Wyoming carving

[rginn]

My son sent me this carving pic from the Red Desert in Wyoming. Looks like a fish over 14 over a shovel. To the left of the fish head is maybe a W. In the direction the fish head is pointing about a 100yds. away is a Spanish olive tree. There are no other trees really in this area and Spanish olive trees don't grow there naturally. One local said birds brought the seed in. The tree got my attention, and no evidence of an old homestead around it. This area had a large population from about the 1850's til the turn of the century. Lot of mining activity and at one time 31 nationalities represented. We had an idea it might be a mine claim marker. Barren wasteland these days. In person it looks pretty old, best he can see is not recent, and not random graffiti. Told him I would run it by the best experts I knew on this sort of thing, and all opinions welcome.

 

[releventchair]

Conditions matter.
"Average" lifespan of a Spanish olive can reach 500 years.
With speculation of 1500 years. (!)

I don't have an interpretation.
But will for entertainments sake claim someone denoted a guy nicknamed Fish planted the tree in 1814.

A claim marker is a better guess by far.

Neat scene those pics.

 

[Fat]

...under rock springs wyo there are all kinds of mine shafts and tunnels..
I took a beating back in the days when you could get in a fist fight and go back inside friends, Astro bar...

 

[Mattock]

I have a place way up in the mountains were there is a grove of Balm Gilead trees and it is off of a old Spanish travel way so they defiantly planted other non native vegetation in areas of importance. The shadow that your photo has is also interesting to me I will look into the carving but they can be very tricky to decipher. Awesome photo by the way, been in the Red Desert a few times lot of interesting things out there.

 

[Quinoa]

Whatever is there has been forgotten about. The tree would be more manicured. Looks like a good place to start. Not as much trickery.

 

[listopiedras]

My son sent me this carving pic from the Red Desert in Wyoming. Looks like a fish over 14 over a shovel. To the left of the fish head is maybe a W. In the direction the fish head is pointing about a 100yds. away is a Spanish olive tree. There are no other trees really in this area and Spanish olive trees don't grow there naturally. One local said birds brought the seed in. The tree got my attention, and no evidence of an old homestead around it. This area had a large population from about the 1850's til the turn of the century. Lot of mining activity and at one time 31 nationalities represented. We had an idea it might be a mine claim marker. Barren wasteland these days. In person it looks pretty old, best he can see is not recent, and not random graffiti. Told him I would run it by the best experts I knew on this sort of thing, and all opinions welcome.

RGINN,

Starting from the left with the mark that you suspect to be a ‘W’ in front of the fish, …and going DOWN to the number 14, and going Down again to the shovel with a Mark on the left side of IT….here’s my take on your location.

If you enlarge the picture and look carefully, you will notice that the ‘W’ is actually the faded word C A I U, where the ‘U’ is dropped a little lower (from the angle it was taken), but nevertheless C A I U…

The numbers in the picture go as follows:
#1 …is a large fish or whale which stands for Deep or Depth…
#2 …14 is your Depth Gauge aka …’at 14’ (something) …the Unit of measure remains unknown. It could be varas, feet, meters, inches, or any other Marine measurement of their time such as ‘fathoms’.
#3 …the shovel is self-explanatory as “dig”, but you also have a Mark on the left side of the shovel and possibly you could also have the same Mark on the left side of the Tree, in situ.


At this point, it should make sense to take some pictures around the base of that tree, all around from several steps away, but pay attention at anything that looks “placed” on purpose, …and take detailed photos of such (markers).

#4 …C A I U …is your keyword, used by many old European navigators/mariners from Portugal and Spain (and is almost an ancient slang or activity related lingua franca) when you drop anchor or drop a load in the sea.

Portuguese - detected
English

It fell ……………………………………………………………Past Pefect Tense (or Pluperfect)


Translations of cair
verb
________________________________________
fall
cair, descer, diminuir, baixar, pender, inclinar
________________________________________
drop
cair, soltar, largar, baixar, descer, perder
________________________________________
go down
descer, cair, baixar
________________________________________
collapse
desmoronar, desabar, cair, ruir, desmaiar, sucumbir
________________________________________
sink
afundar, mergulhar, cair, descer, baixar, diminuir



keel over
cair, capotar, soçobrar, ir ao fundo........” go to the bottom”

Examples:

caiu na terra…….. fell to earth

In your case… it fell under the Tree @ 14 (depth unit unknown)… 14 x ?...inches? feet? Centimeters? Meters? Varas? Or something else…
(un codo is approx. 18 inches +/= , And if you consider 18"x 14 seems about right)

If you guys plan to go back, try and get as many pictures as possible of that tree at the base, but also the first 8-10 feet up of the bark. Also, …a few more detailed pictures of the surrounding rocks where the carved message is.

Hope this helps. Best of luck.


P.S. If this turns out to be a legit long-lost location, …expect to be deep. You may also have some confirmation on the tree bark.

 

[listopiedras]

Also, as an added bonus...you have the most basic symbol of treasure at the bottom of that shovel, on the Left (again)



...the Triangle with a Dot in the middle.

The missing bottom (of Triangle) is underground. Expect a slab.


Edit


For comparison, I have darken the original picture to make the Triangle more obvious.
Also, a couple of Eyes tell you to look for more clues.

 

[metrotec]

VERY informative you guys. Lived in Rawlins, WY a few years and there IS a Spanish presence. A friend, who was born and raised there said," don't worry about people calling you an outsider, my family has been here since the 1600's, and the white people still think I'm an outsider." laughable,sad but true.

 

[Chadeaux]

Rginn, need more data.

Jusr where I would start . . .

Fish fin may be pointer.

on the other hand, J.D. may have racked up 14 fish that day.

A way to add contrast. Circle to right of 14?

 

[rginn]

I passed all this info on to my son up in Wyoming. We'll have to wait til he gets back out there and see what he comes up. Like I told him, you guys are amazing, thanks!

 

[corndogs]

The Spanish Olive tree will only survive up to zone 8, in WY you are in at least zone 5. That is much more likely to be a russian olive tree carried in by a bird. They are an invasive species of tree to North America primary spread by birds. These trees only grow where there is a decent supply of water. Maybe the fish is denoting a well, or sanded in spring or pond in the area of the tree.

 

[listopiedras]

The Spanish Olive tree will only survive up to zone 8, in WY you are in at least zone 5. That is much more likely to be a russian olive tree carried in by a bird. They are an invasive species of tree to North America primary spread by birds. These trees only grow where there is a decent supply of water. Maybe the fish is denoting a well, or sanded in spring or pond in the area of the tree.

The symbol denoting a well/pond is a Frog.







(..maybe the russians have also chipped off the top of that monument's inscription in order to keep the well/pond secret?)
maybe...