Third Part Series Remember Dave Arnold showed up with a Sheepskin Treasure Map at Clyde, Texas, in 1902, finding a stone carved map, as well as copper plates, and daggers, but no treasure. He then went 62 miles to the NW up near the Forks of the Double Mountain and Salt Fork of the Brazos and found a second carved rock, as well as a copper plate, a copper dagger, a copper key, 42 gold buttons, some epauletts, a silver cross, and a sword, but again no treasure. There was a Mexican Sheepherder on the river that helped interpret the stone map and scribbled his directions about how to find the treasure on a brown paper sack which he gave to another Anglo on the river named Will Stuart. A third so-called Spider Rock Map was found in 1909 NE of Rotan near where Gyp Creek runs into the Double Mountain Fork of the Brazos. Supposedly, all of these artifacts and the stone maps were placed in Dr. C. L. Terrell's drugstore safe in Haskell and were destroyed in a fired in May of 1909. The Rotan Rock was discovered after the fire so survived.
As it turned out, all of the artifacts found at Clyde and Aspermont were saved from the fire and were passed down to Charles Terrell of Eastland, Texas, who gave them to Steve Wilson of Lawton, Oklahoma, who later placed them in the Lela Latch Lloyd Museum in Cisco. Only drawings of the Clyde Map and the Aspermont Map survived the fire of 1909. Arnold's Sheepskin Map was apparently brought to Eastland by his daughter, Minnie Arnold Motely,and sold to two men in 1937, one of whom was Joe Cauble, Sr., and the other was Joe Woods. It seems that the Sheepskin Map made it back to the Eastland area again when Joe Cauble, Jr., brought a trunk full of maps to Lake Leon. When he died the trunk disappeared, but it was reported that there were 10 leather maps in his collection.
The artifacts from Clyde and Aspermont are in the Lela Latch Lloyd Museum in Cisco, as well as the Rotan Rock, as well as a copy of the Brown Paper Sack Map left by the sheepherder. It was found through the help of researcher Bill Townsley that Dave Arnold died in San Angelo in July of 1911, and credit should be given to Steve Wilson and Dock Henderson for preserving the story and detail of much of this long search. Duane Hale, Robert Kyker, and Jerry Eckhart came along and came up with more information. Kyker was like the FBI. He could find anybody.
