Pennisi quickly realized he’d face a huge set of challenges to recover what he believed were bricks of pure gold. A confirmed 463 shipwrecks have been documented in the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, but hundreds more are thought to be littering its dark and eerily quiet sea floor. Many ships that wrecked during this period were tasked with delivering gold to the East Coast. Related read: 7 Tantalizing Stories of Lost Treasure in Oregon Gold Rush Shipwrecks Pennisi’s logic wasn’t unfounded: James Delgado, a shipwreck historian and archaeologist quoted in the article, estimates that at least 50 ships sank off of the Californian coast in the mid 1800s during the peak of the state’s Gold Rush. When Giuseppe “Joe” Pennisi scrolled through some underwater trawling footage one night and saw that his net had passed by bright yellow rectangles, he figured they were gold bars, also called ingots, that were left at the bottom of the ocean from a shipwreck. In 2019, the San Francisco Chronicle profiled the story of a down-and-out fisherman who developed undersea video monitoring technology and used it to discover what he believed were 30 gold bars at the bottom of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. Related read: 17 Epic Facts about the Transcontinental Railroad Sunken Treasure in the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary Monterey Bay, California. Some stories have a mythical bent, making their authenticity appear unlikely.īut if the Saddle Ridge Hoard discovery is any indication, California is a place where anything can happen when it comes to hidden treasure. While experts say the so-called Saddle Ridge Hoard discovery was exceedingly rare, California is thought to contain other hidden treasures. The idea of there being actual hidden gold and other treasures in a state as modern and densely populated as California might seem far-fetched to some, but the story of the dog walk that led to riches proves it’s true. While the extraordinarily lucky dog walkers kept their identities and the location of the discovery a secret for obvious reasons, an article published by Reuters claims their land is set somewhere in California’s sprawling Gold Country, a famed region in the western slope of the Sierra Nevada Mountains that attracted prospectors from around the world over during the state’s 1849 Gold Rush. One especially rare gold coin was worth at $1 million alone. The couple discovered that the cans held more than 1,400 well-preserved gold coins dating back to the mid to late 19th century. In 2014, an anonymous couple reported stumbling upon decaying metal cans during a walk with their dog on their northern California property. What started with a leisurely dog walk ended with a stunning gold discovery worth over $10 million. Halsted St.From buried caches of gold to sunken treasure, California is a bona fide hot spot for hidden treasures and long-lost riches. An inset in the upper left quadrant features sea routes from the east coast of America to San Francisco, both the journey entirely by water around Cape Horn, and the routes involving land journeys across Panama and Mexico.Ĭondition: This map was published folding and is in A condition, and includes the original cover, which is also in A condition.ġ932 S. The map was designed to help newcomers, and also includes many place names, ranches and householder, recorded locations of gold strikes, trails, forts and even stores. And in fact, this is one of the first maps to use the name ‘The Golden Gate’ to describe the entry to San Francisco Bay. It contains many references to gold such as ‘Gold found on all these streams’, ‘Low Clay Hills and Gravel containing gold’. The map is a bit irregular in nature, perhaps a result of having been published in haste. Though Sutter had attempted to keep the initial discovery quiet, news of it soon leaked, and the rush by fortune seekers to California from all parts of the world was on. This folding map by Lawson was designed and published specifically for prospectors and miners who were rushing to the region following the discovery at Sutter’s Mill, and was the first map to accurately depict the area’s gold regions. The first map to name Sutter’s Mill and first true guide to the California gold regions. Lawson’s Map from Actual Survey of the Gold, Silver & Quicksilver Regions Upper California Exhibiting the Mines, Diggings, Roads, Paths, Houses, Mills, Stores, Missions…ĭimensions: 14.75 x 20.75 inches (37.5 x 52.7 cm)
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