JESSE JAMES’
Hidden Loot
Overview
Every fan of Cowboy or Western movies will know or at least have heard of the legendary outlaw Jesse James but did you know that there are a number of tales of hidden treasures and caches of loot that could make you rich beyond your wildest dreams associated with Jesse James and his gang?
One such legend is of a stash of gold worth over 2 million dollars stolen from a mule train passing through Oklahoma in the late 1800’s which is believed to have been hidden in the area surrounding Cement, Oklahoma and to find it all you need to do is follow the trail of markers left by James and his gang.
Easy right?
A portrait photograph of Jesse James from the Library of Congress allegedly taken May 22, 1882..
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The Legend
Photograph of Jesse James (25) and Frank James (29), taken in 1872, Carolinda, Illinois.
One of history’s most notorious American outlaws; Jesse James was born and raised in “Little Dixie”, what is now the Clay County area of Western Missouri. Both Jesse and his brother Frank were a part of a pro-confederate guerrilla group known as “Bushwackers” under the leadership of Bloody Bill Anderson. They were also a part of various other gangs of outlaws until they made their own gang, the James-Younger Gang which Jesse was the leader of.
Their exploits included robbing numerous banks, stagecoaches and trains across the Midwest and continued their criminal ways for several years driven by a passion to take as much gold as they could carry from the Union and Union sympathizers. From this many tales of hidden treasure and stashes of loot have been born surrounding Jesse James and his gang.
One such legend says that a mule train carrying a large quantity of gold was interrupted by Jesse James and his gang as it was passing through Oklahoma. Some believe that Jesse and his gang robbed the mule train of it’s gold and valuables and buried it somewhere near Cement, Oklahoma.
Others believe that the treasure was put with their loot and treasures that they had collected over the years in a cache or vault for safe keeping, perhaps to retire rich or as some say, to finance the rise of the south. With the gang’s eventual arrest, capture and executions as well as the death of Jesse James himself the treasures were left hidden waiting to be found.
A photograph of the James Younger Gang together in 1871.
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The Treasure
Example of raw gold deposits as they would have been on the mule train robbed by Jesse James and his gang.
Some have estimated the gold stolen from the mule train to be worth over 2 million dollars!
Considering this would have likely been raw gold carried on the mule train then this would have been a hefty weight for the small gang to get away with on horse back.
That would be a life changing sum of money for most people if it was found.
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The Clues
The mule train is believed by some to have been coming from Mexico when it was robbed by Jesse James and his gang. However, at that time large quantities of gold would have been moving from a gold mine in Kansas across what would later become Oklahoma.
When the gang would rob stagecoaches, trains, and banks on horseback it is believed they would have walked away with far too much weight in gold and other valuables to travel very far and fast enough to successfully evade the authorities as such it is believed that the outlaws would have hidden stashes of treasure with markers short distances from where they would have made the robbery with the intention of returning to it later when they knew the authorities had lost their trail.
Photograph of a twenty-mule team hauling borax in a wagon out of Death Valley to the railroad, ca.1900. The team, which is stirring up considerable dust, is moving down a dirt path towards the right along barren rocky hills.
Photograph of the rock formation near Cement, Oklahoma known as Buzzards Roost.
Near Cement, Oklahoma is a rock formation known as Buzzard’s Roost which due to the unusual carvings it bears is believed to be the starting point to a trail of markers which will eventually lead to the cache of treasure hidden by Jesse and his gang.
The markers are in the form of carvings in rocks. One such marker is a large snake said to have been carved on the rock by Jesse James himself. The carvings are generally of weapons such as pistols or bows & arrows which point in a specific direction. Following that direction has led people to finding other markers. As such, the theory stands that if you follow all of the markers you will find the hidden treasure at the end. Unfortunately, a large number of the markings have been removed over the years.
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Conclusion
One of several carvings atop the Buzzards Roost rock formation. This one appears to depict a revolver and a knife or sword pointing in opposite directions.
Separating fact from fiction is always the first hurdle with any treasure hunt and the story of Jesse James’ hidden loot is no exception.
Over years snippets of information can transform into something completely different. So, could the tale of the James’ gang stash of loot be real?
After Jesse James’ death his brother Frank stopped his life of crime and worked a variety of different jobs. A few years later, now in his 60’s and retired, he purchased a home on a 160-acre farm, two miles north of Fletcher, Oklahoma.
Apparently he had purchased the property to be near where he believed a hidden stash of treasure was and began searching for the loot that he and Jesse’s gang had hidden years earlier. Locals in Cement claimed he would get on a horse and ride the Keechi Hills. He allegedly searched for the treasure in Chandler Park, Lawton, and the Wichita Mountains but after months of searching came away empty handed.
American outlaw Frank James (second from left) and others pose over the dead body of his brother, Jesse James at Sidenfaden Funeral Parlour, St. Joseph, Missouri, April 4, 1882.
Photograph of American outlaw; Alexander Franklin James in 1898, 6 years after the death of his brother Jesse James.
Frank had discovered that it was seemingly impossible to retrace the location of the hidden loot after so many years due to how much the landscapes had changed since the treasure had been hidden. What was once sprawling pastures of Native American hunting grounds were now large homesteads.
Over the years since Franks attempts to find the stash of loot countless Treasure hunters from across the world have travelled to Cement, Oklahoma in hopes of finding the hidden loot and striking it rich but nobody to date has claimed to have found the elusive stash of gold. However, various artefacts have been found which have been argued to support the theory that treasure is hidden out in the desert.
Sources & References
Information for this article has been provided by various sources and are referenced here:
Primary Source: Jesse James – Wikipedia
SOURCES:
Bibliography
- Fellman, Michael. Inside War: The Guerrilla Conflict in Missouri onto the American Civil War. Oxford University Press, 1990. ISBN 0-19-506471-2.
- Settle, William A. Jesse James Was His Name, or, Fact and Fiction Concerning the Careers of the Notorious James Brothers of Missouri’. University of Nebraska Press, 1977. ISBN 0-8032-5860-7.
- Stiles, T. J. Jesse James: Last Rebel of the Civil War. Knopf Publishing, 2002. ISBN 0-375-40583-6.
- Yeatman, Ted P. Frank and Jesse James: The Story Behind the Legend. Cumberland House Publishing, 2000. ISBN 1-58182-325-8.
- Quist, B. Wayne, The History of the Christdala Evangelical Swedish Lutheran Church of Millersburg, Minnesota, Dundas, Minnesota, Third Edition, July 2009, page 19–23, The Murder of Nicholaus Gustafson.
Other sources of information:
KSWO: CEMENT TREASURE: The search for Jesse James’s rumoured hidden loot
Owl Cation: Jesse James Outlaw Treasure Tales of Oklahoma
History Net: Jesse James: Facts about the infamous Wild West outlaw
Edmond Life and Leisure: Outlaw James’ family treasure in Oklahoma
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Written By
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ADAM L C
Director of Areas Grey
Adam is an avid treasure hunter, seeker of adventure and the creator of Areas Grey. After travelling for almost half his life and cataloguing over 100 treasure legends along the way. He decided this was simply far too much treasure for one person to chase! As a result he created Areas Grey so he could share his stories, connect with other treasure hunters and put a little more adventure in the lives of the treasure hunting community.
Adam is a Private Investigator and former Wilderness Guide with a passion for history and archaeology. With the skills, knowledge and gear, Adam is always eager to go on the next fortune seeking adventure and connect with fellow treasure hunters along the way.
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