This collection brings together 43 legends from Arkansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma - stories about fabulous mines abandoned by De Soto's soldiers; ingots carried partway across the Ozarks long ago, stashed in some moment of danger and never recovered; lodes of precious metal known only to local Indians; and thieves and murderers' plunder that still lies hidden underground.
Tales of outlaws and desperadoes are one of the few types of folklore that are peculiarly American. The myths and legends surrounding such people as Belle Starr, Frank and Jesse James, and Wild Bill Hickock grip the national imagination just as tightly today as they did a century ago.
