May the hunters strike gold. It was a cloudy evening with low visibility, and Laffite attempted to capture what appeared to be two Spanish merchant vessels. Its no surprise that East Texas has local tales of buried treasure. from oil explorers and water witchers to plain nuts.. the new book is available in paperback. On his website, Fenn wrote, "It was under a. The tale basically states Galveston-based pirate Jean Laffite, in the year 1816, plundered a Spanish ship named the Santa Rosa. Legend has it that the ship was so big it took two months to load and the Spanish were so upset with its loss that they sent five more ships to recover it- unsuccessfully. Secret stash of tsar's gold worth billions found in old rail tunnel near Lake Baikal. When a giant storm hit the region, the raft was washed away and destroyed. Singer Treasure on Padre Island In the mid-nineteenth century, a man named Isaac Merritt Singer made significant improvements to the sewing machine. 2. click photo for more. True West Magazine article on Jean Lafitte. CNN As soon as Forrest Fenn announced that his treasure was found earlier this month, rumors swirled about whether it had really been found or if the treasure hunt had been a hoax all. A light came on when the probe hit metal. An electrical engineer and MIT grad who before coming to Hendricks Lake to look for treasure had found the Union navys ironclad Tecumseh in Mobile Bay. An estimated $340 million., And as I write, the treasure hunters are out there, hunting, hunting, and hunting. Its hard to find any newspaper before that, but thats the first and oldest mention that I found of it, he said. The Lost San Saba Silver Mine This lost mine, with its rich vein of silver, has been what one treasure hunter writer has called the Holy Grail of Texas treasure seekers. In 1756 a Mexican official traveling through Texas learned from Indians of an exposed strain of pure silver that ran through a certain hill in Central Texas. 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. They lowered another contraption through the pipe to the lake floor. To the north of Tatum, in the middle of the forest, lies Lake Hendrix. He also noted there were a handful of other treasure legends that were nearly the same but with a different location or body of water and no specific piece of evidence regarding the Hendricks Lake silver on which he can hang his hat., When asked what he hopes Sunken Silver will accomplish, he answered just to tell the story.. In doing the research, I ran across stories about Hendricks Lake, Pinkerton said. In the final battle of the War of 1812, Lafitte and his comrades helped General Andrew Jackson defend New Orleans against the British. The legend of Hendricks Lake treasure has inspired men to search for it for at least 150 years. 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. Societies are kind of defined by what they put their belief in and what they really want to be true. Fort Worth Daily Gazette, October 3, 1884. <<83DDF97377B4B2110A0000A4D0C2FC7F>]/Prev 639425>> There was another story that said No it wasnt Lafitte, it was Santa Anna, and he didnt want the gold to be lost in San Jacinto, so he sent it on the wagon train. The guy from Iowa who did the treasure hunting had researchers in Spain, in the archives. Singer Treasure on Padre Island In the mid-nineteenth century, a man named Isaac Merritt Singer made significant improvements to the sewing machine. The tale basically states Galveston-based pirate Jean Laffite, in the year 1816, plundered a Spanish ship named the Santa Rosa. 5. Some said it was Santa Annas gold sent north from San Jacinto, and others say it was not even in Hendricks Lake, but in Martin Creek. <>/Border[0 0 0]/Contents()/Rect[130.3037 595.1786 171.4307 606.1786]/StructParent 2/Subtype/Link/Type/Annot>> The Cherokees started getting their butts kicked. H-E-Bs True Texas BBQ Restaurant Is Slipping, West Texans Are Learning What It Means to Live in Bear Country. 147 0 obj The story goes that Union soldiers tracked down Confederate president Jefferson Davis in 1865 and confiscated his gold. 0000000756 00000 n
THE LEGEND A brig named Santa Rosa plundered in Matagorda Bay in 1816. According to a story by Mary Roger of the Fort Worth Star Telegram, the silver was indeed robbed from a galleon by Laffite and his mean in the early 19th century. 152 0 obj Despite intense efforts at dredging, detecting, diving, and dynamiting for Hendricks Lake treasure, the only thing that was reportedly found in the lake was the rim of an old wagon wheel. Since that time, many parties and individuals have endeavored to find the Lost Treasure of Hendricks Lake, with searches as early as 1884 and as recently as the 1970s. 0000001390 00000 n
Overtime, Roper believes that this information was interpreted to mean that there was treasure in Hendricks Lake. They did their research and, with dredging equipment and electronics gear, made multiple trips to Hendricks Lake but had no success. Only recently did I learn of a parallel effort to tell the story of the Hendricks Lake treasure legend via film. Visibility is nil, so it is a touchy situation. The silver was never recovered. But a giant storm hit the area, destroying the raft and washing away all the evidence. 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. There are two legends in particular that seem to have found purchase in the minds of East Texas treasure hunters. Also join us in the Facebook Group: Beyond Oak Island Treasures for more discussions. This is just the beginning! Soldiers approach, wagons sunk in Hendricks Lake, an oxbow lake just south of the Sabine River in northeastern Rusk County. Pinkerton. . Angie Hendricks has been a dedicated RE/MAX Realtor for more than a decade, who offers attention to detail in every real estate transaction she handles. One particularly famous legend is that of Jean Lafittes treasure. The NOAA says the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary and partners first found the Ohio in Lake Huron in 2017. wagons to be pushed down an embankment and into a lake. They got away with three thousand freshly-minted 1877 $20 gold pieces. Gary L. Pinkerton, Barnie Waldrop said he outlasted all the others and had seen fifty of em beaten by the lakes bog bottom. Aug. 6, 2015 9:51 AM PT. The same thing is true for the Paradise Cove Lodge down California 178. 160 0 obj When researching Trammels Trace for my last book, I encountered the treasure legend of Hendricks Lake. Fearing an ambush by Native Americans, they then decided to hide the treasure by pushing it into the muddy waters of the Sabine River. 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. endstream . The tried to dynamite the bottom, but ended up with no silver for this efforts. Pinkerton came across the Hendricks Lake legend while doing research for his book, Trammals Trace: The First Road to Texas from the North. The total value? He had heard about the Trace from his dad as a portion of it runs through family land. On an 1863 map of the area, it was named Flanagan Lake but since the 1880s has been known by its present name. and the story of the Hendricks Lake treasure is no different. Hendricks Lake was By the time the summer of 1958 had ended, Waldrop, buzzing again and the moss-laden oaks echoed the sound of the SoRelles, and all of the other treasure hunters spurred on heavy equipment and trucks pulling in for another attempt. He also might have(might have, I remind you)come across a wooden chest containing what was then $80,000 in jewelry and coins. In one account, Pinkerton recalls doing research and finding a story about the son of the founder of Tatum. 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. Others have mounted full-scale salvage expeditions with backhoes and monster trucks and whatnot. To view perks for contributors or to make a donation towards completion of the film, visit www.gofundme.com/sunkensilver. 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. It is this tale that Christian wants to follow up on. While Pinkerton believes the lake area should be a park, the reality is Hendricks Lake is no longer accessible by the public as the land surrounding it belongs to private land owners or is being leased by mining companies. 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,. Just let me know if you find anything so I can break the story first. 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. The self-proclaimed worlds greatest underwater treasure hunter wrote several articles about Hendricks Lake for pulp magazines of the 50s and 60s. hunt presented by Christian, Rick and Marty offer to send Matty Blake down to George Mallory's lost camera. 0000007400 00000 n
Barnie was a TV repair man, and he had built this underwater metal detector, like the size of a washing machine. So read this, get up, and go after your pot of gold. 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.. TYLER, Texas (KETK) Legends of buried treasure have fascinated people around the world since time immemorial. So, he set up these steam engines and buckets on a conveyor belt and pumps. Legends live on! For information on, or to order True Believers, visit www.hendrickslake.com. 157 0 obj . for the most familiar version of the legend. In attempting to honor what he perceives to be Fenn's wishes . This book is the story of those people. Jimmy Carters Peanut-and-Egg Taco Made Quite the Impression on San Antonians, How Florence ButtNot Her SonLaunched the H-E-B Empire, The Top 50 Texas BBQ Joints: 2021 Edition, Saying Goodbye to Fairfield Lake State Park. 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 Read More about Texas Tea Slot, about Jean Laffites treasure in the Sabine River. So where is it? Gary Pinkerton, True Believers: Treasure Hunters at Hendricks Lake, East Texas Historical Journal 47 (2009). 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. 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. wooden object recovered during dive for the taping On the episode, diver Alex Wilcher brought up the one item found during the days spent searching. The team has found several people who have direct . 0000017011 00000 n
Plus, if when they come back and nothing can be found, he says they have the whole Texas coast and more to continue their search. In June of 2020, the treasure was finally found by a man who chose not to be named (perhaps understandably, as he was suddenly $5 million richer!). His interest is in the people who have acted on their belief in the legend. Many treasure hunters are convinced the money continues to lie beneath the mud of Little Cypress Creek in 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. Hendricks Lake, once a commonly-frequented lake both for recreation and treasure hunting, is no longer accessible to the public. Believed the treasure was in Martin Creek after meeting old Mexicans with a map when he was just a boy. . <>/Border[0 0 0]/Contents( \n h t t p s : / / s c h o l a r w o r k s . Christian knows his pirate history! The other big buried treasure legend from East Texas is the story of Little Cypress Creek. IXK\!%X[CQq tfI&JA PAefQj$9k,HmN})
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_IXEvFmoj8!~X!HL: Join the adventures in Beyond Oak Island- Tuesdays at 10PM and summaries and more in depth looks into the many stories of treasure, here at MW! Ive actually been at this project about 14 months now. 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. The people who have looked for Hendricks Lake treasure since the 50s have spent a lot of money and hired a researcher in Spain to see if the Santa Rosa actually existed, all kinds of things, Pinkerton said. The hidden fortunes of the Doan Boys Gang, said to be $2 million at least. It is now thought that the money is on the southernmost tip of Padre Island. But alas, nothing came of it. 01 April 2017. https://www.tshaonline.org, https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/hendricks-lake. endobj So nothing lines up; its just factually, there was no road that would carry wagons at that time. Many came to the lake to drain, dredge, dig, dynamite and scan its murky depths. No matter the evidence, they knew there were more ships filled with riches.. The Lost Treasure of Hendricks Lake The infamous pirate of the Gulf Jean Lafitte took a $2 million fortune in silver from a Spanish galleon and supposedly buried it in the Sabine River near the East Texas town of Sabine. Christian is not discouraged. The son of the founder of the town of Tatum. endobj Hendricks Lake near Tatum is now off limits to the public because it is on land owned by a mining company. But all the treasure hunters declared that I must be hiding the truth. Laffite spent the rest of his life attacking merchant ships around Central American ports; sometimes as a pirate and sometimes as a privateer. Ho-hum, right? When one of the recent landowners near the lake sold their property to the mining company, they inserted a treasure clause that reserves the rights to one-half of any treasure trove found on the Property by Purchaser. There will always be true believers in the treasure legend of Hendricks Lake. Filming for Sunken Silver should be completed by late summer and the documentary released during the fall. Texas Lege Watch: A House Republican Fights for Chicken Freedom, Texas Monthly Recognized by ASME in the 2023 National Magazine Awards. Now, more modern equipment was available, and one man used a metal detector and managed to get some interesting readings from the bottom of the lake. It certainly had promise since it was a round piece of wood, like the legend of the wagon sunk in the lake. Barnie Waldrop and the former Sheriff of Panola County, Corbett Akins, at the time were in an article on the first page of the Wall Street Journal. LAKE ISABELLA, Calif . Markers are dropped, and divers are sent down. In 1884 treasure hunters were all over the Sabine and a nearby lake that had been fed by the Sabine. That historic trail passed just to the east of the lake, with the trail making up two-thirds of the boundary between Rusk and Panola counties. In the early 1800s, Stephen F. Austin, on his first trip to Texas, also heard about a rich silver mine on the San Saba River and a gold mine on the Llano. The following, adapted from the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, is the preferred citation for this entry. endobj After sitting undisturbed for more than 10 years, a treasure chest holding gold nuggets and precious gems has been found in the Rocky Mountains. If information about one of the last searchers had been documented and publicized it would likely have discouraged further similar attempts in the future. 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. Tales of pirate booty and Mexican gold have captivated minds for generations, and it all could be closer than you might think. This catch rendered a lot of attention and by 1884, the Sabine River was riddled with silver hunters. Seagoville pharmacist who was the diver that planted dynamite on the bottom of Hendricks Lake. This warrants some underwater metal detectors to be taken endobj As Laffite and his men raced through East Texas with the wagons, Spanish. (All you English teachers out there, stop making fun of me for using the what is now known as phrase two sentences in a row.) endobj Patricia Sharpe writes a regular restaurant column, Pats Pick, for Texas Monthly. North of Tatum, in the middle of the woods, lies Hendricks Lake. Christian B. Roper, Ryan Travis, and Brackston McKnight, all Jacksonville natives, are working toward a documentary film about Hendricks Lake called Sunken Silver. Not one of them found any of the reported treasure, but that never prevented the next person from trying. Boise County - Close to 3,000,000 troy ounces of gold have been removed from the gravels of the Bose Basin and according to treasure hunters, there is plenty more to be found. Over the years, Hendrick's Lake near Tatum has been a place where many people have visited in search of a legendary treasure that was supposedly left at the site by Pirate Jean LaFitte. Winds light and variable.. Off the shores of Nova Scotia is Oak Island, a place where unimaginable riches (or absolutely nothing) can supposedly be found at the bottom of a money pit that has eluded treasure seekers for centuries.Originally, the money pit was found in 1795 by a teenager named Daniel McGinnis who claimed he saw mysterious lights coming from the island, and upon investigating, found a small circular hole . endobj 0000004529 00000 n
For information on, or to order Trammels Trace, visit www.trammelstrace.com. 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. Pinkerton is an enigmatic figure. He sent soldiers to look for it, but they found nothing. During his research for Trammals Trace, Pinkerton came upon the legend and it was something he tucked away and parked for a little while.. The stories of treasure have been around for a long time, Pinkerton said. There are two legends in particular that seem to have found purchase in the minds of East Texas treasure hunters. <>/Border[0 0 0]/Contents( \n h t t p s : / / s c h o l a r w o r k s . There are many stories about famed pirate Jean Lafitte, but one places his lost buried treasure at the bottom of a lake right here in East Texas. Pinkerton had to get special permission to visit for research and to take pictures. They know its there. The lake is located in the extreme northeastern part of the county along the boundary between Rusk and Panola. All in all, several wagons loaded with silver ingots went into the river. We need your support because we are a non-profit organization that relies upon contributions from our community in order to record and preserve the history of our state. The area served as a naval base during the war, and the publication notes that when the Allied forces were approaching, the Nazi's began sinking treasures in metal boxes in the lake . 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. Please support the Cherokeean Herald by subscribing today. Some tough local lawmen. As of May 2022, she resides in Austin and does media relations for TCEQ. They both were at the lake during the treasure hunts of 1957 and 1958. Daniel Vaughn is the countrys first barbecue editor, and he has eaten more barbecue than you have. 0000001207 00000 n
Hendrick's Lake treasure is focus of Houston historian's upcoming book, By Stella Wieser It was found approximately a decade later in 2020 in Wyoming by an anonymous treasure hunter later revealed to be former journalist and medical student Jack Stuef. To make this film a reality, we are seeking donors to help us meet our minimum budget goal. Hughes Springs up in Cass County was founded by two brothers looking for a treasure in the 1850s or 60s. Discovering history is part of the adventure, and that never ends. including dialogue . Things Found in the San Antonio River: Periodic draining of sections of the river have revealed skateboards, Mardi Gras beads, old bottles and a cell phone. Click here to start your Free Trial (no credit card required), by Michelle Dillon michelle@thecherokeean.com. As of 2019 much of the land surrounding the lake was in the permit area for the surface mining for lignite that covers thousands of acres. Both of them had consulted with Harry Rieseberg, the self-described worlds greatest underwater treasure hunter who had written articles about the legend in treasure magazines of the time. (Courtesy of Andy Swanger) As far as more. In 1925, W.E. His main focus is on Jean Lafittes treasure, xVy~}F0N13`&p"I9:tZ"-"}]{~~x/ c HfE4sowa-n_?B. If pirate plunder and sunken silver hidden in a lake seem like the elements of folklore, they are. Just another myth? Despite this, no silver bars were found. This page is for discussion about that early history,. Scotty Stotlar, Sr., appeared to have what it took to mount another serious attempt. There was a problem saving your notification. Stella Wieser was a reporter at the Panola Watchman from June 2018 to April 2022.