$225,000 in Gold Coins
Greg Hawk • May 12, 2022
This story was another one told to me by John, whom I mention in my book. It is also a documented robbery and some details can be found online.
The location of the old Pine Springs Stage station is approximately 45 miles north and west of Payson, Arizona. More details on how to get there can be seen on the video. The elevation is about 7,500 feet so it is nice up here in the summertime and a good reason to escape the desert heat and do some camping.
The story goes that in 1879 a stagecoach carrying $225,000 in newly minted gold coin was robbed at the Pine Springs stage stop. The outlaws, led by Henry Seymour, robbed the stage as it came from Santa Fe, New Mexico and heading to the territorial capital of Prescott.
A passenger was killed and the stagecoach driver, Mose Stacey, escaped out the back of the stage station. The outlaws didn’t worry too much about his escape as they knew it was a good day’s ride to get to Prescott and back with the sheriff. What the outlaws didn’t know was that the sheriff and the posse were only a few miles away looking for some other outlaws when Mose Stacey ran into them.
Within a short time, the sheriff and posse surrounded the stage station with the outlaws inside and a gun battle ensued. After an all-night siege, the sheriff ordered the stage station set on fire from the back. When the four outlaws came out the front door they were met with a volley of rifle fire that quickly killed all four outlaws.
When the stage station fire was put out the sheriff and posse searched the building and never found the cache of gold coins.
Where did the gold coins go? Did the outlaws have a camp nearby where they had taken the chest of gold coins to bury them? Was there another member of the gang that got away with the gold?
All good questions and in my video I point out to where I think the old stage station stood. I also show where I found some old rifle cartridges I believe were used in that shootout. Enjoy!

A lost ledge of gold and the prospector who found it but wasn't able to return. The marker he left was his vest with a mule shoe on top of it to mark the spot. This story takes place around 1900 along the Colorado River about 25 to 30 miles north of Yuma, Arizona on the California side of the river at a place called Picacho. A man searched for it for over 20 years and never found it, can you?

This is the story of a stagecoach robbery that was printed in the March-April edition of Westerner Magazine in 1974.
It took place south of Beale Springs and supposedly $200,000 worth of gold bullion was heisted from the stagecoach and the stagecoach disappeared after the robbery never to be found until 40 years later.

A visit to gold country in Northern California. A subscriber to my YouTube channel contacted me about a mine he had a claim on in Arizona and also some mines close to where he purchased property in Glencoe, CA. Being a Vietnam Vet, as I am, I decided to meet up with him and look at the mines he was curious about in California. We had lunch in the town of Mokelumne Hill which was located in rich placer gold country during the 1849 gold rush.
The following pictures I took in 2017 after several years of looking for the Lost Ivanpah Mine, which was a story that was told to me by John whom I mentioned in my book. I had searched for this prospect for several years in my spare time and camped out in the dry lakebed while I searched. Finally, on the last day of searching, before I was going to give up on it, I went up a really rough wash to an area higher than I had been before. Here I found the old prospect hole where Miguel had been digging. Beside it was an old tin bucket and what looked to be a cigarette tin. They had been sitting here for approximately 110 years when I found them as Miguel died around 1906. For more on this check out the video: The Lost Ivanpah Silver Mine

This is a day trip we took through the Bradshaw Mountains starting from Mayer and driving the Senator Highway to Palace Station. Once there we took the Bodie Mine Road until it forked off and we proceeded to the left on the Trails End Mine Road to the mine. We will take you to the mine and to where they processed ore until 1997. Four-wheel drive will be needed to traverse some of the road or what's left of it.