Dodge City: Reportedly, a stolen Wells Fargo treasure was hidden west of Dodge City in Ford County.
Point of Rocks in Southwest, Kansas.
Elkhart: Bandit loot hidden at Point of Rocks, northwest of Elkhart, Morton County, remains concealed.
Ellis: In 1870, a railroad payroll of $22,000 was robbed from the Wells Fargo office at Ellis. According to local legend, the money was stashed along the limestone banks of Big Creek just outside town and was never recovered.
Vintage Lakin, Kansas.
Lakin: $24,000 in silver coins was buried in 1828 on Chouteau’s Island, in the Arkansas River, five miles southwest of Lakin. Chouteau Island was along the Santa Fe Trail but has since disappeared due to the erosion of the Arkansas River.
Lawrence: Around 1862, an army paymaster was robbed of $195,000 in gold and silver coins while en route from Lawrence to Denver, Colorado. The coins are supposedly buried between two sycamore trees, just south of Lawrence in Douglas County, near the Wakarusa River.
Morland: A party of either Spaniards or California gold miners threw a treasure chest into the Solomon River near Morland when Indians attacked them. The river changed course, and the chest was never recovered. Some sources claim that the treasure, now under dry ground, was a hoard of gold bars worth $400,000.
Neosho Trail: A large cache of gold coins in a pair of buffalo hide saddlebags was hidden by a buffalo hunter on the Neosho Trail between Baxter Springs and Coffeyville at a point where the trail crosses the river.
Offerle: In 1851, a party of returning California gold miners and their families was attacked by Indians across the Arkansas River from what later became Taylor Ranch, two miles southwest of Offerle. $90,000 worth of gold dust was buried in a Dutch oven at the site, and the only survivor was an eight-year-old girl who was taken captive by the Indians. She survived to pass on the story to her descendants. In 1918, a woman who claimed to be related to a survivor of the massacre (none outside of the eight-year-old girl was known to exist) turned up in Kinsley with a map indicating that the treasure was hidden somewhere southwest of town, but she was unable to find it.
Reader’s Update: I’m writing to you on behalf of an article you wrote. I am writing to let you know that this is only a myth. My family owned the land you’re talking about. We used it for grazing cattle and sold it to a farmer whose name I don’t know. If needed, I’m sure I can find it. I’m sure that his discs would have hit the treasure when the farmer had it. – Dylan, October 2004.
Vintage Paola, Kansas
Paola: On July 10, 1918, the Missouri-Kansas & Texas passenger train was robbed by two men near Paola in Miami County. A small safe containing gold and silver coins was taken off the train into a field, where the bandits tried to open the safe without success. Eager to escape, the outlaws buried the safe at the edge of the woods about 100 yards from the railroad tracks. When one of the two was captured and taken into custody, he confessed to the robbery, telling the lawmen about the burial site. However, the money has reportedly never been found.
Randall: In 1910, Davey Morris, a miserly farmer, died on his farm about three miles south of Randall in Jewell County. Mr. Morris was a loner and a hard-working farmer who lived very frugally in his small cabin on the farm. He sold his produce for cash for more than 30 years, stashing it away in hideaways on his property. After his death, it was found that Mr. Morris was not poor, as various amounts were hidden throughout his cabin. Reportedly, Mr. Morris also stashed sums outside of the cabin in other areas of his property, but these have never been found.
Topeka: $500,000-$1 million in gold coins are buried on the old farm of Abram Burnett on the north side of Shungannunga Creek, which cuts through Topeka. His farm took in the SE 1/4 of Section 9, Twp. 11, R15 E in Mission township.
Pond Creek Station, Wallace, Kansas
Wallace: Peter Robidoux was the first merchant to settle in Wallace in the 1800s and prospered. He is known to have hidden several caches of gold and silver coins in and around the townsite, which were never recovered after his death.
©Kathy Alexander/Legends of America, updated December 2025.
Also See:
Treasure Hunting on the Kansas Prairie
See Sources.