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Oklahoma Treasures and Treasure Tales PDF

844 Pages·1989·32.37 MB·English
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title: Oklahoma Treasures and Treasure Tales author: Wilson, Steve. publisher: University of Oklahoma Press isbn10 | asin: 0806121742 print isbn13: 9780806121741 ebook isbn13: 9780585194479 language: English Treasure-trove--Oklahoma, Legends-- subject Oklahoma, Oklahoma--Gold discoveries. publication date: 1989 lcc: F694.W54eb ddc: 917.66/03 Treasure-trove--Oklahoma, Legends-- subject: Oklahoma, Oklahoma--Gold discoveries. Page iii Oklahoma Treasures and Treasure Tales By Steve Wilson University of Oklahoma Press : Norman Page iv Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Wilson, Steve. Oklahoma treasures and treasure tales. Bibliography: p. 313. 1. Treasure-troveOklahoma. 2. LegendsOklahoma. 3. OklahomaGold discoveries. I. Title. F694.W54 917.66'03 74-15912 ISBN: 0-8061-1240-9 (cloth) ISBN: 0-8061-2174-2 (pbk.) The paper in this book mets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources, Inc. Copyright © 1976 by the University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, Publishing Division of the University. All rights reserved. Manufactured in the U.S.A. 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 To Linda, who spurred my interest when it tired, who knows the stories herein as well as I do, who followed me over hill and dale while on the trail of lost treasure Page vii Preface On the Trail of Lost Treasure I do not maintain that the legends told in the following pages are fact. I do maintain that those who told them believed them to be true. My purpose has been to record each tale while someone was still living to tell it. When that was no longer possible, the only alternative was to seek the story from earlier published sources. In both these endeavors I feel that I have been successful. I must admit that often the origin of the story interested me more than the story itself. No one has successfully explained why legends of buried treasure are pandemic throughout the Southwest. It is more difficult to understand the multitude of tales in Oklahoma, because this state experienced no gold rush of the magnitude of western states. It had no documented Spanish forts or missions or permanent settlements, and yet its legends are no less in number than those of states that had a more auriferous magnetism. While compiling Legends of Texas for the Texas Folklore Society in 1924, J. Frank Dobie observed that no one particular area of his state had more legends than another, and, "moreover, instead of diminishing in number, these legends are constantly increasing." 1 The reason is not a simple one, but perhaps Dobie answered it best when he said that, because "the Spanish found immense wealth in America, they became credulous of mythical wealth. Later ages and folk, failing to inherit their wealth, inherited their credulity."2 Early in this century the father of Oklahoma geology, Charles N. Gould, spent more than twenty years traveling over the Plains and throughout Oklahoma. In that time he made more than a thousand night camps, during which he was often entertained by legends of buried treasure. As revealed in an early article, "Hidden Treasure on the Plains," for Sturm's Magazine, Gould observed that the stories shared a common form. Wherever he went, he said, "from the Dakotas to the Gulf and from the Mississippi to the Rockies, the legend of buried treasure is omnipresent. There is probably not a county in any one of the states of the plains where the story is not told and believed."3 Almost always the story concerned Mexicans who were attacked by Indians and forced to bury their gold. All were massacred except for one or two, who escaped. Then, years afterward, onenow an old manreturned to refind the treasure hidden so long before. Always there were mysterious signs and symbols left to lead him back to the lost fortune, and almost always he found the prescribed etching of a cross or triangle or arrow, which placed him at the brink of the treasure. But, alas, he returned to his native land unsuccessful in his final attempt to find the gold. Wrote Gould: How much of the truth there may be in these various legends, no one may venture to guess. It would be folly to assert that all of the tales are false, but certainly still greater folly to believe that all are true. As a person travels over Oklahoma and the surrounding states, however, and listens to these various tales, he is forced to one of the following conclusions: Either there is a wonderful amount of treasure hidden on the plains, or the world is full of deluded people, or there are a tremendous lot of liars. I have tried to determine the historical reasons for the prevalence of treasure tales in Soonerland. For the most part historians have turned a deaf ear to tales of lost gold. But, if given a chance, the treasure legendoral traditioncan often paint a picture that history has failed to record. Not everything is to be found in the documents. Sometimes when history has failed, tradition has succeeded. In the case of the "Great Spanish Road to Red River" traditionnot historyhas preserved its route, a trail sprinkled with tales of lost Spanish gold all the way from Santa Fe to New Orleans. The legends alone virtually mark this long-forgotten ancient trail down the North Fork of Red River and its mainstream. The Spanish conquistadors blazed the trail for less official treasure quests, many of which history failed to record. But how can one ignore the signs, the documents written not on paper but in ancient Page viii ruins, crumbled smelters, crudely worked mines, and, yes, the bleached bones of those forgotten, unknown explorers? Perhaps the multitude of legends can never be fully explained, but might it be that the countless quests in every area of Oklahoma reveal that both Spaniards and Mexicans searched this part of his empire far more than we have heretofore believed? The search goes on. I have never been a pothunter, because at a very early age I was in the field with archaeologists and saw how sickened and horrified they were by the destruction wreaked by treasure seekers. Not only had irreplaceable artifacts been destroyed but also the place and depth at which they were found had been obliterated. In many instances what nature had preserved for centuries man had destroyed in a few careless, thoughtless moments. A pothunterthere are other names for him is a selfish person who damages or robs an old Indian campsite, an ancient burial ground, the remains of a prehistoric animal, or a historic ruin and scoops up all the pottery, arrow points, or artifacts for loot. In short, he is a piratea ravager, not a researcher, not a hunter of history, not a preserver of the past. He refuses to report his discovery, and consequently artifacts are destroyed or lost forever. The story that a relic might have told an archaeologist or a historian has been lost to everyone who might have gained knowledge from it. If one happens onto the ruins of a fort or an Indian campsite or a burial ground, he is enjoying something he cannot monopolize. The archaeologists know how to excavate scientifically and preserve their findings. In one's own field research he might very well contribute to a historic discovery and thereby help piece together the story of man's past. Because most states have strict laws against damaging or digging into historic sites, one should leave the meticulous job of excavation to the professional, whose tools are designed for that purpose and whose knowledge has prepared him to restore and preserve. Whenever one finds artifacts, he should report the site to the nearest museum, university, or historical society. Only then will this historically precious material be saved for study and evaluation. The professional can be of immense help, both to the researcher and to the amateur archaeologist. Finally: one must respect the other man's property. I know one man who learned to do that the hard way. He was digging a hole, when suddenly he was gazing into the barrels of a double-gauge shotgun. Luckily he was a good talker. I know many ranchers and farmers who would allow treasure and history buffs onto their property if only someone before them had not left a gate open or torn down a fence. It is always wise to obtain permission before entering private property. The treasure hunter should assure the landowner that he will respect his land and will check with him before leaving. Only then will he be confident that everything is left as it was found. Buried treasure is constantly being discovered. Discoveries occur almost daily in this archaeologically rich state. The treasure seeker should not alienate the professional by allowing himself to be called a pothunter. Once destroyed, historic sites, like rare books, are irreplaceablegone forever. In this book I have attempted to include every part of the state and believe that I have culled the oldest and most popular legends from every section. I am convinced that I have amassed the most exhaustive bibliography of treasure legends of Oklahoma ever published, though I have not attempted to compile herein all the legends. The garnering of these stories began just over fifteen years ago, and I must credit the late J. Frank Dobie for sparking that interest an interest that has always led me on in quest of a story. Dobie's monumental Coronado's Children fired that interest in my early years. The Wichita Mountains of southwestern Oklahoma provided me with more tales than I ever thought possible for a mountain range of its comparatively small extent, but, it provided the setting for innumerable gold expeditions, both ancient and recent." 4 I spent the better part of ten years seeking its storiesand even yet I yearn to know more. I have devoted as many hours, days, and weeks to the archives as I have to the field. Many an exciting story lay waiting to be released from the records. The discovery of the lost city of Cascorillo was such a story, as were many others of

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“Son, there's more treasure buried right here In Oklahoma than in the rest of the whole Southwest.” Those words from an old-timer launched Steve Wilson on a yearslong quest for the stones of Oklahoma’s treasures. This book is the result.It is a book of stories-some true, some legendary- about
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Most books are stored in the elastic cloud where traffic is expensive. For this reason, we have a limit on daily download.