Free The Silver Madonna and Other Tales of America's Greatest Lost Treasures by W.C. Jameson

were being hooked up to generators, two bulldozers worked to enlarge the shaft and remove the boulders blocking the team’s access. It would just be a matter of time, Jones was convinced, before they would reach the gold and silver ingots.
    When another dozen feet of rock debris had been cleared from the entrance, another problem arose—water began seeping in at a faster rate. More pumps were brought to the site and work continued around the clock for the next three days and nights.
    To the dismay of the engineer and geologist on the team, the seeping water was causing minor cave-ins in the old and highly weathered granite. The situation had become so dangerous that the recovery attempt was abandoned. Jones retreated to consider other strategies.
    During the lull in the digging, Jones brought in another professional geologist to consult on the project. Following an inspection of the site, he agreed that they were digging into a manmade shaft, most likely one that had been excavated by early Spanish miners in this area. The geologist also declared the site unsafe and recommended the area be abandoned and sealed off.
    Jones was not to be deterred, and after all of the equipment and personnel were removed from the area, he began to consider other options. By now, however, the activity in Huachuca Canyon and the revelation of the possibility of a huge treasure being found there attracted the attention of newspaper and television reporters from around the country. They arrived in large numbers to cover the progress of the recovery operation. As their numbers swelled in the canyon, military officials grew concerned about safety and security and threatened to terminate any and all excavation activity.
    As reporters swarmed into the region, a representative from the U.S. Treasury Department arrived at the site and announced that he was empowered to assume possession of any and all treasure that might be recovered. Following an inventory of the hoard, he said 60 percent of whatever was found would go directly to the government. Jones would be eligible to receive the remaining 40 percent but it would be taxed.
    Two weeks later, a large crane with a clam shovel was transported to the site. With the crane, another five feet of debris was removed. At this point, the workers encountered an exceptionally large boulder that had become wedged tight at the bottom of the shaft near the point where it went from vertical to horizontal. In order to reduce the resistance, a hole was bored into the rock and stuffed with explosive material. The subsequent blast created more problems than it solved—tons of adjacent rock were dislodged and collapsed into the shaft, completely refilling it. According to the consulting geologist, it was likely that the chamber containing the gold and silver ingots had also collapsed.
    For another five days, men and machines labored to remove the additional rock. As they worked, they discovered that all traces of the original shaft had been obliterated. At this point, Jones was forced to abandon the project. Jones informed military authorities that he would attempt to acquire additional backing for another attempt at retrieving the treasure. The army decision makers, however, informed him that under no circumstances would he be allowed to dig in Huachuca Canyon again.
    In spite of the decree from the military, Jones continued to solicit investors and apply for permission to excavate for the treasure he knew lay under hundreds of tons of rock and rubble. A few months later he found an ally in the Post Inspector General, Colonel Ethridge Bacon. Bacon was convinced that the treasure Jones spoke of existed. Though he made several tries, Bacon was never able to convince his superiors that Jones should be granted permission for another attempt. Two years later, Robert Jones died in his sleep in Dallas.

    The search for the Huachuca Canyon treasure did not end with the death of Robert Jones. In 1975, the U.S. Army granted