The Lost Adams Diggings, or just 'Lost Adams' as they came to be known, has inspired treasure hunters to roam the wilds of western New Mexico for well over a hundred years, and some early attempts may have actually located the hidden 'z' shaped canyon and its secret valley of Apache gold. A surgeon who treated Adams and Richardson at Fort Apache had written down everything they said about the treasure's location, and passed the information to an adventurer named John Dowling, who indeed eventually found a place that matched the description.
The Lost Adams Diggings my be located in a spot similar to this one, At Jemez Falls, New Mexico.
Dowling passed through a zigzag canyon and came upon a narrow valley where around sixty stumps were evidence that the trees were intentionally felled. In another place he found a great heap of ash and charred rock around what looked like the ruins of a chimney. This may well have been the remains of the burnt-out cabin of Adams and company, destroyed in the ruinous raid. The story goes that Dowling didn't know the hoarded gold was buried under the hearthstone; instead he panned the stream for gold and finding nothing, soon left.
Another expedition that we have word of occurred in 1870, when a Jason Baxter became privy to some information involving the gold's location and eventually found the fabled zigzag canyon that he was certain matched Adams' description. However, upon traversing the canyon and entering the mouth of the hidden valley, he saw that landslides had buried most of it in dirt and boulders. Probably the result of earthquakes resulting from the New Mexico's volcanic geology, the tumult had eradicated any trace of the stream that had once sparkled with gold nuggets.