Hello N.P.
Good to know you are still out there. Hope things are well with you and yours. Folks could learn at lot from you. At least I have. Just passing threw the looking glass for a short stay. Seems Alice is ok for at least a while.
May the stars keep you safe.
Hello Sarge,
Is it time to throw Shade under the bus? Maybe maybe not but he does seem to be holding on but just barely. I wonder if Mr. Shade meant another Tumlinson? After all he does not mention a first name and his comments are pretty specific that Ray Howland found the saddle bag with a diary in it. Would seem that is a lot of detail for someone spinning a tale. Let`s see believe it was Hal who did an extensive look at the family. Perhaps he could give us a run down of likely candidates and if they exist maybe the family would know whether or not they were literate. For some reason the names Joseph, Peter, and Thomas come to mind. I am assuming your information that Peg Leg was not a man of letters came from Texas.
Such a diary would be quite the find. Imagine it would speak to specific mines perhaps a cluster in the vicinity of Pistol Canyon and of course Malaipi and north to the Salt River. Suspect locations in the eastern Superstitions would be mentioned. Could be quite interesting if the diary surfaced later on. Might cause quite the stir. Some how this reminds me what an attorney friend was always saying, never ask a question you do not already know the answer to.
Not having a ticket to see the Barn Map it is difficult to speak directly about it. If it does incorporate a star chart in a location map that would be quite the find. Hard to understand why such a map would be in a barn. Could be there because it was not understood. Makes sense to me. Assuming the map is authentic my bet is it`s origin is probably Mediterranean. My guess is somewhere near Lebanon. Imagine the map may very well use Greek Symbols and perhaps be accompanied by another map that I suspect our friends in Texas do not have a clue as to its meaning. Such a map might point to mining operations and show such things as Circlestone and locations on the Colorado River. Hopefully nothing else. Of course figuring out the when would be important if not fundamental. Depending on scale the map could speak to trail systems in the Superstitions or if the scale is larger might even speak to a route going west to the Pacific and from there to India. This was a route used by folks from the Mediterranean in ancient times to get to the southwest if you wanted to well keep things quite. Just briefly. The original discovery stones should be in the Smithsonian or another relevant library.
Hopefully once the carnival closes down would be the right thing to do.
Gentlemen:
The comments regarding the H/P Map are fascinating. Travis must have had quite the library to create such a map. But then again maybe he didn`t even though our learned friends point out the letters on the map prove Travis did it. Perhaps things are not really that simple. I would have never thought of New Mexico. Imagine our Wizard was quite the person. Then again he did create a map that both reveals and conceals at the same time. Quite the feat.
Almost forgot the Trail Maps. I claimed the Trail Maps even though they are incomplete can show you the way to Horse Mesa. Just consider they show the same basic area of the range. Just from different perspectives. Find the Salt River, Fish Creek Canyon, and Black Crosse Butte and eveything falls into place. Just keep in mind that the first map starts north of the salt river and connects to the second map in a rather unique way. Jim Hyatt was so very, very close.
And the small stones? Those could be a real hoot if ever figured out. Suspect all of this was actually found together. Too bad Bill Hidden is not available. His insights would be invaluable. But then again who really was Bill Hidden? Imagine Travis knew.
Starman
? another kettle of fish.
