Sam Bass’s Hidden Treasure

I hope everyone is doing okay right now. I know it’s difficult and for the people who go to my school we’ve been in this quarantine now for two weeks and who knows when things will be normal again. It also kind of sucks that everyone had their spring breaks canceled, but, in some ways, I guess it was for the best. It allowed families to spend quality time with each other. It also helped people get more comfortable with the idea and reality of living in quarantine. This situation is truly the best way to keep ourselves and other people safe. I hope it doesn’t last two months like scientists are estimating it to be. I miss my friends and the normalcy of what every-day life used to be like, but I know you all feel the same. I hope everyone is making the best out of this situation. It really is the only thing we can do right now. Now back to our regularly scheduled program.

Texas has reportedly the most monetary amount of buried treasure compared to every other state in the U.S. The estimated amount in Texas is $340 billion in buried treasure. That $340 billion is from a reported 229 treasure sites across Texas. Today we are going to be talking about one of those specific treasures in Texas. A supposed treasure was hidden by Sam Bass, a famous train, bank, and stagecoach robber.

In 1878, Sam Bass had gone with his right-hand man Joel Collins to Big Springs, Nebraska, where they robbed the Union Pacific Railroad. They ended up getting 3,000 brand new 1877 $20 gold pieces. People have recovered $25,000 and some jewelry, but no one knows where the rest of the loot went. The rest of what they had stolen was said to be $60,000. This is the heist that mad Sam famous and in an important criminal to catch in the eyes of the law.

After they robbed that train, they headed to Round Rock in Texas, where they hid out. In their time of hiding, they were planning to rob another bank. They decided to hide the loot they had gotten from the Union Pacific Railroad job and other jobs in the Hill Country by Round Rock.

Unfortunately, on July 21st, 1878, Bass died in a shootout with the Texas Rangers in 1879 when he was 27 years old. What was truly saddening about his death was the fact that he died on his birthday in extreme pain from a fatal gunshot wound.

No one has found his treasure yet, but some people think they have gotten close. Since his death, people have claimed that the treasure is in a hollowed-out tree on the road that has now been named Sam Bass Road, which is two miles west of Round Rock.

He has been known to have hidden his loot from people in all sorts of places from other robberies. Some other sites he is known to have hidden his treasure is in a cave in Signal Hill and a cave near Grapevine Lake. I guess he liked hiding things in caves. People haven’t found those treasures yet either. The question is….. are the legends true, and these places do have buried treasure, or they are just misleading tricks to make sure no one will know the actual location of his treasure.

Sites I used for research: https://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/x-marks-the-spot/ https://raregoldnuggets.com/?p=5263 https://www.wideopencountry.com/true-texas-mysteries-that-remain-unsolved/ https://texashillcountry.com/buried-treasure-texas-hill-country/