callmez
Jr. Member
- May 25, 2014
- 98
- 155
- Detector(s) used
- Equinox 800
Tesoro Vaquero
- Primary Interest:
- Metal Detecting
I am just getting back into metal detecting after a LOT of years, but I have always had an interest in history and historical research. In fact I often write about historical objects and their history in my job as editor of a collectibles magazine. My interest interesting metal detecting opportunities has never gone away either, I just didn't have a working detector and was busy with other stuff. Anyway, I've been wanting to tell someone about the following for years.
Several years ago I did some research on a pair of brothers, William R. and Hugh A. Barr, who lived in Camas Valley, Douglas County, Oregon which is a small town southwest of Roseburg. They were blacksmiths who made the usual things as well as knives and even plains rifles (two Barr rifles can be seen at the museum in Roseburg). Even more creatively, they made counterfeit half dollars -- Hugh was convicted and spent two years in federal prison for it 1877-1879. In my research I uncovered a bunch of period newspaper clippings from the appearance of the counterfeits all the way through his conviction.
The counterfeit halves are fact, they surely made them in their Camas Valley shop and perhaps there's a cache of them hidden nearby -- who knows? I'll bet they were trying to get rid of a bunch of them quickly during Jan-Feb 1877 when things were going down. But the only clue I found of real loot comes from the book "Old Days in Camas Valley" (1951) and FWIW, it states:
"It is believed by some that several hundred dollars were hidden on the [Barr] place. Whether this hidden treasure remains where it was hidden long ago or the owner returned and took it is not known."
About 1890 the brothers moved to Eugene where they founded what became a successful knife factory that eventually moved to Oakland, CA. The Barr Bros. brand still exists today, used on meat hooks for the meat industry. I've not yet written up their story, need to do that one of these days. It would be an interesting aside for such an article if someone were to go try and find their supposed loot. Sounds like fun… but I live in Tennessee, only get to Oregon once a year, and never have time for this sort of thing when I'm out there anyway.
I don't know where their shop was located, precisely, but there is a "Bar Creek" in the Camas Valley area and evidently it was originally named "Barr Creek" after the brothers Barr. In 1950 the Barr place was owned by Neal Brown, according to the book referenced above. I'm sure it would be easy to track down the appropriate land records to find the site. You might even look into Hugh's court case and see if any testimony still exists; maybe there'd be some interesting clues in it (the 1951 book did say that their counterfeiting equipment was found buried under their log house, for whatever that's worth -- but William was never charged with anything so far as I know and you'd think that would be pretty incriminating.) I have a ton of info on the family and their business activity, but none of it would really be useful for this.
Anyway -- there it is, have fun, ask questions if you've got 'em. And if anyone checks this out, PLEASE give me a report on what you find (info or loot or counterfeit loot or whatever).
Mark
Several years ago I did some research on a pair of brothers, William R. and Hugh A. Barr, who lived in Camas Valley, Douglas County, Oregon which is a small town southwest of Roseburg. They were blacksmiths who made the usual things as well as knives and even plains rifles (two Barr rifles can be seen at the museum in Roseburg). Even more creatively, they made counterfeit half dollars -- Hugh was convicted and spent two years in federal prison for it 1877-1879. In my research I uncovered a bunch of period newspaper clippings from the appearance of the counterfeits all the way through his conviction.
The counterfeit halves are fact, they surely made them in their Camas Valley shop and perhaps there's a cache of them hidden nearby -- who knows? I'll bet they were trying to get rid of a bunch of them quickly during Jan-Feb 1877 when things were going down. But the only clue I found of real loot comes from the book "Old Days in Camas Valley" (1951) and FWIW, it states:
"It is believed by some that several hundred dollars were hidden on the [Barr] place. Whether this hidden treasure remains where it was hidden long ago or the owner returned and took it is not known."
About 1890 the brothers moved to Eugene where they founded what became a successful knife factory that eventually moved to Oakland, CA. The Barr Bros. brand still exists today, used on meat hooks for the meat industry. I've not yet written up their story, need to do that one of these days. It would be an interesting aside for such an article if someone were to go try and find their supposed loot. Sounds like fun… but I live in Tennessee, only get to Oregon once a year, and never have time for this sort of thing when I'm out there anyway.
I don't know where their shop was located, precisely, but there is a "Bar Creek" in the Camas Valley area and evidently it was originally named "Barr Creek" after the brothers Barr. In 1950 the Barr place was owned by Neal Brown, according to the book referenced above. I'm sure it would be easy to track down the appropriate land records to find the site. You might even look into Hugh's court case and see if any testimony still exists; maybe there'd be some interesting clues in it (the 1951 book did say that their counterfeiting equipment was found buried under their log house, for whatever that's worth -- but William was never charged with anything so far as I know and you'd think that would be pretty incriminating.) I have a ton of info on the family and their business activity, but none of it would really be useful for this.
Anyway -- there it is, have fun, ask questions if you've got 'em. And if anyone checks this out, PLEASE give me a report on what you find (info or loot or counterfeit loot or whatever).
Mark
