Spanish Shipwreck Treasure

About 1679 Spanish survivors of a shipwreck buried a chest of gold and silver somewhere on the slope of Neahkohnie Mountain, near what is now Nehalem, in Tillamook County.

The vessel carried a large quantity of beeswax from the Orient, which was intended for use in making wax candles and religious figures. Along the beach, many tons of this was strewn, some of which is in existence today and bears the significant date of 1679.

After the shipwreck local legend tells that four of the some thirty members of the crew left their shipmates and traveled north, supposedly to the Columbia River region but nothing else was ever heard of them. The rest of the crew decided to build homes and stay in the Neahkahnie Mountains area.

Either at the time of the shipwreck or shortly thereafter, members of the crew are reported to have taken a heavy chest, or box, high up the slope of Neahkahnie Mountain and buried it. The relations between the crew members and the Indians began to deteriorate and a battle occurred with all the new settlers being killed.

Although the Indians knew of the treasure, it is said that after the battle, they made no attempt to unearth it, as they did not recognize gold or silver as being valuable, which is what the cache is presumed to hold.

The buried treasure has been searched for by many people, but none have found the gold despite various interpretations of inscriptions contained on two rocks near the beach which are believed to relate to the hidden cache.