Well I am not sure I ever heard of this one. A very brief mention that a treasure may be found further down from the town site on the flats. Near where the Chinese placered gold. Source is volume 1 number 1 summer 1988 Ghost Town Quarterly. I will have to check further into this to see if anything is out there on it. Anyone ever hear of it?
Cable Montana Lost Treasure
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IAMZIM
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- Apr 23, 2011
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I tried to look up your reference, but it says it moved and I can't find it. I personally have not heard this one, everything I have read about Cable said that they made so much money off the gold there, that no one locked their doors, because no one needed to steal from their neighbors. I have several times passed through Cable, and thought about asking the guy who owns it to let me detect, but everyone who knows him says he is a nasty mean guy and doesn't like tresspassers. I'd have to have a "brave" day to go talk to him lol!
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- #4
I did find that in one year, 1883 (I think), $60,000 was estimate to have been high-graded. The owner fired the foreman and replace him with one who made the workers change after a shift. They claim a cigar box of choice pieces was worth a thousand. I am doing books on these old stories, so I am digging deep into the research.
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Well, a real gem I ran across in the 1950's book, Treasure State Treasure Tales. Decided to add it into my next book to come out.
The Cable Boulder Story.
Several versions exist, they vary with the year and the number of people involved. The year was said to be 1868, when two miners were hired to work at the Cable Quartz Lode. They were fired in a short time when it was discovered their experience was only in panning gravel. Rather than leave they hung around, and asked the assayer odd questions. “What is the largest nugget ever found in the world?” “How would one dispose of such a large nugget?” The assayer asked, “did you find such a nugget?” They only laughed and shook their heads. He then told them, “find one before you start to worry about such things!” A short time later another miner was talking about finding a boulder so big he could not move it, he got help from two others and they managed to roll it out of the way. Hearing this a large group of miners left to see the large boulder. When they arrived, it was gone. Then someone remembered the two who were asking the odd questions. Some believe the two somehow managed to take the boulder unseen. The boulder was never found and most believe that was because it was broken into much smaller pieces. Our story has some interesting items, high-grading and what could have been the world’s record gold nugget.
The Cable Boulder Story.
Several versions exist, they vary with the year and the number of people involved. The year was said to be 1868, when two miners were hired to work at the Cable Quartz Lode. They were fired in a short time when it was discovered their experience was only in panning gravel. Rather than leave they hung around, and asked the assayer odd questions. “What is the largest nugget ever found in the world?” “How would one dispose of such a large nugget?” The assayer asked, “did you find such a nugget?” They only laughed and shook their heads. He then told them, “find one before you start to worry about such things!” A short time later another miner was talking about finding a boulder so big he could not move it, he got help from two others and they managed to roll it out of the way. Hearing this a large group of miners left to see the large boulder. When they arrived, it was gone. Then someone remembered the two who were asking the odd questions. Some believe the two somehow managed to take the boulder unseen. The boulder was never found and most believe that was because it was broken into much smaller pieces. Our story has some interesting items, high-grading and what could have been the world’s record gold nugget.
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- #9
From "Treasure State Treasure Tales" by Jean Moore 1950:
WAS THE STOLEN BOULDER A NUGGET?
In 1867, a new mining camp in what was later called the Phillipsburg area was born and christened Cable in honor of the second transatlantic cable. It competed with its sister camps such as Bannack and Virginia City, offering new opportunities to strike it rich. Too many disappointed prospectors quickly made a rush to the new camp.
Cable soon became noted for its extremely rich ore which brought in many high-graders, or gold smugglers. It was not difficult for the high-graders to conceal pieces of the rich ore on their person; and it was said that many smugglers were able to retire from this illegal business, which made honesty a very unrewarding virtue.
Cable contributed many interesting chapters to Montana mining, and the story of the stolen boulder is one of them. As treasure stories in general have a habit of varying with the years, so the Cable boulder story has varied in the number of characters involved, the date of its disappearance, and other minor incidents.
Accepting the most popular version, two miners, whose names have evidently not been remembered, hired out as miners at the Cable Quartz Lode in 1868; but they were fired when it was disclosed that their mining experience had not exceeded that of panning a little gravel from a stream.
Instead of leaving the camp when their jobs were terminated, the two ex-miners hung around for some time. They asked peculiar questions of the assayer, such as the size of the largest nugget ever found in the world; how a person would dispose of a huge negative found; and what would be the required statements in relation to ownership of such a valuable object?
The assayer asked his questioners if they had found such a treasure; but they just laughed and shook their heads. “Why don’t you wait to do your worrying until after you find one then,” he said, and he heard no more from the men who left camp shortly after the conversation.
A short time after their departure, a man who worked in the Cable Quartz Lode described a boulder so heavy it couldn’t be moved by a man’s strength. It was so heavy, in fact, that it was impossible to even start rolling, he said. He enlisted the help of two men, and the three of them managed to push it out of the way.
At the boarding house that evening, one of the men mentioned the heavy rock, and the other boarder showed considerable curiosity and asked to see the boulder. The miner took them to the site, but the huge rock had completely and mysteriously disappeared. How it was taken from the mine, by whom, and where it went – these things were never solved.
The men were quite certain now that the boulder was really a big nugget. All agreed that plans to remove the boulder from the mine must’ve been carried out while the miners had been eating and that several men must have been in on the clever, well-timed planning. One of the miners recalled the two men who had asked so many questions about nuggets. Had they somehow returned and managed to remove the boulder, or nugget?
As far as solving the mystery of the disappearance….it would have been quite impossible to trace even a huge nugget to its original source after it had been broken up.
In 1889, W.A. Clark paid $10,000 for a nugget taken from the Cable Quartz Lode and called “the largest nugget in the world.” If the heavy rock not been stolen, Clark’s nugget might have been called “the second largest nugget in the world.”
WAS THE STOLEN BOULDER A NUGGET?
In 1867, a new mining camp in what was later called the Phillipsburg area was born and christened Cable in honor of the second transatlantic cable. It competed with its sister camps such as Bannack and Virginia City, offering new opportunities to strike it rich. Too many disappointed prospectors quickly made a rush to the new camp.
Cable soon became noted for its extremely rich ore which brought in many high-graders, or gold smugglers. It was not difficult for the high-graders to conceal pieces of the rich ore on their person; and it was said that many smugglers were able to retire from this illegal business, which made honesty a very unrewarding virtue.
Cable contributed many interesting chapters to Montana mining, and the story of the stolen boulder is one of them. As treasure stories in general have a habit of varying with the years, so the Cable boulder story has varied in the number of characters involved, the date of its disappearance, and other minor incidents.
Accepting the most popular version, two miners, whose names have evidently not been remembered, hired out as miners at the Cable Quartz Lode in 1868; but they were fired when it was disclosed that their mining experience had not exceeded that of panning a little gravel from a stream.
Instead of leaving the camp when their jobs were terminated, the two ex-miners hung around for some time. They asked peculiar questions of the assayer, such as the size of the largest nugget ever found in the world; how a person would dispose of a huge negative found; and what would be the required statements in relation to ownership of such a valuable object?
The assayer asked his questioners if they had found such a treasure; but they just laughed and shook their heads. “Why don’t you wait to do your worrying until after you find one then,” he said, and he heard no more from the men who left camp shortly after the conversation.
A short time after their departure, a man who worked in the Cable Quartz Lode described a boulder so heavy it couldn’t be moved by a man’s strength. It was so heavy, in fact, that it was impossible to even start rolling, he said. He enlisted the help of two men, and the three of them managed to push it out of the way.
At the boarding house that evening, one of the men mentioned the heavy rock, and the other boarder showed considerable curiosity and asked to see the boulder. The miner took them to the site, but the huge rock had completely and mysteriously disappeared. How it was taken from the mine, by whom, and where it went – these things were never solved.
The men were quite certain now that the boulder was really a big nugget. All agreed that plans to remove the boulder from the mine must’ve been carried out while the miners had been eating and that several men must have been in on the clever, well-timed planning. One of the miners recalled the two men who had asked so many questions about nuggets. Had they somehow returned and managed to remove the boulder, or nugget?
As far as solving the mystery of the disappearance….it would have been quite impossible to trace even a huge nugget to its original source after it had been broken up.
In 1889, W.A. Clark paid $10,000 for a nugget taken from the Cable Quartz Lode and called “the largest nugget in the world.” If the heavy rock not been stolen, Clark’s nugget might have been called “the second largest nugget in the world.”
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