Guides to lost treasurers

I have a copy of the September 1958 Bonanza Magazine that was my mother's. It was published in Randsburg and was listed as Vol. 1 No. 1, so it appears it was the first issue.

The magazine, published by E.Z. (Erv) Sauke, included "stories of the old west, and its boom towns."

I have written a column from this magazine before, but I did not look at every story in it. This week I found an article written by Barry Storm, who wrote adventure stories throughout the west. His stories were "wrapped with mystery, intrigue and humor."

The story I discovered was about signs, which he called cabalistic signs that were carved into rocks and trees, and were meant to point the way to hidden mines and treasures. Barry said these same signs were also found on treasure maps.

Never having heard of such signs I had to look this up. I found the broad definition of cabalistic which said it referred to the occult or secret things.

I have been all over East Kern as I grew up, as I have mentioned before with my parents and the East Kern Historical Society and on my own and have never seen any of these signs.

Barry said the signs could have first been attributed to Spanish adventurers who came to America bringing the signs with them.

Arrows were used, he said, in all fashions to point ahead, down to the ground, and with feathers with secret meanings.

Crossed mining picks carved on a rock could mean a miner had found a rich vein of ore. Certain signs on a treasure map depicting signs of Spanish origin could mean that the area was one often roamed by Spanish-Mexicans.

The Spaniards were there first, Barry said, and most often had the occasion to hide "fabulous treasures and bonanza".

He added that Native American signs were adapted and used by those hiding treasure. Priests often left a cross with a longer arm pointing down to a burial site of church wealth or artifacts. In many cases the symbols were actual symbolic of things used and therefore were easily understood by others in like circumstance, "however ambiguous they appear today."

So instead of actually using real mule shoes, a "U" was cut into a nearby rock pointing out a direction, meaning travel on, or "dig here."

Sometimes a box was carved to denote the treasure box or chest. When a mine was abandoned because of Indian raids, the universal sun symbol was used with an extra circle in its center to mean "here is the mine."

The author noted as of 1958 that many of such mines and hidden treasures had already been found through the cabalistic signs left there. Sometimes the word "ORO" meaning gold in Spanish was cut in to a nearby rock, meaning that gold was nearby.

Less common a hole was cut so that the sun would shine through at the appointed time, projecting like a spotlight on the shadowed opposite surface. (Think Indiana Jones).

I found an article about some who searched near Castaic Lake for cabalistic signs leading to the Redrock Mine, located in Redrock Canyon. They discovered the signs, after several hard hikes did find the opening of one of the mines. (Not our Red Rock Canyon north of Mojave.)

I am curious if there are any such signs in the Tehachapi area, or East Kern. I would love to see them or include them in a future column, unless they are in a secret place.

I have only lived in Tehachapi for 14 years, so I know there is much I still need to learn about the area, including cabalistic signs.