Great Train Robbery near Verdi, Nevada

[bmehrer]

As the legend goes there is still one bag of 20$ dollar gold coins missing. I have information the bag was found and the serial number was matched to that of Wells Fargo Records. I also have information the bag was found in an old cabin (I have been told the area) but the cabin has not been found again. Anyone looking at this legend?

BMehrer

 

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[Mackaydon]

Years ago, I had interest in that legend until I read the Nevada Territorial Enterprise edition of Nov. 12, 1870. The site I reference below contains a great recap of the robbery and aftermath. You'll read on the Nov. 12th issue why I no longer have interest.
Great Train Robbery Outside Verdi Nevada, November 5, 1870
Don..........

 

[bmehrer]

Very interesting, thanks for the article. I was and still am with the belief their were 3 bags of gold coins, each weighing 74 pounds and each containing $20,000. I believe this as the recovered Well Fargo money bag with a serial number on it was verified by Wells Fargo as having never been found nor the gold in it having never been found, or at least if found never returned or surfaced.

 

[Mackaydon]

Welcome to treasurenet !1

Lets check the math:
$20,000 in $20 gold coins each weighing about an ounce would be about 1,000 ounces or 62.5 pounds. Where did you get the figure of 74 pounds? You also mentioned Wells Fargo verified something. Do you have documentation from WF supporting that statement?
Don....

 

[bmehrer]

The 74 pounds comes right from the last sentence of the article you included on your post. And yes I have verification of the serial number from the 3rd bag of coins, of which Wells Fargo has stated the serial number matched one of the missing bags from the train robbery. I also have verification as to whether or not the gold still belongs to Wells Fargo or not. Since insurance on the gold was collected already Wells Fargo has no claiming rights to the gold now. I also have verification from the grandson who was with his grandfather hunting when they found the empty gold bag in a cabin along with a set of saddlebags draped over a kitchen chair. Unfortunately the grandson was young and can only remember the area they were hunting in and not the specific location of the cabin.

 

[Mackaydon]

Here's another quote from an article that continues to dissuade me from pursuing the treasure:
" However, treasure hunters throughout the decades note that law enforcement officers were able to recover all but $3,000 worth of gold coins taken by the bandits."
Verdi?s Historic Train Heist - Tahoe Quarterly
'bmehrer', if all this is wrong, I hope you are successful.
PS: Part of the weight discrepancy can be accounted for in the difference between imperial weight and gold's 'troy' weight; the later being heavier per ounce by about 10%.
Don......

 

[Tanneyhill]

I was and still am with the belief their were 3 bags of gold coins, each weighing 74 pounds and each containing $20,000. I believe this as the recovered Well Fargo money bag with a serial number on it was verified by Wells Fargo as having never been found nor the gold in it having never been found, or at least if found never returned or surfaced.

Yes I have verification of the serial number from the 3rd bag of coins, of which Wells Fargo has stated the serial number matched one of the missing bags from the train robbery. I also have verification as to whether or not the gold still belongs to Wells Fargo or not. Since insurance on the gold was collected already Wells Fargo has no claiming rights to the gold now.

I also have verification from the grandson who was with his grandfather hunting when they found the empty gold bag in a cabin along with a set of saddlebags draped over a kitchen chair. Unfortunately the grandson was young and can only remember the area they were hunting in and not the specific location of the cabin.

Curious what are your sources of verification of a missing 3rd bag of coins and verification of it having been found by a boy and his grandpa in a cabin? Why wouldn't the grandpa take the bag of coins or inform his family about them and their location? I don't dismiss that there might be some portion of the total plunder still lost but what you have presented doesn't really give much in the way of confirming. The articles pointed to by Mackaydon also seem to indicate most of the plunder was located, although just because an article says so doesn't make it true but so far I don't see much here to suspect large portions are still missing, unless you can provide more information about your verification.

Nonetheless, tis a very fascinating story - first robbery along the Central Pacific Railroad. One would think this line would have been the target of many robberies given this railroad line was the main method of transporting California gold coinage from the San Francisco Mint to the East once the railroad came into service in 1869. Despite the fact gold output from the California gold fields fell sharply from its 1850s peak, it was fairly stable for many decades at just slightly under 1 million ounces per year.

Another thread that discusses the Verdi robbery as well as another.

A bandits confession?

Hello All When I first met my future boss, his appearance was so deceptive.He looked like the university facility janitor, until I started taking to him. I was doing a degree on Russian history the fall of Czarist empire. And yet this "janitor" stuck a conversation in such a great detail on the...

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[ToddsPoint]

The mint usually put 250 double eagles per bag. $5000. It weighed 22.5 lbs.

 

[Clay Diggins]

Lets check the math:
$20,000 in $20 gold coins each weighing about an ounce would be about 1,000 ounces or 62.5 pounds. Where did you get the figure of 74 pounds?
Don....

The math for $1,000 in $20 gold eagles:

Each $20 Gold Eagle weighs 33.44 grams. Gold content is .9613 ounces Troy (29.896 grams of gold)

1,000 $20 coins weigh 33,440 grams = 1,179.95 avoirdupois ounces = 73.7473 pounds.

Which is darn close to 74 pounds.