Travis Tumlinson

[alan m]

Does anyone have an alternate theory of how Travis Tumlinson acquired the stone tablets?
I just cannot accept that he "STUMBLED UPON THEM IN THE DESERT NEAR QUEEN CREEK"
I have heard that he purchased them from some one who found them in a church in Arizpe
This is also troubling because it strains the imagination that anyone would sell these tablets.
I have discovered some interesting facts concerning the tablets that have convinced me that they are authentic but decyphering them further requires knowing where tumlinson "found" them

Alan

[zentull]

I believe there are a dozen alternate versions including his purchasing them. I remember a John Burbridge letter alluding to the seller having 2 additional maps and he was looking into contacting the guy.

Bob Garmans letters between himself and Robert and Garmans interviews pinpoint the specific areas they were interested in. However again, maybe not an alternate story, but a variation on the tale.

[alan m]

Thank-you for the leads
Alan

[klondike]

Hello Alan,

If you are interested in how Tumlinson came involved in all of this I would seriously look at his family and their connection.

Don Shade in his work, Esperanza:

"The diary also told of an expedition composed of five hundred people, Tumlinson was one of them, who came from Mexico to Arizona in the 1890`s to look for treasure and an exceptionally rich mine. The Mexicans went home empty handed." Page 40. Some folks find Shade`s work a bit fanciful but overall there is a lot of actionable information in it.

Consider that all the maps are real but the trail maps are genuine and with the latin heart and heart insert, coupled with two other maps will take you to a very interesting place. The other maps were intended to be quite real and were made from a topographical map by some very devious folks.

I would be also interested in where they trail maps were made and why they had to be made where they were. Not many folks focus on that and also ask did the creators of the trail maps really know what they were doing, they didn`t.

Anyway good look and keep in mind that there are a lot of trails in this tale. Jacob Walzer was a very interesting fellow.

Klondike

[alan m]

Hello Klondike
Thank-you for the info, Tumlinson has been a difficult person to nail down.
You are right in that most people look past the details but thats where the key elements are and tumlinson had the tablets.
I have discovered some interesting things about the tablets I shall pass on to you.
The horse/witch tablet was made from the same type of stone as were early grave monuments, I compared this with some I studied at Tubac, there are some very old graves there. In an old manuscript from the early 1700's is described the technique of making these monuments...The horse/witch tablet matches the description perfectly!
Have you had the opportunity to view the tablets?
You will notice that it has a wedge shape and is tappered, this is so that it will fit into the recess of the base stone. These were constructed without mortar. Also notice that the top of the tablet has been broken in the same manner as are many early grave markers, funny they seem to all break that way. The rust color stain must be from tumfinsons trunk where he kept them until his brother Robert took them from him for safe keping.
My research has indicated that it was Travis Tumlinsons father who found the Horse/witch tablet in Santa Fe.
Again thank-you for the lead
Alan

[zentull]

I have copies of a number of letters between Bob Garman and Robert Tumlinson that say Travis found 1 map and returned with Robert to find the others at a later date.

Most interesting to me was Roberts discussion that Travis made a number of alterations/additions to the maps so he would be the only one who knew what they originally looked like.

[alan m]

Hello Zentull
Great stuff!
I had always wondered if some of the scratchings on the tablets had been made by someone else, I figured that it was most likely Clarence Mitchell.
The name Miguel carved on the edge of the horse tablet should not be there, I am convinced that this tablet was larger and part has broken off, also the 1847 scratched at the base of the witch figure looks desperate to say the least.
If travis doctored up the tablets what could have been his motive?
Alan

[zentull]

Everting I read has Travis being a bit reluctant to share. Robert wrote how Travis didn't want anyone to see the maps or the few pictures they had taken of them. Garman was being asked by Robert to write their story, but he was frustrated since 1) Travis never spoke with him much and 2) he never saw the maps during that time, just knew what he did from discussions with Robert.

I would have to go back and look through stuff for specific changes that were discussed, but believe just a few were mentioned. The rest are a guessing game.

[klondike]

Hello Alan,

I have really enjoyed your posts. Fascinating.

Have you ever considered that the Trail Maps are fundamentally different than the rest?

The trail Maps have two inserts. One insert that is directional in nature that shows you in a visual way where the trail leads, not where the trail ends. The other insert uses language and signs that one would find in comman usage in portions of Europe around 900A.D.

You see the latin heart is an enigma. Why would one bother to forge a insert and then go to the trouble to use language that was for the lack of a better word dead? A possible answer is there is a place in the Superstitions where such language was recorded and the creator of the maps was simply recording what he saw in an attempt to present the enormity of the discovery.

The other maps are on the other hand are well a bit whimisical. Whoever did these maps had a sense of humour and a copy of a topographical map. A topographical map dated I believe 1906.

Perhaps the Trail Maps were found in the desert where the elder Tumilson left them. Perhaps the others were made somewhere else and the two sets later were mixed together. Have to say there are a number of devious folks in all of this.

Two points to consider:

1. Why do the trail maps and the witches, etc., lead to different places in the Superstitions? Which one to believe. Well I would never trust a witch.

2. Perhaps the trail maps is what the elder Tomilison had in the 1890`s. The other more colorful maps do exactly what they were intended to do lead one away from the prize.

Good luck in your journey.

Klondike

[alan m]

Thanks for the feedback guys
I have been working on the stone tablets for about 4 years solid but was introduced to the in 1977. currently I have a strong indication that they are of Jesuit origin but this puts the record of Tumlinson in jepardy and I am forced to conclude that the story of how he acquired the maps must be somewhat skewed. This is why I am trying to pin it down.
As for there being erronious carvings on the tablets I agree and if tumlinson put them there it must be for the reason you mention. The main point I am focusing on is this;
If tumlinson made up the story of how he found the tablets then he must have uncovered some of the tablets cryptic meaning because he was convinced that they pertained to the Superstition's. I have discovered some strong evidence that links the tablets to them as well and it is not based upon them being found at Queen Creek.
The key to determining what carvings he added and which ones are original rest with knowing how much of the tablets Tumlinson decoded.
As for the latin heart I am at a total lose on this subject and cannot at this time even determine if I think they are real or fake. This puzzle is a series of baby steps.

P.S I missed the 2010 rendesvous at Dons camp, in fact I missed the whole 2010 season of Dutch Hunting, made for a boring holiday.

My best to you all
Alan

[zentull]

We should have the 2011 dates up as soon as Greg, Randy and I meet up in the same place for a few minutes.

[klondike]

Hello Alan,

I would like you to consider the knife on the heart map is pointing to the following coordinates on the Salt River:

N33 34.55
W111.21.27

If this is the case then the heart map works on multiple levels. One level takes you to Boulder Canyon, the other takes you to the vicinity of Coronado Mesa, Horse Mesa, and Barranca Grande. The neighborhood of Oz.

One might say then that the trail Maps are not really two maps but at least four. Throw in a few more and we have a real mess. Or maybe we don`t. It just looks that way.

One might also ask if the location on the Salt River is the end of the trail maps or just the beginning.

Seems like a lot of trouble if this is only about gold.

Klondike

[alan m]

Hello Klondike
Facinating info, I never thought about the area where the knife points but if the maps work on multiple levels, which I am sure you are right, then it would make for an even more convincing argument for thier authenticity. I have discovered that the meaning of many of the tablet symbols pertain to more than one thing and both seem to be valid.
I will look at this more closely. These stones seem to give back much more than they demand.

Alan

[klondike]

Hello Alan,

If you take the coordinates I provided and overlay the trail maps with a topographical map that reflects that coordinate it becomes very obvious quickly that the spot on the Salt River lines up with the heart map and trails and other things become clear very quickly.

But then again they line up with a final destination point of Boulder Canyon. Both conclusions are valid.

For me the trail maps operate much the way a multi-dimensional chess game works.

The horse and witch map are simply put a clever creation tied into a topographical map that takes one on a fine chase. The folks that created those maps are a devious butch.

All are real, the trail maps are authentic.

The knife is pointing to the Salt River because the water was always the way home.

Anyway food for thought.

For some reason all of this reminds me of the fellow who was tearing up the fish creek canyon area looking for the end of trail.

Klondike

[Mike McChesney]

Hey Alan,

What started out several years ago with a stupid question about the Stone Maps turned into an obsession.

I don't know if you believe in the authenticity of the Latin Heart and the Stone Crosses, but if you do, you have to believe Tumlinson's Story.

I seriously researched Travis Tumlinson the man. Not one person who knew him has EVER come forth and said that he was anything but honest.

I highly doubt that he would have lied to his Uncle Robert about them and then drawn him a fake map showing where he found them. He and Robert had a bad falling out over the maps, and if they would have come from anyplace other than where Travis said, Robert would have told on him.

Travis took the freshly found maps to his friend Charlie Miller's home in Apache Junction where Miller helped clean them. Later, Miller told friends that when he was cleaning the stones there were still little roots in the grooves.

Since Tumlinson has never been shown to be anything other than honest, I take his story about finding them at face value.

My biggest problem is that they were all found together. I could see leaving the larger stones in place, but the two key stones (heart and latin heart inserts) should not be there. I think that a big possibility is that whatever they led to was recovered and the stones were dumped on the way out of the mountains. You have to remember that the Jesuits were reinstated worldwide in 1814. That leaves plenty of time to recover their treasure.

Travis Tumlinson wrote a manuscript in which he detailed finding the stones. After he and his wife died, their daughter (Janey) went to Texas to live with relatives. The manuscript might have gone with her. It has never been publicly seen. There is a chance that Clarence Mitchell got it and used it to help him write his book Superstition Treasures using the pen name "Travis Marlowe".

Best-Mike

[alan m]

Hello Mike
You and I share an obsession!
I am in total agreement that the tablets should not have been found together, just a couple of monsoon seasons in Arizona will convince anyone that the tablets should have ben spread out and washed away long ago.
I recall however that the stone crosses and the latin heart had been found some time later after the tablets passed on to Clarence Mitchell. I agree that there is no reason to suspect Tumlinson of anything other than honesty, unfortunatly the same is a streatch for Clarence Mitchell.
I have done some serious research into the history of the Jesuits back to thier beginning and am also convinced that there is a treasure hidden within the Superstitions and that the Jesuits had something to do with it.
It is facinating that all of the German Jesuits from the time period of 1736 to 1750 requested specifically to be sent to Sonora and that even when a Spanish governor requested that two German Jesuits stay and serve in Havanna, His request was DENIED.
There is so much circumstantial evidence that it defiies statistics.
I have concluded that the stone tablets are of Jesuit origin from around 1790 and that they pertaine to a treasure of 934 pounds of gold. It is hidden so well that you could stand on top of it and not be able to tell that anything had ever been disturbed.
This treasure will never be accedently found. Only by a complete decipherment of the tablets can the treasure be located.
All of this extensive work done to hide the treasure indicates that it was the Jesuits original intention of hiding it and they expected it to remain hidden for a very long time.
Thank-you for the info
Best Regards
Alan

[Mike McChesney]

Hello Mike
You and I share an obsession!
I am in total agreement that the tablets should not have been found together, just a couple of monsoon seasons in Arizona will convince anyone that the tablets should have ben spread out and washed away long ago.
I recall however that the stone crosses and the latin heart had been found some time later after the tablets passed on to Clarence Mitchell. I agree that there is no reason to suspect Tumlinson of anything other than honesty, unfortunatly the same is a streatch for Clarence Mitchell.
I have done some serious research into the history of the Jesuits back to thier beginning and am also convinced that there is a treasure hidden within the Superstitions and that the Jesuits had something to do with it.
It is facinating that all of the German Jesuits from the time period of 1736 to 1750 requested specifically to be sent to Sonora and that even when a Spanish governor requested that two German Jesuits stay and serve in Havanna, His request was DENIED.
There is so much circumstantial evidence that it defiies statistics.
I have concluded that the stone tablets are of Jesuit origin from around 1790 and that they pertaine to a treasure of 934 pounds of gold. It is hidden so well that you could stand on top of it and not be able to tell that anything had ever been disturbed.
This treasure will never be accedently found. Only by a complete decipherment of the tablets can the treasure be located.
All of this extensive work done to hide the treasure indicates that it was the Jesuits original intention of hiding it and they expected it to remain hidden for a very long time.
Thank-you for the info
Best Regards
Alan

Alan,

With all your research, you have a very serious flaw in your supposition:

"I have concluded that the stone tablets are of Jesuit origin from around 1790"

There were no Jesuits in 1790 (other than Russia, Prussia, and a very few other places). They were suppressed from all Spanish holdings in 1767 (with roundups in the remote areas into 1768). By 1769, every Jesuit from Spanish Lands was in prison in Europe. They were suppressed worldwide by Pope Clement XIV in 1773. The Order was reinstated in 1814. I don't think 1790 works.

Best-Mike

[alan m]

Hello Mike
Yea 1790 does not work very well, but there were some Jesuits who were not banished in 1767, namely the ones in California. It seems that any Jesuits who would have escaped being captured would have made for California. But I admit that it is a weak argument.
The extensive trail markers in the Superstitions as well as the evidence of large scale mining activity could only have been accomplished between 1790 and 1810 when General Hugh O'Connor was conducting his very succesful campaign against the Apache.
With that said, the information encrypted in the stone tablets could have only come from the Jesuits. A SERIOUS CONTRADICTION to be sure.
God I love a puzzle!
Best Regards
Alan

[Cubfan64]

The extensive trail markers in the Superstitions as well as the evidence of large scale mining activity could only have been accomplished between 1790 and 1810 when General Hugh O'Connor was conducting his very succesful campaign against the Apache.
With that said, the information encrypted in the stone tablets could have only come from the Jesuits.

Those seem like VERY bold statements to make without much to back them up.

[Joe Ribaudo]

Alan,

"With that said, the information encrypted in the stone tablets could have only come from the Jesuits."

I'm kinda in the same boat as Paul here. Can you provide some kind of supporting evidence for the above quote? Why not the Franciscans?

Thanks,

Joe Ribaudo

[alan m]

Hello
The evidence for mining activity comes from James Bark, Sims Ely, and Barry Storm.
Tom Kollenborn has confirmed many of these.
The mesquite stumps on horse mesa, the arrastras at Aylors camp along with the charcoal kilns. Then there is the man made water system on top of Bluff Springs Mountain discovered by Glenn Magill and the remains of a large corral.
There was also a cave discovered with hundreds of hand made sandals, a bronze cross found in a shallow cave was obviously a miners shrine.
Then lets not forget the numerous accounts of gold having been found in the mountains, gold that was "loose" and not associated with a mine, having been dropped along the trail from the mine to the arrastras. All of this is well documented in the numerous well known books on the LDM.
As for the trail markers, Charles Kenworthy provides a good representation of most of the ones in the Superstitions and I have seen and photographed many of the ones that can be seen along First Water Trail. I have even discovered and photographed ones that have yet to be described by anyone including defensive walls that were not built by Indians or ranchers and appear to be very old.
As for the Jesuits or Fransiscans, I can only say that again the only time that these could have been surveyed and constructed was when the Apache had been pacified by General Hugh O'Connor, unless they are even earlier, then it would have to be around 1736, prior to the Apache claiming the Superstitions as thier own.
I do not think that the Fransiscans were in the area long enough to accomplish this.
The skill and knowledge needed to survey the trails was taught by the Jesuits in thier universities and it was Kino who accomplished the first practical mapping of Pimeria Alta.
If this does not convince you then I concede.
Best Regards
Alan

[Joe Ribaudo]

Alan,

Well it does not, but that's an impressive list of well worn stories. I believe you left Hawkeye out of the mix.

All is all, a nice job.

Good luck,

Joe Ribaudo

[Cubfan64]

I won't argue the mining activity, although "large scale" may be open to interpretation.

As far as the Jesuit involvement in the making of the Stone Maps, admittedly I haven't seen as much out there physically as many of you, but can't see a direct line between the two.

[alan m]

Hello Mike
The 934 pounds figure is a typing error, it should be 924.6
If you place the heart stone into the heart cavity so that the six zero's can be seen, it forms the number 1000000, reading the whole upper tablet results in 1000000 R
The letter R comming from the upper right hand corner.
Taking this letter R to stand for Reales yields 1000000 Reales. But the Reale is a monitary unit for silver, not gold so we must find a common unit that applies to both silver and gold since it is gold that is so blatently indicated on the tablets.
8 Reales = 1 Peso
80 Pesos = 1 Mark
1.69 Marks = 1 Pound Troy
1 Mark = 640 Reales
1000000 Reales = 1,562.5 Marks
1,562.5 Marks = 924.6 Pounds Troy
At approximatly 10 pound troy per bar this would mean 92 to 93 bars of gold.
This is exactly how the Jesuits encrypt information in thier letters
Hidden in plain sight and this conversion is explicitly described in Pefferkorns book.
Why?
In order to succesfully recover the treasure, you need to know how much there is so that you can bring enough pack animals and supplies for the recovery and subsequint transport home.
Best Regards
Alan

[Mike McChesney]

Alan

Be careful putting a lot of faith in those zeros!

In the Peck Letters, his investigator states that Tumlinson carved some extra symbols into the stones. Specifically the six zeros.

Best-Mike