"it" - Our Lady of the Rockies

It is my belief, backed by a mountain of evidence, that “it” or Our Lady (Notre Dame) of the Rockies is key to solving the poem and key to finding the treasure. Knowing and understanding “it” is the key of which will reveal the treasure’s location. “It” is referred to in the poem five times. It is easier to understand the structure of the poem if “it” is revealed before one starts to follow the clues. “It” is the 90-foot Madonna that sits on top of Saddle Rock (in the wood) overlooking Butte, Mt. In the first reference in the poem, “Begin it where warm waters halt” and assume “it” is Our Lady of the Rockies, thus the poem says to conceptually begin Our Lady of the Rockies here.

What does that mean? Laurien Eugene Riehl was the architect who worked at the Anaconda mine and was the engineer of Our Lady of the Rockies. It was here at Warm Springs (near Anaconda) that the design began. Forrest has hinted to feeling like an architect before, which seems fitting. Thus we take “it” (the second instance of “it” in the poem) or the concept, the design, the architectural plan of Our Lady of the Rockies, that began here, via train/rail and take "it" to the home of Brown where we build Our Lady of the Rockies in six sections (reflected by the 6 stanzas of the poem).

Once the pieces of this iron statue are constructed we look to the third instance of “it” in the poem - “From there its no place for the meek.” Each one of those pieces had to be airlifted by a Forrest Fire Fighting heavy lift helicopter named after an Indian Brave “Tarhe," which means “by the tree” (Brave and in the wood). Each piece was slung under the top of the Tarhe helicopter to Saddle Rock (in the wood). This precarious and dangerous operation is certainly “no place for the meek” and in fact the helicopter almost crashed when it lost lift while placing the section containing the arms of Our Lady of the Rockies. The right arm of Our Lady was damaged during the emergency escape maneuver, thus an excellent fit to “drawing nigh” or left-handed.

The fourth instance of “it” - “So why is ‘it’ that I must go,” explains why Our Lady is important to Fenn. It is a tribute to all women of the world, especially mothers. “Why” or Wyoming (WY) contains the Bighorn medicine wheel and is a hint to how to interpret the fifth instance of “it”.

The fifth instance of “it” - “I’ve done it tired and now I am week.” Hints to using it like a tire or wheel or more specifically a medicine wheel. The word “week” hints to “weak” or calendar like reference. Medicine wheels were used by the ancient “braves” or Indians as a calendar type device to indicate when Spring has arrived. Therefore “done it” means it is a obelisk or the means of cast the shadow from the blaze or sun to a precise spot to which the treasure is buried on the vernal or autumn equinox at precisely 2:42 (too far to) solar time. The vernal equinox, is marked by “The first point of Aries” in astrological terms as hinted by gypsy magic and his hint of “dancing with the stars.” Due to Earth's axial precession, this point gradually moves westwards at a rate of about one degree every 72 years. Coincidentally, the exact number of spice jars in Mr. Fenn’s spice rack. This point now resides in the constellation Pisces. For those insistent on Fenn’s fishing obsession, I suggest the Pisces (the fish constellation) is the worth looking at to the link to the treasure.

Now many may be skeptical but one needs to keep an open mind and remember that Mr. Fenn said this will be won with our imagination so I urge you to look at all the other supporting evidence. For instance why do you suppose Mr. Fenn put his shadow on the cover of “too far to walk?” Why is his right arm not showing in the shadow? Why did he go at length to discuss how he came up with the idea? The answer is staring us right in the face all this time and we chose to ignore it. Read more