Monroe County welcomed a new event last summer, the “Lost Treasures of Buckchitawa.” The event is a scavenger hunt, which connects local legends to a fun event for families. 

Casey Bott grew up watching The Goonies, a 1985 film about children on the hunt for lost treasure. Bott wished he could live in that same adventurous scenario – until he made it possible for kids in 2025.   

Bott, a board commissioner at the Monroe County Park District, created the Lost Treasure of Buckchitawa event. The Lost Treasure of Buckchitawa is a treasure hunt that launched in June 2025 in Piatt Park, located in Monroe County.  

The event, which had small prizes and a grand prize of $1,500 worth of silver, used poems with Native American culture as clues for contenders to find the treasure.   

Growing up in Monroe County, community members often hear how Native Americans lived in the caves of Piatt Park. Bott was familiar with the legend, making it a perfect foundation for a treasure hunt.   

The local legends come from a magazine article from 1968, titled “The Lost Lead Mine of Buckchitawa” by David Hartline. The article presented the original idea that American Indians knew of a lead mine in Buckchitawa, now known as Sunfish Creek in Monroe County. However, the lead mine was never found.   

According to the article, the mine’s existence came to light during the Northwest Indian Wars around 1795. The story starts with American Indians capturing settler Martin Whetzel and taking him to the Buckchitawa Creek.   

The author writes that Whetzel remembers being taken on a canoe, until 10 miles upstream. He noted several of the American Indians disappeared into the rocks, returning with large amounts of lead. They started a fire and used hot coals to melt pieces of the lead, molding a supply of bullets.  

Whetzel was able to escape from the Native Americans; however, when he tried to return to the lead mine, he couldn’t find it. Hartline writes that Silas Jackson, a tavern owner, claimed an American Indian told him his tribe used lead from the Buckchitawa, but never gave an exact location.  

Hartline adds that a 92-year-old man, Sam Pfalzgraf, said he doesn’t believe there was a “mine.” He said there is a series of small veins that contain limestone instead, which lead is usually found around, and Monroe County is “filled with limestone.”  

The writer mentions that Pfalzgraf believed the American Indians mined the lead and stored it by Sunfish Creek. However, according to Hartline, several people have tried to find the Lost Lead Mine of Buckchitawa and have never had any luck. Thus began the local legend of the lost lead mine.   

While the local legend dates back centuries, the summer event brought the story into a modern setting. Families explored a local park together, using poems as guides through the landscape and learning about local history, fictional and non-fictional.    

“It’s just playing with history and having some fun with it and not being literal,” Bott says.   

Monroe Central High School head football coach Jonathan Calder, his wife, Vickie and their two sons, Cy and Camden, won the grand prize. The prize included a treasure chest full of pure silver coins and Native American spears.    

Monroe Central High School head football coach Jonathan Calder, his wife, Vickie and their two sons, Cy and Camden, smile while holding their winning treasure chest in hand in Piatt Park. | Courtesy of Jonathan Calder

Calder says his family did not expect the treasure to be pure silver. He will keep the prize to pass it down to his sons, in hopes that they will give it to their kids.   

But the treasure wasn’t what made the event so special to the Calder family; it was the chance to get outside and get involved in the community.  

“I’ve lived here my whole life, been to Piatt Park many times, so I was excited they were trying something new,” Jonathan says.   

Connecting the local history of Monroe County’s land to a fun, exciting event which gets kids away from screens is more valuable to families like Calder’s than any prize money. Although the silver from inside the treasure chest may collect dust, the memories of the Lost Treasure of Buckchitawa summer event stay fresh.   

“Hopefully, more people come out for the next one, because it was a lot of fun,” Calder says.  

The next hunt for the Lost Treasure of Buckchitawa has yet to be announced, but Bott hopes to make it a recurring event.