Nearly everyone knows about the gold discovery at Sutters Mill in California in 1848 that led to the gold rush of the 49ers, but I believe that comparatively few people know, or remember, that another gold discovery was made in the Eastern part of the town of Litchfield, Connecticut, at about the same period of time.
In 1847-48 the New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad Company extended its lines up the Naugatuck River Valley from Waterbury to Winsted, a distance of some 30 miles. About a mile north of the Hamlet of Campville, approximately half way between Waterbury and Winsted, there was a stream that flowed down from the hills and emptied into the Naugatuck River. In those days it was known as Spruce Brook. The construction crew had to build a trestle across the mouth of Spruce Brook on which to lay the cross ties and rails.
Work on the job began on a hot day in summer so most of the workmen went to the brook for a drink. Among them were two Irishmen whose names have not survived so I will call them Pat and Mike. As one of them knelt to drink he saw something shining in the water. Reaching in his hand he picked up the object. It was a gold nugget that I have heard an old timer say was about the size of a pea.
Of course, this discovery created quite a fever among the workmen and most of them wanted to go prospecting to the dismay of their foremen. Some of them did go splashing up the brook, but the Railroad Company had a commissary to feed the workmen, and when they were told it was a case of "No work, No eat," most of the men returned to their labors. But after the line reached Winsted and work was completed, Pat and Mike returned to Spruce Brook, set up a camp to live in, and contracted to cut wood for use in the locomotives. This took place during 1849-50.
Whether they found any more gold is a moot question, but that they combined prospecting with their wood chopping is certain. It seems probable that they did find a little gold, at least enough to hold their interest, for they remained in the general area until the Civil War broke out, when both enlisted in the Union Army.
Some years later, gold was discovered in another area of Eastern Litchfield but this discovery was not near Spruce Brook. It cost more to mine than the value of the metal recovered, so mining was quickly abandoned.
The years went by and most of the people forgot about looking for gold. Most of them were farmers who devoted their time to agricultural pursuits, animal husbandry and wood work. When World War I broke out, the brass mills and foundries in the various towns and cities throughout the Naugatuck River Valley began to boom from orders for war material for England and France.
In 1915 a cordwood contractor established a woodcutters' camp near Spruce Brook, and put in a crew to cut wood, the principal fuel used by most factories at that time. The railroad company built a siding adjoining the main line and soon box cars loaded with wood were rolling to the brass mills.
Among the woodcutters was a German man who was nicknamed "Dutchy." He was a reticent man who apparently had had a good education and kept mainly to himself. The wood job was finished shortly before America's entry into the war. The contractor moved his crew to another wood job, and Dutchy resigned form the contractor's employ, stating that he intended to stay in that area and go into trapping. This was reasonable for there were many wild animals living in the hills and fur was bringing high prices.
However, when Dutchy went to a hardware store in Torrington to purchase trapping supplies, he also bought black blasting powder, fuses, rock drills and a striking hammer. These things he did not need to catch animals. When the United States entered the war some people began to wonder about "Dutchy." He brought some of this attention on himself by his own actions. He purchased his supplies at a store that was located in the southern part of Torrington and operated by a man named McGuiness. The supplies were mainly flour, beans, bacon and kerosene oil. He always carried these supplies on his shoulder as he walked the railroad tracks to his camp some four miles away.
On his first two visits to the McGuiness store, Dutchy paid for his purchases with currency and silver coins. This was money he had earned chopping wood and from the sale of a few furs to a local dealer. But about the third visit to the McGuiness store, he did not have any furs to sell, and paid for his supplies with a ten dollar gold piece. All through the summer of 1917 he continued to pay for his purchases at the Torrington stores mainly with gold money. He also bought more blasting powder and fuses.
It was against the law to trap fur bearing animals in the summer, and the fur would not have been of good quality if Dutchy had poached a bit, so people began to speculate about him and wonder what he did with his time, and where he got his gold money.
One group believed he was in the pay of the German government and was going to blow up the trestle over Spruce Brook when a train of vital war material destined for use against the Kaiser's armies, crossed.
Still another professed belief was that he was waiting for a "Red" revolution to erupt and then blow up the trestle to disrupt transportation on the railroad line.
Such a clamor arose about Dutchy that the local Deputy Sheriff called on him and asked what he did with his time when not trapping. Dutchy replied that he tramped the hills locating the dens of animals so he would know where to set his traps when the season opened.
When asked what he needed blasting powder for, he said that occasionally an animal that was caught in a trap, dragged it under a large rock or ledge and he then had to blast the rock away to recover his trap and secure the animal.
Then came the "Big Question": Where did he get his gold money?
Looking the officer in the eye, Dutchy said that that was his business unless the Deputy Sheriff could prove it was obtained illegally, which could not be done, and now if the officer was through prying into his affairs he would thank him to get the hell out. The peace officer departed not much wiser than he came.
The war came to an end, the railroad trestle over Spruce Brook had not been destroyed, no trains had been derailed on the Naugatuck Division of the New York, New Haven, and Hartford railroad and Dutchy was still in his camp by Spruce Brook.
Interest in him waned though he still appeared at the Torrington stores monthly for supplies, paying for them with the proceeds from the sale of his furs in the fall and winter months and with gold money through spring and summer.
My parents used to do some trading at the McGuiness store and one day in the autumn of 1921, when my father and I were in the store, Mr. McGuiness asked if we had seen Dutchy recently. His camp was visible from the road we traveled to reach Torrington, during the season that the leaves were off the trees, and I always glanced across the river and railroad tracks to where it was situated at the foot of a high hill. Dad said that we had not seen him and Mr. McGuiness remarked that he hoped nothing had happened to him as he had not been in his store in two months.
During the drive down the river road to Campville, about one hour's journey with a horse and buggy, my father was very quiet and when we reached Campville, instead of taking the road to our farm home, he turned the horse on to the road that led to the railroad station.
Hitching the horse to a post near the station, Dad said we had better walk up the railroad to Dutchy's camp to see if he were ill or injured. When we reached the camp we found it deserted and it had evidently been so for some time. It was built of poles and covered with canvass that had been patched in many places. There was a bunk bed built on one wall that had had some evergreen boughs for a mattress. The needles had nearly all fallen from the boughs, further evidence that they had been cut for some time. There was a stone fireplace, that had been loosely laid up, against the back wall, and two or three battered and rusting cooking utensils were on the ground beside it. A kerosene lantern hung from a rafter, a metal box containing a small amount of blasing powder and fuse and an axe were in a corner completing the appurtenances in the camp. But there was no sign of Dutchy.
When we had walked back to the railroad station, Dad called the Sheriff of Litchfield County and reported our findings at Dutchy's camp. I believe that the Sheriff at that time was the late Frank Turkington. I remember an investigation and search for Dutchy was made but no trace of him was ever found.
The disappearance of Dutchy caused another wave of speculation about him. Was he really just a trapper as he claimed to be? If so, then where did he get the gold coins he used? He had no other visible means of support other than trapping, and so far as is known, was never paid in gold money for his furs. Or did he discover a pocket of gold in the hills and mine it during the summer months? To me this seems most likely. He had a very good education which could have included a knowledge of geology and mineralogy. The gold nugget found in Spruce Brook by the railroad construction workmen must have come from somewhere, probably washed down the brook from a "pocket" further up the stream. I suggest that Dutchy found such a pocket and mined it.
There were some ten to twelve passenger trains a day over the line. The Campville railroad station was located some distance from the hamlet itself and the station agent went off duty at 8 p.m. It would have been a simple matter for Dutchy to walk to the station, flag a late train and go to Waterbury, Bridgeport or even New York City, carrying a few ounces of gold to sell. And he could have boarded a train without being seen from the hamlet of Campville, and returned the same way.
But if this were really the case, what became of his traps and mining tools? Did he "mine out" the pocket, just leave his tools there and depart? Or did he meet with a mishap and his bones still lie there in the hills he knew so well? If so, why were they never found? I can make another speculation to that. The area was a wilderness then and probably is yet. There are no roads through it and only a few streams of water cut through the hills. Only an occasional hunter went through it and could easily have passed a few old bones and rusting tools without seeing them.
Still another speculation, who was "Dutchy"? And what was a man of his obvious education doing in such a place? I suggest that he was hiding from someone or something. Perhaps from the law for some crime he had committed or a wife and family he had run away from. But all speculation still does not answer the question. What became of Dutchy?
