When you think of the word “treasure,” you probably think of pirates or maybe even wise-cracking Johnny Depp in a big Hollywood movie, but did you know there are real treasures out there? There are even some hidden away in this country. There may be famous hidden treasures all around the world, but there are even cooler ones hidden in your own national back yard.
1.) The Lost Dutchman’s Gold Mine.
Hidden ominously in an area in Arizona called Superstition Mountains is a stash of gold worth today over $200 million dollars. In 1876 a German miner named Jacob Waltz decided not to follow the advice of the other miners and took his expedition to these mountains and was rewarded greatly for this. It wasn’t until on his deathbed that Waltz revealed the existence of his treasure. He gave his wife and some clues to it’s whereabouts, but died before giving an exact place on a map. His clues are still hunters to find the loot, but so far the search has been proven to be nothing but perilous to modern day treasure hunters.
2.) Treasure Of The Alamo.
Apparently Colonel Jim Bowie and his men (including Davy Crockett) came into the Alamo with millions of dollars silver and gold, called the “San Saba Treasure.” They intended to fund the newly independent Texas so that it could stay out from under Mexico’s rule. But sadly, all the soldiers of the battle of Alamo perished, as did the location of the treasure.
3.) Dutch Schultz’s Treasure.
On his deathbed New York crime god, Dutch Schultz, rambled on about his fortune he buried somewhere in the Catskills. This fortune is said to be worth more than $50 million dollars. When a Grand Jury slapped him with a tax evasion charge, Dutch decided to hide his assets. He and his body guard Lulu took stacks of bills, gold, and diamonds in a strongbox and buried underneath a tree with an ‘x’ marked on the trunk. Lulu drew a map for his friend Marty later, but everyone involved in the scheme died before the treasure could be recovered.
4.) Treasure Of Victoria’s Peak.
In 1937 a man named Doc Ness was hunting around Victoria’s Peak, New Mexico, when he came across a mysterious hole in the ground. The tunnel led to a cavern which contained a treasure of gold bars, silver and jewels estimated to be around $1.7 billion dollars. The origins of the treasure are unknown. Doc began selling the bars, but was double crossed and shot. Only Doc knew where most of the treasure was hidden in the cavern and billions of dollars are still down there.
5.) Plummer’s Treasure.
In 1863, a man named Henry Plummer was elected sheriff of the town of Bannack. Only problem was Plummer was also secretly the leader of the violent, Road Agent Gang, which he was charged to stop. During Plummer’s reign as sheriff, the gang pillaged over $6 million dollars of gold. When it was revealed Plummer was the outlaw calling the plays, he was charged and sentence to death by hanging on the scaffold he himself built as sheriff. Before his execution he pleaded with the town “give me two hours and a horse and I will return with my weight in gold.” The townspeople didn’t believe him and the location of the treasure died with the man.
6.) Treasure of Skeleton Canyon.
When the Curly Bill Brocious Gang learned that Mexican bandits had stolen a treasure of up to $8 million dollars from the town of Monterey, Mexico, they decided to apprehend them and take the money for themselves in Skeleton Canyon, Arizona. They shot the men off their mounts, and then the mules so that they wouldn’t run away. But without any way of carrying the treasure out of the canyon however, they decided to bury it. Two men from the posse, Zwing Hunt and Billy Grounds, decided while the other men were at the saloon, they would come back and dig up the treasure and bury it in a place only they knew. Zwing and Billy were captured by the police and the location of the treasure was lost to history.
Isn’t it weird that the default plan was always to spend the money, instead of putting it in the bank or investing it? Oh well…
