I am wondering where you find information on lost/hidden treasures. How do you come across possible locations? Is it just stories and tales or something you read online? When you’ve found something, what’s the next step? How do you go about researching and looking for specific clues? Or do you skip that and just start looking? Thanks!
Billy Bob Joe - An excellent question! There is probably a different answer from every treasure hunter you will ever meet. Pay attention to the treasure finders.
To start with, if you can read about a specific lost treasure in a book or (especially) a magazine, it is probably a yarn. That is not to say it doesn't have some basis in fact - just that it is not your best use of your time. Let's face it - Jesse James just didn't bury all that much loot.
So, how do you develop your own clues? A good approach is to first study treasures that have been found. Online newspaper archives are a great place to begin. Try to discern a pattern - every cache found was once hidden. "Why?"
For example, many th'ers have been successful searching for cash plants around the summer or other second homes of politicians who were known to have strayed across the line. People who deal in cash - many doctors, lawyers representing criminal defendants, and other professionals hide at least some of what they were paid.
So do some criminals.
The New Yorker Magazine had a long article about a find of gold coins that, to me, was hidden by a small-time burglar after The Gold Act was passed. He couldn't explain where his gold coins had come from, so he buried them.
In certain parts of the country, there are bootlegger plants. The newspapers probably covered the police raids on stills and sites that sold illegal liquor, and during Prohibition there were regular liquor smuggling routes.
There are books that are a tremendous boost when getting started. Sadly, the best are out-of-print and not cheap. But a good education seldom is. I'd start with
Sudden Wealth by "Deek Gladson" (Charles Dean Miller) and his classic
Treasure Hunter's Manual #6 and #7 by "Karl von Mueller" (again, the Old Man wrote those, as well).
Waybills to El Dorado (one more time, by "KvonM") has been out long enough that I wouldn't look for any of the potential sites described. But they are great examples of what remains to be found. The same with Ed Bartholomew's
Texas Treasure Finds.
Good luck to all,
The Old Bookaroo
