Doubloony
Jr. Member
- Apr 8, 2021
- 34
- 61
- Detector(s) used
- Tesoro Cibola, Tesoro Compadre
- Primary Interest:
- All Treasure Hunting
I have sat here for a few years, usually just reading about other leads and enjoying the stories, wondering when or if I would ever reveal what, I, myself, have kept under my hat since I was very young. I think it may be time to do so, because I'm noticing how fast the years are flying by, and at this point, if I don't, it will probably never be heard of from anyone if something were to happen to me, because as far as I know, I don't know of anyone else that knows about it. I'll start by saying that this is concerning a 'chest' or as I was told, a 'strongbox', but it could be either, of gold bullion or coin, located in or beside a creek not far from my own home. The area is between Center, TX and Shelbyville, TX, but closer to Center, off of the south side of the highway that connects the two. This general area is, oddly enough, the site of a few battles that happened during the Regulator and Moderator war, but that has little to do with the current subject, because as far as I know, there was no gold involved in that, and few involved in that had any gold to begin with, most being horse thieves at best. It is my belief, rather, that the 'box' in question relates to the Civil War. The route for Texas troops going to Mansfield, LA is very close by, and they marched from both Shelbyville and Center, joining together on the main wagon road that today cuts through the woods, closely touching a portion of the Sabine National Forest, and is known by few today. The current highway 7 to Logansport, LA would give one the general idea of its trajectory, and that is where they crossed the river into Louisiana, making their way to the first engagement at the now famous battle.
I will here, back up, and explain how I first heard of this gold. I was probably no more than 6 or 7 at the time, and repeatedly heard of the time when my great grandfather had to keep treasure hunters off his land by the creek, due to them leaving large holes from their diggings. Obviously, they would do it while not being seen. I can only surmise that my grandfather was somewhat of a skeptic at the time, as it was on his own land, and he surely had the means of searching himself but never did. One must take into account the attitude of most in those days, as he had been a security guard for the Santa Fe railroad, and past retirement, was up in age by then and probably did not feel like hearing of such 'tall tales'. Unfortunately, I was too young to ask questions before he passed in his 90's around 1976. His thoughts on the subject, however, seem to have been different from the 'treasure hunters' that were coming there, since they 'obviously' knew something that he didn't. I'm assuming this is the case. And where they had received their information, one can only imagine. It had to have originated from somewhere. And it had to have been quite telling; powerful enough, that is, to motivate many men from elsewhere to come with shovels. Obviously, the supposed buried gold had been planted there long before my grandfather had acquired that section of land, so he would not have known anything about the details of it to begin with. Now, the story gets more interesting as I heard it from my Grandmother and Father, who both recounted hearing that although my grandfather may have believed it to be there, he had no real way of actually finding it, so chose to dismiss it from thought. Detectors were not even thought of then, and the only way to go about it was to simply start digging holes. Well, you can imagine how that went. Finally, after much argument, and I'm hoping not at the point of a gun, the treasure hunters left empty-handed. I'm going to put a reasonable guess as to the date of these occurrences, and say it was sometime in the 40's or up to the late 50's.
As to the origin of this supposed 'strongbox', the best I can figure out, is that it may have been a Union pay-chest brought back across the river and deposited after the spoils were taken from Mansfield. To deposit it close to Shelbyville would have been the thing to do, for ease of recovery later, as this was really the only notable town in this immediate area closest to the river crossing, along this side of the neutral strip at the time. There were Cherokee's helping for sure, and I have found one hoot-owl tree in the area that still had the binding wire (the pattern of it has now been dated to that time) which I found with my Cibola in the ground at the base. As one may understand, nothing can be determined by this tree alone, so as it stands now, is simply one minor piece of the puzzle that only the ones that made it know anything of what it means. Also found was a copper rivet from a military leather 'something', that still had a small bit of black leather attached. The property that my grandfather had is no longer in the family, although I myself, have 105 acres within walking distance of perhaps a mile. There is evidence that it may actually be on my land instead of where the treasure hunters were originally looking, given the tree and the rivet finds are on mine. I have tried hunting the creek, and it curls around like a snake through my land and elsewhere. Someone may ask why I have not detected the banks, well, the undergrowth is such that it makes the going very hard, if not impossible at times. I have hunted the areas where I can actually stand up somewhat straight like a human being, but the rest is a matter of crawling, and sometimes on hands and knees, and this with cottonmouth snakes appearing right in front of one's face. It's not easy going.
Is there gold there? I'm not going to say if there is or isn't, and perhaps no one will ever know. But some 'thing' had to have influenced those hunters in the 50's.
I wanted to finally get this information into the public domain, because if something should ever happen to me, then maybe someone later, and with a more technically advanced machine or dowsing capability can go after it.
I personally believe in dowsing, because I've seen it work with my own eyes. But this was with dowsing a water well. As for dowsing an aerial photo, I would have to see that with my own eyes to believe it as well. Be that as it may, I never close my mind to any possibility. I simply have to see things work with my own eyes.
If anyone wants to try, I can send the exact area to photo and map dowse, but only for those serious enough to put effort into the search.
My main purpose here for posting this to begin with, is to include it in the records, for the future generations, and so that, hopefully, it will not be lost to time.
I'm almost 50 now, and to be honest, I would rather spend the rest of my years on treasure leads that are more fascinating to me.
To have one on my own land, or somewhat adjacent to it, has always been something that has occupied my thoughts, but as there is no way for me to actually locate within a few yards radius of where it is, then it might as well be in Arizona instead. But I leave this here for those that it may help.
I will here, back up, and explain how I first heard of this gold. I was probably no more than 6 or 7 at the time, and repeatedly heard of the time when my great grandfather had to keep treasure hunters off his land by the creek, due to them leaving large holes from their diggings. Obviously, they would do it while not being seen. I can only surmise that my grandfather was somewhat of a skeptic at the time, as it was on his own land, and he surely had the means of searching himself but never did. One must take into account the attitude of most in those days, as he had been a security guard for the Santa Fe railroad, and past retirement, was up in age by then and probably did not feel like hearing of such 'tall tales'. Unfortunately, I was too young to ask questions before he passed in his 90's around 1976. His thoughts on the subject, however, seem to have been different from the 'treasure hunters' that were coming there, since they 'obviously' knew something that he didn't. I'm assuming this is the case. And where they had received their information, one can only imagine. It had to have originated from somewhere. And it had to have been quite telling; powerful enough, that is, to motivate many men from elsewhere to come with shovels. Obviously, the supposed buried gold had been planted there long before my grandfather had acquired that section of land, so he would not have known anything about the details of it to begin with. Now, the story gets more interesting as I heard it from my Grandmother and Father, who both recounted hearing that although my grandfather may have believed it to be there, he had no real way of actually finding it, so chose to dismiss it from thought. Detectors were not even thought of then, and the only way to go about it was to simply start digging holes. Well, you can imagine how that went. Finally, after much argument, and I'm hoping not at the point of a gun, the treasure hunters left empty-handed. I'm going to put a reasonable guess as to the date of these occurrences, and say it was sometime in the 40's or up to the late 50's.
As to the origin of this supposed 'strongbox', the best I can figure out, is that it may have been a Union pay-chest brought back across the river and deposited after the spoils were taken from Mansfield. To deposit it close to Shelbyville would have been the thing to do, for ease of recovery later, as this was really the only notable town in this immediate area closest to the river crossing, along this side of the neutral strip at the time. There were Cherokee's helping for sure, and I have found one hoot-owl tree in the area that still had the binding wire (the pattern of it has now been dated to that time) which I found with my Cibola in the ground at the base. As one may understand, nothing can be determined by this tree alone, so as it stands now, is simply one minor piece of the puzzle that only the ones that made it know anything of what it means. Also found was a copper rivet from a military leather 'something', that still had a small bit of black leather attached. The property that my grandfather had is no longer in the family, although I myself, have 105 acres within walking distance of perhaps a mile. There is evidence that it may actually be on my land instead of where the treasure hunters were originally looking, given the tree and the rivet finds are on mine. I have tried hunting the creek, and it curls around like a snake through my land and elsewhere. Someone may ask why I have not detected the banks, well, the undergrowth is such that it makes the going very hard, if not impossible at times. I have hunted the areas where I can actually stand up somewhat straight like a human being, but the rest is a matter of crawling, and sometimes on hands and knees, and this with cottonmouth snakes appearing right in front of one's face. It's not easy going.
Is there gold there? I'm not going to say if there is or isn't, and perhaps no one will ever know. But some 'thing' had to have influenced those hunters in the 50's.
I wanted to finally get this information into the public domain, because if something should ever happen to me, then maybe someone later, and with a more technically advanced machine or dowsing capability can go after it.
I personally believe in dowsing, because I've seen it work with my own eyes. But this was with dowsing a water well. As for dowsing an aerial photo, I would have to see that with my own eyes to believe it as well. Be that as it may, I never close my mind to any possibility. I simply have to see things work with my own eyes.
If anyone wants to try, I can send the exact area to photo and map dowse, but only for those serious enough to put effort into the search.
My main purpose here for posting this to begin with, is to include it in the records, for the future generations, and so that, hopefully, it will not be lost to time.
I'm almost 50 now, and to be honest, I would rather spend the rest of my years on treasure leads that are more fascinating to me.
To have one on my own land, or somewhat adjacent to it, has always been something that has occupied my thoughts, but as there is no way for me to actually locate within a few yards radius of where it is, then it might as well be in Arizona instead. But I leave this here for those that it may help.
The other one I have heard in that Gunnels cave used to be deeper, the sinkhole at the back was actually an intact cavern roof, but in haste, soldiers had to hide loot at the back of the cave, then used ordinance to blow the roof down on top, creating the sinkhole that is there today and effectively burying the goods.
