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Knowing that a posse
would be quickly in pursuit, the
outlaws headed west towards the
City of Rocks
near the Idaho-Utah
border. Planning to bury their cache and then blend in with many
travelers along the trail. However, after burying the stolen gold, a
Brigham City posse caught up with them at Birch Creek near the
City of Rocks.
As the posse grew close, Long threw down his gun, trying to surrender. However, his partner opened fire and naturally, the posse fired back,
killing Ed Long in the process.
After a long gunfight,
Long’s wounded partner was finally captured and taken to a nearby stage
station where his wounds were dressed. Though thoroughly questioned,
he refused to divulge where they had hidden the stolen gold.
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Early stagecoach.
This image available for
photographic prints
and downloads
HERE!
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He was
then transported to
Utah,
where it was found that he was a wanted man in
Texas.
Turning him over to the
Texas
authorities, the nameless man maintained his silence and there is no
record of the treasure ever having been found. Two years later, the
Portneuf
Canyon Stage Robbery took place in nearly the same place as had Ed
Long’s. Many believe that the gold taken from the robbery was also
hidden in or near the
City of Rocks. Valued at some $86,000 at the time, it would be worth more than $1.6
million today.
Though the
transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869, stage and freight lines
continued to run from the northern goldmines to the depot at Kelton,
Utah ,
some 40 miles southeast of the
City of Rocks.
In 1878, a stage bound
for a U.S. military camp in Boise was robbed along the near Goose Creek, a
few miles north of the
City of Rocks. The treasure, valued between $90,000-200,000 at the time, was so heavy
with gold bullion, it had to be dragged. A posse was soon on the
trail following the tracks made by the laden strongbox, which led to the
City of Rocks
before disappearing. One of the
outlaws was killed in the inevitable confrontation and the other was
captured days later. Thought to have buried the cache at the base of
what is now known as Treasure Rock, he later died in prison without ever
having revealed the exact location of the stolen loot.
There are other records
of a holdup that occurred near Oakley,
Idaho that
netted five
outlaws about $100,000 in gold. Followed by a posse, they were
trailed to a box canyon in the
City of Rocks,
where all five were killed in the ensuring gunfight. The stolen loot
was never found.
Other tales abound of
more stage robbery loot and even treasure from a couple of train robberies
being hidden in the rocky crags and among the giant granite boulders of
the
City of Rocks.
Over the years, the
Portneuf
Canyon area became so notorious for its many hold-ups; it was
variously described as Robber’s Roost and Hell’s Half Acre. The
local lore of these many hidden treasures have been the discussion of many
for well over a century and numerous accounts have been recorded of those
who have attempted to retrieve the treasures over the years.
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On one such occasion, a
man named Leander Whittaker, a resident of Newton,
Idaho, was
approached by a stranger from
Texas
who claimed to have met Ed Long in a prison there. Whittaker was an
old acquaintance of Long, having been the horse tender at the Woodland
Stage Station when Long was a stage driver. The Texan asked
Whittaker to help him find the hidden treasure which, he alleged Long had
told him the location before he died. Though the pair spent many
days in the
City of Rocks
looking for the hidden cache, they came away empty handed. After
returning to Newton, Whittaker found out the stranger was a wanted in
Texas
on seven counts of murder and was much relieved when he finally left the
area.
Another man known as
Glovemaker Jim who had been a Rocky Mountain Trapper since the 1830’s also
tried to find the Ed Long cache. Spending the entire summer of 1873
looking for the stolen gold near the Twin Sister Boulders, he found
nothing.
By the 1930’s dozens of
men had dug for the hidden treasures at the
City of Rocks. However, if anyone ever discovered anything, they kept it a secret.
©
Kathy Weiser/Legends
of America, updated February, 2009.
Readers' Comments:
I enjoyed reading the articles about lost
treasures. One I found most interesting was the massacre at
Almo Creek near the
City of Rocks.
I disagree with the writer's assessment that the story is fiction. My
great Grandmother Wickel was a small child when her family came to the
Almo area on Mormon Wagon trains in the 1800's. She often told me stories
of when they arrived, they found what was left of a wagon train and dead
settlers that had been massacred by
Indians.
The family and other settlers then buried the dead and began to homestead.
My grandmother's family built a cabin and turned the massacre site
into a pasture, swearing never to plow or try to farm that area. My
grandmother told me that after the settlers built a small school, she had
to step over grave mounds as she walked to school. My grandmother married
a Ward and raised a family on Connor Creek, west of Elba,
Idaho. Many
Wards and Wickels still live in that area. - Dennis, Twin Falls,
Idaho,
June, 2008
Return to Idaho
Treasure Tales |
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Register Rock
in Goose Creek Mountains on the old
Emigrant Road, 1860's, courtesy Library of
Congress.
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Note: This article is
provided for entertainment purposes only. It is illegal to treasure
hunt on National Park and Monument land. In fact, it is illegal to even
have a metal detector in your vehicle.
Legends of America does
not condone the breaking of any federal or state laws, nor does it condone
treasure hunting on any property without receiving the proper
permissions.
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