John E Fletcher Bandit loot

Ddiamond Digger

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Oct 16, 2012
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Hi, Wonder if anyone has more information on this one.... sounds way cool!

In 1897, W. S. Glenn of Palestine, Texas, discovered an aged letter in his grandmothers trunk, which read in part as follows:

"...Nolans Trail, November 17, 1816-On this trail a deposit was made in 1813 by a band of 12 of us, who were captured by Jacksons Cavalry. Nine of us were killed, and three of us who were captured could either go in the fight (Battle of New Orleans), or stay in prison. One of us died in prison, Perkins was killed in battle, leaving me as the only survivor.

"...The deposit was made by a clear-running stream, under a waterfall, with a high backbone ridge on the east bank. The first capture buried there in April, 1813, was twelve jack loads of silver, and in October, 1813, thirty mule loads of Spanish gold. We captured 5 other small lots in between, which we buried in the same place... John E. Fletcher." (Galveston Daily News, April 21, 189

Glenn remembered such a creek on his grandfathers farm, east of Neches River, where Glenn was born, and where stones of a mill pond, a part of an ancient water mill, still stood. And there are passages in H. S. Thralls and H. Yoakums histories of Texas that appear to corroborate some of Fletchers story.

Since Fletchers letter appeared so authentic, Glenn succeeded in convincing others and in organizing a stock company to search for the gold, its officers including four railroad, express company, and bank executives of Palestine. They raised $5,000 to employ diggers to excavate the site.

Glenns crew dug from May until October, 1898, at which time the company funds were exhausted, and officers of the stock company chose to abandon the search. It is believed that Glenns treasure-hunting enterprise was the largest ever conducted in Southeast Texas.


In the 1850s it was a dangerous time to be a miner searching for gold in Northern California. The Indians were tired of miners entering their land in search of gold. They were known to attack and kill any white man they saw. However, many men had the dream of striking of it rich in California with their own gold find and traveled from the east in search of their own fortune ignoring the threat of Indian attacks.

In one such tale, several men came from the east and began prospecting in Shasta County. Their trail led across the Sacramento River at Cow Creek around 2 and one half miles east of Fort Reading. From this location, they followed another creek east for around thirty miles when they saw a high waterfall. They climbed atop the waterfall to find a rich gold deposit. They took as much gold as they could carry and left the area in fear of Indians. When they arrived at Fort Reading, they asked for protection to help them travel eastward and hope. The fort could not allow any troops to accompany them and they soon headed home on their own.

In 1870, one of these men came back to the Fort Reading area with his son-in-law hoping to find the waterfall and the gold deposit once again. He stopped in Redding and asked if anyone in town knew of a high waterfall in the area. He was told that there was one about 25 miles southeast on Bear Creek close to Inwood. The two men soon arrived in Inwood and began searching the Bear Creek Canyon for the lost gold, however, after several weeks the men gave up and went back home, not finding the treasure they were seeking.

Some believe that the men were searching at the wrong waterfall as this one was made up of mostly volcanic rock. However, another waterfall fits the description located on Clover Creek around 3 miles from Oak Run and 25 miles east of Redding.

If there is a gold deposit 25 miles from Redding, to this day it has not been discovered.
Location
From Redding, California (city that spells its name differently because it is named after a railroad man rather than the fort) take Interstate 5 south seven miles to the North Street exist in Anderson. Go north (left) on North Street across Sacramento River to Dersch Road, about two miles. Site is 5.4 miles directly east of this turn. The marker is 0.6 mile north of the intersection of Deschutes and Dersch Roads.
Marked on the map I even gave you a starting point! Have fun and remember the river flow might have changed so you are going to be challenged!
 

wildpig

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Jul 25, 2015
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If i lived closer I would check this out!
 

OP
OP
D

Ddiamond Digger

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Oct 16, 2012
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This cannot be to difficult to find.... if one accepts that the river has dried up, changed course.... maybe... just maybe his grand Pappy was a crook lol
If he was then there is a lot of money hidden in a dry creek bed.... I scanned the area and could not find a running stream?
Maybe I was on the wrong area? Maybe not....
Find it someone!
DD
 

Washington11

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Feb 21, 2022
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I’ve recently learned of the John Fletcher treasure story and found it quite interesting since I live 45 minutes south of “Nolan’s trail “highway 21”. I’ve done my own research of the area and in jasper country. One of the problems most people are finding is records of land or river maps “especially on the Glenn’s/Fletchers” that date back that far, well that’s because the Jasper county court house burned down in 1936. Most records are gone unless you know where to look and who to talk to.
 

OH..POPS

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Dec 18, 2021
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This is a great story to tell. Old history is what we are all doing and looking to find.
Again what a good job on your research
 

Washington11

Newbie
Feb 21, 2022
2
0
Thank you! I’ve dug into the library of congress and was able to find maps dating back to 1898 of east Texas. One of the good things on that is it shows old rivers “that you can compare to todays maps” and it actually shows land ownership with the individual names especially the Glenn and Fletcher family. Both families did live in Jasper County.
 

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