State Treasure - Arizona

Geronimo’s Secret
YAVAPAI COUNTY – On February 17, 1909, the great Chiricahua Apache warrior, Goyahkla, Goyaałé, “one who yawns,” and known to the white man as Geronimo (June 16, 1829 - February 17, 1909), at 79 years of age died a prisoner of the United States at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.
Keeping the warrior’s spirit true, on his deathbed Geronimo whispered to his nephew that his only regret was having surrendered.
Apache legend states they had discovered a rich vein of gold, which they mined for years before the coming of the Spanish to this country.
During the late 18th century, Spanish soldiers evicted the Apache miners from the mine and immediately began work.
An arrastre was added along with a rock house, and later a small adobe furnace for smelting gold bars suitable for transporting by mule.
After the operations were up and running, six Spanish miners were left behind to work the mine.
They found their Apache neighbors frequently harassed them and took great delight in pushing huge boulders from high above down onto their workings.
For over a year the miners worked the Apache mine and, as they tunneled deeper into the mountain, they soon discovered they were taking out nearly 50% gold.
By now they had a year’s worth of smelted bars awaiting transportation back to Mexico, which was stored inside the mine.
Knowing they were in hostile country, the Spanish miners loaded the pack mules with as many gold bars as could be carried and headed south for Mexico.
With no intention of abandoning the rich mine, the party intended to prove the mine by presenting Spanish authorities with the gold bars they’d smelted.
They would then return with soldiers and miners to further develop the mine.
As they departed hastily, hoping to put some distance between themselves and the Apaches who might be watching, the party hurried for the narrow entrance that led into the canyon where the mine was located.
As they moved through the canyon entrance, marked by steep rock walls, they were ambushed by Apache warriors.
With their backs to the rock canyon wall, the Spanish opened fire, killing and wounding enough Apache to force their withdrawal from the fight.
The miners fled for a nearby house, though four of them were mortally wounded.
After burying their dead, the two surviving Spaniards, having observed the Indians retreat into the surrounding hills, recovered what they could from the canyon.
Two saddle mules and the treasure were found, the rest had disappeared with the Apache.
It wasn’t much of a plan, but it was simple. The survivors returned to the mine and buried the treasure somewhere inside the tunnel.
The second part of their plan was to escape at night and hopefully reach Mexico alive.
Under the cover of darkness, the two Spaniards rode south; two days later they reached Tubac on the Santa Cruz River, roughly 230 miles south of the mine.
Meanwhile, unknown to the surviving Spaniards, King Charles III had just signed the proclamation of 1767 expelling the Jesuits and all their possessions from Spain.
As a result, the missions were abandoned and the mines closed. The two Spanish miners did arrive safely in Mexico, but could never return to the mine or recover the treasure.
At Mexico City, the survivors are reputed to have provided Spanish authorities with a record of the mine’s operations as well as a map of its location.
But buyers beware! Many decades ago a number of “authentic” maps, all said to lead to this great discovery, along with “Spanish documents” that had been translated into English, were offered for sale.
They have since been dismissed as frauds.
But research-author John D. Mitchell claims the original documents and map archived in Mexico City state the mine is located in… “the Sycamore Canyon country between Jerome and Perkingsville.”
Mitchell adds, "There are numerous small side canyons that empty their floodwaters into the Sycamore and at least one of them answers the description set forth in the old document.
"The old map shows the profile of an Indian’s head sculptured by nature on a high cliff just above the mine opening.
"The nose of this Indian rock is very large and, as the story goes, the mine is located directly under the Indian’s nose."
Mitchell, who published this story in 1954, states several ruins could still be observed at the site.
He mentions stone foundations, a rock fence, an old abode smelter, and grinding stones from an old arrastre were found, adding that the treasure and mine have never been found.Lost Soldier Mine
GILA COUNTY – In 1872, a rancher living along the Salt River arrived at Fort Apache to report a band of Apaches that had driven some of his cattle.
The commander at Fort Apache sent orders to a company camped along Diamond Creek, which on older maps is shown as the North Fork of the Salt River.
The commanding officer of the company sent out a scout named Sanders with orders to track the Indians and stolen cattle, and once found to report their location.
Private Sanders rode downstream until reaching the Salt River. He followed the Salt River some distance then cut their trail heading west cross-country towards the Sierra Ancha Mountains.
He tracked them across Canyon Creek, then along the eastern foothills of the Sierra Ancha Mountains for 40 miles before losing their tracks.
Sanders scoured the countryside in ever increasing circles looking for any clue as to the direction the Apache cattle thieves took, but found nothing.
Having lost the Indians, Sanders headed to Fort Apache to report his findings. He rode to Coon Creek, as it was the shortest route back to the fort.
After traveling downstream for about 10 miles, he arrived at a waterfall overlooking a steep drop.
Unable to proceed further, Private Sanders walked his horse up the canyon wall to the top of a small ridge where he sat down to rest.
There he discovered the ridge he was resting on was actually a quartz ledge; inspecting further he picked up pieces of quartz that had weathered loose from the ledge and found most of them rich in gold.
He continued to search until he found the source of the gold; it was eight inches wide by three yards in length, and nearly half was gold.
Sanders obtained some rich samples, which he put into his saddlebags, then led his horse back down into Coon Creek to the other side of the waterfall and continued his journey.
Sanders returned to the fort and made his report, omitting the part about the rich gold ledge he’d found.
After attempting to get a discharge from the Army, Sanders found himself finishing out the remaining two years of his enlistment.
Once discharged 24 months later, Sanders headed to Phoenix. After confirming his samples were indeed rich in gold, Sanders struck a deal with three partners to help him work the ledge.
As the mining party of four headed across the desert, they were overtaken by a detail of soldiers who told them there was an Indian uprising and they’d better return to Phoenix.
Sanders and his three partners discussed their next move. Two of the men returned to Phoenix, while Sanders and one other took off alone for Coon Creek.
They were never heard from again.
Shortly after the turn of the century, two cowboys were running cattle down Coon Creek when one of them spotted something white sticking out of the sand and stopped to investigate.
It was a bleached human skull and skeleton.
A second skeleton was found about four feet away; nearby were the ruins of a burned out cabin. Within the charred ruins of the cabin walls the cowboys buried the two skeletons.
One of the cowboys picked up a large piece of quartz covered in dirt. He rubbed it clean and discovered a strip of gold roughly one inch wide, and then found the face of the quartz had been ground smooth.
Neatly etched into the gold he saw the name “Sanders.” Never having heard the story of Sanders’ lost ledge of gold, they thought little of it.
They continued driving their cattle down to the lower country and forgot about what they’d found that day.
Later they were told of the story of Sander’s lost ledge and put two and two together.
Unfortunately, they could never retrace their steps and failed to relocate the burned cabin site and graves they’d dug that day.
As far as is known, the site was never rediscovered. Sources:
Mitchell, John D, Lost Mines & Buried Treasures Along the Old Frontier, 1953, Palm Desert, CA, Desert Press, Inc. p. 23-26 
Kutac, C., “Missing Gold Ledge of the Sierra Anchas,” January 1977, Lost Treasure, p. 22.