Most people don't realize that the Spaniards had a big presence and influence right here in what is now Brown County and in rural central Texas. That's why all treasure hunters in this area or any area need to have some knowledge of carvings and symbols that may lead you to some very old and rewarding lost treasure caches. Here are a couple that you should keep in mind when out with your metal detector or just out exploring. The first is a check mark. The second are drill holes. I don't recall ever finding a check mark in this area but I have found numerous drill holes in Brown and surrounding counties. An important fact to remember is that very little was known about the Knights of the Golden Circle when this book was published. Now, however, we know that many treasure signs used by the Spanish and by the ancient Knights Templar were also used by the KGC. These tips are from "Follow the Signs: A Treasure Hunter's Handbook", an excellent book written by Dayne Chastain (1977). We have a copy of this book in our Central Texas Treasure Club Library that may be checked out by dues-paid Members, for 1 month, at our monthly meetings or by picking them up at my home by appointment.

Page 57 - "When you find a check mark, it indicates you should follow the direction of the long side of the mark."

Page 59 - "A drill hole is a Spanish mark. At least, we have always found that the drill holes we have located throughout the countryside of a five state area have always been related to Spanish markings, and more than likely Spanish treasure or gold...

If you find one drill hole, you can find every drill hole in a five state area because one will lead you to another."

 

Which would you choose?

 Woods.  

Friou Allen, Central Texas Treasure Club Co-Founder, Has Passed Away

 

Friou Allen, Central Texas Treasure Club's Co-Founder and my lifelong friend, passed away at 5:00 a.m. this morning at his home in Brownwood.

Friou's funeral will be at 10:00 a.m. Friday, May 8th at Heartland Funeral Home in Early with Visitation from 6:00 - 8:00 p.m. Thursday.

Jay Longley, President, Central Texas Treasure Club

 

 

Today's CTTC 2026 April Surprise Hunt Was A Big Success!

 

Our Central Texas Treasure Club Members had a great time at this morning's 2026 CTTC Members-Only April Surprise Hunt in Brownwood. Thanks to Lisa Alldredge for doing a great job of photographing our Members having fun! 26 Members participated. The number of Club Members attending our activities continues to grow each year. While the most prevalent natural find today was old pull tabs, a couple of Members made some other nice natural finds. Caiden Tyler pulled a 1923 90% silver Mercury dime from the ground and Tommy Faught found a heavy octagonal "Bell System" telephone pole tag from the site.

Yesterday, I buried 3 special prize tokens - 2 for Mercury dimes and 1 for the Grand Prize, a beautiful Brilliant Uncirculated 1922 Peace Silver Dollar. Members Kendall Thomas and "Lucky Mike" Alldredge found the dime tokens and Alvis Boyce found the silver dollar token. Congratulations guys! I estimate that overall our Members cleanly removed over 300 aluminum pull tabs, pop-tops, and assorted aluminum and other trash from the site! Our next regular monthly meeting will be on Tuesday, May 5th. Visitors are always welcome and invited to attend.

Jay Longley, President, Central Texas Treasure Club

 

2026 CTTC Members-Only April Surprise Hunt - Saturday, April 25th!

 Central Texas Treasure Club's 2026 Members-Only Annual April Surprise Hunt date has been set for Saturday, April 25th. We'll gather at Pat Coursey Park at the corner of East Baker and Center Streets in downtown Brownwood BY 10:00 a.m. We'll caravan to the secret hunt site from there about 10:05. Members are encouraged to wear your Club caps and shirts to this hunt to promote and raise public awareness to our Club. Shovels will not be allowed during this Hunt. Small hand-diggers only.

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Jay Longley, President, Central Texas Treasure Club

 

The Treasure of Dry Pond - Near Goldthwaite in Central Texas

 Most traditionalist "historians" and high-and-mighty archaeologists scoff at the suggestion that our area of Central Texas holds massive amounts of buried treasure, including that left well-hidden by the Spaniards and Spanish settlers. Treasure hunters over the past century and a half have proven otherwise. Here's one such story of many treasure hunters who have sought Spanish treasure near Goldthwaite, just 30 or so miles from Brownwood.

 https://www.texaslostmines.com/dry_pond.html 

 Jay Longley, President, Central Texas Treasure Club

Tip from a Professional Treasure Hunter - Old Forts

 

Tips From a Pro - Hunting Old Forts

From: the late professional treasure hunter Robert F. Marx

"Besides the many old forts which are now National Monuments or State Historical sites, off-limits to treasure hunters, there are thousands of others in ruin. In some cases only the sites now exist and no traces of the original structures are visible; most of these sites are not off-limits. Old forts are similar to ghost towns in that they had private dwellings, stores, shops, trash dumps, wells, and outhouse pits in addition to military buildings. Around the old barracks one usually finds weapons, shot, cooking and eating utensils, smoking pipes, buttons, watches and chains, jewelry, and scattered coins. The big bonanza are the places where soldiers stashed their individual caches of coins. Military men had two problems: how to safeguard their valuable from their comrades and where to keep their money when they went off on long patrols from which many never returned. Because most forts were overcrowded and privacy was practically nonexistent, soldiers generally hid their small caches outside the fort, usually within walking distance, in and around places which could be easily relocated. The most likely spots to search are near the base of a tree or in or near a prominent natural feature. A Fort Pierce, Florida treasure hunter specializes in finding the small hoards left behind by soldiers. Working a number of Seminole War period fort ruins he has turned up over $100,000 in coins and jewelry. (1978 values) His largest find consisted of 44 gold, twelve silver, and one brass coin, as well as a gold wedding band and a silver pocket watch, which he found under a pile of rocks about 100 paces from the fort ruins."

Photo is of Presidio San Saba at Menard in central Texas. This site is a state historical landmark so its off-limits to treasure hunting but there are many other old Spanish and other forts in Texas that are on private land and can be detected with permission from the landowners. A lot of these have never been found or documented.