Swamp Gold

[Bigcypresshunter]

BCH,did you notice the reference that the "lost city" was guarded by skunk apes?
Very similar to Homer Osbon and L Frank Hudson's Everglades pyramids being guarded by skunk apes.
As for this variation on the Confederate gold in the Everglades:
This has the Confederates stealing the gold from the Union,which brings about the questions:
Where did the Union have gold in Florida that could be stolen by the Confedrates-Fort Meyers,Key West?
As with the CSA,the Union paid its soldiers mostly in script,not gold.There is NO Union army record of Confederates stealing military gold in Florida.
Now it is known the CSA deserters "YELLOWNECKS" did hide in the northen part of the Everglades,why would they bury said gold and set up a still on Seminole sacred land?
It is also known that some Seminoles,who had no love for the US government,fought for the Confederacy,and returned back to their nation after the war,and would not have any respect for white yellownecks.
I would like to know the source from which Ron Bergeron based this claim-it has the ring of tall tale that has evolved into accepted lore.

Again dont throw the baby out with the bathwater. We all know that the Confederate gold was to purchase cattle. I dont think we ever determined where the Confederates obtained it and it really doesnt matter. We know the Confederates purchased beef with gold to feed the Confederacy. On this particlular incident 60 pounds of gold coins were buried and would be quite valuable today if ever found and it may still be lost at the junction of 2 creeks.. We know from military records that the soldier that buried it was ordered back into battle and he was killed one week later.

Skunk Ape rumors still persist to this day in the Everglades so its nothing unusual.

Commissioner Ron Bergeron is a well respected Board member with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and very knowlegable about the swamp..
http://myfwc.com/about/commission/commissioners/florida-bird-conservation-initiative-contact-us/

Why would they set up on sacred land? Because they probably didnt care and ALL the high dry islands of the Everglades were at one time inhabited by ancient Indians and Seminoles and I mean every single major island.. The entire city of Chokoluskee sits on an Indian mound. There is only so much land that is suitable for a settlement and the Indian mounds were the best. I doubt the gold was buried at the lost city anyway.

The way I interpret it is the lost city survived into the days of Al Capone and I see nothing odd about the possibility that the Indians killed them sometime after the war was over. Either way it doesnt matter who killed them. The way the story goes, skulls were scattered about. We dont even know if they were Confederates. Maybe it was Al Capones men? Most of those Everglades islands had skulls on them in the early 1900s.

Yet no one is absolutely sure what has taken place at Lost City, a three-acre site about eight miles south of Alligator Alley. What is known for sure is that at one time it was a large Seminole Village that was abandoned, giving rise to all kinds of folklore.

Legend has it that mobster Al Capone ran an illegal bootlegging operation out of Lost City in the Everglades of far western Broward County.

Over the past six decades, it has been inspected by state wildlife officials and archaeologists, who have found old rotted shacks, a canoe, various Indian artifacts and a large iron kettle, used to distill sugar cane into alcohol.

While some of those objects date back hundreds, even thousands, of years, the site apparently became highly active in the early 1900s.

Lets get back on topic, I have decided to follow the trail from Punta Rassa. Do you have any information on the corduroy road that you mentioned earlier? What was the name of it?.

 

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[ECS]

There was no official name,but the corduroy road was lain down by another cracker cattleman,Mose Edward Barber,to Jacob Summerlin's docks at Punta Rassa.Barber also had many cattle trails throughout Florida.
Check out "The cattle drives,and Mose moves south" 3/4 near bottom on this site:
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~flbakehs/meBarber
Mose Barber is also known for the Barber-Mizell Range War of 1870,where he killed Sheriff Dave Mizell,a former Confederate who turned Republican during Reconstruction.
http://www.floridatoday.com/article...a-frontiers-cattle-sparked/Barber-Mizell-feud
http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/19...085_1_rustling-barber-mizell-range-war-cattle
The western artist,Fredrick Remington,used Bone Mizell as his subject for his painting "Cracker Cowboy".
http://www.fl-genweb.org/decole/desoto/Local Legends/Morgan Bonaparte%Mizell.html
Jim Bob Tinsley,a cowboy historian and 1960's history teacher at Ocala Jr High School wrote,"THE LIFE AND TIMES OF BONE MIZELL" as well as other books and real cowboy songs recorded during his travels and interviews with those who lived it.
Mr Tinsley shared many of these recording with his students.

 

[signal]

Here are two articles I pulled which have some info on Punta Rassa in them. If there is something specifically you would like me to search, please let me know, I have access to one of the largest archives in the world.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ucv4gy66gbpoe9s/ The glory of the cattle years.pdf
https://www.dropbox.com/s/r1a5o587q3ert6y/Cow hunters and the wild wild south.pdf

Signal

 

[signal]

Here is another two that are relevant
https://www.dropbox.com/s/u1y07ydmley5r3q/ The Search For Rhett Butlers Gold.pdf
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ghrnjdnl68qizes/The Georgia Odyssey of the Confederate Gold.pdf

 

[: Michael-Robert.]

Signal - your links wont open correctly....

 

[Jon Phillips]

Signal - your links wont open correctly....

They do for me.....

Download dropbox (it's free), and see if that makes it work for you....

 

[signal]

dropbox should not be necessary as its just a public shared file link. Make sure your clicking on the link and not just cutting and pasting it as TNet abbreviates the displayed link. Also since the files are PDF make sure you have an application configured so you can view PDF's from the browser.

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

I cant view it either when I clic on the link but I am on WIFI and I am noticing now that some links are blocked on WIFI for security reasons.. I will try later.

 

[: Michael-Robert.]

Figured it out. You must download link to open document.

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

Figured it out. You must download link to open document.

How do I download the link? Can you explain?

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

dropbox should not be necessary as its just a public shared file link. Make sure your clicking on the link and not just cutting and pasting it as TNet abbreviates the displayed link. Also since the files are PDF make sure you have an application configured so you can view PDF's from the browser.

What is a dropbox? dropbox.com is in your link.

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

They do for me.....

Download dropbox (it's free), and see if that makes it work for you....

I cannot open Dropbox.com

 

[signal]

I am sorry you could not view my links on dropbox. I am also posting them on my google drive publicly here is the link:

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0BzYzu7AIcs8lNWo4aVdQMEh2QUk&usp=docslist_api#

 

[ECS]

I know this thread is about lost gold in the Everglades,but is it logical to transport 1/2 ton of gold across the Everglades to what port?The story with Confedreates fighting like devils while some of them buried a 1/2 ton gold during a firefight,is not believable.I mean,think about it.Would YOU ,in a firefight,even with blackpowder weapons,have time to dig a hole,lift many barrels or crates of gold coins or bars,and rebury the holes as bullets were flying? Anyone who can buy into that story has never been under fire in a combat situation.
...and if all the Confederates were killed in this action,why did the Union aggressors not dig up the gold?
It would be obvious that something was buried during the firefight.
There was NO reason for 1/2 ton of Confederate gold to be in Florida,be it 1861 or 1865.Florida's part in the War of Northern Aggression was as a supplier of cattle,turpentine,spider webs for bandages,cotton,etc,and blockage running of these goods for credit to England and France against loans to the Confederate States of America.
Now the CSA "cattle cavalry" only accepted gold coin for their shipments,but that has been detailed here on this thread,and was never near 1/2 ton.

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

I know this thread is about lost gold in the Everglades,but is it logical to transport 1/2 ton of gold across the Everglades to what port?The story with Confedreates fighting like devils while some of them buried a 1/2 ton gold during a firefight,is not believable.I mean,think about it.Would YOU ,in a firefight,even with blackpowder weapons,have time to dig a hole,lift many barrels or crates of gold coins or bars,and rebury the holes as bullets were flying? Anyone who can buy into that story has never been under fire in a combat situation.
...and if all the Confederates were killed in this action,why did the Union aggressors not dig up the gold?
It would be obvious that something was buried during the firefight.
There was NO reason for 1/2 ton of Confederate gold to be in Florida,be it 1861 or 1865.Florida's part in the War of Northern Aggression was as a supplier of cattle,turpentine,spider webs for bandages,cotton,etc,and blockage running of these goods for credit to England and France against loans to the Confederate States of America.
Now the CSA "cattle cavalry" only accepted gold coin for their shipments,but that has been detailed here on this thread,and was never near 1/2 ton.

Hello ECS. Im no longer interested in any of the various 1/2 ton gold legends. I prefer to move forward and concentrate any further research efforts and discussion on the documented 60 pounds of Spanish/Cuban gold doubloons that were ordered buried by Pvt. Lanier. Your help is greatly appreciated.

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

I am sorry you could not view my links on dropbox. I am also posting them on my google drive publicly here is the link:

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0BzYzu7AIcs8lNWo4aVdQMEh2QUk&usp=docslist_api#

Thanks signal.

 

[Bigdogdad]

I know this thread is about lost gold in the Everglades,but is it logical to transport 1/2 ton of gold across the Everglades to what port?.Would YOU ,in a firefight,even with blackpowder weapons,have time to dig a hole,lift many barrels or crates of gold coins or bars,and rebury the holes as bullets were flying? Anyone who can buy into that story has never been under fire in a combat situation.
NO reason for 1/2 ton of Confederate gold to be in Florida,be it 1861 or 1865.

If the gold was in bars it is hardly going to be "many barrels or crates". I do not know where you get your information but you are WAY off on this. A one cubic foot (one foot by one foot) square of solid gold weighs 1200 pounds. More than one-half a ton in the space of a small chest. Many barrels or crates? Do your homework!

The gold was to be shipped out of Miami to England. The story was in a book that someone I knew had twenty years ago. I do not know the book. I watched and listened to them as they read the story. This is a fact.

I regret to have to report that my Miccosuki pal mentioned on this thread, the one who got ahold of me because of this thread, was killed in a car crash two days ago.

 

[Rebel - KGC]

Sorry for your loss...

 

[Crosse De Sign]

Sincere condolences, in the loss of your friend.

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

Heres the story 2 Miccosukee Tribe Members Killed in Violent Crash | NBC 6 South Florida

Im also very sorry that Duane Billie and Teresa Osceola were killed. I realize Duane was a better friend of yours BDD and you guys were working on the Cloud Mountain project on the reservation. He was a police Captain of the tribe and I enjoyed his visits to the check stations were I worked. He told me he enjoyed reading this thread. I felt safe with him patrolling the area. The Miccosuki police force watched over my little trailer every night when I lived adjacent to the reservation. This is a tremendous loss to the tribe and I am saddened. He was in the prime of his life.