those stones were made in the 20th century by a white man..that has been proven beyond a shadow of a doubt
HAHAHA Not "beyond a shadow of a doubt"! I think Travis did carve them, but nobody can say with 100% certainty that he did. I'll give you a few things to ponder:
1. Why would the family say that they saw Travis carving the stones?
a. Maybe they are tired of getting phone calls, knocks on the door, and rogue emails every time the subject gets some action. Easiest way to get people to leave you alone is to say that We saw Travis carve the stones. They are fakes.
b. Travis said on several occasions that he added things to the Stone Maps in case somebody stole them. Maybe THAT is what the family saw him carving?
I would have still thought it more likely that Travis found them than carved them, until we found out about all his previous stone carvings. THAT pushed me over the fence on the subject. Even though I can't say 100% he did it, I now think it is far more likely he did it than didn't.
Also, look at the actions of Travis:
a. He said he found the stone maps by Florence Junction. Okay, if he really hoaxed them, why would he tell his UNCLE ROBERT that lie and draw him a map showing where he found them? His poor Uncle Robert even had possession of the Stone Maps for a few years when Travis was first diagnosed with cancer. How screwed up would Travis be to let his uncle believe a lie like that? Once Travis knew he had cancer (beating cancer was much more of a rarity in the 1950s than today), why would he not tell his uncle believing he was not too far from death?
b. When Dick Peck was investigating the Stone Maps in 1965, his investigator (Elbert Love) spoke to one of Travis' good friends from Hood River, Oregon (don't remember his name). This guy said that every night Travis would bring out the upper and lower trail map stones. He said Travis would sit and stare at the lower trail map stone, stick his finger in the big hole and say over and over "If I could only figure out where that is, I would be a millionaire!"
c. In his lifetime of possessing the Stone Maps (1949-1961). He never attempted to sell them. He kept them mostly a secret. He made several trips into the mountains to try and solve the Stone Maps (his description).
d. And lets not forget his daughter Janie who told me "My dad was absolutely never part of any hoax!"
Put all those actions together, and ask yourself if those were the actions of a man who hoaxed the Stone Maps? Not to me.
So, when it comes to the Stone Maps, we have a quandary!
1. We have a crap-ton of circumstantial evidence that would make most rational people tend to believe Travis made the Stone Maps himself.
2. We have all of Travis' actions that scream he did not hoax the stone maps, and he believed they were authentic.
3. We have the Stone Maps themselves. Whoever carved them had a good working knowledge of the Superstition Mountain Area. How well did Travis know the area, or did he have some help that nobody has found out about yet?
4. Since Travis' Grandfather was John "Pegleg" Tumlinson (treasure hunter of the late 1800s and early 1900s, could Travis have used an authentic map of his grandfathers as a stencil to make the Stone Maps? If that were true, then even if he made them in the 1940s, they would still be authentic "in a way".
Who knows?
Mike
PS
........and after Travis died, his wife Aileen had possession of the Stone Maps. Did Travis tell his soon to be widow on his death bed that he made the Stone Maps and they were fakes? NOPE! He let his poor wife think they were authentic when he died. She sold them to Clarence O. Mitchell as authentic. We know this because Mitchell kept their existence a secret from most people from 1961 - 1964. He made several trips into the Supers to try and solve them. He gave up after a few years and decided to try and make money off of them a different way. He sold the story to life magazine, evidently hoping the publicity would raise their value. We know this because we have the letter where Mitchell offered to sell them to Dick Peck for $200,000 the year after the Life Magazine Article.
PSS
Did Aileen Tumlinson tell anybody they were fakes? NOPE! She died shortly after Travis and took this foul secret to her grave! Unless she thought they were authentic!?! Why would two people (Travis and Aileen) do such a foul thing as go to their graves without telling SOMEONE/ANYONE that the Stone Maps were fakes? They would have had to have been pretty foul people to do such a thing! Funny though, the people that knew them best all thought very highly of both of them.
Like I said......A QUANDARY! LOL