Long ago and far away,
Oh, wait! Back in the early 90's I ran into a guy who told me that he had heard of a treasure trove of around a hundred $20 gold pieces. That's $2,000 face value for the mathematically-challenged like myself. The original figure may have been $20,000 face value, but in the initial telling of the story (around 1 o'clock in the morning in a bar) figures may have been exaggerated. It also seems quite high for the time period.
Seems this old rancher back in the early 1900's had sold some cattle and was passing through an area where he had once lived and had buried his first wife. For whatever reason he was supposed to have buried this gold either just beneath the surface of her grave or nearby on the cemetery grounds.
Now the reason this guy told me the story was because he knew I had a metal detector and wanted me to make the trip to a neighboring state for the search. He was a former town official who had actually given me some grief about detecting in town a couple of years before. He had since retired and we had a sort of truce about my digging up the local park and athletic field.
Before we could make the trip, he got sick and died. However, he gave me names. And the old rancher who was supposed to have buried the gold? Well, he has a daughter by his second wife. She's in her 90's now, and still sharp mentally.
Should I pursue this? I may be the only person who knows the story or has what clues I have. I don't want to bother the daughter, but she never had children, and her heirs are nieces and nephews who will be sure to waste anything and everything from her estate when she passes.
The only other aspect of the story is that in the new state where the daughter was born, I have family who now own the old rancher's homestead.
Thanks for reading. This is really the only story I have regarding a possible treasure that I can tell.
Oh, wait! Back in the early 90's I ran into a guy who told me that he had heard of a treasure trove of around a hundred $20 gold pieces. That's $2,000 face value for the mathematically-challenged like myself. The original figure may have been $20,000 face value, but in the initial telling of the story (around 1 o'clock in the morning in a bar) figures may have been exaggerated. It also seems quite high for the time period.
Seems this old rancher back in the early 1900's had sold some cattle and was passing through an area where he had once lived and had buried his first wife. For whatever reason he was supposed to have buried this gold either just beneath the surface of her grave or nearby on the cemetery grounds.
Now the reason this guy told me the story was because he knew I had a metal detector and wanted me to make the trip to a neighboring state for the search. He was a former town official who had actually given me some grief about detecting in town a couple of years before. He had since retired and we had a sort of truce about my digging up the local park and athletic field.
Before we could make the trip, he got sick and died. However, he gave me names. And the old rancher who was supposed to have buried the gold? Well, he has a daughter by his second wife. She's in her 90's now, and still sharp mentally.
Should I pursue this? I may be the only person who knows the story or has what clues I have. I don't want to bother the daughter, but she never had children, and her heirs are nieces and nephews who will be sure to waste anything and everything from her estate when she passes.
The only other aspect of the story is that in the new state where the daughter was born, I have family who now own the old rancher's homestead.
Thanks for reading. This is really the only story I have regarding a possible treasure that I can tell.
..hunt the homestead anyway...