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proposition. Most of their investment soon vanished into claim options, tunneling, timbering, and a grubstake for Dorr. Shortly before World War II, however, they struck a rich zinc vein. Dorr begged for more tunnels in new areas, but the Crystal Cave Mining Company enthusiastically entered the zinc business. Its geologists were as discouraged as Foster Hewitt. As far as the corporation was concerned, the lost river of gold could stay lost. They'd settle for zinc.

    "’Would you like to have a look and see if you have any ideas?’ Mr. Wallace asked in cordial conclusion.

     “Would we? Ten carloads of caver’s and their families swarmed through the Joshua trees the crisp morning of November 13, 1948. I shifts we scurried along the rocky flanks of the barren peak and into the deep little caves. 

     “Seventy feet down ter Crystal Cave we found Dorr's nave snaked in bold capital letters on the wall of the first chamber. We found it again or the next level, near an area of shattered rock and flowstorne. Was this the legendary entrance to the lost river of gold? If so, no one was going through that mess any time soon. In a small alcove nearby we spotted a long, thin trail of ash. It might have been the residual of a dynamite fuse.

     “We poked into every conceivable orifice, peered into every fissure, and found nothing else. Excavating the shattered area would be a huge undertaking of little prospect, we told Mr. Wallace. He agreed, reluctantly, plagued by the same nagging doubt. We all know there is no gold beyond. And yet -– could we be wrong?..."

     "...Today California cavern happily admit that their cavern treasures are only of this sort. The Lost River of Gold will stay lost, for it cannot exist unless our accumulating knowledge is all wrong.

     “Yet a nagging thought remains. Before their