Steamboat on the Mississippi River in St. Louis, Missouri, George Catlin, 1832.
Sunken Treasure in the Mississippi – In the Mississippi River that runs along the banks of St. Louis, Missouri, several steamships went down in the river long ago. Some of these are said to be laden with gold coins.
Outlaw Loot at Huzzah – About three miles out of Huzzah, Missouri is said to be a cache of stolen outlaw loot. The treasure was carried up a small hollow from Haunted Springs to a rock shelter, placed in a fox hole under the bluff, and covered with rocks. When it was buried, the skull of a horse head was left as a marker. Huzzah, Missouri, is approximately 100 miles southeast of Jefferson City, Missouri, on Missouri Highway 8.
More Spanish Treasure – Legends abound throughout the area of Noble Hill, that a cache of Spanish treasure is buried in the area somewhere. Noble Hill is about 13 miles north of Springfield, Missouri, on Missouri Highway 13 on the Polk-Greene County line.
Kaffer Treasure – A cache of gold coins known as the Kaffer Treasure is said to be buried in the area of Armstrong, Missouri. Armstrong is about forty miles northwest of Columbia, Missouri.
Hillary Farrington Loot – The outlaw Hillary Farrington was said to have buried a cache of loot on the Old Duram Farm at Jeona, Missouri.
Independence, Missouri
Independence Jewelry Heist – Sometime around 1927, $25,000 in jewelry and gems was taken by bandits who robbed an area jewelry store. Supposedly, the bandits were said to have buried the loot at the foot of an old oak tree between two large roots about six miles east of Independence. Now, for the tricky part. If the “six miles east of Independence” was back in 1927, this could be very difficult to find today as Independence, Kansas City, and other small suburbs have virtually melded into one large metropolitan city.
Forty Niner Gold in Missouri – Long ago, a Missouri man was said to have struck it rich in the gold hills of California. Returning to his home near Waynesville in Pulaski County, he was said to have buried $60,000 in the hills.
Sinking Creek Bridge
Sinking Creek Mine – A St. Louis doctor named Tyrell treated a dying and delirious man. In his delirium, the man told the doctor of a silver mine near Sinking Creek. The next thing you know, the doctor started buying up land near the creek and built himself a house. His son followed in his footsteps and continued the search believing that the area contained sulfite of silver. The mine was never found. Sinking Creek is in Shannon County, Missouri.
Spanish Mine in the Ozark Hills – Spaniards worked mines in the Ozark Hills of Missouri three centuries ago. One of the mines containing lead and silver, 18 miles southwest of Galena, was worked by seven men who could not agree on the division of the yield. One by one, they were killed in quarrels until but a single man was left, and he, in turn, was said to have been killed by the ghosts of his previous victims. In 1873, a man named Johnson from Vermont went there, trying to find the old Spaniards’ mine. He did work there for one day and was then found dead at the mouth of the old shaft with marks of bony fingers on his throat. The exact location of the cursed mine remains unknown.
© Kathy Alexander/Legends of America, updated December 2022.
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