#2 Kanab: Lost Treasures

In our travels back and forth between Phoenix and Utah in the 1970's, we always looked forward to Kanab where we would stop and get huge ice-cream cones, and then about six miles north of Kanab, starting into the canyon, we would stop at a beautiful pond at the side of Highway 89. The pond lay cupped at the very foot of an over-hanging red sandstone cliff. A few large trees grew at the edge of the water, and some fun-minded person had hung a sturdy swinging rope from the largest limb of the biggest tree providing instant recreation for a car full of restless traveling kids . At that time the pond, the tree, and the rope were non-restricted and welcomed all comers. It’s a wonder we never had to fish a kid out of the water. The only thing that ever had to be retrieved was Dale’s cowboy hat (See picture #1 for the retrieval process - he snagged it with his foot.)

It wasn’t until years later that we learned that this pond has a place in western folklore. The story goes: About 450 years ago, after Montezuma was killed, the Aztecs brought their gold and treasures and hid them in a “water trap” in this very pond. In 1989 treasure hunters found a handmade tunnel about 4 feet wide and 7 feet tall under the water. When the tunnel explorer got 30 feet into the tunnel he became completely disoriented, got caught in a heavy current and was afraid he was going to be swept into an underground river. After fighting his way out, he tied a tether line onto himself and went in again. This time, he felt the line go completely limp. A few months later, he had the courage to try again, and this time he brought 3 professional divers. The divers reported that the tunnel was about 100 feet long and ended in a huge 80 foot room. Their metal detectors showed heavy metal at the end of the tunnel. It was too late in the day for further exploration and they exited the tunnel and pond. That night one of the divers had a dream that as he swam back into the tunnel an Aztec warrior appeared and threw a spear at him. That diver was the first to enter the tunnel the next morning. He started screaming that someone was grabbing and choking him. When he was pulled from the water, he was white as a sheet. The next diver went down and had the same experience. Two weeks later when the divers tried again, they experienced the same choking feeling as they entered the tunnel and they both had to be pulled up. They did not return. The pond and is now surrounded by a high chain-link fence placed there by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to protect the only know habitat of the Kanab Amber Snail. Hmmmmm. . .

So on this February trip there was no temptation for stopping, or swinging; and when we reached Kanab, even the ice cream stop was gone – The true lost treasures of Kanab . . .