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/

50 Comments

  1. Steven Beach on November 24, 2022 at 11:13 pm

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

  2. Robb Clark on November 24, 2022 at 11:13 pm

    Did you look around immigrant spring? Ima go look soon haha –

  3. Zach Works on November 24, 2022 at 11:14 pm

    A good tale well told! You had me running the math on the volume of Civil War-era powder kegs, the weight of gold coins, and how much a typical wagon could haul with the team you described. Thanks for the mental workout and the added excitement of the prospect of treasure to be found.

  4. -AUsleuth on November 24, 2022 at 11:14 pm

    I love this story! Seems to have alot of credibility from my research. If I’m not up there in the area in the spring and fall hunting mushrooms, them I’m metal detecting old homesites in this area. Thanks for all the great videos you have provided to light the spirit of exploration that’s in our DNA. On with the hunt!!!??

  5. Rockey Tellman on November 24, 2022 at 11:17 pm

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

  6. Roy Rice on November 24, 2022 at 11:18 pm

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

  7. Yelena Baykova on November 24, 2022 at 11:18 pm

    Just ordered your book! Looking forward to the stories πŸ˜ƒ

  8. Dion Peek on November 24, 2022 at 11:21 pm

    I was once working an old building in Missouri removing some bricks from an old chimney and I found a 1914 Indian head nickel and then I was able to retire

  9. UTuber on November 24, 2022 at 11:21 pm

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

  10. Rockey Tellman on November 24, 2022 at 11:22 pm

    Miller is directly related to Jesse.

  11. adamsby knoll on November 24, 2022 at 11:22 pm

    I bet a man named Bill Carson had something to do with that wagon load of confederate gold

  12. Rhonda Christine The girls on November 24, 2022 at 11:26 pm

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

  13. kolton crane on November 24, 2022 at 11:26 pm

    That must have been some expensive whiskey. Trading a gold coin for a bottle

  14. Rich on November 24, 2022 at 11:27 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.

  15. x7slim8x on November 24, 2022 at 11:29 pm

    My stomping grounds

  16. Polymath Perspective on November 24, 2022 at 11:29 pm

    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.

  17. Riddle Gunner Manuel on November 24, 2022 at 11:29 pm

    We already found the coins amigo

  18. Stacy S on November 24, 2022 at 11:32 pm

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

  19. C on November 24, 2022 at 11:33 pm

    Great story and not a disbeliever but if 16 barrels of gold were transported and hidden buy two people that would have to been a pretty monumentous feet right !

  20. Brandon Musser on November 24, 2022 at 11:35 pm

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

  21. Tom Henry on November 24, 2022 at 11:38 pm

    Sounds like the gold is bad luck

  22. Kenny Hawk on November 24, 2022 at 11:39 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€£

  23. tom iden on November 24, 2022 at 11:39 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.

  24. Mr. Bill of course. on November 24, 2022 at 11:40 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.

  25. Trever Ray on November 24, 2022 at 11:41 pm

    Interesting

  26. Mobsters Inc on November 24, 2022 at 11:42 pm

    🍿

  27. gomeljohn9 on November 24, 2022 at 11:42 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˜‰

  28. Bret daCosta on November 24, 2022 at 11:42 pm

    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.

  29. tinman on November 24, 2022 at 11:44 pm

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

  30. Charlie Laudico on November 24, 2022 at 11:45 pm

    Love the area! I found numerous mines around that area!

  31. Ken Rego on November 24, 2022 at 11:46 pm

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

  32. The Dude on November 24, 2022 at 11:47 pm

    I’m calling bullshit on this one ..

  33. Perry Presley on November 24, 2022 at 11:48 pm

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

  34. Raymond Michielini on November 24, 2022 at 11:48 pm

    recently came upon your channel im loving these stories

  35. : michael-robert: embry. on November 24, 2022 at 11:51 pm

    Thanks for sharing….

  36. kenneth johnson on November 24, 2022 at 11:51 pm

    Lmao the reason it will never be found is because it never existed gold fever is supported now by a wise story / tale

  37. Steven School Alchemy on November 24, 2022 at 11:52 pm

    Arizona is fun.

  38. Wanna Humpalot on November 24, 2022 at 11:53 pm

    Thank you Sir!

  39. Bob Beach on November 24, 2022 at 11:53 pm

    thanks again

  40. Frank Hartman on November 24, 2022 at 11:56 pm

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

  41. brian massey on November 24, 2022 at 11:56 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.

  42. Davey Bass on November 25, 2022 at 12:00 am

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

  43. Frank Salsa on November 25, 2022 at 12:01 am

    Sadly our stories will end and become obscure. Hopefully the new generation will rise and continue the lore of all our pasts.

  44. David Ben-Abraham on November 25, 2022 at 12:04 am

    Mr. Hawk, I enjoyed listening to your story. Buried treasure is still being found in many places, especially here, in Israel.

  45. Frank Hartman on November 25, 2022 at 12:04 am

    There seems to be all kinds of lost gold in Arizona

  46. David Windle on November 25, 2022 at 12:04 am

    Really nice story, if only I could find this outcrop!!!

  47. Craig the Scott on November 25, 2022 at 12:06 am

    My great grandfather found Union Army treasure at Fort Lowell Tucson AZ back in the early 1900’s when the fort was still standing. My great grandfather found a 1865 Springfield 50-70 trapdoor rifle that was hidden up in the rafters. I still have it, it’s been in our family for over 100 years. It was missing the cleaning or ram rod and the bayonet. I located these original items and put them on the rifle up on the wall in my great room with a 1864 Ames wrist breaker sword.

  48. Brandon Musser on November 25, 2022 at 12:10 am

    man I miss living in strawberry and going up to Woods Canyon

  49. jay gwilym on November 25, 2022 at 12:11 am

    Sergio Leon wrote this story

  50. loaded fun on November 25, 2022 at 12:11 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.

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