Explore Ohio Lost Treasure Stories

Lost French Gold

Mounds of Treasures

Ohio Treasure Forum

Pirate Treasure in Cincinnati

William Huddleston's Buried Treasure

Yellowstone Park Bandit Caught in Ohio

Welcome to Ohio, the Buckeye State and "Mother of Seven Presidents." 

Forming the south shores of Lake Erie, Ohio was named after the Ohio River, which means "beautiful river" in Iroquois, and was originally inhabited by ancient American Indians, including mound builders.  The French began the military occupation of the Ohio valley in 1753, and an attempt by George Washington to drive them out led to the French and Indian War, resulting in the Treaty of Paris ceding control of Ohio to Great Britain.  The first permanent settlement in Ohio was made in 1788 by an organization of Revolutionary War veterans who had received land warrants as a reward for their military service, but in1811, the powerful Shawnee chief Tecumseh led a tribal resistance movement seeking to halt the white man's advance into the new territory and to regain lands already lost to the Americans.  He was unsuccessful and, with peace restored in 1815, "Ohio fever" spread throughout New England and Europe as immigrants flocked over the mountains to Ohio's rich soil, mild climate, and growing opportunities, soon making Ohio the 3rd most populous state in the Union.