Cool find . Defiantly one of those where you have to say ; if only it could talk .
As to why it was left there . Who can say . Around here we still find such items . Not as often as we once did but still enough that folks are not overly surprised . Many are muzzleloaders found along the Oregon trail . Other times up along the White Bird trail where Miles chased Joseph and his people .
Also a lot of mining went on around here . I remember my father found a Spencer leaning up against a tree while hunting one year . After doing some looking we concluded that probably the owner either gotten snake bit or trap in a cave in of a mine shaft .
When I was a boy living up in the salmon river area , we would often come across old cabins that were caving in . sometimes you would come across one where the plates , silverware , rock drills , saws , even can goods , would still be inside.
I remember one such cabin that still had plates with forks and knives still laying on them . like they had finish eating , got up , walked off and never came back .
There are still a few of those that have not been all dug up by folks looking for plunder or burnt down by the USFS back in the later 1970’s
As to why it was left there . Who can say . Around here we still find such items . Not as often as we once did but still enough that folks are not overly surprised . Many are muzzleloaders found along the Oregon trail . Other times up along the White Bird trail where Miles chased Joseph and his people .
Also a lot of mining went on around here . I remember my father found a Spencer leaning up against a tree while hunting one year . After doing some looking we concluded that probably the owner either gotten snake bit or trap in a cave in of a mine shaft .
When I was a boy living up in the salmon river area , we would often come across old cabins that were caving in . sometimes you would come across one where the plates , silverware , rock drills , saws , even can goods , would still be inside.
I remember one such cabin that still had plates with forks and knives still laying on them . like they had finish eating , got up , walked off and never came back .
There are still a few of those that have not been all dug up by folks looking for plunder or burnt down by the USFS back in the later 1970’s