THESE STORIES COME FROM OLD 1800'S TO VERY EARLY 1900'S PAPERS FROM AROUND THE NATION MAINLY NEW YORK, GALVESTON, SAN ANTONIO, SAN ANGELO. I WOULD COPY AND PUT THEM IN THIS SITE BUT NO ONE WOULD BE ABLE TO READ THEM. I AM WRITING THEM WORD FOR WORD THOUGH.
I will be adding to these stories as I have time as I have a lot of them
PLEASE NOTE - These stories are about mines and sites that are on PRIVATE land. Do not cross fences or go onto a place without OWNERS permission. I do not care where you are from or how they do it there. YOU ARE IN TEXAS AND WE ARE A PRIVATE PROPERTY STATE AND LIKE IT THAT WAY.
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WONDERFUL GOLD STRIKE
___
Another Big Vein Found in the Llano District
San Antonio, Texas, January 26, 1889. A wonderful strike has just been made in the Llano district ninety miles north of this city. A vein has been opened seventeen feet in width that averages $95.89 per ton in gold across the full width of the vein, which is all mineralized. A chute of the vein a foot in width carries gold visible to the naked eye and gives assays from $1160.00 to $15160.00 per ton. This find coming on the heels of that of the Schryver mine thirty miles to the north proves the existence of an extensive gold-bearing belt of great richness. There is great excitement in this city and throughout the Llano district and many prospectors are coming in.
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A RICH DISCOVERY
San Antonio, Texas, June 18 - A rich discovery of gold and silver is reported from Burnett county near the Pack Saddle mountains. The vein is four feet wide and consists of rich decomposed ore, strained with iron. Traces of an old Mexican mine and furnaces were found, and it is thought that these are the Lost San Saba mines.
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GALVESTON NEWS JUNE 17, 1871
TEXAS MINERALS
According to the Fredericksburg Sentinal. Llano county is the Texas Eldorado. The Sentinal gives the result of an essay made at each mine by Mr. Theodore Tuschinski who has been investigating the mineral wealth of Llano and San Saba counties.
As to the charactor of the ores, they consist chiefly of argentiferous lead ores, their silver values varying from about three ounces per ton to 18.03 ounces per ton. Ores of small silver value contain their lead mainly combined with carbonic acid, with little sulpher, as a mineral generally termed cernsite; others contain sulpher and corbonic acid combined with lead, also antimony, arsenic, copper in combination with sulpher, and then their gold and silver value generally increases as their percentage of copper pyrites and antimony increases. The ore from the Babyhead mine have yielded from 195 - 376.4 ounces per ton. The best ores came from a lead near Wolf Creek from gangue of quartz as a lead, between intersections of gneiss mica glaze. Their silver value varies from 23 to 15 - 32 ounces per ton. Besides they had the advantage of being very easily smelted on account of their containing about 40 percent of bismuth which is combination with sulphur, renders all lead ores smeltable at a low degree of heat. Besides, rich silver ores were on Cole creek, is what is termed gray sulphuret amounting to almost 3 per cent of silver-worth about $1000.00 per ton.
Besides, there are fine prospects for gold in various parts of that district, since several of its association were found, for instance, those mineral charactors which always indicate or form the nature of gold, namely, the sulphuret of molybdenum and copper pyrites. The former is a body of an appearance similar to plumbago, but of highly metalic lustre, and highly sulphuretted.
That district has prospect for a better manufacturing industry on account of its precious iron ores. They mostly are found in the state of magnetic iron ores, also as brown and red hematites so pure and free from sulphur, that they will yield the best king of wrought iron and cast steel.
Most of the ores are found at or near the intersection of the different formations in the northern part of the Llano county, between the Little Llano river and Cole Creek. As abundance is found south and north of the Baby creek mountain; also along Pecan creek, and Babyhead creek. Also, the country south of the Llano river abounds in ores of various character. The same is the case at the intersection of the granite formation and the carboniferous limestone about Honey creek, almost all along the Colorado river.
(If you think it was a long read. The paper I took this and most of the other stories from is only 1/32 of an inch size print. I used jewelers glass's to read them and type this and the others out. Not easy! But interesting. Earl)
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THE GALVESTON DAILY NEWS MARCH 18, 1886
Letter from Llano
To the News
Llano County, Tex., March 15, 1886 - -
This county has been subjected to a long drouth, but a short time ago we were favored with an abundance of rain, and vegetation is now beginning to loom up. But all the rains that could fall would never redeem the grass, and stockmen will be compelled to sell out or drive their stock the spring. The is evidently no farming country.
A citizen of this county, it is stated, has struck a bonanza in the shape of a mine on Honey creek. He sent off some top-rock to an assayer in St. Louis and the report was one ounce silver and $24. in gold. He then sent other samples of a different class to Denver, Colo., and it run $2. gold and $2.70 silver per ton.
Farmers are beginning to plant corn generally in this county and it is thought the acreage in cotton will be less than usual in the county.
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THE GALVESTON DAILY NEWS SEPT 25, 1941
ALLOY METAL MINE REOPENED AT LLANO
Llano, Tex., Sept 2 Reopening of the long shut-down Honey Creek mine for production of metal alloys useful in manufacture of armarmenia was announced here by Guy W Allen, who has leased the Llano County property.
The mine has been inactive for 30 years, except for sporadic prospecting operations. A mill costing $12000. will be insalled for processing ore to extract molybdenum, bismuth concentrate and gold
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ANGELO STANDARD TIMES AUG. 29, 1954
(SAN ANGELO, TEX)
GOLD MINE SHAFT SUNK IN ANGELO
The current search for uranium recalls that about 30 years ago Llano County was scene of an influx of gold prospectors.
About the same time a big shaft was sunk near the site of the John H. Reagan School here by Col. A. J . Baker, Tom Wynn and others.
There was no report on the amount of gold, if any, taken from the mine.
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I will be adding to these stories as I have time as I have a lot of them
PLEASE NOTE - These stories are about mines and sites that are on PRIVATE land. Do not cross fences or go onto a place without OWNERS permission. I do not care where you are from or how they do it there. YOU ARE IN TEXAS AND WE ARE A PRIVATE PROPERTY STATE AND LIKE IT THAT WAY.
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WONDERFUL GOLD STRIKE
___
Another Big Vein Found in the Llano District
San Antonio, Texas, January 26, 1889. A wonderful strike has just been made in the Llano district ninety miles north of this city. A vein has been opened seventeen feet in width that averages $95.89 per ton in gold across the full width of the vein, which is all mineralized. A chute of the vein a foot in width carries gold visible to the naked eye and gives assays from $1160.00 to $15160.00 per ton. This find coming on the heels of that of the Schryver mine thirty miles to the north proves the existence of an extensive gold-bearing belt of great richness. There is great excitement in this city and throughout the Llano district and many prospectors are coming in.
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A RICH DISCOVERY
San Antonio, Texas, June 18 - A rich discovery of gold and silver is reported from Burnett county near the Pack Saddle mountains. The vein is four feet wide and consists of rich decomposed ore, strained with iron. Traces of an old Mexican mine and furnaces were found, and it is thought that these are the Lost San Saba mines.
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GALVESTON NEWS JUNE 17, 1871
TEXAS MINERALS
According to the Fredericksburg Sentinal. Llano county is the Texas Eldorado. The Sentinal gives the result of an essay made at each mine by Mr. Theodore Tuschinski who has been investigating the mineral wealth of Llano and San Saba counties.
As to the charactor of the ores, they consist chiefly of argentiferous lead ores, their silver values varying from about three ounces per ton to 18.03 ounces per ton. Ores of small silver value contain their lead mainly combined with carbonic acid, with little sulpher, as a mineral generally termed cernsite; others contain sulpher and corbonic acid combined with lead, also antimony, arsenic, copper in combination with sulpher, and then their gold and silver value generally increases as their percentage of copper pyrites and antimony increases. The ore from the Babyhead mine have yielded from 195 - 376.4 ounces per ton. The best ores came from a lead near Wolf Creek from gangue of quartz as a lead, between intersections of gneiss mica glaze. Their silver value varies from 23 to 15 - 32 ounces per ton. Besides they had the advantage of being very easily smelted on account of their containing about 40 percent of bismuth which is combination with sulphur, renders all lead ores smeltable at a low degree of heat. Besides, rich silver ores were on Cole creek, is what is termed gray sulphuret amounting to almost 3 per cent of silver-worth about $1000.00 per ton.
Besides, there are fine prospects for gold in various parts of that district, since several of its association were found, for instance, those mineral charactors which always indicate or form the nature of gold, namely, the sulphuret of molybdenum and copper pyrites. The former is a body of an appearance similar to plumbago, but of highly metalic lustre, and highly sulphuretted.
That district has prospect for a better manufacturing industry on account of its precious iron ores. They mostly are found in the state of magnetic iron ores, also as brown and red hematites so pure and free from sulphur, that they will yield the best king of wrought iron and cast steel.
Most of the ores are found at or near the intersection of the different formations in the northern part of the Llano county, between the Little Llano river and Cole Creek. As abundance is found south and north of the Baby creek mountain; also along Pecan creek, and Babyhead creek. Also, the country south of the Llano river abounds in ores of various character. The same is the case at the intersection of the granite formation and the carboniferous limestone about Honey creek, almost all along the Colorado river.
(If you think it was a long read. The paper I took this and most of the other stories from is only 1/32 of an inch size print. I used jewelers glass's to read them and type this and the others out. Not easy! But interesting. Earl)
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THE GALVESTON DAILY NEWS MARCH 18, 1886
Letter from Llano
To the News
Llano County, Tex., March 15, 1886 - -
This county has been subjected to a long drouth, but a short time ago we were favored with an abundance of rain, and vegetation is now beginning to loom up. But all the rains that could fall would never redeem the grass, and stockmen will be compelled to sell out or drive their stock the spring. The is evidently no farming country.
A citizen of this county, it is stated, has struck a bonanza in the shape of a mine on Honey creek. He sent off some top-rock to an assayer in St. Louis and the report was one ounce silver and $24. in gold. He then sent other samples of a different class to Denver, Colo., and it run $2. gold and $2.70 silver per ton.
Farmers are beginning to plant corn generally in this county and it is thought the acreage in cotton will be less than usual in the county.
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THE GALVESTON DAILY NEWS SEPT 25, 1941
ALLOY METAL MINE REOPENED AT LLANO
Llano, Tex., Sept 2 Reopening of the long shut-down Honey Creek mine for production of metal alloys useful in manufacture of armarmenia was announced here by Guy W Allen, who has leased the Llano County property.
The mine has been inactive for 30 years, except for sporadic prospecting operations. A mill costing $12000. will be insalled for processing ore to extract molybdenum, bismuth concentrate and gold
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ANGELO STANDARD TIMES AUG. 29, 1954
(SAN ANGELO, TEX)
GOLD MINE SHAFT SUNK IN ANGELO
The current search for uranium recalls that about 30 years ago Llano County was scene of an influx of gold prospectors.
About the same time a big shaft was sunk near the site of the John H. Reagan School here by Col. A. J . Baker, Tom Wynn and others.
There was no report on the amount of gold, if any, taken from the mine.
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THE TUNNELS UNDER BANDIT TERRITORY ON THE MEXICAN BORDER IN SOUTH TEXAS
A number of years ago I was out hunting in south Texas along the Mexican border. I was killing time till night fall when we would go out hog hunting. There was an old man working on the ranch and he and I started talking about the area that the ranch was in and I remembered some stories of legends of the area and I ask him questions on what he might know about the legends and as we were discussing what he knew he told me of a local not much passed around legend in the area about old tunnels that he had heard of and had seen the caved in entrance to one of the tunnels while riding on a ranch he was working on one time a long time ago. So, he said he knew the stories were true. I had my doubts as there were no legends of such that I had ever read or heard of. Any way I let what he said go in one ear and out the other and did not say or think about the stories again.
About 5 years later after talking to the old man the wife and I was in Cozumel Mexico going out to see the old Mayan ruins. Our guide was going over the history of the way the different owners of the various lands parasols would charge other land owners fees to bring the other land owners produce over or through the closer owners lands to the cities to sell at the market. The charges, especially for the farther land owner, were quite expensive and because the land owners only owned the surface of the land the other owners would dig a tunnel under the lands and transport their produce and products in the tunnels under the others land and not have to pay any fee. When we went to see the tunnels I could not believe what I saw and that was tunnels exactly like the ones the old man had told me about.
Now the story of the tunnels along the Texas, Mexico border that was told to me by the old man.
Back after most of the Indians raiding and warring parties were waning there started to be more trade from peoples that lived in the area that would become Texas. They would take from the areas east of the Rio Grande River goods to trade in the bigger cities which were west of the Rio Grande River and because they did not want to pay the Spanish fees they made their own trails that did not go on the Kings roads to the cities. I have some maps that show some of these trails and roads all over South Texas follow some of these old trails. The trails began to get more and more traffic on them and there were places on some of the more used trails that geographically allowed bandits and Indian parties that were in the area a place to waylay and rob these wagons and people that came through those areas. The areas talked about where he bandits would ambush the travelers was in a long flat area that ran north and south and had only shrub oak and bushes between two higher areas that the bandits or Indians could hide behind the hills and wait. There either were several bigger ranches or farms or a good trade from the east in pecans and other nuts that could not be found in any quantity and other items that the lands out east supplied that the people in the cities in the west wanted and the area that had the tunnels was the best route between the two areas. The old man said that he was told there were more than a dozen tunnels that went from entrances of the tunnels that wagons could unload goods and people could go through without being seen on approach from the east and could be well on their way across the Rio Grande by the time the bandits knew what had happened. The distance on the surface the tunnels had to go across or under he said was about two hundred yards wide which was a good place for the bandits to be able to attack quickly before the wagons and people knew they were there. How long the tunnels were he did not know. The tunnel he saw was in an area that had bigger trees and was on a small hill that was hidden by brush that flood waters would not flood and the opening of the tunnel was about three foot wide by four to five foot high. Which, was the size of the tunnels we saw in Cozumel. Since then I have seen in various places of historical mining, various war stories and places up to the civil war and tunnels that were believed to be or was dug by the descendants of the Mexican peoples that came from the Mayan or other native peoples before the Spanish that showed the same digging techniques and sizes.
I now believe the old man but I have never had anyone in the area of that part of the country, which would be in the area between Laredo and Del Rio, tell me that they knew about the tunnels. But, there are very large ranches in that area and not many people go over it. I really feel that the tunnels would be along the area north or south of Eagle Pass. There are a lot of trails in this area on the old maps and I have found areas that have areas of hills and narrow flat lands between them in those areas. Would there be something stored in the tunnels we would call treasure? We can only dream of what could be in them hidden and how long they were used and when they were last used. If you know of these tunnels or something on them please let me know.
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A number of years ago I was out hunting in south Texas along the Mexican border. I was killing time till night fall when we would go out hog hunting. There was an old man working on the ranch and he and I started talking about the area that the ranch was in and I remembered some stories of legends of the area and I ask him questions on what he might know about the legends and as we were discussing what he knew he told me of a local not much passed around legend in the area about old tunnels that he had heard of and had seen the caved in entrance to one of the tunnels while riding on a ranch he was working on one time a long time ago. So, he said he knew the stories were true. I had my doubts as there were no legends of such that I had ever read or heard of. Any way I let what he said go in one ear and out the other and did not say or think about the stories again.
About 5 years later after talking to the old man the wife and I was in Cozumel Mexico going out to see the old Mayan ruins. Our guide was going over the history of the way the different owners of the various lands parasols would charge other land owners fees to bring the other land owners produce over or through the closer owners lands to the cities to sell at the market. The charges, especially for the farther land owner, were quite expensive and because the land owners only owned the surface of the land the other owners would dig a tunnel under the lands and transport their produce and products in the tunnels under the others land and not have to pay any fee. When we went to see the tunnels I could not believe what I saw and that was tunnels exactly like the ones the old man had told me about.
Now the story of the tunnels along the Texas, Mexico border that was told to me by the old man.
Back after most of the Indians raiding and warring parties were waning there started to be more trade from peoples that lived in the area that would become Texas. They would take from the areas east of the Rio Grande River goods to trade in the bigger cities which were west of the Rio Grande River and because they did not want to pay the Spanish fees they made their own trails that did not go on the Kings roads to the cities. I have some maps that show some of these trails and roads all over South Texas follow some of these old trails. The trails began to get more and more traffic on them and there were places on some of the more used trails that geographically allowed bandits and Indian parties that were in the area a place to waylay and rob these wagons and people that came through those areas. The areas talked about where he bandits would ambush the travelers was in a long flat area that ran north and south and had only shrub oak and bushes between two higher areas that the bandits or Indians could hide behind the hills and wait. There either were several bigger ranches or farms or a good trade from the east in pecans and other nuts that could not be found in any quantity and other items that the lands out east supplied that the people in the cities in the west wanted and the area that had the tunnels was the best route between the two areas. The old man said that he was told there were more than a dozen tunnels that went from entrances of the tunnels that wagons could unload goods and people could go through without being seen on approach from the east and could be well on their way across the Rio Grande by the time the bandits knew what had happened. The distance on the surface the tunnels had to go across or under he said was about two hundred yards wide which was a good place for the bandits to be able to attack quickly before the wagons and people knew they were there. How long the tunnels were he did not know. The tunnel he saw was in an area that had bigger trees and was on a small hill that was hidden by brush that flood waters would not flood and the opening of the tunnel was about three foot wide by four to five foot high. Which, was the size of the tunnels we saw in Cozumel. Since then I have seen in various places of historical mining, various war stories and places up to the civil war and tunnels that were believed to be or was dug by the descendants of the Mexican peoples that came from the Mayan or other native peoples before the Spanish that showed the same digging techniques and sizes.
I now believe the old man but I have never had anyone in the area of that part of the country, which would be in the area between Laredo and Del Rio, tell me that they knew about the tunnels. But, there are very large ranches in that area and not many people go over it. I really feel that the tunnels would be along the area north or south of Eagle Pass. There are a lot of trails in this area on the old maps and I have found areas that have areas of hills and narrow flat lands between them in those areas. Would there be something stored in the tunnels we would call treasure? We can only dream of what could be in them hidden and how long they were used and when they were last used. If you know of these tunnels or something on them please let me know.
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GOLD AND SILVER MINES IN EAST TEXAS
Not many people think about gold and silver in East Texas. This would be the area roughly from East of I-45 from Galveston to East of the Dallas area. Gold, silver and platinum have been found along with other minerals in this area for centuries. There are stories of the Caddo Indians having lead and silver mines in their territory of Texas but exactly where no one knows for sure. I grew up in East Texas and worked for a relative of mine drilling water wells and was associated with oil well drillers in the East Texas area. Some of the things in the way of materials that came up from the drilling operations that I personally saw but no one could explain was tree wood coming from over 400 ft down the drill hole, gray clay like material with little bits of silver looking hard material in it and layers of gravels that the drill would go through at varying depths in areas and red mud coming up in certain areas. I can now somewhat understand what, where and how these materials came to be there. In the middle of the North American region is a big valley that filled in with materials washed down the central part of America’s heart lands and made up deposit layers. All of the materials that I saw come up in the drilling tailings were from these types of deposits. The gray clay like material actually has silver and platinum in them and you can pan those minerals out of the gray clay. Along the creeks of East Texas where the gravels layers have been breached by erosion if you know how to read the water deposited materials you can pan gold out of the material. I can remember seeing black sand deposits and flows of black sands in some of the smaller creeks that I walked down fishing and exploring as a kid and wandering what that was from. Most of the darkish colors come from organic materials but the hard black sands really stuck out and felt different from the organic materials which is why I noticed it. Now, as I have come to understand what these materials are where they come from and why I wish I could be that kid exploring again and had the same access to the areas that I did as a kid and of course the time to do it. Along with the areas and materials and deposits that I just went over in East Texas is the large areas of iron ore deposits found in East Texas. Gold is associated with iron oxides and even though most iron ore deposits are sedimentary deposits from the same washing down from the north that I talked about earlier in East Texas there are some faulting hydrothermal vents that made some of the iron deposits in East Texas. From these and from other sedimentary deposits comes gold also. Galena deposits in East Texas are where silver was found and mined. I have seen the galena rocks which are whitish in color. I wish I had known what they were when I saw them. I still know where they are but I have not been back. The galena material was used for making bullets before and during the Civil War. I hear from people from time to time that are interested in gold and silver prospecting that call me to ask me if what they think they are finding from East Texas is really what they think it is and most of the time we come to the conclusion they have found gold and or some silver or platinum. They get very excited and then most of the time I do not hear from them again. The gold and silver is there. Not real big, but there for the getting. So, if you live in East Texas go get you some.
There are several books that I have that tell stories about lost mines in East Texas. I have old newspaper articles that tell about the same. I will include some of these stories in this text.
There are several stories about East Texas Indians, no named tribe, once to several times a year coming out of the East Texas woods traveling to one of the bigger towns in that area on the coast from the 1700’s to early to middle 1800’s that would bring a bag of gold dust to pay for supplies. No one was able to find where the Indians were getting the gold. The stories tell that the Indians were attacked at least once in the later 1800's and all of them were killed either outright or from wounds from the attack. In one story before the last Indian died he told the people around him that he had hid the bag of gold in a tree hole in the area of the attack. No one has come forward stating that they have found the gold.
The Hasinai group of Indians lived between the Trinity and Neches rivers and they are believed to be the first to mine lead and silver in that area of East Texas after learning that the settlers used the lead for bullets and would trade goods for the lead material. The settlers did not worry about the silver content as there was little way to get the silver out of the material. Later assay’s of material taken from the area that was believed to be the source of the lead and silver turned up assays of up to 8 dollars in gold and 5 dollars in silver to the ton. These prices were based on the price of gold and silver in 1900. No mining was started for this material but it is still there.
There are other instances of discovered old mines and diggings around East Texas and there is a map showing where the Caddo’s did some of their mining. There are stories of gold and silver being found and mined in the Nacogdoches area, Sabine county, San Augustine area and all areas in between and around and I have several of those maps. There are stories of killings over the mines and properties the mines and deposits are on in the 1800’s and mines that are along some of the creeks that are now covered by the lakes in those areas. Yes I know that geologists and official State records do not show the minerals to be there. But, I also know I have looked at, mined mineral deposits, looked at and been in old mines that has minerals in them that when I went into the UT Geology dept to try to find some history of my finds they told me there was nothing there in the area to look up. I had a nice talk with them about that which they would listen to but could not say I was right or wrong or just nuts and if you look at it right. Most of us are prospectors meaning that we go out looking for minerals to give us something to do and enjoy and if no one thinks there is no value in the area we are prospecting in they tend to label us as nuts and we can do our thing taking out some the minerals that ARE there without a hassle. So, let them think what they want.
As you know from my other stories on this web site. Most of Texas is private property and even though I have several old maps that shows some of the areas that the Caddo’s and other Indian groups, the settlers and soldiers during the Civil War mined and worked mineral finds I will not show them to protect these locations and property owners. Some of the locations are on Federal lands in the East Texas area. And, if I can find them so can you and if you do be respectful of private land and make sure you follow Federal laws on prospecting on Federal lands.
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Not many people think about gold and silver in East Texas. This would be the area roughly from East of I-45 from Galveston to East of the Dallas area. Gold, silver and platinum have been found along with other minerals in this area for centuries. There are stories of the Caddo Indians having lead and silver mines in their territory of Texas but exactly where no one knows for sure. I grew up in East Texas and worked for a relative of mine drilling water wells and was associated with oil well drillers in the East Texas area. Some of the things in the way of materials that came up from the drilling operations that I personally saw but no one could explain was tree wood coming from over 400 ft down the drill hole, gray clay like material with little bits of silver looking hard material in it and layers of gravels that the drill would go through at varying depths in areas and red mud coming up in certain areas. I can now somewhat understand what, where and how these materials came to be there. In the middle of the North American region is a big valley that filled in with materials washed down the central part of America’s heart lands and made up deposit layers. All of the materials that I saw come up in the drilling tailings were from these types of deposits. The gray clay like material actually has silver and platinum in them and you can pan those minerals out of the gray clay. Along the creeks of East Texas where the gravels layers have been breached by erosion if you know how to read the water deposited materials you can pan gold out of the material. I can remember seeing black sand deposits and flows of black sands in some of the smaller creeks that I walked down fishing and exploring as a kid and wandering what that was from. Most of the darkish colors come from organic materials but the hard black sands really stuck out and felt different from the organic materials which is why I noticed it. Now, as I have come to understand what these materials are where they come from and why I wish I could be that kid exploring again and had the same access to the areas that I did as a kid and of course the time to do it. Along with the areas and materials and deposits that I just went over in East Texas is the large areas of iron ore deposits found in East Texas. Gold is associated with iron oxides and even though most iron ore deposits are sedimentary deposits from the same washing down from the north that I talked about earlier in East Texas there are some faulting hydrothermal vents that made some of the iron deposits in East Texas. From these and from other sedimentary deposits comes gold also. Galena deposits in East Texas are where silver was found and mined. I have seen the galena rocks which are whitish in color. I wish I had known what they were when I saw them. I still know where they are but I have not been back. The galena material was used for making bullets before and during the Civil War. I hear from people from time to time that are interested in gold and silver prospecting that call me to ask me if what they think they are finding from East Texas is really what they think it is and most of the time we come to the conclusion they have found gold and or some silver or platinum. They get very excited and then most of the time I do not hear from them again. The gold and silver is there. Not real big, but there for the getting. So, if you live in East Texas go get you some.
There are several books that I have that tell stories about lost mines in East Texas. I have old newspaper articles that tell about the same. I will include some of these stories in this text.
There are several stories about East Texas Indians, no named tribe, once to several times a year coming out of the East Texas woods traveling to one of the bigger towns in that area on the coast from the 1700’s to early to middle 1800’s that would bring a bag of gold dust to pay for supplies. No one was able to find where the Indians were getting the gold. The stories tell that the Indians were attacked at least once in the later 1800's and all of them were killed either outright or from wounds from the attack. In one story before the last Indian died he told the people around him that he had hid the bag of gold in a tree hole in the area of the attack. No one has come forward stating that they have found the gold.
The Hasinai group of Indians lived between the Trinity and Neches rivers and they are believed to be the first to mine lead and silver in that area of East Texas after learning that the settlers used the lead for bullets and would trade goods for the lead material. The settlers did not worry about the silver content as there was little way to get the silver out of the material. Later assay’s of material taken from the area that was believed to be the source of the lead and silver turned up assays of up to 8 dollars in gold and 5 dollars in silver to the ton. These prices were based on the price of gold and silver in 1900. No mining was started for this material but it is still there.
There are other instances of discovered old mines and diggings around East Texas and there is a map showing where the Caddo’s did some of their mining. There are stories of gold and silver being found and mined in the Nacogdoches area, Sabine county, San Augustine area and all areas in between and around and I have several of those maps. There are stories of killings over the mines and properties the mines and deposits are on in the 1800’s and mines that are along some of the creeks that are now covered by the lakes in those areas. Yes I know that geologists and official State records do not show the minerals to be there. But, I also know I have looked at, mined mineral deposits, looked at and been in old mines that has minerals in them that when I went into the UT Geology dept to try to find some history of my finds they told me there was nothing there in the area to look up. I had a nice talk with them about that which they would listen to but could not say I was right or wrong or just nuts and if you look at it right. Most of us are prospectors meaning that we go out looking for minerals to give us something to do and enjoy and if no one thinks there is no value in the area we are prospecting in they tend to label us as nuts and we can do our thing taking out some the minerals that ARE there without a hassle. So, let them think what they want.
As you know from my other stories on this web site. Most of Texas is private property and even though I have several old maps that shows some of the areas that the Caddo’s and other Indian groups, the settlers and soldiers during the Civil War mined and worked mineral finds I will not show them to protect these locations and property owners. Some of the locations are on Federal lands in the East Texas area. And, if I can find them so can you and if you do be respectful of private land and make sure you follow Federal laws on prospecting on Federal lands.
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The pictures below is slag from old smelters. Not in Texas. I have only found a few items that I would consider slag in Texas from old Spanish or Mexican workings or even the first Europeans that worked the mines around the late eighteen hundreds to early nineteen hundreds. Some of the slag in these pictures show a sheen on them that would be minerals that came to the top during cooling and did not pour or run off. Maybe the fires were cooling or what ever the minerals stayed in the pieces. On the bottom picture you can see a piece of gold in the upper right hand side. In the other pieces if you look hard you can make out copper, silver, and a tiny bit of gold plus several other minerals. In the first picture at bottom left is the wafer looking piece that would have come from the bottom of a smelting pot. It weighs about seven pounds and is magnetic. No other piece is magnetic. The biggest rock weighs about twenty pounds.
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With the permission of the author W C Jameson this story comes out of his book “Lost Mines and Buried Treasures of The Big Bend”. It is an abbreviated version and if you would like to read the whole story and many more great stories like it you can buy the book. You can also go to W C’s web site or Amazon books to find his books.
The Lost Chisos Mine
Presidio de San Vicente was a Spanish Presidio on the banks of the Rio Grande River in what is now the Big Bend area of Texas. It was built with the intention of protecting Spanish settlers and peaceful Indians from the Comanche and Apache raiding parties that used the old trails that went south and north from there. These raiding parties were few and far between and the solders that guarded the Presidio would grow bored and would go out on extended exploration and hunting trips in the area.
On one such outing a group of soldiers came upon a ledge of silver, gold or silver and gold in what is now known as Juniper Canyon. After testing samples of the ore it was determined that the ore was very rich and the Officials and Priest of the Presidio decided to mine the vein of ore in the canyon. To mine the ore the Spanish Officials of the Presidio enslaved the peaceful Indians and worked them under terrible conditions to take the ore out of the canyon. In the time the mine was worked it evidently provided quite a large amount of silver and or gold. How much time that was is not told. Talk up and down the river by other Indians and relatives of the Indians used in the Indian slave labor and the growing Indian raids up and down the river against the Spanish settlers was not noticed by the Spanish Presidio Officials and soldiers that had the riches they would be getting from the mine on their minds instead of their original duty. The growing hate of the Spanish treatment of the Indians and settlement of Indian lands finally reached its peak with the Indians attacking Presidio de San Vicente and killing the Spanish and burning the Presidio to the ground. Then going up to the mine and killing all of the Spanish there.
Now, that is the story of how the Chisos Mine came to being and this story can be documented as true. So where is it?
If you have never been to the Big Bend National Park, which is where this legend is in, you can go out and look with the clues I will be putting in next. Know though that YOU CAN NOT USE A METAL DETECTOR, DIGGING TOOLS, OR TALK ABOUT WHAT YOU ARE DOING in the park because it is ILLEGAL. Don’t even take a book on what you are looking for that anyone might suspect what you are up to. Also, if you are lucky enough to find anything or detail be very cautious who you talk to about it. Persons with loose lips have treasures taken from them.
Some of the clues as to where the mine might be located are these. It was said that one could see the entrance to the mine from the doorway of the Presidio chapel at sunrise over the Sierra del Carmen range on Easter morning. The mine lies in an area where the rock appears to be the whitest. Note though that the Chisos Mountains are granite and that some granite can look lighter certain times of the day and year. Several silver bars have been found in the area of Juniper Canyon by the ranchers that either owned or worked the ranch in that area before the Park was made. The Indians that killed the Spanish were suppose to have covered the mine with a land slide. A surveying team working in Juniper Canyon noticed from up high what looked like a trail across the desert from where Presidio de San Vicente was to the bottom of the entrance to Juniper Canyon and then gets lost to the rocks coming up the canyon.
These are the clues to the lost mine of the Chisos Mountains. To us modern treasure hunters with our modern tools one of us might if we have the time find this mine. I will come back to these clues and see if we can put this together. But, until then see if you can trace the Spanish and Indian trail up to the Lost Chisos Mine in the Big Bend.
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The Lost Chisos Mine
Presidio de San Vicente was a Spanish Presidio on the banks of the Rio Grande River in what is now the Big Bend area of Texas. It was built with the intention of protecting Spanish settlers and peaceful Indians from the Comanche and Apache raiding parties that used the old trails that went south and north from there. These raiding parties were few and far between and the solders that guarded the Presidio would grow bored and would go out on extended exploration and hunting trips in the area.
On one such outing a group of soldiers came upon a ledge of silver, gold or silver and gold in what is now known as Juniper Canyon. After testing samples of the ore it was determined that the ore was very rich and the Officials and Priest of the Presidio decided to mine the vein of ore in the canyon. To mine the ore the Spanish Officials of the Presidio enslaved the peaceful Indians and worked them under terrible conditions to take the ore out of the canyon. In the time the mine was worked it evidently provided quite a large amount of silver and or gold. How much time that was is not told. Talk up and down the river by other Indians and relatives of the Indians used in the Indian slave labor and the growing Indian raids up and down the river against the Spanish settlers was not noticed by the Spanish Presidio Officials and soldiers that had the riches they would be getting from the mine on their minds instead of their original duty. The growing hate of the Spanish treatment of the Indians and settlement of Indian lands finally reached its peak with the Indians attacking Presidio de San Vicente and killing the Spanish and burning the Presidio to the ground. Then going up to the mine and killing all of the Spanish there.
Now, that is the story of how the Chisos Mine came to being and this story can be documented as true. So where is it?
If you have never been to the Big Bend National Park, which is where this legend is in, you can go out and look with the clues I will be putting in next. Know though that YOU CAN NOT USE A METAL DETECTOR, DIGGING TOOLS, OR TALK ABOUT WHAT YOU ARE DOING in the park because it is ILLEGAL. Don’t even take a book on what you are looking for that anyone might suspect what you are up to. Also, if you are lucky enough to find anything or detail be very cautious who you talk to about it. Persons with loose lips have treasures taken from them.
Some of the clues as to where the mine might be located are these. It was said that one could see the entrance to the mine from the doorway of the Presidio chapel at sunrise over the Sierra del Carmen range on Easter morning. The mine lies in an area where the rock appears to be the whitest. Note though that the Chisos Mountains are granite and that some granite can look lighter certain times of the day and year. Several silver bars have been found in the area of Juniper Canyon by the ranchers that either owned or worked the ranch in that area before the Park was made. The Indians that killed the Spanish were suppose to have covered the mine with a land slide. A surveying team working in Juniper Canyon noticed from up high what looked like a trail across the desert from where Presidio de San Vicente was to the bottom of the entrance to Juniper Canyon and then gets lost to the rocks coming up the canyon.
These are the clues to the lost mine of the Chisos Mountains. To us modern treasure hunters with our modern tools one of us might if we have the time find this mine. I will come back to these clues and see if we can put this together. But, until then see if you can trace the Spanish and Indian trail up to the Lost Chisos Mine in the Big Bend.
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A German settler in the late 1840’s was trying to get his newly obtained land that he and his wife had purchased when they arrived to the new German settlement located in what they heard was the center of Texas ready for plowing to get food for them to eat and hopefully to barter for other needed equipment to start this new life after coming into the territory of Texas. They had come into Galveston by ship and made their way to the area that had hills and valleys like their home town had in Germany. They had been delayed a year or more in getting here when people from their home land had come over and most of the good farm land was already taken and their land was in an area almost a day wagon ride to the northwest of town that had canyons and smaller areas of soil for farming. In a hurry to get his land cleared to start his farming the settler decided to burn off an area of land that he had cleared the cedars for building his sheds and home which would save him some time. On the morning he was to do the burn the wind was almost dead still and he thought this was perfect for what he wanted to do. He started the fires and figured he could contain the area of the burn with no problem. About sun rise the wind started rising and this alarmed the settler as the fire now started to go toward an area of heavy brush on a side of one of the taller limestone and granite hills with a shear face. The settler could not contain the fire and it burned most of the brush on the side of the hill but then did not go any further but it had burnt more than he wanted. As the settler set back in a chair on his front porch of his home with the south wind blowing gently at him he looked over the area on the west side of his home that would soon become fields he noticed an odd shadowed area on the side of the now burnt hill. He did not think any more about it and then as the sun was coming up more he noticed that the shadow was now a darker area almost like a hole in the side of the hill. He decided to walk over to see what it was and when he got to the bottom of the hill he saw that about 20 feet up the side of the face of the hill was indeed a hole about 4 feet high and about 3 feet wide going into the face of the hill. From where he stood he could not see the back of the hole and he noticed that what he was standing on looked to have been chiseled out rocks in a bigger pile than he expected. Looking at the rocks they seem to have quite a bit of quartz rock with them that looked pinkish. The settler decided that he needed to see what was or had been going on with this hole and the rocks that must have come from it. It took him the rest of the day to gather up trees to cut up for a ladder tall enough to get him to the hole and the next morning as the sun got up high enough to put light ht into the tunnel he put his ladder up and made his way up to the hole being cautious not to look in and be looking at something that would come at him as there was a lot of rattle snakes around. He could see some tools that he could not make out what they were for but they must have been some of the tools used to chisel out the rock as they were a crude metal rods and hard wood made into a mallet although mostly rotten by then. He could see a little pile of rocks by the opening and picked one of the bigger ones up and brought it out into the sun light and all most fell off of the ladder. He could plainly see in the rock small fingers like lightning bolts coming down from the sky veins of gold shining at him. He had found a gold mine! Now there was no neighbors around to see what he had found and the little valley he was in was not easy to see in from anywhere around so he knew that he could work the site without much worry and he could throw some dead brush up there until the burnt brush could grow back to hide his mine again. The settler also knew that he could not bring his gold into the town he lived by because people would know something was up so he mined the pink quartz vein and farmed also to show that he was doing something for a whole year. In that time he found a person that came through the area that he thought he could trust and sell his crushed gold rock to and he did with the promise from the man that he would not tell anyone about their deal and his gold. This went on for a number of years and the settler used the money he got from the mine to buy more property around him and the original little farm that he bought grew into a large ranch and the original home was torn down and a new home was built away from the mine area. The settler and his wife were the only ones in their family that knew where the mine was and the wife died before the settler husband. Their children did not know that there was a mine because the settler and his wife new that the more mouths that knew where the mine was the more the word could get out. The now old settler knew that his time was getting near to follow his wife and had sent his oldest son a letter to come to the ranch so he could tell him something which was about the mine. The son lived in the big city and it would take him a few days to make his way to the ranch. The old settler did not make the meeting as he died from a massive heart attack a couple of days after he sent the letter. He did not write down the location of the mine to keep the secret. As the settlers children were getting everything ready to sell the ranch off a man came up to the family and introduced himself as the person that bought their dads gold rocks and ask them if they would still be selling him the pink quartz with the gold in it from their mine like their dad did. The children of the settler were dumb founded and had the man explain what he was talking about and the man told them everything he knew. Which was not much. The children of the settler and his wife looked everywhere on the ranch and never found the mine which was in an area that the settler allowed to grow up to cover the mine as he worked it only in the winter when the fields were at rest. The old pink quartz mine is still there today in a small canyon that is not used for anything but running cattle and rented to deer hunters that know nothing of it because you would need a ladder to even get to it. The pink quartz rock is still there but under over burden with the possibility of some of it showing itself occasionally.
What clues of where this property could be do you get from this story? German emigrants, granite along side of lime stone, pink quartz, valleys in rough terrain with small areas of farmable soil, distance from town, the direction of the house in the valley that the house was in reference to where the mine was. Books with family names and land deeds in the time frame of the story will help. Google Earth will help. A geological map of the area will help and going to an area of interest and looking around will help. After doing all of that and you think you are close. Do not trespass on private land, but, you will have to talk it out with the land owner. Be careful on that. All of these will help.
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What clues of where this property could be do you get from this story? German emigrants, granite along side of lime stone, pink quartz, valleys in rough terrain with small areas of farmable soil, distance from town, the direction of the house in the valley that the house was in reference to where the mine was. Books with family names and land deeds in the time frame of the story will help. Google Earth will help. A geological map of the area will help and going to an area of interest and looking around will help. After doing all of that and you think you are close. Do not trespass on private land, but, you will have to talk it out with the land owner. Be careful on that. All of these will help.
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