The Lost Adams - 6

Adams and the miners spent two weeks in the secret Apache canyon, collecting the bountiful gold within, before their supplies began to run low. Adams picked John Brewer to lead six men to Fort Wingate to trade for what they needed, and expected their return in about 8 days. Meanwhile, the treasure stash under the cabin's hearthstone was quickly growing, and it is estimated they had gathered more than $100,000 in gold nuggets, with the Apaches keeping a distant but watchful eye on them the while, lest they break the agreement and wander into sacred ground above the falls.

However, less than a week later, one of the men confided to Adams that he had indeed been above the falls, and presented a gold nugget the size of an egg as proof. He gave it to Adams, revealing that the streams above the falls were teaming with the treasure. Adams apparently gave the man a stern warning, but the next day was shown a whole coffee pot-full of nuggets that had been collected from the upper stream. Adams forbade him from trespassing again, but it is unclear whether he had been above the falls only once before, or often; and whether the wreckless miner even heed the warning afterward.

Regardless, the damage was done. When Brewer's party failed to return in time, Adams and Bill Davidson rode to the mouth of the zig-zagged canyon to look for a sign of them, and the sign would spell doom for the expedition. At the canyon mouth the discovered supplies scattered, horses dead and bodies, dead and scalped. The supply run had made it to Fort Wingate, but not back to camp. As they rushed back to camp, the heard mingled screams and war cries in the distance...