Lost Treasure Tales?......Poll

[treasurejack]

Given all of the known treasure tales in the United States, what percentage of those tales do you believe might actually exist? Feel free to comment on those you think might be most likely to still exist today, and why?

Let's talk about, "lost treasure."

 

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[Jeffro]

I clicked less than 5% for the simple fact that I have read soooo many of them and its obvious that one follows another, if not in actual details, in general layout.

The ones that are real are the ones you DON'T read about in the mass media.

 

[chall13]

To true
most of everything you read or hear about has
been past down by word of mouth and in telling
get,s added to with every telling ro story

I put 30%

 

[jeff of pa]

I didn't click any because you don't have 75% or more

My Belief is still that Most Treasurre Tales are Based on fact.
Exagerated, location Misidentified, person responsable
misidentified ? Probably in some cases. But still
based on Something that Really Happend.

But then I'm a Treasure Hunter, Which I guess
puts me in the "OPEN MINDED" & want to Believe
Section :P

 

[treasurejack]

"Time."
My feeling is that some of them have already been found, with so many hunting them over the years I have to believe some of them no longer exist. Like Jeff said, perhaps misidentified, but found none the less.....not to mention that announcing such a find in the early years could have gotten you killed. On the other hand, I believe there is enough documentation to support many of these lost treasure tales so I do believe a portion of them were real, but not all of them, including some of those that have been well documented. One has to remember that sometimes it took financial backing in order to go look for these lost treasures and I suspect sometimes the sells pitches were probably exaggerated quite a bit. The Spanish believed the seven golden cities were real and they wrote about them a lot in order to entice the King's financial backing, but in the end there were no seven golden cities. This sort of thing went on all the time back then, and even into more recent times. Coligny was guilty of this when he wrote about the Florida coast and reported back to France that one Indian, "was wearing a gold nugget around his neck the size of an acorn." Because of this Coligny was sure the region was loaded with gold but in reality it was later learned that the gold he had witnessed had been taken from Spanish shipwrecks along that same coast. We know that during the Indian revolts the Spanish were chased out of the land for a time and that many of their mines were likewise hidden by the Indians in their absence, but we do not know what the Indians did with any of the treasures that were left behind? We only know what Spanish documents tell us and most of them were written by people wishing to return to the New World and their quest for gold. Sadly, these Indians didn't keep records so we are only guessing as to how much of these treasures were really left behind. But it is all very fascinating and I have little doubt that some of these treasure tales are true, but just how many? I think 20% is probably on the high side, but then again, it's certainly enough to keep me looking for these very truths.

 

[TreasureTales]

When I saw the title to your thread I thought you were looking for ME. LOL Sorry, little attempt at humor.

I think 50% of the stories are true. In fact, there are many treasures that we don't have any stories about because they were hidden by criminals, recluses, soldiers, etc. who didn't want to advertise what they had done. So it's the stories that we know about that hold the intrigue. It's the stories we don't know about that often pay for our trips!

99% of stories about treasure have to have a seed or kernal of truth to them. That's what gets them started. Then once started, other people will capitalize on those stories and create their own out of thin air for whatever purposes - greed, fame, popularity, whatever.

Agreed, there are some treasures that have been recovered yet the story perpetuates because the finder didn't want to announce his good fortune. I am sure that Karl von Mueller was one of those people who found fairly obscure treasures and kept their recoveries to himself. Without some sort of stories to begin with, though, he would never have even known about their existence in the first place.

What this could mean is that, possibly, some of the more famous treasures have been found and not reported. I recall reading a true story by Erle Stanley Gardner (lawyer and author of the Perry Mason mysteries) in which he hired a helicopter to explore the SW desert. He and his friends also used dune buggies to explore the desert, and sometimes they investigated the stories about treasures in the desert. He said he was intrigued by the story of the Lost Dutch Oven stash and eventually found the location - with the Dutch oven - but all the gold coins were gone. Was it true that someone beat him to it, or was it true that he found SOMEONE'S Dutch oven, but the wrong one? We'll never know, but it is interesting that even a man of Gardner's stature was interested in treasure tales. And he did something about his interest, he hired helicopters and built dune buggies to look for them. Cool!

 

[treasurejack]

Treasure doesn't just get lost. It gets cached, if anything. You needed to have a 0% option.

I cached a valuabe ring so I wouldn't lose it, can't find it now. Trust me.....at the present time, "It's lost!" lol

 

[bakergeol]

I imagine a small percentage are true. They vary from some stories which are backed up by real history but are bogus to outright legends which have a grain of truth.

An example of the latter is when I first started detecting over 40 years ago. I was advised by a veteran Ther to look for some lost silver and lead mines in my area. As proof he told me where to go to see his reference material(he had looked for them). They were down at the local country historical society. They had old county histories composed of old legends and old stories by old timers. Yes in them were several old lost silver and lead mines stories. However, later when I learned about the geologic history of the area(southern Ohio) I found out that all of these old lost silver mine stories were bogus. Silver just could not form in the sedimentary formations of the area. So how did these stories come into being? The answer is that on occasion farmers would plow thru an old Indian Mound. Their plows would bring up minerals not native to Ohio- mica and galena which the Indians obtained thru trade. Galena crystals are of course lead(can be silver bearing)and that I believe is the source of all those lost silver and lead mine stories. Simply a grain of truth.

How about a treasure story which is based on a real historical incident? When I first arrived in my state many decades ago I was interested in a well know treasure legend. (I can not mention the name of this legend as the last time I mentioned it as a bogus I received a lot of hostile responses from folks looking for this treasure). The story was after a train robbery the thieves fled south with their loot of gold coins in the latter 1800's. Knowing they were being chased they buried the coins in a forest on a mountain. To mark the location they stuck a knife into a tree. Many decades later a forest ranger found an old man wandering around the area. The old man revealed the truth and confessed that he was looking for the long lost treasure. The ranger told him that a forest fire had ravaged the area years ago so the marker was forever lost. So this was the treasure legend that still is in many treasure hunting books for my state.

Well what I did was investigate the train robbery itself. I found it to be true .The old microfilm records of newspapers of the day readily reported on the train robbery and the chase. However, I went a bit further than others and scoured the old newspapers for additional information. I was surprised to learn that the robbers were caught and all the loot was recovered. The treasure story of course was bogus. However, to this day there are folks out there looking for this treasure that does not exist.

Both of the stories have a common thread. Once a treasure story becomes printed- People assume it must be true.

George

 

[jeff of pa]

Treasure doesn't just get lost. It gets cached, if anything. You needed to have a 0% option.

Tell the Fishers they Never found a "Treasure"

 

[treasurejack]

Good point George, I think a lot of legends tend to be just that...."Legends."
"I heard so-and-so found gold."
"Hey, did you hear, so-and-so founds lots of gold."
"What's-his-name just told me that so-and-so found a huge gold deposit."

The gold rush is a perfect example of how the real truth gets distorted and exaggerated with each new telling. I think the same happened in print quite often for a variety of reasons. Even today we see many of these treasure legends being used as calling cards for area businesses with the hope of drawing more commerce. I doubt it was any different back in the day.
But like TreasureTales noted, I do think there are things still hidden out there, many of which without a single word of their existence. As for the legends that might still exist, I am equally certain that most of them represent only a fraction of the current hype. But even so...it's the chase and the adventure that keeps me doing what I do! lol

Fine, SWR.....they were all cached, never lost. "You are right." Now can we please move past the issue. Please.

 

[treasurejack]

Roughly 80% of those who have voted feel that most treasure tales are just that, but what about those that remain? If you had to pick just one U.S. lost treasure tale that you still believe might exist, which one would you say is most likely to be real and possibly still be out there?

I think it's quite possible that once hidden "caches" do still exist, but as for the bigger legends,.....I'm not so sure? I suppose in the case of the early Indian revolts it might be possible that some of these Spanish valuables were hidden with the intent of keeping them that way. After more then two hundred years of brutality at the hands of the Spanish I can see how something like this might have inspired such devotion and secrecy. I find that I'm leery of any legend that ends with, "but he died before he ever got the chance to......" or "but he could never find the it again." Could happen I suppose, but it just seems odd that so many of these legends end like this. Lost cabins, hidden stashes, lost and hidden mines......for sure some of these tales are/were real, but which ones and is their treasure as large as touted, if it is there at all? So if you had to pick just one lost treasure to go after in the United States, which one would it be? Me,...I'm still undecided?

 

[Jeffro]

Roughly 80% of those who have voted feel that most treasure tales are just that, but what about those that remain? If you had to pick just one U.S. lost treasure tale that you still believe might exist, which one would you say is most likely to be real and possibly still be out there?

I think it's quite possible that once hidden "caches" do still exist, but as for the bigger legends,.....I'm not so sure? I suppose in the case of the early Indian revolts it might be possible that some of these Spanish valuables were hidden with the intent of keeping them that way. After more then two hundred years of brutality at the hands of the Spanish I can see how something like this might have inspired such devotion and secrecy. I find that I'm leery of any legend that ends with, "but he died before he ever got the chance to......" or "but he could never find the it again." Could happen I suppose, but it just seems odd that so many of these legends end like this. Lost cabins, hidden stashes, lost and hidden mines......for sure some of these tales are/were real, but which ones and is their treasure as large as touted, if it is there at all? So if you had to pick just one lost treasure to go after in the United States, which one would it be? Me,...I'm still undecided?

It'd be the Brother Jonathon for me- if it hadn't already been discovered.... 1999 it was finally found, pretty much exactly where the tales all said it was, too.

Probably the Sunshine or the Frenchman here in Oregon.

 

[bakergeol]

Yes I agree with the prevailing thought that there is an incredible amount of lost treasure which is unknown. We hear about this all the time in the news. Renovating a house and yippees.. a treasure discovered which was totally unknown. I also suspect that less treasure is being found today by accident because of iron discrimination. The "Don't dig iron" viewpoint has probably left quite a few caches in the ground.

Regarding Spanish caches there is one here in Colorado which I do believe to be real. However there are real facts to back it up not just legends. Recovery of other Spanish treasure in the area as well as the present existence of some of the treasure which was recovered by people who were not aware of what they had .

But you will never know what has been recovered because if you are smart- nothing will ever be said. No postings of finds of any kind-period will ever be made.

George

 

[LadyDigger]

Blackbeard's treasure....

Now ... you got to remember, the shoreline off the Outer Banks is not where it was during Blackbeard's time.

Story my hubby tells, that was passed down from generation to generation in his family is as follows:

Blackbeard had some treasure he needed to hide. He came onto, what is known as BUXTON WOODS (Outer Banks and that land is now owned by the State of NC where the Buxton or as some call it, the Cape Hatteras lighthouse). He came onshore with a man (usually men he captured from the ship he attacked).

He would tell his crew that if a ship approached from the South, to go North and out to sea, circle around and come back in two days and vice versa for the other direction.

When he had the man bury the treasure, he would shoot him, so as not to disclose where his treasure was buried at.

Did he travel a day inland and a day back to bury the treasure? Wouldn't it be cool to find it?

 

[treasurejack]

Yes I agree with the prevailing thought that there is an incredible amount of lost treasure which is unknown. We hear about this all the time in the news. Renovating a house and yippees.. a treasure discovered which was totally unknown. I also suspect that less treasure is being found today by accident because of iron discrimination. The "Don't dig iron" viewpoint has probably left quite a few caches in the ground.

Regarding Spanish caches there is one here in Colorado which I do believe to be real. However there are real facts to back it up not just legends. Recovery of other Spanish treasure in the area as well as the present existence of some of the treasure which was recovered by people who were not aware of what they had .

But you will never know what has been recovered because if you are smart- nothing will ever be said. No postings of finds of any kind-period will ever be made.

George

"Facts,".....I agree that they're certainly an important factor when sizing them all up. I do a great deal of research and like you say, there are a lot of stories out there with no real facts to back them up. Much of what has been written is hearsay, speculation, or secondhand information, even in many of the official old documents and newspaper articles you come across. Sometimes it's next to impossible to separate the fact from the fiction. I guess that's why I had an interest in creating this thread. Just trying to get a general idea of the "strongest" of the "strong" as far as which of these treasure legends/tales/stories hold the most solid ground within the Tnet community. There are a couple of Spanish tales that I believe to have been real during their time in Colorado, Utah, Idaho, etc., but a lot of years have passed since then and a lot of people have passed through those areas over the years looking for just those very things. Like you said, "mum is the word", and it just leaves me to wonder if they're still there to be found? What's your take on it, george?

 

[bakergeol]

There is no real way to tell if a cache had been found. In the old days one placed several tin cans inside one another to indicate the cache has been found. In the example of Spanish caches which were gold ore on occasion some ore which was not totally removed from the cache site has been found.

Todays THers well I think that the majority could not hold back the photos on the internet of their cache finds. Instant celebrity status and WOW what a lot of "Way to gos". Hard not to- just great bragging rights.They don't have the discipline of the old timers.

My 2 cents
George

 

[djui5]

I didn't click any because you don't have 75% or more

I agree, I clicked 50% because it was the highest option. I know out West here there are a lot of lost treasure stories, most of them true to an extent.

 

[treasurejack]

I didn't click any because you don't have 75% or more

I agree, I clicked 50% because it was the highest option. I know out West here there are a lot of lost treasure stories, most of them true to an extent.

I've added a "75% or more" option.

 

[TreasureTales]

Personally, I spent most of my vacation time over a 20 year timeframe researching and reconnoitering for a lost mine. Came to the conclusion that is was on land that was unavailable to me (Indian reservation). IF I were to ever put that much time and effort and expense into another lost treasure story, I'd have to stick with something in Nevada or Utah. Why? Because they still have vast areas that haven't been developed and those states seem to be a little more accepting of treasure hunters. Maybe I'd focus on the Lost Breyfogle Mine. http://www.desertusa.com/mag02/sep/lostm.html Or perhaps the Mormon Gold said to have been buried by Southern Paiutes around Red Rock Canyon, Nevada. These are famous treasure stories here in the West, and they have the potential for much treasure.

 

[Real de Tayopa Tropical Tramp]

evening peeps. I tend to agree, many are figments of an over-active hopeful imagination, but, I personally have over 200 positive leads down here in Mexico. Ranging from mines, reveloutionary loot, caches, and even personal hole banks which were quite common here until the 50's. Most small towns did not have a bank, so the safest place was a hole in the ground or the floor.

You want Examples?.

1) At the start of the 1911 revolution a mule train was bringing mine run dore bars of silver down to el Fuerte. they camped at a place called los 'arrieros , the mule drivers camp, (naturally with a different name hhehe) it is a series of deep tanks of water. When they heard that the rev had broken out, they knew that they could not deliver the bars so they loaded the mules, drove them out to deep water, then dumped the bars into the deep mud.

When they reported to their headquarter they drew a map with full instructions. During the rev. "all were killed". As the turbulent times went by , perhaps 15 + years before it was safe enough to go into the sierras again, no one knew which tanks they were referring to and they have never been recovered. I read their report.

Yes, I know where these tanks are, and it is an isolated area 3 days ride by mule, through narco country. 20 mule loads = #200 approx per mule = 48,000 oz of perhaps 700 fine silver, you figure the rest.

Incidentally, discrete inquiry reveals that no one has ever been in the area looking for the tanks, let alone recover the silver. this is from the families that live in the area.

Want more?

Don Jose de La Mancha Tropical Tramp

p.s. Reason fo posting this true story was to see if the opinons would change.