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Show Souvenir Edition fclheire E By Dixie Brunner It all started back in 1914, when an old cowboy named Freddie Crystal rode into town. It seems that Freddie, who had been staying at a ranch in Johnson Canyon, was convinced that he knew the location of the Montezumas gold. (The Aztec Indian treasure that Montezumas followers had buried to prevent it from falling into the hands of Cortes and his long-lo- st Spanish conquistadores.) Crystal said that Indian petroglyphs marked the path to a buried tunnel and a secret room inside of a mountain. He said that in the room was a great hoard of Aztec gold, silver and jewels. Crystal disappeared for a few years, returning with a map that he claimed he had found in a Spanish monastery. The map showed four mountains to the north, one mountain in the other three directions, a cliff with stairs, a duck petroglyph symbol, and a canyon with four side branches. One of the branches was marked as the buried treasure site. After a great deal of searching 2 The Kanab Area Vacation Guide gold inn tlkem for the the exact geographical site, Crystal and his entourage found the map directing them to White Mountain. As the group entered the canyon, Crystal pointed out matching clues.. .the duck petroglyphs and the cliff stairs were both there. They were sure that they had found the lost treasure! The group was so excited that they began digging immediately. g After two days of excavation, they discovered a man-mad- e stone wall built of blue limestone rock. News of the discovery rocked Kanab! The townspeople were in a frenzy. An organized group of diggers set up a tent city on the tEasur Snails? empty. There was no gold, jewels or treasure... only dust. Many more tunnels were found leading into other directions, and the searchers kept on looking for the treasure to no avail. They only found a curious man-mad- e cement at the bottom of a wash. Crystal gave up his treasure search after a two year effort and disappeared completely. Interest in the treasure waned and Kanab people went back to their ordinary lives without finding the phenomenal gold stash. The tunnel and treasure room still exist today, and every once in awhile, youll hear of somebody who thinks they know where the gold really is, but the only treasures they ever discover is the spectacular scenery. back-breakin- flat terrain beneath the mountains slope. The workers pushed through the stone wall and found to their excitement, a tunnel. The 160 foot tunnel was but treacherous with cave-inworked his and Crystal group The diligently. party found pottery shards, deer and rabbit bones, and just as the map said, s, a large room! Unfortunately, the room was Open a.m. 9 Freddy Crystal searched for Montezuma's gold in the hills ofJohnson Canyon. Kane Tidbits The Kanab Index was the first newspaper printed in Kanab in the late 1880s by Elmer Johnson. This publication was produced by the Southern Utah News - Kane County's weekly newspaper.You can subscribe to the SUN by sending $30 to26N. Main, Kanab, UT 84741. Please include your mailing address. Table of Contents - Section II Page 3 - Kane County Centennial schedule Page 4 - Pipe Spring National Monument Page 5 - North Kaibab Ranger District Pages 6 & 7 City Council Pages 8 & 9 - Best FriendsAngel Canyon en 97 West Center Kanab 644-523- 9 Page Page Page Page 0 - Bryce Canyon National Park 12 Panguitch area 1 14 - Kodachrome Basin 1 5 - Travelling Safely State Park |