There is a story more than a
thousand years old. It involves a secret Native American treasure worth more
than a hundred million dollars in today’s money. The thing is no one has heard
about. It was spirited off by a Native American chief and there was only one
written record of it and that was on a stone buried on the Canadian side of the
Niagara River. The thing is that the record is written in a language that died
out more than a thousand years ago.
A couple of years ago an older man
was walking around the whirlpool a few miles downriver from the falls. He was
looking for strange stones at the bottom of the gorge. Now, he had been lucky
most of the time but that day the gods were not shining on him. Despite all of
his searching he had come up with nothing but that changed when he saw a stone
sticking out of the rock wall. As soon as he pulled it out he saw that it was
cut into a rectangle and there was writing on it…actually two styles of writing
that he could not read. He dug it out and took it out of the gorge with him
and, thinking that it might be worth something, he took it straight to the
Niagara Falls Historical Society.
That was the first time he took
anything there so he did not know what kind of reaction he would get when he
walked carrying the stone. To his surprise that reception he received was a
hell of a lot better than he ever expected.
“Hello or Bonjour,” the man behind
the counter said as he extended his hand in friendship. The older man told him
that he spoke English. “Thank you very much sir. How may I help you?
The older man held out the stone
tablet and said that he had found it down by the Whirlpool Rapids. “I collect
rocks down there and this was sticking out of the ground. It looks like it has
some kind of writing on it.”
The man behind the counter took the
rock, looked at it carefully and disappeared into a hallway leading to a series
of rooms. The man ducked into the third room and almost as soon as he went in
he and another man rushed back out and came running into the lobby. “I am Dr. Fredric Depau, Director of the
historical society. My assistant said that you have something that I should
see.”
“I found this down in the gorge,”
the old man said. “It was sticking out of the wall, I just had to do a little
digging and it came right out.”
He took the tablet and held it out
for the man to see. Depau took it gently and looked at it…it did have two kinds
of writing on it just as the old man thought. One was a Seneca Indian language
that was used when the white men discovered the Niagara region so it was easily
readable. The other was older…much older…possibly more than a thousand years
old.
Depau looked at it for several
minutes, analyzing it in his mind. He knew that he had seen the writing before
but he had no idea what it said. “Oh my God,” Depau said as he slowly sank into
a chair. “Do you know what you have here?
“I have no idea,” the old man
replied.
“Man, you have found the holy grail
and the Rosetta Stone,” Depau said while grasping the stone as hard as he
could. “We can know what people have wanted to know ever since the first white
man’s eyes set foot on the falls.”
“What does that mean,” the old man
asked.
“My friend you have found the key
to a legend that has been told for a thousand years,” he said ask his eyes
darted back and forth between the texts. “This will answer a lot of questions.”
“What questions,” the old man
asked.
“There was an animal skin scroll
written more than a thousand years ago. It was found up by the falls but it was
in a language that no one knew how to read. If I am right…using this we may be
able to find out what that scroll has to say. If I am right you are going to be
a very wealthy man…I can promise you that.” Then, after making a Xerox copy of
the stone for the old man he had him write down his name, address and phone
number.” I should be calling you in a couple of weeks to let you know what we
found out.” The old man nodded in agreement, put the paper in his pocket and
left for home.
For the next several weeks Depau
looked and relooked, read and reread and finally he was able to make a somewhat
accurate translation of the ancient scroll. It read, “Under the falling water
lies a tunnel. If you enter you will walk a long way into the stones. There I
placed my treasure…a treasure meant for my people after I have left this world.
It was vague but at least there was a glimmer of hope that maybe…just maybe the
treasure was still there.
“Holy shit,” Depau yelled in a very
unacademic tone. “We found it! We know where it is!” Immediately afterwards,
rather after he calmed down enough, he got on the phone to set up a meeting at
the University of Quebec. The meeting would involve him, academics from the
university and the leaders of the Seneca Nation.
The meeting lasted about seven
hours and when it was done there was a unanimous vote that an expedition would
be launched to explore behind the falls
and find out if, as they believed, there was a cave hiding treasure or if the
entire thing was just a prank played several centuries before. The expedition was scheduled for the
following week. It was to include Depau and five other scientists of differing
fields.
Finally the day came. Their first
stop was to be at Table Rock where they all met and bowed their heads and said
a prayer to The Lady of the Mist. They asked for her protection during their
upcoming endeavor. Each tossed a silver dollar into the flowing water as a kind
of blessing to the woman who was to protect them.
One by one they entered the
elevator which would take them down below the falls. It took about three
minutes to make the trip to the bottom. Donning raincoats they stepped out on
the deck and as they looked up they finally saw the power that they were
facing. There were more than 500,000 gallons flowing over top of them.
“Oh my God,” Depau said loud enough
to be heard over the roar of the falls. “How in the hell are we supposed to get
back in there?”
They all strained their eyes as
they looked behind the falling water. There, hidden by the mist, was what could
only be called the echo of a long unused footpath. It was badly beaten and
covered with moss from side to side and from what they could view of it, it had
large sections that were covered by rocks. Now, they were not the huge rocks
that lay at the bottom of the American Falls. Rather, they were small to medium
in size. Not too bad but they would make the trip challenging to say the least.
Depau took the first step. The rock
was slippery but he managed to keep his balance. The others followed closely
behind. Each slipped in the same spot and he kept their balance.
The roar of the water was
deafening. They were caught between the water and the solid rock so the sound
was even louder than it was when they were standing up on Table Rock. The mist
in the closed area was thick…so thick that even with their raincoats on within
seconds their clothes was soaked and their vision was cut down to just a couple
of feet in front of them.
Step by step the measured each
movement that they made. All of them knew one thing…if they slipped and fell
into the raging water there would be no chance to rescue them and that meant
sure death. Maybe they were showing bravery maybe it was common sense but they
didn’t have ropes tied between each other. That way, if one fell the rest would
not be pulled into the falls with them.
Their travel went slowly. Depau
felt every inch of the rock wall. There were hundreds of cracks in the
otherwise solid wall. Even though he could not be heard Depau said, “How are we
supposed to find the cave, That rock has been beaten so long no wonder…” Just
then he felt something that was more than a crack. They were about half way
across the walls and Depau’s hand was touching …nothing. He looked, smiled and
yelled,” It’s here! I think we found it!”
The word passed from one member to the next and by the time it reached
the end all of them were carefully jumping up and down and cheering.
There was a ledge outside of the
hole. It was just big enough for Depau and a couple others to stand on. The
rocks were moss covered and they saw ferns growing between some of the small
cracks that had been formed. The scientists also noted that there was a strong
wind blowing into the opening; it was strong but not strong enough where they
would have trouble. They also noticed that it was a lot quieter that it had
been for the last couple of hours.
Depau lead the group in. It was
narrow but they were able to walk comfortably. Step by step they walked father
into the tunnel. The light from the opening faded and the flashlights came out.
The light revealed a cave of such beauty that no one could believe what they
were seeing, Pink quartz, blue azure and gem stones lined the walls. The floor was covered with
wood planks, rotten somewhat yes but still able to holds a man’s weight. The
tunnel went on for more than a half a mile and by the time they reached the
cavern they were nearly exhausted,
“At last,” Depau said as he entered
the room. It looked like a cathedral. Stalactites hung from the ceiling. “This
is so beautiful,” he said.
At last they were where they
thought, according to the scroll, the treasure would be. They spread out and
one of the scientists found a box. It was nearly rotted away but the sides
still held what remained of the lid. Depau slowly lifted the lid and looked in.
Inside was a single gold disk. Not big at all. It was about the size of a
fingernail…worth about $150. They searched and searched for several hours but
there was nothing else anywhere.
Yes, they were disappointed but yet
the expedition was a glowing success. They didn’t find the massive treasure
they were looking for but that disk…that little piece of gold proved that the
legend was true. That was the most they wanted to achieve…they proved an
unknown part of history.
The old man…they called him and
told him that they did find gold and Depau kept his word. He paid the man half
of what they had found…$71.94.
As far as anyone knows that old man
still searches the walls of the Niagara escarpment. He has found a few
artifacts but nothing as important as the one he found that afternoon in the
valley of the whirlpool
Rob i read this story & u are very good at writing You are brillant ! Debbie
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