Gold from Brazos River bank

texasred777

Bronze Member
Nov 21, 2013
1,729
1,461
Mountain Home, Idaho
Detector(s) used
BH Lone Star, BH Tracker IV, BH Tracker 2-D/707, Harbor Freight MD-3005, and 2 BH 840
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
I'm a bit new to this forum; but have been using detectors since 1980. I ran across the thread about Jesse James burying a safe in Waco. This brought to my mind an incident back in the late 1940s or early 1950s. I haven't heard any thing about the story in all these years. There was a lot of talk about it for a few weeks; but then I didn't hear about it any more. In the news paper, probably the Waco Tribune Herald, there was a story about a letter sent to the government (which one I don't know; probably USA; but could have been Texas). The letter asked about the laws concerning gold bars found buried along the banks of the Brazos River just south of Waco. I may not have all of this straight because it's been so long ago. I was a pre- or early teen at the time (born in 1942). We lived in Hillsboro, about three houses from an aunt, uncle, and cousin. The cousin stills in the house (she's 85 years old). I was born in that house. Anyway, back to the story. We used to visit a lot, almost every day. I remember sitting on their front porch talking about this story. Supposedly, the government told them that the government owned any gold found like this. After several letters back and forth between them, it was said that a site was found on the bank of the Brazos where someone had dug a hole and that there were imprints similar to what could be from gold bars in the hole. I don't remember if the 'finders' sent a letter saying that they were going to take the gold and abscond with it or not. I believe there were supposed to have been 16 gold bars stated in the letters. I don't remember how the letters were sent/received; might have been through the newspaper. If anyone remembers something about this let me know. I haven't tried to research the story; but thought it might be easier to post it here. lol I lived in Texas until 2007 in Hillsboro and Waco. I had not thought about this story in many years. (I really like living here in Idaho; but sure miss Texas!!)
 

bobby5

Sr. Member
Jun 19, 2012
251
147
TEXAS
Detector(s) used
Equinox 600, AT Pro, Garrett Propointer, Garrett Carrot, Several Older Garrett Detectors and a Bounty Hunter.
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Ya not long ago a homeless person found some gold bars I believe in that area, just have to search google. I cant remember a lot about the story.
 

jk1031

Jr. Member
Dec 7, 2014
43
25
Lockhart, TX
Detector(s) used
Nokta Makro Simplex+ & Nokta Makro PulseDive
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Very interesting! I grew up in the town of West, TX (about 20 miles north of Waco), and frequented the Brazos quite a bit for fishing back then. Any updates on this?
 

Sallysue

Sr. Member
Oct 31, 2012
456
291
Tx
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I remember years ago they were digging next to river in Waco I would stop and watch them Than they were gone and I asked around what happened they said the hole kept filling up with water.
 

Sallysue

Sr. Member
Oct 31, 2012
456
291
Tx
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Boy this is weird I was at a coffee shop a couple days ago and there was an ole timer there that ran the dozer the Waco dig
 

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