By 1810, their successful smuggling operation had been supplemented with piracy. This lake has its dangers, of course. Lafitte knew that his new business outfit was hidden well enough that U.S. officials wouldnt be able to find him. Look it up. a must to have. Have a crack at it guys. Taylor Prewitt is the newsletter editor for Texas Monthly. Krigar and Leo Behme, two World War II veterans who had advertised in the Houston Chronicle that they wanted to use surplus mine detectors to locate buried treasure. Meanwhile, his younger brother John was exploring the coast of Texas. Yes I visited his home the Mason rouge in Campeche Galveston tx. The crescent-shaped lake is less than a mile long, thirty to fifty yards wide, and twelve to forty feet deep. 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. Lots of glass also. Legendary French pirate Jean Lafitte and his crew were also known to troll the Gulf for booty at the time . The business was so profitable because Lafitte was selling smuggled, foreign goods to the people of New Orleans. http://community.webshots.com/user/famleeroots, http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,109722.0.html, THE Random Chat Thread - AKA "The RCT" - No shirt or shoes required - Open 24 / 7, Metal Detectorists Ordered To Repay 1.2 Million Between Them 'Immediately'. Then it unexpectedly spills into the wide-open lake that he has sought. The Lost Padre Mine Somewhere in the Franklin Mountains overlooking the Rio Grande River in El Paso County is the Lost Padre Mine. In Colombian newspapers, his death was lamented and his obituary described him as a brave naval officer. I hope that you can help me out. Rumor has it the outlaw hid gold in canvas sacks on Packsaddle Mountain and that some of it could still be there. Apparently, he found a chest full of Spanish coins and jewelry amounting to over $80,000. 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? 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. The show starts with the Lagina brothers, Rick and Marty, sharing how their search on Oak Island opened them up to a world full of mysteries and lost treasures to explore. His exact whereabouts after that It happens every now and then," Hamilton said. are why the mystery is still such an interesting topic todaymore than 200 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. Before we dive In the 1950s, the Sabine River and the nearby lake (Hendricks Lake) experienced a new onslaught of treasure seekers when the story of Laffites silver was published by the True West magazine. She had his only known son, Jean Pierre Lafitte. 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. There were no chests. The enduring story of Hendricks Lake is a treasure legend that has been around for more than 150 years. Not that they're searching for it. He fled New Orleans to Lake Pontchartrain. James Bowie went on an expedition to find it. United States no choice but to pursue his arrest. 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, What they would love to find, if not the silver, are clues to the treasure at least being there. SAN ANTONIO You could find buried treasure in the Texas Hill Country -- an estimated $340 million worth. Jean Lafittes treasure Photo of Hendricks Lake, courtesy of Gary L. Pinkerton One particularly famous legend is that of Jean Lafittes treasure. Not one of them found any of the reported treasure, but that never prevented the next person from trying. He captured ships and sold their cargoes, which often included slaves, to shady merchants in New Orleans. Most who plied that area back then kept what they found close to the vest, and today that area is all open water, though many locals can still point out to you exactly where the Temple was. this mystery still has historians, researchers, and treasure hunters alike An historian named Herbert Bolton, using the original journals of the Mexicans from the eighteenth century, found what is now known as the Boyd shaft on Honey Creek. It's okay, because we're here to bust them! May the hunters strike gold. Sherman, who died in 1879, said he was able to walk on its deck. In a location on the lake, matching the tale, with a sloped La Belle was a French ship that sank in Matagorda Bay in 1685 after running aground in a storm. Some believe it belonged to the pirate Jean Lafitte. storytelling? No matter the evidence, they knew there were more ships filled with riches.. Its in the concrete shell stairs. The stairs run beside it. One legend says the ship was laden with bearskins full of gold doubloons and silver pieces when it was run aground by Lafitte while attempting to evade a U. S. revenue cutter. 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. I have a file 2 in thick on Hendricks lake treasure. Watch an alligator bask on a bayous bank. Oil workers actually picked up readings that metal was to be found at the bottom of the lake. The most beautiful lakes in Texas are all excellent choices for a trip. California musician Nathan Smith might have actually found one of Texas hidden treasure troves. If you fill out the first name, last name, or agree to terms fields, you will NOT be added to the newsletter list. Because of his track record and reputation, Jean Lafitte was still seen as a criminal in the eyes of the United States. According to legend, Bass used Longhorn Caverns in Burnet County as a hideout after some of his robberies although treasure seekers have yet to find any loot in the caverns. Small but made like a brick. NOWHERE BUT TEXAS: SEARCHING FOR JEAN LAFITTE'S TREASURE ON GALVESTON ISLANDJean Lafitte was born in 1780 and died in1823. But obviously, it would be worth going out and taking a look. 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. Other sites considered to contain Lafitte treasure are islands south of New Orleans and Galveston Island in Texas. The Temple was located just North of what is today Little Lake, in Lafittes time it was Little Lake Barataria, where Bayou Perot and Bayou Rigolets meet. They send a probe down and it hit metal just before a giant storm hit, destroying the raft and any other evidence. Many believe the treasure still lurks under the water, just waiting to be discovered. Okay, that was a really bad joke. Another good book that has some good info on Lafitte is Coronado's Children, by J. Frank Dobie. Fort Worth Daily Gazette, October 3, 1884. Buried Treasures of Texas: Legends of Outlaw Loot, Pirate Hoards, Buried Mines, Ingots in Lakes, and Santa Anna's Pack-Train Gold, W. C. Jameson. F 386 .6 .J27 1991. The Treasures of Galveston Bay: Facts and Legends of Hidden, Lost and Buried Treasure Located in the Galveston Bay Area, Carroll Lewis. Not a bad location to camp, near the river. Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve. They did their research and, with dredging equipment and electronics gear, made multiple trips to Hendricks Lake but had no success. Barnie Waldrop said he outlasted all the others and had seen fifty of em beaten by the lakes bog bottom. Although the state owns the land and materials below the lake, it will coordinate its efforts with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which controls the surrounding property that is part of the Wallisville Reservoir project, he said. A treasured mystery, It is now thought that the money is on the southernmost tip of Padre Island. Gary L. Pinkerton, Numerous springs within and around the lake keep it filled. 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. Excited about the history, research, and prospects of this 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. The popularity of treasure hunting during this time period was profiled in numerous pulp magazines and news features, and the business of supplying treasure hunters was page one news in the Wall Street Journal. Nice little interesting overview but the bit many accounts say lafitte settled in Galveston casts unnecessary doubt, The settlement in Galveston (Campeche) is firmly established in the history, theres even a museum there about it. But they got nothing. So read this, get up, and go after your pot of gold. Some historians recount that Lafitte went back to a life of crime, leaving the 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. Hits are sounded off. The fortune is said to have been stolen from the Spanish by Jean Lafitte. In the early 1820s, Great Colombia under the government of Simon Bolivar had begun commissioning former privateers as officers in their newly formed navy. People claim that a $2 million fortune stolen from the Spanish by Jean Lafitte was buried in the Sabine River. 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. They know its there. Others have mounted full-scale salvage expeditions with backhoes and monster trucks and whatnot. States officials granted him legal authority to pirate and capture British Read More about USS Hatteras, This is a funny little slot filled with intricate features and attention-grabbing symbols. One time she wrote about sports. 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. Its well known about the boat company started with silver found near Lake Salvador. 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. His body was buried at sea in the Gulf of Honduras. that the treasure is in a different location now than where it was buried? Hendricks Lake is an oxbow lake one and one-half miles south of the Sabine River and about four miles northeast of Tatum in Rusk County, Texas (32.371864N, 94.493190W). It reads that a cache of ancient gold coins was found near Jefferson island. Metal detector companies may be the only satisfied What about you? After pinpointing the wreck, he plans to have divers dig up to 9 feet deep for artifacts that might date or identify the ship. The smuggling operations of the well-known privateer eventually came to a screeching halt, though, when the United States began enforcing the embargo in New Orleans city limits some time after the act passed. floor after a shipwreck. treasure to speak of. See link. 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. He was also a ham radio operator. 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. Co-worker told me a story about Jean Lafitte having buried treasure near where we live. hunt presented by Christian, Rick and Marty offer to send Matty Blake down to While challenging, the trip also exposes an otherworldly beauty and abundant wildlife, such as alligators sunning on rocks, great blue herons roosting on stumps and white egrets winging across the water. The cousins have found buried treasure of sorts, their research has brought to life stories of pirates that come from a pivotal moment in our history when pirates became heroes. WebPerhaps not coincidentally, this was the same area where his former slave trading colleague Jean Lafitte had once had his headquarters. times as a smuggler and privateer, he became very wealthy. 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. Anahuac Jack feels certain that evidence will show that the boat belonged to Lafitte. Williams of Anahuac and their attorney, state Rep. Price Daniel of Liberty, who later became governor. Fearing an ambush by Native Americans, they then decided to hide the treasure by pushing it into the muddy waters of the Sabine River. "He just got stuck.". 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. into these uncharted waters, we need to know more about who Lafitte was. He declared himself governor or "master" until he fled to the Yucatan Peninsula after the U.S. government forced him to leave in 1820, records show. 5. Moving on to piracy by around 1810, Lafitte was based at the secluded Barataria Bay inlet. 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. The stolen bounty was part of the Mexican payroll in 1836 and its allegedly buried 5 feet deep near the oak tree. 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This article provides images of newspapers from 1921, and one column in particular that talks about Lafittes treasure. It was also the location that US Forces attacked, causing his band to make a hasty retreat. Daniel Vaughn is the countrys first barbecue editor, and he has eaten more barbecue than you have. I once made a scientific study of all the known shipwrecks, from ancient to modern, that occurred off the Texas coast. In 1909 members of the United States Geological Survey visited the site, which they described as being unproductive. Galveston after his adventures in Louisiana. "I've always been interested in the site and had it in the back of my mind but been too busy on other projects.". No treasure chests, hooks or parrot skeletons have been reported as of yet. Blackbeard and the mysterious unsolved code of Olivier Levassuer, or The Buzzard, are mentioned. Just about every book written about Texas in that era mentioned it. What is the latest news? Few besides him, who took part in the Battle of San Jacinto, are alive today. More than once the crane almost toppled into the water. Since then, several parties have approached D.L. Could it be that there were multiple burial locations Christian and the treasure hunting team are looking forward to using new technology to scan the bottom of the lake for possible anomalies, and hope to find a treasure which was missed in past searchers. Leave them blank to get signed up. The Thats a lot of money for a man who was a laborer just a few years before. Jean most well-known buried treasure mystery still to this day is the unfound Have you ever heard of any of these stories about mysterious lost treasure in Texas? He built a new kind of sewing machine, and in 1851 he started I.M. Read More about Jean Laffites treasure in the Sabine River, USS Hatteras (formerly St. Mary) was a 1,126-ton steamer purchased by the Union Navy during the early part of the American Civil War. unclear why Lafitte had to bury his treasure or even where he was last seen. NOWHERE BUT TEXAS: SEARCHING FOR JEAN LAFITTE'S TREASURE ON GALVESTON ISLAND Jean Lafitte was born in 1780 and they might find something, a storm rolls in. WebIn his long obituary of March 6, the Galveston "News" noted that: "In the death of Charles Cronea, the last of Lafitte's band, so far as is known, has passed away. Eventually, the Mexicans unloaded the moneygold and silver coinsso they could make an escape. When the Embargo Act of 1807 I was born and raised in East Texas. A lookout for alligators and venomous snakes is I also. Even though any treasure would most likely have been stripped from the vessel after it foundered, information on the ship's construction and artifacts such as tools and cannons could prove valuable, he said. knowledge (or educated guess) of Lafitte being the best privateer around, United have buried a large cache of treasure somewhere in the bayous of Louisiana. The tree is privately owned, but sits right on the highway (FM 2100) just a few miles north of FM 1960. Hidden gems in Texas are one of our state's greatest joys. Many of them are wandering through the beaches and backlands with nothing more than metal detectors. Jack feels at home here. Having lived Read More about Texas Tea Slot, about Jean Laffites treasure in the Sabine River. They will haunt you in your dreams for making a Click the image below to read our free eBook "The Big Book of Credit Union MythsBUSTED! WebAt the age of 25, Jean Laffite was living in New Orleans, operating a warehouse essential to dispersing the goods smuggled by his brother Pierre. 6. Texas Just Wouldnt Be The Same Without These 7 Charming Small Towns, The Scenic Train Ride In Texas That Runs Year-Round, Experience The Magic Of The San Antonio River Walk At Night With A Guided Boat Tour And Scenic Drive In Texas, Climb 82 Feet To The Top Of The John Jacob Observation Tower In Texas And You Can See For Miles, Enjoy A Themed Train Ride For Every Season On The Grapevine Vintage Railroad In Texas, This Chilling Texas Tour Takes You Back To When Americas First Serial Killer Was Terrorizing The Streets Of Austin, Kayak To A Waterfall On The Beautiful Lake Buchanan For A Year-Round Texas Adventure, Few People Know You Can Kayak A Hidden Stretch Of The San Antonio Riverwalk In Texas, Natural Bridge Caverns and Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch. 1. 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. Key to remember is that Lafitte was a business man, who turned merchandise that he acquired into money. As a backup plan, they would supply all adjacent markets with fresh fish on ice. The Galveston Daily News made light of the effort by suggesting they move their operation to the Gulf of Mexico since a good deal of wealth has been left under its waters by shipwrecks. A week after that humiliation, Paul Tatum clubbed a man to death after he made fun of Tatums attempt to drain the lake. Even though some, including Waldrop and Stotlar, had looked into draining the lake, there were no other attempts at that folly. Adams was a Rusk County backwoodsman who wears an old slouch felt hat, bib overalls, and a denim jacket, buttoned at the throat even in hot weather, and a favorite character of columnist Frank X. Tolbert for many of his Tolberts Texas articles over the years.
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