"Documented Proof: The 30 Million Dollar Beale Treasure Is a Hoax" by Tom Kenny

Franklin, I have to agree with Bookaroo....if the Confederates had it, with all that was at stake, they would have used it. Do you really think they entered that war, sacrificing all that they had, hell bent on losing? Not a chance. The kind of money you're fantasizing about could have easily been put to good use and bought victory. Unfortunately, propaganda and he-said-she-said seldom maintains any measure of truth/fact, but it does often keep the dream alive.
 

bigscoop:

There is an interesting parallel with stories of Japanese WW II loot hidden in the South Pacific. Was the Japanese army busy trying to win a war or hiding war loot? I have no doubt they took - and buried - quite a bit of plunder. Most armies through time did both. National Geographic had an excellent magazine article, then a fine book, on one such horde found in England.

But I don't think that was the primary occupation of the Japanese army. Endless treasure maps, death traps, tunnels and caves and all the rest - it's just hard for me to believe...

Good luck to all,

~The Old Bookaroo
 

franklin:

I am not and was not the Treasurer of the Confederate States of America.

If you have different numbers...

Good luck to all,

~The Old Bookaroo
Christopher G Memminger was the CSA Sec of the Treasury,and in Feb ,1862 reopened the CSA Assay Office at Dahlonega,Ga,and appointed Lewis Quillian as assayer.CSA Asst. Treasurer,Antone Guirot,had the remaining 900 oz of gold and 17000 oz of silver from the captured US Mint at New Orleans,shipped to Dahlonega.
Quillian recieved the shipment ,June 1862,for assaying then cast the gold and silver into bars.
On Oct 1,1862,Quillian crated the bars and loaded it upon a wagon for Atlanta,that would then placed on a train to Augusta from deposit into Thomas Metcalf Confederate Depository Bank.The shipment never arrived.
To say Memminger was upset would be an understatement,he was pissed!That shipment amounted to $38,570,and was considered a major loss.That doesn't sound like a treasurer that had millions of gold in his treasury,and that was in 1862.
 

And, "the south will rise again." A simple slogan peering into the future of the south after the war was over......i.e., in time it will rebuild its infrastructure within the new reform and it will become industrious again. A lot of propaganda after the war but in reality the south suffered an cause ending defeat. From these ashes was born many an instrument desperately trying to tout the opposite, one of these being the so-called KGC, which basically represented a bunch of proud men with more pride then actual resources. Here again, if the KGC had it they would have most certainly used it VS having to realize the game ending defeat that was dealt them. At best they may have had some escape money stashed here and there but certainly nothing in the way of substantial fortune.
 

There's a YouTube video purporting to show where 75 tons of Confederate gold was recovered. It's less than 40 seconds long - from an empty field to empty holes...

Good luck to all,

~The Old Bookaroo
 

franklin:

I think you and I are writing about two different videos.

Goo luck to all,

~The Old Bookaroo
 

One striking observance I made on first reading this thread was easterners were doing the claiming.
Virginia has no paying gold or silver strikes that I am aware of. So believing was simple for persons
with no experience with Colorado ores. Or prospecting and mining except for coal. Once you swallow
that first bite of gold fancy the "treasure" becomes part of the psyche and cannot be forgotten or
dismissed.
 

One striking observance I made on first reading this thread was easterners were doing the claiming.
Virginia has no paying gold or silver strikes that I am aware of. So believing was simple for persons
with no experience with Colorado ores. Or prospecting and mining except for coal. Once you swallow
that first bite of gold fancy the "treasure" becomes part of the psyche and cannot be forgotten or
dismissed.

WRONG! MANY old GOLD mines in VIRGINIA... AND! Even Thomas Jefferson found Quartz with GOLD in it.
 

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Guys, I'm talking your personal involvement in mining and prospecting, not what you read in some history
book.
 

So you do have experience with ores? Great, now we can talk about ore bodies of native gold and
silver found together. That is an extraordinary circumstance.
 

lastleg:

The Beale Code mystery appears to have a remarkable ability to change shapes (I won't say substance) every time it hits the hard wall of fact. As presented here on TN, I don't think the current version would recognize the original - they don't even look like kissin' cousins.

Good luck to all,

~The Old Bookaroo
 

lastleg:

The Beale Code mystery appears to have a remarkable ability to change shapes (I won't say substance) every time it hits the hard wall of fact. As presented here on TN, I don't think the current version would recognize the original - they don't even look like kissin' cousins.

Good luck to all,

~The Old Bookaroo

You're not wrong in your assessment, however, the same hard wall of fact presents itself with the hoax/fiction theory as these claims can't be conclusively proven either. Thus, the problem is the entire lack of conclusive evidence to either discredit the entire the work or to prove the existence of partial truth. In some of these attempts strong supporting evidence survives, but none of it is conclusive either way. And so the great debate, one that has become largely pointless and without purpose other then to establish foolish prides, still continues.
 

bigscoop:

I doubt that "conclusive proof" will be presented. At this point, however, the weight of evidence is heavily on the side of hoax. The lack of contemporary documentation, the numerous details mirrored from the Beale Expedition, the anachronisms, et. al. combine to make this a high maintenance/low probability of success project.

I'm reading Stephen D. Clark's excellent New Mexico Confidential (2013) and he clearly delineates the path from a treasure hunt to an attempt to resolve a mystery. Newton's Law applies to such cases - momentum is a powerful force of nature. At the risk of mixing a metaphor (it's too early here on the Left Coast for a cocktail!) a successful treasure finder has to learn to abandon a project when the odds of success become too long.

Good luck to all,

~The Old Bookaroo
 

You're not wrong in your assessment, however, the same hard wall of fact presents itself with the hoax/fiction theory as these claims can't be conclusively proven either. Thus, the problem is the entire lack of conclusive evidence to either discredit the entire the work or to prove the existence of partial truth. In some of these attempts strong supporting evidence survives, but none of it is conclusive either way. And so the great debate, one that has become largely pointless and without purpose other then to establish foolish prides, still continues.

YADA, YADA, YADA... just tell us MORE about YOUR "French Connection(s)"; a hoax...?
 

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