Money Hill
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Title |
Money Hill |
Subject |
Money |
Transcript |
Money Hill Old Spanish coins, the gold of empire, have long been found on the islands. Accounts over the years said they were found in a sand dune called Money Hill. This confused me. There were always different descriptions of where Money Hill was located. I finally sorted it out. There were three Money Hills, one on Mustang and two on Padre. Gold coins wee dug up marked Don Carlos III and Don Carlos IV. William Headen, merchant and mayor, wrote in 1921 about gold coins found at Money Hill 40 years before. He believed the coins were minted around 1525. Another resident told of how her grandfather went hunting eggs on the island and came back with both pockets filled with gold coins he'd found in a sand dune. One Money Hill was three miles below the pass at Port Aransas. This dune, said to be highest on Mustang, was sometimes called Three Mile Hill. The big Money Hill was 22 miles below Corpus Christi Pass (which we're calling Packery Channel today). In the 1860s, an Englishman called "Buttermilk" Bill supposedly found $4,000 worth of gold coins. This section of Padre is called Big Shell along the Devil's Elbow. Ninety miles below Corpus Christi Pass was another Money Hill. Sometimes this one was called Little Money Hill. This one was not far from the old ranch headquarters of Padre Balli at Santa Cruz. It was at Little Money Hilll where John Singer hid $60,000 in gold and jewelry during the Civil War, which he could never find after the war. I don't know if any of the Money Hills still exist. The Gulf- side of the islands is always changing with the winds and waves of storms. I suspect they've been washed away or reconfigured. The islands have always had hidden secrets. Like seashells, old Spanish coins were washed up by the sea and sometimes they are reclaimed by the sea. Murphy Givens: KEDT Radio Scripts |
Author |
Murphy Givens |
Publisher |
KEDT Radio |
Date |
November 26, 2003 |
Type |
Sound Recording |
Format |
WMA; Length 2 min. 25 sec. |
Language |
English |
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