Bread Tray Mountain is located 3 miles west of Lampe, mo. on Highway H. If you look at this mountain from a distance it slopes up on each side and flat on the top the resembles a loaf of bread on a tray. I have heard several stories about this mountain. This is one of them. It is said to be haunted but by what? When the wind is blowing out of the north-west you can hear a howling sound, some say that it comes from a cave. One story is told that the Spaniards hauled gold in buck skin bags and hid the gold in the cave. They where completely wipe out by the Indians, and they sealed of the opening or the cave. Another story I hear was from a old Indian that was the last of his kind, he would come to the trading post located at Highway 13 and H (What is known as Ha-Bobs station now) and trade for food. According to him the story goes that they hated the government for taking their land and way before the lake came in it was a fairly shorter trip to the Cassville area, they just had to cross the White river that is now coved up now by Table Rock Lake. They stole 40 pony loads of gold and silver that the government was moving west. They had no need for the white mans money so they buried it in a cave and sealed the entrance off with a rock that no man could move. He said that it was on a mountain close by, that when you stood on top the river wrapped around it. I myself have stood on Bread Tray mountain in the winter (the leafs was off the tree's so you could see good). As you look you can see the lake (what was the White river) from over your back left shoulder, all the way around you to over your right shoulder. Also told that a ladie was on the mountain herding some cows off of it back to thier farm and came across the cave opening, and with so much excitement she ran down to get here family to show them, but when they came back they couldn't find the opening. I have read that in 1901 the government cleared off the top of the mountain but left only one tree, and beside it stood a copper marker. Its told that every winter a Bald Eagle would come and perch on that tree, but when summer came along it would leave and then return the next winter. The mountain returned to its fully natural growth now but some say that just before the sunset you can see the ghost. Just a few years back the government tryed to sell the mountain to a individual, but with great thanks to the Lampe-Baxter association stopped the sale. Now we can still hike up the mountain and enjoy the sight and think about all the stories that was told about it. Maybe you will see a ghost or hear the sound of the mountain, but if you find the cave full of gold and silver plz give it to the government, they need it more than we do. Lol I will be posting more folklore on here about the Ozarks, if you have any I would love to hear them. May God Bless the USA.
I love that area. I was raised there for 10 years of my early life. There used to be house at the base of the mountain with good access. Two friends of mine lived in that house. We played in the woods behind the house and had camp fires. While sitting around the fire one night, one of the adults told us of the old legend of the gold. They told of several men that died and their ghosts still roam the woods looking for that lost gold. The fall weather around that mountain can play tricks on a little boy. We were petrified. Needless to say, I didn't have the opportunity to hike up the mountain. Some might even say that house at the base was burned by the ghosts of the mountain because of the stories that were told of the Spanish gold. Jeff Fitzmaurice
ReplyDelete