Above the Bridge (18 page)

Paige sat quietly while Jake built a fire.  She gazed up at the pitched, wood beam ceiling and admired the sense of space it created.  Looking around, she could see the room was furnished comfortably in earth tones, with brown leather chairs and western style lamps made of sculpted metal and antlers.  A cowhide rug covered the wood floor in front of the fireplace.

Jake placed a wire screen in front of the fire as it began to catch, small flames growing into larger ones. He placed a bottle of brandy a on the pine table in front of the couch and poured a serving for each of them.   She took the snifter he handed to her and then sat back on the couch, waiting apprehensively for the conversation to unfold. 

Jake sat on the rug, looking into the fire.  He avoided Paige’s inquiring gaze as he worked to pull his thoughts together.  He took a sip of the brandy, swirling it around the glass, just as he’d done with his coffee the first time Paige had seen him.  Then slowly he started to let the story flow.  As nervous as he felt about their safety, they were both already involved, whether they wanted to be or not.  And it felt good to share the tale he had carried alone for so long.

“I grew up with the legend,” Jake explained.  “My grandfather was an odd man, very back woods and more than a little eccentric.  He told many tales of the old west, some believable and some pretty farfetched.”  Jake paused to take another sip of brandy and then continued on as Paige took a warming sip from her own snifter.

“Most people thought he was crazy when he told his story about hidden gold.  For one thing, he just didn’t come across as very believable, what with all the wild tales he was always telling.  For another, the story seemed too unlikely.  After all, historical accounts state that the early prospectors and miners were unsuccessful in their attempts to find gold in Jackson Hole.  One man, after years of searching, left only the equivalent of twelve dollars behind in his cabin when he passed away.  So, it just didn’t sound likely that anyone could have found a large amount.”  Jake paused to raise the brandy snifter to his mouth again and then placed it on the table, throwing a sideways glance at Paige.

“But I knew, even as a child, that he was telling the truth.  I’ve always had a good instinct about things and I knew this was one story I could believe in.”  This time Jake paused without taking a drink, instead just looking into the fire and then turning to face Paige directly.

“According to the way he told it, his father – that would be my great grandfather - and a friend had been panning for gold along the Snake River, just as many had been doing in those days.  No one around them had come up with anything more than a few tiny bits of gold and slowly, one by one, they had given up, believing there wasn’t any more to be found.  Just before giving up the search themselves, however, they moved a little ways downstream and gave one area alongside the river a few more tries.  To their shock, they came up with larger chunks of ore than had been found before.  They hid the pieces and decided to come back later, when no one else would be around to observe them.”

At this point Jake stopped and stood up, left the room and came back with a standard map of the valley of Jackson Hole.  He moved a few books out of the way, set his brandy snifter to the side and laid the map open across the table.  Here he pointed to the path of the Snake River, how it wound its way through the valley, meandering as it continued south.  He pointed a finger to an area not far from Deadman’s Bar, indicating this as the approximate location that his great grandfather and friend had found the gold ore while panning that day.

“They went back that night,” he continued, “with a lantern and pitchforks and a couple of small potato sacks.  They dug most of the night, finding nothing as the hours passed by.  Discouraged, they came close to giving up.  But shortly before the sun rose, my great grandfather dug up a nugget the size of his fist.  Hardly believing his eyes, he continued digging, finding more where that came from.  The two men continued digging until the light made it too risky.  Not wanting them to be found, they buried their findings and covered the hole, moving brush around to conceal the location.”

Paige sat on the couch, nodding her head occasionally and trying to take everything in.  On the one hand, it validated everything she had come to suspect, that the early prospectors hadn’t been as unsuccessful as history portrayed.  On the other hand, however, it was almost unbelievable to hear the tale told as it was.  She whispered for Jake to continue and leaned forward to hear the rest.

“They went back every night after that, for weeks,” Jake explained.  “Each night they dug a little deeper and added more to their stash.  Each morning, before the sun rose, they refilled the spot to hide it.”  Jake tapped his finger against the spot on the map, again indicating where the discovery and subsequent activity had taken place.

“Eventually, as the pieces of gold they were finding became smaller and smaller, they determined they had exhausted the lode.  They covered the area one final time and returned to my great grandfather’s cabin to decide on a course of action."

Here Jake paused and stared into the fire, considering the story from a few different angles.  No matter how many ways he had looked at the overall picture, there was always more than one possible conclusion.  The trick was finding the one that was right.

“From what I was told as a boy,”  Jake now explained, “they decided that my great grandfather’s friend would hide it – for what reason I never really understood – and that he’d make a map of the location, which would be copied and kept by each of them, under an honor system. My great grandfather believed that his friend kept the gold hidden in his cellar for a few years and then buried it somewhere in the mountains.  They were to meet together to discuss the location of the buried gold.  But before he could tell my great grandfather where he had buried it, he was swept away in the great Kelly flood of 1927.  He drowned, leaving no trace of the gold behind.”

“I remember reading about that,” Paige spoke up, recalling some of the initial research she had done on the area.  “A natural dam had been formed by a landslide two years earlier and heavy rain and snowmelt caused it to collapse.”

“Exactly,” Jake nodded in agreement.  “That was the Gros Ventre Slide in 1925 that formed the natural dam.  It was also caused by heavy rain and snowmelt.  Fifty million cubic feet of rock slid off Sheep Mountain, up behind Kelly.  Created a rock wall two hundred feet high.  Pretty much wiped out the whole town.”

 Paige continued to take all of this in.  She leaned forward to look at the map carefully, trying to imagine how they could possibly search the entire valley.  It could take years, generations, even.  At this point, it seemed like an impossible task.  She began to feel a little sorry for Jake, pursuing a dream that wasn’t likely to be realized.

“So you really have no idea where the gold could be,” Paige asked in a sympathetic tone.

Jake sat quietly for a minute, which Paige interpreted as agreement.  She watched Jake as he stared ahead into the fire. And she watched as he stood up and crossed the room to a tall bookshelf against the front wall.  He hesitated briefly and then reached up to one of the upper rows and pulled out one of the books.  Flipping through the pages, he removed a folded piece of paper and brought it back to where they had been sitting.  He sat down again and, holding the paper tightly, looked at Paige.

“I’d been researching the Jackson Hole area most of my life, reading everything I could get my hands on.  I analyzed maps, read trail books and studied the local history.  But I just couldn’t find any leads that seemed strong enough to pursue.  Then, about a year ago, I got a call from a man claiming to be the son of my great grandfather’s friend.  He said that he had some information that would be of interest to me, that it could turn out to be a winning proposition for both of us.  I first assumed it was a crank call, but then he threw out a few details that matched the story that I had been told as a boy.  The more I listened, the more I became convinced that he was telling the truth.”

“I moved down here from Cody about six months ago.  It took a little time to sell my property up there and get settled here, but I figured it was my best chance to focus on finding the gold, since I’d been promised the extra information and help.  Except for one thing – those promises didn’t materialize once I arrived.  Instead, Frank - that is, that’s who it turned out to be – became very standoffish and seemingly confused about details. He contradicted himself about specifics and was unable to find items that he’d promised to turn over.   I spent months running in circles and getting nowhere at all until just recently, when he said he’d found something to give me that would help.  As frustrated as I’d become with him, I agreed to meet him and hear what he had to say, which is when he gave me this.”

Jake unfolded the paper, which Paige saw was actually two pieces of paper which fit together along a tear down the middle.  Looking at the various markings, she could see that it was a map of the valley, though the specific landmarks were not very clear.

“The map must have been already torn when you got it,” Paige said, noting the worn edges of the center.

“Actually,” Jake said, a slight tone of annoyance in his voice, “the first time I met him he only gave me half of the map, claiming that the other half had been lost.  It took a couple meetings and some angry words to get the other half from him.  But finally he handed it over.”

Paige remembered watching the heated discussion in the town square, as well as seeing the man hand over an envelope.  At the time she hadn’t realized it was Frank, but now it seemed to be coming together, except for the part about Maddie.

“I don’t understand where Maddie fits into all of this,” Paige remarked.

“Well, neither do I,” Jake sighed.  “I didn’t even know she was involved until you mentioned it earlier.  But obviously they’re working together.  And from what we just overheard, they’re not up to any good.”

Paige mulled all this over, trying to put the pieces together.  She looked at the map again and then looked up at Jake.

“I don’t understand where he got the map,” she said.

“He said he’s had it for most of his life,” Jake answered.  “That when his family went through the ruins of his father’s house after the flood, they found a water tight box buried beneath the ground.  The erosion of the soil had caused the box to become partially unburied, but the box managed to keep the water out.  The map was inside and Frank has been searching for the gold ever since.  Now that he’s too old to continue searching on his own, he offered to split the fortune if I could help find it.”

“I see,” Paige responded.  “That all makes sense, except for the fact that his story doesn’t match up with what we overheard.  Maddie must have had the map all along and paid Frank, or Lou, or whatever his real name is, to find the treasure for her. So what’s the next step?”

“I’m not sure,” Jake said honestly.  “But we’re going to have to find it without them knowing.  Somehow we’ll need to keep them off track.”

Several minutes passed without any conversation at all, at which point Paige turned to Jake suddenly.

“It just occurred to me,” she said, “that Maddie has no idea I know anything about this.  She simply thinks I’m interested in the history of prospectors and miners in this area, from a comment I made one time at the Blue Sky Café.”

Jake waited for Paige to continue, trying to figure out how this could tie in.

“Jake, don’t you see?”  Paige said.  “Since she thinks that I don’t know much, I can easily lead them in the wrong direction.  I can drop a couple of hints that I’ve found something for the article I’m doing and make it seem like there may be gold hidden in a different location than it is.  I can say I met up with you or that I saw you hiking or something like that, which will throw them off track.”

They both thought this over, Jake worrying that it might backfire and put Paige in danger, Paige wondering where she should try to lead them as a decoy location, considering she didn’t even know where Jake was looking in the first place.

“Jake,” Paige said, “They have no intention of sharing this with you, if it even exists.”  She quickly retracted her statement as he threw her an annoyed look.

“Ok, I do believe you that it exists.  But they have no intention of sharing it.  They’re just using you.  And if Frank’s an imposter - which is what it’s starting to sound like - the gold is rightfully yours, not his.  By the way,” she continued, “Do you even have any idea where it’s hidden?”

Jake nodded and pointed to an area on the large map, indicating the mountains behind Jenny Lake.

“I’m almost certain it’s in this area,” he said.  “My great grandfather used to go on and on about these mountains, about how his friend always talked about needing to hide it high above the valley.  Look at the map here.”  Jake indicated the smaller, torn map that Frank had given him.  “You see these zigzag lines on the left?  Those are the Grand Tetons.  And the oval shape here…I’m sure that represents Jenny Lake.   Now look at the bottom of the paper.  You see these parallel lines that look like a ladder or walkway?  Or maybe even a bridge?  I think that might indicate a crossing point over the Snake River.  And the winding line down the middle is the river itself, which points directly towards the Tetons, at least at several of its turns.”

Jake stopped to catch his breath and waited for a response from Paige, who sat there quietly analyzing the map herself.

“I don’t know, Jake,” she replied slowly.  “Those are all good guesses, but there are so many possibilities, it’s hard to know where to start.  There are walkways and bridges and river crossings all over this valley.  And ladder markings could represent an actual ladder, which would likely be long gone, or just a directional sign drawn out as a clue.”