LUE clue...the Obit of Hardrock Hammond

[Ryano]

Many months ago I went down a LUE rabbit hole researching what I could find on the Circle of Companions after finding reference to an unnamed “Lockheed engineer” that made multiple trips to Trinidad and Weston with Spade Cooley the Western Swing star in the late 1940’s early 1950’s.. I’m now certain that engineer was the Alvino Rey - famous steel guitarist and holder of multiple patents in audio instrument engineering. I’ll be damned if I can’t locate the source article (1980’s Guitarist (?) or Strings magazine or similar ) now that I remembered to share this info; it was an interview with a well-known music store owner in NYC who was friends with Alvino Rey and he mentions Rey regaling him with adventure tales of searching for lost treasure with Spade Cooley. Presumably they were looking for the Cavern of Gold (Culebra) or whatever obsessed Dean Miller to pack up and move to Segundo ?? Just thought this was interesting since it suggests people with direct connections to the CoC were searching this area prior to KVM’s publication of TotVoS, thus lending credence that the story isn’t an invention (at least not by Dean Miller )

 

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[Randy Bradford]

Many months ago I went down a LUE rabbit hole researching what I could find on the Circle of Companions after finding reference to an unnamed “Lockheed engineer” that made multiple trips to Trinidad and Weston with Spade Cooley the Western Swing star in the late 1940’s early 1950’s.. I’m now certain that engineer was the Alvino Rey - famous steel guitarist and holder of multiple patents in audio instrument engineering. I’ll be damned if I can’t locate the source article (1980’s Guitarist (?) or Strings magazine or similar ) now that I remembered to share this info; it was an interview with a well-known music store owner in NYC who was friends with Alvino Rey and he mentions Rey regaling him with adventure tales of searching for lost treasure with Spade Cooley. Presumably they were looking for the Cavern of Gold (Culebra) or whatever obsessed Dean Miller to pack up and move to Segundo ?? Just thought this was interesting since it suggests people with direct connections to the CoC were searching this area prior to KVM’s publication of TotVoS, thus lending credence that the story isn’t an invention (at least not by Dean Miller )

Karl mentioned the CoC having some sort of written component, a newsletter or something similar. I've often wondered what copies of those might reveal about the group, it's membership make up, and projects they were researching or actively seeking out. Keep in mind, CoC was, if memory serves me, was a reforming of an older group that Karl and Hardrock Hammond were involved in called KAFAN. My suspicion is these were "invitation only" organizations. Strangely, during this time period, Hardrock Hammond also had his own professional organization called Hammond and Associates. I suspect many of the members would be the same as CoC so why they'd have more than one organization is a source of mystery.

I've long suspected hitting some of the bigger libraries in that area might produce dividends. I suspect Karl donated copies of the original NPG (1954-1960ish) and they might be lying around in a dusty file cabinet or on a microfiche spool. Early newsletters/bulletins from the PCSC might similarly yield some bits of evidence.

Some I've talked to believe the CoC was never a formal group, but rather a nickname Karl placed on some of his regular prospecting friends. For my part, I'd love to get more concrete information on Hardrock Hammond. I have a file here but it's not much and reveals very little about his treasure hunting days. He did have a platinum claim (I believe) in California at one time though.

 

[Randy Bradford]

This comes from the original printing of "Sudden Wealth," sheds some light on folks they were working with in the early 1950s.

Pg. 25: There is a significant report that may be of unusual interest to many amateur treasure hunters. Since about 1956 a small group of adventurers consisting of Bill (Hardrock) Hammond, Charlie Millen, Karl von Mueller, and Gene Pruse has been compiling data on various successful treasure activities in order to possibly develop a trend or a uniform modus operandi for people who conceal wealth.

Charlie Millen I'm familiar with, mostly because he wrote a letter to "True West" about Karl von Mueller when Karl was still living in Salt Lake City. Karl wasn't there very long, but long enough to start publishing "The Adventure Bulletin" which would later become "Exanimo Express" when he moved back to the Midwest. I have the Charlie Millen letter somewhere, but he speaks favorably of Karl's treasure hunting, charity, and a personal "museum" of sorts he had in SLC.

Gene Pruse is a mystery to me, perhaps someone in here can shed some light...

Interestingly, Frank Fish I believe also worked with Aviation firms in the mid 1950s, but I've never seen where he was a contemporary or correspondent with Karl. Frankly, I'm not sure I ever saw Karl publish a word about Fish either. Fish was much more geographically limited...which is to say I don't think he ever strayed far from his California museum with the exception of some work in the Superstitions related to the Peralta map. And even that is speculation on my part. By all accounts, Frank never had to wander far from home to make some big recoveries...but he also had the luxury of being the first technologically driven hunter in his neck of the woods, when ghost towns were still largely undisturbed.

 

[Randy Bradford]

Here's another obscure reference to Hammond, also from "Sudden Wealth":

Then, in 1954, Bill (Hardrock) Hammond, the Grand Old Man of professional treasure hunting, published a pamphlet dealing with the technical aspects of treasure hunting. This book stressed search and recovery procedures.

Leaves me wondering what else he might have published. In the space of a sentence it is described as a pamphlet and a book. Rather confusing.

"Sudden Wealth" also contains a lengthy story about research development, primarily built around Hardrock Hammond's search for the treasure of an acquaintance. It's a good example of how to develop and carry out a search based on a lead and also reveals a lot of nuggets about Hammond's history, though nothing particularly concrete.

 

[Randy Bradford]

One last post for the morning (I hope). This was also in Sudden Wealth:

"One of the first “How to do it” books for treasure hunters was actually written for antique collectors in 1952 by Asa Miller. This book, Gold Mines in Attics, sold for $1 through antique dealers and went over like a lead balloon. Less than 1,000 copies were sold. Nevertheless, one chapter of this book dealt with searching houses for concealed valuables and gave hundreds of clues for hiding places from the basement to the attic."

I'm about 100% sure that Asa Miller is one of Karl's pen names.

 

[Ryano]

Thanks for sharing that, Randy. Hammond was the real deal, at least as far as I was able to verify via early aviation history, public records, as well as several aircraft enthusiast websites that had a picture of him and a partner building a prototype 4-seater aeroplane in the early 1940’s a few blocks from the Lockheed factory. Details of his life outside that industry have eluded me so far. When I discovered the Alvino Rey - Spade Cooley connection I got excited thinking there had to be something more out there if bona fide celebrities were involved. Like you said before, much of this info is likely only in print, waiting to be found in libraries or archives specific to the locales these characters lived.

Q: Did the Son of KVM continue the work of the father in any fashion ?

 

[Randy Bradford]

Q: Did the Son of KVM continue the work of the father in any fashion ?

Short answer, it doesn't appear so. It looks like his younger years were heavily influenced by Hardrock Hammond but by the time he went off to college he started to blaze his own path. He was brought on board with the NPG to take over, but that lasted a single issue and came to a halt with no fanfare. Follows is an article he wrote when he came aboard talking about his experiences:

TREASURE
Volume 7 Issue 3: December — January (No Year Listed, presumably 1972)
By: “Okie Jake” Miller​

When I was invited to prepare an article on treasure for the Prospector's Gazette, I was, naturally, hesitant due to the fact that, in a way, I have been out of contact for a few years. My activity and interest has not waned in the least; it was simply that all of the old-timers that I had worked with through the past 15 years had either passed on or retired into seclusion and not even my dad would let me know where they were or what they were doing that is part and parcel of the true professional end of the old-fashioned treasure field. The “need to know” has always been the criterion of what you could find out. Not many people know it, but I was a Prospector's Gazette “employee” back around 1954 when I was the chief addresser - in fact, the only dedicated addresser on the entire NPG staff of 3.

I was just a kid, then, but due to the activity that went on around our house (apartment in Santa Monica) and my trained ability to see and not tell, I became somewhat popular with the really big-casino treasure hunters of the time. I was fortunate enough to become the “running mate” of good old Hardrock Hammond and my association with him made me pretty well known as the “other ridge runner.” Of course, Hardrock was the first ridge runner and we sort of made history in Southern California because of our ability to get around on foot and we did cover a good deal of area that was probably unseen, previously, by any other white man. With Hardrock, I got to discover uranium in San Antonio Canyon, and with my old friend, Tom Felling, we found a pretty good deposit of lapis lazuli in Los Angeles County, which was geologically impossible, but we did it anyway. Back in those days, there were a lot of people active in treasure hunting; some became well-known and others preferred anonymity. Hardrock, of course, was my “god,” as was Spade Cooley, the fiddle-playing entertainer. Errol Flynn was an A-1 treasure hunter and adventurer then, and he was something special. He went through life by hitting it head-on and was envied by everybody. One of the nicest guys of all was Johnny Pounds who has always had the other guy’s interests at heart and who has done so much for the TH’er without ever receiving full credit for what he has done.

I want to tell you a little about Johnny, because he would never do it himself. I first got to know Johnny, Ruth, & Little Johnny when he lived in Santa Monica, and we would go over to Johnny's to work on treasure stuff, or Johnny would come over to our place, nearby, to work on the paper. I am quite sure that Johnny, Hardrock, and my dad put together the first treasure show and convention in history when they had the Big Bear treasure shindig about 1954 or 1955. Johnny did a very good job of organizing this affair and we camped near Fawnskin. 1 spent half the night, awake, in my sleeping bag watching the deer come down to water. Johnny was always doing that something extra for the other guy. You who know him well will realize why I have always thought so much of Johnny. I was younger then and despite all of the f:amous successful people that came to our apartment, Johnny was the one I could not help admiring because he was always doing something to help the other guy, and always without cost or obligation. Little Johnny was about my age, too, and he was never a smart-aleck. He was A-1, too. Ruth (Mrs. Johnny) was something else. She and my dad were always wrangling about something and trying to make each other angry, but they never accomplished this. It was entertainment for all of us and you can take it from me that the Pound's outfit is hard to beat.

I got to meet most of the Big Jakes (the successful treasure hunters from around the world) and the successful small miners. It was certain that they would sooner or later come to our place or my dad and I would slip out for a meeting with them someplace.

I remember once that one of the older men hid a tub of gold in one of my antique cars and we noticed it by accident. My dad got sort of hot about this, but it all blew over and when the old fellow got his gold back, not a nugget was missing, but he sure caught the dickens from dad.

Another time, to mention another incident, a fellow hid two gold ingots in the shrubbery at our apartment and when we got home that night, there was a note under our door telling about it. We hauled those bars up to the Pacific Palisades and buried them under the shrubbery near the pavement, and they were still there when the fellow went to recover them 6 weeks later.

We got into small dredging in 1955. It was said, then, that we had the best dredging crew and equipment in all of southern California. Hardrock and my dad were both aeronautical engineers and writers, so they had the know how to improve our equipment, and they did. The old-fashioned 2-hose nozzles were being used then and, of course, they represented the “long way around” so our bunch started working on something that was more efficient. It was developed and being tested when we almost lost a man by drowning up on the Yuba, so that was the end of dredging for that period. Now, Spartan dredges are using some of these designs that are now almost 20 years old, but still revolutionary to placer mining. I do think it is significant that these designs are being picked up by others and used today. I want to get back into placer mining because I know what the stakes are and the cost, and there is nothing like it.

My treasure and mining days came to an end when I went to England in 1959. In fact, I don't even know what became of my metal detector. Back from England, I went back to work with Douglas A/C, and then into the Air Force for the Long Count - 4 years. After this back to the timeclock and the electronics bench. I kept my toe in the coinshooting and treasure game by getting another detector and using it on the beach and in parks. Then, back to Oklahoma to get back into the treasure business for once and for all. Here is where I learned that the famous people in today's treasure hunting are by no means the most qualified or best informed. My often assumed reliable tips became nasty jokes. I had my own projects, but I also know that you can often pick up a good tip by just listening. To make a long story, short and to the point, I followed-up an expert’s tip on a cannon that was stuffed with gold or silver. I followed this one up and almost starved to death working it out and found that this guy’s “reliable” information had come from a story that had been printed in a treasure magazine, and that an unstuffed cannon had actually been rolled into the river, but 15 miles from where the story said and from where this would-be expert had told me.

I dropped that one, fast, and went back to relic-hunting and, then, as a result of this was pulled in to take over the management of the National Prospector's Gazette and a few other activities. When Wally bought his new store, I was pushed into the slot of running Exanimo and I think I have found a permanent home.

Fortunately, over the years, I have gotten to know hundreds of Exanimo customers and clients. It has not taken me long to catch up on their history since I saw or worked with them last, and I am getting acquainted with more, hundreds more, by personal visits and over the telephone. This looks like it is going to be the most rewarding job I have ever had as I find that every day I can help somebody and there is no pressure on me to sell anybody anything.

All of my wide and diversified training and experience is valuable here. My extensive electronic training and experience is valuable to assessing, appraising, and servicing metal detectors and I can also use this acquired knowledge in developing new mining equipment for the small miner. My education in business management is proving extremely important in supervising the Exanimo activities and helping others with advice. By avocation, I am an artist and I am, at long last, getting a chance to do some writing and illustrating for books in the treasure and mining field. I am getting to visit the equipment factories and dealers and learning, intimately, the circuits and manufacturing methods of different equipment. From this, I can assess the approximate reliability of equipment before I ever use it in the field.

The frosting on the cake is really the personal contact with people who are engaged in treasure and mining at the field level. It is a long, slow process, but I am beginning to sense the pulse of the man in the field and it is every bit as interesting and exciting as you might imagine.

At this same time, I am getting back into the field on some small and some big casino projects. Right now, we are working on another LUE project and we have the Scarlet Shadow and some others in work. Whether we are to succeed or fail is really beside the point. I am getting to work with a full line of equipment and have at my command, through Exanimo, probably the most complete assortment of equipment in the United States. Most important of all is the fact that my daily contact with equipment that most of today's treasure hunters are not even aware of and with personnel whose success stories are fantastic, to say the least, my reward is multiplied by the simple association with successful people and equipment. Most important, probably of all, is the fact that my experience will give me the first-hand experience to provide experienced advice to others. I am in a 12 to 16 hour per day rut, but I would not change places with anybody else in the world.

Unfortunately, because I am back in college, carrying a full load, in addition to supervising Exanimo and helping with the NPG and other things, my field experience will be greatly restricted for the winter, and we have some fantastic treasure projects scheduled for as soon as we can get to them.

When I started out on this article, I did not intend to do a personal history, but intended to relate to the changes in treasure and prospecting that have taken place in my time and during my brief absence from the scene.

I started, of course, when I was a teenager and I had some of the best tutors in the business. I learned early that you kept your eyes open and your mouth shut; that you earned the confidence and respect of your elders and associates by your actions, your honesty, and your common sense. I recall that when I was getting started, there was only one treasure magazine in the entire field and I doubt if one in 10,000 people in treasure today have ever heard of or seen a copy of it. It was the TREASURE HUNTER'S NEWS that was published in Phoenix and Tucson until my dad bought it for $100 in 1955 to incorporate into the Prospector's Gazette. The old editor of THN had made a fortune in the combined fields of treasure and mining in the U.S. and Mexico. He had a small circulation list of possibly a thousand or so, but the magazine was burning up time and money for him, and he had other things to do, so he dropped it on dad and went back to the hills. I cannot, at the moment, even remember his name, but he had been associated with John Mitchell, Randall Henderson, Leland Quick, and some of the other desert rats who were better educated than most city people

About this time Hardrock and dad had a small suction dredge working out in the Mojave River and were taking advantage of the early spring runoff. This old fellow saw their operation and between the 3 of them, they designed and developed a new top-side venturi tube that was used to charge a long sluicebox. This original design is probably still working in Mexico. I don't know.

Since the treasure “conventions” at Big Bear, Lake Baldwin, Vasquez Rocks, and Lucerne Valley (all in California) in the 1955-56 era, l did not get to attend any of the treasure shows until the 1971 Shepherd Mall show. I got to meet a few of the old-timers that I had known years ago, and I got to meet and get acquainted with some of the professionals that I had not met before due, chiefly, to the fact that I was too young to be entrusted by the inner sanctum in early years. I was continually surprised at the number of “big guns” that clustered around the Exanimo exhibit during show hours and then followed the Exanimo contingent to the restaurant or to the motel at night. It was a genuine thrill so see unrecognized desert rats and successful treasure hunters with years of experience wandering and wondering around the big mall while I knew who they were and what they were doing there.

This year, due to college, I will have to miss the PCSC convention but I plan to be at the Oklahoma City show with an exhibit. Next year, I hope to take all of the shows in and have something helpful and educational to display; something that will help everybody who is interested.

Modern technology has enhanced metal detector instrumentation, but the old Fisher T-10 and the MA detectors are still hard to beat. I was fortunate in being at the Garrett factory taking a brief training course in detector repair at the same time the new Hunter series were being put into production. While I have the greatest respect for the honesty and integrity of Charles Garrett, I write the following as an honest appraisal of the Garrett detectors: I have never in my life repaired or used a detector that will equal the Master-Hunter for all-around use. I told my dad that they must have rigged up a special job for me to test and use, because it was faultless in its performance. Then, when I got my own detector after several months of wait and delay, I was just as surprised to find that it operated even better than the test unit. This is not a selling pitch for Garrett, but simply an honest appraisal of a reasonably priced detector that everybody should know about. With detector advertising claims being what they are, I do not feel that I am maligning anybody or anything in reporting what I see and believe.

It was inevitable that better detectors should come along and the mystery is really why they were not introduced years ago. Drift, as any electronic technician or engineer knows, is a relatively simple problem. When they can cope with it in little $25 radios, why couldn't it be done with metal detectors costing over $100. In my visits to detector factories, I have developed the impression that it was either nobody gave a hoot or nobody knew how. Yet, drift-inhibiting circuits are so simple that nearly any high school electronic hobbyist could easily do lt. The high failure rate for some brands of metal detectors is inexcusable. I have had several trips terminated unexpectedly when my pardner’s detector failed and this is an inconvenience that is neither justified nor explainable. Broken wires and defective parts in practically new detectors, especially when it is repetitive in several different models, is something that every prospective buyer should know about and it is something that the manufacturer should correct immediately, but few of them do.

Most of the detectors on the market today and designed to please the eye and one significant FACT is that you rarely see a full-timer (men and women who make all or most of their income with a detector) using one of these gaudy jobs. My experience has taught me that it is the more discrete detectors, like the Garrett and the Metrotech, that perform the best without breakdown. I know from visits with our detector owners that there is often the question about when so and so company is going to change their design - and what the question really pertains to is; when is the outside appearance going to be changed? The important part of all of this is that the outside appearance is really relatively unimportant unless it is too gaudy and attracts unwanted attention. It is the performance that counts; but there are still some people who swap detectors every year in order to have the latest model - and this is usually a waste of money. Space does not permit my explaining this; but if you have a detector that performs the way you want it, I would not recommend worrying about later or prettier models, unless you want to impress somebody.

I do not want to create the impression that since my joining Exanimo that we are infallible. We do not have things going yet the way we want them. It will take time. There are a couple of brands of detectors that we want to add to our catalog and stock; and there are a couple of brands that we will probably drop unless the quality improves. We are working toward production of a perfected new design for a dredge. I consider Bruce Whetstine to be the master dredge-builder in the world, and I am most certainly not alone in this belief. He is the one who builds the Spartan Dredge and the quality of his dredges is easily discernable by inspection and operation. I am working with my dad on a new book on small dredging and it will give information that has never before been published anywhere and it will help every dredge get more out of his dredge. In due time, I will take over the editorship of the NPG and I am now certain that we will get it on a monthly basis. I get the impression from the mail coming in to NPG that a few subscribers are more interested in frequent publication than they are in the quality of contents. It is a peculiar fact that treasure hunting has a strange press and it is immediately evident when you look at treasure magazines and discern a strange, almost programmed repetition of the same old stories, with little or any educational material. Knowing this, I am always pleased when I read a letter that points out the worth and value of the NPG. I believe that the column “TIPS FOR PROSPECTORS” has been pointed out in at least 1,000 commendatory letters as being worth the subscription price. The series of dredge articles brought a landslide of new subscriptions and a lot of prestige to the NPG. The BOOKS column, which is also published in a number of newspapers, is in a class by itself and it has been commended in several publishing periodicals.

Space is short, but from time to time I will comment both good and bad on the treasure and mining scene. As the word gets around that I am back in the saddle, I will appreciate comments from old-timers met along the trail.

 

[Randy Bradford]

It also might be worth noting, that while this piece is attributed to Okie Jake Miller, the writing style reflects a LOT of von Mueller's characteristic mannerisms. My suspicion is Jake gave the information to Karl who worked this up, or Jake worked it up and Karl expanded it on his own. Writing is like a fingerprint, you read enough and you can pick up on a writer's style, rhythm, word usage, etc.

Also just realized the Okie Jake article briefly mentions Spade Cooley.

 

[Dirt1955]

Hardrock Hammond

Reference to Hardrock Hammond in KvM article from A. T. Evans Treasure Hunters Yearbook 1972 - 1973 Edition.

 

[Randy Bradford]

View attachment 1902909 Reference to Hardrock Hammond in KvM article from A. T. Evans Treasure Hunters Yearbook 1972 - 1973 Edition.

Thanks for sharing this...I have this book but missed the reference. I even have some of the old P.A.T.H. Guild bulletins, not a full set though (I don't think). I'll have to skim wat I have and see if there's any more references.

 

[TTTeller]

Many months ago I went down a LUE rabbit hole researching what I could find on the Circle of Companions after finding reference to an unnamed “Lockheed engineer” that made multiple trips to Trinidad and Weston with Spade Cooley the Western Swing star in the late 1940’s early 1950’s.. I’m now certain that engineer was the Alvino Rey - famous steel guitarist and holder of multiple patents in audio instrument engineering. I’ll be damned if I can’t locate the source article (1980’s Guitarist (?) or Strings magazine or similar ) now that I remembered to share this info; it was an interview with a well-known music store owner in NYC who was friends with Alvino Rey and he mentions Rey regaling him with adventure tales of searching for lost treasure with Spade Cooley. Presumably they were looking for the Cavern of Gold (Culebra) or whatever obsessed Dean Miller to pack up and move to Segundo ?? Just thought this was interesting since it suggests people with direct connections to the CoC were searching this area prior to KVM’s publication of TotVoS, thus lending credence that the story isn’t an invention (at least not by Dean Miller )

Presumably, KVM was not the “Dean Miller of music fame.” As such, you’ll notice quite a few references, speckled here and there, mentioning famous people connected to his name- or rather namesake. .

My understanding is that most people/readers were not aware of the KVM pseudonym.

He peppered in easily identifiable clues to his ‘true’ identity - “ Dean Miller.”

-Errol Flynn mention is a good example.

These mentions threw me at first too, but this was the intent - and they helped segue into some solid treasure leads/stories.

As per having articles reporting Spade Copley’s travels to a Trinidad- I suppose anything is possible! Yet, I am quite inclined to believe the “fabrications” were there to provide the committed researcher clues to help readers uncover the “man behind the man.”

Side Note: Spade Cooley murdered his wife sometime shortly after THM6 and went to prison for the rest of his life. I believe he got out/or was getting out , and did a charity gig- then dropped dead.

 

[TTTeller]

Karl mentioned the CoC having some sort of written component, a newsletter or something similar. I've often wondered what copies of those might reveal about the group, it's membership make up, and projects they were researching or actively seeking out. Keep in mind, CoC was, if memory serves me, was a reforming of an older group that Karl and Hardrock Hammond were involved in called KAFAN. My suspicion is these were "invitation only" organizations. Strangely, during this time period, Hardrock Hammond also had his own professional organization called Hammond and Associates. I suspect many of the members would be the same as CoC so why they'd have more than one organization is a source of mystery.

I've long suspected hitting some of the bigger libraries in that area might produce dividends. I suspect Karl donated copies of the original NPG (1954-1960ish) and they might be lying around in a dusty file cabinet or on a microfiche spool. Early newsletters/bulletins from the PCSC might similarly yield some bits of evidence.

Some I've talked to believe the CoC was never a formal group, but rather a nickname Karl placed on some of his regular prospecting friends. For my part, I'd love to get more concrete information on Hardrock Hammond. I have a file here but it's not much and reveals very little about his treasure hunting days. He did have a platinum claim (I believe) in California at one time though.

I would likely say there are two written components to this.

1. Harder to find, time-consuming, and difficult to research, the IAYAYAM code opens a few clues. I’m actuality there are probably tons, but the time requires to investigate the publications is painstaking.

2. The ‘group’ would be informed of a medium and would access the information through public updates. They may have seemed like one-off quotes or comments in the weather, but in actuality, they held quick and critical information for the organization.

It was probably far less costly and time- consuming to do something like this, rather than publish a newsletter.

There may still be a third newsletter component, but these are the only two written components I am aware of.

 

[TTTeller]

This comes from the original printing of "Sudden Wealth," sheds some light on folks they were working with in the early 1950s.

Pg. 25: There is a significant report that may be of unusual interest to many amateur treasure hunters. Since about 1956 a small group of adventurers consisting of Bill (Hardrock) Hammond, Charlie Millen, Karl von Mueller, and Gene Pruse has been compiling data on various successful treasure activities in order to possibly develop a trend or a uniform modus operandi for people who conceal wealth.

Charlie Millen I'm familiar with, mostly because he wrote a letter to "True West" about Karl von Mueller when Karl was still living in Salt Lake City. Karl wasn't there very long, but long enough to start publishing "The Adventure Bulletin" which would later become "Exanimo Express" when he moved back to the Midwest. I have the Charlie Millen letter somewhere, but he speaks favorably of Karl's treasure hunting, charity, and a personal "museum" of sorts he had in SLC.

Gene Pruse is a mystery to me, perhaps someone in here can shed some light...

Interestingly, Frank Fish I believe also worked with Aviation firms in the mid 1950s, but I've never seen where he was a contemporary or correspondent with Karl. Frankly, I'm not sure I ever saw Karl publish a word about Fish either. Fish was much more geographically limited...which is to say I don't think he ever strayed far from his California museum with the exception of some work in the Superstitions related to the Peralta map. And even that is speculation on my part. By all accounts, Frank never had to wander far from home to make some big recoveries...but he also had the luxury of being the first technologically driven hunter in his neck of the woods, when ghost towns were still largely undisturbed.

Gene Pruse is 95% likely to be Carl Curtis. Otherwise, it is another US senator. This is a Pseudonym.

 

[TTTeller]

Here's another obscure reference to Hammond, also from "Sudden Wealth":

Then, in 1954, Bill (Hardrock) Hammond, the Grand Old Man of professional treasure hunting, published a pamphlet dealing with the technical aspects of treasure hunting. This book stressed search and recovery procedures.

Leaves me wondering what else he might have published. In the space of a sentence it is described as a pamphlet and a book. Rather confusing.

"Sudden Wealth" also contains a lengthy story about research development, primarily built around Hardrock Hammond's search for the treasure of an acquaintance. It's a good example of how to develop and carry out a search based on a lead and also reveals a lot of nuggets about Hammond's history, though nothing particularly concrete.

A name in TOTVOS is Butkowski. I accidentally stumbled upon some books with original KVM rough notes stuffed in them- all in the possession of Butkowski estate.

Business cards, a few typewriter/rough-formatted leads, tiny business-card size papers with random notes scrawled on them.

I followed up on the purchase and they came from Butkowski. I did not even know the connection until I read TOTVOS months later.

I I have a file on Hammond I can dig out- if there was something specific you were looking for.

 

[TTTeller]

Karl mentioned the CoC having some sort of written component, a newsletter or something similar. I've often wondered what copies of those might reveal about the group, it's membership make up, and projects they were researching or actively seeking out. Keep in mind, CoC was, if memory serves me, was a reforming of an older group that Karl and Hardrock Hammond were involved in called KAFAN. My suspicion is these were "invitation only" organizations. Strangely, during this time period, Hardrock Hammond also had his own professional organization called Hammond and Associates. I suspect many of the members would be the same as CoC so why they'd have more than one organization is a source of mystery.

I've long suspected hitting some of the bigger libraries in that area might produce dividends. I suspect Karl donated copies of the original NPG (1954-1960ish) and they might be lying around in a dusty file cabinet or on a microfiche spool. Early newsletters/bulletins from the PCSC might similarly yield some bits of evidence.

Some I've talked to believe the CoC was never a formal group, but rather a nickname Karl placed on some of his regular prospecting friends. For my part, I'd love to get more concrete information on Hardrock Hammond. I have a file here but it's not much and reveals very little about his treasure hunting days. He did have a platinum claim (I believe) in California at one time though.

Maybe HRH’s ‘book’ was originally published like a newspaper-leaf manual and then put into a book after his death?

KVM says there are some good clues in it.

Therefore, it could be probable that his son added to it - and included some of those more ‘sensitive’ secrets that his father hadn’t wanted to include during his lifetime.

He had a son named William.

Or- maybe it’s nothing. •/•

 

[Ryano]

Presumably, KVM was not the “Dean Miller of music fame.” As such, you’ll notice quite a few references, speckled here and there, mentioning famous people connected to his name- or rather namesake. .

My understanding is that most people/readers were not aware of the KVM pseudonym.

He peppered in easily identifiable clues to his ‘true’ identity - “ Dean Miller.”

-Errol Flynn mention is a good example.

These mentions threw me at first too, but this was the intent - and they helped segue into some solid treasure leads/stories.

As per having articles reporting Spade Copley’s travels to a Trinidad- I suppose anything is possible! Yet, I am quite inclined to believe the “fabrications” were there to provide the committed researcher clues to help readers uncover the “man behind the man.”

Side Note: Spade Cooley murdered his wife sometime shortly after THM6 and went to prison for the rest of his life. I believe he got out/or was getting out , and did a charity gig- then dropped dead.

Hi TTT,

Most of us here are aware KVM = Charles Dean Miller , husband of Gladys Miller and their various pen names & publications. Regarding the 'celebrity' associations It does seem that many of these men have a common association of Lockheed Burbank in the late 1940's.. Miller & Hendricks (and Alvino Rey also) working in aviation, Cooley got his start as an entertainer performing at the AFB. Errol Flynn really was a treasure Hunter (he also was a gold miner in PNG before he was 'discovered' by Hollywood). It's possible that the celebrity name-dropping are clues of sorts but I think in reality they really were "Associates" or "Companions" of KVM & Hendricks.

 

[Fireflash]

Hi TTT,

Most of us here are aware KVM = Charles Dean Miller , husband of Gladys Miller and their various pen names & publications. Regarding the 'celebrity' associations It does seem that many of these men have a common association of Lockheed Burbank in the late 1940's.. Miller & Hendricks (and Alvino Rey also) working in aviation, Cooley got his start as an entertainer performing at the AFB. Errol Flynn really was a treasure Hunter (he also was a gold miner in PNG before he was 'discovered' by Hollywood). It's possible that the celebrity name-dropping are clues of sorts but I think in reality they really were "Associates" or "Companions" of KVM & Hendricks.

Are you saying that THE Errol Flynn was a compadre of KVM and Wilbur "Hardrock" Hendrick ? That he was in the "Circle of Companions" ?

 

[Randy Bradford]

Maybe HRH’s ‘book’ was originally published like a newspaper-leaf manual and then put into a book after his death?

KVM says there are some good clues in it.

Therefore, it could be probable that his son added to it - and included some of those more ‘sensitive’ secrets that his father hadn’t wanted to include during his lifetime.

He had a son named William.

Or- maybe it’s nothing. •/•

Just curious TTTeller, how do you know Hammond had a son named William? I've scraped together a great deal of info on Hammond (no easy task mind you) but don't believe I've ever come across anything about his son.

 

[Ryano]

Are you saying that THE Errol Flynn was a compadre of KVM and Wilbur "Hardrock" Hendrick ? That he was in the "Circle of Companions" ?

I I'm saying that I believe the claims made in Dean Miller's various publications about Errol Flynn are meant to be taken literally, in light of evidence we have of Flynn's self-professed enthusiasm for treasure hunting. Whether he or Spade Cooley were actual card-carrying members in the CoC or P.A.T.H., I don't know. But it appears Flynn at least was a contemporary of these men.

 

[Ryano]

Anyone got or have read this book by HRM's wife ?