Lost treasures of American history

208 Pages·2006·22.545 MB·English

by  Jameson, W. C

LOST
TREASURES
OF Al\IERICAN
HISTORY

LOST
TREASURES
OF AMERICAN
HISTORY
W C.JAMESON
TAYLOR TRADE PUBLISHING
Lanham • New York • Boulder • Toronto • Oxford
Copyright © 2006 by W C. Jameson
First Taylor Trade Publishing edition 2006
This Taylor Trade Publishing paperback edition of Lost Treasures ofA merican
History is an original publication. It is published by arrangement with the
author.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by
any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and
retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a
reviewer who may quote passages in a review.
Published by Taylor Trade Publishing
An imprint of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.
4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706
Distributed by NATIONAL BOOK NETWORK
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Jameson, W C., 1942-
Lost treasures of American history I W C. Jameson.- 1st Taylor Trade
Publishing ed.
p. em.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN-13: 978-1-58979-289-0 (pbk.: alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 1-58979-289-0 (pbk.: alk. paper)
1. United States-History-Anecdotes. 2. Treasure troves-United States
History-Anecdotes. 3. Mines and mineral resources-United States-His
tory-Anecdotes. 4. United States-History, Local-Anecdotes. 5. United
States-Antiquities-Anecdotes. I. Title.
E179.J36 2006
973-dc22
2006008302
@™ The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
American National Standard for Information Sciences-Permanence of Paper
for Printed Library Materials, ANSIINISO 239.48-1992.
Manufactured in the United States of America.
CONTENTS
Introduction: Notes from a Treasure Hunter 1
Part 1: Spanish Exploration and Settlement
1 Lost Spanish Treasure Ship in the California Desert 7
2 Lost Spanish Gold Mine on the Cossatot River 15
3 The Lost Gold Mine in the Uintah Mountains 21
4 The Lost Padre Mine 29
5 The Victorio Peak Treasure 37
6 Lost Spanish Treasure in the Lava Beds 47
7 Lost Spanish Treasure Ship on Barkentine Creek 55
Part II: Colonial America
8 Rogers' Rangers and the Lost Silver Madonna 65
9 Benedict Arnold's Lost Revolutionary War Treasure 73
10 Lost Gold Payroll 79
11 The Lost Treasure of the Marquis de Lafayette 85
12 The George Washington Dollars 91
13 The Sunken Continental Dollars 97
14 The Lost Treasure of the H.M.S. Hussar 103
Part III: Civil War
15 Morehead City's Confederate Treasure 111
16 The Lost Treasure of the Confederate Army's Gray Ghost 117
v
Vl Contents
17 A Fortune in Confederate Silver 121
18 Confederate Treasure in Vermont 127
19 Pots ofGold 133
20 The Lost Confederate Treasury 139
Part IV: Outlaw Treasure
21 The Lost Treasure ofPedro Nevarez 149
22 Jean Laffite's Galveston Treasure 159
23 Oudaw Plummer's Lost Gold 165
24 The Sam Bass Treasure 171
25 Black Jack Christian's Lost Train Robbery Gold 177
26 Tiburcio Vasquez's 500-pound Silver Ingot 183
27 The Lost Iron Door Treasure of the Oudaw Belle Starr 189
28 Multimillion Dollar Gangster Treasure 195
About the Author 201
INTRODUCTION
Notes from a Treasure Hunter
I
've been a professional fortune hunter for nearly half a century. I've ex
perienced a number of successes and a great many failures searching
for lost mines and buried treasure. Regardless of whether or not a trea
sure was located, the quest was invariably rewarding and fulfilling, and af
ter many years I realized that it was not so much the treasure that lured
us, but the quest itself.
Of all of the experiences and adventures I've encountered during
my lifetime, few compare to the thrill and excitement associated with the
search for, and, if lucky, the discovery of some famous lost mine or elu
sive buried treasure. I've earned my living in a variety of ways over the
years as a professional fighter, dock worker, lifeguard, musician, college
professor, writer, and actor, but none ever offered the excitement and ad
venture of the hunt for lost treasure.
To my way of thinking, there are many good reasons for being a
treasure hunter. My work takes me into the great outdoors, to the moun
tain ranges of the Rockies, Ozarks, and Appalachians, to the shores of the
Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean, and the Atlantic Ocean, to the deserts of
the Southwest, the canyons and forests of Mexico's Sierra Madres, and to
the island ofJamaica. I've had jobs where I was scheduled to work in an
office all day, but found them stifling and constrictive. These days, my of
fice is the world, and I look forward to going to work every day.
As a professional treasure hunter I am constantly in the position of
exploring and discovering. I get to visit places mapped and unmapped
mountain ranges, caverns, remote valleys-and revel in the sensation that
few, if any, have been in these places before me. When I relate my expe
riences about such remote and unknown locations, my office- and
classroom-bound friends often express terror at such things, unable to
imagine a life away from cell phones and televisions. The ritual and reg
imentation of the nine-to-five job in the same place every working day
1
2 Lost Treasures cif American History
suits them just fine. Some people are built for such mundane things and
I'm pleased we have them to pursue whatever necessary responsibilities
they have. I do not possess the qualifications for such work because I am
too accustomed, too addicted, to the adrenaline rush of exploration, dis
covery, and adventure, and cannot, will not, settle for less.
I regard a day without some kind of adventure as a day wasted. A
day where the senses go unstimulated or unchallenged is a day pulling
one closer to the grave. It is a portion of a life deprived of important sen
sations. Except for occasionally being shot at, pursued by bandits, falling
off cliffs, evading rattlesnake strikes, and crawling through dangerous
caves and mine shafts, I am convinced my lifestyle is a healthier way of
living. I may not live as long as some of my friends who lead much safer
lives as accountants, teachers, and businessmen, and who consider their
sedentary lifestyle a sign of success, but the quality of the life and living
I rub shoulders with each day cannot be topped for one who revels in
the pursuit of adventure.
Finally, there is the prospect of finding wealth. I have been involved
in over two hundred major treasure hunting expeditions and dozens of
minor ones. Not every expedition ends with some amazing discovery. A
number of my expeditions were successful in terms of finding a treasure,
but many were not. On the other hand, even though the goal of locat
ing some lost mine or buried loot may not have been achieved, each ex
pedition was filled with adventure and excitement, which is a kind of
special treasure in itself.
During some of the talks give on treasure hunting around the
country, people often ask where I find information and leads pertinent
to undertaking a search for some lost or buried treasure. Most of the ini
tial information I find, most of the leads I encounter related to chasing
down a lost treasure, are gleaned from researching the legend, the lore,
and the written history. I spend hours each month in libraries, among
private collections ofbooks,journals, and diaries, and interviewing other
treasure hunters.
Some of the most exciting and exhilarating searches have resulted
from reading and researching American history that deals with the times
of the earliest visits to this hemisphere by the Spanish explorers and con
quistadores to the present. Recorded history is rich with clues to lost for
tunes, hundreds of them. Additionally, studying the history of the Amer
icas, particularly the United States, fills one with wonder and awe at the
many heroes encountered, the obstacles they had to face to accomplish
Introduction 3
what they did, and the seemingly insurmountable odds confronting the
early explorers, traders, settlers, and adventurers. History is itself a great
treasure, and if pursued with passion, can lead to any number of great ad
ventures.
Ultimately, in my line of work it becomes not only a quest for the
treasure, but for the history as well. In understanding the recorded events
surrounding a certain treasure, whether it be some gangster's buried loot,
a pirate stash, hidden coins from a train or bank robbery, or the caching
of hundreds of gold ingots from a Spanish pack train, one will be better
prepared to undertake the search, the quest, after one undertakes a thor
ough examination of the historical events surrounding it. Remember,
ninety percent of the research and work associated with any given trea
sure hunting project takes place not in the field, but in libraries. Maybe
one will experience success at finding a treasure, maybe not, but one will
certainly come away better versed in some segment of history or another.
For me, the challenge of learning about the various aspects of American
history has been rewarding, enlightening, and helpful to my searches.
Furthermore, it has been fun.
Lost Treasures of American History contains some of the most com
pelling tales of lost mines and buried treasures I've ever experienced.
Here, the reader can learn about fortunes great and small associated with
the Spanish occupation of the New World, particularly in the western
part of the country. Much of our heritage, culture, and history was
formed during the times of the Spanish exploration of the American
West, the establishment of missions, the settling of what have come to be
major cities and regions, and the early establishment of farming, ranch
ing, and mining enterprises. The Spanish, as much or more than anyone
else, were important contributors to this country's collection of legend
and lore as it relates to lost mines and buried treasures.
Likewise, the colonial period of North America gave rise to anum
ber of fascinating events resulting in lost treasure that is still being
searched for today. During this time, wars were fought for the rights and
freedom of the new citizens occupying the land, ultimately giving rise to
national leaders such as George Washington and other major historic fig
ures like Benedict Arnold and Edward Braddock. This time in the de
velopment of the country also gave rise to numerous tales of lost and
stolen treasures.
During the Civil War, money, gold and silver, lots of it, was required
by both Union and Confederate armies to sustain their efforts. Millions
of dollars worth of gold and silver coins and ingots were lost, misplaced,