The Watertown weekly leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1912-1917, 1912-08-30

thousand dollars in gold to pay for
cotton, was sunk in 1869. None of It
has ever been recovered
There is fascinating story about
an old barge that is buried in the Mis-
souri, sand-liats near Fort Rice, North
Dakota. With it is buried silver worth
more than half million dollars. AT
the time when the unsuccessful pros
pectors were toiling, empty handed.
back from the gold fields of California.
a little band of men struck rich find
near what is now Virginia City, Mon
tana.
The built a rude camp and, with the
poor implements that they had, work
ed feverishly for many months until
they had taken out all that their
packs could carry across the miles Of
unciviliZed country they must cross to
the navigable rivers of the upper Mis-
souri,. Toiling across the mountains,
always in danger Of massacre, facing
starvation and privations, breaking
roads in the frozen flats and blazing
trails through the forests, they finally
reached the river near Painted Woods,
and there built a rude barge and load
ed it to the waters edge with the rich
silver ore
Travelling by night, in constant fear
of Indian outbreaks, they wendell slow
1y down the partly frozen river, know
ing that soon they would reach the
frontier town and safety. 1t was in
"a and the few scattered settlements
had been deserted. No Indians had
been seen for days and. taking cour-
age, they travelled faster and with less
| caution. When they were near Fort
Rice they were attacked by the In
dams and all of the little band were
killed with the exception Of one man,
Pierre Laselle.
Ignorant of the wealth aboard, the
Redskins sunk the float, and Pierre
Laselle escaped to Fort Rice leaving
behind him no trace of the expedition;
the secret of the hardships and toll
and wealth were with the river and
with him He told no one anything
about it for some time-not until he
had enlisted in the army and maneu-
vered SO as to get back to be near his
treasure Then he took an old Quak-
er, named Richard Pope, into his con-
| fdence and at the urgent request or
the Quaker his son was also told the
secret.
Three months later the little party,
we'll armed and we'll provisioned, went
! quietly to the spot that Laselle remem-
bered so we'll, only to find that the
river course had changed and bar
of sand had formed over the barge,
Not dismayed, however. they dug IN
til they found the prov of the old
scow and on the very eve of success
they too were attacked by the Indians
and Laselle was killed! Pope and his
son, too badly frightened to work
again within the year, went back with
the secret to the town and While there
young Pope died
After many years the old Quaker
took another man, named Emerson.
and with the drawings that Laselle
and he had made they went back to
sand bar had grown and that the river
ran many hundreds of feet away from
the spot where the fortune lay buried
in glistening sands. Where Pope said
the old diggings would be found a
young cottonwood tree was flourish
ing They spent weeks digging for
many feet around the place, but found
nothing. Some mistake had evidently
been made in following out the former
| instructions, but the barge was there,
| because Pope and Laselle found it on
their first visit. Pope is dead, but
| Emerson is still alive and has the old
| drawings, letters and records. Maybe
he can be induced to part with it, and
maybe not, but somewhere in the flats
near Fort Rice is snug little fortune
awaiting some finder.
Behind the city OF st. Augustine, in
some likely spot, another rich treasure
| is located When it was a rich Span
fsh town favorite putting-in port for
the heavily laden Spanish galleons
| that were coming through the Straits
of Florida to avoid sailing the waters
made dangerous by Peter the Terrible
and Sir Henry Morgan, it's wealth at
tracted the attention of the free-boot-
ers and word of their preparations to
attack and loot the city was carried
to the captain-general.
For weeks the city was in state Of
great pertur baton and when some
English ships, probably privateers, ap-
peared off the coast, the public treas
ure, the church treasure and the valu-
ables of the wealthy citizens were as
sembled, removed inland and hidden.
For months the state of suspense con-
tinued until the Spanish Admiral Quin-
tana appeared with his fleet. Then
the ST. Augustinians thought they
could safely bring back their wealth,
To their horror the three prominent
men entrusted with the secreting Of
1t. either could not find it or pretend
ed they could not. One fed to Spain
before the anger Of his fellow-citizens
and his flight cost the lives of the 9th
er two. They were assassinated as
soon as the flight became known.
The archives Of the Spanish admir-
atty have full record of the affair and
best be found by searching the family
papers of the man who fed. He never
returned, but without doubt he left
the valuable information to his heirs.