Some more ideas, guys...

Hillbilly, we have chatted and I find your information very interesting. I have only scratched the surface of the Knights of the Golden Circle and Confederate Underground stuff in local libraries. I find your info interesting, and fascinating. If you have time, I would like to know more about your books and published info.

But, Im not so sure the KGC is the answer to all questions of lost gold and treasure in the west, though, including the Adam's Tale. Alot of old-timers and historians and people who knew Adam's personally searched for this gold, and find the story legitimate. I believe this to be the case. But who knows the real truth....

As far as other Adam's characters in the west in the 1830's, that is very unlikely, too, as few Anglos were permitted to mine or search for minerals in the territory until the Gadsden Purchase of 1854, when the first investors/miners moved into Tubac and Tucson, and mining groups began to search for gold and silver there. There were settlements along the Colorado and Gila(Colorado City and Yuma), but these only exhisted to assist 49ers and travellers heading west from the Overland Trail/Santa Fe Route. Some 60,000 passed that way enroute to the Calif. gold fields, and Adam's may have come back east with a group before 1860 to trade in Arizona, but unlikely. But each of us have our own theory, which makes it interesting. Its my personal theory that the Lost Adam's Diggings has been consistently "mis-searched", and is located far from where its traditionally supposed to be...in the eastern Arizona/western New Mexico area. Adam's directions and sense of time travelled convey this. But that's just a theory...

However, alot of other treasure buried in the southwest (Skeleton Canyon for one) seem to have an origin in another place and time. Some of these betray a Confederate/KGC connection...

For one, I have found some evidence here in Texas which says that Maximillian never sent his millions overland, through the Chihuahua Trail and West Texas, as so many stories say, but secreted his fortunes with his wife safely to the coast. (Richard, I believe this included Carlotta's crown, but not sure.) According to history, it was safely loaded aboard a ship in Texas, (taken there via another route), and later sank aboard this ship and was lost at sea due to a storm. So any cave of Victorio's is unlikely to have this treasure. I will have to find my references on this... However, I am currently looking into one of Victorio's supposed "Treasure Caves" in southwestern New Mexico. So far as I know, there is nothing there but some rat-eaten red calico bails of cloth, and other items taken from a smuggler train in the early 1870's....no stacks of silver or gold, as one would expect. So, Victorio did have hidden caves with stashes, as some describe. And he did hide gold and silver from the white man. But, I think most Indians had no use for gold, and really buried these items where they found them...with the dead. Any trading of gold and silver for weapons and provisions was provided via their knowledge of placer gold mines in the west, from which gold nuggets were used to trade with the Mexican people (ex. The Mescalero Apache traded gold for guns with Mexicans at the salt lakes west of the Guadalupes until 1877 and the Salt Wars in Texas), which leads us back again to the validity of Adam's Apache Gold. But not sure about the validity of the Doc Noss Treasure. Its interesting, your findings there Richard.

Yet, something was buried in the Pecos area, because Roscoe writes about a man called Sheppard who was associated with the confederates, having found a part of this treasure in the form of either silver coins or bars, there near Castle Gap. To me, this further verifies the Confederate nature of some of these treasures. A man named Dunham reported a lost confederate loot in a rock pens in 1873 in south Texas, and early chronicles of the Younger/James Guerillas claim to have buried something at a "Rest Ranch" in the Pecoa area in and around the early 70's.

Everyone knows the origin of the Jesse James clan; they were top-notch guerillas during and after the Civil War and had an organization that was connected far into the west. According to history, these men started alot of these treasure legends in 1867, when they fled south into Mexico with 92 men to rescue the beleagured General Shelby, who had taken residence with Confederate families in Mexico, under invitation by Maximillian. Yes, there was some sort of philosophy by confederates in Mexico and South America (where many men fled in 1865 after the war) to build some kind of force to retake the US/reestablish the war network. But apparently, this did not work out so well, as after Maximillian's empire fell, the General's colony at Cordova was forced to flee north back into the US in 1867. This is when history stops and speculation takes over. According to Jesse Jame's chroniclers, the guerillas assisted the remaining men back to the border via Eagle Pass in Texas. At some point in and around Monterrey and Taumalipas, a church and mint were robbed (San Ignacio) by these men. This loot matches the elements of both the Skeleton Canyon Loot and the Maximillian stories. These men divided the goods(some say into three groups), and fled across the border. One group apparently was caught by either Indians or Mexicans and was massacred...mules and all. They apparently built a breastwork of stones on a high hill and held out until but a hand full were left (those that escaped). Many members of the James clan have searched for this loot. Treasure tales in New Mexico also describe this treasure in various forms. I'm convinced this story has been expanded into numerous tales, that are still told today. If someone can prove or disprove the validity of this, then its my belief, that it would put alot of treasure tales to rest in the west. Hillbilly, maybe you have the key. Someone must. There is definately a KGC mystery to be solved there. Hope this info helps the discussion...I enjoy reading everyone's point-of-view!

Curly

• Re: Now this is real Treasure-Hunting Debate! Richard Walburn 11:23:26 10/12/99 (0)
• Re: Now this is real Treasure-Hunting Debate! hillbilly bob 21:37:10 10/11/99 (1)
  • Re: Now this is real Treasure-Hunting Debate! Curly 15:49:38 10/12/99 (0)