Flagstaff History: Bartlett left a legacy as a trailblazer of Southwestern anthropology

100 years ago

1926: Listen to a couple of old-time prospectors gassing while they lean against the sunny side of a building on Front Street in ‘most any town in Arizona and you will hear speculation concerning the location of some lost mine. There is no more intriguing pastime which gives greater return of romance. Forty years ago, a stage driver plying between Fort Defiance and Holbrook made a trip off “somewhere on the reservation” and found a fabulously rich gold-bearing ledge. Forsaking his regular occupation he outfitted a pack train, took two companions with him and disappeared. Many false clues in which figured Indians as guides lured adventurous ones into the desert in hope of finding the lost treasure. Stating that he had found it and showing gold-flecked samples to substantiate his assertion, George Lee, from “somewhere on the reservation,” appeared in town this week. He tells how, aided by an Indian, he found “The Lost Mine,” and that there he also found the bones of three persons, an old butcher knife and other objects, adding weight to his belief that he has found what for decades was lost. More than one Flagstaff citizen had made an expedition in its search. They were among the first to congratulate George Lee on his evident success in beating (them) to it.