YOU TELL US – Kc Roestenberg, a member of our St. George News community, submitted the following story with a photo. He wrote:
“My wife and I live in Southern California and were visiting Zion (National) Park last Saturday. We were traveling down the narrows trail when we came across an area of the trail were water was seeping thru the rocks and ferns were growing. A gentleman with another group of hikers started digging into a (crevasse) because he thought he saw something shiny tucked into the rock. Lo and behold he pulled a U.S. Silver Peace dollar dated 1923 from in between the rock.
“If I had not if seen it with my own eyes I would not have believed it. I took a picture of the person and the coin …. My wife and I came up with a romantic theory that a honeymoon couple were walking the narrows and tucked the coin into the (crevasse) vowing to come back in 25 years to retrieve the coin for sentimental value.
“I am sure others can come up with a host of theories but I found the whole experience very intriguing.”
At Roestenberg’s suggestion, we put it to you, readers. Do you have a theory about how the coin ended up there? Got a photo caption you can’t resist sharing? Or perhaps you’re the lucky man who found it. You tell us.
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In 1939, a young Lavoid Leavitt and his future bride, Harriet Anderson, both students at Dixie College, used to ride out to Zion with their friends to hike the narrows and generally enjoy the scenery. They told me the group used to bring an old wind-up Victrola, play records and dance in the moonlight there.
I’d like to think that coin belonged to one of those long-ago Dixie College students, who tucked it into the rock until they could all come back there together to retrieve it. But war came, and they were never to be all together again, so the remaining friends left it there as a memorial to those carefree nights.
If you hike the entire length of the Narrows you start at an old ranch. I imagine some old timer rancher hid a stash of money somewhere along the ranch. The old timer has long passed and the ranch has passed hands. Eventually heavy rains from one of the cloud bursts on Cedar Mountain washed up the money and it washed down the canyons in one of many flash floods that occur in the canyons of Zion. The rest of the money could be strewn from the ranch all the way down to Mesquite.
Coin Trackers
Silver Content: 90%
Silver Weight: .7735 oz.
Silver Melt: $25.53
Value: As a rough estimate of this coins value you can assume this coin in poor condition will be valued at somewhere around $19, while one in “perfect” condition can bring $165. This price does not reference any standard coin grading scale. So when we say poor, we mean worn more than would be expected from a coin in this age, and perfect meaning it looks “perfect” without flaw and possibly even certified. [?].
Additional Info: The 1923 Peace dollar in poor condition will most likely be worth more as scrap or junk silver. With silver prices being so high it may be better to sell it at melt. If the coin is in decent condition however you might want to keep it
Me, I would keep it to go with Terral or Kellie storys
Check the laws. I don’t believe you can take anything from Federal Land.
To KC and his wife – here is DL’s theory
1925 – A hard working young man with the Civilian Conservation Corp hid the coin in a crack of the sandstone wall while constructing the Riverside Walk trail. Hoping one day in the later years of his life to come back to Zion and retrieve the coin with his grandchildren. He planned that after extracting the coin from the wall, he and his grandchildren would sit along the Virgin River watching and listening to all the beautiful nature surrounding them. Their eyes would gaze up the astounding sandstone walls until they reached the crystal blue sky. He would share stories of his youth, his time working in Zion, the value of that hard earned dollar and most importantly the value of the surrounding nature and our National Parks.
Happy Holidays