LEGENDS OF THE LOST

The Mystery Canyon in the Castle Domes Proves a Fatally Pretty Spot for a Treasure

The tale was first spoken in nervous whispers by the Indians of Yuma well over a hundred years ago. Only in February, 1892, did it break through the veil of secrecy and find its way into a Yuma newspaper and, a couple of days later, the front page of the Phoenix Herald. The coverage only made the minds of gold hunters boil with even greater fever. They stuffed their wagons and loaded their burros with dynamite, pickaxes, and water barrels, and rode 40 miles northeast of Yuma, looking for the mysterious box canyon of the Castle Dome Mountains.

Their destination was said to be a fatally pretty spot marked by sheer walls of pink granite that reached skyward for several hundred feet, and a stream that bubbled cool and wonderful from beneath the rock cathedral. In this spot, an unreachable Eden that continues to elude even the most dogged miners and gold seekers, a group of Indians found treasure and death on the same day.

No one knows how many of the hunting party died, or the name of the lone survivor who emerged from the canyon vault to tell others of its riches, only to receive an angry lecture from a tribal elder. He said the tribe had been warned by the Great Spirit never to enter the canyon as it was the abiding place of the gods, and the people had for years kept the prohibition. But these deaths, the elder explained, were the Great Spirit's way of teaching a lesson that would never be forgotten.

Talk of gold in the great box canyon was then and there forbidden.

The best evidence is that the surviving hunter heeded thiswarning, breaking the prohibition only in private communion with his wife, a beautiful woman who spent the remainder of her days throwing bullies and supplicants off the trail to the treasure.

But here the legend breaks into random fragments, tantalizing pieces that don't quite fit together. Is the story of the Indian woman's lost gold really connected to the box canyon treasure . . . or is it a separate tale about a different time and place?

After her husband's death, the woman was said to possess a stone so rich in gold that it drew the greedy eyes of some Mexican dry-wash miners. In keeping with the wishes of her chiefs, she gave the men false leads on the location of the discovery.

They found nothing and, according to a treasure book, kidnapped and beat the woman. She escaped and later revealed the location to only one man: Ed Schieffelin, the famed prospector and founder of Tombstone.

The source of the blinking gold nugget, she confided to Schieffelin, was on the Yuma-Wickenburg Trail. But that trail barely skirts the Castle Domes. Could she have been handing a line to canny old Schieffelin, too?

Another question: If a box canyon of such incomparable beauty existed, why can't it be located today?

Tracing the legend would be easier if the tribe in question could be easily identified. It was, according to published accounts, the Yuma Apaches. But no such tribe exists. Territorial newspapers often referred to Yuma Apaches, but that was merely a catch-all term used by journalists and others ignorant of native cultures.

Those most often referred to as Yuma Apaches were usually western Yavapais, whose range extended far to the south.

Or they could have been Cocopahs or Quechan, whose homeland is in the area of the Castle Dome range.

But other aspects of the legend stand up well to scrutiny. The hunters were said to be tracking mountain sheep at the time of their disaster, and the range is full of bighorns.

And experts say the Castle Domes do contain gold. Evidence for that can be found in the old shafts and rusted gear that still litters the terrain around faded gold mines.

So the story lives.

In the version published by the Yuma Sentinel on February 13, 1892, the Indians entered the canyon at night, deciding to camp there until dawn offered sufficient light to look for the closest water tank.

"When daylight came," the paper reported, "the warriors looked around, but no trace of water could be found. Matters were becoming serious as the nearest known tank was 15 miles away. About the time that almost all hope had died, a shout from a young brave at the head of the canyon announced the discovery of water.

"A rush was made to the place, and a pool of water cool and clear as crystal was found. The 'tank' proved to be a spring which bubbled up from below the face of the canyon's wall, and on the upper side the decomposed ironrock, quartz, and spar could be seen piled up as if dumped from the workings of [a] mine.

"The Indians camped there for some time awaiting the coming of mountain sheep to water. Late in the evening, a large amount of game was killed, and the hunters made preparations to leave for home. In the morning, a number of young bucks took a bath in the limpid pool, and on reachingthe bank of decomposed rock it was found to be fully one half gold.

"Nuggets large and small were found in great profusion. Great excitement prevailed, and the Indians carried away all they could pack. They knew the precious metal could be traded off in Mexico for knives, beads, panocha, tobacco, and mescal. With songs of joy, they began their journey homeward.

"Suddenly the sky became black and thunder pealed and lightning flashed, and it seemed as if the rain was falling in riverlike volume. In terror the Indians hurried along, for they knew full well, that if they did not get out of the box canyon before the waters from the cloudburst came down, it meant death to one and all.

"With a roar of mighty force, the wall of foaming water came down, sweeping everything before it."

When the water receded, bodies littered the canyon floor. But dreams of gold kept gritty miners and hard-rock dandies trudging back to the Castle Domes in one futile search after another.

Among them were three wellknown Yuma pioneers: Nick Gunther, "Long John" Borland, and Neil Johnson. They went to their graves believing in the legend of the box canyon treasure house.

Too bad. If they'd only gotten one Indian to tell what he knew, they might've departed this realm as wealthy men. Surely some Indians heard the first descriptions of the surviving hunter and knew the location of the box canyon. But the punishment of the Great Spirit was a risk they did not dare accept. "Nothing on Earth," reported the Sentinel, "could tempt them to either go there, or point out the way."