The second episode in the Beyond Oak Island series features lost treasures of the Wild West. It has Gary Drayton walking into the war room, where he shares with Marty and Rick Lagina, and Matty Blake, who are sitting at the table, that he got a call from a direct descendant of Butch Cassidy. He says he was asked to go help in the search for the legendary lost treasure of the famous outlaw. The call was from Bill Betenson, the great grandnephew of Butch Cassidy, and who has been on the trail for this lost treasure for years. (Bill Betenson has written a book about his research: Butch Cassidy My Uncle (Available on Amazon))
Talk continues of the many stories about the wild west, and its lost gold. The Oak Island Team mentions the times allowed for easy taking. Trains, coaches, and banks often had large caches of gold and silver in their possessions, and were not heavily guarded. Valuable caches were stolen. And not all of this stolen loot has been accounted for today.
After a while, things did change, though. The law began to get wise and crack down on the outlaws. This was not before at least some of the stolen gold and other treasures were believed hidden or buried around outlaw hideouts and trails. Some of this is thought to be still be out there – as the outlaws who hid it either were put in jail or killed- unable to go back to retrieve it.
Numerous TV shows and movies were made about these lost treasure stories of the wild west. Who hasn’t watched ‘Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid’ starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford? Although movies, it is thought the stories are relatively accurate.
The legend of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid goes that after a string of train robberies, and being chased by an US posse, they had to hide their gold obtained by their robberies. They couldn’t travel with it all and needed to get away quickly. The pair and Sundance’s lover escape to Bolivia leaving it buried, somewhere, behind. In Bolivia, they become outlaws again, but this time they are surrounded and shot dead.
Bill Betenson, however, tells of a different ending. In his early days there were tales passed down through his family that Butch didn’t die and came back to visit his family in 1925. The question is asked, did he come back for the gold, believed hidden near ‘Robbers Roost’, or might it still be there?
Bill Betenson, and many others, believe at least some of it is still there to find today.
Before Gary leaves in search of Butch Cassidy’s treasure, the team discusses other outlaws and lost gold of the wild west.
They mention the Dalton Gang and their run in with the law in Coffeyville, Kansas. Here the story goes that before robbing two banks in Coffeyville, the gang had buried treasure, previously amassed from two train robberies. Their camp was near Onion Creek.
The bank robberies ended up with 4 of the 5 in the gang killed. The towns people knew they were coming and were waiting for them outside the banks. Only Emmett Dalton survived, and it is believed he never went back to the treasure, thought buried around Onion Creek. Does it remain there today?
Another story centers around a real life Zorro, and his possible lost treasure. Joaquin Murrieta (1829-1853) is believed to have hidden gold around Fresno, California, in the Diablo Mountain range area. He is known to have robbed many a man, and stole gold, but what happened to this gold is unknown. The vigilante is thought to have stashed much of it, and it may be out there yet for you to find.
After these stories, Gary heads out with Bill to search for Butch Cassidy’s gold. They drive to Robbers Roost hideout and canyon in Southern Utah, in hopes that Gary’s top Metal Detector, which is able to discover items 3 feet deep, might pick up signals of buried treasure.
Although the area is well known and has been searched by many treasure hunters over the years, they still find some small items. At ruins of a hideout they discover a horseshoe nail and gun casing. These are pieces of history.
The show ends talking about the encouraging finds. If those items are still left to be found, so could the gold! The area is huge, and lots of searchable places remain…..
History is out there to discover…..for those that seek…..
Best of luck with all that you seek! And remember, always treasure the adventure!