K von M

[Jeffro]

OK, so I've just started researching the hard to find books.... and I wanted to run these aliases by you all.

R J Santschi
R L Carter
Deek Gladson
Charles Dean Miller
Tron Miller

I'm thinking CDM was his real name? Are these all viable aliases? And lastly, what about Warren Merkitch? another alias, or a buddy?

 

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[Siegfried Schlagrule]

R. J. Santschi started writing books about 20 years before KvM. Some are pretty good but they are all pricey. Believe his published dates ran from the mid-1920s to the late 1940s.
R.L. Carter - I have notes on about 18,000 treasure books in my card files. Nothing by him. Is he a magazine writer? Wasn't there a famous Carter who was involved in egyptology and was one of the Brits who violated the tomb of tutankamen and died shortly after?
Deek Gladson - when a book was written by KvM and wife Gladyce they used this pen name.
Charles Dean Miller - was the birth name of Karl von Mueller and the name used for some of his early books and pamphlets.
Tron Miller was the illustrator of many of the Exanimo booklets and some say that it was his son Dean. I used to have an address and business card for Tron in California while Karl and Dean were in Segundo or Weeping Water. Possibly a relative and possibly just a coincidence.
Some folks who knew said that Karl wrote under about 20 names. I have never seen a list of those names.
Warren Merkitch was an owlhooter and friend of Karl. when he got older and couldn't work his system anymore Karl prevailed upon him to write the sifter book. His first attempt to keep going before the book was to make a number of sifters and send folks out to use them while he did the fabrication and repairs. Some folks were honest and paid him his share and others were not honest and soured him on the deal. I doubt very much that he is still alive although i can't recall reading an obituary. I got the impression that he was in his seventies when his book came out. Hope this helps. siegfried schlagrule

 

[Jeffro]

Thanks SS. I get the feeling that RL Santschi was a reprint of an earlier work. Exanimo or RAM republished this under another title.

Any other aliases I should look out for?

 

[Jeffro]

Both

I have a pretty good library so far. Managed to avoid the junk and hype, concentrating mostly on the meat and potatos, like Von Bernewitz, JCF Johnson, Sinkankas, Hult, etc.

I've found that the more crap I can stuff in my brain, the more I instinctively look for when I'm out and about.

 

[Siegfried Schlagrule]

Jesse Ed Rascoe was the pen name of Ed Bartholomew of Frontier Books fame. His writing style was very similar to our gypsyheart. He quoted extensively from period newspapers and quite possibly led to the discovery of the second largest number of found treasures based on the writings of one author.
I expect more treasures were found by the readers of Karl von Mueller than any other author. I did a little research last night and found that according to the Library of Congress Trey Miller is a known pen name of KvM but they have nothing by Trey Miller and I only list one volume under that name in my files. I don't have it and have been unable to find it on inter-library loan or online book sales.
Harry E. Chrisman of Fifty Years on the Owlhoot Trail had a column in several western magazines that answered treasure questions under the pen name of Harry Rockingchair.
To my knowledge Paul Henson did not use pen names.
I don't recall hearing about any Thomas Penfield pen names.
Ernie E. Dennis used the pen names of E. Earl Webb and some others in the treasure magazines.
These are off the top of my head. If I think of others I will post again. You seem to rely heavily on authors of mining books and reprints of mining books. Not my area of expertise. The gold in my state is very small flakes or very very deep. You might want to look into the books of Muriell S. Wolle - especially Montana Pay Dirt and the Lambert Florin ghost town series that can be found in most big libraries. exanimo, siegfried schlagrule

 

[Jeffro]

Thanks SS.

You are correct. I have been more into mining than THing. Just started getting more interested in it lately.

Just picked up the Gold dredgers handbook by K von M today. Fascinating stuff. Not much new by todays standards, but what is fascinating is that he called the shots 10 to 20 years beforehand..... amazing!

Remarkable fellow.

 

[Siegfried Schlagrule]

He also wrote a Gem Cutters Manual that predated Sinkankas by 20 years in 1955; his mining books include Gold Fever - 1954; Gold Panning Made Easy - 1955; the six volume Placer Miners Manual - 1971-1973; Profitable Gem Polishing - 1955; Prospecting For Pleassure, Health and Profit - 1955; Rock Club Manual - 1955 and the Gold dredgers Handbook - 1973 and the revised second edition 1976 that you just bought. He also developed and marketed the Spartan Dredge which was very very popular for many years.
While I would buy those books if i found them I am not very interested in those topics and have never seen them anywhere for loan or for sale. Some of his titles appear over and over and some just can't be had for love or money. exanimo, siegfried schlagrule

 

[TreasureTales]

Santschi was a dowser or "doodlebugger." Many of his articles were published in NPG. Funny, but I asked this same question of SS a few weeks ago. (Great minds....) Duke Stewart was also a dowser who was published in NPG. I had wondered if this name was an alias for Dean Miller, but have been unable to determine one way or the other.

I suspect some of the letters to the editor in NPG were actually written by Dean Miller, using aliases. I have not logged those suspect names, but I might try to do that just for the detective work practice. LOL Sometimes Deek Gladson would write in and other times Karl von Mueller would write a letter to the editor. Must have been a little hard to keep all those personalities/aliases straight.

Just a couple pages inside THM 7 (Ram edition) there is a photo of KvM with his son "Deaner." The son was also known as "Okie Jake" Miller and did some illustration work for NPG. According to "Okie Jake," Charles Dean Miller was an aeronautical engineer (is that how he met "Hardrock" Hammond?). If I remember correctly, I read somewhere that KvM and his wife had a son and a daughter. Karl died in 1991 and his wife died a few years later, I believe. I wonder if they ever read this forum? Hmmm

In A.T. Evans' Treasure Hunters' Yearbook, 1974-1975 Edition there is a brief story about KvM. He was chosen as the Man of the Year - hence the brief bio. According to the biography, Karl found his first cache in a campsite in Oregon. (Jeffro, get your MD permit and go to those campgrounds!! )

After reading some of SS's posts, I have decided to sell off my Ram Publication editions of THM and save up my money for the earlier versions of those books. I want to read the original stuff. I also found a place that still sells the Gold Dredger's Handbook, so that is also not something I need to hang onto. As for the Sudden Wealth book, good introductory work but not much additional info IMO. If anybody finds the Nevada Ghost Town Map by Deek Gladson, I'd be interested in hearing from you.

Anybody interested in Coffman's book, Atlas of Treasure Maps, in which he gives long. & lat. coordinates for sunken ships in the Northern Hemisphere? Very expensive book and most interesting - especially if you're a diver - which I'm not. LOL Still, a fascinating book to read and the maps are interesting.

One of the books Dean Miller recommended was by Robert Nesmith, Treasure - Where and How to Find It. I ordered that book today and can't wait to read it.

There is a noticeable similarity to some of KvM's books and H. Glenn Carson - in title if not content. Anybody else notice that? Karl wrote Sudden Wealth and Carson wrote one called Some Paths to Sudden Wealth, they both wrote books about coinshooting, etc. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

Would really like to get a full set of all of the books, map, pamphlets, newspapers, etc. written by KvM, but my budget just won't allow it. I need to find a cache like Night Stalker did.

Larry Bass recommended a book, so I bought it a couple of months or so ago. It's Search! and I truly enjoyed it. The author provided many ideas for seaching old houses, barns, yards, etc. That's one book that is staying in my library. Despite the probability that the treasure "leads" in Terry Thomas' books are IMO useless in most cases, there is just enough info in some of them to make them helpful - even if only to void a potential site. Prospectors really should subscribe to ICMJ's Prospecting & Mining Journal for up-to-date info about mining laws, new strikes, etc. Besides, it often carries good articles about metal detecting.

One of the best books for treasure hunters is a book that lists place names and their origins. Some professor named Gudde wrote one for California and it has paid for itself many times over. (Place names, for those who may not know, are the names assigned to cities, mountains, counties, etc..) A good place names book will include a brief explanation of the origin of those names and whether or not the places were known by other names at various times. Many times you'll get one of those lightbulb moments when you're looking for a town called Sweetwater (for example) and then discover in your place names book that Sweetwater is now called Clear Springs. Today, the USGS is responsible for cataloging and sometimes naming places, or renaming places and/or natural features.

Well, this post is way too long, but books are some of my favorite things and when they relate to treasure hunting, I really get enthusiastic. I have many more books related directly and indirectly to treasure hunting, bottle digging, relics, rocks & minerals, knives, etc. but I won't drag this post out any longer. Strangely, I didn't even know about KvM until I read some posts by SS and examino redux. Those two fellows really opened my mind (and indirectly my pocketbook, LOL) to KvM and his many incarnations. Sorry for the length, but I don't want to edit any of it out.

 

[Jeffro]

Fourbit creek, OR

It appears that in the spring of 1859 Eli Ledford and four companions attempted to cross from Jacksonville to the Klamath country. Because of deep snow, they were unable to get through and they made camp at Rancheria prairie. Here all the party were murdered but whether from Indians or renegade whites is unknown. Ledford's four companions were found first in a common grave but his body was finally located about a half mile away. Ledford habitually carried a money belt filled with 50 cent pieces, and while trying to escape the fate of his companions, he scattered the coins. For several years the fourbit pieces would occasionally be found in the prairie or along the banks of fourbit creek.


Yeah, I like placename books too. Oregon's is full of interesting historical footnotes.

 

[Shortstack]

KvM's book, The Encyclopedia of Buried Treasure Hunting was reprinted by Hollister in the late 1960's. If you don't already have it--GET IT.

A treasure hunter that KvM complimented as being " the real deal ", was Frank L. Fish. His book, Buried Treasure and Lost Mines was first printed in 1961. My copy was printed in 1970 by L.E. Schaefer of Chino, California. GET IT.

In a book titled, Apache Jim , by Apache Jim, published by Carson Interprises in 1973 you'll find stories with maps about projects he researched, but never found. His reasoning was that it's stupid to write about your successes, but writing about your failures are OK. He felt that there's enough " out there " to keep all of us busy and he wasn't ashamed to admit he'd ran out of ideas on these treasures. The man's full name was Apache Jim Wilson and his writing style is interesting, "adult", and humerous.


In his later columns in one of the THing magazines, KVM wrote about a book he was writing he called Waybills to Eldorado . He said that many of the people in the pro ranks did not want him to publish it. A building on his property was burned to the ground as a "warning". The copy I have was printed in 1988, by the Exanimo Press. This little book has only 69 pages; is 6-3/4 inches by 9-3/4 inches in size, and has the $10 price printed on the cover as part of the title. That price should tell you how valuable KvM thought the info is because he prided himself on low cover prices on his writings. In the back of this book, he listed several books he had in his own library. I won't list them here, but I noticed that Carson was not mentioned, though he DID mention Charles Garrett and Ed Bartholomew.

I am saving the best treasure hunting book I've found for a new thread on this topic.

 

[Siegfried Schlagrule]

SS, Waybills...was billed as volume one of five and the other four were never released due to the fire and death of Karl von Mueller. I estimate that about half of those treasures have been found and a quick reading will tell you which ones are gone. I have yet to find any of them he mentioned but am working on some of them. exanimo, siegfried schlagrule

 

[TreasureTales]

Did they ever catch the SOB's who robbed his archives and burned down the place?

Here's what I'd really like to know about KvM (Dean Miller, or whatever we're calling the man today). Did he trust banks himself? I don't think so. So isn't it conceivable that he had his own cache(s) somewhere? He said in some of his writings that he never took out all of a found cache at one time - he'd take out only what he needed for living and leave the rest for later. Do you think he ever cleaned out the last of those found caches? He might have left a little here and there just as a way of making some other treasure hunter feel good or lucky or somewhat richer. He seemed to be genuinely concerned about the average working person, so maybe his generousity extended that far?

BTW, I spent 25 years trying to track down a "lost mine" here in No. Cal and when I finally realized it was a wild goose chase I wrote about my quest and included all the info I had about the location and the men involved with it. The only money I got out of that 25 year quest was the measily payment from the magazine and the sale of some relics found along the way. I probably spent $3,500.00 looking for the mine and made maybe $300.00 on the story and relics. Karl would have told me not to try such foolishness, but alas I had not heard of him at the time I was looking. But I must admit it was an adventure that I will always remember fondly - despite the numerous bouts with poison oak, the ticks, the heat, the cold, the weirdos living in the boondocks, and the hassles trying to find primary newspaper articles.

 

[phantomx6]

I haven't been able to find or afford any of KVM's earlier books. But I do own volumes 6 & 7 of the THM. They can still occasionally be found on Ebay. I personally feel that they are a MUST read for anyone interested in treasure hunting. Simply great books!

 

[TreasureTales]

Recently learned that Duke Stewart was a pen name used by several different people when they were writing about dowsing in Dean Miller's National Prospectors Gazette. (This info came from A.T. Evan's Treasure Hunter's Yearbook '74-'75.)

 

[Siegfried Schlagrule]

The perps were never identified so they were never apprehended. No doubt they lurk here. I hope to meet them some day. exanimo, siegfried schlagrule

 

[Jeffro]

Just read an article by Lynn Blumenstein in the Treasure hunters yearbook that TT sent me. Eerie- he got me into dredging. Passed away about 5-6 years ago, or so I heard. One heckuva nice fella.