Lost adams diggings
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The Lost Adams Diggings are a famous legendary lost gold placer mine located somewhere in New Mexico.
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[edit] The Canyon of Gold
In 1864, a teamster named Adams (no sources disclose his first name) and some prospectors in Gila Bend, Arizona were approached by a Mexican Indian named Gotch Ear with an offer. Gotch Ear told them knew of a canyon filled with gold only 10 days ride and offered to show the miners its location. The miners accepted and together they rode to find the gold. They crossed a road on the way which Gotch Ear said would lead back to Fort Wingate, and that they should remember it so they could go back that way for supplies when needed. They soon arrived at a canyon with a blind entrance. At the bottom of a Z-shaped narrow canyon trail they found a canyon valley with a creek rich with gold.
The men paid Gotch Ear and began panning for gold. However, a force of Apaches led by a chief named Nana confronted the miners. Nana allowed them to mine the creek, provided they did not venture up the stream past the waterfall to the canyon wall. The miners obeyed at first, but eventually several miners began mining near the waterfall and discovered two rich veins of gold. The diggings were very rich, with some gold nuggets described as being the size of hens’ eggs.
The miners stored their accumulated gold under a stone in the hearth of the cabin they built near the creek. One miner, a German, kept his gold separate. He soon collected all the gold he wanted and left the camp, avoiding the calamity which would engulf the other miners.
Some of the miners were sent to Fort Wingate for more supplies. When this group did not return after eight days, Adams and a man named Davidson rode out to investigate. From the top of the Z-shaped trail, they found five dead men and three dead horses, all that was left of the party that had set out for the fort. Adams and Davidson then returned to their cabin by the creek and found that the Apaches had returned, set fire to their cabin and killed the remaining miners. Adams and Davidson narrowly escaped and walked twelve days through the desert until the stumbled on an army patrol, which took them to the nearest fort. Davidson then died there. It was 10 years until Adams overcame his fear and returned to New Mexico to look for the diggings. Adams spent the rest of his life trying to relocate the hidden canyon.
[edit] Survivors
Aside from Adams and Davidson, there were three other people who survived:
- Gotch Ear left the miners camp after their arrival but was supposedly killed later by Indians for revealing the secret location of the canyon.
- The unnamed German who left camp before the attack. He supposedly either settled in Heidelberg, Germany with his wealth, or to a ranch in Colorado.
- John Brewer, leader of the group that left for supplies, did survive. Alone, he made his way out of the canyon and through the desert to safety. He is the only other original source for the story of the lost canyon.
[edit] Possible Locations
For decades the Zuni Mountains were considered the most plausible location for hosting the Diggings. Thousands of prospectors, ranch-hands, and men-of-fortune searched this area and the rest of southwestern New Mexico through the years prior to WWII, as the Adams Diggings became the most sought for gold in the country. Only Frank Dobie's book "Apache Gold and Yaqui Silver" from 1930's gives adequate testament to just how renowned the Adams legend had become. The combination of the depression and the deregulation of the gold market made for the most unlikely people taking up the challenge of finding the Diggings. Between 1895 ad 1930 several large logging communities flourished in the Zuni Mountains, several with schools and post offices; wide-gauge railroads crisscrossed the mountains in an extraordinary testament to America's ability to rapidly mobilize for economic development. The loggers were well aware of the Adams legend, as it had become a national known story in the early century. Between running logs nothing was more common than prospecting except for drinking, the banning of which, was the perennial focus of local moralists. Rumors of gold in the Zunis had become so common that the U.S. government ordered several geological expeditions to verify whether this claim could be supported in the years between WWI and WWII. The geologist found nothing. In the mid-century the area was thoroughly re-explored for uranium deposits, as the 1950s brought a uranium rush to the areas surrounding present day Grants, NM. Eventually the obsession with the Zuni Mountains as a host for the Adams Diggings or gold of any kind faded, when it became clear that these mountains did not have any gold despite the hopes it fueled for so many people for so long. In my search for the diggings during the 1970s, I encountered no less than 20 different people who were casually prospecting the area and were aware of the Adams legend. It was also around the mid-century that the popularity of the Adams legend began to diminish in general and the Lost Dutchman Mine became America's most sought for gold mine. The Adams Diggings were beginning to become what seemed to be a hoax or a mine unlikely to ever be found.
To the geologically minded, the Adams Diggings could be in no other place than the southwestern quadrant of the state. Indeed, Adams himself spent most of the remainder of his life searching the areas in and around Reserve, NM. This area is the largest gold producing quadrant in the state, and played host to several small mining booms, including the rich strikes at Elizabethtown and Pinos Altos. The areas that could conceivably host the Diggings in this region (containing several large and distinct mountain ranges that remain sparsely inhabited to this day) are numerous, as minerals and evidence of previous mining can be found throughout the area. In the early years of searching for the Adams Diggings miners were known to stake claims at mineral bearing areas and then abandon them to continue their obsessed search for the Diggings, such was the allure of the legend at that time. Dozens of mining camps were thought to be the Adams Diggings for brief periods; usually until the various locations proved themselves to be of less richness than was at first indicated. This seems to be a common theme for all metal wealth (excluding copper and uranium) in the state of New Mexico: egregious hopes followed by rapid disappointment. It has become forgotten that New Mexico was for several centuries believed to be the most mineral rich place on earth; not until the Apaches were subdued in the 1880s and transportation improved, was this long held belief finally put to the test.
The Datils and Gallinas Mountains and the basins to the north of these mountains, were considered a possible location for the Diggings that had begun to increase in popularity as the other locations began to lose their appeal. Dick French published a theory in his book "Four Days from Fort Wingate" that basically outlines the basis for locating the Diggings in this area. It has become known as "Dick French’s Area," although his location was known to have been found by others in the 1950s (if not even earlier). No gold has been found there either. A similar, but geographically less plausible location, was also found in eastern Arizona by Don Fangado (name?) near Clifton. The site contains features described by Adams much like the area favored by Dick French; however, again, the gold remains elusive. In some minds the gold was to be found on either the Zuni or Navajo reservations, but the laws preventing the acquisition of mineral rights in these regions has discouraged searching. The desire of a large majority of Native Americans to preserve the land at all cost remains surprisingly pervasive even up to the present day, despite the awareness that mining (be it coal, uranium, or otherwise) would be wealth to the region.
No doubt, there are other sites with their contingent of supporters, but most would agree that the "leading" candidates (at least in the popular imagination) have been mentioned above. Granted that it really exists, its traditional location remains within "Apacheria" or the southwest quadrant of New Mexico and the areas in Arizona that border this region. Given the anomalous nature of gold, and the Apache's known efforts to conceal all gold mines late in the 19th century, it is remains difficult to easily dismiss the legend as a hoax as it was never based on hearsay, but rather real people and a real event. To appreciate the complexity of the story in full, one should turn to Jack Purcell's definitive book on the subject thus far, "The Lost Adams Diggings: Myth, Mystery, and Madness." This work, unlike its predecessors, is a serious attempt at giving some genuine historical perspective supported by cited research. It is the author's opinion that the gold exists and is perhaps somewhere in the mountains just south of Quemado, New Mexico. Perhaps gold will be found someday, but in the minds of most, the legend is fading away among the other items in the forgotten annals of American lore.
[edit] Legends
The many stories and legends arising from the lost diggings have inspired many to search for this lost gold ever since. Its legend has also supplied many folk tales, stories and books with ample fuel for stories of lost treasures, hidden canyons, Apache secrets and gold "somewhere out there" in the wilds. J. Frank Dobie devoted half of his book “Apache Gold and Yaqui Silver” to the story of the Lost Adams diggings, and considered it to be the greatest "lost mine" story of the US.
Another supposed Indian name for the mine was Sno-Ta-Hay, which supposedly means "there it lies" i.e. the gold is on the ground and can be picked up or panned as a placer mine. Chief Nana supposedly called it that when he first warned the Adams party before the attack.
The movie Mackenna's Gold is loosely based on the Adams legend.
[edit] Sources
- Dobie, J. Frank, Apache Gold & Yaqui Silver. Boston: Little, Brown. 1939.
[edit] External Links
- The Works of J. Frank Dobie [1] at Project Gutenberg
- Mackenna's Gold [2] at the Internet Movie Database [3]
- The Lost Adams Diggings [4]
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