Re: 2-million Dollar JesseJames Treasure in the Wichita Mt's, Oklahoma
If this brings you good fortune, just remember the poor father of 5 who shared this info:
On 3/5/1876 while camping along Cache Creek in the Indian Territory that would become Oklahoma, in the vicinity of present day Cement, they debated what to do with the pack train gold, deciding to bury it, turn the burros loose and burn the pack saddles. They selected a small arroyo guarded by a lone Cottonwood tree. As a testament to those entitiled to a share, they scratched each one's name on a brass bucket that Frank and Jesse buried near the Cottonwood tree. Jesse hammered a burro shoe into the base of the Cottonwood tree as a marker. At the head of the arroyo they buried the gold. They placed rocks over the hole, which they later spread around because it didn't look natural. Six years later, following Jesse's death, with Cole Younger in prison for his part in the Northfield raid, Frank gave himself up, never stood trial, and settled on a farm two miles north of Fletcher. Since the gold was buried, there had been government land rushes that rapidly populated the once desolate area forever changing the landmarks they had used to guide themselves previously. When Younger was released, he returned to Oklahoma, settling for a while in Lawton. Frank and Cole could be seen riding around with pick and shovel, yet never found the gold. Eventually the story got around among the locals. Three locals started a search of their own, found a burro skeleton, concentrated in that area, and located a Cottonwood stump with a shoe hammered into it. They never found the gold. A later TH'er, Joe Hunter of Rush Springs, over the course of several years, had more success, though never finding the main cache either. The location of the arroyo had become known among the locals. Hunter located the same stump and searched the area, finding among other things, a pick ax, charred pack frames, and a nice cache from a lesser hold up, buried in an iron kettle. More significantly, he found the brass bucket bearing the engraved names and a crude map. Hunter died in the early 1950's. The locals could probably still find that arroyo and somebody's got that bucket.
