Yes! There is probably more than 4 billion dollars in lost treasure scattered throughout the United States. Lost and never found. Where did it come from?
Some of it is loot buried by robbers, loot that was never recovered because the men were either shot or hung before they could dig it up.
Some of it is in unbelievably rich gold mines, mines whose owners died without revealing the location to anyone.
Some of it is pirates’ treasures, treasures buried along America’s coasts and never recovered either because maps were lost or the pirates killed.
All this treasure DOES exist, and to this day people are searching for the gold, silver, jewels, and money. Some people start by reading books on treasure hunting; others by reading old newspapers to trace it; and still others by buying metal detectors (from $20 for a toy one to $1,000 for an electronic one) to try to make their lifelong dream come true.
In case you want to be a treasure hunter, here is a partial list of treasure that does exist, but that has never been found:
$5,000-$40,000 in gold, buried by French miners before they were killed by Indians in the mountains of Colorado in the late 18th century.
$114,522 in gold currency, buried when Confederate soldiers robbed a Union bank in 1864.
$180,000 in gold and money, stolen by two gangs in 1865 from a Wells Fargo stagecoach in Idaho.
$1,000,000 in gold nuggets, hidden in 1879 in a washtub in the Black Hills of South Dakota by an old prospector, who died before he could dig it up.
$1,000,000 in gold bars, stolen by the Jesse James gang in Oklahoma.
$200,000 in small bills, buried in the woods between Wisconsin and Michigan in 1934 by Public Enemy No. 1, John Dillinger, just three months before he was killed.
$50,000 in gold and jewels, buried by Captain Kidd in 1699 on Gardiners Island, off Long Island, New York, before he was hanged.
So, get on your mark, treasure hunters, get ready, get set, GO!
