Re: How much time did Jesse James spend in OK. and the Wichita Mt's. Collectively.
Prior to Jesse's death ....Not much....and most of the time spent there was at full gallop.....
Frank James, who died in 1915, couldn't find the money in Lost City when he returned after the turn of the 20th century and headed to the Lawton area to search there. He bought a ranch in the Wichita Mountains and spent years in a futile search for treasure the gang had buried there before finally giving up.
When the loot was buried near Lawton, the area was a hunting ground for American Indians; but after Jesse was killed and Frank returned, the land had been homesteaded, plowed and fenced.
Cole Younger, who had been a member of the James gang, told residents of Pryor in the early part of the 20th century that he had helped hide their booty in Robbers' Canyon but the landmarks also had changed there and he couldn't find the loot.
The James-Younger gang tried to rob a bank in Northfield, Minn., where some were killed and others were injured and captured by a posse several days later. The Youngers pleaded guilty, and it was 25 years before Cole was paroled -- no doubt thinking of the hidden loot during the entire period.
But Cole discovered that the landmarks near Sand Springs also had changed when he tried to find $63,000 in gold and silver he had buried along the south bank of the Arkansas River south of Sand Springs.
He told friends when he tried to retrieve the money after being released from prison that he couldn't find it, apparently because it had sunk in the soft sand of the river's bank.
Younger said he buried the gold and silver while he and his gang were being chased by a posse as they rode toward Missouri. When they came to the Arkansas River, the heavy gold and silver they had liberated from a stage coach slowed them down as they started to ford the shallow water. They jumped off their horses, dug a hole and dumped the sacks of precious metal in, planning to return for it later.
