It was a hot evening in mesa and Cec, Everett an I sat in the back yard of Roxies house.  We  went over  everything one more time. Cec I said read the clues that Walz told Mrs. Thomas and her son, What others had said, Something bothers me.  Well lets see he said. first he said. It lies within an imaginary circle whose diameter is not more than five miles and whose center is marked by Weaver's Needle.  The first gorge on the south side of the west end of the range, they found a trail which led them northward over a lofty ridge, Downward past  El Sombrero  into a  canyon running north, and finally to a tributary canyon  deep and rocky and densely wooded with a continuous thicket of scrub oak. Then up a side canyon past water.  If you pass three Red Hills you have gone too far.  You can see the military trail from the mine, but you cannot see the mine from the military trail.  The setting sun shines through a break in the mountains and glitters upon the gold in the mine.  Walz said a short climb from my mine you can see the needle. Wait i said! that is what bothers me. Why would he say that if the mine is close to the needle?  Well cec said he wasn't going to the mine from the needle, he had to walk a long way up a canyon to get there.  So to him it was important to say you couldn't see the needle from the mine.  if it was obvious you were in site of the needle, one might miss it.  yeah ok that makes since, what else have people said about the mine? Well Cec said some other people have said:  You can see the Needle to the south and Four Peaks to the north where Four Peaks looks like one peak.  you go about a mile up the same canyon, which runs north-south, until you find a ridge upon the end of which is a natural stone face.  At this point Cec looked up and said: at first this part bothered me, Ed had never seen the stone face, but then I read that in the late 1930's there was a really bad earth quake, a guy said he seen the mountains at that time and there was boulders the size of houses tumbling down. It could be that the face fell too.  Everett an I had hunted the area of Oregon called the Tilimook Burn all my life and I told Cec: yeah thing change a lot in a short time.  and in the mountains they get flash floods every year.  Well I'm not worried about the face.  maybe one of those rocks looks more like a face to someone than it did to Ed, if its still there.  Go on I said tell us the rest of the things people said!  Cec said: In a  high narrow ravine where you will find the  entrance to the mine. Down the slope below the mine shaft is another  tunnel.. close to the canyon  there is an  ruins of an Old  stone house.  Just a minute I said: didn't you say that up canyon from Ed's camp there was a old rock foundation. Yeah there was he said: We use to sit on it sometimes an just chat. It wasn't far from a water hole that had water part of the year in it.  Hey Ed an I never thought it could be the same place the Dutchman hid his gold at. or where he an his partner camped at.  But I said: how much water is there in the mountains.  Just  two places you can get water that I know of. at Ed's camp there is a place has water year around or at this place has water maybe 4 months out of the year.  But Ed an I just thought it was a old house built by some prospector.  Yeah probably was Everett said: By the spanish prospectors.  Cec said well at the time I was there I didn't know much about the history or the Dutchman.  and he did say he had camped at an old foundation and left two cans of gold buried at the corner of the foundation. You see it wasn't until I moved to Oregon that I began to read a lot of books about the Dutchman.  Well  it had to be his camp where else can a man stay and not die of thirst.  he had to have camped not far from water.  Well tell us some more that was said about where the mine is.  Well Cec said: some talked of a cave an a two room house.  have you ever seen it I asked.  No he said but Ed an I seen a cave that might have been where it was at one time. Cec, Everett an I went over the stories the Kid's girl friend had told George, about being in a canyon filled with brush. about the guy that worked for the movie company that the Indians told him to stay out of that canyon. I asked Cec what movie guy?  Well Cec said: When they made the movie about the Dutchman, Staring Ford,  One of the crew got to looking for the mine. The movie fellow said that  he had been looking around the needle one day. Well that evening two Indians showed up at his motel room an told him to stay out of that area.  The movie fellow took their suggestion. But he did say it was in a hard to get to place, thick with brush and high in a canyon.  And also about Ed's findings they all seemed to pretty much match what the Dutchman had said.  We took in to fact that stories get changed as they are told over the years.  Cec mentioned Apache Jack had said it was in a high revein also, hidden so well no one would find it easily. Well Everett said: I don't know about you guys but if I'm gona get an early start I better get some shut eye.  Yep we agreed an headed to the house.

    Early next morning we drove to First water  one of the easiest places to start the seven mile walk to Ed's camp.  Took us a bit to get our packs on, Cec an Everett carried 45 lb packs , mine went 65 lb, I was the youngest.  Shoot I said to Cec couldn't we get some burros?  Cec said they wouldn't last.  people would steal them from us, for food.  Cec said: Dogs an burros just don't last long in this place.  So with a 65 lb pack, a improved 3006 riffle and a colt 45 double action on my hip off we went at a slow pace.  after about an hour, we was across from a mountain it had a tailings pile sliding down the slope from a cave.  Cec an I decided to go across the canyon an climb to the mine shaft.  We looked in there was one entrance but about ten feet in branched into two shafts.  We walked into the right hand shaft, but it was very dark an we could see nothing. I told Cec we could get shot an never see the guy that did the shooting. Well we backed out of that shaft and went into the shaft to the left.  In this shaft there was a room at the end, it had a bed an cooking gear.  We went back to the entrance, then I heard a rock fall from in the right shaft.  I don't know how it happened but my gun just appeared in my hand, I glanced at Cec an he was trying to get his gun out of the holster. I was raised by Everett a gun smith an when you draw after hundreds of hours of practice you don't have to think about it, it's just a reflex.  So with gun drawn we backed out of the shaft.  Just outside the shaft there was a place wet, water on the ground. could this wet spot been caused by a man or a mountain lyon? I don't know I said what it was but I think it's time we leave. Cec said just a minute!  What's this?  sounded by a pile of rocks was a quart jar.  In the jar we found a claim filing papers, Cec said hey I know the guy a really nice fella.  We left the mine.

    Everett said: what happened up there? We told him about the water on the ground, He suggested we leave, he didn't have to suggest that twice. We walked to a place called the old corral. The old corral wasn't very impressive, just a fence made of iron wood tree limbs. So we took a break then headed on to Ed Pipers old camp where we hoped there would be water. When we goto Ed's camp we found the old water hole was still there.  I don't know where the water came from.  Cec said it had been a small trickle coming out of the rocks an Ed had blasted a hole with dynamite to make a small basin.  Any way the water was sure good, it was hot an we were getting tired of warm canteen water.  We took a nap then made some dinner.  After dinner we talked more about the mine.  I said: are you sure the stone head isn't the same one that was on Ruth's map?  Cec said no it isn't the same one.  he showed me copies of the maps he had with him and said: tomorrow Ill show you the things the maps show, but now we had better  get some fire wood.  I grabbed a hatchet and went looking, after a short walk I found a tree an tried to cut a limb off.  I couldn't make a dent in the limb, Cec laughed an said it's iron wood you cant cut that.  Finally we found enough brush an small pieces of wood to keep a fire going all night.  it felt like a hundred degrees but soon after dark it felt like it was freezing, even my sleeping bag an extra blanket didn't keep me warm.  I remembered to put a rope around my sleeping bag, suppose to keep snakes away. there I was freezing an wondering if snakes knew they weren't suppose to cross a rope.