The Tall Tale of the Olympic Mountain Silver Mine
A notorious character in Los Angeles claims a skeleton, a secret diary, and a map have led him to a mountain of solid silver near Lake Cushman.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Captain Dick, a notorious liar, is in Los Angeles. He tells the people how, in August 1891, he found the skeleton of a man in the Olympic Mountains near Lake Cushman. Under the bones was a diary that told of a rich silver mine in Southern California, and a map that located it. Captain Dick claims to have rediscovered the mine, which is of solid silver.
“Captain Dick, a notorious liar, is in Los Angeles. He tells the people how... he found the skeleton of a man in the Olympic mountains near lake Cushman.”
Gold and silver fever has long been a staple of PNW history, often fueling wild claims and 'lost mine' legends that persist in the cultural imagination. Captain Dick's story echoes modern-day crypto-scams and get-rich-quick schemes that promise immense wealth through discovery of 'secret' assets.
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