The Lost Cache, Beadle's Pocket Novels No. 133

"The Lost Cache," by J. Stanley Henderson, published by Beadle & Adams in 1866, centers on a mysterious treasure map. Two young men in St. Louis—Harry Chenault, son of a fur-trader, and Samuel Myers, an engineer formerly employed in fur-trading operations—examine a faded, ancient map obtained from an old trapper named Jacques Renaud. The map allegedly came from a Crow Indian who witnessed a white captive escape from their tribe with buried treasure. Myers analyzes the document, concluding it may be genuine based on its surveying precision and geographical accuracy regarding the Missouri River headwaters. Though skeptical about deciphering vague distance measurements, Myers agrees to join Harry's expedition. A subplot introduces the Brainard family—Morris Brainard (a former captive among Indians turned surveyor/trader), his son John, and daughter Kate—traveling east with traders across the Cascade and Rocky Mountains. Morris appears to be the white man whose treasure map is in question.