Far West Riverboat Gold

[Cache Money]

Hi all,

I'm researching everything I can on the Big Horn Gold or the Custer Massacre Cache.

I'm inquiring if there's any new knowledge on whether a log book exists for the riverboat 'Far West'?

I've read almost all the sources of information on Captain Grant Marsh and the 'Far West' but keep coming into the same problem: Author's are writing about "facts" from the log book without anyone actually knowing the log book's actual existence. I in fact had a phone call with Peter Netzel (The Lost Treasures of Montana, Custer Country) who told me he's not even sure whether the log book exists but states in his book that Captain Grant Marsh DID bring gold on the 'Far west' riverboat. I believe he's using other author's knowledge of the transfer of gold. I'm very intrigued as to where the proof of gold on the 'Far West' comes from in the first place.

Any help with where it was FIRST stated that gold came aboard the 'Far West' would be greatly appreciated.

Books I've read regarding the cache and stating "facts" about the transfer of gold to the riverboat:

Hanson, Joseph M. Conquest of the Missouri: Being the Story of the Life and Exploits of Captain Grant Marsh. McClurg and Company, 1909. Print

Netzel, Peter A. The Lost Treasures of Montana: Custer Country. Billings, MT: Tired Man Productions LLC, 2018. Print

Norville, Roy. The Treasure Seekers Treasury. London: Hutchinson & Co., 1978. Print

Penfield, Thomas. a Guide to Treasure in Montana-Wyoming. True Treasure Publications Inc., 1975. Print

Pepper, Choral. Treasure Legends of the West. Salt Lake City: Gibbs-Smith Publisher, 1994. Print

Schurmacher, Emile C. Lost Treasures and how to find them. New York: Coronet Communications Inc., 1968. Print

 

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[Tiredman]

Keep researching the story, of course there was a log book. One could assume Captain March when he made his entries became an author, in fact he was the source. I barely remember I did receive a call on the phone about this. The log book might be in the archives of the Coulson Packet Company since the Far West and Marsh were in their service. Another fellow I meet claimed the Far West sunk at such and such, which it did. But that was years later, and I doubt the same log book was used for that many years. During the filming on location we hunted the property of a rancher who also mentioned having read a book with entries of the log book. I guess I stumbled upon it back in 2006. Two of the books you mention you can rule out. There are over 154 lost treasures in Montana at least, and more stores will be found over time.

 

[Tiredman]

Most of the listed books in the first post are repeated information. Two have major errors which have to be tossed aside, I mentioned this to the Feldman brothers, this could be in the show, I don't know I didn't watch it. The Travel Channel did send me a disk copy, someday I might watch it.


Norville, Roy. The Treasure Seekers Treasury. London: Hutchinson & Co., 1978. Print errors


Schurmacher, Emile C. Lost Treasures and how to find them. New York: Coronet Communications Inc., 1968. Print errors


The above two books do have a useful purpose they are examples of finding something that destroys a version of events.
One listed the gold as gold bars loaded on at Williston, N.D. but that town was not founded until 11 years later. The other names people who show up no where else in any documents, plus it has Hardin, Montana on the Yellowstone river. Some major mistakes by those authors.

Little did I know when I posted my info on treasurenet that the Travel Channel had a few on site here looking for info about the Grant Marsh story. They were planning this forgotten aspect of the battle. Like the newspapers of those days Custer's defeat stole the headlines and few even knew of Marsh and the Far West.

More Later …….

 

[Tiredman]

So for those who might be interested few books in print are useable for treasure hunting since they generally use the stories of other authors and embellish them. Remember that Lost Treasure magazine it had those state treasure tales, many enjoyed reading them. But have any tried to trace them back to when there first came from?
There are a few folks that are currently doing what I mean (tracing them back), examples are the posts of Jeff of PA in the section on treasure legends/stories.
Most anyone can do this, but one needs to looks at both what backs a story and what destroys it.
Currently I am posting page by page one of my Lost Treasures of Montana books over on my Facebook page. It is a good example of finding a lead and researching it. Currently my second story is an old lost treasure lead from a prior author and tracing it back to what happened, the results are something happened but it wasn't close to the old information.

 

[Tiredman]

I spent some time looking for an old thread about Custer's lost payroll or rifles back around 2015-2016. I posted my Far West gold info and ended up on a TV show, but haven't found it yet. Prior to this some fellow had an episode of a treasure hunting show and I remember thinking my stuff is good enough for TV shows. But the Far West gold would not have been my first choice for a treasure hunt.

 

[Cache Money]

I spent some time looking for an old thread about Custer's lost payroll or rifles back around 2015-2016. I posted my Far West gold info and ended up on a TV show, but haven't found it yet. Prior to this some fellow had an episode of a treasure hunting show and I remember thinking my stuff is good enough for TV shows. But the Far West gold would not have been my first choice for a treasure hunt.

I'm so sorry to neglect this thread.

I gave up on the search for a bit and forgot I'd posted in here and now that I'm back on the hunt I found this thread again.

Thanks so much for that information. I did notice a lot of discrepancies between writings and had to assume that Capt. Grant Marsh didn't have multiple dealings with taking gold aboard and stashing it somewhere. That'd be one hell of a story!

Shortly after creating this thread I made a trip through the Hardin, MT area and tried to take my canoe down the river from Bighorn Fishing Site Access down to Hardin (the area where I've narrowed the cache down to). Unfortunately the reservation area was closed during COVID-19 and I couldn't gain access. I got to visit the battle of Little Bighorn battle site though so it was worth the drive.

I'll head back there this summer with a packraft and drone to get more info. At the end of the day it might come down to limitations on access to the reservation and some lucky Crow might happen upon a cache of gold one day.

I'll be sure to update my findings as they come.