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The E-Sylum: Volume 18, Number 9, March 1, 2015, Article 35

TREASURE HUNTERS SEEK CONFEDERATE GOLD IN LAKE MICHIGAN

Yeah, you read that headline right. A couple treasure seekers think the "long lost" Confederate treasury is lying at the bottom of lake Michigan waiting to be found. -Editor

Fall of Richmond Sometime in the mid-1890s, a boxcar laden with gold bullion stolen from the Confederacy at the end of the Civil War was allegedly pushed off a ferry into the roiling waters of Lake Michigan during a storm.

Today, it awaits discovery on the lake bottom.

As far as treasure stories go, it's a doozy. But is it believable?

Unfortunately, there's only one way to know for sure whether the story advanced by Muskegon area shipwreck divers Frederick J. Monroe and Kevin Dykstra is anything more than a new entry in the encyclopedia of theories about what became of the fabled Confederate treasury after the war.

Based largely on a deathbed confession relayed to Monroe in 1973, Monroe and Dykstra have spent several years searching the waters off Northern Michigan's Benzie County for the treasure, which they fully expect will be found this summer.

On board with the tale is Frankfort Superintendent Joshua Mills, who is excited by the economic prospects of treasure seekers descending on his coastal town en masse with a modern day version of gold fever.

Less convinced are Civil War historians, who consider the story preposterous.

"It's all a bunch of hogwash," said Rand Bitter, author of a biography about the Union Army officer at the center of Dykstra and Monroe's treasure theory.

General H.G. Robert Minty The story bubbled into the public eye last fall, when Monroe and Dykstra announced the discovery of an unidentified Lake Michigan shipwreck bearing resemblance to Le Griffon, the yet-undiscovered "holy grail" of Great Lakes wrecks.

Count me in the "hogwash" camp. Fun story, though. One detail ya gotta love is the "Confederate gold coin sovereign", whatever the heck THAT is... It's a lengthy article, so be sure to read it online to get the complete flavor of the theory and theorists. -Editor



After the war, Minty's first wife, Grace Ann Abbott, was apparently seen in Traverse City with a necklace made from a Confederate gold coin sovereign -- a detail Dykstra and Monroe feel supports their theory.

To read the complete article, see:
Confederate treasure in Lake Michigan? Despite skeptics, divers pursue fantastic story (www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2015/02/confederate_gold_lake_michigan.html)

Stacks-Bowers E-Sylum ad 2015-02-15 Pogue


Wayne Homren, Editor

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