Jameson - Lost Treasures of American History

LOST
TREASURES
OF AMERICAN
HISTORY

W. C. JAMESON

Copyright 2006 by W. C. Jameson

First Taylor Trade Publishing edition 2006

This Taylor Trade Publishing paperback edition of Lost Treasures of American History is an original publication. It is published by arrangement with the author.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review.

Published by Taylor Trade Publishing

An imprint of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.

4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706

Distributed by NATIONAL BOOK NETWORK

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Jameson, W. C., 1942

Lost treasures of American history / W. C. Jameson. 1st Taylor Trade Publishing ed.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN-13: 978-1-58979-289-0 (pbk. : alk. paper)

ISBN-10: 1-58979-289-0 (pbk. : alk. paper)

1. United StatesHistoryAnecdotes. 2. Treasure trovesUnited StatesHistoryAnecdotes. 3. Mines and mineral resourcesUnited StatesHistoryAnecdotes. 4. United StatesHistory, LocalAnecdotes. 5. United StatesAntiquitiesAnecdotes. I. Title.

E179.J36 2006

973dc22

2006008302

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.

Manufactured in the United States of America.

Notes from a Treasure Hunter

Ive been a professional fortune hunter for nearly half a century. Ive experienced a number of successes and a great many failures searching for lost mines and buried treasure. Regardless of whether or not a treasure was located, the quest was invariably rewarding and fulfilling, and after many years I realized that it was not so much the treasure that lured us, but the quest itself.

Of all of the experiences and adventures Ive encountered during my lifetime, few compare to the thrill and excitement associated with the search for, and, if lucky, the discovery of some famous lost mine or elusive buried treasure. Ive earned my living in a variety of ways over the years as a professional fighter, dock worker, lifeguard, musician, college professor, writer, and actor, but none ever offered the excitement and adventure of the hunt for lost treasure.

To my way of thinking, there are many good reasons for being a treasure hunter. My work takes me into the great outdoors, to the mountain ranges of the Rockies, Ozarks, and Appalachians, to the shores of the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean, and the Atlantic Ocean, to the deserts of the Southwest, the canyons and forests of Mexicos Sierra Madres, and to the island of Jamaica. Ive had jobs where I was scheduled to work in an office all day, but found them stifling and constrictive. These days, my office is the world, and I look forward to going to work every day.

As a professional treasure hunter I am constantly in the position of exploring and discovering. I get to visit places mapped and unmappedmountain ranges, caverns, remote valleysand revel in the sensation that few, if any, have been in these places before me. When I relate my experiences about such remote and unknown locations, my office- and classroom-bound friends often express terror at such things, unable to imagine a life away from cell phones and televisions. The ritual and regimentation of the nine-to-five job in the same place every working day suits them just fine. Some people are built for such mundane things and Im pleased we have them to pursue whatever necessary responsibilities they have. I do not possess the qualifications for such work because I am too accustomed, too addicted, to the adrenaline rush of exploration, discovery, and adventure, and cannot, will not, settle for less.

I regard a day without some kind of adventure as a day wasted. A day where the senses go unstimulated or unchallenged is a day pulling one closer to the grave. It is a portion of a life deprived of important sensations. Except for occasionally being shot at, pursued by bandits, falling off cliffs, evading rattlesnake strikes, and crawling through dangerous caves and mine shafts, I am convinced my lifestyle is a healthier way of living. I may not live as long as some of my friends who lead much safer lives as accountants, teachers, and businessmen, and who consider their sedentary lifestyle a sign of success, but the quality of the life and living I rub shoulders with each day cannot be topped for one who revels in the pursuit of adventure.

Finally, there is the prospect of finding wealth. I have been involved in over two hundred major treasure hunting expeditions and dozens of minor ones. Not every expedition ends with some amazing discovery. A number of my expeditions were successful in terms of finding a treasure, but many were not. On the other hand, even though the goal of locating some lost mine or buried loot may not have been achieved, each expedition was filled with adventure and excitement, which is a kind of special treasure in itself.

During some of the talks I give on treasure hunting around the country, people often ask where I find information and leads pertinent to undertaking a search for some lost or buried treasure. Most of the initial information I find, most of the leads I encounter related to chasing down a lost treasure, are gleaned from researching the legend, the lore, and the written history. I spend hours each month in libraries, among private collections of books, journals, and diaries, and interviewing other treasure hunters.

Some of the most exciting and exhilarating searches have resulted from reading and researching American history that deals with the times of the earliest visits to this hemisphere by the Spanish explorers and conquistadores to the present. Recorded history is rich with clues to lost fortunes, hundreds of them. Additionally, studying the history of the Americas, particularly the United States, fills one with wonder and awe at the many heroes encountered, the obstacles they had to face to accomplish what they did, and the seemingly insurmountable odds confronting the early explorers, traders, settlers, and adventurers. History is itself a great treasure, and if pursued with passion, can lead to any number of great adventures.

Ultimately, in my line of work it becomes not only a quest for the treasure, but for the history as well. In understanding the recorded events surrounding a certain treasure, whether it be some gangsters buried loot, a pirate stash, hidden coins from a train or bank robbery, or the caching of hundreds of gold ingots from a Spanish pack train, one will be better prepared to undertake the search, the quest, after one undertakes a thorough examination of the historical events surrounding it. Remember, ninety percent of the research and work associated with any given treasure hunting project takes place not in the field, but in libraries. Maybe one will experience success at finding a treasure, maybe not, but one will certainly come away better versed in some segment of history or another. For me, the challenge of learning about the various aspects of American history has been rewarding, enlightening, and helpful to my searches. Furthermore, it has been fun.