Joplin Missouri and the Spanish Treasure Map Rock

[ozarkian]

The several mule loads of silver story by Pineville may or may not be entirely accurate. The Spanish were indeed all over SW Missouri but the story sounds a lot like the one attributed to the wagon loads of treasure buried somewhere between Joplin and Carthage, Missouri.
Spanish armored breast plates, helmets, swords, spurs, and other gear have been found around the old marshes that were near where I-44 runs through Joplin now years and years ago. Not a lot of pieces mind you but, enough for you to know that they had been here and had left in a hurry as under duress.
Located near Joplin and Dueneweg Missouri is a rock that "had" a Spanish treasure map on it. It depicted in that cryptic symbolism that they used the location of what can only be described as " a large number " of wagon loads of gold and/or silver.
The map described many wagon loads having to be buried due to the continuous Indian attacks on the Spanish caravan.
The Spanish buried it in or near a cave or spring and left the area to save their scalps.
A local family obsessed with this treasure poured acid on the rock to obliterate the map. They had made rubbing's, took pictures and made hand drawn maps before they destroyed it so no one else could find it. I have personally seen the rock and you can tell that there had been some grooves cut into it but it was useless by then.
The father of my best friend at the time showed me the copy he had made of the map on the rock before that family had poured acid on it. It clearly indicated a couple of nearby creeks, valleys and large hills but we never deciphered the rest of the symbols.
Back then we did not have Google Earth nor the raw computing power we now have. If you have ever seen real Spanish treasure symbols someplace it gives you the goosebumps.

I may have to sit down and talk to the map owner again before he passes away. Thermal Imaging is a whole lot cheaper now and with some of the ground penetrating stuff out there this may be a good time to start researching this again.

Anyone in SW Missouri knowing about this rock and the map on it please feel free to weigh in on this subject. The map describes a very large number of wagons being buried. This is a huge treasure still out there just waiting to be found. The Spanish did not mess around hauling small amounts of gold or silver in Indian country. They also did not leave maps carved in rocks for small caches unless the items were of a very personal matter like family heirlooms or religious icons.

A find of this magnitude could not be kept quiet because most people cannot keep their mouths closed. Changing it into cash without the IRS finding out about it would also be an issue.

I think it is real and I think it is still out there and I think it is within 8-10 miles of Joplin, Missouri.
To think that someone with a bulldozer clearing out land for housing, a gas/telephone line or for a road may find this treasure is enough to make me ill.

Why share this story you ask?

1. The treasure has been there for hundreds of years without it being found ( yet )
2. The original map/rock has been defaced - only the memories of now old men and a handful of maps are left
3. A share of this treasure would be better than reading about the guy on the bulldozer
4. The Spanish did not draw maps in rocks just for fun

 

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[godisnum1]

I agree with your final conclusions. The Spanish definitely frequented the area from what I've read, so that only heightens the odds of finding treasure, outside of the normal caches that the people in the Ozarks used to bury. I go to college in Springfield and would fully enjoy putting some time in detecting and/or exploring the area for any physical evidence of it. Someone had sent me a message on here before about a specific story of some other Spanish silver being buried in the Noble Hill area, which isn't too far off from Springfield. They even said that they could get me within a very small area of where it should be. Anyway, I go to college in Springfield and would definitely love detecting and/or exploring the area evidence. Just let me know...

Bran <><

 

[stevesno]

I went to college in Joplin, I have seen spanish "turkey track" carvings, around the grand falls area. But that is the only other spanish sign that I know of around the Joplin area...Steve

 

[MOtreasurehunter]

Hi,
Im from Springfield, im new here and actually ran across this forum when i was serching for info on this exact treasure, see, im a member of the GPAA, and in my claims book for the GPAA it mentions this treasure located in Wright County near the town of Hartville, the name of the treasure in my book is called "The Spanish Cave Treasure", it also add's that it is supposed to have around $600,000 worth of gold and or silver coins, its supposed to be located along the Norfolk River.
Now, there is another treasure in my claims book that talks about another spanish treasure, this one has no name, and is of an unknown amount or type of treasure, but its in Berry County, just south of Joplin in a cave along the Cave River"actual river", it dosnt give a near by town name or any other ifno' on the subject, and allot of your info from what you said goes along somewhat with what my GPAA claims book says with what little info it gave me and the close proxcimity to joplin it might be the same treasure, so i thank you for conferming that this treasure might actually exist!
My brother and i are actualy going hunting for both spanish treasures this fall and winter when the tree's are leafless so that we might have better chance of spotting caves.

Well, good luck on your treasure hunting!

P.S. the treasure at nobile hill is also in the GPAA claims book as well, its not a spanish treasure, it is actualy a Confederate treasure beried during the civil war it is of unknown content but is believed to be very large, and its located 12 miles north of Springfield.

 

[godisnum1]

P.S. the treasure at nobile hill is also in the GPAA claims book as well, its not a spanish treasure, it is actualy a Confederate treasure beried during the civil war it is of unknown content but is believed to be very large, and its located 12 miles north of Springfield.

MOtreasurehunter,
Well if you and your bro need another person with ya', lemme know.

Outside of that, I'm curious how you've come upon your sources of the Noble Hill treasure being Confederate, and not Spanish? Just curious... good luck though on that Spanish cave!!

Bran <><

 

[savant365]

Here is another story of Spanish treasure in MO. Thought you like it. HH

http://www.legendsofamerica.com/MO-Treasures5.html

 

[godisnum1]

Here is another story of Spanish treasure in MO. Thought you like it. HH

http://www.legendsofamerica.com/MO-Treasures5.html

Savant, it's a good link. I've read it before... but according to that website, it says that the Noble Hill treasure is a "Spanish" treasure. I want to hear from MOtreasurehunter about his sources for that particular story, because it "may" be a Confederate treasure, if he's correct. But there's some neat other stories on there as well. Thanks again!

Bran <><

 

[savant365]

Bran, I think we need to just go out and dig it up and end the controversy.

Charlie

 

[godisnum1]

Bran, I think we need to just go out and dig it up and end the controversy.

Charlie

Ha, ha... good call Charlie!! I guess, in hind-sight, it wouldn't really matter either way if it were Spanish OR Confederate if we had it in our hands. lol!

Bran <><

 

[MOtreasurehunter]

godisnum1,

I got the idea that the noble hill treasure was a confederate treasure from my GPAA" Gold Prospectors Association of America" claims book, it has a wide variety of info on all the US states and some Canadian provinces,it has laws/rules for treasure hunting/mining/panning/mettle detecting,etc. and what type of permits you might need and were to get them, also it gives you a list of outfitters were you can get equipment for what you need to do, it also shows gem/mineral/treasure locations on state maps, and what county's they are believed to be in, it also gives a description of what the treasure might be or is supposed to be.
Savant is right though, we really have no idea what the treasure is or who buried it, we really wont know until someone finely finds it.
Now for the Spanish cave treasure's, i know of only 2 so far in south west MO, every single Spanish cave treasure ever found so far in the US and Mexico have been booby trapped, i have my own journal of notes i have been taking about these booby traps, signs/symbols to look for to indicate whether your even near a treasure, and also signs/symbols that you need to look for inside and around caves that indicate that you are near a booby trap, i even have some symbols i got from this website "ill post a link" that tell what kind of trap to look for and even sometimes in what direction the trap is located and how deadly it is.

This link is to a website for a treasure hunting guide/book written by a GPAA member. At the bottom of the page this link takes you to there are pics of an actual Spanish treasure cave booby trapped entrance taken by the author.

http://www.treasurehuntersuniversity.com/death.html

This is a link to the GPAA website, just in case your interested.

http://www.goldprospectors.org/

Good luck on all your adventures and happy hunting!

:MOtreasurehunter

 

[Old Dog]

Ozark,

If you can get your hands on a solid copy of the map would be happy to help sort out as much as I could for you.
Send me a pm and or an email with pics of the signs and I would give it my best shot.

OD

 

[Sunnysup]

How many years?
With all the equipment and people looking for this treasure in an area like this, yet no one has gotten it.

Sounds ridiculous.

No offence to anyone. But No treasure is impossible to find.
Yes this one is a bigger one then the usual.
Hunters need to go out of the box of there thinking. Break open the box,

All it takes are a few devoted loyal hunters, and some financing and bingo you got it.
Sounds easy. No I did not say that.!!!!!
Focus!!!!
One problem we got here is that there is an enormous amount of Treasure in the area. Some hands on. Some Not.
I am a loner. Not by choice, But come on folks do we have any foot soldiers out there.

Sunnysup

 

[warsawdaddy]

If there is a treasure in the area,it would almost have to be 'Spanish'.The Civil War was not that long ago.Too many people and activity in all that area during the 'war' for any good size treasure not to have been known about and passed on.From the civil war to the present,you are only talking about one lifetime.My g'g'granfather who was born in 1836 and fought in the war,died in 1932,my sister was born in '31 and me in '35,both still alive.I would vote for it to be 'Spanish' if it exist.Just my opinion.

 

[godisnum1]

If there is a treasure in the area,it would almost have to be 'Spanish'.The Civil War was not that long ago.Too many people and activity in all that area during the 'war' for any good size treasure not to have been known about and passed on.From the civil war to the present,you are only talking about one lifetime.My g'g'granfather who was born in 1836 and fought in the war,died in 1932,my sister was born in '31 and me in '35,both still alive.I would vote for it to be 'Spanish' if it exist.Just my opinion.

Yeah, that's the type of evidence & logic I'd be more apt to consider... thanks!

Bran <><

 

[Sunnysup]

Yeah in this area seems to good to true. have you ever looked at the papers on all the mining that has been done here?
Tons of holes yet really if you get the chance study it real close.
Yes we also had the civil war.
But this suppose Treasure was put here way before any of the time frame.
The Spanish were very much here. Whether War or perhaps traveling though as to leave a Treasure.
Not only that. This area was Full of Native Americans. And not just one Tribe either.
Sure locals would like for you to believe that. But it's a lie!!!!!!!!

I myself believe 100 percent that there is the Treasure here. Do not know how big an area. Which that would make a difference. Perhaps Soon I can find some detail on it.
Many cultures were here. Evidence shows that. Yet folks like to keep it simply and not focus on it.

The trail of tears came through here as did many other trails. And trails don't appear out of no where.

My 6 generation grandfather Squire Boone introduce this area to Mr Cox. Etc!!! Most people know the rest of the history of Joplin.

So I say back up!! This area was NOT isolated before the White man came along.

Well need to keep a lid on it before ripe time.
Sunnysup

 

[Sunnysup]

I just read a little before retiring. And I saw someone talking about Noble Hill.
Your not talking about the one north or Joplin are you?

sunnysup

 

[MOtreasurehunter]

yeah i am, but its 12 miles north of springfield thoug, not joplin mate.


Evvan

 

[tsgman]

I have heard of the story about the rock with the Spanish writing on it, and also how they had gold and were being threatened by Indians. There appears to be several variations of this story. Unfortunately the rock is a total fake, i know a couple of old timers who chisled it out because they were mad about something, not sure what it was about or who. Just know they claim to have made it all up.

The only area I know of locally where the Spaniards were even close is around Mt. Vernon, Mo. It is about 30 miles west of Spfld. Mo. There is still some evidence of a Spanish earthen fort that remains, I have not seen it myself but know a few folks that have. Another story is about a cave along Jordon creek near Spfld. Mo. that supposedly contains gold and silver. A few people have dug holes and used some heavy equipment to find it with no luck. The supposed map leads you on quite a journey, looking for this sign and that. I thought it sounded pretty unbelievable myself. My opinion is if there was any gold or Spanish treasure it is gone now as the countryside has been developed so much.
One hoard of silver coins was uncovered by excavators in the Ft. Leanord Wood area. It was noticed by the equipment operators shining in the dirt as they moved dirt to a new officers housing addition at the Fort. This happened in the 60's i believe. They figured out it was the Tilley treasure. Tilley was found hung on a tree in his yard with his house on fire, this taking place during the Civil War.
I have the book and it Say's he was disliked by the Union as well as the CS. This area was his old homesite.
The book Say's some people even went to the area on base where the dirt was spread out and found still more silver in the dirt at the officers complex. It also Say's word spread fast and the entire field was full of locals raking and searching for the coins. Now this story I believe was true. The name of the book is called the Tilley Treasure.

 

[chris100281]

If you're still interested in this treasure I live near st louis and be more than happy to drive down and put the man hours in on finding it. If you could get a copy of the map or a picture of it I have access to some old maps of the area that could help. just let me know.

 

[BADWOLF]

Ive been reading all your post and got alittle confused on all the sites that were being lumped together. It seems to me that most of the sites stories are getting confused with one another. Ive research stories and legends in all those areas in various versions for many many years . One must be careful be cause it is easy to overlap stories, thinking you may have two separate legends and in fact it is the same, just another version.

As for the spanish stone mentioned by "tsgman", it sounds to me like you are talking about the "Spanish Mystery Stone". This stone is in fact a fake. A reuse created by a disgruntle citizen whose land was seized by the government , specifically the park lands division.

I myself had heard of the story and found out that the stone was being held in the Wilsons Creek Battlefield Museum. My job takes me to alot of the areas that I research, so I decided to check out the stone while I was there. I spoke with the museum curator and was told this story; the parks held this artifact in the highest regard of being an actual piece of history and had it on display for years. The stone itself was actually only half of the stone, thus the mystery and why no one could fully decipher the etchings upon it. One day a gentleman walks in and is staring at the stone and the curator comes over and begins to tell him the story and the mystery. The man then turns to the museum curator and asks her if the museum would like the other half to the stone, for it has been sitting in his back yard for many many years. Dumbfounded the curator asks him to explain, he then reveals that he is the grandson (or great grandson) of the man who carved the stone and placed it were it was found. "Why!?", the curator asked. The man then tells her of the battle for the property that his grandfather, or great grandfather ,owned (Wilsons Creek Battlefield--Or a large potion of it) and that the government wanted it for historical preservation. When the mans grandfather (or great grandfather) refused to sell it or refused the minuscule price offered, the government took it with out any form of payment (sound familiar). The mans relative angry came up with his own idea to get back at the government by making it look like the fool. Little did he realize how long the stone and the story would last.

I know all this because the story was related to me by the very same curator that was told the story by the grandson at Wilson Creek Battlefield Museum. The stone, no longer on display, now is in storage.

Anyone know anything about the Church Hollow treasure?

Would love to do some cache hunting with anyone on some of these sites!