Gold Bars in Colorado

[octoberchild]

Does anyone have any info on the story of some Frenchmen that buried some gold bars in Colorado in or about 1804 that was consequential of the Louisiana purchase?
Thanks

 

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[Old Dog]

Just outside Gunnison or in thSouth by Pagosa Springs?
There are several, which one are you talking about

OD

 

[dennisdunigan]

Hi Old Dog. Pagosa Springs I bet. You haven't found it yet have you?
I'm still looking! The hot springs are nice after hiking around the Mtns.

 

[Melbeta]

Does anyone have any info on the story of some Frenchmen that buried some gold bars in Colorado in or about 1804 that was consequential of the Louisiana purchase?
Thanks

Is this the gold bars and other gold, that they buried during a fight with indians, just south of Fountain CO area? Or the gold that they buried near Nathrop CO when going past the hot mineral springs?

 

[lastleg]

Naw, he's talking about the yarn about Frenchman mining gold up by Treasure
Mountain. Just a local legend.

 

[Old Dog]

There are two of those, one is buried in three different caches and the other is buried on round mountain.
The one that was in three caches has been chased by the family of the one guy who got away for all these years.
The one on round Mountain has never been found, would be a good project for a guy who is good at dowsing and not afraid of a little digging ...just for fun. LOL

 

[Melbeta]

Naw, he's talking about the yarn about Frenchman mining gold up by Treasure
Mountain. Just a local legend.

Well, there are an abundance of stories of Frenchmen burying bars of gold, stories of Spanish burying bars of gold, and also a story of a person from Winterpark finding a cave full of "gold cones", each one weighed approx one pound, and they were buried SE of Salida, on a private ranch in that area. Supposedly around 300 pounds, more or less, of the gold cones.

The person who found them, found them by falling into a cave, which opened up under his weight, he purportedly then carried them out of that depression, by hand, to a nearby location, that was on government land, and no longer on the private ranch property, burying them into two caches, one of 30 pounds, the other around 270 to 300 pounds. Now that is a lot of gold weight to carry, so I will guess that he did not carry them too far from that private ranch property! They are purportedly buried near a tree on a hill.

Supposedly the ranch owner, kept seeing him on the ranch land, and threated to get the sheriff, so the person was quite intent to carry them forth from the ranch property and bury then on nearby government land... Then he took 8 of the gold cones with him, and fled through the Trout Creek Pass area, going the back route back to Winterpark.

The cones were supposedly near a Spanish arrastra located in the vicinity. I have heard there was such a spanish ore crushing area found in that general vicinity.

Apparently the Spanish used a stick, to make a cone in the ground, then poured molten gold into the cone opening, thus casting the cones of gold.

I spoke to a person from Winterpark who related this story to me, he was the neighbor of the person who found them, and he told me he actually "held some of those cones in his hands".

He said the person who found them, brought 8 of them back with him (which he has personally seen and held in his hands) to Winterpark Colorado, and shortly afterward he (the finder of the gold cones) was involved in a car accident, is paralized, unable to talk, and has brain damage.

The person who told me this story said the story came to him, from the neighbors wife, who asked him to go and search and find the location, but he was unable to find the location. He said he had spent 3 weeks going through the area, had panned gold in the various streams around Salida, but had not found the landmarks of the burial. The gold cones were re-buried on a small hill, with a tree, approximately a few miles from an abandoned stone house. The finder had metal detected this stone house, wandered off looking for other places to metal detect, fell into a collapsed cave area, found the gold cones there, and carried the gold cones toward that location from the private ranch, where it was buried relative to that tree on that hill.

I met the story teller in the vicinity SE of Salida, when he spotted me metal detecting near Trout Creek Pass, back around 1974.

So that story is not publicized I believe, but I am curious if anyone else has heard that story before Spanish gold cones near Salida Anyone hear of that old abandoned stone house? Somewhere southeast of Salida Somewhere not too far away from a private ranch Maybe we can put 2 + 2 together, and end up with 300 pounds or so, of Spanish gold cones!!!