The 32 tales from the area containing the backbone of America include The Gold Behind the Waterfall (Arizona), The Treasure of Deadman Cave (Colorado), Lava Cave Cache (Idaho), Henry Plummer's Lost Gold (Montana), The Curse of the Lost Sheepherder's Mine (Nevada), Lost Train Robbery Loot in Cibola County (New Mexico), Eighty Ingots in Spanish Gold (Utah), and Lost Ledge of Gold (Wyoming). As Jameson points out in his introduction, the Rocky Mountains still have many remote areas, ....

W.C. Jameson, a geographer and environmentalist, has toured much of the country in a battered, green Ford pick-up truck, collecting legends and searching for the elusive riches that treasure hunters believe await them. His sources include his own fieldwork and archival documents, as well as the reports of die-hard treasure seekers and their descendents.

Do Indians living today know the location of the supposededly cursed Lost Gold of Devil's Sink? Did Sir Francis Drake bury millions of dollars'worth of ancient Incan treasures? Has anyone found the box of gold coins buried by a reputed giant in the Washington rain forest? Is there a noble family's fortune buried near an old log cabin in the Cascades?

Collects legends of buried treasure in Texas, including the gold of Haystack Mountain, a missing Incan hoard, and the Deer Island shipwrecks

Relates local legends from Arkansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma about abandoned mines, hidden stashes of plunder, and lost fortunes

Collects legends and lore of buried treasure in the American Southwest, with maps showing locations

Discusses buried treasures located in New England, describing the types of treasures and attempts to retrieve them