The wreck is real and studied; the chest is the legend
A Spanish galleon, almost certainly the Santo Cristo de Burgos out of Manila, wrecked near Nehalem around 1693. Blocks of its beeswax cargo, some carved with shipping marks, have been plowed up and beachcombed here for two centuries, which makes the wreck documented fact. The legend rides on top: survivors said to have hauled a chest up Neahkahnie Mountain and buried it, killing a man to seal the spot. Diggers have died hunting it; the beeswax keeps washing up.
Neahkahnie Mountain and Nehalem Spit (Tillamook County, OR)
See it on the map
Other places on the map within a couple of hours of here.
