The Legend of Montezuma's Treasure

In February of 1519 Hernan Cortes landed his fleet of eleven ships near what is today Vera Cruz, Mexico. The local ruler, Montezuma, sent gifts to them believing them to be the prophecy of the Aztec legend Quetzalcoatl, the sun god that was foretold to appear in the year 1519 - a nice coincidence for Cortes. A legend that stated the sun god would return to the Aztec lands to sit upon the throne, and he would have shining hair and white skin.

Well, the gifts only showed the Spaniards that where there was some, there must be more. Cortes and a large group of local tribesmen fed up with the Aztecs, reached the capital of Tenochtitlan on November 18th of that year and were welcomed with a ceremony fit for the Gods. Montezuma again gave more treasures to the Spanish.

The Spaniards turned on Montezuma, putting him under house arrest and taking over the palace. They found rooms full of gold, silver, and gems. Such treasures as golden statues of animals, idols, masks, and many other priceless artifacts. Every man would be rich from their share, but it wasn’t enough. Cortes wanted every bit of treasure, even what little personal jewelry the people wore and he had heard of the fabled city of gold, El Dorado – he wanted to be taken there. So he and his men brutalized the people of Tenochtitlan.

Eventually the Aztecs had enough of this treatment and rebelled against the Spaniards in June of 1520. Cortes paraded Montezuma out onto the steps of his palace to have him placate his people. Well, the Aztecs ended up stoning Montezuma to death. They then turned that fury once again to the Spanish, who were forced to leave most of the treasure behind and flee. It was said that so many died, a person could walk across the cities canals on the corpses. The Spanish called it la noche triste, the sad night.

Cortes regrouped and obtained even more local allies of the Tlaxcalan tribe and returned on August 13, 1521. They captured the new King, Cuauhtemoc, and literally held his feet against a fire to get him to confess where the treasure was, as the rooms full of gold they had seen last year were gone. Cauhtemoc would only say they threw it to the bottom of a lake. Cortes turned his rage against the common people, who only said the treasure was taken north and hidden at the bottom of a lake.

Cortes would search nearly 5,000 lakes in his quest to find the treasure. He never did.

The story told by Aztec descendants is that after the Spanish were driven out, the high priests knew that they would be back. So they had slaves carry the body of Montezuma and the treasure and departed. The priests and the remaining warriors, numbering around 2,000, left the city and headed north. It is said they traveled many moons in a north-northwesterly direct until they came to the base of a great mountain at the edge of a desert. There they hid the treasure, and killed all the slaves.

Flash forward to September 8th, 1867. James White drifts ashore near the Mormon town of Rioville – where the Colorado and Virgin rivers meet. He had lashed himself to three logs and managed to survive the rapids, apparently the first white man known to do so. White was delirious and near death, but the Mormons managed to nurse him back to health over the next few weeks.

White was able to piece his tale together and his story was incredible. He was in a group of men prospecting for gold in Western Colorado, somewhere around Moab and Grand Junction, when his party was attacked by natives. White and a companion were able to escape. Not knowing the area, they decided that going down river was the best option and so made a raft out of logs. Well, the raft broke apart on the first rapids they met, and his companion and all the supplies were lost.

He didn’t remember much as he clung to the logs, but he remembered washing up on a shore with steep canyon walls. There was a cave there, and he was exhausted and hot, so the cool cave was where he fell asleep. He didn’t know how long he was asleep, but he had been awakened by Native men carrying torches. The torches illuminated a magnificent treasure! Statues and masks made of silver, gold, and turquoise. Piles of gold bars and precious gems.

White thought that they were going to kill him. But they fed him and nursed him back into health before sending him on his way down river again. He never tried to go back and find that cave again, no matter how many people asked him. Nobody thought a person would give up on a treasure like that, so they just said that it was a tale he dreamed up while delirious. Over time his tale was mainly forgotten.

When a newspaper reporter got wind of the story, he showed White some photos of Aztec figures – which White confirmed were like what he saw.

Move forward again to 1902. A solo prospector named Jake Johnson was working an area in the Utah badlands south of St. George when he broke his leg. He was found by a local Paiute man who, and in exchange for Johnson’s gear, would help him. He was brought back to the Paiute’s home, whose squaw took care of him.

One time while the man was out hunting, a mountain lion attacked the squaw. Even though his leg was broken, Johnson was able to kill the mountain lion and save her. With this act he became like a brother to the Paiute man. During the night, the man would tell Johnson stories of his people. One tale was of a huge treasure that had been hidden for hundreds of years.

The story was that a large band of organized and warlike men had traveled here from the south, bring with them slaves dragging boxes covered in animal skins. These men went to the Grand Canyon and descended into it from the south rim. They put their animal skin covered boxes in a cave near the bottom and then killed all the slaves. Half the men remained as guards, while the other half returned to the south. Many years went by and no one returned.

The guards married local Paiute women and told great tales of a vast empire of cities to the south. That the treasure must be guarded until their king returns to claim his treasure. He would bring great prosperity to the Paiute if it was protected. Death if it was missing.

At first, Johnson thought it was just a tale told around the fire. But if it was true he could become rich! He decided he would ask this man to show him the cave, because Johnson had saved his squaw. After thinking about it for a few days the Paiute man said that if they were both alive in a year he would bring him to the cave.

Johnson wrote a letter to his brother, telling him to meet him in northern Arizona at Pipe Spring in September of 1903. The Man and his squaw showed up, but were angry that his brother was here as the deal was for him alone. But Johnson managed to calm things down and they agreed to the demand that they could only take as much treasure as they could carry.

After a day’s ride to the south the brothers were then blindfolded for four more days of riding, this time east because of how the sun felt. That night they were told that the cave was close and travelling would be by foot now. Three hours or so of walking later and they felt the air cool, so they knew they had entered a cavern. A few more minutes of walking and the blindfolds were removed. Torches were lit and the group descended further into the cave, always downward, until they reached a large room. Their torches shone over a vast fortune! The Paiutes urged them to take what they wanted and get out.

The Johnson brothers could tell they were at the bottom of the canyon because they saw an entrance with a sand beach, but they didn’t know if they came down a cave from the rim, or if they had entered from an entrance along a sheer wall. It was dark by the time they got out of the cave.

After managing to get back to Pipe Spring, they headed over to Salt Lake City where they sold their treasures for over $15,000 each!

Using some of that money to buy the best gear possible, they returned to look for the cave. Dreams of being rich beyond measure were at the forefront of their thoughts. But it wouldn’t be so. They searched for that year and the next, but after a while the land all looked the same to them. They ended up buying cattle ranches in southern Utah with occasional trips to go search the canyon.

In 1907 they wrote an article for the Salt Lake Mining Review telling their tale. Which set off a fury of other treasure hunters. None had any success, but it did set the legend into history. Of course, there are tales of it being elsewhere as well.

By these accounts, the treasure should be around the area known as Marble Canyon, AZ. Anyone want to go check it out?

What do you guys think? Is there any truth to the legend, or was it just some story that was told around the campfire?

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