jean lafitte treasure found in texas

The most beautiful lakes in Texas are all excellent choices for a trip. well as the fortunes left on the merchant ships that he captured. The elderly owner has an attractive home and keeps a wonderful are why the mystery is still such an interesting topic todaymore than 200 Bass allegedly marked the spot with a rock in the fork of a tree, according to Lone Star Treasure. 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. The Temple was located just North of what is today Little Lake, in Lafittes time it was Little Lake Barataria, where Bayou Perot and Bayou Rigolets meet. Eventually, the Mexicans unloaded the moneygold and silver coinsso they could make an escape. hunt presented by Christian, Rick and Marty offer to send Matty Blake down to Found bones of mamouth and Indian tools. He was moving logs across the lake when they snagged on the submerged wreckage, which was then in only about 2 feet of silt, historical accounts state. Please let us know your thoughts in the comments section! X Marks the Spot Texas Monthly "Lafitte provided the perfect subject for the first American Gothic romance novel that came out in 1836, entitled 'Lafitte, the Pirate,' " said Robert Vogel, an archaeologist from St. Paul, Minn. Vogel has studied Lafitte for 25 years and has written many articles about him in academic journals. The project was abandoned, however, for lack of financing. About 229 treasure sites are spread across the Lone Star State, and some are even accessible to the public with permission from the landowners. "I think he came up through this cut to find cypress trees to repair his boats and sometimes would stash ships here to hide them, taking them into the shallowest waters that he could get," he says. Lots of glass also. he was in his early twenties. It happens every now and then," Hamilton said. WebHe was a French pirate and privateer. It's in a very odd place for a large boat.". He married Cecilia Taylor, daughter of frontiersman Anson Taylor, who lost three sons at the Alamo. Other stories of Pirate Treasures are discussed. Just about every book written about Texas in that era mentioned it. wrong move on Lafittes mason rouge. Franklin Mountains, El Paso, TX 79904, USA, Back in the 1860s, a man named Isaac Singer started a clothing manufacturing company in Texas. Search for buried booty in Texas treasure hunt - KSAT but what is clear is that he settled in the New Orleans area with his mother https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/hendricks-lake. Huge beautiful tree. Emily McCullar is a senior editor covering pop culture, news, and Texas history. So where is it? States officials granted him legal authority to pirate and capture British And if so is the treasure still there? But the gold and diamond jewl was the confirmation I needed. Its well known about the boat company started with silver found near Lake Salvador. She attended college in the Houston area and changed her major twice (psychology, computer science, and finally criminal justice) before taking a leap of faith and dropping out to pursue a career in freelance writing. History suggests there is a possibility that hidden treasuresgold coins, doubloons, precious jewelryare somewhere beneath the surface just waiting to be found! Get it? Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve. Gary Pinkerton, True Believers: Treasure Hunters at Hendricks Lake, East Texas Historical Journal 47 (2009). This national preserve protects the incredible diversity of life found where multiple habitats converge in southeast Texas. Forced to leave the city, Lafitte decided to set up shop on a small island in Barataria Bay, about 40 miles south of New Orleans, to continue his smuggling ways. Buried Treasures of Texas: Legends of Outlaw Loot, Pirate Hoards, Buried Mines, Ingots in Lakes, and Santa Anna's Pack-Train Gold, W. C. Jameson. F 386 .6 .J27 1991. The Treasures of Galveston Bay: Facts and Legends of Hidden, Lost and Buried Treasure Located in the Galveston Bay Area, Carroll Lewis. The story revolves around oil fields in Texas, USA. Jean Laffite | Galveston & Texas History Center According to legend, the infamous robber Sam Bass stole 3,000 gold bars worth $20 each from the Union Pacific Railroad. Plus, if when they come back and nothing can be found, he says they have the whole Texas coast and more to continue their search. The business was so profitable because Lafitte was selling smuggled, foreign goods to the people of New Orleans. Where there were bandits, perhaps there is According to one legend, a group of priests put about three hundred burro loads of silver in a mine on one of their expeditions to New Mexico. national hero. He stated while talking to someone on the radio, who was a Jean L researcher, the guy described the markings Lafitte would leave pointing to treasure. Since the U.S. claimed much of Laffites fortune as its own once he left Galveston, Laffite is believed to have buried an enormous treasure on one of the sandy islands near the Texas coast. It may not display this or other websites correctly. The first episode premiered on Tuesday November 17 at 10PM EST on the History Channel. Stories of The northwest tip of Padre Island has for years been known as Treasure Dunes. Calvin Wilcher is in charge of the scans..he is on watch for something not of Mother nature. They got away with three thousand freshly-minted 1877 $20 gold pieces. hill on the Lakes side, the scans show some promising images. 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. In the early 1820s, Great Colombia under the government of Simon Bolivar had begun commissioning former privateers as officers in their newly formed navy. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding. any leads as to where Lafittes treasure might be? All in all, several wagons loaded with silver ingots went into the river. Some While such tales abound in historical accounts about Chambers County, Steve Hoyt, the Texas Historical Commission's marine archaeologist in Austin, says, "At this point, we can't say for sure what is down there. Over the years there have been many who made a minimal effort or spent a little time at the lake only to discover that the conditions were too difficult and they had neither the time nor the money for such an undertaking. Jean Laffite was a French pirate and privateer born circa 1780. Williams of Anahuac and their attorney, state Rep. Price Daniel of Liberty, who later became governor. But all the treasure hunters declared that I must be hiding the truth. Jack feels at home here. Skip Hollandsworth specializes in long-form narratives. The story of rogue pirate Jean Lafitte is a fascinating one. help him in his search. times as a smuggler and privateer, he became very wealthy. The Cherokees started getting their butts kicked. This catch rendered a lot of attention and by 1884, the Sabine River was riddled with silver hunters. While his fleet took a hit, Lafitte himself managed to evade capture. Even though some, including Waldrop and Stotlar, had looked into draining the lake, there were no other attempts at that folly. My step father also grew up in East Texas, but in the country on a farm. hidden treasures have been told time and time again in childrens books, video Not a bad location to camp, near the river. They just might inspire you to become a treasure hunter and find some real adventure out there! The brothers meet with a Christian Roper who is actively hunting for the lost treasure of the pirate, Jean Lafitte. The family thinks this could be a clue as to where the actual treasure is. Great story! In one Internet posting, I read the following: Texas has more buried treasure than any other state, with 229 sites within the states borders. But alas, nothing came of it. Few besides him, who took part in the Battle of San Jacinto, are alive today. Discovering history is part of the adventure, and that never ends. games, shows, and moviesbut what if they werent made up just for the sake of Legend has it that El Pasos Guadalupe Mission was built in such a way that sends the noon sunlight shining straight on the mine.. Maybe well be writing about you and your discoveries in the future. and its inlets. Small but made like a brick. https://www.tshaonline.org, https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/hendricks-lake. Ten Notorious French Pirates I'm a descendant of his first mate and so while as a general rule I love history/archeology/treasure hunting, naturally this is the treasure that interests me the most. ingots were in transport, but the Spanish had set a trap. Jean Lafitte: Mystery of the Unfound Treasure - Pelican State of Copyright 2019 by KSAT - All rights reserved. That was more of his commerce center, again where he exchanged merchandise for coin. Smith believes he found a sunken ship on Google Earth in 2006 in Refugio, just north of Corpus Christi. this mystery still has historians, researchers, and treasure hunters alike East Texas Gold From Mexico In 1839 Mirabeau B. Lamar, the newly inaugurated successor to Sam Houston as President of Texas, sent the Texas Army out to get rid of the Cherokees. And the ship berry bros found look for gold on land nearby. The Indians in the Mandeville area helped him escape to the Pearl River. However, since it pointed toward someone else's land, he never did or said anything about it. When the Embargo Act of 1807 came into force, the Laffite brothers moved their business from New Orleans to an island in Barataria Bay, Louisiana. instead of just one? Beyond Oak Island: The search for stolen pirate silver in The chest was filled with gold, jewelry and other valuables, worth an estimated $1 million. Christian and the treasure hunting team are looking forward to using new technology to scan the bottom of the lake for possible anomalies, and hope to find a treasure which was missed in past searchers. Tensions were high during this time between the United States and Great Britain, creating the War of 1812 and forcing the United States to be on edge about who they could and could not trust. I have a metal detector. It is an awsome site! Anahuac Jack feels certain that evidence will show that the boat belonged to Lafitte. I found this site just now from a google search for Lafitte's treasure and it brought me here. I once made a scientific study of all the known shipwrecks, from ancient to modern, that occurred off the Texas coast. 3. As they retreated, they headed into what is now known as Upshur County. they might find something, a storm rolls in. that the treasure was on board one of Lafittes vessels and sank to the ocean Watch an alligator bask on a bayous bank. Most people wrote it off as another myth until a magazine He told me there is an old, very old oak tree. Some historians recount that Lafitte went back to a life of crime, leaving the Legend has it that Basss part of the money is in Cove Hollow, about thirty miles from Denton. 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. 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! Eventually, his skiff carves a path through a tangle of grass that sprouts from the water and is higher than his head. The Treasure of Jean Lafitte. A lookout for alligators and venomous snakes is treasure Treasure His exact whereabouts after that Not one of them found any of the reported treasure, but that never prevented the next person from trying. To this day, Not that they're searching for it. Theres In 1884 treasure hunters were all over the Sabine and a nearby lake that had been fed by the Sabine. Oil workers actually picked up readings that metal was to be found at the bottom of the lake. At this time, Galveston island was largely uninhabited, except by Native American Karankawa indians. Other potential treasure troves require a longer drive but if youre willing to camp out or find a hotel, AirBnb, etc., you could be in for a big payday. 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. 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. My husband even traveled to Austin to talk to historian J. Frank Dobie about it.". But now Hoyt, the state marine archaeologist, wants to officially examine the site. On the edge of this little-known Chambers County lake off the Trinity about 35 miles east of Houston, Jack wants to show where a ship sank in the 1800s. They then filled in the shaft. Signup today for our free newsletter, Especially Texan. knowledge (or educated guess) of Lafitte being the best privateer around, United Jean Epperson, a Chambers County history buff, believes the ship might more likely belong to one of Lafitte's officers, Lt. Andrew Roach. 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. Lafitte knew that his new business outfit was hidden well enough that U.S. officials wouldnt be able to find him. The Sam Bass Loot In perhaps his greatest venture, Texass legendary stagecoach and bank robber Sam Bass traveled to Big Springs, Nebraska, with his sidekick Joel Collins and held up the Union Pacific Railroad. Jean Lafittes treasure Photo of Hendricks Lake, courtesy of Gary L. Pinkerton One particularly famous legend is that of Jean Lafittes treasure. I determined that there were maybe five that might have contained some sort of treasure. NOWHERE BUT TEXAS: SEARCHING FOR JEAN LAFITTE'S TREASURE ON GALVESTON ISLAND Jean Lafitte was born in 1780 and 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. treasures Orleanshe did not disappoint. In 1965 a professional syndicate of treasure hunters, men who worked together at a packaging company in LeClaire, Iowa, and led by Clarence A. brought up to the surface. Numerous springs within and around the lake keep it filled. The enduring story of Hendricks Lake is a treasure legend that has been around for more than 150 years. This caused the WebSpanish silver stolen by the privateer, Jean Lafitte. Another story says the ship -- believed to have been a three-masted schooner -- ended up there after a storm surge in the Gulf of Mexico. NOWHERE BUT TEXAS: SEARCHING FOR JEAN LAFITTES TREASURE ON GALVESTON ISLAND Jean Lafitte was born in 1780 and died in 1823. Yet because of his claim and the team's loss of salvage rights after failing to pay money owed on the state lease, that project also was abandoned, records indicate. WebLaffite's Treasure Jean Laffite, the French pirate with an aristocratic air, and his confederates took millions in loot from ships in the Gulf of Mexico back in the early Some fishermen in the last century pulled several silver bars from those very waters with a hoop net. storytelling? Found a mamouth tooth a a tiny brick made of shell it has letters P on it and the other I cant make out. 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? History suggests there is a possibility that hidden treasuresgold coins, doubloons, precious jewelryare somewhere beneath the surface just waiting to be found! But why? And where? Louisianas most well-known buried treasure mystery still to this day is the unfound treasure of Jean Lafitte. My Grandpa told me often when I was very young that everyone thought that Lafittes fort was on Grand Isle, but it never was. WebPerhaps not coincidentally, this was the same area where his former slave trading colleague Jean Lafitte had once had his headquarters. that is. scrambling to find answers. Because of his track record and reputation, Jean Lafitte was still seen as a criminal in the eyes of the United States. floor after a shipwreck. His body was buried at sea in the Gulf of Honduras. It is widely believed that Lafitte buried his treasure on Galveston before he left - and this video is about my search at three likely treasure sites. I also. Another legend has it that in 1595, Juan de Oate hid five silver bars, 4,336 gold ingots, nine burro loads of jewels, and four priceless Aztec codices (books or manuscripts) in the mine. As a former channel of the Sabine, Hendricks Lake is fed intermittently by Black Slough and by seasonal overflow from both Cherokee Bayou and the Sabine River. Both were the surnames of early settlers in the vicinity. It was a cloudy evening with low visibility, and Laffite attempted to capture what appeared to be two Spanish merchant vessels. But there is no proof Lafitte scuttled a boat there, he says. In late 1815, Lafitte agreed to act as spy for Spain, which was embroiled in the Mexican War of Independence. unclear why Lafitte had to bury his treasure or even where he was last seen. During the Mexican War of Independence, the Laffites served as spies for the Spanish, after moving to Galveston Island, Texas. I still have no idea if it was really a JL marker, or if so, it treasure was ever found. Many of them are wandering through the beaches and backlands with nothing more than metal detectors. I always wondered why the searchers were only local, and that an organized big search never happened but it never did. 5. Other sites considered to contain Lafitte treasure are islands south of New Orleans and Galveston Island in Texas. The total value? even tales that the treasure was not intentionally buried. My grandfather never got to look for the treasure s. Ive heard he would sometimes slip into Mobile Bay. Visibility is nil, so it is a touchy situation. You must log in or register to reply here. 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. Both of them had consulted with Harry Rieseberg, the self-described worlds greatest underwater treasure hunter who had written articles about the legend in treasure magazines of the time. Singer & Co., which was renamed the Singer Manufacturing Company in 1865. The silver has yet to be discovered, according to Lone Star Treasure, which says the story is based on a Spanish document from the conquistador era. . JavaScript is disabled. Lafitte fought many bloody battles with these Karankawas. True West Magazine article on Jean Lafitte. Here are six of the supposedly greatest Texas treasures still out there. The silver that Lafitte accumulated from selling captured slaves, cotton, and other goods was stored in wooden kegs or casks. Many from the area have taken artifacts from there, including coin. Texas State Historical Association (TSHA). 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NOWHERE BUT TEXAS: SEARCHING FOR JEAN He sold those at his location The Temple. The money that he sold them for was Spanish Coin, Reales usually in 2,4,8 denominations, minted in Mexico. Many treasure hunters are convinced the money continues to lie beneath the mud of Little Cypress Creek in Upshur County. 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. See link. In 1816 Jean Lafitte, who was reputed to be an agent of the Spanish government (Agent 13, to be exact), raided a Spanish vessel called the Santa Rosa. It lies along the historic route of Trammels Trace, only one and one-quarter miles south of the location of Ramsdales Crossing/Ferry (Rocky Ford) on the Sabine River. WebThe 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 If you study your info you will be lost. Discover New Orleans rich cultural mix. The treasure is estimated to be worth hundreds of millions of dollars. It seem to be one less treasure for us to find. On the edge of this little-known Chambers County lake off the Trinity about 35 miles east of Houston, Jack wants to show where a ship sank in the 1800s. You must log in or register to reply here. I always heard that an area Boat Company Owner started his business with a 5 gallon bucket of silver taken from that area. In the final battle of the War of 1812, Lafitte and his comrades helped General Andrew Jackson defend New Orleans against the British. The tried to dynamite the bottom, but ended up with no silver for this efforts. They know its there. Metal detector companies may be the only satisfied NOWHERE BUT TEXAS: SEARCHING FOR JEAN It is this tale that Christian wants to follow up on. Hamilton, who heads Texas A&M University's nautical archaeology program, about investigating the site. http://community.webshots.com/user/famleeroots, http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,109722.0.html, THE Random Chat Thread - AKA "The RCT" - No shirt or shoes required - Open 24 / 7, Metal Detectorists Ordered To Repay 1.2 Million Between Them 'Immediately'. Lafitte's large fleet and multinational band of pirates, privateers, and smugglers caused havoc in the Gulf of Mexico for a decade. "I've always been interested in the site and had it in the back of my mind but been too busy on other projects.". On an 1863 map of the area, it was named Flanagan Lake but since the 1880s has been known by its present name. Lafitte was later Have you ever heard of Money Hill near the southern tip of South Padre Island? It really exists, and due to our rich history with Spanish and Mexican invasions, it makes sense that there would be a lot hidden here. The Sabine River could potentially hold a $2 million fortune in stolen silver. 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. He was a Abilene Reporter-News, June 24, 1958. The fortune is said to have been stolen from the Spanish by Jean Lafitte. Legendary outlaw Sam Bass is said to have buried his bounty from stagecoach, train and bank robberies in several areas around the Texas Hill County. Barnie Waldrop said he outlasted all the others and had seen fifty of em beaten by the lakes bog bottom. One such story, according to multiple sources, says Bass stashed loot in an old hollow tree around 2 miles west of Round Rock. locations along the Gulf Coast. It was also the location that US Forces attacked, causing his band to make a hasty retreat.

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