Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Treasure hunters find only death in search of $2m cache of gold
COOKE CITY, Montana: Jeff Murphy disappeared through the northern gates of Yellowstone National Park in the US on a bright morning last year.
The 53-year-old had travelled from the Chicago suburbs and his planned hike up a mountain trail should have taken about half a day. But as the hours passed and no one heard from him, his wife reported him missing.
Park workers mounted a massive search operation. On June 9, rescuers found Murphy’s body at the bottom of a steep slope.
For months officials offered little information about Murphy’s death. But this week a local news station confirmed what some suspected – Mur- phy died, as have at least three others in recent years, in a quest for treasure that a millionaire said he buried in 2010.
Reporters from KULR said they obtained a private report from park investigators showing Murphy had set out in search of a cache of gold and jewels antiquities dealer Forrest Fenn says he hid somewhere in the Rocky Mountains.
Fenn, an eccentric in his 80s who lives in New Mexico, claims a small chest, supposedly filled with $2 million in riches, is stashed at an elevation above 1 500m between Santa Fe and the Canadian border. A poem in his 2010 memoir offers clues.
The challenge has drawn thousands of people. No one has come back rich. But some have died searching.
In early 2016, Randy Bilyeu ventured into the New Mex- ican wilds, determined to track down the prize. Six months later, officials pulled his remains from the Rio Grande.
Just weeks later, 52-year-old pastor Paris Wallace died during a trek into the mountains in search of the chest.
Shortly afterwards, 31-yearold Eric Ashby went rafting along the Arkansas River in Colorado. Weeks later, his remains were found several kilometres upstream. Last month, officials confirmed he was another treasure-seeker.
KULR said Murphy was hiking up Turkey Pen Peak when he lost his footing and tumbled 150m down the mountain.
Days before he died, Murphy emailed Fenn who, in turn, alerted park officials when Murphy was reported missing.
“The man who invited people to look for his chest of gold and jewels in the Rock- ies was very concerned about Murphy and offered to help pay for a helicopter to find the missing man,” KULR wrote.
Erica Murphy said her husband was captivated by Fenn’s treasure. She said he bought Fenn’s memoir The Thrill of the Chase a few years ago. The treasure hunt had been a “pastime” for him ever since.
Fenn declined to discuss Murphy’s death. He has previously said the treasure was not hidden in a dangerous place.
“As with deer hunters and fishermen, there is an inherent risk that comes with hiking the canyons and mountain trails,” Fenn said. “I have said no one should search in a place where an 80-year-old man could not hide it.”
Fenn claims his treasure chest contains 265 gold coins, ancient Chinese jade figurines, rubies, emeralds, diamonds and hundreds of gold nuggets, some as large as chicken eggs.
He estimates tens of thousands of people have gone looking for it, sharing their experiences on blogs and treasure hunting forums. One of his motives, he said in 2015, was to “get the kids off the couch and away from the game machine”.
In light of the deaths, Fenn has faced calls to end the hunt.
“Life is too short to wear both a belt and suspenders. If someone drowns in the swimming pool we shouldn’t drain the pool, we should teach people to swim,” he said last year. – Washington Post