In What Men Call Treasure, authors David Schweidel and Robert Boswell, spin a yarn about the treasure hunt that began in 1937 when Ernest "Doc" Moss, an ersatz podiatrist, and his first wife Babe, claimed to have discovered the fortune. A careless mining explosion re-buried the treasure, and frustrating attempts to re-unearth the wealth carried on through the 1970s. Terry Delonas, Babe's grandson who grew up on tales of the treasure, decided to rekindle the search for the fortune.
Delonas's hunt makes for a sometimes quirky, always entertaining tale, full of strange characters, government intervention, and no small number of mistakes. Public libraries in which travel and adventure accounts are popular will want to buy this one. Foreword
"What Men Call Treasure: The Search for Gold at Victorio Peak is the in-depth true story of one family's legendary brush with riches. In 1937, con man and chiropodist Doc Noss ventured inside a New Mexico mountain named after the Apache chief Victorio. He discovered a cavern of incredible riches statues of saints, swords, a crown, a chest of jewelry, twenty-seven skeletons, and roughly 16,000 gold bars of varying types. When the Doc and his wife tried to gain better access to the cavern, one of their dynamite blasts destroyed the narrow passage, and the U.S. government claimed the land for missile testing shortly after.
A saga of discovery, lost treasure, and phenomenally questionable acts of the U.S. Government, What Men Call Treasure is a fascinating true story of lost mysteries, doubly remarkable in today's modern era when most corners of the earth have been thoroughly explored." Midwest Book Review
Starting with a nod to "Treasure Island," and winding down with a nod to Odysseus, this book is filled with enough pitfalls and promises to make any would-be treasure-seeking throw down their shovel and give up the hunt. Lisa Kay Tate El Paso Scene
Spur Award Finalist, Best Western Nonfiction Contemporary, 2009