Hidden like a jewel upon Mount Graham between Snow Flat and Hospital Flat lies Treasure Park, where evidence of a massive treasure was once discovered.

In August 1885, an edition of the Graham County Guardian referred to a treasure buried before the Gasden Purchase, when Arizona was not yet a part of the United States, but part of Mexico.

Several writers from various newspapers and magazines, including the Los Angeles Times, have written stories about the treasure that supposedly included several copies of a map on cowhide. The story was a favorite subject of published author Roscoe Wilson, who wrote for a magazine called Arizona Days and Ways in the 1960s. He told the tale of mysterious loot that reportedly came from the mines of Mexico and other sources.

“Nine burro loads of gold and silver bullion... of more than 100 years and buried in an alder glade on the high slopes of towering Mount Graham is worth at least a quarter of a million dollars,” Wilson wrote.

In those days, the peak that is known as Mount Graham was called Bonita Peak. The treasure attracted hundreds of gold diggers from across the United States to the far reaches of Mexico and other countries. It caused many who searched in the deep snow to suffer from pneumonia, frostbite and hypothermia.

T.T. “Ted” Swift, an employee of the U.S. Forest Service in the early 1900s, came upon the unique evidence of the bullion of Treasure Park accidentally while searching for a telephone line needed for the Heliograph Peak Tower.

“... He was engaged in locating a telephone line to a fire lookout on Mount Graham, when one day he discovered an old blaze on a pine tree,” Wilson wrote.

Swift found more tree blazes and followed the marks to three granite stones with chiseled crosses on each one. Forming a triangle on the ground with 9-foot sides, one stone was red, one blue and one gray.

Although he studied the tree rings near the blazes to determine their age, interviewed several people and dug the earth deeply in several places, Swift never found the massive treasure.

The tree rings revealed that the blazes were at least 75 years old, possibly made in the early 1830s - or about 50 years before the pioneers and other white settlers arrived.

Wilson wrote that Swift also observed the bullion was placed about 20 years before the Gasden Purchase of late December 1853. He finally concluded that the stones were pointers to the treasure but that it was no longer on the mountain.

Wilson also wrote that many believed Swift found the cache, including a man from El Pas who claimed to be the grandson of one of the bandits.

This man wrote a letter to Swift saying he was entitled to his fair share of the treasure. Swift also received other letters and telegrams from many asking for a portion of the loot.

Wayne Johnson, a retired biology instructor at Eastern Arizona College, said he was also intrigued by the legend of the treasure. Because he had his students discuss the history and study the mountain quite often, Johnson invited a very old man from the U.S. Forest Service to speak about the treasure.

Johnson said he was fairly certain this man was Swift, although the experience happened about 30 years ago.

“I happened to have his granddaughter in one of my classes, and he came along on one of our field trips,” Johnson said.

He said several things were quite interesting about this man's search for the treasure. He distinctly recalls the man's disappointment in never obtaining the treasure, which he searched for most of his life.

One detail Swift explained was that the blaze marks, which many had heard were at eye-level on the pine trees, were actually eye-level when riding a horse. This man also said he later found the void in the ground where the treasure once lay.

In “A History of Mount Graham” (2000) by Allen and Cherrel Weech, other rumors of the treasure are explored. The book claimed the Mexican bandits who hid the treasure were hunted by a military group until a battle occurred. Only one of the bandits survived, but he was badly wounded.

He found an old doña, or lady, after the battle, who treated his wounds and hid him in the old village. When he died, he gave her his copy of the treasure map to thank her for her compassion.

The old woman had little interest in the map or treasure because it was said she was a true woman of the land of mañana, or tomorrow.

Contact Steph Slater at 428-2560 (ext. 248) or e-mail her at steph@eacourier.com.