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The above picture of a dore' bar that was removed from the treasure site in the Caballo Mountain Range in New Mexico. The Caballo Mountains have a very interesting history concerning the Indians that were used by the Spanish in the mining of gold in the area. The above bar is proof that such tales are true even in today's world of disbelief. This treasure has become known as the Caballo Mountain Treasure Trove or TDA "6". The above bar is 60% gold, 20% silver, 20% lead, iron, zinc, etc. Several individuals have lost their lives over this treasure while others only came up short. Millions of dollars have been spent and lost to try and find the very bars that are in a bank in El Paso, Texas. The latest tale while it is true and the fight over it still goes on because of greed.
In 1972, two gentlemen by the names of Thayer Snipes and Troy Jacobsen flew over the Caballo Mountain area with a heat sensing device and noticed a large deposit of heavy non-ferrous metal was indicated in an area east of Caballo Lake. Thayer brought Nick Fleming to the area in 1990, and told him about the earlier flight.
Nick came back with Gary Hewitt and Paul Vlaardingerbrock in late 1992 and ran surface tests with an EM-83 Pulse induction Unit over three sites in the area and videotaped the test results. They pinpointed the area for Nick to continue his search.
Nick came back to the site during late "92 and early 93 locating and exploring several caves in the area. In April 1994, he found the entrance to the cave containing the treasure trove of miner's dore' bars. He paced off and otherwise calculated the size of the stack to be approximately five feet high, thirty feet wide and fifty feet long, stacked similar to a pallet of bricks. He also noted what appeared to be a small tunnel, which may lead to other caves.
After some personal research as to the proper course of action, Nick returned to file a Treasure Trove Claim at the Truth or Consequences Courthouse, in New Mexico, on July 23, 1993.
During one of his visits to the site, Nick met the Sanders Brothers on the road to the mine that they were working. In the ensuing conversation, it was decided that they could work together to retrieve the treasure and split the proceeds one third each, to Nick, Mrs. Drolte and the Sanders Brothers. Richard W. Darnell, the attorney for Mrs. Drolte and the Sanders Brothers came up that afternoon and worked out some of the details for an agreement. None of the others were aware that at the time that Nick had already filed the Treasure Trove Claim.
Nick heard about Lovell Fuhrmann Merlo and her contacts to financing, gold brokers and refiners, through a common acquaintance. He came to California to put together a group capable of coordinating the efforts of preparing a contract, under the terms of Section 4 of the Federal Property Administrative Services Act, 40 U.S.C. 310.
In mid September, Nick requested from the BLM information of the manner of obtaining a contract and permit to dig and retrieve a treasure trove under 40 U.S.C. 310.
On September 22, 1993, Nick received a letter dated September 21, from the BLM advising Nick to make his request to the GSA, who is responsible for issuing contracts to dig for treasure under 40 U.S.C. 310. Nick immediately faxed a request, as directed, to the GSA.
On September 22, 1993 Nick entered into an agreement with the Kinsbursky Brothers for the processing of the dore' bars.
On September 24, 1993, Nick received a faxed letter from the GSA, giving us broad, basic guidelines for obtaining a contract and permit.
On September 27, 1993, Darnell sent Nick a threatening letter, denouncing any agreement and vowing to have Nick arrested for trespassing if he came near the site.
On October 4, 1993, Nick entered into a contract with MaClellan Enterprises for security arrangements.
On October 5, 1993, Nick returned to the site with Ken Lathrop, an employee of MaClellen Enterprises to talk to Mrs. Drolte, the Sanders, the BLM Office and to verify that the site had not been disturbed. During this visit, Nick was the target of gunfire near the treasure site. A cousin of the Sanders told Ken that Fred Drolte had possession of eight bars, which had come from the riverbed below the cavern area.
On October 13, 1993, Nick sent a proposal for a contract, along with all the information requested by the GSA, including a cashier's check for the permit fee.
On October 13, 1993, Lovell contacted Thomas Doumani to set up representation by Milbank and Tweed.
On October 15, 1993, Nick received the cashier's check back from the GSA, explaining that it is not needed until the contract is approved.
On October 20, 1993, Nick received the assignment of mining rights from Jesse Lewis Craig, who is a partner in the mining claim held by Mrs. Drolte, Kenneth Dee Goff, W.R. Jones and Jesse Lewis Craig.
November 1, 1993, a group comprised of Justin Brodie, Thomas Andrew Fleming, Doug Young, Nick Fleming, Jason Brodie and John Brodie left for New Mexico. Their mission was to provide security, run tests with a Pulse Star II unit and Omitron device and videotape the area, documenting the results of the tests. The ground level testing indicated three caverns containing large deposits of non-ferrous metal, located in a crescent shaped arc, within the cavern which Nick entered being the center one.
It was discovered that the hole in which Nick had found the crevice leading into the cavern had been filled in with almost 20 cubic yards of dirt, probably by the Sanders Brothers to impede our progress. The group set up a work party to excavate the loose dirt and return the site back to the original condition in which Nick had left it.
A complaint was phoned into the BLM Rangers by a "Confidential California Informant", and by the Sanders Brothers who also visited us at the site, threatening our lives, promising to "bury us on this mountain before they saw us dig anything out". The Rangers arrived and cited us for "digging for treasure without a permit".
On November 10, 1993, the group was granted a hearing before the U.S. Magistrate Judge, Joe H. Galvan, who reviewed our package of documents and stated that "we had certainly done our homework". He suspended any fine and imposed only the condition that we do not do any digging until we come back with a Treasure Trove Contract.
The group spent the rest of the trip testing, photographing, and videotaping the site, verifying claim status with the BLM and the Truth or Consequences Courthouse, where we also filed charges of assault against the Sanders Brothers.
Prior to leaving, we met with Jesse Lewis Craig and arranged for continued security visits on a daily basis, giving him a retainer to cover expenses.
On December 8, 1993, we received a letter from Milbank and Tweed acknowledging our request for their representation and providing a statement of fees and requests for retainer.
On December 21, 1993, we made a request for indemnification by the GSA to Lester D. Gray.
On December 26, 1993, we received a response from Lester D. Gray, declining any ability to indemnify.
For four and a half months, John Brodie tracked the progress of the proposal from the GSA to the New Mexico BLM for the term and conditions and then through the GSA "chain of command", including Cultural Resources, Archaeologists, Park Service, Fish, Wildlife and parks, and others.
On March 5, 1994, Nick received a letter dated February 28, 1994 from the GSA with no more concise requirements or conditions than the previous Letter that Nick received from the GSA on September 24, 1993.
On June 9, 1994, we received a confirmation letter from Tim Murphy stating that the New Mexico BLM had received Nick's "Submission for a permit to search for treasure" from their Washington D.C. Office. He also asked for Tesoro Del Alma's partnership information, which was provided.
On June 24, 1994, a copy of the videotape was sent to Judith Waggoner at the New Mexico BLM office along with a letter asking for her discretion with the tape and expressing my regret, being unable to travel to New Mexico at this time.
On July 24, 1994, Nick sent a confirmation letter of his intent to retain the professional services of retired Federal Chief Administration Judge Leonard Suchanek (former prosecutor for the General Services Administration) for representation and assistance in obtaining the GSA Contract and dig permit. ($500.00 retainer incl.)
Nick received a letter by fax from Judge Leonard Suchanek stating that he is engaged in representing Tesoro Del Alma concerning the issuance of a permit by the United States Government.
On March 2, 1995 Nick file his notice of lode claim in the Court House in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico (Notice of Claim of Treasure Trove, Book 71, page 1225; Book 71, page 1452; Notice of Lode Claim, Book 71, page 1908) and hand delivered to the BLM office in Santa Fe, New Mexico on March 3, 1995 a certified copy of the TDA-6 Notice of Lode Claim whose reference number was 934154 and has been cross-referenced to NMMC 167937.
Since July 24, 1994 to the current date of July 22, 1998, there has been several tests that were run to confirm the fact that the product is still there and there has been court appearances in the United States District Court for the of New Mexico as well as the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California. Nick has sued his former partner Richard Rowland, Treasures Unlimited II, L.L.C. which is now doing business as Action Mining and Exploration L.L.C., Paul Blutter and attorney J.J. Sandlin. It is now established that Nick has control of the treasure project again. To this date it is acknowledged that Nick is the owner of the treasure. Nick has also kept all minings fees paid to date.
As of this date August 25, 2003 Nick is in the process of raising funds to go back to court to get an injuction against the BLM in New Mexico to prevent them from continuing to play the games that they have been playing by not following the orders that they were given from the Department of Interior in Washington D.C.
The BLM office in Las Cruses, New Mexico has been a thorn in the side of the New Mexico BLM agency whose head office is located in Santa Fe, New Mexico. They have have on occasion totally ignored what they have been ordered to do as far as this treasure trove project and that has been the main reason that it has taken as long as it has to get this treasure out of the ground.
It has come to our attention that there are several individuals and companies that are claiming to have the rights to TDA-6. The original mining claim of TDA-6 was filed in Santa Fe, New Mexico on March 3rd, 1995 reference number is 934154 by Nick Fleming. Then in 1997 the number was changed to NMMC 167937 still in the name of Nick Fleming and the mining fees have been paid and are up todate. Also Mary Alice Droltre, Paul Blutter, Richard Rowland, Action Mining and Exploration, LLC, Treasures Unlimited II, LLC ., etc., were ordered by the BLM to restore TDA-6 back its original state because of some illegal activity that they had done without permission of Nick Fleming and the BLM. To this date the property has not been restored to its original state. They failed to get the necessary permits and they failed to notify Nick Fleming of what they intended to do. They like a lot of others just thought that they could just go there and start digging, drilling, etc. The Sanders Brothers who were partners of Mrs. Droltre from my understanding were arrested and place in prison for their many scams that they were doing and illegal mining activities.
There was an individual that tried to threaten Nick Fleming by the name of David Barnhill that claimed he had the mining rights on TDA-6 and as it turned out he was wrong. It seems that he bought the Droltre Claims which surround TDA-6. A quick call to the BLM office in Santa Fe, New Mexico clearly shows that the TDA-6 claim is still in tact in the name of Nick Fleming, but there is some dispute as to who owns the Droltre claims, they appear to be owned by David Barnhill, Red Hill Enterprises and Beenah Group, Inc., the Droltre claims are M-1, M-2, M-3, etc., and surround TDA-6. Because a treasure trove claim has been filed by Nick Fleming the property can not be mined because whoever mines the TDA-6 or the Droltre claims and finds the dore' bars become treasure hunters and the bars get turned over to Nick Fleming who filed both a treasure trove claim and a mining claim.
We are in the process of getting the legal papers drawn up to procede getting an injuction against the BLM offices in New Mexico. We are also in the process of getting some further testing done that will give us "3D" pictures of what is under the ground.
11/27/2006 As of this date there has been an article that has been published in the December issue of Lost Treasure on page 51.
12/23/2006 In the February Issue of Lost Treasure on page 51 is another article on the treasure trove.
02/06/07 For those individuals that would like to support this treasure project you may go to the following link and purchase 7 dollar secrets By purchasing this book it helps us to stay debt free. |
