Mexican Leaves Gold Behind in Kansas

I think there is a joke somewhere in that title but I will leave it to the readers to come up with their own.

In Ford County, KS is the mouth of the Mulberry Creek and $500,000 in gold. This gold is from an 1815 Mexican freight wagon train that was traveling from Santa Fe to what is now Independence, Missouri. The Mexicans were on their way to buy supplies and were carrying the gold to pay for those supplies.

At one point during their trip from Santa Fe they stopped at a spot approximately one half mile west of the mouth of Mulberry Creek to spend the night. As luck would have it back then, the wagon train was attacked by Indians as they camped and an ongoing battle began. Stories say that the running battle lasted for six days and stretched out over an area several miles long.

When all was said and done the Indians had won the battle and there was only one lone Mexican survivor. He made it through the days long battle by hiding out in some nearby brush and not moving. After the Indians had taken the horses and what little supplies that were on the wagons the lone survivor came out of his hiding spot and found that the gold had been left behind. He took the time to bury the gold at the site of the massacre and the made his way back to Mexico, never returning for the gold.

This golden treasure is supposed to be located along the present day Highway 56 about twelve miles southwest of Dodge City, KS. Before you run out there with your shovel and start digging holes you may want to do a little more research. There is an alternative story that says the burial spot is in an area about seven miles west of the mouth of Mulberry Creek. And to make things even more difficult, this could be construed as meaning a seven mile area beginning at the mouth of the creek and heading west, not just a spot seven miles from the creek.

Here’s the good news. If the second story about where the cache is buried holds true then that would give you the direction that the battle traveled from the creek. The Mexicans camped about a half mile west of the mouth of the creek to begin with and if the battle went to the west then that would give you a direction to follow.

Now for the bad news, if you look at a topographical map you will find that the mouth of Mulberry Creek is about fourteen miles east of Dodge City, KS. This would mean that for the gold to be buried twelve miles southwest of Dodge City as described in the first story the battle would have gone on for twenty-six miles and not six. I doubt that a battle in 1815 would have lasted for twenty-six miles. So this brings us to the dilemma, what are we to believe so that more research can be done.

Personally, if you were asking my opinion, and you were, right? LOL

I would begin my search at the mouth of Mulberry Creek and work my way west from there. This seems like the most precisely described spot in any of the information and it makes sense that the wagon train would camp near water if they had a choice.

Back to the good news, most of the land out in this area of the state is still all open farm and cattle ranch land so you don’t have to worry about a city being built on top of the cache location.

Happy hunting!