Treasure in the Arizona Mountains

Treasure in the Arizona Mountains

This video was made after hunting for a treasure from a story that was told to me by an old guy named John, who I mention in my book Random Tangents.
We will take you up on the Mogollon Rim, above Payson, Arizona, and tell the story and discuss where I have searched and where I still think the treasure could be.
The story takes place at the end of the civil war when two confederate soldiers stole a wagon and loaded 16 kegs of gold coins from a cache that was buried by the Confederate Army. Making their way across Arizona to join up with some Confederate sympathizers in California they were attacked by an Indian war party.
They headed into the mountains and buried the 16 kegs of coins before being killed by the Indians.
Years later, in 1935, two Mexican fellows hunting close to the Mogollon Rim Road happened to find the kegs only taking a few of the coins before covering them over again. Unfortunate circumstances kept them from ever coming back but one of them finally told the story 35 years later. Follow along with me as I attempt to find the treasure.

For more treasure stories you may enjoy my book, “Random Tangents: Embracing Adventures in Life”: https://www.desertroamerpress.com/

43 Comments

  1. Davey Bass on April 19, 2022 at 11:44 am

    I know this story. I lost my Dad, to la oro del diablo in 93.

  2. TheJadeeast on April 19, 2022 at 11:44 am

    I’m getting a metal detector

  3. Raymond Michielini on April 19, 2022 at 11:45 am

    recently came upon your channel im loving these stories

  4. loaded fun on April 19, 2022 at 11:49 am

    Mr. Hawk…. Im hoping you carry a side iron on your excursions. You never know what wildlife or wild humans you may come across in dem der hills.

  5. Bret daCosta on April 19, 2022 at 11:50 am

    Actually it was the payroll for Fort Apache not confederate but Cavalry. Lieutenant Summerhayes was leading the first resupply mission on "Crooks Trail" from Camp Verde to Fort Apache. The year was 1874 and a wagon was lost over the cliffs when two mules separated from a team of six leaving four mules and a wagon to plummet over a cliff several hundred feet and not retrievable. This is documented in a book by Margaret Summerhayes called "Vanishing Arizona". Seems Margaret was fond of the mules a was saddened to hear four had perished along with a wagon. Not knowing at the time what was in the wagon she found it to be the wagon that held her fine china and silverware she had brought from New England. The wagon also carried the $3,000 plus payroll in $20 Gold Pieces and Silver Coins it also had a cargo of Winchester Repeater rifles.

  6. Rhonda Christine The girls on April 19, 2022 at 11:51 am

    I still got the case when gpa went hunting in the 80s

  7. Frank Hartman on April 19, 2022 at 11:51 am

    There seems to be all kinds of lost gold in Arizona

  8. Polymath Perspective on April 19, 2022 at 11:52 am

    Logically because there was so many kegs the place these are buried are in fact near a wagon trail or a road nowadays. People bury things near springs cause manual labor works up a sweat. It makes perfect sense that the spring is near a road. People camped at springs years ago and still do.

  9. george scott on April 19, 2022 at 11:55 am

    their horses probaly all died and they had to bury the gold==because they were mean to those horses back in those days

  10. Rockey Tellman on April 19, 2022 at 11:55 am

    Greg, My family established "Miller" County, Missouri. True

  11. magprob on April 19, 2022 at 11:58 am

    Excellent Story! Thanks.

  12. Frank Hartman on April 19, 2022 at 11:59 am

    Why is all of the treasure lost in Arizona? Can’t some be lost in my backyard!!

  13. Roy Tallow on April 19, 2022 at 12:01 pm

    Still out there ! πŸ’°πŸ’°πŸ’°

  14. x7slim8x on April 19, 2022 at 12:05 pm

    My stomping grounds

  15. UTuber on April 19, 2022 at 12:05 pm

    Nice areas, that’s a huge area to search for some lost barrels of gold.

  16. Roy Rice on April 19, 2022 at 12:07 pm

    Already found. They have just kept their mouths shut!! I don’t blame them! πŸ‘πŸ‘πŸ‘

  17. Perry Presley on April 19, 2022 at 12:07 pm

    The confederate treasury went missing in Wilkes County Georgia at the end of the war. It has never been found.

  18. John Ganshow on April 19, 2022 at 12:09 pm

    Lost Dutchman of the Mogollon…

  19. Steven School Alchemy on April 19, 2022 at 12:10 pm

    Arizona is fun.

  20. Ken Rego on April 19, 2022 at 12:11 pm

    Old News Bud ! Treasure was found and Sold to a Team in Germany for a Very Large Sum Of CASH! True Story

  21. Brandon Musser on April 19, 2022 at 12:13 pm

    I grew up in strawberry wow I didn’t know there was any gold out there

  22. Rockey Tellman on April 19, 2022 at 12:13 pm

    Miller is directly related to Jesse.

  23. Riddle Gunner Manuel on April 19, 2022 at 12:14 pm

    We already found the coins amigo

  24. Jeffery Schirm on April 19, 2022 at 12:14 pm

    You should have told him , yes that’s right where bigfoot attack you !!

  25. The Dude on April 19, 2022 at 12:15 pm

    I’m calling bullshit on this one ..

  26. David J. LeBaron on April 19, 2022 at 12:17 pm

    I like the way you set up the map, and mark it for me. I will scan that one with my Eagletraun, on GoogleEarth. If I get a hit, then I can go to the area, and use the Gravitraun.
    Another wagonload of Confederate gold wound up in Washington State, where I live. I’m looking for it. Hope to find it soon!

  27. Bob Beach on April 19, 2022 at 12:18 pm

    thanks again

  28. Scotty Mcgregor on April 19, 2022 at 12:18 pm

    What’s that smell…. O πŸ‚β™‰ bullshit

  29. William Davis on April 19, 2022 at 12:19 pm

    Love Arizona it has everything you could want, history, folklore, desert, mountains and history galore

  30. Diane Lewis on April 19, 2022 at 12:25 pm

    Great story and interesting.
    Thank you.
    Ron

  31. Kenny Hawk on April 19, 2022 at 12:25 pm

    Hey kinfolk lol. We may be related . People have asked me a long time am I related to Tony hawk πŸ˜‚πŸ€£πŸ˜‚πŸ€£

  32. Mobsters Inc on April 19, 2022 at 12:26 pm

    🍿

  33. tom iden on April 19, 2022 at 12:27 pm

    Any soldier would went for the high ground, look for the highest peak that gave them the best protection and view of their surrounding area.

  34. Jordan Wiens on April 19, 2022 at 12:29 pm

    Great story! Well narrated. Makes me want to hunt for some gold!

  35. brian massey on April 19, 2022 at 12:33 pm

    Soo have you guys found anything? Whats an update on your searching. The Validity of the Gold Coins being there is what I really question bc if you truthfully think about it even if your talking about a lot of gold coins being there in existence you’d think that if they are gone you’d think that some were left over due to the size of the kegs and loseing some over the rim of the kegs when they were poured out to touch and look at. I’m just really in denial if they existed at all bc of finding none over the years. Even if you found one GD you could make something of it but nobody has found none since the story was told. Soo the genius of this story is the Kegs are buried and if they can be found. Do you think he got his directions mixed up with where he was when he found the Kegs of Gold? I just think they are in a different place from where he stated he was at.

  36. Steven Beach on April 19, 2022 at 12:33 pm

    Good LUCK U ALL Happy Gold in Az..!!??!!

  37. Stacy S on April 19, 2022 at 12:33 pm

    If the hoard is ever found, does the finder have legal right to the treasure?

  38. gomeljohn9 on April 19, 2022 at 12:35 pm

    ANy update since 2020? I’ve been there numerous times. Crawfish out at Potato Lake. Interested if you hvae anything else on this treasure. I know better than to ask if you found it. πŸ˜‰

  39. Mr. Bill of course. on April 19, 2022 at 12:36 pm

    Nobody hasn’t found John Mosby’s lost Confederate treasure here in Virginia either. Time to get my metal detector out and plane ticket to Flagstaff. Good story.

  40. trackman174 on April 19, 2022 at 12:38 pm

    A lot of folklore about treasure throughout the country. Always fun to hear about them and wonder if they’re true.

  41. Rich on April 19, 2022 at 12:39 pm

    Only one thing baffles me. Why only take 20 coins? Why not take as much as you can carry? Doesn’t make sense to me. Also wouldn’t there be records of a missing confederate shipment of gold? Just based on those two things I think he was just telling a good story.

  42. jay gwilym on April 19, 2022 at 12:40 pm

    Sergio Leon wrote this story

  43. Brad Stoner on April 19, 2022 at 12:40 pm

    Unique thing to me is that if this was the Confederate Army that buried those coins, then the coins are of gold that most likely was mined in North Carolina and Georgia. Both states were the prime producers of gold for the South at that time. The coins probably include coins minted by the only private mint that ever existed in the US, that being the Christopher Bechtlor coins. He was an immigrant from Baden, Germany and he brought with him his knowledge of goldsmith and metal working. So much gold was being found around the area that he decided to make gold coins for people who wanted to have a reliable exchange of value for their gold. He minted coins with set values that could be exchanged in lieu of weighing out and bartering. The US government came in and set up their own mints in Charlotte, NC and Dahlonega, Georgia thus putting an end to the Bechtlor coins. Surely, this confederate treasure would contain some of these rare and valuable coins. They would be worth a fortune today.

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