Case file · Folklore / legend
Pegleg Smith's black gold
Trapper Thomas 'Pegleg' Smith claimed that around 1829 he picked up black-crusted gold nuggets on a butte in the Colorado Desert; from the 1850s he sold maps to the 'lost' site.
1829 CE · 33.25, -116.30 · status: legend
The account
Searches near Borrego Springs never found it. A Pegleg Smith Liars Contest has been held there since 1975.
The sceptical view
Smith told many tall tales and profited from them; some anonymous letters in the 1960s claimed the find but never proved it.