Marty Lagina is part of History Channel’s No. 1 series, The Curse of Oak Island , and during a Facebook Live interview , he mentioned that he and brother Rick have invested in other treasure hunts. Perhaps this is one of those investments he mentioned, and this is the story of what is described by The Futon Critic as “a story of national treasure that goes back to the Civil War .”
In 1865, Union soldiers from Michigan were able to track down and arrest the Confederate president, Jefferson Davis. Davis was transporting what is believed to be millions of dollars in Confederate gold and silver. They then attempted to smuggle it over 1,000 miles by using the railroad system, which at that time was still being developed. A deathbed confession revealed that part of this treasure ended up on a train car that was being transported by barge. When bad weather threatened, it is known that box cars were shoved off ferries into Lake Michigan in order to lighten the load and prevent capsizing.
Michigan native and history buff Kevin Dykstra, along with partner Fred Monroe, have been on a seven-year quest to find the sunken train car. The duo gained notice worldwide when they found a shipwreck called the Le Griffon in December 2014. According to WZZM13 , they weren’t looking for sunken ships but were looking for what they believe may be approximately $2 million worth of gold bullion from the train car.
Monroe relayed that a friend told him an interesting story concerning that deathbed confession, which is partly responsible for the interest generated in this particular box car. His grandfather told him that a lighthouse keeper heard the dying man reveal the incredible tale. After four years of research, they discovered that George Alexander Abbott, who died in Muskegon, Michigan in 1921, was the man the lighthouse keeper heard uttering his deathbed confession.
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Funding an expedition to find the box car is an expensive endeavor, and this is where Marty Lagina comes in, but before he is willing to invest in the operation, he needs tangible proof that the team is onto something. This will lead them on an exciting hunt as they go back to where they believe it all began.
They will travel to several locations, including looking into bank vaults that may hide secret tunnels that were built to launder the spoils of war. As they continue onward, they hope that all clues leading to the bottom of the lake will finally enable Dykstra and the rest of the team to uncover what really happened. This six-part series premieres on Tuesday, March 6 at 10 p.m. ET on the History Channel.
