mexican named Granja and the Indian consented to go with 
Granja to the scene of the fight.  The Apache said he was a 
member of the band of Indians who had attacked the Frenchmen 
and seven of their number were killed before they succeeded in 
ending the lives of the wiry Frenchmen.  The bones were found 
at the place the Indian guided Granja to.  There were two 
skulls, a backbone, and some arm and leg bones.  Granja 
tried to find the mine worked by the Frenchmen but his efforts 
were without avail. He told Mr. Norton about finding the bones 
and together they made a trip to the place.  The remains of 
the Frenchmen were gathered up and put in a barley sack by 
Mr. Norton and afterwards left to mark the scene of the fight 
in a monument built of rocks. The bodies of the seven Indians 
killed in the fight were cremated according to a custom of the 
Apache of disposing of their dead.  Mr. Norton's prospectors 
are now working in the hills near this monument, where the 
mine is supposed to have been located.  Up to the present 
time it remains the "Lost Frenchmen Mine."

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