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Offline ChristianTopic starter
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« on: December 30, 2009, 06:45:17 am »
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The Paymaster Gold Treasure Recovery
      



This treasure recovery took place in 1926 on the north edge of what used to be the Fort Reno military reservation near El Reno, Oklahoma. Fort Reno was established in 1874 for the U.S. Army in ?No Mans Land? for the protection of the Five Civilized Tribes from the not so civilized Plains Indians.

The fort was abandoned in 1908 after Oklahoma became a state but it was still used as a U.S Cavalry remount station until 1949. Today the property is used by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

During the week of January 10th, 1926 Edward Crane, a fence rider for the Fort, discovered the hole while making his rounds. The hole, 13 feet deep and 8 feet wide, was located south of Darlington and about five hundred yards from where the Chisholm Trail crossed the North Canadian River.

Mr. Crane had just been by the location two days earlier and there hadn?t been a hole there so it was surmised that whoever dug the hole worked during the dark of night so they wouldn?t be discovered. And worked fast I might add, that?s a big damn hole!

Now for the weird part, the location of the hole was on flat, tilled ground with no landmarks what so ever in the immediate vicinity. Whoever dug the hole only dug the one hole and left very little for clues as to what might have been in the hole to begin with.

They also where able to hit their target dead on because when the hole was inspected closely a box made of rotting wooden timbers was found almost squarely in the center of the hole. The box was approximately four feet square and it appeared that a large metal box or safe had originally been inside the wooden box.

The only other clues left behind was a bucket and a rope used to haul the dirt out of the of the hole. Officials were at a loss on how to explain how anyone would know where to dig a hole to make the recovery because there wasn?t anything close by to use as a land mark or measure from and no clues of any kind were found in the area.

Remember, this was in a tilled field with nothing but dirt and more dirt, the closest ?landmark? was the tracks of the Rock Island railway that were south of the hole through another field.

Officials at Fort Reno estimated the box had been in the ground between 30 and 50 years and said that what was recovered may have been a safe ?with a large amount of money? that was ?lost? by a government paymaster in route over the Chisholm Trail to Fort Reno.

The funny part is, according to the government report the safe was supposedly lost when the vehicle it was being carried in tried to cross the North Canadian River and became bogged down in quicksand.

Now just how does an army payroll in a safe inside a vehicle that supposedly sank in quicksand end up in a wooden box at the bottom of a hole on dry land? I guess Uncle Sam has always been a little scatter brained when it comes to accounting for money!

I know this isn?t something you can look for but hearing about somebody recovering something is always interesting. Especially when it seems like the people making the recovery must have had x-ray vision!

Fort Reno, OK

Fort Reno (Wikipedia)

North Canadian River (Wikipedia)

Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History

Chisolm Trail (Wikipedia)

Along the Chisolm Trail

Oklahoma Treasure and Treasure Tales
      

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« Last Edit: December 31, 2009, 06:29:08 am by Christian »
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Offline IronHorse
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« Reply #1 on: January 01, 2010, 01:40:31 am »
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Christian, I seem to remember reading an article on this several years ago, and was equally puzzled about clues and directions.  Maybe those that recoverd  the safe/box, went  on a compass heading to a point where the compass began to waver strangely, as some of the outlaws of Oklahoma use to cover their loot with tin or other metallic pieces. There surely wasn't the technology that we have today. Smiley

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« Reply #2 on: January 01, 2010, 12:48:17 pm »
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I have been interested in this story for years its a great mystery. An old treasure hunter I know had a theory that it was outlaw loot hid in the 1890's and one of the outlaws came back to get it. Good story but still no land marks in that area and why bury it or anything at almost 14ft.   

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« Reply #3 on: January 09, 2010, 09:55:07 am »
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Might be worth some more research as I've read thet some of the JJ trove was relocated to the northwest of the fort . Detecting

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« Reply #4 on: January 09, 2010, 09:52:00 pm »
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interesting

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« Reply #5 on: January 13, 2010, 08:19:20 am »
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Quote:Posted by seldom
I have been interested in this story for years its a great mystery. An old treasure hunter I know had a theory that it was outlaw loot hid in the 1890's and one of the outlaws came back to get it. Good story but still no land marks in that area and why bury it or anything at almost 14ft.  

As someone who finds buried stuff for a living, I find this puzzling too.

First, I don't care who you are, things look different after years go by. The memory isn't a perfect recall, but plays tricks on us, a fact not appreciated back then. How can the recovery find this place with perfect recall?

Secondly, why 13 feet down? 6 ft would be more than sufficient.  When you redig a hole, it is usually apparent that someone dug it before you. If you know that, you will keep going regardless of the depth if you suspect there is treasure. 13 feet would be no deterrent, no more than 6.

Any recovery would have to be dependent on measuring from landmarks. I know of no other means of doing it. The fact that there was only one hole (the right one) was evidence that occurred.

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« Reply #6 on: January 13, 2010, 10:20:23 am »
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It could be found with a surveyors magnetic compass BUT the operator of such would have to very experienced to see the deflection at that depth, even with that amount of iron. Undecided

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« Reply #7 on: January 13, 2010, 11:22:35 am »
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One possible reason that it is so deep, goes back to the great sandstorms of the Great Depression Days as Oklahoma was known as the "Dust Bowl". Especially the areas around Ft. Reno. Blowing sands would leave vast drifts of sand, just as snow does. Just a thought.........

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« Reply #8 on: January 13, 2010, 02:40:59 pm »
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IronHorse, the only problem with your Dustbowl theory is that the treasure was recovered before the Dustbowl started.     A flood depositing a large amount of silt could also account for the extra depth, but if there were a flood of that magnitude between burial and recovery, it makes the fact that only one hole was dug even more remarkable as I would expect a lot of landmarks to change.    The simplest idea is that it was buried deep to begin with.   I think if I were going to try to solve the whole mystery, at least one person involved in burying it and recovering it would have a surveying or engineering background.

BA


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