Mine with the Iron Door The Legend

[Azquester]

That's the map the relative wrote it's a modern day map he penciled about three or four maps sending them to another Treasure Hunter that looked for the Mine for months. This is just one of those maps. There is no copy of the map from 1848 the family wouldn't agree to release it so he was writing letters trying to help a team of guys that wrote for a Treasure Hunting magazine and had already found a treasure. I believe he just wanted redemption for his efforts from his earlier find that his wife wouldn't allow him to recover. Sounds like a weird story but trust me I know men that have relationships like that!

One of the keys to his site was the anvil that was broken in two pieces by the Apache at the mine. It has a stamp that said: New York Forged 1847 on it. That's what I was searching for with my Brother in law. That's why I had a metal detector folded up in my back pack.

We were close!

But the pine needles and underbrush is horrible up there from all the forest fires over the centuries. Finding anything is like looking for a needle in a mountain range!



As for old Flint Carter his ore is sent to China and they put the gold leaf into the samples it's for tourists of his museum.

 

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[froggy]

I like this MAP:

 

[Azquester]

I like this MAP:View attachment 1135648

Froggy that's a different area than the Map's I have shows but very intriguing!

You live down here by Tucson?

That's one hell of Hike your talking about one hell of a hike!

I've been close to that spot a few occasions it wasn't easy though.

In that area you can't do it in one day. You need to set up a base camp and bring climbing gear but your Map is excellent it shows the
probable location of the Lost Boy's description. An area they hunted for years but never found it!

If you feel er, ah... Froggy sometime lets jump!

Bill

 

[lilorphanannie]

hi , i prospect old mines in the country of mexico, i can vouch for the fact that early spanish miners on occasion sealed the mine entrances with iron doors or a mixture of a cement setup with cows blood. the recipe was secret . supposedly the iron content along with other ingredients made a sealed door that was virtually inpossible to penetrate. there is a sealed entrance like this on a hill about a 30 minute hike on a trail just outside arteaga ,michoacan. to hit these entrances your hammer has no effect and the hit rings out like a bell. we tried to blow it open with black powder and it didnt budge. the the two iron doors i have seen , one was torn down and set aside ,the thing that i marveled at was the workmanship of the tunnel. it was smooth almost sculptured with perfect measurments and the drill holes were huge maybe 1.75 inches in diameter. they would drill these holes by hand fill them with wet lime and plug them tightly. as the lime would swell up and create a crack as a straight line from hole to hole. beautiful work. the other iron door was attached and we opened it with a portable cutting torch.it had a cross and initials on it. the tunnel led to a huge room at about 50 meters and the tunnel continued again but downhill. but it was full of water, crystal clear water we couldnt proceed. this was in guerrero mexico. my point here is that iron doors do exist. i have heard rumors that theres more, but ive seen only those two. there were no known treasure stories to either nor did the mines have a known name. the cemented walled in entrance did have a story connected to it and was more recent .

 

[Azquester]

hi , i prospect old mines in the country of mexico, i can vouch for the fact that early spanish miners on occasion sealed the mine entrances with iron doors or a mixture of a cement setup with cows blood. the recipe was secret . supposedly the iron content along with other ingredients made a sealed door that was virtually inpossible to penetrate. there is a sealed entrance like this on a hill about a 30 minute hike on a trail just outside arteaga ,michoacan. to hit these entrances your hammer has no effect and the hit rings out like a bell. we tried to blow it open with black powder and it didnt budge. the the two iron doors i have seen , one was torn down and set aside ,the thing that i marveled at was the workmanship of the tunnel. it was smooth almost sculptured with perfect measurments and the drill holes were huge maybe 1.75 inches in diameter. they would drill these holes by hand fill them with wet lime and plug them tightly. as the lime would swell up and create a crack as a straight line from hole to hole. beautiful work. the other iron door was attached and we opened it with a portable cutting torch.it had a cross and initials on it. the tunnel led to a huge room at about 50 meters and the tunnel continued again but downhill. but it was full of water, crystal clear water we couldnt proceed. this was in guerrero mexico. my point here is that iron doors do exist. i have heard rumors that theres more, but ive seen only those two. there were no known treasure stories to either nor did the mines have a known name. the cemented walled in entrance did have a story connected to it and was more recent .

Please by all means throw some high quality photo's up on here that would be great!

Thanks for your input.

Bill

 

[Oroblanco]

Bump

 

[Real de Tayopa Tropical Tramp]

Bump ??

 

[Gold Maven]

hi , i prospect old mines in the country of mexico, i can vouch for the fact that early spanish miners on occasion sealed the mine entrances with iron doors or a mixture of a cement setup with cows blood. the recipe was secret . supposedly the iron content along with other ingredients made a sealed door that was virtually inpossible to penetrate. there is a sealed entrance like this on a hill about a 30 minute hike on a trail just outside arteaga ,michoacan. to hit these entrances your hammer has no effect and the hit rings out like a bell. we tried to blow it open with black powder and it didnt budge. the the two iron doors i have seen , one was torn down and set aside ,the thing that i marveled at was the workmanship of the tunnel. it was smooth almost sculptured with perfect measurments and the drill holes were huge maybe 1.75 inches in diameter. they would drill these holes by hand fill them with wet lime and plug them tightly. as the lime would swell up and create a crack as a straight line from hole to hole. beautiful work. the other iron door was attached and we opened it with a portable cutting torch.it had a cross and initials on it. the tunnel led to a huge room at about 50 meters and the tunnel continued again but downhill. but it was full of water, crystal clear water we couldnt proceed. this was in guerrero mexico. my point here is that iron doors do exist. i have heard rumors that theres more, but ive seen only those two. there were no known treasure stories to either nor did the mines have a known name. the cemented walled in entrance did have a story connected to it and was more recent .

That sounds great, do you have any pictures?

 

[lilorphanannie]

sorry no photos, i was an employee for an exploration company financed by a private investor, his lifelong dream was to have his own gold mine. he gave us a budget of three million dollars and the task of finding the richest gold mine in the country. we had a team of three. we obtained all concievable mining records avaliable.we focused only on old abandoned mines in the sierra madre of northern mexico. we visited over 150 mines and stayed in the high country over three years . one guy in the group filmed everything to send back to the investor. but i have none of those videos, for the cemented entrance that i mentioned here ,i was own my own and we worked only at night and i local family asked for my help. i was dredging in a river nearby. we were poorly financed and a camera was a luxury. plus the intense visual image of that place will stay etched in my mind forever, there was no need for pictures. we visited many ,many interesting mines. i continued this type of exploration long after i stopped working for this old man.

 

[copperpot]

Mine with the Iron Door Legend from the Santa Catalina Range just to the north and above Tucson.
This Legend has been around a few centuries with many versions. I have quite a lot on this legend if anyone else has any material to post this the place.







View attachment 1130884

Bill,
are you still hunting for this? If you are, are you going in the spring/summer? or waiting till fall? Because of the coming heat. I live up in Mesa, and this is of interest to me.

thanks!
CP

 

[Azquester]

Bill,
are you still hunting for this? If you are, are you going in the spring/summer? or waiting till fall? Because of the coming heat. I live up in Mesa, and this is of interest to me.

thanks!
CP

I think I may have found it. But it will take an expedition so I assume this fall or winter. There's a good chance it's there I have the photo's of the steps and cave that leads to it. Pm me for details or to exchange idea's.

 

[Azquester]

sorry no photos, i was an employee for an exploration company financed by a private investor, his lifelong dream was to have his own gold mine. he gave us a budget of three million dollars and the task of finding the richest gold mine in the country. we had a team of three. we obtained all concievable mining records avaliable.we focused only on old abandoned mines in the sierra madre of northern mexico. we visited over 150 mines and stayed in the high country over three years . one guy in the group filmed everything to send back to the investor. but i have none of those videos, for the cemented entrance that i mentioned here ,i was own my own and we worked only at night and i local family asked for my help. i was dredging in a river nearby. we were poorly financed and a camera was a luxury. plus the intense visual image of that place will stay etched in my mind forever, there was no need for pictures. we visited many ,many interesting mines. i continued this type of exploration long after i stopped working for this old man.

Here's my new Video about Janus Sun Temples and the methods of making signs from angles.

Have you ever seen a Pozo Tombstone shaped plug rock with a carved heart on the Tombstone?

Post one of those if you have.

 

[lastleg]

I'm curious about those two brothers on their way to California two years before the story broke
of the gold find in 1849. It's the details fellas.

 

[markmar]

Bill

Where is the mine in your map ? Can you mark the spot ?

 

[Drizzledrone]

Another Iron Door legend, also surfacing in the 1930s, is supposed to be located in the Mohave National Preserve in California. The story is not nearly as colorful and compelling as the one with the young boy and the blunderbusses that Bill Riley relates.
“Bert Smith’s Iron Door Mine” – Bert Smith arrived in the Mohave Desert in 1929. A victim of poison gas exposure from WWI, the disabled veteran was advised to seek out the desert climate to extend his life. He lived for another 25 years, and his restored “Rock House” is available to visitors today in the Mojave National Preserve. His one time partner, Bob Holliman, had a homestead in the community of Jane, California, which was marked for restoration but was completely destroyed by fire in 2005. The partners were looking at mining prospects on Table Top Mountain, east of Gold Valley and northeast of Kelso. It is said that the two men were trying to settle a boundary dispute when Smith slipped and fell on a steep mountainside. Smith claimed that as he fell, he grabbed on to an object that he saw only briefly, but that it was clearly an iron door that was partially closing the entrance to a mine. Smith took home the sample of ore that tumbled down with him as he fell. The ore proved rich in gold when it was later tested. The event was said to have ended the disagreement between the two partners, and inspired them to search for the lost mine together. Neither Holliman nor Smith was able to find the location again. (Excerpt from “Lost Treasures of California – Map & Guide”)
It is the lack of detail that makes the story believable to me... a good liar would certainly have provided more of a description of the door itself and the mine’s entrance. The fact that Bert Smith claimed to have only briefly seen the door has a ring of truth in it, in my opinion. Other than the fact that it appeared to be iron, he provided no details describing the door.

 

[markmar]

Ok Bill

I guess this is the mine in the map



This spot is few miles down trail from the Mt Lemmon summit .

 

[markmar]

For who is interested

I believe the red dots are the Xs in the above map .



Good luck !

 

[Azquester]

Ok Bill

I guess this is the mine in the map

View attachment 1152512

This spot is few miles down trail from the Mt Lemmon summit .

You are correct it's not that far from the summit we only hike a few miles but straight down about 3000 feet. We did find the old prospect and we did find another Turquoise mine up there we looked for the tunnels and dump for only a few minutes once we found the clues and the storm from hell moved in threatening our extraction back to our vehicle. If it wasn't for the Forest Service Ghost we would have been staying the night freezing to death high up on that mountain. I say Ghost because this guy was weird! He drove over areas of the road that was totally missing with a 2000 foot drop and never batted an eye nor did his vehicle drop during the jumping over the holes. We were so wiped out by the hike back up the zigzag trail which was 1500 foot straight up that we were in no shape to complain. He dropped us off and left us at my truck stuck high up[ on a cliff where I parked. The whole rock cliff was covered in ice by then.

Two weeks later the whole mountain burned up and we never went back as we were a bit hesitant for a rematch with the curse.

 

[Azquester]

For who is interested

I believe the red dots are the Xs in the above map .

View attachment 1153306

Good luck !

Very close Marius!

Good job!

If I ever did it again I would hike out one of the trails going down and have someone pick me up never again would I attempt that hike back up that trail and washed out road!

 

[Azquester]

Another Iron Door legend, also surfacing in the 1930s, is supposed to be located in the Mohave National Preserve in California. The story is not nearly as colorful and compelling as the one with the young boy and the blunderbusses that Bill Riley relates.
“Bert Smith’s Iron Door Mine” – Bert Smith arrived in the Mohave Desert in 1929. A victim of poison gas exposure from WWI, the disabled veteran was advised to seek out the desert climate to extend his life. He lived for another 25 years, and his restored “Rock House” is available to visitors today in the Mojave National Preserve. His one time partner, Bob Holliman, had a homestead in the community of Jane, California, which was marked for restoration but was completely destroyed by fire in 2005. The partners were looking at mining prospects on Table Top Mountain, east of Gold Valley and northeast of Kelso. It is said that the two men were trying to settle a boundary dispute when Smith slipped and fell on a steep mountainside. Smith claimed that as he fell, he grabbed on to an object that he saw only briefly, but that it was clearly an iron door that was partially closing the entrance to a mine. Smith took home the sample of ore that tumbled down with him as he fell. The ore proved rich in gold when it was later tested. The event was said to have ended the disagreement between the two partners, and inspired them to search for the lost mine together. Neither Holliman nor Smith was able to find the location again. (Excerpt from “Lost Treasures of California – Map & Guide”)
It is the lack of detail that makes the story believable to me... a good liar would certainly have provided more of a description of the door itself and the mine’s entrance. The fact that Bert Smith claimed to have only briefly seen the door has a ring of truth in it, in my opinion. Other than the fact that it appeared to be iron, he provided no details describing the door.

Hell of story DrizzleDrone!

The legends are pretty close in structure. I know others have tried and failed to find some of these word of mouth legends. It would be good to prove one is right it's like you just did!

Thanks for the story.