Some people believe that the tunnels carved here in this Southern Utah spot were created by the Aztecs some 500 years ago. The Spanish, during this time, were invading the Aztec homeland, which was governed by King Montezuma, and were intent on taking all their wealth.
The Aztecs supposedly had so much gold that in today’s dollars it would value in the billions. The Aztecs didn’t want the Spanish to have their gold and treasure, so they loaded it and headed north to their original homeland – Aztlan. Some people believe that Aztlan is in the four-corners region of the United States.
The Aztecs supposedly dug tunnels in this area to hide their immense wealth and sealed it up for when they could come back and get it at a future time.
Fast forward to about the 1900s, when a man named Freddie Crystal was sure he knew where the Aztec gold was hidden. He said that he found a map that showed him exactly where the treasure was: the Kanab area. Freddie found some petroglyphs and steps carved in the rock and he even found a tunnel that was sealed with some type of concrete.
He carved away at it with a pocket-knife and found that it required more tools and labor to break inside. He went to town and the pure excitement pulled 3/4 of the townspeople out to work on the mine. They worked the tunnels and found at the back an empty room. They did find some bones and even some broken pottery, but no gold. They all gave up and the legend lives on. Were these tunnels carved by the Aztecs?
The legend is fascinating, but we may never know for sure if it’s true.
