Did you find what you were looking for prospector?
The deserts of the American southwest have long been the discussion of lost mines and buried treasures. For hundreds of years, man has scoured the desert floor searching for any signs of the countless tales of lost riches. Some have claimed to have found the elusive treasures but only to be lost again, while others grew old or died trying. None the less, the legends live on as they are passed down from generation to generation. Maybe you will be the lucky one...
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GOLD AND RELIC CACHES NEAR YUMA
By BEN TOWNSEND
From LostTreasure.com TODAY'S TREASURE TALE
Caches made by Durivage and the doctor are undoubtedly still there, along with many others.
For more than a century, burning sands and greasewood have kept them
hidden.
The amount of gold a man from New Orleans and his physician friend were forced
to cache in the sunscorched desert near Yuma, Arizona, in 1849, was
never disclosed. It likely was small, consisting only of what the
two had left on the last leg of their long journey to the California
gold fields.
Even so,
it is well worth hunting, for the gold seekers also left behind many
relics which would bring a good price today. Preserved by the and
atmosphere and desert sand, there is a good chance that a lucky treasure
hunter, armed with his detector, might just unearth some of these
valuable relics-and maybe the gold!
These caches were made just west of the Colorado River by J. F. Durivage. He and
the doctor were traveling a road commonly called El Jornado del Muerto,
Spanish for "The journey of Death", at the time.
Miles from Yuma, the mules pulling their wagons began dropping in their tracks.
They reached the Colorado River near Yuma with one mule remaining.
After crossing the river, the lone mule showed signs of weakness and
the men unloaded every last possession, except a little food and water.
Many valuables were simply thrown out of the wagon and left where they fell. Soon
they were covered with sand by the evening winds. Others, more prized,
were carefully cached--the two men hoping to return that way later
to retrieve them, but they never did. For more than a century the
burning sands and the lonely greasewood clumps have kept them hidden.
Durivage and the doctor had left New Orleans with a small party of helpers,
their hopes built on growing rich off of the gold discoveries out
West. In Arizona they had dropped south to travel the notorious El
Camino del Diablo, which was located on the U.S.-Mexico boundary.
This killing, 150-mile trail over the barren desert began at an oasis
called Quitobaquito, and ended in Yuma. It bad earned its name, The
Devil's Road, from reports that some 3,000 travelers had perished
on it. The party lost no lives on this leg, but they were down to
just one mule.
At Yuma they wasted no time, and made ready for the last leg of their journey
to the gold fields. This leg would take them over the Jornada del
Muerto. Despite its ominous name, the party held no fear of the road
as water was more available and its location better known than on
previous parts of the trip. Having gotten this far, Durivage and the
doctor anticipated no further difficulties. How wrong they were -the
worst was yet to come.
After negotiating the Colorado River and reaching the west bank, everything went wrong.
The mule staggered weakly on its legs, and if it were to complete
the trip the wagon would have to be lightened.
The animal was too weak to pull "Tour heavy load," Durivage said later. "The
wagon had to be lightened of everything if we were to continue. We
left every article we could dispense with on the Colorado, and still,
we deemed it necessary to make further sacrifices. Everything went
out!"
Many days later, more dead than alive, the party reached California. Soon Durivage
recounted the experience to newspapers. Though careful not to reveal
the precise locations of the caches-except to say that they were "on
the Colorado"--he did tell what some of the caches contained.
After throwing out gunny sacks filled with food, bundles of clothes, books that today
would be extremely rare, the men parted with other items which, if
uncovered, would bring the finder large sums of money.
Many of these items--considered expendable then, but valuable relics now-were
cached with an undetermined amount of gold, or in caches nearby. These
included a metal cannister of quicksilver, leather pouches crammed
with bullets, powder flasks, rifles, Durivage's prized double-barrelled
shotgun, and even his cumbersome holster pistols. The doctor had buried
a case of surgical instruments carefully wrapped in protective canvas.
Before next dawn, the mule died in its harness. The party went on -but on foot
now. Slowly and tortuously, they made their way across the desert.
Eventually, they were found by other travelers and taken to California.
This information Durivage revealed in his interviews with the press.
All that the party ditched is still there, and Durivage never gave any further
clues as to exact locations. The same area, purportedly, is the resting
place of hundreds of similar caches.
"The entire crossing was literally an aisle of discarded personal belongings of
those who had gone before us-abandoned wagons, fragments of harness,
gun barrels, trunks, wearing apparel, barrels and quantities of articles
too numerous to mention," was a statement made by Durivage which certainly
gives credence to his claim about the area.
The treasure hunter who is willing to spend some time and energy has a good chance
of finding some of these little-looked-for caches as he travels west
of the Colorado along El Jornada del Muerto. It is an area where there
is a mighty good chance to strike pay dirt.
--Ben Townsend
