My BOTG Experience

Hello Everyone, I'm going to share with you what I thought my solve was, where we went, and what I learned. Hopefully you might take something from it, and be one step closer to finding the treasure yourself. After reading the book twice, I believed that the lion's share treasure was likely located in Marshall Gold Discovery State (site of Sutter's Mill) park (MGDSP) in California. Here are the clues that led me to that conclusion.

1.) In the introduction he mentions that putting the book together was like panning for gold, which seemed like a pretty interesting phrase to use there.

2.) On page 31 he mentions that people in India were traveling westward looking for gold in south east Asia, when they would have actually had to travel east. Where in the USA did people travel westward looking for gold, Sutter's mill.

3.) JCB grew up in Statesville North Carolina which is less than an hour away from the first gold rush in the United States. Being into minerals, I thought he would be aware of this fact and might have chosen to hide it at the site of another gold rush.

4.) The book talks a lot about the myth of El Dorado, MGDSP is located in El Dorado county.

5.) He talks about the road less traveled on page 55. MGDSP is home to California route 153, the shortest highway in California. It is likely also one of the least traveled highways in California.

6.) He mentions passing blue and pink irises on your way to the treasure. The pacific coast native iris blooms along the pacific coast and in the sierra Nevada mountains, where the MGDSP is.

7.) One of the meteorites in the treasure is a carbonaceous chondrite, which is a rare type of meteorite. I believe the only meteorite of this type, to fall in the USA, fell near Sutter's mill in 2012.

8.) There is a discussion of lotuses in the book and the MGDSP is right next to Lotus California.

9.) In the make it make sense chapter, there is a discussion of olive trees and laurel trees, both of which grow in the sierra Nevada's, which is where MGDSP is.

10.) The Faberge magnifying glass was created in 1890, the same year that the monument was dedicated to James Marshall in MGDSP. Also, there is no page 90, which I thought could be related to 1890, the year the monument was dedicated.

11.) In the children's book, at least one of the two posters on the wall, on that particular page, are from 1969. Two important carbonaceous chondrite meteorites fell in 1969, that could be a breadcrumb to lead you to the Sutter's mill meteorite.

12.) There is a 1960 summer olympics medal in the treasure. At that time, both the summer and winter olympics were held in the same year. The 1960 winter olympics were held in Squaw Valley California, less than a hundred miles from MGSDP.

13.) Perhaps not the most informative clue, but there are a number of towns around MGDSP with interesting names related to the treasure. Pilot hill for Amelia Earhart, Diamond Springs for the diamond, Georgetown for the jelly glass.

14.) I think it's important to think about what a potential press release would read like when the treasure is inevitably found. Finding the treasure at an important historical site for gold discovery would make sense to me. Finding the treasure at the site of a historical tragedy seems unlikely, wounded knee, Donner pass, etc...

For these reasons, we went to MGDSP and thoroughly searched the area. Unfortunately, we did not find anything related to the treasure. Our search was comprehensive and I do not believe it is located at this park. We took our shot and did not find the treasure, so we are most likely done looking. I would be happy to discuss anything related to my thoughts and experiences in this search.

One thing that intrigues me about the various objects in the treasure is all of the 23 symbolism. I don't have the book handy, but that number comes up frequently. Michael Jordan's number, the weight of the shipwreck gold bar, the 1996 gold medal is for 23 and under soccer, the Picasso medal is 23k gold, the Greek amethyst necklace is from the 2-3rd centuries BC, the magnifying glass is valued at $23k. I was thinking this could be related to the 23K purity of the gold discovered at MGDSP, but that seems unlikely now.

I know a lot of you have probably been keeping your solves pretty close to the vest, but having taken my shot and missed, I'm happy to discuss my thoughts on anything and everything. Let the discussion commence!