Is Santa Anna's Gold Hidden in a Shaft in Nacogdoches County?

According to legend, a treasure of gold nuggets that once belonged to Santa Anna and his Mexican army lies inside an old air shaft somewhere in the vicinity of Appleby, Texas.

Is the legend true?

Like many others who have heard the story, I have my doubts, but it still makes for a fascinating story.

Santa Ana's Great-Grandson Comes to Nacogdoches County

I've read through several accounts of this legend, but I'll paraphrase the story by Jerry Arnold that was published in the Shreveport Times in 1967.

In 1907, a man called Hoppin' Bell, who claimed to be the great-grandson of Santa Anna, showed up on a farm near Appleby, Texas, asserting that he was the rightful owner of the property. T.J. Greening, who had a deed to the 48 acres, challenged his claim.

The two exchanged words, but cooler heads prevailed. Hoppin' Bell showed Greening a map that indicated the site where gold nuggets had been hidden by Santa Anna and his soldiers.

Hoppin' Bell's Story of Hidden Gold

Bell told Greening that there was an old gold mine on his property. Santa Anna and his men had retrieved gold nuggets valued at $75,000 from the mine ($2.6 million value today).

Santa Anna realized that Texians were closing in on the Mexican encampment, so they tunneled a deep air shaft through the side of a hill and hid the gold. That treasure had never been retrieved, according to Bell.

What Made The Story Believable

Hoppin' Bell produced an old map that showed four markers indicating the site of the buried gold. When a couple of those markers were discovered, such as a coiled-snake carved into a tree and Mexican symbols written on a huge rock in a creek, many area residents were convinced of its authenticity and joined in the hunt.

A huge two-ton stone was removed, and the digging commenced. Nothing was ever found (supposedly), and after a while, the search for the treasure stopped.

That's the latest information I could find on the timeline of Santa Anna's hidden gold.

Where In Appleby Is The Gold Supposedly Hidden?

The article mentions Turkey Creek as the site of the gold mine. However, a search of Google Maps only turns up a creek by that name in the northwestern region of Nacogdoches County, nowhere near Appleby.

I did, however, find an in-depth genealogical page dedicated to T.J. Greening and his family. It shows a photograph of the actual 'Money Well', as it's called.

The page also references the family living near the area of Pisgah, Bethel, and Happy Land Roads.

Google Maps

There is no reference to a Turkey Creek in this region, but a satellite view does show several creek-like depressions in the area, such as the one pictured below.

Google Maps/Canva