Forrest Fenn is breaching his treasure contract

Regarding the Journal North’s Aug. 2 editorial “A dud of an ending (so far) to Fenn’s treasure hunt”:

On June 4, a sheriff’s deputy served famed treasure Quest sponsor Forrest Fenn with my Arizona federal contract lawsuit. Right after process service, Fenn suddenly “ended” the Quest he knows I solved two years ago when I also presented the solution in person to New Mexico State Police.

Fenn’s short Quest poem is a written contract. Typically, contracts entail pay for performance. Fenn’s is no different. The poem is a unilateral reward contract, open to public participation, explicitly promising treasure entitlement for performance of a specific act. By contracting to “give title” in the poem’s last line, Fenn pledged treasure custody — to be able to “give title.” The widely misperceived Quest is not a scavenger hunt for treasure Fenn, by contract, never abandoned. The treasure recently was “found” in Wyoming by an anonymous custodian.

The act of contractual performance is finding the location or spot where the Quest poem leads. That spot is a rocky, brushy riverbank west of the Uncompahgre River, under a cliff face on Abrams Mountain south of Ouray, Colorado, a short hike from trail parking near U.S. 550. Its Google Maps “red pin” coordinates are (37.986555, -107.647828).

As the contract plainly indicates, no treasure is found there. My landscape photo of the riverbank matches the drawing in Fenn’s memoir’s epilogue by overlay, proving solution. This and other evidence is filed in court. Thus, the treasure to be entitled apparently is “found” in Wyoming, but the Quest solution or contract performance spot is in Colorado.

The jig is up. Fenn’s goal was fame, but against Fenn’s wishes and expectations, I solved the Quest. No genuine mystery remains — only Fenn’s petulant breach of contract. The March searcher death and rescue incident in Dinosaur National Monument was particularly appalling.

Like retired State Police Chief Kassetas, I ask Fenn to stop this nonsense and to cure breach by title transfer, as agreed in writing. Otherwise, I must enforce the contract in court. BRIAN ERSKINE Prescott, Arizona