The 37-year-old mystery surrounding the disappearance of Abner Lee, the prospector who discovered the famous Lee Silver Mine in California, was solved with the discovery of his remains.
Lee, who vanished in 1865 after locating silver claims that would later yield $2,000,000 for California Governor R. W. Waterman, was found in the Devil’s Playground desert.
His skeleton, along with the bones of his burros and his mining tools, were unearthed by Jim Moran, a desert freighter.
Mystery is Cleared
After thirty-seven years of mystery the strange disappearance of Abner Lee, the notorious old prospector who discovered the famous Lee Silver Mine, seventy miles northeast of San Bernadlno, Cal., has at last been solved.
Lee was the most famous prospector of his time. In 1865 he located those claims known as the Lee Mines, which subsequently brought a fortune of $2,000,000 to Gov. R. W. Waterman of California. Soon after discovering these rich silver properties he disappeared into the desert and was never seen again.
A great deal of excitement was occasioned by Lee’s withdrawal from the world, and It was suggested more than once that he had been foully done away with by unscrupulous persons who wished to gain possession of his property. Others thought the Piute Indians, who then raided the desert, had killed him and burned the remains.
Now the riddle has been solved and the skeleton of old Abner Lee, the bones of his burros, his “washpan,” and an old mining pick bearing his name on the handle have been found in the Devil’s playground by Jim Moran, a desert freighter plying between Fenner, on the Sante Fe road, and Resting Spring Branch, at the head of Death Valley.
The shifting sands which covered Lee have given back their dead, the miners are cleared of obloquy and the bones of the prospector have been given decent burial on the crystalline shores of Soda lake.
According to Lee’s story at the time (and this was subsequently verified), there were vast ledges of surface ore in sight of precisely the same quality as the ore which from time to time be brought in on his burros. He was very secretive about the location of his mine, and those whom he took Into his confidence were un’er strict pledge to revel nothing.
Among these was R. W. Waterman, who afterward became governor of California. Mr. Waterman was at that time a struggling lawyer. For ten years after Lee’s disappearance nothing was heard of the properties. Then a big expedition was organized in fan Bernandlno to search for the abandoned claims. Under the guidance of two prospectors, who claimed to know something of the locality and who had heard where lay the Lee silver, the party wont almost immediately to the mines.
But upon their arrival they found Waterman guarding the property with a Winchester rifle. He had been in possession for two hours. He had driven out to the claims in a buckboard.
For more than fifteen years Waterman held a controlling interest in the Leo mines, and it is estimated that during that time more than $2,000,000 in ore was taken out.
Dark hints were cast in regard to Waterman by those who considered he must have known the locality. Now the finding of Lee’s body clears the air. The ex-governor has been dead several years. Since the depreciation of silver bullion the mines have been idle, but the told story of Abner Lee’s is often repeated by the desert prospectors.
Source: The Hawaiian star (Honolulu [Oahu]), September 3, 1902.
