Jesse James Safe — East Waco (Earle Avenue)

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Jesse James Safe — East Waco (Earle Avenue)

Lost Treasure TX • McLennan County County
Description
Site of the famous 1992 treasure dig at 1820 Earle Avenue — hunters spent $350,000 searching for a 12-ton safe supposedly buried by Jesse James (as "J. Frank Dalton") near the Brazos River in East Waco.
Historical Notes
From April through September 1992 the Waco Tribune-Herald covered an elaborate excavation supervised by men claiming to be great-grandsons of Jesse James, backed by Australian investors and attended by former Texas Attorney General Waggoner Carr. The crew dug an 18-foot hole plagued by mudslides and groundwater, used ground-penetrating radar and water probes, and believed they had located a 6.5-foot metal object — a safe said to hold gold, James family heirlooms, and documents. The dig was abandoned without recovery. Historians widely dispute that Jesse James faked his 1882 death or lived in Waco as J. Frank Dalton. UPI reported the searchers believed James hauled the safe on an ox-drawn wagon from a downtown Waco train depot in 1918. Coordinates mark the Earle Avenue lot in East Waco.
Status / Verification legend — Legendary or approximate

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