wrmickel,
I guess you are right I must be a fictional character.
But then again I rather be Keyser Sorze than Sherlock Holmes. Sherlock always defined himself in terms of his prey. A rather limiting way to do life. Keyser would take the trail maps, line up the Salt River, Fish Creek, and Black Cross Butte fairly quickly. Then the fun begins. That is figuring our how to use the second map to get to the end of the trail without using the other maps that also work with the trail maps. Of course to see this clearly you would need to understand the flow pattern of the Salt River about 1200 years ago. Furthermore what is so intriguing about the maps there are other solutions to the maps that seem just as valid with gold, hearts and who knows what else being found. Seems someone has been very busy creating any number of solutions. Maybe Edger Casey was right about who was in there at one time.
There was a fascinating comment made by Don Shade in his work, "Esperanza", by the way the best book ever written about the Superstitions, he said:
"In an old cabin, Ray found a saddle bag with a diary in it which had been kept by a man named Tumlinson from Texas. The diary told of a trip to Mexico to locate a mining family and it gave a complete run down of the mines they had worked.....The diary also told of an expedition composed of five hundred people, Tumlinson was one of them, who came from Mexico to Arizona in the 1890`s to look for treasure and an exceptionally rich mine. The Mexicans went home empty handed." Page 40
Was Ray talking about the Superstitions, who knows. I believe he was.
Good luck to you in your efforts and I really have said enough.
Keyser