Maurice Tonty Starved Rock Stolen Gold

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Maurice Tonty Starved Rock Stolen Gold

Lost Treasure IL • La Salle County County
Description
Starved Rock legend of French-Canadian thief Maurice Tonty burying $50,000 in stolen gold along the Illinois River around 1800 — he died before recovering it and the priest who learned the secret drowned en route.
Historical Notes
Roald Tweet's Mississippi Valley folklore places Tonty's hoard at Starved Rock after he fled there with stolen gold. On his deathbed he confided the burial spot to a priest whose canoe overturned on the Illinois River before he could return. The tale is distinct from the earlier Henri de Tonty La Salle companion legend of gold hidden in the same bluff country three centuries ago.
Status / Verification legend — Legendary or approximate

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