The following story may be just that, a story, there are things within that lead me to believe that it is a creation of the one who passed it to me, yet at the same time there are many things within that lends credence to authenticity. In short I cannot say either way if it is true. If it is true, my hopes is to make contact with the individual, “Pat Rollstone” if he is in fact a real person. tuscoro@gmail.com
In February of 2017 after Steve had published his book, Treasures of the Ancients, which was in 2013, Steve called me and said he had a story that he was not capable of following up on and asked if I would like to investigate it... I at the time was having my own troubles with knee pain but I never turn down a good story... I told him I would love to see it. Steve sent me a copy of the story, but due to all that I was dealing with at the time I did not get contact information from him and it eventually faded from my mind. To my knowledge Steve never responded to or acted upon the letter he received.
Before I give the contents of the letter which will follow, I would like to brush over some details of the Aztec.
It is heavily rumored that when Cortez invaded Mexico that Moctezuma II was killed by his own people, other rumors say he escaped and fled North and was later recaptured and at that time was killed or lived out the remainder of his life, hence the name in southern Utah, “Recapture Creek.”
It is also rumored that Moctezuma commanded his people to gather the wealth in his treasury and and by protection of the night moved a large portion of his wealth out of Mexico with the intent to take it “back” to their ancient homeland, however for many reasons I have my doubts this ever happened, although I admit that it is possible.
There was an event according to the Aztec record however of Moctezuma I who sent a large treasure expedition to the people that they had left behind so many years prior as a gift, this version or story I am much more inclined to believe. Regardless I can't help but wonder if the following letter sent to Steve, might be evidence of the previous mentions, or is it evidence of a much earlier event of which I highly suspect? Like I said, there are some things within that I find difficult to believe yet other things which in my mind are quite plausible. Had it been a fabricated story there are just some things that I believe the author would not have said.
Whether the contents of the letter are true or false, it is a great story, if true I hope to be able to make contact with the author of the letter who so far with much searching seems to be non existent. Perhaps you may have better luck finding him.
The letter...
Dear Mr. Shaffer:
My name is Pat Rollstone. I saw your book "Treasures of the Ancients" while looking for another book here in Lockwood. I decided to check it out, and ended up buying it. The reason for writing to you is to tell you of a story that my grandfather told to me before he died in 1948. He, along with two friends who happened to be Taos Indians went hunting deer up in the mountains above CITY NAME, Utah. They had hunted all day long seeing only a few deer, and none that they could get a shot at. Grandfather knew the area pretty well having hunted there most of his life. Even though he was born and raised in Arizona he liked hunting up in Utah.
The day wore on and soon the sun began to sink low in the western sky. Grandfather and his friends decided to make camp near a cliff where water and grass was plenty for their horses. After camp had been set up and the evening meal ate they sat around the fire talking about the days events. Jake Soonagoose, one of the Indians began telling a story that perked up my grandfather's ears. Grandfather said that Jake told him that the Spanish were in this area looking for slaves at one time. And that Jake's own father had been a slave under the hands of the Spanish.
One of the times the Spanish were hunting slaves they came to the area north and east of present day CITY NAME where a group of Indians were camped. When the Indians saw the Spaniards they beat it for cover. (Mid 1800's)
Jake's father and his older brother ran as fast as they could for a low cliff over hang to hide. Once under the over hang they looked for more
concealment. Digging in the back of the over hang the brother accidentally knocked some loose rock out of what was a cave of sorts. Moving quickly both boys opened up the entrance so they could get inside. Once inside they covered the hole up leaving enough so they could look out but anyone looking at the spot could not tell what was there.
Once the Spaniards had rounded up all the slaves they needed, which was just about everyone in the village they headed south. The two boys watched in horror as their family was whipped and beaten as they were herded to their new homes in Navajo land. It was when the two boys opened up the hole to get out that they noticed that the cave was some how strange and inviting. They made the entrance large enough to see that there were a set of rock steps going down inside. They went back to their camp where they gathered enough material to make a fire and returned and made up some torches. Down inside they made a fantastic discovery. There was a large room about fifty feet from the bottom of the rock stairs. And in this room was 58 Indians, all in their finery.
They were not any kind of Indian that either boy had ever seen, but they had the look of Indians, and they were perfectly mummified. They were very tall and large men. And they had weapons of iron, swords and bows of a strange design. They also had strange necklaces on with beautiful rocks attached. There were several large baskets with all sorts of corn and peas in them. There were large wooden boxes with very strange designs on them and they had two long poles on each side of the boxes suggesting that it took several men to lift these boxes. One of the boys opened one of the boxes, and inside found gold and silver that looked like coins of some sort. The boys thought that they were in the tomb of a god and that they had better leave it like they had found it. So they went to the entrance and reburied it better than they had found it. They never returned.
Grandfather asked Jake if he had ever been to that place. Jake said that he had, and that his father and his brother had taken an oath not to open it up again. The brother died long before Jake's grandfather, and as far as he knew he never told anyone about the place. Jake told grandfather that he would like to show someone the place before he died just in case the time had come to open it up. The other Indian was not to be involved in this, and I don't know much about that because grandfather never told me.
He was shown this place and then told me about it. My problem is that I never found anyone I could trust to tell this story to. I also don't know that country at all and couldn't find anything if I had a map with an "X" on it next to a 7-11 store.
I was wondering if you would be interested in pursuing something like this, and if so would you meet with me so that I can see if this would be the thing to do? I am getting on in years and have no children of my own and not a soul to share this with.
Please let me know as soon as possible.
Thank you very much
<wet ink signature, Pat Rallstone>
(Might be Rollstone)
