The Silver Madonna and Other Tales of America's Greatest Lost Treasures

by W. C. Jameson

  The Guadalupe Mountains are a massive limestone reef transecting the Texas–New Mexico border and extending for nearly two hundred miles. The range is pockmarked with hundreds of caves, large and small. A half-hour drive toward the northeast along State Highway 62-180 would bring one to Carlsbad Caverns. Lechuguilla Cave, regarded as the largest cave system in the world, is also located in this mountain range. Within a half-mile of Juniper Spring are several small caves similar to the one described by Duran.

  The Butterfield stage line passed less than one mile from Juniper Spring, and the Pinery, a stage stop for the Butterfield Overland Mail, had been constructed at the top of the pass. The rock building and its associated corrals was a location where horses, weary from the long pull up the mountain, were exchanged for fresh ones and where passengers could enjoy a meal and a bed. During its brief existence, the Butterfield Overland Mail transported money, supplies, and passengers from the east to the newly settled land and associated business opportunities in the west. From Arizona, California, and New Mexico, the line transported shipments of gold and money from the mines there to the eastern banks.

  It is also a fact that bandits hid out in the deep and forbidding canyons of the Guadalupe Mountains. Outlaws preyed on the stagecoaches as the horses labored up the steep grades toward the Pinery Station. Records show that stages were halted, passengers robbed, and strongboxes and chests containing gold, money, and ore were taken on several occasions.

  Given these facts, it is not unreasonable to conclude that the cave Jesse Duran found was a cache for goods taken from the stage line. More difficult to explain is the presence of the three skeletons in the cave. Perhaps they were victims of the robbers. Or maybe there was a falling out among the bandits and three of their number were slain and left in the cave.

  Elsewhere in the Guadalupe range other strongboxes and chests have been found and documented. In some cases it has been suggested that the principals involved in the robberies were captured or killed by pursuing lawmen and never had an opportunity to return to retrieve their booty.

  Duran himself is a fundamental element pertinent to the credibility of this tale of lost treasure. Old-timers in the region who knew Duran claimed that he was an honest, sincere, trustworthy, practical, and hardworking young man not given to exaggeration or making up stories. Duran was well liked and had the respect of all who knew him.

  In researching Duran, it was learned that, following his visit with Stogden and his neighbors, the goat herder fled on foot that same night to Carlsbad, New Mexico, some seventy-five miles to the northeast. He went directly to the home of a sister where he related his experience. Duran remained hidden at the sister’s place for three months, rarely leaving the house during daylight hours.

  Duran’s fear of the spirits of the dead was so strong that he continued to believe his accidental discovery of the treasure and the skeletons might bring bad luck to his family. So greatly did he fear the situation that he decided to leave his sister’s home and travel to California. There, Duran worked as a farm laborer until the day he died sometime in the early 1970s.

  Evidence exists that others may have stumbled onto Jesse Duran’s treasure cave. Sam Hughes operated a successful cattle and sheep ranch in Dog Canyon on a northern portion of the Guadalupe range. One day, Hughes, along with several friends, was deer hunting near Juniper Spring when he accidentally slipped into the opening of a small cave. Afraid there might be rattlesnakes lurking inside, Hughes immediately extricated himself and continued on with his hunt. At the time, Hughes was unaware of the tale of Jesse Duran’s treasure cave.

  Later that evening as Hughes and his companions were relating the day’s activities around the campfire, the rancher told his story of falling into the shallow cave. Noel Kincaid, who at the time was foreman of the J. C. Hunter Ranch and occasional searcher for the treasure cave, asked Hughes for more details. His description of the cave matched that of Duran’s. It was also about one-quarter mile northeast of Juniper Spring. The following morning, the deer hunters set out to try to relocate the cave but had no luck.

  During the 1950s and 1960s, a man named Lester White camped in and explored around the Guadalupe Mountains. He was a white-bearded, sun-wrinkled outdoorsman who spent much of his time searching throughout the range for lost mines and buried treasures. A throwback to the old-time prospectors and miners of a bygone era, White differed only in that instead of a pack mule he negotiated his way around the flanks of the range in an old pickup truck. He made camp wherever he wound up at the end of the day. He had spent fifteen years in the Guadalupe Mountains but was unacquainted with the tale of Jesse Duran’s treasure cave.

  Sometimes while visiting with others in the area, White would relate an experience about finding a small cave in the exposed bedrock about one mile northeast of the old Frijole ranch house and not too far from Juniper Spring. He found the cave by accident, he said, while he was resting one evening near an old goat trail that led up to Rader Ridge. He explained that, just below where he sat, odd shadows cast by the setting sun from a large and flat limestone rock suggested a hole immediately adjacent to it. Making his way down the slope toward the rock, White noted that the rock had apparently slid several inches down the slope, revealing the opening to a small cave.

  White, a thin, rather frail man, was unable to budge the rock any further. He peered into the small opening next to the rock. What he saw, he stated, caused the hair on the back of his neck to stiffen. Inside the cave, he said, “was at least two skeletons and a bunch of old rotted clothes and boots.” White claimed he had found skeletons in the range before and was not particularly interested in any of them. He turned from the cave and made his way back to his camp.

  Others have reported encountering this elusive little cave in the past but, not knowing what lay inside, never ventured beyond the opening for fear of snakes or for lack of interest. Large flat limestone slabs of rock lie everywhere in this portion of the range, and checking under each of them would be a formidable task. All it takes is shifting the right one to the side, however, to reveal the opening to a small cave that holds riches that have eluded searchers for over a century.

  4

  The Lost Treasure of Shafter Lake

  Most Americans are familiar with some of the more well-known tales of lost and buried treasure in the West such as the gold of Arizona’s Superstition Mountains and the Lost Sublette Mine of Texas’s Guadalupe Mountains. Only a handful, however, are aware of an incredible fortune in gold, large enough to require two mule-drawn wagons to transport, that lies beneath the surface of a dry lake bed on the High Plains of Texas. According to researchers, this mysterious and elusive treasure may be worth in excess of twenty million dollars today.

  Following the end of the War Between the States, a number of Union army officers were assigned duty in the expanding frontier of the United States. New settlers were flocking into the West at an increasing rate, seeking to undertake farming, ranching, and mining, and establish towns with schools, churches, and businesses.

  Difficulty arose when the land sought by these newcomers was the homelands of dozens of different tribes of American Indians. In seeking to defend their traditional ranges, the Indians waged war on the settlers, and the results were often bloody. Soon, the growing demands for protection were heeded by the U.S. government. Military forts and outposts were established and fortified with contingents of soldiers who patrolled vast areas in an attempt to bring order and peace.

  William Rufus Shafter enlisted in the army of the North soon after the outbreak of the Civil War. By the time he reached his twenty-sixth birthday, he had accumulated battle experience at Ball’s Bluff, Fair Oaks, Nashville, Yorktown, and West Point. A fearless fighter, Shafter was often wounded, twice decorated, and won the praise and admiration of General George Henry Thomas, known to his troops as the Rock of Chickamauga. In recognition for Shafter’s achievements during the war, Thomas presented him the command of a large contingent of black soldiers, calle
d Buffalo Soldiers by the Indians, assigned to frontier Texas. Shortly after arriving at his post, Shafter earned a reputation as a courageous and indomitable leader who rode into battle without hesitation and won the respect of his troops. During Shafter’s time in West Texas, he earned the nickname “Pecos Bill.”

  In 1957, a researcher examining a collection of military documents from the 1860s and 1870s located in a Fort Bliss, Texas, depository, encountered a cryptic report pertaining to Shafter and a contingent of soldiers escorting two wagonloads of gold from the Mexican border to some unidentified destination in the north. The source of the gold was not indicated and remains a mystery to this day. In addition, it was not specified whether the gold was in the form of ore, ingots, or coins, and an estimate of value was never recorded. It must be assumed, however, that “two wagonloads of gold” represented a substantial fortune.

  The paucity of information regarding the gold shipment has led to the suggestion by some that Pecos Bill Shafter may have acquired it illegally and intended it for his own use. Shafter supporters have taken issue with this view and resent what they consider to be a slur upon the officer’s character. In response, they offered the explanation that it was more likely he was on a secret mission for the U.S. government and that the gold was being transported to the U.S. Treasury in Denver.

  Whatever the truth of the matter, the gold never reached its intended destination and lies today beneath the bottom of a dry lake bed in Andrews County on the High Plains of West Texas, a shallow playa called Shafter Lake.

  Located a few miles northwest of the city of Andrews, Texas, Shafter Lake is not so much a true lake as it is a mostly dry but occasionally water-filled depression in the arid, semidesert environment. Hundreds of such depressions dot the Texas Panhandle and vary in size. Many are little more than ponds, but a few of the larger ones are regarded as legitimate lakes by the area residents. They are sometimes filled with saline-laden waters from runoff generated by the infrequent thunderstorms that visit this part of the country. The often intense heat of the region, coupled with the low relative humidity, facilitates rapid evaporation of the playa waters, leaving behind crusty accumulations of salt. Shafter Lake is one such playa and remains dry much of the year, often for several years in a row.

  Shafter, leading his contingent of mounted troopers and the two mule-drawn wagonloads of gold, had passed two miles east of the small town of Monahans and was traveling in a northeasterly direction when one of his scouts informed him that a band of forty Comanches was following a short distance behind. Well aware of the danger represented by these Indians, Shafter ordered six sharpshooters to the rear of the small caravan. Their presence, he hoped, would deter any attack planned by the raiders.

  Throughout the day, the Comanches remained a mile behind the soldiers, never advancing or making overt threats. A few minutes before sundown, the soldiers arrived at a small spring located not far from the present-day town of Notrees, twenty-five miles north of Monahans. Here, Shafter ordered a halt, instructed the men to set up camp, and posted a double guard around the perimeter. Few of the soldiers slept that night as they peered into the darkness looking for any sign of the Comanches they knew were just a short distance away.

  The troopers were up before dawn the following day, and after a hasty, cold breakfast, continued on the trail northward once again. As the rising sun illuminated the flat plains, the soldiers could see the Comanches about a mile to the south, still following.

  Travel was slow owing to the sand-choked trails and occasional deep washes and gullies across which they had to negotiate the heavily laden wagons. Three more days passed, and the party finally made camp one evening a short distance from the southwestern shore of a large playa.

  Several soldiers hauled water barrels out to the shallow lake to replenish what had been used but found it too salty to drink. They contented themselves with a bath, the first they’d had in several days, and noted that the lake was only two to three feet deep.

  That evening as Shafter and his soldiers ate supper, one of the lieutenants, who had been studying the lake, decided they would make better time by traveling across the lake rather than around it. Though he had not investigated, he insisted the lake bottom was firm enough to support the wagons, mules, and horses.

  The next morning, the troopers dined once again on a cold breakfast, hitched the mule teams to the wagons, and mounted up. Moments later, Shafter motioned the contingent forward and into the playa, his intention being to avoid the long route around the body of water.

  Initially, the crossing was uneventful. The saline waters of the playa lapped at the boots of the riders and the wagon bottoms, but progress was no slower than what they had grown accustomed to. As the party neared the middle of the lake, however, trouble started. The lead pair of mules became bogged in the soft mud and was unable to proceed. As the soldiers worked to free them, the trailing pair began sinking, soon followed by the wagon itself. Within ten minutes, the first wagon had vanished below the surface of the water and the second one, along with its mule team, was slowly disappearing into the saturated sands and silts in the bottom of the lake. Extra horses and mules were brought in and harnessed to the wagons and mules, but to no avail. They, too, sank into the mud and drowned.

  As Shafter watched the futile efforts to save the wagons and the gold, the Comanches arrived at the south end of the lake. Forming a single line stretched out along the shore, they remained mounted while observing the frantic activities of the troopers. When it became clear that the quarry was in a somewhat defenseless position, the leader of the Comanches issued a loud cry and sent his armed warriors into the lake toward the confused soldiers. After regarding the approaching Comanches for a moment, Shafter ordered his disorganized men to mount up, abandon the wagons, and ride away. When they reached the north shore, they did not stop, but continued their flight from the pursuing Indians across the dry plains.

  The Indians chased the soldiers for four miles before reining up. Returning to the mired wagons and animals in the middle of the lake, they found little useful save for some harnesses, ropes, and sheets of canvas. Careful to avoid being trapped in the muddy bottom, the Comanches secured these items and rode back toward the south.

  Except for small bands of plains Indians and occasional travelers or soldiers, this part of Texas was seldom visited. As a result, the two wagons caught in the shallow lake bed went unnoticed for decades. Over time, the wooden planks rotted away, spilling the shipment of gold onto the floor of the lake. The heavy weight and high density of the precious metal caused it to sink out of sight beneath the soft, saturated sands of the playa.

  According to available records, Shafter and his command never ventured back to the lake which now bears his name. Military assignments kept him from returning to the region. One of them was to lead a company of cavalry on the island of Cuba during the Santiago Campaign in 1898. Shafter died in 1906. It is reasonable to assume the huge shipment of gold was never retrieved by the only person who was aware of its location.

  During the summer of 1901, a few pieces of rotted wagon timber were found in the middle of a dry playa bed in West Texas by a man named William Russell. Russell, along with his wife and three children, were traveling from Denton, Texas, to Pecos when their wagon broke down northeast of Andrews near a dry lake bed. Russell set up camp, and while he and his wife made repairs to the wagon, his sons explored the crusty surface of the playa. During their evening meal, Russell noticed one of his sons playing with some items he had never before seen. When he examined them, he realized they were pieces of harness and wagon fittings. When Russell asked his son where he found them, the boy pointed toward the middle of the nearby playa and stated they were just lying on the surface.

  The next morning before continuing with repairs on the wagon, Russell walked out into the playa. Near the middle, he discovered the rotted and rusted remains of at least two wagons, as well as some weathered bones of horses and mules. As Russell looked around the ar
ea, he was unaware that only a few inches beneath his feet lay a fortune in gold.

  Russell completed repairs on his wagon and proceeded to Pecos where he eventually established a successful commercial orchard and truck garden. Approximately ten years after settling into the small West Texas town, Russell told a friend about finding pieces of wagons out on the dry lake bed near Andrews. The friend then related a story he once heard from a former black cavalryman about two wagonloads of gold that had sunk into the lake and which had to be abandoned because of an Indian attack.

  Russell was excited about the possibility of returning to the playa and retrieving what he knew must be an amazing fortune. Several weeks later, Russell, along with his two sons, traveled by wagon to the playa that was now known throughout the region as Shafter Lake. On arriving, however, they found the lake filled with water to the depth of three feet, the result of recent heavy rains and runoff in the region. Russell remained encamped by the shore for several days while he attempted to formulate some strategy to retrieve the gold. Finally, he gave up and retuned to Pecos. Russell made several more trips to Shafter Lake, but each time found it filled with water.

  In 1931, an unnamed ranch hand told a story in Andrews that, while he was out searching for some stray cattle two weeks earlier, he was crossing the dry lake bed north of town when he found several pieces of an old wagon scattered across the playa. Two ranchers who overheard the story were familiar with the tale of Pecos Bill’s lost gold and traveled out to the playa the next morning. The day was particularly windy, and by the time they reached it, the lake bed was completely covered by sand blown in by the strong West Texas winds. They found nothing.

  When Shafter Lake fills with water following heavy rains, the porous sand and silt of the bottom expands. As a result, heavy objects at the surface sink easily into the saturated, loosely consolidated mud. While some researchers agree that the Shafter gold has long since sunk into this soil, there is little agreement as to the depth it may have reached, with estimates ranging from a few inches to in excess of four feet.