Look Quickly Down (in the book there is a map, you should look at YOUR map)
If you look the word QUICKLY UP (In TToTC) you will find it a number of times. I found the following on Even pages in TToTC.
Quckly CROSSED, TURNED, BROKE and DOWN (With the last down in the poem) I think Fenn is telling us how he ended up in this spot. The crossed the bridge, turned and they broke down - probably ran out of gas - at this spot. He also made a scrap book where he has a note to self to "Buy Gas" along side his telephone. BTW the last Number on the phone is the Number/# key.
In the TTOTC the map below the chapter has New Mexico from the late 1800's. There should be a name on the top of the map indicating the state of COLORADO which has been shopped out. Colorado is not mentioned directly in TToTC as far as I can tell.
Back to the map. The interesting thing about this School Section is that was at some point surveyed and the old survey does NOT quite line up with the current PLSS survey data. The old survey is official as far as I can determine, there are survey markers at both sets of corners. I even found one of what may have been a survey marker put in by one of the settlers- a pretty big stone with AJC initials in it next to a modern post. For whatever reason this created a dillema for solving the X marks the spot clue.
"Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" movie had the message that one 'never follows map to treasure' and 'And X never, EVER marks the spot." While later in the movie both of those statements are contradicted. I found that Dr Jones locating the Templar Tomb in Venice is the key to solving the location.
Did you ever see the scene in the movie where the Librarian is 'stamping' the books? Well that certainly explains all those post marks in TToTC...lol!
Fenn writes that his treasure chest was probably "Romanesque" and from arouind 1150 AD. Both of these assessments are incorrect. Why would an art dealer mis identify an item? There is a duplicate of this chest in Detriot Museum that is from the 19th century. So why did Fenn Fib?
The answer is linked to the Indiana Jones Movie. Three brothers went on a crusade (aroundm1000 AD) and took the Grail to a hiding spot. 150 years later (1150AD) two of them walked out of the dessert, but only one survived (Two can keep a secret if one of them is dead) and his tomb was in Venice Italy in a church that was converted to a Library.
BUT TARRY SCANT WITH MARVEL GAZE. What does that mean? It isn't important to what it means, but what is important is who would has said it. I determined that this is Knight Speak and that we must see what and how the KNIGHTS hid their tresiure. In the Library/Church scene Dr. Jones and his associates locate Roman Numerals on the walls and some of them correspond to ones elsewhere... except TEN / X
X is in the middle of the square in the floor in the library.
Same is true in the field. There could be three X marks the spot for Fenn's treasure, You have to determine which one... I chose the middle one. The intersection created by the two School Section surveys. Like So:
Which looks like this looking south from the river...Kinda looks like the top part of a Big X!
I checked out the other two center points and they were in unremarkable locations: in the middle of a field of random rocks and on the side of the creek.
Center East... Not there?
Center West No luck either....
I went up the hill, a gradual hike of about 1700 yards towards the middle location. I noticed that there were remnants of on OLD BARB WIRE FENCE. along the way, leading towards my goal. I wonder if that is the item that Ms. Jenny K refers to in the hidden words from Mr. Fenn?
The soil is so hard and undiggable in this location that the fence posts are supported above ground by rock foundations. I even made an * mark on one of them with my sharpended walking stick...(no photo alas) Could someone think of this as a False Blaze?
At a point closer to the X marks the spot I found another MAGNETIC NAIL PIN. Trust me that was not easy to find. I put a glove next to it in this photo but I don't think you can see it... It is there.
There was a large boulder split and used to hold up a fence post. I looked all around/in/under that wooden stake and found nothing.
My walking stick inserted next to Mag Pin. Note the fence post held up by the split in the rock.
I continued to follow the old fence line up. There are about three tiers on the way to the magic boulder in the center of ths map.
Continuing up towards the rather LARGE (maybe 50-60 foot tall) boulder that looked like a dot on the map...
And the view is spectacular.
And the area around it is strewn with rocks and logs and all kinds of hidey holes....
Remember when I mentioned earlier that FF had a tool of using pairs to solve his puzzle? Well there is a hint in the chapter Gold and More.
He describes that chest as maybe once holding "a bible (lower case b) or a Book Of Days (Capital Letters). This discrepancy screams at me. There is a hint here. The SONG- Book of Days by Enya was the title track (and contained the name of the movie) for Far and Away, released in the 1980s about the Oklahoma Land Rush of the 1800's. In the last scene of the movie Tom and Nicole place a flag/ Stake a Claim in the middle of their new land. Land claims were based on the PLSS survey maps and used for the new owners to 'stake title to their claim' in the local land office.
The inclusion of Staking Your Claim confirms the location. The Oklahoma Land Rush locations were marked in the middle of the sections with flags. Claimants had to go to the center and stake THEIR claim. Once staked, they reported their claim to the land office. I believe that is the last step.
IMO Mr. Fenn left a message at the site. Maybe a cryptic one, such as FF followed by seven digits. If you enter those digits into your phone (in Colorado) it doesn't work. Since Fenn was in Santa Fe, you enter the 505 area code first and you call Fenn on the unpublished number! He then indicates exactly where you pick up your reward. This solution protects the location AND it let Fenn know that his puzzle was solved. Alas I did not see any thing there while looking.....
Edit. After the Finder and Fenn had issued a very vague and suspiciously worded statement that they 'agreed to reveal the location in Wyoming.' I believe that I have solved the puzzle, but we won't know until it is published by the 'Finder'. If ever.
Until the solution is revealed, my mind is unchanged. Thanks for looking.