100 mules treasure

Night Stalker

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Dec 17, 2004
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100 Mules westbound out of Montana, the year was 1878, these weighted down mules were laden with 20 gold bars and 100 50 dollar and 20 dollar gold pieces each (payroll for the entire northern forces and financing to build our present day Navy). These mules and their handlers were attacked by wild indians in the mountains of Northern California, all the handlers and several hundred indians were killed.

Interested in only the mules, the indians had no use for the gold bars and coins, so they decided to dispose of the "heavy metal" by burying some here and their along the trail, and tossing all over the place...all the way back to their homestead in northern california.

The indians bred the mules and traded them for furs and blankets to keep warm in the winter.
 

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txcowgirl39

txcowgirl39

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Oct 2, 2006
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thank you for your response. a friend of mine met a man that said he found the 100 mules gold (i think he is full of crap) and we just wanted some facts on it to prove the guy is nuts
 

Blind.In.Texas

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Sep 1, 2006
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they most likely didnt scatter it anywhere. being that they were traveling they woulfd haved just dumped it. giving no consideration as to where it landed. most likely where they took charge of the mules. i wouldn't think a story like this happened. maybe it did....
 

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txcowgirl39

txcowgirl39

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Oct 2, 2006
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hey will dig for food i am in baytown texas i am getting my xlt this weekend
 

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shreddah

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why would they spend time burying it, if they had no use for it. I agree that they probably just left it on the side of the road and someone came along and it was probably their lucky day...but who knows. the story sounds a little sketchy to me although you never know.

you still would probably find some cool stuff along the trail anyways. arrowheads and such.
 

Shortstack

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BLACKFOOT said:
mules are sterile and cannot breed

Exactly!!! AND the Indians of 1878 were not stupid when it came to gold bars and coins. They would have hidden it somewhere and syphon it a little at a time for food and supplies. By the figures quoted by Night Stalker, the total "take" would have been 2000 gold bars, 10 thousand $50 coins and 10 thousand $20 coins.

IF this is a true story, the Indians would not have just thrown the money away. Personally, I think it is another one of those "Armchair Treasure Hunter" stories. You know the type. Some writer, who has never been out of Indiana or Ohio, writes a story and sells it to Fate magazine and later folks just peat and repeats it through the earlier treasure magazines.
There's probably a dozen different "lost mule train treasure" stories---one even tied to Jesse James. ::) ::)

I'm not saying that there were never any pack mules / horses loaded with some gold that was stolen and hidden, but 100 is stretching it a lot. IF this story is true, there probably were no more than 10 mules. KVM once wrote that you can rely on folks multiplying the numbers everytime the story is retold.
 

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