Cowetagold
Tenderfoot
- Oct 16, 2008
- 5
- 0
Hi,
I live in OKC. I like to M.D. when I have the opportunity, but it seems like I'm always working. right now, I'm in Kuwait at work. I like to hunt history and artifiacts of history and anything else I can find. I'm going to paste a newspaper article about a Mexican mine and buried gold or treasurer. All of the people mentioned in the article are real as I have found records of them and the creek where the mine is supposed to be. I contacted the owner of the land about seeing if I could find the mine and he said no. So, I've sort of given up on it unless I can find someone in Johnson County that may know the person and maybe have more luck with him than I did. I'm also going to put a few pictures of a couple of finds that I have. One is of a 1905 Indian Head Penny that I found on the military road that ran from Ft. Smith, Ark. to Ft. Towson, OK. that was built in 1834. finding that penny told me that the military road was still in use at least until 1905 and probably later. The other is a 1928 Mercury Dime I found up at Drumright. I also have a picture of a steam engine plate that I found around an old oil well around Drumright that was probably in use around 1912 or later. I want to hunt the military roads again and I would like to hunt on the Verdigris River near Ft. Gibson for Chouteau's Fort and his landing. This was in use about 1801 while it was still French territory. There are a njumber of places that I would like to hunt, especially the California 49ers Road and the Butterfields Stage Line, etc... My biggest problem is time and getting permission. But really, I like to hunt anything. I'll see if I can paste the newpaper article in here and then the pictures. Thanks
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Mexican Mine
RAVIA WEEKLY NEWS
February 3, 1911
Page 1, Column 1....
FOUND AT LAST....
Old Mexican Mine is Located....
R. G. Guptill Finds An Old Mine Which Has Not Been Worked Since the Civil War....
While prospecting west of Ravia on January 26th, 1911, R. G. Guptill discovered and old Mexican mine which has not been worked since the Civil War. Trees leading from the old Russett and Norton Crossing were blazed at that time with figures of pistols and Bowie knives pointing toward this mine. A large stone bearing a date back as far as 1850 was found near the shaft.
A few years ago, a Mexican spent many days west of Ravia looking for this mine. Natives adverse to mining rolled the stone into the mine and cut the characters from the trees in the vicinity of the mine, so he wasn't able to discover it. There are no less than four of these mines around Ravia. All contain high values in gold, silver, platinum and lead. The fact that over the entrance to one of them, an elm tree twelve inches in diameter has grown, concealing almost its location, proves it has not been operated for about sixty years.
One of these mines is so close to Ravia that a Mexican looking for it was obliged to search for it with a lantern at night and conceal himself in daylight among the brush piles. This fact can be verified by more than one person. The prejudice was stronger against mining than now, and as no title to property could be obtained until the late government sale, all who have known that valuable minerals were here used every means to conceal their location.
February 10, 1911
Page 1, Columns 1 & 2
MORE ABOUT THE OLD MEXICAN MINES
Editor Ravia News:
You asked me to write more facts concerning the old Spanish or Mexican mines. It is with considerable reluctance that I will state some authenticated facts. To tell the whole truth would read like a fairy tale of the Arabian Knights, and some will doubt even what is here related.
I discovered the first mine accidentally while running out the east boundary of my lease contract with Messers. Pittman and Cummings, on Section 32, Township 3 South, Range 5 East. I saw a large depression in the ground covered with about two feet of dead leaves. Walking down, I fell in it, going about six feet from the top of the ground. Finding a stone, I broke it and found a good specimen of lead ore from the top of the ledge. This started inquiry, which revealed the facts formerly related.
Aunt Jane Tussey, who lived at Ft. Arbuckle, remembers all the facts of the Mexican raids on peaceable Chickasaws, and other natives are alive who remember the fight on Bullet Prarie when the Mexicans and Comanches were pressed so hard they were forced to dump a cart load of bullets in the draw just north of Mr. McDonald's present home. Hence the name "Bullet Prarie," which has been erroneously called "Bullard Prarie."
All the Mexicans were killed in that battle, save one, who was herding stock. He escaped to Mexico and made charts of the country and where they had left their possessions.
Ravia was many years afterwards located. Intelligent men like Judge Gullett, Judge Hardy and Hulin Martin would not spend $600.00 seeking buried treasure unless they had good reasons for doing so. They just struck the wrong cave.
Mr. McDonald today stated that seven Comanche Indians were searching the caves west of his daughter, Eliza's, on Oil Creek. One admitted to him, they were looking for buried treasure, and stopped there.
W. M. Connelly found the old Mexican cart referred to above and he and Jackson Sailors saw the chart of the cave which McDonald, who has been here 87 years, believes to be along Oil Creek. People going there should take lanterns and be prepared to fight snakes. He never ventured in only one of them.
One thing seems sure. That Mexicans were working these mines where lead is almost absolutely pure and in vast quantities.
Frank Bird recovered many thousands of dollars from the government, as records will show, for the depredations of these same miners who were affiliated with the Comanches and other marauders.
The chart exhibited by the Mexican shows the bullion to be buried in a cave with axes, picks and shoves on top to throw people off, and below them are the bones of animals, human skeltons, etc., before they will come to the treasure, which will be found to be nine jack loads. The rough country would not permit other kinds of travel.
Your,
R. G. Guptill.
Later.
Mr. Guptill has started the work of unearthing the old Mexican shaft No. 1, and has employed Mr. Connelly, who has been looking for this mine for the last fifteen years and says he has walked thousands of miles in search of it. He is the gentleman who found the old Mexican cart with wooden axle years ago and an intimate friend of Mr. Sailors, who saw the old chart describing the contents of the mine.
As yet, no indications of picks, shovels, axes, bones, skeltons or wedges of gold have shown up in shaft No. 1, but the north and south walls stand as perfect as when sunk years ago. The work of excavating in this shaft will be easy, but only the leaves of sixty years which have blown in will have to be taken out.
Shaft No. 3 will be the worst to work, as picks, shovels and even dynamite have little effect, the tangle of roots large as ones arm from the elm tree, mixed with stone and red clay, dry as a bone. The roots, penetrating every rock and crevice of the rock, makes the task as difficult as solid granite.
I live in OKC. I like to M.D. when I have the opportunity, but it seems like I'm always working. right now, I'm in Kuwait at work. I like to hunt history and artifiacts of history and anything else I can find. I'm going to paste a newspaper article about a Mexican mine and buried gold or treasurer. All of the people mentioned in the article are real as I have found records of them and the creek where the mine is supposed to be. I contacted the owner of the land about seeing if I could find the mine and he said no. So, I've sort of given up on it unless I can find someone in Johnson County that may know the person and maybe have more luck with him than I did. I'm also going to put a few pictures of a couple of finds that I have. One is of a 1905 Indian Head Penny that I found on the military road that ran from Ft. Smith, Ark. to Ft. Towson, OK. that was built in 1834. finding that penny told me that the military road was still in use at least until 1905 and probably later. The other is a 1928 Mercury Dime I found up at Drumright. I also have a picture of a steam engine plate that I found around an old oil well around Drumright that was probably in use around 1912 or later. I want to hunt the military roads again and I would like to hunt on the Verdigris River near Ft. Gibson for Chouteau's Fort and his landing. This was in use about 1801 while it was still French territory. There are a njumber of places that I would like to hunt, especially the California 49ers Road and the Butterfields Stage Line, etc... My biggest problem is time and getting permission. But really, I like to hunt anything. I'll see if I can paste the newpaper article in here and then the pictures. Thanks
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Mexican Mine
RAVIA WEEKLY NEWS
February 3, 1911
Page 1, Column 1....
FOUND AT LAST....
Old Mexican Mine is Located....
R. G. Guptill Finds An Old Mine Which Has Not Been Worked Since the Civil War....
While prospecting west of Ravia on January 26th, 1911, R. G. Guptill discovered and old Mexican mine which has not been worked since the Civil War. Trees leading from the old Russett and Norton Crossing were blazed at that time with figures of pistols and Bowie knives pointing toward this mine. A large stone bearing a date back as far as 1850 was found near the shaft.
A few years ago, a Mexican spent many days west of Ravia looking for this mine. Natives adverse to mining rolled the stone into the mine and cut the characters from the trees in the vicinity of the mine, so he wasn't able to discover it. There are no less than four of these mines around Ravia. All contain high values in gold, silver, platinum and lead. The fact that over the entrance to one of them, an elm tree twelve inches in diameter has grown, concealing almost its location, proves it has not been operated for about sixty years.
One of these mines is so close to Ravia that a Mexican looking for it was obliged to search for it with a lantern at night and conceal himself in daylight among the brush piles. This fact can be verified by more than one person. The prejudice was stronger against mining than now, and as no title to property could be obtained until the late government sale, all who have known that valuable minerals were here used every means to conceal their location.
February 10, 1911
Page 1, Columns 1 & 2
MORE ABOUT THE OLD MEXICAN MINES
Editor Ravia News:
You asked me to write more facts concerning the old Spanish or Mexican mines. It is with considerable reluctance that I will state some authenticated facts. To tell the whole truth would read like a fairy tale of the Arabian Knights, and some will doubt even what is here related.
I discovered the first mine accidentally while running out the east boundary of my lease contract with Messers. Pittman and Cummings, on Section 32, Township 3 South, Range 5 East. I saw a large depression in the ground covered with about two feet of dead leaves. Walking down, I fell in it, going about six feet from the top of the ground. Finding a stone, I broke it and found a good specimen of lead ore from the top of the ledge. This started inquiry, which revealed the facts formerly related.
Aunt Jane Tussey, who lived at Ft. Arbuckle, remembers all the facts of the Mexican raids on peaceable Chickasaws, and other natives are alive who remember the fight on Bullet Prarie when the Mexicans and Comanches were pressed so hard they were forced to dump a cart load of bullets in the draw just north of Mr. McDonald's present home. Hence the name "Bullet Prarie," which has been erroneously called "Bullard Prarie."
All the Mexicans were killed in that battle, save one, who was herding stock. He escaped to Mexico and made charts of the country and where they had left their possessions.
Ravia was many years afterwards located. Intelligent men like Judge Gullett, Judge Hardy and Hulin Martin would not spend $600.00 seeking buried treasure unless they had good reasons for doing so. They just struck the wrong cave.
Mr. McDonald today stated that seven Comanche Indians were searching the caves west of his daughter, Eliza's, on Oil Creek. One admitted to him, they were looking for buried treasure, and stopped there.
W. M. Connelly found the old Mexican cart referred to above and he and Jackson Sailors saw the chart of the cave which McDonald, who has been here 87 years, believes to be along Oil Creek. People going there should take lanterns and be prepared to fight snakes. He never ventured in only one of them.
One thing seems sure. That Mexicans were working these mines where lead is almost absolutely pure and in vast quantities.
Frank Bird recovered many thousands of dollars from the government, as records will show, for the depredations of these same miners who were affiliated with the Comanches and other marauders.
The chart exhibited by the Mexican shows the bullion to be buried in a cave with axes, picks and shoves on top to throw people off, and below them are the bones of animals, human skeltons, etc., before they will come to the treasure, which will be found to be nine jack loads. The rough country would not permit other kinds of travel.
Your,
R. G. Guptill.
Later.
Mr. Guptill has started the work of unearthing the old Mexican shaft No. 1, and has employed Mr. Connelly, who has been looking for this mine for the last fifteen years and says he has walked thousands of miles in search of it. He is the gentleman who found the old Mexican cart with wooden axle years ago and an intimate friend of Mr. Sailors, who saw the old chart describing the contents of the mine.
As yet, no indications of picks, shovels, axes, bones, skeltons or wedges of gold have shown up in shaft No. 1, but the north and south walls stand as perfect as when sunk years ago. The work of excavating in this shaft will be easy, but only the leaves of sixty years which have blown in will have to be taken out.
Shaft No. 3 will be the worst to work, as picks, shovels and even dynamite have little effect, the tangle of roots large as ones arm from the elm tree, mixed with stone and red clay, dry as a bone. The roots, penetrating every rock and crevice of the rock, makes the task as difficult as solid granite.
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