The rush to phony gold deposits on Cottonwood Creek in South Park was misnamed the “Mount Pisgah hoax, even though Mount Pisgah is eight miles east of, and barely visible from the site of the hoax.

The hoax gave Mount Pisgah a bad name, and discouraged prospecting in the area.

However, just on the other side of Mount Pisgah were the great gold deposits of Cripple Creek, now protected from discovery by the bad reputation of Mount Pisgah.

The gold of Cripple Creek would probably have been discovered years earlier were it not for the Mount Pisgah hoax.

Mount Pisgah was not the only place with a bad reputation for mining swindles.

The area around Wickenburg, Arizona hosted so many mining swindles that the joke grew that whoever drank from the Hassayampa River was thenceforth unable to speak the truth. However, the veracity of Wickenburgers is protected by the fact that water seldom flows in the Hassayampa River.

Today the Hassayamper tradition is carried on by Jim Cook, the Official State Liar of the State of Arizona, who publishes the Journal of Prevarication.