An old man, who came every summer from 1950-1968, camped in the same spot and dug a bunch of mysterious holes in a remote area southwest of Denver and on privately owned land. The landowner had complained for years about inheriting the old man and his camp when he purchased the land.

The old man claimed that his father would bring him to this area once a year to retrieve one gold bar each time; this is how his father provided for his family.

The old man said his father claimed that there was “more gold than one man could spend in a lifetime!” The old man dug so man holes in this area because his father died while the old man – a younger man then – had passed away while he was away serving in WWII, and had no chance to show his son the exact location. The old man complained that he was getting too old to keep making the trip to do the work. He encouraged Sam, a prospector, to take up where he had left off. Sam, armed with a metal detector, located nothing (photo 1).

Years later, in the 1970s, some locals decided to use a backhoe to dig a large swatch in the middle of the old man’s diggings (photo 2). To our knowledge, they did so with little success, according to a local who claims to have been watching and knew some of the men.

We began to research the story, and much to our dismay, we discovered that there had been a documented account in 1690 of the governor of Santa Fe, N.M., traveling back from Colorado with 20 Jack loads of the king’s royal fifth. It was in bar form and was estimated to be about 4,000 pounds. According to the story, a Spanish scouting party discovered a large group of Apache Indians that had picked up its trail and were closing fast. The ratio was an estimated three Indians to one Spaniard. They reported this information to the governor, who directed a group of them to burry the gold before the Indians attacked. It was rumored that the gold was buried very quickly so they could recover it quickly, and that the group returned to the train as soon a possible to aid the party before the attack.

When the burial party returned, its comrades already were under attack. According to legend, only two Spaniards remained after the attack. These two men returned to Santa Fe to report the ambush; however, they were not part of the burial party. According to local history, the stash has never been recovered.

After further research, we have discovered that the old Santa Fe Trail is still visible today, about one mile from the old man’s diggings (photo 3). A current Bureau of Land Management map depicts that the old trail runs directly over the property. There are 46 acres in our search area; we plan to use several different kinds of technology to locate the deposit.

We possess a Search and Recovery agreement with the private landowners who occupy this land. They had heard the story when they bought the place six years ago and are patiently awaiting our search results.