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More Treasure Just Waiting to be Found
Brazos County - One can only imagine how
dangerous the Old
San Antonio
Road, often referred to as the Old Spanish Trail, might have been in the
early1800's. This road, which went from
Bexar (now
San Antonio)
east to Nacogdoches and north of what is now known as the Old Spanish
Trail (a 1920's highway that went from Orange to El Paso,
Texas)
was littered with dangerous
Indians
and Mexican bandits. One one occasion, these worst fears were realized
when a pack train, carrying gold and silver along the Old
San Antonio
Road was attacked. However, before the caravan was totally wiped out, they
were able to unload and bury the gold and silver under a petrified log
near Bryan,
Texas.
According to the tale, the
treasure
has never been recovered.
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Brazos County today.
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Brewer County - Gold bars were said to have been lost in
Paisano Pass near the Brewster-Presidio county line. There is no record of it ever having been found.
 El
Paso County - Shrouded in legend is the Lost Padre Mine,
allegedly hidden somewhere in the Franklin Mountains. These peaks,
overlooking the Rio Grande make up the Paso del Norte
(Pass of
the North), leading from Mexico into what is now the United States.
Beginning in the 1580’s Spanish conquistadors and priests often passed
beneath the peaks of the Franklins on their mission to conquer and
colonize the Puebloan villages in present-day New Mexico. One legend
of the Lost Padre Mine says that some 300 burro loads of silver were
left in the mine by Jesuits before they continued on their travels to
New Mexico. Before they left, they filled in the shaft. Another
version of the legend states that when
Juan de
Oñate was ordered by King Phlip II to colonize the upper Rio Grande in
1595, he hid in the shaft 5,000 silver bars, 4,336 gold ingots, nine
burro loads of jewels, and four priceless Aztec
codices (books or manuscripts.)
The Guadalupe Mission in El
Paso, an adobe structure built between
1658 and 1668, is also involved in the legend, some saying that the
shadows made by the mission point to the Lost Padre Mine.
Though many believe
the treasure to be hidden in the Franklin Mountains of El Paso County,
another legends states that the Lost Padre Mine is not in Texas at
all, but is in New Mexico. See
HERE.
Leon Springs -
About 2 ½ miles northeast of the old Soldiers Camp near Leon Springs,
is said to be a cave filled with small kegs, possibly filled with
treasure
or rich ore. The legend tells that a soldier found the location in
1916 while hunting, but when he returned was unable to find it again.
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Mills County - In October of 1858, Moses
and Lydia Jackson, along with four of their seven children, set out from
their cabin in the southeast section of Mills County to spend the day with
friends. But the family would not make it to their friends. Instead they
came upon a group of
Indians,
most likely
Comanches,
and both adults and two of their children were killed near Jackson
Springs. Two other children were abducted, only to be abandoned some two
weeks later. The children walked for two days before being recovered by a
search party of settlers and
Texas Rangers
near Sweetwater.
 Mr.
and Mrs. Jackson and the two children killed by the
Indians
were buried where they fell. A
Texas
Historical marker now marks to the spot in Mills County, located where
state road 573 crosses the Pecan Bayou.
Almost immediately following the Jackson
Massacre, a legend of buried gold began to be circulated. According to the
tale, Moses Jackson had successfully sold a number of steers in the summer
of 1858 and received gold in payment. His second oldest son, Javan, who
had not joined their family on their ill-fated trip, had overheard his
parents talking about the gold. Moses Jackson then poured the gold into a
metal receptacle and disappeared outside, returning sometime later without
the metal container.
Presumably, Mr. Jackson
buried it somewhere near his property. After the tragic death of his
family members, the two remaining younger children were sent to live with
their oldest brother, John Thomas Jackson in Lampasas,
Texas. Javan, who was old enough to care for himself, was said to have spent
considerable time search for the gold he was sure his father buried near
their cabin.
Since that time, dozens of people have
searched for Moses Jackson’s hidden cache, but if it has ever been found,
no record of a claim has ever been made.
Palo Duro Canyon - Long the home to
Indians,
trailblazers, and often utilized as a hideout for outlaws, legends of
buried
treasure have long been told to be hidden within
Palo Duro Canyon. One such tale alleges
that pioneers traveling through here long ago lost a cache of $20 gold
coins that have never been found.
St. Joseph Island
- In the early 1800's Jean Laffite, the fabled privateer, was known to
plunder Spanish and French ships in the Gulf of Mexico. However, what he
may not have known was that St. Joseph Island, as well as much of the
Texas
coastline, was "ruled" by the Karankawa
Indian
Tribe. These natives, known as superb hunters, fisherman, and warriors,
were also cannibalistic, and a powerful enemy to anyone they felt
threatened their prime hunting grounds. One old
treasure
legend tells of how the pirate, Keam Laffite disbanded his crew at the tip
of St. Joseph's Island, near Falso Live Oak Point in 1821. There, the men
were to hide the plundered
treasure;
however. as the legend is told, “Many men went into the woods bearing
heavy treasure
chests, but only one man came out.” In the meantime, Jean Laffite
sailed away to continue his plundering.
Kathy Weiser/Legends
of America, © January, 2007
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