Treasure Mountain
Treasure Mountain viewed from the southeast.
Highest point
Elevation	13,535 ft (4,125 m)[1][2]
Prominence	2,828 ft (862 m)[2]
Parent peak	Hagerman Peak[3]
Isolation	6.92 mi (11.14 km)[2]
Listing	North America highest peaks 92nd US highest major peaks 75th Colorado highest major peaks 39th
Coordinates	39°01′28″N107°07′22″W / 39.0244342°N 107.1228254°W /39.0244342; -107.1228254[4]
Geography
Treasure Mountain Colorado
Location	Gunnison County,Colorado,U.S.[4]
Parent range	Elk Mountains[3]
Topo map(s)	USGS 7.5' topographic map Snowmass Mountain, Colorado[4]

Treasure Mountain, elevation 13,535 ft (4,125 m), is a summit in the Elk Mountains of westernColorado. The mountain is in theRaggeds Wilderness southeast ofMarble. The massif has been the site ofmarble mining and a legend of lost French gold.

Treasure Mountain forms a singlemassif with Treasury Mountain, elevation 13,462 feet (4,103 m), that rises on the southeast.^[5] Another Treasure Mountain, el. 11,834 feet (3,607 m) is located inMineral County, Colorado.^[6]

Other peaks in the vicinity include Whitehouse Mountain, elevation 11,975 feet (3,650 m); Bear Mountain, elevation 12,373 feet (3,771 m);Crystal Peak, elevation 12,632 feet (3,850 m);Purple Mountain, elevation 12,856 feet (3,919 m); and Cinnamon Mountain, 12,293 feet (3,747 m). TheRuby Range extends southward from Treasury Mountain forming the east boundary of the Raggeds Wilderness.

The Yule Lakes are a series of lakes situated on the southern slopes which drain into Yule Creek and feeds Beaver Lake east of Marble. The watershed is part ofCrystal River basin which drains the northern slopes of Treasure Mountain and is the northeastern boundary of Raggeds Wilderness.^[7]Yule Pass, south of Treasury Mountain separates the Raggeds Wilderness of theSopris Ranger District from theGunnison Ranger District and leads to the southeast along theSlate River drainage. Yule Pass is to the east of the headwaters ofYule Creek.

The ColoradoYule Marble (a.k.a. Yule Colorado marble) comes from the Leadville Limestone ofMississippian age quarried near the mountain.^[8][9][10] It was formed bycontact metamorphism in theTertiary period following the intrusion and uplift of nearbygranitic Treasure Mountain dome.^[8][11][12]

Yule marble was used in the building of theLincoln Memorial. The Yule marble quarry is at an elevation of 9,300 ft (2,800 m) on the west side of Treasure Mountain along Yule Creek.^[8] The quality and durability of the Yule marble was questioned prior to the building of the Lincoln Memorial as was the recently opened quarry's ability to provide the quantity and size required for construction.^[8]

The original name of the peak was Citadel Mountain. The current name came from an ill-fated French mining expedition described infolklore documented in the 1930s and 1940s.^[13][14]

The folklore states that the expedition was organized in the late 1700s byNapoleon Bonaparte, who needed financing to fund his ambitions.^[15][16] The expedition was reported to have consisted of 300 men and 450 horses. They leftNew Orleans and traveled throughLeavenworth, Kansasen route to the Rocky Mountains. The folklore claims that a large amount of gold was discovered and amassed by the expedition nearWolf Creek Pass. The localNative Americans were reportedly initially friendly, but relations deteriorated. In the folklore, the French buried the gold and escaped from the area, pursued and hunted by warriors. One survivor, by the name of Le Blanc, made it back to Kansas. He was the expedition's historian and was reported to have made two maps of the hidden treasure.^[13][14]

A later expedition failed to find the treasure.^[13][14]William Yule, many years later, claimed to possess a copy of the original map and explored the area south and west of the mountain.^[17] The mountain was named after the legend of the missing treasure.^[13]

• List of mountain peaks of North America
  • List of mountain peaks of the United States
    • List of mountain peaks of Colorado

• Media related toTreasure Mountain (Colorado) at Wikimedia Commons

• Mountains of Gunnison County, Colorado
• Four-thousanders of the United States

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