Ed Schieffelin, the millionaire prospector, had been dead
for several days. He had fallen face down in the doorway of his cabin.
When Sheriff Alex Orme had heard that his old boyhood mining companion hadn't returned for supplies, he had a feeling something was wrong, perhaps a broken leg, but nothing like this.
Under the body, Orme found a mortar. When Schieffelin died, he had been grinding down ore, and at the bottom of the mortar was a fine powder, flecked with what looked like gold.
On the table inside the cabin, Orme found a few tobacco cans filled with the same powder and nearby, Schieffelin's diary.
On the last page, Schieffelin had quickly scrawled, "Struck her rich again, by God!"
He had apparently died of natural causes at age 49. Biscuits that had been cooking in his now-cold oven were black, Schieffelin's $450 gold watch that chimed on the quarter-hour still was in his pocket, and there was no sign of a struggle.
Orme wrapped Schieffelin in a blue blanket that he found in the cabin and buried his friend in a shallow grave.
From his birth in Pennsylvania to his last day near Days Creek in Douglas County, Ed Schieffelin's life was touched by gold.
Born a year before the discovery of gold in California, Schieffelin crossed the plains to Southern Oregon with his mother, five brothers and two sisters in 1857.
His gold-seeking father and uncle had sailed around South America five years earlier, eventually taking out land claims near Woodville, today's town of Rogue River.
As a boy, Schieffelin panned gold and learned everything he could from the local prospectors. By the early 1870s, he was wandering the West, always looking for gold.
"I can't say that I care to be rich," he wrote. "I like the excitement of being right up against the earth trying to find her gold."
In Arizona's Apache territory, he settled in with the army at Camp Huachuca. Nearly every day he went off into the hills alone, prospecting for gold.
"The only thing you'll find is your tombstone," a friend warned.
Schieffelin had the last laugh. At a site he named the Tombstone Lode, he found millions of dollars in silver and, according to legend, gave the Arizona town its name.
With his fortune he bought property in California, including an orange grove for his parents. He married, spent his money freely, but never gave up on his quest for gold.
When he drove his own blue Concorde stagecoach into Woodville in 1895, none of his old friends recognized the 200-pound, blue-eyed stranger with the flowing beard.
"I was raised across the Rogue River," he told the gathering crowd, "right at the mouth of Schieffelin Gulch. I'm Ed Schieffelin."
After some backslapping and some whiskey drinking, Schieffelin was on his way.
Three years later, just east of Canyonville, he struck the mother lode again. And though he died before he could stake a claim, Ed Schieffelin died a happy man.
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| Ed Schieffelin, named Tombstone, AZ |
When Sheriff Alex Orme had heard that his old boyhood mining companion hadn't returned for supplies, he had a feeling something was wrong, perhaps a broken leg, but nothing like this.
Under the body, Orme found a mortar. When Schieffelin died, he had been grinding down ore, and at the bottom of the mortar was a fine powder, flecked with what looked like gold.
On the table inside the cabin, Orme found a few tobacco cans filled with the same powder and nearby, Schieffelin's diary.
On the last page, Schieffelin had quickly scrawled, "Struck her rich again, by God!"
He had apparently died of natural causes at age 49. Biscuits that had been cooking in his now-cold oven were black, Schieffelin's $450 gold watch that chimed on the quarter-hour still was in his pocket, and there was no sign of a struggle.
Orme wrapped Schieffelin in a blue blanket that he found in the cabin and buried his friend in a shallow grave.
From his birth in Pennsylvania to his last day near Days Creek in Douglas County, Ed Schieffelin's life was touched by gold.
Born a year before the discovery of gold in California, Schieffelin crossed the plains to Southern Oregon with his mother, five brothers and two sisters in 1857.
His gold-seeking father and uncle had sailed around South America five years earlier, eventually taking out land claims near Woodville, today's town of Rogue River.
As a boy, Schieffelin panned gold and learned everything he could from the local prospectors. By the early 1870s, he was wandering the West, always looking for gold.
"I can't say that I care to be rich," he wrote. "I like the excitement of being right up against the earth trying to find her gold."
In Arizona's Apache territory, he settled in with the army at Camp Huachuca. Nearly every day he went off into the hills alone, prospecting for gold.
"The only thing you'll find is your tombstone," a friend warned.
Schieffelin had the last laugh. At a site he named the Tombstone Lode, he found millions of dollars in silver and, according to legend, gave the Arizona town its name.
With his fortune he bought property in California, including an orange grove for his parents. He married, spent his money freely, but never gave up on his quest for gold.
When he drove his own blue Concorde stagecoach into Woodville in 1895, none of his old friends recognized the 200-pound, blue-eyed stranger with the flowing beard.
"I was raised across the Rogue River," he told the gathering crowd, "right at the mouth of Schieffelin Gulch. I'm Ed Schieffelin."
After some backslapping and some whiskey drinking, Schieffelin was on his way.
Three years later, just east of Canyonville, he struck the mother lode again. And though he died before he could stake a claim, Ed Schieffelin died a happy man.
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| Schieffelin Gulch, Jackson County, Oregon |
