Oro,
You have got the story so wrong, and your argument as to why he didn't sell them while alive smells!
Sounds to me like you are backpedalling?
Admit it! You were mistaken about nobody knowing who found the stones. You were mistaken about there being no Peraltas mining in the Superstitions (I still have to post that evidence). Here's a little teaser about the Peraltas:
"(condensed version) In September of 1864, Antonio Pablo Peralta and his son filed a virgin mining claim on a mine they called "The Valenciana" in the Bradshaw Mountains. The Valenciana was a rich gold mine yielding $35,000 in just over a year. however, it was in a remote area, and Apaches stole their horses and mules three times, and harrassed the miners so much that they abandoned the mine." Arizona Miner, Prescott, Nov 15th 1868. The mine was located on the slopes of Black Mesa, and it was a chimney deposit of gold in a grayish-white quartz. Now, granted, this was after the time in question, but the Peraltas DID mine gold in the area. Proof of the Peraltas in the 1840s time frame to come (I just don't feel like typing all that crap right now).
Your arguments against what I have posted sound as weak as the Democrats' saying that they are stronger on National Security than the Repubs!
PLEASE! Go back and reread your arguments!
No, he found them all at the same time. I have read a couple of versions of the story, but in TE Glover's book, he gives the firsthand account from Travis' brother Robert (who helped him dig them up). When you say he found them one per year, that can't be correct. LOOK AT THE PICTURE OF TWO (MAYBE THREE) OF THE STONES ON HIS FRONT BUMPER! That picture was taken at the time he found the stones.
Your idea as to why he didn't sell the stones while alive is TOTAL BS! Why would he risk his wife going to jail? Why go to all that work for something he would never realize a penny from in his life? Doesn't make much sense. He went to Az EVERY year for his vacation until his health deteriorated too much to continue, at which time he gave his brother the stones. His brother only got to go out a few times (after he got a partner). He used to hang around a local bar in Oregon, and talk about nothing but how he was going to find the Dutchman's Mine. Year after year. So much so, that they nicknamed him "Hardrock". He had little money, and no experience in desert hunting. He kept the stones under his bed. He finally showed them to his landlord, and went to the Superstitions a few times, but had no luck (doesn't sound like a hoaxer to me). When he became too ill to continue, he gave the stones back to his brother, who soon died. His wife sold the stones after his death, and died herself two years later.
Charlie Miller (you might have heard that name), was the one who helped Tumlinson clean off the stones. He told Al Reser and Don Shade (I KNOW you've heard of them) that when they were cleaning off the stones, they still had little roots growing in the grooves.
Use your own! THEY WERE BURIED UNDERGROUND! I think that would have protected them quite well from the elements.
Also; if they didn't exist, then just who did all those bones belong to on the massacre grounds in PERALTA CANYON? The story goes that there was one survivor of the massacre who made it back to the hacienda in Sonora. His name was Pedro peralta. Please look below, and may I introduce you to Senor Pedro Peralta (looks like he picked up a whopper of a scar on his right cheek)!
Mike
