Monumental mystery: Man says he has information on Church Hollow carving, treasure

Thursday, February 24, 2011
A close-up of the symbol on the marker.

A curious drawing, carved in stone on a farm in Cedar County and reproduced on Nevada's Centennial monument has had folks wondering for more than half a century -- is it a treasure map? Is it an Indian symbol? Is it simply a meaningless drawing?

Over the years many theories have been presented, but now Kenneth Morrison says he knows the truth about the carving. He believes it was, indeed, a treasure marker. Civil War treasure, to be exact. He says it's been found and hidden again, but he won't disclose by whom and doesn't know where it might have been hidden for the second time.

Recently Morrison contacted the Nevada Daily Mail via e-mail, after having seen a 2005 story about the carving, outlining many of the theories held by locals, treasure hunters, and even a rock-carving expert.

The Centennial marker on the Vernon County Courthouse lawn, Nevada.

The drawing consists of three crosses, with "turkey feet" at the bottom of each cross, surrounded about three-quarters of the way around by a "u" or kettle shape. There are two other "turkey feet" descending from the surrounding shape.

Morrison's story, although there's no corroborating evidence of it, adds yet another thread to the long-enduring, twisting yarns surrounding the carving.

The Church Hollow Treasure

The carving is located on "the old Austin place," home to feminist Kate Austin in the 1890s, and the carving is connected to the Church Hollow Treasure legend, which was discussed at length in a 1968 article in True West magazine. Local historian Patrick Brophy (now deceased) said in 2005 that the legend says three men had buried their treasure -- whatever it was -- in the area and carved the drawing, which would only have meaning to those present at the time. Then they went off to fight for the South in the Civil War. A local man believes he'd identified those three men, one of whom returned alive from the war, Brophy said, noting that "whether he reclaimed the 'treasure' is unclear."

True West's article speculated that the center cross, for example, indicates the site known as Church Hollow. It asserts that the curved "kettle" represents the lay of the land, for example, with segments representing a fork in a creek and Cedar Bluff. Another nearby glyph seems to resemble a cross pick and a shovel, but the article also noted that few have seen the second glyph. Nevertheless, the article says the Church Hollow treasure is "Out there. Somewhere between the old road and Church Hollow Branch."

Morrison theorizes the treasure may have been left behind by William Clarke Quantrill's raiders, and says he believes it's been found an removed, then later re-hidden. The Daily Mail discovered numerous tales from throughout the years about possible treasure left by these outlaw marauders in places throughout west central and southwest Missouri, and east central and southeast Kansas. Nevada's Bushwhacker Museum coordinator Terry Ramsey confirmed that Quantrill and his men did spend some time in the area, and the scoundrels may well have buried some of their ill-gotten booty, "but I can't imagine people like that not coming back to get it," she said.

Brophy's 2005 information about the site makes note that the church was a meeting house of pioneer Unionist minister Obediah Smith, who was strongly disliked by Quantrill. Passing through Cedar County disguised, as were his men, as Federals, Quantrill pretended to admire Smith's rifle and asked to have a look at it, then shot Smith with it. There's no mention, though, of any treasure related to Smith.

But Morrison says a treasure was found on the Austin farm and removed some time in the 1950s, and he believes a design found on the carving was derived from the back of a coin. While the Daily Mail could find no coins -- gold or otherwise -- minted in America at any point in its history that carried a similar design, some say the outer portions that some describe as a kettle with turkey tracks on the bottom could resemble curved branch designs found on many American coins, including those dating back to the American Civil War and earlier. Morrison said the stone map led to a topographical X where the treasure was found and removed.

"A local man from El Dorado Springs dug up the money, all in gold American coins, on the Austin farm and hauled it away in a '40s model 1/2-ton Chevy pickup," Morrison said. Morrison said the man who dug up the treasure had thrown a Prince Albert can there with his name scratched in it, which enabled Morrison to find him. Moore said he talked to the man's son but was sworn to secrecy, and was told the man "rehid some of the treasure out of fear of being caught with it and later died from a heart attack."

Morrison notes that "There is another carving at the Stockton Lake just above the water mark, and further south on Cedar Creek was another map carved in sand stone next to where the Indians had ground things like corn, because there is a hollow spot in the sand stone like where they ground. On Horse Creek is another carving sitting on a Indian grave. East of Caplinger Mills on a hill is another carving, and another in a cave on the same hill -- that one might have been found."

The Spanish treasure theory

In 2005, Lou Layton, too, believed their was treasure to be found out there -- but he believes it to be a 300-year-old Spanish cache, left behind along with a complex code that he'd spent 25 years decoding.

Layton said at the time that the Spanish often used code, an theorized that the glyph's makers relied on a code derived from the Castilian alphabet and the Catholic Bible. Like the True West article asserts, Layton also believed the central cross would represent the letter "t" which might stand for Tobias, and the "u" surrounding the crosses represents the 24th letter of the Calstillian alphabet, so this clue leads to Tobias 1:24, which references the number 45, meaning 45 degrees or a specific distance. In his 2005 account, Layton said that at first the directions seemed to lead to nothing, but excavation on that spot led to another rock with a symbol carved on it. This rock led to another, and so on.

Eventually, he said, he uncovered several clues including two stones he believes are keystones that will unlock other clues.

He'd found no treasure, though, and agreed at the time the drawings could lead to a safe haven, a cache of weapons, or treasure. The Daily Mail couldn't locate Layton for an update. As far as can be deterimined, he has not found the treasure he believed may be out there.

Morrison said theories of Spanish treasure give him a chuckle, given what he believes has happened.

Movies and monuments and more speculation on drawing's meaning

The notion of treasure so intrigued the family of filmaker Brian Springer that he created a documentary film titled, "The Disappointment: Or, The Force of Credulity." According to a review posted on www.vdb.org, in the film is narrative about four kinds of treasures that may be real, figurative or mythical, connected to the Austin Farm; Spanish gold, a Civil War-era cache, Kate Austin's diary (an historical treasure, given her fame as an anarchist and feminist) and the treasure of helping one's family heal the past and grow. This film mentions the fact that the symbol carved on the rock was adopted to adorn the Centennial monument in Nevada, but no one seems to know the meaning of the symbol.

In 1955, Nevada's townspeople were preparing to celebrate its centennial, and it was decided that a monument, containing a time capsule, would be placed on the courthouse lawn. A monument committee was formed and chaired by the late W.E. Hoffman, a dentist and amateur archaeologist. Hoffman brought a drawing of the glyph and asked the committee if they could put that on the monument, seemingly on a lark. There were no objections, and Brophy, who was on the committee at the time, noted later that "many notions were aired as to the glyph's meaning."

Osage Chief Paul Pitts attended, and he or another person closely involved with the celebration expressed an opinion that the carving marked an Indian battle site, Brophy said in 2005. The Nevada Daily Mail's accounts at the time said locals had interpreted the symbol to mean "Good hunting, plenty of wild turkey and a full kettle." A later report said a letter from Pitts was to be sealed in the time capsule.

"According to Chief Pitts (the glyph) can be positively identified as being made after the introduction of Catholicism to the Indians by the French missionaries. The large outline resembling a kettle has been interpreted as being the sign of death; the cross in the center of this outline is identified as the Christian Cross; and the two symbols on either side of the cross are identified as dead Comanche Indians. No interpretation could be made of the two outlines below the large outline, other than they are identified as 'road runners,'" the Daily Mail account said.

Questions remain

The mystery of the Church Hollow glyph may never be answered; or perhaps, Pitts' letter will shed more light on the subject when the time capsule is opened in 2055.

Until then, plenty of theories abound. Some subscribe to the treasure map notion; others simply believe it's just a meaningless doodle or a hoax of some kind.

Carol Diaz-Granados, an anthropologist at Washington University, St. Louis, evaluated the design in 2005, and said it is "quite enigmatic," but she was not convinced it has ties to buried treasure.

She posed the idea at the time that the "feet" extending from the three crosses may be root, but notes that many explanations may be possible. Historians, she suggested, may hold the key to the meaning of the drawing.

Others say it's simply a doodle featuring Christian Crosses and a decorative border.

Nevertheless, Morrison believes there could still be treasure out there. "I couldn't afford at the time to stay and look as I had a family to support. Hope this helps someone find the rest, I am too old now to look," he said.

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