Back in the 40's, my Grandfather was a Master Builder in Phoenix. He was building a motel/restaurant in Phoenix when this kid pulled up from Missouri. He wanted a job so my Grandfather hired him. The kid was the most frugal person my Grandfather had ever seen. He ate a can of cold beans everyday for lunch and slept on the job site in his car. My Grandfather asked him if he was saving his money to by a farm in Arizona but the kid just smiled and said he had a farm in Missouri and was there for another reason. My Grandfather lived down around Baseline on a few acres and raised some mules and took people/friends out hunting for extended trips. When the kid heard him talking to a guy that wanted to buy two mules, the kid later approached Grandpa with an amazing story. He asked Grandpa if he really had mules for outfitting. He then told Grandpa that he needed to go out into the mountains for 3 or four days. My Grandpa was quite curious so he pressed further until the kid told him that he trusted him and would make it well worth his time. The kid went to his trunk, got a satchel, came back and poured it on a pile on some wall board. There were about a dozen items, all gold, small crosses and ingots and such from the Spanish period. Of course my Grandpa now had to hear the story as a condition of using his mules. The kid told him that his Great Grandfather was in the Calvary during the Apache wars in Arizona. They had chased a band of Apaches that were raiding small homesteads and stealing cattle and horses. They chased them up a river where the Apaches turned into a small, rocky, steep canyon. Up the canyon and then up the side of the mountain on a very old trail the calvary chased. When they got to the only level area up there, the Apaches were nowhere to be seen. It was almost dark and the Commander ordered a bivouac, with several guards to be set up on the perimeter. The kids Great Grandfather was one ordered to find a safe place on the canyon wall to set watch. The kid was scared to death so he found a brush thicket with a huge rock outcropping in the center of it. He pushed through the brush and began looking for a place to sit against the rocks when he came upon a cave. The cave went back about 30 feet at a rather steep slope. In the back of the cave were steps cut into the rock going up about 15 feet. He climbed up and there at the top was another tunnel. He had some sort of light source so he saddled over the small rock wall and into it. There he found two mummified Spanish soldiers with spears stick in them. The shaft was spilt into two tunnels at about a 45 degree angle. He took the right one and it went down a ways to a big pile of dirt. When he moved his light, it sparkled with rough gold. He moved past it to the bottom where he found a big vein on quarts with gold all though it. He got some of the best pieces he could find and stuffed then into his haversack. He went back and entered the other tunnel. It opened into a rather large room where tons of gold and silver church ornaments were stacked. He emptied the gold samples and everything in his haversack and filled it completely with treasure. When they pulled out the next morning, he drew a map best he could of the surrounding mountains. When My Grandfather saw the map, he knew instantly were it was.
