09/05/2026
Sharing from LCHS board member, a page from county history! Thanks Todd!
Is There Gold in Them Thar Hills?
Do you know about the missing hidden fortune in the area of Easton, Kansas?
This Pasturday, we dig into the tale of hidden gold near Stranger Creek, close to the forgotten town of Martinsburg near Easton.
In 1855, Lt. J. N. Walkup was an Army paymaster from Fort Leavenworth. He and his men were headed west toward Fort Riley and other forts to pay soldiers months behind. They camped near Martinsburg, where Walkup fell ill from cholera and hid the gold.
He then died before another paymaster could locate the money.
And the gold was never found.
That’s the story found in local newspapers and historical accounts, which also acknowledge that folklore and history are mingled in the telling.
Before you grab your pickaxes and metal detectors, I dug into the story myself.
Walkup really was buried in Easton Cemetery, and he really did die near Easton, but not in 1855. The official record says he died of an illness in 1862. Also, he wasn’t even an Army paymaster.
Yet, Major Sackfield Maclin was a real Army paymaster at Fort Leavenworth. He was responsible for more than $30,000 in government gold and silver to become missing. Yet, that was in 1861 and in Texas, where it was actually seized.
And another Army paymaster, Major John H. Ellis, had $19,093.91 in public money stolen from his custody at Fort Leavenworth. This was in 1866 and he didn’t die until much later.
So the legend isn’t as far-fetched as it sounds.
Frontier paymasters really did travel with fortunes in government money. Money was stolen, lost, or seized. And people in this region really did die from diseases such as cholera.
Yet, we don’t have all the pieces of this puzzle fitting together.
So is there gold still missing? Or is this another story of facts being mutated together to make fiction?
That is for you to decide.
Happy hunting!
