Check my reasoning on this....

[UncleMatt]

Uncle Matt, the Ophir gold bar robbery cache was found on Timberhill on the road to Stony Pass. It was confirmed by other
sources.

Do you have any newspaper articles on the Timber Hill discovery? Temple talked about that in his book, but I haven't seen any corroboration to that find. Do you know of any evidence that does so?

 

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[lastleg]

Many years ago there was an article in one or more of the treasures magazines. I think it may have been in Long John's
mag. You are correct, I should not make claims I cannot back up.

 

[UncleMatt]

Many years ago there was an article in one or more of the treasures magazines. I think it may have been in Long John's
mag. You are correct, I should not make claims I cannot back up.

I wasn't saying it like that lastleg, I was just asking for my own education. For all I know there were a bunch of newspaper articles about it back in the day. I am having my cousin Greg who lives in Pagosa Springs see if he can find anything locally there, and I am going to look in the Durango Herald's archives when I am up there in a couple of weeks. I will post what I find.

I ordered this X8 flying wing today for the prospecting UAV I am designing to help me search the San Juans: X8 flying wing - DIY Drones

 

[UncleMatt]

I am up in the San Juans right now doing some treasure hunting and nugget shooting. I have already visited the Falls Creek site, and the Coal Creek site as well. Tomorrow I will attempt to hike up to the area of the Vallecito Canyon where the covered mine supposedly is. I also made contact with some people at the local university about reviewing some manuscripts they have written by Temple. No gold yet though... :-D

 

[UncleMatt]

I tried to reach the area of the covered portal, but the rain was so bad I had to turn back after only 3 of 12 miles had been covered. The trail had become a creek in its own right, and flash flood warnings were in effect, so I will wait and try again tomorrow. But forecast says more rain tomorrow. I passed many mother beautiful sandbars in ideal locations, but I couldn't even put my pack down to assemble my detector it was raining so hard. Hard as nails coming down. Too tired now, but will post photos tomorrow.

 

[UncleMatt]

Here is a cave I found about 60 feet above Coal Creek south of Silverton. It isn't very deep, and I could see to the back of it once my eyes adjusted to the light. It was mid afternoon and the canyon wall and cave portal faced north. Could this be representative of the kind of short tunnel Temple described in his book as being the source of gold up the Vallecito?

 

[UncleMatt]

This cave had no tool marks of any kind, was mostly smooth, and had scallops in the walls where you could tell water currents and debris had eroded out pockets in the rock. It was a natural cave not made by human hands. It was high above the current creek bed, so it has probably been around for a very long time. Above the portal was a quartz vein, and you can see the oxidised quartz on the cave floor still eroding out of that vein.

If a cave such as this formed along a gold bearing quartz vein outcropping as the Vallecito river eroded down through the granite bedrock, you would have a short tunnel left above the creek, with a lot of gold on the floor and also still in the vein in the wall. This is the best example of what Temple described that I have yet experienced, and is what I will be looking for next summer. No more fooling around, I am taking a full horse train up there with everything I need to scour the place for a week.

 

[snakeyes]

Sounds like your really getting serious,good luck to you, and keep us updated

 

[UncleMatt]

About 3 miles up the Vallecito trail, you come to the second bridge, the first being near the trailhead at the campground. Above this location on the eastern wall of the canyon was once the Gold Nugget claims 1, 2, & 3. Supposedly there was a stamp mill set up on the Vallecito below the mines. However, no trace of that stamp mill remains today that I could find. Does anyone have any information on this stamp mill, or perhaps old photos? I would like to locate its position for future research and prospecting.

later edit: I just realized, the stamp mill was set up prior to the 1900's, when the gold claims 1/2 mile to the east on the canyon wall were under the name Old Dominion. I have looked all over the internet for some trace of this mine in the form of photos or documents, but have come up empty.

 

[UncleMatt]

This morning I am meeting with the oldest living relative of Temple Cornelius. She tells me she has something to show me that will excite me and that no one has ever seen before. I am hoping she is not talking about a bawdy house painting, but perhaps maps, notebooks, ore samples, anything that might add weight to Temple's stories.

 

[UncleMatt]

Wow, what a day! I was able to look Temple Cornelius in the face for the first time. I also saw pictures of his wife Olive, who was a real looker. I learned a lot about Temple's family and life in general. I saw first edition copies of Sheepherder Gold with Temple's autograph to the family members he was giving the book to. I saw evidence that just prior to his death Temple was looking into new satellite based technologies to explore the San Juans for voids where caches could be found. Truly a man of the past, who lived in the present, and walked in the future....

I have agreed not to release any photos or more specific information without permission from the Cornelius family. That may be forthcoming, but that is not up to me to decide. I can say that Temple devoted his life to treasure hunting, and left a great legacy on that vocation for us to enjoy and learn from. I will continue to try to track down evidence and information and pick up where Temple left off, as many others have done. Just today I saw written evidence Temple's late son met with two different parties in 2004 and 2005 and covered in detail information on the lost mine near La Ventana. I have their names, but hope they will pm me if they happen to frequent this site and read this post.

 

[UncleMatt]

Today I managed to get my hands on a DVD of an old This Is Your Life show, where Olga Little was the guest of honor. She was the only female pack team driver in all of Colorado back in the day. One of the guests on this episode was, you guessed it, Temple Cornelius! I got to hear him speak and enjoyed every minute of that old show!

 

[kuger]

 

[lastleg]

I would love to read about the above mentioned mine near The Window (La Ventana). To find it look for the Rio Grande Pyramid
on the Continental Divide (13,821 feet above sea level) SW of the Rio Grande Reservoir, which was named Farmers Union Reservoir
when dammed.

Thanks for the info UncleMatt

 

[Connecticut Sam]

Hi Uncle Matt from Connecticut

 

[UncleMatt]

I would love to read about the above mentioned mine near The Window (La Ventana). To find it look for the Rio Grande Pyramid
on the Continental Divide (13,821 feet above sea level) SW of the Rio Grande Reservoir, which was named Farmers Union Reservoir
when dammed.

Thanks for the info UncleMatt

Sorry, no one has mentioned La Ventana in this thread. Now, I am of course very familiar with that treasure tale, and Temple's efforts to locate it, but perhaps you meant to post in another thread? I'm always happy to share any details I can, but everything I know about the lost mine of the window is in Temple's books.