By Jay W. Eby

There are many legends of treasure and gold in Sycamore Canyon on the boundary between the Prescott and Coconino National Forests in northern Yavapai County.  An early tale is of an Indian, I presume a Yavapai, who lived at Camp Verde.  It is told that he always had money to spend.  When his resources began to wane he would go to Sycamore Canyon and return with a gold nugget, never two or three, one gold nugget.  He never told anyone where he got them or how.  All attempts to follow him to the source failed.  He died with his secret intact.

It is said that there was once a Spanish Village on the side of Black Mountain and at this village gold was smelted.  When I first came to the area there were active mining claims on the east side of Black Mountain, but no rich men there.  An old cowboy, Doc McCauley, told me that his friend, not him, was gathering stock on the west slope of Black Mountain one fall.  He was in the deep brush when he heard his horse’s shoe hit metal.  He saw but could not later locate the arrastra that his horse had jumped over.

It is also said that if you are alone in Sycamore Canyon and sit very quietly you will hear the bells from the village’s old mission church.  But they never come from the same location.  I have tested this story.  I have sat by myself for long periods in Sycamore Canyon.  I can hear the ringing of the bells, but I think they were within my ears.

The stories of Spanish mines in this area are many.  They usually end with the Indians rebelling, the Spaniards hiding the gold, and returning to Spain with a map of the treasure trove.

There is a story told by a nephew of Domingo Alverez. The story is that Domingo’s grandfather came from Spain, married in Mexico and came to the Verde River with a map of the treasure.  He lived here and raised nine children on this claim.  While here he went to the cave across the river and drilled a tunnel below the entrance, presumably to gain access to the cave at a different level.  The roof of the cave has fallen in to block the lower levels. It is said that within the cave there was a flat stone that had a diagram of the location of the treasure within the cave.

Two “prospectors” named Tom and Jerry lived at the Packard Place at the mouth of Sycamore Canyon long ago.  They filed mining claims on a number of locations in Sycamore Canyon only to have the Forest Service contest them and have the claims declared null and void.  They would then move the markers and again file their claim and the process would start over.

These men had come to Sycamore Canyon as veterans of WWII and lived alone in this remote area as caretakers of this tract for Phelps-Dodge.  They had found a fissure in the side of the canyon that had soot accumulations on it and they believed that they were from torches used by the Indians in the excavation.  This fissure had been back-filled by the Spaniards after they had hidden the treasure.

It also is told that these men had found a breastplate of Spanish armor at this location and that it is on display at a Museum in California.

Tom and Jerry had abandoned the attempt to clean out the back fill and had gone to the other side of the rock formation and began to tunnel through to intercept the fissure and locate the treasure.  They built a road up Sycamore to Parsons Spring and hauled in compressors and tools for the dig.  The entrance to their works is still visible in Sycamore Canyon.

Most of these tales center around the mining by the Spanish near what is now Jerome.  There is one story that says that the old man Marian A. Perkins knew of the location of the mine and that it was on his ranch north of the Verde River across and up stream from the railroad tunnel.  This is plausible since the large Black Canyon fault that runs through Jerome and helped form Horseshoe Canyon ends at this location north of the Verde.

I would sell my copy of the Sycamore Creek treasure map for a bargain price.  But only to you.  I need the cash to pay off the debt that I have incurred looking for this treasure.

(Days Past is a collaborative project of the Sharlot Hall Museum and the Prescott Corral of Westerners, International (www.prescottcorral.org). The public is encouraged to submit articles for Days Past consideration. Please contact Assistant Archivist, Scott Anderson, at SHM Archives 928-445-3122 or via email at archivesrequest@sharlothallmuseum.org for information.)