Aikin Home » Harvill Journal » Treasure Hunting

Treasure Hunting

The recent passing excitement concerning the covered water well on the new CVS site, formerly the Salvation Army Thrift Store at 530 Lamar in Paris, brings up the subject of treasure hunting. The well was covered with a concrete slab that reads “Here Lies $1,000,000,” scratched into it by the late Ted Brown and by Gene Rader over twenty years ago. It apparently dates from the late 1800s, and there has long been the hope that at the bottom might be a treasure in gold coins of the type which would have been pitched into such a place. Evidently, the old well is still capped; if it was excavated during the CVS construction, I did not hear about it.

Then I found two similar stories in The Paris News. On August 6, 1948, it was reported that workers tearing down the Texas Company service station at 201 South Main uncovered a safe when they dug up the foundation. Since the Wells-Fargo Express office was located on the same site at the time of the 1916 fire, the safe was believed to have been “left behind” in the haste to escape the rapidly spreading flames.

Ray Sissel reported the outcome on August 11. According to him, a Wells-Fargo employee rushed into the office, blasted a hole in the safe, and rescued valuable papers and money from the path of the fire. Several years later, the safe, doors still closed, was either buried on the spot or the lot was filled in. Ray Walters operated a filling station in the exact spot and decided to remodel the building.

Workers believed they could hear a “strong box” rattling away inside the old safe. Paul Cauthorn and Ray Steele went at the safe with a sledge hammer and iron bar until the heavy outside doors fell off, and then they prized open the inside doors to get at the small metal box.

What was in it? A curious crowd surrounded the men. Old timers told stories about “the fire.” They moved in for a “ring-side” view, the photographer from the News got ready to “shoot,” and Cauthorn raised the lid, but there was nothing in it except some flakes of rust and a piece of rotten wood!

Reader comments

No one has commented on this article.

Want to comment on this article?

You must be registered and logged in order to leave comments on this site. Please register or log on the left side of this page in the "Toolbox" area. Once logged in, return to this page, and you will have access to the commenting form.