Is a "saddle tree" another term for a "blazed" or otherwise marked tree?
Thanks to Ironwill, we have this account:
THE ADAMS DIGGINGS.
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The Interesting Story of the Mythical
Lost Mine.
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The story of the Adams diggings is revived by the following letter published in the Albuquerque Democrat:
In the fall of the year 1850 while the gold fever of California was at its height, a man by the name of Adams and his three companions were crossing New Mexico on their way to California. Late one evening they came to a path which led them up a short canyon to where they found water and it may be remarked here that water is scarce in that part of the country. They struck camp for the night and during the evening one of the men concluded to try a pan of dirt, and to his great surprise found gold in great abundance. After they were satisfied that they had struck it rich they went to work and built a miners’ cabin and prepared to pass the winter in working their claim. In building the fireplace to the cabin they made a box of stone with the hearth rock as a covering for a place of safety to store their earnings. When the had been working the mine for about three months Adams took his gun one evening and went out to kill a deer for meat. When he returned late in the evening he found one of his partners lying in the trail about 100 yards from the cabin, where he had been hilled by the Indians. On closer investigation he found the other two killed and the cabin burned down. The first thought with Adams was to get away from there as far and as fast as possible, and as California had been their objective point he started in that direction. As there was no [one] living in that country and the Indians were always on the warpath in that day and time, he traveled in the height and lay by in the day time. After two nights’ travel and about 9 o’clock a. m. on the third day he came to a stream of water at which point he marked a cott[o]nwood tree so that he might have something as a guide to assist him in locating his mines sometime in the near future. He then made his way in a westerly direction, traveling for days and days, or rather nights, without seeing any one until at last he landed in California. He there was engaged in different occupations for about twenty-five years, but at all times with the intension of closing out his business and returning to his rich mine in southern New Mexico, whenever the country was sufficiently settled to make it safe for him to return. In about the year ’78 Mr. Adams sold his two farms in California, which brought him $14,000. He then returned to New Mexico and began a systematic search for the mine.
On his return to the country where he thought he might be getting somewhere in the vicinity of his lost mine he found a few mining towns scattered over the country. He informed some of the best men of the country as to his business there, which created quite an excitement. He told them of how he had marked the cottonwood tree: he also produced a nugget of gold that he had taken from the mine and had carefully kept for twenty-five years. He described the stream upon whose banks the marked tree was growing. Some of the old timers who had heard and become interested in his story concluded to help him look for the marked tree, thinking if they found it as described there must be something in the story. After a diligent search of a few days the stream was located --- it is now known as the Negrito, or Little Black. It is a tributary of the Gila and heads up the Datil mountains. After a further search of a day or two the tree was found and was marked just as described by Adams, and showed to have been marked many years. Those who were present when the marked tree was found say that old man Adams was wild with joy and said, “Now, if the mine can be found I will be a millionaire and I only want what is hid under the hearth stone, and there are millions in the mines for others.”
Adams and his party began searching for the mine proper. They thought the mine would be some forty or fifty miles from the marked tree, so they began the search on that theory, supposing that Adams would have traveled about twenty or twenty-five miles in a night. Adams continued the search for about twelve or fourteen years and squandered the whole of his $14,000 long before he gave up the search; in fact, he never quit hunting for that mine until death claimed him as its own. He died a poor, old broken hearted man, always saying that there were millions in the mine if it could be found. Mr. Kenock, foreman of the Y Cattle company, who is now a resident of that part of New Mexico where the mine was generally supposed to be, took his outfit of twenty-five or thirty men and put in two weeks looking for the lost mine. Mr. Patterson, who is an old time miner and western man, and is now postmaster at Patterson, hear where the mine is supposed to be, has spent about $5,000 looking for the mine and he is perfectly sure in his mind that the lost mine does exist somewhere in that part of the country.
Adams said that when they discovered the mine the grass was waist high all over the country, so it is generally supposed that fire has long since destroyed all the signs of the ax made in building their cabin.
In conclusion, I will say to those who may chance to read this that the facts herein contained are the solemn truth, as there are men now living in southern New Mexico who were well acquainted with old man Adams and who helped him hunt the lost mine.
GEORGE R. SPOONER
Arizona Republic [Phoenix, Arizona] 11 March 1898
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Good luck to all,
The Old Bookaroo
