I haven't read all 3800+ posts but I have read large swaths of the thread including all the biguns. My question still stands... why would the treasure be illegal? If it's on gov't land, that doesn't make it illegal, it just complicates logistics. If all you got are stories and theories, none of the beaurocrats are gonna give a crap. Take a gold bar from the stash, plop it on someone's desk, and they'll start listening. It doesn't explain why you don't recover any treasure, other than the need for an alibi.
BTW, I don't think for a minute you're trying to mislead folks. I think you really believe this stuff. I just think your wrong. I've brought up the parallel with dowsers before, and my experience is that dowsers really honestly believe they can do what they think they can do. But when they got nothing to show for their efforts, the alibis roll off the tongue with ease. There's always a reason for failure, but it's never them.
Re dowsers, IMO most are wishful thinkers who rationalize their failures - like most of us do with life in general when things go wrong. The best excuse I remember is a guy who proclaimed that four feet beneath him was buried a chest of gold coins - guaranteed. After digging an eight-foot hole that was threatening to cave in on him, he quit and said, "Obviously, lightning must have struck here and ruined the rays' paths." I've dealt with several other dowsers with similar results and excuses.
That said, I've also tested two dowsers who produced results. Neither wanted payment in any form, by the way. Using a topo map with all ID removed, both claimed they could put an X on the map where I would find something manmade. Dowser 1 made three X's in very remote rugged terrain with no roads or trails anywhere nearby. Two of the spots paid off - at one were remnants from an old logging camp (stove parts, trash heap, etc), and the second spot was an old miner's prospect. Neither on any maps or public records that I could find. The third X showed nothing, although it was, well, a very weird place. Dowser 2, whom I was friends with, passed a similar test, this time scoring 8 for 12, as I remember. Both of these guys are long deceased. I believe all dowsers believe they can dowse, but very few can actually produce accurate results.
Re sandy1, if people want to believe his story and invest time and energy in it, more power to them. Our lives and decisions are ours. As long as he and the four true believers who support him here aren't trying to get money from readers, then there's no harm, no foul. Ironically, as I recall, their primary reason for not producing convincing evidence of their extraordinary treasure recovery claims is Fear of The Man coming after them. Fair enough, but if that's the case, then why flaunt your implied successes on a public forum in the first place?
