THE TURQUOISE CLAIM
©2000 by Mae Ondracek
Gasping for
breath, Mike grabbed the edge of the mountaintop and flung one leg over. The other leg followed and Mike dropped down
to rest, thinking, ‘This is getting to be too much for a man my age. I just have to get that road built up this
mountain side!’
Mike surveyed
his mountaintop filled with turquoise.
It had been a stroke of luck learning about the claim. He had been talking with some BLM men and the
conversation turned to mining. Mike
mentioned he was looking for a turquoise claim to purchase and Rick Mayors, the
head ranger, said he knew of only one that might be available soon. The man had until Wednesday
Of course Mike
was interested and wanted to see the claim but the rangers were to busy to
leave the office and the claim was over 100 miles north. They wouldn’t be able to take him there until
Thursday, providing the man didn’t show up with the money.
For three
days, Mike hardly slept. He was hoping
the guy wouldn’t show up with the money.
Turquoise was his favorite gemstone and he seemed destined to get this
claim. On Thursday morning, Mike was
waiting at the BLM office when Rick showed up and Mike quickly asked, “Did the
guy come by?”
“No,” Rick
answered, “We never heard from him but something else came up and no one will
be able to take you to the claim so you can look it over first.”
“Heck, I don’t
want to look it over first. I want to
buy it, now!”
Rick asked,
“You sure you don’t want to see the claim first? It’s not underground, but on top of a 3,000
foot high mountain and there is no road going up.”
Mike replied,
“Well, if it isn’t straight up, I can make it.
I’m a rock hound, so I mountain climb often. If you have the contract and maps ready, I
have the cash.”
As Rick handed
him the contract to read, he laughed and said, “Oh, by the way. This mountain is the one where the pirate,
One Eye, is supposed to have buried his treasure and no one has found it
yet. Look carefully, you might get an
added bonus.”
“Another old
wives tale, I suppose. I don’t believe
in that kind of thing.” Mike added, “I
only want the turquoise.”
Mike read over
the contract, signed the papers and felt like a kid on Christmas morning. He had a turquoise claim. Wow!
Now all he had to do was find it.
Thanking the ranger, Mike headed down the road. It didn’t take him long to find the right
mountain and as he stood at the base looking up, he thought, ‘Maybe that wasn’t
such a good idea, buying before seeing.’
But he was
determined to see if there was turquoise up there, so he grabbed his backpack,
rock hammer, staff, and water. Going up
this mountain wasn’t as easy as others he had climbed. Sometimes it was two steps up and three steps
down, resting quite often. Finally he
decided he had better study the mountain layout before going any further. Mike seen he had to attack at an upward
slant, not straight up. He also had been
rushing and that never accomplishes anything.
So Mike slowed down, taking his time and carefully walking sideways,
which saved a lot of steps because he didn’t back slide so often.
Over an hour
later, Mike reached the top and peered over the rim. Catching a glimpse of the turquoise, he
couldn’t believe his good luck in buying this claim. The climb was bad but the turquoise was many
beautiful shades, which made the climb all worthwhile.
Mike climbed
over the rim, rested, then hammered away, filling his
backpack with the best smaller specimens.
Suddenly he
heard a funny buzzing sound near his head and he looked up. Staring him in the face was a pilot in a type
of airplane Mike had never seen before.
He hadn’t heard the plane approaching but here it was, upside down, and
the pilot was smiling and waving at him.
Mike waved back as the pilot righted the plane and disappeared, not
making a sound. Mike wondered where the
plane had come from and why the pilot was checking him out. He’d check on the plane later and it was soon
forgotten as Mike carefully made his way back down the mountain with his pack
of turquoise.
Almost every
day for two weeks, Mike made his way up to the claim and brought down his
backpack full of turquoise. But it
seemed like it was taking him longer and longer each time to reach the
top. This time as Mike flopped over the
rim, he thought, ‘This is it. I just
have to get a road built up to here.’
Mike asked
several men that owned big caterpillars, but they only laughed at him, saying
they weren’t crazy enough to build a road up a mountain. So Mike was sure he’d have to buy a Cat and
build the road himself, but where would he get that kind of money? He purchased a 3-wheeler and charted how the
road would circle the mountain up to his claim.
Everything was working out great and Mike was able to bring more and
larger pieces of turquoise out at a time.
He was happy with his road plans, but one day while heading up to the
top, he was concentrating on the road project and didn’t see the rock that had
rolled down into his path. The 3-wheeler
hit the rock head on, flipping over, as it and Mike rolled down the
mountainside. The 3-wheeler came to rest
on Mike’s legs and he thought, ‘I’m done for.
My legs must be broken and no one knows I came up here,’
Cautiously he
moved his toes and then each leg. Why,
it was a miracle, nothing seemed to be broken, so he sat up the best he could
and started moving rocks out of the way until he could pull himself free. His legs were sore and his whole body ached
from the fall but he was thankful that nothing had broken.
After checking
out the 3-wheeler, Mike decided it was totaled and now he wondered if maybe, he
should give up the whole idea and offer the claim to someone else. ‘Man, I could have been killed,’ he thought
again.
Picking up his
equipment, Mike started limping down the mountain. He turned for another look at the 3-wheeler
and wondered why his legs hadn’t been crushed when it landed on him.
Perhaps it was
only a glimpse, a glimmer, maybe, but Mike limped back towards the
3-wheeler. Something had definitely
caught his eye and was out of place near the front wheel. Stooping over, Mike picked up a round object
and rubbed it clean on his pants leg.
His eyes grew wide as he thought, ‘Maybe that wasn’t an old wives tale
after all. This coin is dated 1750.’
The wheel had
stopped when it hit the soft dirt under the rocks. That’s why his legs hadn’t been crushed. Mike was beginning to be thankful to ole One
Eye, the pirate. Mike carefully scratched
near the wheel and came up with a few more coins but decided he didn’t want the
3-wheeler coming down on him again, so he put rocks around the wheels, went
down to his car and drove home to examine his coins.
Mike wanted to
tell someone about his find but whom could he trust? He was sure they would head up to where the
3-wheeler was and dig out the coins.
No, he couldn’t trust anyone!
Mike was sore
and out of commission for a week but he couldn’t stay away from his new find
any longer. Thinking, maybe there was a
lot more coins there. Taking water and
some equipment, he headed back up to where the 3-wheeler was; glad to see it
hadn’t slipped down during the week he was laid up. Mike poked and prodded near the front wheel
and a few more coins appeared along with tattered pieces of cloth. In his excitement, Mike forgot to be careful
until the 3-wheeler started to slide.
Mike winched with pain as he jumped out of the way and watched the
3-wheeler roll down to the base of the mountain.
Mike filled
his backpack with coins, marked the spot with his staff and went home. He put the coins in a box and shoved it under
his bed. The next day he went out for
another look at that hole. He took a
small shovel with him and now he carefully moved away the dirt, examining each
shovel full before tossing it aside. He
soon had the backpack full again but the next time he pushed in the shovel, he
hit something hard. Mike became excited
but it would have to wait. He was to
tired and sore to look any further and it was getting dark, so he marked the
spot and headed home.
Mike rested
for two days because his back and legs hurt very much, but he kept wondering if
he had hit a rock or something else. The
next day Mike didn’t know what to take along in case it was a box and he had no
way to get it down to his truck, if he could even move it out of the hole.
Mike dug out a
few shovelfulls of dirt and it was enough to see that it was a box. He was shaking with excitement and dug
frantically until the box was half uncovered and he could see the clasp; it was
still locked. One little tap with his
rock hammer and the lock broke. As Mike
lifted the lid, he nearly fell backwards down the mountain because the box was
filled with beautiful jewelry, a crown, more coins, and a couple of gold
goblets.
As Mike held
the crown up, the sunlight glittered off the emeralds, rubies, and diamonds
that circled the band. Going up each
point were blue sapphires with a diamond on the points. Mike thought to himself, ‘man that alone must
be worth millions.’
There were
beautiful gold and silver chains, some plain and some with gems encrusted on
them. He held up one gold chain with a
three-inch circle hanging from it that was an interesting medallion and all
colors of tiny gemstones inlayed around it.
It fairly took his breath away.
Mike slowly
lifted a strand of pearls and was surprised to see that it was over three feet
long. On close inspection, he seen that
each pearl was on a separate small loop attached to a gold chain. Strand after strand of beautiful gemstone
necklaces. ‘Where had it all come from?’
Mike wondered.
Mike carefully
filled his backpack and made his way down to the truck. Thankful that he had had enough sense to put
a few boxes and an old blanket in the backend, he carefully wrapped the crown
in the blanket and transferred the jewelry to a box inside the cab.
After several
more trips up to the box, Mike was able to pull it free from the hole, but
still unable to lift and carry it down the mountain. He was surprised at how heavy jewelry could
be.
He filled the
backpack with coins and was then able to half carry and half slide the box down
to his truck. He had had the foresight
to put a wench on his truck to help get him out of soft dirt or holes whenever
he got stuck and now Mike circled the treasure box with the chain and hoisted
it onto the truck bed.
He was a very
tired man at this point, but knew he shouldn’t leave the hole
open like that, so one more trip up the mountainside solved that problem and he
even threw some rocks over the newly packed dirt, to make it look natural.
Then Mike sat
down for a few minutes to rest and thought how fortunate he was to have
stumbled onto such a great find. Now he
would have enough money to buy a Cat and learn how to operate it. Mike had completely forgotten about the road
he was going to build up to his claim until this moment and he was happy to
know that he could now obtain his dream.
He was also thankful that the pilot hadn’t returned.
Mike enjoyed
looking at everything, then wrapped a few pieces of jewelry in handkerchiefs,
added some coins and put it all in his backpack. He headed to the city to find a reputable
jeweler. The jewelers were curious and asked Mike a lot of questions. All he would tell them was that he had found
it on his land. Once they evaluated the
jewelry and coins, Mike had no problem selling any of the pieces. He just couldn’t believe his dream was coming
true.
Mike spent the
afternoon shopping until he found just the Cat he needed and asked for lessons
on how to operate all the levers. After
making sure he knew what he was doing, Mike asked to have the Cat delivered the
next week.
As Mike sat on the Cat seat, he looked up at
the mountaintop and said, “I have you beat now,” and he started the slow
process of building the road that would circle the mountain up to his turquoise
claim.