The Legend of Oregon's Lost Cabin Mine - Part II: Set Em Up

The Legend of Oregon's Lost Cabin Mine

Part II: Set Em Up

History remembers remarkably little about the man himself.

No verified record has yet revealed his real name, where he came from, or what became of him. Instead, history preserved only the nickname given to him by the miners of Yreka.

Set Em Up.

According to Ruby El. Hult, the story begins in the early days of Yreka, California, a booming mining settlement known during its infancy as Blue Tent City. Thousands of prospectors passed through its muddy streets hoping to strike it rich somewhere in the mountains of Northern California or the Oregon Territory. Gold discoveries, exaggerated rumors, and impossible fortunes traveled almost as quickly as the men chasing them. (Hult, Lost Mines and Treasures of the Pacific Northwest; Siskiyou County Historical Society.)

Among those miners was a man carrying an unusually large quantity of coarse gold.

Unlike many prospectors who guarded successful discoveries with great care, he spent freely. As the story goes, he regularly walked into Yreka's saloons buying drinks for those around him, eventually earning the nickname "Set Em Up." His generosity became more memorable than his identity, and over time the nickname survived while his real name quietly disappeared from the historical record. (Hult.)

The gold naturally attracted attention.

When questioned about its source, Set Em Up reportedly revealed only enough to fuel curiosity. Somewhere in the Oregon country, he claimed, stood a cabin where there was "gold all around." That phrase has echoed through the legend ever since.

The wording is important.

Neither Hult's account nor the earliest versions of the story describe a cabin filled with hidden treasure. Instead, they speak of a working cabin surrounded by exceptionally rich gold-bearing ground. The cabin marked the location. The wealth lay in the earth surrounding it. (Hult.)

Like many prospectors during the Gold Rush, Set Em Up guarded the location closely. Rich discoveries were often protected with secrecy, not only to preserve ownership but also to avoid attracting hundreds of competing miners before a claim could be properly worked. In an era when landmarks often served in place of surveyed maps, revealing too much could mean losing everything.

Eventually, Set Em Up prepared to return to Oregon.

According to the legend, he left Yreka intending to revisit his cabin and the rich ground surrounding it. This time, however, he never returned.

No confirmed historical record explains what became of him.

Whether he lost his life in the mountains, abandoned the search, or simply vanished into the uncertainties of frontier life remains unknown. His disappearance, however, transformed a miner's story into a mystery.

Without the only man believed to know the exact location, the search for the cabin passed to others.

Over the years, countless theories attempted to explain where Set Em Up had been working. Some placed the mine deep within the Cascade Mountains. Others favored the Siskiyou Range or the country surrounding present-day Crater Lake. A few accounts ventured even farther afield. Like many legends, certainty gradually gave way to speculation.

One fact, however, remained remarkably consistent.

Somewhere beyond the settled mining camps lay a cabin remembered not for what was inside it, but for the extraordinary richness of the ground surrounding it.

That simple description would inspire generations of prospectors to search for a place that, if it ever existed, proved remarkably unwilling to be found.

The story, however, was only beginning.

The earliest organized searches soon followed, carrying prospectors north into the Oregon wilderness and, according to later accounts, toward an expedition that would unexpectedly write its own chapter in Oregon history.

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References

Primary Sources

Hult, Ruby El. Lost Mines and Treasures of the Pacific Northwest. Portland: Binfords & Mort.

Additional Sources

Siskiyou County Historical Society. Historical records relating to early Yreka and the California Gold Rush.

California State Parks. Historical information on early Yreka and Northern California mining communities.

Offbeat Oregon History. "Quest for Lost Gold Mine Led to 12,000-Acre Jewel," summarizing Ruby El. Hult's account.