The Mystery of Jupiter Mine

4/23/2025

by M.P. Pellicer | Stranger Than Fiction Stories
In 1897, on the corner of a building at the southeast corner of Geary Street and Grant Avenue, San Francisco the ghost of a missing man stalked the halls.

Mrs. Sheehan, Keefer's niece found that his apartment had been ransacked after his disappearance

Windsor A. Keefer (Kiefer), the principal owner in the Jupiter Mine in Calaveras County went missing March 17, 1897.

He was last seen when he left to visit the mines in company of Mr. Thompson president of the mining company. They went hunting, and separated some time during the day.

Mlle. Hassler, a teacher who lived on the fourth floor and a neighbor to Mr. Keefer, claimed she knew he was dead, since she saw his ghost.

One evening she went to a bathroom in the hallway of the building, and she said, "Strange as it might appear, a feeling of chill and fear came over me. I heard no noise, but something indefinable caused me to turn and look out into the hall. I was almost frightened to death when I did so, for right there before me I saw Mr. Keefer, or what was a white-garbed, deep-sunken-eyed representation of him. The vision, for it appeared almost transparent seemed to float down the hallway. There was something so unreal about it that it was ghostly. I did not know then that there was anything wrong or suspicious about Mr. Keefer, but I felt I was in the presence of death."

The ghost dissolved into a mist when it reach the door of Mr. Keefer's apartment.

Keefer had lived for the last twelve years in Apartment number 67, and she was familiar with what he looked like.

Illustration of Keefer's ransacked apartment

Apparently this was not the first time Mlle. Hassler had a ghostly experience. August 3, 1883 she visited the Winter Garden, a venue for concerts and other large gatherings. A fierce fire broke out, and she lived in the building next to the site. Flames shot out and started to dance against the building where she lived. She said were it not for an unseen force that pushed her out of the way, she would have burned to death from a sudden flame that entered through the window where she had been standing.

At the end of March 1897, Mr. Keefer's niece, Mrs. Sheehan broke open the door to his apartment with the help of a locksmith, and found the room in wild disorder. She claimed that $5,000 in diamonds had been stolen. Desks and safes had been ransacked, and apparently someone was searching for something.

His family believed at that point that he had been murdered by one of the many enemies he made in a long, and extremely checkered career. Only a year ago one of them had tried to assassinate him.

Mr. Keefer had made and lost a fortune several times. He started out as a messenger on one of the boats running between San Francisco and Sacramento. He changed careers several times, and as he accumulated money he made bitter enemies. Several suits and quarrels against him ended in the courts. It appeared he enjoyed making enemies.

At one time a reversal of fortune reduced him to poverty, and he became a solicitor. During that time he met a French nobleman and convinced him to invest $30,000 in the Jupiter Mine. They became close friends as well as business associates. The pair traveled throughout Europe, and Keefer indulged in his passion for jewelry and personal adornment.

Mrs. Windsor A. Keefer

At the time of his disappearance Keefer had been working the Jupiter Mine prospect for 18 years. He bought properties in the adjoining counties and increased his holdings. He was one of the first to use electricity in California, and in 1876 he used it to light up the mine.

Keefer was described as a tall man, who usually wore a sealskin overcoat that reached almost to his heels. He wore diamond rings and kept loose jewels in his pocket. Everyone knew that he carried thousands of dollars in jewelry on his person, at all times.

He was 55 years old when he disappeared. He married Angie Crary in 1870 when he lived in Yuba City, but they separated. She moved to Denver and never returned. They remained married, but in name only.

A year before his disappearance he quarreled with Annie Newlands, another stockholder, where shots were fired between himself and agents she placed at the mine to defend her claim. He ended up getting shot in the shoulder, and it took him months to recover. After this incident he took to wearing light chain mail under his suit when he visited Calaveras.

When he disappeared everything in his life was good, and he was planning to move to a new home at 2025 San Jose Avenue, Alameda. This is why many initially thought there was foul play involved.

A thorough search of the area where he disappeared was conducted, but no clue turned up to indicate what happened to him.

He belonged to the Royal Arch Mason and the local lodge was asked to take some action in aiding to find him.

Dogtown got a stage in 1857

During those first days after his disappearance, his account and books were examined. It was discovered that he was not dealing fairly with his associates, or those who had purchased stock from him. Fraud was evident, including misappropriated funds and illegal issuance of stock.

Keefer it turned out, had very little money and manipulated the mine's stock for the last 18 years. The directors met, and decided that Keefer had minimal if any legitimate interest in the mine.

Some of Keefer's relatives described where he looked depressed in the last few days before he left on the journey. They told newspapers he spoke of a former friendship with an Austrian nobleman named Count Koreli, who was the minister of Austria-Hungary. They had met three years before when the count visited San Francisco, and was interested in speculating. They became close friends, but then the nobleman left to finish his tour around the world. They continued to correspond until a few days before Keefer's disappearance. Some wondered if the miner had absconded to Europe.

However, other friends insisted he was dead. They said he was not the type of man to run away. He had either been abducted or killed.

Telegram sent when Keefer's hat was found riddled with buckshot

By the end of April, Keefer's sister, Mrs. Davids offered a reward, however it was not until the end of May that a clue was found to indicate Keefer's fate. A black, slouch hat was discovered close to where he was last seen, and it was riddled with buckshot. It was found accidentally when the reservoir was drained to make sure that the body was not there. The intent now was to search debris in a shaft hoping to find his body.

Men were sent down what was known as the "Old Engine" shaft, then they searched the Amazon mine with an incline over 400 feet long. Other mines searched were Fred Claus' copper mine, the Monarch claim, the Buckeye, Bully Boy and Eureka claims.

A search was made of every ranch in the neighborhood, including examination of the foundation of every barn and outhouse, steel rods were inserted into every possible hiding place inside and out, between the walls and under the floors.

Residents of the area turned out in force and spread themselves out, searching the thick brush that covered the countryside. Despite all the effort made, the months passed and Keefer's body was not found.

Bodie ghost town is less than a mile from Dogtown

His sister Mathilda Davids was made trustee of his estate, and in May 1904, she petitioned the courts to declare him dead. Then in November of the same year, an announcement was made the he was living a quiet, secluded life in Paris. However no proof was ever produced for this claim.

The local reservoir where Keefer owned the Jupiter Mine was named after him, and the land later became the Calaveras Big Trees State Park. Prior to his arrival though it was a booming mining town known as Dogtown, one of the biggest camps in California. The Gold Rush town was full of stray dogs which is how it came by its name.

Outside the notoriety of Keefer's disappearance, Dogtown had its own history of drama and unexpected death.

It was noted that many miners, residents of Dogtown killed themselves, often spurred by jealousy and a broken heart. This was probably due to the scarcity of women.

Charles Ferrand, (Charlie Ferants) a singer of Spanish songs in a Dogtown cabaret hung himself from a tree. Shortly after that, the tree died too.

In 1868, Alpheus Channell, better known as "Coot" made the newspaper after he left his home and nothing was heard from him for a year. His family and friends believed he had drowned in Butte Creek, however in March 1868, his remains and a blanket were found below the trail leading from Nimshew to Magalia. A ring in a purse was recognized as belonging to him. No one knew how he died since there was no "abrupt point" for him to fall from, and his blankets were spread out like if he had camped in the bushes.

Someone who perhaps knew more than the rest of the town, said he left with the intent of committing suicide, but became impatient and cut his thread on Middle Butte about two miles above Dogtown. What would cause him to take this action, was never disclosed.

Only collapsed buildings and foundations are left in Dogtown mining camp c.1989

Old Dad Moore who owned a store, walked out in the street, and shot his brains out for no apparent cause. Jim Osborne killed himself with poison; two other unnamed men cut their throats in the street "because they were so unfortunate to be married to pretty but fickle women." John Chamberlain shot his brains out with a revolver in his saloon. Joe Hasty who once lived in Dogtown, traveled there from Honcut just to kill himself. Old Nick Johnson being jealous of his wife, met her in the road returning from a neighbor's house, cut her throat and then blew his head off with a double barreled shot gun. Tom Smith shot himself through the heart while frenzied with jealousy, and not more than 200 yards from the same spot Mr. Crummle shot himself, because his wife transferred her affection from him to Chris Lynch.

Whatever the fate of Windsor Keefer, the Jupiter mine continued to operate as a hydraulic mine. In 1898, A.B. Thompson was the superintendent, and a large boarding house and office were built for him. This was the man who went hunting with Windsor Keefer, and last saw him alive. Thirty men were working the mine in those years.

The Ross Reservoir gave way in 1899 and flooded Dogtown, and swept away a large portion of the mining camp. However this was not the first time the mining camp faced destruction, since in 1870 the town burned down.

By 1989, all that was left of Dogtown were derelict building foundations and a handful of collapsing wooden structures. The town had its share of gunfights, tragedies and strange occurrences, and none stranger than the disappearance of Windsor A. Keefer.