Treasure
Fantasy
Many treasure hunters have come
and gone, and many varieties exist today, some skilled in the things they have
experience but of the Spanish Treasure hunters of the past and present I have
found, have formed their opinions based on distorted information, and passed it
down to those who have been unsuspecting, of these I will say no more. It has
been portrayed the romance of the mystery in books, articles and even the
movies as to the simplicity of chasing the legends, treasure hunting is so much
more entailed than flying along in your helicopter, spotting a cave, landing
and walking 20 feet from where you land and just a few yards into the cave,
lies a dead Spaniard in his armor, and his arm draped over a large treasure
chest. Nicoles Cage never had it so easy... I wish it were that easy...
With this I will also elaborate
upon another fallacy. Many today believe that once you have found the treasure
site, the work is done; they often comment, “well dig it up!” as if you can just drive to the nearest town, grab
a track hoe and a large truck take it back to the site and load the fruits of
your labors! I got news for ya… Once you have found the treasure site, the fun
is over, the thrill of the hunt is gone, the mystery resolved, and now the real
work begins at least for me. Unless you stumbled upon a saddle bag long
forgotten, containing some gold or silver coins or a few bars, and you can keep
your mouth shut, then there is no work, enjoy your find.
Recently I heard the words
uttered by a student of treasure hunting books, a story I heard many years ago and even in a very small way, a part of... and because of the time that has past, gaining more and more of the information
and knowledge of others, I had learned the truth of the matter… the words
expressed with amazement from this inexperienced yet excited young man was, “Someone found 500 Gold Bars!” Now
although this may be true in that at some time, in some place someone may have
done this but the story he was repeating it from, originally was supposed two saddle
bags, and the story grew from there and there is much more to that story...
Monty’s Gold
Countless stories have been
written by the many who have come and gone, writers of treasure with the flair
of the pen creating fantasy, or exaggerated truths. If the typical treasure
writer would do the homework required they would have no need to take such
liberties with the pen, a true researcher would find the evidences of the story
before they write about it, rather than create their own story line, but then,
where is the books sales in that? Stories such as Moctezuma’s Treasure, Freddy
Crystals caves, and the Lost Dutchman, mixed in with the Peralta stones, some have
even managed to tie them all together in their vivid imagination, in effort to
sell books, because they know, the typical reader will buy most anything, and I do mean "fall for anything"
Truth be known, and I challenge
anyone to do the research behind it, is there a Moctezuma Treasure? Surprising
to some the answer is Yes there is… However a serious student of the history of
the Aztec, will find at least 3 accounts of the Aztec written by qualified
individuals and they were not Treasure Writers and at least one was not a
Spaniard yet the 3 records corroborate each other. The treasure of Moctezuma is
mentioned in all 3 records, however it is made clear that the treasure is
handed down from one Emperor of the Aztec to the next, and that it was ALL
accumulated IN Mexico .
It is also made clear in the records that after the first attempt of the
Spanish to raid the treasure of which they were mostly unsuccessful, the
treasure was taken by he Aztecs to one of the MANY cenotes and thrown in, no
where in the 3 records that I recall were they instructed by Moctezuma to do
so, nor did I find any instruction from Moctezuma, for the people to take he
wealth “Back” to a place it did not
come from… I will not attempt to explain where the false story of Moctezuma’s
treasure being brought back to the North came from. Is there what would be considered
treasure and even that of the Aztec here in the North? If I said yes, would you believe?
The Dutchman Mine and the Peralta
Stones
Now... I'm not
going to tell you the story of the Dutchman isn’t real, why? Because I don’t
know, and I don’t care, I’m not a miner… I am a researcher. Then along the way
comes what is presumed to be, the "Peralta" Stones, The stones I do indeed believe in the authenticity of
them, however, how one managed to mix them in with the Dutchman story I will
never understand. As for the Peralta Stones, the story has become so twisted;
added upon and altered it is difficult for the casual reader to discover the
real story and to top that off, some of those so called professionals of Academia who
believe knowledge comes from a paycheck, have deemed the stones as fake with no
compelling evidence as if this somehow makes it a fact. In addition how the
stones received the name of the Peralta family which without a doubt existed, I
am left wondering. It is very plausible that the stones were at one time
property of the Peralta family, and lets just say they were. We then go to the
original place reported as to where the stones were found at a location east of
Florence Junction which is not hard to discover if you just do a little
metaphorical digging. My first question would be, why would a searcher of the
past drop the stones where the trail begins? In fact, why would the stones be
dropped where the trail ends? But let’s look at some common sense here, anyone
who takes the time to highlight the 3 rivers in the area suspect of the stone
map, can clearly see, that the rivers or drainage's presumably portrayed on the
map, is not the Salt River, supposed Upper River, and Queens Creek, supposed
Lower river, inscribed on the presumed authentic stone maps. If it is as many
have supposed, the map would no doubt be pertaining to the Superstition mountains
and “May” tie in with the Dutchman story… however…
Let’s take a common sense look
and give the author of the stones some credibility as to accuracy, even though
they had obvious aerial view disadvantages. Below are the 2 rivers in question
in addition to a 3rd proposed intended river, each is a general tracing
from a 30 Minute USGS map (left). Compare to the stone map (right) showing what
everyone seems to agree is a rendition of rivers, the stone map below is also a
digital copy of the original.
I dunno… You tell me which rivers were intended…
If my analysis is correct then
the Peralta stone map has nothing to do with the Superstition Mountains
Useless Maps
I hear occasionally of those who
have gleaned some information from Spain, or the archives of Mexico, managing
to sneak some photos of a map or a document and these people spend years
searching, chasing their tail because they do not realize, it is one thing to
have a map, and even a charted course, but… IF YOU DO NOT KNOW… how to read the
signs and symbols left behind, carved into the rocks, encoded into the rock
monuments or the quickly decreasing number of trees bearing AUTHENTIC signs,
designed to assist the searcher in finishing the quest to relocate what was
meticulously hidden, you may as well shred that map and go home. I can’t count
the times I have been told, I found a mine dump! Great… I always think. If you
have found a mine dump, you have found one of two likely things you have found
a mine of the late 1800’ to early 1900’s, or.. a Spanish mine which has been mined
out long before and left for anyone who wants it. I suppose a third possibility
exist in that that you may have found a mine which while mining, the party had
been intercepted and slaughtered by Indians, however if this were the case, the
Indians would have concealed it unless the working were to extensive, unfortunately for them, some mine dumps are impossible to hide due to the size.
The point being to this section,
don’t believe everything you hear, just because the individual telling you
claims to be an expert or the book you read says so. Use your common sense, don’t
be a sucker, question everything, DO YOUR RESEARCH.
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