![]() ![]() A Boy Scout named Lynn Hodgson was asked by a potential developer to explore the cave. By 1917, it earned it's larger than life name. In 1905, the cave was actually mined for its bat guano, used as fertilizer. People are still on the look out for it to this day. What happened to the stolen loot is unclear. As the legend goes, he served almost two decades in prison in Yuma and never confessed to where the treasure was. After a shootout, just one of the train robbers survived. The sheriff and his posse tracked the bandits to the cave. They escaped with thousand of dollars in currency, gold and silver. "On one of his tours around his property he discovered an opening that he thought was a mine, which turned out to be what we now call Colossal Cave."Īt the time, Solomon Lick's discovery was known as "The Mountain Spring Cave." Eight years later, in 1887, the cave played a major role in what became know as the "Legend of the Lost Loot."Īccording to Leighton's research, three men robbed the same Southern Pacific train twice in a four month period. "Around 1879, a guy name Solomon Lick took over the Mountain Springs Ranch," Leighton said. According to Tucson historian David Leighton, the area became known as Mountain Springs Ranch which had a stagecoach stop and a hotel. There's still evidence of a fire pit and smoke residue near the cave entrance.įast forward to the 1870s. Formed a couple hundred million years ago, the cave system was used by native tribes about a thousand years ago. ![]()
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