The Treasure Tree

on Jul 6, 2010  

This is part of a note I replied to Mike Roberts on the shot of the cliff in the POD 18+ contest today.

The Treasure Tree


http://modelinsider.com/component/mi/inline/51504

An interesting 4th of July weekend for us.

We shot these on the 3rd of July up the canyon and it is pretty busy around the holidays. We found this spot up above on the East side of the road. The reason I stopped there was for 2 reasons. The nice looking rocks first, and then on the West side of the road is an ancient Pine tree with a rock right in front that would allow me to shoot from the side and catch the entire valley you see. I walked around the tree to the West and noticed 4 very weathered leather straps holding a nicely camouflaged piece  of wood over a large hollow opening in the tree. I became very excited as I removed one of the straps and could see that the cavity in the tree was huge. I sent Lisa back to the truck for a flashlight and began feeling along the inside of the hole. I located a nail with a rope tied to it and as I pulled on the rope I could feel something quite heavy on the end.

A little background of this Preston Valley area...
Late in the 1800's there was a huge robbery of Gold. The bandits fled with the posse close in pursuit and headed up the canyon taking a turn into the Preston Valley area there. Two of the bandits were shot and one was captured there. The loot of course was not found on them. They had ditched it somewhere in the canyon. The 3rd bandit died in prison presumably never revealing the where abouts of this gold. I have a friend whose father is a retired Electrical Engineer and has searched for this treasure off and on for about 50 years never finding it.

I had heard of the famous robbery all my life and I am sure you can imagine what was going through my mind. I had found the famous treasure and was about to be quite rich!

As the tiny bucket was raised to the light I found that it was filled on top with numerous papers and notepads. Beneath these little books were an odd assortment of springs, toys, coins, pencils and pens. I opened up the notepads and could see all kinds of family names and stories had been left there. These signatures, stories and pictures were dated going back many many years.

I realized I had found a treasure, just not the one I had been anticipating. I carefully put the bucket back in the tree and let my heart calm from the adrenalin rush. Lisa and I climbed up and took the picture of the cliff and Preston Valley that was the winner today. As we shot one family would ride up on 4 wheelers, walk around  the tree and open the secret panel, look at the contents put them back and leave. This happened about 8 times while we were there.

Apparently I was the only one that did not know of the Treasure Tree.

Life is filled with all kinds of treasures! We should all be finding them daily.

Peace Love and Life.
-curt