The story was reporting the fact that Tatum beat a man to death who essentially made fun of that effort, Pinkerton said. This warrants some underwater metal detectors to be taken The tale basically states Galveston-based pirate Jean Laffite, in the year 1816, plundered a Spanish ship named the Santa Rosa. To him it is the Chase and the history. In 1965 a professional syndicate of treasure hunters, men who worked together at a packaging company in LeClaire, Iowa, and led by Clarence A. startxref 2018 Sunken Silver. Some fishermen in the last century pulled several silver bars from those very waters with a hoop net. (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.) <>/Border[0 0 0]/Contents()/Rect[72.0 594.2333 124.3037 607.124]/StructParent 1/Subtype/Link/Type/Annot>> In 2018, we decided to renew the legend with some information of our own. IXK\!%X[CQq tfI&JA PAefQj$9k,HmN}) n1jXb#,L5N_T U7VOn'u[^cW c{*`!+?@6rJQ|n ;fr4a}_OM%)t0 HUn>>IudFn _IXEvFmoj8!~X!HL: He knows more than a thing or two about the present . For information on, or to order True Believers, visit www.hendrickslake.com. Clarksville Standard, August 29, 1884. 0000002542 00000 n <>/Metadata 144 0 R/Outlines 97 0 R/Pages 141 0 R/StructTreeRoot 102 0 R/Type/Catalog/ViewerPreferences<>>> Christian Roper and Brackston McKnight, film makers. Spanish troops caught up with the wagons along a trail near present-day Tatum, Texas. 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. February 2023 Reader Quiz: What Did You Learn? endobj Although they attended different universities, Roper reconnected with high school friends Brackston McKnight and Ryan Travis and the three now work together on the project. <>/Border[0 0 0]/Contents( \n h t t p s : / / s c h o l a r w o r k s . So, he set up these steam engines and buckets on a conveyor belt and pumps. Hendrick's Lake treasure is focus of Houston historian's upcoming book, By Stella Wieser 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. The story goes that wagon loads of silver . The legend says that in 1816, Laffite and his fellow pirates plundered six wagon loads worth of silver from the Spanish. La Belle was a French ship that sank in Matagorda Bay in 1685 after running aground in a storm. 10 Lost Treasures in America Waiting to be Found. 149 0 obj A nearby lake fed by the Sabine River also caught their attention, since the silver might have been transported there by the current. 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. An occasional newspaper article kept the story alive and throughout the 1960s treasure hunters found their way to Hendrick's Lake, but none matched the expeditions launched by the SoRelle . However, all have failed in finding the supposed cache of silver, adding to speculation that the supposed treasure may be cursed. His interest is in the people who have acted on their belief in the legend. He built a new kind of sewing machine, and in 1851 he started I.M. 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.. His book, True Believers: Treasure Hunters at Hendricks Lake, focused on the variety of people and their attempts to discover the fabled hidden silver and was released this past April. Stella Wieser of the Panola Watchman. 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 first episode premiered on Tuesday November 17 at 10PM EST on the History Channel. But to this day, treasure hunters are unswayed. They did their research and, with dredging equipment and electronics gear, made multiple trips to Hendricks Lake but had no success. He maintains websites for Trammels Trace and for Hendricks Lake, as well as social media Facebook groups for both stories. The following, adapted from the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, is the preferred citation for this entry. click photo for more. The people who believed the legend enough to pursue it were a diverse lot. In the 1880s through the 1970s East Texas was, in most parts, very poor, very rural and it gave people something to believe in, it gave them their attachment to the beyond,. Pinkerton also maintains facebook pages Trammels Trace and Hendricks Lake Treasure-True Believers. Two years later, its researchers went on a mapping expedition with the . Despite this, no silver bars were found. In 1884 treasure hunters were all over the Sabine and a nearby lake that had been fed by the Sabine. 1930, it came up again, 35. That set off a huge treasure hunting stampede. . During the investigation, Roper found Gary Pinkertons book, We met with Gary in January and we had no clue about his book coming out, we just knew that he was kind of the expert on this trace, this route that had been taken in the story by this group of smugglers carrying all the silver, Roper said. Read More about Texas Tea Slot, about Jean Laffites treasure in the Sabine River. He found what he was looking for in the Spanish colony of Texas. There are people who spend their whole lives and considerable sums of money searching for sunken treasure ships, lost mines, and hidden loot. . He bought some steam engines and pumps, had a months worth of logs to keep the steam engines going and was gonna drain the lake. I got copies of pages in Spanish that say Yeah there was the Santa Rosa, the proposed name of the ship, there was a Santa Rosa, (but) it didnt sink. It carried cane liquor and salt and sugar from Cuba to Cadiz. A.C. SoRelle, Jr., and his brother, Henry, were oilmen who brought detection equipment, draglines, and other heavy machinery to dig into the gumbo mud on the bottom of the lake. It was a cloudy evening with low visibility, and Laffite attempted to capture what appeared to be two Spanish merchant vessels. Aug. 6, 2015 9:51 AM PT. We Found Out Archaeologists on Easter Island Have Discovered a Previously Unknown Moai Statue Buried in a Dried-Out Lake Bed Christie's Pulled In $202 Million at Its 20th/21st-Century Sales in . For more information about this incredible project and to see a short film trailer, go to their website at www.sunkensilver.com. If information about one of the last searchers had been documented and publicized it would likely have discouraged further similar attempts in the future. Born to an American mother and English father in Knoxville, Tennessee, Hendricks was raised in Portland, Oregon, and Twin Falls, Idaho, where she became active in local theater. endobj Peter Walker Adams lived in one of the houses on the hill near the lake and figured prominently in many of the newspaper stories. Overtime, Roper believes that this information was interpreted to mean that there was treasure in Hendricks Lake. This is the list to receive occasional emails containing special offers, deals and promotions (like contests). Seagoville pharmacist who was the diver that planted dynamite on the bottom of Hendricks Lake. I looked into it a little bit in high school and at UT, just on and off. Royal discovery made after 99-year-old code is broken by Siberian mathematics genius. <>/Border[0 0 0]/Contents()/Rect[130.3037 595.1786 171.4307 606.1786]/StructParent 2/Subtype/Link/Type/Annot>> The various people that searched for the Hendricks Lake treasure hooked him. H-E-Bs True Texas BBQ Restaurant Is Slipping, West Texans Are Learning What It Means to Live in Bear Country. LAKE CHIEMSEE, GOLDEN CAULDRON In Bavaria, in southern Germany, Lake Chiemsee has been the focus of many divers ever since a Nazi-themed gold cauldron, worth more than $560,000, was found there in . His website is www.trammelstrace.com. Its hard to find any newspaper before that, but thats the first and oldest mention that I found of it, he said. 0000001829 00000 n The last. It is now thought that the money is on the southernmost tip of Padre Island. 0000017011 00000 n This is just the beginning! It was packed with tons of gold and silver. 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? Six wagon loads of silver carried north along Trammels Trace. The oilmen then built a raft with a hole in the center and sank large pipes into the goop on the lake bottom. Treasure Hunters at Hendricks Lake" but he is not a 'true believer' himself. Low 47F. :icon_scratch: Thanks, Ernie 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. When a giant storm hit the region, the raft was washed away and destroyed. That's . endobj Signup today for our free newsletter, Especially Texan. (Courtesy of Andy Swanger) As far as more. Forrest Fenn, a New Mexican art dealer, revealed on Sunday that his famed treasure was found, according to a post on his website that he confirmed to NBC News. endobj For Pinkerton, the treasure of Hendricks Lake is its history and the people who have believed in the legend over the years. They got away with three thousand freshly-minted 1877 $20 gold pieces. We had not even known that he had heard of the treasure. 0000001730 00000 n See the BLOG here for more details. Houston oilmen who conducted the largest search ever attempted in 1957-1958. The dig, which employed 39 Zuni workmen, was conducted from 1917 through 1921 and in 1923, and uncovered approximately 25,000 artifacts as well as human remains. This page is for discussion about that early history,. 147 0 obj The information comes from books and treasure hunting Web sites (the best of which are legendsofamerica.com and treasurefish.com). Legend has it that Basss part of the money is in Cove Hollow, about thirty miles from Denton. More maps appeared showing various locations of a lost silver mine. There was no treasure found. During her time at the Watchman, she enjoyed writing features about businesses and local events. The location was later widely believed to be Hendricks Lake, an oxbow lake formation on the south side of the Sabine River. Mary Roger also tells us about how some fishermen much later got an unusual catch in their hoop net when fishing in the Sabine River; entangled in their net were several silver bars. Tales of pirate booty and Mexican gold have captivated minds for generations, and it all could be closer than you might think. The son of Corbett Akins, Brodie grew up with Hendricks Lake as a routine part of his life and still owned that land on the lake until mining began. 2019. And then he became postmaster two years later, so apparently nothing came of that. 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. Singer Treasure on Padre Island In the mid-nineteenth century, a man named Isaac Merritt Singer made significant improvements to the sewing machine. The film will explore the history of various parts of the tale, how they came to be woven in to a single fable and will reveal what was discovered during the months of research put into the project, including a new theory and information indicating the account of lost silver in an East Texas lake is actually a combination of stories. On his visits to Hendricks Lake with his son, they got a hit and brought a diver along to search the bottom. Other stories of Pirate Treasures are discussed. 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!). Texas State Historical Association (TSHA). Photo: WhisperToMe, Public domain. The mud is deep on the bottom, and just as Tales of pirate booty and Mexican gold have captivated minds for generations, and it all could be closer than you might think. In 1884, Tatum clubbed a man to death who made light of his attempts to drain Hendricks Lake. endobj 150 0 obj No matter what, I come to believe throughout professional research or diving, I will always associate it with Jean Lafitte, with treasure, with piracy because its meant so much to the community, Roper said. I titled it True Believers because Im way more interested in the people who believe this stuff than the possibility that there might actually be something, Pinkerton said. accessed March 05, 2023, Snavely of Taylor, who had hunted treasure for 60 years, found a ruby arrowhead weighing 15 karats, along with many other gemstones. No matter the lack of proof for a lot of these things, it just makes sense in your mind for a story like this to take place here.. and the story of the Hendricks Lake treasure is no different. The Hix boys from Baytown were featured on Discovery Channel's "Expedition Unknown" for their quest . Pinkerton went on to describe how there have been dozens of expeditions and attempts to find buried treasure between Hendricks Lake and the Sabine River. He also might have(might have, I remind you)come across a wooden chest containing what was then $80,000 in jewelry and coins. 154 0 obj %PDF-1.7 % The brothers meet with a Christian Roper who is actively hunting for the lost treasure of the pirate, Jean Lafitte. They have documented their search for reported treasure over eight seasons. Can College Sports Get More Absurd Than SMU Joining the Pac-12? For more information on Sunken Silver, visit www.sunkensilver.com. 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. though. 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 featured Pirate Treasures. By The Siberian Times reporter. The stolen loot was smuggled north some years later but ended up in Lake. Barnie was a TV repair man, and he had built this underwater metal detector, like the size of a washing machine. A Book by Gary L. Pinkerton, author of "Trammel's Trace". . To the north of Tatum, in the middle of the forest, lies Lake Hendrix. 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. The legend of Hendricks Lake treasure has inspired men to search for it for at least 150 years. In fact, this same story about Lafitte treasure being lost somewhere, was repeated over and over in almost the same pattern from the Gulf Coast all the way up into Arkansas and Missouri.. Barnie Waldrop of carthage was one of the more persistent treasure hunters. 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. Hendricks Lake, %%EOF On an 1863 map of the area, it was named Flanagan Lake but since the 1880s has been known by its present name. He shows Rick and Marty the 1957 They also had a raft built from which large pipes were sunk into the lake bottom, and used a metal detector to search the sediment. Roper has been pursuing the legend and examining where and how the various parts of the story originated. A TV repairman. On 4 February 1823, Laffite was onboard the General Santander off the town of Omoa in Honduras. Every dollar helps. <>/MediaBox[0 0 612 792]/Parent 142 0 R/Resources<>/Font<>/ProcSet[/PDF/Text/ImageC]/XObject<>>>/Rotate 0/StructParents 0/Tabs/S/Type/Page>> 146 23 Hits are sounded off. Gary is currently working on a history of Spanish East Texas focused between 1770 and 1813. 0000002304 00000 n Numerous springs within and around the lake keep it filled. endobj Soldiers approach, wagons sunk in Hendricks Lake, an oxbow lake just south of the Sabine River in northeastern Rusk County. 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. . Legend remains victorious in spite of history and it just attests to the power that legends have over people when the facts may not necessarily support something, Pinkerton said. <>/Border[0 0 0]/Contents(Tell us)/Rect[72.0 211.9047 103.6572 224.7953]/StructParent 7/Subtype/Link/Type/Annot>> 0000003134 00000 n TREASURE HUNTER CLAIMS FBI IS COVERING UP DISCOVERY OF CIVIL WAR-ERA GOLD WORTH MILLIONS "The two vessels separated after the impact, both fatally damaged. 162 0 obj 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. (In English documents, his last name was often spelled Lafitte, but Laffite was the spelling used by Jean and his brother Pierre.). 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. There was a problem saving your notification. Barnie Waldrop said he outlasted all the others and had seen fifty of em beaten by the lakes bog bottom. accepts, and the show continues at Hendricks Lake in East Texas. The self-proclaimed worlds greatest underwater treasure hunter wrote several articles about Hendricks Lake for pulp magazines of the 50s and 60s. This caused the Beyond Oak Island Summary of Episode 1: Pirate Treasures and the Search in Hendricks Lake for Jean Lafittes Lost Treasure. Texas oilmen. It says so much about East Texas folklore. Im going to talk to his son, who was 14 or so when they were out at the lake. Houston historian Gary Pinkerton, a Longview native, is fascinated by those treasure hunters and their searches. Essentially, somehow treasure came up in conversation and I had asked him if hed ever heard about the story of pirate treasure being lost in East Texas and we started slowly looking into it. The earliest mention of the treasure legend of Hendricks Lake that Pinkerton could find was in 1884. By 1829, the mythical lost silver mine of San Saba began appearing on Austins maps of Texas. Sorry, there are no recent results for popular videos. 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. Over the years, Hendricks 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. s f a s u . endobj Markers are dropped, and divers are sent down. True West Magazine article on Jean Lafitte. Hotspots would include the many watercourses through the area and gravel arroyos northeast of Boise, near Idaho City. And an MIT-trained electrical engineer who held a patent for underwater metal detection. The 1907 theft included the removal of a diamond star, pendant, and the collars of five knights of the Order. Whats Up With All the Kangaroos on the Loose in Texas? Jensen Beach. HOUSTON It's the treasure hunt of a lifetime, and now it's landed them on national TV. Success! Some tough local lawmen. Hendericks was a member of the Cras Est Nostrum and became Salazar at some point in the past. Little is known about his origins, but he was probably born either in Basque-France or in the French colony Saint-Domingue. including dialogue . Only recently did I learn of a parallel effort to tell the story of the Hendricks Lake treasure legend via film. Jos R. Ralat is Texas Monthlys taco editor, writing about tacos and Mexican food. they might find something, a storm rolls in. endobj My father did do a bit of treasure hunting and more notably he was involved in a few treasure hunting circles of scuba divers. May the hunters strike gold. 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. Peoples commitment to myths, tall tales and legends is powerful, according to Pinkerton. Legends live on! Hobe Sound. According to Swanger, the treasure was hidden beneath a dead tree at a place called Heughs Canyon Trail, at the mouth of Big Cottonwood Canyon in Utah. As Laffite and his men raced through East Texas with the wagons, Spanish. Dallas Morning News, August 1, 1965. 3. A semi-weekly newsletter with all of The Panola Watchman's sports coverage.
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