Warrensburg, MO. $60,000,000 Buried by the French 1783

jeff of pa

Super Moderator
Staff member
Dec 19, 2003
85,774
59,567
🥇 Banner finds
1
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
The Helena independent. (Helena, Mont.), 14 Aug. 1891.

warrensburg.jpg
missouri.jpg
sixty.jpg

The Helena independent. (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, August 14, 1891, Morning, Page 6, Image 6 « Chronicling America « Library of Congress
 

nsdq

Silver Member
Oct 16, 2011
4,031
1,923
Tarpon springs FL
Detector(s) used
AT-Pro,Ace 150, flea market digger
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
If memory serves it is a city park /state park now and no digging or hunting , but i know this story , used to live near the area while in foster care back in the 90s .
 

OP
OP
jeff of pa

jeff of pa

Super Moderator
Staff member
Dec 19, 2003
85,774
59,567
🥇 Banner finds
1
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
More & More it seems like they put these Properties off limits on Purpose :(

Too much Coincidence.
 

Last edited:

cjweber

Jr. Member
Sep 26, 2016
56
47
Missouri (for now)
Detector(s) used
Minelab CTX 3030, and that damned old Bounty Hunter
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
sounds like we need some night vision goggles and a clandestine trip to Warrensburg!
 

nsdq

Silver Member
Oct 16, 2011
4,031
1,923
Tarpon springs FL
Detector(s) used
AT-Pro,Ace 150, flea market digger
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Culp park is the area in question
 

nsdq

Silver Member
Oct 16, 2011
4,031
1,923
Tarpon springs FL
Detector(s) used
AT-Pro,Ace 150, flea market digger
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
BTW was just in that area the 1st week of Sept ..............
 

cjweber

Jr. Member
Sep 26, 2016
56
47
Missouri (for now)
Detector(s) used
Minelab CTX 3030, and that damned old Bounty Hunter
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
NSDQ - where are you normally located? in that area? or another state? I am about two hours south of there... looking for someone to go hunting with...
 

nsdq

Silver Member
Oct 16, 2011
4,031
1,923
Tarpon springs FL
Detector(s) used
AT-Pro,Ace 150, flea market digger
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Born and raised in Mo next town over , Holden , but live in Pa now was visting family
 

cjweber

Jr. Member
Sep 26, 2016
56
47
Missouri (for now)
Detector(s) used
Minelab CTX 3030, and that damned old Bounty Hunter
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Next time you come over this way for a visit, let me know... I am at Ft Leonard Wood until June next year
 

callicles

Full Member
Jan 18, 2012
223
244
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
It would be interesting to know what the original source is. Did it originate from the French?
 

Ammoman

Bronze Member
Oct 12, 2015
2,211
5,348
NC
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
XP Deus, Nokta Impact, Tesoro Compadre..
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I lived on Whiteman AFB and Graduated at Knob Noster high back in 81. I remember a similar story about the treasure being buried in or around knob hill.
 

Ben Smith

Jr. Member
Aug 16, 2008
32
66
Warrensburg,Missouri
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
Minelab Vanquish 540
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I live in Warrensburg, and I just drove through Clinton,Mo., (which is south of us)
I used my GPS and when I was 5 miles south of town, that put me in Cornelia(Post Oak)
culp park is in the city limits.
now to do some door knocking!!!!
Ben Smith
 

GoDeep

Bronze Member
Nov 12, 2016
2,120
4,515
Detector(s) used
Whites, Garrett, Minelab
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Cool story Jeff of Pa! If the French buried 60,000,000 in 1787, adjusted for inflation, it is now $1,687,625,000 Trillion dollars. You could have bought yourself several countries, if not entire continents, back in 1787 with 60,000,000 so i'd say, if true, the amount buried got grossly exaggerated over the years.

For historical reference, we bought Florida from Spain in 1819 for a cool 5 million dollars and in 1848 we bought Arizona, California, Nevada and Utah from Mexico for a paultry 15 million and we got Alaska for 7.5mill from Russia in 1867 and we bought the Philippines in 1898 from Spain for only 20 million.
 

OP
OP
jeff of pa

jeff of pa

Super Moderator
Staff member
Dec 19, 2003
85,774
59,567
🥇 Banner finds
1
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Yea I believe in most of these cases the person relating the Story upgrades the amount to it's value at the time. { 1891 Values]
could have been as Little as $6,000.oo Of course it wasn't Dollars no Matter what. What was the Medium used for Money in 1783 ?
So at some point someone upgraded to $$$$

Could have been 60,000,000 Francs could have also been 60 1,000,,000 Franc Notes
Even if Coins or gold odds are the amount was adjusted for inflation by at least Three 0's
& Switched to Dollars a long time ago.

Doesn't mean there isn't a treasure :treasurechest:

But most likely in a Smaller box :laughing7:

examples would be the 1715 fleets actual value on it's voyage compared to the portion brought up so far.
or value of Tutankhamen’s gold when buried compared to the story they relate now





paper bill issued in France as currency from 1789 to 1796, during the French Revolution.
Assignat.jpg

a pristine note like this sold at Christie's compared to the value in a 18th century persons pocket
makes a big difference. & so does a Writers Value of a leather pouch full of them,
if they think in terms of gold bricks or gold dollars instead of musty paper.

But Don't forget a rotted leather pouch full of what's left of them, with Proof they were This Treasure
Could end up Priceless if Found by the Right People :coffee2:
 

Last edited:

missouriexp

Jr. Member
Dec 26, 2020
37
46
Kansas City, MO
Detector(s) used
Equinox 600
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Hey guys.

Let's say I've found where T. N. Williams lived back in the day.

Let's also say I've contacted one of the land owners (there are several now) and have permission to look around.

What would you guys recommend looking for? I've read a lot of about Spanish treasure but what about the French? How did they bury gold? I don't know why there would be this much gold in Missouri to be honest but hey I'm going to check this out. I'm guessing looking for unusual markers. Any signs of man made activity. It's a long shot for sure. Any advice is appreciated.
 

missouriexp

Jr. Member
Dec 26, 2020
37
46
Kansas City, MO
Detector(s) used
Equinox 600
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Hey guys.

Let's say I've found where T. N. Williams lived back in the day.

Let's also say I've contacted one of the land owners (there are several now) and have permission to look around.

What would you guys recommend looking for? I've read a lot of about Spanish treasure but what about the French? How did they bury gold? I don't know why there would be this much gold in Missouri to be honest but hey I'm going to check this out. I'm guessing looking for unusual markers. Any signs of man made activity. It's a long shot for sure. Any advice is appreciated.

Just a quick update if anyone is interested. I searched about 30 acres with another hunter from this forum for about a half a day. I'm fairly certain the 30 acres we searched was part of a larger 250 acres tract that was owned by previous searchers.

We found stuff but nothing that really lines up with the story. (i.e. No gold or evidence of digging. No out of place stones or markers that I could tell.) One old horseshoe and part of an ox shoe were probably the most interesting things we found. From what we detected, I didn't think there was much activity that had taken place in the area we searched. We may have been in the wrong part of the 250 acre plot though. Over maybe we just walked over it and it was "deep" in the ground. I feel like the general area needs to be narrowed down a bit more before another attempt. Maybe some research might help narrow it down some. I may circle back on this one.

For now, I'm moving onto the next cache search though. If anyone has some info that might narrow down the search more I'm open to sharing some of my research. Just PM me.
 

Top Member Reactions

Users who are viewing this thread

Top