MATT WARNER and THE LOST RHOADES MINES

by Kerry Ross Boren

There are few people in the Uintah Basin who are not familiar with either Matt Warner or the Lost Rhoades Mines; but they may be unaware that Matt Warner was closely connected to the legendary mines.

The Rhoades Mines, reputed to be among the richest in the world, were worked by Caleb Rhoades between the years 1855 and his death in 1905. Gold taken from the "Sacred Mines" of the Indians, located somewhere near Vernal, was turned over to Brigham Young for the use of the Mormon Church. In addition to these, however, Caleb knew of at least five other major gold sources from which he secured gold for his own use. He once made the statement that one mine alone which he tried to have removed from the reservation in 1905 - was rich enough to "pave the streets of New York City," and to "pay off the national debt." As early as 1896, Caleb Rhoades was attempting to open certain parts of the reservation for mining.

In July 1896, Jesse Knight struck his bonanza at the Humbug Mine at Tintic, but just prior to that discovery he was in the mountains above Dry Fork northwest of Vernal. The reason is explained by members of the Twitchell family, descendants of James Twitchell, Sr., who intermarried with the family of Jesse Knight:

"Uncle Jesse Knight often told us the story of his Dream Mine, which he said was located somewhere northwest of Vernal in Matt Warner the Uintah Mountains. He said that one day in about 1885 he was standing on a hilltop overlooking the Uintah-Ouray Indian Reservation where he had gone to build an irrigation canal, when he was overcome with a tremendous weakness which caused him to sink to the ground to his knees. While he was in this position he experienced a dream or a vision of an old mine, filled with treasure and with a vein of gold three to four feet in width and running the extent of the cavern... "

In 1896, both Jesse Knight and Caleb Rhoades were in Vernal. At that time, Caleb stated to a reporter for the Uintah Papoose newspaper, precursor of the present-day Vernal Express, that the Indians not only jealously guarded the mines because of the gold ore, but because they contained "artifacts and other items of religious significance to the Indians." It is interesting to note that the statement was made to a female correspondent of the newspaper, Miss Maude Davis, who later that year married outlaw Elzy Lay.

On June 23, 1896, an agreement was entered into between Caleb Rhoades and F.W.C. Hathenbruck on the first part and W.E. Christiansen on the second part. The agreement states, in part, that "Whereas the parties of the first part have a certain knowledge of the existence and location of certain mines ... on the Uintah Reservation, and desire to enter into a contract or lease, with the tribe of Indians ... at the request of the party of the second part, and in consideration of the covenants herein Matt Warner expressed to be performed by the party of the second part, do hereby ... convey to the party of the second part a One Twentieth part interest in the (mines) ... And the party of the second part ... for certain expenses paid in hand from time to time as they are merited, hereby agrees to act as guide and liaison (sic) and help to negotiate with the Indians of whom he has a particular knowledge and understanding, and to serve in such capacity as is needed to complete the safe and certain consummation of the ... lease (with) ... the tribe of Indians occupying t Reservation " The agreement is signed by F.W.C. Hathenbruck and Caleb B. Rhoades, and witnessed by W.E. Christiansen and Robert D. Swift.

Willard Erastus Christiansen was born on April 12, 1864 at Levan, Utah. He left home at the age of fourteen after striking another youth over the head during a fight over the attentions of a young girl. Believing that he had killed the boy, Christiansen fled to Brown's Park where he began his career as a rustler, and later as a bank and train robber, under the name of Matt Warner. Warner had only recently returned from a string of bank robberies in the Pacific Northwest when he encountered Caleb Rhoades at Vernal in the early part of 1896.

Rhoades hired Warner, a noted gunman, to assure that the signing of the Indian lease was done safely. Opposition had arisen when Jesse Knight had hired gunmen to protect his own mining interests on the reservation. Caleb Rhoades apparently wanted to insure his own safety and that of his partners who were in the process of beating the opposition to the gold mine.

Two opposing forces were converging on the Uintah Reservation. On the one side were gunmen hired by the Knight enterprises, and on the other side the gunmen hired by Rhoades and Hathenbruck to protect their interests. The force of hired guns running around in the mountains of the reservation country was bound to end in an encounter, and it did so in August of 1896.

Jesse Knight began running tunnels into the mountain in upper Dry Fork Canyon, and Caleb Rhoades went there to watch developments. Aaron Daniels, an associate of Rhoades, who was seventy-four years of age at the time, also went up on the mountain to watch the work. Daniels recorded the following in his journal:

"I remember when Jesse Knight started his tunnel and Cale

Rhoades come up the mountain to watch them dig and scrape. I asked Cale if he was worried about Knight finding anything and he said, 'Oh, not much. He might be the best mining engineer in the West as some say, but he will lose on this one. All he will strike where he is going is gray soil,' and that is exactly what they struck. Cale really knew his geology and mining, but so did Jess Knight."

By the middle of summer, 1896, gunfighters from around the region were converging on the town of Vernal, all hoping to be Matt Warner hired by one side or the other in the impending feud.

Their numbers were enhanced by the fact that Butch Cassidy was in the region, organizing what soon came to be called The Wild Bunch.

The intrigue began seriously when Caleb Rhoades hired one Henry B. Coleman, a mining operator of dubious character and reputation, to proceed to a location somewhere in the back reaches of upper Dry Fork Canyon. Coleman was to meet there with Bob Swift, a mining promoter, saloon owner, and some-time member of the Cassidy gang.

Swift and Coleman made a camp in the mountains and were in the process of staking claims for Rhoades when they realized they were being followed and spied upon by members of the opposing companies hired by Jesse Knight and his associates. Swift sneaked out under cover of night and rode hard to Vernal where he approached Matt Warner at the Antler Saloon, owned by Charley Crouse and Aaron Overholt, and told him their plight. Matt agreed to go up on the mountain and protect Rhoades'interest according to their agreement, but he demanded $500 for expenses. They wired Salt Lake City for approval and Matt Warner set out the same day, accompanied by Bob Swift and Matt's close friend, gambler Bill Wall.

As they rode into a clearing in a grove of trees where the tent-camp was located, and where Coleman awaited them, it was just at sunrise. Swift rode ahead of Warner and Wall and approached the tent. As the two latter men reached the middle of the clearing, the spies opened fire on them from the U cover. At the first shot, Matt pulled his rifle from his saddle scabbard and leaped from his horse, simultaneously firing and pulling his friend Bill Wall to the ground.

The rest of the story is well known around Vernal. Warner and Wall took protection behind some quaking aspen trees, where Warner began to return a deadly fire on the three attackers, who later proved to be the Stanton (Staunton) brothers, Ike and Dick, and one Dave Milton.

Matt Warner single-handedly eliminated his attackers. When the gunfight ended, Dick Stanton and Dave Milton were dead or dying, and Ike Stanton was seriously wounded. Matt and his companions emerged unscathed.

Matt Warner was arrested for the murders of Stanton and Milton and lodged in the jail at Vernal. Butch Cassidy, Charles Crouse, Elzy Lay and a few others of the Wild Bunch gathered in the streets and threatened to take Warner out of the jail by force because a lynch mob had organized, ready to "string him up." Sheriff John T. Pope took Warner and Wall out of the jail secretly at night and sent them to the Weber County Jail at Ogden, Utah.

Matt Warner was tried in Ogden and sentenced to five years in Utah State Prison on September 21, 1896. He was released in January 1900 by Governor Heber M. Wells and settled permanently at Price, Utah, where he became a respected citizen. However, it Matt Warner was not the last of his association with Caleb Rhoades and the Lost Rhoades Mines.

With Matt Warner in jail during the latter part of 1896, Caleb Rhoades was compelled to look elsewhere for someone to defend his claim. On November 19, 1896, Rhoades and Hathenbruck entered into almost identical agreement with Matthew Thomas of Vernal.

J. Matthew "Matt" Thomas was a gunfighter of some reputation and a close friend and associate of Matt Warner and Butch Cassidy. In addition, Thomas was well acquainted with the Indians and spoke the Ute language fluently.

Thomas chose a carefully selected circle of a associates to accompany him into the mountains in the late fall, to move the camp of Henry Coleman and Bob Swift. Among those who went with Matt Thomas were Tom "Mid" Nichols, Bob Swift, George A. Storrs and Elzy Lay. Some accounts also mention Butch Cassidy. Matt Thomas was murdered not long after at "Halfway Hollow" between Vernal and Roosevelt.

Mid Nichols was a renowned guninan and close Friend of Matt Warner. He operated a saloon in Price, Utah, at the time, but he had originally escaped a murder charge in Texas by changing his name to Tom Hall and fleeing to Wyoming. Among other things, he had the distinction of once having saved Pinkerton Detective Charlie Siringo from being hanged. George A. Storrs was a somewhat renowned lawman who had been warden of the Utah State Prison at one time, but had mining in his blood.

Storrs remains somewhat an enigma. He appears to have remained quite Friendly with Caleb Rhoades until the latter's death in 1905. On September 7, 1910, F.W.C. Hathenbruck entered into an agreement with George Storrs who then owned a small quarry in Slate Canyon, near Castle Gate. Storrs and Hathenbruck developed the Provo Slate Company, Inc., but in 1920 altercations arose when Hathenbruck attempted to bring in other businessmen. Storrs then switched his allegiance and became involved in mining interests with Caleb Rhoades' old rival, Jesse Knight.

In 1912, George Storrs was made general manager of Knight's Spring Canyon Coal Company -while still in partnership with Hathenbruck - and the town of Storrs, Utah in Carbon County is named for him. The townsite belonged to Jesse Knight, however, and Matt Warner - who had also been previously associated with Caleb Rhoades - worked for Knight and Storrs as a lawman to keep order in the town, and as a strike-breaker.

On June 2, 1905, Caleb Rhoades died on his ranch near Price, Utah, his attempts to secure a mining lease with the Indians foiled, and the secret of his mines perishing with him. But Matt Warner's involvement had only just begun.

. Not long after Caleb's death, Matt Warner entered into a partnership with Caleb's widow, Sidsie Adams Rhoades, and Dr. Andrew Dowd, to locate and develop several mines which had been revealed by maps drawn by Caleb Rhoades on his death-bed. Warner searched for the mines from late 1905 until after 1907 in the company of Dr. Down, Ernest Horsley, and others. Early in 1906 they were also joined by Elzy Lay.

In 1896 Lay had been one of the gunfighters hired by Caleb Rhoades to protect his mining interests on the reservation. In the same year Lay had married Maude Davis, the sometime correspondent for the Vernal newspaper. They honeymooned that winter in a tent at Robbers Roost with Butch Cassidy and Etta Place. Cassidy, Lay, and "Bub" Meeks had robbed the bank at Montpelier, Idaho on August 19 of that year to obtain funds for Matt Warner's legal defence following the Dry Fork killings.

On October 10, 1899, under the alias of William McGinnis, Elzy Lay was sentenced to a term of life in the New Mexico State Penitentiary for murder and armed robbery as prisoner #PNM 1348.

Lay became a favorite of the warden who had an avid interest in prospecting for gold. Lay intimated that he knew of a fabulous gold source on the Ute Indian Reservation in Utah, and that he had access to a map of the location. The warden happened to be a close Friend of New Mexico Governor Miguel Otero and through his influence Lay was pardoned on January 10, 1906 (although he had been released even earlier, prior to Christmas, 1905).

Elzy Lay became a renowned mining and oil geologist in later years, and together with Matt Warner and a few others searched for the Lost Rhoades Mines on-and-off for the next twenty years.

In 1911, news arrived in the States that Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid may have been shot down in the streets of Mercedes, Uruguay. Matt Warner, Elzy Lay, Dr. Andrew Dowd, Dr. F.W. Bracken, and some others put up money to send two men to South America to obtain information about the dead men. They returned with photographs. Dr. Andrew Dowd immediately recognized the man identified as Butch Cassidy as being instead Tom Dilly. Dr. Dowd should have known. Dilly was Dowd's partner in the Patmos Head Cattle Company until 1902 when the former took the company's cattle to Denver for sale and escaped to South America with the proceeds.

For many years Matt Warner searched for the Lost Rhoades Mines with the aid of Caleb Rhoades'maps. In fact, Warner had bought Caleb's old ranch not long after Rhoades'death in 1905. When the old cabin caught fire in 1907, some of the logs were dismantled; on the inside joint of one of the logs was found another map, burned into the wood, which also came into Warner's possession.

The story came to a violent conclusion near the Fourth of July, 1920. Thirteen men gathered in the mountains on a mysterious quest for the Lost Rhoades Mine. Led by a spiritualist named Caleb Landreth, the party began searching on the upper reaches of Stillwater Fork of Bear River. The names of the thirteen men, as they have since been determined, were as follows: Caleb Landreth, Harold Moslander, Ernest Roberts, Amasa Alonzo Davidson, Edward Hartzell (who married Caleb Rhoades'widow, Sidsie), "Old Man" Warren and his two sons, Thursday and Friday Warren, Jim Chrisman, Tom Welch, William McGinnis (Elzy Lay), Matt Warner, and one unknown.

The story at this point is complex. Suffice it to say that a disagreement arose, ending in a gunfight. Jim Chrisman shot and killed a Wyoming man (name unknown) and was about to shoot Amasa Davidson when Matt Warner intervened, killing Chrisman. Ernst Roberts, who had married a daughter of Old Man Warren, was .shot in the groin and died as a result of the wound some two years later.

To all intents and purposes, this was Matt Warner's last connection with the Rhoades Mines at least openly. However, he still owned the maps and occasionally entered into partnerships with others to search for the lost gold. When Dr. Andrew Dowd went into partnership with Tom Dilly and a man named Ketchum in the Patmos Head Cattle Company in 190 1, and lost everything to Dilly in the following year, the ranch was bought up by another partner, Joseph R. Sharp. From that time the property was known as the Big Spring Ranch, located near Sunnyside, Utah.

From June 19, 1922 until the year 1928, Frank Noyes was foreman of the Big Spring Ranch. He was approached by Joseph Sharp and was asked to help search for a lost gold mine somewhere on the reservation. Sharp had been one of the partners, together with Dr. Andrew Dowd and Matt Warner, who hunted for the mines with Caleb Rhoades' widow in 1906-07. Sharp presented to Noyes the crude map drawn by Caleb Rhoades, which Matt Warner had obtained from Sidsie Rhoades. For the next two years Frank Noyes searched the Uintah Mountains for the Rhoades Mines.

In 1930, Noyes and Sharp discovered a shaft with a notched pine tree "ladder" in it, and brought out rich samples of ore. However, two Indians confronted them - one of whom was old Mountain Sheep -and warned them on the risk of their lives never to return.

Noyes applied to the Secretary of the Interior for permission to mine the shaft but his petition

was denied because the site was on the reservation and required the permission of the Indians - just as with Caleb Rhoades many years before Noyes gave up the venture, but he always maintained that he believed that Joseph Sharp had a silent partner - and that partner was none other than Matt Warner.

Just prior to his death, Uncle Jesse Knight had driven a tunnel under the hill just outside the reservation boundary in the hopes of striking the rich vein, but after several attempts he gave up. He maintained that the "angels" or "spirits" were moving the vein each time they neared it. In reality, according to William Henry Wells, an eye-witness, the Indians discovered what was going on and put a stop to it.

As for Matt Warner, time and old age prevented him from finding the famous mines - or did it? When Matt Warner died in 193 8, his son Boyo Warner set about cleaning up around Matt's home in Price. In the garage he discovered "several cans" of gold ore.

"We had the stuff assayed," Boyo said, "and it was almost pure gold! Problem was, we had no idea where Dad got it from."

Thus ended the legacy of Matt Warner and The Lost Rhoades Mines.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Matt Warner top row second from the right  from the right, F.W.C. Hathenbruck next to Warner on the end. in bib overals.