Somebody made fun of him; he clubbed the guy to death. In the final battle of the War of 1812, Lafitte and his comrades helped General Andrew Jackson defend New Orleans against the British. Stories are how we interact as people and its how we grow. Lets be honest, everybody loves a good treasure story. The NOAA says the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary and partners first found the Ohio in Lake Huron in 2017. 160 0 obj . The Lakeview Motel's name is false advertising these dry days. But theres just been this very persistent legend, and so in the late 50s, mid 60s, there were two really big efforts (to locate the treasure), tons of articles in the Watchman about these two different groups searching for it, dredging.. A brig named Santa Rosa plundered in Matagorda Bay in 1816. The Cherokees started getting their butts kicked. Sheriff of Carthage, who co-owned 470 acres on the northwest end of the lake with Corbett Akins. Some tough local lawmen. click photo for more. 146 0 obj hb```E@9Z9:sj*5)o(Hd`8iQ^gFMJNvZ7he);Ndx8uy}xc;Mt0u410[t0v4t40t40Zt00L@,E@`E,AsE^X/q5tDX4C#{ The film will center around local lore of a lost treasure of $2 million in silver ingots said to have been stolen by French pirate Jean Laffite and hidden by smugglers in Hendricks Lake, a. LAKE ISABELLA, Calif . La Belle was a French ship that sank in Matagorda Bay in 1685 after running aground in a storm. 0000003134 00000 n True West Magazine article on Jean Lafitte. Its hard to find any newspaper before that, but thats the first and oldest mention that I found of it, he said. An historian named Herbert Bolton, using the original journals of the Mexicans from the eighteenth century, found what is now known as the Boyd shaft on Honey Creek. and the story of the Hendricks Lake treasure is no different. 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. Hotspots would include the many watercourses through the area and gravel arroyos northeast of Boise, near Idaho City. Houston historian Gary Pinkerton, a Longview native, is fascinated by those treasure hunters and their searches. Is there anything better than the tale of someone discovering a hidden clue, figuring out an obscure reference, finding the final piece of the puzzle, and then discovering a fantastic stash of gold or silver? Filming for Sunken Silver should be completed by late summer and the documentary released during the fall. click photo for more. There are two legends in particular that seem to have found purchase in the minds of East Texas treasure hunters. His body was buried at sea in the Gulf of Honduras. According to a story by Mary Roger of the Fort Worth Star Telegram, the silver was indeed robbed from a galleon by Laffite and his mean in the early 19th century. Low 47F. We had not even known that he had heard of the treasure. Texas oilmen. <> In 1884, the guy Tatum is named after thought he would drain the lake, Pinkerton said. One person who is still committed to the Hendricks Lake legend is Jacksonville documentary film maker and treasure hunter, Christian B. Roper. So, he set up these steam engines and buckets on a conveyor belt and pumps. The hidden fortunes of the Doan Boys Gang, said to be $2 million at least. Christian B. Roper, Ryan Travis, and Brackston McKnight, all Jacksonville natives, are working toward a documentary film about Hendricks Lake called Sunken Silver. 0000000016 00000 n Their father, Barnie Waldrop, was the most active local treasure hunter. Fire Ants Have Unleashed Chaos in Texas for Decades. 0000004529 00000 n Legend has it that Basss part of the money is in Cove Hollow, about thirty miles from Denton. Omoa was the site of the largest Spanish fort in Central America, a fort constructed to safeguard the Spanish silver shipments from the mines of Tegucigalpa in Honduras. In a location on the lake, matching the tale, with a sloped 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. Laffite spent the rest of his life attacking merchant ships around Central American ports; sometimes as a pirate and sometimes as a privateer. . May the hunters strike gold. Legends live on! For Roper, stories like these are more than a curiosity. Join the adventures in Beyond Oak Island- Tuesdays at 10PM and summaries and more in depth looks into the many stories of treasure, here at MW! <>stream Its just a great story and what intrigued me was the people engaged in that all over those 100 years.. According to reports, the total bounty would be worth more than $1.36 million today. Can College Sports Get More Absurd Than SMU Joining the Pac-12? Many came to the lake to drain, dredge, dig, dynamite and scan its murky depths. Forrest Wilder writes about politics and the outdoors. 0 0000017195 00000 n There are two legends in particular that seem to have found purchase in the minds of East Texas treasure hunters. \Dy@tw sde!F@D}@10 4c/ The tale basically states Galveston-based pirate Jean Laffite, in the year 1816, plundered a Spanish ship named the Santa Rosa. The Hix boys from Baytown were featured on Discovery Channel's "Expedition Unknown" for their quest . Others have mounted full-scale salvage expeditions with backhoes and monster trucks and whatnot. PRIME turn-key restaurant is a landmark of Fort Laud(Former Ernie's BBQ). TYLER, Texas (KETK) Legends of buried treasure have fascinated people around the world since time immemorial. 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!). This page is for discussion about that early history,. https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/hendricks-lake. endobj To view perks for contributors or to make a donation towards completion of the film, visit www.gofundme.com/sunkensilver. 0000043284 00000 n Legend says six wagons full of silver bars were rolled into hendricks lake. Hendricks Lake is an oxbow lake one and one-half miles south of the Sabine River and about four miles northeast of Tatum in Rusk County, Texas (32.371864N, 94.493190W). Kuna, ID hosted by Treasure Valley Disc Golf. Over the years, Hendrick's 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. A team of treasure hunters could be on the verge of unearthing the "world's largest treasure hoard," said to be worth over $20 billion. 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. Clarksville Standard, August 29, 1884. 158 0 obj In one account, Pinkerton recalls doing research and finding a story about the son of the founder of Tatum. Hendricks Lake near Tatum is now off limits to the public because it is on land owned by a mining company. When you see Hendricks Lake it just looks like it should have treasure in it.. . A Book by Gary L. Pinkerton, author of "Trammel's Trace", Ive seen fifty of em beaten by the lakes bog bottom, from oil explorers and water witchers to plain nuts. . Akins and one of his former deputies were landowners along the lake and active onlookers with a piece of the action. Or Black Lake. Well, my beloved fellow Texas readers, though I have no idea whether anything Im about to pass on to you is the slightest bit accurate, here are six of the supposedly great Texas treasures still waiting to be found. A Book by Gary L. Pinkerton, author of "Trammel's Trace". One particularly famous legend is that of Jean Lafitte's treasure. Cush Reeves. (Courtesy of Andy Swanger) As far as more. Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. So nothing lines up; its just factually, there was no road that would carry wagons at that time. During the Mexican War of Independence, the Laffites served as spies for the Spanish, after moving to Galveston Island, Texas. 151 0 obj What I like most about the lake is that, it just contains this feel when you go out there and you see the Spanish moss hanging on the trees, you feel like youve gone back in time, Roper said. There are people who spend their whole lives and considerable sums of money searching for sunken treasure ships, lost mines, and hidden loot. At the age of 25, Jean Laffite was living in New Orleans, operating a warehouse essential to dispersing the goods smuggled by his brother Pierre. But they got nothing. Hendricks Lake, The first episode premiered on Tuesday November 17 at 10PM EST on the History Channel. TATUM A trio of Jacksonville natives wants to turn two-century-old piracy legend into a full-length feature documentary film and theyre seeking funding help to do it. The enduring story of Hendricks Lake is a treasure legend that has been around for more than 150 years. In Texas, the Laffites founded a pirate colony named Campeche. He built a new kind of sewing machine, and in 1851 he started I.M. 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. Fort Pierce. He also might have(might have, I remind you)come across a wooden chest containing what was then $80,000 in jewelry and coins. In 1884 treasure hunters were all over the Sabine and a nearby lake that had been fed by the Sabine. I determined that there were maybe five that might have contained some sort of treasure. If pirate plunder and sunken silver hidden in a lake seem like the elements of folklore, they are. s f a s u . Charles F. Grice, Interview by Gary Pinkerton, February 2019. The legend of Hendricks Lake treasure has inspired men to search for it for at least 150 years. Jean Lafitte's treasure Photo of Hendricks Lake, courtesy of Gary L. Pinkerton There are still treasure hunters to this day who believe the Lafitte fortune would be found if the lake was drained. Singer Treasure on Padre Island In the mid-nineteenth century, a man named Isaac Merritt Singer made significant improvements to the sewing machine. His book, True Believers: Treasure Hunters at Hendricks Lake, focused on the variety of people and their attempts to discover the fabled hidden silver and was released this past April. 3 talking about this. In the last chapter of the book, I really talk about where do we go from here now., Theres something inherent in us that wants to believe those legends, Pinkerton stated. Sorry, there are no recent results for popular videos. We are a community-supported, non-profit organization and we humbly ask for your support because the careful and accurate recording of our history has never been more important. :P1N8ihB:Ap"4qau_-6)aqhcgZ!=(!~qB3&\S%I}Dc{M6H31jiet_Ya dZ`URw#ser6QcS$JJrnlHN_f1`>!nUA{:_>vtZ)F+/z#~+PDG-+\X?U89XfDD\%E%R! b#[\Z}%dw2Q cDDp=_Em&>M!$]5yors8%52]Tp%>E]SV)IW%]Ka("Y4'7QuFf$a The legend says that in 1816, Laffite and his fellow pirates plundered six wagon loads worth of silver from the Spanish. Charles Fitzhugh Grice had the technology needed to find Spanish silver if the treasure was there. click photo for more. Tales of pirate booty and Mexican gold have captivated minds for generations, and it all could be closer than you might think. :icon_scratch: Thanks, Ernie down. Patricia Sharpe writes a regular restaurant column, Pats Pick, for Texas Monthly. 0000002062 00000 n And You Thought Feral Hogs Were Bad. 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. Larry Holzwarth - May 12, 2018. 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. So read this, get up, and go after your pot of gold. But people buy into it, and thats the part thats interesting to me.. Even though some, including Waldrop and Stotlar, had looked into draining the lake, there were no other attempts at that folly. On the trail of East Texas' buried treasure news - The Black Chronicle Buried, EAST, Texas, texas news, texas news update, trail, Treasure Read More about USS Hatteras, This is a funny little slot filled with intricate features and attention-grabbing symbols. Handbook of Texas Online, 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. I always thought it was interesting that people had reason to believe there was pirate treasure 200 miles from the coast.. I havent found anything to suggest that a centuries-worth of stories about buried treasure have any credence. If you fill out the first name, last name, or agree to terms fields, you will NOT be added to the newsletter list. Follow the link to read our updated Privacy Policy. And he says, Treasure has a way of keeping its secrets. Gary L. Pinkerton, The ships turned out to be heavily armed privateers and they mounted a frontal counterattack that included heavy fire. Both American coasts abound with tales of buried pirate treasure. xref 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 . Societies are kind of defined by what they put their belief in and what they really want to be true. View Tracy Y Hendricks results in Arlington Heights, IL including current phone number, address, relatives, background check report, and property record with Whitepages. Im hoping someday that people can get back down there, Pinkerton said. Treasure Hunters at Hendricks Lake" but he is not a 'true believer' himself. Since that time, many parties and individuals have endeavored to find the Lost Treasure of Hendricks Lake, with searches as early as 1884 and as recently as the 1970s. 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. Mainly clear. Thats the one thing we all agree on about Sunken Silver, is that legend is a very powerful thing.. Ive actually been at this project about 14 months now. <> accessed March 05, 2023, When we were looking through the story and seeing some of the characters that got interested in it, seeing some of the nations most prominent treasure hunters getting interested in the story, the story being picked up by some of the largest magazines and news outlets across the country in the 50s and 60s, seeing involvement from one of the worlds most famous psychicsits an incredible story, Roper noted. The search is called off for the time being. Whats Up With All the Kangaroos on the Loose in Texas? June 6, 2020 - Fenn writes on his blog that the treasure has been found. A dirt contractor. Sorry, there are no recent results for popular images. In the 1950s, the Sabine River and the nearby lake (Hendricks Lake) experienced a new onslaught of treasure seekers when the story of Laffites silver was published by the True West magazine. Scotty Stotlar, Sr., appeared to have what it took to mount another serious attempt. Christian knows his pirate history! Here are six of the supposedly greatest Texas treasures still out there. As Laffite and his men raced through East Texas with the wagons, Spanish. 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.. Peoples commitment to myths, tall tales and legends is powerful, according to Pinkerton. An estimated $340 million., And as I write, the treasure hunters are out there, hunting, hunting, and hunting. Jensen Beach. endobj 148 0 obj 0000002763 00000 n Beyond Oak Island Episode 2 Summary: Wild West Gold and the Search at Robbers Roost Canyon for Butch Cassidys Lost Treasure, All can be found to have a questing theme within them, Third Annual Masquerade Tribute of Hunts for Charity, The Second Annual Masquerade Tribute Wrap Up, Privacy Policy, Disclaimer and Affiliate Disclosure. Blackbeard and the mysterious unsolved code of Olivier Levassuer, or The Buzzard, are mentioned. There was no treasure found. Soldiers approach, wagons sunk in Hendricks Lake, an oxbow lake just south of the Sabine River in northeastern Rusk County. That was the story.. Somewhere with access to treasure-laden vessels, open coast, and trails and waterways to transport stolen goods. He sent soldiers to look for it, but they found nothing. But a giant storm hit the area, destroying the raft and washing away all the evidence. 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. From the first searches in the 1880s to the large scale efforts of the 1950s and 1960s, its story has . If you change your mind, you can easily unsubscribe. Oak Island Treasure Found May 18, 2021 Gagare1952 13.4K subscribers Subscribe 1.2K 292K views 1 year ago Breaking News: My friend John from Oak Island spend his whole life looking for that. The team has found several people who have direct . 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. Gary Pinkerton, True Believers: Treasure Hunters at Hendricks Lake, East Texas Historical Journal 47 (2009). mATTY BLAKE (HOST) AND cHRISTIAN B. ROPER. We report on vital issues from politics to education and are the indispensable authority on the Texas scene, covering everything from music to cultural events with insightful recommendations. 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. As of May 2022, she resides in Austin and does media relations for TCEQ. Barnie Waldrop and the former Sheriff of Panola County, Corbett Akins, at the time were in an article on the first page of the Wall Street Journal. A light came on when the probe hit metal. Read More about Texas Tea Slot, about Jean Laffites treasure in the Sabine River. It featured Pirate Treasures. Both were the surnames of early settlers in the vicinity. Waldrop believed this man had many treasure secrets, but he was a well-known fraud. 0000001390 00000 n Tales of pirate booty and Mexican gold have captivated minds for generations, and it all could be closer than you might think. We organized some strategic searches via dives doing grid patterns and things of that sort to try to get those up.. Sometime around 1816,six wagon loads of Spanish silver ingots, allegedly stolen by the pirate Jean Laffite, were being transported through what is now East Texas. One particularly famous legend is that of Jean Lafittes treasure. endobj In an interview . You have permission to edit this article. They did their research and, with dredging equipment and electronics gear, made multiple trips to Hendricks Lake but had no success. endobj Captain Blackbeard's Lost Silver, said to be $1.5 million worth of silver bars. Xi-vrcjVJO%X *hve~os)&pZl0nuUH;M%\,iB!N7;B`h Y2?SXx#l};(5-Sj\Ji6Y|f>>`}j8 C=H: =.p0=*y pGOF30.#yZeY92Hq{IjFhaftP[Ch[&P"(D3CSP+ )Q- $NNBeX"Ld_kUB'`Y%e8re%R 0aHd$0=~^nbY:pK/DQxE8"Sh5Y=9'wXJ9'.m*?%YTAcM>W*N7852@ZyV|>}c(&fZXBtzq]uF4A1*i Roper believes that the Little Cypress Creek story and the Hendricks Lake story may have a common heritage. This book is the story of those people. 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. In the early 1800s, Stephen F. Austin, on his first trip to Texas, also heard about a rich silver mine on the San Saba River and a gold mine on the Llano. By 1810, their successful smuggling operation had been supplemented with piracy. But if you dont like that version of the legend there are others. 150 0 obj 1930, it came up again, 35. Gary L . 157 0 obj The other big buried treasure legend from East Texas is the story of Little Cypress Creek. As they retreated, they headed into what is now known as Upshur County. <<83DDF97377B4B2110A0000A4D0C2FC7F>]/Prev 639425>> Barnie Waldrop, a Carthage television repairman, had used his own electronics to search the lake for years. That's . Maybe they can help them in their search from the insights learned from their own pursuit of the Money Pit. Well, according to a story by Mary Rogers of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, there is evidence that in the early 1800s the theft did happen and that Jean Lafittes men, afraid that they were about to be ambushed, pushed several wagons loaded with silver ingots into the muddy waters. 147 0 obj 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. Eventually, the Mexicans unloaded the moneygold and silver coinsso they could make an escape. On his website, Fenn wrote, "It was under a. . Numerous springs within and around the lake keep it filled. Hendericks was a member of the Cras Est Nostrum and became Salazar at some point in the past. This catch rendered a lot of attention and by 1884, the Sabine River was riddled with silver hunters. Beyond Oak Island Summary of Episode 1: Pirate Treasures and the Search in Hendricks Lake for Jean Lafittes Lost Treasure. endobj The Lost Treasure of Hendricks Lake The infamous pirate of the Gulf Jean Lafitte took a $2 million fortune in silver from a Spanish galleon and supposedly buried it in the Sabine River near the East Texas town of Sabine. 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. Pictured from left, Gary Pinkerton, Brackson McKnight and Christian Roper. s f a s u . 0000001829 00000 n Born in Longview in East Texas and living in Houston, Gary has published works of history born of his curiosity about what happened long ago in East Texas that played a role in the history of the Republic and of the State of Texas. 161 0 obj In 1925, W.E. It featured Pirate Treasures. Christian Roper and Brackston McKnight lay eyes on Hendricks Lake, the alleged locale of sunken pirate treasure. On 4 February 1823, Laffite was onboard the General Santander off the town of Omoa in Honduras. Spanish silver stolen by the privateer, Jean Lafitte. <>stream Spring is a census-designated place within the extraterritorial jurisdiction of Houston in Harris County, Texas, United States, part of the Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land metropolitan area. That set off a huge treasure hunting stampede. 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. The parade of those who made documented efforts for the treasure included oilmen, a television repairman, a pharmacist, a grocery store owner, dirt contractors, water well diggers, fraudulent treasure hunting equipment hucksters, a heating and air-conditioning technician, and numerous other true believers. Searchers used aerial photos, underwater metal detectors, and magnetometers to aid in their efforts. The information comes from books and treasure hunting Web sites (the best of which are legendsofamerica.com and treasurefish.com). 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. Although hes fascinated by the legend and the excitement it created, Pinkerton doesnt believe its even a little bit true. Exclusive opportunity to purchase 1843 S. Federal Hwy, Andy's Live Fire Grill & Bar. Continue Reading. Only recently did I learn of a parallel effort to tell the story of the Hendricks Lake treasure legend via film. Hobe Sound. And an MIT-trained electrical engineer who held a patent for underwater metal detection. 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. 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. Hendricks Lake is a special place for Roper. Texas State Historical Association (TSHA) And if so is the treasure still there? 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. The crescent-shaped lake is less than a mile long, thirty to fifty yards wide, and twelve to forty feet deep. This lake has its dangers, of course. Its no surprise that East Texas has local tales of buried treasure. The earliest mention of the treasure legend of Hendricks Lake that Pinkerton could find was in 1884. Just about every book written about Texas in that era mentioned it. Hendrick's Lake treasure is focus of Houston historian's upcoming book, By Stella Wieser It is this tale that Christian wants to follow up on. Hits are sounded off. Pinkerton also maintains facebook pages Trammels Trace and Hendricks Lake Treasure-True Believers. help him in his search. Id met his daughter, who when she was 12, they let her push the plunger on the dynamite to blow up the bottom of the lake.. 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. There are many stories about famed pirate Jean Lafitte, but one places his lost buried treasure at the bottom of a lake right here in East Texas. 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,. One of Hendricks's biggest contributions was financing the excavation of Hawikku, an ancestral village in New Mexico, where the A:shiwi (Zuni) first made contact with Europeans.