Hendericks was a member of the Cras Est Nostrum and became Salazar at some point in the past. Its hard to find any newspaper before that, but thats the first and oldest mention that I found of it, he said. We'll send you a couple of emails per month, filled with fascinating history facts that you can share with your friends. My favorite part of the legend is that the Guadalupe Mission in El Paso was built in way so that the shadows of the mission point to the Lost Padre Mine. Despite intense efforts at dredging, detecting, diving, and dynamiting for Hendricks Lake treasure, the only thing that was reportedly found in the lake was the rim of an old wagon wheel. Gary Pinkerton, True Believers: Treasure Hunters at Hendricks Lake, East Texas Historical Journal 47 (2009). This is the list to receive occasional emails containing special offers, deals and promotions (like contests). 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. 149 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. 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. See the BLOG here for more details. The earliest mention of the treasure legend of Hendricks Lake that Pinkerton could find was in 1884. Jos R. Ralat is Texas Monthlys taco editor, writing about tacos and Mexican food. When a giant storm hit the region, the raft was washed away and destroyed. endobj It is my sincere belief that the Hendricks Lake treasure was silver taken by Lafitte from capturing of the Spanish ship Santa Rosa in Matagorda Bay in 1820. Lets be honest, everybody loves a good treasure story. The dumping of the silver in the lake was a temporary thing until danger passed, then was recovered, after all he had divers at his disposal. If pirate plunder and sunken silver hidden in a lake seem like the elements of folklore, they are. The silver was never recovered. Peoples commitment to myths, tall tales and legends is powerful, according to Pinkerton. accessed March 05, 2023, There was no treasure found. Ho-hum, right? And the story was basically, you wanna be the guy selling the metal detectors, you dont want to be the guy out there looking for (stuff) that doesnt exist. Now, more modern equipment was available, and one man used a metal detector and managed to get some interesting readings from the bottom of the lake. When you see Hendricks Lake it just looks like it should have treasure in it.. 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. James Bowie went on an expedition to find it. 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. Roper has been pursuing the legend and examining where and how the various parts of the story originated. The legend says that in 1816, Laffite and his fellow pirates plundered six wagon loads worth of silver from the Spanish. Abilene Reporter-News, June 24, 1958. The Cherokees started getting their butts kicked. George Mallory's lost camera. endobj click photo for more. Some of the (alleged) lost treasures in Pennsylvania worth researching are ones like: $30,000 worth of gold coins said to be King George ll's Lost Plunder. After getting some readings at the bottom of the lake (Hendricks Lake), two Dallas oilmen actually brought in a giant crane and attached a drag bucket to the cable. swieser@panolawatchman.com, Stolen treasure, hidden mystery: Tatum-area lake lore focus of movie project. 161 0 obj The people who believed the legend enough to pursue it were a diverse lot. It featured Pirate Treasures. For Pinkerton, the treasure of Hendricks Lake is its history and the people who have believed in the legend over the years. By 1829, the mythical lost silver mine of San Saba began appearing on Austins maps of Texas. After sitting undisturbed for more than 10 years, a treasure chest holding gold nuggets and precious gems has been found in the Rocky Mountains. Hendricks Lake, Meanwhile, his younger brother John was exploring the coast of Texas. In 2005, Agent Hendricks was a young FBI agent who was aware . accepts, and the show continues at Hendricks Lake in East Texas. There are two legends in particular that seem to have found purchase in the minds of East Texas treasure hunters. At times the story stayed in circulation due to the efforts of Harry E. Rieseberg, a man who was the self-proclaimed '"worlds greatest underwater treasure hunter.. In Colombian newspapers, his death was lamented and his obituary described him as a brave naval officer. Read More about Jean Laffites treasure in the Sabine River, USS Hatteras (formerly St. Mary) was a 1,126-ton steamer purchased by the Union Navy during the early part of the American Civil War. After completing high school in Virginia, she moved to New York City and pursued a career as a model following her entry into a Seventeen cover contest. 1930, it came up again, 35. During the Mexican War of Independence, the Laffites served as spies for the Spanish, after moving to Galveston Island, Texas. The Irish Crown Jewels, stolen from Dublin Castle over a century ago, are still out there for treasure-seekers to find today. At one point, while wandering the beaches of Padre Island, he came across a bunch of Spanish coins. Boise County - Close to 3,000,000 troy ounces of gold have been removed from the gravels of the Bose Basin and according to treasure hunters, there is plenty more to be found. This is the place where six wagon loads of silver stolen by Jean Lafitte from a ship called the Santa Rosa were supposedly dumped, according to HendricksLake.com, a website run by author and independent researcher, Gary L. Pinkerton. Access to those treasure seekers was largely through land owned by a former Panola County sheriff, Corbett Akins, and one of his deputies, L.E. endobj That lucky treasure hunter who finds where X marks the spot, will become an East Texas legend, just like the treasure they strove to find. In one account, Pinkerton recalls doing research and finding a story about the son of the founder of Tatum. There will be people still in town who will remember Barnie Waldrop, Pinkerton said. Larry Holzwarth - May 12, 2018. In attempting to honor what he perceives to be Fenn's wishes . 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 led all the way back to an 1884 account where the guy who was the son of the founder of Tatum, Texas in East Texas decided he was going to drain the lake. The popularity of treasure hunting during this time period was profiled in numerous pulp magazines and news features, and the business of supplying treasure hunters was page one news in the Wall Street Journal. June 6, 2020 - Fenn writes on his blog that the treasure has been found. So nothing lines up; its just factually, there was no road that would carry wagons at that time. The ships turned out to be heavily armed privateers and they mounted a frontal counterattack that included heavy fire. Later, someone else who got high metal readings tried to dynamite the bottom of the lake. \Dy@tw sde!F@D}@10 4c/ Peter Walker Adams lived in one of the houses on the hill near the lake and figured prominently in many of the newspaper stories. 159 0 obj 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.. Houston historian Gary Pinkerton, a Longview native, is fascinated by those treasure hunters and their searches. HOUSTON It's the treasure hunt of a lifetime, and now it's landed them on national TV. click photo for more. "My father and his friends shared the Hendricks Lake treasure legend with me when I was very young, perhaps 6 or 7 years old," Roper said. The first episode premiered on Tuesday November 17 at 10PM EST on the History Channel. the new book is available in paperback. He knows more than a thing or two about the present . 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. A formal statement is due around noon in Moscow on Saturday when the first pictures of the gold will be revealed to the world's . . Captain Blackbeard's Lost Silver, said to be $1.5 million worth of silver bars. Off the shores of Nova Scotia is Oak Island, a place where unimaginable riches (or absolutely nothing) can supposedly be found at the bottom of a money pit that has eluded treasure seekers for centuries.Originally, the money pit was found in 1795 by a teenager named Daniel McGinnis who claimed he saw mysterious lights coming from the island, and upon investigating, found a small circular hole . A heating and air conditioning contractor. But did it even exist? My interest in the treasure legend turned into an article for the East Texas Historical Journal and the seeds for this book. The land was sold sometime in the last 20 years and is now within a restricted mining area. This caused the %%EOF When a producer for The History Channel contacted me in early summer, the legend was about to add a new chapter to the story.The Lagina brothers of Oak Island fame were beginning a new series, Beyond Oak Island, and the story of Hendricks Lake was the premiere episode on November 17, 2020. He maintains websites for Trammels Trace and for Hendricks Lake, as well as social media Facebook groups for both stories. Pinkerton also maintains facebook pages Trammels Trace and Hendricks Lake Treasure-True Believers. 0000004315 00000 n They lowered another contraption through the pipe to the lake floor. The open-endedness and lack of conclusion is what attracts Roper to the story today. <> Hendricks Lake is a special place for Roper. In an interview . They got away with three thousand freshly-minted 1877 $20 gold pieces. It is this tale that Christian wants to follow up on. Read More about The wreck of La Belle, 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? True Believers: Treasure Hunters at Hendricks Lake. When I was seven years old, we were at Athens Scuba Park owned by Calvin Wilcher and he was the one who told me the story, Roper explained.We were sitting in this dive store and Calvin just says, Hey, have you heard the story of pirate treasure in East Texas? At seven years old Im just going to find that extremely interesting. mATTY BLAKE (HOST) AND cHRISTIAN B. ROPER. The July 17, 1958 edition of the Panola Watchman includes this update on a search for Jean LaFittes treasure at Hendricks Lake near Tatum. At that time, the legend was that Mexican land pirates lived along the lake and dumped gold, silver, and precious stones in the lake when they were attacked by the Texans or some other forces. Tatum reportedly built a device with buckets on a conveyor and operated by steam engines to attempt to bail the water from the lake. They have documented their search for reported treasure over eight seasons. Somebody made fun of him; he clubbed the guy to death. The story goes that wagon loads of silver a must to have. Legend holds that the Pirate Jean LaFitte, or in some other versions Santa Anna, left treasure at Hendricks Lake near Tatum. The duo are currently working to make a documentary about the local legend of sunken silver ingots in the lake near Tatum. Although it hasnt yet been decided if the film will first be released at festivals and then to the public, Sunken Silver will eventually be available through online streaming. Hendrick's Lake treasure is focus of Houston historian's upcoming book, By Stella Wieser Christian Roper and Brackston McKnight lay eyes on Hendricks Lake, the alleged locale of sunken pirate treasure. Error! PRIME turn-key restaurant is a landmark of Fort Laud(Former Ernie's BBQ). This same engineer, only two years earlier, had led the team who located the Tecumseh, a Union metalclad ship sunk during the battle of Mobile Bay in August 1864. If you fill out the first name, last name, or agree to terms fields, you will NOT be added to the newsletter list. Every penny counts! Christian knows his pirate history! endstream One particularly famous legend is that of Jean Lafittes treasure. Click here to start your Free Trial (no credit card required), by Michelle Dillon michelle@thecherokeean.com. (Courtesy of Andy Swanger) As far as more. 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. Pinkerton came across the Hendricks Lake legend while doing research for his book, Trammals Trace: The First Road to Texas from the North. 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. <>/Border[0 0 0]/Contents(Provide feedback)/Rect[392.1938 211.9047 476.7295 224.7953]/StructParent 8/Subtype/Link/Type/Annot>> 0000017011 00000 n As of 2019 much of the land surrounding the lake was in the permit area for the surface mining for lignite that covers thousands of acres. Two oilmen from Texas actually brought a giant crane to the lake after getting some interesting readings from the bottom of Hendricks Lake. Charles Fitzhugh Grice had the technology needed to find Spanish silver if the treasure was there. A Book by Gary L. Pinkerton, author of "Trammel's Trace". 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? 0000003470 00000 n Beyond Oak Island Summary of Episode 1: Pirate Treasures and the Search in Hendricks Lake for Jean Lafittes Lost Treasure. Paul Uncle Fox Tatum, son of the founder of Tatum, Texas, carried out the first documented attempt to recover the treasure in 1884. Or Black Lake. Spanish troops caught up with the wagons along a trail near present-day Tatum, Texas. 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. He also noted there were a handful of other treasure legends that were nearly the same but with a different location or body of water and no specific piece of evidence regarding the Hendricks Lake silver on which he can hang his hat., When asked what he hopes Sunken Silver will accomplish, he answered just to tell the story.. For more information on Sunken Silver, visit www.sunkensilver.com. In one Internet posting, I read the following: Texas has more buried treasure than any other state, with 229 sites within the states borders. Photo: WhisperToMe, Public domain. The enduring story of Hendricks Lake is a treasure legend that has been around for more than 150 years. Its no surprise that East Texas has local tales of buried treasure. It certainly had promise since it was a round piece of wood, like the legend of the wagon sunk in the lake. Hutchinson Island. He gave the loot to smugglers who were attempting to transport six wagonloads of silver ingots to St. Louis where the treasure would presumably be minted into coins. Fort Pierce. endobj xVy~}F0N13`&p"I9:tZ"-"}]{~~x/ c HfE4sowa-n_?B. <>/Border[0 0 0]/Contents( \n h t t p s : / / s c h o l a r w o r k s . There are many stories about the famous pirate Gene Lafitte, but one of them places his lost treasure at the bottom of a lake right here in East Texas. endobj The legend of Hendricks Lake treasure has inspired men to search for it for at least 150 years. xref We are a community-supported, non-profit organization and we humbly ask for your support because the careful and accurate recording of our history has never been more important. 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!). When I found out theres essentially a documentary, a great one right here in East Texas waiting to be put out there, I was just excited to try to do everything I could to make that happen, he commented. Texas Lege Watch: A House Republican Fights for Chicken Freedom, Texas Monthly Recognized by ASME in the 2023 National Magazine Awards. Success! Ocean Breeze. For information on, or to order True Believers, visit www.hendrickslake.com. In 1969 an MIT graduate with a degree in electrical engineering and a patent for an underwater device for locating metals motored along the surface of Hendricks Lake in an eight-foot fiberglass boat towing his electronics. 152 0 obj There are two legends in particular that seem to have found purchase in the minds of East Texas treasure hunters. In a location on the lake, matching the tale, with a sloped Handbook of Texas Online, However, all have failed in finding the supposed cache of silver, adding to speculation that the supposed treasure may be cursed. Palm City. Little is known about his origins, but he was probably born either in Basque-France or in the French colony Saint-Domingue. including dialogue . hunt presented by Christian, Rick and Marty offer to send Matty Blake down to In 1912 it was like a big resort, come out and fish and real flowery language (in advertisements).. 2. Tales of pirate booty and Mexican gold have captivated minds for generations, and it all could be closer than you might think. Whats Up With All the Kangaroos on the Loose in Texas? My father did do a bit of treasure hunting and more notably he was involved in a few treasure hunting circles of scuba divers. . The tale basically states Galveston-based pirate Jean Laffite, in the year 1816, plundered a Spanish ship named the Santa Rosa. . On an 1863 map of the area, it was named Flanagan Lake but since the 1880s has been known by its present name. There are still treasure hunters to this day who believe the Lafitte fortune would be found if the lake was drained. Waldrop believed this man had many treasure secrets, but he was a well-known fraud. All in all, several wagons loaded with silver ingots went into the river. Six wagon loads of silver carried north along Trammels Trace. But they got nothing. This is just the beginning! 154 0 obj e d u / e t h j)/Rect[230.8867 249.8227 390.0566 261.5414]/StructParent 5/Subtype/Link/Type/Annot>> In 2011, Michigan-based treasure hunters Kevin Dykstra and Frederick Monroe found a shipwreck as they were searching for the $2 million in gold that, according to local legend, fell from a. Trammel's Trace-The First Road to Texas from the North is a 2016 book by Gary L. Pinkerton. Please post photos and a general area if you have . Sorry, there are no recent results for popular images. Societies are kind of defined by what they put their belief in and what they really want to be true. Its got quite a long story in the community. Laffite was wounded in the battle and is believed to have died just after dawn. One person who is still committed to the Hendricks Lake legend is Jacksonville documentary film maker and treasure hunter, Christian B. Roper. He believes that stories like this reveal something about the people who tell them. Spring is situated 3 miles northeast of Hendricks Lake. 0000002304 00000 n Barnie Waldrop said he outlasted all the others and had seen fifty of em beaten by the lakes bog bottom. The 1907 theft included the removal of a diamond star, pendant, and the collars of five knights of the Order. 5. In the 1950s, the Sabine River and the nearby lake (Hendrick's Lake) experienced a new onslaught of treasure seekers when the story of Laffite's silver was published by the True West magazine. None of (the rest) lines up, but 1860s, 1870s, there was enough yada yada to create some story.. After years of searching, Roper is still optimistic, and he said that his commitment to Hendricks Lake will still be there no matter what he finds. The following, adapted from the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, is the preferred citation for this entry. Pinkerton spent time in Carthage recently talking to those with accounts of some of the treasure hunters, and he hopes to connect with more people who have Hendricks Lake stories to tell. By using deep-sea sonar technology that can pierce the thick mud and clay at the bottom of the lake, Roper said he may have found a cart or wagon that might have moved treasure to the lake. Gary L. Pinkerton is an author and independent researcher. In 1965, led a team of Iowans in some aborted, but ambitious, attempts at the treasure. There was another story that said No it wasnt Lafitte, it was Santa Anna, and he didnt want the gold to be lost in San Jacinto, so he sent it on the wagon train. The guy from Iowa who did the treasure hunting had researchers in Spain, in the archives. In 1925, W.E. down. Winds light and variable.. 162 0 obj Charles F. Grice, Interview by Gary Pinkerton, February 2019. A few of the Cherokees were accompanied by agents of the Mexican government who had promised a lot of money to the tribe if they were able to drive out the Texans. Jean Laffite was a French pirate and privateer born circa 1780. 30 April 2021 AFP It is one of Sweden's most spectacular Bronze Age finds A man surveying a forest for his orienteering club in western Sweden stumbled on a trove of Bronze Age treasure reckoned. I looked into it a little bit in high school and at UT, just on and off.