Southwest Florida

[cjprice]

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Does anyone have information on the Ft. myers, Cape Coral area of Southwest Florida. I'm fairly new to this area, and to the hobby. Just looking for a few good leads, and ideas where to start.

Thanks for any information!

Chris

 

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[gollum]

OK, Here goes,

Using Tom Penfield's "Directory of Buried or Sunken Treasures and Lost Mines of the United States 1971," I have found a ton of neat stuff for you. Some is dry and some is wet. Now, these are just listings. You will have to research the full stories yourself:
1. Galleon...Mixed Treasure...$1m...Useppa Island....Lee County
2. Gasparilla's Flagship...Gold Bars...$11m...Bell Bar...Lee County
3. Chief Carlos...Mixed Treasure...$100m...San Carlos...Lee County
4. Matt Mckay...Gold Coins...$50K...Fort Meyers...Lee County
5. American Frigate...Gold Bars...$10M...Gasparilla Island...Charlotte County
6. Jose Gasparilla...Mixed Treasure...$30M...Gasparilla Island...Charlotte County
7.Galleon...Mixed Treasure...$...Naples...Collier County
8. Gasparilla Cave Treasure...$...Tampa...Hillsborogh County
9. Many Galleons...$Billions...Mixed Treasure...All the Keys...Monroe County
10. Off of Sanibel Island there are supposed to be 12 chests of treasure that were buried on dry land. Eventually, the land sank, and every once in a while after a good storm, the chests are visible for a short time in the water.

Good Luck-Mike

 

[grizzly bare]

Gollum, I'm dumb as he%% about underwater recoveries. Would a sub-bottom profiler indicate the location if it were pulled over the chests? Then would a PWC with a blower be enough to get to the chests?
I really don't know, but would love to get a couple of TNet friends together and try to recover these chests.
If you're interested...

grizzly bare

ps
what about the chests at Pass A Grill Beach?

gb

 

[gollum]

Folks, Jose Gaspar (Gasparilla) was not real. You may want to double-check those resources

I didn't know the story of Gasparilla was KNOWN to be false! I know many things attributed to him were mixed up with Black Caeser and others. I also know that Juan Gomez was the biggest Gaspar Tale teller, and most of his stories were wild fiction. All the stories about him come from many sources though, and no concrete evidence of his existence exists.

If you read the post, I do state that the stories come from a book dated 1971, and no guarantees to their factuality were made other than the book was written by Tom Penfield, who is known not to be a great embellisher like some others.

Mike

 

[Goldminer]

I just finished research on a Penfield story written in 1973. The story was done with great beauty, and fantastic facts. Names, places, and dates. Guess what? Not one word was the truth. After many hours of research, I could not find one single piece of truthfull information. Take these stories with a grain of salt.

 

[gollum]

Which story was it?

Mike

 

[Goldminer]

Lost Antler mine of Daniels Canyon. (second version)

 

[gollum]

Lost Antler mine of Daniels Canyon. (second version)

Is this is the Antlers Gold Mine around Peach Springs, in Mohave County, AZ? In Penfield's 1971 Directory of Lost Mines, it says that there is No Known Basis in Fact to support the authenticity of this story. Check out the scans from the book below. The Column "DR" is the "Documented Rating" It goes from M=No basis in fact to XXXX= Very well documented, and exists(Unless already found).

I am including the scans as there are a number of well documented stories for you to go crazy with!

Good Luck-Mike

 

[gollum]

Almost forgot:

Type Column:
GO= Gold Ore, GC=Gold Coins, SC=Silver Coins, GB=Gold Bars, SB=Silver Bars, M=Mixed Treasure, J=Jewels, TGN=Gold Nuggets, TQS=Turquoise

Value Column(1971 Dollars),
Self Explanatory

 

[Goldminer]

Mike,
Excellent post, but this was Penfield's follow up story in his 1973 book. He gave first and last names, ranch names, places, miles to places, most of which don't exit. This would have been an easy find, but hard research turned up absolutely nothing.

Bill

 

[gollum]

Mike,
Excellent post, but this was Penfield's follow up story in his 1973 book. He gave first and last names, ranch names, places, miles to places, most of which don't exit. This would have been an easy find, but hard research turned up absolutely nothing.

Bill

I see. It looks like you got the info from "Dig Here!" He even states that this is a reprint of an article in True West Magazine Nov-Dec 1958. The article was written by a J. Frank Dobie. At the beginning of the story he states that Dobie is a grand storyteller, and that when he attempted to verify the story, he found no map reference to such a canyon, but that it may be a localized name. I don't live in the area, but where I live (SoCal), there are several names for a place (Indian, Spanish, Mexican, American).

The only Daniel's Canyon I could find was near Heber, Utah. If you look North of Peach Springs, you will find Lower Peach Springs and Peach Springs proper (Not the town). In this area, there are a ton of small canyons and such. It looks like fairly rugged terrain, and with all the tanks and springs, a good area for mountain lions.

Mike

 

[Goldminer]

Mike, try A guide To Treasure In Arizona by Thomas Penfield, 1973, Look under the Yavapai County section.
Compare the two stories, then you decide.
Bill

 

[gollum]

Mike, try A guide To Treasure In Arizona by Thomas Penfield, 1973, Look under the Yavapai County section.
Compare the two stories, then you decide.
Bill

Hey Bill,

Don't have the book, sorry. Hey, try this; scan the story pages and start a new thread. Tell what you did as far as research and the like, and see what people come up with! I've been thinking about doing some stories from SoCal like that. Just pick one from a book. Do some initial research and poking around the area in the story. Take some pics and then post everything you've found.

Mike

 

[cjprice]

Thought I'd revive an old post of mine. Anyone else have info about Southwest Florida??

 

[jeff k]

http://www.lindseywilliams.org/index.htm?Articles/Charlotte_Harbor_Wrecks_and_Treasure.htm~mainFrame

 

[cjprice]

Thank's Jeff!!! Good Read.

~Chris

 

[colorado14ers]

I dont have any info but I know someone who might. His name is Ed Tisdale and he owns a store in cape coral, Family Hardware Do it Express. He sold me my detector and was very helpful. He might have some info your after. good luck

 

[cjprice]

I bought my White's DFX from Ed a few years back! He has a nice collection of finds at his store. I've got his book to.