Montezuma's treasure is a legendary

buried treasure Buried treasure is a literary trope commonly associated with depictions of pirates, criminals, and Old West outlaws. According to popular conception, these people often buried their stolen fortunes in remote places, intending to return to them ...

said to be located in the Casa Grande ruins or elsewhere in the southwest

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

and

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

.Penfield, Thomas, 2004. "Dig Here!: Lost Mines & Buried Treasure of the Southwest". pp 68-70. The legend is one of many treasure stories in American

folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging ...

. Thomas Penfield wrote, "There is not the slimmest thread of reality in this story which is common throughout Mexico and the southwestern United States. There are some puzzling aspects but the story, nevertheless, adds up to pure legend."

The legends

One story tells of the 1520 imprisonment of Montezuma by

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

conquistadors. With the conquistadors demanding a ransom in gold, runners were dispatched to warn tribes to hide their treasures. However none of the histories of the conquest, such as The True History of the Conquest of New Spain by

Bernal Díaz del Castillo Bernal Díaz del Castillo ( 1492 – 3 February 1584) was a Spanish conquistador, who participated as a soldier in the conquest of the Aztec Empire under Hernán Cortés and late in his life wrote an account of the events. As an experience ...

, say that Montezuma was ever held for ransom by the conquistadors or that any people of the area were told to hide their treasure from the Spanish. A labyrinth found in modern times at the

Casa Grande Ruins National Monument Casa Grande Ruins National Monument ( ood, Siwañ Waʼa Ki: or ''Sivan Vahki''), in Coolidge, Arizona, just north-east of the city of Casa Grande, preserves a group of Hohokam structures dating to the Classic Period (). History of the area ...

led to speculation that it might be home to some of the fabled treasure. Extensive excavation of the area, however, has turned up nothing to support the claim. According to John Mitchell, in 1847, during the

Mexican American War Mexican may refer to: Mexico and its culture *Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America ** People *** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants *** Mexica, ancient indigenous people ...

, a Mexican aristocrat named

Don Don, don or DON and variants may refer to: Places *County Donegal, Ireland, Chapman code DON *Don (river), a river in European Russia *Don River (disambiguation), several other rivers with the name *Don, Benin, a town in Benin *Don, Dang, a vill ...

Joaquin enslaved the local Apaches to dig for gold in the

Sierra Estrella The Sierra Estrella ( ood, Komaḍk, mrc, Vii Lyxa, yuf-x-yav, Wi:kchasa) is a mountain range located southwest of Phoenix, Arizona. Much of the range falls within the Gila River Indian Reservation, but of BLM land is protected as the Sier ...

s. But later, as the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

entered the mountains, the Apache rose up against the Mexicans who had to hide their gold in a canyon near Montezuma's Head. Most of the Mexicans were killed but at least one man survived and later went back to the mountains in the 1880s with a

treasure map A treasure map is a map that marks the location of buried treasure, a lost mine, a valuable secret or a hidden locale. More common in fiction than in reality, "pirate treasure maps" are often depicted in works of fiction as hand drawn and cont ...

to find the gold. However, the Apache still controlled the area and the Mexican man never found the lost treasure. Newspapers as far back as 1895 have published accounts of people who have claimed to have found this lost treasure.

Television

The myth and superstitions about a curse on the treasure are sensationalized in a 2014 television program ''Raiders of the Lost Past'' which includes interviews of many family members of treasure hunters. The treasure is the basis for an episode of ''

Wagon Train ''Wagon Train'' is an American Western series that aired 8 seasons: first on the NBC television network (1957–1962), and then on ABC (1962–1965). ''Wagon Train'' debuted on September 18, 1957, and became number one in the Nielsen ratings ...

'' entitled "The Alexander Portlass Story".

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Montezuma's Treasure Treasure of the United States American frontier Arizona folklore Treasure in Arizona

The legends

Television

See also

References