Buried Gold in California

[jeff of pa]

The Somerset herald. (Somerset, Pa.), 27 Nov. 1895





The Somerset herald. (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, November 27, 1895, Image 1 « Chronicling America « Library of Congress

 

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[copperpot]

It would be awesome to find a buried treasure, particularly one with a lot of gold.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Jeff, this is nothing but sensationalism. I'm sorry if that comes across dis-respectfully, but that article proves nothing. Read it closely. I mean, ... c'mon. There's so much conjecture and speculation there, that I hardly know where to begin.

For example: It's simply not true that upon desecularization, the priests on-duty (before packing up to leave the de-commissioned missions) had "no chance to carry away their treasures". On the contrary: they had plenty of time to wrap up their affairs. Some of the missions never ceased to have continuing operations TO THIS DAY. While others did become abandoned, yet, it's not like that article says where, supposedly, padres were "whisked away with no time to do anything, and could never come back again, blah blah blah". That is totally sensationalizing "National Inquirer" type conjecture. And it simply assumes that there was "treasures galore at all the missions" ("treasure rooms", as the article says, eh ? ) to begin with. Since when is that a "given" ?

And then I had to chuckle at the part about how the treasure hunters get their direct leads/tips from "spiritualists". Oh wow, if someone gets it from a crystal, seance, or ouji board, well then by golly .... it must be true ! ?

 

[jeff of pa]

Tom since you know everything & Treasure Doesn't exist in California,
I'll ignore all I see for your state

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Jeff, if any significant # of the "stories" are true, then here's where you can get a bunch more: Watch ebay, or run a "WTB" ad on any md'ing forum. Find yourself a bunch of old metal detecting magazines. They're real easy to find, and come up often for sale. Each edition (from the '70s, and on into the '80s), was packed FULL of "lost treasure" stories. You can get hundreds to chase down, by doing that

You can always bet their iron-clad true when they start with "It has been said that ...."

 

[aa battery]

i remember years ago someone found 16 $20 gold coins in san francisco

 

[timemachine]

Reminds me of that movie, King of California, lol.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

i remember years ago someone found 16 $20 gold coins in san francisco

Sure. Not saying treasures don't get found. I know the guy you speak of. I've hunted with him before, and heard the whole story first hand. He was hunting an urban demolition site. Ie.: coin/relic hunting. NOT cache hunting, nor chasing legends. They were found 1 at a time (albeit in close proximety) in what appeared to have been a case of a broken-open cache.

But to occasionally stumble on a cache, is not the same as lending credibility to any particular ghost-story legend.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Here's an example of how quickly and easily these legends take on concrete status: Several years ago I was talking to a guy I knew at my church. Somehow in the conversation it came out that my hobby was metal detecting. He proceeded to spin a fabulous tale of a treasure he knew about. In a cave, that he had actually been too. And that in the 1930s or 40s, human bones had been found in the cave, with had a suit of armor on one of them! And so it was a supposed hidden treasure of one of the California missions, along with a fabulous tale of a massacre by the indians to cover the trail, blah blah blah. And he was dead serious that he knew where this cave was now. He'd hiked there as a younger man, and could take me right to it. We'd need ropes to descend down in, etc...

The more I pumped him for information, it finally dawned on me what he was talking about: It came from a local writer, who writes mostly fiction:

Randall A. Reinstedt | Barnes & Noble

But a few of his books weave true historical accounts, with the rest being "fill-in-the-blank" conjecture. And one particular story this author had written, told the story of a cave discovered south of Big sur, where, in fact, skeletons *had* been found. And one *had* been of European descent (the rest were indians). And early speculation dreamed up fabulous tales of a hidden treasure or mine or other-such-nonsense. And in fact, later on, it got cleared up that the bones of "european descent" found there with the indians bones, were more-than-likely a worker from the 1930s, from when the Hwy. 1 cut through there, who had passed away. His body must've been put in there, as a convenient, uh.... grave. Found 20+ yrs. later, only-to-turn into this fabulous conjecture. It takes on a life-of-its own, and now, presto, you have a treasure legend.

It was just one of many such stories (conveniently failing to give the alternate explanation of the road worker being the one set of bones), that Randy puts in his books. The books are nothing more than fun books for tourists to buy at tourist traps here. Or fanciful stories that you read to your kids.

BUT MY POINT IS: Even though I happen to know this story is not at all a "treasure", yet .... do you SEE how easily grown adults, who would claim "critical thinking", can just gobble this stuff up, and take it as gospel fact ? Heck , there was probably a "faded newspaper clipping" to allude to. And heck, then you just combine that with another speculation of mission treasure, make note of how it was on a trail they used, then throw in a drawing of a man in Spanish armor, and .... by golly .... it HAS to be true. Afterall, it's in print !

 

[Rawhide]

These holes have been found near old mines I have discovered, and even large boulders have held ore. They only had dirt, water, and blood and learned to mix it well. They bleached walls with wine, and could make anything out of nothing. Now if you want to take that a little farther, stone maps have been left behind. I love it when folks dont believe.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Funny story #2:

A buddy of mine was detecting a sidewalk tearout project in an old town district. Day after day he'd show up to hunt, while the workers were still there (he had permission). And each day, he'd show the workers his daily take of whatever it was he'd found (barbers, seateds, tokens, etc....). He would even pass out common buffalos, IH's, etc... to "grease the wheels" of the permission, to the tractor drivers and laborers. Naturally, they were in awe. And each day, they'd scurry over to see what his latest finds were.

One day, he found an gold colored owl pendant or amulet type thing. So when it came time to show off his finds, he mused that "this one might be gold" (because it was gold colored). And then pointing out the owl's eyes, said that the eyes red stones "might be rubies" (since they were some sort of sparkly red stone). And then speculated to him "... and probably dates to the 1800's" (since that was the date on most of the coins he was finding in that vicinity). They were all astounded!

That night, when my friend cleaned up his finds, he looked closer at the owl, under magnification. Turned out to be nothing more than gold plated 1920s costume junk. And the eyes? nothing more than red glass chips. So he chucked it in the garbage can.

The next day, my friend was at it again. Only this time, a new worker was present, who had not been there on any of the previous days. My friend could see this new tractor driver eyeing him intently. Finally, after an hour or so, the worker got up the nerve to walk over and ask my friend what he was finding. As it turns out, on this particular day, he'd only found some junk. No good coins. The man then told my friend that the day before, a guy with a detector had been there and had found gold! My friend was shocked. At first he worried that perhaps someone came after he'd left, and found a gold coin or something. So he pressed the worker for details. As the worker described the other md'r and the "gold", a curious word slipped out : "....owl...". At that instant, my friend busted up laughing and .... had to tell the poor fellow:

"No, I'm sorry, that was me. And no, I'm sorry, there was no gold found here. It was junk".

But the worker would not be dissuaded. He was convinced an md'r had been there the day before "finding fist-fulls of gold and silver". How did he know? Because the other workers at the water cooler had told him so that morning. And "they had seen it with their own eyes!" Therefore he was convinced that there must be another md'r that must've come after this fellow, later the day before. Simply could not be convinced otherwise. Afterall, he was "hearing it first hand".

So do you SEE how quickly the stories take on a life of their own ? Now go figure: this was in the course of a SINGLE NIGHT. How much more so do you think this nonsense occurs, when you add 50, 100, or 150 yrs ?

 

[Tom_in_CA]

.... I love it when folks dont believe.

Alas, and the faithful will always believe. No amount of counter-persuasion will work. It's the old psychology of "not wanting to be left out", that makes critical thinking go out the window.

 

[gollum]

Jeff,

Don't castigate Tom. He doesn't believe in treasures. That's fine with me. I don't BELIEVE differently than him. I KNOW differently. I don't even TRULY know what he believes (because I don't personally know him). I have seen him post that same old sidewalk story several times over the years. BORING He may just be acting contrary to see if he can get a rise out of people. I have also seen people put on a big show of being a disbeliever just to get people to post information they might not normally post. He could be Treasure Lead Phishing.

Whenever he posts about how everybody that believes in treasure is deluded or mentally under - equipped, it just looks to me like someone that spent a lot of time chasing treasure but never found anything. Just like Karl von Mueller. He said that he and a partner spent many years and a bunch of money looking for the Lost Dutchman Mine. They didn't find it, so it must not exist. That just says "BIG EGO" to me.

Take Care - Mike

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Jeff, once I'd written that "story" here, and proof-read it, I thought "gee, why not post that same thing on the main page of treasure-legends-in-general" ? Because of course, not likely to be many readers here, on just "one particular" treasure legend. so it was a mere matter of cut & paste, with no time spent.

But sure, I can see where that's "raining on a parade" with "no invitation". So ... I apologize for that

 

[Bluebutton]

I have posted very few comments, maybe 1 or 2 since I joined this website. I watch and read almost every post for California because I live in the Motherlode. All I have to say at least someone has something to add to the California forum.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

I have posted very few comments, maybe 1 or 2 since I joined this website. I watch and read almost every post for California because I live in the Motherlode. All I have to say at least someone has something to add to the California forum.

Blue-button, CA section here, like a lot of the state-specific forums, admittedly gets little traffic. Not sure about other states, but for CA, it's because we have a state-specific forum that gets a lot of traffic. Google Kinzli forum. To get to the main page, you have to sign up. But it's easy: just pick a name and password.

 

[bfloyd4445]

Jeff, this is nothing but sensationalism. I'm sorry if that comes across dis-respectfully, but that article proves nothing. Read it closely. I mean, ... c'mon. There's so much conjecture and speculation there, that I hardly know where to begin.

For example: It's simply not true that upon desecularization, the priests on-duty (before packing up to leave the de-commissioned missions) had "no chance to carry away their treasures". On the contrary: they had plenty of time to wrap up their affairs. Some of the missions never ceased to have continuing operations TO THIS DAY. While others did become abandoned, yet, it's not like that article says where, supposedly, padres were "whisked away with no time to do anything, and could never come back again, blah blah blah". That is totally sensationalizing "National Inquirer" type conjecture. And it simply assumes that there was "treasures galore at all the missions" ("treasure rooms", as the article says, eh ? ) to begin with. Since when is that a "given" ?

And then I had to chuckle at the part about how the treasure hunters get their direct leads/tips from "spiritualists". Oh wow, if someone gets it from a crystal, seance, or ouji board, well then by golly .... it must be true ! ?

yep, the Padres were commisoned by the church to rape the country in the name of saving the indians for the benefit of the church so its not likely they left much behind except for destitute natives.

 

[Tony_agr]

Ok so here is a story that I was told by a man who was pushing 100 this was approx 15 years ago, There was an old Cavalry Armory in Fairplay Ca, he told us that he remembered going with his father up on the hill behind the armory and burying 2 cases of "Sharps" rifles as they had just gotten in the new Winchester Lever action rifles, this guy had lived in the same house all his life and offered up the story as conversation we were not talking about treasure , If I remember correctly I was fishing to get permission to go Turkey hunting.. was there to fix some propane related thing.. can't really remember.. he did say that the Sharps were wrapped in cloth soaked with cosmaline , the area is now covered 6 feet deep over 10 acres of the thickest Blackberry bramble known to man. True story of the story.. Is the story true? I have no idea
Armory was located by old schoolhouse at corner of Perry Creek road and Cant remember the road name road goes from Perry Creek to Omo Ranch Rd. If anyone is interested in possible treasure.. if you do find'em don't tell the state as the guns will be deemed illegal as thery're not on the CA gun roster !!!

 

[Tony_agr]

The other road is called Slug Gulch

 

[Tom_in_CA]

yep, the Padres were commisoned by the church to rape the country in the name of saving the indians for the benefit of the church so its not likely they left much behind except for destitute natives.

bfloyd4445, I never saw this when you first posted this. So I'm not sure if you're around anymore. But in case you're still reading this:

Ok, let me guess: You're of the mindset that equates the CA missions with "Aushwitz on the Pacific", right ? Indians forceably round up against their will, forced slavery, whipping, raped, etc..... Evil priests with no objective (the gospel/mission was "just a cover") other than evil-ness, right ? Stocks, shackles, whippings, jail-bars across all the rooms, etc... Ie.: a scene straight out of the movie "Roots", right ?

These type folks just picketed the Carmel mission with protests, at the notion that the founding missionary here (Serra) should be given any sort of historical mention. Ie.: considered for saint-hood, etc..... I was right there in the middle of all of it. I live 30 min. from there. And I read the indian activist's claims very carefully & deeply.

Have I got you figured out ? Ok then, I'm assuming you're a reasonable man. I'm assuming that you are open to facts, and don't consider yourself "close-minded" right ? Let me know, and then I'll continue.