The Lagina Brothers, famous for their search for the lost treasure on Oak Island and featured in the show The Curse of Oak Island, now hosts a new show called, Beyond Oak Island. There was one spot that we initially found, I think it was June of 2020, which gave us a sonar reading that was pretty much an exact match to a wooden wagon that had submerged with some sort of weight, Roper said. endobj 0000000016 00000 n What I like most about the lake is that, it just contains this feel when you go out there and you see the Spanish moss hanging on the trees, you feel like youve gone back in time, Roper said. 0000003902 00000 n <>/Border[0 0 0]/Contents()/Rect[72.0 594.2333 124.3037 607.124]/StructParent 1/Subtype/Link/Type/Annot>> He bought some steam engines and pumps, had a months worth of logs to keep the steam engines going and was gonna drain the lake. a must to have. So all these treasure magazines sprung around these treasure hunting, metal detectors, stories about lost mines. At that time, the legend was that Mexican land pirates lived along the lake and dumped gold, silver, and precious stones in the lake when they were attacked by the Texans or some other forces. Tatum reportedly built a device with buckets on a conveyor and operated by steam engines to attempt to bail the water from the lake. In 2011, Michigan-based treasure hunters Kevin Dykstra and Frederick Monroe found a shipwreck as they were searching for the $2 million in gold that, according to local legend, fell from a. Discovering history is part of the adventure, and that never ends. Christian Roper and Brackston McKnight lay eyes on Hendricks Lake, the alleged locale of sunken pirate treasure. In the final battle of the War of 1812, Lafitte and his comrades helped General Andrew Jackson defend New Orleans against the British. In 1909 members of the United States Geological Survey visited the site, which they described as being unproductive. Oak Island Treasure Found May 18, 2021 Gagare1952 13.4K subscribers Subscribe 1.2K 292K views 1 year ago Breaking News: My friend John from Oak Island spend his whole life looking for that. (In English documents, his last name was often spelled Lafitte, but Laffite was the spelling used by Jean and his brother Pierre.). Every penny counts! If you fill out the first name, last name, or agree to terms fields, you will NOT be added to the newsletter list. Treasure Coast . In 1915 in New Orleans a worker uncovered a chest filled with more than 1,500 doubloons . :P1N8ihB:Ap"4qau_-6)aqhcgZ!=(!~qB3&\S%I}Dc{M6H31jiet_Ya dZ`URw#ser6QcS$JJrnlHN_f1`>!nUA{:_>vtZ)F+/z#~+PDG-+\X?U89XfDD\%E%R! b#[\Z}%dw2Q cDDp=_Em&>M!$]5yors8%52]Tp%>E]SV)IW%]Ka("Y4'7QuFf$a Over the years there have been many who made a minimal effort or spent a little time at the lake only to discover that the conditions were too difficult and they had neither the time nor the money for such an undertaking. endobj My favorite part of the legend is that the Guadalupe Mission in El Paso was built in way so that the shadows of the mission point to the Lost Padre Mine. Tales of pirate booty and Mexican gold have captivated minds for generations, and it all could be closer than you might think. xVy~}F0N13`&p"I9:tZ"-"}]{~~x/ c HfE4sowa-n_?B. Spanish soldiers in pursuit overtook the transport at Hendricks Lake and rather than give up the silver, the transport leader cut six wagonloads of silver loose and pushed them into Hendricks Lake. Visibility is nil, so it is a touchy situation. An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup. Barnie was a TV repair man, and he had built this underwater metal detector, like the size of a washing machine. The other big buried treasure legend from East Texas is the story of Little Cypress Creek. Filmmaker Brackston McKnight uses a metal detector on his property, searching for lost treasure. La Belle was a French ship that sank in Matagorda Bay in 1685 after running aground in a storm. We Found Out Archaeologists on Easter Island Have Discovered a Previously Unknown Moai Statue Buried in a Dried-Out Lake Bed Christie's Pulled In $202 Million at Its 20th/21st-Century Sales in . He initially doesn't release any details on the finder or location. Pinkerton is hoping to publish his book some time in the new year and is interested in finding more people with first and second hand accounts of the treasure hunting. Sheriff of Carthage, who co-owned 470 acres on the northwest end of the lake with Corbett Akins. It was one of the first times I met with Brackston after we graduated university last summer, Roper recalled. And if so is the treasure still there? His main focus is on Jean Lafittes treasure, A brig named Santa Rosa plundered in Matagorda Bay in 1816. Little Cypress Creek, north of Gilmer, is the site where legend says a cache of Mexican coinage was dumped, according to A Brief History of Upshur County a history book published in 1946. Do@aj^HmFd*`G1 3. (Courtesy of Andy Swanger) As far as more. Although $25,000 worth of coins and jewelry have been accounted for, no one knows where the rest of the loot went, and Collins and Bass were killed before they revealed anything. . According to reports, the total bounty would be worth more than $1.36 million today. So nothing lines up; its just factually, there was no road that would carry wagons at that time. You have permission to edit this article. Believed the treasure was in Martin Creek after meeting old Mexicans with a map when he was just a boy. As a young girl, Diana pushed the plunger to set off dynamite. 0000002062 00000 n I once made a scientific study of all the known shipwrecks, from ancient to modern, that occurred off the Texas coast. brought up to the surface. When we were looking through the story and seeing some of the characters that got interested in it, seeing some of the nations most prominent treasure hunters getting interested in the story, the story being picked up by some of the largest magazines and news outlets across the country in the 50s and 60s, seeing involvement from one of the worlds most famous psychicsits an incredible story, Roper noted. A dirt contractor. But if you dont like that version of the legend there are others. The Fenn Treasure was a cache of gold and jewels that Forrest Fenn, an art dealer and author from Santa Fe, New Mexico, hid in the Rocky Mountains of the United States. The mud is deep on the bottom, and just as In 1965, led a team of Iowans in some aborted, but ambitious, attempts at the treasure. The stolen loot was smuggled north some years later but ended up in Lake. there were treasure legends, and the most common story is that Lafitte stranded a ship, a Spanish ship with gold, in Matagorda Bay in Corpus and was taking it to St. Louis on some wagon trains over roads that dont exist in 1816. Published by the Texas State Historical Association. So, he set up these steam engines and buckets on a conveyor belt and pumps. 0000001390 00000 n Barnie Waldrop. . 0000004529 00000 n Im going to talk to his son, who was 14 or so when they were out at the lake. He had heard about the Trace from his dad as a portion of it runs through family land. . Spring is situated 3 miles northeast of Hendricks Lake. As they retreated, they headed into what is now known as Upshur County. The parade of those who made documented efforts for the treasure included oilmen, a television repairman, a pharmacist, a grocery store owner, dirt contractors, water well diggers, fraudulent treasure hunting equipment hucksters, a heating and air-conditioning technician, and numerous other true believers. Searchers used aerial photos, underwater metal detectors, and magnetometers to aid in their efforts. endobj We had not even known that he had heard of the treasure. Photo: WhisperToMe, Public domain. The dig, which employed 39 Zuni workmen, was conducted from 1917 through 1921 and in 1923, and uncovered approximately 25,000 artifacts as well as human remains. After sitting undisturbed for more than 10 years, a treasure chest holding gold nuggets and precious gems has been found in the Rocky Mountains. Hughes Springs up in Cass County was founded by two brothers looking for a treasure in the 1850s or 60s. A light came on when the probe hit metal. click photo for more. TATUM A trio of Jacksonville natives wants to turn two-century-old piracy legend into a full-length feature documentary film and theyre seeking funding help to do it. Royal discovery made after 99-year-old code is broken by Siberian mathematics genius. Some tough local lawmen. Captain Blackbeard's Lost Silver, said to be $1.5 million worth of silver bars. Mainly clear. hill on the Lakes side, the scans show some promising images. Kuna, ID hosted by Treasure Valley Disc Golf. Any "COB" finds in Texas I was just wondering if any member in Texas has found any cobs, reales, etc. Whats Up With All the Kangaroos on the Loose in Texas? Omoa was the site of the largest Spanish fort in Central America, a fort constructed to safeguard the Spanish silver shipments from the mines of Tegucigalpa in Honduras. In an interview . 2019. One group proposed to use a new divining rod activated with isotopes. . though. they might find something, a storm rolls in. 24 Lake Toplitz In Austria Is Believed To Hold The Lost Treasures From World War II. We'll send you a couple of emails per month, filled with fascinating history facts that you can share with your friends. accepts, and the show continues at Hendricks Lake in East Texas. We report on vital issues from politics to education and are the indispensable authority on the Texas scene, covering everything from music to cultural events with insightful recommendations. Snavely of Taylor, who had hunted treasure for 60 years, found a ruby arrowhead weighing 15 karats, along with many other gemstones. To the north of Tatum, in the middle of the forest, lies Lake Hendrix. The tale basically states Galveston-based pirate Jean Laffite, in the year 1816, plundered a Spanish ship named the Santa Rosa. There will be people still in town who will remember Barnie Waldrop, Pinkerton said. If pirate plunder and sunken silver hidden in a lake seem like the elements of folklore, they are. endobj After getting some readings at the bottom of the lake (Hendricks Lake), two Dallas oilmen actually brought in a giant crane and attached a drag bucket to the cable. The legend has taken many twists over the years. Roper has been pursuing the legend and examining where and how the various parts of the story originated. Treasure Hunters at Hendricks Lake" but he is not a 'true believer' himself. Pinkerton spent time in Carthage recently talking to those with accounts of some of the treasure hunters, and he hopes to connect with more people who have Hendricks Lake stories to tell. Exclusive opportunity to purchase 1843 S. Federal Hwy, Andy's Live Fire Grill & Bar. When I was seven years old, we were at Athens Scuba Park owned by Calvin Wilcher and he was the one who told me the story, Roper explained.We were sitting in this dive store and Calvin just says, Hey, have you heard the story of pirate treasure in East Texas? At seven years old Im just going to find that extremely interesting. We are a community-supported, non-profit organization and we humbly ask for your support because the careful and accurate recording of our history has never been more important. Forrest Wilder writes about politics and the outdoors. Although hes fascinated by the legend and the excitement it created, Pinkerton doesnt believe its even a little bit true. Charles Fitzhugh Grice had the technology needed to find Spanish silver if the treasure was there. Tales of pirate booty and Mexican gold have captivated minds for generations, and it all could be closer than you might think. His book, True Believers: Treasure Hunters at Hendricks Lake, focused on the variety of people and their attempts to discover the fabled hidden silver and was released this past April. March 11 Saturday Daylight Wasting C-tier . Lets be honest, everybody loves a good treasure story. No one's found the Spanish silver cache, but some treasure seekers in this area have struck gold-or gemstones, as the case may be. Boise County - Near the Nevada state line at Rye Flats, a shipment of newly-minted gold coins . Overtime, Roper believes that this information was interpreted to mean that there was treasure in Hendricks Lake. There is a legend surrounding a supposed lost treasure in East Texas, one that filmmaker Christian B. Roper and his team have been researching for a documentary production, Sunken Silver. 0000044783 00000 n Many treasure hunters are convinced the money continues to lie beneath the mud of Little Cypress Creek in Upshur County. Lr !_) Michael Siepker, Fisheries Biologist; 563-382-8324; Michael.Siepker@dnr.iowa.gov Marc Waterlander, Conservation Officer; 319-240-6662; Marc.Waterlander@dnr.iowa.gov Iowa-Caught Fish Are Safe to Eat, In Almost All Cases He was reading a book about lost treasure that inspired him to do some digging online, where he found supposed evidence that a ship was lurking underneath the water. "I do not know the person who found it, but the poem in my book led him to the precise spot," Fenn writes. 1930, it came up again, 35. 147 0 obj On his website, Fenn wrote, "It was under a. Just about every book written about Texas in that era mentioned it. Hendricks Lake, once a commonly-frequented lake both for recreation and treasure hunting, is no longer accessible to the public. In the 1950s, the Sabine River and the nearby lake (Hendrick's Lake) experienced a new onslaught of treasure seekers when the story of Laffite's silver was published by the True West magazine. The open-endedness and lack of conclusion is what attracts Roper to the story today. 30 April 2021 AFP It is one of Sweden's most spectacular Bronze Age finds A man surveying a forest for his orienteering club in western Sweden stumbled on a trove of Bronze Age treasure reckoned. <>/MediaBox[0 0 612 792]/Parent 142 0 R/Resources<>/Font<>/ProcSet[/PDF/Text/ImageC]/XObject<>>>/Rotate 0/StructParents 0/Tabs/S/Type/Page>> The lake is located in the extreme northeastern part of the county along the boundary between Rusk and Panola. Access to the lake that for 150 years had been accessible for picnics and fishing was closed off to all but a few private landowners at the time. Signup today for our free newsletter, Especially Texan. I determined that there were maybe five that might have contained some sort of treasure. Fire Ants Have Unleashed Chaos in Texas for Decades. The oilmen then built a raft with a hole in the center and sank large pipes into the goop on the lake bottom. Its hard to find any newspaper before that, but thats the first and oldest mention that I found of it, he said. Alternate versions of that story have been documented since the 1880s, with variations including that the silver was from Santa Anna and the battle of San Jacinto and that the treasure was in a different location nearby. Although it hasnt yet been decided if the film will first be released at festivals and then to the public, Sunken Silver will eventually be available through online streaming. The Lost Padre Mine Somewhere in the Franklin Mountains overlooking the Rio Grande River in El Paso County is the Lost Padre Mine. Hendricks Lake, Both were the surnames of early settlers in the vicinity. At the age of 25, Jean Laffite was living in New Orleans, operating a warehouse essential to dispersing the goods smuggled by his brother Pierre. For more information on Sunken Silver, visit www.sunkensilver.com. As of May 2022, she resides in Austin and does media relations for TCEQ. Soldiers approach, wagons sunk in Hendricks Lake, an oxbow lake just south of the Sabine River in northeastern Rusk County. If information about one of the last searchers had been documented and publicized it would likely have discouraged further similar attempts in the future. Well, according to a story by Mary Rogers of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, there is evidence that in the early 1800s the theft did happen and that Jean Lafittes men, afraid that they were about to be ambushed, pushed several wagons loaded with silver ingots into the muddy waters. Eventually, the Mexicans unloaded the moneygold and silver coinsso they could make an escape. Seagoville pharmacist who was the diver that planted dynamite on the bottom of Hendricks Lake. <>/Border[0 0 0]/Contents(Tell us)/Rect[72.0 211.9047 103.6572 224.7953]/StructParent 7/Subtype/Link/Type/Annot>> James Bowie went on an expedition to find it. The land was sold sometime in the last 20 years and is now within a restricted mining area. During 1957 and 1958 the most significant attempts to locate the treasure took place at the lake. We met with Gary and it was very strange because he was working on this book at the same time we were working on this film and it had been decades since anyone had ever shown any interest in Hendricks Lake.. Stories like this, its what created a filmmaker in myself, its what creates archeologists, its what creates people that come up with plans to conquer whatever they want to solve in life, its just a special place.. <>/Border[0 0 0]/Contents(www.easttexashistorical.org)/Rect[308.5376 282.2367 447.0903 295.1273]/StructParent 4/Subtype/Link/Type/Annot>> Hotspots would include the many watercourses through the area and gravel arroyos northeast of Boise, near Idaho City. One of Hendricks's biggest contributions was financing the excavation of Hawikku, an ancestral village in New Mexico, where the A:shiwi (Zuni) first made contact with Europeans. North of Tatum, in the middle of the woods, lies Hendricks Lake. The total value? There are people who spend their whole lives and considerable sums of money searching for sunken treasure ships, lost mines, and hidden loot. The stories of treasure have been around for a long time, Pinkerton said. The real story of Hendricks Lake is not the legend alone, it is about the people who believed it fervently enough to put their time and money on the line in the hope of recovering it. Spanish troops caught up with the wagons along a trail near present-day Tatum, Texas. And he says, Treasure has a way of keeping its secrets. Many came to the lake to drain, dredge, dig, dynamite and scan its murky depths. 158 0 obj 0000010052 00000 n During the investigation, Roper found Gary Pinkertons book, We met with Gary in January and we had no clue about his book coming out, we just knew that he was kind of the expert on this trace, this route that had been taken in the story by this group of smugglers carrying all the silver, Roper said. Sight was acquired & transformed back in 2018 by Anthony Bruno, founder of Anthony's Runway 84 & Anthony's Coal Fired Pizza along wit That was the story.. They also had a raft built from which large pipes were sunk into the lake bottom, and used a metal detector to search the sediment. Houston historian Gary Pinkerton, a Longview native, is fascinated by those treasure hunters and their searches. In the last chapter of the book, I really talk about where do we go from here now., Theres something inherent in us that wants to believe those legends, Pinkerton stated. 5. click photo for more. (Image credit: Pictorial Press Ltd./Alamy) British . On his visits to Hendricks Lake with his son, they got a hit and brought a diver along to search the bottom. My father did do a bit of treasure hunting and more notably he was involved in a few treasure hunting circles of scuba divers. In this work you will find what I hope you found in my first book solid, thorough research and a story with which we can all connect. That lucky treasure hunter who finds where X marks the spot, will become an East Texas legend, just like the treasure they strove to find. trailer His website is www.trammelstrace.com. They say this inspired them to reach out to other treasure hunters and hear their stories. The location was later widely believed to be Hendricks Lake, an oxbow lake formation on the south side of the Sabine River. Back in the 1580s, Spanish conquistadors and priests often passed beneath the peaks of the Franklins on their way to New Mexico to colonize the Indian villages. Sometime around 1816,six wagon loads of Spanish silver ingots, allegedly stolen by the pirate Jean Laffite, were being transported through what is now East Texas. Forrest Fenn, a New Mexican art dealer, revealed on Sunday that his famed treasure was found, according to a post on his website that he confirmed to NBC News. Waldrop believed this man had many treasure secrets, but he was a well-known fraud. Peter Walker Adams lived in one of the houses on the hill near the lake and figured prominently in many of the newspaper stories. They both were at the lake during the treasure hunts of 1957 and 1958. The story goes that wagon loads of silver In the early 1820s, Great Colombia under the government of Simon Bolivar had begun commissioning former privateers as officers in their newly formed navy. endobj <>/Border[0 0 0]/Contents()/Rect[130.3037 595.1786 171.4307 606.1786]/StructParent 2/Subtype/Link/Type/Annot>> Houston oil men began a search for Spanish silver-thelegendary treasure of Hendricks Lake.! 153 0 obj True West Magazine article on Jean Lafitte. But theres just been this very persistent legend, and so in the late 50s, mid 60s, there were two really big efforts (to locate the treasure), tons of articles in the Watchman about these two different groups searching for it, dredging.. It featured Pirate Treasures. He gave the loot to smugglers who were attempting to transport six wagonloads of silver ingots to St. Louis where the treasure would presumably be minted into coins. . The son of Corbett Akins, Brodie grew up with Hendricks Lake as a routine part of his life and still owned that land on the lake until mining began. This page is for discussion about that early history,. Texas Lege Watch: A House Republican Fights for Chicken Freedom, Texas Monthly Recognized by ASME in the 2023 National Magazine Awards. Roper is the director of a four-part documentary series about the Hendricks Lake legend titled Sunken Silver. The documentary follows Ropers personal journey with the story, starting when he first heard it at 7-years-old and chronicling his dives and searches at Hendricks Lake. Sorry, there are no recent results for popular videos. The Irish Crown Jewels, stolen from Dublin Castle over a century ago, are still out there for treasure-seekers to find today. I got copies of pages in Spanish that say Yeah there was the Santa Rosa, the proposed name of the ship, there was a Santa Rosa, (but) it didnt sink. It carried cane liquor and salt and sugar from Cuba to Cadiz. In 1884 treasure hunters were all over the Sabine and a nearby lake that had been fed by the Sabine. They know it. 3 talking about this. Jupiter Island. They know its there. Christian knows his pirate history! Fearing an ambush by Native Americans, they then decided to hide the treasure by pushing it into the muddy waters of the Sabine River. Contacts. And the story was basically, you wanna be the guy selling the metal detectors, you dont want to be the guy out there looking for (stuff) that doesnt exist. The Secret: Location of the Treasure in Lake Park, Milwaukee Mark Heffron 35 subscribers Subscribe 5.6K views 2 years ago In this video I reveal the location of the treasure in Lake Park,. Hendricks Lake Blackbeard and the mysterious unsolved code of Olivier Levassuer, or The Buzzard, are mentioned. According to legend, Singer hid the money he found in a large sand dune that he called Money Hill. But as fate would have it, he and his family had to abandon their Texas home during the Civil War because they were considered Union sympathizers. The story revolves around oil fields in Texas, USA. The following, adapted from the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, is the preferred citation for this entry. Thats the one thing we all agree on about Sunken Silver, is that legend is a very powerful thing.. TV repairman in Carthage who kept up his efforts for years and was the local expert. Christian B. Roper, Ryan Travis, and Brackston McKnight, all Jacksonville natives, are working toward a documentary film about Hendricks Lake called Sunken Silver. The self-proclaimed worlds greatest underwater treasure hunter wrote several articles about Hendricks Lake for pulp magazines of the 50s and 60s. But people buy into it, and thats the part thats interesting to me.. This same engineer, only two years earlier, had led the team who located the Tecumseh, a Union metalclad ship sunk during the battle of Mobile Bay in August 1864. A few of the Cherokees were accompanied by agents of the Mexican government who had promised a lot of money to the tribe if they were able to drive out the Texans. 0000007400 00000 n Access to those treasure seekers was largely through land owned by a former Panola County sheriff, Corbett Akins, and one of his deputies, L.E. \Dy@tw sde!F@D}@10 4c/ Pinkerton is an enigmatic figure. That set off a huge treasure hunting stampede. It was packed with tons of gold and silver. For Pinkerton, the treasure of Hendricks Lake is its history and the people who have believed in the legend over the years. Jensen Beach. endobj In Texas, the Laffites founded a pirate colony named Campeche. There's no wonder it took 17 years to scour the ocean floor for this ship's treasure- a treasure lost in 1622 off the Keys. For information on, or to order True Believers, visit www.hendrickslake.com. 0000000756 00000 n The people who believed the legend enough to pursue it were a diverse lot. There are many stories about the famous pirate Gene Lafitte, but one of them places his lost treasure at the bottom of a lake right here in East Texas.