The days of citizens hiding there valuables in the ground

[Dave Rishar]

Based on Kitsap (and only Kitsap), I'd guess that the problem here is that the information is "a mile wide and a foot deep." As I mentioned earlier, it's a forgivable sin, given the scope of the work. It's also thirty years old, and while I absolutely will not hold that against him, it may get people into trouble. A few of the mistakes have me concerned, but hey, mistakes happen.

My advice is to take a look at Mr. Terry's material if it's easily available and to take notes, but not to consider it to be any more than a start for actual research. I'd go further than that and say that one would be better off sourcing some local history books. In my case, they were far more detailed (and correct!) than what Mr. Terry wrote, despite being older. It's basically impossible for one guy to write a comprehensive guide for the entire country, but it's very possible for a bunch of old-timers in the sixties and seventies to cover a county that was settled for the most part by their grandparents and great-grandparents, as was done here. I'd be willing to bet that his material for areas with more history is better.

If anyone from Kitsap is reading this, I just gave you a metric crap-ton of free research and saved you $10 on Amazon. You're welcome. When you hit that big score, remember me...or don't. It was free after all and I'm in it for the history, not the money. (But I like that too.) It's worth everything that you paid for it, and more than some things that cost more.

I'll save the tangential stories for another thread.

EDIT: Why did you doubt me? My attendance is spotty and I've done my share of trolling and digging trash, but jeez, I at least take the research seriously! Is my past that checkered here?

 

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[Frankn]

Dave, I guess it was the impression I got from your avatar plus not seeing many of your replies. You made a comment about a fellow researcher whom I considered a good source of starter info. in the past. He is the only one that I know of who has taken all of his notes and attempted to pass them on to future researchers. He is the only one that I have seen that attempted to actually map the locations. There are other good researchers but I have not seen such a broad attempt to package the USA TH info.
Hay, we work in different areas of TH. You appear to be more interested in the history aspect while I am basically a cache hunter. I would rather find a chest of gold coins than a chest that contained the first draft of the constitution. I have conserved and saved some historical items, but I will admit it, I am in it for the bucks and the thrill of the hunt so to speak. Frank

Edit: My attendance is getting spotty also. I post on several other sites and facebook. This site is getting more limiting in commenting freedom and the childish jokers are allowed to return and ruin good threads. HCB, A true treasure hunter.

 

[Honest Samuel]

Most people never had enough money to worry about burying, and most of what ever was buried was eventually recovered and used or passed on. Most people only have enough money to buy the next month's groceries, or the kids clothes for the next year, and those small sums weren't buried, just tucked away in the home.

The vast majority of treasure stories are complete fabrications just for the sake of selling stories. the vast majority of real lost caches were never known or publicized. If you want to hunt for caches, you have to know what combination of events to look for in your research to tell you there MIGHT be a cache left behind.

I agree with you. Back in our early history of our country, most people had farms and raise their own animals and food, and trade with each other and had not need for money or they call sell these items for money. As I stated before, most books and magazines about treasures are not true, and the best source of leads is old history books and old newspapers, and local people who known the history of their towns, cities, and their states. I do not read treasure magazines and treasure books. But, each to their own.

 

[Honest Samuel]

About buried money, jewels and other good stuff. Let us not forget about moon shiners, yes there are them around, mostly down south, big time drug dealers, and pimps who do not want to get arrested or pay taxes. Then there are still people who do not trust banks and let remember that banks pay low interest. While I am interest in buried treasures, and do my research in local and state history books, and interesting in interview local people who are expects in local and state history, and not reading treasure magazines and treasure books, as I mention many times, I am also interesting in searching for single coins and jewels on beaches and parks and kind home owners land. I do have some leads for both, and be busy next year. I have injuries this year. Good hunting and good luck. Also as stated before, I try to make members better lives about writing about treasure hunting subjects and writing funny comments. Good luck and good hunting.

 

[Dave Rishar]

Dave, I guess it was the impression I got from your avatar plus not seeing many of your replies. You made a comment about a fellow researcher whom I considered a good source of starter info. in the past. He is the only one that I know of who has taken all of his notes and attempted to pass them on to future researchers. He is the only one that I have seen that attempted to actually map the locations. There are other good researchers but I have not seen such a broad attempt to package the USA TH info.

I call it as I see it. If someone screws up, I'll mention it. If I screw up, I expect someone else to mention it. Peer review is to research what survival of the fittest is to evolution. It improves the species in both cases. Again, with a work of that scope, I'd expect mistakes. My notes may be good for my location, but if you asked me to research what's going on in northern Maine, I'd most likely screw it up unless I spent at least a couple of years there, even in the information age. It was not my intent to trash Mr. Terry, but I did want to point out that he wasn't infallible.

Hay, we work in different areas of TH. You appear to be more interested in the history aspect while I am basically a cache hunter. I would rather find a chest of gold coins than a chest that contained the first draft of the constitution. I have conserved and saved some historical items, but I will admit it, I am in it for the bucks and the thrill of the hunt so to speak. Frank

Nothing wrong with that, and to be honest, if I dug a hole expecting the first draft of the Constitution and found a chest of gold coins instead, my heart wouldn't be broken.

Edit: My attendance is getting spotty also. I post on several other sites and facebook. This site is getting more limiting in commenting freedom and the childish jokers are allowed to return and ruin good threads.

We're in agreement here.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Please stay on topic.

 

[Bay Beagle]

Reading from 1860's Dairies, During the Civil War - many valuables, including silver, were buried - to keep it from being stolen during Calvary Raids.

 

[Oregon Viking]

I agree with Jason and Frankn

 

[Honest Samuel]

Reading from 1860's Dairies, During the Civil War - many valuables, including silver, were buried - to keep it from being stolen during Calvary Raids.

Old dairies are a great source of information about buried treasures, the same as history books and old newspapers stories. Good hunting and good luck.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Samuel this thread is not about your comments, please stay on topic...

 

[Honest Samuel]

I agree with Jason and Frankn

I disagree with Viking, Jason and Frankn.

 

[Honest Samuel]

I will write about Connecticut which is the third smaller state in the United States. There are fewer farms, open area since I was a boy and very little locations to search for buried treasures.

 

[Honest Samuel]

Sad but true, the area where I live in Eastern KY was and still is very poor.
But we love to hear Treasure stories......

There is still many moon shiners in your state and in the past who bury their money.

 

[Thirty6fordguy]

When I was 13 My grandmother died. She was born in 1890 and raised 8 kids through the depression. When my Father and his siblings went through her things they found over 16 thousand dollars. most was in the kitchen cabinets in coffee cans and in dishes. But each drawer in every room had money, when they rolled up the huge oval rug in the living room there was money under it too. Some of this money was rather old and some was pretty new. It was everywhere. Just years of saving for a rainy day, remembering the depression and forgetting a lot of hiding places.

 

[Ecominer]

Maybe someone has mentioned it since the beginning of this thread, but for those of you who didn't bother doing the research on Thomas Terry rather than making castigating remarks about him, he did locate treasure and was well known for it in his time. He wrote a book on the wealthiest Spanish ship that ever floundered off the coast of Florida or the Bahamas, and the years it took him to find it (partially). He also contracted with numerous treasure hunters and did the diving on numerous other ships, and even a city that was sunk by an earthquake. Just because you sit behind a monitor somewhere, and no one can see your face, doesn't give you the right to be derogatory and insulting about anyone because of your own failure to do the research.

 

[Dave Rishar]

Maybe someone has mentioned it since the beginning of this thread, but for those of you who didn't bother doing the research on Thomas Terry rather than making castigating remarks about him, he did locate treasure and was well known for it in his time. He wrote a book on the wealthiest Spanish ship that ever floundered off the coast of Florida or the Bahamas, and the years it took him to find it (partially). He also contracted with numerous treasure hunters and did the diving on numerous other ships, and even a city that was sunk by an earthquake. Just because you sit behind a monitor somewhere, and no one can see your face, doesn't give you the right to be derogatory and insulting about anyone because of your own failure to do the research.

Maybe? So you didn't actually read the thread before replying?

It's always a pleasure to read criticisms of anonymous posting, made by an anonymous poster.

 

[goldenrecoveries]

While I agree 100% with Jason In Enid's #9 post that "Most people never had enough money to worry about burying, and most of what ever was buried was eventually recovered and used or passed on. Most people only have enough money to buy the next month's groceries, or the kids clothes for the next year, and those small sums weren't buried, just tucked away in the home. The vast majority of treasure stories are complete fabrications just for the sake of selling stories. the vast majority of real lost caches were never known or publicized. If you want to hunt for caches, you have to know what combination of events to look for in your research to tell you there MIGHT be a cache left behind."

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

However, I think that statement needs a little qualifying, because to me, that statement almost makes it sounds like very few people buried money "back then".

I also agree with Jason In Enid that most of the so-called "legendary" treasure stories are false, but if we took a hypothetical look at 100 people ........ if 51 of those people were poor, and 49 of them had more money in the bank than they needed to pay their bills, then it would be true that "most of them were poor", but it wouldn't mean many of them didn't had extra money.

I guess the point I'm trying to make, without disagreeing with him, is that many, many , many people "back then" buried money. And the "townsfolk back then" knew lots about everybody else's business in the towns that they lived in, except in the big cities. So if somebody in town had money but didn't have
much or any money in a bank, the "townfolk" pretty much knew what that person was doing with their money. Of course they were wrong in their thinking many times, but many times they were correct in thinking that the person was burying money.

Jason In Enid's statement that '"the vast majority of real lost caches were never known or publicized" is probably correct too, but how can that be "known", if "nobody knew about them?" If "nobody knew about them", how can we know that they existed? And if the "townfolk"
suspected somebody was burying money, doesn't that kind of "make it known"? In EVERY case that I've researched where a person in the county that was suspected of burying money, their property got IMMEDIATELY swarmed over by the townfolk looking for buried money as soon as that person died. Sometimes within minutes! And many times the story made the local paper.

In many many cases the story would then get printed in other papers across the county. But just like today, you can't believe everything in the paper. It wasn't unusual for the newspaper, or another paper that "picked up" on the story, to add a little "fiction" in with the facts. In fact, sometimes there was a lot more
"fiction" than fact! After all, just like today, the paper's goal was to "sell more papers", and one of the best ways to sell papers would be to have a really good buried treasure story, true or not.

Sometimes, (maybe most of the time?) with the help of the excited "townfolk" and the newspapers, the $100 in gold that the person did in fact bury, grew to be MUCH MORE than what was actually buried. That $100 in gold may have magically turned in $10,000 - $50,000 or more! But then again, in many cases the newspaper and townfolk were 100% correct in all the facts that were printed!

Of course most of the time the townfolk never found treasure, even when it DID exist, because the only tools they had "back then" to work with were picks, shovels, probes, common sense, and guesses. Oh yeah, and the psychics, dowsers, crystal ball readers, gypsies, etc

Of course my take in all this is just my opinion, which may not be worth the computer screen it's written on, but it's based on my 40+ years of historical research specializing in farmers and ranchers in the U.S. between the mid 1800's - the mid 1900's, which includes research through, archival research of family histories and biographies, historical records libraries, historical newspapers, historical land ownership records, historical societies, historical census records, civil war roster and death records, ancestor searches, and, and, and, well, you get the idea. I don't "know it all" about the habits and lifestyles of the farmers "back then", but you might say that I "know a thing or two."

 

[goldenrecoveries]

Whose estimate was that? Thomas Terry's? If he knew for certain where enormous wealth
was lost and forgotten he must have been very rich indeed. Why would he spend years in
research and not have found even one of them? But judging by the buyers of his fantasies
he made out pretty good.

So what you're saying is Thomas Terry never found any and he wasn't rich?? What documentation do you have that his stories are "fantasies" and that he (quoting you) "not have found even one of them"?

 

[Tommybuckets]

I love treasure stories and have had at least a dozen first hand accounts from finders and seen and held caches that have been discovered. That's what got me out in the field and that's why we are all here (so I thought). I talk to plumbers, electricians, handy men, guys who buy storage containers, house and car flippers in Bmore and get stories and sometimes addresses where they found things of value. I am talking wall safes with money, mantle pieces containing coins or jewelry or now worthless silver certificates (which I almost bought as a souvenir) , behind the medicine chest mirror, under basement floors etc. Most of these are contained within the houses due to high population density and are found when work is being done and occasionally during demolition. These are not big classic caches, just a few hundred to tens of thousands of dollars here and there but if the finders maximize the value of old collectible bills and coins I've seen a few really turn it in to something. My two cents. I am no expert but I wouldn't exactly upload pics or contact the papers if I found anything amazing lol.