The lure and fascination of buried treasure has long held the attention of enterprising Americans and while some tales of hidden multitudes of riches are famous for their scope and promises of enormous wealth for those who might find these abandoned riches, some of the tales have taken more regional legendary status over the years.;
This location of a cache of gold coins secreted away by native American renegades in north-central Arkansas during the Civil War is one of many lesser-known stories of untold riches lost to the ages.
It's known that centralized , small bands of Indians roamed Arkansas, the Oklahoma Territory, and parts of Missouri in the years after the relocation of the tribes and throughout the Civil War. actively looted and robbed not only civilians, but army detachments as well, The only native American to achieve the rank of General in the U.S., Aemy, Stand Waite acknowledged several groups of natives,, over which he had no control, looted throughout the region from 1862-65
In several instances, these renegade guerrillas were caught and either shot or hanged by members of the Union or Confederate armies.
According to legend, in 1863, five Indians, believed to be guerrillas, were traveling from western Missouri to the Indian Territory with three wagons filled with contraband supplies and many gold and silver coins they had taken in isolated raids.
When they reached Bee Creek in northern Boone County, they learned that white men were following them. Realizing that it didn’t matter if it was the Army or irate citizens chasing them and capture meant sure death, the Indians buried two metal containers filled with the coins near the road that skirted Bee Creek. After burning their wagons over the site, the Indians slipped away, planning to return for the coins when it was safe.
All of the Indians were killed during the Civil War except one.
This man returned to where he thought he and his companions had buried the coins and burned their wagons years before. He returned several times but was never able to locate the exact spot.
Finally, realizing that the area had changed and that he could never find the cache, in 1900 the Indian told a man named Matthew Booth, who lived on Bee Creek, about the buried coins.
The Indian then left and never returned. No record of Booth’s having found the coins, or even searching for them, can be found. However, with seven years others were aware of the story and numerous attempts have been made over the years to locate the buried loot.
In 1907, a man by the name of J.D. Row who lived in the vicinity wrote an account that he supposedly had obtained from Matthew Booth a few years earlier:
"When I got in Carroll County, Ark. on my way from Oklahoma territory to Boone County, Ark. in the year 1900, I stopped and visited with my cousin George W. Barnes of Maple Post Office.
He told me a story as follows. His brother Jasper Barnes had been over in the north part of Boone County, and in a conversation with Mat Boothe who lived on Bee Creek, he heard of a train of three wagons having been burned by the guerrillas in time of the war. He did not get many particulars about the occasion.
Soon after this his step son come home from the Indian territory and he told Jasper a story he got from a Cherokee Indian, while he was in the Indian territory. The Indian said that during the war himself and 3 or 4 other Indians were coming through Missouri with three wagons, and they had a large amount of gold and silver coins that they were conveying from Southeast Missouri to their homes in the territory.
They had been observed by some white men to have a lot of money and they had followed the Indians, presumably to rob them. They had observed the white men stealthily following them for 2 or 3 days. In the vicinity of Bee Creek the men had become more bold and the Indians feared an attack during the night while in camp.
They held a consultation and decided to bury their treasure, burn their wagons, and ride their ponies home. Afterwards they would come back and secure their money.
When the war was over and times were peacable enough, the Indians were all dead but this one. He had made two trips back to Bee Creek to get the hidden money, but each time failed to find the place. The country had changed, farms had been opened up, houses built and he could not even locate the road they were on when they burned their wagons.
This Indian and another one had taken the coins in two camp kettles a little ways from the road, to a sink hole and buried them in the sink hole while the rest of the crowd had run the wagons together and set them on fire, then they all jumped on their ponies and rode away in the darkness of early morning."
Row's story either lends credence to the legend, or as some have suggested, might actually be the source of the legend all together.
The area of Bee Creek, which flows out of Missouri into Arkansas north of Omaha, is still relatively untamed although civilizatioin has encroached upon the area with the development of subdivisions and businesses.
Given the descriptions of the area over the years and the proliferation of individuals named Booth buried in the vicinty, treasure hunters feel they have narrowed down the possible location of the buried treasure to a three-mile radius along Bee Creek Road just north of Omaha.
Land in the area accessible to the public is dotted with "pock holes" where numerous people have disturbed the earth in search of the elusive pot of gold.
Comments