Legends of the Lost

Michael McPherson and Ron Feldman squatted over the curve in the foot-wide stream, panning for gold with an 11-inch steel dish made for prospectors.

"Somewhere down in there are gold nuggets — and a lot of 'em," McPherson said as he twirled water over the small rocks and sand in his pan, hoping to spot a yellow nugget or flake. The bearded geologist did not raise his head.

"Someday we'll work it," said Feldman, an Apache Junction outfitter dressed in scuffed boots and jeans, a six-shooter strapped to his hip. Like McPherson's, his eyes never left the pan.

Bob Corbin, the former Arizona attorney general who for the last 30 years has spent his spare time treasure hunting, sat on a nearby boulder. Dressed in Levi 501s, a camouflage vest, and red-checkered shirt, he watched his partners carefully, puffing on his pipe. "I'd be happy with a nugget about the size of a silver dollar," he joked.

The wind sang through the narrow, steep-walled canyon sounding like crashing ocean waves. The men worked the gentle stream beneath a 20-foot-high trickling waterfall for about an hour, joking and telling tales about hidden treasure.

In their minds, they are convinced they have found the Lost Adams Diggings, one of the most sought-after treasures in the West, for which hunters have searched more than a century.

McPherson, Feldman, Corbin, and another partner, Duane Short, say that they've discovered the site near Morenci in eastern Arizona and have staked claim to 20 acres above the waterfall. Phelps Dodge Corp. has claim to the rest of the canyon. McPherson and Feldman have even written a book, yet unpublished, about the Adams legend and their discovery.

FOUR ARIZONANS CLAIM SUCCESS AFTER A 12-YEAR SEARCH FOR THE LOST ADAMS DIG

According to their version, the Adams story has several major parts spanning decades and involving Indian massacres and a lot of gold.

Adams reportedly first found gold in 1837 in a narrow canyon, its sides so close together that a man on horseback could touch both walls. He was in a prospecting party of 22 men that found rich placer deposits but then was attacked by Apache, led perhaps by Mangas Coloradas, one of the great Apache war chiefs. Adams (no one seems to know for sure what his first name was) survived along with one other prospector because they were rounding up horses when the Apache struck.

Later Adams said the group was attacked after being warned not to go into the canyon above the waterfall. McPherson and Feldman theorize that Adams and the other survivor may have come back to the area during the attack and hid on a rocky shelf halfway up the canyon wall while the rest of the men in their party were killed.

In 1864, a year after Mangas was killed by the Army, Adams returned to the area to search for the site, but he said his group was again attacked by Apache.

Legend has it that soldiers found him and another dazed prospector wandering out of the mountains. Adams was nursed back to health at Fort Apache, and for the rest of his life he was seen frequently in eastern Arizona, asking for grubstakes and organizing expeditions to search for the gold-filled canyon. He reportedly died without finding it again.

One of the earliest references to prospecting in the area was made in the 1840s by Army Lt. W.H. Emory, who was on a mapping expedition in the West. In his 1848 "Notes of a Military Reconnaissance from Fort Leavenworth in Kansas to San Diego in California," he wrote: "A few adventurers, who ascended this river hunting beaver, washed the sands at night when they halted and were richly rewarded for their trouble. Tempted by their success, they made a second trip and were attacked and most of them killed by the Indians."

Emory wrote that his information about the Indian attack came from "Londeau," who, he said "though an illiterate man, is truthful."

Feldman and McPherson believe Emory's reference to Londeau also is a reference to the Lost Adams Diggings because Maurice Londeau was Adams' partner in 1837.

"The Adams party did find gold; there is gold in this entire area of Arizona," Feldman said. "This canyon has been mined to death for years. During the Depression, men took Coke bottles full of nuggets out of here. But there is still gold that has not been touched. The canyon could be loaded with gold.

McPherson agreed there probably is no such thing as a virgin lost canyon loaded with gold. "I assure you there is no place in the Southwest no one has touched," he said. "This area has been continuously prospected because, geologically, there's gold here."

McPherson added: "We did our research based on newspaper articles of the era, books, and maps. We took that information and were able to come up with a plausible location based on history and geology.

"In the 1800s, there was much less debris in here and plenty of running water. There was more vegetation. The little fractures in the bedrock contained gold. Gold is heavy, and it sinks to bedrock, which is under all of today's hard-packed sand."

Corbin said he had read about the Lost Adams Diggings years ago and got involved through Feldman, who also has been searching for lost treasures for more than 30 years and for the Adams for a dozen years.

Corbin admitted, however, that in his three decades of treasure hunting he has yet to find a bonanza. "For me, treasure hunting is getting out of the rat race, being outdoors, eating under the stars. I've never found any treasure, but I've had a good time out here. I used to tell reporters that it's the only place I can go where they can't find me."

The canyon is in a spectacular part of Arizona dotted with desert plants as well as juniper and piñon pine. Its rocky sandstone cliffs rise hundreds of feet. The entrance is Z-shaped, making it extremely hard to find. About three-quarters of a mile long, the canyon is no wider than 10 feet.

There are huge, towering cottonwoods throughout this wild country, fed by mountain streams. There are few roads.

On the day McPherson, Feldman, and Corbin panned the tiny stream sliding slowly through the canyon, the wind was strong enough to quickly wipe out their footprints.

Just south of the entrance to the canyon are the ruins of a cabin, one stone wall still standing. Feldman had poked around the cabin and found an old clock, mining tools, and a rotted boot.

In his writing, Lieutenant Emory referred to the foundation of a rectangular house near the mouth of the canyon. He said its ruins were of "round unhewn stones."

Years ago, water must have rushed through the canyon because it did a fine job of carving this crevice out of the sandstone. Today, it only trickles through. The waterfall is a steady drip rather than a gush, but the sandstone under it is darkened from past years of flowing water.

"On several occasions, we have found gold here," Feldman said, rotating the pan, shaking it, discarding the big stones, and then tipping the pan.

"If you won't get your hands dirty, you ain't gonna find anything," McPherson said as he dug his hands into the sand.

"I think we oughta strip Bob and have him pan the bot-tom of that pool," Feldman quipped.

McPherson turned to his partner. "I don't see anything yellow showing, Ron. It's probably your fault. I really thought there'd be a gold nugget or two."

"Try it there, Ron, where the stream curves," Corbin suggested. "You usually pan where the water curves and slows down. Then the gold has a chance to settle. Panning is hard work. I look for the veins or buried treasure that's already mined."

Despite their lack of a strike on this day, the three men will keep coming back. They have asked Phelps Dodge for permission to bring in heavy mining equipment, but they're willing to use picks and shovels if they have to. Meanwhile, they remain optimistic.

"I've looked for so long and haven't found anything," Corbin said between puffs on his pipe. "But would I quit? No. I won't quit until the day I die."