Release: MONDAY JUNE 12
“Believe half of what you see,
and none of what you hear”
-Heard It Through The Grapevine
An hour or so outside of Tucson, Arizona lies a range of mountains with a storied history. It’s said the “Lost Dutchman Mine” is hidden in them. Accounts of the riches range from German immigrants finding a vein of solid gold to others who stole millions in Mexican treasure and stashed it. The hunt for the mine has continued since the 1880s and has even led to the deaths of several searchers.
So, is it true? Well, the range is known as the “Superstition Mountains” so that name alone might cast doubt on the veracity of the claim. Still, people eagerly continue the search.
There’s more. In 1816, a man named Thomas Beale is said to have stashed $63 million in gold, silver and jewels in the Rocky Mountains in nearby Colorado. A numeric cipher that people have long tried to crack is said to identify the location. Countless people are still trying to crack that code.
Or, what of the Little Bohemia Lodge in Mercer, Wisconsin? Gangster John Dillinger is known to have brought a suitcase filled with an estimated $200,000 cash. Once federal agents closed in, Dillinger escaped out the back and buried the loot. He was gunned down in Chicago before he could return to retrieve it. The lodge still stands along with the hunt for Dillinger’s nearby spoils.
So, are any of these, and endless accounts of other treasures true? Maybe. One that’s for sure is the million-dollar treasure chest of gold and jewels hidden in the Rocky Mountains a decade ago by a man named Forrest Fenn. Fenn chronicled it in a 24-line poem in his book, “Thrill of the Chase.” His goal was to lure people outside to enjoy the wilderness and embrace nature. It worked.
Thousands endeavored to decode his poem. Hundreds fanned out from the Canadian border south to the southern reaches of the Rockies. Some quit their jobs and even lost all their savings in the pursuit. Four lost their lives. Now, the search has ended.
Last week, it was announced the treasure chest had been found by a searcher who had successfully followed Fenn’s hints. The finder prefers to remain anonymous (probably for tax reasons) though he or she would have done very well on the talk show circuit. All Fenn would say is that the treasure was found using the clues in his poem and, "…was under a canopy of stars in the lush, forested vegetation of the Rocky Mountains where I hid it more than 10 years ago."
While some may be disappointed it is evidence there is real treasure still waiting to be found. And, by following and cracking the clues, abundant riches can be had.
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A few lucky parents have discovered a different kind of treasure – although it also involves coins. Those are the mothers or fathers thrown into the maelstrom of educating their young children at home when schools closed due to the Coronavirus.
These stand-in teachers quickly learned their own lesson – that teaching grade school children takes much more than just patience. It takes creativity. (For some it also takes plenty of Tylenol.) The solution for them it turns out came from the US Mint. More accurately the US Mint website.
For years, the Mint has created portals on its site for educators and kids. The website offers teachers a multitude of lesson plans ranging from Kindergarten through 12th grade. The lessons include math, science, history, language arts, technology, economics and more. Naturally, all are tailored to the appropriate grade level.
To the delight of kids, the site also offers a variety of video games that are both fun and surreptitiously educational. Children solve problems, earn points and learn at the same time. Not surprisingly, most of the games and lesson plans involve coins and currency.
For parents or any level of educator it’s clearly worth checking out at: www.USMint.gov/learn. For many parents it’s sure to be good as gold.
For more collecting advice, visit www.peterexford.blogspot.com