Beaver Island ArchiveA primary-source archive & encyclopedia45°40′N 85°33′W · Lake MichiganSearch

Event

North Fox treasure-search trip reported in 1905

0

Draft — sources verified, prose evolving

TypeEvent
WithinBeaver Island archipelago
ErasModern era
On this page
Event
Eras
Modern era
Concepts
heritagehistoriographyModern era
Within
Beaver Island archipelago

Summary

In September 1905 two secretive travelers made a trip associated with North Fox Island, returned through Traverse City carrying a gunny sack and handbag, and answered a newspaper reporter’s questions evasively. The Evening Record speculated that they had recovered gold. Its report is good evidence for a suspicious-looking trip and public excitement; it is not evidence that the men found a chest.

Separating observation from inference

The newspaper directly reports the travelers’ passage, luggage, guarded behavior, and interview. The physical clues—stones, directions, cedars, a tree marked 1870, and a chest—were attributed to an employee of launch operator Gus Petander. The men showed no coins or chest. When questioned about treasure-trove law, one insisted that whatever they had belonged to them, but the answer does not identify what they carried.

The article expressly calls the alleged find “Not Strang’s Money.” Its story concerned purported Chicago robbery loot. Firestone’s 1996 history preserves a second North Fox tradition involving Spanish gold sometimes attributed to Strang and weaves that tradition around the 1905 trip. The two narrative strands are connected historically but are not corroborating witnesses to the same cache.

Open questions

  • Recover the Northport Leader report that the Evening Record says preceded its story.
  • Find a contemporaneous source that names the travelers or the local men named by Firestone.
  • Determine whether the September 9 citation in Firestone points to a missing issue or is an error for September 14.

See also

Sources

  1. “The Treasure?” *The Evening Record* (Traverse City, Mich.), September 14, 1905, p. 1, continuing on p. 3.
    Described in this archive: “The Treasure?” — The Evening Record (1905).
    Contemporary report of the travelers, their luggage, North Fox trip, and evasive interview. The alleged chest and marked tree came through hearsay; no treasure was displayed.
    research · strang_treasure · evening_record_1905-09-14_omeka_ocr
  2. Kathleen Craker Firestone, *The Fox Islands: North and South* (1996), online excerpt.
    Later synthesis names Joe Gagnon, Jay Spangle, and Gus Petander and connects the observed trip to both a Chicago-loot story and an older Strang/Spanish-gold tradition. Its newspaper date and title conflict with the held issue.
    research · strang_treasure · firestone_fox_islands_excerpt_1996