gollum
Gold Member
- Jan 2, 2006
- 6,770
- 7,724
- Detector(s) used
- Minelab SD2200D (Modded)/ Whites GMT 24k / Fisher FX-3 / Fisher Gold Bug II / Fisher Gemini / Schiebel MIMID / Falcon MD-20
- Primary Interest:
- All Treasure Hunting
Travis Tumlinson was a cop in Hood River, Oregon. His father lived in Southern Texas. One Summer in 1949, when driving back to Oregon from Texas visiting his family, he and his wife Alleen, pulled into a rest stop along Highway 60 between Florence Junction and Apache Junction, Arizona.
Travis walked a ways from the car for a little privacy, to drain his lizard
. After accomplishing his task, he noticed that he had a pretty good view of the Supers from where he was. He walked a little further up a hill to get a better view, and tripped over a rock. When he looked down to see what had tripped him up, he noticed the rock was unnaturally shaped. He dug out the rock with his hands, and brushed it off. He saw the word "DON" on one side, and a bunch of lines on the other. He took the stone back to the car and showed his wife.
He grabbed a shovel out of the trunk of his car, and went back to the spot where found the rock. He started digging up that area. He found three more stones (The Heart Stone, The Priest/Horse Stone, and the Upper Trail Stone).
Now, I should note here, that there is another good possibility where the stone maps came from. Azmula has researched this subject very well, and thinks that the stones were in fact, stolen from under a bed at the Mission in Arizpe. Due to the fact that Tumlinson's Father was a well known Treasure Hunter, I think this is a very plausible idea. Azmula seems to be pretty certain of this version, but I haven't seen the proof yet. I think he has it, but is being coy. While this does change how the stones came into modern existence, it in no way changes their authenticity. As a matter of fact, if Azmula's version of their finding is proveable, that makes me want to believe the story even more.
Now back to what we know. Tumlinson first went into Apache Junction, and put the stones on his front bumper, and began cleaning them off at a gas station. A guy walked up and asked him what he had there. Tumlinson said he had just found them. The guy said they looked like Treasure maps. Tumlinson got a little paranoid after hearing that, and drove to a friend's house (Charlie Miller). He and Charlie cleaned the stones off, to get a better look at what they had. At a later time, Charlie told Al Reser and Don Shade that while they were cleaning them off, they had to pull little roots out of the small grooves in the stones.
Even while living in Hood River, Oregon, Travis made several journeys into the Superstitions trying to solve the stones. I believe it was about 12 trips. Eventually, his health started failing, and he gave the stones to his brother Robert, who lived in Oregon as well. He also gave him a map of where he found the stones (it showed just North of Hwy 60, along Queen Creek).
Robert was retired and living on a small pension. He kept the stones under the bed in his apartment. He told people that one day he was going to find the Lost Dutchman Mine. He had secret stone maps that showed the way. Because he had so little money, he never had enough to go to Arizona to check them out. When he told his Landlord (Gene Davis), he found someone who was interested, and they became partners. They went into the Supers about four times before Robert's health started to fail. He gave the stones back to his brother Travis, and died not too long after.
Travis' health was still not good, and the stones sat for a while. Travis died in 1961, and his wife sold the stones to a longtime family friend (Clarence O. Mitchell) for $1200. Mitchell was the CEO of MOEL Inc. They kept the stones a secret for about three years. During that time, he supposedly sent the stones to a Professor Stephen Dana, at Redlands University, in Redlands California for testing to determine their age.
The story goes that Professor Dana concluded that the stone maps were "at least" 100 years old (this was in 1961 or 1962). I am close to finding out if this part of the story is true or not.
In the June 12th, 1964 edition of Life Magazine, the Stone Maps (or Peralta Stones as they were now called), became public knowledge. That was both good and bad for MOEL and Mitchell. Good, because it brought him investors for MOEL. Bad because it got them noticed by the Federal Government. The SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) saw that MOEL had been selling stock in itself to fund their land acquisitions. The SEC then launched an investigation into MOEL. They asked the FBI to see if the stones were real or fakes (no doubt to see if they could add fraud to the charges of selling unregistered stock in the company).
We know this happened, because the Attorney General of the State of Arizona (at the time, he was just working in some legal capacity for the state), Robert Corbin was visiting the US Attorney's Office in Phoenix, and some people he knew there, who knew he was an avid Dutch Hunter, told him that there were FBI Agents in the building with the Peralta Stones. He went over, and struck up a converstaion with them, and asked what they thought. They told him that the FBI believed the stone maps were "at least" 100 years old. I have found out because the FBI didn't do any testing themselves. They found out about the tests done by Professor Dana. They interviewed him, then asked for and received a signed affidavit from him stating that in his professional opinion (as the head of the Geology Dept at Redlands University), the stone maps were "at least" 100 years old.
When the SEC finally brought MOEL to trial on September 30th, 1964, they were enjoined (stopped) from selling unlicensed stock. The trial was over in ONE day. Nothing very serious. Mitchell (MOEL) retained ownership of the stones.
When the company finally broke up, Mitchell had a second set of stones made. These were engraved like the originals. Mitchell kept two original stones, and two copies. He gave two otiginal stones and two copies to one of his partners. Eventually, Mitchell donated his set to the Arizona Mining and Minerals Museum (AL Flagg Foundation), where they sit today.
Some of this information is from Thomas Glover's book, and some is from personal research, and information given to me privately by individuals.
Hope this helps you out Springfield.
Best,
Mike
Travis walked a ways from the car for a little privacy, to drain his lizard
. After accomplishing his task, he noticed that he had a pretty good view of the Supers from where he was. He walked a little further up a hill to get a better view, and tripped over a rock. When he looked down to see what had tripped him up, he noticed the rock was unnaturally shaped. He dug out the rock with his hands, and brushed it off. He saw the word "DON" on one side, and a bunch of lines on the other. He took the stone back to the car and showed his wife. He grabbed a shovel out of the trunk of his car, and went back to the spot where found the rock. He started digging up that area. He found three more stones (The Heart Stone, The Priest/Horse Stone, and the Upper Trail Stone).
Now, I should note here, that there is another good possibility where the stone maps came from. Azmula has researched this subject very well, and thinks that the stones were in fact, stolen from under a bed at the Mission in Arizpe. Due to the fact that Tumlinson's Father was a well known Treasure Hunter, I think this is a very plausible idea. Azmula seems to be pretty certain of this version, but I haven't seen the proof yet. I think he has it, but is being coy. While this does change how the stones came into modern existence, it in no way changes their authenticity. As a matter of fact, if Azmula's version of their finding is proveable, that makes me want to believe the story even more.
Now back to what we know. Tumlinson first went into Apache Junction, and put the stones on his front bumper, and began cleaning them off at a gas station. A guy walked up and asked him what he had there. Tumlinson said he had just found them. The guy said they looked like Treasure maps. Tumlinson got a little paranoid after hearing that, and drove to a friend's house (Charlie Miller). He and Charlie cleaned the stones off, to get a better look at what they had. At a later time, Charlie told Al Reser and Don Shade that while they were cleaning them off, they had to pull little roots out of the small grooves in the stones.
Even while living in Hood River, Oregon, Travis made several journeys into the Superstitions trying to solve the stones. I believe it was about 12 trips. Eventually, his health started failing, and he gave the stones to his brother Robert, who lived in Oregon as well. He also gave him a map of where he found the stones (it showed just North of Hwy 60, along Queen Creek).
Robert was retired and living on a small pension. He kept the stones under the bed in his apartment. He told people that one day he was going to find the Lost Dutchman Mine. He had secret stone maps that showed the way. Because he had so little money, he never had enough to go to Arizona to check them out. When he told his Landlord (Gene Davis), he found someone who was interested, and they became partners. They went into the Supers about four times before Robert's health started to fail. He gave the stones back to his brother Travis, and died not too long after.
Travis' health was still not good, and the stones sat for a while. Travis died in 1961, and his wife sold the stones to a longtime family friend (Clarence O. Mitchell) for $1200. Mitchell was the CEO of MOEL Inc. They kept the stones a secret for about three years. During that time, he supposedly sent the stones to a Professor Stephen Dana, at Redlands University, in Redlands California for testing to determine their age.
The story goes that Professor Dana concluded that the stone maps were "at least" 100 years old (this was in 1961 or 1962). I am close to finding out if this part of the story is true or not.
In the June 12th, 1964 edition of Life Magazine, the Stone Maps (or Peralta Stones as they were now called), became public knowledge. That was both good and bad for MOEL and Mitchell. Good, because it brought him investors for MOEL. Bad because it got them noticed by the Federal Government. The SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) saw that MOEL had been selling stock in itself to fund their land acquisitions. The SEC then launched an investigation into MOEL. They asked the FBI to see if the stones were real or fakes (no doubt to see if they could add fraud to the charges of selling unregistered stock in the company).
We know this happened, because the Attorney General of the State of Arizona (at the time, he was just working in some legal capacity for the state), Robert Corbin was visiting the US Attorney's Office in Phoenix, and some people he knew there, who knew he was an avid Dutch Hunter, told him that there were FBI Agents in the building with the Peralta Stones. He went over, and struck up a converstaion with them, and asked what they thought. They told him that the FBI believed the stone maps were "at least" 100 years old. I have found out because the FBI didn't do any testing themselves. They found out about the tests done by Professor Dana. They interviewed him, then asked for and received a signed affidavit from him stating that in his professional opinion (as the head of the Geology Dept at Redlands University), the stone maps were "at least" 100 years old.
When the SEC finally brought MOEL to trial on September 30th, 1964, they were enjoined (stopped) from selling unlicensed stock. The trial was over in ONE day. Nothing very serious. Mitchell (MOEL) retained ownership of the stones.
When the company finally broke up, Mitchell had a second set of stones made. These were engraved like the originals. Mitchell kept two original stones, and two copies. He gave two otiginal stones and two copies to one of his partners. Eventually, Mitchell donated his set to the Arizona Mining and Minerals Museum (AL Flagg Foundation), where they sit today.
Some of this information is from Thomas Glover's book, and some is from personal research, and information given to me privately by individuals.
Hope this helps you out Springfield.
Best,
Mike
- your thread on them pre-dates mine, as yours was posted back in July when some others had asked you about them, this thread we are debating in only got started in September. You were hooked well before ever debating them with little old me! 
Next trick is to find a crucifix nearby...
