Lost Adams Diggings - Legacy

Legacy

The many stories arising or deriving from the lost diggings have inspired many to search for lost Apache gold ever since. Its legend has supplied many folk tales, stories and books with ample fuel for fantasies of lost treasures, hidden canyons, Apache secrets and gold "somewhere out there" in the wilds. Another supposed Indian name for the mine was "Sno-Ta-Hay," which supposedly means "there it lies" i.e. the gold is on the ground and can be picked up or panned as a placer mine. Chief Nana supposedly called it that when he first warned the Adams party before the attack. As previously mentioned, J. Frank Dobie devoted half of his book "Apache Gold and Yaqui Silver" (now in its ninth printing) to the story of the Lost Adams Diggings and considered it to be the greatest "lost mine" story of US history. The amount of mail being sent to western New Mexico during the 1930s prompted the government to create a new post office in the area affectionately named "Lost Adams Diggings, NM;" the post office has since closed.

The 1963 novel MacKenna's Gold by Heck Allen is loosely based on the Adams legend. The novel was made into a film in 1969 with the title Mackenna's Gold. Numerous other books about, or based on, the diggings have been written.