Treasure in the Ozarks Yocum Silver Dollars?

Yes I believe it was Ponce De leon......."wildly rumoured"

Edit....it appears to not have been Ponce....if it was, it was not directly him, there were quiet a few Spanish explorers there at that time, the other that comes to mind is Jean Baptiste De La Harpe..

But any of these explorers could have sent a "side party out"
There are lots of Spanish / Indian battles and the silver could have came from any of them! If they were defeated, would you surrender your silver or send it with a small group and hope to follow it at a later date...

I will need to verify that but it was an obsene amount of silver in that time, that they were transporting up river by boat "the spanish" in the late 1700's

Some of the stories get kind of ...out there.... like the one that claims the Osage Indians were 7' tall and made the other tribes look like dwarfs, they supposedly shot 40-48" draw bows that pulled between 100-180 lbs
and shot 4'reed/cain for arrows...they supposedly walked over the spanish and took what ever was left, including the silver bounty, which they took to a "cave" "starting to sound famililar?" and gaurded/kept it there until it was trraded.

But that is one of the most bizzar....

Every story I get in to about this ends up with a wild story, of a battle on the river between Spain and the Indians, and the Yocums were Indian friendly, and traded liqour, and trinkits for the silver.

The reason for my thinking it was mexican gold......
at the time Mexico had silver and was not trying to expand..they were trying to keep what they had, "back pedaling" so it makes since to me that there would be imigrants/mixed currency/and silver floating around on wagon trains and such prior to the war of 1812 it took a while for this war to happen , it was a build up war, not an instant decisive one!

more to come soon....lookin into the Ponce thing.....

[edit on 16-11-2009 by Doc Holiday]

I see this thread has been quiet a while, so I hope someone is still interested in talking about this?

I have MANY questions about the Yocum Dollars, and the more I sift through all the theories and "info" out there, the more I come up with!

First off: The Marvel Cave tour guides at SDC say that Marmaros was the name of the town that sprang up around the mouth of the cave when is was being mined for guano. This town was later burnt down by the Baldnobbers, and was in ruins when the Lynch family bought the property and started cave tours. Is this correct, or was Marmaros another town all together?

Of all the theories out there as to where the silver actually came from, I tend to lean more toward the idea they found a forgotten stash of Spanish silver, likely left behind by men trying to get the silver to a ship on a waterway. I have a hard time believing the Yocum silver came directly from a mine for two reasons 1)Of all the known mines in Stone/Taney area, NONE of them were silver mines. Lead and Zinc, sure. But no silver. Further north in Missouri, sure. But not in the Branson. On the other hand... Just a few miles west of Branson, there is the town of Galena... "Galena" is a type of Lead/Silver Ore. Riddle me that. 2)These Yocum boys were keeping this whole thing secret enough that no one knew/knows where it is... how the heck would they have managed to mine, smelt, and cast the amount of coins that were in circulation without some help? Eventually it seems like they would have had to hire out, and there goes the secret...

Also along that line: The Lantern Tour of Marvel Cave at SDC claims they have evidence of Spaniards hiding/burying silver ore in that cave. Old wooden ladder they left behind. Rust score marks on the walls from where they chained the enslaved Osage they were using to mine and transport the ore. Course... the tour doesn't get you anywhere near close enough to really lay eyes on any of these things... just a tiny glimpse of the 'old ladder.' Have you seen this cave? The only way in (that we know of) at the time was the giant hole in the ground, and the only way down would have been to drop a rope and repel in. Seems like a lot of trouble to "hide" silver ore. For how long? Hide it from what? I want to believe their claim is true! But I would also love to hear thoughts on their motivations.

I have read SEVERAL different accounts on the original members of the Yocum family, and I have done some genealogy work. I have heard it said there were FOUR origninal Yocum brothers, but my research leans more towards 3 brothers: Jacob ("Jake") 1767, Solomon (Sol) 1769, and James (Jim) 1772. James was the first to come here (unclear if he came from IL or VA,) after the death of his first wife, and left his son Jacob Levi with Solomon. James marries a Deleware woman and becomes close with Native American populations. IN 1815 his two brothers and son accompany him back to the area, and it was around this time the brothers trade with the Indians (soap and horses) for the secret location of the mine, or cave, or whatever.
James River was names for James Yocum.

I am really unclear as to the references to Breadtray Mountain. Have you seen the maps in Artie Ayers' book, that are supposedly passed on to a grandson "William" by Sol Yocum (the last living brother at this point, 1850) before he left with many of his family for CA. These all seem to suggest the cave's location more in the Reeds Spring/Galena area, not as far south as Blue Eye. I believe I have seen the mountain described, but I also have ridden A LOT in this area of the country. It would be a LONG day or two on horseback to cover this country, even before Table Rock was in the way. Not that it wouldn't be worth the ride... just seems far removed from all the other evidence of the Yocum settlement.

I read there were several Yocum coins found in the 80s, but I have also read a report from a coin expert that claims he/she handled and tested one, and found evidence it was not authentic. Are there any confirmed coins found? I have not heard arguments that the casting equipment found by the old grist mill (owners known to have been friends of Yocums, and rumored to have been given the casting equip to hide) was not authentic.

I find it interesting there are no known (that I know of) Yocum Dollars left, and I have read this was because the Federal government went to great effort to confiscate it all and recast it as Federal money, since the silver content of the Yocum Dollars was higher than those minted by the government. Allegedly the gov came looking for the cave/mine also, but the Yocums told them to get lost and never gave up the secret.

Exactly where is it that the James and White rivers meet? Is that area not under Table Rock now?

SOO interested in this subject, and welcome any thoughts on it!!

reply to post by BirdsDontCry


Ran across this thread and "Yes" I find it interesting. Had never heard of this Silver Stash before now. I grew up in Omaha. Ar-Mo state line. Most of my people are in and around that area. Im also familiar with most of the landmarks thats been mentioned. Ill be checking back for any new info. that might be posted.