John Vial Harris River Mine Cache — Prince of Wales Island

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John Vial Harris River Mine Cache — Prince of Wales Island

Lost Treasure AK • Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area County
Description
1920s Harris River mine legend — high-grader John Vial hid rich ore sacks on pump level three and a jar of free gold under his Hollis cabin until a rockslide and theft left eighteen sacks flooded in the sealed workings.
Historical Notes
The Harris River mine near Hollis on Prince of Wales Island employed Italian miner John Vial, who secretly cached sacks of rich quartz and a glass jar of specimens from visible gold ore. A 1927 rockslide hospitalized him for over a year; upon return he found the jar stolen and was too weak to move eighteen sixty-pound sacks left on the flooded pump level. The mine closed in January 1929 and workings below the river flooded, preserving the cache story as a submerged high-grade hoard rather than a recovered deposit.
Status / Verification legend — Legendary or approximate

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