LEGEND OR LIE, THE WAKARA STORY
A long held belief that a Ute War Chief, from what is now Sanpete County, chose to allow Brigham Young’s gold man, Thomas Rhoades, the right to recover hundreds of pounds of gold from a famous Spanish mine in the Uintah’s, is hereby challenged.
It is true that “Prairie Kamas” (now Kamas Valley, Utah) was land granted by Young, the Territorial Governor, to Tom. His Son later asks the United States for the same land as a trade for the location as to where he and his Father mined Josephine gold: With a promise that there was enough to pay off the national debt. Stating, “You don’t mine it you just pick it up off the floor.”
It is true that Kamas residents can trace deeds to their property from that original land grant. Is it conceivable that the land grant was recompense for Rhoades to always stick to the story conceived by Young, that Wakara required Rhoades to never disclose the whereabouts of the mines under the threat of death: Thus avoiding a gold rush to Utah? Forty seven years later (1899) a report in the Salt Lake Herald Republican was published as the "Kimball Report", confirming the true location as confided by a Spanish mining Captain that mined the Josephine in 1842. One San Jose Pueblo, arrested by a U.S. Marshall Kimball in 1851. Did Pueblo, under the watchful eye of Kimball and Rhoades lead them to the wealthiest gold mine, reported by Jesuit Priests in Santa Fe New Mexico of all time and only 12 miles from Kamas?
In 1852 Brigham commissioned Rhoades to recover the gold, supposedly under the watchful eye of Wakara’s delegated guide. After some years of taking gold, (reported as 1500 pounds) a Uintah chief supposedly again sealed the mine and imposed the same death threat. That lasted until the Utes were interned in reservations. The General Mining Act of 1872 allowed any United States Citizen the right to make claims. This resulted in one William Bird trading his recorded township and claims for the newly rediscovered Josephine mine (1898) for valuable land in downtown Salt Lake City, owned by the LDS church, after it was alleged, but never proven, the mine was salted.
Study then, General Kimball’s’ sworn statement, it all but outright denies the Wakara story. A story regarded by many as gospel and considers the Rhoades mine, Brigham’s mine and the Sacred Mine as a hallowed heritage that they have been, through a spirit, told never to enter. Many claim they have been at the mines, none near the Josephine. Spanish law required that active mines be sealed; none of the so called cursed mines were covered and must have been played out as disclosed by Pueblo. Is that what the believers are afraid to disclose?
* Scenes above the mine
south view north view
“But A man could stand on the ridge between the tunnel and shaft of what is now called the Josephine mine, and see the Tempe Nogas river, now the Provo, and also the unknown river now known as the Weber.”
[Additional excerpts from the Kimball Report questioning the Wakara story of the Josephine in 1851]
General William H. Kimball of Park City, who has lived in Utah since 1850 and 1851, who at that time was Deputy United States Marshall of the then territory of Utah;
Is ready to make sworn affidavit to the truth of his statements, which, in his own language, reads as follows: "In the year 1842 there were four companies of Spaniards who came up into this country for the purpose of prospecting, and mining. They called the river they were on the Tempe Nogas, but this is now known as the Provo river.”
"Pueblo also gave General Kimball three gold nuggets valued at $20, 10, and 5 dollars respectively, which he claims came from the Josephine mine, and in the same year, 1851, Mr. Kimball was given another nugget from this mine from which a $20 gold piece was coined in Deseret money, the piece being coined in the John Hayes mint."
Reasonable speculation:
In the same year, with Pueblo no longer in his custody, (since he stated in his report he had him in custody for only seven weeks,) he was given a last nugget, which was then minted into a coin at the John Hayes mint, where Mormon gold coins were struck. Who gave him that last nugget? Could it have been Rhoades, who was mining the Josephine?
Kimball refrained from directly contradicting the Wakara story by Rhoades & Young because he was a Brigadier General commanding the Utah militia, because it would not have been politically prudent. He was distancing himself as an honorable man from being associated with the Wakara story indirectly. Wakara died two years after his alleged disclosure of the Josephine, after which reports of him attempting to murder Brigham Young then surfaced.
*(A man could stand) in Kimball's report, (40°41'37.56”N 111°11'22.39”W) places the observer within view of the Provo river to the south (40°36'24.16”N 111° 17'36.15”W), and turning around 180° the Weber river to the north (40°47'33.72”N 111°05'57.66”W) is visible. Placing Kimball, Rhoades and Pueblo, at the same coordinates in 1851.
Reasonable Conclusion:
Captain San Jose Pueblo leads four mining groups to the Josephine in 1842, taking back all the gold they could carry. Now our confidant, Pablo, describes exactly how Pueblo and descendants of the Spanish miners are still dong it. A coded Josephine Waybill reveals a "patio" back door (or courtyard) in Spanish, as the secure lazy access to the mines. He discloses the secret and the Josephine's back door, allowing us to safely access other mines without extra risk or cost.
They build a foreboding obstacle at all major mine entrances, concealing all excavated materials, then booby trapped and covered over with man-made hard paste materials or stacked logs in the mine, concealing it as a debris field, with indigenous materials. The Bird's told of a debris field in the Pueblo mine in 1898.
With this disclosure our confidant dispelled any doubt as to his race's genius. Making fun of all the Wakara-like myths and opinions of treasure signs on trees, which he said was made up nonsense. They left played out mines open, to lead mine hunters away from the area: deceptions that have succeeded for hundreds of years; concealing their major gold mines, then used as an unemployment fund when needed, disappointing the Mormons from further wealth. Brigham, through Rhoads, ran out in short order, broke by the time the railroads came into Utah.
He then described where to dig and why the door was there for more visits. "Dig down in the exact center of the large oval like depression, twelve feet, and you will find a door made of metal, and you are in the mine." High grade gold ore ready for low detection, ancient smelting, or recovering gold and silver bars. Taking only what was needed for basics, periodically returning as the inheritors of their ancestor's estate: going on for hundreds of years by generations of descendants. So the contraband travels to a shady mint, stamped into coins to disguise the initial origin.
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