California’s 14,162-foot Mount Shasta has always inspired stories of the supernatural, ranging from talking bears, fairies and flying saucers to a hidden city occupied by beings from the lost continent of Lemuria.
Another one involves British miner J. C. Brown.
Hired by the Lord Cowdray Mining Company in 1904 to prospect for gold in the Sierra Nevada Range, Brown supposedly stumbled upon a man-made tunnel carved into solid rock near Mount Shasta. One version of the story says it led 11 miles into a copper-lined caverns lined with golden shields and containing artifacts, strange drawings and mysterious hieroglyphics. Another version says he found a hidden city and 10-foot-tall mummies.
Afraid his employers would claim the treasure, Brown waited 30 years before gathering a group of explorers to help rediscover the tunnel.
In June 1934, eighty people waited for Brown to lead them to the tunnel, but Brown disappeared and was never heard from again, touching off speculation that he had been kidnapped.
As in other lost treasure stories, the tunnel is still out there waiting to be found.
Source: "The Legends of Mount Shasta." History of Siskiyou County. Ed. Frank Cross. 2004. Web. 7 May 2016.
