Thursday, May 2, 2024
Lowrie’s book, a fictional novel, is based on actual events and true Texas history and has been described as a “fast-paced thrill ride through Texas and Northern Mexico.” The novel can be more accurately described as being based on actual events in Coryell County involving the infamous Pancake Mine.
“The best stories for a writer always have a degree of truth in them,” Lowrie said. “The Black Heart Stone was one of the best lost artifact and lost treasure stories I have ever found. After its flooring significance was revealed, it disappeared in 1935. It is still missing,” he said.
Lowrie continued, “I first learned about the Black Heart Stone from Clay Coppedge and his book, “Forgotten Tales of Texas.”
Clay Coppedge wrote a detailed history about the mine and mentioned that a rock was located with Jim Bowie’s name and the date of 1832 carved on it. It was later said that the engraved stone also had a tale about 3,000 pounds of gold and another about a Comanche wife buried in Horseshoe Mountain near the headwaters of Coryell Creek.
Coppedge also wrote that the remains of a human being were found along with a black stone shaped like a human heart and a slab of flint with a strange diagram etched on it. Coppedge wrote “the flint was sent to the chief engineer of the Valencia Mines near Mexico City, who reported back that the flint was a mining engineer's map of ancient Mexican origin.” The map was later used to find the mining shafts and surface work.
Eventually, the Black Heart Stone ended up in the possession of Frank E. Simmons, a Coryell County historian. “Simmons wrote in great detail about the Pancake Mine and about the black rock, which Ike Pancake believed had little significance, for the Coryell County News in 1936. Simmons didn't attach a lot of significance to the Black Heart Stone until 1935 when a man traveled from Mexico to see Simmons, or rather the black rock in the shape of a human heart,” Coppedge wrote. The Black Heart Stone went missing in 1935 and has never been found.
According to Coryell County Historian Mildred Mears, the Pancake Mine “had been a mystery to many men, numerous stories had been written about it, but none of them have been any value to the solution of the problem.”
In 1941, Simmons published an article about the Pancake Mine, which he reported was located on the headwaters of Coryell Creek. Simmons stated that the main hill seemed to be the center of the old mining operation.
Simmons also wrote that very little was known about the early history of the mine. “No one knows by whom or when it was done, nor little of its early history, save that which has been traced by legendary lore, some early Mexican charts, and the cultural remains that are left in the caves, or burial grounds, and wild rocky canyons by a primitive people,” he wrote.
Simmons also added to the mystery of the Pancake Mine by writing, “In the back of one cavity was found a piece of flint with a horse carved upon it. The engraving of the horse, a broken auger bit, a bullet mold, and an iron punch were found in the front shaft and indicate Spanish occupancy and the operation of the mine at the time it was abandoned.”
Using the legend and lore of the mine as a story line, Mike Lowrie created a historical fiction novel based on the mine and the discovery of the “Black Heart Stone.”
The actual stone, which disappeared years ago, was considered to be “highly prized.” Lowrie was able to incorporate Texas history with fictional characters to create his book which has been described as “A high-octane adventure story that would do credit to Indiana Jones.”
In speaking about his research into the Pancake Mine and the Black Heart Stone, Lowrie said “As any good writer is compelled to do, I did the research and added to the story. I didn’t have to go to the pyramids of Egypt to do it. It started at the Pancake Mine and in Gatesville.”
