Anyone familiar with an inscription found on rock near Pagosa Springs, CO?

[UncleMatt]

I recently was made aware of some correspondence from 1936 regarding an inscription found near Pagos Springs, CO, carved into a flat stone face. I have a hand drawn copy of this inscription, which includes eleven lines of coded text using various letters, mathematical symbols, and some I have yet to identify. I may just be ignorant, and this may be a common story, but wanted to ask as I have not been able to turn up anything about this online. Does anyone have any information to offer? I would post the inscription, but I do not have permission from the source. I am just trying to find out if anyone has heard of this before at all.

 

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[UncleMatt]

Some of the characters of this inscription are 2 letters formed into one, such as an N with the right side used as the upright on a capital E. I also see a capital J with the upright used for an E as well.

As some of you may know from my other posts here, I am a student/researcher of Temple Cornelius, and my interest in him led me to an old letter from the Secret Service/Treasury Department to a guy living in Aztec, NM named John Frazier in 1936 on official letterhead paper. The letter states the Secret Service is unable to assist in decoding the inscription, as they were not authorized to do so by their mandate or by order from government official. The letter also states that John had claimed it was found in the mountains near Pagosa Springs, CO, on a flat rock face.

I am wondering if someone will post to show me its a page from an old treasure yarn book or something like that, but also wondering if its legit.

 

[UncleMatt]

Feel free to PM me if you know anything about this and don't want to post it here.

 

[dsty]

UncleMatt, as a rule and in my world two letters that are aprox 2 inches long and 2/3 mm deep and wide seems to indicate the sguare league where its located thats part of a patern, yours seems to say 145 N= 14 + 5 0r 1 4 5 much like our township -- range -- section, More letters can be seen in Gail Shaffers and his son's book more or less just a copy

 

[UncleMatt]

The two examples I posted are 2 of many characters in this inscription. I don't believe any conclusions can be drawn from those 2 by themselves. I also do not know the location of the inscription, and have not been able to observe it directly to comment on the size or depth of its characters. All I have is a copy of the letter from the Secret Service to John Frazier in 1936, which included the handwritten copy of the inscription. Looking for more info of any kind on this. Anyone know of this guy, or this story?

 

[Shortstack]

Become a genealogical researcher and verify this John Frazier actually lived and was in the area in question in 1936. You could also try filing a FOIA Request to the Secret Service for all information pertaining to it's interactions with this John Frazier in 1936.

 

[UncleMatt]

You only need Google these days. I already verified the John Frazier in question lived in Aztec, NM, and in the 1940 census was 73 years old. So he was 69 when he got that letter from the secret service.

I know I am still fairly new around here, but I only ask the forum questions like this when I have exhausted all other channels of information. I am very well versed in all things internet, since doing people searches is part of my job. I was just hoping someone had heard of this or read about it at some point, and could fill me in, or shoot me down. Either is fine.

 

[UncleMatt]

Today I got my copy of Waybill to Spanish Mines & Treasure. I already see some of the characters in the inscription are in this book. This should be fun.

 

[seekeroforo]

Did the book help your transcription of the symbols? Do you have a description for the expected outcome of the symbols? I too am familiar with Cornelius' work and was just wondering if you had a clue were the actual location of the inscriptions are. I don't want to know personally where they are, just curious as to the stake you may have in the project.

Regards,
Seeker

 

[UncleMatt]

The book does have some helpful information. I regrettably have not had the time to focus on this project, as I am also building and testing a UAV and an underwater video scope as well. I have no information on the location of this inscription. I have made friends with several of Temple's relatives, and hope to find out more. The simple truth is, though, that a lot of information has simply passed away with people and time. I have a copy of the inscription , and nothing more to go on than the letter I found with it.

My stake in this project is I would someday like to find some physical evidence that at least one of Temple's lines of research were in the right direction. He had many irons in the fire, and and I am enjoying following the blazes he left on the trail of life. I will be doing a lot more research next summer in the high country, hopefully armed with some new tools. Temple knew that new technology could very well make it possible to locate what he was after, and I would be a fool to ignore that. Again I encourage anyone who has information on anything I have posted in this thread to PM me, or post. I know at least 2 people contacted Temple's son and spoke with him at length about these topics.

 

[cw0909]

from #2

As some of you may know from my other posts here, I am a student/researcher of Temple Cornelius, and my interest in him led me to an old letter from the Secret Service/Treasury Department to a guy living in Aztec, NM named John Frazier in 1936 on official letterhead paper

could john be, Olive Frazier Cornelius, Gdad/father
obit
long time Durango resident Lt. Col. (ret) Myrle Lynn Cornelius, died of natural causes on July 30, 2010. He was 87 years old. Myrle was born to Olive Frazier Cornelius and Temple Houston Cornelius in Aztec, N.M., on Dec. 24, 1922
Myrle Lynn Cornelius Obituary - Durango, Colorado - Tributes.com

Father: John Austin Frazier
Mother: Eda Annetta Estella Florence Wilson
Olive Estelle FRAZIER
B: 09 Nov 1893
P: Cheyenne Res Agency, SD
D: 01 Apr 1972
P: National City, CA
http://www.sharedtree.com/person/1289438
http://www.sharedtree.com/descendants.php?person_id=1289438
GEDCOM Import Record(s)
http://www.sharedtree.com/person_history.php?person_id=1289438

 

[UncleMatt]

Could be, but no way to tell from the letter in question, though the same thing had occurred to me as well. And until I have more data about the existence of this inscription, I have run out of leads other than the inscription itself. Thus my posting a thread about it here in search of anyone who might have heard of it.

Added later: I am prepared to now state with a fair amount of certainty it was indeed Olive's father who sent the inscription to the State Department in the mid 1930's. I was able to use a local source of mine to verify the old address on the envelope.

 

[UncleMatt]

So this is an interesting puzzle that is presenting itself. Unless I am mistaken, there is no mention of a John Frazier in any of Temple's published works. But I could see how John would have easily become enamored of Temple's pursuits in his retirement years, and perhaps thought he could assist Temple by having the inscription deciphered.

There is a hand scrawled message at the foot of the letter, obviously written after the letter was received from the State Department, by persons unknown. I will paraphrase: "Papa" is very interested about this, and he recommends that the reader contact their Senator friend and see if they can get action from the party above (the State Department), and to tell him that this is of great historical value.

So perhaps the letter I saw was a copy that was forwarded to another party after John Frazier got it back from the State Department. Question now is, who would that be? And which Senator is referred to as a possible way to get action on deciphering the inscription by the State Department? And who wrote that message? Curiouser and curiouser.