The Lost Louisiana Mine is an American legend about buried Spanish treasure that has been sought since the Victorian era, primarily in Arkansas Ouachita and Ozark mountains.
Timepiece: Treasure of the Ozarks
Curtis Varnell, PhD.
Western Arkansas Educational Service Cooperative
Stories of hidden treasure abound in the mountains of Arkansas and every town has variations of tales surrounding buried Spanish, Native American and Civil War treasures. One of the more lasting tales involves the Lost Spanish Mine found in Franklin county, just north of Turner Bend.
The most popular story surrounding the lost gold involves a group of Spanish explorers traveling up the Arkansas River and north on the Mulberry River in a galleon loaded with gold taken from the Native Americans. Stranded in the area, they chose to hide the treasure underground in the soft sandstone of a bluff on the north side of the river. The site had a large marker rock on top of the bluff and numerous Native American pictographs painted on the bluff walls. Once hidden and bobby trapped, the entrance was closed in and the Spaniards and accompanying Native Americans scattering to the four win