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The Beale Treasure

The legend goes that there is a treasure estimated to be over several million in worth hidden somewhere in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

This treasure was buried by Thomas Jefferson Beale in the 1820’s. The treasure consisted of over one thousand pounds of gold, over three thousand pounds of silver, and jewels. Beale and his associates transported the loot from Santa Fe to Bedford County, Virginia in covered wagons.

The buried treasure was packed in iron pots with iron covers and put into vessels lined with stone. Beale left behind an iron box with his friend Robert Morriss, instructing him not to open it for ten years should he not return. Beale was never heard from again and twenty-three years later in 1845, Morriss opened the iron box.

He discovered three sheets of paper covered with numbers and a letter. The letter explained that the numbered sheets contained coding which described the exact location of the treasure, the precise contents, and who it officially belonged to. Thus began the mystery of the Beale Treasure. To this day, only the second code shown below has been deciphered.

(no title exists for this part)

115,73,24,807,37,52,49,17,31,62,647,22,7,15,140,47,29,107,79,84 56,239,10,26,811,5,196,308,85,52,160,136,59,211,36,9,46,316,554

122,106,95,53,58,2,42,7,35,122,53,31,82,77,250,196,56,96,118,71

140,287,28,353,37,1005,65,147,807,24,3,8,12,47,43,59,807,45,316

101,41,78,154,1005,122,138,191,16,77,49,102,57,72,34,73,85,35,371

59,196,81,92,191,106,273,60,394,620,270,220,106,388,287,63,3,6

191,122,43,234,400,106,290,314,47,48,81,96,26,115,92,158,191,110

77,85,197,46,10,113,140,353,48,120,106,2,607,61,420,811,29,125,14

20,37,105,28,248,16,159,7,35,19,301,125,110,486,287,98,117,511,62

51,220,37,113,140,807,138,540,8,44,287,388,117,18,79,344,34,20,59

511,548,107,603,220,7,66,154,41,20,50,6,575,122,154,248,110,61,52,33

30,5,38,8,14,84,57,540,217,115,71,29,84,63,43,131,29,138,47,73,239

540,52,53,79,118,51,44,63,196,12,239,112,3,49,79,353,105,56,371,557

211,505,125,360,133,143,101,15,284,540,252,14,205,140,344,26,811,138

115,48,73,34,205,316,607,63,220,7,52,150,44,52,16,40,37,158,807,37

121,12,95,10,15,35,12,131,62,115,102,807,49,53,135,138,30,31,62,67,41

85,63,10,106,807,138,8,113,20,32,33,37,353,287,140,47,85,50,37,49,47

64,6,7,71,33,4,43,47,63,1,27,600,208,230,15,191,246,85,94,511,2,270

20,39,7,33,44,22,40,7,10,3,811,106,44,486,230,353,211,200,31,10,38

140,297,61,603,320,302,666,287,2,44,33,32,511,548,10,6,250,557,246

53,37,52,83,47,320,38,33,807,7,44,30,31,250,10,15,35,106,160,113,31

102,406,230,540,320,29,66,33,101,807,138,301,316,353,320,220,37,52

28,540,320,33,8,48,107,50,811,7,2,113,73,16,125,11,110,67,102,807,33

59,81,158,38,43,581,138,19,85,400,38,43,77,14,27,8,47,138,63,140,44

35,22,177,106,250,314,217,2,10,7,1005,4,20,25,44,48,7,26,46,110,230

807,191,34,112,147,44,110,121,125,96,41,51,50,140,56,47,152,540

63,807,28,42,250,138,582,98,643,32,107,140,112,26,85,138,540,53,20

125,371,38,36,10,52,118,136,102,420,150,112,71,14,20,7,24,18,12,807

37,67,110,62,33,21,95,220,511,102,811,30,83,84,305,620,15,2,108,220

106,353,105,106,60,275,72,8,50,205,185,112,125,540,65,106,807,188,96,110

16,73,32,807,150,409,400,50,154,285,96,106,316,270,205,101,811,400,8

44,37,52,40,241,34,205,38,16,46,47,85,24,44,15,64,73,138,807,85,78,110

33,420,505,53,37,38,22,31,10,110,106,101,140,15,38,3,5,44,7,98,287

135,150,96,33,84,125,807,191,96,511,118,440,370,643,466,106,41,107

603,220,275,30,150,105,49,53,287,250,208,134,7,53,12,47,85,63,138,110

21,112,140,485,486,505,14,73,84,575,1005,150,200,16,42,5,4,25,42

8,16,811,125,160,32,205,603,807,81,96,405,41,600,136,14,20,28,26

353,302,246,8,131,160,140,84,440,42,16,811,40,67,101,102,194,138

205,51,63,241,540,122,8,10,63,140,47,48,140,288

CLEAR for part 2, made human readable.

I have deposited in the county of Bedford about four miles from Bufords in an excavation or vault six feet below the surface of the ground the following articles belonging jointly to the parties whose names are given in number three herewith. The first deposit consisted of ten hundred and fourteen pounds of gold and thirty eight hundred and twelve pounds of silver deposited Nov eighteen nineteen. The second was made Dec eighteen twenty one and consisted of nineteen hundred and seven pounds of gold and twelve hundred and eighty eight of silver, also jewels obtained in St. Louis in exchange to save transportation and valued at thirteen [t]housand dollars. The above is securely packed i[n] [i]ron pots with iron cov[e]rs. Th[e] vault is roughly lined with stone and the vessels rest on solid stone and are covered [w]ith others. Paper number one describes th[e]exact locality of the va[u]lt so that no difficulty will be had in finding it.

The code was deciphered by James B. Ward in the 1860's using the Declaration of Independence. Each word in the Declaration of Independence is numbered in order starting with 1. The numbers in Beale's cipher correspond to the first letter of the numbered words in the Declaration of Independence. When each number is replaced by the corresponding letter, the message is revealed.

This was the only progress ever made in decoding the ciphers left by Beale. For more information concerning the Beale Treasure, check out the following sites: