16 September 2023 , 13:28
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A treasure hunter believes he is close to discovering a legendary lost gold mine “worth billions”.
Adam Palmer, 43, has searched for Slumach’s lost mine in the Canadian wilderness for 23 years for its rich bounty of gold. Legend has it Slumach, an indigenous man, brought huge nuggets of gold to nearby town New Westminster - but never revealed its source.
In 1891 Slumach was hanged for murder and cursed those who tried to find his gold: “when I die, the mine dies” he allegedly said. Mr Palmer is searching the area north of Pitt Lake in British Columbia for the treasure. There are doubts over the legend and the existence of the mine, with the story potentially a typical example of a fictional legend passed down generations. But Mr Palmer believes he has found a lead - a lost mine.
“In the mountains north of Pitt Lake,” Mr Palmer explained, “a gold mine worth billions is said to exist. The old mine we found last year was collapsed under a landslide, but we dug it open.
Mr Palmer believes the newly discovered mine could be a clue (Credit: Adam Palmer via Pen News)
Mr Palmer says he is "getting close" to discovering legendary gold mine (Credit: Adam Palmer via Pen News)“We haven’t been able to fully examine it yet – we’re waiting to go back inside with more gear and equipment to get through the blockage, and further down into it. Now we’re waiting to hear back to find out how old it is, based on evidence we found inside.”
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Mr Palmer has found many clues in his long hunt, saying that “every year we discover something we have never seen before”. He added: “We found an old prospector’s cabin that had mining tools in it, and an ancient rock shelter cave with pictographs painted on the walls from hundreds of years ago.
“We found an ancient trail system that has been archaeologically dated to have been used for thousands of years for trade between the First Nations. We believe all this evidence is connected somehow and the secret lies within the history and culture of the area.”
Newspaper reports from the early 20th century claim that a prospector located the mine in 1901 - but he died after an illness. The prospector wrote in a letter to a local paper in 1915 that he found golden nuggets “as big as walnuts” and had buried some under a “tent-shaped rock”. Adam found a strange shaped boulder - and thinks it could be the rock in question.
Adam Palmer and his team found old cave paintings while searching for the mine (Credit: Adam Palmer via Pen News)But another prospector called Robert “Volcanic” Brown is described by Mr Palmer as the “only real, proven account of someone who went looking and may have found it”. He added: “Unfortunately, he disappeared without a trace in 1931, and to me that is even more mysterious than the lost mine.
“I always say ‘if you find Volcanic Brown, you find the gold’. I’m either going to find him first, or the lost mine, but I think if you find one or the other they will both be in the same location.”
He added: “We’re getting close. We’ve narrowed down the search to an area that was known as the location of Volcanic Brown, and we found some evidence there that may lead us in the right direction.”
Some believe the gold mine claims is an elaborate hoax, with local historian Fred Braches telling CBC in 2019 that most of the story was unsubstantiated. He said Slumach was real, but believes the mine was invented by locals - to attract prospectors to the area.
The team found an item in the newly discovered mine (Credit: Adam Palmer via Pen News)
Adam Palmer believes he could find a mine "worth billions" (Credit: Adam Palmer via Pen News)On top of this, a 1965 geological survey said Pitt Lake is “not favourable for gold-quartz veins” and “less so for the placer gold of the legend”. It found there was “no mention of a gold mine” in the historical newspaper reports of Slumach’s hanging.
But many treasure hunters are still drawn to the area - and Mr Palmer is seeking to fulfil a childhood dream. “I first heard about the legend of Slumach's Gold when I was about 12, going through my great uncle’s books,” he said.
“I became fascinated with the idea that somewhere in the mountains close to where I live, there could possibly be all this lost gold waiting to be found! I swore that as soon as I got old enough to drive and go out on expeditions, I would be the one to finally solve these mysteries – or at least try to.
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Mr Palmer’s hunt has been televised in the Deadman’s Curse documentary, soon to release its second season.