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 ...
Scary thing is, someone believing they are "entitled" to use deadly force and actually shooting at you or yours.
Someone's erroneous belief could get you hurt or killed.
I would suggest properly posting your property to insure that any half-wits with designs on your property are informed that they are in the wrong.
Likewise, it might be a good idea to make it clear what the consequences for trespass / assault might be.
I don’t know what State you are looking at, but if it is in the West, try to get water rights too! Best of luck to you
I do enjoy gold panning if only to get out of the city, and away from business.
And Virginia is a long way from California.
/Salute
Refugio ping!
If you want on, or off this S. Texas/Mexico ping list, please FReepMail me.
I think the Mission river is navigable—with a canoe.
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