R. Boswell and his son purchased land in 1913 near Sucker Creek in the Holland Mining District just 9 miles from Cave Junction, Ore. The following year while exploring their property they found some pieces of brownish material. The Boswells dug prospect holes and showed their sample to another miner. The pieces of material the size of peas turned out to be gold and by 1917 they had recovered $46,000 in gold bullion.
During the summer of 1917, the Boswells were mining when two highwaymen claiming to be chrome miners came through nearby Holland, Ore. They had been watching the Boswell mine and decided to rob it.
When Boswell had his bullion ready to take to town, the robbers came into camp, held the Boswells at gunpoint and fled into the Siskiyou Mountains with bullion worth $6000. The pack with bullion weighed 80 pounds and soon one of the robbers wore out. The other took the bullion and left for the Siskiyous.
The first robber was soon arrested and sent to the Oregon State Penitentiary. The second robber was arrested several years later while trying to rob a bank in Weaverville, Calif., and was sentenced to San Quentin.
Sources: Parks, Henry M. "The Boswell Mine, in Southwestern Oregon." Engineering and Mining Journal 112.3 (1921): 107-08. Web. 7 Mar. 2016. https://books.google.com/books?id=NsQ6AQAAMAAJ; "Trinity County Bank Robber Makes Complete Confession of Crimes." Sacramento Union 1 Dec. 1921, 31 ed. Web. 11 Mar. 2016.
