[Detector]

Jesus Martinez was a well known and well seasoned wagon master often hired to bring merchandise from Independence to Santa Fe during the mid 1800's. In the summer of 1853 Martinez was hired by 4 wealthy merchants from Santa Fe to take them to Independence where they would buy the merchandise to sell in Santa Fe.

The wagon train is said to have consisted of 110 wagons and roughly 80 men. One of the wagons had a false bottom where the 21 bags containing 1000 silver dollars each was hidden. After crossing the Arkansas at the Cimorron Crossing Martinez noticed they were being shadowed by Indians. Martinez being experienced with this knew they were probably waiting for reinforcements and planned to attack the train.

After one days travel they camped that night and prepared for the predicted attack at dawn. They circled the wagons and spent the night digging trenches within the circled wagons. As expected the Indians began their attack at dawn and came in waves trying to overrun the well armed men. They went on for 5 days but as ammunition ran short the men were doomed.

The Indians killed everyone, or so they thought, and burned the wagons before leaving. Martinez anticipating the defeat is said to have covered his head with his sombrero and played dead in his trench. It worked and after the Indians had left he crawled from his hiding spot and retrieved the bags of silver from the wagon that had been burnt but not completely. The Indians had not discovered the false bottom.

The story says he carried the silver to a hiding spot and made his way back to Santa Fe. He never returned to recover the hidden loot, but on his deathbed told his son of the booty. As his son got older he decided to try and recover the silver. Dodge City had sprang up by this time and it is said the locals knew of a "young Martinez" that was often seen west of town poking a wire rod into the ground. It is also said he later told 2 local cowboys about the loot and they helped look for it, but it was never found. History says the only thing he found was the bottle.

There are some inconsistencies to this lost treasure story that have always bothered me. During my research I found another story that seems to collaborate the Martinez story. A Fugate wrote that during the summer of 1853 in the same area their wagon train came across a group of massacred Spaniards. All were dead except for one which they gave a ride back to Santa Fe. The problem I have is that in the summer of 1853 Fort Atkinson would have been almost smack dab in the middle of the location.

In any case, to some lucky hunter 21,000 silver dollars may still lay waiting to be found just west of Dodge City. I've read that even in the 1920's the location could still be seen by the trenches and burnt wagon parts.