The Sackett Companion
The story of Treasure Mountain is well known in Colorado, and the location of the mountain itself is certainly no secret. Wolf Creek Pass, famous in song and story, curves around one side of the mountain, and it is there for anybody to see. As it is 13,442 feet in altitude, Treasure Mountain is hard to miss. According to the story the treasure was buried there about 1790, although some say it was earlier.
The trail Tell Sackett was riding when shot from ambush is easily recognized. It is now a road leading to the Bessie G Mine. The road passes through a notch not there in Tells time. He followed an old Indian trail that came over the ridge from the Junction Creek side. This is four-wheel-drive country.
The bench where Colborn Sackett hid his daybook is hidden behind trees and on the very rim of the dropoff into the basin of Bear Creek.
This area was the location where Beau L’Amour and Paul O’Dell recorded many of the sound effects heard in the “Merrano of the Dry Country”, “Son of a Wanted Man”, and “The Diamond of Jeru”, dramatized audiobooks.
In The Sackett Companion, Louis goes into quite a lot of detail regarding the origins of the “Treasure” buried on Treasure Mountain by the French and some of the many tales of treasure hunters seeking to cash in. He also delves into the ancient Indian trails and animal trails that criss-cross the the continents and says “Actually, if one wished he could travel from Alaska to Mexico following highline trails, dipping down only between mountain ranges.”
VISIT: WWW.LOUISLAMOUR.COM for more information.
