Throughout the American West most every region has some sordid lost gold mine tale, and the region around here is of no exception. Of course, over the years the story takes on a life of its own. Holden Dick was a Pitt River Indian who in 1885 was tried for the gruesome murder of Samuel Shaw on the Madeline Plains. Some attribute that it was not actually a mine, but loot from a freight wagon loaded with gold that was robbed when it traveled through Modoc County. Whether Holden Dick was perpetrator is not clear. Whatever the case may be, the gold was hidden in a cave in the South Warner Mountains. Anyhow, from time to time, Holden Dick would show up in the streets of Alturas and Susanville with gold. Where it came from he never said, and he took his secret to grave when he was lynched in 1886. To add more intrigue there is his lost map. Some sources indicate Holden Dick had a map where his bounty was located and he gave it to defense attorneys, Ephraim Spencer and John Raker. What became of the map is pure speculation. The bottom line, to this day, there are people still looking for the elusive mine.
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