SPIDER ROCK REVISIT UPDATE ON ELUSIVE TEXAS y Jerry M. Eckhart Author's Note: In the January/February 1989 isswe of Treasure Search, author ‘Dan Howard presented an excellent look at one of the mest bajting ofall treasure siories, the Spider Rock mystery. In his ‘article, Mr, Howard traced the story up to a certain point and closed by saying that “the enigma of Spider Rock will never be solved until some skill trea sure hunter unearths the old! Spanish thoard."” That could happen sown, for treasure hunters have never given up. As recentiy ‘ax fast summer, significant finds have ‘been made. Nor since the 1908 exptora- tions has the area seen as much activity ‘as itis now. My story begins where Dan Howards ends and covers research and ‘activities Ihave followed during the past 10 years, A BRIEF REFRESHER Incase you missed Mr Howard's story, here's the basic tale, ‘Sometime between 1750-and 1790, @ ‘group of Spanist explorers or miners tra- 40 TREASURE SEARCH veled north from Mexico into present Callahan, Jones, and Stonewall Counties ‘of Texas. They supposedly brought a large amount of gold and silver with them, This, in addition to whai they mined in Texas, was hidden, and an in twicate series of maps featuring symbols tnd signs was made, The reason they hid the gold is much the same as in many other treasure stories. The Spanish used Indians as slave labor. The creel treat- ment caused the Indians to rise against them and force them oul of the country, In the story of Spider Rock, there is a thread of truth because a number of skeletons were found at one of the min- ing sites. When the Spanish fled, they hastily buried most oftheir gold and sil- ver and headed south. Only a few made it, but they left behind a legend that en- dures, The first hint of treasure in the area was recorded in. 186% when 42 men set cout from Parker County to prospect up the Brazos. That expedition was followed by the appearance in the 1890s of 2 man named Dave Arnold. He approached the ‘owners of a ranch near Clyde, Callahan ‘County, ‘Texas, about searching their property. There on the-ranch, he found ‘a number of markers, copper artifacts ‘and a carved plat rock, No treasure was found and Arnold disappeared, He sur- faved again in 1968, 70 miles northwest in Stonewall County, again asking about Spanish signs. Several of the residents had seen such signs, soit was easy for ‘Ammold to recruit « company of men to search for treasure, “The company scoured the rocky can- Yyons and bushy hills along the Double Mountain Fork and the Salt Fork of the Bramos River. They found a number of markers, including a large rock which had strange symbols and. pattern of lines resembling 8 spiderweb carved inte it. Each groove was filled with besten cop- fr. The monsre ociar met os plen and a sheepskin map in Arnolds posses- sion to locaie more carvings. Those led them to several small caches, Among thetreasures found were 42 gold buttons, sil- ‘yer ornaments, a Spanish sword and sev- eral pieces of jewelry. Arnold led the searchers for almost a year without find= ing the main cache. Eventually, the men grew tired and returned to: their daily lives. ‘he finds were placed on display in Dr, CE, Terrell’s drugstore in Haskell, ‘Texas, There they remained until tate 1909, Dave Amold, although he was in his 70s and grossly overweight, conti- ‘ued ta search. Three things happened in 1909 to end the quest: the drugstore barned, supposedly destroying the trea- sure (some thought Arnold stole it aad set the fire to cover is tracks); one of the rain treasure-bunters, a Mexican shoo herder, was murdered; and Dave Ar- rnold disappeared. Spider Rock lay quietly until 1924 ‘when Dock Henderson of Rule, Texas, begun to search. He too found minor clues and a small amount of treasure Henderson spent a lifetime searching, sways believing the treasure was there. (At this point, Dan Howard ended his story). OTHER. TREASURE HUNTERS The blank space between 1909 and 1920 wasn’t really blank, for Walter ‘Leach of Rotan was quietly searching along the Brazos River, working his way ast, In 1911, he found another rock imap. This ond was drawn in the shape ‘ofa boot sole, Inside the sole was carved ‘star, the moon, and a rising sun. On the toe of the Boot vas a replica of the ‘Spider Rock Map. This boot map guided ‘Leach to @ pot containing gold. worth $29,000, The lucky treasure hunter did ‘what most of ws would like to do. He took ‘trip around the world. When he re- turned, he was broke. ‘Walter Leach didn’t give up, but re- sumed searching: znd did find. small ‘amounts of treasure for the next several ‘years, He was a lite more mature by nov, and used the mney to help pro This version of Spider Rock's ‘blueprint belongs to one of the groups searching for the treasure ‘and ts substantially the same as the version in the January/February 1989 issue, vide for his new family, Leach told only ane person, Bill Gregory, about his orig- ‘nal find and what he did with the money, ‘The Boot Rock was on display in the Dike Service Station in Rotan for a num- ber of years, but was supposedly sold, along with other rock samples that came from the Spider Rock area. My research ‘assistant in Roby, Texas, Jo Brashear, is currently busily trying to track down the Boot Rock. It still remains in that im modiai area. Frank Olmstead has been called the ‘most eccentric and puzzling of the Spider Rock seekers. He gave up a large farm in Illinois to live in a Texas dugout and follow the treasure will-o'-the-wisp. In early March, 1989, I stood in the door \SEPTEMBER-OGTOBEA 1989 47