Sunken Treasure to Be Sought in Lake : Tustin Man Preparing to Hunt Lost Silver Bullion in Owens Valley

For nearly two years, a Tustin shopping center developer has been preparing to search for lost treasure--70 tons of silver bullion said to have been buried since 1879 in the muck of an Owens Valley lake.

Some state officials doubt there is any bullion in the lake, but next month, if the State Lands Commission approves the venture as expected, Maurice A. (Al) Enderle plans to construct a 40-square-foot wood platform at a secret location on the lake bed, fly his equipment to the site by helicopter and begin probing the slimy, green lake bottom for 50- to 100-pound silver bars that he believes could be worth as much as $10 million.

Enderle spoke cautiously about his treasure hunt, arguing that if many details become known, “it’s like having a bank vault open where there are no guards.”

If his prospecting site becomes widely known, his crew of six “will have to be armed,” he said. “You know the words ‘gold fever, silver fever.’ All you do is mention the words, and people will go berserk.”

If Enderle’s effort is approved Jan. 23, he will join one other man also seeking the legendary cache of silver. On Tuesday, the Lands Commission gave a Malcolm D. Stewart of Reno, Nev., permission to search an area on the eastern edge of the lake, several miles from Enderle’s site.

Although some state officials doubt the story, both treasure hunters claim that the silver has been buried in the lake since 1879 when the Molly Stevens, a cargo vessel that ferried goods and silver across Owens Lake from the rich Cerro Gordo Mines, sank in a storm, killing all 14 people on board and burying the silver in 12 feet of water. After 1935, when water from the Owens River was diverted to the city of Los Angeles, Owens Lake became little more than a mud flat.

State Lands Commission officials said they could not explain the sudden interest in the Molly Stevens’ legendary treasure. Nor could they confirm that there was any treasure in the lake.

“I have no idea,” said Les Grimes, the commission’s deputy chief director of land management. “Some people think there might be. And some people think there probably isn’t.

“You know these treasure hunters are a peculiar breed,” Grimes continued. “They all seem to act as if they know something that nobody else knows, and they’ll get a pile of money or jewels or something.”

Commission land agent James E. Poe added that it was “very doubtful” that there would be any remnants of the Molly Stevens or its cargo because mud in Owens Lake was “very caustic. Most metal and wood may be eaten away.” And if there was any silver bullion, “it may not be totally intact either. It tends to flake” when exposed to caustic minerals, Poe said.

David Stewart, son of treasure hunter Malcolm Stewart, said he did not wish to discuss his and his father’s prospecting plans. But Enderle said he is confident that the silver is there.

Dressed in a blue blazer and gray flannel pants, Enderle, 58, looked more like a college professor than a silver prospector as he discussed his plans Christmas Eve at his comfortable ranch style home in Tustin.

A confidential “process” that he and his associates have relied on “tells us it’s there.” he said. And once they find the silver, even if it is unstable and flaking, another process--that is also “a business secret”--would be used to stabilize the silver before they took it away from the lake. Enderle added that he isn’t worried about the Stewarts’ finding the silver first because, he said, they are looking in the wrong place.

Once he gets the permit, Enderle said, he and his crew, including two engineers and two experts in geology, plan to spend as much as $225,000 ferrying in equipment to the center of the lake. Most of the gear would be flown in because the lake bed itself is “mucky horrible stuff” that a Jeep of his got stuck in a month ago.

Beginning in February, the men would erect a wooden platform, put on breathing equipment to prevent them from inhaling the caustic lake bed dust and begin searching the mud with long probes.

‘Hope to Make a Profit’

Arguing that this effort was more business than adventure, Enderle said “we hope to make a profit.” That could be difficult, in part because of the adverse conditions under which his crew will work; also, if any silver is found, the Lands Commission gets 25% of the first $50,000 worth and half of any additional earnings.

Enderle, who developed a small shopping center in Tustin several years ago, said he had been involved in other treasure-hunting operations, some in the South Pacific, although he declined to give details.

According to a small autobiographical brochure he supplied, Enderle has also been a scuba diver, pilot, writer, photographer and professional adventurer. He was accepted into the prestigious Adventurers Club of Los Angeles in 1969 after a two-month journey through the Marshall, Caroline and Mariana islands as first mate aboard an 85-foot copra trading ship.

Although Enderle said he knows exactly what he is doing, he also described looking for silver bullion in Owens Lake as similar to looking for a needle in a haystack. “We have a process where we can locate the haystack, but we’re still trying to find the needle . . . ,” he said.