Logan Canyon Gold and Confederates

 

Many years ago I was talking to a friend and he relayed a short story to me… He told me that many years before, two doctors in the Cache Valley area had a thing where in they would go hiking up Logan canyon each weekend and choosing a new side canyon each time they went exploring. 

One day they went hiking and chose yet another side canyon and while hiking the canyon they found a cave. Making there way to the cave and finally reaching it, they entered and to there surprise found two dead civil war soldiers seated and leaning up against the wall, both were in full Confederate uniform…. The following story reminded me of the previous….

 In April of 1952, an article appeared in the Logan Newspaper... 

the headlines read...

GOLD DISCOVERED IN LOCAL HILLS!

GOLD FOUND IN LOGAN CANYON LOST CAVE! The above photos were taken by Spence Falslev and Kay Crook after they had found over $100,000 IN gold. Top photo shows Mr. Falslev, left, handing a bar of gold to Mr. Crook. Arrow, points to the stack of bars. Bottom photo depicts Mr, Crook handing gold coins to Mr. Falslev. The arrow guides vision to a pile of precious coins.

  

RICH GOLD STRIKE IN CACHE MOUNTAINS AMAZES LOGAN MEN 

They started out to photograph destruction to wildlife, brought on by the severe winter, and ended up by discovering a lost treasure!

Yesterday in Logan Canyon, Spencer Falslev and Kay Crook, Logan, realized the dream of a lifetime during their photography jaunt. The men were crossing a ledge on snow shoes when they started to slip down, starting an avalanche which included an entire mountain side. 

Mud, snow and rock plummeted down the steep sides. After the slide was over, the two men found their way to a place where they could rest. While surveying the debris, Mr. Falslev noticed a dark spot in the slide, which appeared to be a cave-covered by the avalanche.

The men climbed toward it, and found the hole in the mountain to be an old cave, in which some one had lived at one time. Mining tools could be found at the mouth of the cave; further back, there was an old burro pack, besides other supplies. They concluded the cave had been the hideaway of an old prospector in the 1880’s.

 

A description 

Mr. Crook described their amazing adventure as follows:

“We discovered a map showing the location of a claim, which was a mile or so from the cave. Mr. Falslev sat down upon a little ledge in the cave, sort of scratching his head over the discovery, when the ledge gave way under him.

“His foot struck something shiny, and in throwing the light back, he found a gold coin. Then we really began to scratch! We rummaged through the gravel and clay, and soon began to pull out more and more coins until quite a pile had been uncovered.”

Their luck was not to stop there, however. Mr. Falslev handed Mr. Crook a gold bar from a stack covered with clay. The gold bars were later found not to be quite pure --- they were only 98.7 percent gold. From a collector’s standpoint, the coins are worth a third more than the gold value. The men have figured their find at $100,000 --- found within 20 miles of Logan Utah.

Is this the same cave in which two Confederate soldiers were found? Is it possible the Doctors missed the Gold? Or is it an April fools joke... as the article was printed April 1st, but then, so were all the other articles in the news that day....