How can any closure come to a Spider Rock Texas Treasure Hunt that began in 1902 and has continued to the present, a hunt that continues today? We are talking about a 120-year period of searching; this writer joined the hunt 55 years ago. It has been 74 years since Eve Ball interviewed Archie Frame about their Spanish Research Mine in New Mexico which they dug on for 22 summers, from 1920 to 1942. The Archie Frame interview was printed in True West in December of 1973— 50 years ago. That magazine issue is rare and hard to find so it will be reprinted here.
This is what Archie Frame told: As a boy I lived on a ranch near Clyde, Texas. There was no hotel there, but a Mr. Ward kept people, usually overnight, and his wife served meals. A man whom they took to be Mexican came. He brought only a small, leather-covered chest, too small to be called a trunk. He paid $10 a week for room and food, in advance, and purchased a mule and mining equipment. He took a bedroll and sometimes stayed away overnight. People were curious, but sixty years ago nobody asked personal questions. It was known that he went to a grove a few miles out. It was known that it had trees which for some reason were larger than others.
After a few weeks he said to Mr. Ward, “I’d like to leave my things here while I am away. I won’t be gone long. My wife is in Mexico. We are Spanish, but she has relatives there. I’d like to borrow some money and I will leave you something very valuable as security.” He unlocked the chest and took out a flat piece of stone upon which were cut signs or symbols that looked something like those in the almanac. Mr. Ward said he thought they might be picture-writing, and the stranger gave him permission to read them.
