HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE CITY OF ROCKS REGION (continued) Buried Treasure
Tales of stage robberies complete with lost loot buried beneath one of the City's rocky crags have formed part of local lore for almost 120 years. Although versions of the robbery differ, most agree that the Kelton stage was robbed circa 1878 of $90,000-200,000 in gold bullion bound for a U.S. military camp in Boise. One bandit (in some accounts, two) was killed in the confrontation. The second was captured days later after reportedly burying the treasure at the base of what soon became known as Treasure Rock a site revealed to his jailers just before his death. The legend is plausible the Albion-Kelton stage was robbed, for example, in 1882 and the robbers captured in the vicinity; so plausible, that by 1929 "dozens of men [had] dug for the treasure. If any one of them discovered it, he has kept the discovery a secret." [128] Since 1880, the Legend of Treasure Rock has provided the "air of wild romance which so readily accord[s] the lonely enclosed landscape." [129]
ciro/hrs/hrs2k.htm Last Updated: 12-Jul-2004 |