I have been researching Austin history and the surrounding Central Texas area for almost 30 years. I have papers scattered all around my house and in my garage. I found this one.

By Jeanine Plumer

 

TSS report. Starts North Mine. Man made Cave, Travis County. Quadrangle. Pflugerville W. 7.5′

Description: The entrance to this cave is about 10 feet wide and six feet high. It extends about 10 feet, past a wooden door, and for an additional 20 feet to a 10 foot drop to water. Past this shaft, it turns left and extends for about 120 feet before ending. It is apparently entirely man made.

History: The following story was told by Mr Stark. When Texas was still under Mexican rule, robbers captured a gold train transporting 30 mule loads of gold and fled northward with the pursuing Mexicans close behind. The night before the Spanish soldiers caught them, they camped by a cave and spring on Walnut Creek. The next day, the Mexicans engaged The robbers in a battle, killing most of them, but they could not find the gold. Mr Stark’s grandfather told Mister Stark’s father that he believed the gold had been hidden in The Cave near where the robbers made their last camp, but no attempt to recover the gold was made as The Cave entrance had since been covered.

However, about 1914, a man arrived from Mexico who claimed to have seen and memorized the treasure map. He had not brought it with him for fear he would be stopped by Pancho Villa and questioned about the map. He also said that Mr Stark’s grandfather had more than just a hunch to go on when he told about the treasure being hidden in The Cave as his father had been one of the robbers. Mr Stark and the man from Mexico then followed the directions memorized from the treasure map and found two silver spikes driven into the trees that marked the location of the treasure. Originally, three spikes marked the location, but only two could be found. As they were now certain about the exact location of the Cave, they started digging a tunnel to find it.

Several years were spent digging two tunnels, numerous pits and trenches, and at last one shaft in an attempt to locate the Treasure Cave, but it could not be found and the work was abandoned. The north most tunnel has been kept clear of debris and numerous Boy Scouts and other interested people have visited it. For a time, a 30 foot shaft about 40 feet from the entrance was used as a water supply. The cave was located and mapped on 21st of August 1963 by Bill Russell and Bill Flowers.

 

Mike Cox’s rendition on the website Texas Escapes of the buried treasure: 

“Desperate to lighten their load and escape attack, the teamsters bury all their gold in the bank of the stream that would come to be called Walnut Creek,” Cox told me.

The story goes that rather than an X, a sword was placed in a tree to show where the treasure was buried.

Cox says he doesn’t believe any of it, but adds: “Never let the facts get in the way of a good story.”

Another rendition is in the Austin American Statesman in 1956 tells the tale of the lost treasure originating in June of 1865. When the Civil War ended.

In Austin and much of the South, there was chaos, turmoil and lawlessness. The state treasury in Austin was raided and much of the money stolen by approximately 40 men. The men then scattered and most were never found, nor was the money. Some of the Treasury’s treasure was supposedly the origin of the treasure buried in the Cave in north Austin on the old Stark farm.

The 1956 article also mentions that the treasure in the cave originated from Sam Bass, a notorious Texas outlaw. His stolen loot is in The Cave.

According to the KUT article and reliably Austin Written by KUT 90.5 | By Skye Seipp

Published June 16, 2022 at 5:01 AM CDT
The story I copied from the Austin American Statesman in the 1990s is not accurate. It might be the original story where all of this started from, but it says the owner of the property is Walter A Stark but on KUT. The author did the research and found the deed and said that in fact, in fact, it was not Walter A Stark who owned the land and purchased the land, but it was Ralph Stark. He found Ralph Stark and in 2022 this is what he had to say about the treasure:

“I made that story up,” he said. “The whole thing was a scam.”

He admitted he lied to the reporter when he said he and his friend were going to dig the mine further to look for the gold. And he made up the Hollywood deathbed moment.

“[We] just trumped up a lot of charges,” Ralph said. “A lot of stories. But none of that’s true.”

But what was true, he said, was that his grandfather bought the land so he could search for the treasure. And he dug more than one mine searching for it.

So was the treasure ever found?

“A lot of my uncles … agreed it never was,” Ralph Stark said, “because they had dug so much around there and never could find it.”

Skye Seipp concluded his article with this:

You can’t get in the cave today. It’s gated off and home to an endangered species of daddy longlegs. The county can’t share its exact location, and officials made it clear they would prosecute anyone caught trespassing.