Aztec tunnels in Kanab, Utah to be closed

[Gold_Rush_Expeditions]

Hey all, thanks for the space... Casey Smith alerted me to this site and said some of you might have some interest in the action below. any questions, or if this is in the wrong place... let me know... thanks!

[SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri]Historic tunnels in Kanab to be destroyed - Corey Shuman, GRE, Inc. April 5th, 2008[/FONT][/SIZE]
[FONT=Calibri][SIZE=3]http://www.sltrib.com/News/ci_8792457[/SIZE][/FONT]
[SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri]There are a series of tunnels in Kanab that have long been associated with the Aztec empire and hidden Spanish gold. The area has never been mined, however it has been excavated. It's an Indiana Jones type of adventure but its real, and it's in our own back yard. In 1914, Freddie Crystal rolled into Kanab, Utah, with a map, a map he claimed would lead directly to a piece of the horde that had been stashed by Montezuma hundreds of years ago. He showed the map around, looking for information on the surrounding country. Almost everyone who saw the map recognized the area in question as "White Mountain" and pointed him in that direction. [/FONT][/SIZE]
[SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri]Once in the area, Freddie immediately found signs that he was in the right place, Aztec writings littered the area, and the map directed him right to an ancient set of stairs cut directly into the mountain. He followed the steps up to a sealed entrance, and from that point, the hunt was on. He went back into Kanab and announced that he had found what he was looking for, but now needed help in excavating the site. The townspeople rallied and nearly emptied the town of Kanab. They broke through numerous blockades in the mountain, encountering deadfall traps and other perils showing that these tunnels were not meant to be accessed by anyone but a descendant of the Aztecs who knew how to disable the pitfalls. The excavation went on for almost a year, clearing deadfall after deadfall, finding relics and ancient items, but never the gold. Finally, with the tunnels all reopened and no gold found the townspeople went back to their day to day lives and forgot about the tunnels up in Johnson canyon.[/FONT][/SIZE]
[SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri]Brandt Childs remembers: " "It led into a big room," he says, "but all they found was just bones of mules and a few artifacts. No gold. But then they found another tunnel and it had a plug in it too. So they dug it out."
At the end of the second tunnel, the gold seekers came upon still another cavernous room in which they discovered a large human skeleton propped in a sitting position. "They called him Smiley," recalls Child, "because he looked like he was smiling."
No one else in the room was smiling, however, because there was no gold whatsoever-only a handful of pre-Columbian artifacts plus a sacrificial altar, "where they'd tear the hearts out of men and throw their bodies over the cliff." Also, the ashes of ancient campfires, "with human fingers all wrapped in bark, ready for roasting, and human legs, and things like that."[/FONT][/SIZE]
[SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri]Great story, right? Pack up and you're all ready to go check out this area. However, this brings Gold Rush Expeditions in to the story, in the beginning of April, almost like an April fool's joke, the Department of Oil Gas and Mining (OGM) announced that they were going to begin operations shortly to "reclaim" this mine site. "What??" This isn't a mine site, it's an obviously a site of historic and archeological significance. Add to that the site isn't a mine, or anything close to it, its origins date back to the times of Cortez, Montezuma. [/FONT][/SIZE]
[SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri]So then WTF is the OGM doing down there. Well, it's the latest of a long line of intrusions from the OGM, destroying what little is left of Utah's history, mining and otherwise. GRE has been advocating for years that this organization either needs to be removed, or revamped to help preserve the amazing historical sites that Utah has to offer. The OGM was founded to reclaim coal mines, and is funded from coal mine money. But, in the opinion of GRE, it's not that interesting to close up coal mines, so why not move into hard rock mines, and historic sites? Areas of historic significance are being destroyed, while the open abandoned coal mines across the state, the ones that OGM should be addressing, are being left open with no attention. And in the case of the tunnels in Johnson canyon, these sites are not well known, and so it's easy enough for OGM to step in and destroy the sites forever.[/FONT][/SIZE]
[SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri]So what now, will OGM be successful in their bid to destroy this site next? There is a push from Doug Powell of the Grand Staircase Escalante National monument to "reclaim" these tunnels. And if uncontested, this historic area will be destroyed by these groups that are supposed to protect our resources. [/FONT][/SIZE]
[SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri]GRE will be spearheading an effort to stop this closure, but we need your help. On April 11th, GRE will be heading down to Kanab to meet with area historians to document and tour the site. We welcome anyone who would like to join us for this excursion. In addition will be writing letters to the Grand Staircase Escalante Monument management, the Division of Oil, Gas and Mining and the Kane County BLM to voice our opposition to this destructive initiative.[/FONT][/SIZE]
[FONT=Calibri][SIZE=3]If you would like to help, please email [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Calibri][SIZE=3]info@goldrushexpeditions.com[/SIZE][/FONT][SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri] for more information on how you can help. If you have any contacts in the media that can help to bring publicity to this issue, please let me know. Your history is being eradicated now, and you need to make your opinions heard now to stop the destruction.[/FONT][/SIZE]
[SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri]Thanks for your time and efforts. [/FONT][/SIZE]

[mr tibbs]

Corey,

Thanks for posting that! When I contacted you about this I forgot that this falls on the same weekend as our Spring Fling ride in Moab. It's a shame that we already have plans as a group, this would be a great ride for us!

Even though it is the same weekend as Spring Fling there are some of us who are not attending that might be able to show up. I find this kind of stuff very interesting and would love to make some trail runs with you guys sometime! I am not familiar with the tunnels in Kanab, but would love to see them before they are destroyed. I'm going to see what I can do to get down there and take a look at these before they are gone.

[MissFJ]

Any contact info (email account or mailing address) that letters could be addressed to?!?!

[mr tibbs]

MissFJ previously said:

Any contact info (email account or mailing address) that letters could be addressed to?!?!

Here are a few contacts that I dug up:

Jim Springer, spokesman for the state Division of Oil, Gas and Mining. - 801-538-5324 or Jimspringer@utah.gov

Anthony Gallegos, Project Manager-Oil, Gas and Mining Division - 801-359-3940 or anthonygallegos@utah.gov

Mark Mesch, OGM Program Administrator - 801-538-5349 or markmesch@utah.gov

Louis Amodt, Senior Reclamation Specialist - 801-538-5360 or louisamodt@utah.gov

[MoabRat]

Thanks Casey, I've read about this site in many old books. It's facinating. I don't think there would be an issue of oil and gas development here if Clinton hadn't decided on a federal land grab in the Grand Staircase Escalante. That was such a joke and cut off one of the biggest coal and natural gas deposits ever found. So much for energy independance. Anyhow, it would seem that we almost need to side with the greenies to keep this from happening. They would also close all access if the past is any indicator. Kind of a no-win situation. Hundreds of folks participated in the original excavation. It would take a lot of money to replace that kind of manpower to figure out what was originally hidden in that mountain. I don't think even a well trained bunch of hobbiests have a chance. Without that I think the gas company has a better chance to find it accidentaly than anyone else would. It is too bad this was last week. I would have gone for sure.

[uphill]

Is it still open to the public?

Could you/would you post directions?

[MoabRat]

Here is a TON more info. The BLM is using danger as an excuse, even though there have only been 5 deaths in old mines STATEWIDE since 1983. I think none here

The link to the pics will also give you an idea about where, some google research found this forum post which will get you very close:

The tunnels you are referring to are the ones found on the North West side of Cottonwood Canyon which forks off of Johnson's Canyon to the right as you are traveling North. I don't have the exact GPS coordinates, but it is going to be close to 37.2064N, 112.3483W (NAD27). Last time I was there the dirt road going in was not posted, and it seemed like the tunnels were about 3/4 mile to 1 mile after you turned off on to the dirt road going up Cottonwood canyon. The tunnels will be on your left side as you are driving in, maybe a third of the way up the Mesa there. Hope that helps ... it's a neat site to visit ... ...


Pics of the excursion at:
http://www.goldrushexpeditions.com/G.../Montezuma.htm
And the following letter was just mailed out to all interested parties.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Synopsis of initial contact re: Tunnels in Kanab
The purpose of this visit was to document the tunnel site and make an assessment as to the historical value of the site and the safety factor of the site. GRE made plans to meet up with Bob Croft, a local historian and Don Black, a representative of the U4WDA. GRE also sent notice to the Division of Oil, Gas and Mining, Doug Powell and the “general info” email at the Grand Staircase Escalante Natl Monument, Utah 4-Wheel Drive Assn., Ancient Historical Research Foundation and the Mojave Underground Exploration group.
Visiting the site on behalf of GRE, Inc was Corey Shuman, CEO of GRE, Inc, and Andrew Hatton-Ward, member of GRE, Inc. Also of note were 7 other members of GRE, Inc, that showed up from local and distant areas to support the actions of GRE, Inc.
An initial meeting was set for 1:30pm on the 11th, in the parking lot of the Shilo Inn. Upon arrival at the Shilo Inn, we were also met by Steve Fluke, Chris Rohrer, Rene Berkhoud, Doug Powell as well as an Archeologist from GSENM and a BLM rep sent from the county.
We held a brief discussion of the plans for the closures in the Monument and in Kane County. Mr. Berkhoud was very diplomatic and friendly in his approach and informed us that no decisions had been made and that the OGM and the Monument were doing more of a scoping operation. Mr. Powell seemed a bit more abrasive indicating that the closures were pretty much already a done deal. We explained our interest in the history of the site and that we did not want to see it destroyed. The plan from our understanding is that OGM intends to gate the main portal and backfill all the other holes. Their point of view is that this will retain the “historical feel” but mitigate any liability for the BLM.
We broke after about an hour of discussion and headed up for the site. We were joined by the OGM reps and the BLM rep. The road to the site is relatively mild but very sandy. 4 wheel drive would be recommended for the entire route. Nearer the site, the sand gets very deep and 4 wheel drive is mandatory.
We hiked up to the tunnel entrances and found the hike to be quite steep and technical. The average person can navigate to the tunnels, but there is no access for any handicapped or challenged individuals. There is also no signage or indication of the presence of the tunnels, even from the base of the cliffs under the tunnels, it is difficult to tell that there is anything unnatural up on the face of the cliff. There are ancient steps cut into the cliff face in two separate spots. Once at the openings of the tunnels the GRE group entered and documented each tunnel from the entrance to the ends of each tunnel. Those findings are as follows:
1. Tunnel #1 – A short, very natural looking cavern. This adit ran back about 60 ft. Average height was about 5 ft. with a sandy floor.
2. Tunnel #2 – This tunnel has a steep approach, it is 8-10 foot ceilings and is about 4 feet wide at any given point. There is a natural vertical opening 25-30 feet in. At the end of the tunnel is a slope that ends in a vertical drop off of approximately 15 feet. A ladder was left in the bottom of this shaft.
3. Tunnel #3 – This is the main tunnel. The area around this entrance is covered with literally thousands of inscriptions from visitors. We noted dates from 1939- 2004. This tunnel cuts in at a bit of an angle and then turns back in to the right. About 40 feet in is an open pit that appears completely natural. It is about 6 feet around and 15-18 ft. deep. There is also a ladder in the bottom of this opening. There are some very sturdy boards that are set across this opening to allow for further exploration. The tunnel continues approximately another 70-80 feet before it begins to narrow, and then opens into a large room with more inscriptions. At this point the tunnel “T”s off, to the right is a short tunnel that has a lot of crickets in it. The opening is about 20 inches tall and the only way to explore is to belly crawl in. To the left, is another small room that seems to dead end. We found 2 bats in this room. For the most part, the ceiling on this tunnel is 8-10 ft tall and 7-8 ft. wide
4. Other tunnels, there are approximately 4 other small tunnels in the general vicinity. All are very small (less than 3 ft. opening) and non extending more than 12 feet into the cliff face.
It is our opinion that these tunnels are natural in origin. They may have been filled with sand and slightly reworked to allow plugs to be inserted. But the overall tunnels appear to be completely natural. It is GREs expert opinion that these tunnels pose no viable danger to the community or any other persons who may visit the site. It is also the opinion of GRE that there is a fantastic historical value in these tunnels. In the folklore, the surrounding ancient steps and granaries, and in the inscriptions that have been made by the visitors to the sites since it was found.
It is also the opinion that any change or manipulation in the site, by the Division of Oil, Gas and Mining AML program or the BLM in an effort to mitigate non-existent danger will only not only damage the site beyond repair, but is also a violation the intent of section 106 and The National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), which includes provisions that specifically address Federal Agencies' responsibilities when their activities involve National Historic Landmark (NHL) properties. Section 106 and its implementing regulations, "Protection of Historic Properties" (36 CFR Part 800), address Federal Agency (Agency) responsibilities when an undertaking will affect properties eligible for or listed in the National Register of Historic Places and we feel that these responsibilities have been sorely neglected.
It is GREs stand that this site is in need of no action of any sort. Any action taken on this site will permanently destroy the site in its present state and there will be no method of remediation. We recommend action at the County and State level, with possible escalation to the national level to bring attention to this area and the proposed destruction of this important and historical site.
Our plan of action, at this point is being defined with the Kane County commission. We are also making contact with Governor Huntsman and the US Office of Surface Mining and Reclamation Enforcement.
The key players in this action are as follows (email addresses have been provided where available):
OSMRE: Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement - Home page - http://www.osmre.gov
Brent Wahlquist, Director of OSM
Allen D. Klein, Regional Director

DOGM: ogm.utah.gov
Luci Malin – AML administrator
Steve Fluke – Project Manager
Chris Rohrer – Environmental Scientist

GSENM: http://www.blm.gov/ut/st/en/fo/grand...escalante.html
Berkhoud, Rene – Manager
Powell, Doug – Geologist

KANE County: Kane County Utah Travel Council
Mark W. Habbeshaw – Commissioner
Robert Houston – local economic interest

Gold Rush Expeditions, GRE, Inc. Gold Rush Expeditions, Preserving Utahs Historical Resources
Corey Shuman – CEO, GRE, Inc.
Andrew Hatton-Ward – Govt. – Community Relations
Bob Croft – Member/Historian
Terry Carter – Member/Historian
Ancient Lost Treasures Historic Society –Historic reference team

Independent Organizations

Mojave Underground – Interested Party - Mojave Underground :: Home

If you have thoughts or comments about this synopsis, please relate them to info@goldrushexpeditions.com .


Sincerely,


Corey T. Shuman
__________________
Corey T. Shuman
cshuman@goldrushexpeditions.com
Gold Rush Expeditions, Preserving Utahs Historical Resources



That's about it, there are hundreds of Google hits and stories. Here is the best Google search I came up with:

Freddie Crystal montezuma - Google Search

Scott

[uphill]

I'll do some exploring there next week with VOLHOO and we will definitely post pictures.

It's something that will be worth seeing before it's gone forever.

[MoabRat]

That's closer to me than Moab. Just a couple of hours. Are you guys camping? I'd like to come down for a day too, but I don't want to be the "invite myself over" guy. I'd love to take my slr and big speedlight to get some good shots inside.

Scott

[uphill]

We're running the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, and Kanab isn't that far away. Yeah, we'll be camping, but if you want to join at any point I have no objection. We were going to arrive in the St. George area at about 3:00 pm local time Wednesday. Originally we were going to camp at Toroweap on Wednesday night. I think we'll keep to that and strike for Kanab on Friday or Saturday. What do you think?