There’s an old saying from Renaissance cartographers: all maps are wrong — some maps are useful.

Tonight, we’re camped along the Cossatot River in the Ouachita Mountains, where one legend keeps surfacing in different places, across different decades, carried by different men — all certain they were standing in the right spot.

This is the story of The Lost Louisiana Mine.

Of Spanish gold locked deep in quartz.

Of a leather map burned with iron.

Of Smoke Rock Creek… and a second river sixty miles south that flows the same direction through land that looks almost identical.

Somewhere in these mountains, Spanish miners worked deep shafts centuries ago.

At least one of them left behind a hammer forged in Seville in the early 1500s.

What they were chasing — and how many shafts they dug — remains unknown.

Were the men who searched for the mine wrong?

Or were they following a map that was useful… but not specific enough for a wilderness designed to repeat itself?

Tonight’s story isn’t about curses or bad luck.

It’s about geography.

And how the mountains keep their secrets.

Thanks for sitting by the fire tonight. I’m Daniel Hanson, and this is Forgotten Fortunes. Until next time… leave the wilderness as mysterious as you found it.

The Madre Vena Treasure — Mother of Veins

Before sunrise, we take a seat at a quiet diner counter, coffee steaming between us, and follow a trail that winds deep into the mountains of Arizona.

They called it Madre Vena — the Mother of Veins — a legendary gold source whispered about by Spanish miners, prospectors, and dreamers who vanished chasing it. Some claimed it fed entire mountain ranges with gold. Others said it was cursed, guarded, or deliberately erased from maps.

This isn’t a story about easy riches.

It’s about obsession…

about men who followed veins of gold until the trail went cold…

and about the thin line between fortune and disappearance.

Tonight, we trace the legends, the history, and the lingering questions surrounding one of the Southwest’s most elusive lost treasures.

Pull up a chair. The coffee’s hot.

The trail is still out there.

Thanks for sitting by the fire tonight. I’m Daniel Hanson, and this is Forgotten Fortunes. Until next time… leave the wilderness as mysterious as you found it.

🎙 Episode Title:

The Jimmy York Treasure — A Lost Fortune, a Sleeping Prophet, and a Marine Who Never Came Home

🗺 Description:

Deep in the Boston Mountains of Arkansas lies a legend older than any map — a Spanish treasure buried beneath a sleeping stone. From a mystic known as The Sleeping Prophet to a young Marine who vanished searching for gold, this is the haunting story of the Jimmy York Treasure. Told in the campfire style of Forgotten Fortunes, where history, mystery, and the human heart collide.

🕯 Sit close to the fire. Some stories don’t fade — they wait.

Research for this episode came from

Lost Treasure of The Ozarks by Phillip Steele

https://amzn.to/3XrmKfo

Title: “Fort Huachuca Gold”

Season 1, Episode 3

Description:

In this episode of Forgotten Fortunes, we journey into the shadowed canyons of southern Arizona and explore one of the West’s most enduring legends: a soldier’s claim to a hidden chamber of gold beneath Fort Huachuca. Did Pvt. Robert Jones really stumble into a trove of ingots? Or is this just another tall tale in the desert night? We’ll sift through archival accounts, newspaper reports, and modern investigations to separate gold from dust.

Resources & Further Reading:

• Amazon affiliate: Robert Jones – Fort Huachuca Gold Book (affiliate link)
  https://amzn.to/4qktusU

(This is an affiliate link; if you purchase via this link I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.)

• “Is a fortune in gold buried at Fort Huachuca?” — Arizona Republic / azcentral article (2017)
  https://www.azcentral.com/story/travel/arizona/2017/08/01/jones-gold-fort-huachuca-legend/428889001/

• “Republic Reporter Digs Into Story Of Soldier’s Pursuit Of Ft. Huachuca Gold” — KJZZ story by Lauren Gilger (2017)
  https://kjzz.org/content/534502/republic-reporter-digs-story-soldiers-pursuit-ft-huachuca-gold
• “Legends of the Lost” — Arizona Highways magazine (1992) — the classic deep dive on the Jones gold legend
  https://www.arizonahighways.com/archive/issues/chapter/Doc.857.Chapter.11

Tags / Keywords:

Fort Huachuca, hidden gold, Arizona legends, treasure stories, military history, desert mysteries, Jones gold, forgotten fortunes

Episode: The Gold Behind the Waterfall

In 1910, a solitary prospector named Tom Watson discovered an unopened letter in an abandoned cabin near Flagstaff, Arizona. The letter, dated 1904, described a sack of gold nuggets hidden behind a 22-foot waterfall deep in the Grand Canyon.

Drawn by the map that came with it, Watson spent years searching the Canyon’s side gorges. He endured blistering summers, snowbound winters, and endless dead ends. Finally, in June 1914, after a rare summer rainstorm, Watson stumbled on a waterfall that matched the letter’s description. Behind its veil, he found a cave floor glittering with gold.

But his triumph turned to tragedy. A fall shattered his leg, and by the time he crawled to safety, infection had nearly killed him. Though he survived, he was never able to find the same waterfall again. Even with help from a companion, veterinarian Roy Scanlon, the elusive site seemed to vanish. In 1915, broken in spirit, Watson ended his life at Deadman Flat. Two gold nuggets were still in his pocket.

Notes & Sources

• The waterfall’s location remains one of the Canyon’s enduring mysteries. Many side canyons feature seasonal falls that roar during spring snowmelt or after a heavy monsoon, but dry up for much of the year. This may explain why Watson could never relocate the site.
• The nearby ranch where he was treated was the Buggeln Ranch, a historic property associated with the Bright Angel Hotel and early Canyon tourism.
• Accounts of this story appear in W.C. Jameson’s Lost Mines and Buried Treasures of Arizona, as well as Arizona Highways and earlier magazine retellings.

Disclaimer

This episode shares a historical legend. The Grand Canyon is protected land, and treasure hunting or digging is not permitted. Please respect the land, the law, and the cultures who have lived in and around the Canyon for generations.

In 1899, a Southern Pacific train was stopped in the desert night near Cochise Station. Minutes later, sixty thousand dollars in fresh-minted gold coins had vanished.

Constable Burt Alvord led the search… but the truth behind the robbery was far stranger than anyone imagined. From midnight gunfights to jailbreaks, from the hellhole of Yuma Prison to a mysterious disappearance in Panama, Alvord’s story blurs the line between lawman and outlaw.

More than two million dollars in today’s money may still be hidden out here — somewhere among the mesquite, boulders, and dry washes of Cochise County.

Sources & Extras:

Lost Mines & Buried Treasures of Arizona by W.C. Jameson

https://amzn.to/3IsqCZU

The book links above are Amazon affiliate links. If you pick up a copy through them, it helps support Forgotten Fortunes at no extra cost to you.

Above all else. Thank you for listening

Coming this fall. See you around the campfire.

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