FENN TREASURE SOLUTION Brian Erskine Arizona
[email protected] Dedicated to the safe enjoyment of the beauty of the American West FOR GENERAL PUBLICATION “If I cannot move heaven, I will raise hell.” – Virgil, The Aeneid of Virgil, Book Seven, Line 312 October 2018 / January 2019 1 Foreword A famous public puzzle has motivated thousands to seek hidden treasure by researching and exploring the western slopes of the American Rockies. Forrest Fenn, who created the puzzle, is a leading citizen of Santa Fe. He is an artist and retired celebrity art dealer, a best-selling author, an archaeologist and conservationist, and an Air Force veteran combat pilot who served in Vietnam. After years of planning, he composed the puzzle into the form of a short poem, defining a location and other information, and publicized the quest. The puzzle is solved. The poem indicates a specific place (“site”) in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado. Located between Ouray and Silverton, the site is found on the west bank of the Uncompahgre River, in a pocket of a scenic box canyon not far south of where the river chutes under U. S. 550. “Mountains” of irrefutable evidence prove both the site location and the full solution. The quest has two parts, as indicated by the “double omega” or “ΩΩ” colophon to Mr. Fenn’s book, The Thrill of the Chase, denoting two endings (more speculatively, “colophon” implies “Colorado”). Perhaps contrary to popular assumption, the poem indicates that no treasure is found at the site. Exhaustively exploring the site and failing to find treasure concludes the first stage of the quest.