On the east coast, besides Jupiter area, my other main interest since the early 1970's was the inland coast between Mazntanzas and St. Augustine-also a bit to the south. My main interest was not treasure but historical, to locate the Ribault massacre site. Unfortunately, time and distance kept me away. From 1972-75 I looked about St. Augustine on brief weekend trips and attempted to find the fort north of St. Augustine. Later, when found by others, I was surprised how close I came. Only thing, I concentrated on the mainland. I did get to dig in the old St. Aug. bottling dump-have a St. Aug. Bottling works hutch stopper soda; and later, I found a small settlement site and Seminole War fort outside of St. Aug; finding a few artifacts-but as developer cleared site it was quickly searched by many and by a university. In SW Florida, Useppa Island area was the key location of Indian sites containing historical treasures-not always coins but sometimes other cultural items of historical value. However, that island is state-and now possibly Federally owned and offlimits. We will never know if the state has done any recent digs there. For reasons I cannot divulge that island and a few nearby are strictly offflimits. FYI-I was never there but met a few who were back in the 1960's. Inland, read Dr. Sears book about the ft. Center mound. That is where gold was found-some shaped in the form of animals. However, it was only about 3k in gols at prices set in late 1960's. After WW2 my father ranched for the Platt family and we visited them at Lakeport in the early 1960's. I remember him taking dad and us to see the old fort site and mound (before it was dug upon). Everyone thought the fort was at the mound then, but it was actually off the hammock along the creek in a low area. Before the state came in and purchased the right-of-way and dug thru the fort when the creek was widened; I was there. The Platt's allowed me to take my White's detector out to the fort site in 1977. Now, I saw the mound again and stayed clear of that area-the mound was turned into a pond-completely dug out by Sears and the University. I searched off the perimeter of the hammock but found nothing connected to the fort or early history. It has all been altered by drainage improvements, univ. digs; and now is protected. Last, while seaching elsewheer in Sw Florida I found a midden on private property which was going to be taken down and developed. I convinced the owner, a retired Senator, to allow someone to come in and dig it. I called two arch. societies boh on east and west coast. All they wanted to know if I found anything metal on the site. Of course, I did not dig it so I could not answer. Yet, they both refused the opportunity to save data from the site-or cultural materials. Then, I contacted Dr. Milanich at Uof F and he stated it was too far for them to take it on as a project. Therefore, under his direction and guidance via communication, I sank a 2-meter square pit in the top where I had seen exposed clay beads. I sank the pit to 70cm; removing fish and marine fossils; sharks teeth and close to 300 clay beads. I sent this material to U of F to donate. They i.d.'d it and sent it back and later, I donated most of it to a society museum. Only metal i sifted was a tiny, rolled copper point-definitely very early bird point. Later, I found a clay matrix area off one side of the midden, but near 100-ft away. Here, I determined the source of the clay. Before the site was taken down and used for fill in low areas, I used a metal detector but found no metal whatsoever. The midden was attributed to the pre-historic Calusa people and no historical context was found. It is all gone and houses set upon it today.
. I have always been interested in the hunt and would die happy if I can ever get down there to search for any buried treasure land or ocean. I too am interested in the engel trassen! I have not found much on it but I have done a lot of research on the area. I emailed Jeffrey Kramer a couple times years ago and he was reluctant to share much info. Any new info on the area or treasure of the Trassen would be great to feed my curiosity. Happy hunting to all!
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