My Answer to the Forrest Fenn Riddle

Forrest Fenn Solve

Preface: Aware that “tease u” is in the word “treasure”.

Poem\Map Graphic for reference:

The treasure map and poem from Fenn’s book.

*** TWO NEW CONNECTIONS ADDED 06/19/2019

*** ONE NEW CONNECTION ADDED 08/19/19

 

 

How I Found:

1. Butte MT: Fenn mentioned “butter” twice in an interview. “Butte” is in the word “butter”.

 

2. Wise River: Google mapped Butte Montana. Upon loading I saw a map point for “Wise River”. The word “wise” is in the poem.

  • “if you been wise and found the blaze”

 

3. Table Mountain: Noticed “Abe” the abbreviation for Abraham Lincoln in the word “blaze”. So I surmised “found the Abe”. Searched nearby Google Map points for “Abe”. Located “Table” mountain. Abe in the word “table”.

  • “if you been wise and found the blaze”
  • “if you been wise and found the abe”
  • From his book TTOTC: “will meet with me at the great banquet table of history”
    • “table” as in Table Mountain
    • “abe” in the word “banquet”
  • Also for “blaze” Hells Canyon Creek and Hells Canyon Guard Station are nearby


 

4. Fleecer Mountain: Using this Fenn quote “The bracelet fits me perfectly and I wore it many times” I noticed the word “cree” in “bracelet” and “perfectly”. Knowing Fenn was an Indian Artifacts dealer I took the hint and searched the area for “cree”. Found “Fleecer” Mountain near Wise River and Table Mountain.

  • bracelet…cree
  • perfectly…cree
  • fleecer…cree

 

5. Negro Mountain: Only interesting match for “home of brown” I could find or make in my map only search.

  • “put in below the home of brown”
  • next to Table Mountain

 

6. Pioneer: Forrest mentions the word “pine” and “pinyon nuts” in an interview. The following points of interest are all located in the search area and contain the word “pine”.

– Pioneer Mountains Scenic Byway Wise River MT

  • “pine” in the word “pioneer”
  • pioneer…pine

 

– Pipestone MT. town near Butte

  • “pine” and “nuts” in the word “pipestone”
  • pipestone…pine
  • pipestone…pupestone…nuts

 

7. Walkerville MT: Saw the word “walk” in walkerville. The word “walk” is in the poem.

  • “not to far but too far to walk”

 

8. Rochester MT: Noticed the word “chest” in “roCHESTer” and did a celebratory dance.

  • “just take the chest and go in peace”
  • Jenga…Bingo…Yahtzee…Eureka
  • Rochester is my location for the “chest”

 

Now before the unveiling of the final site I wanted to check the math and cover some miscellaneous connections:

A. Is Rochester located “below the home of brown”; Negro Mountain? It is. Rochester is approx 12 miles below Negro Mountain.

 

B. Can you “see” animals from the location of “the chest” in Rochester? There are several animal named points visible nearby:

  • Goat Mountain
  • Moose Creek
  • Bull Mountain
  • Fenn quote: “Once I spent four hours up in a tall pine tree waiting for an unreasonable bull moose to go home and leave me alone.”

Miscellaneous Connections:

1.  RT15 is a major route that dissects my targeted area.

  • Fenn quote: “Every ‘Montana‘ evening when I smashed a mosquito on my arm, fifteen of his relatives came to his funeral”
    • “Montana” + “fifteen” is “RT15” in Montana

 

2. Fenn makes several references to “bridges” in his Chase book. The town of “Twin Bridges” is located within walking distance of Melrose-Twin Bridges County rd, which is the dirt road turnoff to Rochester.

 

3. Fenn mentioned that there are “rubies” in the chest

4. Poem stanza: “I can keep my secret where”

  • “secret” is in the word “Rochester”
  • Rochester respelled is: secret hor…secret

5. Poem stanzas: “As I have gone alone in there” “From there it’s no place for the meek” “There’ll be no paddle up your creek”

  • “there” is in the word “Rochester”
  • Rochester respelled is: there rocs…there

6. The treasure hunt search area is the Rocky Mountains

  • The word “Rochester” has a phonetic for “rocky” in it
  • Rochester…roc ee…rocky

7.  Quote from Fenns Shopping Cart story: “I was in Kaune’s grocery store with five items in my cart.”

 

8. Quote from a Fenn Story: “Many years ago Glenna Goodacre gave me a $1,000 bill to commemorate an anniversary of the two of us working together”

  • The connection is: Glen Montana
  • The clue is the word “glen”
  • “Glen” is in the word “Glenna”
  • Link to “Glenna” story1: https://dalneitzel.com/2013/04/07/scrapbook-thirty-one/
  • Link to “Glenna” story2: https://dalneitzel.com/2015/01/30/scrapbook-one-hundred-twenty-nine/

 

Final Location:


 

An anomalous, Equi-distant “chest-like” square with a “bracelet like” dirt loop road. Rochester Cemetery.


 

Some Cemetery Images:

 

Final Thoughts:

  1. This property is both private and federal land. A land line cuts the dirt turnaround road off at the circle or “bracelet”. The Federal Government owns the “bracelet”. Part of the cemetery is private land. This parcel of land is 10.541 acres. 5+4+1=10. Acreage could then be 10.10 of which Fenn said the chest was 10×10.
  2. Fenn said you can take your family and kids to the location of the chest. The last name of one of the private owners is “Childs”.
  3. “Gold” being found here was mentioned in the Rochester sign above. So like rubies being found in Ruby Valley, Gold was also found here within this square chest-like area. Again clues that may not materialize into the real thing.
  4. I dont believe people are being sent here to dig up a cemetery. I believe that would be highly unethical.
  5. It has been mentioned that a previous searcher had found a small cemetery of which Fenn said he was “200 ft” from the treasure chest. This is probably that cemetery. I did not search the outside of the cemetery. So IF a chest were still to be found then have it, use this as your guide.
  6. There is a smaller fenced in area within this cemetery. It was also an equi-distant square and contained a marker for a deceased 6yr old girl. It was significant to this cemetery. Maybe this is significant to Fenn.
  7. Not sure a box full of treasure exists. As seen above, some of the contents of the chest turned out to be more clues to this location. “Rubies” in Ruby Valley. After that clue I dont expect to find physical rubies anymore. And if the dirt road is indeed THE bracelet, then that obviously is also not IN the chest. So the things that are supposed to be inside the chest, are being found outside of it. Those are the reasons why I do not expect a physical chest will be found. Maybe it was all about the journey because it was definitely an adventure. One I will be talking about for awhile. Or maybe there is a chest here and I missed it by 200ft. Ha. One thing is for sure, the “treasure chest” as described by Fenn is looking more metaphoric than real. 

NEW CONNECTIONS ADDED BELOW

1.  Quote from a Fenn : “I went to my refrigerator and took a long pull of Worchestershire Sauce to clear my head”

  • https://dalneitzel.com/2017/04/15/scrapbook-one-hundred-seventy-eight/
  • The following words are in “Worcestershire”:

             – worcestershire…rochester

             – worcestershire…chest

             – worcestershire…morcestershire

                       – morcestershire…cemeteri…cemetery

                       – morcestershire…mt

             – worcestershire…worcestershura

                      – worcestershura…treasure

                      – worcestershura…true

  • Results together:
    • “Treasure Chest Rochester Montana Cemetery True”
    • “Rochester Montana Cemetery Treasure Chest True”

2. From the same Scrapbook entry as the “worcestershire” quote above is another relevant Fenn quote: “After a few weeks I bought one. It was a picture of a little girl named Graciella“

  • “Grace” is in the word “Graciella”
  • Is there a “Grace” connection here at Rochester Montana Cemetery?
  • Entry from my “Final Thoughts” above:
    • “There is a smaller fenced in area within this cemetery. It was also an equi-distant square and contained a marker for a deceased 6yr old girl. It was significant to this cemetery. Maybe this is significant to Fenn.”
  • The girls name on the cemetery marker is: GRACE

 

3.  Quote from a Fenn : “wonderful little bracelet has 22 prehistoric turquoise beads in it”

  • https://dalneitzel.com/2017/02/28/moby_dickens/
  • I have surmised that the dirt turn around road in the below photo is Fenn’s “bracelet”. Now I can confirm it IS the bracelet using the word…”turquoise”
  • The following words are in “turquoise”
    • turquoise…turdnoisa
      • turdnoisa…dirt
      • turdnoisa…turn
      • turdnoisa…around
      • turdnoisa…road
    • Results together: “dirt turn around road”