I am from Elderville Texas, not far from Tatum and know the story well since I am a "Trammels Trace" nerd. I walked the trace as a kid, fished at Ramsdales Ferry, and knew the old growth forest before they mined the area.
I know the JP that owned the land, she used to let us fish and hunt there, but I never looked for the loot. There were so many sloughs and oxbows between the crossing and the Hendricks Lake property it always made me take pause and wonder if it was just the wrong lake.
The Sabine River water table made it hard to dredge even with big pumps, I heard.
You can still see traces of all the oxbows on Google Earth.
I heard a story when I was young that after the skirmish between Trammels men and the Spanish Army, one man made it out alive and was buired with an "X marks the spot" map, somewhere in Panola Co. but no way to search that lead.
Saw this thread and took the time to sign up, just to remember old times.
VM