Hey Buddy,
I decided to step back in since this whole Stone Map thing has been getting so much action.
A lot of what I have to say about the possible origins of the Stone Maps I will save for Ryans thread.
For those two or three people that may be interested, MOEL stood for "Mining, Oil, Exploration, and Leasing". The original plan was to use the "device" to find oil and minerals, then lease out the mining and/or drilling rights.
I think the family trust issue MKR was writing about was regarding Travis' Uncle Robert. Knowledge of this rift between the two of them pretty much crashes Ryan's belief that the maps were created to get money from Robert's Landlord.
In about 1956, Travis started getting sick on and off (which eventually killed him in 1961). At this time, his Uncle Robert got the stone maps. I have to believe that Travis let Robert borrow the stone maps because he also gave Robert a piece of a map that he had also written on that showed exactly where Travis found the stone maps. This says that the Stone Maps went to Robert with Travis' blessing.
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What happens next is where things get a little murky, but knowledge of other events will let us figure this out. Sometime between when Travis let Robert take the Stone Maps and about 1960 caused a HUGE rift between Travis and his Uncle Robert. How do I know this? EASY PEASY! In 1965, Dick Peck was looking to purchase the Stone Maps. He sent several people out to find out all they could about them. He sent people to Hod River, Oregon to interview everybody they could find that knew Travis and Alleen. One of those people interviewed was Robert Tumlinson. I believe the interviewer was Elbert Love. Love stated that when he informed Robert that Travis had died in 1961, Robert had no idea. That means that Uncle Robert that had been so close that Travis trusted him with his Stone Maps hadn't spoken to Travis for AT LEAST FOUR YEARS! The only thing that could have caused such a rift would be the Stone Maps. My thought is that Robert wanted to keep the maps for good, and Travis wanted them back. Travis took them back and Robert never spoke to him again. Alleen sold them to Mitchell after Travis died. Why didn't she sell them to Robert?.....................RIFT
MKR,
You may have this answered in part deux, but I will ask this now; If Mitchell divested himself completely of MOEL in 1964, and took the Stone Maps with him, how then did the Flagg Foundation Donation Receipt show only Boyd and Ruth Cochrane as the givers in 1969?
Mike