Fenn's treasure

[TomPierce]

Rbski,

Just go ahead and quit your job now. It's addicting!

-Tom

[madbuck]

I'm very familiar with the Fenn treasure. I originally read an article about it in a United inflight magazine a few years ago. I later bought Fenn's book about his life and the treasure, there's also a website (or a few?), and I sense a bit of a subculture of seekers.
-Tom

Went through a similar thing: read the article on an airplane, and became excited to look at maps when I got home. Surely, if I just thought about it a bit...
I thought, at first, the right Smart Person (or even algorithm) would find it quickly.
The fact that many people have *not* found it is meaningful, suggesting (to me) that the clues are obtuse, overly personal, or unintentionally non-specific.
Writing a good logic puzzle is hard to do.

Over time, the most fascinating thing has been, to me, the perception and interpretation of possibilities (including my own)...how easy it is to rationalize and force meaning into things. I don't want to rehash what's on other sites related to this, but a tangential link to Colorado 14er terrain: there is a woman who believes she 'solved' it, and the answer is Jesus, at the Christ in the Mines statue near Silverton (Hardrock course!) Now, she's *wrong* -- but it didn't stop her from publishing/selling a short book about it! (No link provided due to craven opportunism)

I hope we learn when it is found, and that it is an interesting story.

[TaylorHolt]

My dad introduced this to me a few years back, and we've been casually looking in some locations.

One thing that crossed my mind is that the treasure would have to be located on private land somewhere right, unless Forrest made a mistake and hid it on public lands? If you found it on public lands, couldn't the government claim it? Along those same lines, maybe someone has found it on public lands and has to keep it secret which is why Forrest may think it hasn't been found yet.

[RBski]

One thing that crossed my mind is that the treasure would have to be located on private land somewhere right, unless Forrest made a mistake and hid it on public lands? If you found it on public lands, couldn't the government claim it? Along those same lines, maybe someone has found it on public lands and has to keep it secret which is why Forrest may think it hasn't been found yet.

This is an interesting question. I think a case could be made that if it were found on public lands that the person is simply returning lost property and Fenn gave it back as a reward. On private land I think the loan owner might try to stake a claim to it.

[mtree]

Whether its on public or private land does not matter. It's mine, regardless.

[SensoZakku]

If you found it on public lands, couldn't the government claim it?

I imagine he has legal ownership of it no matter what the circumstances are.

[Prairie Dog]

I must admit that I had never heard of this treasure until reading this thread. In thinking about it, I can see claim / ownership issues in both cases (where the treasure is placed on public land or on private land). The only way that I can see that Mr. Fenn could have assured that the finder would avoid these issues would have been to place it on his own land. Does anyone know if Mr. Fenn owns any land "somewhere in the Rocky Mountains"?

[Brad Snider]

According to this article ( http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2 ... -here.html ), the chest is not hidden on Fenn's own property, but he won't elaborate much beyond that:

"...But if Fenn hid the chest on government land it could be a felony to remove it, since everything on government land by definition belongs to the country, to all taxpayers, not just a brazen fellow hoping to play finders-keepers. And if Fenn hid the box on private land, well, as Fenn himself will tell you, the owner of the land is the automatic owner of the box. “There’s no place that you can put [the treasure] that under the right circumstances there are not complications,” Fenn told me."

"But can you at least assure people they won’t get arrested? Or that they won’t get sued and lose the money? “I’m not assuring people of anything,” Fenn admitted. “I went out there and hide a treasure chest, and they can go get it. That’s it.”"

[TallGrass]

"...But if Fenn hid the chest on government land it could be a felony to remove it, since everything on government land by definition belongs to the country, to all taxpayers,"

Hmm, so basically everything in Lost & Found is gov't property, and the rest (non-USFS, non-Wilderness, Culebra) are private property? If you cache food, you or someone you send to get it are thieves?

Hiker: "Where's my truck? I left it at the TH parking lot."
Fed: "Well, you left it on federal property, so we auctioned it off."
Alternatively...
Fed: "We found an illegal widget in your tent."
Hiker: "Tent was pitched in USFS so it's the gov's widget, not mine, so you can't charge me."

[Eli Boardman]

I don't see why anyone who found it would have to reveal the location, whether or not they tell the world that they found it. But technically, if it's in a wilderness, isn't that illegal because of limits on how long you can cache things?

[Rollie Free]

Is it possible that the treasure has already been found? The mantra among treasure hunters is to keep your mouth shut.

[Wish I lived in CO]

Is it possible that the treasure has already been found? The mantra among treasure hunters is to keep your mouth shut.

Sure it's possible. If found on government or private land then there is the issue that others brought up about ownership of the treasure possibly belonging to where it was found. So why report it then - pride / bragging? Then there is the added incentive to keep silent in order to avoid paying taxes on the found treasure. The issue then is being able to spend the money. I suppose via cash in smaller amounts spread over many years, all the while keeping one's mouth shut to others.

.... For me I think I'll hike for fun and avoid the dangers and troubles of a treasure hunting venture like this.