Rocky Mountains treasure hunt criticised as 'nonsense' after another man dies looking for gold

Hidden somewhere in the rugged terrain of the Rocky Mountains there is said to be a chest filled with more than $1 million worth of gold coins and jewels, and it has now cost two fortune seekers their lives.

The sad tale of "Fenn's Treasure" began with an eccentric millionaire art dealer and former Vietnam fighter pilot called Forrest Fenn.

Mr Fenn, 86, was on a mission to encourage his fellow Americans to "get off the couch" and experience the Great Outdoors with a sense of adventure.

In 2010 he claimed to have hidden the 22lb Romanesque bronze chest stuffed with loot and published a 24-line poem containing clues to its whereabouts.

Since then tens of thousands of people are believed to have headed to New Mexico, the most probable location, to search for the bounty.

Last week the body of the latest fatality Paris Wallace, a pastor from Colorado, was found in the Rio Pueblo de Taos, a tributary of the Rio Grande, 50 miles north of Santa Fe.

After an extensive search police discovered his Chevrolet Tahoe next to the river, and a rope he had tied to a rock leading across the water.

New Mexico's police chief Pete Kassetas criticised Mr Fenn over the death.

Mr Kassetas said: "This is putting lives at risk. I would implore that he stop this nonsense.

"Certainly, we want people to get outdoors and enjoy New Mexico but you have to do it safely. I think he has an obligation to retrieve his treasure if it does exist."

However, Mitzi Wallace, the dead man's wife, said she would continue the search with her teenage son.

She said: "Our treasure is that time we spend together. I know without a shadow of a doubt that it was God's way of taking him."

Last year another treasure hunter Randy Bilyeu, 54, set out looking for the loot on a raft with his dog. His body was found six months later.

Mr Bilyeu's ex-wife Linda was less forgiving of Mr Fenn, accusing him of perpetrating a hoax. She said at the time: "Only one man has the power to stop the madness yet he continues to pretend he's doing a good deed by getting people off the couch and into nature."

Mr Fenn's poem includes lines such as: "Begin it where warm waters halt. And take it in the canyon down".

It appeared in his 2010 memoir The Thrill of the Chase and he has since published other clues. There is an annual Fennboree gathering of treasure hunters in New Mexico.

Mr Fenn called the latest death "a terrible loss" and added: "Words cannot adequately express the depth of my feelings."

But he said the hundreds of emails he had received were overwhelming against stopping the treasure hunt.

He told The New Mexican: "My mind is open to finding a solution but no decision has been made."

Mr Fenn added that the treasure was not in a  dangerous place and Mr Wallace had been looking in the wrong area.

He said: "Please don’t ever overextend yourself. I was 80 or about when I hid the treasure and it was not a difficult task. I will soon be 87 and I could go back and get it if I were so inclined. If your solve is in the desert, get a new solve."

Supporters of the hunt for Fenn's Treasure said the original idea of getting people into the Great Outdoors had been realised.

They said people had met their spouses while hunting for it, family members had been reconciled, and parents had bonded with their grown up children.

But there have been other consequences too. On on one occasion Mr Fenn's granddaughter was stalked.

He also sought a restraining order against a Texas man who came to his home. Mr Fenn said: "I fear harm to myself and my family. We fear kidnapping or worse."