Jim Reynolds Gang Loot

[goldnuggets]

So I’ve been researching this story thoroughly, they’re on the run with vigilantes on their tail, run around mount Logan through Geneva gulch and a horse dies, then they go to the headwaters of deer creek, see an old mine shaft and hastily bury the loot, and stabbed a knife into a dead tree to mark the direction of the shaft. Jim dies but before hand tells a guy where it’s at. He goes there doesn’t find anything due to fires and landslides. In the 1930s a guy with claims on hardcart creek decides to go look for it and finds the knife in the tree, takes it and doesn’t find the mine shaft.

Fast forward to today, I’ve searched and searched for old mine claims in the area and there’s nothing. So I start thinking, maybe the French? That leads me to this story about the Spanish chasing the Comanches up into South Park for revenge. Some guy in the early 20th century finds a Spanish suit of armor in a rock crevice in South Park.

Obviously the Spanish were here. There’s no hard evidence of them coming this far up into South Park, except for this story and the story from an outlaw who didn’t even know the Spanish were up there.

Am I crazy or could I be into something?

Has anyone else walked deer creek up to the headwaters and looked?

 

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[GoDeep]

Am I crazy or could I be into something?

Nah, it's never crazy to follow treasure leads! Sounds like a cool story, but like most of these legends, many are nothing more than campfire tales.

Depends on the genre, but they invariably contain most, if not all of the following elements:

1. Most all are on the run/retreating/fleeing be they bandits, armies or innocent parties etc. (The Plausible Premise)
2. Treasures in tow with them (The Hook)
3. Buried the treasure as they are about to be overrun/overtaken/defeated/ambushed. (The Motive)
4. The Treasures weren't later recovered by any members of the parties involved. (The mystery)
5. "Death bed"/"Too old to get it myself"/"Witness" Confession, often involving multiple geographic clues, markings and even hand scrawled maps. (The Confession)
6. Despite the confessions being 100's of years ago, it's still out there for you to find. (The call to action)

 

[GoDeep]

Now take any legend and plug it in:

For example, The Jim Reynolds Gang:

1. Fleeing the vigilante posse
2. Treasure in tow
3. Had to hastily bury it before being caught
4. No members of the gang later recover it
5. Jim gives a "deathbed" confession of where it is.
6. Though it's been searched for, it's still out there for you to find!

Or how about Yamishita's Treasure :

1. Retreating Japanese Army
2. Vast quantities of gold bullion in tow
3. Buried as the US was about to defeat them
4. No evidence of any members later retrieving anything of significance
5. Confessions of older Filipino witnesses to having seen suspicious activity, some even claiming to have helped bury it.
6. Still plenty there for you to find (and hence all the ways in which to try to make money off you by seeling you books, tours, equipment, guides etc)

 

[goldnuggets]

Now take any legend and plug it in:

For example, The Jim Reynolds Gang:

1. Fleeing the vigilante posse
2. Treasure in tow
3. Had to hastily bury it before being caught
4. No members of the gang later recover it
5. Jim gives a "deathbed" confession of where it is.
6. Though it's been searched for, it's still out there for you to find!

Or how about Yamishita's Treasure :

1. Retreating Japanese Army
2. Vast quantities of gold bullion in tow
3. Buried as the US was about to defeat them
4. No evidence of any members later retrieving anything of significance
5. Confessions of older Filipino witnesses to having seen suspicious activity, some even claiming to have helped bury it.
6. Still plenty there for you to find (and hence all the ways in which to try to make money off you by seeling you books, tours, equipment, guides etc)

Good way to think about it. Sometimes there really is treasure though, that’s the only thing. I wonder if anyone really looks you know? And if they do do they find something? I probably wouldn’t say anything if I found $40,000 in greenbacks and two tins of gold dust.

 

[crashbandicoot]

Good way to think about it. Sometimes there really is treasure though, that’s the only thing. I wonder if anyone really looks you know? And if they do do they find something? I probably wouldn’t say anything if I found $40,000 in greenbacks and two tins of gold dust.

Go look brother,follow your dream.

 

[GoDeep]

Good way to think about it. Sometimes there really is treasure though, that’s the only thing. I wonder if anyone really looks you know? And if they do do they find something? I probably wouldn’t say anything if I found $40,000 in greenbacks and two tins of gold dust.

Certainly there's treasures out there, but the ones actually found are either randomly found and weren't connected to any legend (think hoards found in Europe or the saddleback ridge coin hoard found in California) or they come from well documented loses or archeological sites (think sunken ships or ruin sites, such as the valley of the kings)

I've never heard of a single treasure that was found that was based on a "legend". My point, if you're going to search for treasure, chasing legends isn't the wisest use of ones time in my opinion.

Jeff of PA on here constantly posts up old newspaper articles of real lost (and found) treasures that were documented in the publications of the times. You'll notice legends always lack this type of documentation. He's posted up some really good leads over the years that would be worth researching.

 

[RGINN]

For me I guess the real treasure lies in the hunt, not the finding, as I haven't ever found much. (J. Frank Dobie said the real gold lies in the writing about it, not finding it.)

 

[goldnuggets]

Certainly there's treasures out there, but the ones actually found are either randomly found and weren't connected to any legend (think hoards found in Europe or the saddleback ridge coin hoard found in California) or they come from well documented loses or archeological sites (think sunken ships or ruin sites, such as the valley of the kings)

I've never heard of a single treasure that was found that was based on a "legend". My point, if you're going to search for treasure, chasing legends isn't the wisest use of ones time in my opinion.

Jeff of PA on here constantly posts up old newspaper articles of real lost (and found) treasures that were documented in the publications of the times. You'll notice legends always lack this type of documentation. He's posted up some really good leads over the years that would be worth researching.

For me I guess the real treasure lies in the hunt, not the finding, as I haven't ever found much. (J. Frank Dobie said the real gold lies in the writing about it, not finding it.)

Amen to that

 

[Legacy X]

So I’ve been researching this story thoroughly, they’re on the run with vigilantes on their tail, run around mount Logan through Geneva gulch and a horse dies, then they go to the headwaters of deer creek, see an old mine shaft and hastily bury the loot, and stabbed a knife into a dead tree to mark the direction of the shaft. Jim dies but before hand tells a guy where it’s at. He goes there doesn’t find anything due to fires and landslides. In the 1930s a guy with claims on hardcart creek decides to go look for it and finds the knife in the tree, takes it and doesn’t find the mine shaft.

Fast forward to today, I’ve searched and searched for old mine claims in the area and there’s nothing. So I start thinking, maybe the French? That leads me to this story about the Spanish chasing the Comanches up into South Park for revenge. Some guy in the early 20th century finds a Spanish suit of armor in a rock crevice in South Park.

Obviously the Spanish were here. There’s no hard evidence of them coming this far up into South Park, except for this story and the story from an outlaw who didn’t even know the Spanish were up there.

Am I crazy or could I be into something?

Has anyone else walked deer creek up to the headwaters and looked?

I read some of the responses and I noticed someone brought up newspaper leads. They were correct. They aren’t as romantic or interesting as what you would call a treasure legend BUT I sincerely believe they should make up some portion of a treasure hunters time. There are enough in anyone’s own state to never hit them all. They aren’t all perfect but it’s a primary source to a treasure lead. It’s that simple. The ones I work fit a very specific criteria.
At the end of the day we research to increase the likely hood we are successful. And being primary source material if you pick the right ones there is zero doubt that running your detector over that land is statistically better than random land. Like I said you can chose to only work certain types and I believe based on certain factors the lead is even higher than your average newspaper lead.
The great thing you can still do the bigger legends as well. I’m a treasure hunter because I don’t think, I know there are hundred of millions still in the ground in this country. And I think it’s possible to find some. More than possible. I think the issue isn’t leads it’s time. Time is our enemy. If you could somehow search 300 cache leads a year. Leads like I’m talking about I think that person would meet their objective! So the question is the numbers. How many does it take to find one. There is an answer to that. I’m gonna try to hit enough sites over the next 15 years to see if I can find it. But it might be too big for one man to get enough data points to come up with a number you can depend on. Is it 1 in 50? 1 in 300? Etc…. Hope that helps.