dwight traina,
Interesting post and one of my favorite research treasure hunting topics. I was researching the Curly Bill/Skeleton Canyon treasure some years ago in Arizona and I started researching the idea of some young outlaw group claiming to have robbed all this gold and treasure from Monterrey Mex, could have pulled off such a thing. I thought, how unlikely is it that two greenhorn outlaws in their youth to have gone to Mexico and robbed banks and fled across the Rio Grande into Texas and beyond to bury it in the 1880's?...pretty unlikely, but some things seemed very real and valid.
Then I found some old books from the 1800's talking about Maximiliian, and Jesse James, and general Shelby and the guerilla connection, how after the Civil War, Gen. Shelby fled into Mexico to assist Maximillian, and after the turmoil, fled in 1867 following Max's execution and the turmoil in Mexico. I imagined it was chaos down there, and leaving that lawless country, some of these guys could have done some robberies down there and gotten into the US with their treasure intact. I read about the James group being there with Shelby, and then some robberies that occurred as they fled north across the Rio Grande into Texas. Then I stumbled upon the famous buried treasue tale in Texas called Maximillians Gold, that claimed Max's wife fled with the family wealth into Texas along the Chihuahua trail in Texas and got waylaid, and burid the gold near the Pecos. Supposedly this came from a man dying in a Denton County Jail. Then I read that Jesse stayed with his sister and borther-in-law or some such in Denton County or some area of North Texas, and that he had a "rest Ranche" in Texas, either there or in West Texas. Then I read about his claim of escaping will bullions of silver from MExico, crossing the Rio Grande and burying it. Ive read Wilson's book and read his maps, and convinced those maps belong to this treasue in Texas. Also have a Rock Pens treasure clue thats its here in Texas, and then have seen a "Boot Rock" in Texas near the Rio Grande. Also have a tale of an old outlaw that died in NEw MExico, that claimed he was a memeber of four men years ago that was involved in a Mexican robbery, and who had taken his share, which was $80k, and buried it in Texas. Lastly, Ive read that a man named Sherman was related to the Jesse group and dug up some of the James loot along the Pecos River in Texas somewhere, and then that the grandson of Jesse looked for the loot about 30+ years ago in the Guadalupes of West Texas. Read that a man found a cave with three skeletons there tied to treasue boxes in a cave, which sounded like what the boys claimed they did when they buried it.
It seems very very plausible from all this and more that the Curly Bill treasure, Monterrey Robbery, Maximillian gold, and Shelby excursion from Mexico in 1867 are all related, to some kind of heist in Mexico, and the subsequent burial of the gold and loot in Texas. I cant prove this, but the evidence is getting clearer, the more I read. Ive got some locations in mind for this, I just need the maps and clues....and further evidence this could be what transpired. If indeed this is related to the Skeleton Canyon treasure mystery, this is truly a huge amount of gold and treasure, and includes golden statues, diamonds, and $80k+ in 20 dollar Mexican gold dollars, which would be worth a fortune today. Anyone interested in adding more, write to me, or this forum. Looking for answers....
Curly
