Frank James and 2 other treasure at wakenda missouri

[kenmor]

I met a woman back in the 70's ,her name was Sallie Mae Clemens,she related these following stories,To start with her grandfather buried a small pot of gold coins in a cornfield. She told me back during the civil war her grandfather had to move to ft Scot Kansas because of a order to move anyone out of the area,she said her grandfather went out in the middle of a cornfield and buried the gold under a shock of corn,and planned on returning soon,little did he know he would not get back until after the war ended.Anyway when he got back to his farm,the house had been burned and all the corn taken and the field set on fire also. Sallie may said that all her life her father when plowing would look for the money.That is one story, she told me long ago she had walked to the mail box(about 1/4 mile) and when she got there,she noticed a old man walking up and down the road,he finally walk up to her and said ,do you know who I am,she said no,and he said my name is frank James,and when the war was going Jesse and him had ridden down that road with a posse hot on their tails,they had robbed a lot of places,and when they got close to the Sallie Mae's farm ,Jesse jumped of his horse and buried a saddle bag full of gold coins at the foot of a huge sycamore tree,because they would be crossing the Missouri river in awhile and didn't want the weight, Frank was trying to locate the sycamore tree,but most of them had been cut down or rotted away. Treasure number three back behind Sallie Mae's was wheretwo bachelors lived,they were stone masons,and rumor had it they had a lead mine close by,any way after the war one brother went to visit someone in California,he had a heat attack and died,the brother at home had a old black man staying there,and this story came from the black man,the surviving brother took all is money put it in a old teakettle,and put a old piece of sheep skin of a old coat in top of the kettle,the black man said he made biscuits and when the biscuits were done,the brother was putting a wet shovel away,south of the old home was a piped spring they got water out,he figured the brother washed the shovel at the spring.The brother went to get his dead brother and when he got there had a heart attack and died when he seen his brother,so the money should still be there,regards...Ken Morrison

 

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[gazmuth]

Without knowing more, I would venture a guess that the old farm would be southeast of the old Wakenda townsite. According to a 1901 map, there was a spot near a 'Prunty Island' which is no longer there. The old Missouri River has changed a lot over the years, but you can still sort of make out where it was using the USGS maps. If 'Sallie Mae Clemens' lived 1/4 mile from a mailbox, then according to the 1901 map, more than likely that would be about County Road 430 near Prunty Bend of the Mighty Missouri River. If the farm was right on the Missouri River, then there is a big possibility that the farm, gold and legend is lost to the many floods in the area, the last major ones being in 1993-1995, (not to mention he one last year) which put the while area under water. A matter of record is that is why Wakenda Townsite no longer exists, too many floods that undulated the town.

Now, the worst part is that the plat maps for that area are not available on line, so it will take more research in person at the old court house in Carrollton, and I am guessing that the old woman would have been about 15 when her grandfather told her of his plight, that would mean he would have buried the gold in or about 1860-1863 (during the American Civil War no doubt), and so it may be quite hard to find the plat maps for that time frame. Maybe not, just depends on how many records the Carrolton County court house is willing to allow one to go through. If they did not get lost, destroyed, or stored someplace where they are unobtainable.

Needless to say, the other problem is that farmers in that neck of the woods are not real fond of letting someone look around in their corn fields with a metal detector, unless you are front hat area. My relation comes from Missouri, although the northern central part, and they still live a bit of cautious life, and not too trusting of those not from that area.

Gazmuth