Outlaws Steal Outlaw Loot

Loads of treasure are said to have been buried in southeast Arizona near an unknown peak that was once called Davis Mountain by the people who hid it there. This large cache was stolen from a smuggler train headed from Mexico. However, the original treasure was stolen from a bank vault in Monterey and a church in Matamoras, Mexico. The treasure included a cigar box full of diamonds, two statuary figures of pure gold -- one of the Virgin Mary and one of Jesus, sacks of gold and silver, thirty-nine bars of solid gold bullion and several rawhide bags of ninety thousand Mexican dollars.

Fittingly, the bandit smuggler train was robbed by outlaws while traveling through Skeleton Canyon. After robbing the smuggler train, the outlaws buried the loot on what they called Davis Mountain. Although this mountain does not exist today on any Arizona map, one of the bandits gave intricate directions to the treasure before he died. Why these outlaws did not return for the treasure or what became of them is unknown.

The dying bandit’s directions were:

Head west across rolling plains to Davis Mountain, a bald, rounded granite dome visible for miles. With binoculars, it is said that you can see New Mexico from the peak of this mountain and old Sugar-Loaf can be seen standing boldly up against the sky.

Once you have arrived at Davis Mountain, continue west for 1 to 1 ½ miles, until you spot a canyon.  The east wall of the canyon has wooded hills, while the west wall is sheer rock precipice.

The creek that flows through this canyon plunges over a ledge in a small cataract approximately ten feet high and Silver Spring flows into the canyon on its west end. Near this spring is a tall juniper tree where, at its foot, is a grave marked by slabs of stone. Five hundred dollars in gold is allegedly buried in a tin can at the head of the grave.

Sugar Loaf Mesa courtesy New Mexico Mosaics

Up the canyon and south of Silver Springs approximately 1 to 1 and 1/3 miles is Gum Spring. Between the two springs, lying in the scattered brush, are the remains of a burned out wagon. This wagon is located on the west side of the canyon where it curves inward to form a shallow cove. At the deepest part of this cove lies a stone marker which is three feet high, squarely shaped, and one foot thick. On the east face of this marker is carved two crosses. After locating the stone, face Davis Mountain and step twenty paces. This is where the treasure is said to be buried.

© Kathy Weiser/Legends of America, updated July, 2010.

Get Great Deals here on your next equipment needs click here

The Lost Gold Ledge

 The Lost Gold Ledge

When the great gold strikes in Goldfield, Tonopah and Rawhide began to draw thousands of people to the Nevadadesert, they also drew a prospector named Tim Cody. Setting up a base camp at Stewart Springs about 15 miles from Goldyke, Cody quickly began to prospect the area. 

Before long, he was running low on supplies and decided to make a trip to Goldyke on an overcast winter’s morning. On foot, he began to make the long journey when a storm began to brew. In the blustery storm, he was soon lost and found shelter in an abandoned mine shaft. 

Spending the night in the mine, he arose to find the storm gone and the skies clear blue.  He began to climb a nearby ridge to get his bearings before continuing his journey to Goldyke. Along the way he found a rich gold vein in a quartz outcropping. Picking up some samples, Cody continued his climb to the top.

At the summit, he could clearly see Paradise Peak and Rawhide Peak to the northwest.  Making his way back down to continue his trip to Goldyke, he was soon lost again, but after some difficulty he finally made his way to the settlement. After re-supplying, he returned to his base camp and tried several times to relocate the gold laden quartz vein.

However his continued searches proved fruitless and finally he moved on.  However, three men showed up in 1949 with a map that Cody had supposedly drawn for them. The three scoured the area looking for the lost ledge, but they too, were unable to find the rich vein of gold.

Today, the legend continues. The lost ledge is said to be somewhere in the hills south of Gabbs. Perhaps, you will be the lucky prospector to find it again.

Joining the thousands of "49ers” rushing intoCalifornia were brothers, Charles and Joshua Breyfogle. Hailing from Lockhart, New York, the pair headed west with a train of saddle and draft horses and two wagons in the spring of 1849. They soon teamed up with other pioneers inColumbus, Ohio and continued their long journey to the California goldfields. After many trials and tribulations through theIndian ridden plains, steep mountains, and harsh desert, they finally reached Sacramento on August, 14, 1849. About a month later the Breyfogles began searching for their fortunes in the promising areas of Butte Creek and the Chico River. Having no success, they had moved on to the YubaRiver, some 12 miles above the California gold rush tent city of Marysville, in January, 1850.

Many believe the lost Breyfogle Mine is in Nye County, Nevada.

Again disappointed, they moved upstream a month later to Goodhues, where they began to work on a new claim. This time their efforts paid off, as they began to find gold in the river bottom and along the banks above the river. By December, 1850, Charles Breyfogle returned to New York with some $20,000, leaving his brother Joshua to work the claim. A year later, Charles returned to California, settling in Oakland where he was elected county assessor in 1854 and treasurer in 1859.  When he couldn’t account for $6,500 in county funds, he was thrown in jail. Though he was soon exonerated and released, he evidently had had his fill of politics and decided to return to prospecting. Following the new silver strike in Nevada, he went to Virginia City where the buzz was all  about the new finds near Austin, Nevada in 1862. More stories were circulating about gold in the Big Smoky Valley and seeing opportunity, Breyfogle opened a real estate office in a hotel at the mining camp of Geneva. Unfortunately, by the time Charles arrived the Geneva veins were already dwindling and he was once again looking for opportunities. In 1863, he heard three men at the hotel discussing a crude map. Sure that they were discussing the legendary Lost Gunsight Mine of Death Valley, he decided to follow them when they left the next day. Trailing them across Nevada, he caught up with them between Tonopah and Goldfield, where he was surprised to find that the men were not looking for the lost Gunsight lode, but rather were on their way to Texas to join the Confederate army. The men were on their way to join a wagon train on the Los Angelestrail and Breyfogle decided to ride with them for a couple of days. Three days later, the men were encamped south of Ash Meadows in the Mohave Desert’sAmargosa River Valley. Laying his bedroll out apart from the others, he awoke in the middle of the night to see Indians attacking the other three men. Grabbing his bedroll and boot, he fled in the darkness. Without provisions or weapons he wandered in the desert for several days until he finally found a spring. Resting there, he found gold in a deposit of quartz and took with him several samples, vying to return if he could ever find his way out of the desert. Heading south, he eventually came upon wagon tracks which he followed to Stump Spring in thePahrump Valley, in Nevada's eastern Mohave desert. Deciding to wait at the spring for a wagon train to show up, he was instead found byIndians first. Taking him captive, they worked him as a slave for months. Finally a Mormon wagon train came upon the Indian village and freed him with a ransom. Taking him to a ranch at Manse Spring in southern Nevada he was cared for by the wife’s owner, Mrs. Yount. Grateful, he told the family about his gold discovery, showing them the samples he had held onto. After Breyfogle had fully recovered he settled in Austin, Nevada, where he would organize search parties for the next 26 years. Concentrating on the region northeast of Death Valley, the men would search in vain, never finding that lost outcropping. But Breyfogle never stopped looking, becoming so obsessed with the search that he once said, "I shall come back a rich man or leave my bones in Death Valley."  Through the years, many theorized as to where Breyfogle had found the gold, believing it to be located near Las Vegas, Salt Spring, or Daylight Pass. However, many believed that the very same rich quartz that Charles had discovered ended up becoming the Johnnie Mine, north of Pahrump, Nevada. The rich lodes of the Johnnie District were first discovered in 1891 by a man named George Montgomery who was searching for the famous Lost Breyfogle Mine. Yet others believe the mine to be in California in the Armargosa River Valley. Though the vast majority believe that Breyfogle’s find was in the Johnnie Mining District, not all researchers and hobbyists are convinced, as they continue to search for Breyfogle’s lost gold. Many researchers and hobbyists believe the Lost Breyfogle Mine to yet unfound in the Armagosa River Valley ofCalifornia, photo courtesy  University of California - Santa Barbara Department of Geography More Treasure Tales Next Page The Johnnie District is in Nye County, in southwestern Nevada. On the north end of the Pahrump Valley, most of the placer activity was conducted in the washes below the Congress Mine, but also to the northeast of Johnnie on the west slope of the Spring Mountains, and other surrounding areas. To get there, travel south from Las Vegas on Interstate 15 to the junction of State Route 16, then follow northwest past Pahrump for approximately 70 miles to reach the Johnnie District. Here, mines and placers can be seen on both sides of the highway and on the slopes of Mount Schader and Montgomery. © Kathy Weiser/Legends of America, updated October, 2010.

ARIZONA LEGENDS

Flagstaff Trading Post - Due the many robberies during the 1800s, one owner of an Indian trading post named Herman Wolf, got in the habit of burying his profits in cans and jars around the fences on his property. Operating the trading post for thirty years on the Little Colorado River between 1869-1899, his highly profitable business brought him tens of thousands of gold and silver coins over the years. These treasure troves are said to have numbered in the hundreds of thousands and his thirty year accumulationestimated at $250,000. In 1901 twenty U.S. gold coins were found, and in 1966, a bucket of Mexican silver was discovered at the site. However, these two finds are but a small percentage of what was buried and the main cache remains to be found. The old store was located on the LittleColorado River River just off the California-Santa Fe Trail nearCanyon Diablo.

Flagstaff, Arizona in 1943

Ashurst Ranch - Long a go a man named William Ashurst owned a ranch about 25 miles southeast of Flagstaff. The ranch was located near a good spring, known as Ashurst Run. The rancher was said to have buried a number of five and ten pound cans filled with gold coins on his property. According to legend, this gold was never recovered after his death. Rogers Lake - During the winter of 1881, outlaws Henry Corey and Ralph Gaines stole eight large gold bars from the Tip Top Mine near Gillette, Arizona. Each of these bars, which were three feet long and four inches wide, were buried near a cabin at Rogers Lake. The pair then headed to Flagstaff, where they relieved a stagecoach of $25,000 in gold and silver coins. Returning to the cabin with the treasure, they dug up the gold bars and placed these, along with the stagecoach loot, into large wooden kegs. Chipping a hole in the ice, they then lowered their stolen booty into the lake. Before long the sheriff learned that the outlaw pair was holed up at Rogers Lake and along with a posse, set out to capture them. Spying the approach of the lawmen, the bandits made a hasty retreat, leaving the treasurebehind. Later, Gaines would be killed in a brawl and Corey was arrested during a holdup near Globe, Arizona and sent to prison. When Corey was released 24 years later, he and a friend made repeated searches for the loot but it was never found. Corey died in 1936. During dry times throughout the year, the dry lakebed areas of this low level lake can be easily searched. Morman Lake - In 1879, four outlaws robbed a stage near Gila Bend, making off with $125,000 in gold coins and 22 gold bars stamped "AJO". The very next day, they robbed another stage near Stanwix Station where they made a haul of two chests which contained $140,000 in gold coins and $60,000 in currency. The gang fled to the northeast into Tonto Basin, then turned to the northwest as a posse began to catch up with them. Before long the lawmen overtook the gang and the inevitable shoot-out occurred. Two of the outlaws were killed in the foray, but two others escaped toHolbrook. The two outlaws holed up at Holbrook for a time waiting for things to cool off. While there, one of the outlaws was killed in a dispute over a poker game. His outlaw partner, Henry Tice, then killed the other gambler. However, someone felt that justice was not yet done, and shot Tice, leaving no one to disclose the location of the hidden loot. The cache is believed to be somewhere around the cliffs between Morman Lake and Flagstaff and though many have looked, it has never been found. © Kathy Weiser/Legends of America, February, 2010. Hope you enjoyed the stories please take a minute to view my websites  Prospectorstools and Goldseekerstools

Treasure Hunting Code of Ethics

Treasure Hunter - Code of Ethics

Responsible hunting will keep the hobby alive for everyone else! Please follow the Treasure Hunter's Code of Ethics so that all of us can continue to enjoy this enjoyable hobby and perhaps, even get lucky and find our fortunes!.

1. I will respect private property and will do no treasure hunting without the property owner's permission. 
2. I will fill in all holes I dig.
3. I will not damage natural resources, wildlife habitats, or any private property.
4. I will use thoughtfulness, consideration, and courtesy at all times.
5. I will build fires in designated or safe places only.
6. I will leave gates as found.
7. I will remove and properly dispose of any trash that I find.
8. I will not litter.
9. I will not destroy property, buildings, or what is left of ghost towns and deserted structures.
10. I will not tamper with signs, structural facilities, or equipment.
11. And, finally, the most important one of all -- I will have fun!!

If we all follow these simple rules while metal detecting or treasure hunting, we will go a long way to keeping the public on our side in the fight to protect our rights.

 Hope you get some use from these tips! please check out my websites for any tools you may need 

GOLDSEEKERSTOOLS

And 

PROSPECTORSTOOLS