Karl Von Muellers advice for finding treasure leads

Daryl Friesen

Sr. Member
Mar 21, 2003
339
95
Vancouver,British Columbia
Detector(s) used
Whites GMT
A long time ago I wrote a letter to Karl Von Mueller asking his advice about where to find information on how to find good treasure leads. Here is what he wrote me in response. Most of my letter to him is misssing. Keep in mind this letter was written in 1987 or so.

vonmuellerletter.jpg


www.spindlequest.com/losttreasure.html
 

kc7rad

Jr. Member
Nov 13, 2005
42
19
Daryl,

I may be a noob here, but I focus on one area and read, read, read. I grew up in Mercer County, Illinois; a very rural community on the Mississippi river. It started as a general interest in the Native American history of the place. I found a ton of old documents on-line, including detailed history, plat maps, business and military history.

From that, I have been able to trace nearly all of the old, now extinct, railroad beds and many of the stage lines. I know that there are several towns that are nearly or completely abandoned that used to be fairly active areas of commerce.

With about 75% certainty I have located one of the county's first grist mills long lost to time, several old abandoned homesteads and long abandoned roads. I have read of hermits, rich people with no apparent source of income, distrust in banks, distrust in railroads, bank and store robberies... the list goes on.

Granted, I haven't found a single thing. You see, I live in Las Vegas and found all of this just by searching the internet.

At this point I have at least one fairly good lead and three or four questionable ones.

Guess my suggestion then, would be to read, read, read.

-Ken
 

Tuberale

Gold Member
May 12, 2010
5,775
3,446
Portland, Oregon
Detector(s) used
White's Coinmaster Pro
Daryl Friesen said:
A long time ago I wrote a letter to Karl Von Mueller asking his advice about where to find information on how to find good treasure leads. Here is what he wrote me in response. Most of my letter to him is misssing. Keep in mind this letter was written in 1987 or so.

vonmuellerletter.jpg


www.spindlequest.com/losttreasure.html
Guess he was staying in his "nom de plume" or pen-name persona.

Actual name: Carl Miller. Makes sense when you think about it. Karl Von Mueller translates from German into Carl the Miller, or Carl Miller in English. Having a life and leading a virtual life make everyday tasks ... complicated.

I was more interested in reading the faint correspondence transferred to your letter. Can you read it?

Finding treasure leads is easy. Research is less easy. Every issue of the newspaper carries potential treasure leads. You need to read thoroughly. Here's a clue: lost and found ads. Check out your local L & F ads from the 1910's and 1920's. These ads were often free, donated as a public service to the community. They have more information in them than any book. But you MUST read.

The Internet can help. But it works only for recent leads.
 

Tuberale

Gold Member
May 12, 2010
5,775
3,446
Portland, Oregon
Detector(s) used
White's Coinmaster Pro
From A.T. Evan's Treasure Hunting Yearbook 1974-'75 Edition, p. 7 "TREASURE HUNTER'S YEARBOOK Salutes KARL VON MUELLER ... MAN OF THE YEAR". A paragraph applies here: "Having written under at least 23 different pseudonyms, this man is actually better known as Karl von Mueller than by his real name, Charles Dean Miller. A favorite pen name, also, is Deek Gladson, being a corruption of his initials and his wife's maiden name, Gladyce Johnson."
 

GringoStarr

Jr. Member
Aug 15, 2009
34
5
La Florida
Detector(s) used
Metrotech 220, Spartan 175, Metrotech 330, Garrett CXiii With Bloodhound Attachment. Garrett Hand Scanner, and others.
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Mr. Darrell,

You should know I too recieved a reply from the master, I wish I could find it!

KVon M mentioned in one of his writings, I believe it was Waybills to Eldorado;"there never was a bank or anything that resembled a bank, there."

So, by implication, since the person he was speaking about never lived to retrieve his. "bank", it was likely still there, unless someone had found it.

Regards,

Gringo out
 

Connecticut Sam

Bronze Member
Sep 28, 2007
1,797
142
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Karl wrote many times that the best book about treasure hunting do not have those two words in book titles. I am seeking information on Connecticut bury treasures. [email protected] Best of luck to all of you.
 

Tom2hunt

Jr. Member
Mar 22, 2009
23
3
Detector(s) used
Fisher Coinstrike, Fisher 1236-X2 and Gold Bug
I have both of Karl von Mueller's books which are very good books. I would suggest to you also try to get Dick Stout books on metal detecting and finding treasure. Those are some excellent books to include in your collection. After that go to your historical library in your county and start looking and reading books and maps of your area. Good Luck.
 

Randy Bradford

Sr. Member
Jun 27, 2004
486
847
This looks promising, real shame he used photobucket to store it. Anyone happen to have saved this...would love to get a read on it...literally and figuratively.
 

BILL96

Sr. Member
Mar 29, 2007
299
58
Arizona
Detector(s) used
LST
I once read something that said an early treasure find of KVM was near fort Phil Kearny, somehow related to the Fetterman Massacre. Does anyone recall anything about this ?
Thanks
 

gunsil

Silver Member
Dec 27, 2012
3,864
6,207
lower hudson valley, N.Y.
Detector(s) used
safari, ATPro, infinium, old Garrett BFO, Excal, Nox 800
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
A friend and myself have found a couple of nice finds after reading Treasure Hunters Manuals #6 and #7 back in the early-mid 1970s. Great advice in those books!!
 

Ryano

Hero Member
Feb 16, 2014
721
1,184
St. Augustine, FL
Primary Interest:
Cache Hunting
You don’t need to hunt down the originals, because Randy Bradford did the hard work for you and published the best of KVM’s TH manuals and NPG with his “Selections from the National Prospector’s Gazette” series.. it’s a 4 volume set (actually Randy is still working on volume 4 but the first 3 are available for purchase)..

They’re most EXCELLENT. Very affordable..Organized by subject and cross-indexed. Includes all the LUE material KVM published (exception of Valley of Secrets).. plus tons of old treasure leads, massive bibliography of useful books .. they’re titled in Randy's signature and on Amazon
 

Last edited:

ArfieBoy

Silver Member
Aug 11, 2011
3,342
5,530
N.E. Oregon
Detector(s) used
Compass X-70, Compass X-80, Compass X-90, Compass Judge 2, Garrett AT Pro
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Great topic! Thanks for bringing it up and thanks for all the input here!
 

Top Member Reactions

Users who are viewing this thread

Top