One of the most sought-after lost gold legends may still lying buried in western New Mexico mesa, awaiting the next chapter in its long saga. The story of the Lost Adams diggings has inspired generations of treasure-seekers and served as the basis for many stories, including the hit novel and subsequent movie MacKenna's Gold, in the 1960's.
The story begins in Tucson, Arizona in 1864, when a New Yorker working for a overland freight company dropped off his load and set out with his twelve-horse wagon team back across the desert to Los Angeles. His first name remains unknown to this day, but it is said this Adams was carrying $2000 in cash with him, the payment for the recently delivered freight. Setting up camp one night near Gila Bend, a fews journey from Tucson, he turned his horses loose to graze before bedding down.
Tucson in 1880
In the predawn hours, Adams was startled awake, and discovered 5 Apaches driving off his horses toward a nearby gully. He snatched up his pistol and gave pursuit, killing two of the marauders and retrieving his animals. But when he returned to camp he found that the horse rustling had merely been a diversionary tactic. His supplies and money were gone and the wagon was ablaze. The trailer he had been pulling behind the wagon and all of the harnesses for the horses were destroyed as well. With no other options, Adams set out toward a nearby Pima village in hopes of aid...
Apaches gathering for battle, 1864.