Treasure Tales and Treasure Stories About Illinois from the Archives of Lost Treasure Magazine

Historical Treasure Site

The small town of Golconda, in Pope County, would be a very interesting and possibly profitable site for treasure hunters to check out because of its long history and reputed treasure locations.

In 1795, Major James Lusk left the Waxshaw Settlement in North Carolina to lead a group of settlers to the Illinois country. They settled first on the Kentucky shore opposite the mouth of what is now Lusk Creek. A few years later Lusk built a ferry to take immigrants across the Ohio River. He also built a tavern to accommodate travelers. In 1798, Lusk built another tavern, which was the beginning of Golconda on the Illinois side of the river. Lusk died in 1803 and his wife became the first woman in Illinois to be granted a ferry license. The possible treasure locations here are many.

Counterfeiters were at nearby Rosiclare. Cave-in-Rock, an outlaw stronghold, is only a few miles upriver. There were also river pirate caches, boat wrecks and hundreds of campsites of immigrants along the river. The Cherokee Indians, an their way to Indian Territory, camped here in 1838 (a good treasure story says that they hid what few gold ornaments they had left at this place). Outlaws on the run from Kentucky crossed the Ohio River here. The Mason gang is known to have stopped here on their way up and down river. Runaway slaves sneaked across the river at this point and dozens of other happenings here would be interesting to the treasure hunter or historian.

In the words of author John W. Allen (famous for his writings on Southern Illinois), I 'Golconda has many a story to tell to a willing listener."