Part Six: A Few Unfinished Theories
Ok, so where did almost four days in Yellowstone get us? Well, likely no closer to the treasure, but we still have some bits and pieces from our two main theories that really need a home if any of you future treasure hunters can find a way to work them in! We actually feel pretty good about these things. Sure, we couldn’t make them work with our limited time (and again, my debilitating fear of bears), but we are at least certain they are within the same vein as the way Forrest thinks. Without further ado, the pieces of theories and thoughts that don’t quite belong anywhere else.
The Nine Clues
For starters, I want you to listen to Everything is Stories: As I have gone alone in there. It’s a podcast with Forrest Fenn where he reads his own poem aloud. Listening to his particular emphases and pauses brought new light to the poem and helped us decide which of the lines we believed were specifically the 9 clues:
1. Begin it where warm waters halt
2. Take it in the canyon down
3. Not far
4. But too far to walk [about 10 miles]
5. Put in below the home of Brown.
6. From there it’s no place for the meek, the end is ever drawing nigh
7. There’ll be no paddle up your creek, just heavy loads and water high
8. If you’ve been wise and found the blaze
9. Look quickly down your quest to cease.
You might disagree on what constitutes a clue, and that’s ok. I would at very least encourage those of you who are sick of looking at the poem — or don’t know what else to think about anymore — to try to see his clues as the “architectural plan” he says he made them to be. They are the framework. Just like you build a wire “skeleton” before you add paper mache to a sculpture, so too did Forrest build a “structure,” a step-by-step guide to finding the treasure, that is “filled in” with hints like “brave” and “in the wood” and “cold.”
Public Land or Private Land
So is it on public land or private land? I think this should be quite obvious: public land. For one, you can’t just go traipsing across people’s private property, and I don’t think even quirky Forrest would encourage trespassing. Secondly, “finders keepers” laws get very muddled when you’re on someone else’s land. Thirdly, why in the world would he go to all that trouble to define federal land vs. tribal land, etc. on his map from “Too Far to Walk”? I read a really great theory that deduced it is somewhere in the National Park Service territory, because it’s the smallest territory (in order of square miles) listed on the map. People tend to make a list only until the smallest common denominator becomes apparent. If I run a race and earn 14th place, I’m going to say I was in the top 14 or 15, not the top 20. Why? Because it’s the smallest common denominator! Therefore, this particular theorist suggested it's likely in the National Part Service.
Lastly, and perhaps the most compelling reason we believe it’s on public land is this quote from Forrest: “There are 654,885,389 acres of land in the United States that are owned by the American people. That is what the federal government admits is ‘public property.’ And the population of this great country is 313,914,040. After doing the math I learn that my allotment is exactly 2.086 acres. Now, what if I wanted to secret a can of Dr. Pepper under a rock in the cooling waters of a rivulet somewhere in my allotted public acreage?”
The Blaze
The blaze. Oh goodness, outside of the treasure itself, the thing I looked most forward to seeing was the blaze! This is the part of the poem that really drives me crazy, because we have a really great theory that would be so special if it were true. We believe the blaze could very well be a horseshoe somehow affixed to the face of a rock (or, in any case, a horseshoe shape carved into a rock). If you read back in “The Thrill of the Chase,” Forrest interrupts his musings on leaving a legacy by talking about this time he went and watched a blacksmith hammer a horseshoe into the perfect shape and size for a horse’s foot. It’s almost like you follow his train of thought from leaving a legacy by burying the chest, and then he begins thinking about the significance of the blaze he used to mark the location of the chest that would otherwise be irrelevant years from now. I think it’s even more remarkable that he says, “I was careful. A blaze can be on a tree, in a fire, on the face of a horse, a scar on a rock, and a host of other things.” He mentions the face of a horse, which is odd because clearly he couldn’t mark an actual horse, and I feel like most people don’t think of horses when they think of a blaze. He also says it is not probable, but feasible, to remove the blaze. One would not easily, but possibly could, remove a horseshoe that has been drilled deeply into a rock.
The Madison Junction
We still believe “where warm waters halt” is the Madison Junction. We think the treasure could be about 10 miles out in any direction from the Madison Junction, meaning either down the Madison River (since it flows downstream from the Junction) or up the Gibbon (since it is upstream from the Junction). We checked out the area about 10 miles up both rivers, however, and we couldn’t find anything of note. That said, it’s worth a shot if you happen to be searching in Yellowstone.
Going in Circles?
We had a really interesting turn of theory towards the end of our hunt. I began to notice Forrest’s quotes that said things like, “The person who finds the treasure will have studied the poem over and over, and thought, and analyzed and moved with confidence. Nothing about it will be accidental. T. S. Eliot said: We shall not cease from our exploration, And at the end of all our exploring, Will be to arrive where we started, And know the place for the first time.” And likewise, “I will say that I walked less than a few miles if that will help. I just looked ‘few' up and one definition is ‘scant.’ Why do I sound like I’m talking in circles?” Reading through his poem, you see this phrase: “the end is ever drawing nigh,” which seems to potentially indicate a circle, right? He has also said many, many times that you can’t start from any point in the poem other than “where warm waters halt,” which doesn’t make sense if the poem is truly linear. I mean, if you are on a 10-clue scavenger hunt and happen to accidentally find clue 7 while searching for clue 3, you would easily be able to start at clue 7 instead of clue 3 where you left off, right? Likewise, wouldn’t that mean you could theoretically cut off “where warm waters halt” and the rest of the poem before the home of Brown so long as you figured out what the home of Brown is?
So, what we think Forrest might be doing is leading you in some sort of circle or semi-circle. We think all of this might mean that, when you put in “below the home of Brown,” you actually don’t know what the home of Brown is until you’ve completed the poem, until you complete the circle or semi-circle and you see the home of Brown in a new light — a light that shows you what it is. Perhaps the treasure is actually on or under or near the home of Brown. If you want to go full Inception, perhaps the blaze IS the home of Brown! It would certainly explain why people have somehow managed to get the first two clues right and then “walked right past [the treasure].” If you don’t know what the home of Brown is, it would be easy to walk right past, right? In any case, not knowing what the home of Brown is — just that you “put in” below it — would certainly prevent you from starting the poem halfway through. Forrest says to follow the clues in order, but “in order” could simply mean “chronological,” not necessarily “linear.”
In keeping with this theory, we think it's quite possible that once you get to the home of Brown, the rest of the clues work in a very small (perhaps 200 or 500 foot) radius, coming quickly one right after the other. Again, this would make sense if people decoded the first 2 clues but then walked right past the treasure.
In keeping with this theory, we think it's quite possible that once you get to the home of Brown, the rest of the clues work in a very small (perhaps 200 or 500 foot) radius, coming quickly one right after the other. Again, this would make sense if people decoded the first 2 clues but then walked right past the treasure.
More on the Home of Brown
So we’ve discussed the possibility that maybe the “home of Brown” can’t be discovered without the entire poem, but if it is a tangible thing that can be discovered with enough research, we believe it is some sort of historical place/marker/area. Even a natural “home of Brown” might not exist in 10,000 or even 1,000 years. We intentionally chose our theory about "home of Brown" being the specific location where brown trout were initially introduced into Yellowstone — their first “home” — because this place is historical, and therefore it never changes. Even with mudslides, rock slides, forest fires, or construction, the history of a place never changes. It makes sense to us that the home of Brown is something that cannot be altered.
To Pinyon Pine or Not to Pinyon Pine
There has been a big debate about Forrest’s pinyon pine quote. Remember it?
“If I was standing where the treasure chest is, I’d see trees, I’d see mountains, I’d see animals, I’d smell wonderful smells of pine needles or pinyon nuts, sagebrush… And I know the treasure chest is wet.” Later, Forrest said, “I just watched that New Mexico Tourism video again and must say that I didn’t say what I was thinking. You cannot smell a pinyon nut, but those who pick them know that in doing so you get pine pitch all over your hands, and pine pitch smells about the same no matter what kind of pine tree you are talking about. Looking back I think I wanted to say I could smell pine needles, not pinyon nuts. Sorry I kicked a hornet’s nest with that comment.”
Pinyon pines are only found in small parts of Colorado and New Mexico (and south into Mexico, but we are talking about Forrest’s map, silly). They are never found in Montana or Wyoming. So. Did Forrest recant his comment because it was too much of a hint (as some would argue), indicating your hunt should focus exclusively in Colorado and New Mexico? Or did Forrest recant his comment because it was incorrect, indicating your hunt should focus exclusively where pinyon pines are not, which is in Montana and Wyoming? We would argue for the latter option, which supports our stance for Wyoming.
On Waterfalls, Grottos, and More
We talked about this in our theories one and two, but it’s worth noting one last time: we firmly believe Forrest’s treasure is hidden near and/or behind a waterfall, most likely in a small grotto or crevice. Why? In the poem, “heavy loads” seem to indicate the weight of the water falling on you as you search behind the waterfall. “Water high” is a fancy name for a water fall. We were further encouraged in this theory, because Forrest has a very sentimental story in his book about finding a few forgotten headstones of deceased French soldiers at a waterfall in Vietnam. He talks about the tragedy of lying dead and forgotten against the beauty of such a wonderful force of nature. He also talks about the gold “at the end of my rainbow.” What creates a rainbow in the sun? The arch of a waterfall. And where can one’s body (and gold) be hidden safely — both from nature and prying eyes — for many years? In the crevices/grottos behind a waterfall.
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