Still haven't found treasure, but it could happen any time

Deep down inside us all there lives a treasure hunter. I believe that is true to one extent or another.

For some the treasure is in searching antique shops. For others it’s junkyards or auctions. For some it may be shopping malls or finding a new restaurant or winery.

Lately I have a YouTuber I’ve been following who lives in Southwest New Mexico where he raises lion trailing hounds and rides and packs mules on his trips into the desert mountains around where he lives. On one of his trips near White Sands Missile Range he started talking about the lost treasure of Victorio Peak and how he always keeps an eye out for anything out of place that might lead him to the lost gold.

That part of the state is rich with legends of lost gold and the temptation that there might still be gold nuggets to be found in the streams and rivers. Even the exploration of this side of the state happened because of a search for lost treasure as Coronado searched for the legendary Seven Cities of Gold.

In a younger life when I was hiking the Gila Wilderness I did the same thing as my YouTube friend. I had read lots of treasure stories associated with the area and I wondered what it would be like to stumble onto the Lost Adams Diggings or one of the other long-sought treasures.

We watched for certain tell-tale landmarks and never came up with even anything too interesting. We visited old mines and we got gold pans and collapsible shovels and panned for gold as we adventured. We did find a few gold flakes but not nearly enough to finance any of our trips. It was lots of fun, though, and it gave us a purpose on our excursions.

Hound dog man asks what would you do if you found the treasure? Who would you tell? Would you be cagey and only cash it in a little at a time?

I think I could be cagey and keep it a secret, but I’m not for certain. I would definitely want a timeline for how long it would take so the treasure wasn’t lost all over again.

One thing I’m certain of is that I haven’t found that lost treasure yet and I haven’t had to make those other hard decisions. It could happen any time though.

Karl Terry writes for Clovis Media Inc. Contact him at:

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