Walnut Creek Treasure (Sword in the Tree)

Mike Cox's "The Sword in the Tree" (Texas Escapes, 2011) describes a rusty Spanish-style sword hilt protruding from a tree trunk along Big Walnut Creek in the 1940s, its blade grown over as the tree aged. The classic tale: teamsters fleeing Indians buried gold on the creek bank and left the sword as a marker. Frank Stark bought land east of the old Dallas highway (near present Lamar Boulevard) in February 1913 and, guided by a map purchased in Mexico, excavated a multi-level tunnel into the bluff with ore cars, tracks, and electric lights. His grandson Ralph Stark told KUT in 2022 that much of the 1956 newspaper story was fabricated, but confirmed Frank spent years digging and never found gold. Other backstories link the same creek to Sam Bass loot and to the 1865 Texas State Treasury robbery. The cave known as Stark's mine is gated; Walnut Creek Metropolitan Park and surrounding land are protected — no trespassing or digging.