All right, fellas, we did it.
Here we are. We made it.
[music playing]
This is so cool.
I am really looking forward to meeting Hoppy Eubanks.
I know he's made discoveries.
I know he's a legitimate, credible treasure hunter.
He takes it very seriously.
Howdy, sir.
I'm Marty.
- I'm Hoppy. - Hi, Hoppy.
I'm Rick.
Nice to meet you.
So I'm excited to see what he's found
and the evidence he has for where the actual location
of the lost Spanish mine is.
Yes, please.
Thank you.
NARRATOR: Born and raised in central Texas,
Alfred Hoppy Eubanks worked as an aircraft specialist for more
than two decades after serving in the United States Navy
from 1960 to 1964.
In 1971, Hoppy conducted independent research
and followed clues that led to the discovery
of an 18th century chest beneath a house
in Fulton County, Georgia.
Its contents, including letters written
during the Revolutionary War, were
worth an estimated $50,000.
Hoppy has hunted for numerous missing treasures
in the ensuing decades.
But now, at age 81, he's focused on finding
the location of a legendary lost Spanish mine.
Nice to meet you.
I'm Rick.
All right.
NARRATOR: And supporting those efforts
are geologist Curt Champlin and geophysicist Bereket Derie.
We got a lot of questions.
I want to find out about you, Hoppy, and--
Where did the bug bite you from?
Oh, I see.
It's in the blood.
I love it.
OK, so, Hoppy, tell us what you think you've found here.
Wow.
Really?
That's pretty cool.
NARRATOR: On February 17, 1756, Lieutenant Governor
of Texas, Bernardo Miranda y Flores,
left San Antonio with 23 men to investigate reports
of massive silver deposits in the hills
near the San Saba River.
He was stunned by what he found, a site
that would soon become one of the most lucrative
mines in the new world.
Bernardo de Miranda is going to claim that there's
enough silver for everyone in Texas
to have a mine of their own.
The legend was that the silver was so pure and so thick
that you could just scrape it off.
And as it was mined, of course, they would smelt it,
and it would be made into silver ingots.
NARRATOR: For two years, the operation thrived.
But in 1758, some 2,000 men from the Comanche and Wichita
nations carried out a coordinated attack,
burning the Spaniards' mission and the nearby military fort,
or presidio.
Before their retreat, the fleeing Spaniards reportedly
covered up the entrances of the mine
to keep the abundant riches hidden until they could return.
That opportunity never came, and the mine's
exact location has remained a tantalizing mystery ever since.
The San Saba Mine--
it's a big operation.
So you think you know what the mine is?
Right.
Wow.
Uh-huh.
Do you?
Really?
Can I have look at that copy?
Thank you, sir.
NARRATOR: Although waybills are often defined as lists of goods
or passengers being transported from place to place,
in the world of treasure hunting,
the term has a very different meaning.
Waybills are just simply several pages of directions
going from point A to point B, point B being the location
of the mine or the cash.
Sometimes those waybills are accompanied by a map, often
a crude map, but in the end, fairly useful
for getting at least close.
NARRATOR: Although its original author is another mystery,
Hoppy received this waybill from a fellow treasure
hunter more than two decades ago.
OK.
Very cool.
NARRATOR: After exploring a location
70 leagues, or approximately 183 miles, north of San Antonio,
Hoppy was amazed to discover a number of rock carvings
that he believed could be of Spanish origin
and possibly pointing to the lost mine.
To corroborate his theory, Hoppy sought out some scientific
help, utilizing the state-of-the-art
imaging technology from geologist Curt Champlin.
We conducted three resistive surveys, and the first one
that we did conduct was showing an area that
was an anomaly, that we wanted to further
investigate that area.
Are we looking at a cross section here?
OK.
Interesting.
NARRATOR: Electrical resistivity tomography--
[electricity crackling]
--or ERT, works by transmitting the electrical current
through the ground to identify possible buried objects, voids,
or structures.
Right.
You want to drill a well that proves
that there is a cavity there.
OK.
Well, do you have a spot marked where you want to drill?
I think I want to go near this spot.
All right.
Is the silver in an ore, do you think, in this mine,
or is it--
Really?
Oh, really?
NARRATOR: Smelters used to extract
precious metal from raw ore?
Could this be further evidence that the Spanish were engaged
in mining activities in the area that Hoppy
believes is the location of the lost San Saba Mine?
Have you estimated how much money might be down there?
Wow.
Well, that's worth digging for.