Egyptian Treasure in the Grand Canyon?

Via "Post" # 62; maybe SM needed more "warehouse space" and "salted" GC caves with OOPS! SM is FED, ya know...
 

bump
i wrote a great big post , hit the wrong button i guess . it blew up , where ever those posts go somebody got an ear full .lol
THE BARRON VON BURROWS :BangHead: THE BARRON VON BURROWS :BangHead: ARRRRRRRRGGGG

boy i feel better . lmao
 

It's important to note that there are other stories attributing the Grand Canyon as the home to tombs, mummies, vast caches of treasure and material goods from those that left it. Many of these are attributed to the Montezuma Treasure. Follows are two accounts as I posted 8 years ago on my Treasures of Utah forums:

Follows is an abridged version of the Grand Canyon stories as they appeared in Treasure magazine. The date of the publication is not listed, however (if you know when this article ran I for one would appreciate the reference point). I have omitted the background information pertaining to the Spanish Conquest and the back story behind Montezumas Treasure because I believe most of the readers here are already familiar with this aspect of the story. The article was entitled, The Aztec Treasure Cavern, and was written by John Townley.

Three hundred and fifty years passed before any reliable information came to light regarding the lost treasure of the Aztecs. Even then, the story of a prospector who barely escaped death in the Grand Canyon was thought to be the ravings of a madman. On September 8, 1867, James White drifted to shore near the Mormon farming settlement of Rioville, where the Virgin and Colorado rivers meet. He had lashed himself to a crude raft of three cottonwood logs and on this ungainly craft had drifted through the terrible rapids and cataracts of the Grand Canyon. If true, it was the first such passage for a white man.

White was in critical condition when found by the Mormon farmers. It was several weeks before he could put his story together, and even then big gaps in his memory made most of the journey a blank page. He had been prospecting in western Colorado and decided to try some of the upper Colorado drainage patterns for possible placer deposits. Somewhere between the present-day towns of Grand Junction and Moab, Whites party was attacked by Indians and he escaped with a single companion. Since they were both unfamiliar with the country, they decided to use the river as a means of escape. Using logs taken from the banks of the Colorado, they tied them together with harness leather and cast off into the unknown. In one of the first cataracts, Whites partner was lost overboard and drowned. With him went all the gear and supplies. White was left alone in a massive canyon still beyond the frontier.

After the first week, Whites condition deteriorated into semi-consciousness. In one period of sanity, White remembered coming to shore opposite a large opening in the rocky walls of the canyon. Wanting to escape from the hellish heat, he crawled inside and promptly went to sleep. Hours or perhaps days later, he was awakened by Indian braves carrying torches. Looking around at the cavern, White found himself in a large solution cavity filled with golden artifacts. Gigantic idols of beaten gold, masks of silver and turquoise, weapons of every type and size with hilts of precious metals and gems. Long bars of metal were stacked between the larger statuary and topped with jewelry and piles of gleaming emeralds, turquoise and garnets. None of the ceremonial implements resembled anything that White had ever seen in his travels in the Southwest. Later, when his account of the journey through the Grand Canyon had been picked up by eastern newspapers, archaeologists showed him pictures of Aztec ceremonial figures and weapons. White positively identified them as similar to the materials that filled his cavern in the canyon.

White fully expected the Indians to kill him on sight, instead they gave him a handful of dried meat and some pinon nuts. Again he drifted into delirium until he was found below the canyon, and nursed back to health. White never tried to capitalize from his experience. He returned to Colorado and refused to accompany the many parties that wanted to relocate the hidden cave. Most historians have dismissed his account as fanciful dreamings, but over the years White told the same story in the same way so often that he must have been sure of his facts. Today, river experts are more inclined to agree that he was the first man through the canyon.

The Grand Canyon area is still among the most remote in the country. In the late 19th century it was even less accessible. The few parties of prospectors who dared brave the dangers of the river, or tried to reach the bottom of the canyon by climbing the mile-high cliffs never succeeded in re-locating the hidden cavern. Gradually, Whites experiences were forgotten or ignored as a result of his delirium. However, in 1903, the treasure excitement blossomed again when two prospectors told of being led to the cavern by a friendly Paiute.

The story began in 1902, when Jake Johnson, a desert prospector, broke his leg while working alone in the badlands south of St. George, Utah. Johnson was near dead of exposure when he was found by an old Paiute and his squaw. In exchange for Johnsons camping gear, the old couple nursed Johnson back to health. Then, one evening, while the brave was out hunting, a mountain lion attacked his squaw. Johnson was able to kill the cat before the animal had done more than maul the woman. After that, Johnson was almost a brother to the Indian warrior. During the rest of his convalescence, the Indian would tell legends of his people to Johnson, as they sat around the campfire in the evenings. Once he told of a great treasure cache that had been hidden generations before.

According to Indian tradition, an expedition of well-organized and warlike men had come from the south escorting a long line of slaves, dragging boxlike containers shrouded by skins. The party went directly to the Grand Canyon and descended down from the south rim. The treasure was placed in a cavern that evidently had been chosen earlier. The slaves were killed on the spot, while half of the men remained as a guard and the others returned to the south. It was probably planned by the Aztecs that they would recover the cargo once the Spaniards had been driven into the sea, however, months and years went by without word for the garrison at the cavern. Eventually, they intermarried with the local Paiutes and told them tales about a great Indian empire in the south with their emperor, who would return in the future with an army to bring prosperity to the Paiute tribe. Until then, the treasure must be guarded from discovery by anyone. It was a responsibility that meant annihilation for the Paiutes should they permit the hidden cache to be stolen.

Johnson later said he was doubtful of the story at first, then realized that if it were true, he had an opportunity to make a fortune through his relationship with the Indians. He bided his time and then asked the Indian to show him this cave, in return for saving the life of his wife. After considering the request for several days, he agreed to take the prospector to the cave in a year, if both men were still alive. Johnson spent the year near Kingman, Arizona, working gold placers near the Colorado river. He wrote his brother telling him of his expectations and asked the older man to come west before the date Johnson was to meet his friendly Paiute brave. In September, 1903 both brothers were at Pipe Spring in northern Arizona ready to see if the story told the year before was reality of hoax.

The Indian and his woman met the men as planned, and after some disagreement about another man being present, agreed to lead the brothers to the treasure. The Paiute forced the pair to agree that they would remove only as much gold as they could carry. Further, the men would be blindfolded and led to the cavern. One days ride south of Pipe Spring, the prospectors were blindfolded and four days were spent in the saddle before they were finally told that on the next day they would be taken on foot to the cave. Starting at daylight, they were led three hours or so, until a sudden drop of temperature told the prospectors that they had been led underground. After a few minutes walk, the blindfolds were removed and the men saw that they were in what appeared to be volcanic caves. Lighting torches, the party then proceeded through the cave, always in a descending direction, until they came to a single large room. The glare from the four torches suddenly magnified several times the magnitude of golden idols, shields, and other objects reflecting the light in the eerie flickering flashes. Neither of the men had time to inspect the cave at length, as the Paiutes continually urged them to take what they could carry and retrace their steps to the surface. It was clear that they were at the base of the Grand Canyon, since an opening could be seen in the distance that led onto a sand beach. However, the men were never sure whether they had come down through the cave from the rim of the canyon or whether they had been led at some point along the sheer walls when they had entered the cave.

When they reached the surface, the sun had set long ago. In the dark, they made their way back to camp. After returning to Pipe Spring, the prospectors went to Salt Lake City and sold the bullion they had collected to the smelter there. Each man received slightly over $15,000 for his bullion. Both outfitted and returned to the St. George area, certain that they could find their way back to the cave and riches that would rival the Count of Monte Cristo. The more they searched, the more the country began to look alike. They stayed until November snows, then returned the next year. With their profits from the first trip, they bought ranches in southern Utah and settled down to raising whiteface cattle between occasional trips back to the Canyon to look for their lost trail of wealth.

In 1907, despairing of ever relocating the entrance to the cave, the brothers wrote an article on their experiences for the Salt Lake Mining Review. The editors sent a reporter to St. George to discuss the letter with the brothers. The reporter came away convinced them en had seen the lost treasure of Montezuma. The article was published and created a sensation. Men from all over the West descended on St. George and made futile searches for the entrance to the treasure cave. It was a useless effort; the treasure was never seen again. Gradually, the excitement died, and can only be recaptured by reading the yellowing files of the newspapers of southern Utah. Today, with all the improved roads to the north rim country, the search for Jake Johnsons lost cave might be easier. Then too, its possible to rent a river craft and explore the canyon from the bottom up. Who knows, you might find the same entrance that Jim White unknowingly crawled through over a century ago, and collapsed amid a jumbled heap of priceless golden antiquities. At any rate, Montezumas treasure has been seen by at least three men and documented in a respected mining journal. You might be the lucky man to be number four.
 

The Old Spanish Mine in the Grand Canyon
Written For the Mining Review
January 15, 1903​


Mike Smith was not a miner, but a prospector.

He called himself a prospector but he was about to make his first trip into the hills and did not know quartz from porphyry, granite from slate, or schist from country rock As a matter of fact he did not know what was meant by country rock. In other words, he was what might well be termed a rank tenderfoot. However, he was a robust man, strong and courageous, of genial, even temperament and had the knack of making friends wherever he went, and his kindly blue eyes and honest countenance won his way into the hearts of the stranger whether in town, in the isolated camp, or in the solitudes of the wilderness or mountain canyon.

Mike was from Missouri, and a second or third cousin, on his mothers side, of old Jake Johnson, a veteran miner, who was well known in the mining camps of the west, and who, two years previous to the incidents upon which this story is founded, had visited his ancestral home upon the banks of Shell Creek, in Caldwell County, Missouri, not more than two hundred miles from Kansas City.

Jake enjoyed a well-earned reputation as an experienced prospector-he was not much of a miner, as he preferred to roam the hills rather than work underground in a way, he was a pocket hunter, and with his two burros with pick, shovel, gold pan and a few primitive mining tools, a sack of flour and a couple of slabs of side bacon, would start for the hills and would be gone for months, to return eventually with a buckskin sack well filled with placer gold or with a few fine gold nuggets wherewith to purchase a new grub-stake for a new start, which generally occurred as soon as he had been on a spree for a few days, which left him penniless before he took to the mountains again.

On one of these trips, while in the grand canyon of the Colorado, near the Utah-Arizona line, he had the misfortune to fall from a precipitous cliff into a box canyon, which in this region are numerous. The fall resulted in a broken leg, and for a day after the accident he was unable to stir. The next morning, with slow movement and painful exertion, he was able to crawl a hundred yards to the bank of a little stream which wound its way to its confluence with the main river. Here he was able to quench his feverish thirst, but, being without provision of any kind, he was almost on the verge of starvation when he was found by an old Indian, who, with his squaw, was wandering around in this mighty wilderness, subsisting on rabbits and other game, and upon fish from the river. His wickiup was near at hand, and with great difficulty Jake was helped by the Indian to his humble abode. Here he was carefully nursed by the Indian and his squaw, and, within a month was able to hobble around on improvised crutches, and was soon able to resume his prospecting; his burros, in the meanwhile having been found by the kindly Indian and brought, with considerable difficulty, to the little stretch of grass-grown land bordering on the stream, and the sky-towering cliff near which Rabbit Tail, for this was the Indians name, had his temporary lodge.

During his convalescence Jake won his way to the heart of Rabbit Tail and his squaw, and many were the weird tales told by the old redman of exciting adventure, of privations endured, of hunts, battles, victories and defeats, and once, when in a more communicative mood, he told of finding nuggets of gold, and hinted of the existence of an old mine, on the dump of which great trees grew, and in the ancient and abandoned workings of which there were still left standing great bodies of ore in which native gold sparkled in the glare of a pitch-pine torch.

Jake, upon hearing this, was all excitement, and begged the Indian for more information concerning this old treasure vault, but without avail, as the wily savage became as mum as an oyster upon seeing the interest the white man had taken in his narrative

It happened shortly after this, that Jake was able to rescue Rabbit Tails squaw from the attack of a mountain lion, which so softened the Indian that he told him that if he would meet him at that place within a year that he would show him the old mine, but that he could take no more of the gold than he could carry away with him and that he would be led blindfolded to and from the old bonanza, which, he said, was located in an almost inaccessible spot ,near the brink of a yawning precipice, and above which were towering cliffs which rose perpendicular until their summits were lost in the blue of the sky.

Jake then started on his way to civilization, but, before leaving the canyon, had the good fortune to find a rich placer deposit in one of its tributaries, from which he took about $1500 in the yellow metal. Marking well the spot, he pulled out for Dandy Crossing, and finally reached Marysvale, from which point, after putting his burros into pasture, he came to Salt Lake City on the train. Soon after he left for his old Missouri home, where he soon had his cousin, Mike Smith, in a fever heat over his placer find and the story told by the Indian of the existence of the old gold mine. After a week or so of rest, Jake could stand the monotony of civilization no longer, and started for the west again, but not before he had drawn a crude map of the Grand Canyon of the Colorado, and indicated the spot where Mike was to meet him within the next six months, when they would both work the placer, and meet with the old Indian, provided the redskin was true to his
Word.

This was what brought Mike Smith to Salt Lake City within the next three months, and this was why he informed all who questioned him that he was a prospector. Having been enjoined to silence and secrecy by Johnson, he avoided all intercourse, as much as possible, with everyone, and one day, with a modest outfit, he left for Marysvale, where he purchased two burros and started on his lonely and solitary trip for the Colorado River. It was then that his real troubles began. Unacquainted with the ways west and totally without experience, he was often without water, and many times he lost his way. At last, however, ragged and worn, haggard and thin, he reached the Colorado, and after many days, reached the little camp prepared by Johnson, where he was heartily welcomed by this grim old prospector, who enjoyed life in the wilds, alone with nature, more than he did in the busy haunts of men

For the first few days after the arrival of Mike, the two worked the placer, and with most satisfactory results. In the evenings, before rolling up in their blankets for the night, they would smoke their pipes and wonder if Rabbit Tail would keep his tryst and show them the gold-laden caverns which had evidently been discovered and worked soon after the subjugation of the Montezumas. While thus engaged, one evening, the Indian stood before them, coming as silently as the rising of the morning sun. He was welcomed, but was surprised that Johnson had brought a companion with him, and seemed disinclined to fulfill his engagements. After much discussion, however, and taking a liking to Mike, he expressed his willingness to make him one of the party, and warned the two white-men to be ready to start at early dawn

Almost before it was light enough to see their way, the three were up and afoot. The way was difficult. Sometimes thick brush hindered their progress. Occasionally a blank wall confronted them, and it was necessary to climb upon each others shoulders to overcome these obstacles; and creeping, climbing, clinging, to roots and bushes growing in the crevices of the rocks, they at last reached a point where they were blindfolded by the Indian. From here they traveled in single file, clinging to a rope held by their guide. For an hour or more they followed, skinning their shins against rocks and boulders, and sometimes falling to their knees because of inequalities in the ground. After what seemed an age, and when tired and exhausted almost beyond belief, the bandages were removed and they stood in almost midnight darkness. At a word from Rabbit Tail a light was struck and a torch lighted. Upon looking around, the two prospectors and fortune-seekers
found that they were in an enormous cavern, the sides of which gave no trace of mineral. At their feet, however, were masses of rock, which, upon examination, were found to be rich in native gold, but their source was not apparent. Elated, and yet disappointed, Mike and Jake turned to the Indian, who motioned them to a small drift in the cavern that they had not noticed before. Following the redskin, they got down on their hands and knees and crawled for a hundred feet or more through a small passage, coming at last to a narrow shelf of shale which bordered a chasm about five feet in width. This must have been very deep, for when rocks were dropped down it the sound coming from the bottom seemed but an echo. The Indian lightly leaped the gulf and Mike and Jake followed, but not without apprehension, and found themselves, breathing hard and trembling, on the other side, with but a narrow shelf for a foothold. Almost creeping along a torturous path, hardly able to keep their balance at times, they at length arrived at the entrance to a wide passage, which seemed to cut the chasm at almost right angles. Penetrating this for several yards and then climbing up an incline upraise for twenty or thirty feet, they were ushered into a great chamber. The sight that met their gaze in this chamber rendered the two prospectors speechless. Under the glare of the torches bottom, sides and top were resplendent with bright, glittering gold. In front was a great body of honey-combed quartz, in which were nuggets of the pure metal as large as walnuts. These were bound to the quartz by wire gold. The roof of the stope presented a perfect fretwork of wire and native gold, which seemed to be woven into festoons. On the sides the gold occurred in hard, white quartz such as beautiful jewelry is made from. On the floor great chunks of the gold-bearing ore were laying around and, among them were to be seen mining tools of ancient make, while, in one corner, could dimly be discerned the skeleton of a man, evidently that of a white miner

Recovering from their astonishment, Smith and Johnson fell into each others arms, but the Indian stood silent and stolid. A few minutes later he said, Come, we go out. Then it was that the white men came to their senses. They plead with Rabbit Tail for an hour, for half an hour in which to explore, to investigate this place of more than Monte Cristo wealth. But Rabbit Tail was obdurate and would not yield, and obeying his commands, they filled their pockets with the biggest nuggets, the finest specimens of wire gold, and the richest pieces of gold-filled quartz that they could find. Retracing their steps, but with greater difficulty than when they entered the treasure vault of the ancients, for they were heavily loaded with gold, they at last reached the cavern where their eyes had first been uncovered. Here the bandages were replaced by the Indian, and, led by him as before, they set out on their journey to their camp, which they reached just as the sun was setting in the west.

Tired and worn, they devoured the food that had been left from their morning repast, and were soon in deep slumber. It was long after daylight before they awoke, and when their eyes were fairly opened they discovered that during the night their Indian friend had left as quietly and as suddenly as he had arrived. For two or three days Jake and Mike rested, gloating over their store of gold. Then they spent several days in an effort to rediscover the wonderful mine. Time after time they climbed to the spot where Rabbit Tail had put on the blindfolds, but from there on all was a blank, and no trace was left of their previous passage. At last they left for Utahs metropolis, packing their gold on their burros. Arriving at Salt Lake, they sold their wealth of gold, and for several days the papers were full of accounts of the small lot of fabulously rich rock that had been put through the sampling works, but no one ever found from whence it came, although Smith and Johnson were shadowed day and night until they left for their Missouri home

Ever since then, year after year, two prospectors, with four burros, have been seen haunting the beautiful yet desolate regions of the Grand Canyon. Smith comes to the city once in a while, and to all inquiries he says , I am only a prospector. And yet he does not know the difference between lime and quartzite, slate and shale, nor is he posted on country rock; but, if he would tell the truth, he does know something about honey-combed and white quartz. Best of all, down on Shell Creek, in old Missouri, he has one of the finest arms in Caldwell County, which he purchased with a portion of the wealth gained by him in the old mine in the Grand Canyon of the Colorado which was found and lost under the guidance of Rabbit Tail the redskin.
 

Here is a third account that was featured in a longer story that included a version of the previously mentioned stories:

In 1868, after reading White's account of what he found on his hellish journey through the Grand Canyon, two San Francisco men, Barnett and Rainsboro, thought they would try their luck at finding White's hidden treasure cavern.


For a week the two of them searched the canyon and found several caves with old fire pits, pieces of pottery, human bones and arrowheads. In one of the caves they found ancient Aztec armor, swords and several human skeletons dressed in early Aztec period clothing. Ready to give up on the search for fame and fortune, they saw an almost completely hidden opening on the canyon wall. They studied the area and noted the foot and handholds carved along the wall. Feeling uneasy about the ancient pathway, they determined that the easiest way to gain access to the cavern was from the top of the canyon wall.


A few days later at the rim of the canyon, Barnett tied a rope around himself and had Rainsboro use their mule to slowly lower him to the entrance of the cave. He let out a war-hoop that assured his partner they had found what they were looking for. He came to the ledge waving his arms and yelling that the treasure was in there and it was exactly as White had described it. Rainsboro quickly raised Barnett back up the canyon wall where he anxiously waited for a description of what he had found.


The sun was quickly setting on the horizon and they agreed it would be safer to haul up the gold in the daylight. Neither Barnett nor Rainsboro slept that night. They kept guard as if the treasure would disappear in to the hands of another while they were sleeping. It seemed like an eternity before the first ray of light hit the sky and welcomed a new beginning for the two friends. Barnett again was the one who tied himself to the rope and was willingly lowered over the edge and down the canyon wall. Startled by Barnett's scream and the sudden release of the rope's tension, Rainsboro ran to the edge of the rim and peered down to where Barnett should have been.


It didn't take him long to figure out that Barnett had met his demise and would forever live in the watery grave of the Grand Canyon's Colorado River. There were no sharp edges or rocks for the rope to rub on, and Rainsboro swears someone in the cave cut the rope. Though Rainsboro never saw anyone, he felt a presence that could not be denied. It was then Rainsboro left the Grand Canyon and never looked back. His life was worth more to him than the treasure this cavern had protected and held secret for so many years.

(Excerpt from: “Grand Canyon’s Mother Lode”: Lost Treasure, March 2010 By: Vicki Huntington Hooper)
 

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There is yet one more story I have heard about but have not found any direct evidence of, perhaps someone here knows about the story I speak and where I can find more details about it. It concerns some fellows who escaped from the Yuma Prison who found the treasure cave and while lowering treasure onto a raft managed to capsize it. Ring any bells?

A very brief timeline:

*September 8, 1867 James White drifts ashore near Rioville, describes treasure
*1868 Barnett and Rainsboro (Barnett killed)
*September 1903, Jake Johnson and Mike Smith (one version says brother, another says 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] or 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] Cousin) meet in Pipe Springs to recover gold via Piute guide (dates are wonky since the SL Mining Review story runs in January for 1903)
*April 5, 1909 Phoenix Gazette runs Kinkaid story
 

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Randy Bradford said:
The Old Spanish Mine in the Grand Canyon
Written For the Mining Review
January 15, 1903​


Mike Smith was not a miner, but a prospector.

He called himself a prospector but he was about to make his first trip into the hills and did not know quartz from porphyry, granite from slate, or schist from country rock As a matter of fact he did not know what was meant by country rock. In other words, he was what might well be termed a rank tenderfoot. However, he was a robust man, strong and courageous, of genial, even temperament and had the knack of making friends wherever he went, and his kindly blue eyes and honest countenance won his way into the hearts of the stranger whether in town, in the isolated camp, or in the solitudes of the wilderness or mountain canyon.

Mike was from Missouri, and a second or third cousin, on his mothers side, of old Jake Johnson, a veteran miner, who was well known in the mining camps of the west, and who, two years previous to the incidents upon which this story is founded, had visited his ancestral home upon the banks of Shell Creek, in Caldwell County, Missouri, not more than two hundred miles from Kansas City.

Jake enjoyed a well-earned reputation as an experienced prospector-he was not much of a miner, as he preferred to roam the hills rather than work underground in a way, he was a pocket hunter, and with his two burros with pick, shovel, gold pan and a few primitive mining tools, a sack of flour and a couple of slabs of side bacon, would start for the hills and would be gone for months, to return eventually with a buckskin sack well filled with placer gold or with a few fine gold nuggets wherewith to purchase a new grub-stake for a new start, which generally occurred as soon as he had been on a spree for a few days, which left him penniless before he took to the mountains again.

On one of these trips, while in the grand canyon of the Colorado, near the Utah-Arizona line, he had the misfortune to fall from a precipitous cliff into a box canyon, which in this region are numerous. The fall resulted in a broken leg, and for a day after the accident he was unable to stir. The next morning, with slow movement and painful exertion, he was able to crawl a hundred yards to the bank of a little stream which wound its way to its confluence with the main river. Here he was able to quench his feverish thirst, but, being without provision of any kind, he was almost on the verge of starvation when he was found by an old Indian, who, with his squaw, was wandering around in this mighty wilderness, subsisting on rabbits and other game, and upon fish from the river. His wickiup was near at hand, and with great difficulty Jake was helped by the Indian to his humble abode. Here he was carefully nursed by the Indian and his squaw, and, within a month was able to hobble around on improvised crutches, and was soon able to resume his prospecting; his burros, in the meanwhile having been found by the kindly Indian and brought, with considerable difficulty, to the little stretch of grass-grown land bordering on the stream, and the sky-towering cliff near which Rabbit Tail, for this was the Indians name, had his temporary lodge.

During his convalescence Jake won his way to the heart of Rabbit Tail and his squaw, and many were the weird tales told by the old redman of exciting adventure, of privations endured, of hunts, battles, victories and defeats, and once, when in a more communicative mood, he told of finding nuggets of gold, and hinted of the existence of an old mine, on the dump of which great trees grew, and in the ancient and abandoned workings of which there were still left standing great bodies of ore in which native gold sparkled in the glare of a pitch-pine torch.

Jake, upon hearing this, was all excitement, and begged the Indian for more information concerning this old treasure vault, but without avail, as the wily savage became as mum as an oyster upon seeing the interest the white man had taken in his narrative

It happened shortly after this, that Jake was able to rescue Rabbit Tails squaw from the attack of a mountain lion, which so softened the Indian that he told him that if he would meet him at that place within a year that he would show him the old mine, but that he could take no more of the gold than he could carry away with him and that he would be led blindfolded to and from the old bonanza, which, he said, was located in an almost inaccessible spot ,near the brink of a yawning precipice, and above which were towering cliffs which rose perpendicular until their summits were lost in the blue of the sky.

Jake then started on his way to civilization, but, before leaving the canyon, had the good fortune to find a rich placer deposit in one of its tributaries, from which he took about $1500 in the yellow metal. Marking well the spot, he pulled out for Dandy Crossing, and finally reached Marysvale, from which point, after putting his burros into pasture, he came to Salt Lake City on the train. Soon after he left for his old Missouri home, where he soon had his cousin, Mike Smith, in a fever heat over his placer find and the story told by the Indian of the existence of the old gold mine. After a week or so of rest, Jake could stand the monotony of civilization no longer, and started for the west again, but not before he had drawn a crude map of the Grand Canyon of the Colorado, and indicated the spot where Mike was to meet him within the next six months, when they would both work the placer, and meet with the old Indian, provided the redskin was true to his
Word.

This was what brought Mike Smith to Salt Lake City within the next three months, and this was why he informed all who questioned him that he was a prospector. Having been enjoined to silence and secrecy by Johnson, he avoided all intercourse, as much as possible, with everyone, and one day, with a modest outfit, he left for Marysvale, where he purchased two burros and started on his lonely and solitary trip for the Colorado River. It was then that his real troubles began. Unacquainted with the ways west and totally without experience, he was often without water, and many times he lost his way. At last, however, ragged and worn, haggard and thin, he reached the Colorado, and after many days, reached the little camp prepared by Johnson, where he was heartily welcomed by this grim old prospector, who enjoyed life in the wilds, alone with nature, more than he did in the busy haunts of men

For the first few days after the arrival of Mike, the two worked the placer, and with most satisfactory results. In the evenings, before rolling up in their blankets for the night, they would smoke their pipes and wonder if Rabbit Tail would keep his tryst and show them the gold-laden caverns which had evidently been discovered and worked soon after the subjugation of the Montezumas. While thus engaged, one evening, the Indian stood before them, coming as silently as the rising of the morning sun. He was welcomed, but was surprised that Johnson had brought a companion with him, and seemed disinclined to fulfill his engagements. After much discussion, however, and taking a liking to Mike, he expressed his willingness to make him one of the party, and warned the two white-men to be ready to start at early dawn

Almost before it was light enough to see their way, the three were up and afoot. The way was difficult. Sometimes thick brush hindered their progress. Occasionally a blank wall confronted them, and it was necessary to climb upon each others shoulders to overcome these obstacles; and creeping, climbing, clinging, to roots and bushes growing in the crevices of the rocks, they at last reached a point where they were blindfolded by the Indian. From here they traveled in single file, clinging to a rope held by their guide. For an hour or more they followed, skinning their shins against rocks and boulders, and sometimes falling to their knees because of inequalities in the ground. After what seemed an age, and when tired and exhausted almost beyond belief, the bandages were removed and they stood in almost midnight darkness. At a word from Rabbit Tail a light was struck and a torch lighted. Upon looking around, the two prospectors and fortune-seekers
found that they were in an enormous cavern, the sides of which gave no trace of mineral. At their feet, however, were masses of rock, which, upon examination, were found to be rich in native gold, but their source was not apparent. Elated, and yet disappointed, Mike and Jake turned to the Indian, who motioned them to a small drift in the cavern that they had not noticed before. Following the redskin, they got down on their hands and knees and crawled for a hundred feet or more through a small passage, coming at last to a narrow shelf of shale which bordered a chasm about five feet in width. This must have been very deep, for when rocks were dropped down it the sound coming from the bottom seemed but an echo. The Indian lightly leaped the gulf and Mike and Jake followed, but not without apprehension, and found themselves, breathing hard and trembling, on the other side, with but a narrow shelf for a foothold. Almost creeping along a torturous path, hardly able to keep their balance at times, they at length arrived at the entrance to a wide passage, which seemed to cut the chasm at almost right angles. Penetrating this for several yards and then climbing up an incline upraise for twenty or thirty feet, they were ushered into a great chamber. The sight that met their gaze in this chamber rendered the two prospectors speechless. Under the glare of the torches bottom, sides and top were resplendent with bright, glittering gold. In front was a great body of honey-combed quartz, in which were nuggets of the pure metal as large as walnuts. These were bound to the quartz by wire gold. The roof of the stope presented a perfect fretwork of wire and native gold, which seemed to be woven into festoons. On the sides the gold occurred in hard, white quartz such as beautiful jewelry is made from. On the floor great chunks of the gold-bearing ore were laying around and, among them were to be seen mining tools of ancient make, while, in one corner, could dimly be discerned the skeleton of a man, evidently that of a white miner

Recovering from their astonishment, Smith and Johnson fell into each others arms, but the Indian stood silent and stolid. A few minutes later he said, Come, we go out. Then it was that the white men came to their senses. They plead with Rabbit Tail for an hour, for half an hour in which to explore, to investigate this place of more than Monte Cristo wealth. But Rabbit Tail was obdurate and would not yield, and obeying his commands, they filled their pockets with the biggest nuggets, the finest specimens of wire gold, and the richest pieces of gold-filled quartz that they could find. Retracing their steps, but with greater difficulty than when they entered the treasure vault of the ancients, for they were heavily loaded with gold, they at last reached the cavern where their eyes had first been uncovered. Here the bandages were replaced by the Indian, and, led by him as before, they set out on their journey to their camp, which they reached just as the sun was setting in the west.

Tired and worn, they devoured the food that had been left from their morning repast, and were soon in deep slumber. It was long after daylight before they awoke, and when their eyes were fairly opened they discovered that during the night their Indian friend had left as quietly and as suddenly as he had arrived. For two or three days Jake and Mike rested, gloating over their store of gold. Then they spent several days in an effort to rediscover the wonderful mine. Time after time they climbed to the spot where Rabbit Tail had put on the blindfolds, but from there on all was a blank, and no trace was left of their previous passage. At last they left for Utahs metropolis, packing their gold on their burros. Arriving at Salt Lake, they sold their wealth of gold, and for several days the papers were full of accounts of the small lot of fabulously rich rock that had been put through the sampling works, but no one ever found from whence it came, although Smith and Johnson were shadowed day and night until they left for their Missouri home

Ever since then, year after year, two prospectors, with four burros, have been seen haunting the beautiful yet desolate regions of the Grand Canyon. Smith comes to the city once in a while, and to all inquiries he says , I am only a prospector. And yet he does not know the difference between lime and quartzite, slate and shale, nor is he posted on country rock; but, if he would tell the truth, he does know something about honey-combed and white quartz. Best of all, down on Shell Creek, in old Missouri, he has one of the finest arms in Caldwell County, which he purchased with a portion of the wealth gained by him in the old mine in the Grand Canyon of the Colorado which was found and lost under the guidance of Rabbit Tail the redskin.
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this one almost reads like a code , you say it is from a mining journal ? hmmmmm ill bet the kgc boys on here could tell you some things if it is .lots of symbolism in the story . interesting to me more so than this, is bullion canyon just west of Marysvale . what about these other names in the story Caldwell County, or Shell Creek Missouri? interesting
 

I'm curious Randy - to your knowledge, have any of these stories been fact-checked for names, dates, etc?
 

Nope...these all came from treasure magazines which means they are probably full of plagiarism, poor fact checking, no source citations and are likely influenced by "creative license." I've found treasure magazines to be some of the worse examples of scholarship for those and many other reasons. When you add in the fact they are often written by the same folks under a variety of names and often base their research on a pre-Internet world where I believe (albeit cynically) they thought the likelihood of people uncovering original sources was remote.

The James White story is a perfect example, just tonight I believe I've found what I need to consider that story officially a myth:

https://ia700204.us.archive.org/4/items/grandcanyonartic00dawsrich/grandcanyonartic00dawsrich.pdf

This is a book printed in 1917, when White was still alive, by an author disputing a monument to John Wesley Powell, who was cited as the first person to travel the Grand Canyon by boat. The premise is that White told the story above, indicating he beat Powell by 2 years. What's missing in the book is any reference to a treasure, all other components remain.

It's speculation on my part, but it's not hard to imagine that 40 or 50 years ago, someone ran across that book, thought they'd add some "flavor" to the story and make a few bucks having it published in a treasure or Western magazine. They likely felt the book was obscure enough they'd never be caught, and since they probably published under a pen name why would it matter. Granted, this is pure speculation, but if you'd like I can dig up the specific resources these came from.

The Phoenix Gazette is an interesting story but I think few people grasp what a different world the "media," newspapers and "journalism" were like 100-150 years ago. Again, fact checking was a moot issue in a United States that was still largely regional and hadn't fully grasped a national communication or transportation system. People could publish anything they wanted with little fear it would ever be scrutinized outside of a hundred mile radius. Yellow journalism was rampant,credentials were non-existent. I'm not convinced there might not be something in the Grand Canyon, but the evidence presented must be taken with a grain of salt. The only upside is, f you have enough different stories, even the bad one's could have some credibility as the law of averages pile up.
 

ill tell you what i think , i think the treasure legend of this part of the country is born in powells journals , im not sure which expedition because the writings from both trips may have been mixed together a little bit to romance the story IMO . there is a paragraph in the first account (i think) that Powell is daydreaming about the kingdoms from Mexico coming through the canyon in the past . its hard to catch but it is in there. he was the treasure hunter, first the canyon , then the USGS , and the Smithsonian all in the mix.
you know they even started a small gold rush on the second voyage (or maybe it was the survey)


after it was reported that they found gold in the canyon. the prospectors that showed up were obviously not impressed with lower Kanab creek ,because it was short lived , but it did happen

http://books.google.com/books?id=fm...q=john wesley powell gold kanab creek&f=false


http://grandcanyonhistory.clas.asu.edu/sites_coloradorivercorridor_kanabcreek.html
 

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just so you don't think i'm crazy i found this for you , its not powells description even if the book says it is by him . about page 215.
First Through the Grand Canyon by Major John Wesley Powell

hard to say which parts was recorded by which guy , or even what trip , but it might be how the modern legend got it's foot hold
 

 

although i really have no way of vouching for the content of this link . it does make you wonder . Doheny Expedition
 

Ok so I watch a LOT of documentaries and archaeology shows etc. Here is what I know about Egyptians. They, much like most of the cultures of the Mediterranean did not sail in open ocean. Merchant ships and even navy vessels pretty much stuck close to shore at the time for a number of reasons. The first and foremost being that they weren't capable of handling major ocean storms. The second being a lack of ability to preserve food and water for long voyages(they needed fresh supplies often). The third being a lack of accurate navigating in open water(this came much later). The fourth being that they didn't voyage for discovery, they voyaged for trade and many major ports could be hit on a single journey if one stayed on the coastlines. In fact there isn't even a lot of evidence they sailed as close as north west Africa, although there was a lot of land trade in that direction. My own theory is that being a "bread basket" of sorts, and a peek civilization, that most people came to them. Last but not least, the Egyptians kept a lot of records both written and inscribed. There would have been more mention of such an amazing discovery on their part.

What really bothers me is how people are so easily convinced that ancient egyptians are responsible for monuments and caves in the area when we know for a FACT that many native american cultures have existed in these areas for thousands of years and built many extraordinary things. In the face of underwhelming evidence I like to fall back on Occam's razor. The simplest explanation is usually the correct one.
 

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Bottlecapbill said:
Ok so I watch a LOT of documentaries and archaeology shows etc. Here is what I know about Egyptians. They, much like most of the cultures of the Mediterranean did not sail in open ocean. Merchant ships and even navy vessels pretty much stuck close to shore at the time for a number of reasons. The first and foremost being that they weren't capable of handling major ocean storms. The second being a lack of ability to preserve food and water for long voyages(they needed fresh supplies often). The third being a lack of accurate navigating in open water(this came much later). The fourth being that they didn't voyage for discovery, they voyaged for trade and many major ports could be hit on a single journey if one stayed on the coastlines. In fact there isn't even a lot of evidence they sailed as close as north west Africa, although there was a lot of land trade in that direction. My own theory is that being a "bread basket" of sorts, and a peek civilization, that most people came to them. Last but not least, the Egyptians kept a lot of records both written and inscribed. There would have been more mention of such an amazing discovery on their part.

What really bothers me is how people are so easily convinced that ancient egyptians are responsible for monuments and caves in the area when we know for a FACT that many native american cultures have existed in these areas for thousands of years and built many extraordinary things. In the face of underwhelming evidence I like to fall back on Occam's razor. The simplest explanation is usually the correct one.
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Well amigo, I must respectfully disagree with your post here on a number of points. Not to say that the ancient Egyptians were great seafarers, but they certainly did send out seagoing expeditions into an open ocean, specifically their 'secret" expeditions to the "mythical" land of Punt, which most closely agrees with the island of Sumatra. This was not a single expedition, but were sent out periodically over a period of many centuries, until Egypt was conquered and the "secret" land of Punt as well as how to get there were lost.

Their ships were not the best of their day, but the fact that they were able to sail to Punt, as well as south to southern Africa and to India as well, are fairly solid proof of their capabilities. As to their navigational skills, they probably did not have the magnetic compass, but did have something nearly as good - the "sun compass" or gnomon, which of course only works on sunny days. The pharaoh Neco even sent an expedition to circumnavigate Africa successfully, which voyage required nearly three years to accomplish.

I would also point out that some products found in ancient Egyptian tombs, originated in very distant lands; a number of mummies were tested and found to have ingested both coca and nicotine while alive, both American products, which of course the second mentioned was for some time debated, until an actual American tobacco plant leaf was found actually wound inside of an ancient Egyptian mummy's wrappings. Cloves, used widely in the ritual preparations of the dead as well as in cooking and medicine, came from the very distant Molucca islands, four thousand years before Christ and is found widespread in ancient Egypt.

This belief that the ancient cultures were land-bound has been fairly disproven at this point, the great sea explorer Robert Ballard for example has found a number of ancient shipwrecks, very far from any shore and along the direct sailing routes between ancient cities. It is perfectly logical as well, for the direct open sea routes are not only shorter but safer than hugging a coastline, where any sailor can attest, is THE most dangerous place to sail, for close in to shore lines are where you find the hidden reefs and rocks which sink the unlucky. There is even an ancient text which describes how the ancient Egyptians sailed to and from India, directly across the open Indian ocean, directing the sailor as to when is the correct time to sail to take advantage of the seasonal trade winds in order to cross in the shortest possible time and return, as well as listing the various ports of call along the route if you were to sail along the coast line which is far longer and more dangerous.

<map showing the routes used to sail to and from Egypt and India circa 100 BC>
500px-Map_of_the_Periplus_of_the_Erythraean_Sea.jpg

the Periplus Erythraeum
Internet History Sourcebooks

While I do agree that people are too quick to assume ancient inscriptions found in America must be from Egypt or Rome etc, when it is more likely that an indigenous people created them, it is also erroneous to assume that ALL such inscriptions must be by ancient Amerindians. An example I could mention would be the Kensington Runestone, left by ancient Scandinavian explorers in Minnesota over a century before Columbus sailed, or the Los Lunas dekalogue stone in New Mexico, which almost certainly predates Christ.

I hope you will keep an open mind to possibilities, and especially with a case like this one, where we can not see for ourselves what was reported. A person might look pretty foolish to strongly denounce something that could turn out to be genuine tomorrow.

No offense intended amigo, I am merely trying to point out that some of those beliefs you posted previously, are no longer held to be true by all of academia, and the evidence has been mounting that the Americas were NOT in complete isolation from the Old World in the time before Columbus. Which is not to say that whole fleets of Egyptians were crisscrossing the Atlantic, nor Roman legions trooping around Indiana, just that SOME visitors certainly did come to America and did leave us evidence of their visits.

Good luck and good hunting amigos, I hope you find the treasures that you seek.
Oroblanco
 

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