Jesse James treasure hunt

[fongu]

I watched the hunt for Jesse James treasure and enjoyed it. I wish they had done more metal detecting, although the background information was interesting.
I find it hard to believe that they would walk off from that last hole due to lack of funds and bigger equipment needs if they thought something was there. Who is going to keep an eye on that location until spring? The gold bar inside the tree called a Dorey was a new name for me. The silver dollars and ten and twenty dollar gold pieces were something I would sure like to find myself. Of course, I would probably have a heart attack or something. If I thought I had found something valuable and had armed men standing around during the recovery attempt, I would have broke out the shovels and had at it, unless it was unsafe to dig by hand, due to possible cave ins. Silver and Gold are of no value to dead treasure hunters, that's for sure. I was interested by them stating that a band from a mason jar would register a 2 on the upper scale of the GTI-2500, tho. I would have thought it would have registered a 5 or 6 and been a D target, instead of a C target. The double JJ on the canyon walls was interesting, also. The turkey track as an indication of direction and the hash marks for the number of paces was interesting, also. I personally think Jesse James and his cohorts blew the majority of the money that they stole and robbed honest people of. I'm sure there were some small stashes, but doubt any large finds.

 

[Oak]

n/t

 

[Cliff KS]

One of the detectorists was using the Garrett 2500 .... sometimes with the large imaging coil and sometimes with the treasure hound depth multiplier (cache hunting), and another detectorist was using the new White's TDI PI machine. I think they showed they were using the Garrett when they located the mason jar of coins and the White's when they found the gold "Dorey" bar. They may have crossed checked both targets with both brands of detectors??

I also found it unusual that they would stop short of digging the deep "large" target. Also, who would bury a treasure that deep (beyond 10 feet) when during that era they would have had to do it by hand shovel? Doesn't seem likely.

The mason jar cache of coins and the small gold bar were very nice finds though.

 

[Uncle Willy]

I liked the treasure hunting part but practically lapsed into a coma listening to all the drivel about James and his affiliation with the KGC and all the political connections.. I never believed that Ford killed him and it was all a ruse so he could disappear from the radar screen. I read quite a bit of stuff on James over the years and that 86 year old guy shown at the end of the program was James in the twilight of his life.

Bill

 

[Uncle Willy]

Yeah all the money James stole back then amounted to less than $2 million but would be worth $50 million today. Would make a nice payday.

Bill

 

[fongu]

Jesse James was portrayed as a hero by some people and his family was really mistreated, but for some reason people always want to romanticize people like him and Bonnie and Clyde. I remember reading during a robbery a teenage boy ran out in front of Jesse James and his gang and was shot down and all he was trying to do was get the heck out of the way. Robbers and Killers are not heroes and most of the robbery and killing affects poor people who have not got much in the first place. Back in those days, when you robbed a bank, there was no FDIC to replace the money, you just lost all your life savings and were on the mercy of the world. And it's a hard world without money to pay your bills and buy food or get medical attention. But, all in all, the metal detecting part was what I was interested in and I enjoyed the small part they showed very much. Uncle Willy, I believe he faked his death also, but the discipline required to be a part of an organization or secret society was lacking in his character. Did a lot of disenfranchised people who lost everything in the bitter Civil War which is the worst thing to ever happen to this country since the genocide of the American Indians, cause them to sympathize with Jesse James and others like him, I think so.

 

[Cliff KS]

For those of you who did not get a chance to see the show, they also used the ground penetrating radar type of treasure finder to try and cover all the bases. I believe that is what they used to find the target they gave up on (at least for now) after diggin' 10 feet down with a backhoe.

 

[OzarksMike]

I found the whole thing a bit questionable. If the back hoe was having such difficulty digging that hard clay then how did a few men from the James crew dig that deep with shovels? Unless I'm mistaken, the radar operator described the target as a 3 X 5 box. I'm assuming thats in feet, not inches. How could a person carry that on horseback? Why would they choose a spot on top of a hill to bury it with no obvious landmarks around to help find it again? Hope the sequel explains it a little better!

 

[Uncle Willy]

Yeah bad guys are bad guys no matter how they are portrayed. Billy The Kid is a fine example and also John Wesley Hardin who killed over 40 men in his lifetime.

Bill

 

[joe dirt_1]

I didn't watch the program, but have been reading where most people think the whole show was a farce. supposedly the jar the coins were buried in was made at least 10 years after jesse james was supposed to have died. also mentioned was the guys wiping dirt off the coins with their fingers...a definate no no for valuable coins. sounds as if the coins might have been planted to make for more interesting viewing. very interesting though...........roger

 

[r2rjumper]

I think it is in fact a farce, for whatever reason. What caught my attn was that every one of these guys from NGS were armed. Hmm, since when does a survey group of NOAA carry guns, especially when they are on private property lookin for treasure? We are not allowed to carry guns on any public land, but yet a GOVT survey group can, even on private property? read between the lines, its fishy...

 

[ThTx]

I think it is in fact a farce, for whatever reason. What caught my attn was that every one of these guys from NGS were armed. Hmm, since when does a survey group of NOAA carry guns, especially when they are on private property lookin for treasure? We are not allowed to carry guns on any public land, but yet a GOVT survey group can, even on private property? read between the lines, its fishy...

I was wondering about the sidearms, also. There are times when I am armed (usually with shot shells for snakes), but if I feel the need to be armed, you can bet that I am not filming it!

A

 

[r2rjumper]

yea, I am always armed when I am out in the wilderness...but no one will see it. BUT for a government agency that is NOT law enforcement, as these guys are only surveyors, to openly carry firearms, to me this seems to be an intimidation factor...

 

[NM5K]

Dunno.. If they are on private property, they can do anything they want. Doesn't matter who
they work for. The only hang would be if the land owner told them not to carry guns. I assume
this was not the case.
I'm not sure why they were carrying.. But that doesn't really concern me much, or have much to
do with why I think it was probably a staged hunt. It was other things that made me wonder if
maybe it was a hoax.
Heck, I'm almost always carrying a pistol when I'm on my own property. I guess being an ex
boy scout, I like to be prepared..
Lots of animals running around the woods where my place is. Dog packs, large cats, wild hogs,
possible rabid animals, etc.. It's possible I might even see a rabid meth head stalking the woods,
but that's on the lower end of the scale as far as likelihood, even though there are plenty around
that area. Doesn't bother me if anyone knows I'm carrying. Most of my neighbors shoot too..
Heck, when I had a new neighbor to the west walk up my driveway one day, I had my pistol
on my belt. "I carry in a highway patrol type holster in plain view".
The first words out of my mouth to him was "don't worry about the pistol, it's not for you!".
He didn't seem to care less.. I told him I carried it mostly for animal protection.
Filming it? Heck, I film myself shooting quite often..
Killing a poor defenseless can with my .40 S&W pistol... :/
http://home.comcast.net/~disk100/killacan.wmv
My Ruger 10-22 I like to play with from time to time... I built that up from various parts..
Stainless receiver, but a blued sporter barrel.. Yea, I know, I'm pretty danged ugly..
http://home.comcast.net/~disk100/10-22.wmv
Naw, it wasn't the guns they carried that made me smell possible hoax.. It was other things.

 

[Alan Applegate]

I can't believe the folks who fell for this hoax. It is only surpassed by the ones Jesse Ventura has been pulling off of recent.

It is just too bad, that reality TV stoops to such a low level just to get people to watch.

Alan Applegate

 

[Cliff KS]

It's been a little over a month since I viewed the program, but maybe I wasn't paying close enough attention or my memory is a little off, but I thought all of those treasure hunters were from the private sector, but gave their organization some fancy official sounding name/acronym to give somewhat the appearance of a psuedo-governmental connection, when in fact they actually had no connection to the government at all?

 

[jjett2036]

These guys are a private company, NGS (National Geomantic Society) not NOAA's National Geodesic Society. The majority of the team members are ex-security guards and ex-private investigators. This must be their spin on treasure hunting. Where as most people would metal detect and dig, they appear to like to metal detect and dig..with weapons and fake badges. I'm sure that the thought is for "personal protection" while treasure hunting, but I feel they are being melodramatic. Of course, I have never found a bar of Jesse James' gold either.

Have a great day!

 

[gemee1]

So I just watched this show in The History Channel tonight and it is now two years later and I am wondering what happened at that site they were digging with and stopped??

 

[widebody]

[size=large]maybe nobody funded part 2. my brother called this P.M. after watching it also,and said it was fake as far as he could tell. didn't add up and he's not a treasure hunter. Yet.

HH.[/size]

 

[Jerry-Wi]

I never made it through a whole episode with these guys. Do not reality shows to start with and this bunch is play acting for the camera. At least that is the way it look to me.

Jerry