KGC clues found with John Murrell, put on your thinking caps!!!!!

C

cdhtexas

Guest
Please forgive my ignorance of the proper protocol but I would not spend one minute looking for John Murrell's treasure unless we are talking about the guy who makes the really good bacon and smoked sausages. Magnsdad, the area you are in is very ripe with treasure. I would, if i were you, concentrate on the West-Kimbrell gang's many, many treasures in and around Montgomery, La.

West and Kimbrell both road with the James under Quantrill during the Civil War. After the war they established the largest criminal network known, at that time. It stretched from Natchez Miss. to Nacogdoches, Tex.

There are three lost mines (silver and lead) in your area. There were four but one was found about 30 years ago. (It was a gold producing mine and to the best of my knowledge still produces twenty or more oz. a year.)

Most people know the area between the Sabine and Los Adaes Mission as the Neutral Strip not zone. The Adams-Onis Treaty did not satify the issue only the border. (See Athanase de Mezieres' work on the Border of Louisiana and Texas. It is filled with treasure leads.) My family settled in that area in 1799 and it was the area that I research for my Master's in History at USL along with Barney Rubble and Fred Flinstone. Yes, Betty Rubble was a cheerleader at USL at that time.)

There are too many treasures and books related to the life in the Neutral Strip to recall them all. All my research was lost in a hurricane in 1988 while I was living in Cankton, La.

About the treasure of the N.O. Mint, it may be real and it may not, but the West-Kimbrell gang did hijack the Union army payroll not far from your location. This is a very informative booklet written by a former newspaper editor from Montgomery and can be found in most libraries of the area. Look under subject heading of West-Kimbrell. A copy or two exist at Northwestern and ULL (former USL in Lafayette.)

I've hunted treasure in La. since 1966 and all I can say is that it is there. Do your research, double check your sources and if you find the big one bury some metal trash, i.e. cans plus a modern nickel or dime, to let the next man or woman know that you beat them to it. Beau champs. Cyrus.
 

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magnsdad

magnsdad

Jr. Member
Oct 25, 2006
37
3
Mansfield La.
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bounty hunter
Thanks for the insight. Finding the reading material you have suggested is as hard as finding the treasures itself. The idea that there may be a lost mine here has me intrigued. There are 5 to 10 galvanized washtubs on the side of the hill plus several buckets and pottery. I first thought someone was dumping trash there but it is just washtubs and that has me puzzled. When I went hunting Sunday I found a padlock under a rock that was buried about 3 inches deep. The lock is not civil war era but is still very old and has been underground for at least 50+ years. My daughter will go to her Grannies this weekend and I may get to do some uniterupted hunting. The sink hole on top of the hill may be worth a second look too. Wish me luck Roger
 

C

cdhtexas

Guest
Hi Roger,

In that part of the world Caddo pottey is "common" or rather found on a regular basis. Please preserves even the shards of the Caddo pottery as they may be quite valuable. Go to your local library and ask for an inter-library loan. most libraries use computers now so a subject search will be quite easy. I'm sure you know the area between Mansfield and Pleasant Hill is loaded with CW artifacts.

The problem I have with the N.O. Mint story is the flood and that area was suffering from a very long drought at the time of the evacuation. The Red was so low in 1863, one year after the capture of N.O. that the entire Union fleet was almost destroyed by CSA gunners. Lt. Col. Bailey devised and built a dam at the rapids in Alex. so the steamboats could safely retreat from the rebs. The mound on the northwest side of the 167/165 bridge at Alex. is Ft. Bulow which was built to protect the dam builders. Admiral Farragut nominated Bailey for the Medal of Honor for saving the entire Union fleet in La.

Hwy. 6 through La. is one of the God awfullest treasure trails in the U.S. It is Second only to Hwy 90 in South La. because it was known as El Camino Real, (The King's Highway). All treasure from the west past along this road from 1763 to 1803 to N.O. Some very poor people were made wealthy ovenight because of the treasure along this road. (None of them were me.) Good Luck and God's speed. C.
 

gldhntr

Bronze Member
Dec 6, 2004
1,382
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qoute from cdhtexas'''''''''' The problem I have with the N.O. Mint story is the flood and that area was suffering from a very long drought at the time of the evacuation. The Red was so low in 1863, one year after the capture of N.O. that the entire Union fleet was almost destroyed by CSA gunners. Lt. Col. Bailey devised and built a dam at the rapids in Alex. so the steamboats could safely retreat from the rebs. The mound on the northwest side of the 167/165 bridge at Alex. is Ft. Bulow which was built to protect the dam builders. Admiral Farragut nominated Bailey for the Medal of Honor for saving the entire Union fleet in La........''''''''' ////////// a careful reading of the official records and also a few other sources will place you at the near exact spot where a number of cannon were dumped in the river to lighten the loads on the boats involved in the above history.........gldhntr
 

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magnsdad

magnsdad

Jr. Member
Oct 25, 2006
37
3
Mansfield La.
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Hey Gold Hunter. Looking for cannons sounds like fun. About 12 to 15 years ago me and a buddy were coonhunting and found what we thought was a Indian burial mound on the side of the river but after we climbed we found the remains of a split rail fence and some civil war stuff. I have been trying to remember where it was and think I can still find it. I may leave my Murrell site along for a week and find the mound again. If you want to look for cannons let me Know. Roger
 

C

cdhtexas

Guest
Hi Roger and many thanx gldhntr,

guys, there is so much legitimate and confirmable treasure in La. that you do not have to take off looking for things that may or may not exist.

Do you know the name of the V.P. under President Thomas Jefferson? If you do, then look for the ferry on the La./Tx. border by the same last name and you will find tresure. Is it mule loads/ox loads/ burro loads/ rooster loads of gold? Hell no. It is the treasure that was buried just before people took the scariest ride of their lives. Can you imagine what 100 or 200 dollars worth of gold dollars, ten dolars or twenty dollars would be worth?

Follow the clues to the burying of the Union Army payroll in the paper and you will not be disappointed. Cyrus.
 

gldhntr

Bronze Member
Dec 6, 2004
1,382
79
i'll look back through my books to see if i can find the info again...it seems like it was around 20 something cannon dumped in the same spot....googling '' civil war cannon for sale'' will show it would be well worth the trouble for sure....
 

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magnsdad

magnsdad

Jr. Member
Oct 25, 2006
37
3
Mansfield La.
Detector(s) used
bounty hunter
Find the info on the cannons goldhunter. I will bring my boat. It is perfect for the Red River. 21 ft and flat bottom. It needs to be run anyway. Thats about all I can offer other than youthful enthusiasm. I guess I could weld a winch on front of it. I hope you know how to locate stuff underwater cause I don't have a clue, but I am not afraid to get my hair wet. Roger
 

gldhntr

Bronze Member
Dec 6, 2004
1,382
79
don't know much about water hunting...just ran across the info several years ago and thought someone here might have an interest after reading this thread and remembering it.....i will sit down after christmas and find and post it...think it was 27 cannon, and the spot above the constructions they made in the river was pinpointed pretty good......gldhntr
 

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magnsdad

magnsdad

Jr. Member
Oct 25, 2006
37
3
Mansfield La.
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bounty hunter
We may have two problems finding the cannons. First the Red has recently had lock and dams installed and they have raised the water level some. Second after thinking about it all day I can vaguely remember reading that the corps of engineers found some cannons when they were dredging the river for the locks. I am not going to swear that they found them and will call the corps after the holidays. Also no one has commented about the second picture in the post. I am still curious to what other peoples impression are. I got the book about Murrells treasure vault and it was pretty useless. All it said was that he operated in the neutral strip but I already knew that, I have his name carved into a Beech tree. The author of the book didn't find the treasure but that doesn't suprise me, he was looking in the wrong spot.
 

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magnsdad

magnsdad

Jr. Member
Oct 25, 2006
37
3
Mansfield La.
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bounty hunter
This is fun. I gave the lock to my dad when they took my daughter for Christmas vacation. It was so rusty that I thought it would crumble if I tried to clean it but I was wrong. Dad put it on a bench grinder with a wire wheel and it cleaned up very well. It is older than I thought and made by Yale and Towne who made modern locks in 1861. I have a lock collector book being ordered by my local library and I hope it will give me a exact date. The lock was buried exactly in between the waterfalls. Last Tuesday I went hunting and found a cotten scale sticking out of the ground. It had horseshoe magnets on it that easily made my compass spin. It also had a wood burning stove door under it. The cotten scale pointed directly toward the lock from about 300 yards away. My Dad is so excited about the lock he has purchased a metal detector and is bringing my daughter home early so he can go hunting with me. I also bought a 10 inch coil for my detector. It seems to double the distance it can detect but I have only tried it in my house.
 

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magnsdad

magnsdad

Jr. Member
Oct 25, 2006
37
3
Mansfield La.
Detector(s) used
bounty hunter
Me, my father and girlfriend went hunting Monday and had a great time. Daddy was unable to go a second day in a row so he and mom both left today. He found a silver 50 cent piece 1936 in good shape. She found what I think is the most significant find and that was a very old single bit ax that appeared to be new when it was buried. This is the second ax that we have found there. I will put hers on a wire wheel and clean it up later today. I did not get to do any detecting I just did the digging for the two of them. I went and looked at the tree that had the date 1720 and I was wrong the 2 was a 3 that appeared to be a sideways M. I have not figured out the significance but I wanted to correct that and if you look close at the pic you can see it. I still want someone to give me their opinion of the first picture of the post. The lock collectors book still has not arrived at the library, when it does I will give the date of the padlock I found.Hope everyone had a great Holiday
 

Hoss KGC

Full Member
May 30, 2003
220
84
USA
Hi, If you found the axe heads and pad lock in the ground, just a few inches below the surface, in the vicinity of the carved trees, then it is a good chance that they are kgc clues. By not leaving them and documenting them properly, you can lose all hope of finding any treasure. I say this from experience.

On the other hand, generally the clues left near the carvings are clues to finding the treasure and is not the area the treasure is located at. Where the treasure is at will be another set of buried markers and those are the ones you do NOT want to screw up.
Good luck,
Boattow
 

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magnsdad

magnsdad

Jr. Member
Oct 25, 2006
37
3
Mansfield La.
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bounty hunter
Thanks Boattow. I wrote down the direction of the cotton scale and both ax heads. I was not able to get a direction from the lock because it took a tumble when I unearthed it. The first ax head (hatchet) was buried with the cotton scale, magnets and woodstove door. The second was by itself but there was a plowpoint about 25 yards away from it. I wrote the coordinates for it as well. Did they use plowpoints? I did mark them on my GPS and wrote the coordinates in my notebook in case I lose the GPS. I am trying to be careful. Thanks for the advice and I am truly grateful for anything you tell me. Roger
 

Hoss KGC

Full Member
May 30, 2003
220
84
USA
Hi Roger,
Farm implements are commonly used as markers as well as axe heads, horseshoes, chains, wagon parts, stove parts, etc. GPS coordinates are NOT near accurate enough. It is very tempting to remove and keep these items but I highly recommend against doing it. I started out doing that and then found as I gained experience and started to understand what was going on, I would need to go back to markers for different reasons. Once removed you will never find the exact spot. Go dig them back up after you find the treasure for souvenirs but not before. A GPS is only accurate to about 10feet at best. When you find a hit on your detector, slowly scrape away the dirt with a small trowel until you hit metal. Then put your finger on it with your non-digging hand so that they don't take a tumble. Use the other hand to start removing dirt with your fingers. Do not go fast, take your time, once you remove a piece and don't know down to the degree how it was pointing, you have created a lost treasure. Try to figure out how it is pointing. It might be that the object points to the next marker. It may have a notch that is actually pointing to the next clue. Now get this, it might be pointing to the next clue and a notch on the marker is giving you the bearing from the next clue to the clue after that. I have seen all these senarios. Always measure the distance between the markers in feet, not yards. I use autocad to draw a map of the pieces as I uncover them. I can spend a day out in the woods and uncover only 2 markers because I'm so careful about digging, documenting (measurements, pictures, videos, etc) It is important to go slow and be methodical and logical. :)
Good luck,
Boattow
PS, I keep getting PMs calling me Bob...I'm not Bob. When I first started this, I contacted Bob and he blew me off. I've had to figure this out as I went and I hate to see others make the same mistakes. It is one thing to screw up chalking a beech tree, you can redo it. It is another thing to screw up an iron marker, you can't go back and fix it once you've messed it up. :-[
 

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magnsdad

magnsdad

Jr. Member
Oct 25, 2006
37
3
Mansfield La.
Detector(s) used
bounty hunter
Thanks Boatow, I have been thinking today. What you said about a chip in the buried clue giving directions. The ax head we found Monday did not have a chip but where the handle entered, the metal had a triangle shape to it. I did take a accurate reading with my compass but I used the top of the ax as my line. The pointer where the handle goes in would be 90 degrees different. Please give me your thoughts on this. Now the ax, shovel and plow point were about 1/4 to 1/2 miles and over a hill from the lock and cotten scale. I am hoping these are the treasure markers and not just a second set of directions. Thanks Roger
 

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magnsdad

magnsdad

Jr. Member
Oct 25, 2006
37
3
Mansfield La.
Detector(s) used
bounty hunter
I decided that I needed a better detector today I ordered a two box Master Hunter made by Garrett. I also got to talk to a wonderful lady 80+ years young who told me about a nearby cave that both James and Murrell used when they were in the area (different dates). She told me some other legends one in particular was about a slave preacher who was owned by a nearby Baptist Church then sold to the Methodist Church for their preacher. It also seems the Masonic lodge then bought him and freed him. She has the minutes from the church that first had him. I could not have imagined such a story but she had the proof. I was hoping she had a map but she did have a folder on Murrell and I know the man she loaned to and he is to make me a copy. It will be a loss when historians like her leave us. The visit was 2 hours long but seemed only minutes. I plan to go back real soon and talk to her with a recorder. I also plan on taking my new detector to my site this weekend and using it. All the best, Roger
 

Hoss KGC

Full Member
May 30, 2003
220
84
USA
Let me just say this. I had one of those. I was greatly disappointed. Got rid of it. The depth reports were very hyped. Bought a bottom of the line large loop pulse detector. It had twice the depth the Garrett had. I use high end pulse detectors and magnetometers exclusively now.
Good luck,
Boattow
 

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