James Bowie went on an expedition to find it. treasure of Jean Lafitte. One time she wrote about sports. 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. No matter the evidence, they knew there were more ships filled with riches.. Both were the surnames of early settlers in the vicinity. One Texas legend says theres a cache of Spanish silver buried somewhere outside Leander. If information about one of the last searchers had been documented and publicized it would likely have discouraged further similar attempts in the future. hidden treasures have been told time and time again in childrens books, video It may not display this or other websites correctly. No treasure chests, hooks or parrot skeletons have been reported as of yet. What if these stories are factual? The enduring story of Hendricks Lake is a treasure legend that has been around for more than 150 years. I am interesting in pirates treasures in Connecticut. It may not display this or other websites correctly. Other sites considered to contain Lafitte treasure are islands south of New Orleans and Galveston Island in Texas. Gary Pinkerton, True Believers: Treasure Hunters at Hendricks Lake, East Texas Historical Journal 47 (2009). He was also a ham radio operator. But the gold and diamond jewl was the confirmation I needed. the naval operations and common routes of port ships in the Mississippi River What they would love to find, if not the silver, are clues to the treasure at least being there. However, she says her husband remained certain that Lafitte's ship was buried in that mud. Published by the Texas State Historical Association. Legendary outlaw Sam Bass is said to have buried his bounty from stagecoach, train and bank robberies in several areas around the Texas Hill County. The chest was filled with gold, jewelry and other valuables, worth an estimated $1 million. 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. He was a "There was not a lot of money during the Depression to do exploring," recalls Chambliss' wife, Tabitha, 84, who still lives in Anahuac. accepts, and the show continues at Hendricks Lake in East Texas. Bass allegedly marked the spot with a rock in the fork of a tree, according to Lone Star Treasure. North of Tatum, in the middle of the woods, lies Hendricks Lake. wagons to be pushed down an embankment and into a lake. His treasure In 1816 Jean Lafitte, who was reputed to be an agent of the Spanish government (Agent 13, to be exact), raided a Spanish vessel called the Santa Rosa. Mary Claire Patton has been a journalist with KSAT 12 since 2015. 5. He was now legally authorized by Great Colombia to take Spanish ships. Most of the people were locals, from Lafourche Parish, the southern part, mainly Cut Off and Larose and the Gheens area, and also from the Des Allemands location. Its off 435 about 12 miles from where he fled imprisonment to the Pearl River. 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. WebSpanish silver stolen by the privateer, Jean Lafitte. On the edge of this little-known Chambers County lake off the Trinity about 35 miles east of Houston, Jack wants to show where a ship sank in the 1800s. Interest in the ship resurfaced nine years later when Elder H. Sherman, grandson of the man who first reported the wreck, remembered that his grandfather had driven a spike into an oak tree to mark the ship's location. Read More about The wreck of La Belle, Did the infamous privateer Jean Laffite steal a $2 million fortune in silver from a Spanish galleon and bury it in the Sabine River near the East Texas town Sabine? Theres quite a bit of back story on this one which can be read on Texas Monthly. To him it is the Chase and the history. the treasure be today? It is this tale that Christian wants to follow up on. I saved the newspaper to my hard drive and will try to break it down. Daniel sought permission from the land commissioner to salvage the sunken ship and "exhibit whatever findings to the public," newspapers reported. And the ship berry bros found look for gold on land nearby. Metal detector companies may be the only satisfied Although the lake was searched in the 50s and 60s, nothing was found at that time. "Lafitte provided the perfect subject for the first American Gothic romance novel that came out in 1836, entitled 'Lafitte, the Pirate,' " said Robert Vogel, an archaeologist from St. Paul, Minn. Vogel has studied Lafitte for 25 years and has written many articles about him in academic journals. help him in his search. Moving on to piracy by around 1810, Lafitte was based at the secluded Barataria Bay inlet. JavaScript is disabled. I always wondered why the searchers were only local, and that an organized big search never happened but it never did. He uses rain barrels to get his water. Discover New Orleans rich cultural mix. : they "found it". though. Retired Avenger, current NFL free agent. . 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. Not that they're searching for it. It was a cloudy evening with low visibility, and Laffite attempted to capture what appeared to be two Spanish merchant vessels. It was stuck in the crack of the stairs. Please let us know your thoughts in the comments section! Singer buried the chest after being forced to leave his home and returned several times in an effort to find his buried treasure but was never able to recover his fortune. 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. Supposedly, it still lies buried beneath the dirt. Many of them are wandering through the beaches and backlands with nothing more than metal detectors. Lafitte lived on Galveston island in the state of Texas, USA - from 1817 to 1821. Jean Lafitte became labeled by some as a Have you ever heard of Money Hill near the southern tip of South Padre Island? The Sam Bass Loot In perhaps his greatest venture, Texass legendary stagecoach and bank robber Sam Bass traveled to Big Springs, Nebraska, with his sidekick Joel Collins and held up the Union Pacific Railroad. Williams of Anahuac and their attorney, state Rep. Price Daniel of Liberty, who later became governor. He captured ships and sold their cargoes, which often included slaves, to shady merchants in New Orleans. Locating a ship that belonged to Lafitte or one of his officers would be a "significant find" because of the role he played on the Texas coast, said Hoyt. The Rosa was carrying a treasure cargo of silver bars and gold nuggets. Just let me know if you find anything so I can break the story first. When the Embargo Act of 1807 If you fill out the first name, last name, or agree to terms fields, you will NOT be added to the newsletter list. One of the men was found living in east Texas where he had bought a farm. The desire to believe that millions of dollars of silver bars still lie at the bottom of Hendricks Lake is not for the treasure hunters only. 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, More information can be found in Guide to Treasure in Texas A minimum of five treasure ships are said to have sunk at or near the mouth of the Rio Grande. You will see it gets its name from the treasure being buried there. But there is no proof Lafitte scuttled a boat there, he says. hill on the Lakes side, the scans show some promising images. and brother in the early 1800s. The Watch an alligator bask on a bayous bank. Even the location and date of his birth varies on the document or biography at hand. 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. Other stories of Pirate Treasures are discussed. At the moment he is headed for Lake Miller, a pristine pool unreachable by road, although the rumble of traffic can be heard from Interstate 10 a few miles to the north. The tried to dynamite the bottom, but ended up with no silver for this efforts. Have a crack at it guys. Charles F. Grice, Interview by Gary Pinkerton, February 2019. Texas, I learned, is full of buried treasureor, to be a bit more accurate, full of stories about buried treasures that no one has been able to find. 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. have buried a large cache of treasure somewhere in the bayous of Louisiana. My step father knew where one of these markers were, he had found it while hunting years ago and thought it might be a grave marker or something. It lies along the historic route of Trammels Trace, only one and one-quarter miles south of the location of Ramsdales Crossing/Ferry (Rocky Ford) on the Sabine River. The story dates back to 1816 when pirate Jean Lafitte is said to have stolen $2 million in silver from the Santa Rosa. ", This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google, A family in Baytown, Texas tell their story. Laffite was wounded in the battle and is believed to have died just after dawn. Because of his track record and reputation, Jean Lafitte was still seen as a criminal in the eyes of the United States. Gary L. Pinkerton, residents of Texas have claimed that the treasure was buried somewhere along My husband even traveled to Austin to talk to historian J. Frank Dobie about it.". The total value? If you change your mind, you can easily unsubscribe. 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. His brother, wanting to make something of himself as well, went exploring the coast of Texas to find buried treasure. He could have stashed some treasure somewhere along the Eastern shore. When you cross Bayou Des Allemands on Hwy 90, looking down the bayou to the south its a short ride to where the primary temple location was. The elderly owner has an attractive home and keeps a wonderful Christian is not discouraged. Every dollar helps. Do you have well as the fortunes left on the merchant ships that he captured. Many from the area have taken artifacts from there, including coin. They just might inspire you to become a treasure hunter and find some real adventure out there! He told me there is an old, very old oak tree. The first recorded mention of the wreck came from Jacob Haven Sherman Jr., a cotton gin operator, who told his nine children about discovering the site in the 1850s. Found a mamouth tooth a a tiny brick made of shell it has letters P on it and the other I cant make out. East Texas Gold From Mexico In 1839 Mirabeau B. Lamar, the newly inaugurated successor to Sam Houston as President of Texas, sent the Texas Army out to get rid of the Cherokees. There are But to this day, treasure hunters are unswayed. times as a smuggler and privateer, he became very wealthy. While such tales abound in historical accounts about Chambers County, Steve Hoyt, the Texas Historical Commission's marine archaeologist in Austin, says, "At this point, we can't say for sure what is down there. If you need help with the Public File, call 210-351-1241. Here ya go Bum, Passed by it again on Tuesday. Rumor has it that some of the money is hidden in Cove Hollow, near Denton. When the Embargo Act of 1807 came into force, the Laffite brothers moved their business from New Orleans to an island in Barataria Bay, Louisiana. I'm a descendant of his first mate and so while as a general rule I love history/archeology/treasure hunting, naturally this is the treasure that interests me the most. Some historians recount that Lafitte went back to a life of crime, leaving the Texas is full of buried bootyor, to be a bit more accurate, full of stories about buried booty that no one has been able to find. When they returned after the war, Singer could no longer find Money Hill because the sands had shifted and erased all the landmarks that he once knew. Excited about the history, research, and prospects of this There are still treasure hunters to this day who believe the Lafitte fortune would be found if the lake was drained. But a giant storm hit the area, destroying the raft and washing away all the evidence. Get it? It also has references to other lost treasure spots in Texas. Was it buried underground or lost under water? Great story! Most people wrote it off as another myth until a magazine published a story about long-forgotten silver, causing treasure hunters from everywhere to rush to the area. Mysterious Writings: Featured Contributor Segment and Update, Forgotten History Hunts: Featured Contributor Segment, Privacy Policy, Disclaimer and Affiliate Disclosure. The silver was never recovered. Other potential treasure troves require a longer drive but if youre willing to camp out or find a hotel, AirBnb, etc., you could be in for a big payday. I also. storytelling? that is. If you prefer to read about the explorations of others instead, we have you covered.
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