Possible cache location found, how to retrieve.

[Bigcypresshunter]

Wow! We Floridians take boating and diving here for granted. Everyone I know has been fishing, boating, and diving since we were kids. It seems everyone here has or knows someone with a boat. You keep reminding us how special it really is living here in sunny South Florida! 8)

 

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[Skrimpy]

...You keep reminding us how special it really is living here in sunny South Florida! 8)

Until hurricane season!

 

[ScubaFinder]

I'll be joining you soon enough Cypress, hurricanes and all. I've already put in a transfer request to our plant near Stuart, with a secondary of Miami. If that doesn't work out, I'll look at other companies. I may have to go close the book on the indian silver in the quicksand before I leave (which should be early next summer). My mind is the type that will always wonder if I left a good haul on the Red River. When all is said and done, I will probably have only left a few weekends of my life there. Wolfman has some ATV's and we were talking about heading up there sometime. Maybe I'll contact him and give it one last shot.

Jason

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

...You keep reminding us how special it really is living here in sunny South Florida! 8)

Until hurricane season!

It is getting expensive.

I'll be joining you soon enough Cypress, hurricanes and all. I've already put in a transfer request to our plant near Stuart, with a secondary of Miami. If that doesn't work out, I'll look at other companies.

You have a good attitude. Living here can be expensive. So can treasure hunting from a boat.

 

[ScubaFinder]

Much like you Floridians, I too have freinds with boats there. One in Stuart, a nicer one in Jupiter, and a really big one in Fort Peirce. I'm really leaning towards taking a job on one of those boats, and learning the ropes of seamanship for a few years before jumping into it myself. My ultimate treasure would be living on a decent sized boat, and running diving and fishing charters somewhere in the Carribean. The path that gets me there the quickest will become my treasure map...you see, I was born a beach bum, and have really only been kidding myself with all these fancy corporate desk jobs. I'm 38 now, and I plan to be well on my way to that dream before I hit 40. I just want to plan well enough so that I'm not sitting on a dock holding a "boat for sale" sign...running back home with my tail between my legs is not an option. You gotta be smart when chasing irrational dreams.

Jason

 

[TreasureTales]

...You gotta be smart when chasing irrational dreams.
Jason

Au contrere (sp?), You gotta be smart when chasing unconventional dreams. You don't seem to be irrational at all, just following the path less travelled. Hope to see pix of you with your own boat some day!!! Good luck in pursuing your dreams.

 

[ScubaFinder]

When I get to that point, Marc will have to shut my account down because I'll be posting too many pics. I like "unconventional dreams" better...thanks. And dream I do, my father is a patient at M.D. Anderson in Houston right now, so I get about 12 hours of mind numbing drive/dream time every weekend. As soon as his ordeal is over, I'll be on my way to either Florida or a salvage boat somewhere in the Atlantic...most likely the latter first.

Jason

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

I have followed your story, Scubafinder, from your original posts from Texas to your treasure diving in Jupiter. Well you got to like your enthusiasm! So far, I think, you have only seen the good side of treasure hunting or owning a boat. It can be a lot of fun. This is the place to look for a job in that field. I went to Outboard Motor school when I finished high school. Sure I could fix my own boat, but I didnt follow through with it as a career. I went into A/C and Refrigeration instead. Sometimes I wished I would have stayed in Marine Mechanics. So many boats here.
Have you dived the Florida Keys yet? It is still a beautiful place. I have to stop taking all this for granted.
Well the sun is out, I think I will head for the beach. 8)

 

[ScubaFinder]

So far, I think, you have only seen the good side of treasure hunting or owning a boat.

That my friend, is true, unless you count restoring an old junk boat to lake worthiness and running it around drunk with my high school buddies about 20 years ago. I think a few years in the marine salvage business working under some old salts would be the best thing for me, and would allow me to stack up some funds while living aboard the boat and working my butt off 7 days a week. I think my middle aged bones can still handle that. They send you to Sea School so I would get my captains license while there, and then I'd just need my merchant marine license to board paying customers. Joe and the boys refit ships from the hull up, so they'd be good guys to know throughout the rest of my life. Joe also used to run a dive charter on Abergris Caye. With everything I learned from him in 3 days on the boat, I know for sure that it would be well worth it for me. Joe will be a lifelong friend, no matter which direction I choose in the long run...but he certainly looks like my best option right now.

Thanks for the advice....boy are we off topic. Thanks Diggumup

Jason

 

[audigger53]

About you "Oak Tree". If it is a "Live Oak" they can grow quite old.
They know the one at the Alamo is over 300 years old.
They do grow slow. Now think about the carving. How high was it from the ground?
How high do you think it was when they carved it on the tree?
Just trying to figure age/time of the carving.
The tree should have a fairly good growth rate being that close to water.
If the carving movement in height looks good, that would be another indicator that the story was valid.
The fact that it is hard to recover, allows that it has a good chance of still being there.
Just my thoughts on the validity of the story and the box contents still being there, versus someone else having recovered it before you.

 

[MiddenMonster]

They do grow slow. Now think about the carving. How high was it from the ground?
How high do you think it was when they carved it on the tree?

I'm not sure that a reliable method. When I was a kid there was an experiment in which you hammered a nail into the trunk of a tree, measured its height from the ground and recorded the date. Then you measured it on the same day every year after that and the nail was supposed to stay at the same height. Maybe it's different for something carved into the tree rather than something stuck into it, but the point of the experiment was to show that trees grow from the top of the apical stem upwards, and not by elongating the existing trunk.

 

[erik12152003]

I think that this story has some truth to it like all stories. You just have to figure out what is and what isn't. I think that there is something there the story about the find sounds funny, a cover up. I think if there is any other history about it I would look into it and forget about the found and lost again story. and if you end up back at the same spot then go from there. I have the same kind of story and am on the way to finding it. hopefully I also have a story that ends it but don't believe it and it is looking like I am right. What I am looking for ends up some where else and not where it is suppose to be. Keep looking even if it has to go to the state it is still a hunt.


Erik in NJ

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

They do grow slow. Now think about the carving. How high was it from the ground?
How high do you think it was when they carved it on the tree?

I'm not sure that a reliable method. When I was a kid there was an experiment in which you hammered a nail into the trunk of a tree, measured its height from the ground and recorded the date. Then you measured it on the same day every year after that and the nail was supposed to stay at the same height. Maybe it's different for something carved into the tree rather than something stuck into it, but the point of the experiment was to show that trees grow from the top of the apical stem upwards, and not by elongating the existing trunk.

I believe it would stay the same height.

 

[Siegfried Schlagrule]

some folks think that tree marks move up as the tree grows but most high marks were made to be seen from horseback and could have been made from horseback. exanimo, siegfried schlagrule

 

[ScubaFinder]

The carving was just above eye level...but I was standing in a depression. I'd say from ground level it would have been about right for a person 3-6" shorter than me (I'm 5'10"). I'm actually one step closer to a reasonable access point too, my uncle knows some people that live near Cache Creek (how funny is that) which dumps into the Red River only a few miles from the site. It should warm up around here early March, and I plan to take a position on a boat by May, so I'll have some time to go back with the PI and some more gear and figure this one out hopefully. I can't find any other record of this story in any other county history books or newspapers in the area...at the time it was said to have happened, Wichita Falls was the only major settlement between Fort Worth and St. Louis though.

Jason

 

[Old Tom]

Good story ..... and sounds fun .. but!!!!

The tree ..to me .. is the problem here. If the tree is 24 inches thick ... even if it is 36 inches thick.
How thick do you think it was 140 years ago? Thick enough to carve into? Is the tree still alive?
If the carving was large and deep enough to kill the tree, then would have fallen and decayed away by now.

Each year a tree will put on another layer of bark, I have seen names carved into trees that are now completly covered over with new bark .. in my life time. Oh and like the nail .. the carving does not raise higher as the tree grows.

Please don't take me as being negative .... just doesn't make since to me

Tom

 

[NoNeck]

Hi all,

I am a new hunter and am very interested in trying to take over where ScubaFinder left off. If anyone else is in this area maybe we can combine our efforts for safety sake and help ea other on this hunt. Also Jason "ScubaFinder" I assume you are no longer in this area but if you are let's do this together please share your info with me on this search. Did you ever get GPS location for it?

 

[starsplitter]

I'd try taking a pic with a digital camera and looking for the aura! Hey, it's easier than a backhoe.

 

[ScubaFinder]

I never thought I'd see this post ressurected. lol It's amazing to me remembering how excited I was that day in the library when I found this story, brings back good memories. I never went back to the site, since this thread died I've worked with treasure hunter Billy Kennon who found the 1554 Spanish Fleet off Padre Island TX, lived and worked for a year in the Dominican Republic hunting treasure wrecks, and finally returned to the first place I ever found treasure. I now work for Scott Thomson back on the San Miguel de Archangel south of the inlet in Jupiter, FL. My how times change...but i can tell you it's been a great ride, and it keeps getting better.

I hope NoNeck does go verify or dispell this story. I PM'd him how I got started, local library in the Wichita County History book. From there it is anyones guess what will happen. That damn story caused me to drop my corporate job, become a full-time treasure hunter, live all over the Caribbean and US, and I wouldn't change any of it for all the silver in the world. I have now seen the ugly side of treasure hunting, found many shipwrecks with all the promise, but none of the treasure. I've made a lot of friends (and a few enemies too) along the way. It was funny for me to rewind 4 years and remember how this all started. I couldn't go back to a desk job now if my life depended on it.

Good Luck NoNeck....and thanks for causing me to re-read this thread, a blast from the past for sure!

Jason

 

[ddbowdoin]

as a newbie, I have enjoyed reading this thread. Living in Massachusetts there has to be some stuff out there, I just need to spark up my research skiills. People here say that areas have been hunted times over and over again but in my lifespan, a short 25 years, I have never ONCE seen anyone with a metal detector... except at the beach down the cape.