Treasure worth over $1 million found in Rocky Mountains after decade-long search

World

Published: 2020-06-09 09:34

Last Updated: 2024-03-17 23:24


Treasure worth over $1 million found in Rocky Mountains after decade-long search
Treasure worth over $1 million found in Rocky Mountains after decade-long search

A famed art and antiquities collector revealed that his bronze chest filled with gold, jewels, and other valuables worth more than $1 million and hidden a decade ago somewhere in the Rocky Mountain wilderness has been found. 

Forrest Fenn, 89, gained a cult following when he announced that he had hidden the chest somewhere in the Rocky Mountains 10 years ago. He inspired tens of thousands to set out in search of his treasure, but the prize eluded everyone, until now.

Fenn told the Santa Fe New Mexican on Sunday, June 7, that a man who did not want his name released located the chest a few days ago and sent Fenn a photo of the chest to confirm his discovery.

"It was under a canopy of stars in the lush, forested vegetation of the Rocky Mountains and had not moved from the spot where I hid it more than 10 years ago," Fenn said in a statement on his website Sunday that still did not reveal the exact location. "I do not know the person who found it, but the poem in my book led him to the precise spot."

Fenn posted clues to the treasure’s whereabouts online and in a 24-line poem that was published in his 2010 autobiography "The Thrill of the Chase."

He told the New Mexican that an estimated 350,000 people tried to find the treasure, some quitting their jobs outright to search for it and a select few died in the search.

He said the chest weighs 20 pounds and its contents weigh another 22 pounds. He said he delivered the chest to its hiding place over two trips, by himself.

"I congratulate the thousands of people who participated in the search and hope they will continue to be drawn by the promise of other discoveries," he posted on his website.