Several legends exist in Arkansas’ Ozark Mountains. Few have been written about, and most of them have been told by word of mouth to each succeeding generation over the years. One of the most interesting is the Spanish treasure of Mill Ford Hollow. Mill Ford is located at the upper end of Beaver Lake in northwest Arkansas, some five miles north of Goshen. The legend tells that a party of Spaniards came through what is now northwest Arkansas from the southwest, probably trying to reach the old Spanish Trail in Mississippi, then on to the Gulf Coast, where they could sail to Spain. The Indians of the area attacked the Spaniards and stole the several wagon loads of silver bars they were transporting. The bars were placed in the back entrance to a cave, and then the cave was sealed and camouflaged.
In 1835, because of white expansion, a treaty was made with the few Choctaw, Cherokee, and Osage Indians in the area to move west of the Arkansas boundary. It was at this time that the story of the hidden cave was learned by the white men.
As the Indians were being taken westward across the White River at the Mill Ford, an old Indian related the Spanish treasure legend to one of the white settlers who had befriended him. Since the Indian knew he could never return, he felt his friend should know the treasure story. Pointing to a large cave down river, one-quarter mile from the ford, he told of millions of dollars’ worth of silver bars that had been buried in the cave’s back entrance by his ancestors.
Today, there are no visible signs of an opening on the back side of the ridge, through which the cave originally had run.
The following incident lends credence to the story of the concealed cave. Some time during the 1890s, two men, whose names have been lost to history, were walking on an old timber road which once ran along the back side of the ridge near where it is believed the rear entrance to the treasure cave was concealed. Sticking out of the ground, near the road, were two large silver bars. Rain and erosion had exposed the bars which the men took to Fayetteville and had assayed.
The report showed them to be high in silver content. Since then, numerous searches have been made for the legendary back entrance of the cave. Although the front entrance can be seen on a bluff overlooking Beaver Lake, the hidden silver bars still await discovery.