Treasure Hunter

The kindle formatting isn't perfect, with a few random page numbers showing up in odd locations, but the stories are remarkable and fascinating. As an armchair treasure hunter, I delighted in these tales, particularly as so many of them resulted in treasure finds...only to be thwarted by legal issues, rattlesnakes, international border issues, or the impossibility of getting heavy equipment deep into the mountains to either excavate a mine adit or to remove thousands of pounds of silver and gold. The author tells of nearly drowning in quicksand, confronting giant rattlesnakes, blue spiders, scorpions in hordes, suffering from thirst and heat, and being shot at on an almost regular basis. I think I shall continue hunting treasure from my armchair. Jameson announces that there are many treasures yet to be recovered, some of which he knows exactly where they are, but there are obstacles of various sorts. He and his treasure hunting partners have had money in their pockets from their treasure finds, but they've also come limping home with nothing whatsoever. The most important thing about treasure hunting - keep your mouth shut. Don't talk about what you're doing, don't talk about your finds, and don't flaunt any wealth. Mexico is full of caches and stashes, closed mines just waiting for re-opening by the right person, but it's also full of bandits, crooked officials, and those who would confiscate treasure as historic patrimony (likely to line their own pockets). The US has many hidden treasures as well, and the even more terrifying Internal Revenue Service and Congress as adversaries. There's even an account of an inbred clan of hill people living in a remote area of the Oklahoma Ozarks, brewing moonshine in a treasure cave and shooting at anyone invading their privacy. I want to see a second volume of these adventures.