Treasure Hunter W.C. Jameson

[Gold Maven]

Treasure Hunter by W.C. Jameson, a great book about Jamesons treasure hunting adventures throughout his lifetime.
I could hardly put it down. All factual, almost reads like fiction, but very interesting.
You won't be disappointed.

 

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[webmaster-wcjameson]

Thank you for posting this review. I will pass the word along to W.C. He will appreciate it as well. It is a good book.
Deborah

 

[usernotfound]

I just found this book today on Amazon...I'll have to kiss up to my wife for buying another book. I read a preview and it almost bought it on kindle.

 

[austin]

Thanks for posting. I need to get this. Mr. Jameson is an extremely successful author and always tells a good story. Thanks again...

 

[Old Bookaroo]

I can't say I found this book disappointing - based on the author's many other books, frankly I wasn't expecting much.

Treasure literature falls into four general categories - Fact, Folklore, Fiction and Fantasy.

The best Factual books are those written by Karl von Mueller (aka, Deek Gladson), Ed Bartholomew (Jesse (Ed) Rascoe), Wayne Winters, Robert Nesmith, and a handful of others.

The dean of Folkore writers remains Prof. J. Frank Dobie. His books and articles are classics.

In the Fiction category it is difficult to beat Treasure Island, although The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (no final "s," Mr. Jameson - just as it isn't "Norstrom's") is excellent and I am partial to both Plunder of the Sun and Nostromo.

The classic Fantasy books are probably those written by Lieut. Harry Rieseberg, although F.L. Coffman's 1001 Lost, Buried and Sunken Treasures and his other works blend Fantasy with some fiction.

There really should be a fifth category - the aggregators, such as Thomas Penfield and Michael Paul Henson - but that's another topic for another day.

Back to Treasure Hunter. I simply don't believe the stories in it. However, for TN purposes I think one should concentrate on the Introduction, where Mr. Jameson states "It is important to understand that almost everything treasure recovery professionals do is illegal." This is a remarkable statement, indeed. And, in my opinion, a very wrong one.

It certainly is true there are laws regarding treasure hunting on private, state and Federal lands. Each state has its own laws, rules and regulations. Smart treasure hunters follow them. I simply cannot agree that "...the bizarre and unreasonable laws related to treasure recovery have turned honest, dedicated, and hard-working fortune hunters into outlaws."

If they are honest they don't break the law.

Finally, a seasoned professional treasure hunter ought to know salvage recovery laws have nothing to do with land finds. These are the laws of treasure trove, abandoned property, etc. Salvage relates to wet treasure, not dry.

There are many other problems with this book. I don't think one has to be a gunslinger to become a successful treasure hunter. Shootouts just aren't the order of the day. And, again, most of the yarns here stretch credibility and credulity beyond rational limits.

In the end, this book probably has far more in common with Howard Jennings' The Treasure Hunter than the author intended. And that is not intended to be a compliment.

 

[TheHarleyMan2]

I read most of the book. I hadn't had a chance to read it all but I have about 4 chapters left to read. Very interesting indeed. Yes it leaves one to wonder if everything is legit or just plain made up stuff with a little twist of some partial actual history.

I had told the person, (I won't mention his name), and I won't go into detail. But told him to get with Mr Jameson that if one of the stories he wrote about was true I had an answer on it, due to his claim of trying to recover it. I won't go into detail here or in a public forum. But if there is a will there is a way, that is for sure.

But on the other hand, if he succeeded in his story, but purposely left out facts of actually getting all the haul instead of a few bars, or what nots, then telling on ones whole self could be problematic when it comes to graberment wanting to know what you did, where you got it, etc, etc. just so they can take it from you!

So by telling a story of fact could also meaning twisting it up a bit to keep ones self out of trouble. But also, his stories of his treasure hunter from many years back from early age of when he first started.

I am really curious about January Cave. That story in itself seems somewhat ficticious. But hey anything is possible!

Pretty good read, especially one about the silver bars in a cave and a man leaving his wife behind and she hires Mr Jameson to go find her husband and the man ends up blowing himself and the silver up with dynomite in the cave. Now with the story of Mr Jameson and his friends there at the cave entrance, and the story of them just going back and telling the mans wife they did not find her husband, nor told anyone of what happened. You have to really think about something like that if you should be honest and tell the person their spouse blew themselves up in a cave or keep quiet.

Also the story of the burrow skeleton with the gold bars with him and a ranch hand looking for lost cattle I think, end up in a sand storm and a skeleton burrow with a rotted packs with gold bars laying about. I know sand storms can change up scenery. But with todays technology with someone with money can get a plane with infra red and find those lost burrows of gold and recover it, especially if you have a round about clue of where you were about long ago.

Heck I remember things of exactly what something looked like terrain wise from when I was 9 years old and I am 50 now. I know every slope, hill, crevis, rocks, etc, when me and my brother found a cave. It wasn't a big one, but it was a cave.

So many things seem logical, some seems questionable.

I know if I had experienced anything that was told in the book, you can bet at any point in my life I would have found a way to recover every single bit of what was found, even if it meant making trips day after day!! Especially if I had 3 other guys with me in on it! There are ways to get things done even with minimal people to accomplish a goal of recovery!

 

[LuckyThirteen08]

The best treasure stories cant be found in books!!!!

 

[Mandizzle]

This really was a fantastic read! (I am a bit partial though, as I have quite a growing collection of his work and devour them like chocolate.) This one in particular was such a thrill to read, though. This man has some incredible adventures under his belt and is such a gifted writer. I had to pace myself when I read it so I wouldn't finish it in one sitting--it was a hard one to put down! If you haven't had the pleasure of reading one of Mr. Jameson's books yet, this is a great one to start with.

 

[lastleg]

A good way to entertain yourself on a cold winter's night. Not a good way to actually put into action.

 

[khpony]

I'm reading this for the second time. It's a very good read. I currently have 8 of his books and they are always a good read. Basically they tell very interesting stories but they also give one a basic lead to explore. I've been working on one of them for over a year and have concluded that it actually happened. Time to go do some more research.

 

[Pointman]

Thank you for posting this review. I will pass the word along to W.C. He will appreciate it as well. It is a good book.
Deborah

I read a couple of his books and enjoyed them. I will have to keep this one in mind.

Deborah, years ago I read where W.C. Jameson was a professor or taught at UCA in Arkansas. Is this correct?