Throughout history, the state of Missouri has served as a setting for a vast array of exciting legend and lore. Within the pages of this book, W.C. Jameson presents the most complete collection of the Show Me State's tales of lost mines and buried treasures. With his gift for storytelling, Jameson relates episodes from the time of Indian occupation through early settlement, the Civil War, to the present. As a legendary professional treasure hunter, Jameson has followed the trails of many of these lost mines and buried treasures.

Join the Search for Lost Treasure First popularized by folklorist and author J. Frank Dobie in his book Apache Gold and Yaqui Silver in 1928, the legend of the Lost Adams Diggings is one of the most mythologized tales of lost treasure on the continent. In the 1860s, Gold was taken from Adams' canyon in enormous quantities, with nuggets ranging from dust-size to some as large as hen's eggs, all being plucked from the bottom of a shallow stream. This true story of the Lost Adams Diggings starts with the discovery of the rich deposit of gold in a remote mountain range, and ends with the author's own story of search and discovery in the twentieth century.

What sort of person undertakes to rob a multi-ton train surging down a set of rails at high speed? For the Old West’s most famous outlaws, including Jesse James, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, the Dalton Gang, and Black Jack Ketchum, it was as much about the thrill of the crime as the riches to be won, thumbing their noses at the authorities, and getting away with their crimes more often than not. These men, and at least one woman, were dare devils, rule breakers, adventurers, and rebels. In addition to their train robberies, they led colorful, dramatic, and dangerous lives. The Old West's Infamous Train Robbers and their Historic Heists profiles sixteen noted train robbers (or train robbing gangs) along with the details of each their forty-seven hold-ups. The mechanics of each of their train robberies—planning, execution, and escape—are dissected and discussed. Pertinent background information relating to each outlaw/gang is included as well as what became of them following their train robbery days.

When it comes to historical mysteries, Texas offers numerous long-perplexing conundrums for readers. Several of the Lone Star state's enduring legends are associated with historical figures including Davy Crockett, Billy the Kid, John Wilkes Booth, the outlaws Sam Bass and Bill Longley, and the pirate Jean Lafitte. Lost mines and buried treasures are also a long-standing part of Texas history and lore, and the location of several of these riches has baffled searches for well over a century. Searches for these elusive treasures, represented by gold and silver ingots and coins, have ranged from Texas' mountain ranges to the prairies to the coast, and continue to this day. Texas may also have been the site of several "lost civilizations. Growing evidence suggests that Mayans, a culture long associated with southern Mexican and Central America may have established settlements in the state after having disappeared from their homeland. The Caddo Mounds spread out over a large section of southeast Texas represent what amounted of a city that was once inhabited by thousands of natives. The questions of where they came from and what became of them continue to intrigue researchers. This lively, easy-to-read book will cover these and many other mysterious happenings and will be popular with residents and tourists.

From the late 1870s to mid-1880s, Tombstone, Arizona, enjoyed impressive growth and prosperity as a result of the discovery of major silver deposits nearby. As in many boomtowns in the American West, its sudden prosperity attracted businessmen, outlaws, grifters, gamblers, prostitutes, and preachers. It wasn't long before there was a desperate need for lawmen and law enforcement. Outlaws like Johnny Ringo, Curly Bill Brocius, Buckskin Frank Leslie, Burt Alvord, and a handful of other lesser known criminals, all faced off with the legendary lawmen, including the Earp brothers--Wyatt, Virgil, Morgan, and Warren--who to one degree or another represented law enforcement in this wild, no-holds-barred town. In addition to Tombstone's reputation as a setting for colorful outlaw-lawman confrontations, it is also associated with a number of compelling and baffling mysteries. Ghosts are reported to roam the old taverns, hotels, opera houses, and other buildings. Eerie and unexplainable sounds and sights have been associated with Boot Hill, the famous cemetery, as well as the New City Cemetery. Cold Case: The Tombstone Mysteries investigates the real stories behind the mysteries, including unsolved crimes that await a solution. These old west cold cases continue to attract researchers and investigators to the town too tough to die.

Investigating History's Mysteries The assassination of Sheriff Pat Garrett, one of the most notorious lawmen of the American West, remained one of the most puzzling and perplexing unsolved mysteries for more than a century. As a result of sophisticated forensic analysis of the historical crime scene, as well as the discovery of new evidence, the mystery has been solved. Most know Pat Garrett as the self-proclaimed slayer of the outlaw, Billy the Kid, on the night of July 14, 1881, in Fort Sumner, New Mexico. The event propelled Garrett into regional and national headlines and generated a momentum that led the lawman to consider seeking higher political offices. Garrett's plans were thwarted by his self-destructiveness, however. In spite of his notoriety, he was a bumbling lawman, a debtor, an alcoholic, an adulterer, and addicted to gambling. After being removed from his position as sheriff, he retired to a ranch in Uvalde, Texas, only to be summoned back to New Mexico to investigate the disappearance of Colonel Albert Jennings Fountain. In this pursuit, he failed once again. Garrett's downward spiral created a sense of desperation in the lawman, and his continuing difficulties caused him to lose what few friends he had and generate numerous enemies. In time, his enemies had had enough of him and decided he had to go.

Billy the Kid: Beyond the Grave traces the life of this famous desperado through his role in the Lincoln County War, the alleged killing by Sheriff Pat Garrett, Billy's escape, and his life for the next sixty-nine years. In 1948, an old man named William Henry Roberts was confronted with evidence that he was Billy the Kid. At first he denied his identity, but reluctantly admitted who he was. Based on taped interviews with Roberts, new evidence discovered in the 1990s, and sophisticated photo comparison technology by the FBI, the conclusion that Roberts was Billy the Kid gains support.

This well-researched book is a biography of the life-and disappearance-of Amelia Earhart, the pioneering aviator who was the first woman to fly solo over the Atlantic in 1928. But did Amelia's plane really crash and sink in 1937, or was her fate entirely different?

Arizona's history is liberally seasoned with legends of lost mines, buried treasures, and significant deposits of gold and silver. The famous Lost Dutchman Mine has lured treasure hunters for over a century into the remote, treacherous, and reportedly cursed Superstition Mountains east of Phoenix. Gold and silver bars discovered in Huachuca Canyon by a soldier stationed at nearby Fort Huachuca just before World War II remain inaccessible despite years of laborious attempts at recovery. Outside the town of Yucca, bandits eager to make a fast getaway buried a strongbox filled with gold, unaware they wouldn't survive the pursuit of a law-enforcing posse to recover their plunder. And somewhere in the Little Horn Mountains northeast of Yuma lies an elusive wash containing hundreds of odd gold-filled rocks. Selected from hundreds of tales passed down from generation to generation since the days of the gold-seeking Spanish explorers, the tales included here are among the most compelling that Arizona has to offer.

One of the most colorful parts of American History is the time of train robberies and the daring outlaws who undertook them in the period covering from just after the Civil War to 1924. For decades, the railroads were the principal transporters of payrolls, gold and silver, bonds, and passengers who often carried large sums of money as well as valuable jewelry. For the creative outlaw, trains became an obvious target for robbery. Willis Newton has never enjoyed the recognition and fame of the better known train robbing outlaws of our time such as Frank and Jesse James, Butch Cassidy, the Daltons, and the Doolins, but he was the most prolific and successful train robber in the history of North America. Newton stole more money from the railroads than all of the others put together. During his lifetime, Newton robbed six trains and an estimated eighty banks, pulled off the greatest train robbery ever, netting $3,000,000, yet remains virtually unknown. So unknown was he that, of all of his successful robberies, he was rarely identified as a suspect. Following his greatest heist, Newton and his gang member, composed of his brothers, were arrested, tried, convicted, and sent to serve long terms at Leavenworth Prison. When they were granted early release for good behavior, they lost no time in returning to robbing banks. Willis Newton's life and times as America's greatest, and last, train robber has been gleaned and developed from extensive interviews he granted during the 1970s when he was in his eighties. In addition, newspaper reports of his numerous train and bank robberies have been obtained and researched for precise details of robberies and pursuit.

The twenty-four tales in this book are of the most famous lost treasures in America, from a two-foot statue reportedly made entirely of silver (the "Madonna") and a cache of gold, silver, and jewelry that was rumored to also contain the first Bible in America to seventeen tons of gold-its value equal to the treasury of a mid-sized nation-buried somewhere in northwestern New Mexico. What makes these tales even more compelling is that none of these known-to-be-lost treasures have been discovered, although modern detecting technology has made them eminently discoverable.

This well-researched biography of the life and controversial death of Robert LeRoy Parker, a.k.a. Butch Cassidy, is a journey across the late-nineteenth-century American West as we follow Cassidy s exploits in Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah, where he made his name as a surprisingly affable outlaw. More important, this book answers the question: Did Butch Cassidy, noted outlaw of the American West, survive his alleged death at the hands of Bolivian soldiers in 1908 and return to friends and family in the United States? The evidence suggesting he did is impressive and not easily dismissed, but how he lived and what identity he assumed are still debated."

Tennessee's tales of treasure come from a multitude of sources: Indians mining silver for jewelry and ornaments, outlaws burying stolen loot, lost and hidden Civil War payrolls, personal wealth buried and never to be retrieved, and much more. Many attempted to find the lost mines and buried treasures. A number of them succeeded, but many more remain to be found.

Two subjects continue to fascinate people-the Old West and a good mystery. This book explores and examines twenty-one of the Old West's most baffling mysteries, which lure the curious and beg for investigation even though their solutions have eluded experts for decades. Many relate to the death or disappearance of some of the best-known lawmen and outlaws in history, such as Billy the Kid, Buckskin Frank Leslie, John Wilkes Booth, The Catalina Kid, and Butch Cassidy. Others involve mysterious tales and legends of lost mines and buried treasures that have not been recovered-yet.

The dusty trails heading west of the Mississippi provided intrigue, adventure, and danger for the men and women who set out in search of a new life and fortune. Outlaws along with pioneers and forty-niners traveled this frontier often, finding and losing riches along the way. The Great Plains region loaded with history from native Americans, Spanish explorers, and Mexican, German, and Scots-Irish settlers holds some of the country's most promising finds for buried treasure.

All along the Atlantic Coast lie tales of zealous pirates, unfortunate shipwrecks, and cryptic maps discovered in musty attics. From Maine to Florida, W.C. Jameson chronicles more than thirty stories of lost riches and forgotten stashes in this ninth book of his Buried Treasures series. Although some treasure has been discovered over the years, many relics of the past still remain hidden, awaiting someone with the luck and perseverance to discover them.

W.C. Jameson was an active treasure hunter for more than fifty years. He has fallen from cliffs, had ropes break during climbs, been caught in mine shaft cave-ins, contended with flash floods, been shot at, watched men die, and had to deal with rattlesnakes, water moccasins, scorpions, and poisonous centipedes. He has fled for his life from park rangers, policemen, landowners, competitors, corporate mercenaries, and drug runners. He has also discovered enough treasure to pay for his own house and finance his and his children's education. With his enigmatic treasure-hunter partners, Slade, Stanley, and Poet, Jameson's stories are worthy of an Indiana Jones film-except that they are all true.

Handed down via oral tradition, Texas folk sayings are expressive, unique, useful, delightful, quite descriptive, oftentimes bizarre, and always entertaining. "Bubbas" have a way of communicating that can leave the rest of us wondering what's been said. Much of the colorful language of these rural folk harks back to the early days of Texas settlers, and has been in use ever since. Go into any small Texas town, sit in the local cafe at breakfast time, and you may well hear almost every phrase in this book. Bubba Speak is almost required reading for anyone new to the state of Texas. Like the foreign language books that we carry overseas, this book will enable the visitor to communicate and even understand most of the conversation. So "set a spell" as you take an excursion through the colorful language and expressions of Bubba Speak. Read these expressions out loud they sound better that way.