A guide to treasure Utah penfield

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Tiredman

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Some on Amazon at $34 a pop, they were once over $90 a piece, just not dropping fast enough.
 

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Tiredman

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Well maybe someday one will turn up
 

Randy Bradford

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Check with Research Unlimited, I'll bet they have copies at cost. Whomever decided those books were worth 90 bucks a copy is an idiot.
 

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Tiredman

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From what I see on Amazon there must be some books out there that have copied him word for word. Two authors are doing it and one is called on it in his reviews.
 

Randy Bradford

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Weird, I see two reviews with no mention of other authors.

Keep in mind, Penfield was a good archivist but his books aren't particularly helpful. They offer tons of very brief stories, usually less than 5 sentences, with not one scrap of bibliographic information to suggest where he got the information from. They're best use is breaking stories down by county which MIGHT give you at least an area to start researching but finding any sort of in depth material will prove difficult with the scraps he tosses out.

Thomas Penfield, H. Glenn Carson and Michael Paul Henson all penned different states using the same basic format with, unfortunately, the same shortcomings.
 

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Tiredman

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Still I figure these early authors did a great job since it was before the internet. In my books I take the limited info and research further. I do find there is lots of information to these lost treasure stories. My wife and I are working on soon putting out our 4th in a series on our current project state. On Amazon under lost treasure for that state our books rank number 1-2-3-6 and 8 with more on page 2. We put them up in black and white, full color and Kindle. Kindle is the best since the topo maps are in color and can be expanded. So far they are being picked up by places and even Wall Drug in S. D.
 

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Tiredman

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I figure the treasure is the story. Many folks local to these areas never heard of them, the stories themselves are being lost over the years.
 

Randy Bradford

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I figure the treasure is the story. Many folks local to these areas never heard of them, the stories themselves are being lost over the years.

I absolutely concur. Tragically, folklore and legend is a treasure near impossible to find again once it's lost. I've long admired how even clearly false stories can create positive local color and really contribute to regional and community flavor. When I started compiling stories about Montezuma's Treasure I wondered how many of these communities have sacrificed much of their folklore identity in the name of "sophistication." In the end a story doesn't have to be true to impact people and the places they live in a significant fashion and a study of that phenomena is a pretty fascinating undertaking.
 

Mackaydon

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Suggestion: Go to your local library and ask if they have a copy. If they don't, ask them to search interlibrary collections from where they can order the book from another library to your library for just a couple of bucks. It's worth a try; I've done it several times--successfully.
Don.....
PS: From my experience, Penfield should be read for 'entertainment'; not as a solid source for "X" marks the spot.
 

Randy Bradford

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Suggestion: Go to your local library and ask if they have a copy. If they don't, ask them to search interlibrary collections from where they can order the book from another library to your library for just a couple of bucks. It's worth a try; I've done it several times--successfully.
Don.....
PS: From my experience, Penfield should be read for 'entertainment'; not as a solid source for "X" marks the spot.

Many people use the state guide series as a means of weeding out leads, the idea being that if the leads are in a book like that they were probably never true to begin with thus adding validity to leads a person has that aren't publicized.
 

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Tiredman

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It is interesting researching since we are finding things never covered by Terry or Penfield. Plenty of leads are still out there yet.
 

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Tiredman

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Price of two dropped on Amazon so I ordered one.
 

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Tiredman

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It was interesting reading, someday I hope to do some Utah treasure stories. The brief information is enough to find much older info.
 

Randy Bradford

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Not sure where you live at in Utah, but both the University of Utah and Brigham Young University have pretty substantial state history collections. I'd encourage you to read what you need to there and then buy what you feel is worth owning. Back at the centennial of the state, each of the counties was commissioned to do a local history guide. I'd encourage you to seek out your county guide, I have them all on PDF if you want to make a request. I also have a pretty lengthy Utah state bibliography, the treasures won't be spelled out but there will be leads galore.
 

Randy Bradford

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No cost,state of Utah has them all for public access if you're patient enough to dig and dig through their historical society website(s). If you are patient and look long enough they also used to have every issue of Utah Historical Quarterly available in pdf as well.

My #1 advice to people searching online...ALWAYS download what you want when you run across it. You might not be able to find it again later or it might be removed. NEVER WAIT. A typical day of online research will likely have you traveling from one site to another in a way that could never been willingly replicated. Also, portable storage of immense size can be had very cheaply so there is no excuse for not downloading what you can when you can.
 

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Tiredman

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We been going thru the old newspaper archives
 

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