Did Apache's even go in caves?

Steamboat · Jan 16, 2023

I have been in many caves in the Guadalupe Mountains. I have seen Indian paintings, etc. in the entrance to some caves but have never seen any evidence that the Indians went in the caves past the twilight zone.
When you think about it, with out artificial lights like we have it would have been very difficult to go very far in a cave.
So, to think that Indians took bars of gold all the way to the bottom of Victorio peak to some store room may be a little far fetched.

releventchair · Jan 16, 2023

Steamboat said:
I have been in many caves in the Guadalupe Mountains. I have seen Indian paintings, etc. in the entrance to some caves but have never seen any evidence that the Indians went in the caves past the twilight zone.
When you think about it, with out artificial lights like we have it would have been very difficult to go very far in a cave.
So, to think that Indians took bars of gold all the way to the bottom of Victorio peak to some store room may be a little far fetched.

Fire is portable.

Native Americans - Mammoth Cave National Park (U.S. National Park Service)

www.nps.gov

unclemac · Jan 16, 2023

The Apache didn't arrive in the SW until about a thousand years ago...

sdcfia · Jan 17, 2023

Apaches had numerous weapons caches in caves all through Apacheria. These were tactical, as most of the clans were on the move seasonally for food and and frequently skirmished with other natives, Mexicans and later whites who had invaded their homelands. They needed supplies and had caches in numerous locations. Even today, someone occasionally stumbles across one of these and almost always finds a small remote wind cave large enough to protect the goods and easy enough to resupply quickly.

Many Apaches knew the value of gold to whitey and occasionally traded with non-natives for supplies. The Chihene in particular, under Mangas Coloradas, likely even exploited the Bear Creek placers on occasion. This fact is available in their tribal lore and not disputed. Other than treasure magazines and fabricators, reports of large Apache bullion caches in deep dangerous caverns are not in known tribal memories. That said, IMO, the Caballo Mountains on the Rio Grande and possibly some location in the Superstition Mountains region may contain bullion depositories from folks who preceded the Apache. I suspect Noss's recovery was in the Caballos, and his fraudulent Victorio Peak discovery (leading to his murder) was used as a convenient cover story for your government's laundering of WWII European gold lootings.

ARC · Jan 17, 2023

"