2026 - Back to Our Roots!

 

Get Ready! 2026 is Going to be a Great Year to be a Central Texas Treasure Club Member!

Over the past several months, one recurring thought has kept coming to mind about our Club's future and how to make it brighter and a lot more fun for our Members. As some of you know, when my lifelong friend Friou Allen and I founded our Club in August, 1981, we intended to encompass ALL forms of treasure hunting into it. They include arrowhead hunting, metal detecting for small targets or "coin-shooting" as it was popularly called back then, gold mining, fossils, and especially locating outlaw treasure caches and individual "post-hole" banks where people buried their savings when there were no banks around or when they didn't trust banks for whatever reasons. That's why we named our Club the Central Texas Treasure Club, not just a metal detecting club. Over the decades since our Club's founding, we've gotten away from many of these exciting aspects of treasure hunting. Well, in 2026, I'm going to lead our Club "back to our roots" as we incorporate more of these aspects into our Club Events and Activities!

Over the decades since 1981, I've pursued many of these other pursuits and I've learned a lot about them that I want to share with our Members so you can enjoy them too. I've come to firmly believe that there is more lost and buried treasure right here in Central Texas than there is in any other area of its size in the United States and possibly in the world! We're going to go after some of it in 2026! I've also been formulating some activities for our Members, such as field trips, hosting guest speakers who are experts in these various fields, as well as giving lessons to our Members on gold panning and sluicing, deciphering treasure signs and symbols (which can be found all over Brown County and Central Texas IF you know what to look for), and gaining permissions for our Club to seek out these lost treasures.

I will outline some of these activities at our regular monthly meetings throughout 2026. We'll also be holding Special Fundraising Raffles, every month, to pay for whatever expenses we need to achieve these goals. Our Secretary/Treasurer Jen Evetts will earmark all proceeds from these Special Raffles exclusively for that purpose.

As a result of needing to prepare and organize these exciting activities, I will be leaning on our Officers to do a lot of the other work that I've done in the past. I'll outline what that entails at our next monthly meeting on Tuesday, January 6th.

2026 - CTTC Back to our Roots Year!

Jay Longley, President, Central Texas Treasure Club

Attached are photos of some "old-time" treasure hunters who sought the big treasures and found some.

 

"Bud Hardcastle: The Truth Tracker - Hot on the Trail of Jesse"

 This book is a real treasure hunter's dream! It's packed full of American and especially Texas history which includes many, many leads to finding real, lost buried treasure!  Bud Hardcastle, who passed away last year before this book was published, was a good friend of mine.  I contributed a lot of my lifetime of history and treasure hunting research to this 800-page book.

 https://rosannepriddy.com/ 

Jay Longley, President, Central Texas Treasure Club

 

 

Central Texas Treasure Club Meeting Tonight, Tuesday, November 2nd + CTTC Membership Application

 

CTTC Meeting Tonight! Tuesday, December 2nd, 6:30 p.m., old Early Chamber of Commerce Bldg. at 104 E. Industrial Blvd. in Early, Texas. Visitors and New Members are always invited and encouraged to attend our meetings!

Central Texas Treasure Club Membership Application

Central Texas Treasure Club

Meets 1st Tuesday of every month at 6:30 p.m. at the Early Chamber of Commerce Building, 104 E. Industrial Blvd. in Early, Texas.

Mail to: CTTC, c/o Jay Longley, 2207 Ave. B, Brownwood, Texas 76801

Jay Longley, President - (325)646-1000 - Email: centraltexastreasureclub@gmail.com - Club's Official Website: https://centraltexastreasureclub.blogspot.com

The Central Texas Treasure Club was co-founded in Brownwood, Texas in 1981 by Jay Longley and Friou Allen. We've been in operation continuously ever since. Our members have introduced hundreds of treasure hunters/metal detectorists into this healthy and enjoyable hobby over the years. We've found and returned numerous rings and pieces of jewelry to their owners and always have members available to help area residents find their lost rings and metal valuables for no charge. At our regular monthly meetings, we begin with a business meeting to discuss our goals as we move forward, accept new member applications, have a door prize drawing and a marble drawing to help fund our club, have a Find-of-the-Month display in which members share their best finds of the previous month and let members and visitors vote on which finds they think are the best. Immediately following the business meeting, we have a program with guest speakers who share helpful and interesting information and tips related to treasure hunting, metal detecting, and history. Our monthly meetings are open to the public and we invite and encourage visitors to attend. Free refreshments are available! We publish a monthly newsletter that's sent to every club member.

In addition to our monthly meetings and programs, we also hold regular club activities including group hunts where members gather and detect permission sites, club picnics where detecting is allowed and where our members can hunt the picnic location, special club meetings in which members get together and discuss new club projects and teach beginners how to use their metal detectors, field trips, and specialized workshops.

Central Texas Treasure Club - Membership Form

Dues for a full year are: Individual - $20, Family - $25 (full 12 months).

You can turn in your completed membership application below and dues to our club Secretary at our monthly meeting or you can mail the application with a check or money order for the amount to: CTTC, c/o Jay Longley, 2207 Ave. B, Brownwood, TX 76801

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Central Texas Treasure Club Membership Application - Annual dues are: $20 for Individual or $25 for Family

By completing this form, you agree to abide by the Metal Detecting Code of Conduct which protects our hobby for future generations.

Your name:______________________________________________________________

Address: ____________________________________________________ Apt. #: _______

City:_____________________________________ State:______________ Zip Code: ___________

Home Phone: ______________________ Work Phone: _______________________

Email: ______________________________________________

Names of additional family members (for Family Membership):

____________________________________ Relationship to first member ________________

_____________________________________ Relationship to first member ________________

_____________________________________ Relationship to first member _________________