Southern Colorado Treasure Stories

[ccj_colorado]

Hello everyone,

I am new to this site but have been an avid history buff since I was a kid. The past couple years I have been getting into reading about lost treasures, and especially enjoy Terry Carter's Youtube Channel. I am from Pueblo, Colorado and would like to hear any lost treasure or just interesting stories from the area. Could be Southern Colorado, The Sangres, The Wet Mountains...anything.

Anyway, I would appreciate any stories, as I plan to to some major explorations this summer if there are any major (alleged) sites in the general area.

Thanks guys.


Christopher

 

[Mattock]

I see this is your first post welcome to TNet from Western Colorado. Terry Carter does have some interesting stories to bad most of it are in Utah, New Mexico, Arizona.

 

[old digger]

Welcome to tnet! Wish you the best in the search for treasure, but remember there are treasures literally in your own back yard. Don't neglect to research your own local area and don't be afraid to ask some of the older folks.

 

[aw11mr2]

Your post is in the wrong sub-forum. It should be in the State specific sub-forum or possibly in the Recommended Reads sub-forum. Hopefully, one of the moderators will move the post to the appropriate sub-forum

To answer your question, check out the local library. I found most of these books at the Rawlings Branch of the Pueblo, CO library. Almost all of them are listed as Reference Copies which means you cannot check the book out. You might be able to get the other books through the interlibrary exchange system.

These are some of the older Colorado treasure books at the Rawlings branch. Most of the stories are myths and tall tales.


A Guide to Treasure in Colorado by H. Glenn Carson (the one on the left) is available at the Rawlings branch. Mr. Carson attempted to include stories from every county in Colorado. The stories in the older treasure books are in this book. The bibliography is very good. The note after George Jarvis Bancroft is intriguing: “Lost Mine Legends and Western Stories and Material, an unpublished collection written in 1914 when Bancroft was Mining Page Editor of the Rocky Mountain News. Collection donated to Denver Public Library Western History Section by Caroline Bancroft.” The revised 3rd edition is greatly expanded with the addition of black & white photos and maps. The book is handicapped because many of the topographic maps are referenced to internet links that are now dead. Although it is an irritation, it not a serious deficiency since you should be able to locate the search area on your own.


Metal Detecting by Mark Smith is available as an eBook at the Rawlings branch. The book is a good overall view of the different types of treasure hunting.


There are four books at the Rawlings library written by Charles Dean Miller (aka Karl von Mueller and Deek Gladson). I recommend starting with the Treasure Hunter’s Manual #7. In my opinion, the most valuable part of the book is the various stories the author provides to help you recognize and evaluate a treasure lead.

 

[aw11mr2]

These are the “Standard Treasure Tales” in your area. They are all available at your local library.
Be aware that some of the legendary stories are likely untrue. Please conduct an internet search for Caverna del Oro – Speleological Society and read the article “No Old Gold or Bones? A Skeptical View of Caverna del Oro Legendry” by Donald G. Davis (pp 77 – 87).


Reading The Treasure Hunter’s Manual I hope you learned how to recognize and evaluate treasure leads (which typically means that you shouldn’t believe the stories in treasure books; first - because hundreds to thousands of people have likely looked for the treasure, and second – the story has likely been distorted to a point that the search area is incorrect). The next book to read is “How to Research for Treasure Hunting & Metal Detecting.” This book is not listed in the library online catalog but you might find it in a library in another nearby city. This book takes you through the steps to find and analyze a treasure lead and search for evidence (internet, library, interviews, etc.) to narrow down the search area. The author also provides suggestions on how to organize your search results. Highly recommended. The other book, “The Crime Buff’s Guide to the Outlaw Rockies”, also not in the local library may provide some potential leads that would require further investigation. Murders, Robberies, and Disasters can result in buried treasures that were never retrieved.


Don’t forget that you live close to areas that produce gold, silver, gemstones, and other precious metals.

 

[Ecominer]

In addition, the older the books you find the more valid the story may be, It appears the modern authors, often times, copy stories that have been copied many times before by other authors and may make a few changes, with no validity, in order to make the story appear new and more exciting. If the author has not been there, or involved in the chase, don't get to excited about what they say. I have been to locations where authors have described the area and there is no resemblance.

Just a suggestion.

 

[ccj_colorado]

Thank you for your reply, sorry about being in the wrong subforum, im still a newbie. I have visited the pueblo historical society a couple times and have some really amazing hand drawn maps with great detail regarding history and mine references. I just have a gut feeling that this area is littered with lost gold because the spaniards and french would often get wiped out on their return back to mexico/new mexico and the gold would thusly be hastily buried and often forgotten. It may sound silly, but its a strong feeling.

 

[UncleMatt]

Metal detecting for gold in CO is an iffy proposition. Most of the placer gold is flour gold, due to glaciers grinding it to dust millennia ago, which does not show up with most detectors. Of course there are always exceptions, but most people I know who have tried detecting in SW Colorado have given up on it.

 

[Riverbum]

Hello Uncle Matt,
I search around the Cache Creek area , near Granite, Colo south of Leadville . They have folks just to the west there that will run a tractor over their area and let you Metal Detect for a fee ($5.00 for each time they run a tractor over a spot on their property). As you stated TONS of flour Gold hard to process but occasionally you will find nuggets with each surface scraping.