Should You Get Rich Near Las Vegas?
If you could drive an hour from Las Vegas on the chance that you’ll find a natural wonder with piles of gold, would you?
Most people go to Nevada with dreams of getting rich in casinos. Well, maybe most really go for a little deniable escape from life, but some hope to pull a handle or drop a card and go home rich. Hey, done responsibly, the gambling areas are great places to enjoy trying!
But, since the 1930s, people have also tried - some to their last cent and final breath - to find what has been described as a breathtaking hidden world kept safe by a dynamite blast.
This is one narrative of many. As with anything you read, take it all, including this article, with a grain of salt.
According to the legend, deep underground canyons lie under the Mojave split by rivers with rock shelves sifting out rich deposits of gold. Some believe an entrance to this is under a peak near Mountain Pass, California named “Kokoweef.”
Earl Dorr’s Story
The rest of the world knows him as Earl Dorr: the man behind a remarkable story of discovery and loss. To me, he’s Uncle Earl. Okay, technically, he’s my great uncle, but everyone in the family calls him “uncle.”
According to the tale, Earl was shown an entrance to this hidden wonder by some Native American brothers who had taken what gold they needed. After going in, Earl headed off to town to enlist the help of an engineer named Morton.
This underground world is, supposedly, enormous: miles in length, a half mile deep, 300 feet wide, and featuring a 500 foot stalactite in one section. Earl described walking through the large halls for days.
Large quantities of gold collects on the rock shelves of a river that rises and falls like it’s breathing.
They spent several days wandering in great subterranean halls and, at one point, could hear the train at Nipton. However, Morton got sick, and Earl had to haul him out of the earth. Luckily, Earl was a very strong man and able to get both of them to sunshine.
All Gone in a Flash
After they left the opening, Earl noticed two other men in the area.
At this point, the basic story divides into two versions. The more lurid one says Earl waited until the two men entered the opening then dynamited the entrance behind them.
Although it’s not as exciting and gets less attention, the other version says Earl did blast the opening to keep the treasure for himself but didn’t kill anyone in the process.
In the End
Earl managed to get Morton to town, but the engineer died after verifying the existence of the halls hidden under the desert. Gold samples that they brought back were assayed at $2,415 per yard.
You can read into this what you want: Uncle Earl spent the rest of his life trying to return to the great treasure tunnels of Kokoweef and died, perhaps in a karmic way, from a dynamite blast.
Earl Dorr left to this world a sealed entrance, a sworn statement from 1934 published in the California Mining Journal in 1940 and, inside Kokoweef, the letters “D-O-R-R” blackened with his miner’s lamp on a subterranean wall.
Years later, my father Ray Dorr’s September 1967 Argosy article “Hollow Mountain Filled with Gold” seems to be the keystone reference for most people interested in the story of gold under the desert.
Where to Find Treasure
Like all legends of hidden wealth, it takes work to isolate the truth and, even if you write the best facts you can find, the result might not be good.
I can tell you this: one of the greatest burdens on my father was the fact that he wrote that Argosy article. He wrote the best information he could and worked to deceive nobody. But, according to him, seeing families give up their precious time and money in pursuit of the Kokoweef legend made him feel guilty.
Maybe, if you’re rich and without a family and use your time and money well, a search for the underground canyons would be interesting.
If not, appreciate and spend time with the treasures you have!
© Mark Dorr, All Rights Reserved
