Treasure Mountain, elevation , is a summit in the Elk Mountains of western
Colorado
Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...
. The mountain is in the
Raggeds Wilderness
The Raggeds Wilderness is a U.S. Wilderness Area located in the Elk Mountains (Colorado), Elk Mountains northwest of Crested Butte, Colorado, Crested Butte, Colorado. The wilderness was established in 1980 in the White River National Forest, Whit ...
southeast of
Marble
Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite. Marble is typically not foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the term ''marble'' refers to metamorphose ...
. The massif has been the site of
marble
Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite. Marble is typically not foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the term ''marble'' refers to metamorphose ...
mining and a legend of lost French gold.
Immediate vicinity
Treasure Mountain forms a single
massif
In geology, a massif ( or ) is a section of a planet's crust that is demarcated by faults or flexures. In the movement of the crust, a massif tends to retain its internal structure while being displaced as a whole. The term also refers to a ...
with Treasury Mountain, elevation , that rises on the southeast.
Another Treasure Mountain, el. is located in
Mineral County, Colorado
Mineral County is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2020 census, the population was 865, making it the third-least populous county in Colorado, behind San Juan County and Hinsdale County. The county seat and only i ...
.
Other peaks in the vicinity include Whitehouse Mountain, elevation ; Bear Mountain, elevation ;
Crystal Peak, elevation ; Purple Mountain, elevation ; and
Cinnamon Mountain
Cinnamon Mountain is a summit in San Juan County, Colorado, San Juan County, Colorado, United States.
Description
Cinnamon Mountain is located northeast of the community of Silverton, Colorado, Silverton and east of Animas Forks, Colorado, An ...
, . The
Ruby Range extends southward from Treasury Mountain forming the east boundary of the Raggeds Wilderness.
The Yule Lakes are a series of lakes situated on the southern slopes which drain into Yule Creek and feeds Beaver Lake east of Marble. The watershed is part of
Crystal River basin which drains the northern slopes of Treasure Mountain and is the northeastern boundary of Raggeds Wilderness.
Yule Pass, south of Treasury Mountain separates the Raggeds Wilderness of the
Sopris Ranger District Sopris may refer to:
*Sopris, Colorado, an unincorporated community
*Mount Sopris, a mountain in Colorado
*Richard Sopris
Richard Sopris (1813 – 1893) was an American politician who served as the mayor of Denver, Colorado from 1878 to 1881. Pri ...
from the
Gunnison Ranger District Gunnison may refer to:
* Foster Gunnison Jr. (1925–1994), American LGBT rights activist and independent archivist
*John W. Gunnison (1812–1853), American explorer whose name is used in several places in the Western states
* The Gunnison River in ...
and leads to the southeast along the
Slate River drainage. Yule Pass is to the east of the headwaters of
Yule Creek
Yule, actually Yuletide ("Yule time") is a festival observed by the historical Germanic peoples, later undergoing Christianised reformulation resulting in the now better-known Christmastide. The earliest references to Yule are by way of indig ...
.
Geology
The Colorado Yule marble (a.k.a. Yule Colorado marble) comes from the Leadville Limestone of
Mississippian age
The Mississippian ( , also known as Lower Carboniferous or Early Carboniferous) is a subperiod in the geologic timescale or a subsystem of the geologic record. It is the earlier of two subperiods of the Carboniferous period lasting from rough ...
quarried near the mountain.
[ It was formed by ]contact metamorphism
Metamorphism is the transformation of existing rock (the protolith) to rock with a different mineral composition or texture. Metamorphism takes place at temperatures in excess of , and often also at elevated pressure or in the presence of che ...
in the Tertiary
Tertiary ( ) is a widely used but obsolete term for the geologic period from 66 million to 2.6 million years ago.
The period began with the demise of the non-avian dinosaurs in the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, at the start ...
period following the intrusion and uplift of nearby granitic
A granitoid is a generic term for a diverse category of coarse-grained igneous rocks that consist predominantly of quartz, plagioclase, and alkali feldspar. Granitoids range from plagioclase-rich tonalites to alkali-rich syenites and from quartz- ...
Treasure Mountain dome.[
Yule marble was used in the building of the Lincoln Memorial. The Yule marble quarry is at an elevation of on the west side of Treasure Mountain along Yule Creek.][ The quality and durability of the Yule marble was questioned prior to the building of the Lincoln Memorial as was the recently opened quarry's ability to provide the quantity and size required for construction.]
Origin of name
The original name of the peak was Citadel Mountain. The current name came from an ill-fated French mining expedition described in folklore
Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging ...
documented in the 1930s and 1940s.
The folklore states that the expedition was organized in the late 1700s by Napoleon Bonaparte
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader wh ...
, who needed financing to fund his ambitions. The expedition was reported to have consisted of 300 men and 450 horses. They left and traveled through Leavenworth, Kansas ''en route'' to the Rocky Mountains. The folklore claims that a large amount of gold was discovered and amassed by the expedition near Wolf Creek Pass
Wolf Creek Pass is a high mountain pass on the Continental Divide, in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado. It is the route through which U.S. Highway 160 passes from the San Luis Valley into southwest Colorado on its way to New Mexico and Ariz ...
. The local Native Americans were reportedly initially friendly, but relations deteriorated. In the folklore, the French buried the gold and escaped from the area, pursued and hunted by warriors. One survivor, by the name of Le Blanc, made it back to Kansas. He was the expedition's historian and was reported to have made two maps of the hidden treasure.[
A later expedition failed to find the treasure.][ William Yule, many years later, claimed to possess a copy of the original map and explored the area south and west of the mountain.] The mountain was named after the legend of the missing treasure.[
]
See also
*List of mountain peaks of North America
This article comprises three sortable tables of major mountain peaksThis article defines a significant summit as a summit with at least of topographic prominence, and a major summit as a summit with at least of topographic prominence. All ...
**List of mountain peaks of the United States
This article comprises three sortable tables of major mountain peaksThis article defines a significant summit as a summit with at least of topographic prominence, and a major summit as a summit with at least of topographic prominence. All su ...
***List of mountain peaks of Colorado
This is a list of major mountain peaks in the U.S. State of Colorado.
This article comprises three sortable tables of major mountain peaksThis article defines a significant summit as a summit with at least of topographic prominence, and a m ...
References
Further reading
*
*
External links
*
{{Colorado
Mountains of Colorado
Mountains of Gunnison County, Colorado
North American 4000 m summits