Treasure seeker

COEUR d'ALENE - The book, as Jerry Moss explains, was given to him 44 years ago, in 1967, a gift from his grandfather.

The grandson has treasured it since, which makes sense because its title is "Lost Mines and Treasures."

"He was always out looking for all kinds of artifacts and stuff throughout the Pacific Northwest," Jerry Moss said of his grandfather, Ed Moss.

That same spirit of adventure lives on in Jerry, who works in the petroleum business by trade, and in his free time loves learning more about Idaho's history - especially the little known tales depicted in "Lost Mines and Treasures of the Pacific Northwest" by Ruby El Hult.

"I even know the stuff that's made up and not true," he said, laughing.

But the stuff that El Hult writes of in "Lost Mines and Treasures," is spot-on, as far as Moss knows. The tales are good as gold.

There's a short story about the lost Spanish silver mine of the 1600s or the 1700s. There's a story about the "Lost Breen Diggings," and another of "The Sunken Ore of Lake Coeur d'Alene," and one about "the Post Falls Diamond Mine."

"To this day, a lot of this stuff that's there is still out there, people are still trying to find it," he said.

The Breen mine in Hayden Lake, Moss said, "was probably one of the richest gold mines ever discovered in the Pacific Northwest."

As for the alleged Post Falls diamond mine mystery, the story goes that a man claimed he found diamonds on his property. He even got a few investors before others said it couldn't be, there's no way diamonds are in the ground in Post Falls.

The naysayers were right.

"Turns out about a year before he showed up in Idaho, he was from California there had been a huge robbery down there of diamonds, uncut diamonds, and that's what he had, were these uncut diamonds he threw in the ground and made it look like they were found in Post Falls," Moss said. "He eventually died a very poor man."

Moss said the story of a barge losing 135 tons of ore near McDonald's Point in Lake Coeur d'Alene dates back to the late 1880s. Its value then was $15,000. Today, much, much more.

But don't expect to dive down and pull aging ore aboard your boat

"You wouldn't be able to find it now because of the siltation and everything," Moss said. "I've been out there on my boat before and I can see some indentations in the ground, but you don't know. I was within 200, 300 yards of where this thing supposedly tipped over."

The book, first published in 1957, contains stories that newcomers and old-timers might enjoy, said Moss, whose copy stands on a shelf in his home, well protected and a reminder of his grandfather.

"Some of these are stories never told," he said.

Until now.