Posted on 12/30/2008 12:46:04 PM PST by BGHater
Californian is fighting heirs in Texas over the right to dig for it
If Nathan Smith's plan to search for a buried treasure near the Texas Gulf Coast using Google Earth and a metal detector sounds like a Hollywood movie, it should.
After all, Smith, a California musician, was inspired by the hit National Treasure movies starring Nicolas Cage. And like any good swashbuckling flick, there's a dramatic tale — this one involving cannibalized 19th-century sailors who supposedly left the pot of gold and silver behind in Refugio County in South Texas.
Trying to bankroll his art by becoming a treasure hunter like Cage's movie character also led Smith to the witness stand Monday in Houston's federal courthouse, where he testified in his quest to get U.S. District Judge David Hittner to order that he has title to a shipwreck he says is buried under muck near the Mission River.
He's ready to hire people to unearth the ship he thinks was laden with gold when it veered away from an 1822 hurricane and sank into mud about 160 miles southwest of Houston. But he gets to dig only if Hittner finds that the site is in navigable waters. Otherwise, anything underneath it belongs to the family who claims to own the land and is in court opposing any excavation.
"I've been seeking the Lost Dutchman's gold mine, the Franklin Mountains treasure, Jesse James' buried treasure, Belle Starr's iron door, the Lost Peg Leg gold and numerous others," testified Smith. He said his three years of treasure hunting have not yielded any treasure. "Most of these are in very secluded places and very dangerous," he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at chron.com ...
Cannibals and treasure ship ping. Like P&J sandwiches.
Google is presently at $303.00.
We have a ranch in California that is surrounded by National Forest. We once had a prospector tell us that if a prospector filed a claim for our land, it could be awarded, and we could be shot for setting foot on our own place. totally false, but I think sometimes the lure of unearned wealth causes people to trample the rights of others!
A lot of people claim to know the law when they have no clue. I see this all the time in Real Estate law. “A friend of a friend who took some courses but didn’t pass the test told me that.....(whatever goofiness suits their purpose)”.
If the court rules the land is navigable waters the Sorenson heirs should file with the county to have the land taken off their deed and reduce their tax burden.
If it is a river and the family has no right to control the use of it, the land should not be taxed.
This has been an issue in Ohio for some time. Owners of lake front property are taxed for land that has been eroded by lake Erie and is now covered by the lake. Yet the counties still assess taxes on that property that state law says is now the property of the state.
Hmmm..this Smith sounds a lot like Joseph Smith, a 19th-Century treasure hunter in New York who was rather unsuccessful and charged with fraud before finding some golden plates and creating a new religion. Maybe if he can't find the Lost Dutchman, he can start a new religion and find some golden iPods or something...?
With wetlands and navigable river issues and the USACE involved, you can bet it will be a major mess.
What is up with that, Gondring? No, I am NOT a Mormon but didn’t the Prop 8 events teach you anything? You don’t want to be a Mormon? You don’t want to accept Joseph Smith as a prophet and seer as they do? Fine and dandy. But why go out of your way to offend a sizeable group of Freepers and the Conservative movement’s dedicated allies in the battle against the Libtards; a battle that actually means something, unlike the point of your pathetic and insulting post? My friend, make no mistake, we either stand together or we will hang separately.
perhaps the word fanatic is the reason
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Thanks BGHater. At first glance, I thought it might be reference to a lost treasure story (I think set in Texas) I read about as a kid, in the (fun, if nothing else) book "Strangely Enough". :') |
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· Discover · Nat Geographic · Texas AM Anthro News · Yahoo Anthro & Archaeo · · The Archaeology Channel · Excerpt, or Link only? · cgk's list of ping lists · |
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It's amusing that you were upset at my post, as during the aftermath of the invasion of the FLDS ranch in Eldorado, Texas, and with defenses of Gov. Romney (though he wasn't my preferred candidate), I was accused by fellow FReepers of being "a Mormon apologist."
And what I said shouldn't be offensive...what I said was just straight factually true, acknowledged even by LDS apologists...
Joseph Smith was
My friend, make no mistake, we either stand together or we will hang separately.
I'm "offended" that you would misquote Benjamin Franklin, so...I'm not sure whether it's worse that you made his quote pedestrian or that you didn't credit him. At least you didn't do both. :-)
But in the end, your message is right on target. I admire the courage coming from the LDS corner, and I admire their drive and maintainance of many strong family values.
Right down the road ping.
This is a good tale at Desert USA.com. It gives a little taste of gold fever:
New Evidence Surfaces About the Location of The Lost Dutchman Mine
“I’m “offended” that you would misquote Benjamin Franklin, so...I’m not sure whether it’s worse that you made his quote pedestrian or that you didn’t credit him. At least you didn’t do both. :-)”
Quite so. And apparently I failed to even see the quote marks around what I said as if I were quoting Frfanklin’s exact words or merely paraphrasing them. But it would seem you saw the quotes so I suppose I owe you an apology. Yes, I suppose.
Well here’s another for you and, so I fulfill your high standards, this one is an exact quote. One you would do well to reflect on.
“But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.”
-Thomas Jefferson, Notes on Virginia, 1782
Not shot, but if you're caught panning on a claim, it's a federal offense
that has nothing to do with real estate or state laws. Even if it's your property.
Nice way to piss off your neighbors though, file a claim on their property
and set up a tent, complete with a loud dredge. LOL
Actually, I researched it, and you can’t file a claim on someone else’s property. Mining claims are filed on government land. And I am happy to say, we own the mineral rights to our place.
What a sad and pointless "paraphrase"...to change one word, removing the wit while keeping the meaning.
Well here’s another for you and, so I fulfill your high standards, this one is an exact quote. One you would do well to reflect on.
“But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.” -Thomas Jefferson, Notes on Virginia, 1782
Yes, I am quite familiar with that--I carried that work around with me on my trusty Clié for re-reading on flights or slow moments (though recently my "trusty" Clié is no longer trustworthy...) :-(
Anyway, I am familiar enough with that passage to remember the context. Mr. Jefferson isn't saying we should hold our tongue, but is saying that the "religiously incorrect" should not be automatically barred from testimony. What he says we should do, instead, is to loose our inquiry upon those religious beliefs, as the truth can be obtained by questioning and reasoning, not by just accepting or rejecting "questionable beliefs" out of hand.
Rational questioning does not contradict his oft-stated position that a man's relgion is between himself and his Maker...Jefferson was speaking of questioning the religion, not any man's belief in it.
Still, I don't wish to be rude to anyone, and I realize upon re-reading my post that it could easily be seen as offensive, despite its focus on facts.* I don't want that to come across.
*As much as I thought Gov. Huckabee's comment was malicious but not directly wrong, I now see that it might have been unintentional.
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