Quintana Lost Safe

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	Quintana Lost Safe « on: May 01, 2012, 04:13:09 pm »

In the late 1800s, a couple of miles south of present day Freeport, Texas, stood the small resort town of Quintana. In its heyday, the Quintana had the finest recreational facilities on the Texas Gulf Coast. Among the prominent features of the town were its plush (for that era) two-story hotel on the beach and the race-track on the banks of the Brazos River, about a mile away.

Quintana found itself squarely in the path of a monster storm roaring suddenly out of the Gulf of Mexico in 1875. There are a few things big enough or heavy enough to withstand the winds and tides of a hurricane, and little of Quintana was left standing.

After the storm had passed, and some of the more important matters had been taken care of (such as burying the dead), one of the most searched for items was the hotel safe which had disappeared in the story.

The safe was said to be about five feet tall and weighed nearly a ton. It is believed to have contained a considerable amount of gold coins. It was a common practice in those days for the citizens of a town without a bank to use the hotel safe as a vault. Quintana had no bank and the safe was never reported to be found.

I have dug lots of bottles and relics around Quintana and the beach is a rich place to detect. I know of 2 small pin money caches found there a few years back but have not heard of anyone finding the safe.

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	Re: Quintana Lost Safe « Reply #1 on: May 01, 2012, 05:30:53 pm »

Sounds like an interesting lead, Seldom. Easy enough to verify, but it could be hard to find if the storm was powerful enough. Then again, it could just be waiting out there just off shore.
BA

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	Re: Quintana Lost Safe « Reply #2 on: May 01, 2012, 06:22:10 pm »

one would think a safe of that size wouldn't move too far no matter how fierce a storm , maybe someone got there first after the hurricane passed . cheers Mick

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	Re: Quintana Lost Safe « Reply #3 on: May 01, 2012, 06:49:26 pm »

	Quote:	Posted by au fever
one would think a safe of that size wouldn't move too far no matter how fierce a storm

You would think but hurricanes are more powerful then many believe. After Ike a few years back my neighbors Mercedes was found 15 miles away it had floated from Galveston to Texas city dike. Lots of cars are still missing in the bay I guess, are sucked out to sea.

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	Re: Quintana Lost Safe « Reply #4 on: May 01, 2012, 07:59:51 pm »

	Quote:	Posted by au fever
one would think a safe of that size wouldn't move too far no matter how fierce a storm , maybe someone got there first after the hurricane passed

Seldom's right....you'd be surprised. When the Walnut Grove dam burst in 1890 flooding Wickenburg, Arizona and destroying several towns between the dam site and the Gila River, one of the items washed away was a rather large safe. Despite the many popular stories to the contrary, the safe WAS found (about a week to 10 days after the flood), but it had washed a considerable distance away from its original location.

BA

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	Re: Quintana Lost Safe « Reply #5 on: May 01, 2012, 08:09:41 pm »

	Quote:	Posted by BitburgAggie_7377
Then again, it could just be waiting out there just off shore

You know BA that every town along the gulf have a lost safe story. LOL Here is one you will like.

After Hurricane Carla in 1961 a bar owner who's bar was washed out to sea are into the bay reported a safe with 5 grand in cash and 50 grand in jewelery lost. When I heard the story in the 70's I did some research and pretty well made up my mine that it was an insurance scam. Who knows?

A couple of years later I met 2 students from A&M who were looking for it. They had used tide charts storm info everything they could get their hands on and had a notebook full of figures and notes, them boys had spent a lot of time working out 3 or 4 places the safe might have ended up. I don't know if they find it but when I think about it I hope they did.

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	Re: Quintana Lost Safe « Reply #6 on: May 01, 2012, 08:50:58 pm »

Another great story and discussion, Seldom! Thanks! Detecting

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	Re: Quintana Lost Safe « Reply #7 on: May 02, 2012, 01:06:02 pm »

	Quote:	Posted by seldom
A couple of years later I met 2 students from A&M who were looking for it. They had used tide charts storm info everything they could get their hands on and had a notebook full of figures and notes, them boys had spent a lot of time working out 3 or 4 places the safe might have ended up. I don't know if they find it but when I think about it I hope they did.

As long as they didn't confuse themselves by looking at the charts upside down, they just might have. (I can just hear it now "did you hear about the aggies who missed out on a fortune because they had their map upside down?") I was going to follow the same basic procedure to find the Wickenburg/Fools Gulch safe until I did my due diligence and searched ALL of the newspaper accounts from the time period myself looking for clues.

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	Re: Quintana Lost Safe « Reply #8 on: May 02, 2012, 01:14:31 pm »

	Quote:	Posted by BitburgAggie_7377
(I can just hear it now "did you hear about the aggies who missed out on a fortune because they had their map upside down?")

LOL yeah it don't take much to get a Aggie joke started in this town

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	Re: Quintana Lost Safe « Reply #9 on: May 02, 2012, 01:43:24 pm »

Seldom, R U in the Houston area? Do you swing solo or do you like company? I'm in the Houston area and I go down to the beach in Surfside & Quintana fairly often. If you would like to meet up down there, I'd be interested in having company. Speaking of Aggies, I lived in College Station for a while and did some research on the area and know of a location where early Texas military pay was dispatched and distributed off of the Old San Antonio Road that should be an interesting place to search. I move away before ever searching it and have not taken the time to return but would like to. Anyway if there's any interest, please let me know.

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