O.I.: You're not the first to allege that all lost mine/treasure/etc. sites are associated with the Confederate Underground beginning ca. 1860's and continuing to the WWI era and beyond. Supposedly, the major sites, including all "Spanish", outlaw and others are still being monitored to this day by blood kin of the original CU group.

While this is an interesting premise and ties virtually all treasure sites together under control of one group, when you think about it there are a couple nagging questions that no one has answered yet about it:

1) What are they waiting for? OK - let's admit the CU has control of multi-billions in gold, etc. scattered all over the place and that it is being being guarded by sentinels. If so, why after 140 years is the loot still in the ground and unrecovered/unused?

2) Why bother to make up treasure stories near the cache areas to camoflage the true targets? If the "In Crowd" has been passing down treasure location secrets to the relatives through the generations, it makes no sense to assume they will forget where the search areas are. Why give the local rubes hints if this is a private game?

3) This question may seem flippant, but, really - if the CU was this brilliant and dedicated, and had control of this much loot, how did the South manage to end up barefoot losers of the Civil War?

I can buy into some of the CU allegations, particularly relating to post-war outlaw gangs (James, et al). It's very believable that some Southern sympathyzers robbed Northern trains and banks in retaliation for the South losing the war. However, claiming that the CU methodically accumulated billions and billions over half a century is a little tougher to swallow. When pressed for more information, those who support these CU conspiracy theories offer little more explanation than, "It's a family secret". It's hard to get past a closed door. Final question: why are you guys making these claims?

• Re: What gives with this CU stuff? Old Indian 21:58:26 7/01/99 (0)