gollum
Gold Member
- Jan 2, 2006
- 6,770
- 7,719
- 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
Springfield,
This statement:
Is not entirely correct. If you read about the "Planchas de Plata" discovery of 1736, you will find that when the crown found out that pure silver was found in masses, they considered it "treasure trove", which then made it property of the crown. The miners considered it natural and open to their ownership. The case spent many years in court, and eventually the crown won out.
In most cases though, the statement is correct, just not in EVERY CASE.
Also, the entire line regarding quicksilver/mercury is not exactly correct either. The King of Spain owned three things in their entirety in all his lands:
1. Any Treasure Trove: Any precious metals found in bars or solid chunks. This way, if Cibola were real, then there was no question as to who would profit from its' finding.
2. Salt: All salt deposits in the new world were considered property of the crown. When Father Kino SJ found a beautiful and clean surface deposit of salt along the shore of the Sea of Cortez, he could not take any as it belonged to the crown.
3. All Mercury: Mercury used in refining gold and silver were required to have been bought from the crown. Even though many local sources of mercury were found (i.e. Capt JM Manje's Mercury Mine), 99% of the mercury sold to miners was imported.
The crown required one-fifth of the profits of MOST every mine. If a mine were proved to be poorer in nature, then the king was known to have required the mine owner to pay as little as one-tenth the profits. The miner was still required to buy his mercury from the crown, but also to pay whatever share he contracted with the king to pay. This share was paid when the ore/dore bars were brought to a mint to be turned into coins or refined ingots. The Royal Assayer would refine the gold/silver. He would then take one or two "bites" from the bar (for his labor). Take the Royal Quinto from the whole. Then officially stamp the bars or strike the coins, and give them to the miner. One loophole exploited by many small miners was a part of the law that stated as long as the miner stayed in the outlands, he could trade for goods and services with raw ore, not having to give up the king's percentage until dropping the ore off at the mint.
Regarding Royal Roads:
Royal Roads were maintained by the crown. Other roads and trails were maintained by those that needed to use them.
For more accurate and detailed reading on the subject, I advise finding the two volumes of: "A Collection of Mining Laws of Spain and Mexico" Halleck 1859
This book details most of the rules and regulations regarding mining in the New World from 1584 until after Mexico kicked the Europeans in 1821.
Springfield, you really need to stop hating on Chuck Kenworthy. The man recovered more treasure in his lifetime than you could ever hope to imagine. The two I personally know about were:
1. 1028 silver bars from southern Arizona:
The hole they came out of is still visible!
2. A trunk full of very rich gold ore that came from the Superstition Mountains. My good friend said the ore looked like someone had shot quartz with golden buckshot.
Kenworthy was a multimillionaire in California Real Estate long before he ever discovered treasure hunting. He teamed up with the best minds and the most modern scientific equipment available. To his dying day, he stayed good friends with the top scientists from SRI (Stanford Research Institute). Mining Engineers and Physicists were the people he traveled the world with looking for treasures. For proof, read this:
http://ldolphin.org/rpl/ch5.html
Not only did Kenworthy consort with Engineers and Physicists, John Wayne was a firm believer. Both funding Kenworthy and letting him use his yacht "Wild Goose" as his HQ for some ocean based treasure hunting expeditions.
You stated:
Like I said previously; Kenworthy was a multimillionaire already. Do you REALLY think he made more than a few thousand dollars in his lifetime from his books? He spent an untold amount of money bribing archivists around the world to send him sight unseen, anything related to land based treasure hunting.
Have I seen Kenworthy's Proof? No. When Kenworthy died, a good friend of mine was supposed to have received those one hundred some-odd pages of document copies. That was until Kenworthy's Son stepped in. Since the Exploration LLC "Quest" was still a viable entity, his son believed they should stay in the family. He still has them.
My proof that Kenworthy was telling telling the truth with SOME of what he knew, is what I have found. I have never shown this on TNet, and I won't show all the details. What I will show, however, is a trail of monuments up a canyon in the Southwest USA. Some of the monuments and their meanings were straight out of CK's Books. Some, I had to shoot from the hip (but proved to be accurate) based on CK's Theories. I am going to do this in a separate post.
Here is the link:
http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php?topic=457873.new#new
Best - Mike
This statement:
"The King (individually) was not proprietor of a single mine, nor is there one instance, since the Conquest, of an attempt having been made by the Government to interfere with the mode of working adopted by individuals, or to diminish the profits of the successful adventurer, under any plea, or pretence, from the more fortunate, a higher rate of duties than that which was payable by the poorest miner to the Royal Treasury. By this judicious liberality and good faith, the fullest scope was given for private exertion; and this, in a country where mineral treasures are so abundant, was soon found to be all that was requisite in order to ensure their production to a great extent."
Is not entirely correct. If you read about the "Planchas de Plata" discovery of 1736, you will find that when the crown found out that pure silver was found in masses, they considered it "treasure trove", which then made it property of the crown. The miners considered it natural and open to their ownership. The case spent many years in court, and eventually the crown won out.
In most cases though, the statement is correct, just not in EVERY CASE.
Also, the entire line regarding quicksilver/mercury is not exactly correct either. The King of Spain owned three things in their entirety in all his lands:
1. Any Treasure Trove: Any precious metals found in bars or solid chunks. This way, if Cibola were real, then there was no question as to who would profit from its' finding.
2. Salt: All salt deposits in the new world were considered property of the crown. When Father Kino SJ found a beautiful and clean surface deposit of salt along the shore of the Sea of Cortez, he could not take any as it belonged to the crown.
3. All Mercury: Mercury used in refining gold and silver were required to have been bought from the crown. Even though many local sources of mercury were found (i.e. Capt JM Manje's Mercury Mine), 99% of the mercury sold to miners was imported.
The crown required one-fifth of the profits of MOST every mine. If a mine were proved to be poorer in nature, then the king was known to have required the mine owner to pay as little as one-tenth the profits. The miner was still required to buy his mercury from the crown, but also to pay whatever share he contracted with the king to pay. This share was paid when the ore/dore bars were brought to a mint to be turned into coins or refined ingots. The Royal Assayer would refine the gold/silver. He would then take one or two "bites" from the bar (for his labor). Take the Royal Quinto from the whole. Then officially stamp the bars or strike the coins, and give them to the miner. One loophole exploited by many small miners was a part of the law that stated as long as the miner stayed in the outlands, he could trade for goods and services with raw ore, not having to give up the king's percentage until dropping the ore off at the mint.
Regarding Royal Roads:
Royal Roads were maintained by the crown. Other roads and trails were maintained by those that needed to use them.
For more accurate and detailed reading on the subject, I advise finding the two volumes of: "A Collection of Mining Laws of Spain and Mexico" Halleck 1859
This book details most of the rules and regulations regarding mining in the New World from 1584 until after Mexico kicked the Europeans in 1821.
Springfield, you really need to stop hating on Chuck Kenworthy. The man recovered more treasure in his lifetime than you could ever hope to imagine. The two I personally know about were:
1. 1028 silver bars from southern Arizona:
The hole they came out of is still visible!
2. A trunk full of very rich gold ore that came from the Superstition Mountains. My good friend said the ore looked like someone had shot quartz with golden buckshot.
Kenworthy was a multimillionaire in California Real Estate long before he ever discovered treasure hunting. He teamed up with the best minds and the most modern scientific equipment available. To his dying day, he stayed good friends with the top scientists from SRI (Stanford Research Institute). Mining Engineers and Physicists were the people he traveled the world with looking for treasures. For proof, read this:
http://ldolphin.org/rpl/ch5.html
Not only did Kenworthy consort with Engineers and Physicists, John Wayne was a firm believer. Both funding Kenworthy and letting him use his yacht "Wild Goose" as his HQ for some ocean based treasure hunting expeditions.
You stated:
Be that as it may, the point is this: the large number of āSpanish cachesā marked by the āKingās Codeā that you think you are following simply do not exist. There was no Kingās Code, ala Kenworthy, in use in the American Southwest. The āKingās Codeā explanation of the relatively few genuine signs that are being discovered is a fantasy used to boost egos at the expense of the unwary. Have you seen Kenworthyās proof? I thought not. Have those who claim to have the proof provided anything but talk?
Like I said previously; Kenworthy was a multimillionaire already. Do you REALLY think he made more than a few thousand dollars in his lifetime from his books? He spent an untold amount of money bribing archivists around the world to send him sight unseen, anything related to land based treasure hunting.
Have I seen Kenworthy's Proof? No. When Kenworthy died, a good friend of mine was supposed to have received those one hundred some-odd pages of document copies. That was until Kenworthy's Son stepped in. Since the Exploration LLC "Quest" was still a viable entity, his son believed they should stay in the family. He still has them.
My proof that Kenworthy was telling telling the truth with SOME of what he knew, is what I have found. I have never shown this on TNet, and I won't show all the details. What I will show, however, is a trail of monuments up a canyon in the Southwest USA. Some of the monuments and their meanings were straight out of CK's Books. Some, I had to shoot from the hip (but proved to be accurate) based on CK's Theories. I am going to do this in a separate post.
Here is the link:
http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php?topic=457873.new#new
Best - Mike