Cache Hunting research

My Grandfather on my Dads side was born in 1880 and died in 1973. I was 24 years old at the time and did not have sense enough to pick his mind. Nope I was too smart for that back then. He was head of the Regulators in South Arkansas back in twenties and thirties. Places an events he must have known of. :dontknow:
My Loss, in more ways than one. :icon_scratch:
 

midnightmoon said:
Man, I love the thought of researching and hunting for caches. I love research.
But interviewing old folks ... I have to remind myself that the old folks of today weren't really around in the 1800's, and were probably just little kids during the Great Depression.
Does anyone else fall into the mindlessness of thinking folks in the rest homes are between, lets say, 80 - 150 years old; or is it just me?
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You know someone 150 years old?!?!?! WOW!!!! Have you alerted the Guiness Book of World Records?

Seriously, people go into assisted living facilities for a variety of reasons. I know someone who was only 35 when she went into a home. If you can't take care of your own needs, sometimes assisted care is the only option.
 

Let us not forget. If you find it, you may have to return it. I'm sure if a Wells Fargo hold up containing bags of gold is located near a town where a Wells Fargo bank was held up 80 years ago, their going to want it back. They may give you a small reward, but the booty still belongs to Well Fargo. I'm sure they keep a history of all the hold ups they had back then. Something to think about. Sure would be hard to keep from talking about if someone did find some loot. Would you report it for a reward or just keep silence and spend a little at a time??????????????
 

RRich said:
Let us not forget. If you find it, you may have to return it. I'm sure if a Wells Fargo hold up containing bags of gold is located near a town where a Wells Fargo bank was held up 80 years ago, their going to want it back. They may give you a small reward, but the booty still belongs to Well Fargo. I'm sure they keep a history of all the hold ups they had back then. Something to think about. Sure would be hard to keep from talking about if someone did find some loot. Would you report it for a reward or just keep silence and spend a little at a time??????????????
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Excellent point, RRich. Legally, a cache of stolen goodies does not belong the finder, but to either the original owner, their heirs, or the insurance company that paid out on the loss. The wise TH'er realizes this and weighs gold coins before turning them over, plus has a complete list of the dates, mintmarks, and condition of any gold or better grade silver coins. A finder of lost money is entitled to at least 10 percent of what is found (including the inflated value of the metal content, not just the face value), and in many states as much as 30 percent.

Should you find a nice cache a legal consultation may be in order.
 

CowboyKolo said:
OK, for the most part all I've ever found is the occasional spill cache.
Obviously you can't just go up to the rest home and shake people
down for information on where they buried their milk jug so...
Where's a decent place to look for possible cache sites?
What books/public records would someone look through?
That sorta thing is the cache I'm looking for at the moment :)
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Well I always start for the story itself, got to start somewhere. I go through around 30-40 stories and pick out the ones with the most plausible facts and the most information; then check the information in the story to the real historical facts of the area/person/town/mine etc.. by this time I may if I'm lucky have 2 or 3 stories left out of the bunch.

Next step for me is dig further into any possible archives/documentation that either supports or discredits the story; using a city library or my favorite a University library are great for this. You will spend 100X more time doing research than you will be out in the field at first. I find this a good thing because once you have confirmed the facts you are that much more positive about the hunt when you are in the field.
 

You're currently on one of the best treasure-hunting tools available. But you may still need to learn how to use it.

Leads are still just leads. You need to know as much as possible about WHO was involved. And the Internet is an excellent method of learning just that.

Need to learn how to research an individual? Genealogical research is a good beginning. Find out when and where they were born, and what times they lived. Did they have any land? Is there a paper trail for them through property deeds? (May have to search the local county recorder's office, as few are available on-line yet.)

Check out who they were related to if possible as well. And you MUST learn their birth and death dates. Was just doing research on a possible cache in OR, and found out someone who lived from 1850-1933 was murdered just after taking out at least $13,000 in paper, plus an unknown amount of silver dollars during the height of the Great Depression. Pretty good lead so far.

Will still need to document as much as possible without alerting anyone nearby what I'm doing it for. So have to consider the genealogical aspect: 2nd or 3rd great uncle possibly. Some excuse for searching for this information.

If you think you will need a cover story, figure out what it's going to be before you start the in-depth research.
 

That sounds like a lot of work! I do the research, but only what is necessary. I could care less who the guys brother or sister were. I am just interested in if he lived and when he died and an estimate of his wealth. I tack this on to the treasure story and I am ready to go. I get a good ariel or topo and start detecting.
Example: I am researching a Senator who died in office in the 1700's I know he existed I know when he died. I now have a sat image of his land and know that it is not developed. After I get permission to hunt, It is a go. If I find it ,it is a 50/50 split with the owner and I ride off into the sunset.
Do the necessary research to find it, but save some of that midnight oil for the next one. By the way, back then land was sold, lock, stock, and barrel. That means that the treasure belongs to the owner and with a 50/50 split to you.
​
 

I have just about finished research on a robbery cache, and its one that has been offten seen on these treasure sites. According to all the post, about half the gold was not found, which was A lot! I searched the net for weeks and didn't find anything more about the story, so then did a newspaper search. Well, I found the story, and followed it till its end, which was about a weeks work. Apparently, all the gold was eventually recovered, but its not so easy to research old newspapers, its too easy to miss things, so I have not quite given up the search, and will search until I am 110% sure that all was recovered. Anyway, this was a true story, and not just "he was known to cache his money" or "it was told that the old miner buried his nuggets". In fact, everyone knows someone that "has a lot of money hidden". Its easy to think some neighbor buries his money. If someone has extra money at home, its probably just in with the socks, and after old age sets in, its forgoten.

The hard part about searching old newspapers, is there are many more interesting stories, so its easy to loose track of what your looking for and start on something else. Another thing is that the facts and figures in newspapers can be wrong too, so you need to double check everything, especially if the numbers seem too high. I think newspapers are the best starting place, then after a promising lead is found, then do the checks with the county or local archives.

I'm quite sure that out of all the 100 best treasure tales, maybe only one or two is worth going after, especially all the "lost" mines. In the mean time, tot lots will keep your detector tunned up!
 

Reply to Frankn: don't need all the family info on a genealogical research, but it often gives you better info on birth/death information than other sources. And often alternative information.

For malpenral: If a lot of gold was involved in a robbery, it's been my experience that it is extremely important to research whether it has already been recovered. Higher $$ amounts were probably insured. Insurance companies don't like to see big losses.

Your post is important IMO. Too often researchers just verify whether a historical fact took place. You also need to verify the stolen goods were not recovered later, which is a separate search by itself (as I'm guessing your already know).

The one thing I enoyed about the movie National Treasure was the finding of several hundred $$ within the book "Common Sense" by Thomas Paine. How fitting!
 

cache related...

about 8 years ago i was about to rent an old farmhouse off a family friend who had just purchased the property... the former tenants... were about to move out and were giving me the 'tour' so to speak....

they were brother .. in their late 60's .. said their dad told them he hid money there and they hadn't found it... fast fwd a week when we are moving in and the drywall is busted out in several of the closets... not sure if they found what they were looking for or not

that said, i was young and didn't know about detectors then... i'd LOVE to go search the land now (farmhouse has been demolished and a mansion put up in it's place)

who knows what the wrecking crew and excavators found.. i heard they found several old bottles...

i still know the owner of the land and have hinted at detecting it a few times... BUT it's a million dollar home with professional landscaping and i don't think he's too keen on it.. he mentioned his 7 yr old got a detector for Christmas... who knows-


they definitely exist
 

Have a written agreement even you are just searching for single coins.
AMEN.
 

Not a lot of people back then had any money, mostly live on farms and raise the own crops and animals.
 

Connecticut Sam said:
I agree with #33. Check old books and interview old people. You can get a lot of leads on Google. Karl used to write all the time, the best books on treasure hunting does not have these words in their titles. Best of luck to all of you. I can use information on Connecticut bury treasures. Thank you.
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Many people agree with me.
 

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Two areas I have left untouched.

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