The Disaster Peak Treasure

During the gold rush days a wagon train was returning east from California. Its members had been successful in the California mines and their wagons carried quite a lot of gold. On the journey they met an Indian who was in need and gave him food and clothing. Out of gratitude, the Indian attached himself to the party as a kind of self-appointed advance guard and scout. In this country where a friendly Indian was rare, his services were welcome.

Riding ahead one day in his chosen position, the Indian met some tribesmen who were on the warpath. Unable to turn them back by persuasion, he eluded them and raced back to warn the white men, whom he found camped at the base of a mountain peak, in the northern part of what is now Humboldt County.

When the travelers heard the Indian’s warning, they quickly unloaded their gold and buried it on the slope of the peak and prepared to defend themselves against the impending attack. At dawn the following day they were overwhelmed by Indians. All the members of the wagon train were killed, their wagons rifled and burned.

It is said that a man named Thompson, the first surveyor in that part of the country, found the remains of the wagons years later and named the cliff Disaster Peak. The Disaster Peak treasure has never been found.