We set out a week ago determined to find a mine we've been hearing a lot about, The Lost Banker. Legend says this mine was the location of a stash of gold bullion hidden by an embezzling bank teller, but before he could return to claim it, the poor fellow was shot while holding a crooked poker hand. We purchased one of those tourist maps and set out to prove the legend untrue. I won't give the real location of the mine, for obvious reasons, suffice to say, it's very close to our home.
We had to climb a steep, rocky, tippy trail, but the Jeep didn't let us down. Following the crudely drawn map, we stopped at the top of a mountain and looked for "a rock in the form of a monkey"...finding it, we faithfully followed the map to the letter. Turning left, right, left again at another odd rock formation we then had to chop our way through dense growth of Cholla and Prickly Pear. Finally we came to a large clearing with an adit and just as the map said, "The road to gold will be watery" sure enough, the entrance of the mine was flooded. Still, slimy, green and very uninviting putrid water. We decided to go for it...hey, we're old, nothing to loose. The water was cold, wishing we had boots on, we trekked ahead slowly and very unsure of our footing. We hoped the bottom wouldn't suddenly drop out from under our feet. Angry bats chattered above our heads, but we trudged on. Our flashlights showed a fork in the shaft ahead, we went to the right, dead end, nothing to see. Retracing our steps, we went left through a narrower, but longer tunnel. We could see a rock shelf ahead in the far distance, joking as we went on about how easy it was to find and how we would spend our money. As we approached the shelf, our lights reflected back at us, the glare was intense. Really excited now...we ran, slipping and falling a couple of times, finally we reached the shelf. There, laid out as pretty as you please were stacks and stacks of gold bars! We could see the remnants of green cloth and leather which evidentially held the bouillon originally.
We wanted to ask for help hauling our find out of the tunnels, but the question was, who could be trusted? Trusting no one, we began the slow process of carrying the gold bars out. It took thirty-three trips to get it all outside the adit, our backs are still sore and our shins are bruised from the numerous falls.
Below are the few photos we took, we were too excited to take any more. Below the photos, you'll also see a further message from me, to all of you.
We had to climb a steep, rocky, tippy trail, but the Jeep didn't let us down. Following the crudely drawn map, we stopped at the top of a mountain and looked for "a rock in the form of a monkey"...finding it, we faithfully followed the map to the letter. Turning left, right, left again at another odd rock formation we then had to chop our way through dense growth of Cholla and Prickly Pear. Finally we came to a large clearing with an adit and just as the map said, "The road to gold will be watery" sure enough, the entrance of the mine was flooded. Still, slimy, green and very uninviting putrid water. We decided to go for it...hey, we're old, nothing to loose. The water was cold, wishing we had boots on, we trekked ahead slowly and very unsure of our footing. We hoped the bottom wouldn't suddenly drop out from under our feet. Angry bats chattered above our heads, but we trudged on. Our flashlights showed a fork in the shaft ahead, we went to the right, dead end, nothing to see. Retracing our steps, we went left through a narrower, but longer tunnel. We could see a rock shelf ahead in the far distance, joking as we went on about how easy it was to find and how we would spend our money. As we approached the shelf, our lights reflected back at us, the glare was intense. Really excited now...we ran, slipping and falling a couple of times, finally we reached the shelf. There, laid out as pretty as you please were stacks and stacks of gold bars! We could see the remnants of green cloth and leather which evidentially held the bouillon originally.
We wanted to ask for help hauling our find out of the tunnels, but the question was, who could be trusted? Trusting no one, we began the slow process of carrying the gold bars out. It took thirty-three trips to get it all outside the adit, our backs are still sore and our shins are bruised from the numerous falls.
Below are the few photos we took, we were too excited to take any more. Below the photos, you'll also see a further message from me, to all of you.
The Adit
Slimy water...
Left or right?
The fruits of our labor!
Slimy water...
Left or right?
The fruits of our labor!
Happy April Fool's Day Everyone!
